THE POSITIONAL LENGTH OF THE STRESSED VOWELS.

The length of one and the same vowel depends on its position in a word.

1) longest: at the end of the word: me [mi:];

2) shorter: before a voiced consonant: big [ bIg ], deem [di:m];

3) shortest: before a voiceless consonant: pick [ pIk ], keep [ki:p].

This rule can be applied to the pronunciation of both monophthongs (long, short) and diphthongs.

The quality of the shound doesn't change pie [ paI ].- ride [ raId ]

- pipe [ paIp ].

 

Lesson 3.

THE PHONEMES [t], [d].

The tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge, so that the air-passage is blocked for a short time. Than the tip is removed from the alveolar ridge and the air escapes with plosion.

The vocal cords are close and vibrate in the articulation of [d] so it's voiced; [t] is voiceless and is pronounced with aspiration.

[d] is a lingual forelingual apical alveolar occlusive noise

    plosive voiced consonant phoneme;

[t] is a lingual forelingual apical alveolar occlusive noise

    plosive voiceless consonant phoneme.

 

THE PHONEME [m].

The lips are pressed together, forming a complete obstruction to the air. The soft palate is lowered and the air passes out through the nasal cavity. The vocal cords are close and vibrate.

[m] is a labial, bilabial, occlusive sonorant (nasal) consonant

    phoneme.

 

THE PHONEME [n]

The tip of tongue touches the alveolar ridge, forming a complete obstruction to the air. The soft palate is lowered, the air passes out through the nasal cavity. The vocal cords are close and vibrate.

[n] is a lingual forelingual apical alveolar occlusive sonorant

    (nasal) consonant phoneme.

 

THE PHONEME [e].

The bulk of the tongue is in the front part of the mouth cavity. The front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, but not so high as for the vowel [i]. The lips are spread. It is short and lax.

[e] is a front midopen narrow unrounded short lax vowel phoneme.

 

WORD-STRESS.

Each word consisting of 2 or more syllables has word-stress. An English word may have 2 or even 3 stresses. One of them is called primary (or main) and the other one is called secondary stress. Some words may have 2 main stresss like the numerals from 13 to 19.

                    fifteen [ 'fIf 'tJn ]

 

SYLLABLE FORMATION.

Syllable is one or more speech-sounds forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterace which may be a whole word (man [mxn])or part of it (morning [ 'mLniN).

An English syllable may consist of:

1) a vowel (monophthong, diphthong);

are [a:]           I [ aI ]

2) a vowel and one or more consonants;

early ['E:lI ]     my [ maI ]     man [mxn]

3) noise consonant + і [m] at the end of the word

                     і [n]

                     і [l]

 

apple ['xpl]

rhythm ['riDm]

people ['pi:pl]

 

Compare:

           2 syllables       1 syllable

           doesn't           don't

           ['dAznt]          [do V nt]

           sadden            sand

           ['s x dn]           [s x nd]

There are 2 types of syllables:

1) open: ends in a vowel sound

   he [hi:]   writer ['rai-t q]

   they [D ei]

2) closed: ends in a consonant sound

   it [I t]    hundred ['hAn -dr q d]

   main [m eI n]

 

SYLLABLE DIVISION.

1) The English long monophthongs, diphthongs and the unstressed short vowels [ I ], [ q ], [ V ] are always met in an open syllable when they are separated from a following vowel or sonorant [m, n, l] by only one consonant;

Eg. meeting [ 'mJtIN ] army [ 'RmI ]

    gardn ['ga:dn]

    ordinarily [ 'LdInqrIlI ]

2) A short stressed vowel in the same position, always occurs in a closed syllable, the syllable boundary is within the consonant.

    city ['sItI ] sorry ['s P r I ]

    petty ['pet I ] money ['mAnI ]

 

THE SOUNDS [tn], [dn].

In this combination meet 2 alveolar consonants (the place of obstruction is the same) with different manners of the production of noise (plosive/nasal).

When the tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge, a complete obstruction is formed. The stream of air is stopped. Then while the tip is still pressed against the alveolar ridge, the soft palate is lowered for the 2nd stage of the articulation of the sound [n]. The stream of air escapes through the nasal cavity with nasal plosion. Then begins the final stage of the sound [n]. So, the sounds

[t], [d] lose their final stage, and the sound [n] loses its initial stage of the articulation.

written ['rItn]

birden ['b E :dn]

 

THE PHONEME [w].

The lips form a round narrowing, the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. The sides of the tongue are raised, the air passes through the round narrowing between the lips. The vocal cords are close and vibrate. The sound [w] is very short and weak and is met only before a vowel.

[w] is a labial bilabial constrictive sonorant median consonant

    phoneme.

 

Lesson 4.

THE PHONEMES [ T ], [ D ].

The tip of the tongue is against the edge of the upper teeth, forming a flat narrowing. The main part of the tongue is flat and relaxed. The air passes through the narrowing with friction.

[ D ] is a lingual forelingual apical dental constrictive noise

     voiced consonant phoneme;

[ T ] is a lingual forelingual apical dental constrictive noise

     voiceless consonant phoneme.

 

THE PHONEME [ eI ].

The bulk of the tongue is in the front part of the mouth cavity. During the pronunciation of the nucleus the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate, as for [e]. So the nucleus is front, midopen, narrow, unrounded. Then the front of the tongue glides still higher, in the direction of [ I ], but without reaching it. The lips are slightly spread.

[ eI ] is a diphthong of the front row.

     [e] is a nucleus. It is a front midopen narrow unrounded

         vowel phoneme.

     [ I ] is a glide.

 

THE PHONEME [ q ].

The central part of the tongue is raised a little. The lips are neutral.

[ q ] is a central midopen broad unrounded short lax vowel phoneme.

The phoneme [q ] is met ony in unstressed syllables. It has 3 variants depending on its position in a word.

1) at the end of the word:

                 runner [ 'rAnq ] = рана [ъ]

2) - at the beginning of the word and between consonants (not [k],[g]);

                 about [q'baVt]

                 interval ['Intqvq l]

   - in the articles + a word beginning with a consonant:

                 a pen [q 'pen]

                 the day [ Dq'deI]

this variant of [q] is shorter and weaker;

3) near the phonemes [k], [g];

                 again [q'geIn]

                 to convey [tqkqn'veI]

this variant is more close and back.

 

THE PHONEMES [ C ], [ G ].

The tip and the front of the tongue touch the alveolar ridge, so the air-passage is blocked for a short time. Then the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, the tip of the tongue leaves the alveolar ridge, and forms a flat narrowing through which the air passes with friction.

[G ] is a lingual forelingual apical palato-alveolar occlusive

     noise affricate voiced consonant phoneme;

[C] is a lingual forelingual apical palato-alveolar occlusive

     noise affricate voiceless consonant phoneme.

 

THE LOW-FALL TONE.

We know 7 terminal tones either falling or rising. In this lesson we deal with the Low-Fall Tone _______ .

It is used in narrative sentences, emotionally neutral. It is categoric in character. It expresses finality.

Lesson 5.

THE PHONEME [ x ].

The bulk of the tongue is in the front part of the mouth cavity. The tongue is rather low in the mouth. The middle of the tongue is slightly raised but not high. The lips are neutral.

[ x ] is a front open broad unrounded short lax vowel phoneme.

 

THE PHONEME [ aI ].

During the pronunciation of the nucleus the front of the tongue is slightly raised, but lower than for [ x ]. During the glide the front of the tongue moves higher, in the direction of [ I ], but doesn't reach it. The glide resembles a weak [e].

[aI] is a diphthong of the front row.

     [a] is a nucleus. It is a front-retracted open broad unrounded

      vowel phoneme.

     [ I ] is a glide.

 

REGRESSIVE ASSIMILATION.

Alveolar variants of the phonemes [t], [d], [n] change the place of obstruction and become dental under the influence of the following dental [ T ], [ D ].

                at this [qt ' DIs]

                and that [qn(d) 'DIs].

 

THE LOW-FALL.

We've mentioned that this tone is categoric in character. It is used in imperative sentanses (повелительное наклонение), expressing orders and directions.______________

Take it.    ______________

['teIk It]

 

REDUCTION.

The words which are usually not stressed in a sentence:

personal  

possessive pronouns

reflexive 

relative  

auxiliary    verbs

modal    

prepositions

conjunctions

articles

They have strong forms when they are stressed. They have weak (or reduced) forms in unstressed positions. There are 3 degrees of the reduction of strong forms.

1) quantitative;

   he [hi:] -> [h i ] [hi] ([h I])

the length of the vowel is reduced;

2) qualitative;

           [ DI ]

the [Di:]

           [Dq ]

a [eI ] -> [q]

but [bA t] -> [bq t]

he [hi:] -> [hI]

Most vowels are reduced to the neutral vowel [ q ], the long vowels [i:] and [u:] are usually reduced to [ I ] and [V].

3) zero (the omission of a vowel).

I've got a book. [ aIv 'gPt q "bVk ]

It's easy. [ Its "JzI ]

 

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