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 5

BOT 3TOo61IIee 11 Ha3bIBaeTCli cpoHeMofi. TaKHM 06pa30M, Ka)KtJ:aH cpOHeMa onpe,lleJIJIeTCSl rrpe­)I()le BCCro 'I'eM, 'ITO OTJIfitlaeT ee OT ,llPYrllX cpOHeM TOfO )!{e Sl3blKa. DnarO,llapJI 3TOMYBce cpOHeMbI Ka)!{tJ:oro ,llaHHOro H3bIKa 06pa3YJOT C,llIlHYJO CllCTCMY I1POTHBOIIOJlO)!{­HOCTeti:, r,llC KaiKJ:~b[H 'fJICH onpe,lleJIJICTCJI cepHCH pa3JlH'IHb[X rrpOTMBOIIOnO)!{CHHH KaKOTil.CJIbHhlX CPOHCM, TaK H HX rpynrr».Chapter 1. The Functional Aspect of Speech Sounds18The most comprehensive defmition ofthe phoneme was first introducedby the Russian linguist L. V.

Shcherba.The concise form ofthis definition could be:The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic uuit realized in speech in theform of speech souuds opposable to other phonemes of the same language todistinguish the meauing of morphemes and words.According to this definition the phoneme is a unity of three aspects:material, abstract and functional.Figure 3Three Aspects of the Phoneme\.Material aspect)(Abstract(Functional aspect\.1.1.2. The phoneme as a uuity of three aspectsLet us consider the phoneme from the point of view of its three aspects.Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit. A" you know, in phonetics function isusually understood as discriminatory function, i. e.

the role ofvarious compo­nents of the phonetic system of the language in distinguishing one morphemefrom another, one word from another or also one utterance from another.The opposition of phonemes in the same phonetic environment differ­entiates the meaning ofmorphemes and words: said - says, sleeper - sleepy,bath - path, light -like.Sometimes the opposition of the phonemes serves to distinguish themeaning ofthe whole phrases: he was heard badly - he was hurt badly.

Thuswe may say that the phoneme can fulfil the distinctive function.Secondly, the phoneme is material, real and objective. That means thatit is realized in speech of all English-speaking people in the form of speechsounds, its allophones. The sets of speech sounds, i. e. the allophones be­longing to the same phoneme: I) are not identical in their articulatory con­tent though there remains some phonetic similarity between them; 2) arenever used in the same phonetic context.As a first example, let us consider the English phoneme [d], at leastthose of its allophones which are known to everybody who studies Englishpronunciation. As you know from the practical course ofEnglish phonetics,1.1.

The Phoneme19[d] when not affected by the articulation of the preceding or followingsounds is a plosive, forelingual apical, alveolar, lenis stop. This is how itsounds in isolation or in such words as door, darn, down, etc., when it re­tains its typical articulatory characteristics. In this case the consonant [d] iscalled the principal allophone.

The allophones which do not undergo anydistinguishable changes in the chain of speech are called principal. At thesame time there are quite predictable changes in the articulation of allo­phones that occur under the influence ofthe neighbouring sounds in differ­ent phonetic situations. Such allophones are called subsidiary.The examples below illustrate the articulatory modifications ofthe pho­neme [d] in various phonetic contexts:[d] is slightly palatalized before front vowels and the sonorant [j], e. g.deal, day, did, did you.is pronounced without any plosion before another stop, e.

g. bedtime,bad pain, good dog; it is pronounced with the nasal piosion before the nasalsonorants [n] and [m], e. g. sudden, admit, could not, could meet; the plosionis lateral before the lateral sonorant [1], e. g. middle, badly, bad light.The alveolar position is particularly sensitive to the influence of theplace ofarticulation ofa following consonant. Thus followed by [r] the con­sonant [d] becomes post-alveolar, e.

g. dry, dream; followed by the inter­dental [9], [a] it becomes dental, e. g. breadth, lead the way, good thing.When [d] is followed by the labial [w] it becomes labialized, e. g. dweller.In the initial position [d] is partially devoiced, e. g. dog, dean; in the in­tervocalic position or when followed by a sonorant it is fully voiced, e. g.order, leader, driver; in the word-final position it is vQiceless, e. g. road,raised, old.These modifications of the phoneme [d] are quite sufficient to demon­strate the articulatory difference between its allophones, though the list ofthem could be easily extended.

If you consider the production of the allo­phones of this phoneme, you will fmd that they possess three articulatoryfeatures in common: all of them are forelingual1enis stops.Consequently, though allophones of the same phoneme possess similararticulatory features they may frequently show considerable phonetic dif­ferences.It is perfectly obvious that in teaching English pronunciation the differ­ence between the allophones of the same phoneme should be necessarilyconsidered.

The starting point is of course the articulation of the principalallophone, e. g. jd-d-dj: door, double, daughter, dark, etc. Special trainingof the subsidiary allophones should be provided too. Not all the subsidiary1.1. The PhonemeChapter I. The Functional Aspect of Speech Sounds20allophones are generally paid equal attention to. In teaching the pronuncia­tion of [d], for instance, it is hardly necessary to concentrate on an allo­phone such as [d] before a front vowel as in Russian similar consonants inthis position are also palatalized. Neither is it necessary to practise speciallythe labialized [d] after the labial [w] because in this position [d] cannot bepronounced in any other way.

Carefully made up exercises will exclude thedanger of a foreign accent.Allophones are arranged into functionally similar groups, i. e. groups ofsounds in which the members of each group are not opposed to one an­other, but are opposable to members of any other group to distinguishmeanings in otherwise similar sequences. Consequently allophones of thesame phoneme never occur in similar phonetic context, they are entirelypredictable according to the phonetic environment and cannot differenti­ate meanings.But the speech sounds (phones) which are realized in speech do notcorrespond exactly to the allophone predicted by this or that phonetic envi­ronment.

They are modified by phonostylistic, dialectal and individual fac­tors. In fact, no speech sounds are absolutely alike.Phonemes are important for distinguishing meanings, for knowingwhether, for instance, the message was take it or tape it. But there is more tospeaker-listener exchange than just the "message" itself. The listener mayget a variety of information about the speaker: about the locality he lives in,regional origin, his social status, age and even emotional state (angry, tired,excited), and a lot of other facts.

Most ofthis social information comes notfrom phonemic distinctions, but from phonetic ones. Thus, while phone­mic evidence is important for lexical and grammatical meaning, most otheraspects of communication are conveyed by more subtle differences ofspeech sounds, requiring more detailed description at the phonetic level.There is more to a speech act than just the meaning ofthe words.The relationships between the phoneme and the phone (speech sound)may be illustrated by the following scheme:Figure 4phonostylistic variationldialectal variationindividual variation)--1speech sound (phone)I21Thirdly, allophones of the same phoneme, no matter how differenttheir articulation may be, function as the same linguistic unit.

The ques­tion arises why phonetically naive native speakers seldom observe differ­ences in the actual articulatory qualities between the allophones of thesame phonemes.The native speaker is quite readily aware of the phonemes of his lan­guage but much less aware of the allophones: it is possible, in fact, that hewill not hear the difference between two allophones like the alveolar anddental consonants [d] in the words bread and breadth even when a distinc­tion is pointed out; a certain amount of ear-training may be needed.

Thereason is that the phonemes have an important function in the language:they differentiate words like tie and die from each other, and to be able tohear and produce phonemic differences is part of what it means to be acompetent speaker of the language.

Allophones, on the other hand, haveno such function: they usually occur in different positions in the word,i. e. in different environments, and hence cannot be opposed to each oth­er to make meaningful distinctions.For example the dark [1] occurs following a vowel as inpi/l, cold, butit is not found before a vowel, whereas the clear [1] only occurs before avowel, as in lip, like.

These two consonants cannot therefore contrast witheach other in the way that [1] contrasts with [r] in lip - rip or lake - rake.So the answer appears to be in the functioning of such sounds in a par­ticular language. Sounds which have similar functions in the languagetend to be considered the "same" by the community using that languagewhile those which have different functions tend to be classed as "differ­ent".

In linguistics, as it has been mentioned above, function is generallyunderstood as the role of the various elements of the language in distin­guishing the meaning. The function of phonemes is to distinguish themeaning ofmorphemes and words. The native speaker does not notice thedifference between the allophones of the same phoneme because this dif­ference does not distinguish meanings.In other words, native speakers abstract themselves from the differ­ence between the allophones of the same phoneme because it has nofunctional value. The actual difference between the allophones of thesame phoneme [d], for instance, does not affect the meaning. That'swhy members of the English speech community do not realize that inthe word dog [d] is alveolar, in dry it is post-alveolar, in breadth it is den­tal.