Introduction to English pronunciation and phonetics Lecture 5

More on word stress Words with Romance suffixes normally stressed on the last syllable. Examples: referee trainee chimpanzee shampoo taboo kitchenette

Words ending in –ry and –ny are normally stressed on fourth syllable from the end. Examples: February temporary category testimony ceremony

Stress shift in related words Note! 'origin o'riginal origin'ality 'physics physi'ology physio'logical 'industry in'dustrial industriali'sation 'grammar gram'matical grammaticali'sation

Sentence stress one or several words in a sentence pronounced with more emphasis than the other words General rule of thumb: lexical words are stressed function words are unstressed (=weak form) new information is stressed

Sentence stress Compare stress and interpretation Did Erik say that?

Which words are stressed? When a lexical word doesn’t add new information, it is often unstressed Example: French is a difficult language. French verbs are particularly difficult.

Which words are stressed? function words can be stressed if adding new info, e.g. for emphasis or contrast. He bought a car and a house. NB! Common Swedish emphasis mistake: *My English is quite good, and I do use it everyday.

Sentence stress vs. strong and weak forms most function words have strong and weak forms when the word is unstressed, the weak form is used Examples: We can meet at ten. /kn/ I can do it but I won’t. /kæn/

American English has its roots in English as it was spoken in Britain, Scotland and Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries changes in North America as well as in the British Isles have resulted in today’s American English relatively few regional dialects

Br and Am English- two dialects Vocabulary (e.g. pavement - sidewalk) Grammar (e.g. Have you eaten already? – Did you eat already?) Semantics (e.g. first floor, public school) Spelling (e.g. colour - color) Pronunciation

General American an umbrella term used for neutral and commonly used US English spoken by a majority of Americans in the Western and Middle states comparatively few regional accents in US English Canadian English have many phonological similarities with GA, but is considered a separate variety

Different vowel sounds RP /ʌ/ — GA /ɜ/ ‘worry, courage, hurry’ RP /ɒ/ — GA /ɑ:/ ; /ɔ:/ ‘holiday, want, bomb ; gone, coffee’ RP /ɑ:/ — GA /æ/ ‘dance, laugh, bath, answer’ Weak/lacking diphthongs in GA ‘hair, here, my’

Different consonant sounds In GA, but not in RP • /r/ is pronounced in all positions • /l/ is more or less dark in all positions • /t/ is a voiced flap /D/ before unstressed syllable E.g. ‘better, writer, metal’ (but not ‘contain’) • ‘wh’ is often pronounced /hw/

Different pronunciations many individual pronunciation differences RP GA ate /et || eıt / /eıt/ pasta /'pæstə/ /'pɑ:stə/ vitamin /'vıtəmın/ /'vaıtəmın/ tomato /tə'mɑ:təʊ/ /tə'meıtoʊ/ progress /'prəʊgres/ /'prɑ:grəs/ either/neither /'aıðə/ /'i:ðər/

Different word stress primary stress earlier in GA than in RP in some words RP GA address address donate donate research research

Different word stress primary stress later in GA than in RP in some French loanwords RP GA garage garage café café ballet ballet brochure brochure

Vowel reduction differences in some words with suffixes, the vowel in the suffix is less reduced in GA than in RP Examples: cemetery category ceremony dictionary

Recap of lectures RP and GA Monophthongs (front-back; open-close) Diphthongs (closing-centring) Consonants (voiced-voiceless) Plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals Focus on sounds not existing in Swedish

Recap of lectures Sounds in context Assimilation and elision Reduced unstressed syllables Strong and weak forms Word and sentence stress GA and RP – major differences

Written exam: A1, HS1/T1 • part of the A1/HS1/T1 language structure exam • 20 multiple choice questions • roughly proportioned according to the time given to the subject areas in the lectures • example exam in the language structure compendium

Written exam Lectures and PowerPoint slides Language structure compendium Study questions in Rönnerdal and Johansson (pp. 129-134)