Theoretical English Phonetics

1. Segmental phonetics and phonology: phonemes and allophones.

2. English segmental phonetics and phonology: vowels and consonants.

3. English suprasegmental phonetics and phonology: syllable.

4. English suprasegmental phonetics and phonology: word-stress.

5. English suprasegmental phonetics and phonology: intonation.

1. Segmental phonetics and phonology: phonemes and allophones

Phoneme and its allophones. Articulatory characteristics (features) of a phoneme and its allophones. Distinctive (relevant) and non-distinctive (irrelevant) features. The notion of the phonological opposition. The semantic method: a minimal pair, minimal pairs tests. The distributional method: the rules of phonemic and allophonic distribution. Different points of view on the nature of a phoneme: psychological (I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay), functional (N. S. Trubetzkoy and the Linguistic Circle of Prague), “abstract” (the Copenhagen Linguistic Circle), “physical” (D. Jones). Functions of a phoneme: constitutive, distinctive, recognitive (identificatory).

2. English segmental phonetics and phonology: vowels and consonants

The articulatory classification of English vowels. The principles of classification: 1) the stability of articulation; 2) the tongue position (the horizontal and vertical movements of the tongue); 3) the lip position; 4) the energy discharge; 5) the tenseness; 6) the historical length. The system of English vowel phonemes. Vowel phonemes oppositions. The relevant (distinctive) features of English vowel phonemes (the stability of articulation and the tongue position). The problem of vowel length, its positional dependence, length as an irrelevant feature of English vowel phonemes: /pairs of phonemes.

The articulatory classification of English consonants. The principles of classification: 1) the manner of articulation; 2) the place of articulation; 3) the presence or absence of voice; 4) the force of articulation. The system of English consonant phonemes. Consonant phonemes oppositions. The relevant (distinctive) features of English consonant phonemes (the manner of articulation, the place of articulation and the force of articulation). The problem of voicing/devoicing, its positional dependence, voiced/devoiced characteristic of sounds as an irrelevant feature of English consonant phonemes.

3. English suprasegmental phonetics and phonology: syllable

Theories of a syllable: chest-pulse theory, sonority theory, theory of muscular tension, loudness theory. Nuclear (syllabic) and marginal (non-syllabic) elements of a syllable. Nucleus, coda, onset, rhyme. Types of syllables: open, closed, covered, uncovered. The number of possible elements in coda and onset in English and Russian. The comparison of syllable formation rules in English and Russian. Syllabic sonorants in English. Articulatory transitions between vowels and consonants in a syllable (C-V “consonant-vowel” contact). Rules of English syllable division. The comparison of syllable division rules in English and Russian. The problem of medial consonant clusters division. The syllable division in compounds.