Unit 9 English Phonetics Lecture 15

8/22/2019 Unit 9 English Phonetics Lecture 15

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English Phonetics

Unit 9. Approximants

Outline

Preliminary remarks

RP English Approximants

A Comparison of English and Spanish

Approximants

1. Preliminary remarks

Approximants are speech sounds that can beregarded as intermediate between vowels and typicalconsonants (e.g. plosives and fricatives)

In the articulation of approximants, the relevantarticulators approach one another but leave enoughspace in-between them for air to flow without muchaudible turbulence

Approximants are therefore more open thanfricatives (they imply wide approximation of thearticulators). Also, unlike the fricativesr, friction doesnot accompany the production of the sound

1. Preliminary remarks

MOA: Degree of constriction/stricture (main

determinant of a consonants MOA)

3 main degrees

Closure:

Stops (nasals, plosives, affricates), taps,

trills, laterals

Narrowing: (consequence friction)Median & lateral fricatives, affricates

Wide approximation: (no friction)

Approximants

1. Preliminary remarks 2. RP English Approximants

English approximants: inventory

/w/ voiced labial-velar central approximant(e.g. wet /wet/, whale /wel/, one /wn/)

/j/ voiced palatal central approximant(e.g. yet /jet/, few /fju:/, pure /pj:/)

/r/ voiced post-alveolar central approximant(e.g. ray /re/, sorry /sri/, write /rat/)

/l/ voiced alveolar lateral approximant(e.g. leaf /li:f/, call /k:l/)

Semi-

vowels

or

Glides

Liquids


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2. RP English Approximants

English approximants: specific points on all

When preceded by a

syllable-initial

voiceless plosive

(i.e. /p, t, k/),

approximants are

devoiced(i.e.

become partially

voiceless) and

slightly fricative


/j/ & /w/ have also been referred to as glides orsemi-vowels

/j/ and /w/ are produced in the same area of the oralcavity as vowel sounds (i.e. in the vowel space). Thisis why they are often called semi-vowels (they are,acoustically, very similar to a close front i.e. [i]- andclose back i.e. [u]- vowel respectively).

Despite being phonetically like vowels, they functionlike consonants (e.g. they are only found in the onsetof syllables, not in the nucleus).

/w/ has a double articulation (i.e. labial-velar). /j/ isthe only palatal sound in English


/w/

In some accens of English, there is an approximantrelated to /w/. This is the voiceless labial-velarapproximant // (thus, double-articulated like /w/).

// is a voiceless approximant equivalent to [w] but ithas incorrectly been described in the past as a fricative(compare // and a labialized velar fricative [xw]).

// is typically spelled . Speakers who use itdistinguish between words like whine-wine

Few speakers in England produce // -those who dohave often undergone speech training of some kind. //was already extinct in England in the 19th century


// is somewhat more often heard in AmericanEnglish and its also a feature of many Scottish andIrish English accents


/r/ and /l/ (so-called liquids; the lateral approximant

is often simply described as lateral for its MOA, but

its really a lateral approximant)

/r/

English accents are described as rhotic ornon-rhotic

depending on distribution of /r/

In rhotic accents, is an r-sound in all positions.In non-rhotic accents, is only an r-sound whenfollowed by a vowel sound

storing /st:r/store it/st:r t/


(/r/ because is followed by a vowel in word-internally (storing) or across word boundaries(store it). In the latter case, we speak oflinking /r/

store /st:/stork/st:k/

(no /r/ since is

followed by a

pause store- or

consonant sound

stork-)


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/r/ has different values depending on the accent

In RP it is a voiced post-alveolar central approximant

(formerly described as africtionless continuant), but in

GA its POA is retroflex


An old-fashioned pronunciation in RP (but still foundin other accents of English) is a tap/flap [], particularly

before unstressed syllables (e.g. sorry).

Another pronunciation of /r/ in English (but not in RP)is as a voiced alveolar trill [r] (the so-called rolled r)typcal of northern accents of England/Scotland

The symbol rstands fora trill in the IPA, but itstypically used in

phonological transcr.irrespective of the actual

pronunciation


/l/

Median approximants have no complete closure

anywhere on the mid-line of the vocal tract (air passes

freely over the tongue centre & exits without turbulence)

Lateral approximants have acomplete closure on the midline ofthe vocal tract, with simultaneous

wide approximation at one(unilateral) or both (bilateral) sidesof the tongue so the air leaves theoral cavity laterally withoutturbulence


/l/ is alveolar(theres contact in the centre of the oraltract between the tongue tip and the alveolar ridge)

However, /l/ has two main allophones/variants in RPEnglish: the so-called clear l and dark l dependingon whether the sound has a secondary POA or not

clear /l/ is simply alveolar but dark /l/ is velarisedalveolar. This secondary POA adds to the primary one

the raising of the tongue back towards the velum)

Velarisation is shown by the diacritic ~ (called tilde)written through the symbol used or by the diacritic after the symbol (so dark /l/ symbolised orl )

2. RP English Approximants2. RP English Approximants

clear /l/ is found in syllable onsets (e.g. light[lat])

and only in the coda when the next sound in thefollowing syllable- is /j/ (e.g. value [vl.ju:])

Dark /l/ is only found in post-vocalic positions (i.e. incodas) except when the following sound is /j/ (e.g.fill[f], melt[mt]).


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Much American, Scottish and some AustralianEnglish have a velarised dark/l/ in all contexts.

Dark /l/ is often vocalisedin some accents of English.Vocalisation = replacement of a cons. with a vowel

L-vocalization is typical of many accents/dialects ofEnglish like Cockney and Estuary English, but not RP.

The resulting vowel is variously transcribed [o], [] oreven [w] resulting in pronunciations such as [mok],formilk, and [mdo], formiddle

2. RP English Approximantsliquids and syllabicity

A syllabic consonant is a consonant which eitherforms a syllable of its own, or is the nucleus of one

The syllabic consonants in English are the nasalsand the liquids (the most common ones are /n/ & /l/)

Word-final liquids are syllabic when they followanother consonant

/r/ most often in rhotic accents; not common in RP butwhen it occurs there are alternative pronunciationswithout the syllabic consonant (e.g. water in here/wtr n h/ or /wtr n h/


The IPA diacritic for syllabicity is an under-stroke (it can be dispensed with in phonologicaltranscription since syllabic consonants are predictable)

3. English vs. Spanish Approximants

Spanish has no /w/ and /j/ as consonantal phonemes.

Spanish/l/ is like Engish clear l. Dark l is onlyused in the speech of Catalans speaking Spanish or

Catalan.

Spanish has two rhotics, the voiced alveolar tap //

and the voiced alveolar trill /r/, which books in theSpanish tradition often represent as / r/ (and the tap as/r/) but the diacritic is not IPA practice (cf.pero/peo/ vs.perro /pero/).

Summary

Def. of approx.(wide approximation, no friction)

devoicing after stressed /p, t, k/

Semi-vowels/glides

/j/: palatal /w/: labial-velar, // vs. /w/

Liquids

/l/: clear vs. dark /l/, L-vocalisation

/r/: linking /r/, post-alveolar, retroflex, tap, trill

syllabic /l/ (and /r/)

Spanish vs. English approximants

References

Compulsory reading:

Roach, P. J. 2001 [1983].English Phonetics andPhonology. A Practical Course. Cambridge: CUP.Press. 3rd ed. Chapter 7 Nasals and otherconsonants. Sections 7.2. /l/, 7.3. /r/ y 7.4 /j/ and /w/.

Recommended readings:

Collins, B., & Mees, I. M. 2003. Practical Phoneticsand Phonology. Routledge. Pp. 46-48.

Cruttenden, A. 2001 [1994]. GimsonsPronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold.2nd ed. Chapter 9 The English Consonants. Section9.7. Oral Approximants.

Unit 9 English Phonetics Lecture 15

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