1) The history of the development of phonetics

The “birthplace” of phonetics - Ancient India.

Around 750 A.D., the Indian grammarian Panini studied and wrote about the rules of articulation of
Sanskrit. He also wrote some of the first known works on linguistic theories in general. The idea of studying
sounds was brought about by the need to understand Veda (1500 BC), i.e. sacred songs (brahmans).

17th and 18th Centuries - the discovery of how lateral (L sounds) and nasal (N and M) sounds are made
took place during this time. Also, many speech synthesis machines were built and tested by scientists from
all fields.

19th and 20th Centuries - By the late 1800s, the International Phonetic Association decided to create a
phonetic system in order to describe sounds from all languages. The system allows linguists to explain the
pronunciation of any language with one writing system.

Modern Phonetics - phonetics is studied alongside phonology, the study of meaning in the smallest units of
sound. Because all of linguistics is interdisciplinary, it is difficult to exclude the meaning of the sound from
the way the sound is produced and perceived.

1) Phonetics as a science
Phonetics as a science is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualized or given
audible shape: the nature of these noises, their combinations, and their functions in relation to the
meaning. The term “phonetics” comes from the Greek word “phone” translated as “sounds”.

Phonetics studies the sound system of the language, that is segmental phonemes, word-stress, syllabic
structure and intonation .

Phonetics is a basic branch of linguistics; neither linguistic theory nor linguistic practice can do without
phonetics and no language description is complete without phonetics, the science concerned with the
spoken medium of language. That is why phonetics claims to be of equal importance with grammar or
lexicology.

2) Phonetics and phonology

Phonetics deals with measurable, physical properties of speech sounds themselves, i.e. precisely how the
mouth produces certain sounds, and the characteristics of the resulting soundwaves; phonology
investigates the mental system for representing and processing speech sounds within particular languages.

Phonetics deals with the production of speech sounds by humans, often without prior knowledge of the
language being spoken.

Phonology is about patterns of sounds, especially different patterns of sounds in different languages, or

within each language, different patterns of sounds in different positions in words etc 

Phonology concerns itself with the ways in which languages make use of sounds to distinguish words from
each other.

Фонетика – это наука о звуковой стороне языка, изучающая способы образования звуков речи, их
отличительные признаки, их изменение в речевом потоке, их роль в функционировании языка как
средства общения людей

Фонология занимается изучением звуков речи с функционально – лингвистической стороны, где звук
может быть охарактеризован по своему особому назначению в речи – выполнению
смыслоразличительной функции.

3) Branches of phonetics
Phonetics can be separated into three fields of study.

 Articulatory phonetics is the study of how speech is made with the mouth, tongue and lungs.
 Acoustic phonetics is the study of how speech sounds acoustically, such as speech frequency and
harmonics.
 Auditory phonetics is the study of how speech is perceived by the brain.

There are 3 branches of phonetics each corresponding to a different stage in the communication process:

Articulatory phonetics - the branch of phonetics that studies the way in which the air is set in motion, the
movements of the speech organs and the coordination of these movements in the pronunciation of single
sounds and trains of sounds

Acoustic phonetics studies the way in which the air vibrates between the speaker’s mouth and the
listener’s ear. The means by which we discriminate sounds-quality, sensations of pitch, loudness, length are
relevant here.

Auditory phonetics - the branch of phonetics investigating the hearing process. Its interests lie more in the
sensation of hearing, which is brain activity, than in the physiological working of the ear or the nervous
activity between the ear and the brain

??Another subdivision of phonetics: 1) general phonetics – studies general laws, formulates general
theories (theory of intonation, syllable formation, phoneme); 2) special phonetics – based on general
phonetics, it deals with phonetical peculiarities of a certain language; 3) some linguists distinguish historical
phonetics – it traces the development of the phonetic system in the course of time finding out the basic
laws of the system.

4) The theory of phoneme (хз та ли это инфа)

The definitions of the phoneme vary greatly.

L.V. Shcherba: the phoneme may be viewed as a functional, material and abstract unit.

V.A.Vassilyev: The phoneme is a smallest unit capable of distinguishing one word from another word, one
grammatical form of word from another.

B. Bloch: phoneme is a class of phonemically similar sounds contrasting and mutually exclusive with all
similar classes in the language.

R. Jacobson: phoneme is a minimal sound by which meaning may be discriminated.

Views of the phoneme seem to fall into 4 main classes:

1) the “mentalistic” or “psychological” view regards the phoneme as an ideal “mental image” or a target at

which the speaker aims.

2) The so-called “functional” viewregards the phoneme as the minimal sound unit by which meanings may
be differentiated without much regard to actually pronounced speech sounds.

3) A stronger form of the “functional” approach is the so-called “abstract” viewof the phoneme, which
regards phonemes as essentially independent of the acoustic and physiological properties associated with
them, that is of speech sounds.

4) The “physical” view regards the phoneme as a “family” of related sounds satisfying certain conditions,
notably:

a) the various members of the “family” must show phonetic similarity to one another, in other words, be
related in character;

b) no member of the “family” may occur in the same phonetic context as any other.
Nowadays the phoneme is characterized from the point of view of its three aspects (functional, material,
abstract): the phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds,
opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.

Phonemes are abstract units of pronunciation in a language.

The smallest unit of the sounding speech is called a phoneme.

The phoneme is a minimal sound by which the meaning may be distingvished.

Phoneme is the smallest unit of sound of speech capable of distinguishing one word from another.
Phoneme  is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.

5) Intonation. Its components (хз полная ли это инфи или нужно еще что-то)
Intonation is a complex unity of these features of speech: melody (pitch of the voice); sentence stress
(variations in the pitch of the voice); temporal characteristics (duration, tempo, pausation); rhythm
(periodic recurrence of rhythmic units of different size and level); timber (tonal colouring of the speaker's
voice).

Intonation is a complex unity of 4 components:

1. The pitch component or melody is the changes in the pitch of the voice in connected speech. It is
produced by the vibrations of the vocal cords.

2. Sentence stress or accents is the prominence of one or more words among other words in the same
sentence.

3. Tempo is a relative speed with which sentences and intonation groups are pronounced in connected
speech.

4. Timbre is a special coloring of voice which shows the speaker’s emotions such as pleasure, displeasure,
sorrow

6) Classification of speech sounds. Distinctive features of vowels and consonants. (хз нужна ли
тут вся полная классификация)
The Articulatory Classification of English Speech Sounds. In all languages Speech sounds are traditionally
divided into two main types – vowels and consonants.

From the articulatory point of view the main principles of the division are as follows: the presence or
absence of obstruction; the distribution of muscular tension; the force of the air stream coming from the
lungs.

Vowels are speech sounds based on voice which is modified in the supralaryngeal cavities. There is no
obstruction in their articulation. The muscular tension is spread evenly throughout the speech organs. The
force of the air stream is rather weak.

Consonants are speech sounds in the articulation of which there is an obstruction, the removal
(перемещение) of which causes noise – plosive or friction. The muscular tension is concentrated at the
place of obstruction. The air stream is strong.

An indispensable constituent of a cons in noise is an obstruction .There are the following types of
obstruction in the production of consonants:1. complete occlusion /closure/,/преграда/ 2. constriction
/norrowing/- щель- constrictive –щелевый 3.occlusion- constriction –смычка-щель (clause immediately
followed by a constriction).
The noise produced by the removed of closure is that of a plosion , the noise resulting from the movement
of the air stream in the narrowing is that of friction (шум,трения, фрикация). The two effects are
combined when closure is followed by a narrowing.

CONSONANTS

1) According to the type of obstruction and the manner of the production of noise, English
Consonants are classified in the following way:
 Occlusives - (cмычные) : stops (plosives) /p,b,t,d,k,g,/ and nasal sonants / m,n,n,/
 Constrictives –(щелевые ) fricatives and oral sonants : Fricatives : unicentral and bicentral.
Unicentral: /f,v,Ө,s,z/ and bicentral /3, Ϩ/. Oral sonants: medial and laterial. Medial /j,r,w/
and Larerial /1/.
 Occlusive –Constrictive /Affricates/ ,/tϨ, d3 /
 Obstructions may be formed either by 2 active speech organs or by one active speech
organ (articulator) and passive organ of speech (point or place of articulation).

2) According to the active speech organ which forms an obstruction , English consonants are classed into:

 Labial : bilabial and labio-dental, . Bilabial: /p,b,m,w/ and Labio-dental:/v,f/

 Lingual: forelingual,medio-lingual and backlingual. Forelingual: apical and cacuminal.
Apical:/t,d,n,s,z, Ө / and Cocuminal /r/. Medio-lingual /j/. Backlingual /k,g,n/.
 Phatyngeal /h/ фаринкс

3) According to the place of obstruction , consonants are classified into dental / Ө ,Ϡ/ alveolar /t,d,n,1,s,z/,
post—alveolar /r/ , palatal /j/, palato- alveolar /3,Ϩ, tϨ, d3 / velar /n,k,g/

4) According to the presence or absence of voice ,English Consonants are subdivided into voiced
/b,d,g,v,z,3, d3 / and voiceless /p,t,k,f,s, tϨ, Ө/.

5) According to the force of articulation English Consonants are classified as lenis and fortis . In the
articulation of English voiced consonants the muscular tension is weak-lenis articulation. In the articulation
of English voiceless consonants the muscular tension is strong-fortis articulation.

6) According to the position of the soft palate ,English Consonants are subdivided
into oral /p,b,t,d,k,g,f,v,s,z, Ө ,Ϡ, tϨ, d3,w,l,r,j / and nasal /n,n,m / .

VOWELS

The varies qualities (timbres) of English vowels are determined by the oral resonator – its size, volume and
shape. The resonator is modified by the most movable speech organs the tongue and the lips. Moreover ,
the quality of a vowel depends on whether the speech organs are tense or lax and whether the force of
articulation weakens or is stable.

Thus, vowels are classified:

1) According to the horizontal movement of the tongue; front, front – retracted, back-advanced, and back
2) According to the vertical movement of the tongue; close /high/, mid and open /low/.
3) According to the position of the lips; rounded, unrounded
4) According to the degree of the muscular tension of the articulatory organs; tense and lax
5) According to the force of articulation at the end of a vowel; free and checked
6) According to the stability of articulation; monophthongs, diphthongs, diphthongoids, diphthongized
vowels
7) According to the length of a vowel; quantity, or length

1. According to the horizontal movement of the tongue , English vowels are classified into front: /ni:i:,
n3:e,n4:æ/ and the nuclei of the diphthongs /i: ei: 7: ἐᵊ:,ᴈ/ , front – retracted : /2: I/ and the nucleus of the
diphthong /6: Iᵊ/,mixed: /11: ᵊ:12:ᵊ/, back-advanced: /8: v,10: ^,5:a:/, and the nuclei of the diphthongs /2:
ov, 9: vᵊ/ and back : /9: u:, 7: ᴐ:,6:ᴐ/.

2. According to the vertical movement of the tongue ,English vowels have been traditionally subdivided into
close /high/, mid and open /low/. It is insufficient , however, to define the articulatory features of vowels in
terms of these 3 degrees of opening of the mouth cavity, since functionally different vowels /1: i:-2: I/,/9:
u:-8: v/,/7:ᴐ:-6:ᴐ/ are not described from the point of view of their articulation .

Russian phoneticians G. Torsuyev /I/, A.Trakhterov /2/,V.Vassilyew/3/ classify these sounds in a more
precise manner subdividing each class (close,mid,open) into a narrow and a broad variation. Thus,
according to the height of the tongue , vowels can be classified as high-narrow /1:i:,9:u:/, high broad /2:I, 8:
v/, mid- narrow /3:e,11:ᵊ,2:o/v /,mid-broad /12:ᵊ,7:ἐ(ᵊ)l/, low-narrow /10: ^,7:ᴐ:/,low – broad
/4:æ,3,4:a(I,v)5:a:,6:ᴐ/.

3. According to the position of the lips, i.e. whether they are rounded ,spread or neutral ,English vowels are
classed into rounded /ᴐ:,ᴐ, u: v/ and unrounded /i:I,e,ᵊ,æ^a:ᵊ:ᵊ/.The subdivision of vowels into lipspread
and lip neutral is unnecessary for a phonological analysis, but may be useful in describing concrete
realizations of the phonemes.

4. According to the degree of muscular tension, English vowels are classified into tense and lax.Thus, for
instance, English /i: /and /u:/ are characterized as tense, because the speech organs that participate in their
formation /the tongue and the lips/ are considerably tensed .In the articulation of short /I/and/v/ these
organs are relatively relaxed, so these vowels are characterized as lax. All the long vowels are believed to
be tense ,while short vowels are lax. This is due to the long period of time for which the speech organs are
kept in a certain position and this ,in its turn, requires greater muscular tension of the speech organs. Not
all phoneticians share this opinion. According to D. Jones /5/, only the long /I:/and /u:/ may be considered
as tense. D. Jones applies the terms `tense` and `lax` only to close vowels , because in the case of open
vowels in to difficult to define whether there is any tenseness or not.

5. According to the force of articulation at the end of the vowel (the character of the end), English vowels
are subdivided into free and checked. Free vowels are pronounced in an open syllable with a weakening in
the force of articulation towards their end, i.e. they have a fading character .These are all the English long
monophthongs and diphthongs and unstressed short vowels.

6. According to the stability of articulation English vowels into monophthongs /i:I,e, æ ,a:, ᴐ :, ᴐ ,u:,v/,
diphthongs /ei,ai, ᴐi,av,ov,ia,ia,oa,va, /and diphthongoids, or diphthongized vowels /i:,u:/.

The stability of articulation as in the care of monophthongs or its instability as in the case of diphthongs and
diphthongoids is, actually , the stability (or instability) of the shape of the oral resonator.When the position
of the tongue and the lips during the pronunciation of a vowel is altered to some extent, a new vowel
quality is produced.In diphthongs vowel elements are distinguished the nucleus and the glide.The nucleus is
stronger, more definite in timbre, more prominent and syllabic.

7. Closely connected with the quality of vowels is their quantity , or length. Any speech sound must have
certain duration to display its quality, to be perceived as such.

According to their length, English vowels are divided into long /i:,a:, ᴐ:,u:a:/ and short /I, ᴐ,e,v, ᵊ, æ /. This
length is historically short ones and even shorter /b1 :t/-/bId/, /s1:t/-/sIt/.

8) American English pronunciation

9) Local types of pronunciations in Great Britain .

10) Word-stress

Word stress (word accent) is greater prominence given to one or more syllables in a word.
Stressed and unstressed syllables differ in quantity (length) and quality. They are longer when stressed and
carry vowels of full formation. When unstressed, they undergo reduction and become shorter.

Word stress should be considered from the point of view of:

1. its place in a sentence;

2. its degree.

There are two degrees of word stress in English:

1. primary or strong (marked above the syllable);

2. secondary or weak (marked under the syllable).

The place of word stress depends on the quantity of syllables in a word .

Accented types of words

1. Monosyllabic, disyllabic and trisyllabic words are stressed on the first syllable, e. g. `phoneme,
`palate, `prefix, `pronoun, `family, `enemy, `imitate, `colony.
2. Most four-syllable words have the stress laid on the third syllable from the end, e. g. Po`litical,
ex`periment, hi`storical, go`ology.
3. Compound nouns are stressed on the first component, the second though unstressed has a vowel
of full formation, e. g. `blackboard //.

Exceptions: `arm-chair, `ice-cream, `tape-recorder.

4. Polysyllabic words have the primary stress on the third syllable from the end and the secondary
stress on the second pretonic syllable, e. g. university, assimilation, possibility.
5. The following groups of words have two primary stresses:

 numerals (from 13 to 19): fourteen;

 compound adjectives: well-known, good-looking;
 composite verbs: get up, sit down, put on;
 words with separable prefixes:

a. implying negation: un-, in-, il-, ir-, non-, dis-, e. g. unknown, inaccurate, irregular, non-aggressive,
disbelief, illiterate;
b. prefixes implying assistance: sub-, vice-, e.g. subtitle, vice-minister;
c. prefixes with different meanings: mis- - meaning ‘wrong’ (misunderstand); over- - meaning ‘too
much’ (overtired); pre- - meaning ‘before’ (pre-revolutionary); inter- - meaning ‘among’, ‘between’
(international); anti- - meaning ‘against’ (antiwar).

11) Varieties ofEnglish.

12) Assimilation
Assimilation is a phonetic process by which one sound under the influence of a sound near it acquires some
articulation and acoustic likeness to that of other sound.

Assimilation results in the appearance of new phonemic variants. Each case of assimilation must be
analysed from the following view points:

1) From the point of view of its direction it can be

 PROGRESSIVE In progressive assimilation the assimilated phoneme is influenced by the preceding one,
e. g. programme, frail.
 REGRESSIVE In regressive assimilation the assimilated phoneme is influenced by the phoneme following
it, e. g. tall, garden.
 RECIPROCAL, or DOUBLE. In reciprocal assimilation the adjacent phonemes influence each other, e. g.
train - /t/ becomes post-alveolar and /r/ becomes partially devoiced

2) From the point of view of its degree it can be

 COMPLETE - when the articulation of the assimilated phoneme fully coincides with that of the
assimilating one, e. g. Does she?
 PARTIAL - when the assimilated phoneme changes into a certain third phoneme, e. g. hand + kerchief
 INTERMEDIATE - when the assimilated phoneme acquires only some features similar to those of the
assimilating phoneme

Types of Partial Assimilation (хз надо ли это)

There are 4 types of partial assimilation. It can affect:

1. the place of articulation

2. the work of the vocal cords
3. the lip-position
4. the manner of producing noise

1. Assimilation affecting the place of articulation results in:

a. the dental allophones of the alveolar /t, d, n, l, s, z/ when followed by /, /:

shut the door all the doors open the door eighth

hold the door pass the door close the door sixth

b. the post-alveolar allophones of the alveolar /t, d, n, l/ when followed by the post-alveolar /r/: try,
dry, already.

2. Assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords results in:

a. partially devoiced allophones of /w, l, r, j, m, n/ when preceded by /p, t, k, f, , s, /: play, pray,
pure, few, threat, friend, quite.
b. looked /k t/, finished / t/, books /k s/, pipes /p s/.

3. Assimilation affecting the lip-position results in labialized allophones of consonants before such
phonemes as /w, u:, /: twenty, twice, tall, quick, tool.

4. Assimilation affecting the manner of producing noise results in:

a. plosionless allophones of /p b, t d, k g/ (loss of plosion); when they follow one another either within
a word or at the junction of words the first plosive loses its plosion: actor /k t/, Big Ben /g b/, don’t
talk /t t/, put down /t d/, eight pounds /t p/.
b. When /p b, t d, k g/ are followed by the fricatives or affricates their plosion becomes fricative
(fricative, or incomplete plosion): past five /t f/, temperate zone /t z/, hot summer /t s/.
c. When /p b, t d, k g/ are followed by the nasal sonorants /m, n/ their plosion becomes nasal: garden
/d n/.
d. When /p b, t d, k g/ are followed by the lateral sonorant /l/ their plosion becomes lateral: middle /d
l/, circle /k l/, good luck /d l/, uncle /k l/, little /t l/.
13) Intonation. Its components (это повтор??)
14) Word-stress (опять повтор??)
15) Stylistic use of intonation
16) Diphthongs. Their types
Diphthongs are vowel sounds that begin as one sound and blend into another when they are articulated.

There are eight diphthongs that are generally agreed upon.

 /aɪ/ Creates a speech sound similar to “eye” and usually includes the letters /i/, /igh/, and /y.
Examples: my, cry, light, like
 /əʊ/ Creates a speech sound similar to “boat” and usually includes the letters /ow/, /oa/ and /o/.
Examples: tow, loan, though
 /eɪ/ Creates a speech sound similar to “great” and usually includes the letters /ey/, /ay/, /ai/ and /a/.
Examples: steak, pain, weight
 /aʊ/ Creates a speech sound similar to “ow!” and usually includes the letters /ou/ and /ow/.
Examples: town, found, cow
 /ɪə/ Creates a speech sound similar to “ear” and usually includes the letters /ee/, /ie/ and /ea/.
Examples: leer, tear, pier
 /eə/ Creates a speech sound similar to “air” and usually includes the letters /ai/, /a/, and /ea/.
Examples: hair, lair, bear
 /ɔɪ/ Creates a speech sound similar to “boy” and usually includes the letters /oy/ and /oi/. Examples: oil,
coy, roil
 /ʊə/ Creates a speech sound similar to “sure” and usually includes the letters /oo/, /ou/, /u/, and /ue/.
Examples: cure, pure, cur

classification

 falling diphthongs, which begin with higher pitch or volumes and end with lower pitch or volumes.
These are also referred to as /aɪ/ diphthongs
 rising diphthong. these begin with vowel sounds of lower pitches or volumes and end with more
prominent ones.

Similar to falling and rising, diphthongs can be classified based on whether they are closing or
opening. Closing diphthongs have similar characteristics to falling, while opening is similar to rising.

Diphthongs can also be referred to as narrow or wide. Narrow ones are comprised of vowel sounds that are
similar sounding and similarly pronounced. Examples include “rain” and “weight.” Wide diphthongs are
vowel sounds with more drastically different articulations like in “brown,” “found,” and “now.”

17) The phases of articulation of speech sounds

The articulation of any isolated speech sound consists of three phases – onglide, stop- or retention-stage
and off-glide.

 on-glide - the organs of speech leave their neutral position and move to the position typical of the
given sound
 stop-stage - the organs of speech remain in the position characteristic of the given sound
 off-glide - the organs of speech return to their neutral position.

 приступ (экскурсия), выдержка и отступ (рекурсия)

18) Sentence stress
19) Principles of classification of consonants.
The consonant is a sound in the production of which the air stream meets an obstruction in the mouth
cavity and a certain degree of noise is heard.

English consonants are classified according to the following principles:

1) Work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation

 voiced [b, d, g, v, z, ð,3, d3, l, m, n, j, w, r, ŋ]
 and voiceless [p, t, k, f, s, θ, ∫, t∫, h]

2) Active organ of speech and the place of obstruction

 labial
o bilabial - [p, b, w, m]
o labiadental [f, v]

 lingual
o forelingual
 interdental [ð, θ].
 Alveolar [t, d, s, z, l, n].
 post-alveolar [r].
 palato-alveolar [∫, 3, d3, t∫].
o mediolingual [j].
o backlingual [k, g, ŋ].

 Glottal [h].

3) Manner of the noise production and the type of obstruction

 Occlusive
o plosives [p, t, k, b, d, g]
o sonorants [m, n, ŋ]

 Constrictive
o fricatives [s, f, z, ð, θ, ∫, v,3, h]
o sonorants [w, r, j, l]

 occlusive-constrictive [t∫, d3].

 affricates
4) Position of the soft palate

 Oral
 Nasal [m, n, ŋ].

1. According to the work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation English consonants are subdivided
into voiced and voiceless. Voiced consonants are produced with the vocal cords brought together and
vibrating. They are [b, d, g, v, z, ð,3, d3, l, m, n, j, w, r, ŋ]. Voiceless consonants are produced with the vocal
cords taken apart and not vibrating. They are [p, t, k, f, s, θ, ∫, t∫, h]. The force of exhalation and the degree
of muscular tension are greater in the production of voiceless consonants.

2. According to the position of the active organ of speech against the place of obstruction English
consonants are classified into labial, lingual and glottal.
Labial consonants are subdivided into bilabial and labiodental. Bilabial consonants are articulated with both
lips. They are [p, b, w, m]. Labiodental consonants are articulated with the lower lip against the edge of the
upper teeth. They are [f, v].

Lingual consonants are subdivided into forelingual, mediolingual and backlingual.

Forelingual consonants are articulated with the tip or the blade of the tongue. According to the place of
obstruction English forelingual consonants are subdivided into interdental, alveolar, post-alveolar and
palato-alveolar. Interdental consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue projected between the
teeth. The are [ð, θ]. Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth
ridge. They are [t, d, s, z, l, n]. Post alveolar consonants are articulated with the tip or the blade of the
tongue against the back part of the teeth ridge. In English it is [r]. Palato-alveolar consonants are articulated
with the tip or the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge, the front part of the tongue raised towards
the hard palate. They have two places of articulation. They are [∫, 3, d3, t∫].

Mediolingual consonants are articulated with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate. In
English it is [j].

Backlingual consonants are articulated with the back part of the tongue raised towards the soft palate.
They are [k, g, ŋ].

Glottal (pharyngeal) consonants are articulated in the glottis. In English it is [h].

3. According to the type of obstruction consonants are divided into occlusive, constrictive and occlusive-
constrictive or affricates. Occlusive consonants are articulated with the air on its way out breaking up a
complete obstruction. In English occlusive consonants are subdivided into plosives [p, t, k, b, d, g] which are
articulated with distinct and quick separation of the obstruction and sonorants [m, n, ŋ]. Constrictive
consonants are articulated with incomplete obstruction through which the air comes out. In English
constrictive consonants are subdivided into fricatives [s, f, z, ð, θ, ∫, v,3, h] which are articulated with the air
passage narrowed to such an extent that the air passing through it produces friction, and sonorants [w, r, j,
l] which are articulated with the air passage wide enough to make the cavity function as a resonator.
Occlusive-constrictive consonants are articulated with the complete obstruction gradually and
uninterruptedly opening into narrowing. In English they are [t∫, d3].

4. According to the position of the soft palate consonants are subdivided into oral and nasal. Nasal
consonants are articulated with the blocked passage for the flow of air through the mouth cavity which is
effected by lowering of the soft palate. They are [m, n, ŋ]. All the rest consonants are oral. Oral consonants
are articulated with the raised soft-palate, thus the air goes out through the mouth cavity

20) Principles of classification of vowels.

English vowels are classified according to the following principles:

1) Position of the lips (rounded [o, o:, u, u:] and unrounded (the rest)
2) Position of the tongue (horizontal – front [i:, e, æ], front-retracted [i], central [з:, ə, Λ], back [o, o:, u:]
and back-advanced [u, α:]; vertical - high (close) narrow [i:, u:] [i, u], mid [ə] [e, o:, з:], low (open) [æ, α:,
o:] [Λ].
3) Length (long [i:, u:, o:, α:, з:] and short [i, u, o, æ, e, ə, Λ])
4) Degree of tenseness (tense and lax)
5) The character of the end (checked and unchecked)
6) Stability of articulation (monophthongs or simple vowels [i, i:, u, u:, o, o:, e, ə, Λ, α:, æ, з:]. and
diphthongs, or complex vowels [ai, oi, ei, au, əu, εə, uə, iə].)
1. According to the position of the lips vowels are divided into rounded [o, o:, u, u:] and unrounded – all the
rest. The main effects of lip rounding on the shape of the mouth are to enlarge the oral cavity, to diminish
the size of the opening of the oral cavity.

2. Vowels are classified according to the horizontal and vertical movement of the tongue.

According to the horizontal movement of the tongue English vowels are divided into front, front-retracted,
central, back and back-advanced. Front vowels are articulated when the bulk of the tongue moves forward
and its front part is raised highest towards the hard palate. They are [i:, e, æ]. Front-retracted vowels are
articulated with the front but a bit retracted position of the tongue. It is [i]. Central vowels are articulated
with the tongue almost flat and its central part raised to the juncture between the hard and soft palate.
They are [з:, ə, Λ]. Back vowels are articulated when the bulk of the tongue moves backward in the mouth
cavity and its back part is raised highest to the soft palate. They are [o, o:, u:]. Back-advanced vowels are
articulated with the back but a bit advanced position of the tongue. The are [u, α:].

According to the vertical movement of the tongue English vowels are divided into high (close), mid and low
(open). Each of these classes is subdivided into narrow and broad subtypes. High vowels are articulated
with the bulk of the tongue raised high to the roof of the mouth, but not so high as to produce an audible
friction. In pronouncing high narrow vowels [i:, u:] the bulk of the tongue is raised higher than in
pronouncing high broad ones [i, u]. Mid vowels are articulated with neither high nor low position of the
tongue that is why they are also called half-close or half-open. Mid narrow vowel is [ə], mid broad vowels
are [e, o:, з:]. Low vowels are articulated with the bulk of the tongue in the low position in the mouth. In
pronouncing low broad vowels [æ, α:, o:] the bulk of the tongue is lowered more than in pronouncing low
narrow vowel [Λ].

3. According to the length English vowels are divided into long [i:, u:, o:, α:, з:] and short [i, u, o, æ, e, ə, Λ].

4. According to the degree of tenseness English vowels are divided into tense and lax. Tense vowels are
articulated when the muscles of the lips, tongue, cheeks and the back walls of the pharynx are tense. Lax
vowels are articulated with all these organs relatively relaxed. All long vowels are tense while all short
vowels are lax.

5. English vowels in stressed position can be checked and unchecked (free). The checked vowels are
pronounced without any lessening of the force of utterance towards the end. They occur in close syllables
and are abruptly interrupted by the following voiceless consonant. The unchecked vowels occur terminally
or before a voiced consonant. The vowel [ə] does not occur in the stressed position so it is not regarded
inside these classes.

6. According to the stability of articulation English vowels are divided into monophthongs, or simple vowels
and diphthongs, or complex vowels. Monophthongs are articulated with more or less stable lip, tongue and
walls position. They are [i, i:, u, u:, o, o:, e, ə, Λ, α:, æ, з:]. Diphthongs are articulated in such a way that
organs of speech start from one position and then glide to another position. So diphthongs consist of two
elements: a nucleus and a glide. The first element of a diphthong is more loud and distinct, the formation of
the second element of a diphthong is not accomplished. They are [ai, oi, ei, au, əu, εə, uə, iə]. Diphthongs
are unisyllabic, that is its parts can not belong to different syllables. Their length should not exceed the
length of a single phoneme. They can not be divided morphologically. There is an opinion that one element
of a diphthong is accented while the other is not. A diphthong may be falling – when the nucleus is stronger
than a glide, rising – when the glide is stronger than a nucleus, and level – when both elements are equal.
English diphthongs are falling with the glide toward [i, u, ə]. According to the articulatory character of the
second element, diphthongs [ai, oi, ei, au, əu] are called closing, while diphthongs [εə, uə, iə] are called

21) Reduction.
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.

1) Reduction is realized:
2) in unstressed syllables within words 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

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

22) The problem of the number of phonemes in English.

Most phonology textbooks claim that the phonological system of the English language is composed of 44
phonemes, of which 24 are consonants (actually, two are semivowels) and 20 are vowels.

Yet, this number results of a misinterpretation of the English vowel system, since several authors consider
clusters of sounds (diphthongs and pseudotriphthongs) as single phonemes, as well as combinatorial
allophones of the same phoneme as distinct phonemes.

By employing the definitions of phoneme, phone, and allophone, together with the criteria of commutation
and substitution formulated by Trubetzkoy and the phonologists of the Prague School, allied to the concept
of neutralisation and archiphoneme of the traditional structural phonology, it is possible to prove that the
real number of phonemes of English is actually 35..

23) Peculiarities of pronunciation in connected speech

24) Intonation patterns