English Phonetics and Phonology 1. Voiced and voiceless plosives Lecture 6: English consonants in detail KAMIYAMA, Takeki takeki.kamiyama@univ-paris8.fr Word-initial position Observe the consonant at the beginning of the /pæk/ /bæk/ Then compare them with the consonant at the beginning of the following words in French: /pak/ («Pâque») /bak/ («bac») /pæk/ /bæk/ 3 aspiration 4
/pæk/ /bæk/ Word-initial position aspiration upper lip lower lip vocal fold vibration initiation (airstream) upper lip lower lip vocal fold vibration initiation (airstream) 5 Aspiration /pæk/ : phonemic transcription [pʰæk] : narrow (detailed) transcription Devoicing: (partial) absence of voicing /bæk/ [b æk] 6 Word-initial position (unstressed syllable) Observe the consonant at the beginning of the /pəˈræmɪtə/ /bɪˈliːf/ Word-medial position Observe the voiced bilabial plosive /p/ in the /ˈpʌblɪk/ /rɪˈpʌblɪk/ /ˈpeɪpə/ 7 8
Word-medial position Observe the voiced bilabial plosive /p/ in the /peɪs/ /speɪs/ /peɪs/ /speɪs/ 9 aspiration no aspiration 10 after /s/ Word-medial position Aspiration /peɪs/ [pʰeɪs] No aspiration after /s/ /speɪs/ [speɪs] Observe the voiced bilabial plosive /b/ in the /beɪt/ /dɪˈbeɪt/ /biː/ /ˈæbi/ 11 12
Word-initial/medial position Word-initial/medial position In English, voiceless plosives /p t k/ are aspirated [pʰ tʰ kʰ], especially in word-initial position before a stressed vowel (/pæk/ [pʰæk]). But it is not the case before or after /s/ (/speɪs/ [speɪs], /fɪks/ [fɪks]), or immediately after another plosive (/ˈæktə/ [ˈæktə]). In English, voiced plosives /b d g/ are totally or partially devoiced [b d g g ] in wordinitial position. Word-medially they can be partially devoiced. In any case, they are not aspirated. 13 14 Observe the consonant at the end of the /bæk/ /bæg/ Then compare them with the consonant at the beginning of the following words in French: /bak/ («bac») /bag/ («bague») /bæk/ /bæg/ 15 clipping (preceding vowel shortened ) 16
Clipping: shortening of the preceding vowel /bæk/ [bæ k] In English, a vowel is clipped (shortened) when followed by a voiceless plosive (/p t k/) in the same syllable: /bæk/ [bæ k]. Devoicing (no clipping) /bæg/ [bæg g ] 17 18 N.B. Clipping and long/short vowels In English, voiced plosives /b d g/ are devoiced totally or partially in word-final position (especially in utterance-final position) [b d g g ], as in /bæg/ [bæg g ]. But the explosion noise tends to be smaller than that of voiceless ones (/p t k/) in the same position. The preceding vowel is not clipped. What happens to the following words? /biːd/ /biːt/ /bɪd/ /bɪt/ 19 20
/biːd/ /biːt/ /bɪd/ /bɪt/ 2. Voiced and voiceless fricatives clipping (preceding vowel shortened) 21 Voiced and voiceless fricatives: Observe the consonant at the end of the /feɪs/ /feɪz/ Then compare them with the consonant at the beginning of the following words in French: /fas/ («face») /faz/ («phase») /feɪs/ /feɪz/ 23 clipping (preceding vowel shortened ) 24
Voiced and voiceless fricatives: Clipping: shortening of the preceding vowel /feɪs/ [feɪ s] Voiced and voiceless fricatives: In English, a vowel is clipped (shortened) when followed by a voiceless fricative (/f θ s ʃ/) in the same syllable: /feɪs/ [feɪ s]. Devoicing (no clipping) /feɪz/ [feɪz ] 25 26 Voiced and voiceless fricatives: In English, voiced plosives /v ð z ʒ/ are devoiced totally or partially in word-final position (especially in utterance-final position) [v ð z ʒ (or ʒ )], as in /feɪz/ [feɪz ]. But they tend to be shorter, and the friction noise tends to be smaller than that of voiceless counterparts (/f θ s ʃ/) in the same position. The preceding vowel is not clipped. 3. Voiced and voiceless affricates 27
Voiced and voiceless affricates: Word-initial position Observe the consonant at the beginning of the /tʃeɪn/ /dʒeɪn/ /tʃeɪn/ /dʒeɪn/ 29 aspiration (long hissing noise) 30 Voiced and voiceless affricates: Word-initial position Aspiration /tʃeɪn/ [tʃʰeɪn] Devoicing: (partial) absence of voicing /dʒeɪn/ [d ʒ ʒ eɪn] Voiced and voiceless affricates: Word-initial/medial position As in plosives, the voiceless affricate /tʃ/ is aspirated [tʃʰ], (/tʃeɪn/ [tʃʰeɪn]). The voiced affricate /dʒ/ is totally or partially devoiced [d ʒ ʒ ] in word-initial position. 31 32
Voiced and voiceless affricates: Observe the consonant at the end of the /eɪtʃ/ /eɪdʒ/ /eɪtʃ/ /eɪdʒ/ 33 clipping (preceding vowel shortened ) 34 Voiced and voiceless affricates: Clipping: shortening of the preceding vowel /eɪtʃ/ [eɪ tʃ] Voiced and voiceless affricates: As in plosives and fricatives, a vowel is clipped (shortened) when followed by a voiceless affricate /tʃ/ in the same syllable: /eɪtʃ/ [eɪ tʃ]. Devoicing (no clipping) /eɪdʒ/ [eɪd ʒ ʒ ] 35 36
Voiced and voiceless fricatives: As in plosives and fricatives, the voiced affricate /dʒ/ is devoiced totally or partially in word-final position (especially in utterance-final position) [d ʒ ʒ ], as in /eɪdʒ/ [eid ʒ ʒ ]. But the friction noise tends to be smaller than that of the voiceless counterpart /tʃ/ in the same position. The preceding vowel is not clipped. 37