Orthoepy

Abstract: Originally published in 1822, Robert Nares' glossary of antiquated Elizabethan terms is the result of a personal interest in and love of Elizabethan literature. Nares (1753–1829), well known as a scholar and clergyman, was also a keen philologist and antiquary. This glossary was undertaken in his spare time, and compiled over forty years as he was often occupied with various academic and clerical duties, including founding the British Critic and editing it for twenty years (1793–1813), and becoming Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum (1799–1807). It has long been a useful guide for the 'average reader' (in his own words), as its several reprintings during the nineteenth century demonstrate. His love of the English language was reflected in his previous work, Elements of Orthoepy (1784), which concerned itself with ascertaining correct pronunciation from Shakespeare's time onwards and exploring contemporary variations in the language.

Abstract: The article analyzes the phonetic (pronunciation-related) inquiries concerning the pronunciation of proper names, loan words and abbreviations, delivered by e-mail to the language consulting centre of the Institute of the Czech Language during the years 1999–2010. It focuses on phenomena that are not handled consistently in Czech orthoepy manuals, or for which the recommended pronunciation differs from the pronunciation usage/norm. The available manuals and the situation of the orthoepy research in the Czech context are also commented upon in general.

Abstract: The term unpronouncable phonemes refers to phonemes which exist as a mental image, but are found in positions in which assimilation rules do not allow full realisation of their features. Purposive sample comprised 29 students of phonetics. They were recorded in a recording studio twice while producing sequences containing /t/ and /d/ before fricatives /s/ and /s/ and before affricates /c/ and /c,?/. In these positions /d/ is expected to undergo voicing assimilation and become /t/. Both /d/ and /t/ followed by /s/ or /s/ should become affricates /c/ or /c,?/; before affricates /d/ and /t/ should be elided because they are all characterised by an occlusion. These segments were cut out from their carrier phrases in order to reduce the redundancy provided by the whole unit and by assimilation processes. 38 students listened to these stimuli and had to choose between six possible answers (thus each stimuli produced 2204 listening turns, i.e. 29 x 2 x 38). The results show that phonemes on the boundary between a prefix and a root were mostly recognised as phonemes the speaker intended to pronounce. The boundary between a root and a suffix as well as between a word and an enclitic caused the investigated sounds to be perceived as /c/from /ds/ and /ts/ before a suffix and as /c,?/, i.e. with the elision of /t/ and /d/ from /tc,?/ and /dc,?/before enclitic. Acoustic analyses of occlusion and frication duration and voicing agree with perceptual analyses. The comparison between spoken realisation of conflicting groups in different expressions shows a gradual and not categorical nature of phoneme destruction in speech performance.

Abstract: The article analyses phonetic (pronunciation-related) inquiries delivered by e-mail to the language consulting centre of the Institute of the Czech Language during the years 1999–2010. These questions are much less numerous than, for example, those concerning orthography, yet they are often noteworthy. The paper points out the specific traits of these questions. The inquiries concerning the prosodic level of the language are discussed. On the segmental level, attention is devoted to the pronunciation of words of Czech origin (pronunciation of sound groups, as well as the orthophonic realization of the individual sounds).