01.

Major Consonantal processes in RP and GA

1. R-dropping - rhotic/non-rhotic accents 2. Linking-R 3. Intrusive-R 4. L-darkening 5. Aspiration 6. The pronunciation of -s and -ed 1. R-DROPPING rhotic accents: GA, Scottish. Pronounce /r/ in all positions. non-rhotic accents: RP, AustE. Drop the /r/ in certain positions. no /r/: before a consonant (York, party, bird; aren't, feared, retirement) before a pause (your, car, teacher; care, tire, bore) pronounced /r/: before a vowel (ring, refer; Africa, arrive; tiring, boring, referee) New homophones: sore-saw, source-sauce, career-Korea, ... 2. Linking-R: word-final /r/ is realised when it is followed by vowel. more exciting, your eyes, care about btw 2 sentences: There's a spider. I'm afraid. 3. Intrusive-R: Words ending in // /a:/ and / : / may get a linking /r/ when followed by a vowel even if there is none in the spelling.It is optional. the idea is; law and order; Gloria Estefan Further homophones: vanilla ice - vanilla rice; put the tuna in the box - put the tuner in the box Summary: Both Linking and Intrusive-R characterize non-rhotic accents. They go hand in hand with R-dropping. Linking-R always follows a non-high vowel (a:, 3:, , and :) because of /r/-influence. Intrusive-r also always follows non-high vowels. They always appear btw 2 vowels. They are preceeded by a non-high vowel and followed by another vowel. They break the hiatus btw the vowels! 4. CLEAR AND DARK L In RP, the underlying segment (=phoneme) /l/ has 2 surface realisations (=allophones), called clear and dark L. Typical environments: clear L: 1) life, long, legal --> at the beginning of a word 2) black, ugly, apply --> before a vowel 3) salad, fellow, alone --> before two vowels 4) tell us, a mile away, feel at home --> at a word boundary, before two vowels +1) value, million, will you --> before a Yod, the l is clear dark L: 1) milk, golf, field --> before a word-final consonant 2) culture, salvation, penalty --> before a consonant 3) wales, miles, filled --> similar to group 1), no matter what spelling indicates 4) a mile back, I can't tell, cool breeze --> at a word boundary, before a consonant Summary: Dark-L: before a consonant and a pause Clear-L: before a vowel and Yod Syllabic position: initial: clear; ambisyllabic: clear; final: dark!

Cross-word ambisyllabicity: feel (dark -L), vs. feel at home (clear-L) spell (dark-L), vs. spell it (clear-L) --> the pronunciation of word-final /l/ is determined by the following segment. 5. ASPIRATION Only the phonemes /p t k/ can be aspirated! Def.: The spreading of voicelessness of /p t k/ (plosives) onto the following segment (=vowel) Strong aspiration: word-beginner syllabic position (poker, time, kill, tiger, cut) -NO alternative allophone Weak aspiration -TWO alternative allophones: tapped/flapped: ambisyllabic position (clipper, tomato "d", vanity "d" ) Glottalized: word-final position (cut, support, poke, lack) Unaspirated: no aspiration: speak, stand, whisky, stop, skin The pronunciation of the consonant is determined by its position in the syllable. (tap/flap: the replacement of /t/ or /d/ by the alveolar tap/flap in GA) (glottalization: the closure of the glottis, we make a glottal stop, eg. in "button") 6. The pronunciation of -s and -ed

Voice assimilation and its absence

English differs significantly from Hungarian in its treatment of voice. Hungarian: has strict voice-assimilation rules (fogtl -/kt/; vasgoly -/zsg/) English: less frequent, in some cases, forbidden. 1. No regressive voicing Regressive assimilation isn't permitted when it would produce a voiced obstruent. eg. matchbox; upgrade; gas bill; iceberg; fresh bread; this joke; pop group; that guy (Hungarians typically mispronounced them with assimilation) 2. Possible regressive de-voicing Regressive assimilation in the form of de-voicing is permitted, but it's not obligatory. De-voicing in English never leads to neutralisation, as it does in Hungarian, when fogtl=foktl; mzknt=mszknt. Voiced fricatives get most easily devoiced (eg. have to =hef to) English optional voice ass. partial or complete voicing process always devoicing its result regressive or progressive (left-to-right) initial or final devoicing may apply second consonant assimilates Hungarian obligatory complete may be devoicing/voicing always regressive (right-to-left) no initial or final devoicing applies first consonant assimilates (rabtl-raptl)

3. Progressive voice-assimilation in -s and -ed The only voice-assimilation which produces real neutralization, that is one phoneme changing into another, is found in the suffixes -s and -ed. Especially when: -ed is pronounced /-t/ and -s is /-z/. -s: regular [Pl] of nouns; S/3; possessive; his/is ('s) -ed: regular past tense marker; past participle marker; adjective-former from nouns /-z/: legs, heads, girls, ways, shows /-s/: kicks, hats, laughs, baths /-iz/: churches, judges, bushes, garages, kisses (linking vowel -e)

Homophones: past - passed; mist - missed Rhymes: Christ - sacrificed; gift - sniffed VOICELESS AND VOICED CONSONANTS voiceless = stable = "strong" = fortis voiced = unstable = "weak" = lenis Sound contrasts (Minimal pairs) 1. final /s/ and /z/ (as part of stem) /s/ rice, face, course, advice, cease, the house is /z/ rise, phase, cause, advise, seize, the houses 2. final /s/ (as part of stem) and /z/ (as suffix) /s/ place, fierce, peace, teach us /z/ plays, fears, peas, teachers 3. other final voiceless and voiced oppositions voiceless cap, set, pick, leak voiced cab, said, pig, league 4. final clusters: voiceless and voiced voiceless docks, bets, tents, wax voiced dogs, beds, tends, wags