Stylistic Modifications of Sounds

So far we analysed sound modifications typical of connected speech mostly within the norm of the English sound system but without any reference and special attention to their stylistic distinctions. It is generally known that variability in the sound realizations is caused by the environment, distribution of sounds in a speech chain, the accentual and the rhythmical structures of the utterance and other linguistic factors and extralinguistic factors. Phonetic distinction marks different forms of communication: monologue, dialogue and polylogue; reading and spontaneous speaking and also forms of speech activity.

Stylistic oppositions have long been observed in linguistic literature in the two marginal types of pronunciation: formal and informal. Formal speech suggests dispassionate information on the part of the speaker. It is characterized by careful articulation and relatively slow speed. A.C.Gimson defines it as careful colloquial style (57), G.Brown describes it as formal slow colloquial style of speech (48). V.A.Vassilyev labels it normal-speed colloquial style of speech (79). Other Soviet field researchers call it full style (9). Informal speech implies everyday conversation. The following definitions are also used: rapid colloquial speech, conversational style.

As was mentioned earlier, stylistic modifications of intonation do not coincide with those of sounds.

It is not always easy to draw a borderline between different stylistic realizations as within each style speech may differ in accordance with extralinguistic factors. For instance, it is generally known that spontaneous form of speech differs greatly from reading on the phonetic level. The character of the outcome of speech in reading and speaking results in different phonation. The difference seems to be basically in the prosodic parameters. Spontaneous speech is usually characterized by the variations of pitch, tempo, loudness and delimitation of phrase, numerous hesitation devices. Segmental modifications are less recognizable. The same sound modifications often mark both speech activities, reading and speaking, though the use of the simplified sound form is often more typical for speaking than for reading; that means that in speaking it is more frequently used than in reading.

Now let us turn to different forms of communication. As has already been mentioned, a monologue often presupposes public speaking with a considerable distance of the addresser (the speaker) from the addressee (the listener) or a piece of calm narrative. Dialogues are more often private, personal and intimate. Monologuing is characterized by more phonetic precision. On the other hand speech may vary in numerous ways. The interaction of the extralinguistic factors may arrange the opposite situation: the speaker's highly excited narration of some critical situation will become full of slurring while a dialogic discussion of problems between colleagues will be phonetically most precise.

Stylistic sound variations seem to have the tendency towards the increase of the sound modifications in speech with the.quickening of its tempo and the weakening of the carefulness, e.g. government ['длуэптэги -> 'длуэт nt —»'gAvmnt -» 'gAbmnt].

Phonetic means which are stylistically relevant depend on the extralinguistic situation of the discourse.

The first thing that counts in the stylistic modifications of sounds is the character of relationship between the speaker and the listener and the degree of formality in their discourse. Speech continuum reflects the amount of attention that the speakers give to their speech. It is assumed that in formal situations the participants will monitor their linguistic behaviour. If the speaker wants to be clearly understood (like while producing a lecture with an educational aim), he should sound explicit and his pronunciation may be characterized as supercorrect. In informal situations, where speakers are more relaxed, less attention will be given to speech and more natural and simplified it will sound. Consequently, the degree of simplification of speech (assimilation, reduction, elision) may be looked upon as a style forming means.

We should admit that the character of sound modifications in relation to situational factors of speech communication is only beginninq to be the object of thorough instrumental analysis today. The investigations are usually based on the contrastiveprinciple, and we shall follow the same principle in our description of sound modifications. We would like to illustrate sound simplifications in informal conversational speech, which are not registered in the listener's mind but actually occur in the speaker's discourse. The listener is not usually aware of the changes since they do not affect the meaning. If you look at the transcribed variant of the text you will observe the actual phonation in informal speech. Mind not all the stages of assimilation, reduction and especially accommodation can be reflected in the symbols of the transcription. Here is an extract from a conversation of two friends in a restaurant:

Brenda: Ah, right, here we are! [_xcc | _vrait * "'hifa) wi: _xa]

Bob: This is the place I was telling you about. [~*dis iz дэ ^leis э wz telirj J9 aba(u)t]

Br.: Yeah, could you ask the waiter if we can sit near the window? [Jo: | Hcudju a-sk 5э 'weits if wi kn,si(t) ш(э) 5э.winds-]

Waiter: Good evening, sir. [god _xfcvnirj sa]

В.: We'd like to sit near the window if that's possible.

[wid ~4ai(k) t(a) si(t) ш(э) дэ _Xwind3(o) \ if _>dxts. ppsibl]

W.: Er... Ah!... er... I'm afraid all the tables there are taken. Would you mind sitting near... nearer the bar? [> з: f _ха \ > з: m -»fre(i)d э! дэ,teiblz де-э _vteikn || ^xwod3U -> mam sitin > ш(э) f шэгэ дэ,ba]

В.: Oh, yes, all right. That suit you?

[_хзи | jes o: rait || дэ1 's(j)u:tfu]

Br.: Mm, fine. [> m: _xfam]

В.: Good.

[\9»d]

Now let us pass over to a brief observation of the possible sound modifications which occur in oral speech.

We shall try to illustrate the existing marginal varieties of the sound modifications which appear regularly in informal speech, the slow formal English being taken as the starting point in the comparison. We would like to start the description with vowel sounds.

Typical character of sound simplifications in relation to the degree of formality is the great qualitative stability of vowels in slow formal speech and more frequent sound variability in informal spoken English. Both front and back vowels in less explicit articulation tend to be changing towards neutralized sounds, especially in grammatical words.

Spelling Formal Informal

it's not its'not ats'not

because bi'koz bikaz

according to a'ko:dirj ta akadirj ta

I think he was ai'Gink hi- waz л '9irjk i wz

The historically long vowel [i:] tends to lose its diphthongiza-tion; as the next stage it undergoes quantitative reduction and finally changes its quality as well.

Spelling Formal Informal

I don't believe it ai 'dsunt bi'li:v it л dsun{t) ba'liv it

it seems to be it 'sfcmz ta bi- it 'simz ta bi

The similar process of reduction is likewise observed in [u:] simplified to [u].

Spelling Formal Informal

a few more words a 'fju: 'mo: 'wsrdz a fju mo- 'ws:dz

a new aspect a 'nju: 'aespekt a 'n(j)u 'asspekt

As to labialization of vowels the amount of rounding varies greatly between the individual speakers. The vowel [o:] seems to retain lip rounding as a rule. The vowels [»] and [01] have very little, if any, rounding at all in informal speaking. The vowels [u:], [u] seem to lose the rounding altogether.

Diphthongs are very often monophthongized in informal speech.

The diphthong [ea] tends to be simplified to [e(:)J, e.g.

Spelling Formal Informal

where wea we

here and there 'hiar and 'dea 'hi(a)r an '5e

In an unstressed position it is further modified to [e], e.g. there is an opinion [der iz an a'pmjan].

The diphthong [ia] often gets a sort of central vowel realization [з].

Spelling Formal Informal

really strange 'riali 'stremds 'rail 'stremds

serious action 'siarias 'aek/n 's3n(a)s 'aek/n

experienced worker iks'piananst 'ws.'ka iks'psranst 'w3:ka

The [u] ending diphthongs [аи) and [зи] are simplified into [a] and [з] accordingly. The various stages of their realizations are found both in stressed and unstressed positions. The quality of the initial element is retained and the second element, the glide, is obscured or lost.

Spelling Formal Informal

now they 'паи dei 'na 5e(i)

South of Italy 'save av 'itali 'sa9 av 'itali

going ahead 'gsoirj a'hed 'gsrj a'hed

yes or no 'jes э-'пзи 'jes э'пз

Unstressed positions are sometimes marked by the next stage of qualitative reduction. The diphthong [аи] is realized as some kind of [л].

Spelling Formal Informal

and now we've and 'паи wi-v эп пл wi-v

come to Чслт ta '1слт ta

mark how different 'ma'k hao 'difarant 'mak Ьл 'difrant
it is it jz it iz

л

The diphthong [зо] is sometimes completely neutralized in the unstressed position.

Spelling Formal Informal

so we've discussed ssu wi-v dis'kAst se wiv dis'kASt

hope to settle it Ьзор ta 'setl it ha ta 'setl it

Vowel elision is very frequent in informal conversational style. It often goes with other processes involving assimilation and elision of consonants. Elided neutral sound [a] is very common in the unstressed syllables of polysyllabic words, like:

Spelling Formal Informal

collective ka'lektiv 'klektiv

different 'difarant 'difrant

prisoner 'pnzana 'pnzna

political pa'htikl 'plitikl

phonetically fa'netikali 'fnetikah

In the last three examples the loss of [э] in the initial unstressed syllable of a word causes the initial consonant form a cluster with the consonant of the stressed syllable. Vowel reduction mostly occurs in extended utterances in sequences of words. The loss of the neutral sound [a] in the preposition to or the particle to preceded by a consonant is a very common pattern.

Spelling Formal Informal

next to Liverpool 'nekst ta 'livapu:! 'nekst 'tlivapu:!

back to London 'bsek ta 'L\ndan 'baek 'tUnd(a)n

to see them ta 'si: 5am 'tsi: 6am

future situation 'fju:tfa.sitju'eijn 'fju:tfa 'sitjueijn

this afternoon Sis.'a:fta'nu:n 6is 'a:ftnu:n

after all 'cr.ftsr 'o:l 'cr.ft'ro:!

In the majority of spoken utterances beginning with its the initial [i] is elided when the phrase runs on without a marked pause after the previous saying.

Spelling Formal Informal

it's paid well its'peidwel ts'peid wel

it's necessary Us'nesasan ts'nesasan

it's counted as its'kaontid az ts 'kauntid az

Likewise in polysyllabic words beginning with the unstressed ex- it is often simplified to [ks].

Spelling Formal Informal

extremely iks'tri:mh 'kstri:mli

extraordinary iks'tro:dnn 'kstro:dnn

excluded iks'klu:did 'kskluidid

As we have already mentioned vowel reduction often results in regular consonant clusters like [tr], [fr], [pi], [kl] typical for the English sound system. Cf. tram, try, tree and interesting, aft(e)r all; please, play and p(o)litical; clay, cloud, circle and collective; friend, from and difference.

Alongside with regular clusters in informal careless speech we find phonetic facts which seem impossible for the English pronunciations namely consonant sequences [tsn], [tsk], [tsp] and others.

Spelling Formal Informal

it's not exact its 'not ig'zaskt ts 'not ig'zaekt

it's close to its'kbus ta ts'kbus ts

it's perhaps you its pahasps 'ju: ts pshasps'ju:

These sequences never occur in speech where the words are uttered clearly and explicitly but in the stream of informal speech in the least prominent parts of the utterance. These facts represent the natural process of compression, or simplification which are known in other languages. In the Russian language, for example, the number of consonant clusters as a result of vowel reduction increases in informal spontaneous speech.

Spelling Formal Informal

пожалуйста плжалустъ плжалстъ

сейчас с'и^эч'ас ш'ас

хорошо хърлшо хрлшо

In the normal course of conversation the reductions themselves go quite unnoticed by the listener as the distinctive features of phonemes are not lost. The listener is mainly interested in the meanings the speaker aims to convey and not in the precise phonetic detail with which he conveys them. So long as the meaning is recoverable, the listener is satisfied. We have to regard the omissions and reductions then as a kind of economy on the part of the speaker who aims not to give more information than is necessary. The speaker assumes usually correctly that the listener will not notice the omissions. Paradoxically, this makes the omissions difficult to observe, being so used to ignoring it.

We shall now turn to the most common 'tendencies in the stylistic modifications of consonants. The process of different sorts of assimilations typical for the English language is usually not so simple as the replacement of one member of phoneme by another. The mechanism of assimilation is a complex of alternations of segmental realizations within the cluster, which is difficult to exemplify in the symbols of the accepted form of transcription, especially when the described sound is only partially "there".

The assimilations of consonants according to voiced (lenis) — voiceless (fortis) principle are not so common in English as they are in Russian. Still the degree of voicing or devoicing of consonants increases passing gradually through several stages from slow careful reading before a large audience to informal careless conversation and ends with the elision of the sound, e.g. must be [mAst bi- -> mASt b^pi- -* nust pi- -+ nus pi-]; don't get [daunt get -> daunt ^kget -» daunt ket].

In the intermediate stages the cluster is represented by a series of sound alternations which reflect the adaptation to the neighbouring sound. The elision of "t" is often met in the position between two consonants.

The consonants are also markedly different in informal conversational style according to their place of articulation. Word final consonants [t], [d], [n], sometimes [m], [s], [z] immediately followed by a velar or labial consonant undergo a sort of adaptation.

Spelling Formed Informal

great burden 'greit 'ba:dn 'greip 'bs:dn

that man '5aet 'maen 'бгер 'maen

American a'menkan s'menkarj

government 'длуптэп! 'длу(э)тэп1

hundred places 'lundnd 'pleisiz 'tundrab 'pleisiz

taken gladly 'teikn 'glasdli 'teikrj 'glaedli

Instead of the closure for the [t] a marked glottal stop [?] is also observed before the modified plosive consonant.

Spelling Formal Informal

Great Britain 'greit 'britn 'grei? 'p^bnbn

didn't go 'didnt'дзи 'didrj? 'ДОзи

couldn't come 'kudnt '1слт 'kudn?'1слт

The illustrated modifications could be summarized in the following way.

/ [p] before [p], [m] that place ['5эер 'pleis]

[t]/ that might ['daep 'mait]

\ [k] before [k] don't question ['dsunk 'kwest/(s)n]

[b] before [p], [b], [m] good morning ['gub ^rmo:nirj]
would be ['wub bi:]

[d]

[g] before [k], [g] Good God ['gug 'god]

good cook ['gug 'kuk]

<

[m] before [p], [b], [m] on me [nm 'mi:]

in business [im 'biznis]
[k] before [k], [g] in quite [irj 'kwait]

can get [karj 'get]

We should strongly emphasize the idea that the students are not recommended to imitate these extreme forms of the existing ways of adaptation in very rapid careless speech.

A definite and very frequent process of assimilation is observed when [s], [z] sounds are followed by the palatal [j] in the unstressed part of the phrase. The alveolars tend to become pala-to-alveolar in informal conversational style.

Spelling Formal Informal

this year '5is 'jia '61/ 'jia

as you эг jm 33 ju:

as yet az jet 93 jet

The palatal [j] is strong enough to affect the manner of articulation of the preceding [t], [d] sounds. In accordance with the tempo and style of speech, individual fluency, number of recipients and other situational factors the assimilated segment preceding [j] may consist of several sections with gradually changing features. The process most often leads to an affricate:

would you [wudju: -» wod^ljo -> wodjo]

could you [kudju: -> kud^lju < kudju]

mind you [maindju: -> mamd'ju -» mamdju]

can't you [kantju: -> kantju -»ka:ntfu]

about you [abaotju: -> abaut-^jo -» эЬао^о]

The elision of consonants is no less frequent process in informal speech than a vowel elision. The most common consonants to find involved in elision are [t] and [d]. Elision usually occurs in a syllable final sequence when the sound stands between two consonants. It is said to be more common for [t] and [d] to be elided between the other two consonants than it is for them to be pronounced.

Spelling Formal Informed

second group 'sekand 'grup 'sekarj 'gru:p

first five 'f3:st 'faiv 'fats 'faiv

next point 'nekst 'point 'neks 'point

best judge 'best 'djAds 'bes 'djAds

the fact that бэ 'faskt dat дэ 'faek дэ1

second term 'sekand Чз:га 'sekan Чз:т

[d] elides even more readily than [t]. We find the loss of [d] in a syllable final sequence preceding another consonant but immediately following a vowel.

Spelling Formal Informal

that it would be dot it wud 'bi: 5at it wo 'bi

he said some words hi- 'sed 8лт 'wa:dz (h)i 'se sam 'w3:dz

about abaut abaut

Other consonants tend to be elided in some definite environments. For instance, the consonant [v] is often elided when it is final in an unstressed form word have or of and immediately precedes another consonant.

Spelling Formal Informal

lists of the 'lists av дэ 'lists э бэ

students 'stjuidants 'st(j)u:d(9)nts

we've been studying wi-v bi-n 'sudiirj wi bm 'sudiirj

of course av'ko:s, af'ko:s a'kos

The definite article [дэ] is often realized as the neutral sound alone. It occurs in cases when the definiteness of the noun is clearly established and [э] can only be interpreted as the realization of the definite article [дэ].

Spelling Formal Informal

and the way he and дэ 'wei hi- an(d) э *wei (h)i

did it 'did it 'did it

and the reason for it and дэ 'rfczn Гэг it 9n(d) э 'riizn frt

and the Scotchman and дэ 'skotfman an(d) э 'skDtfnwn

The elision of [1] is restricted to the position after the vowel [o:]. This process was established in the earlier periods of the English language which is reflected in the pronunciation of the words talk, walk; sometimes in the word certainly.

Spelling Formal Informal

all right э:1 'rait o:'rait

already al'redi a'redi

always 'o:lwiz 'orwiz

also 'o:ls3O 'o:s3u

The elision of [1] in words beginning with all is typical even for slow full speech style.

We have tried to exemplify the extreme variants of sound modifications in the informal conversational style to help Russian learners comprehend spoken English. It is hardly a teachable model. The junior trainees should not be required to produce the extreme forms given in this section but to recognize them and understand sequences of words in which they occur. Refinements of pronunciation of this kind should be left for advanced students to adopt by themselves. We should like to make it quite clear that the beginners are not supposed to be taught the extreme forms of careless speech like [тле pi-] for must be but that they should properly use the established forms of sound modifications (reductions, assimilations) of connected speech and articulate must be with the loss of plosion.

The described stylistic variability conditioned by the extralin-guistic factors has a certain theoretical aspect. It concerns the problem of a subtle structural relationship of phonetic units: a phoneme, an allophone, a phone. The phoneme is viewed as the smallest indivisible phonetic unit, it is the smallest contrastive unit, a unity of co-existing distinctive features, e.g. [ted] — [ded]. As you know, an allophone preserves all the distinctive features of a phoneme but acquires additional non-distinctive contextual features, which are predictable as they are received in various positions of sounds in connected speech in different phonetic context, e.g [ded] — [dred], [ten] — ['i:tn], [keik] — [skeit]. They are universal since they are obligatory for all people of English-speaking community in any form of presentation and style. An allophone differs from a phoneme in the degree of abstraction.

Still allophonic variations do not cover all segmental modifications observed in a speech discourse. There exist sound modifications due to extralinguistic factors of communication. For instance, in spontaneous speech of relatives or intimate friends the meaning of the phrase "I think so" is absolutely clear to the listener. He perceives it as [ai '6ink sau] though the speaker actual ly pronounces [л '9ink ss]. The [л] realizition here is a stylistic variant of the phoneme [ai].

The analysis of stylistic modifications of sounds allows us to speak of an intermediate stage between an allophone and a phone (a sound realization) that is a variant which implies allo-phonic and stylistic variations of sounds. The term "variant" suggests the realization of stylistic features which are universal for every speaker in any type of discourse.

We cannot deny that every actual sound realization is a unique and individual ideophone. Apart from the distinctive, contextual and stylistic features it differs in the timbre and personal voice qualities of every speaker which make his speech recognizable though we may not see the speaker but only hear him over the radio or in a telephone talk. Thus the sound realizations of phonemes are marked by personal features in addition to distinctive, contextual and stylistic. In the most general way the relationship between these phonetic units may be illustrated in this scheme.

Phoneme -»	Allophone -»	Variant -»	Phone
Distinctive features	Distinctive features	Distinctive features	Distinctive features
	Contextual features	Contextual features	Contextual features
		Stylistic features	Stylistic features
			Personal features

So, a phoneme, an allophone, a variant and a phone form a kind of hierarchy of phonetic units in discourse.

As was mentioned at the start of this section, the degree of formality or in other words the character of relationship between participants of the discourse proves to be most significant in the stylistic modifications of sounds. The role of extralinguistic factors as style forming ones seems to be different on segmental and suprasegmental levels and wants further investigation.

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