- •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.
1) Phonetics as a science:
Definition of phonetics as a branch of linguistics: Ph comes from Greek w-s meaning “sound & voice”. In modern times it is often defined as the science of speech sounds considered as elements of lang – the science which treats all the sounds of which the lang is composed.
Phonetics is an independent branch of linguistics like lexicology or grammar. Ph is an essential part of the l. It gives l definite form. Vocabulary or grammar of the l can’t function without Ph, because all gr & lexical phenomena are expressed phonetically. Although Ph has its own laws, independent from vocabulary & gr. 1. W-s are expressed in phonetic form & may dffer in sounds big-bug-bag, and can be analyzed into sounds. 2. 3 main forms of irregular Vs are also expressed in phonetic form: rise-rose-risen – differ in vowel alteration in the root.
The connection of phonetics with different linguistic and non-linguistic sciences: Ph is closely connected with a number of linguistic sciences. It has proved to be extremely useful in investigation of the field of dialectology, designing or improving the systems of writing/ spelling (orthography), in questions involving the spelling/ pronunciation of personal/place names / w-s borrowed from other lang-s (orthoepy). Ph has close connection with non-ling sciences: physics/acoustics. The movements of speech organs disturb the air stream producing sound waves.biology/physiology. The message formed in the brain is transmitted along the nervous system to the speech organs. The human brain controls the behavior of the articulating organs. Psychology. The formation of the message takes place in the brain. Sociology. Oral speech serves as means of communication.
Branches of phonetics: Special Ph is concerned with the study of the phonetic structure of only one l. 1. Descriptive- at a particular period of time- synchronically 2. Historical- in its historical development- diachronically. General Ph studies the sounds of several lang-s and observes the same phenomenon in these lang-s. It deals with analysis, description and comparison of ph phenomena. Experimental Ph studies the ph phenomena through observations and calculations with the help of different devices. Comparative Ph studies the correlation between the ph systems of 2 or more l-s, finds out the correspondences between their sp sounds. Theoretical Ph studies how the sounds are produced in real speech. Articulatory Ph studies and classifies the sp sounds as they are produced by other sp operators. Acoustic Ph deals with physical properties of sounds (quantity, timber/voice quality, intensity, the pitch of the voice and temporal factor). It studies the way the air vibrates between the speaker’s mouth and listener’s ear. Auditory Ph is aimed at investigating the hearing process. Phonology is concerned with social functions of ph phenomena. Functional Ph studies purely linguistic aspect of speech sounds. It investigates accent and intonation.