The system of English phonemes

Unit 3

Tasks to Unit 2

1. Learn the following terms and word combinations. Check them with the dictionary if necessary.

- phoneme

- allophone

- phone

- articulatory feature

- functional significance

- contrastive sense

- functional, material and abstract unit

- dialectical unity

- opposable

- opposition of phonemes

- phonetic environment

- phonetic context

- phonetic similarity

- principal allophones

- subsidiary allophones

- phonostylistic, dialectical and individual factors

- invariant of the phoneme

- phonological and phonetic mistakes

- broad (phonemic) transcription

- narrow (allophonic) transcription

- mentalistic or psychological view

- functional view

- abstract view

- physical view

2. Answer the following questions.

1) How did L.V.Shcherba define the phoneme?

2) What is V.A.Vassiliyev’s view of the phoneme?

3) What other definitions of the phoneme do you know?

4) What does the distinctive function of the phoneme consist in?

5) What do we call “an allophone”?

6) What do you know about principal and subsidiary allophones?

7) What are the specific features of allophones of the same phoneme?

8) What are the phones modified by?

9) What do you know about the invariant of the phoneme? Give your examples.

10) What classes do pronunciation errors fall into?

11) What do you know about the system of phonetic notations?

12) What is the difference between D.Jones’ and V.A.Vassiliev’s views on broad transcriptions?

13) Views of the phoneme are numerous. What classes do they fall into?

14) How can you characterize each of the four given classes? What are their drawbacks?

3. Give exhaustive information about the following points. Draw a scheme for each point not to miss any detail.

1) the phoneme

2) the allophone

3) the phone

4) the system of phonetic notations

5) the main trends in phoneme theory

1. Classification of consonants

2. The problem of classification

3. Modifications of sounds in speech

In the lecture we are going to give a brief and readable description of the problems which scholars face, trying to describe the English sounds from the fundamental point of view.

I’d like to remind you that there are 2 major classes of sounds, traditionally distinguished by phoneticians in any language. They are termed consonants and vowels. It would be fair to mention that the distinction is based on the auditory effect. Consonants are known to have voice and noise combined, while vowels are sounds consisting of voice only. From the articulatory point of view the difference is due to the work of speech organs. In case of vowels, no obstruction is made. In case of consonants various obstructions are made. So, consonants are characterized by so-called close articulation, i.e. by a complete, partial or intermittent blockage of the air passage by an organ or organs. The closure is formed in such a way that the air stream gives rise to audible friction. As a result consonants are sounds, which have noise as their indispensable and most defining characteristic.

So, let’s consider each class of sounds independently.

1. Consonants

On the articulatory level each component may be identified by stating 2 general facts about it:

1) what sort of articulatory posture it is formed by;

2) whereabout in the mouth (or pharynx) it is produced.

Besides there, the particular quality of a consonant may depend on other factors:

- by what articulatory organ an obstruction is made;

- how local cords work on the moment of production;

- what is the force of articulatory effect, etc.

Each sound is known to have 3 aspects: acoustic, articulatory and auditory and therefore can be studied on these 3 levels.

Trying to work out a classification of speech sounds, a scholar should have a theoretical foundation. Besides, each classification should not only aim at linguistic description, but it should be justified from the teaching point of view.

There are few ways of classification of English vowels.

According to Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Vassiliyev, primary importance should be given to the type of obstruction and the manner of production of noise.

The following scheme may be helpful:

1) Occlusive, in the production of which a complete obstruction is formed;

2) Constrictive, in the production of which an incomplete obstruction is formed.

The phonological relevance of this feature can be proved by the following oppositions:

t ea – s ea (occlusive - constrictive)

s eed – s eas (occlusive - constrictive)

p ull – f ull (occlusive - constrictive)

b oat – v ote (occlusive - constrictive)

There is another point of view on classification of English consonants. It suggests that the basic principle of classification should be the degree of noise.

Such consideration leads to dividing consonants into 2 general kinds: noise and sonorants.

The phonological relevance can be proved by the following oppositions:

b ake – m ake (noise consonant – sonorant)

v eal – w heel (noise consonant - sonorant)

The following scheme may illustrate the point of view:

Summarizing briefly we may say that both above-mentioned classifications are valid, consistent and complete, though we could assume that the latter is more preferable for teaching purposes because it’s more concise and symmetrical.

2. The place of articulation is another characteristic of English consonants. The place of articulation is determined by the active organ of speech against the point of articulation. According to this principle the English consonants are classes into:

1) labial;

2) lingual;

3) glottal.

The classification of consonants according to this principle is illustrated in the following scheme:

The oppositions are:

p an – t an (bilabial - forelingual)

w hy – l ie (bilabial - forelingual)

w eil – y ale (bilabial - mediolingual)

p ick – b ick (bilabial - backlingual)

l ess – y es (forelingual – mediolingual)

f eet – s eat (labio-dental - forelingual).

3. The next point should be made in connection with voiced-voiceless characteristic, which depends on the work of the local cords. It has long been believed that the distinction between such pairs of consonants as p-b, t-d, k-g etc. is based on the absence or presence of vibrations of the local cords. However, experimental work showed that this is not the only difference between them. There is also energy difference between them. There is also energy difference. All voiced consonants are weak (lenis) and all voiceless consonants are strong (fortis).

4. There is one more articulatory characteristic which is usually included into the set of principles, on the basis of which the English consonants are classified, that’s the position of the soft palate.

Accordingly to this principle, consonants can be oral and nasal.

The nasal occlusive sonorants m, n, N: the soft palate is lowered, allowing the escape of air into the nasal cavity.

Summarily what has been described we could state that with the majority of Russian specialists in English phonetics we consider relevant the following articulatory features:

1) type of obstruction;

2) place of obstruction and the active organ of speech;

3) force of articulation.

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