Part I. The significance of phonetics (стр. 3 )

As a rule, one grapheme has many phonemic references, e. g.

<a>	-«	banana	<ough>	-:	thought
-eI	baby	-u:	through
-Q	back	-oU	though
-a:	bask	-«	borough
-:	ball
-	wash

Graphemes, which consist of two-, three- and four-letter graphemes, corresponding to one phoneme are called "digraph", "trigraph" and "polygraph" — ac­cordingly, e. g. <ng>,<ck> are digraphs, <tch>, <sch> are trigraphs, <eigh>, <ough> are polygraphs.

Graphemes may be simple, e. g. <a> and complex, e. g. <ough>.

One and the same phoneme may be derived from both simple and complex graphemes, e. g. the phoneme /e/ is derived from <e>: met, egg; from <ea>: ready, sweat.

If we analyse a word from the viewpoint of orthographic — phone­mic and graphemic reference, the discrepancy between them will be al­most universal. For example, the word stretch consists of:

5 phonemes /s/ /t/ /r/ /e/ /tS/

5 graphemes s — t — г — e — tch

7 letters s — t — г — e — t — с — h

The word mouth consists of:

3 phonemes /m/ /au/ /T/

3 graphemes m — ou — th

5 letters m — о — u — t — h

From the phonological point of view, a grapheme has a considerable number of allophonic references, due to the complementary distribution or free variation, in which a phoneme occurs. For example, the grapheme <o> in box is in reference with a more front allophone [] than in cot, where [] is more back. The grapheme <t> in twice is in reference with a rounded allophone of [t] and with [t] post-alveolar in tree.

The knowledge of orthography is very important because changes in orthography are much slower than changes in phonology. Therefore there are a large number of rules of reading in modem English.

Morphemic reference of graphemes is many-sided. Any graphic dif­ference must be considered as having an independent morphemic refer­ence. E. g.

boys /bIz/ — boys' /bIz/ — boy's /bIz/

s, s', 's have different morphemic reference: s indicates the plural form; s' indicates the plural form, possessive case; 's indicates the pos­sessive case of the singular form.

There are two notions in phonological literature which reflect the connection of orthography with syllables and morphemes: (a) syllabo-graph and (b) morphograph. The parts of a word which represent sylla­bles graphically are called syllabographs. They may consist of a vowel, or a combination of vowels and consonants which corresponds to a sylla­ble or syllables within the graphic norms of the analysed word, e. g.

Words Syllabographs

higher high-er

bankrupt bank-rupt

A morphograph is that part of a word which represents a morpheme graphically, e. g. the suffix - ing is a morphograph in the word singing; the suffix - ed is a morphograph in the word long-legged, etc.

Sounds are indicated in writing by means of transcription. It is espe­cially useful in studying English, where the interpretation of the orthog­raphy can be complicated and misleading.

Transcription is quite indispensable in transliteration of names of per­sons, geographical names, magazines, names of ships, etc. Translitera­tion is writing a word, or words, of one language in the letters of some other language.

Transliteration differs from transcription: it is simpler and may use additional symbols. E. g. Bath is transcribed as /ba:T/ but transliterated as Бат (the length of /a/ and the sound /T/ are ignored).

Given below is a list of Russian equivalents for English letters and letter combinations and phonetic renderings.

Basic notions: phonemes in writing, phonemes and letters, grapheme, orthography, letters, combinations of letters, single-valued grapheme, monograph, one-to-one graphemic refer­ence, multi-valued graphemes, digraph, trigraph, polygraph, syllabograph, morphograph, transcription, translitera­tion.

Topics for discussion in class: (1 час)

1.  Graphemes for the system of vowels and consonants.

2.  The single-valued and multi-valued graphemes.

3.  The orthographic-phonemic-graphemic references.

4.  The connection of orthography with syllables and morphemes.

Tasks for independent work (1 час):

1. Make up your own glossary containing new phonetic terms in the lecture “English phonemes in writing”. Transcribe the new phonetic terms, difficult words and expressions used in the text. Explain the usage of: phonemes and letters, single-valued and multi-valued graphemes, syllabograph and morphograph, transcription and translitera­tion.

3. Get ready to give the summary, using new phonetic terms of the lecture.

Answer the following questions

1.  Why is it important to establish the relationship between phonemes and letters? What is a grapheme?

2.  What are the types of graphemic reference?

3.  What are the single-valued graphemes? What is a monograph?

4.  What are the multi-valued graphemes? What is a digraph, trigraph, polygraph?

5.  What are the simple and complex graphemes?

6.  Give examples of orthographic-phonemic-graphemic references.

7.  How are graphemes connected with phonology?

8.  How are graphemes connected with morphology?

9.  What is a syllabograph?

10. What is a morphograph?

11. What is the difference between transcription and transliteration?

Literature:

1.  Jones D. An English Pronouncing Dictionary. London, 1957.

2.  Leontyeva S. F. A Theoretical Course of English Phonetics. М., 2002.

3.  O'Connor T. D. Phonetics. Pelican Books, 1977.

4.  O'Connor T. D. Phonetics. Pelican Books, 1977.

5.  Р. Общая фонетика. – Л., 1979.

6.  , , Теоретическая фонетика англий­ского языка. – М., 2004.

7.  Торсуев Г. П. Фонетическая структура слова. – М., 1962.

8.  Английская фонетическая терминология. – М., 1962.

Part IV. syllable structure

Lecture 7. syllable (2 часа)

Though the basic phonological elements are phonemes, human inter­communication is actualized in syllables.

The syllable as a unit is difficult to define, though native speakers of a language are usually able to state how many syllables there are in a particular word.

According to J. Kenyon the syllable is one or more speech sound, forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterance, which may be a word, or a commonly recognized subdivision of a word.

The syllable can be a single word: chair /tSE«/, a part of a word: En­glish /'IN-glIS/, a part of the grammatical form of a word: later /'leI-t«/.

The syllable can be analysed from the acoustic and auditory, articulatory and functional points of view. The syllable can be viewed in connec­tion with its graphic representation.

Acoustically and auditorily the syllable is characterized by the force of utterance, or accent, pitch of the voice, sonority and length that is by prosodic features.

Acoustic properties of syllables are studied with the help of intonograph and spectrograph. Electroacoustic analysis made it possible to for­mulate some rules of syllable division.

Auditorily the syllable is the smallest unit of perception: the listener identifies the whole of the syllable and only after that the sounds con­tained.

Phonologically the syllable is regarded and defined in terms of its structural and functional properties.

Syllables in writing are called syllabographs and are closely connect­ed with the morphemic structure of words.

A syllable can be formed by a vowel: (V) in English, (Г) in Russian; by a vowel and a consonant: (VC) in English, (ГС) in Russian; by a consonant and a sonorant (CS).

Г, V — types of syllable called uncovered open,

ГС, VC — types of syllable called uncovered closed,

СГС, CVC — types of syllable called covered closed,

СГ, CV — types of syllable called covered open.

G. P. Torsuyev suggests a differentiation of the following Russian types of syllabic structures:

Г, V type: fully open,

СГС, CVC type: fully closed,

СГ, CV type: initially covered,

ГС, VC type: finally covered. Similar syllabic structures in English and Russian are:

English (unisyllabic words)	Russian
V	Err	Г	и
CVC	pit	СГС	пол
CVCC	fact	СГСС	вопль
CVCC	lasped	СГССС	текст
CCVC	plan	ССГС	жнец
CCCVC	spleen	СССГС	взлом
CCVCC	twist	ССГСС	фланг
CCVCCC	stamps	ССГССС	спектр
CCCVCC	spleens	СССГСС	вдрызг
CVCCCC	texts	СГСССС	монстр
CV	dew	СГ	но
CCV	spy	ССГ	дно
CCCV	straw	СССГ	мгла
VC	eat	ГС	ад
VCC	act	ГСС	акр
VCCC	asks	ГССС	астр

The peak or the crest of the syllable is formed by a vowel or a sonorant. The consonants, which precede the peak and follow it, are called slopes.

Vowels /Q, e, À, , а:, :, eI, aI, aU, E«, I/ constitute almost always the peaks of prominence, /«, I, u, «U/ occur, as a rule, in unaccented syllables.

The consonant /N/ never begins, /w/ never terminates the syllable.

The sonorants /w, r, j/, SVC structural type, function as consonants, because they occur only before vowels: e. g. /wID, raIt, jes/.

The structural patterns of syllables formed by sonorants with a pre­ceding consonant in English are similar to V+C patterns: CS written /'rItn/.

According to G. P. Torsuyev's data the syllabic structure in the En­glish language of the combination consonant (terminal position)+a sonorant is characterized by the following data: CS type — 40 combinations, CSC type — 90 combinations, CSCC type — 15 combinations, CCSCC type — 1 combination: /trnts/ — en­trants.

Syllable-forming sonorants in the combinations of the CS type are terminal /m, n, l/. E. g.

earthen	channel	prism	equal
people	garden	often	nation
written	eagle	even	decision
taken	fortune	listen	rhythm
able	angel	season	camel

The distribution of consonants in the syllables of the CSC type is characterized by the following features: initial consonants may be repre­sented by /p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, T, D, s, z, S, Z, tS, dZ, m, r, w, n/; the peak sonorants may be represented by /n, m, l/; final consonants are repre­sented by /t, d, s, z, T/. E. g. opens, vacant, patient, present, servant, peoples, student, eleventh, arrivals, persons.

The distribution of consonants in the syllables of the CSCC type is characterized by the following features: the initial consonant may be rep­resented by /p, d, t, tS, dZ, f, v, s, z, S, Z, r/. The peak of syllable is repre­sented by the sonorants /n, l/, they are immediately followed by /t, d, s/; final consonants are represented by /t, s, z/. E. g. innocents, agents, parents, students, servants, patients.

The syllables of the CSVSCC type: entrants /'entr«nts/, emigrants /'emIgr«nts/, minstrels /'mInstr«lz/, hydrants /'haIdr«nts/ can be pro­nounced without (V) — CSSCC type, e. g. emigrants /'emIgrnts/, entrants /'entrnts/, minstrels /'mInstrlz/, hydrants /'haIdrnts/

THEORIES OF SYLLABLE FORMATION

AND SYLLABLE DIVISION

There are different points of view on syllable formation, which are briefly the following.

1. The most ancient theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. This theory is primitive and insufficient since it does not take into consideration consonants, which also can form sylla­bles in some languages, neither does it explain the boundary of syllables.

2. The expiratory theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are expiration pulses. The borderline between the syllables is, according to this theory, the moment of the weakest expiration. This theory is inconsistent because it is quite possible to pronounce several syllables in one articulatory effort or expiration, e. g. seeing /'si:IN/.

3. The sonority theory states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are peaks of prominence or sonority.

O. Jespersen established the scale of sonority of sounds, that is, the scale of their inherent prominence. According to this scale the most so­norous are back vowels (low, mid, high), then go semi-vowels, sonorants, then — voiced, and voiceless consonants.

Scale of Sonority

1. low vowels /a:, :, , Q/

2. mid vowels/e, «:, «, À/

3. high vowels /i:, I, u:, U/

4. semi-vowels /w, j/

5. sonorants /l, r, m, n, N/

6. voiced constrictive consonants /v, z, Z, D/

7. voiced plosive consonants /b, d, g/

8. voiceless constrictive consonants and affricates /S, tS, dZ, f, s, h, T/

9. voiceless plosive consonants /p, t, k/

Sounds are grouped around the most sonorous ones, which form the peaks of sonority in a syllable. Two points of lower sonority constitute the beginning and the end of one syllable.

Compare melt and metal, in the first word /e/ is the most sonorous sound, it is the only peak of sonority, it is a one-syllable word. In the word metal there are two peaks of sonority /e/and /l/, it is a two-syllable word.

In the word sudden the most sonorous is the vowel /À/, then goes the nasal sonorant /n/ which forms the second peak of prominence, /s/ and /d/ are sounds of low sonority, they cannot be considered as syllable forming sounds.

		*				*
*				*
s		À		d		n

The sonority theory helps to establish the number of syllables in a word, but fails to explain the mechanism of syllable division because it does not state to which syllable the weak sound at the boundary of two syllables belongs.