2.2. Read Theme 6 and be ready to answer the questions given in 2.3. Theme 6. The english vowels in connected speech

The allophones of the vocalic phonemes (i.e. actual realizations of the phonemes in speech) can undergo various changes as compared with their isolative pronunciation. The phonetic properties of the vowels in connected speech, first of all, depend on the type of position (syllable) they are used in: 1) stressed (accented) or 2) unstressed (unaccented).

Stressed and unstressed vowels can undergo different phonetic processes, thus there exist phonetic laws governing the pronunciation of the stressed vocalism and the unstressed vocalism.

The stressed vocalism

The phonetic peculiarities of the stressed vocalism in the English connected speech include:

a) the positional length variants of the accented vowels;

b) free and checked vowels.

The positional length of articulation of an allophone of one and the same phoneme varies in speech. The allophones of a long phoneme can occur in the following three positions:

1) in the word final position, e.g. sea [];

2) before a voiced consonant, e.g. scene [];

3) before a voiceless consonant, e.g. seat [].

Due to it, every long phoneme can be realized in connected speech through its three positional length variants:

1) a long phoneme should be pronounced longest in the word final position;

2) it should be shortened before a voiced consonant;

3) it should be pronounced shortest, nearly as short as its short counterpart, but not exactly the same short, when it is followed by a voiceless consonant.

Thus, the longest positional length variant is pronounced in the word sea, a shortened positional length variant of the phoneme [] occurs in the word scene, and finally, the shortest positional length variant of this phoneme is pronounced in the word seat.

As a matter of fact, short phonemes can have two positional length variants in connected speech. While occurring before voiced consonants, they sound shorter as compared with their isolative pronunciation, pen []. Short phonemes sound shortest when they occur before voiceless consonants, e.g. pet []. NB: short vowels never occur in the word final position:

C.f.: long short

bee – bean – beat pig – pick

car – calm – cart bag – back

bore – born – bought bad – bat

Accented vowels are divided into free and checked according to the character of their end (the contact with the following consonant). Short stressed vowels before voiceless consonants end abruptly and are interrupted by the consonant immediately following (checked by the consonant). They are called checked: e.g. foot [], box [], get [], put [].

Long vowels are free. The same is true of all the English unstressed vowels. All Ukrainian (Russian) vowels are unchecked.

It should be born in mind that the correct vowel duration and its free or checked character is of practical importance to the rhythmical structure of the sentence. The misuse of the adequate positional length variant of a vowel is a non-phonemic mistake.