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OCR
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 (voiceless) 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 sensitive 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 invariable, and there is no reduction in unstressed syllables: the quality of the vowel /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 consequently 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 articulated 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 perceived 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 fricatives /8/ and /6/, /tr/ and /dr/, the labio-velar glide /w/, syllabic consonants and +41 »
