Prosodic units

Ulster

The Ulster accent has two main sub accents, namely Mid Ulster English and Ulster Scots. The language is spoken throughout the nine counties of Ulster, and in some northern areas of bordering counties such as Louth and Leitrim. It bears many similarities to Scottish English through influence from the Ulster varieties of Scots. Some characteristics of the Ulster accent include:

· As in Scotland, the vowels /ʊ/ and /u/ are merged, so that look and Luke are homophonous. The vowel is a high central rounded vowel, [ʉ].

· The diphthong /aʊ/ is pronounced approximately [əʉ], but wide variation exists, especially between social classes in Belfast

· In Belfast, /eɪ/ is a monophthong in open syllables (e.g. day [dɛː]) but a rising diphthong in closed syllables (e.g. daze [deəz]). But the monophthong remains when inflectional endings are added, thus daze contrasts with days [dɛːz].

· The alveolar stops /t, d/ become dental before /r, ər/, e.g. tree and spider

· /t/ often undergoes flapping to [ɾ] before an unstressed syllable, e.g. eighty [ˈeəɾi]

One of the basic problems in the study of prosody is to determine the units in which prosodic features are actualized.

The syllable is widely recognized to be the smallest prosodic unit. It has no meaning of its own, but it is significant for constituting hierarchically higher prosodic units. Prosodic features of the syllable (tone, stress, duration) depend on its position and function in the rhythmic unit and in the utterance.

A rhythmic, or accentual, unit (or group) is either one stressed syllable or a stressed syllable with a number of unstressed ones grouped around it.

The stressed syllable is the nucleus of the rhythmic unit. There are as many rhythmic units in an utterance as there are stressed syllables in it. The unstressed syllables are clitics. Those preceding the stressed syllable are called proclitics, and those following it — enclitics.

Depending on the position of the stressed syllable and the number of proclitics and enclitics in the rhythmic group there exist various accentual—and— rhythmic patterns of it. E.g. — /, l^^—l, /— ~/«-V,7v-'~c7, etc. Besides a definite accentual—and—rhythmic pattern, the rhythmic group is characterized by a pitch pattern (or tonal contour) and duration pattern (temporal structure). These prosodic characteristics make it possible to perceive the rhythmic unit as an actual discrete unit of prosody. The rhythmic unit may be singled out of an utterance also due to the meanings expressed by its prosodic features. According to D.Bolinger [57] these may be the meanings of asserti-veness, separateness, newness (when the pitch falls within the stressed syllable or within the enclitics or within both) as in the first rhythmic unit of the following utterance: But nobody knew about it; the meaning of connectedness and incompleteness (when the pitch rises within the stressed syllable, or the pitch of the stressed syllable is higher than that of the proclitics) as in I the second and the first rhythmic units of the utterance: The'brighter they are the better.

Дата добавления: 2015-05-31