TKT Module 1 Revision: Phonology
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Phonology |
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| What is: the smallest unit of sound in a language which makes a difference to meaning? |
A
phoneme.
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| What is a
minimal pair? Give two examples. |
Two words
which are only different
because of one sound change.
For example: cat and that (/kæt/ and /ðæt/) peak and seek (/piːk/ and /siːk/) commuter and computer (/kə.ˈmjuː.tə/ and /kəm.ˈpjuː.tə/) |
| What is
the difference between the /k/ in cabin and the /k/ in back? What are the two sounds called? |
The /k/ in
cabin is produced with a small amount of air and can be
transcribed as /kʰ/. The /k/ in back is not
produced that way and is transcribed simply as /k/.
The two sounds are allophones (different ways of pronouncing the same sound). |
| The sounds /p/ and /b/ are produced
with the mouth parts in the same position. What is the difference between them? Give two more examples of this difference in English phonology. |
The difference is
voicing.
The sound /p/ is made with
no use of the vocal
cords but /b/
uses the vocal cords
to make the sound different.
Other examples are: /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ (chin vs. gin) /f/ and /v/ (fan vs. van) /s/ and /z/ (sing vs. zing) /k/ and /ɡ/ (cave vs. gave) /t/ and /d/ (time vs. dime) |
| What do these marks mean? ˈ (a raised small line) ˌ a lowered small line l̩ (/l/ with a small line below it) |
The first (a raised small line) shows where the
main stress falls.
The second (a lowered small line) shows where the secondary stress falls The third (/l/ with a line below it) shows that the syllable is very short and there is no vowel before the /l/. For example: unimaginable is transcribed as /ˌʌ.nɪ.ˈmæ.dʒɪ.nəb.l̩/ |
| Three things happen when we stress
a word in a sentence. What are they? Give an example. |
When we stress a word we:
a) say it more loudly b) take longer to say it c) use a higher voice tone For example: She spoke to her m o ther on the tel ephone |
| What is special stress? Give an example. |
Special
stress means stressing a word in a sentence
because it is more
important for the intention of the speaker to be
clear.
For example: You came home very late, didn't you? No! I came home really early! |
| What is the pronunciation of four and
for in this sentence? She arrived a four for the meeting. What is this called? Give another example of the issue. |
four is pronounced /fɔː/
or /fɔːr/ and for is
pronounced /fə/.
The issue is weak forms. Other examples include: The word been (/biːn/) is often is weakened to /bɪn/ The word and is often pronounced /ənd/ or /ən/ |
| When your voice falls and rises on
what you say, what does this mean? Give two examples. |
The
issue here is tone
or pitch.
When the voice falls we are usually showing agreement. When the voice rises, we are asking a question or showing interest. When the voice rises very sharply, we are showing surprise or even anger. When the voice rises and then falls, we are showing doubt. When the voice falls and then rises, we are showing polite interest. No rise or fall can show that we are not interested and may be rude. |
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