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1 Phonetics as a branch of linguistics Phonetics (“phone” – Greek sound) – science of a sound. Phonetics is an independent branch of linguistics like lexicology or grammar. These linguistic sciences study L from 3 different points of view. Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of L, with the origin and development of words, with their meaning and word building. Grammar defines the rules governing the modification of words and the combination of words into sentences. Phonetics studies the outer form of L; its sound matter. Let us refer to this limited range of sounds as the phonic medium and to individual sounds within that range as speech-sounds. We may now define phonetics as the study of the phonic medium. Phonetics occupies itself with the study of the ways in which the sounds are organized into a system of units and the variation of the units in all types and styles of spoken language. Phonetics is a basic branch of linguistics. Neither linguistic theory nor linguistic practice can do without phonetics. No kind of linguistic study can be made without constant consideration of the material on the expression level. 2 Branches of phonetic Theoretical Phonetics has the following branches: articulatory, acoustic, auditory, functional /phonological Each branch of Theoretical Phonetics investigates the appropriate aspect of speech sounds. Articulatory Phonetics : the study of how speech sounds are made or articulated Acoustic Phonetics: deals with the physical properties of speech sounds such as sound waves in the air Auditory Phonetics deals with the perception of speech sounds via the ear Functional Phonetics presupposes investigating the discriminatory (distinctive) function of speech sounds. 7 The principles of classification of English vowels In phonetics, the noun "vowel" means: 1. a vowel sound; 2. a letter representing a vowel sound in writing. Vowels are speech sounds produced without obstructing the flow of air from the lungs, so that the breath stream passes freely through the mouth. Vowels are classified: in the stability of articulation: (1.l) monothongs - are vowels the articulation of which doesn’t change.The quality of such v-ls is relatively pare [i,e,a:, o:,);, u,3:, ?] ;(1.2) diphthongs in the pronunciation of diphthongs the organs of speech slide from one v-l position to another within one syllable. The nuclear of diphthongs is strong distinct the glide is very weak [ei, эi, au, ?u, є?, u?]. (1.3) In the pronunciation of diphthongs the articulation changes just a little bit. But the difference between the nuclear the end is not so distinct as it is in the case of diphthongs; [i:, u:]. The tongue position: horizontal movement of the tongue. When the tongue is in the front part of the mouth and the front part of it is raised up to the hard palate a front v-1 is pronounced [i:, e]. When the front of the tongue is raised towards to the back part of the lard palate the vowel is called When the lips more or less round they called rounded [u;, u]. The character of vowel end. If a stressed v-l is followed by a strong voiceless consonant it is cut off by it. In this case the end of the vowel is strong and the vowel is called checked. 10 Modifications of English CONSONANTS and VOWELS in speech The modifications are observed both within words and word boundaries. There are the following types of modification: assimilation, accommodation, reduction, elision, and inserting. The modifications of vowels in a speech chain are traced in the following directions: they are either quantitative or qualitative or both. These changes of vowels in connected speech are determined by a number of factors such as the position of the vowels in the word, accentual structure, tempo of speech, rhythm etc. MODIFICATION OF VOWELS 1. Reduction 1.1. Quantitative 1.2. Qualitative 2. Accommodation 2.2 Positional length of vowels: knee - need – neat 2.3. Nasalization of vowels: preceded or followed by [n, m]: never, then, men MODIFICATIONS OF CONSONANTS 1. Assimilation 1.1. Place of articulation • t, d > dental before [ð, θ]: eighth, • t, d > post-alveolar before [r]: tree, dream • s, z > post-alveolar before [∫]: this shop • t, d > affricates before [j]: graduate, could you • m > labio-dental before [f]: symphony • n > dental before [θ]: seventh • n > velar before [k]: thank 1.2. Manner of articulation • loss of plosion: glad to see you, great trouble • nasal plosion: sudden, at night, let me see • lateral plosion: settle, at last 1.3. Work of the vocal cords • voiced > voiceless: newspaper, gooseberry has, is, does > [s]; of, have > [f] 1.4. Degree of noise • sonorants > are partially devoiced after [p, t, k, s] 2. Accommodation 2.1. Lip position • consonant + back vowel: pool, rude, who (rounded) • consonant + front vowel: tea, sit, keep (spread) 3. Elision 3.1. Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns and the forms of the auxiliary verb have. 3.2. [l] lends to be lost when preceded by [o:]: always, already, all right3.3. In cluster of consonants: next day, just one. mashed potatoes 4. Inserting of sounds 4.1. Linking [r] (potential pronunciation of [r]): car owner 4.2. Intrusive [r]: [r] 13 The structure and functions of syllable in English The syllable as a unit is difficult to define, thought native speakers of a language are usually able to state how many syllables there are in a particular word. Can be a single word, a part of a word, a part of the grammatical form. Can be analized from the acoustic (by the force of the ut-ce or accent, pitch of the voice, sonority and length, intonograph & spectrograph), auditory (the smallest unit of perception), articulatory (results from the combined action of the power, vibrator, resonator and obstructor mechanisms) and functional point of view. Also graphic representation. S-s in writing – syllabographs – are closely con-ed with the morphemic str-re of words. Functions of s-s: 1) constitutive - constitute words, phrases & s-ces through the comb-n of their prosodic features: loudness-stress, pitch-tone, duration-length & tempo. May be stressed, unstr-ed, high,mid, low, rising, falling, long, short. These pros-c features constitute the stress pattern of words, tonal& rhythmic str-re of an ut-ce, help to peform dist-ve variations on the s-le level. 2) distinctive & differentiatory f-n - word dis-ve f-n of a s-le. There are many comb-n dist-ed by means of the dif-ce in the place of the syl-c boundary. Close juncture – b-n sounds within one s-le, open – b-n two s-s, marked with+. 3) identificatory - is conditioned by the pron-n of the speaker. The listener understands if he perceives the correct s-c boundary – ‘syllabodisjuncture’ might rain – my train. 16 The structure of English intonation group Intonation patterns serve to actualize syntagmas in oral speech. Syntagma is a group of words which is semantically and syntactically complete. In phonetics actualized syntagms are called intonation groups (sense-groups, tone-groups). Each intonation group may consist of one or more potential syntagms, for example the sentence / think he is coming soon has two potential syntagms: / think and he is coming soon. In oral speech it is normally actualized as one intonation group. 17 Classification of head patterns There are several intonation patterns that are characteristic of English speech. In general, linguists distinguish several main types of English intonation, where falling intonation and rising intonation are the two basic types. Other main types of intonation include high fall, low fall, fall-rise, high rise, midlevel rise, low rise. They are variations of the two basic types of intonation. Language learners should master the typical patterns of standard falling and rising intonation before studying their variations. Intonation is based on several key components, such as pitch, sentence stress and rhythm. Pitch is the degree of height of our voice in speech. Normal speaking pitch is at midlevel. Intonation is formed by certain pitch changes, characteristic of a given language, for example, falling intonation is formed by pitch changes from high to low, and rising intonation is formed by pitch changes from low to high. |
3 Language and a place of phonological level within the framework of the language Language The phonological level is in charge of the brainwork that goes into organising the speech sounds into patterns of sound contrasts so that we can make sense when we talk. 6 Phoneme as many-sided dialectic unity of language. Distinctive features of the phoneme. Phoneme – minimal abstract unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds opposable to other phonemes. Let us consider the phoneme from the point of view of its aspects. Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit. In phonetics function is usually understood as a role of the various units of the phonetic system in distinguishing one morpheme from another, one word from another or one utterance from another. The opposition of phonemes in the same phonetic environment differentiates the meaning of morphemes and words: e.g. bath-path, light-like.Sometimes the opposition of phonemes serves to distinguish the meaning of the whole phrases: He was heard badly - He was hurt badly. Thus we may say that the phoneme can fulfill the distinctive function. Secondly, the phoneme is material, real and objective. That means it is realized in speech in the form of speech sounds, its allophones. The phonemes constitute the material form of morphemes, so this function may be called constitutive function. Thirdly, the phoneme performs the recognitive function, because the use of the right allophones and other phonetic units facilitates normal recognition. We may add that the phoneme is a material and objective unit as well as an abstract and generalized one at the same time. 8 The principles of classification of English consonants Consonants Согласные In phonetics, the noun "consonant" means: 1. a consonant sound; 2. a letter representing a consonant sound in writing. Consonants are speech sounds produced by creating an obstruction in the mouth for the air flow from the lungs. There are 20 consonant letters in the English alphabet. They represent 24 consonant sounds. Many of the consonants occur in voiced - voiceless pairs: plosives / stops [b] - [p], [d] - [t], [g] - [k]; fricatives [v] - [f], [z] - [s], [th] - [th], [zh] - [sh] and unpaired voiceless [h]; affricates [j] - [ch]. The rest of the consonants are sonorants: [l], [r]; nasals [m], [n], [ng]; semivowels [w], [y].
1.voicing (work of the vocal cords & force of exhalation): voiceless-fortis, voiced-lenis. 2.place of articulation (where the air is impeded): -bilabial(2 lips) p-b -labiodental(upper teeth-lower lip) f-v -dental(teeth) ð,θ -alveolar t-d,s,n,z,l -retroflex(tip of the tongue curved&moved backwards) r -palato-alveolar(middle tongue to the hard palate) тч,дж,ш,ж -palatal(to the soft palate) j -glottal h(haryngeal) -velar(back of the tongue) k,g, ŋ -labiovelar w 3.manner of articulation(kind of construction made by articulators): -occlusive: plosives(pbtdkg)& sonorants -nasals -constrictive: fricatives(fvszhðθшж)&semi-vowels(approximants) jwr+lateral l -occlusive-constrictive (affricates) тч дж 11 Alternations of speech sounds in english The sound variations in words, their derivatives and grammatical forms of words are known as sound alternations . It is perfectly obvious that sound alternations are caused by assimilation, accommodation and reduction in speech . Alternations of consonants are mainly due to contextual assimilations: the dark [] in spell alternates with the clear [l] in spelling. Vowel alternations are the result of the reduction in unstressed positions: combine ['k mbain] (n) - combine [k m'bain] (v) where [] in the stressed syllable of the noun alternates with the neutral sound in the unstressed syllable of the verb. Some sound alternations are traced to the phonetic changes in earlier periods of the language development and are known as historical. The following list of examples presents the most common types of historical alternations. 1. Vowel Alternations 1. Distinction of irregular verbal forms: [i: - e - e]: mean - meant - meant [i - -]:: see - saw - seen [i - з: - з:]: hear - heard - heard and some other less common verbal alternations of this type. 2. Distinction of causal verbal forms: [i - e]: sit - set [ai - ei]: rise - raise [ : - e] fall - fell 3. Distinction of singular and plural forms of nouns: [ - e]: man - men [u - i:]: foot - feet [u: - i:]: tooth - teeth [au - ai]: mouse - mice [u - i]: woman - women [ai - i]: child - children 4. Distinction of parts of speech in etymologically correlated words: [i: - e]: feast - festive [a: - ]: class - classify [ - e]: long - length [ : - e]: broad - breadth [ei - ]: nation - national [ai - i]: wise - wisdom [ - i:]: hot - heat This type of alternation is often strengthened not only by suffixation but also by the shifting of stress like in: part- particular, 'climate - cli'mati 14 Word stress in English Word stress (WS) can be defined as the singling out of one or more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound which is usually a vowel. S-s is variable – any syl-le of a polys-c word can carry the main stress. Signals: pitch of voice (level), sonority of sound (vowel quality: strong, weak; stressed syl-s have strong v-s – pot, Tom, office, odd, man, uns-ed – weak: potato, official, addition, woman), duration in time (length – syl-s are extra long when they are prominant) – together they make syl-s sound louder. Degrees of s-s: primary, secondary (partial), weak. S-s is the comb-n of factors. S-s may be semantically contrasted (verb – noun: contrast, present). Modify of s-s: photogragh-photographer-photographic). Rules:1) ‘front weight’ in nouns & adj-s (have s-s on the 1-st syl-le); 2) 2 & 3-syl-le words have a prefix (not stressed), majority are verbs; 3) w-s with suf-s (unstr-ed); 4) certain suf-s cause the syl-le to be st-ed: -ive, -ient, -iant, -ial, -ion, -ic, -ous, -ish, -ify, -ible; 5) –able – doesn’t change the stress; 6) in polys-c w-ds certain suf-s cause the s-s to be placed on the 4-th syl-le fr. the end - -ary, -ator, alimony, literacy, inventory; 7) in compound w-ds – singlestressed – reading-room, music-hall; but adj-es & verbs – 2-stressed – well-bred, give in. (16) The intonation group is a stretch of speech which may have the length of the whole phrase. But the phrase often contains more than one intonation group. The number of intonation groups depends on the length of the phrase and the degree of semantic importance or emphasis given to various parts of it: This bed was not' slept, in— ,This be was not' slept in 18 Methods of phonetic analysis The aim of the phonological analysis is, firstly, to determine which differences of sounds are phonemic and which are non-phonemic and, secondly, to find the inventory of phonemes of the language. As it was mentioned above, phonology has its own methods of investigation. Semantic method is applied for phonological analysis of both unknown languages and languages already described. The method is based on a phonemic rule that phonemes can distinguish words and morphemes when opposed to one another. It consists in systematic substitution of one sound for another in order to find out in which cases where the phonetic context remains the same such replacing leads to a change of meaning. This procedure is called the commutation test. It consists in finding minimal pairs of words and their grammatical forms. For example: pen [pen]; Ben [ben]; gain [gain]; cane [kain]; ten [ten]; den[den] American descriptivists, whose most zealous representative is, perhaps, Zellig Harris, declare the distributional method to be the only scientific one. At the same time they declare the semantic method unscientific because they consider recourse to meaning external to linguistics. Descriptivists consider the phonemic analysis in terms of distribution. They consider it possible to discover the phonemes of a language by the rigid application of a distributional method. It means to group all the sounds pronounced by native speakers into phoneme according to the laws of phonemic and allophonic distribution. there are three types of distribution: contrastive, complementary and free variation. |
5 British and American pronunciation models. We use the term ‘accents’ to refer to differences in pronunciations. Pronunciation can vary with cultures, regions and speakers, but there are two major standard varieties in English pronunciation: British English and American English. Within British English and American English there are also a variety of accents. Some of them have received more attention than others from phoneticians and phonologists. These are Received pronunciation (RP)* and General American (GA). Differences in pronunciation between American English (AmE) and Brit Engl (BrE) can be divided into: - Differences in accent (i.e. phoneme inventory and realization). See differences between General American and Received Pronunciation for the standard accents in the United States and Britain; for information about other accents see regional accents of English speakers. - differences in the pronunciation of individual words in the lexicon (i.e. phoneme distribution). In this article, transcriptions use Received Pronunciation (RP) to represent BrE and General American (Gam) and to represent AmE. 4 National and regional pronunciation variants in English. Standard English Every national variety of language falls into territorial or regional dialects. Dialects are distinguished from each other by differences in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. When we refer to varieties in pronunciation only, we use the term accent. So local accents may have many features of pronunciation in common and are grouped into territorial or area accents. For certain reasons one of the dialects becomes the standard language of the nation and its pronunciation or accent - the standard pronunciation. St. pronunciation consists of: 1. Correct pronunciation of sounds; 2. Correct pronunciation of words, with special attention to stress; 3. Standard intonation in sentences, which includes such notions as sentence stress, rhythm, rising intonation, and falling intonation 9 The system of vowel phonemes in English. Problems of diphthongs. Diphthongs Дифтонги A diphthong is a complex vowel sound that consists of two components. The first part is the main strong component (the nucleus), the second part is short and weak (the glide). Together, the nucleus and the glide form one vowel sound of the diphthong that is indivisible and forms only one syllable. Examples of one-syllable words in which there is only one vowel sound, i.e. the diphthong: [ai] - ride, right, lie, buy; [au] - brown, cloud; [ei] - late, pray, pain, straight; [oi] - toy, spoil; [ou] - go, toe, phone, road, bowl, though. A diphthong is always stressed on its first main component. Different linguistic sources list a different number of diphthongs. For example, long [i:] and [u:] may be listed as the diphthongs [iy] and [uw]. Certain vowels before [r] may be listed as diphthongs, for example, [ihr], [ehr], [uhr] as in "hear, care, tour". But generally, American linguists list 5 diphthongs in ESL materials for learners of American English: [ai] - ride, by; [au] - out, how; [ei] - take, day; [oi] - boy, boil; [ou] - go, boat, low. Vowel sounds before final voiced [r] as in "here, care, tour" are generally described as having diphthongal character in American English, i.e. a very short neutral sound usually appears before final [r] in such words, but the neutral sound is often lost before [r] in the middle of the word, as in "hero, careful, tourist". 12 Theory on syllable division and formation. There are different points of view on syllable formation) which aге briefly the following. “”The most ancient theory states that there are as many syllablies in a word as there are vowels. This theory is primitive and insuffi cient since it does not take into consideration consonants which also can form syllables in some languages, neither does it explain the boundary of syllables. The expiratory theory states that there are as many syllables in я word as there arc expiration pulses. The borderline between thesyllables is, according to this theory, the moment of the weakest ex piration. This theory is inconsistent because_it_ is quite possiblejo pronounce several syllables in one articulatory effort or expiration,e.g. seeing /’siiirj/. The sonority theory stales that there are as many syllables in a word as there are peaks of prominence or sonority. Speech sounds pronounced with uniform force, length and pitch, differ in inherent prominence or sonority. For example, when the Rus sian vowels /а, о, э, у, и/ are pronounced on one and the same level, their acoustic intensity, or sonority is different: the strongest is /a/, then go /о, э, у, и/. O. Jespersen established the scale of sonority of sounds, that is, the scale of their inherent prominence. According to this scale the most sonorous are back vowels (low, mid, high), then go semi-vowels and sonorants, then - voiced and voiceless consonants. 15 Intonation and its linguistic function Intonation is a complex unity of non-segmental, or prosodic features of speech: 1. melody, pitch of the voice; 2. sentence stress; 3. temporal characteristics; 4. rhythm; 5. tamber (voice quality). Intonation organizes a sentence, determines communicative types of sentences and clauses, divides sentences into intonation groups, gives prominence to words and phrases, expresses contrasts and attitudes. Functions of intonation. • Emotional function's most obvious role is to express attitudinal meaning -sarcasm, surprise, shock, anger, interest, and thousands of other semantic nuances. • Grammatical f-n helps to identify grammatical structure in speech, performing a role similar to punctuation. • Informational f-n helps draw attention to what meaning is given and what is new in an utterance. The word carrying the most prominent tone in a contour signals the part of an utterance that the speaker is treating as new information. • Textual f-n helps larger units of meaning than the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped through the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the progress of the action. • Psychological f-n helps us to organize speech into units that are easier to perceive and memorize. Most people would find a sequence of numbers, for example, difficult to recall. The task is made easier by using intonation to chunk the sequence into two units. • Indexical f-n, along with other prosodic features, is an important marker of personal or social identity. Lawyers, preachers, newscasters, sports commentators, army sergeants, and several other occupations are readily identified through their distinctive prosody. 19 Phonostylistics Phonostylistics – phonetical organization of prose and poetic texts. Here are included rhythm, rhythmical structure, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and correlation of the sound form and meaning. Also studies deviation in normative pronunciation. Loudness, pauses, rhythm Styles of speech or pronunciation are those special forms of speech suited to the aim and the contents of the utterance, the circumstances of communication, the character of the audience, etc. As D. Jones points out, a person may pronounce the same word or sequence of words quite differently under different circumstances. 20 Intonational styles Intonational style – a system of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social sphere and serves s definite aim of communication. Stylistic use of intonation: |