User:MiltonLibraryAssistant/Idiolect

General description

The English spoken in Singapore is generally non-rhotic like Australian English, Nigerian English and Received Pronunciation.

The lax and tense vowel sets are not always distinguished, e.g. good mood /ˈɡud ˈmud/, psalm–sum merger /ˈsam ˈsam ˈməːd͡ʒə/. Anecdotally, speakers are more likely to distinguish /ɪ, i/.

• The trap–bath split is universal.
• Most speakers seldom distinguish /æ/ from /ɛ/. Before /ɹ/, there is no distinction.
• /æ/ and /ɛ/ are more likely to be differentiated before fricatives and voiced consonants in words of a single syllable, e.g. man , men .
• The vowels /ɑː eɪ iː uː oʊ ɔː/ are shorter before voiceless consonant codas and longer elsewhere, e.g. cord , caught .
• Before word-final /v/, /ʌ/ corresponds to /ə/ in SgE, e.g. glove /ɡləv/, except in the words shove /ʃʌv/ and gov /ɡʌv/.
• The vowels /eɪ/ and /oʊ/ may have monophthongal or diphthongal realisations, e.g. late or , name or .
• There may be a length distinction between lot and thought before voiced consonants, e.g. gnawed , nod . The thought vowel is long in open syllables. lot is usually a little further front in vowel space. Some speakers merge the two vowels: in closed syllables, and in open ones. For younger speakers, these two vowels are usually the same before voiceless stop codas in words like cot and caught, there is some room for distinction in other words like nod and gnawed .
• Words spelt with -ayer : prayer, layer, etc. end in /-eɪə/ rather than /-ɛː/. Lair ends in /-eɪə/ for many too (so it no longer rhymes with fair).
• /uː/ is not as front as the same vowel in RP, though it is usually not as back as /uː/ in Finnish. For some older speakers, it is quite far back. For younger speakers, /uː/ is more likely to be a little further front .
• /ʊ/ is always a very short vowel and may have some overlap with /uː/ on scatter plots. It has about the same vowel height as /ɪ/ and is generally not as high as /iː uː/ on average. It is not as far back as the caught /ɔː/ vowel.
• On formant plots, /ɔː/ is usually the backest vowel, followed by /oʊ/ and /ɒ/, then /uː/ and /ʊ/.

Next–text split

A vowel split affecting the dress lexical set in SgE has triggered /ɛ/-raising in a handful of words, including next, leg and bed. Even though most of these words end in -d or -g, this change is unsystematic, and impossible to predict. Leg is pronounced with the raised vowel /e/, whereas peg has the usual /ɛ/ vowel, so peg and leg do not rhyme. Similarly, next has the raised vowel, and does not rhyme with text. This has resulted in minimal pairs like red /ɹed/ and read /ɹɛd/ (past tense). The vowel in edge varies from speaker to speaker — it is either /ɛ/ or /e/, though the former is overall more common.

/e/ may not be distinguishable from /eɪ/. In more open environments (e.g. heavy ), there is a tendency for /e/ to be lengthened.

Speakers who treat /e/ as a separate phoneme and distinguish met–mat before voiced stops may maintain a four-way distinction between raid /ɹeɪd/, red /ɹed/, read (past tense) /ɹɛd/ and rad /ɹæd/ , but this is very rarely the case as next–face and dress–trap are often merged.

This phenomenon is reminiscent of, but unrelated to /ɛ/-raising in Pacific Northwest English. Egg is pronounced /eɪɡ~eɡ/, but does not rhyme with beg in Singapore English.

Words with the /e/ vowel replacing /ɛ/.

• † Some speakers

trap–bath split: Words with /ɑː/

• † Usually, or varies from speaker to speaker

trap–bath split: Words with /æ/

• † Varies from speaker to speaker

The KIT vowel diaphoneme

Some words, like Bukit (in Malay place names) and stick (the noun, not the verb) exemplify free variation between and , both very short, near-high vowels. This does not apply to the vowel in kit, kick, attic, etc. (most cases), which is always . Other words serving as examples of this phenomenon include Temasek, orchid, begin, six, thick (less common), circuit (less common) and mix (but not fix). As a result of this, thick /tek~θek/ and tick /tɪk/ do not rhyme for a number of speakers. I assume this is due to influence from the Malay language. To my ears, this vowel is identical to the next vowel, so it may be categorised under the same lexical set, alongside words with the raised /e/ like bed and said. Speakers also use this vowel to approximate the Hokkien e vowel in loanwords from Hokkien, take for example heng (“fortunate”) /heŋ(˦)/, Kim Seng /ˌkɪm ˈseŋ/.

The word ruin exemplifies free variation with the schwa.

Unstressed /ɪ/ before final /t/ in RP corresponds to /ɪ/, /e/, /ə/ or /ɛ/ in SgE. The word digit is pronounced /ˈdɪd͡ʒɪt/, market is pronounced /ˈmɑːket/, closet is /ˈklɔzət/ and rocket is /ˈɹɔkɛt/. Note that there is a lot of variation here.

Words in which the KIT diaphoneme can manifest as an /e/

• † Some speakers. Others will maintain the original KIT vowel.

Words in which the KIT diaphoneme manifests as a /ə/

Words in which the KIT diaphoneme can manifest as an /ɛ/ or /ə/

Other words, like digit, visit, remain, etc. retain the original KIT vowel /ɪ/.

/ɛəɹ.ɪə/ → /eɪ.ɹɪə/ and /ɛ.ɹɪə/

In the word area /ˈeɪ.ɹɪə/, the a is an /eɪ/ sound, the /ˈɛ.ɹɪə/ pronunciation is less common but not atypical. However, in barrier /ˈbɛ.ɹɪə/, /ɛ.ɹ/ is the only possible pronunciation. The word librarian and other words ending in -arian may fall into in either category, with some speakers using /eɪ.ɹ/, and others /ɛ.ɹ/; /eɪ.ɹ/ seems to be more common though.

• /eɪ.ɹ/ words — area (many speakers)
• /ɛ.ɹ/ words — carrion, barium, chariot, hilarious, nefarious, scarier, carrier, barrier
• May fall into either category — variant, various, Bulgaria, Bavaria, malaria, words beginning with aero-, ending in -arian or long words ending in -arium

Note that this only applies to words spelt with the letter a, words like terrier retain the /ɛ.ɹɪə/ pronunciation.

Dairy and fairy

For some speakers, dairy /ˈdeɪ.ɹi/ does not rhyme with fairy /ˈfɛ(ː).ɹi/.

• Words that rhyme with dairy — prairie, (fewer speakers) vary
• Words that rhyme with fairy — hairy, scary, Mary, marry, merry, bury, etc.

The schwa in larva and comma

Words ending with -a (RP /-ə/) correspond to either /-ɑ/ or /-ə/ in SgE (this is not predictable).

• Sofa, larva, opera, cinema and koala usually end with /-ɑ/ .
• China, India, comma, camera and stanza usually end with /-ə/.

The -er ending is always /-ə/.

Words that usually end with /-ɑ/

Words that usually end with /-ə/

Words that may end with /-ə/ or /-ɑ/, depending on the speaker

Occasional vowel harmony

For some speakers, there is a tendency for /ɔ(ː)/ to be raised to a close-mid monophthong in borrow, follow, also, already (note that the -ea- vowel is raised, much like the e in next) and the prefix auto-, so that it's at the same height level as the next vowel in sequence.

Other patterns

• There /ðɛː/ and their /ðjɑː/ are not homophones, and neither are flower /ˈflaʊ.ə/ and flour /ˈflɑː/.
• Your /jɔː/ and you're /jʊə/ may have different pronunciations for some speakers, otherwise they're both /jɔː/. Words like cure and endure may end in /-jɔː/, /-jʊə/ or /-jɜː/, words without a preceding /j/ like tour and sure can only end in /-ʊə/.
• The words chew, Jew and grew (-ew following a postalveolar consonant) may end in rather than for some speakers. The surname Chew is pronounced , never *, which is a totally different surname.
• The RP sequence /æl/ may correspond to either /ɛl/ or /ɑːl/ in preconsonantal environments. The word calculate can start with /ˈkɛl-/ or /ˈkɑːl-/. Before vowels, it corresponds to /ɛl/ only, so salary and celery are homophones.
• The -er- sound in words like serious /ˈsiːɹɪəs/ and material /məˈtiːɹɪəl/ is /-iː.ɹ- ~ -ɪ.ɹ-/ and never a diphthong /-ɪəɹ-/. Consecutive /ɪə/ sounds are avoided. Likewise in zero /ˈziːɹoʊ/, the -er- sound is not a diphthong as it is immediately followed by a vowel in the same morpheme.
• Likewise, the -ur- in Europe /ˈjuɹoʊp ~ ˈjʊɹoʊp/ and Uranus /juˈɹeɪnəs ~ jʊˈɹeɪnəs/ is never realised as a diphthong.

Pronunciation of ⟨th⟩

Th-stopping for initial th is common. The can be pronounced or . Th-fronting for coda /θ, ð/ is also common. Intervocalically, and as the final consonant in a consonant cluster (e.g. tenth), the original pronunciations of /θ, ð/ are more likely be maintained. Other speakers may th-stop or th-front. This change is not always consistent, e.g. maths has a stopped t , breaths does not: , since it's analysed as two morphemes, breath + s (maths is just a shortening of mathematics). In tenths, stopped th sounds are more common due to assimilation with the n and s sounds (whereas tenth is almost always ). Initial, stressed stopped /θ/ sounds surface as unaspirated stops , sometimes weak, unaspirated dental stops , less commonly aspirated stops . Regular /t/ sounds are more likely to be aspirated than stopped /θ/ sounds in initial positions. Another very common sound change is /θɹ/ → /tɹ/ .

L-vocalization

Word-final or preconsonantal /l/ is vocalised into a high, back vowel like or . After /ɔː, oː, uː, aʊ, ɔɪ/ and sometimes /ə/, this sound may be lost altogether. Before coda /l/, /aɪ/ is monophthongized to , e.g. mile . This is the case for most speakers. In other accents (especially accents influenced by languages that permit unvelarized coda /l/), /l/ may not be vocalised.

Aspiration

Aspiration of /p, t, k/ varies from speaker to speaker (except in loanwords from Chinese, aspiration is usually kept for those familiar with Chinese languages). It is natural for initial or stressed /p, t, k/ to have aspiration. Tenuis plosives are kept in loanwords (tenuis, voiced and aspirated stops can be found in loanwords of Hokkien or Teochew origin). Direct loanwords from Malay are usually pronounced with unaspirated stops.

Pronunciation of ⟨wh⟩

The wine-whine merger is complete, except for some older speakers, common content words maintain /hw/, e.g. white /hwaɪt/, and function words like what may be pronounced with /hw/ when enunciated or stressed (older speakers only).

Coda stop consonants

Most of the time, word-final stops are not audibly released, e.g. cab .

Coda /t, k/ may have additional glottal reinforcement in stressed syllables, e.g. rat .

• Eggplants are called brinjals /ˈbɹɪnd͡ʒɒl/ or eggplants, never aubergines.
• Taps, not faucets.

See w:Singapore English#Stress and Intonation. Loanwords of Sinitic origin usually keep their original tones.

• Phrases that are pronounced with flat low pitch throughout include: the, in, to, for (unstressed function words), when (except in questions), into, unto, about (as in "talked about" and "about to", not the senses with the meaning of "around"), Mr., Mrs. (as titles), number (before a cardinal number, e.g. "locker number nine").
• Phrases consisting of a single prosodic word include: rat, tree, mouse, fire, what (even as a relative pronoun), driver, peanut, creative, original, aluminium, dioxide, ice cream, unhappy (the un- is low-pitched), nonsense, Tibet, Poland, New Zealand (new is low-pitched), New (·) Guinea (depends on whether new is stressed), New York (new is either low-pitched or mid-level), England, Hong Kong, TV, millimetres, Switzerland, storeroom, hyphenated numbers like thirty-two, fifty-nine, etc.
• Phrases consisting of 2 prosodic words include: green·house, under·neath, water·melon, un·impressed (the un- is high-pitched), anti·septic, names ending in -berg, -stein, -dóttir, or -field, and other compound word names not including names ending in -son, New · Jersey, Ire·land, Scot·land, Somali·land, Fin·land, Ice·land, Nor·way, the Nether(·)lands (varies), cran·berry, X(·)-ray (depends on the speaker).
• Phrases consisting of 3 prosodic words include: anti·clock·wise, anti·dis·establishmentarianism, New · South · Wales, A·T·M, Lux·em·bourg.

• New is low-pitched in New Zealand, high-pitched in New Jersey, and either low-pitched or mid-level in New York. This means that New is unstressed in New Zealand, and stressed in New Jersey. For New York, either one of two things can happen: New is unstressed, or New York itself is analysed as a single prosodic unit with initial stress on New.
• The Ire in Ireland, Scot in Scotland and Hol in Holland are high-pitched, intonationally separate prefixes, but the Eng in England is mid-level and not analysed as a separate prosodic word.
• Norway and Svalbard are analysed as two prosodic words, Nor·way / Sval·bard, but Denmark and Sweden are not.
• Luxembourg has three prosodic words, generating a H-H-H pitch contour. This is extremely unusual since -em- isn't at all a common standalone word or affix. Something like Luxem·bourg (M-H-H) would have been expected.
• -stan in country names does not constitute a separate prosodic word.
• Ice cream is analysed as a single prosodic word despite being composed of two words orthographically.
• Peanut is also analysed as a single prosodic word. Unlike ground·nut, hazel·nut and pea·flower for example.
• Uncommon prefixes like micro- and giga- may constitute their own separate prosodic words (except in microscope), but the more commonly used prefixes milli-, kilo- and centi- do not.
• Storeroom is a single prosodic word for some speakers, despite being a compound word.
• For hyphenated numbers like "forty-three", forty itself is wholly unstressed and the stress placement falls on three, giving a LLH pitch contour.

The four tones are /ma⁴⁴/, /ma²⁴/, /ma²¹³/ and /ma⁴²/ respectively. The third tone may simplify to or and may be realised with creaky voice.

Consonants

• Before /i, j/ and an unrounded vowel, x, j and q are laminal alveolar with optional palatalisation , e.g. 千 (qiān) .
• Before /y, ɥ/, or /i, j/ and a rounded vowel, x, j and q are laminal palato-alveolar , e.g. 絕／绝 (jué) , 休 (xiū) .
• The initial h is always glottal and r is always an approximant .
• Syllables like 一 (yī) and 無／无 (wú) are never realised with glide initials.
• w is always , never which is found in other accents.
• Most speakers (especially older speakers) use alveolar for sh, zh and ch, like in Taiwanese Mandarin.
• Other speakers are more likely to use apical postalveolar without too much retroflexion, somewhat like English sh, ch.

Vowels

• The vowel in 龍／龙 (lóng) is cardinal .
• The vowel in 和 (hé) is equivalent to the schwa in English .