The TRAP-BATH split in RP: A linguistic index for English learners
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James H. Yang
Abstract
Received Pronunciation (RP) holds prestige not only in the UK, but also in many Outer and Expanding Circle countries and, even in the US, but the TRAP-BATH split (TBS) in RP, which refers to the shift from the vowel /a/ to /ɑː/, has still remained ambiguous because this sound shift contains inconsistent realizations that occur in identical codas, as illustrated in such lexical pairs as class but gas, path but math, last but enthusiast. What makes this sound feature more complicated is sociolinguistic variation. Although earlier discoveries have enhanced our understanding of the TBS, neither a definitive word list nor lexical frequency are provided for learners to enunciate BATH words. To provide RP learners with a linguistic index to learn BATH lexical set, this study expanded Wells’s study by including additional 16 phonetic environments, which generated a total of 304 relevant words for examining their pronunciation defined by dictionaries. The findings show that 13 out of the 30 environments can trigger the TBS more than 50% of the time. In particular, seven of them can completely predict the TBS (over 91%), and one of them can fully do so (83%). This feature appears as a regular conditioned sound pattern if well-defined by its phonetic environments.
Acknowledgements
This study was granted by Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (105-2410-H-224-030). The author would like to thank his assistants, Allen Hong, Yvonne Song, and Bruce Wang, for their help with the data collection and analysis. He is also very grateful for the anonymous reviews and suggestions, which have made all of the earlier revision efforts worthwhile and rewarding.
Appendix A: The TBS occurrence rates in different words.
| # | -C | /ɑ:/ | /a/ | % | TP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | θ# | bath, path | 29 | 57 | |
| lath | hath, math | 14 | |||
| rath | strath | 14 | |||
| 2 | -ðə# | rather | gather | 17 | 34 |
| lather | blather, fathom, slather | 17 | |||
| 0 | |||||
| 3 | -f# | calf, giraffe, graph, half, laugh, staff | 27 | 41 | |
| chaff, epitaph, quaff | caff, carafe, decaf, faff, gaff, gaffe, naff, raff, riffraff, pilaf | 14 | |||
| chiffchaff, draff, staph | 0 | ||||
| 4 | -ft# | craft, daft, draft, shaft | 33 | 91 | |
| graft, raft, aft, waft | kaftan | 33 | |||
| haft, abaft, kraft | 25 | ||||
| 5 | -ftə# | after, laughter, thereafter | 50 | 100 | |
| rafter, hereafter | 33 | ||||
| wafter | 17 | ||||
| 6 | -fl# | 0 | 0 | ||
| baffle, raffle, snaffle | 0 | ||||
| 0 | |||||
| 7 | -f- | traffic, graphic | 0 | 0 | |
| caftan, hermaphrodite, kaftan | 0 | ||||
| naphtha | 0 | ||||
| 8 | -lv# | valve | 0 | 50 | |
| calve, halve | salve | 50 | |||
| 0 | |||||
| 9 | -s# | bypass, class, glass, grass, pass | gas, mass | 21 | 33 |
| brass, surpass | alas, amass, ass, crass, harass, has, lass, morass, sass, cuirass | 8 | |||
| declass | admass, camas, strass, trass | 4 | |||
| 10 | -st# | blast, cast, contrast, fast, last, vast | 29 | 62 | |
| aghast, caste, mast, past | enthusiast, gymnast, iconoclast, lambast, pederast | 19 | |||
| avast, flabbergast | bast, chiliast, clast | 14 | |||
| 11 | -stə# | disaster, master, plaster | pasta | 30 | 60 |
| caster, pastor, blaster | aster, canasta | 30 | |||
| raster | 0 | ||||
| 12 | -st- | astronaut, drastic, fantastic, plastic | 0 | 21 | |
| bastard, ghastly, nasty, pasteurize, pastime, pastoral, plasterboard | asteroid, bastion, castanets, castigate, chastity, elastic, gastric, gymnastic, mastic, masticate, mastiff, mastitis, masturbate, monastic, pastel, procrastinate, sarcastic, scholastic, spastic | 21 | |||
| mastodon, mastoid, onomastic | 0 | ||||
| 13 | -sk# | ask, mask, task | 37 | 100 | |
| bask, cask, flask, masque | 50 | ||||
| casque | 13 | ||||
| 14 | -sk- | basket | masculine | 10 | 30 |
| casket, rascal | ascot, emasculate, gasket, mascot, masquerade, vascular | 20 | |||
| 0 | |||||
| 15 | -sp# | clasp, gasp, grasp | 50 | 83 | |
| hasp, rasp | asp | 33 | |||
| 0 | |||||
| 16 | -sp- | aspect, aspirin | 0 | 20 | |
| exasperate | aspen, asphalt, aspic, aspirant, diaspora, jasper | 20 | |||
| 0 | |||||
| 17 | -sl# | castle | hassle | 20 | 20 |
| tassel, vassal | 0 | ||||
| passel | 0 | ||||
| 18 | -sn# | fasten | 10 | 100 | |
| 0 | |||||
| 0 | |||||
| 0 | |||||
| 19 | -s- | classic, passage, passenger | 0 | 0 | |
| blasphemy, chassis, gasoline | 0 | ||||
| 0 | |||||
| 20 | -ns# | advance, chance, dance, enhance, glance, stance | finance, romance | 33 | 61 |
| lance, mischance, perchance, prance, trance | expanse, manse | 28 | |||
| nance | 0 | ||||
| 21 | -ns- | answer, chancellor | fancy, handsome, transfer, transport, translate | 14 | 28 |
| chancel, lancet | cancel, cancer, nancy, ransom, transom | 14 | |||
| 0 | |||||
| 22 | -nt# | aunt, grant, plant | ant | 19 | 32 |
| chant, slant | adamant, cant, decant, descant, extant, gallivant, pant, rant, recant, scant | 13 | |||
| brant, courant | 0 | ||||
| 23 | -nt- | advantage | fantastic, fantasy, romantic | 7 | 21 |
| plantation | anti, banter, canter, mantle, pantomime, phantom | 7 | |||
| chanter | antic, panty | 7 | |||
| 24 | -nʃ# | 0 | 100 | ||
| tranche | 33 | ||||
| planche, revanche | 67 | ||||
| 25 | -nʃən# | expansion, mansion | 0 | 0 | |
| scansion | 0 | ||||
| 0 | |||||
| 26 | -ntʃ# | branch | 20 | 100 | |
| blanch, ranch, avalanche | 60 | ||||
| stanch | 20 | ||||
| 27 | stressed-m-nd# | comm’and, dem’and | 50 | 100 | |
| rem’and, reprim’and | 50 | ||||
| (’summand, ’confirmand) | 0 | ||||
| 28 | -nd# | band, brand, expand, grand, hand, land, stand, strand | 0 | 0 | |
| ampersand, candy, gland, rand | 0 | ||||
| multiplicand | 0 | ||||
| 29 | -nd- | grandson, handle | 0 | 22 | |
| chandler, slander | badlands, gander, panda, shandy | 22 | |||
| glissando | 0 | ||||
| 30 | -mpl# | example, sample | ample | 40 | 40 |
| amplify, trample | 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Note: Infrequent words are marked in italics, while difficult words are marked in boldface.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Interactions between type of form-focused instruction, type of morphosyntactic form, and type of language knowledge
- The TRAP-BATH split in RP: A linguistic index for English learners
- L1 transfer, proficiency, and the recognition of L2 verb-noun collocations: A perspective from three languages
- Complexity, accuracy, and fluency in the argumentative writing of ESL and EFL learners
- Effects of dynamic and non-dynamic corrective feedback on EFL writing accuracy during dyadic and small group interactions
- Universals and transfer in the acquisition of the progressive aspect: Evidence from L1 Chinese, German, and Spanish learners’ use of the progressive -ing in spoken English
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Interactions between type of form-focused instruction, type of morphosyntactic form, and type of language knowledge
- The TRAP-BATH split in RP: A linguistic index for English learners
- L1 transfer, proficiency, and the recognition of L2 verb-noun collocations: A perspective from three languages
- Complexity, accuracy, and fluency in the argumentative writing of ESL and EFL learners
- Effects of dynamic and non-dynamic corrective feedback on EFL writing accuracy during dyadic and small group interactions
- Universals and transfer in the acquisition of the progressive aspect: Evidence from L1 Chinese, German, and Spanish learners’ use of the progressive -ing in spoken English
