Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription

Transcription

1 Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription is the first textbook to clearly describe Australian English speech patterns. This groundbreaking work addresses pronunciation characteristics and provides detailed instruction in both phonetic and phonemic transcription of the dialect. Through comprehensive coverage of traditional and revised systems of phonemic transcription, Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription offers an astute and engaging exploration of one of the core global dialects of English. Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription is complemented by an extensive website, which provides further explanatory materials and exercises with audio examples. This unique text, in tandem with these valuable pedagogical features, is an essential resource for students and teachers of linguistics, speech pathology and language education. is a member of the Centre for Language Sciences in the Department of Linguistics at Macquarie University. She has 25 years experience in teaching and research in phonetics and phonology, and is regarded as one of the foremost authorities on the Australian English accent.

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3 Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription

4 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Information on this title: / C 2012 This publication is copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2012 Cover design by Marianna Berek-Lewis Typeset by Aptara Corp. Printed in Hong Kong by Everbest Printing A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library National Library of Australia Cataloguing in Publication data Cox, Felicity. Australian English pronunciation and transcription / (pbk.) Includes bibliographical references and index. English language Australia. English language Dialects Australia ISBN Paperback Additional resources for this publication at Reproduction and communication for educational purposes The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of the pages of this work, whichever is the greater, to be reproduced and/or communicated by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact: Copyright Agency Limited Level 15, 233 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000 Telephone: (02) Facsimile: (02) info@copyright.com.au Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 Contents... List of tables List of figures Acknowledgements Consonant symbols for Australian English Vowel symbols for Australian English pageix xi xiii xv xvii 1 Introduction to Australian English speech production Introduction Phoneme and allophone Phonemic and phonetic transcription Australian English transcription conventions Australian English How did Australian English develop? The standard Australian English accent Broadness Regional variation Australian English in the twenty-first century 18 2 Consonants and vowels Introduction Respiration Phonation Articulation Differentiating consonants and vowels Describing consonants Place of articulation Manner of articulation Voicing Complex articulation and phonetic detail Non-pulmonic consonants 44 v

6 vi Contents Australian English regional and social effects for consonants Describing vowels Vowel space Vowel characteristics Australian English vowel characteristics Lexical sets Major classes Summary 66 3 Syllables, word stress and sentence stress Introduction Syllables Phonotactic constraints Syllabification Word stress The metrical foot Creating words from feet Heavy and light syllables Morphology and word stress Stress in connected speech Summary 87 4 Phonemic transcription of Australian English Introduction Symbols for the phonemic transcription of Australian English Consonant symbols Vowel symbols Phonemes of Australian English Consonants Vowels Lexical stress Primary stress Secondary stress Compound words Unstressed syllables Syllabic consonants Syllabic /n/ Syllabic /m/ Syllabic /l/ Connected speech Function words Epenthetic consonants Characteristics of /t/ 114

7 Contents vii Flaps/taps Glottal stops Assimilation Alveolar to bilabial stops Alveolar to velar stops Alveolar to postalveolar fricatives Word-internal assimilation Affrication Consonant deletion/elision Voicing of stops, fricatives and affricates Tips for phonemic transcription Phonetic transcription of Australian English Allophonic variation and phonetic transcription Phonetic transcription of consonants Symbol selection Aspiration and release of oral stops Variants of /t/ Devoicing Assimilation of velar oral stops Assimilation of alveolar consonants Syllabic consonants Clear and dark realisations of /l/ Allophones of /h/ Gemination Labialisation Phonetic transcription of vowels Coarticulation and dialect effects Prelateral contexts Nasalisation Allophones of /e:/and/iə/ Allophones of schwa /ə/ Allophonic vowel length Tips for phonetic transcription Evaluation of two phonemic transcription systems Introduction Historical background Vowel transcription The revised transcription system for Australian English The HCE system relative to the IPA cardinal vowels Flexibility in transcription choice Reform Conclusion 162

8 viii Contents Glossary 164 References 178 Solutions 184 Index 231 International Phonetic Alphabet 238

9 Tables List of Australian English consonant phoneme symbols with illustrative words page Table of symbols for Australian English consonant phonemes indicating place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing features Phonemic vowel symbols for the HCE and MD systems Lexical sets for Australian English Major class features Feature matrix for AusE monophthongal vowels Feature matrix for [+voice, +consonantal] AusE phonemes Some examples of the structure of English syllables The consonant phonemes of Australian English The vowel phonemes of Australian English Comparison between phonemic vowel symbols for HCE and MD 153 ix

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11 Figures Major cartilages of the larynx page Major structures of the larynx viewed from above Important articulatory landmarks Illustration of bilabial place of articulation with the soft palate raised for oral consonants such as /p, b/ Illustration of bilabial place of articulation with the soft palate lowered for nasal consonants such as /m/ Illustration of labiodental place of articulation with the soft palate raised for oral consonants such as /f, v/ Illustration of dental place of articulation with the soft palate raised for oral consonants such as /θ, ð/ Illustration of alveolar place of articulation with the soft palate raised for oral consonants such as /t, d/ Illustration of alveolar place of articulation with the soft palate lowered for nasal consonants such as /n/ Illustration of postalveolar place of articulation with the soft palate raised for oral consonants such as /ʃ, ʒ,, / Illustration of retroflex place of articulation with the soft palate raised Illustration of palatal place of articulation with the soft palate raised for the oral consonant /j/ Illustration of velar place of articulation with the soft palate raised for oral consonants such as /k, ɡ/ Illustration of velar place of articulation with the soft palate lowered for nasal consonants such as /N/ Illustration of the relationship between supralaryngeal and laryngeal events during the production of various voicing categories for oral stops Front tongue position for vowels Back tongue position for vowels 52 xi

12 xii Figures 2.18 High/close tongue position for vowels Low/open tongue position for vowels The traditional vowel map showing some of the IPA cardinal vowels Schematic representation of the stressed monophthongs of Australian English positioned within the vowel space relative to some IPA cardinal vowels The diphthongs of Australian English The structure of the syllable illustrated with the word dance The sonority profile for English speech sounds according to manner of articulation The relationship between syllable constituents and sonority The foot structure of the words: a) elbow, b) oxygen, c) cat The relationship between syllable weight and stress for the words: a) benevolent, b) volition, c) distinction Prosodic tree diagrams for the words: a) confident, b) confidential, c) confidentiality An example of a prosodic tree diagram for the word apparent Spectrogram of the word herd produced by a young adult male speaker The average F1/F2 monophthong vowel space for 116 young women from Sydney Spectrogram of the word hoyd produced by a young adult male speaker F1/F2 monophthong vowel space with superimposed diphthong trajectories for /æi, əë,oi/ from 116 young women from Sydney F1/F2 monophthong vowel space with superimposed diphthong trajectories for /ɑe/and/æɔ/ from 116 young women from Sydney Schematic representation of the stressed monophthongs of Australian English positioned within the vowel space relative to some IPA cardinal vowels The diphthongs of Australian English 161

13 Acknowledgements... This book is the product of many years of research into the phonetics of Australian English and the teaching of its various idiosyncrasies and nuances. Many people have been integral to the completion of this work including the teachers and mentors who inspired me, the students who challenged me and the colleagues who encouraged me. I have been incredibly fortunate to have studied with, and worked alongside, passionate and engaging scholars such as John Bernard, David Blair, John Clark, Arthur Delbridge and Jonathan Harrington, upon whose shoulders I have the privilege to stand. In particular, I am indebted to Sallyanne Palethorpe whose commitment to excellence in research is a true inspiration. I am grateful to Robert Mannell and my fellow phoneticians, both past and present, for their collegiality, advice and helpful discussions, and to Linda Cupples and my colleagues in the Linguistics Department at Macquarie University for their kindness and support. A special thank you must go to Linda Buckley, a woman with an amazing eye for detail who helped with the manuscript in all manner of ways. Of course any errors that remain are entirely my own. A special thank you is also due to the volunteers who donated their time to become the voices behind the scenes and to Chris Callaghan who has recorded speakers for my research endeavours over many years. This book would not have been possible without the extraordinary generosity of my family. In particular, I cannot begin to express my gratitude to Garry Frost, a man of integrity and talent whose patience, humour and commitment sustains me and whose quiet unassuming manner is an enduring source of reassurance and encouragement. xiii

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15 Consonant symbols for Australian English... /p/ pie /θ/ thigh /ɡ/ guy /b/ buy /ð/ thy /N/ hang /m/ my /s/ sigh /h/ high /f/ fie /z/ zoo / / chin /v/ vie / / rye / / gin /t/ tie /l/ lie /ʃ/ shy /d/ die /w/ why /ʒ/ Asia /n/ nigh /k/ kite /j/ you xv

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17 Vowel symbols for Australian English... HCE MD Example word i: i beat i i bit e ε bet e: εə cared bat ɐ: a Bart ɐ Ø but ɔ ɒ pot o: ɔ bought υ υ put Ë: u boot : Bert i ei bait ɑe ai bite oi ɔi Boyd ɔ aυ bout əë oυ boat iə iə beard ə ə the (not thee ) xvii