English Phonetics
English Phonetics
English Phonetics
A.A. ABDUAZIZOV
ENGLISH PHONETICS
A th e o r e tic a l c o u r s e
3-revised edition
A.A. A B D U A Z IZ O V
INGLI Z TILI
FONETIKASI
N a z a r iy k u rs
3-tuzatilgan nashri
AB № 57
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
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
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
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/
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
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).
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
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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.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
1 M .A.K. H alliday. Intonation and Grammar in British English Mouton, 1967, p. 10.
- 28 -
Non - Linguistic Relationship
(ParaLinguisticsj
' 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.
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.
/d /\
/t/ archiphoneme
/tK
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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/
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
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
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 )
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
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 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
Speaker Hearer
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- + - - + - - + - + - + + - + + - -
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.
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
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:
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:
M id
Low
2 Consonantal /non-consonantal
3 Compact /non-compact + + + - - - - - - - + + - - - 0 + + - 0
4 Diffuse /non-diffuse - - - + - + - - + + 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.
Frequency of F2
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
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».
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.
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
h
phonemes may be distinguished: /1 —э/ —effect /1 'fekt/ - affect
'fekt/, except /l’ksept/ - accept /a'ksept/, city /'siti/ - sitter /sits/,
h h
: J
constantly full formation in an unstressed position:
maximal i u
mid e (a) Э
minimal ae Л
£9 09
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
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
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
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
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.
' 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
%
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.
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 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 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 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.
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
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.
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 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.
~ )
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.
( _ ) ( ' ) ( / )
( / ' / ' / ) or (~
(1) descending ( \ )
(2) level ( ) . . . or _ .. )
(3) ascending (_ .• or
V ’
) )•
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
B) Emphatic
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.
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.
IX.1. ASSIMILATION
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языков. М., Наука, 1983.
20. Лукина Н.Д . Практический курс фонетики английского
языка. Изд. 2. М. Аст.Астрель, 2003, с. 271.
21.М аксумов А.Г. Артикуляционные, акустические, перцен-
тивные и фонологические характеристики английских но
совых сонантов (в сопоставлении с узбекскими). Автореф.
дисс. на соиск. уч. ст. канд. филол. наук. М., 1972, с. 27.
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1960, с. 130.
2 3 .Мельников Г.П. Принципы системной лингвистики в
применении к проблемам тюркологии // Структура и ис
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2001, с. 312.
25.Плоткин В.Я. Очерк диахронической фонологии англий
ского языка. М., «Высшая школа», 1976, с. 151.
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P.M. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. М.,
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ского словесного ударения. Самарканд, 1976, с. 96.
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тюркских языков. М., 1984, с. 484.
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материале английского языка). М., 1962, с. 155.
33.Торсуев Г.П. Разновидности типологии языков и показа
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39.Ш айкевич А.Я., Абдуазизов А.А., Гурджиева Е.А. Введе
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Chapter I