Theory of phonetics

II. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of the English and Russian consonant systems.

ENGLISH	Quan-tity	RUSSIAN		Quan-tity
Plosives [b], [p], [t], [d], [k], [g] Affricates [C], [G] Nasal sonorants [m], [n], [N] Fricatives [f], [v], [T], [D], [h], [s], [z], [S], [Z] Constrictive sonorants [w], [r], [l], [j]	6 2 3 9 4	Plosives [п], [п´], [б] [б´], [т], [т´], [д], [д´], [к], [к´], [г], [г´]. Affricates [ц], [ч] Nasal sonorants [м], [м´], [н], [н´] Fricatives [ф], [ф´], [в], [в´], [с], [с´], [з], [з´], [ш], [ш´], [ж], [ж´], [х], [й´] Constrictive sonorants [л], [л´] Rolled sonorants [p], [p´]		12 2 4 14 2 2
All in all	24			36
ENGLISH			RUSSIAN
Palatalization of consonants is not a phonemic feature in English though [S], [Z], [C], [G] are slightly palatalized. The softening of English consonants can occur. But this is a positional feature and this doesn’t characterize the consonantal system in general. Place of articulation. Most of the English consonants are pronounced on the alveolars, The sounds that are farther back are glottal ones and glottal stops. There are two sounds pronounced in glottis. The veolar consonants in both languages seem to have the same place of articulation. However the sounds like [k], [g] are further front comparing with the correspondent Russian ones. The English sound system is stricter. If veolar sounds are pronounced separately they usually end in vowel-like sounds which are different in Russian and English. In the pronunciation of the English consonants it is the neutral vowel [q]. For, example, [kq] The English sounds consonants in clusters are more independent than they are in Russian, which is especially true of their voice characteristics. For example, iceburg ['QIsbWg]- no voicing.; at that – this combination of the sounds usually requires a glottal stop when they are pronounced in sequence. One of the features showing the force and the degree of tenseness is aspiration. It’s important to understand that aspiration is an aftereffect of force but not of separate special features. In English as compared with Russian the glottal muscles are much more active giving the presence of the glottal sounds in English. There are sounds that do not exist in Russian: the bilabial constrictive median sonorant [w] the interdental (post-dental) fricative sonorants [T], [D]