2. The abstract aspect

This aspect is reflected in the following part of the definition: “language unit”. The phoneme belongs to the language while the allophone belongs to the speech. Language is an abstract category, it is an abstraction from speech. Thus the phoneme as a language unit is materialized in the form of speech sounds.

Distinctive features of the phoneme (relevant): these are features that can’t be changed without the change of meaning.

[t] – 1) occlusive, 2) forelingual, 3) fortis.

• forelingual —> backlingual —> [k](tom – com)

• occlusive —> constructive —> [s](tin – sin)

• fortis —> lenis —> [d] —> (ton – don)

A bundle of distinctive features is called invariant.

3. The functional aspect

This aspect is reflected in the following part of the definition: “opposable”. This is the main aspect of the phoneme. Phonemes are capable of differentiating the meaning of morphemes (“seems” – “seemed”), of words (“spot” – “sport”), of sentences (“He was heard badly” – “He was hurt badly”, “There is no room for you in my hut” – “There is no room for you in my heart”).

How can the phoneme perform this function? We have already mentioned that the change of the invariant results in the change of meaning. The phoneme can perform the distinctive function when it is opposed to another phoneme in the same phonetic context ([kɑːt] – [pɑːt]). In this case the phonemes fifer in one articulatory feature: backlingual – forelingual. The articulatory features that don’t affect the meaning are called “non-distinctive (inrelevant)”. A good example of such feature is aspiration. That brings us to the problem that is important in terms of pronunciation teaching: the problem of phonetic and phonological mistakes.

The mistake is called phonological if an allophone of the same phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a different phoneme (“sit” [ɪ] – seat [iː]).

The mistake is called phonetic if an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by the allophone of the same phoneme (“Pit” without aspiration).

Trancription / Notation

Transcription is a system of symbols that represent in written form speech sounds. International Phonetic Association (IPA) worked out a system of symbols universal for all languages. This system of transcription is called “International Phonetic Alphabet”.

Transcription:

1. Broad (phonemic) – it provides symbols for the phonemes of the language. It is used for teaching. Was offered by Daniel Jones.

   • by Daniel Jones: It uses the same symbols for pairs of vowels using dots to indicate the difference in length. ([i] – [i:], [u] – [u:]) The difference in quality between vowels is not represented.

   • by Васильев: It uses different symbols of all vowel phonemes. ([ɪ] – [iː], [ɒ] – [ɔː], etc.)

2. Narrow (allophonic) – it provides special symbol for the allophones and is usually used in research. Gives more accurate and detailed information about individual allophones.

41)The Object of Lexicology.

 

Lexicology (Greek word) : lexicos –referring to a wordLogos – learning (learning a word)

Lexicology – deals with vocabulary of the language and the property of words as basic  

         units of the language.The object of Lexicology is a words-stock (vocabulary) of the particularly language.Vocabulary – it is system formed by the sum total of words and phraseological unitsthat the language possesses.Task of lexicology –             

1.     Is to give systematic description of the English vocabulary, its etymological peculiar features and its classifications.

2.     to study the rules of enriching the vocabularyLexicology as a part of general linguistics is divided into several branches that studydifferent aspects of words, word-combination and the vocabulary.1.     General lexicology – is the general study of the vocabulary irrespective (независимые) of a specific features of any particular  language.

Linguistic phenomena and properties common for any language are called general

universals (лингвистический универсалии)

2.     Special lexicology – studies characteristic features of the vocabulary of a give  language.

3.     Contrastive lexicology (comparative) – comparing of the vocabulary systems of two or more languages..

4.     Historical lexicology (etymology) – studies the evolution of separate words and the vocabulary in general. (the process of development of this or that word. First  written document VIII century)5.     Descriptive lexicology – studies the vocabulary of a given language at a givenstage of its development; it analyses the function ofwords and their specific structure.6.     Applied branches of lexicology (прикладная)

·        lexicography (creating dictionaries)

·        translation (to be successful in translation)

·        linguistic pedagogic;

·        speech culture