Теоретическая фонетика английского языка (803492), страница 2

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It is notpossible, for practical purposes, to teach a foreign language to any type oflearner, for any purpose, by any method, without giving some attention topronunciation. And any attention to pronunciation is phonetics." (Aber­crombie, 1956: 28)What does phonetics study? Phonetics is concerned with the humannoises, by which the thought is actualized or given audible shape: the natureof these noises, their combinations, and their functions in relation tomeaning. Phonetics studies the sound system ofthe language, i.

e. segmen­tal phonemes, word stress, syllabic structure and intonation. It is primarilyconcerned with expression level. However, phonetics takes the contentel into consideration too. Only meaningful sound sequences are regarded asspeech, and the science ofphonetics , in principle at least, is concerned onlywith such sounds produced by a human vocal apparatus as are, or may be,carriers of organized information of language. In other words, phonetics isconcerned both with the expression level ofphonetic units and their abilityto carry meaning.

No kind oflinguistic study can be made without constantconsideration of the material and functional levels.It follows from this that phonetics is a basic branch of linguistics; nei­ther linguistic theory nor linguistic practice can do without phonetics, and72. Divisions and Branches of Phoneticsno language description is complete without phonetics, the science con­cerned with the spoken medium oflanguage. That is why phonetics claimsto be of equal importance with grammar and lexicology.2. Divisions and Branches of PhoneticsTraditionally phonetics is divided into general phonetics which studiesthe complex nature of phonetic phenomena and formulates phonetic lawsand principles and special phonetics which is concerned with the phoneticstructure ofa particular language.

Admittedly, phonetic theories worked outby general phonetics are based on the data provided by special phoneticswhile special phonetics relies on the ideas of general phonetics to interpretphonetic phenomena of a particular language.Special phonetics can be subdivided into descriptive and historical. Spe­cial descriptive phonetics studies the phonetic structure ofthe language syn­chronically, while historical phonetics looks at it in its historical develop­ment, diachronically.

Historical phonetics is part of the history of thelanguage. The study ofthe historical development ofthe phonetic system ofa language helps to lmderstand its present and predict its future.Another important division of phonetics is into segmental phonetics,which is concerned with individual sounds (1. e. "segments" of speech) andsuprasegmental phonetics whose domain is the larger units of connectedspeech: syllables, words, phrases and text.Figure 1phoneticssegmentalphoneticssuprasegmentalphoneticsPhonetics has two aspects: on the one hand, phonology, the study of thefunctional aspect of phonetic units, and on the other, the study of the sub­stance of phonetic units.Before analysing the linguistic function of phonetic units we need toknow how the vocal mechanism acts in producing oral speech and what8Introductionmethods are applied in investigating the material form of the language, inother words its substance.Human speech is the result ofa highly complicated series of events.

Theformation of the message takes place at a linguistic level, i. e. in the brain ofthe speaker; this stage may be called psychological. The message formed in thebrain is transmitted along the nervous system to the speech organs. Thereforewe may say that the human brain controls the behaviour of the articulatingorgans which results in producing a particular pattern ofspeech sounds. Thissecond stage may be called physiological. The movements of the speech ap­paratus disturb the air stream thus producing sound waves.

Consequently thethird stage may be called physical or acoustic. Further, any communicationrequires a listener, as well as a speaker. So the last stages are the reception ofthe sound waves by the listener's hearing physiological apparatus, the trans­missiou of the spoken message through the nervous system to the brain andthe linguistic interpretation ofthe information conveyed.Although not a single one ofthe organs involved in the speech mecha­nism is used only for speaking we can for practical purposes use the term"organs of speech", meaning the organs which are active, directly or indi­rectly, in the process ofspeech sound production.In accordance with their linguistic function the organs ofspeech may begrouped as follows:The respiratory or power mechanism furnishes the flow of air which isthe first requisite for the production of speech sounds.

This mechanism isformed by the lungs, the wind-pipe and the bronchi. The air-stream ex­pelled from the lungs provides the most usual source of energy which isregulated by the power mechanism. Regulating the force ofthe air-wave thelungs produce variations in the intensity of speech sounds. Syllabic pulsesand dynamic stress, both typical of English, are directly related to the be­haviour of the muscles which activate this mechanism.From the lungs through the wind-pipe the air-stream passes to the up­per stages ofthe vocal tract.

First ofall it passes to the larynx containing thevocal cords. The opening between the vocal cords is known as the glottis.The function of the vocal cords consists in their role as a vibrator set in mo­tion by the air-stream sent by the lungs. The most important speech func­tion of the vocal cords is their role in the production of voice. The effect ofvoice is achieved when the vocal cords are brought together and vibratewhen subjected to the pressure of air passing from the lungs.

The vibrationis caused by compressed air forcing an opening ofthe glottis and the follow­ing reduced air-pressure permitting the vocal cords to come together.2. Divisions and Branches of Phonetics9The height of the speaking voice depends on the frequency ofthe vibra­tions. The more frequently the vocal cords vibrate the higher the pitch is.The typical speaking voice of a woman is higher than that ofa man becausethe vocal cords of a woman vibrate more frequently. We are able to vary therate of the vibration thus producing modifications of the pitch componentof intonation.

More than that. We are able to modify the size of the puff ofair which escapes at each vibration of the vocal cords, i. e. we can alter theamplitude of the vibration which causes changes of the loudness of thesound heard by the listener.From the larynx the air-stream passes to supraglottal cavities, i. e. to thepharynx, the mouth and the nasal cavities. The shapes of these cavitiesmodify the note produced in the larynx thus giving rise to particular speechsounds.There are three branches of phonetics each corresponding to a differentstage in the communication process described above.

Each ofthese branch­es uses a special set of methods.The branch of phonetics that studies the way in which the air is set inmotion, the movements of the speech organs and the coordination of thesemovements in the production of single sounds and trains ofsounds is calledarticulatory phonetics. Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the wayspeech sounds are produced by the organs of speech, in other words themechanisms of speech production.Acoustic phonetics studies the way in which the air vibrates between thespeaker's mouth and the listener's ear, in other words, the sound wave.Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the physical properties of speechsounds and uses special technologies to measure speech signals.The branch of phonetics investigating the perception process is knownas auditory phonetics.

Its interests lie more in the sensation ofhearing whichis brain activity, than in the physiological working of the ear or the nervousactivity between the ear and the brain. The means by which we discriminatesounds - quality, sensation of pitch, loudness, length, are relevant here.branch of phonetics is of special interest to anyone who teaches orstudies pronunciation.As it was mentioned above, phoneticians cannot act only as describ­ers and classifiers of the material form of phonetic units. They are alsointerested in the way in which sound phenomena function in a particularlanguage and what part they play in manifesting the meaningful distinc­tionsofthe language.

The branch of phonetics that studies the linguisticfunction of consonant and vowel sounds, syllabic structure, word accentIntroduction10and prosodic features, such as pitch, loudness and tempo is called pho­nology.In linguistics, function is usually understood as discriminatory func­tion, thatthe role of the various elements ofthe language in the distin­guishing ofone sequence of sounds, such as a word or a sequence ofwords,from another of different meaning.

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