Université de Savoie UFR-LLSH LCE1 UE 103 Lecture: Phonetics & Phonology

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Université de Savoie UFR-LLSH LCE1 UE 103

Lecture: Phonetics & Phonology

Alice [email protected] 812

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Content of the 5 lectures

1) Introduction, Phonemes

2) Sounds in context, connected speech

3) Stress, accent & rhythm

4) Intonation

5) Conclusion

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Outline, Lecture 4

Go over homework from Previous Lecture Why rhythm, stress, intonation? Stress, accent, pitch, tune Sentence emphasis & focus Chunking & pausing Intonation: Definition & basic tunes Functions Conclusion Bibliography

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Homework from Previous Lecture

Coalescence Short review of basic word stress rules Stress in two-word verbs

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Coalescence

A form of assimilation, Involves a fusion of forms HW: becomes becomes

Of course you can Let’s discuss your problems

Don’t miss your lessons Well, use your head.

Well, practice your Please yourself.

Just express yourself. Revise your grammar.

You’re sure to pass your exams. You’ll amaze your friends.

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Word Stress Rules

2-syllable words– Nouns & adjectives: usually on 1st syll.– Verbs: often on 2nd syllable

3+-syllable words: 3 major categories– Stress on ending: -ee, -eer, -ese, -ette, -esque, -

ique– Stress 1 syll. before ending: -ic, -ion, -ity, …– Stress 2 sylls. before ending: -ate, -ize, -ary

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Stress in Compounds

Stress in compound nouns Stress in 2-word verbs

– Separated: stress both– Together: one stress is lost

Stress the adverb/preposition when it is at the end of a tone unit

When a noun object follows, EITHER the verb or the adverb/preposition can be stressed, according to the rhythm

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Two-word verbs

Separated: stress both

You’re winding me up

She shut the computer down

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Two-word verbs

Together: one stress is lost Stress the adverb/preposition when it is at the end of a tone unit

– If you hope to break through– The plane’s about to take off!– come out (« Hide & Seek » song)

When a noun object follows, EITHER the verb or the adverb/preposition can be stressed, according to the rhythm

– She’s taken up stamp collecting– We’ve run out of bread– Turn up the heat

* I’ve just put away my books // I’ve put away my books

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Outline, Lecture 4

Go over homework from Pevious Lecture Why rhythm, stress, intonation? Stress, accent, pitch, tune Sentence emphasis & focus Chunking & pausing Intonation: Definition & basic tunes Functions Conclusion Bibliography

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Why?

Fun? Teachable? Useful?

– For interacting with native speakers– For interacting with non-native speakers

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How phenomena are related

Stressed syllables are key to the rhythm of English

Stressed syllables are often where intonation starts to change (e.g. up or down)

Intonation signals different types of meaning on different levels (grammatical, attitudinal, etc.)

Therefore, stress is KEY

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What language acquisition research shows

Each lexical item we know « exists » as an « entry » in our mental lexicon

Each entry has encoded information about the lexical item, including the stress pattern

When listening, a person must be able to retrieve that entry to understand the message

Therefore, if they do not have the correct entry (incl. word stress) retrieval will be affected …

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Implications?

deviation from normal English stress patterns can cause difficulty in the correct parsing of a message (Setter, 9)

« word stress patterns are an integral part of the phonological representations of words in the mental lexicon » (Cutler, 1984, in Setter, 9)

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This influences communication …

Between native speakers Between non-native speakers Between NS and NNS

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Examples (Bansal, 1966)

‘Atmosphere / must fear ‘Yesterday / or study ‘Character / di’rector ‘Written / re’tain Pre’fer / ‘fearful Co’rrect / ‘carried

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Importance of prosody

Prosody = how pitch, loudness, length produce accent, rhythm and intonation (Gimson, 6)

« prosody is the most critical feature in English pronunciation » (Anderson-Hsieh et al. 1994) (in Setter, 9)

evidence that prosodic features are key to intelligibility of a NNS pronunciation (Magen, 1998) (in Setter, 9)

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Implications?

Given the nature of English Given the nature of language acquisition Given the nature of sound perception Teachers and learners of English should focus

on the importance of stress in order to avoid misunderstandings

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Example of rhymes

« provide a convenient framework for the perception and the production of a number of characteristic features of English pronunciation which are often found to be problematic for learners: stress/unstress (and therefore the basis for intonation), vowel length, vowel reduction, elision, compression, pause (between adjacent stresses) ». (Marks, 1999,198)

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Full circle …

stress/unstress (and therefore the basis for intonation) vowel length= distinction between live/leave, blue/book vowel reduction= to schwa in unstressed syllables elision= losing /t/ and /d/ compression= hour/ « ah » pause (between adjacent stresses)= the factor of

rhythm

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Outline, Lecture 4


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Stress & Pitch

Stress in English: a syllable is– Longer– Louder– On a higher pitch

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Stress & Accent

Stress is not the same as accent

Accent marks the beginning of a change in tune

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Regular rhythm in music: stress

•••••••••••• // •••••••••••• 4 stresses per breath group

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Regular rhythm in music: accent

• • • •

•••••••••• // •••••••••• 5 stresses 2 accents

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Accent, Tune & Pitch

A change in tune involves a change in pitch

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Outline, Lecture 4


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Sentence emphasis …

Stress content words: nouns, main verbs, negative auxiliaries, adverbs, adjectives

Use weak forms for structure words: pronouns, prepositions, articles, ‘to be’ verbs, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs

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Tune & sentence emphasis

Tune change starts on one of the last content words …. usually.

Speakers can choose which information to highlight by choosing where to start changing the tune

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Focus on last content word

What’s the matter? Where are you going? Put some milk in it. Could we go home? How have you been? Let’s have a look at it.

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Broad focus

I’ve lost my keys. My train leaves on Monday the fourth. She’s lost her bag.

red= stress, green= accent

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Narrow focus

End: We’re not ready!

Middle: What’s happened in here?!

Beginning: Here they are!

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Try it …

A: Are you from France? B: No, I’m from Sweden. A: How long have you been here? B: I’ve been here for a month. A: What are you studying? B: Physics. A: Do you find physics difficult? B: Yes, a little.

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Try it …

A: Are you from France? B: No, I’m from Sweden. A: How long have you been here? B: I’ve been here for a month. A: What are you studying? B: Physics. A: Do you find physics difficult? B: Yes, a little.

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Now try this one ….

A: Do you think the food here is expensive? B: Not really. A: Well, I think it’s expensive. B: That’s because you eat in restaurants. A: Where do you eat? B: I cook at home. A: I didn’t know you could cook?! B: Well, I can’t, so I just eat bread and cheese. A: That’s so unhealthy! B: No it isn’t. And I like bread and cheese.

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Answers:

A: Do you think the food here is expensive? B: Not really. A: Well, I think it’s expensive. B: That’s because you // eat in restaurants. A: Where do you eat? B: I cook at home. A: I didn’t know // that you could cook?! B: Well, I can’t, so I just eat bread and cheese. A: That’s so unhealthy! B: Maybe, // but I like bread and cheese.

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The Nucleus

Syllable where the tune begins to change (rise, fall)

Look at the « green » words (accent)

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Exercises from the Web

Web Tutorials at University College of London– Focus

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Outline, Lecture 4


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Chunking & Pausing

The power of silence …. Signals « chunks » of meaning Chunks = thought groups, meaning units Chunks= words which go together to express

one idea or thought Pause + falling tune = end of a thought group

in English

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Where do we pause?

Before conjunctions & prepositions Before relative clauses Between grammatical units (subject, predicate) At punctuation UCL Web tutorials: Chunking

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Try this …Insert the pauses

A: Who’s coming to the party tonight? B: Tom. A: Just Tom? B: No, Tom and Matt. A: No one else? B: Well, Sue’s coming, too. A: Alone? B: No, with Anne. A: So, that’s Tom and Matt and Sue and Anne. Is that it? B: Oh, and Stella. On her own. A: So, that’s Tom and Matt and Sue and Anne and Stella.

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Answers:

A: Who’s coming to the party tonight? B: Tom. A: Just Tom? B: No, // Tom and Matt. A: No one else? B: Well, // Sue’s coming, too. A: Alone? B: No,// with Anne. A: So, // that’s Tom and Matt // and Sue and Anne. // Is that it? B: Oh, // and Stella. // On her own. A: So, // that’s Tom and Matt // and Sue and Anne // and Stella.

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Try this one …

1a)The man and the woman dressed in black came out of the cinema.

1b) The man, and the woman dressed in black, came out of the cinema.

2a) Alfred said, « The boss is stupid. » 2b) « Alfred, » said the boss, « is stupid . » 3a) If you finish, quickly leave the room. 3b) If you finish quickly, leave the room.

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1a)The man and the woman dressed in black // came out of the cinema.

1b) The man,// and the woman dressed in black, // came out of the cinema.

2a) Alfred said, // « The boss is stupid. » 2b) « Alfred, » // said the boss, // « is stupid . » 3a) If you finish, // quickly leave the room. 3b) If you finish quickly,// leave the room.

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Outline, Lecture 4


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What is it? Why do we use it?

Rise & fall in pitch To express a range of meanings, emotions or

situations To add more meaning despite English’s fixed

word order Punctuation pauses & pitch change

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Expressing emotional range and contextual « importance »

French and other Romance languages: stress the end of a sentence, and then use word order to indicate an important change.

Other languages, such as Chinese (Cantonese), have a pitch change that indicates different vocabulary words,

and then superimpose further pitch change to change meaning or emotion.

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Basic Tunes

French: predominantly (rising) English: predominantly (falling) Out of curiosity: Finnish?

English also uses: Fall-rise & rise-fall

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Tunes on a single syllable

Yes, No Speaker’s choice: vary pitch or not How many different ways can you say them?

How many different meanings can you communciate?

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Basic tunes

(rising): Message is – « Open »

– Incomplete– Uncertain

(falling): Message is– Closed

– Final– Certain

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Tunes in questions

Getting information Where do you live?

Where are you from? What do you do for a living?

Checking information « closed » messages, where you’re almost certain

about the information « open » messages, where you’re not very sure asking for repetition

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Tunes in questions: « checking » closed messages

You’re not from around here, are you? Presumably you know Jill then? Is that the station over there? You don’t play tennis, do you?

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Tunes in questions: « checking » open messages

You like chocolate, don’t you? That’s her new boyfriend, isn’t it? You’ve been to London before, right? You’ve skied before, haven’t you?

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Tunes in questions: asking for repetition

A: How many people did you invite? B: Fifty. A: Fifty? B: Yes, fifty.

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Try these …

This train is for Leeds, York, Darlington and Durham.

Can you give me a lift? // Possibly. Where to? No! Certainly not! Go away! Did you know he’d been convicted of drunken

driving? // No! If I give him money he goes and spends it.

He’s completely irresponsible.

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Answers:

This train is for Leeds, York, Darlington and Durham.

Can you give me a lift? // Possibly. Where to?

No! Certainly not! Go away! Did you know he’d been convicted of drunken

driving? // No! If I give him money he goes and spends it.

He’s completely irresponsible.

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Outline, Lecture 4


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Functions of intonation

Focussing function: to draw attention to important information, a deliberate choice by the speaker

Grammatical function: to distinguish grammatical categories of words and/or status of all or part of an utterance

Attitudinal function: a powerful tool for communicating our emotions

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Focussing Function

« accentual function »

Meet me at home at five

S S S

A

N

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Contrastive Stress

I must find SOME I must FIND some I MUST find some I must find some

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Contrastive Stress

SOME= important to find at least a bit FIND= verb is important MUST= absolute necessity of finding I= me and nobody else

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Grammatical Function

But often the grammar determines the placement of the nucleus

– Word classes– Nouns & noun phrases (compounds)– Syntactic distinctions

Probably the least important function Other clues help the listener to decode meaning *Remember: English is extremely redundant

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Word classes: Noun / Verb– IMport / imPORT– DIScount / disCOUNT– TAKE off / take OFF– DROP out / drop OUT

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Nouns & noun phrases (compounds)– GREENhouse / green HOUSE– TALLboy/ tall BOY– BLACKbird / black BIRD– BIGhead / big HEAD

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Defining & non-defining relative clauses Adverbials Vocatives & apositives

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Attitudinal Function

Neutral vs offensive/nasty/grumpy– Would you like some help? No, thank you– How many times do I have to tell you

Positive vs negative– Shall we have dinner together then? Yes, fine– Oh what a lovely gift

Polite vs impolite– This is my book / no it’s not, it’s mine

Surprise– I hear they’ve had triplets

Implication (extra meaning to words)– What do you think of her partner? / Great

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Conclusion

Stress, accent, pitch, tune Sentence emphasis, focus Chunking & pausing: where, why Basic tunes of English & their functions

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Bibliography

Cruttenden, (ed.), (2001), Gimson’s Pronunciation of English, 6th edition, Arnold, London.

Marks, J., (1999), « Is stress-timing real? », ELT Journal, 53, 3, pp 191-99.

Roach, (1991), English Phonetics & Phonology, Cambridge University Press.

Rogerson & Gilbert, (1990), Speaking Clearly, Cambridge University Press.

Setter, J. and J. Jenkins, (2005), « State of the art review article: Pronunciation », Language Teaching Journal, N° 38, pp1-17.

« Summer Course in English Phonetics », University College London, Summer 2004.

Wells, J.C., (2004), « Where does the nucles go? », UCL.

Université de Savoie UFR-LLSH LCE1 UE 103 Lecture: Phonetics & Phonology

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