Vowel sequences

All vowel sequences are pronounced with a smooth glide be­tween them both within words and between words. No glottal stop is recommended, e.g. ruin, react, beyond, go out.

The most common sequences are formed by adding the neu­tral vowel [ə] to a diphthong, especially to [aɪ] and [aʊ], e.g. lion, hour. The second element in these sequences is the weakest or is even dropped.

In fluent English speech one word is not separated from another, the end of one word flows straight on to the beginning of the next. Care should be taken not to separate the words by a glottal stop. An English speaker glides smoothly from the final vowel sound of the preceding word to the initial vowel sound of the following word with no break, no gap before the vowel.

The articles take the forms [ðɪ] and [ən] before words begin­ning with a vowel sound to help us glide continually from one word to another, e.g. the arm [ði: 'ɑ:m], an arm [ən ɑ:m].

The letter "r" spelled at the end of words is pronounced be­fore the next word beginning with a vowel to link the words (the linking "r"), e.g. nearer and nearer ['nɪərər ənd 'nɪərə].

Recommendations

1. Take a mirror and practice the vowel sequences [aɪə], [aʊə] making the second element very weak or do not pronounce it at all.

2. Make sure you do not allow any glottal stop within the vowel sequences or between the words. Join the words smoothly.

3. Blend the words together in fluent speech. Make use of the linking “r” where necessary. Pronounce the articles as [ði] and [ən] before words beginning with vowels.

Possible Mistakes

1. Russian learners can easily replace the English vowel sequences [aɪə, aʊə] by the Russian sound combi­nations [ajə] or [ауə] with the second element being too strong. The organs of speech should hardly reach the position of the sounds [ɪ] and [ʊ] in the sequences. Watch your mouth in a mir­ror. No actual movement of the jaw and the lips should be seen.

2. Russian students of English often drop the sound in the -ing- form of verbs ending in [ɪ] like studying, copying. Think analytically, say the parts of a word separately, then put them together smoothly. Do not swallow the sound of the suffix.

3. Russian students sometimes split the natural flow of English speech into disconnected segments, i.e. words. Practice saying a rhythmic group as one word.

4. The usual fault is to insert a glottal stop before each word beginning with a vowel. Make sure your speech flows with a smooth transition from one word to the next.

In English as well as in Russian vowels in unstressed syllables are usually reduced. The laws of reduction, in these languages are not the same, however.

Reduction is a historical process of weakening, short­ening or disappearance of vowel sounds in unstressed positions. This phonetic phenomenon, as well as assimilation, is closely connected with the general development of the language sys­tem. Reduction reflects the process of lexical and grammatical changes.

The neutral sound represents the reduced form of almost any vowel or diphthong in the unstressed position, e.g.:

combine ['kɒmbaɪn]     project ['prɒdჳɪkt] combine [kəm'baɪn]     project [prə'dჳekt]

The vowel sounds of the two related words are in contrast because of different stress positions.

The sounds [ɪ] and also [ʊ] in the suffix -ful- are very frequent realizations of the unstressed positions, e.g. possibility [pɒsɪ'bɪlɪtɪ], beautiful ['bju:tɪfʊl].

There is also a tendency to retain the quality of the un­stressed vowel sound, e.g. retreat, programme, situate. Non-reduced unstressed sounds are often retained in:

1. compound words, e.g. blackboard, oilfield,

2. borrowings from the French and other languages, e.g. bourgeoisie, kolkhoz.

Reduction is closely connected not only with word stress but also with rhythm and sentence stress. Stressed words are pro­nounced with great energy of breath. Regular loss of sentence stress of certain words is connected with partial or complete loss of their lexical significance. These words play the part of form-words in a sentence. So reduction is realized:

1. in unstressed syllables within words, e.g. demonstrative [dɪ'mɒnstrətɪv];

2. in unstressed form-words, auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and possessive pronouns within intonation groups and phrases, e.g. What do you think you can do? [ →wɒt dju: Ɵɪŋk jʊ kən _\du:]