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Файл:Теоретическая фонетика английского языка = English Theoretical Phonetics. Учебное пособие
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3.5. Differences in the Articulation Bases of the English and Russian Vowels
3. Complete the table featuring the articulatory features of English
RP vowels.
Table 9. RP Vocalic System
1. Stability of
articulation
2. Length Long
3. Degree of
muscular tension
4. Lip participation Rounded (labialized)
5. Vertical
movement
of the tongue
High
(close)
Mid
(midopen)
Low
(op en)
Narrow
variety
Broad
variety
Narrow
variety
Broad
variety
Narrow
variety
Broad
variety
Monothongs Diphthongs Diphthongoids
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [
], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
Ten s e
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
6. Horizontal movement of the tongue
Fully front Front
retracted
[ ] [ ]
[ ], [ ] [ ], [ ]
[ ], [ ] [ ], [ ]
[ ] [ ], [ ]
[ ], [ ], [ ] [ ], [ ]
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ],
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
Short
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
Lax
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
Unrounded (non-labialized)
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ],
[ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ], [ ]
Central
(mixed)
[ ], [ ]
Back
advanced
Fully back
[ ], [ ]
4. Answer the questions using one-word / phrase answers.
1. From the acoustic point of view vowels are called the sounds of … .
2. A monophthong, half-long, lax, unrounded, front, low / open vowel
phoneme of the wide variety is … .
3. A monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, central / mixed, mid vowel
phoneme of the narrow variety is … .
4. A monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, back, low / open vowel
phoneme of the wide variety is … .
31
Unit 3. Vowel System in Modern English
5. A monophthong, short, lax, rounded, back advanced, low / open
vowel phoneme of the wide variety is … .
6. A monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, front, high / close vowel
phoneme of the narrow variety is … .
7. A monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, central / mixed, mid vowel
phoneme of the wide variety is … .
8. A monophthong, short, lax, rounded, back, low / open vowel
phoneme of the wide variety is … .
9. A monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, central / mixed, mid vowel
phoneme of the wide variety is … .
10. A monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, front, mid / half-open
vowel phoneme of the narrow variety is … .
11. The position of the tongue in the mouth cavity is characterized
from two aspects: … .
12. Traditionally the lip positions are distinguished: … .
13. What articulatory feature characterizes the state of the organs of
speech at the moment of producing a vowel?
14. In what positions does the shortening of a vowel length occur?
15. The unchecked vowels occur terminally, or are followed by a … .
16. The common mistake in the production of English [ɔ:], [ᴅ], [u:], [ʋ]
is lip … .
5. Provide ve examples of groups of words where one and the same
long phoneme is realized in allophones of dierent duration. Dene
in which word the sound is the longest / shortest.
Table 10. Allophones of Dierent Duration
[i :] [ɜ :] [u:] [ɔ:] [a:]
6. Transcribe the words and describe the vowels according to
their relevant and irrelevant characteristics.
Bouquet, salmon, albeit, almond, chaos, chimera, coup, cupboard,
debut, epitome, our, hierarchy, niche, subtle, suite, foyer, mauve, regime,
thriathlon.
32
UNIT 4.
CONSONANT SYSTEM IN MODERN ENGLISH
There are articulatory, acoustic and functional dierences between
vowels and consonants.
The most substantial articulatory dierence between vowels and
consonants is that in the articulation of vowels the air passes freely
through the mouth cavity, while in making consonants an obstruction
is formed in the mouth cavity and the airow exhaled from the lungs
meets a narrowing or a complete obstruction formed by the speech
organs.
Consonants articulations are relatively easy to feel, and as a result
are most conveniently described in terms of
articulation.
of consonants can be localized, an obstruction or narrowing for each
consonant is made in a denite place of the speech apparatus.
The particular quality of vowels depends on the volume and shape
of the mouth resonator, as well as on the shape and the size of the resonator
opening. The quality of consonants depends on the kind of noise that
results when the tongue or the lips obstruct the air passage. The kind
of noise produced depends in its turn on the type of obstruction, on
the shape and the type of the narrowing. The vocal cords also determine
the quality of consonants.
From the acoustic point of view, vowels are called the sounds of
voice, which have high acoustic energy, consonants are the sounds of
noise, which have low acoustic energy.
Functional dierences between vowels and consonants are dened by
their role in syllable formation: vowels are syllable forming elements,
consonants are units which function at the margins of syllables, either
singly or in clusters.
Vowels have no place of obstruction, while the articulation
place
and manner of
33
Unit 4. Consonant System in Modern English
4.1. Articulatory Classification of English Consonants
Russian phoneticians classify consonants according to the following
principles:
y degree of noise;
y place of articulation;
y manner of articulation;
y position of the soft palate;
y force of articulation.
According to V.A. Vasilyev primary importance should be given to
the type of obstruction and the manner of production noise. On this
ground he distinguishes two large classes:
y occlusive, in the production of which a complete obstruction is
formed;
y constrictive, in the production of which an incomplete obstruction
is formed.
Another point of view is shared by a group of Russian phoneticians.
They suggest that the basic principle of classication should be the degree
of noise. Such consideration leads to dividing English consonants into
two kinds:
y noise consonants;
y sonorants.
The term degree of noise belongs to auditory level of analysis. But
there is an intrinsic connection between articulatory and auditory aspects
of describing speech sounds. In this case the term of auditory aspect
denes the characteristic more adequately.
Sonorants are sounds that dier greatly from other consonants. This
is due to the fact that in their production the air passage between the two
organs of speech is fairly wide, that is much wider than in the production
of noise consonants. As a result, the auditory eect is tone, not noise. This
peculiarity of articulation makes sonorants sound more like vowels than
consonants. Acoustically sonorants are opposed to all other consonants
because they are characterized by sharply dened formant structure and
the total energy of most of them is very high.
There are no sonorants in the classications suggested by British
and American scholars. D. Jones and H. Gleason, for example, give
separate groups of nasals [m, n, η], the lateral [1] and semi-vowels,
34
4.1. Articulator y Classification of English Consonants
or glides [w], [r], [j]. B. Bloch and G. Trager besides nasals and lateral give
trilled [r]. According to Russian phoneticians sonorants are considered to
be consonants from articulatory, acoustic and phonological point of view.
The place of articulation as a principle of consonant classication
is rather universal. The dierence is that V.A. Vasilyev, G.P. Torsuev,
O.I. Dikushina, A.C. Gimson give more detailed and precise enumerations
of active organs of speech than H. Gleason, B. Bloch, G. Trager and
others. There is, however, controversy about terming the active organs of
speech. Thus, Russian phoneticians divide the tongue into the following
parts: front with the tip, middle, and back. Following L.V. Shcherba’s
terminology the front part of the tongue is subdivided into apical,
dorsal, cacuminal or retroexed according to the position of the tip and
the blade of the tongue in relation to the teeth ridge. А.С. Gimson’s terms
dier from those used by Russian phoneticians: apical is equivalent to
forelingual; frontal is equivalent to mediolingual; dorsum is the whole
upper area of the tongue. H.A. Gleason’s terms in respect to the bulk
of the tongue are: apex – the part of the tongue that lies at rest opposite
the alveoli; front – the part of the tongue that lies at rest opposite the fore
part of the palate; back, or dorsum, – the part of the tongue that lies at rest
opposite the velum or the back part of the palate.
A.L. Trakhterov, G.P. Torsyev, V.A. Vasilyev and other Russian scholars
consider the principle of classication according to the manner of
articulation to be one of the most important and suggest a classication
from the point of view of the closure. It may be:
y complete closure, then occlusive (stop or plosive) consonants are
produced;
y incomplete closure, then constrictive consonants are produced;
y the combination of the two closures, then occlusive-constrictive
consonants, or aricates, are produced;
y intermittent closu r e , th e n rolled, or trilled consonants are produced.
A.C. Gimson, H.A. Gleason, D. Jones and other foreign phoneticians
include in the manner of noise production groups of lateral, nasals, and
semivowels, those subgroups of consonants which do not belong to
a single class.
Russian phoneticians subdivide consonants into unicentral, or
pronounced with one focus, and bicentral, or pronounced with two foci,
according to the number of noise producing centers, or foci.
35
Unit 4. Consonant System in Modern English
According to the shape of narrowing constrictive consonants and
aricates are subdivided into sounds with at narrowing and round
narrowing.
According to the position of the soft palate all consonants are
subdivided into oral and nasal. When the soft palate is raised oral
consonants are produced. When the soft palate is lowered nasal consonants
are produced.
According to the force of articulation consonants may be fortis and
lenis. This characteristic is connected with the work of the vocal cords:
voiceless consonants are strong and voiced are weak.
4.2. The System of Consonant Phonemes. Problem of Affricates
The phonological analysis of English consonant sounds helps to
distinguish 24 phonemes: [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g], [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [s], [z],
[ʃ], [ʒ], [h], [ʧ ], [ʤ], [m], [n], [ŋ], [w], [r], [1], [j]. Principles of classication
suggested by Russian phoneticians provide the basis for establishing of
the following distinctive oppositions in the system of English consonants:
y degree of noise, e. g.: bake [beık] – make [meı k], veal [vi:l] – wheel
[wi:l];
y place of articulation:
– labial vs. lingual, e. g.: pain [peın] – cane [keın];
– lingual vs. glottal, e. g.: foam [fəʋm] – home [həʋm], care [keə] –
hair [he ə];
y manner of articulation:
– occlusive vs. constrictive, e. g.: pine [paın] – ne [faın], bat [bæt] –
that [ðæt];
– constrictive vs. aricates, e. g.: fare [feə] – chair [ʧeə], fail [feıl] –
jail [ʤeıl];
– constrictive unicentral vs. constrictive bicentral, e. g.: s ame [seım]
– shame [ ʃeım];
y work of the vocal cords and the force of articulation: voiceless
fortis vs. voiced lenis, e. g.: pen [pen] – Ben [ ben], coat [kəʋt] – goat
[gəʋt];
y position of the soft palate: oral vs. nasal, e. g.: pit [pıt] – pin [pın],
seek [si:k] – seen [si:n].
No dierences of meaning in English can be attributed to the presence
or absence of nasalization. It is for this reason that it cannot be
36
4.2. The System of Consonant Phonemes. Problem of Af fricates
a phonologically relevant feature of English consonants, so it is an
indispensable concomitant feature of English nasal consonants.
Another problem of a phonological character in the English consonantal
system is the phonological status and the number of aricates.
According to the specialists in English phonetics, there are two
aricates in English: [ʧ] and [ʤ].
D. Jones points out there are six of them: [ʧ], [ʤ], [ts], [ʤ] and [tr],
[dr]. A.C. Gimson increases their number adding two more aricates:
[tθ], [dð]. Belarusian phoneticians look at English aricates through
the eyes of a phoneme theory, according to which a phoneme has three
aspects: articulatory, acoustic and functional, the latter being the most
signicant one. The primary concern of British phoneticians is
the articulatory-acoustic unity of these complexes, because their aim is
limited by practical reasons of teaching English. Before looking at these
complexes from a functional point of view it is necessary to dene their
articulatory indivisibility.
According to N.S. Trubetskoy a sound complex may be considered
nonphonemic if:
y its elements belong to the same syllable;
y it is produced by one articulatory eort;
y its duration should not exceed normal duration of either of its
elements.
Applying these criteria to the sound complexes there are:
y syllabic indivisibility, e. g.: butcher [bʋʧ-ə] – lightship [laıt-ʃıp];
mattress [mætr-ıs] – footrest [f ʋ t-rest]; curtsey [kз:-tsı] – out set [aʋt-set];
eighth [eıtθ] – white thorn [waıt-θɔ:n].
In the words in the left column the sounds [ʧ ], [tr], [ts], [tθ] belong to one
syllable and cannot be divided into two elements by a syllable dividing line;
y articulatory indivisibility: special instrumental analysis shows
that all the sound complexes are homogeneous and produced by one
articulatory eort;
y durat ion: with G.P. Torsuyev we could state that length of sounds
depends on the position in the phonetic context, therefore it cannot serve
a reliable basis in phonological analysis. He writes that the length of English
[ʧ] in the words chair [ʧeə] and match [mæʧ] is dierent: [ʧ ] in match is
considerably longer than [t] in mat [mæt] and may be even longer than [ʃ]
in mash [mæʃ]. This does not prove, however, that [ʧ] is biphonemic.
37
Unit 4. Consonant System in Modern English
According to morphological criterion a sound complex is considered to
be monophonemic if a morpheme boundary cannot pass within it because
it is generally assumed that a phoneme is morphologically indivisible.
If we consider [ʧ], [ʤ] from this point of view we could grant them
a monophonemic status, since they are indispensable. The last elements
of [ts], [dz] and [tθ], [dð] complexes are separate morphemes [s], [z], [θ],
[ð]. These complexes do not correspond to the phonological models of
the English language and cannot exist in the system of phonemes. So,
[ʧ], [ʤ] are dened as monophonemic units and [tr], [dr], [ts], [dz], [tð],
[dθ] as biphonemic complexes. However, this point of view reveals
the possibility of ignoring the articulatory and acoustic indivisibility.
Considering phonemic duality of aricates, it is necessary to analyze
the relation of aricates to other consonant phonemes to be able to dene
their status in the system.
4.3. Differences in the Articulation Bases
of the English and Russian Consonants
There are some peculiarities of the articulation bases in English and
in Russian which cause the dierences in the systems of consonants in
these two languages:
y the English forelingual consonants are articulated with the apico-
alveolar position of the tip of the tongue. The Russian forelingual
consonants are mainly dorsal: in their articulation the tip of the tongue is
passive and lowered, the blade is placed against the upper teeth [т], [т’],
[д], [д’], [н], [н’], [с], [с’], [з], [з’], [ч’], [ц]. The Russian forelingual apical
consonants are only [л], [л’], [ш], [ш’], [ж], [ж’];
y in the production of the Russian consonants the bulk of the tongue
is mainly in the front-mid part of the mouth resonator. In the production
of the English forelingual consonants the tip of the tongue and the front
edges are very tense. It results in the depression in the front part of
the tongue, which enlarges the size of the front resonator;
y the English voiceless consonants [p], [t], [k], [f ], [s], [ʃ], [ʧ] are pro-
nounced more energetically than similar Russian consonants;
y the English voiced consonants [b], [d], [ɡ], [v], [ð], [z], [ʒ], [ʤ]
are not replaced by the corresponding voiceless sounds in word-nal
positions and before voiceless consonants [‘bɪɡ ˎteɪbl];
y the English voiceless consonants [p], [t], [k] are aspirated, when
followed by a stressed vowel and not preceded by [s];
38
4.3. Dif ferenc es in the Articulation Bases of the English and Russian Consonants
y the consonants in English which have no counterparts in Russian
are [w], [θ], [ð], [ʤ], [r], [ŋ], [h];
y there is no opposition between palatalized and non-palatalized
consonants in English.
The most common mistakes that may result from the dierences
in the articulation bases of the English and Russian languages are
the following:
y dorsal articulation of the English forelingual apical [t], [d];
y the use of the Russian rolled [р] instead of the English post-alveolar [r];
y the use of the Russian [х] instead of the English glottal [h];
y mispronunciation of the English interdental [θ], [ð]: the use of [s],
[f] for [θ] and [d], [z] for [ð];
y the use of the forelingual [n] instead of the backlingual velar [ŋ];
y the use of the labio-dental [v], [в] instead of the bilabial [w];
y absence of aspiration in [p], [t], [k] when they occur initially;
y weak pronunciation of voiceless fortis [p], [t], [k], [f], [s], [ʃ ], [ʧ ];
y devoicing of voiced [b], [d], [ɡ], [v], [ð], [z], [ʒ], [ʤ] in the terminal
position.
Questions
1. What is the dierence between distinctive and non-distinctive
articulatory features?
2. What is an articulatory classication of speech sounds?
3. According to what are speech sounds divided into vowels and
consonants?
4. What dierences are there between vowels and consonants?
5. What is the essence of articulatory, acoustic and functional
dierences between vowels and consonants?
6. What is the classication of English RP consonants? What
principles of classication do you know?
7 What articulatory features of the English phonemes are phonologically irrelevant?
8. What are the two basic approaches to the phonological status of
aricates?
9. What are the principle dierences in the articulation bases of
the English and Russian consonants?
10. What mistakes result from the dierences in the articulation bases
of English and Russian consonants?
39
Unit 4. Consonant System in Modern English
Practical Tasks
1. Make a glossary of the main notions and give their denitions.
2. Study articulatory features of RP con so nants.
Table 11. RP Consonants
[p] a labial, bilabial, occlusive, plosive, voiceless, fortis consonant phoneme
[b] a labial, bilabial, occlusive, plosive, voiced, lenis consonant phoneme
[t] a lingual, forelingual, alveolar, occlusive, plosive, voiceless, fortis
consonant phoneme
[d] a lingual, forelingual, alveolar, occlusive, plosive, voiced, lenis
consonant phoneme
[k] a lingual, backlingual, occlusive, plosive, voiceless, fortis consonant
phoneme
[g] a lingual, backlingual, occlusive, plosive, voiced, lenis consonant
phoneme
[f ] a labial, labio-dental, constrictive, fricative, voiceless, fortis consonant
phoneme
[v] a labial, labio-dental, constrictive, fricative, voiced, lenis consonant
phoneme
[θ] a forelingual, interdental, constrictive, fricative , voiceless, fortis
consonant phoneme
[ð] a forelingual, interdental, constrictive, fricative , voiced, lenis consonant
phoneme
[s] a forelingual, alveolar, constrictive, fricative, voiceless, fortis consonant
phoneme
[z] a forelingual, alveolar, constrictive, fricative, voiced, lenis consonant
phoneme
[ʃ] a forelingual, palato-alveolar, constrictive, fricative, voiceless, fortis
consonant phoneme
[ʒ] a forelingual, palato-alveolar, constrictive, fricative, voiced, lenis
consonant phoneme
[h] a glottal, constrictive, fricative, voiceless, fortis consonant phoneme
[ʧ] a voiceless aricate
[ʤ] a voiced aricate
[m] a bilabial, occlusive, plosive nasal sonorant
[n] an alveolar-apical, occlusive, plosive nasal sonorant
[ŋ] a backlingual, velar, occlusive, plosive nasal sonorant
[1] an alveolar-apical, constrictive, fricative, lateral sonorant
[w] a bilabial, constrictive, fricative, medial sonorant
[r] a post-alveolar, constrictive, fricative, medial sonorant
[j] a medio-lingual, palatal, constrictive, fricative sonorant
40
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