Modifications of sounds in speech. Sound alternations.

Modifications of sounds in speech. Sound alternations.

Ways of joining sounds in connected speech.

1. Initial, on-glide, excursion:

the organs of speech move to the position which is necessary to pronounce the sound.

2. Medial, stop-stage, retention stage, the hold:

the organs of speech are kept for some time in the position necessary to pronounce the sound.

3. Final, off-glide, recursion, release:

the organs of speech move to the neutral position again.

Ways of joining sounds in connected speech.

The merging of stages:

When the final stage of the first sound ‘merges’ with the initial stage of the second sound.

It takes place when sounds are of different nature; the term accomodation is used to denote this phenomenon: /tı – tu:/

Ways of joining sounds in connected speech.

The interpenetration of stages:

When the medial stage of the second sound ‘penetrates’ into the medial stage of the first sound.

It takes place when sounds are of a similar or identical nature.

The term assimilation is used to denote this phenomenon: bo ttl e, mi ddl e, wi dth

Assimilation

The adaptive modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant in the speech chain is known as assimilation, e.g the alveolar [t] followed by the interdental [Ө] becomes dental: eighth, at three.

Assimilation

Assimilation can be:

1. a) contact: width, pens

b) distant: at the, what’s, bad table.

2. a) Living (present day)

b) historical: permission /pər’misjən/, mesure /’mezjur/

sj→∫

zj→ʒ

Assimilation

Present day assimilation can be distinguished according to:

A) direction

B) degree of completeness

C) degree of stability

Present day assimilation according to direction

1) progressive;

2) regressive;

3) reciprocal (mutual)

Present day assimilation according to direction

1. Progressive assimilation

The assimilated sound is influenced by the proceeding consonant:

A→B: pe ns, wha t’s this, coo ked.

2. Regressive assimilation

The proceeding consonant is influenced by the following one:

A←B: i n th em, new s /z/ – new sp aper, hor se-sh oe /’hσ:∫∫u:/, graduate /‘grжdʒueıt/.

Present day assimilation according to direction

3. Reciprocal assimilation.

Two adjacent sounds influence each other: A↔B: tw enty, tr ee, quick / kw ık/.

Present day assimilation according to the degree of completeness

1. complete;

2. incomplete;

3. intermediate.

Present day assimilation according to the degree of completeness

Complete:

Assimilation is said to be complete when the articulation of the assimilated sound fully coincides with the articulation of the assimilating one: hor se-sh oe /’hσ:∫∫u:/, does she /’d∫∫i:/

Present day assimilation according to the degree of completeness

Incomplete/partial

It takes place when the assimilated consonant retains its main phonemic features and becomes only partially similar in some features of its articulation to the assimilating sound:

T, d, n, l, s, z before /Ө/ and /∂/: wealth, width;

all cases of the reciprocal assimilation: twice, tree.

Present day assimilation according to the degree of completeness

Intermediate (between partial and complete).

When the assimilated sound changes into a different sound but doesn’t coincide with the assimilating consonant: congress /’kσəs/; could you /‘kudʒu:/, handkerchief /’hжkət∫ıf/:

d→n

n→

Present day assimilation according to the degree of stability

1. historical/obligatory;

2. non-obligatory (stylistic) in rapid colloquial speech:

ten girls /‘te ‘gə:lz/;

ten minutes /‘tem ‘mınıts/

Assimilation affects:

1. the place of obstruction and the active speech organ:

a) t, d, n, l, s, z become interdental under the influence of the sounds Ө and ∂: te nth, i s th e;

b) t, d become post-alveolar before the post-alveolar r: tr ee, a t r est;

c) m, n become labio-dental under the influence of the labio-dental sounds f and v: co mf ort, te n f orks.

Assimilation affects:

The work of the vocal cords:

a) m, n, l, r, w, j become partially devoiced when proceeded by s, p, t, k, f, Ө, ∫: sweep, clean, at last;

b) that’s right, Bob’s gone (is, has);

c) girls, boy’s, books (es, ‘s);

d) cooked, pinned (ed).

Regressive voicing and devoicing takes place only in some historical cases:

five pence /‘faıv pens/; gooseberry /‘gu:zbrı/.

Assimilation affects:

The lip position:

consonants k, g, t, d, s followed by the sonorant /w/ become lip-rounded: sw im, lan gua ge /‘lжgwıdʒ/

Assimilation affects:

The manner of the noise production:

a) loss of plosion (incomplete plosion): in the sequence of two plosive consonants the former loses its plosion: glad to see you, great trouble, good girl, attraction, bookcase, lamp post, what time;

b) nasal plosion: in the sequence of a plosive followed by a nasal sonorant the manner of articulation of the plosive sound and the work of the soft palate are involved, which results in the nasal character of plosion release: sudden, not now, at night, let me see:

c) lateral plosion: in the sequence of a plosive followed by the lateral sonorant [1] the noise production of the plosive is changed into that of the lateral stop: settle, table.

Assimilation affects:

The position of the soft palate:

slight nasalization as the result of prolonged lowering of the soft palate is sometimes traced in vowels under the influence of the neighbouring sonants [m] and [n]: and, morning, handsome /‘hжnsəm/;

in rapid speech: good morning / ‘gub/m mσ:nı/

Reduction

Reduction is a historical process of weakening, shortening or disappearance of vowel sounds in unstressed positions.

Reduction reflects the process of lexical and grammatical changes.

Reduction is connected with word stress, rhythm, and sentence stress.

Reduction

Reduction is realized:

in unstressed syllables within words: ‘grжdξuιt;

In unstressed form words, auxiliary or modal verbs, personal and possessive pronouns, within intonation groups and phrases:

wσt dju θiŋk ju kən du

Reduction

3 types of reduction:

Quantitative: he – hi: - hi – hι

Qualitative – obscuration of vowels towards ə, ι: kжn - kən

Qualitative-quantitatative: to: tu: - tu - tə

Elision

In rapid colloquial speech certain notional words may lose some of their sounds (vowels and consonants). This phenomenon is called elision.

Elision occurs both within words and at word boundaries:

Next day - /’neks dei/

All right - /’o: rait/

Mostly - /’mousli/

Vowel modifications

Accomodation

Reduction

Positional length of vowels: knee - need – neat

Nasalization of vowels: preceded or followed by [n, m]: never, then, men

Elision

Consonant modifications:

Assimilation

Accomodation

Elision

. Inserting of sounds

4.1. Linking [r] (potential pronunciation of [r]): car owner

4.2. Intrusive [r]: [r] is pronounced where no r is seen in the spelling china and glass.

Historical sound alternations

The sound variations in words, their derivatives and grammatical form words, are known as sound alternations. For example: the dark [l] in spell alternate with the clear [l] in spelling; c ombine (n) [‘kσmbain], combine [kəm’bain] where [n] in the stressed syllable of the noun alternates with the neutral sound.

It is perfectly obvious that sound alternations of this type are caused by assimilation, accommodation and reduction in speech.

Historical sound alternations

Some sound alternations are traced to the phonemic changes in earlier periods ofthe language development and are known as historical.

Historical alternations mark both vowels and consonants, though the alternating sounds are not affected by the phonemic position or context.

Historical sound alternations

The sounds changes, which occurred in the process of historical development of the language, are reflected in present-day English as alternations of phonemes differentiating

words,

their derivatives and

grammatical forms.

Historical sound alternations

1. Vowel alternations.

1.1 Distinction of irregular verbal forms:

[i:-e-e] mean - meant - meant;

[i-ж-λ] sing - sang - sung;

[i-ei-i] give - gave - given;

1.2 Distinction of causal verbal forms: [i-e] sit - set;

ai-ei] rise - raise; [o - e] fall-fell

1.3 Distinction of parts of speech in etymologically correlated words [a: - ж] class - classify, [o: - e] long - length; [ei - ж] nation - national

1.4 Distinction of singular and plural forms of the noun: [ u: - i:] tooth - teeth

Historical sound alternations

2. Consonants alternations:

2.1 Distinction of irregular verbal forms:

[d - t] send - sent

2.2 distinction of parts of speech:

[s - z] advice - advise; [k - t∫] speak - speech;

Historical sound alternations

3. Vowel and consonant alternations distinguish parts of speech:

[i - ai] + [v - f] live - life;

[a: - ae] + [θ - р] bath - bathe.

Modern sound alternations

Sound alternations that occur in present-day English are defined as contextual.

The basic problem – the phonemic status of alternating sounds as the functioning of sounds concerns not only the phonetic level, but the level of lexis and grammar too.

Such alternations are connected with strong and weak positions of sounds

Modern sound alternations

Vowels:

Strong position – stressed

Weak position – unstressed

Consonants:

Strong position – before vowels; intervocalic

Weak position – word final; clusters of consonants (ca p, sp ray)

Modern sound alternations

. The study ofthe relationship between phonemes and morphemes is called morphophonemics.

The interrelation of phonology and morphology is also known as morphophonology оr mоrрhоnоlogy which is actually the phonology of morphemes.

Morphonology studies the way in which sounds can alternate in different realizations of one and the same morpheme.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

The concept of neutralization derives originally from the Prague School of phonology. Neutralization occurs when two or more closely related sounds, which are in contrast with each other in most positions, are found to be non-contrastive in certain other positions.

When this happens, the opposition between the two sounds is said to be neutralized. The loss of one or more distinctive feature(s) of a phoneme in the weak position is called phonemic neutralization.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

The so-called morphological (Moscow phonological) school supports the theory of neutralization of phonemes: the Moscow philologists claim that interchange of sounds manifests close connection between phonetics and morphology.

Alternations are observed in one and the same morpheme and actualize the phonemic structure of the morpheme.

Thus, phonemic content of the morpheme is constant.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

It should be noted here that alternations of morphemes cannot be mistaken for the oppositions of minimal pairs in different stems of words.

Lets us compare some examples: postman [ə] < [ж], sixpence [ə] < [e].

Thus, one and the same sound may belong to different phonemes

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

The supporters of the morphological trend define the phoneme as follows «Это функциональная единица, представленная рядом позиционно чередующихся звуков» (М.В. Панов).

The notion of «фонетический ряд», suggested by R.I. Avanesov, demonstrates positionally determined realizations of the phoneme.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

Positionally alternating sounds are grouped into one phoneme whether they are similar or have common features (that is common allophones) with other phonemes.

The Russian preposition с + noun may have the following realizations: с Колей — [c], с Тимошей — [c'], с Галей — [з], с Димой — [з'], с Шypoй — [ш]. сЖеней — [ж], с Щукарём — [ш'].

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

In the morphological conception the alternations of the phonemes are not analyzed apart from the morpheme, as form and content make dialectical unity.

The phonetic system is not isolated from the grammatical and lexical structure ofthe language, andthe unity between the form and the content cannot be destroyed.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

Yet as an answer to the problem is not entirely satisfactory since ordinary speakers are in no doubt that the sound which occurs in a word like гриб is [п] not [б], and in English word speak [ph] is nothing but [p].

The perception of the listeners makes us find the morphological conception too discrepant and confiding.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

The so-called Leningrad (Petersburg) school asserts that the phoneme is independent of the morpheme: the supporters of this conception claim that the phoneme cannot lose any of its distinctive features.

In the line of words of the same root morpheme (гриб - грибы)the sound [п] is an allophone of the phoneme /п/ and the sound [б] manifests the phoneme /б/.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

Consequently, the consonants [6] and [п] do not lose any their distinctive features and represent different phonemes.

It seems that according to this point of view the unity between the form and the content is destroyed, thus phonology is isolated from morphology.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

According to N.S. Trubetzkoy, an archiphoneme is defined as a combination of distinctive features common to two phonemes. It consists of the shared features of two or more closely related phonemes but excludes the feature which distinguishes them.

For example: archiphoneme [П] consists ofthe features: bilabial, plosive, but excludes voicing which separates them.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

One of the disadvantages in extending the notion of an archiphoneme is that the Prague School phonologists limited neutralization to closely related phonemes.

A neutralization can be said to occur only if there is uncertainty about the identity ofthe sound in the position of neutralization. Before two phonemes can be neutralized, they must have common qualities which do not occur in other phonemes.

Modern sound alternationsThe theory of neutralization

Thus [p], [b] can neutralize because they are the only labial plosives in the language, they share these two features, but noother sounds share them.

However, [n] and [ŋ] cannot neutralize, so any neutralization of nasals must involve all the three of them - [n], [ŋ], [m].

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