- •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.
9. Classification of the English consonants.
There are consonant phonemes in the English language which can be classified according to the articulating (main) organ into the following types:
1. Labial consonants which are subdivided into: a) bi-labial, i.e. articulated by means of both lips; b) labio-dental - articulated by means of the lower lip with the upper teeth as the passive organ.
2. Lingual consonants which are subdivided into: a) fore-lingual; b) fron-lingual (or mid-lingual); c) back-lingual.
In this group we distinguish: apical, dorsal and cacuminal.
Apical consonants are articulated by the tip of the tongue which is brought into contact with the teeth or the teeth ridge.
Dorsal consonants are articulated by lowering the tip of the tongue (so that it comes into contact with the front lower teeth) while the closure or narrowing of the air passage occurs between the blade of the tongue and the upper teeth.
In the articulation of the cacuminal consonants the tip of the tongue is curled back and is usually brought into contact with the teeth ridge and the fore part of the hard palate.
3. Velar consonants are formed by means of a closure or a narrowing between the velum (soft palate) and the back of the tongue, in cases when the velum is active.
4. Uvular consonants are formed by the activity of the uvula.
The English consonants form oppositions based on the following principles:
1) The manner of articulation (stops and constrictives).
2) The articulating organ (labial, lingual).
3) The passive speech organ (dental, alveolar, palatal, velar).
4) The shape of narrowing (a narrow slit or round aperture).
5) The presence or absence of voice (voiced and voiceless).
6) The prevalence of noise or musical tone (voiced noises and sonorants).
7) The kind of resonance (oral or nasal).
8) The noise-producing obstacles (single point and double-point).
9) The manner of releasing closure (plosives and affricates).
To conclude the chapter we must note that it is the distortion and loss of consonants that is particularly aggravating. As J.O'Connor puts it, "the consonants form the bones, the skeleton of English words and give them their basic shape".
Assimilation. Types of assimilation.
Assimilation is a modification of a consonant under the influence of a neighbouring consonant. When a consonant is modified under the influence of an adjacent vowel or vice versa this phenomenon is called adaptation or accommodation, e. g. tune, keen, lea, cool.
Assimilation which occurs in everyday speech in the present-day pronunciation is called living. Assimilation which took place at an earlier stage in the history of the language is called historical.
Assimilation can be:
1 progressive, when the first of the two sounds affected by assimilation makes the second sound similar to itself, e. g. in desks the sounds /k/ make the plural inflection s similar to the voiceless /k/.
2 regressive, when the second of the two sounds affected by assimilation makes the first sound similar to itself, e. g. in the combination at the the alveolar /t/ becomes dental, assimilated to the interdental / ð / which follows it;
3 reciprocal [rɪ'sɪprək(ə)l] assimilation, when the two adjacent sounds influence each other, e.g. twice /t/ is rounded under the influence of /w/ and /w/ is partly devoiced under (he influence of the voiceless /t/.
This assimilation occurs most frequently when final alveolar Cs [t], [d] are followed by initial palatal [j]. Then they become affricates [ʧ], [ʤ], and this assimilation is called affricatization. Final alveolar Cs [s], [z] before [j] can become palatalized fricatives or sibilants
The amount of assimilation that occurs in native speaker pronunciation will depend on the formality of the situation, the rate of speech, and the style of the speaker.