English Phonetics and

Phonology

Suprasegmental
Structures
Syllable
Stress
Tone and Intonation

The syllable
A phonological construct rather than

a phonetic entity
Generally identifiable by native
speakers (but more difficult in
phrases or sentences)

The internal structure of

syllable
Syllable
Onset +

Rhyme

Nucleus + Coda
In English
Only nucleus is obligatory
I, eye, owe
Nucleus does not have to be a vowel
sudden, better,rhythm

Grouping not arbitrary:

Rhyming:
eat beat
start, apart
before, adore
Alliteration
Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout
Tumbling towards the tides
Spoonerism
Is the bean dizzy?
Go and shake a tower

Sonority Hierarchy
Voiceless stops

sonorant
Voiced stops
Voiceless fricatives
Voiced fricatives
Nasals
Liquids
Glides
High Vowels
Low Vowels

Least

Most sonorant

Low vowels
High vowels

Most sonorant

Glides
Liquids
Nasals
Voiced fricatives
Voiceless fricatives
Voiced stops
Voiceless stops

sonorant

Least

Sonority hierarchy
Helps determine the internal organization of a syllable
The most sonorous gets selected as the nuclei:

Sonority increasing with onsets and decreasing with

codas
top *rtot stamps
But sonority hierarchy is not always conformed to
Sibilants are on the outside of initial and final clusters.
*kn clusters are disallowed although it follows the
hierarchy

Syllable bounderies
principle of onset maximization + phonotactic

constraints
pla.stic
fran.tic
Ambisyllabicity
parrot, happy

Syllable typology
CV, (C)V, CV(C), (C)V(C)
*V *VC
Any V or VC must also permit CV
Languages prefer onset
English (CCC)V(CCCC)

Hawaiian (Gussenhoven & Jacobs)

Hawaiian (C)V(V)
The Hawaiian phoneme inventory:
5 vowels 8 consonant phonemes
Vowels i u e o a
Consonants p k h m n w l
Loan words
1) Interpret each of the segments in the

foreign word in terms of the native segment

system
2) make sure to follow the phonotactics of the
native language

melekelikimaka

perceptual level
operative level

mrikrss
meleklikmak
melekelikimaka

Stress
A stressed syllable: more prominent
louder, longer, said with higher pitch, has

different vowel quality from neighboring

vowels
bby = penultimate
bnefit = antepenultimate
ballon = final

Primary/secondary/unstressed
grndprents, spersttious, artcultory
Eurhythmy : the alternating pattern of

stressed syllable followed by an unstressed

syllable

Stress
thirteen

thirteen students

The foot = a phonological structure of

stressed syllable + unstressed syllable(s)

Trochee = left headed foot
(Gravity)
Iambic = right headed (Fr. >> crocodile)
English is said to have trocheic feet
rabbit (one foot)
rabbi (two monosyllabic
stressed feet)
contain (one with con- as stray syll.) vs.
maintain (two)
A single word can be a part of two different
feet
Tins contain it.

Functions of stress

Delimiting functions
Helps identify word boundaries (Czech,

French, Turkish)
Differentiating functions (English)
Helps distinguish parts of speech
insult
present
White house white house
To mark contrast
The FUNNY girl, not the BUNNY girl.
For emphasis Its ON the table.

Stress placement
There are principles to stress placements
Heavy = VC, V: (long vowels), VV (dipthongs)
Light = V (short vowels)
Nouns
(of more than 2 syllables)
Heavy penultimate takes the stress; if penult is

light, stress falls on the antepenultimate

2 syllables nouns: penultimate gets the stress
(except
oon, -eer, -ee, -ette, -ade)

Verbs
Heavy Final syllable attracts stress
Have to ignore the final consonant

(extrametrical)
astonish, imagine

Adjectives
With suffixes behave like nouns; without them,

like verbs
Stress shifting suffixes
-ic, -ical, -ity, -ian, -ion, -ify, -graphy, -logy
Stress neutral affixes
un-, in-, non, -ly, -al, -ness, -able, -ful, -ment

Word stress guidelines

Collins and Mees (2003)
Practical Phonetics and
Phonology
(p.112-115)
Marianne Celce-Murcia
Donna M. Brinton Janet M.
Goodwin (2010) Teaching
Pronunciation: A
Reference for Teachers of
English to Speakers of
Other Languages.
Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Stress above the word

level
Citation forms vs. Words in phrases & sentences
Words in phrases & sentences
One word is always more prominent.
Usually the last content word
He likes watching football.
United were winning.
She was out last night.
The group all left together.
But stress can be shifted for emphasis.

Pitch
Tones

Individual syllables or words

Intonation
Phrase/sentences
Helps distinguish types of clause
John loves to sing
Statements
rising-falling
(2-3-1)
Yes-no questions
rising
(2-3)
Unfinished clauses
rising/sustained (2-3-2)

Wh-questions

Whats your name?

Where are you from?
Falling (2-3-1)
lists, series
I need mushroom, cheese, ham, and eggs.
(2-3,2-3end with 2-3-1)
tags
This is quite complicated, isnt it?
(2-3-1, + 2-3 or 3-1)

Indicating attitudes
Falling contours

certainty, completion, or negative attitude

Rising contours
uncertainty, continuation, positive attitude, warmth,
friendliness, enthusiasm
Different varieties have different intonation patterns
Ex: final rising pitch in younger Californians & Australians

Phonological processes
Mommy Iwannadrinkawater!
Mommy, I want a drink of water!
Bread. I said, bread not red. B-R-E-A-D

bread.
Didcheat?
Did you eat?
Some common phonological processes
Assimilation
AB :

regressive A B progressive AB
Nasalization

sand

lime

bang

Voicing assimilation

play

ribbed

Assimilation for place

bad dog, ba[b] man, ba[g] guy

Palatalization
Nobody but you.

Dissimilation
Fifth fift

Deletion
n
necessary

Epenthesis
something

Metathesis
pasghetti

Vowel reduction
reduced to central/or unstressed vowel

Phonological processes
in my room
I see them.

protection

balloons

Hand me that.
Pam will miss you.

aminal
history
We lived in Seattle

before moving here to

Toronto.

government

Language and identity

Theres plenty of food for

everyone.

Further readings
Davenport, M., & Hannahs,S.J. (2010).

Introducing Phonetics and Phonology. 3rd ed.

London: Hodder Arnold (Chapter 6)
Gussenhoven, C. & Jacobs, H. (1998).
Understanding Phonology. London: Hodder
Arnold. (Chapter 3)
Ladefoged, P. 2006. A Course in Phonetics. 5th
ed. Boston: Heinle and Heinle Thomson
Learning. (Chapter 5)