stories in German

credit: buelahman.wordpress.com

"Erzähl mir keine Stories!" in the sense of 'don't tell me any lies' is a frequently heard saying in German. The usual pronunciation would be something like /ɛɐtsɛːl miːɐ kainə ʃtɔris/. So far so German. But – at least 70 per cent of my German students read the English sentence “his stories usually have a happy ending” in last week’s phonetics course by saying /stɔris/. 
They all laughed, of course, when I reminded them of the German saying, and they laughed again when I tried to say the German sentence with an English accent: [ɛətsɛ^ɪɫ mɪə khaɪnə stɔːriz]. I guess the memory trace of this little /ʃtɔri/ won’t last long in their minds, so I will have to refresh it and tell them another /stɔːri/.

The Two Ronnies - four candles (6)

C: Yes, next?
B: [ˌɡɒniˈphɪiz] {= got any peas}?
C: For Gawd' sake, why didn' you bleedin' tell me that while I’m up there then? Rants about B. I've got all this shop, but ain't got any help. Continues ranting. How many d'you want?
B: No! Tins of [phe̝iz] {= peas}. Three tins of peas!
C: [juːrævɪnmiɒn] {= you're havinɡ me on}, aren’t you, you’re 'avin' me on?
B: I'm not!
C: gets three tins of peas. Here we are. Right.
The only new feature worth mentioning here is the replacement of /ŋ/ by /n/ as in bleedin’ or havin’. The audience laughs very loudly at times and Ronnie C walks away from the mike, which makes some of his precious words impossible to understand.

/deɪvɪd ætn̩brə/

credit: National Portrait Gallery, London

Inspired by the two blogs I mentioned in my blog entry of the 9th of November  I fetched the CDs of David Attenborough's Planet Earth from my cabinet yesterday and continued extracting the sound track and transcribing the text of the first three series for later analysis, something I had started in January this year. Extracting the sound track is a bit time-consuming; one can download the subtitles from the Internet, but the ones I found are not a hundred per cent precise.
I can thoroughly recommend (without getting any royalties from BBC) this set of DVDs to anyone who's interested in nature and in Sir David's voice. The photograph of Sir David was presumably taken in 1969. The DVD box came out in 2006.

At The Burh

Two blogs (one run by John C Wells, the other one by Jack Windsor Lewis) yesterday (the 8th of November) discussed the pronunciation style of Sir David Attenborough, Britain's best-known natural history film-maker. Sir David has a very clear diction, and his pronunciation undoubtedly represents the General British (= GB) type. Born in 1926 (and still going strong) he must have experienced (and probably been influenced by) quite a few changes of GB pronunciation from his youth to now.

credit: telegraph.co.uk

What I want to take a look at is the meaning of his surname 'Attenborough". It actually consists of three separate words: at - ten - borough. Atten is Middle English for 'at the' and the Old English word for borough was burȝ (with various spellings: burg, burh, ...). A burȝ was a fort or a fortified mansion, so 'atten burȝ' denotes someone who lives at the / near the fortified mansion.

His pronunciation style displays interesting features which I will dwell upon in a future blog.

an elevator controlled by Scottish English (2)

On the 22nd of October I drew your attention to a video clip illustrating not only the advantages of modern technology but also Scottish English. Here's a transcript of this dialogue in the elevator (thanks to my informant on Scottish English who enlightened me on some peculiarities of Scottish English which my ears weren't able to disentangle).

Iain Connell:     Where's the buttons?
Robert Florence:    No, no they've installed voice recognition technology in this lift. I heard about ‘t.

Iain Connell:     Voice recognition technology? In a lift? In Scotland? Ever tried voice recognition technology?
Robert Florence:     Naw
Iain Connell:     They don't do - Sco'ish accents
Robert Florence:     Eleven
Elevator:     Could you please repeat that?
Iain Connell:     Eleven
Robert Florence:     Eleven...Eleven
Iain Connell:     Eleven
Elevator:     Could you please repeat that?
Robert Florence:     E-le-ven
Iain Connell:     Whose idea was this? You need to try an American accent. Eleven…Eleven.
Robert Florence:     That sounds Irish, no’ American
Iain Connell:     No, doesnae. Eleven.
Robert Florence:     Where in America's tha', Dublin?
Elevator:     I'm sorry. Could you please repeat that?
Robert Florence:     Try an English accent, right…Eleven…Eleven
Iain Connell:     You fae the same part o' England as Dick Van Dyke!
Robert Florence:     Let's hear yours then, smar’ arse.
Elevator:     Please speak slowly and clearly
Robert Florence:     Smart arse
Iain Connell:     E-le-ven.
Elevator:     I'm sorry. Could you please repeat that?
Iain Connell:     Eleven. If you don't underston the lingo, away back hame yer ain country.
Robert Florence:     Oh, s'tha talk nae is it? "Away back tae yer ain country"?
Iain Connell:     Oh, don't start Mr Bleeding Heart – how can ye be racist tae a lift?
Elevator:     Please speak slowly and clearly.
Robert Florence:     Eleven…Eleven…Eleven…Eleven
Iain Connell:     Ye'r jus' sayin' it the same way
Robert Florence:     I'm gonnae keep sayin' it until it understons Sco'ish, a' right?
Robert Florence:     Eleven…Eleven…Eleven…Eleven
Iain Connell:     Oh, just take us anywhere, ye cow. Just open the doors.
Elevator:     This is a voice-activated elevator. Please state which floor you would like to go to in a clear and calm manner.
Iain Connell:     Calm? Calm? Where's tha’ comin' fae? Why's it tellin' people ‘e be calm?
Robert Florence:     Because they knew they'd be sellin' this tae Sco'ish people who'd be goin' aff their nuts at it.
Elevator:     You have not selected a floor.
Robert Florence:     Aye, we hav -  ELEVEN!
Elevator:     If you would like to get out of the elevator without selecting a floor, simply say "Open the doors please"
Iain Connell:     Please? Please? Suck ma wullie.
Robert Florence:     Maybe we should have said please.
Iain Connell:     I'm no begging that fer nothin'.
Robert Florence:     Open the doors please.
Iain Connell:     Please..pathetic.
Elevator:     Please remain calm.
Robert Florence:     Oh fu……wud ye let me up tae that… get me up there…right, jus wait fer it tae speak…
Elevator:     You have not selected a floor.

Robert Florence:     Up yours, ye cow! You don't let us out these doors, I'm gonnae come tae America, I'm gonnae find whatever desperate actress gave yer voice, and I'm gonnae go tae the electric chair fer ye.
Iain Connell:     Scotland, ye bastards.
Robert Florence:     SCOTLAND!
Iain Connell:    SCOTLAND!
Robert Florence:     SCOOOOTLAND!
Iain Connell:     FREEDOM!
Robert Florence:     FREEDOM!
Iain Connell:    FREEDOM!
Doors open. People standing outside waiting.
Iain Connell:     Goin' up?

The Two Ronnies - four candles (5)

credit: amigos.org.uk

B: [ˌɡɒniˈɛʊz̥] {= got any O’s}?
C: [ɛʊz̥] {= hoes}?
B: [ɛʊz̥].
C: brings a hoe.
B: No, [ɛʊz̥].
C: [ɛʊz̥]! {= hose}. I thought you meant [ɛʊz̥] {= hoes}.
B: [ɛʊz̥].
C: [ɛʊz̥].
B: mumbling something while he goes to fetch a hose. [ə ʔɛʊz] [ɪts ən ʔɛʊz ju ment ən ʔɛʊz]. Puts it on the counter. There.
C: No, [ɛʊz̥].
B: ˋ ˊ [ɛʊz̥]? What a … Oh, you mean pantyhose! Pantyhose.
C: No, no, [ɛʊz̥] [ɛʊz̥]. [ɛʊz̥] for a gate. Mon repose. O’s. [ˈleʔər ɛʊz̥]  {= letter O's}.
B: Letter O’s. [menidjuwɒn] {= how many do you want}?
C: [tɘʉ] {= two}.
B: [tɘʉ]. [rɔɪ] {= right}?

The diphthong [ɛ̞ʊ] is interesting here.  The onset (i.e. the start of the diphthong) is much further forward than in General British. It starts at a fairly fronted and lowered [ɛ]. The diphthong in two starts in a very high, central position. Listen also to the fall-rise on ˋ ˊ [ɛʊz̥] signalling Ronnie C.'s extreme puzzlement shortly before he offers his customer a pantyhose.


BTW: In my first blog entry (24th of Oct.) concerning this sketch I wrote: "The original title was Annie Finkhouse." Do you catch the pun? If not, I will give you a hint.

her Marcia

credit: http://etc.usf.edu/

It’s one of my duties to take the minutes during oral exams, which  students have to sit who want to get a master's degree in either British or American Studies. In one of those exams the professor asked his candidate: “What is the /həˈmɑːʃə/ in Shakespeare’s Othello?” I must admit that I couldn’t recall all the dramatis personae of this Shakespearean drama at that moment and so was at a loss what to write down: “her Marcia”? Highly improbable because it wouldn't fit into the sentence structure of that question apart from the fact that it didn't make any sense. To my surprise the candidate gave the correct answer, and now I suddenly realised they were taking about the concept of hamartia.

/hɑːmɑːˈtiːə/ is how I would have pronounced it, but I wanted to make sure if  /həˈmɑːʃə/ existed as an alternative. LPD3 keeps schtum; ODP proposes /həˈmɑːtɪə/; EPD lists /ˌhɑːmɑːˈtiːə/; Merriam-Webster Online has /ˌhä-ˌmär-ˈtē-ə/ (which is the MW way of transcribing /ˌhɑːˌmɑːrˈtiːə/.

Hamartia or tragic flaw is not a concept that you discuss with your Significant Other every other day. In literary studies, however, it does pop up every now and again. I think I ought to take the professor aside and tell him how to pronounce the word.

The Two Ronnies - four candles (4)

B: [ˌsɔː ˈtɪps] {= saw tips}.
C: [ˌsɔː ˈtɪps] {= sore tips}. What d’you want? [ɔɪ̃ʔmərəsʌmɪŋlaɪʔðæʔ] {= Ointment or something like that}?
B: No, saw tips [fər] {= for} [kʌvərn] {= covering} the [sɔːs] {= saws}. Tips.
C: No, we haven’t got any. Coming …
B. Oh!
C: Coming in, but we haven’t got any.



In this section we hear some r-sounds which may make you think it's a highly rhotic accent the two actors are speaking in. The only unambiguous case, it seems to me, is the r-sound in for in the phrase saw tips for covering the saws. The [r] in covering is in pre-consonantal position due to schwa deletion. In the phrase ointnent or something like that a schwa is inserted (at least I think I hear one after the [r]), so we get r-linking. If the accent was highly rhotic Ronnie Corbett would pronounce an r-sound in sore tips.

to /z/ or not to /z/

credit: www.toonpool.com

This blog entry is partially off-topic.
A reader of my blog asked if the plural form of 'candles/handles' in the sketch by the Two Ronnies is really unvoiced, why it is and if it is a feature of "popular speech". John Maidment in his blog of the 30th of October also dealt with these plural forms used by the two characters in the sketch. Allow me to make some general remarks on English plural formation.

Plural formation is done in English in various ways. Probably the most frequent type is the one which adds /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/ to the base word. The selection of the appropriate allomorph is phonologically conditioned, which means that the final phoneme of the base decides upon the selection of the plural allomorph. The word cat ends in a voiceless non-sibilant and hence takes /s/; the word dog ends in a voiced non-sibilant and so takes /z/; the word bus ends in a sibilant and becomes /bʌsɪz/. Sibilants are /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ/. The late Peter Ladefoged in his A Course in Phonetics characterises sibilants thus: 

They have more acoustic energy—that is, greater loudness—at a higher pitch than the other fricatives. (2001⁴:150)

When we look at wife-wives, thief-thieves we encounter a different type of conditioning. Here it's the appropriate allomorph of the base word which is selected by the plural allomorph /z/. This is an instance of phonological conditioning of the base (or 'stem' as some linguists like to call it).
Next we have ox-oxen, child-children. It's the individual lexeme which triggers a particular plural allomorph: It is ox which calls for {-en}. This is called lexical conditioning. Child /ʧaɪld/ becomes child- /ʧɪld/ + -ren /rən/. On the one hand, again a particular lexeme (= child) selects a particular plural allomorph (= {/rən/}), on the other hand, the base changes its form as well due to the grammatical morpheme; so additionally we have grammatical conditioning of the base. 
(1) When you want to shear a sheep, hold it properly. 
(2) Tourists were led around like sheep.
Sheep can be singular or plural without any visible changes to the word itself. Linguists call it zero affixation. Nouns that behave similarly are clergy, poultry, vermin, etc.
I needn't write about singularia tantum or pluralia tantum, need I?