Universidad Nacional

Federico Villarreal

GUÍA DIDACTICA

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

INGLÉS VI CICLO

FERNANDO BARBOZA VENEGAS

Euded
Escuela Universitaria

Educación a distancia
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PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

1.UNIT 1 : PHONETICS
1.1 Virtual Resources.............................................................. 3
1.2 Introduction........................................................................4
1.3 The Speech Organs...........................................................7
1.4 Consonants........................................................................8
1.5 Vowels...............................................................................15
1.6 Phonetic Transcription.......................................................22
2. UNIT 2: PHONOLOGY
2.1 Phonemes..........................................................................24
2.2 Allophones.........................................................................25
2.3 Minimal Pairs.....................................................................27
2.4 Phonotactics .....................................................................27
2.5 Teaching Pronunciation: PHONICS...................................29
3. UNIT 3: STRESS AND RHYTHM
3.1 Resources.........................................................................30
3.2 Stress ...............................................................................32
3.3 Rhythm..............................................................................40
3.4 Teaching Pronunciation: LIMERICKS AND CHANTS.......46
4. UNIT 4: INTONATION AND CONNECTED SPEECH
4.1 Resources........................................................................ 47
4.2 Intonation...........................................................................48
4.2 Connected Speech............................................................54
4.3 Teaching Pronunciation: COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES.....61
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................62
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UNIT I: PHONETICS 
VIRTUAL RESOURCES

             
http://www.cambridge.org/it/cambridgeenglish/catalog/teacher‐training‐development‐and‐
research/english‐phonetics‐and‐phonology‐4th‐edition/components  

DOWNLOAD FREE SAMPLES  Chapter 2 The production of speech sounds 

 
http://www.cambridge.org/other_files/cms/PeterRoach/PeterRoach_Glossary.html  

http://www.cambridge.org/servlet/file/EPP_PED_Glossary.pdf?ITEM_ENT_ID=2491706&ITEM_VE
RSION=1&COLLSPEC_ENT_ID=7  

DOWNLOAD English Phonetics and Phonology Glossary (A little encyclopaedia of Phonetics 

 
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PHONETICS
Introduction.
Whereas syntax is about sentence formation, and semantics about sentence
interpretation, phonetics and phonology cover the field of sentence utterance.
Phonetics is concerned with how sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived
(we will only look at the production of sounds). Phonology is concerned with how
sounds function in relation to each other in a language. In other words, phonetics is
about sounds of language, phonology about sound systems of language. Phonetics
is a descriptive tool necessary to the study of the phonological aspects of a
language. Phonetics and phonology are worth studying for several reasons. One is
that as all study of language, the study of phonology gives us insight into how the
human mind works. Two more reasons are that the study of the phonetics of a foreign
language gives us a much better ability both to hear and to correct mistakes that we
make, and also to teach pronunciation of the foreign language (in this case English)
to others.

As phonetics and phonology both deal with sounds, and as English spelling and
English pronunciation are two very different things, it is important that you keep in
mind that we are not interested in letters here, but in sounds. For instance, English
has not 5 or 6 but 20 different vowels, even if these vowels are all written by different
combinations of 6 different letters, "a, e, i, o, u, y". The orthographic spelling of a
word will be given in italics, e.g. please, and the phonetic transcription between
square brackets [pli:z]. Thus the word please consists of three consonants, [p,l,z],
and one vowel, [i:]. And sounds considered from the phonological point of view are
put between slashes. We will use the symbols.
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The Speech Organs

All the organs shown contribute to the production of speech. All the sounds of
English are made using air on its way out from the lungs. The lungs pull in and push
out air. The air goes out via the trachea, where the first obstruction it meets is the
larynx, which it has to pass through. Inside the larynx the air passes by the vocal
folds or chords, which, if they vibrate, make the sound voiced. Afterwards the air
goes up through the pharynx, and escapes via either the oral or the nasal cavity.

Almost all the organs involved in speech production also have other functions. The
lungs and the diaphragm are obviously involved in breathing, as is the nasal cavity,
which cleans, heats and humidifies the air that is breathed in. The teeth and the
tongue play a part in digestion, and in a way, so do the vocal folds, as they have to
be closed when swallowing, to keep the food from going down the wrong way.
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Consonants

On the way out the air flow can be more or less obstructed, producing a consonant,
or is simply modified, giving a vowel. If you pronounce the first sound of the word
paper you close your mouth completely and that is the utmost obstruction, whereas
if you pronounce the first sound of the word after the mouth is more open than
normal, the air flows as freely as it possibly can.

Consonants are often classified by being given a so-called VPM-label. VPM stands
for Voicing, Place and Manner:

- voicing means that the vocal folds are used; if they are not, the sound is voiceless
(note that vowels always imply the use of vocal folds).

- place of articulation is the place where the air flow will be more or less obstructed.

- manner is concerned with the nature of the obstruction.

Voicing

The larynx is in the neck, at a point commonly called Adam's apple. It is like a box,
inside which are the vocal folds, two thick flaps of muscle. In a normal position, the
vocal folds are apart and we say that the glottis is open (figure a). When the edges
of the vocal folds touch each other, air passing through the glottis will usually cause
vibration (figure b). This opening and closing is repeated regularly and gives what is
called voicing.
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The only distinction between the first sounds of sue and zoo for example is that [s]
is voiceless, [z] is voiced. The same goes for few and view, [f] is voiceless, [v] is
voiced. If you now say [ssssszzzzzsssss] or [fffffvvvvvfffff] you can either hear the
vibrations of the [zzzzz] or [vvvvv] by sticking your fingers into your ears, or you can
feel them by touching the front of your larynx (the Adam's Apple).

This distinction is quite important in English, as there are many pairs of sounds that
differ only in voicing. In the examples below the first sound is voiceless, the other is
voiced: pie/buy, try/dry, clue/glue, chew/Jew, thigh/thy. This distinction can also be
made in between two vowels: rapid/rabid, metal/medal, or at the end of a word:
pick/pig, leaf/leave, rich/ridge.
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Places of Articulation.

As we saw above [p,t,k] are all voiceless, so there must be another way to distinguish
between them, otherwise we would not be able to tell try apart from pry or cry, or
pick from tick or kick . Apart from the behaviour of the vocal folds, sounds can also
be distinguished as to where in the oral cavity they are articulated (i.e. where in the
mouth there is most obstruction when they are pronounced)

Bilabial sounds are produced when the lips are brought together. Examples are [p],
which is voiceless, as in pay or [b] and [m] which are voiced, as in bay, may.

Labiodental sounds are made when the lower lip is raised towards the upper front
teeth. Examples are [f] safe (voiceless) and [v] save (voiced).

Dental sounds are produced by touching the upper front teeth with the tip of the
tongue. Examples are [S] oath (voiceless) and [C] clothe (voiced).
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Alveolar sounds are made by raising the tip of the tongue towards the ridge

that is right behind the upper front teeth, called the alveolar ridge. Examples

are [ t,s ] too,sue, both voiceless, and [d,z,n,l,r ] do, zoo, nook, look, rook,

all voiced.

Palatoalveolar sounds are made by raising the blade of the tongue towards

the part of the palate just behind the alveolar ridge. Examples [R,tR] pressure,

batch (voiceless) and [Y,dY] pleasure, badge (voiced).

Palatal sounds are very similar to palatoalveolar ones, they are just produced

further back towards the velum. The only palatal sound in English is [ j ] as

in yes, yellow, beauty, new and it is voiced.

Velar sounds are made by raising the back of the tongue towards the soft

palate, called the velum. Examples [k] back, voiceless, and [g, M] both voiced

bag, bang. [w] is a velar which is accompanied with lip rounding.

Glottal sounds are produced when the air passes through the glottis as it is

narrowed: [h] as in high.

Manners of Articulation.

We can now distinguish between English consonants from two points of view, that
of voicing, and that of place. We can see that [b] and [t] are different in both respects,
[b] is voiced and bilabial, and [t] is voiceless and alveolar. [p] differs from [b] only in
being voiceless, as both are bilabial, and [p] differs from [t] only in being bilabial, as
both are voiceless.

There are still pairs of sounds where we cannot yet describe the difference of one
from the other, e.g. [b,m] bend, mend as both are voiced and bilabial, and [t,s] ton,
son which both are voiceless and alveolar. As the examples show, we can however
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tell the words apart, and this is because the sounds are different in a way we have
not yet discussed, and that is with respect to their manner of articulation.

The manner of articulation has to do with the kind of obstruction the air meets on its
way out, after it has passed the vocal folds. It may meet a complete closure
(plosives), an almost complete closure (fricatives), or a smaller degree of closure
(approximants), or the air might escape in more exceptional ways, around the sides
of the tongue (laterals), or through the nasal cavity (nasals).

Plosives are sounds in which there is a complete closure in the mouth, so that the
air is blocked for a fraction of a second and then released with a small burst of sound,
called a plosion (it sounds like a very small explosion). Plosives may be bilabial [p,b]
park, bark, alveolar [t,d] tar, dark or velar [k,g] car, guard. There is a fourth kind of
plosive, the glottal stop. The word football can be pronounced without interruption in
the middle as in [fTtbN:l] or with a complete closure of the glottis instead of [t]:
[fT>bN:l].

In English a voiceless plosive that occurs at the begining of a word and is followed
by a vowel, is rather special in the sense that at the release of a plosion one can
hear a slight puff of air (called aspiration) before the vowel is articulated. Hence in
“pen “we hear [pçen]. These aspirated voiceless plosives are not considered to be
different sounds from unaspirated voiceless plosives from the point of view of how
they function in the sound system. This difference, which can be clearly heard, is
said to be phonetic.

Fricatives have a closure which is not quite complete. This means that the air is not
blocked at any point, and therefore there is no plosion. On the other hand the
obstruction is big enough for the air to make a noise when it passes through it,
because of the friction. This effect is similar to the wind whistling around the corner
of a house. Fricatives may be labiodental [f,v] wife, wives, dental [S,C] breath,
breathe, alveolar [s,z] sink, zinc, palato-alveolar [R,Y] nation, evasion, or glottal [h]
help. [h] is a glottal fricative. As it has no closure anywhere else, and as all air passes
between the vocal folds, this means that [h] is like aspiration unaccompanied by any
obstruction.
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A distinction may be made between sibilant and non-sibilant fricatives. Sibilant

sounds are the fricatives with a clear "hissing" noise, [s,z,R,Y ] and the two affricates
[tR, dY] choke, joke.

Affricates are a combination of a plosive and a fricative (sometimes they are called
"affricated plosives"). They begin like a plosive, with a complete closure, but instead
of a plosion, they have a very slow release, moving backwards to a place where a
friction can be heard (palatoalveolar). The two English affricates are both
palatoalveolar, [tR] which is voiceless, chin, rich, and [dY] which is voiced, gin, ridge.
The way an affricate resembles a plosive followed by a fricative is mirrored in the
symbols. Both consist of a plosive symbol followed by a fricative one: [ t+R], [d+Y].

Nasals resemble plosives, except that there is a complete closure in the mouth, but
as the velum is lowered the air can escape through the nasal cavity. Though most
sounds are produced with the velum raised, the normal position for the velum is
lowered, as this is the position for breathing (your velum is probably lowered right
now when you are reading this). The three English nasals are all voiced, and [m] is
bilabial, ram, [n] is alveolar, ran, and [M] velar, rang. In the section on places, the
dotted line on the pictures of bilabial, alveolar, and velar articulations illustrate the
three nasals.

Laterals are sounds where the air escapes around the sides of the tongue. There is
only one lateral in English, [l], a voiced alveolar lateral. It occurs in two versions, the
socalled "clear l" before vowels, light, long, and the "dark l" in other cases, milk, ball.
Words like little, lateral have one of each type. "Dark l" may be written with the
symbol [4]. "Clear l" is pronounced with the top of the tongue raised, whereas for
"dark l " it is the back of the tongue which is raised. Here again, as with aspirated
and unaspirated voiceless plosives, even though "clear l" and "dark l" are
phonetically different, they cannot be said to be different sounds from the point of
view of how they function in the sound system. If you produce a "dark l" where usually
you have a "clear l", for example at the beginning of the word long, your
pronunciation will sound odd but nobody will understand a different word.
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Approximants are sounds where the tongue only approaches the roof of the mouth,
so that there is not enough obstruction to create any friction. English has three
approximants, which are all voiced. [r] is alveolar, right, brown, sometimes called
post-alveolar, because it is slightly further back that the other alveolar sounds
[t,d,s,l]. [j] is a palatal approximant, use, youth, and [w] is a velar approximant, why,
twin, square. [w] always has lip-rounding as well, and therefore it is sometimes called
labio-velar.

[r] only occurs before vowels in southern British English, whereas other accents, e.g.
Scottish, Irish, and most American ones, also can have it after vowels. Therefore
those accents can make a distinction between e.g. saw and sore, which are
pronounced exactly alike in southern British English.
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Vowels

We shall first have a closer look at the way in which vowels differ from consonants.
Then we shall analyse vowels phonetically, i.e. according to:

- tongue position: how high in the mouth is the tongue, and which part of the tongue
is the highest?

- length: are the vowels long or short?

- rounding: are the lips rounded or not?

- nasality: is there free passage of air through the nose?

- diphthongs: are they steady, or do they somehow change in character?

Difference from Consonants

Even though all the languages of the world contain both vowels and consonants,
and although almost everybody has some idea of whether a given sound is a vowel
or a consonant in his language, there is actually more than one way to distinguish
between the two classes of sounds. From a phonetic point of view one way of
distinguishing is by considering which sounds have the highest degree of
obstruction. Although vowels have almost no obstruction, and some consonants
(obstruents, nasals, and the lateral) have a high degree of obstruction, there is a
group of consonants (the approximants) which would be classified as vowels if this
criterion was used: approximants have no more obstruction than vowels. This can
be seen by comparing the approximant [j] in yeast [ji:st]with the vowel [i:] in east [i:st].

From a phonological point of view, it is possible to distinguish between vowels and

consonants by testing which sounds may be the nucleus of a syllable, i.e. the part of
a syllabe that cannot be left out. If you consider a syllable such as [k@:t] cart, the
initial [k] may be left out and we still have a syllable, [@:t] art, the final [t] may be left
out and we still have a syllable , [k@:] car. In fact [k] and [t] may both be left out, and
the remainder is still a syllable, [@:] are. If however you try to leave out the vowel,
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then there is no syllable anymore:* [kt]. [ a:] is then the sound that cannot be left out.
Compare with yeast whereas [j] can be left out, giving [i:st], [i:] can’t:*[jst]. Syllabicity
seems to be the criterion to determine whether a sound is a vowel or a consonant.

The above discussion would not be complete if we didn't mention the problem of
socalled syllabic consonants. This is the case when sounds like / r,l,n / may function
as a separate syllable consisting of an only sound, as in /kPt+n/ cotton or /zp+l/
apple, where English speakers clearly hear two separate syllables. In these words,
the /n/ and /l/ seem to function as the nucleus of the second syllable of these words.
However they cannot be classified as vowels, as they can never occur alone as a
word.

Tongue Position

Tongue position is described using two criteria: the height (how high is the tongue)
and the part of the tongue involved in the production of the sound. In English the
tongue may either be high, i.e. when the speaker produces e.g. [i:, u:] in [bi:t, bu:t]
beat, boot, intermediate, e.g. [e,N:] in [bet, bN:t] bet, bought, or low, e.g. [z,a:] in [bzt,
ba:t] bat, Bart.

a) tongue is at the highest b) tongue is at the lowest

Depending on the language we can have several intermediate tongue heights.

English has three heights: high, mid and low, whereas French has two intermediate
tongue heights with a total of four tongue heights: high, mid high, mid low and low.
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The part of the tongue involved in the production of a vowel can also be illustrated
with the examples above. If you say [i:] and then [u:] just after it, you almost have
the feeling that you are moving your tongue backwards. This is because [i:] is a front
vowel, and [u:] is a back vowel, or in other words, the highest point in the
pronunciation of [i:] is the front of the tongue, whereas the highest point in [u:] is the
back of the tongue. Figure (17) gives you two examples of tongue position: a) is an
example of the front of the tongue being at the highest b) it is the back of the tongue
which is nearest to the palate.

For example [D] is front and [N:] is back, and [z] front, [@:] back. There are also
vowels in between front and back, called central, namely [2:,?,U] as in [w2:d, fN:w?d,
mUd] word, forward, mud. [2:] for instance is between [e] and [N:], as can be seen
from [bed, b2:d, bN:d], bed, bird, board.

To give an accurate account of tongue position one has to combine height of the
tongue and part of the tongue involved.
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Length

As you may have seen, there are two types of [i] sound in English placed in two
different positions. However for the purpose of description, what is relevant is not the
difference of position but that of the perceived length of the vowel. Thus it is said that
[i:] is a long vowel and [H] is a short one. The same is valid for [u:] / [T], [2:]/[?], [N:]/
[P]. Symbols for long vowels all have a colon.

Phonologically, one can establish the rule such as only long vowels may be the last
sound of a syllable, whereas short vowels are always followed by at least a
consonant. If we take away the final [t] from court, [kN:] is a possible syllable (core)
whereas [kP] could not possibly occur. (Exceptions from this are the three short
vowels that occur in completely unstressed syllables, [sHtH, HntT, swet?] city, into,
sweater).

Rounding

Vowels may also be different from each other with respect to rounding. If you
compare [i:] in [tRi:z] cheese with [u:] in [tRu:z] choose, you will see that not only is
 19 
 

[i:] a front vowel and [u:] a back vowel, but [i:] is also unrounded where [u:] is
rounded. When pronouncing [u:] your lips are rounded, but when pronouncing [i:] the
corners of the mouth are much further apart.

Nasality

There are no nasal vowels in British English, i.e. no vowels in which the air also
escapes through the nose.

Diphthongs

So far we have only been considering vowels that were constant, i.e. vowels that
were pronounced at one and the same place. Such vowels are called
monophthongs, and English has 12 of them.

English also has 8 diphthongs, which are vowels that change character during their
pronunciation, that is, they begin at one place and move towards another place.
Compare for example the monophthong in car with the diphthong in cow, or the
monophthong in girl with the diphthong in goal. The vowels of cow and goal both
begin at a given place and glide towards another one . In goal the vowel begins as
if it was [?], but then it moves towards [T]. Therefore it is written [?T], as in [g?Tl]
goal, with two symbols, one for how it starts and one for how it ends.
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Table of Vowels

As we saw above, the best way of noting the tongue position is by using the vowel
diagrams, but as they do not contain information about length and rounding, we can
summarise the description of English vowels in the following table:
i: long high front unrounded monophthong

ɪ short high front unrounded monophthong

e short mid front unrounded monophthong

æ short low front unrounded monophthong

ʌ short low central unrounded monophthong

ɑ: long low back unrounded monophthong

ɒ short low back rounded monophthong

ɔ: long mid back rounded monophthong

ʊ short high back rounded monophthong

u: long high back rounded monophthong

ɜ: long mid central unrounded monophthong

Ə short mid central unrounded monophthong

eɪ diphthong moving from mid front unrounded to high front unrounded

aɪ diphthong low central unrounded to high front unrounded

ɔɪ diphthong low back rounded to high front unrounded

əʊ diphthong mid central unrounded to high back rounded

aʊ diphthong low central unrounded to high back rounded

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ɪə diphthong high front unrounded to mid central unrounded

eə diphthong mid front unrounded to mid central unrounded

ʊə diphthong high back unrounded to mid central unrounded

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PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION

VIRTUAL RESOURCES

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/english.html

Underhill, A. (2005). Sound foundations. Macmillan Education.

 23 
 

ADRIAN UNDERHILL

The Phonemic Chart

http://www.macmillanenglish.com/phonemic-chart/

Youtube Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkfBiYXqp30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ue4mrFG68Y
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UNIT 2: PHONOLOGY

Phonemes

A phoneme is a sound that makes a difference in meaning in a language. Different

languages use different sets of phonemes to communicate ideas. English has about
forty phonemes while Spanish has about twenty-two.

To determine whether a sound functions as a phoneme in a language, a linguist tries

to find two words that differ by just one sound. For example, in English, pet and bet
are words that signify different meanings, and the only difference in sound is the
difference between the “p” sound in pet and the “b” sound in bet , so a linguist might
hypothesize that “p” and “b” are two phonemes in English. The linguist would then
look for other pairs of words like pan and ban to confirm the hypothesis that “p” and
“b” are phonemes of English. These words are referred to as minimal pairs because
they differ by just one phoneme. The presence of a minimal pair is evidence that a
sound functions as a phoneme in a language.

No language has a writing system that uniquely represents each sound in the
language. That is, no alphabet has a one-to-one correspondence between sounds
and letters. Instead, one letter may represent different sounds, and one sound may
be represented by different letters or letter sequences. In English, for example, the
same sound is represented by the c in cat and the k in kite. At the same time, the
letters ea have different sounds in tea, bread, steak, and idea. Linguists wishing to
study the sound system of a language need a more consistent method to analyze
the sounds than an alphabet provides. For that reason, they use phonemic
transcription.

In phonemic transcription, each sound is represented by one and only one written
mark. Phonemic transcription makes use of many of the letters of the alphabet but
uses them in a consistent way. For instance, the first sound of cat and kite is always
written with a /k/. Phonemes are indicated by putting them between slash marks. To
 25 
 

show the first phoneme in pet , a linguist would write /p/. A linguist could also show
more details in the pronunciation of a sound by using phonetic transcription. The first
sound of pet could be written as [ pʰ ]. Phonetic transcription is written with square
brackets. The small raised h represents a puff of air that speakers produce as they
make the /p/ sound at the beginning of a word. This feature, aspiration, is phonetic,
not phonemic, because in English, aspiration is never used to signal a change in
meaning.

Allophones

Now listen to the vowels in the words cat and cad. Are they identical or different?

We hope you said “different.” Can you now say how they differ? We hope you said
that one was longer than the other. Now listen to the consonants after the vowels.
Are these the same or different? Again, we hope you said different, and that you
know that [t] is voiceless and [d] is voiced. Now, which vowel, the longer or the
shorter, precedes [d] and which precedes [t]?

We hope you said that the longer vowel precedes the voiced consonant. Are the two
vowels similar in any way? Again, we hope you said that they seem to be longer and
shorter versions of the same vowel, [{]. Let’s use [:] to indicate extra length. So, the
vowel before voiceless [t] is just [{], but the one before voiced [d] is [{:].

Allophones and their contexts

We have already noted that if we substitute the aspirated allophone of /t/ for its
unaspirated relative, then we create an odd pronunciation of a word. [t Il] is the
typical American English pronunciation of till, but [tIl] is not. What, if any, patterns
can we observe in where allophones of a phoneme can and cannot occur?

Some allophones of a phoneme are in complementary distribution, that is, they

occupy different positions (contexts or environments) in words—where one can
occur the other cannot. As we have seen, English has a very general pattern of
lengthening vowels before voiced consonants. That is, the allophone of a vowel
 26 
 

phoneme before a voiced consonant will be appreciably longer (up to three times
longer) than the allophone of the same vowel phoneme before a voiceless
consonant. For example, listen to the pronunciation of /E/ in bet and bed. You should
have little difficulty in hearing the difference in vowel length. We can represent the
pattern of occurrence (distribution) of these two allophones of the phoneme /E/ as
the following phonological rule: When the phoneme /E/ occurs before a voiceless
consonant it is pronounced as its allophone [E]; when it occurs before a voiced
consonant it is pronounced as its allophone [E:]. (Remember: [:] is a diacritic
indicating a lengthened sound.)

In fact, the rule is much more general than this. Because it applies to all vowels, we
can write it as: In English a vowel is longer before a voiced consonant than it is
before a voiceless one. One of our objectives in studying a language is to be able to
describe these sound patterns, i.e., to be able to specify in the most general terms
possible the phonetic environments in which each allophone occurs.

Let’s look at another very systematic set of English vowel allophones. The vowels of
cap and can differ phonetically: that of cap is a plain []; that of can is nasalized,
represented by [{~]. (If you have trouble hearing the difference, try starting to say
each word normally and then omit the final consonant.) The phoneme // thus has
the allophones, [] and [{~]. In fact, all English vowels have both nasalized and non-
nasalized allophones. We can represent this as the rule: Whenever an English vowel
occurs before a nasal consonant, it becomes nasalized; otherwise it is non-nasalized

In fact, the situation is a bit more intricate that this. Because nasals are voiced, we
should expect a vowel before them to be lengthened relative to the same vowel
before a voiceless sound. And, indeed, this is what we find. Listen to the vowels in
cat, cad, and can. You should notice that the first vowel is unlengthened, [{]; the
second one is lengthened, [{:]; and the third one is both lengthened (in fact, probably
even more than the second one) and nasalized, [{~:].
 27 
 

Minimal pairs and sets

Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via pairs and sets of words. When
two words such as pat and bat are identical in form except for a contrast in one
phoneme, occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal
pair. More accurately, they would be classified as a minimal pair in the phonology of
English. (Arabic, for example, does not have this contrast between /p/ and /b/.) Other
examples of English minimal pairs are fan–van, bet–bat, site–side. Such pairs have
traditionally been used in the teaching and testing of English as a second or foreign
language to help students develop the ability to understand the contrast in meaning
based on the minimal sound contrast.

When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing
one phoneme (always in the same position in the word), then we have a minimal set.

For example, one minimal set based on the vowel phonemes of English could
include feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot, and another minimal set based on consonant
phonemes could have big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig.

Phonotactics

This type of exercise involving minimal sets also allows us to see that there are
definite patterns in the types of sound combinations permitted in a language. In
English, the minimal set we have just listed does not include forms such as lig or vig.
According to the dictionary, these are not English words, but they could be viewed
as possible English words. That is, our phonological knowledge of the pattern of
sounds in English words would allow us to treat these forms as acceptable if, at
some future time, they came into use. They might, for example, begin as invented
abbreviations (I think Bubba is one very ignorant guy. ~ Yeah, he’s a big vig!). Until
then, they represent “accidental” gaps in the vocabulary of English. It is, however,
no accident that forms such as [fsɪɡ] or [rnɪɡ] do not exist or are unlikely ever to exist.
They have been formed without obeying some constraints on the sequence or
position of English phonemes. Such constraints are called the phonotactics (i.e.
permitted arrangements of sounds) in a language and are obviously part of every
 28 
 

speaker’s phonological knowledge. Because these constraints operate on a unit that

is larger than the single segment or phoneme, we have to move on to a consideration
of the basic structure of that larger phonological unit called the syllable.
 29 
 

Teaching Pronunciation

Teaching PHONICS

Go to this website and read the following article:

PHONICS IN THE ESL CLASSROOM- IS IT RIGHT FOR YOU?

http://busyteacher.org/16913-teach-phonics-esl-classroom.html

Discuss about this topic and develop strategies to teach Phonics.

 30 
 

UNIT 3: STRESS AND RHYTHM

RESOURCES

(Available at BRITANICO LIBRARY)

Vaughan-Rees, M. (2010). Rhymes and rhythm: a poem-based course for english pronunciation
study. Garnet Education.

Yule, G. (2014). The study of language. Cambridge University Press.

 31 
 
(AVAILABLE AT ICPNA LIBRARY)

Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2004). Essential linguistics: What you need to know to teach
reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Heinemann Educational Books.

Brinton, L. J. (2000). The structure of modern English: a linguistic introduction. John Benjamins
Publishing.
 32 
 

Stress

Every word spoken in isolation has at least one stressed syllable. In articulatory
terms, stress involves a rise in air pressure; an increase in the activity of the
respiratory muscles forces more air out of the lungs during the articulation of a
particular syllable. There may also be an increase in the activity of the larynx,
resulting in higher pitch. In acoustic terms, the stressed syllable is perceived as
longer, louder, and of higher pitch. The term stress is sometimes used
interchangeably with accent, but accent should not be confused here with the other
use of the term to refer to dialect features (as in “a British accent”).

Certain languages in the world have an accentual system based on pitch diVerence,
not stress diVerences. That is, syllables carry varying levels of pitch, and pitch
diVerences alone can distinguish words. These tonal languages include Chinese,
Thai, West African languages, and Amerindian languages. But English has stress
accent.

To find the stressed syllable in English, say a polysyllabic word and tap your finger
at the same time. You will naturally tap on the stressed syllable. The reason for this
is that it is easier to produce one increase in muscular activity in conjunction with
another, so you use your respiratory muscles and your hand muscles
simultaneously. If you try to tap on an unstressed syllable, you will get a distortion in
the pronunciation of the word. Try saying the following word while tapping your finger
(the stressed syllable is marked):

abóminable pátriarchy exécutive confidéntial interpretátion

The rule for stress in Germanic words is very simple: words are always stressed on
the first syllable (as in ápple, fáther, húnger), except prefixed verbs, which are
stressed on the root syllable (as in forgét, belíeve, withdráw). However, English has
borrowed many words from the Romance languages, which have a diVerent stress
principle: stress falls on the penultimate syllable, as in admónish, unless there are
two consonants or a tense vowel at the end, as in adápt, exíst. The result is that the
 33 
 

stress system of Modern English is now very complex, and accent is not entirely
predictable.

Traditionally, different degrees, or levels, of stress are differentiated:

primary (level 1) marked by an acute accent (´)

secondary (level 2) marked by a grave accent (`)

unstressed (level 3) unmarked or marked by a breve (˘)

For example, if you say computation in isolation or at the end of a sentence, the ta
syllable will carry the strong stress, but the com syllable will also carry a seemingly
weaker stress. What is actually happening here is superimposition of an intonational
pattern (discussed in the next section) called a tonic accent onto the last stressed
syllable. So we say that ta carries primary stress and com carries secondary stress,
thus còmputátion. Secondary stress is sometimes diYcult to hear, but generally it will
be separated by at least one syllable — either before or after — from the syllable
carrying primary stress, as follows:

intérrogàte àccidéntal ínventòry

còncentrátion épilèpsy hallucination

That is, secondary stress will occur in words where the stressed syllable is followed
by two or more syllables or where the stressed syllable is preceded by two or more
syllables.

In transcription, the IPA system of marking stress is the use of a superscript tick
before the primary stressed syllable and a subscript tick before the secondary
stressed syllable, e.g., eligibility [À7lIJˇ6ÁbIl6ti], or only primary stress is indicated.
Unstressed syllables are not marked.

Stress is a meaningful feature of speech in respect to both words and word groups
in English. It has functions in the province of morphology, syntax, and discourse:

1. Stress distinguishes different parts of speech, as in the corresponding nouns

(with initial stress) and verbs (with final stress) below:
 34 
 

noun verb
próduce prodúce
áddress addréss
import impórt
ínsult insúlt
súrvey survey
íncline inclíne
éxport expórt

There are also derivationally-related pairs that show the same stress pattern:
concéive(V) and cóncept (N), procéed (V) and prócess (N), or preténd (V)
and prétense (N). But note that there are many exceptions: respéct and
rewárd are both a noun and a verb; cómment is both a noun and a verb; and
díffer and defér are different verbs; compare also belíeve (V) and belíef (N).

2. Stress distinguishes a word from a phrase (idiom), as in the corresponding

sets below:
WORD PHRASE
N (conversion) V + Particle
wálkout to wálk óut
púshover to púsh óver
rípoff to ríp óff
cáve-in to cáve ín
N (compound) A+N
hótdog hót dóg
blackboard bláck bóard
híghchair hígh cháir
V (conversion) A+N
to stónewall stóne wáll
to bláckball bláck báll
to máinstream máin stream
 35 
 

A word, as we shall see in the next chapter, has only one primary stress, while
a phrase has more than one.

3. Stress patterns in derivationally related words distinguish parts of speech:

N (concrete) N (abstract) A
díplomat diplómacy diplomátic
phótograph photógraphy photográphic
mónotone monótony monotónic
télegraph telégraphy telegráphic

N A
pícture picturésque
jóurnal journalese

That is, the affix affects the placement of stress.

4. Stress is not unrelated to full vowels; unstressed vowels may or may not be
reduced to [6], while stressed vowels are generally full (see above):

expláin [eɪ] explanátion [Ə]

emphátic [æ] émphasis [Ə]

Another important aspect related to stress is that of the “weak forms”. There is a
number of words in English (almost all of which belong to the category called function
or grammatical words) which can be pronounced in two different ways, a strong and
a weak form. There are about forty such words and it is important to be aware of
their existence as they can provoke misunderstandings. English-speaking people
find the strong forms unnatural and learners of English can misunderstand English
speakers, who will surely use weak forms.

There are some rules to learn. The strong form will be used when:

a) they occur at the end of a sentence, as in “Chips are what I’m fond of”.
 36 
 

b) A weak-form word is being contrasted with another word, as in “The letter is from
him, not to him.”

c) A weak-form word is given stress for the purpose of emphasis, as in “You must
give me more money.”

d) A weak-form is being “cited” or “quoted”, as in “You shouldn’t put “and” at the end
of a sentence.”

The most common weak-form words are:

THE (ðə or ði)

A (ə)

AND (ən)

BUT (bət)

THAT (ðət as a conjunction of relative pronoun)

THAN (ðən)

AT (ət or æt)

FOR (fə or fɔ:)

FROM (frəm or frɒm)

OF (əv or ɒv)

TO (tə or tu)

AS (əz or æz)

SOME (səm or sʌm)

 37 
 

CAN, COULD (k n, k d or kæn, k d)

HAVE, HAS, HAD ( v, z, d or hæv, hæz, hæd)

SHALL, SHOULD ( l, d or æl, d)

MUST (m s, m st or m st)

DO, DOES (d , du, dez or du:, d z)

AM, IS, ARE, WAS, WERE ( m, , r, w z, w , w r or æm, a:, w z, w :)

Remember that the reduction of vowel sounds is not due to “sloppiness” or

“laziness”, but is completely natural. You may have observed that when nonnative
speakers do not reduce vowels as we would expect, their speech indeed sounds
“foreign” and nonEnglish.

5. Stress is used for contrastive emphasis, often indicated in writing by italics or

underlining:

I want the réd one, not the blue one.

He cán, but he won’t finish his work.

The second example shows that we usually don’t stress verbs but must stress
an accompanying auxiliary verb.

6. Stress may be used in a discourse to signal new as opposed to old (given)

information. For example, in a discussion of what food is wanted by the
addressee for dinner, the speaker might use any of the questions below:

Do yóu want pizza for dinner?

Do you want pízza for dinner?

Do you want pizza for dínner?

If the old information— the topic— concerns having pizza for dinner, then the first
sentence might be used to question specifically whether the addressee wants it
(“you” as opposed to “your brother”). If the topic concerns the addressee’s wants
 38 
 

for dinner, then the second sentence might be used to question what food he or
she wants (“pizza” as opposed to “spaghetti”). If the topic concerns having pizza
for some meal, then the third sentence might be used to question which meal
pizza should be served at (“dinner” rather than “lunch”). The third sentence — in
which the last noun in the clause receives the greatest prominence — is also the
most neutral version of this question, where no particular item is being unduly
stressed .

There is some amount of dialectical variation in the placement of stress. For

example, the following words receive different stress placement in British and
North American English. Decide which syllable is stressed for you: ánchóvy,
prépáratory, gáráge, láméntable, ápplícable, mústáche, mágazíne,
advértísement, córóllary [Ákfr6l7ri] or [k6Ár#l6ri]. There is a fairly general rule in
British English that secondary stress is omitted on -ory/-ary and, as a

consequence, the penultimate syllable is lost in words ending in [-(ə)ri], as in

secretary, laboratory, obligatory, military, and dictionary.

When we speak entire sentences, we do not, in fact, stress every word. Try doing
so and see how unnatural it sounds. Instead, we stress only certain words, and
unstress others. Generally, we place stress on the major parts of speech, or
content words (the nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs), and remove stress
from the minor parts of speech, or function words (the prepositions, conjunctions,
pronouns, articles, and so on). Consider the following sentence:

In autumn, the dry, yellow leaves fall from the trees.

We would expect autumn, dry, yellow, leaves, fall, and trees to carry stress, and
in, the, and from not to. Moreover, in English these stresses fall as much as
possible at regular intervals, making English a “stress-timed” language. The
amount of time necessary for an utterance depends upon the number of stressed
syllables, with unstressed syllables occupying much less time than stressed
ones. Say the following sentences and note where the stresses fall. Observe that
certain content words which one might expect to carry stress do not do so:
 39 
 

A fúnny thing háppened on the wáy to the fórum.

Fíve pretty gírls kissed fífteen handsome bóys.

Thís is the hóuse that Jáck búilt.

Variations in the placement of stress within an individual polysyllabic word may

also result from the position of the word in a sentence. Note the diVerence in
stress for the following adjectives if they occur before the noun (in attributive
position) or if they occur following the verb (in a predicative position), in the slot
indicated:

Alex is an ___________ person Alex is very __________

ártificial artifícial

ábsent-minded absent-mínded

arístocratic aristocratic

Because the placement of stress in a sentence is a matter of spacing out the stresses
as evenly as possible and because it is usual to place stress near to the end of the
sentence in English, on the last major part of speech, pérson carries stress; as a
consequence, stress on the preceding adjective is placed as far from it as possible,
on the first or second syllable. In contrast, since véry carries emphatic stress, the
stress on the following adjective is placed as late as possible, on the penultimate
syllable.
 40 
 

Rhythm

Speech, as with all bodily movements such as breathing, walking, heart-beat, etc.,
is highly rhythmical; it tends to have a regular beat. But what marks the beat differs
is various languages. Pike distinguished two kinds of rhythm in languages: (i)
syllable-timed rhythm, where syllables tend to occur at regular intervals of time, and
consequently all syllables tend to have the same length (e.g. Spanish and French)
and (ii) stressed-limed rhythm, where stressed syllables tend to occur at regular
intervals. That means that the syllables might vary in length since there might be a
varying number of syllables between stresses. English is a stress-timed language.
In the following Spanish sentence syllables have the same length and occur at
regular intervals:

'Quie'ro 'que 'ven'gas 'al 'mé'di'co 'con'mi'go 'ma'ña'na.

In the equivalent English sentence, syllables vary in length but stressed syllables
occur regularly:

I 'want you to 'come with me to the 'doctor's to'morrow.

In English, rhythm is organized into feet (Abercrombie 1964). The foot begins with
the stressed syllable and includes all the unstressed syllables up to the next stress
where a new foot begins. The above English sentence has four stresses and
consequently four feet. Using slashes to indícate foot boundary we could represent
feet as follows: I / 'want you to / 'come with me to the / 'doctor's to / 'morrow. The
beat at the beginning of the foot might be silent, we mark this silent beat with a caret
(„).
No language is purely stressed-timed or syllable-timed but tends to behave more
like one or the other pattern. Delattre argües that Germán, for instance, takes a
position midway between English and Spanish with respect to rhythm. Catalán
seems to be a similar case.

Rhythm is also tempo dependent. The faster the speech, the more stressed-timed
the rhythm (Angenot et al). Thus, Spanish or Portuguese, said to be syllable-timed
languages, become more stressed-timed when spoken at a fast rate, although
 41 
 

vowels keep their distinctive quality. Thus, the following Spanish and Brazilian
Portuguese sentences uttered at a fast speaking rate might result in a rhythmic
pattern basically stressed-determined:

Claro que voy a hacer geografía

['kao ke {5ia'6e xora'fía]

O que e que tu vais fazer?

[kek'tvaf'ze]
The basic differences between syllable-timed languages (such as Spanish) and
stressed-timed languages (such as English) are:

syllable-timed stressed-limed

1. weak vowel reduction 1. strong vowel reduction

2. simple syllable structure 2. complex syllable structure

3. proportional effect of tempo 3. non-proportional effect of tempo

4. absence of secondary stress 4. presence of secondary stress

5. metrical system of a syllabic type 5. metrical system of an accentual type

1. In languages such as Spanish unstressed vowels suffer a weak vowel reduction

since every syllable is allotted virtually the same amount of time to be produced. In
English unstressed syllables have little time to be produced in order to keep the
rhythmic beat on the stressed syllables. Thus, there is a strong reduction in vowel
quality due to the undershoot phenomenon: in the short time allotted for the
pronunciation of unstressed vowels the articulators do not achieve the vowel target,
resulting in the centralized vowels [a, i, u].

2. The reduction and subsequent elision of unstressed vowels have resulted in a

large amount of consonant clusters and a complex syllable structure in English.
 42 
 

3. In English, speaking rate (fast vs slow speech) does not affect the duration of
stressed and unstressed syllables proportionally. In Spanish, speaking rate effects
on the duration of stressed and unstressed vowels is roughly the same.

4. Stress-timed languages tend to have secondary stress in words (or to introduce

rhythmical stresses in longer sequences) to avoid long sequences of unstressed
syllables and to keep the rhythmic beat. In English no stressed syllable in a word
can be preceded by more than two unstressed syllables in succession, a secondary
stress is introduced (e.g.,clarifi'catión, re,conside''radon,varia'bility). After the
stressed syllable there may be up to three unstressed syllables, but only in words
with certain suffixes (e.g. ad'ministrative, 'candidacy ).

5. In syllable-timed languages the syllable occurs at roughly regular intervals of time

and the syllable is the rhythmical unit in verse (thus, Spanish verse is referred to as
'octosyllable,' 'decasyllable,' etc.). In stressed-timed languages it is the stress which
occurs regularly and the metric system is based on the foot (thus, English verse is
referred to as iambic, trochee, anapest, etc., which refer to different stress patterns
of the foot).

Rhythmic Alternation

English rhythm, apart from being conditioned by the principles of isochrony and
stress-timing, is characterized by the principle of rhythmic alternation; that is, in
English weak and strong syllables alternate with one another. How is it that regular
alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables results, if speakers do not choose
their words according to their lexical stress pattern, but to the meaning they want to
express and the form in which they want to couch this meaning? It seems that once
the lexemes of an utterance have been selected, a set of rules (syntactical,
morphological, phonetic and rhythmic) are applied to the utterance to determine its
phonetic realization. Thus, a structure which does not observe the stress alternation
principle (because too many stresses appear next to each other, or there are long
sequences of unstressed syllables) will be modified by the rhythm rules to conform
more closely the ideal rhythmic alternation.
 43 
 

1. If a series of content words appear next to each other, some stresses are
dropped. There is a stress on each of the following content words: 'John's I
'friend l'wants l'get l'home Ibe'fore l'midnight ; but some of these stresses,
usually stresses on alternate words, are dropped when these words occur in
a sentence such as: 'John's friend 'wants to get 'home before 'midnight. Tap
with your finger at each stressed syllable while saying this sentence and you
will find it quite natural to tap al the syllables marked as stressed. Similarly, if
an utterance contains a succession of three stresses, as in 'B 'B 'C ; 'big
/'blue/'eyes ; 'five l'eight l'two , the intermediate stress tends to be dropped in
order to achieve a more regular alternation: 'BB'C, 'big blue 'eyes, 'five eight
'two.

2. If an utterance consists of a succession of unstressed function words, e.g. he

should have been here 'earlier, stresses are added to produce a more regular
rhythm: 'he should have 'been here 'earlier. Similarly, the rhythmical stressing of
if and as in initial position when followed by unstressed syllables, as in:

'If you are 'right, we should be 'getting there 'soon

'As a 'child he 'studied 'English

but not in medial position when next to another stress:

'We should be 'getting there 'soon if you are 'right

He 'studied 'English as a 'child

shows the tendeney to distribute stresses rhythmically. Note that if and as are
not likely to be stressed when immediately followed by a stressed syllable:

As 'Head of De'partment, I 'can't a'llow you to 'do

If 'worse comes to 'worse, we'll 'just 'drop it

 44 
 

There are constraints on stress addition and deletion. Stresses cannot be deleted
just anywhere. Thus, in the above utterance John's friend wants to get home
before midnight, the stresses on John/home I midnight cannot be deleted though
others can. Similarly, stresses cannot be added just anywhere. If an extra stress
is to be added in 'leave it in the 'car, due to a very deliberate and slow speaking
rate, it cannot be added on the determiner, but must be added on the preposition:
'leave it 'in the 'car. Based on evidence of this kind Giegerich (46) suggests a
hierarchy of stressable words.

3. If two stresses are next to each other in a phrase, e.g. a ,Japa'nese

'student. ,after'noon 'tea, the first stress is moved to the preceding strong
syllable: Japanese 'student, 'afternoon 'tea, to space out the stresses.

The alternation of rhythmical stresses in English is best described by rhythmic

hierarchies and metrical grids (Selkirk). In the following grid all syllables at the lowest
rhythmic level (1) are marked with x, all strong syllables at level (2) with another x,
and the lexical stress in each word by another x at level (3). Phrasal stress is marked
by another x at level (4). The stresses in this utterance are represented as follows:

(4) x x (4) x x

(3) x x (3) x x x

(2) x x x -* (2) x x x

(1)XXXXX (1 ) X X X X X

Japanese student Japanese student

If two stressed syllables are immediately next to each other on an upper level, with
no intervening beats at the level below, there is a «stress clash» and stress shifts
towards a leftmost strong syllable (at least at level 2). Thus, ,Japa'nese 'students
becomes 'Japanese 'students, but be'tween 'cars does not become *'between 'cars,
because the first syllable in between is not a strong syllable.
 45 
 

To sum up, the factors that contribute to maintain a regular rhythm in English are of
two kinds. (1) There are those which affect the distribution of stresses to ensure
rhythmic alternation:

a. dropping of some stresses to prevent too many stresses coming together, eg.
'nice 'oíd 'book —*• 'nice oíd 'book;

b. stress addition to avoid a long succession of unstressed syllables, e.g. he should

have 'done it him 'self —* 'he should have 'done it him 'self,

c. stress movement to a preceding strong syllable if two stresses are next to each
other: Heath'row 'airport —* 'Heathrow 'airport.

(2) There are those which affect adjustments in the length of sounds to keep a
constant time interval between stresses.

a. Durational variations in the stressed syllable depending on the number of

unstressed syllables in the foot. For example, reduction in vowel length when
unstressed syllables follow. Compare the decreasing duration of the stressed vowel
in 'lead, 'leader, 'leadership.

b. Reduction processes that affect unstressed syllables: vowel reduction, consonant

weakening, elisión, assimilation, haplology. For example, probably ['probabli] -»•

['pra:bli], solicitor [sa'lisita] -*• ['slista].

c. Weak forms.
 46 
 

Teaching Pronunciation

Teaching LIMERICKS AND CHANTS

http://jazzchants.net/home

Find out about Carolyn Graham and her jazz chants. Discuss how you can use them
in class.

Find out what LIMERICKS are, and discuss how they can help you teach Stress and
Rhythm.
 47 
 

UNIT IV: INTONATION AND CONNECTED SPEECH

RESOURCES

(AVAILABLE AT ICPNA AND BRITANICO LIBRARIES)

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching pronunciation: A reference for
teachers of English to speakers of other languages. Cambridge University Press.

Kelly, G. (2006). How To Teach Pronunciation (With Cd). Pearson Education India.
 48 
 

Intonation

Like stress, intonation is a meaningful suprasegmental feature of speech. Intonation

refers to patterns of pitch variation in a sentence. It does not refer to the discrete
pitches of different vowels, to pitch accent, nor to physiologically determined
variations in pitch due to the size and shape of a person’s vocal apparatus (e.g., the
difference in pitch between men’s and women’s voices). The pitch patterns of
intonation are similar to tunes distributed over sentences in an organized and
systematic way. They affect the meaning of the sentence as a whole by indicating
different sentence types, such as statements or questions. Intonation is represented
in a gross fashion in writing by punctuation marks: ? , . ! ; —. Intonation patterns may
also indicate the attitude or relation of the speaker to the hearer as well as various
contextual features. Therefore, though intonation is a phonological feature, its
meaning lies within the province of syntax and pragmatics. Intonation patterns diVer
quite substantially among different dialects of English, for example between British
and American or American and Canadian English. Note that you cannot usually
determine the national dialect of a singer because the tunes of the music supercede
the distinctive intonational patterns of English sentences.

In studying intonation, it has been the practice to recognize either different levels of
pitch (generally four levels) or different intonational contours, described as falling or
rising.

Using the latter approach, we identify a number of different pitch patterns, which
convey different meanings:

– long falling: expresses finality, conclusion, affirmation, agreement;

– short falling: expresses an attenuated or qualified conclusion;

– long rising: expresses questioning and a lack of finality;

– short rising: expresses some degree of reservation or functions as a signal of

attentiveness

(continuation marker);
 49 
 

– rising-falling: expresses finality with added emotion (e.g., emphasis. enthusiasm,

certainty, annoyance); and

– falling-rising: expresses querulousness, skepticism, reservation

We can see the meaning of these pitch patterns even in a one-word sentence:

long falling: Yes. “The answer is ‘yes’”.

short falling: Yes. “The answer is ‘yes’, but I am impatient with your question or find
it unimportant”.

long rising: Yes. “Did you say ‘yes’”?

short rising: Yes. “Perhaps”. Or “Please go on — I’m listening”.

rising-falling: Yes. “I’m certain”.

falling-rising: Yes. “I’m doubtful”.

Of course, we normally speak in sequences longer than an individual word. In

analyzing intonation patterns, we need to divide longer sequences of discourse into
tone groups. Tone groups are not necessarily syntactic, but correspond to units of
information. A single tone pattern continues over a particular tone group. There may
be more than one tone group per sentence. The number of tone groups may vary
depending on style: in more formal, deliberate, or pompous style, there are a greater
number of tone groups than in more colloquial styles. Consider the following
sentence:

She sat by the window in the late afternoon,// reading a letter

Here there are two tone groups, corresponding to syntactic units, both with falling
intonation. A more formal style might consist of three tone groups:

She sat by the window// in the late afternoon,// reading a letter.

Each tone group contains a tonic syllable, which carries the major shift in intonation.
Usually, the tonic syllable is the last stressed syllable in the tone group. It expresses
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the information which the speaker considers new (unknown) and most important, as
in the following sentences where the tonic syllable is underlined:

Did you get the job? vs. Did you lose your job?

I visited my mother. vs. I visited your mother.

Let’s now examine pitch patterns in different sentence types. In each example the
tonic syllable is underlined.

1. A statement has a long falling intonation pattern.

a. A whale is a mammal. (Here the topic of the conversation is whales. What the

speaker is adding to the conversation is that these animals are mammals — as

opposed to fish — so “mammal” is new information.)

b. A whale is a mammal. (Here “mammal” is the topic, and “whale” is new

information.)

A command also has falling intonation when compliance is expected:

a. Close the window!

b. Take your seats!

2. A yes/no question has a long rising intonation pattern, since it expects an answer.

a. Do you want some coffee?

b. Do you want cream in your coffee?

c. Do you want coffee or tea?

d. Do you want coffee,// or tea? (This actually represents two yes/no questions, the

second being a kind of afterthought to the first.)

e. You are giving up coffee? (Note that this is not syntactically a question, but the

intonation shows that it is functioning as one.)

f. You bought a new car,// eh? (The particle eh and the rising intonation turns this
 51 
 

statement into a question.)

An echo question, which asks for the repetition of what has been said before, also
has long rising or falling-rising intonation.

a. He said what?

b. You did what?

3. A wh-question has a long falling intonation pattern (like a statement) since this
type of

sentence does not ask for but rather presupposes an answer.

a. Where did you put the paper? (This is the neutral emphasis.)

b. Where did you put the paper? (This focuses on “you” as new information.)

4. A tag question has two tone groups; the first half is syntactically a statement, while
the second half is syntactically a question .

a. You will help,// won’t you? (This follows the expected pattern where the first
tone unit has (short) falling intonation because it is a statement and the second tone

unit has (short) rising intonation because it is a yes/no question.)

b. He bought a paper,// didn’t he? (This is not a real question, but merely asks
for confirmation, so unlike (a), the second tone unit has long falling intonation.)

5. An alternative question consists of two tone groups as well, the first having
question intonation and the second statement intonation:
 52 
 

a. Did you buy a paper,// or not? (The first pattern is long rising, and the second long

falling. The second tone unit acts as a statement added as a kind of afterthought.)

b. Do you want a doughnut,// or a muffin?

6. A list has a number of tone groups with short rising intonation pattern indicating
that the discourse continues:

a. I bought some apples,// oranges,// and peaches. (The last tone group is falling

because this is a statement. Long falling intonation on the first two tone groups

yields a very slow, deliberate, solemn style, while long rising intonation of these

tone units yields a highly dramatized style, often used when addressing children.)

b. Do you want an apple, an orange, or a peach? (The last tone group is rising

because this is a yes/no question.)

Complex sentences have a similar pattern— short rising followed by the appropriate
end intonation — whether the subordinate clause precedes or follows the main
clause:

a. When she arrived home// she opened the mail.

b. She turned off the radio// when he called.

7. A question expressing great doubt or surprise has a falling-rising intonation

pattern.

a. Are you sure? (The vowel of the tonic syllable may be elongated.)

b. It’s raining?
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8. A statement expressing great certainty has a rising-falling intonation pattern.

a. (I’ve told you several times) I don’t know.

b. (You have to wear your jacket) It’s raining.

9. When a vocative (a term of address) or a parenthetical is added to a tone unit, the

preceding intonation pattern generally continues over it.

a. Did you catch what she said, Jerry?

b. We’re in for some hard times, I think. (In this case, there may also be short rising

intonation on the parenthetical to lighten up the utterance.)

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Connected Speech

Before this chapter gets to the discussion of individual connected speech features,
it gives a comprehensive overview of what connected speech is made up of. Firstly,
we need to distinguish pronunciation of words in isolation (in their citation forms)
from words in connected speech. In connected speech, pronunciation of words is
highly influenced by their surrounding sounds as well as by context. From my
experience, pronunciation of words is usually only taught in isolation in their citation
forms and students are left to their own devices to figure out how they work in the
flow of speech. “Citation forms are a form of speech that is, to say the least,
somewhat idealised” (Giegerich 1994, p.249). In authentic communication, there are
no boundaries between words; instead, they flow smoothly in a stream of sound.
“The stretch of speech is continuous; we stop and pause for breath from time to time
[but] none of the units has clearly identifiable boundaries, some definite point in time
where it begins and ends” (Halliday 2004, p.5). Furthermore, in speaking, words are
sometimes swallowed or linked to make a new sound, which makes it difficult for a
learner to understand and reproduce English native speech. It is certainly reasonable
that students learn word pronunciation in isolation, but a teacher should also allocate
some of the teaching time to teaching linking, correct stressing, rhythm or intonation.

Linking

Consonant + vowel

It usually happens in English speech that word-final consonant is linked to the first
vowel sound of the following word. Hence, if we consider a sentence “These are old
eggs”, in connected speech it becomes [ðiː.zә.rәʊl.deɡz] (Giererich 1992, p.280).
What happens in this example is what Underhill calls “fully liaised speech”,
“characterized by a seamless, continuous quality, where final consonants are linked
to following vowel sounds, and initial consonants to preceding final vowel sounds”
(Underhill 2005). Giegerich (1992) sustains that such consonants are probably not
totally disassociated from the preceding syllables, but they become ambisyllabic.
 55 
 

Vowel + vowel (/w/ and /j/ glide)

These two phenomena are a natural way to connect two words where the first one
ends in a vowel and the second start with a vowel. When a word ends in /i:/, or a
diphthong which finishes with /i/, speakers often introduce a /j/ to ease the transition
to a following vowel sound and when a word ends in /u:/, or a diphthong which
finishes with /ʊ/, speakers often introduce a /w/ to ease the transition to a following
vowel sound (Kelly 2002, p.31).

„see it‟ [siː j ɪt] „

they always‟ [ðeɪ j ɔlwiːz] „

too easy‟ [tuː w ˈiːziː] „

go out‟ [goʊ wæʊt]

Assimilation

“This term describes how sounds modify each other when they meet, usually across
word boundaries” (Kelly 2002, p.109). When words are pronounced separately in
their citation forms, their pronunciation differs from pronunciation in natural
connected speech in which they are joined together without any clear boundaries. In
such cases, “we employ an economy of effort, and get our articulators ready for the
next sound. Certain sounds are either absorbed or modified into others” (Kelly 2002,
p.109). It is important to note that, in its extent, assimilation is a variable
phenomenon. “It is more likely to be found in rapid, casual speech and less likely in
slow, careful speech. The cases that have most been described are assimilations
affecting consonants” (Roach 110, 2009). Kenworthy (1990) describes 7 basic rules
for assimilation as explained below. The first five are examples of regressive
assimilation, in which the first consonant of the second word influences the
articulation of the last consonant at the end of the first word, and the last two are
cases of progressive assimilation (coalescence), where the two consonants merge
to create a sound that shares the characteristics of both of the consonants:
 56 
 

- /t/, /d/ and /n/ often become bilabial before bilabial consonants /p/, /b/,

/m/:

„fat boy‟ /t/→/p/

„good boy‟ /d/→/b/

„ten men‟ /n/→/m/

- /t/ assimilates into /k/ before /k/ or /g/. /d/ assimilates into /g/ before /k/

or /g/:

„that cat‟ /t/→/k/

„that girl‟ /t/→/k/

„good concert‟ /d/→/g/

„good girl‟ /d/→/g/

- /n/ can assimilate to /ŋ/ before /g/ or /k/:

„I‟ve been going‟

„his own car”

- /s/ can assimilate to /ʃ/ before /ʃ/:

„this shiny‟
- /z/ can assimilate to /ʒ/ before /ʒ/:
„cheese shop‟
- /t/ and /j/ coalesce to from /tʃ/:
„last year‟
„didn‟t you?‟
- /d/ and /j/ coalesce to form /dʒ/
„would you?‟
 57 
 

All the above mentioned rules concern assimilation of place. Another type of
assimilation is assimilation of manner. “It is much less noticeable, and is only found
in the most rapid and casual speech” (Roach 2009, p.112). This type of assimilation
will not be discussed here in more detail as it was not included in the course syllabus
so as to adjust it to the learners‟ level of English. Assimilation of voicing on the other
hand is an important aspect of English pronunciation and therefore, it was included
in the syllabus.

- Final /v/ and /d/ becomes voiceless /f/ and /t/ because of the following

voiceless /t/

„have to‟

„used to‟

„supposed to

A closely related topic is progressive assimilation of voice with the suffix “s” (third
person singular suffix, noun plural suffix or possessive suffix). “[It] will be pronounced
as /s/ if the preceding consonant is fortis (“voiceless”) and as /z/ if the preceding
consonant is lenis (“voiced”)” (Roach 2009, p.113), thus:

„cats‟ [kæts] „dogs‟ [dᴐgz]

„jumps‟ [dʒʌmps] „runs‟ [rʌnz]

„Pat‟s‟ [pæts] „Pam‟s‟ [pæmz]

The same way the preceding consonant affects the articulation of “s”, it does with
the “-ed” verb and adjective suffix. Hence:

„kissed‟ [kɪst]

„played‟ [pleɪd]

„washed‟ [wɒʃt]
 58 
 

„bored‟ [bɔːrd]

„asked‟ [æskt]

„explained‟ [ɪkˈspleɪnd]

In both cases, the distinction is most tangible when such a word is followed by a
vowel sound, because the consonant is linked to the vowel creating a more
resounding sound:

„kissed us‟ [kɪs tәz]

„Peter‟s apple‟ [piːtәr zæpl]

“Much more could be said about assimilation, but from the point of view of learning
or teaching English pronunciation, to do so would not be very useful” (Roach 2009,
p.113).Roach (2009) argues that it is essentially a natural phenomenon and the only
important matter is to remember the restriction, specific to English, on voicing
assimilation mentioned above. A great deal of attention was also given to the study
of coalescence in phrases such as “did you”, “would you” or “don‟t you”

Elision

“The nature of elision can be stated quite simply: under certain circumstances
sounds disappear” (Roach 2009, p.113). It is, again, characteristic of rapid, casual
speech. Roach (2009) says that foreign learners do not need to learn to produce
elisions, but it is important for them to be aware that “when native speakers of English
talk to each other, quite a number of phonemes that the foreigner might expect to
hear are not actually pronounced” (p.113). The objective of the course was not for
the students to start using elision and other linking features immediately, it was,
however, supposed to help improve their receptive skills and possibly give them the
opportunity to start incorporating it in their speech as they become more advanced
and comfortable in all the areas of the English language.
 59 
 

Some basic rules for elision as Kelly (2002) lists them are:

/t/ and /d/ disappear in a consonant cluster:

„next day‟ /t/ elided between /ks/ and /d/

„reached Paris‟ /t/ elided between /tʃ/ and /p/

„stopped for lunch‟ /t/ elided between /p/ and /f/

„carved statue‟ /d/ elided between /v/ and /st/

Complex consonant clusters are simplified:

„She acts.‟ [ækts] can be simplified to [æks]

„George the Sixth‟s throne‟ [sɪksθ θroʊn] can be simplified to/ˈ[sɪks θroʊn]

/ә/ can disappear in unstressed syllables:

„police‟ [pәˈliːs] → [pliːs]

„perhaps‟ [pәrˈhæps] → [prhæps]

/v/ can disappear in”of” before consonants:

„waste of time‟ [weɪst әv taɪm] → [weɪst ә taɪm]

„lots of them‟ [lɑts әv (ð)әm]→ [lɑts ә (ð)әm]

Linking “r” and intrusive “r”

In non-rhotic varieties of English, speakers often pronounce the phoneme “r” that
would not normally be articulated to link the final “r” to a word beginning with a vowel.
It can be demonstrated on the example of the word car:
 60 
 

car = [kɑː] but car is = [kɑːr ɪz]

In the second example, the “r” is clearly articulated as it is followed by a vowel sound.
This phenomenon is called linking “r”. Similar case is that of intrusive “r”. “BBC
speakers often use “r” in a similar way to link words ending with a vowel, even when
there is no justification from the spelling” (Roach 2009, p.115).

pizza and chips [piːtsәr әnd tʃɪps]

I saw a movie [aɪ sɔr ә muːviː]

Although these are important connected speech features, they were not included in
the syllabus, mainly because they are specific to some non-rhotic varieties of English
and the teacher-provided model was a rhotic one. Besides, the majority of the course
participants employed rhoticity in their speech.

As has been mentioned above, sometimes it is a question whether to teach these

aspects of English connected speech or not. Many would argue that these features
are something students must pick up on their own as they become more competent
in English. In my opinion it can be of great help to students at lower levels of English
to learn about these aspects. Even though they can hear these subtle changes to
the sound of words while they are connected into phrases and sentences, it is a
matter of pointing these features out so that they become consciously aware of them.
“The simple awareness of their existence can help enormously in enabling students
to better understand the language they hear” (Kelly 202, p.113). First, students start
to consciously notice them while listening to native speakers, which is a good starting
point for incorporating them into their own speech.
 61 
 

Teaching Pronunciation

COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES

VISIT THIS WEBSITE AND EXPLORE THE ACTIVITIES

DESIGN YOUR OWN STRATEGIES IN ORDER TO APPLY PHONETICS AND

PHONOLOGY IN YOUR CLASSES.

http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/    

 
 62 
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Roach, P. (2010). English Phonetics and Phonology Fourth Edition: A Practical

Course. Ernst Klett Sprachen.

Underhill, A. (2005). Sound foundations. Macmillan Education.

Vaughan-Rees, M. (2010). Rhymes and rhythm: a poem-based course for

english pronunciation study. Garnet Education

Yule, G. (2014). The study of language. Cambridge University Press

Freeman, D. E., & Freeman, Y. S. (2004). Essential linguistics: What you need
to know to teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Heinemann
Educational Books.

Brinton, L. J. (2000). The structure of modern English: a linguistic introduction.

John Benjamins Publishing.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (1996). Teaching

pronunciation: A reference for teachers of English to speakers of other
languages. Cambridge University Press.

Kelly, G. (2006). How To Teach Pronunciation (With Cd). Pearson Education

India.