the_theory_of_phonetics_lectures
.docxLECTURE 1 THE SUBJECT- MATTER OF PHONETICS OUTLINE
1. Phonetics as an independent branch of linguistics.
2. The branches of phonetics.
3. Theoretical and practical significance of phonetics.
LITERATURE:
S.F. Leontyeva. A theoretical Course of English Phonetics. M., 1988, P.P.8 - 21
V.A. Vassilyev. English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course. M.,1970, P.P. 7 - 28
M.A. Sokolova. English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course. M.,1991, P.P.33 - 42
Phonetics is an independent branch of linguistics which is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualized: the nature of these noises, their combinations, and their functions in relation to the meaning.
Only meaningful sound sequences are regarded as speech, and the science of phonetics is concerned only with such sounds produced by a human vocal apparatus as are, or may be, carriers of organized information of language.
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics which studies speech sounds (phonemes), word stress and intonation. Phonetics studies the articulation and acoustic qualities of speech sounds, the physical characteristics and sound perception of stress and intonation, the lexical and grammatical role of phonemes, word stress and intonation. In other words, it studies the sound matter of the language, its aspects and functions.
It follows from this that phonetics is a basic branch of linguistics; neither linguistic theory nor linguistic practice can do without phonetics, and no language description is complete without phonetics. That is why phonetics, the science concerned with the spoken medium of language, claims to be of equal importance with lexicology, grammar and stylistics. Phonetics is describable as the study of the regular meaningful patterning of vocalizations in a language. It includes two levels of analysis and description.
On one level the phonetics of a language can be described in the terms of the individual sounds which speakers use to form words and larger utterances. When we describe the phonetics of a language in this way, we are taking a segmental perspective. The segmental features, or segments, of a language are its consonants and vowels.
From a broader, more global - and more accurate - perspective, the phonetics of a language can be described in terms of features which span (охоплювати) more than one segment. In this style of description, a language is characterised in terms of its transsegmental or suprasegmental properties, or prosodies. The prosodic aspects of speech include such properties as duration, rhythm, stress, pitch, (висота) intonation and loudness. A complete phonetic description of a language will comprise descriptions of both its segmental and transsegmental characteristics.
Thus, phonetics is itself divided into two major components: segmental phonetics, which is concerned with individual sounds ("segments" of speech) and suprasegmental phonetics, whose domain is the larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts.
The connection of phonetics with other linguistic sciences is exercised first of all via orthography, which in its turn is very closely connected with phonetics.
Phonetics formulates the rules of pronunciation for separate sounds and word combinations. The rules of reading are based on the relation of sounds to orthography. Through the system of rules of reading phonetics is connected with grammar. For example, one of the most important phonetic phenomena - sound interchange - shows these connections. It can be observed in the category of number. Thus, the interchange of F-V, S-Z, helps to differentiate singular and plural forms of the nouns as CALF-CALVES (), HOUSE-HOUSES. Vowel interchange helps to distinguish the singular and the plural of such words s MAN-MEN, MOUSE-MICE etc. It is also connected with the tense forms of irregular verbs: SING-SANG-SUNG; WRITE-WROTE-WRITTEN. It also helps to distinguish between parts of speech: BATH-BATHE; HOT-HEAT; TYPE-TYPICAL.
Phonetics is also connected with grammar through its intonation component. Intonation can serve to single out the logical predicate of the sentence:
He came home. Not Mary or John.
He came home. You can see him now.
He came home. Not to the club.
Phonetics is also connected with lexicology. It is only due to the presence of stress in the right place, that we can distinguish certain nouns from verbs: OBJECT - TO OBJECT; ABSTRACT - TO ABSTRACT. Homographs can be differentiated only due to pronunciation, because they are identical in spelling: LEAD - LEAD, WIND - WIND. The position of the word stress helps to distinguish between homonymous words and word groups: BLACKBIRD - BLACK BIRD.
Phonetics is also connected with stylistics through intonation and its components: speech melody, utterance stress, rhythm, pausation, which serve to express emotions, to distinguish between different attitudes on the part of the speaker. It is also connected with stylistics through repetitions of words, phrases and sounds. Repetition of this kind serves the basis of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration (the use of the same consonant (consonantal alliteration) or of a vowel, not necessarily the same vowel (vocalic alliteration), at the beginning of each word or each stressed syllable in a line of verse, as in around the rock the ragged rascal ran).
Phonetics has the following branches: articulatory and perceptive; acoustic; functional.
The branch of phonetics that studies the way in which the air is set in motion, the movements of the speech organs and the coordination of these movements in the production of the sounds is called articulatory phonetics. The branch of phonetics investigating the hearing process is known as auditory or perceptive phonetics. Its interests lie in the sensation of hearing, which is brain activity. The means by which we discriminate sounds - quality, pitch, loudness, length are relevant there. The articulatory and perceptive branches of phonetics are of great importance to anyone who teaches or studies pronunciation.
Acoustic phonetics studies the way in which the air vibrates between the speaker's mouth and the listener's ear. This branch of phonetics presents special interest for research work and applied linguistics. In the nearest future it may start to play a growing part in teaching phonetics due to the development of computers.
Articulatory and perceptive investigation of speech sounds is done on the basis of a good knowledge of the sound production mechanism, its structure, work and perceptive effects. Acoustic properties of sounds (length, intensity, pitch etc) are investigated by the acoustic and auditory phonetics. Phoneticians cannot only act as describers and classifiers of the material form of phonetic units. They are also interested in the way in which sound phenomena function in a particular language, how they are utilised in that language and what part they play in manifesting the meaningful distinctions of the language. The branch of phonetics that studies the linguistic function of consonant and vowel sounds, syllabic stucture, word accent and prosodic features, such as pitch stress and tempo is called functional phonetics.
Functional phonetics is divided into phonology, general and special phonetics, historical and comparative phonetics, theoretical and practical phonetics and phonostylistics.
Phonology can be described as the study of the sound patterns of languages or of the pronunciation patterns of speakers.
General phonetics studies all the human sound producing possibilities and the functioning of the speech mechanism. It has formulated a set of important theories: the phoneme theory, the theory of syllable division and syllable formation, stress, intonation, graphical rules and rules of orthography. Special phonetics studies the phonetic system of a concrete language.
Historical phonetics studies the phonetic system of a language in its historical development.
Comparative phonetics compares the phonetic systems of different languages.
Theoretical phonetics gives necessary information on theoretical problems of a language, while practical phonetics aims to help learners to master the norms of the language under study. The study of the phonetics from the stylistic point of view is phonostylistics.
Theoretical significance of phonetics is connected with the further development of the synchronic study of the phonetic system of a national language, the comparative analysis of different languages and the diachronic study of the successive changes in the phonetic system of a language. An understanding of phonetics has proved extremely useful in such spheres as the following: investigations in the historical aspects of languages, and in the field of dialectololgy; designing or improving of systems of writing or spelling (orthographies for unwritten languages, shorthand,(стенографія) spelling reform), in questions involving the spelling or pronunciation of personal or place names or of words borrowed from other languages.
Practical significance of phonetics is first of all connected with teaching foreign languages. The teachers of foreign languages are always being told that it is essential that they should be skilful phoneticians. I would say that all language teachers willy-nilly are phoneticians because it is not possible to teach a foreign language to any type of learner, for any person, by any method without giving some attention to pronunciation. And I believe that any attention to pronunciation is phonetics.
A knowledge of a structure of sound systems, and of the articulatory and acoustic properties of the production of speech is indispensable (обов’язковий) in the teaching of foreign languages. The teacher has to know the starting point, which is the sound system of the pupil's mother tongue, as well as the aim of his teaching, which is a mastery of the pronunciation of the language to be learnt. He must be able to point out the differences between these two, and to arrange the adequate training exercises. Ear training and articulatory training are both equally important in modern language training. The introduction of technical equipment -disks, tape recorders, language laboratories, etc. - has brought about a revolution in the teaching of foreign languages.
A study of phonetics has educational value for everyone, realising the importance of language in human communication. Through the study of the nature of language valuable insights are gained into human psychology and into the functioning of man in society. That is why phonetics has considerable social value.
Phonetics enters into a number of specialized fields and it is not possible to restrict the investigation of any phonetic phenomenon by the methods of linguistics only. The way in which phonetics overlaps (частково співпадати) in its subject-matter with other academic studies has become well appreciated over the last few years, and in the past two decades we have seen the development of quite distinct interdisciplinary subjects, such as sociolinguistics (and sociophonetics correspondency), psycholinguistics, mathematical linguistics and others.
In our technological age phonetics has become important in a number of technological fields connected with communication. For instance, in the experimental stage are devices for reading the printed page, that is for converting the printed symbols into synthetic speech.
Within the bounds of possibility is the automatic or phonetic typewriter, which will convert speech directly into printed words on paper. It is certain that further collaboration will develop between phonetics and sound engineering to the mutual benefit of each.
Practical phonetics is also applied in methods of speech correction, in logopedics (in curing pathological speech), in surdo-pedagogics (in teaching deaf -mutes), on radio and television, in film-dubbing, etc. For those who work in speech therapy, which handles pathological conditions of speech, phonetics forms an essential part of the professional training. Phonetics also enters into the training of teachers of the deaf and mute people and can be of relevance to a number of medical and dental problems.
LECTURE 2 PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF SPEECH OUTLINE
1. Levels of analysis
2. The speech mechanism
3. Acoustic and articulatory aspects of speech sounds
4. A phoneme and its phonetic variants
5. Phonetic transcription
LITERATURE:
V.A.Vassilyev.P.P.134-182
S.F.Leontyeva.P.P.48-54
M.A.Sokolova. P.P.33-50
What is that differentiates language from babbling or other kind of vocalizations which would not normally be considered language? It is the possibility of tying the sounds to regular patterns of meaning. Spoken language is a combination or interplay of noises and silences generated by the speech mechanism and mutually arranged in regular and meaningful patterns.
The branch of phonetics which is concerned with relationships between sounds in a language is called phonology. Phonology is describable as the study of regular, meaningful patterning of vocalizations in language. It includes two levels or aspects of analysis and description. On one level, the phonology of a language can be described in terms of individual sounds which speakers use to form words and larger utterances. When we describe the phonology of a language in this way we are taking a segmental perspective. The segmental features, or segments, of a language are its consonants and vowels.
From a broader, more global perspective, the phonology of a language can be described in terms of features which span more than one segment. In this style of description, spoken language is characterized in terms of its suprasegmental (or transsegmental) properties, or prosodies. The prosodic aspects of speech include such properties as: duration, rhythm, stress, pitch, intonation and loudness. A complete phonological description of a language will comprise descriptions of both its segmental and trassegmental characteristics.
We language teachers are primarily interested in phonology, that is in the patterns of sounds which make up speech. However, we must also concern ourselves with phonetics, which is the basis for phonology. If characteristics of individual speech sounds are carefully investigated and precisely described phonetically, then we will be on a firm basis for investigating and describing how the individual sounds pattern (імітувати) within a given language.
It should be mentioned that the prosodic, or transsegmental aspect forms the framework and the basis for the segmental aspect. This is because the transsegmental properties of speech span more than one segment, across stretches of speech. The prosodic aspect can also be thought of as a deeper and more primal (головний) aspect of phonology because it is more directly related to the breath stream which drives the whole speech mechanism. Once the prosodic aspect is determined, then the breath stream is further modified within the vocal tract, beginning at the larynx, to make all the modifications needed to produce individual sounds.
Speech can be described in a general way as a human form of communication in which the organs of speech, the vocal organs, are used to generate patterns of sounds that have meaningful associations. At a very basic level, the speech mechanism has just three components: air, some type of resistance or obstruction, which impinges (ударятись об) the air and so makes a sound of some kind, and some type of amplification (посилення) to make the sound loud enough for people to hear it easily.
Speech is impossible without the following four mechanisms:
- the power mechanism;
- the vibrator mechanism or the voice producing mechanism;
- the resonator mechanism; мех. протяжності
- the obstructor mechanism. перешкоджаючий
The power mechanism consists of the diaphragm, the lungs, the bronchi [br )nkai], the windpipe (дихальне горло), the glottis (голосова щілина), the larynx (гортань), the mouth and the nasal cavities (носова порожнина).
The vibrator or the voice producing mechanism consists of the vocal chords [k ): d] (голосові зв’язки).
The resonator mechanism consists of the pharynx (глотка), the larynx, the mouth and the nasal cavities.
The obstructor mechanism consists of the tongue, the lips, the teeth, the soft palate (м’яке піднебіння) with the uvula [ju:vjэlэ] (язичок), the hard palate, the alveolar ridge (альвіолярний відросток).
It should be borne in mind that the four mechanisms work simultaneously and that each sound is the result of the simultaneuos work of all of them.
Articulatory differences between sounds depend on the three articulatory criteria. They are:
- the presence or absence of an articulatory obstruction to the air steam;
- the concentrated or diffused (розсіяний) character of muscular tension;
- the force of exhalation.
On the basis of these three criteria consonants may be defined as sounds in the production of which there is an articulatory obstruction to the air stream; muscular tension is concentrated in the place of obstruction; the exhaling force is rather strong. Vowels may be defined as sounds in the production of which there is no articulatory obstruction to the air stream; muscular tension is diffused; the exhaling force is rather weak. Sonorants are sounds intermediate between noise consonants and vowels because they have features in common. There is an obstruction, but not narrow enough to produce noise. Muscular tension is concentrated in the place of obstruction, but the exhaling force is rather weak.
To know how sounds are produced by speech organs is not enough to describe and classify them as language units. When we talk about the sounds of a language, the term "sound" can be interpreted in two rather different ways. In the first place, we can say that “t” and "d" are two different sounds in English. The difference between them is of a meaningful character: tie-die. But on the other hand, if we listen carefully to the T in "let us" and compare it with the "t" in "let them" we can hear that these two sounds are not the same, the "t" of "let us" is alveolar, while the T of "let them" is dental. In both examples the sounds differ in one articulatory feature only; in the second case the difference between the sounds has functionally no significance. To avoid this ambiguity, the linguists use two separate terms: "phoneme" is used to mean the sound in the contrastive sense, and "allophone" is used for sounds which are variants of the phoneme: they usually occur in different positions in the word and cannot contrast with each other, nor be used to make meaningful distinctions.
Thus the phoneme may be defined as the smallest linguistically relevant unit of the sound structure of a language which serves to distinguish one word from another. Allophones are free realisations of one and the same phoneme. This phoneme is abstracted from its variants and is characterised by features that are common to all its variants.
Phonemes are discovered by the method of minimal pairs, i.e. a pair of words which differ in lexical meaning based on a difference in one sound. For example, if we replace [b] by [t] in the word [ban] we produce a new word [tan] - [ban] is a pair of words distinguished in meaning by a single sound change. Two words of these kind are termed a "minimal pair". It is possible to continue this process. We can also produce [can-ran-man-fan], that is a minimal set. The change of the vowel [ ] in the word [ban] provides us with another minimal set: [bun-bone-ben-burn-boon-born]. The change of the final consonant [n] in [ban] will result in a third minimal set: [bat-bad-back-bag-badge-bang]. To establish the phonemes of the language the phonologist with the help of contrastive (співставний) and complementary (додатковий) distribution tries to find pairs that show which sounds occur or do not occur in identical positions. This procedure is called a commutation test.
The phonemes of a language form a system of oppositions in which any one phoneme is usually opposed to any other phoneme in at least one position in at least one lexical or grammatical minimal pair. If the substitution of one sound for another results in the change of meaning, the commuted (замінені) sounds are different phonemes, that is units which are phonologically significant.
In actual speech we utter a much greater variety of sounds than we are aware of. In every language these sounds are united in a comparatively small number of sound types, which are capable of distinguishing the meaning and the form of the words; that is they serve the purpose of social intercommunication. It is these sound types that should be included into the classification of phonemes and studied as differentiatory units of the language. The actually pronounced speech sounds are variants, or allophones of the phonemes. Allophones are realised in concrete words. They have phonetic similarity, that is their acoustic and articulatory features have much in common, at the same time they differ in some degree and are incapable of differentiating words. For example, in speech we pronounce not the sound type [t], which is aspirated, alveolar, forelingual, apical, occlusive, plosive, voiceless -according to the classificatory definition, but - one of its variants, e.g. labialised in the word [twice], dental in the word [eighth], post-alveolar in [try], exploded nasally in [written], exploded laterally in [little], pronounced without aspiration in [stay], etc. The number of phonemes in each language is much smaller than the number of sounds actually pronounced.
We define a phoneme as a minimal abstract linguistic unit realised in speech in the form of speech sounds opposable (які можна протиставити) to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.
Let us consider a phoneme from the point of view of its three aspects.
Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit. As you know, in phonetics function is usually understood to mean discriminatory function, that is, the role of the various components of the phonetic system of the language in distinguishing one morpheme from another (a speech element having a meaning or grammatical function that cannot be subdivided into further such elements), one word from another, one utterance from another. And the opposition of phonemes in the same phonetic environment differentiates the meaning of morphemes and words: [pen-pain], [days-dies], [pearl-pole]. Thus we may state that the phoneme can fulfil the distinctive function.
Secondly, the phoneme is material, real and objective. That means that it is realised in speech in the form of its allophones. The sets of the allophones belonging to the same phoneme are not identical in their articulatory content though there remains some phonetic similarity between them.
Thirdly, the allophones of the same phoneme, no matter how different their articulation may be, function as the same linguistic unit.
So, the phoneme is realised in speech in the material form of speech sounds, its allophones. All the allophones of the same phoneme have some articulatory features in common, that is all of them possess the same invariant (незмінний звук). Simultaneously each allophone possesses quite particular phonetic features which may not be traced in the articulation of other allophones of the same phoneme.
The linguistic role of a phoneme is three-fold:
- the constitutive (утворююча) - phonemes constitute (утворювати) morphemes, words, utterances;
- the distinctive - phonemes differentiate one word from another;
- the identifying - the choice of phonemes or their allophones gives information about the speaker: the locality he lives in, his social status, age, even his emotional state.
To represent the sounds and the sound patterns of a language in accurate, consistent terms, a special system of symbols and conventions (умовні позначення) for using these symbols is needed. An auditory (слуховий) style of transcription, in which the transcriber attempts to write exactly what he or she hears (whether or not it is fully understood) is called phonetic transcription. In phonetic transcription, the individual phonemes are written as alphabetic symbols, in addition to other kinds of symbols or diacritic markings (спеціальне позначення), between square brackets. Prosody is represented by marks and lines which are written above the segmental transcription. This type of trascription, which provides special symbols for all the phonemes of a language is also called broad or phonemic trascription. There is another type, the narrow or allophonic transcription, which suggests special symbols including some information about articulatory activity of particular allophonic features.
As developed by the International Phonetic Association, phonetic transcription is a kind of uniform and universal way of writing based strictly on sound. It is very useful for describing, analysing and contrasting languages. Since writing systems vary widely in the way of representing the sounds of a language, it is essential to have a common writing system one that can be abstracted from actual languages for the description of sounds. Besides teaching you how to represent sounds correctly, transcription also helps you train your ear so that you can pick up more detail from whatever stream of speech you are listening to.
LECTURE 3 THE SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS
1 Consonantism
2 Articulator classification of the English consonants (to be done individually)
3 English consonants as units of the phonological system.
4 The peculiarities of the English consonants
5 Modifications of consonants in connected speech
LITERATURE:
M A Sokolova PP. 50-65
S.F.leontieva. P.P.68-105
T.M.Brovchenko P.P.70-110
There are two major classes of sounds traditionally distinguished by phoneticians in any language They are termed consonants and vowels It would be fair to mention that the distinction is based mainly on auditory effect. Consonants are known to have voice and noise combined, while vowels are sounds consisting of voice only.
Thus, a very brief definition of consonants is that they are sounds made with closed or nearly closed articulations. That means that in producing consonants:
1) there is an obstruction, the removal of which causes noise
There are the following types of obstructions
- complete occlusion (повна перешкода) (closure) or plosion (вибух)
- constriction (зжаття) (narrowing) or friction (тертя)
- occlusion-constriction
2) the muscular [m/\skjulэ] tension is concentrated at the place of obstruction
3) the air stream is strong.
Besides consonants are not vocalic that is why they do not form syllables.
Consonants are classified according to the following principles:
I Work of vocal cords and the force of exhalation
ІІ Active organs of speech and the place of obstruction
III Manner of noise production and the place of obstruction
IV Position of the soft palate
According to the work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation consonants are divided into voiced and voiceless Voiced consonants are [b, d, g, v, o, z, з, dз ], voiceless consonants are: [p,t, k, f, O, s, sh, ch, h ].
The exhalation aтd the degree of muscular tension are greater in the production of voiceless consonants, therefore they are called "fotis". Voiced consonants are called “lenis” [li:nis], because the force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension in their articulation are weaker. The English sonorants [m, n, n, w, l, r, j] do not enter into fortis-lenis oppositions because they are made with tone prevailing over noice because of a rather wide air passage.
According to the position of the active organs of speech against the place of articulation consonants are classified into: labial, lingual, glottal.
Labial consonants are subdivided into bilabial and labio-dental. Bilabial consonants are produced with both lips. They are [p, b, m, w]. Labio-dental consonants are articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the upper lip. They are [f, v].
Lingual consonants are subdivided into: forelingual, nfediolingual, backlingual.
Forelingual consonants are articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue. According to the position of the tongue they may be: dorsal, apical, cacuminal.
According to the place of obstruction forelingual consonants may be interdental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palato-aveolar.
Interdental consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue projected between the teeth [0, o].
Dental consonants are articulated, with the blade of the tongue against the upper teeth like Ukrainian [д, с,] French [t].
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth ridge [d, t, z, s, n, l].
Post alveolar consonants are articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge [r].
Palato-alveolar consonants are articulated with the tip or the blade, of the tongue against the teeth ridge, the front part of the tongue raised towards the palate [sh, ch, зб, з].
Medio-lingual consonants are produced with the front part of the tongue. They are always palatal. Palatal consonants are articulated with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate [j].
Backlingual consonants are also called velar, they are produced with the back part of the tongue raised towards the soft palate "velum" [k, g, n]
The glottal consonant [h] is articulated in the glottis.
According to the manner of noise production and the type of obstruction consonants are divided into occlusive (закритий) (stop or plosive) and nasal, when complete closure is formed in their articulation [p, b, d, t, k, d, m, n, n]. Constrictive (зжимаючийся) (incomplete closure) [f, v, 0, o, s, z, s, h, з, w, l, r, j] occlusive-constrictive or affricates (the combination of the two closures) [dз, ch] In Ukrainian we have a rolled or trilled consonant [p], in the place of its articulation an intermittent closure is formed.
According to the position of the soft palate all consonants are divided into oral and nasal. When the soft palate is raised and the air from the lungs gets into the pharynx and then into the mouth cavity, oral consonants are produced When the soft palate is lowered and the air on ils way passes through the nasal cavity, nasal consonants are produced [m, n, n]
The phonological analysis (namely the method of minimal pairs) of the English consonants helps to differentiate 24 phonemes. The above mentioned principles provide the basis for the establishment of the following distinctive oppositions in the system of the English consonantism:
1 work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation voiceless -forts vs voiced -tenis
[p-b] pat -bat [t-d] tip-dip [k-g] cot-got
2 active organ of speech and the place of articulation labial vs lingual:
pat-cat ban-tan; fun-nun. First are labial, second - lingual
lingual vs glottal (h) (pharyngal):
Tim-dim-rim-him; care-wear-fair-hair
3 manner of the production of noise occlusive vs constrictive;
bat-that, came-lame; dare-share, pine-fine
constrictive vs occlusive-constrictive (affricates)
work-jerk, fare-chair, fail-jail
4 position of the soft palate oral vs. nasal
pat-pal; seed-seem; sick-sing
Every language has certain peculiarities of pronunciation which give it a distinctive phonetic character. The differences in the articulation of consonants in English and Ukrainian are in the general tendencies their speakers move and hold their lips and the tongue
1 One of the characteristic features of English consonants is the apical articulation of 12 forelingual consonants [0, o, d, t, z, s, n, l, з, sh, ch, dз], thus 50% of all the consonants have an apical articulation they are articulated with the tip of the tongue against the teeth-ridge, or against the teeth The corresponding Ukrainian consonants are articulated with the tongue in dorsal position, while the tip of the tongue is lowered The Ukrainian forelingual apical consonants are only [л, л’].
2 The bulk of the tongue in the articulation of the English consonants has the tendency to occupy more flat and more retracted and more low positions than for Ukrainian consonants More flat and low position of the bulk of the tongue limits the system of the English 'light or soft" consonants and provides the basis for "dark" articulation, thus making the English consonants hard. Palatalized consonants do not exist in English, with the exception of the clear variant of the English [l’] which depends on the final position of the sound in a word (before a vowel) The English [sh, dз] are slightly palatalized hut there are no corresponding non-palatalized consonants.
In Ukrainian there are non-palatalized and palatalized consonants and palatalization is phonetically independent feature of articulation. To palatalize we pronounce a speech sound with the blade of the tongue touching the palate.
3 The English voiced consonants are less energetic whereas voiceless consonants are much more energetic. Final voiced consonants are weak in English (even partially devoiced) but never completely devoiced In English voiceless consonants in final position are strong and never devoiced.
50% of Ukrainian consonants have an additional energetic articulation, the high position of the tongue, which produces the effect of palatalization.
Voicing and devoicing is a phonemic feature in English which leads to a mistake of substitution one -word for another bed - bet; cab - cap.
4 The English nasal consonants [m, n, n, l] are more sonorous especially in final positions before a short vowel, and also between a short vowel and a voiced consonant They are particularly long in such sequences: bells, songs, sums. In Ukrainian they are less sonorous in all positions, and are never long
5 The English consonants are not divided into long and short Length of consonants as a phonetic feature doesn't exist in English, while in Ukrainian length is an independent feature in the system of consonants.
6 As to the English plosives, there's a less firm contact of the articulating and passive speech organs, on the other hand the voiceless [p, t, k] are aspirated. The lightness of the contact and the aspiration give a peculiar 'whispered effect to the most frequently used English consonants.
There are 4 degrees of aspiration:
1 they are heavily aspirated before a long vowel under stress,
2 less heavily before a short vowel:
3 hardly any aspiration in a final unstressed position
4 no aspiration after "s".
5 The sounds [0, o, n] are a peculiar phonetic feature of English.
6 Lip position is very essential in forming the English consonants. In pronouncing them they are not protruded as a rule (with the only exception for [w]). Lips are rather inactive. In general English articulation may be characterized as sluggish.(пасивний, в’ялий)
Consonant phonemes in English which have no counterparts in Ukrainian are the following:
1 the bilabial constrictive sonorant [w];
2 the interdental consonants [0, o];
3 the voiced affricate [dз];
4 the post-alveolar constrictive sonorant [r];
5 the backlingual nasal sonorant [n];
6 the glottal [h].
Hitherto, we have looked at the English consonants individually. But language in everyday use is not conducted in terms of isolated, separate units it is performed in connected sequences of larger units. In weds, phrases and larger utterances There are actually some remarkable sentences between the pronunciation and of the same word in a block of connected speech These changes are mostly quite regular and predictable.
LECTURE 4 THE SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH VOWELS
OUTLINE
1 Vocalism
2 The articulatory classification ol the English vowels
3 Peculiarities of the English vowels
4 The diphlong theory
5 The English vowels in connected speech Reduction
6 The unstressed vocalism
7 Articulatory transitions in English
As was mentioned before, vowels unlike consonants are produced with no obstruction to the air stream, that is why on the perception level their integral characteristic is tone, not noise. Thus the distinction between vowels and consonants is based on acoustic considerations, namely on their sonority (дзвінкість). The general principles of vowel articulation are:
1 vowels are based on voice which is modified,
2 the muscular tension is spread equally over all speech organs. The tension is stronger for long vowels and shorter for weak ones.
3 the air stream passes freely through the mouth cavity.
4 vowels have no special place of articulation The whole of the speech apparatus takes part in producing them
5 vowels are syllabic, it means they are capable of forming a syllable.
Vowels are classified according to the following principles
-position of lips:
-position of the tongue
-degree of tension and the character of the end of a vowel
-length
-stability of articulation
Since the tongue is the perfect instrument to determine the posture adapted by the mouth cavity, vowels are described primarily in terms of the position of the tongue.
Two parameters are important
a) front vs back The highest part of the tongue may be towards the front of the mouth or towards its back;
b) high vs low (also called close vs open) The degree to which the tongue is raised.
Stability of articulation specifies the process of articulation of the vowel. There are two possible variants:
a) the tongue position is stable
b) the tongue moves from one position to another.
In the first variant the articulated vowel is relatively pure, in the second case a vowel consists of two clearly perceptible elements. According to this principle the vowels are divided into monophthongs and diphthongs.
A diphthong is a sequence of two vowels within a single syllable. One component of a diphthong is more prominent than the other. In the English diphthongs, it is usually the first element which is more prominent, but in other languages like French, this may be different. The two articulations of a diphthong are described as nucleus and a glide.
A diphthong is defined as a unisyllabic complex in the articulation of which the organs of speech start from one position then glide into another position A diphthong may be falling -when the nucleus is stronger than the glide, and rising - when the glide is stronger than the nucleus When two elements are equal such diphthong is called level. English diphthongs are falling.
There are two categories of diphthongs in English which differ according to the direction of the vowel movement. The closing diphthongs, where the movement is towards a high or close vowel, either [i] or [u], and the centering diphthongs, where the movement is towards the neutral [з] The closing diphthongs are in turn divided into those which have movement towards [i] and those which have movement towards [u]: ei, ai, oi and au ou
The vowels [i:] and [u:] are diphthongized in modern English and the tendency of diphthongization is becoming gradually stronger.
The main principle we should consider from the phonological point of view is the position of the tongue. The tongue may move vertically (i.e. it may be raised to various heights in the mouth) or horizontally (forward and backward).
According to the vertical position of the tongue vowels are divided into the following groups:
1) when the tongue comes rather close to the palate and the air flows through the passage without causing audible friction (тертя), the resulting vowels are close. In pronouncing close vowels the air passage between the tongue and the palate is rather narrow
Eng [i:, u:, i, u ] Ukr. [i, y]
2) when the tongue is lowered and a wide air passage is formed between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, the resulting vowels are called open
Eng [ ), ):, эe, a:, a] Ukr [a]
3) when the tongue is in a position intermediate between those of open and close vowels the resulting voels are called half-open
Eng [e, з:, з, є, /\, ] Ukr [e, o]
Thus, close vowels are produced with a nearly closer, mouth. half-open - with a jaw half open and open - with a wide jaw angle and в vertical mouth opening.
According to the horizontal movement of the tongue there are well-defined classes of vowels
1) when the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, the air passing through the mouth produces front vowels:
Eng [i:, e, эe,] Ukr [i]
2) when the front but somewhat retracted part of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, the air passing through the mouth produces front retracted vowels
Eng [i( )] Ukr [и, е]
3) when, еhe front part of the tongue is raised towards the back part of the hard palate, the resulting vowels are called central
Eng.[/\, э:, э] Ukr. [a, и]
4) when the tongue is in the back part of the mouth and the back of it is raised towards the soft palate a back vowel is pronounced. In pronouncing back vowels a large resonance chamber is formed in the front part of the mouth cavity Eng [a:, ), ):, u:] Ukr. [o, y]
6) when the back but somewhat advanced part of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate, the resulting vowels are called back advanced: Eng [u].
In pronouncing vowels traditionally three lip positions are distinguished the lips may be spread, neutral or rounded to a certain extent. According to the position of the lips vowels are divided into rouned [), ):, u, u: ] Ukr [o, y] and unrounded [i:, i, e, a: /\, э, э:, ].
Another articulatory characteristic of English vowels is their length or quantity. Traditionally the English monophthongs are divided into two varieties according to their length;
short vowels [i:, a:, u:, ):, э:]
long vowels [ /\, e, ), u, i, э]
Special instrumental analysis shows that long vowels are tense while short vowels are lax.
There ace 20 vowels In English The most characteristic features of them are as follows
1. The English vowels, although not very tense objectively seem tense. This is especially felt in unstressed positions
2. In English an unstressed vowel does not always differ in quality from a stressed one. In Ukrainian an unstressed vowel is always short and different in quality from the same vowel under stress
3 Vowels in English differ in length according to 2 principles:
a) In monophthongs length is phonemic and is always connected with a certain vowel quality
b) in diphthongs length is not significant, it is entirely phonetic variations of length depend upon the sound sequence in which a diphthong occurs.
4. English vowels are mostly non-labialised. On the other hand, the lips are tenser in the articulating the English front monophthongs, which require spreading of the lips. Spreading of the lips is a typical feature of the English articulation.
5 Typically English are the vowels
6 Other striking features of English are the open back vowels [), ]There are no vowels in Ukrainian so back, open and tense