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SEMINAR 1

1.1 Phonetics as a science.

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics tha studies the sound system of the language. That is segmental phonemes,
word stress, syllabic () structure and intonation.
Phonetics is not a separate, independent science. Phonetics is an independent brahch of linguistic like lexecology,
grammar and stylistics. It studies the sound matter, its aspects and functions. Phonetics formulates the rules of
pronounciation for separate sounds and sound combinations. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech
sounds (phones): their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neurophysiological
status.
The study of phonetics is a multiple() layered() subject of linguistics that focuses on speech. In this
field of research there are three basic areas of study.
Articulatory phonetics- the study of the production of speech by the articulatory and vocal tract by the speaker
Acoustic phonetics- the study of the transmission of speech from the speaker to the listener
Auditory Phonetics- the study of phonetics of the reception and perception of speech by the listener
The first phoneticians were Indians.
Two main divisions of phonetics
Phonetics has two main divisions:
- Study of the sound patterns of language
- Study of substance ()
Stages of human speech are:
1. Sociological
2. Physiological
3. Reception ()
4. Transmission ()
5. Interpretation ()

1.2Three branches of phonetics.

rticulator( ) phonetics is the branch() of phonetics which studies the way in which
speech sounds are produced. In studying articulation, phoneticians explain how humans produce speech sounds via
the interaction of different physiological structures.Generally, articulatory phonetics is concerned with the
transformation of aerodynamic energy into acoustic energy. Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the
vocal tract. Its potential form is air pressure; its kinetic form is the actual dynamic airflow. Acoustic energy is
variation in the air pressure that can be represented as sound waves, which are then perceived by the human
auditory system as sound.
Acoustic() phonetics studies the air vibrates between the speaker mouth and the listening ear.Also deals
with acoustic aspects of speech sounds. Acoustic phonetics investigates properties like the mean squared amplitude
of a waveform, its duration, its fundamental frequency, or other properties of its frequency spectrum, and the
relationship of these properties to other branches of phonetics (e.g. articulatory or auditory phonetics), and to
abstract linguistic concepts like phones, phrases, or utterances.
Auditory () phonetics is concerned with speech perception(): How sound is received by the
inner ear and perceived () by the brain.

1.3 Phonology and its subject matter ( ). Standard English (RP).

Phonology is concerned with the systems of rules (or constraints) that determine how the sounds of a language
combine and influence one another.. This branch of phonetics studies the linguistic function of consonant and
vowel sounds, syllabic structure, word accent () and prosodic pitches, stress and tempo.
An important part of phonology is studying which sounds are distinctive () units within a
language. And phonology studies how sounds alternate().
Received Pronunciation (or RP) is a special accent - a regionally neutral accent that is used as a standard for
broadcasting (- ) and some other kinds of public speaking. It is not fixed - you can hear forms
of RP in historical broadcasts, such as newsreel () films from the Second World War. Queen Elizabeth
II has an accent close to the RP of her own childhood, but not very close to the RP of the 21st century.

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RP excites powerful feelings of admiration and repulsion. Some see it as a standard or the correct form of spoken
English, while others see its use (in broadcasting, say) as an affront ( ) to the
dignity() of their own region. Its merit () lies in its being more widely understood by a
national and international audience than any regional accent. Non-native speakers often want to learn RP, rather
than a regional accent of English. RP exists but no-one is compelled() to use it. But if we see it as a
reference point, we can decide how far we want to use the sounds of our region where these differ from the RP
standard.

1.4 Phonetics at the intersection of linguistic studies.Reserch in communicative phonetics

and language teaching methodology.
All parts of phonetics are inter-connected because the process of human communication is both a system of
auditory mechanisms which correspond to each other and are mediated by wavelength, pitch, and the other
physical properties of sound.
Through the system of rules of reading Phonetics is connected with grammar and helps to pronaunce
correctly singular and plural forms of nouns, the past tense forms and past participles of English regular verbs (d is
pronaunced after voiced cons., t is pronaunced after voiceless cons. Wish-wished, id is pronaunced after t wantwanted, s is pronaunced after voiceless cons., z is after voiced cons. and iz after sibilants ()).
Sound interchange is another manifestation() of the connection of Phonetics with grammar, e.g.
this connection can be observed in the category of number. Thus the interchange of f/v, s/z, th/the helps to
differenciate singular and plural forms of such words as basis- bases, and also man-men, foot-feet. Vowel
interchange is connected with the tense forms of irregular verbs (sing-sang-sung). Vowel interchange can also help
to distinguish between: 1) nouns and verbs (bath-bathe), 2) adj and nouns (hot-heat), 3) verbs and adj (moderatemoderate), 4) nouns and nouns (shade-shadow), 5) nouns and adj (type-typical). Vowel interchange can also be
observed in onomatopoeic compaunds ( ): hip-hop, flap-flop, chip-chop.
Consonants can interchange in different parts of speech, e.g. in nouns and verbs (extent-extend, mouthmouth{}).
Phonetics is also connected with grammar through its intonation component. Sometimes intonation alone can
serve to single out the logical predicate.( he came home, he came home, he came home). Pausation may also
perform a differentiatory function. If we compare 2 similar sentences pronaunced with different places of pause,
the meaning will be different.
Phonetics is also connected with lexicology. It is only due to the presence of stress in the right place, that we
can distinguish certain nouns from verbs : object-object.
Homographs can be differentiated only due to pronaunciation, because they are identical in spelling: bow(ou
)-bow(au ), row(ou )-row(au ).
Due to the position of word accent we can distinguish between homonymous words and word groups, e.g.
blackbird()-black bird.
Phonetics is also connected with stylistics; first of all through intonation and its components: speech melody,
utterance () stress, rythm, pausation and voicetember which serves to express emotions.
Phonetics is also connected with stylistics through repetition of words, phrases and sounds. Repetition of this
kind serves the basis of rythm, rhyme and alliteration( ). The repetition of
identical or similar sounds, which is called alliteration, helps to impart ( ) a melodic effect to the
utterance() and to express certain emotions.
Theoretical significance of Phonetics is connected with the further development of the problem of the study
and description of the Phonetic system of a national language and different languages, the study of the
correspondences between them, the description of changes in the Phonetic system of languages.
Practical significance of Phonetics is connected with teaching foreign languages, speech correction, teaching
deaf-mutes(), film doubling.

1.5 Experimental phonetics and computational linguistics.New speech transmission

technologies;machines with a voice control operations;automatic machine translation.
Experimental phonetics employs the methods of investigation commonly used in other disciplinese.g., physics,
physiology, and psychologyfor measuring the physical and physiological dimensions()
of speech sounds and their perceptual( ) characteristics. The sound spectrograph and
speech synthesizers were mentioned in the section on acoustic phonetics. Other techniques include the use of Xrays; air-pressure and air-flow recording; palatography, a method of registering the contacts between the tongue

3
and the roof of the mouth; and cinematography. All of these techniques have been used for studying the actions of
the vocal organs.
Computational() linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical and/or rulebased modeling of natural language from a computational perspective(). This modeling is not limited to
any particular field of linguistics. Traditionally, computational linguistics was usually performed by computer
scientists who had specialized in the application of computers to the processing of a natural language.
Computational linguists often work as members of interdisciplinary teams, including linguists (specifically trained
in linguistics), language experts (persons with some level of ability in the languages relevant to a given project),
and computer scientists. In general, computational linguistics draws upon the involvement of linguists, computer
scientists, experts in artificial intelligence, mathematicians, logicians, philosophers, cognitive()
scientists, cognitive psychologists, psycholinguists, anthropologists and neuroscientists, among others.
Computational linguistics has applied and theoretical components, where Theoretical Computational linguistics
takes up issues in theoretical linguistics and cognitive science and Applied Computational linguistics focusses on
the practical outcome of modelling human language use.
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT, also called computer-aided translation,
machine-aided human translation MAHT and interactive translation, is a sub-field of computational
linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to
another.
At its basic level, MT performs simple substitution of words in one natural language for words in another, but that
alone usually cannot produce a good translation of a text, because recognition of whole phrases and their closest
counterparts in the target language is needed. Solving this problem with corpus( ) and statistical
techniques is a rapidly growing field that is leading to better translations, handling differences in linguistic
typology, translation of idioms, and the isolation of anomalies.
Current machine translation software often allows for customisation by domain or profession (such as weather
reports), improving output by limiting the scope of allowable substitutions. This technique is particularly effective
in domains where formal or formulaic language is used. It follows that machine translation of government and
legal documents more readily produces usable output than conversation or less standardised text.
Improved output quality can also be achieved by human intervention: for example, some systems are able to
translate more accurately if the user has unambiguously identified which words in the text are names. With the
assistance of these techniques, MT has proven useful as a tool to assist human translators and, in a very limited
number of cases, can even produce output that can be used as is (e.g., weather reports).
The progress and potential of machine translation has been debated much through its history. Since the 1950s, a
number of scholars have questioned the possibility of achieving fully automatic machine translation of high quality.
Some critics claim that there are in-principle obstacles to automatizing the translation process.

SEMINAR 2

2.1 Speech sounds as phonological units. The hierarchy()

discrete(/) and non-discrete phonologycal units.

of

Each language has a limited number of sound-types, that are shared by all the speakers of the language and are
linguistically important because they distinguish meaning or meaningful() units, differentiate
words or their grammatical forms phonemes. Speech sounds are grouped into language units called phonemes.
The organs of speech are capable of uttering many different kinds of sounds. From the practical point of view it is
convenient to distinguish two types of speech sounds: vowels and consonants. Vowels are voiced sounds
produced without any obstruction() in the supra-glottal( )
cavities() and consequently have no noise component. In the articulation of c o n s o n a n t s a kind of
noise producing obstruction is formed in the supra-glottal cavities. Such sounds may be pronounced with or
without vocal cords vibration.
Speech sounds can perform this distinctive function only when they are opposed to each other or to no sound in
one and the same position (phonetic context, environment).
The actual speech sounds pronounced by the speaker or reader are variants, allophones (the actual speech sounds)
of phonemes are incapable of differentiating words or the grammatical forms of one and the same word
(eight/alveolar-eighth/dental). Differ from each other in some degree. With the exception of free variants no

4
variant can normally occur in the position in which any other variant occurs, they are in complementary
distribution ( ). They are divided into:
principal (typical)
- is free from the influence of neighboring speech sounds
- it has the greatest number of articulatory features
subsidiary()
- combinatory (assimilation, accommodation, adaptation)
- positional in definite positions are used traditionally (clear-dark variant /l/ in RP and GA)
The behavior of allophones in phonetic context, their ability to occur in certain definite positions
distribution().
- Contrastive ()- allophones of different phonemes occur in the same position distinguishing the
meaning of different words (bad/mad)
- Complimentary()- allophones of one and the same phoneme never occur in identical
positions (clear-dark /l/)
- free varianrs ( )- allophones of one and the same phoneme which do occur in the
same position but are incapable of differentiating meaning.
Phonological hierarchy describes a series of increasingly smaller regions of a phonological utterance(
). From larger to smaller units, it is as follows:
1. Utterance
2. Prosodic( ) declination() unit (DU) / intonational
phrase (I-phrase)
3. Prosodic intonation unit (IU) / phonological phrase (P-phrase)
4. Prosodic list unit (LU)
5. Clitic( ) group
6. Phonological word (P-word, )
7. Foot (F): "strong-weak" syllable sequences such as English ladder, button, eat it
8. Syllable (): e.g. cat (1), ladder (2)
9. Mora () ("half-syllable")
10. Segment (phoneme): e.g. [k], [] and [t] in cat
11. Feature( )
The hierarchy from the mora upwards is technically known as the prosodic hierarchy.
There is some disagreement among phonologists on the arrangement and inclusion of units in the hierarchy. For
example, the clitic group is not universally recognised, and the P-phrase and IU come from different traditions and
have different definitions.

2.2 Phoneme as the main concept of phonologe and its functions. Classification of vowels and
consonants. Major types of phonemes in English.
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts
between utterances. The phoneme has several aspects and functions and its very difficult to give a formal
definition . The segmental phoneme is the smallest (further indivisible into smaller consecutive segments) language
unit (sound type).
The phoneme is a dialectical unity of its three aspects reflected in its definition (aspects-):
- material, real and objective it exists in the form of concrete variant (Daniel Jones a family of sound)
- abstractional and generalized character (Baudouin de Courtenay mentalist view,
, the phoneme is regarded as a physical image of a sound or one common to several sounds).
- functional discriminatory ()
- the objective reality of the phoneme was denied by American linguists (Twaddel)
-constitutive (make up more complicated units) and recognitive (identificatory), distinctive
() functions
Phonologists distinguish between three main categories of phonemes: consonants, vowels, and
diphthongs.
A restricted phoneme is a phoneme that can only occur in a certain environment: There are restrictions as to
where it can occur. English has several restricted phonemes:

//, as in sing, occurs only at the end of a syllable, never at the beginning (in many other languages, such as
Swahili or Thai, // can appear word-initially).
/h/ occurs only before vowels and at the beginning of a syllable, never at the end (a few languages, such as
Arabic, or Romanian allow /h/ syllable-finally).
In many American dialects with the cot-caught merger, // occurs only before /r/, /l/, and in the diphthong
//.
In non-rhotic dialects, /r/ can only occur before a vowel, never at the end of a word or before a consonant.
Under most interpretations, /w/ and /j/ occur only before a vowel, never at the end of a syllable. However,
many phonologists interpret a word like boy as either /b/ or /bj/.

Biuniqueness
Biuniqueness is a property of the phoneme in classic structuralist phonemics. The biuniqueness definition states
that every phonetic allophone must unambiguously() be assigned to one and only one phoneme. In
other words, there is a many-to-one allophone-to-phoneme mapping instead of a many-to-many mapping.
In the right environment, this flapping can change either /t/ or /d/ into the allophone [] for many affected speakers.
Here, one allophone is clearly assigned to two phonemes.
Neutralization, archiphoneme, and underspecification
Phonemes that are contrastive in certain environments may not be contrastive in all environments. In the
environments where they don't contrast, the contrast is said to be neutralized.
In English there are three nasal phonemes, /m, n, /, as shown by the minimal triplet,
/sm/ sum
/sn/ sun
/s/ sung
With rare exceptions, these phonemes are not contrastive before plosives such as /p, t, k/ within the same
morpheme. Although all three phones appear before plosives, for example in limp, lint, link ( /limp/, /lint/, /lik/),
only one of these may appear before each of the plosives. That is, the /m, n, / distinction() is neutralized
before each of the plosives() /p, t, k/:
Only /m/ occurs before /p/,
only /n/ before /t/, and
only // before /k/.
Thus these phonemes are not contrastive in these environments, and according to some theorists, there is no
evidence as to what the underlying representation might be. If we hypothesize that we are dealing with only a
single underlying nasal, there is no reason to pick one of the three phonemes /m, n, / over the other two.
In certain schools of phonology, such a neutralized distinction is known as an archiphoneme. Archiphonemes
are often notated() with a capital letter. Following this convention, the neutralization of /m, n, / before
/p, t, k/ could be notated as |N|, and limp, lint, link would be represented as |lNp, lNt, lNk|. (The |pipes| indicate
underlying representation.) Other ways this archiphoneme could be notated are |m-n-|, {m, n, }, or |n*|.
Another example from American English is the neutralization of the plosives /t, d/ following a stressed syllable.
Phonetically, both are realized in this position as [], a voiced alveolar flap( ). This can be
heard by comparing betting with bedding.
[bt] bet
[bd] bed
with the suffix -ing:
[b] betting
[b] bedding
Thus, one cannot say whether the underlying representation of the intervocalic consonant in either word is /t/ or /d/
without looking at the unsuffixed form. This neutralization can be represented as an archiphoneme |D|, in which
case the underlying representation of betting or bedding could be |bD|.
Another way to talk about archiphonemes involves the concept of underspecification: phonemes can be
considered fully specified segments while archiphonemes are underspecified segments.
compares phones and phonemes

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A phone is

A phoneme is

One of many possible sounds in the

languages of the world.

A contrastive unit in the sound system of a

particular language.

The smallest identifiable unit found in a

stream of speech.

A minimal unit that serves to distinguish

between meanings of words.

Pronounced in a defined way.

Pronounced in one or more ways,

depending on the number of allophones.

Represented between brackets by

convention.
Example:
[b], [j], [o]

Represented between slashes by

convention.
Example:
/b/, /j/, /o/

Thus a phoneme is a group of slightly different sounds which are all perceived to have the same function by
speakers of the language or dialect in question. An example of a phoneme is the /k/ sound in the words kit and
skill. (In transcription, phonemes are placed between slashes, as here.) Even though most native speakers don't
notice this, in most dialects, the k sounds in each of these words are actually pronounced differently: they are
different speech sounds, or phones (which, in transcription, are placed in square brackets). In our example, the /k/
in kit is aspirated, [k], while the /k/ in skill is not. The reason why these different sounds are nonetheless
considered to belong to the same phoneme in English is that if an English-speaker used one instead of the other, the
meaning of the word would not change: using [k] in skill might sound odd, but the word would still be
recognized. By contrast, some other phonemes could be substituted (creating a minimal pair) which would cause a
change in meaning: producing words like still (substituting /t/), spill (substituting /p/) and swill (substituting /w/).
These other sounds (/t/, /p/ and /w/) are, in English, different phonemes. In some languages, however, [k] and
[k] are different phonemes, and are perceived as such by the speakers of those languages. Thus, in Icelandic, /k/
is the first sound of ktur 'cheerful', while /k/ is the first sound of gtur 'riddles'.
In some languages, each letter in the spelling system represents one phoneme. However, in English spelling there is
a poor match between spelling and phonemes. For example, the two letters sh represent the single phoneme //,
while the letters k and c can both represent the phoneme /k/ (as in kit and cat).

Phones that belong to the same phoneme, such as [t] and [t] for English /t/, are called allophones. A common test
to determine whether two phones are allophones or separate phonemes relies on finding minimal pairs: words that
differ by only the phones in question. For example, the words tip and dip illustrate that [t] and [d] are separate
phonemes, /t/ and /d/, in English, whereas the lack of such a contrast in Korean (/tata/ is pronounced [tada],
for example) indicates that in this language they are allophones of a phoneme /t/.
Some linguists (such as Roman Jakobson, Morris Halle, and Noam Chomsky) consider phonemes to be further
decomposable into features, such features being the true minimal constituents of language. Features overlap each
other in time, as do suprasegmental phonemes in oral language and many phonemes in sign languages. Features
could be designated as acoustic (Jakobson) or articulatory (Halle & Chomsky) in nature.
Principles of classification of English consonants.
Consonants are made with air stream that meets an obstruction in the mouth or nasal cavities. That is
why in the production of consonant sounds there is a certain degree of noise.
Consonants are the bones of a word and give it its basic shape. English accents differ mainly in
vowels, the consonants are more or less the same wherever English is spoken. So if your vowels are not

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perfect you may still be understood by the listener, but if the consonants are imperfect there may be some
misunderstanding.
On the articulatory level the consonants change:
1.
In the degree of noise.
2.
In the manner of articulation.
3.In the place of articulation.

Classification of English consonants:

According to the degree of noise (the work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation )the English
consonants are subdivided into voiced and voiceless. Voiced consonants are: /b, d, g, z, v, ?, 3, m, n, , 1, r,
j, w, d3/. Voiceless consonants are: /p, t, k, s, f, ?, h, ?, t /.
The force of exhalation() and the degree of muscular tension are greater in the production of voiceless
consonants therefore they are called by the Latin word fortis, which means strong,energetic. Voiced consonants
are called lenis, soft, weak, because the force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension in their
articulation are weaker, e.g.
According to the manner of articulation.
The manner of articulation of consonants is determined by the type of obstruction(). The
obstructions may be complete(/), incomplete() and
momentary(/). When the obstruction is complete the organs of speech are in
contact and the air stream meets a closure() in the mouth or nasal cavities as in the production of the
English [p, b, t, d, k, g, tf, dj, m , n, n] .
In case of an incomplete obstruction the active organ of .speech moves towards the point of articulation and
the air stream goes through the narrowing between them as in the production of the English [f, v, s, z, d, h, w, l, r, j]
and the Russian [, ']. Momentary obstructions are formed in the production of the Russian sonorants) ) [p, p'] when the tip of the tongue taps quickly several times
against the teeth ridge.
According to the manner of articulation consonants may be of four groups:
1. Occlusive.( )
2. Constrictive.()
3. Occlusive-constrictive (affricates).
4. Rolled.(/)
1.Occlusive consonants are sounds in the production which the air stream meets a complete obstruction in mouth.
Occlusive voiced consonants are: the English [b, d, g].
Occlusive voiceless consonants are: the English [p, t, k|.
2.Constrictive consonants are those in the production of which the air stream meets an incomplete obstruction in
the resonator, so the air passage() is constricted(). Both noise consonants and sonorants may be
constrictive.
Constrictive noise consonants are called fricatives.
The English fricatives: [f, v, s, z, h].
The English voiced fricatives: [v, d, z, 3].
The English voiceless fricatives: [f, s, h].
3.Occlusive-constrictive consonants or affricates are noise consonant sounds produced with a complete
obstruction which is slowly released and the air escapes from the mouth with some friction(). There are only
two occlusive-constrictives in English: [t,dz] . The English [dz] is voiced and weak; [tf] is voiceless and strong .
4.Rolled consonants are sounds pronounced with periodical momentary obstructions when the tip of the tongue
taps quickly several times against the teeth ridge and vibrates in the air stream. (They are the Russian [p, p']).
Stops() /p, t, k, b, d, g/- occur when the air stream stops completely for an instant before it exits
the vocal tract.Voiceless stops in English are the /p/ inpour and slap, the /t/ in time and
adept, and the /k/ in cold and poke.Voiced stops are the /b/ in bow andcrab, the /d/ in dock and blood,
and the /g/ in game and bag.
Fricatives: /f, v, , , s, z, , , h/- occur when the air stream is audibly disrupted but not stopped completely.
Voiced fricatives are the /v/ in very and shove, the // in thy and bathe, the /z/ inzoo and wise, and the //
in measure andZha Zha.Voiceless fricatives are the /f/ in fool andlaugh, the // in thigh and bath, the //
inshock and nation, the /s/ in soup andmiss, and the /h/ in hope and ahead.

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Affricates: / t, d/- starts out as a stop, but ends up as a fricative. There are two affricates in English, both of
which are palatal. Therefore we do not need to mention place of articulation to
describe affricates. The voiceless affricate is the // in lunch and chapter. The voiced affricate is the //in
germ,journal and wedge.
Nasals(): /m, n, / (sometimes called nasal stops)- occur when velum is lowered allowing the air
stream to pass through the nasal cavity instead of the mouth. The air stream is stopped in the oral cavity, so
sometimes nasals are called nasal stops. We will just call them nasals.
Nasals are the /m/ in mind and sum, the /n/ in now and sign, and the // in sing, longer and bank.
Liquids(): /l, r/- The lateral liquid, /l/, is pronounced with the restriction in the alveolar region at the
beginning of syllables, as in low and syllable, but in the velar region at the ends of syllables, as in call, halter,
and syllable. It is called lateral because air flows around the sides of the tongue The central liquid is the /r/ in
rough and chore. This also has various pronunciations. It is called central because air flows over the center of
the tongue. So the terms central and lateral replace the place of articulation in descriptions of the liquids.
Glides( ): /w, y, hw/- occur when the air stream is unobstructed, producing an articulation
that is
vowel-like, but moves quickly to another articulation making it a consonant. Sometimes glides are described as
semivowels. The glides in English include the /w/ in witch and away, and the /y/ in yes and yoyo. Some
English speakers have a voiceless alveolar glide. This is transcribed /hw/ and occurs in whether, which, and
why.
ccording to the place of articulation.
The place of articulation is determined by the active organ of speech against the point of articulation. There may be
one place of articulation or focus, or two places of articulation or foci when active organs of speech contact with
two points of articulation. In the first case consonants are called unicentral, in the second they are bicentral.
According to the position of the active organ of speech against the point of articulation consonants may be:
1. Labial()
2. Lingual()
3. Glottal( /)
Labial consonants are made by the lips. They may be bilabial and labio-dental. Bilabial consonants are produced
when both lips are active: [p, b,m, w].
Labio-dental consonants are articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth: [f, v].
Lingual consonants are classified into forelingual, mediolingual and backlingual.
Forelingual consonants are articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue. According to its work they may be:
Apical(), if the tip of the tongue is active [t, d, s, z, tf, n, l].
Cacuminal(), if the tip of the tongue is at the back part of the teeth ridge, but a depression
is formed in the blade of the tongue as [r].According to the place of obstruction forelingual consonants may be:
interdental, dental., alveolar, post-alveolar., palato-alveolar.
Interdental consonants are made with the tip of the tongue projected between the teeth: the English [, ].
Dental consonants are produced with the blade( ) of the tongue against the upper teeth.
Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tip against the upper teeth ridge: the English [t, d, s, z, n, 1].
Post-alveolar consonants are made when the tip or the blade of the tongue is against the back part of the teeth ridge
or just behind it: the English [r].
Palato-alveolar consonants are made with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge and the front part
of the tongue raised towards the hard palate, thus having two places of articulation.
Central palate (or hard palate): Palatal consonants
/ , , r, t, d, y/
Velum (or soft palate): Velar consonants /k, g, /
Mediolingual consonants are produced with the front part of the tongue. They are always palatal. Palatal
consonants are articulated with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate /j/.
Backlingual consonants are also called velar, they are produced with the back part of the tongue raised towards the
soft palate velum /k, g, /.
Within the group of lingual oppositions can be found among forelingual, mediolingual and backlingual: yet-get
(medio vs. back), yes-less (medio vs. fore), tame-game (fore vs. back).
Glottal fricative /h/

9
Principles
of

classification of English vowels.

Vowels are normally made with the air stream that meets no closure or narrowing in the mouth, pharyngal and
nasal cavities. That is why in the production of vowel sounds there is no noise component characteristic of
consonantal sounds.
On the articulatory level the description of vowels notes changes:
1. in the stability of articulation,
2. in the tongue position,
3. in the lip position,
4. in the character of the vowel end.
1.Stability of Articulation. All English vowels are divided into three groups: pure vowels or monophthongs,
diphthongs and diphthongoids.
-Monophthongs are vowels the articulation of which is almost unchanging. The quality of such vowels is
relatively pure. Most Russian vowels are monophthongs. The English monophthongs are: [i, e, ae, a, o, o:, u, , a].
The English monophthongs are traditionally divided into varieties according to their length:

In the pronunciation of diphthongs the organs of speech glide from one vowel position to another within one
syllable. The starting point, the nucleus, is strong and distinct. The glide which shows the direction of the quality
change is very weak. In fact diphthongs consist of two clearly perceptible vowel elements. There are no diphthongs
in Russian. The English diphthongs are: [ei, ai, oi, au,, ie].
In the pronunciation of diphthongoids the articulation is slightly changing but the difference between the
starting point and the end is not so distinct as it is in the case of diphthongs. There are two diphthongoids in
English: [i:, u:]. The initial "o" may serve as an example of a Russian diphthongoid, eg .
2.Tongue Positions. The changes in the position of the tongue determine largerly the shape of the mouth and
pharyngal cavities. The tongue may move forward and backward, up and down, thus changing the quality of
vowel sounds.
3.Lip Position. The shape of the mouth cavity is also largely dependent on the position of the lips. When
the lips are neutral or spread the vowels are termed unrounded.
4.Character of Vowel End. The quality of all English monophthongs in the stressed position is
strongly affected by the following consonant of the same syllable. If a stressed vowel is followed by a
strong voiceless consonant it is cut off by it. In this case the end of the vowel is strong and the vowel is called
checked. Such vowels are heard in stressed closed syllables ending in a strong voiceless consonant, eg better, cart.
Reduction is a historical process of weakening, shortening or disappearance of vowel sounds in unstressed
positions. Reduction reflects the process of lexical and grammatical changes. Reduction is closely
connected not only with word stress but also with rhythm and sentence stress.
Reduction is realized:
(a)
in unstressed syllables within words
(b)
in unstressed form-words, auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and possessive pronouns
within intonation groups and phrases.
Three different types of reduction are noticed in English.
1. Quantitative reduction, i.e. shortening of a vowel sound in the unstressed position, affects mainly long vowels
2. Qualitative reduction, i.e. obscuration of vowels towards [a, i, o], affects both long and short vowels

10
Vowels in unstressed form-words in most cases undergo both quantitative and qualitative reduction
3. The third type is the elision of vowels in the unstressed position
According to the horizontal movement English vowels are divided into five classes (Russian scholars):

British phoneticians do not single out the classes of front-retracted and back-advanced vowels. So both [i:]
and [i] vowels are classed as front, and both [:] and [if ] vowels are classed as back. The latter point of view
doesn't seem to be consistent enough, because vowels in these two pairs differ in quality due to the raised part of
the tongue.
The other articulatory characteristic of vowels as to the tongue position is its vertical movement. British
scholars distinguish three classes of vowels: high (or close), mid (or half-open), and low (or open) vowels. Russian
phoneticians made the classification more detailed distinguishing two subclasses in each class that is broad and
narrow variations of the three vertical position of the tongue. Thus the following six groups of vowels are

distinguished:

2.3. Basic methods of phonological analysis.Phoneme theories. Schools of phonology.

The two main problems:
1) the establishment of the phonemic inventory for a language (, , )
Methods:
Distributional is based on the phonological rule, that different phonemes can occur in one and the same
position, while allophones of one and the same phoneme occur in different positions (cat-rat/ cat-skate). Its
possible to establish the phonemic status of any sound just by contrasting it with the other sound without
knowing the meaning of the words.
Semantic attaches great importance to meaning. Its based on the assumption that a phoneme can distinguish
words only when opposed to another phoneme or zero in an identical phonetic context (ask0-asks). Pairs of
words differing only in one sound are called minimal pairs.
2) the establishment of the inventory of phonologically relevant elements for a given language.
L. Blomfield (American descriptive linguist) considered it impossible to identify the phonemes of a language
without recourse to meaning in the ordinary sense of word.
Great phonemic dissimilarity entirely or greatly different sounds, such as a vowel and a consonant cannot be
allophones of the same phoneme.
Conditioned allophonic similarity the more or less similar sounds which are at the same time more or less
different, are allophones of the same phoneme if the difference between them is clearly due to the influence of
purely external phonetic factors, such as neighbouring sounds, stress, etc..
Phoneme Theory. Mentalistic and Functional Approaches.Materialistic and
Abstract Approaches.
The founder of the Phoneme Theory was the Russian scientist Boudoin-de-Courtenay who was the head of the
Kazan Linguistic School. He defined the phoneme as a physical image of a sound. He also regarded phonemes as
fictitious units and considered them to be only perceptions. This approach is called mentalistic/ physical.

11
Ferdinand de Saussure viewed phonemes as the sum of acoustic impressions and articulatory movements. He also
viewed phonemes as disembodied units of the language formed by the differences separating the acoustic image of
one sound from the rest of the units. Language in his opinion contains nothing but differences. This approach is
called abstractional/ abstract.
Trubetskoy (the head of the Prague Linguistic School) defined the phoneme as a unity of phonologically relevant
features. Relevant feature is the feature without which we cant distinguish one phoneme from another. This
approach is called functional.
Phonemes can be neutralized. In this case we receive an archi-phoneme. That is a unity of relevant features
common to both phonemes (e.g. wetting wedding in AmE). In case of archiphoneme we cannot distinguish one
phoneme from another. Thus the distinctive function of the phoneme is lost.]
Another kind of approach to the nature of the phoneme was expressed by a British scholar, the head of the London
School of Phonology, Daniel Jones. He defined the phoneme as a family of sounds.
The American Linguistic School (Blumfield, Sapir, etc) defined the phoneme as a minimum unit of distinctive
sound features and as abstractional unit.
The materialistic approach was expressed by Leo Tsherba. Academician Tsherba defined the phoneme as a real
independent distinctive unit which manifests itself in the form of its allophones. This approach
comprises() the abstract, the functional.
Summing up what has been said we may state that the phoneme comprises material, real & objective features and
at the same time distinctive abstractional and generalized ones (because it represents all the relevant features which
are present in all the allophones of the phoneme). It exists in the material form of speech sounds (allophones).
Schools of phonology
Three distinct schools of phonology evolved out of Baudouin's alternational dichotomy( 2
): the Moscowschool, the Leningrad school, and the Prague school. West tend to view the Prague school as
the foundation of modern phonology, although Baudouin's seminal()work had begun roughly half a
century earlier. The Leningrad school, the more visible Russian school of the two, was dominated by Shcherba,
who completely revised Baudouin's alternational dichotomy. In Shcherba's approach, the phoneme came to be seen
as a perceptual( ) unit, so that phonemic neutralization (e.g. vowel neutralization, final
devoicing) tended not to be recognized as a phonological phenomenon. Shcherba's ideas crept into the West and
came to be accepted as the basis of what we now call 'classical phonemic theory'. Of the three schools, only the
Moscow school retained the original Baudouinian level of phonemic (a.k.a. phonological) representation. Here is a
rough sketch of how the three major schools might differ on the levels of representation for the noun 'lives').
One major difference here is that the two Russian schools, like Baudouin, viewed the morphophonological 'level' as
comprised completely of phonemes(which were phonetic segments). Trubetzkoy (founder of the Prague School of
phonology )split phonology into phonemics and archiphonemics; the former has had more influence than the latter.
Another important figure in the Prague School was Roman Jakobson, who was one of the most prominent linguists
of the 20th century.

2.4.Feature theory. The system of phonological oppopsitions. Phonologycally/ phonetically

relevant features of phonemes. Modification of phonemes in speech continuum.
Feature theory
Phonology can be viewed as a product of the grammaticalization of real-world observations as filtered through the
cognitive-perceptual system, thus as a "grammar of speech sounds". From this point of view its organization
mirrors that of grammar as a whole:
Grammar as a whole:
Phonology:
Lexicon
Features
Morphology
Geometry
Syntax
Phonotactics
Semantics
Phonetic interpretation
Phonology thus contains a lexicon of elementary terms (features), a morphology stating how features are combined
into segments (geometry), a syntax specifying how segments align with each other (phonotactic principles, notably
sonority), and a semantics indicating how these formal constructions are interpreted in speech output (phonetic
interpretation).

12
Within this overall organization, features play a central role as the ultimate constitutive elements of phonological
representation:
Features are universal in the sense that all languages define their speech sounds in terms of a small feature set
Features are distinctive in that they commonly distinguish one phoneme from another
Features delimit the number of theoretically possible speech sound contrasts within and across languages
Features are economical in allowing relatively large phoneme systems to be defined in terms of a much smaller
feature set
Features define natural classes of sounds observed in recurrent phonological patterns.
Patterns of markedness, underlying crosslinguistic universals, involve the distinction between marked and
unmarked features
Although features must be defined in terms abstract enough to account for these various roles, they are ultimately
grounded in cognitive and peripheral properties of the human organism. We are currently exploring a model which
views all features as grounded in quantal relations between articulatory movements and their acoustic effects. (For
more on features, see Inventory Structure, Phonetic Bases of Distinctive Features).
The method of distinctive oppositions proves whether the phonemic difference is relevant or not. Ex: /t/ is a
forelingual plosive () occlusive (), voiceless () fortis phoneme.
/d/ is also a forelingual plosive occlusive but voiced lenis phoneme.
So, for /t, d/ the only relevant distinctive features are: voiceless, fortis vs. voiced lenis. Other features are
irrelevant.
Depending on the number of relevant distinctive features oppositions can be: a) single, b) double; c) multiple.
Ex: /t/ - voiceless fortis, lingual, forelingua, apical, alveolar, occlusive, noise, unicentral, oral.
/d/-voiced lenis, +, +, +, +, +, +, +, +.
Since there is only one difference, which corresponds to a single relevant distinctive feature in the /d/ phoneme, /td/ can be considered to have a single opposition in pairs ten-den, time-dime, try-dry that is voiceless fortis vs.
voiced lenis distinction.
:
1) high (close) vowels: a) narrow--/i:/ /u:/; b) broad-- /i/, /u/
2) mid or half-open vowels: a) narrow--/e/ /:/ /o(u)/; b) broad-- //
3) low, or open vowels: a) narrow--/^/ ; b) broad-- /a(i, u)/, /a:/
Vowels can be : 1) rounded (all fully back vowels); 2) unrounded (all front, central an back-advanced vowels)
Stability of articulation:
Vowels are divided into: 1) monophthongs, or simple vowels; 2) diphthongs, or complex vowels; 3) diphthongoids,
or diphthongized vowels.
Diphthongs can be: 1) falling (nucleus +glide ); 2) rising
1. If the opposition is based on a single difference in the articulation of two speech sounds, it is a single
phonological opposition, e.g.
-[t], as in [pen]-[ten]; bilabial vs. forelingual, all the other features are the same.
2. If the sounds in distinctive opposition have two differences in their articulation, the opposition is double one, or
a sum of two single oppositions, e.g.
-[d], as in [pen]-[den], 1) bilabial vs. forelingual 2) voiceless-fortis vs. voiced-lenis
3. If there are three articulatory differences, the opposition is triple one, or a sum of three single oppositions, e.g.
- [], as in [pei]-[ ei]: 1) bilabial vs. forelingual, 2) occlusive vs. constrictive, 3) voiceless-fortis vs. voiced-lenis.
1. Degree of noise
bake - make, veal - wheel
2. Place of articulation
a. labial vs. lingual

13
pain cane
b. lingual vs. glottal
foam home, care hair, Tim - him
3. Manner of articulation
3.1 occlusive vs. constrictive pine -fine, bat - that, bee - thee
3.2 constrictive vs. affricates fare chair, fail -jail
3.3 constrictive unicentral vs. constrictive bicentral
same shame
4. Work of the vocal cords and the force of articulation
4.1 voiceless fortis vs. voiced lenis
pen Ben, ten - den, coat - goal
5. Position of the soft palate
5.1 oral vs. nasal
pit pin, seek seen
:
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 analysis is conducted through the system of phonological oppositions. Its based on the following rule:
the phoneme can distinguish meaning when opposed to one another in the same phonetic context. Ex: [dei] [thei],
[ship] [sheep] (minimal pairs)
To establish the phonemic status of a sound it is necessary to oppose one sound to another in the same phonetic
context.
This procedure is called commutation test. We must find the so-called minimal pairs. A minimal pair is a pair of
words which differ in once sound only. So we replace one sound by another and try to see if the meaning is the
same or different and if the sound belongs to one or different phoneme.
Ex: [pin] [sin] (1)
[phin] [pin] (2)
[pin] [hin] (3)
The commutation test may have 3 results:
(1) the meaning is different, so the opposed sounds belong to different phoneme;
(2) the meaning is the same, so the opposed sounds belong to the same phoneme;
(3) a meaningless word, so we cant make any conclusion we cant identificate the sound
There are different types of oppositions:
1) single
the opposed sounds differ in one articulating feature only: [pen] [ben]
voiceless voiced
2) double
the opposed sounds differ in 2 distinctive features : [pen] - [den]

14
bilabial forelingual
voiceless voiced
3) triple (multiple)
the opposed sounds differ in 3 distinctive features: [pen] - [then]
voiceless voiced
bilabial interdental
occlusive stop constrictive fricative
To create the system of phonemes the sounds are opposed in 3 positions:
- initial
- middle
- final
There is another interesting case. We have a number of different sounds occur in the same position and phonetic
context but the meaning is unchanged. Ex: [] [], [] [].
Such sounds are called free variants. The existence of free variants is explained by regional, stylistic and individual
variations. Ex: city [sidi siti], letter [led let]
Phonological and non-phonological features:
A phoneme can only perform its distinctive function if it is opposed to another phoneme (or to no sound) in the
same position. Such an opposition is called distinctive, or phonological. The classification is based on the number
of distinctive articulatory features underlying the opposition (single, double, triple, multiple). Establishment of the
phonemic system of a language is actually the establishment of all the single phonological oppositions existing in
it.
Each sound is characterized by a number of features, some of them are relevant () (distinctive), others
are irrelevant (incidental). Relevant features are affected by phonetic context. Irrelevant may be of two kinds: indispensable (), (they are always present at allophones), - incidental ().
Relevant
- the type of obstruction (occlusive/constrictive, plosive/fricative/affricate/nasal)
- the active organ (labial, bilabial, labio-dental/lingual/glottal)
- the force of articulation, work of local cords (fortis/lenis)
Irrelevant
- two foci
- the shape of narrow (oral, nasal, lateral articulation)
- place of obstruction ( )
- presense or absense of voice
- aspiration
- palatalisation
In the system of English vowels the only relevant feature is the position of the tongue (, ).
Modifications of Phonemes in Connected Speech
1. English Vowels in Connected Speech 2. English Consonants in Connected Speech
1.The modifications of vowels in a speech chain are traced in the following directions: they are
either quantitative or qualitative or both. These changes of vowels in connected speech are determined by a number
of factors such as the position of the vowels in the word, accentual structure, tempo of speech, rhythm etc.
The shortening of the vowel length (the decrease) is known as a quantitative modification of vowels:
1) it occurs in unstressed position (black-board [:]). In this case it affects both the length of the unstressed
vowels & their quality;
2) the English vowels have positional length. The vowel [i:] is the longest in the final position, it is
obviously shorter betore the lenis voiced consonant [d] & it is the shortest before the fortis voiceless consonant [t].
Qualitative modification of most vowels occures in unstressed position. Unstressed vowels lose their
quality, which is illustrated by the examples below: 1) man [rroen] - sportsman ['spo:tsman], conduct ['kundakt] [kan'dA kt]. In such cases the quality of the vowel is reduced to the neutral sound []. The neutral sound [a] is the
most frequent sound of English. In continuous text it represents about eleven per cent of all sounds. This high
frequency of [] is the result of the rhythmic pattern. The English rhythm prefers a pattern in which stressed
syllables alternate with unstressed ones. Compare: analyse ['26 ng^laiz] - analysis [a'nselisi] - in both words full
vowels appear in the stressed positions, alternating with [a] in unstresses position. It's impossible to have a full

15
vowel in every unstressed syllable. One of the wide-spread sound changes is certainly-vowel reduction. Reduction
is actual qualitative or quantitative weakening of vowels in unstressed position: board -blackboard, man-postman.
In rapid colloquial speech reduction may result in vowel elision, the complete omission of the unstressed
vowel, which is also known as zero reduction: history, factory, territory. It often occurs in initial unstressed
syllables preceding the stressed one, (e.g. correct, suppose, perhaps) & is conditioned by the tempo, rhythm & style
of speech.
2. Till this time we have looked at sound individually. But language in everyday use is not represented by
isolated, separate units; it is performed in connected sequences of larger units, in words, phrases, longer utterances.
There are some remarkable differences between the pronunciation of a word in isolation & of the same word in a
block of connected speech. These changes are mostly quite regular. Still the problem of defining the phonemic
status of sounds in connected speech is too complicated, because of the numerous modifications of sounds in
speech. These modifications are observed both within words & at word boundaries. Speech sounds influence each
other in the flow of speech. As a result of the intercourse between consonants & vowels & within each class there
appear such processes of connected speech as assimilation, accomodation, vowel reduction & elision which is
sometimes called deletion.
The adaptive modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant in the speech chain is known as
assimilation (the alveolar [t] followed by the interdental [] becomes dental: eighth, at three.
The tern "accommodation" is often used by linguists to denote the interchanges of "vowel + consonant
type" or "consonant + vowel type", for instance, some slight degree of nasalization of vowels preceded or followed
by nasal sonorants: never, men.
Elision or complete loss of sound, both vowels & consonants, is often observed in English. On hearing a
sequence like [z'nik1 kAmir) ], the listener unmistakably reconstructs: Is Nick coming?
Consonants are modified according to the place of articulation. Assimilation takes please when a sound
changes its character in order to become more like a heigbouring sound. The characteristic which can vary in this
way is nearly always the place of articulation & the sounds concerned are commonly those which involve a
complete closure at some point in the mouth that is plosives & nasals : "said that", "dry".
The manner of articulation is also changed as a result of assimilation:
1) Loss of plosion. In the sequence of two plosive consonants the former loses its plosion: glad to see you.
2) Nasal plosion. In the sequence of a plosive followed by a fnasal sonorant the manner of articulation of
the plosive
sound & the work of the soft palate are involved, which results in the nasal character of plosion release:
"sudden", "not now".
3) Lateral plosion. In the sequence of a plosive followed by the lateral sonorant [1] the noise production of
the plosive stop is changed into that of the lateral stop "settle", "table".
The voicing value of a consonant may also change through assimilation. This type of assimilation affects
the work of the vocal cords & the force of articulation. In particular voiced lenis sounds become voiceless fortis
when followed by another voiceless sound: newspaper, have to do it. The change of voiceless fortis consonants into
voiced lenis as a result of assimilation is not typical for English language.
Lip position may be affected by the accomodation , the interchange of consonant vowel type. Labialisation
of consonants is traced under the influence of the neighbouring back vowels: moon, soon, cool etc. the spread lip
position -tea - beat, meet- team.
The position of the soft palate is also involved in the accomodation. Slight nasalization as the result of
prolonged lowering of the soft palate is sometimes traced in vowels under the influence of the neighbouring [m[ &
[n]. (and, morning, men).
To summarize all mentioned above, assimilation affecting the place of articulation is considered to be most
typical of the English sound system & assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords is most typical of the
Russian speech.

2.5.Articulation basis of English. Basic phonological rules . Modifications of English

Vowels and Consonants in Connected Speech(2.4.end). Articulatory distinctions
()of typologycally identical sounds in the students mother tongue.
DIFFERENCES IN THE ARTICULATION BASES OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN VOWELS

16
1) The lips. In the production of Russian vowels the lips are considerably protruded and rounded: /, /. In the
articulation of the similar English VOW protrusion does not take place.
(2) The bulk of the tongue. In the articulation of the English vowels the bulk of the tongue occupies more
positions than in the production of the Russian vowels. When the the tongue moves in the horizontal direction it
may occupy a fully front and a front-retracted, a fully back and a back-advanced position. Each of the three
vertical positions of the tongue (high, mid, low) in English is subdivided into a narrow and broad variety. Rus vow
are classified according to the vertical movement of the tongue they may be divided into: high /, , /, mid
/, / and low /a/. According to the horizontal movement of the tongue Russian vowels may be subdivided
into: front /, /, central /, a/ and back /o, y/.
(3) The principle of the degree of tenseness in vowel classification is connected with the unchecked and
checked character of the vowels.
(4) The length of the vowels. Long vowels in English are considered to be tense. There are no long vowels
which can be opposed to short vowels in the Russian language.
(5) The stability of articulation. There are monophthongs and diphthongoids in the Russian vowel system,
but there are no diphthongs.
(6) There are 6 vowel phonemes in Russian and 20 in English.
Given below are English vowels which have no counterparts in Russian:
(1) long and short vowels /i: i/, /o: o/, /u: u/, /:- /, /a: /\/;
(2) slightly rounded, but not protruded vowels /u:, o:/;
(3) vowels articulated with the "flat" position of the lips /i:, i, e, ei/;
(4) very low vowels, such as /, o, a:/;
(5) front-retracted /i/ and back-advanced /u, a:/;
(6) central or mixed /- :/;
(7) checked and free vowels /siti/ /'m/\ni/ Russian , ;
(8) diphthongs /ei, ai, oi, i, u, ou, , u/.
An articulating English vowels Russian students can make the following mistakes:
(1) they do not observe the quantitative character of the long vowels;
(2) do not observe the qualitative difference in the articulation of such vowels as /i: i/, /u: u/, /o:- o/,
(3) replace the English vowels /i:, , u, , / by the Russian vowels / , , , , /;
(4) pronounce /i:, i, e, ei/ without the "flat position" of the lips;
(5) soften consonants which precede front vowels
(6) articulate /o, :, u, u:, u/ with the lips too much rounded and protruded;
(7) make the sounds /, o/ more narrow similarly to the Russian /, /;
(8) make both elements of the diphthongs equally distinct;
(9) pronounce initial vowels with a glottal stop.
DIFFERENCES IN THE ARTICULATION BASES OF THE ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN CONSONANTS
Differences in the system of consonants in English and in Russian are the following:
(1) The English forelingual consonants are articulated with the apico-alveolar position of the tip of the
tongue. The Russian forelingual consonants are mainly dorsal: in their articulation the tip of the tongue is passive
and lowered, the blade is placed against the upper teeth. The Russian forelingual apical consonants are only: [, ',
, ', , `].
(2) Russian students often use the hard /, / phonemes instead of the soft English /, /. Palatalization is a
phonemic feature in Russian. There is no opposition between palatalyzed non-palatalyzed consonants in
English. The soft colouring of the English /,t, d, l, / is non-phonemic.
(3) In the articulation of /w/ the primary focus is formed by the lips, which are rounded but not protruded, as
it happens when the Russian /y/ is pronounced. The bilabial /w/ which is pronounced with a round narrowing is
very often mispronounced by Russians. They use the labiodental // which is pronounced with a flat narrowing
instead of the English /w/.
The primary focus in the articulation of "dark" [l] is formed by the tip of the tongue pressed against the
teethridge in the initial position.
English voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ are aspirated, when followed by a stressed vowel and not preceded by /s/.
(4) The English voiceless fortis /p, t, k, f, s, , t/ are pronounced more energetically than similar Russian
consonants.The English voiced consonants /b, d, g, v, d, z, , d/ are not replaced by the corresponding voiceless
sounds in final positions and before voiceless consonants.

17
(5) Consonant phonemes in English which have no counterparts in Russian are the following:
1. the bilabial sonorant /w/,
2. the dental consonants /, /,
3. the voiced affricate /d/,
4. the post-alvcolar sonorant /r/,
5. the backlingual nasal sonorant //,
6. the glottal /h/.
Consonant phonemes in Russian which have no counterparts in English are the following;
1. the palatalized consonants /`, ', ', `/.
2. the voiceless affricate //,
3. the rolled sonorant /p/,
4. the backlingual voiceless /x/.
The most common mistakes are the following:
dorsal articulation of the English /t, d/,
the use of the Russian rolled /p/ instead of the English /r/,
the use of the Russian /x/ instead of the English glottal /h/,
mispronunciation of the English interdental [, ]
the use of the forelingual /n/ instead of the backlingual velar / /.
- the use of the Russian dark / , / instead of the soft English /, /,
- the use of the labio-dental /v, / instead of the bilabial /w/,
- weak pronunciation of voiceless fortis /p, t, k, f, s, , t/,
- devoicing of /b, d, g, v, , z, , d / in the terminal position
Phonological rules can be roughly divided into four types:
Assimilation: When a sound changes one of its features to be more similar to an adjacent()
sound. This is the kind of rule that occurs in the English plural rule described abovethe -s becomes
voiced or voiceless depending on whether or not the preceding consonant is voiced.
Dissimilation: When a sound changes one of its features to become less similar to an adjacent sound,
usually to make the two sounds more distinguishable. This type of rule is often seen among people speaking
a language that is not their native language, where the sound contrasts may be difficult.
Insertion: When an extra sound is added between two others. This also occurs in the English plural rule:
when the plural morpheme -s is added to "bus," "bus-s" would be unpronouncable, so a short vowel (the
schwa, []) is inserted between the two [s]s.
Deletion: When a sound, such as a stressless syllable or a weak consonant, is not pronounced; for example,
most American English speakers do not pronounce the [d] in "handbag".
Phonological Rules are of two types:
Allophonic rules: fill in qualities of pronunciation that are absent in the lexical forms of morphemes but are required by
their circumstances in speech, like the aspiration of word-initial /k/ in coats and the rounding of the word-initial /r/ of
rules.
-English stop aspiration:
Rule 1: Voiceless stops are aspirated when in initial stressed syllables
Rule 2: Nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs have at least one stressed vowel.
Morphemic rules: also known as morphonemic rules and morphophonological rules change or choose between
meaningful qualities given as part of the lexical entries of morphemes, as where voicing of the /z/ of the plural suffix is
replaced by voiclessness, giving /s/, in words like /kots/ coats and /saks/ socks.
Modification of English consonants in connected speech.
In connected speech the sounds are subjected, in general, to two main types of influence: the reciprocal influence
of neighboring sounds and the influence on sounds by larger speech units and their elements, first of all by the
stress. The first group of processes is called the combinative changes, the second group the positional
changes.
Assimilation is a process of alteration of speech sounds as a result of which one of the sounds becomes fully or
partially similar to the adjoining sound.
Types of assimilation can be distinguished according to: direction, degree of completeness, degree of stability.
Modification of the place of obstruction and the active organs of speech: Assimilation may take place within a
word and also at word boundaries. The following three important cases should be noticed:

18
(a) The alveolar allophones of [t, d, n, 1, s, z] are replaced by the dental variants when immediately followed by
the interdental [] or [], eg
within a word: eighth, breadth, tenth; at word boundaries: Put that down! Read this!, on the desk
(b)The post-alveolar [t] and [d] are heard before the post-alveolar sonorant [r], eg
within a word: trip, true, trunk, dream, drink; at word boundaries: at rest, would read.
(c)The bilabial nasal [m] or the alveolar nasal [n] become labio-dental under the influence of immediately
following labio-dental fricatives [f, v], eg
within a word: triumph, comfort, infant; at word boundaries: come for me, ten forks.
Changes in the work of the vocal cords (voicing/devoicing):
Progressive voicing or devoicing is common in English .
(a) The sonorants [m, n, 1, w, r] are partially devoiced when preceded by voiceless consonants [s, p, t, k, f,].
At word boundaries the sonorants [1, r, w] are slightly voiced if with the adjacent words they form a phrasal
word or a rhythmic group, eg at last, at rest.
(b)Contracted forms of the verbs "is" and "has" may retain voice or be devoiced depending on the
preceding consonants.
(c)The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the possessive suffix -'s or -s', the plural suffix -(e)s of nouns
and of the third person singular present indefinite of verbs depends on the quality of the preceding consonant.
(d) The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the suffix -ed of regular verbs also depends on the quality of the
preceding consonant.
Changes in the Lip Position. Consonants followed by the sonorant [w] change their lip-position. They become liprounded in anticipation of [w], eg twinkle, quite, swan, language.
Changes in the Position of the Soft Palate. Nasal consonants may influence the adjacent plosive.
Sometimes [d] changes into [n] , eg handsome, handmade.
Changes in the Manner of the Release of Plosive Consonants. English plosives do not always have the third
stage consisting of a sudden oral release of air. The main variants are:
(a) Incomplete plosion.
In the clusters of two plosives [pp, pb, bb, bp, tt, td, dd, dt,, kk, kg, gg, gk] where the position of the organs of speech is the
same for both consonants, there is no separation of the organs of speech between the two plosives.
(b)Nasal plosion.
When a plosive is followed by the syllabic [n] or [m] it has no release of its own, the so-called 'nasal'
plosion is produced.
(c)Lateral plosion.
In the sequences of a plosive immediately followed by [1] the closure produced for the plosive is not
released till after [1]. Before [1] the release is made by a sudden lowering of the sides of the tongue, and
the air escapes along the sides of the tongue with lateral plosion, eg please, cattle, black, candle.

SEMINAR 3
3.1 Syllable as a phonetic and phonological unit. Types of syllable. Syllable formation
theories.
A syllable is a speech unit consisting of a sound or a sound sequence() one of which is heard
to be more prominent than the others. The most prominent sound being the peak( )
or the nucleus of a syllable is called syllabic. Syllabic sounds are generally vowels and sonorants. The latter
become syllabic when joined to a preceding consonant. A syllabic sonorant is marked by the sign [,].
A word consisting of only one vowel sound represents a separate syllable. In the case of a diphthong the peak of the
syllable is formed by its nucleus.
Many words in English such as parcel, level, special, person and the like could be pronounced with the neutral
vowel before the sonorant thus making it non-syllabic.
In all these words the second prominent sound or the peak is formed by [a] corresponding to some vowel letter
in an unstressed position before the sonorant.
On the other hand many words having a vowel-letter before the neutral vowel final sonorant are pronounced
without the neutral vowel, where by the sonorant is syllabic, eg garden; lesson; pupil.
If a sonorant is preceded by a vowel sound it loses its syllabic character and the syllable is formed by the vowel.
Syllable formation and syllable division rules appear to be a matter of great practical value to the language learner.
They are especially important when it is necessary to know the number of syllables for the purpose of picturing a

19
word or a sentence on the staves(), or for finding a convenient place to put a stress mark in phonetic
transcription.
In most general terms syllable division rules can be defined as follows:
(1)An intervocalic consonant tends to belong to the following syllabic sound, eg about; writing.
(2) Intervocalic combinations of consonants belong to the following syllabic sound, if such combinations are
typical of English, eg naturally.
The syllable can be a single word:hair, a part of a word: table, a part of the grammatical form of a word:disable.
The syllable can be analysed from the acoustic and auditory, articulatory and functional points of view. Acoustically
and auditorily the syllable is characterized by the force of utterance, or accent, pitch of the voice, sonority and length,
that is by prosodic features.
Auditorily the syllabic is the smallest unit of perception. 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, err
VC types of syllable called uncovered closed, eat
CVC types of syllable called covered closed,pit
CV types of syllable called covered open,
The peak of the syllable is formed by a vowel or a sonorant. The consonant which precede the peak and follow
it are called slopes. The consonant[] never begins, [w] never terminates the syllable. Syllable-forming sonorants
in the combinations of the CS type are terminal /m, n, l/.
The combinability of syl forming sonorance is the following: [l] combines with all con-s exept [,]. The
sound [n] combines with all cons exept [m,, n]. [m] combines only with [s,z,p, ,]
The distribution of consonants in the syllables of the CSC type is characterized by the following features: initial
consonants may be represented by
the peak sonorants may be represented
by /n, m, l/; final consonants are represented by
The distribution of consonants in the syllables of the CSCC type is characterized by the following features: the
initial consonant may be represented by
The peak of syllable is represented by the
sonorants [n,l], they are immediately followed by /t, d, s/; final consonants are represented by
The syllables of the CSVSCC type: entrants /'entrnts/, emigrants /'emigrnts/, minstrels /'minstrls/,
hydrants /'haidrnts/ can be pronounced without (V)| CSSCC type.Final clusters in English are much more
complex than initial ones. They express different grammatical meanings: plurality, tense, number, e.g. texts, mixed,
glimpsed.
The syllabic as a phonological unit performs three functions: consti tutive, distinctive, identificatory.
They are closely connected.
1. constitutive function. Syl-s constitute words, phrases, sentences through the combination of their prosodic
features: loudness stress, pitch-tone, duration length and tmpo. Syl-s can be stressed, unstressed, high, mid,
low, rising, falling, long, short. All these features constitute the stress pattern of words, tonal and rhythmic structure of
an utterance, help to perform distinctive variations on the syllabic level.
2. distinctive and differentiatory function. There are rather many combinations in English distinguished from each other by
means of the difference in the place of the syllabic boundary: a name an aim, ice cream I scream.
The distinctive, differentiatory function of the syllabic boundary makes it possible to introduce the term "juncture". Close
juncture or conjuncture occurs between sounds within one syllable. Open juncture, disjunctive or internal open
juncture occurs between two syllables.
3.Identificatory Function. This function is conditioned by the pronunciation of the speaker. The listener can understand
the exact meaning of the utterance only if he perceives the correct syllabic boundary "syllabodisjuncture", e.g. pea
stalks peace talks ; my train might rain . The
existence of such pairs demands special attention to teaching not only the correct pronunciation of sounds but also the
observation of the correct place for syllabodisjuncture
There are six types of syllables:
1. A closed syllable ends in a consonant. The vowel has a short vowel sound, as in the word bat.
2. An open syllable ends in a vowel. The vowel has a long vowel sound, as in the first syllable of apron.
3. A vowel-consonant-e syllable is typically found at the end of a word. The final e is silent and makes the
next vowel before it long, as in the word name.

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4. A vowel team syllable has two vowels next to each other that together say a new sound, as in the word
south.
5. A consonant-le syllable is found in words like handle, puzzle, and middle.
6. An r-controlled syllable contains a vowel followed by the letter r. The r controls the vowel and changes the
way it is pronounced, as in the word car
theories of syllable formation and syllable division.
There are different points of view on syllable formation which are the following.
1. The most ancient theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. This theory is
primitive and insufficient since it does not take into consideration consonants which also can form syllables in
some languages, neither does it explain the boundary of syllables.
2. The expiratory theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are expiration pulses. The
borderline between the syllables is, according to this theory, the moment of the weakest expiration. This theory is
inconsistent because it is quite possible to pronounce several syllables in one articulatory effort or expiration, e.g.
seeing.
3. The sonority theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are peaks of prominence or
sonority.
Speech sounds pronounced with uniform force, length and pitch, differ in inherent prominence or sonority. For
example, when the Russian vowels /, , , , / are pronounced on one and the same level, their acoustic intensity,
or sonority is different: the strongest is /a/, then go /, , , /.
. Jespersen established the scale of sonority of sounds, that is, the scale of their inherent prominence. According
to this scale the most sonorous are back vowels (low, mid, high), then go semi-vowels and sonorants, then
voiced and voiceless consonants.
Sounds are grouped around the most sonorous ones, which form the peaks of sonority in a syllable. Two points of
lower sonority constitute the beginning and the end of one syllable. Compare melt and metal, in the first word [e]is
the most sonorous sound, the only peak of sonority, it is a one-syllable word. In the word metal there are two peaks
of sonority /e/ and /1/, it is a two-syllable word.
The sonority theory helps to establish the number of syllables in a word, but fails to explain the mechanism of
syllable division because it does not state to which syllable the weak sound at the boundary of two syllables
belongs.
The "arc of loudness" is based on L.V. Shcherba's statement that the centre of a syllable is the syllable forming
phoneme. Sounds which precede or follow it constitute a chain, or an arc, which is weak in the beginning and in
the end and strong in the middle. If a syllable consists of a vowel, its strength increases in the begin ning, reaches
the maximum of loudness and then, gradually decreases.
Consonants within a sillable are characterized by different distribution of muscular tension. Shcherba
distinguishes the following types of consonants; finally strong (initially weak), they occur at the beginning of the
syllable; finally weak (initially strong), they occur at the end of a closed syllable; double peaked (combination of
two similar sounds): in their articulation the beginning and the end are energetic and the middle is weak.
Acoustically they produce an impression of two consonants:
In terms of the "arc of loudness" theory there are as many syllables in a word as there are "arcs of loudness" and
the point of syllable division corresponds to the moment, when the arc of loudness begins or ends, that is: initially
weak consonants begin a syllable, finally weak end it. For example, the word mistake consists of two arcs of
loudness in which /m/ and /t/ are finally strong consonants and /s/ and /k/ are finally weak, /s/ constitutes the end of
"the arc of loudness", /t/ constitutes the beginning.
None of the theories mentioned above are reliable in the definition of the syllabic boundary.
1. In affixal words the syllabic boundary coincides with the morphological boundary: dis-place, be-come, unable, count-less.
2. In words with CVCV structure the syllabic boundary is after the accented vowel: farmer, city, table.
3. In words of CVC structure the syllabic boundary is after the intervocal consonant, which terminates accented
syllable:
4. In words of CVS, VS structure the syllabic boundary is after the ntervocal sonorant: inner
cinema
enemy
5. Compared with the Russian acoustic connection, English CVC cluster is close, Russian CP syllabic
cluster is loose, compare: city
lily
money
and -, -, -.

21
6. English diphthongs are unisyllabic, they consist of one vowel phoneme, English triphthongs are disyllabic,
because they consist of two vowel phonemes: science
flower

3.2 Phonotactics as a branch of phonology. Phonotactic possibilities of English vowels and

consonants;phonological constraints() in sounds cluster in onset and coda.
Phonotactics is a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions() in a language on the
permissible() combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permissible syllable structure,
consonant clusters(), and vowel sequences() by means of phonotactical constraints.
Phonotactic constraints are language specific. For example, in Japanese, consonant clusters like /st/ do not occur.
Similarly, the sounds /kn/ and /n/ are not permitted at the beginning of a word in Modern English but are in
German and Dutch, and were permitted in Old and Middle English.
Syllables have the following internal() segmental structure:
Onset (optional)()
Rime (obligatory, comprises Nucleus and Coda):
o Nucleus (obligatory)
o Coda (optional)
Both onset and coda may be empty, forming a vowel-only syllable, or alternatively, the nucleus can be occupied by
a syllabic consonant.
The English syllable (and word) twelfths /twlfs/ is divided into the onset /tw/, the nucleus //, and the coda /lfs/,
and it can thus be described as CCVCCCC (C = consonant, V = vowel). On this basis it is possible to form rules for
which representations of phoneme classes may fill the cluster. For instance, English allows at most three
consonants in an onset, but among native words under standard accents, phonemes in a three-consonantal onset are
limited to the following scheme:
/s/ + pulmonic() + approximant():
/s/ + /m/ + /j/
/s/ + /t/ + /j /
/s/ + /p/ + /j l/
/s/ + /k/ + /j l w/
This constraint can be observed in the pronunciation of the word blue: originally, the vowel of blue was identical to
the vowel of cue, approximately [iw]. In most dialects of English, [iw] shifted to [ju]. Theoretically, this would
produce **[blju]. The cluster [blj], however, infringes the constraint for three-consonantal onsets in English.
Therefore, the pronunciation has been reduced to [blu] by elision of the [j].
In general, the rules of phonotactics operate around the sonority hierarchy, stipulating that the nucleus has maximal
sonority and that sonority decreases as you move away from the nucleus. The voiceless alveolar fricative [s] is
lower on the sonority hierarchy than the alveolar lateral approximant [l], so the combination /sl/ is permitted in
onsets and /ls/ is permitted in codas, but /ls/ is not allowed in onsets and /sl/ is not allowed in codas. Hence slips
/slps/ and pulse /pls/ are possible English words while *lsips and *pusl are not.
This said, in some cases /s/ is "invisible" to the sonority hierarchy; as a fricative, it is more sonorant than the
plosive /t/. However, combinations like [sti] (steal), which violates the sonority hierarchy, are seen and are even
common in English. This same property is seen in many other languages for either /s/ or /z/ and is thus a human
universal

3.3 Lexical stress/ word stress as a non-discrete phonological unit. Acoustuc and perceptual
clues to word accent. Functions of lexical stress in languages with fixed and free word accent.
Stress is the relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, or to certain words in a phrase or
sentence. The term is also used for similar patterns of phonetic prominence inside syllables. The word accent is
sometimes also used with this sense.
Any word spoken in isolation has at least one prominent syllable. We perceive it as stressed. Stress in the isolated
word is termed word stress, stress in connected speech is termed sentence stress. Stress is indicated by
placing a stress mark before the stressed syllable: /'/.
Stress is defined differently by different authors. B. A. Bogoroditsky, for instance, defined stress as an increase of
energy, accompanied by an increase of expiratory and articulatory activity. D. Jones defined stress as the degree of
force, which is accompanied by a strong force of exhalation and gives an impression of loudness.
H. Sweet
also stated that stress is connected with the force of breath. Word stress can be defined as the singling out of one or

22
more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of the voice,
qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel.
In different languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others.
According to the most important feature different types of word stress are distinguished in different languages.
1) If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables is achieved mainly through the intensity of
articulation, such type of stress is called dynamic, or force stress.
2) If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical tone,
such accent is called musical, or tonic. It is characteristic of the Japanese, Korean and other oriental languages.
3) If special prominence in a stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels,
which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones, such type of stress is called quantitative.
4) Qualitative type of stress is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under stress.
English word stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact, the special prominence of the stressed
syllables is manifested in the English language not only through the increase of intensity, but also through the
changes in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice.
Stress difficulties peculiar to the accentual structure of the English language are connected with the vowel special
and inherent prominence. In identical positions the intensity of English vowels is different. The highest in intensity
is /a:/, then go
The quantity of long vowels and diphthongs can be preserved in pretonic and post-tonic position in English.
All English vowels may occur in accented syllables, the only exception is which is never stressed. English
vowels
tend to occur in unstressed syllables. Syllables with the syllabic /1, m, n/ are never stressed.
Stress can be characterized as fixed and free. In languages with fixed type of stress the place of stress is always
the same. For example in Czech and Slovak the stress regularly falls on the first syllable. In Italian, Welsh, Polish it
is on the penultimate syllable.
In English and Russian word-stress is free, that is it may fall on any syllable in a word. Stress in English and in
Russian is not only free but also shifting. In both languages the place of stress may shift, which helps to
differentiate different parts of speech, e.g. 'insult to in'sult, `import to im'port.
When the shifting of word-stress serves to perform distinctive function. V. Vassilyev terms this suprasegmental
phonological unit form distinctive accenteme, when it serves to distinguish the meaning of different words, the
term is word-distinctive accenteme.
Stress performs not only distinctive function, it helps to constitute and recognize words and their forms.
A polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it. American and English
phoneticians give the following pattern of stress distribution in the words examination, opportunity.
They mark the strongest syllable with primary accent with the numeral 1, then goes 2, 3, etc.
American descriptivists (B. Bloch, G. Trager) distinguish the following degrees of word-stress: loud /'/, reduced
loud /^/, medial /`/, weak, which is not indicated. H. A. Gleason defines the degrees of stress as primary /'/,
secondary /^/, tertiary /`/, weak /~/. H. Sweet distinguishes weak /~/, medium, or half-strong /:/, strong
and
extrastrong, or emphatic stress /;/.
V.A. Vassilyev, D. Jones, R. Kingdon consider that there are three degrees of word-stress in English: primary
strong, secondary partial, weak in unstressed syllables. For example: certification
Most English scientists place the stress marks before the stressed syllables and don't mark monosyllabic words,
Some American scientists suggest placing the stress marks above the vowels of the stressed syllable, e.g.
blackbird
They place the stress marks even on monosyllabic words, e.g. cat, pen, map.
If we compare stressed and unstressed syllables in the two contract, we may note that in the stressed
syllable:
(a) the force of utterance is greater, which is connected with more energetic articulation;
(b) the pitch of the voice is higher, which is connected with stronger tenseness of the vocal cords and the
walls of the resonance chamber
(c) the quantity of the vowel is greater, a vowel becomes longer;
(d) the quality of the vowel !& in the stressed syllable is different from the quality of this vowel in the
unstressed position, in why it is more narrow than.
On the auditory level a stressed syllable is the part of the word which has a special prominence. It is
produced by a greater loud and length, modifications in the pitch and quality. Their physic correlates are: intensity,
duration, frequency and the formant structure. All these features can be analyzed on the acoustic level.

23
Word stress can be defined as the singling out of one or more s tables in a word, which is accompanied by
the change of the force utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which
is usually a vowel.
In different languages one of the factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others.
According to the mo important feature different types of word stress are distinguished different languages.
If special prominence in a stressed syllable or syllables achieved mainly through the intensity of
articulation, such type stress is called dynamic, or force stress.[2;179]
Stress can be studied from the point of view of production and of perception. While producing stressed
syllables, speakers use more muscular energy than they do for unstressed syllables. From the perceptual point of
view, stressed syllables are recognized as stressed because they are more prominent than unstressed syllables.
Phoneticians claim that at least four different factors are important in making a syllable prominent:
1)
listeners seem to feel stressed syllables louder than unstressed; thus loudness is a component of WS
(Peter Roach explains that if one syllable in a sequence of identical syllables, e.g. ba:ba:ba:ba:, is made louder than
the others, it will be heard as stressed);
2)
2) if one of the syllables in the above-given nonsense word is made longer, that syllable is heard
stressed, so the length of the syllables is another important factor in making prominence;
3) every syllable is said on some pitch (related to the frequency of vibration of the vocal cords which is an
essential perceptual characteristic of speech) . If one syllable is said with high pitch as compared to the others then
it will be heard as stressed;
4) a syllable can be heard prominent if it contains a vowel that is different in quality from neighbouring
vowels. If one of the vowels in the nonsense word is changed, the odd syllable: will be heard as stressed.
The phonetic manifestation of stress varies from language to language. Indifferent languages one of the
factors constituting word stress is usually more significant than the others. According to the most salient feature the
following types of word stress are distinguished in different languages:
1) dynamic or force stress if special prominence in a stressed syllable(syllables) is achieved mainly through
the intensity of articulation;
2) musical or tonic stress if special prominence is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical
tone.
3) quantitative stress if special prominence is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the vowels,
which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones.
4) qualitative stress if special prominence is achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under
stress. Vowel reduction is often used as a manipulation of quality in unstressed syllables.
II. Types of English Word Stress
Types of English word stress according to its degree. One of the ways of reinitiating the prominence of
syllables is manipulating the degree of stress. There is controversy about degrees of WS in English and their
terminology. Strictly speaking, polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it.
Designating strongest syllable by 1, the second strongest by 2, etc., we may represent the distribution Jesses in the
following examples:
examination indivisibility
igzeminein indivizibiloti
32415 2536174
But from a linguistic point, i.e. for the purposes of differentiating words from each
and identifying them, the fourth, the fifth and other degrees of lexical stress are redundant English, while
the distinctive and recognitive relevance of the third degree of stress is a objective point. The majority of British
phoneticians (D. Jones, Kingdon, A. C. Gimson among them) and Russian phoneticians (V. A. Vassilyev,
Shakhbagova) consider that there are three degrees of word-stress in English:
primary the strongest
secondary the second strongest, partial, and
weak all the other degrees.
The syllables bearing either primary or secondary stress are termed stressed, while syllables with weak
stress are called, somewhat inaccurately, unstressed. American linguists stingiest four degrees of word stress,
adding the so-called tertiary stress . Contrary stress differs from tertiary that it usually occurs on the third or fourth
pre-tonic syllable, and tertiary is always post-tonic, e.g. administrative, dictionary. category.[3;173]
English language not only through the increase of intensity, but also through the changes in the vowel
quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice. Russian word stress is not only dynamic but mostly

24
quantitative and qualitative. The length of the Russian vowels always depends on the position in a word. The
quality of unaccented vowels in Russian may differ greatly from the quality of the same vowels under stress. Stress
difficulties peculiar to the accentual structure of the English language are connected with the vowel special and
inherent prominence. In identical positions the intensity of English vowels is different. The highest in intensity is
/a/, then u:, u, e, u,
The quantity of long vowels and diphthongs can be preserved (a) pretonic and (b) post-tonic position. All
English vowels may occur in accented syllables, the only exception is /, which is never stressed. English vowels /i,
u, u/ tend to occur in unstressed syllables. Syllables with the syllabic m, n/ are never stressed.
Unstressed diphthongs may partially lose their glide quality. In stressed syllables English stops have
complete closure, fricatives have full friction, features of forties/lenis distinction are clearly defined.
Stress can be characterized as fixed and free. In languages with fixed type of stress the place of stress is
always the same.
In English and Russian word-stress is free, that is it may fall any syllable in a word:
a) idea sarcastic archaic
b) placard railway
Stress in English and in Russian is not only free but also shifting. In both languages the place of stress may
shift, which helps t0 differentiate different parts of speech, e.g. linsultto inlsult, importto imiport.
When the shifting of word-stress serves to perform distinctive function, V. Vassil.
Stress performs not only distinctive function, it helps to constitute and recognize words and their forms
(constitutive and recognitive functions).
Strictly speaking, a polysyllabic word has as many degrees of stress as there are syllables in it. American
and English phoneticians give the following pattern of stress distribution in the word examination. They mark the
strongest syllable with primary accent with the numeral 1, then goes 2, 3, etc.[2;180]
English word-stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact,
the special prominence of the stressed syllables is manifested in the English language not only through the
increase of intensity, but also through the
changes in the vowel quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice.
Most words of more than four syllables have 2 stresses: primary (nuprefixes and entry. The primary stress
falls either on the third or the second syllable from the end and the secondary stress falls on the syllable separated
from the nuclear syllable by one unstressed syllable: pro-ition, recog ition, etc.
The place of word-stress in English compound words principally derewrite on the semantic factor, i. e.
the element which determines the mean-of the whole compound has a primary stress. But most of the compound
possess the nuclear stress on the l element: bookcase, diligence etc, whereas compound adjectives have, as a rule,
primary stress on element of the compound well- ?oiown, ibsent-- jinded, etc.[1;34]
III. Word Stress tendencies
In spite of the fact that word stress in English is free, there are certain factors that determine the location
and different degree of it. Prof. V. A. Vassilyev describes them as follows:
the recessive tendency;
the rhythmic tendency;
the retentive tendency and
the semantic factor
The first and the oldest of the English lexical stress tendencies (characteristic of all Germanic languages)
known as the recessive tendency originally consisted in placing lexical stress on the initial syllable of nouns,
adjectives and verbs derived from them and on the root syllable of words which belonged to other parts of speech
and had a prefix. In most cases prefixes lost their referential meaning since then, with the result that recessive stress
in present-day English of two subtypes:
1) unrestricted: when stress falls on the initial syllable, provided it is not a prefix which has no referential
meaning. A great majority of native English words of Germanic origin are stressed this way: father mother
husband, wonder
2) restricted: when stress falls on the root of the native English words with a prefix which has no referential
meaning now: among, become, before,fo,get, etc.

25
It is this tendency that determined the incidence of stress in a huge number of disyllabic and trisyllabic
French words which had been borrowed into English until the 1 5th century (during and after the Norman
Conquest).
The presence in English of a great number of short (disyllabic and trisyllabic) words defamed the
development of the so-called rhythmic tendency which results in alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
Borrowed polysyllabic words developed a secondary stress on the syllable separated from the word-final primary
stress by one unstressed syllable. These words began to be pronounced, in isolation, on the model of short phrases
in which a stressed syllable alternates with an unstressed one: pronunciation.
The retentive tendency consists in the retention of the primary stress on the parent word: person
personal, or more commonly the retention of the secondary stress on the parent word: personal 1personalily.
The difference between constant accent and retentive stress consists in that the former remains on the same
syllable in all the g forms of a word or in all the derivatives from one and the same root, whereas retinal, stress in a
derivative falls on the same syllable on which it falls in the parent word, while i other derivatives from the same
root it may be shifted e.g.: personal .
There are certain categories of English words stressing of which is determined the semantic factor, e.g.
compound words and words with the so-called separable prefix The majority of such words have two equally
strong stresses, both stressed parts considered to be of equal semantic importance, with the semantic factor thus
canceling rhythmic tendency in word stressing, e.g.
compound adjectives: hard-working, blue-eyed,
verbs with post positions sit down, take off
numerals from 13 to 19:fourteen, sixteen.
It should be noted that the rhythmic tendency becomes operative when such work occur in sentences and
the first stress of a double-stressed English word disappears in an immediately or closely preceding word requires
stress: a very good-looking girl.[3;175]
IV. English Word Stress functions
In discussingaccentual structure of English words we should turn now to the functional aspect of word
stress. Word stress in a language performs three functions.
I. Word stress constitutes. a word, it organizes the syllables of a word Into a language unit having a definite
accentual structure, that is a pattern of relationship among the syllables; a wok4 does not exist without the word
stress. Thus the word stress forms the constitutive function. Sound continuum become phrase when it is divided
into units organized by word stress into words.
II. Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a
word. This function of word stress is known as identificatory (or recognitive). Correct accentuation helps the
listener to make the process of communication easier, whereas the distorted accentual pattern of words, misplaced
word stresses prevent normal understanding.
Ill. Word stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus performing its
distinctive function. The accentual patterns of words or the degrees of word stress and their positions form
oppositions, e.g. import import, billow below.
Word stress in a language performs the following functions:
1. The CONSTITUTIVE function: it organizes the syllables of a word into language unit having a defmite
accentual structure, i.e. a pattern of relationship among th syllables. The word does not exist as a lexica unit
without word stress.
J. Layer holds the view that lexical stress shows a culminative function: being characteristic property of the
word, it is thought to help the listener to judge how many individual words the speaker has produced in a given
utterance.
2. The IDENTIFICATORY function: correct lexical stress enables the listener to decode the information in
verbal conimuriication adequately, while misplaced word stresses prevent understanding.
3. The DISTINCTI YE/CONTRAST WE function: word stress alone is capable of differentiating the
meanings of words or their forms. It should be mentioned though that most words in most languages that use word
stress linguistically do not possess minimal pairs based on stress. But still there are about 135 pairs of words of
identical orthography in English which could occur either as nouns (with stress on the penultimate syllable) or as
verbs (with stress on the final syllable), with a very small number of cases the location of lexical stress alone being
the differentiating factor: import (noun) import (verb), insult (noun) insult (verb).[4;130]

26
V. Variation in word stress
The stress patterns of some English words are liable to variations of different kinds. There is free variation
of stress location due to some rhythmic and analogical pressures, both of which entail in addition considerable
changes of sound pattern in words[3;182], e.g.
1)
in some words of three syllables, there is variation between---and-patterns: deficit, integral
(adj), exquisite.
2) similarly, in words of four syllables, there is variation between first and secon syllable stressing:
hospitable, formidable, despicable.
Pronunciation patterns of such words due to the variation in stress placement have the status of alternative
pronunciation forms which occur in educated usage.
Cases of variable stress placement caused by the context is known as stressshift. When a word of several
syllables has a stress near the end of thc word, and is followed by another word with stress near its beginning, there
is a tendency for the stress in the first word to move nearer the beginning if it contains a syllable that is capable of
receiving stress, e.g. the word academic in isolation usually has the stress or the penultimate syllable /-dem-/.
However, when the word year follows, the stress often found to move to the first syllable /k-/; the whole phrase
academic year will have the primary stress on the word year, so the resulting stress pattern will be academic
year. In isolation, we say fundamental and Japanese with primary stress on -ment and -nese, in connected speech
these words may have a different pattern: greater stress on fund- and Jap-.
In English there are three degrees of word stress: stressed syllables (primary stress), half-stressed syllables
(secondary stress) and weak or unstressed syllables. A large group of polysyllabic simple words bear both
the primary and the secondary stresses, eg ,conver'sation.
There are several large groups of words in English with two equally strong stresses. These words consist of two
morphemes. The use of the second strong stress is caused by the semantic significance of both equally stressed
elements of the word, eg 're'write, 'fourteen.
Word stress in English as well as in Russian is free, in the sense that the primary stress is not tied to any
particular syllable in all the words. But it always falls on a particular syllable of any given word.
The secondary stress is manifested in polysyllabic words with the primary stress on the third or on the fourth
syllable from the beginning, eg popularity, responsibility.
In words with the primary stress on the third syllable the secondary stress usually falls on the first syllable, eg
,deco'ration.
If the primary stress falls on the fourth or fifth syllable the secondary stress is very commonly on the second
syllable, eg ar,ticu'lation, experimentation.
Consequently the position of the secondary stress is often that of the primary stress in the original word, i.e. in
the word from which the derivative word is formed, cf 'possible ,possi'bility, appreciate ap,preci'ation.
In some cases the position of the secondary stress is connected with the type of the suffix which can influence the
accentual pattern. But there is still no good ground for establishing regular rules in this case.
To avoid making accentual mistakes it is necessary to the learner to know the basic rules of English words:
1. In most disyllabic word the accent falls of the initial syllabic
2. In the disyllabic words with a prefix which has lost its meaning the stress falls on the second syllable that is to
say on a rood syllable (become).
3. In disyllabis words ending in aty, -ise, -ize, -ly the stress falls on the last syllable (dictate, surprise)
4. In most word in 3 or 4 syllables the accent falls on the 3 syllable from the end of tne word (family)
5. The accent on the 3 syllable from the end is especially typical of polysyllabic word with the suffix (recognize)
ize, -ly, -ate. The accent falls on the3 syllabic from the end of the word before the following suffixes:
logy (psychology), -logist ( biologist)
graphy ( geography), -grapher (geographer)
cracy (democracy)
The accent falls on the 2 second syllable from the end of the word:
ian (physician)
unce ( experience)
ient ( expedient)
cient (efficient)

27
-

al (parental)
ial (essential)
ual ( habitual)
eores ( courage)
ious (delicious)
iar (familiar)
The accent falls on the final syllable formed by the following suffixes:
ee (refuge refugee/ employ employee)
eer ( engine engineer)
esque (picture picturesque)

Major approaches to the form of melodic unit:

1). Contour approach ( ). The most traditional and widespread is the approach worked out by the British
phonetic school (Sweet, Jones, Armstrong, Ward, Kingdon, Gimbson, OConner). The approach is based on the assumption that the
melodic of utterance is a unity of functionally independent components.
Melodic configuration is studied within a sense-group which is the smallest unit of sense in speech. In terms of its structure and
function the melodic contour of a sense-group includes:
a nuclear tone is a tone which is used within the nucleus of the utterance, thats the highlightened part carrying maximum
informational load
a scale- is the part from the fast-stressed syllable to the fast unstressed before the tone
a head the first stressed syllable
a pre-head the unstressed syllable before the head
The contour has two vertical parameters:
range () the interval between the highest and the lowest pitch in the sense-group (narrow, wide)
register is height of pitch range (high, middle, low)
According to the British school: The melodic from of a sense group is a contour having both vertical and horizontal components each of
which performs its specific function.
2). Pitch approach. According to the American phonetic school the melodic structure of a sense-group is analyzed in terms of
pitches or pitch levels.
Pitch levels are distinctively relevant and are called pitch phonemes. Meaning is ascribed to a sequence of pitches such a sequence is
called an intonation contour.
They distinguish 4 pitch levels:
Mid level (2) quiet, unemotional
Low (1)
High (3)
Extra high (4) strong emotions
An utterance must have the first 3 pitch levels. Inside each pitch bond here can be slight melodic ups and downs, which are
considered semantically irrelevant. (Im going home)
The two schools are hardly as incompatible () as it may seem on the face of it. The contour theory cannot ignore the
significance of pitches (Low Fall, High Fall). On the other hand in American intonation pitch levels make up linear contours (
).
Rhythm is understood as discipline of periodicity in time and space. We find rhythm everywhere (succession of seasons,
breathing, walking). Speech production is closely connected with breathing and breathing is rhythmical. Any type of speech
activity is characterized by rhythm because it is connected with breathing.
According to the most general definition of rhythm there must be in speech a similar unit (event), which is repeated casually at
equal periods of time. Its not the same in different languages. Two types of languages can be singled out in this respect.
languages with syllable-timed rhythm ( ) any syllable both stressed or unstressed is repeated in equal
period of time (French, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Hindi)
languages with stressed-timed rhythm (- ) only stressed syllables are pronounced at equal periods of
time (German, Russian, English, Arabic, Modern Greek)
English has stressed-timed rhythm. It implies that it has stressed syllables tend to occur at relatively equal period of time and it
does not matter whether they are separated by unstressed syllable or not. The stress-timed theory says that the time period from
each stressed syllable to the next one tends to be the same irrespective of the number of syllables that separate. We can define
English speech rhythm as a regular recurrence of stressed syllables. This is traditional approach to rhythm which is most typical for
the British phonetic school.

3.The organs of speech and their work. The active and passive organs of speech.
Organs of speech are: nasal cavity ( ), lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, larynx(), palate (soft and
hard), uvula(), tongue (tip, blade( ), front, back), epiglottis(),
pharynx(), vocal cords, and trachea().
The air stream released by the lungs goes through the windpipe ( ) and comes to the larynx,
which contains the vocal cords. The vocal cords are two elastic folds () which may be kept apart or brought

28
together ( ). The opening between them is called the glottis ( ). If the
tense() vocal cords are brought together, the air stream forcing an opening makes them vibrate and
we hear some voice.
On coming out of the larynx the air stream passes through the pharynx.
The pharyngeal() cavity extends() from the top of the larynx to the soft palate, which
directs the air stream either to the mouth or nasal cavities, which function as the principal resonators.
The soft palate is the furthest part of the palate from the teeth. Most of the palate is hard. This hard and fixed part
of the palate is divided into two sections: the hard palate (the highest part of the palate) and the teeth ridge or
alveolar ridge.
The most important organ of speech is the tongue. Phoneticians divide the tongue into four sections, the part which
lies opposite the soft palate is called the back of the tongue; the part facing the hard palate is called the front; the
one lying under the teeth ridge is known as the blade and its extremity the t i p .
The lips can take up various positions as well. They can be brought firmly together or kept apart neutral, rounded,
or protruded () forward.
Active organs of speech are movable and taking an active part in a sound formation:
a) Vocal cords which produce voice
b) The tongue which is the most flexible() movable organ
c) The lips affective very considerably() the shape of the mouth cavity
d) The soft palate with the uvula directing the stream of air either to the mouth or to the nasal cavity
e) The back wall of the faring contracted for some sounds
f) The lower jaw ( ) which movement controls the gap() between the teeth and
also the disposition of the lips
g) The lungs air for sounds
Passive organs of speech:
a) the teeth
b) the teeth ridge or alveolar ridge
c) the hard palate
d) the walls of the resonators
4. The International Phonetic Alphabet (transcription)
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation ( ) based on the
Latin alphabet, devised () by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized
representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by linguists, speech pathologists ()
and therapists, foreign language teachers and students, singers, actors, lexicographers, 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 Extended IPA is used.
The International Phonetic Alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, using as few non-Latin forms as possible. The
Association created the IPA so that the sound values of most consonants taken from the Latin alphabet would
correspond to international usage.
Transcription is accent of symbols representing speech sounds.
The first type of notation is the broad of phonemic notation ( ); it provides special
symbols for all phonemes of a language.
The second type of the allophonic transcription, suggests special symbols including some information about
articulator activity of particular allophonic features.
The first of broad transcription was introduced by D. Jones. He realized the difference between sounds (sit seat).
Another type of broad transcription was introduced by Vasilie
5.Letters and sounds. Sounds and phonemes. Vowels and consonants.
Letters and sounds must never be mixed up. Letters are written, sounds are spoken. It very useful to have written
letters to remind us of corresponding sounds, but this is all they do. They cannot make us pronounce sounds which
we dont already know; they simply remind us. In ordinary English spelling is not always easy to know what
sounds the letters stand for. We have 24 consonants and 20 vowels to consider.
Speech sounds are grouped into language units called phonemes. A phoneme may be thought of as the smallest
contrastive language unit which exists in the speech of all people belonging to the same language community in the
form of speech sounds and may bring about a change of meaning.

29
The phoneme is realized in speech in the material form of speech sounds of different type. Various speech
realizations of the phoneme are called its allophones.
The organs of speech are capable of uttering many different kinds of sounds. From the practical point of view it is
convenient to distinguish two types of speech sounds: vowels and consonants. Vowels are voiced sounds
produced without any obstruction in the supra-glottal cavities and consequently have no noise component. In the
articulation of c o n s o n a n t s a kind of noise producing obstruction is formed in the supra-glottal cavities. Such
sounds may be pronounced with or without vocal cords vibration.
13.Strong and weak forms of words. Cases when prepositions, auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and
possessive pronouns have full (strong) forms.
Spoken English shows a marked contrast between its stressed and unstressed syllables. Words which bear the
major part of information are generally stressed and are called content words. These are: nouns, adjectives,
notional verbs, adverbs, numerals, interrogative and demonstrative pronouns. The other words in a sentence are
mostly form words which link the content words and help us in this way to form an utterance. They are:
articles, prepositions, conjunctions, particles, and also auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and possessive
pronouns. These are not many in number but they are among the commonest words of the language.
Prepositions have their strong forms though they might remain unstressed:
(a)
at the very end of an intonation group or phrase, eg What are you looking at?
(b) at the end of an intonation group or phrase when they are followed by the unstressed pronoun.
Monosyllabic prepositions are either stressed or not, according to the rhythmic pattern of the phrase, eg
Im not talking to you.
Auxiliary and modal verbs have their strong forms:
(a) at the end of an intonation group or a phrase whether stressed or not, eg Who has done it?
Mary has. Are you free? I am.
(b) At the beginning of general and alternative questions in careful colloquial style, while in rapid
colloquial style they are unstressed and reduced, eg Can you get it by tomorrow?, but: Have you got any
matches?
(c)
In contracted negative forms, eg 1 don't know the man.
The following form-words should be remembered as having no weak forms whatsoever: what, where,
when, how, which, on, in, with, then.
The verb to have used as a content verb in the meaning of 'to possess' has no weak forms (whether
stressed or not) though often unstressed, eg / have a liftle brother.
The demonstrative pronoun that is never reduced while the conjunction that is, eg / know that, but: /
know that he is here.
Neither are reduced the absolute forms of possessive pronouns, eg. The ball-pen is mine.
All the form-words, auxiliary and modal verbs, personal and possessive pronouns are generally stressed
and consequently have their strong forms in case they become the logical centres of phrases, eg I'm
speaking of your work, not of your sister's.

30
15.The accentual structure of English words. Primary and secondary accent. Functions of
the word . The basic rules of English word accentuation.
16.Intonation and its components. The intonation group. Terminal tones.
The information conveyed by a sentence is expressed not only by proper words and grammar
structures, but also by intonation. The term intonation implies variations of pitch, force of
utterance and tempo. Variations of pitch are produced by significant moves of the voice up and
down. The force, component of intonation is measured by the degree of loudness of syllables that
determines the prominence of words. The tempo is determined by the rate of speech and the
length of pauses.
Intonation is based on its two functions: the constitutive function, the distinctive
function.
The Constitutive Function. Intonation forms sentences. Each sentence consists of one or more
intonation groups.
An intonation group is a word or a group of words characterized by a certain intonation
pattern and is generally complete from the point of view of meaning, eg: He's nearly sixty. (As a
- matter of fact | he's - nearly sixty).
The intonation pattern consists of one or more syllables of various pitch levels and bearing a
larger or smaller degree of prominence. Those intonation patterns that contain a number of
syllables consist of the following parts: the pre-head, the head, the nucleus and the tail. The prehead includes unstressed and half-stressed syllables preceding the head. Thehead consists of the
syllables beginning with the first stressed syllable up to the last stressed syllable. The last
stressed syllable is called the nucleus. The unstressed and half-stressed syllables that follow the
nucleus are called the tail. Thus in the example They don't 'make so much fuss about it.
('Then' is the pre-head, 'don't make so much' is the head, 'fuss' is the nucleus, 'about it',
is the tai)l.
The changes of pitch that take place in the nucleus are called nuclear tones. The nuclear syllable
is generally the most prominent one in the intonation pattern. The nucleus and the tail form the
terminal tone. It is the most significant part of the intonation group.
The modification of the intonation pattern is also due to the speed of utterance and pausation.
We must point out in conclusion that of the three components of the intonation pattern pitch is
the most significant one.
Timbre, a special colouring of human voice, is sometimes considered to be the fourth
component of intonation. But as it has not been thoroughly investigated yet we shall exclude
it from the description of intonation in this book.
The Distinctive Function. Intonation also serves to distinguish communicative types of
sentences, the actual meaning of a sentence, the speaker's emotions or attitudes to the contents
of the sentence, to the listener or to the topic of conversation. One and the same word
sequence may express different meaning when pronounced with a different intonation pattern.
17.Sentence stress. Types of sentence stress. Notation of stresses and tunes in the text.
In a sentence or an intonation group some of the words are greater importance than the others.
This largely depends on the situation or context. Words which provide most of the information
are brought out in speech by means of sentence-stress. Thus sentence stress is a special
prominence given to one or more words according to their relative importance in a sentence.
The main function of sentence-stress is to single out the communicative centre of the sentence
which introduces new information. The prominence is realized by variations of pitch, force,
length and quality. The syllables of the words marked by sentence-stress are pronounced
with possible changes in pitch, greater force, greater length of vowels and their full quality,
that is the stressed words are pronounced more distinctly. The most prominent part of a
sentence is the last stressed word which takes the nuclear tone.

31
The adjoining unstressed words are called proclitics when they precede the stressed words
and enclitics when they follow the stressed words.
The distribution of stresses in a sentence depends on the mantic value of words and is closely
connected with the lexical and grammatical structure of the sentence.
There are differentiate three types of sentence-stress:
1. normal (or syntactical) sentence-stress,
2. logical sentence-stress,
3. emphatic sentence-stress.
1. Normal stress affects content words which convey the necessary information to the
listener, eg: We have plenty of time.
Normal sentence-stress is used to arrange words into sentences or intonation groups
phonetically.
2. The position of the last sentence-stress determines the place of the nucleus of the
communicative centre. By shifting the position of the last stress we can change the place of the
nucleus of the communicative centre, eg: Nelly 'spoke to him yesterday.
Logically different messages are expressed in the given sentences. Each shifting of the stress
modifies the meaning of the sentence.
3. Most human utterances express not only the speaker's thoughts, but also his feelings and
attitudes to reality and to the contents of the sentence. Both normal and logical stresses can be
unemphatic or emphatic. Emphatic stress increases the effort of expression. It may
strengthen the stressed word making it still more prominent. Emphatic stress manifests itself
mainly on the High Fall or the Rise-Fall of the nuclear syllable. Emphatic stress is a powerful
expressive means. It is the highest degree of logical and emotional prominence of words in a
phrase.
18. The usage of tunes in statements, different types of questions, commands,
exclamations.
Ststements
1.Statements are most widely used with the Low (Medium) Fall preceded by the Falling
Head or the High (Medium) Level Head. In all these cases they are final, complete and definite,
eg: It's difficult. (No Head) I wanted to go there immediately. (F. H. + L. F.) It was not so easy.
(H. L. H.)
2..If the statement is intended to be soothing or encouraging the last stressed syllable is
pronounced either with the Low Rise or the Mid-Level nuclear tones usually preceded by the
Falling or the High (Medium) Level Heads, eg It's all right.
3..If the statement is a grumble it is pronounced with Low Head + Low Fall, eg: I didn't
expect to see you here.
4.If the statement is a correction of what someone else has said or a contradiction to
something previously uttered or a warning it is used with the Fall-Rise usually preceded
by the Failing Head of the High (Medium) Level Head.
Special questions
1.Special questions are most commonly used with the low falling tone on the last
stressed syllable preceded by the Falling Head or the High (Medium) Level Head. In these
cases they sound serious, searching and business-like, eg:
Why did you decide to do that? (F. H.) What's the matter? (H. L. H.)
2..If one wants to show much interest in the other person or in the subject and sound
friendly and sympathetic he pronounces special questions with the low rising tone
preceded by theFalling Head or the High (Medium) Level Head, eg: Where do you live now?
(F. H.) What's your name? (H. L. H.)
3..For repeated or echoing special questions in unemphatic usage the low rising tone on
the question word is also common.
General questions

32
1.General questions are most common with the low rising tone preceded by the Falling
Head or the High (Medium) Level Head. With these patterns they sound genuinely interested,
eg: Does he ever come to ,London? (F. H.) May I.try? (H. L. H.)
2.When general questions are said with the Low Fall preceded by the above-mentioned types
of head they are put forward as a serious suggestion or a subject for urgent discussion, eg: Shall
we postpone it? (H. L. H.) Haven't you noticed the mistake? (F. H.)
3.In short questions used as responses like 'Did you?', 'Has she?' the Low Fall is used.
Commands
1.Commands with the Low Fall (preceded or not preceded by the Falling Head or the High
(Medium) Level Head) are very powerful, intense, serious and strong. The speaker appears to
take it for granted that his words will be heeded, that he will be obeyed, eg: Try the other key.
(H. L. H.) Come and have dinner with Tom. (F. H.)
2..Commands with the High Fall (associated with the same types of heads) seem to
suggest a course of action rather than to give an order; the speaker does not seem to be
worrying whether he will be obeyed or not, eg: Put some more milk in it. (H. L. H.)
3..Short commands pronounced with the Low Fall alone sound unemotional, calm,
controlled, often cold, eg: Take it. Stop it.
Exclamations
1.Exclamations are very common with the High Fall (either with no head or with some
commonly used heads), eg: Magnificent. (No Head) What an extraordinary piece of Muck. (H. L.
H.)
2.For exclamations which refer to something not very exciting or unexpected the low
falling tone is used (either with no head or with the heads of common usage), eg: That's nice.
(M.L.H.) Wonderful. (No Head).
19.English rhythm in connected speech. Rhythm units. Fluency of speech. Mistakes
typical of Russian learners of English and ways of correcting them.
Rhythm is generally measured in regular flow of speech in which stressed and unstressed
syllables occur at definite intervals.
There are two kinds of speech rhythm: syllable-timed rhythm and stress-timed rhythm.
Rhythm in English is based primarily on the alteration of strongly and weakly stressed
syllables.
In English words of more than one syllable have one or more stressed syllables. Every
English word has a definite place for the stress and it cannot be changed. The correct
stressing of polysyllabic words helps to secure the recurrence of stress which with the other
factors, results in correct speech rhythm.
In English the rhythmic structure is different all the notional words are stressed, the
form-words are fitted in between the stressed ones.
The pronunciation of intonation groups is based upon rhythmic groups which are formed by
one or more words closely connected by sense and grammar, but containing only one
strongly stressed syllable.
A rhythmic group may consist of a single word, eg: yesterday; or it may contain several
words, eg: I've read it, or Thank you.
The influence of rhythm is very important. The time given to each rhythmic group tends to
be unchanged though the number of unstressed syllables may be many or few. Each
rhythmic group within an intonation group is given the same amount of time. If there are
many unstressed syllables in a rhythmic group, they must be pronounced more quickly.
The words with double stress may lose the first stress when preceded by another strongly
stressed syllable, or they may lose the second stress when followed by another strongly
stressed syllable, eg: seventeen, number seventeen, seventeen pencils.
Compounds having a double stress are influenced by rhythm in the following way:

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When used finally, preceded by unstressed syllables or when used between unstressed
syllables, the compounds have double stress.
When preceded by a stressed syllable the compounds are stressed on the second element.
When used as attributes before nouns stressed on the first syllable, the stress falls on the
first element of the compound.
All nouns are notional words and are usually stressed. However, when two nouns occur
together, the first being used attributively, the second is not stressed, eg: 'film star, 'mother
car, 'telephone book, etc.
But if the second noun is polysyllabic it must be stressed, eg: 'picture 'gallery, de'tective
'story, 'English 'teacher, etc.
Most verbs are notional words. In a combination of a v and an adverb both normally
receive stress, eg: 'take 'up, 't 'off, 'put 'on.
Adverbs lose the stress when preceded by a stressed syllable eg: 'Put your hat on, but 'Put it
on'; in the second case adverb is stressed because it is preceded by an unstressed sylla ble.
To acquire a good English speech rhythm one should arrange sentences into intonation
groups and then into rhythm groups.
20. Phonostylistic. Stylistic use of intonation. Intonational (phonetic) styles and their
principles.
Phonostylistic is concerned with the study of phonetic phenomena and processes from the
stylistic point of view. It cropped up as a result of a certain amount of functional overlap
between phonetics and stylistics.
Intonation plays a central role in stylistic differentiation of oral texts. Stylistically
explicable deviations from intonational norms reveal conventional patterns differing from
language to language.
The uses of intonation show that the information so conveyed is, in many cases,
impossible to separate from lexical and grammatical meanings expressed by words and constructions in a language (verbal context) and from the co-occurring situational information (nonverbal context). The meaning of intonation cannot be judged in isolation. However, intonation
does not usually correlate in any neat one-for-one way with the verbal context accompanying and
the situational variables in an extralinguistic context. Moreover, the perceived contrast with the intonation of the previous utterance
seems to be relevant.
One of the objectives of phonostylistics is the study of intonational functional styles. There are 5
style categories:
1. informational (formal) style;
2. scientific (academic) style;
3. declamatory style;
4. publicistic style;
5. familiar (conversational) style
Informational (formal) style is characterised by the predominant use of intellectual intonation
patterns. It occurs in formal discourse where the task set by the sender of the message is to
communicate information without giving it any emotional or volitional evaluation. This
intonational style is used, for instance, by radio and television announcers when reading weather
forecasts, news, etc. or in various official situations. It is considered to be stylistically neutral.
In scientific (academic) style intellectual and volitional (or desiderative) intonation patterns are
concurrently employed. The speaker's purpose here is not only to prove a hypothesis, to create
new concepts, to disclose relations between different phenomena, etc., but also to direct the
listener's attention to the message carried in the semantic component. Although this style tends to
be objective and precise, it is not entirely unemotional and devoid of any individuality. Scientific

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intonational style is frequently used, for example, by university lecturers, schoolteachers, or by
scientists in formal and informal discussions.
In declamatory style the emotional role of intonation increases, thereby intonation patterns used
for intellectual, volitional and emotional purposes have an equal share. The speaker's aim is to
appeal simultaneously to the mind, the will and feelings of the listener by image-bearing devices.
Declamatory style is generally acquired by special training and it is used, for instance, in stage
speech, classroom recitation, verse-speaking or in reading aloud fiction.
Publicistic style is characterized by predominance of volitional (or desiderative) intonation
patterns against the background of intellectual and emotional ones. The general aim of this
intonational style is to exert influence on the listener, to convince him that the speaker's
interpretation is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in
the speech. The task is accomplished not merely through logical argumentation but through
persuasion and emotional appeal. For this reason publicistic style has features in common with
scientific style, on the one hand, and declamatory style, on the other. As distinct from the latter
its persuasive and emotional appeal is achieved not by the use of imagery but in a more direct
manner. Publicistic style is made resort to by political speech-makers, radio and television
commentators, participants of press conferences and interviews, counsel and judges in courts of
law, etc.
The usage of familiar (conversational) style is typical of the English of everyday life. It occurs
both within a family group and in informal external relationships, namely, in the speech of
intimate friends or well-acquainted people. In such cases it is the emotional reaction to a
situational or verbal stimulus that matters, thereby the attitude- and emotion-signalling function
of intonation here comes to the fore. Nevertheless intellectual and volitional intonation patterns
also have a part to play. In informal fluent discourse there are examples of utterance where the
effect of intellectual intonation is neutral

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