Phonetics and Phonology (2016) - PDF

TRNAVSKÁ UNIVERZITA V TRNAVE PEDAGOGICKÁ FAKULTA PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY A PRACTICAL INTRODUCTION TO PRONUNCIATION AND TRANSCRIPTION Učebné texty Hana Vančová Trnava 2016 Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical Introduction to Pronunciation and Transcription Učebné texty © Mgr. Hana Vančová, Phd. Recenzenti: doc. PhDr. Jana Bérešová, PhD. PaedDr. Dagmar Rusková, PhD. Jazyková korektúra: James Overton-Fox Vydal: Pedagogická fakulta Trnavskej univerzity v Trnave Vydanie: prvé Náklad: elektronické vydanie Trnava 2016 ISBN 978-80-568-0009-6 Contents INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 5 1 Phonetics and Phonology – Key Concepts.............................................................................. 6 2 Physiological Aspects of Pronunciation – Articulation........................................................ 10 SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY................................................................................................ 12 3 Vowels................................................................................................................................... 12 /ɪ/ and /i:/............................................................................................................................... 12 /æ/ and /e/.............................................................................................................................. 14 /ʊ/ and /u:/............................................................................................................................. 15 /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/............................................................................................................................. 16 /ʌ/ and /ɑ:/............................................................................................................................. 17 /ɜː/......................................................................................................................................... 18 /ə/.......................................................................................................................................... 19 4 Diphthongs and Triphthongs................................................................................................. 21 /ɪə/ and /eə/............................................................................................................................ 21 /eɪ/ - /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/.................................................................................................................... 22 /eʊ/ and /aʊ/.......................................................................................................................... 23 5 Consonants............................................................................................................................ 25 Plosives................................................................................................................................. 27 /p/ and /b/.............................................................................................................................. 27 /t/ and /d/............................................................................................................................... 28 /k/ and /g/.............................................................................................................................. 29 Fricatives.............................................................................................................................. 30 /s/ and /z/............................................................................................................................... 30 /ʃ/ and /ʒ/............................................................................................................................... 31 /f/ and /v/............................................................................................................................... 32 /θ/.......................................................................................................................................... 32 /ð/.......................................................................................................................................... 33 /h/.......................................................................................................................................... 34 Affricates.............................................................................................................................. 35 /tʃ/ and /dʒ/............................................................................................................................ 35 Semivowels........................................................................................................................... 36 /w/ - /v/.................................................................................................................................. 36 /j/........................................................................................................................................... 37 Nasals.................................................................................................................................... 38 /m/ and /n/............................................................................................................................. 38 /ŋ/.......................................................................................................................................... 39 Approximants....................................................................................................................... 40 /l/........................................................................................................................................... 40 /r/........................................................................................................................................... 41 SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY................................................................................... 43 6 Syllable................................................................................................................................. 43 7 Stress..................................................................................................................................... 46 9 Intonation.............................................................................................................................. 59 10 Rhythm................................................................................................................................ 67 11 Other Aspects of Connected Speech................................................................................... 68 Assimilation.......................................................................................................................... 68 Elision................................................................................................................................... 69 Linking.................................................................................................................................. 69 Conclusions and Recommendations......................................................................................... 73 KEY TO THE EXERCISES.................................................................................................... 74 References................................................................................................................................ 91 Appendices............................................................................................................................... 93 INTRODUCTION Dear students, The material you are about to read was written, because the acoustic aspect of the language is not only essential for verbal communication, but it is also studied by the linguistic disciplines phonetics and phonology. The study of pronunciation in its essence is not only theoretical, but the correct use of speech sounds helps the speaker express their personality and identity. Besides academic texts, in his play Pygmalion G. B. Shaw tried to prove, that pronunciation and the way of speaking in real life can reveal the background of speakers and influence the overall impression the speakers make. The acoustic aspect of speech has been analysed for a very long time, starting in India in the 4th century BC, growing again after the development of technical devices in the 18th century. These days, the study of speech sounds heavily relies on technology, both in research and training. Since pronunciation is strongly dependent on the physiological possibilities of articulating organs, both disciplines – phonetic and phonology – are primarily descriptive, although each theoretician tries to discover crucial principles governing pronunciation. In the 20th century, Peter Roach reviewed the theory and published the English Phonetics and Phonology, which is the basis for this study material. All definitions, classifications and descriptions of terminology in this study material primarily reflect this academic work. Peter Roach uses the term BBC English, which he views as a modern pronunciation model for learners of English, as BBC which is a broadcaster available for observation and analysis for everyone, anywhere in the world. The study material consists of ten chapters providing a brief theoretical input on the following exercises to help you understand primary pronunciation problems for students. The examples used in the theoretical part aim at being original. Most attention was devoted to the phonemes unusual for our vocalic inventory (primarily vowels and diphthongs); less attention was paid to the phonemes known to the Slovak learners of English. There are exercises for all phonemes based on the so-called minimal pairs comparison (a practical demonstration of change in word meaning by changing one phoneme) preceded by the video instruction of a BBC pronunciation expert, that you should watch and follow. The exercises are similar to the ones in existing pronunciation practice materials. To check your answers, a key is provided at the end of the publication, or you should consult your answers with phonetic transcription from available dictionaries. The conclusive part of this material contains several useful tips for online practice materials. I wish you a very interesting read. Hana Vančová 5 1 Phonetics and Phonology – Key Concepts Humans communicate, share ideas and opinions, in two primary modes – written and spoken. The spoken mode (speech) usually comes first and people have to familiarize themselves with the sounds that help them share their ideas – the sounds carrying meaning. Some sounds have the ability to carry meaning, construct new meanings (to form words) when they are combined, and distinguish one word from another semantically when one sound is substituted for another (e. g. pen – pin). These sounds are called phonemes (Roach 2009). Phonemes are the smallest acoustic units carrying the meaning. We distinguish two basic types of phonemes – vowels and consonants (see Chapters 3 and 5). Every language has a unique set of phonemes (vocalic inventory). Every language can change or carry meaning. English has more than 40 sounds with the distinctive function. Some of those sounds are shared across most European languages; some of them are used specifically in English. These individual sounds (segments) are studied by the linguistic discipline called phonology (Roach 2009). It is divided into two sub-branches. Segmental phonology studies individual phonemes. Other qualities of sounds, which can be observed on longer sequences than one phoneme, are studied by suprasegmental phonology. The pronunciation features observable in higher units are called suprasegmental features (stress, intonation, rhythm). Phonemes are viewed as ideal sounds, pronounced in ideal conditions, primarily in isolation. When the sounds are combined, their quality can change depending on their environment without influence on the meaning of words. The sounds made in connected speech that do not change the meaning of words cannot be viewed as phonemes. The sounds which are just positional variants of phonemes (as their quality depends on their acoustic environment and their pronunciation is influenced by the previous or following sound) are called allophones (Roach 2009) and are studied by phonetics. Phonetics deals with speech sounds in terms of their production (articulatory phonetics) or perception (auditory phonetics) or transmission of sounds as sound waves in the atmosphere (acoustic phonetics). There are two main speech variations distinguished in standard languages – dialect and accent. The word dialect refers to the variation of a standard language concerning not only pronunciation, but also grammar and vocabulary. The word accent can refer to two phenomena in phonology – either a word used for word stress, or for the purposes of this course, the word accent refers purely to variation in pronunciation, which may be social or geographical (Roach 2009). A model of pronunciation is necessary in order to achieve comprehensible pronunciation for successful communication. There are several “standard” English pronunciation models, primarily distinguishable from each other due to the regional or social varieties of speakers. The phonemes and suprasegmental features analysed in this practice material are specific to the BBC accent, serving as the model pronunciation of this course. The term BBC pronunciation is used by Peter Roach (2009), who claims this model is the most frequently used in broadcasting, analysed in academic literature and dictionaries, and used in English language teaching. BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) is available worldwide (see Roach 2009). There are also other models of pronunciation discussed in academic literature, 6 such as Received Pronunciation (RP), which P. Roach views as “old-fashioned and misleading” (Roach 2009: 10). As has already been written, the English vocalic inventory consists of more than forty distinctive sounds (phonemes), but only 26 letters are used to write down these sounds. The International Phonetic Association therefore developed the International Phonetic Alphabet – the set of standard symbols used to transcribe the phonemes (see Appendix 1). These symbols will be used during this course for word transcription. Phonetics and phonology view words as a set of sounds and not as a set of letters. Sometimes a word contains more letters than sounds (e. g. listen – 6 letters, 5 sounds), or vice versa (e. g. six – 3 letters, 4 sounds). English spelling (orthography) is significantly different from the acoustic form of words. There are words with varied pronunciation and the same spelling (homographs, e. g. read /riːd/ – read /red/), or words that are written differently but we read them in the same way as another word (homophones, e. g. sun /sʌn/ – son /sʌn/). To distinguish the orthography of the words from their transcription, two sets of brackets can be used – square brackets [ ] which signalize the narrow, detailed transcription of a word; or slanted brackets / / signalizing broad, less detailed transcription. Exercise: 1. Make a chain of at least six words, starting with the first given word. Always change only one sound (phoneme) so that the meaning of the new word is always different. Do not change the number of phonemes. You can change the number of letters: Example: meet – feet – feel – peel – peace – seas – sauce – force – fierce – pierce – pears – fairs – furs, etc pet - ………………….………… - …………………………….. – ………………………….. – ……………….………….. - …………………………….. - …………………………..……. play - ……………………………… - ………………………….. - …………………………. – ………………………………… - ………………….……………… - ……………………... house - …………………………… - …………………………….. - ………………………… - …………………….………………. - ………………………………. - ……………………... make ………………………….. - …………………………….. - …………………………….. - ……………………………………….. - ……………………………… - …………………… bull - ………….…………… - ……………………………. - ……………………………….. - ……………………………………. - ………………………..…………. - ………………….. 7 2. Write the number of letters and the number of sounds (phonemes) in these words: black thing tall where right subtle should pneumonia knives psychology queen 3. Read the transcription and rewrite down words in letters of alphabet:  /tɪn/....................  /ɪnˈtelɪdʒənt/...................  /ˈteɪbl̩ /...................  /θɪŋ/...................  /hæt/...................  /tʃiːz/...................  /ˈsɪksti/...................  /ˈweðə/...................  /waɪf/...................  /ˈbɜːθdeɪ/...................  /ˈevri/...................  /əʊld/...................  /teɪk/...................  /aʊə/...................  /wɒt/...................  /fəˈnetɪks/................... 4. The transcribed words have two possible spelling forms. Rewrite the words in both forms by using the standard letters of alphabet and explain their different meanings or use them in your own sentences so that their meaning is clear. /miːt/......................................... /teɪl/......................................... /seɪl/......................................... /wiːk/......................................... /siː/......................................... /red/......................................... /sʌn/......................................... /pleɪn/......................................... /steər/......................................... /piːs/......................................... /stiːl/......................................... /wʌn/......................................... 8 /meɪd/......................................... /dʒiːnz/......................................... /njuː/......................................... /aʊər/......................................... /daɪ/......................................... /flaʊər/........................................ 5. Identify the misspelled words in the following text. Then write the correct words on the lines under the text. Compare the meaning of both words; a correct and an incorrect one: Last august, I walked bye the bus stop maid of glass and steal. I saw a ribbon with an announcement tide to the mettle witch pointed to the whole in the ground. There was also a mail cellar with a cart with different types of beats and some serial snacks. The celling mail told me that everything that he did not cell yesterday was waisted. The correct words:............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 2 Physiological Aspects of Pronunciation – Articulation The essential mechanisms of speech production are the speech organs that are necessary for phoneme articulation. Phonemes are the result of the articulatory organs work in the course of releasing the air from the lungs. Articulators are divided into four main groups. For detailed illustration see Appendix 3. A classification according to organs' function in speech production (Pavlík 2000): a) respiratory organs – lungs, trachea b) phonatory apparatus – vocal folds (cords) c) resonators – oral cavity, nasal cavity, pharyngeal cavity d) modulating organs: fixed – teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate (palatum) mobile – lips, tongue, soft palate (velum), uvula Respiratory organs help to inhale and exhale oxygen out of the body. The air stream escaping the lungs passes through the trachea and is voiced by the vibrating movement of a pair organ – vocal folds (cords). The air passing through the glottis (the opening between the vocal folds) is voiced, continuing through the pharyngeal cavity divided into two endings, to either the oral or the nasal cavity, and then continuing out of the body. The air stream can continue freely (making vowel sounds) or by passing an obstacle (making consonant sounds). The vowel sounds are made by raising the tongue horizontally and vertically without making any obstacle either by the tongue or any other articulatory organs – the air stream escapes freely from the oral cavity. Obstacles to the air stream are made by the movement of mobile articulators against each other (e. g. lips pressed together) or mobile articulatory organs against the fixed ones (usually the tongue touching the teeth, the alveolar ridge or the hard palate; or the upper lip touching the lower teeth). The products of these movements in speech are consonants. The tongue, the biggest articulator consisting from muscular tissue, has the ability to move both horizontally and vertically. It can be divided into several parts: tip, front, back, root and blades (sides). Exercise: Read these anonymous tongue twisters. Which articulating organs are you using the most? Why are these tongue twisters difficult to read? 10 She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could chuck wood. Betty Botter bought some butter but she said this butter's bitter. If I put it in my batter it will make my batter bitter, but a bit of better butter will surely make my batter better. So she bought a bit of butter better than her bitter butter. And she put it in her batter and her batter was not bitter. So t'was better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter. (Adapted from Waters 2000: pp. 2-7) 11 SEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY 3 Vowels As mentioned in the previous chapter, vowels are sounds made by modulating the air stream leaving the lungs through the oral cavity freely, without any obstacle. The modulation is provided by changing the size of the oral cavity, the degree of roundness of the lips (rounded, unrounded, neutral or spread position) and above all, the movement of the tongue horizontally and vertically in the oral cavity. Each vowel sound requires the articulating organs to be in a specific position for its production. Once the articulators assume the position for articulation of the vowel, they do not change. This causes the vowel sound to always have the same quality and sound the same in the course of the whole articulation. Due to the static position of the articulating organs, vowel sounds are viewed as “pure” (Roach 2009: 25). The position of the tongue in articulating the vowel sounds can be identified by the analysis of the four- sided diagram in Appendix 4. There are 12 vowel phonemes unique to the BBC vocalic inventory. Each of these sounds differs from the others in quality (they sound different) and manner of articulation (the articulators assume a specific position). There are vowel sounds in BBC English similar to cardinal vowel sounds (vowels found in most vocalic inventories of European languages) and there are sounds unique to BBC English. English vowels are divided into relatively short (lax) and relatively long (tense) sounds. This length (quantity) is only viewed as relative, because vowels are rarely produced and used in isolation; therefore their quantity is influenced by the quality of the previous and the following sounds. Under certain circumstances, long vowels can be shortened and short vowels can be extended (Roach 2009). The vowel sounds are phonemes and in combination within larger units, such as syllables, they serve as centres of syllables. They can also form syllables on their own. In the next part of this chapter you will find a theoretical description of the phonemes, a link to a video demonstrating the articulation of the individual vowels and exercises based on contrasting a particular vowel to the sound which is most similar to it in terms of its manner of articulation and the articulating organs engaged. Click also on the link where you will find more words containing a vowel and its contrast. For the vowel diagram, see Appendix 4. Individual vowel phonemes /ɪ/ and /i:/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /ɪ/ click here and for /i:/ click here 12 The difference between these two vowel sounds is not only in their quantity (length) but also in their manner of pronunciation. /ɪ/ - relatively short, front, half-close /i:/ - relatively long, front, closed Exercise: 1. Underline the words containing /i:/: police – dinner – leave – many - pizza – donkey – give – niece – fill – people – English – nominee 2. Fill in the gaps these words: /ˈpɪti/, /ˈiːvnɪŋ/, /ˌdʒæpənˈiːz/, /spəˈɡeti/, /ˈwɒl.ɪt/, /ˈdɪnər/, /ɪˈtæljən/, /ˈθɪətə/, /pəˈliːs/, /θiːf/, /mɪəl/ Liz: Where did you eat your ………………. yesterday …………………… with Jill? Peter: I had pizza and Jill had ………………. in the new …………….. restaurant. Liz: Did you like the ………... ? Peter: The meal was not good and some ……………… stole my wallet as we were leaving for the …………………… to see the new play. Instead, we spent the night at the ……………………. department. Liz: What a ……………..! Next time try some ……………….! 3. Underline the correct word from these clues. Write the correct phonetic symbol next to the correct word: a) buy some milk, will you buy one litre or one litter? b) say your washing machine is broken, is it leaking or licking? c) make some secret plans, will you scheme or skim? d) listen to the music, will you listen to the lead singer or lid singer? e) smile at someone, will you green or grin? 13 /æ/ and /e/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /æ/ click here and for /e/ click here /æ/ - relatively short, front, half-open /e/ - relatively short, front, half-open 1. Two words in each line have the same vowel sound – /æ/ or /e/ – but one has a different vowel sound. Underline the word with the different vowel sound in each line. a) shall, medley, lattice b) kettle, sect, flax c) handymen, mailman, caveman d) salary, access, reddish e) gnat, plaid, Kenyan 2. Divide the names of body parts according the sound you pronounce /æ/ or /e/: head, neck, chest, back, abdomen, leg, ankle, instep, elbow /æ/ …………………………………………………………………………………………… /e/ …………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. Add the suffix -man or –men to the words according to the meaning of the sentences and fill in the gaps. Check the pronunciation of the words in a dictionary: cave-, camera-, mail-, chess-, fire- a) I saw some …………………………………. playing chess. b) The ……………………………………….. was filming his first film. c) The ………………………………… delivered my parcel. d) Do you like the new film about the brave ………………………… from New York? e) The scientist published an article about the Neanderthal family of ……………………. 14 /ʊ/ and /u:/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /u:/ click here and for /ʊ/ click here /ʊ/ - relatively short, back, closed /u:/ - relatively long, back, close, The difference in articulation is not only in the quantity, for closer inspection compare the vowel sounds in the chart (Appendix 4) Exercise: 1. Use the words in the sentences so that the meaning of the words is clear from your sentence example. If necessary, check the meaning of the words in dictionary: /suːt/ ………………………………………………………………………….………….. /puːl/ ………………………………………………………………………………………. /kʊd/………………………………………………………………………………………. /ˈlʊkə/ ……………………………………………………………………………………… 2. When the letter “u” is read as /ʊ/? Underline the words: bull, bunny, bush, full, fun, husband, plum, push, rude, pull, sugar, sun, ugly, umbrella, utter 3. In which of these words is the phoneme /u:/? blue, fool, foot, look, school, scooter, shoe, soup, should, touch, true, turn, up 4. Fill in the gaps with the following words: /tʃuːɪŋ/, /suːp/, /huː/, /bʊk/, /pʊt/ a) The …………………. he gave you is in the box. b) Do you know ………….. won the competition? c) Stop ……………… the pencil! d) I always ………………. the new recipes into my notebook. 15 e) If you are cold, you should eat some ……………. /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /ɒ/ click here and for /ɔ:/ click here /ɒ/ - relatively short, back, open /ɔ:/ - relatively long, back, half open The difference in articulation of these sounds is not only in their quantity. For closer inspection compare the vowel sounds in the chart (Appendix 4). Exercise: 1. Find the /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ words from these clues. What do the other words mean? a) /bɔːd/ - you have nothing to do – bored or board ……………………….. – b) /kɔːd/ - you have just made a sound like a bird – cawed, chord or cored? ……………………….. – c) /kɔːt/ - you stole something and the police – caught you or court you? ……………………….. – d) /wɒt/ - the unit of the electricity – watt or what? ……………………….. – e) /sɔːd/ - you have had a quick success, have you – soared or sword? ……………………….. – 2. Put these /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ words in the text: /ˈkɔːnə/, /ˈdɔːtə/, /dɒɡ/, /bɒks/, /ˈɡɔːdʒəs/, /ˈtʃɒklət/, /dɔː/, /flɔː/, /klɒk/, /ˈhɒlɪdeɪ/, /ˈwɔːtə/, /fɔː/, /ˈpɔːtʃəɡəl/, /θɔːt/, /ʃɒp/, /ˈkɒfi/, /bɔːt/ Welcome to our house, Aunt Paula. This is my…………... sitting in the …………. The ……… is sitting on the wooden ……….. next to her. There is a ………….. on the table and a shoe ……… under the piano. I ………… them both in a duty free …………. during our 16 ……………. in ………….. because I ………… they were comfortable and ……………….. Now it is half past three and my husband comes home at ……………... I am going to boil some …………… for …………… The …………….. is ticking! /ʌ/ and /ɑ:/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /ʌ/ click here and for /ɑ:/ click here /ʌ/ - relatively short, half-open, back /ɑ:/ - relatively long, open, back Exercise: 1. Divide the following words that have /ʌ/ and /ɑ:/, then put them in the correct line according to the sounds they contain: branch, bus, cup, dramas, karmas, mother, number, psalms, shark, umbrella, uncle /æ/ …………………………………………………………………………………………… /ʌ/ ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 2. Two words in each line have the same vowel sound – /ʌ/ / or /ɑ:/ – but one has a different vowel sound. Underline the word with the different vowel sound in each line. a) half, double, master b) hush, calf, hut c) understand, brother, last 3. Put these /ʌ/ and /ɑ:/ words in the dialogue. /ˈkʌləz/, /maθs/, /ɑːnt/, /ˈmʌndeɪ/, /klɑːs/, /ˈmʌðə/, /dɑːns/, /ˈbrʌðə/, /ˈrʌnɪŋ/, /bʌs/, /frʌnt/, /mʌnθ/, /ˈsuːpəˌmɑːkɪt/, /təˈmɑːtəʊz/, /ˈɑːnsə/ Last ……….., my …………… was waiting for me after ……….. in ………. of my ……….. school. Usually I go home by ……………. We were going to buy some ……………… in our local ……….………. when my ………… called. We did not ……….., because we were 17 …………… out of time. I had to study …………. for Tuesday. I also bought some water ……….. for the painting I am making for my ………... It is his birthday next …………….. /ɜː/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /ɜː/ click here /ɜː/ - relatively long, central, half-close, half-open Exercise: 1. Put the words below in the correct line according to the vowel sound they contain: blood, caught, circle, concert, fir, forced, four, furry, further, herd, horse, insert, mercy, mortal, occurred, pall, recurred, secular, stirred, sturdy, summon, swell, urban, word /ɜː/ …………………………………………………………………………………………. /ʌ/ ………………………………………………………………………………………….. /e/ ………………………………………………………………………………………….. /ɔ:/ …………………………………………………………………………………………. 2. Put these /ɜː/ words in the dialogue: /ˈsɜːkjələ/, /dɪˈzɜːt/, /pɜːl/ , /ˈbɜːθdeɪ/, /θɜːst/, /ˈɜːli/, /ˈθɜːzdeɪ/, /hɜːd/, /prɪˈfɜː/, /wɜːk/ Berta: It was Jane's ……………… last …………. I ……… today at……….. in the morning. Bern: Will you buy her a present? Those freshwater ………….. earrings, or do you ………….. the necklace with the …………..… pendant? Berta: I will leave the work ………….. and I will inform you. Bern: Shall I buy her also a ……………….. ? Berta: Buy ……………. muffins for all and for …………….. some water. 18 3. What is it? Find the /ɜː/ words from these clues and write them down. a) /ˈstɜːdi/ …………………. strong and solid b) /tɜːf/ …………………. land with grass c) /ˈsɜːkjələ/ ……………….. shaped like a circle d) /ˈsɜːmən/ ………………… a talk on a religious subject e) /ˈɜːbən/ …………………….. related to a city or a town /ə/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /ə/ click here /ə/ is a central, half-open and half-closed vowel sound, which is always reduced and never stressed. It is the most frequently used vowel sound in BBC English. Further use of /ə/ is discussed in Chapter 7. Exercise: 1. Read the text. Identify where /ə/ is read. The English have no respect for their language, and will not teach their children to speak it. They spell it so abominably that no man can teach himself what it sounds like. It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him. German and Spanish are accessible to foreigners: English is not accessible even to Englishmen. The reformer England needs today an energetic phonetic enthusiast: that is why I have made such a one the hero of a popular play. (From Preface, G. B Shaw – Pygmalion) 2. Read aloud the following expressions. Pronounce the /ə/ sound carefully:  a bag of sweets  a bowl of soup  a barrel of beer  a bucket of water  a basket of fruit  a can of soup  a bottle of water  a carton of milk  a box of cereals  a case of wine 19  a crate of apples  a pack of cards  a cup of coffee  a pot of soup  a flask of hot water  a sack of potatoes  a jar of pickles  a tin of sardines  a jug of lemonade  a tube of toothpaste  a mug of hot chocolate  a tub of ice cream 20 4 Diphthongs and Triphthongs Diphthongs are vowel phonemes which are not pure – the articulating organs move during their production, resulting in the production of two vowel sounds. The movement is gradual and gliding, and is performed within a single syllable (Roach 2009). Diphthongs are found at the centres of syllables and can stand on their own. There are eight diphthongs unique to the BBC English vocalic inventory. Graphic representation of the diphthong articulation can be found in Appendix 5. The combination of the vowel sounds /ui/ does not result a diphthong, because the sequence of two vowel sounds is not realized within one syllable (e. g. /flu.id/, /dru.id/, /altru.ist/). The quantity of diphthongs is equal to the quantity of long vowel sounds. The length of the first sound is ¾ of the length of the whole diphthong. The first sound is also stronger and louder than the second sound (e. g. eye, Roach 2009: 23). Depending on the second sound (direction of the movement), Roach (2009) divides the diphthongs into two groups – centring and closing. Closing diphthongs end in the closing vowel sounds (/i/ and /ʊ/), and centring diphthongs end in schwa /ə/. Triphthongs are made by adding the schwa element at the end of closing diphthongs. They are the most complex vowel phonemes in BBC English. They are difficult for learners of English to recognize and also to learn their distribution. They occur mostly in the vocalic inventories of non-rhotic variations of English such as BBC English, where /r/ is not pronounced at the end of words or syllable boundaries. In the next part of this chapter you will find a theoretical description of the phonemes, a video demonstrating the articulation of the diphthongs and exercises based on contrasting diphthongs to the sounds which are the most similar to them in terms of the manner of their articulation and the engaged articulating organs. Click also on the link where you will find more words containing the diphthongs and their contrast. /ɪə/ and /eə/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /ɪə/ click here and for /eə/ click here Two of the centring diphthongs, the first part is the starting point, the second sound is the direction of the movement Exercise 1. Put these transcribed words in the sentences below: /ˈeəri/, /hɪə/, /reə/, /peəz/, /teə/, /bɪə/, /hɪə/, /steəz/, /kəmˈpeərɪŋ /, /kleə/, /beə/, /tɪə/ 21 a) Let's have a picnic, I have some ………… in the fridge! b) Did you cry? You have some …………………. on your cheek. c) The …………………… are so steep! d) It is too cold outside to have ……………………. legs. e) This room is so sunny and ………………………. f) The diamonds are very …………………….. in nature. g) Did you …………………………… the noise outside? h) Two kilos of ……………………., please! i) ………………….., come ……………………! j) It is like ………………….. apples to oranges. 2. Two words in each line have the same diphthong sound – /ɪə/ or /eə/ – but one has a different diphthong sound. Underline the word with the different vowel sound in each line. a) air, heir, ear b) stair, stare, steer c) hair, here, hear d) fair, fare, fear e) pare, pear, pier /eɪ/ - /aɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /eɪ/ click here, for /aɪ/ here and for /ɔɪ/ here These are three closing diphthongs. The first part is a starting point, and the second sound is the direction of the movement. By adding /ə/ element, they can be transformed to triphthongs. Exercise: 1. Write the appropriate /eɪ/, /aɪ/ or /ɔɪ/ diphthong symbol at the end of words in the text: 22 One day in Jul/…/, a b/…/ saw a pl/…/ne fl/…/ing in the sk/…/. The pl/.../ne was very h/…/. He p/…/nted at the pl/…/ne and shouted in a h/…/ v/.../ce: “That pl/…/ne is gr/…/t!” He enj/…/ed the fl/…/ght and wanted to b/…/ one as well. Then the r/…/n c/…/me. The b/…/ ran into the house and put some cr/…/ons and p/…/per on the t/…/ble. The drew /…/ght pla/.../es and spent a lot of t/…/me tr/…/ing to m/.../ke them perfect. When his parents c/.../me home, th/…./ brought him a new g/…/me with pl/…/nes. 2. Rewrite the /eɪ/ - /aɪ/ - /ɔɪ/ words from Exercise 1 and then put them in the correct column. /eɪ/ – ……………………………………………………………………………………....... /aɪ/ – ……………………………………………………………………………………….... /ɔɪ/ – ………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. Add an /ə/ element to these words with diphthongs and practice the correct triphthong pronunciation. Write the words down on the lines below. Underline the triphthong written in letters: /baɪ/, /ɡəʊ/, /haɪ/, /leɪ/, /ləʊ/, /məʊ/, /peɪ/, /pleɪ/, /sləʊ/ ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… /eʊ/ and /aʊ/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /eʊ/ click here, for /aʊ/ here These are two of the closing diphthongs. The first part is a starting point, and the second sound is the direction of the movement. By adding a /ə/ element, they can be transformed to triphthongs. Exercise: 1. Put these diphthong /eʊ/ and /aʊ/words in the text below. /haʊ/ (2x), /vaʊəlz/, /ˈlaʊdli/, /maʊθ/, /ˈvɪdiəʊz/, /saʊnd/, /ˈsləʊli/, /raʊnd/, /kləʊzd/, /faʊnd/, /ʃəʊ/ ……………. to make a perfect English ………….? At first, you must speak …………… and your ………………. cannot be ………………. You should speak …………. and clearly. Some 23 …………… and consonants are made, when your lips are ……………….. If you …………… this instruction difficult, there are …………. which ……………. you ……………. to do it. 2. Two words in each line have the same diphthong sound – /eʊ/ or /aʊ/– but one has a different diphthong sound. Underline the word with the different diphthong in each line. a) so, lost, comb b) tow, tall, somehow c) most, mould, cost d) show, mouth, shout e) mice, mouse, mine 24 5 Consonants Consonants are those phoneme sounds “which do obstruct the airflow” (Roach 2009: 20) by placing either a complete or a partial obstacle to the air stream leaving the lungs through the oral or nasal cavity, depending on the position of the soft palate. The majority of consonants are made when the soft palate is raised and an obstacle formed by the contact of mobile articulators with stable ones. These sounds are traditionally called oral sounds. There is a special group of consonant phonemes called nasal sounds, which are made by lowering the soft palate and allowing the air stream to leave through the nasal cavity (nose). Consonants are distributed (used) at the edges of syllables, i. e. either in the initial or final position. They rarely form syllables (e. g. Hm!). However, some consonants are rarely or never used at the beginning of English words (e. g. /ʒ/), or at the end of words (e. g. /h/; Roach 2009). Consonants can be classified according to various criteria. A comprehensive table of the consonant classification is available in Appendix 6. For the purpose of the phonetic analysis of text, we selected the three most significant criteria as identified by Roach (2009). According to manner of articulation (the way the phonemes are made, consonants can be realized by various articulating organs), Roach (2009) identifies and describes the production of: a) Plosives which are non-continuants and sometimes called stops (Crystal 2010). They are made in several stages: 1. creating the total obstruction of the air stream (closing phase), 2. holding the air stream behind the closure (compression phase) 3. releasing suddenly the air stream from behind the obstacle (release phases), 4. accompanying the pronunciation of the sounds /p/, /t/ and /k/ by audible aspiration (post-release phase), unless they are preceded by /s/, when they lose their aspiration. b) Fricatives which are made by forming a narrow passage to the air stream and a slow separation of the articulators from one another. They are continuants; they can be made as long as possible. c) Affricates pronounced in two stages – they start as plosives and end in fricatives. The affricates are only made by homorganic phonemes, i. e. they are made by the same set of articulators. There are the palato-alveolar /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. Also in the transcription, the symbols consist of two symbols which can also be used individually. 25 d) Laterals are created by placing an obstacle in the middle of the oral cavity and the air stream escaping along the sides (latera) of the tongue. e) Approximates are made by the positioning of articulators close to the other articulator (proximity), but never really making the full contact. f) Glottal sound is made in the glottis, the opening between the vocal folds. g) Semivowels are made as vowels (no obstacle to the air stream), but are used as consonants (as edges of syllables). h) Nasals are made by lowering the soft palate to touch the back of the tongue, allowing the air stream to escape through the nose. For all other phonemes in English, the soft palate is raised. According to place of articulation (articulation organs are engaged in pronunciation in different manners) Roach (2009) recognizes the consonants that are: a) bilabial – the lips moving against each other b) labiodental – the upper lip touching the lower teeth c) dental – the tip of the tongue touching the back of the upper teeth d) alveolar – the tip of the tongue touching the area behind the upper teeth e) post-alveolar – the centre of the tongue touching the hard palate f) palatal – the back of the tongue touching the hard palate g) velar – the soft palate touching the back of the tongue h) glottal – made in the opening between the vocal folds (glottis) According to voicing Roach (2009) identifies that: a) fortis consonants require more energy for pronunciation (strong, voiceless) b) lenis consonants require less energy for pronunciation (weak, voiced) In the next part of this chapter you will find a theoretical description of the consonants, a video demonstrating the articulation of the phonemes and exercises based on the contrasting of particular consonants to the consonant which is the most similar to it in terms of the 26 manner of articulation and the engaged articulating organs. Click also on the link where you will find more words containing the consonant and its contrast. Plosives /p/ and /b/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /p/ click here and for /b/ click here Both plosive consonants are bilabial – the lips are pressed together in order to form a full obstacle to the air stream, holding the air behind the obstacle (the lips) and the sudden release of the obstacle. Based on voicing, these two plosive consonant phonemes are relative – the phoneme /b/ is voiced; the /p/ is voiceless, followed by aspiration (additional puff of after the release of the air sounding like /h/). Exercise: 1. Are the sounds /p/ or /b/ read in these words? Transcribe them and check your transcription with a dictionary. apex, bomb, climb, comb, corpse, crumble, debt, disposable, doorknob, dumb, doubt, hop, lamb, lamp, limb, marble, napkin, piggybank, pneumonia, psychology, receipt, rob, subtle 2. Put these /p/ or /b/ words in the dialogue. Pam: Hello, Barbara! My ca… was late! Did I miss the happy couple? Barbara: No, the …ride and the groom have not arrived yet. Pam: Great! Let's wait at the …ack, under the …alm. Barbara: The weather is so …almy today. I should have brought my ca…. Pam: The …eachy one? It would look lovely on the …each. Barbara: What about that …ack of children on the …each? Pam: Let´s hope they will not spoil the wedding. It is the …ride's …ride! 3. All words in each line have the same consonant sound – /p/ but its quality in one of them is slightly different. Underline the word with the different consonant sound in each line. Why is the word odd in this group? 27 a) spot, pot, port b) pot, spot, sport c) Pam, spam, bam d) bin, spin, pin e) tip, top, stop /t/ and /d/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /t/ click here and for /d/ click here Both plosive consonants are alveolar – the blade of the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge while creating a full obstacle to the air stream. Based on voicing, the phoneme /d/ is voiced; the consonant /t/ is voiceless, followed by aspiration. Exercise: 1. Are these words read with final /t/ or /d/ at the end of these verbs? Write the correct sound between the slant brackets. On Saturday morning I decided /…/ to go to the zoo. After I had finished /…/ my breakfast I brushed /…/ my teeth, washed /…/ the dishes and locked /…/ the door. I walked /…/ to the bus stop and when I realised /…/ I missed /…/ the bus. I called /…/ my friend, because I wanted /…/ to visit him. Unfortunately, he studied /…/ for his exam all night and needed /…/ to sleep. I changed /…/ my plans and walked /…/ to the nearest park. I listened /…/ the music and enjoyed /…/ the beautiful weather. 2. Underline a word in each line that contains an aspirated sound. a) tip – dip f) dear – tear b) team – steam g) great – grade c) still – till h) ladder – letter d) dab – tab i) inside – insight e) stab – tab j) bedding – betting 28 3. Two words in each line have the same consonant letter – /t/ or /d/ – but one has a different pronunciation of the sound. Underline the word with the different consonant pronunciation in each line. Why is the pronunciation different? a) hand, handful, handkerchief b) bustle, bristle, brittle c) Wednesday, Tuesday, Saturday /k/ and /g/ For the detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /k/ click here and for /g/ click here Both plosive consonants are velar – the back of the tongue is pressed against the area between the hard and soft palates while creating a full obstacle to the air stream. These two plosive consonant phonemes are relative according to the voicing – the phoneme /g/ is voiced; the /k/ is voiceless. Exercise: 1. Which of these words does not contain /k/ sound? a) school, cherry, character b) chin, city, kitchen c) knee, cell, next 2. Count the sounds you can hear in these words. Transcribe the words. assign, campaign, champagne, cologne, design, disciple, fascinate, feign, fluorescent, foreign, gnat, gnome, muscle, reign, resign, scene, scent, scissors, science, sign 3. Fill in the sounds /k/, /g/ or another sound into the items in your shopping list:  a dozen of e/…/s  a /…/an of /…/orn  ice/…/ream /…/ones  a /…/ouple of apri/…/ots  a pa/…/ of /…/arrots  a pump/…/in pie  a /…/ilo of su/…/ar  a /…/allon of mil/…/ 29  brea/…/fast /…/ereals  bo/…/ of /…/o/…/olate Fricatives /s/ and /z/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /s/ click here and for /z/ click here These fricatives are alveolar – they are made by touching the tongue behind the teeth, allowing air to escape through this area. The phoneme /s/ is voiceless (fortis) and the phoneme /z/ is voiced. Exercise: 1. Underline the words ending with /z/: address, babies, bees, boys, bugs, bus, class, cheese, cookies, dress, dogs, erase, exercise, face, glass, fence, fingers, flowers, horse, hose, house, ice, juice, keys, knees, lips, legs, lettuce, miss, mouse, nice, nose, office, pass, please, pigs, purse, race, rose, sunrise, this, voice 2. Fill in the gaps the words: /raɪz/, /piːs/, /wʌns/, /ɪkˈskjuːz/, /dɪˈvaɪs/, /niːz/, /aɪs/, /ˈpreʃəs/, /bru:s/, /mɪz/, /mɪs/, /hɪz/, /vɑːz/, /ˈbɪzi/, /tʃaɪˈniːz/, /desk/ Miss Susan: … Sanders, ……………….. me! Ms Sanders: …… Susan! I am ……. Miss Susan: I saw …… on his..…….. He slipped on a …… of ………. Ms Sanders: Did he break my ……….. Chinese ……….? Miss Susan: He was sitting at the …………., when he had to ……. to answer the mobile …………… in the next room. Ms Sanders: Tell me the rest of the story at …………..! Miss Susan: The ……………….. vase is in one ………… 30 /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /ʃ/ click here and for /ʒ/ here This fricative is post-alveolar – it is made by touching of the tongue in the area of the alveolar ridge. The phoneme /ʃ/ is voiceless (fortis) and its voiced counterpart, the phoneme /ʒ/ is voiced. Exercise: 1. Choose from the words containing /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. If… a) some work refers to some other work, is it allusion or Aleutian? b) you do not understand anything, are you in Confucians or in confusion? c) you want to know the exact size of something, do you have to mesher it or measure it? d) something is bright blue, is it asher or azure? e) you believe in something that is not true, are dilatational or delusional? 2. Fill in the /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ symbol: a) Add some /…/ugar to my coffee. b) If you watch televi/…./n, you can learn many things. c) I u/…/ually wake up at six. d) My best friend works as a ca/…/ier in a supermarket. e) The school performance of my daughter gave me an enormous plea/…./re f) I bought a bei/.../e coat. g) Licori/.../e is used in sweets. h) Last summer, he sailed across the Atlantic o/…/ean. i) This champagne is reserved for special occa/…/ion. j) The famous musi/…/ian is his brother. 31 /f/ and /v/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /f/click here and for /v/click here The plosive consonant /f/ is labiodental and is created by touching the upper front teeth and lower lip. This phoneme is voiceless (fortis) and its voiced counterpart is the phoneme /v/. Exercise: 1. Fill in the gaps the words containing the sounds /v/ or /f/: a) The parts of the body between knees and ankles are called ……………… b) The famous museum in Paris is called …………………… c) The phonatory organ in the neck is called ……………….. folds. d) The alcoholic beverage made of grapes is called ……………….. e) The trees lose the …………………………. in the autumn. f) The place where people put their precious property is called …………………. g) A person fighting against you is your ………………. h) Brides on the day of wedding usually wear ………………… i) The books are on the book ……………….. j) The other name for a boat is a ………………………….. /θ/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /θ/click here The fricative consonant is dental – the tongue touches the inner side of the lower teeth, air escapes trough the narrow passage between the tongue and the teeth. It is a voiceless consonant (fortis) and its voiced (lenis) counterpart is /ð/. The both of them are very important to learn, as they both have several minimal pair consonants. 32 Exercise: 1. Find the odd word in each line. Concentrate on the sound/θ/. a) heart, ticket, thought b) moth, truce, worth c) half, thorn, through d) free, thin, deaf e) thermal, mitt, wealth f) kiss, mouth, mouse 2. Fill in the gaps with the words containing the sound /θ/. /bəʊθ/, /ˈsevənθ/, /ɪnˈθjuːziæsts/ , /gareθ/, /nɔːθ/, /p3:θ/, /θæŋk/, /θaɪ/, /ˈθɜːsti/, /ˈθɜːzdeɪ/, /θriː/, /traɪˈæθlɒn/, /ˈθrɪlɪŋ/, /truːθ/, /ˈwelθi/, /juːθ/, /ˈʌðə/ Reporter: …………., congratulation for your win in ……………. here in ………. Tell me the ………., how did you feel, when you were on the ………... position only ………… minutes before the end? Gareth: Well, I was ……….. and my ………. was sore so tried my best. Reporter: Is it ……………… to win such important contest? Gareth: Yes, I will celebrate with ……….. of my brothers tonight. Reporter: Yes, the ……….. must celebrate. What would you tell ………….. triathlon ……………….? Gareth: Well, it takes a lot of sacrifice and you will never become ………………... Reporter: And when will you head back to the ………….? Gareth: On ……………….. Reporter: ………… you for the interview. /ð/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /ð/ click here 33 The fricative consonant is dental – the tongue touches the inner side of the lower teeth, air escapes trough the narrow passage between the tongue and the teeth. It is a voiced consonant (lenis) and its voiceless (fortis) counterpart is /θ/. Both of them are very important to learn, as they both have several minimal pair consonants. Exercise: 1. Find the odd word from each of the lines below. Concentrate on the pronunciation of the letters “th”. a) bathe, scythe, booze b) this, booth, load c) seize, bathe, whizz d) then, than, den 2. Fill in the gaps in the text with the words from transcription: /ˈbeɪðɪŋ/, /buːð/, /ˈʌðə/, /ˈbɒðəriŋ/, /ˈbriːðɪŋ/, /kləʊðz/, /ˈfeðəz/, /θraɪs/, /ləʊθɪd/, /ˈmʌðə/, /ˈʌðə/, /ˈrɑːðə/, /wɪˈðaʊt/, /wɜːθ/, /mʌnθ/ Last ……….., Beth Smith needed to call her …………... She found the closest telephone …………… and made the phone call. When she wanted to open the door, she realized the door was blocked by an enormous pile of ……………….. She started ……………….. heavily and ……………….. in her own sweat. She tried to open the door the ………….. way but she only made her …………. very dirty. It just was not …………. it! She ……………. always …………… some ……..…… people so she was waiting patiently. Next time she would ……… check her mobile …………….., than leave her house ………………….. it! /h/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /h/click here The fricative consonant /h/ is a glottal created by opening and closing the vocal folds (glottis). This phoneme is made by weak voicing and the result is a breathy voice. It is always followed by a vowel sound. During the production of the /h/ sound, the articulating organs assume the position of the following vowel sound, which means they are always in a different position. 34 Exercise: 1. In these words, is the /h/ read or silent? Underline the words with silent /h/. beehive, behaviour, downhill, exhaust, ghost, head, heir, hike, honest, honour, hook, hour, inherit, mahogany, rehearsal, rhyme, vehicle, whole 2. Fill into the words /w/ or /h/: a) /…/opper is used to transport small things from one container into another. b) /…/ip is a part of the human body. c) /…/ale is the largest mammal. d) To /…/ang something is to attach the top part of something and the rest is free to move. e) Steering /…/eel is a part of a car. f) High /…/eels can be uncomfortable. Affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /tʃ/click here and for /dʒ/ click here Affricates are post-alveolar – they are made homorganically by a touch of the tongue in the area of the plosive phoneme and then fluently continuing for the fricative articulation. The phoneme /tʃ/ is voiceless (fortis) and its voiced counterpart is the phoneme /dʒ/. Exercise: 1. Identify the odd word in each line. Concentrate on the sounds /dʒ/ or /tʃ/ : a) touch, match, chronology b) Jacques, Jane, June c) literature, future, station 2. Fill in the gaps of the text by the words containing the sounds /dʒ/ or /tʃ/ : 35 /ˈrʌʃən/, /frɪdʒ/, /ˌeksɪˈbɪʃən/, /ˈvɪlɪdʒ/, /ˈfjuːtʃə/, /dʒiːnz/, /tʃekt/, /dʒuːn/, /tʃek/, /ˈpɪktʃəz/, /ˈtemprəʃə/, /ˈdʒækɪt/, /ˌɪnfəˈmeɪʃən/, /ˈskʌlptʃəz/, /ˌekspəˈzɪʃən/ Last …………., my sister visited a ………… exhibition in a German …………... She …………..all the necessary …………. in the brochure. She wanted to see some …………….., but only the ……………. of marble ………………… was open. The ………………. in the museum was similar to one in ………... She had to wear long ………….. and a warm ……………... In the …………… she wants to visit a gallery in the ……………… Republic. Semivowels /w/ - /v/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /w/ click here The approximate /w/ is a semivowel – phonetically like a vowel (made like a vowel, without any real obstacle in the air stream) and phonologically as a consonant (used at the edge of syllables, never as peaks of syllables). In terms of articulation, the articulating organs (lips) come to proximity, but they never touch. In pronunciation, there is also a short sequence of /u/ pronunciation. Also, before the semivowels, the indefinite article is used. Its most important minimal pair phoneme is the phoneme /v/. Exercise: 1. Find the odd word in each line. Compare the sounds /v/ or /w/. a) wet, vet, whale b) square, wide, velar c) veil, vent, worse 2. From two words choose the appropriate word to match the short description. What does the other word mean? a) The meat of a calf – veal or wheel? b) The alcoholic beverage – vine or wine? c) The poisonous snake – viper or wiper? 36 d) The slang word for holiday in plural - vacs or wax e) To become weaker – vein or wane f) The part of clothing – vest or west g) The doctor for animals – vet or wet h) To be in love with oneself – to be vane or wane i) One line of poem – verse or worse j) To cry – veil or wail /j/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /j/click here The approximate /j/ is another semivowel – phonetically like a vowel (made as a vowel, without any real obstacle in the air stream) and phonologically as a consonant (used at the edge of syllables, never as peaks of syllables). In terms of articulation, the articulating organs (back of the tongue against the soft palate) come into proximity, but they never touch. In pronunciation, there is also a short sequence of /i/ pronunciation. Exercise: 1. Underline the words with the sound /j/ beautiful, Europe, gel, interview, Jack, January, jet, jot, juice, new, student, yacht, yell, university, use, yak, yet 2. Find the odd word in each line. Concentrate on the sound /j/ in these words: a) yesterday, interview, jogging b) jealous, jacket, young c) queue, jasmine, unique 3. Fill in the gaps in the words below with the sound /j/ or /dʒ/. a) I listen to the m/…/usic every day. b) The on/…/on makes me cry. 37 c) /…/une is my favourite month of the /…/ear. d) The movie was a h/…/ge success. e) One orange /…/uice, please! f) Ex/…/use me, do you know Jim Smith? g) What a beautiful /…/ellow dress! h) He told me a really funny /…/oke. i) If it makes /…/ou happy… Nasals /m/ and /n/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /m/ click here and for /n/ click here The bilabial nasal /m/ is created by pressing the lips together simultaneously to lower the soft palate. The alveolar nasal /n/ is created by the tongue touching the alveolar area while the soft palate is raised. They both can also be syllabic consonants. Exercise: 1. When is the sound /n/ silent in these words? autumn, brown, clown, column, condemn, current, damn, fern, hymn, hyphen, lawn, pattern, pond, solemn 2. Fill in the sound /m/ or /n/. Last su/_/er, my friend Ann and her husband Dan fro/_/ Belgiu/_/ visited Campania in Italy. They e/_/joyed the view fro/_/ Vesuvius and the following day they ad/_/ired the beautiful /_/urals in Pompeii. On Su/_/day they decided to travel by a local trai/_/s to Naples to visit the fa/_/ous Archaeological /_/useu/_/. At lu/_/chti/_/e, they ate sa/_/dwich in the Ju/_/e su/_/. I/_/ the eve/_/ing they swa/_/ in the swi/ _/ing pool at their 38 hotel. They took ti/_/e for di/_ /er with their frie/_/ds, the real Neapolitans. So/_/eday, they wa/_/t to visit Naples agai/_/! /ŋ/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /ŋ/ click here The velar nasal is created by touching the back of the tongue to the velar area while the soft palate is lowered. This consonant is distributed (used) only in certain combinations – it must always be followed by the phonemes /k/ or /g/. The sound /k/ is always read, however the pronunciation of /g/ depends on the morphological structure of the word. If the word is simple, the sound /g/ is pronounced (e. g. jungle), while the derived words keep their original pronunciation (e. g. belongings = belong + ing + s) and the sound /g/ is not read. An exception is made at the end of comparatives and superlatives of adjectives (e. g. younger, youngest). The sound /ŋ/ is always pronounced at the end of the participles of verbs (e. g. talking, singing, sitting, sleeping etc.) Exercise: 1. Fill in the gaps with the sound /n/ or /ŋ/. a) My friend visited Ha/…/over last year. b) You need to show your to/…/gue to the doctor. c) We looked at the rui/…/s of the old castle in Dubli/…/. d) The vampires have lo/…/g fa/…/gs. e) The si/…/ers have to confess. f) Do you like to spend your summer holiday in the mou/…/tai/…/s? g) Stop! You are doi/…/g it completely wro/…/g! h) Henry VIII is the famous E/…/glish ki/…/g with six wives. i) Did you visit everythi/…/g you wanted, when you were in Ho/…/ko/…/g? 39 j) The robi/…/ had its wi/…/g broken. 2. Each line contains one word that differs from others. Find the odd word and explain why. Concentrate on the sound /ŋ/. a) think, tank, sing b) bang, tang, wink c) wing, sink, tank d) ping, pink, think Approximants /l/ For detailed instruction on the articulation and practice of /l/ click here The lateral consonant /l/ comes in two variations – a clear /l/ and a dark /l/ which are in allophonic relation (they do not change the meaning of the words). The clear /l/ is always followed by a vowel sound and can be used either in the initial or medial position in the word (e g. Lisa. Alex). The dark /l/ is always followed either by another consonant or silence. It can be found only at the end of syllables or words (e. g. Anabelle, Wilma). The phoneme /l/ can be used as a syllabic consonant (see Chapter 6). Exercise: 1. Identify, whether the sound /l/ is dark or clear. Explain why and underline the words with dark /l/. alive, April, Brazil, Colorado, cancel, casual, envelope, fingernail, island, July, muscle, pencil, school, talented, tutorial, usual ,violin, wall, whale 2. Many words in the text below contain the letter “l”. Underline the words with silent /l/. Alaskan zoos are very different to the ones in Florida. The animals do not only live in welded cages, like calves or snowy owls, but they also live in aquariums, like whales or salmons. The folk visiting the zoos know that the animals need to stay calm. Should some 40 celebrity with paparazzi come, the zoos always call them first and ask for half an hour to talk about the rules, which are also written on the chalkboard behind the girl selling the tickets. On the other hand, some exotic birds in Florida zoos like flying around the palms; some of them sit neatly as children in school. Animals like lions walk, some crawl, like large snails or crocodiles. If you visited either of the two types of zoo, you would see that the animals are all equally beautiful. /r/ For detailed instruction of the articulation and practice of /r/ click here The lateral approximant consonant /r/ is distributed (used) very differently across the English accents. In the BBC pronunciation (non-rhotic accent), it is only found at the beginning of the words or syllables, never at the end, or if followed by silence. In the rhotic accents, /r/ can be found in all positions within words (initial, medial, final). The phoneme /r/ is made by the tongue approaching but never really touching the alveolar area in the mouth. The specific BBC /r/ is retroflex and unique to the BBC consonant inventory, therefore completely different from other types of /r/ sounds across European languages. The phoneme /r/ can be used as a syllabic consonant. Exercise: 1. Add the /r/ element to these words in the place of the (*) to make a new word. The spelling of the new word may be significantly different. e. g. b*aste – braced b*ane c*owed b*eef d*aft b*itten g*o b*ooze p*ies k*iss *itch c*all *isle k*ate *owes 41 sch*eme t*ailor *eye t*oo st*ate *apt 2. Fill in the sounds /l/ or /r/ to match the definition. Then, change the sound you added for the other sound (/r/ or /l/) and explain the meaning of the other word? a) If you reach your destination, you a /…/ive. b) If something is without taste, it is b/…/and. c) If something is uncooked, it is /…/aw. d) To sweep the floors, we use b/…/oom. e) The trees have the /…/oots under the ground. f) If you tell someone incorrect information, you mis/…/ead them. g) You can swim in a /…/ake. h) To paint, you need a b/…/ush. i) Currants belong to the group of be/…/ ies. j) If you find a mistake, you usually have to co/…/ect it. 3. Is the sound /r/ read in these words and expressions? If the /r/ is not read, which sound replaces it? Which sound is used instead of /r/ in BBC English at the end of some words? sports team, hairy boy, near encounter, hair dryer, yellow card, year of a dragon, leather purse, more art, weird feeling , museum art, alarm clock, butter biscuits, fair share , sparkling eyes, learn English 42 SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY 6 Syllable So far, sound production has been discussed on the level of articulation of individual phonemes, i. e. on the segmental level. The phonemes have been viewed in isolation and ideally. In reality, people rarely pronounce individual sounds, but they usually combine them into higher units, such as syllables, words or sentences. The combinations of sounds are not random; the use of individual phonemes in combination is called distribution (Roach 2009). The quality of phonemes in combination changes, as they are pronounced according to the nature of the sounds preceding and following them. In larger chunks of texts, other features of speech are also prominent. They are called suprasegmental features (stress, intonation and rhythm) also called prosody, which will be discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. The smallest combination of phonemes which is analysed in suprasegmental phonology is called a syllable (Roach 2009). The syllable is not only the smallest unit of suprasegmental phonology, but also the smallest rhythmical unit, formally consisting of the centre and its edges. The centre of the syllable (the nucleus, the peak) is an obligatory part of the syllable and usually it is a vowel sound (a monophthong, a diphthong or a triphthong). Occasionally, the centre of the syllable can be made by syllabic consonants (see Chapter 7). A syllable containing only its centre is called a minimal syllable. The edges of the syllable are not fundamental for syllable formation and are called the onset (the consonant sounds preceding the vowel sound) or the coda (the consonant sounds following the centre). Roach (2009) recognizes several types of onsets: a) A zero onset – no consonant preceding the centre of syllable, e. g. -ai-m b) An onset with one consonant, e. g. r-ai-n c) An onset with a consonant cluster of three types: 1. An onset with two consonants, one of them being the pre-initial consonant (consonant s) and the other being the initial consonant (other consonant than s), e. g. st-ai-n 2. An onset with two consonants, one of them being the initial consonant (one of about only 15 consonants) and the other one being the post-initial consonant (one of them being either l, r, w, j), e. g. tr-ai-n 3. An onset with three consonants, the combination of onset types described above, e. g. str-ai-n 43 Similarly, there are also several types of codas (Roach 2009): a) zero coda – no consonant following the centre of the syllable – e. g. s-ee b) coda with one consonant; the consonant is called final and can be any except for /h/, /w/, /h/; /r/ are rarely a final consonant sound in the BBC accent – e. g. s-ee-d c) coda with a consonant cluster of three types: 1. coda with a pre-final (m, n, ŋ, l, s) and a final consonant, e. g. c-a-mp, w-i-nd, th- a-nk, e-lm, pro-t-e-st, etc. 2. coda with a final and post-final consonant (z, s, t, d, θ) – e. g. d-e-ns, c-a-bs, ed-i- ct, h-o-ld, ab-s-i.nth, etc. 3. combination of the coda types described above – e. g. c-a-mps, w-i-nds, th-a-nks, e-lms, prot-e-sts, d-e-nts, c-a-rbs, ed-i-cts, , h-o-lds, ab-s-i-nths, etc. In contemporary BBC English, there are words with a maximum of four consonant sounds at the end (e. g. contexts) Syllable centre and coda create rhyme. The arrangement of words with similar rhyme is typical particularly for poetry. Exercise 1. Divide the words in the groups according to the number of syllables: actor, after, atom, bakery, base, cause, celebration, dreaming, glove, graffiti, hideous, immature, industry, life, miserable, mistake, necessary, poetry, pole, pretend, private, punishment, rage, rotate, semicircle, signature, silent, snake, sentence, spider, spoke, stimulation, syllable, thoughtful, tongue, transformer, trivial, violation, yelled, zero. a) 1 syllable words: b) 2 syllable words: c) 3 syllable words: 44 d) 4 syllable words: 2. Describe the syllable structure in the words from the previous exercise. Use a dictionary if necessary. Identify the centre of the syllable, the edges and their structure. Example: actor /ˈæk.tə/ – two syllable word 1st syllable /ˈæk/ – zero onset, centre = /æ/, coda = /k/ – single initial consonant 2nd syllable /tə/ – onset /t/ – single final consonant, centre = /ə/, no coda 3. Make rhyme to these words: Example: red – bed coast – gh_ _ _ marry – ch_ _ _ _ green – cl _ _ _ truth – t_ _ _ _ yes – ch_ _ _ well – sh_ _ _ twenty – pl_ _ _ _ vine – shr _ _ _ 45 7 Stress Stress is the first suprasegmental feature discussed in this practice material. Stress can be perceived on syllables, words (word stress) or even higher units (sentence stress). Stressed sounds are empathetically pronounced sounds that are perceived by the listener as a prominence. Prominence is a pronunciation feature consisting of four other aspects – the quantity (length), the loudness, the specific quality of sounds and the pitch shift of the stressed sounds in comparison to the non-prominent sounds (Roach 2009). In terms of their production, stressed sounds require more muscular energy by the speaker. The stress (prominence) is only relative – some sounds are naturally stronger than others, some sounds are always weak (e. g. /ə/). In phonological analysis, the relative strength of the sounds is viewed from the point of production and perception, and only then compared to other sounds in order to identify the most and least prominent parts of the speech. Relative prominence results in different levels of word and sentence stress (Roach 2009). The sounds carrying the highest degree of prominence carry primary stress. This is naturally carried by one-syllable words or by one of the syllables of a two-syllable word. Longer words can carry also secondary stress; some syllables in longer words even carry tertiary stress. Stressed syllables in speech alternate with unstressed syllables. There are even certain syllables or words that are never stressed (weak syllables and weak words discussed in the following chapter). Stress production is physiologically based and it would be unnatural to emphasize every syllable in naturally connected speech. The International Phonetic Association introduced the transcription symbols of word stress:  Primary stress /ˈ/ – short vertical stroke on the upper line of the word (e. g. /baɪˈɒɡrəfi/  Secondary stress /ˌ/ – short vertical stroke on the lower line of the word /ˌbaɪəˈɡræfɪkəl/  Tertiary stress – no symbol or a small circle below the syllable carrying the tertiary stress (e. g. /ˌɔt̬ əbɑɪəˈɡræfɪkəl/) Stress is one of the suprasegmental features of language studied by suprasegmental phonology. It means that stress has the ability to change the meaning of individual words or whole utterances. Word and sentence stress also make speech more natural and comprehensible for the listener. Word stress is a complex matter and in English it is always a specific pronunciation feature of a given word (Roach 2009). English does not have a fixed stress placement, in contrast to such languages as Slovak, where the stress is rarely placed on any other than the first syllable of a word. In English stress placement is random, as it depends on several criteria. The criteria of stress placement as described by Roach (2009) are complementary and depend on: I the number of syllables II the nature of syllables 46 III the grammatical category of word (noun, verb, adjective) IV the morphological structure of words (simple, complex, compound) In the following section, the criteria as defined by Roach (2009) will be discussed and presented for closer inspection. I The number of syllables Monosyllabic words are stressed naturally. In two-syllable simple words only one of the syllables can be stressed, never both of them. Stress placement pattern then follows the rule regarding the nature of the syllable (see Criterion II) in words belonging to all word classes, therefore: 1. The first syllable is weak then the second syllable is stressed. 2. The second syllable is weak then the first syllable is stressed. If both syllables are strong, the stress placement follows the rule according to the word class, e. g. /ˈɪn.sʌlt/ (n.) and /ɪnˈsʌlt/. Three-syllable simple words follow the rules regarding the nature of the syllable (II) and the rules regarding the word category (III). II The nature of the syllable Not all sounds and syllables are equally prominent in naturally connected speech. Some syllables are relatively strong (prominent – long, strong, loud and different in quality), some syllables are less prominent – they are naturally weak. Their weakness lies in the relatively lower loudness, shortness and qualitative difference from the strong syllables. The relative strength of the syllable depends on the quality of its peak. The peak in a syllable is usually a vowel sound (monophthong, diphthong or triphthong) or, under certain circumstances also a syllabic consonant (see part C). Any syllable can be weak – initial, medial or final syllable in words. Weak syllables have their peak in a relatively small number of vowel sounds: a) the vowel “schwa” – /ə/ b) the close front /i/ and the close back /u/ c) the syllabic consonant – /m̩/, /n̩/, /ŋ̩/, /r̩/, /l̩ / 47 A brief description of the individual weak peaks in syllables (Roach 2009): A) the vowel “schwa” It is the most frequently used vowel in BBC English. It is never stressed; it always peaks in weak syllables. Schwa does not correspond to any particular letter in the English alphabet, but there are some rules helping to identify its occurrence in BBC English: 1. Spelt as “a”, e. g. awake 2. Spelt as “-ar” , e. g. scholar 3. Spelt as “-ate” in adjectives, e. g. subordinate 4. Spelt as “o”, e. g. police 5. Spelt as “or”, e. g. actor 6. Spelt as “e”, e. g. permission 7. Spelt as “er”, e. g. disaster 8. Spelt as “u”, e. g. surprise 9. Spelt as “ough”e. g. thorough 10. Spelt as “ou”, e. g. conscious B) close vowels /u/ and /i/, e. g. tipsy, newsroom, etc. They are relatively difficult to recognize. They are not in opposition to/ʊ/ or u; /ɪ/ or /i:/. They typically occur in these positions: 1. at the end of words ending with “-y” or “-ey”, or at the end of morphemes followed by a vowel, e. g. sunny, homey, etc. 2. in prefixes “re-“, “pre-“, “de-“ followed by another vowel sound, e. g. reappear, reorder, deodorant, etc. 3. in the suffixes “-iate”, “-ious” stretched over two syllables, e. g. differentiate, vicious, etc. 4. in the words “he”, “she”, “we”, “me”, “be”, “the” followed by a vowel sound, e. g. he entered, she asked, we interviewed, me and you, be it, the apple, etc. 5. in other words if they contain the vowel letter “i” or “e” read as /i/ in unstressed position, e. g. evacuee, illiterate, etc. 48 6. in words where the phoneme /u/ is followed by another vowel sound, e. g. evacuate, etc. C) syllabic consonants In English, the list of consonant phonemes, which can be the peak of a syllable, is relatively long. Those consonants are: l, r, or the group of nasal consonants (m, n, ŋ). From the aspect of articulation they are consonants, but from the point of distribution (use in pronunciation) they can be considered vowels. The IPA symbol for syllabic consonants is a short vertical stroke under the syllabic consonant (e. g. ŋ̩) Syllabic /l̩ / The distribution of the syllabic /l/ is not equal in all English accents (lateral plosion, Roach 2009); in BBC English it is typically found: a) Following an alveolar consonant – e. g. mottled, kettle, etc. b) Following a non-alveolar consonant – e. g. humble, apple, etc. The /l/ sound is always dark (see Chapter 5). If it is followed by the letter “-e” in orthography, it is not read (see above). Sometimes the sound /l/ can also stand at the end of the word – typically as part of the suffix – “-al” or “-el”, e. g. bacterial, level, etc. Syllabic /n̩/ It can stand after a plosive or a fricative consonant followed by the letter “n” (nasal release, Roach 2009) in the following syllable:  It can be in the position following the phonemes /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, e. g. beaten, sudden, person, reason, etc.  After non-alveolar consonants it is less frequent, e. g. Charleston, ribbon, etc.  After f and v, the syllabic consonant is more common, e. g. raven, soften, etc. Syllabic /m̩/ and /ŋ̩/ Less frequently used, e. g. stardom, tighten, etc. 49 Syllabic /r̩/ It occurs mostly in so-called rhotic accents, in BBC English it is more rare, e. g. mystery, superman, etc. Syllabic consonant combination The combination of syllabic consonants is relatively frequent, e. g. professional, missionary. Pronunciation of these words can also be with the sound /ə/. III Grammatical category of the word Roach (2009) claims that: 1. Nouns and adjectives have a tendency to be stressed towards the beginning of the word, unless the first syllable is weak (compare /ˈkɒn.tekst/ and /diˈəʊ.dər.ənt/. 2. Verbs have a tendency to be stressed towards the end, unless the last syllable is weak (compare /dɪˈzaɪn/ and /ˈsɒf.ən/). IV The morphological structure of the word a) Simple words (e. g. tin, get, nice, now etc.) consist only of a stem. b) Complex words consist of prefixes preceding or suffixes following the stem of the word (e. g. easy – uneasy – easiness – uneasiness). c) Compound words consist of two independent words joined together (e. g. hometown, well-being, tea bag). Monosyllabic words are also simple and they tend to be naturally stressed, in the polysyllabic words only one of the syllables carries primary stress. Simple words also tend to be stressed according to criterion II (the nature of syllables) or grammatical category of words (criterion III – nouns usually stressed towards the beginning of the word, verbs and adjectives towards the end). Peter Roach (2009) claims that the prefixes in complex words influence stress placement in words is such a complex way, that there is no regular or predictable way of pronouncing the words with prefixes, therefore they should be pronounced according to the rules applying to words without prefixes. However, some phonetician identified typical influence of prefixes on word stress placement (for further reference see Pavlík 2000). On the other hand, suffixes behave in three predictable ways in English (Roach 2009): 50 1. suffixes that carry primary stress “-ee”: employee, interviewee “-eer”: engineer, pioneer “-ese”: Japanese, obese “-ette”: etiquette, coquette “-esque”: burlesque, statuesque 2. suffixes that do not influence primary word stress placement “-able”: capable, knowledgeable “-age”: coverage, peerage “-al”: denial, approval “-en”: shorten, lengthen “-ful”: useful, helpful “-ing”: boring, entertaining “-like”: lifelike, warlike “-less”: sleeveless, countless “-ly”: slowly, naturally “-ment”: abandonment, advertisement “-ness”: highness, business “-ous”: dangerous, frivolous “-fy”: satisfy, modify “-wise”: likewise, otherwise “-y” (in adjectives or nouns): sunny, shorty “-ish” (in adjectives): childish, foolish 3. suffixes that shift the word stress within the root of the word in two ways: a) on the last syllable of the stem: “-eous”: courageous, homogeneous “-graphy”: geography, iconography 51 “-ial”: financial, superficial “-ic”: historic, economic “-ion”: television, classification “-ious”: glorious, pretentious “-ty”: quality, modesty “-ive”: addictive, reflexive b) on the stem: “-ance”: freelance, vigilance “-ant”: radiant, confidant “-ary”: legendary, commissary Compound words belong to various word classes (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs etc.) and they can be made either from the same word category (e. g. noun+noun) or from two different word categories (e. g. numeral+adjective). It is important to know their structure in order to identify word stress placement, which is also governed by certain rules: 1. Primary stress is usually on the first element = noun + noun, e. g. ˈtoothbrush 2. Secondary stress is on the first element, primary stress on the second element a) adjective + past participle, e. g. ˌlong-aˈwaited b) compound adverbs, e. g. ˌfurtherˈmore c) compound verbs = secondary stress on the first element, primary stress on the second element, e. g. ˌill-aˈdvised Word-class pairs The word class of English words plays a significant role in stress placement. The general rule of stress placement is that the nouns tend to be stressed towards their beginning; the verbs and adjectives tend to be stressed towards the end. This rule is applied in agreement to previous stress placement rules (I-III). In English, there are words which have the same spelling, but they can belong to a different word class. Their pronunciation therefore differs in stress placement and consequently also in the pronunciation of individual phonemes. These words can belong simultaneously in two or 52 even three word classes (nouns, adjectives, verbs). The stress placement follows the above mentioned rule IV. The meaning of these words is related, but in some of these words the meaning is significantly different. Roach (2009) lists the following words: Word Verb Noun Adjective object /əbˈdʒekt/ /ˈɒb.dʒɪkt/ - subject /səbˈdʒekt/ /ˈsʌb.dʒekt/ /ˈsʌb.dʒekt/ record /rɪˈkɔːd/ /ˈrek.ɔːd/ /ˈrek.ɔːd/ abstract /əbˈstrakt/ /ˈæb.strækt/ /ˈæb.strækt/ segment /seɡˈment/ /ˈseɡ.mənt/ - conduct /kənˈdʌkt/ /ˈkɒn.dʌkt/ - contract /kənˈtrækt/ /ˈkɒn.trækt/ - contrast /kənˈtrɑːst/ /ˈkɒn.trɑːst/ - desert /dɪˈzɜːt/ /ˈdez.ət/ - escort /ɪˈskɔːt/ /ˈes.kɔːt/ - export /ɪkˈspɔːt/ /ˈek.spɔːt/ - import /ɪmˈpɔːt/ /ˈɪm.pɔːt/ - insult /ɪnˈsʌlt/ /ˈɪn.sʌlt/ - perfect /pəˈfekt/ /ˈpɜː.fekt/ /ˈpɜː.fekt/ permit /pəˈmɪt/ /ˈpɜː.mɪt/ - present /prɪˈzent/ /ˈprez.ənt/ /ˈprez.ənt/ produce /prəˈdjuːs/ /ˈprɒd.juːs/ - protest /prəˈtest/ /ˈprəʊ.test/ - rebel /rɪˈbel/ /ˈreb.əl/ - 53 Exercise: 1. Divide the names of countries listed below in the possible categories according to the number of syllables and according to stress pattern. O = stressed syllable, o = unstressed syllable Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Luxembourg, Mongolia, Mozambique, Netherlands, Slovakia, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Romania, Senegal, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia. Oo = oO = Ooo = oOo = ooO = ooOo = oOoo = 2. Combine each word with one or more endings listed in this chapter and give stress pattern of your new word. You may need to change or add other letters to the first word. Use a dictionary to help you if necessary. authoritarian, beautiful, busy, charming, childish, composed, energetic, experienced, elegant, geniality, honest, hysterical, identic, intelligent, lively, personal, polite, powerful, passive, rich, secretive, stylish example: authoritarian /ˌɔː.θɒr.ɪˈteə.ri.ən/ - authority /ɔːˈθɒr.ɪ.ti/ 3. What is the word stress pattern in the individual words listed below? Where did the stress shift in these expressions in comparison to individual words? acute intelligence, confirmed bachelor, complete ban, exact balance, amazing bargain, assistant clerk 4. These words below have different meaning and pronunciation when they are used as nouns, adjectives or verbs. Read the transcription of these words and identify their word class and meaning. Use these words in your own sentence examples so that their meaning is clear from your sentence example. 54 /ˈkɒn.trækt/ /ɪnˈsʌlt/ /ˈpɜː.mɪt/ /rɪˈkɔːd/ /ˈreb.əl/ /dɪˈzɜːt/ /prəˈtest/ /seɡ

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