Lecture 4 الكورس الثاني PDF

Strong and Weak Syllables Prepared by Lecturer: Jinan Yousif Atiyah 28/2/2024‫االربعاء‬  One of the most noticeable features of English pronunciation is that some of its syllables are strong while many others are weak. Syllables have two types: strong and weak. It is importa...

Strong and Weak Syllables Prepared by Lecturer: Jinan Yousif Atiyah 28/2/2024‫االربعاء‬  One of the most noticeable features of English pronunciation is that some of its syllables are strong while many others are weak. Syllables have two types: strong and weak. It is important to understand the difference between strong and weak syllables especially when we consider stress, elision, and intonation. The concept of ‘stress’ is very important in deciding whether a syllable is strong or weak because only strong syllables can be stressed. ‘Elision’ is the removal of an unstressed syllable from a word in order to mix words together and decrease overall syllables. This makes it easier to words to be spoken and often reflects patterns of colloquial speech. ‘Intonation’ is the way that your voice rises and falls as you talk.  Strong Syllables Versus Weak Syllables Long in terms of length. Short in terms of length. They are louder and have higher They are quite low and have low intensity. intensity. They are articulated with high quality. They are articulated with low quality. We do not pronounce them rapidly. They are said more quickly in words. They are always stressed syllables. They can never be stressed. They are composed of all vowel sounds They are composed of only /ǝ, i, u/ vowel except /ǝ, i, u/ as their peak. sounds plus syllabic consonants /m̩ , n̩ , ŋ̩, l, ̩ r ̩/ as their peak. Because they are stressed, rising Because they are unstressed, rising intonation starts from them and they intonation does not start from them and can never be removed in a word. they are always under the effect of elision. Short vowel sound peaks of strong /ǝ, i, u/ should not always have a coda. syllables should always have a coda.  NOTES: It is always the type of the vowel that makes the syllable longer, louder, or different in quality. In the sentence "That's a great idea", the word "a" and the syllable "a" on the end of "idea" are weak. However, the words "that's" and "great", and the syllables "i" and "de" from "idea" are strong, and you can hear them more easily. In strong syllables it is quite easy to distinguish /i:/ from /I/, and /u:/ from /ʊ/, but in weak syllables the difference is not clear at all that is why we have two other different symbols/i/ and /u/. The peaks of strong syllables are all long and short vowel sounds  Position of Weak Syllables in Words 1) Weak syllables can occur at the end of a word with no coda following it: Better /betə/ Never/nevə/ Reader /ri:də/ Happy /hæpi/ Lorry /lɒri/ Canary /kǝneəri/ Thank you /Ɵæŋk ju/ Do /du/ - if they are unstressed. 2) Weak syllables can occur at the end of the word with a coda only if the peak is composed of /ǝ/ sound: Open /əʊpən/ Sharpen /ʃɑ:pən/ paddock /pædək/ Ballad/bæləd/ Necklace/nekləs/ Autumn /ɔ:təm/ 3) Weak syllable can occur in the middle of words (inside words) with no coda: Photograph /fəʊtəgrɑ:f/ Customer/cʌstəmǝ/ Jeopardy /dƷepədi/ Radio /reɪdiəʊ/ Appreciate /ǝpri:ʃieɪt/ Create /krieɪt/ influence /Influǝns/  What are the Characteristics of Schwa Vowel Sound? The Schwa sound is the most frequently occurring vowel in English. It always makes weak syllables, so it is always unstressed. Regarding its sound quality, it is mid central which means it is halfway between close and open and halfway between front and back. It is not articulated with much energy that is why it is described as lax. This is basically the reason why this sound is not sonorous and can never make strong syllables. It is the main source of the occurrence of the five syllabic consonants.  Possible Positions of ‘Schwa’ Sound in Words 1. Spelt with ‘a’; strong pronunciation may be /æ/- attend /ǝtend/ 2. Spelt with ‘ar’; strong pronunciation may be /ɑ:/- particular /pǝtɪkjǝlǝ/ 3. Adjectival endings spelt ‘ate’; strong pronunciation may be /eɪ/- intimate /ɪntɪmǝt/ although the word ‘private’ /praɪvɪt/ is an exception. 4. Spelt with ‘o’; strong pronunciation may be /ɒ/ or /ǝʊ/- tomorrow /tǝmɒrǝʊ/ 5. Spelt with ‘or’; strong pronunciation may be /ɔ:/- forget /fǝget/ 6. Spelt with ‘e’; strong pronunciation may be /e/- violet /vaɪǝlǝt/ 7. Spelt with ‘er’; strong pronunciation may be /ɜ:/- perhaps /pǝhæps/ 8. Spelt with ‘u’; strong pronunciation may be /ʌ/- support /sǝpɔ:t/ 9. Spelt with ‘ough’; there are many pronunciations, like /f/- /ǝʊ/- /aʊ/-  Close Front and Close Back Vowels /i/ - /u/ Two other vowels are commonly found in weak syllables, one is close front unrounded that is in the general area of /i:/ and /ɪ/ vowels, and the other one is close back rounded vowel that is in the general area of /u:/ and /ʊ/ vowels. So, the two distinctions, /i:/and /ɪ/, which exist within strong syllables, are neutralised in weak syllables of BBC pronunciation /i/ and /u/. The /i/ vowel is neither the /i:/ of ‘beat’ nor the /I/ of ‘bit’, and is not in contrast with them. A corresponding vowel /u/ is also neither the /u:/ of ‘shoe’ nor the /ʊ/ of ‘book’, and is not in contrast with them, but a weak vowel that shares the  Possible Positions of /i/ Sound in Words 1. /i/ can occur at he end of the words spelt with final ‘y’ or ‘ey’ after one or more consonant letters. Happy /hæpi/ Valley /væli/ lady /leɪdi/ funny /fʌni/ 2. It can also occur before the morpheme-final positions when the words have suffixes beginning with vowel sounds. Happier /hæpiǝ/ easiest /i:ziǝst/ Hurrying /hʌriɪŋ/ 3. It can also occur in prefixes such as those spelt with ‘re-’, ‘pre-’, ‘de-’ if it precedes a vowel sound and is unstressed. React /riækt/ Prerecord /prirekɔ:d/ deodorant /diǝʊdǝrǝnt/ 4. It can also occur in the words with suffixes spelt with ‘-iate’, and ‘-ious’ when they have two syllables. Appreciate /ǝpri:ʃieɪt/ Hilarious /hɪleǝriǝs/ Differentiate /dɪfǝrenʃieIt/  Possible Positions of ‘vowel /u/’ Sound in Words Weak syllables with close back rounded vowels are not so commonly found in English except for some few cases. /u/ can occur most frequently in the words ‘you’, ‘to’, ‘into’, and ‘do’ under two conditions only: 1.If the vowel sound is not stressed. 2.If it is not immediately preceding a consonant sound. You are amazing! /ju a: ǝmeɪzɪŋ/ You look smart! /ju: lʊk smɑ:t/ /u/ can also occur in words, like ‘through’ /Өru/, and ‘who’ /hu/ in all positions when it is not stressed. This vowel is also found before another vowel within a word, as in  Syllabic consonants Sometimes there are some syllables in words in which we can find no vowel sounds as peaks. Because of the weak sonority of the vowel sound, the vowel is going to be hidden and resign its role to the following consonant sound that is how a consonant sound can make syllables. In this case, either /l/, /r/, or nasals stand as the peak of the syllable instead of the vowel. These syllabic consonant are always considered to be weak syllables. They make a huge part of weak syllables. A syllabic consonant is a consonant that forms a syllable of its own. It is usual to indicate that a consonant is syllabic by means of a  / Syllabic Consonant / l̩.1 Syllabic /l/ is the most noticeable example of the English syllabic consonants. It always occurs at the end part of the words; not initial or middle. If the preceding consonant is alveolar, as in ‘bottle’ /bɒtl ̩/,̩ ‘muddle’ /mʌdl ̩/,̩ and ‘tunnel’ /tʌnl ̩/, the articulatory movement from the preceding consonant to the syllabic /l ̩/ is quite simple. The sides of the tongue, which are raised for the preceding consonant are lowered to allow air to escape over them this is called lateral release. The tip and blade of the tongue do not move until the articulatory contact for the /l/ is released.The /l/ is dark.  ?Where Does Syllabic / l̩ / Occur In a word ending with one or more consonant letters followed by ‘-le’ or in the case of noun plurals or third person singularverb form ‘-les’: 1. With alveolar consonants preceding the /l/: Cattle /kætl̩/ wrestles /resl̩z/ 2. With non-alveolar consonant preceding the /l/: Struggle /strʌgl̩/ knuckle /nʌkl̩/ The words ending with –le or –les lose their final letter ‘e’ when a suffix beginning with a vowel is attached but the ‘l’ usually remains syllabic: Bottle /bɒtl ̩/ /bɒtl̩ɪŋ/ , ‘muddle’ /mʌdl ̩/ /mʌdl ̩ɪŋ/ Beware of the two words ‘coddling’ (derived from the verb ‘coddle’) and ‘codling’ (meaning “small cod”, derived by adding the diminutive  2. Syllabic Consonant /ņ/ Syllabic /ņ/ is the most frequently found and the most important syllabic among the syllabic nasals. Weak syllables which are phonologically composed of a plosive or fricative consonant plus ən are uncommon except in initial position in the words. ‘tonight’ tənaɪt, ‘canary’ /kəneəri/, ‘fanatic’ /fənᴂtɪk/, ‘sonata’ /sənɑ:tə/ with ə before n. Syllabic /ņ/can occur in the middle and end of words: Threatening /Өretņɪŋ/ Students /stju:dņts/ Threaten /Өretņ/ Eaten /i:tņ/ Syllabic /n/ is most common after alveolar plosives and fricatives /t, d, s, z/ followed by /n/. The plosive is nasally released by lowering the soft palate, so that in the word ‘eaten’ /i:tņ/ for example, the tongue does not move in the /-tņ/ sequence but the  We do not usually find n after 1, tʃ, ʤ, so that for example ‘sullen’ must be pronounced /sʌlən/, ‘Christian’ as /krɪstʃən/ (though this word may be pronounced with t followed by i or j) and ‘pigeon’ as /pɪʤən/. Syllabic n after non-alveolar consonants is not so widespread. In words where the syllable following a velar consonant is spelt ‘an’ or ‘on’ (e.g. ‘toboggan’, ‘wagon’) it is rarely heard, the more usual pronunciation being /təbɒɡən/, /wᴂɡən. After bilabial consonants, in words like ‘happen’, happening’, ‘ribbon’, we consider it equally acceptable to pronounce the ‘schwa’ or not. Without schwa /hæpn̩ / - /hæpn̩ ɪŋ/ - /rɪbn̩ /, or with ‘schwa’ /ǝn/ results would be /hæpǝn/ - /hæpǝnɪŋ/ - /rɪbǝn/. After fricatives like /f/ and /v/, syllabic /n/ is more common than /ǝn/ (except in word-initial syllables). Thus words ‘seven’, ‘heaven’, ‘often’ are more usually /sevn̩ /, /hevn̩ /, /ɒfn/̩ than /sevǝn/,  Syllabic /n/ can also be preceded by two consonant sounds. For example, in the word ‘wilton’ the pronunciation /wɪltn̩ / is possible, but /wɪltǝn/ is also found regularly. In this word we have /l/ sound + plosive/t/ + /n/ sound. If the /n/ sound is preceded by /s/+ /t/, like in the word ‘Boston’ /bɒstǝn/ a final syllabic nasal is less frequent. With other clusters formed by nasal+ plosive+ /n/ the occurrence of syllabic /n/ is very unusual; thus, words ‘Minton’,Lantern’, ‘London’, will normally have/ǝ/ in the last syllable and pronounced as /mɪntǝn/, /lᴂntǝn/, /lʌndǝn/.  Syllabic Consonants /m̩ , ŋ̩/ These two syllabic consonants can occur only as a result of the two processes of assimilation and elision; otherwise, they can never be syllabics as /l/ and /n/ syllabic consonants. We find them sometimes in words like ‘happen’, which can be pronounced as /hæpm̩/, though /hæpn̩ /, and /hæpǝn/ are also quite equally acceptable. In the word ‘uppermost, which could be pronounced as /ʌpm̩ǝʊst/, though /ʌpǝmǝʊst/could be more usual. Examples of possible syllabic velar nasals would be ‘thicken’ /ϴɪkŋ̩/, thuogh /ϴɪkǝn/ and /ϴɪkņ/ are also acceptable. In ‘broken key’ /brǝʊkŋ̩ ki:/, where the nasal consonant occurs between two velar consonants /n/ or /ǝn/ is substituted for/ŋ̩/.  Syllabic Consonant /r̩ / In many accents of the type called ‘rhotic’, such as American accents, syllabic /r/ is very common. The word ‘particular’, for example, would probably be pronounced /pŗtɪkjǝlŗ/ in careful speech by most Americans, while BBC speakers would pronounce this word as /pǝtɪkjǝlǝ/. Syllabic /r/ is less common in BBC pronunciation: it is found in weak syllables such as the second syllable of ‘preference’ /prefŗǝns/. There are a few pairs of words (minimal pairs) in which a difference in meaning appears to depend on whether a  Combinations of syllabic consonants It is not unusual to find two syllabic consonants together. Examples are: ‘national’ /nᴂʃņļ/, ‘literal’ /lɪtŗļ/, ‘visionary’ vɪƷņŗi, ‘veteran’ /vetŗņ/. A BBC speaker might pronounce /vetŗņ/ in other ways: /vetrən/, /vetərņ/, /vetərən/ Questions of the lecture