English Variety + Allophony September 16, 2015

For Friday Please take a stab at the following exercises from Chapter 2 of A Course in Phonetics before Friday: A 1-10 B D (American speaker) (phonemic transcriptions) Here’s the online link: This will be a practice transcription exercise that we will go over together in class.

Helpful Hints You can use Praat to help you listen to the sound files for the transcription exercise. Let’s walk through the basics together… Another thing: I post all of the lecture notes (in Powerpoint) for a reason. It can help to listen to the example sounds at home!

A Word of Caution The vowel system of English can vary greatly from one dialect to another. Ex: the vowels of Canadian English have shifted away from their American counterparts… (for some, but not all, speakers) Shift #1:  Shift #2:  Unshifted: There are also new shifts underway! Shift #3:  “head” Shift #4:  “hid” Shift #5:  “hood”

/u/-fronting The final element of the shift involves the “fronting” of the vowel /u/. Compare: Los Angeles Saskatoon Note that not every Canadian does this. Calgary Also note that North American vowel systems are diverging: Chicago Saskatoon New York City Source:

What’s Going On? Vowel articulations can be characterized along four dimensions: 1.Height (of tongue body) high, mid, low 2.Front-back (of tongue body) front, central, back 3.Roundedness (of lips) rounded vs. unrounded 4.“Tenseness” tense/lax

Corner Vowels

X-Ray Videos

The (American) Vowel Space

Further Observations In the Canadian vowel shift: However, this rule only applies to native. For borrowed words,  [a] or [æ] For example: pasta Mazda gracias garage Also note: William Shatner.

Moral of the Story #2 Phonology is important. Sounds exhibit patterns in a language. Remember: Specific allophones of a phoneme often emerge in specific phonetic contexts. Ex: the flap in English. appears when /t/ or /d/ precede an unstressed syllable metalmetallic The production of specific allophones is often specified by phonological rule.

Patterns There is an interesting rule regarding the production of in some English dialects. Compare Canadian English with English English CE EE “care” “park” “read” “other” “ride” “carrot” “cart” Do you see any patterns?

The Rules In English English: surfaces as when it precedes vowels Examples: read, carrot surfaces as when it appears at the end of a syllable or word Examples: care, other makes a preceding vowel long when it appears before a consonant in the same syllable Examples: park, cart

Rhotic vs. Non-Rhotic Note: English is divided up between “rhotic” dialects and “non-rhotic” dialects rhotic: appears everywhere non-rhotic: disappears, sometimes Rhotic dialects: Canadian English, General American, Irish English, Scots English… Non-Rhotic dialects: English English, Australian English, some areas of the American East Coast…

Overheard in New York Old lady with heavy accent, pointing to a closed store: What’s that? Young lady: I’m not sure. Old lady: Is that a pahwn shop? Young lady (startled): No, that looks like a pawn shop… Old lady: That’s what I said--a pahwn shop. Young lady (relieved): Ohhh, I thought you said ‘porn shop’! Old lady: No, I said, ‘pahwn’, not ‘pahwn.’ Young lady: Oh, you say them exactly the same! Source:

Overheard in New York Old lady: I do? Young lady: Yeah! Saw ‘aw.’ Old lady: Ahw. Young lady: Now say ‘or.’ Old lady: Ahw. Young lady: No, it’s orrr. With an R. Old lady: That’s what I said -- ‘ahw’. Source: