Phonetics and Phonology PDF

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Phonetics and phonology are the two main branches which are concerned with the scientific study of language sounds. PHONETICS = the study of the phonemes = the smallest units of sound (it studies the actual realizations of sounds). It deals with the anatomy and physiology o...

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Phonetics and phonology are the two main branches which are concerned with the scientific study of language sounds. PHONETICS = the study of the phonemes = the smallest units of sound (it studies the actual realizations of sounds). It deals with the anatomy and physiology of speech and studies the whole mechanisms involved in the production and reception of speech. There are 3 brenches of phonetic: 1. Articulatory phonetics = the articulators we use (phonetics of the physical production), is linked to the speaker, studies the way in which speech is produced 2. Acoustic phonetics = the sound-waves we make (phonetics of the acoustic transmission), is concerned with what happens between the speaker and the hearer, studies the physical properties of speech sounds as waves 3. Auditory phonetics = studies the way the hearer perceives and processes the sounds (phonetics of the perception of the sounds of speech) The three main areas interact with the communication process between the speaker and the hearer. These communication processes represent the speech mechanism, which consists of: 1. the production of speech sounds (articulated in the vocal apparatus of the speaker) 2. the transmission of the acoustic signal through the air 3. the reception of speech sounds by the listener These stages are controlled by the brain, which gives specific orders to the organs of speech to produce sounds. PHONOLOGY = the study of the sound system (more abstract side of the sounds of a language) > the study of sounds when they are no longer in isolation but grouped together in syllables and words / the way sounds (phonemes) function within a given language or across languages to encode meaning. E.g., how phonemes can combine in a particular language, and the restrictions there are on these combinations. There are 2 types of phonology: 1. Segmental phonology = studies the smallest segmental phonemes, directly linked with phonetic segments (e.g. English vowels and consonants) 2. Suprasegmental phonology = analyses those features of the speech, such as intonation or vowel harmony THE ORGANS OF SPEECH We need to focus on the production of speech sounds, articulated in the vocal apparatus of the speaker. It is oriented by three systems: 1. The respiratory (respiration) 2. The phonatory (phonation) 3. The articulatory (articulation) In addition to them, there is also another system, introduced by Ladefoged, called oro-nasal = it depends on the status of the valum, if it is closed or open. “The sounds of languages are constrained by what we can do with our organs of speech.” How do we make speech sounds? Speech production depends on 3 major moments: 1. Lungs provide the energy source = RESPIRATION 2. Vocal folds convert the energy into audible sound = PHONATION 3. Articulators transform the sound into intelligible speech = ARTICULATION RESPIRATION = the lungs provide the energy source by inhaling and exhaling. A certain amount of airflow is required to generate sounds.  It is controlled by various muscles of the rib cage and by muscles of the abdomen and the diaphragm: when inhaling, the diaphragm and the muscles of the rib cage tighten (the chest expands, it generates low pressure in the lungs); when exhaling, the muscles relax, causing the chest to shrink (it generates pressure in the lungs and allows the air to flow out). The airflow may be either egressive (when the air flows out the vocal tract) or ingressive (when the air flows into the vocal tract) depending on the direction it follows. Speech is almost exclusively egressive. Lungs + bronchial tubes + muscles of the ribs + part of the wind pipe = respiratory system PHONATION = the air comes up and the vocal cords convert the energy (air) into audible sounds. It is the effect that the different positions of the vocal cords have on speech and is produced by the larynx, which is a casing made of cartilage and muscle around the trachea, that contains the vocal cords. The larynx is made up of the thyroid cartilage (= Adam’s apple and Eve’s wedding ring), the arytenoid cartilage (control the movements of the vocal cords) and the vocal folds. In the larynx (= a continuation of the trachea): - The cartilage structures (the thyroid, cricoid and arytenoid) of the larynx are highly specialized: they variously rotate and tilt to affect changes in the VOCAL CORDS. - The vocal cords stretch across the larynx and when closed they separate the pharynx from the trachea. - When the vocal cords are open, breathing is allowed. The opening between the vocal folds is known as GLOTTIS. - When AIR PRESSURE below closed vocal folds (= sub-glottal pressure) is high enough, the vocal folds are forced open, the vocal cords then spring back closed under both elastic and aerodynamic forces, pressure builds up again, the vocal folds open again,… and so on for as long as the vocal folds remain closed and a sufficient sub-glottal pressure can be maintained. The vocal cords can be arranged in 6 positions: a) CLOSED GLOTTIS = the vocal cords are shut together and completely obstruct the air flow. The mechanism of closing the glottis is known as the glottal stop [?] and can be heard as an interruption of sound when it occurs between vowels. b) OPEN GLOTTIS or VOICELESS = the vocal cords are wide apart and the air flows freely producing voiceless speech sounds (e.g. /s/). c) VIBRATING or VOICED = the vocal cords are held loosely together. The air pushes the cords apart and equalizes the air pressure for a short time, then the pressure and the muscular tension drop, and the vocal cords snap back together again (e.g. /z/). d) WHISPER = the vocal cords are brought together, but do not vibrate. e) MURMUR or BREATHY VOICE = the vocal cords are kept apart, but closer than for voicelessness. f) CREAK and CREAKY VOICE = succession of glottal stops during which the arytenoids are pressed together while the front positions of the vocal folds slowly vibrate. Larynx = phonatory system ARTICULATION = the articulators we have make the sounds; they transform them into intelligible speech (by altering the shape of the vocal tract above the larynx, by opening or closing the velum, by moving the tongue, by moving the lips and the jaw) > by moving those parts differently, we have specific sounds. It constitutes the articulatory system and are responsible for articulation. It constitutes also the vocal tract, which is made up of three parts: - the PHARYNGEAL CAVITY = the space above the larynx. The main organ is the pharynx, which can cause a change in the quality of the sounds produced by contracting the muscles around it and by moving the tongue backward. - the NASAL CAVITY = the space inside the nose. The air can pass through when the velum is open. - the ORAL CAVITY = the space inside the mouth, which is made up of the tongue, the upper and lower lips, the upper and lower teeth, the roof of the mouth, the jaw. The tongue is usually divided into five zones (tip, blade, front, back and root). The upper and lower lips are elastic and can assume three main positions: neutral, rounded (/u/) and unrounded (/i/). The roof of the mouth is made up of the alveolar ridge (behind the front teeth), the hard palate, the soft palate or velum, and the uvula. Nose + lips + teeth + tongue + roof of the mouth + jaw + uvula = articulatory system (are responsible of the articulation of sounds) There is a major difference between vowel and consonant sounds: - With the vowel sounds there is no obstruction to airstream. - With the constant sounds there is some kind of obstruction (can be partial or total) = the air is stuck. THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA) In English there are only 5 vowels but 12 vowel sounds. When there is a vowel, it is not always pronounced in the same way. The roman alphabet with 5 vowels does not adequately represent all the vowel sounds in English. IPA was born to solve the lack of the Roman alphabet (not enough symbols to cover the large amount of sounds). The English spelling system does not correspond to the sounds of the English language. The same combination of letters has many different pronunciations. Toward the end of the 19th century, scholars felt the need for some kind of system in which one symbol equalled one sound. Since the first publication of IPA, it has been subjected to many changes and criticism, and other alphabets were born alongside IPA. 1886: the International Phonetic Association was founded in France by a group of European phoneticians (led by Passy) 1888: the International Phonetic Alphabet was published with a basic principle = a different symbol for every distinguishable sound. There are about 7,000 languages in the world, there are about 200 different vowels and more than 600 different consonants. The idea behind this alphabet was that each distinguishable sound present in a language is given its own symbol and the whole range of available phonetic symbols constitutes the phonetic alphabet of that language. There are 2 transcription types: 1. Narrow (phonetic transcription): captures as many details as possible and ignores as few details as possible. Using the diacritics provided by IPA, it is possible to make very subtle distinctions between sounds. It describes sounds on the basis of their articulatory/auditory identity and encloses symbols in square brackets []. The aim is not to describe the functional meaning of sounds, but to identify the sounds as such. 2. Broad (phonemic transcription): ignores as many details as possible, capturing only enough aspects of pronunciation to show how that word differs from other words in the language. It encloses symbols in oblique lines //. Wells classifies varieties according to the following parameters: - Phonetic realization = pronunciation of a sound which may (or not) appear in the same lexical set in different varieties. - Lexical distribution = the same individual words belong to different lexical sets in different varieties. - Phonotactic distribution = the way in which phonemes can co-occur in words. - Phonemic system = the minimum number of symbols needed to transcribe that variety. PHONEME = the smallest unit of sound, a distinctive sound (different from the GRAPHEME = what we generally define letters of the alphabet). cat > /kæt/ : 3 graphemes and 3 phonemes. A phoneme is an abstract unit of speech sound that can distinguish words. Changing a phoneme in a word can produce another word: CAT vs. CUT vs. COT = MINIMAL PAIRS (words that differ in singular phonemes, but they are equal in others, and they have different meanings). ALLOPHONE = a variation of the same phoneme. The same phoneme may have different allophones! clear L (as in lip) and dark L (as in milk). An allophone is not distinctive, but rather a variant of a phoneme. Changing the allophone will not change the meaning of a word, but the result may sound non-native, or be unintelligible. ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUNDS When consonants appear in pairs, the one on the left is voiceless, and the one on the right is voiced. When they do not appear in pairs, they are voiceless when they appear on the left side of the box (e.g.?), and voiced when they are located on the right (e.g. /j/). The standard English consonant system is made up of 24 consonant sounds and we can classify them according to three parameters: 1. Place of articulation (horizontal in the table): = the point at which the air stream is most obstructed. The air is transformed into audible sounds. - BILABIAL: both lips being brought together. The air is blocked using the lips (/p/, /b/, /m/) - LABIODENTAL: lower lip being brought into contact with the upper teeth (/f/, /v/) - DENTAL: the tip of the tongue being brought into contact with the upper teeth, the tongue is located between the teeth (“th”) - ALVEOLAR: the tip of the tongue being brought into contact with the alveolar ridge (/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/). The obstruction regarding the /t/ and /d/ is caused by the tongue touching the alveolar ridge. Mind /t/, /d/ and /l/ > British English: we need to consider 2 Ls (dark before a consonant and at the end of a word and clear before a vowel) // American English: the /l/ is always dark - PALATO ALVEOLAR: the tip of the tongue approaches the rear part of the alveolar ridge (“sh”, “ch”) - PALATAL: middle part of the tongue approaches the roof of the oral cavity (/j/) - VELAR: the back of the tongue being brought into contact with the velum or soft palate (/k/, /g/, “ing”) - LABIO/LABIAL-VELAR: back of tongue approaches velum, as for velar sounds, but the lips are rounded (/w/) - GLOTTAL: the vocal folds in the larynx are brought momentarily together to interfere with the airstream (/h/). It is used also in some cases of “city”, “butter”, “better” instead of [t]. Since the vocal cords cannot vibrate when fully closed, there is no voiced version 2. Manner of articulation (vertical in the table): = how the articulators modulate the airflow. There are different ways of producing a consonant and some ways of obstruction: - STOP (plosive): implies a total obstruction of the airstream followed by rapid release so that the compressed air bursts out of the vocal tract. During the production, the airflow from the lungs is completely blocked at some point by specific organs of speech.  - FRICATIVE: there is a partial obstruction of the airstream, resulting in audible friction of the breath through a narrow opening between the organs of speech involved. - AFFRICATE: the airstream is blocked but the blockage is released more slowly and a short period of friction is heard. Here we find combined symbols - APPROXIMANT (median or lateral): the vocal tract is narrowed but not enough to cause turbulence. There is no friction (= a combination of a plosive and a fricative). The consonants are created with little obstruction of air in that the tongue is positioned centrally in the vocal tract, but it lets the air flow pass through it - NASAL: the flow of air does not pass through the mouth, the velum being lowered, and is directed through the nasal passage. If soft palate is raised, there is no emission of air through the nose > non-nasal sound. E.g. /m/, /n/ and “ing” - TRILL: is a continuous sound produced by part of the tongue rapidly touching and leaving another speech organ 3. Voicing: It is about the automatic vibration of the vocal cords (vibration or lack of vibration). When a sound is voiceless it means that there is no variation of the vocal vocal cords, whereas when a sound is voiced it means that there is a vibration of the vocal cords. - V = unvoiced (left) + V = voiced (right) VOICED > VOICED / DEVOICED > DEVOICED In English we have three options to pronounce the letter “s”: - /s/ >>> After a voiceless consonant (e.g., stops, ants, wants, nuts, Mike’s) - /z/ >>> After a voiced consonant (e.g., woman’s, men’s, children’s, cars, kids, tables, bangs, Bob’s) - /iz/ >>> After a sibilant (e.g., churches, horses) We have three options to pronounce “ed”, too: - /t/ >>> After a voiceless consonant (e.g., stopped, looked, watched, popped, walked) - /d/ >>> After a voiced consonant (e.g., judged, rubbed, snowed, tried, paid) - /id/ >>> After /t/ or /d/ (e.g., wanted) + exceptions (adjectives such as wicked, learned + -edly, -edness: markedly, wellformedness) COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY ITALIANS (Focus os English sounds) Problem #1: We need to consider 2 systems: the pronunciation system and the spelling system. The English spelling system does not reflect the English pronunciation system and vice-versa. 1. A consonant sound covers the pronunciation of different graphemes = /p/ hiccough = /g/ ghost = /f/ tough Usually, when occurs at the beginning of a name is /t/, but in the middle is /th/. 2. Silent letters /p/ (psycho, pneumonia), /b/ (thumb), /t/ (castle), /g/ (sigh), /h/ (hour, honest, shepherd), /k/ (know), /l/ (stalking, walk, talk) 3. Words that are spelled in different ways, but pronounce in the same way colour vs color Problem #2: interference = native attitude of the speakers which naturally apply rules which are typical of the first language to the foreign language. 1. Wrong place of articulation:  a) Some sounds that exist in the first language, but are articulated differently (/d/, /t/, /n/, /l/, / ŋ/) b) Some sounds don’t exist in the first language, but are present in the foreign language ( dental, /r/) In English we have two Rs: bunched and retroflex. However, in British English, if there is a /r/ after a vocal sound, the /r/ is not pronounced. 2. Consonant lengthening: In Italian we have double consonants, in English they do not exist! 3. Vowel insertion (syllable structure and rhythm): English words, unlike Italian ones, often end in a closed syllable (e.g., David, magic, like, love) 4. Voicing: VOICED > VOICED / DEVOICED > DEVOICED There are two main problematic areas concerning voicing: - One is related to sounds which do not exist in standard Italian - The other regards sound clusters which have opposite rules in Italian and English Interference: CLUSTERS from English to Italian: - = corso /s/ vs. cars (/ka:z/) - = insopportabile vs. nuns (/z/) - : voiceless = slancio vs. slowly - : voiceless = smania vs. smile - : voiceless = snobbare vs. snow - = swim When we have a lexical word: devoiced (/th/) When we have a pronoun, a preposition, …: voiced ENGLISH VOWEL SOUNDS When a vowel sound is produced, the airstream escapes from the mouth in an unobstructed manner. The tongue doesn’t touch any part of the mouth. Moreover, vowel sounds are always voiced! All the vowel sounds are different from the Italian system. By comparing the AmE and the BrE vowel systems, the first difference is the number of pure vowel sounds: AmE has 11 different pure vowels, whereas BrE has 12. BrE has 8 diphthongs, while AmE 5. Lastly, BrE has 5 triphthong sounds, whereas AmE doesn’t have any. There are four parameters to classify vowel sounds: 1. Tongue position It has something to do with the part of the tongue that is raised when pronouncing vowel sounds. For example, when /i:/ is pronounced, the part of the tongue which is raised is the front part. - FRONT = front part of the tongue raised toward alveolar ridge and hard palate.  - CENTRAL = tongue flatter than front and back vowels. - BACK = back of the tongue raised toward soft palate. 2. Tongue height It refers to how high or low the tongue is. For example, when /i:/ is produced, the position of the tongue is high. We have: - HIGH VOWELS (= closed vowels): the cavity between tongue and palate gets smaller. - HALF-CLOSE / MID-CLOSE (like in bet) - HALF-OPEN / MID-OPEN - LOW (= open vowels): the cavity is larger and the jaw lowered. 3. Lip shape This parameter refers to the shape that our lips assume, when specific vowel sounds are uttered. - ROUNDED (e.g. moon) - UNROUNDED or SPREAD (e.g. beat) 4. Length This parameter refers to how long a sound is when it is pronounced. It is easy to control, but due to interference, it could be difficult for Italians - LONG - SHORT Daniel Jones (1881-1967): Daniel Jones was a London-born British phonetician and was the first one to analyze vowel sounds. He was a pupil of Passy, professor of phonetics at the école des Haute études at the University of Paris. He is one of the founders of the International Phonetic Association. - In 1907: part-time lecturer at University College London > full-time position > in 1912: the head of the Department of Phonetics - In 1909, he gave is the short Pronunciation of English (later radically revised). He is remembered for two things: the English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917) and the description vowels he gave us (the primary cardinal vowels diagram). PRIMARY CARDINAL VOWELS Cardinal vowels demarcate the articulatory vowel space that speakers have at their disposal. These vowels can be regarded as reference for the phonetic transcription of any language. A cardinal vowel is a vowel sound produced when the tongue is in an extreme position, either back or front, high or low. They use the cardinal points: north (= you can’t go higher), south, west and east. ENGLISH PURE VOWELS Vowels are determined by changes in position of the lips, tongue and palate. These changes can be very slight and difficult to detect. Vowels are far more difficult to transcribe than consonants. Vowels make up the greatest difference between varieties of English. One of the most frequent mistakes made by language learned is to use pure vowels instead of diphthongs. HIGH VOWELS - /i:/ as in feel, deed, beat. It is a long high front unrounded vowel. - /I/ as in fill, did, bit. It is a short high front unrounded vowel. - /u:/ as in moon, fruit, food. It is a long high back rounded vowel. When the long /u:/ occurs after /t/, /d/ and /n/, the /j/ in American English is not pronounced. - /ʊ/ as in book, put, foot. It is a short high back rounded vowel. MID VOWELS - /ɛ/ as in bed, bet, bread. It is a short mid front unrounded vowel. - /ɜ:/ as in girl, her, turn. It is s long mid central unrounded vowel (-er, -ir, -or, -ur) - /ə/ as in about, again, silver, colour. It is a short mid central unrounded vowel, called schwa. It is never stressed. - /ɔ:/ as in bought, all, walk. It is a long mid back rounded vowel. LOW VOWELS - /ɒ/: as in dot, what, lot (BrE). COT-CAUGHT MERGING = in British English cot snd caught are pronounced differently, while in American English they are the same. In American English, the short low back rounded vowel / ɒ/ (as in dot, what, lot in BrE) is substituted by the long low back unrounded vowel /a:/. There is a system of sounds: when you move one phoneme from one place, there will be a domino effect - /a:/: as in bath, car, aunt, pass (BrE) > dot, what, lot, car (AmE). - /æ/: as in bad, dad, cat. In American English, unless there is an “r” after an a (/a:/), any “a” is an /æ/ (= ash). /æ/ in British English is pronounced like , while in American English is pronounced like. It is a short low front unrounded vowel. - /ʌ/: as in love, but, cut, son. It is a short low central unrounded vowel. ENGLISH DIPHTHONGS = sounds that consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another. In English, vowels can also glide into one another to diphthongs (there) and even triphthongs (= only in British English, they are defined as a union of three vowels pronounced in one syllable, as in fire). 5 vowels 12 vs. 11 monophthongs (pure vowel sounds) 8 vs. 5 diphthongs 5 vs. 0 triphthongs  = 25 vs. = 16 vowel sounds Classification: 1. FALLING VS. RISING English has 8 diphthongs that are falling: the first part is longer and louder and the second part is weaker. Italian has both rising and falling diphthongs: qui (rising) vs. cui (falling). Lean vs. Hear vs. Year vs. Ear 2. CLOSING VS. CENTERING Closing = the second vowel is pronounced with the jaw almost closed ▪ /aɪ/: sign, shy, like, tie, either… ▪ /eɪ/: make, face, rain, day… ▪ /ɔɪ/: boy, toy, noise, voice… ▪ /əʊ/: home, alone, phone, go… ▪ /aʊ/: sound, crowd, now, found… Centering = the second vowel (the schwa) is pronounced in the center of the mouth ▪ /ɪə/: here, clear, dear, idea… ▪ /eə/: there, fair, hair, care… ▪ /ʊə/: cure, poor, sure, tour… TRIPHTHONGS This occurs only in BrE. They are defined as a union of three vowels (letters or sounds) pronounced in one syllable. Most common mistakes made by Italians Focus on vowel sounds - Vowel raising (spiderman) - Vowel lowering (batman) - Vowel shortening (sheep) - Vowel insertion - Pure vowels vs. diphthongs (low vs. law) - Falling vs. falling and rising diphthongs (year/Ian, cui/qui) = the 8 English diphthongs are all falling SEMI-VOWELS or SEMI-CONSONANTS Semi-vowels = articulation of a vowel (like vowels > no obstruction), but shorter in duration. Semi-consonants = treated as consonant in syllabication/syllabification. /j/ and /w/ are peculiar sounds in that they behave both like a vowel and like a consonant: they are vowel-like sounds in that the air flow is never obstructed, but the aperture through which it passes is smaller than the aperture of any vowel. They are consonant-like sounds in that, in forming words, they appear in positions where consonants normally appear. For this reason, they are usually called semi- consonants or semi-vowels. /j/ and /w/ are both voiced sounds, /j/ is alveo-palatal (= the tongue moves toward the alveolar ridge and the palate); /w/ is bilabial (= it requires the rounding of the lips) and velar (= the back of the tongue rises toward the velum). /j/ and /w/ are shorter in duration than, for example, /i:/ and /u:/. - /j/ is a palatal voiced sound, as in yes, new, music - /w/ is a labial-velar voiced sound, as in west, why, quick, language, -one NOTE: /w/ and /j/ + VOWELS!!! ACTIVE AND PASSIVE ARTICULATORS Active = the organs that move Passive = the target of the articulation (the point toward which the active articulator is directed) FREQUENCY = the speed of vibration of the vocal cords. ENERGY OF ARTICULATION Fortis and lenis distinction: - Fortis (strong) = voiceless (articulation is stronger and more energetic) - Lenis (soft) = voiced (less muscular effort) NOTE: applied only to stops (occlusive + affricative) and fricative. SECONDARY ARTICULATION - LABIALIZATION [w]= + lip-rounding - PALATALIZATION [j]= + raising of the front of the tongue toward the hard palate - VELARIZATION [ł]= + raising of the back of the tongue toward the velum - GLOTTALIZATION [?]= + reinforcing glottal stop - NASALIZATION [ã]= + nasal resonance through lowering the soft palate FROM SEGMENTAL TO SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY In order to understand suprasegmental features such as sentence stress and intonation, these features need to be considered together, in connected speech. Suprasegmental features are extremely important for successful communication. Indeed, they could be cinsidered more important than the correct pronunciation of the single sounds or segments. Segmental phonology = analysis of individual phonemes / SEGMENTS (consonant and vowel sounds) Suprasegmental phonology = - analysis of syllables (stressed and unstressed) - analysis of LARGER CHUNKS of sounds (phrases/utterances) – PROSODIC FEATURES While speaking about suprasegmental phonology, we’ll face with prosodic aspects like: 1. Stress 2. Pitch 3. Intonation 4. Volume 5. Tempo PHONOTACTICS = the study of the possible combinations of phonemes. From a phonological point of view, syllables are possible combinations of phonemes (e.g. consonant / vowel / consonant). A syllable is a unit of sound made of a nucleus (constituted by a vowel), the onset (before) and the coda (after) How do you identify syllables? By identifying the vowels | bite (2), textbook (3), chocolate (4) By identifying the vowel sounds | bite (1), textbook (2), chocolate (2) FROM PHONEMES TO SYLLABLES A syllable = a unit of sound which has a center with little/no obstruction to airflow (a vowel) and which is comparatively loud. Before and after the center, there may be greater/lesser obstruction to airflow and less sound.  = one obligatory vowel potentially surrounded by consonants. However, this word is pronounced in two different ways: in BrE you don’t pronounce the final /r/. According to the AmE pronunciation there is an onset, the nucleus and the coda. On the other hand, in BrE there is the onset and the nucleus, because/r/ is not pronounced. We can state that AmE has always a coda, while BrE sometimes doesn’t. Examples: a) A minimum syllable: a single vowel in isolation = , b) A syllable with an onset (a phoneme preceding the center of the syllable) = , c) A syllable with a coda (one or more phonemes after the center) = , d) A syllable with both an onset and a coda = The orthographic division of a word reflects the way a syllable is constructed in terms of sound. The most frequent syllable: - In Italian: CV structure (e.g. ) - In English: CVC structure NOTE: due to this difference, Italian speakers of English often add a vowel (approximately a schwa) after the final consonant in English. Consonant clusters = group of consonants which have no intervening vowel - INITIAL consonant clusters: 3 consonant-clusters are fairly limited (e.g. ) - FINAL consonant clusters: up to 4 consonant sounds are possible in final position CCCVCCCC NOTE: when we say a word in Italian, the way it is spelt and pronounced tells us if it comes or not from Italian. In English we can have a maximum of three consonant-clusters (e.g. strength). If we see a word which has five consonants, it is not English. RULES FOR THE ORTHOGRAPHIC DIVISION Intervocalic consonants - In Italian an intervocalic consonant (e.g. st in the word distante) tends to be part of the following syllable, in English it is part of the preceding syllable (open > o-pen). - If there are two consonants, you need to split them (distant > dis-tant). - When a word starts with two vowels, they compose the same syllable, unless there is a prefix. In that case you must split it up. OPEN AND CLOSED SYLLABLES - Open syllables: they are left “open” (= no final consonants) and there is one long vowel (or diphthong) at the end of the syllable (e.g. no, free, tea, you). NOTE: short vowels cannot occur in open syllables. - Closed syllables: they end in a consonant which “closes” it (e.g. promote or spoken). SYLLABIC CONSONANTS 1) /ə/ may be lied before /n/ or /l/ 2) Consonant absorbs vowel= consonant becomes syllabic 3) Syllabic consonants=weak 4) Short vertical line under the consonant Variation between strong and weak syllables in very noticeable in spoken English NOTE: in any conversation some words “stick out” as being more noticeable than others. In fact, it is normally a syllable that is prominent rather than a whole word WHAT IS STRESS IN A SYLLABLE? When I pronounce a stressed syllable, I need to make an effort, so that people understand which syllable is more prominent. In any conversation, some words stick out as being more noticeable than others. - From the production point of view, it involves greater muscular effort. - From the perception point of view, stressed syllables are prominent. You need to emphasize: LOUDER, LONGER and HIGHER. The schwa is never stressed, for this reason it is the most common sound in English. We can find the schwa anywhere that the vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) appear in weak syllables. 1) If the word is a two-syllable noun or adjective, the stress falls on the first syllable. For example: Pizza, Lazy, BOttle, QUIet 2) If a word ends in -al, -cy, -ty, -phy, or -gy the stress falls on the third from the last syllable. For example: geneOLogy, Logical, phoTOGraphy 3) If a word ends in -ic, -sion, or -tion, the stress usually falls on the next to last syllable. For example: atTRACtion, FUsion, BASic 4) If a word is a two-syllable verb or preposition, the stress usually falls on the next to last syllable. For example: beSIDE, aDAPT, reCEIVE Penultimate rule to mention is about syllabic consonants: 1. A schwa /ə/ can be elided before /n/ or /l/, just when it is present in the nucleus 2. Consonant absorbs vowel, as consequence consonant becomes syllabic 3. Syllabic consonants are weak 4. Short vertical line under the consonant De-stress: You keep the air in a more relaxed and weaker way. In English we have 2 stresses. The more prominent one is called “primary stress” (‘): the syllable after is prominent. The less prominent one is known as “secondary stress” (,). In English stress varies. Verbs vs. Nouns: Stress is an extremely important suprasegmental feature, partly because the meaning of words may change, if the stress is changed. Words such as ‘desert and de’ssert indicate different things. Similarly, words such as contrast and object become nouns when they are pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, whereas they become verbs when they are pronounced with the stress on the last syllable. STRESSED AND UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES The variation between strong and weak syllables is very noticeable in spoken English. In any conversation, some words stick out as being more noticeable than others. In fact, it is normally a syllable that is prominent rather than a whole word. When pronounced in isolation, all monosyllabic words are stressed, whereas polysyllabic words always have one syllable which is more prominent than the others. In fact, when we talk, we need to connect things. But there’s an exception: functionsl/grammatical words normally have weak forms (unstressed) when in context (e.g. “Bread and butter, nice but naughty”). When producing a stressed syllable, the four phonetic variables of intensity, vowel duration, pitch and vowel quality can be observed. We need to distinguish prominence and reduction. Indeed, a prominent syllable can be produced:  1. By speaking it more loudly (INTENSITY, volume) 2. By lengthening its vowel (VOWEL DURATION) 3. By marking its pitch (PITCH movement, or difference in height from unstressed syllables) 4. By contrasting it to another one where the vowel has been reduced (VOWEL QUALITY) = having a syllable in contrast to another one where the vowel has been reduced in value Vowels in weak syllable are shorter, of lower intensity and different in quality. Stress differs in AmE and BrE: In French loanwords (e.g. ballet, cafè, detail) AmE keeps the French stress on the final syllable, whereas BrE stresses the first one. Verbs ending in -ate (e.g. donate, migrate, vacate) are stressed on the first syllable in AmE and on the last one in BrE. The majority of words ending in -ary, -ery and -ory (e.g. commentary, category, dictionary) carry primary stress on the first syllable both in AmE and in BrE; however in AmE there is a full vowel in the penultimate syllable which introduces a secondary stress. On the other hand, in BrE the penultimate syllable has either a reduced schwa or it is not pronounced. Besides this, some words (e.g. capillary, laboratory) are stressed on the second syllable in BrE. The secondary stress typical of AmE emerges also in words ending in -ony (e.g. ceremony, testimony), in some words ending with -ative (e.g. administrative) and in many compounds (e.g. blueberry, raspberry) where BrE has only a primary stress on the first syllable. AmE has reduced the schwa in words ending in -ile (e.g. docile, fragile), whereas in BrE they are pronounced with the sound /aI/. WORDS AMERICAN ENGLISH STRESS BRITISH ENGLISH STRESS French loans Last syllable First syllable -ate ending First syllable Last syllable -ary, -ery, and -ory ending First syllable + secondary stress on First syllable + reduced or not the penultimate syllable pronounced penultimate syllable -ary, -ery, and -ory ending Second syllable -ony ending First syllable -ative ending Compounds ONE SYLLABLE WORDS When pronounced in isolation, not in connected speech, all monosyllabic words are stressed. Except for functional/grammatical words that normally have weak forms (unstressed). Bread and butter, nice but naughty WHAT IS CONNECTED SPEECH? Connected speech means that when we speak a language, words have some effect on each other. Connected speech differs from isolated speech. We do not always pronounce words completely separately with a neat pause in between. Connected speech is generated by the principle of the least effort: the theory that the “one single primary principle” in any human action, including verbal communication, is the expenditure of the least amount of effort to accomplish a task. Example: “in bocca al lupo”—> we don’t pronounce the /n/ between “in” and “bocca”. When these words are in isolation, we pronounce each letter clearly. Particularly when speaking quickly and casually, it is normal to simplify combinations of phonemes so as to minimize the effort of pronunciation. Then, when one syllable words are isolated, so not connected with the speech, they all are stressed, except of grammatical words, which are normally unstressed. The conjunction and, we need to stress it; when it is connected to the speech this is in some words cut out. ISOLATED WORDS vs. CONNECTED SPEECH To speak faster in connected speech, we use: 1. WEAK FORMS = syllable sounds that become unstressed in connected speech and are often pronounced as a schwa. We make some sounds weaker. Better than ever /ðæn/ (rarely used) /ðən/ “Many of the STUdents are GOing on vaCAtion toMOrrow” becomes “Many oftheSTUdents areGOing onvaCAtion toMOrrow” (= connected speech). This happens because of the ECONOMY OF EFFORT IN SPEECH = particularly when speaking quickly and casually, it is normal to simplify combinations of phonemes so as to minimize the effort of pronunciation. This is all based on the principle of LEAST EFFORT. You mustn’t pronounce all the syllables when in context. 2. ASSIMILATION = one effect of the economy of effort in speech: one sound (normally a consonant) is assimilated to a neighboring sound. We need a total assimilation (in which one phoneme takes on all the characteristics of its neighbor) or a partial assimilation. Assimilation means two sounds blend together, forming a new sound altogether. This often happens with /t/ and /j/ which make /tʃ/ and with /d/ and /j/ which make /dʒ/. For example: don’t you - dontʃu / won’t you - wontʃu / meet you - meetʃu. It can take place: - Forward = one phoneme affects the one following it, and it’s called PROGRESSIVE or PRESERVATIVE ASSIMILATION or LEADING ASSIMILATION - Backward = one phoneme affects the one preceding it, and it’s called REGRESSIVE or ANTICIPATORY ASSIMILATION or LAGGING ASSIMILATION It can also be BIDIRECTIONAL, and it’s called COALESCENCE. There are three different types of assimilation (they can co-occur): 1. Assimilation of place: Ratbag: the /t/ is replaced by /p/, which is bilabial and closer to the bilabial plosive /b/. 2. Assimilation of manner = occurs when two different manners of articulation influence each other to form a different type of manner of articulation. Indian pronounced as /‘ɪndʒən/. This is because the plosive /d/ combines with the approximant /j/ to form an affricate. Coalescence = special type of assimilation, said to be bi-directional. The plosives/t/ and /d/ can merge with the palatal approximate /j/ to form the affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. 3. Assimilation of voicing: VOICED > VOICED / DEVOICED > DEVOICED With plurals (banks vs. bangs), third person singular (wants vs. feeds), possessive S (Mike’s vs. Bob’s) and past (helped vs. rubbed).  3. ELISION AND LIAISON ELISION It occurs when a sound or syllable is omitted to facilitate speech = we take away sounds. A sound is eaten by other stronger pr similar sounds next to it. This often happens with a /t/ or /d/ sound. For example: next door = nexdoor. Wanna, gonna, gotta (AmE) = there is an elision of /t/ in want and to. Fast car = you omit the “t” > alveolar plosive in coda of syllable. Send them = you omit the “d” > alveolar plosive in coda of syllable. Dustbin = you omit the “s” > alveolar plosive preceded by consonant with same voicing. Send her the letter = /d/ in send not elided > alveolar plosive not followed by an /h/. In syllabic consonants: The schwa sound may be elided before /n/ or /l/. When a consonant absorbs a vowel, that consonant becomes syllabic. The syllabic consonants are weak, and they are represented by a short vertical line under the consonant. LIAISON It occurs when a sound in inserted to facilitate speech (two sounds join together). British English is non-rhotic (linking /r/ or Sandhi /r/), so the R: - Is pronounced before a vowel (e.g. red) and between vowels (e.g. around) = LINKING R (e.g. Where are Anna and Paul?). - Is silent after a vowel (e.g. bars) = INTRUSIVE R (e.g. We’re meeting in the bar on the corner). /r/ is pronounced even if not present in spelling particularly after /ɔ:/, /a:/, /ə/ and diphthongs ending in /ə/. EPENTHESIS = a word is inserted into a word to facilitate speech. Once /wʌnts/ Length /leŋkθ/ Something /‘sʌmpθɪŋ/ FROM WORD TO SENTENCE / UTTERANCE STRESS Coming back to dealing with suprasegmental phonology we start speaking about stress. The pronouncing stressed syllable, there are four phonetic variables that appear significant: 1) Intensity = by uttering a stressed syllable more loudly 2) Vowel duration = by lengthening its vowel 3) Pitch = by marking pitch on a syllable 4) Vowel quality = by having a syllable in contrast to another one, when the vowel has been reduced for example, to a schwa. Stress is important since it may change the meaning of the word, for example: contrast and object become first nouns when they are pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, whereas they become verbs when the stress is on the last syllable. We also talked about connected speech, in fact stress is related to entire sentences as well. They talk about sentence stress: 1. Lexical words need to be stressed 2. Grammatical words tend to lose their stress From word to sentence stress: Every polysyllabic word has a stressed syllable. Every sentence carries some kind of stress, which indicates an important information. Sentence stress: Many of the potential stresses of word stress are lost in connected speech. - FUNCTION WORDS: articles, auxiliary verbs, be, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions LOSS STRESS. - CONTENT WORDS: nouns, main verbs, adjectives, most adverbs are NORMALLY STRESSED. I HAVE to GO to SCHOOL By stressing and de-stressing syllables and words gives us rhythm = the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in speech. The interaction of syllabic timing with stress and syllable weight gives speech a perceived rhythm. Sentence stress is the basis of rhythm. STRESS-TIMED VS. SYLLABLE-TIMED LANGUAGES A stress-timed language = language where the stressed syllables are said at approximately regular intervals, and unstressed syllables shorten to fit this rhythm (e.g. English and German). Syllable-timed language = language whose syllables take approximately equal amounts of time to pronounce (e.g. Spanish and Japanese). Learners whose first language is syllable-timed often have problems producing the unstressed sounds in a stress-timed language like English, tending to give them equal stress. PITCH = variation in speech melody; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone. In normal speech we tend to use low pitch, whereas when we argue or we are enthusiastic we use a higher pitch. The higher the frequency (= vibration of the vocal folds), the higher the pitch (and vice versa). In order to analyze the pitch, there are two parameters: - Tone unit - Intonation TWO SIGNIFICANT WAYS IN WHICH PITCH FUNCTIONS = TONE AND INTONATION Tone unit is the basic unit for intonation analysis in English, we don’t deal with syllables anymore in the study of intonation. The tone- unit has one tonic syllable (stressed). INTONATION Intonation may express different meanings. There are five main types of tone: 1. The level tone (_), which indicates boredom and routine; 2. The falling tone (\), which indicates that there is nothing to add; 3. The rising tone (/), which indicates that there is more to be said; 4. The fall-rise tone (\/), which may indicate various uses such as limited agreement and hesitancy; 5. The rise-fall tone (/\), which indicates strong feelings of approval, disapproval, surprise or irony. Intonation = the way in which pitch rises and falls in speech. It is fundamental since it gives color to the speech and helps the listener understand the speaker. By many researchers, it has been discovered AmE tends to be spoken more slowly and more loudly than BrE, even the intonation of the former seems to be more level than that of the latter. These features are illustrated by the acoustic analysis done by the software Praat. Moreover, intonation has different functions: Attitudinal function: it conveys the speaker’s feelings and emotions, adding color to the words uttered Accentual/focusing function: it helps the listener perceive stressed words or syllables, making the most important part of the message clear Grammatical function: intonation helps the listener understand the grammatical structure of what is being said (e.g. difference between statements and questions can be intonational, not grammatical) Discourse function: the intonation used indicates whether information is either new or given Then, the last thing discovered in the theme of intonation is by Ladefoged. Who highlighted three normal intonations of AmE: 1. The one used in unmarked statements, like I’m going away (falling, raising and falling) 2. The one used in wh-question; the voice goes down. Eg. Where are you going? 3. The one used in yes-no questions; the voice goes up. Eg. Are you going home? Accentual / focusing function: It helps the listener perceive stressed words or syllables, making the most important part of the message clear. JACK will cycle to the restaurant tonight. Jack WILL cycle to the restaurant tonight. Jack will CYCLE to the restaurant tonight. Jack will cycle TO the restaurant tonight. Jack will cycle to the RESTAURANT tonight. Jack will cycle to the restaurant TONIGHT. If the speaker wants to emphasize part of the sentence, they will change the stress (highlighted). Grammatical function: Intonation helps the listener understand the grammatical structure of what is being said (e.g. difference between statements and questions can be intentional, not grammatical). Have you /finished? (QUESTION) vs. You’ve \finished. (STATEMENT) Finished? (vs. Have you finished?) You coming? (vs. Are you coming out tonight?) Discourse function: The intonation used indicates whether information is either new or given. She went to \Scotland. VOICE It is related to the vibration of the vocal cords in the larynx (voice quality = the various effects brought about depending on the state of the vocal cords). Voice Whisper Breathy voice Creaky voice VOLUME = how loudly or softly someone speaks. Normally something that cannot be controlled. TEMPO = the speed at which someone speaks. It can be a cultural thing, for example in NY tempo is faster than someone from California. Common mistakes made by Italians Focus os suprasegmental features Mind the orthographic division of words. It reflects the way a syllable is constructed in terms of sounds. Mind interference: mistakes are made because of the interference of the first language = selecting the Italian vowel sound system rather than the English one when speaking English. English spelling system does not reflect the pronunciation and vice versa. One of the most frequent mistakes made by Italians is vowel insertion. The most frequent syllable: - In Italian: CV (ca-sa, mi-la-no) - In English: CVC (bell) Due to this difference, Italian speakers of English often add a vowel (approximately a schwa) after the final consonant in English). English words, unlike Italian ones, often end in a closed syllable (e.g. David, wild, magic). In English, however, there are words which end with a vowel (e.g. no, free, tea, boy, you, tree). The difference between the Italian pronunciation of these words and the English corrects one is that in all those cases the vowel is a long vowel or a diphthong at the end of the syllable. In English, it’s impossible to have a short vowel at the end of a word. Basically, in Italian there is always the same stress. In English this doesn’t happen. “Beautiful” has the stress on the first syllable. Same with “dictionary”. Look at the difference in Italian: try to pronounce “bellissimo” e “dizionario”. Remember that sometimes speakers change their stress just because of the rhythm, especially while singing, and never consider only Italians as people who male mistakes. Even mother tongue speakers are used to it. Mind prominence vs. reduction! The difference is that there is a variation between strong and weak syllables, which is very noticeable in spoken English. Mind sentence stress, which is the basis of rhythm. Native speakers are fully integrated with stress and intonation, while non-native speakers use wrong rhythm, that may be worse than no rhythm. LANGUAGE VARIATION English is a Germanic language which belongs to the Indo-European language family. More specifically, it is a West Germanic language brought to Britain by the Jutes (from modern Jutland, Denmark), the Angles (from modern Schleswig, Denmark/Germany), the Saxons (from modern Holstein, Germany) and the Frisians (from modern Friesland, Netherlands/Germany) during the 5th and 6th centuries. The first wave of English speakers arriving in the United States of America reached Jamestown in 1607. These settlers were mainly from London, for this reason they brought their origins and their spoken varieties of English. For example, the loss of after vowels and before consonants, in words such as car or card. The second wave of settlers were characterized by non- rhotic accents too, came from East Anglia and reached Massachusetts Bay (1620). They, as the previous one, didn't pronounce /r/ after vowels, still a feature of people living in that area. The third wave arrived in Philadelphia, NY, New England and they were Scots-Irish, speaking an archaic form of Scots which was influenced by Irish English. This accent, differently from the former ones, was rhotic (/r/ pronounced), and had an important impact on the development of AmE. Three main waves of English speakers: 1. From southeastern England (1607) = non rhotic [English speakers arrived in Jamestown, establishing the first successful English colony near Chesapeake Bay (Tidewater Virginia)] 2. From east Anglia and Plymouth (1620) = non rhotic [Plymouth / Massachusetts Bay / Cape Cod Bay] 3. From Scotland, Ireland, Northern England and Germany (1724) = rhotic [Delaware, Philadelphia, New York and New England] NOTE: The Scots-Irish have a rhotic accent and had a relevant impact on the development of AmE. The Scots-Irish soon spread throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southern, Northern and Western US, where r-pronouncing is still present.  4. + the western < melting of the others (after the California Gold Rush in 1849) = the three streams remained distinct till the Mississippi River, giving rise to the South, the North; and the Midlands dialects lf the US, whereas the West area was created by the mixing of the other three NOTE: The first group of explorers who landed near Roanoke Island in 1584 soon disappeared. The first and second wave were non-rhotic, even though English was r-pronouncing during the early 17th century. The sound was, however, absent near London and gradually gained prestige until it became a marker of standard British speech. PLEASE NOTE: - The speech of Jamestown colonists resembled current AmE more than current BrE - BrE “has undergone a number of innovations which did not spread to once-remote America” The pronunciation of /r/ after vowels The pronunciation of the front vowel /æ/ From that moment on, four main dialects have been identified: 1. the Southern 2. the Northern 3. the Midland 4. the Western (created by the merging of the previous three which tended to move westward). The first three were largely influenced by the main waves of English speakers from Southeastern England and East Anglia (17th century), and from Scotland, Ireland, Northern England and Germany (18th century) and has remained distinct till the Mississippi River, giving rise to the South, the North, and the Midlands. With the beginning of the 20th century people from the north and the Midlands moved to the south influencing their language, so today it is rare to find people with a genuine Southern accent. Another phenomenon of immigration took place during the 19th century, when America saw a massive movement of people as a result of revolution, poverty and famine in Europe, especially Germans and Italians escaping from the 1848 revolution's results + Jews, fleeing from the pogroms of the 1880s. Moreover, it is most important tho highlight that not only England influenced AmE, but also: Spanish, French, Germans, Dutch and African. Nowadays one third of the population speaks AmE. So English, in general, has become the language of the world. English is spoken in many countries as a first language (USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia…). It is used as an official language in over 70 countries (Ghana, Nigeria, India…) where it has acquired some kind of special administrative status by being the primary medium of communication in domains such as government, the law court, broadcasting, the press and the educational system. Even though it does not have an official status, English has achieved a special role in teaching in over 100 countries. All this diffusion can be attributed to two main driving forces, namely Great Britain and the United States of America. - It was tanks to Britain’s exploration policy based on sending explorers to seek new trade that English speakers began to spread around the world. - The United States mainly because of the industrial revolution, which made it a worldwide superpower. An English linguist baptized as Crystal observed that the power of a language is made by the people who speak it. However, BrE has always gotten more prestige than AmE, since Great Britain has a long publishing tradition in textbooks and dictionaries. Nowadays, the situation has turned, since AmE has become the most spoken language, and what is commonly known as RP (received pronunciation, also called standard English) is used by only 3-5% of the population of England. Generally, people speak a variety of regional English, and standard English is required only in specific and formal situations, like newspapers. Although Standard English is widely understood, it is not widely produced. Only a minority of people within a country actually use it when they talk. What is the most spoken language? It is English if we count both native and non-native speakers (otherwise Mandarin Chinese id we count only native speakers). English is the worldwide language. A leading force in: - Politics: British Empire and the League of Nations gave a special role to English - Economics: Britain was the world’s leading industrial and trading nation. During the Industrial Revolution English was the language of the majority of leading scientists and technologists. London and NY became the investment capitals of the world - The press: the majority of the information transmitted along the telegraph wires of the world was in English - Advertising - Broadcasting: English was the first language to be transmitted by radio in 1920. It also happened with the public television 20 years later - Motion pictures: when sound was added to motion pictures in the late 1920s, it was English which suddenly became to dominate the movie world - Popular music: radios started to spread worldwide, as well as American and British singers and bands - International travel and safety: English has always been the international language in this domain - Education: English has become the normal medium of instruction in higher education - Communications: English was the first language which appeared on the web “There is no such thing as British English or General American English” (Ladefoged). “In both cases we are dealing with a wide spectrum of varieties of language, with vast variations in the pronunciation of individual sounds” (Tottie). A WORLD-WIDE SPECTRUM OF VARIETIES! American English (regional varieties), British English (regional varieties), Australian, New Zealand, Canadian, Indian, African, Asian, Itanglish, Chinglish, … ▪ BRITISH ENGLISH DIALECTS A language spoken by a community of people can differ according to: - Geographical location of speakers (diatomic variation) - Social class of speakers/ age of speakers / generation of speakers (diastratic variation) - Written vs. spoken language (diaphasic variation) By BrE, we mean: - Standard variety = language chosen by the community for formal situations; independent of regional variation - Dialect = variety of a language spoken at a regional level which has distinctive characteristics in terms of accent, grammar and vocabulary Above all, we can say that there are 17 different varieties of BrE. Standard British English: Written by educated speakers of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland Taught with an RP = accent that is adopted by a very small percentage of the population of England (5%) The Received Pronunciation is the reference model for English in England. It is considered the standard version of the language, because it has traditionally been the most described variety in dictionaries and books and is associated with the national broadcasting corporation (BBC), the public school system, and with the members of the upper and upper-middle classes. Generally, in RP every sound is produced very clearly, since there is the tendency to pronounce short /i/ in words which end in -y (easily, nobody). /t/ is pronounced very clearly, and it is never glottal. The following features are typical of more conservative RP: Speakers tend to use short /i/ sound on words that end in -y (mystery, nobody) /əʊ/ sound is articulated at the front of the mouth (nobody, goes) Speakers tend to smooth diphthongs into mono /t/ sound is not glottal NOTE: there is no hierarchy between varieties, whereas the terms “standard” and “dialect” can sometimes give this impression. The baseline for teaching English phonetics and phonology in Europe is traditionally RP (or NRP). How do varieties actually differ in phonetic and phonological terms? The variation concerns the pronunciation of consonants and vowels. This type of variation can be systematic (= part of the system, always the case) or distributional (= depending on the environment in which it occurs). English is the language shared by England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The term “Britain” now refers to England and Wales. An overview of the types of changes that occur: CONSONANTS (key features) - Rhoticity = the pronunciation of the approximant /r/. Variation of the /r/ is distributional. In RP /r/ is only pronounced before a vowel. In connected speech in RP, it can be introduced as a linking /r/, and can appear as an intrusive /r/ between words ending in a vowel and beginning with a vowel to facilitate speech. Rhoticity is a major distinguishing feature between RP and other British varieties (e.g. Scottish and Irish are rhotic). - Pronunciation of the alveolar plosive /t/. In many varieties, it becomes a glottal stop (?). - Pronunciation of the dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/, which in some varieties become labio-dental fricatives /f/ and /v/. VOWELS - One key change occurs in rhotic accents, with the loss of several diphthongs due to the pronunciation of /r/ (Scottish and Irish have fewer vowels because they are rhotic). - The long monophthong /a:/ is frequently replaced with the short front vowel /æ/. This occurs in practically all varieties of British English north of the Midlands, and it is chosen in international contexts. - The lack of the central vowel /ʌ/ in several varieties in the Midlands and in northern England. COCKNEY Cockney = someone born with the bells of St-Mary-le-Bow Church in London (i.e. place or area). Nowadays, the term is used to refer to a type of non-rhotic English, typical of workers in London. It has now far beyond spread the capital to become the main working- class accent of the East End of the city. a) H-dropping = the tendency to drop the consonant /h/ at the beginning of a word (e.g. hedge and edge = homophones). H- dropping is common, but not always realized. b) Glottaling/Glottalising of syllable-final /t/ = the alveolar voiceless plosive /t/ is pronounced as a glottal stop (or plosive) c) Th-dropping = the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ is often dropped in syllable initial position and replaced by the labiodental fricative /f/. Also /ð/ is often replaced by the voiced labiodental fricative /v/, when it occurs in intervocalic position. When the voiced dental fricative is at the beginning of a word, it can be still realized as /ð/. d) Vocalization of /l/ = when the lateral approximant consonant /l/ is in final syllabic position, or preceding a consonant, it is pronounced as a vowel ending with rounded lips, which can be transcribed either as /w/ or /ʊ/. e) Yod-dropping = dropping of the palatal approximant /j/ when it follows /n/, /t/ and /d/. f) Vowel shifts: the vowel differences from RP are very noticeable in Cockney. The vowel /ʌ/ is front and open; /e/ and /æ/ tend to be closer. The diphthongs /eɪ/, /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ sound like /aɪ/ or /æɪ/, /ɒɪ/ and /a:/. They can be described as wider diphthongs. ESTUARY ENGLISH = a variety from around London that shares many characteristics with Cockney (term coined in 1984 by Rosewarne). Estuary English is said to be a “compromise between RP and Cockney”, representing speech around London and the South East (spoken along London’s River Thames and its estuaries). It is a “variety of modified regional speech” and “a mixture of non-regional and local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation). Not all linguists agree that this variety exists. Some of its characteristics are the diphthong shift, t-dropping, yod-dropping and l-vocalization. Th-fronting is sometimes a feature, but not always. SCOTTISH ENGLISH - = one of the most difficult varieties to understand for non-native speakers. VOWELS ScotEng has fewer vowels than RP, because it is rhotic. Certain vowels do not exist in Scottish: /ɪə/ (as in beer) and /ʊə/ (as in tour). + /eɪ/ > /e/ There is a rule called the Scottish vowel length rule, which indicates that certa vowels are long before /r/, voiced fricatives (/v/, /z/ and /ð/ and at the end of a word. CONSONANTS 1. There are two pronunciations of the /w/, with ine being aspirated 2. The /r/ is oftern realized as an alveolar flap (the /r/ is thrilled) 3. Non-initial /t/ is often realized as a glottal stop /?/ 4. /l/ may be dark in all positions 5. There is a voiceless velar fricative /x/ which does not exist in other varieties NOTE: /x/ is a marginal phoneme in British English = a sound which is not part of the basic phoneme system of a language IRISH ENGLISH (standard: Dublin accent) The varieties of English spoken in Ireland are divided into two groups, depending on the socio-historical and linguistic factors. Planter English is the term which categorizes the varieties spoken by the descendants of the Scottish and English settlers sent to Ireland in the 17th century. Hiberno-English (HE) is the variety of English which arose among the native Gaelic-speakers as they made the language shift from Gaelic to English. One of the key features in varieties of English is the pronunciation of the /r/. Scottish, Northern and Southern Irish and North American English are all rhotic varieties. Since the varieties of English often have the same phonemes, but slightly different allophones, in a narrow transcription real differences are captured (e.g. dark /ɬ/ and clear /l/). The /r/ can be pronounced as an alveolar or post-alveolar approximant (RP), retroflex approximant /ɹ/ (HE and AmE) or post-alveolar tap or flap /ɾ/. HE pronunciation: VOWELS As HE is rhotic, the following diphthongs do not occur: a) “Dear”: /dɪə/ in RP | /dɪɹ/ in HE b) “Dare”: /eə/ in RP | /deɹ/ in HE c) “Tour”: /tʊə/ in RP | /tʊɹ/ in HE d) “Bird”: /bɜ:r/ in RP | /bɪɹd/ in HE Other diphthongs that are not part of HE are: e) /əʊ/ is pronounced as /o:/ f) /eɪ/ is replaced by /e:/ The following points represent variable pronunciation differences: g) Words such as path, dance may often have /æ/ rather than /a:/. The word many or anything may be pronounced with /æ/ replacing the /e/ h) There is also some vowel merging: /ʌ/ is replaced with /ʊ/ i) Words like book and cook may have a /u:/ rather than /ʊ/ j) Some words which have /ɒ/ in RP may have /ɔ:/ in HE k) /ɔ:/ in RP is replaced by /a:/ CONSONANTS 1. The /r/ is normally retroflex approximant 2. HE only has one pronunciation of /l/, which is always clear 3. Final voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, /k/ are released, aspired and without glottolization  4. The dental fricatives /θ/ and /ð/ are replaced by dental pronunciation of /t/ and /d/ = th-stopping 5. /t/ (and to some extent /d/) in final-syllabic position is typically realized as a weak or sibilant fricative (faith and fate = homophomes) 6. Some speakers add a schwa between consonantic sequences, such as /lm/ and /rm/ = epenthesis 7. Contrast between an aspirated ‘w’, pronounced in words beginning with wh, and a non-aspirated ‘w’ (/ʍ/) 8. NO h-dropping ▪ AMERICAN VARIETIES There are four major areas in the US, even if inside the same major areas there are even more varieties. Before English, in America they talked Indian because of the natives. The dialect variation in the USA reflects the differences which were first established in Colonial America by people coming from different parts of the British Isles. Four broad areas can be identified: 1. The Southern 2. The Northern 3. The Midlands 4. The Western SOUTHERN AMERICAN ENGLISH It is spoken in Alabama, Florida, Georgie, Kentucky, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and in parts of Arkansas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas und West Virginia. It is the most recognizable between the AmE dialects, but also the most negatively evaluated, since it is characterized by lengthened vowels. Characteristics that differentiate it from the other dialects: - The “Southern Shift”, characterized by eight vowel rotations (or shifts): 1) Deletion, or monophthongization, of /aɪ/ [hide = /ha:d/] 2) Reversal of /eɪ/, and /e/ centralization and lowering of the nucleus of /eɪ/ which moves towards the area occupied by the nucleus of /aɪ/ plus fronting and rising of /e/ toward the area previously occupied by /eɪ/ 3) Reversal of /i:/ and /ɪ/ = lowering of /i:/ and fronting and rising of /ɪ/ 4) Relative reversing of the position of the nuclei of the long and short vowels 5) Fronting of /u:/ and /oʊ/ 6) Chain shifts before /r/ in the back vowels - The pin-pen merger = the vowel sounds of the two words (/ɪ/ and /e/) merge when they occur before nasal consonants - Monophthongization = loss of the offglide of the /aɪ/ diphthong [five = /fa:v/] - /r/ dropping before vowels (except for Smokey Mountains and Memphis) - McDavid’s Law = /z/ becomes /d/ before a nasal consonant [isn’t = /ɪdnt/] - Post-coronal glides: words containing a coronal stop such as /n/, /t/, /f/, and sometimes/s/ followed by a high pack vowel /u/ have a glide /j/ like in BrE - Non-merging: distinction of cot and caught and of merry and marry - Merging of /u:/ and /ʊ/, /eɪ/ and /e/, /i:/ and /ɪ/ before Texas English seems to be combining features of Southern speech with other dialects. NORTHERN AMERICAN ENGLISH The following features mainly characterize Northern American English: - The Northern Cities Shift: is heard across the Northern US and is most strongly rooted in large cities. It helps to define the boundary between Northern and Midland AmE. If you change a vowel, then even the others will do the same. It can be summarized in six rotations: 1) The vowel of cAd moves to the position of the vowel of idEA 2) The vowel in cOd shifts forward so that it sounds like cAd 3) The vowel in cAWed moves down to the position formerly occupied by cOd 4) The vowel in kEd moves down and back to sound like the vowel of cUd 5) The vowel in cUd moves back to the position formerly occupied by cAWed 6) The vowel in kId moves back in parallel to the movement of kEd - The non-merging of words such as cot and caught - The dropping of postvocalic /r/ - The pronunciation of the vowel in words such as can’t, which is pronounced like in father MIDWESTERN AMERICAN ENGLISH The Midwestern United States (Ohio, most of Indiana, southern Illinois and Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and the western parts of Dakotas) are usually considered the home of General American, but migration caused a large extent of variation in terms of English varieties spoken there. Features of the Midland speakers: - A very strong postvocalic and which are more velarized and sometimes with the tongue tip raised - An intrusive /r/ (wash = warsh): especially among older midland speakers - The fish/feesh merger - The cot/caught (or low back vowel) merger: this merger can be found among younger generations in Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas - The pronunciation of /r/ and /d/ in New York City is done with the tongue touching the teeth rather than the alveolar ridge and the /t/ dropping in verbs ending in -ing WESTERN AMERICAN ENGLISH Although the Western area is the largest in the US, it is also the one which displays the fewest phonological features, due to the fact that this area is the most recently settled by English speakers, consequently, there has not been sufficient time to develop highly distinctive sounds. Even though not universally present in California, the California Vowel Shift is the most peculiar feature to California English. 1) /ɪ/ is raised to /i/ before /ŋ/, so king has the same vowel of keen; before other consonants, instead, /ɪ/ moves toward the vowel in hem, set, and bed, so that did sounds like dead 2) /æ/ is raised and diphtthongized to /eə/ or /ɪə/ before nasals, so ban is pronounced /beən/ or /bɪən/, whereas before /ŋ/ it may be identified with the phoneme /e/. Elsewhere/æ/ is lowered in the direction of /a/ 3) /ʊ/ shifts toward /ʌ/, so look, put, could sound more like luck (sometimes lick), putt (something pit), and cud (sometimes kid) 4) /ʌ/ shifts toward /e/ (also /ɛ/), so putt, but, rust, and bun sound like per, bet, rest and Ben; /e/ shifts toward /æ/, so bed, set and send sound like bad, sat and sand 5) /ɑ:/ shifts toward /ɔ:/, so cot and caught are pronounced without distinction (cf. the cot/caught, or low back vowel, merger above) 6) /u:/ (like in blue) and /oʊ/ (like in mope) are pronounced closer to the front of the mouth Typical feature of Utah English are the card/cord merger; the monophthongization of the /aɪ/ diphthong and the change of sime vowels before. In particular, these vowel changes concern /ɪ/, /eɪ/, /i:/ and /u:/: /ɪ/ and /eɪ/ become /e/ /i:/ changes into shorter /ɪ/ Long /u:/ changes into shorter /ʊ/ Portland English shares other characteristics with Western English, in particular Californian: The back vowel fronting in words like boot, book and boat Another typical feature of Portland pronunciation is the realization of the vowel which occurs before Use of a particular intonation pattern, known as up-speak, this makes the intonation of declarative sentences resemble that typical of questions Typical of Arizona English is: Pronunciation of so and dude which are more irony than in standard AmE The cot/caught merger and the similar pronunciation of words like filled and field THE CONCEPT OF VARIETY English has many varieties. NOTE: accents, and more generally varieties of a language, are not objective entities so much as mental constructs (Wells 1991). AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH - similar to BrE (cultivated) 1. Broad australian (everyday speech) > /h/ dropping 2. General australian (general)  3. Cultivated australian - Non-rhotic - /eɪ/ > /aɪ/ (like Cockney): today = to die - Close /e/ - Dark /l/ (like AmE and Scottish) - Eh as a tag question (like Scottish) INDIAN ENGLISH It is the most easily recognizable. CANADIAN ENGLISH - Rhotic - Flapped /t/ - Canadian rising: before voiceless consonants = /aɪ/ and /aʊ/ = OUT and ABOUT vs. AROUND AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH Ebonics (outside the academic community) AAVE is not a broken standard English. And over the next two centuries, hundreds of thousands more were brought over. But, while AAVE has some creole-like features, it is much closer to Standard English than Caribbean roles are. Pidgin = learned as a second language in order to facilitate communication. Creole = spoken as first language. LINGUISTIC VARIETIES: Sinchronic variation = it is about the same period of time Diaptonic variation = it refers to the place amd the region Diachronic variation = language changes through time o OD = old English (or anglo-saxon) o ME = middle English (the Canterbury Tales prologue) o EME = early modern English o ME = modern English Diastratic variation = it is about ages, sex and social classes, belonging to an high social class (especially in UK); having a specific accent is a status symbol, whereas in Italian the status symbol are the car, clothes, etc. NOTE: the same speaker can change the way he talks according to the context in which he is (when they talk to foreigners, to elderly people, to very young kids, etc.) Diatypic variation = it is linked to the register formal or informal. Nowadays languages are changing a lot, also because of the use of icons, which brought to problems like misunderstanding and also because they are killing out languages’ skills and knowledge Diamesic variation = the way we talk differs from the way we write, especially from the grammatical point of view. Spoken grammar is different from written grammar Mind this! Standard language: codified by rules, oficially regarded - Speech community = a group that uses any given language - Dialect = a subordinate variety of a language - Idiolect = personal reference Dialect = a form of variety of a language - Regional speech - More differences related to class, occupation, education (Acrolet = prestigious; Mesolect = socially in the middle; Basilect = stigmatized) AMERICAN ENGLISH VS. BRITISH ENGLISH Network / (general) use American English RP (= received pronunciation) / BBC use British English Received Pronunciation: - Coined in 1869 by the linguistic, Ellis - Became a widely used term to describe the accent of the social elite after the phonetician, Daniel Jones, adopted it for the second edition of the English Pronouncing Dictionary (1924) - Spoken in England, BUT: more sociologically defined rather than geographical defined - Queen’s English / King’s English DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AME AND BRE CONSONANT SOUNDS: 1. Rhoticity BrE does not pronounce the /r/ if it follows a vowel Influences two sounds: 2. Flapped /t/ In AmE there are /t/ flapping (when /t/ is between vowel sounds or after /r/ > you flap the /t/, which is voiced, instead of voiceless) In BrE it remains voiceless You drop the /t/ if you want to sound American FLAPPED T  T DROPPING 3. /l/ sound In BrE there are two types of /l/s = clear or dark In AmE there’s only the dark L VOWEL SOUNDS: There are three main differences: 1. Yod-dropping In AmE, you drop the y- after /d/, /t/, /n/ and sometimes after /s/ = /ju:/ and /u:/ 2. Cot-caught merging In AmE there are fewer sounds (in AmE cot and caught are pronounced the same) Mind the spelling 3. Frequent ash /æ/: /æ/ or /a:/ In BrE = before /r/, /f/, /s/ copio > is /a:/, otherwise is /æ/ In AmE = /a:/ before /r/, otherwise /æ/ Other differences: - Stress - Diphthongs DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRITISH ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH SPELLING DIFFERENCES LEXIS  GRAMMAR DIFFERENCES Past simple vs. Present perfect: - I just had lunch vs. I’ve just had lunch - I already saw that film vs. I’ve already seen that film - Did you finish your homework yet? vs. Have you finished your homework yet? NOTE: Recently the American use of just with simple past has made inroads into BrE, most visibly in advertising slogans and headlines. The following verbs have two acceptable forms of the past simple/past participle in both AmE and BrE. However, the irregular form is generally more common in BrE, and the regular form is more common to AmE Burn = burnt / burned Dream = dreamt / dreamed Lean = leant / leaned Learn = learnt / learned Smell = smelt / smelled Spell = spelt / spelled Spill = spilt = spilled Spoil = spoilt / spoiled Got got got / gotten Possession: Do you have a car vs. Have you got a car? While both forms are correct, have got is generally the preferred form in BrE, while most speakers of AmE prefer the have. Prepositions: LEARNING PROSODY WITH CRISTINA D’AVENA CORPUS DATA A CASE STUDY ABOUT SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES (chapter 6) Usually, the same speaker can vary the way they talk according to the context in which they are > VARIATION. We also change the way we talk depending on the type of feelings we have (e.g. baby talk: very young kids, animals,…). Baby talk exhibits specific properties across three linguistic dimensions: 1. Syntactic features: - Simplified sentence structures. - Repetitions and frequent use of questions. 2. Lexical features: - Use of diminutives. - Limited vocabulary with child-friendly words. 3. Phonetic-phonological features: - Exaggerated intonation and higher pitch. - Slower speech rate and clearer articulation. The affection or emotional connection Cristina D’Avena conveys depends on how she uses her voice – specifically, on her “baby talk like suprasegmental features”. Baby talk suprasegmental features: 1. Clarity and articulation (to be more understandable): - Words pronounced clearly for better comprehension. 2. Tonal range: - Wider pitch variation. - Higher frequencies and more modulation. 3. Pacing: - Slower speech rhythm. - Longer pauses between words. These features help engage the listener (both children and adults). How was her voice analyzed? By using: - Pitch = used to analyze where intonation is dynamic or modulated, variations in frequency (the more modulate is the pitch, the more involving the audio, the speech) – blue line - intensity = used to analyze the prominence of syllables, perceived as louder volume (the more intense we speak, the more the listener is involved) – green line Usually if the pitch is high, also the intensity goes up. Her voice was analyzed by some comparisons to Arisa’s (Magica, magica Emi + other songs). How does she use her voice? - A fixed pattern consisting of an initial surge, followed by an intonational peak, and then a subsequent descending pitch contour. - Frequent intonational peaks, without the initial surge, followed by a subsequent descending pitch contour (as in the examples due cuori, su dai racconta quello che tu sai, and son alti su per giù). - The Batman Effect (l’intonazione di Cristina contribuisce a conferire un’enfasi iniziale e una particolare dinamicità alla sua esecuzione). - An accentuated segmentation of syllables. Results and conclusions: 1. Pedagogical potential of cartoon songs for the philosophy of great educational values they promote (these songs have a lot of potential in terms of values): - Integration in educational context - Promoting positive values 2. Therapeutic effect of the singer’s voice: - Positive vibes = potential healing or therapeutic influence of the voice All this shows the importance and power of suprasegmental features. Cristina D’Avena manifesta una marcata diversità di intensità, enfatizzando e accentuando le sillabe in modo più incisivo ruspetto ad Arisa, che adotta un’intonazione più ondulata. Inoltre, è stata rivelata una notevole variazione nell’altezza tonale, che dimostra una variabilità, con frequenti movimenti tonali verso l’alto e il,basso, indicando un prominente livello di accentuazione delle sillabe e un notevole grado di enfasi sulle parole. THE REAL PROFESSOR(S) HIGGINS SECTION 1: “A PROFESSOR OF PHONETICS” Professor Henry Higgins = professor of phonetics in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion, who played a large part in the spreading of the profession of the phonetician. The main ideas and characters of the play are derived from the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. In Shawn’s Pygmalion, Mr. Higgins, who is a professor of phonetics who goes in the opposite direction from the rest of society, is able to transform Eliza Doolittle, a poor flower girl who speaks Cockney, into a duchess, by giving her speech lessons. The author wanted to criticize the society: the Irish playwright was very concerned about the English language and thought that the British society had no respect for it. Through Pygmalion (1912), which later inspired movies such as Pygmalion (1938) and My Fair Lady (1964), the figure of the phonetician, a linguist who studies language scientifically and whose existence is confined to the knowledge of very few people belonging to the field, emerged publicity for the first time. SECTION 2: “THE PIONEERS” HENRY SWEET (1845-1912) Henry Sweet is one of the greatest phoneticians of all time and is among the few scholars to have achieved fame in popular culture, even if accidentally. He was identified by Shaw for the role of phonetician Professor Higgins in his work. Both Shawn and Sweet were very aware of the need to cultivate the discipline of Phonetics in a more scientific way. He was born in London (1845) and his career was unconventional: he was and independent-minded and crusty British linguist, disappointed by the Academia. His interest in language was prodigious: it covered areas such as Old and Middle English, Old Icelandic, the history of the English grammar, Germany philology, shorthand, spelling, teaching English to non-native speakers, the history of phonology and phonetics. He ended up as a Reader in Phonetics at Oxford, although he had hoped for more prestigious teaching positions. His Handbook of Phonetics became a landmark of all studies of language. In his Preface, Sweet draws attention to the role of two linguists who provided inspiration for his work and contributed to the development of English Phonetics and Phonology. He criticized his contemporaries due to the way languages were taught he was convinced that educational practices had distorted a true undreamed of the form and structure of English and other modern languages. He favored the idea that new methods of linguistic description had to be scientific by being based on phonetics and on the observation of the actual existing forms of a language. He criticized the typographic and old approaches to the study of the English language. He wrote for a wider general public, to go against prejudice and conservatism. One of his contributions is the distinction in sound annotation. The two types commonly used nowadays are narrow transcription (phonetic or allophonic transcription) and broad transcription (phonemic), which recall Sweet’s Broad (= a broad distinction of sounds) and Narrow Romic (more scientific) distinction. The Philological Society (1830) is the oldest learned society in Great Britain devoted to the study of a language and languages. It was established in its present form in 1842. It has a particular interest in historical and comparative linguistics. Sweet was one of the two Britain’s greatest nineteenth century phoneticians, contributors to Transactions = journal of the Philological Society.  DANIEL JONES (1881-1967) Daniel Jones played a key role in the development and institutionalization of the study of phonetics in England. His capacity to analyze fine acoustic and articulatory made him a legendary figure in the history of phonetics. When started his career, Sweet was the best- known linguistic in England: Jones heard him lecture and asked him for private lessons. He travelled a lot and his travels to Europe made him fall in love with modern languages. He spent several weeks in Germany, where he met Tilly, who taught him the importance of phonetic training. In France he joined the International Phonetic Association and met Passy, who secured him a part-time lectureship in phonetics at University College of London. Daniel Jones’ role and reputation expanded: he built up the University College Department of Phonetics, and in 1911 he was named Britain’s first Professor of Phonetics. - He identified and systematized the eight Cardinal Vowels, and he was also interested in applying phonetics to the improvement of orthography. - He also invented a new concept of phoneme = more physical, born from the minimum theory, considering phonemes as families of sounds, each appropriate to a specific context. - He distinguished prosodic features from phonemes and coined the terms chroneme and toneme to denote differences in length and pitch. - He was very practical also for other reasons; for example, he invested time in scientific descriptions of his analysis by means of photos of his own lips movements, X-rays of his tongue positions, oscillograms of his voice, and in 1956 he recorded his pronunciation of the Cardinal Vowels on gramophone records. - One of his major works, the English Pronunciating Dictionary (1917), is still used nowadays. The Cardinal Vowels: Jones produced a lot of publications and transcriptions, offering accurate descriptions of the English language. One of his aims was to provide the learner with a scientific study of the English speech sounds and their distribution in connected speech. He identified and systematized eight Cardinal Vowels (photographed) as a technique for characterizing the vowel inventories of language and illustrated the speech sounds of English to give foreign speakers information needed to learn the language. The general idea behind this is that the vowels demarcate the articulatory vowel space that speaker have at their disposal. The English Pronunciating Dictionary: It has become a global classic reference, both for native and non-native speakers wanting an authoritative guide to the pronunciation of the English language. It was first published in 1917, and the last edition in which Jones was involved was the 12 th. The vowel and consonant sounds present in the EPD follow the instructions given by the International Phonetic Association. It is also worth highlighting that, although Jones contributed to the popularization of the term and notion of Received Pronunciation, he was strongly convinced that what makes speech good is only the speaker’s intelligibility, not the choice of the dialect. The International Phonetic Association: In 1886 the French linguistic Passy founded the International Phonetic Association (the current name was given in 1897). In the same year when the Association was founded, its journal was published under the name Dhi Fonètik Tîcer. The name changed in 1889 into Le Maître Phonétique, and later on it changed again into the Journal of the International Phonetic Association. The International Phonetic Alphabet: The IPA is a type of transcription (= “writing down a language in a way that does not depend on the prior existence of a writing system, whereas transliteration does”). There are many types of transcriptions which may vary: an impressionistic transcription, for example, will be narrow and allophonic, whereas a systematic one will be broad and phonemic. 1. Each symbol used in the notation should be restricted to one particular sound or sound class, and each sound should be represented by only one symbol. 2. The symbols used should be simple, but distinctive in shape, easily legible, easy to write or print, aesthetically pleasing, and familiar to the intended users. 3. If the transcription is to be pronounceable, the sound values of the symbols must be made clear, through a description of the ways in which the sounds are formed, or through recorded examples, or by key words taken from a language. 4. The symbol system should be expandable. Alphabetic notations, for example those which are based on the Roman alphabet, are based on the principle of having each segment represented by one simple symbol. However, there are other transcription systems which are not necessarily based on the Roman alphabet; the iconic transcriptions, for example, use iconic symbols to convey by their shapes the phonetic nature of the sound or group of sounds concerned. Some transcriptions can also be organic, meaning they suggest the organs of speech used to pronounce them. Although the IPA has always been the most widely used system for transcribing the sounds of a language, other alphabets have also been invented (e.g. the American Phonetic Alphabet). Some linguists have pointed out the importance of using the IPA, highlighting the importance of uniformity, which would help readers understand how to pronounce words more easily. PETER LADEFOGED He was a British phonetician who was born in Sutton, England in 1925. At Edinburgh he studied phonetics with David Abercrombie, who himself had studied with Daniel Jones and was thus connected to Henry Sweet. Ladefoged’s dissertation was on “the nature of vowel quality”, specifically on the cardinal vowels and they articulatory vs. auditory basis. His paper “Information conveyed by vowels” was particularly influential. In 1959-60 Ladefoged taught in Nigeria, the followings years he returned to Africa to do the work that resulted in “A Phonetic Study of West African Languages”. When not in Africa, Ladefoged was teaching at Edinburgh. Then he decided to move to America permanently. He joined the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), English department and he moved to the newly-formed Linguistics Department. He established the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory, which became the most prominent linguistic phonetics laboratory in the world. He was also asked to work as the phonetics consultant for “My Fair Lady”. During his career Ladefoged became a world-wide field linguist, he visited lot of places. Much of his fieldwork remains unique to this day. Many data collection ad analytic techniques in the field were originated or refined by him. In 1996, his book “Sounds of the World’s languages” summarized his knowledge of all the sounds he had studied. Peter Ladefoged loved laboratory phonetics, and instrumental analysis was always a key component of his fieldwork. He studied speech production in English speakers, from the electromyography of speech respiration to tongue positions of vowels to articulatory-acoustic modeling. Throughout his career he was interested in speech technology. His aim was to understand what sounds are possible in languages. His particular passion was the theory of phonetic features for representing phonological contrasts. Ladefoged instigated the International Phonetic Alphabet to expand in the early 1990s to include symbols for more sounds, he oversaw the preparation and publication of a new Handbook describing the principles behind the alphabet, and he worked to ensure that computers fonts of the alphabet would be widely available. His textbook “A Course in Phonetics” is the standard in phonetics. It has been one of the most successful textbooks in the field of linguistics. Peter’s legacies include more than his writings: they include the development of a teaching style and the creation of the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory. He was president of the Linguistic Society of America in 1978, and of the International Phonetic Association in 1985.  WILLIAM LABOV He is not a phonetician, but an American sociolinguist. He can be regarded as one of the most influential linguists of the XX century for the contribution he has made to the study of the sound of English language. His studies on language change and variation, his inclusion of social stratification and his methodology in data collecting have made him an original and influential figure who has been honored by the Linguistic Society of America and who has also been awarded various honorary degrees. Labov was born in new Jersey, in 1927. He first studied English and Philosophy at Harvard, then he studied at Columbia University and at least moved to the University of Pennsylvania in 1971, where he still is Professor of Linguistics and Director of the Linguistics Laboratory. He launched a survey of dialectal variation by interviewing some 800 people across the united States and Canada. The samples of speech recorded during these interviews constitute the database on which the Atlas of North American English is based. The Atlas of North America English is considered a standard reference work for sociolinguists, dialectologists, phonologists, phonet