Connected speech processes (lecture 8)

Question 1

What are connected speech processes?

Answer 1

Changes in sounds due to the overlap of articulations or timings of gestures due to the dynamic nature of speech.
These are changes to speech sounds; they occur both within but also across word boundaries e.g Did you eat yet - dʒitʃɛt

Question 2

Why do connected speech processes occur?

Answer 2

Position of an articulator for a given sound influenced by neighbouring sounds

Timing: switching voicing on/off, movement of articulators (e.g, tongue, velum) -> possible overlap.

Question 3

What are the types of connected speech process?

Answer 3

1. Coarticulation/Assimilation
2. Reduction
3. Elision
4. Epenthesis
5. Lenition

Question 4

Difference between coarticulation and assimilation

Answer 4

Coarticulation emphasises on the phonetic process where one sounds becomes more similar to another
Assimilation refers to the phonological process of what rules a sound goes through to become another one

Question 5

What are the directions of coarticulation and assimilation?

Answer 5

A>B changes (where the preceding sound affects the following sound) = perserverative coarticulation and progressive assimilation

A<B changes (where the following sound affects the preceding sound)= anticipatory coarticulation and regressive assimilation

Question 6

What are the 3 types of coarticulation/ assimilation?

Answer 6

1. Place of articulation (most common)
   e.g. ten pin bowling [tɛm pɪm bɔʊlɪŋ] /n/ →[m]
   ten things [tɛn̪ θɪŋz] /n/ → [n̪]
   ten kings [tɛŋ kɪŋz] /n/ → [ŋ]
2. Manner of articulation (most likely in very fast speech)
   e.g good night /gʊd naɪt/ → [gʊn naɪt]
3. Voicing: fairly common, voiced sounds get devoiced and vice versa
   tramp [tɹ̥æmp]
   quite [kw̥aɪt]

Question 7

Reduction

Answer 7

In certain contexts vowels get reduced, i.e. they become shorter and their quality becomes more central.
vowels → schwa in English
e.g. ‘to’ in connected speech /u/ → [ə]

Question 8

Elision

Answer 8

Reduction at a more extreme level: apparent disappearance (elision) of a whole segment
Vowel may be articulated, but
- It’s so short its not heard
- Its wholly overlapped by neighbouring articulations
-Its probably voiceless too
e.g. suppose goes from [səpəʊz] to [spəʊz]

Consonants often get elided in clusters
➢ In English the first stop in a stop-stop cluster tends to be unreleased
(i.e. its release is masked by the hold phase of the second stop)
act [ak̚t]

Question 9

Epenthesis

Answer 9

Insertion of an ‘additional’ sound, as features of one sound overlap those of another

In English, it happens in nasal-voiceless fricative clusters; a stop with the same place of articulation with the nasal is inserted
[hampstə] hamster
[mɪnts] mince

Question 10

/r/ - epenthesis (intrusive r)

Answer 10

[ɹ] is sometimes inserted between a non-high vowel and another vowel in many varieties of English.

‘law and’ - from /lɑ ænd/ to [lɑɹ ænd]
‘idea is’ - from /ʌɪˈdɪə iz/ to [ʌɪˈdɪəɹ iz]

Question 11

Lenition

Answer 11

A weakening process
Different types:
“spirantization” (a segment becoming a
fricative, e.g., t becoming ð)

“debuccalization” (losing oral articulation to
become a glottal, e.g., t becoming ʔ