Stylistic Modification of Speech Sounds

Stylistic sound variations are brought about by the extralinguistic situation of the discourse. The first thing that counts in the stylistic modifications of sounds is the character of relationship between the participants of discourse, which is manifested in the degree of formality. It is assumed that in formal situations the participants tend to monitor their linguistic behavior, their pronunciation tends to be careful and is characterized by articulatory precision. In informal situations where speakers are more relaxed speech is generally faster and less careful. Informal speech used in everyday conversation is often referred to as fast (rapid) colloquial speech.

It is obvious that the extent to which coarticulation and simplification processes are displayed in connected speech depends on the style and tempo of speech. In formal speech the articulation is more careful and precise. In informal casual discourse (fast colloquial speech) these processes are more marked. In this section we shall give an overview of the modifications of speech sounds in the chain of speech which take place under the influence of the extralinguistic factors.

The most frequent modifications of consonants in rapid colloquial speech are:

- alveolar stops [t], [d] and in some cases [n] are modified under the influence of the following velar or labial consonant, e. g.

- [s], [z] assimilate more often than in formal speech, they are modified under the influence of the following palatal [j] and become palate-alveolar:

- [t], [d] are affected by the following [j] in a similar way: and turn into palate-alveolar affricates. In this case both the place and the manner of articulation are involved in assimilation:

- in informal casual speech complete assimilation of consonants often takes place:

- [t] tends to be reduced to a glottal stop before a plosive consonant:

       In fast colloquial speech we can also observe elision of consonants. Elision can be defined as a complete loss or disappearance of a speech sound, usually due to the increased rate of speech. The most typical cases of consonant elision are:

- elision of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns he, his, her, him and the auxiliary verbs have, had, has: What has he done? [ wɒtəz ɪ•̖dʌn];

- [l] tends to be elided when preceded by [ɔ:]: always [ꞌɔ:wɪz]; all right [ɔ:raɪt];

- [t] and [d] are often elided in consonant clusters when followed by another consonant: next day [ꞌneks ꞌdeɪ], mashed potatoes [ꞌmæʃ pəꞌteɪtɜʊz], next point [ꞌneks ꞌpɔɪnt], second term [ꞌsekn ꞌtɜ:m];

- [ð] in the definite article the can be elided: and the reason for this [ən ðˋrɪ•zn fəðɪs].

As regards stylistic modifications of vowels we should point out that the realization ofreduction as well as assimilation and accommodation depends on the style of speech. In rapid colloquial speech reduction may result in vowel elision, the complete omission of the unstressed vowel. Elision may occur both within one word and at word boundaries: history [ꞌhɪstrɪ], factory[ꞌfæktrɪ], phonetics [f'netɪks], correct [krekt], perhaps [phæps], come along ['kʌm 'lɒŋ], get another [ɡet ꞌnʌðə], after all [ɑ:ftꞌrɔ:l].

In contrast to slow formal speech in which vowels have comparative quality stability, in rapid informal speech we can observe frequent sound variability. Typical simplification processes in fast colloquial speech are:

- reduction of [i:] and [u:] both in quantity and quality

- monophthongization of diphthongs

- elision of schwa in the preposition or particle to:

- elision of [ɪ] in initial position:

Numerous simplification processes that were described are an attribute of informal casual speech, while prepared educated speech is characterized by articulatory precision. In terms of pronunciation teaching it is necessary to familiarize the foreign learners of English with these segmental modifications, because they must be ready to recognize and decode them in the chain of speech. However, they should be aware of their stylistic coloring and avoid extreme forms of simplifications outside fast colloquial speech. As regards the modifications of speech sounds that are the result of coarticulation processes in connected speech they should definitely be practiced and mastered.