Unstressed Syllables Schwa and Syllabic Consonants Unstressed Syllables

Unstressed Syllables, Schwa and Syllabic Consonants

Unstressed Syllables l l Weak (reduced) vowel → shorter, weaker in energy and closer to schwa /ә/ in place of articulation Vowels of weak syllables: – – – l Schwa /ә/ /i/ (finally or before a vowel): happy, react /ɪ/ (before a consonant): panic, elect /(j)u/ (before a vowel or before a a stressed syllable): intuition, regulate, united /(j)ʊ/ (before a consonant plus an unstressed syllable): stimulus, soluble No vowel, just a syllabic sonorant /m n l r/: final, recent /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ may also function as full vowels

Unstressed Syllables l Before the stressed syllable: never more than 2 weak syllables e. g. if the stressed syllable is the fourth syllable: justifi'cation + --+ - l After the stressed syllable: may be 3 weak syllables (in words with certain endings) e. g. : candidacy + - - - l l halluci'nation - +- + - impenetrable - + - - - harvest, biggest, family Weak vowels: often free variation

Schwa l l l http: //www. bbc. co. uk/worldservice/learningenglish/gr ammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5. shtml No prevocalic schwa in English Preconsonantal schwa Often interchangable with /i/ (spelling: usually /i/ or /e/ not followed by r) – Word-initial schwa: a- or o– l Word-final schwa – almost /ʌ/

Syllabic Consonants l Schwa followed by a sonorant (/n, l/ and less frequently /m, ŋ, r/) → /ә/ often drops out → the sonorant becomes syllabic [l] [n] [r] Word-final pedal, quarrel button, dozen (not possible) Preconson. : bottled, penalty hadn’t, certainly (rare: ) literal [ -r l] Prevocalic crystallize, traveller listening, definition cigarette, cemetery

Syllabic Consonants l l l Syllabic /l/: always dark Examples with syllabic [m]: prism, handsome Examples with syllabic [ŋ]: bacon, we can go Syllabic: acts as the “vowel” of the syllable Only occur in unstressed syllables How are syllabic consonants indicated in transcription?

Sources l l Baloghné Bérces Katalin, Szentgyörgyi Szilárd. Az angol nyelv kiejtése -The Pronunciation of English. Available from: http: //mek. oszk. hu/04900/04910. pdf Kreidler, Charles W. The Pronunciation of English: A Course Book in Phonology. Oxford; Cambridge: Blackwell, 1999. BBC Learning English webpage http: //www. bbc. co. uk/worldservice/learningenglish/gr ammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_5. shtml Nádasdy, Ádám. Practice Book in English Phonetics and Phonology. Budapest: Nemzeti Tankönyvkiadó, 2003.