White South African English phonology

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This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
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This article covers the phonological system of South African English (SAE) as spoken primarily by White South Africans. While there is some variation among speakers, SAE typically has a number of features in common with English as it is spoken in southern England (in places like London), such as non-rhoticity and the TRAP–BATH split.

The two main phonological features that mark South African English as distinct are the behaviour of the vowels in KIT and PALM. The KIT vowel tends to be "split" so that there is a clear allophonic variation between the front [ɪ] and central [ɪ̈] or [ə]. The PALM vowel is characteristically back in the General and Broad varieties of SAE. The tendency to monophthongise /ɐʊ/ and /aɪ/ to [ɐː] and [aː] respectively, are also typical features of General and Broad White South African English.

General South African English features phonemic vowel length (so that ferry /ˈferiː/ and fairy /ˈfeːriː/ as well as cot /kɑt/ and cart /kɑːt/ differ only in length) as well as phonemic roundedness, so that fairy /ˈfeːriː/ is distinguished from furry /ˈføːriː/ by roundedness.[1][2]

Features involving consonants include the tendency for /tj/ (as in tune) and /dj/ (as in dune) to be realised as [tʃ] and [dʒ], respectively (see

Yod coalescence
), and /h/ has a strong tendency to be voiced initially.

Vowels

The vocalic phonemes of South African English are as follows:[3]

Front Central Back
unrounded rounded unrounded rounded
short long long short short long short long
Close iː
ɨ
 		ɵ ʉː
Close-mid e eː øː oː
Open-mid ɛ ɜ
Open a ɑ ɑː
Diphthongs eɪ   aɪ   ɔɪ   ɐʊ   œʊ   iə   ʉə
  • The original short front vowels TRAP, DRESS and KIT underwent a vowel shift similar to that found in New Zealand English, though not as extreme:
  • The FLEECE vowel /iː/ is a long close front monophthong [iː], either close to cardinal [iː] or slightly mid-centralised. It does not have a tendency to diphthongise, which distinguishes SAE from Australian and New Zealand English.[12]
  • The FOOT vowel /ɵ/ is typically a weakly rounded retracted central vowel [
    ɫ]. Broad SAE can feature a more rounded vowel, but that is more common in Afrikaans English.[12][13][14]
  • The GOOSE vowel /ʉː/ is usually central [
    ɫ] in other varieties. Younger (particularly female) speakers of the General variety use an even more front vowel [yː], so that food [fyːd] may be distinguished from feed [fiːd] only by rounding. The vowel is often a monophthong, but there is some tendency to diphthongise it before sonorants (as in wounded [ˈwʉundɨd] and school [skʉuɫ]).[15][16]
  • In the General variety, PRICE /aɪ/, MOUTH /ɐʊ/ and GOAT /œʊ/ are commonly monophthongized to [äː], [ɐ̠ː] (phonetically between BATH and a monophthongal PRICE) and [œː]. Among those, the monophthongal variant of PRICE is the most common. The last monophthong contrasts with the close-mid [øː], which stands for NURSE. The monophthonging of GOAT can cause intelligibility problems for outsiders; Roger Lass says that he himself once misunderstood the phrase the total onslaught [ðə ˈtœːtl̩ ˈɑnsloːt] for the turtle onslaught [ðə ˈtøːtl̩ ˈɑnsloːt]. On the other hand, CHOICE does not monophthongize. In addition, /eɪ/ is almost monophthongal [ee̝], resulting in a near-merger of FACE with SQUARE, which is normally a close-mid monophthong [eː].[17]

Transcriptions

Sources differ in the way they transcribe South African English. The differences are listed below. The traditional phonemic orthography for the Received Pronunciation as well as the reformed phonemic orthographies for Australian and New Zealand English have been added for the sake of comparison.

Transcription systems
South African English Australian New Zealand RP Example words
This article Wells 1982[18] Lass 1984[19] Lass 1990[20] Branford 1994[21] Rogers 2014[22]
iː iː iː iː — i iː iː iː fleece
i — — ɪ i happy, video
ɨ ɪ ɪ / ə / ɘ ɪ̈ ɪ ɪ ə ɪ kit
ə ɪ̈ / ə ə bit
ə / ɘ ə ə ə rabbit
ə accept, abbot
a sofa, better
ɵ ʊ ʊ̈ ʊ̈ ʊ / ʊ̈ ʊ ʊ ʊ ʊ foot
ʉː uː ʉː ʉː — u ʉː ʉː uː goose
e e e e ɛ / e e e e e dress
eː eə — eː — eː eː eə eə square
øː ɜː — ø̈ː — ɜ ɜː øː ɜː nurse
oː ɔː oː oː ɔː ɔ oː oː ɔː thought, north
ɛ æ ɛ æ̝ æ / ɛ ɛ æ ɛ æ trap
ɜ ʌ ɜ ɜ / ɐ ɐ ʌ a a ʌ strut, unknown
a — — ɐ ä — — — — pap
ɑ ɒ ɒ̈ ɒ̝̈ ɒ ɒ ɔ ɒ ɒ lot
ɑː ɑː ɑː / ɒː ɑ̟ː ɑ ɑ aː aː ɑː palm, start
eɪ əɪ — eɪ — əj æɪ æɪ eɪ face
aɪ aɪ ɐː äɪ / äː aɪ aː ɑɪ aɪ aɪ price
ɔɪ ɔɪ — ɔɪ — ɔj oɪ oɪ ɔɪ choice
œʊ əʊ — œ̈ɤ̈ — əw / ʌː əʉ aʉ əʊ goat
ɐʊ aʊ ɑ̈ː ɑ̈ɤ — ɑw æɔ æʊ aʊ mouth
iə ɪə — ɪə — iə ɪə iə ɪə near
ʉə ʊə — ʊ̈ə — ʊə ʉːə ʉə ʊə cure
— — ʉː fury
— — oː sure

Consonants

Plosives

Fricatives and affricates

  • /x/ occurs only in words borrowed from Afrikaans and Khoisan languages, such as gogga /ˈxoxa/ 'insect'. Many speakers realise /x/ as uvular [χ], a sound which is more common in Afrikaans.[23]
  • /θ/ may be realised as [f] in Broad varieties (see Th-fronting), but it is more accurate to say that it is a feature of Afrikaans English. This is especially common word-finally (as in myth [mɨf]).[23][24]
  • In the Indian variety, the labiodental fricatives /f, v/ are realised without audible friction, i.e. as approximants [ʋ̥, ʋ].[26]
  • In General and Cultivated varieties, intervocalic /h/ may be voiced, so that ahead can be pronounced [əˈɦed].[27]
  • There is not a full agreement about the voicing of /h/ in Broad varieties:
    • Lass (2002) states that:
      • Voiced [ɦ] is the normal realisation of /h/ in Broad varieties.[27]
      • It is often deleted, e.g. in word-initial stressed syllables (as in house), but at least as often, it is pronounced even if it seems deleted. The vowel that follows the [ɦ] allophone in the word-initial syllable often carries a low or low rising tone, which, in rapid speech, can be the only trace of the deleted /h/. That creates potentially minimal tonal pairs like oh (neutral [ʌʊ˧] or high falling [ʌʊ˦˥˩], phonemically /œʊ/) vs. hoe (low [ʌʊ˨] or low rising [ʌʊ˩˨], phonemically /hœʊ/). In General, these are normally pronounced [œː] and [hœː], without any tonal difference.[27]
    • Bowerman (2004) states that in Broad varieties close to Afrikaans English, /h/ is voiced [ɦ] before a stressed vowel.[23]

Sonorants

See also

References

  1. ^ Wells (1982), pp. 613, 615.
  2. ^ Bowerman (2004), pp. 936–938.
  3. ^ Lass (1990).
  4. ^ a b c Wells (1982), p. 613.
  5. ^ a b Lass (1990), p. 276.
  6. ^ a b Lass (2002), p. 115.
  7. ^ Bekker (2008), pp. 83–84.
  8. ^ Wells (1982), pp. 612–613.
  9. ^ Lass (2002), pp. 113–115.
  10. ^ Wells (1982), p. 612.
  11. ^ Lass (2002), p. 119.
  12. ^ a b Lass (1990), p. 277.
  13. ^ Lass (2002), pp. 115–116.
  14. ^ Bowerman (2004), p. 937.
  15. ^ Lass (1990), p. 278.
  16. ^ Lass (2002), p. 116.
  17. ^ Lass (1990), pp. 278–280.
  18. ^ Wells (1982), p. 616.
  19. ^ Lass (1984), pp. 80, 89–90, 96, 102.
  20. ^ Lass (1990), p. 274.
  21. ^ Branford (1994), pp. 473, 476.
  22. ^ Rogers (2014), p. 117.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Bowerman (2004), p. 939.
  24. ^ a b c d Lass (2002), p. 120.
  25. ^ a b Collins & Mees (2013), p. 194.
  26. ^ Mesthrie (2004), p. 960.
  27. ^ a b c d Lass (2002), p. 122.
  28. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bowerman (2004), p. 940.
  29. ^ a b c d e f Lass (2002), p. 121.
  30. ^ Lass (2002), pp. 120–121.
  31. ^ Finn (2004), p. 976.

Bibliography

Further reading

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