- •1. Phonetics as a science. Its branches and methods.
- •2. Phonetics as a science. Its Aspects.
- •3. Phonetics as a science. Its components
- •4. Connection of Phonetics with other branches of Linguistics (Grammar, Lex-gy, Sty-cs).
- •5. Classification of the organs of speech according to their sound-producing functions
- •6. Vowel classification.
- •9. Differences in the articulation basis of English and Russian vowels. Typical mistakes
- •7. Modification of vowels in connected speech
- •8. Principles of Consonant classification.
- •10. Differences in the Articulation Bases of the English and Russian Consonants. Typical mistakes of Russian learners.
- •11. Modiffication of consonants in connected speech
- •12. The Main Types of Accomodation
- •13. Assimilation according to its direction and degree
- •14. Modification of Consonants according to the Place of Articulation
- •15. Modification of consonants according to the manner of articulation
- •16. Differences in the process of Assimilation concerning the English and Russian languages.
- •17. The phomene: the problem of its definition
- •18. The Main Aspects of the Phoneme.
- •20, The Main Trends in the Phoneme Theory. Different points of View.
- •II. Functional view - special focus is given to the ability of the phoneme to differentiate the meaning.
- •21. Methods of phonological analysis
- •22. The phoneme and its Allophones. Their interrelation
- •23. Phonological and phonetic mistakes
- •Allophones. Their Classification.
- •25. The problem of neutralization of the phonemic opposition. Two main trends: Moscow and St.Petersburg
- •26. Typology of Accentual Structure of English words (worked out by Torsuev)
- •28. Functions of Word Stress: recessive retentive rhythmical semantic.
- •27. Word Stress. Its Nature, Position and Degree.
- •29. Intonation. The problem of its definition. Different approaches
- •30. Intonation. Its Notation, Different approaches.
- •31. The main structural components of the intonation pattern
- •32.Functions of Intonation.
- •34. Stylistic use of intonation.
- •33. The notion of the English rhythm
- •35. Pronunciation standards of English
22. The phoneme and its Allophones. Their interrelation
The founder of the phoneme theory was I.A.Baudoiun de Courtenay, the Russian scientist of Polish origin. His theory of the phoneme was developed and perfected by L.V.Shcherba, who was the first to put forward the idea of the distinctive function of the phoneme. He stated that sounds are not only articulatory and acoustic units, but they also possess functional properties. He also noticed that in actual speech we utter a much greater variety of sounds than we are aware of and that in every language sounds are united in a comparatively small number of sound types, which are capable of distinguishing the meaning of words. It is these sound types that we have in mind when discussing speech sounds. Such sound types are called phonemes. The various speech sounds that we actually pronounce represent these sound types and are called phonetic variants or allophones.
23. Phonological and phonetic mistakes
Naturally anyone who studies a foreign language makes mistakes in the articulation of particular sounds.
L.V.Shcherba classified the pronunciation errors as phonetic and phonological.
If an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme the mistake is called phonological, because the meaning of the word is changed: E.g., when the vowel [i:] in the word [li:v] becomes slightly more open and refracted and is no longer diphthongized the word "leave" may be perceived as quite a different word "live".
If an allophone of the phoneme is replaced by another allophone of the same phoneme the mistake is called phonetic (non-phonemic, non-phonological). In this case the meaning of the word is not changed. But nevertheless language learners should not let phonetic mistakes into their pronunciation. If they do make them it will result in a great foreign accent.
Allophones. Their Classification.
The various speech sounds that we actually pronounce are called phonetic variants or allophones.
I/ Allophones are classified into: typical or principal and subsidiary. The typical variant of the phoneme is free from the influence of the neighbouring sounds and it is the most representative of all allophones.
For example, the English consonant [k] as pronounced in the word "kite" [kait] has all the characteristic features included in the phonetic definition and description of the phoneme [k], namely: it is backlingual, plosive, aspirated and voiceless. Therefore it is the principal variant of the English [k] phoneme. In the word "fact" [fækt] the sound [k] lacks two of the characteristic features of the principal variant of the English [k] phoneme. It is not plosive and aspirated. Therefore it is a non-plosive, non-aspirated subsidiary variant of the English [k] phoneme.
II/ Allophones can be positional and combinatory. Positional allophones are used in certain positions traditionally. For example, the English [1] phoneme is always "clear" in the initial position and "dark" in the terminal position. Combinatory allophones appear as the result of assimilation, adaptation, accommodation - that is when one phoneme influences another.