Phonetics COMDTaylor

English Words and Sentences:Words in Connected Speech

Transcription Practice

Word form and phonetic reduction

• Citation (reading lists)– at least one stressed syllable (full form)

• Connected speech– sometimes no syllable in a particular word is

stressed (all sounds are reduced)– degree of reduction (variance from full form)

depends on degree of emphasis– Q: what sorts of things get emphasized in

conversation? (topics, e.g.) How does this sound?

Closed-class words and reduction

• Strong form when emphasized• Weak form when not emphasized• CC words (determiners, conjunctions,

prepositions, verb auxiliaries, etc.)– are rarely emphasized– “than,” “the,” “an,” “can” “gonna” / “gon”

Other common phonetic processes

• Deletion– 'last time' [læst taɪm] or [læs taɪm] ?– 'most boys' [moʊst bɔɪz] or [moʊs bɔɪz] ?

• Assimilation– Anticipatory• 'ten bucks' [tɛm bʌks]

– Perseverative• 'it is' 'it's' [ɪt ɪz] [ɪts]

Stress

• Word stress varies depending on occurrence– Citation form vs connected speech– Examples?• “Would you?”• “THAT’S my umbrella.” vs “that’s MY umbrella!”

• Stress is a relative concept– Why do we say that?

How do we determine stress?

• From speaker's point of view:– usually results from additional muscular effort,

respiratory energy

• Hard to define from listener's point of view– usually higher pitch (but not always)– vowel is usually longer in duration

• In practical terms: tap it out

What does stress do in English?

• emphasizes/contrasts• can define parts of speech– 'record', 'incline', etc. – BUT: 'market' vs “Marquette”

• distinguishes compound nouns from adjective and noun– 'blackboard' vs. 'black board'

• distinguishes prefixes and suffixes from roots– 'implore', etc.– 'rewrite'?

Degrees of stress

• Longer words at the end of utterances and in citation form may seem to have more than one stressed syllable– primary vs secondary stress?• 'exploration'

– result of non-reduced vowels?• 'rodeo'

Sentence rhythm

• As a rule, English does not allow stresses too close together in an utterance– stresses tend to occur at regular intervals– affects stress within individual words• 'The ancient building hadn't been destroyed.'

Intonation

• Intonation = pattern of pitch changes• Pitch variation within an utterance is normal– try saying a sentence without changing pitch– degree depends on a number of factors– the syllable that carries the highest pitch bears the

tonic accent

Intonation units

• do not necessarily coincide with grammar• are defined by natural breaks in spoken

conversation• do not have a set rule for determination

IUs Example11.720 14.250 (H) ... I would like to .. talk to you about these three items.14.250 14.970 I have here,15.110 16.310 (H) some ice in a pan,16.310 17.490 (H) water in this glass,17.490 19.100 .. and steam rising from this pot.19.100 20.200 (H) .. Now=.20.410 21.580 ... I would like to ask you,21.580 22.870 how these three things.22.870 23.740 .. Tell me please.23.740 24.850 (H) How are they all alike.26.150 26.920 ... (H) These three things.

Sentence intonation

• varies with meaning– ‘The postman always rings twice.’• Say it straight, say it as a wisenheimer lol

• is used in English to indicate – Y/N questions– end of a turn