Monophthongs. Principles of classification.

Main Theoretical Concepts:

3. According to the lip position monophthongs can be rounded and unrounded. Rounded vowels are produced when the lips are more or less rounded

E.g. [u:, ʊ, ɔː, uː], Russian [у] [о].

Unrounded vowels are produced when the lips are spread or neutral

E.g. [ɪ, e, æ, ʌ, ǝ, iː, ɑː, ɜː, iː ɑː, ɜː], Russian [э] [и] [а] [ы]

4. According to their length vowels are divided into long or short

The long English vowels are [iː ɑː ɔː uː ɜː].

The short ones are [ɪ e æ ʌ ɒ ʊ ǝ].

5. According to the degree of tenseness vowels may be tense or lax.

Tense vowels are produced when the organs of speech are tense. All the long vowels are tense. Lax vowels (the short ones) are produced with lesser tenseness of the speech organs.

6. According to the character of their end vowels may be checked or unchecked. Checked vowels are pronounced without any lessening of the force of the utterance towards the end (in a closed syllable) e.g. short vowels under stress, long vowels, diphthongs + voiceless consonants.

Unchecked vowels are pronounced with lessening of the force of the utterance towards their end e.g. long vowels, diphthongs under stress + voiced consonants, unstressed vowels.

 

horizontal vertical	front	front-retracted	central	back-advanced	back
high	high-narrow	i:				u:
high-broad		i / iə		ʊ / ʊə
mid	mid-narrow	e / ei		ɜ:
mid-broad	eə		əʊ / ə		ɔ: / ɔi
low	low-narrow			ʌ
low-broad	æ	aʊ		ai	ɒ

 

 

Practical Tasks:

Sound [I]

Is little lipstick permissible for women in Egyptian villages?

Miss, miss, little Miss. Miss., If she misses, she misses like this.

Graphic equivalents of the sound [I]

i lid [lId]

y very ['verI]

 

Questions for self -check:

1. What vowel sounds can be characterized as rounded; voiceless; checked; long?

 

Sources:

1. М.А. Соколова и др. Практическая фонетика английского языка. сс.85 – 90.

2. O'Connor Better English Pronunciation, pp. 79-84

 

Unit 5

Diphthongs. Diphthongoids.

Main Theoretical Concepts:

A diphthong is a vowel sound in the pronunciation of which the organs of speech start in the position of one vowel and glide gradually in the direction of another vowel, full formation of which is not accomplished. It is a complex sound consisting of two vowel elements pronounced so as to form a single syllable. The first element of the English diphthong is called the nucleus. It is strong, clear, distinct. The second element is called the glide. It is rather weak.

There are eight diphthongs in English. They are divided according to the glide. There are:

1) three diphthongs with a glide towards [ɪ]: [eɪ, ai, ɔɪ];

2) two diphthongs with a glide towards [ʊ]: [ǝʊ, aʊ];

3) three diphthongs with the glide towards [ǝ]: [ɪǝ, eǝ, ʊǝ].

The vowels in the articulation of which the organs of speech change their position but very slightly are called diphthongized vowels or diphthongoids: [iː, uː].

Sound [e]

One man went to mow, went to mow a meadow.

One man and his dog went to mow a meadow.

Two men went to mow, went to mow a meadow.

Two men, one man and his dog went to mow a meadow.

Get ten eggs ready for breakfast.

Graphic equivalents of the sound [e]

e red [red]

ea bread [bred]

eo jeopardy ['ʤepǝdɪ] опасность

ei leisure ['leʒ∂]

ie friend [frend]

ai said [sed]

ay says [sez]

a any ['enI]

u bury ['berI]

ee threepenny [‘θrepǝnɪ]

Unit 6

Word-stress

Main Theoretical concepts:

 

Word-stress - is the singling out of one or more syllables in a word, which is accompanied by

1. the change of the force of utterance,

2. pitch of the voice,

3. qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel.

In English word-stress is free, that is it may fall on any syllable in a word,

f. ex. mother ['mʌð∂], occasion [∂'keɪʒn], detonation [det∂'neı∫n].

There are three degrees of word-stress in English: primary - strong, secondary - partial, weak - in unstressed syllables, f. ex. certification [ sз:tıfı'keı∫∂n]. Stressed syllables in the text have the symbol ['] f. ex. ′Are you 'coming 'back on Sunday?

Rules of word stress

1. In words of 2 or 3 syllables the primary stress mostly falls on the first syllable, e.g. 'error, ΄Cabinet, ΄sensible.

2. In prefixal words the primary stress typically falls on the syllable following the prefix, e.g. im ΄ possible, re ΄ call, be ΄ hind.

3. In prefixal words with prefixes having their own meaning, the place of stress is on the prefix, e. g. ΄ anti- ΄ Capitalist, ΄ non- ΄ Party, ΄ ex- ΄ minister.

4. In prefixal verbs which are distinguished from similarly spelt nouns and adjectives, the place of stress is on the second syllable, nouns and adjectives have their stress on the initial syllable, e.g.

verb	noun	adjective
to com'pound	-	'compound
to in'crease	'increase	-

5. Suffixes: -esce, -esque, -ate, -ize, -fy, -ette, -ique, -ее, -еег, -ade have the place of stress on the preceding syllable or on themselves, e.g., pictu ' resque,, ciga ' rette, tech ' nique,, refe ' ree,, pio ' neer.

6. Suffixes: -ical, -ic, -ion, -ity, -ian, -cient, -iency, -ecus, -ual, -uous, -ety, -itous, -ive, -ative (-Hive), -itude, -ident, -inal, -ital, -wards have the place of stress on the preceding syllable, e.g. eco ' nomic, gra ' mmatical, po ' sition, ma ' jority, ' special, etc.

7.In words of four or more syllables the place of stress is on the antepenultimate syllable (third from the end), e. g. e'mergency, ca ' lamity, his ' torical.

For more information on word-stress study pp. 138-145 in “The Practical Course in English Phonetics” by M.A. Sokolova (the position of word-stress, words with primary and secondary stress, words with two primary stresses, stress in compound words etc.).

Sound [æ]

As a matter of fact the handsome lad has broken his ankle in the accident.

 

Fat Pat had a fat cat