Pronunciation of the English language
The pronunciation of the English language denotes the phonetics and phonology of the English language . The pronunciation of the English language is not the same everywhere, because there are various varieties, some of which have been standardized. The most important standard forms of English are Received Pronunciation (RP, Great Britain), General American (GAm, United States of America) and General Australian (GAu, Australia). In most respects, however, the pronunciation of these varieties is the same.
Phonemes
The sound volume of English varies. Thus some sounds are not spoken in all varieties, e.g. B. [x] or [ʍ]. There are also some sounds that only appear as allophones. They also do not occur in all dialects (e.g. [ç] or [ʔ]).
There are considerable regional differences in the vowels, so the 'a' in 'ask' u. a. Pronounced as [ɑː], [æˑ], [äː], [a], or [ɛ], the 'u' in 'cut' u. a. as [ɐ], [ɜ], [ä], [ʌ], [ə], [ɔ] or [ʊ].
Consonants
| Bilabial |
Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar |
Post alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nasal | m 3 | n 3 | ŋ 3 | ||||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||||||
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ | (ç) 1 | (x) 1 | H | ||
| Affricates | tʃ dʒ | ||||||||
| Approximant | ɹ 2 | j | (ʍ) 1 w | ||||||
| Lateral | l 2, 3 |
- This phoneme does not appear in all varieties of English
- The exact pronunciation may vary
- These sounds can be spoken syllabically in unstressed syllables.
The nasals
- / m /: e.g. B. m an, di m . Is pronounced as [Kons] before labiodental consonants (e.g. sy m phony).
- / n /: e.g. B. n ame, thi n . Pronounced before labiodental consonants as [ɱ] (e.g. i n fluence).
- / ŋ /: e.g. B. ba n k, thi ng . Does not occur with the initial syllable.
The plosives
- / p /: e.g. B. s p ill, p lough. Is pronounced syllable initial as [pʰ] (e.g. p an). Is pronounced as [ˀp] with the final syllable (e.g. di p ).
- / b /: z. B. b an, b ride, thro b .
- / t /: e.g. B. s t eal, t ry. Is pronounced syllable initial as [tʰ] (e.g. t an). Pronounced syllable final as [ˀt] (e.g. deb t ). Before / ɹ / often becomes [t͡ʃ].
- / d /: e.g. B. d ove, d ream, ba d . Before / ɹ / often becomes [d͡ʒ].
- / k /: e.g. B. s k ill, c reep. Is pronounced as a syllable initial as [k z] (e.g. c old). Is pronounced with the final syllable as [ˀk] (e.g. de ck ).
- / g /: e.g. B. g ear, g low, di g .
- [ʔ]: e.g. B. uh - oh, Hawai ' i. The glottal plosive in some English dialects is an allophone of / p /, / t / and / k / at the end of the word, after an unstressed vowel or before a stressed vowel (this also includes syllable / l /, / m / and / n /) . Example: bu tt on. In addition, the crackling sound occurs in many (especially British) dialects as a boundary between similar vowels (e.g. co - (ʔ) operation) or between a schwa and the following vowel (e.g. ultra (ʔ) ism). At the beginning of a sentence and when pronunciation is particularly clear and slow, words that begin with a vowel are preceded by a crackling sound (e.g. (ʔ) Attention!). It also occurs in interjections on (eg uh. - (ʔ) oh) and foreign in authentic pronunciation words (eg Hawaii. ' I or (ʔ) highway). The crackling sound is still not considered phonemic and most speakers are not aware of its existence because it is not written (exceptions can be punctuation marks such as apostrophes or hyphens).
The fricative
- / f /: e.g. B. f in, f rom, lau gh , ph ony.
- / v /: e.g. B. v an, v room, di v e, o f , w isent.
- / θ /: e.g. B. th orne, th row, ba th , th eatre. Pronounced (non-standard) by some speakers as [f], [t̪], or [h].
- / ð /: z. B. th at, brea th e, wi th . Pronounced (non-standard) by some speakers as [v] or [d̪].
- / s /: e.g. B. s ane, s tep, pa ss .
- / z /: z. B. z one, be z e, i s .
- / ʃ /: e.g. B. sh ip, sh rink, fi sh , na ti on.
- / ʒ /: e.g. B. vi s ion, gara g e ( GAm ). Does not occur with the initial syllable.
- / ç /: e.g. B. h ue, Rei ch , Gemütli ch ness. In almost all dialects from the simplification of / hju: / to / ç (j) u: / originated (in the other dialects / hju: / or / ju: /). Also occurs in foreign words (but mostly pronounced as [k]).
- / x /: e.g. B. lo ch , u gh . This no longer productive phoneme has become / f / in most dialects or has fallen silent. It occurs in native words only in Scottish English. In addition, it comes in foreign words (eg. As patriar ch in Scottish English), name (eg. As Johann Sebastian Ba ch , Nikita Kh rushchev) and interjections (z. B. ble ch ) ago. Most English speakers have problems with this sound and pronounce it as / k / or / h /. If the aim is to pronounce foreign words true to the original, this sound may also occur, e.g. B. for words from Spanish ( j alapeño), from German (Spra ch bund), Yiddish ( ch utzpah), Hebrew ( H annukah), Arabic (shei kh ) or Russian (Dou kh obor).
- / h /: e.g. B. h at. This sound occurs only with the initial syllable. The only possible consonant clusters are / hjuː / and / hw /, which, however, are pronounced in most varieties as / ç (j) uː / or / w /. Between vowels, / h / is often pronounced as [ɦ].
- In many English dialects like Cockney , the / h / is not pronounced at all. This is known as h-dropping .
The affricates
- / t͡ʃ /: e.g. B. ch ew, fe tch , t rue (see / t /). Is pronounced with the final syllable as [ˀt͡ʃ] (e.g. fetch).
- / d͡ʒ /: e.g. B. j am, e dg e, d ry (see / d /).
In principle, all consonant clusters of the type "plosive + fricative" are pronounced as affricates (e.g. cats [kæt͡s]). But these are not phonemes.
The central approximants
- / ɹ /: e.g. B. r un, b r idge. Depending on the dialect, / ɹ / can be pronounced differently. The most common pronunciation variant is a postalveolar approximant [ɹ]. Others are the retroflex approximant [ɻ], the alveolar vibrant [r] or the alveolar tap [ɾ]. For the sake of simplicity, this sound is often notated as / r / . In a few dialects, a distinction is made between an alveolar and a retroflex / ɹ /: cf. rap [ɹæp] and wrap [ɻæp] or ring [ɹɪŋ] and wring [ɻɪŋ]. A distinction is made between rhotic and non-rhotic dialects. The rhotic dialects include American and Scottish English, and the non-rhotic dialects include British, Australian, and South African English. In the latter, / ɹ / does not appear as a final syllable (except as a linking R or intrusive R. ) Hence: bar is mostly pronounced [bɑ: ɹ] in America, in England mostly [bɑ:] (but: the bar of [ðə bɑ: ɹ ɒv], linking R). See also rhoticity .
- / j /: z. B. y ear, n e w, ba y , Hallelu j ah. An always consonant / j / occurs only with the syllable initial and not in clusters. Some diphthongs are sometimes parsed with “j” instead of “ɪ”: boy [bɔ͡ɪ] or (rarely [bɔj]).
- / ʍ /: e.g. B. wh ine. Occurs only with the initial syllable and not in clusters. An alternative analysis is / hw /. This no longer productive phoneme is pronounced by most speakers as / w / ( wine-whine merger ).
- / w /: e.g. B. w ine, q u ite, no w . Occurs consonantically only syllable initial. But it can also be found in diphthongs, in which it is usually notated as ʊ (e.g. house [haʊs] or (rarely) [haws]).
The rest
- / l /: e.g. B. l ong, c l ock. Is in allophony with [ɫ].
- [ɫ]: e.g. B. ca ll , bott l e. An allophone of / l /. Depending on the variety, [ɫ] is introduced differently (e.g. only final syllable, always, never).
- [ɾ]: e.g. B. be tt , ri d er, ge t on. The tongue tip R is an allophone of / t / and / d /, especially in American and Australian dialects, when they are between vowels (including the syllabic consonants [ɹ̩], [l̩] and [m̩]) and the following syllable is unstressed.
Vowels
The pronunciation of the vowels varies greatly. The O in 'lot' is pronounced as [ɒ] in Received Pronunciation, [ɑ] in General American, and [ɔ] in General Australian. Some phonemes can be pronounced as both monophthongs and diphthongs. In this article the usual notation is preferred.
When it comes to vowels, a distinction is made between tense and relaxed vowels. With tense vowels, there is greater muscle tension. This is the case with long vowels, diphthongs, and triphthongs. Short vowels, on the other hand, are relaxed. Only tense (long) vowels generally appear in stressed open syllables, ie in stressed syllables that do not end in a consonant. On the other hand, only relaxed (short) vowels can appear before the velar nasal ŋ .
Long and short vowels differ in English and German not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. The long vowels are more closed than the short vowels and short vowels are more open than long vowels. Long and short vowels therefore differ with regard to the position of the tongue, as can be seen from the vowel trapezoid and the representation in the IPA notation:
- ɑː as in "b a th" - ʌ as in "b u t"
- æˑ as in "b a d" - e as in "b e d"
- ɜː as in "S i r" - ə as in "sec o nd"
- iː as in "s ea t" - ɪ as in "s i t"
- ɔː as in "sh o rt" - ɒ as in "sh o t"
- uː as in "sh oo t" - ʊ as in "s u gar"
Another special feature of the English language is the fact that the length of a vowel depends on the following consonant. Before Lenes or at the end of a word, both short and long vowels are generally a little longer than before Fortes . Long vowels are also longer in open syllables than before Fortes.
Monophthongs
| Front | Centralized in front | Central | Centralized in the back | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | unrounded | rounded | |
| Closed | iː / i | uː | ||||||||
| Almost closed | ɪ | ʊ | ||||||||
| medium | ɛ̝ | ə | ɔ̝ː | |||||||
| Half open | ɜː | |||||||||
| Almost open | æˑ | ɐ | ||||||||
| Open | ɑː | ɒ | ||||||||
The pronunciation in Received Pronunciation (RP) is used as a symbol for the phoneme.
- / ɑː /: e.g. B. c ar t, f a ther, p al m. In GAm (General American) [ɑ], in GAu (General Australian) [ä:]. A distinction is made between dialects in which certain words are pronounced as / ɑ: / or / æˑ /. The RP belongs to the former, GAm to the latter. Examples: dance [dɑ: ns] or [dæˑns], laugh [lɑ: f] or [læˑf], ask [ɑ: sk] or [æˑsk].
- / æˑ /: e.g. B. c a t, stressed a nd. This sound is usually described as a short vowel [æ]. In fact, it is longer than all other short vowels (but still shorter than a long vowel). The correct description is [æˑ] (half length). This phoneme does not appear at the end of a syllable.
- / ɐ /: e.g. B. c u t, s o n. This sound was a [ʌ] in RP before World War II , but it has since moved forward to [ɐ]. The only English dialects that have a real [ʌ] are Newfoundland English and Philadelphia English, as well as a few dialects from southern England and Black Americans. In the GAm the corresponding sound is pronounced as [ɜ], in the GAu as [ä]. However, the character ʌ is generally used for the phoneme. This could be due to tradition or the fact that some dialects have still retained the sound [ʌ]. This phoneme does not appear at the end of a syllable.
- / ɛ̝ /: e.g. B. k e ttle, b u ry, m a ny. This sound lies in the RP between [ɛ] and [e]. For the sake of simplicity, this phoneme is usually notated as [ɛ] or [e]. It does not appear as a final syllable.
- / ə /: e.g. B. cat e gory, a bout. Collective term for all reduced vowels
- / iː /: e.g. B. k ey , ee l. Often diphthongized to [ɪi].
- / ɪ /: e.g. B. k i t, i f.
- / ɜː /: e.g. B. c ur t, g ir l, n er d. This sound is often described as [əː].
- / ɔ̝ː /: e.g. B. c augh t, awe . This sound lies in the RP between [ɔ:] and [o:]. For the sake of simplicity, this phoneme is usually notated as [ɔ:] or [o:]. In the GAm it is pronounced as [ɔ], in the GAu as [o:]. In RP, the diphthongs / ɔə / and more recently / ʊə / are also pronounced as / ɔ̝ː /.
- / ɒ /: e.g. B. c o t, y a cht. This sound is in the GAm [ɑ] or [ɔ], in the GAu [ɔ]. It cannot appear with the final syllable.
- / uː /: e.g. B. c oo , oo ze. This sound is often diphthongized in the GAm to [ʊu] and in the RP to [ɵʉ̯]. In the GAu it is pronounced as [ʉː].
- / ʊ /: e.g. B. c oo k, c u shion. This phoneme cannot appear with a final syllable.
| RP | Australian | American | Irish | Sample words | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| / æ / | [æ ~ a] | [æ] | [æ ~ ɛə ~ eə] | [æ ~ a] | tr a p , l a d , h ad |
| / æː / | [æː] | b a d , t a n | |||
| / ɑː / or / æ / | [ɑː] | [ɐː ~ äː] | p a ss, b a th, s a mple | ||
| / ɑr / | [ɑɹ ~ ɑ˞] | [aɹ ~ a˞] | ar m, c ar , m ar k | ||
| / ɑː / | [ɑ ~ ä] | [ɑː] | p a lm, f a ther | ||
| / ɒ / | [ɒ ~ ɔ] | [ɔ] | [ɑ] | l o t, no t, w a sp | |
| [ɒ ~ ɔ ~ ɑ] | o ff, lo ss, cl o th, l o ng | ||||
| / ɔː / | [ɔ̝ː] | [O:] | [ɔː] | l aw , c au ght, a ll, h a lt, t al k | |
| / ɔːr / | [ɔɹ ~ oɹ] | [ɑɹ ~ ɑ˞] | s or t, w ar m, h or se | ||
| / ɔər / | [oːɹ ~ o˞] | t ore , b oar, h oar se | |||
| / ɛ / | [ɛ̝] | [e] | [ɛ] | [ɛ] | dr e ss , b e d , h ea d |
| / ɜːr / | [ɜː] | [eː] | [ɛɹ ~ ɝ ~ ɚ] | [ʊɹ ~ ʊ˞ ~ ɚ] | ur n, b ur n |
| [ɛɹ ~ ɝ ~ ɚ] | ear n, h er d, ear th | ||||
| / iː / | [ɪi̯] | [ɪi̯] | [iː] | [iː] | s ee, fl ee ce, happ y |
| / ɪ / | [ɪ] | [ɪ] | [ɪ] | [ɪ] | k i t , b i d , h i d |
| / ə / | [ə] | [ə] | [ə] | [ə] | comm a , pand a , a bout |
| / ər / | [ɚ ~ ɹ̩] | [ɚ ~ ɹ̩] | winn er , pand er , doct or | ||
| / ʌ / | [ɐ] | [ɐ] | [ʌ̈ ~ ɜ̞ ~ ɐ̝] | [ʌ̈ ~ ɤ ~ ʊ] | str u t , w o n, l o ve |
| / ʊ / | [ɵ ~ ʊ] | [ʊ] | [ʊ ~ ʊ̞̈] | [ʊ] | p u t, b ut ch, p u sh, book |
| / uː / | [ɵʉ̯] | [ʉː] | [u̟ ~ ʊu̯ ~ ʉu̯] | [ʊu̯ ~ uː] | g oo se , b oo , y ou |
- ↑ The American tension of the / æ / -phoneme ( / æ / -tensing ) is typical before nasal consonants, for example fan / fæn / [feən] is pronounced as opposed to fat , which is pronounced / fæt / [fæt].
- ↑ This phoneme only occurs in the absence of the cot-caught merger .
- ↑ This phoneme only occurs in the absence of the fur-fern merger .
Diphthongs
| RP | Australian | American | Irish | Spellings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| / eɪ / | [ɛɪ̯] | [æɪ̯] | [eɪ̯] | [eː] | f a c e , p ai n, str aigh t, pr ay , gr ea t, eigh t, th ey |
| / aɪ / | [ɑɪ̯] | [ɑe̯] | [aɪ̯] | [ɑɪ̯ ~ ɐɪ̯] | aye , h eigh t, eye , I , m i n e , p ie , h igh , b uy , m y , r ye |
| / aʊ̯ / | [aʊ̯] | [æɔ̯] | [aʊ̯] | [æʊ̯ ~ ɛʊ̯] | n ow , m ou th, pl ough |
| / oʊ̯ / | [əʊ̯] | [əʉ̯] | [oʊ̯] | [oʊ̯ ~ oː] | s o , l oa n, ph o n e , t oe , oh , s ou l, th ough , sn ow |
| / ɔɪ̯ / | [ɔɪ̯] | [oɪ̯] | [ɔɪ̯] | [ɒɪ̯ ~ oɪ̯] | ch oi ce, b oy , empl oye d |
| / ɪər / | [ɪə̯] | [ɪə̯] | [iːɚ] | [iːɚ] | d ear , b eer , h ere , w eir d, p ier ce |
| / ɛər / | [ɛə̯] | [eːə] | [ɛɚ] | [eːɚ] | f air , c are , p ear , th eir , th ere |
| / ɔər / | [ɔə] | [ɔə] | [ɔɚ] | [ɔːɚ] | w ar , r oar , f or , m ore , d oor , f our |
| / ʊər / | [ɵə ~ ʊə] | [ʊə] | [ʊɚ] | [uːɚ] | p oor , t our , acid |
| / juː / | [jɵʉ̯] | [jʉː] | [ju̟ː] | [juː] | b eau ty, f ew , hu man, c ue , u s e , yu le |
Triphthongs
| RP | Australian | American | |
|---|---|---|---|
| l ower | / əʊ̯ə / | / əʉ̯ə / | / oʊ̯ɚ / |
| h our | / aʊ̯ə / | / æɔ̯ə / | / aʊ̯ɚ / |
| f ire | / aɪ̯ə / | / ɑe̯ə / | / aɪ̯ɚ / |
| pl ayer | / eɪ̯ə / | / æɪ̯ə / | / eɪ̯ɚ / |
| l awyer | / ɔɪ̯ə / | / oɪ̯ə / | / ɔɪ̯ɚ / |
| p ure | / jʊə / | / jʉːə / | / jɝ / |
Reduced and weak vowels
Vowels are reduced in unstressed syllables:
- / ə /: e.g. B. a bout. Reduced / ɐ, æ, ɑː, ɒ /
- / ɨ /: t. B. determ i nism. Reduced / iː /
- / ɪ̵ /: e.g. B. penc i l. Reduced / ɪ, ɛ, eɪ, aɪ /
- / ʊ̵ /: e.g. B. awf u l. Reduced / ʊ, uː /
- / ɵ /: e.g. B. el o quent. Reduced / oʊ /
Usually all of these vowels are represented by the symbol ə. Most speakers do not distinguish all of these vowels either; this is the maximum system, which should only appear in very careful pronunciation and is not generally used even in the RP.
There are also the weak vowels :
- / i /: e.g. B. cit y , rad i ation, glor i ous. If a / ə / follows as in the last example, this sound can also be used as [j], i.e. H. consonantic, to be pronounced.
- / u /: e.g. B. act et al. If followed by a consonant, this sound can be pronounced as [ə].
Strong and weak form
Some words in English have a weak tone, that is, the vowel is shortened, weakened or completely faded.
Examples of weak tone forms are for example [ jɘ ] / [ jɘr ] for your or [ ðɘm ] / [ ðm ] for them . An overview of the weak tone forms in RP can be found in the article Weak tone and strong tone forms in English .
With function words, i. H. In the case of definite and indefinite articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions and pronouns, weak tone forms are the normal case.
Weak tones are not a colloquial flaw, but part of the standard language. The strong form is used with emphasis (when the word in a sentence should be emphasized), at the beginning of the speech act and at the end of the speech act.
historical development
The usual chronological classification in Old English, Middle English, Early New English and New English was modified in favor of a better classification of the phonetic development. See also history of the English language .
Proto-Anglofrisian (400-475)
- The North Sea Germanic [ɑː] became [æː], which in today's spelling is written with A: cf. German day / tak /, old English dæg / dæj / and engl. day / deɪ /.
- [ai] became [ɑː]: cf. German stone [ʃtaɪ̯n], old English stán and engl. stone .
- Shrinkage of the / n / before fricatives: cf. German goose , old English gos and engl. goose , dt. us , engl. us
- / ɡ / often became / j /, cf. German ways / ˈveːgə /, oldgl. away / wæj /, engl. way / weɪ /.
Old English (475-900)
- / æ /, / ɛ /, / ɪ / became / æ̆ɑ̆ /, / ɛ̆ɔ̆ /, / ɪ̆ʊ̆ /, and / æ: /, / eː /, / iː / became / æɑ /, / eo /, / iu /, which were written ea, eo, io.
- / ɪ̆ʊ̆ / and / iu / became / ɛ̆ɔ̆ / and / eo /.
- / au / first became / æu / and then / æa /: cf. German dream / dream /, old English dréam / dræam /, engl. dream / dri: m /.
- Back vowels became front vowels when they were followed by / i / or / j /:
- The I mutation: / æ / → / e /, / e / → / i /, / a / + m / n → / e / + m / n, / a / → / æ /, / aː / → / æː /, / o / → / e /, / oː / → / eː /, / u / → / y /, / uː / → / yː /, / ea / → / ie /, / eːa / → / iːe / , / eo / → / ie /, / eːo / → / iːe /.
- The rounded vowels / œ /, / øː /, / ʏ /, / yː /. / œ / and / øː / later became the unrounded vowels / ɛ / and / eː /.
- All short twosomes became / ɪ̆ʏ̆ /, all long ones became / iy /.
- In late Old English they were monophthongized to / ʏ / and / yː /.
- In unstressed syllables:
- / oː / became / ɑ /.
- / ɪ / and / ʊ / disappeared before a stressed syllable.
- / sk / became / ʃ /: cf. German ship , old English scip , engl. ship .
- / k /, / ɣ /, / ɡ / became / ʧ /, / j /, / ʤ / under certain circumstances.
- At the beginning of the word / ɣ / became / ɡ /.
To Chaucer's English (900-1400)
- Before / ld /, / mb /, / nd /, / rd /, / nɡ /, / rl /, / rn / the vowel was pronounced long, unless a third consonant followed: cf. German find / fɪndn /, oldgl. findan / fɪndɑn /, middle English. find / fi: nd /, engl. find / faɪnd /.
- When followed by two or more consonants, vowels were shortened. The above-mentioned extension for certain consonant sequences is an exception.
- / æː / and / ɑː / became / ɛː / and / ɔː /.
- / æ / and / ɑ / became / a /.
- / ʏ / and / yː / became / ɪ / and / iː /.
- If two syllables followed, stressed vowels were shortened: cf. engl. south [saʊθ] and engl. southern ['sʌðən].
- In open syllables, vowels were pronounced long unless the abbreviation mentioned above occurred.
- All unstressed vowels became / ə /.
- / ɣ / became / w / or / j / in some cases. With / w / and / j / new diphthongs were formed.
- / hɾ /, / hl /, / hn / at the beginning of the word lost the / h /.
- Voiced fricatives went from allophones to phonemes in their own right.
- / sw / became / s / before back vowels: engl. answer / ɑːnsə /
- / mb / became / m /: engl. lamb / læm /
Until Shakespeare's English (1400-1600)
- Loss of most doubts:
- / ɛi / became / ai / and then / ɑː / (before the Great Vowel Shift )
- / ɔu / became / ou / and then / o: / (after the Great Vowel Shift )
- / ei / became / eː / (after the Great Vowel Shift )
- / au / became / ɔː / (after the Great Vowel Shift )
- / ɛu /, / y / and / iu / became / ju /
- / ʊi / and / oi / became / ɔi /
- / ei / and / ai / became / ei /, pure and rain become homophones
- The Great Vowel Shift :
- / aː /, / ɛː /, / eː /, / ɔː /, / oː / became / ɛː /, / eː /, / iː /, / oː / or / uː /
- / iː /, / uː / first became / əi / and / əu /, then / ai / and / au /
- / au / became / ɔː /
- In Early New English / eː / and / iː / coincided, but they are still differentiated in writing: ea , ee
- Loss of the / ə / in final syllables
- In most dialects, the gh , which was previously pronounced as / x / or / ç /, fell silent ; So homophones were thawed and taught .
- At the beginning of the word / ɡn / became / n /, but the old pronunciation is still retained in the scriptures.
- At the beginning of the word / kn / became / n / in most dialects, knot and not became homophones.
- At the beginning of the word, / wr / and / r / coincided in many dialects, so rap and wrap became homophones there.
- Double consonants became single consonants.
Until the division into British and American English (1600–1725)
- / ʊ / was split into / ʊ / (as in put ) and / ʌ / (as in cut ).
- Long vowels were arbitrarily shortened in closed syllables: e.g. B. head, breath, bread, blood.
- ea and ee finally coincided in most dialects, the old pronunciation of ea has only been preserved to this day in a few words : z. B. break, steak, great .
- Short vowels before a / r / at the end of a word or before a consonant have been changed (not in Scottish):
- / a / and / ɔ / have been extended: start, short
- / ɛ /, / ɪ / and / ʌ / coincided: cf. fern / fɜːn /, fir / fɜː /, fur / fɜː / (not in Hiberno-English)
- All these changes also affected derived words: cf. starry / stɑːri / and marry / mæri /
- Changes in / a /
- [a] became [æ] in many words, e.g. B. cat / kæt /
- [a] became [ɔː] before [ɫ]: z. B. tall [tɔːɫ].
- The new phoneme / ɑ / developed in the ending -alm (e.g. calm [kɑːm]) and in a few other words (e.g. father [fɑːðə]).
- In some dialects / ɔ / was extended before / ŋ / and / ɡ /, in American English also before / s /, / f / and / θ /.
- / r /, previously pronounced [r], became [ɹ]. The old pronunciation is only preserved in Scottish.
- / nɡ / became / ŋ /.
- / tj /, / sj /, / dj /, / zj / became / ʧ /, / ʃ /, / ʤ / and the new phoneme / ʒ /. Received Pronunciation retains the old pronunciation into the 20th century.
- Loss of the / l / in / lk /, / lm / and / lf /: e.g. B. talk [tɔ: k], calf [kɑ: f], calm [kɑ: m], but soon [bɔːɫd].
From 1725
- In most North American dialects / ɒ / as in lot and / ɑ / as in father merged into / ɑ /.
- In southern England / æ / became / ɑ: / before / s /, / f /, / θ / and / n / or / m / followed by another consonant (e.g. bath / bɑːθ /) in some words . Therefore, in Received Pronunciation pass, glass, grass, class are spoken with / ɑː /, but mass and crass are spoken with / æ /. In American, Scottish, and Northern English English, all of these words are pronounced with [æ].
- [ɪ] became [i] at the end of the word.
- In some dialects of southern England, in Hiberno-English, in Newfoundland-English and in Caribbean-English, / aɪ / and / ɔɪ / merged into an intermediate diphthong.
- In Received Pronunciation, [ʌ] became [ɐ].
- Division into rhotic and non-rhotic dialects: in the latter, the / r / fell silent at the end of the syllable, with new diphthongs such as / ɛə / ( square ), / ɪə / ( near ), / ɔə / ( cord ), / oə / ( sore ) , / ʊə / ( cure ) and the very rare phoneme / ɜː / ( nurse ). Most British dialects are non-rhotic, most American are rhotic.
- In most English English dialects and some American English dialects, / hw / and / ʍ / became / w /, making whine and wine homophones.
- In American and Australian English, / t / and / d / were pronounced as [ɾ] under certain circumstances.
- In England the glottic stroke [ʔ] developed as an allophone of / p /, / t / and / k / under certain circumstances.
Change and preservation of consonants in the English and German language
The 2nd Germanic sound shift separates High German from the remaining Germanic languages. Since English did not go along with this sound shift, the original consonants are retained:
- [t] instead of [s] or [ts]: cf. water and water or great and customs
- [p] instead of [f] or [pf]: cf. ape and monkey or penny and penny
- [k] instead of [ç] or [x]: cf. like and equal or make and do
- [d] instead of [t]: cf. dead and dead
- [ð] or [θ] instead of [d]: cf. this and this and thank and Thanks
Furthermore:
- [w] instead of [v]: cf. weasel [wiːzl̩] and Wiesel [viːzl̩]
- [s] instead of [z] before vowels: cf. soup [suːp] and soup [zʊpə]
- [s] instead of [ʃ] before consonants: cf. swarm [swɔːm] ~ [swɔɹm] and swarm [ʃvaːm]
- [j] or [w] instead of [g]: cf. yell and tingle or fowl , domestic chicken 'and bird ; here the German retains the original pronunciation
- [t͡ʃ] instead of [k] in front of light vowels: cf. choose 'choose, prefer' and gravel ; here the German retains the original pronunciation
English and Icelandic are the only Germanic languages still alive that have retained the dental fricatives [θ] and [ð]. The [w] has even become [v] in all recent Germanic languages except English.
Although the English language has proven to be very conservative in these cases, German is also more conservative in some cases:
- The Germanic [b] in English has become [f] or [v], cf. nhd. thief , engl. thief , dan. tyv .
- At certain positions the / n / has disappeared in English, cf. nhd. goose , engl. goose , isl. gæs .
- The Germanic / x / ([x]) with the allophone [ç] has also disappeared in English, cf. nhd. night , engl. night , swedish natt . In English, the / x / was only used in Scottish (e.g. loch ) and in the typeface as gh (cf. Nacht - night , Macht - might , Licht - light ). The gh has fallen silent or is pronounced as [f] (e.g. laugh - laugh [lɑːf]).
Discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation
Originally, the spelling was regular and based on pronunciation. However, several phonetic changes, such as the Great Vowel Shift , changed the pronunciation. This was not taken into account in the script (the current spelling of the Germanic hereditary words still corresponds to the medieval pronunciation).
Only a good 30% of the English language vocabulary are hereditary words. Many foreign words came from French (e.g. abandon for forsake ), Latin (e.g. longitude for length ), ancient Greek (e.g. air for lyft ) and Scandinavian (e.g. sky for heaven ) into the English vocabulary and partly displaced the ancestral words. Even today there are many foreign words from all over the world, for example from Chinese (e.g. ginseng ), German (e.g. Weltanschauung ) or Yiddish (e.g. shlep ). For almost all foreign words - including those that entered the English language many centuries ago - the original spelling was adopted unchanged or almost unchanged. Only words that were taken directly from a language that does not use the Latin script have been adapted to the actual English spelling .
Therefore there is a big discrepancy between pronunciation and spelling, so the c can be pronounced as [s], [k] or [ʃ]: ceiling , cradle , social . There are also rare variants in foreign words such as B. as [tʃ] as in ciabatta and the various pronunciation variants of ch (including [tʃ], [ʃ], [k] and [x]). That s can u. a. pronounced as [s], [z], [ʃ] and [ʒ]: see , use , sure , version .
Vowels
The vowels are particularly irregular. In the spelling, the pronunciation of before the Great Vowel Shift can often still be recognized: cf. to see / ze: n /, engl. see / siː /; dt. moon / moːnt /, engl. moon / muːn /; German I / ɪç /, Engl. I / aɪ /.
The a has 6 pronunciation variants in British and American English:
- as [ɑː] as in father
- as [ɔ̝ː] as in false
- as [ə] as in about
- as [eɪ] as in blame
- as [æˑ] as in man
- as [ɛ] as in any
There are also various pronunciation variants in vowel combinations such as ai , au , aw , ay , ea , ia and oa .
Here are the possible spellings of the vowels:
| Vowels | ||
|---|---|---|
| pronunciation | Notation | |
| / i: / | e, ea, ee, e… e, ae, ei, i… e, ie, eo, oe, ie… e, ay, ey, i, y, oi, ue | |
| / ɪ / | i, y, ui, e, ee, ie, o, u, a, ei, ee, ia, ea, i… e, ai, ey, oe | |
| / u: / | oo, u, o, u… e, ou, ew, ue, o… e, ui, eu, oe, ough, wo, ioux, ieu, ault, oup, w | |
| / ʊ / | oo, u, o, oo ... e, or, ou, oul | |
| / eɪ / | a, a… e, ay, ai, ai… e, aig, aigh, ao, au, e (é), e… e, ea, ei, ei… e, eig, eigh, ee (ée), eh, et, ey, ez, he, ie, ae, eg | |
| / ə / | a, e, o, u, ai, ou, eig, y, ah, ough, gh, ae, oi | |
| / əʊ / | o, o ... e, oa, ow, ou, oe, oo, eau, oh, ew, au, aoh, ough, eo | |
| / ɛ̝ / | e, ea, a, ae, ai, ay, ea… e, ei, eo, ie, ieu, u, ue, oe | |
| / æˑ / | a, ai, al, au, i | |
| / ɐ / | u, o, o… e, oe, ou, oo, where | |
| / ɔ̝ː / | a, au, aw, ough, augh, o, oa, oo, al, uo, u | |
| / ɒ / | o, a, eau, ach, ou, ou | |
| / aɪ / | i… e, i, y, igh, ie, ei, eigh, uy, ai, ey, ye, eye, y… e, ae, ais, is, ig, ic, ay, ui | |
| / ɑː / | ar, a, er, ear, a… e, ua, aa, au, ou | |
| / ɛə / | he, ar, ere, are, aire, eir, air, aa, aer, ayr, ear ' | |
| / ɔɪ / | oi, oy, aw, uoy oy… e, eu | |
| / aʊ / | ou, ow, ough, au, ao | |
| / ɜː / | er, or, ur, ir, yr, our, ear, err, eur, yrrh, ar, oeu, olo, uer | |
| / ju / | u, u… e, eu, ue, iew, eau, ieu, ueue, ui, ewe, ew | |
There are, however, certain regularities in the pronunciation of the vowels so that in most cases the pronunciation can be predicted:
| Letter | Careless | Tense | Weighty | Tense + R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a |
/ æˑ / man |
/ eɪ / mane |
/ ɑː / mar |
/ ɛə / mare |
| e |
/ ɛ̝ / met |
/ iː / meet |
/ ɜː / her |
/ ɪə / here |
| i |
/ ɪ / win |
/ aɪ / wine |
/ ɜː / fir |
/ aɪə / fire |
| O |
/ ɒ / mop |
/ əʊ / mope |
/ ɔ̝ː / for, fore |
|
| u |
/ ɐ / hug |
/ juː / huge |
/ ɜː / cur |
/ jʊə / cure |
| u |
/ ʊ / push |
/ uː / rude |
- |
/ ʊə / sure |
The record holder for the pronunciation options is the letter combination ough :
| pronunciation | example |
|---|---|
| [ɐf] | tough, enough, rough |
| [ɒf] | cough, trough |
| [aʊ] | bough, plow |
| [əʊ] | though, dough |
| [ɔ̝ː] | thought, bought |
| [uː] | through |
| [ ə ] | thorough, borough |
| [ɐp] | hiccough |
| [ɒk] | hough |
| [ɒx] (Only in certain Scottish and Irish dialects, otherwise [ɒk] ) | lough |
To reduce this large number of pronunciation options, there are some suggestions for alternative spellings. hiccup and hock instead of hiccough and hough are now standard. Colloquially there are other alternative spellings, e.g. B. thru (cf. the Scottish song Comin 'thru the Rye ) for through . In addition, there are spellings that are standard or not, depending on the country: In England you write nought and donut , in the USA you write naught and donut .
There have been efforts for a long time to reform the spelling and adapt the spelling to the pronunciation. However, these attempts could not prevail.
Prosody of the English language: word and sentence stress, rhythm and intonation
Under prosody refers to the entire phonetic features of a language that is not tied to the single phoneme as the smallest possible unit. The most important prosodic properties in English include the following:
- Word and sentence stress (word accent)
- rhythm
- intonation
Word stress
Stressed syllables are louder, longer and more highly intoned than unstressed syllables. There is no uniform word stress in English. H. the word accent in English words is not generally on a particular syllable, such as in Finnish (first syllable) or in French (last syllable).
The accent is phonemic in English; H. word distinguishing (stressed syllables are shown in bold ): B. the words dic tate (verb: dictate) and dic tate (noun: dictate, commandment, command) in their pronunciation only through the stress.
Words of non-Germanic origin with up to three syllables are often stressed on the first syllable, words with more than three syllables usually on the third from last. Words from the inherited Germanic vocabulary are often stressed on the first syllable, e.g. B. fa ther, fa therly, ie they have stem emphasis.
Prefixed words of the Germanic vocabulary are partly stressed on the stem, i.e. on the second syllable (with stand ) or on the prefix ( o verflow).
Usually prefixed verbs are emphasized on the second syllable, the associated nouns on the first syllable: over flow (noun) - over flow (verb).
There are no major deviations from German in terms of the main tone in words of Germanic origin. In words of non-Germanic origin, the main tone in English is often on a different syllable than in German.
Usually, the stress is divided into three levels: primary, secondary (occurs with more than two syllables) and unstressed.
The secondary tone often occurs in polysyllabic words. It falls on the third or one of the following syllables before the syllable with primary stress (primary stress is bold , secondary stress is italic , otherwise unstressed):
ad mi ra tion [ ˌædmɪreɪʃən ], con fi the tial [ ˌkɒnfɪdenʃəɫ ], po li ti cian [ ˌpɒlɪtɪʃən ].
In compound words, which can be written together, separated or with a hyphen in English, the secondary tone usually falls on the syllable behind the primary accent : gas man [ ˈgæsˌmæn ], gas- guzz ler [ ˈgæsˌɡɐzlə ], gas pedal [ ˈgæsˌpedl ].
There are the following rules for the position of the secondary tone:
- Words with the primary tone on the third syllable have the secondary tone on the first syllable:
- de fi ni tion [ ˌdefɪˈnɪʃən ].
- Words with the primary tone on the fourth or fifth syllable have the secondary tone on the primary tone syllable of the root word:
- ad mi nis tra tion [ ədˌmɪnɪstreɪʃən ] (Lead: ad mi Minister [ ədˌmɪnɪstə ]), Con fe de ra tions [ kənˌfedəreɪʃənz ] (Cup) (Lead: con fe derate [ kənfedərɪt ]), con si de ra tion [ kənˌsɪdɘreɪʃən ] ( Derivation: con si der [ kənˈsɪdɘ ]).
- In particular, words like administration and confederation are often mispronounced by Germans:
- ad minis tra tion [ ˌædmɪnɪsˈtreɪʃən ], con fede ra tion [ ˌkɒnfedəˈreɪʃən ], con side ra tion [ ˌkɒnsɪdɘˈreɪʃən ]. This leads to the vowel being pronounced incorrectly: instead of [ ə ], Germans usually speak [ æ ] or [ ɒ ].
- With words like fa mi li a rity [ fəˌmɪliˈærəti ] or pro nun ci a tion [ prəˌnɐnsiˈeɪʃən ], bringing the secondary tone forward to the first syllable means that the [ i ] is also replaced by [ j ] and the main tone instead of the third advances to the fourth syllable: [ ˌfæmɪlˈjærəti ] or [ ˌprəʊnɐnˈsjeɪʃən ].
- Compounds usually have the primary tone on the main tone syllable of the first component and a secondary tone on the main tone syllable of the second component.
rhythm
English, like German, is an accent-counting language. In certain cases, however, it treats unstressed syllables that follow stressed syllables differently than German.
In German, unstressed syllables are only given a quantitative weakening, ie they are shortened in German. In English, on the other hand, unstressed syllables are qualitatively weakened, i.e. they are reduced to / ə / or / ɪ / or disappear completely:
German: England [ ˈɛŋlant ] - English: England [ ˈɪŋɡlənd ] German: fatal [ fatˈaːl ] - English: fatal [ ˈfɛɪ̯tɫ ]
In English, unstressed syllables experience a qualitative reduction, but they are not shortened compared to the stressed syllable, as in standard German. In the English word England [ ˈɪŋɡlənd ], for example, both syllables are spoken the same length . In the German word England [ ˈɛŋlant ], however, the first (stressed) syllable is longer than the unstressed syllable.
In fact, all unstressed syllables that follow the stressed syllable and that belong syntactically to the stressed syllable are spoken for the same length. Even more: the more unstressed syllables follow the stressed syllable, the less time is available for the individual syllable. "Nine", "ninety" and "ninetieth" or "drink", "drinking" and "drinking it" are all the same length. There is just as much time available for the three-syllable speaking act “drinking it” as for “drink” or “drinking”.
However, this does not mean that all unstressed syllables are pronounced as long as the stressed syllable. If the unstressed grammatical belongs to the following stressed syllable, it is shortened. Thus, in the sentence: " Buy | the book. "the word" the "cut, as it syntactically" is one book ".
In this case, English treats the unstressed syllable in the same way as German. However, the speech bars "are Buy" and "the book." Also the same length. In other words: all individual spoken acts of a sentence are of the same length in natural speech in English, i.e. H. In natural speech the time interval between stressed syllables is always the same.
Consistent observance of the basic rule that there is roughly the same time interval between the stressed syllables in English has a positive effect on the pronunciation of the so-called functional words (such as "the" in "the book"), since they are used to use weak tone forms forces.
The so-called three-accent rule follows from the typical English speaking rhythm. In order to avoid several closely consecutive stressed syllables, the middle syllable, which should actually be stressed as a meaning carrier, is only given a secondary tone:
I'm ve ry strong .
I'm a ve ry strong man .
I'm not very strong .
This three accent rule is also the reason why there are words with a secondary tone in English, as described above. The secondary tone prevents an accumulation of unstressed syllables in the sentence, which would conflict with the aspired equally long distance between the stressed syllables.
Sentence stress
The decisive factor in the stress of a word in a sentence is its communicative value, which results from the speaker's intention. Usually so-called content words are emphasized, ie nouns, adjectives, numerals, full verbs and adverbs. Remain unstressed function words : prepositions, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions and pronouns except the interrogative pronouns and restricted the indicative pronouns and words that are already calling familiar. However, any word can be stressed, depending on how you intend to speak, e.g. B. in emphatic speech.
English intonation
In English, as in all languages of the world, intonation is the pitch progression within a speaking act . A speaking act consists of several words that form a unit in terms of content. This can be a one-word sentence (a), a whole sentence (b), a sentence structure (c) or just a part of the sentence (d). There is a shorter (|) or longer pause (||) between two speech acts:
- (a) She!
- (b) She drove northwest to Boulder.
- (c) She drove northwest to Boulder and her son sat on the passenger seat.
- (d) She drove northwest to Boulder | with her son sitting on the passenger seat / She drove northwest to Boulder || with her son sitting on the passenger seat.
Each opening stroke consists of so-called rhythmic groups ( rhythmic group ). These consist of a stressed syllable that can be followed or preceded by unstressed syllables.
The sentence "There must be an easier way of getting to Northumberland" consists of three rhythmic groups:
- "There must be an ea sier way"
- "Of get ting"
- "To Nor thum berland".
The individual rhythmic groups are of the same length, whereby the unstressed syllable preceding the stressed main syllable is shortened and the unstressed syllable following the accented main syllable has the same length as the main syllable, i.e. the distances between the individual rhythmic groups, they are also called word groups , are approximate equal.
It is not the absolute pitch that is relevant for the pitch curve, but the relative pitch of the individual syllables to one another. The absolute pitch varies from individual to individual.
A simple English statement consists of a speaking act with a falling tone. It typically looks like this in British RP:
The most important parts of the speaking act are the first stressed syllable ( head ) and the last stressed syllable ( nucleus ), also called the center of gravity of the speaking act. The unstressed syllables preceding the head are the pre-head . The unstressed syllables following the nucleus form the tail . The stressed and unstressed syllables between head and nucleus are called body . It is characteristic of the pitch course of the speaking act that the unstressed syllables of the pre-head begin at the lower vocal limit. They stay there or slowly rise to the head .
The head has the highest pitch and is usually higher than in German. The rhythmic groups of the body slowly rise to the nucleus , i.e. down to the last stressed syllable. The unstressed syllables in the body fall evenly to the next stressed syllable or stay on the pitch of the previous stressed syllable.
The saw blade intonation that often occurs in German, i.e. the up and down of unstressed and stressed syllables, is unknown in English. The focus of the speech act are nucleus and tail , which together form the end of the speech act.
In the nucleus , when the intonation falls in the example shown, the tone slides evenly from a moderate pitch to the lower vocal limit. The unstressed syllables of the tail either move along the lower vocal line as in the example shown or continue the tonal glide of the nucleus evenly. Only if the nucleus contains a short vowel before a fortis, in particular / p, t, k /, can the speaking act be concluded by simply lowering the tone or by jumping from the stressed to the unstressed one.
Germans generally tend to jump down to the lower voice limit, also in cases where English has to slide evenly downwards.
The intonation of the above sentence can also be done in another way. If namely, “Northumberland” is only rejected, then the center of gravity of the speaking act would be on the first syllable of the word easier and the intonation curve would look like this:
Now head , body and nucleus coincide and the even drop in tone up to our vocal limit already begins on the first syllable of easier .
The even gliding of the nucleus occurs in English even with increasing intonation, for example when making a decision. The pitch curve slides down to the lower vocal limit in order to attach the nucleus there and slide upwards. Even in the case of increasing intonation, the German generally tends to raise the tone suddenly and abruptly or simply to raise the nucleus.
The graphical representation of the intonation is complex. That is why most textbooks in the English language contain simpler notations of the tone progression, which, however, require knowledge of the basic form of English intonation shown here.
The International Phonetic Alphabet reads:
- for the stressed syllable the character: .
- for falling intonation the symbol: ↘ .
- for increasing intonation the symbol; ↗ .
- for a falling-rising intonation: ↘↗ .
- for a rising-falling intonation: ↗↘ .
The sentence examples given above can be represented as follows using this simpler notation:
- There must be at easier way of getting to ↘ Northumberland.
- There must be at ↘ easier way of getting to Northumberland.
Intonation pattern
In English there are the following intonation patterns in neutral speech:
The glide-down (falling intonation) is used in the following cases:
- Statements:
- Determination questions:
- Command sets:
- Exclamation sentences:
- What a good ↘ movie!
The glide-up (simple rising intonation)
- Decision questions:
- Referring speech files:
The pronunciation of some vowels and consonants, which differs from English, the rhythm and stress rules that differ from English and ultimately the intonation that diverges from the English language ultimately make up the typically foreign accent.
Individual evidence
- ↑ On the pronunciation of the English language in the age of Shakespeare, see Fausto Cercignani , Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation , Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1981.
- ↑ On the pronunciation of the English language around 1725 see Fausto Cercignani (1975), English Rhymes and Pronunciation in the Mid-Seventeenth Century , in “English Studies”, 56/6, 1975, pp. 513-518.
- ↑ See Cees Hartog: Guitar Crackers. Solos for Classical Guitar. Alsbach, Naarden 1988, p. 6.
- ^ "Better English Pronunciation" by JD O'Connor, Cambridge University Press.
See also
- English language
- British English
- American English
- Australian English
- List of IPA characters
- Ghoti
- The chaos
literature
- Alan Cruttendon: Gimson's Pronunciation of English . 7th, revised edition. Hodder Education, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-340-95877-3 .
- Richard Ogden: An Introduction to English Phonetics . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2009, ISBN 978-0-7486-2541-3 .
- Peter Roach: English Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical Course. 4th edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 2009. ISBN 978-0-521-71740-3 .
- Chris McCully: The Sound Structure of English. An Introduction. Cambridge University Press, New York NY u. a. 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-61549-5 .
