25. Modification of the phonemes in connected speech

Speech sounds influence each other in the flow of speech. As a result of the intercourse between consonants and vowels such processes as assimilation, accommodation, elision and linking appear.By assimilation we mean a modification in the articulation of a consonant under the influence of a neighboring consonant: although, bloodthirsty. The alveolar [l,d] followed by the interdental [θ] become dental.

The term accommodation (adaptation) is often used to denote the interchanges of "vowel + consonant", or "consonant + vowel". The accommodated sound does not change its main phonetic features and is pronounced as a variant of the same phoneme slightly modified under the influence of a neighboring sound. In Mn E there are 4 main types of accommodation: 1. An unrounded variant of a consonant phoneme is replaced by its rounded variant under the influence of a following rounded vowel phoneme, as at the beginning of the following words: [ti:]-tea - [tu:] too, [les] - less - [lu:s] loose.2. A fully back variant of a back vowel phoneme is replaced by its slightly advanced variant under the influence of the preceeding medio-lingual phoneme [j]: [bu:ti] - booty - [bju:ti] beauty 3. A vowel phoneme is represented by its slightly more open variant before the dark [1] under the influence of the latter's back secondary focus. Thus the vowel sound in "bell", "tell" is slightly more open than the vowel in "bed", "ten" ([bel]-[bed], [tel]- [ten]).4. Vowels preceded or followed by nasal sonorants have a slight degree of nasalization: men - [men].Elision is a complete loss of sounds (both vowels and consonants). It is minimal in slow careful speech and maximal in rapid relaxed colloquial forms of speech. The simplifications go quite unnoticed by the listener, as they do not affect the meaning. The sound [ə] can represent the reduced forms of "are, or, her", or the comparative degree of adjectives.Linking is a process of sounds being inserted in connected speech. There 3 main types of linking:1. Linking final consonant sounds to initial vowel sounds: put it off2. When a word ending with a letter "r" precedes a word beginning with a vowel sound, then "r" is usually pronounced, and this linkage is indicated in the text: after all3. Linking final vowel sounds to initial vowel sounds with [w] or [j]: do it, he ate.

23 Phonostylistics is the branch of phonetics, the aim of which is the identification & description of different styles of pronunciation. These styles are related to social setting or circumstances in which language is used g the choice of a style of pronunciation is situationally determined. There are 5 functional styles:

1) Informational style. The use of Low Pre-Head + Falling Head + Low Fall (Low Rise) + Tail. Normal or slow speed of utterance & regular rhythm. Pausation is semantically predictable. Intonation groups tend to be short, duration of pauses varies from medium to long. It is considered to be a dispassionate style. (News)

2) Scientific style. Low Pre-Head + Stepping Head. This enables the lecturer to sound categoric, considered & persuasive. As far as the terminal tone is concerned, the High Fall & the Fall-Rise are the most conspicuous tunes. Less important parts are pronounced at greater speed than usual, while more important parts are characterized by slower speed. The speed of utterance varies from normal to accelerated, but it is never too fast. Pauses are predominantly short, their placement is always semantically or syntactically predictable. (Lectures)

3) Declamatory style. The Low Fall or less frequently the High Fall. The principal nuclear tones in non-final intonation groups are the Low Fall, the High Fall & the Fall-Rise. Pauses may be different in length but long pauses are more common. The intonation representing the speech of the characters is always stylized. The overall speed of utterance is normal or reduced as compared with natural speech, & as a result the rhythm is more even & regular. Pausation is always semantically or syntactically predictable. (Reading aloud a piece of prose or a poem)4) Publicistic style. The Low Fall; the High Fall is less common. Low Fall, the Low Rise, the Mid-Level & the Fall-Rise are used as well. Intonation groups tend to be short, as a result pauses range from brief to very long. Moreover, an utterance is often emphasized by means of increased sentence-stress & the glottal stop. Frequent intonation changes. (Public speech)5) Familiar (conversational) style. Allows the occurrence of the entire range of intonation patterns existing in English. Unexcited conversational situations are characterized by low pre-heads, falling or stepping heads & simple low falling or rising tones. Intonation groups may be any length, but there is a strong tendency to keep them short. Pauses are brief. The speed of utterance is quite fast, but there is no conventional pressure for conversational speed to be regular. Hesitation pauses; repetitions of syllables & words; false starts to words, followed by self-corrections; fillers-in, such as well, and, you see, you know, in fact; unfinished intonation groups. (Everyday speech)