4. Consonants

They are classified according to these principles:

-as many R phoneticians say, primary importance should be given to the type of abstraction and the manner of noise production. On this ground the following classes are distinguished:

a)constrictive (in the production an incomplete closure is formed) [s z]

b)occlusive(a complete closure is formed)[p b]

c) rolled, thrilled(here belong the sounds in pronunciation of which tongue tip vibrates) Rus [p]

d)affricates(in the production a complete closure turns into incomplete)

-active organs of speech, the place of articulation

E consonants are divided into

a)labial -> bilabial [p b]

-> labio-dental [f v]

b)lingual -> forelingual ->apical [t d ] / cucumnial [r]

->backlingual [k g]

->medialingual [j]

c)glottal [h]

-the work of vocal cords

Scientists single out voiced (when vocal cords are brought together and vibrate [d b v]), the degree of muscular tension is less than in voiceless consonants -> they are called lenis

Voiceless consonants are produced when vocal cords are lax, are taken apart. The degree of muscular tension is greater than in voiced consonants -> they are fortis

Unlike E in the R language all voiced consonants are fortis, voiceless – lenis

-position of soft palate

Consonants

a)nasal [m n] – when the soft palate is lowered and air goes through the nasal cavity

b)oral [l r] – the flow of air goes through mouth cavity

An outstanding British phonetician D Jones gives a different classification of speech sounds

The vertical line – manner of articulation

The horizontal – which articulate

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	P b			T d			K g
Affricate					t∫ d3
Fricative		F v	Θ ð	S z	∫ 3		(x)	h
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Lateral approximant				l
Approximant	w				r	j

Sound [(x)] is a special sound used by E speakers in the words of foreign origin esp of German one : Bach [(x)]

Another famous Br phonetician Gimson accepted this classification

Lecture № 5

English Intonation

In very general term intonation is a specific organization of speech sounds in syllables and words and intended to produce meaningful utterances.

So intonation is something closely related to the sounds. There is a view point that intonation is superimposed from above upon the segments of speech, sounds and syllables, and therefore intonation is often referred to as a super segmental phenomenon.

Nowadays this view is no longer considered to be correct. Experimental data prove the reverse. Intonation is inherent in the segment.

Another more accurate term which is used instead of super segmental is a non-segmental phenomenon or feature. It means that it is different from segment but closely linked with them.

Another word currently used in writings is prosody. It is roughly the same as intonation; we say that intonation is a collection of prosodic features. The two terms intonation and prosody include the same components. But by intonation we mean very many things, that is why the term prosody seems to be much better. It is widely used by linguists, but it is not used in school. When we mean prosody, we mean pitch, loudness and tempo.

Intonation on the perception level is a complex unity of changes in pitch or tone, intensity or accent and tempo, that is the rate of utterance and pausation.

Professor Vasiliev includes the fourth component – timbre, but we know little about it. We can’t measure it. There are no terms to describe it. By voice timbre we mean special colouring of voice, that is why it is excluded from the definition.

Some linguists restrict the term intonation to pitch only. You may come across such an utterance “the sentence is pronounced with such and such intonation…” here pitch is meant.

Some linguists associate intonation with accent and pitch. They say that each syllable is characterized by a quite definite pitch level and bares a certain amount of stress.