Monophthongs. Principles of classification
Main Theoretical Concepts:
3. According to the lip position monophthongs can be rounded and unrounded. Rounded vowels are produced when the lips are more or less rounded
E.g. [u:, ʊ, ɔː, uː], Russian [у] [о].
Unrounded vowels are produced when the lips are spread or neutral
E.g. [ɪ, e, æ, ʌ, ǝ, iː, ɑː, ɜː, iː ɑː, ɜː], Russian [э] [и] [а] [ы]
4. According to their length vowels are divided into long or short
The long English vowels are [iː ɑː ɔː uː ɜː].
The short ones are [ɪ e æ ʌ ɒ ʊ ǝ].
5. According to the degree of tenseness vowels may be tense or lax.
Tense vowels are produced when the organs of speech are tense. All the long vowels are tense. Lax vowels (the short ones) are produced with lesser tenseness of the speech organs.
6. According to the character of their end vowels may be checked or unchecked. Checked vowels are pronounced without any lessening of the force of the utterance towards the end (in a closed syllable) e.g. short vowels under stress, long vowels, diphthongs + voiceless consonants.
Unchecked vowels are pronounced with lessening of the force of the utterance towards their end e.g. long vowels, diphthongs under stress + voiced consonants, unstressed vowels.
| horizontal vertical | front | front-retracted | central | back-advanced | back | |
| high | high-narrow | i: | u: | |||
| high-broad | i / iə | ʊ / ʊə | ||||
| mid | mid-narrow | e / ei | ɜ: | |||
| mid-broad | eə | əʊ / ə | ɔ: / ɔi | |||
| low | low-narrow | ʌ | ||||
| low-broad | æ | aʊ | ai | ɒ |
Practical Tasks:
Sound [I]
Is little lipstick permissible for women in Egyptian villages?
Miss, miss, little Miss. Miss., If she misses, she misses like this.
Graphic equivalents of the sound [I]
i lid [lId]
y very ['verI]
Questions for self -check:
1. What vowel sounds can be characterized as rounded; voiceless; checked; long?
Sources:
1. М.А. Соколова и др. Практическая фонетика английского языка. сс.85 – 90.
2. O'Connor Better English Pronunciation, pp. 79-84
Unit 5
Diphthongs. Diphthongoids.
Main Theoretical Concepts:
A diphthong is a vowel sound in the pronunciation of which the organs of speech start in the position of one vowel and glide gradually in the direction of another vowel, full formation of which is not accomplished. It is a complex sound consisting of two vowel elements pronounced so as to form a single syllable. The first element of the English diphthong is called the nucleus. It is strong, clear, distinct. The second element is called the glide. It is rather weak.
There are eight diphthongs in English. They are divided according to the glide. There are:
1) three diphthongs with a glide towards [ɪ]: [eɪ, ai, ɔɪ];
2) two diphthongs with a glide towards [ʊ]: [ǝʊ, aʊ];
3) three diphthongs with the glide towards [ǝ]: [ɪǝ, eǝ, ʊǝ].
The vowels in the articulation of which the organs of speech change their position but very slightly are called diphthongized vowels or diphthongoids: [iː, uː].
Sound [e]
One man went to mow, went to mow a meadow.
One man and his dog went to mow a meadow.
Two men went to mow, went to mow a meadow.
Two men, one man and his dog went to mow a meadow.
Get ten eggs ready for breakfast.
Graphic equivalents of the sound [e]
e red [red]
ea bread [bred]
eo jeopardy ['ʤepǝdɪ] опасность
ei leisure ['leʒ∂]
ie friend [frend]
ai said [sed]
ay says [sez]
a any ['enI]
u bury ['berI]
ee threepenny [‘θrepǝnɪ]
Unit 6
Word-stress
Main Theoretical concepts:
Word-stress - is the singling out of one or more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by
1. the change of the force of utterance,
2. pitch of the voice,
3. qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel.
In English word-stress is free, that is it may fall on any syllable in a word,
f. ex. mother ['mʌð∂], occasion [∂'keɪʒn], detonation [det∂'neı∫n].
There are three degrees of word-stress in English: primary - strong, secondary - partial, weak - in unstressed syllables, f. ex. certification [ sз:tıfı'keı∫∂n]. Stressed syllables in the text have the symbol ['] f. ex. ′Are you 'coming 'back on Sunday?
Rules of word stress
1. In words of 2 or 3 syllables the primary stress mostly falls on the first syllable, e.g. 'error, ΄Cabinet, ΄sensible.
2. In prefixal words the primary stress typically falls on the syllable following the prefix, e.g. im΄possible, re΄call, be΄hind.
3. In prefixal words with prefixes having their own meaning, the place of stress is on the prefix, e. g. ΄anti-΄Capitalist, ΄non-΄Party, ΄ex-΄minister.
4. In prefixal verbs which are distinguished from similarly spelt nouns and adjectives, the place of stress is on the second syllable, nouns and adjectives have their stress on the initial syllable, e.g.
| verb | noun | adjective |
| to com'pound | - | 'compound |
| to in'crease | 'increase | - |
5. Suffixes: -esce, -esque, -ate, -ize, -fy, -ette, -ique, -ее, -еег, -ade have the place of stress on the preceding syllable or on themselves, e.g. ,pictu'resque, ,ciga'rette, tech'nique, ,refe'ree, ,pio'neer.
6. Suffixes: -ical, -ic, -ion, -ity, -ian, -cient, -iency, -ecus, -ual, -uous, -ety, -itous, -ive, -ative (-Hive), -itude, -ident, -inal, -ital, -wards have the place of stress on the preceding syllable, e.g. eco'nomic, gra'mmatical, po'sition, ma'jority, 'special, etc.
7.In words of four or more syllables the place of stress is on the antepenultimate syllable (third from the end), e. g. e'mergency, ca'lamity, his'torical.
For more information on word-stress study pp. 138-145 in “The Practical Course in English Phonetics” by M.A. Sokolova (the position of word-stress, words with primary and secondary stress, words with two primary stresses, stress in compound words etc.).
Sound [æ]
As a matter of fact the handsome lad has broken his ankle in the accident.
Fat Pat had a fat cat
Pat’s fat cat sat on Pat’s hat
Graphic equivalents of the sound [æ]
a sat [sæt]
ai plaid [plæd]
champagne [∫æm'pein]
absolutely ['æbs∂lu:tlI]
ambition [æm'bı∫∂n]
Unit 7
Intonation
Main Theoretical concepts:
Intonation is a complex unity of the prosodic features which are
· speech melody,
· sentence-stress,
· tempo,
· rhythm,
· pauses.
Speech melodydescribes falls and rises of the voice-pitch falling on vowels and voiced consonants. In English six main tones are distinguished. They are:
Low Fall (низкий нисходящий)
Low Rise (низкий восходящий)
High Fall (высокий нисходящий)
High Rise (высокий восходящий)
Fall Rise (нисходящий восходящий)
Rise Fall (восходящий нисходящий)
Mid Level
Sentence - stress is the greater prominence with which one or more words in a sentence are pronounced as compared with the other words of the same sentence. The greater prominence is achieved by a combination of the following means:
1. by uttering the stressed syllable with greater muscular tension;
2. changing the pitch level or pitch direction with which the stressed syllable is pronounced;
3. pronouncing the stressed syllables longer than they would be pronounced when unstressed;
4. pronouncing the vowel of a stressed syllable without changing its quality.
Sentence - stress serves to single out words in the sentence according to their relative semantic importance.
f. ex. But 'Andrew was 'not ↓calm. (Andrew, not, calm are stressed because they are most important semantically).
Sentences are usually separated from each other by pauses. If necessary, the sentence is subdivided into shorter word-groups according to the sense. These word-groups are called sense-groups or syntagms.
For example: Do you ΄really ΄mean to tell me | you ΄haven’t ΄had a suit since then ||.
When we talk we do not talk in single words but in groups of words spoken continuously, with no break or pause; we may pause after a group, but not during it. These groups may be long (How did you manage to do it so neatly and tidily?) or short (Yes or No).
When one group is very closely connected grammatically to the next, there is a very slight pause, marked by (|). When two groups are not so closely connected, there is a longer pause, marked by (||), and this double bar is also used to mark the end of a complete utterance.
Rhythmis a recurrence of stressed syllables. Connected English speech comes as a series of closely-knit groups of words, each group containing only one stressed syllable. These are rhythmic groups. Arhythmic group consists of one stressed syllable and following it unstressed syllables.
f. ex. But 'Andrew was'not ↓calm.
1 2 3
How do you decide what words or syllables go together in a rhythm unit? Here are the rules:
1. Any unstressed syllables at the beginning of a word group must go together with the following stress group:
2. If the unstressed syllable(s) is part of the same word as the stressed syllable they belong to the same rhythm group:
3. If the unstressed syllable(s) is closely connected grammatically to the stressed word, although not a part of that word, they belong to the same rhythm unit:
4. Whenever you are in doubt as to which rhythm unit unstressed syllables belong to, put them after a stress rather than before it. So in He was older than me, if you are doubtful about than, put it with older and not with me.:
Sound [Λ]
Never trouble trouble till trouble troubles you.
It only doubles trouble and troubles others too.
Graphic equivalents of the sound [Λ]
u sun [sΛn]
o come [kΛm]
oo blood [blΛd]
ou touch [tΛt∫]
Sound [α:]
The last part of the article is rather hard to grasp.
Graphic equivalents of the sound [α:]
a staff [stα:f]
ar far [fα:r]
au aunt [α:nt]
er clerk [klα;k]
ear heart [hα:t]
Unit 8
Intonation pattern
Main Theoretical concepts:
Intonation patterns containing a number of syllables consist of the following parts:
· the pre - head,
· the head,
· the nucleus
· the tail.
The pre - head includes unstressed and half - stressed syllables preceding the first stressed syllable.
The head includes the stressed and unstressed syllables beginning with the first stressed syllable.
The last stressed syllable is called the nucleus.
The unstressed and half - stressed that follow the nucleus are called the tail.
E.g. It was a ‘very sunny ↓day yesterday.
It was a … - the pre - head
…very sunny - the head
…day… - the nucleus
…yesterday. - the tail
The rises and the falls that take place in the nucleus or start with it are called nuclear tones.
The nucleus is the most important part of the intonation pattern as it defines the communicative type of the sentence, determines the semantic value of the intonation-group, indicates the communicative center of the intonation-group or of the whole sentence.
The communicative center is associated with the most important word or words of the intonation-group or of the sentence.
The nuclear tone of the final intonation-group is determined by the communicative type of the whole sentence.
The communicative types of sentences are differentiated in speech according to the aim of the utterance from the point of view of communication, i.e. in order to show if the sentence expresses a statement of fact, a question, a command or an exclamation.
There are four communicative types of sentence:
1. Statements e.g. I like music.
2. Questions e.g. Can you prove it?
3. Imperative questions or commands e.g. Try it again.
4. Exclamations e.g. Right you are!
The falling nuclear tone shows that the non-final intonation-group is complete, important by itself and is not closely connected with the following intonation - group.
A longer pause after an intonation-group pronounced with the falling tone makes the intonation-group even more significant.
E.g. I'll tell him all when he comes.
The rising nuclear tone shows that the non-final intonation-group is closely connected in meaning with the following intonation-group, is not important by itself and implies continuation.
e.g. Generally ↑ speaking, I prefer tennis.
In English notional words (nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc.) are generally stressed. Form - words and most pronouns (personal and possessive mainly) are generally unstressed. But any part of speech may be stressed if it is semantically important.
E.g. 'What is he 'going to ↓ do? - do is the communicative center.
'What is↓ he going to do? - he is the communicative center.