The method of distinctive oppositions

The methods of investigation in Phonetics and Phonology

Functional/ phonological

Auditory

Acoustic

Practical application of phonetics

The practical application of phonetics is great in medicine while correcting various deviations from normal human speech; it's also important to train teachers for deaf and dumb people.

Билет 2 Four aspects of a Speech Sound.

Methods of investigation in Phonetics and Phonology.

There are 4 aspects of a Speech sound:

- articulatory

Articulatory phonetics investigates the functioning of one`s speech apparatus and mechanism. It is based on the knowledge of physiology and the structure of one`s speech apparatus. While investigating the articulatory aspect of speech sounds both subjective and objective methods are employed.

Acoustic Phonetics studies the acoustic properties of sound (quantity, timber/voice quality, intensity, the pitch of the voice and temporal factor) begins with a microphone, which converts the air movement into corresponding electrical activity.

Auditory Phonetics is aimed at investigating the hearing process which is the brain activity. Auditory Phonetics and Acoustic Phonetics are very closely connected.

Functional Phonetics presupposes investigating the discriminatory (distinctive) function of speech sounds.

1) distributional method

Thus the distributional method is based on the following two laws of phonetic and allophonic distribution:

1. If more or less phonetically similar sounds occur in mutually exclusive positions they are called allophones of one and the same phoneme.
2. If more or less phonetically different sounds occur in the same phonetic contexts they are called allophones of different phonemes.

2) semantic method

It consists in finding as many pairs of words as possible which differ in one phoneme only (pen - then, box - fox). The substitution of one sound by another is called commutation test (when the meaning changes together with the change of sounds we deal with different phonemes (pen - then). If the meaning is not changed we deal with different variants of the same phoneme (believe - dark /l/ & light /l/ - different positional variants of the phoneme /l/).

Билет 3 Phoneme Theory. Mentalistic & Functional approaches.

Билет 4 Phoneme Theory. Materialistic and Abstract Approaches.

The founder of the Phoneme Theory was Boudoin-de-Courtenay. He defined the phoneme as a physical image of a sound. He also regarded phonemes as fictitious units and considered them to be only perceptions. This approach is called mentalistic/ physical.

Trubetskoy (the head of the Prague Linguistic School) defined the phoneme as a unity of phonologically relevant features. Relevant feature is the feature without which we can't distinguish one phoneme from another. This approach is called functional.

Ferdinand de Saussure viewed phonemes as the sum of acoustic impressions and articulatory movements. He also viewed phonemes as disembodied units of the language formed by the differences separating the acoustic image of one sound from the rest of the units. Language in his opinion contains nothing but differences. This approach is called abstractional/ abstract.

Phonemes can be neutralized. In this case we receive an archi-phoneme. That is a unity of relevant features common to both phonemes (e.g. wetting - wedding in AmE). In case of archiphoneme we cannot distinguish one phoneme from another. Thus the distinctive function of the phoneme is lost.]

Another kind of approach to the nature of the phoneme was expressed by a British scholar, the head of the London School of Phonology, Daniel Jones. He defined the phoneme as a family of sounds.

The American Linguistic School (Blumfield, Sapir, etc) defined the phoneme as a minimum unit of distinctive sound features and as abstractional unit.

The materialistic approach was expressed by Leo Tsherba. Academician Tsherba defined the phoneme as a real independent distinctive unit which manifests itself in the form of its allophones.

Билет 5 N. Trubetskoy’s System of Phonological Oppositions.

Distributon

Trubetskoy (the head of the Prague Linguistic School) defined the phoneme as a unity of phonologically relevant features. Relevant feature is the feature without which we can't distinguish one phoneme from another. This approach is called functional.

Distribution is a total sum of occurrences of a linguistic unit (a phoneme, a morpheme, a word, a word combination). Distribution presupposes contexts in which a segment can be used.

For example, in accordance with the distribution of the phoneme /N/ it can't be used word initially. But we may use it word medially and word finally.

Distribution

Ø contrastive

It is such a distribution in which allophones of different phonemes occur in identical phonetic context (cake - bake, bike - bite).

Ø non-contrastive

Ø complementary

It is such a distribution in which different allophones of the same phoneme occur in mutually exclusive positions (/t/: tr y, a t th e, tw ice, ke ttl e, ki tten)

Ø free variation

It is such a distribution in which different allophones of the same phoneme occur in the same phonetic context but are realized differently (let me /'lemmi/ & /'let mi/). It is determined by social and territorial stratification of language.

Билет 6 Segmental and Suprasegmental Levels in Phonetics.

Realization of Segmental Phonemes in speech. Allophones. Allotones.

Phonetics and Phonology have 2 levels of investigation: segmental and suprasegmental. Segmental level studies phonemes realized in various speech sounds. Suprasegmental level studies the distinctive features realized in syllables, stress and intonation.

The phoneme - is a minimal abstract language 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.

The allophone is the representation of the phoneme in a particular phonetic context.

2 types of allophones:

-positional - they're used in certain positions traditionally.

-combinatory - they represent the result of assimilation and accommodation.

The allotone – is a tonic allophone.

Билет 7 Syllabic structure of English. Acoustic theories.

Syllables are the smallest phonetic groups which are pronounced in English.

Acoustic theories:

-“the theory of chest pulses" admits that the number of syllables is determined by a number of expirations. (R.H. Stetson)

-"the sonarity theory" says that each sound is characterized by certain degree of sonority, an acoustic property. According to this theory open vowels possess the highest degree of sonority, voiceless fricatives and voiced plosives - the lowest. The peak of the syllable is formed by the most sonorous sounds. (O. Jespersen)

Билет 8 Syllabic structure of English. Articulatory theories.

Syllables are the smallest phonetic groups which are pronounced in English.

Articulatory theories:

-the “theory of muscular tension” (L.V.Scherba) declares that the syllable is an arc of muscular tension. It's characterized by pitch, intensity, and length.

-the "theory of loudness" is connected with different modification of the air passage in the process of speech: and arc of loudness correlating with the articulatory effort; loudness depends on the work of the speech mechanisms.

Билет 9 Syllabic structure of English. Functional approach. Juncture.

Syllables are the smallest phonetic groups which are pronounced in English.

From the functional point of view every syllable represents a chain of phonemes of varying length and is based on the contrast of its constitutes (CV, CVCV, VC).

Almost in all the languages vowels constitute the centre of the syllable. (1 function)

Functions of the syllable:

0 Constitutive function. It demonstrate the ability of the syllable to form larger units such as words, morphemes, and sentences.

1 Distinctive function. It shows that a syllable is capable of differentiating the words (an aim- a name)

Different ways of connection of sounds in the flow of speech are called juncture (2 function). Each sound has 3 stages in its pronunciation:

1) the beginning (on-stage, on-glide)

2) stop

3) off-glide

In the flow of speech these stages may merge. Usually the final stage is merged with the initial stage which is called muddy transition (or close juncture). When the final stage does not merge with the initial stage of the flowing sound we have sharp transition (or open juncture). A phonemic sign for open juncture is +. It distinguish words from phrases and also from words - "I scream - ice-cream", "peace talks - pea stalks".

Билет 10 Word accent and its Phonological status.

Word-stress – is a greater prominence given to one or more syllables in a word, as compared with the other syllables of the same word.

The leading English phoneticians consider that stress is marked in English by force, pitch, quantity, and quality with the prevalence of dynamic and tonic features.

As to the place of word-stress, it may be free and fixed.

Thereare 3 degree of stress in English: the primary, the secondary, the tertiary.

There are 3 functions performed by word-stress:

2 constituent function - word-stress helps to organize sound continuum into words;

3 recognitive function - word-stress helps to identify syllables as an accentual pattern of a word;

4 distinctive function - word-stress helps to distinguish the meaning of words: ‘import – im’port

Билет 11. Prosody. The Main Functions of Intonation. Terminal Tone.

Prosody (Intonation) is a complex unity of sentence stress, rhythm, tempo, pauses, speech melody and voice quality or timbre. Each syllable in a sense group is pronounced on a certain pitch level and bears a definite amount of loudness. Pitch movements are inseparably connected with loudness; together with the tempo of speech they form intonation patterns. Intonation patterns serve to actualize sense groups.

The sense group is a group of words which is semantically and syntactically complex.

In Phonetics actualized sense groups are called intonation groups.

Intonation patterns containing a number of syllables consist of the following parts:

- the prehead

- the head (the 1^st accented syllable)

-

terminal tone

the scale (begins with the 1^st acc.syll.)

- the nucleus (the last acc.syll.) - is the most important part of the intonation pattern.

- the tail - conveys no particular information

The parts of intonation patterns can be combined in various ways expressing different meanings and attitudes.

The more the height of the pitch contrasts within the intonation pattern, the more emphatic the intonation group is. The number of possible combinations is more than 100. But not all of them are equally important. That's why the number may be reduced to fewer combinations that are important. Thus Prof. O'Connor gives 10 important tone-groups. Each intonation group has a communicative center (a semantic center). It conveys the most important piece of information. which is usually something new.

The terminal tone arranges the intonation group both semantically and phonetically.

The functions of intonation:

• constitutive (it presupposes the integrative function on the one hand when intonation arranges intonation groups into bigger syntactic units: sentences, syntactic wholes and texts)
• delimitative (it manifests itself when intonation divides texts, syntactic wholes and sentences units that is intonation groups).
• distinctive It is realized when intonation serves:

→ to distinguish communicative types of sentences (the communicatively distinctive function)

→ the actual meaning of a sentence (the semantically-distinctive function)

→ the speaker’s attitude to the contents of the sentence, to the listener and to the topic of conversation (the attitudinally-distinctive function)

→ the style of speech (the stylistically distinctive function)

the syntactically distinctive function (one and the same syntactic unit may be divided into a different number of intonation groups. This division may be important for the meaning).

→ the function of differentiating between the theme and the rheme of an utterance.

The rheme is the communicative center of an utterance. The theme is the rest of an utterance.

Each component of intonation has its distinctive function.

Билет 12. Sentence-Stress and its Phonological Status

Sentence-stress – is a greater prominence given to one or more words in a sentence as compared with the other words of the same sentence.

Functions:

1. Constitutive. SS organizes intonation patterns semantically and syntactically. It also helps to single out the communicative center and other important items of the utterance. Nominal words are usually accented, and form words are usually unstressed. Although form words may be accented or stressed in certain structural types of sentences, in certain positions in a sentence they may be emphasized logically.

It "is important.

It is im"portant.

We distinguish three types of SS:

· Normal

Normal Accent (Normal SS) arranges the utterance phonetically, renders the meaning and indicates the nucleus of the communicative center which in this case is associated with the last notional word.

· Logical

Logical Stress presupposes the shifting of the nucleus from the last notional word in a sense group to another word which we emphasize logically.

· Emphatic

Both Normal & Logical SS's may be unemphatic & emphatic. Emphatic accent implies the increase of the effort of expression.

2. The distinctive function of SS. Intonation patterns differ primarily in respect to the position of the nucleus of the communicative center. The opposition of the intonation patterns is capable of fulfilling:

→ the syntactically distinctive function - the number of communicative centers indicates the number of intonation groups. In this case the opposition of intonation (accentuation) patterns fulfills this function.

(Do you know his schoolmate, | Harry?)

→ the semantically distinctive function – is realized in the opposition of different accentuation patterns:

You forget your"self (You neglect yourself).

You for"get yourself (Ты забываешься).

→ the attitudinally distinctive function – may be demonstrated by changing the accentuation pattern of the sentence.

What shall I do?

(If ‘shall’ is unaccented, it is an auxiliary verb – Что же делать?; if it is the nucleus of the communicative center, it functions as a modal verb and here the meaning is changed (insistent).

→ together with pitch accent (SS) also fulfills the function of dividing a sentence into theme and rheme.

13 билет Rhythm, Tempo, Pausation, Voice quality (timbre) & their main functions

Rhythm –is the regularity of stressed syllables in time. It, also, organizes words in the rhythmic groups.

Function:

-constitutative function

-attitudinally function

-stylistic distinctive function

Tempo - is the rate of speech with which syllables are pronounced. It can be - slow, normal, fast. It is not constant, it changes and shows the relative semantic importance of a sense-group and the speaker's emotions.

Function

-semantical distinctive function

-stylistically distinctive function

Pauses - are the moments of silence in the flow of speech.

Function

Pauses are normally made to take breath at points where they are necessary or allowable from the point of view of the meaning of the sentence.

Pauses may be short (between sense-groups), long (to delimit one sentence from another), very long (to separate the paragraphs).

Functions:

-syntactically distinctive function (divide the sentence on the sense-groups)

-stylistically distinctive function:

1) syntactical

2) infatic (in public speech)

3) hesitation (unprepared speech):

a) empty (silence)

b) filled (with some sounds…mmm..ooommg)

-semantically distinctive function

-attitudinally

Voice quality (or timbre) – is the emotional colouring of the speaker’s voice.

Stylistic distinctive function (different types in different communicative situations)

It may be husky, resonant, tense, hush, breathy etc.

Билет 14 Distinctive and non-distinctive features of English vowels.

Vowels have 2 main characteristics - vowel length and vowel quality. Vowel quality is distinctive, regardless of the position of the vowel. Vowel length is dependent on the phonetic context, in particular on the following consonant.

Distinctive features:

-horizontal movement of the tongue:

1) front

2) front-retracted

3) central

4) back

5) back-advanced

-vertical movement of the tongue:

1)open (narrow and broad)

2)mid (narrow and broad)

3)close (narrow and broad)

-the stability of articulation:

1)monophthong

2)diphthong

3)diphthongoid

Non-distinctive features:

-the position of the lips

-character of the end

-tenseness

-length

Билет 15 Distinctive and non-distinctive features of English сonsonants

Distinctive features:

-strength - fortis (strong) and lenis (weak)

-place of articulation:

1) labial:

- bilabial

- labio-dental

2) lingual

- forelingual:

a) dental

b) alveolar

c) post-alveolar

d) palatal- alveolar

- medialingual

- backlingual

3) glottal

-manner of production of noise:

1) noise:

- occlusive

- constrictive

- occlusive-constrictive

2) sonorants:

- occlusive

- constrictive:

a) medial

b) lateral

- position of the soft palate – oral, nasal.

Non-distinctive features:

5 Degree of noise

6 Force of articulation

Билет 16 Phonostylistics. Segmental phonostylistic pecularities. Stylistic variations.

Phonostylistic - is a branch of linguistics, which analyses phonetic phenomena from a stylistic point of view. (a bridge between stylistics and phonetics)

Extra-linguistics functions: aim of communication, age, gender, personality, status, occupation, social identity, emotional state

Stylistic variations:

Some ethnic variations show us pronunciation of different ethnic groups.

Am-AfroAm-Spanish

is another example

allophones and stylistic variations are examples of non-contrastive distribution

allophones (complementary)

Styl.variations (free variation distribution)

Билет 17 Phonostylistics. Suprasegmental phonostylistic pecularities. Intonational styles.

Phonostylistic – is a branch of linguistics, which analyses phonetic phenomena from a stylistic point of view.

Intonational styles:

Informational style - is the most neutral among styles, which we employ in educational descriptive narratives, press reporting and broadcasting. In these texts loudness normal. The rate of speech does not vary greatly, the tempo is marked as moderato, rhythm is organized properly, pauses are not prolongued. Timbre-characteristics of such speech are not emotional because the speaker tries to be objective. Sense-groups are not complicated in their structure. Terminal tones are rather categoric

Academic style characterizes lectures, scientific discussions, conferences. It's used to deliver the message to the audience, to establish a contact with the listeners. The speaker must sound authoritative. Terminal tones are compound, there's a great number of high categoric falls. Loudness may be increased, sometimes strongly, pauses may be prolongued, rhythm is organized properly.

Publicistic style. The aim of the speaker is to persuade & influence the audience. Speech of this kind is always prepared. There are great contrasts of pitch, loudness, tempo & timbre. As one of the aims of the speaker is to entertain his listeners he must combine publicistic style with declamatory, informational, and conversational. Speakers have the right to increase their loudness greatly, to break the limits of their voice range, they may whisper, they can make prolongued pauses.

Declamatory style. It mostly concerns theatrical activities, screen productions, TV and all sorts of recitations. Loudness varies according to the type of emotion rendered and the listeners, the rate of speech is deliberately slow, pauses are rather long, emphatic, the rhythm is properly organized the contrast between accented and unaccented segments is not great, the terminal tones contain a lot of categoric low and high falls in final and initial intonation groups.

Conversational style. This style is very frequent because a lot of English speaking people use it in their everyday speech. Pauses are frequent – mmm, hm, brr, kh as well as laughs, giggles, noises. The intonation groups are rather short, tone groups are often broken, the tempo varies greatly. Though the natural speed is very high, pauses make our speech slower.

Билет 18 National varieties of English pronunciation.

The English language is the mother tongue of several countries, such as Great Britain, the USA, Australia, New Zealand. The English language is also used by the greater part of the population of Canada and the Republic of South Africa.

Language has its own vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation.

Dialects have no literally normalized form.

Variants possess it.

The principal varieties of English are divided into British and American types. British English is the basis for the varieties spoken in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, and South Africa. American English includes chiefly the English of Canada and the United States.

Certain characteristics of Canadian English are closer to British English, while certain characteristics if Irish English are closer to North American English. And there are many differences between standard British English and standard Indian English. But we can still make a number of generalizations about British-based varieties and American-based varieties, provided we recognize that neither group is completely homogeneous.

Билет 19 British English. RP. British dialects.

Traditionally, schools and universities in Europe and in many other parts of the world - have taught that variety of English which is often referred to as "British English".

The Received Pronunciation accent has its origins in the south-east of England but is currently a social accent associated with the BBC, the Public Schools in England and with the members of the upper classes.

Dialects of English differ from each other first of all in sound system. Every dialect is a local dialect: it is rooted in a particular region of the English-speaking world. I can name such dialects as London dialect (Cockney), Bradford (Yorkshire), Edinburgh (Scotland), Newcastle (the North East), Liverpool (Merseyside), Belfast (Northern Ireland), etc.

Билет 20 American English. General American.

American dialects.

American English pronunciation is characterized by a greater variety of standard forms than British English. In the USA 3 main types of cultivated speech are recognized: the Eastern type, the Southern type and Western type or GA.

The Eastern type is spoken in New England, and in NY city.

The Southern type is used in the South and South East of the USA. It possesses a striking distinctive feature - vowel drawl, which is a specific way of pronouncing vowels.

The most widespread type of American standard pronunciation is General American. GA is the form of speech used by radio and TV and also in all forms of official intercourse, it's the language of educated people.

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