Theoretical phonetics. Lectures.
Lecture №1
Introduction
The plan
The term “phonetics” comes from the Greek word “phone” which means “sound”, so it is the science of voice. Phonetics is the oldest linguistic discipline. For a very long time phonetics was not considered to be an independent branch of linguistics. The problems attending to phonetics were considered within the scope (в рамках) of grammar. Even nowadays the first chapter of Russian grammar is called phonetics. The first meaningful record of a serious phonetic investigation was made in the 4th B.C. Mr. Panini may be considered to be the 1st phonetician. He __________ and described very old even for him texts which are called Vedas and Rig-Vedas. They were large collection of old religious ____________ (ведические гимны). They were written in a kind of a language prior to Sanskrit and he had to decipher (расшифровывать) them. Sanskrit is a classic old Indian language. They began to use it in the 10th century B.C.
Is it important for a language teacher to be a skillful phonetician? Some teachers meet this question with understanding, others may protest and say that it is not important to be a good phonetician; the 3rd may deny that it is really important. D. Abercrombie said: “I would reply that all language teachers willy-nilly are phoneticians. It is not possible for practical purposes to teach foreign languages to any types of teachers, for any purpose, by any methods without giving some attention to pronunciation. And any attention is _______________”
Phonetics is the science of speech properties of the language. Modern phonetics constitute an independent branch of linguistics: lexicology, grammar and phonetics are closely connected. They form the theory of linguistics. Every branch has its own sphere, objects and methods of study. Taken together they form. Phonetics is a special branch of linguistic knowledge; it is an essential part of language, because the vocabulary and the grammar may function only when the language is phonetically formed. The object of phonetics is to study the oral aspect of language. Its field of study is speech. That is why a lot of linguists say that phonetics is the most fundamental branch of linguistics. As a linguistic science phonetics has its subject matter. It studies the following phonetic units:
- speech sounds/phonemes
- the syllabic structural words
- the accentual structure of words
- intonation
Phonetics studies the mentioned phonetic units and their function in relation to meaning. Our speech and language may be investigated at 2 levels:
- a content level (we mean the contents of the information)
- an expression level (we mean the way we express this information)
What level is phonetics concerned with? Primarily, it is concerned with the expression level; however, it is obliged to take the content level into consideration.
Phonetic means serve to distinguish the meaning in the same way as lexical and grammatical means. No meaning can be expressed antiquely if it has no phonetic form. Very often the meaning of words depends only on the phonetic form they are pronounced with. If we change one sound only, the meaning of the word changes (cut-nut). Even the meaning of the sentence may change. Intonation can also differentiate the meaning: “yes” when it is pronounced with the falling tone it means that you are agree, you are categoric, but express no interest. If the rise is used, much interest is expressed.
Is phonetics concerned with all the sounds we hear?
It is concerned only with such combinations and modifications of them which may be carriers of meaning of language.
Fields of study
1) communication engineering
2) medical sciences
3) dialectology
4) social sciences
5) psychology
Phonetician is strongly needed in:
1) constructing machines that will understand and respond to human speech
2) the programming for computers
3) The constructing machines that could simphasis human speech with a high degree of intelligibility. There are devices for reading the printing page that is for converting the printed symbols into synthetic speech. The phonetic typewriter will convert speech directly into words on paper
4) the constructing of all sorts of teaching machines
As for medical sciences are concerned, phonetics enters the problems as teaching deaf and dumb people or even defective. As for dialectology, phonetics is proved extremely useful in such spheres as designing and improving autography for unwritten languages.
Language is not an isolated phenomenon. It is a part of society. The study of linguistics in general and of phonetics in particular as a social science has become well appreciated over the past 3 decades. All this time we have seen the development of such subject as so-so linguistics and so-so phonetics. So-so linguistics studies the way in which pronunciation interacts with society (in a broader sense) it includes national differences, relationships of people belonging to the different social group, sex…so-so phonetics studies variations of pronunciation in extra linguistic situations (beyond language). It studies differences in talking to superiors speech of people of different age, sex…
Phonetics has strong mutual bounds with psychology. The problems of speech production and possession are important for language teachers. They cannot be solved without any cooperation between linguists and psychologists. Psycho phonetics is a distinct area of study. It started developing some 30 years ago. No phonetic research can be done without it.
1) Articulatory
2) Acoustic
3) Functional
Language performs the communicative function that is why it is a social phenomenon.
1) theoretical research
2) experimental research
1. By it we mean phonological procedure like minimal pair of opposition. Extensive reading of linguistic sources and drawing general conclusions from them it is what we call linguistic sources analysis
2. By it we mean direct observation aided or unaided. The investigator studies the speech sounds produced by the informant (a person, a native speaker whose speech is investigated)
Certain techniques are applied carried out articulating phonetics
1) Palatography (the work with an artificial palate which helps to fix articulation)
2) Photography (it is used for the organs of speech which are seen)
3) X-ray photography (it is used to see the articulations of the organs which are not seen)
2 and 3 fix articulation statically at a given moment
4) Cinematography
5) X-ray cinematography
They are used to show the process of articulation, nowadays computer programmes are very widely used in investigation. Any research can hardly avoid working with computers now.
Direct observation is also used in acoustic phonetics. Such techniques can be applied here:
Nowadays computers combine in themselves all the three techniques and fulfill the role of a synthesizing machine
i:–i
ɔ:– ɔ
u:–u
ə:– ə
We see that the symbols are the same in 2 columns, they differ only in length.
Vassiliev introduced a different type. He added 4 symbols:
ɪ,ɒ,ʊ,ɜ
His transcription is considered to be a powerful vision aid. It is appreciated by British phoneticians. Sounds i:–I, ɔ:– ɔ, u:–u, ə:– ə are different not only in length but also in quality, and different quality should be associated with different symbols. From this point of view Vassiliev’s transcription is more adequate. The leading phonetician Gimson followed Vassiliev’s transcription in his additions of the pronounce dictionary.
broad transcription is used for teaching, narrow for research
Lecture 2
The Phoneme Theory
Sounds were the 1st phonetic elements that attracted the attention of scientists and thus the 1st phonological theory was formulated
When linguists started analyzing sounds they found out that practically and innumerable number of sounds can be reduced to a limited number that is the idea of “phoneme” came to existence.
The term “phoneme” was coined by N. V. Kaushevski, a talented pupil of the famous Russian scholar I.A. Baudowind de Courtenay. There is no definition of the phoneme which is accepted by everybody. The definition which is accepted is a working definition by Vassiliev.
“the phoneme is the smallest further indivisible language unit that exists in the speech of all members of a given language community as such speech sounds which are capable of differentiating one word from another or one grammatical form of the word from another grammatical form of the same word”.
Two people speaking the same language and pronouncing sounds exactly alike could hardly be found. However this diversity never becomes too noticeable to an observer.
1) material
2) abstract
3) functional
The phoneme is a real objective material. It exists in the speech of all people belonging to the same community in the form of speech sounds.
Speech sounds can be called allophones. They are speech sounds which constitute this or that phoneme. They are actually pronounced speech sounds. Allophones of the same phoneme must meet the following requirements:
1) though they possess some similar articulatory features, they differ from one another up to a certain degree
2) Allophones of the same phoneme are never used in the same phonetic context. Or else they are incapable of differentiating the meaning
They cannot be opposed to one another. An allophone which does not show any considerable difference in the chain of speech is called principle. We come across with principle allophone in isolation where it is not surrounded by other sounds.
The allophones which differ from each other in various phonetic contexts are called secondary (subsidiary)
There are certain features inside a phoneme. Some features are important, some not. The features which are very important are called relevant or distinctive. The features which are less important are called irrelevant
[t] in isolation is plosive (взрывной)
Alveolar
Fortis (voiceless)
Aspirated
Forlingual
Apical
Occlusive
Allophones of this phoneme:
does not differ from the isolated
[ti:] – Slightly palatalized
[let ðəm] – Dental
[traɪ,tri:] – Post-alveolar
[nɒt kwaɪt] – No plosion
[nɒt lɪtl] – Lateral plosion
[steɪ] – Not aspirated
[twaɪs] – Labialized
What characteristic features are common to all these allophones?
This is the bundle of distinctive features
We should begin our teaching with principle allophones
The definition of the “phoneme” says that it is a minimal abstract linguistic unit. Language is an abstraction, speech is reality. If we proceed from this statement we may say that the phoneme as a language unit is an abstraction from speech sounds (its allophones) while the speech sounds is reality. Thus the phoneme is materialized in its allophones.
The process of abstraction.
Native speaker subconsciously does not notice the difference between the allophone of the same phoneme. They abstract themselves from this difference; it does not affect the meaning. It is not capable of differentiating the meaning. But this thing concerns not all articulatory features of the phoneme.
Changes of essential features:
1) forelingual – backlingual [tɔ:n-kɔ:n] the meaning changes
2) Fortis – lenis [tɔ:n-dɔ:n]
3) Occlusive – constrictive [ti:-si:]
The bundle of these features is called the invariant of the phoneme
The relationship between the phoneme and its allophone is the relation between what is abstract and general and what is concrete or specific. Like a house which cannot exist in general outside real houses, the phoneme does not exist in general outside pronounced and hear speech sound
Functional aspect is reflected in the definition. It means that the phoneme is apposable to other phonemes of the same language. To distinguish the meaning of the morphemes, words and sentences. Phonemes when opposed to each other in the same phonetic context are capable of differentiating the meaning.
The main linguistic function of the phoneme is to distinguish the meaning:
1) morphemes [sli:pǝ-sli:pɪ]
2) words [peɪ-beɪ]
3) sentence []
the phoneme performs its distinctive functions through the opposition of the articulatory feature which constitute the invariant. This fact cannot be changed without the affecting the meaning. That is why they relevant_______________________________________ cannot differentiate the meaning are indistinctive.
How can we prove that the phoneme can differentiate the meaning?
First we take the sound, and then change some articular features. If the meaning is changed it means that the opposed sounds are different phonemes. The opposition where the phoneme is opposed to some other phoneme in the same phonetic context is called phonological (distinctive). Let’s prove that “Fortis-lenis” is relevant (важный, значимый)
[hɜ:d — hɜ:t] this is a phonological opposition (the meaning is different, the features are relevant)
There are two types of mistakes: phonetic and phonological. It is very important to observe the difference between them. If we change the relevant feature, the mistake is called phonological. Here we substitute (заменяем) an allophone of one phoneme by an allophone of a different phoneme:
[θri: — tri:] the place of articulation is different
[θ] - interdental
[t] - alveolar
The manner of noise production:
[θ] - fricative
[t] - occlusive
If the speaker substitutes an allophone of some phoneme by another allophone, the mistake is called phonetic
[let◡ðǝm] the sound “t” is alveolar or dental
[∫i:i:p] – Over lengthened [i:]
The number of definitions of the phoneme is numerous. Not all of them proceed from (исходят) the fact that the phoneme has 3 aspects. The definitions differ according to the aspect which is either exaggerated or ignored. Some scholars take into consideration only the abstract aspect, others stick only to its materiality, and the third group exaggerates the abstract aspect of the phoneme. This conception was originated by I. A. Baudowind de Courtenay in the 70s of the 19th century.
At that time psychology was in fashion. Naturally most of humanitarian disciplines were influenced by psychology. And I. A. Baudowind de Courtenay had a conception of the phoneme which was not an exception. It was a psychological conception. He underestimated (недооценивать, преуменьшать) the material nature of the phoneme and carried to the extreme its abstract nature. According to this conception a phoneme does not exist objectively (реально). He used to say that phonemes exist only in the mind of the speaker. He said that the speech sounds were fictitious (воображаемые, выдуманные) units, inventions of scholars.
Thus, according to this conception, actually pronounced speech sounds are imperfect (несовершенны) to realization of ideal psychical images (психологические эквиваленты). His conception is idealistic because he proceeds from the phoneme existing in the mind but not in reality.
I. A. Baudowind de Courtenay’s concept was followed and developed by his immediate follower and one of his best students: L. V. Scherba (1880-1944) – the author of the book “Russian vowels in qualitative and quantitative aspects”. In this book he gave a definition of the phoneme up to a certain degree influenced by the definition of his teacher. But he emphasized the close link between the phoneme and the meaning. The term phoneme was quite new at that time. For some time he did not use it. He spoke of sound-types (звукотипы) up to the 30s until his book “A manual of French Phonetics” appeared. There he gave a truly materialistic conception of the phoneme.
Scherba describes the phoneme as “звуковые типы, способные в противопоставлении дифференцировать слова и их формы, каждая фонема определяется тем общим (инвариантом), что отличает ее от других фонем того же языка. Реально произносимые звуки являются тем частным, в котором реализуется общее (фонема) и называются оттенками, аллофонами фонемы”
This definition gives us a good ground for the conception of the phoneme shared our contemporary linguists. Among them are: V. A. Vasiliev, Бондарка, Торсуев, Соколова.
Most of the linguists look upon the phoneme as one of the basic linguistic units capable of distinguishing words. Thus all seem to agree that the phoneme is a functional unit. In Eastern Europe in the 20s of the last century the study of the phoneme was carried out within the scope of the Prague School of Linguists. This school was initiated by the outstanding linguist Vilem Mathesius (1882-1945) in 1926. the representatives of this school: Богумил Трынка, Богуслав Гавранеа, Йозеф Вахек, Р.О. Якобсон, Трубецкой…they were interested in how the phoneme fulfill its distinctive functions. They considered the phoneme to be a bundle of distinctive features. They were interested in singling out relevant features of the phoneme in structuring its invariant. Their concept brought them to divorcing phonology from phonetics. That is actually pronounced speech sounds from the phoneme. They believed that only phonology was a linguistic field of science. Phonetics belongs to physics and biology. Phonology studies the function of speech sound in the language.
In the USA the phoneme theory was originally spread in Ferdinand de Saussure’s interpretation. He gave the following definition: “фонема не есть что-то звучащее, но нечто бестелесное, образуемое не своей материальной субстанцией, а исключительно теми различиями, которые отделяют ее звуковой образ от других”
The characteristic feature of the American interpretation of the phoneme is the following: most American linguists deny the objective reality of the phoneme. The American linguist Twaddel broad up this view of the phoneme to an extreme. He defined the phoneme as an abstract unit, a scientific fiction. Leonard Bloomfield definition of the phoneme: “the phoneme is a bundle of distinctive features”.
All these views can be qualified as idealistic. All of them precede from the phoneme existing in the mind, not in reality.
The second group of the conceptions is characterized by the denial of the abstract aspect of the phoneme. The supporters of this conception regard the phoneme as a of articulatory similar sounds, as a mechanical sum of its allophones.
D. Jones belonged to the London School of Phonology. He acknowledged (признавать, допускать) that the term and the concept were introduced by Scherba in 1911. He regards the phoneme as a family of related sounds as a mere sum of sounds which are more or less alike. This concept is vulgarly-materialistic.
Let’s prove it. The concept of the house cannot be viewed as a mere total of all the houses existing in the world. What units all the houses is its function.
Neither can a phoneme be viewed as a mere sum of its allophones without any regard to its functional realization.
Not many scholars support this vulgarly-materialistic conception. Among them are Bloch and Trager.
the vast majority of our linguists accept the semantically-distributional method. The aim of any phonological analysis is:
- to determine the distinctive difference between the sounds: to establish there relevant features
- to find the inventory of the phonemes of the language
the investigation in the phonological analysis can be performed in a way of phonological opposition.
This method is based on the phonological rule: the phonemes can distinguish meaning when opposed to one another.
It is also based on the assumption that allophones of the same phoneme never occur in the same phonetic context. The idea was formulated by Трубецкой «Phonology»
semantically-distributional method attaches great significance to the meaning. This method consists in substitution of a sound for another sound in order to find out how it affects the meaning.
The procedure is called the commutation (изменение, смена, замещение) test. This is the method of opposition. It is referred to as a method of commutation. The method consists in establishing minimal pairs of words. By a minimal pair we mean a pair of words which are differentiated by only one sound in the same position. The possible results of the commutation test are:
[pin—sin]
[pin—pin]
[pin—hin]
To establish the system of phoneme (the inventory of phonemes) it is necessary to establish the whole system of oppositions. Each phoneme should be opposed to all other phonemes in at least one position, one minimal pair. Thus phonemes of the language form a system of oppositions. These oppositions may be of 3 kinds
a) single
b) double
c) triple
a) when the sounds are alike but for one feature
[pen-ben] – fortis-lenis
b) two features are different
[pen-den] – fortis-lenis, bi-labial-forlingual
c) 3 features
[pen-ðen] – bilabial – Forlingual, occlusive – constrictive, fortis-lenis
It is the single opposition that this or that feature is relevant.
Drawbacks: 1. not all the phoneme can be opposed [h] is never used at the end, [носовой n] is never used in the beginning
The other method is called the substitutional, or formally distributional method, as the term suggests, it implied a substitution procedure: we take a word, make a substitution and see what will happen. This method was employed by American descriptivist when he the language of the Indians in America. They supposed the meaning could not always be taken into consideration, they gave the following example: ШКА Ф -ШКА П – the sounds are different but the meaning is the same.
The research workers relied in the response. This method is accused as being non-semantic. But the accusations are not well grounded because in the example the reference to meaning is made, though indirectly. The researches made reference to the meaning though the important, that is indirectly. They have the right to ask the informant of the use of the word, if it is the same or not, but not the meaning of the word.
This is an application to meaning in its ordinary scene.
The method of substitution cannot be applied in its pure form, with the help of these methods the words are analyzed only when they are in the strong position, when they are not neutralized.
Morphonology is a combination of grammar and phonetics, a branch of phonology. It studies the relationship between the phonemes and the morphemes. Up to now we have view a phoneme as a speech realization in the strong position.
The problem is now to concern the phonetic status of speech sounds when they are neutralized. It generally happens in the derivatives of grammatical forms of the same word.
The primary concern of morphemes is to establish the phonetic status of sounds when their distinctive features are neutralized [‘object – ob’ject] - [ɒǝ], луг-лук [k]
When we analyze these examples, the question: weather the allophones are of the same or different phoneme?
There are two schools of thought that approach this problem in the opposite ways
1. Moscow school (morphological) петр савич кузнецов, а.а. реформатский, р.и. аванесов…
It came to the existence in the 20th. they state that the phonemic contents are constant and cannot vary. In establishing the phonetic status of the sound they preceded from the theory of strong or weak position.
A strong position of a vowel is when it is stressed; of a consonant – before a vowel.
They think that the variation of the allophones of the same phoneme is not limited. One and the same sound can belong to different phonemes. The school is called morphological because they rely on the morphological criterion. [‘object-ob’ject] – morphemes are the same, allophones [ɒǝ] are of the same phoneme, лук- луга – morphemes are different, allophones belong to different phonemes.
2. the Leningrad school (scherba’s school) applied in practice scherba’s ideas: л.р зиндер, м.и. матусевич, л.в. бондаренко, в.а. васильев.
The status which is proved: the phonetic context is not constant. One and the same sound cannot belong to different phonemes. Difference between the allophones is limited.
They try to solve phonetic and phonological problems not referring to other language levels. They treat allophone or a neutral sound as allophones of different phonemes: [ɒǝ] – different, лук-луг – the same
Pro. And cons.
+ 2. it is natural that all of the same phoneme sound different [dog - laid], in first case – [d] is voiced, in the second – partially devoiced
- 1. sometimes it is impossible to find a strong position for the sound: корова, корзина, собака [decorate]
- 2. the difference between the allophones of the same phoneme appears to be too strong [news - newspaper] [z] and [s] are different to view them as the allophones of the came phoneme
- 1. it divorced the meaning and the form, they suppose that the phoneme is independent of the morpheme
- 2. difficult to establish the limits within which allophones of the same phoneme can differ: soft and hard [l] in English belong to the same phoneme, in Russian to the different (let-lot/will you – will you’; ел-ель the articulation is the same the meaning is different)
- If we do not consider the morphological principles we can fail in establishing the phonetic contents of the word.
+ its seeming simplicity
Lecture № 3
Organs of speech. Articulatory phonetics.
Articulatory phonetics – one of the oldest and the most developed so far branches of phonetics. It is of primary concern for teachers of foreign languages.
articulatory findings are very important in teaching pronunciation. It is concerned with the production of speech or with the principal aspect of speech. It studies speech sounds from the point of view of their articulation and in connection with the organs of speech by which they are produced.
Articulatory investigations of speech sounds are made on the basis of good knowledge physiology. That is the structure of the voice and sound producting mechanisms.
Human speech is produced and controlled by the brain. The brain sends its commands through the nervous system to muscles which are situated in the organs of speech. The brain on the one hand controls the production of speech sounds and on the other hand it perceives speech sounds coming from the external and interprets them as phonemes (segmental units)
The term “organs of speech” is not exact. it is preferable to refer to this organs as pronunciation organs or as articulation organs because these organs are not designed for the production of speech but for a certain physiological function. Though they are also used as organs of speech.
Necessity created these organs. Labor and speech were one of the most essential stimuli under the influence of which the brain of an ape gradually changes into that of a man.
The undeveloped larynx of an ape was slowly transformed by modulations to produce more developed modulations. Thus the organs of the mouth gradually learnt to pronounce one articulate sound after another.
Every language community in the course of its history developed what we call the articulatory basis that is the basis of articulation. Te term was introduced by our phoneticians. The term “articulatory basis” means a set of pronunciation sentences characterizing the work, position or movements of speech organs with a special reference to the members of language community.
The articulatory basis of a language community is made of pronunciation habits of its members. We have foreign accents because the articulatory basis is different.
Professor Pavlor the idea of linguistic activities of man in his history of the second signal system. For a long time it had been considered that speech is what differentiates the man and makes him superior to any other animal. The title: “Man is a talking animal”.
Bit this view is absolute as the latest experiments with chimpanzees showed that young chimpanzees could be taught the language of the deaf. They learnt it, used for communication with one another and with a man, they used the pattern by which the symbols were made, they orated their own symbols according to their pattern.
Vassiliev divided the organs of speech into 4 groups according to the sound producing function:
Vowel length in English
When ether we mention it, we mean phonetic and historic length. There are historically long and historically short vowels, and also phonetically short and long.
Phonetically long differ in various positions. There are many attempts to give a phonological interpretation of the conception of quantity with respect to the English vocalic system.
The primary purpose of any kind of a phonological analysis is to propose clear-cut functional boundaries between relevant and irrelevant features. Relevant in the meaning of distinctive or differential features and irrelevant in the meaning of _______________________________.
Relevant features are important for a language functioning in the society. But it is not enough to know only relevant features when it comes to teaching the language. For practical purposes we have to know irrelevant features as well.
Is vowel length relevant in present day English?
Many people say a definite “no”, it is not relevant. It has not been relevant for 4 hundred years. Diachronic study the lines testifies (свидетельствовать) to the fact. The scholars of the last century took it for granted that vowel length in English is relevant. And no one ever attempted to question it. They acknowledged 3 degrees of vowel length or 3 types of vowels with respect to their length:
later on 4 degrees wore introduced because i: in [di:d] is much longer than in [di:p]
by the degrees of length, not the historical, but rather the position of a vowel in a word was taken into account. Thus vowels were grouped into the following patterns
there were many attempts to measure vowel length acoustically (instrumentally)
the first meaningful attempt was made by a German linguist Meyer in 1903. he came to the following conclusion: there are as many degrees of vowel length as there are positions which a vowel occurs in a word.
They are innumerable but not formed. T was a far reaching conclusion because it was the 1st meaningful experimental substantiated conclusion. It was an attempt to consider the vowel length as a disputable question and not to take it for granted. But no matter how accurate these attempts are. It doesn’t follow that vowel length is redundant (чрезмерный) characteristic feature. There is not yet enough prove because this difference in vowel length may be explicable in terms of allophonic variations. Another justification for the statement that vowel length is not relevant must be found.
In teaching phonetics we know from the experience that vowels differ not only in length. That is quantity, it is also the quality that makes them different. For example, traditional pair of short and long counterparts: i: I, ɔ:ɒ, ɑ:ʌ, u:ʊ, ɜ:ǝ
if we think that the difference is in length, it is wrong. They are different in the matter of quality. I: is a diphthong not a monophthong. it is more accurate to make is “ij”
so they are qualitatively different vowels.
Another pair is u: ʊ. There is no opposition as they belong to different groups.
ɜ: ǝ (шуа occurs only and exclusively in unstressed positions, другой almost never loses much of its quality)
they never occur in the same position. Thus this opposition doesn’t work either. They are sounds of different planes.
ɑ:ʌ it is very arbitrary (случайно) kind of opposition. It is more relevant hidtorically and phonologically to appose ɑ: to æ. More over [ʌ] and more over occurs as [шуа]
ɔ:ɒ it is the only pair that may seem to be right. But it does not work either because perceptual phonetic findings show that if we reduce the degree of length in ɔ: it will be perceived by the natives of the English as ʊ.
Consequently this opposition with the reference to the length does npt worl. They are different because their quality is different.
About 40 years ago Vassiliev with the approval of the international phonetic associations proposed to change some of the symbols to show that the vowels are different not only in the length but also in quality. His symbols u на ʊ, ɔ на ɒ, ǝ: на ɜ:
Some people used to say that the difference in length is nothing else but the manifestation of differences in the degree of tenseness. Long vowels are tense and short vowels are lax. And the main feature for length difference is the difference in the degree of tenseness.
In fact this hardly the case in English. British phoneticians supply examples to prove that English vowels are very flexible in the matter of prolongation (продолжение). And it was a wrong idea that tenseness brings length _______________________vice versa.
A more sound approached to the problem is to regard it into the context of syllable structure. If the vowel is regarded as a constituent (компонент) of a syllable it depends on a kind of a contiguity (близость, примыкание) of a consonant which adjoins it.
According to the theory vowels can be checked and unchecked. In the course of its historical development vowel quantitative correlation changed into the so-called checked-unchecked syllabic correlation. Thus from this stand point that vowel length is a redundant (чрезмерный) characteristic, it is not relevant.
But we must not assume that this is the end point in the development of the English vocalic system.
We know that the pronunciation of a language is subject to a constant change. It is less stable than grammar and the vocabulary. Thus since quantity of a vowel is not relevant, it is preferable to avoid using the terms long short length. It is better to speak about duration, because it implies the idea of oppositional length.
Thus the 2 main constituencies of English vowels are vowel quality and vowel quantity. Among them only vowel quality is relevant. Prove it: pıt - pi:t ʃıp - ʃi:p.
It is vowel quality which differentiates the meaning. In the position before voiceless consonants historical long and short vowels are of equal length. [bi:d-bıd,sıd-si:d]
Here the vowels are before voiced consonants. Before voiceless consonants historically long vowels become shorter. But the quality is stable.
Vowel quality and vowel length differentiate the meaning.
Vowel length is affected by the position of the vowel in a word or a sentence. The vowel is longest in the final position. It is short before the voiceless consonants. It is longer in a nucleolus syllable.
In teaching it is necessary to provide exercises to train because there is a connection between the vowel length and the type of the syllable. That is why it is important to teach syllabication.
In modern English there is a new tendency to which vowel length become relevant again someday [lætǝ - lædǝ] latter-ladder
The problem is connected with the pronunciation of consonants in their vocalic positions. There is a tendency to make the consonants voiced, that is why these consonants seemed to become homonyms: [æ] in latter remains short [æ] in ladder is long. It may cause relevance of vowel length in future.
Moot points in the system of English phonemes
I. consonants
Some linguists say that there are 2 consonant phonemes in English when we have “wh” in spelling. If we oppose them, we can see that this opposition differentiates the meaning. Our linguists consider them to be one and the same phoneme.
[ʍ] it is mainly used in literary style. Most English speakers pronounce only [ʍ]
According to Jones’ dictionary [ʍ] is used in all variants
According to our textbooks there are 2 affricates in English. Affricate is a phoneme consisting of 2 consonant elements. According to British linguists there are 6 affricates [ʧ,ʤ,ʦ,ʣ,tr,dr]
When must sound combination be treated as uniphonemic?
[ʧ,ʤ] [ʦein-mein-sein] - ʧ stands as a whole and belongs to the same syllable.
There are cases when similar combinations consist of 2 phonemes [kɔ:t ʃɪp] – different syllables, articulation is not shifting.
[ʦ-ʣ] not quite clear
[kæʦ-beʣ] – may be either the plural form. Belong to different morphemes (s,z - endings), but the syllable is the same.
There are no affricates like them in English
There is no [y] in Russian, the Greek word [zɑ:]. If there were such an affricate, it would be pronounced as [ʦɑ:]
[tr, dr] can easily fall apart in the phonological opposition. The opposition is [krai-trai-drai]
Here it belongs to the same syllable, but the articulation is not shifting. Thus it is difficult to decide if these are the combination of the phoneme or they are separate phonemes.
Vowels
1) some linguists say that there are no diphthongs, they are combinations of 2 sounds
[bei-bai-bi:-bɔ:]
The combination stands as a whole in this opposition, they belong to the same syllable and morpheme
[`pʊəlrə] – the sound combination [ʊə] belongs to 1 syllable and morpheme even when add an extra morpheme [rə], [ʊə] doesn’t fall apart, the articulation is shifting. There are similar combinations when these vowels fall apart and belong to different syllables and morphemes
[fju: - fju:] [influənts - influənt∫l] there are 2 morphemes and two different syllables
2) a neutral vowel
is a neutral sound a phoneme or is it an unstressed allophone of some other phoneme?
If we approach from the point of view of the phonological Moscow school, there are two cases:
[`ɑ:mi-`ɑ:mə] (arm our) the morphemes are different, the meaning is different, that is why the neutral vowel is the separate phoneme
According to the Leningrad school, [ə] is always an independent phoneme, because it sounds different
New tendencies of pronunciation
5 groups of changes in present day English:
according to the British norm they used to pronounce [mʌndɪ], in dictionary [mʌndeɪ] is the first variant
ME i: > NE ai life
ME u > NE ʌ dull
OE [θ,ð] one allophones of the phoneme
ME they are separate: thing – thy
vowel changes
I. isolated changes
they take place in respective (соответствующий) of the phoneme position, occupied by the phoneme. The quality of some sounds changes:
[ʌ]
In 1932 Jones characterized the sound as half-open rather retracting (продвинутый назад). In 1964 Charles Barbar considered this phoneme to be more retracted, opened, central, forward, lower
kʌp - bʌtə
[ɔ:] [lɔ:t - ʃɔ:t]
used to be retracted and rather opened, it became less open, and the tongue is much higher
[ai]
For Jones it was a frank diphthong. Barbar considers the phoneme more retracted, where the element [a] is a back element
The centripetal tendency
[e] develops towards the position of [ə]
[ʊ] loses lip rounding and moves to [ə], as [ʌ]
[bout] – [bəʊt]
II. combinative changes
take place in certain phonetic contexts
[ə:] > [ɒ] before voiceless [t, s. θ] – soft, often, cloth
In early ME these words had a short [ɒ]. In the 17th century it became lengthened before [t, s. θ], the long forms were fashionable in the 18 century. Now the original form is becoming predominant
[ju:] > [u:] preceded by [ʧ,ʤ,r,l]
This change has been going on since the 17th century. There is an intermediate group though both forms are heard.
After [s] [su:t – sju:t]
[ə`sju:m – su:m]
[kən`sju:m – su:m]
After [θ] [in`θju:ziæzm - `θu:]
After [z] [ri`zju:m – `zu:m]
Initial [l] [,lu:k`wɔ:m]
[`lu:nətik – `lju:]
Medial [l] [,æbsə`lu:t – `lju:t]
This process is more advanced in American English
Dubious - сомнительный AE [`du:biəs – `dju:]
BE [dju:biəs]
Jones thought them to be pure vowels (organs not more). As a pure vowel [u:] has a closer lip-rounding and a narrower jaw-opening. Barbar says that this sound is diphthongized, speech organs change their position:
[u+u] > [ʊ+u] > [ə+u] – a substandard variant
In the course of diphthongization the lip-rounding is tightened, jaw-opening is narrowed.
In the pronouncing of the sound [i:] the organs of speech move from:
[i+i] > [i+j] > [ə+j] – a substandard variant
[ei] – say, play [e.i+i]
[ai, aʊ] – tend to be smoothed when followed by [ə] the central element is lost:
[taʊə - taə - ta:]
[faiə - faə - fa:]
5. fial [i] > [i:], [ə] – pronounced closer and longer
[`priti – `priti:, `pritə]
RP speaker tend to make final [i] into an open sound. Occasionally [i] is replaced in other positions
[bi`twi:n – bi:`twi:n] [i`levn – i:`levn] substandard [əi]
[ʊə] > [ʊ+ə]
Nausea [`nɔ:siə] [`nɔ:si+ə] – spelling pronunciation
7. the influence of dark [l] in [ɒlt,ɒlv,ɔ:lt]
[ɒ], [ɔ:] > [əʊ]
Salt [sɔ:lt, sɒlt]
8. the spread of [ə] in unstressed syllables. Alternative forms of vowels in unstressed syllables:
system [`sistəm - tim]
corridor [`kɒr i dɔ:] [`kɒrədə]
boxes BE [`bɒksiz] – AE [`bɒksəz]
ended BE[`endid] - AE [`endəd]
III. In vowel length
[i] – big, his
[ʊ] – good
[ʌ] – come lengthening
[e] – bed
[æ] – man
Length is frequent in monosyllabic words which a voiced consonant.
Jones: all adjectives ending in “ad” are long. He suggests that this is the first stage of a large scale change in the language. The present difference between vowel quality and length give a way to a difference based on quality only as the language is a system of interrelated parts there must be a certain pattern in all these various vowel changes. There are 2 consistent trends:
1. the short vowels all seem to be becoming more central and lengthened
2. 2 front close vowels [i:] [u] are both being diphthong. It is paralleled to what happened in the great vowel shift when [i] and [ʊ] became diphthongs [ai] [aʊ]
Consonants changes
I. Assimilation – a process by which a sound is altered through the influence of a neighboring sound. The sound which is influenced becomes phonetically more like the sound exerting the influence. There are various miscellaneous (смешанный) sources of _____________________ changes.
took place earlier, [æ] changed under the influence of [w]
[z] – [s] news – newspaper
[d] – [t] amidst [ə`midst - `midst]
tenpence [`tenpənts - `tempənts]
football - not registered
give me [`gimmi]
[dj - ʤ] due
[tj - ʧ] Tuesday, tube
[sj - ʃ] issue [i ʃu: - isju:]
II. new weak forms
many English words have forms which occur in unstressed position, rapid speech
that’s right [srait]
that’s funny [s`fʌni]
what does he want [`wɒts hi,wɒnt]
III. weakening and loss of consonants
fourtee(n) men – articulated weakly or disappear
ol(d) man
half pas(t) five
a) a closer is formed
b) the closer is ______ while pressure is built behind it
c) the stop is realized by the __________
the final phrase is omitted
kno ck ed, be d-t ime
the stop is not realized, sometimes the 1st plosive disappears: cas t le
3. simplification (упрощение) of double consonants: a goo d d eal
Upsi de d own
Lam p p ast
4. initial combinations: psychic [saikik]
where [hwere]
5. loss of [h] in the beginning: he gave him his breakfast
6. devoicing the consonants [b, d, g] feed [fi:d], rogue [rəʊɡ]
7. voicing of consonants (intervocalic position) letter AE, vulgar RE [ledə], British [bridiʃ]
8. intrusive (навязчивые) consonants – inserted into the words where they does not exist
a) [ns] > [nts]
Once [wʌnts], fancy [fæntsi]
b) [p], [k]
Warmth [wɔ:m p θ], length [len k θ]
c) intrusive [r] – affect of analogy
here and there [hiər ən ðƐə]
idea(r)and reality
Dialect Mixing
The group of popular pronunciation. It involves the substitution of a long vowel of a diphthong by a short vowel.
Stabilized [`steibilaizd] – [`stæ…]
Reproduce [ri:prə`dju:s] – [`re]
South – Easter dialect
Monday, necklace [`mʌndi],[`neklis]
Changes of Stress
In words of more than 2 syllables the popular forms are the forms with the main stress on the second syllable: communal [`ju:], hospitable [`i:]
In 2 syllabic words the tendency goes the other way, the stress is moved to the 1st:
`garage, adult [`ædʌlt][ǝ`dʌlt]
Spelling Pronunciation
Forehead [`fɔ:hed-`fɒrid]
Often [ɒfn- ɒftn]
Toward [tǝwɔ:d, twɔ:d, tɔ:d] especially common for newly invented words
Continental Pronunciation
Tendency for foreign-looking words
Gala [geil- gɑ:lǝ]
Faustus [`fɔ:stǝs - `faʊ-]
The word which has undergone normal historical processes of English sound-change is made to confirm more closely to the real or imagined pronunciation, its foreign origin. Latin words received new pronunciation. Latin plural endings which are normally anglicized and now relatinized: nuclei [nju:klii:] – [nju:kliei]
Lecture № 4
Classification of sounds
1. Vowels and consonants. General information.
There are 2 major classes of sounds which are traditionally distincted by phoneticians in any language: vowels and consonants.
The division is based on the auditory effect. When pronouncing vowels the air stream meet no obstacles on its way from lungs. When pronouncing consonants the air stream meets an obstacle on its way: lips, teeth, tongue etc. So consonants have closed articulation(there is a closure)
Some scientists(Sokolova among them) separate the following groups of sounds according to their sonority:
-vowels (the most sonorous sounds)
-sonorants (voice prevails over noise)
-affricates (consonants consisting of 2 elements)
-plosives (consonant sounds in which a kind of plosure is heard)
-voiceless consonants(consisting of pure noise)
-[h] – the least sonorous sound
2. Principles of articulation
While characterizing the sounds we must take into account the following articulatory properties:
-the position of the organs of speech
-the tension of the organs of speech
-the force of the air-steam
Concerning these items vowels have the following characteristics:
-in production of vowel sounds the articulators don’t come very close together and this causes the absence of closure in mouth cavity
-when pronouncing vowels speech organs are generally tense
-the air-stream coming from lungs is really weak
The consonants are characterized by:
-the fundamental feature of E.consonants is that speech organs make some abstraction to the flow of air
-the main tension of speech organs is concentrated in the place of abstraction.
-the flow of air is generally strong
Historically, separately stands a class of sonorants (semi-vowels, liquids, glides)in which both vowel and consonant characteristics take place.
-in the articulation of sonorants 1 articulator moves close to another but the air-passage is rather large.
-there’s a tension in the place of abstraction, it brings them closer to vowels
All above mentioned makes it logical to concern the classification of vowels and consonants separately.
3.Vowels
Speaking about vowels the following characteristics are to be concerned
-the stability of articulation
E vowel phonemes are divided into 3 sub classes
a)monophtongs (all short and long vowels but i: and u:).the tongue position is stable.
b)diphthongs (consist of 2 vowel elements, the nucleus – the strongest element, the glide – the weaker element)
c)diphthongoids (the tongue moves from one position to another. The change is not very strong, this makes diphthongoids an intermediate group b/w monophthongs and diphthongs)
All R sounds are monophthongs е,ё, ю, я(consonant+vowel)not diphthongs
-position of the tongue
For the sake of convenience this principle is concerned from 2 aspects: horizontal and vertical movements
Horizontal movements
Russian phoneticians (Vassiliev among them)distinguish 5 groups:
1)front i: e æ
2)front-retracted i
3)central Λ ə ε:
4)back o: o u:
5)back-advanced u a:
British phoneticians (D Jones) take slightly different approach. They don’t single out front-retracted and back-advanced vowels.
Vertical movements
Russian phoneticians single out 3 classes and 2 variations
Narrow Broad
High/close i: u: i u
Mid/half-open e 3: eə ə
Low/open Λ o: a: æ
British phoneticians single out only 3 classes, no variations.
-lip-rounding. Traditionally 2 lip-positions are distinguished:
a)Round/labialized, lips are active o o:
b)unrounded/neutral, lips are passive e 3
-vowel length/quantity. Vowels are historically short and long o O:
-tenseness. Degree of muscular tension. It characterizes the speech organs when producing a certain vowel sound. All English vowels are lax(short) and tense(long)
-checkness. Only some phoneticians (among them Schevchenko) concentrate on such a feature. According to them short vowels are checked due to glottal activity that releases a quick energy discharge in a short interval of time. Long vowels are unchecked (free), it implies a lower energy discharge over a larger time interval.
Russian vowels are checked. This characteristic makes it difficult for R learners to pronounce the vowels correctly according to their position in a word and to the following consonants.
4. Consonants
They are classified according to these principles:
-as many R phoneticians say, primary importance should be given to the type of abstraction and the manner of noise production. On this ground the following classes are distinguished:
a)constrictive (in the production an incomplete closure is formed) [s z]
b)occlusive(a complete closure is formed)[p b]
c) rolled, thrilled(here belong the sounds in pronunciation of which tongue tip vibrates) Rus [p]
d)affricates(in the production a complete closure turns into incomplete)
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