Теоретическая фонетика английского языка (Теоретическая фонетика английского языка М.А. Соколова, И.С.Тихонова, Р.М.Тихонова, Е.Л.Фрейдина. - Дубна; Феникс+, 2010. - 192 с.), страница 10

In wordinitial and word final positions the pronunciation of consonants tradition­ally considered to be voiced may well be voiceless. In these positions it is theenergy difference that serves as a differenciating feature, like in "cap - cab","not nod", "pick - pig". In initial positions aspiration would be a moreimportant feature for stops, like in "tick - dick", "cap - gap", "pit - bit".In a word-final position it is the length of the preceding vowel that wouldconstitute the chief difference (the vowel of "bead" is longer than that of"beet").It is perfectly obvious that the presence or absence ofvoice in the above­mentioned oppositions is not a constant distinctive feature.

Thus it may besaid that these oppositions are primarily based on energy difference, i. e. onfortis lenis articulation, which are phonologically relevant features. It isfor this reason that such characteristics as voiceless - voiced have givenplace to "fortis lenis" distinction.There is one more articulary characteristic which is important fromclassificatory point ofview, that is the position of the soft palate. According1.5. The System of English Phonemes39LO this principle consonants can be oral and nasal.

There are relatively fewconsonantal types in English which require a lowered position of the softpalate. They are the nasal occlusive sonorants [m], [n], and [uJ. No differ­ence of meaning in English can be attributed to the presence or absence ofnasalisation. It is for this reason that it cannot be a phonologically relevantIi~ature of English consonants. So it is an indispensable concomitant featureof English nasal consonants.Summarizing we could state that the following articulatory features areconsidered to be relevant from phonological point ofview:I) type of obstruction;2) place of articulation and active organ of speech;3) force of articulation.The above mentioned articulatory characteristics are the primary onesas they specify the essential quality of a consonant which is enough to de­scribe it as an item of a system.

On this level of analysis it is the point wherethe distinction becomes phonemic that matters.However, from the point of view of pronunciation teaching we shouldgain some additional information about the articulation ofa consonant likeapical- dorsal; dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palato-alveolar; oral- nasal;flat narrowing - round narrowing characteristics.

They provide necessaryinformation for comparison between the English and Russian consonants.It is for this reason that these characteristics are normally included into de­scriptions.1.5.2. The system ofvowelsAs was mentioned earlier, vowels unlike consonants are produced withno obstruction to the stream of air, so on the perception level their integralcharacteristic is tone not noise.A minimal vowel system of a language is likely to take the form of:The most important characteristic ofthese vowels is that they are acous­tically stable.

They are known to be entirely different from one another botharticulatory and acoustically. Consequently they may well be said to formboundaries ofthe"phonetic field ofvowels" in modern man's language. The40Chapter 1. The Functional Aspect of Speech Soundscommonest vowel system adds two other vowels to the minimum triangle togive a five vowel system of the type:As regards the English language it would be fair to mention that due tovarious reasons it has developed a vocalic system of a much larger numberof phonemes.The quality of a vowel is known to be detennined by the size, volume andthe shape ofthe mouth resonator which are modified by the movement ofac­tive speech organs, i. e.

the tongue and the lips. Besides, the particular qualityof a vowel can depend on a lot of other factors (articulatory characteristics)such as the relative stability of the tongue, the position of the lips, physicalduration of the segment, the force of articulation, the degree of tenseness ofspeech organs.

So vowel quality could be thOUght of as a bundledefinitearticulatory characteristics which are sometimes interconnected and interde­pendent: the back position of the tongue makes it rise higher in the mouthcavity, the lengthening of a vowel makes the organs of speech tenser at themoment of production and so on. So the isolation and distinction of theabove-mentioned articulatory features are made for the sake of analysis withthe purpose of describing the vocalic system of the English language.The analysis of the articulatory constituents of the quality of vowels al­lowed phoneticians to suggest the criteria for classificatory description.They are:a) stability of articulationb) tongue positionc) lip positiond) character ofthe vowel ende) length1) tensenessIn the part that follows each of the above-mentioned factors will beconsidered from phonological point ofview.Stability of articulation specifies the actual position of the articulatingorgan in the process ofthe articulation ofa vowel.There are two possible varieties: a) the tongue position is stable; b) itchanges, that is the tongue moves from one position to another.

In the firstcase the articulated vowel is relatively pure, in the second case the vowel.5. The System of English Phonemes41(:onsists of two clearly perceptible elements. There exists a third variety; anintennediate case, when the change in the tongue position is fairly weak. Soaccording to the principle of stability of articulation the English vowels aredividedmonophthongs;b) diphthongs;c) diphthongoids.point ofview is not shared by British phoneticians. A. Gimson, forexample, doesn't distinguish between monophthongs and diphthongoids,considering the latter to be pure vowels.English diphthongs are monophonemic units, while Russian combina­tions of sounds are byphonemic clusters, like in: IOZ, pau, 6ya/lb and so on.Both elements in the clusters are equally energetic and distinct.

So specialattention should be given to the pronunciation of English diphthongs whichconsist oftwo elements, the first ofwhich is strong and distinct and the sec­ond, the glide, is very weak and indistinct.The position ofthe tongue, another principle for consideration, is char­acterized from two aspects: horizontal and vertical movement.According to the horizontal movement five classes of vowels are distin­guished:1) front:[i:], [e],[~], [£(a)];2) front retracted: [I), [I(a)];3) central:[3:], [a], [3(U)], [a(u)J, [a(I)];. back:[n], [;:,:J, [u:J, [a:], [;:,(r)];5) back adVanced: [u], [u(a)].According to the vertical movement three classes of vowels are distin­guished, each ofwhich is realized in one ofthe two variants, broad or narrow:I) closea) narrow:b) broad:[1], [u], [r(a)],2) mida) narrow:[eJ; [3:],[3(U)];b) broad:[a],3) opena) narrow:[;:,:], [;:'(1)];b) broad:[~], [a(r)],[n], [a:].The phonological relevance of this articulatory characteristic can beeasily discovered in the following oppositions:[penp~n] penpanpm] pen pin- bi:n] bin - been[k~p - ku:p] cap - carp [k~p - kAp] cap - cup [bAn - ba:nJ bun - barn 42Chapter 1.

The Functional Aspect of Speech SoundsLip rounding is another articulatory feature which is included into theprinciples of classification of English vowels. Traditionally three lip posi­tions are distinguished: spread, neutral and rounded. For the purpose ofclassification it is sufficient to distinguish between two lip positions: round­ed and unrounded or neutral. In English lip rounding is not relevant phono­logically since no two words can be differentiated on its basis. Lip roundingtakes place rather due to psychological reasons than to any other.

The fact isthat any vowel in English is produced with rounded lips, the degree ofrounding is different and depends on the height of the raised part of the tongue. So lip rounding is a phoneme constitutive indispensable feature be­cause no back vowel can exist without it. Another property of English vowel sounds is traditionally termed check­ness. This quality depends on the character of transition from a vowel to a,consonant. This kind of transition is very close in English unlike Russian.As a result all English short vowels are checked when stressed. The degree ofcheckness may vary and depends on the following consonants. Beforevoiceless consonant it is more perceptible than before a lenis voiced conso­nant or sonorant. All long vowels are free.It is important to know that though this characteristic has no phono­logical value it is of primary importance for Russian learners of English.

Itshould be remembered that since all Russian vowels are free, special atten­tion should be given to making English short vowels checked. It is not thelength of vowels that should be the point of attention but the character ofthe transition of a vowel into a consonant. Such words as body, seven, better,matter should be divided into syllables in such a way so that the vowelsshould remain checked unlike Russian EOPIl, Ce6a, Puma, MIlma.Length or quantity of vowels is another articulatory characteristic thatshould be considered from phonological point of view.The English monophthongs are traditionally divided into two classesaccording to their length:a) short vowels: [I], [e], [;:e], [u], [A], [a], [n]; b) long vowels: [i:], [a:], [;):], [3:], [u:].