Final Assessment Questions on “Theoretical phonetics” Card-1 Connection of Phonetics with Other Sciences

Functions of Syllable.

Syllable performs 3 main functions: constitutive, distinctive & identificatory. The constitutive function of the syllable manifests itself in the fact that the syllabic forms higher-level units-words, accentual or rhythmic groups, utterances. The distinctive feature of the syllable is to differentiate words & word combinations. Phonemes exist & function within the syllable. The identificatory function of the syllable is conditioned by the hearer’s perception of syllables as entire phonetic units with their concrete allophones & syllabic boundaries. There are distinctive variations in loudness (stress), in pitch (tone), & in duration (tempo, length). Thus, syllable maybe stressed & unstressed, high, mid or low, rising or falling, long or short. Al these prosodic features are significant for constituting the stress-pattern of a word & the tonal & rhythmic structure of an utterance.
The distinctive feature of the syllable is to differentiate words & word combinations. Phonemes exist & function within the syllable. Therefore words are actually differentiated by the syllable as one articulatory or perceptible unit.
Syllable division is very important too in distinguishing words & utterances:
/ naitreit / “nitrate” - / naitreit / “night-rate”
/ neim/ “a name” - / neim / “an aim”
/ ai skri:m / “I scream” - / aiskri:m / “ice-cream”
Card-16

1. 
   Vowel-consonant distinction. Speech sounds are divided into two main classes – vowels and consonants. The main articulatory principles according to which speech sounds are classified are as follows: -the presence or absence of obstruction; -the distribution of muscular tension; -the force of the air stream coming from the lungs. There is no obstruction articulation of vowels. Consonants are speech sounds in the articulation of which the air stream is obstructed. The phonological analysis establishes 24 phonemes of the English consonant system [p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ∫, j, h, t∫, ʤ, m, n, ŋ, w, r, l, j]. I.The degree of noise is determined by the presence of voice and noise characteristics. According to it English consonants are divided into noise consonants and sonorants. II. The manner of articulation is determined by the type of obstruction. According to it English consonants are grouped into occlusive, constrictive and occlusive-constrictive. Occlusive consonants are produced with a complete obstruction in the mouth [p, t, k, b, d, g] or nasal cavities [m, n, ŋ]. Constrictive consonants are produced with an incomplete obstruction. III. The place of articulation is determined by the position of the active organ of speech. According to it English consonants are divided into labial, lingual and glottal.
   
2. 
   Allophonic Variations of English Consonant Phonemes.
   

A phoneme is a basic unit of a language's phonology, which is combined with other phonemes to form meaningful units such as words or morphemes. The phoneme can be described as “the smallest distinctive or contrastive linguistic unit in the sound system of a language which may bring about a change of meaning". The term ╅allophone╆ was coined by Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s. The term was popularised by G. L. Trager and Bernard Bloch in a 1941 paper on English phonology and went on to become part of standard usage within the American structuralist tradition. It has often been observed that languages do not allow phonemes to appear in any order. G.P. Torsuyev distinguishes two types of variations of the English phonemes: a) diaphonic variation which does not depend on the position, i.e. the consonant quality and quantity of the phonemes; b) allophonic variation which depends on the position and changes its quality and quantity. He also gives a complete description of these variations is English The allophonic variations of the English and Uzbek consonant phonemes depend on their distribution in words, syllables and junctures and also on the phonotactic rules (combinations of sounds or sound sequences). The allophones of a phoneme may be established on the basis of the complementary distribution. Two acoustically similar speech sounds which never occur in a certain position are regarded the allophones of a phoneme. The pronunciation of the allophones may vary in different positions i.e. in initial, medial, final positions of words, syllables and also in neighbourhood positions, in stressed and unstressed positions. The way three phases of articulation act to combine the sounds in the structure of words and syllables is also essential. It is very complicated to describe all the allophonic variations of the consonant phonemes. Therefore, we give the general rules of the occurrence of the allophones.