Basic concepts:
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Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound
 Existing two types:
consonant
vowels
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Words: two types of words
content: those which has meaning
Function: help us connect important
information (content words), they are important for understanding and they add
little meaning to the sentence. articles, prepositions, demonstratives, auxiliary
verbs, quantifiers, etc.
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Minimal pairs: words totally different but very alike in pronunciation, they
vary only in one phoneme. Are often mixed up.
Examples: (non-rhotic) work and walk.
route and rude
֍
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Allophone: the actual production of realization of a phoneme.
Homophone: same pronunciation, different spelling, different meaning.
Example: sent and scent
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Homograph: same spelling, different pronunciation.
Example: wind and wind
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Homonym: same spelling and pronunciation.
Phonetics and phonology:
How our mouths
produce sound.
The differences
between accents
how each language
uses the sound.
Criteria to
decide
whether to use the strong
form or
the weak form of function words:
1. The position of the word within the utterance:
֍
In an exposed position (does not necessarily mean at the end of a sentence) it
means that it comes before a pause: strong form.
֍
In a non-exposed position: weak form
2. For contrastive purposes
 When correcting somebody or removing ambiguity: strong form
 In all other cases: weak form
3. The function of the word:
 “That” can function as a demonstrative: strong form.
 When it functions as a relative pronoun: weak form.
 When it functions as the main verb (meaning “possession” or obligation):
strong form.
As an auxiliary verb it will adopt the weak form except when the
auxiliary itself is exposed as it does when show in short answers
or in question tags; in the latter it will adopt the strong form.
4. When emphasizing an idea: strong form
All other cases: weak form.
5. When quoting the function word, the citation form of the word: strong form
6. As a filler, the strong form is used (in hesitant speech) (when you stop to
think)
Rhoticity:
Rhoticity refers to a situation in which English speakers pronounces the rhotic
consonant /r/
In rhotic varieties of English, the “r” is pronounced in all cases.
Rhotic accent is also called r-full accent, comprises the sound in all possible
positions.
The r sound is pronounced when is between two voiced vowels.
But, for example, when is between one voiced vowel sound and one non voiced,
the r sound is not pronounced: “There”.
In non-rhotic English, the r sound does not be pronounced when is in an exposed
position such as “car”, also is not pronounced when is between a vowel and a
consonant.
Stress placement:
In order to decide on stress placement, is it necessary to make us of
some or all the following information:




Whether the word is morphologically simple, or whether it is complex as a
result either of containing one or more affixes (prefixes or suffixes) or of
being a compound word.
The grammatical category to which the word belongs (noun, verb,
adjective).
The number of syllables in the word.
The phonological structure of those syllables.
Stress in simple words:
Two syllables words:
 Tendency for verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions:
1
2
The second syllable is stressed if it contains:
o
o
o
 Tendency for nouns
A long vowel.
A diphthong.
Ends with +1 consonant.
1
2
The second syllable is stressed if it does not contain:
o
A short vowel.
Usually, the first syllable is stressed because the
2nd syllable contains a short vowel.
Three syllables words:
 Tendency for verbs
1
2
3
The third syllable is stressed if it contains:
o
o
o
A long vowel.
A diphthong.
Ends with +1 consonant.
 Tendency for nouns
1
2
3
The third syllable is stressed if it does not contain:
o
o
A short vowel.
The diphthong au /ɑʊ/
The second syllable is stressed if it contains:
o
o
o
A long vowel.
A diphthong.
Ends with +1 consonant.
Stress in complex words:
Affixiated words
Words with suffixes.
Types of suffixes:
Words with prefixes:
 They are stress neutral
prefixes; they will never
steal a primary stress.
 They after carry a
secondary stress.



Stress attracting
Stress neutral
Stress shifting
Compound words
Stress in the first element:
 Noun+noun
Example:
‘Sunrise
Stress in the second element:
 Adjective+participle (ed, ing)
Example: bad- ‘tempered.
 Numerical+adjective
Example: three- ‘wheeler.
 When the word act as an adverb
Example: North- ‘East.
 Adverb+sth acting as an adverb
Example: ill- ‘treat.
Types of suffixes:
֍ Stress attracting:
 ESE
 AIN
 EE
 EER
 ETTE
 ESQUE
 IQUE
֍ Stress shifting:
Tendency for the primary
stress to shift to the
penultimate syllable.
 EOUS
 GRAPHY
 IAL
 IC
 ION
 IOUS
 TY
 IVE
֍ Stress neutral:
 ABLE
 AGE
 ATE
 AL
 EN
 FUL
 ING
 ISH
 LIKE
 LESS
 LY
 MENT
 NESS
 CUS
 FY
 WISE
 ISM
Compound words:
Compound words are two independent English words that together form a new
word.
They could be
Two complex words.
Two simple words.
In compound words stress placement can be altered by the position of the object
within the utterance:
֍
Predicative position: object+compound
stress in the second element:
the teacher is bad-tempered.
֍
Attributive position: compound+object
stress in the first element:
she is a bad-tempered teacher.
Sounds that occur in unstressed syllables:
֍ Vowels that occur in us:
/ə/ /i/ /u/
֍ Vowels that tend to occur in us:
/ɪ/ /ʊ/
֍ Possible syllabic consonants which take the place of the /ə/:
/l/ /n/ /m/ /r/ /ŋ/
Sounds that occur in stressed syllables
֍ Long vowels: / ɑ: / / ɜ: / / i: / / ɔ: / / u: /
֍ Diphthongs: / eɪ / / aɪ / / əʊ / / aʊ / / ɔɪ / / ɪə / / eə / / ʊə /
֍ Remaining short vowels: /e/ /æ/ /ʌ / /ɒ/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/
Level of stress:
primary ‘
secondary , (always goes before the primary stress)
Word class pairs:
Identically spelt words with prefix but different stress
placement
֍ Stress in the
according to their
first syllable
grammatical
‘abstract (A)
category
‘contract (V)
֍ Stress in the
abs’tract (V)
second syllable
con’tract (V)
Marks goes
before the start
of a syllable.
Intonation:
֍
֍
֍
Intonation are patterns of pitch variations along utterances.
Tone is the general directions/behaviour of pitch along
utterances.
There are 5 types of basic tones:
1. Level tone
 On a steady note, function to convey saying something
mechanical.
_ yes _no
2. Rising tone

Function to convey a wore-to-come answer or a
question.
yes
no
3. Falling tone

Function to convey finality and a blunt answer.
yes
no
4. Rise-fall tone (complex)

Function to convey approval, disapproval, or surprise.
yes
no
5. Fall-rise tone (complex)
 Function to convey limited agreement w/ reservations.
yes
no
Question tags: with falling tone, I wait for confirmation, I am almost certain
with rising tone, I am waiting for your answer, there are 50% chances.