Lecture.Phonetics

3

Lecture 2

TYPOLOGY OF PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Contents

1. Contrastive typological phonetics vs. Contrastive typological phonology.

2. Typology of vowel system in English & Ukrainian.

3. System of consonants in the contrasted languages.

4. Typology of the English & Ukrainian syllable.

5. The word stress in English & Ukrainian.

6. Typology of intonation in the contrasted languages (See Korunets pp.99-111).

1. Typological research of phonetic &phonological features of two or more languages usually presupposes contrastive study of their sounds & phonemes. Thus, there are two closely connected branches of linguistic science dealing with the units & phenomena of phonetic &phonological levels. They are Contrastive typological phonetics & Contrastive typological phonology. The aim of the first is to identify & to study the isomorphic & allomorphic features in the system of speech sounds.

The aim of the Contrastive typological phonology is the identification & research of the isomorphic & allomorphic features in the system of phonemes of the contrasted languages.

The subject matter of Phonetic typology is the system of speech sounds & their quantitative & qualitative characteristics. The subject matter of Phonological typology is the system of phonemes & their quantitative & qualitative representation. Both of them study segmental & supersegmental units which are absolute universals.

The functions of phonemes in all languages & the main of them are:

1) The constitutive function – the ability of phonemes to constitute separate morphemes & simple or derived, as well as compound words.

E.g. [i, n, k] – ink, kin;

[a, к, т] – кат, так, акт

2) The distinguishing function can be vividly seen through different distribution of phonemes.

E.g. but, cut, shut, nut – the initial phoneme is different;

mad, made; mid, meed;

бити, лити, мити;

село, сіло, сало

Typologically contrasted are vowels or consonants or both & their variants. The second equally important segmental unit which can be treated on both levels is syllable.

The principal objects of contrastive study are phonemes, syllables, word stress, & intonation.

2. The system of vowels in the contrasted languages is characterized by isomorphic & allomorphic features. Isomorphic is the existence of a group of similar monophthongs & the factors that predetermine their arrangement. Allomorphic in the vowel system of English & Ukrainian is the quantitative representation of vowels & their qualitative characteristics.

The number of vowels in English is 20, out of which 10 monophthongs (7 short & 3 long: [I, e, æ, a:, o, o:, U, Λ, ə:, ə]) 2 diphthongoids [i:, u:], & 8 diphthongs [ei, ai, oi, au, əu, iə, εə, uə].

In Ukrainian there are 6 vowels: [a, о, у, е, и, і].

English & Ukrainian vowels are contrasted on the basis of the following principles:

• vertical position of the tongue;

• horizontal position of the tongue;

• position of lips.

The length of vowels is not characteristics of the Ukrainian language, neither is the muscular tension.

According to the position of the tongue English & Ukrainian vowels are grouped in such a way:

Tongue position	In English	In Ukrainian
front	I, i:, e, æ	і, е, и
central	ə:, ə, Λ	-------
back	a:, o, o:, U, u:	а, о, у

According to the height of the raised part of the tongue English & Ukrainian vowels are classified in the following way:

	In English	In Ukrainian
high	i:, I, u:, U	і, и, у
mid	e, Λ, ə:, ə	е, о
low	æ, a:, o, o:	а

The role of the organs of pronouncing the vowels in English & Ukrainian languages is different:

1) The intensity of speech organs in pronouncing English vowels is greater than in Ukrainian.

2) The lips take a considerably insignificant part in pronouncing English vowels.

3) In English during pronunciation of vowels the tongue takes more active part than in Ukrainian.

The specific feature of English vowels is their ability to undergo reduction: c[ə]nductor, [ə]bility, r[I]porter.

In Ukrainian some shortening of [е, и] is observed in an unstressed position: т[и]че, н[и]су, п[е]лиˊ.

The feature common is the existence of initial [I]: [I]ncome, [I]nteresting, [I]mage; [I]менник, [I]нколи, [I]ндик.

3. Allomorphic feature is the quantity of consonants in English & Ukrainian: 24 in English & 32 in Ukrainian. All in all, there exist in Ukrainian 24 hard consonant phonemes & 8 more have palatalized counterparts [дˈ, тˈ, зˈ, дзˈ, сˈ, цˈ, лˈ, нˈ]. Thus, palatalization of consonants in Ukrainian has a distinguishing feature at lexico-semantic level (сіль – сіл). Palatalization is one of the most distinguishing features in modern Ukrainian, & almost every consonant is palatalized if preceding і, я, ю, є.

The less spread consonants in Ukrainian are [ґ] & [ф].

The allomorphic feature is double consonants in Ukrainian which are pronounced as prolonged sounds (годинник, віддати). English double consonants are pronounced as one sound (written, anniversary, lesson).

Consonants in the contrasted languages are opposed on the basis of the place of their articulation. There are 6 articulation zones in English.

zone	in English	in Ukrainian
labial	b, p, w, m, v, f	б, п, в, м, ф
interdental	ɵ, δ	-------
alveolar	d, t, z, s, tʃ, l, n, ʒ, ʃ	dental, дˈ, тˈ, ж, ц, цˈ, ч, ш, дж, дз, дзˈ].
midlingual	j	й, р, рˈ
back-lingual	g, k, r, ɳ	к, х
glottal	h	ґ

One more isomorphic feature is the existence of assimilation: a) regressive (does she - [ˈdΛʃʃI]); b) progressive (вісті - [віˊсцˈі]).

4. The Syllable as a unit of speech is considered to be the unit of phonetic & phonological nature. To define the type of syllable system of any language the following criteria are used:

1) the formation of the syllable peak;

2) the number of consonants in the preposition to the syllable peak;

3) the number of consonants in the postposition to the syllable peak.

If we speak about preposition we can single out the following types of syllable in the contrasted languages: CV; CC(C)V (tree, three, straight; три, два, втричі); CCCCV (only in Ukrainian) – впхни, вшкварити.

Very frequent in both languages are the syllables of the following types: CV (Sunday, виконувати) & CVC (that, unless; пив, кінь).

More structurally complicated syllables are less productive & less frequent. Though such type as CCVCC can be found in both languages: (drills, sports; блиск, брухт, тріск).

Much rarer are words of the type CCCV (spray; стривожити, справити, вкладати).

5. The word stress in both languages has some isomorphic & allomorphic features. English multisyllabic words have primary, secondary, & tertiary stresses: [ˈIntəkəˏmju:nIˈkeiʃn].

In Ukrainian only one stress is possible if it is not a compound word. Ukrainian compounds may have two stresses: північно-морський канал. English compound nouns have only one element stressed: [ˈklΛsrUm].

In Ukrainian the stress may be shifting: коˊлір, кольориˊ, два (три, чотири) коˊльори; син, синиˊ, .(три, чотири) сиˊни.

In English we can come across the shifting of stress in numerals: ˈsixty, sixˈteen.

In English the shift of stress causes formation of different parts of speech: ˈsubject – to subˈject.

In Ukrainian stress may denote different forms of the word: поляˊ – ˊполя; зеˊмлі – земліˊ.