Week 6.3 Flashcards
(39 cards)
Why can spelling not be trusted?
Whenever phonologists look at language, they do not consider the spelling, but rather the speech sounds as produced by adult L1 speakers of a particular variety of a language.
Different ways to spell one speech sound (vowel /i:/)
She, see, sea, thief.
Different letters or letter combinations to represent one speech sound (consonant /ʃ/)
She, station, vicious, session.
One letter different speech sounds
Sea, rose, sure, fusion.
(/s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/)
Why do words like batted, legging, bottom, thinner, coffee, tipping have doubled consonants?
Because of the spelling rule: double the consonant after a stressed short (lax) vowel. BUT some 1000 words contradict this spelling rule.
- Galaxy, palace, lemon have no double consonant.
- Alleviate, oppose, apply, annoy have doubling after unstressed vowel.
What supports the claim that English spelling is difficult?
- Most Italian children can spell accurately after just two years of school.
- Barely half of all English speakers become confident spellers after 11 years of school.
- At least 3500 common words in English do not follow basic English spelling patterns. In other languages this number is way lower (German: 800, Spanish: 600, Italian: 400).
- Whenever phonologists look at language, they do not consider the spelling, but rather the speech sounds as produced by adult L1 speakers of a particular variety of a language.
Which five long vowels may end a monosyllabic lexical word?
Sea /iː/ FLEECE vowel
Sue /uː/ GOOSE vowel
Sir /ɜː/ NURSE vowel
Saw /ɔː/ THOUGHT vowel
Far /ɑː/ PALM vowel
These five vowels may occupy the nucleus position in stressed syllables without a following consonant (and may be followed by one consonant in R).
They occupy two positions in the nucleus of a syllable.
Which six short vowels need a following consonant in monosyllabic lexical words?
High short vowels ɪ/ /ʊ/
Mid lax vowels /ɛ/ /ə/
Low lax vowels /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɒ/
Short vowel corresponds to…
Short, checked, lax
Long vowel corresponds to…
Tense, free, long
Checked vowels
Vowels that in earlier stages of English only occurred in closed syllables.
Late OE /bit/ -> Modern English /bɪt/ SHORT (1 position in N).
Free vowels
Vowels that in earlier stages of English occurred in open syllables (open syllable lengthening).
Late OE /bi:.tə/ -> Modern English /baɪt/ LONG (2 positions in N).
For studying older varieties of a language, we cannot consult speakers. What do we rely on?
- Spelling
- Clues (rhyme words)
Middle English vowels
ME had 7 long vowels, which were distinguished in the spelling.
/i:/
/e:/
/ɛ:/
/a:/
/ɔ:/
/o:/
/u:/
ME long vowels in stressed open syllables underwent…
GVS
bite /bi:.te/ > /baɪt/
name /na:.me/ > /neɪm/
ME short vowels in stressed closed syllables became…
They became lax/short.
bit /bit/ > /bɪt/
bad /bad/ > /bæd/
What is the only systematic difference between RP and GA monothongs?
They are all the same, but where RP has /ɒ/ GA has /ɑ/.
What are similarities between RP and GA diphthongs?
/eɪ/
/aɪ/
/ɔɪ/
/aʊ/
Old to Middle English (and example)
West Saxon (900 AD) to Middle English (1380)
heofonum > heuenes
Intervocalic voicing of fricatives (allophonic rule: 11.3).
What is the ME new phoneme?
Language change led to the creation of a new phoneme (/v/) in Middle English, turning what was once just a pronunciation variation into a distinct sound with meaning (a phonemic split).
In OE, [f] and [v] were allophones (the second appearing in between vowels). They didn’t change the meaning of words.
Then, English borrowed many words from Norman French that had [v] in all kinds of positions (intervocalic and initial: govern, virgin.
Now English had pairs of words like:
fine vs vine
ferry vs very
That means [f] and [v] could now change the meaning of a word: they became distinct phonemes.
Yod-Coalescence
“Yod” is the linguistic term for the /j/ sound, like the “y” in yes.
Coalescence means that two sounds blend into one. This blending happens especially when:
- an alveolar consonant (like /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/) is followed by /j/
- the result is a palato-alveolar affricate or fricative (like /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/)
Yod-Coalescence examples
1. /t/ + /j/ → /tʃ/
Before After Example
/tjuːn/ /tʃuːn/ tune
2. /d/ + /j/ → /dʒ/
Before After Example
/djuːk/ /dʒuːk/ duke
/ˈædjʌŋkt/ /ˈædʒʌŋkt/ adjunct
3. /s/ + /j/ → /ʃ/
Before After Example
/ˈlʌksjuːri/ /ˈlʌkʃəri/ luxury
/ˈmɪsjən/ /ˈmɪʃən/ mission
4. /z/ + /j/ → /ʒ/
Before After Example
/lʌɡˈzjʊəriəs/ /lʌɡˈʒʊəriəs/ luxurious
Which phoneme has limited distribution?
Initial: heal
Intervocalic: alcohol
Final: -
When does yod-coalescence appear often? (And examples)
It’s a form of assimilation where a (coronal) sound moves towards the palatal region.
It happens in fast, casual speech in General American English (GA), showing how certain consonant + /j/ sounds combine into single affricates for smoother pronunciation.
<bet> /bɛt ju/ > /ˈbɛtʃu/ <did> /dɪd ju/ > /ˈdɪdʒu/ <should> /ʃʊd ju/ >
/ˈʃʊdʒu/
</should></did></bet>
