top of page

​

HI-LING

LINGUISTICS IN THE HIGH SCHOOL

UNIT 2: VIOLATION OF MAXIMS

Lesson 4: Phonetics applied

After having learned about the most important components of the science of phonetics in theory, we now turn to two of many fields of application, where phonetics play a crucial role.

Key Concepts

  • Dialects

  • Phonetic variation

  • Articulatory disorders

UNIT 1: Phonetic variation in dialects

 

Even though the English language is commonly just named “English”, in reality there are huge differences between varieties of English. If you listen to a speaker from south-western rural England, it will differ considerably from the posh London variety (Received Pronunciation, RP), even more so from northern English, Scottish or Irish dialects. Even within London you find surprisingly big differences between speakers coming from different parts of the city and from different sociolinguistic backgrounds.

 

Also, native English varieties are spoken in many places around the world, like in various African countries, in India, in Australia, New Zealand, the USA and so on, where the language has evolved differently. The biggest differences between varieties can be found on the phonetic level. 

 

In order to be able to grasp some of the possible differences between varieties of English, we now turn to some of the obvious differences between two, for us well known varieties of English: Received Pronunciation (RP, standard British English) and General American English (GA, standard US English). Of course, this is not an extensive list, it just shows some of the differences between those two standard varieties.

 

Consonants:

The letter r

  • In GA, the phoneme r is always pronounced, as [ɹ], as in butter.

  • In RP, the pronunciation of the letter r differs according to its phonetic context. It is not pronounced when, within the same syllable, r comes after a vowel. This means, that far is pronounced as [fɑː], or weather as [wɛðə]. In other contexts it is pronounced, so rice is still pronounced as [ɹaɪs].

The letter t

  • In GA, the pronunciation of the letter t depends on its place within the word. It is often pronounced as a flap in the middle of words, mostly between vowels, so as [ɾ], like in writer. It then almost sounds like a [d]. At the beginning of words or syllables, the pronunciation is usually a true, aspirated [t], like in topic or entire. At the end of words, it is often a stopped, non-aspirated [t], so a [t] as in cat. The letter can also disappear, as in internet, where [t] is not pronounced at all. This is the case when it comes after an [n] in an unstressed syllable.

  • In RP, the letter t is usually pronounced as a real, aspirated [t] in the beginning of syllables, as in train. At the end of syllables, the letter t can be produced as a glottal stop ([ʔ]), as in bitten ([bɪʔn]). In contrast to GA, RP does not use the flapped t sound, but pronounces all t sounds either as [t] or as [ʔ].

 

Vowels:

the pronunciation of the a-sound (“trap-bath split”)

  • In many words in GA, the letter a as in bath is pronounced as [æ] (like the german ä).

  • In RP, the letter a in bath, as well as in many other words, is pronounced as [ɑː].

The pronunciation of the o-sound (“cot-caught merger”)

  • In many words in GA, the letter o as in cloth is pronounced as [ɔ].

  • In RP, in many words like cloth, the o is pronounced as [ɒ].

 

Prosody

There are also some differences concerning prosody. Even though they are much less frequent, it is still interesting to see, that in some words, the stressed syllables differ between GA and RP. Here are some examples. The syllables are separated by slashes (/), stressed syllables are marked with ‘ in front of them:

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

Of course, those differences are just some of many. It is also important to bear in mind that we are talking about two normed, standard varieties. Local dialects from Great Britain and the USA might use those same features, but differ vastly from their respective standard variety. It is also important to keep in mind, that English is spoken in various places all over the world and differs largely from one place to another!

Watch this video for further explanations concerning the two varieties: 

​

​

​

​

​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjMhU_qAWEc

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Activity 1: Your own English

Record yourself speaking English. You can either read a text or speak freely.

Form groups of two to three people and compare your recordings. Do you perceive any typical RP or GA features concerning consonants, vowels or prosody? Who speaks what variety?

UNIT 2: Articulation disorders

In articulation disorders, the sound formation of one or more sounds does not correspond to the so-called "standard pattern" of a language, i.e. a sound is not formed, or is formed incorrectly. The changes in pronunciation can be caused by motor or organic factors.

​

Generally, the sibilants (s, z, sh, ch1 [ich-sound in German]) are most frequently affected. The articulatory abnormality of the sounds /s/ and /z/ is also known as "sigmatism" (colloquially: "lisp") and occurs in various forms.

​

Articulation disorders can occur as primary disorders (disorders of articulation development) and secondary disorders (due to e.g. hearing disorders or diseases/malformations in the oral cavity). They can have functional or neurogenic causes. Malformations of the articulation organs (e.g. cleft lip and palate) can also lead to impaired articulation. However, this is less common. The child usually finds it difficult to articulate precisely, partly because it has speech role models who have a similar pronunciation. In most cases, children do not articulate the sounds accurately enough and practise an incorrect sound pattern during the sound acquisition process. The longer and more intensely a child has practised (automatised) an incorrect articulation, the more difficult it can be to learn the correct target movement and to use it in everyday life.

Articulation disorders are relatively common in children during language acquisition. Approximately 13.5% of 4-6-year-old children have articulation disorders.

​

Example: "θuθi wantθ θweet iθe cream." (Susi wants sweet ice cream).

​

In the example sentence, all s sounds are pronounced interdentally, i.e. the tongue slides between the teeth when articulating /s/. When producing addental sounds, the tongue is not placed between but put too close to the front teeth.

 

In either case, this results in an altered sound of /s/, which can be perceived as a "lisp". The production of the /sh/ sound can also pose problems, which results in so-called lateral sigmatism.

 

If the articulation disorder is motor-related, those affected cannot yet correctly execute the necessary movement pattern of the tongue/lips for the target sound.

​

For example, people lisp because their tongue muscles are too weak to speak a clean /s/ or because they have got into the habit of lisping from the beginning.

A sound may also be pronounced differently (accent) due to a different first language, as it is not contained in the first language.

 

Organic disorders can be caused by malformations, surgeries or injuries that result in unusual conditions in the mouth and nose, which means that some sounds cannot be articulated correctly. These include, for example, tongue paralyses, cleft lip and palate, malposition of jaw/teeth, scarring, etc.

 

Examples of common articulation deviations

  • Lateral sigmatism (malformation of the sh sound)

  • Sigmatism (malformation of the sounds ss, z, s)

  • Nasal slurring of "kn"

  • "Spitting" pronunciation of the consonant compound "kl"

  • Formation of the sounds "k" and "g" on the soft palate, but with the tip of the tongue

  • Rolled tongue tip r (accent)

Do you know people/friends/celebrities who deviate from the linguistic norm? Look for possible phenomena that are known as articulation disorders. In groups, try to explain which sounds are produced where and in what way the articulation disorder deviates from the norm (how is the sound actually produced in the mouth, and how with articulation disorder).

​

​

Activity 2: Articulatory disorders in your life

ONLY CLICK ON "SOLUTIONS" WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THE EXERCISE! Of course, you know best who in your close proximity has any articulatory disorders. There are a lot of celebrities whith a such disorders, most of which are lisps, just because they are the most frequent articulatory disorder. Examples are: Michael Phelps (swimmer): lisp Chris Bumstead (bodybuilder): lisp Mike Tyson (boxer): lisp

Final thought for this lesson

Do you know of other subject areas that benefit from phonetics? How else can phonetics be used? If you are interested in subjects like this, you can go have a look at other Hi-Ling modules, where more fields of applied linguistics are explained in detail!

​

Sources used:

​

bottom of page