7. Typological characteristics of consonants in Eng. & Rus. The most common mistakes in articulating.

Consonants are pronounced when there’s some stoppage on the way of the stream of air, passing through organs pf speech.

Consonants are divided according to their: - manner of articulation, - place of articulation.

They may be explosive if there’s some block which is on the way of the air (p,t,k).

In both lang-s there are: - fricatives like (s, sh); - sonorants if the stream of the air passes through nasal cavity (m,n, in both lang-s); - glottal cons-ts (g); - rolled sounds (р – in Rus.); - lateral (боковой звук) - when the stream of air passes through on both sides of the tongue.

They may be soft or hard (Л – Л’ Rus)

Aspirates – that are pronounced with aspiration.

Consonants: - voiced (b,d,g); - voiceless (p,t,k)

Sounds ƞ w th h have no counterparts in Rus. that’s the reason of typical mistakes.

Palatalisation in eng is not necessarily.

absence of aspiration. THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES IN the ARTICULATION OF SOUNDS :

Consonant phonemes in English which have no counterparts in Russian are the following:

1. the bilabial sonorant /w/,

2. the dental fricative consonants / , ð /

3. the voiced bicentral affricate /dЗ-jam /,

4. the post- alveolar sonorant /r/,

5. the backlingual, nasal sonorant /  /,

6.the glottal fricative /h/,

Consonant phonemes in Russian which have no counterparts in English are the following:

1. The palatalized consonants / п’, б’, т’, д’,к’,г’, м’, н’, ф’, в’, с’, з’, р’.

2. the voiceless affricate /ц/,

3. the rolled post-alveolar sonorant /р/,

4. the backlingual fricative voiceless /x/,

The most common mistakes that may result from the differences in the articulation bases of the English and Russian languages are the following:

• dorsal articulation of the English forelingual apical / t,d/,

• the use of the Russian rolled /р/ instead of the English post-alveolar /r/,

• the use of the Russian /x/ instead of the English glottal, fricative /h/,

• mispronunciation of the English interdental /  , ð /, the use of / s, f/ for /  /, and /d,z/ for / ð /.

• The use of the forelingual /n/ instead of the backlingual velar / η /,

• The use of the Russian dark /ш,ж / instead of the soft English /j, з / .

• The use of the labio-dental /v,b/ instead of the bilabial /w/.

• Absence of aspiration in / p,t,k/ when they occur initially,

• Weak pronunciation of voiceless /p,t,k,f,s, t/,

• Devoicing of voiced /b,d,g,v,z, ð , /in their terminal position.

8. Typological characteristics of vowels in Eng. & Rus. The most common mistakes in articulating.

They are produced when the air passes freely with no friction. They are voiced in both languages. They are classified according to the position of the tongue. We distinguish front vowels, when the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate like fr(ee). We distinguish back vowels when the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate p(ar)ty. And central vowels, when the middle of the tongue is raised towards the middle part of the palate, like b(ir)d м(ы)ло.

According to the degree of mouth opening the vowels are classified into high (e u,и у) middle(e ea) and low(ae,a) level. If sounds are pronounced with rounded lips they are called rounded – o у. Vowels may be classified into monophthongs, diphthongs and even threephthongs. There is no diphthongs in Russian. There are certain differences in distribution of vowels in two languages. In English at the end of an open syllable with structure consonant-vowel only long vowel may occur and in unstressed position vowel “ae” like potato. Shot vowels “E a “never occur at the end of an open syllable in the structure consonant-vowel. In Russian there are no such restriction, only sound “ы” can’t occur in the initial position.

In articulating English vowels Russian students are apt to make the following mistakes:

1. They do not observe the quantitative character of long vowels;

2. they do not observe the qualitative difference in the articulation of such vowels as / i-i:/,

/ u –u: /, / o-o: /.

3. they replace the English vowels / i:,o: , u:, a; æ , / by the Russian vowels /и,о, у, а, э/;

4. they pronounce / I, e, ei / without the ‘flat position’ of the lips;

5. they soften consonants which procede front vowels as a result of which the latter become more narrow and the consonants are palatalized;

6.they articulate /o, u , ou / with the lips too much rounded and protruded;

7. they make the sounds / æ , ə / more narrow because they don’t open the mouth properly, similarly to the Russian / э, о/.

8. they do not observe the positional length of vowels,

9. they make both elements of the diphthongs equally distinct.

9. Typological characteristics of stress and intonation in Eng. & Rus.

Stress – pronunciation of one of the syllables with greater intensity. In different lang-s stress may be – fixed (falls on the same syllable in every word of the languages) or free. In Rus. stress may fall on any syllable of the word. It may change if we change a part of speech. In Eng. there are sometimes secondary stress (typical of Eng, but not Rus. e.g. underground). Accentuation is a term which in most modern languages is synonym to the word STRESS. When a certain syllable of a word is pronounced with greater intensity than the rest. In Germanic languages the stress is usually on the 1^st syllable of a word consisting of two or more syllables. In Russian the place of stress is irregular or free. It may fall on any syllable of the word. Secondary stresses common in English do not occur in Russian. The stress in Russian is enough to distinguish different words which are identical in other respects. In Russian stress is mobile, sometimes different forms of the same word are distinguished from each other, only by stress. (ст,ены-стен,ы, р,уки-рук,и) in English stress serves to distinguish the verb from the noun or adjective. (pr”esent-pres”ent)

Intonation is a complex phenomenon which is characterized by stress, melody, and pauses.

The main component is melody. It may be: - falling, rising, even (smooth ровный).

The main unit of intonation is sintagm which is characterized by a certain melody. Sintagms with falling tones are characteristic of statements in both lang-s. (he came , он пришел).

Sintagms with rising tone are for unfinished sentences, special questions in eng., In rus in sentences beginning with (разве).

Even tone is used in both lang-s in introductory sentences which follow direct speech. (I will return soon, said he quietly).

In Eng, stress and intonation are very important when stress may change one part of speech into another. (‘convict – con’vict). In Rus. stress changes the meaning of a word and grammatical categories.

Intonation

Intonation is a complex phenomena, which includes melody, different types of stress, pauses. The unit of intonation is syntagm, a term which was introduced by Щерба 1938. The mail components of intonation are melody and stress. Melody is defined by the movement of tone. The tone may be falling, rising or even or smooth.

1. Syntagms with a falling tone occur in Russian and English in completed statements, exclamatory sentences, interrogative sentences beginning with an interrogative word.

2. Syntagms with a falling tone and rising tale occur in Russian and English in unfinished sentences , in subordinate sentences followed by a principle clause.

3. Syntagms with a falling tone and even or smooth tale form introductory sentences, which follow direct speech.

4. Syntagms with a rising tone and rising tale are typical of the Russian language and seldom occur in English, in Russian they occur in interrogative sentences beginning with the word – разве.

5. Syntagms with even or smooth tone are used in repeated interrogative replies in both languages, when a person shows irritation, indignation.