1. How does phonology differ from phonetics?

A common characterization of the difference between phonetics and phonology is that phonetics deals with
actual physical sounds as they are manifested in human speech, and concentrates on acoustic wave forms,
format values, measurements of duration measured in milliseconds, of amplitude and frequency or in the
physical principles underlying the production of sounds which involves the study of resonances and the study of
muscles and other articulatory structures used to produce physical sounds.
On the other hand phonology is an abstract cognitive system dealing with rules in a mental grammar: principles
of subconscious thought as they relate to language sound.
Yet once we look in the central question of phonology in greater depth, we find that the boundaries between the
disciplines of phonetics and phonology are not entirely clear-cut.

2. Exemplify allowed sound combinations accidental gaps and language restrictions in the English
language
Similarly, there are many words which begin with BL, such as blue, blatant, blast, blend, blink, knowing that there
is no rule against words beginning with BL.
It is also a fact that there is no word blick in English, even though the similar words blink, brick do exist there are
countless combinations but not all apply.
The best explanation for the nonexistence of this word is simply that it is an accidental gap.
There are no words in English which begin with BN.

3. Define sound from the phonological and phonetic point of view.
Sound is a complex pattern of rapid variations in air pressure travelling from a sound source and striking the air
which causes series of neural signals to be received.

4. Explain the notion of double articulation.
Language is characterized by a double articulation, at one level, we have essentially meaningless elements
(phonetic segments) with their particular rules of combination and other non-semantic properties. And at
another we have meaningful combination of these meaningless elements.
The relation between the meaningless and the meaningful is arbitrary there is no particular reason why dog
should be dog or hund or pas.



5. Describe the activity of speech and specify the conditions that must be fulfilled for it to take place
Two different types of communication: speaking and writing (speaking is faster)
Elementary conditions:
1. there have to be two speakers the sender and the receiver of the message
2. there has to be an air channel between them: speech cannot be conveyed in vacuum


6. List the phases of speech process
1) Formulation of thought within the head of the speaker
2) Once the thought has been formulated the nervous system has to be activated so as to move the speech
organs or speech organs
3) The movement of speech organs
4) Conveying the sound waves through the air (acoustic)
5) Takes place when the sound waves reach the inner ear of the listener
6) Sound waves transform into impulses in the cochlea
7) Interpretation of the impulses in the listeners brain

7. Provide a list of speech organs and describe their deployment during the speech process.
There are 3 types of speech organs
1. Initiation starting the air movement from lungs towards the mouth
2. Phonation creation of sounds
3. Articulation organs above the windpipe

8. Describe the process of producing voiced sounds and the role of vocal chords therein.
In order to produce a sound the speaker uses the vocal cords. They can have 3 different positions.
The organ that brings them together is called glottis.
1. When vocal cords are brought loosely together voice sounds are made.
2. When the vocal cords are tightly closed, this position is called glottal stop plosives
3. When they are widely separated so that air can escape freely. That is when vowels and voiceless
consonants are made.




9. Specify the movable/fixed vocal organs, the role of the cavities and the articulator/point of articulation.
Fixed organs: teeth, alveolar ridge, the palate (hard palate) and pharynx wall.
The quality of the speech sounds is influenced by the cavities (or the vocal tract in the narrow sense): the nasal
cavity, the oral (buccal) cavity and the pharynx.
Movable organs: tongue, the lower jaw, lips, uvula, velum, vocal chords.

10. Define and exemplify phonological redundancy.
Redundancy is the possibility to predict the presence of a linguistic unit merely on the basis of the presence of
another unit with which it is always coupled.

11. Define methods that are commonly used to measure and describe sounds.
There are two principal types of phonetic methods:
1. Instrumental
2. Non-instrumental (descriptive)
Diachronic phonetic sometime uses
3. The comparative method
Kinaeaesthetic feeling or proprioception-one's own feeling of the position and movements of the speech
organs, primarily the tongue
Palatography - does not impede the normal prounonciation, but can be applied only to individual isolated
sounds.
X-ray photography - Xray aparatus can be employed. If this technique is united with a movie camera, shots of
the movements of the speech organs are made.
Electromyography - serve for measuring muscular movements in the throat, by inserting into the throat a
thin electrode or this electrode is leand against the throat from the outside.
Electroaerometer serves for measuring a relative force of the air stream from the mouth and the nose.
Oscilloscopy and spectrography are two commonest techniques used in acoustic phonetics. The osciloscope
transforms acoustic energy into electric signalas which are seen and interpreted on the screen. When a
lasting picture is made of this, the techniques gets the name oscillography.
In spectrography, sound s are resloved into three elements: frequency, duration and intensity. A dozen or
more sounds utteres in a sequence are representes in the form of traces left on a slip of paper.




12. What is Daniel Joness definition of phoneme?
Daniel Jones defined the morpheme via allophones as a family of sounds in a given language which are related in
character and are used in such a way that not one member ever occurs in a word in the same phonetic context as
any other member.

13. Why are some features called distinctive? Exemplify your answer with the phonemes /p/, /f/ and /b/
and provide a counter example for velarized/palatalized variants.
These properties, which are significant for the identification of phonemes bear the name of distinctive
(phonemic) features, in other words the phoneme is a bundle of distinctive features which make up a speech
sound unit.
The features that are included in a phoneme are distinctive by virtue of their function as distinguishers of
phoneme.
For example the feature plosive, labial and strong are distinctive for English phoneme /p/ because
substituting fricative for plosive in the sequence above results in a list of features of /f/.
Substituting alveolar for labial provides a bundle of features characteristic for the English /f/.
While replacing strong by weak a bundle of features for the phoneme /b/ is created.
If one phoneme is replaced by another, this can bring about a new word and consequently a change of meaning.
Phonetic features can also be non-distinctive (non-phonemic) i.e. allophonic.
Thus by interchanging the feature palatalized with velarized during the articulation of the phoneme /l/, the
phoneme remains the same and a word like bill is pronounced with a palatalized or a velarized variant would
not change the meaning.
Therefore these two features are non-distinctive for English.

14. Provide and example of a distinctive feature becoming redundant.
When // is preceded by a vowel it has to be short and it would be redundant to mention the feature of short.
In another way it is redundant to speak of /t/ as a consonant once the feature strong is attributed to this
phoneme since only consonants are characterized as strong.





15. Which parameters are relevant for the articulatory features within the system of English?
The following parameters are relevant for the articulatory features within the system of the English language:
1. Distinctive type of articulation
2. Distinctive manner of articulation
3. Distinctive height of the tongue
4. Distinctive articulator
5. Distinctive force of articulation
6. Distinctive degree of length
7. Distinctive composition

16. Provide a contrastive minimal pair example to indicate phoneme difference and free allophonic
variations.
Finding word pairs whose pronunciation is the same in all but one sound (contrastive minimal pairs) is the easiest
way to prove that two sound types represent two different phonemes (big /bg/ and beg /beg/ prove that //
and /e/ are distinct phonemes in English.
Within a language such pairs also may be found with certain different phonemes in some environment, but with
the identical meaning.
This phenomenon is called free phonemic variations within a single word as with the word alphabet, which has
various pronunciations /lfbt/ or lfbet/

17. What are allophones? Explain positional allophonic variations.
Allophones are phonetically similar bundles of distinctive and non-distinctive features and they are members of a
phoneme.
When their occurrence is dependent on phonetic factors (environment and accent) they are called positional
allophones.
By replacing one positional allophone with another of the same phoneme (positional allophonic variations), no
change in meaning can be brought about under ideal conditions of communication, but unnatural speech
production may result in leading to a possible interference and confusion under conditions of noise.





18. Which parameters are regarded as non-distinctive?
The following parameters are important but with no distinctive function:
1. Non-distinctive type of articulation
2. Non-distinctive manner of articulation
3. Non-distinctive height of tongue
4. Non-distinctive articulator
5. Non-distinctive force of articulation
6. Non-distinctive degree of length
7. Non-distinctive composition
8. Tongue position
9. Degree of voicing
10. Lip position
11. Type of explosion
12. Point of articulation

19. Explain the difference between positional allophonic variations and free allophonic variations.
Free phonetic variations are free from the phonetic standpoint, being not conditioned by the phonetic context
(environment), but frequently they are not free from the sociolinguistic standpoint because they may indicate
the speakers geographical, generation or social background or may depend on other phonetic factors such as
tempo.
Positional allophonic variation takes place under the influence of phonetic environment and the neighbouring
sounds, regardless of whether they occur within one word or go beyond the limit of a word.

20. Explain and exemplify the process of phonemic neutralization.
Sometimes allophones of different phonemes can be identical, which leads to the neutralization of phonemes (m
m and ).
This is the case with the labio-dental allophone of the phonemes /m/ and /n/ (transcribed /m/) or the voiced
allophones of /t/ and /d/ in the pronunciation of some American speakers who do not distinguish between writer
and rider.





21. Provide phonetic transcription and an example for each of the following signs: theta, eth, agma, ash,
caret, schwa and allophonic (narrow transcription and function for bridge bellow, h raised, breve and
swing dash.
Theta (thigh)
Bridge bellow - - dental (t)
Eth (thy) h raised h aspiration (ph)
Agma (young)
Breve - - short ()
Ash (bat)
Swing dash - - nasalized ()
Caret (but strong form)
Schwa - (but weak form)


22. Provide examples of respelling in some American dictionaries.
Oo can stand for /u:/, for //; for /e/; for /a:/; j for /d/

23. How are phonemes divided by the distinctive type of articulation?
Consonants are the speech sounds with exclusively or typically non syllabic function.
Vowels are the speech sounds which have solely syllabic function.
Consonants: /p, d, t, b, k, g, f, v, , , s, z, , , h, t, d, m, n, , l, r, j, w/
Vowels: /i:, , e, , , a:, , :, U, u:, , :, e, a, , aU, , e, U/

24. How are phonemes divided by the distinctive manner of articulation?
1. Plosives are consonants for the articulation of which there is a complete closure (obstruction) of the
airstream.
2. Nasals are consonants in the production of which a closure in the vocal tract is combined with a
simultaneous passage of the air through the nasal cavity into the outer air.
3. Fricatives are formed by narrowing the passage for the airstream, which causes friction at a certain place
in the vocal tract.
4. Laterals for the phoneme /l/ the tip of the tongue is pressed against the center of the alveolar ridge or
against the teeth while the air flows out through the mouth at one or both sides of the tongue.
5. Affricates the combination of a plosive and a fricative sound in a compact whole, at approximately the
same place.




25. How are phonemes divided by the distinctive height of tongue?
When the tongue is in its lowest position or a little higher, reaching farthest to 1/3 of the distance toward the
highest position, the vowels formed this way are called low (/, , a:, /) and the first elements of the
diphthongs / e, e, a, aU, and /.
Vowels that require the tongue in its highest position are high /i:, u:/, semivowels /j, r, w/ as well as the first
elements of / e and U/ and the second elements of / a, e, aU and U/.
Those in the position of (almost) 1/3 of the distance toward the lowest point are high-to-mid (// and /U/).
Mid vowels take place in a band ranging between 1/3 and 2/3 of the distance between the highest and the
lowest points (/e, o, : :/), the first elements of /e, e, and U/ and the second elements of /, e and U/).

26. How are phonemes divided by the distinctive articulator?
The second coordinate of the place of the tongue for vowels and semi-vowels, i.e. their articulator is the part of
the tongue that is highest towards the roof of the mouth.
It may be the front, central or the back part, and therefore vowels and semi-vowels articulated this way are
called:
1. Front (/i:, j, , , a/, the first elements of /a, e, e, and / and the second elements of / and e/).
2. Central (/, , :, r/), the first elements of / U and aU/, the second elements of /, e, U/)
3. Back (/, :, U, u:, a:, w/, the first elements of //, the second elements of / U and aU/)
For consonants:
1. When the tip of the tongue is involved, such sounds are called apical (/t, d, , , n, l/)
2. By activating the blade coronal (laminal) consonants are produced (/s, z/)
3. The back part of the tongue produces dorsal sounds (/k, g, /)
4. When the tip , the blade and the front part of the tongue are activated at the same time, the consonants
are termed apicocoronofrontal (/, , t, d/)
5. The term frontal denotes the same part of the tongue as the term front. Labials make use of the lower lip
(/p, b, f, v, m/)

27. How are phonemes divided by force of articulation?
Investing a greater muscular effort in the pronunciation of certain sounds a stronger breath issues.
Such sounds are called strong (fortis).
Weak (lenis) are those consonants that are pronounced with less force.


28. How are phonemes divided by degree of length
Vowel phonemes are distinguished not only according to quality (affected by the height and part of the tongue),
but also according to duration (quantity).
The easiest way to ascertain this is to find minimal pairs of words differing only in one vowel (bit /bt/ and beat
/bi:t/ differ as regards to vowels // and /i:/, the former being shorter, the later longer when the two words are
pronounced in the same pace one after another).
However, this contrast is always accompanied by distinctive height and there are only a few minimal pairs to
prove that the degree of length is distinctive for vowels (such as but /bt/ and Burt /b:t/)
Short vowels are: /, e, , , , U and /
Long vowels are: /i:, a:, u:, :, :, e, a, , aU, eU and U/
The degree of length may seem to function distinctively with consonants, although that is not the case.
This happens in the case of those consonant that can change their length significantly, i.e. all except plosives and
affricates, /j, r, w/, which would, if lengthened, lose their status of consonants (Hungary /hgr/ and hungry
/hgr/, lightening /latn/ and lightning /latn/, etc).

29. How are phonemes divided by the distinctive composition
Any phoneme can be essentially different from other phonemes as to whether it requires the statitc position of
the articulatory organs (simple) or has an abrupt change of position (compound), or whether it consists of one or
two sounds.
Compound consonants called affricates consist of a plosive and affricative. They are /t/ and /d/ while some
phoneticians also include /tr/ and /dr/ among compound phonemes.
In the sphere of vowels, there are compound sounds called diphthongs and they are transcribed as two-vowel
symbols.
Only two-vowel segments occurring within one syllable may be called diphthongs, otherwise, we deal with a
cluster of two phonetically simple vowels (or monophthongs as in easiest /i:zst/).





30. How are phonemes described by the non-distinctive type of articulation?
All languages classify sounds into two categories:
1. Contoids (consonants) are sounds made with a closure in the vocal tract, so that the airstream cannot
flow freely
2. Vocoids (vowels) for the articulation of which there is no such closure, produced below the upper line
that represents the so-called vowel limit.
A closure of a contoid can be:
a) Complete, when typical contoids are realized (as in the case of plosives)
b) Partial (incomplete), when the contoidal nature of the sounds is less noticeable
There is a possibility for the partial closure to be realized
a) In the form of narrowing as when fricatives are produced
b) As a combination of a complete closure at one place with the lack of (complete) closure at another place
as with nasals, laterals and affricates
Certain consonants may have contoid allophones in addition to vocoid ones. They are termed semi-vowels /j/, /r/
and /w/.

31. How are phonemes described by non distinctive manner of articulation
A more precise, phonetic classification of sounds according to the manner of articulation is feasible.
Thus it is possible to identify liquids, which are produced with the air passing freely through the mouth like
vocoids, but simultaneously at another place in the oral cavity a contoidal closure is made. Such a sound is /l/.
Some speakers of British English articulate phoneme /r/ by a single quick contact of the tip of the tongue against
the alveolar ridge or the upper teeth. In narrow transcription this sound is written as [r] (fishhook r) and its name
is flapped (tapped) /r/.
Production of vowels may sometimes involve the nasal cavity in addition to the oral cavity, and such vowels are
called nasalized.







32. How are phonemes described by non distinctive height of the tongue
The phoneme // is lower than usual in the pronunciation of all, and // in the pronunciation of some speakers
when immediately followed by a pause.
The phoneme // is at its highest when immediately followed by a velar (ago /gU/).
The phoneme /u:/ is realized as lower when it is immediately preceded by /j/ as in few /fju:/.
There is general tendency for the front vowels to be higher and for the back vowels to be lower in conservative
RP, while the opposite tendency has been noticed for advanced RP.

33. How are phonemes described by non distinctive articulator?
According to this parameter /r/ is an (apico) coronal, /j/ is a frontal, which means that the front part of the
tongue is activated, while /w/ is labial, /n/ can have a labial instead of apical articulation (while at the same time
point of articulation is dental), which can be explained as due to the influence of the following labio-dental /f/ or
/v/ and the adjacency of the tip of the tongue and the lower lip (convey /knve/).

34. How are phonemes described by non distinctive force of articulation?
All and only strong plosives can be pronounced with aspiration marked [h] which is the additional energy of the
breath.
This happens on condition that a strong plosive (/p/, /t/ or /k/) is immediately followed by a vowel and that it
occurs at the beginning of an accented syllable.
For plosives to be aspired, all these conditions have to be fulfilled (time [tham], pull [phUl]).
In articulatory terms laterals and nasals are always weak, while /h/ is strong.








35. How are phonemes described by non distinctive degree of length?
The duration of each vowel is reduced if a strong consonant immediately follows, and is lengthened if a weak
consonant immediately follows.
The combination of distinctive and non-distinctive degrees of length produces four degrees:
Under identical conditions (when the same speaker is speaking in uvarying tempo), the longest is a phonemically
long vowel followed by a weak consonant (bead /bi:d/ [bi::d]), a little shorter is a phonemically short vowel
followed by a weak consonant (bid /bd/ [bi:d].
Still shorter is a phonemically long vowel followed by a strong consonant (beat /bi:t/ [bi:t] and the shortest is a
phonemically short vowel followed by a strong consonant (bit /bt/ [bt]).
As regards consonant, other conditions being the same, the greatest duration is that of fricative, while the
shortest is the flapped [r].

36. How are phonemes described by non distinctive composition?
When the second element of a diphthong is closer than the first (this element being [] or [U]) an impression of
closing is created, which has given such diphthong the name closing. They are /e, a, , U and aU/.
When the second element is represented by a central vowel, such diphthongs are centring - , e, U.
English diphthongs are usually realized with the first element more prominent than the second.
The impression of prominence is achieved by means of the length, stress and most often openness of the first
element; such diphthongs are called falling.
In the case of two diphthongs, // and /U/, where the first element is closer than the second there is one more
possibility.
Namely, when these two diphthongs occur in a stressed syllable, the force of the stress falls on the first element
which is more prominent owing to the strong stress and the diphthong is falling. But when they happen to be in
an unstressed syllable, their first element left without the support from stress, becomes less prominent than the
second more open element, which is symbolized as // and /U/.
Such realizations of diphthongs have been termed rising (crescendo).




37. How are phonemes described by non distinctive tongue position?
When the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the soft palate, velarises (dark sounds) are made.
Such consonant is /w/, when syllabic, followed by a pause or by a consonant other than /j/, /l/ as well.
If the middle of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, sounds pronounced this way are called palatalized
(clear).
Sounds made when the tip of the tongue is curled back towards the hard palate are called retroflex, as in the
case of the typical allophone of /r/.

38. How are phonemes described by non distinctive degree of voicing?
All strong consonants are always voiceless, while weak consonants are typically fully voiced.
Untypically, all weak consonants can be devoiced (partially voiced or voiceless when immediately preceded or
followed by a pause or a strong consonant).
The lateral /l/ and the semi-vowels are voiceless when accented and at the same time preceded by a strong
syllable initial plosive consonant or /h/ (supply /spla/).
When preceded by a strong consonant in other position the nasals /l/ and the semi-vowels are realized as
partially voiced (smart /sma:t/, spleen /spli:n/).
In short, /l/, the nasals and the semi-vowels are devoiced when preceded by a strong consonant.
With some speakers /h/ which is typically voiceless, becomes voiced between two vowels (ahead /hed/).

39. How are phonemes described by non distinctive lip position?
The position of the lips varies, so that the lips can be rounded (/u:/) or unrounded.
Unrounded vowels are spread, with lips spread (/i:/) or neutral (/a:/).






40. How are phonemes described by non distinctive type of explosion?
The closure can be suddenly released, so that the pent-up air escapes through the mouth (orally), which is called
oral explosion and is the common typical way of producing explosion (peel /pi:l/, boss /bs/, lucky /lk/.
When a plosive is immediately followed by /l/, the closure for the latter sound is made simultaneously with the
closure for the plosive so that the air compressed has no possibility to escape directly through the mouth and is
used for articulation of /l/.
Such explosion is called lateral (gamble /gmbl/, battle /btl/, eagle /i:gl/).
Oral explosion is missing when a plosive is followed by homorganic nasal (nasal formed with the same articulator
as the plosive).
Such type of explosion is called nasal explosion.

41. How are phonemes described by non distinctive point of articulation?
During the articulation of all sounds, including vowels, the side rims of the tongue are spontaneously in contact
with the upper side molars, so that this characteristic plays no distinctive role.
As a point of articulation, the upper lip can be used. Such contoids are called labials. The phonemes /b, p/ and
/m/ are labials typically, while the phonemes /f/ and /v/ may be labial in the pronunciation of some speakers
when preceded by /b, p/ or /m/.
Dentals are sounds that are made by means of the upper teeth as a point of articulation. The phonemes // and
// are always dental.
Alveorals make use of the alveolar ridge as a place of obstruction. Most English contoids are alveolars (/t, d, s, z,
n, l/), which means this central zone is fully exploited for articulation.
Postalveolars are formed by using a part of the tongue at the back part of the alveolar ridge as for the most
common contoid variant of /r/.
Palatals are articulated with the tongue raised towards the hard palate, the only palatal is /j/ in its contoid
variant.





42. Provide phonotactic rules for restrictions in the distribution of the phoneme //, consonant
clusters/semi-vowels with initial plosives, /s/ and //, initial semi-vowels, affricates, // and /z/,
vowels /e, , , o/.
- The phoneme // does not occur initially in words or syllables
- When two consonants occur initially in words, unless the first is /s/, the other can only be a semi-vowel or
/l/ and even this is not always possible (fp, tm, zg, ks, vz, tw)
- Initial plosives, /s/ and // may form clusters with /l/ and semi-vowels only when a different articulator is
used: pw, bw, dl, tl, sr
- Initial semi-vowels, affricates, // and /z/ are not followed by another consonant: jr, rd, tl, v, zl
- Vowels /e, , , o/ and consonants /h, r, j, w/ do not occur finally in vowels, while /U/ occurs in words
finally only in weak forms and never initially.

43. Which consonant clusters cannot take final position?
There are no consonant clusters with final /g, , /: -sg, -tn, -z

44. Write examples of words with maximum numbers of consonants at word beginning and end.
The greatest number of consonants that can accumulate at the beginning of a word is three (street), whereas
four are tolerated at the end (prompts, sixths, thousands).

45. What is coarticulation?
The causes of phonemic positional variations are essentially the same as allophonic positional variations:
endeavouring to effect a successful communication with the least effort in articulation the speaker modifies the
adjacent sounds (usually identifying them or producing them as fairly similar) which is called coarticulation.

46. Why are positional phonemic variations facultative and what do they include?
With free (facultative) phonemic variations the speaker may choose whether to realize the variation or not.
If the speech is more rapid, casual or familiar and if the given word has been mentioned before, it is likely that a
phoneme will be substituted for another.
Positional phonemic variations include assimilation, coalescence, gradation, elision and linking.



47. Define and exemplify assimilation.
It happens when a phoneme A is replaced by a phoneme B under the influence of a third phoneme C, which is in
the vicinity, B and C being more alike than A and C. For instance, instead of pronunciation of the phrase a good
man as / gUd mn/ in colloquial speech one can hear / gUb mn/.
In this case the weak apical plosive /d/ in the word good is replaced by the weak labial plosive /b/ under the
influence of the following phoneme /m/ in the word man, which is weak labial plosive.
Consequently, the phoneme /d/ has been replaced with phoneme /b/ under the influence of the phoneme /m/
(C), which results in greater similarity between /b/ and /m/ being both labials, than between /d/ and /m/
originally.

48. Within which articulatory parameters phonemic variations may be realized? Provide an example for
each.
The articulatory parameters within which phonemic variations may be realized are manner of articulation,
articulator and force of articulation.
1) Manner of articulation in this case plosives (or less frequent, fricatives) may become nasals:
- good morning /gUd m:n//gUm m:n/, the articulator is also different and the second variation
/gUb/ comes in between
- individual /ndvdjUl/ /nnvdjUl/
- wonderful /wndfUl/ /wnnfl/
2) Articulator these phonemic variations are found only with apicals and coronals; more precisely with
those of them which already have numerous allophonic variations according to the point of articulation
thus shifting the articulator over two of three different /t, d, n, s, z/. Although an apical with a variety of
the points of articulation, the phoneme /l/ is not replaced by any other phoneme as it is the only lateral
- Horse shoe /h:s u:/ /hou:/
- Those years /Uz j:z/ /uj:z/
- They wont care /e wUnt ke/ /e wUke/
3) Force of articulation usually fricatives and affricates take part in the phonemic variations according to
the force of articulation, weak changing into strong
- With toys /w tz/ /w tz/ - partial
- His sister /hz sst/ /hs sst/ - ful
- Of course /vk:s/ /of k:s/
- Page seven /pedsevn/ /petsevn/



49. When is assimilation called regressive/progressive?
Usually the later sound influences the preceding one so that it accommodates itself to the latter. Such type of
assimilation is called regressive.
If the preceding sound influences the latter, such assimilation is called progressive.

50. When is assimilation called complete/incomplete?
It two identical adjacent sounds are produced as a result of assimilation, it is complete (total) (horse shoes), and
if the sound remains to be different, the assimilation is incomplete (partial).

51. Define and exemplify coalescence?
A phonemic variation in which two adjacent phonemes (A and B) change resulting in a third phoneme (C) which
preserves the main features of the original articulators.
- What you want /wotUwont/
- Shut your eyes /tjraz/
- I lost you /a lostU/
- Dont you /dUntU/

52. Define and exemplify linking?
Words ending in permissible vowels /a:, :, :, or / (including the centering diphthongs) which are spelled with
the final /r/ activate the pronunciation of this letter in British English if a word beginning with a vowel
immediately follows.
Since /r/ in such cases conjoins or links two words, such usage of this consonant is termed linking /r/.
- Later in time /letr n tam/
- Fire and water /far nd w:t/





53. Define and exemplify the intrusive /r/?
Under the same conditions some speakers insert glottal stops. If a /r/ precedes, no linking r is activated as in rare
and beautiful /re nd bju:tfUl/.
By analogy some speakers pronounce /r/ even when there is no corresponding letter in spelling nor a historical
justification; such /r/ is called intrusive r.
- China and Japan /tanr nd dpn/

54. Define and exemplify gradation?
Words that belong in the restricted class of the words of speech (auxiliary verbs, conjunctions, prepositions,
pronouns and articles) are covered by the common term function (grammar) words.
They all have, unlike other (lexical or context) words a quite general, grammatical meaning.
Most often function words are unstressed in speech, and their vowels are unprominent /, , U/ reduced or some
of their vowels are elided.
Actually, they are stretched only for the sake of contrast or when the speaker is hesitating.
Such forms are called weak forms while much rarer unelided and unreduced forms are called strong forms.
Weak forms are always unstressed, while strong forms can be both.
- A /e/, //
- Am /m/, /m, m/
- Could /kUd/, /kd/
- Have /hv/, /hv/, /v/
- Just /dst/, /dst/
- Must /mst/, /mst, ms/
- Some /sm/, /sm/
- Your /j:/, /j/
55. Transcribe gradation forms in the following examples
56. Describe phonemic occurrence patterns in sense groups.
The beginning of a sense group is even more prominent than the end, so that in this position weak forms of the
words and, as, at, is, till, will, would are not allowed, while has, have and had can use only weak forms which
retain /h/.
- Will you pass me some bread, please /wl jU pa:s m sm bred pli:z/


57. Define elision and provide at least one example for elision of //, // and /U/.
Elision is a kind of phonemic variation when one and the same word comes to have two speech variants one
with the given sound as a representative of a phoneme and another without the sound (phoneme).
a) Elision of //
- Camera /km()r/
- Fatally /fet()l/
- February /febr()r/
- Government /gv()mnt/
- History /hst()r/
b) Elision of //
- Difficult /df()klt/
- Family /fm()l/
- Geography /d()ogrf/
c) Elision of /U/
- Awfull /:f(U)l/
- Carefulness /kef(U)lns/














58. Define elision and provide at least one example for elision of a consonant between two other
consonants, at word boundaries, /l/ and in very rapid colloquial speech.
Elision is a kind of phonemic variation when one and the same word comes to have two speech variants one
with the given sound as a representative of a phoneme and another without the sound (phoneme).
Elision of consonants takes place when the consonant occurs between two other consonants
- clothes /klU()z/
- handsome /hn(d)sm/
- dustman /ds(t)mn/
- jumped /dm(p)t/
The same kind of elision takes place at word boundaries, as in the following phrases;
- blind man /bla(d)mn/
- didnt come /ddn(t)come/
- last time /la:s(t) tam/
- remind me /rman(d) m/
The phoneme /l/ is subject to elision when immediately followed by a consonant (velarized) /l/) and usually at
the same time preceded by the back vowel /:/.
- All right /:(l) rat/
- Already /:(l)red/
- Shall we /()(l) w/
Other cases of elision of individual consonants in positions other than interconsonantal (between other
consonants) or clusters of two consonants, occur in very rapid colloquial speech
- Expected /(k)spektd/
- Extraordinary /(k)str:(d)n()r/
- Interest of the /ntrs(t) (v) /
- Recognize /rek(g)naz/




59. What are free phonemic variations? Provide examples for five different words.
Free phonemic variations are not contigent upon any elements surrounding a phoneme of a word and speakers
are free to choose which option to use.
Most of the so-called free phonemic variations are not free from a sociolinguistic point of view.
- /t/ or // French
- /g/ or /d/ gibberish, pedagogic
- /d/ or // garage, ingenuity
- // or // Asia
/i:/ or /e/ Economics, premature
// or /e/ alphabet, enjoy, embark, example
/U/ or /ju:/ suit, supreme, allusion, allude, absolute
/e/ or // data, esplanade