- •Phonetics as a subject (general notes).
- •Phonetics as a subject, its branches.
- •Connection of phonetics with other sciences.
- •The phoneme theory (the definition of a phoneme, its functions).
- •Phonological schools. Methods of Phonological analysis.
- •Methods of the phonemic analysis
- •The English Vowel system.
- •1. Stability of articulation
- •2. Position of the tongue
- •3. Position of the lips
- •Classification of the English vowels.
- •1. Stability of articulation
- •2. Position of the tongue
- •3. Position of the lips
- •The English Consonant system.
- •9. Classification of the English consonants.
- •Assimilation. Types of assimilation.
- •Word-stress or accent in English (its nature, functions, position in words).
- •Word stress in a language performs three functions.
- •Place of word stress in English.
- •Syllable formation and syllable division.
- •Word-stress and sentence-stress, their difference.
- •Theories of syllable formation and syllable division.
- •English Intonation (general notes).
- •Intonation in unemphatic speech.
- •17. Intonation in emphatic speech.
- •The ascending scale; the sliding scale; the level scale; the scandent scale.
- •18. Functions of intonation.
- •D. Crystal distinguishes the following functions of intonation.
- •19. The English Tunes.
- •20. Received pronunciation and general American pronunciation.
20. Received pronunciation and general American pronunciation.
The English language is the mother tongue of several countries, such as Great Britain, the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand. The English language is also used by the greater part of the population of Canada and the Republic of South Africa.
The variants of the English language spoken in these countries have very much in common, but they differ from Standard English in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. The variants of a national language should not be confused with its regional types.
The objective criteria [kraɪ'tɪərɪə] for choosing this or that type of pronunciation as the teaching norm are different but it is accepted that in the British Isles and in the former British colonies the teaching norm is Received Pronunciation, or RP. It is also called Standard English pronunciation and Public School pronunciation. In the USA and the Latin American countries the teaching norm is General American pronunciation, or GA.
Standard pron is the pronunciation governed by the orthoepic norm. It is the pronunciation of educated circles. It is used by radio, television, religionally neutral. The social standard within Britain is the so-called received pronunciation. It is the teaching norm at schools and higher learning establishments of the Rus Federation, because of: the degree of understandability in English-speaking countries, the extend of RP investigation, the number of text books and audiovisual aids.
Most of the principal differences between the GA and RP pronunciation are not absolute but combinatory, which proves the GA dependent nature on the National English Language, the variant of which it represents.
The literary language (its structural unity is reflected in the orthoepic standard) may have variants which are manifested in the pronunciation of different large regional types and in the pronunciation typical of local dialects.
Dialectal variations of a national language are connected with idiolects used within the borders of a certain locality. They are limited by colloquial style.
The knowledge of language variations is very important for mastering a foreign language. Thus, the knowledge of interidiolectal and intraidiolectal variations helps to trace tendencies in the development of the phonetic system, to predict future changes, to explain causes of the existing phonetic changes.
The knowledge of stylistic differences is also of great importance in mastering a foreign language. During the first stages of learning a foreign language the teacher of English (or any other foreign language) should draw the attention of the pupils to the peculiarities typical for careful or full style of speech/ At the advanced stages of learning the other types of stylistic changes should be also introduced to enable the pupils to understand rapid colloquial style.