CONTENT

INTRODUCTION.. 3

CHAPTER I PHONETICS AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS. PHONETICS AND OTHER DISCIPLINES. APPLICATIONS OF PHONETICS. 5

1.1 Components of the phonetic system of language. 5

1.2 Classification of English speech sounds. 10

1.3 Features of the phoneme. 14

CHAPTER II ENGLISH PHONEMES AND THE WAYS OF THEIR SPELLING.. 19

2.1 The system of consonant phonemes. Problem of affricates. 19

2.2 The system of vowel phonemes. Problems of diphthongs and vowel length. 21

2.3 Alternations and modifications of speech sounds in English. 22

CONCLUSION.. 26

BIBLIOGRAPHY.. 28

APPENDIX.. 29

CHAPTER I PHONETICS AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS. PHONETICS AND OTHER DISCIPLINES. APPLICATIONS OF PHONETICS.

1.3 Features of the phoneme

... According to this school of thought, the neutral vowel sound in original should be assigned to the English phoneme /σ/ because this phoneme occurs in the strong position in such word as origin.

The second school of thought, originated by L.V. Shcherba, advocates the autonomy of the phoneme and its independence from the morpheme. Different allomorphs of a morpheme may differ from each other on the synchronic level not only in their allophonic, but also in their phonemic composition. According to the Leningrad (Petersburg) phonological school (L.V. Shcherba, L.R. Zinder, M.I. Matusevich), speech sounds in a phonologically neutral position belong to that phoneme with whose principal variant they completely or nearly coincide. Thus, the sound [c] in [кос] should be assigned to the phoneme /с/ because it fully coincides with the latter's principal variant, which is free from the influence of neighboring speech sounds. The vowel [А] in [вАлы] should be assigned to the phoneme /a/ because it nearly coincides with the latter's principal variant [a]. The vowel [ъ] in [въдАвос] does not even resemble either [o] or [a] or [А] but it is still assigned to the /a/ phoneme because both /o/ and /a/ are reduced to [ъ].

According to the third school of thought, there exist types of phonemes higher than the unit phoneme. Different linguists call them differently. One of the terms for them introduced by Prague Linguistic Circle, namely by N.S. Trubetzkoy and R. Jacobson, is archiphoneme. According to them, the archiphoneme is a combination of distinctive features common to two phonemes. Thus each of the speech sounds [c], [з] represents the phonemes /c/, /з/. These two phonemes differ from each other only in matter of voice, while both of them possess the other two distinctive features: (1) forelingual (2) fricative articulation. These two features together constitute the archiphoneme to which both [c] and [з] belong. This archiphoneme is, therefore, neither voiceless nor voiced. It designated by Russian capital letter C. The sound [c] in [кос] in both На лугу кос нет and На лугу коз нет belongs to this archiphoneme and not to the phoneme /c/ or /з/. ... 

CHAPTER II ENGLISH PHONEMES AND THE WAYS OF THEIR SPELLING

2.2 The system of vowel phonemes. Problems of diphthongs and vowel length

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

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

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

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

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

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Борисова Л.В., Метлюк А.А. Теоретическая фонетика. – Минск, 1980.

2. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка: Учеб. для студ. ин-тов и фак. ин.яз. / М.А. Соколова, К.П.Гинтовт, И.С.Тихонова, Р.М.Тихонова. – М.: ВЛАДОС, 1996.

3. Торсуев Г.П. Проблемы теоретической фонетики и фонологии. – М., 1998. ...