Fonologia inglese

PHONETIC ALPHABET

Towards the end of the 19th century scholars felt the need for some kind of system in which symbol equalled one sound.

1886 → International Phonetic Association (as Dhi Fonètik Ticerz’ Asòciécon) founded by a group of European phoneticians in France.

1888 → the International Phonetic Association (standard transcription of language) was published.

The basic principle was to have a different symbol for every distinguishable sound.

The alphabet was created because the Roman alphabet with 5 vowels does not adequately represent all the vocal sounds in English. Furthermore the English spelling system does not correspond to the sounds of the English language → in fact the same combination of letters has many different pronunciations.

1889 → Association Phonètique des Professeurs de Langues Vivantes

1897 → International Phonetique Association

1886 → Dhi Fonètik Ticer

The first journal of the association was published. The journal was published as far as possible in phonetic script.

1971 → Phonetic script gave way to traditional orthography

The most famous supplement is Principles of the International Phonetics Association which included the famous transcription of The North Wind and the Sun in about 50 languages around the world.

The first alphabet which was used was a modification of the 1847 alphabet by Isaac Pitman and Alexander J. Ellis. Since its first publication the International Phonetic Alphabet has always been subject to critical review and changes.

The idea behind this alphabet is that each distinguishable sound present in a language is given its own symbol and that the whole range of available phonetic symbols constitutes the phonetic alphabet of that language.

Some symbols are the same as the letters of the alphabet, but others had to be invented to cope with the range of sounds present in the language. Vowel sounds, especially,

had to be new symbols → the five traditional vowel letters of the alphabet would not suffice to cover the worldwide vowel sounds system. In terms of transcription, there are variants which are usually based on the transcriber's needs, aims and competence:

• Narrow transcription: captures as many aspects of a specific pronunciation as possible and ignores as few details as possible. It takes into account as many phonetic details as possible → it describes sounds on the basis of their articulatory/auditory identity (regardless of their function in a language).
• Encodes more information about the phonetic variations of the specific allophones → a variation of the same phoneme → It doesn't change the meaning of a word, but it may make it sound intelligible. It's rarely representative of all speakers of a language and it involves a larger number of symbols which may be unfamiliar to non-specialists → It allows linguists to make

detailed analyses of language variation.

Broad transcription: ignores as many details as possible, capturing only enough aspects of a pronunciation to show how that word differs from one language to another. It gives as few details as possible → it describes only those sounds which have a linguistic function (the more noticeable phonetic feature).

The IPA system for transcribing the sounds of a language is also effective when describing and/or learning the varieties of a language. Varieties can be classified according to the following parameters:

1. Phonetic realization: the pronunciation of a sound which may or may not appear in the same lexical set in different varieties. Examples: Hit, Fish, Kiss → these words are a good way to distinguish Australian and New Zealander → AUS: feesh NZ: fush.
2. Lexical distribution: the same individual words belong to different lexical sets in different varieties. Example: TOMATO → /tomAto/ (BrE) → /tomEto/ (AmE)

Phonotactic distribution → the way phonemes can co-occur in words
Mary, merry, marry → are homophonous in some AmE dialects but are clearly distinct in BrE
Phonemic systems → the minimum number of symbols needed to transcribe that variety
The most important point to remember is the rather obvious-seeming fact that the number of phonemic symbols must be exactly the same as the number of phonemes we decide exists in the language → There is a fixed number of “keys” you can press and nothing else (Roach)
2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AMERICAN ENGLISH
American English is a Germanic language which belongs to the Indo-European language family. More specifically it’s a West Germanic language which derives from the Germanic dialects brought to Britain by the Jutes, the Angles, the Saxons and the Frisian during the 5th and 6th centuries.
Although by mediaeval times an early form of English had replaced the original celtic language of Britain.

At the time of Elizabeth I, there were no more than seven million native speakers. Only by the opening of the 19th century did the number of native speakers of English increase exponentially to about 350 million.

The first permanent English speakers who arrived in the USA reached Jamestown in 1607, establishing the first successful English colony near Chesapeake Bay. The settlers, who were mainly from the London area, kept strong ties with their origins and spoke varieties of English which were close to the emerging London standard. This explains, for example, the loss of "r" after vowels and before consonants in words such as "card" and "word".

The second wave of English speakers were also characterized by a non-rhotic accent and came from East Anglia, reaching Massachusetts Bay. The non-rhotic accent is still a feature of the speech of the people from that area.

The third wave arrived in Delaware.

Philadelphia, New York e New England da Ulster nel 1724 → erano discendenti degli scozzesi che in precedenza si erano trasferiti nell'Irlanda del Nord e parlavano una forma arcaica di inglese scozzese. Questo accento era rhotic e ha avuto un impatto estremamente importante nello sviluppo dell'AmE → gli scozzesi-irlandesi si diffusero presto in tutto il Medio Atlantico, il Sud, il Nord e l'Ovest degli Stati Uniti, dove la pronuncia della "r" è ancora presente. L'AmE è stato profondamente influenzato dai confini dialettali iniziali e sebbene molti confini originali si siano abbattuti, ne sono sorti di nuovi e si è intensificato il mescolamento dei dialetti. Di solito nella letteratura vengono identificati quattro dialetti principali dell'AmE: ● Meridionale ● Settentrionale ● Medio ● Occidentale I primi tre sono stati largamente influenzati dalle principali ondate di parlanti inglesi provenienti dal sud-est dell'Inghilterra e dall'East Anglia nel XVII secolo e dalla Scozia, dall'Irlanda e dal nord dell'Inghilterra nel XVIII secolo. Il quarto dialetto è stato creato dalla fusione degli altri tre, che tendevano a spostarsi verso ovest man mano che l'America si espandeva verso

The Pacific Coast. Clear cut boundaries do not exist in real life though → during the 20th century people from the Midlands and the northern areas migrated to the south, influencing the language spoken there.

It must be highlighted that it was not only England which influenced the directions of English in the USA:

• The Spanish had occupied large parts of the west and south-west.
• The French were present in the northern territories and throughout the middle regions (Louisiana).
• The Dutch were in New York and the surrounding area.
• Large numbers of Germans began to arrive at the end of the 17th century, settling mainly in Pennsylvania.
• There were numbers of Africans entering the south as a result of slave trade.
• In the 19th century a massive number of people migrated to America in order to escape revolution, famine and poverty in Europe, mainly Irish, Italians, Germans and Central Europe Jews.

Within one or two generations of arrival, most of these immigrant families had come to speak English through a

natural process of assimilation → massive growth in mother-tongue use of English. Nowadays English has become the language of the world considering that: ​● First language: USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa ​● Official language of over 70 countries (Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore, etc.) ​● Special role in teaching in over 100 countries even if it doesn't have official status. This level of reach can be attributed to two main driving forces: Great Britain and USA. First, it was thanks to Britain's exploration policy based on sending explorers that spread English around the world. Second, it's thanks to America's industrial, economic, and military power that this spreading still continues. British English (BrE) has traditionally enjoyed more prestige than American English (AmE) for two reasons: 1. The imperialism of Great Britain 2. The long tradition of publishing textbooks and dictionaries and marketing them all over the world. Received pronunciation (RP) is the

The Received Pronunciation (RP) is a model of pronunciation of BrE and it has its origin in the South East of England. It's restrictive, being used only by the 3-5% of the population of England.

Although RP is widely understood it is not widely produced → most people talk a variety of regional English or a mixture of standard and regional English. Mostly SE (standard English = RP) is found in print. On this basis we may define SE of an English speaking country as a minority variety.

Actually, in the 19th century the USA overtook GB thanks to their growing economic power and the majority of the world's 240 million English speakers are American who speak English with American pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Furthermore, American influence is manifested in virtually every walk of life.

There is a list of domains within which English has become the leading language:

• Politics: thanks to the legacy of the British Empire and the League of Nations → English still plays an official role in the proceeding of

ising:​ English is the dominant language in the global advertising industry. Manyinternational brands use English in their advertisements to reach a wider audience.● Internet:​ English is the most widely used language on the internet. The majority ofwebsites and online content are in English, making it essential for internet users to havea basic understanding of the language.● Education:​ English is often taught as a second language in many countries around theworld. It is considered a valuable skill for individuals seeking higher education andemployment opportunities.● Entertainment:​ English is the language of the global entertainment industry. Mostmovies, TV shows, and music are produced in English and then translated or dubbedinto other languages.