Difficulties in pronunciation of nouns, adj., etc

Nouns. The plural inflexion -s is pronounced like /z/ if the stam (основа) ends in a voiced consonant or a vowel. Inflexion -s is pronounced /s/ if the stam ends in a voiceless consonant. It is pronounced /ız/ if the stam ends in sounds /s/- /z/, /∫/ - /d3/. Inflexion -s is added to nouns, ending in letter ‘o’: hero – heroes. In some nouns the final /θ/ changes to /р/ in plural: mouth /θ/ – mouths /рz/; bath /θ/ – baths /рz/. In other nouns the final /θ/ remains unchanged in plural: death /θ/ – deaths /θs/. For some nouns ending in /θ/ in singular both variants /θs/ & /рz/ are correct: truth – truths; youth – youths. Some nouns which end in /θ/ in singular change into /v/: wolf /f/ – wolves /vz/. There’re some nouns in English which form their plural by changes in the root: man – men, etc.

Articles. ‘A’ is pronounced with a word beginning with a consonant, ‘an’ – with a word, beginning with a vowel. ‘The’ is pronounced /рə/ before words beginning with a consonant; /рi:/ before words beginning with a vowel.

Adjectives. In degrees of comparison the comparative inflexion -er of 1-syllable and 2-syllable adjectives ending in -yer, -ow, -ble is pronounced like /ə/ and -est is pronounced /ıst/ (tall – taller – the tallest). The final consonant of an adjective is doubled before the inflexions -er, -est, if it’s preceded by a short-stressed vowel to preserve a closed syllable (big – bigger – the biggest). More & most are analytical forms of degree of comparison. There’re some adjectives which have irregular forms (good – better – the best). There’re also adjectives which have 2 forms: far – farther – the farthest & far – further – the furthest; old – older – the oldest & old – elder – the eldest.

Numerals. Numerals 13-19 have 2 strong stresses. Numerals can be ordinal & cardinal. Ordinal=cardinal+th, except 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd. In fractions the numerator is a cardinal, the dominator – an ordinal, ending in -s. 5/6 – five sixths

Difficulties in pronunciation of verbs

The suffix -ing is pronounced like /ıŋ/. If the verb ends in sound /ı/ it should be pronounced clearly: studying /st∆dı-ıŋ/. There’re some verbs and nouns which have the same spelling, but the stress falls on different syllables. As a rule, on the 1^st syllable in nouns, and on the 2^nd syllable in verbs. Some verbs don’t have any difference from nouns: a look – to look.

There’re some verbs and nouns which have the same final consonant: to believe – a belief; to advise – advice; to excuse – an e

Articulation of plosives

Plosive, or oral stop, where there is complete occlusion (blockage) of both the oral and nasal cavities of the vocal tract, and therefore no air flow. Examples include English /p t k/ (voiceless) and /b d g/ (voiced). If the consonant is voiced, the voicing is the only sound made during occlusion; if it is voiceless, a plosive is completely silent. What we hear as a /p/ or /k/ is the effect that the onset of the occlusion has on the preceding vowel, and well as the release burst and its effect on the following vowel. The shape and position of the tongue (the place of articulation) determine the resonant cavity that gives different plosives their characteristic sounds. All languages have plosives xcuse.

 

Organs of speech

The process of respiration consists of inspiration (breathing in) and expiration (out).When we speak we use outgoing air. During expiration the air moves from the lungs through the trachea, the upper part of which is called larynx.Inside the larynx there are two muscular folds running in a horizontal direction from back to front. The folds are called vocal cords. The opening between the vocal cords is called the glottis. When the vocal cords are held wide-apart, they relaxed and the glottis is open (quiet breathing and voiceless consonant). When the vocal cords are brought together they become tense and the flow air makes them vibrate so the voice is produced (all vowels and voiced consonants).When the vocal cords get ready for vibration the open glottis becomes narrower and the air passing through the lungs, glottis, pharynx and mouth cavity produces friction.Above the larynx there are two super-glottal cavities-pharynx, mouth cavity, nasal cavity. They are used to modify the colouring of the voice and noise. The cavities serves as a system of resonance chambers, capable of changing their shapes and sizes by different position of the soft palate, the tongue, the lower and upper jaw and the lips. The palate is formed by upper jaw. It’s divided into: the teeth ridge, the hard and soft palate and uvula. The passage into the nasal cavity is regulated by the position of the soft palate. The soft palate is lowered to the air pass through the nasal cavity (n).The tongue may take different positions (front, middle, back) and modify shape and size of the main resonance chamber to produce various qualities of vowels and consonants. The surface of the front part is called predorsal part; middle and back are called dorsal part. The two shapes of the tongue-apical (front edge raised, middle is lowered), and dorsal (edges are lowered, middle or back raised). The lips may be rounded and unrounded and can also form different kinds of abstractions used to produce consonants.

Intonational styles

Intonational style – a system of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social sphere and serves s definite aim of communication.

There is no universally recognized classification of styles. Vinogradov distinguishes 3 styles:

1) Colloquial (COMMUNICATION)

2) Informing (scientific styles are included)

3) Emotive (publicistic, belletrestyle).

This classification was criticized. There are 2 next marginal layers:

- formal – suggests careful articulation of styles, relatively slow speed of the pronouncing

- informal – everyday communication, rapid, colloquial, conversational

Stylistic use of intonation:

1) Informational – in press reporting, educational descriptive texts. Loudness normal or increased; pauses arerather long; rhythm is stable, properly organized; falling tones on the semantic centers, falling-rising or rising in the initial intonation groups;

2) Academic (scientific) – style of lectures (conferences, seminars). Loudness increased; pauses are rather long; rhythm is properly organized; high proportion of compound terminal tones (high fall + low rise, fall-rise, rise-fall-rise), a great number of high categorical falls;

3) Publicistic (oratorical). Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness enormously increased; pauses are definitely long between the passages; rhythm is properly organized; tones mostly emphatic, especially emotionally underlined semantic centers, in non-final intonational groups falling-rising tones are frequent;

4) Declamatory (artistic). This is a highly emotional and expressive intonational style. Attitudinal, volitional and intellectual functions of intonation are of primary importance here and serve to appeal to the mind, will and feelings of the listener. This style can be heard on the stage, on the screen, in a TV studio, thus we see that it is always a written form of the language read aloud or recited. Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness varied according to the size of the audience and to the emotional setting; pauses are long especially between the passages, prolonged emphatic pauses are used to underline the emphasis; rhythm is properly organized; common use of categorical low and high falls in final and initial intonation groups and on semantic centers;

5) Conversational (familiar) – this kind of English is a means for everyday communication, heard in natural conversational interaction between speakers. This style occurs mainly in informal external and internal relationships in speech of relatives, friends. This is spontaneous, colloquial, informal, everyday speech.