Fonetika - k Bc. štátniciam

7. Phonetics and phonology – basic units. Transcription.

The concrete audial manifestation of language is speech. Speech can be broken down into
minimal segments called speech sounds.
Speech is a stream of sounds which form a continuum. When we listen to the speech
continuum we notice that some segments of the continuum sound indetical and they repeat in
different places of the continuum.

e.g. Tono nos

A speech sound is a unit of speech having certain articulatory, acoustic, and auditory
characteristics. Speech sounds are only those vibrations, which constitute a system of
elements which can be organized into higher units called words.

Can be grouped into two main groups: vowels and consonants.

A vowel

- is a sound in the production of which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it

passes from the lungs.

A vocoid

- is a vowel in its phonetic sense without considering any functional criteria.

A consonant

- is a speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stram by any

of various constrictions of the speech organs.

A contoid

- is a consonant in its phontec sense without considering any functional criteria.

When we investigate the concrete speech sounds of a given language from the point of view
of their function, we find out that only a certain limited number of sound elements can cause
a change in meaning of words.

The sounds that can change the meaning of the word are called phonemes.

A phoneme is then a set of speech sounds with the same distinctive function in a given
language. It´s the smallest constructive linguistics unit which may bring about a change in
meaning. They are abstract units. 2-nd degree abstraction.
Allophones – can be defined as a group of phones with certain very similar articulatory,
acoustic and auditory characteristics. Made from purely material point of view. 1-st degree of
abstraction. They are not unique – can be repeatedly reproduced.

Phonetics

- is a branch of linguistics concerned with the study of speech sounds and their

reproduction, transmission, reception, description, and representation by written
symbols.

- non-lingustic phonetics – concerned with physiologica + acoustic + psychological

phenomenan and processes

- the basic elements of the phonetic analysis are both phones and allophones.

In phonetic research, two basic methods can be found:
a, subjective – based od direct observation carried out by our senses, mainly eyesight and
hearing.

b, experimental – make use of specially designed apparaturses (laryngoscope, X-ray, tape
recorderrs, computers)

Phonetics can be divided into 3 principal sub-branches:

1. articulatory (organic) phonetics – is concerned with:
a, the organs of articulation
b, the produciton of speech sounds
c, the description and classification of speech sounds

2. acoustics is concerned with:
a, the acoustic properties of speech sounds – it analyzes sound from the point of view of
fundamental frequency, intensity, wave structure (quality) and duration (quantity)
b, the transmission of speech sounds – it describes how sound waves are transmitted
between the mouth and the ear
c, the description and classification of speech sounds –it describes and classifies the
sounds from the point of view of their acoustic properties, i.e. fundamental frequency,
intensity, wave structure (quality) and (duration)

3.auditory (organic) phonetics is concerned with:
a, the reception and analysis of speech sounds – it describes how the sound is received by
the ear, how it is further modulated and processed by the organs of hearing, and how it is
nalyzed in the listener´s brain
b, the anatomical and physiological study of the ear – it describes the structure and the
function of the ear
c, the description and classification of speech sounds – it describes and classifies the
sounds from the point of view of their auditory perception, e.e. pitch, loudness, auditory
impression (quality), and length (quantity).

Phonology

- is a branch of linguistics concerned with the classification of speech sounds from the

functional point of view. It studies the abstract sides of sounds of language.

- phonology is concerned with language as a system of abstract elements – phonemes,

while phonetics deals with the formal representations of concrete sounds –
allophones, and the concrete sounds themselves – phones.

The smallest unit of phonology is the phoneme.

Methods of Determining Phonemic Inventories
- phonemic inventorie is a set of phonemes found and used in a particular accent and can be
determined through:

A, minimal pair test

- to determine whether a sound is a phoneme we must find such a word, in which the

replacement of the original speech sound by our investigated sound would change the
meaning of that word, and we would produce a minimal word-pair:

Cut /c

^t/ - gut /g^t/

B, commutation test

- we look for a set of minimal word-pair in such a way that one phoneme is replaced,

if possible, by all phonemes of a given accent:

/p/ contrasted with other phonemes

/p/ - /k/ :par / pα:/ - car/kα:/

/p/ - /m/ : seep /si:p/ - seem /si:m/

Distinctive features

- is one of the approaches, which originated in the Praque School of linguistics. It is based on
the principle that phonemes, though still minimal segments of languages, are not their
minimal elements.


The Definition of Transcription
- one of the main problems of the English pronunciation is the fact that the elements of written
language – letters, do not correspond to the elements of the spoken language – sounds.

The symbols used most often were the ones taken directly from the Roman alphabet, such as
t, d, k, g, m n, l, etc. The rest of the symbols were either invented, taken over from other
alphabets, or made up by a combination of the symbols. This whole range of symbols came to
be called the phonetic alphabet.

Transcription is a special written form of language, where one written element /symbol/
represents one spoken element /sound/, or the abstract representation of the spoken element
/phoneme/. It´s a method of writing down speech sounds in a systematic and consistent way.

We distinguish two types:

Phonemic Transcription
- is a method of using a system of symbols which represent the set of phonemes of a particular
language, following the rule ´one phoneme – one symbol´.
- phoneme transcription symbols are enclosed in slant brackets / /

Simple phonemic transcription follows these principles:
1. the transcription reflects a functional point of view
2. The minimum possible number of symbols is used
3. using symbols without diacritics
4. long vowels differ from short vowels only by a length mark /the differences in quality are
not shown/

/a/ cut

/a:/ far

/ai/ eye

Comparative Phonemic Transcription
- english vowel-pairs do not differ only in length, but also in quality.
- symbols are based on the International Phonetic Alphabet = IPA
- follow this principles:

1. the transcription reflects a functional point of view
2. the minimum possible number of symbols is used

3. using symbols without diacritics
4. long vowels differ from short vowels only by a length mark and different symbol, which
reflects different quality.

/

^/ cut

/α:/ far

/a/ eye

The difference between simple phonemic transcription and comparative lies only in the fact
that comparative uses, in addition to the length mark, a different symbol for each vowel,
which indicates that English vowel-pairs differ not only in length, but also in quality.


Allophonic Transcription

- is a method of using a system of symbols and diacritics to represent the concrete speech
sounds produced by a speaker of a particular language.
- we transcribe speech sounds – allophones.
- allophonic transcription symbols are enclosed in square brackets []

Braod Allophonic Transcription
- represents on extreme of allophonic transcription, it is the most simple allophonic
transcription, with little detail.
- it represents the actual articulated sounds.
- it is based on these principles:
1. the transcription reflects a formal point of view
2. the minimum possible nr. of symbols is used
3. we use the standard, simple and most frequent IPA symbols
4. the symbols are without diacritics

Narrow Allophonic Transcription
- is the most detailed sort of allophonic transcription
- it is based on these principles:
1. the transcription reflects a formal point of view
2. we use as many symbols as necessary
3. the symbols are modified by diacritics

8. Physiological and acoustic aspects of speech.

The organ which we use in communication are called organs of articulation or articulators,
and they can be divided into four main groups:

A, respiratory organs / lungs, trachea/

B, phonatory apparatus /vocal folds/

C, resonators /pharyngeal, oral and nasal cavities/

D, modulating organs /mandible, lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, palate, uvula/

Respiratory organs
- the main source of energy for the production of the speech sound comes from the lungs.
Depending on the way the air is released from the lungs, we distinguish between these
airstream mechanism.

1, pulmonic – use the energy coming from the lungs

A, egressive – the airstream is pushed out from lungs

B, ingressive – the airstream is breathed in /hí/

2, non-pulmonic – clicks

Phonatory apparatus
- within larynx there are two thick flaps of muscle which look rather like a pair of lips and
they can be brought to be together or parted through muscular tension = this organ is called
the vocal folds.
- the opening between the vocal folds is known as the glottis.
- the glottis can assume these different positions of openness:

a, wide apart – the glottis is open. This occurs during breathing and when producing
voiceless consonants.

b, loosely together – the glottis is slightly opened. Occurs during the production of the

voiceless glottal fricative /h/.

c, loosely together and vibrating – the glottis is slightly opened and the air is passing

through it causes vibration. All voiced sounds are produced this way.

d, tightly closed – the glottis is firmly closed. We produce glottal stop.

Resonators
- the airstream coming from the lungs can leave the pharynx in one of these 3 ways.

a, the soft palate is lowered slightly and the air escapes both through the oral
cavity and nasal cavity – sounds produced in this way are called nasalized
sounds

→ e.g. french vowels

b, the sof palate is lowered and the air escapes through the nose only because

there is a complete obstruction made somewhere in the mouth – sounds are
called nasal

→ e.g. English /m, n, ŋ/

c, the soft palate is raised and the air escapes only through the mouth. The

sounds are called oral

→ all English sounds, exept of nasal consonants.

Modulating organs

The passive modulating organs:

- teeth – made with the tongue touching the front teeth = dental sound / f, v/

- alveolar ridge – between the top front teeth and the hard palate =alveolar sounds /l, t, d, n, s,
z/
- hard palate – between the alveolar ridge and the soft palate = palatal sounds / j/

The active modulating organs

- tongue – has five parts /tip, blade, front, back, root/
- the muscular tension of the tongue is an important factor in the articulation of
speech sounds. According to this factor: vowels are divided into tense (/i:/, /u:/ etc.) and lax
(/ı/, /

υ/ etc.)

consonants are divided into fortis (/p/, /t/ etc.) and
lenis (/b/, /d/ etc.)

- mandible – can influence the openness of speech sounds
- lips – can be pressed together = bilabial (b,p,m)
- sounds made by lips touching the teeth = labiodental
- soft palate or velum - determine the quality of sounds (oral, nasal), produced by the tongue
touching the velum = veral sounds
- uvula – sounds formed by a vibration of the uvula against the back of the tongue = uvular

Acoustic Aspect of Speech

Sound waves
- is the wave created by compressing and expanding the air particles carrying sound
- when the air comes out of the oral cavity, the vibration we hear can be of two types:

a, regular /periodic/ vibration

b, irregular / aperiodic/ vibration

Regular vibration
- is produced by the vocal folds, providing that they are vibrating at a constant frequency and
with constant intensity. Such periodic vibration manifest itself as a periodic wave.
- periodic waves consist of wave patterns that periodically repeat themselves. These waves
can be of 2 types:

1. simple

→ relatively rare, almost non-existent in the domain of naturally produced

sounds. Can be shown as simple sine waves.

2. complex

→ wave in which sever sign waves are combined into one single wave.

Produced by the vocal folds.

Irregular vibration
- manifests itself as an aperiodic wave. Aperiodic waves don´t show a regular, periodic
pattern. They are composed of a large nr. of sine waves of different frequency and intensity
and there is no repetition of any pattern, no regularity.

All sounds produced during speech consist of complex periodic and/or aperiodic waves.
The sounds wihich consist of periodic waves are called tones, the sounds which consist of
aperiodic waves are called noises.

1. vowels and sonorants /m, n, n, l, r, j, w, ŋ/ are produced by regular vibration – tones

2. voiced obstuents /b, d, g, dz, v z, δ, z /are produced by both regular and irregular

vibration – tones + noises

3. voiceless obstruents /p, t, k, ts, f, 0, s, s, h/ are produced by irregular vibration only

- they consist of noises only

Acoustic Properties of sounds.

- every sound can be examined from the point of view of these 4 acoustic properties:

1. frequency
- technical term and it refers to the nr. of complete repetitions /cycles/ of variations in
airpressure occurring in one second. It is the nr. of cycles that occur in one second. The
shorter the cycles, the higher the frequency. The unit of frequency is the Herz – Hz.
The human ear is capable to hearing from 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz. A male voice may have an
average pitch level of about 120 Hz. This means that in a male voice there are 120 complete
cycles of compresing and expanding of the air particles in one second because the vocal fold
make 120 complete opening and closing movements in 1 sec.
Pitch is a listener´s subjective perception of the height of the tone. The important factor is
the pitch range of individual speaker.

2. intensity
- is the amount of energy which is carried by a sound wave. The intensity is usually measured
in decibels which is abbreviated to dB. Intensity relates to amplitude of vibration. The bigger
the amplitude of a wave, the higher the intensity. Intensity is the term used in acoustic
phonetics and it corresponds to loudness, which is an auditory term.

3. qauantity /duration/
- is the duration of the vibration of a particular sound. Duration is an acoustic term. In
auditory phonetics, it correspondents to length.
We have 2 categories of length:

a, absolute phonetic duration, which is a measurable property

b, functional phonological /linguistic/ length, which can bring about a change in

meaning of the word.

4. quality /wave structure/
- depends on many factors. When vocal folds vibrate, they produce a complex, but regular,
vibratory motion. The result of this vibration is a glottal tone /it is called glottal because it is
formed in glottis/. The glottal tone is a complex waveform.
A spectrogram – is a graphical analysis of a sound. It´s a picture of a complex waveform
decomposed into a set of simple sine waves with different frequencies and amplitudes.

Auditory Aspects of Speech

- the incoming signals are first received by the ear. The main function of the ear is to collect
audial stimuli, to analyze them partially, and to transmit them to the brain for further
processing. It is mainly the left hemisphere of the brain that is responsible for controlling our
language functions- more specifically there are 3 main areas:

1. Wernicke´s area – responsible for our understanding of the received signal. The

signal is broken down into the smallest functional units of speech – phonemes, and then
reconstructed into higher units – syllables, words, sentences..

2. Broca´s area – here the reply to the original signal is formulated and constructed

into words.

3. Motor area – the formulated and constructed signal is sent to here. It is responsible

for the actual physical articulation of the reply.

One of the problems in the sound recognition is the fact that a listener´s analysis of

vocal stimuli is conditioned by the sound inventory of his own language. And English speakr,
for instance, is accustomed to a complex vowel system consisting of twelve vowels. Therefore
he is perfectly capable of distinguishing between words set and sat. A Slovak listener,
however, who does not have the sound /ć/ in his inventory, is likely to put it into the category
of some other, acoustically similar sound, e.g. /a/ or /e/.

9. English vowels (monophtongs, diphtongs). Basic differences between
Slovak and English.

Vowel is a sound in the production of which there is no obstruction to the flow of air as it
passes from the lungs.

We have two main types:
- pure v. = monophthongs
- gliding v. = dipthongs

Monophthongs

- is a term used in phonetic classification of vowel sounds on the basis of their manner of
articulation: it refers to a vowel (a pure vowel) where there is no detectable change in quality
during a syllable.

In production of diphthongs there is a noticeable change in the quality, that is, there are two
recognizable vowel sounds in a diphthong.

Definition and classification of vowels

Phonetic definition:
A vowel is also defined as a speech sound produced by the relatively free passage of breath
through the larynx and oral cavity. They are voiced and are oral resonant sounds.

Phonological definition:
Vowels are those units which function at the center of syllables.

Description of vowels can be done according to:

1, the length of the vocal fold vibration

a, short

b, half-short

c, long

2, the position of the soft palate

a, oral – when the soft palate is raised

b, nasalized – when the soft palate is lowered

3, the shape of the lips (or lip-rounding)

a, rounded /u:/

b, spread /i:, ć /
c, neutral /ɘ, e /

4. the part of the tonque which is raised

- according to the horizontal movement of the tonque

a, front
b, cenral
c, back
5. the postition of the mandible and the height of the tonque

- the mandible, or lower jaw, can assume different degrees of openness. Based on the

degree of openness, we distinquish four different vowel types:

a, close /i:/
b, close mid / ɔ:/
c, open-mid /e /
d, open / ɑ:/

6. the muscular tension of the tonque
a, tense
b, lax

!!!
English: has 12 different tongue positions
Slovak: only 6 tongue positions – Slovak speaker normally distinguishes and uses only 5)
/ ć/ is not normally stressed)

Cardinal vowels

- devised by Daniel Jones
- are a standard reference system, and people being trained in phonetics have to learn to

make them accurately and recognize them correctly. With cardinal vowels you are
learning about hte range of vowels that the human vocal apparatus can make, and also
learning a useful way of describing, classyfying and comparing vowels.

Cardinal vowels can be divided into

1. primary cardinal vowels – they are exstremes of vowel quality – they sound

strange and exaggerated

2. secondary cardinal vowels – can be made by alternating the primary cardinal

vowels in terms of lip rounding.

The lenght of English Vowels

Phonologically we have:

1. short v.
2. long v.

sit – seat /ɪ - i:/

don – dawn /ɒ- ɔ:/

cut – cart /ʌ - ɑ/

bet – bat /e -ć/

Special attention should be paid to the sound / ć/ which, compared to the length of the

rest of English vowels, is sometimes classified as neutral, tat is, neither short nor long.

Phonetically:

The real lenght of english vowels depends on the type of sounds following them.

We have 4 types:

A, voiceless consonants decrease the lenght of short and long vowels:

s.v = sot [sɒt]

l.v. = sort [so˚t]

B, voiced consonants do not influence the lenght of short and long vowels

s.v. = sod [sɒ ˚

d]

l.v. = sword [sɔ: d]

!!!
Short vowels are never found in the word-final position in stressed syllables. There is no
such word in English, that would end with / ć / or / ɒ:/ , or any other short vowel.
In Slovak: following consonant doesn´t influence the length of vowel. We distinguish
between two lengths, whether phnologically or phonetically.

The total duration of the short vowel + a voiced consonant equals the total duration of the
short vowel + a voiceless consonants. The same applies to long vowels.

[lɒk]

[lɒ ˚

g

]

[ ɒ ] [ k ]

[ ɒ ˚

]

[ g ]

The Description of English Distinctive Vowels

Front

Central

Back

Close

Close-mid



Open-mid



Open






Vowel /ɪ/
example: in, pin, happy

- is pronounced with a part of the tongue nearer to centre than to front, the lips are

loosely spread, the tongue is lax

Vowel / i:/
example: eve, eat, fee

- the front of the tongue is raised to a height, the lips are spread, the tongue is tense
- tends to be slightly diphthongized

ə

ɜ:

ʌ

e

ć

ɑ :

ɒ

ɔ:

ɪ

i:

˚

ʊ

u:

˚

Vowel /e/
example: any, let, breath

- the front of the tongue is raised between the close-mid and open-mid positions, the lips

are loosely sprad

Vowel /ć/
example: act, back, rash

- the mouth is slightly more opan than for /e/, the front of the tonque is raised, the lips

are neutrally open

Vowel / ʌ/
example: other, duck, enough

- is articulated with a considerable seperation of the jaws and with the lips neutrally

open, the centre of the tonque is raised just above the fully open position

- it never occurs in the word-final position

Vowel / ɑ :/
example: aunt, bath, car

- is articulated with a considerable separation of the jaws and the lips neutrally open

Vowel / ɒ/
example: odd, fog, because

- is articulated with wide open jaws and slight, open lip-rounding

Vowel / ɔ:/
example: all, call, law

- is articulated with medium lip-rounding, the back of the tongue is raised between the

open-mid and close-mid positions

- it occurs in all positions in words

Vowel / ʊ/
example: oops, look, butcher

- is pronounced with a part of the tonque nearer to centre than to back, the lips are

closely but loosely rounded

Vowel / u:/
example: ooze, fool, through

- is a close back vowel
- the lips tend to be closely rounded
- it occurs in all positions in words

Vowel / ə/
example: above, woman, colour

- has a very high freguency of occurence in unaccented syllables
- the tonque may be slightly more raised and retracted
- this type of vowel is usually called schwa

Vowel / ɜ:/
example: earn, serve, fur

- is articulated with the centre of the tongue raised between close-mid and open-mid, the

lips are neutrally spread

-

!!!
In English:we have 12 distinctive vowel
In Slovak: we have only 11 vowels (no schwa a )
In English: /e:/ doesn´t exist
In Slovak: /ə/ /ɜ:/ don´t exist


Diphthongs

Phonetic definiton:

- is a complex speech sound beginning with one vowel sound and moving to another

vowel or semivowel position within the same syllable.

- is defined as a combination of two vowels in one and the same syllable.

Phonological definition:

1. closing diphtongs ending in /ɪ/ /aɪ/ /eɪ/ /ɔ ɪ

/

2. closing diphtongs closing in /ʊ/ /aʊ/ /əʊ/
3. centring diphthongs ending in /ə/ /ɪ ə

/ /e

ə/ /ʊ ə

/

The Lenght and Prominence of English Diphthongs

When the first part of the diphthong is longer and more prominent, the diphthong is said to be
falling (descending) - /aɪ/, /ɔ ɪ

/

When the second part of the diphthong is longer and more prominent, the diphthong is said to
be rising (ascending) - /ɪ ə

/

!!!
English: falling diphthongs – 1-st element is more prominent
rising diphthongs – 2-nd element is more prominent
there are 8 distinctive diphthongs
Slovak: diphthongs are only rising = the 2nd element is more prominent (ia, ie, iu, ô)
there are only 4 distinctive diphthongs

E. diphthongs are reduced (shortened) when folloved by a voiceless consonant and non-
reduced when followed by a voiced consonant or standing in the word-final position.
It´s usually the first element of the diphthong that is influenced by the following sound.
When a diphthong is reduced, both elements have approximately the same length. When
a diphthong is non-reduced, usually the first element sounds much longer than the second
element.

The Description of English Distinctive Diphthongs

Diphtong /eɪ/
example: eight, make, day

- the lips are spread
- it occurs in all positions in words

D. /aɪ/

ex: ice, mine, fly

-

starting point may be similar to the articulation used in RP /ʌ/

- the lips change from neutral to a loosely sprad position

D. /ɔ ɪ

/

ex: oil, noise, ploy

- the lips are neutral for the first elment, changing to neutral for the second

D. /əʊ/
ex: old, toast, flow

- the lips are neutral for the first element, but have a tendency to round on the second

element. The starting point may have a tongue position similar to that decribed for /
ɜ:/

D. /aʊ/
ex: out, sound, now

- the lips change from a neutrally open to a weakly rounded position

D. /ɪ ə

/

ex: fierce, dear, eerie

D. /eə/
ex: airway, carefree, dare

D. /ʊ ə

/

ex: urdu, cruel, sure

Triphthongs

Phonetic definition:

- a triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then to a third, all produced

rapidly and without interruption.

Phonological definition:

- a triphthong is a unit of sound functioning as the centre of syllable

Triphtong /eɪ ə

/

ex: player, layering, greyer

T. /aɪ ə

/

ex: iron, society, fire

T. / ɔ ɪ ə

/

ex: oy, joyous, employer

T. /əʊ ə

/

ex: mower, lowering, slower

T. /aʊ ə

/

ex: hourglass, coward, flower

10. English consonants

Phonetic definition:

- is a speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by

any of various contrictions of the speech organs.

Phonological definition:

- those segments which, in a particular language, occur at the edges of syllables.

!!!
English: 24 distinctive consonants
Slovak: 27 + ŕ, ĺ,ľ
there are no such phonemes as / ɵ/ and / đ/
The quality of E. consonants influences the real acoustic length of preceding vowels,
whereas in Slovak, no dramatic influence of this type can be heard.

Consonants can be described from different points of view. This usually involves
characterization according to:

a, source of energy: pulmonic/non pulmonic (no involvment of the lungs)

b, the direction of the airstream: egressive (breath out)/ingressive (breath in)

c, the vocal fold activity: voiced sounds (active)/voiceless (inactive)

d, the position of the soft palate:
-

oral sound (soft palate is raised, the airstream is released through the mouth only

-

nasalised sound (soft plate is lowered slightly, the airstream is released both through
the oral and nasal cavities

-

nasal sound (soft palate is lowered ant he oral passage is blocked completely, the
airstream escapes solely through the nasal cavity.

e, the place of articulation:

- organs of articulation can make different contact at different places

1. bilabial – the upper and lower lips make contact, e.g. /p,b,m/
2. baliodental – the lower lip and the upper teeth make contact, e.g. /f, v/
3. dental – the tongue makes contact with the upper teeth / θ, đ/
4. avleolar – the tongue makes contact with the avleolar ridge /t, d, l, n, s, z/
5. post-avleolar – the tongue makes contact with the rear part of the alveolar ridge /r/
6. palato-alveolar – the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge and hard palate,

/ ʃ, ʤ, ʧ, ʒ/

7. palatal – the tongue makes contact with the hard palate, /j/
8. velar – the back of the tongue makes contact with the soft palate (velum( /k, g, ŋ/
9. uvular – tha back of the tongue makes contact with the uvula, /r/
10. glottal – the vocal folds are narrowed and make friction without vibration, /h/

f, the manner of articulation:

- the degree of closion

1. complete closure:

plosives /p, b, t, d, k, g, ʔ/

affricates / ʧ, ʤ/

nasals /m, n, ŋ/

2. intemittent closure

trill – slovak long [r:]

tap – slovak /r/

3. partial closure

lateral - /l/

4. narrowing

fricatives /f, v, s, z, θ, đ, h, ʒ, ʃ/

4. narrowing without friction – approximants /j, w, r/

g, the presence or absence of the noise component

- can be calssified according to their noise component.
1. obstruents (plosives, fricatives and affricates) - consonants during the production of

which there is audible noise component

2. sonorants (nasals, laterals and approximants) – the consonants during the produciton

of which there is no audible noise component

h, the articulating organ:

- depending on the active articulating organ used, we distinquish these classes:
1. labial:

a, labial

b, labiodental

2. lingual:

a, apical /d, t/

b, laminal /s,z/

c, pre-dorsal /j, ť, ď, ň/

d, post-dorsal /k, g, n

e, radical /ʢ/

3. glottal /h/

ch, the muscular effort:

a, lenis c. – voiced consonants which tend to be articulated with little muscular effort

b, fortis – voceless consonants which are articulated with relatively strong muscular
effort

i, the possible length:

- you can continue making them without interruption as long as you have enough air in

your lungs – continuants /nasal, lateral, fricative and trilled c./

!!!
English: no consonants have the status of long sounds
Slovak: phonologically, there are no long consonants in Slovak. Phonetically, there
are two offical long allophones [ r:] [l:]

j, the amount of high-frequency energy:

-

some consonants have more acoustic energy at high frequencies – sibilants /s, z, , ʃ,
ʤ, ʧ, ʒ/

The Description of English Distinctive Consonants

Plosives

- there are six distinctive plosive consonants in English /p, t, k, b, d, g/ and the glottal

plosive [ʔ]. The term plosive comes from the fact that this type of consonant produce
plosion, which is the escape of the compressed air from the mouth. Plosive consonants
are sometimes called stips, because during their articulation they form complete
obstruction in the mouth and stip the airstream issuing from the lungs.

Their production consists of 3 main phases

1. closure phase
2. hold phase
3. release phase – during the release the escape of air produces and an audible noise -

plosion

4. post-release phase – this additional puff of air is called aspiration.

English plosives can stand in 3 positions in words:

1. word-initial position
- all plosive consonants in English standing in the initial position produce plosion, e.g.

part, boat...

- voiceless plosives produce stronger plosion than voiced plosives. Voiceless plosives

/p,t,k/ in stressed intitial postition followed by a vowel or diphthong are accompanied
by aspiration – symbolised by a small raised [

h]. When these plosives are followed by

/l, r, j, w/, the aspiration is manifested as devoicing of /l, r, j, w/. Voiceless plosives
preceded by /s/ in a stressed position, e.g. stone, spy, sky, lose their aspiration.

- voiced plosives are never aspirated.
2. word-medial postion
-

the pronunciation of English plosives in medial positions depends on the presence or
absence of the primary stress and also on the proceding and following sounds. All
plosives in the stressed medial position produce audible plosion and all voiceless
plosives are aspirated or devoice the following /l, r, j, w/. Voiced plosives preceded by
/s/ in stressed medial postion, e.g. respect /rɪ´spekt/, lose their aspiration.

3. word-final position
- the plosion of all E. plosives in the final position, e.g. stop /stɒp/ is very weak and

often not audible. Voiced plosives standing finally have very little voicing.

The process of plosion of Englsih plosives can be realized in many different way. The main
division is according to the direction of the release, which can be done either through the
nasal passage – nasal plosion or through the oral cavity – oral plosion.

Nasal plosion:

Bilabial plosives /p, b/
e.g. /p/ - peace, apple
/b/ - bin, able
Boht /p/ and /b/ have the same place and manner of articulation. The soft plate is raised and
the obstacle to the airstream is formed by the lips. When the air behind the closure is release,
and audible nosie – plosion is produced. Generally, plosion produced by /p/ is tronger then ob
/b/. The only difference between /p/ and /b/ is voicing - /p/ is voiceless and /b/ is voiced.

Avleolar plosives /t,d/
e. g. /t/ - tip, aftack
/d/ - dim, red
The manner and place of articulation is identical for both. The soft palate is raised and the
obstacle to the airstream is formed by the closure made between the tongue and the alveolar
ridge. When the compressed air behing the closure is release, an audible noise – plosion- is
produced. /t/ is aspirated in stressed inital and medial positions followed by vowels,
diphthongs or triphthons. /. The only difference between /t/ and /d/ is voicing - /t/ is voiceless
and /d/ is voiced.

Velar plosives /k, g/
e. g. /k/ - kind, acre
/g/ - gain, eager
The place and manner of articulation is identical. The soft palate is raised and the obstacle to
the airstream is formed by the closure made between the tongue and the soft palate. When the
compressed air behing the closure is release, an audible noise – plosion- is produced. /k/ is
aspirated in stressed inital and medial positions followed by vowels, diphthongs or triphthons.
. The only difference between /k/ and / g / is voicing - /k/ is voiceless and /g/is voiced.

Glottal plosive [ʔ]
This glottal plosive is not a distinctive consonant but it´s very frequently used.
The obstruction to the airstream is formed by the closure of the vocal folds. The prodcution of
one sound is abruptly stopped by slocing the glotttis, and after a short period of silence,
another sund continues suddenly. It is classified as neither voiced nor viceless.

Affricates

There are two distinctive affricate sonsonants in English. / ʤ/ /ʧ/.

- they are rather complex consonants. They begin as plosives and end as fricatives.

To consider them affricatives:

1. they must be homorganic – made with the same articulators
2. distribution

a, regularly occur in all positions in words
b, in an intevocalic position they should bhave like simple consonants, e.g. pitches,
pities, aged.

Palato-alveolar affricaties /ʤ/ /ʧ/.
e.g.

/ʤ/ just, urgent

/

ʧ/ change, feature

The soft palate is raised and the obstacle to the airstream is formed by a closure made between
the tongue and alveolar ridge and the palate at the same time. /ʧ/ may be slightly aspirated in
all position where /p/, /t/, and /k/ are. The difference between them lies primarily in voicing -
/ʤ/ is voiced /ʧ/ is voiceless.

Fricatives

There are nine distinctive fricative consonants in English:
/f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /h/, /θ/, /đ/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/
In the articulation of a fricative consonant, two organs are brought and held sufficiently close
together for the escping airstream to produce friction. They are characterised by a noise
component. All of them except /h/ can be found in all positions in words. There is no word
that would end with /h/.

Labiodental fricatives /f, v/
e.g. /f/ fight, after
/v/ very, over
The soft palate is raised and the lower lip makes contact with the upper teeth. The escaping air
produces friction. The difference between them lies primarily in voicing - /v/ is voiced /f/ is
voiceless.

Dental fricatives / θ, đ/
e.g.

/ θ/ thick, method

/ đ/ this, other
The soft palate is raised and the tip to the tongue touches the edge of the upper teeth. The
difference between them lies primarily in voicing - / đ / is voiced / θ / is voiceless.
Avleolar fricatives /s, z/
e.g. /s/ some, concert
/z/ zoo, easy
The soft palate is raised ant the tip and blade of the tongue makes light contact with the
alveolar ridge. The air escapes through a narrow groove between the tongue and alveola and
creates friction. The difference between them lies primarily in voicing - / z / is voiced / s / is
voiceless.
Palato-alveolar fricatives /ʃ, ʒ/
e.g. /

ʃ / sheep, ashore

/

ʒ/ genre, pleasure

The soft palate is raised and the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge and the hard
palate at the same time. The escaping air creates friction. The pair is produced with the same
manner and in the same place of articulation..The difference between them lies primarily in
voicing - /ʒ / is voiced /ʃ / is voiceless.
Glottal fricative /h/
e.g. huge, hot, behave
The place of articulation of this consonant is glottal. This means that the narrowing that
produces the friction noise is between the vocal folds. /h/ always takes on the quality of the
following sound, which is most often a vowel.

Nasals
There are 3 distinctive nasal consonants in English: /m/, /n/, / ŋ /

- the soflt palate is in its lowered postiion, allowing an escape of air into the nasal cavity

and giving the sound the special resonance provided by the naso-pharyngeal cavity.
All nasal consonants are continuants. They belong among sonorants and all of them
are voiced.

Bilabial nasal /m/
e.g. mother, summer
The lips form a closure similar to that of /p/ or /b/, the soft palate is lowered, so the air
escapes throught hte nasal cavity. /m/ is a voiced consonant.

Alveolar nasal /h/
e.g. no, dinner
The tongue touches the alveolar ridge and forms a closure similar to that of /t/ or /d/. The soft
palate is lowered and the air escapes through the nasal cavity. /n/ is a voiced consonant.

Veral nasal / ŋ/
e.g. singer, anxious, hang
The back of the tongue touches the velum and forms a closure similar to that of /k/ or /g/. The
soft palate is lowered and the air escapes through the nasal cavity /ŋ/ is voiced.

Laterals
There is only one distinctive lateral consonant in English /l/.

A lateral c. is one in which the passage of air through the mouth does not go in the usual way
along the centre of the tongue instead, ther is complete closure between the centre of the
tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth where contact is to be made. There are several
varieties fo /l/ in E. but for practical purposes it is sufficient to ditinguish two – clear [l

j] and

dark [ł].

Lateral /l/
e.g. leap, glad, kill
The soft palate is raised and the tip of the tongue is in contact with the alveolar ridge. The air
escapes along both sides of the tongue.

Approximants
There are 3 distinctive approximants in Englsih: /r/, /j/, /w/
During the production of a. the airstream escapes through a relatively narrow opening in the
mouth without any significant friction. All approximants are voiced.

Post-alveolar approximants /r/
e.g. rat, very, arrive
Voiced post-alveolar a. – the soft palate is raised and the tip of the tongque is held, without
contact, close to the back part of the alveolar ridge. The airstream escapes freely, without
friction.

Palatal approximant /j/
e.g. yard, music
The soft palate is raised. The tongue assumes the position for a close-mid or close vowel and
moves immediately into the position of the following sound. The lips are neutral or spread. /j/
may be devoiced when preceded by /p/, /t/, /k/, or /h/ in stressed syllables, e.g. pew, tune...

Labial-velar approximant /w/
e.g. wait, twice, swim
The soft plate is raised. The tongue assumes the position for a close-mid or close vowel and
moves immediately into the position of the following sound. The lips are rounded.

11. Combination of sounds and their problems. Assimilation, elision, linking.
Basic differences between English and Slovak.

Assimilation
- the quality of the phonemes of the word depends on the type of the surrounding sounds and
they style of the speaker. In informal style and with increased tempo of speech, one or more
sounds can change their acoustic qualities. A variation withing the same phoneme, and only
a new subsidiary member of the same phoneme is produced. Sometimes the change is so
dramatic that a completely different phoneme is formed

1. allophonic assimilation
2. phonemic assimilation

Allophonic assimilation

- it refers to a particular acoustic realisation of a sound in a particular phonetic context.

It is the use of a particular allophone in a particular word, where the choice of the
allophone is conditioned by the phonetic environment of the word.

- any allophonic change occuring within the word caused by the presence of the

neighbouring sound(s) will fall into this group. Here are the most imp. categories:

1. place of articulation:

post-alveolar
dental
labio-dental
advanced
retracted
velarized

2. voicing
3. lip rounding
- spread
- rounded
4. nasalization

Phonemic assimilation

- involves a change of the phoneme into antoher. It is defined as the process of

replacing a sound by another sound under the influence of a third sound which is near
to it in the word or sentence. It´s a change of one or more phonemes into a different

phoneme under the influence of the neighbouring sounds. It´s most likely to occur in
rapid, casual speech, and it mostly affects consonants.

Division:

1. historical and contextual – ( e.g. picture /´pɪktjʊr/ - /´pikʧə/ the consonants / t/ and /j/

coalesced into one: /ʧ/
contextual – occurs in rapid casual speech weher on or more phonemes change into
another phoneme under the influence of the neighbouring sound.
e.g increase /ɪn´kri:s/ - /ɪŋ´kri:s/ the consonant /n/ changed into /ŋ/ under the influence of
/k/.

2. progressive – a phoneme changes into a different phoneme under the influence of the

preceding sound. This type of a. is not very frequent.
e. g. dogs /dɒgz/ - the concosnant /s/ changed into/z/ under the influence of the preceding
/g/ which is a voiced sound.

3. regressive – a phoneme changes into a different phoneme under the influence of the

following sound. It can be found frequently, both within the word and at word
boundaries.

1. the consonant /t/ followed by any of the following consonants /p, b, m/ assimilates

to /p/. The consonant /t/ followed by any of the following consonants /k, g/
assimilates to /k/.
e.g. /tp/

→/pp/→/p/ : footprint /´f ʊtprɪnt/ → /´ f ʊpprɪnt/ →/´ f ʊprɪnt/

2.

the consonatn /d/ followed by any of the following consonants /p, b, m/
assimilates to /b/. The consonant /d/ followed by any of the following consonants
/k,g/ assimilates to /g/.
e.g. /dp/

→/bp/: tadpole /´tćdpəʊl/ → /´tćbpəʊl/

3.

the consonant /n/ followed by any of the following consonants /p, b, m/
assimilates to /m/. The consonant /n/ followed by any of the following consonants
/k, g/ assimilates to /ŋ/.
e.g. /np/

→/mp/: gunpoint /´gʌnpɔ ɪ

nt/

→ /´gʌmpɔ ɪ

nt

/

4.

the consonat /s/ followed by any of the following consonants / ʧ, ʤ, ʃ/
assimilates to / ʃ /.
e.g. /sʃ/

→ / ʃ ʃ/ →/ ʃ/: misshppae /mɪs´ʃeɪp/ → /mɪ ʃ

´

ʃeɪp/

→/

mɪ ʃ

(:)´e

ɪp/

5. the consonant /z/ followed by any of the following consonants / ʧ, ʤ, ʃ, j/

assimilates to /ʒ/
e.g. /zʃ/

→ / ʒ ʃ

/ :

/´kwɪzʃəʊ/

→ /´kwɪ ʒ ʃ

əʊ/

6.

the sequence of consonants /nt/ followed by any of the following consonants /p, b,
m/ assimilates to /mp/. The assimilation is then followed by elision of /p/ leaving
only /m/. The sequence of consonants /nt/ followed by any of the following
consonants /k, g/ assimilates to /ŋk/. The assimilation is then followed by elision
of /k/, leaving only / ŋ/.
/tnp/

→ /mpp/→/mp/: front-page /,frʌnt´peɪ ʤ

/

→ /,frʌmp´peɪ ʤ

/

→

/

,frʌm´peɪ ʤ

/

7.

the sequence of consonants /nd/ followed by any of the following consonants
/p,b,m/ assimilates to /mb/. The assimilation is then followed by elision of /b/,
leaving only /m/. The sequence of consonants /nd/ followed by any of the
following consonants /k,g/ assimilates to /ŋg/. The assimilation is then followed
by elision of /g/ leaving only /ŋ/.

4. coaselcent – it´s aprocess of coalescing of two sounds into one.

We distinguish two types:

1. assibilation – a specific kind of assimilation which results in acquiring a sibilant

pronunciation by the sound or sound-groub which originally dit not contain it.
a, /dj/

→ / ʤ/ e.g. assiduous, due

b, /tj/

→ /tʃ/ e.g. actual, tune

2. transsibilation – a consonant containing a sibilant sound is replaced by another –

new one
a, /sj/

→/ʃ/ tissue, issue

b, /zj/

→/ ʒ/ visual, azure

Differences between E.and S.:

1. both allophonic and phonemic assimilations produce different results in the two

languages, which is mostly due to the possible sound environments and
sequencing.

2. the presence of aspiration in E. causes allophonic assimilation of some sounds –

this is not possible in Slovak.

3. the devoicing of word-final voiced consonants is usually partial in E. but

complete in S.

4. in Slovak, regressive assmilation involving voicing within the word also occurs in

slow speech, which is something not found in E.

5. there is no progressive phonemic assimilation in S.

Similarities:

- coalescence assimilation in both E. and S. occurs usually in informal colloquial

speech.

Linking

Linking is a process know to occur mainly in connected speech, but it can also be found
within the word. A term used in phonology to refer to sound which is introduced between
lingusitic units, usually for ease of pronunciation.

Depending on the type of vowels involved, we insert one of these three linking sounds - /r/, /

j/

or /

w/

Linking /r/

- when a word ends with any of the vowels /ɑ:, ɔ:, ɜ:, ə/ or diphtongs /ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/

and the last or penultimate letter (exept for the word final sequence – ra´) (far - /f ɑ:/),
the linking /r/ is inserted between this word and the following word, if the following
word bgins with a vowel.
e. g. far away /, fɑ:rəweɪ/

- when the word ends in a vowels /ɑ:, ɔ: , ə/ or a diphthong /ɪə/ and the last or

penultimate letter of the word is not ´r´)exept for th eword final sequence ´-ra), the
linking /r/ is inserted between this word and following word if the following word
begins with a vowel. This type of linking /r/ is called intrusive /r/.
e.g. /´rʌ ʃ

ən(d)´tʃaɪnə/ - Russia and China

Linking /

j/

- when a word ends with any of the vowels /ɪ, i:/ /aɪ/ /eɪ/ /ɔ ɪ

/, a slight

/

j/- link is

inserted between this syllable and the following syllable, if the following syllable
begins with a vowel.

e.g. pretty eyes - /´prɪtɪ

j aɪz/

Linking /

w/

- when a word ends with the vowel /u:/ /aʊ/ /əʊ/ a slight /

w/ - link is inserted between

this syllable and the following syllable, if the following word begins in a vowel
e.g. two eyes /, tu:

w aɪz/

Elision

- is th eomission of sounds. Can be historical, but elision that occurs in present E. is

contextual.

What influence elision:

- increased tempo of speech
- sound´s quality
- it´s position in the word
- quality of the neighbouring sound
- speaker´s style

Elision of the vowels:

1. of the penultimate syllable of simple and derived (sound) words contains the vowels

/ɪ/ or /ə/ and it´s precided by a syllable with primary stress, /ɪ/ and /ə/ tend to be
elided
e.g. possible /´posɪbl/

→ /´posbl/

2. if a pre-penultiamte syllable of simple and derived words conatins /ɪ/ and /ə/ and it´s

proceeded by a syllable with the primary stress, /ɪ/ and /ə/ tend to be elided.
/´dɪf(ɪ)kltɪ/

3.

words ending in /ʊərɪ/ have a tendency to drop either /ʊ/ /ə/ / rɪ/
/´s

ćŋkʧ(ʊ)ərɪ/

4. the initial sequency /c+ ´ə+l/ and /c+´ə+r) tend to drop the vowel /ə/ in rapid speech,

and the primary stress is moved to the beginning of the word
/kə´rekt/ - /´krekt/

5. the word initial sequence ( c

c + ə´+c )tends to drop the vowel /ə/ in rapid connected

speech and the primary stress is moved to the beginning of the word.
/f(ə)´netɪks/ - /´fnetɪks/

Elision of consonants

1. the initial sequence /ɔ:/ + /c/ tends to drop the consonant /l/ in rapid speech.

/ ɔ:(l)redɪ/

2. word medial and final

→consonant cluster. /nt+c/, /nd+c/, /st+c/, /ft+c/ tend to drop

the consonants /t/ and /d/.
/´l ćn(d)lɔ:d)

3. word final consonat cluster tend to be reduced in rapid connected speech

Elision of both vowels and consonants
- the word final sequences /rɘrɪ/ tend to be reduced to /rɪ/

Differences between S. and E.
S:- it occurs only at the morpheme boundary and results in reduction of the number of
syllables.

- the contextual elision is much less freuqent than in E. and in Slovak it occurs mainly in
consonant clusters.
E. – it occurs both within the word and at he the word boundary.
- the contracted forms he´s /hi(:)z/ results in elision of both vowels and consonant.
Nothing like this happens in Slovak.

13. The forms and functionsof English intonation. Basic differences between E.
and S.

Intonation may be defined as the variations which take place in the pitch of the voice in
connected speech.

Forms of intonation:
Tone : is a distinctive pitch level of a syllable. We recognize 5 different tones in E.:

1. falling tone /fall/glide-down/: yes
2. rising tone /rise/glide-up/: yes
3. level tone /level/: yes

4. combine tone: falling – rising /fall-rise/dive/: yes
rising- falling /rise-fall/: yes

The syllable which carries a tone is called a tonic syllable. It has a high degree of prominence
and it carries a stress called tonic stress. Tonic syllable may be accompanied by other
components forming a sequence called tone unit. Tone unit may consist of only 1 syllabe in
it´s smallest form.

The simple tone unit consists of 4 components:

1. pre-head: consists of all unstressed syllables preceding the tonic syllable or the head.

eg. in an – pre-head hour

2. head: is all that part of a tone unit that extends from the 1st stressed syllable up to (but

not including) the tonic syllable. If there is no stressed syllable preceding the tonic
syllable there can´t be a head .

eg. less than an – head hour.

3. tonic syllable: the central component of a tone unit. It carries tonic stress.

eg. hour

4. tail: consist of syllables between tonic syllable and the fone unit.

eg. Look at it What did you say?

A simple tone unit can contain of all 4 components:
On my – pre-head way to the – head sta –tonic.s tion-tail
On my way to the station.

Pitch behaviour within the tone unit
when there´s no tail following tonic syllable the moment of the tone isn´t completed on the
tonic syllable but it´s carried over the syllables on the tail.

If there´sa tail of 2 or more syllables the normal pitch movement is for the pitch to fall of the
tonic syllable and to reamain low until the last stressed syllable in the tail. The pitch than rises
from that point up to the end of the tone unit.
e.g. I might buy it.

If there´s no stressed syllable in the tail, the rise happends on the final syllable.
e.g. Most of them



The functions of Intonation

There are 4 functions:

1. attitudinal
2. stress
3. grammatical
4. discourse

The attitudinal function

The process of expressing feelings, emotions, or attitudes is a very complex one. The
expression of feelings, emotions, or attitudes may be genuine or artificial. We also express
them differently with different people.
The tone, pitch range, key, pause and loudness form the basis of intonation in E. with
rhytmicality and tempo closiely related.

1. Fall
- finality, definiteness: ´That´s the ´end of the news.
- strong commands: ´Take your ´feet off the chair.
- exclamations: ´Good Heavens
2. Rise
- encoouraging: It , won´t hurt
- grumble: I , didn´t hurt you. (So why make all that fuss?)
- tag-guestions after commands: Come over , here will you?
3. fall-rise
- uncertainty, dooubt: It´s possible.
- requesting: , Can I buy it?
- polite or pleading command: Shut the ´ window.
4. rise-fall
- surprise, impression: You were first!
- challenging: Well, you damn well ought to!
5. level
- boredom, disinterest, routine: Have you ever been in prison? No
- listening, enumerating: - one, - two, - three

The stress function
a, neutral – the tonic stress (focus) is usually placed on the last content word in the utterance
b, emphatic
c, contrastive – when we want to contrast certain words – lexical/grammatical (That book is
mine, not yours)

The grammatical function of intonation

1. fulfilling the function of the comma – as a short pasue or may be indicated by the

preceding tone-unit

2. signaling the declarative/interrogative/imperative sentence type

a, declarative – using falling tone, when one part of the sentence is more important -
fall-rise
b, interrogative – mostly rising – Y/N + echo Q..= alterantive /coffee or tea? /- rising
–falling

wh-questions – falling toner

tag-guestions – certainity / uncertainity

c, imperative – commands

The discourse Function of Intonation

- a term used in linguistics to refer to a continuous stretch of language larger than

a sentence

- the most important factor influencing the placement of the tonic stressin discourse is

the information content of the words out of which the discourse is composed.

- the situational context plays an important role in intonation.

The differences between E. and S.

1. fall-rise and rise-fall are usually not found within one syllable in Slovak.
2. Fall-rise is never used in Slovak questions. Rise-fall expressing surprise or big

impression in E. doesn´t have the same function in S.

3. Slovak sentences usually begin with a stressed syllable, because words in Slovak

have stress placed on the first syllable. in E. often stay with one or more
unstressed syllable, and this influences not only rhythm, but also intontion. That
is why S. sentences often start with a high pitch which is placed on the stressed
syllavble, unlike in E. , where the pitch of the initial unstressed syllables is usually
low.

10. English stress and rhythm, strong and weaks forms. Basic differences
between E. and S.

Word stress

- is the relative degree of force used in pronouncing the different syllables of a word.
- it´s an articulatory phenomenon
- when we stress a syllable, we usually increase the loudness and the length of the

vowel/s/, or we change the pitch of the vowel/s/s in some way.

Stress is the process of coscious change of these 3 phenomenon:

1. pitch – the change of it and it´s heigh are important factors in distinguishing the

stressed word from the unstressed one.
a, kinetic stress – based on the pitch movement
b, static stress – the stress without the pitch movement

2. loudness – stressed syllables are often perceived to be louder and in many cases they

may be so

3. quantity – /the length of syllable/. Long vowels and diphtongs are generally more

prominent than short ones.

Types of word stress

- a degree of syllable prominence. Depends on pitch, loudness, length, quality.

We distinguish between:
a, a high degree of prominence – primary stressed syllables
b, a medium degree of prominence – secondary stress syllables
c, a low degree of prominence - no stress /unstressed syllables/

Primary stress

- is the increase of loudness and length and the varion of pitch of the syllable, which

together with inherent sonority of the syllable gives the syllabe a high degree of
prominence

- we indicate it by means of a small vertical mark ´placed high up before the syllable it

refers to

- can be placed on any syllable
- if the word consists of one syllable only, it´s not placed
- not more than 1 primary stress in the word

Secondary stress

- is the increase of loudness and length and the varion of pitch of the syllable, which

together with inherent sonority of the syllable gives the syllabe a medium degree of
prominence

- we indicate it by means of a small vertical mark , placed low down before the syllable

it refers to

- can be placed on any syllable
- if the word consists of one syllable only, it´s not placed
- not more than 2 seconary stress in the word

Stress influence on the clarity of vowels

1. direct – can be seen on the syllables carying either primary or secondary stress. Such

syllables always contain a clear, non-obscured vowel, that is, any other vowel than /ə/.

2. indirect – can be seen on the syllable following or preceding the syllable carrying

primary stress. Here are 2 basic rules:
a, the vowels /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ of the final syllable carrying the primary stress tend to be
obcured to /ə/.
e.g. mistake - /mɪ´steɪk´/ - /mə´steɪk/
b, the vowels /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ of the syllable sollowing the syllable with the primary stress
tend to be obscured to /ə/.
e.g. clarity - /´klćrɪtɪ/ - /´ klćrətɪ/

Stress pattern of the word

- the stress pattern is free, it means that the primary stress can be placed on any syllable

of the word.

It´s based on these factors:

- wheather the word is simple or complex
- the gram. category of the word
- the nr. of syllables in the word
- the quality of vowels in the syllable

Variation of words tress
In E. there is a nr. of words which can have more than 1 stress pattern. These words are
divided into two 2 groups:

1. words with identical spelling, meaning, word class and with different stress pattern:
adult

→ / ə´dʌlt/ - /´ćdʌlt/

2. words with identical spelling and with different meaning, word class, stress pattern
minute

→ /´mɪnɪt/ - /maɪ´njut/

Varitation of phonemic structure
There are cases in E when 1 word can be placed in 2 )ore even more) different ways without
any change in stress pattern. Sometimes different pronunciation represents 2 different word
classes. Sometimes there are mere variations of the same word.
e.g. economical - /, i:kə´nɒmɪkl/ vs. /, ekə´nɒmɪkl

→ doesn´t breing any changes

e.g. advice - /əd´vaɪs/ = noun – advise / əd´vaɪz/= verb

Sentence stress

- is the relative degree of force given to the different words in a sentence. The

placement of stress within the sentence depends on the relative importance of the
words of that sentence.

- the more important a word is, the stronger is it´s stress.
- the most important words are usually conent wrods /full lexical words- nouns, verbs,

advjectives, some adverbs) and sentence stress is usually placed on these words.

We distinguish between primary and secondary sentence stress.

1. primary – force is on the content words which carry most importance
2. secondary – force is usually on the content words of less imprtance, the word carrying

neither primary nor secondary stress are considered to be unstressed )mainly function
words)

Shift stress

- with some wors, however, this fixed stress pattern is relative. it´s mainly words ehere

the primary stress is preceded either by secondary stress or by an unstressed syllable.

Two rules:
1. when a word where the primary stressi s preceded by the secondary stress, is followed

by a word with the primary stress on the first or on the second syllable, the primary
stress of the first word is shifted to the first syllable and is reduced to secondary stress

2. when a word where the primary stress is preceded by an unstressed syllable, is

followed by a word with the primary stress on the first syllable or on the second
syllable, the primary stress of the first word is shifted to the first syllable and is
reduced to secondary stress.

Differences between E. and S.

English: there are 3 degrees of syllable prominence – unstressed, with secondary stress
and with primary stress
Slovak: there are also 3 degrees of syllable prominence but with less prominence
English: the placement of stress in E. is free, there´s not an universal pattern
Slovak: there is a certain stable stress pattern, the primary stress is always placed on the
first syllable
English: the stess is placed on content words
Slovak: it´s not necessarily placed the stress on content words
English: can distinguish one word from another
Slovak: the stress pattern is stable


Rhythm

English speech is said to be rhythmical. It belongs to the so called stress-timed language –

it is claimed that the stressed syllable recur at regular intervals of time, regardless general rule
of E. rhythm is that we take an equal amount of time form one stressed syllable to the next, ie.
that English rhythm has an isochrony based on stresses.

Basic rule of English rhythm:

- there is a tendency towards taking an approximately equal period of time between one

stressed syllable and the next.

A rhythm unit is a unit containing a stressed syllable plus all the following unstressed

syllables up to (but not including) the next stressed syllable.

Cases when the strict thythm is kept:

- when counting /one, two, three..)
- when the speaker is expressing irritation/sarcasm

Borrowing rule

- a syllable with reduced vowel „borrows time“ from any immediately preceding

syllable containing a full vowel.

- reduced vowels are /ə/, which is always unstresse, and unstressed /ɪ/ and / ʊ/.

Stressed /ɪ/ and / ʊ/ and all remaining vowels are considered full.

!!!
English: E. speech has rhythm
Slovak: the rhythm is based on the nr. and the type of syllables within wors. The rule is
that syllable with long vowels should not follow each other within one word. A diphthon
in Slovak counts as a long vowel = rhythmical law.
E: the lenghth of syllables in E. is ruled by stress
S: no such influence can be detected. S. is therefore called a syllable-timed language.

Strong and weak forms

- in English, function words that is: prepositions, conjunctions, deteminers, pronouns,

auxiliary verbs and some adverbs) are usually pronounced in their weak form

- during the change of the function word from its strong form to its weak form, any of

the following 3 phenomena can take place:

1. reduction of lenght: to /tu:/ - /t (:) - /tu/
2. obscuration of vowels: at /ćt/ - /ət/
3. elision of sounds: /hɪm/ - /(h)ɪm/-/ɪm/

Exeptions and further rules:

1.reduciton of lenght
a, when the word ´some´functions as determiner, it is usually reduced to /s(ə)m/, it may
usually be omitted without destroying the structure of the sentence
b, when the word ´some´functions as a pronoun it occurs in its strong form /sʌm/
- the ommision of this type of the word ´smae´changes the meaning or destorys the structure
of the sentence
c, when the word ´some´stands at the end of the sentence it is always in its strong form

2. obscuration of vowels
a, when the word ´that´functions as demonstrative pronoun or an adveb, the strong form /đćt/
is used
b, when it functions as a relative pronoun or conjunction the weak form that is used / đət/

3.elision of sounds
a, most of function words standing in the final position in the sentence keep their strong form,
even though they are not necessarily stressed.
e.g. /´wɒt ə ju: ´lɑ: fɪŋ ćt/
b, function words /he, him, her, them,us/ can have a weak form even when standing in the
final position in the sentence
e.g. /tel (h)ɪm/
c, function words: be, do ,me, she, to, who, you retain their strong form at the ond of the
sentence but their lenght may be rerduced
eg. /aɪ dɔ(:) /
d, when we contrast or compare 2 or more pronouns, or 2 or more prepositions, these
pronouns and prepositions retain their strong form
e.g. / đə, letə wəz ´from (h)ɪm, nɒt ´tu(:) (h)ɪm/
e, auxiliary verbs shall, will retain theri strong from when standing at the beginning of the
sentence
- the rest of auxiilary verbs may retain their strong form at the beginning of the sentence,
although the weak form is more common
e.g. /, wɪl ju(:)´help mi(:)/
f

, when a function word is being cited or quoted, the strong form is used

e.g. /ju (:)

ʃ ʊ

dnt , p

ʊt ´ćnd ət đi(:) ´end əʊ ə śentəns/

g, when a function word is given stress for the purpose of emphasise, the strong form is used.
/ju(:)´mʌs(t), gɪv mi(:), mɔ: , mʌnɪ/