Короткі теоретичні відомості. When we talk about the sounds of a language, the term 'sound' can be interpreted in two rather different ways

When we talk about the sounds of a language, the term 'sound' can be interpreted in two rather different ways. A linguist uses two separate terms: «phoneme»  is used to mean 'sound' in its contrastive sense, e.g.: tie − die, seat − seed and «allophone»   is used for sounds which are variants of a phoneme. They usually occur in different positions in the word (i.e. in different environments) and hence cannot contrast with each other, nor be used to make meaningful distinctions (різниця, розбіжність).

The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds opposable (чинний стосовно чогось) to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish (розрізняти) the meaning of morphemes and words.

Let us consider the phoneme from the point of view of its three aspects:

· Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit.Function is usually understood to mean discriminatory (дифференційний; той, що відрізняє) function, that is, the role of the various components of the phonetic system of the language in distinguishing one morpheme from another, one word from another or also one utterance from another. The opposition of phonemes in the same phonetic environment differentiates the meaning of morphemes and words, e.g. said – says, sleeper – sleepy, bath – path, light – like.

Sometimes the opposition of phonemes serves to distinguish the meaning of the whole phrases, e.g. He was heard badly – He was hurt badly. Thus we may say that the phoneme can fulfill the distinctive function (дифференційна функція).

· Secondly, the phoneme is material, real and objective.That means that it is realized in speech of all English-speaking people in the form of speech sounds, its allophones. The sets of speech sounds, that is the allophones belonging to the same phoneme are not identical in their articulatory content though there remains some phonetic similarity between them. As a first example, let us consider the English phoneme [d], which when not affected by the articulation of the preceding or following sounds is a plosive (проривний), fore-lingual apical (апікальний передлінгвальний), alveolar (альвеолярний), lenis stop (слабкий). This is how it sounds in isolation or in such words as door, darn, down, etc., when it retains its typical articulatory characteristics. In this case the consonant [d] is called the principal (головний) allophone. At the same time there are quite predictable changes in the articulation of allophones that occur under the influence of the neighbouring sounds in different phonetic situations. Such allophones are called subsidiary (допоміжний). [d] is slightly palatalized (трішки пом'якшується, тобто палаталізується) before front vowels (голосні переднього ряду) and the sonorant (сонорний) [j], e.g. deal, day, did, did you. [d] is pronounced without any plosion (не вибуховий) before another stop, e.g. bedtime, bad pain, good dog; it is pronounced with the nasal plosion (носовий вибух) before the nasal sonorants [n] and [m], e.g. sudden, admit, could not, could meet; the plosion is lateral (бічний) before the lateral sonorant [l], e.g. middle, badly, bad light. Followed by [r] the consonant [d] becomes post-alveolar (постальвеолярний) (e.g. dry, dream; followed by the interdental (міжзубний) ([θ], [ð] it becomes dental (зубний), e.g. breadth, lead the way, good thing. When [d] is followed by the labial (губний) [w] it becomes labialized (лабіалізований), e.g. dweller. In the initial position [d] is partially devoiced (частково оглушається), e.g. dog, dean; in the intervocalic (між голосними) position or when followed by a sonorant it is fully voiced (дзвінкий), e.g. order, leader, driver; in the word-final position it is voiceless (глухий), e.g. road, raised old.

· Thirdly, the phoneme is abstract (абстрагований) or generalized (узагальнений) and that is reflected in its definition as a language unit. It is an abstraction because we make it abstract from concrete realizations for classificatory purposes.

Завдання до теми

Read the tongue-twisters:

1. Sally is a sheet slitter, she slits sheets.

2. Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore. But if Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore then where are the sea shells Sally sells?

3. Salty broccoli, salty broccoli, salty broccoli

4. Sam’s shop stocks short spotted socks.

5. Sarah saw a shot-silk sash shop full of shot-silk sashes as the sunshine shone on the side of the shot-silk sash shop.

6. Sarah sitting in her Chevrolet, All she does is sits and shifts, All she does is sits and shifts.

7. Sarah, Sarah, sits in her Chevrolet. When she shifts she sips her Schlitz, and when she sips her Schlitz she shifts.

8. Say this sharply, say this sweetly; Say this shortly, say this softly; Say this sixteen times in succession.

9. Scissors sizzle, thistles sizzle.

10. Selfish sharks sell shut shellfish.

 

Контрольні питання

1. How many aspects of speech sounds can be differentiated? Explain the essence of each aspect.

2. Define the phoneme.

3. What is an allophone?

4. What are the three aspects of a phoneme?

5. What allophones are called principal / subsidiary?

6. Define the invariant of the phoneme.

7. What is the difference between distinctive and non-distinctive articulatory

features?

8. What types of transcription do you know?

Література [6, c. 22-23]

Практичне заняття № 7

Тема. Алофони

Allophones

Мета: to find out about functional groups allophones are arranged into.