[KCU 2021-2] Prof.

Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

LECTURE NOTES
Chapter 1

1. Introduction
Linguistic phonetics: “study of speech sounds”

• What do you know about a language when you speak without an accent?
• What do you know when you understand a language with the ease of a native speaker?
We’ll focus on healthy adult/child native speakers; and healthy adult non-native speakers.

Phonetic alphabets: “IPA”

• Each symbol has a consistent meaning.

• Symbol-to-sound correspondence never changes.
Trouble with English spelling:

• Silent letters: e.g. hat vs. hate

• Different sounds for one letter: e.g. use, fusion, sale
• Different sounds for the same letter combination: e.g. thin, then
• Different letters for the same sound: e.g. seen, scene, machine, read/ clean, either,
lovely
• Dialectal differences: e.g. coffee, water, caught, Peter, vase, either, …

1.1. International Phonetic Alphabet: IPA

Phonetic alphabet:

• How sounds are made.

• Acoustic structure of sounds
• How sounds pattern in languages
Exercise 1: Number of sounds (phonemes)?
e.g. bracelet _____ sheet _____ echo _____
suit ______ you _____ oh _____
number _____ about _____ thanks _____

Exercise 2: English consonants? (cf. Consonant vs. Vowel)

• Consonant letters of English: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z

• Consonant symbols of IPA used for English: all in the above, except for c, q, x, y
• Consonant symbols of IPA used for other languages: c, q, x, y
What are the symbols that need to be transcribed?

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Minimal pairs
e.g. dye vs. bye rubber vs. runner hi vs. lie pack vs. pat my vs. pie
sigh vs. why tube vs. tooth bait vs. bathe see vs. she
shun vs. shin pat vs. pet boat vs. boot mate vs. mat
know vs. knee cook vs. kick soak vs. seek bound vs. bind

2. Sound production

Articulator: part of oral tract used to make sound (cf. Figure: human vocal tract)

• Alveolar ridge
• Palate
• Velum (soft palate)
• Tongue:
 tip (apex) – the point
 blade – freely moving part of tongue
 front – section behind blade, opposite front arch (rising) arch of palate
 back – section opposite the velum
 root – section opposite the pharynx wall, lowest part of tongue
• Vocal folds: the structures that vibrate to produce voicing
• Glottis: space between vocal folds

Terms for describing sounds: “consonants”

Adj. Adj. Adj. Adj. Noun
voicing place centrality nasality manner (degree of
constriction)
- voiced - bilabial - central - nasal - stop
- voiceless - labiodental - lateral - oral - fricative
- interdental - affricate
- alveolar - approximant
- palato-
alveolar
- palatal
- velar
- glottal

Voicing: existence/ non-existence of vibration of the vocal folds

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Place of articulation:
noun adj. sounds
lips (bi)labial b, p, m
teeth dental
labio-dental f, v
inter-dental θ, ð
tongue lingual
alveolar ridge alveolar t, d, n, s, z, ɹ, l
palate palatal j
palato-alveolar ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ
velum velar k, g, ŋ
glottis glottal Ɂ, h

Degree of constriction:

• Stop: complete blockage of air through mouth

• Fricative: articulators are very close, leaving a small space for air, producing turbulent
air flow, i.e. frication
• Affricate: a complex sound consisting of a stop followed by a fricative, e.g. church [ʧ],
judge [ʤ]
• Approximant: air flow minimally obstructed, not enough to produce frication
(approximants in English: [j, w, l, ɹ])

Exercise 3: Consonant description

[b] voiced bilabial (central) (oral) stop

[m] voiced _______________________________
[d] voiced alveolar ________________________
[n] voiced _______________________________
[l] voiced alveolar ________________________
[z] _____________________________________
[t] _____________________________________

Exercise 4: Consonant transcription – Underline letters for Cs, and give IPAs for them.
“BEWARE of spellings!”

fusion [f ʒ n]
sketch [ ]
conic [ ]
voice [ ]
occasion [ ]
music [ ]
night [ ]

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Chapter 2

3. More on transcription
3.1. Consonants

Exercise 1: Describe the following consonants.

[ð] _____________________________________
[j] _____________________________________
[ʤ] _____________________________________
[Ɂ] _____________________________________
[k] _____________________________________
[w] _____________________________________

Exercise 2: Transcription – Give the number of consonants for each word and their IPAs.

holy ( ) [ ]
singer ( ) [ ]
university ( ) [ ]
magic ( ) [ ]
speech ( ) [ ]
tongue ( ) [ ]
quiet ( ) [ ]
cycle ( ) [ ]

3.2. Vowels

Vowels: phonemes that are produced without any appreciable constriction or blockage
of
air flow in the vocal tract.

Terms for describing “vowels”:

• Height: height of tongue, usually correlates with jaw height.
• (Lip) Rounding: whether the lips are rounded in the production of vowels.
• Backness: how far backward (or forward) in the mouth the tongue is when producing a
vowel.
• Tense/Lax: Tense vowels are generally longer in duration and require more muscular
effort than lax vowels.

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

tense/lax height backness rounding

tense high front round(ed)
lax mid central unrounded
low back

Vowel chart: (English)

i u

ɪ ʊ high
e ə ɝ o

ɛ ɚ ʌ ɔ mid

æ (a) low

front central back

Examples: [i] beet

[ɪ] bit
[e] bait
[ɛ] bet
[æ̝] cab, bad, bag ( the NY [æ])
[æ] cap, bat, back
[u] boot
[ʊ] book
[o] boat
[ɔ] bought
[ɑ] pot

Tense vs. Lax vowels:

tense = [i, e, o, u, ɑ, ɝ, æ̝]
lax = [ɪ, ɛ, ɔ, ʊ, æ, ə, ʌ, ɚ]

Exercise 3: Vowel description

[o] tense mid back round

[ɛ] _________________________
[u] _________________________
[æ] _________________________

Exercise 4: Give IPAs corresponding to the following descriptions.

lax mid central unrounded vowel [ ]
tense high front unrounded vowel [ ]

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Notes on Vs:
• Tense vowels tend to be diphthongized, tend to be longer, tend to be more peripheral,
and appear (more frequently) word-finally: [e → eɪ], [o → oɪ], [u]

• Diphthongs will be described with 2 vowel symbols; for the 2nd half of a diphthong in
English, we use lax vowel symbols.
eɪ, oʊ : nondiphthongal in some dialects
aɪ : buy, by, eye, I
aʊ : out, about “true diphthongs”
{oɪ, ɔɪ} : boy, toy, soy

• Central vowels: “uh” vowels [ʌ] cut, mud (“stressed”)

[ə] above, sofa (“unstressed”)

• Unstressed vowels in English are very short; especially, schwa [ə] is highly short and
variable.

• More central vowels: “er” vowels [ɝ] bird (“stressed”)

[ɚ] number (“unstressed”)
o Is a central r-colored (rhoticized) vowel.
o Is a monophthong.
o Has stressed and unstressed versions.
o Is similar in tongue shape to consonant [ɹ].

• Therefore, the central vowels:

uh er
stressed ʌ ɝ
unstressed ə ɚ

• Stress: relative prominence

o Stressed vowels are (usually) louder, (often) longer, and (sometimes) higher
pitched.
o Many unstressed vowels of English are schwa.

Remarks on [ɹ], with regard to vowels:

• “New York” r-dropping: sugar [ʃʊgɚ] (“standard”) vs. [ʃʊgə] ( for unstressed “er”
syllables)

• [ɹ] is maintained:
o e.g. bird [bɝd] (no “r-loss”)
o When a vowel follows: sugar is on the floor.
[ʃʊgəɹɪz]

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Dialectal difference NY Massachusetts

Sugar [ʃʊgə] [ʃʊgə]
Sugar and … [ʃʊgəɹæn] [ʃʊgəɹæn]
Lisa [lisə] [lisɚ]
Lisa is … [lisəɪz] [lisəɹɪz]

• [ɹ] has a strong effect on the quality of a preceding vowel.

(Why?) [ɹ] involves a tongue shape much like a vowel.
(Effect?) Harder to hear vowel differences before [ɹ].
e.g. beer [iɚ] or [ɪɚ]
tour [uɚ] or [ʊɚ]
Diphthongs [eɪ] and [oʊ] lose their offglide before [ɹ]: *[eɪɹ], *[oʊɹ]

Text Long Island California

Mary [meɹi] [mæ̝ɹi] [mɛ̝ ɹi]
merry [mɛɹi] [mɛɹi] [mɛ̝ ɹi]
marry [mæɹi] [mæɹi] [mɛ̝ ɹi]

Remarks on [ŋ], with regard to vowles:

• Before [ŋ] we also have fewer vowel distinctions.
e.g. sing [siŋ] or [sɪŋ]
length [lɛŋθ] or [leŋθ]
song [sɔŋ] or [sɑŋ]

Exercise 5: Transcription (Vowels) – Underline a vowel letter and give an IPA to it.

cream [ ] baby [ ] front [ ] sister [ ]

thread [ ] sporty [ ] pride [ ] every [ ]
farmer [ ] hood [ ] aloof [ ] doily [ ]

Exercise 6: Transcription (Cs and Vs)

horrid [ ] watch [ ] perhaps[ ] central [ ]

ketchup[ ] crumb [ ] random[ ] walker [ ]

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

4. More on articulation
4.1. Identifying sounds

What to look for when you identify sounds by looking at the movements of articulators?

Exercise 7: (Language Files 2004: 62) Which sounds do these pictures demonstrate?

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Chapter 3

4.2. Articulation in transition

We can describe the way articulators move in making sounds in transition.

Examples:
(1) [k] → [f] in “breakfast”
[k] voiceless velar central oral stop

[f] voiceless labio-dental central oral fricative

• Back of tongue moves away from velum (releasing the [k]).

• Move lower lip close to the upper teeth leaving a space for air to pass through.

(2) [s] → [l] in “slow”

[s] voiceless alveolar central oral fricative

[l] voiced alveolar lateral oral approximant

• Vocal folds come together (to produce voicing).

• Tongue tip is raised to touch alveolar ridge.
• Sides of tongue are lowered.

Exercise 1: Describe how changes from one C to another occur for the underlined.
a. rust

b. finger

c. glimpse

Exercise 2: (i) Transcribe the following words; (ii) Then draw movements of the articulators
involved in making the sounds underlined.
a. transition [ ]
b. deceptive [ ]
c. planning [ ]
d. caption [ ]
e. fungus [ ]

(picture: see the next page.)

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

 Refer to this picture when drawing articulator movements.

5. Syllable

Structure of syllable (σ):

σ

onset rhyme (=rime)

C nucleus (=peak) coda

V C

• Vowel is a central component of a syllable.

• All C’s before V are in the onset.
• All C’s after V are in the coda.

Syllabification:
• Each V gets a σ.
• Group a single C into an onset.
• Group a single C into a coda.
• Deal with other C’s.

Exercise 3: How many syllables per word?

solo ( ) merry ( ) guitar ( )
propensity ( ) skate ( ) mundane ( )
nucleus ( ) linguistics ( ) curtain ( )
abstract ( ) wonderful ( ) mistrial ( )

In transcription, all syllables must be represented with a symbol that represents a syllable, i.e.,
a vowel or a syllabic nasal (or syllabic [l]).
e.g. reason [ɹizən] or [ɹizn̩]
hassle [hæsəl] or [hæsl̩]
gosling [gɑsliŋ]
generation [ʤɛnəɹeɪʃən] or [ʤɛnəɹeɪʃn̩ ]
button [bʌɁtn̩ ]

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

6. Stress

90% of the English words with 2 σ’s have the stress on the 1st σ; 10% have it on the 2nd σ.
Rhythm of speech matters: Noun Verb
ínsult insúlt
pérvert pervért

English prefers alternation in stress: - within words

- within phrases: e.g. “Welcome to today’s lecture.”

Word has a lexical stress.

• Word stress phonetically involves increased loudness, increased duration, sometimes
increased pitch. (It is a relative prominence.)
• Word stress in English is not predictable.
• There are some strong patterns or generalizations.
Some affixes seem to “attract” stress:
contríbute vs. contribútion
phótograph vs. photográphic
régular vs. regulárity
cf. Affixes like “-able, -ful, -ness, -ment” do not change stress patterns.
There is a strong tendency for penultimate stress (= stress 2nd from the end):
[σˊ σ] [σ σˊ σ]
Many two σ-words with final stress have what looks like a prefix:
e.g. displáy, excéed, belíef, intént, mistáke, contént, combíne, forgét,…

Compound (= a word composed of 2 independent words)

• Its meaning is not strictly compositional.
• Stress is on the 1st element.
e.g. gréenhouse vs. green hóuse
Whíte House vs. white hóuse
wálkout vs. walk óut
bláckboard vs. black board
 Noun phrases (= adjective + noun): stress is on the noun.
Verb phrases (= verb + preposition): stress is on the preposition.
• 2-σ compounds: 2nd element of a compound may have a secondary stress: e.g. téacùp
• 3-σ compounds: -Some have only a primary stress.
-Some have one primary, one secondary stress.
• 4-σ compounds (& beyond): Primary and secondary stress.

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

7. Consonant allophones
Some notions

• Phonemes: basic sounds; substituting one for another changes meaning.

e.g. leave lease heave
[liv] [lis] [hiv]
• Allophones: variants of a phoneme occurring in a specific contexts ( The pattern is
consistent.)

• Citation forms: words said fairly carefully in isolation (not in a phrase).

The major consonant allophones of American English

Informal definitions:

Tap: Very brief voiced alveolar sound, produced with an up and down movement of the
tongue tip. Contact of tip of tongue with alveolar ridge is very light. Marked with rotated J
symbol; sometimes the base stroke is missing: [ ɾ ]

Examples: Tapping is consistent in American English.

Tapping No Tapping

fricative Thomas

city attack

butter late

latter tonight

“Phonetic description of a tap”: voiced alveolar central oral tap

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Velarization: Articulation of a sound with an added movement of body of tongue into higher
back region of the mouth near but not touching the velum, roughly in between the positions
for [o] and [u]. In English, it occurs only on [l] and only in some contexts (see below). When
velarization is strong, tongue tip contact for /l/ is optional. Marked with tilde through middle
of symbol. [ ɫ ]

Examples:
Non-velarized Velarized

leaf feel

lend ball

sleep felt

play film

plot melting

eclipse filter

Aspiration: Period of noisy voicelessness after the release of the consonant constriction
(after articulators separate). In English, appears only on voiceless stops. Makes first part of a
following vowel voiceless. Marked with superscript h.

Examples:
Non-aspirated Aspirated

stew coat

echo two

school put

rapid attack

sick cicada

paper paper

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Approximant devoicing: Period of voicelessness overlapping with oral articulation of

an approximant that follows a voiceless stop; all or most of approximant is voiceless. Applies
to any approximant following a voiceless stop that is in the context for aspiration (see #3
below). Marked with unfilled circle under the consonant symbol.

Examples:
Non-devoiced Devoiced

tile play

sample cute

wild quite

sweet cream

mute reply

squirrel decree

We have learned the following contexts for these variants; some will be modified in the future
as we explore additional segmental and phrasal contexts.

Formal definitions you should know:

1. Tapping of t (happens for /t/ always, in citation forms, except for highly exaggerated
speech; /d/ taps only in very casual/fast speech).
Context: Between vowels before an unstressed vowel
(= between vowels when the 2nd vowel is unstressed)

2. l velarization (always happens, in citation forms)

Context: Coda /l/’s are velarized.

3. Aspiration of voiceless stops (always happens, in citation forms)

Context: -(absolute) Beginning of word
-In onset of a stressed syllable (but not after s)

4. Approximant devoicing (always happens, in citation forms)

Context: Special case of aspiration, in which the period of voicelessness after
stop release affects an approximant following the voiceless stop.
It is marked as voicelessness on the approximant, since this is how it sounds. No h
symbol appears on the stop. Rather, voiceless diacritic is added below the
approximant symbol; e.g., “pride” [pɹ̥ aɪd].

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

8. Broad vs. narrow transcriptions

Broad transcription: phonemic transcription (with not diacritics)
Narrow transcription: uses diacritics; covers the 4 major allophones.

Exercise 4: Transcribe the following with the 4 major allophones included.

Broad Narrow
a. similar [ ] [ ]
b. floor [ ] [ ]
c. tablet [ ] [ ]
d. label [ ] [ ]
e. furnace [ ] [ ]
f. container [ ] [ ]
g. train [ ] [ ]
h. twilight [ ] [ ]
i. street [ ] [ ]
j. lateral [ ] [ ]
k. potato [ ] [ ]

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Chapter 4

9. More on articulation and narrow transcription

Aerodynamics of a stop:
1. Speech is overlaid on a continuous stream of air from lungs.
2. If we block airflow out of the mouth and nose, air pressure builds up.
3. When block is removed, air rushes out producing an audible sound.
4. Release: When articulators separate, air pressure is released.

Stop (non-)release:
e.g. stew (released t)
echo (released k)
school (released k)
rapid (released p, unreleased d)
sick day (unreleased k, released d)
coat (released k, unreleased t)
back pack (released b, released p, unreleased k)
map room (released p)
stop light (released p)
coat rack (released t)

 Stops can unreleased:

 at the end of word, before pause;
 within a word before stop, nasal, or affricate.

[p˺, t˺, k˺, b˺, d˺, g˺]: coat [khoʊt˺]

[t˺] unreleased voiceless alveolar (central) (oral) stop

[d˺] unreleased voiced alveolar (central) (oral) stop

Requirement for voicing:

1. Vocal folds close together.
2. Vocal folds appropriately tensed: If too tensed, no movement; If too loose, no popping
back into position.
3. Air flowing between vocal folds.

Examples th u st u
“voicing”

tongue tip (=apex) closed open for V closed open for V

& alveolar ridge

vocal folds apart together for V apart close to each other (together) for
V

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Glottal stops: not a phoneme (∴ not contrastive)

 How it’s produced: press vocal folds tightly together.
e.g. uh-oh [ɁʌɁoʊ]
 Often inserted at the beginning of V-initial word.
e.g. the apple [ði Ɂæpəɫ] or [ði æpəɫ]
 Glottal stop is optional is English.

Exercise 1: Transcriptions
a. together [ ]
b. fell [ ]
c. pool [ ]
d. computer [ ]
e. discovery [ ]
f. comparable [ ]
g. compare [ ]
h. kitten [ ]

10. Stress and Intonation

Phrasal Stress:

“The bíg brown béar ate tén white mi̋ce.” vs. “The bíg brown béar sat on the white mi̋ce.”
 Function words: articles/determiners, conjunctions, prepositions, (adverbs)
 Content words: verbs, nouns, adjectives, demonstratives, (adverbs)
o Function words usually not given a phrasal stress.
o In neutral utterances, the strongest phrasal stress is the “rightmost content
word.”

e.g. Máry’s younger bróther wanted fífty chocolate pe̋ anuts.

Máry’s younger bróther wanted chocolate pe̋anuts.

o Emphatic stress puts “strongest phrasal stress” on (any) word to be emphasized.
o Verbs tend not to be given phrasal stress.

Notation: Simple phrase stresses ′

Strongest phrasal stresses ″

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Phrasal stresses go on the “primary” stressed syllable of a word.

e.g. fiftý [peanuts] (wrong) vs. fífty [peanuts] (correct)

However, check this out: àfternóon → áfternoon téa (correct!)
abóve Máui → ábove Máui (wrong!)

Stress clash: 2 strong syllables “too close” together.

 Stress shift: first clashing stress “moves” leftward if it can (= if there is a stressable
syllable early in the word).

e.g. sixtéen cándles → síxteen cándles (fixed!)

Massachúsetts législature → Mássachusetts législature (fixed!)

Exercise 2: Phrasal stress assignments; Any stress clash and shift?

a. Swallows feasted under bushes.
b. Johnny’s elbow needed treatment.
c. Jenny’s dirty window needed proper cleaning.
d. Lily resents peaches around lizards.
e. Mother purchased fourteen antique dishes.

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Chapter 5

11. Review on phrasal stress

11.1 Principles in phrase-level stress assignment

(1) English speakers prefer alternation in stress.

 Within a phrase, some lexically stressed syllables will be additionally strengthened to
achieve alternation in stress:

• The big brown bear ate ten white mice. (even stress on all words sounds odd)
• Mary’s younger brother wanted fifty chocolate peanuts. (better, but monotonous if
every word is stressed)

(2) Content words can be given extra prominence within a phrase (phrasal stress), but function
words cannot. In fact, function words are usually unstressed in phrases, thus contributing to
alternation in stress.

• The dog has buried his bone again.

 Content words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, demonstratives (this, that), interrogatives

(who, why), most adverbs.
 Function words: articles/determiners, prepositions, personal pronouns, modal verbs,
etc.

(3) Sentence level stresses tend to occur at regular intervals – unstressed function words
between stresses fit into the time allowed.

• Dogs eat bones.

• The dogs eat bones.
• The dogs will eat bones.
• The dogs will eat the bones.
• The dogs will have eaten the bones.

(4) The rightmost content word gets the strongest phrasal stress within non-emphatic
utterances.

(5) Verbs tend not to be given phrasal stress if an alternating pattern can be achieved without
them.

(6) Rhythmic regularity may also be produced by shifting stress to avoid “stress clash” (strong
stresses too close together).

• She’s only sixteen but there are sixteen candles on her birthday cake.

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

11.2 More examples of principles of phrasal stress

Data set A. Evidence that we avoid long stretches without stress

1. Jóhn saw an ówl fine

2. Jóhn adopted an ówl okay but not as good as 1
3. Jónathan adopted an ówl worse than 2
4. Jónathan adópted an ówl better than 3

Data set B. Evidence that the rightmost content word is usually stressed (not the rightmost
word).

1. Shów them what you’re máde of

2. She ásked him to push the wíndow up
3. He pátted the dog géntly
4. The wínd was blowing vígorously

Data set C. Evidence that we avoid stresses that are too close

1. Jóhn sáw an ówl sound bad

2. Jóhn saw an ówl better
3. Kélly sáw an ówl slightly better than 1
4. Kélly saw an ówl better than 3

Data set D. Evidence that the first word is NOT always stressed

1. Máry bought a cár okay

2. He bóught a cár okay
3. Mary’s bróther bought a cár okay
4. Máry's younger bróther bought a cár okay

Exercise 1: Phrase stress assignment (ʹ and ″)

a. The cat fell in the pool.

b. The girl’s name was Chris.

c. Jared only forgot to get the toothpaste at the store.

d. Mark got a new blue bike for his birthday.

e. I want hot dogs, ice cream, and cotton candy.

f. We really have to study tonight for the phonetics test.

g. Bob can always finish his homework when he gets home.

h. My professor remembered to bring in the model of the larynx.

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

12. Intonation

Intonation:
• The tune or melody of an utterance. Pitch is a perceptual construct, determined
primarily by rate of vocal fold vibration.

• Expresses the speaker’s emotions, beliefs, expectations, etc. It also helps mark the
ends of phrases or sentences, and provides cues to turn-taking in conversation.

• There are several possible intonational tunes for any utterance.

• We will focus on some common intonational tunes that are used at least some of the
time by most native speakers.

Characterizing melodies/tunes with tone symbols:

• We use tones M, H and L to describe the sequence of (relative) pitch levels used, but
not the exact timing involved. We need an additional set of principles to describe how
pitch gets assigned to every syllable.

• Tones represent relative pitch levels; absolute pitch and pitch range used are
determined by the individual’s anatomy, emotional state, and other factors.

• Every syllable must have a pitch value.

Melody/Contour #1:
“Rising-falling”: used for statements and WH-questions

Elena is studying linguistics

What is Elena eating?

Rising-falling: MHL
MHL alignment:
1. H goes on the nuclear accented syllable (syllable with strongest sentence/phrasal
stress):

John is taking psycholinguistics.

Ruth is in the cafeteria.

Donna is the communications coordinator.

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

2. Where exactly does L go?

 Compare the three sentences above…The answer:

3. How do the rest of the syllables get pitch targets?

(Remember: Every syllable must have pitch.)

Melody/Contour #2:
Rising: used for yes/no questions and tag questions reflecting doubt

Would you like some tea?

Are they going to stay?

We can’t go tomorrow, can we?

MH alignment:

1. H goes at the end of the utterance

2. Where does the tonal turning point go?

Would you like some tea?

Would you like some coffee?

Would you like some boysenberries?

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English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

3. What happens between M and H? How do intervening syllables get a pitch value?

 Consider the sentences above……The answer:

• Tonal turning points occur on syllables bearing strong sentence stress.

• Pitch targets are assigned to other syllables according to a set of principles determined
for each melody.

o For MHL, M spreads from utterance beginning until right before the H.
o For MH, M spreads until strongest phrasal stress, and then pitch starts rising
for the H
o If there are several syllables between the strongest phrasal stress and the end of
the phrase, this rise can be quite gradual.

Melody/Contour #3:
Multiple tone groups: A sentence can be made up of more than one tone group (a chunk of
words said with one intonational melody).

Tag questions

Lists

Embedded clauses

Additional definitions:
• Intonational melody = intonation contour = intonation tune: a sequence of pitch
levels used together in certain types of utterances.
• Pitch perceived tonal level placed on a relative scale from higher to lower
• Fundamental Frequency primary physical property underlying pitch: rate of vocal
fold vibration
• Hertz unit of measure for Fundamental Frequency; number of cycles (vibrations) per
second.
• Tone group: one or more syllables said as a unit, with a single intonation melody/tune.
Also called Intonation phrase.

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[KCU 2021-2] Prof. Youngran An
English Pronunciation (Phonetics)

Exercise 2: Provide the right intonational contour for each of the following sentences.

a. Mary is taking notes.

b. Ted and Kathy are coming to dinner.

c. She was having a banana, potato, and oatmeal for breakfast.

d. Sarah went to New York, didn’t she?

e. What are you going to do this weekend?

f. Donna is the communications coordinator.

g. We need paper plates, lunch meat, and tomatoes.

h. Mrs. Brown, who is a school master, is coming to dinner.

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Acknowledgments: The notes for this course are from various sources, including various books as well as the
textbooks, Professor Huffman’s lectures, and Professor An’s previous notes.

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