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

Card-23

1. 
   Phonetic Modifications of the Sound Structure of Speech.
   

Accommodation is the process of mutual influence of consonants and vowels. In accommodation the accommodated sound does not change its main phonemic features. Elision refers to the removal or omission of one or more sounds in words.

• 
  [st] + plosive consonants : last time [ˈlɑ: s ˋtaɪm;
  
• 
  [st] + nasal sonants : best man [ˈbes ˋmæn], first night [ˈfɜ: s ˋnaɪt];
  
• 
  [st] + slotted consonants : best friend [ˈbes ˋfrend];
  
• 
  [ft] + plosive consonants : stuffed chicken [ˈstʌf ˋʧɪkɪn];
  
• 
  [ft] + nasal sonants : soft mattress [ˈsɒf ˋmætrəs], left knee [ˈlef ˋni:];
  

Insertion: In this kind of process a sound is added that is not present in slow pronunciation or spelling. For ex: “question” [KWɛs tʃən], “quick” [KWIK], “quiet” [KWAiY yɪt] 

2. 
   Aspects of Speech Sounds.
   

Speech sounds are of complex nature and have 4 different aspects, which are closely connected: the articulatory aspect, the acoustic aspect, the auditory aspect and the linguistic aspect. The articulatory aspect. Speech sounds are products of human organs of speech. Sound production is impossible without respiration, which consists of two phases- inspiration and expiration. Sounds can be analysed from the acoustic point of view. Like any other sound of nature speech sounds exist in the form of sound waves and have such physical properties as frequency, intensity, duration and spectrum. The auditory aspect. Speech sounds may also be analysed from the point of view of perception. The linguistic aspect. Segmental sounds and prosodic features are linguistic phenomena. Representing language units in actual speech, they perform certain linguistic functions. They constitute meaningful units- morphemes, words, word-forms, utterances.