The position of the soft palate

Work of the vocal cords;

The manner of the production of noise and the type of obstruction;

The active organs of speech which form the obstruction and the place of obstruction;

(1) According to the first principle consonants are divided into the following groups:

- labial;

- lingual;

- glottal.

Labial are consonants in pronunciation of which the obstruction is formed by the lips. Labial consonants are subdivided into bilabials and labiodentals.

In the articulation of bilabial consonants the obstruction is formed by the two lips being pressed together (English [b, p, w, m], Ukrainian [б, п, м]).

In the articulation of labiodental consonants the obstruction is formed by the lower lip being pressed against the upper teeth ([v, f]).

In pronouncing the lingual consonants the obstruction is formed by the tongue. They are subdivided into forelingual, mediolingual, backlingual.

In the articulation of the forelinguals the obstruction is formed by the tip or the blade of the tongue (English [θ, ð, t, d, s, z, ∫, 3, t∫, d3, n, l, r], Ukrainian [т, д, з, с, л, н, ц, ш, ж, ч, дж, дз, р]).

According to the passive organs of speech, that is to the place of obstruction, forelingual consonants are subdivided into dental and alveolar.

In articulating forelingual dental consonants the obstruction is formed by the tip of the tongue and teeth (English [θ, ð], Ukrainian [т, д, н, с, з, л]).

Forelingual alveolar consonants are articulated by the tip of the tongue pressed against the teeth ridge (English [t, d, l, n, s, z], Ukrainian [p]).

Besides alveolar proper consonants there are also palate-alveolar and post-alveolar consonants.

Palate-alveolar consonants are articulated by the tip and the blade of the tongue pressed against the teeth ridge or the back part of the teeth ridge, while the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate (English [∫, 3, t∫, d3], Ukrainian [ш, ж, ч, дж]).

Post-alveolar consonants are articulated by the tip of the tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge as in the case of the English [r].

Mediolingual consonants are articulated by the front of the tongue raised towards the hard palate as in the case of the English [j] and Ukrainian [й].

Backlingual consonants are articulated by the back of the tongue pressed against the soft palate (English [k, g, ŋ], Ukrainian [г, к, х]).

Glottal consonants are articulated in the glottis as in the case of the English [h].

(2) According to the second principle consonants are divided into:

- occlusive;

- constrictive;

- occlusive-constrictive.

In the articulation of the occlusive consonants the active organs of speech form a complete obstruction. These consonants are subdivided into plosives (or stops) and occlusive (or nasal) sonorants.

In pronouncing plosive consonants the articulating organs form a complete obstruction which is suddenly broken by the pressure of air exhaled from the lungs and a kind of explosion called plosion is heard (English [d, t, g, k, b, p], Ukrainian [д, т, б, п, к, г]).

In the articulation of the occlusive sonorants the active organs of speech form a complete obstruction. The air passage through the mouth is blocked. The soft palate is lowered and the air passes through the nasal cavity (English [n, m, ŋ], Ukrainian [м, н]).

In articulating the constrictive consonants the active organs of speech do not block the air passage completely but form a narrowing of the air passage. They are subdivided into fricative consonants and constrictive sonorants.

In articulating the fricative consonants the active organs of speech form a narrowing through which the air passes with audible friction (English [s, z, ∫, 3, f, v, h, θ, ð], Ukrainian [с, з, ш, ж, ф, в]).

In the articulation of constrictive sonorants the active organs of speech form an obstruction or a narrowing of the air passage wide enough for the air to pass through without producing audible friction. In turn they are subdivided into medial and lateral.

Medial sonorants are those in the production of which the sides of the tongue are raised and the air escapes along the central line of the tongue as in the case of the English [w, j, r] and Ukrainian [й].

Lateral sonorants are those in the production of which the tip of the tongue is pressed against the teeth ridge and the air escapes along the sides of the tongue (English [l], Ukrainian [л]).

In the articulation of occlusive-constrictive consonants the active organs of speech form a complete obstruction at first and then they are slowly released forming a narrow air passage. The air blocked at first by the complete obstruction then escapes producing audible friction. Occlusive-constrictive consonants are also called affricates (English [t∫, d3], Ukrainian [ч, дж, дз, ц]).

The problem of affricates is a point of considerable controversy among phoneticians. According to Russian specialists in English phonetics, there are two affricates in English: [t∫, d3]. D. Jones points out there are six of them: [t∫, d3], [ts, dz], and [tr, dr]. A.C. Gimson increases their number adding two more affricates: [tθ, tð].

(3) According to the third principle consonants are divided into voiceless and voiced.

Voiceless consonants are those in the production of which the vocal cords are kept apart and do not vibrate (English [p, t, k, f, θ, s, ∫, t∫, h], Ukrainian [п, ф, т, с, ц, ч, ш, х, к]).

Voiced consonants are sounds in the production of which the vocal cords are brought close together and vibrate (English [b, d, g, v, ð, z, 3, d3, m, n, v, l, r, j], Ukrainian [б, м, в, д, н, дз, з, дж, ж, р, л, й, г, ґ]).

According to the force of articulation consonants are divided into strong (or fortis) and weak (or lenis). English voiced consonants are lenis. English voiceless consonants are fortis as they are pronounced with greater muscular tension and stronger breath force.

(4) According to the fourth principle consonants are divided into oral and nasal.

Nasal consonants are sounds in the production of which the soft palate is lowered and the air passes out through the nasal cavity as in the case of the English [n, ŋ, m] and the Ukrainian [н, м].

Oral consonants are sounds in the production of which the soft palate is raised and the air passes only through the mouth cavity.

2. The English vowel system consists of 20 vowel phonemes which may be classified according to the following principles:

1) stability of articulation. We distinguish monophthongs (12) and diphthongs (8).

2) the position of the tongue in the horizontal plain. We distinguish front, back and mixed vowels.

3) the position of the tongue in the vertical plain. We distinguish open vowels, close vowels and intermediate vowels.

4) duration (quantity) – long and short vowels. The principle of duration is clearly expressed in the monophthongs.

5) the position of the lips. We distinguish rounded, labialized and unrounded vowels. The principle is not much used in the English language as only short [Λ] and short [o] may be said to be distinguished by the position of the lips.

Table 1 – English vowels classification

According to the height of the raised part of the tongue	According to the variation in the raised part of the tongue	According to the position of the bulk of the tongue
Front vowels	Front retracted vowels	Central vowels	Back-advanced vowels	Back vowels
Close (high) vowels	Narrow variation	i:				u:
Broad variation		i		u
Intermediate (mid-open) vowels	Narrow variation			3:
Broad variation	ε		ə
Open (low) vowels	Narrow variation				Λ	o:
Broad variation	əe			α:	o

The English diphthongs are, like the affricates, the object of a sharp phonological controversy, whose essence is the same as in the case of affricates 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 3d 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.

3. Sounds in actual speech are seldom pronounced by themselves. To pronounce a word consisting of more than one sound, it is necessary to join the sounds together in the proper way. There exist several types of junction, some of which are common to all or many languages, while others are characteristic of individual languages. In order to master these specific types of junction it is necessary to understand the mechanism of joining sounds together. This mechanism can only be understood after analyzing the stages in the articulation of a speech-sound pronounced in isolation.

Every speech-sound pronounced in isolation has three stages of articulation. They are (1) the on-glide, or the initial stage, (2) the retention-stage, or the medial stage, and (3) the off-glide (release), or the final stage.

The on-glide, or the beginning of a sound, is the stage during which the organs of speech move away from a neutral position to lake up the position necessary for the pronunciation of a consonant or a vowel. The on-glide produces no audible sound. The retention-stage or the middle of a sound is the stage during which the organs of speech are kept for some time either in the same position necessary to pronounce the sound (in the case of non-complex sounds) or move from one position to another (within complex sounds, such as diphthongoids, diphthongs and affricates). For the retention-stage of a stop consonant the term stop-stage may also be used. The off-glide, or the end of a sound, is the stage during which the organs of speech move away to a neutral position. The off-glide of most sounds is not audible, the exception being plosives whose off-glide produces the sound of plosion before a vowel and in a word-final position before a pause.

In English there are two principal ways of linking two adjacent speech sounds:

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