A. The Study of the Content Plane.

Checking Comprehension Questions:

 

1. What is the main division of the system of the natural human language?

2. What is the “feature level” in Russian?

3. What are the units of the feature level called?

4. What category are we mainly concerned with on this level?

5. What are the phonemes?

6. Is teaching phonetics an easy task?

7. How do classes in phonetics traditionally start?

8. What is the paradigm?

9. What makes the basis of the so-called ‘Buchstabenphonologie”?

10. What does the ‘Buchstabenphonologie’ mean?

11. Where are the principles of ‘Buchstabenphonologie’ applied?

12. How does the Broad Phonetic Transcription present English phonemes?

13. At what stages of language learning is it particularly convenient? Why?

 

 

B. The Study of the Expression Plane.

 

 

1. Find the English equivalents in the text:

 

1. становиться особенно удобным

2. по определенному принципу

3. представлять в форме таблицы

4. так называемый

5. иметь особое графическое выражение

6. в результате

7. описывать в деталях

8. применять методы

9. и так далее, и тому подобное

10. нисходящая шкала

11. ударный слог

12. из этого следует

13. трудная задача

14. современные достижения

15. непреодолимая пропасть

16. формировать основу

17. быть полностью обусловленным

18. практика работы в классе

19. быть представленным как

 

2. Translate the words and word-combinations into Russian:

 

 

1. being opposed or contrasted

2. unilateral units

3. intricate and varied mutual relationship

4. roughly divide

5. main division

6. be mainly concerned with

7. every single element

8. be in opposition or contrast

9. neatly arranged and correlated

10. adhere to the most trivial approach

11. be properly exploited

12. roughly divide the whole into two parts

13. be different from all the rest

14. every single element

 

3. Match the terms with their Russian counterparts:

 

1.feature level	Широкая фонетическая транскрипция
2.bundles of distinctive features	высота звука
3.paradigmatic level	сегментарные фонемы
4.systemic terms	графический аналог
5.phoneme	пучок дифференциальных признаков
6.graphic counterparts	парадигматический уровень
7.Broad Phonetic Transcription	категория отличия
8.pitch	дифференциальный уровень
9. segmental phonemes	фонема
10.category of otherness	односторонние единицы
11.unilateral units	системные термины

 

4. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate preposition:

to (*3)	in (*7)	with	on	into
between	by	of (*4)	from	at (*6)

 

1. _ _ _ _ _ the level,

2. divide _ _ _ _ _ two parts

3. to separate the feature level _ _ _ _ _ the semantic one

4. what we are mainly concerned _ _ _ _ _

5. the difference _ _ _ _ _ _ _ it is fully conditioned _ _ _ _ _ persist _ _ _ _ _ tending to do something

6. adhere _ _ _ _ _ the banal approach

7. _ _ _ _ _ actual linguistic work

8. classes _ _ _ _ _ phonetic

9. to begin _ _ _ _ _ paradigmatic level

10. to be arranged according _ _ _ _ _ a certain principle

11. to present something _ _ _ _ _ tabular form

12. to be _ _ _ _ _ a one-to-one correspondence

13. to be attached _ _ _ _ _ something

14. a set _ _ _ _ _ written symbols

15. _ _ _ _ _ the early stages _ _ _ _ _ language learning

16. to describe something _ _ _ _ _ detail

17. result _ _ _ _ _ the following variant of pronunciation

18. _ _ _ _ _ the same time

19. _ _ _ _ _ the early stages _ _ _ _ _ language.

20. persist _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ doing something

5. Match the synonyms:

1. distinctive 2. arduous 3. actual 4. mutual 5. complex 6. unilate­ral 7. intricate 8. unbridgeable*(gap) 9. trivial 10. unbeliev­able 11. varied

a. composite b. obscure, puzzling c. multifarious d. interchangeable, shared e. original, peculiar f. bilateral g. hard, difficult h. wide i. current g. ordinary or commonplace k. incredible or astonishing l. current

6.Fill in the left part of the table with the opposites:

 

1.	composite
2.	obscure puzzling
3.	multifarious
4.	interchangeable, shared
5.	original, peculiar
6.	bilateral
7.	hard, difficult
8.	wide
9.	current
10.	ordinary or commonplace
11.	incredible or astonishing
12.	current

 

 

7. Translate the sentences into Russian paying special attention to the expression in bold:

1. However complex the natural human language may be we can roughly divide it into two parts: the feature level and the semantic level.

2. Working on the feature level presupposes dealing with the category of ‘otherness’.

3. On the feature level every single element is not only different from all the rest but also in opposition or contrast with them.

4. An unbridgeable gap between teaching pronunciation and the present-day achievements makes the task of teaching phonetics really arduous.

5. Paradigmatic level in teaching phonetics involves studying a table which includes all the elements of the system neatly arranged and organized.

 

8. Translate into English:

1. Полная фонетическая транскрипция представляет каждую из 45 английских фонем в однозначном соответствии с их графическими эквивалентами.

2. Давайте возьмем первое предложение урока, чтобы проиллюстрировать то, что только что было сказано.

3. Существуют почти невероятные новые технологии, замечательные лаборатории с современным оборудованием, чьи возможности еще не использованы должным образом в настоящих лингвистических исследованиях.

4. Принципом так называемой Широкой Фонетической Транскрипции является то, что каждой из фонем раз и навсегда придан один символ.

5. Очевидно, что некоторые весьма тривиальные подходы к данному предмету продолжают оставаться основой обучения произношению.

 

C. Focus on Grammar

1. Define the tense form in the following sentences and translate them into Russian:

1) At the same time there are …wonderful laboratories with their modern machines whose potentialities have never yet been properly exploited in actual linguistic work.

2) The analytical principles of B u c h s t a b e n p h o n o l o g i e are most consistently applied in the Broad Phonetic Transcription…

3) Let us take the first sentence of lesson I to exemplify what has just been said about the ‘Phonology of Letters’ …

 

2. Comment upon the structure of the sentence:

 

As a result, one symbol is attached once and for all to every phoneme, the complete inventory of phonemes being rationally and conveniently represented as a set of written symbols.