Applied English Phonology, Second Edition ( PDFDrive )

PHONETICS 23
Length: Length differences in vowels or consonants may be used to make
lexical distinctions in languages. Swedish, Estonian, Finnish, Arabic, Japanese,
and Danish can be cited for vowel length contrasts (e.g. Danish [vil@] “wild”
vs. [vi:l@] “rest”). English does not have such meaning differences entirely based
on vowel length. Examples such as beat vs. bit and pool vs. pull are separated
not simply on the basis of length, but also on vowel height and tense/lax
distinctions.
In consonantal length, we again make reference to languages other than
English. For example, in Italian and in Turkish different consonant length
is responsible for lexical distinctions (e.g. Italian nonno [nOnno] “grandfather”
vs. nono [nOno] “ninth”; Turkish eli [Eli] “his/her hand” vs. elli [Elli] “fifty”).
In English, we can have a longer consonant at word or morpheme boundaries:
[k] black cat, [f] half full, and [n] ten names are produced with one long
obstruction.
SUMMARY
In this chapter, we examined the basic elements of phonetics, which are
prerequisites to understanding the patterning of sounds. We looked at the
fundamentals of articulatory phonetics including voicing, places and manners
of articulation, voice onset time, and dimensions that are relevant for vocalic
articulations such as tongue height and backness, as well as lip positions. We
also reviewed some common non-English sounds that might be of relevance.
Finally, we had a brief account of syllable and suprasegmental features such
as stress, tone, intonation, and length.