Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 Phonetics I – Examination Sample Task: What is the text about? Tell us your opinion Read the text aloud Focus on the words in green How they behave in this specific context? Why? How would they behave in other contexts? Comment on the elements highlighted in red Bear in mind their phonetic context Provide a detailed analysis of the word highlighted in yellow A Police Interview POLICEMAN: Now, Mrs Jonesa, can1 you tellb us what happenedc? MRS JONES: I can’t2 really remember, you knowd Ite was terrible! POLICEMAN: I do3 understand, but you must4 try to rememberf everything Let’s start from the beginning Where were5 you? MRS JONES: Well, I was at the chemist’sg I bought some6 painkillers as I had7 a backache I then saw a grouph of women who8 drovei upj to the bank in a fastk car There were9 three women andl they looked quitem suspicious I had no idean of what they were getting at10! POLICEMAN: What else you remember? MRS JONES: The youngesto woman grabbedp two bags from the back of the car and handed them to11 the12 othersq After that13, they ran into the bankr I think that14 the young woman stayed outside to watch out for the police There were noises and some must have15 beens gunshots, I’m not suret I didn’t know what to do16, so I ducked and hid behind a car I couldn’tu come up with a better idea POLICEMAN: Did youv see them kill Lieutenantw Gordonx? This must be difficult for you16, but we need to know Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 ANALYSIS Discussion of the highlighted word $Umc?!rszmc This is a content word, therefore it is stressed The presence of stress in a syllable protects its vowel: a strong vowel is necessary, since ?+ h and t can never be stressed Now, this word has a primary stress on the third syllable The Teutonic Rule is useful to spot a problem: English does not allow the first two syllables of any word to be unstressed As a result, it is necessary to spot the secondary stress that will protect another syllable from taking a weak vowel The rule of alternation helps us spot the secondary stress: English favours the alternation of stresses, so if the third syllable is stressed, the second syllable is likely to be unstressed while the first syllable is likely to carry a stress To sum up, the stress pattern of this word is ˜ˆ˜ , i.e a stress on the first and third syllables The third syllable, , takes a strong vowel The choice here is z because it behaves like the basic vowel pattern (when a single vowel letter is sandwiched by two or more consonants the vowel sound is short) The spelling corresponds to z here The first syllable is also stressed, so the vowel is U as the spelling is The unstressed syllable takes a weak vowel ? Z$U}mc?!rs=z}9mcfi\ U is a short vowel The lips are neutrally open This is a central vowel, or a somewhat retracted central vowel, so the front of the tongue is raised The height of the tongue is raised above the fully open position Vowels are voiced: the vocal folds are held close together so that the air coming from the lungs makes them vibrate as it passes through the glottis This vowel is nasalized because it is next to a nasal sound .m is a voiced alveolar nasal The tip of the tongue (active articulator) comes in contact with the alveolar ridge (passive articulator) so the oral cavity is blocked at that point The velum is lowered, so the air escapes freely through the nose .c is a voiced alveolar plosive The first step for the production of c consists of the closing stage: the tip of the tongue (active articulator) comes in contact with the alveolar ridge (passive articulator) so the oral cavity is blocked at that point The second step is the hold stage: the air Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 coming from the lungs meets the oral obstruction and cannot escape as, unlike m., the velum is raised so the nasal passage is blocked The third step is the release stage: the organs that were held together for the closure separate abruptly so the air escapes producing plosion .? is a weak vowel This is a central vowel because the front of the tongue is raised between the mid open and the mid close positions .r is a voiceless alveolar fricative The active articulator, the tip and blade of the tongue, move towards the alveolar ridge leaving a narrow grooved gap The air that escapes through this narrow channel produces turbulence in the alveolar region, so this sound is a fricative The vocal folds are wide open, so there is no voicing .s is a voiceless alveolar plosive (See c above) In this case, there is no aspiration because s is preceded by r in the same syllable .z is categorized as a short vowel However, in this context, it is somewhat lengthened because it is followed by a voiced sound The front of the tongue is raised between the mid-open and open positions This vowel is nasalized because it is next to a nasal sound .c is devoiced as it is followed by silence Discussion of weak and strong forms .j?m.or !jzm This is a Yes/No question The operator in this type of sentences can be optionally weak or strong, depending on whether the speaker stresses this word or not E.g.: j?m it !sdk ?r .!jzm it !sdk ?r or .!j@9ms This is a strong form because it is a negative contraction These words are stressed because they contain a negative adverb in them .!ct9 This is an example of an emphatic auxiliary verb, as the operator is not normally present in affirmative sentences It takes a strong form because emphasis is manifested by means of stress Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 .l?rs The modal verb must is used in the weak form here, since it denotes obligation (c.f §15.) .!v29 This is an exceptional strong form The verb to be is always strong in the question pattern [ word + BE + pronoun + ?] because it is the nucleus of the intonation phrase E.g Where was she? !vd? !vPy Rh How are you? !g`T !@9 it .r?l The word some is weak here because it means “an indefinite number of” Some is weak when it pre-modifies plural countable nouns or uncountable nouns .!gzu This is an example of have functioning as a main verb As this is a content word, it takes a stress and takes a strong form (c.f §9.) .gt The word who is a relative pronoun here, so it is a weak form It is strong when it is an interrogative word: they are strong because they stand for the gap of information .C? v? These two grammar words function as a unit that denotes existence and both take a weak form The pronoun there is not a locative word here, so a strong form is normally used The verb to be, unlike or have when they function as a main verb, is normally weak (c.f §7 & 17) It may be stated that the verb to be is almost always weak because it is extremely frequent and predictable 10 .zs The preposition at is used in its strong form because it is stranded In other words, the complement to this preposition has been moved to the front and it has left a syntactic gap (c.f §11.) 11 .s? The preposition to is used in its weak form because there are no reasons why it should be strong (i.e it isn’t prominent as it isn’t cited, emphasized or contrasted There are no positional reasons to use a strong form because it’s neither buttressed nor Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 stranded) Since this preposition is followed by a consonant sound, the weak form takes ? (c.f §10.) 12 .Ch The article the is used in its weak form because there are no reasons why it should be strong (i.e it isn’t prominent as it isn’t cited, emphasized or contrasted) Since this article is followed by a vowel sound, the weak form takes h 13 .'!(Czs The word that is used in its strong form because it is a demonstrative in this context (c.f §14.) 14 .C?s The word that is used in its weak form because it is a conjunction in this context (c.f §13.) 15 .!lUrs ?u These two grammar words function as a unit: this is a perfect modal verb The modal must is used in the strong form because it denotes deduction (c.f §4) The auxiliary verb have is used to indicate that this structure has a past time reference The auxiliary, which in this case always takes a special weak form without g., is not strong because it is not stranded or a short answer E.g.: They can’t have died .CdH !j@9ms ?u !c`Hc You should have gone .it !RTc ?u !fPm They might have stopped .CdH !l`Hs ?u !rsPos It may have sunk .Hs !ldH ?u !rUMj It ought to have happened .Hs !N9s st ?u !gzo?mc He must have left .gh !lUrs ?u !kdes 16 .!ct9 The word is a main verb here, therefore it takes a strong form (c.f §9.) 17 .e? it or $eN9 it Although these two grammar words not form a unit, it is useful to discuss their behaviour in this sort of pattern The pronoun you is weak as it can’t be stressed because it is neither contrastive nor emphatic It is very difficult for Spanish speakers not to stress it, because the tendency in Spanish is to make the last word in a chunk prominent We should avoid making unnecessary contrasts at all costs The word for can be weak, but it can optionally be buttressed (i.e strengthened) Buttressing is an optional process that involves the strengthening of a preposition in when it occurs in the patterns [verb + preposition + pronoun] or [verb + pronoun + preposition + pronoun] Buttressing probably occurs because of rhythmical reasons: Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 English favours the alternation of prominent and non-prominent syllables This process does not create any change in meaning NOTICE: Learners should be careful enough to keep the nucleus of the chunk on the last new content word, which is almost invariably the verb Under no circumstances should they make the preposition the nuclear Discussion of processes, spelling, allophones, etc a .!cY?Tmy The word Jones is an example of how the Silent rule operates In a great number of words, the final silent letter is present to “make the previous vowel say its name” In this case, letter ?T b Z!sgdk\ This is an example of full aspiration The fortis alveolar voiceless plosive s is aspirated because it is initial in a stressed syllable and it is followed by a vowel The aspiration is manifested as a delayed voice onset time of the vowel, i.e a brief period of devoicing of the vowel Z!sgdk\ = Z!sdfidk\ The auditory effect is that of an extra puff of air Alternatively, this consonant may be affricated in modern Standard British English: the friction may be local, in this case a brief and weak alveolar Zr\ in Z!srdk\ c .!gzo?mc The regular past tense suffix is realized in the phonology as voiced c because the final sound in the base form is also voiced d .!m?T This is an example of a silent letter Silent letters belong to the spelling of a word but they are not present in the pronunciation They are obligatory (c.f elision) is silent in the digraph , as in knee, knot, etc e .Hs.= ZH>+ H>s+ Ho+ H>o\ The fortis voiceless alveolar plosive s can be realized phonetically in several ways The most frequent realization in modern Standard British English is glottalling or glottal replacement ZH>\ It is also possible to find glottalization or glottal reinforcement here ZH>s\ The latter can occur when a voiceless o+ j+ sR and especially s are preceded by a vowel or sonorant consonant (i.e nasal or lateral) and followed by any sound but a vowel or g (c.f §J) Alternatively, the alveolar s can be assimilated into a bilabial o under the influence of the following labio-velar v.+ i.e ZHo+ H>o\ (c.f §S) f .qH!ldla?q !duqhSHM This is an example of “linking q.” or “Sandhi q.” (c.f §N) Standard British English is a non-rhotic accent, i.e .q is only pronounced before Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 vowels and never before silence or another consonant The final in a word emerges as a sounded q when the next word begins with a vowel sound This liking q is justified in the spelling g .!jdlHrsr This is an example of the pronunciation of the genitive or possessive case This rule also applies to the suffix or used for plural countable nouns or the verb form corresponding to the third person singular, simple present tense The voiceless r is added to the final sound in the base form, which is also voiceless Additionally, the consonant s can be elided (see §K) h Z!fqt∂o\ This diagraph, is a possible spelling for vowel #9, t9 Diagraphs are sometimes used to indicate that the phonological vowel is long, as this breaks the Basic Vowel Pattern (c.f §R) Phonetically, however, this vowel shortened due to a process called pre-fortis clipping: the fortis voiceless consonant o noticeably halves the length of the previous vowel Syllable-final voiceless sounds reduce the length of preceding vowels and sonorant sounds: this is most clearly observed in the reduction of long vowels and diphthongs to half their length (except for @9 and 29 that are slightly shortened so that there remains a contrast with U and ? respectively) (c.f §R) i Z!c¢“?Tu\ The cluster cq is considered to be a phonetic affricate, since the voiced approximant q is realized as a voiced fricative Z¢“\ j Z!Uo´ s?\ or Z!U>˛o´ s?\ To begin with, this is a stop cluster (i.e a group of plosives, in this case) Learners should try to avoid exploding the first plosive (Z!Uog s?\) because native speakers not release the first plosive in an audible way (no-audible release – c.f §P) The first plosive, o., has (1) a closing stage (the lips come together because this is a bilabial sound), (2) a hold stage (the organs of speech are held firmly together so that no air escapes through the mouth or nose; the air that comes from the lungs is pent up behind this closure) but (3) the release stage (i.e the separation of the lips) is not heard because the next plosive sound, s., has already started to be produced inside the mouth In other words, the release of o is not heard because the closing stage of s has already started (i.e the tip of the tongue makes firm contact against the alveolar ridge so the airstream is blocked at that point) and the hold stage of s is produced when the bilabial closure of o is released Secondly, there’s another possibility All voiceless plosives in syllable-final position can be subjected to glottal reinforcement when they are Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 preceded by a vowel or sonorant consonant (i.e a nasal or a lateral in this case) and followed by silence or a consonant other than g (c.f §E) k .!e@9rs !j@9 This is a possible case of elision (c.f § G, L & U) Elision is an optional contextual process by which one phoneme is suppressed to make articulation easier The alveolar plosives s and c are readily elided because they are extremely frequent sounds and they are highly predictable Syllable-final s and c can be elided when they are sandwiched by two other consonants, provided there is voice agreement between each of them and the preceding consonant and as long as the next sound is not g (TIP: As c is never preceded by a voiceless consonant, you need not worry about this You have to make sure that s is not preceded by m or s as in sent them !rdms Cl., built them !aHks Cl.) l Z?mŒc Œ CdH\ To begin with , the word can always elide the final c sound regardless of the following sound (c.f §G, K & U) Second, this word is an example of dentalization, a type of contextual change that involves the likening of two sounds (see assimilation and similitude, §S): the final alveolar cluster mc changes its place of articulation to resemble the following dental C sound In other words, the dental fricative C affects the previous alveolar consonants, since alveolar sounds are the most unstable in English m Z!jvfi`Hs\ or Z!jV`Hs\ This is an instance of devoicing of an approximant When the voiceless plosives o+ s+ j are initial in a stressed syllable, they affect a following approximant k+ q+ v+ i The approximants (which are characteristically voiced and frictionless sounds because the degree or approximation of the articulators is too wide to produce turbulence) become devoiced and fricative The aspiration of the plosive fuses with the approximant sound (c.f §B) n .`H!cH?q ?u This phrase is a typical example of “intrusive q.” (c.f §F) Speakers use a linking q when a word that ends in letter is followed by a vowel: this is justified by the spelling However, speakers are not conscious of the spelling system all the time, so they overgeneralize the rule and use an intrusive q (i.e a q sound that is not justified by the spelling) when the phonetic context is similar to that of a linking q E.g (Linking) Here I am !gH?q `H !zl C.f (Intrusive) The idea of it Ch `H!cH?q ?u Hs (Linking) More ice !lN9q !`Hr C.f (Intrusive) Saw ice .!rN9q !`Hr Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 o .!iUMf?rs The diagraph is pronounced differently according to the context (1) When this group of consonants occur in final position of a word, they fuse and the sound is M.; if a suffix is added, the f is not present either (e.g sing !rHM singer !rHM? singing !rHMHM.) However, the exceptions to this rule are the comparatives and superlatives of young, strong and long, where f is needed: young !iUM.+ younger !iUMf?.+ youngest !iUMf?rs.; long !kPM.+ longer !kPMf?.+ longest !kPMf?rs.; strong !rsqPM.+ stronger !rsqPMf?.+ strongest !rsqPMf?rs (2) Finally, when the sequence is internal in a word, the f is present, as in language !kzMfvHcY., finger !eHMf?.+ English !HMfkHR p Z!fqza´c\ or Z!fqza˛c\ Double consonant letters are not pronounced as double consonant sounds They stand for only one a phoneme However, they normally affect the pronunciation of a previous vowel: double consonants block the formation of a diphthong and favour the use of short vowels (compare late !kdHs and latter !kzs?.- c.f §a), so the vowel in this word is short As regards the realization of a., this is an example of no-audible release (c.f §J) The first plosive, a., has (1) a closing stage (the lips come together because this is a bilabial sound), (2) a hold stage (the organs of speech are held firmly together so that no air escapes through the mouth or nose; the air that comes from the lungs is pent up behind this closure) but (3) the release stage (i.e the separation of the lips) is not heard because the next plosive sound, c., has already started to be produced inside the mouth In other words, the release of a is not heard because the closing stage of c has already started (i.e the tip of the tongue makes firm contact against the alveolar ridge so the airstream is blocked at that point) and the hold stage of s is produced when the bilabial closure of a is released q Z!UC?yfi {{\ This is an example of the devocing of obstruents Voiced obstruent consonants (i.e consonants for the production of which there is a noise component due to the friction or plosion they require – these consonants comprise the families of plosives, fricatives and affricates) are devoiced when they are in contact with silence or a voiceless consonant; this is most noticeable when they are followed by these sounds These lenis sounds lose a considerable amount of voice, so they become auditorily similar to their voiceless counterparts However, although they may lose some or all their voice, they never become fortis sounds (i.e they don’t require as much muscular effort) r Z!az·Mj\ To start with, this word is an example of the Basic Vowel Pattern [(CC)V(CC)] Monosyllabic words tend to take a short vowel sound when there is only Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 one vowel letter in the spelling sandwiched by one or more consonants (c.f §I) To the Spanish ear, four English sounds can be mapped onto the Spanish `.: @9+ z+ U and ? Since this word is stressed because this is a content word, schwa is impossible Second, as stated before, the long vowel @9 is ruled out because this example illustrates the Basic Vowel Pattern; also, only short vowels can precede the velar nasal M There remain two possible candidates: the short vowels z and U The spelling rules out U., since this sound can’t be represented by letter , U normally takes or a combination of these (.z., in turn, can’t be represented by ) The syllable-final voiceless plosive j affects the length of the sequence zM due to pre-fortis clipping (c.f §R) s .ah9M !fUmRPsr , aHM !fUmRPsr This is an example of regressive or anticipatory assimilation of place The English alveolar consonants are the most unstable, especially s and c These sounds have a high occurrence in word and syllable final position and, if altered, the identity of the word is recoverable Assimilation is an optional process that consists of one or more sounds adopting a feature of a neighbouring sound In English, de-alveolar assimilation is the most common by far: the alveolar s+ c+ m+ r+ y may keep their voicing and manner of articulation but readily adopt the place of articulation of a following consonant (i.e .s+ c+ m can become bilabial when followed by a bilabial sound; similarly, they can become velar when followed by a velar sound; r+ y can become palato-alveolar before a palato-alveolar or palatal sound) In this example, the voiced alveolar nasal m keeps its voicing and manner of articulation but changes its place of articulation by adopting that of the following f.- In other words, it becomes a voiced velar nasal M.- A final word: although in modern works the term assimilation is used as an umbrella term for all contextual changes that involve the likening of two sounds, in traditional terms, assimilation requires a change of phonemes while similitude requires a change of allophones (c.f §E & L) t .!RT? , !RN9 This word illustrates the effect of radical in the endings Radical changes the quality of a previous vowel (compare cat !jzs and cart !j@9s.) Now, the ending tends to make the previous vowel diphthongal d?+ H? or T? (compare cat !jzs and care !jd?., here1 !g29 and here !gH?.) As for T?., there tends to be a It is relevant to bear in mind that the grammar word her is normally used as a weak form g? However, the strong form !g29 is also possible in some cases, such as contrastive uses of the pronoun, citation or emphasis 10 Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 monophthongal option N9 The word sure is a great example, because the ending here allows the traditional !RT? pronunciation or the more modern !RN9 variant u .!jTcms !jUl.+ Z!jTcm> !jUl\+ Z!jTfMj !jUl\ or Z!jTfM> !jUl\ Negative contractions can display great number of features First, this can be an example of elision (c.f §G, K & L) Although the voiceless alveolar plosive normally needs to be preceded by a consonant that agrees in voice with it, this rule is overridden when the word at stake is a negative contraction, especially a polysyllabic one Second, s can be subjected to glottal reinforcement or replacement in this word, since it is preceded by a sonorant consonant and is followed by a consonant other than g (c.f §E, J & R) Third, this may trigger a chain assimilation of place: the word initial velar consonant may affect the whole cluster of alveolar sounds, which may become velar The voiceless alveolar plosive s may become a voiceless velar plosive j under the influence of a following j Consequently, this resulting j can affect the previous voiced alveolar nasal and turn it into a voiced velar nasal M Finally, the resulting velar nasal M may turn the previous voiced alveolar plosive into a voiced velar plosive f It is relevant to note that elision is preferred over the use of a glottal stop or assimilation because it seems to be more frequent and it involves less articulatory effort The use of a glottal stop seems to be preferred over the use of assimilation for the same reasons v .'!(cHcYt This is an example of coalescence, a type of optional assimilation whereby two sounds get in contact and the result is a third sound In this case, the word-final voiced alveolar c meets the voiced palatal semivowel i and they coalesce (fuse); the result is a voiced palato-alveolar affricate cY w Z!jH4 kde!sdm?ms\+ Z!jHT] kde!sdm?ms\ or Z!jHn] kde!sdm?ms\ The two k phonemes in this cluster behave in a different way The second k precedes a vowel, therefore it is clear Clear k has the resonance of an [e] vowel: the tip of the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge and the back of the tongue is as low as it is for the production of Zd\ Clear k occurs before vowels and the semivowel i In contrast, the first k in this example is dark or velarized k This type of lateral has the resonance of an Zn\ or ZT\ vowel: the tip of the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge and the back of the tongue is raised as high as it should be for the production of Zn\ or ZT\ This approximation of the back of the tongue towards the velum makes this sound velarized and dark Dark k is used before silence, the semivowel v and consonants (even another k.) Alternatively, 11 Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 dark k can be vocalized in very modern Standard British English: speakers remove the tongue-tip contact with the alveolar ridge while keeping the back of the tongue raised As a result, this k is articulated like as a non-syllabic vowel, either Zn]\ or ZT]\ x Z!fN9c?m\+ Z!fN9c˛mÿ\ or Z!fN9cmmÿ\ There are several possibilities for the realization of this ending Young speakers of Standard British English favour the use of schwa in this cluster However, speakers that are more traditional apply syllabic consonant formation: if schwa is preceded by a consonant and followed by a sonorant m+ k or l., this vowel can be absorbed by the sonorant Therefore, l+ m+ k become syllabic Zlÿ+ mÿ+ kÿ\ since they stand as the centre of the syllable In this example, the syllabic consonant Zmÿ\ is preceded by the voiced alveolar plosive c This plosive will not be exploded; what is more, it will present true nasal release: first, the tip of the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge for the production of the closing stage of the plosive; second, the closure is kept so that the air coming from the lungs is accumulated behind this closure; third, the velum is lowered so that the air can escape through the nose without separating the tip of the tongue from the alveolar ridge In other words: c and m are homorganic consonants (i.e they share the place of articulation), so the alveolar contact is never removed However, the nasal quality of m is manifested by letting the air escape through the nasal cavity 12 [...]... that agrees in voice with it, this rule is overridden when the word at stake is a negative contraction, especially a polysyllabic one Second, s can be subjected to glottal reinforcement or replacement in this word, since it is preceded by a sonorant consonant and is followed by a consonant other than g (c.f §E, J & R) Third, this may trigger a chain assimilation of place: the word initial velar consonant... which may become velar The voiceless alveolar plosive s may become a voiceless velar plosive j under the influence of a following j Consequently, this resulting j can affect the previous voiced alveolar nasal and turn it into a voiced velar nasal M Finally, the resulting velar nasal M may turn the previous voiced alveolar plosive into a voiced velar plosive f It is relevant to note that elision is... syllable In this example, the syllabic consonant Zmÿ\ is preceded by the voiced alveolar plosive c This plosive will not be exploded; what is more, it will present true nasal release: first, the tip of the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge for the production of the closing stage of the plosive; second, the closure is kept so that the air coming from the lungs is accumulated behind this closure;... makes this sound velarized and dark Dark k is used before silence, the semivowel v and consonants (even another k.) Alternatively, 11 Prof Francisco Zabala – 2012 dark k can be vocalized in very modern Standard British English: speakers remove the tongue-tip contact with the alveolar ridge while keeping the back of the tongue raised As a result, this k is articulated like as a non-syllabic vowel, either... or assimilation because it seems to be more frequent and it involves less articulatory effort The use of a glottal stop seems to be preferred over the use of assimilation for the same reasons v .'!(cHcYt This is an example of coalescence, a type of optional assimilation whereby two sounds get in contact and the result is a third sound In this case, the word-final voiced alveolar c meets the voiced palatal... is as low as it is for the production of Zd\ Clear k occurs before vowels and the semivowel i In contrast, the first k in this example is dark or velarized k This type of lateral has the resonance of an Zn\ or ZT\ vowel: the tip of the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge and the back of the tongue is raised as high as it should be for the production of Zn\ or ZT\ This approximation of the back... are several possibilities for the realization of this ending Young speakers of Standard British English favour the use of schwa in this cluster However, speakers that are more traditional apply syllabic consonant formation: if schwa is preceded by a consonant and followed by a sonorant m+ k or l., this vowel can be absorbed by the sonorant Therefore, l+ m+ k become syllabic Zlÿ+ mÿ+ kÿ\ since they stand... behind this closure; third, the velum is lowered so that the air can escape through the nose without separating the tip of the tongue from the alveolar ridge In other words: c and m are homorganic consonants (i. e they share the place of articulation), so the alveolar contact is never removed However, the nasal quality of m is manifested by letting the air escape through the nasal cavity 12 ... Francisco Zabala – 2012 monophthongal option N9 The word sure is a great example, because the ending here allows the traditional !RT? pronunciation or the more modern !RN9 variant u .!jTcms !jUl.+ Z!jTcm> !jUl\+ Z!jTfMj !jUl\ or Z!jTfM> !jUl\ Negative contractions can display great number of features First, this can be an example of elision (c.f §G, K & L) Although the voiceless alveolar plosive... palatal semivowel i and they coalesce (fuse); the result is a voiced palato-alveolar affricate cY w Z!jH4 kde!sdm?ms\+ Z!jHT] kde!sdm?ms\ or Z!jHn] kde!sdm?ms\ The two k phonemes in this cluster behave in a different way The second k precedes a vowel, therefore it is clear Clear k has the resonance of an [e] vowel: the tip of the tongue makes contact with the alveolar ridge and the back of the tongue is as