Stockwell & Bowen (1965)

SOUND SYSTEMS IN CONFLICT: A HIERARCHY OF DIFFICUL TY

can rds ~s

say

2

'e a

words .m

luch The ~ it llgh-

fer-

In attempting to arrive at a reasonable hierarchy of difficulty, we must take into account informatipn from what psychologists have developed as LEARNING THEORy.1 There are no doubt many aspects of learning theory from which we might benefit, but one concept in particular seems promising: the notion of transfer-negative transfer, positive transfer, and zero transfer. A student may_b..aY.~ so.me habitual respo.n ses which are con- . tra_r.)T to the responses required for a new skill which he is trying to master (negative)_or which are similar to the new responses (positive), or which have no relation to them (zero). --...- .. Th\s notion of transfer is applicable throughout the structure of the language: the sound sysb, the grammar, the vocabulary. Let us use illustrations of transfer based on the relation of pron iation to spelling. Suppos , for instance, that a student is trying to learn to pronounce Spanish by using Spanish orthogra hy as a guide. He sees the word .Habana, spelled (as in English) h- is "silent" (Le. , represents no phonological reality) in Spanish orthography. The stude 's literacy habits have conditioned him to produce the initial sound of have, hold, her, him hen he sees !!-. These are the conditions of negative transfer-a familiar response to a f~niliar stimulus is carried over where a new response to the stimulus is wanted. The effe~ of the old response is negative: he pronounces the Spanish word with an!!.-. On the other hand, to continue with orthographically conditioned transfers, the existence of ch in both Spa!lish and English orthographies with approximately the same s ound values is a condition for, positive transfer the familiar ch of church carr ies over ~o Chile, leche, lechuga with PO~ftiv_e effecy F inally, the sy~.TI might lead to zel~ transfer-b ut in fac t, s ince the s tudent, is familiar with n but not wi th ii, he ofte n ignores the tilde a nd hence enco unter s negativ~, tr ansfer . An un~guable inst~ce of zero tr ansfer for the reader of English does not exist \ n Spanish orthography; we must look instead to a symbol system like those of Korean or Chinese to find true instances of zero transfer for him. ~. ...

the

are

) diaa rea:om iding ing

~

1. For a convenient summary of learning theory as relevant to linguistics, see J ames J. J enkins, " The Learning Theory Approach, " in P sycholinguisti.c s: A Survr:; of Theory and Researc h, ed. Charles E. Os good (Ind. Univ. P ubs . in Antlll'opology a nd inguistics, Memoir 10), pp. 20-35, Baltimore, ,1954. \ 9

10 / SOUNDS OF ENGLISH AND SPANISH

The conditions of negative, positive, and zero transfer by themselves would enable us to set up a reasonable hierarchy of difficulty. We could safely assume that in. --

-- "-

stances where, c~?d~tions for positive transfer existed would lend themselves to n:ast~:y more readily than instances where conditions for negative or zero transfer existed. It is probable that we should have somewhat more difficulty determining whether the instances of negative transfer were more difficult than those of zero transfer: does the student have more trouble mastering gender concord in Spanish (el muchacho mejicano, but la muchacha mejicana), an instance of zero transfer, or with por /para, where the phonetic similarity of por and English for seems to set up an instance of negative transfer? Indeed, we would have no little difficulty deciding exactly which instances involved negative transfer and which ones zero: it is not at all clear, for example, whether ser/estar is difficult because of negative transfer from is to es, or because of zero transfer from lack of distinction between such verbs in English to presence of it in Spanish, or because of both factors together. -- ~ -

fe th J,lf

.~

It seems that we may get around the difficulties inherent in the question of

types of transfer by focusing our attention on the kinds of choices that exist at any given point in the two languages. We have already seen that th~:c.QnunciaJien-of-cH-aR!Flag~__l!!~Y~ be characterized as a set of chOices, plus obligatory consequences, or, as we might say, Qptional choices and obllgatory chOicig-l We can add to these a third set; zero choices":-.-----~ .......... those which exist in one language but not at all in the other. An example is the phoneme -----~ "'-~ - - -. -.-- -. -~ / z/ -the middle consonant of pleasure-which exists in English but not in Spanis~: We can now set up the follOWIng three'- way correspondences between English and Spanish. (QE optional, Ob obligatory, ~ zero).

---

There are eight possible Situations, not counting the theoretical ninth pOSSibility of zero choice in both languages:

1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

ni

Tt su fu]

-

a

I

trc thi

lin In

Mi Th of cal me

English choice

Spanish choice

.P.!E

Op Ob

Op Op Op Ob Ob Ob

cle

~

Op Ob ~

Op Ob

~ ~

In this method of comparison of sound systems, "optional choice" refers to the possible selection among phonemes. For example, the English speaker may begin a word with / p/ or with / b/. "Obligatory chOice" refers, for one thing, to the selection of conditioned allophones. For example, when the English speaker has /p/ at the beginning of a word, the structure of the language requires the aspirated allophone (ph] in that environment. Also, "obligatory choice" refers to limitations in distribution of phonemes. For example, before / m/ at the beginning of a word, English has only lsi, never /z/. The term "zero choice," which is meaningful only when two languages are being compared, re-

Spc

ogj phc

the uttc mu ic , lex wis he eitl the

~ con in t pos WO!

of c

mir Ph.o

SOUND SYSTEMS IN CONFLICT

"J is

:es ,tVe alar-

I

fers to the existence of a certain sound in one language which has no counterpart at all in the other. Let us see what sort of examples might exist for each type. 2 1. English 2£, Spanish 2£. U,oth Janguag s allow certain consonants to ap,Jlear at the beginning of a word before a vowel. There are words like me, knee, tea; mC ni, tl; and others. We can symbolize this fact in a general way:

Iml Inl English} C +{ Spanish

It I

in env. -V

er )e-

.ncors

m ~f.l:Y~

.y,

e can

-

That is, initially before a vowel, English and SRanish share the possibility of choosing such consonants as 1m, n, t/. Although this description is obviously incomplete, sin?e the full list of possible consonants is not specified, the mere fact that the two languages share a specifiable list of pre-vocalic consonantal possibilities is a huge source of positive transfer. One can barely imagine how much more difficult Spanish would be to teach if this set of choices were not held in common . 2. English Ob, Spanish 2£. Examples for this comparison are scarce. If we limit our coverage of English to a particular dialect, however, an example can be found. In the dialect that is sometimes called southwest midland (Oklahoma, Arkansas, southern Missouri, southern Kansas northwest Texas), the vowels of pin and pen are identical. That is, speakers of this dialect have no choice between /II and lei before In/. They can of course choose other vowels, like those of pat, pot, bought, beat, but the only vowel they can choose in the area of lei and /II is a vowel which is really neither one of these but more or less midway between. It is a well-known joke that they can distinguish between pin and pen only by specifying a "stickin' pin" or a "writin' pin." For these speakers it is clear that there is no choice between 1['1 and /II in the environment: -Q' Faced with a Spanish item like lento, the conditions of negative transfer exist for them: they will regub

i-

o a ~f

ng 'n-

The I, re-

2. In the discussion of optional vs. obligatory choices on the level of phonology, we are reversing a familiar use of these terms. There is a sense in which nearly all phonological choices are obligatory: if one has in mind, so to speak, a string of words, then the distinctive phonological shape of each word is obligatory; that is, if one wishes to utter the word in English which has the meaning "one J>lus one" or "four minus two," he must say something which can be written phonetically [tvw I, or (in a more detailed phonetic writing) [thv-ul. In other words, the physical shape of the word two is established by lexical ~'ule-any other sequence of sounds will presumably be some other word. But if he wishes to say the word which means "dealing with monetary problems" (i.e., economic), he may say either [tk+mim+yk l or liyk+nam+ykJ-that is, the first syllable may rhyme either with Tech or with teak. Thi s is free variation on a speCifiable level of analysisthe choice may be considered entirely optional. This usage of the terms optional vs. obligatory is pOSSible-and quite proper-if, and only if, the phonology is viewed within tIle contexfof a complet e set of rules of sentence formation (Le., a complete grammar). But in the present situation, where only phonology is under conSideration, and where the purpose is to specify the possibilities of combining sounds to produce words-where the words cannot be said to have been selected before the phonological rules-then the usage of optional and obligatory must be ~'ev ers e d, because the matters that are optional are the minimally significant phonological elements, and the matte rs that are obligatory are the phonetic cons equences of choosing one or another combination of these minimal elements.

11

12

I

SOUNDS OF ENGLISH AND SPANISH

larly produce the only vowel their dialect allows in the general phonetic area of I f,/ or III, and it is not very similar to the correct vowel. 3 3. English~, Spanish QQ. This correspondence chara~erizes the classic difficulty the English speaker has with the erre of Spanish perro, or t11'\ jota of Spanish hijo. In neither instance does the sound exist in English, although both sou,dS represent optional chOices of considerable frequency in Spanish. From the English SPjaker'S point of view, they are new sounds. 4. English QQ, Spanish Ob. This correspondence characterizes one of the more difficult problems of Spanish phonology for the English learner. Take, for example, the pronunciation of items like dado and de do in isolation. The ~ at the beginning is pronounced differently from the ~ in the middle. The initial ~ is much like the initial ~ of English den, doll, door. (It is not exactly the same, but the difference is irrelevant for this purpose.) We will write it with the phonetic symbol [d]. The middle ~ of dado, dedo, on the other hand, is conspicuously different-to the English ear-from the initial~. It sounds more nearly like the initial th of then, there, !hose. We will write it with the phonetic symbol [a]. Dado and dedo can now be written phonetically as [daao], [deao]. EQr the Spanish speaker, the pronunciation of lat rather than Cd], in the middle of these words j§ Oblig~ .i2.r y. He will not ordinarily even be aware that he pronounces two quite different sounds for the ~'s of dado and dedo. To use the technical terminology introduced earlier, (d] and 191 are allophones of a single phoneme I dl in Spanish. Among the consonants of Spanish";Idl exists as one possible optional choice, which may be symbolized:

Ipl

rule ally,

Id/. ~

is pl pOSE

In E ~

curr this will

It! Spanish C

__

Ikl Ibl

choi, ther

inenv. -V

Idl

~,

Igl

Qutt, ed fc

[IJ]. : There is then a subSidiary rule about / dl (illustrated, incompletely, below): orde Hcul

Cd] in env.

([m

Idl -[a] in env.

and j roof

V

That is, if Idl is preceded by silence (a break in utterance continuity symbolized in the form,ula by #) or an Inl or Ill, it is pronounced as [d). If it is preceded by a vowel, it is pronounced as [a]. The phonetic difference between Cd] and [a] is CONDITIONED by this

.

?

3. Of the writers, H.P .S. has been plagued by this .£lis ability' since his first exposure to Spanish. He can testify to its persistence. Even as a trained phonetician, he can avoid the obligatory vowel of his native dialect only with concentrated effort.

It is

SOUND SYSTEMS IN CONFLICT / 13

difUQ. ion"iew,

rule-a rule which merely describes a set of conditions to which Spanish speakers habitually, and unconsciously, conform. Because of this rule, [Ei] is for them simply a kind of /d/. But for the EngLi.slLspeaker the cQnditions are different. For him ld] and laj are IN ~ONTRAST that is, they belong to differept phonemes Id/ and /Ei/. The fact of contrast is proved by pairs such as dine/thine, dare/there, dough/though. [d] and [Ei] exist as two possible choices among the consonants of English:

/p/

It! lIe, )-

Eng-

s l

English C +the

/k/ /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/

in env. -V

/Ei/ symlish gads and s h,

-....

-

-

the it is this rst , he

In English, unlike Spanish, /d/ and I.!U are in contrast: they are both optional chOices, and their distribution cannot be predicted. Predictability is at the heart of the matter: the occurrence of Spanish ld] and LEi] can be predicted by writing merely one symbol, /d/; given this symbol in an environment, it is possible always and infallibly to predict whether it will be pronounced [d] or (Ei]. The difference between them is obligatory. This correspondence between English optional choices and Spanish Obligator* choices is so important in its consequences that another example may clarify it still further. Suppose we consider the possibilities of nasal consonants ([m] as in ham, [n] as in hen, [IJ] as in hang) in the environment of following stop consonants ([p] as in~, (t] as in putt, [k] as in puck, [b] as in tub, [d] as in dud, [g] as in dug). The phonetic symbols needed for this discussion are all familiar letters of the alphabet in familiar values, except for [IJ]· Note that the letters gg are used to spell both /IJ/ and /IJg/ in English: words like Singer and banging have /IJ/, whereas words like finger and younger have /IJg/. Certain articulatory facts about these consonants must be briefly explained in order to make the point clear. In terms of the place in the mouth at which the sound is articulated, the nasal and stop consonants fall into three classes: those made at the lips ([m p b]); those made by the tip of the tongue at or just behind the upper teeth ([n t d]); and those made toward the back of the mouth, with the to'n gue touching the back part of the roof of the mouth (the VELUM) «(IJ kg]).

-

Lips

Teeth

Velum

m p b

n t d

IJ k g

It is characteristic of Spanish that in a sequence of nasal consonant plus stop consonant,

•

14 / SOUNDS OF ENGLISH AND SPANISH

the point of articulation of BOTH consonants is fixed by the stop consonant. This can be formulated:

.

{/p/} _{/t/ }

[m] in env. -

Spanish N

[n] in env.

/b/

/d/

[IJ] in env. _ { /k/ }

tiOI fou wit phc waJ noL

bet' a si con

/g/ That is, a nasal (N) can be only [m] if the following consonant is [p] or [b], only [n] if the following consonant is [t] or [d], only [IJ] if the following consonant is [k] or [g]. This restriction remains valid regardless of word boundaries and spelling: hombre, un beso; endosar, un dfa; ingles, un gato. It is 0 tional whether a nasal be chosen at all; but if one is chosen, it i.s. .o [email protected];~..th _ it o'nt of articulatio be the same as top C:~l!.~Qp.ant. In English, on the other hand, no such restriction exists: [mb] lumber, [nb] un-=bend, [IJb] kingbird; [md] lambda, [nd] under, llJd] kingdom ; [mg] Baumgardner, [ng] ingrown, [IJg] finger. In English, not only is the choice of a nasal consonant optional. as i? Spanish, but so is the choice of a particular nasal, regs,rdless of the [ollo..wing.stQp cons.2..nantz which is not true in Spanisb,. 5. English Ob, Spanish Ob. It is here that we get maximum positive transfer. Any English pattenL1:haUs Obligatory is neces sarily one to which the speaker Jiives no thought-it is an area where he has no choice. If the s am e pattern is obligatory als o i~ Spanish, there should be no problem-indeed, there will not normally even be any awareness that there might have been a problem. These instances are more frequent than we realize: comparison between Japanese and Spanish, on the one hand, and between English and Spanish, on the other, will reveal that the English speaker is not so bad off for Spanish-like habits as we who are faced with the student's errors are prone to think. To take a simple instance: given the consonantal sequence /s/ plus /w/, both languages require that a vowel be chosen in the next position-swear, suerte. This is not a trivial observation: if the consonantal sequence is / p/ followed by / r / , English requires a. vowel, as in ~, but Spanish allows / y/ or / w/ , for example, prieto / pryeto/ , pruebo /prwebo/ . 4 Thus the fact that the Spanish speaker has a different range of choice after / pr/ constitutes a problem for \~he English speaker, even though the sequence / pr/ itself does not. 6. English~, Spanish Ob. This correspondence is the extreme of the scale. In English, a given habit does not exist at all; in Spanish, it is obligatory and hence normally outside the speaker's conscious control-it is a habit which he internalized at an early age and has given no thought to since. Zero may be viewed as a kind of negative obligatien: to say that a pattern is zero is about the same as saying that it is obligatory that the speaker not conform to the pattern . We have, as it were, an absolute negative restrfC: 4. The semivowels /y/ and /w/ are definitely different from ordinary vowels (even though they are spelled with the same letters), because they are not syllabic.

Tha fere all I gogi redi SOUl

in g' that

[ee ], wore prot to e~ be d .l::~ ter,

---.

~

Engl fully in ite of / t main does whic. tr an~

Son ( We c :

ARC]

SOUND SYSTEMS IN CONFLICT / 15

tion in the one instance, an absolute positive restriction in the other. An example is to be found in the middle consonant of Spanish words like haba, leva, avance. Although spelled with ~ or ~, this sound is different from anything represented by ~ or ~ in English. The phonetic symbol we will use for it is [1:3]. It is articulated by bringing the lower lip up toward the upper lip, as if for ~, but without touching, so that the air produces a friction noise, as if for ~. In Spanish, the difference between [b] and [1:3] is closely parallel'to that between [d] and [a]. TIle two sounds are a llophones of a single phone me1 predictable from a single symbol in the following way (this formulation of the rule is illustrative only, not complete):

.e

Spanish /b/ -+-

{[b]

in env. [

[1:3] in env. is :top

,

1

er.

esh nce

n

e.

ob:hat r ic-

-

leIs

1:1 J - } V

-

That is, [1:3] normally occurs after vowels, [b] elsewhere. The situation of [b]-[I:3] is different from that of [d]-[a] in only one Significant respect: [1:3] does not exist in English at all (a zero category), but [a] does (an optional category). But this is a big difference pedagogically. IllJ:he instance of [a], the English speaker must transfer a familiar sound and redistribute it.l.\litb 'r;espect to other sounds ; in the instance of ll:3 t he must learn a new sound as well a.s....a new dj stribution. 7. English.9£, Spanish~. This particular correspondence is a frequent one in going from English to Spanish pronunciation. English has several vowels, for instance, that are entirely lacking in Spanish. The vowel of American English grass, symbolized by [re], does not exist in Spanish. Partly because of negative transfer from the spelling ~, words like gracias are often pronounced with this vowel in early stages of learning. The problem is merely to reduce the range of choice that the English speaker is accustomed to exercising. 8. English Ob, Spanish~. An English Obligatory pattern of pronunciation can be difficult to get rid of. For instance, it j§ ghligatory in most English dialects that items with t or d between syllables, where the first syllable is stressed butter, shudder s lat~ ~,~), have an allophone of /t/ (or / d ) that is rather like the S anish r of ara pero. It IS a VOIce 'oogue-tip FLAP. Faced with Spanish words like foto, beta, pita, the English speaker of most dialects will produce the Obligatory English flap rather than the fully articulated /t/ of Spanish. Another example also involves allophones of English /t/: in items like mountain, button, latent, the English speaker of most dialects has a variety of / t/ for which instead of dropping the tongue tip as he usually does to release a /t!, he maintains the tongue tip in the same position for the following /n/. Such an articulation does not exist under any conditions in any dialect of Spanish. Words like quitari, meten, which always have a normally released /t! and a full vowel, are subject to this kind of transfer. Having at least an idea, now, of the eight kinds of differences that a comparison can reveal when it is based on the different possibilities of choice in the two languages, we can attempt to rearrange the comparisons in an order which will constitute a HIERARCHY OF DIFFICULTY. We must know which kinds of differences will be most difficult

,

16

! SOUNDS OJ: