Билет 1
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE PROBLEM OF PHONEME. THE DEFINITION OF PHONEME
Each language has a limited number of sound-types (звукотипы) that are shared
by all speakers of the language and are linguistically important because they distinguish meaningful units
[spil] - [stil]
[bæd] - [læd]
Such elements of the language sounds are called phonemes.
This term was supposedly introduced by Nikolay Grushevsky. The one we rely on – by Vasilyev.
The definitions of the phoneme vary greatly.
V.A.Vassilyev: The phoneme is a smallest unit capable of distinguishing one
word from another word, one grammatical form of word from another.
B. Bloch: phoneme is a class of phonemically similar sounds contrasting
and mutually exclusive with all similar classes in the language.
R. Jacobson: phoneme is a minimal sound by which meaning may be discriminated.
L.V. Shcherba: the phoneme may be viewed as a functional, material and abstract unit.
Schools of Phonology and theories of the phoneme
Mentalistic. Was supported by the Kazan school.
It regards the phoneme as an ideal “menal image” or a target at which the speaker aims.
Physical view represented by the London school with O.Shones.
Regards the phoneme as a “family” of related sounds satisfying certain conditions, notably:
a) the various members of the “family” must show phonetic similarity to one another, in other words, be related in character;
b) no member of the “family” may occur in the same phonetic context as any other
Abstract view. Was supported by the Geneve School (Ferdinand de Sossur).
It regards phonemes as essentially independent of the acoustic and physiological properties
associated with them, that is of speech sounds.
Thus, phoneme – an abstract concept existing in the mind only independent of any physical properties. This abstraction has
been unconsciously made by and unconsciously exist in the mind of each member of a language community.
As a result of this, an Englishman thinks that in all these words he hears other people say and he pronounces
himself on and the same “sound” [t], for ex. But in reality, he hears and pronounces one and
the same phoneme /t/, a different variant of it in each word. This is an example of unconscious phonemic abstraction.
Functional view (Trubetskoy; Jakobson). It regards the phoneme as the minimal sound unit
by which meanings may be differentiated without much regard to actually pronounced speech sounds. No association with real sounds.
Jakobson was the 1st to make up a list of universal distinctive features for all languages.
All the features – binary (voiced – voiceless), each feature is marked by + and –.
Vowels are marked as [+ high] or [– high]. One of the features – coronal (for dental palatal and alveolar palatal).
This classification is more economical than classification
1. Its aim – to cover all the languages => 12 binary distinctive oppositions may be used to characterize any language.
The model is criticized by many phonologists.
Nowadays the phoneme is characterized from the point of view of its three aspects (functional, material, abstract):
the phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds,
opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.
Aims of communication and phonetic means in formal and informal communication.
For the English language RP is most appropriate for public speaking, formal occasions.
The standard is stylistically differentiated, as there are situations when a more informal
way of talking is quite appropriate.
The speaker's judgment of formality will depend on a number of factors, such as the relative
status of the person he/she is talking to, which results in their different social roles, how well
they know each other, the theme (topic) they are discussing, to what purpose (aim of the talk)
and in what setting. public meeting, lecture, consultation, conversation, chat.
In what the speaker sees as a very formal situation he will tend to articulate more
slowly and carefully. In a very informal situation, on the other hand, he will be more likely to speak
quickly, less carefully.
Variation conditioned in this way by a person's perception of the situation in which he is speaking
we refer to as stylistic.
It is not only situational factors which determine the style of pronunciation, but also the speaker's personality.
Social psychologists define the speaker's strategy in varying social situations as "politeness-solidarity" choice.
When talking formally to seniors one is expected to be very polite, as a sign of deference;
the same tone of voice in the company of peers could be understood as either a joke or an attempt
to demonstrate social distance, or even hostility.
Although the English of education is real enough, it will tend to be limited to a single variety of the language,
one chosen to serve as a model
As it has already been demonstrated, a foreigner may not always be sensitive enough to cultural constraints of the situation,
as well as to the stylistic power of certain word and sound connotations. But it is his/her task to understand what he/she hears,
and as far as listening comprehension is concerned, the samples of English he/she is exposed to while learning must really be varied.
William Labov was the first to quantify and measure stylistic variation in four modes of speech which he called "styles":
(1) reading a word list, (2) reading a text, (3) interview, (4) casual speech.
Casual informal speech is most difficult to get. Formal speech is the style which an interviewer will normally
elicit in a field interview.Reading atext aloud is still more formal.
The linguistic variables were: (a) -ing endings pronounced either as [rj] or [n], (b) glottal stop replacing [t] — [?], (c) h -drop:
the sound [h] replaced by zero, i.e. omitted at the beginning of words, (d) dese — dose words where the interdental fricatives
were replaced by dental stops [d, t], (e) rhoticity: the presence of [r] after a vowel which was omitted in lower New York classes,
New York being an r-less area of the U.S.A.
The basic findings were: there is a pattern of steady increase in the values of non-standard forms as the speaker moves from the most formal to the most casual style.
Another finding indicated that the direction of style shifting along the formality scale is the same in all social classes but the values are graded:
the formal style in a relatively low class resembles that of the casual style of the speaker in a higher class.
It sometimes happens that the style shift of a lower middle class (LM) or the upper working class (UW) is so abrupt, especially with women,
that it overtakes the style shift of a higher, middle middle (MM) class. This was found in the r-variable by W. Labov in New York.
The phenomenon is called "hypercorrection".
To sum it up, standard forms tend to be used in formal styles of speech, while non-standard forms are more likely to occur in the informal casual speech.
The style shift is common for all classes, but the values of particular linguistic variables reveal that there is gradience
in the values as you move from one class to the other. The society standards present a continuum of changing sound forms.
Билет 2
THE NOTIONS OF PHONEME AND ALLOPHONE. FUNCTIONS OF PHONEME (7)
A phoneme – is a minimal contrastive unit of a language => a reliable method of establishing phonemes.
The comutation test: 2 phonemes (sounds) are realization of different phonemes if they provide phonological contrast (= if they occur in at least one minimal pair).
Minimal pair – a pair of words differing in only one sound (bit – pit).
The relationships between the phoneme and the phone (speech sound) may be illustrated by the following scheme:
Allophones of the same phoneme, no matter how different their articulation may be, function as the same linguistic unit.
Phonemes differentiate words like tie and die from each other, and to be able to hear and produce phonemic differences is part of what it means to be a competent speaker of the language.
Allophones, on the other hand, have no such function: they usually occur in different positions in the word
(i.e. in different environments) and hence cannot be opposed to each other to make meaningful distinctions.
For example the dark [ł] occurs following a vowel as in pill cold, but it is not found before a vowel, whereas
the clear [l] only occurs before a vowel, as in lip, like. These two vowels cannot therefore contrast with each other
in the way that [1] contrasts with [r] in lip — rip or lake — rake, there are no pairs of words which differ only in that one has [ł] and the other — [1].
Allophones of each phoneme possess a bundle of distinctive features, that makes this phoneme functionally different
from all other phonemes of the language concerned. This functionally relevant bundle of articulatory features is called the invariant of the phoneme.
The behavior of allophones in phonetic context, their ability to occur in certain definite positions – distribution.
There are 3 types of distribution:
constrastive/parallel/overlapping – in this position these types of distribution are typical: [n] – [ŋ]
complementary – allophones of one and the same phoneme. Never in the same position: [k] – [k] (aspirated – non-aspirated).
free variation – allophones of one and the same phoneme that allocate in the same position.
They aren’t able to differentiate the meaning: Good night with glottal stop and without it.
Functions of phoneme:
constituetive – phoneme constitutes words, word combinations etc. Phonemes have no meaning of their own,
linguistically important for in the material form of their allophones they serve as a building material for words and morphemes;
distinctive – phonemes help to distinguish the meanings of words, morphemes;
identificatory (recognitive) – phoneme makes up gr-l forms of words, sentences, so the right use of allophones.
Some phonologists single out delimiting function.
The function of phonemes is to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.
So the phoneme is an abstract linguistic unit, it is an abstraction from actual speech sounds, that is allophonic modifications.
Semantic and enclitic approaches to rhythmic units of speech. Analyze the two approaches in the following phrase. “Mr. ‘Wilson is in the ‘hospital till ‘six o’clock”.
Eng.SR- a regular reoccurrence of stressed syl-s.Many linguists feel that these should be a basic R unit for all types of SA-ties.
The basic R unit for stressed –timed lang-s is a Rhythmic group- a speech segment which contains
a stress syllable+ unstressed ones attached to it. There are 2 points of view of the character of unstressed syllables attachment:
The semantic p.of v.: acc to it the unstressed syllables tend to be drawn to the stressed one of the same word
or to the lex unit acc to their semantic or gram connection.
The enclitic p.of v.: the unstressed syllables b/stressed ones tend to join the proceeding stressed syl-l
.In this case the str. Syl will always be the first in the group and the R group will include all the follow.units.
E.g 1. ‘Walk /‘down /the ‘path/ to the ‘end /of the ca’nal.
2. ‘Walk /‘down the/ ‘path to the /‘end of the ca/’nal.
According to the enclitic approach the phrase Mr. ‘Wilson is in the ‘hospital till ‘six o’clock shall be divided
into rhythmic groups in the following way: Mr. ‘Wilson is in the - ‘hospital till - ‘six o’clock.
Except the first rhythmic group, that includes proclitics, the stressed syllable goes first in the rhythmic group, not depending on its position in the word.
According to the semantic approach the unstressed syllables in the word adjoin to the stressed syllable
of the same word; the unstressed syllables representing auxiliary and other not accented words
adjoin to such lexical unit, to which they are adjoined semantically. In this case the following phrase
is going to look like: Mr. ‘Wilson is- in the ‘hospital - till ‘six o’clock.
It was proved experimentally that S.tempo and style influence the division into R.groups.
The Sem.tendency is more typical of accurate rather slow speech when a phrase falls into separate words.
The Enclit.tendency prevails in informal speech which is characterized by a quick tempo.
R groups tend to be pronounced at regular intervals of time irrespective of the number of unstressed syllables.
If there few or no unstressed syl-l it should be pronounced lower; if many they should be pronounced quickly and rapidly.
Thus,E. is lang-ge with stressed-timed character of R where stressed syl-s are pronounced at equal period of time and the basic R unit is a R group.
Билет 3
Tendencies in the incidence of stress in English.
Languages are also differentiated according to the place of word stress. The traditional classification of languages
concerning place of stress in a word is into those with a fixed stress and those with a free stress:
1.Fixed stress – all the words have a stressed syllable in one and the same position in relation to the beginning
or the end of the word. French- the main accent is tied to the last syllable of the word. Czech- the main accent falls
on the initial syllable of each word and gram. form of a word(+Finnish, Estonian, Polish)
2.Leng.with Free stress (E,R) – stress may occur on any syllable of the word.
constant accent- remains on the same morpheme in different grammatical forms of a word or in different derivatives from one root.
Shifting accent- falls an different morphemes in different gram.forms of the word: сад-сады, вода-водовоз.
The word stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free but it may also be shifting, performing the semantic function
of differentiating lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms. In English word stress is used as a means of word-building;
in Russian it marks both word-building and word formation, e.g. 'contrast — con'trast; 'habit — habitual 'music — mu'sician; дома — дома; чудная — чудная, воды — воды.
Languages are classified as to the place of sgress in order to decide on stress-placement it is necessary to take into consideration the following factors:
The word is:
morphologically simple, complex or compound
the grammatical category to which the word belongs (noun, verb adj.)
the number of syllables in the word
the phonological structure of the syllables (syl. wait)
English has a hybrid stress-system
Tendencies:
1.Recessive - in Germanic lang-s the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable of the root syllable of a word.
Words of anglo-sax. origin and French words borrowed bfore the 15th cent are subjected to the recessive tendency.
If the word has a prefix which has lost its meaning the stress falls on the root syllable. (ago)
-Unrestricted recessive stress – falls on the initial syllable (if there is no a prefix which has lost its meaning)- father, mother, wonder.
-Restricted- falls on the root of native English words with a prefix which has lost its meaning: among, before, forget.
2. Rhythmical tendency- The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to the rhythmical tendency
in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings,
e.g. revolution, organi'sation, assimilation, etc. It also explains the placement of primary stress on the third syllable
from the end in three- and four-syllable words, e.g. 'cinema, 'situate, ar'ticulate. The interrelation of both the recessive
and the rhythmical tendencies is traced in the process of accentual assimilation of the French-borrowed word personal
on the diachronic level, e.g. perso'nal — 'perso'nal — 'personal.
historical rhythm- French borrowing with the stress on the last syllable: redicálàrádi,cal(+secondary stress)à radical.
In Eng there are many short words. Long fr. Words were pronounces with 2 stresses, then the second stress disappeared.
The result of this process in Modern Eng is that majority of 3-4 syllabic words with one accent are stressed on the third syllable from the end, and thus stress is called rhythmical.
3. Retentive- a derivative retains the stress of the original words (person- personal).
Semantic factor- compound numerals and adj and words with meaningful prefixes like ex-president have one and the same stress pattern.
The units of rhythm in prose and verse.
For many years the object of phonet.analysis was a short sentence(one sense-group). However, the analysis of larger text units( long complex sentences- Superphras.unit) contributed a lot to the treatment of speech R.
Prof.Antipova studied R. on the basis of larger text units. She worked out a dif.approach to the treatment of SP. She defines R- periodicity of similar and commensurable (соизмерим.) text units. Similarity and commensurability are obtained by prosodic means such as: the pitch of the voice, the force of articulation and duration. So, SR- a complex prosodic phenomenon formed by all prosodic means + the R.structure of the text appears to be closely connected with its semantic structure for its various semant.units may at the same time become R.ones if they are similar and commensurable.
Sem.units in poetry(verse): foot, line ,stanza. R. was first described in poetics. The laws of versification included such means
of rhythmic arrangement as meter, rhyme, lines, stanzas, lex.repetition, alliteration and some others.
Foot – a stressed syl-l with the unstressed syl-s(called clitics) that either precede it(proclitics) or follow it(enclitics).
Line- a graphic representation of one or two intonation groups, normally with an equal number of feet in them.
Stanza- part of the poem with the fixed number of lines, in a classic verse with a patterned order of rhymes b/the lines.
Experiment.analyses have shown that the beginning of a line in any poetic text is generally marked by the tone maximum and the intensity max.
The end of a line is marked by a tone min., intensity min., usually a falling tone, by a short pause.
Lines belonging to the same stanza usually have the same number of rhythm.groups. Stanza:
E.g. I `wandered `lonely `as a \cloud
That `floats on `high o’`er(over) ↑vales and \hills
When `all at` once I ↑saw a \crowd
A `host of ^golden \daffo,dils.
The beginning of each unit is brought out by maximal pitch and intensity values, while the end is accompanied by a relative
drop of pitch and intensity, which is especially noticeable at the end of a line. A line normally finishes with slowing down
of tempo and a pause; in case it coincides with end of stanza, the pause is longer.→major generalizations about R.units:
R.U-s constitute a hierarchy:each bigger consists of a smaller ones(foot-line-stanza)
In reading aloud all the prosodic features(pitch,intensity,tempo,pause,voice quality) take part: they indicate the boundaries and pattern the basic units of R.
In prose we can single out semant.units: sense-group, sentence, superphras.unity. each of them may become a R.unit
if it meets a requirements (similarity in prosodic organization).If any of sem.groups doesn’t display prosodic similarity
then it can’t be regarded a rhythm.unit. a phrase or a sentence of text doesn’t display commensurability, for phrases usually vary in length.
In such texts a phrase is not considered a rhythm.unit and usually a sense –group and a SPU show most stable regularity
in their prosodic organization and are recognized as rhythm.units in prose. The major R.unit for all types of texts is a R.group;
then in poetry-line, stanza; in prose- sense-group,SPU.
+( по Шевченко)Units of R. are style specific: in speaking or prose reading the basic R.units are:
R.group, intonation group and a SPU. It was found, that a long sentence in prose which consists of a number of intonation groups
and practically functions as a SPU falls into smaller periods uniting intonation groups by two or three.
Practically identical units are named dif-ly in prose and verse. The smallest R.unit is foot(or R.group).
Units of R. are actually units of meaning: there is correlation b/foot and word, intonation group and a clause, a speech paragraph and a theme.
Билет 4
THE DEFINITION OF INTONATION. COMPONENTES OF INTONATION. STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL APPROACHES TO THE PROBLEM OF ITS COMPONENTS (28)
Broadly speaking, intonation is a complex unity of closely related prosodic means,
which convey different intonational (logical) and emotional attitudes.
Intonation can show how close or loose the links between the parts за a compound or complex sentence are, and which is the main clause.
Much comment is given by phoneticians to the ability of intonation to change a statement into a question, and that also referred to as a gr-l meaning
The existing definitions of intonation differ to a very great extent. It manifests itself in:
different number of components (from 1 to 9)
a different inventory of components
The main reason for this can be seen in different approaches of linguists to the function of these components.
Components of intonation, Prosodic features
Acoustic fundamental intensity duration spectrum absence of
level frequency speech signals
Perceptive
level II pitch force length tamber interval in
phonation
Sentence accentuation
Perceptive melody loudness tempo voice pause
level III
(functional or
linguistic level) rhythm
Speech melody, or the pitch component of intonation, is the variations in the pitch of the voice
which take place when voiced sounds, esp. vowels and sonorants, are pronounced in connected speech.
The pitch of speech sounds is produced by the vibrations of the vocal cords.
Timber (voice quality) is a special colouring of the voice in pronouncing sentences which is superimposed
on speech melody and shows the speaker’s emotions, such as joy, sadness, irony, anger, etc.
The tempo of speech is the speed with which sentences or their parts are pronounced.
Closely connected with the tempo of speech is its rhythm: the recurrence of stressed syllables at more or less equal intervals of time.
The components of I. are said to form a unity, because they always function all together, and none of them
can be separated from any of the others in actual speech: it is only possible to single out each component for purposes of intonation analysis.
The sentence is the basic unit of lang-e. It may either be a single intonational unit or consist of 2 or more intonational units.
This intonational unit is called the intonation group (sense-group). An intonation group has the following characteristics:
it has at least 1 accented word carrying a marked change in pitch (a rise, a fall, etc.);
it is pronounced at a certain rate and without any pause within it;
it has some kind of voice quality.
Intonation pattern consists of the following parts:
Ø the prehead (any serious/unstressed or partially stressed syllable that precede the 1st strongly stressed syllable;
Ø the head (the 1st accented syllable);
Ø the scale (a series of stressed and unstressed syllables that may be pitched variously starting with the 1st stressed syllable);
Ø the nucleus (the last accented syllable) – the most important part of the intonation pattern;
Ø the tail – conveys no particular information.
The structure of syllable. Syllabic sounds in English and in Russian
The syllable may consist of the onset, the nucleus and the coda. The nucleus plus coda constitute the rhyme.
There is no syllable without the nucleus, the presence of the onset and the coda depends on the phonotactic rules of a particular lang:
in E there may be as many as three consonants in the onset, while Russian allows of four consonants in that position:
splash, straw, screen, but вздрогнуть, всплеск. In E the first of these can only be [s], the second has to be selected from [ptk], and the third from [rlwj].
When a syllable ends in a vowel, with no final consonant, it is said to be an open syllable: be is an open syllable of CV (consonant+vowel) structure.
When the syllable is terminated by a consonant, it is said to be closed: it is a closed syllable of VC (vowel+consonant) structure.
We can also distinguish covered (CV) from uncovered (V or VC) syllables, depending on whether they have a consonant in the onset.
If there is a long vowel or a diphthong, or more than one consonant in the rhyme (nucleus+coda), the syllable is called long or heavy.
Heavy syllables attract stress in E. The syllables with just a short vowel without a consonant [i, ɘ, ʊ] are called light or short, and they are normally unstressed.
All the four types of syllable can be found in E and in R.
The basic difference between E and R consists in the dominance of an open syllable in R (CV) and a closed syll in E (CVC).
Another specific E feature is that approximants [l, m, n, r] may become syllabic after a consonant, which can be accounted for by sonority rule: rhyth-m.
The number of final consonants in closed syllables in E can range from one to four consonants (sick(CVC), six (CVCC), sixth (CVCCC)).
In R the maximum number of consonants in coda is three.
The structure of English syllables can be summarized as follows:
• Many syllables have one or more consonants preceding the nucleus. These make up the syllable onset: me, so, plow.
• Many syllables have one or more consonants, following the nucleus. They make up the syllable coda.
They are traditionally known as closed syllables: cat, jump.
• The combination of nucleus and coda has a special significance, making up the rhyming property of a syllable.
Билет 5
word accent. The phonetic characteristics & acoustic nature of word accent. Types of word accent (in terms of the phonetic nature of the word accent)
Dynamic aspect – 3rd component of the phonetic basis – accentual structure of a word. DA is the manner of transition from a consonant to a consonant,
from a cons-nt to a vowel, from a vowel to a cons-nt. DA suggests the dynamic articulation of vowel in (un)stresses syllable.
Acc to DA, sounds are grouped in larger groups – syllables.
Word accent may be defined as the degree of prominence given to one of more syllable as compared to other syllables in one & the same word.
This prominence is affected mainly by pronouncing the stressed syllable with 1) force of exhalation (выдох) & muscular tention,
2) with the change pitch direction, 3) increase in the length of the sound in the stressed syllable, 4) by pronouncing the vowel distinctly.
Nature of word stress. According to A.C.Gimson the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of four factors - Force, tone, length, and vowel colour.
The articulation of the stressed syllable greater mascular energy is produced by the speaker. The english linguists D.Crystal, A.C.Gimson agree that in english word stress or accent is a complex phenomenon, marked by the variations in force, pitch, quantity and quality. - When the tonic or musical component of word stress is involved it is the change of pitch level that is significant in making the syllable prominent, but not the type of tone direction. If the words *import and im*port are said on a level tone and each vowel with it is own length, it is rather difficult to distinguish them.
The tonic or musical component may be helpful in defining the place of stress in a word as it is observed within the syllable marked
by the pitch change, which contributes to the syllable prominence. Quantitative and qualitative components of word stress. Certain distinctions of the vowel length and colour are reduced or lacking in unstressed syllables.
The fact strengthens the idea that the accentuation is influenced by the vowel length and quality. The vowel of the stressed syllable is perceived (пронимать, различать)
as never reduced or obscure (непонятный) and longer than the same vowel in the unstressed syllables. Thus the word *stress* or *accent*
is also defined as qualitative where the vowel colour or quality is a means of stress and quantitative with relatively increased length of the stressed vowel.
Compare the quality (colour) and quantity (length) of the same vowel in a word e.g. ab*stract,*car-park. In English the quantitative component of word stress is not of primary importance because of the nonreduced vowels in the unstressed
syllables which sometimes occur in English words, e.g. *architect, *transport, *partake. Languages are also differentiated according to the placement of word stress. There are fixed stress (on one and the same syllable) and free stress (on different syllables).
In laguages with a fixed stress the occurrence of the word stress is limited to a particular syllable in a multisyllabic word.
In languages with a free stress it is place not confined to a specific position in the word. On one word it may fall on the first syllable,
in another on the second syllable, in the third word- on the last syllable, etc. English: *appetite-be*ginning- ba*lloon Russian:озеро-погода-молоко
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RP and GA IN THE SYSTEM OF VOWELS AND CONSONANTS (4)
Generally speaking, the main defining feature of British-oriented accents is the absence of post-vocalic
r which makes all non-rhotic (r-less) compared to North-America-oriented accents which are predominantly rhotic (r-ful).
However, within each country there are regionally marked accents: the Scottish, the Irish and some other provincial accents
on the British Isles are rhotic; in the USA the Southern, the Eastern and Afro-American types of English accents are non-rhotic.
These distinctive features become social markers.
Vowels
There are 20 vowels in the system of RP and 15-16 vowels in GA; because r was not vocalized,
GA lacks centring diphthongs (ending in /e/; the retroflexed vowels /ә:r/ and /ә/, stressed and unstressed ,
are among those features that noticeably distinguish GA from RP.
All vowels occurring before r within a syllable are likely to become “r-coloured” to some extent.
RP here [hiә], hair [heә], pure [pjuә]
GA here [hir], hair [her], pure [pjυr]
American English in most of its variants lacks the short rounded vowel /o/, it is replaced by a vowel /a:/ which is similar to RP vowel in father:
RP lock [lok], dog [dog], stop [stop]
GA lock [la:k], dog [da:g], stop [sta:p]
The RP vowel /o/ can also be replaced by a long vowel /o:/:
RP long [lon], forest [forist], orange [orindg], sorry [sori]
GA long [lo:n ], forest [fo:rist], orange [o:rindg], sorry [so:ri]
GA is not as strictly codified as RP. There is considerable variability in GA vowels in the open back area.
Most of the American linguists do not use transcription system which allows us to distinguish long and short vowels in GA.
Vowel length in AmEng is generally considered to be conditioned by phonological environment ,
so the long/short distinction described for RP is not usually present.
GA is commonly described as having lax (historically short) vowels, tense (historically long) vowels and wide diphthongs.
Lax vowels are lower and made with less oral tension: they do not usually end syllables.
The Am vowel /ә/ vowel is somewhat closer than the RP /ә/ and seems to be evolving into an even closer vowel in many speakers,
so that the phrase Merry Mary married sounds as if all the accented vowels are identical.
Notable is the fact that /ә/ is used not only in the same words as RP /ә/ but also in many words in which RP has /a:/ when there is no letter r in spelling.
RP dance [da:ns], ask [a:sk], pass [pa:s]
GA dance [dæns], ask [æsk], pass [pæs]
The diphthong [eυ] is more rounded in GA:
RP go [geυ], home [heυm];
GA go [gou], home [houm].
Consonants
In GA [r] is retroflex (pronounced with the tip of the tongue curled back). At least 3 degrees of retroflexion which affect the preceding vowel:
RP hurry [hÙri], worry [wÙri]
GA hurry [hәri], worry [wәri]
The Am [t] in the intervocalic position is realized as a flap: the tip of the tongue beats against the teeth ridge just once. Acoustically it reminds [d] and [r].
RP better [betә]
GA better [bәtә]
When t follows n, it is nearly omitted. Nasalization of the vowel is another feature caused by coarticulation with n.
RP twenty [twenti],
GA twenty [twõni]
The sound [t] is also affected by the process of glotalization in both varieties of English, British and American,
and American and the frequency of its occurrence is socially marked.
One of the most favourable conditions for glottal stop to replace [t] before [m, n, l, r, j, w]:
That man [thә? mәn], that one [thә? wan]
The sound [j] in AmEn is generally omitted:
RP news [nju:z]
GA news [nu:z]
in GA the sound [l] is “dark” (non-palatalized) in all positions while in RP it is
“clear” before a front vowel and “dark” at the end of a word and before a consonant:
RP little [litł]
GA little [łitł]
Apart from systemic differences, there are lexical items which are pronounced differently:
RP tomato [tәma:tәυ]
GA tomato [tәmeitou]
Билет 6
Speech rhythm: definition, functions.
R. (in general)- periodicity in time and space(day-night, seasons, breathing-running). Speech production is closely
connected with breathing. Any type of S.Act-ty tends to be rhythmical because of its condition by breathing.
Types: monologue, dialogue, reading, poetic speech. S.R. can be regarded as language universal since speech
in any lang-ge is supposed to be rhythmical.
R. in phonetics- the occurance of units of speech at regular intervals of time.Acc.to the most general definition,
there must be in speech some unit which is repeated at equal period of time. The unit which repeated
regularly is not the same in dif.lang-ges. →2 types of lang-ges distinguished in this respect:
1. With syllable-timed rhythm(слого-считающий ритм); 2. With stress- timed rhythm (такто-считат).
1. any syllable(stressed/unstressed)counts at equal period of time;(French,Italian, Spanish,Hindy) 2.
Only stressed syllables count at equal periods( English, Russian, Modern Greek, Arabic).
The theory that E. has stress-timed R. implies that stressed syl-s occure at equal periods of time and
it doesn’t matter if they are separated by unstr. Syl-s or not
.( ‘Walk ‘ down the ‘ path to the ‘end of the ca’nal.- 0-1-2-3(unstressed syl-s;the time period b/stressed -the same).
Scholars have attempted to find an explanation why lang-s like French, Japanese, Spanish
are categorized differ-ly from lang-s like English, Russian and German. 1.There is considerable variation in syl-l length in E.
,as well sa differ.kinds of syllables + open syl-s make up a minority of the total in E.,compared with the minority in Spanish
. 2.E. uses a restricted set of vowels in unstressed syl-s, typically [∂] or [i].E.stressed syl-s are typically 1,5 times
longer than unstressed ones, while in Spanish they are about 1,3 times longer.This makes E.stressed syl-s even more
prominent than unstressed syl-s, giving a clearly discernable beat to which listeners are sensitive.
R. serves to unite elements in speech(smaller units into larger ones). On the other hand larger units fall into smaller ones(stanza-lines).
So, R. unites text segments and at the same time it cuts the discourse into elements. R. performs the intergrative and delimitative function.
Aesthetic function(from the phsycolinguist.p.of.v)- the accuracy of the temporal similarity has a certain effect on a human being.
This function is espes-ly well-manifested in poetry.The results of the experiments: R.groups in poetry don’t exceed 1 second.→there
is a certain connection b/length of a R.group and the human being. It may explain the phsycologic.influence of the poetic speech on a person.
In prose the duration of sense groups doesn’t exceed 2 seconds-we can correlate the length of R.group with the length of the breathing cycle.
The regularity in SR seems to be in harmony with the biologic.rhythms of a man.
PHONOLOGICAL AND NON-PHONOLOGICAL FEATURES IN THE SYSTEM OF ENGLISH CONSONANTS (10)
In phonology the basic method of establishing the phonemic status of a sound is the method of finding minimal pairs.
The method consists in finding at least one pair of words which are different in respect of that sound: pit – bit.
When two words are identical except for one sound which makes a contrast in the meaning of words, they are said to form a minimal pair.
The minimal pair may be 2 words or 2 gram-l forms of a word: man – men.
Thus, the function of phonology is to relate the phonetic events of speech to gr-l units
operation at the morphological, lexical, syntactic and semantic levels of lang-e.
Sounds are grouped into classes according to the features which are distinctive for the particular language.
In English the following features are distinctive for consonants:
type of obstruction:
occlusive (in the production of which a complete obstruction is formed): [pul];
constructive (an incomplete obstruction is formed): [ful]:
place of articulation:
labial: [p], [b], [m], [w];
labio-dental (cons-s are articulated with the lower lip against the upper teeth): [f], [v];
dental (articulated against the upper teeth either with the tip: [θ], [ð] or with the blade of the tongue);
alveolar (cons-s are articulated by the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge): [t], [d], [n], [l], [s], [z];
palatal: [j];
alveolar-velar: [ł]
glottal (are produced in the glottis): .
manner of production of noise:
plosive oral stop: [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g];
fricative:
affricate: [tò], [dж];
approximant.
2) Presence or absence of voice:
voiced (lenis): [b], [d], [g], [dж], [v], [ð], [z], [ж], [m], [n], [ŋ], [w], [l], [r], [j];
voiceless (fortis); they are pronounced with greater muscular tension and a stronger breath force: [p], [t], [k], [tò], [f], [θ], [s], [ò], [h].
3) Position of the soft palate and the velum:
oral (consonants are produced when the soft palate is raised and the air escapes through the mouth): the rest of the consonants;
nasal (consonants are produced with the soft palate lowered while the air-passage through the mouth is blocked.
As a result, the air escapes through the nasal cavity): [m], [n], [ŋ].
In each minimal pair the opposition is based either on:
§ one feature (single opposition): [pit – bit]: voiceless (fortis) vs. voiced (lenis);
§ two features (double opposition): [til – bil]: voiceless (fortis) vs. voiced (lenis) and alveolar vs. labial;
§ more than two features (multiple): [fil – bil]: voiceless (fortis) vs. voiced (lenis), labio-dental vs. labial, fricative vs. oral stop (plosive).
10. Практическая часть
[f] – [g]: leaf – league
multiple opposition: 1) voiceless vs. voiced
2) fricative vs. plosive
3) labio-dental vs. velar
[m] – [b]: rim – rib
single opposition: nasal vs. oral (plosive)
[z] – [t]: zest – test
double opposition 1) voiced vs. voiceless
2) fricative vs. plosive
[s] – [θ]: sick – thick
single opposition 1) alveolar – dental
Билет 7
TERRITORIAL AND SOCIAL DIFFERENCES IN THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES (1)
A number of geographical-historical and socio-cultural factors caused English to become a global language
spoken by approximately 1, 500 million speakers.
In geographical variation we have to distinguish two basic concepts:
dialect – is distinguished for its vocabulary, grammar and pronounciation.
In this sense the two major varieties of English , the British English and American English may be treated as “dialects”.
Accent – is a type of pronunciation or a feature of one which can be found in speech of any individual or the whole speech community.
Thus, phonetics is mainly concerned with accents of English, as spoken on different territories, in diverse social groups, by particular individuals.
Accents of English worldwide are grouped into:
Accents in the countries where English is the mother tongue of the majority of the population (“the inner circle”):
the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the white population of the Republic of South Africa;
Accents in the new developing states, former British colonies,
where English is one of the official languages (“the outer circle”): India and Singapore.
Accents in the countries where English is the most widely used
foreign language taught at schools (“the expanding circle”), like Russia and China.
Historical-geographical division of native English accents may be based on the division into:
Ø British-oriented (the UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa);
Ø North-America-oriented (the USA, Canada).
Most of the countries possess their national pronunciation standards, regional standards and local accents.
National standards
RP (Received Pronunciation), or BBC English, in the UK;
GA (General American), or American Network English, in the USA;
GenCan (General Canadian) in Canada;
GenAus (General Australian) in Australia.
National pronunciation standards are associated with radio and television newsreaders
and presenters of serious channels. There are also professional groups and public figures whose speech is symbolic of certain types of accents.
Smaller geographical divisions are regional standards which are accents of educated population in a certain area.
Southern, Northern, Scottish and Northern Irish on the British Isles,
Northern, Northern Midland, Southern Midland, Southern, Western in the USA.
In the US, geographically, the situation is quite the reverse:
it is the South and South Midland which stand out for their marked difference from the standard pronunciation.
Less educated people use numerous local accents which can be:
urban (characteristic of a city like Liverpool or New York);
rural (spoken in the countryside).
THE NOTION OF INTERFERENCE. PREREQUISITES FOR PHONETIC INTERFERENCE (SEGMENTAL LEVEL) (12)
The problem of interference was introduced in 1943 by Jacobson and Gavrinek.
Interference has long been interested in a long before (B. de Courtene, Scherba, Брызгунова, Кулешов).
Interference is super-imposing of one language system on another one language system =>
certain changes in the structure of one language (Russian) under the influence of another (English) and visa versa => interaction of 2 lang-s.
Interference may take place in every aspect of the language (different levels):
phonetic
grammatical
lexical
Interference is most prominent at phonetic level. This is explained by thу fact that
audio-pronouncing skills are considered to be the least controlled in speech production & speech perception.
Prerequisites:
The differences in the phonological systems of the l-ges that are in contact (in English – system of diphtongs;
in Russian – no. In English the nuclear is made stronger, but in Russian – visa versa.
The differences in the phonetic laws (English voiced cons-s are not devoiced; in Russian – absolutely devoiced [cæt];
The differences in phonetic basis (тут можно начать плести про phonetic basis)
Билет 8
Types of syllable. The specific character of syllable in English and Russian. Mistakes which occur
as a result of the differences in the articulatory bases of E and R in terms of syllable formation and syll division (18).
When a syllable ends in a vowel, with no final consonant, it is said to be an open syllable:
be is an open syllable of CV (consonant+vowel) structure. When the syllable is terminated by a consonant,
it is said to be closed: it is a closed syllable of VC (vowel+consonant) structure.
We can also distinguish covered (CV) (we) from uncovered (V or VC) (ant) syllables, depending on whether they have a consonant in the onset.
If there is a long vowel or a diphthong, or more than one consonant in the rhyme (nucleus+coda), the syllable is called long or heavy.
Heavy syllables attract stress in E. The syllables with just a short vowel without a consonant [i, ɘ, ʊ] are called light or short,
and they are normally unstressed. All the four types of syllable can be found in E and in R.
The basic difference between E and R consists in the dominance of an open syllable in R (CV) and a closed syll in E (CVC).
Another specific E feature is that approximants [l, m, n, r] may become syllabic
after a consonant, which can be accounted for by sonority rule: rhyth-m.
It is important for Russians not to make English syllables open (city – [sit-i], [си-ти]).
Wrong S division on the articulatory level leads to inadequate perception of phrases and consequently to misunderstanding.
The specific character of syll division in E and in R
The basic dif-ce consists in the dominance of an open syllable in R (CV), and a closed syll in E (CVC).
(78% of R syllables are open). Another important feature concerns the dynamics of syllable articulation. T
here is a close contact in the R syllable between the onset consonants and the following vowels (CV), which affects the quality of vowels.
In E there is a close contact between the vowel and the coda consonants (VC), which affects the length of vowels.
Most E syll-s are closed when there is a fortis consonant in the coda. There is one more controversial point in syll.division
which concerns medial cluster division in E. There are two authentic sources for looking up syllable boundary
of any given word in E: EPD (Cambridge Engl Pronouncing Dict-y) and LPD (Longman). The two sources agree on the following:
1. Compounds should be divided into syllables according to the morphological principle: hard-ware.
2. A single consonant which appears between two syllables after a short stressed vowel
should be attached to the preceding vowel: bett|er. However there are differences as to where
to put a consonant which follows a long vowel or a diphthong. EPD attaches a single word-medial consonant
to the following syllable (Maximal Onset principle): la.dy, in.vi.ted, while LPD puts all word-medial single consonants
and clusters to the stressed syllable (Maximal Stress principle): lad y, in vit ed. Thus the word window will be differently attested
in the two dictionaries due to the two different principles of syllable division: EPD win.dow, LPD wind ow.
Experimental evidence, as reported from British sources by Alan Crutenden, shows that following a long vowel a consonan
t was syllabified with the following syllable which supports EPD: la-dy. The retention stage of a consonant
belongs to the previous short vowel, while the release is with the next syllable.
In fact, the boundary between the two syllables runs within the medial consonant: city [sit-ti] better [bet-t`].]
Билет 9
Functions of syllable. The notions of open and close juncture. Phonetic means of open juncture
There are two very important functions of syllable
. 1) constitutive.- its ability to be a part of a word or a word itself.
The syllable forms language units of greater magnitude: words, morphemes and utterances.
The S is the unit within which the relations between the distinctive features of the phonemes and their acoustic
correlates and revealed. Within a S prosodic characteristics of speech are realized, which form the stress-pattern
of a word and the rhythmic and intonation structures of an utterance. (S is a specific minimal structure of both
segmental and supresegmental features).
2) distinctive – the S is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word-forms. ([nai-treit] nitrate - [nait-reit] night-rate).
The distinction here lies in: a) the degree of aspiration of [t] sounds which is greater in the first member
of the opposition than in the second; b) allophonic difference of [r]: in the 1st member of the opposition
it is slightly devoiced under the influence of the initial [t]; c) the length of the diphthong [ai]:
in the second member of the opposition it is shorter because the syllable is closed by a voiceless plosive [t].
The S division changes the allophonic contents of the word because, the realization of the phoneme
in different positions in a S (initial, medial, final) results in different allophones.
(mice kill-my skill, an ice house-a nice house; I saw her eyes-I saw her rise; I saw the meat-I saw them eat.).
In language with distinctive differences in syllable division these differences are regarded as forming
a separate phonological unit, - one of its names, which has been suggested by the American descriptivists
and is widely used, is juncture phoneme.
It refers mainly to distinctive differences in the position of the syllabic boundary at the junction of words or morphemes as in [ə neim - ən eim].
There are two types of juncture usually distinguished: 1) open juncture 2) close juncture.
Open juncture is implemented by the onset of a fresh articulatory effort. In a name this open juncture occurs between [ə] and [n].
Close juncture occurs between sounds closely connected with each other within one S by a single arc of articulatory effort,
e.g. between [n] and [ei]. Close juncture is not marked. In fact it is just the absence of open juncture.
The phonetic nature of open juncture is complex. As the above examples show, its occurance
involves changes in length, pitch, aspiration and in other features of sounds.
Attitudinal meaning of the constituents of the melodic contour.
In Brit. Trad. Some scientists say Melody has no meaning and its meaning is totally depended on context.
However there is evidence to the contrary. The independ. Character of tonal meanings is borne out by
the existence of sent-s in which a free variation of tones is impossible. We can conclude that tones have
a n indep.meaning but this meaning is nebulous. We may refer to it as an abstract meaning.
Within a context the combination of grammar, lex and situation brings out the local meaning of a tone.
The attitude to the structure of tone is also differ.now. these days tone is seen as a combination of relatively independ.tonal features.
Each tone has 2 cardinal points: its end point, its onset point.(1) is responsible for definitness/indefin., complitness/incomplet.
The lower the end-the more complete and categoric the tone sounds.(2) signals the degree of the speaker’s involvement.
The higher this point- the higher the speaker’s interest. What is said about the tones is true about the scales.
No definite meaning can be assigned to scales but high scales signal more involvement which can situationally into a number of attitudinal meanings.
What brings about local meanings? In present we can only summarize the factors which seem to be relevant .
We can single out the following types of context which interact with context: preceeding(1) or co-occuring(2).
|
1)Intonation |
lexis |
grammar(2) |
|
|
Immediate situation |
|
All the meanings that was described can be defined as attitudinal.
There is a differ.discription which has a discoursal character.(Brazil, Gussenhover)
These discriptions make basic distinctions b/2 or 3 tones.
Brazil distinguishes between: 1) a proclaiming tone(fall) 2)reffering tone(fall-rise).
This dist. Is related to that of given and new info. The tones have variants. Rise and rise-fall are variants of fall-rise and fall.
Their use is conditioned by the attitude of the speaker. In his system the additional term ”termination” is used to refer to initial pitch of the tone.
A mid termination anticipates a passive agreement. A high termination invites an active response.
A fall termination –closes matters. This system correlates with key which is the pitch range of asense group.
Key is import. For linking together successive intonation groups. Mid key presents the action as separate pieces of info. High K-surprise, Low K –expected info.
Билет 10
PHONETIC BASIS. ARTICULATORY BASIS: STATIC AND DYNAMIC APPROACHES
Phonetic basis suggests a number of the most typical pronunciation tendencies of the language.
These tendencies are perceived by listeners as a certain “colouring” of the language under consideration.
Since phonetics deals with sounds and intonation, we distinguish between: