Seminar 1 The Subject-matter of Phonetics

1. Answer the following questions:

1. What does phonetics study?

2. What is the difference between a phoneme and an allophone?

3. Give the definition of the term “transcription”. What rules of writing transcription do you know?

4. Speak on phonetic and phonological mistakes.

5. Describe the stages of speech production.

6. How do the power, vibrator, resonator and obstructor mechanisms work?

7. What is the difference in the position of the soft palate in the production of oral and nasal consonants?

8. How do the vocal cords work?

9. What are the branches of phonetics?

10. How is phonetics connected with other sciences?

2. Give the definition of the terms:

Phonetics, segmental phonetics, suprasegmental phonetics, phoneme, allophone, transcription, phonetic mistake, phonological mistake, hard palate, soft palate, teeth ridge, articulatory and perceptive branch of phonetics, acoustic branch of phonetics, functional branch of phonetics.

3. Name the articulating organs and write their names down.

1. ___________________________

2. ___________________________

3. ___________________________

4. ___________________________

5. ___________________________

6. ___________________________

7. ___________________________

8. ___________________________

9. ___________________________

10. ___________________________

11. ___________________________

12. ___________________________

13. ___________________________

14. ___________________________

4. Define the type of mistakes in the examples below and prove your answer. Give examples.

• use of Russian sounds instead of English ones

• pronunciation of a long phoneme instead of a short one

• incorrect pronunciation of an allophone of a phoneme

• incorrect use of the nuclear tones

5. Illustrate the connection of phonetics with grammar, lexicology and stylistics with your own examples.

6. Fill in the table and give examples illustrating four types of reading English vowels.

letters types of reading	a [eɪ]	o [əʊ]	e [i:]	i y [aɪ] [waɪ]	u [ju:]
I
II
III
IV

7. Transcribe the following abbreviations:

ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council)

_____________________________

B.I.S. (British Interplanetary Society)

_____________________________

CBI (Confederation of British Industry)

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WB (Weather Bureau)

_____________________________

U.T. (Universal Time)

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ZST (Zone Standard Time)

_____________________________

V.I.P. (Very Important Person)

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VTOL (Vertical Take off and Landing)

_____________________________

8. Write the plural forms of these words and transcribe them. Prove that phonetics is connected with grammar.

witch judge half loaf wife mistress

glass crash knife self wolf sculptress

fox calf leaf sheaf actress waitress

gas elf life thief hostess lioness

Plural form	Transcription