3.Phonological analises of english speech sounds.

3.1.The phoneme is the smallest linguistically relevant unit of a given language (of the sound structure). It serves to distinguish one word from another.

Ex.no-go =\n-g

thought- tough =\th =t

night-kite =\ n-k

bed-bad = \e-eeдогори ногами

nonder –wander =\uдогори ногами-o

The phoneme is an abstract notion, but in real speech it exists in the form of a sound. A sound is a concrete thing because it is sound waves. Speech sounds which represent one and the same type of sound are called allophones. Allophones are individual (peculiar to different speakers) or positional (their form depends on their position in a word, where they may be influenced by neighboring sounds. Variants of the same phoneme , they do not distinguish between though they may sound different.

So, phonemes are sound types,they differentiate the meaning of words if we change one phoneme in a words we have either a new word with some new meaning (say-hay) or announced word that does not exist in language.

Ex. Come-gone.

Allophones are variants of the same phoneme in speech. Allophones are speech sounds they do not differentiate words and do not create new words. In English there are 2 allophones on the phoneme \l\, they so called “dark” and so called “clear”. The dark variant is used before consonants \Tell me\, the clear variant is used before vowels and consonant \j\ (sonorant) \Will you look\,but if we change clear \l\ for dark \l перекреслене\ in speech , it won’t change the meaning of the word, it will just create a foreign accent.

Allophones in free variation. Allophones of a phoneme which occur in the same position are called allophones in free variation in free variation.

Ex. Night- the final \t\ may be pronounced as aspirate or non-aspirated.

Allophones in complementary distribution. We can use the example with clear and dark variants of \l\. Clear and dark \l\ should not be mixed up, each of them has its own position. They complement each other. On the other hand the phoneme is an abstraction, on the other hand it is material and real because it exists in the form of speech sounds.

The phoneme performs several functions:

-the constitutive function of the phoneme, manifests itself in the fact that allophones as variants of the phoneme constitute morphemes and words;

-the distinctive function of the phoneme manifest itself in the fact that phonemes distinguish one word from another;

-the indeficatory function of the phoneme manifests itself in the fact that we recognize certain combination of allophones as words.

3.2. Modifications of phonemes in speech.

-idiolectal modifications of phonemes (variations) means a peculiar way of pronouncing phonemes by each and every speaker because of the difference in the form of speech organs, because of belonging to different cultures. Idiolect is the way each of the specks;

-diaphonic variations are caused by regional differences of pronunciation or regional accents, dialects;

-allophonic variations are caused by the position of a phoneme in a word or it’s phonetic environment

Ex. Oh \ou\

It is so late \so le догори ногами it\

Not so late \not so le догори ногами it\

In these 3 examples one and the same phoneme “o” is pronounced differently in 3 different phonetic environment. The choice of the allophone also depends on the style of speech.

Ex. Literary speech (Receive Pronunciation –RP- it’s a standard of British pronunciation ,and standard American in American English) or Colloquial speech;

-in unstressed syllables there occur the reduction of vowels. Reduction means weakening of articulation and shortening of a vowel. It leads to the changes of the quality and quantity of a vowel. Mostly unstressed vowels are reduced to \e догори ногами\

Ex. Not so late

-accomodation is the modification of a vowel under the influence of (mainly) the following consonant

Ex. See \si:\- in this word \e\ is pronounced as a long vowel

Seem \si:m\- in this word \e\ is pronounced a little bit shorter because it’s followed by a voiced consonant (sonorant) \m\

Seat \si:t\ -in this word long \e\ is pronounced rather short because it is followed by a voiceless consonant \t\.

So the length of the vowel in real speech depends much on its position and the neighboring consonants.

-assimilation is the process when a consonant changes its quality under the influence of neighboring consonants:

Ex. Hash- \s\ changes into \s-ш\

How do you do ?(= I’m glad to meet you) may be reduced to \haudze догори ногами du:\ -\d\ is reduced to \dz\.