/Broad/ VS. [Narrow] transcription I

Question 1

What are diacritics?

Answer 1

Diacritics are added detail, but it changes the intention of the transcription from /broad/ to [narrow]. It is no longer the general idea of the sounds in the utterance, but a true representation of the speech sounds

Question 2

What are diacritics for?

Answer 2

Diacritics are used to add detail about the production of a phoneme

-airflow variations
-sound duration
-articulatory variations
-voicing variation
 -vocal quality 
-dimension (raised, lowered, fronted, backed, centralised)
-nasality

Question 3

When should we use diacritics?

Answer 3

Use them only when you hear that detail, or if you want to draw attention to an interesting feature.
You don’t have to mark /w/ as “rounded” – it already is round!
You don’t have to mark /p/ as “devoiced” – it already is voiceless!

Question 4

What are the 3 “Distribution” Types of Phonemes?

Answer 4

Contrastive Distribution
Free Variation
Complimentary Distribution

Think of “distribution” as how a sound is used.

Question 5

What are contrastive distributions? (3)

Answer 5

This is when a language considers two sounds to be different, like when two phonemes occur in a minimal pair, so every time the phoneme changes, the word meaning changes.

Phonemes are distributed contrastively (to contrast meaning)

Minimal pairs establish phonemes in a language
If the change in the sound triggers a change in meaning in a word, it is in contrastive distribution.

Question 6

What are free variations? (2)

Answer 6

Sounds that can be produced in different ways in the same context without changing the meaning of the word

Free variation allophones can appear in any context
- Allophone doesn’t change the word meaning
- Natural speaker variations produce allophones

Question 7

What are complimentary distributions?

Answer 7

When allophones that occur in one specific context
E.g.,
In a certain position in a word
In a consonant cluster vs. as a singleton
before, after, or between vowels

Question 8

What is Coarticulation?

Answer 8

The modification of sound based on its environment – the neighbouring sounds. This is where we start to discuss how phonemes are really strings of sounds and not individual, discrete sounds.

Question 9

What are two types of coarticulations?

Answer 9

Anticipatory: sound affected by sound coming after it

Perseverative: sound affected by sound that was before it

Question 10

What is Anticipatory Coarticulation?

Answer 10

Question 11

What is perseverative coarticulation?

Answer 11

Question 12

What is Homorganic phoneme?

Answer 12

A way to describe sounds that are made in the same place.

E.g., /t/ and /n/ are homorganic because they’re both alveolar. /ŋ/ and /k/ are homorganic because they’re velar.

Homorganic sounds often influence each other to create allophones or dictate the need for diacritics.

Question 13

What are syllabic consonants?

Answer 13

This is the exception to the rule that all syllables have one vowel sounds as a nucleus.

There are 3 common syllabic consonants in NA English: /l, m, n/

Use the diacritic [ ̩ ], a straight, short, vertical line under the phoneme.

Question 14

When do syllabic consonants occur? (2)

Answer 14

1) in unstressed syllables (therefore, multisyllabic words)
2) usually in word final positions

Question 15

What are the 5 most common allophones of /t/?

Answer 15

1) The Aspirated Release
2) The Held Release
3) The Tap
4) Free Variation: Glottal Stop or Nasal Release
5) The Mystery of the Disappearing /t/

Question 16

What is aspiration?

Answer 16

To review how we make a stop consonant, there are two gestures –
a) stopping the air and then
b) releasing it

The release of air is called aspiration.

The diacritic to mark aspiration is [ ʰ], and it’s a feature of English voiceless stops: [pʰ tʰ kʰ]

Question 17

What is Held release?

Answer 17

Here, the second gesture of a /t/ is not executed. The air is not released.

Question 18

Held /t/ typically happens in one environment: (3)

Answer 18

1) Word final (optional, but a very GAE marker*) “great” “packet” or
2) Word final when next word starts with consonant “might do” or
3) When in coda with consonant in onset of next σ “utmost”

Question 19

What is the Tap [ɾ] or Flap?

Answer 19

PMV: voiced alveolar tap

Tap is a new manner for us! A tap is a hyper-quick stop where very little intraoral pressure is built up – like one cycle of a trill.

Because this is not phonemic, it’s not often on English phoneme charts. Compare: Spanish ->

Question 20

What are Tap examples?

Answer 20

Question 21

What can tap do between words in transcriptions?

Answer 21

A tap can bridge word barriers:

“I have to get up”
[aɪ ˈhav̥tʰə gɛˈɾʌp ̚]

Question 22

What are Free variations?

Answer 22

Another common allophone for /t/ in North American English
The Glottal Stop [ʔ] or Nasal Release [ⁿ]

Question 23

When does the glottal stop occur?

Answer 23

It’s usually introduced as the sound between “uh-oh!” and is non-phonemic in English.

It is phonemic in a lot of languages, and often transliterated as an apostrophe in English orthography
Hawai’i a’a

Question 24

When do nasal release [tⁿ] occur?

Answer 24

The air is fully obstructed in the mouth, intraoral pressure is built up, and the air bursts out of the mouth.

For a nasal release, the air does not burst out of the mouth, but is re-routed out of the nose.

Question 25

What is the great disappearing /t/ ?

Answer 25

In informal speech, the /t/ sound can disappear when it appears after a /n/ sound. This is optional, and not disordered at all.

Atlantic [ət ̚ˈlænɪk]
internet [ˈɪnɚnɛt]
interview [ˈɪnɚvju]
centre [ˈsɛnɚ]
advantage [ədˈvænɪdʒ]

Question 26

What are the 3 scenarios to transcribe past tense morphemes?

Answer 26

Question 27

Past tense morpheme transcription:
dance
wash
paint
guzzle
sew
gallop
snooze
match

Question 28

What are 3 scenarios for plural morpheme transcription?

Answer 28

Question 29

Plural morpheme transcription:
splash
craft
piano
colour
fox
bug
witch
cow

Question 30

What are function words?

Answer 30

Function words include articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions.

They are important because they show relationships between content words i.e., the verbs, nouns, adjectives.

Question 31

Why can’t function words be reduced?

Answer 31

Although they are important and can’t be removed, are often reduced (shortened/weakened) in conversational speech and more energy is put into content words. It’s not wrong, but it is informal.

Let’s go to the park. Get her in the car.
He bought a new chair. Because I wanted to go.

Question 32

Answer 32

Question 33

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 33

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 34

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 34

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 34

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 34

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 35

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 35

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 36

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 36

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 37

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 37

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 38

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 38

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 39

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 39

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”

Question 40

Can prepositions be reduced in conversational speech?

Answer 40

Yes,

Reducing prepositions in conversational speech is natural.

There are dozens of prepositions, but these two are often very reduced, losing phonemes.

of -> [ə] “a bottle of pop” “piece of cake”
and -> [ən] or [n̩] “fish and chips” “rock and roll”