ASSOC. PROF. DR. TARKAN KAÇMAZ

speech

Phonemes

stress

intonation

rhythm

Speech communication is done via

▪ segmentals

▪ phonemes, phones, allophones

▪ suprasegmentals

▪ Stress, intonation, pitch, rhythm

▪ necessary for speech communication

▪ independent of segmental features (vowels and consonants)

A phoneme is the smallest segment of sound thathas the power to change the meaning; eg. consonants, vowels, diphthongs.

In contrast with isolated phonemes, connected speech is characterized by continual modifications or alterations in stress and in intonation.

Stress, intonation and rhythm are suprasegmentalphonemes.

▪ Words are composed of one or more syllables.▪ A syllable is a phonological unit composed of one or

more phonemes. ▪ Every syllable has a nucleus (most often a vowel) with

optional initial and final phonemes (consonants). ▪ Syllables are considered he phonological "building

blocks" of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic metre and its stress patterns.

a syllable may be composed of: V VC CV CVC CCV CVCC CCVC CCCVC

A stressed syllable in a word is generally spoken with more articulatory force, resulting in a syllable that is louder, longer in duration, and higher in pitch than an unstressed syllable.

eg. decide, remember

Bold syllables in the following words arestressed:

▪ riddle, button, melon, manage▪ person, zebra, happy, sedate▪ surround, pretend, contain, remind

Monosyllabic words don’t have word stress!eg. go, book, talk

Word stress may have more than one level:

primary stress secondary stress tertiary stress

The last word in the sentence tends to stand out or have more emphasis (cf. primary sentence stress).

▪ I like his "style.

▪ Bill and Jane went "home.

▪ If you get "caught, you will get in "trouble.

But phrases and sentences do not always end with a stressed word. Certain words in a sentence will usually receive emphasis or stress depending on:

▪ the level of importance of that word in the sentence (i.e., content vs. function words);

▪ the speaker’s intent of the message being conveyed (i.e. contrastive stress).

Sentences with a different stress 1. I want two return tickets to London.2. I want two return tickets to London.3. I want two return tickets to London.

The use of sentence stress to indicate a speaker’s particular intent is termed contrastive stress.

▪ I wanted "iced coffee.▪ I wanted iced "coffee.▪ "Sheila purchased a new red sedan. ▪ Sheila "purchased a new red sedan.▪ Sheila purchased a "new red sedan.▪ Sheila purchased a new red "sedan.

Usually stressed (Content Words):

▪ nouns▪ verbs (excluding be, have, do)▪ adjectives▪ adverbs (including not)▪ demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those)▪ interrogative pronouns (who, when, why, etc.)

)

Usually unstressed (Function Words):

▪ articles (a, an, the)▪ simple prepositions (to, of, in, etc.)▪ personal pronouns (I, me, he, him, it, etc.)▪ possessive pronouns (my, his, your, etc.)▪ relative pronouns (who, that, which, etc.)▪ conjunctions (and, but, that, as, if, etc.)▪ the verbs be, have▪ auxiliary verbs (will, would, shall, should, can,

could, may, might, must, etc.)

Intonation consists of pitch contours peaking on the stressed syllable of the last content word in each phrase.

A pitch contour is related to the height or lowness of a tone in comparison to surrounding tones.

Ex. “Really?!”Try exaggerating the pitch contour.

Long sentences will usually have more than one tone group. Tone groups in longer sentences are signaled by a slight pause in the utterance (indicated in writing with a comma, dash, or semicolon).

▪ Yes!▪ Not now.▪ You took my umbrella, didn’t you?▪ I got a blue scarf, not a red one.▪ I need apples, pears, and tomatoes.▪ The boys, who ate the candy, got sick.

Falling intonation contours are indicative of the finality of an utterance.

falling and rise-fall▪ The boys went home. (unemotional statement)

▪ The boys went home. (declarative statement)

Rising intonation contours usually indicate some uncertainty on the speaker’s part.

Rising intonation contours are typical of yes-noquestions, incomplete thoughts.▪ Are you coming?

▪ When I got work, I became ill. Rising intonation contours are also common when

reciting a list of items.

▪ My favorite colors are red, blue, and green.▪ Richie, Darren, and Williams came along.

The falling intonation The rising intonation The level intonation

Fall Rise Rise-Fall Fall-Rise Level

\ fall/ rise/\ rise-fall\/ fall-rise__ level

Fall: neutral statement Rise: neutral question, doubt Fall-Rise: surprise, skepticism Rise-Fall: emphatic statement Level: boredom, disinterest

E.g. Have you seen Ann? Yes. (Falling intonation

indicates ‘I have answered your question and do not intend to add anything else’)

E.g. Have you seen Ann lately?

Yes… (Rising intonation indicates ‘I want to continue the conversation, I am curious’)

Do I really have to clean my room?

Yes!

Ann and Peter were on good terms at the party

Oh yes?

Can you remember Peter Jackson? The other day in the office I invited him for dinner, he’ll be coming tomorrow.

Yes.

Stresses tend to recur at regular intervals.

▪ The ‘boy is ‘interested in en’larging his vo"cabulary.

▪ ‘Great ‘progress is ‘made "daily.

English is a stress-timed language

‘Dogs ‘eat "bones. The ‘dogs ‘eat "bones. The ‘dogs will ‘eat "bones. The ‘dogs will ‘eat the "bones. The ‘dogs will have ‘eaten the "bones.

Within a given language, some sounds are considered to be the same sound, even though they are phonetically distinct.

• Same or different?

• pool [phul] spool [spul]

• phonetically different (aspirated vs. unaspirated)

• native speakers perceive the same sound

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•A phoneme can be pronounced in different ways according to its context.

Compare: The difference between /t/ in : tea, eat, writer, eighth, twoThe difference between /i:/ in: see, seed, seat, seen

•Therefore, a phoneme may have more than one realization.

• The different realizations of a phoneme are called allophones of that phoneme. The allophone is a variant of a phoneme.

Try saying these two words: car and keys What’s different about the initial sound in

each word? Phonetically: [kʰα: cʰi:z] (ʰ = aspiration

c=palatal stop;) [kʰ] and [cʰ] are allophones of the / k /

phoneme.

Two or more sounds are allophones of the same phoneme if:

a) they have a predictable, complementary distribution;b) they do not create a semantic contrast; andc) they are phonetically similar.

(E.g. [l] and [ɫ] in English: [l] never occurs before consonants or word-finally (milk, pill)[ɫ] never occurs before vowels) (lick, let)

Contrastive distribution: Two sounds are said to be contrastive if replacing one with the other results in a change of meaning.

▪ Example:

‘cat’ [khQt] and ‘hat’ [hQt]

Complementary distribution: phones appear in differing environments; are allophones of the same phoneme

▪ Example:

‘top’ [thap] and ‘stop’ [stap]

Free Variation: phones appear in exactly the same environments; no difference in meaning; are allophones of the same phoneme.

▪ Example:

‘economics’ [i] or [E] initially

The mental concept

of “supermanhood”

(phoneme)

In complementary distribution: never seen in the same place

at the same time. Allophones!

NOT in complementary distribution: can both be present at the same time:

allophones of different phonemes

/t/ phonemic (abstract/mental) category

[t] [th] allophonic (phonetic) realizations

in your mind

what you actually say

slashes enclose phonemes: /t/ square brackets enclose allophones: [t]

This is an important distinction!

Say the following words:▪ top, stop, metal, and right

What is the difference between the four “t”s?▪ top [thap] the “t” is aspirated [th]

▪ stop [stap] the “t” is unaspirated [t]

▪ metal [mERl] the “t” is a flap [R]

▪ right [raıt’] the “t” is unreleased [t’]

The sound we perceive as “t” actually has four phonetic realizations

Since in our mind, the abstract sound is still a “t” we call “t” a PHONEME.

Every language has phonemes and variants of that phoneme, which we call ALLOPHONES

Appearance of allophones depends on rules

What are the rules for the different allophones of /t/?

/t/

[th] [t] [ɾ] [t’]

/t/→ [th] (aspirated) - word-initally and in front of stressed syllables▪ table, treat, attend, until, attack

/t/→ [t] (unaspirated) - elsewhere▪ stop, street, antics, Baltic

/t/ → [ɾ] (flap) - intervocalically, when second vowel is unstressed ▪ better, Betty, butter, cutie, buttocks

/t/ → [t’] (unreleased) - word-finally▪ set, right, caught, pit

leaf fill

less sell

lit till

lean kneel

lick kill

lip pill

leap peel

light tile

let tell

kal kel

kola köle

kul kül

kıl kil

/k/ in column I are velar stops, while

/k/ in column II are palatal stops

Are these sounds in complementary or similar distribution?

bat, patdun, ton these are different phonemes

phin, spinthon, stun these are the same phoneme

Are these sounds in complementary or contrastivedistribution?

bat, pat contrastive distribution, dun, ton these are different phonemes

phin, spin complimentary distributionthon, stun these are the same phoneme

Recognized by speakers as separate sounds

Differentiate between words (kill/dill/will), so they appear in contrastivedistribution with each other

Phonemes are separate sounds of a language

Speakers hear them as the same sound

Allophones are different versions of the same phoneme, so they never appear in the same place in a word: thun, but not sthun. “sthun” and “stun” aren’t different words.

That means allophones of a single phoneme appear in complementary distribution.

In this example:

▪ /n/ is pronounced as [m] before a labial plosive

▪ /n/ is pronounced as [ŋ] before a velar plosive

▪ /n/ is pronounced as [n] elsewhere

Consider the word please. A speaker will store this

word in memory as the string of phonemes /pli:z/,

but when he or she utters the word it appears as the

sequence of sounds [phl8iy:z].

What are the particular phonological rules required to

derive [phl8iy:z] from /pli:z/?

Aspiration

Liquid and Glide Devoicing

Vowel Lengthening

What are these?

Phonology is not a static system in which an

established unit remains unchanged in all its

occurrences.

Rather, it is a dynamic system in which units change

as they come into contact with other units in the

system.

For a more fluent speech sometimes adjacent

phonemes become similar or dissimilar in terms of

one or more aspects of articulation.

We refer to such changes as phonological processes.

Ultimately, the modification of sounds seems to

follow natural principles related to physiological and

psychological strategies.

Some phonological processes may be explained as

muscle coordination within the vocal mechanism.

Others may be due to perceptual strategies that

enhance effective communication.

Some rules make sequences of sounds easier to pronounce.

When we say [kæm bi:] instead of [kæn bi:], we

produce two bilabial sounds in a row (using a single lip gesture) instead of making an alveolar [n] and then a bilabial [b] (using two different gestures).

Some rules make sounds easier to perceive, as when voiceless stops are aspirated at the beginning of a stressed syllable.

Assimilation

Dissimilation

Neutralization

Deletion (elision)

Insertion (epenthesis)

Metathesis

One of the most common types of processes found in language is assimilation, in which a sound takes on the characteristics of a neighboring sound. …

There are two necessary components that define assimilation: first, a sound that changes (the assimilating sound) and second, the sound that causes the change (the conditioning sound).

Rules involving assimilation cause a sound to become more like a neighboring sound with respect to some feature.

impotent, immature (instead of in-)

i[ŋk]onclusive, i[ŋg]ratitude (instead of alveolar /n/)

/kæn/ vs. [kæn æsk], [kæm beik], [kæŋ gəʊ]

cat[s], tap[s], pack[s] vs. cab[z], lid[z], tag[z]

pick[t], rap[t], pass[t] vs. brag[d], razz[d], rib[d]

have/has to, of course, newspaper, lobster, his son,

width

the shop's open, that's all

Whereas assimilation refers to the process in which

segments take on the character of neighboring

segments, dissimilation refers to the process in which

segments change to become less like a neighboring

segments.

On the whole, dissimilation is much rarer than

assimilation …

fifth /fifθ/ → [fift]sixth /siksθ/ → [sikst]

Particular processes that result in the cancellation of

contrasts between phonological units are often

described by the term neutralization.

Two or more units that ordinarily contrast lost that

contrast in certain environments. Normally, the

process changes the form of one unit to that of the

other.

X Y contrasting phonological unit

neutralization

X

English vowel

reduction

abolish vs. abolition

interrogate vs. interrogation vs. interrogative

reveal vs. revelation

person vs. personify

impose vs. imposition

graduate (noun or adjective) vs. graduate (verb)

advocate (adjective) vs. advocate (verb)

Consonant deletion

▪ Consonant Cluster Simplification

▪ [h]-deletion in unstressed syllables

Vowel deletion

▪ Deletion of a vowel in an unstressed syllable

Other cases

Consonant Cluster Simplification

▪ coast guard, west side, chestnut, cracked pot, directly,

exactly

▪ standpoint, handbag, grandma

▪ stained glass, stringed musical instrument

▪ frosts, tempts, lifts, facts

▪ pumpkin, jump suit, dump truck, asked

▪ depths, sixths, fifths, months, lengths, eighths, clothes

[h]-deletion in unstressed syllables

▪ He handed her his hat.

sép[ə]rate, témp[ə]rature, eláb[ə]rate, fáct[ə]ry,

adúlt[ə]ry, féd[ə]ral, bóund[ə]ry, chóc[ə]late,

réf[ə]rence, déf[i]nite, dés[ə]late, cám[ə]ra, fám[i]ly,

fín[ə]lly

d[ə]rívative, f[ə]rócious, T[ə]rónto, p[ə]líce,

b[ə]llóon, s[e]nílity, d[e]mónstrative

Voiceless stop insertion:

▪ Between a nasal and a voiceless fricative, a voiceless stop

with the same place of articulation as the nasal is inserted.

▪ dance, strength, hamster

▪ Dollars & Sense

▪ pronunciation

▪ dancing

Plural forms and regular past tense

▪ bugs [bʌgz] begs [begz]

▪ rocks [rɒks] picks [piks]

▪ buses [bʌsiz] buzzes [bʌziz]

▪ wanted [wɒntid]

It is possible to change the linear order of segments

by permutations of one type or another. When two

segments reverse positions, the process is known as

metathesis.

/æstərɪks/ for asterisk /kʌmftəbəl/ for comfortable /ɪntərdjus/ for introduce /njukjələr/ for nuclear /pɜ:rti/ for pretty

▪ Aspiration▪ Flapping▪ Devoicing▪ Length▪ Release▪ Glottalization▪ Syllabic consonants▪ Deletion or shortening▪ Insertion▪ Velarization▪ Nasalization▪ Anticipatory Retroflexion

▪ Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are aspirated when they are syllable initial.

▪ pip, test, kick

▪ Voiceless stops /p, t, k/ are unaspirated after /s/ at the beginning of a syllable.

▪ spew, stew, skew

▪ Alveolar stops /t, d, n/ become voiced taps when they occur between two vowels, the second of which is unstressed.

▪ fatty, data; divinity (cf. mutton [mʌtn])

▪ The approximants /w, j, r, l/ are devoiced after initial /p, t, k/.

▪ play, twin, cue

▪ A given vowel is longest in an open syllable, next longest in a syllable closed by a voiced consonant, and shortest in a syllable closed by a voiceless consonant. (see vs. seed, seat; sigh vs. side, site)

▪ Vowels are longest in monosyllabic words, next longest in words with two syllables, and shortest in words with more than two syllables. (speed, speedy, speedily)

▪ Vowels are longer in stressed syllables (belów vs. bíllow)

▪ Stops are unexploded before another stop.

▪ apt, act

▪ /t/ may be completely replaced by a glottal stop before a syllabic nasal consonant.

▪ Nasals are syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after an obstruentconsonant.

▪ leaden, chasm

▪ Lateral and retroflex are ‘liquids.’▪ Liquids may be syllabic when at the end

of a word and immediately after another consonant.

▪ paddle, whistle; kennel, channel▪ sabre, razor, hammer, tailor

▪ A consonant is shortened when it is before an identical consonant. (big game, top post)

▪ It is usually not true to say that one of these consonants is dropped; even in casual speech, most people would distinguish between “stray tissue, straight issue, straight tissue.”

▪ A lateral consonant is velarized when after a vowel and before another consonant or the end of a word.

▪ file vs. life▪ talc vs. clap

▪ Vowels are nasalized before a nasal consonant.

▪ Stop consonants preceding approximants/r/ or /j/ become affricated /tʃ/ or /dʒ/

▪ Andrew, dry, true, opportunity

▪ /s/ preceding /r/ or /j/ change into /ʃ/▪ street, straight, Sri Lanka,

Weak Forms Yod Coalescence Elision Contractions

Weak forms in phonetics refers to words which have one pronunciation (strong) when isolated, and another (weak) when not stressed within a phrase.

e.g. a car vs. I bought a car

Look at this phrase:

I went to the station and

booked two tickets for my

father and his best friend.

I went to the station and

booked two tickets for my

father and his best friend.

What are the most important words?

If we eliminate the other words can we still

understand the message?

went

station

booked

two tickets

father

best friend

Prepositions Auxiliary verbs Conjunctions

Strong form Weak form

to tu: t@for fɔ:(r) f@(r)from frɒm fr@minto Intu: Int@of ɒv @(v)as {z @zat {t @t

do du: d@are a: @(r)*was wɒz w@zwere w3: w@would wʊd w@dcould kʊd k@dshould Sʊd S@dcan k{n k@nmust mʌst m@s(t)

and {nd @nd, @n, nbut bʌt b@tthan th{n th@nthat th{t th@tYou ju: j@

your jɔ: j@(r)her h3:(r) (h)@(r)*

a {, ei @*an {n @nthe thi: th@, thi: (before a vowel)

In the following sentences the underlined words arestressed and so would be pronounced using the strongform:

I do like chocolate.

She drove to Las Vegas, not from Las Vegas.

We were surprised when she told us her secret.(stress on ‘were’ for emphasis)

• Yod is the name of the smallest letter in the

Hebrew alphabet

• it stands for the vowel /i/ or the semi-vowel /j/.

• In English phonetics Yod coalescence is a form

of assimilation

• it is a phenomenon which takes place when /j/ is

preceded by certain consonants most commonly

/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/

but use your head! /b@tSu:z j@ hed/what you need…. /wotSuni:d/the ball that you brought /th@bo:lth@tSu:bro:t/last year…. /la:stSi@/

could you help me? /kudZu:helpmi:/would yours work? /wudZɔ:zw3:k/she had university

exams

/Si:hadZu:ni:versItiigzæmz

It’s your birthday /ɪtʃɔːbɜːθdeɪ/

This year /ðɪʃɪə/

I miss you /aɪ mɪʃuː

Who’s your dady? /huːZɔ:r dædı/When’s your birthday? /wɛnZɔː bɜːθdeı /

Where’s your car? /weəZɔː kɑː/

Yod coalescence is common in colloquial speech and is

becoming ever more so. Note that it can occur:

- between word boundaries (as above examples)

- within words

e.g. tube /tju:b/ = /tSu:b/

The fact that two extremely recurrent words in

English, you and your, start with /j/ means that

understanding of this simple mechanism is

vital to the understanding of spoken English.

Do you and also did you are often pronounced as /dZ@/:

Do you live here? /dZ@ liv hi@/

Did you live here? /(di)dZ@ liv hi@/

Identify places where yod coalescence may occur in the

following phrases:

What you need is a good job!

You told me that you had your homework done.

She didn’t go to France that year.

Could you open the window please?

You’ve already had yours!

What’s your name?

Where’s your home?

Elision is very simply the omission of certain sounds in certain

contexts. The most important occurrences of this phenomenon

regard:

Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ when ‘sandwiched’ between two

consonants (CONS – t/d – CONS), e.g.

The next day…. /ð@neksdei/

The last car… /ð@la:s ka:/

Hold the door! /h@ulð@dɔ:/

Send Frank a card. /senfrank@ka:d/

The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the negative particle not,

the possibility of it being elided makes the foreign students life

more difficult. Consider the negative of can – if followed by a

consonant the /t/ may easily disappear and the only difference

between the positive and the negative is a different, longer vowel

sound in the second:

+ I can speak…. /ai k@n spi:k/

- I can’t speak… /ai ka:nspi:k/

Informal contractions are short forms of other words that people use when speaking casually. They are not exactly slang, but they are a little like slang.

For example, "gonna" is a short form of "going to". If you say "going to" very fast, without carefully pronouncing each word, it can sound like "gonna".

These informal contractions are not "correct" English. Do not use them in a written exam, for example, except in appropriate situations.

We normally use them only when speaking fast and casually, for example with friends. Some people never use them, even in informal speech.

It is probably true to say that informal contractions are more common in American English.

What are you going to do? >> What’re you going to do?>> What’re you gonna do? >> Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha goin’ do? Whatcha gon’ do?

Do you want a beer? Do you wanna beer? D'you wanna beer? D'ya wanna beer? Ya wanna beer? Wanna beer? Beer?

Yo, orYa > you, Y’all > you all, Ayo > hey you Aint > am / is / are not ‘em > them / him, ‘er > her -in’ > -ing ‘cause > because ‘bout > about Kinda > kind of, Sorta > sort of, coupla > couple of Lemme > let me Gotta > have got to