User:MiltonLibraryAssistant/Idiolect
General description
The English spoken in Singapore is generally non-rhotic like Australian English, Nigerian English and Received Pronunciation.
Vowels and lexical sets[edit]
The lax and tense vowel sets are not always distinguished, e.g. good mood /ˈɡud ˈmud/, psalm–sum merger /ˈsam ˈsam ˈməːd͡ʒə/. Virtually all speakers have the full–fool merger. Anecdotally, speakers are more likely to distinguish /ɪ, iː/.
- The trap–bath split is universal.
- Most speakers don't differentiate /æ/ and /ɛ/. Before /ɹ/, there is no distinction.
- /æ/ and /ɛ/ are most likely to be differentiated before voiced consonants in words of a single syllable, e.g. man [mɛ̞ˑn], men [mɛn].
- The vowels /ɑː eɪ iː uː oʊ ɔː/ are shorter before voiceless consonant codas and longer elsewhere, e.g. cord [kʰɔːd], caught [kʰɔt].
- Before word-final /v/, /ʌ/ corresponds to /ə/ in SgE, e.g. glove /ɡləv/, except in the words shove /ʃʌv/ and gov /ɡʌv/.
- The vowels /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ may have monophthongal or diphthongal realisations, e.g. late [let] or [leɪt], name [neˑm] or [neɪm].
- For some, there is a length distinction between lot and thought before voiced consonants, e.g. gnawed [nɔːd], nod [nɔd]. In other environments, they are almost always the same.
| Keyword | phonemic | idiolectal | Keyword | phonemic | idiolectal | Keyword | phonemic | idiolectal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kit | /ɪ/ | [ɪ] | fleece | /iː/ | [i(ː)] | near | /ɪə/ | [ɪ̟ə] |
| dress | /ɛ/ | [ɛ] | face | /eɪ/ | [e(ː)] | square | /ɛː/ | [ɛː] |
| next | /e/ | [e~ɛ̝] | palm | /ɑː/ | [ɑ̟(ː)] | start | /ɑː/ | [ɑ̟(ː)] |
| lot | /ɔ/ | [ɔ] | thought | /ɔː/ | [ɔ(ː)] | north | /ɔː/ | [ɔ(ː)] |
| strut | /ʌ/ | [ä] | goat | /oʊ/ | [o(ː)~öʊ] | cure | /jɔː/, /jɜː/ | [jɔː], [jø̞̈ː] |
| foot | /ʊ/ | [ʊ] | goose | /uː/ | [u̟(ː)] | happy | /i/ | [i] |
| trap | /æ~ɛ/ | [ɛ] | price | /aɪ/ | [äɪ] | letter | /ə/ | [ə] |
| poor | /ʊə/ | [ʊə] | choice | /ɔɪ/ | [ɔɪ] | comma | /ə/ | [ə] |
| nurse | /əː~ə/ | [əː] | mouth | /aʊ/ | [äʊ] | coma | /a/ | [ä] |
Next–text split
There is a split affecting the dress vowel in SgE. A handful of words including leg and bed have the divergent raised vowel /e/. Most of these words end in -d or -g. The word peg on the other hand, has the usual /ɛ/ vowel, so peg and leg do not rhyme. This has resulted in minimal pairs like red /ɹed/ and read /ɹɛd/ (past tense). The vowel in edge varies from speaker to speaker — it is either /ɛ/ or /e/, though the former is overall more common.
Words with the /e/ vowel in lieu of /ɛ/.
- † Some speakers
Words ending in unstressed -et or -it
Unstressed /ɪ/ before final /t/ in RP corresponds to /ɪ/, /e/, /ə/ or /ɛ/ in SgE. The word digit is pronounced /ˈdɪd͡ʒɪt/, market is pronounced /ˈmɑːket/, closet is /ˈklɔzət/ and rocket is /ˈɹɔkɛt/. So the endings of digit, market, booklet and rocket are distinct.
- /ɪ/-words — digit, limit, visit — words ending in -it /ɪt/.
- /e/-words — basket, market, target, biscuit.
- /ə/-words — Words ending in -let, turret, prophet, closet, secret, snippet, budget.
- /ɛ/-words — Words ending in -ocket, trumpet, racket, magnet, jacket, planet, puppet, blanket, bracket.
Extra–comma split
Words ending in -a (RP /-ə/) correspond to either /-a/ or /-ə/ in SgE (this is not predictable).
- Sofa, coma, opera, cinema and extra end in /-a/.
- China, India, comma, camera and stanza end in /-ə/.
Final /-a/ is a short, open central [ä]. The -er ending is always /-ə/.
Other patterns
- For some speakers, the sequence /-ɪks/ diverges into two groups in SgE. The words six and mix end in /-eks/, while other words like fix end in /-ɪks/. As such, fix and mix may not rhyme for some speakers.
- There /ðɛː/ and their /ðjɑː/ are not homophones, and neither are flower /ˈflaʊ.ə/ and flour /flɑː/.
- The words chew, Jew and grew (-ew following a postalveolar consonant) may end in [-ɪu̯] rather than [-uː] for some speakers.
- The RP sequence /æl/ may correspond to either /ɛl/ or /ɑːl/ in preconsonantal environments. The word calculate can start with /ˈkɛl-/ or /ˈkɑːl-/. Before vowels, it corresponds to /ɛl/ only, so salary and celery are homophones.
Consonants[edit]
Pronunciation of ⟨th⟩
- Th-stopping for initial th is common. The can be pronounced [ðə] or [də]. Th-fronting for coda /θ, ð/ is also common. Intervocalically, the pronunciations of /θ, ð/ are more likely be maintained. Other speakers may th-stop or th-front.
L-vocalization
- Word-final or preconsonantal /l/ is vocalised into a high, back vowel like [u] or [ɤ]. After /ɔː, oː, uː, aʊ/, this sound may be lost altogether. Before coda /l/, /aɪ/ is monophthongized to [äː], e.g. mile [mäːu̯]. This is the case for most speakers. In other accents (especially accents influenced by languages that permit unvelarized coda /l/), /l/ may not be vocalised.
Aspiration
- For some speakers, /p, t, k/ are consistently unaspirated (except in loanwords from Chinese, aspiration is usually kept). It is natural for initial or stressed /p, t, k/ to have aspiration. Tenuis plosives are kept in loanwords (tenuis, voiced and aspirated stops can be found in loanwords of Min Nan origin).
Pronunciation of ⟨wh⟩
- The wine-whine merger is complete, except for some older speakers, common content words maintain /hw/, e.g. white /hwaɪt/, and function words like what may be pronounced with /hw/ when enunciated or stressed (older speakers only).
Coda stop consonants
- Most of the time, word-final stops are not audibly released, e.g. cab [kʰɛːb̚].
- Coda /t, k/ may have additional glottal reinforcement in stressed syllables, e.g. rat [ɹɛʔt̚].
Prosody[edit]
In Singlish and Singaporean English, all words (except loanwords from Chinese with lexical tone) are subject to these tone assignment rules:
- In words with lexical stress, the syllable bearing the highest pitch within a prosodic word is normally the rightmost one, regardless of underlying stress.
- Words with no lexical stress (e.g. the), and initial unstressed syllables (e.g. undo) have a low tone.
- Every other syllable, including stressed ones, is assigned a mid tone.
For example, the word redundant [ɹi˨ˈdan˧.dənt˦], which has lexical stress on the second syllable, is pronounced with a rising series of level tones. In compound words, e.g. watermelon [ˈwɔ˧.tə˦ˌmɛ˧.lən˦], tone assignment occurs individually in each constituent phonological word (water and melon).
A sentence- or utterance-final high tone [˦] is realised with a subtle drop in pitch [˦˧], e.g. leave now! [ˈliːv˦ ˈnaʊ˦˧].
Examples
- lighthouse [ˈlaɪt̚˦ˈhaʊs˦], sentence-final [-aʊs˦˧], pitch contour: HH
- uncertain [an˨ˈsəː˧.tən˦], sentence-final [-tən˦˧], pitch contour: LMH
- re-enact [ˈɹi˦.ɛn˨ˌɛʔ˦], sentence-final [-ˌɛʔ˦˧], pitch contour: HLH
Sample Text[edit]
Text
- It was a lovely night, so warm that he threw his coat over his arm and did not even put his silk scarf round his throat. As he strolled home, smoking his cigarette, two young men in evening dress passed him. He heard one of them whisper to the other, “That is Dorian Gray.”
Narrow transcription
- [ɪʔ˨ wəz˨ ə˨ ˈləv˧.li˦ ˈnaɪt̚˦˧ | ˈsöʊ˦ ˈwɔːm˦ d͡ðɛʔ˨ hi˨ ˈθɹ̠ɪu̯˦ hɪz˨ ˈkʰöʊʔt̚˦ ˌo˧.və˦ hɪz˨ ˈɑ̈ːm˦ ɛn˨ dɪd̚˨ ˌnɔt̚˦ ˌi˧.vən˦ ˈpʊʔt̚˦ hɪz˨ ˈsɪɤu̯k̚˦ ˈskɑ̈ːf˦ ˌɹ̠aʊnd˧ hɪz˨ ˈθɹ̠öʊʔt̚˦˧ || ɛz˨‿i˨ ˈst͡ɹ̝̊˗ɹ̠oˑu̯d̚˦ ˈhoːm˦˧ | ˌsmo˧.kɪŋ˦ hɪz˨ ↗︎ ˌsɪ˧.ɡə˧.ɹ̠ɛt̚˦ | ˈtʰu̟ː˦ ˈjäŋ˦ ˈmɛn˦˧ ɪn˨ ˌiˑv˧.nɪŋ˦ ˈd͡ɹ̝˗ɹ̠ɛs˦ ˈpʰɑ̈st˦ ˌhɪm˦˧ || hi˨ ˈhəːd̚˦ ˌwän˦ ɔv˨ ˌdɛm˦ ˈwɪs˧.pə˦ tʰu̟˨ di˨ ˌä˧.ðə˦ | ˈðɛʔt̚˧˦ ɪz ˈdɔː˧.ɹ̠jən˦ ˈɡɹ̠eː˦˧]
Mandarin Idiolect[edit]
The four tones are /ma⁴⁴/, /ma²⁴/, /ma²¹/ and /ma⁴²/ respectively. The third tone may simplify to [ma²²].
Consonants
- Before /i, j/, x, j and q are laminal alveolar with optional palatalisation [s, t͡s, t͡sʰ], e.g. 千 (qiān) [t͡sʰjɛn⁴⁴].
- Before /y, ɥ/, x, j and q are laminal palato-alveolar [ɕ̟, t͡ɕ̟, t͡ɕ̟ʰ], e.g. 絕／绝 (jué) [t͡ɕ̟ɥɛ²⁴].
- The initial h is always glottal [h] and r is always an approximant [ɻ].
- Non-rhotic, so 而 (ér) is [ə²⁴].
Vowels
References[edit]
- Chong, Adam J. (2012) “A preliminary model of Singaporean English intonational phonology”, in UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, volume 111, pages 41–62