The English Vowel System

Articulation Basis of English

THE ORGANS OF SPEECH

In learning a foreign language as a speciality it is necessary to know in detail the structure and function of the speech apparatus. The organs of speech are as follows:

1. The nasal cavity.

2. The mouth cavity.

3. The pharyngal cavity (the pharynx).

4. The tongue: the blade of the tongue with the tip; the front of the tongue; the back of the tongue; the root of the tongue.

5. The root of the mouth: the alveoli (the teeth ridge); the hard palate; the soft palate; the uvula.

6. The teeth: the upper teeth; the lower teeth.

7. The lips: the upper lip; the lower lip.

8. The larynx.

9. The vocal cords.

10. The windpipe.

11. The lower jaw.

The movable speech organs are called active, they are as follows: the tongue, the soft palate with the uvula, the lips, the lower jaw and the vocal cords. The passive organs of speech are: the teeth, the alveoli, the hard palate.

The summary of all main principles of articulation of a certain language is called the articulation basis. The main points of difference between the articulation basis of English and Ukrainian are as follows:

1. The tongue is tenser and bulkier in English and has a retracted position for most of the phonemes.

2. The lips are also tenser and less movable than in Ukrainian. They are mostly spread (with the lower teeth revealed) or neutral (flat articulation).

3. English forelingual consonants (there are 12 of them) are usually apical: they are articulated with the tongue-tip against the alveoli /t, d; s, z; S, Z; tS, dZ; n, l/ or against the teeth /T; D/, while the Ukrainian ones are as a rule cacuminal.

4. All English consonants are hard (except for /S, Z/ and have no palatalized oppositions while the Ukrainian ones have (ліс – лис; люк – лук). Palatalisation in English is a phonetic mistake.

5. The English word-final voiced consonants must not be devocalised, yet they are weak (bag, sad). The English word-final voiceless consonants are strong (night, weak, tape).

6. The English plosive voiceless /p, t, k/ are pronounced with aspiration, while there are no aspirated consonants in the Ukrainian language.

7. The English sonorants /m, n, l/ are tenser and longer than the corresponding Ukrainian ones and they are syllabic when post-tonic and preceded by a consonant: /"prIz0m, "teIb0 l /

The vowel is a speech sound in the production of which the air stream coming out of the lungs meets no obstruction on its way.

The English vowel system consists of 20 vowel phonemes, which can be classified according to the following principles:

1. According to the stability of articulation we distinguish 12 monophthongs (2 diphthongoids among them) and 8 diphthongs.

2. According to the position of the bulk of the tongue we distinguish:

- front vowels with: the fully front /i:, e, {/ and the front-retracted /I/;

- central vowels /@, 3:, V/;

- back vowels with: the back advanced /U, A:/ and the fully back /O:, P, u:/.

3. According to the tongue-height we distinguish:

- high: narrow /i:, u:/ and broad /I, U/:

- mid: narrow /e, 3:/ and broad /@, O:/;

- low: narrow /V/ and broad /{, A:, P/

4. According to the duration (length) we distinguish long and short vowel phonemes.

5. According to the degree of muscular tension we classify them into tense (all long vowels) and lax (all short vowels).

6. According to the lip position they are distinguished as labialised (rounded) and non-labialised (unrounded).

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