Базовый учебник по курсу Теоретической Фонетики

Соколова, М. А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учеб. для студентов высш. учеб. заведений.3-е изд., стереотип./ М.А.Соколова, К.П. Гинтовт, И. С. Тихонова и др. – М.: Гуманитарный издательский центр ВЛАДОС, 2004.-286 с.

Дополнительная литература

Бубенникова, О. А. Литературная произносительная норма (RP) в Британии: история и перспектива развития/О. А. Бубенникова //Вестник МГУ. Сер. 19. Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. – 2004. - № 2. – С. 18 – 30.

Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: Учеб. для пед. ВУЗов и университетов.-3-е изд., испр. и доп./С.Ф. Леонтьева.-М.: Издательство «Менеджер»,2004.-336с.

Михалева, Е. И. Основные особенности и трудности восприятия диалектно-окрашенной речи на английском языке/Е. И. Михалева //Иностр. языки в шк. – 2007. - № 1. – С. 81 – 84.

Соколова, М. А. Практическая фонетика английского языка: учеб. для студентов высш. учеб. заведений/ М. А. Соколова, К. П. Гинтовт, Л. А. Кантер и др. - М.: Гуманитарный издательский центр ВЛАДОС, 2003.-384С.

Brown, T. Listening To Spoken English.-M.: Prosveshcheniye, 1984, pp. 12-155.

Lyashchenko, I. and O. Leonovich. Cockney, or the “London Language”//Иностр. языки в шк. -1999. – № 4. – с. 86-89.

На уроке. Чтение: Poets’ Corner// Иностр. языки в шк. -2006. – № 1. –Методическая мозаика.- С. 6-7.

Развернутые план – конспекты лекций по теоркурсу «Фонетика английского языка»

Лекция 1

The Role of Sound Phenomena in Communication

1. The goals of the course.

2. Phonetics as a linguistic science.

3. The phonetic system of a language.

4. Branches of phonetics.

5. The problem of the definition of the phoneme.

6. the material aspect of the phoneme.

7. The abstract aspect of the phoneme.

8. The functional aspect of the phoneme.

The course proposed has two objectives in view: first, to give the prospective teachers of English necessary information on theoretical problems of English phonetics; second, to acquaint students with some of the diverse/controversial views of Russian and foreign linguists, putting forward the opinions of the foremost linguists on the points at issue and expressing their attitude to them. An attempt has also been made to show the relevance of theoretical studies in solving practical problems connected with language teaching.

The language, the most important means of human intercourse, exists in the material form of speech sounds. It cannot exist without being spoken. Segmental sounds and prosodic features are linguistic phenomena. Representing language units in actual speech, they perform certain linguistic functions: constitutive, distinctive and identificatory functions.

The phonetic system of a language is a set of phonetic units arranged in an orderly way to replace each other in a given framework. In fact it contains two systems (levels) – segmental and suprasegmental (prosodic), each of which is a specially organized language system with a certain number of its units. Segmental units are vowels and consonants which form the vocalic and the consonantal subsystems. Prosodic units are syllables, accentual (rhythmic) units, intonation groups, utterances, which form the subsystems of pitch, stress, rhyme, tempo, pauses. Sound phenomena have different aspects, which are closely interconnected: the articulatory aspect, the acoustic, the auditory and the linguistic aspects.

Depending on which of sound phenomena is studied, phonetics is subdivided into four main branches:

• articulatory phonetics

• perceptual (auditory) phonetics

• acoustic phonetics

• phonology (functional phonetics)

Phonology deals with the functional aspect of sound phenomena. Phonology sets out to discover those segmental and prosodic features that have a differential value in a language, and it establishes the system of phonemes and prosodemes.

The best definition of the phoneme is introduced by professor Vassilyev since it embraces the main aspect further of the phoneme: «The phoneme is the smallest further indivisible language unit that exists in the speech of all the members of a given language community as such speech sounds which are capable of distinguishing one word from another word of the same language or one grammatical form of a word from another grammatical form of a same word». The definition of the phoneme embraces three aspects of phoneme: material, abstract (generalized) and functional.

The phoneme has a material aspect which is manifested in speech in the material form of speech sounds. In other words, phonemes exist in the form of allophones/variants, i.e. speech sounds.

The phoneme has an abstract aspect which is reflected in the definition of the phoneme as a language unit. The phoneme is abstracted from its variants/speech sounds and is characterized by features that are common to all its variants.

The functional aspect of the phoneme is reflected in the definition of the phoneme as the smallest language unit capable of differentiating words and their grammatical forms. This function is the principal one. It is called the distinctive function. The distinctive function of the phoneme is subdivided into:

• morpheme-distinctive

• word-distinctive

• sentence-distinctive

Лекция 2

The Syllable as a Phonetic and Phonological Unit

The Accentual Structure of English Words

1. The syllable as a phonetic unit.

2. The syllable as a phonological unit.

3. The syllabic structure of English words.

4. Word and utterance stress.

The smallest pronunciation (articulatory) units, into which the speech continuum is divided, are called syllables. The notion of the syllable in modern phonetics is the problem of syllable formation, syllable division, and the phonological status of the syllable. The phonetic aspect of the syllable is characterized by the following features: the peak of the syllable has a higher intensity than its marginal consonants and perceptually, it is louder and higher in pitch. Due to these features the syllable as a phonetic unit may be defined as a peak of articulatory effort.

Like the phoneme the syllable is an abstraction which is realized in speech in phonetically definite units. In each language there is a limited number of syllable structures. As a linguistic unit the syllable performs the following functions: constitutive, distinctive and identificatory.

The syllabic structure in English has certain features that distinguish it from other languages. Syllabic sounds in English are not only vowels but also sonants. The following types of syllables are distinguished depending on the position of the vowel and that of the consonants:

• open syllables

• closed syllables

• covered syllables

• uncovered syllables

The fundamental syllabic type in English is the closed syllable.

The auditory impression of stress is that of prominence. There may be one prominent syllables in a word, there may be two equally prominent syllables or more, two unequally prominent syllables. This correlation of degrees of prominence of the syllables in a word forms the stress pattern of the word, which is called the accentual structure of a word. Word stress belongs to the word when said in isolation. Whereas utterance stress belongs to the utterance. The placement of utterance stress is primarily conditioned by the situation and linguistic contexts, by the speakers’ intentions to bring out words semantically important. The stress pattern of a word is also conditioned by pronunciation tendencies and the orthoepic norm of a language.

A stressed syllable is a syllable that that has special prominence. The effect of prominence may be produced by a greater degree of loudness, greater length of the stressed syllable, some modifications in its pitch and quality. Thus prominence is created by an interaction of four acoustic features: loudness, pitch, length, quality. English word stress is of a complex nature and manifests itself in various ways.

Лекция 3

Intonation and Prosody

1. The Prosodic system of a language and its unites:

• the syllable

• the rhythmic unit

• the intonation group

• the utterance

2. The prosodic subsystem of a language:

• pitch

• utterance stress

• rhythm

• tempo

• pauses

3. The functional aspect of prosody with reference to its functions performed in speech:

• constitutive

• distinctive

• identificatory (recognitive)

Intonation is defined as a complex unity of speech melody, sentence stress, tempo, rhythm and voice timbre, which enables the speaker to express his thoughts, emotions and attitudes towards the content of the utterance and the hearer. Speech melody, sentence stress, tempo, rhythm and timbre are all components of intonation. Phoneticians abroad define intonation as the variation of the pitch of the voice, thus reducing it to one component – speech melody. This is a narrow approach to the definition of intonation.

The notion of prosody is broader than the notion of intonation as it can be applied to the utterance, the word, the syllable.

The syllable is widely recognized to be the smallest prosodic unit. A rhythmic, or accentual, unit (group) is either one stressed syllable or a stressed syllable with a number of unstressed ones grouped around it. The intonation group is hierarchically higher than the rhythmic unit. Structurally the intonation group has some obligatory formal characteristics. These are the nuclear stress on the semantically most important word and the terminal tone. The boundaries between intonation groups are marked by tonal junctures and pauses. The structure of the intonation group varies depending on the number of syllables and rhythmic units in it.

A higher unit in which prosodic features are actualized is the utterance. The utterance is the main communicative unit. It is characterized by semantic entity which is expressed by all the language means. The prosodic structure of an utterance is a meaningful unit that contributes to the total meaning of this utterance.

Pitch, one of the prosodic subsystems, or speech melody is the variations in the pitch of the voice which take place with voiced sounds. To describe the melody of an utterance it is necessary to determine the relevant pitch levels, pitch ranges, directions and rate of pitch movement in the terminal zone and pre-terminal part of each of its intonation groups.

Words grouped into an utterance are not all equally important. Depending on the context or the communication situation some words appear to contribute more information than others. Those that are semantically more important are made prominent. The special prominence given to one or more words in an utterance is called utterance stress. The means, with the help of which the special prominence is achieved and the effect of stress is produced, are variations of pitch, loudness, length and quality.

English is considered to be mostly a language with stress-timed rhythm. Stress-timed rhythm presupposes that utterance stress serves as a basis for the rhythmic organization of speech and that stresses segment the speech continuum into units of more or less equal length.

The tempo of speech is the rate at which utterances and their smaller units are pronounced. Phoneticians generally distinguish normal tempo and two departures from the norm: fast and slow.

The speech continuum is divided into units of different length and hierarchy by means of pauses. It is the main function of a pause to segment connected speech into utterances and intonation groups to delimit one utterance or intonation group from another. Phoneticians distinguish three main types of pauses: silent pauses, pauses of perception and voiced (or filled) pauses.

Лекция 4

Rhythm and Speech Melody

1. Pitch levels, pitch ranges, rate of pitch movement.

2. The terminal tone of an utterance.

3. The structure of an intonation group.

4. Rhythm

The pitch level of the utterance (or the intonation group) is determined by the pitch of its highest-pitched syllable. It shows the degree of semantic importance in comparison with any other utterance, and also conveys the speaker’s attitudes and emotions. In unemphatic speech most phoneticians distinguish three pitch levels: low, mid and high.

The pitch range of an utterance is the interval between its highest-pitched syllable and its lowest-pitched syllable. According to circumstances the speaker changes his voice range. It may be widened and narrowed to express emphasis or the speaker’s attitudes and emotions.

The rate of pitch variations may be different depending on the time during which these variations take place, and on the range of the variations. Differences in the rate of pitch variations are semantically important. When the rate of the fall is fast, the falling tone sounds more categoric and definite than when the rate of the fall is slow.

The most important from the functional point of view is the terminal tone of an utterance. The peculiarity of the terminal tone in English is that it may occur not only on the “nucleus” but may be extended to the tail. The pitch of the tail depends on the kind of a terminal tone. It conveys certain meanings of its own which make the whole utterance more concrete and precise. The meanings of the falling tone are definiteness, incompleteness, non-finality, uncertainty, tentativeness. The falling-rising tone carries the meaning of reservation, implication, contrast.

The elements of the intonation group are the prehead, the head, the nucleus and the tail. The prehead is normally pronounced on the low or mid pitch level. The head is viewed as one melodic shape, one part of the pitch contour of the utterance. It acts as a unit independent of the nucleus. The functions of the head are to express relations between its constituent units. The fallowing types of head are distinguished: the gradually descending head, the broken descending head, the low level head, the high level head, the ascending head, the scandent head, the sliding head. The functional analysis of speech melody shows that the leading role in differentiating communicative types of utterances belongs to the terminal tone. That is why the communicative-distinctive function of speech melody is widely recognized. The distinctive function of intonation also manifests itself in other particular functions, e.g. the modal-stylistic (attitudinal) function.

Rhythm has been defined as regularity or periodicity in the occurrence of a particular phenomenon in an utterance. In some languages the recurring phenomena are stressed, in others – syllables. English is considered to be mostly a language with stressed-timed rhythm. The stressed syllable is the nucleus of the rhythmic unit. There are as many rhythmic units in an utterance as there are stressed syllables in it. The unstressed syllables are clitics. Those preceding the stressed syllable are called proclitics, and those following it – enclitics. Depending on the position of the stressed syllable and the number of proclitics and enclitics in the rhythmic group there exist various accentual - and – rhythmic patterns of it. The rhythmic group is also characterized by a pitch pattern and duration pattern. These prosodic characteristics make it possible to perceive the rhythmic unit as an actual discrete unit of prosody.

Лекция 5

Problems of phonostylistics

1. Phonetic modifications in speech.

2. Phonetic styles as opposed to functional styles.

3. The classification of phonetic styles.

The main circumstances of reality that course phonetic modification in speech are as follows:

• the aim of spontaneity of speech (which may be to instruct, to inform, to narrate, to chat, etc.)

• the extent of spontaneity of speech (unprepared speech, prepared speech)

• the nature of interchange, i.e. the use of a form of speech which may either suggest only listening, or both listening and an exchange of remarks (a lecture, a discussion, a conversation, etc.)

• social and psychological factors, which determine the extent of formality of speech and the attitudes expressed (a friendly conversation with close friends, a quarrel, an official conversation, etc.)

These circumstances, or factors, are termed extralinguistic factors. Different ways of pronunciation caused by extralinguistic factors and characterized by definite phonetic features, are called phonetic styles, or styles of pronunciation.

Scholars distinguish a number of functional styles of the written language, such as belles-letters style, publicistic style, newspaper style, the style of official documents and the style of scientific prose, which have clearly distinguishable lexical and syntactic peculiarities. The styles of the spoken language are not as yet unanimously defined, though we are aware of the phonetic differences. The phonetic style-forming means are the degree of assimilation, reduction and elision, all of which depend on the degree of carefulness of pronunciation. Phonetic styles differ prosodically, too. Each phonetic style is characterized by a specific combination of certain segmental and prosodic features.

Phoneticians distinguish a number of styles of pronunciation, although among them there is no generally accepted classification of pronunciation styles either. D. Tones distinguishes five styles of pronunciation: the rapid familiar style, the slower colloquial style, the natural style used in addressing an audience, the acquired style of the stage, the acquired styles used in singing. T. Kenyon distinguished four principal styles of good spoken English: familiar colloquial, formal colloquial, public-speaking style and public-reading style. For teaching and learning purposes the following classification of phonostyles is considered useful: informational style

academic style

publicistic style

declamatory style

conversational style

Лекция 6

Phonostylistic Characteristics at the Level of Prosodic Features

1. The phonostylistic parameters that summarize prosodic features.

2. The phonetic style-forming means of the informational style.

3. Phonostylistic properties of the academic style.

Phonostylistic characteristics are summarized in the form of certain parameters based on prosodic features. These parameters represent appropriate prosodic style-forming means (including intonation patterns) common to a particular style. Such parameters are called phonostylistic parameters and they are as follows:

1. Timbre

2. Delimitation

3. Style-marking prosodic features: loudness, levels and ranges, rate, pauses, rhythm

4. Accentuation of semantic centres: terminal tones, pre-nuclear patterns, contrast between accented and unaccented segments

The speech typology characteristic of the informational style includes: informational style registers (reading / speaking as the varieties of the language involved; prepared written speech read aloud and / or spontaneous spoken speech); educational information; press reporting and broadcasting. The forms of communication are represented by a monologue, a dialogue or a polylogue with the number of participants involved (suggestion the spheres of discourse – public and non-public) and the character of their relationship (formal and informal). By way of illustration, here is the invariant of phonostylistic properties of the reading of a new bulletin (press reporting and broadcasting) presented in the form of phonostylistic parameters with their appropriate markers.

1. Timbre: dispassionate, impartial, but resolute and assured.

2. Delimitation: phonopassages – phrases – intonation groups.

3. Style – marking prosodic features:

   1. loudness – normal or increased, contrasted at the phonopassages boundaries;

   2. levels and ranges – normal, decrease towards the end of the passage, noticeable increase at the start of any new news item;

   3. rate – not remarkably varied, slow, rarely allegro, deliberately slow (lento) on communicatively important centres;

   4. pauses – rather long, especially at the end of each new item;

   5. rhythm – stable, properly organized.

4. Accentuation of semantic centres:

   1. terminal tones – frequent use of final, categoric falling tones on the semantic centres and falling –rising or rising ones in the initial intonation groups;

   2. pre-nuclear patterns – common use of descending heads (very often broken); alternation of descending and ascending heads;

   3. the contrast between the accented and unaccented segments – not great.

The academic style is used in the following spheres of communication that involve the written variety of the language and the spoken variety of the language in the forms of a monologue, a dialogue, a polylogue suggesting public and non-public relationships, reading or speaking in a prepared or spontaneous way. By way of illustration, let us consider the invariant of phonostylistic characteristics of an academic lecture read aloud in public in front of a fairly-sized audience.

1. Timbre: authoritative, imposing, edifying, instructive, self-assured.

2. Delimitation: phonopassages – phrases – intonation groups.

3. Style – marking prosodic features:

1. loudness – increased, sometimes to forte;

2. levels an ranges – remarkably varied with the passage segments, gradual decrease within the supraphrasal unity;

3. rate – normal, slow on the most important parts of the lecture (rules, conclusions, examples); rate is as flexible as the lecturer wishes it to be;

4. pauses – rather long, especially between the phonopassages; a large proportion of the pauses serving to bring out communicatively important parts of utterances; occasional use of breath-taking pauses;

5. rhythm – properly organized, especially while giving the rules, reading the laws, drawing conclusions, etc.

4. Accentuation of semantic centres:

   1. terminal tones – high proportion of compound terminal tones (High Fall + Low Rise, Fall-Rise, Rise-Fall-Rise); a great number of high categoric falls;

   2. pre-nuclear patterns – frequent use of stepping and falling heads; alternation of descending and ascending heads, especially in enumeration;

   3. the contrast between the accented and unaccented segments – not great.

Лекция 7

Phonostylistic Characteristics of Conversational Style, Publicistic Style

and Declamatory Style

1. Conversational style as the most commonly used type of phonetic style.

2. Publicistic style – an oratorical variety of public speech.

3. The declamatory style as a highly emotional and expressive phonetic style.

Informal conversational English is opposed to written English read aloud is characterized by:

1. a high proportion of hesitation features of all kinds;

2. a substantial amount of overlapping and simultaneous speech;

3. a great amount of non-obligatory assimilation;

4. a very high frequency of simple falling tones, a high frequency of stepping down head and almost complete absence of stepping up head;

5. a high frequency of compound tones, especially the fall + rise; a frequent use of low rising tones on statement; the occasional use of very emphatic tones, a common use of high unstressed syllables especially in the prehead;

6. a strong tendency to use short intonation groups and to break up lengthy intonation groups wherever possible;

7. a frequent use of pauses which occur in places where they are not regular in formal conversation.

Informality of conversational English is also created by unexpected introduction of dialect forms, elements of very formal language, slips of tongue, hesitant drawls, uneven tempo, significant variations in loudness, paralinguistic features.

The basic aim of publicistic speech is to extend persuasive and emotional influence on the listeners, and volitional and desiderative information is predominant in oratorical texts/speech. The invariant of phonostylistic characteristics of publicistic speech is as follows:

1. timbre: dignified, self-assured, concerned and personally involved;

2. delimitation: phonopassages – phrases – intonation groups;

3. style – making prosodic features;

1. loudness – enormously increased, ranging from forte to fortissimo;

2. ranges and levels – greatly varied; the predominant use of wide ranges within the phonopassages;

3. rate – moderately slow; the public speaker slows down the tempo of his speech to bring out communicatively important centres;

4. pauses – definitely long between the passages; a great number of breath-taking pauses; a frequent stop of phonation before the emphatic semantic centre; “ rhetorical silence” is used to exert influence on the public;

5. rhythm – properly organized;

4. the accentuation of semantic centres:

1. terminal tones – mostly emphatic, especially on emotionally underlined semantic centres; in non-final intonation groups falling-rising tones are frequent;

2. pre-nuclear patterns – common use of the descending sequence of stressed syllables; a large proportion of falling and stepping heads frequently broken by accidental rises to increase the emphasis;

3. the contrast between accented and unaccented segments – not great;

4. paralinguistic features.

Attitudinal, volitional and intellectual functions of intonation are of primary importance in the performance of the declamatory style. This style is represented by a written form of the language read aloud or recited. The invariant of phonostylistic characteristics of the declamatory prose reading is as follows:

1. timbre: concerned, personally involved, emotionally rich;

2. delimitation: phonopassages – phrases – intonation groups;

3. style – making prosodic features;

1. loudness – varied according to the size of the audience;

2. ranges and levels – variable;

3. rate – deliberately slow, necessitated by the purpose of reading changes in the speed of reading utterances are determined by the syntactic structures, importance of information and the degree of emphasis;

4. pauses – long, especially between the passages. The declamatory reading is distinctly marked by a great number of prolonged emphatic pauses;

5. rhythm – properly organized; the isochronic recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables;

4. the accentuation of semantic centres:

1. terminal tones – common use of categoric low and high falls in final and even initial intonation groups and on semantic centres; occasional use of rising and level tones to break the monotony;

2. pre-nuclear patterns – varied, contain patterns which have both common emphatic and non-emphatic usage; for the emphasis the following intonation patterns are most frequently used:

low head + high fall

high head + low fall

high head + high fall

stepping head + high fall

3. the contrast between accented and unaccented segments – not great.

Лекция 8

Types of English Pronunciation

1. The orthoepic norm of a language.

2. Received Pronunciation (RP).

3. The pronunciation varieties of British English:

• the Northern region type

• the Scottish type of pronunciation.

The orthoepic norm of a language is the standard pronunciation adopted by native speakers as the right and proper way of speaking. It is the pronunciation used by the most educated part of the population, the pronunciation that is recorded in pronouncing dictionaries as the best. It comprises the variants of pronunciation of vocabulary units and prosodic patterns which reflect the main tendencies in pronunciation that exist in the language.

The orthoepic norm of the English language is considered to be Received Pronunciation (RP). It is mainly based on the southern region type of pronunciation, but it has developed its own features which have given it a non-regional character. The main changes that have recently take place in RP are as follows:

1. the diphthongization of the RP [i:] and [u:] which in final position are often pronounced with a glide;

2. monophthongization of [ai] and [au] when followed by [ə];

3. the centering of former [ou] to [зu];

4. the assimilation of the following sounds:

[sj] > [∫]

[zj] > [ʒ]

[tj] > [t∫]

[dj] > [dʒ]

5. the use of the intrusive [r] which some 30 – 40 years ago was carefully avoided by RP speakers.

RP is accepted as the teaching standard in many countries, in Russia as well.

There are many educated people in Britain who do not speak RP, though their English is good and correct. They speak Standard English with a regional type of pronunciation. The types of pronunciation that are widely used by educated people in Britain, besides RP, are the Northern type and the Scottish type of English pronunciation.

The Northern region type of English pronunciation is characterized by the following features:

• [æ] is more open and more retracted back;

• [a:] is fronted as compared to the RP [a:] and it approximates to [æ] in words which do not contain the letter “r”;

• [u] is used instead of [л];

• [ou] is pronounced as monophthongal [o:].

The Scottish type of English pronunciation is characterized by the following features:

• the sequences [ir], [er], [лr] are used instead of RP [з:];

• [u] is used instead of [au];

• all vowels are short;

• [r] is an alveolar flap not only between and before vowels, but also after vowels;

• a voiceless labiovelar fricative is used to distinguish, for example between “whine” and “wine”;

•a backlingual fricative [x] is used.

Лекция 9

American English Pronunciation

1. Peculiarities of American English Pronunciation as compared to those of RP.

2. Intonation contours of American English.

American English (AE), a variant of the English language, has developed its own peculiarities in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. American English embraces a wide range of pronunciation varieties. General American (GA) pronunciation is usually referred to as the standard pronunciation of AE. The peculiarities of GA pronunciation (as compared to those of RP) are as follows:

• [r] is retroflexive;

• [t] is voiced between a vowel and a sonorant;

• [l] is always dark;

• [h] is often dropped in weak syllables;

• [j] is omitted before [u];

• the glottal stop is used instead of [t] before [m], [n], [l], [r], [j], [w];

• [æ] is used instead of [a:] in words which do not contain the letter “r”;

• vowels are not differentiated by their length, they are long.

The most frequent intonation contour for statements, requests, general questions in GA is the tune, beginning low, rising to a high level, and then steadily falling. Rising tunes that rise from a low pitch level and end on a high pitch level occur with some general questions when a polite form is desirable. Another frequent intonational characteristic in GA is to end a sentence with a high-pitched fall-rise.

There is a wide range of pronunciation varieties of the English language. They reflect the social class the speaker belongs to, the region he comes from. Some of these varieties are received pronunciations, others are not.