1 English Plosives /p b, t d, k g, ?/ When the vocal folds slightly open to vibrate and the sound is obstructed at the vocal cavity, the sound is described as the voiced consonant sound. When the folds are widely open to vibrate and the sound is obstructed at the vocal tract, the sound is described as voiceless consonant. Another term used to describe voiced/voiceless sounds are fortis/lenis. Table: Three part description of the consonant phonemes in English Place Manner Plosive Bilabial p Fricative Labiodental Dental Alveolar θ t s b f v ð Affricate Nasal ∫ Palatal Velar Glottal k ? h ʒ g t∫ ʤ m Lateral Liquid Semi-vowel d z Palatoalveolar n l r w ŋ j In the pairs of sounds to be discussed, the left hand consonants are voiceless and fortis while the right ones are voiced and lenis. 1 INTRODUCTION This unit describes the sounds referred to as plosive sounds. They are also often referred to as stops. 2 OBJECTIVES At the end of the unit, learners will be able to identify and describe the English plosive sounds and pronounce them correctly. 3.1 /p b/: Bilabial Plosive /p/ is voiceless and fortis while /b/ is voiced and lenis. In the production of these sounds, the air that escapes through the glottis into the oral cavity is obstructed or stopped by the upper and lower lips. This obstruction forces the air to build up pressure inside the mouth that when the two lips part to allow it flow out, it causes some kind of explosive sound. Apart from being plosives, the two sounds are also described as bilabials because the two lips are the major articulators during their production. /p/ occurs as: p, pp, gh as in: pile, cripple, hiccough; when aspirated: pin, pill, pass, important, people; when unaspirated: Spain, spite, split; when silent: pneumonia, psychology; 2 when initial; medial; final: pen, Paul; staple stipend; tap, cheap. /b/ occurs as: b, bb as in: bile, bubble; when initial; medial; final: boot, bite; about, laborious; tab, tube. 3.2 /t d/: Alveolar Plosive The voiceless-fortis/voiced-lenis divisions are still applicable here. But in addition, the tip of the tongue clicks at the alveolar and allows the pent up air to escape with an explosion. They are, therefore, plosive sounds. /t/ occurs as: t, tt, d, th as in: tell, little, asked, Thailand and Thompson; when aspirated: take, tall, tight; when unaspirated: tick, tool, letter; when initial: tie, ten; medial: latter, written; final: sat, mat. /d/ occurs as d, dd as in: do, idle, add, ladder; when initial: die, den; medial: ladder ridden, ; final: sad, pad. 3.3 /k g/: Velar Plosive The voiceless-fortis/voiced-lenis characteristics also hold. In addition, the back of the tongue strikes the velar i.e. the soft palate. While doing this, the two organs (tongue and velar), which once stuck together and barred air from flowing out suddenly part ways allowing a rush out of air with a plosive sound. /k/ occurs as: k, c, cc, ch as in: kind, cut, accord, chord; when aspirated: kind, cat car; when unaspirated: sky, skill, scar; when initial: kiss, call, medial: actual, akin final tick, park. /g/ occurs as: g, gg as in: gas, gut, maggot, biggest; when initial: gas, give, medial: ago, bigger; final: pig, leg, peg. 3.4 /?/: Glottal Plosive This sound is not a significant consonant sound in RP but very popularly used across the London streets; it is produced at the glottal region of the oral tract. It’s a sound which now seems to have replaced the voiceless, fortis, alveolar plosive, /t/ in Poplar London variety of English. It is a voiceless, fortis, glottal sound, which occurs in words such as water, butter, but pronounced as /wɒ?ә/ and /bʌ?ә/ instead of / wɒtә/ and /bʌtә/. It is because /?/ is a variety of sound used among the native speakers in London that is why it is not common to us. 4 EXERCISES With the aid of 5 examples each, what do you understand by these terms, fortis and lenis? Use English words and sounds as examples. 3 English Phonetics and Phonology English consonants – Exercises Exercise 1: Example words for major positional allophones Essentially, you will be looking for sequences of specific phonemes. Thus, all that is needed to do this exercise is (1) an understanding of the POA and MOA terms from the previous class and (2) knowledge of the phonemic composition of English words (i.e. what phonemes are in there). A good dictionary (e.g. CUBE) and some searching skills might be helpful, too. For this exercise, you don’t need to know how the individual allophones work. 1a Aspirated fortis plosives An English fortis plosive will be aspirated when at the beginning of a stressed syllable, before a vowel, but not after /s/. Find six example words, with at least one example for each English fortis plosive, and three in which the stressed syllable is not the first one in the word. 1b Devoiced lenis plosives An English lenis plosive will be (partially) devoiced when next to a pause (silence) or a fortis sound. Find six example words, with at least one example for each English lenis plosive, and three in which the devoiced plosive is in the middle of a word. 1c Unreleased plosives Any English plosive will be unreleased (=will have no audible release) when it stands before another plosive. Find six example words, with at least one example for each English plosive. 1d Nasal and lateral release An English plosive will have nasal release when followed by a homorganic nasal (a nasal made at the same place of articulation). An English plosive will have lateral release when followed by a homorganic lateral (a lateral made at the same place of articulation). Find four example words: two for nasal release, and two for lateral release. 1e Devoiced approximants An English approximant will be completely devoiced when it stands at the beginning of a stressed syllable between a fortis plosive and a vowel. Find six example words, with at least one for each approximant, and at least two in which the stressed syllable is not the first one in the word. 1f “Clear” and “dark” /l/ A General British English /l/ will be “clear” before a vowel or /j/, and “dark” elsewhere. Find six example words: three with “clear” /l/, and three with “dark” /l/ (where in at least two of the latter the /l/ is not wordfinal). 4 Exercise 2: Diacritics for consonant allophones in allophonic transcription Use the results of Exercise 1 to decide what each of the diacritics (the small additional symbols added to the main transcription symbols) means in the allophonic (narrow) transcriptions below. One of the symbols was not discussed in Exercise 1. Mark it X (for the time being). decode [d̥ɪˈkhoʊd̥] computer [kəmˈp ̊uːt ̬ᵊr] Sydney [ˈsɪdnni] webcam [ˈweb̥̚kæm] goodness [ˈɡ̊ʊdnnəs] replay (verb) [riːˈpl ̥eɪ] arctic [ˈɑːrk̚tɪk] twitter [ˈtw̥ ɪt ̬ᵊr] Britain [ˈb̥rɪtnn̩] bottle [ˈb̥ɑːtl̬ ɫ̩] Google [ˈɡ̊uːɡɫ̩] Coldplay [ˈkhoʊɫd̥̚pleɪ] hot-dog [ˈhɑːt̚d̥ɔːɡ̊] chrome [kr̥oʊm] kindle [ˈkhɪndlɫ̩] Paypal [pheɪpæɫ] ◌ is a placeholder symbol for the base letter ◌̥ means ◌̊ means ◌h means ◌̚ means ◌̴ means ◌n means ◌̩ means ◌l means Exercise 3: Detecting ungrammatical allophones For each of the transcription pairs below, circle the correct one and explain why the other one is not grammatical. [skaɪp] [skhaɪp] [pəˈliːs] [pəˈɫiːs] [k̥huːɫ] [khuːɫ] [web] [web̥] [ˈwɔːthᵊr] [ˈwɔːt ̬ᵊr] [ˈd̥ɑːk̚tᵊr] [ˈdɑːkt̚ᵊr] [rɪˈkwest] [rɪˈkw̥ est] [ɝːθ] [ɝːθ̥] Source : http://wa.amu.edu.pl/ https://liduaeka.weebly.com/
