Introduction to English pronunciation and phonetics Lecture 3

Introduction to English pronunciation and phonetics Lecture 3

Nasals • a nasal = air passing through the nose • English has three nasals, all of them voiced: /m/ mime /n/ nine /ŋ/ ding dong

/n/ as in ‘not’ Pronunciation: the tip of the tongue not touching the teeth ’n’ is mute in words with -mn: condemn /kənˈdem/ autumn /ˈɔːtəm || ˈɑːtəm / hymn /hım/ damn /dæm/

/ŋ/ as in ‘king’ The spelling ’ng’ is usually pronounced /ŋ/ long, strong, singing but sometimes /ŋg/ longer /ˈlɒŋgə(r)/ finger /ˈfıŋgə(r)/ hunger /ˈhʌŋgə(r)/ angry /ˈæŋgrı/

Affricates • consist of a plosive followed by a fricative • English has two affricates • one voiceless /tʃ/ chain • one voiced /dʒ/ Jane

/tʃ/ as in ‘church’ The plosive /t/ is followed by the fricative /ʃ/ Spelling: ‘ch’ cheese China child check /tʃiːz/ /ˈtʃaınə/ /tʃaıld/ /tʃek/

/ʃ/ versus /tʃ/ sheep ship share shop /ʃiːp/ cheap /tʃiːp/ /ʃıp/ chip /tʃıp/ /ʃeə(r)/ chair /tʃeə(r)/ /ʃuː/ chew /tʃuː/ /ʃɒp/ chop /tʃɒp/

Pronunciations of ‘ch’ • /tʃ/ in most words • /ʃ/ in some loan words: champagne, chef, parachute, Charlotte, Chicago, Michigan • /k/ in Greek loan words: chaos, chemistry, echo, choir, archipelago • mute in yacht /jɒt || jɑːt/

/dʒ/ as in ‘juice’ Examples jeans jam joke gentle legend ridge /dʒiːnz/ /dʒæm/ /dʒəʊk/ /ˈdʒentl/ /ˈledʒənd/ /rıdʒ/

/j/ as in ‘yes’ Examples yard young your unit Europe / jɑː(r)d/ / jʌŋ/ / jɔː(r)/ /ˈjuːnıt/ /ˈjuːrəp/

/dʒ/ versus /j/ /dʒ/ /j/ jet yet Jew/due/dew you juice use joke yolk gin yin jot yacht jail Yale The letter ‘j’ is never pronounced /j/!

/w/ as in ‘well’ • Note the contrast /v/ – /w/ ! vet – wet vain – Wayne veil – whale veal – wheel • The letter ‘w’ mute in words with wrwrite, wring, wreath, wreck

/l/ as in ‘ball’ • Two variants (allophones): clear and dark • In RP, /l/ is clear before vowels and /j/, dark in other positions clear /l/: let, love, live, million dark /l/: tall, world, people, humble • In GA, /l/ is always (more or less) dark • In Estuary English dark /l/ often /w/

The letter ‘l’ is mute • in some words with –olk, -alf, -alk, -alm folk, yolk calf, half chalk, stalk, walk calm, palm, balm • also mute in salmon, Stockholm, colonel, almond

/r/ as in ‘rose’ • In RP /r/ is only pronounced before a vowel break, rhyme, bury (but not in metre, barred) • In GA /r/ occurs in all positions

Linking /r/ • occurs in RP when a word with a final ‘r’ is followed by a vowel: far away your answer butter and jam Compare: four days four evenings

Intrusive /r/ • occurs in RP between vowels where there is no ‘r’ in spelling • used to prevent hiatus (vokalmöte) Examples: Asia and Africa /eıʃər ən æfrikə/ law and order /lɔːr ən ɔːdə/ vodka and orange /vɒdkər ən ɒrındʒ/