- •Isbn 978-5-8429-0533-1
- •Theory of english phonetics seminars
- •Contents
- •Preface
- •Seminar 1 The Subject-matter of Phonetics
- •Answer the following questions:
- •Give the definition of the terms:
- •Name the articulating organs and write their names down.
- •Define the type of mistakes in the examples below and prove your answer. Give examples.
- •Illustrate the connection of phonetics with grammar, lexicology and stylistics with your own examples.
- •Fill in the table and give examples illustrating four types of reading English vowels.
- •Transcribe the following abbreviations:
- •9. Write the Past Participle form of these verbs and transcribe them. Prove that phonetics is connected with grammar.
- •Transcribe these words. Underline the interchanging vowels and consonants in the corresponding parts of speech.
- •Read these words and word combinations. Translate them into Russian. Prove that phonetics is connected with lexicology through accent.
- •Read these pairs of words. State to what parts of speech they belong. Single out the sounds that interchange. Translate the words into Russian.
- •Find out examples from prose illustrating the connection of phonetics with stylistics through intonation and its components.
- •Read these rhymes. State what sounds are used to produce the effect of alliteration and for what purpose.
- •Well they can't carry berries
- •Read the rhyme. Transcribe the words used to imitate the sounds made by different animals. State the stylistic device formed by this phonetic means.
- •Seminar 2 Articulatory and Physiological Classification of English Consonants
- •Answer the following questions:
- •Read these words. Observe the apical and cacuminal positions of the tip of the tongue in pronouncing the English /t, r/ and the dorsal in pronouncing the Russian /т/.
- •Read these words. Mind the pronunciation of /h/ as a pure sound of breath.
- •Transcribe these words. Read them. Mind the /j/ articulation.
- •Underline the letters, which represent in spelling the dark [ł] with one line and the clear [l] with two lines in the words given below. Read the words.
- •Mark the linking /r/ and read these sentences.
- •Sort out the oppositions under the following headings: a) occlusive vs. Constrictive, b) constrictive vs. Occlusive-constrictive, c) noise vs. Sonorants.
- •Sort out the oppositions under the following headings: a) labial vs. Forelingual, b) labial vs. Mediolingual, c) labial vs. Backlingual.
- •State which of the pairs illustrate a) forelingual vs. Mediolingual and b) forelingual vs. Backlingual oppositions.
- •State what classificatory principles can be illustrated by the pairs of words given below (consonants opposed initially).
- •Transcribe these words. Underline /ŋ/ with a single line, /ŋɡ/ with two lines.
- •Seminar 3 Articulatory and Physiological Classification of English Vowels
- •Answer the following questions:
- •Transcribe these words. Read them. Observe positional length of the vowel /I:/.
- •Fill in the table and the vowel trapezium:
- •Read these words and state what movements of the tongue make the vowel phonemes /e, з:, ʌ, ɑ:, æ, ɪ, ɔ: / different.
- •Read these pairs of words. State what diphthongs are opposed in the pairs. Define the type of the diphthongs according to the movements of the tongue from the nucleus to the glide.
- •Read these words. Observe the allophonic difference of the vowel phonemes conditioned by their positional length.
- •Transcribe these words and read them. Observe the difference between the fully front /I:/ and the front-retracted /ɪ/.
- •Transcribe these words and read them. Observe the difference between the mid-open /e/ and the fully open (low) /æ/.
- •What classificatory principle of vowels can be illustrated by the contrastive pairs given below?
- •Transcribe these words and read them. Observe the difference between the low long vowel of broad variation /ɑ:/ and the vowel /ʌ/.
- •Which of the given examples illustrate a) high, mid, open, b) front, central, back oppositions?
- •Seminar 4 Functional Aspect of Speech Sounds
- •Answer the following questions:
- •What minimal distinctive feature (or features) makes these oppositions phonologically relevant?
- •Speak on English phonemes in writing.
- •Analyse these words from the viewpoint of the inventory of graphemes, phonemes, letters.
- •Give the phonetic reference of the morphograph -ed in the words:
- •Transcribe the homophones. Translate them into Russian to prove the differentiatory function of graphemes.
- •Divide the words into syllabographs.
- •Divide the words into morphographs.
- •Transcribe the words. Show the phonemic reference of digraphs and polygraphs.
- •State a) which consonants are silent; b) which of the words have /θ/.
- •Fill in the blanks with the appropriate homophone.
- •Seminar 5 Modification of Consonant and Vowel Phonemes in Connected Speech
- •Answer the following questions:
- •Read the words. Define the character of the consonants modified by the following phonemes a) /j/; b) /r/; c) /l/; d) /w/.
- •Read the word combinations. Pay attention to the consonant modified by the following interdental /θ/, /ð/.
- •State which of the words and word combinations illustrate the following phenomena: a) voicing, b) devoicing, c) no voicing, d) no devoicing.
- •Transcribe the words below. Single out the vowels that may be elided in the words.
- •Transcribe the words below. Single out the consonants that may be elided in the words.
- •Transcribe the sentences. Mind all the possible cases of elision.
- •Seminar 6 Syllabic Structure of the English Language
- •Point out syllabic structural patterns of the following English and Russian words; characterize them from the viewpoint of their structure: open, covered, etc.
- •Transcribe the words and divide them into phonetic syllables. Point out their syllabic structural patterns.
- •Divide these words into syllabographs where possible.
- •Arrange these words according to the type of syllable structure: a) closed uncovered, b) closed covered, c) open covered, d) open uncovered.
- •Mark initially strong consonants with a single line and initially weak consonants with two lines.
- •Seminar 7 Stress or Accentual Structure of English Words. Strong and Weak Forms
- •Answer the following questions:
- •Put down stress marks in the sentences below. Translate them into Russian.
- •Transcribe these words. Underline the vowels of full formation in the unstressed position.
- •Give some examples from the English language to illustrate the qualitative and quantitative changes of vowels in the unstressed position.
- •Give examples illustrating the pronunciation of articles, conjunctions, particles and prepositions in their weak forms.
- •Give examples of the weak forms pronunciation of the verbs to be, to have and the negatives not, nor.
- •Seminar 8
- •Intonation and its Components. English Intonation Pattern. Stylistic Use of Intonation
- •Answer the following questions:
- •Read these words and word combinations a) with the undivided falling-rising tone, b) with the divided falling-rising tone.
- •Read these words and word combinations a) with the undivided rising-falling tone, b) with the divided rising-falling tone.
- •Read these sentences. Observe a) the low falling tone and b) the high falling tone.
- •Transcribe and intone the sentences below. Pay attention to the differentiatory function of stress in the italicized words.
- •Fill in the table.
- •Listen to the passages and define the types of an intonation style.
- •Seminar 9
- •Standard English Pronunciation
- •Social and Territorial Varieties of English Pronunciation
- •Answer the following questions:
- •Prepare a report on a) General American pronunciation; b) English as an international language.
- •What are the differences between rp and ga? Fill in the table below.
- •Here is a text read aloud first by a British English speaker and then an American English speaker. Listen and note differences in pronunciation that you observe.
- •Glossary
- •Chart of Phonemic Symbols
- •List of Exam Questions and Tasks Task I
- •Task II
- •Task III
- •Task IV
- •Exam Requirements
- •Literature Recommended for Use
- •Theory of english phonetics seminars
- •125212, Москва, Головинское шоссе, д. 8, корп. 2.
What classificatory principle of vowels can be illustrated by the contrastive pairs given below?
bid — beard pooh — poor too — tour
dead — dared ate — eight law — lower
pod — poured manner — minor letter — later
mass — mouse at — out merry – Mary
Transcribe these words and read them. Observe the difference between the low long vowel of broad variation /ɑ:/ and the vowel /ʌ/.
calm — come
rather — running
barn — button
classes — buses
aunt — under
hard — hundred
dark — dull
basket — above
lark — luck
marvel — money
past — puzzling
market — mug
last — London
darn — done
Bart — but
cart — cut
March — much
Arnold — others
master — monkeys
started — study
enlarge — instructor
hardly — honey
rather — rubbed
last — plus
past — but
France — front
harbours — hundred
advantage — above
half—hut
arm — other
March — much
can't — come
target — two-pence
mask — must
hard — hut
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Which of the given examples illustrate a) high, mid, open, b) front, central, back oppositions?
bead — bed — bad deed — dead — dad
cab — curb — cod tan — turn — torn
bad — bird — board hat — hurt — hot
Seminar 4 Functional Aspect of Speech Sounds
Answer the following questions:
What is phonology?
How are phonemes discovered?
What is the difference between phonemes and allophones?
How are allophones classified?
What patterns of phoneme distribution do you know?
Speak on the method of discovery of minimal distinctive features.
What are the main problems of phonological analysis?
What do you know about the history of the phoneme discovery?
How is the phoneme defined by Russian scientists?
What is the phonemic status of a sound in the neutral position?
Give the definition of the terms:
Phonology, phoneme, allophone, principals, subsidiary allophones, positional allophones, combinatory allophones, free variation, complementary distribution, contrastive distribution, minimal pair, single opposition, double opposition, multiple opposition.
Read the pairs of words given below. State which of them represent minimal pairs and which sub-minimal pairs.
thick — sick zest — lest daily — daisy
bathed — base they —lay Weller — weather
mouth —mouse marry — measure eel —ease
thigh —shy genre —jar bathe —bail
leasure — ledger
Read aloud the minimal pairs below. Single out the phonemes which are contrasted.
jug — bug led — laid lay — lie
judge — budge men — main say — sigh
birch — bird pen — pain bay — by
singe — sinned edge — age days — dies
keen — coin law — low roars — rose
try — Troy saw — so awed — ode
bays — buys gnaw — no called — cold
lied — Lloyd pause — pose torn — tone
Read these words. Pay attention to the positional allophones of the /l/ phoneme. State which of the words illustrate “clear” [l] and “dark”[ł].
like, lip, pull, live, mill, fool, less, leak, hall, list, girl, coal, twelve
Give examples to prove that the following features of the English consonants and vowels are distinctive.
orality – nasality
tenseness – laxness
frontness – backness
voicelessness – voicedness
plosiveness – constrictiveness
According to what distinctive features are the following phonemes contrasted?
/b/ - /m/, /t/ - /ʧ/, /z/ - /ʒ/, /t/ - /s/, /θ/ - /s/, /f/ - /v/, /eɪ/ - /e/, /i:/ - /ɪ/
Give examples for different types of distribution: a) complementary, b) contrastive, c) free variation.
Give examples of a) single opposition, b) double opposition, c) multiple opposition.
Match the words below to obtain minimal pairs.
catch, pip, cheap, sap, he, jail, lap, pair, say, sink, rip, fail, mink, cap, tear, she, lay, heap, match, Sam
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