- •1. The organs of speech and their work. Active organs and passive organs.
- •2.English consonants. The principles of classification.
- •3.The classification of English consonants according to the degree of noise
- •4. The classification of English consonants according to the manner of articulation
- •5. The classification of English consonants according to the place of articulation.
- •6. Aspiration
- •7. Assimilation
- •8. Types of plosion
- •9. Palatalization
- •10. English vowels. The principles of classification
- •11. The classification of English vowels according to the stability of articulation.
- •12. The classification of English vowels according to the tongue position.
- •13. The classification of English vowels according to the lip position and character of vowels end.
- •14. The classification of English vowels according to their length
- •15. Reduction
- •16. Strong and weak forms
- •17. Elision of vowels
- •18. Syllable formation and division
- •19. Syllable Structure
- •20. The words stress. The position of the word stress
- •21. Words with primary and secondary stresses
- •22. Stress in compound words
- •23. Intonation. Functions of intonation. The notion of syntagma
- •24. Basic intonation patterns
- •25. The Nucleus. Types of Nuclei.
- •26. The Tail. The Pre-Head
- •27. The Head. Descending Heads
- •28. The Head. Ascending Heads, Level heads.
6. Aspiration
[p, t, k] in initial position in a stressed syllable are accompanied by aspiration, i.e. a strong puff of breath in a voiceless interval after the explosion of [p t k ] before a vowel. Aspiration is very strong before a long vowel or a diphthongs as in port, talk cart, poke take; it is weaker before a short vowel as in pit, top, cut. It is less noticeable before unstressed vowel, as in proper , porter, poker or in final positions (preceding silence) as in lip, put, cook. If stops are preceded by [s] there is hardly any aspiration at all as in speech, stop, school.
7. Assimilation
Assimilation is a process of alteration of speech sounds as a result of which one of the sounds becomes fully or partially similar to the adjoining sound. The nature of assimilation is determined by objective physical and physiological conditions. Assimilation exists in every language, but its laws and forms in each language depend on the historically formed articulatory tendencies, typical of every language, and specific phonetic structures. Types of assimilation can be distinguished according to: direction, degree of completeness and degree of stability. Assimilation can affect the place of obstruction and the active organs of speech; the work of the vocal cards; the position of the lips; the position of the soft palate; the manner of the release of plosive consonants.
1) Direction of assimilation. The influence of the neighboring sounds in English can act in a progressive, regressive, reciprocal direction. When some articulatory features of the following sounds are changed under the influence of the preceding sound ,which remains unchanged, assimilation is called progressive: pens [penz], calls [kɔ:lz]. When the following sound influences the articulation of the preceding one assimilation is called regressive: within the word width and in the word combination in them, the alveolar [d] and [n] become dental, before the interdental [θ] and [ð]. Reciprocal assimilation means complex mutual influence of the adjacent sounds: tree [tri:].
2) Degree of completeness. According to its degree assimilation can be complete and incomplete. Assimilation is called complete in the case the two adjoining sounds become alike or merge into one. It always takes place when the two sounds differ only in the articulatory feature: cupboard [ˈcʌpbəd>ˈcʌbəd], less shy [ˈlesˈʃaɪ>ˈleʃʃaɪ]. Assimilation is called incomplete when the likeness of the adjoining sounds is partial as the assimilated sound retains its major articulatory features. It concerns the sonorants [l, w, r] which influence the preceding voiceless consonants [p, t, k, s, f, θ]: sweet [swi:t], place [pleɪs], try [trai]. 3) Degree of stability . According to its degree assimilation can be obligatory and non –obligatory. Such changes takes place over a period of time: orchard (ort+yard) [ˈɔ:tjəd>ˈɔ:tʃəd]. In modern language obligatory assimilation are special allophonic variants characteristic of the natives’ speech. Non – obligatory assimilation are characteristic of fluent or careless speech and should be avoided by public speakers. Ten minutes [ˈten ˈmɪnɪts>[ˈtem ˈmɪnɪts]. Assimilation may take place within in word or at word boundaries.