English vowels. Problems of their phonological analysis and classification

Phonetics as science and its branches. Phonetics at the intersection of linguistic studies.Phonetics and English language teaching.Theoretical and practical importance of research in the field of phonetics.

Phonetics – a branch of linguistics which studies the speech sounds, comprising segmental sounds (vowels, consonants) and prosodic phenomena (pitch, stress, tempo, rhythm, pauses).Phonetics – 1) studies the ways in which the sounds are organized into a system of units and the variation of the units in all types and styles of spoken language; 2) studies the acoustic properties of sounds, the physiological basis of sound production and the sound phenomena that reveal the individual peculiarities of the speaker.Branches of Phonetics:

1. Articulatory; 2. Acoustic; 3.Auditory (perceptual); 4. Linguistic(functional); 5. Special; 6.General; 7. Theoretical (Applied); 8. Practical; 9.Comparative; 10. Descriptive

11. Historical (Evolutionary).

Articulatory Phonetics – branch of phonetics that deals with the speech process from the production side and gives the classification of sounds on an articulatory basis.

Acoustic Phonetics – branch of phonetics that is concerned with the study of the physical nature of speech sounds and gives the acoustic parameters of sounds in connected speech.

Perceptual (Auditory)Phonetics – branch of phonetics that occupies itself with the study of man’s perception of segmental sounds, pitch variation, loudness and duration.

Linguistic Phonetics (Phonology) – branch of phonetics that is concerned with the study of speech sounds from the functional point of view.

General phonetics – branch of phonetics that studies what types of speech sounds exist in various languages of the world,how they are produced; it determines the nature types and role of word accent, of intonation in many languages.

Special phonetics – branch of phonetics that studies the contemporary phonetic system of a given language.

Historical phonetics – branch of phonetics that traces the changes in phonetic system of a given language at different stages in its historical development.

Comparative phonetics – branch of phonetics that studies the correlation between the phonetic system of two or more languages.

Practical phonetics – branch of phonetics that studies the substance, the material form of phonetic phenomena in relation to meaning.

Theoretical phonetics – branch of phonetics which is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language.

Phonetics stands at the intersection of many disciplines which are concerned in any way with the study of speech.

The linkage of phonetics with linguistic sciences gave birth to the following branches of phonetics: phonostylistics, sociophonetics, phonosemantics, phonotactics, cognitive phonetics, dialectology. The connection of phonetics with non-linguistic sciences gave birth to new sciences, such as technical acoustics, psycho-phonetics, socio-phonetics (which studies the peculiarities of pronunciation of definite social groups of speakers), pragma-phonetics and other phonetic sciences which contribute considerably to the formation of speechology – the science of speech.

Phonetics has practical application in language teaching, medicine (speech pathology), logopedics, surdo-pedagogics, in the field of machine translation, communication engineering, etc. On the basis of the acoustic data we can solve problems like a) the communication between "man" and "machine", b) the construction and operation of a speech-synthesizing machine, c) the improvement in telephonic systems.

2. Phonological system of English. The hierarchy of phonological units.Phoneme as the smallest discrete phonological unit and its functions.

Phonology,or functional phonetics is a linguistic branch of phonetics. It studies sounds as units, which serve people for communicative purposes.Hierarchical relationship of phonological units may be represented in the following way: feature~ phoneme~ mora ~syllable~rhythmic group (or foot, or phonetic word)~intonation group~ intonation pattern~ utterance~text.

The phoneme is the smallest indivisible language unit which is capable of distinguishing one word from another word of the same language or one grammatical form of the same word, and which exists in the speech of all the members of a definite language community. Every phoneme is represented in speech by its several variants or allophones. Allophones (variants) of a certain phoneme are speech sounds which are realizations of one and the same phoneme and, therefore, cannot distinguish words.So, the phoneme is an abstraction and a generalization. It is abstracted from its variants that exist in actual speech and is characterized by features that are common to all its variants. On the other hand, the phoneme is material, real, objective because in speech it in represented by concrete material sounds. It correlates with its allophones as the universal correlates with the individual. The phoneme can be regarded as a dialectical unity of the material and abstracted aspects.

Phonemes perform several functions:

(1) constitutive for they constitute morphemes, words;

(2) distinctive, because they distinguish one word from another;

(3) Identificatory, or recognitive since they identify the right use of the allophone of a certain phoneme.

3. Basic methods of phonological analysis. Phonological rules.The system of phonological oppositions in English.

Basic methods of phonological analysis are:

- Distributional method which 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, therefore, cannot be phonologically opposed to each other. Distributional method means to group all the sounds, pronounced by native speakers into phoneme according to the laws of phonemic and allophonic distribution:

1. allophones of different phonemes occur in the same phonetic context. In this case their distribution is contrastive.

2. allophones of the same phoneme never occur in the same phonetic context. In this case their distribution is complementary.

- Semantic method is used in establishing the set of phonemes of a language which is based on the phonological rule that a phoneme can distinguish words when opposed to another phoneme in identical phonetic context.It consists in a systematic substitution of one sound for another in order to find out in which cases where the phonetic context remains the same such replacing leads to a change. This procedure is called the commutation test. It consists in finding minimal pairs of words and their grammatical forms. Minimal pairs are useful for establishing the phonemes of the language. Thus, a phoneme can only perform its distinctive function if it is opposed to another phoneme in the same position. Such an opposition is called phonological.

Let us consider the classification of phonological oppositions worked out by N.S.Trubetzkoy. It is based on the number of distinctive articulatory features underlying the opposition.

If the opposition is based on a single difference in the articulation of two speech sounds, it is a single phonological opposition:

e.g. bilabial vs. forelingual (pen – ten, mat – sat, wet – let).

If the sounds in distinctive oppositions have two differences in their articulation, the opposition is double one, or a sum of two single oppositions: e.g. bilabial vs. forelingual, fortis vs. lenis (pen – den).

If there are three articulatory differences, the opposition is triple one, or a sum of three single oppositions:

e.g. bilabial vs. forelingual, occlusive vs. constrictive, fortis – lenis (pay – they).

Another classification of oppositions is represented in the following way:

The oppositions based on the force of articulation:

fortis vs. lenis (two – do, back – bag, etc.)

The oppositions based on the active organ of speech:

bilabial vs. forelingual (pen – ten, mat – sat, wet – let)

bilabial vs. mediolingual (wail – Yale)

bilabialvs.backlingual (bay – gay)

forelingual vs. mediolingual (less – yes)

forelingual vs. backlingual (take – cake)

forelingual vs. pharyngal (they – hay, see – he)

labiodental vs. forelingual (fat – sat, van – than)

The oppositions based on the type of obstruction:

plosive vs. fricative (pen – when, berry – very)

plosive vs. affricate (till – chill, do – Jew)

plosive vs. sonorant (bad – mad, desk – neck)

fricative vs. sonorant (vine – wine)

fricative vs. affricate (share – chair)

constrictive sonorant vs. occlusive sonorant (we – me, low – no)

flat narrowing vs. round narrowing (thing – sing)

unicentral vs. bicentral (see – she, thing – shy)

4. The distinctive features theory. The system of phonological oppositions.From the history of phoneme theory.Schools of phonology.

Every sound is characterised by a number of phonologically relevant distinctive features studied within Feature theory. Distinctive features make up a small set of important differences (or contrasting components, or archi-units or archi-segments according to N. Chomsky and M. Halle) between certain phonemes: vowels and some consonants, plosives and affricates, nasal and oral consonants, and so on. These differences are known as distinctive features.

The problem of the phonological analysis is the identification of the inventory of distinctive features on which all the phonological oppositions are based.

The system of phonological oppositions is represented in the following way:

The oppositions based on the force of articulation:

fortis vs. lenis (two – do, back – bag, etc.)

The oppositions based on the active organ of speech:

bilabial vs. forelingual (pen – ten, mat – sat, wet – let)

bilabial vs. mediolingual (wail – Yale)

bilabialvs.backlingual (bay – gay)

forelingual vs. mediolingual (less – yes)

forelingual vs. backlingual (take – cake)

forelingual vs. pharyngal (they – hay, see – he)

labiodental vs. forelingual (fat – sat, van – than)

The oppositions based on the type of obstruction:

plosive vs. fricative (pen – when, berry – very)

plosive vs. affricate (till – chill, do – Jew)

plosive vs. sonorant (bad – mad, desk – neck)

fricative vs. sonorant (vine – wine)

fricative vs. affricate (share – chair)

constrictive sonorant vs. occlusive sonorant (we – me, low – no)

flat narrowing vs. round narrowing (thing – sing)

unicentral vs. bicentral (see – she, thing – shy).

The basis of phonology is the phoneme theory, created by I. Baudouin de Courtenay, later developed by L. V. Shcherba, N. Krushevsky, L. R. Zinder, M. S. Matusevitch (St. Petersburg Phonological School), A. A. Reformatskiy, V. N. Sidorov, R. I. Avanesov, F. Yakovlev (Moscow Phonological School). The main difference between these schools was in the conception of the phoneme: the representatives of St. Petersburg Phonological School proceeded from the word, while Moscow linguists proceeded from the morpheme.

D.Jones, J.Wells (London School of Linguistics): phoneme is a group of sounds united by similar features, it is a family of sounds consisting of an important sound together with other related sounds (the physical view on the phoneme).

Ferdinand de Saussure, (Swiss Linguistic School): the phoneme is the sum of acoustic impressions, a minimum unit of distinctive sound features.

I. O. Baudouin de Courtenay: the morphological and psychological or mentalistic approaches to the phoneme theory. He defined the phoneme as an ideal psychical or mental image or model of a sound the speaker seeks to reproduce.

L. V. Scherba (St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Phonological school): the phoneme is a real, independent, distinctive unit, which manifests itself in the form of its actual realisations – allophones (variants). The principal points of L.V.Scherba’s phoneme theory are:(1) the theory of phonemic variants, which represent phonemes in actual speech; (2) the theory of phonemic independence, under which he meant the capability of phonemes to express meaning of their own or to express emotions.

E. Sapir and L. Bloomfield (The American Phonological School): the phoneme is a minimum unit of distinctive sound-features.

L. Hjelmslev, H. J. Uldall (The Copenhagen Linguistic Circle): the phoneme is essentially independent of the acoustic and physiological properties of speech sounds. (the abstract view on a phoneme).

N. S. Trubetzkoy (1890-1938) and R. Jakobson (1896-1982) (The Prague Phonological School): the phoneme as a unity or bundle of the phonologically relevant features of a sound (the functional view on the phoneme). The main points of N. S. Trubetzkoy’s theory are: (1) the separation of phonology from phonetics; (2) the theory of phonological oppositions; (3) the theory of arch-phoneme, which is defined as a unity of relevant features common to two phonemes.

5. Modifications of phonemes in the speech continuum. Classification of allophones.

Every phoneme displays a vast range of variation sin connected speech. We usually distinguish idiolectal, diaphonic and allophonic variation.

Idiolectal variation embraces the individual peculiarities of articulating sounds, caused by the shape and form of the speaker’s speech organs and by his articulatory habits. Idiolectal variation may cause difficulties in communication, but it enables people to identify the speech.

Diaphonic variation affects the quality and quantity of particular phonemes. It is caused by definite historical tendencies active in certain localities. Diaphonic variants inform the listener about the speaker’s origin and his social standing.

Allophonic variation is conditioned by phonetic position and phonetic environment.

Modifications of consonants.

Assimilation – modification in the articulation of a consonant under the influence of a neighbouring consonant. 1) assimilation affecting the place of articulation:

t, d ˃ dental before [ɵ, ð]: at the said that;

t, d ˃ post-alveolar before [r]: tree, true, dream, the third room;

s, z ˃ post-alveolar before [ʃ]: does she, this shop;

t, d ˃ affricates before [j]: graduate, could you;

m ˃ labio-dental before [f]: symphony;

n ˃ dental before [ɵ]: seventh;

n ˃ velar before [k]: thank.

2) assimilation affecting the manner of articulation:

Loss of plosion: glad to see you, great trouble;

Nasal plosion: sudden, at night;

Lateral plosion: at last, settle.

3) assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords:

Voiced ˃ voiceless: newspaper.

Assimilation can be of three degrees: 1) complete when the articulation of the assimilated consonant fully coincides with that of the assimilating one; 2) partial when the assimilated consonant retains its main phonemic features and becomes only partly similar in some feature of the articulation to the assimilating sound 3) intermediate between complete and partial when the assimilated consonant changes into a different sound, but does not coincide with the assimilating consonant.

According to its direction assimilation can be of three types: 1) progressive when the assimilated consonant is influenced by the preceding one; 2) regressive when the preceding consonant is affected by the one following it; 3) reciprocal, or double when two adjacent consonants influence each other.

Accommodation is the term used to denote the interchanges of “vowel + consonant type” or “consonant + vowel type”.

Lip position may be affected by the accommodation, the interchange of consonant + vowel type. Labialisation of consonants is traced under the influence of the neighbouring back vowels: pool, moon, rude, soon, cool.

The position of the soft palate is also involved in the accommodation. Slight nazalisation as the result of prolonged lowering of the soft palate is sometimes traced in vowels under the influence of the neighbouring sonorants [m], [n]: and, morning, men, come in.

Elision (complete loss of sounds):

Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns and the forms of the auxiliary verb have.

[l] tends to be lost when preceded by [ɔ:]: always, already, all right.

In cluster of consonants: next day, just one.

Inserting of sounds:

Linking [r]: car owner.

Intrusive [r].

Modifications of vowels.

Reduction (quantitative, qualitative).

Accommodation:

Positional length of vowels: knee – need – neat.

Nazalisation of vowels: preceded or followed by [n,m]: never, then, men.

Allophones – the actual sounds which represent the phoneme in a language. Allophones of a phoneme never occur in identical positions and are said to be in complementary distribution.

Free variation (arbitrary) – when allophones of a phoneme occur in the same environment, but without distinctive force they are in free variation.

Principal (typical) allophone – the one that is free from the influence of neighbouring speech sounds and other purely phonetic factors like absence of stress etc.; represents the phoneme in its strong position. Principal allophones are vowels under the stress and consonants which are used at the beginning of words.

Subsidiary which can be subdivided into combinatory (the ones which appear as a result of assimilation, accommodation, reduction etc.) and positional (those which appear in definite positions, e.g. /l/ and positional variants of vowels). These allophones represent the phoneme in all its phonotactic weak positions.

Specific allophones – the allophones that represent the phoneme in its free position; the variants which undergo changes because of the phoneme position.

6. The articulation basis of English and that of the student’s mother tongue.

The summary of all main principles of a certain l-ge is called the articulation basis. The main points of difference between the articulation basis of English and Russian 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 Russian. They are mostly spread or neutral(flat articulation).

3. forelingual English consonants(they are 12) have an apical articulation: they are articulated with the tongue-tip against the alveoli /t,d; s,z; sh,g; t, tʃ, ʤ; n,l/ or against the teeth /θ, ð/

4. all English consonants are hard (except for /ʃ, ʒ/ and have no palatalized oppositions while the Russian ones have (был-быль, кон-конь). Palatalization in English is phonetic mistake.

5. the English word-final voiced consonants must not be devocalized (which is a norm for Russian l-ge), 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 which is foreign to Russian.

7. the English sonorants /m,n,l/ are tenser and longer than the corresponding Russian ones and they are syllabic when post-tonic and preceded by a consonant.

7. The system of English phonemes. Types of transcription: broad and narrow. Basic problems of phonetic transcription.The International Phonetic Alphabet.

Speech sounds are traditionally classed into two large groups: vowels and consonants. The main principles of such a division from the articulatory point of view are (1) the presence or absence of obstruction; (2) the distribution of muscular tension; the force of the air stream coming from the lungs.

Types of phonetic transcription.

Phonemic (or broad) and phonetic transcription. The term phonemic or broad transcription (or phonological) is used to designate a transcription that uses a simple set of phonemes representing one of the phonemes of the language without any of the details of the pronunciation that are predictable by phonological rule thus giving a limited amount of phonetic information. In phonemic transcription we use the slant brackets to indicate phonemic symbols / /. A phonetic transcription (or allophonic, or narrow) presents the full range of phonetic symbols if these are required; which carry a lot of details about the precise phonetic quality of sounds. The square brackets [ ] indicate phonetic (allophonic) symbols. A transcription that shows all the rule-governed alternation of the sounds is called a completely systematic phonetic transcription.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech pathologists and therapists, singers, actors, lexicographers, artificial language enthusiasts (conlangers), and translators.

The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are distinctive in spoken language: phonemes, intonation, and the separation of words and syllables. To represent additional qualities of speech such as tooth gnashing, lisping, and sounds made with a cleft palate, an extended set of symbols called the Extensions to the IPA may be used.

IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two basic types, letters and diacritics. For example, the sound of the English letter ‹ t › may be transcribed in IPA with a single letter, [t], or with a letter plus diacritics, [t̺ʰ], depending on how precise one wishes to be. Occasionally letters or diacritics are added, removed, or modified by the International Phonetic Association. As of 2008, there are 107 letters, 52 diacritics, and four prosodic marks in the IPA.

8. English consonants. Problems of their phonological analysis and classification.

24 English consonants are classified according to the following principles:

1) the type of obstruction and the manner of producing noise:

Occlusive (plosives: p, b, t, d, k, g; nasal sonorants: m, n)

Constrictives (fricatives: f, v, s, z, h; central: w, r, j; lateral: l).

Occlusive-constrictive (affricates) /ʧ, dʒ/

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

a) labial (bilabial: p, b, m, w; labio-dental: f, v)

b) forelingual (alveolar: t, d, n, s, z, l; postalveolar: r)

c).medio-ling. (palatal: t, d)

d). back-ling. (velar: k, g)

e). pharyngeal (h)

3) the presence or absence of voice:

voiced

voiceless

5) the force of articulation:

lenis

fortis

6) the position of the soft palate: oral nasal

Problems of phonemic analysis: consonants. There exists an opinion that the affricates [ʧ] and [dʒ] are, phonetically, composed of a plosive followed by a fricative. It is possible to treat each of the part as a single consonant phoneme according to which these sounds have distributions similar to other consonants, while other combinations of plosive plus fricative do not. [ʧ] and [dʒ] can be found initially, medially, and finally; and no other combination has such a wide distribution.

It is possible to say that they are composed of two phonemes each – either /t/ plus /ʃ/ or /d/ plus /ʒ/ – all of which are already established as independent phonemes of English. N.Trubezkoy worked out the rules to determine whether a sound of a complex nature is monophonemic. They are as follows: (1) a phoneme is indivisible, since no syllabic division can occur within a phoneme; (2) a phoneme is produced by one articulatory effort; (3) the duration of a phoneme should not exceed that of other phonemes in the language. Thus [ʧ] and[dʒ]are monophonemic since they are pronounced by one articulatory effort, their duration does not exceed the duration of /t/ or /d/ and there is no syllabic division within these sounds.

As for /tr/ and /dr/ their phonemic status remains undecided. Prof. D.Jones called them affricates. Still most phoneticians regard /tr/ and /dr/ as biphonemic clusters.

The nasal /ɳ/ also raises a lot of analysis problems: a) /ɳ/ is the allophone of /n/ that occurs when it precedes the phoneme /g/, e.g. meeting. But in the word hungry both sounds /ɳ/ and /g/ are pronounced. It means that the /ɳ/ cannot be the allophone of /n/. Besides this phoneme also appears when it is followed by the phoneme /k/.

The following 20 vowel phonemes are distinguished in RP: /e, ɪ, ʌ, ə, i, ɔ, u, u:, ɜ:, i:, ɔ:, a:, au, ei, iə, ai, eə, oə, uə/. Principles of classification provide the basis for the establishment of the following distinc­tive oppositions:

1. Stability of articulation

1.1 monophthongs vs. diphthongs

bit - bait, kit - kite, John - join, debt - doubt

1.2 diphthongs vs. diphthongoids

bile - bee, boat - boot, raid - rude

2 Position of the tongue

2.1. horizontal movement of the tongue

a) front vs. central

cab - curb, bed - bird

b) back vs. central

pull - pearl, cart - curl, call - curl

2.2. vertical movement of the tongue

a) close (high) vs. mid-open (mid)

bid - bird, week - work

b) open (low) vs. mid-open (mid)

lark - lurk, call - curl, bard - bird

3. Position of the lips

rounded vs. unrounded

don - darn, pot – part.

The English diphthongs are the object of a sharp phonological contro­versy: are the English diphthongs biphonemic sound complexes or composite monophonemic entities?

Diphthongs are defined differently by different authors. One definition is based on the ability of a vowel to form a syllable. Since in a diphthong only one element serves as a syllabic nucleus, a diphthong is a single sound. Another definition of a diphthong as a single sound is based on the instability of the second element. The 3^d group of scientists defines a diphthong from the accen­tual point of view: since only one element is accented and the other is unaccented, a diphthong is a single sound.

D. Jones defines diphthongs as unisyllabic gliding sounds in the articulation of which the organs of speech start from one position and then glide to another position.

N.S. Trubetzkoy states that a diphthong should be (a) unisyllabic, that is the parts of a diph­thong cannot belong to two syllables; (b) monophonemic with gliding articulation; (c) its length should not exceed the length of a single phoneme.

In accordance with the principle of structural simplicity and economy American descriptivists liquidated the diphthongs in English as unit phonemes.

The same phonological criteria may be used for justifying the monophonemic treatment of the English diphthongs as those applicable to the English affricates. They are the cri­teria of articulatory, morphophonological (and in the case of diphthongs, also syllabic) indivisibili­ty, commutability and duration. Applied to the English diphthongs, all these criteria support the view of their monophonemic status.

Problem of length. There are long vowel phonemes in English and short. However, the length of the vowels is not the only distinctive feature of minimal pairs like Pete - pit, beet - bit, etc. In other words the difference between i: - I, u:-u is not only quantitative but also qualitative, which is conditioned by different positions of the bulk of the tongue. For example, in words bead - bid not only the length of the vowels is different but in the [i:] articulation the bulk of the tongue oc­cupies more front and high position then in the articulation of [1].

Qualitative difference is the main relevant feature that serves to differentiate long and short vowel phonemes because quantitative characteristics of long vowels depend on the position they oc­cupy in a word:

a) they are the longest in the terminal position: bee, bar, her;

b) they are shorter before voiced consonants: bead, hard, cord;

c) they are the shortest before voiceless consonants: beet. cart.

10. Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit. The structure and types of syllables in English, their graphical representation. Functions of the syllable.

1. Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit.

Speech can be broken into minimal pronounceable units into which sounds show a tendency to cluster or group. These smallest phonetic groups are generally given the name of syllables. Being the smallest pronounceable units, syllables form morphemes, words and phrases. Each of these units is characterized by a certain syllabic structure. Thus a meaningful language unit phonetically may be considered from the point of view of syllable formation and syllable division. The syllable is a complicated phenomenon and like a phoneme it can be studied on four levels – articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional. The complexity of the phenomenon gave rise to many theories.

Any phonetic description, segmental or suprasegmental, is impossible without a clear view of the syllable and its role as a linguistic signifier. The syllable is speech macroelement in its relation to sounds, of which it is composed, being not just their sequence, but a complex. It is a well-known fact, that the syllable is not split into separate sounds, whether acoustically, perceptively or in articulation. They make up a whole formation, in­fluence each other differently, as compared with the sounds of the neighbouring syllables. On the other hand, syllable is a speech microelement used to form larger speech units: rhythmic and intona­tion groups, utterances and texts. Prosodic structures of syllables are connected within the rhythmic group just the way sounds interplay within the syllable.

2.. The structure and types of syllables in English, their graphical representation.

There are following main types of syllables in English:

1) V – uncovered open (err), 2) VC – uncovered closed (eat), 3) CVC – covered closed (pit), 4) CV – covered open (dew).

A syllable can be formed: by a vowel: (V); by a vowel and a consonant: (VC); by a conso­nant and a sonorant (CS). V - types of syllable called uncovered open, VC - types of syllable called uncovered closed, CVC - types of syllable called covered closed, CV - types of syllable called covered open.

G.P. Torsuyev suggests a differentiation of the following types of syllabic structures: V type: fully open, CVC type: fully closed, CV type: initially covered, VC type: finally covered. One of the most noticeable features of English is that many syllables are weak. The distribution of strong and weak syllables is very closely connected with stress, which is a major factor in determining whether a syllable will be strong or weak. Elision is a closely related subject, and in considering intonation the difference between strong and weak syllables is also im­portant. Finally, words with "strong" and "weak" forms are clearly a related matter. Now we shall discuss the general nature of weak syllables.

What do we mean by "strong" and "weak"? In the present context, we are using these terms to refer to phonetic characteristics of syllables. We could describe them partly in terms of stress (by saving, for example, that strong syllables are stressed and weak syllables unstressed), but until we describe what "stress" means, such a description would not be very useful. The most important thing to note at present is that any strong syllable will have as its centre one of the vowel phonemes (or possibly a triphthong), but not ‘shwa’. Weak syllables, on the other hand, as they are being defined here, can only have four types of centre: 1) ‘shwa’; 2) a closed front unrounded vowel in the general area of i: and I; 3) a close back rounded vowel in the general area of u and u:; 4) a syllabic consonant.

3. Functions of syllables.

Now we shall consider two functions of the syllable.

The first is constitutive function. It lies in its ability to be a part of a word itself. The syl­lables form language units of greater magnitude that is words, morphemes, and utterances. It this respect two things should be emphasized. First, the syllable is the unit within which the relations between distinctive features of phonemes and their acoustic correlates are revealed. Second, within a syllable (or syllables) prosodic characteristics of speech are realized, which form the stress pattern of a word and the intonation structure of an utterance. In sum, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmental and suprasegmental features.

The other function is distinctive one. In this respect the syllable is characterized by its abili­ty to differentiate words and word-forms. One minimal pair has been found in English to illustrate the word distinctive function in the syllabic: nitrate — night-rate. There analogical distinction be­tween word combinations can be illustrated by many more examples: an aim - a name; an ice house - a nice house, mice kill - my skill, peace talks -pea stalks, etc. Sometimes the difference in sylla­ble division may be the basic ground for differentiation in such pairs as I saw her rise. -1 saw her eyes; I saw the meat — I saw them eat.

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