Week 5: Connected Speech

This week my focus is on the connected speech. What is connected speech? When we speak, we do not pronounce one word, stop, and then continue by pronouncing another word. Instead, we are trying to pronounce the words in a way that they flow from one to another. As a result, there may be a connection between the end of a word with the beginning of the next word, which sometimes may result in the changing of the sound. 

I listened to my archetype many times and focus my attention on the sound ending of each word and how it connects with the sound from the next word. Then, I noted my listening on the form of IPA transcription. I also highlighted the connected speech that I found and took notes. Here is the transcription:

notes on the highlights:

Green: consonant to vowel linking

Turquoise: vowel to vowel linking

Yellow: contraction

Pink: linking 'r'

Dark blue: sound changing or deletion

So, the first connected speech that I notice and the most common one is the consonant to vowel linking. This kind of connection occurs in most accents of English. From the IPA transcription above, I notice that this kind of connection occur when the following words are unstressed function words. From the archetype, the examples are was a, at an, in a, start a, and strut around. This is the most noticeable words linking in English. For this type of connected speech, I also notice that when the word has two-consonant cluster at the end, the last consonant sound is pronounced as part of the following word as in district of which is pronounced as /dɪstrɪkt͜əf/, and picked up which is pronounced as /pɪkt͜up/as if the /t/ is part of the /əf/. 

The second connected speech that I also notice is the vowel and vowel linking. I guess this kind of linking is also common in all accent of English. It occurs when certain vowels come next to each other. Usually, another sound is added to make the speech smoother. In the archetype I found this type of linking in the animal in which the sound /y/ is added between the two vowels to make it smoother. Thus, the pronunciation of these two words together become /θi͜yenɪməl/. Other examples that can be found in the archetype are see it and the office. 

I also found in my archetype, even though only one example, a contraction. The phrase who had been working is pronounced /huː͜d bɪn wɜːkŋ/contracting who and had to become like one word. 

Another way to connect speech that I noticed in the archetype is the linking 'r.' I have noted in my previous blog post on consonant that normally /r/ sound is not pronounced in Received Pronunciation when it occur after a vowel at the end of a word. However, I noticed from my archetype that the /r/ sound is pronounced as /ɹ/ (r tap). I only found one example of this kind of connected speech that is is the letter implied which is pronounced as /θə lətəɹ͜ɪmplaɪd/. 

Another connected speech that I notice is the changing of the sound when a word ends in a consonant sound and the following word begins with a consonant sound too, depending on the particular sound, the first or the second consonant sound may be change in order to anticipate the production of the following consonant. The example that I found in the archetype is in implied that. The consonant 

/θ/ in the word that is changed into /d/ continuing the production of implied since it is smoother that moving from voiced alveolar stop /d/ to voiceless dental fricative /θ/. For this case, I also noticed that the voicing is lesser because the following word is an unstressed function word that. The same case also occur in the phrase mouth disease in that the voiceless dental fricative /θ/ sound is changed into /d/ in anticipation of the voiced alveolar stop /d/ in disease.   

Afterward, I tried to record myself several times to see my progress. Even though I have the IPA transcription with all the necessary notation that can help me in my recording this time, it is still quite challenging for me to always assure that the words are flowing, and still sound natural. However, through more and more practice, I am sure that I can be better. Here is my recording for this week:

For next week, I will work on stress. 

Week 4: Vowels

So, my focus this week was on the vowel production of Received Pronunciation. Learning to imitate vowels is the most difficult task for me to do since vowel production is more subtle in terms of place and manner of articulation. The strategies that I took for this purpose were listening to the archetype over and over again, watching some videos on British vowels and the vowel differences between Received Pronunciation and North American English (NAE), transcribing the archetype using IPA symbols, and then trying to pronounce the words in isolation at first and then in a complete sentence afterwards.

In order to learn more about the production of vowels in RP, I watched videos on BBC Learning English channel. The videos in this channel really helped me to differentiate almost similar vowels in RP. It also helped me to learn how to produce each vowel sound. From these videos, I learned how to pronounce long vowels /uː/ as in goose,/ɑː/ as in start, /ɔː/as in North, and /ʒː/ as in nurse; short vowels /e/as in dress, /æ/as in back; and also diphthongs. There are 8 diphthongs in RP, namely:

1. /ɪə/ as in near /nɪə/ and here /hɪə/
2. /ʊə/ as in tour /tʊə/ and cure /kjʊə/
3. /aɪ/ as in high /haɪ/ and try /traɪ/
4. /ɔɪ/ as in choice /tʃɔɪs/ and noise /nɔɪs/
5. /əʊ/as in know /nəʊ/ and goat /gəʊt/
6. /ea/ as in square /skwea/ and pair /pea/
7. /aʊ/ as in mouth /maʊθ/ and now /naʊ/
8. /eɪ/ as in face /feɪs/ and day /deɪ/

To get more understanding on the vowel production, I then watched another video on the differences between RP and NAE vowels. I found that it is easier for me to finally produce these vowel sounds when I know the differences in the production of these sounds in these two accent, RP and NAE. Here is the video:

  

After watching the videos, I transcribed the archetype as my guideline in recording myself this week. Here is the transcript of the archetype:

Afterwards, I tried to pronounce the words in isolation before finally pronouncing them in complete sentences. What I noticed from my archetype as well as from the videos, RP has more long vowels than NAE, and that long vowels are often used to compensate the /r/ deletion at the end of a word.
For example, the words nurse is pronounced as /nəɹs/ with a short schwa in NAE, but it is pronounced as /nɜːs/ in RP with the long vowel /ɜː/. It happens to all words ending with /r/ sound which is deleted in RP, for example in the words work, superb, North, tower, and there.

Another thing that I noticed is the difference in pronouncing the low back vowel as in the words job, and tower. In NAE these words are pronounced as /jɑb/ and /tɑwəɹ/; whereas in RP, these words are pronounced as /jɒb/ and /tɒwəː/. The low back vowel in RP has more lip rounding and less jaw drop compared to NAE.

Here is my recording after I tried to record several times:

Next week, I will work on the connected speech.

Week 3: Consonants

During this third week, I am working on the consonants of Received Pronunciation, trying to listen to the salient feature of the consonants in this British accent in order to try to correctly imitate them.

Non-Rhoticity

The most salient feature of RP consonants that I first notice and have also mentioned on my previous blog post (Voice Quality Setting) is its non-rhoticity. It means that the /r/ sound is not pronounced unless when a vowel follows it. For example, the /r/ sound in start, square, and near is not pronounced, but the /r/ sound in Sarah, very, and sorry is pronounced since the /r/ is followed by a vowel. This is clearly different from NAE in which the /r/ sound is a retroflex approximant.

Dental Fricatives /θ/ and /ð/

I learn from the following video that voiced dental fricative /ð/ in RP is produced by placing the tongue tip between (or behind) the teeth and then touch the top teeth very gently with the top surface of the tongue. The voiceless dental fricative will be the same only without the vibration of the vocal cords. Here is the video:

However, when I listened to my archetype many times to try to hear the example sounds of these dental fricatives, I found that the voiced dental fricative /ð/ sounds a little bit like /d/ for my ear. The friction is very light and, especially in the word the and that, I feel like the tongue is a bit retracted so that it touches the top teeth lightly producing a sound that is almost like /d/ for my ear. For example, in the phrase that area I hear the sound /ð/ is pronounced almost as /d/ probably because it is preparing for the voiceless alveolar stop /t/ after the vowel. 

Stop Consonants

Voiceless stops or plosives /p/, /t/, /k/, are aspirated at the beginning of a syllable, and the aspiration is so obvious unless a completely unstressed vowel follows them. It is always so obvious in RP than in NAE. As it is in NAE, voiceless stops are not aspirated if they are preceded by /s/ in the same syllable as in start, street, and strut. What I notice from the recording is that the /t/ is almost always either pronounced as true /t/ or glottalized at the end of the word. For example in the words jacket and goat, the /t/ is clearly pronounced as a true /t/ with somewhat stressed.

Glottal Stops 

As I mentioned earlier, I notice that the /t/ and /k/ sound at the end of a word or syllable are sometimes glottalized so they becomes a glottal stop. In the recording it can be heard in the phrase private practice and Duke Street Tower. Interestingly not all the words ending with /t/ are glottalized. In the phrase "that area..." the /t/ is not glottalized. I then learn from this website that in RP, glottalization only occurs before another consonant as in partner and Batman, and after the glottal stop is produced the tongue touches the alveolar ridge as if the speaker were making a /t/ sound. Therefore, I did not here the glottal stop in "That area was much nearer...," but I could hear the glottal stop in "...superb private practice..."

Dark /l/ or Velarized /l/ symbolized as /ɫ/

Another thing that I tried to listen from the recording is the dark or velarized /l/ at the end of a syllable. In RP, it is expected that the /l/ sound at the end of a syllable be different from the /l/ sound at the beginning of a syllable. At the end of a syllable, the /l/ sound is pronounced by raising the tongue at the back of the mouth towards the velum as well as touching the alveolar ridge, giving a soft, almost inaudible sound. This /ɫ/ can be heard in the words sentimental, feel, and beautiful. 

Here is my recording for this week:

For the upcoming week, I will focus my practice on the production of vowels in RP. 

Week 2: Voice Quality Settings

This is the second week of my deliberate practice on Received Pronunciation, and I will focus on the voice quality settings looking at the lips, tongue, and jaw position. Since my archetype is an audio only, I felt the need to find some videos to help me to see the movement of the lips and also the jaw position when people speaks in Received Pronunciation. For that purpose, I, then, firstly watched several movie trailers, one of which was Jane Eyre. Here is the video:

Also, to help me learned more the voice quality settings of Received Pronunciation, I also watched some video tutorials for this accent. I found some good tutorials, but I think this particular one is the most helpful one for me:

From both the trailer and the tutorial here are the features of Received Pronunciation that I noticed:

Spread Lips 

I noticed from all the videos that I watched, most of the time when the speakers speak, the lips are spread. This is actually a similar feature that American English also has. I learnt from one of the video that I watched that I can try to slightly smile while speaking to keep the lips spread. 

Close Jaw

Unlike American English with the feature of open jaw which is described by Esling and Wong (1983) as chewing gum, British people keep their jaw relatively close. This is not the way I usually talk, so it is quite challenging for me to do.  

Creaky Voice

Another feature that I noticed from the archetype is the creaky phonation resulting from the lowering of the larynx to make lower pitch sounds (Esling & Wong, 1983). 

Falling Intonation

I also noticed the falling intonation at the end of each sentence. Even though American English also has falling intonation feature, RP has a slightly different way of doing this. In RP, the falling intonation is softer at the end. 

Non-Rhoticity

Another distinctive feature of British English is its non-rhoticity, that is, the [r] at the end of words is not pronounced as in far, car, and near. However, if the [r] is not at the end of words, the [r] is still pronounced. In RP, the [r] is R-glides after vowels such as in very, sorry, and carry. 

After I tried for several times to record my voice, here is my final attempt for this week after observing the voice quality setting:

As for next week, I will focus my practice on the consonants of Received Pronunciation.


References:
Esling, J. H., & Wong, R. F. (1983). Voice quality settings and the teaching of pronunciation. Tesol 
        Quarterly, 17(1), 89-95.

Week One: Archetype

This blog is built for a self-tutorial project for Phonological Structures of English Course (LING 6610) at Ohio University over the Spring semester 2016. This course reviews primary features of phonetic/phonology, examines language varieties from a pronunciation perspective, and introduces instructional techniques to the teaching and learning of second language phonology. This self-tutorial blog is one of the assignments for the course. Through this blog, I will note down my weekly progress in a "deliberate practice" of improving my Received Pronunciation (RP). 

Received Pronunciation has been chosen because I was taught mostly by lecturers who spoke British English when I was in my undergraduate study; yet, I could not really speak English using this dialect of English, and it is quite a challenge for me to try to speak English in a Receipt Pronunciation. Also, I am now exposed to American English since I am currently studying in the United States, and learning another dialect of English will certainly broaden my knowledge of English. I would like to learn the differences in terms of various segmental and suprasegmental features between American English and British English. I hope that this would also be beneficial for my students back in Indonesia.  

The target sample or archetype for this deliberate practice is taken from International Dialect of English Archive (IDEA). The audio features a 24-year old white female who was born in North London, but once lived in Scotland for four years. She describes her speech as "Estuary-flavoured RP." She noted that her accent is quite a fluid accent which is common for young people living in the south of England. In this audio recording, she is reading a passage entitled Comma Gets a Cure, and the overal recording lasts for 3:51. However, for this practice, I will only take one minute of that recording from 00:14 to 01:14. Here is the link to the archetype: http://www.dialectsarchive.com/england-72, and here is the transcription of the scripted speech:

Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice in North Square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking. Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed. She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror and washed her face in a hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress and a fleece jacket, picked up her kit and headed for work.

When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her. The woman gave Sarah an official letter from the vet. The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from a rare form of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising, because normally you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat. Sarah was sentimental, so this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird.

Before long, that itchy goose began to strut around the office like a lunatic, which made an unsanitary mess. 


The following is the video of my initial attempt in imitating the archetype:

It was not easy for me to do this initial attempt, and I realize that there are so many things that I need to work on in order to properly imitate the archetype. I certainly need to work on my vowel production, some consonants that are very distinctive in British English, the stress, rhythm, and intonation. In this initial attempt, I can hear that I did not sound like British people at all. When I tried really hard to sound like them, I still feel very strange. It was almost like as if I could not speak English. I am sure that there are more things that I need to work on that I have not been able to detect for the moment, but I will try to find them out over the course of this deliberate practice. For next week, I will try to work on voice quality setting.