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THE SOUND SYSTEMS OF ENGLISH AND HUNGARIAN
distinctive features of English vowels: long and short vowels are gualitatively
different. For this reason, long vowels may become shorter before fortis (voice¬
less) consonants and sound guite short (yet count as long): due to pre-fortis
shortening, the vowel in the word seek may not be longer than in sick. Yet it will
be perceived as long, since the guality of long /i:/ is different from that of short
h/, even if it is reduced in length. The influence of consonants on preceding
vowels is also marked in the case of postvocalic and final /r/ and dark /t/.
In general, the quality of English vowels is not very stable: the organs of
speech are moving during the articulation of diphthongs, and vowels are sen¬
sitive to changes in stress: compare stable and stability, refuse (verb) and refuse
(noun), label and lapel, etc.
In Hungarian, the vowel system is based on length and lip-rounding; both
features are distinctive. Most importantly, word stress in Hungarian is invari¬
able, and there is no reduction in unstressed syllables: the quality of the vow¬
el /e/ is approximately the same in all the syllables of the word lehetetlen. The
influence of the consonant following a vowel is less marked in Hungarian: there
is no significant vowel shortening.
Some of the English vowels are non-existent in Hungarian: there are no
central vowels and (in standard Hungarian) no diphthongs. The Hungarian
vowel phoneme /e/ corresponds to two phonemes in English: /e/ and /e/. (A
divergent or split category; see Chapter 1.). The place of articulation, and con¬
sequently the quality of most vowels is different: e.g., /1/ and /u/ are half-close
and lax in English, while the corresponding Hungarian short vowels /i/ and
/u/ are close and tense. As a matter of fact, only long /i:/ and /u:/ are articu¬
lated in the same place and have the same quality.
3.3 THE CONSONANT SYSTEM
There are considerable differences between the consonant systems of English
and Hungarian and the articulation of several consonants. There are also some
phonetic differences.
In English, the consonant system is based on the fortis/lenis opposition,
while the voiced/voiceless opposition is a phonetic property. The difference
between voiced and voiceless consonants may be neutralised by devoicing.
Aspiration is a phonetic property of the voiceless obstruents /p, t, k/. Although
phonemically this is not a distinctive feature, the absence of aspiration is per¬
ceived as a foreign accent.
In Hungarian, devoicing does not occur. The consonant system is based on
the voiced/voiceless opposition. Several English consonants — the dental fric¬
atives /8/ and /6/, /tr/ and /dr/, the labio-velar glide /w/, syllabic consonants and
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