- •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.
12)The principal theories of syllable formation and syllable division.
To explain the mechanism of syllabic formation several theories have been produced.
1)The most ancient theory states that there are as many syllables as there are vowels. But it doesn’t take into consideration that consonants can also form syllables.
2) The expiratory theory- as many syllables as there are expiratory pulses. It is inconsistent because it is possible to pronounce several syllables in exhalation.
3) A more popular theory- the relative sonority theory. Here the term sonority has another meaning. It is the carrying power of the sounds, their perceptibility. Although they are heard by the same normal pitch and force of utterance, they have different physical properties. Prof O. Jespersen proved that there are different degrees of sonority and established the scale of prominence: 1. Low v /a:, o:, o/; 2. Mid v /e, ^/; 3. High v /i:, I, u:, u/; 4. Semi-v /w,j/; 5. Sonorants /l, r, m, n, ng/; 6. Voiced constrictive cons /v, z, 3/; 7. Voiced plosive cons /b, d, g/; 8. Voiceless constrictive cons /d3, f, sh/; 9. Voiceless plosive cons /p, t, k/. The most sonorous are back vowels, then semi-v and sonorants, then voiced and voiceless cons. Sounds are grouped around the most sonorous tones- they form the peak of sonority in a syllable. Disadvantages: the theory fails to explain the mechanism of syllabic division, it does not state to which syll the weak sound of the boundary belongs.
4) L.V. Shcherba applied the muscular tension theory and the three types of consonants theory. He explained the phenomenon of syllable formation by muscular tension impulses. Each impulse has its strongest point/the peak of prominence and its weakest point/ the valley of prominence. Valleys of prominence correspond to the points of syllabic division. Types of consonants: 1. Initially strong (it, oath, add). The beginning of a cons is more energetic while the end is weaker. The more energetic part of a cons is attached to a vowel so that initially strong cons occur in the end of a closed syll, followed by short vowels. 2. Finally strong (may, tea, new). The beginning of a cons is weak, the end- is more energetic, occur at the beginning of a syll, followed by long vowels. 3. Geminate/double (midday, what time). A cons is pronounced in such a way that both the beginning and the end are energetic with a weakening of a muscular tension in the middle. Acoustically give the impression of 2 cons.
5) “Loudness theory” by N.I. Zhinkin. He stated that syllables are to a rise and fall of loudness. Loudness is regulated in the lower part of pharynx with the help of the epiglottis. Zhinkin asserts that every phoneme possesses specific inherent loudness, which manifests itself when the sounds are pronounces in sequences. Syllables are due to “curves of loudness”. Syllabic phoneme possesses greater inherent loudness. Loudness depends on the amplitude of sound waves. It should be mixed with inherent sonority, which depends on the degree of noise and muscular sound in phoneme.