The System of English Phonemes

Questions and Assignments for Seminar III:

1. General characteristics of the English vowels (acoustic characteristics; vowels and vocoids; schools; discrepancy of transcription; tense and lax vowels in accented and unaccented positions; phonemic status of [ə])

2. The Phonological Interpretation of English diphthongs, triphthongs and diphthongoids.

3. The Phonological Problems of English Consonantism.

Reading List.

1. Zinder L.R. Obschaya phonetica. M., 1979, Ch. 1 (r).

2. Vassilyev V.A. English Phonetics. M., 1970, Ch. 6,7,8.

3. Sokolova M.A., Gintovt K.P. English Phonetics. Theoretical Course. M., 1991.

Assignments:

1. What linguistic criterion serves as the basis of defining the phonological status of the vowels in the following examples:

take [teɪk] – took [tuk] – taken [ʹteɪkn]

choose [tʃu:z] – chose [tʃǝυz] – chosen [ʹtʃǝυzn]?

2. Can the below given minimal pairs confirm the phonological status of /u/:

[put-pᴧt],

[gud-gɒd],

[luk-lɒk]?

3. What linguistic criterion serves for proving the phonological status of [ǝ /, if we consider the following examples: ['sɪtɪ-'sɪtǝ], ['sɪkstɪ -'sɪstǝ], [bǝ:nǝ - sᴧnɪ]?

4. What linguistic criterion serves for proving the absence of monophonemic character of the following affricates: [tr], [dr], [ts], [dz], if we consider the words: hatered ['heɪtrɪd /, bedroom ['bedrum], beds [bedz], cats [kæts]?

5. What subsidiary criterion may serve as the basic of providing the monophonemic character of the diphthongs if we consider the following examples: chaos ['keɪǝs], vowel ['vaυǝl],

poet ['pǝυɪt], priority [praɪ'ɒrɪtɪ]?

6. What linguistic criterion can be the most important in defining the monophonemic character of the diphthongs [ǝυ], [eɪ], [aυ] if we consider the following examples: lower [lǝυǝ], player ['pleɪǝ], bowing ['baυɪŋ]?

Text to be analysed:

Broadcast Programs.

- Well, how’s your set going?

- Oh, not too badly, though I’ve had some difficulty lately in getting good reception from the more distant stations.

- Yes. I`ve noticed quite a lot of interference on my own set too. I suppose it’s the weather.

- Of course, mine’s rather an old-fashioned model compared to yours. By the way, did you hear “Carmen” the other night?

- Yes, I did. Personally, I’m not very keen on opera, but my wife is, and “Carmen” happens to be one of her favorites, so I didn’t like to suggest switching to another station.

- Fortunately for me, it was a translated version. I’m not good at languages, you know.

Assignments:

1. Define the allophonic difference of the phoneme [e] in the following examples from the text: well, set, very, weather, getting, suggest.

2. Distribute the words according to the degree of aspiration of [t]:

a) station, noticed, translated, lately, too, set;

b) (set) too, to (yours), too (badly), but (my), not (good), set (going);

3. What’s the difference in the pronunciation of “the” in “the way” and “the other”, or of “to” in “to your”, “to another” and “to Carmen”?

4. The combination of “my wife is”, may be understood as “my wive is”. What has the duration of the diphthong got to do with it?

5. What word will a native speaker of English hear, if the backlingual voiceless plosive in the word “Carmen” is not aspirated?

6. What is the typical mistake made by Russian learners of English in the pronunciation of the preposition “of” in e.g. the prepositional phrase “of her favorites”?

7. Find out the examples of opposition of the “clear” and “dark” phoneme [ɬ]. What is the difference between the two variants of the phoneme as far as their articulation is concerned? What is the difference (in the degree of palatalization) between the English “clear” variant of [l] and the Russian (palatalized) phoneme (as in the word [мол’])?

8. What is the typical mistake in assimilation that a Russian learner of English can make in “set going” or “not good”?

9. What kind of plosion do we have with the sound [t] in “lately” or “fortunately”?

10. Is the nasal consonant in the words ‘old-fashioned” or “happens” lengthened or not? Is the final consonant in these words pronounced audibly or not?

11. What is the typical mistake in assimilation that a Russian learner or English can make in the word-combination “happens too”?

12. What word will a native speaker of English hear, if the [k] in “keep” is not aspirated?

13. How many variants of pronunciation of the word “fortunate” can you find in D. Jone’s Dictionary? Which one would you choose and why?

14. What word would we hear if the vowel in the word “set” was lengthened?

15. The sound [t] in the word “set” in the sentence “how’s your set going?” is practically not audible. Why?

16. In the words “version”, “happen”, “station” and “fashion” there are two syllables. Is the neutral vowel in the last syllable of these words optional or compulsory?

17. How many variants of pronunciation does the word “translate” have? Which of the variants registered in the Dictionary would you use and why?