Phonetics I

1 A - Introduction to the study of Phonetics and Phonology

Once we are introduced to the study of Phonetics and Phonology, we come across different concepts, theory and other matters that we should know. Thus, one of the main points the first chapter of the book by Peter Roach is concerned about is the reason why it is necessary to learn a theoretical context about Phonetics and Phonology. The answer that arises is that we do not simply need to know how phonemes work, are pronounced or such. As people who will work with the language we need to go deeper in the understanding of the mentioned theoretical context.

1 A - Phonemes and other aspects of pronunciation 

English spelling doesn't give us clear enough information as to how a word is pronounced. This is a notion Peter Roach is very aware of and suggests in his course that we should learn to think of English pronunciation in terms of phonemes rather than letters. When we learn and teach English, therefore, phonemes are a quite useful tool. Other important aspects of pronunciation are syllable, stress and intonation.  

1 A - Accents and Dialects

Accent and dialect are often confused and mistakenly used interchangeably, but they refer to different things. The latter refers to a variety of a language which is different from another not only in pronunciation, but also in vocabulary, grammar and word-order. On the contrary, accent is only about differences in pronunciation.

1 B - Aspects of connected speech. Assimilation. Elision. Linking.

When we talk about connected speech we refer to the natural way native English speakers actually speak as opposed to a "mechanical way of speaking" which is orientated to how words are pronounced in isolation. Three of the aspects of connected speech are: assimilation, elision and linking.

Assimilation: cases of assimilation are found when a sound (specially a consonant) in a word causes changes in sounds in neighbouring words. For example, when the sound /d/ is precedes a /j/ the latter will likely become /dz/. An instance of this can be appreciated in: "could you" (d causes y to sound /dz/). Another example is /t/ turning /j/ into /ch/. Example: 'don't you' becomes 'doncha.' It's worth noting that this phenomenon is likely to be found in rapid, casual speech rather than in slow, careful speech. Assimilation can be regressive (when a sound modifies a sound that is earlier in the utterance) or progressive (the modification of a sound that appears later in the utterance).

Elision: under certain circumstances sounds disappear. Some examples are:

• Loss of weak vowel after p, t, k. So 'today' becomes 't-day'
• Weak vowel + n, l, r becomes syllabic consonant. 'tonight' becomes 't-night' or 'remember' becomes 'r-member'
• Loss if final /v/ in 'of' before consonants: 'waste-o-money'

Linking: in natural speech, words a linked to one another in a number of ways. The most common case is final 'r' linking to the vowel sound of the word coming after it. Examples: 'here are' 'four eggs.'

1 C - Long vowels, diphthongs & triphthongs 

In English there are seven short vowels and five long vowels. The latter tend to be longer than the first, but the difference is not only length but also quality.

Graphically, the symbols for long vowels consist of one vowel symbol plus two dots, but as the difference between short and long vowels is not only length, it we omitted the two dots the vowel symbols would still be all different from each other. Therefore it's important to know that the length mark made of two dots is used not because it is essential but because it helps learners to remember the length difference.

mica diphthongs, triphthongs

2 A - The production of speech sounds. Articulators above the larynx

We have a large set of muscles that can produce changes in the shape of the vocal tract. The muscles in the chest produce the air flow that is needed for almost all speech sounds; the muscles in the larynx produce different modifications in the flow of air from the chest to the mouth. After passing through the larynx, the air goes through the vocal tract which ends at the mouth and nostrils.

There are seven articulators above the larynx, which are:

• The pharynx: It is a tube that begins above the larynx and whose top is divided in two parts. One part is the back of the mouth and the other is the way through the nasal cavity.
• The soft palate: It allows the air to pass through the nose or through the mouth. The sounds/k/, /g/ and /ŋ/ are made by making use of this articulator. They are called velar sounds.
• The hard palate: It is a curved surface in the upper part of the mouth.
• The alveolar ridge: It is a surface covered with little ridges situated between the teeth and the hard palate. There are sounds called alveolar which are made by the tongue touching this place, which are /t-d-n/.
• The tongue: It is the most important articulator because it can be moved to many different places. We divide the tongue into: tip, blade, front, center, back and root.
• The teeth: They are located immediately behind the lips. Sounds produced with the tongue touching the teeth are called "dental": /θ-ð/
• The lips: They are very important in speech. They can be pressed together as for /p-b/ or brought into contact with the teeth as for /f-v/ or rounded for vowels like /uː/. Sounds made with the lips pressed together are called "bilabial", and those with the lower lip making contact with the upper teeth are called "labio-dental".

2 A - Vowels and consonants. The cardinal vowel system

The most common distinction between vowels and consonants is made from the way they are produced, and therefore we can say that vowels are produced in such a way that there is no obstruction of the air coming from the lungs as it passes through the vocal tract. Consonants, on the other hand, are produced with the air undergoing different sorts of obstruction in its way through the vocal tract.

But as there are some cases of uncertainty, there is another way of distinguishing English sounds, which is by looking at the different contexts and positions in which particular sounds can occur. Studying sounds in this way has shown that there are two groups of sounds with quite different patterns of distribution and these two groups are those of vowels and consonants.

Once the distinction can be seen, it is necessary to know in what ways vowels differ from each others; thus, the first point to consider is the shape and position of the tongue by describing two things: first, the vertical distance between the tongue and the palate, and second, the part of the tongue which is raised highest. In other words, the tongue height, frontness and backness.

In addition, it is worth noting another point which rather than the differences between vowels, it has to do with quality. This is lip-rounding, and there are considered three shapes that the lips can take: rounded (as in "u"), spread (as in "i") and neutral (as in the sound people do when hesitating "er").

On a different note, cardinal vowels are vowels from no particular language. They are standard reference system that represents the range of vowels that the human apparatus can make. They are developed for the sake of classifying the vowels used in a particular language. They show extremes of vowel quality.

2 A - Manner and place of articulation

Consonants can be classified according to the place and manner of articulation. The place of articulation refers to where the organs meet to produce the different consonants. Under this criteria, the groups are:

• Bilabial: The upper and lower lip are pressed together. For example /p-b-m/
• Labio-dental: The lower lip touches the upper teeth. For example /f-v/
• Dental: The tongue is put between the teeth. For example /ð-θ/
• Alveolar: The tongue touches the alveolar ridge. For example /t-d-s-z-n-l/
• Palato-alveolar: The tip and blade of the tongue are put against the part where the alveolar ridge ends and the hard palate begins. For example /ʃ-ʒ-tʃ-dʒ/
• Velar: The back of the tongue touches the soft palate. For example /k-g-ŋ/
• Glottal: This sound is produced in the glottis which is the opening between the vocal cords. For example /h/

On the other hand, the manner of articulation is the way in which the stream of air is obstructed:

• Plosive: It is made with two movements. The first one is the closure part in which one or two articulators are moved together so that air cannot escape through the mouth. In the second movement, the air is allowed to escape, and such movement is called release. When the air is released we hear a noise called plosion.  For example /p-b-t-d-k-g/
• Fricative: It is a sound in which the articulator is brought near the point of articulation and as there is no obstruction the air passes but with friction. For example /s-z-ʃ-ʒ/
• Affricative: It is a combination of a plosive + a fricative. For example /tʃ-dʒ/
• Nasal: It is a sound with no obstruction in the mouth because as the velum is lowered the air escapes through the nose. For example /m-n-ŋ/
• Lateral: The blade of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge so the air escapes through the sides of the tongue. For example /l/
• Approximant: The articulators are near each other, but when the air passes through them there is no friction. For example /j-w-l-r/

2 B - The phonetic value of "ed" suffixes

The "ed" suffix can occur in regular verbs and adjectives. Verbs in past simple or with its past participle are formed with "d" or "ed" added to its base. This ending is pronounced in one of three ways:

1. If the "ed" is preceded by a voiceless sound like /p-k-f-θ-s-ʃ-tʃ/ it is pronounced /t/.
2. If the "ed" is preceded by a voiced sound like /b-g-v-ð-l-m-n-ŋ-z-ʒ-dʒ/ a vowel, diphthong or triphthong, then the "ed" is pronounced /d/.
3. If the "ed" is preceded by the sound of /t/ or /d/ it is pronounced /ɪd/

naked wicked

2 C - Short Vowels

3 A - The Larynx. The Vocal Folds.

The larynx's structure is made of two large hollow cartilages which are attached to the top of the trachea. This structure makes a shape of a box inside of which there are two thick flaps of muscle called vocal folds. At the back they are attached to a pair of small cartilages called arytinoid cartilages.

If these cartilages move, the vocal folds will move producing a very complex range of changes in their position that are important in speech. There are four easily recognizable states of the vocal folds:

• wide apart: It is the state in which the vocal folds are for common breathing and usually during voiceless consonants.

• narrow glottis: when the air passes through the glottis when it is narrowed the result is a fricative sound.

• position for vocal fold vibration: when the edges of the vocal folds are touching each other or nearly touching the air passing through the glottis will cause vibration. When this happens a little air escapes pushing the vocal folds apart and as the air flow quickly past the edges of the vocal folds, the folds are brought together again.

• vocal folds tightly closed: the vocal folds can be firmly pressed together so that the air cannot pass between them. When this happens in speech we call it glottal stop.

3 A - Respiration and voicing

The airflow needed for voicing is made by pushing out the air stored in the lungs. This is called egressive pulmonic airstream and is the most common way most sounds in any given language are produced. For a learner to know about this is important because it makes it easier to understand how stress and intonation work.

Once air passes through the vocal track, the next step for making speech sounds is to obstruct the airflow in some way. The first type of obstruction that takes place is done with the vocal folds, which determines whether a sound is voiced or voiceless. At the same time, pressure of the air below the vocal folds varies. There are three main variations:

1) Variations of intensity (high intensity for shouting; low intensity for speaking quietly)

2) Variations of frequency

3) Variations in quality (the result is different types of "voices," like harsh, breath, murmured, etc.)

3 B - Strong and Weak Syllables

Weak syllables differ from strong syllables in that the vowel tends to be shorter and of lower intensity. Some weak syllables don't even have a vowel in its center, and they're called syllabic consonant (ex: bottle). Strong syllables won't have as their peak the vowels schaw, i or u. These are usually found in weak syllables.

3 B - The Schwa

Schwa is the most frequently occurring vowel in English. It is associated to weak syllables. Concerning quality, it is a central vowel between half open and half close. Additionally, it is not articulated with much energy. Schwa can occur in initial, medial and final position. 

3 B - Close front and close back vowels

The close front vowels are i: and ɪ and the close back vowels are u: and ʊ. It is easy to distinguish which one of them occurs in strong syllables, however such distinction not so straightforward in weak syllables. BBC English speakers will find that transcribing the second vowels of words like easy and busy with ɪ doesn't exactly capture the phoneme that they perceive. The same applies in words where ʊ is used in transcriptions although the phoneme in the word has a different quality.

A solution to this lack of correspondence between what we hear and the symbol we use to transcribe is to use the symbols of the long u and I but without the length mark.

3 C - English nasals and other consonants - lateral and post alveolar approximant consonants

The basis characteristic of a nasal consonant is that the air escapes through the nose. For this to happen, the soft palate must the lowered. The term 'nasal' refers to the manner of articulation, and there are 3 consonants under this classification: m, n, ng. In terms of place of articulation, these consonants are bilabial, alveolar and velar respectively.

3 C - The consonant l

The phoneme l is a lateral approximant. The articulation of this sound is made with the tongue rising towards the roof of the month, which creates an obstruction and makes the air go through the laterals of the tongue.

This phoneme has quite a different realization depending on whether it's after and before a vowel sound. When it's before a vowel sound like in clock, life or long the tip of the tongue does touch the roof of the mouth. This is called a clear L. However, when it's after a vowel sound as in still, wheel or animal, the tip of the tongue touches the roof of the mouth much less firmly or not at all. This is called a dark l.

3 C - The consonant r

The phoneme r is a post alveolar approximant. The articulation of this sound is made with the tip of the tongue approaching the alveolar area in a similar motion as if we were pronouncing t or d. However, when articulating r the tongue never actually makes contact with any part of the roof of the mouth.

A rather different r sound is found at the beginning of a syllable if it's preceded by a p, t, k. It is then voiceless and fricative. Examples are professional, tree, cross.

Additionally, in BBC pronunciation, when this sound isn't followed by a vowel, it is rather omitted. Examples of this are: car, hard, ever, verse, here, cares.

3 C - Semivowels  /j/ and /w/

The sounds /j/ and /w/ are generally called semivowels by many authors. However, some others call them approximates, but what is important to bear in mind is that they are phonetically like vowels and phonologically like consonants.

From the phonetic point of view the articulator of /j/ is practically the same as that of  /iː/, but it is very short. In the same way /w/ is similar to /uː/. Phonologically, we say that /j/ and /w/ are regarded as consonants. In order to illustrate this we can show that words beginning with any of these sounds take the article "a" as opposed to the ones that begin with vowels which take "an".

4 A - The Phoneme. Complementary distribution and free variation

A phoneme is the smallest unit capable of producing a change in meaning. However, sometimes we can pronounce one phoneme in different ways without changing the meaning. When this is possible we deal with allophones, and the word that has two realizations is said to be in free variation. One example of this is the word "bad", which normally is pronounced with a voiceless /b/, but when pronounced emphatically it is uttered with full voicing and the meaning does not change.

There are some other instances in which a phoneme has two realizations, but they are not interchangeable. In other words, a sound cannot occur in the place of the other. For example, there is a /t/ in the word "tea" and in the word "eat", but in the first case the /t/ is unaspirated, while in the other it is aspirated. In both cases the phoneme is /t/ but they cannot switch around. Therefore we say that these sounds are in complementary distribution.

4 A - Symbols and Transcription

4 B - The phonetic value of 's' suffixes

4 C - Plosive consonants. English Plosives.

English has six plosive consonants: /p-t-k-b-d-g/ All six plosives can occur at initial, medial or final position. This kind of consonant is produced in four phases.

closure phase: it happens when one articulator is moved against another in order to make a stricture that allows no air to escape.

• hold phase: the articulators remain pressed together, so as the air cannot escape it is compressed.
• release phase: the articulators move apart in order to allow the air to escape
• post-release phase: a sound called plosion can be heard.

For example:
initial position: pop-time-car
medial position: attack-adore-appear
final position: stop-cook-act

4 C - Fortis and Lenis

Some phoneticians argue that the voiceless plosive sounds p, t, k are produced with more force, and therefore receive the name of 'fortis'. On the other hand, the voiced plosive b, d, g are said to be produced with less force; hence they're classified as 'lenis.'

5 A - Phonology

s

5 A - Study of the phonemic system

s

5 A - Phoneme sequence and syllable structure

In every language we find that there are restrictions on the sequences of phonemes. For example, no English word begins with the consonant sequence of "zbf" and no word ends with the sequence of a smiling "a" plus an "h". To say more, no word begins with more than three consonants and no word ends with more than five consonants.

The syllable structure has two parts. One is what we call onset and the other is what we call coda. Onset is the sound before the center of the syllable and coda is the sound after it.

If we break down the onset part we will learn concepts like

• Zero onset (if the first syllable begins with a vowel) /ɔːðə/ /aʊə/
• Initial consonants (if the first syllable begins with a consonant)
• Pre-initial (when a word begins with /s/) /spi:k/
• Post-initial (when a word begins with a consonant plus any sound of the set /l-r-w-j/ ) /pleɪ/ 

As well as for the breakdown of the onset part, we can do the same with the coda part.

• Zero coda (there is no final consonant at the end of the us word: know /nəʊ/)
• Final consonant (when there is a final consonant: stop /stɒp/)
• Pre-final (the final consonant is preceded by another consonant: post /pəʊst/)
• Post-final (It happens when there is a three-consonant cluster and any word of the set /s-z-t-d-θ/ is preceded by two consonants; pre-final and final consonant: helped /helpt/; seventh/sevənθ/)

The English syllable nay have the following maximum phonological structure:

5 A - Suprasegmental Phonology

There are many contrasts between sounds that are not only the results of difference between phonemes. Stress and intonation are also important. For example, if we pronounce the word "import" with a stress in the first syllable we treat that word as a noun but in the case when the stress is put in the second syllable, we deal with a verb. Another way of showing contrast between sounds is by intonation. In the word "right" a raising voice while pronouncing it means that we are inviting our listener to answer or continue with what he or she is saying, but if such word has a falling voice, the word is interpreted as a confirmation.

5B - Syllabic consonant

There are some syllables where no vowel is found. When this occurs we find /l-r-m-n-ŋ/ as the center of the syllable.

Syllables with the sound /l/ as the center are the most noticeable examples of syllable consonants. For example /bɒtl/ /lisn/ /bætl/ /kʌpl/ .

5C - English fricatives and affricates

Fricatives are consonants with the characteristic the when they are produced, air escapes through s small passage and makes a hissing sound. This sort of consonants are continuant, which means that you can continue making them without interruption as long as you have enough air in the lungs.

There are four voiced sounds /v-ð-z-ʒ/ and five voiceless sounds which are /f-θ-s-ʃ-h/

Affricatives are rather complex consonants. They begin as plosives and end as fricatives. There are only two affricatives which are the voiced /dʒ/ and the voiceless /tʃ/.

Now, concerning the classification of the fricative consonants, we say that:

• /f-v/ are labiodental. The lower lip makes contact with the upper teeth.  

• /ð-θ/ are dental. The tongue touches the inside of the upper teeth. For example /θʌmb/ /fɑːðə/ 

• /s-z/ are alveolar. The tongue touches the alveolar ridge, and the air escapes through a narrow passage along the center of the tongue. For example /zɪp/ /sɪp/ 

• /ʃ-ʒ/ are palato-alveolar. The place of articulation is partly palatal, partly alveolar. The tongue is in contact with an area slightly further back than for /s/. For example /ʃɪp/ /meʒə/ 

• /h/ is glottal. The friction noise is between the folds. For example /əhed/

6A - The syllable. The nature of the syllable. 

The syllable is a very important unit. It plays an important role in setting the rhythm of speech.

The syllable may be defined both phonetically and phonologically. Phonetically, syllables are described as consisting of a center with little or no obstruction to the airflow and which sounds are comparatively loud in relation to the beginning and end of the syllable. Syllables can be classified as follows:

1. A minimum syllable (just a vowel)
2. Having an onset
3. Having a coda
4. Having both an onsent and a coda

Looking at them from the phonological point of view involves looking at the diffent possible combination of English phonemes. For example, looking at what can occur in initial or final position. Thus, we learn that words can start with a vowel, one, two or three consonants. Words may end with a vowel or with one, two, three and in some few cases four consonants.

6 B - The structure of the English syllable.

h

6C - Semivowels  /j/ and /w/

See 3C

Phonetics II

UNIT 1

Las ciencias lingüísticas (linguistic studies) 

There are two sciences concerned with languages: Linguistics and Phonetics. Linguistics is concerned with how a language is structured grammatically and semantically; while Phonetics is interested in sounds and how they are organized.

[...more info: history]
Fernand de Saussure led the development of linguistics concentrated on the language's current state as opposed to studying its history. This science provided the techniques to describe and record languages which were bound to become extinct. On the other hand, Phonetics arose in England in the sixteenth century as the science that studied the relationship between spelling and sound. Later in the nineteenth century the International Phonetic Association was founded.

Fonética y fonología: contribución a los estudios lingüísticos (Phonetics and Phonology)

Phonetics is concerned about the sounds of a language and phonology about the sound system of language. Phonology is the link between Phonetics and Linguistics because it uses the information about articulation, acoustics and audition provided by Phonetics in order to describe the process of encoding/decoding that takes place in the interpreting and production of grammar and semantic structures, which is under the linguist domain.

> Fonologia suprasegmental

There are many contrasts between sounds that are not only the results of difference between phonemes. Stress and intonation are also important. For example, if we pronounce the word "import" with a stress in the first syllable we treat that word as a noun but in the case when the stress is put in the second syllable, we deal with a verb. Another way of showing contrast between sounds is by intonation. In the word "right" a raising voice while pronouncing it means that we are inviting our listener to answer or continue with what he or she is saying, but if such word has a falling voice, the word is interpreted as a confirmation.
> Elementos suprasegmentales del sistema fonológico

UNIT 2

> Lenguaje y habla (language; production of speech)

Comunicacion (communication: speech, writing and redundancy)

Communication is the act of transmitting messages by means of one of two sensory stimulation: auditory or visual. Spoken language is carried out by auditory stimulus, and writing is the visual representation of spoken language. The downside of writing is that it isn't very effective in capturing all the features common to spoken language. The information that can be transmitted through stress, intonation, tone, etc., simply can't be accounted for in writing.

When speaking about communication, it's worth mentioning redundancy as a feature of speech. For example, if there's noise in the physical context of communication or perhaps grammar inconsistencies, an utterance can still be understood thanks to the redundancy. When we speak, the context provides far more information than it is needed, and this helps make up for any disturbance in the communication chain.


> La producción del habla

> Descripcion y clasificacion fonetica y fonologia de los sonidos del habla

UNIT 3

> Naturaleza de los aspectos suprasegmentales: descripción de los aspectos suprasegmentales en lengua inglesa

Acentuación y prominencia

Stress is the relative degree of force with which a sound or syllable is uttered. There are three factors that combine to signal stress. First, stressed syllables are pronounced with higher frequency, which is heard as higher pitch. Secondly, they're perceived as longer. Thirdly, they're louder.

The combination of those phonetic factors allow us to contrast stressed from unstressed syllables, as well as a intermediate level of stressed called secondary stress.

In regards to prominence, a common misconception is to think it is the same as stressed. However, in reality stress is an element contributing to prominence. We talk about prominence in a succession of words (rather than in individual words) particular syllables or words are "more strongly stressed" than others. This is achieved with one or a combination of three sound attributes: length, stress and intonation.

Acentuacion lexica

There are two levels of stress: word stress and sentence stress. The first is the one that's also referred to as Lexical pronunciation, and it is the pronunciation given to a word as it's pronounced in isolation. However, sentence stress or lexical stress (not to be confused with "lexical pronunciation") takes into account the modification a word undergoes in the context of a sentence.

Therefore, while word stress (lexical pronunciation) is fixed, sentence stress (lexical stress) is a deliberate action to put emphasis on a specific word or syllable within an utterance.

Unit 4

Ritmo y entonación

Nociones básicas: frase entonacional, prominencia y tonos

Unit 5

La pronunciation del ingles como lengua global o internacional

Recursos y técnicas para la enseñanza y aprendizaje de la pronunciación del ingles

Phonetics and Phonology III: Final

Which are the main elements in describing the English intonation system?

The main elements used for the description of the English intonation system are the tone unit, prominence and tone. 

A tone unit is a chunk of speech said in one breath that might consist of one single syllable or of a set of syllables. It is the unit used for the analysis the intonation of speech. Peter Roach breaks down the structure of the tone unit into head, pre-head, and tail. The head is the part of the tone unit that extends from the first stressed syllable up to (but not including) the tonic syllable (if there's no stressed syllable, there's no head). The pre-head is composed of all the unstressed syllables preceding the first stressed syllable. Finally, any syllable between the tonic syllable and the end of the tone unit are called the tail.

Prominence is, according to Brazil, a property associated with a word by virtue of its function as a constituent of a tone unit. If we say "Tom IS the best student in the class" we're making the word "is" prominent. Whether it's a lexical word or a function word, making a word prominent is a meaningful choice. We make a syllable prominent by the combined or exclusive use of length, loudness, or pitch in saying a syllable.

Tone has to do with pitch movement. Generally, a fall tends to communicate a sense of completeness, whereas rise of fall-rise signals that there's more to follow. The tone occurs in the tonic syllable in a tone unit, and is carried over along the tail of said unit if there's one.

Which are the main functions of intonation in the English language?

The attitudinal function of intonation enables us to convey different feelings and attitudes. For example, we can say a sentence in different ways, and depending on which intonation we choose, we might convey 'anger,' 'happiness,' 'boredom,' 'gratefulness' and so on. In general terms, a falling tone indicates finality; a rise a question or "more to follow"; a fall-rise uncertainty, doubt or a request; a rise-fall surprise. However, attitudes aren't conveyed by tones alone, as there are other variables that have as much an important role in communication as tones do. Peter Roach takes this variables into consideration and group them into three types: sequential, prosodic and paralinguistic. In a nutshell, 'sequential' concerns the inner tone unit structure, pauses, and tone-unit boundaries; 'prosodic' relates components such as width of pitch range, key, loudness, speed and voice quality; finally, 'paralinguistic' has to do with facial expression, gesture and body movements.

The accentual function of intonation helps us express nuances of meaning by making a syllable more prominent, or by placing the tonic stress on a particular syllable in order to make the listener focus on that particular syllable in the tone-unit. By means of the accentual function of intonation we can distinguish a normal placement of a tonic syllable from a constrastive one (>> I don't want to know where he's traveling FROM, I want to know where he's travelling TO). Similarly, we can distinguish a non-emphatic tonic syllable placement from an emphatic one (>> it was very BORing / it was VERY boring).

The grammatical function of intonation helps to clarify the information that is being conveyed according to the syntactic features of an utterance. This intonation function can solve the ambiguity of sentences just by using different tones, while in writing it'd be necessary to rephrase said sentences to get to the same result. In sentences with complex structure, tone-unit boundaries are often found at phrase and clause boundaries, and it's quite important to make a distinguishable realization of a restrictive or of an non-restrictive relative clause. Furthermore, questions that from the strictly grammatical perspective look like statements, can be turned into questions with a the proper use of intonation.

The discourse function of intonation enables us to focus the listener's attention on the part of the message that is considered to be the most important in the tone unit by placing the stress in one particular syllable. This is a syllable in the word with the highest information content, which in other terms is 'new information' to the conversation as opposed to 'given information' or 'shared knowledge.' A falling tone indicates new information, while a rising (including fall-rise) indicates given information.

Discourse Analysis

1. Sean begins the conversation with a falling tone because what he is saying is new information to the listener, and then the next tone unit is said with a rising tone as it is part of the two individuals’ common ground.

2. Then Steve, the other participant of the conversation, asks a rising-tone question with the intention of checking whether the concert was good or not.

3. Sean’s reply is a definitive, one-syllable tone unit “yes”, which is a complete answer in itself, but then he goes on and speaks another falling tone unit that expresses finality and indicates it’s the other speaker’s turn to carry on with the conversation.

4. Judging by Sean’s words, Steve assumes Sean told Ana about the trip to Dubai, and uses a falling tone question to make sure whether his assumption is correct or not.

5. Sean responds by categorically denying he did that with a sequence of three falling tone units.

6. Steve picks up on Sean’s assertion and says “yeah” with a rising tone indicating he is not finished; then “should” is treated as the most important word in the tone unit given that it bears the tonicity. The rising tone extends over the tail. Here, a “but” clause could have been introduced but Sean interrupts him.

7. Again, the falling-tone “yes” conveys definitiveness; the following rise-fall indicates a strong suggestion (which wasn’t done); next, Sean informs Steve he can still do it using a falling tone, and that is followed up with a standard rising-tone wh- question whose purpose is to find out about the date of the flight.

8. The answer is new information, and therefore it is said with a fall.

9. Sean’s question here is aimed at making sure about Steve’s enthusiasm about his trip, and is said with a rise.

10. Steve replies with a sequence of three falling tone units, and then uses the adverb “otherwise” which is a tone unit in itself. This tone unit is said with a rise to indicate that it is connected with what has previously been said. The next tone unit is a proclaiming one, and then the following one is said with a rise-falling tone that adds emphasis. The last tone unit in Steve’s turn is new to the listener and so it’s a fall

11. This is a “checking” question and as such it is said with a rising tone.

12. Steve responds emphatically with a rising “yes.” Then he goes on to enlist a series of things, and each one of the tone units that each thing is, is said with a rising tone. The list is not closed with a falling tone.

13. There’s another wh- question that makes use of the rising tone. It is, again, intended to find out information.

14. The two tone-unit response Steve does is new information, so both units are falls.

15. Sean expresses surprise with a rise-fall.

16. Steve says “I hope so” with a fall-rise in what is a response with reservation. Then he makes two short and quick falling tone units.

17. Sean gives Steve a command with a fall. And then a short question “OK” to make sure he got the command.

18. Steve closes up the conversation with a fall-rise indicating he understands what he has to do.

Definition of intonation by Peter Roach

Peter Roach holds that even though no definition of intonation is completely satisfactory, the pitch of the voice must be recognized as one of the most important aspects of intonation. He describes pitch in terms of 'high' and 'low' but says that's an arbitrary way to refer to them. In order for pitch to be considered as part of intonation, it has to be linguistically significant, and for this to happen pitch has to produce contrast with other pitch variations, it has to be under the speaker's control, and it has to be perceptible.

Tonality, tonicity and tone
The word tonality refers to the chunks of speech -called intonation phrases or tone units- that an utterance is broken into. 

Tonicity refers to the highlighting of the a syllable in the content words of the tone units. The last stressed syllable of the tone unit -called tonic syllable or nucleus- is most more often than not the most important word out of all the other stressed words.. 

Tone refers to the pitch movement that occurs in the word that has the tonic syllable and in the tail if there's one. Tone is broadly divided into falls and highs.

Leading and trailing tones

If a dependent phrase or clause precedes the main element, it's called leading. If it's after the main element, it's called trailing. In either case, the unmarked tone for a dependent element is a non-fall (a fall-rise or a rise)

With a leading dependent element, this non-fall is most usually a fall-rise, and it indicates that there's more to come:

>> 'after <fall-rise>lunch // we could 'call on <fall>Mary.

Alternatively, a leading dependent element may have a rise:

>> 'after <rise>lunch // we could 'call on <fall>Mary. 

With a trailing dependent element, the most usual tone is a rise, and it's used to indicate that it belongs with what went before:

I'm rather annoyed // <rise>frankly. 

We're going to Spain // in <rise>August.

Set I

Suprasegmental Phonology

A good way to start with Suprasegmental Phonology is knowing in what way it differs from segmental phonology. In a nutshell, segmental phonology deals with vowels and consonants while Suprasegmental Phonology involves breaking up speech into tone units. A tone unit is a chunk of speech said in a single breath. Inside each tone unit there's a set of different sounds that occur in differing ways according to how the speaker uses rhythm, intonation and stress.

English prosody

Prosody is the combined use of pitch, loudness and speed that make up the rhythm of speech. Pauses do also have to do with prosody, as they help break up the flow of speech. Prosody reflects emotions, differences in the form of an utterance (question, statement or command), attitudes, etc. that are not communicated through grammar or lexical devices. 

Prosody features

Three are the features used for linguistic purposes. These are those of pitch, length and loudness.

Statements

Definite fall

We can say a statement with any tone, but the fall is the default one. When we use a fall tone we say a statement with confidence, and unreservedly. It also signals that what we say is potentially complete as well as finality.

I'm <fall>ready.

Implicational fall-rise 

The most typical meaning of a fall-rise tone is that the speaker implies something.

I know her <fall-rise>face. (but I can't remember her name)

The speaker can go on and make the implication explicit, or leave it unsaid. The implicational fall-rise often signals that a clause beginning with "but..." is going to come.

What's she like as a colleague? - Well, she <up-down>works very hard. (implication: but... she has no much talent.)

Leaving a reservation unexpressed might lead the other speaker to ask "what do you mean / what are you trying to say?"

The implicational fall-rise makes it possible to be tactful and polite.

Are you free next week? - Well, on <fall-rise>MONday I am. (but later I might not be)

More about the implicational fall-rise

1. Used for correcting a mistake in a polite way

She's coming on Thursday. - On <fall-rise>Friday. (in writing we signal this with a "?")

2. Used for making a partial statement.

What was the food like? - Well, the <fall-rise>FISH was good.

3. Used for partial corrections.

I hear you passed all your exams - <fall-rise>MOST of them.

4. Used for subtle implications

What a lovely voice! - Yes, she has a lovely <fall-rise>VOICE. (but she can't <fall-rise>act)

5. Used in negative sentences to modify (in contrast with a falling tone) the scope of meaning a word has.

She didn't do it because she was <fall-rise>tired. (she did it, but for some other reason.)
She didn't <fall-rise>DO it // because she was <fall>tired. (she didn't do it. Here's why)

Final: Contrastive Grammar

1. The verb to cast (to throw something forcefully in a specified direction) appearing in the ST opening sentence "Who cast the first fateful tomato…" is rendered as:

TT1: lanzó

TT2: lanzó

TT3: tiro

The lexical unit lanzar is much more likely to have an equivalent effect in the target reader than tirar, because it denotes more strength or violence applied to the action than the broader and vaguer term tirar, which can also be to get rid of, to ditch or to dump. Besides lanzó, another popular equivalent in other translations was arrojó.   

2. Determiner that in “that first fateful tomato”:

TT1: ese

TT2: aquel

TT3: el

The determiner that is a category-one type correspondence because it matches up well with ese. Both these units express in this case temporal distance. However, in Spanish we can express further temporal distance with aquel. It is not a mistake per se because both words convey almost the same meaning (I’m being a bit picky here), but since that first fateful tomato was cast over 70 years ago, I believe aquel does a better job painting a picture of how that situation developed or how long ago that situation took place. As far as the TT3 translation el, it represents a word-class shift (from adjective to article), and it fails to convey the semantic (temporal distance) that aquel or even ese does.

3. “first fateful tomato”

TT1: fatídico primer tomate

TT2: primigenio y profético tomate

TT3: primer tomate catastrófico

The TT1 translation is a faithful translation because it stays within the constraints of the ST and expresses the exact same meaning intended by the author. The TT2 translation is a free translation because it focuses on the content rather than on the form.

As far as the TT3 is concerned, the syntactic arrangement of words, or in more technical terms the immediate constituents, is misleading to say the least. The mistake in this translation can be explained citing the structuralist or taxonimic grammar model.

               

TT1: [fatídico] [[primer] [tomate]]

TT3: [[primer] [tomate]] [catastrofico]

The error in TT3 translation is that it implies that that tomato was only the first of a series of fateful tomatoes. Much to my surprise, this was a mistake that more than 50% of professional translators committed. Below are some examples:

·         primer venturoso tomate.

·         primer tomate fatídico.

·         primer tomate preñado de destino.

·         primer tomate crucial.

·         primer trascendental tomate.

4. “a carnival that got out of hand”

TT1: un carnaval del cual se perdió el control.

TT2: un festejo que se volvió incontrolable.

TT3: un carnaval incontrolable.

Krzeszowski speaks about the universal semantic inputs and the language specific surface structure outputs his Contrastive Generative Grammar is based on. In other words, he breaks down into five stages the linguistic process that operates between the universal semantic inputs, and the language specific outputs. This is, of course, a model designed to compare languages, but –if we think about it– it makes a lot of sense for analyzing translations as well.

A few things can be said about the translations of this phrase in the TT1 and TT2, but all things considered they both get the job done as far as transferring the meaning from the source into the target text. That is, they both convey –mind you, in different ways– the idea that the carnival went from being peaceful, to being a mess. But once again, the TT3 translation has some issues that keeps it from reaching that equivalent effect status. It makes it out to be like the carnival was always out of control, and that is far from what the original text says.

So back to Krzeszowski’s five stages, the TT3 translation only goes past the three first stages: 1) conceptual input (It’s like a framework with different slots: agent, patient, time, space); 2) framing the semantics into categories (like unit, structure, etc.); 3) the syntactic level (minor lexicalizations). However, the 4th stage concerns inserting dictionary words  (major lexicalizations), and TT3 lacks that. It basically lack words like “se volvió,”  “se convirtió,” and what not.

5. “a giant paper maché puppet parade”

TT1: un desfile gigante de marionetas de papel maché.

TT2: un desfile de gigantescos muñecos de papel maché.

TT3: desfile de marionetas de papel maché.

This leads me to the question: Is the parade giant? Or is it the maché puppets that actually are? From an immediate constituents analysis point of view, it appear as if the parade was giant.

However, the TT2 translation as well as almost all of the other translations from the contest totally missed this, changed the syntax, and made it look in the Spanish version as if the puppets were giant.  Below are some examples:

·         “un desfile de títeres gigantescos hechos en papel maché”

·         “un desfile de enormes muñecos fabricados con papel maché”

·         “un desfile de muñecos enormes de papel maché”

·         “un desfile de figuras de gran tamaño confeccionadas con papel maché”

·         “un desfile de marionetas gigantes de papel maché”

·         “un desfile de monigotes gigantes de papel maché”

Having said that, the puppets in La Tomatina festival are indeed gigantic, so it might be that the error is actually in the source text.

6. “They happened upon a vegetable cart nearby and started hurling ripe tomatoes.”

TT1: Al toparse en las cercanías con la presencia de una carreta de vegetales, empezaron a revolear tomates maduros.

TT2: Se toparon con una carreta de vegetales que estaba por allí cerca y comenzaron a arrojar tomates maduros.

TT3: Se encontraron cerca de un carrito de vegetales y empezaron a tirar tomates maduros.

Halliday suggests four fundamental categories of grammar: unit, structure, class and system. He says that these categories are universal, and that they're sufficient as a basis for the description of any language. In the category of unit languages are broken down -from largest to smallest- into ranks, which are sentence, clause, phrase, word and morpheme. The larger ranks consist of the smaller ranks, and this implies a scale that is called rank scale. 

With that into consideration, Halliday holds that in traditional linguistics any single sentence will always correspond on a one-to-one basis with any single sentence in another language –So was it really necessary for me to modify the ST sentence so much? In the translation of the source text sentence, this is a principle that the TT2 and TT3 translators did apply, as you can see in the diagram:

Both these translations correspond on a 1:1 basis the down to the sentence and clause rank with the ST. TT1, however, disrupts the syntactic features of the original. 

While TT2 and TT3 are faithful translations because they stay within the grammatical constraints of the ST, TT1 attempts to put more emphasis on the naturalness than on the syntactic features, regardless of whether or not it successfully does so.

7. “Innocent onlookers”

TT1: Espectadores inocentes.

TT2: Los inocentes espectadores.

TT3: Los inocentes espectadores.

So I’m going to bring up the ignorance hypothesis developed by Newmark and Reibel. It distinguishes an ignorance-without-interference –which is about structures that are not a problem for learners because they will hardly ever use them– and an interference-without-ignorance, where learners stumble upon the same errors time and time again even when they know that a specific grammar structure is not correct –the can’t help it but to use them. This ignorance hypothesis is generally a theory used to describe the mistakes one makes in the L2 -however, it can also be used to explain a mistake done in the L1 due to background interference form the L2.

That's why I made a mistake here. In my translation I omitted the determining article, just like it is done in English. This error is considered to be interference without ignorance because no native speaker can be said to be ignorant of the central structures of their own language –I do know it’s misguided to omit the article in Spanish, but I did it nonetheless. I paid so much attention to the source text that I neglected the target text–.

It’s also worth noting that this is an intralingual error and not an interlingual one. Part of the job CA has in relation to language pedagogy is to predict mistakes –however, there’s only so much CA can predict that it’s not possible to cover all the variables. An Intralingual mistake is something CA does not predict.

Quick mention:                                                  

Also, I wanted to quickly go over this sentence: "repay the tomato vendors" in which I translated "repay" as "pagarles." A doubt I had was about whether I should to put "pagar a los vendedores" or "pagerles a los vendedores." Most of the other translations used "pagar," but that sounded a bit odd to me, so I researched and found out "pagarles" with the object "les" attached to the verb is optional in some countries, so to say just "pagar" is fine. TT2 translation said "compensar," which I like it as a translation, and the TT3 translation is "reembolsar," which I think it's okay as a translation, but my only hang-up is that "reembolsar" is a transitive verb, so if you say "reembolsar a los vendedores" it kind makes you think they're gonna put the vendors into a bag or something like that.

Then, with clause "locals who defied the law" I didn't make the same mistake and I put the determining article "los lugareños que desafiariaron la ley." So did TT2 with the determiner "algunos" in "algunos veciones que no acataron la ley..." but I don't like that one because it conveys the idea that they were a few, but we don't really know about that.

Also, here, I made a shameful mistake. “Mock” is translated in both the TT2 and  the TT3 as “simulacro.” However, because I got overconfident I thought I didn’t need the dictionary here. I knew “mock” is “burla” in Spanish, and to make it fit in the context I translated it as “parodia sobre el funeral del tomate.” However, little did I know that mock also means “simulacro”. So I made one of the main mistakes translators have to keep themselves away from: assuming you know something, and not double-checking. This would be something like ignorance with interference LOL

8. "(it) decided to roll with the punches "

TT1: optó por adaptarse al cambio.

TT2: decidió amoldarse a la situación.

TT3: decidió ser flexible.

In this case we have the idiom roll with the punches, which literally it’s used in boxing, but figuratively can be used in any walk of life as well. It means “to adjust to difficult events as they happen.” All the three translations do a good job capturing the meaning of the original.

As it is the case with most idiomatic expressions, they are a category three-type correspondence. A category three-type correspondence is when a language A has a feature that B either lacks or can only be rendered in terms of B’s, which operates according to different principles. This expression has no direct translation in Spanish –We can’t find a translation that conveys the same boxing imaginary–, and therefore an equivalent has to be found. Whatever it is the equivalent chosen by the translator, it will be rendered as a phrase that operates according to different principles.  

9. “the tomatoes take the center stage”

TT1: los tomates toman el protagonismo.

TT2: los tomates son los protagonistas.

TT3: los tomates toman el centro del escenario.

The verb take as used in the ST sentence is translated as tomar in TT1 and TT3. This word is relatively easy to learn, so that is why it is safe to say it’s a category-one-type correspondence. At the same time, it is worth pointing out that even though there is certain correspondence between take and tomar, the first has a much higher functional load in English than its equivalent does in Spanish.

The same thing happens with the adjective epic in epic paella. We don’t use the word epic anywhere near as much as they use it in English. An epic paella was translated as una paella épica in TT3, but in the TT1 it was translated as una estupenda paella and in the TT2 as una colosal paella. And another case of the same principle is the sentence modifier today. We could use hoy as a sentence modifier (though hoy en día would be more common), but we don’t use as often as we would use actualmente o en la actualidad.

I wanted to make a quick mention about the translation of unpalatable tomatoes. I translated it as tomates de mal sabor and in TT3 it was translated as tomates incomibles. However, I believe the translation in TT2 which is tomates no aptos para el consume is fundamentally wrong. A lot of people got confused over the difference between no comestible and incomible.

10. “with the firing of a water cannon, the main event begins”

TT1: con el estallido de un cañón de agua, se da comienzo al evento principal.

TT2: con el disparo de un cañón de agua, comienza el evento principal.

TT3: con el tiro de un cañón de agua, el evento principal empieza.

Going back to Halliday's suggestion that any single sentence will always correspond on a one-to-one basis with any single sentence in another language, there's in this case a total one-to-one correspondence on the sentence rank between the ST sentence and the three TT sentences.

Holliday doesn't specify there has to be this same correspondence on the level of the phrase unit, but the three translations begin with the same syntactic configuration: a sentence modifier adverbial.

The most notable difference between these translations is than following the adverbial, TT1 makes use of the passive voice with “se” while the other two use the active voice. Therefore, it can be said that there’s not one-to-one correspondence on the phrase rank between the ST sentence and the TT1 sentence.

Because of this syntactic difference, TT1 is a semantic translation –it attempts to sound more natural to the TT reader–, and TT1 and TT2 are faithful translations.

As an aside note, I have seen that among the 20 best translations from the contest, only two of them used the passive voice while the other 18 used the active voice. This might be an indicator that it’s better to use the active voice in this kind of construction. Moreover, the main distinct feature between TT2 and TT3 is that in one the verb precedes the subject, and in the other the subject precedes the verb. This marks whether the translator places more emphasis on the action or on the subject. Again, out of the 20 best translations, 15 of them chose to put the verb first, and the other 5 did it the other way around.

verb + subject	subject + verb
·         empieza entonces el acontecimiento principal ·         comienza el evento principal ·         marca el comienzo del evento principal ·         empieza la actividad principal ·         inicia el acto principal	·         el evento principal comienza ·         El evento principal se inicia ·         el evento principal da inicio ·         El espectáculo principal empieza luego ·         el evento principal inicia