- •1) Phonetics as a science:
- •2)Experimental phonetics: Methods of investigation (The direct observation method; The experimental method; The distributional method; The semantic method).
- •3)The aspects of speech sounds.
- •4)Physical properties of sounds.
- •5)The organs of speech and their functions: Active and passive organs of speech; The articulatory mechanism and its work.
- •6)Articulatory and physiological classification of English vowels in the works of Soviet, British and American phoneticians.
- •7)Articulatory and physiological classification of English consonants in the works of Soviet, British and American phoneticians.
- •8)Segmental and suprasegmental phonemes: The definition of the phoneme; The aspects of the phoneme; The functions of the phoneme.
- •9) Phonemes and Allophones: The principal allophone; The subsidiary allophones (types); Distinctive and non-distinctive features of phonemes; The invariant of the phoneme.
- •10)Connected speech: Lexical and function words; Strong and weak forms; Neutralization; Assimilation (types); Dissimilation; Accommodation; Elision; Intrusion; Linking (Fillers).
- •11)Syllable: Definition; Parts of syllable; Types and functions of syllables; The structure of the syllable.
- •12)The principal theories of syllable formation and syllable division.
- •13)The accentual structure of English words: Word stress (its types and functions); Sentence stress; Degrees of word stress; The factors that determine the degree and the place of stress.
- •15) Transcription and transliteration. Types of transcription.
- •16)Phonostylistics: The components of extralinguistic situation; The factors which result in phonostylistic varieties.
- •17)Intonation: Definition; The components of intonation and their functions.
- •18)The methods for recording intonation patterns in writing and advantages and disadvantages of these methods.
- •19)The most important nuclear tones in English. Simple and complex tones. High and low falling tones. The types of scales in English.
- •20) The most important elements in the pitch-and-stress pattern of an intonation group (An intonation pattern; The characteristics of an intonation group).
- •21)The pitch and sentence stress components of intonation and their graphical representation on the staves or in the line of text itself.
- •22) Territorial Varieties of English pronunciation. The orthoepic norm. The national language of England. Literary English. Rp and ga.
- •23)Spread of English.
- •24)English-based pronunciation standards of English.
- •25)American - based pronunciation standards of English.
7)Articulatory and physiological classification of English consonants in the works of Soviet, British and American phoneticians.
A consonant is sound produced with the obstruction to the airstream. The organs of sp are tense at the place of obstruction. The particular quality of consonant depends on the work of the vocal cords, the position of soft palate, mouth/ nasal cavity.
English consonants can be classified acc to the following principals:
Soviet phoneticians suggest the classification from the viewpoint of closure. It may be: 1) complete closure- is formed when the organs of sp come in contact with each other- the occlusive (stop or closive) and nasal consonants are produced [p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, ng] and R.S. [п, б, к, г, п’, б’, т’, д’, к’, г’, м’, н’, м, н]. 2) incomplete closure- is formed when the articulator is held close to the articulation as to constrict the air passage without locking it - than constrictive are produced: E.S. [f,v,th, th,h,s,z,sh,3,w,j,r] and R.S. [ф,в,с,з,х,ф’,в’,с’,з’,ж,ш,ж’,ш’,й,л,л’]. 3) intermittent closure- is formed when a series of rapid intermittent taps is made by a flexible organ on a fixed surface – affricates (ch, d3)
According to the work of the vocal cords and the force of escalation consonants are subdivided into voiced “lenis”- the force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension are weaker (b,d,g,v,z, 3) and voiceless “fortis”- the force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension are greater [p, t , k ,s ,f, th, h ,sh].
According to the sp organs involved and the place of obstruction. 1)Labial: bilabial – produced with both lips [p, b, m, n]; labiodentals – articulated with te lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth [f, v]. 2)Lingual: forelingual- articulated with the tip of the blade of the tongue
According to the apposition of the tip of the tongue they may be: dorsal – articulated by the blade of the tongue[t], apical- against alv ridge/ upper teeth [t, d, s, z, th], cacuminal- tip raised against the back part of the alv ridge, the front is lowered forming a spoon [r]. Mediolingual – with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate [j]. Backlingual- produced with the back part of the t raised towards soft palate [k, g, ng]. Acc to the place of obstructon: interdental –the tip of the t is between the teeth [th], dental, alveolar- the tip of the t against the upper teeth ridge [t, d, s, z, n, l], post-alveolar- the tip/blade against the back part of the teeth ridge [r], palato-alveolar – the tip of the blade of the t against teeth ridge.
Acc to the position of the soft palate: oral- when the soft palate is raised and the air from the lungs gets into the pharynx and then into the mouth cavity [p, t, k, f, v]; nasal- when the soft palate is lowered and th air on its way out passes through the nasal cavity [n, ng, m].
Acc to the shape of narrowing constrictive cons and affricates are subdivided into sounds with flat narrowing [f, v, th, sh, d3], round narr [s, z, w].
Acc to the principle of noise prevalence. Soviet phon: occlusive –noise/nasals and sonorants; constrictives –noise/affricatives and sonorants.
Acc to manner of noise production. Occlusive noise cons are subdivided into plosive –sp organs forn a complete obstruction which is then quickly released with explosion [d], affricates- sp organs forma a complete obstruction, it is released, but slowly [ch, d3].