This document provides an overview of English consonants for Swedish learners. It discusses the major phonemic difficulties for Swedish learners, including new consonants in English like /Ʒ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /w/ as well as variations of existing Swedish consonants. It covers the parameters of manner, place and energy that determine consonants, and provides examples of consonant categories. The document also discusses non-phonemic contrasts involving the realization of consonants, including /l/, /t/, assimilation, elision and linking sounds.
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Morning Tree 6077
By CatDancing
CC BY-NC-ND
L6EN10
Phonetics 2: Consonants
2. To have read for today
• Chapter 3: The major phonemic difficulties for Swedish learners
of English (consonants)
• Chapter 8: RP & GA (consonants)
• Chapter 4: A couple of non-phonemic sound problems for
learners of English
In Basic English Phonetics
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3. Phonemes and allophones
• A phoneme is an abstraction of a sound unit. If two different sounds do not
change word meaning in a minimal pair, they are not distinct phonemes in that
language:
Minimal pairs
sick – pick /sɪk/, /pɪk/
sick – sip /sɪk/, /sɪp/
• An allophone is the actual articulation of a phoneme
• In other words: while a phoneme is a stable abstract unit, the allophones of a
phoneme may vary substantially depending on accent and phonetic environment
4. Vowels versus consonants?
• Consonant
A voiced/voiceless sound produced by a constriction or closure of the
passage of air through the upper speech organs
• Vowel
A voiced sound produced with a free passage of air through the upper
speech organs
7. The consonant system: manner, place & energ The consonant system: manner,
place & energy
8. Energy: Differences between lenis and fortis
Fortis Lenis
Articulation is stronger Articulation is weaker
Articulation is voiceless Articulation may have voice
Initial plosives are aspirated Unaspirated
Preceding vowels are shortened Preceding vowels have full length
Final stops often glottal stop Final stops never glottal stop
9. Important differences between English
and Swedish
New consonants for speakers witl L1:
/Ʒ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /w/
Variations of existing Swedish consonants:
/ʃ/, /r/, /j/, /k/, /g/, /l/, /t/, /d/
•Come up with examples of typical Swedish pronunciation
•Analyze and describe the differences
10. Non-phonemic contrast
Realization of the phoneme /l/
• /l/ is a phoneme. It distinguishes meanings, i.e. if it is replaced by another phoneme, the
meaning of the word changes:
• The phoneme /l/ can be realized by various allophones, primarily two:
•Clear [l]: before vowels:
– look [lʊk]
•Dark [ɫ]: before a consonant or a pause
– hold [həʊɫd], kill [kɪɫ]
• Compare the allophones of /l/ in:
feel – feeling kill – kill you
11. Non-phonemic contrast
Realization of /t/
• The phoneme /t/ can be realized as
• [t] alveolar
• [D] [
• [ʔ] glottal stop
• Britain
– [brɪtn]
– [brɪʔn]
– Free variation
12. Non-phonemic contrast
Rhotic or non-rhotic
Realized only “when immediately followed by a vowel sound” =
non-rhotic e.g. RP
Which letter r will be pronounced in RP?
• Right
• Very
• Far away
• Beer
• Bird
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13. More special cases
• Phoneme neutralization
• Assimilation
• Elision
• Linking consonants
14. Phoneme neutralization
• /m/ and /n/ before /f/ or /v/ become neutralized
• emphasis [’eɱfəsɪs]
• influence [’ɪɱflʊəns]
• invigorate [ɪɱ’vɪgəreɪt]
• There is no longer an opposition between /m/ and /n/ - it
has been neutralized
15. Assimilation
• One sound is replaced by a second under the influence of
a third
handbag:
– slow speech /’hændbæg/
– connected speech /’hæmbæg/
Don’t be silly:
– /dəʊnt bi: sɪlɪ/ → / dəʊmbɪ sɪlɪ/
16. Three different types of assimilation
• Regressive assimilation
• A phoneme is influenced by a following segment
– Ten beds - /n/ → /m/ before /p, b, m/
• Progressive assimilation
• A phoneme is influenced by a preceding segment
– On the house - /’ɒn nə ’haʊs/
• Reciprocal assimilation
• A two-way exchange between phonemes
– Don’t miss your train! - /’mɪʃə/
fortis/alveolar/fricative /s/ +
lenis/palatal/approximant /j/
= fortis/palatoalveolar/fricative /ʃ/
17. Elision
• Deletion of a phoneme
• Tasteless
– Slow speech /’teɪstləs/
– Connected speech /’teɪsləs/
• In many cases, elision processes have led to permanent
elision, so-called historical elision.
• cupboard versus sandtower
• handkerchief versus handtowel
18. Linking sounds
• Insertion of an extra sound to facilitate articulation
• In non-rhotic accents, the linking /r/ is used
– Sooner /’su:nə/
– Sooner or later /’su:nər ɔ: ’leɪtə/
• Sometimes a ’non-existent’ /r/ is heard between vowel-
sounds – the so-called intrusive /r/
– My idea of a good night
/maɪ aɪ’dɪə r əv ə gʊd naɪt/
– I saw a friend /’aɪ sɔ:r ə frend/
19. When do assimilation and elision typically occur?
• In compound words or connected speech
• In unstressed rather than stressed syllables
• In rapid rather than slow tempo
• In informal rather than formal registers
Processes of assimilation are natural linguistic processes –
mainly important in order to understand rapid speech and in order to
sound less foreign!
