Notes on english phonetics (inroductory-corrective course)

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics, which deals with the investigation of the sound means of a certain language from the point of view of their articulation, acoustic qualities and semantics.

The phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit, which is capable of differentiating the meaning and grammar forms of words.

Phonemes are elements of language. The number of them is quite definite for every separate language. In British English there are 44 phonemes: 20 vowel phonemes and 22 consonant ones. In speech they manifest themselves in form of phonemic variants or allophones.

The allophone is a material representation of the phoneme in speech. They appear in connected speech as a result of assimilation or reduction or due to the individual speech habits. The number of allophones in a language is unlimited.

Phonetic transcription and its types

Phonetic transcription is a sort of phonetic alphabet, a system of symbols in which every phoneme is supposed to have its own symbol. It helps in learning a foreign language.

It is possible to speak about three types of phonetic transcription most commonly used in our country:

1. The International Phonetic Transcription was introduced by the International Phonetic Association in 1887. As the science of phonetics has been considerably changed since then the drawbacks of that system are quite evident now. It suggests the same symbols for different phonemes like [], [], [] which gives the wrong impression that those phonemes differ only in their duration (length).

2. The Phonemic Transcription (broad). In the phonemic transcription every phoneme is given an individual symbol, the number of which is 44 (according to the number of phonemes in British English). It introduces four more symbols: [] for [], [] for [], [] for [], [] for []. Words and sentences transcribed with the help of this phonetic script are placed between the slanting brackets, e.g. /, . This type of transcription is used in studying English as a speciality.

3. The Allophonic Transcription (narrow). In this type of transcription every allophone has either a special symbol or a diacritical mark. The brackets are also different. It is used in doing research work in the field of phonetics.

Note. The elements of the allophonic transcription are used in the phonetic transcription, such as a diacritic mark of half-long vowels /, //, //, //, //.

The organs of speech

In learning a foreign language as a speciality it is necessary to know in detail the structure and function of the speech apparatus. The organs of speech are as follows:

1. The nasal cavity.

2. The mouth cavity.

3. The pharyngal /l/ cavity (the pharynx).

4. The tongue: the blade of the tongue with the tip; the front of the tongue; the back of the tongue; the root of the tongue.

5. The root of the mouth: the alveoli /, , -/ (the teeth ridge); the hard palate; the soft palate; the uvula.

6. The teeth: the upper teeth; the lower teeth.

7. The lips: the upper lip; the lower lip.

8. The larynx.

9. The vocal cords.

10. The windpipe.

11. The lower jaw.

The movable speech organs are called active, they are as follows: the tongue, the soft palate with the uvula, the upper and lower lips and the vocal cords. The passive organs of speech are: the upper teeth, the alveoli, the hard palate.