1. Phonetics as a science.

Its branches

Phonetics is an independent branch of linguistics like lexicology or grammar,

which deals with speech sounds and studies the outer form of the language. Neither
linguistic theory nor linguistic practice can exist without phonetics, because
language is a system and its components are inseparably connected.

Phonetics as a science examines the inventory, structure and functions of speech

sounds. On the one hand, phoneticians investigate the sound system of the
language: phonemes and their allophones, word stress, syllabic structure and
intonation. On the other hand, phoneticians are interested in the analysis and
characteristics of phonetic phenomena and their role in a language. Thus phonetics
occupies itself with the study of the ways of sound organization into a system of
units, variations and functions of these units in all types and styles of spoken
language.

The subject of phonetics

The phonetic system of any language contains two subsystems or levels: segmental
and suprasegmental or prosodic. Each of these subsystems is a specially organized
language system with a certain number of its units.

Segmental units are elementary sounds (vowels and consonants) which form the
vocalic and the consonantal subsystems.

Prosodic units are syllables, accentual or rhythmic units, intonation groups,

utterances which form the subsystems of pitch, stress, rhythm, tempo and pauses.

The branches of phonetics

Phonetics has branches of its own. The most important of them are: special
phonetics and general phonetics.

The aim of special phonetics is to study the phonetic system of a concrete

language. When this system is studied in its static form at a particular period of
time, that is synchronically, we deal with descriptive phonetics. When this system
is studied in its historical development, that is diachronically, we speak about
historical phonetics.

General phonetics studies the sound systems of several languages.

The correlation between the phonetic systems of two and more languages is
studied by comparative phonetics.
Also phonetics is subdivided into the following main branches:

➢ articulatory phonetics which studies speech sounds from the point of view of
their articulation and in connection with the organs of speech by which they are
produced;

➢ acoustic and auditory phonetics which investigates acoustic properties of

sounds such as quantity or length, timbre, intensity and pitch;

➢ phonology or functional phonetics which is a purely linguistic branch of

phonetics. It deals with the functional aspect of sound phenomena. The aim of
phonology is to discover those segmental and prosodic features that have a
differential value in a language and it establishes the system of phonemes and
prosodemes.

Phonetics can also be theoretical and practical or applied.

Theoretical phonetics of a particular language applies the theories formulated by

general phonetics to the language it analyses.

By practical or applied phonetics we mean all the practical applications of

phonetics.

2. Methods of analysis and investigation applied in Phonetics

Aims of the phonological analysis:

Firstly, the aim of it is to establish distinctive differences (характерные

особенности) between sounds, i.e. to establish relevant features
(соответствующие особенности).

Secondly, on the basis of this study to create the ‘inventory (перечень) of the
phonemes and establish the phonemic system of a language.

The final aim of phonological analysis is the identification of the phonemes and
their classification.

Phonology has its own methods of investigation.

1) The distributional method is based on the phonological rule that different

phonemes can freely occur in one and the same position, while allophones of one
and the same phoneme occur in different positions. E.g. /pi:/ - /bi:/, p and b are in
the same position. The distributional method of analysis is a purely formal method
of identifying the phonemes of a language. This method works even if a linguist
doesn't know the language he ‘analysis.

2) The semantic method is based on the phonological rule that a phoneme can
distinguish words when opposed to one another or to a zero phoneme in an
identical phonetic position. The oppositions when a phoneme is opposed to a
phoneme is called a phonological opposition, e.g. sees – seat. When a phoneme is
opposed to a zero phoneme is called zero opposition, e.g. sea – seas. The pairs of
words which differ only in one speech sound are called minimal pairs. The
semantic method attaches great significant to meaning. The investigator studies the
function of sounds by collecting minimal pairs of words in the language. If 2
speech sounds distinguish words with different meanings they form a phonological
opposition and are realizations of 2 different phonemes.

There are different types of oppositions:

1) single
the opposed sounds differ in one articulating feature only: [pen]   – [ben]
                                                                                        voiceless    voiced
2) double
the opposed sounds differ in 2 distinctive features : [pen]    -   [den]
                                                                              bilabial          forelingual
                                                                              voiceless        voiced

3) triple (multiple)
the opposed sounds differ in 3 distinctive features: [pen]             - [then]
                                                                             voiceless              voiced
                                                                             bilabial                interdental
                                                                             plosive fricative
Methods and devices of phonetic investigation.
1) The method of direct observation (the subjective method) - consists in
observing the movements and positions of one’s own or other people’s
 organs of speech in pronouncing various speech sounds, as well as in
analysing one’s own muscular sensations during the articulation of speech
sounds and in comparing them with the resultant auditory impressions.
2) Experimental and instrumental or laboratory methods (objective
methods) - they involve the use of various instrumental techniques.
3) The statistical method – is used to establish the frequency, probability and
predictability of occurrence of phonemes and their allophones in different
positions in words.
4) Historical phonetics uses the philological method of investigation which
consists in studying written documents and comparing different spellings
and pronunciations of one and the same word in different periods of the
history of the language.

3. The connection of Phonetics with other sciences.

1) The connection of phonetics with other branches of linguistics
Grammar: Phonetics formulates the rules of pronunciation of separate sounds and
sound combinations. Through the system of reading rules phonetics is connected
with grammar and helps to pronounce correctly singular and plural forms of nouns,
the past tense forms and past participles of English regular verbs, etc.
1) through reading rules: books, bags, boxes
2) through intonation:
\He came home. (Who came home?)
He \came home. (Did he come?)
He came \home. (Where did he come?)
Lexicology:
1) through stress or accent:
'present - pre'sent
'blackbird – 'black 'bird
2) through spelling:
wind /wind/ ~ wind /waind/
row /rou/ ~ row /rau/
Stylistics: Through speech melody, rhythm, word stress, voice timbre, repetition of
words, phrases and sounds.

2) The relation between Phonetics and non-linguistic sciences

Teaching: children learn their mother tongue, diction to actors, singers, radio-
announcers, etc.
Logopedics: correcting speech defects
Surdo-pedagogics: teaching normal oral speech to deaf-mutes.
Physiology and Anatomy: functioning of speech organs at producing sounds
Logic: the study of intonation

4. Classification of English vowels

Vowels are classified according to the following principles:
1) Position of the lips.
2) Position of the tongue.
3) Degree of tenseness and the character of the end of a vowel.
4) Length.
5) Stability of articulation.
According to the position of the lips vowels are classified into rounded and
unrounded. The English rounded vowels are: /u – u:, o – o:/.
According to the position of the tongue it is the bulk of the tongue which
conditions most of all the production of different vowels. It can move forward and
backward, it can be raised or lowered in the mouth cavity.
According to the horizontal movements of the tongue
English vowels are classified into:
- front, e.g. /i:, e, æ/, the nuclei of the diphthongs /ei, ε∂, ai/
- front-retracted, e.g. /ı/ the nucleus of the diphthong /i∂/ mixed, e.g. /ʌ, ∂, ɜ:/
- back-advanced, e.g. /u, a:/, the nuclei of the diphthongs /ou, u∂/
 - back, e.g. /o, o:, u:/, the nuclei of the diphthongs /oi, o∂/

According to the vertical movements of the tongue English vowels are subdivided
into:
- high (close)
- mid (half open)
- low (open)
According to the length vowels are subdivided into long and short. This length is
historical. Vowel length depends on a number of linguistic factors such as:
- Position of the vowel in a word. In the terminal position a vowel is the
longest, it shortens before a voiced consonant, it is the shortest before a
voiceless consonant, e.g. /bi: - bi:d - bi:t/.
- Word accent or stress. A vowel is longer in a stressed syllable than in an
unstressed one, e.g. /'fo:ka:st/, /fo:'ka:st/.
Vowel length depends on a number of linguistic factors such as:
- The number of syllables in a word. If we compare a one-syllable word and
the word consisting of more than one syllable, we may observe that similar
vowels are shorter in a polysyllabic word, e.g. verse – university /ɜ:/ is
longer in “verse”.
- The character of the syllabic structure. In open syllables vowels are longer
than in closed syllables, e.g. err – earn /ɜ: - ɜ:n/ /ɜ:/ is longer in “err”.
- Sonority. Vowels of low sonority are longer than vowels of greater sonority.
e.g. /ı/ is longer than /ɔ/, /i:/ is longer than /a:/.
According to the stability of articulation English vowels are classified into:
- monophthongs, e.g. /i:, e, æ, a:, u/
- diphthongs, e.g. /ei, ai, au/
- diphthongoids /i:, u:/

5. Classification of English consonants.

Consonants are classified according to the following principles:
1) The work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation.
2) Active organ of speech and the place of obstruction.
3) Manner of noise production and the type of obstruction.
4) Position of the soft palate.
1. According to the work of the vocal cords and the force of exhalation consonants
are subdivided into voiced (fortis = strong, energetic) and voiceless (lenis = soft,
weak).
The English consonants /h, m, n, ŋ, l, w, j, r/ don't enter the fortis - lenis
opposition.
2. According to the active organ of speech which forms an obstruction consonants
are classified into three groups:
- Labial consonants are subdivided into bilabial, e.g. /p, b, m, w/ and labio-dental,
e.g. /v, f/.
- Lingual consonants are subdivided into forelingual, e.g. /t, d, n, s, z, θ, ð, r/;
medio-lingual, e.g. /∫/; back-lingual, e.g. /k, g, ŋ/.
- Pharyngeal (glottal) /h/.
3. According to the place of obstruction consonants are classified into:
- dental or interdental, e.g. /θ, ð/
- alveolar, e.g. /t, d, n, l, s, z/
- post-alveolar, e.g. /r/
- palatal, e.g. /j/
- palato-alveolar, e.g. /∫, ʒ, dʒ, t∫/
- velar, e.g. /ŋ/
4. According to the manner of noise production and the type of obstruction.
Occlusives: stops (plosives) /p, t, b, d, k, g/and nasal sonorants /m, n, ŋ/.
Constrictives: fricatives (unicentral /f, v, θ, ð, s, z/ and bicentral /∫, ʒ/) and oral
sonorants (medial /j, r, w/ and lateral /l/).
Occlusive-constrictives (affricates): /dʒ, t∫/
5. According to the position of the soft palate English consonants are subdivided
into oral and nasal:
When the soft palate is raised and the air from the lungs gets into the mouth cavity
oral consonants are produced, e.g. /p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v/. When the soft palate is
lowered and the air on its way passes through the nasal cavity, the nasal
consonants are produced, e.g. /m, n, ŋ/.
6. Modifications of phonemes in connected speech.
Every phoneme displays a vast range of variation in connected speech. Among the
different types of variation we distinguish idiolectal, diaphonic and allophonic.
1) Idiolectal variation embraces the individual peculiarities of articulating
sounds, which are caused by the shape and the form of the speaker’s speech
organs and by his articulatory habits. For instance, a speaker may mumble,
or lisp (say “thish ish” for “this is”), or stammer.
2) Diaphonic variation affects the quality and quantity of particular phonemes.
It is caused by concrete historical tendencies active in certain localities. For
example, the diaphonic variation of /æ/ involves significant changes in its
length, because in some dialects it is much longer than the standard sound.
Diaphonic variants do not affect intelligibility of speech, yet they inform the
listener about the speaker’s origin (i.e. the region he comes from) and his
social standing.
3) The less noticeable variation of phonemes is allophonic variation, which is
conditioned by phonetic position and phonetic environment, that is the
influence of neighbouring phonemes.
The main types of allophonic variation in English are:
- Reduction
- Elision
- Accommodation
- Assimilation
Reduction - weakening of English vowels in unstressed syllables:
qualitative: Eng. /æn/ - /ǝn/
quantitative: Eng. /ju:/ - /ju/
zero (=Elision): Eng. /wɪl/ - /l/ (Elision means the dropping of a sound or sounds,
either within a word or at a junction of words in rapid colloquial speech.)
Accommodation - The process of adapting the articulation of a vowel to a
consonant, or a consonant to a vowel.
Slight nasalization as the result of prolong lowering of the soft palate is sometimes
traced in vowels under the influence of the neighbouring sonants /m, n/.
Example: men – ten (nasalization of /e/)
The shortening of /i:/ in “cease” (as compared to “seize” and “see”) under the
influence of the following voiceless consonant.
Labialization of consonants is traced under the influence of the neighbouring back
vowels (pool, moon, rude). It’s possible to speak about the spread lip position of
consonants followed or preceded by front vowels /i:/, /i/ (tea).
Assimilation (progressive, regressive and reciprocal, partial and complete) – as a
process of adapting the articulation of a consonant to a consonant, or a vowel to a
vowel: at the door
A consonant may be voiced (as in /tra:nz'leit/) or devoiced, it may lose its plosion
(as in “that time”), or the plosion may become restricted (as in “please”, “great”),
etc.
- Assimilation is progressive when the first of the two sounds affected by
assimilation makes the second sound similar to itself, e.g. “desks”, “pens”,
the sounds /k/ and /n/ make the plural inflection /s/ similar to themselves:
voiceless in /desks/ and voiced in /penz/.
- Assimilation is regressive when the assimilated sound precedes the
conditioning sound, for example, in the combination “in the” /n/ becomes
dental assimilated to the next interdental /ð/.
- Assimilation is reciprocal when both sounds are equally affected by
assimilation, e.g. “twice”, /t/ is rounded under the influence of /w/ and the
latter in its turn becomes partly devoiced under the influence of voiceless /t/.

The manner of articulation is also changed as a result of assimilation:

1. Loss of plosion - in the sequence of two plosive consonants the former loses
its plosion. Eng. helped /helpt/
2. Nasal plosion - in the sequence of a plosive followed by a nasal sonorant the
manner of articulation of the plosive sound and the work of the soft palate
are involved, which results in the nasal character of plosion release (partial
regressive assimilation). Eng. garden /ga:dn/
3. Lateral plosion - in the sequence of a plosive followed by the lateral
sonorant /l/ the noise production of the plosive stop is changed into that of
the lateral stop (partial regressive assimilation). Eng. table /teibl/
 7. Assimilation, its types and causes.
Assimilation (progressive, regressive and reciprocal, partial and complete) – as a
process of adapting the articulation of a consonant to a consonant, or a vowel to a
vowel: at the door
Assimilation can be subdivided into partial and complete. Complete assimilation is
characterized by complete similarity of the two sounds, e.g. “cupboard” /'kʌb∂d/,
in this word the sound /p/ is completely assimilated to /b/. Partial assimilation is
characterized by partial similarity of one sound to the other. It can be subdivided
into: a) progressive, b) regressive, c) reciprocal.
- Assimilation is progressive when the first of the two sounds affected by
assimilation makes the second sound similar to itself, e.g. “desks”, “pens”,
the sounds /k/ and /n/ make the plural inflection /s/ similar to themselves:
voiceless in /desks/ and voiced in /penz/.
- Assimilation is regressive when the assimilated sound precedes the
conditioning sound, for example, in the combination “in the” /n/ becomes
dental assimilated to the next interdental /ð/.
- Assimilation is reciprocal when both sounds are equally affected by
assimilation, e.g. “twice”, /t/ is rounded under the influence of /w/ and the
latter in its turn becomes partly devoiced under the influence of voiceless /t/.

The manner of articulation is also changed as a result of assimilation:

1. Loss of plosion - in the sequence of two plosive consonants the former loses
its plosion. Eng. helped /helpt/
2. Nasal plosion - in the sequence of a plosive followed by a nasal sonorant the
manner of articulation of the plosive sound and the work of the soft palate
are involved, which results in the nasal character of plosion release (partial
regressive assimilation). Eng. garden /ga:dn/
3. Lateral plosion - in the sequence of a plosive followed by the lateral
sonorant /l/ the noise production of the plosive stop is changed into that of
the lateral stop (partial regressive assimilation). Eng. table /teibl/
The causes of allophonic variation are as follows:
1) It is generally considered that allophonic modification is caused by
“economy of effort” which means that the speaker avoids articulatory
movements which are not absolutely necessary for intelligibility of speech.
This process is to some extent regulated by the orthoepic norm, by the
 system of phonemes in the language, and by the system of phonologically
relevant features of phonemes in the language.
Thus, English lenis consonants /b, d, g/ in final position can be voiceless, but they
cannot be replaced by fortis /p, t, k/, as in English the fortis and lenis consonants
distinguish words, for example, “cab – cap”, “had – hat”.
2) “The law of the stronger” (M. Grammont) – We can roughly divide
phonemes into weak and strong. The stronger phoneme influences the
weaker one. The stronger phoneme assimilates, or accommodates the
neighbouring phoneme because of its articulatory strength and stability, or
by its position in the syllable.
Example: in “of course” /∂f 'ko:s/ the /v/ is assimilated by /k/ and not vice versa
because /v/ here is at the end of an unstressed syllable and is therefore weaker than
the initial /k/.
3) Frequency of occurrence. In every language there are phonemes which
appear in speech more frequently than others, so there are frequent
phonemes and rare ones. Frequent phonemes influence rare phonemes.
Analysis of relative frequency of occurrence of English speech sounds
shows that the most frequent consonants are /t, n. s, ð, l, d/.

8. Elision and reduction.

Elision means the dropping of a sound or sounds, either within a word or at a
junction of words in rapid colloquial speech. Formal speech tends to retain the full
form of words under the influence of spelling. Elision can be historical and
contemporary. English spelling is full of “silent” letters which bear witness to
historical elision. e.g.: walk /wo:k/, knee /ni:/
The most common cases of contemporary elision are the following:
1) Elision of /t, d/ in
- /ft, st, ∫t, θt, vd, zd, ðd/ sequences
- /pt, kt, bd, gd, t∫t, dʒd/ sequences
- /md, nd, ŋd/ sequences
2) There are some words and verbal forms in which elision frequently exists in
everyday speech. They are:
- “months” and “clothes” with elided dental fricatives
- “fifth” and “sixth” elide the consonants which precede /θ/
 - “of” elided /v/ before /ð/
3) The elision of a consonant before other consonants at rapid tempo. There is a
tendency nowadays to pronounce sounds which are not pronounced as a
result of historical elision. e.g.: often /often/

Reduction is the modification of the quality and quantity of English vowels in

unstressed syllables. The articulation of unstressed vowels is weaker and the
duration is shorter. The types of vowel reduction are: quantitative or qualitative or
either. These changes of vowels in a speech continuum are determined by a
number of factors such as the position of the vowel in a word, accentual structure,
tempo of speech, rhythm, style, etc
The decrease of the vowel quantity or in other words the shortening of the vowel
length is known as a quantitative modification of vowels, which may be illustrated
as follows:
a) The shortening of the vowel length occurs in unstressed positions. In these
cases reduction affects both the length of the unstressed vowels and their
quality. e.g.: blackboard /'blækbo:d/
Form words often demonstrate quantitative reduction in unstressed positions.
b) The length of a vowel depends on its position in a word. It varies in different
phonetic environments. English vowels are said to have positional length.
e.g.: knee - need - neat (accomodation)
Qualitative modifications of most vowels occur in unstressed positions.
Unstressed, vowels lose their “colour”, their quality, which is illustrated by the
examples below:
- In unstressed syllables vowels of full value are usually subjected to
qualitative changes
e.g.: 'conduct - con'duct /'kondʌkt/ - /k∂n'dʌkt/
This example illustrates the neutralized (reduced) allophone of the same phoneme
as the same morphemes are opposed.
- Slight degree of nasalization marks vowels preceded or followed by the
nasal consonants /n, m/.
e.g.: never, no, then, men (accomodation)
c) In rapid colloquial speech reduction may result in vowel elision, the
complete omission of the unstressed vowel, which is also known as zero
reduction. Zero reduction is likely to occur in a sequence of unstressed
 syllables.
e.g.: history, literature
9. The phoneme, its aspects and functions
The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in
the form of speech sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language
to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.
Compare /p/ in “pill” (i.e. in initial position, aspirated), in “spill” (i.e. after /s/,
non-aspirated), in “slip” (i.e. in final position), in “slipper” (i.e. between
vowels, the first of which is stressed). These various /p/ sounds differ in manner
of articulation and in acoustic qualities. But they do not differ phonologically, if
one of the various /p/ sounds is substituted for another, the meaning of the word
will not change. That is why for the English speaking people it is of no
linguistic importance to discriminate the various /p/ sounds.
But it is linguistically important for English speakers to discriminate
between /p/ and /b/ (as in “pill” and “bill”) or /p/ and /m/ (as in “pill” and
“mill”), though the differences in their pronunciation might not be much more
notable than the differences in the production of the various /p/ sounds. That is
why /p, b, m/ are different elements of the English sound system. They are
different English phonemes. The substitution of one for another affects
communication.
All the actual speech sounds pronounced by the speaker are allophones
(or variants) of the phonemes that exist in the language. Those that distinguish
words when opposed to one another in the same phonetic position are
realizations of different phonemes.
Those sounds that cannot distinguish words in a definite language and
occur only in certain positions or in combination with certain sounds are
realizations of one and the same phoneme, that is they are its allophones (or
variants).
The phonetic system of any language contains two subsystems:
1. Segmental
2. Suprasegmental or prosodic
The segmental phoneme is the smallest, further indivisible language unit that
exists in the speech of all the members of a given language community as such
speech sounds which are capable of distinguishing one word from another word of
the same language or one grammatical form of a word from another grammatical
form of the same word.
The suprasegmental phoneme is larger unit of speech – syllables, words,
sentences.
Aspects of the phoneme:
1) The phoneme is a functional unit (Eng. bath ~ path)
Its functionality is reflected in the definition of the phoneme as the smallest
language unit capable of distinguishing words and their grammatical forms.
2) The phoneme is material, real and objective (Eng. /prizent/ ~ Rus. детский,
Eng. take - took - stake)
The segmental phoneme has a material aspect in the sense that it's represented by
concrete material sounds, its allophones. What is material is at the same time real
because phonemes exist in actual speech. What is material and real is also
objective, that is it exists independently from the will of individual people.
3) Abstracted and generalised character.
The phoneme is abstracted from its variants that exist in actual speech and at the
same time is characterised by features that are common to all its variants. For
example, /b/ is an occlusive, bilabial, lenis consonant, as these features are
common to all its allophones.
The phoneme serves to perform three functions:
• constitutive (shows that phonemes constitute morphemes, words and utterances)
• distinctive (because the phonemes distinguish one word from another)
• recognitive (identificatory) (consists in making words with their grammatical
forms and therefore whole utterances easily recognisable at the result of the use of
the right allophones in the right places.