Introductory Corrective Course Academic Thematic Syllabus

№	Topic Areas	Hours/ Dates
1.	Phonetics. The Phoneme. The Allophone. Transcription. The Organs of Speech. The Classification of English Vowel Phonemes. The Classification of English Consonant Phonemes. The Articulation Basis of English. The Rhythmic Group. The Syntagm. The Low Fall. The High Fall. The Regular Descending Stepping Scale. Intonation of Statements. Imperative. Intonation of General, Alternative, Special and Disjunctive Questions.  	1st week
2.	Word Stress. Sentence Stress. Logical Stress. Vowel Reduction. Reduced forms of the verbs BE, DO and Personal Pronouns. Intonation of Greetings. Intonation of Appositions. The Low Rise. The Low Pre-Head. The High Pre-Head. / 	2nd week
3.	Intonation of Direct Address. The Fall-Rise. Intonation of Words of Gratitude. Intonation of the Word “Please”. Intonation of Request. Intonation of Enumeration.  	3rd week
4.	Assimilation and its Types.	4th week

Notes on english phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics, which deals with the investigation of the sound means of a certain language from the point of view of their articulation, acoustic qualities and semantics.

The phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit, which is capable of differentiating the meaning and grammar forms of words.

Phonemes are elements of language. The number of them is quite definite for every separate language. In British English there are 44 phonemes: 20 vowel phonemes and 24 consonant ones. In speech they manifest themselves in the form of phonemic variants or allophones.

The allophone is a material representation of the phoneme in speech. They appear in connected speech as a result of assimilation or reduction or due to the individual speech habits. The number of allophones in a language is unlimited.

Phonetic transcription is a sort of phonetic alphabet, a system of symbols in which every phoneme is supposed to have its own symbol. It helps in learning a foreign language.

The organs of speech

In learning a foreign language as a speciality it is necessary to know in detail the structure and function of the speech apparatus. The organs of speech are as follows:

1. The nasal cavity.

2. The mouth cavity.

3. The pharyngal cavity (the pharynx).

4. The tongue: the blade of the tongue with the tip; the front of the tongue; the back of the tongue; the root of the tongue.

5. The root of the mouth: the alveoli (the teeth ridge); the hard palate; the soft palate; the uvula.

6. The teeth: the upper teeth; the lower teeth.

7. The lips: the upper lip; the lower lip.

8. The larynx.

9. The vocal cords.

10. The windpipe.

11. The lower jaw.

The movable speech organs are called active, they are as follows: the tongue, the soft palate with the uvula, the lips, the lower jaw and the vocal cords. The passive organs of speech are: the teeth, the alveoli, the hard palate.