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<strong>LG204</strong>-5-FY ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Background Stops which precede other consonants or those which occur pre-pausally are not released. This is because the articulators are already anticipating the following sound and are forming into that sound. Release, if we can describe it as such, therefore, merely spills into the following sound. Examples of words where there are two adjacent stops include apt fact etc. The diacritic that denotes no release is hence nap [np]. Lack of release can apply to stops in any dialect of English, however, for many of us there is a further variant on the final /t/ in particular (sometimes also on /p/ and /k/). This the glottal stop []. In non-prevocalic position, these stops may either be preglottalised – that is to say that a glottal stop precedes or accompanies the stop articulation, as in cap [k p]. Pre-glottalisation may also occur with /t/ but here it is more likely that the alveolar contact will be totally lost here, leaving the glottal stop as a substitute, as in cat [k]. The extent to which /t/ is replaced by a glottal stop and in what position in the word, will vary from speaker to speaker and from dialect to dialect. Ladefoged, who is primarily writing about American English, says that it’s very likely to happen before a syllabic nasal in a word like button [bIt is also very common syllable finally in words such as Scotland [sklnd], Watford [wfd] and Gatwick [gwk]. Alveolar stops may also be released into a following nasal or lateral consonant. That is to say that in words like sudden instead of releasing the contact for the [d] it remains in its position and air is channelled through the nose. Likewise, in a word such as muddle the sides of the tongue will be lowered whilst the alveolar contact remains in place. I have discussed these phenomena with regard to voiced [d], but, of 10
<strong>LG204</strong>-5-FY ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY Background course, this can also occur with voiceless [t], where it isn’t glottalised. There are many speakers who would pronounce button as [btn] and bottle as [btl]. Fricatives There is somewhat less variation in the positional behaviour of fricatives than there is of stops. The vowel length difference between pre-voiceless and pre-voiced fricatives is the same as that for stops. Voiced fricatives are prone to devoicing word finally as well as preceding another consonant particularly if that consonant is voiceless. In phrases such as five to five the [v] will be voiceless. In try to improve the [v] will not be fully voiced but in prove it the vocal folds continue to vibrate throughout. Some fricatives involve additional lip action. Try the words fin, thin, sin, shin [fn] [n] [sn] [n] and consider the part played by the lips. Clearly, the labiodental [f]/[v] involve the lips as the primary articulation. Dental []/[] do not involve the lips at all, but the alveolar [s]/[z] are accompanied by very slight rounding. Palatoalveolar []/[] involve a considerable amount of rounding. The term used for this lip rounding is ‘labialisation’. Affricates Because affricates are combinations of stops and fricatives, they share attributes with both of these. Like voiceless stops, the voiceless affricate [] is aspirated wordinitially. It may also undergo pre-glottalisation – try a word such as Richard. This may be pronounced as [rd] or as [r d]. Like voiced fricatives, the voiced affricate [] will be devoiced in a phrase such edge trimmer. These affricates also behave like sibilant fricatives in the form of plural marker that attaches to them. As you will remember from last year, [s, z, , , , ] all have plurals with epenthetic []. Nasals Nasals may be either plain consonants or may become more vowel-like in that they can form syllable nuclei in words such as button, prism etc. Nasals can also replace words such as and in phrases such as Jack and Kate [kket] you and me [jummi]. Nasals will tend to assume the place of articulation of the following consonant, word internally and across word boundaries. /m/ [m] or [] before a labiodental /f v/ some food, some videos /n/ [m] before labial ten pens etc [ before labiodental ten feet, ten videos [n] before dental tenth [n] before alveolar ten times [n] before palatoalveolar ten sheep [] before retroflex ten rules [] before palatal ten years [] before velar ten cars They will also tend to be devoiced when preceded by /s/ in words like snow, smell. 11
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