PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY I
FIRST ASSIGNMENT
Teacher Zanier, Yamile Navarro
Group A Enríquez, María Soledad Mercedes Held, María de los Ángeles Gamarra, Marina Klatt, Karin Course st
1 year
September 9, 2014 2
ENGLISH CONSONANTS PLOSIVES
/p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/
M anner and place of arti culation Consonants and glides are described in terms of two characteristics: where they are made (place or point of articulation) and how they are made (manner of articulation). The PLACE of articulation is taken to the point in the vocal tract where the constriction occurs (see figure 1.1). For sounds such as the /p/ of “ pat ”, this is LABIAL (made with the lips), specifically BILABIAL (both of the lips). For sounds such as the /t/ of “tin”, the articulation is CORONAL, meaning that the forward part of the tongue approaches or contacts some point in the area between the teeth and palate. Within this coronal zone, finer point of articulation are distinguished: DENTAL when there is contact with the upper teeth, ALVEOLAR when there is contact with the gum ridge or alveolar behind the upper teeth (as in English /t/), and ALVEO-PALATAL or POST-ALVEOLAR when there is contact with both the gum ridge and the forward part of the palate. Five other places of articulation are palatal, velar, labiovelar, uvular, and glottal. In VELARS, the back of the tongue rises to the soft palate (velum), this is where /k/ is pronounced. MANNERS of articulations are named for the degree of constriction. In STOPS (or plosives) such as /p/ and /t/, there is a complete blockage of the airstream. It is also possible to articulate a stop released as a fricative, a manner of articulation called AFFRICATE. The ” and Spanish “chato ” is an affricate, symbolized as a consonant spelled ch in English “chat stop-fricative combination / ʈʃ / which we are going to explain further. Figure 1.1 THE VOCAL TRACT
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tep by step in detail… Going s
Ar ticulati on process A plosive is a consonant articulation with the following characteristics:
One articulator is moved against another, or two articulators are moved against each other, so as to form a stricture that allows no air to escape from the vocal tract. After this stricture has been formed and air has been compressed behind it, it is released, that is, air is allowed to escape. If the air behind the stricture is still under pressure when the plosive is released, it is probable that the escape of air will produce noise enough to be heard. This noise is called plosion . There may be voicing during part of all the plosive articulation.
To give a complete description of a plosive consonant we must describe what it happens at each of the following four phases in its produ ction:
The first phase is when the articulator or articulators moves to form the stricture for the plosive. We call this the closur e phase or (also called) closing phase . The second phase is when the compressed air is stopped from escaping. We call this the hold phase or (also called) the compression phase . The third phase is when the articulators used to form the stricture are moved so as to allow air to escape. This is the r elease phase . The fourth phase is what happens immediately after (III), so we will call it the post. release phase
M anner of articulation in detail Plosives have different places of articulation: the plosives /p/ and /b/ are bilabial. Since the lips are pressed together; /t/ and /d/ are alveolar since the tongue blade is pressed against the alveolar ridge. Normally the tongue does not touch the front teeth as it does in the dental plosives found in many languages. The plosives /k/ and /g/ are velar; the back of the tongue is pressed against the area where th e hard palate ends and the soft palate begins. The plosives /p/, /t/ and /k/ are always voiceless; /b/, /d/ and /g/ are sometimes fully voiced, sometimes partly voiced and sometimes voiceless. All six plosives can occur at the beginning of a word (initial position), between other sounds (medial position) and at the end of a word (final position).
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Initial position: the closing phase for /p/, /t/, /k/ and /b/, /d/, /g/ takes place silently. During the compression phase there is no voicing in /p/, /t/, /k/; in /b/, /d/, /g/ there is normally very little voicing. It begins only just before the release. The release of /p/, /t/, and /k/ is followed by audible plosion, which is a burst of noise. There is then, in the post-release phase, a period during which air escapes through the vocal folds, making a sound like /h/. This is called aspiration. Then, the vocal folds come together and voicing begins. Medial position: the pronunciation of /p/, /t/, /k/ and /b/, /d/, /g/ in medial position depends to some extent on whether the syllables preceding and following the plosives are stressed. In general, we can say that a medial plosive may have the characteristics either of final or of initial plosives. Final position: final /b/, /d/ and /g/ normally have little voicing; if there is voicing, it is at the beginning of the compression phase; /p/, /t/, /k/ are always voiceless. The plosion following the release of /p/, /t/, /k/ and /d/, /b/, /g/ is very weak and often not audible.
F orce of arti culation: fortis and lenis The plosives b, d, g in initial and final position are scarcely voiced at all. Some phoneticians say that /p/, /t/ and /k/ are produced with more force than /b/, /d/ and /g/. The voiceless plosives /p/, /t/ and /k/ are sometimes called Fortis (meaning Strong) and /b/, /d/ and /g/ are then called Lenis (meaning weak). It is true that /p/, /t/ and /k/ are produced with more force, although force of articulation is very difficult to define and measure.
AFFRICATES
/ʈʃ /, /dʒ/
/tʃ / and /dʒ/ are the only two affricate phonemes in English language. Exactly like in the case of plosives and most of the fricatives, the affricate phonemes /tʃ / and /dʒ/ come in fortis/lenis pair. The voicing characteristics are the same as for other consonants. /t ʃ / is slightly aspirated in the positions where p, t, and k are aspirated. The place of articulation is palato-alveolar, exactly the same as for /ʃ / and /ʒ/. In other words, the /t/ part of /tʃ / has a place of articulation further back in the mouth than the plosive /t/ usually has. As other fortis consonants, when /tʃ / is at the end of the syllable, it is shortening the preceding vowel. Another important thing to mention is that /tʃ / and /dʒ/ have rounded lips. 5
Production of affr icates
Affricates are rather complex consonants. They begin as plosives and end as fricatives. It begins with an articulation, practically the same as the closure and hold phases of /t/, but instead of rapid release with plosion and aspiration, as we would find in the word “turn”, the tongue moves to the position for the fricative / ʃ / that we find at the beginning of the word “ ship”. So the plosive is followed immediately by fricative noise. Although the affricate can be said to be composed of a plosive and a fricative, it is usual to regard them as being single, independent phonemes of English. In this way, t is one phoneme; /ʃ / is another and /ʈʃ / yet another.
M anner of articulation Phonemes /ʈʃ /, /dʒ/ are the only two affricate phonemes in English. As with the plosives and most of the fricatives, we have a fortis /lenis pair, and the voicing characteristics are the same as for these other consonants. /ʈʃ / is slightly aspirated in the positions where /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated, but not strongly enough for it to be necessary, for foreign learners to give much attention to it. The /t/ component of /ʈʃ / has a place of articulation rather further back in the mouth than /t/ plosive has.
TONGUE-POSITION OF THE ‘STOP’ OF THE AFFRICATE /ʈʃ /
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TONGUE-POSITION OF THE ‘STOP’ OF THE AFFRICATE /dʒ/
Voiceless Consonant /t ʃ / This is a voiceless consonant . You can hear it at the beginning of the word ‘choke’ /tʃ əʊk /, In the middle of the word ‘teacher’ /ˈti:tʃ ə/, At the end of the word ‘match’ /mætʃ /, And at the beginning and end of the word ‘church ’ /tʃ ɜ:tʃ /.
Voiced Consonant /dʒ/ This is a voiced consonant . You can hear it at the beginning of the word ‘ joke’ /dʒəʊk/ In the middle of the word ‘lodger’ /ˈlɒdʒə/ At the end of the word ‘bridge ’ /brɪdʒ/ and at the beginning and end of the word ‘ judge’ /dʒʌdʒ/.
I n bri ef, we conclude by statin g the foll owin g:
Diagram: A Place of Articulation: Tip or blade of the ton gue & alveolar ridge Manner of Articulation: Plosive IPA Symbol(s): [t] [d] Description: Alveolar plosive Example: tap, dad 7
Diagram: B Place of Articulation: Back of the tongue & velum Manner of Articulation: Plosive IPA Symbol(s): [k] [g] Description: Velar plosive Example: kit, gum
Diagram: C Place of Articulation: Labials / bilabial Manner of Articulation: Plosive IPA Symbol(s): [p] [b] Description: Bilabial plosive Example: pin, bin
[p] A constriction of complete closure is made at the lips, vocal cords are not vibrating. [g] The back of the tongue forms a constriction of complete closure with the velum, vocal cords are vibrating. [t] The blade of the tongue forms a constriction of complete closure with the alveolar ridge, vocal cords are not vibrating. [k] The back of the tongue forms a constriction of complete closure with the velum, vocal cords are not vibrating. [b] A constriction of complete closure is made at the lips, vocal cords are vibrating. [d] The blade of the tongue forms a constriction of complete closure with the alveolar ridge, vocal cords are not vibrating.
2. Engli sh an d Spanish consonants: di ff er ences and similar iti es The phonological system of Spanish is significantly different from that of English, particularly in the aspects of vowel sounds and sentence stress. These differences are very serious obstacles to Spanish learners being able to acquire a native-English-speaker accent.
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Producing English consonant sounds can be difficult enough for many Spanish learners. They may have problems in the following aspects:
Failure to pronounce the end consonant accurately or strongly enough; e.g. cart for the English word card or brish for bridge or thing for think . Problems with the /v/ sound in words such as vowel or revive . Difficulties in sufficiently distinguishing words such as
ee/ sh e” Spanish speakers mispronounce the following phonemes and tend to “S confused them: /s/ instead of / ʃ/. “J eep/ Ch eap/ Sh eep” Spanish speakers sometimes fail to pronounce the affricate /dʒ/ by confusing it with / ʈʃ / making it sound like they are saying “cheap”. On the other hand, when the phoneme it’s confused with the fricative /ʃ/, sounds like the word “sheep”.
The tendency to prefix words beginning with a consonant cluster on s- with an /ε/
’. sound; so, for example, school becomes ‘ eschool ’ and strip becomes ‘estrip The swallowing of sounds in other consonant clusters; examples: next becomes ’ and instead becomes ‘istead ’. ‘nes
Spani sh is a syll able-ti med lan guage: when Spanish speakers transfer the intonation patterns of their mother tongue into English, which is a stress-timed language, the result may sometimes be barely comprehensible to native English speakers. This is because the meaning or information usually conveyed in English by the combination of stress, pitch and rhythm in a sentence is flattened or evened out by the Spanish learner.
Blending of the Letters " B" and " V" : in Spanish, the letters "B" (named "be") and "V" (named "uve" in Spain; "ve" in Latin America) are both pronounced like the "B" in the word "boy," which is known in linguistics as a voiced bilabial stop. The sound is made by touching the lips together. The English "V" sound, made by resting the front teeth on the bottom lip and making a vibrating sound, does not exist in Spanish. Some Spanish speakers pronounce the two letters differently, as in English, but according to the Real Academia Española, the governing body of the Spanish language, "[the pronunciation of the letter 'V'] is the same as the letter 'B' in all Spanish-speaking countries." The separation of these two sounds is thought to be due to English influence. There are differences between the two languages that may interfere with English pronunciation (phonemic differences) and with decoding or spelling (phonological differences).
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Spanish does not have the following sounds (listed b y category):
Consonant digraphs: sh, th, wh, ph
Endings: -ed (pronounced /d/ or /t/ or /d id/ or /tid/)
Endings without a vowel: -ps, -ts
Compar ing systems. In this item we are going to compare the consonant systems of Spanish with those of English. Next, we shall discuss the different ways in which Spanish learners can improve their pronunciation. English and Spanish share many of the same consonants and spell them similarly. The main problems center on shared phonemes with different articulations or allophones, Spanish phonemes that are absent from the English system, and dialect variation at two m ajor points in the Spanish system. and 2.2 display the General comparison of consonant systems. Figures 2.1 consonant systems of Spanish and English. The two systems are constructed similarly: both make voiceless/voiced distinctions in their stops (e.g. /p t k/ vs. /b d g/), and there is direct overlap in that / ʈʃ g/ and other phonemes occur in both. Consonants with different articulations: /t d/. One must be careful in equating phonemes by their symbols alone. Both languages have two phonemes conventionally symbolized (/t/ and /d/, but this does not mean that they are identical). One difference is articulatory: these stops are dental in Spanish but alveolar in English. That is, the Spanish speaker pronounces them with the apex (tip of the tongue) against the edges of the inner surfaces of the upper front teeth, an articulation symbolized as [t d] in a more detailed (or NARROW) phonetic transcription. The English speaker, on the other hand, articulates them with the apex on the alveolar ridge just above and behind the upper teeth, as shown in . Another difference is distributional: Spanish /t d/ readily occur before the glide fi gure 2.3 r no djé nte/ , but English /t d/ usually do not. /j/ as in tierno and di ente /tjé Other differences are introduced by phonological rules, whereby Spanish /d/ is often weakened to a fricative [ð], while English /t/ in various positions is aspirated, flapped, or preglottalized. Transferring an alveolar /t d/ to Spanish produces a slight nonnative accent but no serious misunderstanding. Whatever their phonetic realizations, the phonemes /t d/ are present in both languages and have similar roles: they contrast in numerous minimal pairs (tía/día, tie/die) and occupy comparable positions in their respective systems. More problematic are those phonemes that are present in one system but not in the other, and these receive more pedagogical attention.
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Figure 2.1 SPANISH CONSONANT PHONEMES (PHONEMES IN DO NOT OCCUR IN ALL DIALECTS)
Figure 2.2 ENGLISH CONSONANT PHONEMES
Figure 2.3 ALVEOLAR (LEFT) AND DENTAL (RIGHT) of the sounds /t/ and /d/
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Strong differences: Case /d/ in words: English: day, damage. Spanish: día, daño. Case /t/ in words: English: tap, tape, table. Spanish: tipear, tela, techo. Case /p/ in words: English: paper, palet, person, popular, people. Spanish: papel, paladar, persona, popular.
Strong similarities: Case / ʈʃ / in words: English: chair, church, chess, cheese, chase, chocolate. Spanish: chimenea, chocolate, hacha, hecho, Chaco. Case / dʒ/ in words: English: George, gem, juice. Spanish: yeso, yegua, yacaré.
3. How to impr ove our and their pronun ciation? Strategies for Spani sh speakers As we previously said: ‘English and Spanish share many of the same consonants
and spell them similarly. The main problems center on shared phonemes with different articulations or allophones, Spanish phonemes that are absent from the English system, and dialect variation at two major points in the Spanish system.’ Point out differences when you introduce phonemic awareness activities (distinguishing sounds) by showing students how to make those sounds. These are some examples and suggestions:
By saying to students, for example:
To make the sound for /sh/ in ship, pronounce it like the Spanish /sh/ by letting air out between your teeth. Notice how you can stretch the /sh/ sound until you run out of air.
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In order to make the sound /ch/ in chip, you touch the top of your mouth with your tongue and let the air out with a little explosion. Notice how you cannot stretch th at sound. Spanish speakers have difficulty distinguishing the ways to pronounce the -ed in past-tense verbs.
Give students examples for each as follows:
"We pronounce it /d/ when the word ends with…"
"We pronounce it /t/ when the word ends with…"
"When the word ends with “t ” , it sounds like /tid/ as in patt ed ." "When the word ends with “d ” , it sounds like /did/ as in add ed ." Spanish speakers may leave out word endings when saying or spelling a word. For example: restauran instead of restaurant ; end instead of ended . They may also have problems spelling words that contain the consonant blends, initial sounds, and final sounds listed in the box above.
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Additionally, students might substitute: [ll] sound for y (because ll is the nearest sound in Spanish. For example: llelow instead of yellow .)
/p/ and /b/ sounds /p/ (cup, punch, pull) /b/ (cub, bunch, bull) The /p/ and /b/ sounds are often studied as a pair because both sounds are produced in the front of the mouth with the tongue in the same place. The only difference is that the /b/ is voiced and the /p/ sound is voiceless. In the English language, we use many voiced sounds. That means that the vocal cords vibrate when you say that letter. You can hear a voiced /b/ sound in words such as "back" and "cab." The letter P is a voiceless sound because the vocal cords do not vibrate. Instead, we use a puff of air to produce the sound. You can hear the /p/ sound in words such as "pack" and "cap."
Suggestions: Practise the voiced /b/ sound by saying these words. Hold a piece of paper or your hand in front of your mouth to make sure you are voicing the consonant and not using a puff of air. Try by saying these words: bug, cab, boy, bubble, brown, black, bring, tub, rub, big. Now practise the voiceless /p/ sound. Use a piece of paper to practice the voiceless P sound. When you say this sound, you should release a puff of air from your mouth that moves the paper. Your vocal cords should not vibrate. Try by saying these words: purple, cap, up, cup, happy, pot, lips, play, pie, practice.
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References
A Course in Spanish Linguistics Spanish/English Contrasts Second Edition. M. Stanley Whitley (2002) A Course in English Phonetics for Spanish Speakers Diana F. Finch and Héctor Ortiz Lira (1982) Differences between Spanish and English (2007) http://www.colorincolorado.org Really Learn English! Lessons for teachers and students http://www.really-learn-english.com/
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