- •1) Phonetics as a branch of linguistics
- •2) The system of English consonants
- •3. The system of English vowels (20 phonemes)
- •1. Stability of articulation.
- •4. Comparison of English and Russian consonant system
- •5. Comparison of English and Russian vowel system
- •6. Articulatory differences between consonants and vowels
- •7. Modifications of vowels in speech
- •8. Modifications of consonants in speech
- •9. The notion of articulatory basis. Its difference in English and Russian.
- •10. L.V. Scherba classifies the pronunciation errors as phonological and phonetic.
- •11. The physical properties of a sound and their articulatory correlations and acoustic qualities
- •12. Classification of articulation transitions from sound to sound
- •13. The aspects of a sound
- •15. The notion of allophone. Classification
- •16. Functions of segmental and suprasegmental phonetic units
- •20. Accommodation
- •21. Syllabic structure of English words: formation, division, functions
- •22. Word accent: types, tendencies of place and force, function
- •23.English intonation
- •24. Speech melody as a component of English intonation
- •25. Sentence stress as a component of intonation
- •27. Phonostylistics
- •28. American English
- •29. Dialects and variants of English
- •30. English phonemes in writing
30. English phonemes in writing
Language performs its function as a means of communication not only in oral but also in written form. That’s why it’s important to establish relationship between orthography and pronunciation.
Transcription is a set of symbols representing speech sounds. The symbolization of sounds naturally differs according to whether the aim is to indicate the phoneme, i.e. a functional unit as a whole or to reflect the modifications of its allophones as well. The first type of notation is the broad or phonemic transcription; it provides special symbols for all the morphemes of a language. The second type the narrow or allophonic transcription suggests special symbols including some information about articulatory activity of particular allophonic features. The broad tr is used for practical expedience, the narrow-serves the purposes of research work.
Graphemes in the English language may indicate the phonemic reference of a preceding, or the following grapheme. They perform diacritic function. E.g.
1. The doubling of consonants:
(a) indicates the shortness of the preceding vowel and differentiates the meaning of words:
planed — planned
noted — knotted
(b) differentiates the meaning of words:
assent — a cent
arrival — a rival
(c) lengthens the preceding vowel:
barred, stirred, furred
2. The use of a "mute" e or r:
(a) indicates the alphabetic reading of the preceding vowel and performs differentiatory functions:
rat — rate
pet — Pete
fin — fine
(b) differentiates homophones:
born — borne
pleas — please
step — steppe
(c) indicates the lengthening, or the diphthongal nature of a preceding vowel:
are toe awe pore mere
were due cure fury sire
Morphemic reference of graphemes is many-sided. Any graphic difference must be considered as having an independent morphemic reference. E.g.
boys /boız/ — boys' /boız/ — boy's /boız/
s, s’, ’s have different morphemic reference: s indicates the plural form; s’ indicates the plural form, possessive case; ’s indicates the posessive case of the singular form.
A morphograph is that part of a word which represents a morpheme it graphically, e.g. the suffix -ing is a morphograph in the word singing; the suffix -ed is a morphograph in the word long-legged, etc.