Тести з теоретичної фонетики.

1. Fill in the gap: a phoneme is ____________.

1. a sound of speech;

2. the shortest functional unit of speech;

3. the shortest functional unit of a language.

2. Fill in the gap: Cockney belongs to____________.

a) Northern accents;

b) Midland accents;

c) Southern accents.

3. Answer the question: Which of the articulatory characteristics given below does not fit the description of vowels?

1. there is an articulatory obstruction to the air stream;

2. muscular tension is diffused more or less evenly throughout the supra-glottal part of the speech apparatus;

3. the exhaling force is rather weak.

4. Answer the question: The pronunciation of which of the words given below can be considered an example of non-systematic differences between General American and Received Pronunciation?

a) letter;

b) furniture;

c) research;

d) student.

5. The supraglottal cavities of the articulatory apparatus that make the greatest impact on the produced sounds are

1. the larynx;

2. the nasal cavity;

3. the mouth cavity.

6. Answer the question: The pronunciation of which of the words shows both systematic and non-systematic differences between General American and Received Pronunciation?

a) archives;

b) numerous;

c) parquet;

d) poste restante.

7. The number of English vowel phonemes, which are traditionally distinguished by phoneticians in this country, is

1. 10;

2. 15;

3. 21.

8. The first one who introduced the term phonology as the science of purely linguistic (functional) aspect of speech sounds, opposed to anthropophonics (the proper phonetics in modern terms) was:

a) D. Jones;

b) J.N.I. Baudouin de Courtenay;

c) L.V. Shcherba.

9. The number of English consonant phonemes, which are traditionally distinguished by phoneticians in this country, is

1. 20;

2. 22;

3. 24.

10. The section of phonetics, which studies the correlation between the phonetic systems of two or more languages, especially kindred ones and finds out the correspondences between the speech sounds of kindred languages, is

a) general phonetics;

b) historical phonetics;

c) comparative phonetics;

d) theoretical phonetics.

11. The consonants articulated by the tip of the tongue raised against the teethridge and the middle part of the tongue which is simultaneously raised to the hard palate are called

a) alveolar;

b) palato-alveolar;

c) post-alveolar.

12. According to the scale of sonority, English sounds, considered to be the most sonorous, are

a) back vowels (low, mid, high);

b) semi-vowels and sonorants;

c) voiced and voiceless consonants.

13. The sounds formed during the separation of the articulating organs in the pronunciation of which the complete closure gradually and uninterruptedly opens into a flat-slit narrowing are called

a) affricates;

b) cacuminal;

c) fricatives.

14. The representation of the sounds of one language as nearly as possible by the letters and letter combinations of another language is called

a) utterance;

b) transliteration;

c) transcription.

15. Vowels are subdivided into monophthongs, diphthongs and diphthongoids according to

a) the degree of tenseness and the character of the end of the vowel;

b) the position of the tongue;

c) the stability of articulation.

16. Retroflexed vowels which are articulated by the tip of the tongue curled back behind the back slope of the teethridge irrespective of the articulation of the vowel itself are typical of

a) Australian English;

b) General American;

c) RP.

17. Aspiration is stronger if p, t, k are

a) followed by a long vowel;

b) followed by a short vowel;

c) preceded by s.

18. The tone giving the impression that something is implied is

a) the high falling tone;

b) the rising-falling tone; c) the falling-rising tone.

19. The type of syllabic structures, which characterizes only the English syllabic system and cannot be found in Russian, is

a) a consonant and a sonorant (CS);

b) a vowel (V);

c) a vowel and a consonant (VC).

20. Choose the statement which is not correct: auxiliary and modal verbs are

a) never stressed;

b) stressed when they begin a question;

c) stressed when they combine with the negative not;

d) stressed when they substitute notional verbs in answers.

21. Different types of sentences distinguished by intonation alone are called

a) syntactical types;

b) communicative types;

c) parenthesis.

22. In speech a phoneme performs three functions. Answer the question:

Which of the below-given functions does not characterize a phoneme?

a) distinctive;

b) communicative;

c) constitutive;

d) recognitive.

23. The phonetic term, which cannot be used to characterize word accent in the English language, is

a) dynamic;

b) free;

c) musical.

24. The pitch of the voice may be changed through widening and narrowing the range of the voice. The widening of the range is used to express

a) horror, disgust;

b) joy, happiness, indignation;

c) aversion.

25. Answer the question: Which of the following degrees of word stress is characteristic only for American English?

a) primary;

b) secondary;

c) tertiary.

26. Statements pronounced with the falling-rising tone

a) sound weighty and emphatic;

b) carry implication;

c) show that the speaker is greatly impressed.

27. Unstressed or partly stressed syllables (or a syllable) that follow the nucleus of the intonation group are called

a) subsidiary;

b) tail;

c) segmental.

28. Choose the variant which is not correct: Positional allophones appear as a result of

a) assimilation:

b) adaptation;

c) accommodation;

d) elision.

29. The component of the intonation pattern, which is considered to be the most important and obligatory, is

a) the prehead;

b) the head;

c) the nucleus;

d) the tail.

30. The kind of word stress that is not characteristic of the English and Russian/Ukrainian languages is

a) free;

b) fixed;

c) shifting.

31. Answer the question: Which of the following communicative types of sentences are as a rule pronounced with the rising tone?

a) exclamations;

b) requests;

c) special questions.

32. If the speaker wants to express a reassuring, soothing attitude with a hint of self-reliance, his/ her statement is pronounced with

a) the low falling nuclear tone;

b) the low rising nuclear tone;

c) the rising-falling nuclear tone.

33. Repeated or echoing special questions are usually pronounced with

a) a falling head and a low rising tone on the last stressed syllable;

b) a rising head and a low falling tone on the last stressed syllable;

c) a low rising tone on the question word.

34. In order to make the exclamation sound weighty and emphatic the speaker usually uses

a) the low falling nuclear tone;

b) the low rising nuclear tone;

c) ) the rising-falling nuclear tone.

35. The phrase “Excuse me” arresting someone’s attention is pronounced with

a) a falling-rising tone;

b) a falling tone;

c) a rising-falling tone.

36. If special prominence in an accented syllable or syllables is achieved mainly through the intensity of articulation, such type of stress is called

a) tertiary;

b) musical, or tonic;

c) dynamic, or force.

37. The use of different languages or dialects for different occasions is

a) bilingualism;

b) diglossia;

c) accent.

38. For casual “Thank you” and “Sorry” it is recommended to use

a) the low rising tone;

b) the falling-rising tone;

c) the low falling tone.

39. The American-based group of variants of English does not include

a) Australian English;

b) Canadian English;

c) United States English.

40. The retroflexed articulation of vowels, the weakening of /j/, the voicing of /t/ in the intervocalic position is typical of

a) RP;

b) Australian English;

c) General American.