Elision

Elision can be historical and contemporary.

English spelling is full of " silent" letters which bear witness to historical elision, e.g. walk /wo: k/, knee /ni: /, knight /nait/, cas­tle /’ka: sl/, write /rait/, iron /airn/, etc.

The most common cases of contemporary elision are the following: elision of /t, d/ in

: cleft palate /’klef, paэelэt/

waste paper /'weis, реiрэ/

b) /pt, kt, bd, gd, tft, dsd/ sequences;
trapped by /’trэep, bai/

cracked pots /'krэek, pots/

c) /md, rid, gd/ sequences:
hair-brained scheme /’heabrein, ski: m/

In a), b), c) cases elisions most frequently remove the marker of past tense in verbs. The meaning is usually clear from the con­text

BILET 22

Sounds fall into two major classes - vowels and consonants. Consonantal sounds, which can be voiced or voiceless, are made with a narrow or complete closure in the vocal tract. The airflow is either blocked momentarily or restricted so much that noise is produced as airflows past the constriction. Consonants are classified according to the following criteria: use of voice, place of articulation, manner of articulation

USE OF VOICE The air is pushed out by the lungs up through the trachea (windpipe) to the larynx where the vocal cords can vibrate or do not vibrate. Voiced: when the vocal cords vibrate: b, m, w, v, ð, d, z, n, l, r, ʒ, ʤ, j, g, ŋ

Voiceless: the vocal cords do not vibrate: p, f, θ, t, s, ʃ, ʧ, k, h

PLACE OF ARTICULATION After the air has left the larynx, it passes into the vocal tract. Consonants are produced by obstructing the airflow through the vocal tract. There are a number of places where these obstructions can take place. These places are known as the articulators. They are: § the lips § the teeth § the alveolar ridge § the palate § the soft palate § the glottis According to what articulators are used, we find: LABIAL SOUNDS Divided into bilabial and labio-dental: BILABIAL If both of the lips are used to articulate a sound, then it is said to be a bilabial sound. Examples of bilabial sounds include: /p/ potion, /b/ broomstick, /m/ magician and /w/ wizard

LABIODENTAL Two sounds use the lower lip together with the upper teeth and so are called labio-dental consonants. These sounds are: /f/ phantom and /v/ evil. DENTAL Articulated by the tip of the tongue against the upper front teeth. Sounds: /θ / thunder, /ð / that ALVEOLAR An alveolar sound is when the tongue tip, or blade, touches the bony prominence behind the upper teeth. / t / ten / d / doom / s /cemetery / z / zombie / l / lunatic / n / moon POST ALVEOLAR Articulated by the tip of the tongue against the back part of alveolar ridge. The sound / r / rot PALATO ALVEOLAR Four sounds are said to be palato-alveolar. This is partly because the blade of the tongue straddles both the alveolar ridge and the front of the hard palate as air is forced through to make the following sounds: /ʃ / shoe /ʒ /treasure /ʧ / church /ʤ / judge PALATAL Articulated by the front tongue against the hard palatal. /j/ you VELAR The velar sounds are usually made when the back of the tongue is pressed against the soft palate or “velum”.

They include the /k/ in cauldron, the / g/ in ghost and the /ŋ / in uncle. GLOTTAL Glottal sounds are those sounds that are made in the larynx through the closure or narrowing of the glottis. /h/ as in Halloween is an example of a glottal sound. It is physically impossible to feel the process using your tongue. It is as far back as you can get in your mouth. So far, we have concentrated on describing consonants sounds in terms of where they are articulated. We ca, of course, describe the same sounds in terms of how they are articulated. Such a description is necessary if we wish to be able to differentiate between some sounds which, in the preceding discussion, we have placed in the same category. For example, we can say that /t/ and /d/ are voiced alveolar sounds. How do they differ? They differ in manner of articulation, that is, in the way they are pronounced MANNER OF ARTICULATION PLOSIVES Formed by a closing air passage and suddenly removing the obstacle. Then, the air escapes making an explosive sound. / b / / t / / d / / k / / g / /p/ AFFRICATIVE As plosives but with a slower separation of articulator organs. / ʧ / / ʤ / NASAL A nasal consonant is a consonant in which air escapes only through the nose. the soft palate is lowered to allow air to pass it, whilst a closure is made in the oral cavity to stop air escaping through the mouth. There are three nasal sounds in English. The / m / in mat, the / n / in nasal and the / ŋ / in sing.

When an obstacle is placed in the centre of air channel. Then, the air is free to escape at one or both sides. / l / ROLLED A rapid succession of taps of some elastic parts of speech mechanism / r / FRICATIVE A narrowing of air passes at some point to such an extent that the air escaping produces an audible friction. / f / / v / / s / / z / / θ / / ð / / h / If you put your hand in front of the mouth when making these sounds. You should be able to feel the stream of air when being pushed out. SEMIVOWEL Voiced gliding sound in which speech organs start at a or near “close” vowel and immediately move away to another vowel / j / / w /

BILET 23

Vowels are normally made with the air stream that meets no obstruction in the mouth, pharyngeal and nasal cavities. On the articulatory level the description of vowels notes changes: in the stability of articulation, in the tongue position, in the lip position, in their length