The phonemic inventory of the English language.
The phonemic inventory is a mental list of all the sounds that are permitted in a language and those which are not. Since no one language uses every phoneme that exists in all the languages of the world, each has its own unique list of consonants and vowels its speaker can use. Although many languages use identical phonemes, no two languages share an identical phonemic inventory.
The two main problems:
1.the establishment of the phonemic inventory for a language
Methods:
Distributional – is based on the phonological rule, that different phonemes can occur in one and the same position, while allophones of one and the same phoneme occur in different positions (cat-rat/ cat-skate). It’s possible to establish the phonemic status of any sound just by contrasting it with the other sound without knowing the meaning of the words.
Semantic – attaches great importance to meaning. It’s based on the assumption that a phoneme can distinguish words only when opposed to another phoneme or zero in an identical phonetic context (ask”0”-asks). Pairs of words differing only in one sound are called minimal pairs.
Modification of sounds in connected speech.
MODIFICATIONS OF CONSONANTS
1. Assimilation
1.1. Place of articulation
• t, d > dental before [ð, θ]: eighth, at the, said that
• t, d > post-alveolar before [r]: tree, true, dream, the third room
• s, z > post-alveolar before [∫]: this shop, does she
• t, d > affricates before [j]: graduate, could you
• m > labio-dental before [f]: symphony
• n > dental before [θ]: seventh
• n > velar before [k]: thank
1.2. Manner of articulation
• loss of plosion: glad to see you, great trouble
• nasal plosion: sudden, at night, let me see
• lateral plosion: settle, at last
1.3. Work of the vocal cords
• voiced > voiceless: newspaper, gooseberry (and in grammatical …)
has, is, does > [s]; of, have > [f]
Notice: In English typical assimilation is voiced > voiceless; voiceless > voiced is not typical.
1.4. Degree of noise
• sonorants > are partially devoiced after [p, t, k, s]
Regressive assimilation: the sounds assimilated are influenced by the succeeding sounds
/nju:z/ (news) → /nju:speipə/ (newspaper)
/gu:s/ (goose) → /gu:zbəri/ (gooseberry)
/faiv/ (five) → /faifpəns/ (five pence)
/hav/ (have) → /haf tu/ (have to)
/ju:zd/ (used) → /ju:st tu/ (used to)
Regressive assimilation can also be found in some words like:
describe → description
receive → reception, receipt
twelve → twelfth
five → fifth, fifteen, fifty
2. Accommodation
2.1. Lip position
• consonant + back vowel: pool, rude, who (rounded)
• consonant + front vowel: tea, sit, keep (spread)
3. Elision
3.1. Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns and the forms of the auxiliary verb have.
3.2. [l] lends to be lost when preceded by [o:]: always, already, all right
3.3. In cluster of consonants: next day, just one. mashed potatoes
4. Inserting of sounds
4.1. Linking [r] (potential pronunciation of [r]): car owner
4.2. Intrusive [r]: [r] is pronounced where no r is seen in the spelling china and glass: it is not recommended to foreign learners.
MODIFICATION OF VOWELS
1. Reduction
1.1. Quantitative
1.2. Qualitative
2. Accommodation
2.2 Positional length of vowels: knee - need - neat
2.3. Nasalization of vowels: preceded or followed by [n, m]: never, then, men