Jj.l Accent ■i-ite are made up of phonemes as shown by meaningful contrasts, e.g. the /t/ /d/ contrast in writer /rarta/ and Wafer /raids/. Polysyllabic words have an litional identity determined by the relationship of their parts. Thus writer and ■ have a pattern consisting of a strong syllable followed by a weak syllable. ■t 'i die case of return /n't3;n/ the partem is reversed: we have a weak syllable .fc'l.i-.ild by a strong syllable. The identity of return compared with writer and „ ■ depends not only on the different sequence of phonemes but also on the nt patterns produced by the varying prominence of their syllables. The "Vl jtle or syllables of a word which stand out from the remainder are said to juuited. Lo receive an accent. " k iccentual pattern of English words is fixed, in the sense that the primary ■ «av it always falls on a particular syllable of any given word,1 but free, in the jckc iliat the primary accent is not tied to any particular point in the chain rf syllables constituting a word, as it is in some languages, e.g. to the penulti-: mate syllable in Polish, to the first in Czech and to the last in French. Thus, in Flglish the primary accent falls regularly on the first syllable in such words as finish, answer, afterwards; on the second syllable in behind, result, together, - impossible; on the third syllable in understand, education; or later in articulation, palatalisation, etc. The accentual shape of a word, in terms of the degree of prominence asso-i dtcd with its parts, is a reality for both the speaker and the listener; but the speaker's impression of the factors which produce such a pattern of varying prominences may differ from the actual auditory cues by which the listener perceives llie prominence pattern. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the factors tyhich in English are significant both for the speaker and for the listener in pro-educing the communicated effect of accent. 242 Words and connected speech Words 243 10.2 Accent and prominence Anyof four factors, pitch, loudness, quality and quantity, may heln a syl able more prominent than its neighbours. But it is prmcipl'S which marks an accented syllable. P y pitch cha (1) Pitch change-^ principal cue to accent is pitch prominen depends as much upon pitch change as pitch height. Thediffered M" patterns of insult (noun) and insult (verb) are easily distinguish! pitah patterns. If a falling intonation is used, the fall occ^s 0 J syllable of the noun and on the second syllable of the verb- J insult (nj insult (v.) similarly, if a rising intonation is used, the rise begins on the fir,. ,, an the second syllable respective.y, (in these so-calL ^efea • syllables are ind.cated by dots and accented syllables by large dots): ' (3) insult (n.) insult (v.) fmay raake prominent more than one syiiabie *a t "'5 examination examination or within a phrase like the following, where the first three accented • I' K, dt!tion 86 PltCh leVd Whil£ to BCCent a ^ange of The first examination was over promrnen (and hence referred to as the prjmmy accent) while a pitch accci zz^isr13 usually somewhat less proraJnt (and^- -Accented syllables are often assumed to be louder than un-ented syllables and in most cases this is so. Greater loudness is carried 'iclpally by voiced sounds, in which greater amplitude of vibration of 1" vocal cords, together with the reinforcing resonance of the supraglottal jties. results in acoustic terms in relatively greater intensity. This strong iitinsity and the perceived loudness on the part of the listener results from relatively greater breath effort and muscular energy expended on the grnctilation of a sound by the speaker. This effort and energy is frequently referred'to as "stress' although, because of the many different ways in which (j,is word has been used, it is avoided in this book. Loudness is not by itself an efficienl device for signalling the location of the accent in English. When they are said on a monotone and without undue lengthening of accented syllables, it is difficult to distinguish by loudness alone insult (v.), import (v.), below, from 'insult (n.), 'import (n.), 'billow, words in which different accentual patterns are not backed up by qualitative differences in the vowels. Quantity and quality—While accent is principally achieved by pitch change, '"sometimes assisted by extra loudness, among unaccented syllables some will be more prominent than others due to the quality and quantity of the vowels at their centre. (For varying prominence among sounds more generally, see |§5.5). Long vowels and diphthongs are generally more prominent than short vowels, while among the short vowels themselves /i,i,u,a/ are the least prominent and, when not accented by pitch or loudness, are often referred ■to as reduced (non-reduced vowels are said to be full). As far as prominence is concerned, syllabic consonants are considered to be sequences of/a/ plus /l,m,n,n/ and hence are equivalent to reduced vowels. The reduced vowels are so lacking in prominence that they have a high frequency of occurrence in unaccented as opposed to accented syllables, with hi occurring in citation forms only in unaccented syllables (though it may sometimes be accented in connected speech). Despite the lesser prominence of all short vowels, a long vowel in an unaccented syllable is sometimes longer than a short vowel in an adjacent accented syllable, e.g. pillow /'pilau/, ally /'alai/, frontier /'fl-Antis/, placard /'plaka:d/, record /'rekaid/, expert /'eksp3:t/. In similar cases where the unaccented syllable precedes the accent there is often alternation between a full and reduced vowel, e.g. July /chjui'lai/ /dja'lai/, November /nsu'vembs/ /na' vemba/, proceed /prau' siid/ /pra'siid/, September /sep'tembo/ /sap'tembs/. Some dialects, e.g. those of parts of northern England, are more likely to retain the full vowel in these positions, particularly in monosyllabic prefixes, e.g. obtain /nb'tein/ /ab'tem/, contain /kun'tem/ /kan'tem/, continue /knn'tmju/ /kan'tmju/, expect /ek'spelct/ /ik'spekt/ or /ak'spekt/. In some disyllables (both in GB and in other dialects) there may be alternation in the position of the primary accent with consequent alternation in the use of a full or reduced vowel, e.g. adult TadAlt/ vs fa'&iAil, contact (v.) /"kontakt/ vs /kan'takt/. 244 Words and connected speech Words 245 (4) Conclusion—There are therefore four degrees of prominence in i, | (a) primary accent, marked by the last major pitch prominence h (or longer utterance); "'ftf^Sj- (b) secondary accent, marked by a non-final pitch prominence i (or longer utterance); *p,4 (c) a minor prominence produced by the occurrence of a full vowe ■ ■■ ^-pitch prominence; ul* f- (d) a non-prominent syllable containing no pitch prominence an the reduced vowels /i,i,u,u,a/. J ~-~ S0.3 Word accentual patterns2 Although many longer words contain primary accented syllables, sum, accented syllables and prominent syllables based on vowel quality alr.u the position of the primary accent which contributes most to a word's e .lc-|iu.i pattern (and which will be the principal cue to the nuclear tone (see § I i, i t " Attempts to reduce the placement of primary accent in English wonK i,, j set of rules are bedevilled by the existence of large numbers of exceiilioi , -3 almost any rule. The following sections should therefore be regarded a - ,i j tendencies rather than absolute rules. The status of the final syllable as i;iu,n.> L" weak (together with the grammatical class of the word) often governs pnr;un accent placement. Syllables are here counted as strong when they contjir n long vowel or a diphthong or a short vowel plus two consonants; otherwise are weak. English words may be divided into roots which are can stand alone as \,i.r.1s and which have no affixes attached, e.g. fool., be gin and under'stand. Affixes include both suffixes like -alive in argumentative and prefixes like mis- ui misrule, stems are the base to which an affix is attached, which can be a ro..| in nation-al, sometimes referred to in what follows as a free stem; or the ,\ u can be one which cannot stand alone, as in ephemer-al, tremend-ous, hospit-ahU% referred to below as a bound stem. / 0.3.1 Roots Somewhat different tendencies apply to verbal, adjectival and nominal roots. Among other word classes, adverbs are generally derived from adjectival '>ol with no alteration to the accentual pattern, while the remaining classes consist of many monosyllabic words, with those few of more than one syllable having no regularity in their accentual patterns. (1) Verbs (a) If the final syllable is strong, it is accented, e.g. /n'leit/, /fas'tai7'. /a'raw/, /mein'tem/,/a'k3i/, /pa'siiv/, AviS'hauld/,/wi5'stand/, /pa' sv ■ " ■ /erits'tein/, /ri'fjuiz/, /a'grii/, ton'v3:t/, /kan'vikt/, ton'tern/, /in'klu:d/, feuva'teik/, /n'djekt/, /Anda'stand/, /dis'laik/, /a'doin/, /bi'liiv/, /priisa'pauz/, 'nn'vnlv/, /reka'mend/, /n'maind/, /m'tend/ Otherwise accent falls on the penultimate syllable, e.g. /sa'rends/, /'wisp^, /'poliJ7, /'PAMJ7, Idi velap/, /'w3ijip/, /'vizit/, /'gabp/, /'travol/, /s'sttrtiif/, /ig'zamm/, /Tisan/, /i'mad3in/, /n'zembal/ Some exceptions: unaccented strong final syllables: /'rekagnarz/, /'rralaiz/ accented weak final syllables: /im'pres/, /pa'zes/, /bi'gm/, /fa'get/, /fa'bid/, /pa'mit/ dives If the final syllable is strong, it is accented, e.g. /ma'fjua/, /si'kjoa/, /a'freid/, /a'sliip/, /kam'plkt/, /ik'striim/, /a'brApt/, /sa'blaim/, /g'teun/ ,hi Otherwise accent falls on the penultimate syllable or (with reduced vowel on the penultimate) on the antepenultimate, e.g. penultimate: /ik'sesiv/, /'njuitral/, /'sDkd/, /'kleva/, /"feimas/, /'nd3id/, /ik'splisit/, /krtnff denjal/ antepenultimate: /'nesasri/, /'deindjaras/, /'difikalt/, /'defmat/, /'mtrastrn/, /'pnsabal/, /'maivalas/, /'intimat/ Some exceptions: strong final syllables, unaccented: /'nmribAnd/, /'tantamaunt/, /'aragant/, /'important/ i - Nouns (a) If the final syllable is strong, it is optionally accented, e.g. /dis'pjuit/, /aifta'nuin/, /kanga'ru/, /ka'Jia/, /ai'dia/, /Jam'pem/, to'tai/, /ba'luin/, /pa'liis/, /ma'Jfin/ (b) Otherwise primary accent falls on the penultimate syllable or (with reduced vowel on the penultimate) on the antepenultimate or, rarely, on the ante-antepenultimate, e.g. strong final syllable, penultimate accent : /'praufail/, /ta'ma:tao7, /ta'bakau/, /pa'tertao/, /'wmdao/, /"pilau/, /' arau/, /'felau/, /'wilaoV, /'widau/, /sa'prainau/, /'maumant/, /'sAfiks/, /'baraks/, /"mirjz/ strong final, antepenultimate accent: /'anakdaut/, /'faranhart/, /'pedigrii/, /'apatait/, /'katarakt/, /a'setilkn/, /'telafaun/, /"antilaup/ weak final, penultimate accent: /m'kaunta/, /Tangwi single root or as a sequence of stem plus affix, e.g. treating it as an u root produces an exceptional accentual pattern for GB, i.e. 'cigarett which is correct for GA. Whereas an analysis into stem cigar plus 5 (next section) produces the correct accentual pattern cigarette for ( same way that disk becomes dis "kette. 10.3.2 Suffixes Suffixes may be added to a root as stem, e.g. nation-national, or the stem may consist of an already combined root plus suffix, e.g. national-nationalist- i nationalistic. Many suffixes have no effect on the accentual pattern of stems and ' hence are called accent-neutral; the primary accent remains where 1. - ir 1 ,c stem, e.g. "bitter-"bitterness. Many other suffixes regularly take the aci ■ 1 l-i. r-selves (are accent-attracting), e.g. "disc-dis'kette. A smaller and less pkJii.1 He number of suffixes have the effect of fixing the accent on a particular syllable"' of the stem (are accent-fixing). The accent can be fixed on the final syllable . of the stem, e.g. "sensitive-sensitivity, or on the penultimate syllable of the stem, e.g. ig'nore-'ignorance. Where more than one suffix is applied to a stem, the • last suffix determines the word's accentual pattern, e.g. fa~miliar~fan.il, ,:i,ty -familiari'sation. There are some endings deriving principally from Greek which are like suffixes but which are attached to beginnings also from Greek and m w Inch neither element has a greater claim to be considered as the stem, e.g. phonog' v*, microscope. These are not treated in this section, but dealt with under §10.3.5 ~> compounds, since their accentual patterning is similar to compounds. It should be remembered again that the following sections deal only in tendencies and not absolute rules. A distinction is made between inflexional suffixes, which do not change the word class, e.g. full-fuller, and derivational suffixes which do change the word class, e.g. lead-leader. (1) Accent-neutral suffixes—Included in this category are all inflexional r iJ many common derivational suffixes. Some inflexions are non-syllabic 1 I.- Words 247 jural possessive and third person singular -s (but these are syllabic follow-1 /s zj^if'^—see §10.10.4) and past tense -t (this is syllabic following . V-—see again §10.10.4); other inflexions are monosyllabic like -er, -est '"^patative, superlative) and -ing (progressive). Most derivational suffixes ■ iJir.ii ifl (or (e-§- ~ary> -ery> -°ty> -cy, -acy, -ty, diminutive -y or -ie, . ectjval -y and adverbial -ly) are accent-neutral, e.g. infirm-infirmary, •celibate-'celibacy, "difficult-"difficulty, 'pot-'potty, "bag~'baggy, "usual-'usudlfy- Other suffixes in this category include -ish, -ism, -ist, -ise, -ment and agentive -er and -ess, e.g. "fool-foolish, "alcohol-"alcoholism, 'separate-1, taratist, "circular-"circularise, disa'gree-disa'greement (but note in i-ii'licular the irregular "advertise-ad'vertisement), lead~"leader and "lion-' 1 iess. The suffix -alive generally belongs here, e.g. "quality-'qmlitative, nre'serve-pre'servative, repre'sent-repre'sentative, de"rh>e~de'rtvative. But there ' rj jxceptions which usually involve rightward movement, e.g. 'demonstrate-,'■ monstrative, "argument~argit"mentative, in"terrogate~inter'rogative, "alternate~al "ternative. 1 .ent-attr acting suffixes. Some common derivational suffixes in this category are -ade, -eer, -esque, -ette and -ation, e.g. es'cape-esca'pade, 'mountain~mountai"neer, 'picture-picturesque, "usher-ushe'rette, 'private-privatisation. Verbal -ate belongs here in disyllables, e.g. migrate (where mi- is a bound stem) (cf, GA 'migrate). .Accent-fixing suffixes. (a) On final syllable of stem. Here belong -ic, -ion and -ity, e.g. "chaos-cha"otic, de'vote-de'votion, 'curious-curi'osity. In the case of -ion most words are formed from free disyllabic verbal stems accented on the second syllable and -ion could therefore equally well be regarded as accent-neutral. !■ ■ On penultimate syllable of stem. The number in this category is small, the most important being verbal -ate in words of more than two syllables, most involving bound forms, e.g. inaugurate, exco'mmunicate, "operate. Here also belongs -itive, e.g. intu'ition-intuitive, po'sition-'positive. (c) On final or penultimate syllable of stem according to the weight of the final syllable. Here are -ency and adjectival -al, e.g. 'presidency but e 'mergency, 'pharynx-pha "ryngeal but "medicine-me 'dicinal. (d) A number of suffixes vacillate between two patterns. A common one is -able which is in most cases accent-neutral e.g. a'dore-a'dorable, com'panion-com'panionable, 'question-questionable, 'realise-Yealisable, "reconcite-'reconcilable. However, in a number of disyllabic stems with accent on the final syllable the accent may be shifted to the first syllable of the stem: "admirable, 'applicable, 'comparable, "despicable, "disputable, "lamentable, "preferable, 'reputable, (ir-) "reparable. But the general pressure from the accent-neutrality of -able often leads to alternative pronunciations of these words with the accent on the final syllable of the stem, e.g. 248 Words and connected speech admirable, applicable, comparable, despicable, disputable pre'ferable, reputable, re'parable. To add to the confusjojj some changes (again optional) in the opposite direction, e.g. 1 demonstrable.; 'extricate~(in-)ex'tricable, 'realise-realisable \ recon 'citable (all of which have an alternative form with initio The simplest statement is that it is possible to treat all as accen -r..! / 0.3.3 Prefixes Prefixes are generally accent-neutral, e.g. de-, dis-, in- (and various a>,. i forms like il~, im-, in-, ir-), mal-, mis-, pseudo-, re-, sub- and an-, e.g. ( disin'gemtous, inco'rrect, illiterate, imma'ture, irreverent, mal'fufiction,n;^, I pseudoscien'tific, rede'sign, substandard, unnecessary. In general such pi .-|^* result in a doubled consonant when the prefix-final and the stem-in itial < , * S are identical, e.g. unnecessary is pronounced with a double length (\ CV rule does not apply to in- and its variants, so, for example, illogical is pn r, Jncj?' with only a single III.) 10.3.4 Secondary accent3 When words have more than one syllable before or after the main .u-L-i [ t general rhythmical pattern is often apparent, there being a tendency to ill, nr 3 more prominent and less prominent syllables. Syllables made prominei-i t r[.is way will retain a full vowel; additionally syllables before the prima . ; will often receive a secondary accent involving pitch prominence (see ■ 1 ;\ j above). If there is only one syllable before the primary accent, this i- 1 im||v unaccented and has a reduced vowel4 e.g. apply, concern, a'round, de'cerve;-etc. If there are two syllables before the primary accent, the first will often receive a secondary accent, e.g. 'rhodo'dendron, 'medieval, 'represent, 'magazine. Indeed as indicated by pattern (3) under §10.3.1, primary siuv shows a tendency to move to the position of the secondary accent, prodi.CLu;, for example, maga'-ine in GB but 'magazine in GA (see also alternating ai *jr: under §10.4). Where there are more than two syllables before the prima accent, a secondary accent will fall two or three syllables back according to; I presence of afull vowel, e.g. inferiority, en'tkusi'astically, but 'circumlocution, 'characteristically. As in everything concerned with word accent in Rnelish, all of this section should be taken as indicating tendencies rather than rules 11,.:' are without exception. 10.3.5 Compounds compounds are composed of more than one root morpheme but function grammatically and/or semantically as a single word.5 In most cases the two roots are free morphemes themselves, e.g. as in blackbird: the largest type of exception Words 2-59 111 I ■; cerns the pseudo-compounds under (3) below. Compounds are grammatic-ftaiy when the combination of the grammatical classes of its two elements *kv J' " normally function as the type of constituent which the compound does, *°"'V ihredk is composed of the noun day plus the verb break but such a com-r ■ noun-verb does not normally constitute a noun phrase functioning as the of a sentence as the compound does in Daybreak comes early in summer. jC"j1". ounj js semantically unitary because it has a meaning representing a * "* (ised conjunction of the meanings of its two components, e.g. glasshouse '"deed loosely a type of house and is made of glass but the compound cannot fused to describe any sort of glass house. Compounds may be written as one W_> as with daybreak and glasshouse, or with a hyphen as in clear-cut, or with Kmce between the two elements, as in working parly; there is no systematic V ei ce in the choice among these three ways, although there is a tendency for 1 * rounds with primary accent on the first element to be written as one word l'.'.-ha hyphen and for those with the primary accent on the final element to itten as two words. 1 primary accent in compounds is most commonly on the first element, e.g. reak, 'glasshouse and in some cases this type of accentuation will distinguish 8 compound from a more productive phrasal pattern, e.g. glass 'house (but 3te that a contrastive accent within the phrase will produce the same pattern ■,«* compound, e.g. This is a 'brick house, not a 'glass house). There are, Mcver, many compounds (judged as such on grammatical and semantic criteria) hich have the same pattern as phrases, e.g. Oxford 'Road. There are also often flerences between the accentuation of compounds in GB and in GA, e.g. GB one 'chestnut, 'stage manager, 'season ticket, compared with GA 'horse lestnut, 'stage manager, 'season 'ticket. Where the primary accent is on the ■ ;cond element, a secondary accent is usual on the first element. Where the primary accent is on the first element, a full vowel is usually retained in the final .■lemenl. In the following sections the principal types of compound are exempli-nedtogether with their usual accentual patterns. 1 !): Compounds functioning as nouns—This is by far the most frequent type of compound (and accounts for approximately 90 per cent). Three subtypes (a), (b), (c) can be distinguished: (a) 'N(oun) + N(oun) (around 75 per cent of compound nouns)—a'drenaline tourism, 'alcohol abuse, 'bank account, 'bar code, 'birthplace, 'blood-money, 'bomb factory, 'bottle bank, breadcrumbs, car 'boot sale, 'child abuse (but cf. child 'benefit), com'passion fatigue, com'puter virus, con trol freak, 'crime rate, 'deckchair, de 'signer steroid, 'drug addict, 'enterprise culture, 'fun run, 'grief inflation (three-minute rather than one-minute silences), 'guidebook, 'keyboard, lager lout, 'laptop, lifestyle, 'mountain bike, 'nursemaid, 'ozone layer, 'peace dividend, police force, 'pressure group, 'racehorse, 'road rage, 'seaside, 'shopping centre, 'slummy 250 Words and connected speech mummy (slatternly mother), 'spin doctor, 'stock exchange, \ape 'theme park, 'toilet roll, 'torture victim, 'wheelbarrow, 'yie[^ >1''3' ment. Included here are examples involving nouns in f5n!lj ' formed from V(erb) + er e.g. 'bodyscanner, 'bricklayer, 'cash) 1"'"^' 'screwdriver, Screensaver. 'P "J*i5Si Some general categories of exception to the accentual r 'N + N are: M Urf- sfe" (i) where the second item is 'made' of the first item, e.g. c (butcf. 'apple tree), banana 'split (but cf. 'orange juice), bi chocolate 'biscuit, clay 'pigeon, cotton 'wool (cf. 'lafi;.,.. dirt 'road (cf. 'footpath), elderberry 'wine, feather 'pn, i(' f] 'salad, ice'cream,paper' bag (cf. 'paper clip), rice 'pud I m ^ cf. 'ricepaper) "* (ii) where Nl is a name: Bermuda 'triangle, Euston 'station, \ 'pudding (but cf. 'Christmas card, 'Christmas cake, the latter h cake generally produces a pattern of 'N + N, e.g. 'car 'Eccles cake, 'chocolate cake, 'cheesecake), Highlai Number 'bridge, knickerbocker 'glory, Lancashire 'hotpot ' aubii^ 'Road (Road always induces this pattern whereas Strep; ind^.- * 'N+N, e.g. 'Oxford Street), Manchester U'nited, Mexican w -alternating 'current, flying 'saucer, living 'memory and also bl ■ 'economy, compact 'disc, insider 'dealing.) Compounds involving these patterns are much less productive than those under (a) above. Words 251 phrasal and prepositional verbs used as nouns—'burn-out, 'buyout, 'cock-, n 'lay-offs, 'let-down, 'melt-down, 'rave-in, 'ring-around, 'run around, ••jet-up, 'showdown, 'work-around. Note also 'bypass. viinds functioning as adjectives and verbs—These are much more V ' ' d m number than those under (1). They divide fairly evenly between wjth initial accent and those with final accent: (a) Adjectives: " (i) with initial accent: 'bloodthirsty, 'gobsmacked, 'headstrong, 'henpecked, 'ladylike, 'moth-eaten, 'seasick, 'sell-by (date), 'dumbstruck, 'trustworthy, 'waterproof 'workshy. Those compound adjectives where N is a special application of A generally take this pattern, e.g. 'carefree, 'lovesick, as do those involving N + past participle, 0 e.g.'bedridden, 'sunlit, 'time-honoured, 'weather-beaten. =: (ii) with final accent: deep- 'seated, faint- 'hearted, good- 'natwed, ham-'fisted, long-'suffering, long-'winded, rent-'free, skin 'deep, sky 'blue, stone 'dead, tax 'free, tight-'knit, user-'friendly. Those compound adjectives where N modifies an A generally take this pattern, e.g. dirt 'cheap, stone- 'deaf as do sequences of A + V + ing and A (or ADV) + A, e.g. easy 'going, high flying, long 'suffering, overripe, over'due, red'hot. (b) Verbs—The number of compounds functioning as verbs (if we exclude phrasal and prepositional verbs) is very small. They usually involve initial accent, e.g. 'babysit, 'backbite, 'badmouth, 'browbeat, 'headhunt, 'sidestep, 'sidetrack, 'wheelclamp, ring fence. The sequence ADV or PKHP +V generally takes final accent, e.g. backfire, out'number, out'wit, over 'sleep, under 'go. (3) Pseudo-compounds—There are some complex words (often of Greek origin) made up of two bound forms which individually are like prefixes and " suffixes and it is thus difficult to analyse such words as prefix plus stem or stem plus suffix, e.g. 'microwave, 'telegram, 'thermostat, an'tithesis, 'circumflex, fungicide, kaleidoscope, 'monochrome, 'prototype. Since they have no clear stem, these sequences are here referred to as pseudo-compounds. From these examples it can be seen that, as with compounds generally, the primary accent usually falls on the first element (but not invariably, e.g. it falls on the second element of homo 'phobic, hypo 'chondriac). The accentual patterns of pseudo-compounds are affected by suffixes as if they were simple stems, thus 'telephone, tele'phonic, te'lephonist; 'photograph, pho'tographer, photo 'graphic. Finally, it should be pointed out that the dividing line between phrase and compound is often difficult to draw. It is particularly difficult in those cases where tire sequence of word classes involves regular constituents of a phrase 252 Words and connected speech (and where the primary accent is kept on the second item) but wVip location has become idiomatic (i.e. semantically specialised), as. Ft,-'."'lc in ethnic 'cleansing, global 'warming, third 'world, where A and Nf u ''""s^ constituents of a noun phrase but where the sequence has acquired a ' meaning. 10.4 Word accentual instability Variation in the accentual patterns of particular words occurs as the res rhythmic and analogical pressures, both of which often also entail chari] vowels and, to a lesser extent, consonants.6 (1) Rhythmic changes—In some words containing more than two syllables appears to be a tendency to avoid a succession of weak syllables, esp^ -.u. if these have Is/ or l\l. Thus, in words of three syllables, there is vai between ['--] and [-'-] patterns, e.g. exquisite /'ekskwizit/ or /tk-'skwi/i:,* deficit /'defrsrt/* or /dffrsit/, integral /'intigral/* or /rn'tegrsl/, miscki /'miftfivss/* or /mij"tfi:v9s/ (or even /mif'tfnvras/), inculcate /'irjkAl-or /m'kAlkert/, acumen /'akjuman/* or /s'kjmmsn/, kilometre /'kibmi.i j ., /ki'lnmits/*, sonorous /"stmaras/* or /sa'noiras/, precedence /'presidn /prfshdns/, inventory /'imvantari/* or/im'ventsri/. There is variation be [-'-] and [--'] in importune /rm'po:jfu:n/ or /impa'tfuin/* and betweei and [--] in premature /'premafs/* or /prema'ljua/. Similarly, in words of four syllables, there is variation between first and s syllable accenting, e.g. controversy /IcDntravaisi/ or /ksn'trwssi/*, hosp /'rrospitabi/ or /hrj'sprtabl/*, despicable IdCsprkabl/* or /'despiksbl/,/o/-»ji /fs'midabl/* or /'foimidobl/, capitalist /'kapitslist/* or /ks'pitahst/, aris /"aristakrat/* or /a'nstskrat/, metallurgy /'metsteidsi/ or /ms'talsdji/*; and vai pi-w in second and third syllable accenting in centrifugal/sen'trifjugl/ or /sentrffjuiqi'f. Television now has the pattern /'tehvrjn./* predominantly, the variant /teh'vrjn/ being less common. Longer words, too, often exhibit a tendency towards the alternation of aco and unaccented syllables with various rhythmic patterns, e.g. /af tikjulatri/ /aitikjuTertsri/, Caribbean /ks'nbian/ or /kari'biian/*, necessarily I nesasantr or /ness'serrli/*, inexplicable /inik'sphksbl/* or /in'eksplikabl/. Many compounds are subject to the accentual shift described in §12.3, e.g. afternoon but 'afternoon 'tea. Many others may vary in their accentual patiem between GB and GA, e.g. Adam's 'apple (GB) vs "Adam's apple (GA), peanut 'butter (GB) vs 'peanut butter (GA), shop 'steward (GB) vs 'shop stevt ard (GA), stage 'manager (GB) vs 'stage manager (GA), vocal 'cords (GB) vs 'vocal cords (GA), 'season ticket (GB) vs season 'ticket (GA). As can be soji nearly all of these involve a shift from final accent in GB to initial acn.-i.i in GA. Words 2S3 logical changes—It sometimes happens that a word's accentual pattern fjuericed not oniy by rhythmic pressure but also by the accentual struc-0f a related word of frequent occurrence. Thus, the analogy of the root is apply /s'plsil, prefer /pn'f3:/, compare /kan'pei/, is responsible for realisation of applicable, preferable, comparable (see also §10.3.2(3)(d)), vpliksbl, pnfeirsbl, lram'peirabl or kam'parabl/ rather than /'aplikabl, ^■(sXsbl. 'kranp^rebl/*. Again, the existence of contribution, distribution -ntrf bjuijh, 'distn'bjuijh/ may account for the pronunciation /Tcontribjuit, •disttibju't/ (contribute, distribute) instead of the more usual /ton'tnbjurt, dis'tribjmt/*, where the first syllable is reduced and the last retains only a prominence based on its full vowel. In the case of dis 'pute (n.) the verb form has generalised (contrary to the usual direction of influence noted in §10.5(2) below). 10 5 Distinctive word accentual patterns I lit accentual pattern of a word establishes the relationship of its parts; it may also . e a distinctive function in that it opposes words of comparable sound structure | identical spelling). Such word oppositions (for the most part disyllables of nch origin) may or may not involve phonemic changes of quality. A relatively small number7 of pairs of noun and verb may differ only in the location of the primary accent, this falling on the first syllable in the nouns and on the second in the verbs. In most cases (though not all) the differing accentual patterns for nouns and verbs can be related to the accentual tendencies of roots given under §10.3.1. Some speakers may reduce the vowel in the first syllable of the verbs to hi: Verb /ak'sent/ or /sk'sent/ /daf cfjest/ or /digest/ /torment/ accent digest torment transfer transport Noun /'aksent/ or /'aksmV /"daidjest/ /'tounent/ /'transf3:/8 /'transport/8 /trans'fa:/8 /tran'spoit or /trans' fill * or /trsn'spoit/ (2) In a somewhat larger number of pairs the occurrence of 1st or III in the first syllable of the verb is more regular (although the full vowel may be kept in some dialects outside GB, in particular in northern England), m a few cases there may be a reduction of the vowel in the second element of the noun: combine compress concert conduct consort Noun/Adjective /'kombam/ /'kümpres/ /'künsst/ /'krjndAkt/ /'knnsoit/ Verb /kgm'bam/ /ksm'pres/ /kon S3it/ /kan'dAkt/ /kon'soit/ 254 Words and connected speech contract /'kontrakt/ contrast /'kontra: st/ convict /'ktmvikt/ desert /'dezat/ export /'ekspo:t/ object /'T>b(%ikt/ perfect /'P3ifikt/ permit /'p3imit/ present /'preznt/ proceeds /'praushdz/ produce /'proems/ progress /"prgugres/ project /'prodjekt/ protest /'prautest/ rebel /'rebl/ record /'rekord/ refuse /'refjurs/ segment /'segmant/ subject /'sAbdjrkt/ survey /'S3:vei/ /kan'trakt/ /kan'traist/ /kan'vrkt/ /di'z3:t/ /ik'spo.'t/ /sVcfeekt/ /pa'fekt/ /pa'rait/ /pri'zent/ /pra'skdz/ /prs'c^u'.s/ /pra'gres/ /pra'djekt/ /pra'test/ /n'bel/ /n'koid/ /n'tjuiz/-0 /seg'ment/ /sab'dsekt/ /sa'vei/ Several disyllables do not conform to the general noun/verb accentual or exhibit instability, e.g. comment /'knment/ for both noun and verb; /"kDntakt/ (n.) and /'kontakt/, /kpn'takt/ or /kan'takt/ (v.); afe/ai7 /'dirted, (r; and /'dirteil/ or /di:'teil/ (v.); contrast has a verbal form /'ktmtra: Words 255 rtumt"-'1' of adjectives and verbs show a similar relationship in accentual ' 'Vaaain with some pairs having only a difference in the last full or reduced tract •ent pent tfnate mate arate Adjective /'abstrakt/ /'abssnt/ /' friikwant/ /oil'fainat/ /'intimat/ /' separat/ /ab'strakt/ /ab'sent/ /fŕi'.'kwent/ /'o:ltaneit/ /'mtimert/ /'separeit/ ■B the more usual form given above. The verb .:st/in addition to survey may have the same at .u :M pattern as the noun in the particular sense of Ho carry out a survey' In all these t^V: °^^:e^^ fo- has g-eralised,R SíffÄcases the dlstmcfion lies onIy m tbe reduced or ful1 VOWÍ I u associate attribute compliment envelope/envelop estimate interchange prophecy/prophesy reprimand supplement Noun/Adjective /a'saüsjat, -slat, /'atribjuit/ /' krimp hmant/ /'envalaup/ /'estimat/ /'mtatfemd3/ /'piTjfSsi/ /'reprimand/ /'sAplrmsnt/ Verb -Js>t/ /a'saosiert, a'ssößenf /s'tnbju'.t/ /komplťment/ /'kompliment/ /m'velsp/ /'estrrnert/ /arts'(fenidý /'prefisai/ /repn'maind/ /sApli'ment/ /'sApliment/ Mi > is alternation between noun and adjective between compact /'kompakt/ j nJ compact /karn'pakt/ (adj.) and between minute /'mmrt/ (n.) and minute '..1Äf, |j-'t/ (adj.) 10 6 Acquisition of word accent by native learners , n,, jreá appears in general not to be a problem for native learners and, because complexities involved, it must be assumed that the accentual patterns of áre leamt individually as they are heard (unlike most foreign learners, .children hear rather than see such new words). This may even apply to -Hiif-.iologically complex words. Children generally place the primary accent on Jie correct syllable of words. However, they frequently omit unaccented syllables before the primary accent, e.g. banana ['ncuna], guitar [ta:], elastic ['rati], or, tentatively, all such syllables may be reduced to a single shape, e.g. [rfnaina], n'ta:], [n lati], 10.7 Word accent—advice to foreign learners Many learners come from language backgrounds where word accent is regular, in the first syllable in Finnish and German, on the penultimate syllable in Polish and Spanish and on the final syllable in French and Turkish. But in English there mm such regular pattern and the differing accentual patterns of words are as ■nportant to their recognition as is the sequence of phonemes. Although the accentual patterns are not as regular as in many other languages, there are nevertheless tendencies and the foreign learner can definitely be helped by learning some of these tendencies. In particular he should pay attention to the influence of suffixes on the placement of primary accent (§10.3.2), noting /Whether the suffix leaves the accent on the stem unchanged (as with the inflexional suffixes, with adjectival -y, with adverbial -ly and with -er and -ish), whether it : iakes the accent itself (as with -ation) or whether it moves the accent on the stem .(as with -ate and -ily). Learners should also pay particular attention to the role of accentual contrast in those cases where word classes are distinguished by a shift of accent (§10.5), 256 Words and connected speech at the same time making appropriate reduction of unaccented vowel? Tfc^ not, however, extend such variation of accentual patterns indiscrinjj' all disyllables, e.g. report, delay, select, reserve, account, which have tS:' pattern in both verb and noun/adjective functions. * 10.8 Elision and epenthesis Since OE, it has always been a feature of the structure of English wc-j'- ~J the weakly accented syllables have undergone a process of reduction, ii,'C', loss of vowels and consonants (see §6.3). The same process of reductiim resultant contraction, may be observed in operation in GB. It is import?i\r hnw§ ever, to distinguish between cases of elision which have been establishsc » *!% language for some time (although the spelling may still reflect an earliet iJSm form) and those which have become current only recently. In these latter';, the forms exhibiting elision are typical of rapid and casual speech, m l »2| slower, more careful speech tends to retain the fuller form under the prese uet3 influence of die spelling. The examples of elided word forms in casual speed' Wiuajjy are given below are independent of the type of reduction affecting uriiK^-jjPIB words and syllables in connected speech (see §12.4.6). (1) Vowel elision'0 (a) Historical—Loss of weakly accented vowels in words has K-si.ijri. occurred in the history of English and often shows up in disca-pnioi* between spelling and pronunciation, e.g. in Gloucester /glnsta/,^ -.iv.ij A fend/, gooseberry /'guzbri/. (b) Present—In GB elision is likely to take place in a sequence of ubu >„lfj syllables, particularly where hi and III are involved. Thus, in iv-.ii. citm after the primary accent, particularly in the sequence consonant + -/rflj + reduced vowel, the hi between the C and the hi is regularly losi. .. ^ in preferable /'prefrabl/; similar reductions occur in repertory, comparable^, territory, lavatory, anniversary, vicarage, category, factory, robbeiyM murderer Pm3ldral, customary, camera, honourable, sat^'—i:',^ /sas'faktri/, suffering, beverage, rhinoceros, nursery, Nazareth,JiiheruaM treasury, natural /'natfral/, dangerous, utterance, history, ordmar>' Though generally a feature of casual speech, these elisions oft :i .rl regularly within the speech of an individual, the fuller version not foi ing a part of his idiolect. A more recent development" concerns I sequence til + weak vowel + C, in which the weak vowel may K i '■"'■^i leaving a preconsonantal (possibly syllabic) hi (even though ' I * p not normally occur before a consonant in GB), e.g. barracking I'bwkir' borrowing /'burwirj/, Dorothy /'dorSi/, barrier /'barjs/. In the same way, there may be an elision of a weak vowel following a cons 'i || and preceding IV, or the reduction of syllabic [1] to syllable-marginal IV, in wo i| Words 257 g doubling, fatalist, paddling, bachelor, specialist, usually, insolent, tkfylky, buffalo, novelist, family, panelling, particular, chancellor. Note, ». i0Ss of post-primary hi or hi in university /juinf V3".sti/, probably J^T ,>,fficult /'difkhV, national Ana/nl/, fashionable /'fajrwbl/, reasonably ^ larliament /'pailmsnt/. A similar process may apply with the loss -icity me present participles of verbs such as flavour, lighten and Jr „here the hi may be elided or the syllabic consonant [n] replaced by •Slabic consonant marginal to the syllable. Thus /'flewrirj/, /Tanrurj/ and "jjH^jji/ pjace of/'flervarirj/, /Tartanirj/ and /'Giksmrj/ respectively. It may be Eftat some speakers make a regular distinction between the participle with syllables and the noun of two syllables exhibiting elision, e.g. lightning taniq' and lightening /Taitanu]/. glje.primary positions, hi or hi of the weak syllable preceding the primary isapt to be lost in rapid speech, especially when the syllable with primary -i has initial IV or /r/,12 e.g. in police, parade, terrific, correct, collision, Mate, balloon, barometer, direction, delightful, gorilla, government f'gAvmsnt/', & philology, veranda, voluptuous, saloon, solicitor, syringe, charade; h0 with a continuant consonant preceding and a consonant other than l\l or ■following, e.g. in phonetics, photography, thermometer, supporter, suppose, % circumference. Note, too, the elision of hi in perhaps /p'haps/ and of • % geometry /'dpmatri/, geography /"dpgrefiV. -) Consonant elision (a) Historical—The reduction of many consonant clusters has long been established, e.g. initial /w,k,g,/ in write, know, gnaw; medial III + In! or III in fasten, listen, often, thistle, castle; post-vocalic /h/ in brought, night; post-vocalic [I] in baulk, talk, walk; and final /b,m/ in lamb, tomb, hymn. (b) Present—In GB /t,d/ may be lost when medial in a cluster of three consonants, although retention of /t,d/ is characteristic of careful speech, e.g. handsome, windmill, handbag, friendship, kindness, landlord, landscape, lastly, restless, wristwatch, Westminster, coastguard, dustman, mostly, perfectly, exactly, facts. 191 is normally elided from asthma and isthmus and may sometimes be omitted from months, twelfths, fifths, as is IQI from clothes; and in rapid speech elision of Ikl in asked and III in only may occur. [1] is apt to be lost when 4. preceded by h:l (which has a resonance similar to that of [1]), e.g. always /'oiwiz/, already /of redi/, although, /of dau/, all right /of rait/, almanac /'oimanak/. ; Iff: may be lost in clusters where its position is homorganic with that of a preceding plosive, e.g. glimpse /glims/. In words like attempts and prompts, both Jpl and III may be elided, e.g. h'terns/, /proms/. Elision is less common in the sequence /rjks/ in inks. 258 Words and connected speech Where there are two /r/s in a word, one of them in an unaccent rf be elided, e.g. pronunciation /pa'nAnsierJh/, programme Apaug Asekatri/, extraordinary /ik'straidni/. In some words whole syllables311 e.g. literary /Titri/, February Afebri/, library /Taibri/, tempore-^ primarily /'praimrali/. Whole syllables may even be elided where one Irl in the full form, e.g. temperature /'temfa/, (3) Epenthesis" The elision of hi in words like vents is sometimes counterbal,,.-type of epenthesis whereby a III in inserted in words like dance, j,->-^ ■ bounce, so that and tense may sound the same as either /ten, nr'.tJisSl Epenthetic Ixl may also occur before /0J7 as in anthem /'an(t)9ai i /'pen(t)Jan/, (but in the latter there is no coalescence to /if/—see ^1 alternation does not apply following IV, so that else and mt'/As hu-,^> final clusters. While epenthetic Ixl occurs between an In/ and /9,sJ7, similarly an eps. rhj or /k/ may occur between an /ra,rj/ and a following fricative as 'n /traiAm(p)fs/, warmth /wo;m(p)9/, confuse /kam(p)'fju:z/, Kingston 11,[, L.(| Epenthesis is less common before a voiced fricative, e.g. in lamt, ani;| rings /rm(g)z/, so wins is rarely pronounced the same as winds /win(i 11' It is epenthesis in king-size, note that it is a Iql that is inserted, i.e. / i> ■sa.*,"'"'", suggesting that king has a different base form from Kingston /'kigC.'-m 10.9 Variability in the phonemic structure of words In connected speech English words exhibit variations of accentual -n s-id' changes of a phonemic or phonetic kind, involving assimilation jnd el iu-^ especially at word boundaries (see Chapter 12), There is also often a rema l-dilf I latitude in the choice of phonemes used in words when said in isolation h\ OWf speakers. Even with the exclusion of cases of differing phonemic invei .jries'i —e.g. the choice between using /hw/ or /w/ for wh words or lo'.i or losl in ■:I of the bore type—there remains a high degree of variability within th< u e variety of pronunciation. The permissible variations concern mainly vow I a few cases of a choice of consonant also occur. The following are ex; I within GB: (1) Vowels /i:/~/l/ acetylene, economy; ~/e/ economics, premature, paracetamol 21 ■ deity; ~/ai/ Argentine, iodine ■ /i,i/~/e/ alphabet, orchestra; ~/ai/privacy, dynasty; -let/ magistrate, h ■ ~/a/ believe, system, adequate lel-leil again, maintain; ~/a/ accent; ~/a/ extraordinarily /-erili, arili /a/~/a:/ graph, translate; ~/ei/ patriot, apical; ~/sl agnostic Words 259 tfj constable, combat; ~/s/ bankrupt I salt, wrath, Australia; ~hl obscure, obligatory „/ua/ sure, poor #1/ room, groom «u!/ suit, supreme „/Q:/ data, esplanade Ulst allocate, phonetics Wkjtjl~>'fl amateur; /tj/~/]J7 actual. Christian; /dj/~/clj/ educate, grandeur; Wht~/3l garage; lgl~/^/ pedagogic; /nf/~/nJ7 French, branch; /ndjA-Zny Menge, strange; /kl~fkwl quoits; /nk/~/n/ anxious; /rjg/~/rj/ English, language, siic; /sj/~/si/~/Ji/ associate; /sj/~/J/ issue, sexual; lzj/~l^/ usual, azure; Asia; t%l~lzl usage, unison; /f/~/p/ diphthong, naphtha r |» |0 Phonotactics jtL^criCS. or the way that phonemes combine, shows that English does not ' j0it ai! the possible combinations of its phonemes in syllables and words. For %laariee. long vowels and diphthongs do not precede final /rj/;M /e,a,a,d/ do not sEccur finally; and the consonant clusters permitted are subject to consffaints ' "1 both initial and final positions. Initially, /rj/ does not occur; no combinations '■'ixpossible with /lf,d3,5,z/; /rj,w/ can occur in clusters only as the non-initial ' "f lenient,such initial sequences as /fs,mh,stl,spw/ are unknown. Finally, only A r 'ay occur before non-syllabic /m,n/; /h,rj,w/ do not occur in the type of pi ■iremic analysis here used (see §§8.2, 8.5); and terminal sequences such as ■ ,h ip,lo,3bd/ are not used. \ though the general pattern of word-initial and word-final phoneme sequences - is ilain. there are certain problems: n..(|i Some sequences are exemplified only by single words which are themselves of rare occurrence, e.g. /smj-/ smew, /gj-/ gules. Nevertheless such lequences are generally included in the statements of potential clusters given in Table 15. Ci Some sequences are exemplified only by their use in certain proper names, e.g. /gw-/ Gwen (and various other names of Welsh origin). Again, such sequences are generally included in Table 15. 11: Some sequences are exemplified only in recently imported foreign words, often themselves proper names, e.g. a number of words, including schnapps and Schweppes, involving initial clusters beginning with /J7. If such words are judged to be in common use, the clusters they exemplify are included, -.. but marked as such, in the statements in Table 15. (4) Sometimes a word or a group of words have more than one accepted pronunciation, one of which provides a unique sequence of phonemes. Thus width, breadth, hundredth have variants with 1X0/ or 1661; only the 260 Words and connected speech more common ltd/ is included in Table 16, since /dfl/ is the u pronunciation, and /t9/ follows a common pattern whereby all'iV involving plosives, fricatives and affricates are either wholly v • wholly voiced. Words like French, range can be pronounced #■ or /nf,n3/; both possibilities are common and have been includei. -u-,. many speakers do not distinguish the final clusters of prince and n §10.8(3) above), the possibility is sufficiently widespread for ioi| /-nts/ to be considered as possible final clusters. (5) An attempt to include sequences of consonant plus syllabic nasal i would unnecessarily complicate the statement of word-final sequences are therefore taken as a variant of hi plus nasal or later (6) The greater complexity of final consonant clusters is largely 3i for by the fact that final /t,d,s,z/ frequently represent a suffixedmiMoh* (e.g. possessive <-s> or past tense <-ed>). However, because ).■(.-a few monomorphemic words like axe /aks/, text /tekst/, the staterri^rt word-final clustering possibilities would not be significantly Slll „i(^g by excluding such suffixes. It would, however, be simplified if it ds jit were treated as appendices or 'extrametrical' to the basic syllable:,lrjv:^« (particularly since the sonority hierarchy is often violated— so.- * 5.5.3). Such treatment of/s/ as an appendix could be extended to its oi, ur c-kJ % \ in word-initial position, which would eliminate all three-membet Jl>;i*'*"£ ■ in that position. But, in the interests of keeping as near as p( ■ He [, /at/ the i of the letter , /go/ owe and the name of the letter , /is/ ear ■ air. In addition, lil occurs as a weak form of he, lul as a weak form of who, /ml for the the exclamation ooh and /oi/ may occur in 1 j exclamation ay! (2) Initial V All vowels occur initially, /o/ and /us/ occur only in such foreign prccr names as Uppsala, /op'sails/ and Urdu /'osdu/ (3) Initial CY lr)l does not occur initially. /$/ occurs initially before hi, hi, Ihl, hi, mi en I /a:/ in such foreign words as Genet, gigolo, Zkivago, gigue, gite, jabot, gt ■ and gendarme. The other consonants generally occur before all vow though marked deficiencies are evident before /ua,u,oi/. (4) Initial CC(V) Initial CC(V) are shown in Table 15. ".pttb freely o occurs in recent imports - H$ occurs almost only before /u:,rj^, e.g. cute, cure; it also occurs before /oil in words when inferred as an alternative to /oa/, e.g. moor, poor, sure, rmj-/ occurs in music, museum, mutiny. TSl W-ciSsterS are heard in a number of recent imports from French, e.g. puissance /'pwnsans/, ; rfeVbtvat/, moj and moire both /mwa*./, (pete] noire /nwa:/, voyeur MvaTs:/. Initial /tw,dw,gw/ reoccur before a restricted set of vowels. Aiw/ is no longer current as an initial GB sequence (tough it persists in some other accents, e.g. Scottish). a pati&fvr-f occur in Vladivostok and vraom, /sr-/, /sf/ and isv-t in Sri Lanko, sphinx and svelte, 'h/JK/w-. Jp-, Jm-, Jh-/ in a number of imports mainly from German and Yiddish, e.g. Ififesi/iger, schwa, spiel, shtook, schmalz, schnapps. S ($) Initial iX.aV) . /s/:is the essential first element of CCC clusters; the second element is a voiceless stop; the third element must be one of /l,rj,w/. Of the 12 potential CCC sequences, /spw-, stl-, stw-/ do not occur. /CCj/ occurs only before /u:/ •: or /us/, e.g. scuba, skewer; /ski-/ occurs only before /a/, though the items ■sclerosis, sclerotic admit the variants /skle-, skli-, sklra-/. The name of the bird smew provides a single example of the initial sequence /smj-/. M t 10.10.2 Ward-final phoneme sequences (1) Final V ; .j No short vowels apart from /i,u/ occur in final position. (2) Final (V)C /r,hj,w/ do not occur finally in the present phonemic analysis of GB (see note to §8.2). l-i,! occurs finally only after /i:,a:,u:,ei/ in words of recent French origin, like liege, camouflage, rouge and beige, /rj/ occurs only after /i,a,A,n/. (3) Final (V)CC These are shown in Table 16. 262 Words and connected speech Table 16 Final (V)CC clusters in GB. P+ t+ k+ b+ d+ S+ Í+ t.c e vhrcb involve a combination of the two types of CC clusters, i.e. /m.n.nj.s/ plus C plus *Uz6/ These nearly all involve suffixes, e.g. jumps, cults, lists but there are a few monomor-.-.'ebiic words, eg mulct, calx. "Those which involve the double application of /t,d,s,z,9/; the majority again involve suffixes, e.g. ' tfta-/fiffis/, products TprixlAkts/, acts /akts/. These are all commonly reduced to /fifs/./'prudAks/, J,'iiv) "^ereare two common monomorphemic words, text and next pronounced /tekst/,/neksi/ mmonly reduced to /tela/ and /neks/. *vr cli'.rers predominantly follow short vowels. 10 of the 49 CCC final clusters occur after only > « vo*= 4 after III as in midst, sixth, kilns, fifths, 4 after lei as in depths, Jensed, length, twelfth, '* | jjt^ , as in bulged, I after /a/ thousandth; many of these can with elision be reduced to two iment about English phonotactics (particularly that part concerning final lers) can clearly be made if such consonants, which are all apical ohsrrnenis, are treated as appendices and excluded from the basic statement. i a vowel inventory of 20 items and the possible initial and final consonant clusters given above, it is clear that a large number of potential combinations are not utilised. Thus, such unused monosyllabic words as the -ollowing conform to an already existing pattern: /faud, sarch;, niDmp, bru:1f, pli:k. spl/Uc, streoy. If, in addition, gaps were filled on the grounds of general patterning, it would be possible to construct words of an English :phonological character with, for instance, initial /fu-, ra:-, gloi-, skra-, sprao-/ or final /-org, -an]", -unit, -aindj, -Akst/, etc. '8.10.3 Word-medial syllable division ^fid-medial consonant sequences are of course longer than those in initial and final positions since they combine syllable-coda and syllable-onset positions, "•'r le word-initial naturally equates with syllable-onset and word-final with '.■1 iible-coda, any word-medial sequence has to be divided between coda and "'■t-t. (In this section syllable division is marked by a stop, e.g. /a.'reams/.) ^ i ie of the criteria for dividing such sequences have already been discussed "■' 5,5.5.3. The three basic criteria are morphemic (syllable boundaries should 264 Words and connected speech correspond with moipheme boundaries); phonotactic (syllable divk accord with what we know about syllable onsets and codas from and word-final positions); and allophonic (syllable division should prLT allophonic variation). These principles sometimes conflict or give iC|. A further principle is sometimes applied in such cases, the maximal onsei pi which sets a preference for assigning consonants to onsets on the basis '-ij.'^"-are more commonly complex in languages than codas. The little experjp' evidence that there is also suggests a general preference for onset syllabifies The case of single medial consonants is exemplified by motive (with" vowel in the accented first syllable) and by butter (with a short accented first syllable). In the case of motive, the phonotactic principle is sa either way while the application of the allophonic principle is uncertain is no instrumental evidence about possible shortening before IV altho'ug probable that this does not apply). So, using the maximal onset principle, »>,„■* is generally syllabified as /'mau.tiv/, as are other similar words with a long e.g. autumn, suitor, survey. In the case of butter, words do not end in the phonotactic principle suggests AbAt.s/, which accords with the al'Io'f iji^ shortening of/a/ before Itl and the same syllabification is generally appiitj [' similar words with a short vowel, e.g. bitter, supper, knickers. Medial CC sequences are exemplified in sequel (with a long vowel" accented first syllable) and petrol (with a short vowel in the accented h * syllable). In the case of sequel, both /sii.kwal/ and /silk.wsl/ are divisions accord with the phonotactic principle. However, /'sii.kvral/ accords bi 1 u ^ the allophonic principle whereby the /w/ following Ikl is devoiced Th labification applies to other cases of CC following a long vowel, e.g. progr, perfume, awkward. In the case of petrol, /petrel/ accords with the pi -1 hj.. c principle, but does not accord with the allophonic devoicing of hi, \ /pe.trel/ correctly predicts the devoicing of Itl (following Itl), but does not 2 with the phonotactic principle (words do not end in Id). Applying the mi» 11 d onset principle resolves the problem in favour of the latter solution. In w the phonotactic and allophonic principles would allow both /'win.dac /'wmisu/; the maximal onset principle decides in favour of /'win.dsuA: l"he ■ J phonotactic principle would give us /'plas.tik/ but the allophonic principle Apla.stik/ because of the unaspirated Itl and this is endorsed by the maximum onset principle as well as being in accord with the experimental evidence.1 The case of longer medial sequences is exemplified by extra /ekstrs/. The I belongs in the coda of the first syllable by both phonotactic and alloph. . principles and the /tr/ belongs in the onset (It/ is devoiced). These two print lIc-give us no solution to the assignment of Is/, which we place in the sr-1.1:.: syllable by the maximal onset principle, giving /'ek.stra/. All the patterns which have been dealt with so far have concerned consor 1i*.'. sequences following the primary accent. Examples preceding the primary ai <- ei 1 most frequently involve consonants containing the typical vowels of unaccented syllables hi and III and in such examples the phonotactic principle together with Words 265 : ■ a! onset principle generally leads to the whole sequence being syl-wth the following syllable, e.g. /s.'kwara/, /n/kwest/, /o.'pb:z/, /Vstjuit/, VVgS/; Similarly, in those, less frequent, cases where a full vowel precedes .,(}' accent, the phonotactic principle usually applies, e.g. /mem.'tem/, 'TLbs/ and /bap.'taiz/. jr 0f the examples above have concerned disyllabic words. The general !es apply in similar fashion in longer words, with clusters before and econdary accent behaving the same as those around a primary accent, e.g. S rkl9«-'pi:'dl3/' /'aljui.'mm.iam/, /'kan.ga'ra:/,Amak.m.tpJ7. The morphemic '^l"7'1ie applies regularly in compound words but note that inflexional /-id/ and ^''r-Lilarfy iead to ^syllabification according to the patterns for monomorphemic ! rds outlined above, e.g. /sait/ vs /'sai.tid/, /vais/ vs /'vm.su/. f°. a|leriiative solution to ambiguous medial sequences can be achieved with . notion of ambisyllabicity; by this means the Itl in butter, the Itl in petrol 1 the 'si in extra are regarded as ambisyllabic, i.e. they straddle the syllable ^■undary For plosives the compression stage could belong to the first syllable \ the plosion and release to the second; for fricatives the boundary would 1 p|, be in ihe middle. Phonetically this seems a credible solution. Unfor-tL-tately it would considerably complicate the overall statement of permissible lO 10.4 Inflexional suffix formation xional suffixes (which do not normally affect accent) follow certain rules ,ihoh affect segmental aspects of pronunciation. The following regularities may ally be listed here. i i Past tense For regular verbs in which the past tense is signalled by the addition of an -ed ending, the following rules of pronunciation apply: (a) If the stem ends in Itl or Id/, add /-id/, e.g. exclude /ik'sklmd, ik'skluidid/; guard Iga-.d, 'gaidid/; rot /rot, 'rotid/; target Ataigit, "taigitid/. Otherwise: (b) If the stem ends in any voiced sound (apart from Idl), add l-dl, e.g. buzz /bAZ, bAzd/; hammer Ahairo, 'hamad/; kill IM, kild/; listen /'Iran, 'lisnd/. (c) If the stem ends in any voiceless consonant (apart from Itl), add l-tl, e.g. arch laif, a:$tl; immerse /i'm3:s, fnwsst/; kick /kik, kikt/; sniff /snif, snift/, (2) Plural/possessive/third person singular present tense (a) If the stem ends in a sibilant (/s,zj~,3,f,d3/), add l-izl, e.g. address h' dres, a'dresiz/; archla'4, 'aitfiz/;graze/greiz,'greiziz/;yWge/d3Ad3, '(fjAdjiz/; rush /rAf, 'rAjiz/. Exceptionally, the voicing of the fricative in house changes: /haus, 'hauziz/. Otherwise: 266 Words and connected speech Words 267 (b) (c) If the stern ends in any non-sibilant voiced sound, add /bhu, blaoz/; pattern /'patn, 'patnz/; regard /n'arrrl r,"' ' /Onl, enlz/. ' "9 a; If the stem ends in any non-sibilant voiceless consonant i laugh /kt:f, laifs/; p/cA /pik, piles/; report /n'zoit, rfzoits/ * (3) (4) (5) Present participle In all cases, add/-in/, e.g. kill/kA, 'kihn/; ta/gA /la:f, 'laifin/; j;, frim /trim, 'trrtnir]/. For cases where the stem ends in /e:,o:,oi.3: >a rjl below. For stems ending in syllabic [n] or [1] the syllabic nattin. .,| ri or lateral is frequently retained, e.g. handle ['hand), "handinj |; i ../.,,;„ 1 ' waidmn]. However, some speakers may insert a hi, retaining the oiK.-rrajf of syllables, thus /'handslin, 'waidsnig/; while for others the u i. \! ,,S|L may lose its syllabic function, thus ["hand), 'handlm]. It should K noteM in such cases, the quality of the !\l is usually altered, the daiU v.l'a^J of [hand}] being replaced by a non-syllabic, clear [1], (See also • !(■ x|f|jj Comparison of adjectives Sjj For those adjectives whose comparative and superlative degre . re fS by the suffixing of -er and -est respectively, the pronunciation , i the remains unchanged except in the case of stems ending in /rj/ (sej| and (6) below). Thus /a/ and /ist/ are regularly added, as in ea, 'ra, (or 'iizia or 'iizja), 'i:zi:ist (or 'iizjist), great /greit, 'greita, 'greniot-: big, 'biga, 'bigist/. In all the superlative forms /a/ is as common as hi „• •: l-kjadH Steins ending in /i]/ fc/ When the comparative and superlative suffixes are added to stei i- e idir-f' in /rj/, a /g/ is inserted, e.g. long /tot), 'lorjga, 'toggist/, strong /strnq. -rvr\$if»-'strDtjgast/. In all other cases, the /rj/ is followed immediately by l!:.- -.i.tliiQ^ I e.g. participle -ing in longing /'tonin/, adjectival modifier -ish ii, Wif/j^S1 /'lurjif/, or agentive -er in hanger /'nana/, singer /'snja/. It should be niitsdj that monomorphemic words (not formed of a stem and affix) e> h i-it i sequence /-qg-/ intervocalically, e.g. anger /"anga/, finger /'frnga/. j (6) W-links in suffix formation In the case of words which end in /f:,a:,a:,3:,a,ia,oa/ (usually corresponcn>| to an in the spelling), an /r/-link is regularly inserted between the frjn vowel of the stem and any initial vowel of the suffix, e.g. present particii ■Icsj blur /bte:, 'bbirm/; secure /si'kjoa, si'kjuanrj/; stare /stEi, 'stEirn)/; Si -.v| further in §§12.4.7(1), 12.5(3)). ! Requisition of phonotactics by native learners -• " fteii have special problems with the acquisition of consonant clusters *?! -initial positions, even after they have acquired the individual members fuStersi With two-term clusters consisting of fricative + C (most commonly ■ c + .'l.r,wj/, there is often a reduction to the single C, e.g. smoke —> ) jn _> [pm], please —» [pi:], queen -* [ki:n]. Clusters of lit + /l.r,wj/ [■■aced to either element, e.g. slow —► [sau] or [lau]. In the case of the ,|.JS c lype, a possible, somewhat later, development (which may at ■jtflv' -pH» y - r------. - . a-j ice look like a regression) involves a feature merger, whereby a single yr jtf replaces the two consonants of the adult cluster, the single consonant ... Jr\, ,i, L-ast one feature from each of the two consonants, e.g. spin —* [fin], " Mf,.5" ■ 11 sleep —» [li:p], smoke —► [ipauk]. When the two elements of the fcstT jfo-uset'' tnere may st^' ^e a difficulty in timing the relationship between It \\p jictnents: for example, a short intrusive, or epenthetic, vowel (typically i mn\ be inserted, or one of the elements may be improperly lengthened, . sport [snpa:f] or [s:pa:t], slow [s'lau] or [s:lau].'8 Some sequences give rlit alar problems: 1st! sometimes occui-s with metathesis as /ts/ (perhaps because „ a homorganic sequence); clusters with M are often veiy late acquisitions *■, fli-c if/ as a single consonant is a late acquisition. ! ie cL'urse of development of syllable final clusters is less well known because ^he interval of time between the development of single consonants and clusters Ms shorter and because the development of word-final clusters is often partly r 1 i-stion of the learning of inflexions. 10.10.6 Phonotactics—advice to foreign learners "Foreign learners may introduce epenthetic vowels into English consonantal clusters: iu .1 word like sport may be pronounced as /sa'pa:t/ (and hence homonymous . with support) or as /e'spoit/ or /a'spait/ (and hence homonymous with a sport). ■ Difficult clusters can sometimes be acquired by pronouncing a sequence of fcsonsonants across a word boundary and then dropping the earlier part of the first word: thus ist/ may be acquired by practising first with a phrase like bus stop or even medially in a bimorphemic word, e.g. mistake and then reducing these ' =to stop and steak. Many languages have only open syllables, e.g. Hindi, Italian and Bantu languages. Speakers of such languages should be careful not to introduce a final >pwel, e.g. by adding an [a] to bit making it sound like bitter. A similar sort of problem can apply to those languages, like French, which tend to more regularly explode their final plosives. 268 Words and connected speech 10.1 I Consonant harmony in the word structure of native learners Many of the common variations in the structure of words as they ar, by children have been mentioned under the various sections dealing :\ m?""^1 vidual phonemes, word accent and phonotactics. However, one type bi f ' which occurs in child language but which is generally unknown anions; 1. ■,. changes in English and among foreign learners is the phenomenon■ usually called consonant harmony (and which is really a type of assiiii.i .' '* although within words as opposed to those assimilations occurring -,t ■!'J^ boundaries which are mentioned in §12.4.5). Such consonant harmorr during the period when children are using only one-word utterances. It [ '..juj' the assimilation of one consonant to another across an intervening vow,' frequently the process involves de-alveolarisation (i.e. an alveolar siirj ■ changed to something else) and is regressive (i.e. a later-occurring sound iinl iL-,L s an earlier sound), e.g. supper —> [pApa], duck —» [gAk], dog —» [gng], .'p j, occasionally the process can be progressive (i.e. in a forward directi cushion —» ['kukan], bottom —> ['brjparnj. Notes 1 With certain exceptions, determined by the larger rhythmic pattern of the tot i (see §10.4). 2 See particularly Ktngdon (1958b) and Fudge (1984). For an alternative formulation involving heavy syllable as VC and extrametrical final consonants, see Giegencti (1992). 3 See Fudge (1984: 31). 4 But see §7.12.4 for use of full vowels in Northern English. 5 For a recent survey of the various factors which can be involved in the definition of English compounds, see Plag (2006). 6 These remarks apply mainly to GB and to the patterns of isolate words rather that those variants occurring in connected speech (see § 12.3); they do not take into account patterns used in other dialects, e.g. in Scottish English, enquiry /'erjkwiri/, realm Ins' laiz/, advertisement /advar'taizmant/. Where there is a preferred 'correct' pattern, it is marked here with * in the transcription, usually based on Wells (2008) where informant tests are reported on some of the items. 7 The small number of disyllables involved in such accentual oppositions is shown in Guierre (1979). Out of a corpus of more than 10,000 disyllabic words, only :5 exhibited changes between verbal, nominal or adjectival functions by means of a shift of accented syllable. 8 Also with /tram-/. 9 The noun and verb forms of refuse differ also in the final consonant and the result ing variation of vowel lengdi of /ail. 10 For absorption of the second element of a diphthong before another vowel (smoothing), see §8.11. 11 Windsor Lewis (1979). 12 Such elisions in word-initial syllables are more likely when the preceding word eiuft in a vowel, e.g. the police /8s 'pliis/, / believe /at 'blkv/, but local police /bold paThs-. can't believe /ka;m bs'lirv/. ourafcis & Port (1986) and Blankenship (1992). Yoo & Blankenship (2003)'fihd *» " ietic A/ occurring in final position but not in medial position in American "jisft; they also find epenthetic ft/ of shorter duration than 'underlying' M, \ combinations do occur as a result of assimilation. See §12.4.5. ■ " :se!k«k(1982). it experimental information on syllable division word-medially, see Fallows (19S1) 5p . \\fnsa &. Danis (1988) and Treiman et al. (1992). Such experimentation is based icipally on speakers being asked to divide up nonsense words. Treiman et al (1992) confinned Isl in the onset in such sequences but found Iff'm the coda in sequences like /HI in afflict. tee Gilbert & Purves (1977). Words 26S