- •1. Phonetics as a linguistic science. Branches of phonetics. Phonetics and phonology
- •2. Articulatory classification of speech sounds
- •3. The phoneme as a linguistic unit. Its definition and functions
- •4. Manifestation of phonemes in speech. Phoneme and allophone
- •5. Methods of the identification of phonemes in a language
- •6. The distinctive and non-distinctive features of English vowels
- •7. The distinctive and non-distinctive features of English consonants
- •8. Problems of the phonemic inventory of English vowels
- •9. Problems of the phonemic inventory of English consonants
- •10. Types of phonetic transcription
- •11. The syllable as a phonetic, phonological unit. The functions of the syllable. Structural peculiarities of the English syllable
- •12. Theories of syllable formation and syllable division
- •13. The emergence of a pronunciation standard. Received Pronunciation (rp). Present-day situation
- •14. National and regional variants of English pronunciation
- •15. American English pronunciation. Peculiarities of General American pronunciation compared to British English
- •16. The syllable as a prosodic unit. Word stress, its nature and functions. Linguistically relevant types of word stress
- •17. The accentual tendencies in English. Basic word stress patterns in English
- •18. Speech prosody. Its perceptible qualities and acoustic properties
- •19. Prosody and intonation. Utterance prosody and its linguistic functions
- •20. The components (subsystems) of utterance prosody and units of its analysis
- •21. The tonal (pitch) subsystem of utterance prosody. Units of its analysis. Tones and tonal contours
- •22. The structure of a prosodic contour (intonation group) in English. The functions of its elements
- •23. Basic types of prosodic contours in English
- •24. Utterance stress in English, its phonetic nature and function. The relationship between utterance stress and word stress in English
- •25. Types of utterance stress. Factors conditioning the location of utterance stress
- •27. The basic unit of the rhythmic organization of speech and the problem of its phonetic delimitation in an utterance
- •28. The phonetic nature and types of speech rhythm in different languages.
- •29. Speech tempo and pausation
- •30. The notion of speech style. Phonetic style-forming means in English
22. The structure of a prosodic contour (intonation group) in English. The functions of its elements
A PROSODIC CONTOUR/INTONATION GROUP is hierarchically higher than a rhythmic group. It is a division in which not only stresses, but pitch and duration (i.e. intonation in the broad sense) play a role.
Structure and functions:
1. THE NUCLEUS STRESS - falls on the semantically most important word (expresses communicative and attitudinal meanings, indicates the end of the intonation group)
2. THE PREHEAD - unstressed syllables preceding the 1st stressed one (the onset, determines the pitch movement within the intonation group)
3. THE HEAD - the 1st stressed syllable and the following stressed and unstressed ones
4. THE TAIL - unstressed or partially stressed syllables following the nucleus (not an independent functional element of an intonation group, since its pitch variations are determined by the nuclear tone)
23. Basic types of prosodic contours in English
The number of actual utterances produced by native speakers of English is obviously unlimited, yet they can be reduced to a comparatively small list of basic intonation patterns. The discrimination of the basic patterns relies primarily on the directional type of nuclear pitch change:
1. THE RISING TONE PATTERN
2. THE FALLING TONE PATTERN
3. THE FALLING-RISING TONE PATTERN
4. THE RISING-FALLING TONE PATTERN
Since the structure of an intonation group is changeable, each tone pattern is realized in a number of tunes. The most important subdivision is into tunes having head and those without a head.
The rising tone pattern:
1. High/Stepping Head + High Narrow Rise (strong interrogative force transforming any sentence-type into a question)
2. High/Stepping Head + Low Wide Rise (interested, concerned, friendly)
3. Low Head + Low Narrow Rise (calm, disapproving)
The falling tone pattern:
1. High/Stepping Head + Mid Wide/Low Narrow Fall (calm, serious, hostile)
2. High/Stepping Head + High Wide Rise (light, lively, insistent)
The falling-rising tone pattern:
1. Sliding/Faling Head + Fall-Rise Undivided (contradicting, warning)
2. Stepping/High Head + Fall-Rise Divided (appealing, cordial)
The rising-falling tone pattern:
Stepping/High Head + Rise-Fall Contour (impressed, quizzical, challenging)
24. Utterance stress in English, its phonetic nature and function. The relationship between utterance stress and word stress in English
UTTERANCE STRESS - the special prominence given to 1 or more words in an utterance. The means, with the help of which this prominence is achieved are variations of pitch, loudness, length and quality. Acoustically utterance stress is determined by variations of fundamental frequency, intensity, duration and formant structure.
Functions:
1. CONSTITUTIVE - stresses form the utterance by integrating words
2. SEGMENTATIVE AND DELIMITATIVE - stresses segment the speech continuum into rhythmic units, intonation groups and utterances, and delimit them 1 from another
3. DISTINCTIVE - differentiate utterances to their meaning, conditioning by the position and type of stress
4. IDENTIFICATORY - provide a basis for the hearer’s identification of the important parts and for his understanding of the content.
The accentual structure of an utterance is conditioned by the stress patterns of its words. Word stress and utterance stress are in close relation. Whenever utterance stress occurs it will normally fall on a syllable which also has word stress. The difference is that word stress is an essential part of word-shape, whereas utterance stress is a feature of an utterance.