en ernmescerren Late J 7 The English consonants ST 1 In chapter 3 we described and classified consonant sounds articulatorly, and in chapter 4 we listed the twer English and nineteen (or seventeen) Spanish consonant phonemes. Before attempting a confrontation between both inven tories, as with vowels, we shall examine the main phonetic and phonological features that characterize the English set. In other words, we shall discuss, of articulation, consonant lengt of place of articulat of these in alloph 7 radually adding elements to = Ur notation, until we have displayed as much information as is necessary for ‘our purposes. 2 Energy Most English consonants can be grouped as either forts or lenis, according to iculated and perceived. This is the case with ced in Table 3, where the energy opposition he lenis on the right. Nasals, semi-vowels, /r/ and /I/, which have no are therefore alone in each box, do not participate is/lenis, Three groups can then be established: ‘Table 9 The English consonants grouped according to the fortis/tenis opposition. ‘The remaining phoneme, /h/, constitutes a special case, since it does not 3. Length ee in chapter 6 we referred to the capacity of English fortis co sod lenis consonants 10 lenin, 4 preceding ‘Vowel Similarly, they can also ‘ary the length of the nasals and /l/, and once again syllable final plosives, The English consonants 53 ill be recognized mainly by the length of a preceding is particularly noticeable with syllables containing short rink (gu-k]~ ringee self (5 4 Voicing We indicated in chapter 3, st n 5 that the oppositions voiceless/voiced, do not always hing pairs rate in di ope f they may lose their voice. The fol can be stated: ‘Consonants in (B) and (C) are voiced between vowels and/or other con- sonants of the same groups, e.g. all the consonants in room door (on &: evoiced after and before pauses and fortis con- all the lenis consonants in the phrase that good cause (3mt ‘Sug iced consonai ams, £ 3, section 5, absence of voicing by a (Th icing by a wavy the use of different pairs of articul Phonemicnotaion Jb, 9 a 1 a (pasive atiultor ere (2 NaN \ reid artnet Mlophonicnoution fbb 2 dé 1 Sg] ig18 The voicing and articulatory diagrams of the word boarded, a8 said in Scanned with CamScanner54 English phonetics for Spanish epee though, the alopbonic notations [purciad] and [ya [yo-dsg] and [ys:bz], respectively. (For examples of devoicing in group (C), see chapter 7, section 5) Fig 19 The voicing aad articulatory diagrams of the word verbs. 5 Aspiration When the English fons plosives /p 1 k/ precede vowel sounds in syllable, the voicing of the vowel does not begin together with the release stage Craneribed (pros) instead of [ppss), though both 00 phonetically speaking, since [h] is nothing but a voiceless variety of any vowel Ta pet nan te ts nw consider only two possibilities — presence and absence. The rules are: G) /p. t,k/ are stronply aspirated in accented syllables, €.g. come at ten past [etam ot'Pea ‘p'est] (Gi) They are weakly aspirated in unaccented syllables, and generally in word 4 ‘ical position. We shall leave these unmarked, e.g. the upper lip (Bt ‘np2 “ip).- Ga) They are unaspirated when /s precedes them, eg. the school staff [92 ‘sect ‘sof} The folowing agra show sopition and uasieton api: purposes, are simplified to. ~ ‘The English consonants 55 pase ariuator af Tae Tee ry - Fig20_ The aspiration and articulatory diagrams of the words ple and spy. especially in accented syllables, jevoiced. Whenever aspiration is shown as (1, eg. please try 10 Fig22 The voicing and aspiration diagrams for plosives. ‘R’ stands for ‘release’, 6 Types of release English plosives are no always released in the same way; they may present the following alternatives: (0) Oral release Ploive have quick oral cease when followed by vow els or serni-vowels, either ‘with or without the aspiration period, as in pure tobacco. The release stage may also be present before a pause, with or without aspiration. Scanned with CamScannerses itis not necessary to mark on with (i) above when in final In the cluster [bg] the plosion for (b] is not heat 0 release the compressed air, the tongue tip and alveolar ridge are already formi is heard in the form of a but yed release whenever itis followed by a stop made more technical terms, when followed by a homor- + ganic stop. Non-audible release is shown in Fig 23: per ip alveolar ridge lower ip tongue tip latory movements for (od release of (b] is shown with a doites ) "With glotal reinforcement The fortis plosives and affricates can be reinforced with a glot i of /p, t k/ is commonly made before pauses tween vowels, e.g. take thar out (ter? Get UY e matches (mel). In all ilization is possi don tae srjnd its corresponding releate ~ i made before or si taneously with the oral closure for the plosive or affricate, as abe rine liad rongvetin 7” " Nondretewe" * voattid Sm —_-< 1% ‘ ‘vocal fold and release « * } Fig24 Simultaneous glottal reinforcement of /t/, as in (uy) The English consonants 57 uences /p, b/+/m/, in other words, the as in happen, (api] as in frogman, etc. Here the 01 by the compiete articulation of volun ae (oo (down) BH Nel ee fl ep (0) Lateral release d/ are followed by Ne ives are normally re the tongue, and a vowel would be heard. Lateral release, which is also marked [_), can occur inside words or at word boundary, and the result can be i gentle and friendly ((g3ent] on “sen: Alveolar idge tongue! fide rims of tongue 7. Variations of place of articulation We have seen how sounds influence’ one another when put together ~ and sentences; a soud may influence one that follows, as with a Scanned with CamScanner58° English phonetics for Spanish speakers one preceding it, as with length. Place of articulation may also be conditioned by the phonetic environment. The diacritics [.] and (.] are used in allophonic n nto indicate fronter and backer variants, respectively; furthermore, reserved exclusively for dental variants, We shall note only the following ther eases, e.g. keep quiet, girls! |; /a/ is affected by preceding vowels, e.g. sing-song ie nasals /n, m/ are nor 1 resulting variant is assign jo-dentally when /f, v/ e.g, In forests and valleys ‘and unaspirated: partlelpate; sport ‘napkin, step-child; top people subject; rob Peter rated and unaspirated: story and delayed release; football, at chireh; outdoor j-dental {1} post-al try, boat race, night train “1 43. /6/ volcetess-ortis dental trict ‘The English consonants 59 lease: feedback, odd job; bedtime garden, admire lease: medal, side line hundredth, add these lide-rule, bad dream th non-audible and delayed release: baked, picture; black coffee : thickness, pick-me-up key, queue U]-post-velar: cool, question. 6 /a/_ volced-lenis vear posi Igbo again, exam, le and delayed release: rugby, big joke; egg-cup ignore, pigment velar; geese, argue {[g}-post-velar: lagoon, penguin WW) Affreate "7 [/ voleeless-tortis palato-alveolar aftricate, 9 /ts/ volcetess-fortis post-alveotar affricate, - 10 ./ds/ volced-tenis postalveolaraffrcate, {ds}-voiced: address, hundred, federal [dj]-devolced: drama, bus-driver (UN) , Frleattoe 11 /L/ volceless-fortis labio-dental fricative. {leative, {yledevoleed: valve, loye-aong, font view. 14° /8/ voiced-lenis dental fr Scanned with CamScanner60 English phonetics for Spanish speakers 15. /s/_woiceless-fortis alveolar tricative. 16 /2/_ voiced-tenis alveolar fricative. [z}-voiced: busy, clumsy, puzzle [z}devoiced: zone, lose, hosepipe 17 [5] voicetess-foris palato-alveolarfricative. 18 /3/_ voiced-lenis palato-alveolarfricative. ‘measure, vision, usually (iv) Nasal 20 /m/_ voiced bilabial nasal. {m}-voiced: memory, rhyth mast [nlabio-dental: comfort, some value "21. /n/_ voiced alveolar nasal. (0}-voiced: noun, indecision, sudden snow, fatness, deafen, button Lukpos-aivete:unrelrendrpp, entry (v) Lateral 23 /M/_ voiced alveolar lateral, [u-clar (before vowels and //): lovely fall-out, steelyard [t]-dark (before consonants, pauses and /w/): fulfil, steel woot The English consonants 61 {fFdevoiced: pare tube, cue, huge 26 Jw/ voiced velerized-bilabial semi-vowe. (yldewoiced: weed, queen _ 9 9 Allophonic transcription and the Spanish learner we indicated the two main roles of alloph ly the variants determined by the phon as well as on the other hand, offer a graphic comparison of English and mot environme f narrowness. What phonetic being compared. In ing features common the teaching of Below are two samples of allophonic transc phonetic information given so far, an ay ‘spoukg tp | Ge Tonay ‘att it bi ivgt ov 89 ‘to-uzn ‘modt]. (2 ‘sterndod av ‘ride ov 89 steno | bot mitspytertip ip aesepl | moe bi 10. The English v, Spanish consonant systems . according to the variety spoken. Secondly, whereas English has two pairs of africate and four pairs of fricative phonemes, Spanish Scanned with CamScanner62 English phonetics for Spanish speakers hhas one single affricate and five (or fout) single fticatives, Third) English phonemes (ie. thirteen) are normally articulated ia the alveolar region, as against only six in Spanish. Lastly, only ten (or eleven) of the twenty-six Engish h phonemes have similar Spanish anes to correspon /, by k stm, @) A confrontation at the phonetic level reveals that only about half the seventy-odd English allophones listed in chapter 7, section 8 have elther similar ‘or néar-equivalent Spanish ones to correspond. This proportion would be even lower if we took 2 3h), ete. ~ and other restrictions ~ mainly ymparison;_ > culated with(weaker muscular tension sy Tare the commonest realizations of in excepein, ritmo, not occur together very frequent! types of release are of exceptional o ‘and none of them in fi therefore, non~ ‘wo never appeat 1 /pt/ and /kt/, as which can have nasal release in careful Spanish, iar style, though, these sequences tend to be A] respectively. Pre-nasal lenis plosives become {ricative, e.g. [5m] and [ym] as in admirar, dogma. 3 Sp. /t/ is exploded lat ta few instances, e.g. atlas. In sum, the number of pos ies of release types in the two languages is: Non-audible Nasa! Latéral English 60 uw 2 Spanish 2 204 (0 The velats and /n, m/ are influenced by the phonetic environ: alza ('al0aJ; post-alveolar variants do not normally occur in Spenish. ‘The English consonants 63 (Up The frequency counts by D. B. Fry (1947) and T. Navarro Tomés (1968) show the following figures: ‘Table 10 Frequency of occurrence ‘consonants, and includes ‘American Spanish /s/ and /0/ must be taken toget ‘7s, dr] were counted as two phonemes each, The shove gre ceva that cosscai cet is alveolar ~ nearly 36% cf. Spanish ith stops have an occurrence of just over 20%, rt ‘A phonetic count shows that Sp. /D, , g/ ate i of the English consonant phonemes shows only t empty slots, out of a total of seventy-cight. (Initial /3/ can be found in just a few loan words, e.g. gigolo, genre.) (— [tet T eaiot [Fra Taal Fal ra 2 | toe ‘eothe ° # | sme mise trot 2 | bo those word i | ite fuk weak 3 rouge ne | tone match | must tome Gane [a | nal tia a 1] ox te w| ve ioe ‘Table 11 The distributional table of English consonant phonemes, | In order to find out how this table differs from the Spanish one, we could fill in the slots corresponding to phonemes common to both languages with Spanish Scanned with CamScanner64 English phonetics for Spanish speakers about twenty empty slots, which (Gome of the slots could is only phonemic, and therefore restrictions which occur at the all therefore necessary. ‘The following is alist of distributional restrictions affecting allophones common (a) Sp. /b, d, of are realized as fricatives ~ ie. [B, v, 8, y] - or their corresponding approximants, between vowels (e.g. lo meaeer and between a vowel and /r/ anasals (€.. cambiando [ c Variants are in free variat Iso realized as a plosive after /I/, and asa fricative in inl position (e.g. maldad [ma]daB). In English, on ‘other hand, /b, 4, 9/ are realized 8s pl and /8/ a Boiitions, (6) Spb, k, mi] are of extremely rare occurrence in final position (©) Sp. {dg}, an allophone of /iz/, can be heard most frequently after /n/ (e.g. «nyuge Ckondguxe)); Eng. /43/ is of much freer occurrence. Castilian), occurs only before voiced consonants (e.g. mismo (mizmo)); Eng. /2/ is of much freer occurrence. (0 Sp.{u},an allophone of /n/, occurs only before velars (e.g. hongo ('ongo). Eng. /o/ occurs medially and finally, with ‘or without the presence : (&) Sp. /1/, either alveolar or dent Eng, /l/ is clear only preceding vowels and (h) Sp. {j] occurs before all vowels except [i], and Sp. (w], before all vowels. except {u}; Eng. /j, w/ are found before most vowels, including /i, 1, v, u/. lized as a clear variety in all positions; (*) A confrontation of the structure of the English and Spanish syllable reveals important differences: () The simplest syllable structure in both English and Spanish is V (i.e, one ‘vowel by itself), but whereas the English syllable may take up to three consonants before the vowel, and up to four after it, Spanish can only take two consonants before, and one ~ exceptionally two — after. This can be expressed as follows: English syllable: (CCC)V(CCCC) - e.g. spray, texts Spanishsyllable: (CC)V(CC) e.g. trans-cri-bir (6) P.Delat syllable types, which show that Spanish clearly favours the CV type: (1965: 41) gives the following figures for the four most frequent .as-devoicing,. releasé types, etc. should be lis The English consonants 65 cvc ve cv cv English 31.8% 11.9% 27.6% 4.0% Spanish 19.8% 3.1% 55.6% 10.2% (©) Whereas in English there is a predominance of closed syllables — i.e. those ending in C - 60%, Spanish strongly favours open syllables ~ i.e. those ending. V-72%. (¢) The number of possi positions in the two languages ccv- cccv- -vec . -vece -veccc English 20 3 96 fe Spanish 12 of consonant clusters in word the V or C element in the sy between English and Spanish, Whereas in Spanish the V element can only be a vowel sound (except for a few interjections), in Engli bbe a consonant sound. 31 of nearly 24,000 words appearing in CPD, bbe found in words pronounced ‘connected speech, however, tng stems for consonants shows that whereas Rt (oF twenty-five) spellings to represent its nineteen (or seventeen) phonemes, Enj entory of twenty-six ters, most of which are of extremely ion 12.) ‘common occurrence. (See chapter 7, 11 Teaching problems The foreign 5» notes of warning, A general procedure for the teaching of both sounds and features such ning and di Scanned with CamScannerphonetics for Spanish speakers rules. To sum up, the points ion 10 will prove essential to the under- plosives); (b) sounds which function as phor phones in the other (e.g. Of these three fe ssh the, ense tm ‘pul of | To practise this a sheet of paper in froat of his mox does, as a result of hypercorr Experience has shown thi ed in slow motion in the modified to the correct degree (c. Before tackling the prot .)* As a next step he may add , w, jf were not devoiced the latter as lenis plosives the plosive element and compare {p|]~ [pl], et r the fortis plosives, an English ear would interpr (ch. clue ~ glue, pride ~ bride, tune ~ dune) ‘A mastery of length, voicing and aspiration in isolation, though, should not be the final aim, since they frequent aneously, reinforcing one another, to provide clues for the identification of consonants. In other words, we must, ‘The English consonants 67 yuish /p/ from /b/ either by the icative. What perceptual clues does and that in:connected clear, even if they are speech the context will make the meaning sufficie 30f afford to use this pronounced incorrectly. The future teacher, however, release..The most the alveolars, Fig 27 Nasal release in /ta, dn. Ml) Place and manner (a) Alveolar. dental ‘A common problem concerning place of art nis the confusion of the English alveolars /t,4/ with Spanish dental /t, d/. Though affecting only two, sounds, the mistake is extremely noticeable due to the high frequency of occur- rence of the English set. The actual recognition and production of these sounds isnot difficult, since the student is accustomed to making an alveolar for Sp. /n/, which can be taken as a point of reference. Figs 28 and 29 illustrate the alveolar v. dental articulations. The difficulty li the unconscious, Scanned with CamScannerFig28 Alveolar /t, d/. (b) Stop v. fricative affricates and a pair of (eg. Chilean, Argent ay wy) <1 Fig 30 Palato-alveolar /t,dy/. Fig 31. Palato-alvestar /f,3/- Fig 32 Palatal /z/. ‘As to the rest of the English sibilants, the Latin American and Andalusian variety of /s/ are acceptable equivalents for English /s/. Whereas the /s/ pronounced in the rest of Spain is apical ic. the stricture is made with the tongue-tip and the alveolar ridge, the English one is made with the blade, (See Figs 33 and 34, Since the apical /s/hasa sight [1] quality the /s~1/ opposition should be practised. i The problem of Eng. /2/ is not generally one of articuiation, but of its freer occurrence. Besides, spelling is not a reliable clue as to when it should be used. - of other vowels of similar qu The English consonants 69 for him to pronounce wor decision, scissors, etc. This rue’ when /6/ is close to them, ‘enthusiasm, moths, ete. The Sp. J6/ used in most of Spain makes an accep! Fig 35). oS) SS) &S)} Fig33 Ay Fig34 ‘Blade’ /s/. (4) The post-alveolar affricates oh Fig 36. Post-alveolar (©) The velar nasal The /n,n/ another problem concerning phonemic status (et. sin ~: ning phonemic status (cf, sin ~sing), and also distribution. Special attention must be paid by those speakers who frequently use [5] as a common realization of Sp. /n/ (e.g. Peruvians, Ecuadorians, etc). See Figs 37 and 38: SN) | ig 37. Alveolar nasal /o. Fig 38 Velar nasal /o/ (A) Clear and dark \/ jing on to sequences such Scanned with CamScannerkeep in mind t as those of Gen SN) OTF Fig 39 Clear (1. Fig 40 Dark (t). and think of it as an approximant to start from. /2/ an Pronounced in absolute final position. The pronunciation of r-spellings in General ‘American may also cause interference. i) Fig 41 Approximant [)) (h) The glotal fricative In order to pronounce /b/ and not [x] - the usual Spanish mistake ~ the student , caused by distributional restrictions in Spanish, ind woman as [gu-], (io) Consonant clusters ‘These must const Before they are t st have mastered the pronunciation of in the teaching of English consonants. The English consonants 71 RP speaker would generally use » whereas a younger speaker would tend to use the second. discussion listic marker, which the” In this case, as with as many English 9f tapes, radio program- speaker, His decisions d by his knowledge of rectly or by mea mes, etc., and not to model his English on one particul as to what to adopt from whom should always be gui the theory of English Phonetics, simple compared with that of and consequently the spelling- pronunciation rules are fewer. Frequenty, though, itis more practical toremeai- ber the exceptions than the rules. For instance, the rule says tha in the sequence ‘V-+double consonant, the vowel element is generally a pure vowel (cf. later ~ only to the spellings It derivatives have been omitted. In chapter 7, sectic ‘of such exceptions. The learner should be encouraged to work out his own rules and lists of words based on observation. sr and consonant sound is relatively” Scanned with CamScanner72. English phonetics for Spanish speakers ‘Consonant alternations also provide useful clues to pronunciation, e.g.: Mal e/3! J0/ <> /8/ Jm-/+* mn] confuse confusion south southern autumn autumnal fuse fusion north northern. = hymn = hymnal supervise supervision worth worthy condemn condemnation seize seizure breath breathe solemn sole close closure bath bathe ama damnable 12 Spellings 181 Spelling th only in discotheque, thyme; Anthony, Esther, Thailand, ‘Thames, Therese, Thomas, Thompson. 18/1 Spelting ¢ only in 2. Exceptional spellings: Czech, puisch. /43/ Spelling ch only in sandwich#, spinach#: Greenwichs!, Harwich, Norwich#. It{ Spelling gh only in cough, draught, enough, Iaugh(ter), rough, tough, trough. Iv] Spelling ph only in nephew; Stephen. J/s/ 1, Spelling se in some nouns and hhouse, use. When these words function as verbs, all are pronounced with /2/.Exceptions: fuse, surprise, always with /2/; decrease, increase, promise, release, always with /s/. In used! fo, when it means ‘accustomed’; with /2/ when ‘employed’, Spelling 5, € jectives: abuse, lose, difluse, excuse, Alt vise, ris, rise, surprise, wise; Choose, dispose, expose, hoe, lose, nore, oppoe, propor, SUPPOSE, those; arouse, blouse, cause, confuse, pause; deposit, desert, deserve, design, desi iserable, museum, music, physics, postive, position, president, resemble, resign, resist; resort, The English consonants 73 visit; busy, cosy, daisy, jersey, lousy; husband, 3» present, prison, reason. result, trousers, ed (past tense and past participle suffix of re . 1. /-d/ when the last sound of the infii is a vowel, or /b, g, ‘owed, rubbed, judged, loved, bathed, isa vowel or /b, , mouths, rooms, 3 in inflected forms, 1gy, bringing. Also in hangar, eg. hanger, singer, winger; longish, gangway. * Scanned with CamScanner74 English phonetics for Spanish speakers finger, hunger, langus mingy, strange(s) those which do not represent -f. bomb(er), comb, plumb(er), thumb, tomb; debt victual(s). Note chin: € incorpuscle, muscle; Connecticut ym, gn and gy liaphragm, phlegm; assign, camps foreign, reign, sovereign; gnash, gnat, gnaw, thetor rheumatism, rhubarb, vehement, vehie fe, Holmes, ‘¢.g, autumn, column, condemn, damn, hymn, solemn, P_ Incoup, cupboard, raspberry, recelpt. Note ps in corps. ipropos, chassis, debris, demesne, 4g. wrap, wreck, wring, wrist, wrong; who, whole, whom, whore, ich, e.g. Berwick, Keswick, Warwick; inswer, sword, 13. Alternative pronunciations Ns ‘The number of alternative pronunciations concerning consonant sounds appearing in CPD ~ about 300 of = Is considerably lower than that of vowels (see chapter 6, section 13)."° Of these, the. three largest areas of wn correspond 10 the choice between the fortis~lenis’ opposition, a ized form, and an elided v, on-elided consonant form. 1 fs/~/2/ . (a) Words ending in -sive, ¢.g. adhesive, evasi x)plosive, persu The English consonants. 75 \isform, transfusion, transit, (©) absorb, absurd, advertisement, fantasy, grease ( ~/s/ ion, transistor, tra Qn, trans Bl~ Isl {a) Asia, conversion, excursion, magnesia, Persia version, 1o/~/e/ (a) abscess, absence, absolut, absorb, absurd. For examples of palatalized v, non-palatalized and elided v, non-elided alter- natives, see chapter 8, Notes ‘The American/Englih tendency to realize Intervoeaic /t/ as volced fap cannot be ature of RP. a (VOT) is a useful tefm to refer to the moment volein op. Inwtrumentally, VOT Is m al and lateral A, is restricted to .] to. symbolize non-au recently approved by SS 8 i i g z i 3 i summary of “The Teaching of Pronunei nat the 6th Annual Conference of IATEFL (London, No, 28, 6. We have excluded unusual equenée trv w/; /tr, de/ are treated en trom LA ndleatore 62, 1965) 1 ity aa Pronunclation Problem’ forthcoming 8 jculatory eres and questions for dscssion see Wells & Colin 9 bout the pfonanlaion of tev n Spanish "i “forthcoming. 10 * See our ‘The CPD Consonant Alteraiive Pronunciat Scanned with CamScannerA Course in ENGLISH PHONETICS for Spanish Speakers Diana F, Finch Post-Graduate Diploma in Phonetics LP.A. Certificjtte Héctor Ortiz Lira MA. in Phonetics LP.A. Certificate (x) HEINEMANN Kies] EDUCATIONAL BOOKS Scanned with CamScanner