Vowels: Front Central Back. Front Central Back. High. High. Mid. Mid. Low. Low

Transcription

1 English Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Indo-European, Germanic, West, English) Please refer to the English Pronunciation Chart following this page for a detailed explanation as to how the English IPA symbols are pronounced. Stop Nasal Fricative Central Approximant () Diphthongs: //, // ////// Pronunciation Notes: // are pronounced long and often marked with (i, u, etc.) to signify this lengthening. Languages which incorporate these vowels often do not lengthen them and hence this can pose problems for those attempting to acquire the appropriate English accent. /u, / are rounded vowel sounds (produced with lips rounded as if kissing) while /w, / are rounded consonants. /, / - many speakers of American English do not distinguish these two sounds as contrastive, especially those speakers inhabating areas from the Great Plains westward. The merger of these two sounds is often referred to as the cot-caught merger, where cot is usually pronounced [] and caught either as [] or []. // - For many native English speakers, (including myself) these two vowel sounds are often difficult to differentiate. Linguists note that schwa, or // occurs in non-stressed syllables while // occurs in stressed syllables (see the English Pronunciation Chart following this page for examples). /w/ also known as a glide, is considered to be both bilabial (due to the rounding of the lips) and velar in place of articualtion. Low Low

2 Amharic Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, South, Ethiopian, South, Transversal, Amharic-Argobba) = English sound that does not occur in Amharic. {} = Amharic sound that does not occur in English. Stop Nasal {} Fricative Central Approximant () {e} {o} Compared to English, Amharic lacks velar nasal // voiced labiodental fricative /v/ dental fricatives /, / alveolar central approximant // vowel insertion (cluster reduction): i.e. /kn.slip/ kn.slip (can sleep) or /pliz/ pliz consonant deletion (cluster reduction): i.e. /sev.mi/ se.mi (save me) or /rumz/ rum (rooms) Low {a} Other Sounds of Amharic: voiceless stops, affricates, and sibilant fricatives can be ejective voiced and unvoiced velar labialized stops both high lax vowels /, / all mid vowels /,,, / both low vowels /, / interdental fricative to alveolar stop or alveolar fricative: /, / [t, d] or [s, z] central alveolar approximant change: // [r] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] 80% consonant 20% vowel 63% total phonemic intersection

3 Arabic Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic) = English sound that does not occur in Arabic. {} = Arabic sound that does not occur in English. Stop {q} {} Nasal {r} Fricative {} {} {} {} Central Approximant () {e} {o} Low {a} Other Sounds of Arabic: pharyngealized dental stops and fricatives consonants are long or short vowels are long or short Compared to English, Arabic lacks voiceless stop /p/ velar nasal // voiced labiodental fricative /v/ voiced alveopalatal fricative // voiceless affricate /t/ alveopalatal central approximant // both high lax vowels /, / all mid vowels /,,, / low back // consonant voicing: i.e. /p/ [b] or /s/ [z] interdental fricative to alveolar stop: /, / [t, d] central alveolar approximant change: // [r] dentalization of alveolar stops [t, d] glottal fricative becomes a velar fricative: /h/ [x] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] vowel lowering: i.e. /i/, e, or /u/ o, (seems less common than vowel shortening and raising). 76% consonant 30% vowel 63% total phonemic intersection

4 Chinese (Mandarin) Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Sino-Tibetan, Chinese) = English sound that does not occur in Chinese (Mandarin). {} = Chinese (Mandarin) sound that does not occur in English. Stop Nasal Fricative {} {} {c} {} {ts} {t} {c} Central Approximant () {y} {} Low {a} Other Sounds of Chinese (Mandarin): all stops and affricates have aspirated counterparts vowels occur in four contrastive tones Compared to English, Chinese (Mandarin) lacks all voiced stops /b, d, g/ all voiced fricatives /v,, z, / voiceless dental fricative // voiceless alveopalatal fricative // voiceless glottal fricative /h/ alveopalatal central approximant // alveolar flap // both high lax vowels /, / all mid vowels /,,, / both low vowels /, / interdental fricative to alveolar stop or alveolar fricative: /, / [t, d] or [s, z] central alveolar approximant change: // [r, l,,, ] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] vowel insertion (cluster reduction): i.e. /kn.slip/ kn.slip (can sleep) or /pliz/ pliz consonant deletion (cluster reduction): i.e. /sev.mi/ se.mi (save me) or /rumz/ rum (rooms) [] deletion word final: i.e. /h/ h (her) glottal insertion: /nd/ nd (and) 44% consonant 20% vowel 28% total phonemic intersection

5 French Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Gallo-Romance, Gallo-Rhaetian, Oïl, French) = English sound that does not occur in French. {} = French sound that does not occur in English. Stop Nasal {} Fricative {} Central Approximant () {y} {}{} {} {o} Low {a} {} Other Sounds of French: Notice that the vowels /e, / which are thought to only surface in English within the diphthongs /e/ and /o/ do surface as pure vowels in French. /,, o, / are rounded vowel sounds. Compared to English, French lacks dental fricatives /, / both affricates // alveolar central approximant // alveolar flap // glottal fricative /h/ both front lax vowels /, / mid central // mid back // low back // dentalization of apical alveolar consonants /t, d, n, l/ interdental fricative to alveolar stop: /, / [t, d] central alveolar approximant change: // [r] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] 72% consonant 50% vowel 66% total phonemic intersection

6 Indonesian Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Malayic, Malayan, Local Malay) = English sound that does not occur in Indonesian. {} = Indonesian sound that does not occur in English. Stop {}{} Nasal {} {} Fricative ** Central Approximant () {} {} Low {} Other Sounds of Indonesian: voiceless stops and affricates sibilant fricatives can be ejective voiced and unvoiced velar labialized stops Compared to English, Indonesian lacks all voiced fricatives /z, v,, / voiceless dental fricatives /f, /** voiceless alveopalatal fricative // both affricates // all central approximants /w,, j/ alveolar flap // ** Due to the influence of Chinese on the Indonesian language, /f/ does tend to surface in many of its dialects. both high lax vowels /, / mid front lax // both mid back vowels /, / both low vowels /, / interdental fricative to alveolar stop: /, / [t, d] consonant deletion (cluster reduction): i.e. /sev.mi/ se.mi (save me) or /rumz/ rum (rooms) central alveolar approximant change: // [r] alveopalatal becomes alveolar: // [s] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] non-aspiration of initial stops, i.e. [ (pest) 48% consonant 30% vowel 43% total phonemic intersection

7 Japanese Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Japanese) = English sound that does not occur in Japanese. {} = Japanese sound that does not occur in English. Stop Nasal Fricative {} {} {ts} Central Approximant {} Low {} Other Sounds of Japanese // is an unrounded counterpart to /u/ Compared to English, Japanese lacks all dental fricatives // both alveolar approximants // alveopalatal voiced fricative // both high lax vowels /, / high back // mid central schwa // mid back unrounded // both low vowels /, / dentalization of apical alveolar consonants /t, d, n, l/ vowel insertion (cluster reduction): i.e. /kn.slip/ kn.slip (can sleep) or /pliz/ pliz vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] interdental fricative to alveolar stop or fricative: /, / [t, d] or [s, z] glottal insertion: /nd/ nd (and) central alveolar approximant change: // [l] lateral alveolar approximant change: /l/ [] [] deletion word final: i.e. /h/ h (her) 72% consonant 30% vowel 60% total phonemic intersection

8 Korean Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: language isolate) = English sound that does not occur in Korean. {} = Korean sound that does not occur in English. Stop Nasal Fricative Central Approximant () {} {} {} {} {} {} {} Low {} Other Sounds of Korean: aspirated stops, affricates and fricatives (except /h/) vowels are both long and short Compared to English, Korean lacks all voiced stops /b, d, g/ all voiced fricatives /v,, z, / all dental fricatives /f, v,, / alveopalatal fricative // voiced affricate /d/ alveolar approximant // alveolar flap // both high lax vowels /, / all mid vowels /,, / low back // interdental fricative to alveolar stop: /, / [t, d] vowel insertion (cluster reduction): i.e. /kn.slip/ kn.slip (can sleep) or /pliz/ pliz consonant deletion (cluster reduction): i.e. /sev.mi/ se.mi (save me) or /rumz/ rum (rooms) central alveolar approximant change: // [l] 48% consonant 30% vowel 43% total phonemic intersection

9 Russian Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Indo-European, Slavic, East) = English sound that does not occur in Russian. {} = Russian sound that does not occur in English. Stop {} Nasal {} Fricative {} {} Central Approximant {} {} Low {} Other Sounds of Russian: All consonants except for velars and the palatal approximant have palatalized counterparts often referred to as soft consonants. Russian has the following diphthongs: /,, / Compared to English, Russian lacks velar nasal // both dental fricatives // voiced affricate // alveolar central approximant // labio-velar central approximant // alveolar flap // both high lax vowels /, / mid central schwa // both mid back vowels /, / both low vowels /, / dentalization of apical alveolar consonants /t, d, n, l/ central alveolar approximant change: // [r] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] non-aspiration of initial stops, i.e. [ (pest) interdental fricative to alveolar stop or alveolar fricative: /, / [t, d] or [s, z] glottal fricative becomes a velar fricative: /h/ [x, ] paltalization of obstruents before front vowels: i.e. /nt/ [nt] (net) or /bit/ [bit] (beat) labio-velar central approximant becomes a fricative: i.e. /w/ [v] 72% consonant 30% vowel 60% total phonemic intersection

10 Spanish Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Ibero-Romance, West Iberian, Castilian) = English sound that does not occur in Spanish. {} = Spanish sound that does not occur in English. Stop Nasal {} {r} Fricative {} {x} {} Central Approximant () {} {e} {o} Low {a} Compared to English, Spanish lacks all voiced stops /b, d, g/ velar nasal // voiced labiodental fricative /v/ voiced alveolar fricative /z/ voiceless glottal fricative /h/ alveopalatal fricatives /, / voiced affricate /d/ alveolar central approximant // both high lax vowels /, / all mid vowels /,,, / both low vowels /, / stops become fricatives: i.e. /k, g/ [x, ], /b/ [] interdental fricative to alveolar stop: /, / [t, d] central alveolar approximant change: // [r] dentalization of apical alveolar consonants /d, s/ glottal fricative becomes a velar fricative: /h/ [x, ] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] vowel lowering: i.e. /i/, e, or /u/ o, vowel insertion (cluster reduction): i.e. /kn.slip/ kn.slip (can sleep) or /pliz/ pliz consonant deletion (cluster reduction): i.e. /sev.mi/ se.mi (save me) or /rumz/ rum (rooms) 56% consonant 20% vowel 46% total phonemic intersection

11 Vietnamese Sound System (Linguistic Lineage: Austro-Asiatic, Mon-Khmer, Viet-Muong, Vietnamese) = English sound that does not occur in Vietnamese. {} = Vietnamese sound that does not occur in English. Stop {} {} Nasal {} Fricative {x} {} Central Approximant () {e} {} {} {o} Low {a} Other Sounds of Vietnamese: bilabial voiced implosive alveolar voiceless aspirated stop [th] alveolar voiced implosive velar lower mid central approximant /a/ is long; all other vowels are short Compared to English, Vietnamese lacks all voiced stops /b, d, g/ voiceless bolabial stop /p/ alveolar flap // dental fricatives /, / all alveopalatals /,, t, d/ alveolar central approximant // both high lax vowels /, / mid central // low back // consonant voicing: i.e. /p/ [b] or /s/ [z] stops become fricatives: i.e. /k, g/ [x, ] and /b/ [, ] interdental fricative to alveolar stop: /, / [t, d] dentalization of apical alveolar consonants [t, s] alveopalatal becomes alveolar: // [s] stop becomes implosive: /p, b/ [] vowel shortening: i.e. /i/ [i] or /u/ u vowel raising: i.e. // or /a, / [o, ] or // [] vowel lowering: i.e. /i/, e, or /u/ o, consonant deletion (cluster reduction): i.e. /sev.mi/ se.mi (save me) or /rumz/ rum (rooms) [] deletion word final: i.e. /h/ h (her) glottal insertion: /nd/ nd (and) 52% consonant 60% vowel 54% total phonemic intersection