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HI-LING
LINGUISTICS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL
Lesson 2: Phonology
Definition: Phonology deals with sounds in different contexts and helps us understand what a word, phrase, or sentence sounds like. Linguists developed the International Phonetic Alphabet (= IPA), a standardised set of symbols, to be able to describe speech sounds. Sounds can change over time, which is interesting for the field of historical linguistics because it can illustrate language change.
Key Concepts
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Phonology
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IPA
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Consonant Change
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Rhoticity
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Vowel Change
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Trap-Bath Split
UNIT 1: Consonants
haɪ ðeə, ɪts ɡreɪt tuː miːt juː! haʊ ɑː juː?
Are you able to read it? Do you know what this is? This is the phonetic transcription of “Hi there, it’s great to meet you! How are you?”. Read and compare the two transcriptions, can you find a difference?
haɪ ðeə, ɪts ɡreɪt tuː miːt juː! haʊ ɑː juː?
haɪ ðɛr, ɪts ɡreɪt tu mit ju! haʊ ɑr ju?
The first sentence is British English, while the second is American English. By reading these lines, you might have got an idea what the sentences sound like. Linguists developed the International Phonetic Alphabet (= IPA), a standardised set of symbols, to be able to describe speech sounds. Not only is it useful for linguists, but it is also helpful for language learners who want to see how they should pronounce a word in English.
With a partner, look at the following transcriptions. Can you guess the words? If you struggle, have a look at the IPA.
/kɑːr/
/pɑːrk/
/hɪr/
/nɔːrθ/
/nəʊˈvembər/
/dɪˈsembər/
Now click on https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com and enter the words. Listen to both options of pronouncing the word. Do they say every single /r/ in the words or do they drop them?
When we investigate whether the R sound is pronounced in English, we talk about rhoticity. If R is pronounced in a variety, it is called rhotic; if it is not pronounced, it is non-rhotic. In our example, the first speaker represents the British English standard. All of the Rs are silent because none of them are followed by a vowel. Hence, in this variety, it is only pronounced before a spoken vowel sound, such as the R in red, rude, or caring. In these cases, the tongue curls back to pronounce the R sound; hence, the R sound is spoken. In the example, however, none of them is followed by a vowel.
The second speaker represents the General American English variety, which pronounces the R in this context. It is important not to forget that “British English standard” and “General American English” are generalizations and do not take into consideration many sub-standards.
Once the English language was entirely rhotic, but now the phenomenon appears to be receding. Let us take England as an example: sociolinguists asked people to pronounce ‘arm’. In the 1950s, 95–100% of the south-west pronounced the R in ‘arm’ while in 2016 the number had decreased by at least half (see map). It is quite a significant change, isn’t it?
In the global context, most of the English varieties in the Southern hemisphere are non-rhotic, such as Australia and New Zealand except for Southland. On the other hand, many of the English varieties in the Northern Hemisphere are rhotic apart from England and parts of the North Eastern and Southern USA. Having seen this example from just one part of the UK, you can imagine this must occur on quite a lot in the numerous varieties of English spoken around the world.
UNIT 2: Vowels
Having dealt with a consonant change, let us focus on a common change that has affected a vowel. How do you think are the following two words pronounced? 1. trap 2. bath
If you are not sure, especially with the second word “bath”, you may have heard several variations of it. Both words can be pronounced with a short /a/, represented by a; with the other, “bath” may be pronounced with a long /a/, represented by ɑː. If a speaker makes a difference between the two sounds, it is known as the trap-bath split.
What is a split? In phonology, we talk of a split if a phoneme evolves into two different ones, which happens particularly often with vowels. There can be diverse reasons for this to happen and it is not possible to predict it. In the case of the trap-bath split, the /a/ tends to be lengthened in certain contexts: firstly, if it precedes consonants that are voiceless fricative, such as path or last, and groups of consonants (= clusters) that include a nasal (n, m) as in chance or demand. Having said that, there are plenty of exceptions, for example, maths, cancer and ant. Recent research has put forward that this seems to be changing depending on its context. By way of example, a lengthened a [a] seems to be more probable if it is followed by one consonant rather than several, and if it is /θ/ or /s/, e.g., glass and path. Similarly, should it be preceded by a group of consonants, /b/, /d/, /g/, and /k/, it is more likely to lengthen. What is more, frequent words and words that are of English origin appear to be subject to the trap-bath split as well.
In the 1650s, the trap-bath split emerged in Southern England and spread towards the Midlands. Nowadays, it can be found in both the Southern hemisphere, i.e. South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and in Southern England. However, it does not seem to appear in North America.
Exercise 2
With a partner, listen to six different people talk and say the following words. Decide whether you can hear a trap-bath split or not. Select the right transcription.
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aunt /ɑːnt/ /ænt/
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branch /brɑːntʃ/ /bræntʃ/
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can’t /kɑːnt/ /kænt/
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dance /dɑːns/ /dæns/
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path /pɑːθ/ /pæθ/
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nasty /ˈnɑːsti/ /ˈnæsti/
Final thought for this lesson
If you are interested in how speakers sound or you want to practise your pronunciation, you can try out Youglish. Can you understand all Scottish and Irish speakers?
You can search for words or phrases, and Youglish will give you authentic examples from the internet. Not only can you do it in English, but also in other languages such as French, German, Italian, etc. In English, you can choose between speakers from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, and Ireland. Unfortunately, like dictionaries, it is based on standard English varieties – sub-standards cannot be considered. It goes without saying that here are countless dialects in the UK alone.