Page 230 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes 2. It often happens in rapid English speech that a nasal consonant disappears when it comes between
a vowel and another consonant. For example, this may happen to the n in ‘front’: when this
happens the preceding vowel becomes nasalised - some of the air escapes through the nose. We
symbolise a nasalised vowel in phonetic transcription by putting the ~ diacritic above it; for
example, the word ‘front’ may be pronounced [fr ∧ % ] t . Nasalised vowels are found in the words
given in phonetic transcription below. Transcribe them phonemically.
(i) ‘sound’ [s d]

(ii) ‘anger’ [ % ægc ]

k
(iii) ‘can’t’ [ % tY+ ]
kæpc
(iv) ‘camper’ [ % ]
(v) ‘bond’ [ % Z ]
bd
Answers: Self-Assessment

1. (a) Soft palate or velum
(b) Alveolar ridge
(c) Front of tongue
(d) Hard palate
(e) Lower lip
2. (a) Close back rounded
(b) Close-mid front unrounded
(c) Open front unrounded
(d) Close front unrounded
(e) Close-mid back rounded
3.
(c)

(d)
(b)
(a)

4. (a) e (e) •
(b) Λ (f) Z
(c) • (g) æ
(d) I (h) e

16.12 Further Readings

1. Verma, S.K., V.N. Krishnaswamy. Modern Linguistics: An Introduction.
2. An Introduction to Linguistics, John Lyon.
3. Peter Roach: English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge University Press.
4. Encyclopedia of Linguistic Science Edited By V. Prakasam, Allied Pub.,
New Delhi.

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