English Phonology Concepts Explained
Phonological Processes
Gradation
Gradation is a process of phonetic changes where many unaccented syllables, which contain either a centralized vowel or no vowel at all, originally contained strong vowels that were gradually weakened or elided.
Example: Instrument
English Word Stress and Rhythm
Stress
Stress is the emphasis given to a word within a sentence or a syllable within a word. There are three main types of stress:
- Primary Stress: The strongest emphasis.
- Secondary Stress: A weaker emphasis, often dependent on the primary stress.
- Unstressed: Syllables with no emphasis, often appearing as weak forms.
Variable Stress
Variable Stress refers to the unpredictable placement of stress within a word, which can sometimes change based on context or derivation.
How Stress Affects English Rhythm
English is a stress-timed language, meaning that the rhythm of speech is primarily determined by the stressed syllables, which occur at roughly regular intervals. The unstressed syllables are compressed or reduced to fit between these stressed beats.
To achieve this rhythm, speakers often:
- Reduce or change the quality of vowels in unstressed syllables (e.g., to a schwa /ə/).
- Adjust the timing and duration of syllables.
Compound Words and Stress Patterns
Compound Words
A compound word is a noun, adjective, or verb made of two or more words or parts of words. They can be written as a single word, two separate words, or joined by a hyphen.
There are three main types of compound forms:
- Open Compounds: Two words are joined to form a new meaning (e.g., ice cream).
- Nested Compounds: Occur when one compound is part of a larger compound. For example, in “credit card bill,” “credit card” is the larger compound, and “bill” is the nested element.
- Monolithicity: This refers to the process where a compound form becomes the standard or fixed form of a word due to frequent use, often losing its original compound appearance over time (e.g., cupboard, which was once “cup board”).
Single Stress Compounds
Single stress compounds are those that typically have primary stress only on the first element of the compound due to their common usage. They often exhibit single stress when they function as:
- Classifiers: (e.g., ‘teacup)
- Purpose: (e.g., ‘washing machine)
- Doer of the action: (e.g., ‘storyteller)
- Initials: (e.g., ‘U.N.)
- Gerunds: (e.g., ‘reading room)
Exceptions to this rule include:
- Names of streets, buildings, and gates (e.g., ‘Oxford ‘Street).
- Compounds where a material or ingredient is followed by words like juice, water, bread, flakes, milk, or cake (e.g., ‘apple ‘juice).
Double Stress Compounds
A double stress compound is one where both elements of the compound carry stress. Typically, the first word has secondary stress, while the second word has primary stress.
This pattern is often found in:
- Names of institutions, hotels, and restaurants (e.g., ‘Grand Ho’tel).
- Place names (e.g., ‘New ‘York).
- Nationalities (e.g., ‘Chinese ‘food).
- Time expressions (e.g., ‘last ‘night).
- Proper names of people (e.g., ‘John ‘Smith).
- Materials and ingredients (e.g., ‘cotton ‘shirt).
- Roads (e.g., ‘Main ‘Road).
- Abbreviations (e.g., ‘BBC ‘news).
- Present participles used as adjectives (e.g., ‘running ‘shoes).
Noun Phrase vs. Compound Word
The distinction between a noun phrase and a compound word often lies in their stress patterns:
- A noun phrase typically consists of two elements, usually an adjective and a noun (e.g., “green house”). Both words can potentially carry primary stress, but due to the Rule of Alternation, there is often a shift in stress. For example, in “_green ‘house” (a house that is green), “green” might carry primary stress, but due to the Rule of Alternation, it often receives secondary stress, while “house” receives primary stress.
- In contrast, a compound word usually has primary stress on the first element (e.g., “‘greenhouse” – a building for growing plants).
Rule of Alternation (Rhythm Rule)
The Rule of Alternation, also known as the Rhythm Rule, states that there cannot be two primary stressed syllables immediately adjacent to each other in English. To maintain the characteristic stress-timed rhythm of English, a primary stress may be reduced to a secondary stress when followed by another primary stress, creating an alternating pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Teutonic Rule
The Teutonic Rule suggests that in English, there is a tendency to avoid two unstressed syllables at the beginning of a word. Consequently, polysyllabic words often receive stress on their first or second syllable, particularly those of Germanic origin.
Maximal Onset Principle
The Maximal Onset Principle is a phonological rule used when dividing syllables. It states that when a consonant cluster occurs between two vowels, as many consonants as possible should be assigned to the onset of the following syllable, provided that the resulting onset is a phonologically permissible cluster in the language.
Advanced Phonological Concepts: Assimilation and Elision
Assimilation
Assimilation is a phonological process where a speech sound becomes similar or identical to an adjacent sound. It occurs when a phoneme is influenced by a neighboring phoneme, often resulting in a change in its articulation.
There are two main types of assimilation:
- Leading Assimilation (Progressive Assimilation): Occurs when a speech sound carries over its features onto the following segment, allowing the articulators to continue with their movement (e.g., the /s/ in “dogs” becomes /z/ due to the preceding voiced /g/).
- Lagging Assimilation (Regressive Assimilation): Occurs when the features of articulation of a sound are influenced by the following one (e.g., the /n/ in “ten boys” often becomes /m/ due to the following bilabial /b/).
Place of Assimilation
Place of Assimilation refers to a change in the place of articulation of a sound due to the influence of an adjacent sound. Common types include:
- Bilabial Assimilation: (e.g., /n/ becoming /m/ before /p/ or /b/ as in “ten boys” → “tem boys”).
- Velar Assimilation: (e.g., /n/ becoming /ŋ/ before /k/ or /g/ as in “bank” or “finger”).
- Palato-alveolar Assimilation: (e.g., /s/ or /z/ becoming /ʃ/ or /ʒ/ before /j/ as in “this year” → “thiʃ year”).
Manner and Energy Assimilation
Beyond place, assimilation can also affect the manner and energy of sounds:
- Energy Assimilation: Involves a reduction of the fortis (strong) and lenis (weak) contrast between sounds, often leading to devoicing or voicing.
- Manner Assimilation: Occurs when there is a change in the manner of articulation of a sound. Examples include:
- Dentalization: A sound produced at the alveolar ridge moves to the dental position (e.g., /t/ becoming dental before /θ/ or /ð/ as in “at the”).
- Lateral and Nasal Assimilation: When lateral (/l/) or nasal (/n/, /m/, /ŋ/) sounds influence the initial /ð/ (voiced ‘th’) of an unstressed word (e.g., “in the” → “in n’the”).
Elision and Its Types
Elision is the omission or reduction of a sound or syllable in speech. There are two main types:
- Contextual Elision: Occurs in specific phonetic contexts, often for ease of pronunciation or to maintain rhythm. Examples include:
- Elision of /t/ or /d/ in consonant clusters (e.g., “next day” → “nex’ day”).
- Elision of a schwa vowel followed by a consonant and then /l/, /m/, or /n/ (e.g., “police” → “p’lice”).
- Elision in weak function words (e.g., “and” → “n'”).
- Historical Elision: Occurs when the original form of a word becomes obsolete, and the elided form becomes the fixed and accepted pronunciation (e.g., “cupboard” was originally pronounced with both ‘p’ and ‘b’ sounds, but the ‘p’ is now typically elided).
Devoicing
Devoicing is an allophonic feature where a voiced obstruent (a consonant produced with obstruction of the airflow) loses its voicing when it occurs before a voiceless sound or at the end of an utterance (before silence).
Dark L (/ɫ/)
The Dark L, represented phonetically as /ɫ/, is a velarized allophone of the lateral consonant /l/. It is produced with the back of the tongue raised towards the velum. This velarized sound typically occurs when /l/ is:
- At the end of a syllable (e.g., “ball”).
- Followed by a consonant (e.g., “milk”).
- Before silence (e.g., “feel”).
Additional Phonological Concepts
Allophone
An allophone is a variation of a phoneme that does not change the meaning of a word. Allophones are different phonetic realizations of the same phoneme, often occurring in predictable phonetic environments.
Example: The phoneme /t/ has several allophones:
- [tʰ] (aspirated t) in top
- [t] (unaspirated t) in stop
- [ɾ] (flapped t) in butter (in American English)
Strong Form Function Words
Strong forms of function words (e.g., prepositions, conjunctions, articles) are used when the word is stressed, emphasized, or spoken in isolation.
Example: The word “the” can have a strong form /ðiː/ (e.g., “Is that the one?”) or a weak form /ðə/ (e.g., “the book”).
Weak Forms of Short Simple Words
Short, simple function words are usually unstressed in connected speech, leading to the use of their weak forms.
Examples:
- “to” → /tə/
- “a” → /ə/
These words are only stressed and pronounced with their strong forms when used for emphasis or contrast.