- •I. The subject-matter of phonetics
- •II. Sounds of speech as acoustic and articulatory units
- •1. Read aloud the minimal pairs below. Single out the phonemes which are contrasted.
- •In English
- •In Russian
- •4. Position of the Soft Palate
- •Its' indSendent „hy 7nt-' {1;.Аз а fr°nt-retracted vowel phoneme.
- •4. Read these words. Observe the longer character of the terminal allophones of the /f, V, s, X/ phonemes and their shorter character in initial position.
- •6. Read these word combinations. Pay attention to the consonant modified by the following interdental /6, э/.
- •Vowel phonemes. Description of-principal variants
- •I mine tide fight
- •IV. Articulatory transitions
- •V. English phonemes in writing
- •7 Letters s — t — r — e — t — с — h
- •8. Learn the extracts by heart. They illustrate difficulties of English pronunciation. Transcribe these extracts.
- •VI. Syllable
- •Give examples to illustrate the rules of word-stress for a) prefixal words; b) compound words.
- •Use the words below in the examples of your own.
- •8. Put down stress marks in the sentences below. Translate them into Russian-
- •4. Read these jokes. Define what intonation patterns should be used to convey humour.
- •5. Read these texts as if you were readinglthem to a) children; b) students. Learn the poem by heart.
- •X. Received and general american pronunciation
- •Igesticu'lation gesticulation
- •IBirraing|ham 'Birmingham
- •1 I»j. Lea], [09], Eu»] correspond to the qa дпи се (»), [srj. [srj,
- •IfarraJhouse 'farmihouse
Igesticu'lation gesticulation
There are exceptions:
GA RP
a'ristojcratic (aristocratic
The major differences in the accentual types of compound words in GA and RP are the following:
i) In RP compounds with two primary stresses are more common than in GA:
GA RP
New I York iNew 'York1
1 Exceptions are RP: \rainproof, Westminster, \midsummer.
2) Tertiary stress differences comprise compound place names ending in -borough, -burgh, -bury, -ehester, -gate, -ham, -moor, -shire4 -stead, -heath, -land, -mouth, -wood, -worth, e.g.
GA RP
IBirraing|ham 'Birmingham
Tertiary stress^differences also comprise words with the second component -berry,"**-body, -land, -penny, e.g.
GA RP
lanyibody 'anybody 'Sunday 'Sunday
INTONATION IN AMERICAN ENGLISH
American English intonation differs from British English intonation mainly in tmemphatJc, or emotionally neutral speech. Pretenni-nal pitch contour in RP is gradually descending stepping, in GA it is mid-level or mid-wavy-level. The unstressed syllables in GA fall' to a lower pitch, inRP unstressed syllables gradually descend. American English intonation produces an impression of level or monotonous melody. The GA and RP differences in the direction of the voice pitch may lead to functional or attitudinal differences. For example, "low head" in RP conveys detached, reserved, dispassionate, unsympathetic, unemotional, sometimes cold or dull attitude oti the part of the speaker. In GA sentences like: Go out, Sit down, etc. pronounced with a low head and lowfall would sound quite normal. - The GA general questions take a falling tone, in RP they are pronounced with the rising tone. The rising tone'in'GA general questions is used to show politeness, e. g.
usual form Ars you | Veady? polite form
The monotony of GA intonation is explained by the following factors: 1) pitch characteristics, 2) narrow range of the utterance, 3) slow tempo, 4) more complicated than RP rhythmical structure of intonation (RP unstressed vowels are characterized by qualitative reduction,, in GA sounds in unstressed syllables are lengthened).
The differences between GA and RP sound, accentual structure-■and intonation do not affect the main language structures, therefore-GA is only a variety of the English language and cannot be considered. "American language" as some of the American linguists claim,
Given below are the diagrams in which vowel phonemes in Canadian English, General American and RP are summarized.1
The norms of GA and RP pronunciation are^highly variable. The-Variability of standard pronunciation should be taken into consideration when teaching spoken language.
1 For details see: Shakhbagova D. A. Op. eit. 222
Table 10
Comparative Chart of Vowel Phonemes in Canadian English, General American and RP
CE |
GA |
RP |
Examples |
i |
i |
к |
Seat |
e, e |
e |
e, e |
set |
|
ж |
& |
sat |
i |
i |
i |
sit |
зг |
3r |
a: |
bird, Hurry |
эг, a |
Э |
э |
centre, data |
a |
a |
и |
dot |
a, & |
(ar)ae |
а: |
dance |
э |
0 |
э: |
sort, shawl |
Ц |
и |
|
boot |
л |
л |
л |
but |
V |
и |
и |
book |
ei |
er |
ei |
bake |
SI |
ai |
ai |
bike |
ли |
au |
au |
now |
ou |
ou |
ou |
go |
|
DI |
01 |
boy |
(ir) |
(ir)1 |
1Э |
here |
(er) |
(6Г) |
еэ |
there |
(or) |
(ar) |
ээ |
more |
(иг) |
(or) |
иэ |
sure |