БЕЛОРУССКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ
УНИВЕРСИТЕТ
ГУМАНИТАРНЫЙ ФАКУЛЬТЕТ
Кафедра теории и практики перевода
ЭЛЕКТРОННЫЙ УЧЕБНО-МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЙ
КОМПЛЕКС
ПО УЧЕБНОЙ ДИСЦИПЛИНЕ
«ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКАЯ ФОНЕТИКА (АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК)»
ДЛЯ СПЕЦИАЛЬНОСТИ «СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ИНОСТРАННЫЕ
ЯЗЫКИ (ПЕРЕВОД)» 1 – 21 06 01-02
Составитель: В. Н. Василина, старший преподаватель кафедры теории
и практики перевода гуманитарного факультета БГУ
Минск
2014
СОСТАВ ЭУМК
I. Теоретический раздел
1.1
1.2
1.3
Учебно-методические пособия
Курс лекций
Презентации к лекциям
II. Практический раздел
2.1
Планы семинарских занятий
III. Раздел контроля знаний
3.1 Тесты по дисциплине «Теоретическая фонетика (английский язык)»
3.2 Промежуточный контроль знаний (КСР)
3.3 Итоговый контроль знаний (экзамен)
IV. Вспомогательный раздел
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
Учебная программа дисциплины «Теоретическая фонетика (английский язык)
Методические указания по изучению дисциплины
Глоссарий терминов
Список учебной литературы и информационно-аналитических материалов
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I. ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКИЙ РАЗДЕЛ
1.1 УЧЕБНО-МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЕ ПОСОБИЯ
Василина, В.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов по курсу «Теоретическая
фонетика английского языка» для студентов III курса специальности «Современные
иностранные языки (перевод)» = Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Theoretical Phonetics of
English for Third Year Students of Speciality “Modern Foreign Languages (Translation)”: учеб.метод. пособие / В.Н. Василина. Минск : БГУ, 2011. 35 с.
http://elib.bsu.by/handle/123456789/7539
1.2 КУРС ЛЕКЦИЙ
LECTURE 1
PHONETICS AS A LINGUISTIC SCIENCE
1. Phonetics as a branch of linguistics
2. Branches of phonetics
3. The relations of phonetics with other sciences
Phonetics as a science is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is
actualized or given audible shape: the nature of these noises, their combinations, and their functions
in relation to the meaning. The phonetic system of English consists of the following four
components: speech sounds, the syllabic structure of words, word stress, and intonation (prosody).
These four components constitute what is called the pronunciation of English. Phonetics studies
them.
Phonetics is subdivided into practical and theoretical. Practical or normative phonetics
studies the substance, the material form of phonetic phenomena in relation to meaning. Theoretical
phonetics is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language.
Phonetics is itself divided into two major components: segmental phonetics, which is
concerned with individual sounds (i.e. "segments" of speech) and suprasegmental phonetics
whose domain is the larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts.
All speech sounds have four aspects (mechanisms): articulatory, acoustic, auditory,
functional. We may consider the branches of phonetics according to these aspects. Four branches of
the subject are generally recognized:
1) Articulatory phonetics is the study of the way the vocal organs are used to produce speech
sounds.
2) Acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds.
3) Auditory phonetics is the study of the way people perceive speech sounds.
4) The fourth branch – 'functional phonetics' – is concerned with the range and function of
sounds in specific languages. It is typically referred to as phonology.
Besides the four branches of phonetics described above, there are other divisions of the
science: general phonetics, special phonetics, historical (diachronic) phonetics, comparative
phonetics. All the branches of phonetics are closely connected not only with one another but also
with other branches of linguistics.
Phonetics is also connected with many other sciences. Acoustic phonetics is connected with
physics and mathematics. Articulatory phonetics is connected with physiology, anatomy, and
anthropology. Historical phonetics is connected with general history of the people whose language
is studied; it is also connected with archaeology. Phonology is connected with communication
(information) theory, mathematics, and statistics. We see the development of quite distinct
interdisciplinary subjects such as sociolinguistics (sociophonetics), psycholinguistics, mathematical
linguistics and others. Close interaction and collaboration between phonetics and other sciences has
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given birth to new scientific branches such as technical acoustics, phychophonetics and other
phonetic sciences which contributed considerably to the formation of speechology – the science of
speech.
LECTURE 2
PHONOLOGY. THE PHONEME
1. Phonology
2. The phoneme
3. Methods of phonological analysis
Phonology is the study of those segmental (speech sound types) and prosodic (intonation)
features which have a differential value in the language. It studies the way in which speakers
systematically use a selection of units – phonemes or intonemes – in order to express meaning. It
investigates the phonetic phenomena from the point of view of their use.
The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech
sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of
morphemes and words.
According to this definition the phoneme is a unity of three aspects: functional, material
and abstract.
The phoneme performs the distinctive function. The opposition of phonemes in the same
phonetic environment differentiates the meaning of morphemes and words.
The phoneme is realized in speech in the form of speech sounds, its allophones. Allophones
of the same phoneme possess similar articulatory features. The difference between the allophones is
predictable and is the result of the influence of the neighbouring sounds.
The actually pronounced speech sounds (phones) are modified by phonostylystic, dialectal
and individual factors.
Native speakers abstract themselves from the difference between the allophones of the same
phoneme because it has no functional value but they have a generalized idea of a complex of
distinctive features, which cannot be changed without the change of meaning. This functionally
relevant bundle of articulatory features is called the invariant of the phoneme.
The articulatory features which distinguish meaning and form the invariant of the phoneme
are called distinctive or relevant. The articulatory features which do not serve to distinguish
meaning are called non-distinctive or irrelevant.
There exist various conceptios of the phoneme which can be grouped into the following
main classes: “psychological” or “mentalistic” view (special attention is given to the abstract
aspect of the phoneme), “functional” view (concentrates on the ability of the phoneme to
distinguish meaning), “physical” view (is concerned with the material aspect). The conception of
the phoneme first put forward by L.V. Shcherba is a comprehensive one: it gives equal importance
to the three aspects of the phoneme.
The aim of the phonological analysis is, firstly, to determine the distinctive features of
sounds (or their phonemic status) and, secondly, to create the inventory of the phonemes of a
language (the phonemic system of a language). In other words, phonological analysis is aimed at
identifying the phonemes and classifying them.
There are two methods of phonological analysis: formally distributional method and
semantically distributional method. Formally distributional method is focused on the position of a
sound in the word, or its distribution. The semantically distributional (semantic) method is based
on the phonemic rule that phonemes can distinguish words and morphemes when opposed to one
another in the same phonetic context. The main procedure is called commutation test. It consists in
finding minimal pairs of words and their grammatical forms, i.e. pairs of words or morphemes
which differ in only one sound in the same phonetic context. To establish the phonemic structure of
a language it is necessary to establish the whole system of oppositions. All the sounds should be
opposed in word-initial, word-medial and word-final positions.
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LECTURE 3
THE CLASSIFICATION OF ENGLISH CONSONANTS
1. The classification of English consonants: general overview
2. The differentiation of consonants according to the sort of articulatory posture, production of
noise
3. The place of articulation
4. Voiced – voiceless characteristics
5. The position of the soft palate
Consonants have some obstruction of the airstream in the vocal tract, and the location of the
obstruction defines their place of articulation (bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palatal,
velar, uvular, glottal). We can also define them according to the articulators (coronal, apical,
laminal, dorsal) which are just as relevant as the points of articulation for comparing groups of
English and Russian coronal consonants (apical vs. laminal, alveolar vs. dental).
There may be more than one place of obstruction. Secondary articulations are:
labialization, velarization, palatalization, pre-glottalization. Palatalization vs. velarization
contrast is distinctive in the system of Russian consonants (“soft” vs. “hard”).
Consonants are further classified according to their manner of articulation: they may be
voiced or voiceless, oral or nasal. They may be stops, fricatives, affricates, approximants
(liquids and glides). Voiceless sounds may be aspirated or unaspirated. Approximants may be
trills or flaps; they may be central or lateral. Voiceless consonants are believed to be pronounced
with greater force (fortis) in comparison with voiced consonants which are weaker (lenis).
English voiced consonants lose voice distinction in the word-initial position and, partially, in
the word-final position. Russian voiced consonants become fully devoiced in the word-final
position. English loss of voice distinction is compensated by aspiration of truly voiceless (fortis)
consonants in the word-initial position before a stressed vowel. In the word-final position the loss of
voice is compensated by the length of the preceding vowel.
The following features are distinctive for consonants: type of obstruction (manner of
articulation), place of articulation and active organ of speech and force of articulation.
LECTURE 4
THE CLASSIFICATION OF ENGLISH VOWELS
1. The classification of English vowels: general overview
2. The function of quantity and quality in the system of English vowels
3. The main components of vowel quality in English
Vowels form the nucleus of the syllable. They differ according to the position of the tongue
and lips. According to the height of the tongue: high, mid-high, mid-low, low; front-back position:
front, central, back; lip position: rounded and unrounded. The vowel space of English has the
form of a trapezium; the Russian vowel space, as in many other world languages, is shaped like a
triangle (bottomed up).
The vowels of English may be tense or lax. Tense vowels are longer in duration than lax
vowels (by 1.5 in British English and by 1.2 in American English), and they normally appear in
open syllables. Such properties of vowels as checked or free, stressed or unstressed are also
manifested only in a syllable.
The traditional division of English vowels is into (historically) long, (historically) short
vowels and diphthongs. In English, long vowels and diphthongs are more peripheral sounds
which need more time and effort for their articulation, and they also have specific vowel quality to
identify them. Today the terms tense and lax are used as cover terms for the two groups of vowels,
while each particular vowel is identified by its quality which depends on the height and the frontback position of the tongue.
5
Vowels, like consonants, may be nasal and oral, though most vowels in all languages are
oral. In English vowels are nasalized before a nasal consonant, which is more noticeable in
American English.
The phonemic feature of vowels is vowel quality (tongue position).
Thus the 20 RP English vowels are grouped in the following way: twelve monophthongs
(seven short vowels and five long ones) and eight diphthongs:
LECTURE 5
MODIFICATIONS OF SOUNDS IN CONNECTED SPEECH
1. Modifications of consonants in connected speech
2. Modification of vowels in connected speech
Sounds in actual speech are seldom pronounced by themselves. To pronounce a word
consisting of more than one sound, it is necessary to join the sounds together in the proper way.
Every speech-sound pronounced in isolation has three stages of articulation. They are (1)
the on-glide, or the initial stage, (2) the retention-stage, or the medial stage, and (3) the off-glide
(release), or the final stage.
In English there are two principal ways of linking two adjacent speech sounds: I. Merging of
stages. II. Interpenetration of stages. The type of junction depends on the nature of the sounds that
are joined together. As all English sounds come under the classification of consonants and vowels
we may speak of joining:
(a) a consonant to a following vowel (C + V), as in the word [mi:] me;
(b) a vowel to a following consonant (V + C), as in the word [σn] on;
(c) two consonants (C + C), as in the word [bləυ] blow:
(d) two vowels (V + V), as in the word [riæləti] reality.
The modifications are observed both within words and word boundaries. There are the
following types of modification: assimilation, accommodation, reduction, elision, and inserting.
The adaptive modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant in a speech chain is
assimilation. Accommodation is used to denote the interchanges of VC or CV types. Reduction is
actually qualitative or quantitative weakening of vowels in unstressed positions. Elision is a
complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants. Inserting is a process of sound addition.
MODIFICATIONS OF CONSONANTS
1. Assimilation
1.1. Place of articulation
• t, d > dental before [ð, θ]: eighth, at the, said that
• t, d > post-alveolar before [r]: tree, true, dream, the third room
• s, z > post-alveolar before [∫]: this shop, does she
• t, d > affricates before [j]: graduate, could you
• m > labio-dental before [f]: symphony
•
n > dental before [θ]: seventh
•
n > velar before [k]: thank
1.2. Manner of articulation
• loss of plosion: glad to see you, great trouble
• nasal plosion: sudden, at night, let me see
• lateral plosion: settle, at last
1.3. Work of the vocal cords
• voiced > voiceless: newspaper, gooseberry (and in grammatical …)
has, is, does > [s]; of, have > [f]
Notice: In English typical assimilation is voiced > voiceless; voiceless > voiced is not
typical.
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1.4. Degree of noise
• sonorants > are partially devoiced after [p, t, k, s]
2. Accommodation
2.1. Lip position
• consonant + back vowel: pool, rude, who (rounded)
• consonant + front vowel: tea, sit, keep (spread)
3. Elision
3.1. Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns and the forms of the auxiliary verb
have.
3.2. [l] lends to be lost when preceded by [o:]: always, already, all right
3.3. In cluster of consonants: next day, just one. mashed potatoes
4. Inserting of sounds
4.1. Linking [r] (potential pronunciation of [r]): car owner
4.2. Intrusive [r]: [r] is pronounced where no r is seen in the spelling china and glass: it is
not recommended to foreign learners.
MODIFICATION OF VOWELS
1. Reduction
1.1. Quantitative
1.2. Qualitative
2. Accommodation
2.2 Positional length of vowels: knee - need - neat
2.3. Nasalization of vowels: preceded or followed by [n, m]: never, then, men
LECTURE 6
SYLLABLE
1. The syllable as a unit of speech. Theories of syllable formation
2. The structural characteristics of the English syllable
3. The functions of the syllable
The syllable is the smallest pronounceable unit capable of forming morphemes, words and
phrases. As a meaningful language unit it has two aspects: syllable formation and syllable division
which form a dialectal unity.
The syllable is a complicated phenomenon which can be viewed on four levels: acoustic,
articulatory and functional. There exist numerous theories of the syllable. Some of them consider
the syllable to be a purely articulatory unit without any functional value. The majority of linguists
regard the syllable as the smallest pronounceable unit which can perform some linguistic function.
In English syllable formation is based on the phonological opposition vowel – consonant.
The syllable may consist of the onset, the nucleus and the coda. The nucleus plus coda constitute
the rhyme. There is no syllable without the nucleus, the presence of the onset and the coda depends
on the phonotactic rules of a particular language. Syllables can be open, when ending in a vowel
(V, CV), closed, ending in a consonant (VC, CVC), covered, with a consonant for an onset (CV,
CVC), uncovered, with no onset (V, VC), light, with a short vowel like [ə] or [ɪ] or [ʊ] and no
consonants to follow, and heavy, with a long vowel or a diphthong, or a short vowel with a
consonant to follow. Heavy syllables attract stress, they become stressed, while light syllables are
unstressed.
The syllable division determines the syllabic structure of the language, its syllable typology.
Phonotactic possibilities of a language determine the rules of syllable division.
The syllable performs three functions: constitutive and distinctive and identificatory.
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LECTURE 7
WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH
1. Nature of word stress
2. Linguistically relevant degrees of word stress
3. Functions and tendencies of the English stress
Word stress is a greater degree of prominence of a syllable or syllables as compared to the
other syllables of a word.
The stressed syllables are pronounced with more muscular energy than the unstressed ones.
On the acoustic level stressed syllables are characterized by increased intensity, duration and
fundamental frequency, which correspond to increased loudness, length and pitch on the perception
level.
There are two types of word stress: dynamic and musical (tonic).
English word stress is a complex phenomenon formed by interdependent components:
loudness, pitch, length and vowel quality.
The syllables in a word have different degrees of prominence. In English they generally
distinguish three linguistically relevant degrees of stress: primary, secondary and weak. Some
scholars also include tertiary stress, but the first classification is more acceptable for teaching
English as a foreign language.
According to its placement stress can be fixed or free. Both in English an in Russian word
stress is not only free, but it is also shifting, it can change its position in different forms of the word.
To define the position of word stress in an individual word it is helpful to consider the
following factors: the phonological structure of a syllable (syllable weight), the number of syllables
in the word, the morphological factor (if the word is simple, complex or compound) and the
grammatical category the word belongs to.
They generally distinguish three tendencies that account for the variations of stress patterns
in English: recessive, rhythmical and retentive tendencies.
Word stress can perform the following functions: constitutive (it organizes the syllables into
a word), identificatory, or recognitive (it helps the listener to recognize the word in the chain of
speech) and distinctive (it can distinguish grammatical forms and meaning of words).
The correct selection of a syllable or syllables to stress in an English word causes a lot of
difficulties to Russian learners. So in teaching pronunciation special attention should be given to the
aspects which present difficulties due to the instability of English stress structure, on the one hand,
and the differences in English and Russian word stress:
– stress in multi-syllable words, containing secondary stress;
– stress in complex words containing suffixes;
– stress in compound words;
– word-class pairs with shifting stress ('insult – in'sult).
LECTURE 8
INTONATION AND PROSODY
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Intonation and prosody
Prosodic units
The pitch subsystem of utterance prosody
Utterance stress
Rhythm
Speech tempo and pauses
Functions of intonation
Intonation is a language universal. It is indispensable in communication.
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Intonation is defined as a complex, a whole, formed by significant variations of pitch,
loudness and tempo (the rate of speech and pausation) closely related. The term “prosody” is used
in suprasegmental phonetics alongside with the term “intonation”.
The syllable is widely recognized to be the smallest prosodic unit. It has no meaning of its
own, but it is significant for constituting hierarchically higher prosodic units.
The succession of syllables forms a rhythmic group. A rhythmic, or accentual, unit (or
group) is either one stressed syllable or a stressed syllable with a number of unstressed ones
grouped around it.
The intonation group is hierarchically higher than the rhythmic unit. This term shows that
the intonation group is the result of the division in which not only stresses, but pitch and duration
(i.e. intonation in the broad sense) play a role. Structurally the intonation group has some obligatory
formal characteristics. These are the nuclear stress, on the semantically most important word and
the terminal tone (i.e. pitch variations on the nucleus and the tail if any). The intonation group is a
meaningful unit.
A higher unit in which prosodic features are actualized is the utterance. The utterance is the
main communicative unit. It is characterized by semantic entity which is expressed by all the
language means: lexical, grammatical and prosodic. The prosodic structure of an utterance is a
meaningful unit that contributes to the total meaning of the utterance.
The supraphaphrasal unity is a totality of information groups or utterances, united by
general subtopic and common intonation key.
Each component of intonation can be described as a system. Pitch is described as a system
of tones (Fall, Rise, Fall-Rise and so on), pitch levels (keys), which can be high, medium and low,
and pitch ranges (wide, medium and narrow). Loudness is described as normal, increased (forte) or
low (piano). Tempo includes rate of speech and pausation. The rate of speech can be normal, slow
and fast. Pauses are classified according to their length, their position in the utterance (final – nonfinal) and their function (syntactic, emphatic and hesitation pauses). Speech rhythm is defined as a
regular occurrence of stressed syllables in a speech continuum. English is a stress-timed language.
In such languages rhythm is based on a larger unit than syllable, the rhythmic group. The stressed
syllables in the rhythmic group form peaks of prominence. Speech rhythm is regulated by the style
of speech. Maximum rhythmicality is observed in poetry. Rhythm performs the functions of
delimitation and integration, aesthetic and pragmatic functions.
Viewed on the acoustic level each component of intonation has its own acoustic correlate.
The acoustic correlate of pitch is fundamental frequency of the vibrations of the vocal cords;
loudness correlates with intensity, tempo correlates with time (duration) during which a speech
unit lasts. All of them are closely interconnected in the processes of speech production and speech
perception.
The intonation pattern is the basic unit of intonation. It serves to actualize syntagms into
intonation groups. The nuclear tone is the most important part of the intonation pattern. The
nuclear tone may be followed by the tail. The two other components of the intonation pattern, the
head and the prehead form its pre-nuclear part.
Intonation is a powerful means of communication. The communicative function of
intonation embraces all its numerous uses, which can be grouped into the following functions:
distinctive or phonological; organizing; pragmatic; rhetorical; social; stylistic.
Performing its distinctive function intonation can differentiate the syntactic
(communicative) types of sentences, attitudinal meanings, the actual meaning of sentences.
Intonation serves to structure the text. On the one hand, it delimitates the text into smaller
units, on the other hand, it ties together smaller units into bigger ones.
Intonation conveys the information content of an utterance. It highlights the most important
information in an utterance and helps to distinguish which information is new (the rheme) and
which information is known to the listener (the theme).
Intonation plays a very important role in structuring spoken discourse. At the same time it
reflects the influence of the context, both verbal and extralinguistic, on the speech realization.
Speech rhythm is defined as a regular occurrence of stressed syllables in a speech
continuum. English is a stress-timed language. In such languages rhythm is based on a larger unit
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than syllable, the rhythmic group. The stressed syllables in the rhythmic group form peaks of
prominence.
Speech rhythm is regulated by the style of speech. Maximum rhythmicality is observed in
poetry. Rhythm performs the functions of delimitation and integration, aesthetic and pragmatic
functions.
LECTURE 9
VARIATION OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
1. Geographical variation
2. Current changes in Received pronunciation (RP)
3. Peculiarities of General American pronunciation compared to British English
The varieties that are spoken by a socially limited number of people and used only in certain
localities are called dialects. An accent is a variety of a language which is distinguished from
others exclusively in terms of pronunciation. Accent variation may be geographical, social and
situational. Geographically native English accents are divided into British-oriented (U.K.,
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) and North-America-oriented (U.S.A., Canada). Within
each country national standards, regional standards and local accents reflect both geographical
and social diversity. The orthoepic norm of a language is the standard pronunciation adopted by
native speakers as the right and proper way of speaking. It comprises the variants of pronunciation
of vocabulary units and prosodic patterns which reflect the main tendencies in pronunciation that
exist in the language. It is used by the most educated parts of the population. National standards:
RP, GA, Gen Aus, Gen Can. Regional standards in U.K.: Southern, Northern, Scottish,
Northern Irish. Regional standards in U.S.A.: Northern, Northern Midland, Southern
Midland, Southern, Western. National standards are associated with radio and TV newsreaders,
certain professional groups and public figures. Regional standards are spoken by most educated
people and they show regional deviation from the standard. In U.K. people in the South-East of the
country are closest to RP, in the U.S.A. it is people from the North, North Midland and the West
who show the least differences from the unofficial standard of American Network. Local accents
are numerous, they can be urban and rural. Urban centres are leading in accent diversity today.
The major accent-classifying feature is the presence of r in ‘rhotic’ (r-full) accents and its
vocalization in post-vocalic position in ‘non-rhotic’ (r-less) accents. Most of the American accents
(except southern and eastern) are rhotic, most of the British accents are non-rhotic (except northern,
Scottish, Irish).
Current changes in RP are grouped according to the degree of process completion:
processes almost complete, changes well-established, recent innovations and innovations on
the verge of RP.
A more subtle realizational feature is /r/ pronounced as a post-alveolar approximant in all
positions and not, as formerly, as a tap in intervocalic positions following an accented syllable, e.g.
very, error.
Comparing the sound systems of RP and GA we note differences in vowel systems (20 vs.
15), in consonant systems (r-vocalization, t-voicing, etc.), in accent placement, rhythm and
intonation. The major differences in vowels are: [ɒ/ɑ:/ɔ:] in dog, stop, long, orange, [æ]-distribution
in ask, dance, [oʊ]-quality in go, home; less contrast in length between American tense and lax
vowels; retroflexion quality of American vowels before r, nasalization before nasals, loss of
contrast in cot/caught, Merry Mary married. In consonants, besides r-retroflexion and vocalization,
there is American flap in better, letter, t-omission before n in twenty, weakened [j] in news,
Tuesday, dark [l] in little, less. There are also non-systemic, lexical occurrences which create
differences in pronunciation of words and their accentuation, as [ɑ:/eɪ] in tomato, vase, [ʃ/sk] in
schedule, accent patterns of [ˈ˗ ˗ / ˗ ˗ˈ] in address, adult, detail, ballet, café, garage. Secondary
(tertiary) stress occurrence, as in dictionary, ceremony, strawberry. American rhythm is more
smooth, not clipped as the British one due to an additional number of stresses and to lower contrast
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between accented and unaccented syllables in length and pitch (1.5 vs. 1.7). The monotony of
American intonation is due to recurrence of mid-level wavy, rise-falling and level-rise pitch
patterns. On the whole American men’s speech, especially, is specific for its narrow pitch range
with rise-fall termination.
LECTURE 10
PHONETIC STYLES. STYLE-FORMING MEANS IN ENGLISH
1. The problem of classification of phonetic styles
2. Phonetic style-forming means in English. Specific features of Informal talk in RP
When used in speech phonetic units undergo various changes under the influence of
extralinguistic factors. The bundle of these factors forms the extralinguistic situation. The
extralinguistic situation determines the choice of language means, phonetic means in particular.
Phonostylistics is a branch of phonetics which studies the way phonetic units (both
segmental and suprasegmental) are used in particular extralinguistic situations. It is concerned with
the identification of style-forming means, i.e. the phonetic features that enable the native speaker to
distinguish intuitively between different styles of pronunciation.
The extralinguistic situation can be described in terms of three components, i.e. purpose,
participants and setting. These components distinguish situations as the context in which speech
interaction takes place.
Purpose is the most important factor that guides the communication. It is the task that is
achieved in the course of communication. Participants are people involved in communication.
Speech is a marker of various characteristics of people, both individual and social: age, gender,
family background, occupation, social roles. The scene (setting) includes the physical orientation
of participants, which is connected with the type of speech activity they are engaged in. Scenes can
also be described in the following terms: public – non-public (private), formal – informal,
monologuing – dialoguing – poliloguing. The channel of communication is also to be taken into
consideration: face-to-face interaction – telephone communication, mass media communication.
The extralinguistic factors, that determine the choice of phonetic means and result in
phonostylistic variation are:
– the purpose, or aim of communication;
– the degree of formality of the situation;
– the degree of spontaneity;
– the speaker’s attitude.
The purpose, or aim of communication may be called a style forming factor, while all the
others cause modifications within a particular style, which account for the existence of different
kinds and genres of texts within each phonetic style. All the factors are interdependent and
interconnected.
The classification of phonetic styles is based on the purpose of communication, which is the
most significant extralinguistic factor. Five phonetic styles can be singled out according to the
purpose of communication:
1. Informational style;
2. Academic (Scientific) style;
3. Publicistic (Oratorial) style;
4. Declamatory (Artistic) style;
5. Conversational (Familiar) style.
Stylistic variations of sounds and intonation result from different combinations of
extralinguistic factors. Stylistic modifications of sounds are caused primarily by the degree of
formality, while variations of intonation are basically determined by the aim of communication.
In formal situations pronunciation tends to be careful and is characterized by articulatory
precision. In informal situations speech is generally faster and less careful. In informal casual
11
discourse (fast colloquial speech) the processes of simplification take place: assimilation, reduction,
elision.
Each of the five phonetic styles is used in a particular sphere of discourse and is
characterized by a set of prosodic features, which in their combination form the model of the
phonetic style.
REFERENCES
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая
фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для
ин-тов и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая
школа, 1980. – 144 с.
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник
для студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд.,
стер. – Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
4. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник
для студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд.,
испр. и доп. – Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
5. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
6. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И.
Шевченко. – 2-е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
1.3 ПРЕЗЕНТАЦИИ К ЛЕКЦИЯМ
http://gumf.bsu.by/sites/default/files/files/documents/Теоретическая фонетика.zip
12
II. ПРАКТИЧЕСКИЙ РАЗДЕЛ
2.1 ПЛАНЫ СЕМИНАРСКИХ ЗАНЯТИЙ
SEMINAR 1
PHONETICS AS A LINGUISTIC SCIENCE. THE FUNCTIONAL ASPECT OF SPEECH
SOUNDS
A. Phonetics as a Linguistic Science
Issues to Study and Discuss
1.
2.
3.
4.
The phonetic system of language.
Aspects of speech sounds.
The practical and theoretical significance of phonetics.
Branches of phonetics. Phonology as a linguistic branch of phonetics.
Key words: acoustic / auditory / articulatory phonetics, bronchi, descriptive / historical
phonetics, direct observation, general / special phonetics, glottis, instrumental methods,
intonograph, kinesics, laryngoscope, larynx, lungs, mathematical linguistics, mouth / nasal /
supraglottal cavities, pharynx, phonology (functional phonetics), practical (normative) phonetics,
psycholinguistics, respiratory (power) mechanism, segmental / suprasegmental phonetics,
sociophonetics, spectrograph, theoretical phonetics, vocal cords, vocal tract, wind-pipe, x-ray
photography / cinematography
B. The Functional Aspect of Speech Sounds
Issues to Study and Discuss
1. Phoneme and Allophones:
1.1 Definition of the phoneme and its functions.
1.2 Types of allophones.
1.3 The system of phonological oppositions in English.
Relevant and irrelevant features of the phoneme.
2. Main Trends in Phoneme Theory.
3. The Phonemic inventory of English. Methods of phonological analysis.
Key words: allophone, allophonic (narrow) / phonemic (broad) transcription, commutation
test, complementary / contrastive / parallel distribution, distinctive (relevant) / non-distinctive
(irrelevant, redundant) features, free variations, formally distributional method, invariant, minimal
pairs, morphonology, neutralization, phone, phoneme, phonetic / phonological mistakes, a
principal / subsidiary (secondary) allophone, semantically distributional method, set of oppositions,
sound.
REFERENCES
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая школа, 1980. – 144
с.
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для
студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд., стер. –
Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Василина, В.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов по курсу «Теоретическая фонетика
английского языка» для студентов III курса специальности «Современные иностранные
13
языки (перевод)» = Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Theoretical Phonetics of English for Third
Year Students of Speciality “Modern Foreign Languages (Translation)”: учеб.-метод. пособие /
В.Н. Василина. Минск : БГУ, 2011. 35 с.
4. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов и
фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
5. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник для
студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. –
Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
6. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
7. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И. Шевченко. – 2е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
SEMINAR 2
ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS
Key words
Vowels
- a vowel;
- a diphthong;
- checked vowels;
- triphthong;
- nasal twang;
- monophthong;
- diphthongoid;
- lax vowels;
- front-retracted vowels;
- glide.
Consonants
- consonant;
- allophonic transcription;
- phonemic transcription;
- aspiration;
- cacuminal consonants;
- fricative consonants;
- sonorants;
- pure plosives;
- velar consonants;
- affricates.
Modifications
of
Sounds
- palatalization;
- glottal stop;
- loss of plosion;
- lateral plosion;
- nasal plosion;
- intrusion;
- elision;
- reduction;
- assimilation;
- accommodation
Issues to Study and Discuss
1. Classification of the English consonant phonemes:
a) according to the manner of articulation;
b) according to the place of articulation (or active organ of speech);
c) according to the work of the vocal cords.
2. Classification of the English vowel phonemes:
a) according to the stability of articulation;
b) according to the horizontal movement of the tongue;
c) according to the vertical movement of the tongue;
d) according to the position of the lips;
e) according to the length.
REFERENCES
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая школа, 1980. – 144
с.
14
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для
студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд., стер. –
Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Василина, В.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов по курсу «Теоретическая фонетика
английского языка» для студентов III курса специальности «Современные иностранные
языки (перевод)» = Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Theoretical Phonetics of English for Third
Year Students of Speciality “Modern Foreign Languages (Translation)”: учеб.-метод. пособие /
В.Н. Василина. Минск : БГУ, 2011. 35 с.
4. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов и
фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
5. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник для
студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. –
Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
6. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
7. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И. Шевченко. – 2е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
SEMINAR 3
THE PHONETIC STRUCTURE OF THE WORD IN THE SPEECH PRODUCTION AND
SPEECH PERCEPTION PROCESSES
A. The syllable as a segmental unit
Key words: ambisyllabic / monosyllabic / polysyllabic, closed / covered / open / uncovered
syllable, coda, constitutive / distinctive function, intervocalic consonant, loudness theory, onset,
phonotactics, sonority theory, syllabic vowel, syllable, theory of muscular tension.
Issues to Study and Discuss
1. The articulatory, perceptible and acoustic criteria of syllable formation and syllable division.
2. The linguistic functions of the syllable.
3. The structural characteristics of the English syllable.
B. Word stress
Key words: accent, constitutive / distinctive / identificatory (recognitive) function, dynamic
/ musical (tonic) stress, duration, fixed / free shifting stress, fundamental frequency, intensity, vowel
length, loudness, muscular effort, pitch, primary (strong, main, principal) / secondary (half-strong,
half-stressed) / tertiary / weak (unstressed) syllable, prominence, recessive / retentive / rhythmical
tendency, sonority, stress, stress attracting, stress pattern, stress-fixing, stress-neutral, syllable
weight.
Issues to Study and Discuss
1.
2.
3.
4.
The phonemic nature of word stress in English.
The linguistically relevant degrees of word stress in English.
The linguistic functions of word stress.
The accentual tendencies in English and stress patterns of English words.
15
REFERENCES
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая школа, 1980. – 144
с.
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для
студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд., стер. –
Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Василина, В.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов по курсу «Теоретическая фонетика
английского языка» для студентов III курса специальности «Современные иностранные
языки (перевод)» = Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Theoretical Phonetics of English for Third
Year Students of Speciality “Modern Foreign Languages (Translation)”: учеб.-метод. пособие /
В.Н. Василина. Минск : БГУ, 2011. 35 с.
4. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов и
фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
5. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник для
студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. –
Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
6. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
7. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И. Шевченко. – 2е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
SEMINAR 4
UTTERANCE PROSODY
Key words: actual / attitudinal meaning, attitudinal / distinctive (phonological)
(communicative-distinctive, modal-distinctive, culminative-distinctive, syntactical-distinctive,
stylistic-distinctive) / organizing / pragmatic / rhetorical / social / indexical / stylistic function,
constitutive / segmentative / delimitative function, complex / compound / simple nuclear tones,
emphatic / hesitation syntactic pause, delimitation (segmentation) / integration, discourse, enclitics
/ proclitics, focal point (focus), foot (the rhythmic group), fundamental frequency, head,
identificatory function of prosody, information content, information focus, intensity, intonation,
intonation contour, intonation-group, intonation pattern, intonology, isochrony, loudness, marked /
unmarked position, nucleus, pausation, phonopassage, phrase, pitch, pitch level (key, register),
pitch range, pitch variation, pre-head, prosody, rheme / theme, rhyme, rhythm, rhythmic unit
(group), speech rhythm, stress-timed / syllable-timed, supraphrasal unity (SPU), syntagm, tail,
tempo, terminal tone, timbre, time (duration), tone, tune (melody), tone (intonation) group,
utterance, utterance stress, vocal gestures, voice quality.
Issues to Study and Discuss
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The phonetic nature of utterance prosody and its linguistic functions.
Prosodic Units.
Components (subsystems) of utterance prosody. The pitch component (the tonal subsystem).
The accentual subsystem of utterance prosody.
The subsystem of rhythm.
The subsystem of tempo and pauses.
16
REFERENCES
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая школа, 1980. – 144
с.
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для
студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд., стер. –
Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Василина, В.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов по курсу «Теоретическая фонетика
английского языка» для студентов III курса специальности «Современные иностранные
языки (перевод)» = Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Theoretical Phonetics of English for Third
Year Students of Speciality “Modern Foreign Languages (Translation)”: учеб.-метод. пособие /
В.Н. Василина. Минск : БГУ, 2011. 35 с.
4. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов и
фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
5. Карневская, Е.Б. Практическая фонетика английского языка на продвинутом этапе
обучения: учебник / Е.Б. Карневская, Е.А. Мисуно, Л.Д. Раковская; под общ. ред. Е.Б.
Карневской. – 3-е изд., перераб. – Минск: Аверсэв, 2007. – 400 с.
6. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник для
студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. –
Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
7. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
8. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И. Шевченко. – 2е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
SEMINAR 5
STANDARDS OF PRONUNCIATION
Key words: accent, advanced / conservative / general / near- / refined / regional RP, BEPS,
bilingualism / monolingualism, Brummie, Cockney, dialect, dialectology, diglossia, Estuary
English, ethnolinguistics, General American pronunciation (GA), idiolect, literary pronunciation,
national pronunciation standard, national variant, orthoepic norm, Received Pronunciation (RP),
Scouse, sociolinguistics.
Issues to study and discuss
1. The notion of the orthoepic norm/pronunciation standard.
2. British English. Emergence of a standard in pronunciation. Present-Day Situation.
3. American English. General American (GA) as the standard of American English
pronunciation. Peculiarities of GA as compared to RP:
a) in the number of distinctive oppositions in the segmental subsystem;
b) in the distribution of phonemes;
c) in the phonetic realization of consonant and vowel phonemes;
d) in word-stress patterns;
e) in the realization and occurrence of tonal contours.
REFERENCES
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая школа, 1980. – 144
с.
17
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для
студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд., стер. –
Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Василина, В.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов по курсу «Теоретическая фонетика
английского языка» для студентов III курса специальности «Современные иностранные
языки (перевод)» = Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Theoretical Phonetics of English for Third
Year Students of Speciality “Modern Foreign Languages (Translation)”: учеб.-метод. пособие /
В.Н. Василина. Минск : БГУ, 2011. 35 с.
4. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов и
фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
5. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник для
студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. –
Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
6. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
7. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И. Шевченко. – 2е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
18
III. КОНТРОЛЬ ЗНАНИЙ
3.1 ТЕСТЫ ПО ДИСЦИПЛИНЕ «ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКАЯ ФОНЕТИКА (АНГЛИЙСКИЙ
ЯЗЫК)»
TEST 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE OF THEORETICAL PHONETICS
Answer the following questions using one-word/phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Question
People engaged in the study of phonetics are called …
People engaged in the study of phonology are called …
Variations in pitch, prominence, and tempo are called …
The basic component of the phonic substance of language is called …
A unit of spoken message larger than a single sound and smaller than
a word is called …
Pronunciation features in a foreign language influenced by the mother
tongue are called …
How many aspects does the problem of word stress have?
How many components does the phonic substance of language consist
of?
The amount of perceptual prominence given to particular
words/syllables in an utterance is called …
What features are superimposed on the segmental chain of sounds?
Is the statement true or false: English makes use of stressed syllables
separated by equal number of unstressed syllables?
Give the name of the founder of phonology.
A sequence of words spoken in a single breath, a stretch of speech
which has describable melody is called …
Knowledge, a code which is known and shared by speakers who use
their knowledge for transmitting and interpreting verbal messages in
these events is called …
An activity which is carried on numerous events is called …
Phonetics whose domain is the larger units of connected speech:
syllables, words, phrases and texts is called …
The part of phonetics which is concerned with individual sounds is
called …
The part of phonetics which is mainly concerned with the functioning
of phonetic units in the language is called …
The science that studies the ways in which pronunciation interacts
with society is called …
The science that investigates a wide range of phenomena from
acoustic phonetics to language pathology is called …
19
Answer
TEST 2
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SPEECH SOUNDS.
ENGLISH CONSONANTS
Answer the following questions using one-word/phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Question
How many aspects of speech sounds are distinguished?
How many major types can speech sounds be subdivided into
according to the specific character of the work of the speech
organs?
[r], [w], [j] are termed …
Sounds in the production of which the soft palate is lowered, and
the air escapes through the nose are called …
A labial, labio-dental, constrictive, fricative, voiceless, fortis
consonant phoneme
An alveolar-apical, constrictive, fricative, lateral sonant
A glottal, constrictive, fricative, fortis consonant phoneme
A post-alveolar, constrictive, fricative, medial sonant
A forelingual, palato-alveolar, constrictive, fricative, voiced,
lenis consonant phoneme
A lingual, backlingual, velar, occlusive, plosive nasal sonant
A labial, bilabial, constrictive, fricative, medial sonant
A lingual, backlingual, occlusive, plosive, voiceless, fortis
consonant phoneme
A lingual, forelingual, post-alveolar, constrictive, fricative,
medial sonant
A forelingual, interdental, constrictive, fricative, voiceless, fortis
consonant phoneme
A voiceless affricate
How many consonant phonemes re there in RP?
The founder of the phoneme theory is …
Features of phonemes involved in the differentiation of the
words are called …
Allophones that are free from the influence of the neighbouring
sounds and are most representative of the phoneme as a whole
are called …
Allophones which appear as a result of the influence of the
neighbouring speech sounds (assimilation, adaptation,
accommodation) are called …
What is the principal function of the phoneme?
The articulatory features which do not serve to distinguish
meaning are called …
The phonemes of a language form a system of …
The ability to produce English with an English-like pattern of
stress and rhythm involves …
Modifications of a consonant under the influence of a
neighbouring consonant are termed …
A deletion of a sound in rapid or careless speech is termed …
Connecting of the final sound of one word or syllable to the
initial sound of the next one is called …
Modifications of a consonant under the influence of the adjacent
20
Answer
vowel or vice versa are called …
Inserting of a vowel or consonant segment within an existing
string of segments is called …
The process when two syllables, usually both weak, optionally
become one is called …
According to the degree the assimilating C takes on the
characteristics of the neighbouring C, assimilation may be …
What are the most common types of assimilation in English?
What type of assimilation occurs in the contractions it’s, that’s?
What is the name of assimilation in which the first consonant
and the second consonant in a cluster fuse and mutually
condition the creation of a third consonant with features from
both original consonants?
Give an example of affricatization.
Linking and intrusive r are special cases of …
Define the type of assimilation in ten mice [tem mais].
“Glottalizing” may be used as an allophone of the phoneme …
Name the phenomenon occurring in the pronunciation of button
['bʌtən] – ['bʌ?n]
Name the phenomenon occurring in the pronunciation of camera
['kæmərə] –
['kæmrə]
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
TEST 3
VOWELS AND THEIR MODIFICATIONS
Answer the following questions using one-word / phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Question
From the acoustic point of view vowels are called the sounds of
…
Vowels have no …
Sounds whose phonetic content is predominantly made up by the
sound waves produced by their voicing are called …
A monophthong, half-long, lax, unrounded, front, low / open
vowel phoneme of the wide variety
A monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, central / mixed, mid
vowel phoneme of the narrow variety
A monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, back, low / open vowel
phoneme of the wide variety
A monophthong, short, lax, rounded, back advanced, low / open
vowel phoneme of the wide variety
A monophthong, long, tense, unrounded, front, high / close
vowel phoneme of the narrow variety
A monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, central / mixed, mid
vowel phoneme of the wide variety
A monophthong, short, lax, rounded, back, low / open vowel
phoneme of the wide variety
A monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, central / mixed, mid
vowel phoneme of the wide variety
A monophthong, short, lax, unrounded, front, mid / half-open
vowel phoneme of the narrow variety
21
Answer
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Change of consonant or vowel quality, loss of consonants or
vowels, and even loss of entire syllables in connected speech are
called …
The process under which a diphthong optionally loses its second
element before another vowel, or it is monophthongized, is
called …
Vowels are subdivided into …
The position of the tongue in the mouth cavity is characterized
from two aspects: …
Traditionally three lip positions are distinguished: …
What articulatory feature characterizes the state of the organs of
speech at the moment of producing a vowel?
In what positions does the shortening of a vowel length occur?
What changes are vowels of full value subjected to in unstressed
syllables?
TEST 4
SYLLABIC AND ACCENTUAL S TRUCTURE OF ENGLISH WORDS
Answer the following questions using one-word/phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Question
The limit for the number of syllables in English is …
The universal syllabic structure in the canonical form is …
The division of words into syllables is called …
Divide into phonetic syllables the word bottle.
What symbol is used to designate a syllabic consonant?
What two types of sounds cannot be split during syllabification?
Divide in writing the word speaking.
Divide in writing the word teacher.
How is the third syllable from end designated?
How is the syllable preceding the stressed syllable designated?
What sounds are at the peak of the syllable according to the
prominence theory?
How many degrees of word stress are singled out in English?
What degree of word stress do American phoneticians add to the
traditionally recognized degrees in English?
Indicate word stress placement in the word increase as a) a verb
and b) a noun.
Answer
What syllable of four- or more-syllable words is stressed in
English?
How many types of suffixes are identified from the point of view
of their influence on word stress placement?
What kind of suffixes are -ic, -ity, -ian from the point of view of
their influence on word stress placement?
Give two examples of stress-fixing suffixes.
Which kind of word stress do typically compounds have?
Give correct lexical stress in an English teacher for
a) an English
a) a teacher who is English
teacher
b) a teacher of English
b) an English
teacher
22
TEST 5
GENERAL CHARACTER OF ENGLISH INTONATION
Answer the following questions using one-word/phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Question
Which tone can encourage further conversation, be wondering,
mildly puzzled, soothing?
What meaning does the Fall-Rise express in the response? We’ll
go there. – You ˇshan’t.
What are the adjoining unstressed syllables called when they
precede the stressed syllable?
What is the core component of intonation?
Write the syllables which make the head of the tone unit: “I’ll
ask what to do”
How many rhythmic groups are there in “Thank you for the
present”?
How many major components does intonation consist of?
What tone expresses the speaker’s active searching for
information?
Intonation is a language …
Pitch movements, loudness and tempo form …
Give synonyms to the term “semantic centre”
The pre-nuclear part of the intonation pattern is called …
What are the types of the pre-nucleus?
Pitch ranges can be …
Pitch levels may be …
The rate of the utterance and pausation are called …
Pauses may be …
D. Crystal distinguishes … functions of intonation, while P.
Roach summarizes them into … types.
The given information is called …, while the new information is
termed …
Larger units of connected speech are the domain of …
Answer
TEST 6
PROBLEMS OF PHONOSTYLISTICS
Answer the following questions using one-word / phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
Question
Factors lying outside any possibility of signalling linguistic meaning
are called …
Information about stylistic variations in learning, understanding and
producing language is studied by …
The branch of linguistics that is primarily concerned with the
problem of functional styles is called …
A functional set of formal patterns into which language means are
arranged in order to transmit information is defined as …
The science that studies the way phonetic means are used in this or
that particular situation, which exercises the conditioning influence
of a set of extralinguistic factors, is called …
23
Answer
6
7
Extralinguistic situation can be defined by three components: …
The cooccurrence of two or more interlocutors related to each other
in a particular way, having a particular aim of communicating about
a particular topic in a particular setting is defined as …
What directs the activities of the participants throughout a situation
to complete a task?
Individuals taking part in a communicative event are called …
The component of something associated with the role structure in
the family and in social groups, with the assignment of authority and
status, and with the attribution of different levels of competence is
called …
Is the following statement true or false: “Gender differences in
pronunciation are less numerous than differences in grammatical
form”.
The component of situation defined among other features by the
physical orientation of participants is called …
What phonetic factor is the purpose or the aim of the utterance?
The language user’s strategy can be called the speaker’s …
If the language user considers the situation from his point of view,
reveals his personal interest and participation in what he is saying,
we speak about …
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
The two forms of communication are called …
Considering a communicative situation from the point of view of
sociolinguistics we can speak of the dichotomy …
When a speaker is listened to by a group of people, speech is
qualified as … and is opposed to …
The actor’s and the lecturer’s speech as opposed to classroom
teaching, television and radio interviews can be characterized as …
Parts of the utterance that express its main contents are called …
18
19
20
TEST 7
STYLE CHARACTERISTICS OF INTONATION
Answer the following questions using one-word/phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Question
A system of interrelated intonational means which is used in a
social sphere and serves a definite aim of communication is
called …
The choice of an intonational style is determined primarily by …
Informational style includes …
Types of style, i.e. certain spheres of discourse are called …
A coordinated simultaneous speech act of two participants is
called …
Besides verbal communication any kind of dialogue involves …
Do errors in speech bother communicants in dialogues?
What is the average length of units in the majority of dialogues?
Is it true that a reporter or a journlist can be completely
independent in his political views of his class, party, country and
so on?
What is the central function of a newspaper?
24
Answer
11
12
Is the speech of radio and television announcers similar?
Highly skilled newsreaders are capable of making the sense clear
by the careful control of …
Academic style is described as …
Where do we use academic style?
How should a lecturer sound?
Who sounds louder a scientific talk presenter or an informational
style reader?
What tones are used in academic style?
What is the other term for oratorial style?
Artistic, acquired, stage style is …
Familiar style is also termed as …
13
14
15
15
17
18
19
20
TEST 8
TERRITORIAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATON
Answer the following questions using one-word/phrase answers:
№
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Question
A language used as a means of communication by speakers who
do not have a native language in common is called ...
How many concentric circles can the spread of English
throughout the world be visualized?
The situation when speakers can use both literary pronunciation
and their native local accent in different situations is called ...
The first language of the children of Pidgin speakers is called....
How many major literary/cultivated accents are there on the
British Isles?
How many million people speak English as their first
language/mother tongue?
What is the standard of pronunciation for educated speakers in
Australia?
Teaching English where learners addressed are often immigrants
to an English-speaking culture is called ...
A set of pronunciation forms and rules of their usage is called...
The entity of related national variants, dialects and their
associated accents is called ...
What are the two most prestigious accents of English in the
world which generally serve as teaching models for TEFL?
How many literary pronunciation accents are there in the USA?
A unified entity of pronunciation patterns used for
communicative interaction by members of a speech community
sharing a relevant social or geographical attribute and
maintaining a set of phonological characteristics, despite limited
phonetic and lexical-incidental variation between the speakers is
called ...
Teaching English to learners of all types is ...
What is the geographical localization of the national
pronunciation standard in the UK?
Reflection/fixing of actual pronunciation forms and patterns in
pronunciation dictionaries and other references is called ...
Individual speech of members of the same language community
25
Answer
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
is called...
What is a striking feature of RP/BBC English and GenAm?
What is RP often identified with in the public mind ?
What accent is RP, according to the phonotactic specification of
[r] occurrence?
Name the process that results in RP variant pronunciations of the
words suit, super etc.
What sound combinations undergo affricatization?
What scholar first described RP as a hoped for standard?
Give the transcription symbol for a glottalized [t].
Give an example of intrusive [r].
Which allophone of /1/ is used in American English?
Which American accent prevails in New York?
Which is the first vowel in GenAm either?
Is Eastern American rhotic?
What is the most striking distinctive feature of Southern
American?
What is the root vowel in leisure?
Give the symbol for GenAm [t] in intervocalic position?
Which geographical attribute does GenAm have?
What is the name of American national pronunciation standard?
A stress on the vowel in the penultimate syllable which is not
typically stressed in RP is called ...
Give GenAm for herb.
Is glottaling found in Australian English?
What vowel is pronounced in merry – marry – Mary in Canadian
English?
What do New Zealanders call themselves?
Give Australian English pronunciation for "day".
What allophones of [r] and [l] do Canadians use in all positions?
What is a popular term for Australia?
What vowel is probably the most salient differentiating feature
of NZE?
Is there much geographical variation in Australia?
How many English speakers are there in Australia?
What is the root vowel in Canadian English hurry?
Give the name of the accent the mainstream of Australian
educated speakers use?
How do New Zealanders pronounce "fish and chips"?
What is one of the most salient features of Australian English
vocabulary?
What is a popular term for Australian English?
26
3.2 ПРОМЕЖУТОЧНЫЙ КОНТРОЛЬ ЗНАНИЙ (КСР 4 – Ч)
TOPIC 1
MODIFICATIONS AND ALTERNATIONS OF SPEECH SOUNDS IN THE ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
1. What are the main types of sound junction in English?
2. Name and characterize the stages of articulation when speech sounds are pronounced in
isolation.
3. Explain the notions of interpenetration and merging of stages of articulation.
4. Characterize the combinative and positional changes of articulation. What types of units are
they caused by? Give examples.
5. Comment on the term ‘sound modifications’. What types of variations do they concern?
What units do they characterize?
6. Give an overview of consonant modifications in modern English. Discuss the following
variations and give your own examples to illustrate each of them:
a) assimilation;
b) accommodation;
c) elision;
d) insertion.
7. Speak about vowel modifications in modern English. Discuss the following variations and
give your own examples to illustrate each of them:
a) reduction;
b) elision.
8. What do you know about complex vowel and consonant modifications?
9. Comment on the term ‘sound alternations’. What types of variations do they concern? What
units do they characterize?
10. What types of sound alternations are presented in the English language?
11. Discuss the peculiarities of historical alternations. Illustrate your words with examples.
12. What do contextual alternations concern?
13. Is there any difference between the study of contextual alternations from that of sound
modifications? Prove your opinion.
14. How are the problems of contextual alternations and phoneme identification connected? Is it
important in case of the English language?
15. Comment on the conceptions of phonemic neutralization put forward by scholars of
different linguist trends.
TOPIC 2
PHONETIC STYLES. STYLE-FORMING AND STYLE MODIFYING FACTORS.
FEAURES OF THE RUSSIAN (BELARUSIAN) ACCENT OF ENGLISH
1. Define phonostylistics.
2. Define style.
3. What is functional stylistics?
4. Give the definition of functional style.
5. Enumerate the functions of language.
6. What is the subject matter and aim of phonostylistics?
7. Define extralinguistic situation.
8. What is a speech situation?
9. What is purpose in linguistics?
10. Enumerate the components of a situation.
27
11. How is age connected with the speech behaviour of people and what is its connection with
phonetics?
12. Are there any differences in pronunciation depending on the gender of the person?
13. How does the setting affect a person’s pronunciation?
14. What is a phonetic style-forming factor?
15. What is a phonetic style-modifying factor?
16. How does the speaker’s attitude affect communication?
17. Enumerate the forms of communication.
18. What is the difference between public and non-public communication?
19. How does spontaneous speech differ from non-spontaneous?
20. Characterize hesitation, delimitation, and accentuation.
21. Classify phonetic styles.
22. Comment on the main features of the Russian (Belarusian) accent of English at the
segmental level.
23. Compare semantically identical Russian (Belarusian) and English utterances as to
a) the number of stresses in them;
b) the form of the terminal tone;
c) the character of rhythm.
REFERENCES
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая школа, 1980. – 144
с.
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для
студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд., стер. –
Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов и
фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
4. Карневская, Е.Б. Практическая фонетика английского языка на продвинутом этапе
обучения: учебник / Е.Б. Карневская, Е.А. Мисуно, Л.Д. Раковская; под общ. ред. Е.Б.
Карневской. – 3-е изд., перераб. – Минск: Аверсэв, 2007. – 400 с.
5. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник для
студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. –
Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
6. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
7. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И. Шевченко. – 2е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
28
ТЕМАТИКА ДОКЛАДОВ И УСТНЫХ СООБЩЕНИЙ ПО ДИСЦИПЛИНЕ
«ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКАЯ ФОНЕТИКА (АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК)»
1. Особенности американского варианта английского языка на фонетическом уровне.
2. Особенности северных диалектов английского языка на фонетическом уровне.
3. Тенденции развития британского варианта английского языка в контексте
модификации произносительной нормы.
4. Ритмическая система английской речи.
5. Актуальные проблемы фоностилистики.
6. Проблема классификации стилей произношения в современном английском языке.
7. Специфика спонтанной разговорной речи на фоностилистическом уровне.
8. Фоностилистическая структура публичного выступления.
9. Интонационные характеристики спонтанной речи и чтения диалогического текста в
терминах сравнения и сопоставления.
10. О некоторых интонационных особенностях чтения вслух английского
художественного и научного текстов.
11. О соотношении логического и эмоционального в чтении художественного текста и
информационного сообщения (сравнительно-сопоставительный фоностилистический
анализ на материале современного английского языка).
12. Просодические характеристики устного официально-делового монолога в
современном английском языке.
13. Декламационный стиль и методика его использования на занятиях по практике речи
английского языка.
14. Особенности ритмической организации поэтической речи в сопоставлении с ритмом
чтения прозаического текста (на материале английского языка).
15. Позиционно-комбинаторные
изменения
сегментных
фонем
английского языка.
16. Виды аккомодации согласных и гласных звуков в английском языке.
17. Виды ассимиляции согласных в английском языке.
18. Виды чередования в английском языке.
19. Структура слога в английском языке.
29
3.3 ИТОГОВЫЙ КОНТРОЛЬ ЗНАНИЙ (ЭКЗАМЕН)
Итоговый контроль по дисциплине «Теоретическая фонетика» проводится в виде
экзамена, который проводится в устной форме. Экзамен включает: 1) ответы на
теоретические вопросы; 2) выполнение практических заданий.
ВОПРОСЫ К ЭКЗАМЕНУ ПО ДИСЦИПЛИНЕ «ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКАЯ ФОНЕТИКА
(АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК)»
1. Phonetics as a linguistic science. Divisions and branches of phonetics. Spheres of practical
application.
2. Phonology as a linguistic branch of phonetics. Main trends in the phoneme theory.
3. Methods of phonological analysis. Distributional method. Semantically distributional method.
4. The phoneme. Aspects of the phoneme. Allophonic variation of English phonemes.
5. The system of English vowels. The articulatory classification of English vowels.
6. The system of English consonants. The articulatory classification of English consonants.
7. Modifications of consonants in connected speech: assimilation, accommodation, elision,
insertion.
8. Types of sound variations in connected speech. Modifications of vowels in connected speech:
quantitative and qualitative reduction, elision.
9. The syllable as a unit of speech. The functions of the syllable.
10. The structural characteristics of the English syllable. Syllable formation. Syllable division.
11. Word stress in English. Its nature and functions.
12. The problem of linguistically relevant degrees of word stress. Tendencies in the placement of
word stress in English.
13. Intonation and prosody. Prosodic units.
14. The pitch subsystem of utterance prosody. Its units and categories.
15. Peculiarities and functional characteristics of utterance stress.
16. The phonetic nature of speech rhythm. Peculiarities of speech rhythm in English. Speech tempo
and pauses.
17. Intonation pattern as the basic unit of intonation. Meanings and functions of prosody
(intonation).
18. The problem of the orthoepic norm. Current changes in Received pronunciation (RP).
19. Peculiarities of General American pronunciation compared to British English.
20. Phonostylistics as a branch of phonetics. The problem of classification of phonetic styles. Styleforming and style differentiating factors.
Образец практического задания на экзамене по дисциплине
«Теоретическая фонетика»
CARD 1
1. Give the definition of the English phonemes: [p], [m], [e], [au].
2. Identify the phonetic process in each word or word combination: background, quarrel, a
pair of jeans
3. Transcribe the following English words, show the point of syllable division in each of them
by putting a bar between the syllables (table [tei | bl]) and define each type of syllable:
nightmare, conversation, careless, volunteer.
4. Give the pronunciation forms for RP and Gen Am.: volunteer, territory.
5. Read the following utterances with the proper intonation: Your new hair-style suits you
perfectly. – Nice of you to say that.
30
IV. ВСПОМОГАТЕЛЬНЫЙ РАЗДЕЛ
4.1 УЧЕБНАЯ ПРОГРАММА ДИСЦИПЛИНЫ «ТЕОРЕТИЧЕСКАЯ ФОНЕТИКА
(АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК)»
ПОЯСНИТЕЛЬНАЯ ЗАПИСКА
Учебная программа дисциплины «Теоретическая фонетика (английский язык)»
предназначена для студентов, обучающихся по специальности 1-21 06 01-02 «Современные
иностранные языки (перевод)». Отличительной чертой настоящей программы являются
обновленное содержание, практическая ориентированность, использование современных
инновационных педагогических технологий, применение компетентностного подхода в
обучении, усиление роли и доли самостоятельной работы студента.
Теоретическая фонетика английского языка органически связана с такими
теоретическими курсами лингвистического цикла, как «Введение в языкознание»,
«Практическая фонетика», «Просодия речи», «Практика иноязычного общения».
Данный теоретический курс призван снабдить студентов знаниями о фонетической
подсистеме английского языка, ее сегментной и супрасегментной составляющих,
систематизировать полученные студентами сведения о фонетической системе родного и
английского языков для установления универсальных черт и специфических особенностей
изучаемого языка и показать возможности применения полученных научных знаний в
переводческой деятельности.
Основы теоретического курса составляет коммуникативный подход, который отвечает
задачам живого человеческого общения и позволяет научить студентов использовать
познания о тех или иных фонетических явлениях в различных коммуникативных целях. В
центре внимания курса оказывается произносительная норма, тип английской речи, который
должен быть принят за основу обучения филологов-англистов.
Цели и задачи учебной дисциплины
Целями курса теоретической фонетики английского языка являются обобщение и
систематизация уже имеющихся у студентов знаний о фонетических явлениях, расширение
их представлений о месте и роли фонетических средств в системе языка, о
функционировании и коммуникативном потенциале фонетических средств, о взаимосвязи
фонетического уровня языка с другими уровнями языковой системы.
Задачи изучения дисциплины:
усвоение основных принципов классификации английских гласных и согласных и
выявление особенностей звукопроизводства на английском языке;
ознакомление с основными типами модификаций звуков в потоке связной речи;
освоение принципов слогообразования и слогоделения в английском языке;
установление специфики просодического и интонационного оформления английской
речи и раскрытие роли супрасегментных средств в реализации коммуникативных
стратегий;
выработка представления о британской произносительной норме, рассматриваемой в
качестве стандарта при обучении английскому языку;
ознакомление с национальными произносительными вариантами английского языка,
региональными и социальными типами произношения и стилистическими
(ситуативными) особенностями произношения.
Цели и задачи дисциплины «Теоретическая фонетика (английский язык) направлены
на приобретение студентам необходимых профессиональных компетенций, которые
включают:
академические (лингвистические), предполагающие усвоение студентами основных
понятий данной дисциплины и соответствующей терминологии, а также понимание
31
задач теоретической фонетики и осознание связи фонетики с другими уровнями
языковой системы;
когнитивно-аналитические, предполагающие способность дать научно обоснованное
объяснение фонетических явлений речи; умение определять причины
произносительных ошибок и находить оптимальные способы их устранения;
социально-личностные, предполагающие способность правильно идентифицировать
по фонетическим признакам социальный статус говорящего, а также умение
использовать адекватные фонетические средства при общении с ним.
Требования к уровню усвоения учебной дисциплины
В результате изучения дисциплины «Теоретическая фонетика (английский язык)»
студент должен:
знать:
терминологический аппарат;
инвентарь фонологических единиц языка, их признаки и функциональный статус;
типы и характер взаимодействия звуков в речевой цепи;
основные характеристики фоностилистических вариантов устной речи;
фонетические особенности национальных и региональных вариантов изучаемого
языка;
уметь:
интерпретировать наблюдаемые фонетические явления в речи;
различать региональные и национальные варианты, диалекты и стили произношения;
реферировать научную литературу по вопросам фонетики с использованием
терминологического аппарата данной науки;
выявлять причины фонетической интерференции;
определять пути предупреждения и устранения фонетической интерференции;
владеть:
– методами фонологического анализа;
– принципами сравнительного анализа фонетических систем родного и изучаемого
иностранного языка;
– способами преодоления фонетической интерференции в речи билингва.
32
I. СОДЕРЖАНИЕ УЧЕБНОГО МАТЕРИАЛА
№
п/п
1.
1.1
2.
2.1
Наименование разделов, тем
РАЗДЕЛ 1. ВВЕДЕНИЕ В
ДИСЦИПЛИНУ
Тема
1.1.
Предмет
фонетики.
Фонетика и фонология
Предмет и задачи теоретической
фонетики. Современный подход к
фонетике как к комплексу научных
дисциплин, изучающих устную речь с
различных позиций. Общая, частная,
сравнительная,
историческая,
прикладная
фонетика.
Аспекты
изучения звуковых явлений языка:
акустический,
артикуляторный,
перцептивный,
функциональный.
Соотношение между фонетикой и
фонологией.
Связь
теоретической
фонетики
с
другими
научными
дисциплинами.
Структура
фонетической
системы
языка:
сегментный и cупрасегментный уровни
(сегментная
и
просодическая
подсистемы).
РАЗДЕЛ 2. СЕГМЕНТНАЯ
ПОДСИСТЕМА ФОНЕТИЧЕСКОЙ
СИСТЕМЫ СОВРЕМЕННОГО
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА
Тема 2.1. Фонема и аллофон. Методы
фонологического анализа
Функциональный аспект звуков
речи. Понятие фонемы, ее функции.
Реализация фонемы в речи. Связь
между
звуком
и
аллофоном.
Аллофоническое варьирование. Типы
дистрибуции
аллофонов:
дополнительная
дистрибуция,
контрастивная
дистрибуция
и
свободное варьирование.
Методы
и
проблемы
фонологического анализа. Понятие
фонологической оппозиции. Основные
типы
фонологических
оппозиций.
Минимальные
пары
как
основа
выявления оппозиций. Дистинктивные
и недистинктивные признаки фонемы.
Связь между звуком, фонемой, буквой и
графемой,
орфографией
и
транскрипцией.
Фонематическая
33
Лекции
2
Количество часов
Аудиторные
Практич.
Лаб.
КСР
Семинар.
занят.
Самост.
работа
6
2
6
8
4
2
2
2
28
6
2.2
2.3
2.4
(широкая) и фонетическая (узкая)
транскрипции. Система диакритических
знаков в транскрипции.
Тема 2.2. Дистинктивные признаки и
дистрибутивные
характеристики
согласных фонем. Классификация
английских согласных
Устройство речевого аппарата и
роль органов речи в звукопроизводстве.
Понятие фонетической базы.
Основные
принципы
артикуляционной
классификации
английских
согласных:
степень
мускульной напряженности и участие /
неучастие голоса (звонкость / глухость);
уровень шума (сонорность / шумность);
место образования (место сближения /
смыкания
активного
органа
с
пассивным); способ образования (вид
препятствия в полости рта на пути
воздушной струи и способ его
преодоления); позиция мягкого неба
(назальность / оральность).
Дистинктивные
(релевантные)
признаки английских согласных фонем.
Тема 2.3. Дистинктивные признаки и
дистрибутивные
характеристики
гласных
фонем.
Классификация
английских гласных
Основные
принципы
артикуляционной
классификации
английских
гласных:
степень
стабильности артикуляции; позиция
языка (степень подъема языка по
отношению к небу и его позиция по
горизонтали);
участие
губ
(лабиализованность
/
нелабиализованность);
длительность;
напряженность.
Дистинктивные
признаки
английских гласных фонем.
Тема 2.4. Модификации звуков в
речевом
потоке.
Основные
коартикуляционные
явления
в
английском языке
Модификации звуков в потоке
речи. Основные коартикуляционные
явления в английском языке. Роль
фонетического (сегментного) контекста
в звуковом варьировании: аккомодация,
ассимиляция, адаптация, редукция,
элизия. Региональное и индивидуальное
варьирование в сегментной подсистеме.
34
2
1
8
2
1
8
2
2
6
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
РАЗДЕЛ 3. СУПРАСЕГМЕНТНЫЙ
УРОВЕНЬ (ПРОСОДИЧЕСКАЯ
ПОДСИСТЕМА) ФОНЕТИЧЕСКОЙ
СИСТЕМЫ СОВРЕМЕННОГО
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА
Тема
3.1.
Слоговая
структура
английского
языка.
Слог
как
звуковой
комплекс
и
как
просодическая единица
Артикуляторный, перцептивный
и
акустический
критерии
слогообразования
и
слогоделения.
Теории слога. Слог как минимальная
единица членения речевого потока.
Фонотактика. Структура английского
слога.
Типы
английского
слога.
Лингвистические функции слога.
Тема
3.2.
Просодия
слова.
Фонетическая
природа
и
фонологические функции словесного
ударения в английском языке
Просодические средства языка,
их
системная
организация.
Акустические
и
воспринимаемые
свойства просодии, их роль в
организации слова. Просодические
контрасты между слогами в слове как
основа
словесного
ударения
и
акцентной
структуры
слова.
Фонетическая
природа
словесного
ударения, его типы и лингвистические
функции в английском языке.
Факторы, влияющие на положение
словесного
ударения.
Акцентологические
тенденции
в
английском
языке
(рецессивная,
ритмическая,
ретентивная,
семантическая).
Тема
3.3.
Фразовая
просодия
(интонация),
ее
функции
и
компоненты.
Коммуникативнопрагматические
факторы
вариативности фразовой просодии
Понятие фразовой просодии, ее
системный характер и функции в языке.
Компоненты
интонации
или
просодические подсистемы.
Высотно-мелодический
компонент (речевая мелодия) и его
организация. Тон и тональный контур –
основные единицы анализа и описания
35
6
4
20
2
1
6
2
1
6
2
2
8
4.
4.1
речевой мелодии. Классификация тонов
в английском языке, их формы и
функции.
Структура
тонального
контура и функции его конститутивных
элементов.
Инвентарь
тональных
контуров в английском языке, их
различительные
признаки
и
функционирование в различных типах
речевых актов.
Фразовое ударение, его функции
в речи. Типы фразового ударения и его
степени
(градации)
фразовой
слоговыделенности в английском языке.
Взаимосвязь между словесным и
фразовым ударением. Фонетическая
природа
фразового
ударения.
Взаимосвязь акцентной и высотномелодической
структуры
фразы.
Понятие
тонального
акцента.
Взаимосвязь фразового ударения и
ритма.
Ритм английской речи, его
функции. Периодический и временной
компоненты ритма. Тактосчитающий и
слогосчитающий
ритм.
Акцентноритмические единицы речи, проблема
их сегментации.
Ритм и темп речи. Проблема
лингвистического статуса темпа речи.
Пауза как средство сегментации
речевого потока и показатель темповых
модификаций. Классификация пауз и их
функции в речи.
Коммуникативно-прагматические
факторы
вариативности
фразовой
просодии.
РАЗДЕЛ 4. ТИПЫ И СТИЛИ
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ПРОИЗНОШЕНИЯ
Тема 4.1. Произносительная норма
английского языка. Национальные
варианты английского языка и
региональные типы произношения
Нормативное и ненормативное
произношение. Понятие орфоэпической
нормы, ее роль в языке. Становление
британской произносительнои нормы,
современные тенденции ее развития.
Национальные варианты английского
языка
и
региональные
типы
произношения. Диалект и акцент.
Британский вариант английского языка,
его
региональные
разновидности.
Американский вариант английского
языка, его особенности по сравнению с
36
4
2
2
2
2
12
4
британским.
4.2
4.3
Тема 4.2. Фоностилистическая и
социальная дифференциация речи.
Функциональные и фонетические
стили произношения
Экстралингвистические факторы
фонетических
модификаций
речи.
Понятие стиля произношения как
варианта произносительной нормы.
Типология произносительных стилей
речи. Сегментные и просодические
характеристики
отдельных
стилей
произношения.
Стилеобразующие
средства.
Фонетическая
культура
официальной и неофициальной речи.
Социальная вариативность английского
произношения: факторы и маркеры.
Тема
4.3.
Взаимодействие
фонетических систем родного и
изучаемого иностранных языков.
Пути
устранения
фонетической
интерференции
Звуковая
(сегментная)
интерференция. Контрастивный анализ
сегментного
строя
английского,
русского
и
белорусского
языка.
Влияние родного языка на иноязычную
артикуляцию. Методы предупреждения
фонетических
(аллофонических)
и
фонематических ошибок.
Произносительная
интерференция
в
мелодической,
акцентной и темпорально-ритмической
подсистемах
в
английской
речи
билингвов с родным русским и
белорусским языком.
Пути
устранения
фонетической
интерференции в речи билингва.
Итого:
37
2
20
10
1
4
1
4
4
66
3
2
2
4
5
6
2.
РАЗДЕЛ 2. СЕГМЕНТНАЯ ПОДСИСТЕМА
ФОНЕТИЧЕСКОЙ СИСТЕМЫ СОВРЕМЕННОГО
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА
Тема 2.1. Фонема и аллофон. Методы фонологического
анализа
Функциональный аспект звуков речи. Понятие
фонемы, ее функции. Реализация фонемы в речи. Связь
между
звуком
и
аллофоном.
Аллофоническое
8
4
2
2
2.1
38
Формы контроля
знаний
2
РАЗДЕЛ 1. ВВЕДЕНИЕ В ДИСЦИПЛИНУ
Тема 1.1. Предмет фонетики. Фонетика и фонология
Предмет и задачи теоретической фонетики.
Современный подход к фонетике как к комплексу научных
дисциплин, изучающих устную речь с различных позиций.
Общая, частная, сравнительная, историческая, прикладная
фонетика. Аспекты изучения звуковых явлений языка:
акустический,
артикуляторный,
перцептивный,
функциональный. Соотношение между фонетикой и
фонологией. Связь теоретической фонетики с другими
научными дисциплинами. Структура фонетической
системы языка: сегментный и cупрасегментный уровни
(сегментная и просодическая подсистемы).
Литература
управляемая
самостоятельная
работа студента
1
1.
1.1
лекции
лабораторные
занятия
Название раздела, темы, занятия; перечень изучаемых
вопросов
Материальное
обеспечение занятия
(наглядные,
методические пособия и
др.)
Количество аудиторных
часов
практические
(семинарские)
занятия
Номер раздела, темы,
занятия
II. УЧЕБНО-МЕТОДИЧЕСКАЯ КАРТА ДИСЦИПЛИНЫ
7
8
9
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
проектор
[1], [2]
[3], [6],
[7], [8],
[11]
Фронтальный
опрос
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
раздаточные
материалы,
[1], [2],
[3], [6],
[7], [8],
[11]
Фронтальный
опрос
2
варьирование.
Типы
дистрибуции
аллофонов:
дополнительная дистрибуция, контрастивная дистрибуция
и свободное варьирование.
Методы и проблемы фонологического анализа.
Понятие фонологической оппозиции. Основные типы
фонологических оппозиций. Минимальные пары как
основа выявления оппозиций.
Дистинктивные
и
недистинктивные признаки фонемы.
Связь между звуком, фонемой, буквой и графемой,
орфографией и транскрипцией. Фонематическая (широкая)
и
фонетическая
(узкая)
транскрипции.
Система
диакритических знаков в транскрипции.
проектор
2.2
Тема 2.2. Дистинктивные признаки и дистрибутивные
характеристики согласных фонем. Классификация
английских согласных
Устройство речевого аппарата и роль органов речи в
звукопроизводстве. Понятие фонетической базы.
Основные
принципы
артикуляционной
классификации английских согласных: степень мускульной
напряженности и участие / неучастие голоса (звонкость /
глухость); уровень шума (сонорность / шумность); место
образования (место сближения / смыкания активного
органа с пассивным); способ образования (вид препятствия
в полости рта на пути воздушной струи и способ его
преодоления); позиция мягкого неба (назальность /
оральность).
Дистинктивные (релевантные) признаки английских
согласных фонем.
2
1
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
раздаточные
материалы,
проектор
[1], [2],
[3], [4],
[5], [6],
[7], [8],
[11],
[29]
Фронтальный и
индивидуальный опрос
2.3
Тема 2.3. Дистинктивные признаки и дистрибутивные
характеристики гласных фонем. Классификация
английских гласных
Основные
принципы
артикуляционной
классификации английских гласных: степень стабильности
артикуляции; позиция языка (степень подъема языка по
2
1
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
раздаточные
материалы,
проектор
[1], [2],
[3], [4],
[5], [6],
[7], [8],
[11],
[29]
Фронтальный
опрос. Защита
рефератов,
докладов
39
отношению к небу и его позиция по горизонтали); участие
губ
(лабиализованность
/
нелабиализованность);
длительность; напряженность.
Дистинктивные признаки английских гласных
фонем.
2.4
Тема 2.4. Модификации звуков в речевом потоке.
Основные коартикуляционные явления в английском
языке
Модификации звуков в потоке речи. Основные
коартикуляционные явления в английском языке. Роль
фонетического (сегментного) контекста в звуковом
варьировании: аккомодация, ассимиляция, адаптация,
редукция, элизия. Региональное и индивидуальное
варьирование в сегментной подсистеме.
2
3.
РАЗДЕЛ 3. СУПРАСЕГМЕНТНЫЙ УРОВЕНЬ
(ПРОСОДИЧЕСКАЯ ПОДСИСТЕМА)
ФОНЕТИЧЕСКОЙ СИСТЕМЫ СОВРЕМЕННОГО
АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА
Тема 3.1. Слоговая структура английского языка. Слог
как звуковой комплекс и как просодическая единица
Артикуляторный, перцептивный и акустический
критерии слогообразования и слогоделения. Теории слога.
Слог как минимальная единица членения речевого потока.
Фонотактика. Структура английского слога. Типы
английского слога. Лингвистические функции слога.
6
4
2
1
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
проектор
[1], [2],
[3], [5],
[6], [7],
[8],
[11]
Фронтальный
опрос
Тема 3.2. Просодия слова. Фонетическая природа и
фонологические функции словесного ударения в
английском языке
Просодические средства языка, их системная
организация. Акустические и воспринимаемые свойства
просодии, их роль в организации слова. Просодические
контрасты между слогами в слове как основа словесного
ударения и акцентной структуры слова. Фонетическая
2
1
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
раздаточные
материалы,
проектор
[1], [2],
[3], [4],
[5], [6],
[7], [8],
[11]
Фронтальный
опрос
3.1
3.2
40
2
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
раздаточные
материалы,
проектор
[1], [2], Коллоквиум
[3], [5],
[6], [7],
[11]
природа словесного ударения, его типы и лингвистические
функции в английском языке.
Факторы, влияющие на положение словесного ударения.
Акцентологические тенденции в английском языке
(рецессивная, ритмическая, ретентивная, семантическая).
3.3
Тема 3.3. Фразовая просодия (интонация), ее функции и
компоненты.
Коммуникативно-прагматические
факторы вариативности фразовой просодии
Понятие фразовой просодии, ее системный характер
и функции в языке. Компоненты интонации или
просодические подсистемы.
Высотно-мелодический
компонент
(речевая
мелодия) и его организация. Тон и тональный контур –
основные единицы анализа и описания речевой мелодии.
Классификация тонов в английском языке, их формы и
функции. Структура тонального контура и функции его
конститутивных
элементов.
Инвентарь
тональных
контуров в английском языке, их различительные признаки
и функционирование в различных типах речевых актов.
Фразовое ударение, его функции в речи. Типы
фразового ударения и его степени (градации) фразовой
слоговыделенности в английском языке. Взаимосвязь
между словесным и фразовым ударением. Фонетическая
природа фразового ударения. Взаимосвязь акцентной и
высотномелодической
структуры
фразы.
Понятие
тонального акцента. Взаимосвязь фразового ударения и
ритма.
Ритм английской речи, его функции. Периодический
и временной компоненты ритма. Тактосчитающий и
слогосчитающий ритм. Акцентноритмические единицы
речи, проблема их сегментации.
Ритм и темп речи. Проблема лингвистического
статуса темпа речи. Пауза как средство сегментации
речевого потока и показатель темповых модификаций.
Классификация пауз и их функции в речи.
2
41
2
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
раздаточные
материалы,
проектор
[1], [2],
[3], [4],
[5], [6],
[7], [8]
Фронтальный и
индивидуальный опрос
Коммуникативно-прагматические
вариативности фразовой просодии.
4.
факторы
РАЗДЕЛ 4. ТИПЫ И СТИЛИ АНГЛИЙСКОГО
ПРОИЗНОШЕНИЯ
Тема 4.1. Произносительная норма английского языка.
Национальные варианты английского языка и
региональные типы произношения
Нормативное и ненормативное произношение.
Понятие орфоэпической нормы, ее роль в языке.
Становление британской произносительнои нормы,
современные тенденции ее развития.
Национальные
варианты
английского
языка
и
региональные типы произношения. Диалект и акцент.
Британский вариант английского языка, его региональные
разновидности. Американский вариант английского языка,
его особенности по сравнению с британским.
4
2
2
2
4.2
Тема
4.2.
Фоностилистическая
и
социальная
дифференциация
речи.
Функциональные
и
фонетические стили произношения
Экстралингвистические факторы фонетических
модификаций речи. Понятие стиля произношения как
варианта
произносительной
нормы.
Типология
произносительных
стилей
речи.
Сегментные
и
просодические
характеристики
отдельных
стилей
произношения. Стилеобразующие средства. Фонетическая
культура официальной и неофициальной речи.
Социальная вариативность английского произношения:
факторы и маркеры.
2
4.3
Тема 4.3. Взаимодействие фонетических систем родного
и изучаемого иностранных языков. Пути устранения
фонетической интерференции
Звуковая
(сегментная)
интерференция.
Контрастивный анализ сегментного строя английского,
4.1
42
2
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
раздаточные
материалы,
проектор
[1], [2],
[6], [7],
[8],
[29]
Фронтальный и
индивидуальный опрос
1
УМК,
опорный
конспект,
проектор
[1], [2],
[6], [7]
Фронтальный
опрос, защита
рефератов,
докладов
1
УМК, тесты
[1], [7],
[8],
[14],
[18]
Контрольная
работа
русского и белорусского языка. Влияние родного языка на
иноязычную артикуляцию. Методы предупреждения
фонетических (аллофонических) и фонематических
ошибок.
Произносительная интерференция в мелодической,
акцентной и темпорально-ритмической подсистемах в
английской речи билингвов с родным русским и
белорусским языком.
Пути устранения фонетической интерференции в речи
билингва.
Итого:
20
43
10
4
4.2 МЕТОДИЧЕСКИЕ УКАЗАНИЯ ПО ИЗУЧЕНИЮ ДИСЦИПЛИНЫ
Распределение учебной нагрузки
Общая трудоемкость дисциплины «Теоретическая фонетика (английского языка)
составляет 3 зачетные единицы. Общее количество часов, отведенных на изучение
дисциплины – 100, аудиторных часов – 34, из них лекционные занятия – 20 часа,
семинарские занятия – 10, КСР – 4. Преподавание теоретической фонетики как
самостоятельной учебной дисциплины продолжается в течение одного семестра. Формой
итогового контроля является экзамен в 5 семестре.
Методы и технологии обучения
В основу структурирования содержания учебной дисциплины положен принцип
модульного подхода, который предполагает разбивку научно-теоретического материала в
относительно самостоятельные учебные модули. По каждому учебному модулю в
соответствии с его целями и задачами по формированию и развитию у студентов конкретных
компетенций преподавателем проектируются и реализуются определенные педагогические
технологии.
Работа над дисциплиной «Теоретическая фонетика (английский язык)» предполагает
дополнение традиционных методов и средств обучения иновационными методиками
преподавания. Лекции носят в основном проблемный характер, одной из главных целей
которых является выработка самостоятельного научного мышления. Лекции по данной
дисциплине сопровождаются мультимедийной презентацией материала. Семинарские
занятия нацелены на формирование навыков творческого анализа языкового материала и
лингвистической литературы. Целесообразно внедрять в практику проведения семинарских
занятий методики активного обучения и дискуссионные формы в целях формирования
современных социально-личностных и социально-профессиональных компетенций
выпускника вуза.
Рекомендации по подготовке к семинарским занятиям
Подготовку к семинарскому занятию следует начинать с изучения темы и плана,
включающего несколько вопросов, и рекомендуемого списка литературы. Задания
предусматривают анализ списка вопросов и поиск на них ответов в учебных пособиях,
Интернет-источниках самостоятельно. Особое внимание обращается на те аспекты, которые
не были достаточно освещены в лекциях и предназначены для самостоятельного усвоения и
понимания.
При подготовке к обсуждению отдельных тем следует рекомендовать студентам
дополнительную литературу, указанную в библиографическом списке. Вопросы к
теоретическому материалу курса являются основой для контроля усвоения изученного
материала.
Теоретические положения рекомендуется сопровождать заданиями и упражнениями,
которые способствуют пониманию и усвоению теоретического материала. Упражнения
должны содержать вопросы, которые стимулируют независимое, самостоятельное
мышление, развивают свою точку зрения, учат отстаивать ее.
Рекомендации по организации и выполнению самостоятельной работы студентов по
дисциплине
Самостоятельная работа по дисциплине «Теоретическая фонетика (английский язык)»
направлена на углубление и закрепление знаний студента, развитие практических умений и
заключается в: работе студентов с лекционным материалом, анализе академической
литературы по заданной проблеме; изучении теоретического материала к практическим
занятиям; выполнении практических заданий на семинарских занятиях; изучении тем,
вынесенных на самостоятельную проработку; изучении теоретического и практического
материала заданного раздела. В рамках УСР также реализуется так называемая творческая
проблемно-ориентированная самостоятельная работа студентов, которая направлена на
развитие интеллектуальных умений, комплекса универсальных (общекультурных) и
профессиональных компетенций, повышение творческого потенциала студентов и включает
следующие виды работ: анализ научных публикаций по заранее определенной тематике и
создание конспектов, схем, таблиц; создание банков примеров по темам курса; поиск, анализ
и презентация информации на семинарских занятиях по темам, вынесенным на
самостоятельную проработку.
Аудиторную самостоятельную работу при проведении семинарских и практических
занятий целесообразно строить в несколько этапов:
1. Вводная установка преподавателя (постановка цели занятия, формулировка основных
вопросов для рассмотрения).
2. Устный экспресс-опрос по теоретическому материалу, необходимому для выполнения
работы.
3. Решение типовых задач у доски.
4. Самостоятельное решение задач.
5. Разбор типовых ошибок при решении (в конце текущего занятия или в начале
следующего).
Рекомендуется подготовка докладов и проектов, что предусматривает чтение
аутентичной литературы по проблематике данного курса.
Чтобы получить наиболее полное и яркое представление о различных вариантах
английского языка, научиться их понимать, необходимо слушать звучащую речь носителей
языка, что предполагает систематическую работу с аудиоматериалами.
Контроль самостоятельной работы студентов осуществляется во время аудиторных
занятий или во время текущих консультаций в индивидуальной беседе с преподавателем.
Рекомендуемые средства диагностики
Оценка учебных достижений студента осуществляется с использованием фонда
оценочных средств и технологий. Фонд оценочных средств учебных достижений студента
включает:
типовые задания в различных формах (устные, письменные, тестовые, ситуационные
и т.п.);
контрольные работы;
тестовые задания;
творческие задания студентов;
Фонд технологий контроля обучения включает:
устный индивидуальный и фронтальный опрос;
защита творческого проекта по теме учебной программы дисциплины;
текущая аттестация студентов в середине семестра с применением устной,
письменной, тестовой и иных методик контроля обучения;
коллоквиум.
45
4.3 ГЛОССАРИЙ ТЕРМИНОВ
A
Academic style – also Scientific style, a style of speech used in lectures, scientific
discussions, conferences, etc.
Accent – 1) a variety of a language which is distinguished from others exclusively in terms
of pronunciation, type of pronunciation, that is the way sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation are
used in the given language community : Cf. dialect. 2) A distinctive pitch movement in English and
similar languages in which certain syllables are marked as distinctive or important by higher tone.
See also stress.
Accommodation – modifications of consonants under the influence of the neighbouring
vowels and vice versa; the process of mutual influence of consonants and vowels, e.g. in /tu:/ /t/ is
labialized under the influence of /u:/ and /u:/ is a little bit advanced under the influence of /t/.
Acoustics – the study of the physical properties of sound.
Acoustic Phonetics – science which studies the way in which the air vibrates between the
speaker’s mouth and the listener’s ear, in other words, the sound wave. It is concerned with the
physical properties of speech sounds and uses special technologies to measure speech signals.
Affricates – noise consonants produced with a complete obstruction which is slowly
released and the air stream escapes from the mouth with some friction; an affricate starts as a
plosive, but instead of ending with plosion, ends with a fricative made in the same place. English /ʧ,
ʤ/ are affricates.
Allophones – variants of a phoneme, usually occur in different positions in the word, cannot
contrast with each other and are not used to differentiate the meaning. Allophones of a certain
phoneme are speech sounds which are realizations of one and the same phoneme and which
therefore, cannot distinguish words.
Allophonic variation of phonemes – variation which is conditioned by phonetic position
and phonetic environment.
Alveolar – a place of articulation where the tongue touches the ridge just behind the upper
front teeth. An articulation involving the tip or blade of the tongue and the alveolar ridge, as in
English /d/ in die. /t, d, s, z/ are alveolar.
Alveolar-palatal – post-alveolar consonant made with considerable raising of the front of
the tongue, making it equivalent to a palatalized palato-alveolar.
Ambisyllabic – belonging to two syllables. A consonant such as [p] in happy is sometimes
said to be ambisyllabic.
American English – the national variant of the English language spoken in the USA.
Amplitude – the distance to which the air particles are displaced from their position of rest
by the application of some external force; the amount of energy present in a sound wave at a
particular moment in time.
Anticipatory coarticulation – an action in which one of the speech organs that is not
involved in making a particular sound moves toward its position for a subsequent sound. For
example, the rounding of lips during [s] in swim is due to the anticipation of the lip action required
for [w].
Aperiodic – type of sound wave which does not have a regularly repeating pattern of
vibration, and is typical of fricatives. See also periodic.
Apical – an articulation involving the tip of the tongue; sounds articulated with the tips of
the tongue. English /t, d, s, z, ɵ, ð, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ, n, l/.
Approximant – a class of consonant produced with little obstruction to the flow of air. An
articulation in which one articulator is close to another but without the tract being narrowed to such
an extent that a turbulent air-stream is produced. In many forms of English, /j, l, r, w/ are
approximants.
Applied Phonetics – a branch of phonetics used for practical purposes.
46
Articulation – the approach or contact of two speech organs, such as the tip of the tongue
and the upper teeth.
Articulator – part of the vocal tract with which we produce speech sounds; used as a
reference point for classifying consonants.
Articulation basis of the language – articulatory and phonational habits characteristic of all
the native speakers of a language are called the articulation basis of the language.
Articulatory Phonetics – also Physiological Phonetics, a branch of phonetics that studies
the way in which the air is set in motion, the movements of the speech organs and the coordination
of these movements in the production of single sounds and trains of sounds.
Ascending head – a type of head in which syllables form an ascending sequence.
Aspects of a phoneme – a phoneme is a dialectical unity of three aspects: 1) material, real
and objective; 2) abstract and generalized; 3) functional.
Aspects of sound phenomena – sound phenomena have different aspects, which are closely
interconnected: 1. T he a r t i c u l a t o t y ( s o u nd - p r o d u c t io n) a s p e c t – it is the way when the
sound-producing mechanism is investigated, that is the way the speech sounds are pronounced. 2.
T he a c o u s t i c a s p e c t – speech sound is a physical phenomenon. It exists in the form of sound
waves, which are pronounced by vibrations of the vocal cords. Thus, each sound is characterized by
frequency, certain duration. All these items represent acoustic aspect. 3. T he a u d it o r y ( s o u n d p e r c e p t io n) a s p e c t – the listener hears the sound, perceives its acoustic features and the
hearing mechanism selects from the acoustic information only what is linguistically important. 4.
T he f u n c t io na l ( l i n g u i s t i c ) a s p e c t – every language unit performs a certain function in
actual speech. Functional aspect deals with these functions.
Aspiration – a period of voicelessness after the release of articulation, as in English pie
[pʰaɪ]; a slight puff of breath which is heard after the explosion of /p, t, k/ in initial position.
Assimilation – the modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant in the speech
chain. It is the result of coarticulation, when one sound is made similar to its neighbour; in English
it mainly affects the place of articulation. e.g.: ̩tenˈ men → ̩temˈ men. It can be progressive,
regressive or reciprocal.
Attitudinal function – this function is performed by intonation, when the speaker expresses
his attitude to what he is saying, by intonation alone, e.g.: low fall – lack of interest: ˎHave you?
high fall – surprise: ˋIs she?
Auditory Phonetics – the branch of phonetics investigating the perception process. Its
interests lie more in the sensation of hearing which is brain activity, than in the physiological
working of the ear or the nervous activity between the ear and the brain. The means by which we
discriminate sounds – quality, sensation of pitch, loudness, length, are relevant here. Also
Perceptual Phonetics.
B
Back vowels – vowels in the production of which the body of the tongue is in the back part
of the oral cavity (mouth), the back of the tongue is raised. The vowels [u:, ʊ, ɒ, ɔ:, ɑ:] form a set of
back reference vowels.
Back-advanced vowels – vowels formed with the tongue in the back-advanced position in
the mouth: /ʊ, ɑ:, ʌ/ and the nuclei of the diphthongs /aʊ, ʊə/.
Back-lingual – see velar.
BBC English – BBC accent (BBC English) – the accent used by most English-born
announcers and news-readers on serious BBC radio and television channels; proposed as a standard
accent for the description of the English spoken in England: cf. Received Pronunciation (RP).
Bicentral consonants – consonants articulated with two centres of complete or incomplete
obstruction: /w, l, ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ/.
Bilabial – term for the place of articulation of consonants produced with the upper and
lower lips. An articulation involving both lips, as in English /m/ in my. Bilabial consonants are: /p,
w, b, m/.
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Bilingualism – the command of two different languages by a person.
British English – the national variant of the English language spoken in Great Britain.
Breathy voice – another name for murmur, a type of phonation in which the vocal folds are
only slightly apart so that they vibrate while allowing a high rate of airflow through the glottis.
Broad transcription – also phonemic transcription, provides special symbols for all the
phonemes of a language.
Broad variations – a subclass of the vertical position of the tongue which in this case is
placed slightly lower in the mouth cavity.
C
Cacuminal – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue curled back. /r/ is a cacuminal
sound.
Cardinal vowels – a set of vowels devised by phoneticians (first defined by Daniel Jones)
as a standard or reference set of vowels that do not belong to any one language. The vowels of any
language can be described by stating their relations to the cardinal vowels.
Central vowels – sounds articulated when the front part of the tongue is raised towards the
back part of the hard palate.
Checked vowels – short stressed vowels followed by strong voiceless consonants, e.g. /i/ in
the word city.
Checkness – a vowel property which depends on the character of articulatory transition
from a vowel to a consonant.
Citation form – the form a word has when it is cited or pronounced in isolation.
Click – a stop made with an ingressive velaric airstream.
Close vowels – sounds articulated when the tongue is raised high towards the hard palate.
Closed syllable – a syllable which ends in a consonant, as the first syllables in English
country, magpie, banter.
Coalescent – bilateral assimilation of two sounds when in the result they give a new sound.
For example, /s/ + /j/ = /ʃ/ in mission.
Coarticulation – the overlap of the articulatory movements for adjacent sounds, causing
modifications to those sounds. See also assimilation.
Coda – one or more phonemes that follow the syllabic phoneme; the consonants occurring
after the vowel in a syllable.
Combined tune – an utterance which is composed of more than one intonation-group.
Communicative centre, also Semantic centre – a word or a group of words which conveys
the most important point of communication in the intonation-group or the utterance.
Commutation test – the procedure of substituting a sound for another sound in the same
phonetic environment with the aim of establishing the phonemic system of a language.
Comparative phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the comparative
study of the phonetic systems of two or more languages, especially kindred ones.
Complete assimilation – assimilation when one of the two adjacent sounds fully coincides
with the other. For example: less sugar /leʃ ˈʃugə/.
Consonant – a sound made with air stream that meets an obstruction in the mouth or nasal
cavities. It is usually found at the beginning or end of a syllable rather than in the middle of it.
Constitutive function of speech sounds – the function to constitute the material forms of
morphemes, words and sentences.
Constrictive – consonants in the production of which an incomplete obstruction is formed.
/f, ɵ, s, ʃ, h/, /v, ð, z, ʒ/; /w, l, r, j/ (constrictive sonants).
Conversational style – also Familiar style, a style of speech used in everyday
communication.
Coronal – sounds articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue raised toward the teeth or
the alveolar ridge (or, sometimes, the hard palate), such as [ʧ, ʤ, s, t].
Creaky voice – see laryngealization.
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D
Dark sound – the sound which is made harder due to additional articulatory work – the
raising of the back part of the tongue to the soft palate (back secondary focus), [w] and [ł] “dark”
are pronounced with the back secondary focus.
Declamatory style – a style of speech used in stage speech, recitations, etc.
Delimitation – segmentation of speech into phrases and intonation groups.
Dental – the place of articulation of consonants where the tongue makes contact with the
upper or lower front teeth; sounds produced with the blade of the tongue against the upper teeth.
Descending head (scale) – a type of head (scale) in which syllables form a descending
sequence; gradual lowering of the voice pitch.
Descriptive Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies the phonetic structure of one
language only in its static form, synchronically.
Devoicing – a process that results in a voiced consonant being pronounced as voiceless.
Diaphonic variation of phonemes – variation which affects the quality and quantity of
particular phonemes. It is caused by concrete historical tendencies active in certain localities.
Dialect – a variety of language which differs from others in vocabulary, grammar and
pronunciation: cf. accent.
Diglossia – a state of linguistic duality in which the standard literary form of a language and
one of its regional dialects are used by the same individual in different social situations.
Dynamic stress – force accent based mainly on the expiratory effort.
Diphthong – a vowel which consists of two elements, strong (a nucleus) and weak – (a
glide); a vowel in which there is a change in quality during a single syllable, as in English /aɪ/ in
high. English diphthongs can be normal – this term is used because they are similar to the
diphthongs normally occurring in other languages: /eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ, aʊ, əʊ/ and centring: /ɪə, ɛə, ɔə, ʊə/ –
they are called so because their glide /ə/ is considered to be a central vowel.
Diphthongization – slight shifting of the position of the organs of speech within the
articulation of one and the same vowel (these organs are mostly – the tongue, the lips and the lower
jaw). Diphthongization changes the quality of the sound during its articulation.
Diphthongoid – a vowel articulated when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak,
in this case the articulated vowel is not pure, but it still consists of one element. In English /i:/ and
/u:/ are diphthongoids.
Direct methods – methods of phonetic investigation which consist in observing the
movements and positions of one’s own or other people’s organs of speech in pronouncing various
speech sounds, as well as in analyzing one’s own kinaesthetic sensations during the articulation of
speech sounds and in comparing them with the resultant auditory impressions.
Discourse – language seen from the point of view of information structure, the interaction
between language users, and the background knowledge which speakers and hearers share.
Distinctive (relevant) features – the articulatory features which form the invariant of the
phoneme.
Distinctive function of speech sounds – it is manifested most conspicuously in minimal
pairs when the opposition of speech sounds is the only phonetic means of distinguishing one
member of that pair from the other.
Dorsal – sounds produced when the blade of the tongue is active. Dorsal sounds are
articulated with the back of the tongue.
Dorsum – the back of the tongue.
Downdrift – the gradual lowering of pitch level (usually in a tone language) from the
beginning to the end of a stretch of speech. The tendency for the pitch to fall throughout an
intonation phrase.
Duration – the quantity of time during which the same vibratory motion, the same patterns
of vibration are maintained.
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E
Elision – the apparent disappearance of a speech sound where it would be expected to occur;
this is usually the result of a fast speech rate. For example: ’tis instead of it is, th’ eternal instead of
the eternal.
Emphasis – combination of the expressive means of the language to single out emphatic
words, groups of words or whole sentences.
Enclitic – unstressed words or syllables which refer to the preceding stressed word or
syllable. Together with the stressed word enclitics form one phonetic unit.
Epenthesis – the insertion of one or more sounds in the middle of a word, such as the
pronunciation of sense as /sents/.
Estuary English – a variety of modified regional speech, a mixture of non-regional and
local south-eastern English pronunciation and intonation. Estuary English speakers place
themselves “between Cockney and the Queen”.
Experimental Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which deals with research work carried
out with the help of different technical devices for measurements and for instrumental analysis.
Expiratory, or chest pulse theory – it defines the syllable as a sound or a group of sounds
that are pronounced in one chest pulse, accompanied by increases in air pressure. According to this
definition, there are as many syllables in a word as there are chest pulses (expirations) made during
the utterance of the word.
Explosion – noise made by the air, when it is suddenly released through a complete
obstruction. The sounds /p, t, k/ are pronounced with a plosion, or explosion.
Extra-linguistic factors – non-linguistic factors, the circumstances of reality that cause
phonetic modifications in speech. They are: 1) the aim of speech; 2) the extent of spontaneity of
speech; 3) the nature of interchange, i.e. the use of a form of speech which may either suggest only
listening, or both listening and an exchange of remarks; 4) socially and psychological factors, which
determine the extent of formality of speech and the attitudes expressed.
Extra-linguistic situation – it can be described in terms of three components, i.e. purpose,
participants and setting. These components distinguish situations as the context in which speech
interaction takes place.
F
Fall – lowering of the voice pitch within a stressed syllable.
Familiar style – see Conversational style.
Feature – a component of a sound that may itself be composed of other features or may be a
terminal feature. Each terminal feature specifies a limited set of discrete phonetic possibilities with
specific phonetic properties.
Features of the
Flap – a very brief speech sound in which the tongue tip is drawn back, then flicked forward
against the alveolar ridge.
Forelingual – sounds articulated with the front part of the tongue. For example: /t, d, n/ are
forelingual consonants.
Formally distributional method (distributional method) of phonological analysis – it
consists in grouping all the sounds pronounced by native speakers into phonemes according to the
two laws of phonemic and allophonic distribution: 1) Allophones of different phonemes occur in the
same phonetic context. 2) Allophones of the same phoneme never occur in the same phonetic
context. If more or less different sounds occur in the same phonetic context they should be
allophones of different phonemes. Their distribution is c o nt r a s t i v e . If more or less similar
speech sounds occur in different positions and never occur in the same phonetic context they are
allophones of one and the same phoneme. Their distribution is c o mp l e m e nt a r y . There are also
f r e e va r i a nt s of a single phoneme (e.g. калоши – галоши in Russian).
50
Formant – a group of overtones corresponding to a resonating frequency of the air in the
vocal tract. One of the bands or peaks of energy (the result of the vocal tract acting as a filter) which
give a vowel or vowel-like sound its characteristic quality. Vowels are characterized by three
formants: F1, F2, F3.
Fortis consonants – voiceless consonants pronounced with strong muscular tension and
strong expiratory effect.
Free variants – variants of a single phoneme which occur in a language but the speakers are
inconsistent in the way they use them, as for example in the case of the Russian words
“галоши/калоши”.
Free vowel – a weak vowel followed by a weak (lenis) voiced consonant or by no consonant
at all.
Frequency – a number of vibrations per second; in acoustics, the measure of how many
times per second a pattern of vibration is repeated. See also pitch.
Fricative – constrictive noise consonants articulated when the air escapes with friction
through the narrowing formed by speech organs. Fricative consonants are made by obstructing the
flow of air enough to create a hissing noise at a particular place in the vocal tract. Narrowing of the
distance between two articulators so that the airstream is partially obstructed and a turbulent airflow
is produced, as in English [z] in zoo.
Front vowels – vowels in the production of which the body of the tongue is in the front part
of the mouth cavity and the front of the tongue is raised. The vowels /i:, ɪ, e, æ/ and the nuclei of the
diphthongs /eɪ, ɛə/ are front.
Front-retracted vowels – vowels produced with the body of the tongue in the front but
retracted position in the mouth cavity.
Functional Phonetics – the branch of phonetics which studies the purely linguistic aspect of
speech sounds. See Phonology.
“Functional” view of the phoneme – it regards the phoneme as the minimal sound unit by
which meanings may be differentiated without much regard to actually pronounced speech sounds.
Meaning differentiation is taken to be a defining characteristic of phonemes. The functional
approach extracts non-distinctive features from the phonemes thus divorcing the phoneme from
actually pronounced speech sounds.
Functions of the phoneme – in speech a phoneme performs three functions: distinctive,
constitutive and identificatory (recognitive); they are inseparable. 1) The phoneme performs the
c o n s t it u t i ve function because in their material form they constitute morphemes, words, all of
which are meaningful. 2) The phoneme performs the d i s t i n c t i v e function because phonemes
distinguish one word from another. 3) On account of the fact that native speakers identify definite
combinations of phonemes as meaningful linguistic units (words, word combinations, or phrases),
linguists distinguish a third function of the phoneme – the i d e nt i f i c a t o r y (or r e c o g n it i v e )
function of the phoneme.
Functions of prosody – the prosody of the utterance performs a number of functions, the
basic of which are constitutive, distinctive and identificatory. 1) The c o ns t it u t i v e function is to
form utterances as communicative units. Prosody unifies words into utterances, thus giving the
latter the final form without which they cannot exist. A succession of words arranged syntactically
is not a communicative unit until a certain prosodic pattern is attached to it. 2) The d i s t i n c t i v e
function of prosody manifests itself in several particular functions, depending on the meaning which
is differentiated. These are communicative-distinctive, modal-distinctive, culminative (“theme –
rheme”) distinctive, syntactical-distinctive and stylistic-distinctive functions. 3) The
i d e nt i f i c a t o r y function of prosody is to provide a basis for the hearer’s identification of the
communicative and modal type of an utterance, its semantic and syntactical structure with the
situation of the discourse.
Functions of the syllable – as a phonological unit the syllable performs several functions,
that may be combined into the main three: constitutive, distinctive and identificatory: 1) The
c o n s t it u t i ve function of the syllable manifests itself in the fact that the syllable forms higherlevel units – words, accentual or rhythmic groups, utterances. 2) The d i s t i n c t i v e function of the
syllable is to differentiate words and word combinations. 3) The i d e nt i f i c a t o r y function of the
51
syllable is conditioned by the hearer’s perception of syllables as entire phonetic units with their
concrete allophones and syllable boundaries.
Functions of word stress – 1) Words stress has a c o n s t it u t i ve function, as it molds
syllables into a word by forming its stress pattern. Without a definite stress pattern a word ceases to
be a word and becomes a sequence of syllables. 2) Word stress has a d i s t i n c t i v e function in
English, because there exist different words in English with analogous sound structure which are
differentiated in speech only by their stress patterns (e.g., insult, abstract, accent). 3) Word stress
has an i d e nt i f i c a t o r y function because the stress patterns of words enable people to identify
definite combinations of sounds as meaningful linguistic units. A distortion of the stress patterns
may hamper understanding or produce a strange accent.
Fundamental frequency – the lowest frequency that can be found in a periodic waveform.
In speech, this is almost always the frequency of vibration of the vocal folds. See also pitch.
G
Geminate – adjacent segments that are the same, such as the two consonants in the middle
of English penknife [nn].
General American – the national standard of the English language spoken in the USA.
General Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies all the sound-producing possibilities
of the human speech apparatus and the ways they are used for purposes of human communication
by means of language. General phonetics studies the complex nature of phonetic phenomena and
formulates phonetic laws and principles.
Glide – the second weak element of English diphthongs. For example: /ɪ/ and /ə/ in /aɪ, eɪ,
ɪə, ɛə/ are glides.
Glottal – the place of articulation of consonants produced with the vocal folds in the larynx;
an articulation involving the glottis, as [ʔ] button [bʌʔn]; sounds articulated in the glottis.
Glottal stop – a sound heard when the glottis opens suddenly and produces an explosion
resembling a short cough.
Glottis – the opening between the vocal cords, through which the air passes.
H
Hard palate – the bony structure that forms the roof of the front part of the mouth.
Head (Scale) – part of the intonation-group, contains stressed syllables preceding the
nucleus with the intervening unstressed syllables. The functions of the head are to express relations
between its constituent units – rhythmic groups and to convey modal-stylistic meanings.
Height of the tongue – the height to which the bulk of the tongue is raised and which
determines the level of the raised bulk of the tongue: high, mid, or low.
Hesitation pause – silent or filled pause mainly used in spontaneous speech to gain time to
think over what to say next.
Historical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics that studies the phonetic structure of a
language in its historical development, diachronically.
I
Idiolect – individual speech of members of the same language community.
Idiolectal variation of the phonemes – variation which embraces the individual
peculiarities of articulating sounds, which are caused by the shape and form of the speaker’s speech
organs and by his/her articulatory habits. For instance, a speaker may mumble, or lisp (say “thish
ish” for “this is”) or stammer (say “a f-f-f-fine d-d-d-day”).
Informational style – a style of speech used by radio and television announcers conveying
information or in various official situations.
52
Instrumental methods – methods of phonetic investigation based upon registering or
computing machines and technical devices.
Intensity – a property of a sound produced by the amplitude of vibrations. Intensity is the
amount of acoustic energy in a sound; often used informally as synonymous with amplitude, to
which it is closely related.
Interdental – sounds articulated with the tip of the tongue projected between the teeth: /ɵ,
ð/.
International Phonetic Alphabet – a set of symbols adopted by the International Phonetic
Association as a universal system for the transcription of speech sounds.
Intonation – 1) pitch (or melody) variations used to convey meaning. It is normally
distinguished from tone by the fact that tone is usually a property of individual words, while
intonation patterns are more frequently properties of longer stretches of speech, such as a clause or
a sentence. 2) a complex unity of speech melody, sentence stress, tempo, rhythm and voice timbre,
which enables the speaker to express his thoughts, emotions and attitudes towards the contents of
the utterance and the hearer. Acoustically, intonation is a complex combination of varying
fundamental frequency, intensity and duration. See also prosody.
Intonation group – an actualized syntagm; the part of an utterance over which a particular
intonation pattern extends. Structurally the intonation group has some obligatory formal
characteristics. These are the nuclear stress, on the semantically most important word and the
terminal tone (i.e. pitch variations on the nucleus and the tail if any). The boundaries between
intonation groups are marked by tonal junctures and pauses. All these features shape the intonation
group, delimit one intonation group from another and show its relative semantic importance. The
intonation group is a meaningful unit. The most general meanings expressed by the intonation
group are, for instance, those of completeness, finality versus incompleteness, non-finality.
Intonation pattern – pitch movements together with loudness and the tempo of speech
extending over an intonation group.
Intonation style – a complex of interrelated intonational means which is used in a social
situation and serves a definite aim of communication.
Intonogramme – the picture of the sound wave of a syllable, word or an utterance received
with the help of intonograph.
Intonograph – a technical device which gives pictures of sound waves of syllables, words
and utterances.
Invariant of the phoneme – allophones of each phoneme possess a bundle of distinctive
features, that make this phoneme functionally different from all other phonemes of the language
concerned. This functionally relevant bundle of articulatory features is called the invariant of the
phoneme.
Isochronous – a property of rhythm which identifies it as being composed of equal intervals
of time.
J
Juncture – the place, where two sounds or words are joined together.
Juncture phoneme – the syllabic boundary at the junction of words or morphemes that can
be characterized by distinctive difference, e.g. a name – an aim. Open or plus juncture is marked by
/+/: a + name, an + aim.
K
Kinetic – relating to motion.
Kinetic tone – a tone of varying pitch which is produced by varying the tension of the vocal
cords. Kinetic tones are generally classified according to the following criteria: 1) direction of the
pitch change; 2) width of the pitch change, or its interval; 3) relative position of the pitch change
within the speaker’s voice range. Besides giving prominence to a word, kinetic tones perform a
53
number of other functions pertaining to the overall communicative meaning of an utterance. They
1) indicate the communicative type of an utterance; 2) express the speaker’s attitude towards the
subject-matter, the listener and the situation; 3) single out the centre of new information in an
utterance or the point of greater semantic importance as viewed by the speaker.
L
Labial – an articulation involving one or both lips, such as [f, v, m]; sounds articulated by
the lips.
Labial velar (labiovelar) – an articulation involving simultaneous action of the back of the
tongue forming a velar closure and the lips forming a bilabial closure.
Labialization – a secondary articulation in which lip rounding is added to a sound, as in
English /ʃ/.
Labiodental – an articulation involving the lower lip and the upper front teeth, such as in
English /f, v/; sounds articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth.
Laminal – an articulation made with the blade of the tongue.
Laryngeal – the region of the vocal tract at the glottis.
Laryngealization – another name for creaky voice, a type of phonation in which the
arytenoid cartilages hold the posterior end of the vocal folds together so that they can vibrate only at
the other end.
Laryngoscope – a special device which helps to observe the vocal cords, epiglottis and the
glottis.
Larynx – part of the vocal tract containing the vocal cords.
Lateral – an articulation in which the airstream flows over the sides of the tongue, as in the
English approximant [l] in leaf; sounds produced when the sides of the tongue are active.
Lateral plosion – sudden release of air which escapes along the sides of the tongue; the
release of a plosive by lowering the sides of the tongue, as at the end of the word saddle.
Lax – historically short vowels in the articulation of which muscular tension of speech
organs is weak. In English, the lax vowels are those that occur in monosyllables closed by [ŋ] such
as sing, length, hang, long, hung.
Lenis consonants – voiced consonants pronounced with weak muscular tension: /b, d, z, g,
v, ð, ʒ, ʤ/
Level tone – the tone neutral in its communicative function, which is used mostly in poetry.
Linguistic phonetics – See phonology.
Lip rounding – a position of the lips when their corners a brought toward one another so
that the mouth opening is reduced.
Liquid – a cover term for laterals and various forms of r-sounds.
Locus – the apparent point of origin of the formants for each place of articulation.
Long vowels – in English they are /i:, ɑ:, ɔ:, ɜ:, u:/
Loudness – the intensity of sound is produced by the amplitude of vibrations; the auditory
property of a sound that enables a listener to place it on a scale going from soft to loud without
considering the acoustic properties, such as the intensity of the sound.
Loudness theory – It was created by N. Zhinkin. According to this theory on the perception
level the syllable is defined as an arc of actual loudness.
M
Manner of articulation – one of the principles of consonant classifications which is
connected with the type of obstruction to the air stream.
Maximum onsets principle – this principle states that where two syllables are to be
divided, any consonants between them should be attached to the right-hand syllable, not the left, as
far as possible within the restrictions governing syllable onsets and codas.
Melody – changes in the voice pitch in the process of speech.
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Medio-lingual – sounds produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard
palate. English /j/ is medio-lingual.
“Mentalistic” (“psychological”) view of the phoneme – the “mentalistic” or
“psychological” view regards the phoneme as an ideal “mental image” or a target at which the
speaker aims. Actually pronounced speech sounds are imperfect realizations of the phoneme
existing in the mind but not in the reality. Allophones of the same phoneme cannot be alike because
of the influence of the phonetic context.
Minimal pair – a pair of words or morphemes which are differentiated by one sound only in
the same position. The pair pill – bill is minimal, because its members are differentiated due to /p –
b/ phonemes, their fortis /p/ lenis /b/ distinctions.
Model of a phonetic style – the set of stylistically marked modifications of all the prosodic
features represents the model of a particular phonetic style.
Modifications of sounds – positional and combinatory changes of sounds in connected
speech.
Monophthong – a vowel articulated when the tongue position is stable, in this case the
articulated vowel is pure, it consists of one element; a vowel in which there is no change in quality
during a syllable, as in English [ɑ:] in father. Cf. diphthong. English monophthongs are /ɪ, e, ӕ, ɑ:,
ɒ, ʊ, ʌ, ɜ:, ə/
Monotone – equal tone, lacking the necessary variations in the voice pitch.
Morphonology (Morphophonemics) – the branch of phonetics which studies the
relationship between phonemes and morphemes. It is concerned with the way in which sounds can
alternate as different realization of one and the same morpheme.
Motor theory of speech perception – the notion that listeners perceive some aspects of an
utterance by reference to their own activities, considering what they would have to do in order to
make similar sounds.
Mouth cavity – the cavity between the teeth and the pharynx.
Mutual assimilation – bilateral assimilation, when two assimilating sounds equally
influence each other. For example, bilateral assimilation of /s/ + /j/ results in /ʃ/: issue /ˈɪsju: - ˈɪʃʃu:
- ˈɪʃu:/.
N
Narrow transcription – also Phonetic transcription, provides special symbols for all the
allophones of the same phoneme. It shows phonetic details (such as, in English, aspiration, length,
etc.) by using a wide variety of symbols and, in many cases, diacritics.
Narrow variations – a subclass of the vertical positions of the tongue which in this case is
raised slightly higher in the mouth cavity.
Nasal consonants – sounds articulated when the soft palate is lowered and the air stream
goes out through the nose.
Nasal cavity – the cavity inside the nose which is separated from the mouth cavity with the
soft palate and the uvula.
Nasalization – modification of a speech sound (usually a vowel) resulting in some of the
flow of air being allowed to escape through the nose, as in the vowel [æ] between nasals in English
man.
Nasal plosion – sudden release of air by lowering the soft palate so that the air escapes
through the nose, as at the end of the word hidden. It takes place in the combinations like /tn, dn/.
Nasal stop – a complete stoppage of the oral cavity so that the airstream passes only through
the nose. Usually nasal stops are simply called nasals.
Nasal vowel – a vowel in which part of the airstream passes out through the nose.
National variant – the language of a nation, the standard of its form, the language of its
nation’s literature.
Neutral vowel – a mid central vowel /ə/, also schwa.
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Neutralization – the loss of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of vowels in
unstressed positions.
Noise consonants – consonants in the production of which noise prevails over voice.
(compare with sonorants).
Non-distinctive (irrelevant, redundant) features – the articulatory features which do not
serve to distinguish meaning; for instance, it is impossible in English to oppose an aspirated [p] to a
non-aspirated one in the same phonetic context to distinguish meanings. That is why aspiration is a
non-distinctive feature of English consonants.
Normative Phonetics – see Practical Phonetics.
Notation – another term for Transcription.
Nuclear tone – a significant change of pitch direction on the last strongly accented syllable
in an intonation pattern.
Nucleus – 1) the last strongly accented syllable in an intonation pattern; 2) the most
prominent part of a diphthong; 3) the centre of a syllable, usually a vowel.
O
Obstructer mechanism – a group of speech organs which form obstructions during
articulation of consonants, it includes tongue, lips, hard and soft palate and teeth.
Occlusive – sounds produced when a complete obstruction to the air stream is formed.
Occlusive consonants are 1) /p, b, t, d, k, g/ – stop or plosives and 2) sonorants /m, n, ŋ/ – nasals.
Occlusive-constrictive – consonants in the production of which the obstruction is complete
at the beginning of production, then it becomes incomplete. Also: affricates.
Onset – sounds that precede the nucleus of a syllable. Also: the first stressed syllable in a
tone-group (intonation group).
Open syllable – a syllable which ends in a vowel; a syllable without a consonant at the end
– CV-type, as the first syllables in English layman, seagull.
Open vowels – vowels produced when the tongue is in the low part of the mouth cavity, e.g.
[ɑ:]; cf. close vowels. Open or low vowels in English are: /ӕ, ʌ, ɒ, a(ɪ, ʊ), ɑ:/.
Opposition – see Phonetic oppositions.
Oral consonants – sounds articulated when the soft palate is raised and the air stream goes
out through the mouth.
Oral stop – complete stoppage of both the oral and nasal cavities, as in [b, d, g].
Oratorical style – the type of speech with which orators address large audiences. It is
characterized by slow rate, eloquent and moving traits.
Organs of speech – the human organs which together with biological functions take part in
sound production.
Orthoepic norm of a language – the standard pronunciation adopted by native speakers as
the right and proper way of speaking. It comprises the variants of pronunciation of vocabulary units
and prosodic patterns which reflect the main tendencies in pronunciation that exist in the language.
It is used by the most educated part of the population.
Orthoepy – the correct pronunciation of the words of a language. The interpretation of the
rules of reading cannot be done without a good command of phonetics. This fact makes grammar
and lexicology dependent on phonetics.
P
Palatal – an articulation involving the front of the tongue and the hard palate, as in English
[j] in you; sounds produced with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate.
Palatalisation – softening of consonants due to the raised position of the middle part of the
tongue towards the hard palate; a secondary articulation in which the front of the tongue is raised
toward the hard palate, as in the so-called “soft sounds” in Russian.
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Palate – also known as the “hard palate” or the “roof of the mouth”; the upper surface of the
mouth where there is bone beneath the skin: cf. soft palate.
Palato-alveolar – an articulation between the tongue blade and the back of the alveolar
ridge; sounds made with the tip of the tongue against the teeth ridge and the front part of the tongue
raised towards the hard palate, thus having two places of articulation (two foci). Palato-alveolar
consonants are /ʃ, ʒ/.
Paralinguistic feature – a type of feature that forms part of prosody; generally considered
to be outside the set of phonological contrasts of a language.
Pause – a short period of time when sound stops before starting again. Pauses are nonobligatory between sense-groups (intonation-groups) and obligatory between sentences. It is the
main function of a pause to segment connected speech into utterances and intonation groups to
delimit one utterance or intonation group from another.
Pauses of perception – they are not a stop in phonation as there is no period of silence. The
effect of a pause is produced by a sharp change of pitch direction, or by variation in duration, or
both.
Peaks of prominence – the points of maximal acoustic activity of tone.
Perceptual Phonetics – see Auditory Phonetics.
Periodic – in acoustics, a pattern of vibration which repeats itself at regular intervals; typical
of vowels.
Periodicity – the quality or fact of recurring at constant intervals.
Pharyngeal – the place of articulation of a consonant formed by constricting the pharynx.
An articulation involving the root of the tongue and the back wall of the pharynx.
Pharyngealization – a secondary articulation in which the root of the tongue is drawn back
so that the pharynx is narrowed.
Pharynx – the part of the throat which connects the larynx to the upper part of the vocal
tract.
Phonation – voicing, the vibration of the vocal cords.
Phone – a sound realized in speech and which bears some individual, stylistic and social
characteristics of the speaker.
Phoneme – a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech
sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of
morphemes and words. According to this definition the phoneme is a unity of three aspects:
material, abstract and functional. See also allophone.
Phonemic – see transcription, phonology. The study of the distinctive sound units of a
language, the patterns they form, and the rules which regulate their use.
Phonemic component: this component of the phonetic structure manifests itself in the
system of separate phonemes and their allophones.
Phonemic neutralization – the loss of one or more distinctive features of a phoneme in the
weak position.
Phonemic transcription – see broad transcription.
Phonetic mistakes – if an allophone of the phoneme is replaced by another allophone of the
phoneme the mistake is called phonetic. It happens when the invariant of the phoneme is not
modified and consequently the meaning of the word is not affected
Phonetic oppositions – comparison of sounds, words and morphemes in order to single out
their minimal distinctive features.
Phonetic styles (styles of pronunciation) – different ways of pronunciation, caused by
extralinguistic factors and characterized by definite phonetic features.
Phonetic style-forming means – each phonetic style is characterized by a specific
combination of certain segmental and prosodic features. Segmental style-forming means are: the
degree of assimilation, reduction, elision. Prosodic style-forming means are: departure from a norm
of loudness, tonal variation, variations of pitch levels, departure from a normal tempo, pauses.
Phonetic system – a systemic combination of five components of the language, i.e. the
system of segmental phonemes, the phonemic component, the syllabic component, the accentual
component (relating to accent – stress and pitch combined), intonation.
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Phonetic transcription – see narrow transcription.
Phonetics – a branch of linguistics which is concerned with human noises by which the
thought is actualized. Phonetics analyses the nature of these noises, their combinations and their
functions in relation to the meaning.
Phonological analysis – analysis whose aim is to determine which differences of sounds are
phonemic / non-phonemic and to find the inventory of the phonemes of this or that language.
Phonological mistakes – mistakes connected with the alteration of the meaning of words,
which prevent communication. If an allophone of some phoneme is replaced by an allophone of a
different phoneme the mistake is called phonological, because the meaning is inevitably affected. It
happens when one ore more relevant features of the phoneme are not realized. For example,
mispronunciation of /ɵ/ may lead to the confusion of thought – fought, think – sink, mouth – mouse,
etc.
Phonological opposition – a pair of words in which any one phoneme is usually opposed to
any other phoneme in at least one lexical or grammatical minimal or subminimal pair, e. g. /t – d/,
/k – g/ in ten – den, coat – goat.
Phonology (Functional Phonetics, Linguistic Phonetics) – the branch of phonetics that
studies the linguistic function of consonant and vowel sounds, syllabic structure, word accent and
prosodic features, such as pitch, loudness and tempo; the branch of phonetics that is concerned with
the social functions of different phonetic phenomena; the description of the system and patterns of
sounds that occur in a language.
Phonosemantics – a branch of psycholinguistics that studies the relations between the
sound structure of a word and its meaning.
Phonostylistics – a branch of phonetics that studies the way phonetic means of the language
function in various oral realizations of the language. It is concerned with the identification of the
style-forming means, i.e. the phonetic features that enable the native speaker to distinguish
intuitively between different styles of pronunciation.
Phonotactics – the study of the possible phoneme combinations of a language.
“Physical” view of the phoneme – it regards the phoneme as a “family” of related sounds
satisfying certain conditions: 1) The various members of the “family” must show phonetic
similarity to one another, in other words be related in character. 2) No member of the “family” may
occur in the same phonetic context as any other.
Physiological Phonetics – see Articulatory Phonetics.
Pitch – the auditory characteristic of a sound, it corresponds to the fundamental frequency
(the rate of vibrations of the vocal cords). The pitch component of intonation, or speech melody, is
commonly referred to as variations in the height of the voice during speech, and is generally
described in terms of pitch-changes and levels.
Pitch-accent – a distinctive pitch level or pitch movement which makes a syllable seem
strongly stressed.
Pitch level – a particular height of pitch.
Pitch range – the interval between two pitch levels or two differently pitched syllables or
parts of a syllable. According to circumstances the speaker changes his/her voice range. It may be
widened or narrowed to express emphasis or the speaker’s attitudes and emotions.
Place of articulation – part of the standard way of classifying consonants, this refers to the
place in the vocal tract where the air stream is obstructed. According to this principle the English
consonants are classed into: 1) labial; 2) lingual; 3) glottal.
Plosion – short burst of noise produced by the escape of compressed air when the closure of
a plosive consonant is released
Plosives – consonants produced when the air stream is completely stopped for a short time,
also stops. Plosive consonants are /p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, ŋ/.
Post-alveolar – the place of articulation of consonants in which the tongue makes contact
with the front part of the palate, just behind the alveolar area; sounds articulated with the tip or the
blade of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge.
Power mechanism – a group of speech organs which supplies energy for sound production,
it includes lungs, diaphragm, windpipe, bronchi.
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Practical Phonetics (applied phonetics) – all the practical applications of phonetics; a
branch of phonetics which teaches how to pronounce sounds correctly and what intonation to use to
convey this or that meaning or emotion. It is called Normative Phonetics because it teaches the
“norm” of English pronunciation.
Pragmalinguistics – a branch of linguistics that studies what linguistic means and ways of
influence on a hearer to choose in order to bring about certain effects in the process of
communication.
Pragmaphonetics – a branch of Pragmalinguistics whose domain is to analyse the
functioning and speech effects of the sound system of a language.
Pragmatic function of intonation – it consists in the use of intonation with specific
purpose. In other words, when used in discourse, intonation serves to actualize the speaker’s
pragmatic aim.
Prehead – the unstressed syllables which precede the first stressed syllable of the head. The
prehead is normally pronounced on the low or mid pitch level. If it is pronounced on a pitch
somewhat higher than the normal pitch (High Irregular Prehead) or somewhat low (Low Irregular
Prehead) the utterance acquires emphasis and emotional connotations.
Primary stress – the strongest stress compared with the other stresses in a word.
Principal allophones – allophones which do not undergo any significant changes in the
chain of speech.
Proclitic – unstressed words or syllables which refer to the following stressed word or
syllable; a monosyllabic word or particle with no accent of his own, which is pronounced with the
following pre-tonic (having secondary stress) or accented syllable as one phonetic unit.
Progressive assimilation – the process when the first of the two neighbouring sounds
influences the second and makes it similar to itself. For example, the pronunciation of the suffix -ed
of regular verbs is based on progressive voicing and devoicing: it is pronounced /t/ after voiceless
consonants, /d/ after vowels and voiced consonants, /ɪd/ after /t/, /d/: dropped /drɒpt/, remained
/rɪˈmeɪnd/, extended /ɪksˈtendɪd/.
Prominence – singling out acoustically, which produces the effect of greater loudness; the
extent to which a sound stands out from others because of its sonority, length, stress, and pitch.
Prosodic norm – there is a prosodic norm in every language which comprises wellestablished prosodic patterns, used in educated speech, and their stylistic variants, current in
particular styles of pronunciation.
Prosody – a complex unity formed by significant variations of pitch, tempo, loudness and
timbre; non-segmental phenomena regarded as the modifications of fundamental frequency (the
frequency of the vibrations of the vocal cords over their whole length), intensity and duration at the
level of their acoustic properties. The notion of prosody is broader than the notion of intonation,
whereas prosody of the utterance and intonation are equivalent notions. Prosody and intonation are
characterized by such distinct qualities as stress and pitch prominence at the level of perception.
Psycholinguistics – a branch of linguistics which covers an extremely broad area, from
acoustic phonetics to language pathology, and includes such problems as acquisition of language by
children, memory, attention, speech perception, second-language acquisition and so on.
Publicistic style – a style of speech used in public discussions on political, judicial or
economic topics, sermons, parliamentary debates.
Pulmonic – an airstream created by the action of the lungs.
Q
Qualitative – connected with spectral characteristics of a sound.
Quantitative – referring to the length of a sound.
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R
Realization – the physical event of producing a phoneme as audible sound.
Received Pronunciation (RP) – the national standard of the English language spoken in
Great Britain; a name given to the accent used as a standard for describing British English
pronunciation for most of the 20th century and still in use: cf. BBC accent.
Recessive stress – stress that falls on the first syllable or the root of the word if it is
preceded by a prefix that has lost its meaning, e.g. ˋimport, beˋfore.
Recessive tendency – the tendency which consists in gradual shifting of word accent to the
first syllable (which is usually the root of the word).
Reciprocal assimilation – bilateral assimilation, when the neighbouring sounds are equally
affected by assimilation. For example, in the word twice /t/ is labialized under the influence of /w/,
and /w/ in its turn is devoiced under the influence of /t/.
Reduced vowel – a weakened vowel; a vowel that is pronounced with a noncontrasting
centralized quality, although in the underlying form of a word it is part of a full set of contrasts. The
second vowel in emphasis is a reduced form of the vowel /ӕ/, as in emphatic.
Reduction – weakening (either qualitative or quantitative) of vowels in unstressed positions.
Regressive assimilation – the process when the second of the neighbouring sounds
influences the first and makes it similar to it. For example, in the combination in the /n/ is
regressively assimilated by /ð/ and becomes dental and is pronounced with the tip of the tongue
against the upper teeth (its free variant is pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the
teethridge).
Relative sonority theory, or the prominence theory – It was created by O. Jespersen. It
considers that sounds tend to group themselves according to their sonority. Pronounced with
uniform force, length and pitch, speech sounds differ in sonority (prominence, audibility or carrying
power). The most sonorous sounds are vowels, less sonorous are sonorants /w, j, r, m, n, ŋ/ and the
least sonorous are noise consonants.
Resonator mechanism – a group of speech organs which can change their shape and
volume, thus forming the spectral component of the sound, it includes nasal and mouth cavities.
Retentive tendency – this tendency is characterized by the retention of accent in the
derivative on the same syllable on which it falls in the parent word, e.g. ˈsimilar, asˈsimilate.
Retroflex – an articulation involving the tip of the tongue and the back part of the alveolar
ridge. Speakers of American English have retroflex approximants in rye and err. This term is
traditionally said to refer to a place of articulation of consonants, but refers, in fact, to the curling
backwards of the tip of the tongue, something which can happen in vowels as well as consonants.
Rhotic – a form of English in which /r/ can occur after a vowel and within a syllable in
words such as car, bird, early. Most forms of Midwestern American English are rhotic, whereas
most forms of English spoken in the southern part of England are non-rhotic.
Rhyme – the vowel (nucleus) and any consonants occurring after the vowel in a syllable.
Rhythm – recurrence of stressed syllables at more or less equal intervals of time in speech.
See also syllable-timed, stressed-timed.
Rhythmic (accentual) group – a unit of the rhythmic organization of an utterance; a speech
segment which contains a stressed syllable and a number of unstressed ones. The most frequent type
of an English rhythmic group includes two-four syllables, one of which is stressed.
Rhythmic tendency – the tendency to alternate stressed and unstressed syllables. This
tendency gave rise to the origin of the secondary stress, especially in four-syllable words of foreign
origin. For example, explanation /ˌekspləˈneɪʃən/, conversation /ˌkɒnvəˈseɪʃən/.
Rounded – a sound articulated with added lip rounding.
S
Scale – the arrangement of stressed and unstressed syllables of a syntactic whole. See also
Head.
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Scale of sonority – the arrangement of phonemes according to their degree of loudness.
According to this scale the most sonorous are front low vowels, then go sonants and voiced
consonants. Voiceless consonants are characterized by minimal sonority.
Schwa – see Neutral vowel.
Scientific style – see Academic style.
Secondary allophones – allophones which undergo some predictable changes in different
phonetic context, also Subsidiary allophones; variants of phonemes that appear under the influence
of neighbouring speech sounds (variants of some other phonemes) with which they are in
complementary distribution. They are subdivided into combinatory and positional ones.
Secondary articulation – an articulation made by two of the organs of speech that are not
involved in the primary articulation.
Secondary stress – a less strong stress than a primary one, usually precedes the primary
stress in a word.
Segment – in phonetics it is the shortest part of speech continuum – a sound or a phoneme.
Segmental phoneme – the shortest part of speech continuum that is capable of
differentiating words.
Segmental Phonetics – a division of phonetics which is concerned with individual sounds
(“segments” of speech).
Segmentation – division of speech into phrases and intonation groups.
Semantic centre – see Communicative centre.
Semantically distributional method (semantic method) of phonological analysis – It is
based on a phonemic rule, that phonemes can distinguish words and morphemes when opposed to
one another. The semantic method attracts great significance to meaning. It consists of the
systematic substitution of the sound for another in order to ascertain in which cases where the
phonetic context remains the same such substitution leads to a change of meaning. This process is
called the communication test. It consists in finding minimal pairs of words and their grammatical
form.
Semantic function: in phonetics the term is used in connection with the distinctive function
(semantic role) of phonetic means.
Sentence stress (Utterance stress) – the greater degree of prominence given to certain
words in an utterance. These words are usually nouns, adjectives, notional verbs and adverbs,
interjections, numerals, demonstrative, possessive, emphasizing pronouns, interrogative words and
two-syllable prepositions. The distribution of sentence stress is determined by the semantic factor.
Short vowels – the vowels having a relatively smaller length, or quantity in comparison
with the long vowels (other conditions remaining the same). Short English /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ differ from the
long /i:/ and /u:/ also in quality.
Sibilant – a speech sound in which there is high-pitched, turbulent noise, as in English [s]
and [ʃ] in sip and ship. In English sibilants are /s, z, ʒ/.
Silent pause – a stop in the phonation (a stop of the work of the vocal cord, which results in
the cessation of sound).
Silent stop – the medial stage in /p, t, k/ articulation that is characterized by the “loss of
plosion” in cases like: past perfect, blackboard, eight days.
Simple tune – an intonation-group corresponding to a grammatical sentence and marked by
specific characteristics of tone, stress and duration, serving to express semantic completeness and
independence – the relevant features of an utterance.
Sociolinguistics – a branch of linguistics that studies aspects of the language (phonetics,
lexis, grammar) with reference to their social functions in the society. So sociolinguistics explains
the language phenomena in connection with factors outside the language itself in terms of largescale social structure and in terms of how people use language in communication.
Soft palate – the back, soft part of the hard palate. Another name for the soft palate is
velum.
Sonorants – consonants in the production of which tone prevails over noise (compare with
Noise consonants). Sonorants in English are /m, n, ŋ, l, j, w, r/.
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Sonority – a degree of loudness relative to that of other sounds with the same length, stress
and pitch.
Sound – a material unit, produced by speech organs. A sound can be viewed from the
articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional points of view.
Source – in speech acoustics, sound energy generated by an obstruction to the flow of air,
such as the vibrating vocal folds, which is then modified by the vocal tract acting as a filter.
Special Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is concerned with the study of the phonetic
structure of a particular language.
Spectral analysis – the process of mathematically breaking down the complex waveform of
speech sounds into energy at different frequencies to allow detailed analysis.
Spectrogram – a picture of the spectrum of sounds, their frequency, intensity and time.
Spectrograph – a device which carries out the spectral analysis of speech.
Speech melody – the variations in the pitch of the voice in connected speech.
Static tone – a tone of unvarying pitch which is produced by keeping the vocal cords at a
constant tension.
Stops – see plosives.
Stress – a greater degree of prominence which is caused by loudness, pitch, the length of a
syllable and the vowel quality.
Stressed-timed – a type of speech rhythm which is seen in the regularity in the intervals
between stressed syllables. See also isochronous.
Stressed-timed languages – in these languages stressed syllables tend to occur at relatively
regular intervals irrespectively of the number of unstressed syllables separating them.
Stess pattern of the word (the accentual structure of a word) – the correlation of degrees
of prominence of the syllable in a word forms the stressed pattern of the word.
Strong form – the form in which a word is pronounced when it is stressed. This term is
usually applied only to words that normally occur unstressed and with a weak form, such as to and
a.
Stress-groups – groups of syllables unified by a stressed syllable. Each stress-group is a
semantic unit.
Strong vowel – the full form of a vowel in the stressed position.
Stylistic modifications – sound changes which happen under the influence of extralinguistic factors.
Subsidiary allophones – see secondary allophones.
Suprasegmental features – phonetic features such as stress, length, tone, and intonation,
which are usually a property of stretches of speech longer than the individual segment.
Supraphaphrasal unity – a totality of intonation groups or utterances, united by the general
subtopic and common intonation key.
Suprasegmental Phonetics – a division of phonetics whose domain is larger units of
connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts.
Syllable – a sound sequence, consisting of a centre which has little or no obstruction to
airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after this centre there will be greater
obstruction to airflow and less loud sound. A syllable is a phonological unit consisting of a vowel
and any consonants which form its beginning or end. Syllables seem to be necessary units in the
mental organization and production of utterances.
Syllable pattern – the type of syllable most common for language. English is characterized
by (C)VC syllable pattern and Russian by CV pattern.
Syllable-timed languages – in these languages all syllables, whether stressed or unstressed,
tend to occur at regular time-intervals and the time between stressed will be shorter or longer
depending on the number of unstressed syllables separating them.
Syntagm – a group of words which is semantically and syntactically complete.
Systematic phonetic transcription – a transcription that shows all the phonetic details that
are part of the language and can be stated in terms of phonological rules. Also called “narrow”
transcription as opposed to “broad”. See transcription, phonemic.
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T
Tail – unstressed or partially stressed syllables (or syllable) that follow the nucleus of the
intonation group.
Tap – a very brief speech sound in which the tongue is flicked up against the roof of the
mouth, interrupting the flow of air. Cf. flap.
Target position – an idealized articulatory position that can be used as a reference point in
describing how a speaker produces utterances.
Tempo – the rate of the utterance and pausation, it is often measured in syllables per second
or average syllable length in milliseconds (ms).
Temporal component of intonation: it consists of pauses, duration, rhythm.
Tense – historically long vowels in the articulation of which muscular tension of speech
organs is great: /i:, ɑ:, ɔ:, u:, ɜ:/. In English, the tense vowels are those that can occur in stressed
open syllables such as [ɔ:] in bore.
Terminal tone – the nucleus and the tail of the utterance; a change of pitch at the junction
(the joining of two sounds or words) of two sense-groups.
Tertiary stress – a less strong stress than the primary one, usually follows the primary
stress in a word.
Theoretical Phonetics – a branch of phonetics which is mainly concerned with the
functioning of phonetic units in the language. It discusses the problems of phonetics in academic
terms and gives a scientific approach to the phonetic theory.
Theory of muscular tension (or the articulatory effort theory) – according to this theory
a syllable is characterized by variations in muscular tension. The energy of articulation increases at
the beginning of a syllable, reaches its maximum with the vowel (or a sonant) and decreases
towards the end of the syllable. So, the syllable is an arc of muscular tension.
Timbre – voice quality.
Tone – Sounds may be periodical and non-periodical. If the vibrations of a physical body
are rhythmical, the auditory impression of periodic waves is a musical tone, or in speech – a speech
tone.
Tone languages – the meaning of words in these languages depends on the variations of
voice pitch in relation to neighbouring syllables.
Toneme – the toneme of a sentence or of a sense-group is a separate phonological unit,
because it performs the distinctive function, e.g. “not ˋonce – “never”, “not ˊonce – “many times”.
Tongue – the most movable and flexible speech organ.
Tonic syllable – the syllable within a tone group that stands out because it carries the major
pitch change, also called nucleus.
Trachea – the “wind pipe” passing up from the lungs to the vocal tract beginning with the
larynx.
Transcription – the system of symbols to represent speech in written form. (see Notation).
Trill – a speech sound in which an articulator such as the uvula, tongue-tip, or lips vibrates
in the airstream. In some forms of Scottish English, [r] in rip is trilled.
Tune – the term which is used to refer to the pitch pattern of the whole intonation-group.
Twang – a sharp nasal quality of a vowel sound.
U
Undertone – a low tone of the voice.
Unicentral consonants – consonants pronounced with a single articulatory obstruction
(complete or incomplete); e.g. /t, d, k, g, p, b, s, s, z, f, v, ŋ, h/.
Unilateral – the lateral sonant /l/ pronounced with only one side of the tongue lowered
(usually it is the left side of the tongue).
Unrounded – an articulation in which the lips are in a spread or neutral position.
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Unrounded vowels – vowels in the articulation of which the lips are not rounded /ɑ:; e; i:;
ӕ/.
Unstressed – bearing no stress.
Utterance – a spoken sentence or a phrase; it is the main communicative unit. It is
characterized by semantic entity which is expressed by all the language means: lexical, grammatical
and prosodic.
Utterance stress – See Sentence stress. Utterance stress is a prosodic phenomenon of
speech with a linguistic function of indicating the relative importance of various elements in an
utterance.
Uvula – the end of the soft palate, which hangs down above the back of the tongue near the
pharynx.
V
Variations (“in stylistic variations”) – variations in the pronunciation of speech sounds,
words and sentences peculiar to different styles of speech.
Velar – a place of articulation where the back of the tongue touches the velum or soft palate;
consonants produced with the back part of the tongue raised towards the soft palate: velar nasal
sonorant /ŋ/, velar stops /k, g/.
Velaric airstream mechanism – movement of mouth air by action of the tongue. Clicks are
produced with a velaric airstream mechanism.
Velarization – a secondary articulation in which the back of the tongue is raised toward the
soft palate. In many forms of English, syllable final [l] as in hill is strongly velarized. In Russian the
so-called ‘hard consonants’ are velarized and contrasted with the ‘soft consonants’ which are
palatalized.
Velum – the soft, movable part of the palate at the back of the mouth. See soft palate.
Vibrator mechanism – a group of speech organs which vibrate while the air passes
through, thus producing voice, it includes larynx, vocal cords, glottis.
Vocal cords (folds) – two soft folds in the larynx which can be brought together and apart,
thus producing voice. See also fundamental frequency, glottal, glottal stop, phonation, voice
quality.
Vocal tract – the air passages above the vocal folds which form the system used to produce
speech. This starts at the larynx and includes the pharynx, the mouth, and the nasal cavity.
Vocoid – a sound with no obstruction in the centre of the mouth. Vowels and semivowels
are vocoids.
Voice quality – timbre.
Voiced consonants – sounds produced when the vocal cords are brought together and
vibrate.
Voiced pauses – they have usually the quality of the central vowel [ɜ:(ə)] with or without
nasalization [ə(m)]. They are used to signal hesitation or doubt and therefore are called hesitation
pauses.
Voiceless consonants – sounds produced when the vocal cords are apart and don’t vibrate,
as in English [s] in sea.
Voice quality – one of the suprasegmental features of speech that can be controlled by
speakers.
Voicing – the vibration of the vocal folds which accompanies many speech sounds,
particularly vowels.
Vowel – a class of speech sounds in which there is little or no obstruction to the flow of air
through the vocal tract, and which is normally found forming the middle of a syllable. The criteria
for classificatory description of vowels are: 1) stability of articulation; 2) tongue position; 3) lip
position; 4) character of the vowel end; 5) length; 6) tenseness.
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W
Waveform – in speech acoustics, the most basic way of representing the pattern of vibration
of a speech sound.
Weak form – the unstressed form of any word, such as but or as, that does not maintain its
full form when it occurs in conversational speech.
Weak vowels – the vowels which are shorter and less distinct, sometimes they are reduced
to the neutral vowel /ə/.
Widening the range – one of the emphatic means which consists in deliberate widening the
pitch levels of sense-groups.
Windpipe – trachea or air passage.
Word stress – a greater degree of prominence on one of the syllables in a word.
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4.4 СПИСОК УЧЕБНОЙ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ И ИНФОРМАЦИОННО-АНАЛИТИЧЕСКИХ
МАТЕРИАЛОВ
Основная учебная литература
1. Борисова, Л.В. Теоретическая
фонетика английского языка : учебное пособие для
ин-тов и фак-тов иностр. яз. / Л.В. Борисова, А.А. Метлюк. – Минск: Вышэйшая
школа, 1980. – 144 с.
2. Бурая, Е.А. Фонетика современного английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник
для студ. лингв. вузов и фак. / Е.А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина, Т.И. Шевченко. – 3-е изд.,
стер. – Москва: Издательский центр «Академия», 2009. – 272 с.
3. Васильев, В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс: учебник для ин-тов
и фак-тов иностр. яз. / В.А. Васильев. – Москва: Высшая школа, 1970. – 322 с.
4. Карневская, Е.Б. Практическая фонетика английского языка на продвинутом этапе
обучения: учебник / Е.Б. Карневская, Е.А. Мисуно, Л.Д. Раковская; под общ. ред. Е.Б.
Карневской. – 3-е изд., перераб. – Минск: Аверсэв, 2007. – 400 с.
5. Леонтьева, С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: учебник
для студентов педагогических вузов и университетов / C.Ф. Леонтьева. – 3-е изд.,
испр. и доп. – Москва: Издательство «Менеджер», 2004. – 336 с.
6. Соколова, М.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И. С.
Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова, Е.Л. Фрейдина. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2010. – 192 с.
7. Шевченко, Т.И. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: учебник / Т.И.
Шевченко. – 2-е изд. стер. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2009. – 191 с.
8. Roach, P. English Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical Course / P. Roach. – 4th ed. –
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. – 231 p.
Дополнительная литература
1. Бондарко, Л.В. Основы общей фонетики: учеб. пособие для студ. Филологических и
лингвистических фак. высш. учеб. заведений / Л.В. Бондарко, Л.А. Вербицкая, М.В.
Гордина. – Москва: Академия, 2004. – 160 с.
2. Бондарко, Л.В. Интерференция звуковых систем: коллект. монография / Л.В.
Бондарко [и др.]; под общ. ред. Л.В. Бондарко. – Л.: Изд-во ЛГУ, 1987. – 279 с.
3. Василина, В.Н. Глоссарий лингвистических терминов по курсу «Теоретическая
фонетика английского языка» для студентов III курса специальности «Современные
иностранные языки (перевод)» = Glossary of Linguistic Terms in Theoretical Phonetics of
English for Third Year Students of Speciality “Modern Foreign Languages (Translation)”:
учеб.-метод. пособие / В.Н. Василина. Минск : БГУ, 2011. 35 с.
4. Зиндер, Л.Р. Общая фонетика и избранные статьи: учеб. пособие / Л.Р. Зиндер. – 2-е
изд., испр. и доп. – Москва: Академия, 2007. – 576 с.
5. Кодзасов, С.В. Общая фонетика: учебник / С.В. Кодзасов, О.Ф. Кривнова. – Москва:
Рос. Гос. гуманит. ун-т, 2002. – 592 с.
6. Метлюк, А.А. Взаимодействие просодических систем в речи билингва: учеб. пособие /
Минск: Вышэйшая школа, 1986. – 112 с.
7. Паращук, В.Ю. Теоретична фонетика англійської мови: навчальний посібник для
студентів факультетів іноземних мов / В.Ю. Паращук. Тема Ukrainian Accent of
English написана В.Ю. Кочубей. – Вінниця: Нова книга, 2009. – 232 с.
8. Первезенцева, О.А. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. Практикум / О.А
Первезенцева, Е.Л. Фрейдина, Н.А. Ковпак, О.Г. Козачук, Т.Д. Нестерова, М.Ю.
Сейранян. – Дубна: Феникс+, 2011. – 152 с.
9. Поплавская, Т.В. Сегментная фонетика и просодия устной речи: монография /
МГПИИЯ; редкол.: А.А. Метлюк [и др.]. – Минск: МГЛУ, 1993. – 160 с.
10. Просодическая интерференция в иноязычной речи: учеб.-метод. пособие / Метлюк
А.А. [и др.]. – Минск: МГПИИЯ, 1985. – 94 с.
66
11. Хрестоматия по общей и английской фонетике: в двух частях / сост. Е.Б. Карневская,
Т.В. Поплавская. – Минск: МГЛУ, 1999. – Ч.1. – 138 с.
12. Ashby, M. Introducing Phonetic Science / M. Ashby, J. Maidment. – Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2005. – 222 p.
13. Ashby, P. Speech Sounds / P. Ahby. – 2nd ed. – Routledge, 2005. – 121 p.
14. Ashby, P. Understanding Phonetics / P. Ashby. – Hodder Education, 2011. – 230 p.
15. Bauer, L. International Varieties of English / L. Bauer. – Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 2002. – 135 p.
16. Brinton, L.J. The Linguistic Structure of Modern English / L.J. Brinton, D.M. Brinton. –
John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010. – 426 p.
17. Carr, Ph. Phonology / Ph. Carr. – Macmillan, 1993. – 324 p.
18. Carr, Ph. A Glossary of Phonology / Ph. Carr. – Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2008. – 206 p.
19. Chambers, J.K. Dialectology / J.K. Chambers, P. Trudgill. – 2nd ed. – Cambridge:
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20. Clark, J. An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology / J. Clark, C. Yallop. – 3rd ed. – 2007.
– p. 487.
21. Cruttenden, A. Gimson’s Pronunciation of English / revised by A. Cruttenden. – 7th ed. –
Hodder Education, 2008. – 362 p.
22. Crystal, D. Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English / D. Crystal. – Cambridge:
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23. Crystal, D. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics / D. Crystal. – 6th ed. – Blackwell
Publishing, 2008. – 529 p.
24. Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language / D. Crystal. –
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. – 489 p.
25. Davenport, M. Introducing Phonetics and Phonology / M. Davenport, S.J. Hannahs. – 2nd ed.
– London: Hodder Arnold, 2005. – 223 p.
26. Fromkin, V. An Introduction to Language / V. Fromkin, R. Rodman, N. Hyams. – 9th ed. –
Wadsworth: Cengage Learning, 2011. – 619 p.
27. Gussenhoven, C. Understanding Phonology / C. Gussenhoven, H. Jakobs. – Hodder
Education, 2011. – 319 p.
28. Gussenhoven, C. The Phonology of Tone and Intonation / C. Gussenhoven. – Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004. – 355 p.
29. Gussmann, E. Phonology. Analysis and Theory / E. Gussmann. – Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2002. – 234 p.
30. Hayes, B. Introductory Phonology / B. Hayes. – Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. – 323 p.
31. Jones, D. An Outline of English Phonetics / D. Jones. – New York: Button, 1960. – 326 p.
32. Jones, D. English Pronouncing Dictionary / ed. by Peter Roach and others. – Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004. – 606 p.
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1958. – 272 p.
34. Kreidler, Ch.W. Describing Spoken English. An Introduction / Ch.W. Kreidler. – London:
Routledge, 2002. – 236 p.
35. Kreidler, Ch.W. The Pronunciation of English. A Course Book / Ch.W. Kreidler. – 2nd ed. –
Blackwell Publishing, 2004. – 308 p.
36. Ladd, D.R. Intonational Phonology / D.R. Ladd. – Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2008. – 349 p.
37. Ladefoged, P. A Course in Phonetics / P. Ladefoged, K. Johnson. – 6th ed. – Wadsworth:
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38. Lodge, K. A Critical Introduction to Phonetics / K. Lodge. – Continuum, 2009. – 244 p.
39. McMahon, A. An Introduction to English Phonology / A. McMahon. – Edinburgh:
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41. O’Connor, J.D. Phonetics / J.D. O’Connor. – London: Penguin Books, 1973. – 314 p.
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