English Phonetics

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M IN ISTRY O F H IG H E R AND SECONDARY SPECIA L

ED U CATIO N O F TH E REPU BLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

A.A. ABDUAZIZOV

ENGLISH PHONETICS
A th e o r e tic a l c o u r s e

Recommended by the Ministry o f higher and secondary special


education o f the Republic o f Uzbekistan as a textbook fo r higher
educational institutions

3-revised edition

Publishing house “M usiqa”


Tashkent
2007
Reviewer: can.phil.sciences (PhD), ass.-prof. N.M. KAMBAROV

Chief Editor: can.phil.sciences (PhD), ass.-prof. R. ALIMARDONOV

This textbook is devoted to the students o f Universities. It


includes description o f the English pronunciation in Great Britain
which is compared with other literary pronunciations. The text­
book gives comporative-typological analysis o f the vowel and
consonant phonemes, syllable structure, word stress and intona­
tion in English, Uzbek and Russian. It uncludes also the glossary
of terms in phonetics and phonology in three languages and the
list o f literature.
O 'Z B E K IS T O N R E S P U B L IK A S I
O L IY VA 0 ‘R T A M AX SU S T A ’L IM V A Z IR L IG I

A.A. A B D U A Z IZ O V

INGLI Z TILI
FONETIKASI
N a z a r iy k u rs

0 ‘zbekiston R esp u b lik a si O liy va о ‘rta m axsu s t a ’lim vazirligi


tom onidan oliy о ‘qu v yu rtla ri uchun darslik sifatida
tavsiya etilgan

3-tuzatilgan nashri

“ M u siq a ” n ash riy o ti


T o sh k en t
2007
Taqrizchi: f.f.n., dots. N.M. Q A M B A R O V
( 0 ‘zbekiston Jahon tillari
universiteti)

M as'ul muharrir: f.f.n., dots. R. A LIM A R D O N O V


(Jahon Iqtisodiyoti va
diplomatiyasi universiteti)

Oliy o'quv yurtlari uchun darslik


Ingliz, о ‘zbek va rus tillarida

Nashr uchun m as’ul M. P o ‘latov


Texnik muharrir V. Barsukova
Sahifalovchi va rassom /. Sagdullaev

AB № 57

“M USIQA” nashriyoti. Toshkent, B. Zokirov k o ‘chasi, 1.

Bosishga ruxsat etildi. 20.07.2007. Ofset usulida chop etildi.


Ofset qog‘oz. Bichimi 60x90 1 /j6- Shartli bosma tabog'i 16,0.
Nashr bosma tabog‘i 16,4. Adadi qo'shim cha 1000 nusxa.
Bahosi shartnoma asosida.

«KOHI-NUR» bosmaxonasida chop etildi.


Toshkent, M ashinasozlar mavzesi, 4.
Buyurtma № 162.

Q at’iy buyurtm a.
ISBN 978-9943-307-19-3
© 0 ‘zbekiston davlat konservatoriyasining
“M usiqa” nashriyoti, 2007-y.
P R E F A C E

This textbook is devoted to a theoretical course o f English


phonetics and constitutes the material used by the author while
delivering lectures and conducting seminars in the past 20 years.
This book may also help in conducting courses in compara-
tive-typology o f English and Uzbek (also Russian) and General
Linguistics as it includes a comparative-typological analysis of
the phonetic (phonological) systems o f English, Uzbek and Rus­
sian languages. Comparing the languages with different systems
and structures permits to establish interesting phenomena and
facts which may not be noticed in describing the phonetic systems
of a particular language isolately. Comparative analyses are made
between the principal literary and regional types of English pro­
nunciation. In comparative typological analysis o f the phonetic
(phonological) systems the author mostly followed his own light.
The author has tried to explain different linguistic terms used in
modem investigations of phonetics and phonology and repre­
sented them as a short glossary in English, Russian and Uzbek to
make it easy for the students to understand them and make use of
them in practice.
Some o f the material in the book has appeared elsewhere, in
books and articles by various linguists and the author has brought
them together. In particular it concerns the statistic data and ex­
amples used in the book.

Prof. A.A. Abduazizov


C H A P T E R I

1.1. IN T R O D U C T IO N . P H O N E T IC S A S A B R A N C H
O F L IN G U IS T IC S

Phonetics (from the Greek word “phone” - meaning sound,


voice and “-tika-” a science) is a special science which studies the
phonic substance and the expression area of the language, or oth­
erwise the physical media of a language (sounds, syllables, stress
and intonation). The linguistic form and content are described by
other branches of linguistics, namely grammar (morphology and
syntax), lexicology (lexicon or vocabulary, the formation and the
meanings o f the words) and stylistics (expressive-emotional
meanings).
The definition o f phonetics as «the study of the sounds o f a
language»1is not sufficient in modern linguistics. Nowadays pho­
netics is a science or a branch of linguistics studying articulatory
- acoustic and perceptual features of a language. It is concerned
with the linguistic expression represented in the speech sounds,
syllables, stress and intonation. Phonetics deals with oral speech.
Phonetics is of great theoretical and practical value. Theo­
retically it is important to study the formation of speech sounds,
their combinations, syllables, stress and intonation. If we approach
the study of pronunciation and listening scientifically partial simi­
larities and great differences may be noticed among the utterances
which may be recorded either with pen and paper or with a re­
cording machine. A language consists o f a series of physical
events. Sound waves are formed bythe work o f speech organs and
perceived by ear. There is a conversion of muscular energy into
acoustic energy. But the articulatory and auditory (listening) con­
trol of this conversion is not common property. Speech is per­
ceived, observed, collected and classified by millions o f sets of
human senses and nervous systems. The classification of various
speech utterances and their divisbn into smaller and higher ele­
ments require theoretical, scientific bases - principles and meth-

' Malmberg B. Phonetics. N. Y. 1963.


ods. The explanation and description of the articulation of speech
sounds, the pronunciation rules of a language is the object of prac­
tical or applied phonetics which is very important in teaching cor­
rect pronunciation of a foreign language. Sometimes, as to its aims
of teaching the normal pronunciation of a language, this type of
phonetics is called a normative course of phonetics. There is a
close relationship between theoretical and practical phonetics, as it
is important to combine theory and practice. It is impossible to rep­
resent a good pronunciation rule without a theoretical explanation
of a particular question. Speaking about the phonetic system of a
language we mean the whole set of relations of its elements. The
phonetic elements or units are sounds, syllables, stress and intona­
tion which have their linguistic functions observed in the identifi­
cation and distinction of the utterances. In such words or
morphemes as lag - bag, meet - seat, etc. the first sounds help to
distinguish their meanings. The words 'present - pre'sent are dis­
tinct by the position of the stress. The sentence She came may be
pronounced in such a way as to be declarative, interrogative etc.
The following types of phonetics may be distinguished:
1. G eneral phonetics which studies the human sound -
producing possibilities, the functioning of his speech mecha­
nism and the ways they are used in all languages to pronounce
speech sounds syllables, stress and intonation. It is a part of
General Linguistics.
2. D escriptive phonetics studies the phonetic system of a
certain language. For example: English phonetics, Russian pho­
netics, Uzbek phonetics etc.
3. H istorical or diachronical phonetics, which studies the
changes a sound undergoes in the development of a language or
languages. Its material may be based on written historical and
literary monuments. Diachronical studies of the phonetic sys­
tem may explain the present state (synchronical) of a language
and compare them. It is a part of a history course of a lan­
guage. For example, Verner's and Grimm's Laws, Ablaut, Um­
laut, Great Vowel Shift etc. are the objects of diachronical
phonetics which is also called evolutionary phonetics.
4. C om parative-typological phonetics studies the pho­
netic features of two or more languages of different systems such as
English, Russian, and Uzbek etc. It is a part of comparative-
typological linguistics. Its fundamental principle is using linguistic
-7-
categorization of all the various units of the languages in compari­
son. Comparative-typological phonetics is of great theoretical and
practical value. Theoretically it is important to compare phonetic
systems of all languages in order to establish language universals
(the facts and features which exist in many languages), similarities
and diffirencies between the sound structure, syllable types, stress
and intonation. From the results obtained it is possible to represent
adequate teaching materials and suggest effective methods of for­
eign language teaching. The comparative-typological method is
also known by the terms «contrastive», «confrontative», «differen­
tial» and «comparative» method. This method is used either in his­
torical or synchronical analysis of a language.

1.2. S P E E C H A P P A R A T U S A N D P H O N E T I C
B A S IS

The speech apparatus or vocal tract consists of three parts: 1) the


respiratory mechanism, which furnishes the airflow necessary for
the production of most sounds; 2) the larynx, which creates most
of the sound energy used in speech; 3) the supraglottal cavities
which play the role of resonators to produce speech noises. The
supraglottal cavities are: the pharynx, the mouth cavity and the
nasal cavity. One more resonator is the labial cavity which func­
tions in the pronunciation of rounded and unrounded vowels and
also labial consonants. The roof of the
mouth is divided into: the hard palate,
soft palate (or velum), the uvula (the
end of the soft palate), the teeth­
ridge, the upper-teeth, the upper lip
and the lower lip. The most active
organ of speech is the tongue which
may be divided into: the root, the
back, the center (or front) and the
blade with the tip (see fig. 1).
The four principal resonators of the
speech organs: I. The pharynx; П.
The mouth; III. The nasal cavity; IV.
The labial cavity.
Places of articulation; 1. Bilabial; 2. Labiodentals; 3. Dental;
4. Alveolar; 5. Retroflex; 6. Palato-alveolar; 7. Palatal; 8. Velar;
9. Uvular; 10. Pharyngal.
The larynx is at the upper end of the trachea which contains the
vocal cords. When the vocal cords are drawn near together the air vi­
bration, coming from the lungs, produces voiced sounds. If the vocal
cords are apart they do not vibrate as a result of which voiceless con­
sonants may be produced. The space between the vocal cords is
called the glottis.
The glottis is open during normal respiration. It may be
closed when the vocal cords are kept together.
The voiceless plosive consonants may be aspirated and un­
aspirated. When the glottis is closed the unaspirated plosive con­
sonants /p, t, к/ may be produced. During the occlusion of an
aspirated plosive consonant sound the glottis is open. This is es-
sentually a matter of the time relations between the closed phase
of articulation and the time of onset (aspiration) or preaspiration
of voicing as in /p h, th, kh/. The air which escapes the glottis is
closed for the articulation of the following vowel is heard as an
exhalation. The aspirated voiceless stops (plosives) are used be­
fore vowels. Aspiration is usually weak before an unstressed
vowel. The unaspirated consonant is used before and after other
consonants. It is probable that the difference between aspirated
and unaspirated stops is not purely a matter of timing, since oral
pressure recordings frequently show a level or even slightly fal­
ling, oral pressure during unaspirated stops, but oral pressure ris­
ing right up to the moment of release in aspirated stops.
The state o f the glottis, its opening and closing, also the vi­
bration of the vocal cords characterize the types of phonatory
structures: breath, voice, voiceless, murmur, creaky voice and
glottal stop.
In breath the vocal cords are kept apart, with slow airflow.
Voice is the result of periodic and closing of the glottis with vocal
cords vibration. As to voiceless sounds the glottis is closed and
vocal cords do not vibrate. In murmur the glottis is wide open as
for breath with a very slow air-flow generating no sound. Creak is
produced by a periodic opening o f a chink near the hyroid end of
the glottis. In creak the airflow passes through the narrow frica­
tive type articulatory channels.1
The glottal stop usually indicated by the symbol (?) is pro­
duced in the pharynx or in the larynx where it is possible to close
the air passage momentarily by bringing the vocal cords close to­
gether.
The glottal stop replaces other stops in certain types of the
English dialects. For example: in London cockney get, better or
in New York bottle, cattle /b э?1/, /кэе?1/ etc.
Some of the explained phonation and articulation types may
be combined as a breathy voice, a creaky voice etc. which are
used as voice-qualifiers.
The place of articulation are the lips (labial: bilabial and
labiodentals), the teeth (dental), the upper teeth ridge (alveolar),
the hard and soft palates (pre-palatal and palatal), the pharynx
(pharyngal) and the larynx (glottal). At all these places of articula­
tion the vocal tract may be narrowed or closed by the position of
some parts o f the tongue. If the tip of the tongue approaches them
the produced sound is dorsal, if it’s the blade it will be lamina], if
it is done by the body the sound will be domal, if its the back part
- dorsal sounds are produced.
The degree of closure of the organs of speech measures the
manner of articulation. The closure is complete in the production
of stops, very narrow for the fricatives, less narrow for the reso­
nants (liquids, nasals, vowels). When there is room for air to pass
between the edges of the tongue and the molar teeth the articula­
tion is lateral (for /1/). When the air passes through the nasal cav­
ity by the opening of the velum the articulation is nasal (for /m, n,
r\f). There are also some other types of sounds explained in the
sections of the classification of vowels and consonants.
All people in the world have similar organs of speech. But
not all the movements of the organs of speech are used similarly
in the articulation of speech sounds in different languages as it
depends on the pronunciation habits of each language. Every lan­
guage uses some of the possible articulatory movements of the
speech organs. When learning a foreign language it is important
to master a large number of new articulatory habits. The term «ar­

1J. C. Catford. The articulatory possibilities of man. //Manual of Phonetics. Edited by B.


Malmberg. North Holland Publ. Co., 1968. pp. 318-319.
ticulatory basis» is not scientifically sufficient to express all the
articulatory habits which characterize a language. But by the term
«articulatory basis» we mean only the typical articulation move­
ments in the pronunciation of sounds and sound combinations of a
certain language. For example, English has the alveolar conso­
nants /t, d/ articulated by pressing the tip of the tongue to the al-
veols while the Uzbek consonants /t, dJ are dentals as they are
pronounced by pressing the front part of the tongue to the front
upper teeth. Besides there are more back consonants in Uzbek /q,
g ’, h/ than in English /к, g/. So, the tendency to move the articula­
tions back in the mouth is stronger in Uzbek than in English. This
is because of the different articulation basis in English and Uzbek.
The character of syllable formation, accentuation of words,
word combinations and intonation of phrases is denoted by the
term «prosodic bases». For example, the English word, much
more than the Uzbek, keeps its phonetic independence in the sen­
tence where all the meaningful words have their own stress. Both
the articulatory and prosodic bases form the phonetic basis of a
language. By describing all the pronunciation features of a lan­
guage we can establish its phonetic basis.
The Uzbek learners of English are apt to use their pronun­
ciation habits, the phonetic basis of Uzbek in the pronunciation of
English. This phenomenon is called phonetic interference. In
teaching the correct pronunciation of English facts of phonetic in­
terference between Uzbek and English should be established and
attention must be paid to the differences of the phonetic basis of
the languages.

1.3. ASPECTS, TYPES AND METHODS


OF PHONETICS

Every act of speech supposes the presence of at least two


persons: one who speaks - a speaker and one who listens - a lis­
tener. Phonetics is a branch of linguistics studying language ex­
pression which can be pronounced and listened to. All the
phonetic units are audible when people speak a language. Pronun­
ciation is a result of a speech noise.
Phonetics has the following four main aspects: articulatory
(physiological), acoustic (physical), perceptual (auditory) and
phonological (social, functional, linguistic).
-11 -
From the physiological point of view every human sound is
a production of complex, definite, strictly coordinated movements
and positions of speech organs. The articulatory aspect studies the
voice-producing mechanism and the way in which we produce
speech sounds. Usually this aspect is called articulatory or physio­
logical phonetics. The founder of modem phonetics, a Great Rus­
sian - Polish linguist I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay (1845 - 1929)
called it «antropophonics» meaning antropological studies of
speech sounds. The articulatory aspect deals with biological,
physiological and mental activity necessary for the pronunciation
of a language. But the linguistic interpretation of the production
of speech sounds makes phonetics a science which is autonomous
from that o f physiology and biology. The oldest and most avail­
able method of the articulatory phonetics is direct observation,
which studies the movements and positions of one's own or other
people’s organs of speech pronouncing various speech sounds and
judges them by ear. It is a subjective method of phonetics, as our
direct observation does not give a concrete description of the pro­
duction of speech sounds. There are some objective methods of
experimental investigation which imply palatography, photography,
cinematography, X-ray photography, X-ray cinematography etc.
Palatography is inserting an arti­
ficial palate into a speaker's

1 2
О 3
mouth. After the pronunciation
of the desired sound the artificial
palate is removed and one can
immediately see what parts have
Fig. 2. Palatograms of a palatal /к/ or
/g/ - left; an intermediate (post-palatal) been touched by the tongue. The
fkJ - center, a purely velar /к/ - right. place of articulation and the degree
of rising of the tongue in the
mouth are determined. The artifi­
cial palate used in the articulation is called a palatogram. It is dif­
ficult to study the sounds pronounced in the back part of the
mouth. Labial and nasal articulations are not seen in it at all.
X-ray photography helps to fix the exact position of the or­
gans of speech in the articulation of speech sounds. The person
under examination, who has a literary pronunciation, is called an
- 12-
informant. The focus of the X-ray lamp is directed against the up­
per molar o f the informant. The lips, the tongue and the palate are
sprinkled with bithmus solution or with barium which helps to
show their position in the X-ray photo as clear as possible. The X-
ray negatives are photographed. The drawings based on these
photoes serve the purpose o f detailed description o f the pronun­
ciation of speech sounds (see fig. 3).

/л / /е/

The X-ray photoes can be used as reference points for


measurements o f the shape and distance between the speech
mechanisms.
There is also the method of X-ray cinephotography of
speech organs during the articulation of certain sounds which re­
quires a variable speed (about 50 to 100 frames per second). The
X-ray films show the position of speech organs, their frame-by-
frame tracing and measurement.
With suitable illumination and the selection of a suitable an­
gle some information or the tongue postures and on the oral ar­
ticulatory channels formed by contact between tongue and roof of
mouth can be obtained by direct (cine) photography. It can illus­
trate also the position of the lips, the opening of the lower jaw.
The lip rounding and its protrusion change the shape o f the vocal
tract. Direct (cine) photography is used as an auxiliary method in
X-ray photography but sometimes it is used as a separate method
in physiological phonetics. There are other techniques such as la­
ryngoscope, glottography etc. The articulatory aspect uses its own
terms: oral, nasal, labial, dorsal, fore-lingual, back lingual,
rounded, unrounded etc.

1.3.2. The acoustic (physical) aspect

It was already stated that the vocal tract may be described as


an apparatus for the conversion of muscular energy into acoustic
energy. Sound is a physical or acoustic phenomenon generated by
the activities of the vocal organs. A sound consists of waves
which travel through the air at a speed of about 1,100 feet per
second. The repeated movement - vibration creates a wave. Vi­
bration may be periodic or non-periodic and simple or complex. If
the same vibration is repeated at regular intervals then the sound
waves are periodical. On the contrary, the vibration repeated at ir­
regular intervals creates non-periodical sound waves. Periodic
sound waves may be perceived as a musical tone or speech-tone.
The non-periodic sound waves are perceived as a speech-noise.
The movement of vibration at a certain distance is called a period
or a cycle. The maximum distance of the curve from the point of
rest till the last point reached by the vibration is called its ampli­
tude. The frequency of vibration is determined by the specific
qualities of the body in question (its weight, or in the case of vo­
cal cords, their tension; in the case of cavities, volume, shape, and
size of the opening relative to the volume). The smaller opening
of the cavity creates lower frequency. The larger opening of the
cavity or higher tone forms greater frequency. Frequency is re­
sponsible for the pitch of the tone and amplitude determines in­
tensity. An increase of the amplitude brings greater intensity.
Physical intensity is measured by the sound energy which passes
through 1 sq. cm perpendicular to the direction of the vibration
(measured in watts) in a unit of time. The intensity of a vibration
may thus be made four times greater by doubling the amplitude or
the frequency. The intensity is proportional to the square of both.
Loudness is the term used for the intensity perceived which is
measured in db - decibels.
Thus the sounds or vibrations are specified in terms of three
parameters or measures; frequency (measured in cs - «cycles per
second»); intensity (measured in db - «decibels») and time
(measured in ms - «milliseconds»). Roughly frequency corre­
sponds to auditory timbre and intensity to perceivable loudness.
- 14-
Besides the basic frequency of vibration there are additional over­
tones which are called harmonics. The latter are various timbre
characteristics. Timbre and overtones form the spectrum o f the
speech sounds. The term «spectrum» comes from the word «spec­
trograph» which is one o f the basic apparatus measuring sound
waves in modem experimental (or instrumental) phonetics. The
sound spectrograph is a combination o f magnetic tape and fre­
quency record with an analysis of the component frequencies o f
complex waves, preserved as a permanent picture. The permanent
record is obtained by making an analysis of the complex waves of
each speech sound from a recording on magnetic and transferring
it through a phosphor or light-bearing needle to sensitive mounted
on a revolving drum, the needle advancing at a fixed number o f
cycles per second. Spectrographs in current use in speech labora­
tories will analyse in five minutes an utterance lasting 2,4 seconds
in duration and ranging from zero to 8000 cycles per second. The
spectrograms obtained through such «visible speech» apparatus or
sonographs have deepened knowledge of the acoustic properties
o f speech sounds and long utterances as well that are important
for an understanding o f their auditory perception.
The Sound Spectrograph.'

2 n d process
m m m m t UiL УШ
ЦШНИНПП Reproducing f - 1st process
Recording
m НкШШШш/
iWTmTffrrnlmVn i t i l i l

d ru m 4 \ I Loop fff magnetic m a g n e tic


c a rr y in g \ \ | tape r e c o r d in g a n d
e te c tr ic a /ig \ \ i r e p r o d u c in g
s e n s itiv e \ v I c o il
p o p er

motor

1E. Pulgram. Introduction to the Spectrography of Speech. Mouton. 1959 p. 99, fig. 20.
- 1 5-
It is important to know some other concepts o f acoustic pho­
netics.
Vibrating tuning fork, cord, cavity etc. which intensify a
certain sound is called a resonator. If the difference between the
vibration and the frequency o f a resonator is great the resonance
becomes lower. Resonance is very important in the production
and distinction of vowel sounds. By means of resonance the fre­
quency o f the sound may be reinforced. By reinforcing the basic
and additional harmonics it is possible to deepen the timbre. A
special apparatus constructed to reinforce certain frequencies o f a
complex sound while weakening others is called a filter. Physio­
logically, oral and nasal cavities together form an acoustic filter.
The distribution of intensity over particular frequency
ranges correlates with auditory timbre. The head register has low
intensity in low frequency ranges; a hollow voice has low inten­
sity in the high frequency ranges.
The concentration o f energy in certain frequency regions in
the production of a sound, or peak o f intensity, is known as a
formant or spectrum. Formants are numbered Fi F2 F3 from bot­
tom to top. The absence o f intensity between formants is called
antiresonance. Formants present intensity in different frequency
ranges.
The vowel sounds are specified by their first three formants.
Formants generally do not run parallel to the base line, but
are bent, which is the result o f a continuous change o f frequen­
cies. The F2 bendings o f all vowels often point to one particular
frequency range known as a locus. Its location depends on the ad­
jacent consonant. The locus is low for /р, Ы (approximately at 60
c/s), high for /ki, gi/ (approx, at 3000 c/s), medium for It, d/
(approx, at 1800 c/s).
Stops show up on the spectrogram as single spikes o f inten­
sity trills - as a succession o f somewhat wider spikes. The pic­
tures o f the curves are called spectrograms. The spectrograph
uses filters in order to amplify the intensity of a specific fre­
quency range and dampen all others. The spectrum is mathemati­
cally related to the wave and interprets any complex wave as a
series o f sinusoid waves o f different frequency. The basic fre­
quency o f the wave corresponds to an auditory pitch which is
characteristic of the voiced parts of speech signal.
The other sinusoid waves are known as harmonics or over­
tones. Harmonic waves correspond to the harmonic spectrum.
The non-periodic irregular harmonics correspond to the noise
spectrum. A mixed spectrum contains both harmonic and noise
elements. These different spectral types correspond to the audi­
tory resonance.
There is also a special apparatus called an oscillograph
which specifies acoustic data in terms of complex waves. The
curves which this apparatus reproduces are known as oscil­
lograms. In the oscillograms curves have time in the horizontal
dimension, and amplitude in the vertical dimension. It is possible
to use all the acoustic concepts already explained either in oscil-
lography or spectrography both o f which constitute a method of
acoustic analysis of speech signals.
All the acoustic properties except the duration of a sound
measured in time, determine the feature o f quality. The length or
duration of a sound is known as the quantity feature. The quantity
o f the sound depends on the tempo of speech (quick, normal,
slow), the length of an utterance, the position o f a sound (stressed
and unstressed, open and close syllables, the influence o f the pre­
ceding or following sound) etc. As we have seen there is a corre­
lation between the articulatory and acoustic aspects. For example,
a vocal resonance chart, based on spectrographic investigation, is
practically identical with the classical classification of the posi­
tion of the tongue: front - back; high - low. This fact was also
proved by X-ray photoes.
Different articulations bring different acoustic effects. The
correlation between the various movements of the speech organs
and the process of vibration can be determined by instrumental
analysis. In modem phonetics on the results o f instrumental re­
search all the articulatory - acoustic features o f different lan­
guages have been classified into twelve pairs forming binary
oppositions (the oppositions which contain two members like a -
b). (As to this classification see the following chapters of this
book).

1.3.3. The Perceptual (Auditory) Aspect

The way o f hearing speech utterances is the object of the


perceptual phonetics. It is a psychological perception which
- 17- ~
makes it possible to hear different noises which may be classified
in terms of three features: continuity, resonance and timbre.
Continuity. The stops /p, t, k, g etc./ consist of momentary
noise. The glides last somewhat longer but cannot be drawn out at
will (especially in English /h, j, w, r/, the short vowels and the
second elements of the diphthongs). The continuants can be
drawn out at will (spirants, nasals, /1/ and long vowels). The trills
consist of a rapid sequence of taps and can also be drawn out at
will (especially, the Scottish /г/ and the glottal catch which ac­
companies the fadeaway).
Resonance. The voiceless sounds consist of a silent noise.
The vowels are generated by the musical tone without any ob­
struction. The voiced obstruents (stops and fricatives) are charac­
terized by buss.
Tim bre. By the term timbre we mean the quality of the
voice, specified by the harmonic overtones and resonance tones
based on it. Auditorily it is called pitch and overall timbre. In
terms of overall timbre, the vowels, liquids and nasals are either
bright and thin (such as/i/), dark and full (such as /a:/) or dull and
neutral (such as hi). The English /1/ has a bright variant initially
in British English, but it is dark and full in most varieties of
American English. The hisses Is, zI are bright and thin, the hushes
/1 ,3 / bright and full, the spirants /f, 0/ dull and neutral.
Some linguists categorize timbre in terms of two dimen­
sions: grave (dull) - acute (bright), compact (full) - diffuse (thin).
The English stops may have burst variants (explosives) ini­
tially, snap variants (implosives) finally. The stops It, d/ have sin­
gle tap (flap) variants medially as in Betty - beddy in American
English. In British English /г/ has a similar tap variant medially
(as in bury) in the initial cluster /br/. Double stops consist of snap
+ momentary silence + burst medially in British and Australian
English. The snaps are rebased into a following vowel with a
slight click. No release is audible before a following consonant as
for IkJ in act, fact, ticked, like this. The voiceless bursts of Eng­
lish are known as aspirated and they are released into a weak
white noise.
The affricates /tj, dzl are bursts released into a hushy noise.
The glottalized stops have snaps in a final position in British Eng­
lish (that). As we have seen, the auditory aspect uses its own
terms as dark, light, full, thin, neutral, burst, click, snap, etc.
-18-
which may be interpreted in articulatory and acoustic terms.
There are also some other facts of perception in longer utterances
or segments realized in various pitch patterns and intonation con­
tours. The perceptual approach is of great theoretical and practical
value. Theoretically it is very important to study scientifically
how the language signal may be perceived by the listener. This
problem is closely coordinated not only by the psychological facts
of hearing, but the most important event lies on the neurological
basis that is controlled by the brain through the complex nervous
and sensory systems and also by muscular activity. The practical
significance of the perceptual approach may be proved by the
facts of mastering the pronunciation of a foreign language. Before
trying to produce a foreign language the students should listen to
them and perceive the differences between the sounds of their
own language and those of the foreign language. Listening, in this
case, becomes very important. The instructions in foreign lan­
guage pronunciation teaching usually begin with listening, than
the coming identifycation of speech utterances, transcribing, lis­
tening and repeating and at last writing notes on the elements to
be drilled1.

1.3.4. The Phonological Aspect

Any segment of a language consists of a sound chain which


is specified by some articulatory, acoustic and perceptual features.
But not all the phonetic features function to distinguish lexical
and grammatical forms. Some features serve to distinguish words,
morphemes and phrases and some of them cannot serve this pur­
pose. Thus, it is the functions of distinction and also identification
which is characteristic of all Unguistic units. According to their
functions phonetic units - sounds, syllables, stress and intonation
can be described linguistically and classified to some ranks,
groups and subgroups. The theoretical study which sets up to ac­
count all the phonetic distinction of a language is called phonol­
ogy. Some linguists prefer the terms phonemics and phonematics.
But the term phonology has become popular nowadays. Phono­
logy is not an autonomous and independent science. But it is one

1This type of approach is given in: A.C. Gimsort. A practical course of English pronun­
ciation. A perceptual approach. London, 1975, pp. 1-7.
o f the aspects o f studying phonetic data, otherwise it is a purely
linguistic and social aspect of studying phonetics.
Phonetics in the wider sense includes phonology as distinct
from morphology, syntax and stylistics. But in the narrow sense
the term phonetics is used, excluding phonology. These two types
of usage o f the term phonetics is observed in our country. For
some linguists there exist two aspects o f studying phonetic data:
phonetic - articulatory, acoustic and perceptual studies and pho­
nological - linguistic functions o f phonetic units. In both cases a
strict separation between phonetics as a natural science and pho­
nology as a linguistic science is not possible as there is a close re­
lationship between them. Although this type o f separation was
suggested by N.S. Trubetskoy and promoted by the representa­
tives o f structural linguistics. Without fathoming further into the
development of phonology and phonological schools (see chapter
II) let us discuss some basic concepts o f phonology. Phonetics
and phonology have two levels o f investigation: segmental and
suprasegmental. Segmental phonology studies phonemes realised
in various speech sounds. Suprasegmental phonology studies the
distinctive features realised in syllables, stress and intonation.
It is convenient to use the term phonemics for segmental
phonology as it refers to the term phoneme itself. As to su­
prasegmental phonology the term "prosodies" may be used. Thus,
phonology may be divided into phonemics and prosodies. Al­
though these terms were suggested and became popular in mod­
em linguistics we are using them in different senses. The
fundamental concept o f phonemics is the phoneme which is the
smallest unit of a language system. It is impossible to establish
the exact number o f speech sounds but, generalizing them all we
combine them into a certain number of phonemes, which are real,
and at the same time abstract units o f a language, as the language
itself is an abstract phenomenon realized in the form o f speech.
Thus, the dialectal unity of an abstract and concrete explains the
materialistic approach to the problem o f the phoneme.
There are several phonological theories in modern linguis­
tics. Every phonological theory suggests its own definition o f the
concept «the phoneme». But the term «phoneme» itself has not
been changed. Among the first founders of the term and the con­
cept o f «the phoneme» such outstanding linguists as I. A. Badouin
de Courtenay, N. Krushevsky (Russia), P. Passy (France), H.
Sweet (England), F. de Saussure (Switzerland) and others.
Phoneme is the smallest meaningless unit o f a language
which forms and distinguishes words and morphemes.
The phoneme is a minimal segment which cannot be divided
into further smaller units but for scientific analysis, it can be sepa­
rated from the material form (the sound structure) of the word.
Besides it exists in the form of a number of articulatory and
acoustically definite speech sounds, its allophones. All sounds of
this kind which have common articulatory and acoustic features
constitute the material invariant of the phoneme. It is due to con­
crete reality that the phoneme is manifested in speech chain in its
allophones which are pronounced objectively and differ from
each other to some degree.
The abstracted and generalized character of the phoneme is
reflected in its definition as a language unit. All the linguistic
units are established as a result of an abstraction and generaliza­
tion o f actual speech utterances. In general a phoneme cannot be
pronounced. We always pronounce one o f the allophones (vari­
ants) of the phoneme but unconsciously generalize all the allo­
phones as representatives of the same phoneme. For example, all
sounds o f «e —type» as /e t , e2, e3, ..., en/ = /e/) represent the pho­
neme /е/. The sound /е/ has its articulatory and acoustic features
as a front, half-close unrounded, short, lax vowel. But all these
features are established as a result o f phonemic abstraction. In re­
ality it is impossible to pronounce a sound many times in the
same way without changing its features. Every phoneme consists
o f a bundle o f features generalized from its allophones.
Another fundamental concept o f phonology is the phono­
logical opposition which is defined as opposition between the
speech sounds serving to distinguish the meanings o f words. For
example:
/p - tl - pool /pu:l/ - tool /tu:l/,
/1 —s/ —let /let/ - set /set/,
/г —1/ —right /rait/ - light /lait/, etc.
The words used to illustrate the phonological oppositions
are known as minimal pairs of words or guasyhomonyms (the
term suggested by L. V. Shcherba).
There is a classification of phonological oppositions accord­
ing to the relationship between the oppositions, between the
-21 -
members o f oppositions and the force of oppositions'. This type
of classification o f phonological oppositions is based on logic and
linguistic categorization o f phonetic data. Besides there is a prin­
ciple of preliminary phonological analysis suggested by V.A.
Vassilyev2. According to this principle all the phonological oppo­
sitions are classified into two-member oppositions but the main
difference between the members of opposition is based on the
number o f the distinctive features: single - when there is one dis­
tinctive feature (e. g. /p - 1/), double - when there are two distinc­
tive features (e. g. /p - d/) and complex when there are more than
two distinctive features (e. g. /p - if). There are also non-
phonological oppositions which cannot serve to distinguish
words. For example, the difference between aspirated /pA, t , кА/
and non-aspirated /p, t, к/ sounds is non-phonological. The feature
aspirated - non-aspirated is non-distinctive or phonologically ir­
relevant in modem English. A feature which is distinctive in one
language may be non-distinctive in another. The concept o f a dis­
tinctive feature is important to analize the character of phonologi­
cal oppositions.
The articulatory, acoustic and perceptual feature which can
distinguish two phonemes is called a distinctive feature. The fea­
ture which cannot serve this purpose is known as a non-distinctive
feature.
Every phoneme in relation to the other phoneme may be
characterized by this distinctive and non-distinctive feature. Thus,
a phoneme is a bundle o f distinctive features. In relation to the
phoneme the same phoneme's allophones have non-distinctive
feature such as the relation between /pV aspirated and /р/ non-
aspirated may be characterized by a non-distinctive feature. But
the common features of /р/ and /рл/ generalize the phoneme /р/
which is bilabial, plosive-occlusive, voiceless3.
As a linguistic unit the phoneme functions to distinguish
lexical and grammatical forms and in this way performs its com­
municative function in a language. Every phoneme with its allo­
phones is a member of a phonological opposition.

1H.C. Трубецкой. Основы фонологии. М., 1960, стр. 74-92.


2 VA. Vassilyev. English phonetics. A theoretical course. М., 1970, p. 136.
3 In transcription / / indicates phonemes and [ ] allophones or sounds.
The exact number o f the phonemes also called the inven­
tory o f the phoneme which exists in a certain language is estab­
lished by using the method of commutation. This method is
defined as substitution or replacing one speech sound by another
in the same position o f minimal pairs o f words. For example: pet
- bet - set - let - met - net - jet - get - vet.
Sometimes it is very difficult to discover minimal pairs. As
in the case of /tj/, /d3/, /0/, /3 / etc. it is possible to find a few
minimal pairs but no minimal pair exists for the opposition / J / —
/3/. But if there is no minimal pair in the language we must not
omit the phoneme from the inventory. Such as in Russian and
borrowed from it in Uzbek the phoneme /ts/ cannot be used in
minimal pairs but we describe it as a special phoneme which has
limited distribution. By the term distribution we mean all the po­
sitions and combinations in which a certain speech sound - a rep­
resentative of the phoneme is used. There are four types of
distribution.
1. If two elements cannot be used in the same position and
replace each other in one position they are considered to be in a
complementary distribution. For example, aspirated / p \ t \ khl
sounds can be used only before stressed vowels if they are not
preceded by /s/ and in the intervocalic position. But in all other
positions non-aspirated /p, t, к/ sounds are used. Thus / p \ t \ khl
sounds cannot replace /p, t, к/ sounds in the same position. They
represent the allophones of the /p, t, к/ phonemes. It is possible to
establish the allophones of the phoneme using complementary
distribution.
2. Tw o elem ents (sounds) may be used in one and the same
position and serve to distinguish the words. For exam ple, bill /bil/
- till /til/, sight /sait/ - bight /bait/ - night /nait/ - right /rait/ -
light /lait/ - might /mait/ etc.
Using contrast distribution it is possible to establish the
number of phonem es in a given language.
3. The elem ents (sounds) used in one and the same position
and which cannot distinguish the meanings o f words are consid­
ered to be in free variation. In such cases every sound manifests
the free allo-phone o f the phoneme. This type o f distribution is
known also as an equivalent distribution. For example, some
speakers pronounce /e / sound either half-close /e / or half-open Id
in one and the same position but it cannot distinguish the words.
-2 3-
4. Two various sounds may be used in one and the same po­
sition. In such cases one of the sounds represents the free allo­
phone of the other. For example, the word phonetics may be
pronounced as /fonetiks/, /founetiks/ and /fanetiks/ where the
sounds h i, h i represent the free allophones o f the phoneme /ou/.
In reality each of them is an allophone of the separate phoneme.
The distributional method is very important in phonological
analysis o f the sound structure. It is necessary to show also what
clusters of sounds the pattern of a language admits. The branch of
phonology which studies the possible clusters of sounds in words
and morphemes is known as «phonotactics»1.
Using the statistical method it is possible to establish the ex­
act number o f phonological oppositions in a language and the
number o f sound clusters in initial, medial and final positions of
the words. For example, in English, out of a theoretically possible
11,000 initial three member consonantal clusters at the beginning
o f a syllable, only about 40 occur. Of 576 possible combinations
o f two consonants, only 137 are utilized by the language2. There
are no initial three member consonantal clusters in Uzbek. Thus it
is difficult to teach the Uzbek students the pronunciation of the
initial three member consonantal clusters o f English.

1.4. TRANSCRIPTION. PHONETIC AND


PHONOLOGICAL TRANSCRIPTION

Transcription is of great theoretical and practical value as it


is used in the scientific-theoretical investigation o f the phonetic
systems and teaching foreign language pronunciation. Transcrip­
tion is a special phonetic alphabet by means of which the sound
system or a system of phonemes of a particular language is repre­
sented. Usually two principal types of transcription are distin­
guished: phonetic and phonological.
Phonetic transcription represents a system of sounds and
changes their pronunciation undergo. The symbols of a phonetic
transcription are enclosed in square brackets [ ]. Phonological
transcription denotes the system of segmental phonemes of a lan­
guage. Its symbols are denoted between two slanting bars / /.

1H.Kurath. A phonology and prosody of modern English. Ann. Arbor, 1964. pp. 30-31.
2 Joshua Whatmough. Language. A Modem Synthesis. 1956, p. 126.
The great difference between English spelling and pronun­
ciation makes the use and choose special phonetic symbols to
avoid misunderstanding. The transcription symbol of a certain
language is based on the International Phonetic Alphabet. The
most widely used transcription of English is known as «the broad
form» of phonetic transcription which was suggested by an out­
standing English linguist Daniel Jones. This transcription is used
in the well-known dictionary «The Concise Dictionary of Current
English» by Fowler's and in some other dictionaries. The phonetic
symbols used in the broad form of transcription are as followings:
Vowels: [i:, i, e, ae, a:, o , э : , u, u:, д , э : , э , ei, ou, ai, au, ,
0 1

ia, еэ, иэ, зэ].


Consonants: [p, b, t, d, k, g, s, z, tj, d3, f, v, 0, 3, J, 3, h, m,
n, Tl, 1, r, j, w].
Besides, there is a «narrow form» of phonetic transcription
used in some text-books and dictionaries. For example, in «Ox­
ford Student's Dictionary of Current English» by A.C. Hornby
with the assistance of Christina Ruse (Oxford University Press,
1978) the following phonetic symbols o f the vowels and diph­
thongs are used: [i, 1 , e, ae, a, d, о, и, и, л, 3 , э, эи (ou), ai, au, oi,
еэ, иэ, ээ.
There is no difference between the phonetic symbols o f the
broad and the narrow forms of transcription for the consonants.
Modern English diphthong /ои / is indicated by the symbol
/эи/ which is used in this book.
As to the transcription o f the American English vowels and
some consonants they are indicated by different symbols. H ow­
ever, the transcription symbols given in «А Pronouncing Diction­
ary o f American English» by John S. Kenyon and Thomas A.
Knott (Springfield, Mass., 1953) and in «А Concise Pronouncing
Dictionary of British and American English» by J. Windsor Lewis
(London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1972) are used in this book as well.
They resemble the symbols o f the narrow form of transcription.

1.5. PHONOLOGY AND ITS RELATION TO


OTHER BRANCHES OF LINGUISTICS

The description of a language includes its pronunciation, vo­


cabulary and the construction of utterances. An adequate description
of a language system requires its pronunciation to be divided into
-25 -
phonetics and phonology, vocabulary into lexics and semantics (or
lexicology) and the construction of utterances into morphology and
syntax. Besides, there are emotional expressive meanings of all lin­
guistic units studied in stylistics. There is a special object of descrip­
tion between phonology and morphology, namely «morphonology»
(or «phonomorphology»). Morphonology studies the alternations of
phonemes which do not depend on their positions in morphemes.
For example, in such words as success - succession, depress - de­
pression, imitate - imitation, construct - construction the pho­
nemes /s/ and /J/, /t/ and /J/ alternate with each other and their
alternation do not depend on their position in the structure of the
morphemes. It should be stated that morphonology has no special
linguistic unit of its own like stylistics. Morphonology borrows the
unit of phonology - the phoneme and uses it for its own purpose to
form morphonological alternations. Stylistics also uses the linguistic
units of other levels: phoneme, morpheme, word, word combination
and sentence, adding to them different emotional-expressive mean­
ings. In modem linguistics as in other sciences, there is a close rela­
tionship between all its branches and aspects of study.
The emotional-expressive means o f all phonetic units may
be studied by a new aspect namely phonostylistics. Besides, the
emotional-expressive meanings o f the words are studied by lexi­
cal stylistics. The emotional-expressive features o f the grammati­
cal construction may be studied by grammatical stylistics. In
traditional linguistics there are terms as «Morphological Phonet­
ics» and «Syntactical Phonetics» which are, to a certain extent,
equal to the modem terms «Segmental Phonetics» and «Su­
prasegmental Phonetics».
For the purpose of giving it an adequate description a lan­
guage system may be divided into hierarchically related linguistic
levels: phonology, morphonology, morphology, lexis, syntax and
stylistics. The levels which have their own linguistic units are
called basic levels. They are phonology - phoneme, morphology
- morpheme, syntax -word combination and sentence, lexis -
word. The linguistic levels, which have no special units of their
own, are called non-basic levels: morphonology and stylistics.
But all the linguistic levels are closely connected by the sound
material o f a language. Any morpheme or word combination or a
phrase has its own sound structure or stress and intonation struc­
ture. For example, fish /fij/ being a morpheme and at the same
- 26 -
time a word, consists of three phonemes ordered in a strict form: 1
—/f/, 2 —Ы, 3 - l\l and has its own stress. On the other hand the
word fishing consists of two morphemes and five phonemes. The
first syllable of the word fishing is stressed. The word combina­
tion a good fishennan /a'gud'fijamsn/ is made up of eleven pho­
nemes and two main stresses. The phrase: He is a good fisherman
/lii:iz э' 'gud'fibmsn/ consists o f fifteen phonemes, three sentence
stresses and the falling intonation. Certainly, this description is
necessary in order to have a general idea o f the relationship o f lin­
guistic levels in language description.
There are other scientific approaches explaining the rela­
tions between the linguistic levels as well.
The phonological structure of a language is not just a hierar­
chical organization of phonemes and sequences o f phonemes,
such as syllables in «higher» units like words which consist of
many syllables, word combinations and sentences. These higher
units also have their own distinctive features. For example, the
sequence o f syllables present /pri - zent/ forms two different units
'present and pre'sent representing different accentual patterns Г-I
and /-'/ which function in a different way morphologically, as a
noun and a verb. Similarly, at a still higher level stress and intona­
tion together serve to distinguish phrases:
'Bob isn’t coming tonight (but John is).
Bob isn’t coming to'night (but tomorrow).
What is informed by means of the sound material is called
the linguistic communication. Any deliberate manipulation by
means of gesture, posture, facial and bodily expression, and the
tempo, pitch and quality of speech is called paralinguistic (from
the greek word «рага» - beyond linguistics) communication. A
linguistic communication which is verbal may be accompanied by
a non-linguistic or paralinguistic means o f communication. For
example:
Take th at. . . (gesture)
And how is ... (accompanied by a rising of the eyebrows).
Paralinguistic means known as vocal qualifiers can be pro­
duced by various phenomena in the throat and larynx. They are
somewhat close to the phonetic features. The following are examples
of paralinguistic means: vocal qualifiers - a whisper, a murmur, a
creaky voice, drawled or clipped voice etc. Tension or laxness in the
throat or larynx: a whistle, laugh, giggle, hiccup, gasp, belch, grunt,
scream, sob, cry, sing, hiss etc.
In the description o f a language it is necessary to establish
the facts concerning the way sound material or usually named
phonic substance is used to carry grammatical and lexical mean­
ings. In such minimal pairs o f words as take - make /teik - meik/,
bet /bet/ - bat /baet/ etc. phonological oppositions between /t/ and
/mI, I d and /ае/ distinguish the lexical meanings of these words.
But the contrasts made in the English intonation are grammatical,
but clearly not lexical1. For example, the phrase He has come -
may be pronounced by the falling tone when it is a declarative
sentence. It can also be pronounced in a rising tone to indicate an
interrogative sentence (a question) or when it is an exclamatory
sentence the tone of voice is very high and the timbre is emo­
tional. Thus, phonological units and their features may be used as
a part o f the system in the realization o f grammatical and lexical
items. There is no direct consequence between the sound material
and the meaning, but this relationship must be understood in the
sense o f providing «a bridge» between the form and substance of
a language. Thus, the relations between phonetics and other
branches of linguistics are complex and complicated which re­
quire the use o f a different linguistic interpretation.
The sound matter is realized in the form of speech sounds,
syllables, stress and intonation. The complex combination o f all
these phonetic units constitutes the components of the phonetic
structure. When these units are used in the phonological sense, i.e.
as the distinctive units they are called phonemes, syllabemes, ac-
centemes (word-accenteme, syntagm-accenteme, phrase-
accenteme) and intonemes. The complex combination of all these
phonological units constitutes the components of the phonological
structure of a language. It should be stated that among these units
only phoneme is regarded as a linguistic unit which is always pre­
sent in any kind of language expression.
The relationship between phonology and other branches of
linguistics is outlined in the given diagram:

1 M .A.K. H alliday. Intonation and Grammar in British English Mouton, 1967, p. 10.
- 28 -
Non - Linguistic Relationship
(ParaLinguisticsj

Kinesics Types ofphonation


:z ; ;;;;
Gestures, murmurs, 1Voice quality, personal articulatory setting,
postures etc. I special tempo, pitch, timbre, register etc.
PH O NO LO G ICAL THEORIES

II.I. I.A. BAUDOUIN DE COURTENAY’S THEORY


OF PHONOLOGY

The formation o f the phonological theory may be divided


into two periods:
1. The «prephoneme» period, i.e. when there was no dis­
tinction between «speech sound» and «phoneme» until 1870;
2. The «phonemic» period, which began in 1870 and in­
cludes the twentieth century. In this period the basic phonetic and
phonological terms and concepts were proposed, and the distinc­
tion between the actually pronounced speech sounds and the pho­
nemes as functional units o f the language was recognized. The
first linguist to point out this distinction was I. A. Baudouin de
Courtenay (1845-1929), an outstanding Russian and Polish
scholar.
I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay defined the phoneme as the
«psychological» equivalent o f the speech sound». But he was
aware o f the fact that acoustic and motor images o f the speech
sound do not correspond to each other. I. A. Baudouin de Cour­
tenay also tried to analyse phonemes on the bases o f phonetic al­
ternations in morphemes. Besides psychological and
morphological definitions o f the phoneme, he could propose the
distinctive function o f the speech sound in notions' as he consid­
ered that words may be realized in notions. I.A. Baudouin de
Courtenay repeatedly stated that semantically the utterance breaks
up into sentences, sentences into significative words, words into
morphological components or morphemes and morphemes into
phonemes. As a morpheme is only divided into components o f the
same nature as itself: these components - phonemes must also be
significative.

' И. А. Бодуэн де Куртене. Избранные труды по общему языкознанию. М., 1963, Т.1,
с. 384.
He admitted the division of morphemes into physical or
physiological elements to be unjustified in linguistic analysis'. He
criticized N. V. Krushevsky's conception of this problem. Inci-
dently, N. V. Krushevsky, was one of his students who introduced
the term «phoneme» at the same time as F. de Saussure, an emi­
nent Swiss linguist did. I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay's fundamen­
tal ideas had a great influence on the development of later
phonological theories both in our country and abroad. In early
phonological works many linguists defined the phoneme as
«sound image», «conscious sound image», «sound intent» (N. S.
Trubetzkoy), and also as the sum of acoustic impressions and of
articulatory movements (F. de Saussure) but none of them sug­
gested any other to substitute the term «phoneme». Nevertheless
I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay's psychological interpretation of the
phoneme concept could not lead to an obliteration of the bound­
ary between sound and phoneme; it was merely a terminological
mixture of psychological and linguistic concepts which greatly in­
fluenced each other in that period. Many interesting ideas stating
linguistic functions of speech sounds may be found in his works.
He showed the articulatory - acoustic, morphological and seman­
tic aspects of sound . material and their relationship. I. A. Bau­
douin de Courtenay's idea of the distinctive-semantic function of
speech sound was very important in relation to the modem theory
of distinctive features of the phoneme, according to which the
phoneme of a given language may be divided from a system of
sequences which is formed by their constituents, i.e. by distinctive
features. As the morphemes may be divided into phonemes, like­
wise phonemes are divided into distinctive features which are in­
terpreted either in articulatory or acoustic terms. Inspite of the
various approaches to the problem of establishing an inventory of
the phonemes in a given language, which should be possible on
the basis of breaking up utterances or words into the smallest
segments or by the method of commutation test, counting mini­
mal pairs of words like pill - bill, till - mill, kill - hill etc. The
fundamental discussion on the problems of phonemic analysis is
still going on among phonemicists.

1R. Jakobson. Selected Wrintings. I. Mouton, 1962, p. 418.


-31 -
II.2. THE St. PETERSBURG PHONOLOGICAL
SCHOOL. L.V. SHCHERBA'S PHONEMIC
CONCEPT

The St. Petersburg Phonological School’s theory is closely


connected with the name o f academician Lev Vladimirovich
Shcherba (1880-1944), a talanted student o f I. A. Baudouin de
Courtenay. L. V. Shcherba developed the phonemic concept rep­
resented by his research advisor. L.V. Shcherba repeatedly
stressed the differential function of the phoneme. He gave the fol­
lowing definition of the phoneme: «The shortest general sound
image of a given language, which is capable of associating with
images o f meaning differentiating words, ..., is called phoneme»1.
In this definition besides the term «sound image», which shows
the influence of psychology, everything is clear from the phono­
logical view point. Although L.V. Shcherba realized that pho­
nemes are not general images in the logical sense, he considered
phonemes as concrete sound images which are the result o f dif­
ferent perceptions. L.V. Shcherba illustrated his phonemic theory
with examples from various languages. The quantitative and
qualitative variations in the pronunciations o f languages may de­
pend on their phonetic structures and linguistic habits the sum of
which L.V. Shcherba called the articulation basis.
He emphasized the importance o f the variants of phoneme.
For example, citing D. Jones’ idea o f the existence of two allo­
phones of the phoneme III in English - dark and clear L.V.
Shcherba wrote that they cannot be associated with meanings
consciously. As for the Russian pair of ль - л it is capable to dis­
tinguish meanings: бил - был. Thus L.V. Shcherba emphasized
the practical value of sound types in the pronunciation of a given
language. He explained that in concrete speech we pronounce a
number o f speech sounds which may be summed up in a com­
paratively small number of sound types capable o f distinguishing
words and word forms. Such sound types are called phonemes.
Actually pronounced speech sounds, in which phonemes may be
realized, would be called the phoneme shades (allophones or vari­

1Jl.B. Щерба. Языковая система и речевая деятельность. Изд. «Наука», Л., 1974, с.
116.
ants of the phoneme). But among those shades of the phoneme
usually there may be one that is the typical representative of the
phoneme which can be pronounced isolately, actually, this is what
is perceived by us consciously as an element of speech. All other
shades cannot be understood consciously and it is difficult to per­
ceive them all by ear normally. These explanations make it clear
to understand the distinction between general sound types and
concrete speech sounds, which can prove the distinction between
a phoneme and allophone (speech sound).
L.V. Shcherba also indicated three aspects of speech sounds:
biological (physiological), physical and linguistic (social), of
which he paid special attention to the last aspect. In speech com­
munication physiologically and physically different articulations
(for example [a]) may be generalized by one meaning. Such a
generalized unit is called a phoneme. Thus, L.V. Shcherba under­
lined the concrete, generalized and functional aspects of the
phoneme. He explained that each phoneme may be distinguished
from all other phonemes by its features, while all the phonemes of
a given language form a unit system of oppositions in which each
phoneme is defined by its oppositions against another separate
phoneme or phoneme groups.
L.V. Shcherba invented his own system of transcription. He
wrote about different pronunciation styles and advanced very in­
teresting ideas on the subjective and objective methods of scien­
tific investigation. L.V. Shcherba’s phonological theory was
developed and improved by many linguists. His followers and
pupils L.R. Zinder, M.I. Matusevich, L.V. Bondarko, A.N. Gvoz­
dev, V.I. Litkin, Y.S. Maslov, O.I. Dickushina are representatives
of the St. Petersburg phonological school.
L.R. Zinder defines the phoneme as the smallest, i.e. indi­
visible in time (or linearly) unit, but from the structural view
point, it may have different features some of which are considered
to be common with other phonemes and some other features
which distinguish it from all other phonemes. The phoneme is
very complex unit and it may be realized in different allophones
(or shades, variants). There are two of allophones: positional and
combinatory i.e. depending on their positions and on the
neighbouring sounds. If the distinctions between the sounds are
not capable of distinguishing the meanings of words or word-
forms, then such sounds are the allophones of a phoneme. For ex-
- 33 -
ample, let us examine consonant sounds t, t°, t', t'° in the words
так /tak/, тот /t°ot/, стяг /st'ak/, тётя /t'ot'b/ etc. The distinction
between the first and second sounds, and between the third and
fourth sounds can not serve to distinguish the meanings of the
words. Thus, they represent one phoneme. The distinctions be­
tween the first and the third sounds and between the second and
fourth sounds are capable of differentiating the meanings of the
words. Therefore they may represent different phonemes. Accord­
ingly we can state that some sound distinctions may be phone-
matic and some of them may be phonetic1.
L. R. Zinder points out the reality of the phoneme i. e, its ex­
istence in a given language, being the sound unit of a language
phoneme through its different representatives may have very
complex phonetic characteristics. Besides, being independent and
autonomous unit of a language expression, the phoneme can be
separated from the sound material of words. For example, the
word прут /prut/, may be broken up into /p/, /r/, /u/, /t/2. This
comes from the descrete character of the phoneme. L. R. Zinder
also proposes rules to determine phonemes and phoneme combi­
nations. He thoroughly analyses the most valuable phonological
ideas of I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay, L. V. Shcherba, N. S.
Trubetzkoy and other linguists.
It must be kept in mind that the St. Petersburg Phonological
School's definition of a phoneme is based on words and word-
forms, i.e. the phoneme is the smallest unit capable of differentiat­
ing words and word forms. This phonemic concept is applied to
the description of English phonemes by G. P. Torsuyev, V.
A.Vassilyev, О. I. Dickushina and V. N. Vitomskaya.

II.3. THE MOSCOW PHONOLOGICAL SCHOOL

Another scientific approach to the phoneme concept in Rus­


sia is known as the Moscow phonological school. This school is
represented by R.I. Avanesov, V.N. Sidorov, A.A. Reformatsky
(1901-1978), P.S. Kuznetzov (1899-1968), A.M. Sukhotin, M.V.
Panov, N.F. Jakovlev. One of the first linguists to give a defini­
tion of phoneme void of psychologic elements was N.F. Jakovlev:

1Jl.P. Зиндер. Общая фонетика. М., 1979, с. 42-58.


2Л.Р. Зиндер. Указ, соч., с. 56-58.
«Phonemes are understood those phonic properties that can be
analysed from the speech flow as the shortest elements serving to
differentiate units of meaning1.
The representatives of the Moscow phonological school
based their definition of a phoneme on the concept of the mor­
pheme. A.A. Reformatsky gave the following definition of the
phoneme: «Phonemes are minimal units of the sound structure of
a language, serving to form and differentiate meaningful units:
morphemes and words»2. Phonemes are meaningless units of a
language but they are capable of distinguishing meaningful units
as their sequences may form morphemes and words. For example,
pit - lit, but - bet etc.
Analysing the sound changes in the morphemic structure of
a language, it is possible to establish two different positions:
stressed and unstressed. In a stressed position phonemes can
preserve their phonetic characteristics, while in an unstressed po­
sition they change their articulatory and acoustic features. This
fact is very important in the phonetic analysis of Russian vowels.
In the Russian word вода (vad' дJ there are two variants or allo­
phones of the phoneme /л/: stressed and unstressed, which are dif­
ferent as to their quantitative feature because usually stressed
vowels are longer than unstressed ones. But if we take the word-
forms воды /vodi/, водный /vodnij/, водяной /va djanoj/ in the
morpheme вод we can distinguish the sound alternations /л' - о -
э/. In such cases R. I. Avanesov proposes to define each member
of alternations /л' - о - э/ as variants of one phoneme /о/. Like­
wise in the words вода /vacL\V, вод /vot/, воде /vAde/ the conso­
nants /t/ and /d/ may also be interpreted as variants of the
phoneme /d/, but the members of alternations /d —t —d '/ may be
considered as the realizations of one phoneme. In all these cases
the relationship between the notions of phoneme and morpheme
becomes very important. In such alternations, which depend on
their position in morphemes or words, and there are no distinctive
functions between the members of alternations, it is possible to
use the term phonemic line («фонемный ряд»). According to
R.I. Avanesov a phoneme is an element of a wordform and «pho­

1N.S. Trubetzkoy. Principles of Phonology. Univ. of California Press, 1969, p. 51.


2 А.А. Реформатский. Введение в языковедение. М., 1967, с. 211.
nemic line» is an element of a morpheme1. There are some differ­
ences in the phonemic solutions of the representatives of this
school. A.A. Reformatsky did not use the term «phonemic line».
Thanks to the perceptual and significative functions, he divided
the stressed and unstressed positions into the following types:
perceptually the stressed position is that where a phoneme is rep­
resented in its basic form independent of its position; as to the un­
stressed position, where under the influence of positions, a
phoneme is represented in its variations. For example, in the
words мал - мял and мил - мыл we can observe pairs of vo­
wels Ы - /ае/ and /и/ - /ы/. In the first pair the basic form of the
phoneme is /а/, while /ае/ is variation, likewise in the second pair
/и/ is the basic form of the phoneme, while /ы/ is its variation.
Phonemes organize different phonological oppositions, re­
sulting in their significant functions. In a stressed position pho­
nemic oppositions may be preserved, while in an unstressed
position they are neutralized. Usually neutralization is the result
of coincidence of two phonemes which are differentiated by one
feature. For example, in words плод and плот, луг and лук
voiced consonants become voiceless at the end of words. The
Moscow phonologists suggested the term «hyperphoneme» which
is defined as a unit which appears in the position of neutralization
of a group of phonemes. For example, in Russian neutralization
may take place in unstressed syllables where the vowels /а/, /о/,
/i/, /e/, /u/ can be distinguished from each other; in this case they
are not phonemes but hyperphonemes /а/ о, i /е/ and Inf1. The unit
hyperphoneme as presented by the Moscow phonologists does not
coincide with the «archiphoneme» unit suggested by the Prague
phonological school. The latter is understood as a unit, when two
phonemes, distinguished only by one feature, for example, voiced
- voiceless consonants /p - b/, /t —d/ etc., may coincide with their
feature in the position of neutralization: луг - лук, пруд - прут.
In such cases archiphonemes /р/b and t/d/ may appear in Russian.
Phonemes and their distinctive features differ. A phoneme is
a sum of distinctive features. Distinctive sounds, i.e. phonemes and
distinctive features are considered to be two levels of the phono-

1 Р.И. Аванесов. Русская литературная и диалектная фонетика. М., Просвеще­


ние, 1974, с.30-37.
2 А. А. Реформатский. Из истории отечественной фонологии. Очерк. Хрестома­
тия. М., «Наука», 1970, с. 164.
logical structure o f a language. The level of distinctive features is
called «merismatic level». One of the fundamental notions of pho­
nology is that of position, which creates conditions for the realiza­
tion of phonemes in speech. Positions may depend not only on the
phonetic context but also on the morphological conditions. For ex­
ample, in joining basic and affixal morphemes some sound combi­
nations become an affricate: штатский, шведский where /тс/
and /дс/ form the affricate luj.
Some Moscow phonologists, especially, A. A. Reformatsky
gave a classification o f phonological oppositions and presented a
new approach to the problem o f neutralization. It should be stated
that their theory is commonly applied to the description of Rus­
sian phonemes; it was also fruitful in the analysis of the phono­
logical systems o f other languages. The Moscow phonologists
described the supersegmental features o f syllables, stress and in­
tonation. Besides, they improved the morphonological theory ad­
vanced by N.S. Trubetzkoy. According to A.A. Reformatsky
morphonology is a «bridge» level between phonology and mor­
phology. N.S. Trubetzkoy included almost all the phonemic alter­
nations into morphonology and used the term «morphoneme».
However, morphonology must not only study the alternations of
segmental phonemes but can analyse the alternations of su­
prasegmental elements, i.e. stress alternations in morphemes. In
the Russian words рука - ручной, нога - ножной, слух -
послушный we can observe alternations both of a segmental and
suprasegmental character. Such alternations in English as foot -
feet, tooth - teeth, ox - oxen, child - children, which are inter­
preted as morphonological by the American linguists, belong to
the grammatical meanings formed by the internal inflexion1. The
alternations, which do not depend on their positions in morphem­
es, would be studied in morphonology.

II.4. THE PRAGUE PHONOLOGICAL SCHOOL

The fundamental scientific works have been done by the


representatives o f the Prague phonological school - well-known
linguists W. Matezius (1882-1945), B. Havranek (1893-1978),

1 А.А. Реформатский. Ещё раз о статусе морфонологии, её границах и задачах. В


книге «Фонологические этюды». М., изд. «Наука», 1975, с. 108-118.
N.S. Trubetzkoy (1890-1938), В. Tmka, I. Vachek, V. Skalichka
and others. Among them very important phonological ideas were
advanced by the Russian scholar N.S. Trubetzkoy. In his book
«Principles of Phonology» first published in German in 1939,
N.S. Trubetzkoy discussed the relation of phonology to other
studies, the nature of phonemes and their variants, how to deter­
mine the phonemes of a language, relations between phonemes in
general analysis and in particular languages, the classification of
phonological and non-phonological oppositions, neutralzation,
mono- and biphonemic combinations, phonological statistics,
boundary-markers (junctures) and prosodic elements (syllables,
stress and intonation). His theoretical work on phonology shows
«... the breadth of Trubetzkoy's knowledge and the intricacy and
incisiveness and cerebral character of his scientific analysis»1.
N.S. Trubetzkoy came to the phoneme concept through the
classification of phonological oppositions. The concept of dis­
tinctiveness presupposes the concept of opposition. One thing can
be distinguished only from another thing insofar as a relationship
of opposition exists between the two. Likewise one sound prop­
erty may be opposed to another phonic property. Oppositions of
sound, capable of differentiating the lexical meaning of two
words in a particular language are phonological or phonologically
distinctive or distinctive oppositions. In contrast, those opposi­
tions of sound that do not have this property are phonologically
irrelevant or nondistinctive. For example, in English the opposi­
tion /e - as/ as in /bet - baet/ phonological (distinctive) while the
opposition between aspirated /pA, t \ к / and non-aspirated /p, t, к/
sounds and also opposition between dark and soft /1/ sounds are
non-distinctive as there is not a single word pair in English that is
differentiated by these oppositions. Each member of a phonologi­
cal opposition is called a phonological (or distinctive) unit. Pho­
nological units that, from the standpoint of a given language,
cannot be analysed into still smaller successive distinctive units
are called phonemes. N. S. Trubetzkoy points out that phonemes
should not be considered as «building blocks» out of which indi­
vidual words are assembled. Each word is a phonic entity and the
phonemes are then the distinctive marks of the configurations of

1Zellig S. Harris. Review of «Grundzuge der Phonology» by N.S. Trubetzkoy. In «Pho­


nological Theory. Evolution and currect practice», N.Y., 1972, p. 301.
words. Sounds participate in phonological oppositions only by
means of their phonologically relevant properties. Another defini­
tion of phoneme given by N. S. Trubetzkoy is «the sum phonologi­
cally relevant properties of a sound (laut-gebilde)»1.
Phonemes are functional sounds of a language while speech
sounds are the realizations or manifestations of phonemes in
speech. This distinction between language and speech was bor­
rowed by N.S. Trubetzkoy from F. de Saussure's and K. Biihler's
works. N.S. Trubetzkoy insisted on defining a phoneme solely on
the basis of its function in the system of a language.
One of the rules for the determination of phonemes was
formulated in the following way: «If two sounds occur in exactly
the same position and cannot be interchanged without a change in
the meaning of the words or without rendering the word unrecog­
nizable, the two sounds are phonetic realizations of two different
phonemes»2. For example in beet /bi:t/ - but /bAt/, /i:/ and Ы are
interpreted as realizations of two different phonemes.
The rule for the determination of individual phonemes and
phoneme combinations is very important in solving the problem
of phonemic interpretation of diphthongs and affricates. N.S.
Trubetzkoy wrote: «A combination of sounds can be interpreted
as the realization of a single phoneme only if it is produced by a
homogeneous articulatory movement or by the progressive disso­
lution of an articulatory complex»3. This rule was illustrated by
the English diphthongs /ei/ and /ou/ which are regarded as mono-
phonematic. This rule is solely phonetic but not phonematic as it
is based on the articulatory movement, i.e. it is an articulatory
characteristics of a diphthong. This is one of the interesting points
which clearly show the close relationship of phonetics and pho­
nology separated by N. S. Trubetzkoy into two independent sci­
ences.
According to another rule if the constituent parts of combi­
nations of sound are not distributed over two syllables then such
combinations of sounds are to be regarded as the realization of
single phonemes. This rule is true for the English diphthongs and

1 MS. Trubetzkoy. Principles of Phonology. (Trans. C. A. Baltaxe). Univ. of California


Press, 1969, p. 52. All other quatations have been taken from this translation.
2 N.S. Trubetzkoy. Id., p. 62.
3 N.S. Trubetzkoy. Id., p. 66.
affricates /tj/, /d3/. The combinations of sounds which cannot be
determined by the rules are called phoneme clusters.
N.S. Trubetzkoy presented the classification of phonological
oppositions in terms of logic. Two things which have no features
in common cannot be contrasted, likewise two phonemes which
have no common features cannot be opposed. Firstly, oppositions
are classified in relation to the entire system of oppositions. Ac­
cording to this principle oppositions may be unidimensional and
pluridimensional (or bilateral and multilateral). Two phonemes
possessing a common feature, which no other phoneme has, are in
unidimensional opposition. For example in English /t-d/, /p-b/, /k-
g/, /b-m/, /d-n/, /g-T|/ /f-v/, /s-z/, /s-j/, /z-3/, /t-tj/, /d-d3/, /r-1/ are
unidimensional (bilateral) oppositions.
Two phonemes, whose feature is common to some other
phoneme, are in pluridimensional (multilateral) opposition. For
example, the opposition /b - d/ in English is pluridimensional as
the common features of the members of this opposition (plosive +
voiced + lenis are characteristic of the phoneme /g/.
According to N.S.Trubetzkoy the unidimensional opposi­
tions are fewer but more interesting than the others. Pairs of pho­
nemes, having similar oppositions between them, are called
proportional oppositions. In English pairs of phonemes /p-b/, /t-
d/, /s-z/, /1-3/, /0 - 5 /, /tj-d3/, /f-v/, /k-g/ have similar oppositions in
which the distinctive feature is voiceless - voiced (resp. fortis -
lenis (tense — lax). These pairs of phonemes constitute propor­
tional oppositions.
If there is no pair of phonemes in similar relation to the ex­
isting pair of phonemes, such an opposition is called isolated. For
example, /г-L/ is an isolated opposition in English, Russian and
Uzbek.
Secondly, oppositions may be classified on the basis of rela­
tionship between their members. According to this principle they
may be private, gradual and equipollent.
If the member of opposition is differentiated from the other
by one distinctive feature such an opposition is called private. For
example, /d-t/, /f-v/ etc. Which differentiated by a voiced-
voiceless (resp. fortis-lenis) feature. The member of such an op­
position, characterized by the presence of a feature, is called
marked and the member of opposition, which is characterized by
the absence of a feature, is called unmarked. Thus, a voiced mem­
ber is marked (+) while an unvoiced member is unmarked (-).
Gradual oppositions are those whose members are character­
ized by different gradations of one and the same feature. In English
/i:-a:/ according to the hights of the tongue they may be distin­
guished as close-open where half-open and half close members
are omitted. Likewise /р-к/ is a gradual opposition, because, ac­
cording to the place of articulation, /р/ is labial and /к/ is backlin-
gual, between which forelingual (alveolar, apical) and interlingual
/j/ members of opposition are omitted.
If both members of opposition have the same distinctive fea­
tures except one, which is different, such an opposition is called
equipollent. In English /p-f/, /b-v/, /t-0/, /d~3/, /k-h/ are equipol­
lent oppositions.
Thirdly, oppositions may be classified on the basis of dis­
tinctive force and their occurrence in different positions according
to which oppositions may be neutralizable and constant. In par­
ticular positions the feature of one member of the opposition may
have a different distinctive force. As in Russian and in Uzbek
voiced members of the oppositions become unvoiced at the end of
words: пруд /прут/, teg/tek/ - tek/tek etc. The opposition where
the opposition is neutralized is called the position of neutraliza­
tion.
N.S.Trubetzkoy stated that usually only unidimensional (bi­
lateral) oppositions may be neutralized. In the position of neu­
tralization one of the phonemes becomes the representative of an
archiphoneme. An archiphoneme is the sum of the relevant (dis­
tinctive) features common to both members of the opposition. In
the above examples:

/d /\
/t/ archiphoneme
/tK

This unit may have different features in other languages.


The unidimensional, privative, proportional oppositions, the
members of which are in similar relations with each other, are
combined into correlation: /p-b/, /t-d/, /s-z/, /J-3/, /f-v/, /tj-d3/, /0-
б/, /k-g/. Such pairs of phonemes are called correlation pairs and
the feature voiced - voiceless (resp. Fortis - lenis) is called the
feature o f correlation.
Constant oppositions are those which are not neutralized in
some positions and always preserve their distinctive features. But
there may be cases when two phonemes are opposed in some po­
sitions but not in others. For example, English /р/ and 1Ы are not
opposed after Isl, because only one o f them can occur after /s/ as
in the word spin. Such types o f neutralization is called contextual
which appear in many languages. After N.S.Trubetzkoy’s defini­
tion of neutralization there were attempts to classify neutraliza­
tions into several other types1.
N.S.Trubetzkoy advanced a valuable theory and methods
available in paradigmatic analysis of phonemes i.e. in establishing
phonological and non-phonological oppositions. But there are
some shortcomings in his description of syntagmatic relations of
phonemes. N.S.Trubetzkoy’s theory was applied to the descrip­
tion of the phonemic system o f English by B.Tmka, J.Vachek2, by
V.A.Vassilyev3 and A.Cohen4.

II.5. THE LONDON PHONOLOGICAL SCHOOL

There is a long tradition of phonetic and phonological stud­


ies in England. One of the first linguists who made a serious study
in English phonetics was Henry Sweet. He distinguished broad
and narrow transcriptions and gave the classification o f English
vowels and consonants in his “Handbook o f Phonetics” (Oxford,
1877).
Under “The London Phonological School” we mean the
theory and methods of phonetic and phonological analysis pro­
posed by the British linguists. This school is represented by J.R.
Firth, Daniel Jones, D. Abercrombie, I. Ward, L. Armstrong, D.
B. Fry, H. Kingdon, J.D. O ’Connor, A.C. Gimson. The British
linguists presented original idea on phonemic and prosodic analy­

1B.K. Журавлёв. К проблеме нейтрализации фонологических оппозиций. ВЯ,


1972, №3. с. 36-49.
2 В. Ттка. A phonological analysis of Present-day standard English. Univ. of Alabama
Press, 1968. И. Вахек. Пражские фонологические исследования сегодня. В книге
«Пражский лингвистический кружок». М., Изд. «Прогресс», 1967, с. 100-114.
3 В.А. Васильев. Система фонологических оппозиций Н. С. Трубецкого в примене­
нии к английскому языку. М., МГПИИЯ им. М. Тореза, 1973.
4 A. Cohen. The Phonemes of English. The Hague, 1965.
- 42-
sis. Well-known British linguist D. Jones and J.R. Firth gave brief
explanations of the phoneme concept.
D Jones admits the fact that the idea of the phoneme was
first introduced to him by Leningrad professor L.V. Shcherba in
1911, but both the theory and the term itself had existed for more
than thirty years even then. D. Jones wrote: “According to J.R.
Firth the term “phoneme” was invented as distinct from “phone”
in 1879 by Krushevskiy”1. Thus, both outstanding English lin­
guists were familiar with theory and term “phoneme” used by
Russian linguists.
D. Jones prefers to speak about an “explanation” of pho­
neme rather than a “definition”, the latter is impossible without
making use of terms such as “language”, “speech sounds” and
“words”. He gave the following explanation of a phoneme: "... a
phoneme is a family of sounds in a given language which are re­
lated in character and are used in such a way that no one member
ever occurs in word in the same phonetic context as many other
members”2. D. Jones explanation of a phoneme is a physical
(acoustic) one, since the phoneme is treated as a “family of
sounds” His physical interpretation is distinct from the articula­
tory approach to the phoneme. D. Jones explained a phoneme on
the basis of auditory distinctions, which only secondarily is based
on presumed articulatory positions. He also distinguishes “princi­
pal and subsidiary member” of the phoneme which are equal to
the terms “allophone” and a “variant” of the phoneme. According
to his view point a phoneme consists of more than one member,
and one of the sounds seems more important and common than
the others, or because it is the one used in isolation or is interme­
diate between extreme members. Such a sound is called by D.
Jones the “principal members of the phoneme” . The other sounds
in the same phoneme are called “subsidiary members” . One of the
rules for the determination of a phoneme is that if two sounds of a
language can occur in the same phonetic context they belong to
separate phonemes. For instance, /i/ and /э/ belong to separate pho­
nemes in English because they can both occur initially before the
same consonant as in the words illusion /i'lu: 3n/ - allusion /э’1и:
3n/. Such differences between phonemes are significant i.e. capa­

1 D. Jones. The phoneme: its nature and use. Cambridge, 1950, preface.
2 D. Jones. The phoneme: its nature and use. Heffner, Cambridge, 1950, ch. И, p. 31.
-43-
ble of distinguishing one word from another. These ideas of D.
Jones emphasize the importance of the semantic function of pho­
nemes in a language. Two members of the same phoneme cannot
be significant if they cannot distinguish words. The aspirated /кА/
and non-aspirated /к/ sounds as members of the phoneme /к/ can­
not distinguish two words and they are used in different positions.
The aspirated /кА/ is used before vowels while non-aspirated /к/ is
used in all other positions in English.
Besides the phoneme concept D.Jones presented his ideas
on the problems of syllable structure, stress and intonation applied
to the description of English in a number of his works, particu­
larly in “Outline of English Phonetics” (Cambridge, 1957), “The
pronunciation of English” (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1956) etc. D.
Jones' “Everyman’s English Pronouncing Dictionary” (reprinted
with minor correction and short supplement. Eleventh edition, L.,
1958) is the best handbook on literary British pronunciation. The
well-known English Unguist J.R. Firth who is considered to be the
head of the London Phonological school, began to work in the
area of phonology in 1930 although his fundamental work
“Sounds and Prosodies” was published in 1948. J.R. Firth distin­
guished prosodic system from phonematic system on the basis of
the analysis of works. J.R. Firth stated: “Looking at language ma­
terial from a syntagmatic point of view, any phonetic features,
characteristic of and peculiar to such positions or junctions, can
just as profitably and perhaps more profitably be stated as proso­
dies of the sentence or word. Penultimate stress or functional
geminations are also obvious prosodic features in the syntagmatic
junction. Thus, the phonemic and phonological analysis of the
word can be grouped under ... sounds and prosodies” 1.
J.R. Firth purposely avoided the term “phoneme” in his
work as “sound” is sufficient for his analysis. He illustrated his
prosodic theory with the character of the English neutral vowel
which marks junctions and required by the prosodies of word
formation, especially in the formation of derivatives. The occur­
ence of Southern English diphthongs is a good illustration of the
value of his prosodic treatment. Besides J.R. Firth regarded the
so-called intrusive r, linking r, the glottal stop etc. as prosodies.

1 J.R. Firth. Sounds and Prosodies. In «Phonological Theory. Evolution and current
practice». N. Y. 1972, p, 253.
He also distinguished prosodies o f strength quantity, tone in
which the prominant syllable is regarded as the nucleous o f the
group o f syllables forming a word. He wrote: “The prominent syl­
lable is a function of the whole word or piece structure”, natu­
rally, therefore, the prosodic features o f a word include:

1. The number o f syllables.


2. The number o f syllables - open or closed.
3. The syllabic quantities.
4. The sequence of syllables (radicals and flexional elements
separately treated)
5. The sequence of consonants
6. The sequence of vowels
7. The position, nature and quantity o f the prominent.
8. The dark or clear qualities o f the syllables'.

J.R. Firth’s prosodic theory was developed and applied in


the description of different languages. R.H. Robins classified syl­
lable prosodies, prosodies o f syllable groups, phrase or sentence -
part prosodies, sentence prosodies, word and morpheme proso­
dies2. John Lyons included some consonantal and vocalic features
(aspiration, vowel harmony etc.) into the object of prosodies be­
sides tone, stress and quantity as they all operate as “long compo­
nents”3.
A new approach to the description of English phonemics
and prosodies is given by A.C. Gimson who revised some ideas
o f D. Jones and other representatives o f the London phonological
school4.

II.6. PHONOLOGICAL TRENDS IN THE USA

There are several phonological trends in the USA. The head


o f the American descriptive linguistics L.Bloomfield was one of
the first phonologists whose ideas were very fruitful in the further
development of phonological theories in USA. Another well-

1J.R.Firth. Id., p. 258.


2 R.H. Robins. Aspects of prosodic analysis. In «Phonological Theory...», p. 267.
3 J. Lyons. Phonemic and non-phonemic phonology: some typological reflections. In
«Phonological Theory...», p. 275-281.
4 A.C.Gimson. An introduction to the pronunciation of English. L., 1962.
known American linguist E.Sapir also formulated his own ap­
proach to phonemic solutions. Below we give a short review of
phonological trends in the USA.
BloomHeldian descriptive phonology is also called the
relative - acoustic theory, as it is based on the analyses of struc­
tural functions and acoustic features of phonemes. According to
L.Bloomfield, a phoneme is a minimal distinctive unit of a lan­
guage, which has no meaning itself but may be determined as a
special unit, owing to its physical and structural contrasts in rela­
tion to all other sounds types of a particular language. His other
definition of the phoneme as a minimal unit of the phonetic fea­
ture is purely a phonetic one. He sometimes mixed up the notions
of a “speech sound” and a “phoneme”. His idea on the primary
and secondary phonemes was very important in the further classi­
fication of segmental and suprasegmental phonemes. He also gave
descriptions of the phoneme combinations in initial, medial and
final positions of the words1.
L.Bloomfield's theory was developed and improved by a
number of linguists and is called the post-Blooomfieldian theory
of descriptive phonology. The representatives of this are Z.Harris,
Ch.F.Hockett, H.A.Gleason. According to this theory a phoneme
is a class of sounds or a class of allophones (phones) which have
both phonetic similarity and functional identity, in the sense that
the substitution of one for another in the same context does not
change its syntactic or semantic function, i.e. makes no change in
its meaning. This theory defines a phoneme on the basis of the
distributional method. Usually the phoneme is defined as the rep-
sentative of phones in free variation or complementary distribu­
tion, which are phonetically similar2. The allophones of phonemes
may also be determined on the basis of the distributional method.
Some representatives of this trend define a phoneme as a sum of
distinctive features. They state the physical and functional aspects
of the phoneme from the mentalistic point of view, as their theory
is based on the stimulus-response segments that are the same or
different.

1Л. Блумфилд. Язык. М., Изд. «Прогресс», 1968, с. 72-141.


2 For details see: Г.Глисон. Введение в дескриптивную лингвистику. М., 1959, с.
224-258.
American tagmemic school of linguistics advanced its own
phonological theory which differs from the theories of descriptive
phonology. According to the tagmemic trend a language is the re­
sult of verbal behavior and mind and it consists of three levels:
grammatical, lexical and phonological. Each of these levels has its
own units: morpheme, tagmeme and phoneme, the latter is a
minimum unit of the phonological level.
The phoneme is characterized as composing disjunctive,
emic portions of the verbal behavior phonetically represented. A
phoneme is not a class of sounds, but a phonetic unit with particu­
lar features, which is connected with the units of the other levels.
A new unit, which is called a tagmeme, is defined as the implica­
tion of a slot or position for a functional meaning and a mor­
pheme. The head of the tagmemic school of American linguistics
Kenneth Pike uses the term “archiphoneme” in a different sense
that N.S.Trubetzkoy did. Two phonemes, which cannot be identi­
fied with the phoneme, is called an archiphoneme. For example,
in the English words night-rate and nitrate we may predict the
medial unaspirated long /t/ as opposed to the aspirated short /t/.
Without using junctures they form an archiphoneme in such mor­
phemes. K.L.Pike states: “Phonemes cannot be analysed without
some knowledge - though it may be very slight of grammatical
facts” 1. In his work “Coexistent Phonemic Systems” (1949)
K.L.Pike attempts to demonstrate the possibility of two or more
phonemic systems in monoUngual speech. The tagmemic theory
is also based on behavior. The phonological theory, which was
suggested by K.L.Pike, is called phonotagmemics according to
which all languages have a phoneme level, most have a syllable
level, a pause group level and the level between the syllable and
pause group. Intonation takes its characteristics on the phonologi­
cal phrase level2. Thus, the relation between the levels of a lan­
guage, strictly speaking, the sublevels of speech, is very important
in phonotagmemics.
The theory which is being developed in modern American
linguistics is a generative-transformational phonology (often

1 K.Pike. Grammatical prerequisites to phonemic analysis. In his «Selected Writings»,


Mouton, 1972, p. 33-34.
2 Eunice V. Pike. Phonology. In «Trends in Linguistics». Studies and monographs 1. Ed­
ited by W. Winter. Tagmemics. Vol. I. Aspects of the field. Ed. R.M. Brend and K.L.
Pike. Mouton, 1976, p. 45-83.
called a “generative phonology”). Generative phonology is one of
components o f generative grammar as a syntactic component and
component o f lexicon. Generative phonology serves to provide
phonetic representations of utterances in a language. It studies the
phonological form o f morphemes and morph listed in the lexicon
and determines the rules of how the phonetic units (sounds, sylla­
bles, stress and partly intonation) are pronounced in various envi­
ronments in which they are found. The resulting phonetic
representation level provides a transcription of a sound segment
used in actual utterances. According to generative phonology dis­
tinction between phonemes and allophones requires levels of
phonological representation to be recognized: the level o f pronun­
ciation (the phonetic level) and the level o f contrast or opposition
(the phonemic level). As to articulatory and acoustic feature they
fulfill three functions: 1) they are capable o f describing the sys­
tematic phonetics - a phonetic function; 2) at a more abstract level
they can differentiate lexical items - a phonemic level; 3) they de­
fine natural classes, that is, those segments, which, as a group un­
dergo similar phonological processes1. The main aim o f
generative phonology is to find the rules and answer the following
questions: 1) What segments change? How do they change? Un­
der what conditions do they change? This theory cannot be uni­
versal as each language requires its specific rules for phonological
analysis.
Almost all phonological theories in USA regard variations
in phonological form at or across morphological boundaries as the
morphophonemics of a language. N.Chomsky and M.Halle sug­
gest the principle o f cycle to predict accent elements in their work
“The Sound Pattern of English” (N.Y., 1968). Discussions on the
problems o f adequacy and predicative power in recent phonologi­
cal theories are still going on among American linguists.

II.7. SOME BASIC POINTS IN PHONOLOGICAL


ANALYSIS

The starting point o f any linguistic analyses is the principle


of categorization i.e. definition o f concepts which may be used in

1 The most elementary explanation of this theory can be found in: Sanford A. Shane.
Generative Phonology. New Jersey, 1973.
the further description of the nature of a language. In the previous
chapter we have explained some elements of categorization: they
are the distinctions between content and expression, substance
and form. Incidently there are no boundaries between them as the
existence of one requires the other. Language, as a social phe­
nomenon, may be manifested in the form of speech. The sound
material of language is not merely substance i.e. not only an ar­
ticulatory, acoustic and audible phenomenon. It is a structuraly
organized system serving to distinguish the units of meaning. This
functional approach makes the object of phonological analysis
clearer than any other treatment.
To study the distinctive features of the sound matter means
to analyse it from a functionally significant point of view. There­
fore, we can agree with A.Martinet, a well-known French linguist,
who called “phonology as functional phonetics” as in the title of
his book (Oxford Univ. Press, reprinted in 1950).
The functions of speech sounds may be categorized by the cri­
teria of distinction and identification. For example, in pet /pet/ -
bet /bet/ - let /let/ - set /set/ we can observe the distinction of the
first sound, while in pool /pu:l/, sport /spo:t/, plate /pleit/ we find
identification of the sounds. In phonetic transcription we distinguish
the aspirated /p /, /p2/, /рз/ sounds used before vowels from the non-
aspirated /рл/ sound used in other positions. Thus, using the criterion
of distinction, we set up phonemes as distinctive unites, and, in the
latter case, we identify sounds as allophones of the phoneme. As it
is repeatedly pointed out in modem theories of language, citing F.
de Saussure’s concept, there are two axis in a language: an axis of
successiveness and axis of simultaneity, which are called paradig­
matic and syntagmatic relations between the linguistic units. The
criterion of distinction makes it possible to set up the system of
phonemes i.e. phonological oppositions. N.S. Trubetzkoy defined a
phoneme through the concept of phonological opposition: “A pho­
neme is a member of phonological opposition”. It is also possible
define a phoneme through the concept of distinctive features. In the
latter case a phoneme is formed by its constituents, i.e. by distinc­
tive features. This approach was also suggested by N.S. Trubetzkoy
and R. Jakobson. There are also some differences in the classifica­
tion of phonological oppositions V.A. Vassilyev classifies phono­
logical oppositions on the basis of the number of distinctive
features. Choosing any two phonemes he counts their distinctive
- 49-
features. Two phonemes, distinguished by one feature, are in simple
opposition (for example, /p-t/, /f-s/ etc.). If there are two distinctive
features the opposition is called a double one (for example, /p-d/, /i:/
- /u/ etc.). If there are more than two features the opposition is
complex (for example, /p-z/, /v-g/ etc.). This type of classification
called a “preliminary phonological analyses of sounds” by V.A.
Vassilyev is easy to use in practice nonetheless he suggests that
theoretically it may be possible to apply N.S. Trubetzkot’s classifi­
cations of phonological oppositions after such a preliminary analy­
sis1. Categorization makes possible to define phonemes,
phonological oppositions and distinctive features which come from
setting up paradigmatic relations.
Another way of categorization is to observe phonemes on the
axis of simultaneity, i.e. one must take into consideration the linear
character of units, as phonemes occur in linear sequence. N.S.
Trubetzkoy formulated this type of categorization according to the
position and combination of sounds in words. Any given linear se­
quence of elements forms a speech but not a language. Any type of
text is also formed by linear sequence is known as syntagmatic rela­
tions between the elements.
On the syntagmatic level we deal with facts of speech, while
paradigmatic relations are established on language. Besides, para­
digmatic relations between the phonemes show up as if they are
constant, unchangeable, static units of the language: /i: - л/, /k-h/
etc. On the contrary, syntagmatic relations emphasize the way un­
derline how the speech sound-representatives of phonemes func­
tion as dynamic elements. Thus, paradigmatic relations make it
possible to set up and categorize phonemes and their distinctive
features, while allophones and non-distinctive features become
clear owing to the syntagmatic level.
R. Jakobson stated “However as the phonemes of a given lan­
guage form a system of sequences, so the system of phonemes, in
turn, is formed by their constituents, i.e. distinctive features. And
breaking up of the phonemes into distinctive features follows pre­
cisely the same tested devices as the division of the morphemes into
phonemes”2.

1 В.А. Васильев. Система фонологических оппозиций Н.С. Трубецкого в примене­


нии к английскому языку. М., МГПИИЯ им. М. Тореза, 1973, с. 8.
2 R. Jakobson. On the identification of phonemic entities //Phonological Theory, Evolu­
tion and current practice. N.Y., 1972, p. 319.
-50-
As modem experimental investigations prove, the distinc­
tive features operate differently in various positions. For example,
in some languages long - short, aspirated - non-aspirated,
voiced - voiceless distinctive features may be in different de­
grees.
Most of phonological theories in USA are based on the
method of distribution of sounds in the linear of speech. They ana­
lyse syntagmatic relations between the elements of speech. This is
also one of the possible ways of categorization of linguistic ele­
ments. But in order to give a complete and thorough theoretical
analysis of the phonological system, linguistic elements must be
classified both on paradigmatic and syntagmatic levels, which
make clear all existing phonological and non-phonological opposi­
tions and also distribution of phonemes and their allophones. In
such analysis the problem of neutralization of oppositions takes on a
new interpretation which as usual is syntagmatically dependent.
Any phonological unit has the following four functions:
1) a constitutive function, i.e. all the phonological units are
used as the material-carriers of the linguistic units: morphemes,
words, word-combinations and sentences (phrases);
2) a distinctive function, i.e. the phonological units serve to
distinguish linguistic units: take /teik/ - lake /leik/; a nice house
/a'nais haus/ - an ice house /эп 'ais'haus/; contract /'kontraekt/ -
contract /kan'traekt/.
Is there any mistake here? - Is there any Miss Take here?
3) a delimitative function emphasizes the boundary be­
tween linguistic units, particularly, between morphemes, words
and combinations. The elements which appear in such boundaries
are known as junctures. The above examples, except the first one,
illustrate the delimitative function;
4) a recognitive function makes words, word forms and
sentences easily recognizable or identifiable, as the result of the
use of the right allophones, syllable divisions, degree and the
place of stress and also right intonations in the right places of the
utterances. When they are used wrongly the meanings of the ut­
terances may be confused as the result of the pronunciation (pho­
netic and phonological) mistakes.
There are two other phonological terms which should be
mentioned: “functional load” and “the power of opposition”. The
term “functional load” was introduced by N.S. Trubetskoy,
-51 -
though it was defined by A. Martinet as the number of word pairs
in which phonemes are opposed. For example, the functional load
of opposition /p-s/ is high as it can differentiate many pairs of
words /pit - sit/, /pil - sil/, /paet - saet/ etc. While the functional
load of opposition /0 - 5/ is very low as it can differentiate some
pairs of words A. Martinet also gave the definition of the func­
tional load of an isolate phoneme on the basis of its frequent and
rare occurrence. Frequent occurrence of the phoneme shows that
its functional load is high, it is regarded low when occurrence is
rare1. The idea of the functional load sometimes becomes very
vague as some of the phonemes can occur only in a limited number
of positions, so that, for example, some phonemes cannot be di­
rectly opposed to. It is hard to see how, on the basis of defining
functional load as the degree of utilization for the differentiation of
meanings, the load of /h/ versus /g/ could be anything more than
zero2, because the phoneme Pal never occurs in syllable final posi­
tion and the phoneme /q/ in syllable initial of the English words. In
such cases it is possible to compare the frequency of occurrence of
phonemes in words or in some texts. For example, the phoneme /hI
is relatively less frequent than the phoneme /d/. The phoneme /3/ is
also one of the relatively infrequent phonemes in English. So we
should distinguish the frequency of phonemes and functional load
of oppositions. They are important both theoretically and practi­
cally. This way of categorization of isolated phonemes on the basis
of their frequency and phonological oppositions according to their
functional load needs statistical data in various positions. As to the
statistic investigation made by B. Tmka among 3.203 words he
found 528 pairs of voice oppositions, 389 pairs of plosion-friction
oppositions and 714 pairs of homonymous formations3 (the latter is
somewhat doubtful). The notion of functional load deals with the
language as a system which is important in communication. The
functional load of the opposition /0 - 5/ is low because of the small
number of such word pairs. But the frequency of occurrence of the
phonemes /3/ and /0/ is high as they are often in English words.
The notion of the power of opposition was defined by V.K.
Zhuravlyov as “... the number of members or correlation pairs

1А. Мартине. Принцип экономии в фонетических изменениях. М., 1960. с. 79-80.


2 R.S. Meyerstein. Functional load. Mouton, 1970, p. 37.
3 В. Tmka. A phonological Analysis of Present-day Standard English. Univer. of Ala­
bama Press, 1968, pp. Il l, 144, 145.
which form a given phonological opposition”. The power o f op­
position may be measured by the number o f neutralizable posi­
tions o f distinction. If there are more positions of distinction and
less positions o f neutralization, the power of opposition is re­
garded strong. On the contrary, more positions of neutralization
make opposition weak. In English the power o f opposition /0 - p/
is weak in itself, but it is not neutralizable in any position and is
included into the correlation pairs by voiced-voiceless (resp. lenis
- fortis) distinctive features, which have a great number of mem­
bers. Therefore, power o f this opposition is regarded strong1. The
power o f opposition is closely connected with the functional load
o f opposition. The power o f opposition is based on the number o f
members o f opposition or correlation pairs while the functional
load o f opposition is based on the number o f minimal pairs o f
words. When there are no minimal pairs, which can illustrate
phonological oppositions like /g - h/ the criteria of the relative
frequency of phonemes should be used. In such cases the consti­
tutive and recognitive functions of phonemes make clear the exis­
tence of the given phonemes. It should be stated that the
functional load and the power of phonological oppositions in
English have not yet been investigated completely, however the
relative frequency o f the English phonemes and consonant clus­
ters was studied by some linguists.
In the field o f suprasegmental phonology some interesting
ideas, notions and terms have been suggested. The phonological
functions o f word-boundaries (junctures, syllables) and accents
have become clearer than the phonological function of intonation
(see chapters VI-VII of this book).

1 B.K. Журавлев. К понятию силы фонологической оппозиции // Фонетика. Фоно­


логия. Грамматика. К 70-летию А.А. Реформатского. М., «Наука», 1971, с. 115-
116.
THE PRINCIPAL TYPES OF ENGLISH
PR ON UNCIATION
III.l. GENERAL REMARKS. LITERARY AND
LOCAL TYPES OS PRONUNCIATION.
THE ORTHOEPIC TEACHING NORMS
OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION

One o f the vital features o f literary language, which distin­


guish it from its dialects, is the existence o f more or less uni­
formed norms. A literary language has its own lexical,
grammatical, and orthographic and pronunciation norms. Every
national language possesses two forms: the written form, which
is the literary uniform of a language and spoken form, which is
not uniform and characterized by the individual features of the
speaker. English is represented in writing and printing by the
twenty-six letters o f the alphabet, a dozen of punctuation marks
and such devices as capitals and italics. In the spoken form of
English we evidently use about a hundred sounds and variations
in pitch, stress, pause etc. Each sound is used with some modifi­
cations in actual speech: For example some people have a full /г/
and others a very slight indication o f the sound. The pronuncia­
tion of words varies considerably among the different regions in
which English is spoken, so that we can easily distinguish speak­
ers according to their pronunciation.
However, there is no strict boundary between written and
spoken forms of a language because some elements of the spoken
form may be found in the written form. As to the dialects they are
the linguistic varieties of the language used by some group of
speech community only in the oral or spoken form and differ
from the spoken literary form o f a language in more or less de­
gree. Dialects may be distinguished from each other by their pro­
nunciation, grammar, lexicon and stylistics. A special branch of
linguistics which studies the variability o f a given language is
called dialectology. Dialectology has a close relationship to his-
tory, geography and other sciences as dialects may be important
in the formation of nations and any change in the process o f mi­
gration and urbanization. The pronunciation features o f dialects
are studied by a special branch of phonetics, namely dialectologi-
cal phonetics. It is possible to investigate the literary and dialect
pronunciations o f the same language. The literary language has its
orthoepic norm, i.e. the sum of rules of the spoken form charac­
terized by the unity o f the sound material formed in the process of
its historical development. By the term norm we mean more or
less constant and stable feature o f pronunciation, i.e. all the com­
ponents of the phonetic structure-phonemes, syllables, stress and
intonation.
Speaking about literary orthoepic norm of English, some
linguists use the terms standard English or uniform English, the
latter has already been used in this book, J. S. Kenyon cited the
following idea advanced by A.L. James: “ ... speech is immeasur­
able and there is no absolute standard of pronunciation... It is
quite evident that we are not entitled to conclude that there is only
a simple standard o f pronunciation and only one correct way of
speaking English. There are varieties that are acceptable through­
out the country, and others are not” 1. Sometimes “Good English”
is distinguished from “Bad English” (“Vulgar English”). On the
basis o f its usage the following principal varieties o f English are
distinguished: 1) Formal English (Limited use) - more often
written than spoken - speaking and writing for somewhat re­
stricted groups in formal situations; 2) General English (Unlim­
ited use) - both spoken and written - speaking and writing of
educated people in their private or public affairs; 3) Informal
English (Limited use) - more often spoken than written; 4) Non­
standard English (Limited use) - chiefly spoken - language not
much affected by school instruction; often conspicuously local;
not appropriate for public affairs or for use by educated people.
According to the above classification P.G. Perrin and G.H. Smith
came to the conclusion that Formal, General and Informal English
make up Standard English, on the contrary, the term “Nonstan­
dard English” refers to the everday speech of many people as ... a

1J.S. Kenyon. American Pronunciation. Tenth edition, Ann. Arbor, Michigan, 1962, p.
15.
“variety or level of language in its own right”1. We cannot accept
this idea and do not use the terms “Standard” or “Nonstandard” as
we have already defined the notion “orthoepic norm” o f pronun­
ciation.

III.2 . ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION


IN GREAT BRITAIN

Usually, owing to the political, economic, social and cul­


tural factors, one of the regional dialects becomes literary, as it
constitutes the orthoepic norm. At present there are the following
regional pronunciation types exist in Great Britain: 1) Southern
English pronunciation; 2) Northern English pronunciation; 3)
Scottish pronunciation; 4) Irish pronunciation, among which
the Southern English pronunciation is chosen as the orthoepic
standard for modem English. This type of pronunciation is often
called Standard English. D. Jones called it. Received Pronun­
ciation (RP) by which he meant “... merely widely understood
pronunciation ... in the English - speaking world...”2. At present
some linguists use the term “General British” instead o f RP3 as to
the analogy with the term “General American” for the literary
American English. The term General British (abbreviation GB)
may indicate the generally accepted literary type o f English pro­
nunciation. Through its origin was the Southern English dialect, it
is usually used in the south-east o f England where its capital,
London, is situated too. However today it has no locality. RP is
taught at schools, colleges, universities and other educational in­
stitutions o f England. It is the official type of English pronuncia­
tion used in parliament, court etc. it is spoken on the stage, over
the radio and television as it is easily understood by millions of
people. RP is the only type o f English pronunciation that has been
scientifically investigated and practically described for foreign
learners. A.C. Gimson states: “The fact that descriptions and re­
cordings o f British English pronunciation used for teaching Eng­
lish as a foreign language invariably refer to this form is also a

1The Perrin-Smith Handbook of Current English. Second edition, N. Y., 1966, p. 8-16.
2D. Jones. Everyman’s English Pronouncing Dictionary. М., 1964, p. XVI.
3 J. W. Lewis. A Concise Pronouncing Dictionary of British and American English.
London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1972, p. IX.
powerful reason for its choice1. RP is a typical form of pronuncia­
tion used by generations in the last half of the twentieth century.
Textbooks on English phonetics have been written and pronounc­
ing dictionaries have been compiled on the basis of RP. It is natu­
ral, therefore, RP is accepted as the teaching unit in most
countries where English is taught as a foreign language.
As D. Abercrombie points out even in England there are
numerous ways of pronouncing RP. He distinguishes three groups
of people on the basis of their pronunciation; 1) RP speakers -
those who speak without an accent; 2) Non-RP speakers - those
who speak with an accent; 3) dialect speakers2.
A.C. Gimson distinguished three main types of pronuncia­
tion within RP itself: the conservative RP form used by the older
generation and by certain professions or social groups; the general
RP forms most commonly in use and typified by the pronuncia­
tion adopted by BBC; and the advanced RP forms mainly used by
young people of exclusive social groups3. So, there are some ba­
sic differences even among speakers in Great Britain.
There are some changes still going on in the pronunciation of
RP such as: among the vowel sounds /л/ have become central
and open, /ае/ - longer, /о:/ - half open and shorter, especially,
before voiceless plosive consonants, diphthong /ou/ is centralized
and indicated by the symbol /эи/ etc. and also the changes in the
pronunciation of some consonants may be observed. There are
also some changes in word accentuation of RP. Stress is shifted
from the first syllable to the second in such words as primarily,
harass, statutory, mandatory, rhetoric etc. Some changes in the
pronunciation of RP is caused by American influence. Changes in
pronunciation are inevitable in time, but the evolution which af­
fects the basic phonological system used, happens to be rather
slow.
It should be mentioned that despite the fact there are some
differences between RP and Australian English (abbreviation
Au E) as well as New Zealand English (abbreviation NZ E) pro­
nunciations they are very close to each other.

1A.C. Gimson. A practical Course of English Pronunciation. London. 1975, p. 4.


2 D. Abercrombie. RP and Local Accent. In his “Studies in Phonetics and Linguistics”.
London, 1965, p. 12.
3 A.C. Gimson. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London, 1962, p. 6, 32.
Northern English pronunciation is used in the region be­
tween Birmingham and the border of Scotland. Until the turn of
the nineteenth century the majority of people in England spoke
Northern English as it was uniform at that time, while Southern
English was spoken by few er people. There were even claims to
recognize the superiority of the northern pronunciation and en­
courage it against the Southern (including London) pronunciation
at the beginning of the nineteenth century. A t present there are not
so many differences between the Northern and Southern English
pronunciations. Owing to the location of the great industrial cen­
ters in the North o f England and the fact that many scientists and
technicians speak Northern English, this type o f pronunciation,
mainly spoken in Yorkshire and Lancashire, has becom e espe­
cially influential.
The following basic differences between RP and the Northern
English pronunciations may be observed, which cause the inven­
tory of phonemes and their distribution: /а/ is used instead of GE
/ае/ in words like pan, bad, man etc.; /ге/ is used for RP /a :/ in
such words like chance, glass, ask, i.e. in which the letter a is fol­
lowed by word-final consonants other than r. The words father,
mother are pronounced with /a :/ as exceptions; /u/ is used in­
stead of Ы in such words as cup /kup/, love /luv/, much /m utj/
etc.; /e/ or /e:/ is used instead of /ei/ in such words may /me/,
/m £:/ take /tek/, /t£:k/)' etc.
The voiceless back lingual Ы is used for RP /w / when the let­
ter w is followed by the letter h in words like when (меп), which
AvutJ/ what /Mot/ etc.
In the Scottish type of pronunciation some phonetic features
of old English precisely the Northumbrian dialect o f the Anglo-
Saxon language, were preserved. In the seventh century the Ger­
man tribes-angles and saxes migrated to Scotland. In the ninth
century Scandinavians arrived in Scotland. The population of
Scotland is known as high landers at present.
There is no difference between the written forms o f Scottish
and British English. But there are a num ber of marked differen-
cies between British and Scottish speech which m ay be noticed in
the inventory and distribution o f phonemes, as well as in word ac­
centuation and intonation.

1 V.A. Vassilyev. English Phonetics. A theoretical course, М., 1970, p. 40.


- 58 -
Instead of RP /ае/ the vowel /а/ is used in words like bad
/bad/, man /m an/ etc. /ае/ for RP /a :/ in such words as path /ргеб/,
ask /гевк/, glass /glaes/ etc.
Instead of RP Ы sound the vowel /э/ is used before the com­
binations of two consonants: fifty /fafti/, which /hwat/, mister
/m asta/ etc. /э/ is substituted by / 1/ or /л/: there is /Qir'iz/, rather
/глб 1г/, take it away /tekit'Awe/, in a minute /in A'mimt/ etc. The
sound Ы is pronounced more front /ii/: good /gtid/, book /biik/,
full /fiil/ etc. RP diphthongs / 011/, /ei/ are m onophthongized to / 0/
and /e/ in the Scottish English: home /hom/, take /tek/ etc. The
first elem ent of the diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ is pronounced as /л/:
ice / a i s / , child /tjAild/, house / I i a u s / , now / п л и / etc.
Among consonant sounds /1/ is usually dark, /г/ is trilled or
rolled in all positions of a word.
The glottal stop /?/ articulated by closing the glottis, com­
pressing the air below and then opening the glottis to release the
air, is used instead of the final and internal /к / and /t/: bottle
/bo?l/, cattle /kae?l/, lake /le?/ etc.
The Scottish English back lingual fricative voiceless (x) like
the Russian and Uzbek Ы (dark /h/) is used in words like caught
/koxt/, thought /0oxt/, loch /1ox/ etc.
The sound /hw / is used in words with initial digraph wh: why
/hwai/, when /hwen/, what /hw ot/ etc.
The medio-lingual palatal voiceless fricative /x/ is used in
words like night /nixt/, sight /sixt/ etc.
The pitch is not high in Scottish word accentuation. The Scot­
tish intonation is characterized by slightly rising and falling
melodies, monotonal timbre, w eak stress and normal tempo of
speech.
The Irish type of pronunciation is used in Ireland which is
politically separated into two parts: The Republic of Ireland (Eire)
and Northern Ireland (Ulster). The mother tongue o f Irish people
is the Irish language, a Celtic group o f Indo-European languages.
Ireland was conquered by England in the twelfth century and
English began to be spread there.
A fter the independence o f Ireland (Eire) in 1937 both English
and Irish became the official languages. Nonetheless more Irish
people speak English than Irish. English spoken in Ireland is
known as Irish English which differs from RP with its inventory
o f phonem es and their distribution and also word accentuation
-59-
and intonation. A s a result o f linguistic contact between Irish and
English, the latter changed som e o f its phonetic features. There
are also som e changes in the vocabulary and grammar o f Irish
English.
Instead o f / 1/ or /i:/ the vow el /е/ is used in words like spirit
/'speret/, sit /set/, he /he/, tea /te/ etc.
Long /a :/ for RP is used in words like man /m a:n/, bad /ba:d/
etc.
The vow el / 0/ is substituted by / 0 :/ in words like /so:ft/. The
diphthong / 01/ is used instead o f RP /ai/ in initial and medial p osi­
tions in words like nice /nois/, ice /o is/ but /ai/ is pronounced in
the final position o f words as in my /mai/, by /bai/ etc.
The consonants /0 / and /5 / are substituted by /d/ and /t/ in
words like thing /tit)/, thought /to:t/, this /dis/, bathe /bed/. /J7 is
used instead o f /s/ before consonants in words like fist /fijt/,
sleep /Jli:p/, sixty /sikjti/. The consonants /tj/ and /J/ are inter­
substituted in such words as showel /tjAvl/, chimney /Iimni/. The
sounds /t/ and /d/ are pronounced dental aspirated before It/: dry
/dArai/, tree /tAri:/. Som etim es the final sound /d/ is om itted in
words like cold /kaul/, land /la:n/, hand /ha:n/. The cluster /hw /
is used instead o f /w / in words like what /hwat/, why /hw ai/,
when /hwen/.
The Irish English vow els are pronounced longer than in RP.
In Irish English stress may be shifted to the final syllable o f a
word: sacri'flce. The Irish English intonation is characterized by
very high tones and abrupt rising and falling m elodies1.
Among the English dialects Cockney should be mentioned. The
word «cockney» is used in two different meanings: 1) from French
«coquin» which means knave, rascal, a literary - cooked egg and
2) a native o f the East End o f London or England as it is given in
«Webster's N ew World Dictionary» (College Edition, 1966, p.
281-282). The second meaning o f Cockney is right for this dialect.
A s a dialect it exists from the fifteenth century but its w ell-
developed form began from the eighteenth century. There are som e
similarities and differences both in the inventory o f phonem es and
their distribution between RP and Cockney dialect. The system s o f
plosive consonant phonemes and their allophones are similar in

1 Т.И. Беляева, И.А. Потапова. Английский язык за пределами Англии. М., 1961,
с. 15.
both of them but the distribution of plosive consonants of Cockney
is different from RP. For example, voiced plosive consonants are
used instead of voiceless plosives, labial fricatives’. Besides the fol­
lowing marked differences exist in m odem Cockney dialect:
/i/ for RP /i/: m e /mai/, see /s9i/;
/цэ/ for RP /is/: clear /klija/, fear /fijs/;
/e/ for RP /ae/: ham /em/ back /bek/;
/ai/ for RP /ei/: train /tram/, maid /maid/;
/a :/ for RP /au/: out /a:t/, down /da:n/;
/о/ or /э:/ for RP /а:/: Charles /tJo:lz/ charm /tjom/;
/о:/ for RP/ / 01/: noise /no:z/, spoil /spo:l/;
/аи/, /ли/ for RP /ou/ ro u d /гли(1/, /raud/;
/ow s/ for RP /ээ/: fo u r /fows/, so re /sowa/;
/эи/, /iu/ for /и/: dew /djэи/, do Л1эи, diu/;
/h/ is not used in initial positions before vowels: heart /a :t/,
hook /uk/, hold /auld/, here /ije/; the glottal stop 111 is used in ­
stead of medial /p/, initial /t/, initial and final /к/: paper /ра 1?э/,
better /Ье?э/, bacon /ba?n/, talk /to?/; the affricate /d3/ is used
instead of the cluster /dj/ in words like immediately /iim id3itli/,
duke /d3uk/2. Cockney preserved som e phonetic features of old
and M iddle English which may be found even in orphography:
fur for RP far, clurk for RP clerk yerd for yard, fermer for
farmer etc. Thus, Cockney was not constant historically, as there
is a mutual influence between the literary and dialect forms o f
speech3. There are also some differences of Cockney in word ac­
centuation and intonation which is characterized by the specific
rhythm, stress shifts and prolongation of vowel sounds in speech
though the letter is not phonological in it.

III.3 . THE PRONUNCIATION TYPES OF ENGLISH


IN THE USA AS COMPARED W ITH
GENERAL BRITISH

English was brought to the Am erican continent by the Eng­


lish colonists in the first half of the sixteenth century. There are at

1 E. Sivertsen. Cockney phonology. Oslo studies in English, № 8, 1960. p. 104-106,


120.
2 C.M. Wise. Applied Phonetics. N.C. 1957, p. 250-252.
3 В.Н. Ярцева. Развитие национального литературного английского языка. М.,
Изд. «Наука», 1969, с. 242.
least three m ajor speech areas in the USA: 1) the Eastern type of
pronunciation; 2) the Southern type; 3) the Western general
American type. The Eastern type is spoken in New England
(Maine), New Hampshire, the eastern parts of Vermont, M assa­
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and in a part o f the Atlantic
sea-board, i.e. a part of the New York state. This type is also
called Eastern New England speech. In New England and in the
Boston State American English have some com mon features with
RP pronunciation. They are found in such words like dock /dok/,
hot /hot/, dance /da:ns/, sir /sa:/, far /fa :/ etc., in which vowels
sound alike.
This type o f pronunciation avoids retroflex /г/ in the final
position o f a word and before consonants as it is in RP. As a re­
sult of /г/ dropping in the Eastern pronunciation there appear
diphthongs like /еэ/, /иэ/ and Лэ/: care /кеэ/, sure /{иэ/, mere /ппэ/
etc.
There also a lot of m arked differencies existing in the East­
ern type of pronunciation. For example, in words like sill and seal
and also pot and port, which sound alike /sil/ and /pot/ the pho­
netic distinction between long and short vowels becomes insig­
nificant. The diphthong alternating between /au - au / is used in
the Eastern dialect1. The opposition /hw - w/ exists initially:
whale /hw eil/ - wail /weil/ whet /hwet/ - wet /wet/.
The Southern type of American pronunciation is used in
Pennsylvania, in the eastern area of Texas State, Arkansas, M ary­
land, Virginia, N orth and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, K en­
tucky, Tennessee, Alabama, M ississippi, Louisiana. One o f the
specific phonetic features of this type o f pronunciation is the so-
called «Southern drawl» which is characterized by the diph-
thongization both long and short vowels in certain positions (in
stressed position, before voiced consonants and fricatives). Be­
sides, as the result o f «Southern drawl» some diphthongs may be
monophthongized. The first elem ent o f the diphthongs is pro­
nounced long. W hile the second is omitted. M ore often diph­
thongs are pronounced as the combination o f three vowels
(thriphthongs). Sometimes the vowel /э/ follows /i/ which is

1H. Kurath, British Sources of Selected Features of American Pronunciation. Problems


and Methods // In Honour of D. Jones, Longmans, 1964, p. 159.
called double diphthongization yes /je is/1. The following are ex­
amples of the «Southern drawl»: egg /Esig/, yes /jeis/, cost
/koust/, walk /wouk/, fine /fa:/, shower /ja :/ either /i:9s/, again
/s'gen/ etc. In the Southern speech word pairs like ear - air; fear
- fair sound alike, i.e. homophonic as they are pronounced either
with the diphthong Лэ/ or /еэ/. The diphthongs /еэ/ and /аеэ/ form
phonological opposition in the Eastern type of pronunciation.
Omitting the Iri sound is typical of this speech. Even the so-
called linking It/ is not used in it. Instead o f /a:/ the vowel /ае/ is
used in the Southern type: dance /daens/, path /pae0/, ask /aesk/
etc. In words like farm, park, mark long /ct:/ is diphthongized
and pronounced as /аэ/. The short vowel /а/ is used in words like
hot /hat/, pot /pat/. In such words as mourning - morning,
hoarse - horse the simple vowels h i and h : l form phonological
opposition with /оэ/ and /зэ/. The sim ple vowels /ге/ - lei form
opposition in word-pairs like mary /maeri/ - merry / т е п / - тагу
/т а л /.
There are some similar features between the Southern
American and RP. They are the pronunciation o f a soft III before
a vowel, the usage of the cluster /ju:/ in words like reputation
/repju:teijn/, student /stju:dant/, duty /dju:ti/, the om ission of /r/
etc.
It should be stated that New York city has dialect variations
of its own. W. Labov admits: «The structure of the sound system
of New York is the most amenable to quantitative techniques.
W ithin this system, the question of structure can be approached
on a num ber of levels of increasing com plexity»2. One of the
marked differences o f New York city dialect is the usage of (r)
which is m ore often dropped in words like farmer /fam e/, part
/pa:t/, sort /so:t/. In words like turn, shirt, bird both /з:/ and ret­
roflex /з7 are used. In unstressed positions retroflex /з7 is substi­
tuted by the vowel /э/. The linking I t/ is used normally. In
monosyllabic words like pot, top, not the vowel /а/ is usually
used. This is correct regarding words in which the sound /r/ fol­
lows the vowel: orange /a3rind3/, sorry /sari/, horror /hare/ etc.

1 А.Д. Швейцер. Литературный английский язык в США и Англии. М., Изд.


«Высшая школа», 1971, с. 50.
2 IV. Labov. The Social Stratification of English in New York City. Center for Applied
Linguistics. 1966, p. 5.
The distinction between long and short vowels is not per­
ceived in word pairs like pot /pat/ - part /pa:t/, cut /kat/, caught
/kat/. The glottal, stop is used instead of the medial Л/ sound: cat­
tle /kae?l/, little /li?l/ butter /Ьа?э/ 1е?ег /1е?э/. /w - hw/ opposi­
tion does not exist in New York city dialect.
The Western type of American English is accepted as the
literary pronunciation in the USA which is used by 120 million
people. This type of pronunciation is known as General Ameri­
can (abbreviation GA). It is also called Standard American
English. We do not use the latter term in order to have analogical
terms RP and GA. General American is spoken in Mid-Atlantic
States: New York State (but not the city itself which has its own
dialect described above), New Jersy, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The following differences exist within the consonant sys­
tems of RP and GA. One of the most striking phonetic features of
General American is observed in the retroflex sonorant articula­
tion of /г/. In GA /г/ is pronounced in two ways:
1) when it is retroflex sonorant /г/, the tip of the tongue is
curled back so that a wide air passage is formed between the un­
der side of the tongue-tip and the back slope of the teeth-ridge. In
such an articulation of /г/ the position of the tongue at the start is
the same as that the vowels /u/ and /i/ and follows curling back to
/г/;
2) when it is pronounced as a cacuminal sonorant /г/, it is
similiar to that of RP. This type of /г/ is usually used before the
consonants /t, d, 0, J, z/: try /trai/, drink /drink/, shry /Jrai/, three
/0n:/, misery /mizri/ etc.
The retroflex GA consonant is usually indicated by the
symbol /з7. The degree of retroflexion varies. In some cases the
tongue for /г/ is merely raised towards the teethridge, in others it
is merely retracted and laterally contacted but the acoustic effect
is strikingly similar. If the tongue position is fixed in the starting
position for the /г/ in rate and voice uttered, the vowel /3/ in hurt
/hr3t/ is made. Hence, combinations of r - any vowel form rising
diphthongs exactly as do /w/ and /j/1.
Many speakers of GA use the slightly dark /1/ before vow­
els and darker one in the other positions, while in the Southern

1J. S. Kenyon. American Pronunciation. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1962, p. 161.


- 64-
type of American English a soft /1/ is used in nearly all positions:
hill /hil/, pillow /pilou/, full /ful/ etc.
The distinction between GA /hw/ or Ы is based not only on
the voiceless /hw / arid voiced /w / feature but also on the fricative
back-lingual and sonorant labial (bilabial) features, /hw / is re­
garded as a consonant cluster and used in words spelt with the ini­
tial digraph wh Ы is regarded as a facultative or optional
phoneme in GA. Example: whether /weQs/, /hw e5s/ - weather
/w e6s/, whale /hw sjl/ - wail /w ejl/ what /hw at/ - watt /w at/ etc.
The glottal stop 111 is used occasionally as an allophone of
the medial /t/ phonem e in the words: butter /Ьл?э/, letter /1е?э/,
bottle /ba?l/. It also appears in the negating interjections
/?'m ?m ,?'n?n/ and the affirm ing /?mh'm/ and as a prosodic onset
o f overstressed initial vowels, as in always, absolutely, oh! Щ}1
etc.
GA Ш is often voiced in an intervocalic stressed position but
usually differs from IAI by being articulated as a swift and snappy
top aginst the upper gum. Acoustically GA /t/ is a medial sound
between the brief /d/ and one-tap alveolar Iri. tomato /tomatou/,
button /bAtn/, elevator /elevsjta/ etc. The words latter, kitty are
usually not homophonous with ladder, kiddy.
The most striking distinctive feature exist between the GA
and RP vowel systems.
The quantity feature o f vowels (long - short) is not phone­
mic (distinctive) in GA. It is a phonetic feature w hich usually de­
pends on the position o f vowels. Besides, there is no symmetry
between all the short and long pairs of vowels. Only / 1 :- 1/, /u -
u :/ pairs are constant in GA. GA I d is more open than RP /e/: bed
/bed/, tell /tel/, pet /pet/. RP /a:/ before /f/, /9/ Isl, /ns/ is usually
pronounced /ае/ in GA: pass /paes/, staff /stsef/, path /рэеб/,
chance /tjaens/, rather /гаеЗэ/, after /aefta/. GA /а/ is used instead
of RP h i . pot /pat/, lot /lat/ common /к а т эп /. In words like song
lsor\l, long /1зг|/ h i is preserved.

1 H. Kurath. A Phonology and Prosody of Modern English. An Arbor, 1964, p. 51.


Note: The interjections and affermings, onomatopoetic words and signals for people
and animals etc. are studied in a special branch of phonetics namely «extra - normal
phonetics» or «non-canonical phonetics». А. А. Реформатский. Неканоничная фо­
нетика. В книге «Развитие фонетики современного русского языка» М., Изд.
«Наука», 1966, с. 96-109.
The vowels /о, э: о/ are regarded different separate pho­
nemes in GA. /о/ is an unrounded allophone of /а/, whille long
/ 0 :/ and short / 0/ may be slightly distinctive from each other.
Instead o f RP cluster /ju:/ the vowel /u:/ is used in GA: due
/du:/, duty /du:ti/, student /stu:dant/ etc. But /j/ is pronounced in
words like beauty /bju:ti/, few /fju:/, music /m ju:zik/ etc.
RP /э/ know n as shwa has / л \ i , £/ variations in GA. It usu­
ally appears in unstressed positions: apply ACplai/, oppose
/л'роиг/, capable /keipibl/, human /hju:m in/, princess /prinses/
etc.

The vowel inventory and the distribution o f vowels and their


description varies from one linguist to another. W hile there are
more similarities in the description o f vowel phonemes in RP.
Almost all the British linguists distinguish twenty-one vowel
phonemes including the facultative or optional vowel /зэ/. The
most original vowel table of RP and GA is given by J. W indsor
Lewis in his «А Concise Pronouncing Dictionary o f British and
American English» (London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1972) (See Fig.
1-4).
Rounded vowels are given in О ungrounded in and when
the first or the second elements of diphthongs are rounded, they
are indicated by /эи //и э/, J. W. Lewis uses the symbols of narrow
form of transcription: The diphthong /з э / is omitted in the RP
vowel table. RP /э/ does not appear in the GA table because it is
usually substituted by /а/ in GA. It would also have been possible
to omit symbol /л/ from Fig. 2 because in the case of most GA
speakers it scarcely differs from /э / in quality. The RP diphthongs
Лэ, еэ, иэ/ do not appear in Fig. 4 because the sound sequences of
the GA pronunciations of near, hair and pure do not contain
diphthongs as the term is usually defined. Probably, there is a
printing mistake in the notation of /ие/ which should be given as
/иэ/. J.W. Lewis uses the symbol /еэ/ for RP /еэ/, the latter sym ­
bol is used more often. As he states in the design of the dictionary
he has tried to simplify the notation of phonetic symbols used by
D. Jones and A. C. Gimson. The problem o f using different tran­
scription systems in RP and GA is closely connected with the ar­
ticulatory, acoustic a perceptible characteristics of speech sounds
which depend on the scientific and practical approach o f the in­
vestigator. Sometimes the phonetic symbols used in books depend
on the printing conditions as in the case o f copyright o f the manu­
scripts of books w ritten by Ch. C. Fries (Teaching and Learning
English as Foreign Language, Ann Arbor, 1957), K. L. Pike
(Phonemics. Ann Arbor, 1947), H. L. Smith and G. L. Trager
(Outline of English Structure, 1951). G. G leason also used Ch. C.
Fries', H. L. Sm ith's and G.L. Trager's transcription in his book
«An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics» (First published in
N. Y„ 1955).
The so-called «broad» and «narrow» forms of transcrip­
tion are usually often used in description o f RP. But in GA there
are too many transcription forms suggested by various linguists.
There are differencies in word accentuation between RP and GA
too. Usually British linguists distinguish three degrees (primary,
secondary and weak) degrees of word stress, while American au­
thors distinguish four (primary, secondary, tertiary and weak) or
even five (including the fourthiary) degrees of word stress. These
degrees also have different notations in books. One which H. A.
Gleason indicated is / a"v/ symbols in GA. From these / Л / sym­
bols are used to indicate primary and secondary degrees of stress
in RP. The secondary stress is more com m only used in GA than
-67-
RP. In words ending -ary , -ery , -ory as necessary, monastery,
territory, which are derived from Latin through old French, the
primary stress in old French was usually on what is now the syl­
lable before the last. In M iddle English the accent shifted to the
fourth syllable from the last in accord with the native English ten­
dency to accent words near the beginning. But owing to the prin­
ciple of alternating rhythm in words, consisting of three or m ore
syllables by the different degrees o f stress, a distinct secondary
stress rem ained where the main accent had been. Thus M iddle
English neces'sarie became 'neces, sary and ,terri'torie became
'terri'tory. This tendency still remains in GA.

Examples1:
Spelling RP GA
adversary /'aedv3,sen/ /'sedvassri/
commentary /'кэтэпД еп/ /'кэтэШ эп/
momentary /то тэп Д еп /
/'то тэп 1 (э)п /
auditory /'odi,tri/ /'oditsri/

In m any words o f RP the prim ary stress is preserved on the


first syllable, while in GA stress is shifted to the next syllable. For
example: garage RP - /,gaera:5/, GA - /gs'raS, g9'rad3/, contrast
RP - /'kontra:st/, GA - /ksn'traest/ etc.
The shifting accent is often observed in complex and com ­
pound words in both literary types o f pronunciation. But it is
more frequent in GA that in RP. The accentuation of words may
be different when they are pronounced isolately and in phrases,
the latter is called a sentence stress or phrase stress (H. Kurath) or
sometimes sense stress (J. S. Kenyon). Such compound adjectives
as high-strung /'hai'strAij/ in GA, when used predicatively as in
H e ’s rather high-strung, retains its stress marks. But when it is
followed by a strong stress ('high-strung ’nerves), the second ac­
cent is reduced2.
There is also a spelling-pronunciation relationship both in
RP and GA. As we have seen phoretic changes are concerned

1J.S. Kenyan. American Pronunciation. Ann Arbor. Michigan, 1962, p. 87-88.


2 John S. Kenyon, Thomas A. Knott. A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English.
Springfield, Mass., 1953, p. XXV.
primarily with the spoken form, though the written form retains
its constancy except for the spelling o f some words. For example,
the following words have slight differencies in their spelling (left
column - RP, right column GA forms):

axe - ax, draught - (draft) - draft,


briar - brier, tyre (tire) - tire,
labour —labor, defence - defense,
honour - honor, offence - offense,
centre —center, enclose - inclose,
organise - organize, through - thru,
cosy - cozy, pyjamas-pajamas' etc'
grey - gray,

We can notice from this list o f words that GA spelling is


more close to the pronunciation than in British English.
As to intonation in both literary types o f pronunciation, it is
a very complex and difficult problem to compare all intonation
patterns. But it is possible to distinguish an American speaker
from a British one by their intonation.
In British speech falling and rising melodies are accompa­
nied by more loudness and length than in American speech.
The only common prosodic feature may be observed in the
pronunciation of «yes - no» questions which are marked by a ris­
ing intonation in RP and GA2.
But the rhythmic, syllabic and accentual structures of such
questions may also be different in both types o f pronunciation.

III.4 . THE PRONUNCIATION OF ENGLISH


IN OTHER COUNTRIES

III.4.1. The Canadian type of pronunciation

English came to Canada in the seventeenth century when the


British colonists arrived there. English is one o f the national offi­

1H. Spitzbardt, Gerhard Grdf. Amerikanisches English. Leipzig, 1964, S. 36.


2 Ch. C. Fries. On the Intonation of «Yes - no» questions in English. In Honour of D.
Jones, Longmans, London, 1964, p. 31.
cial languages (about 14 million speakers) together with French
(about 4 million speakers) in Canada.
Canadian English (CaE) has common phonetic features both
with RP and GA. English, which is spoken in Ontario region, is
more similar to GA than in other parts o f Canada as this region is
situated very close to the USA. The most specific phonetic fea­
tures of CaE are the following:
a) before the voiceless consonants the first elem ent of the
diphthongs /ai/ and /au/ may be substituted by the vowels /л/ and
/е/ in words like out Avut/ or /eut/, nice IuaisI or /nsis/, house
/hAus/ or /heus/;
b) in w ord final position before the sonants III, /m l, Ini the
vowel sounds as /u/, /э/, /i/ may be added: mail /m eiul/ film
/fib m /, known /поиэп/ etc.;
c) the vowel sound h : l is used both in pod and pawed
which sound homophonic, i.e. similar;
d) Scottish influence is apparent in Canada, especially in the
use o f the interm ediate /а/ for /ае/ in words like man, hat, bad in
the regions o f Nova Scotia and Alberta. For the /au/ diphthong
/ои/ and /и/ are heard, which probably reflects Scottish influence
as w ell1;
e) the Am erican retroflex /г/ is used in CaE too, nonetheless
the retroflex /г/ sounds «brighter» (further front in the Canadian
M aritimes than in Canada W est of the French-speaking belt. It is
regarded as a valid dialectological statement)2;
f) the glottal stop 111 used in GA is typical of CaE too:
mountain, fountain, sentence, accountant;
g) /ае/ is usually used instead of /a :/ in words like path
/p£E0/, task /tcEsk/ etc.;
h) dark /1/ is used in CaE in almost all positions: pull /pul/,
fellow /fslau/ etc.;
i) both GB and GA form s of accentuation are used in words
ending with - a r y , - o r y , - i r y ; dictionary /dikjsnri/ or /'d ik b n ,e n /,
laboratory Л эЪ эгэйт/ or /1аеЬгэДэп/ etc.
j) CaE intonation possesses many features in com m on with
both RP and GA. H owever it is still not scientifically investigated
by the methods o f instrum ental phonetics.

1 J.S. Kenyon. Th. A. Knott. Id., p. XLV.


2 H. Pilch. Structural Dialectology. // American Speech, 1972, vol. 47, No. 3-4, p. 166.
- 70-
Australian English is one of the literary national types used
since the end of the eighteenth century. There are three types of
pronunciation in Australia:
1. Educated or Cultivated Australian English;
2. Broad Australian English;
3 .General Australian English (GAu) which is regarded as a
literary type.
The following simple vowels (monophthongs and diph­
thongized vowels) exist in GAu;
i\J as in the word seat /sit/
N sit /sit/
Id head /hsd/
/ае/ had /haed/
Ы father /Тлбэ/
hi hot /hot/
/о:/ sort /so :t/
/и/ put /put/
/и/ boot /but/
/л/ but /bAt/
Id bird /bsd/
/э/ alone /э'1оип/

The following diphthongs exist in GAu:


/ ei/ as in the word day
/ou/ » so
/ai/ » try
/ли/ » down
/oi/ » boy
/ia/ » clear
/еэ/ » dare
/иэ/ as in the w ord tour (tu s)1.

GAu /i/ is a diphthongized vowel as / 11/ or diphthong /ai/, III


is more close and som ewhat prolonged especially in a stressed

1Г А. Орлов. Современный английский язык в Австралии. М., «Высшая школа», 1978,


с. 62.
position. GAu uses diphthong /ai/ for /л-i/ instead of /ei/: say /sai/
made /шл-id/. It often alternates between /ei~Ai~aei/ in Australian
speech. GAu diphthong /ai/ sounds like /ле/, /oi/, /o-i/: time
/taim/, /toim/ etc. GAu /л/ is used instead of RP /a:/: father /Ғлбэ/.
The opposition /л - a:/ is neutralized in GAu: cut - cart, much -
march sound identical1, i.e. become homophones.
In principal the phonetic inventory of GAu does not differ
much from RP but the distribution of phonemes is different in
both literary types. There are also slight differences in word ac­
centuation and intonation between GAu and RP. But in many
cases GAu is much closer to the RP pronunciation than that of
GA.

III. 4.3. The New Zealand English Pronunciation

This type of pronunciation has many features in common


with RP. The most striking phonetic features of the New Zealand
English pronunciation are the following:
a) the short vowel N is prolonged in the final unstressed po­
sition: city /siti:/, very /ven:/ etc;
b) in the unstressed position /i/ becomes /э/. Phonologically
the opposition /1 - э/ is neutralized in an unstressed position: did
/dad/, it is /at az/, charges /t|a:d3sz/ etc.;
c) words like dance, chance, glass have two forms of pro­
nunciation, one, which coincides with RP, the other - with GA:
/da:ns/ - /daens/, /tja:ns/-/tjaens/, /gla:s/ - /glaes/ etc.;
d) the diphthong /au/ is substituted by /аги/: town /taeun/,
cow /kaeu/ etc.;
e) Besides the influences of GA, as in the usage of ls.1 and
substitution of /J/ by /3/ in words like Asia /'ei3a/ version /vs:3n/
the influence of Eastern English and Cockney dialects may be no­
ticed in the New Zealand pronunciation2.

1 Г.А. Орлов. Указ. соч., с. 64-70.


2 Т. М. Беляева , И. А. Потапова. Английский язык за пределами Англии. Л., 1961,
с. 1 0 1 -1 0 2 .
The following are the most striking phonetic features of this
pronunciation type:
a) the vowels may be nasalized when the nasal consonant
precedes or follows them;
b) all the vowel sounds are halflong, i.e. all short vowels be­
come longer and long vowels - shorter;
c) a special vowel /ё/ which is half-close, front-central, half­
tense and rounded, is used instead of Ы, Id, /э/, /э:/ both in
stressed and unstressed positions;
d) in an initial position IhJ may be dropped: hause /aus/;
e) the rolled or trilled (r) is used in all positions: great
/greit/, dear Idvrl, warm /wo rm/ etc.;
f) word accentuation and intonation are different in this type
than in RP and GA. For example, auxiliary verbs, pronouns and
meaningless words may be stressed and therefore they are pro­
nounced in full;
g) the glottal stop is often used to retain the «jerky» South
African pronunciation .
There are also other types of pronunciation in Asia (India,
Pakistan, Philippines), in America (Puerto-Rico), which are re­
garded as dialects or idiolects. Besides there are mixed or hybrid
languages which have peculiarities of English.

Ш .5 . T H E R E L A T IO N S H IP B E T W E E N T H E
P R IN C IP A L T Y P E S O F E N G L IS H
P R O N U N C IA T IO N A N D T H E IR D IA L E C T S

Usually in conversation people use the terms «British dia­


lect», «American dialect» or «British accent», «American accent»
etc. which concerns only the characteristics of speech, i.e. the way
British or American speech is used orally.
The term dialect is often used in the sense of regional, local
or geographic varieties of a language mainly used in oral speech.
(In writing there are may be dialectal words and constructions
used which characterize the style of speech). A language belongs

1 Т. М. Беляева, И. А. Потапова. Указ. соч., с. 72-75.


- 73 -
to a nation or nations, as English does, therefore it is a social phe­
nomenon, understandable by all its members. A language is not a
complex combination of individual speech forms, but it has its lit­
erary orthoepic (pronunciation) and orthographic (written) rules.
The individual speech of a member of a language commu­
nity is known as an idiolect. Idiolects and dialect speakers are
identifiable by their sounds, tone or melody, words and also by
expressions and constructions, i.e. by their phonetic, grammatical,
lexical and stylistic features. The distinction between a language
and a dialect is based on criterion of functional approach. Func­
tionally a language is characterized by the acceptance of the
communication unit and elaboration of function in society. If two
or more languages are spoken (as in Canada English and French
are official languages), they are called bilinguals (speakers in two
languages) and this process is known as bilingualism. Bilingual­
ism may be of two types: 1) natural, when people speak two lan­
guages which have mutual contact; 2) artificial bilingualism
appears in second language learning when the mother tongue (its
pronunciation habits, grammar, lexicology) influences the lan­
guage studied.
These problems are regarded as an object of sociolinguis­
tics, which is an interdisciplinary branch of modern linguistics.
The phonetic and phonological features of a language - dialect re­
lationship, natural bilingualism and also some types of speech
communities classified by their social characteristics are studied
in a new branch of phonetics, namely social phonetics. The prob­
lem of artificial bilingualism is studied in comparative-
typological phonetics or phonology1 which is a part of compara­
tive - typological linguistics. Abroad it is known as contrastive
linguistics (it's branch is contrastive phonetics) more often used
in the USA. It is also called confrontative linguistics in Ger­
many.
Now let us turn to the problem of affinity of the principal
types of English pronunciation with its dialects which is the result
of social, educational, trade, cultural, migration and urbanization
factors. Correlation between these factors may be noticed in the

1 А.А. Абдуазизов. Сопоставительная фонология разносистемных языков и обу­


чение произношению (обзор). //Проблемы фонологии и морфонологии. М., 1975,
с. 173-182.
process of language change and dialect variations. Ch. Barber
states: «One way in which the English language has been chang­
ing in recent years is the relationship between the different kinds
of English spoken in England, and in people's attitudes to these
different varieties of the language»1. Other ways of changing RP
may be explained by the influence of American English pronun­
ciation types heard in the cinema, on the wireless and television
and on records of popular singers etc. A.C. Gimson also pointed
out the influence of the London dialect to RP such as the pronun­
ciations of /о:/ instead of /о:/, /л:/ instead of /з:/, monophthongiza-
tion of /ei/ as /e:/ in words like saw /so:/, fur / f \ :/, day /ds:/. In
modem RP pronunciation the influence of Southern English may
be found such as the unrounding of /u/ = /э/ (good), coalescence
of /о:/ with /зэ/ (more) and sometimes with /иэ/ (poor), centrali­
zation of the first element of the diphthong /ои/ = /эи/ (go)2.
These changes may be found in the Australian English pronuncia­
tion in which they are regarded as the orthoepic norm. These ex­
amples show the intradialectal influences and contacts between
the principal types of pronunciation (RP and GAu). There are also
intraidiolectal phonetic variations defined as the variations in the
pronunciation of one and the same native speaker of a language,
i.e. those within one and the same idiolect. V.A. Vassilyev distin­
guished two types of intraidiolectal variations. The first type of
intraidiolectal phonetic variations are spontaneous, accidental, un­
intentional, unconditioned, non-functional, and therefore abso­
lutely non-distinctive linguistically. For example, though the
pronunciation of one and the same sound, word or a phrase may
be different acoustically, though identical and non-distinctive
from the linguistic point of view.
The second type of intraidialectal phonetic variations may
be intentional and conditioned by different styles of speech3, i.e.
colloquial and full styles of pronunciation (see next paragraph).
Some terms have been suggested for use in the intradialectal
and interidiolectal phonetic variations. The term diaphone (D.
Jones) is defined as a sound used to denote a sound together with
other sounds which replace it consistently in the pronunciation of

1 Ch. Barber. Linguistic Change in Present-day English. London, 1964, p, 16.


2 A.C. Gimson. Phonetic Change and the RP Vowel System. //In honour of D. Jones,
Longmans, London, 1964, p. 133.
3 V.A. Vassilyev. English Phonetics. A theoretical course. М., 1970, p. 63.
-75-
other speakers. For example, different types of /ai/ or /г/ may be
regarded as members of the same diaphone. The idiophone is
used to denote a sound pronounced in one idiolect in place of a
different sound pronounced in other idiolects in the same phonetic
context as allophones of the same phoneme. These terms are
equivalent to free variants of phonemes1. Free variants of pho­
nemes are those which substitute each other in the same context.
It is possible to use the term variphone in the sense of free varia­
tions of a phoneme in the same context. The term variphone may
be used not only in the interdialectal or interidiolectal variations
but also within one and the same language. For example, in the
word direct, which is transcribed /direkt/ and /dairekt/ the pho­
nemes / 1/ and /at/ may be members of a variphone. Likewise, in
the word again /a'gein/, /s'gen/ the vowels /e 1/ and Id may also be
members of a variphone. There are also accentual and intona­
tional variations of which the latter have not been investigated at
all.
As to the teaching standard of English, V.A. Vassilyev sug­
gested two basic criteria for choice: 1) the degree of understand-
ability of this or that type of pronunciation in all English-speaking
countries; 2) the extent to which this or that type has been scien­
tifically investigated and practically described in a number of
textbooks, dictionaries, audiovisual aids2 etc. These criteria have
been applied to both RP and GA which are chosen as teaching
units in many countries.
III. 6. S T Y L IS T IC V A R IA N T S O F
P R O N U N C IA T IO N

The pronunciation of the speaker is not similiar in all occa­


sions. It may vary, depending on the situations, context, on the
character of the audience and listener, on the emotional attitude of
the speaker etc. All these are characteristic of the style of speech.
The oral form of speech has its own phonetic features. For exam­
ple, the pronunciation of one and the same person in friendly con­
versation and in delivering a lecture or speaking over the radio
may have different phonetic features. On the basis of such differ-
encies it is possible to distinguish stylistic variants of pronuncia­
tion. There are different classifications of stylistic variants of
pronunciation. Some authors distinguish four principal styles for
practical purposes: 1) familiar colloquial; 2) formal colloquial; 3)
public-speaking style; 4) public-reading style. Others differentiate
literary and colloquial styles of pronunciation. Practically it is
possible to divide academician L.V. Shcherba's classification of
styles of speech into two types: 1) colloquial style used in peo­
ples' conversation and in such a speech the sound structure, word
accentuation and intonation may change considerably; 2) full
style, in which the sound structure, word accentuation and intona­
tion are distinct and speech sounds are pronounced clearly and
carefully.
The colloquial style of speech is characterized by the re­
duced forms of words, different degrees of assimilation, elision
and dissimilation, which are found in connected speech. Different
allophonic substitutions diaphonic, idiaphonic variations and
variphonic alternations are also characteristic of the colloquial
style of speech.
The full style retains phonetic features of speech to a great
extent. There may also be some changes in this pronunciation
style, but they may be characteristic of the individual habits of the
speaker1. Usually the full style of speech is used in official con­
versation, delivering lectures, in public - speaking etc. The full
style is distinguished from the colloquial style by its normal
tempo of speech and careful pronunciation. It is useful to use the
full style in the initial stage of language learning, while the con­
versational style may be used in the later stages. Thus, the stylis­
tic variants o f pronunciation are also important in choosing the
right type of rules for teaching pronunciation.
The stylistic features of pronunciation are studied by
phonostylistics which is a special branch of phonetics.

T H E P H O N E M IC S Y S T E M O F T H E E N G L IS H
LANGUAGE. GENERAL REM ARKS

In language teaching we have to do with at least two lan­


guages: the mother tongue and the target language. These may fall
into the same broad type as far as their morphological characteris­
tics are concerned, but be strikingly different in respect to their
syllable structures. They may differ markedly in their lexical
structure, for example, in the semantic field of kinship terms or

1 JI.B. Щерба. Фонетика французского языка. М., 1967, с. 20-21.


-78-
colour terms but yet be similar in many syntactic respects. They
may or may not be genetically related. The fact is that linguistic
similarity and difference cannot be asserted for «language as
wholes» but only level by level, system by system, category by
category1.
There are two ways of comparing the sound systems of two
languages: a) in physical, i.e. acoustic and articulatory terms; and
b) in functional i.e. phonological terms. The comparison of syl­
labic, accentual and intonation structures of two or more lan­
guages needs some other principles as they have complex
features.
In language learning the mother tongue (Li) and the target
language (L2) come into contact as a result of which many cases
of transference of the elements of Lj to L2 may be observed.
These transferences are given a common term «interference».
According to the levels of language description we can distin­
guish:
a) phonetic (phonic) - phonological interference;
b) grammatical interference;
c) lexical-semantical interference;
d) probably, it is possible also to classify stylistic interfer­
ence.
As we are concerned with phonetic (phonic) - phonological
interference it may become clear in the course of comparative-
typological analysis of languages. But the term phonetic (phonic)
- phonological interference is too general and it is described only
on the bases of phonemic vs. non-phonemic differences in lan­
guages. The following types of interference within the segmental
phonemes of two or more languages are usually distinguished: 1)
under-differentiation; 2) over-differentiation; 3) re-interpretation;
4) phone-substitution2. Among these types of interference the sec­
ond is not always noticeable as it is not always clear how it can be
proved nor to what extent it may rightly be called interference in
any strict sense, since the perception o f allophonic differences
presumably does not diminish communication and may not even

1 S. P it Corder. Introducing Applied Linguistics, Penguin Books, 1977, pp. 227-228.


2 U. Weinreich. Languages in Contact: Findings and Problem. The Hague, Mouton,
1963.
be manifested in any foreign accent1. There is also a classification
of interference types according to their occurrence in production
and in perception (in rhythm and intonation)2. In general all ap­
proaches to the problem of interference are limited by the seg­
mental phonemes. Though some linguists emphasize the existence
of transference of suprasegmental features of the mother tongue to
the target language but none of them has classified the types of such
a suprasegmental interference. We suggest the following types of
phonetic (phonic) - phonological interference:
1) the phonemic interference;
2) the syllabic interference;
3) the accentual interference;
4) the intonational interference;
5) the phonologically mixed interference.
(Its types are: a) phonemic-syllabic; b) syllabic-accentual; c)
accentual-intonational). All these types of interference may be ob­
served between the mother tongue and target language in the
course of language learning, i.e. in the process of artificial bilin­
gualism.
There are also cases of interference within one language
system, i.e. in the process of the natural bilingualism which is a
special problem of sociolinguistics. The problem of phonetic
(phonic) - phonological interference needs special investigation.
Therefore, in this book we deal only with a comparison of pho­
nemic systems of English and Uzbek which is both theoretically
and practically important.

1 S. Saporta, R. E. Brown and W. D. Wolfe. Toward the Quantification of Phonic Inter­


ference. //Language and Speech, vol. 2, 1959, pp. 205-210.
2 F redM . Chreist. Foreign Accent. N. Y., 1964.
THE SYSTEM OF CONSONANT
PHONEMES IN ENGLISH
I V .l. V O W E L -C O N S O N A N T D IS T IN C T IO N

Usually the distinction between a vowel and a consonant is


regarded to be not phonetic, but phonemic. From the phonetic
point of view the distinction between a vowel and a consonant is
based on their articulatory - acoustic characteristics, i.e. a vowel
is produced as a pure musical tone without any obstruction of air-
stream in the mouth cavity while in the production of a consonant
there is an obstruction of air-stream in the speech tract. There are
other criteria to distinguish a vowel from a consonant as well.
From the standpoint of information theory vowels are re­
dundant and it is possible to recognize words on the basis of con­
sonants. Perhaps it depends on the number of vowels and
consonants. Owing to the latter being usually numerically bigger,
it has more information load.
Another distinction of vowel-consonant dichotomy is made
due to the criterion that the vowels have the syllabic function
forming its peak while consonants are marginal in the syllable
forming its slopes. This criterion is, perhaps, universal as to
vowel-consonant distinction. Therefore some linguists use the
terms syllabic and non-syllabic phonemes. But the existence of
the sonorants or sonants, which may be syllabic, contradicts this
criterion. For example, in English /г/, III, 1)1, /w/ oral sonants and
/ml, InJ, /q/ - nasal sonants may have a syllabic function: little
/litl/, hundred /hAndrid/, parrot /paerat/ etc.
The distinction of the vowel-consonant dichotomy may
function differently in various languages. In English, Russian and
Uzbek this distinction is more clear than in other languages. But
in some languages owing to the vowel harmony which is inter­
preted as the dilation of the vowel in the stem of the word in its
affix, vowels may be more important in recognizing the word
than the consonants1.
There are also attempts to find an acoustic criterion to dis­
tinguish a vowel-consonant dichotomy. Acoustically vowels are
characterized by the presence of a strict formant structure, on the
contrary consonants have negative formant structure as the vow­
els have greater intensity than that of consonants. Besides, tone is
significant for vowels while noise - for consonants. But this dis­
tinction is not clear because of the existence of sounds which are
neither vocalic nor consonantal. This type of consonants are sono­
rants or sonants which have similiar formant structure like vow­
els, but tone prevails over noise. In the dichotomic classification
of distinctive features sonants are characterized either as vowels
or consonants . One of the authors of dichotomic phonology who
even suggested twelve binary distinctive features of sounds uni­
versal for all the languages of the world G.Fant admitted that the
physical criterion for the vocalic and consonantal features have
not been rigid and therefore in the classification of Swedish pho­
nemes he proposed a new formulation, retaining the concept of
formant reduction in defining the consonant feature, but with in­
tensity associated with the vocalic feature3. In fact, the acoustic
distinction between vowel and consonant has not been classified
yet.
Perhaps, one of the criterion in a vowel-consonant distinc­
tion may be found in the perceptual aspect. Though it is easy to
distinguish vowels from consonants by ear, there are also some
difficulties in classifying them by perceptual features.
In spite of all these contradictions we should use traditional
distinction between vocoid-contoid in the phonetic sense and
vowel-consonant for the linguistic categories. The phonemic sys­
tem of the English language consists of vowel phonemes and con­
sonant phonemes. Usually the pronunciation of vowels depends
on the neighbouring consonants. Therefore we should begin the
description of the phonemic system of English with consonants.

1 JJ. P. Зиндер. Общая фонетика. М., Изд. «Высшая школа», 1979, с. 111-113.
2 Р. Якобсон, Г. Фант, М. Халле. Введение в анализ речи. В кн. «Новое в лингвис­
тике», Вып. 2., М., 1952, с. 178.
3 Gunnar Fant. The Nature of Distinctive Features. //Phonological Theory. Evolution
and Current Practice. N. Y., 1972, p. 363.
In the description of the phonemic system of English we use
articulatory terms in the main, which are more understandable and
important for practical use than the acoustic terms. As to the ter­
minology used in the dichotomic classification of distinctive fea­
tures, such terms are often called mixed as articulatory, acoustic
and even musical terms are used. For example, the terms vocalic
- non-vocalic, oral - nasal, voiceless - voiced, tense - lax are
articulatory terms; compact - diffuse, grave - acute are acoustic
terms; the terms flat sharp and plain are borrowed from the the­
ory of music. Besides, some of them, particularly grave - acute
are used to distinguish the different types of word stress and the
term plain does not mean anything in this case1. This type of ter­
minology, which is used in other science as well and has two or
more meanings, is not suitable in the phonemic description.
Peutinent to this, analysis of English phonemes is made in
the following way:
1) the phonetic (articulatory and acoustic) classification;
2) the phonemic classification which makes clear the dis­
tinction between phonemes and their allophonic variations;
3) the distribution of phonemes and some sound clusters.
More often we compare the phonemic systems of English and
Uzbek.

IV .2. T H E A R T IC U L A T O R Y A N D A C O U S T IC
C L A S S IF IC A T IO N O F E N G L IS H C O N S O N A N T S
(IN C O M P A R IS O N W IT H U Z B E K )

The general phonetic principles of the classification of con­


sonant sounds are as follows:
1) the place of articulation;
2) the manner of production;
3) the presence or absence of voice;
4) the position of the soft palate.
According to place of articulation the consonants may be la­
bial and pharyngal (JW). Labial consonants are divided into bila­
bial (as English /р/, /b/, /m/, /w/) and labio-dental (English /f/,
/v/). The lingual consonants may be forelingual (English (/t/, /d/,

1 B.A. Васильев. Акустическая классификация фонем Якобсона —Фанта —Халле в


применении к английскому языку. М. , МГПИИЯ, 1973, с. 20-21.
Isl, /z/, /1/, /n/, /|/, /3/, /tj/, /d3/), interlingual (/j/) and backlingual
(Ikl, /g/, rj/).
The chief points of obstruction at the place of articulation,
besides labial (bilabial and labio-dental), are dental (allophones of
the phonemes /t/, /d/, etc.), alveolar /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, f\J), retroflex
(G. А. /r/), cacuminal (RP Iri), palato-alveolar /J/, /3/, /tj/, /d3/,
palatal /j/, velar /к/, /g/, /q/ uvular (Scottish /R/), glottal 111 - stop
which is used more often in GA and in some English dialects).
All these characterize the place of obstruction formed at some
points of speech organs.
The manner of articulation makes it possible to distinguish
occlusive (/p, b, t, d, k, g/), constrictive (/f, v, s, z, 0, 9, J, 3, h/)
consonants and affricates (/tj, d3/). In turn, occlusive consonants
may be two types: plosives or stops, in the production of which
noise is essential and sonants or sonorants /m, n, g/ in the produc­
tion of which tone prevails over noise. Constrictive consonants
may be divided into fricatives and sonants. Fricative consonants
may be unicentral (those in which narrowing has two foci) and
bicentral (produced by two foci narrowing as in /J, 3/). Unicentral
consonants may be produced either with a flat narrowing (/f, v, 9,
9, h/) or a round narrowing (as in English Is, if). As to constric­
tive sonants, they may be medial (as in English /w, v, j I) and lat­
eral (/1/).
The next class of consonants namely affricates are formed
by the stream of air stopped first (as in the production of plosives)
and then the closure is released with friction (as in fricatives).
Sometimes these, type of sounds are called occlusive - constric­
tive or plosive - fricative complexes as the English /tf, d3/. Affri­
cates may also be unicentral (as the Russian тс luf) and bicentral
(as in the English /tj, d3/).
The rolled (or thrilled) sonants are not characteristic for RP
and GA but may be heard in some positions, especially when Iri
proceeds Itl and IdJ it drops its sonorant feature1. The rolled so­
nants are found in Russian (/p/) and Uzbek (Iri).

1 Г.П. Торсуев. Константность и вариантность в фонетической системе (на мате­


риале английского языка). М., Изд. «Наука», 1977, с. 61.
-84-
Notes:
E - English,
U - Uzbek
According to the active Lingual
Labia)
organ o f speech Forelingual

Pharyngal
Medio- Backlingual
According to the position o fthe tongue
The manner ingual
The place o f ob­ Bila­ Labio­ Dorsal Apical Cacuminal
of produc­
struction bial dental inter Alveo­ Palato- Post-
tion Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular
dental lar alvcolar alveolar
Noise con­ E P ,b t, d k,g
sonants
-85-

Occlusive U P, b t,d
(plosives) K.g q
consonants
Sonorants E m n 4
(nasal) U m n ne
E s, z
Noise
U
consonants
Constrictive E f, v 0,6 1,3 h
(fricatives)
consonants U s, z sh, j kh,g’ h
E w L г j
Sonorants
U У
Affricates E tl, d3
(noise consonants) U ch, j
Rolled
Sonorants U R
consonants
The next principle of the classification of consonants is
based on the presence or absence of voice, according to which
voiced and voiceless consonants may be distinguished. This dis­
tinction is closely connected with the degree of breath and muscu­
lar effort, involved in the articulation. Usually the English voiced
consonants are articulated by relatively weak energy of the speech
organs, whereas the voiceless consonants are pronounced by rela­
tively strong energy. This distinction, indicated by the feature for-
tis-lenis (from Latin words which means «tense-lax»), is
phonologically very important. There are eight pairs of voiceless
- voiced, resp. fortis - lenis consonants in English: /p-b/, /t-d/, /f-
v/, /s-z/, /j-3/, /0-9/, /tj-d3/, /k-g/.
The position of the soft palate is very important in the pro­
duction of consonants. When the soft palate takes a high position
it blocks the air-passage into the nasal cavity and the air passes
through the mouth cavity. The consonants produced are called
orals (/p, t, s, tJ etc.). When the soft palate is lowered, the vibrat­
ing breath passes through the nose. The nasal cavity, along with
the oral cavity or part of it, function as a resonance chamber (as in
/m, n, rj/). The general principles of the consonant classification
explained here are outlined in the comparative table of English
and Uzbek consonant phonemes given above.

IV .3. C O M P A R A T IV E -T Y P O L O G IC A L
A N A L Y S IS O F T H E E N G L IS H AND
U ZBEK CO NSONANT PH O N EM ES

In comparing the consonant systems of two languages, it is


suitable to begin with the inventories of phonemes set up in both
languages. The inventary of the English consonant phonemes
comprises the following 24 phonemes: /p/, /b/, Ixl Isl, /к/, /g/, /n/,
/rj/, /1/, Ы , ГЫ, /v/, /d/, /z/, /|/, /3/, /tj/, /d3/, /w/, M , /j/, /0/, /9/, /f/
and the facultative or optinal phoneme Ы.
The inventary of the Uzbek consonants consists of 23 pho­
nemes /p/, Pol, /f/, /v/, Isl, /z/, l\l, /d/, /sh/, /j/, /к/, /g/, /kh/, //, /q/,
/h/:, /n/, IM, /г/, /у/, /ch/, /m/, /ng/.
Some of the English consonants, for example, /0, 9, w/ can
not be found in Uzbek. Likewise, the Uzbek consonants /kh, g', q/
do not exist in English. We can arrange the differences in the in­
ventories of consonant phonemes of both languages into a single
-86-
table. As we look at the table of consonants we find differences in
the number and articulation of some consonants. For example, the
Uzbek consonants /t, d/ are articulated in a more frontal position,
being dental and dorsal, than the English consonants /t, d/, which
have an alveolar and apical articulation. The Uzbek plosive (stop)
uvular /q/ does not exist in English. It is articulated in a more
backward position than the backlingual consonants.
Among the fricatives the Uzbek /s, z, sh, j/ may be produced
in a more frontal position of the mouth cavity than the English
counterparts /s, z, J, 3/. The Uzbek /s, z/ are dorsal, /sh - j/ are
palato-alveolar consonants. The English /s, z/ have apical, alveo­
lar articulation with round narrowing and /j, 3/ being also palato-
alveolar, have two foci in articulation. Besides, the consonants
/kh, g7 are specific for Uzbek and cannot be found in English.
The class of nasals coincides in number /m, n, q/ - /m, n, ng/
but their articulatory, acoustic and phonological features are dif­
ferent in both languages. The English /n/ is alveolar and apical,
while the Uzbek Ы is a dorsal, dental consonant. The English /q/
is a separate phoneme and it can never be divided into two sylla­
bles as /n - g/ in all positions. The Uzbek /ng/ can function as a
separate phoneme in word final position (uying - «your house»,
qo'ling - «your hand») and in word medial position, owing to the
syllable division it can be divided into two elements, as /n - g/
qo'lingga - «to your hand» /ql-in-ga/, синглинга (sin-glin-ga) -
«to your sister».
As to the English f\J phoneme it has two allophones: «clear»
and «dark» the distinction of which is based on the pronunciation
with a frontal secondary focus («clear» Ш) and with a back sec­
ondary focus («dark» III). Such kinds of articulation are not
found in Uzbek.
There is no consonant phoneme such as the English sonant
/w/ in Uzbek. The English /г/ has a cacuminal, post alveolar ar­
ticulation while the Uzbek /г/ is regarded as a rolled (or trilled)
consonant.
IV .4. P H O N O L O G IC A L A N A L Y S IS O F
T H E E N G L IS H C O N S O N A N T S
(in C o m p a riso n w ith U zbek)

IV.4.1. The criteria of phonological and


comparative-typological analysis

The comparative table of the English and Uzbek consonant


phonemes is based on their articulatory and acoustic classifica­
tion. This table gives a general idea of the differences and identi­
ties of the consonant phonemes and of the pure phonetic features
of the isolated consonant phonemes. The table and the phonetic
characteristics do not clarify the relationship between the pho­
nemes, i.e. the way they are arranged into the whole system and
what structural relations exist between the phonemes. The answer
to these questions may be found through a phonological analysis
which has its own principles, methods and conditions. Its main
principle is based on choosing two or more sounds and establish­
ing their mutual relations in the system. Such mutual relations
may become clear by using the method of opposition. Oppositions
between sounds require certain conditions. In phonological analy­
sis conditions for the oppositions may be equal to the positions,
i.e. initial, medial and final positions where two or more sounds
form oppositions. The phonemes and their distinctive (relevant)
and non-distinctive (irrelevant) features may be established on the
basis o f phonological oppositions which may be set up on the
paradigmatic axis. The sounds, in which the phonemes are mani­
fested may be used in the linear sequence or on the syntagmatic
axis. For analysing sounds in the syntagmatic axis, the method of
distribution is used, which makes clear the usage of distinctive
and non-distinctive features.
Choosing two sounds, we can compare their articulatory and
acoustic properties in the phonetic table cited above. If the fea­
tures are different, they may be regarded, as being distinctive, if
the features coincide, they are called non-distinctive features. This
explanation is given for the sake of convenience.
At first we begin with the preliminary phonological analysis
of the speech sounds, suggested by V. A. Vassilyev. According to
this principle we can set up simple oppositions (based on one dis-
-88-
tinctive feature), double oppositions (based on two distinctive fea­
tures) and complex oppositions when there are more than two dis­
tinctive features. The next stage of phonological analysis may be
based on the classification of oppositions given by N.S. Trubetz­
koy.
The inventary of phonemes is one o f the criterions used as a
starting point in the comparative-typological analysis of the pho­
nemic systems of languages with different systems. The next cri­
terion is based on the quality and quantity of phonological
oppositions existing in both languages.
In phonetic comparison we deal with etic units, i.e. sounds
which form phonic substance of languages. Comparative-
typological analysis of phonological systems aims at describing
structural emic units, i.e. phonemes which function as formal
items in the identification and distinction of words and mor­
phemes. The quality of oppositions may be verified on the basis
of distinctive and non-distinctive oppositions while the quantity
of oppositions is characterized by their number which includes a
majority or minority of phoneme pairs. It is possible to measure
the functional load of oppositions determined by the number of
minimal pairs illustrating phonological oppositions and the power
of oppositions determined by the number of opposition pairs. The
last two criteria are known in language typology as «weighting of
the values»1. Besides it is possible to compare frequency of oc­
currence of phonemes in two or more languages, which ascer­
tains the functional exploitation of language units in different
languages. This type of comparison enables us to make an undis­
torted classification of languages. The comparison of languages,
according to the statistical data of certain facts or units, is known
as a quantitative typology of languages.
The above given criteria may be used either in the phono­
logical analysis of consonants or vowels and even in comparing
the relation of the frequency of occurrence of vowels and conso­
nants.

1 J. Ellis. Towards a General Comparative Linguistics. Mouton, 1966, p. 52.


-89-
As stated, a phoneme is a member of phonological opposi­
tion. Thanks to this definition of the phoneme, the system of the
English consonant phonemes is arranged from various phonologi­
cal oppositions. According to the place of articulation the follow­
ing oppositions (mainly single) exist in English.
1) labial (bilabial or labio-dental) - forelingual: between
plosives /р —t/, /b —d/; between fricatives / f - 0/, /v - р/ / f - s/, /v
—z/, /f —J/; between nasals: /m - n/; between constrictive sonants
/w - 1/, /w - r/ in which the features bicentral-unicentral and
round narrowing - flat narrowing are non-distinctive. The opposi­
tions /f - s/, /v - z/ are accompanied by the non-distinctive fea­
tures flat (slit) narrowing groove-like narrowing. The latter
features are distinctively relevant only in the oppositions /0 - s/,
/p - zl. As to the opposition /f - J/ it is also accompanied by the
non-distinctive features unicentral-bicentral1.
The given oppositions, except the oppositions where /0/ and
/р/ occur, exist in Uzbek too. But the only difference may be ob­
served in oppositions /v/-/l/, /v/-/r/ in which /v/ takes part with its
bilabial sonorant allophone. Besides, the above non-distinctive
features are not typical of Uzbek.
The functional load of the opposition labial-forelingual is
higher in English than in Uzbek, as there are too many minimal
pairs of words, in which the above oppositions may occur in ini­
tial, medial and final positions. This opposition shows low func­
tional load in Uzbek as few oppositions may occur in medial and
final positions of the minimal pairs.
The power of this opposition is stronger in English (10
pairs) than in Uzbek (9 pairs). The number of labial consonants
do not coincide: there are six labial consonants in English and
five in Uzbek. The relation between the numbers of forelingual
consonants in English and Uzbek is 13:11.
As observed more than half of the English consonant pho­
nemes are forelingual. In Uzbek it is expressed by almost 45% of

1 Thedescription o f single oppositions is based on: V.A. Vassilyev. English Phonetics (A


theoretical course), M ., 1970, p. 182-194.
the total number (23) of consonants. The number of forelingual
consonants and frequency of their occurrence is very great in both
languages. This fact depends more relative on the physiological
activity of the front part of the tongue than the other types of ar­
ticulation. Evidently, this is for the sake of economy of pronun­
ciation effort.
2) The single opposition labial-mediolingual is represented
in both languages by the pairs /w - j/ /v-y/. The features bicen-
tral-uni-central and round narrowing - flat narrowing are non-
distinctive in the English /w - j/. Such features are not found in
Uzbek at all.
The American authors Ch.E. Bidwell and A.F. Sjoberg dis­
tinguish slit fricatives /ф, f, v, в/, and groove fricatives (/s, z, x,
x', x, g /1) (in our transcription /s, z, sh, j, kh, h, g7) which cannot
be faund in Uzbek literary pronunciation. They rarely occur only
in the pronuncia-ion of words borrowed from Russian. This oppo­
sition has the lowest functional load and very weak power.
3) The opposition labial-backlingual exists in the pairs: /p -
k/, /b - g/, /m - д/ in English. In Uzbek this opposition is pre­
sented by the pairs /n - k/, /b - g/, /m - ng/, /f-kh/, /v - g7. There
are no fricative consonants among the English backlingual conso­
nants. The fricative-backlingual consonants are specific of Uzbek.
Instead of the opposition labial fricative-backlingual fricative,
which is specific of Uzbek, the opposition labial fricative-
pharyngal fricative exists in English: /f - h/, /v - h/. The func­
tional load of this opposition is greater in English than in Uzbek
as there are a lot of minimal pairs in English and few in Uzbek.
4) The single opposition forelingual-mediolingual can be es­
tablished between the constrictive sonants: /1 —j/, /r —j / in Eng­
lish and/1 - у/, /г - у/ in Uzbek, which coincide not only with the
number of oppositions but also with their low functional load and
weak power.
5) The opposition forelingual-backlingual or pharyngal: /t -
k/,/d - g/, /n - q/, /0 - h /, / s - h/, /z —h/, /z —h/, /J —h/ in English
and /t —k/, /t —q/, /d - g/, /s - kh/, /z - g7, /n - ng/, /s - h/,/sh - h/,
/j - h/, /kh - h/ in Uzbek. The phoneme, /h/ being either voiced

1 Ch. E. Bidwell. A Structural Analysis of Uzbek, Copyright, 1955, p. 10. A.F. Sjoberg.
The Phonology of Standard Uzbek // American Studies in Altaic Linguistics, vol. 13,
The Hague, 1962, p. 236.
and voiceless, form phonological oppositions with voiced and
voiceless consonants. The number of oppositions discerned by the
distinctive feature forelingual-backlingual (or pharyngal) coin­
cide, but the quality of oppositions differ greatly in the languages
compared, owing to the existence of some specific English pho­
nemes such as /0/, /9/ and the Uzbek /q/, //. The functional load
of these oppositions is greater than in Uzbek. The number of pho­
nemes which take part in these oppositions is equal in both lan­
guages, as they include 13 phonemes. But their functional load is
greater in English than in Uzbek. No minimal pair can be found
for the opposition /3 - h/, but we include it on the basis of fre­
quency of occurrence of its members. The power of this opposi­
tion is stronger in Uzbek (11 pairs) than in English (9 pairs).
According to the manner of production, it is possible to es­
tablish the following (mainly single) phonological oppositions:
1. The opposition plosive-fricative exists between the Eng­
lish labial consonants /p - m/, /p —f/, /b —v/. As V.A. Vassilyev
points out: «Since there are no bilabial fricative «opposite num­
bers» of the bilabial plosives /р, Ы in English, the above opposi­
tion is «skewed» into the opposition bilabial plosive vs. labio­
dental fricative, the difference between bilabial and labio-dental
articulations being distinctively irrelevant»1.
The opposition plosive-fricative also exists between the
forelingual consonants: /t - 0/, /d - 9/, /t - s/, /d - z/, /t - J/, /d -
3/; between the backlingual and pharyngal consonants /k - h/, /g -
h/. There are the following plosive-fricative oppositions in Uzbek:
/p —f/, /b —v/ /t - s/, /d —z/, /t —sh/, /d —j/, /к —h/, /g —h/, /к —
k h /,/q -g 7 .
The functional load of this opposition is higher in English
than in Uzbek. The power of this opposition is stronger in English
(11 pairs of phonemes) than in Uzbek (10 pairs).
2. The single opposition plosive - affricate exists between /t
- tf/ and /d - d3/ in English and /t - ch/, /d - j/, in Uzbek. The po­
lemics of whether to treat the English affricates as one phoneme
or two dominated linguistic literature about three decades ago.
Some American linguists regard English affricates /tj, d3/ to be
clusters, but most of them consider affricates to be «compound
phonemes» by which they mean that two simple phonemes may
function as a unit1. There are discussions on the number of affri­
cates in English. D. Jones and A. Cohen distinguish six affricates
/tj, d3, ts, dz, tr, dr/2. I. Ward and A.C. Gimson add two more af­
fricates: /t0/ as in eight/h /eit0/ and /d0/ as in width /wid0/3. In
fact, only two affricates /tj and /d3/ exist in modem English as
separate phonemes.
From the phonetic point of view affricates consist of two
elements: plosive - fricative, which are indivisible in articulation
and cannot be divided into two syllables. It is also impossible to
notice any differences between plosive - fricative in the produc­
tion of affricates.
The phonemic status of the affricates may be determined on
the basis of the morpheme boundary. Two elements of the affri­
cate do not belong to two morphemes. Even in such syntactic in­
formation like Why choose? /wai tju:z/ - white shoes /wait ju:zI
which are usually regarded junctures, it is possible to notice the
differences in their spectrograms.
Another solution of the phonemic status of the affricates is
that languages with affricates also have dental stops and palatal
fricatives4. That is to say the languages which have the affricate
/tj/ also have that of /t/ and /J/. The phonemic status of affricates
may be proved by the existence of threnary opposition affricate-
plosive-fricative: /t —tj —J/, /d - d3 - 3/. All these criteria may be
applied also to the Uzbek affricates.
3. The single opposition plosive-nasal exists between the
English/b - ml, I d - nJ, /g - q/ and the Uzbek lb - mJ, /d - nl, Ig -
ng/.The distribution of the phonemes /q/ and Ingl is extremely
limited in both languages. In Uzbek Ingl may be separated into
two elements/n - gl in word medial syllables.
4. Iz - 1/,/б - II, N - w/ and /z - r/ may form the single op­
position constrictive (fricative) - constrictive sonant. This opposi­
tion is represented by the only pair /z —1/ in Uzbek.
The functional load of these oppositions is extremely low
and its power is also weak (it is weaker in Uzbek). The opposition

1 Г. Глисон. Введение в дескриптивную лингвистику. М., 1959, с. 306.


2 A. Cohen. The Phonemes of English. The Hague, 1965, p. 45.
3 ]. Ward. The Phonetics of English. 4th ed. Cambridge, 1948, p. 121. C. Gimson. An
Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, London, 1964, p. 166.
4 P. Якобсон. Г. М. Фант и М. Халле. Введение в анализ речи. «Новое в лингвис­
тике», вып. П, 1962, с. 185-186.
constrictive sonant - occlusive nasal sonant exists between the
English /w - m/, /1 - n/, /г - n/ and the Uzbek /v - m/, /1 - n/, /г -
n/ ’.
The opposition medial sonant-lateral sonant exists between
/г - 1/ in both languages and in many other languages as well.
5. The opposition voiceless - voiced resp. fortis - lenis ex­
ists between the pairs /р - Ы, /t - d/, /s - zI, /f —v/ /J —3/, /tj - d3/,
/0 - б/, /к - g/ in English and /p - b/, /t —d/, /s —z/, /f - v/, /sh -
j/, /ch - j/, /kh - gV, /k - g/. Such pairs of phonemes which are
distinguished by the absence and presence of one feature, are
combined into the correlation. The correlation pairs are given
naturally in the form of binary oppositions whereas all other sin­
gle oppositions may be formed on the basis of choosing, i.e. we
choose two phonemes which are distinguished by one distinctive
feature.
S. Pit Corder made up a table which shows a comparison of
the relative functional load of some oppositions of English conso­
nants in initial and final position in monosyllabic words without
initial and final consonant clusters (the highest functional load is
counted as the base for comparison)2.

Relative functional load of certain consonant oppositions in Eng­


lish
opposition in initial position in final position
/k -h / 100
/p -b / 98 14
/m - n/ 59 42
/k -g / 50 29
/d -z / 7 100
/0 -5 / 1 6
/n - Г|/ — 18
/г-1/ 83 -

1 А.Г. Максумов. Артикуляционные, акустические, перцептивные и фонологиче­


ские характеристики английских носовых сонантов (в сопоставлении с узбек­
ским). Автореферат канд. дисс., М., 1972, с. 24.
2 5. P it Corder. Introducing Applied Linguistics. Penguin Books ltd, 1977 p. 220.
Probably, statistic analysis are made from «The Concise Oxford Dictionary» The table
is borrowed with some changes by the author.
S. Pit Corder pointed out that oppositions are very important
in language learning for practical reasons while the principle of
relative frequency is the right criterion for the selection of lexical
material in the syllabus1.
(1) On the basis of the relationship between oppositions in
the entire system of oppositions we distinguish: a) bilateral-
m ultilateral and b) proportional-isolated types of opposition.
For example, the following oppositions between the English con­
sonant phonemes are bilateral («одномерные», «bir -
o’lchovli»): (p - b/, /t —d/, /к —g/, /s —z/, /J - 3/, /tj - d3/, /b - m/,
/d - n/, /g - q/, /f —v/, /s —J/, /z —3/, /t - tj/, /d - d3/, /r - 1/. The
multilateral oppositions are: /b - d - g/, /p - t - к/, /m - n - q/, /к
- g - h/ etc. Among these oppositions /p -b/, /t - d/, /s - z/, /j - 3/,
/f - v/, /tj - d3/, /0 - 5/, /k - g/ are proportional because the rela­
tionship between these oppositions is equal: /p —b/ = /t —d/ etc.
may be distinguished by one feature.
The opposition /г - 1/ is isolated as no other oppositions of
this kind may be found in the system of the English consonant
phonemes, /г - 1/ is distinguished by the medial sonant - lateral
sonant.
(2) On the basis of the relationship between the opposition
members the following types are distinguished:
a) the privative oppositions, when one member of opposi­
tion is characterized by the presence (marked) and the other - by
the absence of feature (unmarked) as voiced - voiceless, oral-
nasal etc.
The oppositions /р - Ы, /t - d/, /s —z/, /j - 3/, /tj - d3/, /f - v/, /к
- g/, /0 - 3/, and also /m - b/, /n - d/, /т| - g/, /м - w/, /n - 1/, /n - r/ are
privative;
b)the gradual opposition, the members of which are char­
acterized by different levels of gradation, may be formed be­
tween /р - к/ in which a localization level /t/ is omitted, also /b
- g/ through /d/ /m - r|/ through /n/, /t —h/ through /к/;
c)the equipollent opposition, when the members are
equal from the logical point of view and there is no gradation
level in it: /p —t/, /b —d/, /f —s/, /f - 0/, /v - 3/, /v - z/, /г - 1/, /J
- tj/, /3 - d3/, /t - k/, /p - f/, /b - v/, /t - 0/, /d - 3/, /k - h/, /b -
d/, /t - d/, /d - g/.
As we can notice from the given classification1 different
names and terms are given to one and the same opposition. For
example, fb - d/, /t - d/, /d - g/ are bilateral, proportional and
equipollent, whereas the opposition /г - 1/ is bilateral, isolated,
equipollent. Therefore, this principle is complex and not suitable
in all cases. B. Tmka attempted to simplify this principle and ap­
plied it to English. He distinguished two principal types of oppo­
sition: conjunct and disjunct. The conjunct opposition is
distinguished by a single relevant feature while disjunct opposi­
tion is distinguished by two or more features2. This classification
is similar to V.A. Vassilyev's single and double oppositions.
However, the further stage of B. Tmka's classification is made ac­
cording to N. S. Trubetzkoy's principle.
(3) According to the extent of the distinctive force, opposi­
tions may be constant and neutralizable. N.S. Trubetzkoy stated
that only bilateral, privative oppositions may be neutralizable2 but
further investigations of this problem have shown that multilateral
oppositions may also be neutralizable3.
The bilateral privative, proportional oppositions /р - b/, /t -
d/, /s-zJ , f k - g/ etc. may be neutralized in English in word final
position: cap /кагр/ - cab /кгеЬ/, bet - /bet/ - bed /bed/, course
/ko:s/ - cause /ko:z/, back /baek/ - bag /baeg/ etc. In word final
position voiced consonants of English do not become fully voice­
less otherwise the given words become homophones. The voiced
- voiceless feature is accompanied by the fortis-lenis feature
which is not neutralized in many English words. But there are
cases when fortis-voiceless and lenis-voiced oppositions are neu­
tralized and both distinctive and recognitive functions are trans­
ferred to the preceding sounds, which are half long before a
voiced consonant and quite short before voiceless consonants4 as
in the words bed /bed/ - bet /bet/, bid /bid/ - bit /bit/ etc. This
transference of the distinctive and recognitive functions of some
phonemes in the structure of a word is possible owing to the prin­

1 This classification is applied to Uzbek in the book: Н.А. Баскаков, A.C. Содиқов,
А.А. Абдуазизов. Умумий тилшунослик. Тошкент, «Укитувчи», 1979, 41-45-
бетлар.
2 Н.С. Трубецкой. Основы фонологии, М. , 1960, с. 87.
3 В .К Ж уравлев. К проблеме нейтрализации фонологических оппозиций. ВЯ.
1972, №3, с. 36-49.
4 V.A. Vassilyev. Id., р. 154.
ciple of compensation. Here the neutralization of voiced-voiceless
opposition may be compensated by fortis-lenis feature or by long-
short resp. unchecked-checked features in the word or syllable
structures CVC.1 As a result of such neutralization two phonemes
/t - d/, /р - b/ which form the opposition, may have common dis­
tinctive features in word final position. The combination of dis­
tinctive features common to two phonemes is called an
archiphoneme. But this term cannot express the nature of neu­
tralization in English, as we cannot establish two phonemes (t/d
or s/z) having combination of distinctive features owing to the
compensation principle.
Therefore it is convenient to call such a phonemic alterna­
tion by the term «an alternophoneme» (suggested by V.A.
Vassilyev).
In such languages as Uzbek and Russian it is possible to use
the term an archiphoneme (suggested by N.S. Trubetzkoy), be­
cause in these languages voiced consonants in word final position
may become fully voiceless: qand /qant/, kelib /kelip/, barg
/bark/ in Uzbek and луг - лук /лук/, пруд - прут /прут/ in Rus­
sian. The nasals before labial and velar consonants may also be
neutralizable: lamp, slumber, comfort, sink, longer, English. In
these examples /m/ before /p/, /b/; /m/ before /f7 as /m/; /n/ before
/v/, /q/ before /k - g/ are neutralizable: envy, anvil, length, Stam­
ford, comfort, Humfrey, Banff2.
On the basis of the above given examples it is possible to
distinguish two principal types of neutralization: a) paradigmatic
neutralization, which takes place in the system of oppositions,
for example, voiced-voiceless opposition in /p - b/, /t - d/ etc.; b)
syntagmatic or contextual neutralization, when a phoneme may
drop or obtain some of distinctive features, for example nasals be­
fore labial and velar consonants in words but not in minimal pairs.
The latter may more often appear in connected speech.
It is also possible to distinguish the terms used in neutraliza­
tion. The terms an «alternophoneme» (in English) and an «archi­
phoneme» (in Uzbek and Russian) may be used in paradigmatic
neutralization. The term a «neutralized variant» (suggested by

Курятникова. Функция количества в системе современного английского вока­


1 Э .Г .
лизма. Автореферат канд. дисс., М., 1972, с. II.
2 В. Tmka. A Phonological Analysis of Present Day Standard English. Univ. of Ala­
bama Press, 1968, p. 32.
В. Tmka) may be used in the syntagmatic neutralization. Thus,
the phonemic systems of the English and Uzbek consonants differ
by the quality and quantity of oppositions and by the different na­
ture of neutralization.
The above given distinctive features of the English conso­
nants have been explained in articulatory and acoustic terms. The
authors of the dichotomic phonology have represented the distinc­
tive features in mixed terms.

IV.4.3. Dichotomic Classification of the Acoustic Distinctive


Features ofthe English Consonant Phonemes and its
Articulatory Correlates

The theory of distinctive features, which was suggested by


Jakobson-Fant-Halle, is known as the acoustic classification. In
fact, this theory represents the act of communication and shows
the steps involved in inducing the hearer to select the same pho­
nological element the speaker has selected. It may be illustrated as
follows1:

Speaker Hearer

1 E.C. Fudge. The Nature of Phonological Primes. //Phonological Theory. Evolution


and current practice. N. Y ., 1972, p. 32.
This theory is based on the results of the spectrographic
(acoustic) and X-ray (articulatory) investigations. Each feature is
described in articulatory and acoustic levels (including percep­
tion).
The acoustic representation of a distinctive feature corre­
sponds to more than one articulatory feature. In many cases it
does not take into consideration the existing allophones, i.e. non-
distinctive features of phonemes. In such cases as distinguishing
the dental Ы as in tenth /ten0/ from the alveolar Ы no acoustic
or perceptual feature can be used. These two allophones of the
phoneme Ы can be described only in articulatory terms.
The dichotomic (or binary-meaning to choose two elements
or a pair of elements in logic sense) theory has many other short­
comings. Each of the distinctive features involves a choice be­
tween two terms of opposition. The mark (+) means «yes», (-) -
«по», (о) - both distinctive features are possible.
According to this theory 12-15 distinctive features are pos­
sible both for vowels and consonants in all languages. The start­
ing point of this classification shows that two binary features
define four major classes of segments (minimal segments of
sound, that can be distinguished by their contrast within words are
called phonemes). They are:

Consonant (C) Vowel (V) Liquid (L) Glide (G)


+C -C +C -C
-V +V +V -V

/р/ Ы /1/ /j/


stop all /г/ /w/
fricatives vowels intermediate between
affricates the 1st and 2d classes
nasals

The consonant features correlation in acoustic and articula­


tory terms, their correspondence and representation can be illus­
trated in the following table:
№ Binary acoustic features Articulatory correlates
1. Vocalic/non-vocalic a periodic excitation and constriction /non­
periodic
2. Consonantal /non-consonantal excitation and obstruction in oral cavity
produced with occlusion of contact /with
lesser degrees of narrowing
3. Compact/diffuse palatal, velar, guttural /labial/ dental, al­
veolar consonants opposition
4. Grave/acute labial, velar/dentai, alveolar, palatal
5. Flat/plain (non-flat) labial /non-labial
6. Nasal/oral nasal /oral
7. Discontinuous/continuant stops (plosives), affricates /fricatives, liq­
uids, glides
8. Voiced /voiceless voiced/voiceless
9. Strident/mellow noisy fricatives (labiodental, alveolar, al-
veo-palatal affricate)/less noisy fricatives
(interdental, palatal, velar), plosives,
glides, liquids
10. Checked/unchecked glottalization/non-glottalization
11. Tense/lax Fortis/Lenis
12. Sharp/plain (non-sharp) palatalized/non-palatalized (in Russian)

In the table1 of the distinctive features representation eight


pairs of them are characteristic of English consonant phonemes.

Distinctive Feature Representation of the English Consonants

Distinctive features 1 Л J tj k 3 d3 g m f P V Q S 0 t Z 6 d b Ф
Vocalic/non-vocalic
Consonantal /non-
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + -
consonantal
Compact/diffuse + + + + + + +
Grave/acute + + + + +
Nasal/oral + - - - - - + - - - - + - - - - - - -
-

Tense/lax + + + - - - + - - - + + + - - - + -
Discontinu- + - - + - - + - + - + + - + + - -

1 The table is taken from: R. Jakobson, C. G. Fant, M. Halle, Preliminaries to speech


analysis. The distinctive features and their correlates. «Technical Report» No 13, June,
1955, p. 32. The Russian translation is in «Новое в лингвистике». Вып. П. М., 1962.
ous/continuant
Strident/mellow + - + - + - + -

As we can notice in the above table /i/, /r/, /w/, /j, are omitted
be cause the liquids /1, r/ are vocalic and consonantal and the
glides /j, w/ are non-vocalic and non-consonantal. Usually Ameri­
can linguists regard the semivowels /j/, /w/ to be positional variants
of the lax vowels /i/, /u/, respectively. Thus, this binary classifica­
tion has restrictions on these four classes. Besides, correlation be­
tween the acoustic and the articulatory classification is not very
clear in this theory1. In spite of the fact that the binary classifica­
tion of the acoustic features has some shortcomings, it is often used
as a universal framework in the description of the distinctive fea­
tures of phonemes without any experimental research. It is useful
to use the binary classification of the acoustic distinctive features
after instrumental investigations, as the latter is helpful in making a
correct classification. The articulatory correlates of the twelve pairs
of acoustic features may correspond to more than twenty features,
thanks to the division of the consonant classes. This correlation has
its own difficulties which require experimental investigation as
well. The articulatory classification is more useful in language
teaching practice than the acoustic one.
The feature strident-mellow is distinctive for eight conso­
nant phonemes of English, whereas it is not distinctive for the
Uzbek consonants The distinctive feature strident-mellow is very
important in Russian as the consonant phonemes form one more
correlation on the basis of this feature (in Russian it is called
«мягкие-твердые») besides voiced-voiceless correlation.

IV.4.4. Allophonic Variations of the English


Consonant Phonemes

G.P. Torsuyev distinguishes two types of variations of the


English phonemes: a) diaphonic variation which does not depend
on the position, i.e. the constant quality and quantity of the pho­
nemes; b) allophonic variation which depends on the position and

1 P. Якобсон, М. Халле. Фонология и ее отношение к фонетике. В книге «Новое в


лингвистике», Вып. II, М., 1962, с. 221-277.
changes its quality and quantity. He also gives a complete de­
scription of these variations in English1.
The allophonic variations of the English and Uzbek conso­
nant phonemes depend on their distribution in words, syllables
and junctures and also on the phonotactic rules (combinations of
sounds or sound sequences). The allophones of a phoneme may
be established on the basis of the complementary distribution.
Two acoustically similar speech sounds which never occur in a
certain position are regarded the allophones of a phoneme. The
pronunciation of the allophones may vary in different positions
i.e. in initial, medial, fmal positions of words, syllables and also
in neighborhood positions, in stressed and unstressed positions.
The way three phases of articulation act to combine the sounds in
the structure of words and syllables is also essential2. It is very
complicated to describe all the allophonic variations of the conso­
nant phonemes. Therefore, we give the general rules of the occur­
rence of the allophones.
The phonemes /p, t, к/ have rather marked positional allo­
phones. Before a stressed vowel, whether alone or followed by a

hi.
sonorant or other consonant; they have aspirated allophones /рл,
t \ к pin, play, proud, pure, tin, true, twice, tune, key, clean,
crop, cure, quick. The alveolar phonemes /t, d, n, 1/ have dental
allophones before the fricative consonants /0/ or /р/ of the same or
following word: health, eighth, tenth, width, the ticket, all
those, bell tune etc. The phonemes /t, d, n, 1/ have post alveolar
allophones before Ir/: true, drink, country, hungry, children,
etc. The lateral sonant /г/ has rather striking allophones and re­
gional diaphones, when /г/ follows /0/ or /р/ it has an alveolar al­
lophone, for example - through, the right hand. In prevocalic
and intervocalic positions it has an apical allophone: cherry,
merry, glory, far out, store it etc. After aspirated voiceless
stops, as in proud, try, cry, it has a partially voiceless allophone3.
Diaphone variation may be observed when /n/ is pro­
nounced instead of /q/ in words like strength, length. The pre­

1 Г.П. Торсуев. Строение слога и аллофоны в английском языке. М., Изд. «Наука»,
1975, с. 104-213.
2 Г.П. Торсуев. Вопросы фонетической структуры слова (на материале английско­
го языка), М. -Л., 1962.
3 Н. Kurath. A Phonology and Prosody of Modem English. An Arbor, Michigan Univ.
Press, 1964, p. 74.
fixes con-, in-, syn-, when stressed, have /g/ besides Ы before a
following /к/, as in conquest, concord, income, syncope etc.
The vowel-like allophone of the phoneme 1)1 may occur in
such words as curious, Indian, Genius etc.
Many other allophones of the English consonant phonemes
may occur in the various sound combinations. English is rich in
initial medial and final combinations of consonants. Many of
them do not occur in Uzbek.
THE SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH
VOWEL PHONEMES
V .l. T H E A R T IC U L A T O R Y A N D A C O U S T IC
C L A S S IF IC A T IO N O F T H E E N G L IS H V O W E L S
C O M P A R E D W IT H U Z B E K

General principles of vowel production are outlined accord­


ing to the movement of the tongue, lip position, quantity features
(long-short) and distribution.
1) According to the horizontal movement of the tongue,
vowels are classified into front, mixed and back ones. In com­
parative-typological classification of the vowel sounds on the ba­
sis of the position of the bulk of the tongue five groups of vowels
may be distinguished: a) front - /i:/, /е/, /ге/; b) front-retracted -
/ 1/; c) mixed - /з:/, /э/; d) back-advanced - /u/, /л/; e) back - /u:/,
/о/, /о:/, / а : / .
2) According to the vertical movement of the tongue (or to
the height of the raised part of the tongue) vowels may be classi­
fied into: a) close or high - /u:/, / 1/, /u/, /u:/; b) mid-open or mid -
/е/, /л/, /э:/ /э/; с ) open or low - /ае/, /о/, /о:/, /а:/.
Each of these heights of the tongue has two variations: nar­
row and broad. These principles of vowel classification are very
important in comparative-typological studies of the vowel sys­
tems of two or more languages and also in languages with many
vowels.
3) According to the position of the Ups vowels may be
rounded and unrounded. Rounded vowels are of two types: a)
slightly rounded - /з/, /u/ and b) closely rounded - / 0 :/, /u:/; there
are two types of unrounded vowels as well: a) neutral position of
lips - /л/, /э:/, / 1/ and b) spread position of lips - /а:/, /ае/.
\ A ccording to the

Central vowels (in R ussian)


Front Back
According to the v e r tic a l
m ovem ent ofthe to n g u e
\h o r izo n ta l move-

Mixed (in E nglish)


\ ment o f the
\ tongue

Front - B ack-
Front Back
A ccording to \ retracted advanced
the variation \
in the height o f \
the tongue \

Narrow variation И A
fm Д
(h ig h )
C lo se

u:
l U
Broad variation

3: o3
Mid - o p e n

Narrow variation и 0
(m id )

e A - t i v -
■ /e \
Э
Broad variation
1
E Л
0:
Narrow variation Э
(lo w )
O p en

Broad variation * 0 , A
a a:

N otes: □ - Uzbek vow els


Д - Russian vow els
[e1] - the nucleous o fth e diphthong /еэ/
[a2] - the nucleous o fth e diphthong tad a n d /a v i
[o] - the nucleous o fth e previous diphthong lo v l (N ow its sym bol
/эи/J
[э] - the nucleous o fth e diphthong / 01/

4) Traditionally, according to the quantitative features, Eng­


lish vowels are classified into historically long /i:/, /а:/, /о:/, /u:/,
/э:/ and in certain positions /ае/ and short /1/, Itl, hi, /u/, /л/, /э/
(and in certain positions /ae/) vowels.
5) According to the degree of the muscular energy of the or­
gans of speech, especially, the muscles of the tongue, the walls of
mouth-resonator and of the pharynx, tense and lax vowels may be
distinguished. Usually, all English long vowels are tense and
short vowels are lax.
6) Physiologically, according to the character of their end or
the last phase of articulation, English vowels may be checked and
free. All short and lax vowels, except /э/, are checked in the pro­
nunciation of which there is no diminution in the force of utter­
ance towards their strong end. Their pronunciation is interrupted
by the abrupt articulation of the consonant sound following it. On
the contrary, free vowels are pronounced with a diminution in the
force of utterance towards their end and therefore, they have a
weak end1. According to the distribution, free vowels occur both
finally and before consonants. English short vowels in an un­
stressed syllable are also free. AU English long vowels and diph­
thongs are free, as they occur either in open (CV) or closed CVC
(C) syllables: tea /ti:/, team /ti:m/, bay /bai/; bight, bite /bait/,
sore /so:/, sought /so:t/, so /s9u/, soap /saup/ etc. (The symbol
/эи1 is used instead of /ои/ in modem English.) Checked vowels
occur in the words or morphemes with the structure CVC (C), i.e.
in closed stressed syllables: bit /bit/, set /set/, cat /kaet/, pot /pot/,
cut /kAt/ etc. As we notice, the phonotactic nature of the English
vowels, based on their distribution in different syllables or mor­
phemes, is regarded as one of the essential features2.
7) According to the stability of their articulation English
vowels may be divided into three groups:
1. 10 monophthongs: Ы, l e i , /ае/, /а:/, /о:/, /о/, /и/, /л/, /э:/,
/э/;
2. 9 diphthongs among which are:
glides to Ы - le1, ai, oi/; glides to /u/ - /au/, /эи/; glides to
/э/-/ 1э, еэ, иэ, ээ/;
3. 2 diphthongoids: /i:/, /и:/;
Thus, the phonemic inventory of the English vowels in­
cludes 21 phonemes, among which the phoneme /оэ/ is regarded
as facultative or optional, owing to its substitution by the vowel
/о:/ in words like more /т э э /, /то :/, sore Isosl, /so:/. Therefore

1 V.A. Vassilyev et al. English Phonetics (A normative course) Leningrad. 1962, p. 30.
2 H. Kurath. A Phonology and Prosody of Modern English. Ann Arbor. The Univ. of
Michigan Press. 1964. p. 17-20.
/зэ/ is often omitted from the inventory of English vowel pho­
nemes.
All other principles of the vowel classification, except the
tongue and lip positions, are not essential in the production of the
Russian and Uzbek vowels. According to the horizontal and verti­
cal movements of the tongue and position of Ups, the Uzbek and
Russian vowels are classified as shown in the following table:

The vowel phonemes of Uzbek. The vowel phonemes of Russian.

Front B ack Front C entral Back


unrounded rounded unrounded unrounded rounded
i и High

M id

Low

The main differences and partial similarity between articula­


tory features of the EngUsh monophthongs, diphthongoids and the
Uzbek vowels may be summed up as follows:
1) The EngUsh, Uzbek and Russian vowel phonemes are
characterized by the oral formation. There are no nasal vowel
phonemes in the languages compared.
2) Comparing the X-ray pictures it is easy to notice the posi­
tions of the tongue and lips in the articulation of the English and
Uzbek vowels. It is convenient to compare the articulations of
EngUsh and Uzbek vowels estabUshing certain acoustic types of
vowels which relatively exist in both languages /i/, /е/, /а/, /э/, /u/,
/э/. For example, the acoustic type (i) includes the English /i:/, / 1/
and the Uzbek /I/, Ы combines the EngUsh /ге/, /л/, /a:/ and the
Uzbek Ы etc.
This type of comparison makes easy to describe the phone­
mic interference between the EngUsh and Uzbek vowels on the
basis of the articulatory, acoustic and auditory properties.
3) According to the horizontal movement of the tongue,
English vowels may be front, front-retracted, mixed, back-
advanced and back, whereas Uzbek vowels are fully front and
back.
4) According to the hight of the tongue and its variations
(narrow, broad) there are vowels of all hights and variations in
English, whereas, three levels of height: high (/i/, fu/), mid (/e/,
/ of) and low (/а/, /о/), are sufficient for the Uzbek vowels. But we
can classify the Uzbek vowels on the basis of the variations of the
height of tongue in order to clarify our comparative-typological
classification. For this purpose we may compare X-ray photos and
notice that the Uzbek /i/ and /u/ belong to the narrow variation of
close vowels, /e/ and /о/ - to the narrow variation of mid-open
vowels, /а/ and /о/ - to the broad variation of open vowels (this is
clearly seen in the comparative table).
5) According to the position of the Ups, all back EngUsh
vowels, except /a :/ and /л/ are rounded. However EngUsh vowels
pronounced with the lips less rounded and protruded, than the
Uzbek back vowels. The pronunciation of the EngUsh unrounded
vowels with the neutral and spread position of the Ups is very im­
portant, whereas it is not essential for the Uzbek vowels in which
only /е/ may be articulated with spread Ups.
6) Besides the above differences, which comprise quality
features of EngUsh and Uzbek vowels, there is a difference based
on the quantity features which make clear аИ other differences
such as tense - lax, checked - free. The Uzbek vowels are typi-
caUy «middle» sounds, being neither long or short.
7) The Uzbek vowels have relatively stable articulation.
There are no diphthongs and diphthongoids in Uzbek.
There are other differences in the articulation of the EngUsh
and Uzbek vowels. For example, the Uzbek /i/ takes an interme­
diate position between the EngUsh fi:f and / 1/. In the articulation
of the Uzbek /i/ the tongue takes a less frontal position than in the
EngUsh fi'.f but is more frontal than in the EngUsh N. Such differ­
ences may be found in the X-ray pictures given below.
The acoustic classification of the vowels can be made on the
basis of the results of spectrographic analysis. Any speech signal
is the result of the vocal organs.
X-ray photos of the Uzbek vowels /е/ and /а/.

The correlation between the acoustic and articulatory and to


some extent, the perceptual levels, makes it possible to establish
the articulatory correlates of the acoustic distinctive features.

The Articulatory Correlates of the Acoustic Distinctive


Features of Vowels

№ Binary acoustic features Articulatory correlates


Compact/non-compact low/high and mid vowels
1.
Diffuse/non-diffuse high/mid and low vowels
Z•
'I Grave/acute (non -
J,
back/central (mixed) and front
grave) vowels
4.
Flat/plain (non-flat) rounded/unrounded vowels

We have already explained vocalic /non-vocalic and conso­


nantal/ non-consonantal features (chapter IV), therefore they are
omitted here. It is well-known that all English vowels are vocalic,
non-nasal (oral), non-strident (mellow), voiced and continuant.
Moreover, compact (low) vowels are always non-diffuse (non-
high), while all flat (rounded) vowels are always grave (back). On
the other hand, all non-flat (unrounded) vowels are invariably
non-grave (front) only if they are also non-compact (non-low).
This description shows that the redundant (non-distinctive) fea­
tures may be omitted. Each vowel in the binary classification of
the acoustic distinctive features may be represented in the form of
sequences of distinctive feature complexes. Taking into consid­
eration that compact/diffuse feature functions separately as the
distinctive features compact/ non-compact and diffuse /non-
diffuse, we have described them isolately.

The Acoustic Distinctive Features of the English, Russian and


Uzbek Vowel Phonemes (represented by the answers
yes (+), no (-), either (0))

English Russian Uzbek


№ Distinctive features
0 a e u Э i 0 e u u a a i i u e a 0 УУ
1 Vocalic /non-vocalic + + + + + + + + + + + - + + + + + + + +

2 Consonantal /non-consonantal
3 Compact /non-compact + + + - - - - - - - + + - - - 0 + + - 0

4 Diffuse /non-diffuse - - - + - + - - + + 0 0 + + + - - - + -

5 Grave /acute (non-acute) + + - + + - + - + + - - 0 0 - - - + + +

6 Flat /plain(non-flat) + + - + - - + - + + - - - - - - - + + +

7 Sharp /plain(non-sharp) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Note: The vowel phonemes of Russian are represented by the symbols used
in dichotomic theory in which /'о/, Ы , FmJ, N , I'd are used for iden­
tification1.

The vowels described in this classification include only /i/,


/е/, /а/, /о/, lui, /э/. In this classification two similar simple long or
short vowels correspond to a long vowel; the diphthongs /atf, /ei{,
/эи/ are regarded to be combinations of two vowels; the diph-

1 E. Черри, М. Халле, P. Якобсон. К вопросу о логическом описании языков в их


фонологическом аспекте. «Новое в лингвистике» Вып. П, М., 1962, с. 286.
thongs Лэ, иэ/ before (г) are converted into /цэ, ииэ/; all other
diphthongs with the second element /i/ or /и/ are represented as
/aj, oj, au/.
For the sake of simplifying things the number of vowels has
been reduced to six simple vowels. The rules explained above
help to economize the classification. Besides, this classification is
made mainly on the basis of the General American pronuncia­
tion1.
As the results of spectrographic analysis show the acoustic
elements by which the individual vowels are distinguished, are
the frequency and relation of the first two formants (Fb F2), not
however the frequency and relation the other two formants (F3,
F4), not even their relation to the fust two still less their mutual
relation2. Later acoustic investigations prove that grave - acute
feature may be established by the relation Ri = F2 : F |; the height
of the tongue, i.e. compact-diffuse feature - by R2 = F3: Fi and
rounded - unrounded, i.e. flat - plain feature - by R3 = Fi - F3.3
The relation between the first two formants express the acoustic
distance among the vowels. For convenience we may take over­
all nine vowel phonemes which are universally used in RP and
GA, also in many English dialects4.

Frequency of F2

ta 2400 1800 1200 600


О 200 i l u
u 400
0с> e Э 0
9 600
O
V"
b* a
ta 800 X 0

1 P. Якобсон, М. Халле. Фонология и ее отношение к фонетике. В книге «Новое в


лингвистике». Вып. П. М., 1962, с. 231.
2 М. RomportL Vocalic Formants and the Classification of Vowels. In his «Studies in Pho­
netics», Prague, 1973, p. 32.
3 Г.Фант. Акустическая теория речеобразования. М., Изд. «Наука», 1964. с. 225-
231.
4 G.L. Trager and Н. L Smith. An Outline of English Structure. Norman (Oklahoma),
Battenburg, 1951. p. 61.
It is possible to compare the acoustic distinctive features of
the English, Russian and Uzbek vowel phonemes. We can notice
in the table that sharp/plain (non-sharp) feature is typical of Rus­
sian vowels, as they may be used after palatal or non-palatal con­
sonants in which their quality may be changed (see the table).

V.2. P H O N O L O G IC A L A N A L Y S IS O F E N G L IS H
VOW ELS

V.2.1. General Remarks

The phonetic criterion used in distinguishing the vowel


phonemes is not sufficient theoretically, as it cannot clarify the re­
lation between the phonemes in the entire system and the charac­
ter of existing phonological oppositions their quality and quantity.
Commonly, the phonemic system of English vowels can be
divided into two subsystems: a) the stressed vocalism, which in­
cludes the vowels under stress, i.e. occur in the stressed position
and b) the unstressed vocalism, which includes all the vowels and
so called neutral vowels /э/ and N.
The unstressed vocalism is more rich than the stressed vo­
calism, in which the vowels /э/ and unstressed N do not take part.
English has a complex system of vowel phonemes, among
which we distinguish ten short and long monophthongs, two diph-
thongoids and nine diphthongs. All these vowel phonemes may be
established using the commutation test: /bi:t/ - /bit/ - /bet/, /baet/,
/bo:t/, /bAt/, /bu-t/, /beit/, /bait/, /baut/ etc. However, first we
should discuss the phonemic status of the diphthongs and the
vowel /э/ and the phonetic features long - short, tense - lax,
checked - free, which are closely connected with each other.

V.2.2. The Phonematic Value of Vowel-length

There are two approaches to the phonematic value of the


vowel-length in English. Most linguists regard vowel-length as a
non-phonological, non-distinctive feature in modern English.
Only a few linguists admit the phonematic value of the EngUsh
vowel-length. Summing up the ideas of British Unguists Ch. Bar­
ber writes: «English vowels vary in length according to the pho­
netic context - the degree of stress they bear, whether they are
- 112-
followed by a voiced or by a voiceless consonant, the number of
unstressed syllables before and after them, and so on. However,
given an identical phonetic context, some of the vowels are longer
than others, and there is quite a considerable range of variation;
/i:/ appreciably longer than /a:/, and la:/ is a good deal longer than
/е/, which is itself longer than /э/. It is convenient, however, to di­
vide the vowels into two groups, the long and the short; the vow­
els usually considered short are / 1, e, ae, л, о, u/ and /э/ the
remaining pure vowels and diphthongs are usually regarded as
long»1.
On the basis of the given explanation it is possible to make a
phonological conclusion on the vowel-length. If we establish
vowel pairs by such long - short features as /i: - 1/, h: - э/, /и -
u:/, /а: - ae/, /э: - э/ they seem to form proportional, even sym­
metric oppositions by long-short feature.
The vowels /i:/ and /u:/ are diphthongoids. They are pro­
nounced as lui and /uu/. Thus, the vowels / 1/ and /u/ are not in op­
position to long vowels, but diphthongoids. The opposition /з: - э/
is specific of English, as /э/ occurs only in an unstressed position
and therefore it is included in the subsystem of unstressed vocal­
ism, whereas /з:/ occurs mostly in a stressed position and rarely in
an unstressed position. Usually /сс:/ is opposed to Ы but in reality
should be paired with /ae/. Only the pair / 0 : - 0 / form an opposi­
tion by the long-short feature. Even in this pair the shortened / 0 :/
may be perceived not as h i but as /u/. Thus, long-short feature is
non-distinctive and in many cases it cannot preserve its recogni­
tive function (when the shortened / 0 :/ is perceived not as h i but
as Ini).
Most American linguists also negate the distinctiveness of
the vowel-length in English. H. Kurath states: «Length is not a
distinctive feature in the vowel system of MnE. It is automatic in
the sense that the actual length of any English vowel depends
upon a variety of factors. In general, (1) both checked and free
vowels are longer under full stress than under half-stress or weak
stress (2) low vowels are longer than mid-vowels, and mid­
vowels are longer than high vowels; (3) free vowels are longer in
a free position than in checked one; (4) both checked vowels and
free vowels in a checked position are longer before voiced conso­

1 Barber Ch. Linguistic change in Present-day English. London, 1964. p. 49-50.


- 113-
nants»1. Distribution is regarded, therefore one of the distinctive
features of the English vowel system2. This conclusion may only
be proved phonetically, but phonologically, a distinctive-relevant
feature does not depend on the phonetic context. According to H.
Kurath long-short is a phonetic feature which is substituted by the
phonological feature checked-free. In further analysis he distin­
guishes separate sets of checked and free vowel phonemes and the
«unique» unstressed vowel /э/3.
Most linguists state that long vowels are tense and short
vowels are lax. Usually tense-lax feature is associated by the de­
gree of muscular tension. Nonetheless, tense-lax does not show
any consistent opposition isolately. Therefore, B. Tmka regards
long-short and tense-lax features as a «concomitant» phenomena
as long-short feature may be different in various positions, but
tense-lax preserved4. In fact nobody could explain the traditional
definition of the tense and lax pairs o f vowels. Even the authors
of the dichotomic phonological theory admit that this feature re­
quires further investigation5. Nevertheless in generative phonol­
ogy, suggested by N. Chomsky and M. Halle, tense-lax feature is
regarded the main phonological feature6. Objecting to this, R.
Lass writes: «... the claims made for «tenseness» as a vowel fea­
ture in English are circular and contentless; and in any case an
analysis of the English vowel system can do very well without it
... A language happens to have both short and long (phonemic)
vowels, this does not mean that its vowel system is organized in
«correlated pairs». This kind of symmetry, while attractive to lin­
guists ... and perhaps common enough, is not in principle the only
way of organizing a dichotomous system»7.
Summurising all the view points we can notice that if we do
not regard long-short feature as a distinctive feature, we negate all

1 H. Kurath. A Phonology and Prosody of Modern English. Ann Arbor. The Univ. of
Michigan Press, 1963, p. 18.
2 Op. cit., p. 18.
3 Op. cit., p. 18.
4 B. Tmka. A Phonological Analysis of Present-day English. Univ. of Alabama Press, 1968,
p. 2 1 .
P. Якобсон, М. Халле. Фонология и ее отношение к фонетике. В книге «Новое в
лингвистике», Вьп. II, М., 1962, с. 254.
6 N. Chomsky, М. Halle. The Sound Pattern of English. N. Y., 1978.
7 R. Lass. English Phonology and Phonological Theory. Synchronic and Diachronic
Studies. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1976, pp. 39-44.
the phonological oppositions based on this feature. The main
property of the distinctiveness of the EngUsh vowel phonemes is
based on their quality features; though it is doubtful whether fea­
tures checked-free, tense-lax also belong to quality features. In re­
ality these features are concomitant to long-short feature, which is
reaUzed variously. PhoneticaUy it is a quantity or duration feature
measured by time, which cannot be confused with the phonologi­
cal long-short feature. The phonematic value of the long-short
feature may be proved by the existence of such value of /i: —1/, /u:
- и/, /з: - э/, /о: - о/, /а: - ае/, in which the first two pairs are dis­
tinguished by the feature diphthongoid-monophthong. In any case
they are distinguished by quality features. Thus, the quality quan­
tity, relationship is significant in the phonemic system of EngUsh
vowels. Even when the voiced-voiceless feature of the following
consonants in the word structure (C)VC is neutralized the lone
and short feature may remain as a distinctive feature (Ex. bag -
back, bed - bet etc.).
The distinctive function of the vowels always remain in

It
similar phonetic contexts: beat /bi:t/ - bit /bit/, pool /pu:l/ - pull
/pul/, turn 3 :n/ - ten /ten/, port /po:t/ - pot /pot/, cart /ka:t/ -
cat /kast/. There is a strong tendency to lengthen short vowels, es­
pecially /ае/ and /е/ and also to shorten some long vowels in
speech. These phonetic changes depend on the style of speech and
on intonation changes inside the syllable (as «Ye-es», good
/gm rd/)1. Among these changes /ге/ may be really regarded as a
long vowel, especially before the voiced and nasal consonants
which was remarked by D. Jones. According to D. Jones different
degrees of vowel-length - «allochrone» as long-short pairs belong
to one «chroneme»2.
Nevertheless, we cannot accept this idea as the «chroneme»
links a pair of phonemes and «allochrone» cannot exist itself in
many cases owing to the simultaneity of both quaUty and length
of the vowels. The term allophone is sufficient to describe such
variations of vowels. The phonemic opposition long-short is
based not only on a difference in tongue-position but it may be
accompanied by a change in Up-position. For example, the oppo-

1 Ch. Barber. Op. cit., p. 50; A. С Gimson. Phonetic Charge and R. P. Vowel System.
«In Honour of D. Jones», Lond., 1966.
2 D. Jones. Chronemes and Tonemes. Acta Linguistics, 1944, Vol. IV.
sition /i:/ - /u:/ is based on two features: 1) front and back and 2)
unrounded - rounded. Nevertheless, lip-rounding is not a distinc­
tive feature in the English vowel system because there are no
pairs of vowel phonemes which are distinguished solely by the
fact that one is unrounded while the other is rounded. All the
front, front-retracted and mixed vowels are unrounded whereas
among the back-advanced and back vowels /о, о:, и, u:/ are
rounded. Being distinctively irrelevant, rounded - unrounded fea­
ture is regarded as «... a phoneme - constitutive, inalienable, in­
dispensable concomitant feature for English vowel phonemes
because no vowel can exist without it in English»1.
In some languages, like Uzbek, and Russian, lip-rounding is
a distinctive feature. In Uzbek the opposition front-back is dis­
tinctively irrelevant, thanks to the positional changes of vowels.
After forelingual consonants back vowels become front, likewise,
after backlingual consonants front vowels become back in modern
Uzbek. But the front feature is inextricably tied up with un­
rounded feature, while back - with rounded feature, i.e. they are
combined with each other. The rounded - unrounded feature is
never changed in any positions: /i - u/ bir «one» - bur «turn», /e -
6/ kel «come» - kol «lake», /а - о/ saf «row» - sof «pure».

V.2.3. The Phonological Status of Diphthongs

There are two basic approaches to the phonological status of


English diphthongs, which are known as the «unit theory» and
«analytic treatment». The unit theory suggested by the Prague
phonologists (N. S. Trubetzkoy, B. Tmka, J. Vachek) is based on
the certain rules for the determination of the mono- and biphone-
matic realizations of the combinations of two phonemes. The cri­
teria used in the unit theory are as follows: 1) diphthongs may be
produced by unit articulatory movements and their length is al­
most equal to that of simple vowels (monophthongs); 2) diph­
thongs are monosyllabic combinations, i.e. their two elements - a
nucleous and a glide - do not belong to different syllables of a
word; 3) according to the functional criterion the distinctive func­
tion of a diphthong may be established by two rules: a) the com­
bination is biphonemic if its components may function as
distinctively different elements, i.e. if it can be substituted. If the
combination may fulfill its distinctive function, it is monophone-
matic; b) if the combination has its correlation pair among the
simple phonemes, then it is monophonematic.
According to the above criteria long vowels and diphthongs
can be defined as single vowel phonemes, since both categories
with the exception of /a:/ and /з:/ are free vowels with a variable
degree of opening. In this case /i:/ and /u:/ are interpreted as /ii/
and /uu/ (but not as /ij/ and /uw/ in which the second elements ap­
pear as semi-vowels or consonants). According to the articulatory
direction of the second elements, the diphthongs /ei, ai, au, эи, 011
are parallel to those of the high, long vowels. They are opposed to
the remaining diphthongs, whose second elements move towards
the central neutral vowel /э/1. Usually these two groups of diph­
thongs are called closing and centring diphthongs. J. Vachek clas­
sifies them as «movement diphthongs» which are constituted by a
direct articulatory movement and cannot be divided into two
vowels /ei, ai, эи, au/ and therefore, they are regarded as single
phonemes and «positional diphthongs» which preserve the indi­
vidual articulatory nature of these two elements Лэ, еэ, иэ, оэ/2.
N.S. Trubetzkoy’s first functional criterion, which may func­
tion as single phonemes, it is a biphonematic combination, is en­
tirely useless. By using this principle the diphthongs /ei/, and /ou/
become biphonematic, though Trubetzkoy regarded them as sin­
gle phonemes, i.e. he admitted their monophonematic value. In
this case he takes into consideration the stability of diphthongs in
morphological changes. This approach is formal and cannot ex­
plain the phonological status of diphthongs3.
The morphological criterion which works in favour of a
morphemic boundary between the two elements of a diphthong
leads to its interpretation as a biphonematic combination. For ex­
ample, loyal /lo:j3l/, lower Лэ: - иэ/, sawing /S3 - uiq/, poet /рэи
- it/ etc. In such words they occur at morphemic junctures in na­
tive words, or in two contiguous syllables of the same morpheme

1 A. Cohen. The Phonemes of English. The Hague, 1962, p. 90.


2 J. Vachek. Uber die Phonologische Interpretation der Englischen Diphthonge mit be-
sonderer Beriiksichigung des Englischen «Studies in English by Members of the Eng­
lish Seminar of the Charles University», vol. 4, 1933, p. 152.
3 А.Ф. Биршерт. К вопросу о системе фонем английского языка. Уч. зап. 1-
МГПИИЯ, т. I, 1940, с. 77-78.
in distinctively foreign words. In words like seer /si:s/, fewer
/fju:s/. В. Tmka notices the combinations of two phonemes in
which the first element preserves the tendency of length1.
The analytic treatment suggested by some American and
Copenhagen linguists regards diphthongs to be biphonematic
combinations. The criterion used by American linguists is based
on the method of complimentary distribution. As complex seg­
ments (diphthongs) consist of two components. The first compo­
nents of the diphthongs /ец сщ эи, au/ are in complementary
distribution with the simple vowels /s/ and /а/ used in such words
as let, sun. The second elements are also in complementary dis­
tribution with the semi-vowels or glides /j/ and /w/. The diphl-
hongoids /1 :/ and /u:/ are also treated as /ij/ and /uw/. According to
this approach English diphthongs are regarded as the combina­
tions of two phonemes, because their first and second elements
can function as single phonemes.
On the paradigmatic axis the English diphthongs may form
phonological oppositions both with simple phonemes and with
each other. They have constitutive, distinctive and recognitive
functions in the structure of English.
On the syntagmatic axis the structure of a diphthong is rep­
resented by three properties: a) the first component, called its nu­
cleous; b) the second element, called its glide; c) its monosyllabic
character, i.e. forming the crest of the syllable as in the word time
/taim/.
The length of the diphthong, which is equal to that of the
simple vowel also proves its monophonematic character.
D. Jones defined diphthongs from the phonetic point of
view. He also regarded diphthongs as monosyllabic units pro­
nounced by one expiration2. He distinguished «rising» /қд иэ/ and
«falling» (all other diphthongs) diphthongs. The endings of the
rising diphthongs have greater prominence than their beginnings,
while in falling diphthongs their beginnings have greater promi­
nence than their endings3.
D. Jones'treatment is based on the articulatory indivisibility
of English diphthongs and their monosyllabic character. Besides

1 B. Tmka. Op. cit., p. 17.


2 D. Jones. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge, 1956, p. 83.
3 Everyman's English Pronouncing Dictionary. М., 1954, p. XXXIII.
he represented positional variants of the diphthongs h\, еэ, зэ/ in
his dictionary. But /ui/ can not function as a diphthong owing to
its articulatory divisibility and disyllabic character.
The substitution of diphthongs by monophthongs takes
place in morphonological alternations: devine /da'vain/ - devinity
/da'vinitl/, chubby lt\hbil - chubbier Л|лЬю/ etc. (The morpho­
nological alternations are discussed in chapter X). The gliding of
English diphthongs may be represented in the following form:
Speaking about diphthongs we
should mention two triphthongs: /аю/
and /аиэ/. The first two elements of these
combinations may be regarded as diph­
thongs /ai/ and /au/ while the third ele­
ment represents the neutral vowel /э/.
There is no stable articulatory and syllabic indivisibility among
the elements of these combinations. Usually they are divided into
two syllables: tire /tai - э/, fire /fai - э/ cower /каи - э/ shower
/Jau - э/. The element /э/ cannot be omitted in the pronunciation,
otherwise words like high /hai/-higher /Ьаю/, tie /tai/ - tire Даю/
may be mixed.
The combinations /ею/, /оиэ/ and /oja/ occur in word-forms
as player /р1ею/ rower /гоиэ/ destroyer /distroj9/ and they are
also considered to be combinations of vowel phonemes or groups
of vowel phonemes.

V.2.4. Unstressed Vowels of English.


A. The Phonetic Approach

As stated above the unstressed vocalism of, English includes


all vowel phonemes and the neutral phoneme /э/ which appears as
a result of weakening of the vowels in the unstressed position. The
vowel /э/ articulated by weak articulatory effect, has an indefinite
tamber and changes its. quality under the influence of neighbour­
ing sounds depending on its position, and in certain positions it
may be omitted. Therefore, it may have different variations distinct
from each other, especially, by the height of the tongue and dura­
tion. The X-ray picture of /э/ in a cat /skaet/ shows that this vowel
may be classified as mixed, mid-broad variation, unrounded (either
lips are spread or neutral) vowel. Usually linguists distinguish from
two1to four variations of /э/2.
The neutral vowel, which appears in final unstressed posi­
tion, is somewhat close to the tamber of the vowel /л/, perhaps, to
the Russian /а/ and the Uzbek /а/, but is shorter than they are:
worker /waika/ matter /m sts/ etc.
The next version of /э/ is used in initial and medial un­
stressed positions except the neighboring DU and /g/. This type of
/э/ is pronounced by a higher position of the tongue than in the
first version: announce /э 'nauns/, about /эЪаut/. These two ver­
sions of /э/ are regarded basic in practical studying of English.
The version of /э/ used by the neighbouring /к/ and /g/ is re­
garded to be a very short and back, close-narrow variation: con­
tinue /ksn'tinju:/, aggregate /э 'gngeit/.
The fourth version occurs before the consonants /z/ and /d/
which are used as morphemes expressing the plural form of nouns
and the tense of verbs: matters /maetaz/, hunters /luntaz/, cov­
ered /kAvsd/. It resembles /з:/ though it is pronounced half-long.
All these versions have different degrees of laxity. They are
notated by the symbols /эл, э3, эи, э/3.
They all represent the reduced forms of the neutral vowel
/э/, as they all occur in unstressed positions under the influence of
reduction. Weakening of the unstressed syllables, as a result of
which vowels (sometimes, consonants) change their quality and
quantity features, is called reduction. The shortening of the
vowel-length in unstressed position is known as a quantity re­
duction, while the omission of the clear tamber of a vowel is
termed as a quality reduction. The most widespread type of
quality reduction is neutralization, used in the phonetic but not
phonological sense. The vowels of the neutral tamber have fea­
tures similar to vowels with a certain quality called «cardinal
tambers» by A.L. Trakhterov4. Speaking about /э/ it is better to
describe it as «neutral tamber», than «neutral position» of

1 D. Jones. An Outline of English Phonetics. 9th ed. London, I960, 368.


2 В.А.Васипъев. Обучение английскому произношению в средней школе. М., Изд.
«Просвещение», 1979, с. 102. Г.П. Торсуев. Фонетика английского языка. М.,
1950, с. 103.
3Г.П. Торсуев. Вышеуказ. соч., с. 103-104.
4 А.Л. Трахтеров. Практический курс фонетики английского языка. М., Изд.
«Высшая школа», 1976, с. 102.
speech organs. Usually «neutral position» is used to describe the
configuration of the speech organs just prior to a certain articula­
tion of a speech sound. In a neutral position the velum is raised
and the air-flow through the nose is shut off. Such a universal
neutral position does not exist in the articulation of any speech
sound. However, some linguists consider that the sounds /ае/, /з:/,
/л/, /е/, /э/ may be produced by a neutral position. The neutral po­
sition stated above is possible in «hesitation vowels», interpreted
also as a «vocalic filled pause» which is defined as having a (+
vocalic, - consonantal) feature1. X-ray pictures of the articulation
/э/ do not show any neutral position of the speech organs. Thus /э/
is called a neutral vowel not for its articulation by the «neutral po­
sition», but owing to the fact that during its articulation it has a
neutral, non-distinct tamber or quality which is significant.
Besides the neutral vowel /э/ there is an unstressed N which
is regarded as an unstressed allophone of the English phoneme / 1/.
The unstressed / 1/ is used in unstressed syllables, in prefixes, suf­
fixes in medial and final positions: mischief /mistji:f/, abdicate
/atdikeit/, infinite /in 'finit/, discover /dis Iowa/, impose /im'pauz/,
enjoy /in'dSoi/ credit /'kredit/ etc. It should be stated that the neu­
tral vowel /э/ may often be omitted in colloqual rapid style of
speech, but never so in the unstressed / 1/: cotton /kot(a)n/, Lon­
don /Und(3)n/, darkness /da:kms/, sausage /so:sid3/ etc. Accord­
ing to their occurance some authors distinguish vowels of: 1) full
formation: 2) semi-weak vowels, i.e. those which take an inter­
mediate position between strong vowels and the neutral /э/ and 3)
weak vowels. The idea of the semiweak vowels have been made
clear by G.P. Torsuyev and V.A. Vassilyev: «From the distribu­
tional point of view a semi-weak vowel ... be defined as a par­
tially reduced vowel which is used in a more careful style of pro­
nunciation instead of the neutral vowel used in the rapid
colloquial style and instead of the corresponding vowel of full
formation used in the full style»2. All the unstressed vowels of
constantly full formation are used in all styles of pronunciation
and even in many words of foreign origin, especially Latin and

1 W./J. Brian Annan. The «Articulation Base» and Chomsky’s «Neutral Position». Pro­
ceeding of the 7th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Mouton, 1972, p.
1080. R. Lass. English Phonology and Phonological Theory. Cambridge Univ. Press,
1976, p. 43-44.
2 V.A. Vassilyev. Id.p. 217.
Greek, which have not yet been fully adopted in English: insect
/msekt/, epochs /'i:poks/, diagram /daisgrsem/, marquee /ma:ki:/
etc1.
The vowels of constantly full formation have a relatively
stable quality and may preserve their less clear tamber in an un­
stressed position: apple-tree /'aepltri:/, architect /'a:kitekt/, ob­
jective /ab'jektiv/, artistic /a:'tistik/, programme /ргэи 'graem/,
ensign /en'sain/, upturn /Ap't3:n/, Uganda /u:'g sends/, obey
/эи bei/ idea /ai 'dia/ etc.

В. The Phonological Interpretation

vowel hi. The phonological status of the English hi


Our Phonological interpretation mainly concerns the neutral

discussed by many linguists, including A. Martinet, M. Swadesh,


have been

thors negated the phonemic status of


and
hi.
O. Funke, A.C. Lawrenson, J. Vachek. But only the first two au­

hi Iri A. Martinet regarded that


belong to a single phoneme, and gave the examples as
perfection beginning with phonemical /prf/ and professor with

be notated as Irhi,i.
/prrf/. He regarded that when /г/ occurs before a vowel it should
but when it occurs before a consonant, its nota­
tion should be The same conclusion was made by M. Swadesh
on the basis of «r - less» dialects of English in which
garded as a positional variant of the /г/ phoneme, but it has pho­
hi is re­

above ideas, established the significant function of hi


nematic status in words like sofa /saufa/. A. Cohen, who cited the
in English
words summer /Ълтэ/ - some /saiti/ rudder /rAda/ - ruddy /n\di/2.
According to B. Tmka in unstressed syllables only one pair of

h
phonemes may be distinguished: /1 —э/ —effect /1 'fekt/ - affect
'fekt/, except /l’ksept/ - accept /a'ksept/, city /'siti/ - sitter /sits/,

less the neutral hi


ready /redi/ - redder /reds/, fatty /faeti/ - fatter /faeta/. Neverthe­
may functionally be opposed to the vowels of

h h
: J
constantly full formation in an unstressed position:

h - allusion /э'1и: 3n - illusion /i'lu: 3n/

h - 0 :/: exercise /'eksasaiz/ - exorcise /'ekso:saiz/


- 3 :/: forward /’fo:w3d/ - forword /'fo:w3:d/

1 V.A. Vassilyev. Id.p. 217.


2 A. Cohen. Op. cit., p. 77.
/э - е/: experiment /iks'penmsnt/ - (п) experiment (v)
/iks'penment/
/э - л/: some /sam/ (pr.) - some /saiti/ (adj.)
/э - ae/: that /Зэ(У (pr.): that /5aet/ (pr.)
/э - ei/: estimate /'estimst/ (n.) estimate /'estimeit/1 (v)
Certainly, a few minimal pairs may be found to illustrate the
above phonological oppositions, though the distinctive function of
/э/ becomes clear in the given minimal pairs. Thus, the phono­
logical status of /э/ is somewhat limited, but other difference
definitely exist between the opposition members. B.Tmka's idea
that «the quantity is not a distinctive feature in unstressed posi­
tion»2 is vague, as there are some oppositions based solely on the
vowel-length /э - з:/ and some complex oppositions based on
quality and quantity features (/э - о:/, /э - л/, /э - ae/).
Besides the neutral phoneme /э/ has its own constitutive and
recognitive functions, which are especially important in words
with identical spellings as some, that, duplicate, estimate, experi­
ment, etc. In many words both reduced and full forms of vowels
may be used: Monday /mAndi/, mAndei/, Sunday /sAndi, SAndei/
etc.
The neutral phoneme /э/ may alternate with other vowel
phonemes within the same morpheme. In this case it is possible to
observe the morphonological alternations. According to
H.Kurath: «the vowel /э/ confined to unstressed syllables, occurs
as a prosodically conditioned alternant of all stressed vowels, with
the possible exception of /au/ ...»3. This type of morphonological
alternations may be illustrated in the following examples:
/е - э/ - heresy - heretical; /л - э/ - conduct - conduc-
tionable;
/ае - э/ - active - activity; /о: - э/ - author - authority;
/з - э/ - methodic - method; /ei - э/ - oration - orator etc.
There is a tendency to pronounce /э/ as /л/ and an interme­
diate sound between /э/ stressed vowels more often observed in
«spelling pronunciation»: official /'ofijal/, conversion /'kanvajn/,
dormitory /dormitn/ etc.

1Г.П. Торсуев. Указ. соч., с. 104-105.


2 В. Tmka. Op. cit, p. 27.
3 H. Kurath. Op. cit., p. 123.
V .3. T H E C L A S S IF IC A T IO N O F T H E
P H O N O L O G IC A L O P P O S IT IO N S O F V O W E L S

Having established the phonematic value of the vowel-length


the phonological status of diphthongs and the neutral /э/, it is conven­
ient to classify all the phonological oppositions in the vowel system
of English. Though some oppositions have been given in certain
cases to prove phonematic facts we could not discuss the relation be­
tween the phonemes in the entire vowel system of English. As a rule,
we should begin with the preliminary phonological analysis, the cri­
terion of which is based on establishing mainly single, as well as
double and complex oppositions.
According to the horizontal movement of the tongue, it is
possible to establish the following single oppositions:
a) fully front - fully back: ir. - u:/: seen - soon;
b) front-retracted-back-advanced: /1 - и/: pit-put;
c) fully front-mixed: /е - з:/: ten - turn;
d) fully front-back-advanced: /ae - a:/: cap - carp;
e) back-advanced-fully-back: /a: - o/: part - pot.
The distribution of some members of the given oppositions
is limited. For example, /u:/ seldom occurs word-initially; /и/ does
not occur word initially; /е/, /о/, /и/, / зе/, / л / never occur at the end
of words; / 0 / never occurs word finally. Therefore, the functional
load of those oppositions in which /и/, /е/, /о/ take part are lower
than the other oppositions.
The oppositions la: - 0 / and /л - о:/ may be regarded as sin­
gle only on condition that /a:/ is defined as a back-advanced
vowel and /л/ as a low-narrow vowel. These alternations do not
seem to describe more precisely the actual tongue positions in
pronouncing /a:/ and Ы but make the oppositions more symmet­
ric1.
The following nine single oppositions are based on the ver­
tical movement of the tongue:

a) high-narrow - high-broad: li: - 1i. beat - bit;


lu: - ul: fool - full;
b) mid-narrow - mid-broad: /з: - э/: foreword - forward;

1 V.A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., p. 211-212.


c) low-narrow - mid-narrow: /о: - о/: port - pot;
d) high-narrow - mid-narrow: /i - e/: seat - set;
e) high-narrow - low-narrow: /u: - 0 :/: boot - bought;
f) high-narrow - low-broad: lv. - ae/: cheap - chap;
lu : - ol: shoot - shot;
g) high-broad - mid-narrow: /1 - e/: sit - set;
h) high-broad - low-narrow /и - л/: look - luck;
i) high-broad - low-broad: /и - a:/ put - part.

All the given oppositions, except /1 - e/ and /и - л/ may be


regarded double if the vowel-length is regarded as a distinctive
feature. In this case the oppositions may be based both on quality
and quantity features of vowels.
In Uzbek, as in all languages, the height of the tongue is pho­
nologically relevant and the following single oppositions may be es­
tablished:

a) high - mid: /i - е/, /u - 5/;


b) high - low: /i - а/, lu - o/;
c) mid - low: /е - а/, /6 - о/.

The second distinctive feature is lip-rounding. All front


vowels are unrounded and all back vowels are rounded in Uzbek,
but front-back feature is concomitant. It brings symmetry into the
phonological oppositions of the Uzbek vowel phonemes. N.S.
Trubetzkoy, citing E.D. Polivanov's classification of the Uzbek
vowel phonemes, called it «logically equippolent with two classes
of tamber (maximal high and low) quadrangular system» which
appears very rarely in languages of the world1. Correcting his
transcription symbols2 the system of the Uzbek vowel phonemes
may be illustrated in the following way:
Sonority

1 H.C. Трубецкой. Основы фонологии. М., 1960, с. 111-112.


- 125-
If we apply N.S. Trubetzkoy's classification to the subsys­
tem of the English stressed short vowels, it resembles the Uzbek
vowel phonemes as a quadrangular system:

maximal i u

mid e (a) Э

minimal ae Л

The timbre (the horizontal movement of the tongue) opposi­


tion in the subsystem of the English short vowels is also equippo-
lent, as it is shared by three pairs of phonemes /i - и/, /е - о/ Л -
и/, /е - о/, /ае - л/; the same opposition is observed on sonority
(the height of the tongue): / 1 - е/, /е - ae/, / 1 - ае/, /и - о/, /и - л/ /о
-л/.
The neutral vowel phoneme has its own place in the system.
In the subsystems of long monophthongs and diphthongs,
including two diphthongoids /ii/, /uu/ the timbre and sonority op­
positions may be outlined as follows:

Stable (long Non-stable (diphthongs and diphthongoids)


monophthongs) + —
Centring Closing
a: 19 иэ

£9 09

N.S. Trubetzkoy, B. Tmka and some other linguists did not


include diphthong / 01/ into this subsystem, regarding it biphone-
mic, but they included triphthongs into centring diphthongs1,
which is rather vague. According to the new tendency, /aia/ and
/аиэ/ tend to be smoothed down to a diphthong of the /аэ/ type (as

1 H.C. Трубецкой. Выше указ. соч., с. 136; В. Tmka.. Op. cit, р. 21; В.Я. Плоткин.
Очерк диахронической фонологии английского языка. М., Изд. «Высшая
школа», 1976, с. 97.
in fire /faa/, tire Лаэ/). Some speakers smooth them even further
to a pure vowel /a:/ or la:l (as in fire /fa:/ or /fa:/) which is more
common in RP1. But this type of substitution may be regarded as
variphone alternation, (i.e. free variation of the sound structure of
a word is called a «variform»)2.
According to the movement and the height of the tongue it
is possible to establish double and complex (if long-short feature
is distinctive) phonological oppositions between all the mo­
nophthongs and diphthongoids3.
The. opposition monophthong - diphthong (absence and
presence of glide) may be possible when simple vowels coincide
or are regarded to be very close to the nuclei of the diphthongs: /e -
ei/, /ae - ai/, /о - oi/, /ae - au/, la: - аи/, /о: - ои/, /з: - эи/, /i - 1э/,
/е - еэ/, / о - ээ/, /о: - ээ/, /и - иэ/. V.A. Vassilyev found 36 com­
mutations illustrating phonological oppositions between two di­
phthongs4. It is also possible to establish oppositions between two
diphthongs on the basis of their nuclei as fronting-backing diph­
thongs: lei - oiJ, /аи - ou (эи)/, Лэ - иэ/, / еэ - иэ/, / еэ - оэ/ and also
on the basis of their glides as closing-centring diphthongs: lei - еэ/
(whenlei and lei are very close), /01 - оэ/. Further development, of
the vowel system may result in the appearance of the diphthong
/а:э/ or /аэ/ instead of the triphthongs /аю/ and /аиэ/.
The opposition /ai - аэ (аэ)/ may also come into being.
However it is not real, owing to the existence of words like tire
/tai3/ - tower Itaval which sound homophoneous if /аю/ and /аиэ/
coincide as a result of convergence.
Analysing the permissible variation of the phonemic struc­
ture of words from D. Jones' dictionary A.C. Gimson has found
7,5% items of this kind from 5900 monosyllabic and polysyllabic
words5. The following variphone alternations may also be found
in modern English pronunciation6.
a) monophthongization of leil —» lei. again /9'gen/;
b) reduction of / 1/ in /ею/; player /ple-э/, which is like in
1 Ch. Barber. Op. cit., p. 45-46.
2 В.А. Васильев. В ы ш еуказ. соч., с. П.
3 V.A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., p. p. 208-209.
4 Op. cit., p. 199.
5 A.C. Gimson. A Note on the Variability of the Phonemic Components of English
Words. «Bmo Studies in English», vol. 8 , 1969.
6 A.C. Gimson. Phonetic Change and the RP Vowel System. «In Honour of D. Jones»,
London, 1964, p. 131-136.
/аю / and /аиэ/ —> /а-э, а э , аэ, аэ/ but the final element o f /ею / is not
omitted;
c) diphthongization o f / 1, e, ae/ —» Лэ, еэ, ae3/ especially, be­
fore the voiced consonants: bid, head, bad;
d) instability o f the glides o f closing diphthongs /ei, ou, ai,
av, 01/ in favour o f prolonging the prominent first elem ents in ad­
vanced RP in the London region:
/ei/ —> /e 1/ in day, made, lay hands, greyer;
/ои/ —» /эи/ in row, road, low hurdless, goal;
/ai/ —> /а 7 or /a:/ in side, society, sigh;
/au/ —►/a '7 or /a:7 or /a:/ in sow, allow, half;
/ 01/ —> / 0' V or / 0' 7: boy, toy, toil.
A.C. G im son also notes the new relationship betw een the
centring, falling Лэ, еэ, оэ, оэ/ and / 1, е, ае, о:/. For exam ple, the
levelling o f earlier /ге/, /о э / and / 0:/ is now common: poor, pore,
paw; sure, shore, shaw; the centring diphthongs Лэ/ and /гэ/ are
frequently in opposition: hear-hair, fear-fair, weary-wary1.
It is possible to classify modern changes in English pronun­
ciation in the inventory o f vow els and according to their distribu­
tion. For exam ple, the changes in the inventary concern: /е/
becam e more open /е/; /ае/ - more front and long or half-long like
/а/; /a :/ - more front; / 0:/ - som ewhat half-open; /л / - more front,
like central vow el /a/; the nucleous o f the diphthong /ei/ has be­
com e more open as /ei/; the nucleous o f the diphthong used in
conservative English /ои/ is /э/ and it is indicated as /эи/2 in m ost
textbooks and dictionaries o f today.
B esides, there are the changes in the distribution o f vow els,
caused by the spelling pronunciation, (consider /k9n'sid9/ -
/kon'sid3/ and merely sound substitution in words or by the influ­
ence o f stress shifting (regime /rei'3i:m / - re(i)' 3i:m /)3. These
new tendencies in m odem English pronunciation are m oving to­
wards the monophthongization, diphthongization, changing o f the
vow el-length, more often appearing as centring diphthongs (/ai1,
/аи/, /эи/, / 01/ and even triphthongs tend to the direction o f cen­

1 A.C. Gimson. O p. cit., p. 134-136.


2 K. Wachtler. S ociolinguistic A spects o f a Phonetic C hange in the R P -M odel o f B ritish
E nglish. «L inguistische Berichte, 53, 1978, p. 21-28.
3 В.А. Васильев, Д.П. Венцкуте. О б изм енениях в прои знош ени и соврем ен н ого
англи йского язы ка». «И ностранны е язы ки в вы сш ей ш коле. В ы п. 8, 1974, с. 152-
154.
tring diphthongs), which have been observed in the historical de­
velopment of the phonemic system of English vowels.

V .4. T H E R E L A T IO N S H IP B E T W E E N T H E
FREQ U EN CY OF OCCURA NCE O F VOW ELS
AND CO NSONANTS

Analysing vowel and consonant phonemes, we could not


always discuss the frequency of their occurance in words. The
most wide-spread type of English word is CVC, which is inter­
preted as a monosyllabic or monomorphemic structure. According
to B. Tmka's statistic analysis, the total number of CVC structures
of word is 42%. Therefore, the maximal variety of vowel opposi­
tions appear in positions between consonants. Only seventeen
phonemes occur in the initial position, but /и, is, иэ/ do not appear
in this position. The long vowels and diphthongs usually more of­
ten occur in the stressed position. Among the consonants 1Ы, /q/,
/3/ have limited occurance1. It is interesting to note that the con­
sonants /kh, ng, j, v/ also show limited frequency of occurance in
Uzbek as two of them have been borrowed from Russian (/ж/)
and Tadjik (/в/).
If we compare the relationship between the frequency of oc­
curance of vowels and consonants in the languages of different
families, Indoeuropean and Ural-altaic, and groups among these
families - Germanic (English, Gennan), Romanic (French, Span­
ish), Slavonic (Russian) and Turkic (Uzbek, Kazakh, Turkmen,
Kirghiz) we find they have a typological similarity. This typo­
logical similarity is expressed by the relationship of the frequency
of occurance between the vowels and consonants, which is equal
to 2:3. It shows the stability of the given relationship in many
languages, though their structures and grammatical systems differ
greatly. The above typological similarity may be illustrated in the
following table:2

1 B. Tmka. Op. cit., pp. 35, 111.


2 В.Ф. Чистяков. Частотности гласных и согласных в 50 языках разного грамма­
тического строя. «Lingua Poznaniensis», 1972, XVI, p. 45-48.
Frequency of Occurance
Languages
Vowels Consonants
English 0,41 0,59
German 0,40 0,60
French 0,44 0,56
Spanish 0,44 0,56
Russian 0,42 0,58
Uzbek 0,42 0,58
Kirghiz 0,43 0,57
Kazakh 0,44 0,56
Turkmen 0,43 0,57

If we apply the table of typological features suggested by


V.D. Arakin , including the Uzbek vowels and by adding the
functional load and the power of opposition, it may be outlined in
the following way: (N - number, F.L. - functional load, P.O. -
power of opposition)

Phonemes, Languages
№ Features and English Russian Uzbek
Oppositions N. F. L. P.O. N. F. L. P. O. N. F. L. P. O.
1. Monophthongs
(simple vowels) 10 6 6
2. Diphthongoids 2 0 0
Diphthong 9 0 0
3. Tongue move­
ment 5 3 2
4. Height of tongue 3 3 3
5. Variations of the
height of tongue 2 0 0
6. Oppositions on
tongue move­
ment 5 low strong 4 low strong 0
7. Oppositions on
one height of
tongue 4 low weak 0 0

1 В.Д Аракин. Сравнительная типология английского и русского языков. Л., Изд.


«Просвещение», 1979, с. 78.
Phonemes, Languages
№ Features and English Russian Uzbek
Oppositions N. F. L. P. 0 . N. F. L. P. 0. N. F. L. P. 0 .
8. Oppositions on
different heights 7 high strong 6 high strong 6 high strong
9. Oppositions on
lip-rounding 0 6 low strong 6 high strong
distinctive with
10. Length
quality 0 0
depends on the
11. Distribution structure of a
word 0 0

T H E P R O S O D IC SY ST E M O F T H E E N G L IS H
LANGUAGE, G EN ERA L REM ARKS

The structure of the segments longer than segmental pho­


nemes requires adequate principles of phonetic and phonological
analysis. Such longer segments constitute the syllabic structure,
the accentual structure of words and intonation structure. They are
studied by the division of phonetics or phonology named prosody
(or suprasegmental phonetics or phonology). The approaches to
the prosodic analysis differ greatly. Some linguists regard that the
object of suprasegmental phonetics is limited by the description
of intonation1. Most linguists consider stress and intonation to be
suprasegmental properties of a language2. A syllable which is
formed by more than one segment in many cases (as CV, VC,
VCC etc.) may belong to prosodic structures of any length. The
syllable may be perceived as a long or short segment having a
peak of loudness. Therefore, sometimes the syllable is defined as
a chain of expression including only one accent. The syllables act
as structural units within words, word-combinations and sen­
tences (or phrases), and therefore, it is possible to include the syl­
lable into prosody. In recent works the syllable is regarded as a
constructive element of accentuation of words.

1 For example: D.I. Dickushina. English Phonetics. A theoretical course. M.-L., 1965, p.
129.
2 А.А. Реформатский. Пролегомены к изучению интонации. In his: «Фонологиче­
ские этюды», М., 1975, с. 36.
Thus, within the prosodic system of the English language
we distinguish the syllable-prosody, word-prosody and sentence
or phrase-prosody which are in close relationship to each other.
The phonetic structure of a word comprises four types of struc­
ture interdependent of each other: 1) the phonemic structure; 2) the
structure of the combination of phonemes; 3) the syllabic structure; 4)
the accentual-rhythmic structure1. Among these components the sylla­
ble structure takes a somewhat intermediate position because the sylla­
ble is a special unit of expression and not merely a combination of
phonemes. The syllable has its central element (the peak) and marginal
elements (the slopes). Its special feature is noticed under stress. The syl­
lable functions as a medial unit between phonemics and prosodies (or
segmental and suprasegmental phonology). It may be classified accord­
ing to its phonemic structure into open and closed or covered and un­
covered. But according to its prosodic structure it may be classified into
stressed and unstressed syllables. Like other phonetic units the syllable
may be defined either as a purely phonetic unit or as a phonological
unit. In the latter case we use the term a «syllabeme». Inside the phono­
logical word the signalling of syllable boundaries is optionall as the syl­
lable boundary does not always coincide with the «meaningful
segments». Thus, the syllable becomes very significant as it functions
as a «bridge» between phonemics and prosodies.

1 Г.П.Торсуев. Вопросы фонетической структуры слова (на материале английско­


го языка), М., 1962, с. 5-35.
THE SYLLABIC STRUCTURE
OF ENGLISH
V I. 1. T H E D E F IN IT IO N O F T H E S Y L L A B L E .
T H E F U N C T IO N S O F T H E S Y L L A B L E

Listening to utterances of any language one can observe the


peaks of loudness in the speech continium. The discrete sounds,
in which the segmental phonemes are realized, is the result of the
most minimal segmentation of the speech continium. The combi­
nation of speech sounds constitutes the longer segments in which
the complex unity of all the phonetic elements and their features
may be found. The minimal unit of utterance is known as a sylla­
ble. The syllable is the result of the natural segmentation of
speech continium. The definitions of the syllable differ greatly, as
linguists choose the acoustic, articulatory and functional criteria.
There are wrong conceptions as well, which state that the syllable,
as a phonetic phenomenon, does not exist and that the grouping of
phonemes in syllables is a mere convention without any objective
reality (a view held, for example by G. Panconcelli - Calzia, O.
Von Essen)1. Nonetheless, most linguists admit the existence and
the articulatory - acoustic reality of the syllable.
From the articulatory point of view the syllable may be re­
garded as a single uninterrupted unit of utterance which may co­
incide with a word (ex. cat /kfet/) or a part of a word or a word
form (ex. little /lit—1/) making /mei-kig/). Syllables consisting of
two or more phonemes, joining the articulations, have a complex
structure characterized by on - glides, retention and off-glides
which is essentual also for the ordinary combination of phonemes.
From the acoustic and perceptual point of view a syllable is
a wave of loudness characterized by prosodic features such as
stress, pitch, sonority and length. The acoustic - auditory shape
of the syllable depends on the sonority of the sounds. The peak of
the syllable is often formed by a vowel as in pet, act, see; less of­

1 B. Malmberg. Phonetics. N . Y., 1963, p. 65.


- 133 -
ten by the sonants or sonorants (m, n, 1), as in the second syllable
of cable, tension, times. The peak of the syllable may be fol­
lowed by less sonorous sounds (consonants). One sound, which is
characterized by the great force of utterance (accent and pitch of
voice), sonority and length, may function as a syllable. For exam­
ple, I /ai/, little /lit—I/, rhythm /пб-m /.
From the functional point of view a syllable, like other pho­
netic units, fulfills four functions:
1) constitutive function, i.e. a syllable or syllables act as
material carriers of words, word-forms, word-combinations and
phrases;
2) distinctive function, i.e. the syllables may serve to dis­
tinguish minimal pairs of words, word-combinations and phrases.
For example: an apron /эп 'eipren/ - a napron /э 'neipran/ an ice
house /эп 'ais 'haus/ - a nice house /э nais'haus/, its lips /its'lips/
- it slips /it slips/. Is there any mistake here? - Is there any
Miss Take here?;
3) recognitive function, i.e. the recognition of the right syl­
lable formation and syllable division rules;
4) delimitative function, i.e. some syllables may occur only
in initial or final positions in words.
Phonologically it is possible to distinguish two types of syl­
lables:
1) genuine syllables, the phonemic structure of which has
constant functional relevance: bottle /bot-1/ - bottom /bot- э т / ,
make /meik/ - making /meikiq/;
2) the secondary syllables are unstable and their phonemes
have not the same functional relevance as the phonemes o f genu­
ine syllables. There are two or more peaks of sonority in the sec­
ondary syllables'. For example: a black tie /s'blxk'tai/ - a
blacked eye /9'blaektt'ai/, ice-cream /'ais'kn:m/ - I scream
/ai'skn:m/.

1J. Kramsky. Papers in General Linguistics, Mouton, 1976, p. 67.


- 134-
VI.2. THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF SYLLABLES.
TYPES OF SYLLABLES IN ENGLISH
(as compared with Russian and Uzbek)
There are the various generally accepted classifications of
syllables. (1) According to the syllable division, i.e. from the
viewpoint of whether a syllable begins and ends with a vowel or a
consonant sound, syllables are classified into open, closed, cov­
ered, uncovered. V.A. Vassilyev distinguished the following
types of syllables:
V - uncovered, open;
VC - closed, uncovered;
CVC - closed, covered;
CV - covered, open1.
G. P. Torsuyev gives the following types of syllables:
V - fully open;
CVG - fully closed;
CV - initially covered;
VC - finally covered.
Besides he distinguishes the sub-types of syllables.
A fully open syllable consists of a vowel or a diphthong and
therefore it has no other sub-types. A fully closed (CVC) syllable
may be of the following twelve sub-types depending on the num­
ber of consonants: 1) CVC - fat, 2) CVCC - fact, 3) CVCCC -
facts, 4) CCVC - place, 5) CCCVC - street, 6) CCVCC -
speaks, 7) CCVCCC - spinx, 8) CCCVCC - streets, 9)
CCCVCCC - (con) - structs, 10) CVCCCC - sixths, 11)
CCVCCCC - twelfth, 12) CVCCCCC - sixths /siksG / (with op­
tional /t/).
The initially covered syllable has three sub-types: 1) CV -
sea, 2) CCV - play, 3) CCCV - straw .
The finally covered syllable also has three sub-types: 1) VC
- at, 2) VCC - apt, 3) VCCC - acts. Thus, there are nineteen
structural sub-types of syllables in modem English and their peak
is formed by a vowel or sonorant when it follows or precedes
constrictive consonants. For example, CS (S - indicates a sono­
rant); /(ri) - tn/ w ritten; CSC /(lai - sns/ license; CCSC: /('saeq)
- kjnz/ sanctions; CSCC: /('skae) - fldz/ scaffolds; CCSCC: /('en)
- tmts/ entrants1.
The above given classification represents the phonemic, to
be more strict, the allophonic structure of syllables. An English
syllable is the minimum unit of the phonetic structure of a mono­
syllabic word (e. g. /ai/ I, /it/ it, /buk/ book etc). Nevertheless it
can also explain the allophonic structure of polysyllabic English
words, i.e. words with two or more syllables. The English word
may contain from one to eight syllables. There are more than
eight syllables in Uzbek word as agglutination tendency is strong
(it is possible to add a number of suffixes) in it.
Typologically the following types of syllables exist in Eng­
lish, Russian and Uzbek (including borrowings):
The universal type of syllable for English is CVC - closed
and covered, which is the most frequently used in it.

The Type of the


№ English Russian Uzbek
Syllable
1. V I/ai/ awe /э о-а-зис, A! u, Е! А!
:]
2. CV he /hi:/ me Он, те-ма ke-ma, bu,
/mi:/ shu
3. VC it /it/ art ум, ил ип, t, r-
/a:t/ oq
4. CVC bed /bed/, сон, дом, bsh,
take /teikJ пар /та/ say-/ra/-
/moq/
5. VCC act /aekt/, акт, иск, akt, ahd, ust
old /ould/ -ость
6. VCCC ants /a:nts/ искр-, астр- astr-,
asks /a:sks/
7. VCCCC Ernst /3:nst/ Эрнст Emst
entry /entri/
8. CCV try /trai/ сто, три, сна- smeta, trio
stay /stei/
9. CCCV straw /stro:/ вста-вать, мгла Bmo
10. CCVC prize стол,стул, sta- /kan/,

1 Г. Торсуев. Структура слога и аллофоны в английском языке.


The Type of the
№ English Russian Uzbek
Syllable
/praiz/, стой sta- /dion/
stop /stop/
И. CCVCC speaks столб, праст- plast-
/spi:ks/
12. c c v c c c stamps спектр, сфинкс spektr
/staemps/
13. CVCC tent /tent/, мост, серп mard, qand,
mend isht
/mend/
14. cccvc strength скрип-/ка/, shtraf,
/streqG/ страх skripka/ka/
15. CVCCC facts пункт, фильтр tekst, filtr
/ftekts/,
tends
/tendz/
16. CCCCVC — взгляд, встреч
17. ccccv — вспле-/ски/
18. ccccvcc — всплеск,
взблеск
19. cccvcc (con)-structs страсть,
/kan-strAkts/ вскольз
20. CVCCCC sixths монстр,
/siksGs/ /свиде/-
тельство

According to statistic investigation almost half of the sylla­


bles frequently used in English are CVC (42-47,7%). In Russian
the universal type of the syllable is CCVC (31,8%) while in
Uzbek CV type of syllable is regarded as a universal type
(48,983%). CVC type has lower frequency of occurance in Rus­
sian and Uzbek. In the Turkic languages CVC is regarded the old­
est universal type which originated the other syllable types as
(C)VC, CV(C), (C)V(C)1.
G.P. Torsuyev gave the statistic data of sound combinations
used in initial, medial and final positions of words and syllables.

1 Н.А. Баскаков. Введение в изучение тюркских языков, М., 1969, с. 122-123.


- 137-
All the consonants except /g/ may be used in the initial positions
of syllables preceding vowels. The same may be observed in
Uzbek in which the consonant /q/ cannot occur in initial syllables
o f words, while in Russian all 36 consonant phonemes may ap­
pear in the initial syllables which precede vowels. More than 50
combinations o f two consonants may occur in the initial syllables
of words in which affricates and two similiar consonants (gemi­
nates) cannot take part. There are 230 combinations o f two con­
sonants occuring in the initial syllables of a Russian word'. Their
number is very small in Uzbek as there are no combinations of
consonants used in the initial position o f the words o f Turkic ori­
gin. In modem Uzbek as the result o f linguistic contacts some
combinations o f consonants began to be used in the initial sylla­
bles o f words (e. g. stakan, stadion, brigada, shnur, start, prorab,
slesar, traktor etc.).
Many words o f this type have been borrowed from Russian
and other languages through Russian into Uzbek. There are also a
great number of combinations o f three and four consonants in the
medial and final positions o f the Russian and English words
which do not exist in Uzbek at all or in a very small number used
only in borrowings. According to the number o f phonemes consti­
tuting syllables they may be classified into simple and complex.
(2) As we have stated above a syllable is a constructive unit
o f prosodies, i.e. it can be characterized by a certain degree of
stress, i.e. by the force o f utterance, pitch and duration. On the ba­
sis of these properties syllables may be classified into: a) stressed
and unstressed; b) short and long; c) high, mid, low etc. tones in
tone languages such as Chinese, Thai, Japanese etc. in which the
change o f pitch is a distinctive prosodic feature.
English, Russian and Uzbek are languages with dynamic
stress, i.e. the changes in the force (acoustically intensity) o f ut­
terance is the primary property in them. But duration and pitch are
secondary properties of the English, Russian and Uzbek accent.
The stressed syllables o f an English word may be pro­
nounced by high tone and become longer, while unstressed sylla­
bles are shorter and have a low tone o f voice. Besides fully open
syllable is longer than a closed syllable, e. g. bee /bi:/ - longer,

' Н.П. Торсуев. Строение слога и аллофоны в английском языке. М., 1975 с. 102.
-138-
bead /bi:d/ - long, beat /bi:t/ - shorter. English, Russian and
Uzbek are regarded as languages of syllable-counting.
In Latin, Greek and Czech duration is regarded as a primary
property and the syllable length is distinctive prosodic feature which
is usually known as the mora. Such languages are called mora -
counting languages as contrary to the syl able - countin slanguages'.
English Russian Uzbek
Within 3150
monosyllabic
Within 1000
Within 3203 wordforms given Within 30000
words in
words counted in «Словарь words used in
Types of Thorndike's
by B.Tmka2 русского языка» text (fiction)5
dictionary3
Syllables (М., 1957-1961)'
Frequency

Frequency

Frequency
of words

frequency
Number
of words

of words
Number

Absolute

of words
Number

Number
%

CVC 42 1,346 47,7 299 30,5 960 39,967 11990


CV 5,37 88 7,5 72 2,3 71 48,983 14695
V 0,31 11 1 3 - - 5,610 1683
VC 2,05 67 5 32 1,5 47 4,097 1229
CVCC 13,45 445 17 108 14,8 457 0,830 249
CCV 3,88 124 4 24 3,8 120 0,177 53
VCC 0,087 30 2 12 1,0 31 0,173 52
CCVC 22,46 714 11 72 31,8 1003 0,137 41
CCVCC 5,2» 169 2,7 17 5,7 177 0,013 4
CVCCC 0,43 24 1 3 - 0,007 2
CCCVC 2,36 75 1 6 5,4 170 0,003 1
cccv 19 1,0 *30 0,003 1
cccvcc 0,34 11 0,1 1 - - - -
cccvccc 0,09 0 0 - - -
1Я.С. Трубецкой. Основы фонологии. М., 1960, с. 206-225.
2 В. Tmka. A Phonological Analysis ... p. 61-111.
1 Yi-Chin-Fu. The phonemic Structure of English words, Taipei. Taiwan, 1960, p. 70-
71.
4А.И. Моисеев. Типология слогов в современном русском литературном языке.
ВЯ, 1975, №6, с. 113-114.
5 С. Ризаев. Бўгин структурасини урганиш тажрибасидан. Тошкент, «Фан», 1975,
с. 7.
In tone, languages (also called languages of musical stress)
various levels of pitch (tone of voice) may serve to distinguish the
meanings of words, while the force of utterance and duration is
not very important. For example: In Thai maa with high tone
means «horse», with a mid tone - «come», with a rising tone -
«dog». Thus, Maa maa means «the horse comes», whereas m'aa
maa means «the dog comes»1.
E.D. Polivanov suggested the linguistic terms for each of
these three types of languages2. The phonologica function of
dynamic stress, is described by the term «accenteme». The term
«syllabeme» is used to indicate the phonological function of syl­
lables in mora-counting languages, while the term «toneme»
characterizes the phonological function of tones. V.A. Vassilyev
distinguishes «word-accenteme», «phrase accenteme» and «syn-
tagm-accenteme» used to describe the distinctive function of
stress at different levels. He also uses the term «syllabeme» to in­
dicate the phonological unit which has the only distinctive feature
based on syllabicity. E. g. lightening /laitaniq/ - lightning
/laitm q/, finely /'fainli/ — finally /'fainsli/3 etc.
The above given syllables are called phonetic syllables
which are used in utterances. There are orthographic «syllables»
used in writing and printing for the purpose of application of reading
rules. They are also termed syllabographs. For example, mak-ing,
chang-ing, tal-king etc.

VI.3. THE RELATIONSHIP BETW EEN


A SYLLABLE AND A M ORPHEM E

So far, speaking of a syllable, we have tried to explain it in


connection with a word. We have done so because a syllable is
defined as an intermediate phonetic unit occupying a place below
the word unit but above the phoneme. The syllable is not directly
connected with a morpheme. Perhaps, some linguists negate the
importance of a syllable on the basis of this fact and regard it bet­
ter to describe the combinations of phonemes in certain positions.

1Sanford A. Shane. Generative Phonology. N. J., 1973, p. 14.


2 Е.Д. Поливанов. Музыкальное слогоударение и тоны дунганского языка. СБ. «Во­
просы орфографии дунганского языка». Фрунзе, 1937.
3 V.A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., р. р. 233-234, 252-256.
The word is a central unit of language structure. It may be
represented as the combination of syllables. We can choose the
criterion of breaking the word into minimal meaningful units,
namely morphemes. But it is difficult to analyse a word according
to syllable division and morpheme boundary simultaneously as
they represent different levels and have their own nature and de­
scriptive methods. The word as a complex unit comprises a sylla­
ble and morpheme. Phonotactically a word may consist of a
phoneme or a number of strictly combined phonemes. Therefore
the relationship between the syllable and the morpheme may be
established at word level or to be more strict at lexis - semantic
level. The word may exist as an independent and meaningful unit
in language structure, while other units cannot possess both prop­
erties. This may be illustrated by the following diagrams:1
It is possible
WORD ■SYLLABLE t0 notice in clock
wise 45 degrees
that the syllable
and the morpheme
m orph em e ■ phonem e form a link be-
(g ra m m a r) (p h o n o io g y ) tween the word and
the phoneme.

phoneme morpheme syllable word


Independent + +
Meaningful + +

The passage from the


WORD (++)
word (linguistic unit) to the
phoneme (phonological unit)
morph* syllable (+-) always involves a crossing
boundary between grammar
and phonology. The line may
phoneme (- -) be crossed directly (dotted
line) if we speak of the phone­
mic structure of words. There are two possibilities here: one via
the morpheme, the other via the syllable. In the former case the
boundary line is crossed between the morpheme and the pho­

1 Jan Cygan. Aspects of English Syllable Structure, Wroclaw, 1971, p.p. 17-18.
- 141 -
neme, in the latter case between the word and the syllable. The
important thing is that any crossing skips one unit. I f we choose
former approach, the syllable becomes unnecessary. In the latter
case the morpheme w ill be in the way. This comes from the fact
the syllable and the morpheme are both intermediate but inc­
ommensurable units between two extremes - the phoneme and
the word. The relationship o f the syllable and the morpheme is
not like that of definite relations existing between the four units
which may be characterized in the following way:
a) every morpheme consists o f one or more phonemes;
b) every syllable consists o f one or more phonemes;
c) every word consists o f one or more phonemes, or sylla­
bles or morphemes1.
The relationship between the syllable and the morpheme
may be explained on the basis o f the complete or partial coinci­
dence o f their boundaries in words and wordforms. For example,
coming /к л т - ig/, nightly /nait - li/ careful /кеэ - fu l/ etc. This
coincidence o f the syllabic and morphemic boundary can often be
found in the Turkic languages. Thus, in Uzbek келди /кел - ди/,
«came», гапириб (ran - ир - иб/, «talking», дўстлар /дўст -
лар/ «friends» etc.
Every language has its own specific rules o f syllable forma­
tion and division. The relationship between the syllable and the
morpheme is regarded as one o f the most important typological
characteristics o f a language2.

VI.4. THEORIES OF SYLLABLE FORMATION


AND SYLLABLE DIVISION
A syllable is a very complex and complicated unit o f utter­
ance. Many linguists attempted to explain the syllable from dif­
ferent points o f view.
1. The most ancient theory of syllable formation admitted
that the number o f syllables is equal to the number o f vowels used
in an utterance. It does not take into consideration the syllable
formation function o f some consonants.

1Jan Cygan. Op. cit., p. 19.


2 Ю.С. Степанов. Основы общего языкознания. М.,
2. The American phonetician R. H. Stetson suggested the
expiratory theory o f the syllable, which is also called the chest-
pulse or pressure theory. According to R. H. Stetson's expiratory
theory «the vowel is an articulation which has the function o f de­
lim iting the chest-pulse o f the syllable»1. He also admits that pho­
netically the language signals depend on the function o f vowels
and consonants which affect the meaning o f a syllable. The sylla­
bles are regarded as meaningful minimal units o f speech articu­
lated by a single expiration. But in fact a number of syllables may
also be uttered by a single expiration. The Romanian linguist A.
Rossetti have approved the expiratory theory regarding «no sylla­
ble without expiration»2. It is not necessary to break up utterances
or phrases and sentences into chest-pulses in oral speech. There­
fore the expiratory theory of the syllable is regarded useless.
Though R. H. Stetson measured the action of the respiratory mus­
cles and compared the curves o f these musculatory variations with
the curves o f sonorous intensity and found their perfect corre­
spondence but his theory cannot explain the nature o f syllable di­
vision and syllable formation.
3. The Danish linguist O. Jespersen suggested the sonority
theory o f the syllable, which is based on the degree o f sonority
(audibility) o f speech sounds. The term «sonority» is used here to
denote the prevalence o f musical tone over noise in the produc­
tion o f speech sounds. O. Jespersen classified sounds according to
the degree o f sonority beginning with the last sonorous sound in
the following way:
1. Voiceless consonants (p, t, k, f, s, etc.);
2. voiced stops (b, d, g);
3. voiced fricatives (v, z, etc.);
4. nasals and laterals (m, n, 1 etc.);
5. trills and flaps (r);
6. close vowels (i, y, u);
7. mid vowels (e, о, e, з etc.);
8. open vowels (a, ae, etc.).
O. Jespersen defined a syllable as the distance between two
degrees o f sonority. Syllables o f the type o f plain, freight, like are

1 R.H. Stetson. Motor Phonetics. A study o f Speech M ovements in Action. 2nd ed. Am ­
sterdam, 1951. p. 2.
2 A. Rossetti. Sur La theorie de la syllable. The Hague, 1963.
consequently in accordance with this definition. But many types
of syllables contradict it. Thus, in such words as station /steijn/,
little Ait—1/, straw /stro:/ middle /m idl/ etc. We notice one or two
syllables in which consonant clusters do not form separate sylla­
bles. The sonority theory cannot explain the syllable boundary.
Inspite o f this and other shortcomings this theory is used by some
foreign linguists who develope it further. The sonority theory o f
the syllable have been applied to Russian by R.I. Avanesov who
distinguishes only three degrees o f sonority: 1) constrictive con­
sonants, 2) sonorants and 3) vowels1.
4. The classification o f sounds according to their sonority is
very closely connected with grouping o f sounds based on the de­
gree o f opening. A vowel is more sonorous and also more open
than a consonant, a plosive consonant is more closed (and less so­
norous) than fricative consonant sounds, M is more open and so­
norous than /i/ etc. F. de Saussure's definition o f the syllable is
based on the degree of opening o f the sounds. According to F. de
Saussure, consonants are grouped around vowels on the basis o f
their opening. The syllabic boundary is at the junction o f a more
close sound and more open. Saussure called the opening, occur­
ring at the beginning o f the syllable, the explosion, and the clos­
ing at the end, the implosion. These terms are still used in modern
linguistics. Any consonant, which is placed after the vocalic nu­
cleus (the vowel) o f the syllable, is called implosive whereas any
consonant which precedes a vowel sound is called explosive. A c­
cording to Saussure, syllable may be symbolized by the sign < >
(opening + closing). Wherever one finds > < (closing + opening)
there is a syllabic boundary2. The implosive and explosive ele­
ment's coincide with the slopes o f a syllable, while its nucleus is
equal to its centre or peak.
5. F. de Sassure's theory o f syllable formation is used by
many linguists with perfection. For example, J.W.F. M ulder gives
the following definition o f a syllable: «The syllable can be de­
fined as a simultaneous bundle o f positions which is a subset o f a
simultaneous bundle o f positions called a distributional unit,
which subset contains an explosive, a nuclear and an implosive

1 Р.И. Аванесов. Фонетика современного русского литературного языка. М ., 1956,


с. 42.
2 В. Malmberq. Phonetics. N. Y. 1963. p.p. 67-68.
position or position group»1. Any distributional unit contains at
least one syllable and cannot therefore be properly included in a
syllable. That is to say, the extension o f a syllable is the lower
lim it o f extension o f a distributional unit. According to Mulder,
distributional units are disjoint, i.e. no syllable can belong to more
than one distributional unit, nor can a part o f a syllable be long to
a distributional unit and another part o f that syllable to another
distributional unit. For some languages there may be pre­
explosive, post-implosive positions as in the English word stands
/standz/. Mulder distinguishes free and non-free or bound sylla­
bles. Free syllables can occur in any place, i.e. initially, medially
or finally in a distributional unit. An independent syllable can ap­
pear alone in a distributional unit.
Besides, a syllable is defined both as a simultaneous bundle
o f positions and as a sort o f «accent group» with respect to the
phonemes in that syllable2. It should be stated that the above defi­
nition o f the syllable is based on its distribution in different posi­
tions, though it cannot explain the nature o f syllable formation
and syllable division.
6. The French phoneticians M. Grammont, and later on P.
Fouche, have defined the syllable in psychological terms accord­
ing to which it is characterized by a growing tension o f the mus­
cles o f the voice-producing mechanism in the explosive part
followed by a decreasing tension in the implosive part o f it3.
7. The Czech phonetician B. Hala, summarizing all the defi­
nitions o f the syllable, distinguishes five components: 1) expira­
tory; 2) phonatory; 3) articulatory; 4) the muscular; 5)
acoustic. B. Hala also emphasizes the importance o f the sonority
degree o f sounds in the acoustic characteristics o f the syllable4. B.
Hala's syllable theory, like R.H. Stetson's expiratory theory, is
based on the physiological principle, while the sonority theory is
based on the acoustic principle.
8. Academician L.V. Shcherba advanced his own syllable
theory. According to L.V. Shcherba a syllable is formed due to
the muscular tension o f the articulation which is constantly

1 J.W.F. Mulder. Sets and Relations in Phonology. An Axionatic Approach to the D e­


scription o f Speech. Oxford, 1968, p. 178.
1 J.W.F. Mulder. Op. cit., p.p. 180. 209.
3 B. Malmberg. Op. cit., p. 68.
4 B. Hala. Slabica, jeji podstava a vyvol. Praha, 1956.
changed. The boundaries o f the syllable coincide with moments
o f weakening tension, whereas the peak o f the syllable is formed
by the maximal muscular tension which may be changed during
the articulation o f one and the same sound. Thus, this theory ex­
plains how a vowel or a consonant sound's articulation may be di­
vided into two syllables. The sounds pronounced with growing
tension begin the syllable. Consonants, which begin the syllable
with strong articulation and gradually reduce muscular tension
towards the end are called initially strong (finally weak). E. g., in
the words shut /'/At/, tiny /'tin i/ country /’клпйт/ the initial con­
sonants /J/, /t/, /к / are initially strong (finally weak). I f the con so­
nant articulation becomes gradually tense towards the end o f it,
this type o f consonant is termed finally strong (initially weak)
which ends the syllable. E. g., in the words map /maep/, type
/taip/ artistic /a:'tistik/ the final consonants are strong (initially
weak). Sometimes both the beginning and the end o f the articula­
tion o f consonants may be strong, while its centre becomes weak.
Such consonants are called double peaked1. Usually the combina­
tion o f two similar (geminated) consonants may be double
peaked. E. g. misstate /'mis-steit/, unnatural /An-'naetjr(s)l/, rest
time /'rest-'taim/, cold day /kauld 'dei/. In the last two examples
double-peaked geminated consonants occur at the junction o f two
words or morphemes.
L.V. Shcherba’s syllable theory can be applied to Russian
and Uzbek. In the Russian words сон, ссора, к кому finally
strong (initially weak) consonants occur in the beginning o f sylla­
bles. In words ус, ум, кит etc. the final consonants are initially
strong (finally weak). The double-peaked consonants appear in the
juncture o f the Russian words: дом мой, вкус соли, от тона etc.
In the Uzbek word qirq - «fourty» the initial /қ (q)/ has a strong
end, while the final /к (q)/ is weak-ended. The double-peaked
consonants may appear in Uzbek words in which the geminated
consonants divide the syllables, e. g. qattiq «strong», achchiq
«bitter», sassiq «putrid smell» etc. Sometimes the double-peaked
consonants may occur at the juncture o f Uzbek words, e. g. qirq
qo'zi «fourty sheeps», besh shahar «five cities» etc. There are
some minimal pairs in which the simple and geminated conso­
nants may be opposed and, consequently, the syllabic structure o f

' Л.В. Щерба. Фонетика французского языка. М ., 1957, с. 79.


- 146-
words may be distinguished, e. i. soda «soda» - sodda «simple»,
«ordinary», qatiq «yoqurt» - qattiq «strong» etc.
V.A. Vassilyev and G.P. Torsuyev have applied L.V.
Shcherba's syllable theory to English. The definition o f the sylla­
ble as «the arc o f loudness» is based on the perceptual approach.
The syllable is also defined as «the arc o f articulatory tension» on
the physiological basis. Both definitions are based on L.V.
Shcherba's conception o f the syllable. N.I. Zhinkin has perfected
this theory on the basis o f his experimental investigation. He de­
fined the syllable as the arc of loudness or the arc of articula­
tory tension with the louder sounds at its peak and the less
loud phonemes forming both slopes1.
Both the expiratory and sonority theory cannot explain the
monosyllabic pronunciation o f a word, for example, star /sta:/. In
this word consonant Isl is more sonorious than /t/ and therefore,
according to the sonority theory, this word is bisyllabic. As to the
expiratory theory the word star /sta:/ may be pronounced as bi­
syllabic /s-ta:/ w ith two expiration or with two arcs o f muscular
tension2. In fact the word star /sta:/ is pronounced and perceived
as a monosyllabic word which may be proved by the results o f in­
strumental (spectrographic) research. I f we compare the spectro­
grams o f the word star /sta:/ with that o f start /sta:t/ it is possible
to notice the absence or presence o f the final Ixl sound which has
strong-end (initially weak) articulation.
There are also some other scientific approaches to the prob­
lem o f syllable formation and syllable division. The instrumental
investigation o f the syllable CV proves the existence o f syllable
contrasts o f pitch, duration, formant structure, intensity and fre­
quency o f F II which is characteristic in Russian3. Some linguists
suggest to establish syllables on the basis o f the phonetic features
o f sounds, which is regarded to be the most convenient principle
in the comparative-typological analysis o f languages4.
Phonetic and phonological definitions o f the syllable exist in
modern linguistics. Phonetically, a syllable is regarded as a se­

1 Н.И. Жинкин. М еханизмы речи. М ., 1959, с. 219.


2 Г.П. Торсуев. Фонетика английского языка. М ., 1950, с. 174.
1 JI.B. Бондарко. Звуковой строй современного русского языка. М ., 1977, с. 141-
151.
4 М.И. Лекомцева. Типология структур слога в славянских языках, М ., 1968» с. 52-
53.
quence o f sounds containing one peak o f prominence (syllabic
sound) and very rarely double peaks (when geminated consonants
occur). Phonologically, «... the syllable may be defined as some sort
of unit of accent placement; vowel and consonant can then be either
derived from the syllable as its central and marginal constituents, or
treated independently as units of widely different distribution»1.
Nevertheless many questions regarding the syllable require further
instrumental investigations.

VI.5. SYLLABLE FORMATION AND SYLLABLE


DIVISION IN ENGLISH
As stated above the syllabic structure, as a component o f the
phonetic system, consists o f syllable formation and syllable d ivi­
sion which are in close relationship to each other. A ll theories of
the syllable have more often attempted to explain the syllable
formation, but the problem o f syllable division has not been thor­
oughly investigated, which is both theoretically and practically
important in language description. Nevertheless, it is possible to
formulate some general rules o f syllable formation and syllable
division in English.
In English a syllable is formed by a vowel (monophthong or
diphthong) alone or in combination with one or more consonants.
E. g., ore /о:/, more /mo:/, at /aet, at/, cap /kaep/, consideration
/lcsnsid-a- rei-Jn/ etc. In the English words bottle /bot - 1/, bat­
ten /bset - n J , rhythm /пб - m/ the final sonorants (lateral /n/ and
nasal /m/, Ini and sometimes /q/ may form separate syllables2. But
the English sonorants /w /, /j/, /г/ cannot form syllables. Thus, we
can distinguish syllabic /m, n, 1/ and non-syllabic /r, j, w/ sono­
rants.
In English a syllable formation and syllable division depend
on many factors among which the phonotactic rules, which de­
termine the combination o f phonemes or clusters and the nature o f
adjoining them, are regarded very important. The permissible
clusters o f consonants are, in part, conditioned by historical but
chiefly by physiological factors. These include the follow ing; 1)

1 J.D. O'Connor and J.L.M. Trim. V ow el, Consonant and Syllable - a Phonological
Definition. «Word», vol. 9, № 1, 1953, p. 103.
2 И. Вахек. Н есколько замечаний о роли слогообразую щ ей функции при ф оноло­
гическом анализе. В кн. «Человек и язык», Изд. М ГУ, 1970, с. 45-54.
- 148 -
whether two phonemes which might adjoin in the same cluster
have the same articulator; 2) whether they have the same type o f
articulation; 3) whether they are both voiced or voiceless; 4)
whether they have the same or varying conditions o f structure; 5)
whether, especially in phonemes of the same articulation type,
one is slightly more prominent than the other. Thus, /г/, an apical
consonant, is never preceded by /s/, also apical stops do not com­
bine initially with stops, etc.1
Syllabic consonants occur when a syllable ends in ItJ, IdJ or
In/ and the next syllable is unstressed and contains DJ, Ini or /m/.
I f the other consonant clusters except С + /1/, /n/, /m/ occur at the
end o f words they are regarded to be non-syllabic. This conditions
the existence o f the contrast «no syllable vs. a syllable». E. g. cat­
tle /kaet-1 / - cats /kaets/, battle /bast—1/ - bats /baets/, m uttony
/mAt-ni/ - matches /maetjz/ etc. Thus, the syllable formation and
syllable division in English have a phonological (distinctive)
function. From the articulatory point of view the clusters Itl, IdJ +
III, In/ are formed with the tip o f the tongue touching the tooth
ridge, i.e. they have the similar type o f articulation. C lifford H.
Prator, Jr. points out two other cases o f the occurence of syllabic
consonants in rapid conversational speech where stops and con­
tinuants have the same points o f articulation: (1) between /p/ or
Ib/ and ImJ as in stop'em /stop them/ stop - m/; and (2) between
Ik/ or /g/ and In/, as in I can go /ai krjgau/ . The English sonorants
are not syllabic when they follow vowels. E. g. Sweden /swudsn/,
highten /haitsn/, lantern /laentan/ etc.
The following final clusters, in which the second member
constitutes sonorants ImI, Ini and /1/ may form separate syllables:
/-tm/, /-5m/, /-sm/, /-zm/, /-lm /: bottom /bot-m /, rh yth m /riQ-
m /, blossom /blosm/, prison /pnzn/, film /film /; /p, b, t, d, k, g,
d3, f, v, 0, s, z, j, У + + /n J: open /эи-рп/, ribbon /n-bn/, eaten /i:-
tn/, garden /ga:-dn/, darken /da:-kn/, dragen /drae-gn/, region
/ri:-d3n/, often /э-fn/, seven /se-vn/, earthen /з:-0п/, lesson /le-
sn/, season /si:-zn/; Ip, b, t, d, k, g, tj, d3, v, f, s, z/ + /1/: people
/pi:pl/, table /tei-bl/, settle /se-tl/, m iddle /mid-1/ cycle /sai-kl/,

1 Webster's N ew W orld Dictionary. Cleveland and N . Y., 1978, p. XX.


2 Clifford H. Prator, Jr. Manual o f American Pronunciation, N . Y., London 1957, p. 85.
- 149-
bugle /bju:-gl/, racial /rei-Ji/, cudgel /клё31/, rifle /rai-fl/, civil
/si-vl/, castle /ka:-sl/, drissle/dn-zl/, special /spe-Jl/1.
In som e cases tw o syllabic consonants m ay occur in the d e­
rivatives o f E nglish w ords. E. g. national /naejnl/, regionly
/n :d 3 n li/ etc.
A coustically, the syllabic feature o f Ы and /1/ m ay be char­
acterized by relative duration and intensity, w hich are interpreted
as their prosodic properties2. A s to the distribution o f the non-
syllabic consonants, it is conditioned by the occurance o f /э / or / 1/
sounds betw een the tw o elem ents o f the clusters cited above,
w hereas their om ission is necessary for the form ation o f sylla­
bles3.
N one o f the above clusters exist in final position o f U zbek
words. On the contrary, in such U zbek w ordform s as qoldi
«stayed», senga «for you», tomda «on the attic», bordi «went»
etc. com binations o f Л, m , n, p / + S appear w hich are divided into
two syllables. The consonants /1, p, y, v, n, m , p / cannot form syl­
lables in U zbek isolately. W hen they occur before vow els, they
signal the existence of a syllable division before or after them . E. g.
bola /bo-la/ «a child», qani /qa-ni/ «w here», borgan /bor-gan/
«gone», qorda /qor-da/ «on the snow », uyga /uy-ga/ «to the
house», suvda /suv-da/ «in the w ater», krdingmi? /k r-ding-m i/
«H ave you seen?» etc. A ll U zbek vow els are freely used before or
after consonants and it is an im portant factor o f syllable division
and non-syllabic character o f the consonants /1, m, n/. T hanks to
this difference there m ay be cases o f syllabic interference. T he syl­
lable division m ay depend on the free and checked character o f
English vow els. All the long m onophthongs, tw o diphthongoids
and diphthongs o f English are regarded free, as they occur both in
open and closed syllables, w hile all the checked vow els occur in a
closed syllable.The free vow els m ay be separated from the word-
final syllabic sonorants, w hen the latter form separate syllable with
the preceding consonants, e. g. cable /kei-bl/, people /pr.-pV, gar­
den /ga:-dn/. W hen the checked vow els are separated from other

1 V.A. Vassilyev et al. English Phonetics (A Normative Course), М., 1980, p. 11.
2 С.А. Богдасарян. О фонетической природе сонантной слоговости. Сборник на­
учных трудов, вып. №108, МГПИИЯ, М., 1977, с. 30-39.
3 D. Jones. The Use of Syllabic and Non-Syllabic 1 and n in Derivatives o f English
Word Endings in Syllabic 1 and n. «Zeitschrift fur Phonetic and Allgemeine Sprach-
wissenschaft», Band 12, Heft 1-4, 1959.
vow el sounds by only one consonant sound, the exact determ ina­
tion o f the syllabic boundary is a m oot point. T heoretically this
m eans that the syllable division can only b e either w ithin or after
the intervocalic consonant and never before it, since the vow el is
checked by it, and the syllable is closed1. E . g. m atter /maeta/, sit­
ter /sits/, m anner /таеп э/, lesser /lesa/ etc. T hough after the
stressed checked vow els o f such words as middle, sunny, flannel,
the syllable division regularly occurs before the consonants: /'m i­
di/, 'sA-ni/, /flze-nl/. In m any E nglish w ords the syllable division
autom atically coincides w ith the m orphem ic boundary. E. g. take
over /teik'auva/, day time /'deitaim /, over-dressed /'auvsdrest/.
Such a coincidence o f syllabic and m orphem ic boundaries often
occurs in E nglish com plex and com pound w ords.
G .P. T orsuyev points out that there are m any cases o f the
variation o f phonem ic structure o f E nglish w ords, w hich are con­
ditioned by different types o f assim ilation and reduction. For exam ­
ple, /m pt/ —►/mt/: attem pt, /кэп / —» /кп/: bacon, /n tj/ —►/nJ7:
bencher, open /эиур(э)п/, total /taut(a)l/ etc. G .P. T orsuyev
states that the articulatory transition is constant in syllable bound­
ary b u t all other features o f a syllable m ay be varied by the influ­
ence o f different phonetic factors2.
T here are also cases w hen the syllable boundary is w ithin
the consonant sound in an intervocalic position or w ithin the С +
sonorant: cluster in w ord-m edial position. E. g. ever /e v -v a /, dif­
ficult /d if-fi-k( 9)lt/, sunny /sn-m /, middling /m idl-liq/. A sim ilar
case m ay be noticed in som e U zbek w ords: ola /ol-la/, «black»,
A shirm at /A shir-m at/ «a nam e o f a m an». Incidently, such cases
ap p ear as the result o f m etanalysis o f syllables into tw o syllables
w hich often occur in rapid pronunciation, but they are theoreti­
cally doubtful.
T he syllabic structure o f E nglish is very com plex and we
h ave analysed som e o f its general problem s o f theoretical im por­
tance.

1 V.A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., p. 247.


2 Г.П. Торсуев. Константность и вариантность в фонетической системе (на мате­
риале английского языка), М., Изд. «Наука», 1977, с. 90-95.
VI. 6. THE PHONOLOGICAL STATUS OF
JUNCTURES

The Am erican linguistists use the term juncture phoneme to


indicate the distinctions in the syllabic boundary at the junction o f
words and morphemes. W e do not use the term «juncture phonem e»
but suggest the term «juncture» which is sufficient to analyse open
and closed transitions between vowels and consonants in the syllabic
boundary o f words and morphemes. Phonem es are segmental units o f
language, particularly, units o f the phonological level of a language.
As to syllables, stress and intonation they are suprasegmental or pro­
sodic features o f language and as phonological units they exist only in
the phonological level o f a language. Thus, phonemes, which exist in
the form o f speech sounds and suprasegmental units or prosodem es,
are not equal as to their function in a language. Therefore, w e do not
shade the terms suprasegmental phonemes, juncture phonemes,
the accentual phonemes etc. which are used by some linguists.
The syllable division is phonologically distinctive in EngUsh. The
position of the syllable boundary at the junction o f words or m or­
phemes, which are often accompanied by differences in length, pitch
and rhythm 1can distinguish the meanings o f words and word com bina­
tions. Such distinctive units are termed «junctures» which m ay be o f
two types: open juncture (+) and close juncture (-). Thus, in a tall
/э Ъ : 1/ there is an open juncture between /э/ and /t/ which m ay be con­
trasted to the closed juncture in at all /at 'э: 1/ in which ItJ and /о:/ are
linked more loosely than in the previous case. There are other examples
illustrating the difference in junctures; they'd rest - they dressed, not
the terrain - not that a rain, in to play - into play, some ice - some
mice, its tips - it stips, that stop - that's top etc. The distinctive func­
tion of the open juncture is rather limited in English.
T he follow ing exam ples m ay illustrate the phonological
function o f ju n ctu res in U zbek and Russian: yettita kam pir
«seven old w om en» - yettita kam bir «seven m inutes to one»
(w hen (n) becom es voiced by the influence o f (m ) in «kampir»
(«old w om an»), yotoq oldi «got the place in hostel» - «yota

1 Н.Г. Камышная. Слогоделение в современном английском языке. В кн., «Иссле­


дования по теоретической и экспериментальной фонетике английского языка».
М., 1972, с. 92-123.
qoldi» «w ent to bed», к Ире «to 1га» - Кире «to K ira»,
Виталию «to V italy» - В Италию «to Italy».
In pea stalks, open (i.e. as before a pause) ju n ctu re relates
to /s/ and close, (i.e. as w ithin a w ord) ju n ctu re relates /s/ to /t/,
w hereas in peace talks, close ju n ctu re relates /i:/ to /s/ and open
ju n ctu re /s/ to Л/, w ith the relevant phonetic cues. If the tw o u tte r­
ances w ere not distinguished in such term s, it w ould be necessary
to postulate, for instance, a phonetic opposition betw een the full
and reduced form s o f /i:/ and betw een the aspirated and u n a sp i­
rated types o f /t/', the latter is not a distinctive feature in E nglish.
A .C. G im son and D. Jones have given the follow ing ex am ­
ples in w hich phonetic cues m ay m ark w ord boundaries:
/a'n eim / - a name (relatively long (n), associated w ith stress
onset and possible pitch change);
an aim (relatively short /n/, stress and pitch change beginning in /ei/).
/9aetsU f/ - that stuff (unaspirated /t/, strong /s/;
/Sjets'tAf / - that's tough (aspirated /t/, w eaker / s/;
/5э w eit 9kAtit/ - the waiter cut it (reduced /ei/, rhythm ic
group / 9 э 'weitaTcAt it/);
the w ay to cut it (long (ei), rhythmic group /Ээ wei t3 kAt it/);
/h au streind/ - how strained (long /au/, strong /s/, little de-
voicing o f /r/;
house trained (reduced /au/, w eaker /s/, devoiced /г/.
Sim ilarly, sim ple w ord entities m ay be distinguished from
w ords com posed o f separable m orphem es:
/h ain is/ - highness (/ai/ and Ы in close juncture, rhythm ical
shortening o f /ai/);
high -ness (/ai/ and InJ in open ju n ctu re, full length o f /ai/);
/naitreit/ - night-rate (Л/ and /г/ in open ju n ctu ral relationship,
little devoicing o f /г/);
nightrate (/t/ and /г/ close ju n ctu re, devoiced /r/).
T he given exam ples illustrate the phonological status of
ju n ctu res in m o d em English. In d efining junctures it is necessary
to take into consideration the stages o f transition betw een the
sound sequences and establish the com binatory changes taking
place in the syllabic boundary at the ju n ctio n o f w ords and m or­
phem es.

1A.C. Gimson. An Introduction to the Pronunciation o f English. London, 1962, p. 276.


- 153-
W O R D S T R E S S I N E N G L I S H

VII.1. DEFINITION OF W ORD STRESS.


ITS TYPES AND COM PONENTS

W ord stress or accent is usually defined as the degree o f force or


prominence with which a sound or syllable is uttered. Incidently, the
syllabic structure o f a word is closely connected with its accentual
structure as in disyllabic (a word consisting o f two syllables) and
polysyllabic (a word consisting o f m ore than three syllables) words;
there may be different degrees o f prom inence in syllables of initial,
medial or final positions. Hence by word stress we m ean singling out
one or m ore syllable in a word with the help o f greater prom inence
accompanied by the change o f pitch, qualitative and quantitative
features o f the sound in relation to other syllable or syllables of the
same word. A.C. Gim son emphasizes that in a stressed syllable there
is relatively greater breath effort and m uscular energy 1 in comparison
with another syllable or syllables o f the same word.
T he classification o f w ords according to the place and
degree o f stress is know n as the accentual structure (type,
pattern) of words. T raditionally w ord accent has the follow ing
phonetic com ponents:
a) In articulatory aspect stress is realized by the great force
o f respiration (a stressed syllable has b o th an increase in
respiratory and laryngeal activity2, duration o f articulation (a
stressed syllable m ay belong and tense3) high frequency o f the
vibration o f vocal chords;
b) A coustically, a stressed syllable has greater intensity,
duration and pitch or tone o f voice than an unstressed syllable;
c) P erceptually, a stressed syllable is characterized by m ore
loudness, duration and high tone o f a sound in com parison w ith
an unstressed syllable.

1A.C. Gimson. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London, 1962. 128.


2 P. Ladefoged. A Course in Phonetics. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Ins., 1975.
3 Г.П. Торсуев. Экспериментальное исследование словесного ударения в англий­
ском языке. Уч. записки, МГПИИЯ, 1950, т. 18.
- 154-
W ord accent serves not only to single out one or m ore sylla­
bles in a w ord w ith the help o f intensity, pitch and duration but it
also prosodically com bines and thus, phonetically shapes the
w ord as a sem antic unit in language structure.
A ccording to the significance o f prosodic features o f inten­
sity, duration and pitch (including qualitative and quantitative fea­
tures o f sounds (m ainly vow els) languages are classified into the
follow ing three types:
1) languages, in w hich intensity is m ore significant than the
other correlates - duration and pitch to form special prom inence
o f the stressed syllable, are called stress languages or languages
w hich have force or dynamic stress o r accent. E. g. English,
R ussian, U zbek have dynam ic accent;
2) languages, in w hich a stressed syllable is m ainly charac­
terized by a pitch change accom panied by greater duration and in­
tensity are know n as tone languages or languages w ith pitch
accent (also called «musical accent»), e. g. Serb, Japanese, C hi­
nese, Thai are tone languages;
3) in som e languages the duration o f a stressed syllable is
m ore significant than other factors. This type o f languages has a
quantitative stress. E. g. C zech and G reek (See also chapter VI,
6 .2).
N .S. T rubetzkoy em phasized the culminative function o f
w o rd accent. W hile a tone language can allow a high pitch to oc­
cur on m ore than one syllable o f a w ord, the b asic principle in a
stress language is th at only one syllable per w ord w ill receive
prim ary stress. T his idea is som ew hat vague as there are w ords
w hich have tw o prim ary stresses. W ord accent is culm inative in
nature b u t its num ber and degree depend on the structure o f a
w ord in syllable-counting languages. For exam ple, kind-
Ъеа 11^ , 'penmanship, Tbrightness etc. In m ora-counting (tone)
languages short m oras m ay receive one pitch w hile long m oras
have tw o pitches w hich are in co n trast1. T ypologically, in stress
languages syllable prom inence is culm inative, w hile in tone lan­
guages it is not. In the first type stress is syntagm atically condi­
tioned as its place is free, i.e. a stress m ay be placed on any
syllable i f w e take all the w ords. In tone languages pitch is para­
digm atic. Som e languages use lexical pitch in the sam e w ay that

1H.C. Трубецкой. Основы фонологии. М., 1960, с. 230-233.


- 155-
E nglish uses stress, i.e. in such languages the sam e sequence o f
segm ental phonem es can have different m eanings depending on
the pitch distinction, e. g. In T hai naa has five m eanings: naa -
m iddle tone «field», (noojonaa - low tone «custard apple», naa -
falling tone «face», naa - high tone «m other's young b ro th er (or
sister), naa - rising tone «to be th ic k » 1. This type o f pitch distin c­
tion is som ew hat sim ilar w ith that in E nglish in w hich a noun and
a verb m ay be distinguished by the place o f stress: 'con,tract -
con'tract, 'extract - ex'tract, 'di,gest - di'gest, 'in,suit - in'suit,
'object - ob'ject etc.
D .B . Fry states that differences o f stress are perceived by the
listener as variations in a com plex pattern bounded by four
physiological dim ensions; length, loudness, p itc h a n d quality. T he
physical correlates o f these perceptual factors are: duration, in ten ­
sity, fundam ental frequency and form ant structure o f speech
sound w aves. If we consider the accentual patterns o f E nglish in
perceptual term s, there are a num ber o f factors that influence a
ju d g em e n t o f stress. T he listener relies on differences in: 1) the
length o f syllables, 2) the loudness o f syllables, 3) the pitch o f
syllables, 4) the sound qualities occurring in the syllables, 5) the
kinaesthetic m em ories associated w ith his ow n production o f the
syllables he is receiving2. Instrum ental investigations have proved
that in E nglish the fully stressed vow el is characterized by a
greater intensity, a high fundam ental frequency, pitch and m ore
duration in com parison w ith the unstressed vow els." T he relatio n ­
ship betw een the com ponents o f w ord accent depends on the po si­
tion o f stressed syllable3.
In R ussian the m ain distinction betw een the stressed and u n ­
stressed vow els depends on their length w hich is accom panied by
their quality and intensity, w hile pitch is irrelevant, though in

1 F.C. Southworth, Ch. J. Daswani. Foundations o f Linguistics. N. Y., 1974, pp. 67-68.
2 D.B. Fry. Experiments in the Perception of Stress. «Language and Speech», vol. I,
1958, pp. 126-128.
3 Т. А. Бровченко. Словесное ударение в английском языке (в сопоставлении с ук­
раинским). Автореферат докт. дисс. Одесса-Ленинград, 1974. М. А. Соколова.
Экспериментально-фонетическое исследование словесного ударения в англий­
ском языке. «Ученые записки 1-МГПИИЯ», т. XX, М., 1960, с. 373-395.
som e cases it contributes to w eakening intensity o f the stressed
vow els and to change their tim bre in final po sitio n s1.
A s to U zbek it is said that w ord accent is realized m ore o f­
ten w ith com bination o f fundam ental frequency o f tone and in ten ­
sity, and that the stressed syllable is distinguished from an
unstressed syllable, first o f all, by a greater force2. W e regard that
in U zbek w ord accent intensity is the m ain com ponent, w hile
p itch (fundam ental frequency o f tone) and duration are prosodi-
cally additional correlates o f it. A coustically, languages w ith d y ­
nam ic stress do n o t use both intensity and pitch equally. T hough
there is an exception, for exam ple, the Scandinavian languages
use both dynam ic stress and tonic accent in m ore or less equal d e ­
gree. T he given definition o f w ord stress in U zbek is based on
perceptual dim entions, though it w as proved by instrum ental in ­
vestigation. H ow ever, w ord stress in English, R ussian and U zbek
is defined as dynam ic but they differ by the action o f their p h y si­
cal com ponents and distribution in different syllables in relation
to the initial, m edial and final positions o f polisyllabic w ords. T he
com ponents o f w o rd stress are in m utual com pensation and th ere ­
fore it is not rig h t to expect that the stressed syllable is alw ays
very long, loud and high in tone3.
It should b e em phasized that w ord stress and sentence stress
are different, as the term s indicate. W o rd stress form s a w ord and
singles out one or m ore o f its syllables, w hile sentence stress
deals w ith the form ation o f a sentence o r phrase and singles out
one or m ore w ords in the structure o f a phrase. T hus, sentence
stress is regarded as one o f the com ponents o f intonation. These
tw o types o f stress, w hich are used in different levels o f investiga­
tion, are som etim es m ixed4, though they differ w ith their com po­
nents and degrees and also w ith their factors and functions. F or
exam ple, the w ord can is often unstressed, but it m ay receive
stress in such a sentence as, N ow you can see it. Can you see it?
I can.

1 JI. В. Златоустова. Фонетические особенности словесного ударения в русском и


болгарском языках. В книге «Вопросы славяноведения». Ученые записки Казан­
ского ГУ им. В. И. Ульянова Ленина, т. 122, кн. 5, 1962, с. 170-199.
2 А. Махмудов. Словесное ударение в узбекском языке. Ташкент, 1960, с. 15.
3 Г.П. Торсуев. Вопросы акцентологии современного английского языка. М., 1960, с.
41-58.
4 Pilch Н. Empirical Linguistics. Munchen, 1976, pp. 76-79.
In E nglish the accentual patterns o f w ords norm ally preserve their
identity in th e context o f the sentence and that the o nset o f the
pitch figure o f the sentence is usually determ ined by the accentual
pattern o f the w ord. Probably, ow ing to this fact som e linguists do
not distinguish w ord stress from sentence stress.

VII.2. PLACEM ENT AND DEGREES OF


WORD STRESS

L anguages can differ w ith w ord stress placem ent and de­
grees o f it. A ccording to the position o f stress in w ords and w ord
form s, w ord accent m ay be free (or shifting) and fixed (or con­
stant). A s to A .C . G im son: «The accentual pattern o f E nglish
w ords is fixed, in the sense that the m ain accent alw ays falls on a
particular syllable o f any given w ord, but free in the sense that the
m ain accent is not tied to any particular situation in the chain of
syllable, constituting a word, as it is in som e lan g u ag es» 1. Thus,
w ord accent in E nglish m ay be regarded free if w e take all w ords
in w hich any syllable can receive stress. E. g. 'water, 'common
(the first syllable is stressed), be'come, mis'spell (the second syl­
lable is stressed), ,after'noon (the third syllable is stressed w hile
the first receives secondary and the second receives th e tertiary
stress), 'all-'round (both syllables are stressed), , represen ’tation
(the fourth syllable is stressed) etc.
If w e take a separate w ord, it is noticeable that stress re­
placem ent in it is fixed and cannot be shifted to any other syllable
o f a m onosyllabic, disyllabic and polysyllabic w ord. E. g. albout,
a'bility, 'up-to-date, uni'-versal, con'tain etc.
W ord-stress in R ussian is both free and shifting as it falls on
any syllable o f w ords and w ord form s and m ay shift from one syl­
lable to an o th er in different gram m atical form s o f w ords. E. g. го­
лова, голову, письм о, пи 'сьм а, вы сокий, вы сок, вы 'ш е, ноги,
н о ги '.
In U zbek w ord stress is free as it m ay fall on any syllable. E.
g. deraza «a w indow », rels «rails», qonun «a law », sekretar
«secretary» etc. W ord stress in U zbek has b ecom e free as a result
o f language contacts w hich is observed in the cited exam ples. In
the T urkic languages, particularly in U zbek, w ord stress usually

1A.C. Gimson. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London, 1962, p. 216.


- 158-
falls on the final syllable. Turkic languages are regarded as agglu­
tinative, i.e. word forms may take from one to six suffixes. For
example, the word bola «a child» may have four suffixes as bola-
lar-i-miz-ga «for our children», in the word form ishqi-boz-li-gi-
miz-dan «as we like» there are six different suffixes. In these ex­
amples word stress tends to be at the end of the word form and
very often the last syllable receives stress.
Many languages have dominant initial or final syllable
stress. Turkic languages have heavy syllables in word final posi­
tion and in order to combine such «heavy» syllables (or suffixes)
into a single word form the final stress is very important. Besides,
there is historical evidence that long vowels, which had been
stressed, was being lost in Uzbek and short vowels began to be
used in all words. As a result of this historical change, final stress
was generalized in all words of Turkic origin. As to borrowings
from other Ianguages, they brought foreign accentual patterns and
prosodic rules which influenced to make the placement of word
stress in Uzbek free.
Different authors distinguish from three to five degrees) of
word stress in English. The British linguists distinguish three de­
grees of word stress: prim ary O, secondary (,) and weak (un­
stressed)1. Most American linguists distinguish four degrees of
word stress in English: prim ary O , secondary ( J , tertiary О
and weak (v)2 but the terms and marks used to indicate the de­
grees of word stress are also different. For example, they use the
terms main, lowered main, medium and weak degrees of stress
and also full stress3, half stress, weak stress distinguishing three
degrees4. Probably, it is possible to differentiate more than three
degrees of word stress in English polysyllabic words. Though lis­
teners cannot perceive five or more degrees of word stress (as D.
Jones and A.C. Gimson have admitted them), theoretically such
degrees of stress may be important only for some polysyllabic
words. Practically the human ear can distinguish three degrees of
stress.

1V. A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., p. 261.


1 P. Ladejoged. A Course in Phonetics. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1975, p. 101.
Г. Глисон. Введение в дескриптивную лингвистику. М., 1959, с. 79-80.
3 F. S. Southworth. Ch. J. Daswani. Id., p. 67.
4 H. Kurath. A Phonology and Prosody of Modem EngUsh. Ann Arbor, 1964, p. 141.
N. Chomsky and M. Halle distinguish five degrees of word
stress in EngUsh and emphasize «... that the major stress contours
are determined by the operation of a transformation cycle»1. By
the latter cycle they mean both the placement of main stress and
stress contours (secondary, tertiary, fourthiary, weak) within ini­
tial medial and final positions of words and vowel reduction.
Transformational-generative phonology attempts to distinguish at
least four and five or more degrees of stress and to suggest the
predictable stress placement rules. Their description is in sharp
disagreement with the statements in most textbooks, which, like,
D. Jones have been teaching that, generally speaking, there are no
rules determining, which syllable or syllables of polysyllabic
English words bear the stress2. They regard that the location of
the stress can be determined automatically, for example, the loca­
tion of primary stress in a word is closely correlated with the dis­
tribution of tense (long vowels and diphthongs) vowels. The other
degrees of stress may depend on the distribution of lax (short)
vowels. Thus, EngUsh has a complex system of stress contours.
For the description of word stress in English three degrees of
stress (primary, secondary and weak) may be sufficient which are
both theoretically and practically important.
Three degrees of word stress may be distinguished in Rus­
sian: main (основное /'/), accessory (побочное /,/) and weak
(unstressed). E.g. водонепроницаемый, аэронавигация,
стометровый, драмкружок3.
We distinguish four degrees of word stress in Uzbek: pri­
mary /'/ secondary /,/ tertiary /7 and weak, e. g. uylarimizda «at
our house», kutubxona «library», studentlar «students» etc. Re­
cent experimental investigation proves the correctness of this idea
as to Uzbek4.
The placement and degrees of word stress in Uzbek depend
on the syllabic structure of words. Different degrees of word

1N. Chomsky and M. Halle. The Sound Pattern of English. N. Y., 1968, p. 74.
2 M. Halle and S. J. Keyser. English Stress. Its Form, its Growth, and its Role in Verse.
N. Y„ 1970, p. 3.
3 Р.И. Аванесов. Русская литературная и диалектная фонетика. М ., Изд. «Просве­
щение», 1974, с. 107-118.
4 С. Салиджанов. Силлабическая, и акцентная структуры слова и их соотношение
в разносистемных языках. (Сопоставительно-типологическое и эксперименталь­
но-фонетическое исследование на материале английского и узбекского языков.)
Автореферат канд. диссертации. М., 1982.
stress m ay fall on any syllable o f a polysyllabic word. Prim ary
stress cannot be shifted from one syllable to another in m ost E n g ­
lish w ords o f G erm anic origin though som e suffixes m ay be
added (e. g. h eau ty , te a u tifu l, te a u ti-fu ln e s s, ’beautifully). On
the contrary, in U zbek w ord stress can be shifted from syllable to
syllable, e. g. ko'z «eye», ko'zi «his (o r her) eye», ko'zlar
«eyes», ko'zlarga «to eyes», ko'zlarimizga «to our eyes». Som e
linguists do not distinguish w ord stress from sentence stress, as a
result o f w hich they distinguish four o r m ore degrees o f stress in­
terdependent w ith tone. For exam ple, R. K ingdon suggested the
follow ing four degrees o f stress: 1) full (kinetic) stress; 2) full
static (atonic) high level stress; 3) partial static (low -level) stress
and 4) absence o f stre ss1. P. L adefoged distinguishes stress tonic
accent w hen he speaks o f the com bination o f stress, intonation
and vow el reduction. H e notices the existence of tonic accent in
the w ords explain, exploit (in the second syllable), exploitation,
explanation (in the third syllable). A s to stress placem ent w hich
coincides w ith the position o f tonic accent and in the w ord exploi­
tation, explanation the first and third syllables are stressed2. A l­
though both authors give four levels o f stress in E nglish w hich are
possible in polysyllabic w ords but do not explain the relationship
betw een stress and pitch.

v n .3 . THE FACTORS AND TENDENCIES


DETERM INING W ORD STRESS

Stress is one o f the constitutive features o f a word. O w ing to


stress the sound structure o f a w ord is phonetically com bined and
shaped and form s a sem antic unit. S ingling out a syllable or sylla­
bles o f a w ord by great prom inence does not take place isolately;
it is a result o f m any factors am ong w hich sem antic, m orphologi­
cal (i.e. gram m atical) rhythm ic and phonetic factors should be
m entioned. U sually those factors are interdependent. They are
very im portant in stress placem ent and in distinguishing the de­
grees o f stress. Probably, the sem antic factor is m ore im portant
than the other facto r in English. G. P. T orsuyev gave a brief de­

1 R. K ingdon. The Groundwork o f English Stress, London, 1958, p. 8.


2 R. Ladefoged. Op. cit., p. 217.
scription o f all these factors in his w o rk s1, w hich is used in this
book.
The semantic factor is observed in the accentual structure
o f E nglish w ords. For exam ple, in abbreviations represented by
letters such as U SA /'ju:'es 'ei/ each com ponent has equal stress
ow ing to its sem antic im portance. B esides, there are w ords w ith
separable prefixes as they are called, i.e. those w hich have a dis­
tinct referential m eaning o f th eir ow n, and com pound w ords. T he
m ajority o f such com pound w ords have tw o equally strong
stresses k n o w n as a double-stress, or even (level) accent. U sually
the second stress in these w ords is som ew hat stronger than the
first. H. K urath calls this type o f stress «fore-stress» w hich is used
in native w ords consisting of tw o or m ore free form s (bases). In
this respect, these com pound w ords differ sharply from the no r­
m ally end-stressed phrases o f E nglish as in the follow ing exam ­
ples: a blue bird - a blue bird, a glass house - a glass door, a
standstill - stand still, a black out - black out2. E ven accent is
observed in the follow ing w ords: 'over-'dressed, 'white- Tiot,
'well-'made, 'upstairs, 'apple-'pie etc.
Stress usually falls on the sem antically im portant elem ent o f
a word. C om pound w ords w hich are form ed by tw o stem s as
noun-noun, adjective-noun etc., are usually called com pound
nouns, com pound adjectives, com pound adverbs etc. T hey often
have even (level) stress as both com ponents o f a com pound w ord
are im portant sem antically. E. gl 'rain 'fall, 'sun 'rise,
'mid'night, red-'skin, 'home-'sick, 'stead 'fast, 'nowa 'days,
'no'where, 'kind-'hearted, Tiot- 'tempered etc.
The Morphological factor is determ ined by stressing som e
o f the suffixes in w ord form ation. It should be stated that an ac­
centual pattern o f a w ord is regarded one o f the m ain characteris­
tics o f the phonetic structure o f w ords. Stressed m orphem es (basic
or suffixal) o f E nglish have specific prosodic features.

1 Г.П. Topcyee. Вопросы фонетической структуры слова (на материале анг­


лийского языка). Изд. А Н СССР, М .-Л ., 1962, с. 9-15; Его же. Вопросы ак­
центологии современного английского языка. Изд., А Н СССР, М .-Л ., 1960.
Проблемы теоретической фонетики и фонологии. Изд. «Наука», Л., 1969, с. 74-
82; Константность и вариативность в фонетической системе (на материале анг­
лийского языка). Изд. «Наука», М ., 1977, с. 71-86.
2 Н. Kurath. A Phonology and Prosody o f Modern English. Ann Arbor, 1964, pp. 143-
144.
O w ing to the sem antic im portance o f suffixal m orphem es,
the latter elem ents in w ord final position m ay be stressed in p oly­
syllabic w ords. T he stressed suffixes o f these types are: -ian, -ic
(al), -ental, -mental, -ion, -ious, -eous, -ids, -ade, -ier, -esgue, -
ette, -ique, -oon, -ее, -eer; physician: /fi'zijn /, politician
/poli'tijan/, symbolic /simlDolik/, democratic /dem o'kraetik, ori­
ental /o n 'en ta l/, instrumental /instru'm ental/, decision /di'si3n/,
affection /a'fekjn/, religious /n lid 3 a s /, courageous /k/i'rid3as/,
tonsilitis /ta n z ilitis/, blockade /bl keid/, cavalier /k a v a lia /, gro­
tesque /gra'tesk/, novelette /n o v ilit/, intrique /in'trig/, unique
/ju:'m k/, cartoon /k a:'tu :n /, employee /lm ploi'i:/, pioneer
/paia'nia/.
Som e o f these w ords w ere borrow ed from F rench and Latin.
U sually it is difficult to distinguish sem antic and m orphological
factors as m orphem es are m eaningful units and, therefore, they
m ay be stressed. T hough not all suffixes or suffixal m orphem es
m ay alw ays be stressed in w ords w hich depends on the sem antic
w eight o f suffixes. Incidently, w e should distinguish the sem antic
m orphological factor o f w ord-stress thanks to the close relation­
ship betw een sem antic and m orphological factors.
T he sem antic-m orphological factor contributes to determ in­
ing the stress placem ent in w ords w hich are distinguished by the
place o f stress, e. g. reform /ri'fo:m / (im prove) - reform
/'ri'fo :m / (form again), recollect /,п к э le k t/ (rem em ber) - recol­
lect /'re k o le k t/ (collect again), overdevelop /'auva'divelap/, over­
busy /'a u v a b iz i/, to over look /a u v a lu k /, overcoat /'a u v a k a u t/.
In the given pairs o f w ords the first o f them has one stress while
the second receives even (double) stress.
T he prefixes, w hich are sem antically im portant, m ay also be
stressed, e. g. anticlerical /'aentiklerikal/, decontrol /'dilcontrol/,
ex-champion /'ek s 'tjem pian/, misspel /'m is'spel/, overead
/'au a'ri:d /, pre-war /'pn'w o:/, ultra-modern /'Altra'modan/, under­
take /'Anda'teik/.
Som e w ords m ay be contrasted by different position of
stress. F o r exam ple: conduct /k o n d a k t/ - to conduct /kan'dAkt/,
protest /'prautest/ - to protest /pro'test/, record /'reko:d/ - to re­
cord /n k o :d /. B esides, the difference o f the position of w ord
stress, there are som e changes ow ing to reduction and phonetic
opposition betw een stressed and unstressed vow els /a u / - /а/, /е/ -
/i/, /а - е/ m ay be observed in these words.
-163 -
M ixing the position o f w ord stress in w ords, m ay lead to ac­
centual interference as a result o f w hich a foreign accent o r p ro ­
nunciation m istake will take place.
The rhythmic factor o f w ord stress is observed w hile sin­
gling out a certain syllable or syllables in accordance w ith rhyth­
m ic habits and tendency to alternate stressed and unstressed
syllables in order to distribute stress contours in relatively equal
tim es. W ord stress in E nglish falls on a certain syllable in relation
initial, m edial and final positions o f a word. In m any cases a syl­
lable before prim ary stress is either unstressed or w eakly stressed,
a syllable once rem oved receives secondary stress, e. g. super­
natural /sjupa'naetjral/, extravagant /ekstTA 'vaegant/, hypercriti­
cal /,Ьа 1р э,кгш кэ 1/. Thus, the alternation o f stressed and
unstressed syllables is rhythm ically determ ined. P robably, the
rhythm ic factor helps m ake pronunciation easy, i.e. to econom ize
speech effort. T he rhythm ic factor is associated w ith the prosodic
structure o f a w ord and therefore it is possible also to speak o f a
rhythm ic-accentual factor o f w ord stress. W hen a syllable or syl­
lables o f a w ord receive som e degree o f stress, the latter stresses
m ake up a rhythm or rhythm ic pattern. R hythm ic-accentual con­
trasts m ay distinguish w ords or gram m atical form s o f w ords, e. g.
permit /'p3:m it/ (a noun) - permit /p a'm it/ (a verb), project
/'prod3ekt/ - /pra,d3ekt/ (a verb) etc. T hus, the rhythm ic-
accentual structure o f a w ord m ay be associated w ith the m o rp h o ­
logical factor, as parts o f speech m ay be distinguished by their
com bination. T he rhythm ic-accentual structure is regarded as one
o f the com ponents o f the phonetic structure o f a word.
The Phonetic factor o f w ord stress serves to single out one
syllable from another by its sound structure i.e. the prom inence or
force o f articulation rises sharply at the beginning, culm inates in
the syllabic, and tapers o ff tow ards the end. H ence, consonants
preceding th e syllabic are pronounced w ith greater force than
those follow ing it; the form er are «strong» and the latter are
w eak». They are called prosodic allophones o f consonants, w hich
are observed in m onosyllabic m orphem es beginning and ending
the identical consonants. T hese prosodic allophones w ith prim ary
stress m ay be observed in such w ords as coke /к эи к / - cook
/кик/, judge /d3Ad3/, life /laif /1 etc.
G.P. T orsuyey regards the phonetic factor to be not very
im portant in stress placem ent. It is connected w ith the rhythm ic
factor w hich is not determ ined by the phonetic structure o f sylla­
b le s 1. T he phonetic factor o f w ord stress is a constituent part o f a
w ord. H ence, it shapes the w ord phonetically and through it se­
m antically. In fact, all the factors of w ord stress are in close rela­
tionship, though each o f them is tied to one o f the characteristics
o f a word. A s it w as em phasized in the previous chapter, a sylla­
ble and a m orphem e are regarded as constituents o f a w ord,
though these tw o different units do not coincide in breaking a
w ord into syllables and m orphem es. T he relationship betw een the
phonetic (a syllable) and m orphological units (a m orphem e) can
be established through the central unit o f a language, nam ely
w ords.
Som e polysyllabic w ords w hich have the alternation o f
rhythm ical accent also have a tendency to retain stress in the ini­
tial syllable or on the other syllable o f the sam e w ordform . Such a
type o f free stress, nam ely recessive accent, is a result o f ancient
accentual structure existing in the P roto-Indo-E uropean language,
from w hich both E nglish and L atin descended. T he w ords b o r­
row ed from L atin into E nglish have preserved the variable posi­
tion o f stress, e. g. perceive /p3:'si:v/, percept /'p3:sept/,
perception /p3:'sepjn/, transcribe /transTcraib/, transcript
/traenskript/, transcription /'traensknpjn/ etc.
V .A . V assilyev distinguishes tw o sub-types o f recessive
stress in w ords w ith prefixes w hich have lost their referential
m eaning: ( 1) unrestricted and (2) restricted (by an unstressed pre­
fix)2.
U nrestricted recessive stress falls on the initial syllable o f
the great m ajority o f native EngUsh w ords, e. g. Sunday /'sAndi/,
/'sAndei/, hopeful /ЪэирШ1/, freedom /fix d a m /, brightness -
/b ra itm s/, Greenwich /'g ri:n itj/ etc.
R estricted recessive stress falls on the stem o f native w ords
w ith a prefix w hich has no referential m eaning in M odem "Eng­
Ush, e. g. forgive /fa'giv/, asleep /a'sli:p/, withdraw /w i5'dro:/,
again /a'g e in / etc.

1 Г.П . Торсуев. Вопросы акцентологии современного английского языка. Изд. А Н


С СР, М ., 1960, с. 6.
2 V.A. V assilyev. Op. cit., р. 282.
H istorically, the recessive tendency contributed to preserve
stress in certain positions o f native w ord derivatives o f three or
four syllables, e. g. Ъеа^у - Tieautiful - ЪеаиШиЦу - ЪеаиИ-
fulness, love - lovely - loveliness - loving.
Thus, to stress the root syllable o f a w ord is an ancient ten­
dency w hich cam e from the so called by O. Jespersen «value-
stressing», i.e. to stress that part o f the w ord w hich was o f great­
est value to the speaker and w hich therefore he w anted the hearers
to n o tice1. T his tendency has becom e habitual in G erm anic lan­
guages and led to other consequences o f interest. In E nglish the
distinction betw een stressed and unstressed syllables is m ore dis­
tinct than in French and U zbek, in w hich native words receive a
stress on the final syllable. E nglish borrow ed a large num ber of
L atin and F rench w ords during the M iddle E nglish period b u t the
adaptation o f these w ords to native accentual patterns was a com ­
plicated process w hich continued over several centuries. M any
French w ords, stressed on the final syllable, are now stressed on
the first syllable, though this is often ascribed to the inability o f
the E nglish people to im itate the French accentuation. G radually
m ore and m ore French w ords had their accent shifted according to
the E nglish prosodic rules: value-stressing, contrast o f accents
and rhythm 2.
There w ere a few w ords w hich received stress on the final
syllable, but it was confined to verbs w ith prefixes, such as arise,
believe, forget, understand. Som e L atin and French verbs w ith
prefixes retained stress on the last syllable according to this ac­
centual pattern, e. g. ad'just, com'mit, con’nected, im’ply,
suffice, sur'vive. T his adaptation o f foreign w ords to the native
stress rules is called an accentual assimilation (V.A. V assilyev).
In term s o f language contacts, this type o f phonetic interference
m ay be called an accentual interference betw een Ianguages. The
m ajority o f disyllabic and trisyllabic French w ords borrow ed by
E nglish have recessive accent as a result o f this accentual inter­
ference. W e have already m entioned the im portance o f the rh y th ­
m ic factor in E nglish w ord stress.
R hythm m eans the regular occurrance o f som e phonetic fea­
tures. A ccording to rhythm ic structure, languages m ay be o f tw o

1 O. Jespersen. Growth and Structure o f the English language, N . Y . 1955. pp. 26-27.
2 O. Jespersen. Op. cit., pp. 107-109.
types: ( 1) languages, in w hich the syllable determ ining the rhythm
irrespective o f stress occurs regularly are know n as syllable-
timed language, e. g. French, U zbek and other T urkic languages;
(2 ) the other type o f rh y th m is w here stresses occur at regular in­
tervals irrespective o f the num ber o f intervening unstressed sylla­
bles are know n as stress-timed languages, e. g. E nglish, G erm an,
R ussian. T he difference betw een these types o f rhythm lies in the
equal tim e intervals o f syllables and the large num ber o f stressed
syllables.
The m ethodic recom m endations given by S. Pit C o rd er 1
m ay be applied to E n g lish learners o f U zbek. T here m ay appear
som e difficulties in teach in g E nglish to U zbeks. T he E nglish stu ­
dents o f U zbek will h a v e to leam to distribute the total «stress en­
ergy» o f his utterance m ore evenly over the w hole utterance
instead o f concentrating it principally on one or tw o places, u su ­
ally on the final syllables. O therw ise, pronunciation m istakes m ay
occur w hich are caused b y the rhythm ical structure o f U zbek.
In the great m ajority o f three- and four-syllabic w ords stress
falls on the th ird syllable from the end and this type o f stress is
k now n as rhythmical accent in M odem English, e. g. radical,
fam ily, opinion, occasion etc. It is possible to distinguish tw o
types o f rhythm ical stress: ( 1) historical, or diachronical rhythm i­
cal stress w hich is determ ined by historical changes (e. g. French
and L atin borrow ings) and (2) synchronical rhythm ical stress
w hich can be illu strated in the w ords pronunciation and exami­
nation in w hich stress falls on the second pretonic syllable2.
T here is also one m ore tendency o f w ord stress, nam ely re­
tentive3, w hich characterizes the constant position o f w ord accent
in w ord derivatation. T he retentive tendency is observed in the de­
rivative o f one and the sam e basic w ord in w hich accent falls on a
certain syllable and cannot shift its position, e. g. hope - 'hoping
- Tiopeful - Tiopefully (ly) - Tiopefulness, life - lively - liveli­
ness - livelihood.
T he retentive tendency is typical in other G erm anic lan­
guages. F o r exam ple, in G erm an w ord derivation such as 'reden -

1 S. P it Corder. Introducing Applied Linguistics. Penguin Books., 1977, p.257.


2 V.A. V assilyev. Op. cit., p. 284.
3 И .И . В ольф сон. Словесное ударение в английском языке (закономерности рас­
пределения ударения в многосложных простых и производных словах). Авторе­
ферат канд. дисс, М .. 1960.
'redest, 'redete - 'Rede - 'Redner - 'rednerisch - 'Redefrei-
heit - 'Rednerpult1.
A great num ber o f E nglish disyllabic and polysyllabic
w ords retain the prim ary or secondary stress on the basic w ord, e.
g. d e'clare declaration, 'exam ine - exam i'nation, 'prepare
p re p a ra tio n , refuge /'refju:d3/ - refuges /'refju:d3iz/ - refugee
/,refju (:)'d 3 i:/ - refuges /,refju(:)'d3i:z/.
D. Jones form ulated the stress rules in derived w ords. W hen
the h ead-w ord (i. e. basic w ord) is m onosyllable it m ay have a
strong stress w hile affixes m ay be unstressed. Thus from the en­
try nine, - s, fold /nam - zfauld/ it is to be understood that the
w ord ninefold has a single stress on the first syllable. A n d from
the entry ewe, - s, - lamb (s) it is to be understood that in ewe -
lamb both syllables have a strong stress.
W hen a head-w ord is a com pound w ord in w hich the second
elem ent is a w eakly stressed m onosyllable and the term ination for
form ing a derived w ord adds yet another syllable, the first sy lla­
ble o f the second elem ent o f the derived w ord receives a secon­
dary stress, e. g. greenhouse /'gri:nhaus/, green houses /'gri:n,
hauziz/, shockhead /Jokhed/, shockheaded /J'ok,hedid/2.
If w e com pare a fixed (constant) stress w ith the retentive ac­
cent, it is possible to notice that the form er falls on the sam e syl­
lable in all the gram m atical form s o f a w ord or in all the
derivatives from one and the sam e root, w hereas the latter falls on
the sam e syllable on w hich it falls in the basic word. H ow ever, in
other derivatives from the sam e root it m ay be shifted, e. g. canon
/'каепэп/ - canoness /Tcaenanis/ - canonic /к э'п зш к / - canonisa­
tion /,kaen 9nai'zeijn/. From this exam ple, w e can notice the re la ­
tionship betw een the retentive and recessive tendencies. T hus, in
canonic and canonization, w hich are derived from canon, both
accents do not coincide, w hereas in canon and canoness they c o ­
incide in position though the latter tw o derivatives have a d iffe r­
ent rhythm ical structure than the form er tw o exam ples.
T he changes o f w ord accentuation, caused by the explained
factors and tendencies are still going on. A .C. G im son em p h a­
sized: «T he m ost obvious area o f change is that o f w ord a ccen tu a­

1 Я A rnold , K. Hansen. Phonetik Der Englischen Sprache. Eine Einfuhrung. Leipzig, 1965,
s. Ш.
2 D. Jones. Everyman's English Pronouncing Dictionary. М ., 1964, p. X X TV .
tion» and gives the exam ples: harass, primarily, controversy,
statutory, mondatory, rhetoric in w hich the second syllable is
stressed, w hile in the w ord dispute the first syllable is stressed 1.
P artly, these changes in stress placem ent have occured under
A m erican influence and partly due to analogy i.e. the changes re ­
inforced by analogy in the accentual structure o f w ords. For e x ­
am ple, due to the influence o f the verb 'compare the adjective
com parable /к з т р е э п Ы / is stressed on the first syllable. This
kind o f anological stress m ay be observed in preferable, lamen­
table, adm irable in w hich the first syllable is stressed. T here are
w ords in w hich the second syllable is stressed due to new tenden­
cies in w ord accentuation, that cannot be explained by analogy, e.
g. doc'trinal, communal, formidable, hos'pitable, pe'jorative,
aris'tocrat.
In disyllabic w ords, in w hich norm ally the second syllable is
stressed the stress is shifted to the first syllable, e. g. garage,
adult, alloy, ally 2 etc.
In som e E nglish w ords there are two or m ore 'possible vari­
ants o f w ord accentuation. Such cases are know n as free varia­
tion of the accentual patterns of words, e. d. decade /'d ek ad / in
R P and /dl'keid/ popular pronunciation, sim ilarly, deficit /'defisit/,
/d i'fisit/, explicable /eks'plikabl/, /iks 'pliksbl/.
O ther words w ith free variation o f accentuation given by D.
Jones, Ch. B arber, R. A rnold and K. H ansen are listed below :
interesting /in tris tiq /, /'lntarestig/, /.m ts'restuj/;
applicable /'aeplikabl/, /э'рЬкэЫ /;
etiquette /,eti Tcet/, /'etiket/;
hospitable /hospitably, /hos'pitabl/;
intricacy /'m tn k a si/, /m 'trikasi/;
kilom etre /'kila,m i:t 3/, /k ilo m its/;
m iscellany /m i'seism /, /'m isilsni/;
W aterloo /,w o :ta lu :/, /'w o :ta lu :/.

1A. C. Gimson. English as she is spoke (n). «New Society», 8 July 1976, p. 72.
2 Ch. Barber. Linguistic Change in Present-Day English. London, 1974, p. 66.
A m arked difference m ay be noticed betw een R P and G A in
the position o f secondary accent. They are found in J. W indsor
L ew is's d ictionary1:
interloper R P Л тэ1 эи р э(г)/, G A Л тэД эи р эг/;
com m entary R P /k o m a n ts n /, G A /к а т э п Д е п /;
centenary R P /se n 'ti:n 3n /, G A /'sen t 3,n sn /;
auditory R P /'o :d ita n /, G A /'o di,to n/.
It is too com plicated to establish w hich tendency is prim ary
and w hich is subsidiary in the accentuation o f E nglish w ords.
G enerally, all the tendencies explained here by com e into contact
in M odem E nglish and som e new accentuation patterns m ay be
explained by language contacts.

VII.4. THE FUNCTIONS OF W ORD STRESS

W e h av e e m p h a siz e d th a t stress is one o f th e c o n stitu tiv e


fe a tu re s o f a w ord. A ny w o rd , no m a tte r w h e th e r it is m o n o ­
sy lla b ic , d isy lla b ic or p o ly sy llab ic, has its ow n stress. The con­
stitutive function o f w ord stress sh ap es th e w ord p h o n e tic a lly ,
jo in the sou n d se q u en c e s by a rticu lato ry m eans, c o m b in es its
stre sse d and u n stressed sy lla b le s w ith the help o f intensity
(loudness), pitch, q uantity and quality. T he accentual-rhythm ic
structure is regarded as one o f the com ponents o f the phonetic
structure o f a w ord w hich has a phonem ic structure as w ell the
stru c tu re o f com b in atio n s o f p h onem es, a syllabic stru ctu re. T he
la tte r th ree co m p o n en ts o f th e p h o n e tic stru c tu re o f a w o rd m ay
be jo in e d th an k s to th e a c c e n tu a l rh y th m ic s tru c tu re w h ich
s h a p e s a w o rd in to a sin g le u nit o f utteran ce and th ro u g h this, a
w o rd m ay fu n ctio n as a se m a n tic and c e n tral lin g u istic unit.
W ord stress as a p ro so d ic o r su p raseg m en tal u n it has a
p h o n o lo g ic a l or distinctive function, w hich m eans th a t the
stress p lacem ent and degrees o f accent can distinguish w ords and
their gram m atical form s. T he d istin c tiv e fu n c tio n o f w o rd a c ­
c e n t is c lo se ly c o n n e c te d w ith le x ic a l and m o rp h o lo g ic a l a s­
pects. W hen w ords m ay be d istin g u ish ed by the position o f
stress, som e linguists prefer to call it lexical stress or lexical

1 J. Windsor Lewis. A Concise Pronouncing Dictionary of British and American Eng­


lish. London, Oxford Univ. Press, 1972.
function o f stress. I f the position or degree o f accent can distin ­
gu ish gram m atical form s (parts o f speech and m orphem es), it per­
form s a m o rp h o lo g ic a l fu n c tio n w h ic h is k n o w n as
g ra m m a tic a l s tre s s . T h e re are tw o ty p es o f g ram m atical
stress: (1) m o rp h o lo g ic a l and (2) d e m a rc a tiv e . T he m o rp h o ­
lo g ic a l stre ss e x ists in E n g lish , R u ssian and U zb ek lan g u a g e s
in w h ich th e m o rp h o lo g ic a l ca te g o rie s (m o rp h em es a n d p a rts
o f sp e e c h ) m ay b e d is tin g u is h e d by th e p o s itio n o f a c c e n t, e.
g. 'present (a v erb ) - pre'sen t (a noun); in R ussian: ноги -
ноги; in Uzbek: olm a' (a noun) «an apple» - 'olma (im perative
form o f a verb) «do not take».
T he d em arcativ e stress serves as a boundary or a signal,
fo r exam ple, in P o lish it is com m on for the second syllable from
the end to be stressed T h u s, th e d istin c tiv e fu n c tio n o f w ord
a c c e n t p e rfo rm s b o th le x ic a l and g ra m m a tic a l fu n ctio n s
sim u lte n o u sly .
T he d istin c tiv e fu n ctio n m akes w ord accent a separate,
su p ra se g m e n tal o r p ro so d ic , p h o n o lo g ic a l u n it w hich is called
by V. A. V a ssily e v the word-accenteme in accordance w ith -
em ic linguistic term in o lo g y . T he n u m b er o f w o rd -accen tem es
in a lan g u a g e w ith free stress is d e te rm in e d by the n u m b e r o f
th e la tte r's d is tin c tiv e d e g re e s 1.
In R ussian and U zbek am ong the degrees o f w ord accent
only tw o o f them , i.e. prim ary stress vs. w eak stress m ay be con­
trasted w hich are regarded as tw o word-accentemes, e. g. in R us­
sian: муки - муки (w ord-distinctive function), руки - руки
(form - distinctive function); in Uzbek: atlas «a m aterial» atlas
«atlas» (w ord - distinctive function), yozma «w ritten form » -
yo’zma «do not w rite» (form -distinctive function).
In E nglish prim ary and w eak w ord accentem es only perform
a w ord-distinctive fu n ctio n ,2 e.g. contest /'k o n test/ n. - to contest
/к э п 'test/ v.; transport /'traenspo:t/ n. - to transport /traens'po:t/
v, absent /'zeb-s(s)nt/ adj. - to absent /aebsent/, /a b se n t/,
/a b s e n t/ v, perfect /'p3:fikt/ adj. - to perfect /р э 'fekt/, /'p sfik t/ v.
In these m inim al pairs w ord accentem e appears in its m or­
phological a sp e c t d istin g u is h in g d iffe re n t p a rts o f speech,
th o u g h th ere m ay be so m e free v ariatio n s o f the ph o n em ic or

1 V.A. Vassilyev. Op cit., p. 282.


2 V.A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., p. 283.
a c ce n tu al stru c tu re s o f w ords, e. g. to perfect /p a 'f e k t/,
/'p e f ik t/, to decrease /diTcrKs/, /'d i:k ri:s /, to increase
/in Teri :s/, /'in k ri:s /, contact /k an 'tsek t/, /'kontaekt/, to export
/eks'po:t/, /'ek sp o :t/ to prospect /pras'pekt/, /'prospekt/, to subject
/sab 'd 3 ek t/, /'sA bd3ikt/'.
C o m p o u n d w ords w ith the m ain stress on the first c o m ­
p o n en t an d tertiary on the seco n d co m p o n en t can be d istin ­
g u ish ed fro m free w ord: c o m b in a tio n s by the c o n tra st te rtia ry
stress vs. p rim a ry stress, e. g: a 'blue,bird - a ,blue'bird, a
'glass,house - a ,glass'house, a 'b la c k b o a rd - a ,black
'board, a white ,house - 'a ,w hite 'house.
T h ese m inim al pairs m ay c o n firm the d ifferen ce b etw een
the fu n ctio n s o f w ord accent and sentence stress (in w ord c o m ­
b in atio n s) and in the latter case w e can notice the fu n ctio n o f
stress sig n alin g the boundaries o f the w ords. In m any cases w ord
accent c an n o t perform a d e lim itativ e fu n ctio n b e c a u se o f the
n o n -re g u la rity o f d ifference betw een the degrees o f stress on the
first and second syllables. In R ussian w ords the secondary stress
alw ays precedes prim ary stress, and, due to this, it m ay m ark the
beginning o f a w ord2. As to U zbek prim ary stress signals the
boundary o f a word and the next w ord usually begins w ith a w eak
stress. H ence, R ussian and U zbek w ord accent has a delim itative
function. T h e onset o f stress is determ ined by the m orphological
structure o f E nglish words. T he onset o f stress strengthens the ini­
tial consonant or consonant cluster, w hich m arks the beginning o f
a w ord or m orphem e for the listener. This phenom enon is easily
observed in such utterances as ,sell'fish, 'sheU-,fish vs., ,self-
'interest, 'shelf-,ice; the 'street, ,two 'streets, TBay,street, vs.
,this 'treat; 'race-,track vs. ,last'rack, 'test ,run. In each o f
these sets o f expressions the consonant sequence betw een the syl­
lables is the sam e, but the breaks vary w ith the onset o f stress as
determ ined by m orphological structure. B esides these types o f
signalling a w ord boundary, there are cases w hen stress-
conditioned allophones occur in such m inim al pairs as a'nam e
/a'n e im / - an'aim /a n ' eim / and strong allophones o f consonants
serve to illustrate the prosodic signalling o f m orphem e breaks as

1Examples are borrowed from R. Arnold, A. Hansen's book, p. 123.


2 Г.П. Торсуев. Проблемы теоретической фонетики и фонологии. М., 1969, с. 82.
- 172-
in m inim al pair , buy'tin /bai 'tin / - bite in /,bait in / 1 etc. Thus,
the delim itative function is determ ined by the syllabic and m or­
phological boundaries w ith the assistance o f prosodic features.
W ord accent in E nglish has a m orphonological aspect w hich
is usually know n as gram m atical function o f stress alternations or
morphonological function of word accent2. Free w ord stress in
E nglish is characterized by shifting its position and degrees in vari­
ous w ord derivatives representing different gram m atical (m orpho­
logical) categories, e. g. 'diplomat /'d ip b u m a t/ - diplomacy
/d ip ls u m a s i/ - diplomatic /dipbu'm aetik/, mechanic /гшТсгешк/ -
mechanician /m e k s'n ijn / - diagnostic /,dai9g'nostik/ - diagnosti­
cian /^iaiagnosWan/, history /histen/ - historian /h is'to :n an /, cus­
tody /TcAstadi/ - custodian /kA s'tsudjsn/, placid /'plaesid/ -
placidity /plae'siditi/, plural /'p lu s r s l/ - plurality /plua'raehti/.
In the exam ples cited, besides stress alternations, there are
phonem ic alternations w hich are not determ ined by their m orpho­
logical position. B oth types o f alternations - phonem ic (or seg­
m ental) and prosodic (or suprasegm ental) are studied by
m orphonology (see chapter X) a special linguistic level or aspect
betw een phonology and m orphology (gram m ar). M orphonologi­
cal function o f w ord accent is in close relationship to its distinc­
tive (phonological) function ow ing to the fact that w ord-form ation
in E nglish uses stress alternations (also phonem ic alternations)
w hich contribute to their sem antic identification.
T he follow ing function o f w ord accent or as a phonological
unit w ord-accentem e is called recognitive or identificatory
w hich m eans that the correct accentuation o f w ords facilitates
their recognition and com prehension3, a n d sem antic identifica­
tion. W rong accentuation o f w ords m ay destroy their sem antic
(distinctive) function. T he recognitive function o f w ord accent is
both theoretically and practically im portant. All the functions o f
w ord accent are in close relationship w ith each other and w rong
accentuation (m isplace o f the degree and positions o f w ord accent
etc.) distroys the functions and, thus, leads to in-com prehensive
speech com m unication. T he latter process is a result o f the accen­
tual interference in language learning. English, R ussian and

1H. Kurath. Op. cit., 151-152.


2 Л.А. Телегин. Морфонологическое использование английского словесного уда­
рения. СамГУ, Самарканд, 1976.
3 V.A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., р. 284.
U zbek have different accentual patterns o f w ords, though they all
have free dynam ic stress. T herefore, each accentual pattern o f an
English w ord should be explained separately in term s o f tone
(pitch) sequences. F or exam ple, the w ord educational consists o f
three tone sequences: /edju:/ - pre-tonic sequence, /kei/ tonic syl­
lable, /Ь п э 1/ - post-tonic sequence; 'purify has tonic syllable
/pju:3/ and post-tonic sequence /n -fa i/, internationalization has
five pretonic sequences /i 5n t 34nae3fn 23la V tonic syllable /zei/ and
post-tonic sequence /Jan/1. T onic syllable coincides w ith the po si­
tion o f prim ary stress.

VII.5. THE ACCENTUAL PATTERNS OF


ENGLISH WORDS

A nalysing D. Jones's pronouncing dictionary G.P. T orsuyev


established eleven accentual patterns and m ore than h undred ac-
centual-syllabic patterns o f E nglish w ords2. A .C. G im son gives
m ore than fifty accentual-syllabic patterns o f E nglish w ords fo r
foreign learn ers3. O ther authors distinguish about forty to eighty
accentual-syllabic patterns o f E nglish w ords4. C ited below are the
m ost usual accentual-syllabic patterns o f E nglish w ords using
G.P. T o rsuyev's graphic notation: _L a syllable w ith prim ary
stress, T syllable w ith secondary stress - a w eak syllable. T hus,
for convinience, we distinguish three degrees o f w ord accent, re ­
garding the tertiary stress as a variant o f the secondary stress o r as
a type o f alloaccenteme, though there is a slight difference be­
tw een these tw o degrees o f w ord accent.
T he m onosyllabic w ords have no stress pattern. T hey have
one degree o f stress if they are m ain w ords, w hich include nouns,
adjectives, verbs, adverbs, num erals. T he auxiliary w ords (pro­
nouns, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs and certain ad ­
verbs) are usually unstressed or h a lf stressed. T heir stressing
depends upon the prosodic structure o f phrases o f w hich they are
constituent parts.

1G.F. Arnold. Stress in English. Amsterdam, 1957, p. 21.


2 Г.П. Торсуев. Вопросы акцентологии современного английского языка. М., 1960. с.
52-61.
3А.С. Gimson. A Practical Course of English Pronunciation. London, 1975, pp. 33-43.
4 Yi-Chen Fu. The Phonemic Structure of English Words. Taipei, Taiwan, 1960, pp.
152-160.
T he difference in the degrees o f w ord stress, the distribution
o f the prim ary an d secondary degrees o f stress and different num ­
b e r o f stresses in w ords form the accentual patterns or types o f
w ords, e. g. / ± U , / ± Т / , ГТ U , / ± T U etc. T he distribution o f
stresses in the syllables of a w ord form the accentual-syllabic
structures o f w ords, e. g. w ithin one accentual pattern w e m ay dis­
tinguish various accentual-syllabic structures o f w ords such as /_L
_L- / , /_L- _L- / , /_L — -L -/, /-L — -L /e tc .
T he accentual pattern I includes words w ith one prim ary
stress and consists o f fifteen accentual-syllabic structures am ong
w hich there are w ords w ith prim ary stress on the first syllable (/X
- I J I . — I J I . ------- I J I . -----------/, / J . ------------- /), on the second
syllable ( / - 1 /, / - 1 - / , / - 1 - - /, / - _L-------/, / - 1 ---------- / , / - ! -
---------- /), and on the third syllable (/ — _L /, / — J / — _L—
/, /— _L------ Г) asking /a:skiq/, diamond /'daiamand/, misarable
/'mizarsbl/, justify /'d3Astifai/, spiritualism /spintualizm/, con­
tain /kan'tein/, abnorm al /эЪ п э: т э 1 / , accuracy /'aekjutrasi/,
ability /s'biliti/ etc.
T he accentual pattern II includes w ords w ith tw o prim ary
stresses. If has tw enty-seven accentual-syllabic structures, six of
w hich have even (level) stress (/± _1_/, /J__L —/, / ± _L — /, l ± ± -
— /, /_L JL----------/, /J__ L -------------Г) and the others have tw o pri­
m ary stresses in differen t syllables (/± —_L /, /_L —_L —/, /_L —JL —
/, /_L - ± ------- I J ± - ± -----------/, I I - - U , I ± --------U , /_L-----------
± ------ /, /_L - - _L - /, /1 - - 1 ------- /, /1 - - -L - /), e. g. back­
bone /ЪаекЪэип/, well-being /wel bi:irj/, up-to-da-te /'Apta'deit/,
high-spirited /hai'spintid/, ivory-black /'aivanblsek/, misapply
/'misa'plai/, impracticable Л т'р гегк п к эЫ / unjustifiableness
/'An'd3 Astifai3 blnis/, prehistoric /'pnhis'tonk/ etc.
T h e accentual pattern UI includes w ords w ith three prim ary
stresses on the first, second and third syllables (/_L _L iV) w hich is
typical in three syllable abbriviations like G .P .O . /'d3i:'pi: 'эи/.
The accentual pattern IV is characteristic o f abbriviations like
U S SR /'ju r'e s'e s 'a :/ w ith prim ary stresses in all four syllables (/_L
-L-L_L0.
T he accentual p attern V includes w ords w ith one prim ary
and one secondary stresses. It has fourteen accentual-syllahic
structures, in ten o f w hich the first syllable receives the prim ary
stress and one of the follow ing syllables have secondary stress /_L
T - /, / ± T - - /, /_L -Т /, / 1 - T - /, / 1 - T - - /, / 1 - - Т/, / 1 - -
-175-
Т —1,11. — Т ----1,11.-------Л, H I . — Т —/. The rest accen­
tual-syllabic structures are: / - _L JL- /, / - J_T — 1,1 - L - T - 1 , 1
- J . - T - - - / . E.g. platform /'plaet,fo:m/, dressmaker
/'dres,meik3 /, avenue /'asvi,nju:/, illustrate /'ibs,treit/, experimen­
tal /iks,pen 'mental/, materialize / т э ’ПэпэДагг/, justifiable
/'d3 Asti,fai9 bl/, liberialism /lib 3 ra,lizm/, anybody /'em,bodi/ etc.
The accentual pattern V I has two stresses the first of which
is the secondary and the second one is the primary. It has twenty
accentual-syllabic structures such as /T - J7, /T — ± —/, /T — ± —
- /, Я - 1 --------/, Я - _L------------/ , / T - - U , / T - - ± - / , f T -
- 1 - - / , Г Т - - ± --------/, Я -------- 1 - /, Я ---------_L — /, / —_L
Т —/, / — Т — 1У, / —Т —_L —/, / —Т —± -----/, / —Т —_L---------/ , /
- Т - - 1 - / , / - Т - - 1 - - / , / - Т --------± - / , / - Т ---------_L-
-/.
Examples, magazine /,maeg9 'zi:n/, coincide /,kom'said/, repre­
sentation Arepnzenteijn/, academical /^eks'demiksl/, satisfaction
/,saetisfekfo/, dissatisfactority /'dis,saetis'fxktinti/, identification
/ai'dentifikeijn/, economically Aika'nomikali/, evolutionary
/,ev3 lju jn 3 n / etc.
The accentual pattern V II has two primary stresses on the first
and second syllables and the secondary stress on the third syllable
of a word. It has two accentual-syllabic structures such as / ± _L T -
/, / J_ -L 1 ----- /, e.g. unciworthy /'An'si:,w3 :5 i/, unciworthiness
-/'An'si'w3:5mis/.
In the accentual pattern V ID the secondary stress is placed be­
tween two primary stresses. It has fourteen accentual-syllabic
structures: /_L T - U - misrepresent /'mis,repn'zent/, /_L T - _L - /
- Konstantinopol / Icons,taentin'aupl/, /_L T — _L----- / - unos-
tentacialy /'лп,osten'teifesli/, / ± T - ± -------- / - unfilosophically
/'лп,й.1э'sofiksli/, dimobilization /'dumubilai 'zeijsn/, /J_ - T - _L —
/ - incompatibility / 'ink3 m,paet3 biliti/, individualization
/'indi,vidju:3 lai'zeijn/, undesireability / 4 ndi,zai3 biliti/, / ± —J_------- X
- / - valitudinearianism / 'vaeb,tju:di 'пеэгшп/, / 1 ------- U - olio-
m argarine /' 3 uli3 u,ma:d3 3 'rm/, / ± -----T _L - / - intercommuni­
cation /'mtsksjmjumilceijn/.
In the accentual pattern /IX / the primary stress precedes two
secondary stresses which has two accentual-syllabic structures: /_L T
- T - / - uncercamcigion /'An,s3 :k3 ms,i3 n/, /_L —T — T —/ - soda-
water-bottle /'s3 ud3 ,wot3 ,botl/.
The accentual pattern X has three stresses, i.e. secondary
stresses precede the primary stress. It has four accentual-syllabic
structures /Т—T—_L—/ - superanew ation /,sjp 3 r,aenju'eijn/, su ­
perficiality /,sju:p3 ,fiji'aeht]/, /T—T—_L--------/ - autobiographically
/,з:to,bai3 ,graefik3 li/, / T - T - - T - / - individualization
/,indi,vidju3 lai 'zeijn/.
The accentual pattern X I has three stresses, i.e. the primary
stress is placed between two secondary stresses. This pattern has
an accentual-syllabic structure /T — _LT — /: overstimulate
/,3 u3 'stimju:leit/.
These accentual patterns and their accentual-syllabic struc­
tures are determined by the morphological type of wordformation,
by the number of syllables of a word, by the semantic weight of
the stem and affixes (prefixes) and suffixes (postfixes)) and also
by other factors and tendencies which influence word accentua­
tion.
IN T O N A T IO N S T R U C T U R E
O F E N G L IS H

V IH .l. THE DEFINITION OF INTONATION.


ITS COM PONENTS AND FUNCTIONS

Intonation is an essentual prosodic element of human


speech. It shapes human speech phonetically and helps to express
grammatical, semantic and emotional meanings of phrases or sen­
tences. Intonation is a very complicated phenomenon and there­
fore its definition varies widely among linguists. The following
definitions of intonation have been given by British linguists: «In­
tonation may be defined as the variations which take place in the
pitch of the voice in connected speech, i.e. the variations in the
pitch of the musical note produced by the vibration of the vocal
cords» (D. Jones)1. «By intonation we mean the rise and fall of
the pitch of the voice when we speak» (L. Armstrong and I.
Ward)2.
The American linguist D. L. Bolinger defines intonation as
«... the melodic line of speech, the rising and falling of the «fun­
damental» or singing pitch of the voice ...»3.
P. Ladefoged defines intonation as «the pattern of pitch
changes»4. P. Lieberman regards intonation as «... the entire en­
semble of pitch contours, pitch levels and stress levels that occurs
when a sentence is spoken»5.
From given definitions we can notice that intonation is re­
garded as pitch changes or speech melody and also stress levels
which accompany an utterance. Speech melody perceived as pitch
changes is one of the main components of intonation, but it is not
equal to intonation.

1D. Jones. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge, 1962, p. 275.


2 L. Armstrong and I. Ward. A Handbook of English Intonation. Cambridge, 1931, p. 1.
3 D. L. Bolinger. The Melody of Language. Modem Language Forum 40, (June, 1955),
p. 20.
4 P. Ladefoged. A Course in Phonetics. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1975, p. 93.
5 Ph. Lieberman. On the Acoustic Basis of the Perception of Intonation by Linguists.
«Word», 21, 1965, p. 40.
Some linguists include other components of intonation in
their definition. For example, A .M . Peshkovskij defined intona­
tion as the indissoluble connection of both rhythm and melody1.
These definitions have been given in a narrow sense.
A broad and adequate definition of intonation is given by
V .A . Vassilyev who writes: «On the perceptual level, sentence in­
tonation is a unity of four components, formed by the communi­
catively relevant variations in: ( 1 ) voice pitch, or speech melody;
(2) the prominence of words, or their accent; (3) the tempo (rate),
rhythm and pausation of the utterance, and (4) voice - tamber,
this complex unity serving to express adequately, on the basis of
the proper grammatical structure and lexical composition of the
sentence, the speaker's or writer's thoughts, volition, emotions,
feelings and attitudes towards reality and contents of the sen­
tence»2.
G.P. Torsuyev defines intonation as a complex combination
of speech melody, distribution of stress in a sentence, tamber of
voice and tempo of pronunciation, which serves as the most im ­
portant means of expressing the meaning of an utterance3.
A .M . Antipova regards intonation as a complex combination
of the following components: ( 1 ) speech .melody, ( 2 ) sentence
stress, (3) time characteristics (duration, tempo and pausation), (4)
rhythm and (5) tamber (the quality of voice) .
The latter three definitions of intonation include all the
components of intonation and have been given in a very broad
sense. W e also shade these definitions.
Intonation is a prosodic or suprasegmental characteristics of
an utterance or phrase, and therefore it is possible to speak of the
prosodic structure of a phrase. By the term «phrase or utterance»
we mean the sentence realized phonetically as a unit of speech.
Like other phonetic units intonation may be studied in four as­
pects: ( 1 ) articulatory (physiologically), (2 ) acoustically (physi­
cally), (3) perceptually (auditorially) and (4) functionally

1 A . M П е ш к о в с к и й . Интонация и грамматика. В его книге «Избранные труды», Уч­


педгиз, М., 1959, с. 177.
2 V .A . V a s s i l y e v . English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course. М., 1970, p. 290.
3 Г .П . Т о р с у е в . Фонетика английского языка. М., 1950, с. 212. Г .П . Т о р с у е в . Обу­
чение английскому произношению. М., 1954, с. 127.
4 А .М . А н т и п о в а . Система английской речевой интонации. М., Изд. «Высшая
школа», 1979, с. 5.
(linguistically). There is a close relationship between all these as­
pects of intonation. The functional aspect of intonation which
deals with a linguistic analysis of it, namely phonological aspect
of intonation, has not been studied thoroughly. This aspect is very
important in linguistic structuring of intonation components and
in establishing relations between the phonological, grammatical,
lexical and stylistic levels of a language.
M . Pomportl considers that intonation is studied by a special
branch of phonetics, namely intonology, and suggests even In-
tonological Typology as a part of universal typology of lan­
guages . Though we do not shade the term «Intonology», but
admit the possibility of scientific investigation of intonation in re­
lation with linguistic levels and comparative - typological study of
various intonation types in languages. Besides, it is possible to
study intonational interference between the mother tongue and
foreign language which has a theoretical and practical value.
Any utterance may have communicative and expressive -
emotional functions, which may be formed either by intonational
or lexico-grammatical means. Any sound information is formed
by intonation which also contributes to distinguish communica­
tive types of utterance. The expressive-emotional function of an
utterance, which is determined by the division of sense-groups in
a context or in a text, may also be formed by means of intonation.
Various types of emotions expressed by intonation are studied by
a special branch of phonetics, the so-called phonostylistics. A.M .
Antipova calls it «intonational stylistics» which, being a branch
of intonology, studies intonations of different functional styles2 of
a language.
The distribution of intonation itself and its components de­
pend on the situation or context. It is called the text-forming
function of intonation. The phonological, phonostylistic and text-
forming functions of intonation have not been deeply investigated
and these types of scientific approaches are going to develop in
modem linguistics. As to the place of intonation in transforma­
tional-generative grammar, it is not clear how intonation can op­
erate in this theory1.

1 M i l a n R o m p o r t l . Studies in Phonetics. Prague, Academia. 1973, pp. 129-136.


2 A .M . А н т и п о в а . Вышеуказ. раб., с. 114-129.
- 180-
As a prosodic unit intonation acts with all its components, it
can operate in phrase together with the grammatical and lexical
means o f language. Intonation itself and its components perform
four functions like other phonological units.
(1) A constitutive function o f intonation is expressed by its
existence in an utterance through which intonation shapes a sen­
tence phonetically. For example, Come! as a word and sense-
group has its own grammatical form and intonation. The phrases
Come here! or He will come tomorrow, constitute different
grammatical (syntactic) structures and intonation.
(2) A delimitative function o f intonation is very closely
connected with its constitutive function. Intonation, as a prosodic
constituent o f a phrase, may also delimitate parts within a phrase,
and its end, through breaking up a sentence into sense-groups
(pause-groups or intonation groups)1. By a sense-group we mean
a word or a group of words forming the shortest possible unit in a
sentence from the point of view of meaning, grammatical struc­
ture and intonation. E. g. 'Early in the morning it's 'always 'pleas­
antly cool. In this sentence there are two sense groups (a single
vertical stroke ( 1 ) denotes a short pause inside a sentence).
(3) A distinctive (phonological) function of intonation serves
to distinguish the communicative types o f sentences, e. g. He is a
student may be pronounced by four different pitch contrasts. When
it is pronounced by a low pitch at the end it means a normal, matter-
of-fact report. When it has a mid ptch at the end of a sentence it in­
dicates that the utterance is not finished or that the fact is like an af­
terthought, having significance for something said previously. I f it
is pronounced by a high pitch at the end it indicates mild doubt, as if
he is a student or trying to remember he is a student. When it is
pronounced by an extra-high pitch it indicates strong disbelief or
surprise. In this case the distinctive function of intonation becomes
clear through the pitch contrasts which have its distinctive function
too. In the minimal pair «Is there any Miss Take here? - Is there any
mistake here?» the distinctive function o f intonation becomes clear
through stress levels at the junction of mistake (one stress) and Miss
Take (two stresses). The distinctie function of intonation and its
components is under discussion in modem phonology.

1 P . S t o c k w e l l . The Place o f Intonation in Generative Grammar o f English. «Language»,


1960, vol. 36, №3.
(4) A recognitive (identificatory) function o f intonation
may be proved by the fact that every language or dialect has a
characteristic pattern of intonation which is manifested in all utter­
ances of speakers, though there may be some individual prosodic
features in their pronunciation. Any phrase or utterance has its
proper intonation, according to which it may be identified by all
speakers. It is not possible, for example, to pronounce a declarative
sentence by a high or extra-high pitch. I f so, the recognitive func­
tion of intonation may be destroyed and a sentence pronounced by
a high pitch becomes an exclamatoiy or interrogative sentence, i.e.
the communicative type o f a sntence may be changed. To leam
the right recognitive function o f intonation is necessaiy in master­
ing a good pronunciation o f a foreign language.
A ll the functions o f intonation are in close relationship with
each other. Wrong usage of one o f these functions may bring
about wrong interpretation of other functions. A ll four functions
o f intonation are characteristic also o f its components as given
examples illustrate.
Intonation, its components and functions exist not only in
oral speech but in the written form o f a language as well. In a
written text the punctuation marks make the meaning of sentences
clear to the reader. Besides words, word combinations and gram­
matical combinations used in written texts, the writer's idea, his
emotions and feelings may be expressed by means o f punctuation
marks which visually express various intonation types within a
sentence, e. g. the punctuation marks which are called «end
stops», i.e. period (.), a question mark (?), exclamation mark (!)
are used to mark the end o f sentences and indicate the communi­
cative types o f sentences through intonational delimitation. The
internal punctuation marks: comma (,), semicolon (;), colon (:),
dash (-), parenthesis ( ) are used to separate, to inclose or indicate
the relation between elements within a sentence. They usually in­
dicate pauses, intonations expressing non-finality (the rising tone)
or finality (the falling tone) and emphatic intonations. Punctuation
marks with specialized uses: quatation marks («»), brackets ( ),
ellipsis (...) and italics may also signal certain intonation delimita­
tions by means o f pitch changes, stress levels, pauses.
The above example He is a student may be pronounced with
different intonations (pitch variations) thanks to three final punc­
tuation marks - end stops: period signals the falling tone; the
-18 2-
question mark indicates the rising tone and the exclamation mark
requires to use a special type of intonation expressed by all its
components. Probably, the relationship between the punctuation
marks and intonation is universal in all languages. Such examples
as He is a student in Russian (Он - студент) and Uzbek (U —
student) have relatively the same intonations depending on the
usage of the punctuation marks.
Some American linguists regard punctuation marks as «su­
prasegmental phonemes». We do not shade this idea but con­
sider that punctuation marks may be interpreted as symbols of
prosodic units in written sentences. Punctuation marks contribute
to distinguish the functions of intonation. Thanks to the usage of
punctuation marks the constitutive, distinctive delimitative and
recognitive functions of intonation become clear in a written text.
Thus, punctuation marks are important signals in the text-forming
function of intonation, which operates in a different way to the
proper functions of intonation (constitutive, distinctive, delimita­
tive, recognitive). In any language intonation performs gramma­
tical and expressive functions, but in English the contrasts in into­
nation are not clearly lexical1. These functions of intonation
belong to language functions as a whole. Intonation and syntax
are complementary aspects of sentence structure and therefore, in­
tonation is partly grammatical and partly referential2.

VIII.2. M ETHODS OF INDICATING AND


DESCRIBING INTONATION

There are different methods of indicating intonation which


depend on theoretical and practical approaches of linguists.
The graphical method of indicating intonation by special
symbols is called a tonetic transcription. These three approaches
in describing intonation use different graphical methods, i.e.
tonetic transcriptions. D. Jones regarded the description method
used by L.E. Armstrong and I.C. Ward in their «Handbook of
English Intonation» (Cambridge, 1931) to be effective in practical
teaching and, therefore, he followed their system. L.E. Armstrong

1 M . A . K . H a l l i d a y . Intonation and Grammar in English. Mouton, 1967, p. 10.


2 N . K u r a t h . A Phonology and Prosody of Modem English. Ann Arbor, 1964, pp.
126-127.
and I.C. Ward distinguish two fundamental tunes or motifs: tune I
and tune П. As to different pitch changes used in the emphatic
speech, they are regarded to be variants and combinations of two
tunes'. Being useful in practice this system of description cannot
indicate phonological function of intonation. It is also used by
other phoneticians, thanks to its simple and visual graphic nota­
tion of English intonation. According to this system dots and
dashes denote approximately unstressed and stressed pitch levels,
while curves indicate rising and falling intonations placed above
each syllable of a phonetic transcription, e. g.

They have a 'jally little boat on the river.

~ )

Are you 'quite' sure? Don't be frightened.

R. Kingdon's tonetic stress-mark system shows the stress


marks and pitch levels simultenously. This system is based on H.
Palmer's tonetic notation according to which it is possible to dis­
tinguish five nuclear tones, intensification, tails, heads and six
tone patterns and their varieties.
Modern English possesses the following five nuclear tones:

Two falling tones: High-falling / "4 /


Low-falling / > /
Two rising tones: High-rising 1^1
Low-rising / > /

One rise - fall-rise tone

1 L E . A r m s tr o n g , L C W a rd . A Handbook of English Intonation. Cambridge, 1942, pp.


21-23.
Besides these marks H.E. Palmer and F.G. Blandford sug­
gested other marks used to indicate tails, heads and tone patterns'.
This tonetic notation system is too complicated for printing and
teaching purposes.
The British phonetician Roger Kingdon revised the above
given tonetic notation by separating stress and tone. R. Kingdon
distinguishes two types of tones: (1) Static tones in which the vo­
cal cords remain at a given tension, producing a note of constant
pitch; (2) Kinetic tones in which the tension of the vocal cords is
changed, thus producing a sound of varying pitch.
The next step is to discover the number and nature of the
members of each of these two classes. Naturally, there may be a
large number of static and kinetic tones. R. Kingdon regards it is
sufficient to recognize two level static tones - high and low - and
a modification in pitch of each of these when it is emphatic, thus
giving in effect four pitches, e. g. «Now» may be pronounced in
high-level normal (N ow ) tone and high level emphatic tone
("Now). It may also be pronounced in a normal low tone (,Now)
and emphatic low level tone (,,Now). There are five types of ki­
netic normal and emphatic tones:
(1) high rising tone: ,Now, „Now (normal), Now, "Now (em­
phatic);
(2) low rising tone: ,Now, ,Now (normal), ,Now, „Now (em­
phatic);
(3) falling-rising tone: vNow, vNow (normal),
vNow ,vNow (emphatic);
(4) rising-falling tone: JNow, "Now (normal),
ANow, ,ANow (emphatic);
(5) rising-falling-rising tone:
•vNow' 'vNow (normal), 'vNow, ,A,Now (emphatic).

R. Kingdon emphasizes six main factors of kinetic tones:


1) direction or directions of pitch change (rising, falling, fal­
ling-rising etc.) which is the most important factor as it often has
a semantic (distinctive) function;

1 H.E. Palmer, F.G. Blandford. A Grammar of Spoken English. Cambridge, 1950, pp.
13-25.
2) position on the scale of pitches used by the human voice
(i.e. high or low) which mainly indicates the feehngs of the
speaker;
3) range of pitch (normal or extended) and,
4) intensity (degree of loudness, breath force used, muscular
energy, etc.). These two factors (3-4) combine to provide varying
of emphasis, though it is sufficient to show two degrees: normal
and emphatic;
5) duration of tone on the syllable or on almost any of its
component parts (such as lengthening or shortening of particular
consonants or vowels) which adds both expression and emphasis;
6) variation in the rate of pitch change (e. g. in a falling
tone, a slow descent from the starting-point, with an increase in
the rate of descent as the end of the tone is reached, or conversely,
a rapid initial descent followed by a slowing-up towards the end)1.
Each intonation - group has its own stress and pitch pattern
which is divided into sections. The section, formed by any un­
stressed or partially stressed syllable or syllables preceding the
first fully stressed syllable of an intonation group is called «pre­
head». Three main types of pre-head may be distinguished in un­
emphatic speech: (1) the pitch of initial unstressed syllables may
either rise gradually to the pitch of the first stressed syllable or be
(2) on a mid or (3) low level note, the latter is called a normal
pre-head.

The second section of the intonation group is called its head


which is formed by the first fully stressed syllable. According to
H.E. Palmer there are main types of heads:
(1) inferior (2) superior (3) scandent

( _ ) ( ' ) ( / )

The third section which is called the «body» is formed by


the stressed and unstressed syllables lying between the head and

1R. Kingdon. The Groundwork of Intonation. London, 1959, pp. XXV-XXVI.


- 186-
the nucleus of the group. Some phoneticians call it the scale, and
distinguish the following types of scales in RR________________
(1) the regular descending scale ( ” ' —# )

(2) the broken descending scale


with a special rise

(3) the ascending scale

(4) the scandent scale with each posttonic syllable pronounced


on a slightly higher pitch than in the preceding syllable

( / ' / ' / ) or (~

When the nuclear syllable is followed by an unstressed or


partially stressed syllable or syllables, this section of the intona-
tion-group is called its tail. There are three types of tails:

(1) descending ( \ )

(2) level ( ) . . . or _ .. )

(3) ascending (_ .• or

V ’

The occurrance of a certain tail depends on the type of the


nuclear tone used in a phrase. The tail is a constituent of the fal­
ling or rising terminal tones1.
E. g. It was an unusually dark night yesterday.
J.D. O'Connor and G.F. Arnold distinguish two principal
tunes (1) simple tunes i.e. those which have one nuclear tone and
(2) com. pound tunes which contain more than one nuclear tone. e.
g. No I 'dont
You can have it if you like1.
The system of notation of the English intonation used by
J.D. O'Connor and G.F. Arnold is used by A.C. Gimson who also
distinguishes certain sections in the intonation-group2.
American linguists, defining intonation as a complex unity of
pitch level and stress, use a simplified system of notation and in­
dicate them by numerical marks over vowel letters which bear sen­
tence-stress, e. g.
3 3 l
- Where did he get it
2 2 2
- Bought it in a drugstore.
American system of description of intonation is called pho­
nological. The graphic representation of intonation contours given
by many American linguists coincide, but the degrees of tones
and sentence - stress vary to a great extent. While marking into­
nation for teaching purposes, three types of tones may be distin­
guished: normal, high and low. The movements of the voice up
and down may be indicated by lines at three different levels over
or under the passage. A line drawn at the base of letters indicates
that the word is pronounced in a normal tone, a line above the
word marks a high tone, and a line some distance below the word
shows it is pronounced in a low tone. The movement from one
tone to another takes place between syllables, and is called a shift.
A shift is indicated by a straight vertical line, e. g.

I'll have cream and \sus\ar


I'll have cream and sugar.
1J O. D'Connor and G.F. Arnold. Intonation of Co How are you, Mr. Johnson?
25-26.
2 A.C. Gimson. A Practical Course of English Pronunciation. A Perceptual Approach,
London, 1975, pp. 53-70.
H ow are you, M r. Johnson?

The movement o f the voice, sliding from one tone to an­


other while pronouncing a syllable, is marked by a line curving up
or down, and is known as an inflection, e. g.1

The dm ner\ i ? ^ l d . T|]e cdd

What lime did y o u f o ll? What time did you call?

This intonation - marking system is based on K.L. Pike's2


interesting work and is used by Ch. C. Fries3 and other American
linguists. According to C.H. Prator, Jr. K.L. Pike's intonation -
marking system is the most teachable one devised up till now be­
cause o f its clarity and simplicity but its chief weakness is that, it
may give students the impression that English intonation is much
less flexible than is really the case.
Our graphical representation marks indicated the boundary
o f sense-groups or pauses. Two vertical strokes ( II) denote a long
pause, which usually occurs at the end o f a sentence. A single ver­
tical stroke (/) denotes a short pause inside a sentence. A vertical
wavy line ( I ) denotes a pause that is extremely short, impercep­
tible, or does not exist at all but is possible and therefore non-
obligatory.

VIII.3. THE LINGUISTIC FUNCTIONS OF


INTONATION COM PONENTS

VIH.3.1. The Functions of Speech Melody

Speech melody or pitch level is regarded one o f the primary


or main components o f intonation. Its chief function is to distin­

1 Clifford H. Prator. Manual of American Pronunciation. N. Y., 1957, p. 38.


2 K.L. Pike. Intonation of American English. Ann Arbor. Univ. of Michigan Press, 1946.
3 Ch. C. Fries. Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language. Ann Arbor,
Univ. of Michigan, 1957. R. Lado, Ch.C. Fries. English Pronunciation. Exercises in
sound segments, intonation and rhythm. Ann. Arbor Univ. of Michigan, 1968.
guish com m unicative types of sentence and to divide a sentence
into sense-group or intonation groups.
T he four functions of intonation (constitutive, delim itative,
distinctive and recognitive) are perform ed by a num ber o f pitch
patterns and their distribution in a sentence.
R. N ash distinguishes the follow ing five basic functions of
speech m elody:
( 1) the identity function, i.e. the ability o f listeners to reco g ­
nize a language w ithout understanding w hat is said and to p ro ­
nounce utterances w ith a foreign accent;
(2) the presentation function, i.e. in every language any u t­
terance is pronounced w ith som e degree o f pitch inflection;
(3) the structural function, i.e. the speech m elody is used to
signal structure boundaries and relationships across boundaries;
(4) the deictic function, i.e. a certain degree o f speech m el­
ody, intentionally altered by the speaker, is used to em phasize a
particular lexical item o f an utterance;
5) the expressive function o f speech m elody signals the pres­
ence o f a speaker's emotion. If the em otion is strong, other prosodic
elem ents such as tem po, loudness and voice quality are a d d e d 1.
T his show s a close relationship o f all prosodic elem ents and in to ­
nation com ponents.
A s stated above E nglish has term inal tones such as the fal­
ling tone, the rising tone, the rising-falling tone and the falling-
rising tone am ong w hich the first tw o are called tonem es or in ­
tonem es. E ach term inal tone has tw o o f m ore variants, called by
V. A. V assilyev, allotones: the principal one is realized in the ac­
centual nucleus alone, and is, therefore, represented by the n u ­
clear tone as such (nuclear allotone); the subsidiary ones are
realized sim ultaneously in the nucleus and the tail (nuclear, post-
nuclear allotones). T he principal and subsidiary variants o f a ter­
m inal tone are in com plem entary distribution, cf.

) )•

1 Rose Nash. Turkish Intonation. An Instrumental Study. Mouton, 1973, pp. 30-38.
See my review in «Советская тюркология», 1975, №3, с. 96-99.
V .A . Vassilyev's phonological terms toneme («intoneme»)
and allotone1 coincide with M . Romportl's terms «melodeme»
and allomel2 though the phonological treatment of the latter dif­
fers in some respects.
Comparing Czech, Polish, Russian, German, French, Hun­
garian M . Romportl establishes that these languages do not all
exploit the means of melody in quite the same way which is de­
termined by the difference in the place of melody and by
means of differentiation of utterances and not only by prosodic
means (stresses, pauses) and lexico-grammatical means (using
question words, special imperative forms, word order etc.).
The similarity and difference in the realization of melodic
forms are termed «homonymy and synonymy of means of in­
tonation».
The functions of speech melody become clear owing to the
joint operation of its constituents such as pitch levels (high, mid
and low), pitch range (i.e. interval between two pitch levels or
two differently - pitched syllables or parts of a syllable which
may be wide or narrow) and rates or angles of pitch change (i.e.
manifestation of time and tempo). Ranges used in emphatic and
unemphatic speech are divided into upper, normal and lower
ranges. Graphically, they may be indicated by horizontal lines3.

Ranges Speech
Upper general range emotional
Upper range emphatic
Normal (or mid) range unemphatic > M id general
range
Lower range emphatic
Lower general range emotional

The sentence I saw my friend yesterday may be pro­


nounced as emphatic and unemphatic, depending on situation4.

1 V.A. Vassilyev. Op. cit., p. 301.


2 M. Romportl. On the Synonymy and Homonymy of Means of Intonation. In his
«Studies in Phonetics», Prague, 1973, pp. 137-146.
3 AM. Антипова Система английской речевой интонации. М., «Высшая школа», 1979,
с. 24.
4 J.D. O'Connor. A Course of English Intonation (English by Radio). Stoch holm, 1959,
p. 18.
A) Unemphatic

I 'saw my 'friend ,yesterday. I |‘ )

B) Emphatic

1 saw my friend yesterday.


(It was I and no one else)

I 'saw my friend yesterday.


(I didn’t speak to him on the tele- . )
phone). ______

I saw M y friend yesterday.


(It was my friend, not yours).

I saw my 'Friend yesterday.


(It wasn't some strange person).

I 'saw my 'Friend yesterday.

I saw my friend 'yesterday.

I 'saw my friend Yesterday. - , \


(Not today or a week ago). ~

VIII.3.2. The Functions of Sentence-stress

Sentence-stress is the second primary component o f intona­


tion. Its main functions are to single out, words in a sentence, ac­
cording to their relative semantic importance, and to provide an
adequate rhythmical structure o f a sentence, e. g.
I am going hom e
" )
/ai am 'gsuirj h su m /

The given sentence is form ed by one sense-group and one


sentence-stress w hich operate together with speech melody deter­
m ining the degree and position o f stress in a sentence. Like word
stress, this type o f stress has semantic, gram m atical and rhythm ical
factors w hich are in close relationship to each other, although the
semantic factor is m ore im portant in English than the other factors1.
The presense of stress in any utterance proves its constitutive func­
tion. H. Kurath distinguishes two types of stress: (1) sentence-stress,
which is accom panied by a pitch figure and signals the end of a
segm ent o f discourse; ( 2) phrase stress used at or near the end o f
English phrases, irrespective of their syntactic structure2. Both o f
these types of stress are com bined by the term «the accentual struc­
ture o f a sentence» in m odem investigations. Som e linguists do not
distinguish word stress and sentence stress and describe both of
them in term s o f three, four and even five degrees. Recent experi­
mental analysies prove the existance of five degrees o f sentence
stress in English: prim ary, secondary, tertiary, fourtheary and weak.
Like w ord stress, sentence accent is m anifested by intensity, dura­
tion (i.e. prolongation o f the sounds o f the accented syllable) and
tone. Sentence accent perform s distinctive (phonological) and rec­
ognitive functions. As to its delim itative function, it acts jointly with
a constitutive function o f sentence stress. The adequate usage of
sentence stress in its right position and degrees is connected with its
recognitive function. Sentence stress, used in its distinctive function
is called «phrase-accenteme» (suggested by V.A.Vassilyev). Pho­
nologically, phrase-accentem e perform s word-distinctive, syntactic-
distinctive (it is called «syntagmo-accenteme») and emotional-
distinctive functions in a sentence3, e. g.
Is there any 'm istake here? (W ord-distinctive function)
Is there any M iss T a k e here?
This is m y brother John. (A pposition)
T his is m y brother, John. (D irect address)

1 Л.П. Торсуев. Вопросы акцентологии современного английского языка. М., Изд.


АН СССР. 1960, с. 4.
2Н. Kurath. A Phonology and Prosody of Modem English. Ann Arbor. 1964, p. 139.
3 P. Алимарданов. Акцентная структура предложения в современном южноанг­
лийском предложении. Автореферат канд. дисс., М., 1977.
- 193-
W hat's that? (Different emotional meanings)
"What's 'that?
In these minimal pairs pitch pattern and sense-group divi­
sions differ but sentence accent contributes to make the meaning
of the sentences clear.

VIII.3.3. The Functions of other Intonation Components

The other components of intonation are rhythm, pause, tim­


bre of voice and tempo o f speech which have their specific func­
tions. Timbre determines the quality o f voice. It may be
emotional and normal and helps to shape the meaning of a sen­
tence. The sentence I saw my friend yesterday may be pro­
nounced in different timbre o f voice to express different
meanings.
Rhythm does not exist independently, but is connected with
all other components of intonation. Rhythm is defined as the
regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in a sen­
tence or a word. The smallest elements o f rhythm are called
rhythmic groups which are formed by a stressed syllable with
following unstressed syllables. The preceding syllables combined
with stressed syllables following them are called proclitics. Syl­
lables, which are combined with the preceding stressed syllable,
are termed enclitics. Any rhythmic group is based on the nature
o f a stressed syllable. If a rhythmic group contains one stressed
syllable with unstressed syllable following it is called a simple
one. When a rhythmic group contains two or more stressed sylla­
bles with unstressed syllables following, it is called a complex
rhythmic group. Both types o f rhythm may alternate in any con­
text. Rhythmic structure is determined by the lexico-grammatical
structure, by the character of combining words, stylistic and other
factors o f a context1. Tempo (or rate) of speech, which may be
normal, slow and quick, functions together with rhythm and other
components o f intonation.
Tempo and rhythm are unseparable and function together to
express a speaker's emotions, and underline the semantic impor­
tance o f different parts o f a sentence and sense-groups.
Pauses perform delimitative and distinctive functions and
act like junctures. A long pause (#) shows the end of a sentence, a
half-long pause ( [[ ) is used in the boundary between main and
subordinate clauses and a short pause ( | ) signals the end o f a
sense-group. Sense-groups may consist of a single word or a
number o f words linked both grammatically and semantically,
e-g.
# 'Good! Tine! Wonderful! #
# He is a 'happy man #
# What did you say, John? #
Sometimes the meaning of a sentence may depend on dif­
ferent pausation, e. g.
# You know it 'all right #
# You know it all/'right #
# Let's 'begin with that one #
The prosodic elements of intonation are interdependent and
act jointly to express various meanings. Each component of into­
nation may be defined phonetically and phonologically. The inter­
relations o f intonation components may be perfectly observed not
only in unem-phatic phrases, but also in emphatic sentences in
which all these components function jointly. For example, sen­
tence accent is linked with rhythm, tempo acts with rhythm and
pausation, pitch level - with sentence stress, as intonation itself is
the product of interactions of prosodic features.

VIIL4. Phonostylistic Features of Intonation

As stated above the expression o f emotions in intonation be­


longs to phonostylistics, a special interdisciplinary aspect o f in­
vestigation between phonetics (phonology) and stylistics. In
recent works it was established that prosodic means perform
grammatical and lexical functions and may be used in different
aspects o f language description and have a style-forming function.
The phonetic description of different pronunciation styles of
speech, marked by sound modifications and prosodic structures,
has become the object o f phonostylistics. This aspect of study
was the notions and categories of functional stylistics. Besides,
the phonostylistic aspect of intonation deals with individual char­
acteristics of speech and its emotional colouring determined by a
person's psychological state1. A lot o f questions o f phonostylistics
have not been studied yet. The phonostylistic functions of intona­
tion components are not clear unless investigated instrumentally.
The emotional position of an informant during experiments is also
one of the chief factors forming phonostylistic variations in
speech.
Intonation acts along with grammatical and lexical aspects
as means o f realizing semantic categories. Stylistics deals with
choosing phonetic, grammatic and semantic means o f expressive-
emotional colouring and usually one o f these means may become
more important than the others. For example, in an ordinary sen­
tence formed by a simple grammatical construction there is no
stylistic meaning at all. If it is pronounced by an emotional timbre
and unusual stress it may get some emotional colouring. The
emotional information depends on the selection o f certain intona­
tion curves o f a speaker. The given information may be emotion­
ally relevant for a listener. If there is little syntactic and semantic
ambiguity, intonation will not be decisive in a listener's under­
standing o f the utterance. When there are several choices, intona­
tion helps the listener make an adequate choice. This type of
selection is called the «principle o f compensation» by A. M.
Peshkovskyj»2, according to which one component of intonation
may be substituted by another within the prosodic level3.
Emotional means o f intonation express a speaker's attitude
towards the facts in question, his feelings, emotions and moods.
Sentences, pronounced with emphatic intonation, besides the gen­
eral meaning, have an implication. The emotional meaning is su­
perimposed on the general meaning o f the sentence through
intonation.
Very often in order to emphasize a particular word in a sen­
tence it is pronounced by greater prominence than the other
words. This prominence may be given (1) by increasing the
length o f one or more sounds, (2) by increasing the stress o f one
or more syllables, (3) by using special kinds o f intonation or by
combinations o f these means. Thus, such a word may be pro­

1 С.М. Гайдучик. Фоностилистика как один из разделов фонетики. В книге «Инто­


нация», Киев, 1978, с. 33-41.
2 А.М. Пешковский. Интонация и грамматика. В его «Избранные труды», М., 1959.
3 Т.М. Николаева. Фразовая интонация славянских языков., М., Изд. «Наука», 1977, с.
15-17.
nounced in more than one way, its fuller or strong form is used
for emphasis.
Following O. Coleman's ideas D. Jones distinguishes two
types of emphasis: a) emphasis for contrast and b) emphasis for
intensity1. As the terms denote two words may be contrasted with
a previous and a new meaning mainly by intonation, but intensity
- emphasis is pronounced with a high degree o f stress and can be
applied to certain words expressing qualities such as adjectives:
(lovely, wonderful, marvellous, awful, killing, brilliant etc.), ad­
verbs: (extremely, hopelessly, etc.), verbs: (rush, queeze, hate,
like etc.). E. g. It is "Your book, not''mine (contrast-emphasis). It
is so "wonderful (intensity emphasis).
In reality emphasis is capable of expressing not only ideas
o f contrast and intensity, but also various shades o f meaning,
which sometimes are very subtle2. Usually emphatic intonation is
typical in jokes, anecdotes, comic remarks, irony, teasing etc.
R. Nash introduced the musical term "motif" in intonation,
which is defined as a pitch interval signalling the relationship be­
tween isolated intonation units. Six such motifs are distinguished:
emphasis, equal weight, presentation, topic-comment, outlining
and layering. By identifying the recurrent motifs and the relation­
ship they signalled, it is possible to reconstruct a speaker's inter­
pretation o f utterances in their linguistic contexts and to account
for individual variation. The material, instrumentally investigated
has included anecdotes3 in which a lot of emphatic intonation
have been used.
Emotional means o f intonation are variable. They include
different variations of melody, sentence stress, tempo, especially,
timbre. In emotional colouring o f a phrase some of these compo­
nents o f intonation become phonologically relevant and others -
non-relevant. Thus, the distinctive function of intonation contrib­
utes to its phonostylistic function.
The tones used in emphatic speech are: emphatic falling
tone, fall-rise, rise-fall, rise-fall-rise. Their usage depends on the
communicative type of sentence in which they occur. The ascend­
ing and scandent scales are also used in emphatic intonation.

1D. Jones. An Outline of English Phonetics. Cambridge, 1952, p. XXXI.


2A.A. Gamtzeva, A. A. Abduazizov. English Phonetics. Tashkent, 1972, p. 122.
Higher or lower pitch levels of sense-groups and wider or nar­
rower pitch ranges are often used in emphatic intonation, e. g.

What a wonderful day! •_


/wot э "wAndaful "dei/ ’* )
Emphatic intonation may be used when special and general
questions are repeated. In such cases the pitch falls within the in­
terrogative pronoun in special questions and in the first verb in
general questions, thus emphasizing the whole question. The un­
stressed syllables start rising immediately after the fall1.

Where does she live?


/"wea dAZ ji* hv/

Lowering the pitch-level often serves to express hopeless­


ness, disappointment, sadness, aversion etc., but it may express
admiration as well. Lowering the pitch-level and narrowing the
range is typical in such sentences in which the stressed and un­
stressed syllables are pronounced in a lower pitch, and the pitch
intervals between these syllables are smaller than in unemphatic
sentences. They are pronounced almost in a whisper and the stress
is increased2.

It frose and frose.


/it "frauz and ''frauz/

I don't believe it.


/ai ''daunt bi4"li:v it/

D. Crystal writes: «Within each phonetic type, the tones are


ordered on the basis of their two fold potential function, grammati­
cal and attitudinal. ...Degree of affective involvement refers to the
amount of attitudinal implication carried by a tone, «amount» here
referring to the consistent use of a range of descriptive labels (an-

1 V.A. Vassilyev et al. English Phonetics (A Normative Course), Leningrad, 1962, pp. 230-
246.
2 V.A. Vassilyev. et al. Op. cit., pp. 336-337.
gry, pleasant... etc)»1. D. Crystal distinguishes affective (or attitu-
dinal) and cognitive meanings of intonation which are psycho­
logically-determined. Both types of meaning may be important in
phonostylistic aspect o f intonation analysis, which is in close rela­
tionship with psycholinguis-tics and sociolinguistics. Besides
there is a correlation between the types of utterance and its divi­
sion into sense-groups of which the degree of emotionality of
speech may depend. This fact was proved by the results of in­
strumental investigation2. There may be some other extra-
linguistic factors relevant in emotional speech. Thus, emphatic in­
tonation is regarded one of the features existing in emotional
speech.

VIII.5. THE PARALINGUISTIC FEATURES


OF SPEECH

Generally, three types of communicative systems are used:


language, kinesics, i.e. visual aspects of non-verbal communica­
tion: gestures, motions, facial expressions, body posture etc. and
vocalizations, i.e. various phonation types different from ordinary
prosodic features. There are three main types of phonation used as
paralinguistic means: vocal differentiators (e. g. laughing and cry­
ing etc.), vocal identifiers (e. g. «uh-huh» contrasted with «uh-uh»
and vocal qualifiers (e. g. loudness, softness, overhigh and overlow
pitch, clipping and drawl etc.).
The term «paralinguistics» came from the Greek words
«рага» meaning «beyond» and «linguistics». Besides, the terms
«paralanguage», «para phonetic» or «paraphonological function»
are also used in modem linguistics to denote non-linguistic means
or signals to be set apart from other aspects of linguistic analysis-
segmental and suprasegmental phonology. These terms are not
adequate enough so as to indicate the field of study and it may
give an impression that besides language there exists the other
language which is called paralanguage. Though it is possible to
contrast paralinguistic effects involving continuous non-discrete
variations with discrete differences used in phonemic oppositions,

1 David Crystal. Prosodic Features and Linguistic Theory. In his «The English Tone of
Voice», Essays in Intonation, Prosody and Paralanguage», N. Y., 1975, p. 38-39.
2 И.Г. Topcyeea. Интонация и смысл высказывания. М., «Наука», 1979, с. 39- 49.
but there is a strict interrelation between prosodic and paralinguis­
tic features, manifesting linguistic and extra linguistic factors of
communication.
The object o f study in paralinguistics has not been defined
definitely in modem linguistics. D. Crystal describes the follow­
ing paralinguistic features: (1) non-human as well as human vo­
calization; (2) all suprasegmental features and some segmental
ones, which include some degree of pitch, loudness and duration
and also vocal identifiers and segregates including hesitation fea­
tures; (3) voice quality - timbre, voice - set, tempo, personal ar­
ticulatory setting and their variations; (4) social and emotional
characteristics o f speech determined by status, age, sex, occupa­
tion1.
Distinction between prosodic and paralinguistic features o f
utterance can be made on the basis of the fact that prosodic fea­
tures may be always present in any utterance, whereas paralin­
guistic features, being also vocal, are variable in respect o f their
definition, and they are discontinuous and relatively infrequent in
speech2. They are not clearly contrasted as do prosodic features.
Paralinguistic analysis should include different kinds of tenseness
(tense, lax, slurred and precise articulations), degrees and kinds o f
resonance o f articulation, contrasts in register (falsetto, chest) de­
grees of pharyngeal construction (huskiness), types o f whisper
and breathy articulation, spasmodic articulations (i.e. pulsations
o f air from the lungs are out - o f phase with the syllables o f an ut­
terance as when one laughs or sobs while speaking or says some­
thing in a tremulous tone), general retraction or advancement o f
the tongue (e. g. velarization), distinctive use o f the lips (labializa­
tion) and various kinds of nasalization. Some o f these vocal-
qualifier variations can be produced in the throat and larynx. As
to the types o f tension they are not very clear.
The distribution o f paralinguistic features may depend on
the situation or context in which they are used to express various
types o f emotions. For example, I d o n ' t k n o w a t a l l may be pro­
nounced by a very high pitch range, very low pitch range, differ­
ent types o f loudness, extra-long duration, whisper, husky or

1 D. Crystal. The English Tone of Voice, Essays in Intonation, Prosody and Paralan­
guage. N. Y., 1975, pp. 51-55.
2 D. Crystal. Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English. Cambridge Univ. Press, 1969,
pp. 128-131.
creaky voice and sometimes it is difficult to establish the action of
used paralinguistic features. But anyway, the emotional function
o f paralinguistic features can be noticed by the appropriate intona­
tion conditions accompanying the stylistic force of the sentence'.
The speaker is free to choose certain paralinguistic features
so to make his speech more vivid and emotional. Hence, there is a
relationship between phonostylistic and paralinguistic features,
the latter being a non-linguistic but also verbal component of
speech. All these paralinguistic features are determined by cul­
ture, psychology and individual manner of speaking. Besides,
there are non-verbal paralinguistic features, so-called kinesics
which include gestures, motions, body posture, facial expressions
etc. accompanying speech. Paralinguistic features are not studied
in any language adequately.

1Г.В. Колшанский. Паралингвистика, М., Изд. «Наука», 1974, с, 33-44.


-201 -
THE COMBINATORY-POSITIONAL
CHANGES OF PHONEMES

Speech sounds, i.e. phones representing phonemes, are


combined in strict order to form words, morphemes, word-
combinations and sentences which influence each other, as a re­
sult of which their articulatory-acoustic features may be changed
and modified. These changes in pronunciation, which depend on
the way they influence one another, their position and stress - are
called combinatory-positional changes (or «combinatory pho­
netics»). They are classified into assimilation, accomodation, dis­
similation metathesis, sandhi, haplology, reduction and elision.
Combinatory-positional changes are connected with the historic
development o f a language and its phonetic structure in particular.
The fluency o f speech, the unstressed position in words and word
junction are the favourable conditions under which assimilation
and reduction find their expression. These factors accelerate as­
similation and reduction, though the cause of these phonetic
changes cannot be explained from a narrow viewpoint.
Some linguists explain combinatory-positional changes as
the result of speech effort economy or the tendency ease o f pro­
nunciation which occurs in pronunciation, owing to the fact that
speakers try to obtain maximum effect with minimum effort1. For
example, in rapid speech the word ninth /n/ /пақпЎ is pronounced
as a dental allophone owing to the influence o f the dental (inter­
dental) /0/. It is easier to articulate two dental consonants than
pronounce alveolar and dental consonants. Such cases may often
be observed in pronunciation.
There are some attempts to interpret combinatory-positional
changes from the phonological point o f view. According to Ch. A.
Ferguson: «Phonology is variable. Variation has to be included in
any type o f phonological theory. It is important to study how

1B. Malmberg. Phonetics, N. Y., 1963, p. 56.


-2 0 2 -
phonology works»1. Various combinatory - positional changes
may cause the system o f phonological oppositions and distinctive
features to grow or eliminate, which may be proved by diachronic
phonology. The realization o f phonological oppositions in speech
and different allophonic variations of phonemes by the influence
of some factors should be studied by methods of syntagmatic
phonology. However, paradigmatic changes may depend on syn­
tagmatic changes in the development of a phonological system.
The problem of phonological interpretation of combinatory-
positional changes has not been studied thoroughly yet.
Combinatory-positional changes are universal for all lan­
guages, but the character of changes determined by certain factors
may differ. Some combinatory-positional changes have been ex­
plained in previous chapters in relation with the description o f the
allophones of vowel and consonant phonemes. Therefore, below
we give classification o f combinatory-positional changes and ex­
plain them briefly.

IX.1. ASSIMILATION

The articulations o f sounds combined to form words, word


combinations (junctions) and sentences influence each other. The
process when the articulation of a sound under the influence of
the articulation of a neighbouring sound becomes similar or takes
on features of the neighbouring sound, is called assimilation. As­
similation is a result o f a modification process of adjacent pho­
nemes. There are cases of modification when as a result of it, a
phoneme may be formed which differs from either the assimilated
or assimilating phoneme.
Although assimilation is a universal process in all lan­
guages, its action may be different. The assimilatory processes in­
clude the influence of a vowel on a consonant (V —» C), a vowel
on a vowel (V —> V), a consonant on a vowel (С —» V), conso­
nant on a consonant (С —> C).
The articulation o f English vowels may be modified by the
position o f the tongue, lips, soft palate, and the degree o f muscu­

1 Charles A. Ferguson. New Directions in Phonological Theory: Language Acquisition


and Universals Research. In «Current Trends in Linguistic Theory» Indiana Univ.
Press, 1977, pp. 293-297.
lar tension. This type of assimilation is known as adaptation of
speech organs, making a convenient transition from one articula­
tion to another. There are other types of vowel assimilation
known as a vowel harmony, in which the vowel of the syllable
may become more like the vowel of some other syllable, and
vowels agree with each other in certain features. Vowel harmony
is widely used in Turkic (except Uzbek) languages, e. g. in Turk­
ish the plural suffix -lar or -ler may be used when the stem con­
tains a velar vowel or a palatal vowel: gul (a rose) - giiller
(roses), at (a horse) - atlar (horses).
Phonologically, vowel harmony means that the vowel sys­
tem of a language has its full value only in the first syllable of the
word, whereas in other syllables the oppositions of the vocalic
timbre (i.e. positions of the tongue) are neutralized, the choice of
the archiphonemic representative being conditioned externally.
Thus, vowels in any other syllables but the first always belong to
the same class of articulatory position of the tongue as vowels of
the preceding syllable1. High vowels of a suffix agree in backness
and rounding with the stem vowel. In some other languages back
vowels are fronted before certain suffixes, containing a high front
vowel which is called umlaut widely used in German (e. g. gut -
good, giitik - kind). Vowel harmony and umlaut can be distin­
guished by the direction of the assimilating vowels also by some
prosodic factors.
The assimilation of consonants is frequently observed in
modern EngUsh. It is possible to distinguish assimilations affect­
ing (1) the place of articulation or both the place of obstruction
and the active organ of speech; (2) the manner of production; (3)
the work of the vocal cords and (4) the position of the lips.
(1) A) Assimilation, affecting the place of obstruction: the
principal (alveolar) allophones of the phonemes /t/, /d/, /n/, /1/, /s/,
/z/ are replaced by their subsidiary dental allophones when they
are adjacent to dental consonant phonemes e.g. tenth /ten0/, in
them /'in б эт /, width /wid0/, read this /ri:d'3is/, wealth /wel0/,
all that /'o:l'6£et/, sixth /siksO/, what's this /'wotsSis/.
B) Assimilation, affecting the active organ of speech and the
place of obstruction, is observed in words with the prefix con-,
when it is followed by the consonant phonemes /k/, /g/ the alveo­

1J. Kramsky. Papers in General Linguistics. Mouton, 1976, p. 39.


-2 0 4 -
lar sonorant I n i is replaced by the backlingual sonorant /q/ if the
prefix bears either a primary or secondary stress e. g. congress
/koqgres/, concrete /koqkri:t/, conquest /korjkwest/.
(2) Assimilation, affecting the manner of production, is ob­
served when nasal consonant phonemes influence the plosive
phonemes pronounced in the same place, e.g. sandwich
/'saenwid3/, kindness /Tcainnis/, grandmother /^ггепшлбэ/. In
the word h a n d k e r c h i e f t h e process of assimilation was more com­
plicated. Under the influence of I n i the consonant phoneme /d/
changed to the phoneme /n/ and, then disappeared. The remaining
phoneme /nI changed to /g/ under the influence of the phoneme
/к/. Thus, in the word handkerchief we observe assimilation af­
fecting the active organ of speech, the place of obstruction and the
manner of production of noise.
(3) Assimilation, affecting the work of the vocal cords: a) a
voiceless consonant phoneme, may be replaced by a voiced one
under the influence of the adjacent voiced consonant phoneme,
e.g. gooseberry /'guzban/ from /gu:s/ influencing /b/ in berry; b)
a voiced consonant phoneme may be replaced by a voiceless one
under the influence of the adjacent voiceless consonant phoneme,
e.g. newspaper /'nju:speipa/ from /nju:z/ and /peipa/ in which /p/
influence /z/, making it voiceless.
(4) Labialized subsidiary allophones of the phonemes D d ,
I g l , I t / , I s l are used under the influence of the following bilabial
sonorant /w/, e. g. quite /kwait/, twinkle /twiqkl/, language
/laeqgwid3/, swim /swim/.
This type of labial assimilation often occurs where elements
of compound words meet (e.g. football /fupbo:l/, ninepence
/'naimpsns/, tenpence /'tempans/, sevenpence /'sevmpsns/) and at
the junction of words in rapid familiar speech, e. g. isn't it /'innit/,
wasn't it /wonmt/, give me /gimmi/1.
According to its degrees assimilation may be: (A) complete,
(B) partial and (C) intermediate.
(A) In complete assimilation adjacent phonemes, under the
influence of one of them, become idential or merge into one, e. g.
this shop /6iJjop/, give me /gimmi/, horseshoe /ho:IIu:/. In Uzbek
rapid speech: akam bilan (akam minan) (with my brother),
xo'pmi? (xo’mmi) (agreement).

1 Ch. Barber. Linguistic Change in Present-Day English. London, 1964, p. 63.


-205 -
(B) When the assimilated phoneme retains its main phone­
mic fea tures and becomes only partly similar to the assimilating
phoneme, e. g. tenth /tenG/, lets /lets/. The examples, illustrating
assimilation affecting the place of obstruction, are incomplete as
the principal alveo lar allophones of the phonemes I t /, /d/, /n/, /s/,
/z/ are replaced by the subsidiary dental allophones, retaining all
other phonemic features.
(C) The assimilation is intermediate (i.e. between complete
and incomplete) when the assimilated phoneme changes into a
different phoneme, but does not coincide with the assimilating
phoneme, e. g. gooseberry /'guzban/, congress /'koqgres/. That’s
all right /'daets 'о:ГЧ rait/, handkerchief /haeqkatjif/ in which the
change /d - n/ is a complete assimilation, but the subsequent
change /n - g/ under the influence of /к/ is an intermediate assimi­
lation.
According to its direction assimilation may be (1) progres­
sive, (2) regressive and (3) mutual (or reciprocal, double).
(1) In progressive assimilation the preceding phoneme in­
fluences the following one. It can be represented by the formula X
—> Y, where X is the assimilating phoneme, and Y the assimilated
phoneme, e. g. talked /to:kt/, works /wa:ks/, bags /baegz/, cats
/kaets/.
(2) In regressive assimilation the following phoneme influ­
ences the preceding one. Its formula is X <— Y, e. g. used to /just
tu/, goose berry /'guizban/, newspaper /nju:speipa/.
When the adjacent phonemes influence each other assimila­
tion is regarded to be mutual. In try, tree I t ] causes partial devoic-
ing, while I v i becomes I t J post-alveolar. In twice, twenty Ш
causes partial devoicing, while /w / makes /t/ lip-rounded.
From the synchronical and diachronical points of view as­
similation in English may be subdivided into (1) historical and
(2) contextual (or juxtapositional),
(1) Historical assimilation reflects the changes which have
taken place in the course of historical development of the lan­
guage, e. g. nature, furniture, literature, occasion, decision, ques­
tion, nation. In Uzbek: ketaman (I shall go), qaytgaysan (You will
return).
(2) Contextual (juxtapositional) assimilation is of compara­
tively recent development and is still going on in present day
English, e. g. horseshoe /h o jju :/, gooseberry /'guzbsri/, does
she /'dAjJi-/, used to /'ju:st tuJ .
The above given types of assimilation are regarded to be es­
tablished owing to their common usage as a literary standard of
pronunciation by native speakers. There are cases of assimilation
in careless speech though they cannot be regarded as a literary
norm. They are called accendental, e. g. amidst /s'mitst/, bacon
/beikg/ instead of /beikn/, happen /haepm/, open /эи р т/. The
«coalescing» type of assimilation is also taking place in present-
day English, e.g. duke /d3u:k/, /dju:k/ during, education, tube
/tju:b/, /tju:b/, Tuesday /'tjuizdi/, /tju:zdi/ issue /isju:/, /iju:/. Ac­
cording to Ch. Barber they are quite common in educated speech
of present-day English1.

IX.2. OTHER COMBINATORY-POSITIONAL


CHANGES

There are other combinatory-positional changes besides as­


similation. The modification of one of the adjacent consonants to
the preceding or following consonant is known as assimilation.
There are cases when the articulation of a consonant is
modified under the influence of an adjacent vowel, which is
called adaptation, or accommodation. The accommodated
sound retains its main phonetic features and is pronounced as an
allophone of the same phoneme slightly modified under the influ­
ence of a neighbouring sound. Modem English distinguishes three
main types of accomodation2.
(1) An unrounded allophone of a consonant phoneme is re­
placed by its rounded allophone under the influence of the follow­
ing rounded vowel phoneme, in an initial position:

Unrounded allophones Rounded allophones of


of consonant phonemes consonant phonemes
tea /ti:/ too /tu:/
less /les/ loose /lu:z/
n o n e /плп/ noon /nu:n/

1 Ch. Barber. Op. cit., pp. 63-64.


2 V.A. Vassilyev et al. Op. cit., p. 101.
(2) A fully back allophone of a back vowel phoneme is re­
placed by its slightly advanced (fronted) allophone under the in­
fluence of the preceding mediolingual phoneme /j/, e. g.

Fully back allophone of (u:) Fronted allophone of /и:/


booty /bu:ti/ beauty /bju.ti/
moon /mu:n/ music /mju:zik/

(3) A vowel phoneme is represented by its slightly more


open allophone before the dark /1/ under the influence of the lat-
ter's back secondary focus. Thus the vowel sound in tell, bell is
slightly more open than the vowel in bed, ten: /bel/ - /bed/, /tel/ -
/ten/.
The phonetic changes, which results in a sharpening of the
difference between two phonemes, is called dissimilation, e. g.
the English word heaven is the result of a change of (m) to (v) be­
cause of the final. The word marble is due to a French marbre
whose second «г» was changed into «I»1.
Elision is the omission of a sound in rapid speech, e. g. an
old man /эп'эиГтаеп/, and so /эпЪэи/.
Haplology is the process of dropping a group of sounds
which should be articulated twice in a word, e. g. morphonology
for morphophonology, probably (from probablely).
Reduction is also one of the wide-spread combinatory-
positional change which has been explained in chapter V, 5.2.3 in
connection with unstressed vowels.
PHONEME AND STRESS
ALTERNATIONS.
MORPHONOLOGY

In English there are many cases when a phoneme or pho­


nemes within the morpheme may be replaced by another phoneme
or other phonemes. These substitutions of phonemes may or may
not be determined by a certain position of stress. The position of
stress may also vary in different word derivaties formed from one
base morpheme. The substitution of phonemes by one another and
the change of the position of stress within morphemes are called
phoneme and stress alternations. Theory of phoneme alternations
suggested by I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay was very important in
further development of linguistics. It has contributed to the for­
mation of a new branch of linguistics - «morphonology» (or
«morphophonology», «morphophonemics») which is defined dif­
ferently by various linguists. In the formation of morphonology
much credit goes to N.S. Trubetzkoy who defined it as (1) a part
of word phonology which studies the phonological structure of
morphemes, as (2) a division of grammar, as (3) a linking branch
between morphology and phonology1. Among these definitions
the first and the third can be accepted. Morphonology has not got
its own unit, though some linguists introduced the term «morpho-
neme» which does not exist at all. Morphonology uses the terms
phoneme and morpheme borrowed from other linguistic levels
and studies phoneme and stress alternations, performing morpho­
nological functions. The other aspects of morphonology, which
study the phonological structure of morphemes and combinatory
sound changes occurring in some morphemes2, are not studied in
morphonology. In recent theories not all the alternations taking
place within morphemes are included in morphonology, though

1 H.C. Трубецкой. Некоторые соображения относительно морфонологии.


«Пражский лингвистический кружок», М., 1967, с. 115-118.
2 А.А. Реформатский. Еще раз о статусе морфонологии, её границах и задачах. В
его «фонологические этюды», М., 1975, с. 98-118.
-2 0 9 -
some linguists, especially American scholars, regard it is being
so. Morphonology does not include the description of suppletion
or pormanteau morphemes (e. g. good - better - best), internal
inflexion, i.e. the changes in the base of a word or base mor­
phemes distinguishing grammatical forms (e. g. write - wrote, ox
- oxen, foot - feet, beet - bet), alternations in the affixes which
occur under the certain phonetic conditions2 (e. g. the English plu­
ral affixes, Present Indefinite Tense the third person singular, suf­
fix Past Tense - e d ) . Thus, morphonology studies only the
phoneme and stress alternations within morphemes, which are not
determined by their phonological position, e. g. grave /'greiv/ -
gravity /grsevity/, mechanic /mitoenik/ - mechanician
/,текэ'т1п/, diet /'dast/ - dietition /,daia'tijsn/ etc. All other pho­
nemic changes are studied in phonology in regard with combina­
tory - positional and historical changes. These changes are
classified as phonetic and historical alternations which also perform
certain morphological (grammatical) functions.
Phonetic alternations include changes under assimilation, e. g.
the Present Tense third person singular suffix (-s, -iz, -z) variation
which depend on the position: cats /kaets/, boxes /boksiz/, bags
/bcegz/.
Historical alternations take place in words etymologically
related, e. g. in the verbs: sing - sang - sung, bend - bent, begin
- began, build - built, choose - chose, lose - lost; in the nouns
formed by internal inflexion: goose - geese, foot - feet, mouse -
mice, woman - women and in other words as hot - heat,
breathe - breath, gold - gild, child - children1. In the latter ex­
ample there are alternations both in base and affix.
Alternations performing morphological (grammatical) func­
tions, which serve to distinguish different grammatical forms of
words, are called morphonological alternations. They are fre­
quently used in the Slavic languages. The morphonological alter­
nations used in different languages have not been studied
thoroughly, but they are of great theoretical value for modem lin­
guistics. Morphonology may clarify the relationship between base
morpheme and affixal morpheme and their different variations in

1 0.1. Dickushina. English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course. Moscow - Leningrad,


1965, pp. 104-111.
word formation. Morphonological structure of a language shows
how phonology works to transform morphological units'.
The unity of morphemes, the identity of different variants of
the morpheme (or «allomorphs») to be more precise, is deter­
mined of their phonological identification which is their formal
but not functional-semantic side. Thus, the identification of
allomorphs can be established on a phonological basis . Such
examples used in English as Elizabeth / 1 lizabэ0/ - Elizabethan
/дЬгэЪкбэп/, Lilliput /lilipAt/ - Lilliputian /,lxLi'pjujian/, centenary
/sentirnan/ - centenarian /^епйп'пеэпэп/ history /Tristan/ -
historian /his'torrian/ have both phoneme and stress alternations.
In some morphemes there is only phoneme or stress alternation, e.
g. act /aekt/ - action /$kfan/, speech/spi:tj/ - speak /spi:k/ or
speaker /spi.-кэ/, trust /trAst/— trustee /trAs'ti:/, China /tiaina/ -
Chinese /t]ai'ni:z/. Thanks to these examples, morphonological
alternations may be classified into: (1) phoneme (as in act -
action), (2) accentual (as in trust - trust'ee) and (3) complex,
including both phonemic and accentual alternations (as in history
/Tnstsn/ - historian /his'torrian/.
Explaining phoneme and stress alternations, we have
defined their morphonological aspect. It must be emphasized that
the morphonological aspect of phoneme and stress alternations
may be studied independently as a «bridge» linguistic level
between phonology and morphology.
Variations of the formal structure of English morphemes may
take place, owing to phonemic and accentual distinctions. As the mor­
pheme is a meaningful unit of a language, it may be used as a word, if
it is a monomorphemic word, or as a part of a word, if it is a compos­
ite word. Usually morphonological alternations occur in composite
words, between their morpheme boundaries or within a morpheme, e.
g. Neptune /'neptju:n/ - Neptunian /nep'tju-.man/, placid /'plassid/,
placidity /plae'siditi/, fruit /fnr.t/ - fruitarian /fru: teanan/, plastic
/'plasstik/ - plasticity /plaes’tisiti/, plural /'plusral/ - plurality
/plua'rsehti/, anile /'email/ - anility /ae'mhti/ in the latter case there are
two phonemic alternations and one stress alternation, Some linguists
include morphonological alternations into lexicology or morphology

1 O.C. Ахманова. Фонология. Морфонология. Морфология. М., 1966, с. 58.


2 Э.А. Макаев, Е.С. Кубрякова. О статусе морфонологии и единицах ее описания.
В кн. «Единицы разных уровней грамматического строя языка и их взаимодей­
ствие». М., 1969, с. 103.
due to their active part in word-building or changing the grammatical
forms of morphemes.
Like other linguistic levels, morphonology is determined para-
digmatically, i.e. the members of alternation may be distinguished as
phonologically distinctive units - phonemes, and syntagmatically, i.e.
the alternations take place in certain position which do not depend on
the context or other factors. For example, the English suffix -ion which
is the affixal morpheme may be represented as / - kei/n/, / - leijan/, /-
eijan/, /-zijan/, /-ljsn/, /- jujan/, /-и:/эп/, /-э|эп/, /-{эп/, /kjan/, /- jsn/,
/- Зэп/, /-эп/1 in such examples as act -action, reduce - reduction,
assume -assumption, demonstrate - demonstration, repeat - re­
peatition, classify - classification, solve - solution, contribute - con­
tribution, adhere - adhesion, opinion etc1.
Besides, the suffix -ion influences in such a way as to
change different vowel and consonant phonemes within a word.
Such different alternations, causing changes of phonemes in the
phonetic structure of a word, may be orbserved in the variations
of other suffixes2.
English is regarded a language in which monosyllabism is
typical. There is a small number of productive suffixes in English,
some of which consist of a single consonant or consonant clusters.
The variations of morphemes performing morphological functions
and formal structure of morphemes, being the object of morpho­
nology, should be studied in close relationship with affixation in
word-building.
The alternation of stress, conditioned by suffixes or an in­
crease of final syllables, occurs not only in English words of Ger­
manic origin but in words borrowed from other languages, e. g.
'prince - prin'cess, 'photograph - pho'tographer - pho-
tog'raphic, 'family - fa'miliar - fa,mili'arity, 'convene - con­
veyance.
There are also some unusual consonant alternations used in
foreign words, e. g. social - society, patient - patience, invade -
invasion3.

1 Jl.A. Телегин. Морфонологическая структура суффиксальных производных на -


ion в современном английском языке. Автореферат канд. дисс. М., 1970.
2 Р.З. Зятковская. Суффиксальная система современного английского языка М.,
1971.
3 В. Tmka. On Foreign Phonological Features in Present - Day English, «In Honour of
Daniel Jones, London, 1964, pp. 188-190.
The morphonological function of the English word accent is
determined either by regular shifting of the position and its de­
grees in different morphemes or by the irregular influence of suf­
fixes. Suffixes, which cause accentual alternations, are: -a b l e , -
a n t -e n t (-a n c e -en ce), -iv e , -o ry, -o u s, -iz e , -is m (-is t), -a te , -
m en t etc., e. g. repair - re-pairable, coincide - coincidence,
combine - combinative, compensate - compensatory, anonym
- anonymous, capital - capitalize, epigram - epigr'ammist,
hypnosis - hypnotism, origin - originate, advertise - ad-
vertisment1.
Some morphonological alternations are common in different
languages. For example, academy /sTcsedsmi/ - academic
/,аекэ 'demik/ - academician /a^caedamilan/. In Russian: академия
- академик - ака'демик - академический. In Uzbek: akade'miya
- akademik - akade'mik.
Russian is rich in morphonological alternations: рука -
ручной, сухой - сушить, орех - орешник, доска - дощечка,
заяц - зайцы.
Some morphonological alternations occur in Uzbek too:
past «low» - pasaymoq «to be low» sust «weak», susaymoq «to
weaken», ulu «great» - ulg’aymoq «to be great», son «number»
- sanoq «counting», o'qi «read», o'quv «reading».
A kind of prefexation in reduplication of an initial syllable
with one of the consonants, frequently with /p, s, r, mJ , occur in
Turkish2 and Uzbek, probably, in other Turkic language as well, e.
g. in Turkish sap-sari, in Uzbek sap-sariq (extra-yellow), in
Turkish dos-dogru, in Uzbek to'p-to'g'ri or tppa-tri (very
correct), in Turkish bem-beyar, in Uzbek oppoq (extra-white). In
compounding, some alternations occur at the junctural border of
morphemes, e. g. no one /пдп/, Uzbek: bu kun - bugun «to-day».
An adequate morphonological description of alternations
may contribute to establishing some internal phenomenon of a
language, which has theoretical and practical value in general lin­
guistics.

1 JI.A. Телегин. Морфонологическое использование английского словесного уда­


рения. Самарканд, 1976, с. 56-59.
2 Н. Sebilktekin. Turkish-English Contrastive Analysis. Turkish Morphology and Corre­
sponding English Structures. Mouton, 1971, pp. 20, 28.
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR
DISCUSSION AT SEMINARS

Seminar № 1. Phonetics as a tic spectrum? What is a formant


Branch of Linguistics. structure of a sound?

1.1. What does the term «lan­


guage» denote?
What is the distinction between What do we mean by harmonics
the system and the structure of a (or overtones)?
language? Explain the instrumental meth­
What is the distinction between ods used in the acoustic aspect.
the terms «substance» and «form»? What is the difference between
What do we mean by the content quality and quantity features?
and expression? What forms of 1.3.3. Explain the perceptual
speech do you know? (auditory) aspect.
Will you give the definition of What does the term timbre de­
phonetics? Explain the theoretical note?
(scientific) and practical impor­ 1.3.4. What does phonological
tance of phonetics. What types of aspect study?
phonetics do you know?) What is the difference between
1.2. Explain the work of speech phonological aspect and phonetic
organs. aspect?
What is phonetic basis? How do What levels of phonetic and
we establish phonetic interference? phonological investigation do you
1.3. What aspects of phonetics know?
do we distinguish? What does segmental phonology
1.3.1. How do we define a study?
speech sound from the articulatory What does suprasegmental pho­
point of view? nology study?
What instrumental methods are Name the first founders of «the
used in the articulatory aspect? phoneme» concept. What is a pho­
1.3.2. What is a speech sound or neme? Give its definition.
an utterance from the acoustic What is an allophone? What is a
point of view? minimal pair? What is the phono­
What is fundamental frequency? logical opposition?
What is intensity (or loudness); What is the non-phonological
What is a filter? What is the acous- opposition?
Explain the principle of prelimi­ Seminar № 2. Phonological
nary phonological analysis. What Theories.
is a distinctive (phonologically
relevant) feature? What is a non- 2.1. Who is the founder of the
distinctive (phonologically irrele­ phonological theory? What periods
vant) feature? can be distinguished in the forma­
Why is the method of commuta­ tion of the phonological theory?
tion used? Explain I.A. Baudouin de Cour­
What is meant by distribution? tenay's phonological theory. How
What types of distribution do you did he define the phoneme? Ex­
know? plain the further development of
Explain the complementary dis­ I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay's the­
tribution? ory.
What purpose is contrast distri­ 2.2. Give L.V. Shcherba's defi­
bution used for? nition o f the phoneme. What are
Explain what free variation the theoretically and practically
means. What is meant by phono- important ideas suggested by L.V.
tactics? Shcherba? What phonological
1.4. Why do we use transcrip­ school develops L.V. Shcherba's
tion? What types of transcription theory? Who applied L.V.
do you know? Shcherba's theory to English?
What forms of transcription are 2.3. Give the definition of the
used in English? phoneme by the Moscow Phono­
Explain the difference between logical school.
phonetic and phonological tran­ What marked differencies exist
scriptions. between the theories of St. Peter-
1.5. With what other fields of burg and Moscow phonological
science is phonetics connected? schools?
What is the relationship between Who suggested the term «pho­
phonetics (phonology) and other nemic line» and what does this
branches of linguistics? What term mean?
means of non-linguistic communi­ What does hyperphoneme
cation do you know? What compo­ mean? Is the phoneme a bundle of
nents of the phonetic and distinctive features? Why? What is
phonological structure do you morphonology?
know? 2.4. What representatives of the
Explain the difference between Prague phonological school do you
linguistic and non-linguistic re­ know?
lationship. Explain the types of oppositions.
What definition of a phoneme was
given by N.S. Trubetzkoy? What units in paradigmatic and syntag­
rules for the determination of indi­ matic levels?
vidual phonemes and phoneme What functions of the phono­
combinations have been suggested logical units do you know? What is
by this theory? a constitutive function? Give an
Give the classification of phono­ explanation of the distinctive func­
logical oppositions in relation to tion. What is a delimitative func­
the entire system of oppositions? tion? Is recognitive function
What types of oppositions are important?
distinguished according to the rela­ What do we mean by functional
tionship between their members? load?
What oppositions do we distin­ How do we measure a functional
guish according to the distinctive load?
force and their occurrance in dif­ What is a power of opposition?
ferent positions? What is phono­ Is statistic data important in estab­
logical neutralization? lishing the functional load and
What is the meaning of archi­ power of opposition?
phoneme?
2.5. Give D. Jones' explanation Seminar № 3. The Principal
of a phoneme. Types of English Pronunciation.
Why do we call D. Jones'theory
an acoustic one? What members of 3.1. What is a national lan­
the phoneme were suggested by D. guage? What is a literary variant of
Jones? Why is the semantic func­ a language?
tion of a phoneme important? What is dialectology?
What phonological approach was What is an orthoepic norm?
suggested by J. Firth? 3.2. Explain three principal
2.6. What phonological trends types of English pronunciation dis­
exist in the USA? tinguished on the British Isles?
Explain the basic phonological What is the Southern English pro­
ideas of descriptive phonology? nunciation?
What is meant by phonotag­ Why has RP been chosen as a
memics? standard for teaching in many
2.7. Give an explanation of countries? Where is Northern Eng­
paradigmatic relations. lish spread?
Give an explanation of syntag­ Explain the Northern English
matic relations. pronunciation.
What can be studied by the What are the marked features of
categorization of phonological the Scottish type of pronunciation
in comparison with RP? What pro­
nunciation features exist in the features of New Zealand English
Cockney dialect? are known?
3.3. What pronunciation types 3.4.4. What is known about the
exist in the USA? South African pronunciation? In
Where is Eastern American pro­ what countries is English spoken?
nunciation spread? What are its 3.5. What is idialect?
features? What pronunciation fea­ What is bilingualism? What
tures exist in Southern America? does school phonetics study?
What is called the «Southern What does comparative-
drawl»? typological phonetics study? What
What pronunciation type is ac­ other terms are used instead of it?
cepted as literary in the USA? Ex­ What intradialectal phonetic
plain the marked differencies bet­ variations are used in English?
ween RP and GA vowels. What What do the terms diaphone, idio-
marked differencies exist between phone and variphone denote? What
RP and GA consonants? type of English pronunciation do
Explain the pronunciation of you study?
GA /г/. 3.6. Explain the stylistic variants
What differencies exist between of pronunciation.
the distribution of vowel (or con­
sonant) phonemes in RP and GA? Seminar № 4. The System of
Draw the vowel charts of RP and Consonant Phonemes.
GA.
What main differencies exist in 4.0. What is the distinction betwe­
the notation of phonetic symbols en a vowel and a consonant sound?
given by British and American lin­ 4.1. Explain the general princi­
guists? ples o f the classification of conso­
What are the marked differen­ nants;
cies in word accentuation between What types of consonant pho­
RP and GA. nemes may be distinguished ac­
What is called spelling - pro­ cording to the place of
nunciation? Give examples from articulation?
RP and GA. What types of consonant pho­
What differencies exist between nemes are distinguished on the ba­
RP and GA intonation? sis o f the manner of articulation?
3.4.1. Explain the main features What pairs of consonant pho­
of Canadian pronunciation. nemes are distinguished according
3.4.2. What do you know about to presence or absence of voice?
the Australian pronunciation? What consonant phonemes are dis­
3.4.3. What main pronunciation tinguished according to the posi­
tion of the soft palate? What dif­ What opposition is called equi­
ferencies exist in the inventaries of pollent? Give examples.
consonant phonemes of English What opposition is neutraliz­
and Uzbek (or Russian)? Explain able?
the main differencies between the Can we use the term archipho­
articulations of English and Uzbek neme in English?
(or Russian) consonants. What is an altemophoneme7
Draw the chart of consonant 4.2.3. What are four major
phonemes. classes of phonemes in the di­
4.2.1. What is a simple (double, chotomic classification?
complex) opposition? Explain the correlation between
Give the phonological opposi­ acoustic and articulatory terms in
tions (mainly single) of consonants the dichotomic theory.
according to the place of articula­ 4.2.4. What allophonic varia­
tion. tions of consonant phonemes are
4.2.2. What phonological oppo­ distinguished in English?
sitions exist between the English What is the distinction between
(and Uzbek) consonants according aspirated and nonaspirated allo­
to the manner of production? phones? Explain their distribution.
How many affricate phonemes
are there in English? Explain the Seminar № 5. The System of
phonological status of affricates. Vowel Phonemes.
Will you compare the functional
load and power of oppositions of 5.1. Explain the general princi­
some English consonant pho­ ples of classifying vowels. What
nemes? classes of vowels are distinguished
What consonant oppositions by the horizontal movement of the
may be established on the basis of tongue? What classes of vowels
the relationship between opposi­ are distinguished by the neight of
tions in the entire system of oppo­ the tongue?
sitions in English? What consonant What vowels are rounded (and
oppositions exist between English unrounded)?
consonants according to the char­ Are there quantitative distinc­
acter of its members? tions between English vowels?
What is a bilateral (or multilat­ What vowels are tense (and lax)?
eral) opposition? Give examples. What is the difference between
What opposition is called priva­ checked and free vowels? Give the
tive? Give examples. Are there any classification of English vowels
gradual opposition in English? according to the stability of their
Give examples. articulation? What are the main
differrencies in classifications of What do we mean by reduction?
English, Russian and Uzbek vow­ What types of reduction may be
els? Draw the vowel chart of Eng­ distinguished?
lish (Uzbek, Russian). Explain the 5.3. What phonological opposi­
articulatory correlates of the acous­ tions (mainly single) exist among
tic distinctive features. English vowels according the hori­
What acoustic distinctive fea­ zontal (and vertical) movement of
tures of vowels exist in English the tongue? What other types of
(Russian and Uzbek)? What is es­ oppositions exist among English
sential in the acoustic classification vowels?
of vowels? 5.2. What subsystems
of vowels may be distinguished Seminar № 6. The Syllabic
within the system of English vowel Structure of English.
phonemes?
5.2.1. Explain the phonematic 6.1. What is a syllable?
value of vowel-length in English. What functions of the syllables
Is vowel-length a distinctive do we distinguish?
feature in English? What differ­ 6.2. What principles do we use
ences exist in the distribution of in the classification of syllables?
long and short vowels? What types of syllables exist in
What is the relationship between English (Uzbek and Russian)?
the features long-short, tense-lax, 6.3. How do you explain the re­
free-checked? lationship between a syllable and a
5.2.2. What [approaches exist in morpheme?
the explanation of the [phonologi­ 6.4. What theories of syllable
cal status of English' diphthongs? formation and syllable division ex­
Explain the phonological interpre­ ist in modem linguistics? How did
tation of English diphthongs ac­ the ancient theory explain a sylla­
cording to the unit-theory. What is ble? Explain the expiratory theory
the main argument in the explana­ of a syllable.
tion of phonological status of diph­ What principle was suggested by
thongs suggested by American the sonority theory of a syllable?
linguists? What vowels are un­ Explain F. de Soussure's sylla­
stressed? Explain the phonological ble theory.
status of /э/. What components of the sylla­
How do you explain the pho­ ble have been defined by the theo­
netic approach to unstressed vow­ ries refered to? Explain the
els? syllable theory suggested by L.V.
Shcherba? What is the peak of the
syllable?
Give the phonological definition ponents of word stress? What is
of a syllable. the difference between word stress
6.5. What consonants are syl­ and sentence stress?
labic in English? 7.2. What types of word stress
What consonant clusters may are distinguished by its position?
form separate syllables? Explain What differencies exist between
the contrast syllable vs. no - sylla­English, Russian and Uzbek word
ble. Axe there any syllabic conso­ stress depending on its position?
nants in Uzbek or Russian? Does How many degrees of word stress
the syllable division depend on the are distinguished in English? What
character of checked-free vowels? is the opinion of British and
What is a syllabeme? American linguists concerning the
6.6. What is a juncture and what degrees of English word stress?
types of luncture do we distin­ 7.3. Why is the semantic factor
guish? important in English word stress?
Is syllable division distinctive in How do you explain the mor­
English? Give examples. phological factor of word stress?
What do we mean by the action of
Seminar № 7. Word Stress. rhythmic factor? Why is rhythmic-
accentual structure regarded a
7.1. What is meant by word component of the phonetic struc­
stress? What does the term accen­ ture of a word? What is a recessive
tual structure (type, pattern) mean? accent and how do we distinguish
How is word stress defined from its types? What is a rhythmical
the articulatory point of view, stress? Give examples.
acoustically and perceptually? Explain the retentive tendency
What main types of word stress ex­ of word stress?
ist in languages? What type of What changes are taking place in
word stress is used in English present-day English word accen­
(Russian and Uzbek)? tuation?
What is the culminative function How do you define free varia­
of word stress? tion of accentual patterns? Give ex­
What is the difference between amples.
syllable-counting and mora count­ 7.4. What functions does word
ing languages? stress perform?
What components of word stress What is the difference between
do you know? morphological and demarcative
What differences exist between stress?
English, Russian and Uzbek ac­ What is a word-accenteme?
cording to the action of the com­ Give examples.
Give minimal pairs, illustrating 8.2. What is a tonetic transcripti­
the contrast between primary and on? Explain R. Kingdon's tonetic
weak word-accentemes. Is a de­ notation.
limitative function of word stress Explain L.E. Armstrong and I.C.
important in English? What is your Ward's tonetic notation. What
opinion of the matter with regards marks are used in the tonetic nota­
to Russian and Uzbek? tion of intonation by British lin­
Are there any stress alternations guists? Explain tonetic notation
in English word derivation? Give suggested by American linguists.
examples. 8.3. What functions does speech
What accentual patterns of Eng­ melody perform?
lish words are distinguished? What 8.3.1. What is a toneme (in­
is the I-st (И, III, IV, V, VI, VII, toneme)? What is an allotone?
VIII, IX, X, XI, XII) accentual pat­ What differencies exist in the re­
tern? alization of speech melody be­
tween English, Russian and
Seminar № 8. Intonation. Uzbek? Explain their presentation
pattern.
8.1. What is intonation? Give its What pitch ranges are distin­
definition by British and American guished in English?
linguists. What components of in­ 8.3.2. What functions of sen­
tonation do you know? tence-stress exist?
What is intonology (or in- What does the term accentual
tonological typology)? What pro­ structure of a sentence mean?
sodic types of interference do you What do we mean by timbre? Why
know? What aspects of intonation is rhythmic structure important in
do you know? intonation? Explain the tempo of
What is phonostylistics (intona­ speech and its types.
tional stylistics)? What is the text- What function does pausation
forming function of intonation? perform?
What functions of intonation do 8.4. What emphatic intonation
we distinguish? means exist in English?
How do you define a sense- How is the principle of compen­
group? sation defined?
Why is the recognitive function What do we mean by emphasis
of intonation important? What and what types of it are distin­
methods of indicating and describ­ guished?
ing intonation exist in English? What variation of intonation
components perform emotional
function?
How does speech melody func­ 9.2. What other combinatory
tion in emphatic intonation? positional changes do you know,
8.5. What is paralinguistics? besides assimilation?
What paralinguistic means ex­ What do we mean by adapta­
ist? What is the difference between tion? When do rounded allophones
prosodic and paralinguistic fea­ of consonant phonemes occur?
tures of speech? When do fully back allophones of
What voice quality features are consonant phonemes occur? How
paralinguistic? does the dark /1/ influence a vowel
What kinds of tenseness are articulation?
paralinguistic? What is meant by dissimilation?
What types of articulation are Give examples.
regarded paralinguistic? What does What is an elision? Give exam­
the distribution of paralinguistic ples.
features depend on? What is haplology? Give exam­
Seminar № 9. Combinatory- ples.
Positional Changes.
Seminar № 10. Phoneme and
What do the combinatory- Stress AlternationdVlorphonology.
positional changes depend on? Is
there any speech effort economy? What is morphonology? Has it a
9.1. What is meant by assimila­ unit of its own? What does mor­
tion? What is the difference be­ phonology study? What phoneme
tween assimilation and adaptation alternations are regarded morpho­
(or accomodation)? nological? What stress alternations
What types of assimilation may are regarded morphonological?
be distinguished, affecting the Give an explanation of regular
place of articulation (the manner of phonetic and historical alterna­
production, the work of vocal tions. Give examples. What types
chords, and the position of the of morphonological alternations do
lips)? Give examples. What types we distinguish? Do morphonologi­
of assimilation may be distin­ cal alternations depend on the con­
guished according to degree? What text or other factors?
types of assimilation may be dis­ How is the English suffixation
tinguished according to direction? realized in different morphemes?
Explain the difference between Does the alternation of stress de­
historical and contextual assimila­ pend on adding different suffixes?
tions. Explain the morphonological func­
tion of word stress. Give examples.
GLOSSARY OF ENGLISH-RUSSIAN-UZBEK
PHONETIC TERMS

Abrupt change in pitch [эЪ глр^/етс^ av 'pit}] - крутой сдвиг


высоты тона. Перерыв постепенности мелодии. Резкое
изменение (обычно повышение) голоса, прерывающее
постепенность движения мелодии и вызывающее в пре­
делах смысловой группы (в синтагме) различные моди­
фикации ее смыслового содержания.
Топ balandligining tsatdan o'zgarishi. Ton (odatda
ko'tariladi) ohangning izchilligini o'zgartirib, ma'no gruppasi
ichida (sintagmada) ma'noning turlicha o'zgarishiga olib
keladi.
Accenteme ['aeksenti:m] - акцентема. Дистинктивная функция
словесного ударения, позволяющая дифференцировать
слова по месту и степени ударения. Напр., 'present -
pre'sent считаются словоакцентемами (word-accenteme).
В предложении выделяются фразоакцентемы (phrase-
accenteme). Is there any 'mistake here? Is there any M iss
Take here?
Aksentema. So'zlami urg'uning o'mi va darajasiga ko'ra
farqlashga xizmat qiluvchi birlik. Masalan: 'present -
pre'sent aksentema hisoblanadi. Gapda frazoaksentemalar
belgilanadi: Is there any 'mistake here? Is there any Miss
Take here?
Accentual pattern ['aeksentjual 'paetan] (type, structure) - Ак­
центная модель (тип, структура). Схема расположения
степени и места ударения в слове или фразе.
S o ' z yoki iborada urg'uning o'mi va darajasining joylanish
sxemasi.
Accomodation [3,kom3'deij(3)n] (Adaptation) - аккомодация.
Взаимное приспособление артикуляции разнотипных
звуков в речи.
Akkomodatsiya. Turli tovushlar artikulyatsiyasining nutqda
o'zaro moslashuvi.
Acoustics [aku:stiks] (Acoustic Phonetics) - акустика. Раздел
физики, исследующий звуковые волны и, следователь­
но, имеющий отношение к фонетике (Акустическая фо­
нетика).
Akustika. Fizikaning tovush to'lqinini o'rganadi va shu
sababli fonetika bilan bog’iiq (Akustik fonetika).
Affricate [ 'aefrikeit] - аффрикат. Звук, образуемый двумя эле­
ментами и имеющий смычное начало и щелевой конец.
В англ. [tf, d3], в русск. (тш, дж, тс).
Affrikatlar - birinchi elementi portlovchi va ikkinchi ele-
menti sirg'aluvchi tovushlardan iborat bo'lgan murakkab
tovushlar. Masalan: ch(tsh), j(dj), ts(ts).
Alloaccenteme [aeb'aeksenti:m] - аллоакцентема. Вариант уда­
рения, различающегося по степени; замена третьесте­
пенного ударения второстепенным.
Alloaksentema. Urg'uning darajasi bo'yicha farqlanadigan
varianti; uchinchi darajali urg'uni ikkinchi darajali urg'u bi­
lan almashtirish.
Allochrone Гаг1экгэип] - аллохрон. Вариант фонемы, опреде­
ляемый только по долготе - краткости.
Alloxron - fonemaning faqat cho'ziq-qisqaligi bilan
aniqlanadigan variantlari.
Allophone ['геМэип] - аллофон или основной вариант фоне­
мы. Один из основных представителей фонемы, реали­
зуемый в различных звуках речи. Напр., в англ. языке
придыхательные [ph, th, kh] и непридыхательные [р, t, к]
звуки являются аллофонами фонем [р, t, к]; по дополни­
тельной дистрибуции они встречаются в различных по­
зициях.
Allofon yoki fonemaning asosiy varianti. Nutqning turli
tovushlarida namoyon bo'luvchi fonemalarining bir
ko'rinishi. Masalan, undoshlar bilan birikib kelgan - [p, t, k]
aspiratsiyalashmagan va unlilardan oldin kelgan [ph, th, kh]
aspiratsiyali tovushlar [p, t, k] fonemalarining allofonlaridir.
To'ldiruvchi distributsiyaga ko'ra, ulaming biri qo'llanilgan
holatda, ikkinchisi ishlatilmaydi.
Alternophoneme [,э:иэ:пэТэш :т] - альтернофонема. Фоне­
мы, чередуемые между глухими и звонкими согласны­
ми, но полностью не переходящие ни в одну из них.
Напр., звонкие согласные в англ. языке в конце слов ог­
лушаются, но не становятся полностью глухими.
Altemofonema. Jarangli va jarangsiz fonemalar oralig'idagi
fonema, biroq u to'la jarangciz bo'la olmaydi. Masalan,
ingliz tilida so'z oxiridagi jarangli undoshlar ana shunday
xususiyatga ega.
Alveolar ['advnda] consonants - альвеолярные согласные, об­
разуемые путем прижимания кончика языка к альвео­
лярной дуге. Напр., англ. (t, d, 1, n).
Tanglay (alveolyar) undoshlari - tilni qattiq tanglayga
bosish orqali hosil bo’luvchi undoshlar. Masalan, ingliz
tilidagi (t, d, n, 1) kabi tovushlar.
Archiphoneme [,а:кцТэцщ т] - архифонема. Фонологическая
единица, определяемая сходством двух фонем, снятием
противопоставления фонем в позиции нейтрализации.
Напр., луг - лук, пруд - прут г/к=к, д/т=т выступают как
архифонемы.
Arxifonema. Ikki fonemaning xshashligi yoki
neytralizasiyalashuvi holatida oppozitsiyaning yqolishi
natijasida hosil bo'lgan fonologik birlik. Masalan, kitob
(kitop) so'zida b/p=p arxifonema hisoblanadi.
Assimilation [э^цтД ёқд] - ассимиляция. Уподобление. Каче­
ственное сближение смежных звуков (согласных), вы­
зываемое взаимовлиянием фаз артикуляции соседних
звуков.
Assimilatsiya - yondosh (undosh) tovushlaming artikulyat-
sion fazalarining o'zaro ta'siri natijasida ulardan birining si­
fat jihatdan ikkinchisiga yaqinlashuvi.
Bilabial [Ьан^ецЬф consonants - губно-губные согласные (p, b,
w, m). Lab-lab undoshlar (bilabial) - yuqori va pastki lab-
laming jipslashuvi natijasida hosil bo'luvchi undoshlar.
Masalan: (b, p), inglizcha (w, b, p).
Bilingualisnv [Ъацкц1э1цгт] билингвизм - 1) двуязычие; 2)
влияние двух языков.
Bilingvizm - 1) ikki tilda szlashuv; 2) ikki tilning bir-
biriga o'zaro ta'siri.
Central phrase of articulation - ['sentral Тещ av 'a:tikju:lenji]
выдержка; основная фаза артикуляции звука речи.
O'rta faza - nutq organlarining talaffuzdagi asosiy holati.
Central vowels ['sentrel' vaualz] - гласные центрального ряда,
при произношении которых форма языка характеризу­
ется так называемым плоским профилем средних и низ­
ких укладов. Русск. (а), (ы).
Til o'rta qator unlisi - talaffuzida til og'izning o'rta qismida
yassi shaklda pastroq holatda harakat qiluvchi tovush.
Masalan, rus tilidagi (ы), (a).
Checked vowels ['tjakt 'vaualz] - Усеченные гласные, артику­
ляция которых внезапно прерывается последующим со­
гласным в односложных закрытых слогах: pit, pet, cut.
Talaffuzi yopiq bo'g'inli so'zlarda keyingi undosh bilan
uzilib qoluvchi unlilar: pit, pet, cut.
Closed syllable [ klauzd 'silabl] - закрытый слог, заканчивае­
мый на согласный звук.
Yopiq bin - undosh tovushga tugagan bin.
Close vowel [klsuz 'vausl] - закрытый гласный, образуемый
при высоком подъеме языка. Напр, англ. (i:, i, u, u:),
русск. (и), (у), узб. (i), (и).
Yopiq unli - dining ancha yuqoriga ko'tarilishi natijasida
hosil bo'luvchi unli tovush. Masalan: (i), (u).
Combinatory changes [k a m b m sts n ’tj'eind3] - комбинаторные
изменения (аккомодация, ассимиляции, диссимиляция,
диэреза, эпентеза).
Kombinator o'zgarishlar (akkomodatsiya, assimilatsiya,
dissimilatsiya, diereza, epenteza).
Complementary distribution [,kompli'mentan 'distribjujn] -
дополнительная дистрибуция, состоящая во взаимном
исключении разных воспроизведений одной и той же
структурной единицы, каждая из которых встречается в
своем окружении.
To'ldiruvchi distributsiya. Bir til birligiga tegishli xilma-xil
elementlaming turlicha ishlatilishini aniqlovchi distributsiya
turi. Masalan, aspiratsiyali ( p \ th, kh) unlilardan oldin, aspi-
ratsiyasiz [p, t, k] boshqa o'rinlarda ishlatiladi va shu sababli
[p, t, k] fonemalarining allofonlaridir.
Complete assimilation [ksm 'plrt 3 ,sim ileijn ] - полная ассими­
ляция. Полное уподобление одного звука под влиянием
другого.
To’liq assimilatsiya, ya'ni tovushlaming o'zaro ta’siri
natijasida to'la holda bir tipga o'tishi.
Comparative-typological method [kampaerstiv taipolod3ik3l
meGsd] (contrastive, confrontative) - Сравнительно­
типологический (констрастивный, конфронтативный)
метод, изучающий языки независимо от их генетическо-
-2 2 6 -
го происхождения и устанавливающий путем сравнения
их различительные и родственные черты. Обычно под
этим методом понимают сравнение двух языков в фоне­
тическом, грамматическом и стилистическом аспектах.
Напр., сопоставительная фонетика русского и узбекско­
го языков.
Qiyosiy-tipologik metod (ba'zan kontrastiv yoki
konfrontativ metod deyiladi) - tillaming qarindoshligidan
qat'i nazar ulardagi o'xshash va farqli alomatlami aniqlash
metodi. Odatda, qiyosiy metod nomi bilan ikki yoki undan
ortiq tillaming fonetik, grammatik, leksik va stilistik
xususiyatlarini chog'ishtirib o’rganish tushuniladi. Masalan:
rus va o'zbek tillarining qiyosiy grammatikasi.
Comparative-typological (contrastive, confrontative)
phonetics - сравнительно-типологическая фонетика.
Тип фонетики, сравнивающий два или более разносис­
темных языков.
Qiyosiy-tipologik fonetika. Ikki yoki undan ortiq tillaming
fonetik sistemasini qiyosiy o'rganish.
C onjunct opposition [kan'd3/\i)kt,Dp3'zibn] - однородная (го­
могенная) оппозиция, т.е. оппозиция различающаяся
только одним релевантным признаком. Оппозиции бы­
вают привативными, градуальными и эквиполентными.
Напр, [р - f],[t - 0], [d - б], [k - h], [р - 1], [b - V], [b - d],
[f —0], [v - 5]. Bir turdagi (gomogen) oppozitsiya a'zolari;
faqat bir relevant belgiga asoslangan oppozitsiya. Oppozit-
siyalar privativ, gradual va ekvipolent bo'ladi. Masalan, [p -
f], [b - v], [t - 0], [d - 9], [k - h,] [p - 1], [b - d], [f - 0], [v -
6].
Constitutive function [Iconstitju tiv Тлдк1эп] - конститутивная
(материально-образующая) функция, т.е. использование
единиц низкого порядка для образования единиц выс­
шего порядка. Напр., фонемы образуют материальную
сторону морфем, слов и фраз.
Konstitutiv (material jihatini hosil qilish) funksiyasi, ya'ni
tildagi quyi birliklar yuqori birliklaming material jihatini
hosil qiladi. Masalan, morfemalar, so'zlar va iboralar
fonemalaming birikuvidan tashkil topadi.
Constrictive [kan'stnktiv] consonants - щелевые согласные,
звуки с неполной преградой. Напр, [f, v, s, z, I, 3, h).
-2 2 7 -
To'la to'siqda uchramay hosil bo’luvchi sirg'aluvchi
undoshlar. Masalan, (s, z, sh, j, x, h, g').
Content [Tcontent] - план содержания. Внутренняя (смысло­
вая, понятийная) сторона языка.
Tilning mazmun plani - tildagi elementlaming ma'no-
mazmun jihati.
Culminative function [Tculmineitiv Тлцк|эп] - кульминативная
функция. Особенности звукового выражения, служащие
для выделения слов и их соединений в речевой цепи.
Напр., словесное ударение в английском, русском и уз­
бекском языках.
Kulminativ funksiya. So'zlar va ulaming birikmalarini
nutqdagi tovush jihatdan ifodalanishini ajratib ko'rsachish.
Masalan, ingliz, rus va o'zbek tillarida so'z urg'usi ana
shunday funksiyani bajaradi.
Dental [dentl] consonants - зубные (дентальные) согласные,
артикулируемые путем образования переднеязычно­
зубных преград. Напр., русск. (т, д, с, з).
Tish (dental) undoshlari - til uchi pastki tishlarga tegizilishi
natijasnda hosil bo'luvchi undoshlar. Masalan: (t, d, s, z)
kabi.
Descriptive linguistics ['diskriptiv liquistiks] - дескриптивная
лингвистика. Направление исследования языка в США.
(Его видные представители: Ф. Боас, Л. Блумфильд, 3.
Харрис В др.).
Deskriptiv tilshunoslik oqimi. AQSHdagi tilni o'rganish
oqimi. (Uning ko'zga ko'ringan namoyandalari F. Boas, L.
Blumfild, Z. Xarris kabilardir.)
Delimitative function ['dehmiteitiv f/vgkjsn] - делимитативная
(разграничительная) функция - функция обозначающая
границы между последовательными единицами. Напр.:
К Ире - Кире.
Delimitativ (chegaralash) funksiyasi - ketma-ket kelgan bir-
liklami chegaralash. Masalan: yotoq oldi - yota qoldi.
Diaphone ['daisfaun] - диафон. Аллофон определенной фоне­
мы, произносимый неодинаково различными людьми,
говорящими на данном языке.
Diafon. Turli kishilar tomonidan bir xil talaffuz
qilinmaydigan ma’lum fonema allofoni.
Diphthong ['dif0or)] - дифтонг. Сочетание двух гласных, про­
износимых единой артикуляцией как один слог.
Diftong - bir bin sifatida yagona artikulatsiya bilan talaf­
fuz qilinadigan ikki unli tovush birikmasi.
Diphihongoid ['difQoqoid] - дифтонгоид. Гласные с признака­
ми тембрального скольжения, в произношении которых
имеется неустойчивая артикуляция. В англ. языке [i:],
[u:]. Diftongoid. Diftonglashgan unlilarning talaffuzi
muayyan emasligi. Masalan, inglizcha [1 :], [u:].
Disjunct opposition ['disdSAqkt] - неоднородные (негомоген­
ные) о п п о з и ц и и , т.е. различающиеся только двумя или
более релевантными признаками. Напр., [р- v], [b - f], [b
- t ] , [ p - d ] , [ m - b ] , [b —к].
Наг xil turdagi (gomogen bo'lmagan) oppozitsiya - a'zolari
ikki va undan ortiq relevant belgilarga asoslangan oppozit­
siya. Masalan: [p- v], [b —f], [b —t], [p - d], [m - b], [b -
к].
Dissimilation ['disimileijan] - диссимиляция. Расподобление.
Замена одного из двух одинаковых по артикуляции зву­
ков звуком иной артикуляции, но сходным по тембру.
Dissimilatsiya - bir tipdagi ikki tovushdan birining artiku-
lasiyasi o'zgarishi natijasida ikkinchisining moslashuvi.
Distinctive function ['distiqktiv Тлцк/эп] - дистинктивная
(дифференциальная, различительная, семиологическая,
сигнафикативная) функция. Главная функция фоноло­
гических единиц (фонем, силлабем, акцентем и инто-
нем) - различать особенности звучания единиц разного
семантического уровня. Distinktiv (differensial,
farqlanish, semiologik, signifikativ) funksiya. Fonologik
birliklaming (fonema, sillabema, aksentema, intonema) turli
semantik bosqichdagi birliklaming eshitilishini farqlash
uchun xizmat qilish funksiyasi.
Distributional method [.distn b ju jan al 'meGad] дистрибутив­
ный метод изучает место, сочетаемость, порядок, свой­
ства употребления элементов языка.
Distributiv metod - til elementlarining qllanishi, birikishi
va ishlatilishini o’rganadi.
Distinctive [ 'distirjktiv] (differential, phonological) features of
the phoneme - дистинктивный (дифференциальный,
фонологический) признак фонемы, т.е. артикуляцион-
-2 2 9 -
ные и акустические свойства, служащие для различения
одной фонемы от другой. Напр., (t - s) различаются дис-
тинктивным признаком смычно-взрывной и щелевой
звуки, а другие признаки не являются дистинктивными.
Fonemaning distinktiv (differensial, fonologik) belgisi - bir
fonemani ikkinchisidan farqlashga xizmat qiluvchi
artikulyatsion va akustik xususiyatlar. Masalan: tur - sur
so'zlarida (t) - (s) portlovchi - sirg'aluvchi belgilari
fonologik belgilar hisoblanadi. Boshqa belgilari fonologik
emas.
Dinamic stress (expiratory) [dai'nzemik 'stres] - динамическое
ударение, т.е. выделение ударных слогов силовой
акцентуацией (характерно для английского, русского,
узбекского языков).
Dinamik (kuch, ekspirator) uru - talaffuz kuchi bilan
uruli binni ajratish (ingliz, rus va o'zbek tillariga xos).
Enclitics [mklitiks] - Энклитика. Слитное фонетическое
единство безударного слова или слога предыдущего
ударного слова в произношении.
Enklitika - urg'usiz so'z yoki bo'g'inni urg'uli so'zdan keyin
qo'shib aytish.
Equipollent opposition ['lkwipobnt .ops'zifen] - эквиполентная
(равнозначная) оппозиция, оба члена которой логически
равноправны, т.е. не являются ни двумя ступенями ка-
кого-либо признака, ни утверждением или отрицанием
признака. Напр, [р - 1], [b - d].
Ekvipolent (teng huquqli) oppozitsiya, a'zolari logik
jihatdan teng, ya'ni biror belgining ikki turli darajasi,
belgining bor yoki yo'qligi bir xil bo'lgan oppozitsiya.
Masalan: [p - t], [b - d].
Expression (plane) [lks’prejen] - выразительность. Высокая
степень яркости и убедительности словесного выраже­
ния мысли, достигаемое средствами интонационного
оформления устной речи.
Ifodalilik, fikrni so'z bilan ifodalashdagi yorqinlik va
ishonchlilikning yuqori darajasi. Bunga og'zaki nutqni
intonatsiya vositalari bilan kuchaytirish orqali erishiladi.
Extralinguistics [,ekstrAliquistiks] - экстралингвистика. Ис­
следование функционирования и развития языка в от­
ношении к этническим, обшественно-истооическим,
географическим, социальным факторам.
Ekstralingvistika - tilning etnik, ijtimoiy-tarixiy, geografik,
sotsial va boshqa faktorlar xizmati va rivojlanishi bilan
bog'liq bo'lgan tomonlarini o'rganish.
Facultative (Optional) phoneme [ fsekaltstiv fsuniim] -
факультативная фонема. Вариант фонемы, регулярно
замещающий её в некоторых позициях (или ограничен­
ной группе слов) в речи носителей отдельных террито­
риальных или социальных разновидностей языка. В
англ. [м] или [hw] : [mitj] which [hwitl] • [ээ] заменяемая
обычно с [о:], считаются факультативными фонемами.
Fakultativ fonema. Ba'zi holatlarda (chegaralangan so'zlar
gruppasida) tilning alohida territorial va sotsial turida
so’zlashuvchilar tomonidan, doimiy ravishda almashtirilu-
vchi fonemaning varianti. Inglizcha [m], [hw], [ээ] fakulta­
tiv fonemalar bo'lib, [hw] va [o:] bilan almashtirilishi
mumkin.
Form (of expression) - форма выражения языка. Внутренняя
лингвистическая форма.
Tilning ifoda jihati. Ichki lingvistik forma.
Free (unchecked) vowel [fn:(/mtfekt) vausl - неусеченный
гласный. В английском языке долгие гласные и дифтон­
ги, встречающиеся как в открытом, так и в закрытом
слогах.
Talaffuzi bo'linmovchi unlilar. Ingliz tilida ochiq va yopiq
bo'g'inlarda ham erkin ishlatiladigan cho'ziq unlilar va
diftonglar.
Free variation (alternation) ['fri: Vfeneijan] - свободная ва­
риация (альтернация) - чередование, которое, не имея
дифференциального характера, не является также и по­
зиционно обусловленным. Напр.; обусловливать - обу­
славливать; калоша - галоша: direct [direkt, dairekt],
intonation [int9uneibn,int3nei.fn]. Erkin variatsiya (alter-
natsiya) - farqlanish xarakteriga va holatga bog'liq
bo'lmagan fonemalar almashinuvi. Masalan, Toshkent
shevasida kabob (kabop, kovop), cho'ziq (cho'ziq, cho'zuq)
kabi.
Fricative consonants [’fnkstiv] (Spirants) - щелевые соглас­
ные, производимые торможением воздуха при его про-
-231 -
хождении через образуемые органами артикуляции ще­
ли и сужения различной формы. Напр. англ. [s, z, 0, d, J,
3], русские (ш, ж, в, ф, х).
Sirg'aluvchi (frikativ, spirant) undoshlar - havo oqiminiig
to'siqdan sirg'alib o'tishi natijasida hosil bo'luvchi tovushlar.
Masalan: [s, z, v, x, sh, g', h, j] kabi.
Front vowels ['frAnt 'vaualz] - гласные переднего ряда, т.е.
гласные образуемые движением языка вперед. Напр.,
/i:/, /е/, /аг/.
Til oldi qator unlisi - talaffuzida til oldinga harakat etuvchi
tovush Masalan: [i], [e], [a].
Functional load of opposition ['fAqkJanal laud av 'opa'zijan] -
функциональная нагрузка оппозиции, определяемая
числом минимальных пар или частностью фонем.
Oppozitsiyaning funksional xizmati. U farqlanuvchi
minimal juftlaming soni va chastotasi bilan aniqlanadi.
Glottal stop ['glotl 'stop] - гортанная или глоттальная, смычка,
образуемая энергичным размыканием взрывом мышеч­
но-напряженных краев голосовых связок. Напр., patrie
['pastnk].
Havo oqimi va tovush paychalarining kuchli to'siq bilan
harakati natijasida bo'g'izda hosil bo'luvchi tovush. Masalan:
patrie ['paetnk].
Gradual opposition [graedjual ,opa'zi|an] - градуальная (сту­
пенчатая) оппозиция, члены которой характеризуются
различной степенью или градацией одного и того же
признака. Напр., англ. [г. - ае], [i - е], [и: - о], [р - k], [w
-g ]-
Gradual (poonali) oppozitsiya - a'zolari bir belgining turli
darajasi bilan izohlanuvchi oppozitsiya. Masalan, o’zb. [i -
a], [u - o] tilning ko'tarilish darajasi bilan shunday
oppozitsiyani tashkil etadi.
Half-close syllable ['haif-'klauz 'siUbl] - слог, заканчиваю­
щийся на сонант.
Yarim ochiq bin - sonor tovushga tugagan bin.
Half-open vowel [fta:f 'эирэп 'vaual] - полуоткрытый гласный,
образуемый при среднем подъеме языка. Напр., русск.
[е], англ. [а:, а], узб. [е], [о1].
Haplology [Ъаер1э1эё31] - гаплология. Выпадение одного из
двух одинаковых слогов слова. Напр., морфофонология
- морфонология.
Gaplologiya - ikki bir xil bo'g'inlardan binning tushirib
qoldirilishi. Masalan: morfofonologiya - morfonologiya.
Homophones [homafsunz] - омофоны. Разные слова, совпа­
дающие по звучанию.
Omofonlar. Aytilishi bir xil, lekin ma'nolari turlicha bo'lgan
so'zlar.
Hyperphoneme [Ъа1 рэТэиш:т] - гиперфонема. Фонологиче­
ская единица, определяемая в позиции нейтрализации
группой фонем. Напр., в русском языке а/о, и [и] высту­
пают как гиперфонемы.
Giperfonema. Neytralizatsiya holatida fonemalar gruppasi
bilan belgilanuvchi fonologik birlik. Masalan, rus tilida a[o]
va [i] giperfonemalardir.
Idiolect [ldiaulekt] - идиолект. Индивидуальная речь носителя
определенного языка.
Idiolekt. Ma'lum tilda so'zlovchining individual nutqi.
Idiophone [idia'faun] - идиофон. Один и тот же звук речи,
произносимый различно разными носителями.
Idiofon. Aynan bir nutq tovushining turli so'zlovchilar to­
monidan turlicha talaffuz qilinishi.
Incomplete Assimilation [ink3m'pli:t 3,similei|n] - неполная
ассимиляция, когда звуки уподобляются не полностью.
To'liq bo'lmagan assimilatsiya - tovushlaming o'zaro ta'siri
natijasida ulaming ba'zi belgilarining moslashuvi.
Instrumental ['mstru'msntal]. Experimental Method of Phonetics
- инструментальные (экспериментальные) методы фо­
нетики (исследование звуковых явлений с помощью ап­
паратур: осциллографа, спектрографа, рентгена,
кимографа и т.д.).
Eksperimental-fonetik metod (tovush xususiyatlarini alohida
apparatlar - kimograf, spektrograf, ossillograf, rentgen va
h.k. yordamida o'rganuvchi metod.)
Interdental [’mta'dentl] consonants - межзубные согласные,
артикулируемые путем выдвижения переднего края
языка между резцами верхней и нижней челюсти. Напр,
англ. [0, 5].
Tish o'rta undoshlari (interdental) - til uchi va tishlar
oralig'idan havo oqimi sirg'alib o'tuvchi undoshlar. Masalan,
ingliz tilida [0, 5].
Interference (Phonetic-Phonological) ['mtafsrans] - фонетико­
фонологическая интерференция. Влияние фонетических
явлений, одного языка на другой. Различаются [1] фо­
немные и [2] просодические и соответственно а) фонем­
ная, б) силлабическая, в) акцентологическая, г)
интонологическая, д) смежная типы интерференции.
Fonetik-fonologik interferensiya. Bir tildagi fonetik
hodisalaming ikkinchi tilga ta'siri. Asosan, (1) fonemik va
(2) prosodik va o'z navbatida (a) fonemik, (b) sillabik, (v)
aksentologik, (g) intonologik, (d) aralash interferensiya tur­
lariga bo'linadi.
Interlinguistics ['mtsliquistiks] - интерлингвистика. Изучение
явлений, относя щихся только к внутренней структуре
языка.
Interlingvistika - faqat tilnnng ichki strukturasiga tegishli
xususiyatlami o'rganish.
Intonation [.mta'neijn] - интонация. Сложное единство, харак­
терное для фразы, фонетических средств - мелодики,
ударения, темпа, тембра, ритма, паузации, для выраже­
ния различных смысловых и эмоциональных значений.
Intonatsiya - frazaga tegishli bo'lgan ovoz tempi, tembri,
nutq ritmi, melodika, urg'u, pauza kabi fonetik vositalaming
mazmun va emotsionallikni ifodalash uchun qo'llanuvchi
murakkab birligi.
Intoneme ['intauniim] - интонема. Фонологическая (просоди­
ческая) единицу, образуемая дистинктивной функцией
компонентов (обычно мелодики и ударения) интонации.
Intonema. Intonatsiyaning komponentlari tomonidan
farqlash funksiyasi (odatda melodika va urg'u) bilan hosil
bo'luvchi fonologik (prosodik) birlik.
Juncture ['d3Ar)ktb] - стык. Место, где два звука или слова
сочетаются. Напр., a name [a'neim] - an aim [эп 'eim], that
stuff [3set 'sufj - that's tuff [Ssets 'Uf].
Ikki tovush yoki so'zning qo'shib talaffuz etilish o'mi.
Masalan, uchta kam bir - uchta kampir.
Junction [УЗлд/эп] - стык. Соединение звуков или слов.
Tovush yoki so'zlarning qo'shib aytilishi.
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Kinetic [kai'netik] - кинетика - жесты, мимика.
Kinetika - mimika, imo-ishora.
Labial [laibial] (consonants) - лабиальные (губные) согласные,
включающие губно-губные и губно-зубные согласные.
Lab undoshlari (labial) - talaffuzida lablar ishtirok etuvchi
lab-lab va lab-tish undoshlar. Masalan: (b, f, v, m) kabi.
Labio-dental [laibia dentl] consonants - губно-зубные соглас­
ные.
Lab-tish undoshlar (labiodental) talaffuzida yuqori old tish-
lar va pastki lab ishtirok etuvchi undoshlar. Masalan, o’zb.
(f, v), inglizcha (f, v).
Lateral [laetaral] consonant or sonant - боковые согласные
или сонанты, при образовании которых в центральной
части полости рта образуются серединные затворы а по
бокам - широкие протоки, выводящие воздух наружу.
Напр., (1), (л). Oiz bshliining markaziy qismida havo
to'sig'ining chekka tomondan chiqishi bilan hosil bo'luvchi
yon undosh yoki sonant. Masalan, ingliz tilida (1) va o'zbek
tilida (1) undoshlari.
Lax [lacks] (Lenes) - слабый, вялый, (ненапряженный звук,
при произношении которого наблюдается расслаблен­
ность мышц языка, губ и стенок полостей. Английские
краткие гласные являются ненапряженными.
Kuchsiz. Talaffuzida til, lab va og'iz bo'shlig'ining devorlari
kuchsiz holatda bo'luvchi tovushlar. Ingliz tilidagi qisqa
unlilar kuchsiz hisoblanadi.
Logical stress [lod3ikal 'stres] - логическое ударение, т.е. вы­
деление одного из слов в предложении, определяющего
смысл всего высказывания.
Logik urg'u - nutqda biror so'zni ajratib ko'rsatish orqali
gapning ma'nosini ochiqroq qilish uchun qo'llanuvchi urg'u.
Melody ['meladi] мелодика - изменение, т.е. понижение или
повышение голоса.
Melodika - talaffuzda ovozning pasayishi va ko'tarilishi.
Minimal pairs ['minimal ’peaz] (of words, word combinations,
sentences) - Минимальные пары (слов, словосочетаний и
предложений), используемые для иллюстрации проти­
вопоставления фонологических единиц.
Minimal juftlikdagi (so'zlar, so'z birikmalari va gaplar) -
fonologik birliklami qarama-qarshi qo'yish uchun ishlatilu-
vchi misollar. Masalan, kel - sei, ber - ter, xol - hoi kabi.
Mixed Vowels ['mikst 'vaualz] «смешанные» гласные, обра­
зуемые при плоском положении языка, в котором как бы
участвуют оба выгиба спинки одновременно. Англ. [э:],
[э].
Aralash qator unlisi (yoki indifferent, inglizcha (mixed) - til
yassi holatda bo'lib, tilning oldinga yoki orqaga harakati
muayyan bo'lmagan unli. Masalan, ingliz tilida [э:], [э].
Monophthong ['monafGog] - монофтонг, Артикуляционно­
акустический устойчивый звук, характеризуемый
однородным тембром, в англ.: [i, е. ге, а:, о, о:, э:, и].
Monoftong. Artikulyatsion-akustik jihatdan muayyan talaffuzi
va tembriga ega bo'lgan tovush. Ingliz tilida [1 , e, ге, а:, о,
о:, э:, и].
Mora [_'тз:гэ] - мора. 1. Единица длительности, равная крат­
кому слогу или половине долгого. 2. Минимальный сег­
мент речи, могущий быть носителем просодического
элемента.
Mora. 1. Qisqa bin yoki cho'ziq bo'g'inning yarmiga teng
keluvchi birlik. 2. Prosodik element (urg'u) ga ega bo'la
oluvchi nutqning minimal segmenti.
Morphonology [,mo:f3'nolad3i] - морфонология. Уровень язи-
ка между фонологическим и морфологическим уровня­
ми, изучающий альтернации фонем в морфемах, не
обусловленных позиционно. Напр., рука - ручка.
Morfonologiya - fonologiya va morfologiya oraliidagi til
bosqichi bo'lib, pozitsion jihatdan bog'liq bo'lmagan
morfemalardagi tovush almashinuvlarini o'rganadi.
Macalan, tara - taroq, so'ra - so'roq kabi.
Musical (tonic, melodic) stress ['mju:zikal 'stres] -
музыкальное (тоновое, мелодическое) ударение. Выде­
ление слога высотой тона.
Muzikal (ton, melodik) urg'u ovoz tonining balandlashuvi
yordamida bin ajratish.
Nasal ['neizal] consonants - носовые согласные, при образо­
вании которых ток воздуха проходит через нос. Напр.,
[м], [п], [д].
Burun (nazal) undoshlar - talaffuzida havo oqimi burundan
o'tuvchi tovushlar. Masalan: [m], [n], [ng].
Non-distinctive feature of the phoneme [^л п 'distigktiv
'futfarav бэ ’f3uni:m] - недистииктивные (неразличи­
тельные, недифференциальные) признаки фонемы, т.е.
признаки, не служащие для различения фонем. Напр.,
различия между придыхательными [р \ th, kh] и непри­
дыхательными [р, t, к] звуками не служат для различе­
ния фонем, а считаются признаками их аллофонов,
находящихся в дополнительной дистрибуции.
Fonemaning fonologik bo'lmagan (farqlanmovchi) belgisi
bir fonemani ikkinchisidan farqlash uchun xizmat
qilmaydigan belgilar. Masalan: (t - k) oppozisiyasida fone-
malaming jarangsiz, portlovchi belgilari fonologik emas.
Occlusiye [3ldu:siv] consonants - смычные согласные, обра­
зуемые полной преградой тока воздуха в речевом кана­
ле. Напр., (р, t, k, b, d, g).
Portlovchi undoshlar. Ular nutq kanalida havo oqimi to'la
to'siqqa uchrashi bilan hosil bo'ladi. Masalan, (p, t, k, b, d,
g)-
Off set ['o:f set] - [Final phase of articulation - рекурсия -
конечная фаза артикуляции звука.
Rekursiya - nutq organlarining talaffuzidan keyingi bevosita
holatga qaytishi.
On set [ 'onset] (Initial Phase of articulation) - экскурсия - начя-
альная фаза артикуляции звука.
Ekskursiya - tovushlaming талаффузида nutq organlarining
boshlang'ich holati.
Open syllable ['эирэп 'sitabl] - открытый слог, т.е. слог
оканчивающийся на гласную.
Ochiq bin - unli tovushga tugagan bin.
Open vowel ['эирэп vaual] - открытый гласный, образуемый
при низком подъеме языка. Англ. [ае, а:, о, о:]; русск. [а]; узб.
[а], [о].
Ochiq unli - tilning ko'tarilishi past bo'lgan unli. Masalan,
o’zbekcha [а], [о].
Orthoepy [o:'09Uipi] - орфоэпия. Совокупность норм пра­
вильного литературного произношения.
Orfoepiya - to’g'ri adabiy talaffuz normalarining yig’indisi.
Palatalization [.paelatalai'zeijan] - палатализация; - смягчение
согласных. Напр., [ль] в слове пыль.
Palatalizatsiya - undoshlaming yumshatilishi. Masalan,
yumshoq [1].
Palatal consonants [psetatl] - согласные, произносимые с
подъемом средней спинки языка к твердому нёбу.
Напр., [j], [ль]. В русском языке мягкие (палатальные)
согласные считаются отдельными фонемами.
Yumshoq (palatal) undoshlar - til pushtining qattiq
tanglayga ko'tarilishi bilan talaffuz qilinuvchi tovushlar.
Masalan: o'zbekcha [у]. O'zbek tilida [1] ning yumshoq
talaffuzi alohida fonemani hosil qilmaydi.
Paradigmatics [paersdigmstiks] - парадигматика. Рассмотре­
ние единиц языка как элементов системы, как структур­
ных единиц, объединяемых в классы, группы и т.д., и их
противопоставления. Напр., [х - у].
Paradigmatika - tildagi birliklami uning sistemasida
birlashgan sinflar, gruppalar va h.k. tartibida qarab, ularni
o'zaro qarama-qarshi qo'yish. Masalan: [x - у].
Paralinguistics [.ргегэ' lirjuistiks] - Паралингвистика. Раздел
языкознания, изучающий жесты, мимику (кинесика) и
качество голоса (фонация) человека в совокупности.
Paralingvistika. Turli imo-ishora va mimika (kinesika)
hamda ovoz sifati (fonasiya) ni o’rganuvchi tilshunoslik
bo'limi.
Pausation ['po:zeibn] - паузация. Пауза. Разделение речи по
смысловым группам.
Pauza - nutqni ma'no gruppalariga bo'lib айтиш.
Pharyngal [fs'mjgal] consonant - фарингальный (щелевой) со­
гласный, т.е. согласный, образуемый в фарингальной
полости: анг. [h].
Biz (siraluvchi) undoshlar - havo oqimining bo’g’izda
hosil bo'lishi bilan talaffuz etiluvchi undoshlar. Masalan:
o'zb. [h], ingl. [h].
Phone (phonic) [Тэип] - фон (фонический) - звук речи (звуко­
вой).
Fon (fonik) - nutq tovushi (tovush jihati).
Phonetics [fa'netiks] - фонетика. Наука, изучающая звуковую
сторону языка.
Fonetika - tilning tovush jihatini rganuvchi fan.
- 23 8-
Phoneme [Тэиш:ш] - фонема - фонологическая единица.
Наименьшая единица системы языка, служащая для
различения слов и морфем. Напр., tall - ball, sit - lit.
Fonema. Fonologik birlik; so'zlar va morfemalami o'zaro
farqlashga xizmat qiluvchi eng kichik til birligi. Masalan:
kon - non, bir - kir kabi.
Phonetic (allophonic) transcription [fa'netik traenslcnpjan] -
фонетическая (аллофоническая) транскрипция, при ко­
торой один знак соответствует одному звуку. Например,
pen [pen], sit [sit].
Fonetik (allofonik) transripsiya - bir tovush bir belgi bilan
ko'rsatiluvchi transkripsiya. Masalan: kitob (kitop) kabi.
Phonology ['fanobd3i] - фонология - раздел фонетики, изу­
чающий функциональную-сторону звуковых явлений
языка.
Fonologiya - fonetikaning tildagi tovush jihatining funk­
sional tomonlarini o'rganuvchi bo'limi.
Phonological neutralization [.fauna lod3ik(3)l 'nju:tralai'zeijn] -
фонологическая нейтрализация. Нейтрализация фоноло­
гической оппозиции в тех позициях, где реализуется
только часть фонологических средств у данной оппози­
ции; условия для реализации архифонемы, гиперфоне­
мы и альтерфонемы. Напр., в словах луг - лук
оппозиция (г - к) нейтрализуется.
Fonologik neytralizatsiya. Fonologik oppozitsiyaning
ma'lum holatda neytralizatsiyaga uchrashi. Bu o'rinda
ma'lum oppozitsiyaning fonologik vositalaridan bir qismi
qo'llanadi: arxifonema, giperfonema va altemofonemaning
namoyon bo'lishi uchun sharoit yaratadi. Masalan: kitob (ki­
top) (b - p) oppozitsiyasi neytralizatsiyaga uchraydi.
Phonological (phonemic) opposition [,faun3'lod3ik(a)l
'opa'zibn] - фонологическая (фонематическая) оппози­
ция, т.е. различение слов и морфем с помощью проти­
вопоставления фонем. Напр, bet - set, ball - bought.
Fonologik oppozitsiya (yoki fonemalar oppozitsiyasi) -
fonemalami fonologik belgilari asosida qarama-qarshi
qo'yish orqali so’z va morfemalami farqlash. Masalan, bir -
sir kabi.
Phonological (phonematic) transcription [,f3unalod5ik(a)l
'traensknpfn] - фонологическая, (или фонематическая)
-2 39 -
транскрипция, при которой один знак соответствует
одной фонеме. Напр, [р] - Ipl.
Fonologik (fonematik) transkripsiya bir fonema bir belgi
tartibida yozib olishga asoslangan transkripsiya.
Physiological (Articulatory) Phonetics - физиологическая (ар­
тикуляторная) фонетика, изучающая артикуляционную
сторону звуковых явлений.
Fiziologik (artikulyator) fonetika, tovush hodisalarining ta­
laffuz jihatini o'rganadi.
Pluridimensional (multilateral) opposition [,plu:n'daimenbn3l]
- многомерная оппозиция, т.е. совокупность общих при­
знаков не ограничивается только членами данной оппо­
зиции, а распространяется и на другие члены той же
системы. Напр, в оппозициях [b — d — g], [р - t - к]
смычность - звонкость (глухость) - ленисность (фортис-
ность) повторяется в третьем члене оппозиции.
Ko'p o'lchovli oppozitsiya, ya'ni oppozitsiya a'zolariga
tegishli belgilar yig'indisi sistemadagi boshqa a'zolarga ham
xos bo’lgan oppozitsiya. Masalan, [b - d - g], [p - t - k] da
portlovchi - jarangli (jarangsiz) - kuchsiz (kuchli) belgilari
oppozitsiyalaming uchinchi a'zosiga ham xos.
Plosive ['plausiv] consonants - взрывные согласные, артикули­
руемые путем быстрого устранения полной преграды,
освобождающей сжатый в замкнутых полостях воздух.
Напр., [п, т, к, б, д, г].
Portlovchi undoshlar - havo oqimining qattiq to’siqqa
uchrashi bilan hosil bo'luvchi tovushlar. Masalan, [p, b, t, dj.
Power of opposition Граиэ av .opa'zifen] - сила оппозиции, т.е.
включение числа фонем в оппозицию. В зависимости от
числа фонем оппозиции различаются большей/меньшей
силой оппозиции.
Oppozitsiyaning kuchi, ya'ni oppozitsiyaga kiruvchi fone­
malar soni. Fonemalar soniga ko‘ra oppozitsiyalar kuchli va
kuchsiz bo'ladi.
Prague ['pra:g] Linguistic School - пражская лингвистическая
школа, функционально-структурное направление, иссле­
дующее отношение плана выражения и плана содержа­
ния языка. (Представителями являются: В. Матезиус,
Н.С. Трубецкой, В. Скаличка, Б. Трнка, И. Вахек и др.)
Praga maktabi - struktural-funksional oqim bo'lib, tilning
ifoda va mazmun tomonlari o'rtasidagi aloqani o'rganadi.
(Bu maktab namoyondalari V. Matezius, V. Skalichka, B.
Tmka, Y. Vaxek, N.S. Trubetskoy va boshqalar).
Privative opposition ['pnvstiv] - привативная оппозиция, один
член которой характеризуется наличием, а другой - от­
сутствием дифференциального признака. Напр., звонкий
- глухой, носовой - ротовой, огубленный - неогублен­
ный, твердость - мягкость.
Privativ oppozitsiya - bir a'zosi ma'lum farqlanish
belgisining borligini, ikkinchisi esa yo'qligini bildiruvchi
oppozitsiya. Masalan, jarangli - jarangciz, burun - og'iz,
lablangan - lablanmagan, yumshoq - qattiq.
Proclitics ['pr3(u)klitiksj - Проклитика. Безударное слово,
примыкающее к последующему ударному слову и обра­
зующее с ним слитное фонетическое единство.
Proklitika. Urg'usiz so'zni urg'uli bo'g'indan oldin qo'shib ta­
laffuz qilish.
Progressive assimilation [pra'gresiv a.simileijan] - прогрессив­
ная ассимиляция. Влияние предшествующего звука на
последующий звук: beds [bedz].
Progressiv assimilatsiya - oldingi tovush talaffuzining key­
ingi tovushga ta'siri: ketdi [ketti].
Prosodic [prasodik] elements - просодические элементы, т.е.
относящиеся к слогу, ударению и компонентам интона­
ции (мелодике, паузе, ритму, темпу, тембру). Исполь­
зуются также термины «сверхсегментные,
суперсегментные» элементы.
Prosodik element - bo'g'in, urg'u va intonatsiyaning kompo­
nentlari (melodika, urg'u, pauza, ritm, temp, tembr).
«tasegment, supersegment elementlar» terminlari ham
qo'llanadi.
Prosodies (Prosody) [pra'sodi] - раздел фонетики, изучающий
особенности слога, ударения и интонации. Общее на­
звание для сверхсегментных (суперсегментных) свойств
речи: высоты тона, длительности и громкости.
Prosodika (Prosodiya) - bo'g'in, urg'u va intonatsiyani ilmiy
tadqiq etuvchi fonetikaning bo'limi. Supersegment
vositalami, ya'ni tonning balandligi, cho'ziqlik va nutq
balandligini o'rganuvchi bo'limga berilgan umumiy nom.
-241 -
Phonostylistics [.fsunau'stailistiks] - фоностилистика. Раздел
стилистики, изучающий эмоционально-экспрессивные
средства произношения. Иногда ее часть, связанную с
интонацией, называют интонационной стилистикой.
Fonostilistika. Stilistikaning talaffuzdagi emotsional-
ekspressiv vositalami o'rganuvchi bo'limi. Intonatsiya bilan
bog'liq qismini ba'zan «Intonatsion stilistika» deb ham
ataladi.
Quantity reduction [Tcwontiti n'cLvkJan] - количественная
редукция. Сокращение длительности звука (гласного) в
безударном слоге.
Miqdor reduksiya. Urg'usiz bo'g'inlarda unlilar
chziqligining qisqarishi.
Quality reduction ['kwohti пУдк/эп] - качественная редукция,
при которой в безударном слоге гласные изменяют свои
качества (тембр).
Sifat reduksiyasi. Urg'usiz bo'g'inlarda unlilar sifati (tem-
bri)ning o'zgarishi.
Quantitative Stress [kwontitativ] (Accent by length) - количе­
ственное ударение, т.е. выделение слога (или слогов)
преимущественно долготой произношения.
Cho'ziqlik (kvantitativ) miqdoriy urg'usi, ya'ni bo'g'in (yoki
bo'g'inlar)ni cho'zib aytish orqali bo'g'inga ajratish.
Recessive stress [n 'sesiv] - рецессивное ударение, которое па­
дает на первый слог или на корневой слог слова.
Resessiv urg'u. Birinchi binga yoki sz zagiga
tushuvchi uru.
Recognitive function ['rekogmtiv Тлдк]эп] - рекогнитивная
(опознавательная) функция. Осознанное литературной
нормой произношение (звука, слога, ударения и интона­
ции), единое для всех представителей данного языка.
Rekognitiv (tyanib olish) funksiyasi. Adabiy norma sifatida
tanib olingan ma'lum tilda so'zlashuvchilaming barchasi
uchun bir xil bo'lgan talaffuz.
Reduction [п Улк/эп] - редукция, т.е. ослабление, сокращение
и изменение артикуляции безударных элементов речи.
Reduksiya - urg'usiz elementlaming kuchsizlashuvi va talaf-
fuzining o'zgarishi.
Regressive assimilation [’ngresiv a.simileijan] - регрессивная
ассимиляция. Уподобляющие влияния артикуляции ка-
-242 -
кого-либо звука, распространяющегося назад на пред­
шествующий звук или слог.
Regressiv assimilatsiya - keyingi tovushning oldingi tovush
yoki bo'g'in talaffuziga ta'siri.
Rolled [’rauld] consonant - раскатистые согласные; вибранты,
в артикуляции которых наблюдается быстрая смена
смыканий - размыканий. Напр., [г].
Titroq (sonor) tovushlar - talaffuzida nutq organlarining
davomiy titrashi ro'y beruvchi undoshlar. Masalan: [r].
Rhythm ['ri5m] - Ритм. Чередование ударных и безударных, а
также долгих и кратких слогов в речи.
Ritm. Nutqda urg’uli va urg'usiz hamda cho'ziq va qisqa
bo'g'inlaming almashinuvi.
Rounded Vowels ['raundid 'vauslz] - лабиализованные (округ­
ленные) гласные, при образовании которых участвуют
губы. Напр, [о, о:, и, и:].
Lablangan unli. Talaffuzida lablar harakat qiluvchi unli
tovushlar. Masalan: [и], [o'], [о].
Segment ['segment] - отрезок речи. Большой отрезок - макро­
сегмент, маленький отрезок - микросегмент.
Segment - talaffuzdagi nutq blagi. Katta nutq blagi -
makrosegment, kichik nutq bo'lagi - mikrosegment deyiladi.
Sentence stress ['sentans 'stres] - фразовое ударение. Выделе­
ние слов во фразе. Один из важных компонентов инто­
нации.
Fraza urusi (ba’zan gap urusi deyiladi) - nutqda (gapda)
frazalarga, so'z birikmalariga tushuvchi urg'u.
Intonatsiyaning muhim bir komponenti.
Sociolingustics [.saujiauliquistiks] - социолингвистика (со­
циология языка). 1. Раздел языкознания, изучающий от­
ношение между языком и социальной (общественной)
жизнью. 2. Раздел языкознания, изучающий социальную
дифференциацию языков, т.е. различные его социаль­
ные диалекты.
Sotsiolingvistika. (Til sotsiologiyasi). 1. Til va sotsial (ijti­
moiy) hayot o'rtasidagi bog'lanishni ilmiy o'rganuvchi
tilshunoslik bo'limi; 2. Tillami sotsial farqlashni, ya'ni uning
turli sotsial dialektlarini ilmiy o'rganuvchi tilshunoslik
fanining bo'limi.
Social Phonetics ['saujal fau'netiks] - социофонетика. Раздел
фонетики, изучающий фонетические особенности соци­
альных диалектов (социальных групп людей).
Sotsiofonetika. Sotsial dialektlarga (kishilaming sotsial
gruppasi) xos fonetik xususiyatlami o'rganuvchi
fonetikaning bo'limi.
Sonorants (sonants) ['sonarants, 'saunants] - сонанты. Звуки,
содержащие голосовой тон, зв а н ы е , с минимальной
примесью шума. Напр. [1, г, j, w, m, n, д].
Sonor tovushlar (yoki sonantlar) - talaffuzida shovqindan
ton kuchli bo'lgan tovushlar. Masalan: [1, r, m, n].
Southern drawl (in American proununciation) - так называется
монофтонгизация дифтонгов в южно-американском
произношении.
Janubiy Amerika talaffuzida diftonglaming monofton-
glashuv hodisasi shunday deb ataladi.
Structural Linguistics (or trend) (Structuralism) - структура­
лизм; структурная лингви стика, широко развлетвленное
направление в современном языкознании, изучающее
внутренние уровневые соотношения элементов языка.
(Существуют американский, датский, пражский структу­
ральные направления).
Strukturalizm (struktural oqim) - tildagi ichki aloqalami va
tildagi bosqichlar o'rtasidagi bog'lanishlami hozirgi davr
tilshunosligida ilmiy o'rganuvchi oqim (AQSH, Daniya,
Praga kabi strukturalizm maktablari mavjud).
Syntagmatics ['sintsegmatiks] - синтагматика. Рассмотрение
единиц языка в плане их сочетаемости в горизонтальной
плоскости. Напр., А ^ А з ... Ап = Ах.
Sintagmatika - tildagi elementlami gorizontal bir
yo'nalishda birikishini o'rganish. Masalan: A iA2A3 ... An =
Ax.
Syllabeme [’silabi:m] - Силлабема. Фонологическая (просоди­
ческая) единица, служащая для различения минималь­
ных пар с помощью слогоделения. Напр., К Ире - Кире, а
name - an aim.
Sillabema. Fonologik (prosodik) birlik bo'lib, bo'g'in
bo'linishi yordamida minimal juftlami farqlaydi Masalan,
g'isht 'in - g'ishtin kabi.
Substance ['sAbstsns] (of expression) - субстанция. Матери­
альная (звуковая) сторона языка.
Substansiya. Tilning material (tovush) jihati.
Syllable ['sibbl] - Слог. Один звук или сочетание нескольких
звуков, артикулируемое едино голосовым элементом.
Bo’g'in - bir yoki bir necha tovushlaming birikuvidan hosil
bo'lgan bir yo'la talaffuz etiluvchi nutq bo'lagi.
Syllabic sounds ['silaebik 'saundz] - Слоговые звуки, т.е. звуки,
образующие слог и произносимые с большой звучно­
стью; они находятся в вершине слога. Как правило, та­
кими звуками считаются гласные и сонорные согласные.
Bo'g'in hosil qiluvchi tovushlar. Ular juda jarangli bo'lib,
bo'g'in cho'qqisini hosil qiladi. Odatda bunday tovushlarga
unlilar va sonor undoshlar kiradi.
Syllable boundary ['sibbl 'baundan] - граница слога. Слого­
раздел. Bo’g'in chegarasi (chizii) - binlami ikkiga
bo’lish chegarasi.
Tagmeme [tegm irm ] - тагмема. Мельчайшая единица грам­
матического членения речи на уровне предложения;
единица морфосинтаксической организации речи.
Nutqning gap bosqichidagi eng kichik grammatik
bo'linishdagi birligi; nutqning morfosintaktik tashkil
bo'lishidagi birlik.
Tagmemics [tegm em iks] (Phonotagmemics) - тагмемика лин­
гвистическое направление в США, имеющее свой раз­
дел «фонотагмемику». Главой этой школы является K.JI.
Пайк.
Tagmemika. AQSHdagi tilshunoslik oqimi. Uning bir
bo'limi «fonotagmemika» deb ataladi. Bu oqim boshlig'i -
K.L. Payk.
Tempo of speech ['tempsu av 'spi:tj] - темпы речи, время зву­
чания (бывают слабый, нормальный и быстрый темпы).
Nutq tempi - nutqning aytilish vaqti (sekin, normal, tez ta­
laffuz qilish).
Tense [tens] (Fortes) - напряженность. При артикуляции дол­
гих гласных английского языка органы речи бывают на­
пряженными.
Kuchli. Ingliz tilidagi cho'ziq unlilarning talaffuzida nutq
organlari kuchli holatda bo'ladi.
Timbre (tamber) ['timbs, 'taembs] - качество (тембр) голоса
(бывает нейтральным и эмоциональным).
Ovozning sifati (tembri) (u bevosita neytral va emotsional
bo'ladi).
Toneme ['tsunirm] - Тонема. 1. Фонологическая единица,
служащая для дифференциации слов с помощью тоно­
вого ударения. Напр., в китайском, тайском и др. язы­
ках. 2. Фонологическая единица во фразе, служащая для
их различения с помощью высоты тона.
Tonema. 1. Ton urg’usi yordamida so'zlarning ma'nolarini
farqlovchi fonologik birlik. Masalan, xitoy, tay va boshqa
tillarda. 2. Frazalami tonning balandligi yordamida
farqlashga xizmat qiluvchi fonologik birlik.
Transcription ['traenskripjan] - Транскрипция. Способ записи
устной речи с помощью специальных знаков.
Transkripsiya - og'zaki nutqni maxsus belgilar orqali yozib
olish usuli.
Unidimensional (bilateral) opposition [,ju:ni 'daimenjanal] -
одномерная оппозиция, т.е. совокупность признаков, ко­
торыми обладают в равной мере оба члена оппозиции.
Она присуща только этим двум членам оппозиции и не
присуща никакому другому члену той же системы.
Напр., англ. [р - b], [t - d], [k - g], [b - m], [d - n], [g - n],
[f-v ], [s -z ], [s-J].
Bir o'lchovli oppozitsiya - a'zolariga tegishli belgilar
yig'indisi faqat shu fonemalarga tegishli bo'lib, sistemadagi
boshqa a'zoga tegishli emas. Masalan, [p - b], [t - d], [k -
g], [b - m], [d - n], [g - n], [ f - v ] .
Unrounded vowels ['Anraundid 'vaualz] - нелабиализованные
гласные, при образовании которых губы не участвуют.
Напр., [i:, е, i, ае, л, э:, э, а:].
Lablanmagan unlilar talaffuzida lablar ishtirok etmovchi
unlilar. Masalan: [i, e, a].
Uvular consonants [ju:vju:b] - увулярные или языковые со­
гласные, артикулируемые нёбным язычком или задней
спинкой языка. Напр., узб. [] и франц. [г].
Uvulyar undoshlar - kichik til yordamida hosil bo'luvchi
tovushlar. Masalan, o'zbekcha [g’], fransuz tilida [r].
Variations of the phoneme [.vean'eijnz эуЭэТэипкт] второ­
степенные звуки, относящиеся к определенной фонеме
и отличающиеся от ее вариантов (аллофонов).
Fonemaning variatsiyasi - fonemaning asosiy variantidan
(allofonidan) farqlanuvchi ikkinchi darajali tovushlar.
Variphone [Vsanfaun] - Варифон (свободная фонема). Сово­
купность реализации определенной фонемы, необуслов­
ленной позиционными изменениями и непроизвольно
возникающей в разных диалектах.
Varifon (erkin fonema). Ma'lum fonemaning pozitsion
o'zgarishlar bilan bog'liq bo'lmagan va turli dialektlarda
uchraydigan vakillarining yig'indisi.
Velar [Vi:b] consonants - Велярные, задненёбные согласные,
образуемые нёбной занавеской. Напр., [k. g].
Tanglay, til orqa (velyar) undoshlari (yoki chuqur til orqa
undoshlar); til orqa qismining tanglayning orqa qismiga
tomon ko'tarilishi bilan talaffuz etiluvchi tovushlar.
Masalan, [q, g', x].
Velarization [Viibrai'zeijan] - веляризация (отвердение). Д о­
полнительная артикуляция (подъем) задней части спин­
ки языка по направлению к заднему или мягкому нёбу,
что вызывает твердость согласных.
Velyarizatsiya - til orqa qismining yumshoq tanglay ga
ko'tarilishi orqali qattiqlashuv hodisasi. Masalan, qattiq [t].
Voiced ['voist] consonants - звонкие согласные, при образова­
нии которых голосовые связки вибрируют: [d, z, 5, d3, 3,
v, b, g].
Jarangli undoshlar talaffuzida tovush paychalari titraydigan
undoshlar. Masalan, [b, d, g, z, v] kabi.
Voiceless [Voislis] consonants - глухие согласные, при артику­
ляции которых голосовые связки не вибрируют.
Jarangsiz undoshlar. Talaffuzida tovush paychalari tit-
ramaydigan undosh tovushlar. Masalan: [p, t, k, s, f] kabi.
Word stress ['wa:d 'stres] - словесное ударение; выделение
слога или слогов в слове.
Sz urusi; szdagi bin yoki binlarni ajratuvchi ur­
g'u.
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87. Tmka B. On Foreign Phonological Features in Present-day
English // In Honour o f Daniel Jones. London, 1964, p. 186-
192.
88. Trubetzkoy N.S. Principles of Phonology. Translated by
E.A.M.Baltaxe. Univ. o f California Press, 1969.
89. Ward Ida C. The Phonetics o f English. Heffer. Cambridge,
1958.
90. Wells J.C. Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Longman,
1991.
91. Vassilyev V.A. et al. English Phonetics (A normative course).
Leningrad. 1980, p. 256.
92. Vassilyev V.A. English Phonetics. A theoretical course. М.,
1970, p. 323.
Chapter I

I. 1. Introduction. Phonetics as a Branch of Linguistics............................. 6


I. 2. Speech Apparatus and Phonetic Basis.................................................8
I. 3. Aspects, Types and Methods of Phonetics........................................ 11
I. 3. 1. The Articulatory Aspect................................................................ 12
I. 3. 2. The Acoustic Aspect..................................................................... 14
I. 3. 3. The Perceptual (Auditory) Aspect.................................................17
I. 3. 4. The Phonological Aspect.............................................................. 19
I. 4. Transcription. Phonetic and Phonological Transcription...................24
I. 5. Phonology and its Relation to Other Branches of Linguistics............25

Chapter II. Phonological Theories

II. 1.1. A. Baudouin de Courtenay's Theory of Phonology.......................30


II. 2. St.Pitsburg Phonological School.
L.V. Shcherba's Phonemic Concept.................................................32
II. 3. The Moscow Phonological School...................................................34
II. 4. The Prague Phonological School......................................................37
II. 5. The London Phonological School....................................................42
II. 6. Phonological Trends in the USA......................................................45
II. 7. Some Basic Points in Phonological Analysis................................... 48

Chapter Ш. The Principal Types of English Pronunciation

III. 1. General Remarks. Literary and Local Types of Pronunciation.


The Orthoepic Teaching Norms of English Pronunciation.............54
III. 2. English Pronunciation in Great Britain........................................... 56
III. 3. The Pronunciation Types of English in4he USA as Compared
with General British....................................................................... 61
III. 4. The Pronunciftion of English in Other Countries........................... 69
III. 4. 1. The Canadian Type of Pronunciation.......................................... 69
III. 4. 2. The Australian Type of Pronunciation........................................ 71
III. 4. 3. The New Zealand English Pronunciation.................................... 72
III. 4.4. The South African Pronunciation................................................. 73
III. 5. The Relationship Between the Principal Types of English
Pronunciation and Their Dialects..................................................73
III. 6. Stylistic Variants of Pronunciation..................................................77
The Phonemic system of the English Language. General Re­
marks.........................................................................................................78

Chapter IV. The System of Consonant Phonemes in English

IV. 1. Vowel-Consonant Distinction........................................................ 81


IV. 2. The Articulatory and Acoustic Classification of English
Consonants (in Comparison with Uzbek).......................................83
IV. 3. Comparative-Typological Analysis of the English and Uzbek
Consonant Phonemes.....................................................................86
IV. 4. Phonological Analysis of English Consonants (in Comparison
with Uzbek)....................................................................................88
IV. 4. 1. The Criteria of Phonological and Comparative-Typological
Analysis......................................................................................... 88
IV. 4. 2. The System of the English Consonant Phonemes....................... 90
IV. 4. 3. Dichotomic Classification of the Acoustic Distinctive
Features of the English Consonant Phonemes and Its
Articulatory Correlates...................................................................98
IV. 4. 4. Allophonic Variation of the Consonant Phonemes................... 101

Chapter V. The System of Vowel Phonemes in English

V. 1. The Articulatory Acoustic Classification of the English Vowels


(Compared with Uzbek)................................................................ 104
V. 2. Phonological Analysis of English Vowels..................................... 112
V. 2. 1. General Remarks.......................................................................112
V. 2. 2. The Phonematic Value of Vowel-Length................................... 112
V. 2. 3. The Phonological Status of Diphthongs..................................... 116
V. 2. 4. Unstressed Vowels of English. A. The Phonetic Approach........119
B. The Phonological Interpretation...........................................122
V. 3. The Classification of the Phonological Oppositions of Vowels.....124
V. 4. The Relationship Between the Frequency of Occurance of
Vowels and Consonants................................................................ 129
The Prosodic system of the English Language. General Remarks ..131
VI. 1. The Definition of the Syllable. The Functions of the Syllable......133
VI. 2. The Classification of Syllables. Types of Syllables in English
(As Compared with Russian and Uzbek)...................................... 135
VI. 3. The Relationship Between a Syllable and a Morpheme................140
VI. 4. Theories of Syllable Formation and Syllable Division..................142
VI. 5. Syllable Formation and Syllable Division in English....................148
VI. 6. The Phonological Status of Junctures........................................... 152

Chapter VII. Word Stress in English

VII. 1. Definition of Word Stress. Its Types and Components................154


VII. 2. Placement and Degrees of Word Stress....................................... 158
VII. 3. The Factors and Tendencies Determining Word Stress...............161
VII. 4. The Functions of Word Stress.....................................................170
VII. 5. The Accentual Patterns of English Words................................... 174

Chapter VIII. Intonation Structure of English

VIII. 1. The Definition of Intonation; Its Components and Functions....178


VIII. 2. Methods of Indicating and Describing Intonation...................... 183
VIII. 3. The Linguistic Functions of Intonation Components..................189
VIII. 3. 1. The Functions of Speech Melody........................................... 189
VIII. 3. 2. The Functions of Sentence-stress........................................... 192
VIII. 3.3. The Functions of Other Intonation Components.....................194
VIII. 4. Phonostylistic Features of Intonation......................................... 195
VIII. 5. The Paralinguistic Features of Speech....................................... 199

Chapter IX. The Combinafory-Positional Changes of Phonemes

IX..1. Assimilation................................................................................. 203


IX. 2. Other Combinatory-Positional Changes....................................... 207

Chapter X. Phoneme and Stress Alternations. Morphonology

Topics and Questions for Discussion at Seminars.................................. 214


Glossary of English-Russian-Uzbek Phonetic Terms............................. 223
References..............................................................................................248

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