The influence of rhoticism on phonological opposition

The first process to mention is rhoticism. Rhoticism is pronunciation of the sound [r] defined by the letter r, in any position of the sound chain. Rhotic accents are those which actually pronounce [r] corresponding to orthographic r. Rhoticism is present in GA, Scottish and Irish English. RP is not a Rhotic accent, but most speakers of it do pronounce orthographic r word-finally before a vowel. Because of rhoticism these accents loose a number of phonemes, though phonological oppositions always remain practically the same.

Ex. RP bird [ bə: d] – board [b o: d]

Sc [b ir d] - [b o:r d]

The meaning remains the same, so the phonological opposition is possible.

In GA [r] may replace the glide of RP diphthongs:

Ex. RP tear [t iə ] – tour [t uə ]

GA [t ir ] - [t ur ]

The very sound [r] is different in different accents. In Northern accents it may be uvular, in Sc it is most usually a flap (more over, they pronounce [Өr] as [∫r]: through /∫ru:/), GA [r] is of greater retroflexion (загиб языка) than RP one.

Rhotacism - expressive usage of the sound /r/
Rhotic accents are - GA, Scottish, Irish
1) the absence of phonological opposition existing in RP
2) the modification of phonological oppositions existing in RP
3) the appearance of new phonological oppositions as compared with RP
RP - 'girl' - 'goal'
Welsh /?:/ > /o:/
/эu/ >/o:/ >/go:l/ - /gol/
RP - 'bird' - 'board'
Scottish /?/ > /o:/ > bird - bord
RP - 'bird' - 'word' one dimentional position
/b/ occlusive, true consonant
/w/ consrtuctive, semi-vowel

30. VOICE CORRELATION AS A VARIABLE
Q.30.

We have to separate one sound from another every time we try to classificate all the sounds.
E.g. to specify the difference between /t/ and /d/ in the words 'to' and 'do' we may select the feature of voicing. /t/ is voiceless and /d/ is voiced, /p - b/ /k - g/
A correlation is a rise of a single feature to separate more than one pair of sounds. So we may say that the pairs /b/ and /p/, /k/ and /g/, /t/ and /d/ are differenciated by the voice correlation.
The voice and voiceless distinction between words is rather unreliable. As voicity can be full and partial and even totally lacking.
E.g.: in the words 'table' 'tidy' 'ago' /b/ /d/ /g/ are fully voiced because they are surrounded by vowels and voiced sounds. But before or after a pause voicing doesn't go right through. Before a pause as in 'side' /d/ has no voicing. after a pause as in 'Ben'/b/ may have no voicing at all.

Speech sounds containing voice (vowels, voiced consonants and sonorants) are produced by vibrating vocal cords. But voiceless consonants are produced with no vibration, the vocal cords are wide apart and do not impede the breath.

The voice / voiceless distribution is rather unreliable as voicing can be full and partial and even totally lacking. For instance, in the words “table”, “tidy”, “ago” /b/, /d/, /g/ are fully voiced, because they are surrounded but speech sounds containing voice, but in the initial and the final positions voicing does not go right through.

Before a pause in “side” /d/ has no voicing. After a pause in “Ben” /b/ has no voicing at all. In the difference between “side” and “site” and “pen” and “Ben” the weight is on the fortis / lenis feature. That is voiceless consonants are more strongly articulated, while voiced consonants are more weakly articulated.

Voice is not a constant, because constant characteristics are considered in phonological aspect as differentiating features in phonological oppositions, and variable characteristics are mostly considered in the articulatory, auditory and acoustic aspects. Variable characteristics can be considered in the phonological aspect only as belonging to allophones, that is positional variants of phonemes. Variable features strongly depend upon the distribution of a phoneme.

Поиск по сайту: