LITERATURE:

1. Vrabel T.T. LECTURES IN THEORETICAL PHONETICS OF THE

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND METHOD-GUIDES FOR SEMINARS. –
PoliPrint, Ungvár, 2009 //
The mode of access:
http://www.kmf.uz.ua/hun114/images/konyvek/vrabel_tamas_lectures_in_theoretic
al_phonetics_of_the_english_language.pdf
2. Леонтьева С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. – М., 1988. –
271с. (шифр у читальній залі № 5 – 81.2 Англ – 923 Л-47)
3. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова. – М.: Владос,
2004. – 286с. (шифр у читальній залі № 5 – 81.2 Англ – 923 Т-33)
4. Паращук В.Ю. Теоретична фонетика англійської мови: Навчальний
посібник. – Вінниця: Нова книга, 2005. – 240с. (шифр у читальній залі № 5 –
81.2 Англ –1-923 П - 18)

Phonetics as a science. Phonic substance of language

and ways of its analysis and description.
1. Phonetics as a Linguistic Discipline. Phonetics as the most fundamental branch
of linguistics, its role in the development of science, famous phoneticians and their
contributions to its development.
2. Divisions and Branches of Phonetics.
3. Methods of Phonetic Investigation.
4. Phonetics and Other Disciplines.
5. Spheres of Practical Application.
6. Sounds of speech as articulatory and acoustic units.
7. Phonetics and phonology.
8. Language use in oral verbal communication.
9. Pronunciation as a way of materializing of oral form of language.
10. Phonic structure of language and its components (the system of sounds, the
syllabic structure, word/lexical stress, intonation).
11. Units of language vs. speech.
12. Theories of teaching pronunciation in current TEFL/TESOL practices.

1. Phonetics as a Linguistic Discipline

Phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are made, transmitted, and received,
i.e. phonetics is the study of all possible speech sounds. The human vocal
apparatus can produce a wide range of sounds; but only a small number of them
are used in a language to construct all of its words and utterances.
The connection of phonetics with grammar is exercised through orthography
and intonation. Thus for example, the system of reading rules helps to pronounce
singular and plural forms of nouns correctly (man — men, foot — feet). The use of
the necessary nuclear tone helps to distinguish between different types of

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sentences. It’s especially important in colloquial speech where one and the same
sentence may be understood as a statement when pronounced with the falling tone
(He came \ home.) or a question when pronounced with the rising tone (He came /
home?).
The connection of phonetics with lexicology is exercised through
pronunciation and word-stress. For instance, some corresponding forms of verbs
and nouns are homographs identical in spelling. They may be distinguished with
the help of pronunciation (wind [wınd] —to wind [waınd]), word-stress( an 'object
— to ob'ject), or the combinative use of word-stress and pronunciation (increase
['ınkrıs] —to increase [in'kri:z]).
The connection of phonetics with stylistics is exercised through intonational
components or graphical expressive means. For example, repetition of words
serves as the basis of rhythm and rhyme; capitalization or italics underline special
prominence of information:
Look to left and look to right,
Note what traffic is in sight.
Note, too, which light can be seen:
The Red, the Amber, or the Green.
Children, keep from dangerous play
And THINK before you cross today.

2. Divisions and Branches of Phonetics

Phonetics is subdivided into practical and theoretical.

Practical or normative phonetics studies the substance, the material form of
phonetic phenomena in relation to meaning.
Theoretical phonetics is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units
in the language. Theoretical phonetics regards phonetic phenomena synchronically
without any special attention paid to the historical development of English.
Phonetics is itself divided into two major components: segmental phonetics,
which is concerned with individual sounds (i.e. "segments" of speech) and
suprasegmental phonetics whose domain is the larger units of connected speech:
syllables, words, phrases and texts.

Three traditional branches are generally recognized:

1. articulatory phonetics (артикуляторна фонетика) is the study of the way
speech sounds are made ('articulated') by the vocal organs, i.e. it studies the way in
which the air is set in motion, the movements of the speech organs and the
coordination of these movements in the production of single sounds and trains of
sounds;
2. acoustic phonetics (акустична фонетика) studies the physical properties of
speech sound, as transmitted between the speaker’s mouth and the listener’s ear;

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3. auditory phonetics (аудитивна фонетика) studies the perceptual response to
speech sounds, as mediated by ear, auditory nerve and brain, i.e. its interests lie
more in the sensation of hearing, which is brain activity, than in the psychological
working of the ear or the nervous activity between the ear and the brain. The
means by which we discriminate sounds – quality, sensations of pitch, loudness,
length, are relevant here.
The fourth branch – 'functional phonetics' (функціональна фонетика) – is
concerned with the range and function of sounds in specific languages. It is
typically referred to as phonology.

3. Methods of Phonetic Investigation.

Linguists distinguish between two groups of methods, which may be applied

when investigating the sound matter of the language: subjective and objective
methods of phonetic analysis.
Subjective (introspective) methods were available from the beginning of
the study of sounds. They include the oldest and simplest methods of phonetic
investigation: sensory analysis and direct observation. These consist in observing
and fixing the movements and positions of one’s own or other people’s organs of
speech in the production of various speech sounds, as well as in analyzing and
comparing one’s own articulatory and auditory impressions.
Objective (instrumental) methods of phonetic analysis appeared in the
second half of the XXth century with the development of such sciences as
physiology and physics. They involve the use of various instrumental techniques
like palatography, laryngoscopy,X-rayphotography, electromyography, etc.
If controlled phonetic experiments employ the use of measuring devices and
instrumental techniques, this sub-field of phonetics is called instrumental
phonetics.
This type of investigation together with sensory analysis is widely used in
experimental phonetics.
The "subjective" methods vs. the "objective" methods
The tools for investigating the speech organs: direct observation; x-ray
photography or x-ray cinematography; laryngoscopic investigation of vocal cord
movement; palatography; glottography, etc.

4. Phonetics and Other Disciplines

Phonetics and social sciences:
 Sociophonetics studies the ways in which pronunciation interacts with
society.
 Psycholinguistics covers an extremely broad area: the acquisition of
language by children, the extent to which language mediates or structures
thinking; the extent to which language is influenced and itself influences
such things as memory, attention, recall and constraints on perception; and

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 the extent to which language has a certain role to play in the understanding
of human development; the problems of speech.

Phonetics is the kind of a science that may have application in various fields
of knowledge besides linguistics. Phonetics is also connected with non-linguistic
sciences which have educational or social value, like methods of language
teaching, logics, history, psychology, sociology. The study of the structure of
sound system is indispensable from sciences studying different aspects of speech
production, like acoustics, physiology. The connection of phonetics with other
sciences is easily observed by the example of its branches. Thus, acoustic
phonetics is related to physics and mathematics; articulatory phonetics — to
physiology, anatomy, and anthropology; historical phonetics — to general history
and archaeology; functional phonetics — to communication theory and statistics.

5. Spheres of Practical Application.

According to the sphere of application phonetics can be divided into general
phonetics and special phonetics.
General phonetics studies all the sound-producing possibilities of the human
speech apparatus and the ways they are used for the purpose of communication.
Special phonetics is based on general phonetics and studies the phonetic
system of a particular language.

6. Sounds of speech as articulatory and acoustic units

Human speech is the result of a highly complicated series of events that can
be divided into 6 stages: psychological, physiological, physical/acoustic, reception,
transmission, linguistic interpretation. They are interconnected and constitute two
parts of the speech act.
I. The first part of the speech act contains the stages made by the speaker. It
includes the following:
1) the psychological stage concerns the formation of the concept in the brain
of a speaker;
2) when the message is formed, it is transmitted along the nervous system to
the speech organs which produce particular speech sounds within the physiological
stage;
3) the movements of the speech apparatus disturb the air and produce sound
waves during the acoustic stage.
II. The second part of the speech act includes the stages made by the listener,
because any communication requires a listener as well as a speaker:
1) the sound waves are perceived by the listener’s ear within the
reception stage;
2) the spoken message is transmitted through the nervous system to the
listener’s brain during the transmission stage;
3) the information conveyed gets its linguistic interpretation.

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 The linguistic analysis of the sound matter of any language (sounds of
speech) helps to distribute all the sound phenomena into the following aspects:
articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional.
I. The articulatory aspect comprises all the movements and positions of the
speech organs necessary to pronounce a speech sound. Speech organs have
different functions and thus can be divided into four groups:
1) The power (respiratory) mechanism supplies the energy in the form of air
pressure and regulates the force of air stream. It includes the following speech
organs: the diaphragm, the lungs, the bronchi, the windpipe (trachea), the glottis
and the supra-glottal cavities, the larynx, the mouth cavity, the nasal cavity.
2) The vibration mechanism functions as a vibrator when producing voice. It
consists of the vocal cords (voice box), situated in the larynx.
3) The resonator mechanism consists of the speech organs which function as
principal resonators. These are the pharynx, the larynx, and the mouth and nasal
cavities.
4) The obstruction mechanism consists of the tongue (the blade, the tip, the
front, the back/dorsum), the lips, the teeth, the soft palate with the uvula, the hard
palate, the alveolar ridge. These speech organs form different types of obstructions.
II. The acoustic aspect studies sound waves. It is the way in which the air
vibrates between the speaker’s mouth and the listener’s ear.
There may be different types of vibrations which affect the tone of the voice.
The basic vibrations of the vocal cords over their whole length produce the
fundamental tone of voice. The simultaneous vibrations of parts of the vocal cords
produce partial tones (overtones).
The number of vibrations per second is called frequency. Frequency of basic
vibrations of the vocal cords is called the fundamental frequency which is very
important in phonetic investigation. It determines the pitch of the voice and forms
the acoustic basis of speech melody.
III. The auditory (sound-perception) aspect is a physiological and
psychological mechanism. It combines the process of hearing with the process of
discriminating sounds. People can perceive the range from 16 to 20,000 Hz with a
difference in 3 Hz. The human ear transforms vibrations of the air into nervous
commands and transmits them to the brain. This enables the listener discriminate
the quality, pitch, loudness, and length of sounds and identify the sounds.
IV. The functional (linguistic) aspect is concerned with the linguistic
function of individual sounds and segments of speech. From the functional point of
view all sound phenomena of any language present a clear cut system of
interdependent units: phonemes, syllables, stress, and intonation. These phonetic
phenomena have no meaning of their own. Their linguistic function is to constitute
and distinguish larger meaningful units, such as morphemes, words, phrases, etc.

7. Phonetics, its branches and other sciences. Phonetics and phonology.

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 Phonology is the study of those segmental (speech sound types) and
prosodic (intonation) features which have a differential value in the language. It
studies the way in which speakers systematically use a selection of units –
phonemes or intonemes – in order to express meaning. It investigates the phonetic
phenomena from the point of view of their use.
The primary aim of phonology is to discover the principles that govern the
way that sounds are organized in languages, to determine which phonemes are
used and how they pattern – the phonological structure of a language. The
properties of different sound systems are then compared, and hypotheses
developed about the rules underlying the use of sounds in particular groups of
languages, and in all the languages - phonological universals.
Phonology also solves:
1. the problem of the identification of the phonemes of a language;
2. the problem of the identification of the phoneme in a particular word,
utterance. It establishes the system of phonemes and determines the frequency of
occurrence in syllables, words, utterances. The distribution and grouping of
phonemes and syllables in words are dealt with an area of phonology which is
called phonotactics.
Within phonology, two branches of study are usually recognized:
SEGMENTAL and SUPRA-SEGMENTAL. Segmental phonology analyses
speech into discrete segments, such as phonemes; supra-segmental or non-
segmental phonology analyses those features which extend over more than one
segment, such as intonation contours.

8. Language use in oral verbal communication.

Verbal communication is the process of transmitting a verbal message from
a sender/speaker/addressor to a receiver/listener/addressee through a
channel/medium.
In verbal communication the communicators use a verbal code – language
and a system of non-verbal codes – body language, touch, appearance, spatial
behavior etc.
Language as a code consists of the following resources: a
lexicon/vocabulary, a grammar and a phonology.
It exists in its two material forms: oral and written.
When language is used in communication, the communicators apply
language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) to put their knowledge
of language resources (phonology, grammar and vocabulary) into action to
produce discourse (дискурс).
Discourse is a continuous stretch of language (oral or written) which has
been produced as the result of an act of communication.

9. Pronunciation as a way of materializing of oral form of language.

The concept pronunciation has several meanings in present-day phonetics.

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 In its narrow meaning it is restricted to the features manifested in the
articulation of the sounds of a language.
Its wide interpretation implies the entity of discourse features relating to:
1. the SOUND SYSTEM of a language (the so-called segmental phonemes
in the form of their actual speech manifestations – allophones or variants);
2. the SYLLABIC STRUCTURE of a language (syllable formation and
syllable division);
3. WORD-STRESS/LEXICAL STRESS;
4. INTONATION as a complex unity of pitch (тональний), force (силовий)
and temporal (темпоральний) components.
In discussing the pronunciation of English we can focus on one or both of
two aspects:
1. on the one hand, we may want to describe WHAT SPEAKERS DO
WHEN 'HEY ARE SPEAKING ENGLISH. This is the aspect of SPEECH
(мовлення), an activity carried on by communicators who use English in
communicating.
2. on the other hand, we may address the question, WHAT ARE THE
СHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH WORDS AND SENTENCES
(DISCOURSE) that are realized in speech? This is the aspect of LANGUAGE
(мова).

10. Phonic structure of language and its components

(the system of sounds, the syllabic structure, word/lexical stress, intonation).

The phonic system of any language comprises 4 components: phonemic,

syllabic, accentual and intonational.
The first is the phonemic component. It is the basic component represented
by the system of segmental phonemes of a language existing in the material form
of their allophones. It may have manifestations in:
 the system of phonemes as discrete isolated units;
 the distribution of allophones of different phonemes;
 the methods of joining speech sounds.
The second component is the syllabic structure of words. It has two
manifestations which are inseparable from each other: syllable formation and
syllable division.
The third component is the accentual structure of words when pronounced
in isolation. Its main manifestations are:
 the acoustic nature of word stress;
 the stress position in disyllabic and polysyllabic words;
 the degrees of word stress.
The fourth component is the intonational structure of utterances with the
following manifestations:
 the prosodic components of intonation;
 the structure of intonation patterns;

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  the representation of patterns in intonation groups.
All the components of the phonetic system of the language constitute its
pronunciation.

11. Units of language vs. speech.

Speech is not the same as language. Speech is an activity which is carried on
numerous events; language is knowledge, a code which is known and shared by
speakers who use their knowledge for transmitting and interpreting verbal
messages in these events. When someone is speaking, anyone who is close enough
can hear - the air waves set up in the air by the speaker reach the air drums of the
hearer. But only a person who knows the language can understand what is said.
The units of language from largest to smallest are:
TEXT
SENTENCE
PHRASE
WORD
MORPHEME
PHONEME
DISTINCTIVE FEATURE
The units of speech from largest to smallest are:
DISCOURSE
UTTERANCE
TONE UNIT
SYLLABLE
SEGMENT
ARTICULATORY FEATURE

12. Theories of teaching pronunciation in current TEFL/TESOL practices.

Pronunciation in the past was largely identified with accurate pronunciation
of isolated sounds or words.
When the Communicative Approach to language teaching began to take
over in the mid-late -1970s, most of techniques and materials for teaching
pronunciation at the segmental level were rejected on the grounds as being
incompatible with teaching language as communication.
Today pronunciation instruction is moving away from the segmental/supra-
segmental debate and toward a more balanced view. This view recognizes that both
an inability to distinguish sounds that carry a high functional load, e.g. list— least,
and an inability to distinguish supra-segmental features (such as intonation and
stress differences) can have a negative impact on the oral communication - and the
listening comprehension abilities - of normative speakers of English.