PREFACE
CONTENTS
CONTENTS. 1
PREFACE. 3
I. PHONETICS AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS. BRANCHES OF PHONETICS. METHODS OF
INVESTIGATION.. 5
1.1 Introduction. 5
1.2 Branches and Divisions of Phonetics. 7
1.3. Phonetics and Social Sciences. 13
1.4. Methods of Phonetic Investigation. 16
Recommended literature. 17
II. THE ARTICULATORY CHARACTERISTIC OF THE ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS 18
2.1. The Anatomo-mechanical Aspect of Sound Production. 18
2.2. The system of English Vowels. 21
2.3. The System of English Consonants. 26
Tasks and questions. 31
Recommended literature. 34
III. THE ACOUSTIC AND AUDITORY ASPECTS OF THE ENGLISH SPEECH SOUNDS 34
Tasks and questions. 38
Recommended literature. 38
IV. THE FUNCTIONAL ASPECT OF SPEECH SOUNDS. 39
4.1 Phoneme and Allophones. 39
4.2. Phonetic notations. 46
4.3. Methods of Phonological Analysis. 47
Tasks and questions. 52
Recommended literature. 55
V. MODIFICATIONS OF SOUNDS IN CONNECTED SPEECH.. 56
5.1. Types of Sound Modifications. 56
5.2. English consonants in connected speech. 59
5.3. English vowels in connected speech. 63
5.4. Stylistic modifications of sounds. 64
Tasks and questions. 67
Recommended literature. 68
VI. SYLLABIC AND ACCENTUAL STRUCTURES OF ENGLISH WORDS 69
6.1. The Syllabic Structure of English Words. 69
6.2. The Accentual Structure of English Words. 74
Tasks and questions. 80
Recommended literature. 82
VII. ENGLISH INTONATION, ITS STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS 83
7.1. The Structure of English Intonation. 84
7.2. The Functional Aspect of English Intonation. 93
Tasks and questions. 100
Recommended literature. 102
VIII. THE RHYTHMIC STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 103
Tasks and questions. 106
Recommended literature. 109
IX. PHONOSTYLISTICS AND THE STYLISTIC USE OF INTONATION 110
9.1. Problems of Phonostylistics. 110
9.2. Intonational Styles. 115
Tasks and questions. 119
Recommended literature. 119
X. TERRITORIAL VARIETIES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION 120
10.1. British English. 122
10.2. American English. 126
Tasks and questions. 128
Recommended literature. 129
CHECK YOURSELF. 130
GLOSSARY.. 132
REFERENCES: 155
This book is intended for students of linguistics. It is based on the material of the textbook «Теоретическая фонетика английского языка» written by M.A. Sokolova, K.P. Gintovt, I.S. Tikhonova, R.M. Tikhonova. Theoretical material is presented here in a simplified way to help students to revise the course of normative phonetics and acquire basic knowledge of the theory of English pronunciation. The aims of the book are as follows:
- to overview phonetics as a branch of linguistics and show some trends in its development;
- to summarize and to extend students’ knowledge of phonetics received during the course of normative phonetics;
- to outline the functional approach to the English pronunciation and to provide an understanding of general principles of phonetics and phonology;
- to develop students’ ability to make some practical conclusions based on the given theoretical facts and instruct them to apply the theoretical knowledge of phonetics to communication, language teaching and self-education.
The body of the book includes 10 units which cover the material on segmental and suprasegmental aspects of phonetics, as well as phonostylistics and territorial varieties of English pronunciation. Each unit contains an overview of the core material on English phonetics and is accompanied by tasks and questions aimed at application of the unit content to solving some practical problems and encouraging students to do further reading on the problem and to discuss major issues in class. The units end with the list of recommended literature for students’ further research related to the units content. The list may be extended if necessary to provide a wider range of material for analysis and discussion.