- •1. Phonetics as a science
- •2. Articulatory aspect of speech sounds
- •3. Acoustic aspect of speech sounds
- •4. Functional aspect of speech sounds
- •5. Methods of phonological analysis
- •6. Orthorgaphy and its principles
- •7. National language, national variants, dialects
- •8. American English as a national variety of the English language
- •9. Variations of pronunciation within orthoepic norms
- •10. Received Pronunciation. Classifications of main types
- •11. Received Pronunciation. Changes of vowel and consonant quality
- •12. Main differences between southern and northern dialects of England
- •13. Aspects of the phoneme
- •14. Allophones
- •15. Main trends in phoneme theory
- •16. Assimilation
- •17. Accommodation, elision and insertion of consonants
- •18. The problem of affricates
- •19. Classification of English consonant phonemes according to the manner of articulation
- •20. Classification of English consonant phonemes according to the place of articulation and active organ of speech
- •21. Classification of English consonant phonemes according to the degree of noise, work of vocal cords, force of articulation and position of the soft palate
- •22. Classification of English vowel phonemes according to the position of the tongue
- •23. Classification of English vowel phonemes according to the stability of articulation
- •24. Classification of English vowel phonemes according to the lip position, length, tenseness and character of vowel end
- •25. The phonemic status of English diphthongs and triphthongs
- •26. The unstressed vocalism of the English language
- •27. Accommodation and reduction of English vowels
- •28. Classification of syllables
- •29. Theories of the syllable
- •30. Rules of syllable division
- •31. Functions of the syllable
- •32. Word stress and its classification
- •33. English word accentuation tendencies
- •34. Functions of word stress
- •35. Interrelation of word stress and sentence stress
- •36. Voice pitch as one of the components of intonation
- •37. Sentence stress
- •38. Temporal and tambral components of intonation
- •39. The communicative function of intonation
- •40. Extralinguistic situation and its components
- •41. Classification of phonetic styles on suprasegmental level
- •42. Classification of phonetic styles on segmental level. Stylistic modifications of sounds
- •43. Style-modifying factors
- •44. Speech culture and speech etiquette
9. Variations of pronunciation within orthoepic norms
Intraidiolectal phonetic variations:
- variations in the pronunciation of the one and the same native speaker of a language;
- spontaneous, accidental, unintentional, unconditioned, non-functional, non-distinctive linguistically;
- intentional and conditioned by what are known as different styles of speech or pronunciation.
Interidiolectal phonetic variations:
- variations in the pronunciation of one and the same phoneme, word or sentence in the same phonetic context and the same style of speech by different speakers of the language;
- diaphone – a sound used by one group of speakers together with other sounds which replace it consistently in the pronunciation of other speakers;
- idiophone – a speech sound pronounced in one idiolect in place of a different sound pronounced in other idiolects in the same phonetic context as allophones of the same phoneme.
10. Received Pronunciation. Classifications of main types
(Gimson)
Conservative RP – the older generation, certain professions or social groups.
General RP – pronunciation adopted by the BBC.
Advanced RP – young people of exclusive social groups – mostly of the upper classes.
(Wells)
Conservative RP (Adoptive RP).
General RP (Mainstream RP).
Advanced RP (U-RP).
Near-RP southern.
(Cruttenden)
General RP (middle-class educated people).
Refined RP (upper class and associated with certain professions which traditionally recruit from the upper class).
Regional RP (RP with a small number of regional features).
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11. Received Pronunciation. Changes of vowel and consonant quality
Vowels:
1) according to stability of articulation:
- [i:] and [u:] become diphthongized, more fronted to the end;
- diphthongs become shorter (glide of [ei] in the word final position is very slight: [tə’dei], [sei];
- [ai] and [au] become smoother when they are followed by the neutral sound [ə]: conservative RP: [faiə], general RP: [faə], advanced RP: [fa:];
- [uə] → [ɔ:]: poor [pɔ:]; [iə] → [iʌ]: dear [diʌ].
2) according to the horizontal movement of the tongue:
- nuclei of [ai] and [au] tend to be more back;
- vowel [æ] is often replaced by [a]: [hæv] - [hav];
- nucleus of [3u] varies from [ou] to [3u] and [əu]: conservative RP: [sou], advanced RP: [s3u] or [səu];
- back-advanced vowels [ʌ] and [u] are fronted in advanced RP: [bʌt] - [bət].
3) according to the vertical movement of the tongue:
- final sounds [ɛ] and [i] may be very open: city [‘siti] - [‘sitə];
- [e] and [ɔ:] tend to be closer in Advanced RP: bought [bɔ: t] – [bu:t];
- nuclei [ei, ɛə, ɔə, uə] tend to be more open: careful ['kɛəful] - ['kɛ:ful].
4) combinative changes:
- [j] dropping: [sju:t] – [su:t], fluctuation after [l]: lute – [lu:t], illusion – [ilju:ʒn];
- [ɔ:] → [ɔ] before [f, s, θ]: loss – [lɔ:s] → [lɔs].
5) changes in length:
- lengthening of [i] in big, his, is; [u] in good;
- [i] lengthened in the final syllable: many [‘meni:];
- [e, æ] lengthened in yes, bed, men, said, sad.
Consonants:
1. Voicing and devoicing.
Initial lenis [b, d, g] – partially devoiced.
Final lenis [b, d, g] – voiceless.
[t] in the intervocalic position is voiced.
2. Loss of [h].
In rapid speech the initial [h] is lost in form words and tends to die out from the language. No loss in stressed syllables.
3. Initial “hw”.
Wh-words are pronounced with an initial breath-like sound [ʍ] instead of [w].
4. Loss of final [ŋ].
5. Spread of “dark” [ł] and vocalization of [l].
6. Glottal stop (as a realization of syllable-final [t], in certain consonant clusters ("glottal reinforcements").
7. Palatalized final [k’].
8. Linking and intrusive [r].
9. Combinative changes ([tj, dj, sj] → [ʧ, ʤ, ʃ], in the clusters of two stops, where the loss of plosion is usually observed, each sound is bronounced with audible release; loss of [j] following [l, s, z, n]).
10. Elision, reduction, assimilation (reflected in the pronunciation of the young generation: have to [‘həftə], perhaps you [pə’hæpʃu:], can [kn], etc.)
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