Types of transcription

THE PHONEMIC INVENTORY OF ENGLISH.

The 1^st problem of phonological analysis is to establish the phonemes in definite L. There are 2 methods to do that: the distributional and the semantic method. The distributional method is based on the phonological rule that different phonemes can freely occur in one and the same position, while allophones of one and the same phoneme occur in different positions, and, cannot be phonologically opposed to each other. This method of analysis is a purely formal method of identifying the phonemes of a L. This is why this method of identification of the phonemes in a L works even when one does not know the L at all. The semantic method is based on phonological rule that phoneme can distinguish words when opposed to another phoneme or 0 in an identical phonetic position. The SM of identification of the phonemes in a L attaches great significance to meaning. The investigator studies the function of sounds by collecting minimal pairs of words in L. If 2 SS distinguish words with different meanings, they form a phonological opposition and are realizations of 2 different phonemes. If not, they are allophones of one and the same phoneme. But to indentify all phonemes of a L is not always a simple thing. Time and again there emerge difficulties as to the phonemic status of certain sounds. Such difficulties arise when one deals with weakened V occurring in unstressed position. It primarily concerns the shwa V in E with occurs only un unstressed position. N. Trubetzkoy worked out a number of rules which help to determine whether a sound of a complex nature is monophonemic. The main rules which help state that, firstly, a phoneme is indivisible, as no syllabic division can occur within a phoneme. Secondly, a phoneme is produced by one articulatory effort. Thirdly, the duration of a phoneme should not exceed that of other phonemes in the L.

Phonology deals with the problem of representing speech visually. This problem is closely connected with the problems of phonological analysis, because any system of writing is not a simple record of speech utterances, it is always a generalization about them. A transcription, which is a visual system of notation of the sound structure of speech, is also a generalization of a great variety of sounds that are uttered by speakers of a given L. The extent of the generalization may vary. One can classify the sounds into phonemes disregarding the different degrees of aspiration, labialization, length, palatalization and other phonologically irrelevant features of the sounds. On the other hand, one can differentiate between all those features and classify them as well. There may be different types of transcr depending upon the degree of exactness required. It is accuracy only in the representation of the phonemes of the L that is required, the transcr should provide each phoneme with a distinctive symbol to avoid ambiguity. Such a transcr called phonemic transcr. It contains as many symbols as a there are phonemes in the L. If it is exactness in the differentiation of the allophones of each phoneme that is required, the transcr should provide either different symbols for each allophone, or introduce special marks to represent the different features of the allophones. Such a ranscr we call a phonetic. A PHT is essential for scientific and practical use. The modern pHT thqt is most widely used now is the Int. PHT devised by the Int PH Assotiation in 1904. This transcr. Is a ph alphabet which may be applied to most of L. Phonology has developed rapidly and made a profound study of the functions of sounds in most of the living L. But so far it has not as yet fully examined the functions of most of the prosodic features, such as speech melody, tempo of speech, rhythm and others.

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