Phonetics as a science. Two main divisions of phonetics. The stages of human speech. Three branches of phonetics.

Phonetics as a science. Two main divisions of phonetics. The stages of human speech. Three branches of phonetics.

Phonetics studies the sound system of the language. That is segmental phonemes, word stress, syllabic (слоговый) structure and intonation. The first phoneticians were Indians.

Phonetics has two main divisions:

- Study of the sound patterns of language

- Study of substance (суть)

Stages of human speech are:

1. Sociological

2. Physiological

3. Reception (восприятие)

4. Transmission (перенос)

5. Interpretation (истолкование)

The branch(отрасль) of phonetics that studies the way is called articulator phonetics.

Acoustic phonetics studies the air vibrates between the speaker mouth and the listening ear.

Auditory (слуховой) phonetics is concerned with speech perception: How sound is received by the inner ear and perceived (воспринят) by the brain.

 

Phonology and its subject matter (предмет обсуждения). Standard English (RP).

The branch of phonetics that studies the linguistic function of consonant and vowel sounds, syllabic structure, word accent (произношение) and prosodic pitches, stress and tempo is called phonology.

An important part of phonology is studying which sounds are distinctive (различительный) units within a language. And phonology studies how sounds alternate.

Received Pronunciation (or RP) is a special accent - a regionally neutral accent that is used as a standard for broadcasting (радио- и телевещание) and some other kinds of public speaking. It is not fixed - you can hear forms of RP in historical broadcasts, such as newsreel (кинохроника) films from the Second World War. Queen Elizabeth II has an accent close to the RP of her own childhood, but not very close to the RP of the 21st century.

RP excites powerful feelings of admiration and repulsion. Some see it as a standard or the correct form of spoken English, while others see its use (in broadcasting, say) as an affront (публичное оскорбление) to the dignity(достоинство) of their own region. Its merit (достоинство) lies in its being more widely understood by a national and international audience than any regional accent. Non-native speakers often want to learn RP, rather than a regional accent of English. RP exists but no-one is compelled(принуждать) to use it. But if we see it as a reference point, we can decide how far we want to use the sounds of our region where these differ from the RP standard.

 

The organs of speech and their work. The active and passive organs of speech.

Organs of speech are: nasal cavity (полость носа), lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, ‘larynx(гортань), palate (soft and hard), uvula(язычок), tongue (tip, blade(передняя часть), front, back), epiglottis(надгортанник), pharynx(глотка), vocal cords, and tra’chea(трахея).

The air stream released by the lungs goes through the wind­pipe (дыхательное горло) and comes to the larynx, which contains the vocal cords. The vocal cords are two elastic folds (изгибы) which may be kept apart or brought together (сведены вместе). The opening between them is called the glottis (голосовая щель). If the tense(напряженный) vocal cords are brought together, the air stream forcing an opening makes them vibrate and we hear some voice.

On coming out of the larynx the air stream passes through the pharynx.

The pharyngeal(глоточный) cavity extends(простирается) from the top of the larynx to the soft palate, which directs the air stream either to the mouth or nasal cavities, which function as the principal resonators.

The soft palate is the furthest part of the palate from the teeth. Most of the palate is hard. This hard and fixed part of the palate is divided into two sections: the hard palate (the highest part of the palate) and the teeth ridge or alveolar ridge.

The most important organ of speech is the tongue. Pho­neticians divide the tongue into four sections, the part which lies opposite the soft palate is called the back of the tongue; the part facing the hard palate is called the front; the one lying under the teeth ridge is known as the blade and its extremity the t i p.

The lips can take up various positions as well. They can be brought firmly together or kept apart neutral, rounded, or pro­truded (высунуты) forward.

Active organs of speech are movable and taking an active part in a sound formation:

a) Vocal cords which produce voice

b) The tongue which is the most flexible(гибкий) movable organ

c) The lips affective very considerably(значительно) the shape of the mouth cavity

d) The soft palate with the uvula directing the stream of air either to the mouth or to the nasal cavity

e) The back wall of the faring contracted for some sounds

f) The lower jaw (нижняя челюсть) which movement controls the gap(промежуток) between the teeth and also the disposition of the lips

g) The lungs air for sounds

Passive organs of speech:

a) the teeth

b) the teeth ridge or alveolar ridge

c) the hard palate

d) the walls of the resonators

 

4. The International Phonetic Alphabet (transcription)

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation (условные обозначения) based on the Latin alphabet, devised (разработанный) by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by linguists, speech pathologists (дефектологи) and therapists, foreign language teachers and students, singers, actors, lexicographers, and translators.

The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are distinctive(различительны) in spoken language: phonemes, intonation, and the separation of words and syllables. To represent additional qualities of speech such as tooth-gnashing(скрежет зубов), lisping (сигматизм), and sounds made with a cleft palate(волчья пасть), an extended(распространенный) set of symbols called the Extended IPA is used.

The International Phonetic Alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, using as few non-Latin forms as possible. The Association created the IPA so that the sound values of most consonants taken from the Latin alphabet would correspond to “international usage”.

Transcription is accent of symbols representing speech sounds.

The first type of notation is the broad of phonemic notation (фонематическая транскрипция); it provides special symbols for all phonemes of a language.

The second type of the allophonic transcription, suggests special symbols including some information about articulator activity of particular allophonic features.

The first of broad transcription was introduced by D. Jones. He realized the difference between sounds (sit – seat). Another type of broad transcription was introduced by Vasiliev.

Principles of classification of English consonants.

Consonants are made with air stream that meets an obstruc­tion in the mouth or nasal cavities. That is why in the produc­tion of consonant sounds there is a certain degree of noise.

Consonants are the bones of a word and give it its basic shape. English accents differ mainly in vowels, the consonants are more or less the same wherever English is spoken. So if your vowels are not perfect you may still be understood by the listen­er, but if the consonants are imperfect there may be some misun­derstanding.

The sentence "W-l y- -nv-t- m-1- th- p-t-?" "Will you invite me to the party?" is easy for understanding even if all the vowel letters would be left out. But if we leave all the consonant letters out: "-i- -ou i—i-e -e -o —e -a-y" it is impossible to make any sense out of it.

On the articulatory level the consonants change:

1. In the degree of noise.

2. In the manner of articulation.

3. In the place of articulation.

 

Modification of English consonants in connected speech. Assimilation. Types of assimilation. Assimilative changes of the place of obstruction and the active organs of speech, changes in the work of the vocal cords (voicing/devoicing), the lip position, the position of the soft palate, and the manner of releasing plosives (incomplete, nasal, lateral plosives)

In connected speech the sounds are subjected, in general, to two main types of influence: the reciprocal influence of neighboring sounds and the influence on sounds by larger speech units and their elements, first of all — by the stress. The first group of processes is called the combinative changes, the second group — the positional changes.

Assimilation is a process of alteration of speech sounds as a result of which one of the sounds becomes fully or partially simi­lar to the adjoining sound.

Types of assimilation can be distinguished according to: direction, degree of completeness, degree of stability.

Modification of the place of obstruction and the active organs of speech: Assimilation may take place within a word and also at word boundaries. The following three important cases should be noticed:

(a) The alveolar allophones of [t, d, n, 1, s, z] are replaced by the dental variants when immediately followed by the interden­tal [ð] or [Ө], eg

within a word: eighth, breadth, tenth; at word boundaries: Put that down! Read this!, on the desk

(b)The post-alveolar [t] and [d] are heard before the post-alveolar sonorant [r], eg

within a word: trip, true, trunk, dream, drink; at word boundaries: at rest, would read.

(c)The bilabial nasal [m] or the alveolar nasal [n] become labio-dental under the influence of immediately following labio-­dental fricatives [f, v], eg

within a word: triumph, comfort, infant; at word boundaries: come for me, ten forks.

Changes in the work of the vocal cords (voicing/devoicing):

Progressive voicing or devoicing is common in English.

(a) The sonorants [m, n, 1, w, r] are partially devoiced when preceded by voiceless consonants [s, p, t, k, f,].

At word boundaries the sonorants [1, r, w] are slightly voiced if with the adjacent words they form a phrasal word or a rhyth­mic group, eg at last, at rest.

(b)Contracted forms of the verbs "is" and "has" may retain voice or be devoiced depending on the preceding consonants.

(c)The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the possessive suffix -'s or -s', the plural suffix -(e)s of nouns and of the third person singular present indefinite of verbs depends on the quali­ty of the preceding consonant.

(d) The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the suffix -ed of regular verbs also depends on the quality of the preceding con­sonant.

Changes in the Lip Position. Consonants followed by the sonorant [w] change their lip-position. They become lip-rounded in anticipation of [w], eg twinkle, quite, swan, language.

Changes in the Position of the Soft Palate. Nasal conso­nants may influence the adjacent plosive. Sometimes [d] changes into [n], eg handsome, handmade.

Changes in the Manner of the Release of Plosive Conso­nants. English plosives do not always have the third stage con­sisting of a sudden oral release of air. The main variants are:

(a) Incomplete plosion.

In the clusters of two plosives [pp, pb, bb, bp, tt, td, dd, dt,, kk, kg, gg, gk] where the position of the organs of speech is the same for both consonants, there is no separation of the organs of speech between the two plosives.

(b) Nasal plosion.

When a plosive is followed by the syllabic [n] or [m] it has no release of its own, the so-called 'nasal' plosion is produced.

(c) Lateral plosion.

In the sequences of a plosive immediately followed by [1] the closure produced for the plosive is not released till after [1]. Be­fore [1] the release is made by a sudden lowering of the sides of the tongue, and the air escapes along the sides of the tongue with lateral plosion, eg please, cattle, black, candle.

 

Ststements

1.Statements are most widely used with the Low (Medium) Fall preceded by the Falling Head or the High (Medium) Level Head. In all these cases they are final, complete and definite, eg: It's difficult. (No Head) I wanted to go there immediately. (F. H. + L. F.) It was not so easy. (H. L. H.)

2..If the statement is intended to be soothing or encouraging the last stressed syllable is pronounced either with the Low Rise or the Mid-Level nuclear tones usually preceded by the Falling or the High (Medium) Level Heads, eg It's all right.

3..If the statement is a grumble it is pronounced with Low Head + Low Fall, eg: I didn't expect to see you here.

4.If the statement is a correction of what someone else has said or a contradiction to something previously uttered or a warning it is used with the Fall-Rise usually preceded by the Failing Head of the High (Medium) Level Head.

Special questions

1.Special questions are most commonly used with the low falling tone on the last stressed syllable preceded by the Falling Head or the High (Medium) Level Head. In these cases they sound serious, searching and business-like, eg:

Why did you decide to do that? (F. H.) What's the matter? (H. L. H.)

2..If one wants to show much interest in the other person or in the subject and sound friendly and sympathetic he pronounc­es special questions with the low rising tone preceded by theFalling Head or the High (Medium) Level Head, eg: Where do you live now? (F. H.) What's your name? (H. L. H.)

3..For repeated or echoing special questions in unemphatic usage the low rising tone on the question word is also common.

General questions

1.General questions are most common with the low rising tone preceded by the Falling Head or the High (Medium) Level Head. With these patterns they sound genuinely interested, eg: Does he ever come to,London? (F. H.) May I.try? (H. L. H.)

2.When general questions are said with the Low Fall preced­ed by the above-mentioned types of head they are put forward as a serious suggestion or a subject for urgent discussion, eg: Shall we postpone it? (H. L. H.) Haven't you noticed the mistake? (F. H.)

3.In short questions used as responses like 'Did you?', 'Has she?' the Low Fall is used.

Commands

1.Commands with the Low Fall (preceded or not preceded by the Falling Head or the High (Medium) Level Head) are very powerful, intense, serious and strong. The speaker appears to take it for granted that his words will be heeded, that he will be obeyed, eg: Try the other key. (H. L. H.) Come and have dinner with Tom. (F. H.)

2.. Commands with the High Fall (associated with the same types of heads) seem to suggest a course of action rather than to give an order; the speaker does not seem to be worrying whether he will be obeyed or not, eg: Put some more milk in it. (H. L. H.)

3..Short commands pronounced with the Low Fall alone sound unemotional, calm, controlled, often cold, eg: Take it. Stop it.

Exclamations

1.Exclamations are very common with the High Fall (either with no head or with some commonly used heads), eg: Magnificent. (No Head) What an extraordinary piece of Muck. (H. L. H.)

2.For exclamations which refer to something not very excit­ing or unexpected the low falling tone is used (either with no head or with the heads of common usage), eg: That's nice.(M.L.H.) Wonderful. (No Head).

 

Phonetics as a science. Two main divisions of phonetics. The stages of human speech. Three branches of phonetics.

Phonetics studies the sound system of the language. That is segmental phonemes, word stress, syllabic (слоговый) structure and intonation. The first phoneticians were Indians.

Phonetics has two main divisions:

- Study of the sound patterns of language

- Study of substance (суть)

Stages of human speech are:

1. Sociological

2. Physiological

3. Reception (восприятие)

4. Transmission (перенос)

5. Interpretation (истолкование)

The branch(отрасль) of phonetics that studies the way is called articulator phonetics.

Acoustic phonetics studies the air vibrates between the speaker mouth and the listening ear.

Auditory (слуховой) phonetics is concerned with speech perception: How sound is received by the inner ear and perceived (воспринят) by the brain.