Aspects of Connected Speech English Phonetics and Phonology Lecture 5

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Aspects of Connected Speech English
Phonetics and PhonologyLecture 5
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Aspects of Connected Speech

• Weak Forms
• Yod coalescence
• Elision
• Assimilation

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Weak forms

• When we talk about weak forms in the phonetics
  of English this regards a series of words which
  have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated,
  and another (weak) when not stressed within a
  phrase.
• e.g. a car v. I bought a car

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Look at this phrase I went to the station and
booked two tickets for my father and his best
friend.
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What are the most important words?
I went to the station and booked two tickets for
my father and his best friend.
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If we eliminate the other words can we still
understand the message?
went station booked two
tickets father best
friend.
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Lets look at the phrase transcribed
/aIwent t_at_th_at_steiS_at_n_at_nbuktutikits I went to the
station and booked two tickets f_at_mai
fath_at_r_at_nhizbesfren/ for my father and his best
friend
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There is a tendency for vowels in unstressed
syllables to shift towards the schwa (central
position)
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Weak form are commonly used words

• Prepositions
• Auxiliary verbs
• Conjunctions

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Weakunstressed

• In the following sentences the underlined words
  are
• stressed and so would be pronounced using the
  strong
• form
• I do like chocolate.
•  
• She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas.
•  
• We were surprised when she told us her secret.
• (stress on were for emphasis)

 
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Yod coalescence
Yod is the name of the smallest letter in the
Hebrew alphabet it stands for the vowel /i/ or
the semi-vowel /j/. In English phonetics Yod
coalescence is a form of assimilation it is a
phenomenon which takes place when /j/ is preceded
by certain consonants most commonly /t/ and /d/
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/t/ /j/ /tS/
but use your head! /b_at_tSuz j_at_ hed/
what you need. /wotSunid/
the ball that you brought /th_at_bolth_at_tSubrot/
last year. /lastSi_at_/
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/d/ /j/ /dZ/
could you help me? /kudZuhelpmi/
would yours work? /wudZozw3k/
she had university exams /SihadZuniversItijigzamz
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Yod coalescence is common in colloquial speech
and is becoming ever more so. Note that it can
occur - between word boundaries (as above
examples) - within words e.g.
tube /tjub/ /tSub/
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The fact that two extremely recurrent words in
English, you and your, start with /j/ means that
understanding of this simple mechanism is vital
to the understanding of spoken English. Do you
and also did you are often pronounced as /dZ_at_/  
Do you live here? /dZ_at_ liv hi_at_/
Did you live here? /(di)dZ_at_ liv hi_at_/
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Exercise. Identify places where yod coalescence
may occur in the following phrases
  What you need is a good job!   You told me that
you had your homework done.   She didnt go to
France that year.   Could you open the window
please?   Youve already had yours!
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Elision
  Elision is very simply the omission of
certain sounds in certain contexts. The most
important occurrences of this phenomenon
regard   1     Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/
when sandwiched between two consonants (CONS
t/d CONS), e.g.
The next day. /th_at_neksdei/
The last car /th_at_las ka/
Hold the dog! /h_at_ulth_at_dog/
Send Frank a card. /senfrank_at_kad/
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consonant affricate elision
This can also take place within affricates /tS/
and /dZ/ when preceded by a consonant,
e.g.   lunchtime /luntStaim/ ? /lunStaim/
  strange days /streindZ deIz/ ? /streinZ deIz/
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Elision of not
The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the
negative particle not, the possibility of it
being elided makes the foreign students life more
difficult. Consider the negative of can if
followed by a consonant the /t/ may easily
disappear and the only difference between the
positive and the negative is a different, longer
vowel sound in the second   I can speak. /ai
k_at_n spik/   - I cant speak /ai kanspik/
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Assimilation

• Assimilation can be
• of Place
• of Voicing
• of Manner
• We will look at the first two

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Assimilation of Place
The most common form involves the movement of
place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/,
/d/ and /n/ to a position closer to that of the
following sound. For instance, in the phrase ten
cars, the /n/ will usually be articulated in a
velar position, /teN kaz/ so that the tongue
will be ready to produce the following velar
sound /k/. Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will
be produced in a bilabial position, /tem boIz/
to prepare for the articulation of the bilabial
/b/. This phenomenon is easy to find also in
Italian think of the different pronunciations of
the n in Gian Paolo, Gian Franco and Gian
Carlo.
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BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/) BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/) BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/)
/n/ ? /ng/
e.g. bank /baNk/ e.g. bank /baNk/ e.g. bank /baNk/
/d/ ? /g/
e.g. good girl /gug g3l/ e.g. good girl /gug g3l/ e.g. good girl /gug g3l/
/t/ ? /k/
e.g. that kid /thak kid/ e.g. that kid /thak kid/ e.g. that kid /thak kid/
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BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/) BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/) BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/)
/n/ ? /m/
e.g. ten men /tem men/ e.g. ten men /tem men/ e.g. ten men /tem men/
/d/ ? /b/
e.g. bad boys /bab boiz/ e.g. bad boys /bab boiz/ e.g. bad boys /bab boiz/
/t/ ? /p/
e.g. hot mushrooms /hop muSrumz/ e.g. hot mushrooms /hop muSrumz/ e.g. hot mushrooms /hop muSrumz/
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ASSIMILATION OF VOICING
The vibration of the vocal folds is not something
that can be switched on and off very swiftly, as
a result groups of consonants tend to be either
all voiced or all voiceless. Consider the
different endings of dogs /dogz/ and cats
/kats/, of the past forms of the regular verbs
such as kissed /kist/ and sneezed /snizd/.
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The assimilation of voicing can radically change the sound of several common constructions The assimilation of voicing can radically change the sound of several common constructions The assimilation of voicing can radically change the sound of several common constructions
have to has to /hav tu/ /haz tu/ /haft_at_/, /hast_at_/
e.g. I have to go! /aihaft_at_ g_at_U/ e.g. I have to go! /aihaft_at_ g_at_U/ e.g. I have to go! /aihaft_at_ g_at_U/
used to /juzd tu/ /just_at_/
e.g. I used to live near you. /aijust_at_lIvni_at_ju/ e.g. I used to live near you. /aijust_at_lIvni_at_ju/ e.g. I used to live near you. /aijust_at_lIvni_at_ju/