Functional aspect of speech sounds

Separate segments of speech continuum hаvе по meaning of their own,

they mean something only in combinations, which are called words.

Phonetics studies sounds as articulatory and acoustic units, phonolo-

gy investigates sounds as units, which serve communicative purposes.

Phonetics and phonology are closely connected. ТЬе unit of phonetics is

а speech sound, the unit of phonology is а рhоnеmе. Phonemes сап Ье

discovered Ьу the method of minimal раirs. This method consists in find-

Ing pairs of words which differ in опе рЬопеmе. For example, if we ге-

place IbI bу Ifl in the word Ьаn we produce а new word fan, Ьаn - tan is

а pair of words distinguished in meaning Ьу а single sound change. Two

words of this kind are termed "minimal pair". It is possible to take this

process further, we сап also produce сап, ran, тап, fan - it is а minimal

set. ТЬе change of the final/n/ in

Ьаn will result in а third minimal set: bad, bat, back, badge, bang. То

establish the phonemes ofthe language the phonologist tries to find pairs

that show which sounds occur or do not occur in identical positions -

commutation test.

ТЬе phonemes of а language form а system of oppositions, in which

апу one рЬопеmе is usually opposed to апу other рЬопеmе in at least опе

position in at least опе lexical or grammatical minimal or sub-minimal

pair. If the substitution of опе sound for another results in the change of

meaning, the commuted sounds are different phonemes, speech sounds,

which are phonologically significant.

ТЬе founder of the phoneme theory was I.A. Baudouih de Courteney,

the Russian scientist ofPolish origin. His theory of phoneme was devel-

oped and perfected Ьу L.V. Shcherba - the head of the Leningrad lin-

guistic school, who stated that in actual speech we utter а mисЬ greater

Variety of sounds than we are aware of, and that in every language these

sounds аге united in а comparatively small number of sound types, which

are сараЫе of distinguishing the meaning and the form of words; that is

they serve the purpose of social intercommunication. It is these sound

types that should Ье included into the classification of phonemes and

studied as differentiatory units ofthe language. Тhe actually pronounced

speech sounds are variants, or allophones of phonemes. Allophones are

realized in concrete words. Тhеу have phonetic similarity, that is their

acoustic and articulatory feautures have much in common, at the same

time they differ in some degree and are incapable of differentiating words.

For example, in speech we pronounce not the sound type /t/, which is

alveolar, forelingual, apical, occlusive, plosive, voiceless-fortis - ас-

cording to the classificatory definition, but опе of its variants, e.g. labial-

Ized in the word twice, dental in the word eighth, post-alveolar in try,

exploded nasally in written, exploded laterally in little, pronounced with-

out aspiration in stay, etc. Another example: the sound type, or the vowel

рhопеmе /i:/, which is defined as "unrounded, fully front, high, narrow,

tense, long, free", is more back in key, than in eat under the influence of

the backlingual /k/, it is longer before а voiced lenis, than before а voice-

Jess fortis consonant: seed - seat, greed - greet, etc.

Тhе number of sound types, or phonemes, in еасh language is much

smaller than the number of sounds actually pronounced (see Table 5).

Phonemic variants, or allophones, are very important for language

teaching because they are pronounced in actual speech and though their

mispronunciation does not always influence the meaning of the words,

their misuse makes а person's зреесh sound as "foreign".

That variant ofthe рhопеmе which is described as the most represen-

tative and free from the influence of the neighbouring phonemes is соп-

sidered to Ье typical, or principal. Тhе variants used in actual speech are

called subsidiary. Subsidiary allophones сап Ье positional and соmbinа-

tory. Positional allophones are used in certain positions traditionally. For

example, the English /1/ is realized in actual speech as а positional аllо-

рhопе: it is clear in the initial position, and dark in the terminal position,

compare light, let and hill, mill. Russian positional allophones сап Ье

observed in вопль, рубль where terminal /л/ is devoiced after voiceless

/п, б/о

Combinatory allophones appear in the process of speech and result

from the influence of опе рhопете uроn another .

То distinguish the sound types from their allophones in writing, two

types of brackets are used: slant-like for the phonemes ргорег, and squa-

ге - for their allophones, е. g. the рЬопеmе /l/ has two positional аllо-

phones: clear [l] and dark [1]. In practical teaching the most important

allophones should Ье mentioned to teach the pupils correct pronuncia-

tion.

SyllabIe as а phonetic and phonological unit

Speech is а continuous flow quantified in certain units, strings of vow-

els and consonants. Syllable is the minimal grouping of vowels and conso-

nants necessary for articulation (phonetic unit) and for storing strings of

phonemes in the mental representation (phonological unit). Тhе syllable is

а uшt розпес at both the phonetic and the phonological levels of analysis.

Тhe notion of а phonetic unit is difficult to define. Most scholars agree

that а chl1d сап usually count оп his/her fingers the number of syllables in

a sequence, but по phonetician has succeeded so far in giving ап exhaust-