UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

EAR TRAINING: GENERAL AMERICAN (

) (1 h 30)

Focus: GA: accent awareness revisited Materials: Track_08: GA (I) (0 01 38) Time: 10 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 1: Listen carefully to the recording that contains a sample of speech by a GA English speaker with a sort of East Coast accent, without looking at the transcription in ordinary spelling that appears below. Try to identify features of the accent, making note, if possible, of one or two features (segmental or suprasegmental) which led you to make this identification. Comment: You may find it difficult. Do not worry! More practice will be needed before you become confident in an analysis of these features, if this is the first time you have attempted one. In the subsequent exercises you will make a systematic description of the accent in comparison with RP. Hint: You can listen to the recording again, following the speech from the transcript, if any help Yeah, I grew up in New York, on Long Island outside the city, and spent all of my earlier years there. I was actually born in Chicago but thats basically irrelevant. My parents were from New York, and so I grew up in New York. It was just after World War Two, which meant that our town didnt have quite the distinctive accent it might have had. Our generation was the formative generation of children. But I was a typical New York kid, and I would have probably said [nu: j:k] and then I got to college and when I became an English major my friend from Georgia told me the remarkable thing was that you stopped sounding like a New Yorker and began sounding like your teachers, all of whom were from, well, all of whom were working in New England they were by no means all, they by no means all sounded like New Englanders. And thats the way things more or less stayed, uh... aft throughout my college years. And then I basically left the United States. So, Ive been back to teach occasionally but Ive been living for 40 years abroad, in Sweden, and the extent to which that has affected my English is hard to be sure. Ive tried

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

fairly hard to keep a reasonable East Coast sort of accent. And its clearly different than when I imitate being back in New York when I talk to my relatives, but I do have tapes of myself 30 years ago and I dont think I sound all that different. Key: Open answer.

Focus: GA vocalic phonemes revisited Materials: Track_06a: GA (0 01 03) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 2a: Lets compare GA and RP step by step, beginning with the vocalic sequences. Here are some of the words contained in table 3.1. (Trudgill & Hannah, p. 42). Fill the items from the box into the following matrix without looking at the table, only based on what you know about this variety. Now listen twice to the first section on the recording to check your answers. Key: father, pot, bad, marry, path, half, banana, calm, dance // father pot calm // bad marry path dance half banana

Questions: 1. What can you say about the phoneme //? It does not exist in GA. 2. And about those words which in RP have //? Most words which in RP have // before the voiceless fricative /f/) (as in path or half), or, alternatively, before a pre-consonantal nasal (as in dance), have // in

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

GA. If the vowel // is followed by /r/ or /l/ it is usually maintained in GA, as in half (NOTE: in GA /l/ is pronounced in this phonetic context). Finally, many words spelled with a which have // in RP are also pronounced with the same phoneme in GA, as in bad. Exercise 2b: Listen to the same section on the recording, this time paying attention to the vowel phonemes before /r/ in the words peer, pair, tour or port. Are they monophthongs or diphthongs? Key: They are not monophthongs but vocalic sequences, showing a tendency to diphthongising (sort of centring diphthongs), against the general rule in GA.

Focus: GA vocalic sounds revisited Materials: Track_06a: GA (0 01 03) Time: 20 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid-High Exercise 3: Listen again to the first section on the recording where all the vocalic sounds of GA accent are illustrated in isolated words. Look at table 3.1 (Trudgill & Hannah, p. 42) and find the answers to the following questions: Comment: Do not follow the speech from the transcript if you want to make the exercise a bit more difficult Hint: You may need to listen to the recording a few times to be able to identify all the items required in the exercise. Key: a) Identify the words that would contain the vowels [] and [] in RP, and work out their articulatory production in GA The vowel //, contained in pot and horrid, is unrounded; therefore it has become []. The vowel [], in words like port, paw, talking, boring, long and pore tends to be realised shorter, less rounded and more open than the RP vowel. When the vowel is followed by r there is a vocalic
3

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

sequence instead of a monophthong. b) Look for the final sound in words like Mary or very, and identify the vowel. The final vowel is [i] in both words. c) Listen carefully to the words bird and furry to notice the articulatory production of the vowel. The vowel (an /r/type, using Trudgill & Hannans symbol) is r-coloured throughout its production. d) Pay attention to the starting point of the words containing the diphthongs /ei/. Is it closer or opener than in RP? Difficult to say, it seems a bit closer than in RP. e) Repeat the exercise for the vocalic sequence /u/ to notice if it is fronter or it has moved backwards in comparison with the sound in RP. It is fronter than the sound in RP.

Focus: GA: consonantal sounds revisited Materials: Track_06a: GA (01 01 01 52) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid-High Exercise 4: Lets see the differences between GA and RP consonants. Listen to the last word of the word-list (butter) and the first five sentences on the recording of the same English speaker from US, paying special attention to the consonants of the words showed in different colours on the transcription in ordinary spelling appearing below. Consider the following questions. Comment: Do not follow the speech from the transcript if you want to make the exercise a bit more complicated. Hint: You may need to listen to the recording more than once to be able to identify all the items required in the exercise. Key: a) Pay attention to those words with voiceless plosive sounds
4

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

followed by another voiceless plosive in syllable-final position. Are they reinforced with a glottal stop (glottalisation)? They are NOT reinforced with a glottal stop. b) Identify the word with t in intervocalic position. What can you say about its manner of articulation? Is it a plosive or a flap? Is it voiced or voiceless? It is NOT a plosive but a voiced flap. c) Try to work out the pronunciation of r, which is particularly different from RP. Does the speaker make use of linking r? It is produced with a great retroflexion, in other cases (mainly before a vowel) it is post-alveolar instead. No, as it is a rhotic accent. d) Note the pronunciation of l in initial position, and now in other positions. Is it clear or dark? It is generally dark [] finally and pre-consonantally, otherwise (mainly before stressed vowels) it is neutral or slightly velarised. e) Is the initial consonant of which and what, /w/ or //? It is // in which, whereas in what the speaker pronounces /w/ instead. Butter As a language changes, it may well change in different ways in different places. No one who speaks a particular language can remain in close contact with all the other speakers of that language. Social and geographical barriers to communication as well as sheer distance mean that a change that starts amongst speakers in one particular locality will probably spread only to other areas with which these speakers are in close contact. This is what has happened over the centuries in the case of the languages we now call English and German. Two thousand years ago the Germanic peoples living in what is now, for the most part, Germany could understand one another perfectly well.

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

Focus: GA word stress revisited Materials: Track_06a: GA (01 53 03 05) Pronunciation dictionary to check the number of syllables (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 5: It is well-known that in many words, American English tend to have stress on one particular syllable while British English tend to have it elsewhere. Listen to the recording that contains another section of the same passage spoken in GA (sentences 6-10), and place an asterisk before the syllable that receives the primary stress (and secondary stress if any) of each underlined word. Then, provide their stress pattern (example, butter /* . /), indicating in each case if it is the same or different from that in RP. Hint: You may need to listen to the passage a third time to answer adequately. Thus, the first time just concentrate on the meaning. The second time, follow her speech from the transcript to place the primary (and secondary) stress of the underlined words; and the third time, pay attention to the stress pattern to classify the words. However, when many of them migrated to England they did not remain in close contact with those who stayed behind. The result, to simplify somewhat, was that different linguistic changes took place in the two areas independently so that today English and German, while clearly related languages, are not mutually intelligible. There was presumably a certain amount of inevitability about this process, since speakers usually need to remain intelligible only to those people they normally communicate with, and, until quite recently, close and frequent communication between England and Germany was not possible. But this also means that the same kind of process is unlikely to be repeated in such an extreme form in the case of different variants of modern English. American and British English have been geographically separated, and diverging linguistically, for 300 years or so, but the divergence is not very great because of the density of the communication between the two speech communities, particularly since the advent of modern transport and communications facilities. Key:

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

a) b) c) d) e) f)

*migrated /* . . / re*lated /.*./ communication /.* . * . / geographically /*. * . . . / separated /* . . . / divergence / . * . /

same same same same same same

different different different different different different

Rationale: a) In the word migrated the stress is placed on the first syllable, as the general tendency to stress on the root in GA in disyllabic causative verbs; d) In the word geographically there is a stress shift together with the placement of a tertiary stress on the third syllable.

Focus: GA: intonation Materials: Track_06a: GA (03 06 04 07) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid-High Exercise 6: This first contact with GA will conclude by listening for intonation on another section of the same recording (sentences 11-17). Identify the intonation patterns (rising, falling or level) used by the speaker at the end of clauses or sentences highlighted on the transcript. Can you underline the syllable carrying the nuclear tone in each case? Comment: Do not follow the speech from the transcript if you want to make the exercise a bit harder. Hint: You can listen to the same section on the recording from the RP speaker, if any help In other words, linguistic change in English will continue, but it is very unlikely indeed (barring prolonged world-wide catastrophes [ ]) that this will lead to a decrease in the mutual intelligibility of different varieties of English. That is, it is not legitimate to argue that change in English is a bad thing [ ] because it will lead to a breakdown in communication. It will not - so long as all English speakers need [ ] and are able to keep in touch with each other. In fact, if anything, the reverse is more likely, since change does not necessarily take place in a 'divergent' direction [ ]. Where two groups of speakers develop closer social

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

contacts than they previously had [ ], their language is quite likely to converge. This appears to have happened in Jamaica, where the language spoken today is much more like British English than it was 200 years ago. And even where change is of the divergent type, it should not necessarily be assumed that this is a bad thing [ ]. Rationale: She seems to use a Fall-Rise tone but with a very narrow pitch range) in bad thing (line 5), speakers need (line 6), and previously had (line 10).

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

TRANSCRIPTION PRACTICE ( a) Written Text (1 h 30)

)(

) (2 h 30)

Focus: GA vocalic and consonantal phonemes revisited Materials: Trudgill & Hannah (pp. 41-44) (optional) Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid-High Exercise 1: Fill the blank spaces in the transcription of the following words pronounced with a GA accent. Remember to make use of Trudgill & Hannahs phonetic symbols. Key: a) derby /drbi/ b) what /t/ c) semiprecious /smaiprs/ d) compare /kmpeir/ e) solder /sdr/ f) attitude /ttud/ g) advance /dvns/ h) reindeer /reindir/ i) interlock /nrlk/ Rationale: 1. Remember that Trudgill & Hannah use: (i) /r/ in both stressed and unstressed positions; (ii) /eir/ as the corresponding sequence to the RP central dipthong //. 2. In the word attitude there may be a Yod-dropping, although it is possible to hear the approximant as well. 3. ln the word interlock the alveolar plosive tends to drop when preceded by /n/, and the schwa may be elided.

UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

Focus: GA vocalic and consonantal sounds revisited Materials: Trudgill & Hannah (pp. 44-45, 48-49) (optional) Document UNIT 3_Theory (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Low-Mid Exercise 2: Based on what you have know, answer the following questions using short answers: Key: a) The vowel // tends to be opener or closer than in RP? It is opener ([]) b) The vowel // tends to be more, or less, rounded than the RP vowel? It is less rounded c) Which vowels are affected by the Northern Cities Chain Shift? The vowels //, // and //. d) How is /r/ usually pronounced in GA? It is pronounced with a great retroflexion []). e) What does it happen when T-voicing and D-tapping occur simultaneously? Provide examples. It means that there may be a neutralisation of /t-d/ between vowels, as in matter and madder [d].

Focus: GA word syllables revisited Materials: Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 3: Transcribe the following words as if they were pronounced in GA English, and underline the (primary) stressed syllable on each

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

polysyllabic word. Then, divide them into three groups according to the number of syllables: a) one syllable, b) two syllables, c) three syllables and d) more than three syllables. Remember to think about phonetic syllables, not orthographic syllables. Comment. Use of Trudgill & Hannahs phonetic symbols. Hint: Read them aloud if that helps you to identify the number of syllables! Key: a) capful /kpfl/ b) unready /nredi/ c) cornflakes /krnfleiks/ d) pleasurable /plrbl / e) remittance /rmtns/ f) duplicate /duplkeit/ g) insurrection /nsrkn/ h) button /btn/ Syllables: two syllables: capful, cornflakes and button; three syllables: unready, remittance and duplicate; four syllables: pleasurable, and insurrection. Comment: Syllabic consonants can be found in the words pleasurable, remittance, insurrection and button.

Focus: GA allophones revisited Materials: Answers to exercise 3 Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 4: Use the words from exercise 3 and supply the phonetic symbols in brackets corresponding to the following allophones: a) flapping (T-voicing), b) nasalization (in vowels), c) velarization (dark l), and d) Yoddropping. Example Queen []. Give reasons for your answers. Comment: Use syllabic consonants where possible.

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

Key: a) capful: [] b) unready: [] c) cornflakes: [l] is usually clear o slightly velarised in this position d) pleasurable: [l] [] e) remittance: [d] f) duplicate: Yod-dropping, [l] g) insurrection: [ ] h) button: three possibilities: a) T-voicing [d], b) substitution by a glottal stop, or c) elision of /t/ in this context.

Focus: GA word stress revisited Materials: Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Trudgill & Hannah (pp. 56-57) (optional) The General American and General British Pronunciations of English (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 5: Underline the stress syllable(s) of the following English words as if they were pronounced in GA. Give reason to the different stress pattern between RP and GA. Comment: Some words contain two stresses (a primary stress and a secondary stress). Hint: Remember to think about phonetic syllables, not orthographic syllables. Key: a) ballet b) donate c) Nottingham d) fertile e) arbitrary f) matrimony
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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

g) weekend Rationale: a) word of French origin, b) word ending in ate (stress on the root instead of the suffix), c) Place name (with a secondary stress on the last syllable), d) word ending in ile (the same pattern but with a weak vowel, or replacement of the vowel by a syllabic consonant, instead of an unreduced vowel form), e) word ending in ary (with a secondary stress on the penultimate syllable), f) word ending in ony (with a secondary stress on the penultimate syllable), g) compound.

Focus: RP English vs. GA English Materials: Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Trudgill & Hannah (pp. 41-44) (optional) Document UNIT 3_Theory (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: High Exercise 6: The following sentences show the transcription of a GA English speaker, rewrite the highlighted words as if they were pronounced in RP English. Then, write the sentences in ordinary spelling. Key: a) / pri:st wz wrid but msl z/ The priest WAS worried about the missals! The words missal and missile are homophonous in GA but the context helps solve the possible misunderstanding. b) /mri mri mrid d d/ Merry Mary married dear Deare In Western GA the first three words may be homophonous.

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

b) Oral Passage (1 h)

Focus: GA vocalic and consonantal sounds revisited Materials: Track_06a: GA (04 08 04 35) Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Trudgill & Hannah (pp. 44-45) (optional) Document UNIT 3_Theory (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid-High Exercise 1: Using phonetic symbols make a segmental transcription of the missing words of the following recording (sentences 18-20) of GA (eastern). Give manner and place of articulation to the first consonant of each omitted words, and lip shape (rounded/unrounded) to the stressed vowel. Comment: Remember to use Trudgill & Hannahs symbols for the phonemes. Hint: First identify the words and give the orthographic (spelling) forms before transcribe them, if any help Key: From many points of view, of course, it is true that a large increase in linguistic diversity on a world-wide scale would be unfortunate. Particularly in the sphere of international politics, it is desirable that different peoples should be able to communicate as freely and accurately as possible. But at the same time it is also valid to argue that the maintenance of a certain number of linguistic barriers to communication is a good thing. a) increase /kris/ velar nasal, unrounded lips b) diversity /dvrsti/ alveolar plosive, unrounded lips c) world /wrld/ labio-velar approximant, unrounded lips d) unfortunate /nfrnt/ alveolar nasal, rounded lips e) sphere /sfir/ (certain degree of diphthongising) alveolar fricative, unrounded lips

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

f) possible /psbl / bilabial plosive, unrounded lips g) maintenance /meitnns/ bilabial nasal, unrounded lips h) certain /srtn/ alveolar fricative, unrounded lips

Focus: GA word syllables & stress revisited Materials: Track_06a: GA (04 36 05 11) Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Trudgill & Hannah (pp. 56-57) (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 2: Listen twice to the following section on the recording where the GA accent is illustrated (sentences 21-23), with particular attention to the syllables & stress. Transcribe the polysyllabic simple words highlighted on the transcript, and place a stress mark (*) before the syllable that carries the primary stress. Remember to think about phonetic syllables, not orthographic syllables. Question: is there any word with a stress distribution different from that in RP? Hint: You many need to hear it once more to be able to identify the stressed phonetic syllables These barriers, although penetrable, ensure the survival of different language communities. And the separation of the world's population into different groups speaking different languages helps the growth of cultural diversity, which in turn can lead to opportunities for the development of alternative modes of exploring possibilities for social, political and technological progress. A world where everyone spoke the same language could be a very dull and stagnant place. a) *penetrable /pntrbl / b) sepa*ration /spein/ c) oppor*tunities /prtuntiz/ d) al*ternative /ltrntv/

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

e) techno*logical /tknlkl /

Focus: GA connected speech processes revisited Materials: Track_08: GA (I) (0 01 38) Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid-High Exercise 3: Complete the transcription of the following isolated words extracted from the passage recorded by a GA English speaker with a sort of East Coast accent. Then listen to the recording twice and tick the option which correctly describes if the sound (shown in bold in the spelling form) that is actually produced by the speaker is the same or different from you have answered. In other words, observe the changes that may have occurred in the final sounds when appear in connected speech (elisions, assimilations, and weak forms). Yeah, I grew up in New York, on Long Island outside the city, and spent all of my earlier years there. I was actually born in Chicago but thats basically irrelevant. My parents were from New York, and so I grew up in New York. It was just after World War Two, which meant that our town didnt have quite the distinctive accent it might have had. Our generation was the formative generation of children. But I was a typical New York kid, and I would have probably said [nu: j:k] and then I got to college and when I became an English major my friend from Georgia told me the remarkable thing was that you stopped sounding like a New Yorker and began sounding like your teachers, all of whom were from, well, all of whom were working in New England they were by no means all, they by no means all sounded like New Englanders. Key: a) spent (line 1) /spnt/ b) but (line 2) /bt/ c) just (line 4) /st/ d) typical (line 6) /tpkl / e) to (line 7) /tu/ same same same same same different different different different different
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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

f) stopped (line 9) /stpt/ g) of (line 11) /v/

same same

different different

Rationale: a) there is an elision of final /t/, c) elision of final /t/, e) weak form ([]), f) elision of final /t/, g) weak form ([]).

Focus: GA intonation Materials: Track_08: GA (I) (0 0 18) Pronunciation dictionary (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: High Exercise 4: Listen to the first three sentences on the same recording of a speaker of GA, and divide them into intonation units on the transcript that appears below. Underline the word that contains the nucleus in each intonation group, and then mark with arrows ( or ) the rising, falling or level tone at the of end of each intonation group. Question: Any comments on the tones used by the speaker? Hint: Follow the same general procedure applied to ear training practice. However, you may need to listen to the passage a third time to answer adequately. Thus, the second time, follow his speech from the transcription to divide the text into intonation units, and the third time, identify the nuclear accents. Key: Yeah| [ ] I grew up in New York| [ ] on Long Island| [ ] outside the city| [ ] and spent all of my earlier years there| [ ] I was actually born| [ ] in Chicago| [ ] but thats basically irrelevant| [ ] My parents were from New York| [ ] and so I grew up in New York| [ ] Rationale: If a pause does not go with a pitch movement there is not a separate intonation unit, as it happens with the words but thats (line 3), from (line 4) and and (line 4). (ii) The nucleus is shifted to a previous word as New York (line 4) is not new information anymore. (iii) One noteworthy

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feature is the use of Rise instead of Fall at the end of some of the statements.

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ORAL PRODUCTION PRACTICE (

)(

)(

) (1 h 30)

Focus: GA vocalic & consonantal sounds revisited Materials: Track_06a: GA (0 01 03) A mirror to watch your mouth produce the sounds Time: 45 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 1a: Lets work on the pronunciation of some of the GA sounds, in particular, [], [], [], [], [ei], [u]: First step: - []: Say the word bed a few times trying to make the vowel a bit opener than in RP. Opening your mouth can be done in three different ways: a) by keeping the lower jaw still and progressively lowering and flattening the tongue, b) by simply lowering the jaw without moving the tongue with respect to the jaw, and c) by a bit of both movements. - []: Say the words bad, path and dance a few times with a vowel a bit closer than in RP. In fact, its production is quite similar to the preceding vowel, except for its longer duration. - []: Say the word putt a few times with a vowel much closer than in RP (the centre of the tongue is raised just above the half-open position). - []: Say the words paw, talk and long a few times with a vowel shorter and more open than the RP one. Also, concentrate attention on the position of the lips in articulating the vowel, which, in this case, is less rounded. Remember that [] is unrounded in GA, being articulated as an []-type vowel. [ei]: Say the word bay a few times trying to make the startingpoint of the diphthong a bit closer than in RP. Remember that it is a very narrow vocalic sequence which moves in the direction of the vowel []. [u]: Say the words bout and loud a few times trying to make the starting-point of the diphthong a bit fronter than in RP. Keep the lip-position constant in order to concentrate

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

attention on the tongue movement: feel the tongue sliding forwards in order to articulate the vowel properly. Second step: Listen for the preceding vowels on the recording that contains a word-list spoken in GA. Listen word by word and repeat it a few times till you are happy with your production. Exercise 1b: Lets move on to the pronunciation of vowels before /r/, particularly, [], [], [], [i], [ei], [u]: First step: - [] (or []): Produce the words bird and furry a few times bearing in mind that in GA the vowel is r-coloured throughout the whole articulation. R-colouring (or rhotacization) can be done by contracting the body of the tongue. You can get a similar effect by bunching up the tip of the tongue that comes rather close to the soft palate (retroflexion). Some speakers round the lips slightly during the articulation of this vowel. - []/[]: Produce the words port, boring and pore a few times, with special attention to the effect of the following /r/ on the vowel []. Now carry out the same exercise with the sound [] in words like bard. Notice that both vowels can be pronounced with retroflexion throughout by curling the tip of the tongue up and backwards a little. Also, in the case of [], some speakers (as the one on the recording) produce the quality of vowel slightly closer than that in other environments. [], [], []: Produce the words peer, pair and tour a few times. Remember that in GA there are no centring diphthongs as such but a sequence of vowel plus /r/, identical perceptually with the rhotacised [] mentioned above; therefore, the words may be represented with /ir/, /eir/, /ur/, or possibly /ir/, /er/ (or /r/) /ur/ identical to the way they are actually produced. Second step: Listen for the preceding vowels on the recording that contains a word-list spoken in GA. Listen word by word and repeat it a few times till you are happy with your production.

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

Exercise 1c: Finally, lets practice the pronunciation of some consonants that are found in GA, that is, [] and [d]: First step: - []: Silently place the tip of the tongue against the postalveolar part of the alveolar ridge. Now slowly slide it back beyond that zone, to where the hard palate ceases to be convex. As your tongue enter this concave area it is almost straight up, and the underblade begins to make contact with the prepalatal arch. This is a retroflex articulation as the apex of the tongue is virtually curly backwards. You can get the same effect by humping up of the body of the tongue (as mentioned in exercise 1b). Once you are aware of this articulation produce all the words from exercise 2 that contain, this time concentrating on the production of the retroflex consonant. - [d]: both alveolar plosives may be affected by the process of intervocalic Tapping in unaccented position. Produce this Tapping by a momentarily flicking movement of the tip tongue against the teeth-ridge. If you add T-voicing, there is a neutralisation of /t-d/ in that phonetic environment [d], as in the pair matter-madder. Now, try Tapping and T-voicing with the word butter. Second step: Listen for the word butter and those cited in exercise 1b on the recording that contains a word-list spoken in GA. Listen word by word and repeat it a few times till you are happy with your production. Key: Open answer.

Focus: GA word stress. Reading from transcription Materials: The General American and General British Pronunciations of English (optional) Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Low Exercise 2: Tap out the rhythm of the following words uttered in GA & RP English and say them a few times with the correct stress. Then provide the

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orthographic forms of each word. Comment: Notice the regional variation in the way affixes affect stress placement in some cases. Key: GA a) /mrrn/ b) /rstkrt/ c) /tp drs/ d) /vaibreit/ e) /kt gri/ f) /lkskn/ g) /sgpr/ h) /voukl fouldz/ RP /mrin/ margarine /rstkrt/ aristocrat /tp drs/ top-dress /vaibreit/ vibrate /ktgri/ category /lkskn/ lexicon /sp/ Singapore /vukl fuldz/ vocal folds

Focus: GA running speech processes: elision & coalescence. Reading from transcription Materials: Pronunciation dictionary (optional) The General American and General British Pronunciations of English (optional) Time: 20 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 3: Try out the following utterances that contain elisions and/or coalescence, as shown on the transcription. Can you explain briefly what has happened in each case? Now add the elided elements to the transcription, and practice both versions a few times till you clearly feel the difference. Comment: Read them aloud at a normal speed as you would do in running speech, using the appropriate weak forms. Hint: Write them in ordinary spelling if any help Key: a) It is a cold winter b) Look at that girl! /ts koul wnr/ /ts kould wntr/ /lk t grl/ /lk t t grl/
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c) Here is the news d) He was born in February e) That is brilliant! f) Paprika is not a herb g) It was a cordial meeting h) This is a fertile land

/hirz nuz/ /hir z njuz/ /hi wz brn n fbjuri/ /hi wz brn n fbruri/ /ts brjn/ /t z brljnt/ /pprik z nt hrb/ /t wz krl mid/ /t wz krdjl mit/ /s z frdl lnd/ /s z frtl lnd/ /pprikz nt rb/

Rationale: a) /d/ elision between consonants, and /t/ elision when preceded by /n/ within a word; b) /t/ is not realised in final position; c) // elision when the word is pronounced in weak form, Yod-dropping following /n/ in stressed syllable; d) /r/ elision (plus Yod-insertion): usual GA pronunciation; e) // elision when the word is pronounced in weak form, followed by /s/ instead of /z/ a case of progressive assimilation; f) // elision when the word is pronounced in weak form, /h/ elision: usual GA pronunciation; g) coalescence: /d/ followed by /j/ becomes //, // elision in unstressed syllable, T-voicing and tapping between vowels in unaccented position; h) // elision when the word is pronounced in weak form, // elision in unstressed syllable. Possible T-voicing and tapping between voiced sounds in unaccented position.

Focus: GA intonation Materials: Track_08: GA (I) (0 01 38) Time: 10 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 6: Listen carefully to the recording that contains a sample of speech by a GA English speaker with a sort of East Coast accent, and
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choose a short section (three or four sentences). Now repeat the selected passage trying to copy the intonation exactly. Practice the exercise a few times: First normally, then with exaggeration (using a wider pitch range), and normally again, and so on. Comment: Remember that GA has less variation than RP English. Yeah, I grew up in New York, on Long Island outside the city, and spent all of my earlier years there. I was actually born in Chicago but thats basically irrelevant. My parents were from New York, and so I grew up in New York. It was just after World War Two, which meant that our town didnt have quite the distinctive accent it might have had. Our generation was the formative generation of children. But I was a typical New York kid, and I would have probably said [nu: j:k] and then I got to college and when I became an English major my friend from Georgia told me the remarkable thing was that you stopped sounding like a New Yorker and began sounding like your teachers, all of whom were from, well, all of whom were working in New England they were by no means all, they by no means all sounded like New Englanders. And thats the way things more or less stayed, uh... aft throughout my college years. And then I basically left the United States. So, Ive been back to teach occasionally but Ive been living for 40 years abroad, in Sweden, and the extent to which that has affected my English is hard to be sure. Ive tried fairly hard to keep a reasonable East Coast sort of accent. And its clearly different than when I imitate being back in New York when I talk to my relatives, but I do have tapes of myself 30 years ago and I dont think I sound all that different. Key: Open answer.

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FINAL EXERCISES (

) (1 h)

Focus: General American English: Historical background Materials: None Time: 15 minutes Level of difficulty: Low-Mid Exercise 1: Answer the following questions, using short answers, based on what you have read on this topic. Key: a) How many were the colonies (from England) who were the first settlers in North America? 13 b) When did they constitute the United States (of America)? In 1776. c) The original setters moved from east to west, or vice versa? They moved from east to west. d) At the time of American Independence, English was spoken in cities or in rural areas? English was spoken in cities, such as Philadelphia or Boston. e) Why some of the features that are found on the Atlantic coast in the nineteenth century were not part of the accent of some other parts of the territory? Because innovations were no longer carried westwards by the pioneers.

Focus: General American English: Description of the accent Materials: None Time: 20 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 2: Correct the deliberate mistakes in the following statements that describe the segmental and suprasegmental features of General

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

American English: Key: a) There is no systemic contrast between // and //. b) There is // in the consonantal system. c) The starting point of the diphthong /ei/ may become closer. d) Recent innovations include fronting of the vowel /u/. e) /l/ is generally dark [] finally and pre-consonantally. f) Tendency to Yod-dropping (the loss of /j/ from historical /ju:/) from stressed syllables, following /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/ or /z/. g) /t/ is often unrealised in final position, especially before a consonant. h) The Drop tone (from high to mid) is often used by GA speakers in situations where British speakers would prefer to employ a Fall-Rise tone.

Focus: GA vs. RP Materials: None Time: 25 minutes Level of difficulty: Mid Exercise 3: Decide if each of these statements referred to the differences between the pronunciation of RP and GA are True (T) or False (F), and mark them accordingly. Give reasons for your False answers. Key: a) The vowel // tends to be closer than in RP.

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UNIT 3_KEY TO EXERCISES_GA

b) The vowel // tends to be closer than in RP. c) The vowel // tends to be more advanced than in RP. d) The vowel // tends to be realised longer, less rounded and more open than the RP vowel. e) The starting point of the diphthong /u/ tends to be fronter than in RP. f) Both GA and RP are rhotic accents. g) Syllabic dark [] in words such as fertile, futile, missile or reptile, etc. where RP retains a prominent preceding vowel. h) Many family names show more stress and vowel reduction in North American English than in British English. i) Most words which in RP have // before the voiceless fricatives (/, f, s/) (as in laugh, path, half), or, alternatively, before a preconsonantal nasal (as in dance, plant, cant), have // in GA. j) The word banana has // in GA instead of //. a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) True True True True True True True True True True or False or False or False or False or False or False or False or False or False or False

Rationale: a) It tends to be closer; c) It tends to be much closer; d) It tends to be shorter; f) RP is non-rhotic; h) Many family names show more stress and vowel reduction in British English than in North American English; i) Most words which in RP have // before the voiceless fricatives (/, f, s/) (as in laugh, path, half), or, alternatively, before a preconsonantal nasal (as in dance, plant, cant), have // in GA.

***

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