English and Kazakh

phonemes and their

allophones
Done by Bagzhan Uais, Aya21-3M
 The role of phoneme
• Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit. In phonetics function is usually
understood as a role of the various units of the phonetic system in
distinguishing one morpheme from another, one word from another or one
utterance from another.
• Secondly, the phoneme is material, real and objective. That means it is
realized in speech in the form of speech sounds, its allophones. The
phonemes constitute the material form of morphemes, so this function may
be called constitutive function.
• Structurally the present research work consists of two parts -
introduction, two main parts: theoretical and practical, conclusion and
bibliography.
• The first part of the diploma paper deals with phonetics as a Branch of
Linguistics. The investigation of the phoneme as a language unit,
conceptions of the phoneme, the system of English phoneme, general
characteristics of vowel phonemes, general characteristics of consonant
phonemes.
• The second part dedicated to concept of definition of the phoneme and
its functions ,main trends in the phoneme theory, methods of
phonological analysis, differences in the articulation basis of English and
Kazakh languages.
• The conclusion gives the main results of the research. The list of
literature includes more than 60 sources and literature on English
phoneme and phonemic analyses in English and Kazakh languages.
•
• Structurally the present research work consists of two parts - introduction, two
main parts: theoretical and practical, conclusion and bibliography.
• The first part of the diploma paper deals with phonetics as a Branch of
Linguistics. The investigation of the phoneme as a language unit, conceptions of
the phoneme, the system of English phoneme, general characteristics of vowel
phonemes, general characteristics of consonant phonemes.
• The second part dedicated to concept of definition of the phoneme and its
functions ,main trends in the phoneme theory, methods of phonological analysis,
differences in the articulation basis of English and Kazakh languages.
• The conclusion gives the main results of the research. The list of literature
includes more than 60 sources and literature on English phoneme and phonemic
analyses in English and Kazakh languages.
•
Assimilation provides broadcast semantics, expression, modalities, stylistic coloring and more.

Under the following functions:

Communicative function is the function of communication types of. The communicative function of assimilation is
leading. According to statements in the English language are different types of communication expression, as
affirmative, interrogative and persuasive sentences. Tonal structure of affirmative sentence is an ascending-falling well
as downward movement of the fundamental tone, which means completeness of thought.

Assimilation of the interrogative sentence is usually characterized rising, rising-falling or falling tone. Construction
of assimilation model of interrogative sentence is complicated by different types of questions: issue of new
information, alternative questions, rhetorical question and so on.

Assimilational contour of persuasive sentence is determined by the rising-falling. This type of sentence is also
ambiguous - it can be order, demand, offer, request, and advice and so on.

The function of modality expression of the speaker's attitude to what is said.

Emotional function expression through speaker's mental state, and providing emotional expression values.
Excretory function it is in assimilational separation certain parts of the statement, for example, main compared to
minor through information terms.

Constructive function.thanks assimilation means segmental parts of the speech form expressions.

THERE ARE TWO MAJOR CLASSES OF SOUNDS TRADITIONALLY DISTINGUISHED BY PHONETICIANS IN ANY LANGUAGE.

THEY ARE TERMED CONSONANTS AND VOWELS .

• Consonants are known to have voice and noise combined, while vowels are sounds
consisting of voice only. So consonants are characterized by so-called close articulation
that is by a complete, partial or intermittent blockage of the air-passage by an organ or
organs. The closure is formed in such a way that the air-stream is blocked or hindered or
otherwise gives rise to audible friction. As a result consonants are sounds which have noise
as their indispensable and most defining characteristic.

• Vowels unlike consonants are produced with no obstruction to the stream of air, so on the
perception level their integral characteristic is naturally tone, not noise. The most important
characteristic of the quality of these vowels is that they are acoustically stable. They are
known to be entirely different from one another both articulatorily and acoustically. In
English vowel system there are 12 vowel monophthongs and 8 or 9 diphthongs.
 Some peculiarities of English and Kazakh phonemes.
• Consonants 25 of the 42 letters of the alphabet are consonants. They are divided into 3 groups:
• voiceless: к, қ, п, с, т, ф, х, ц, ч, ш, щ;
• voiced: г, ғ, б, з, д, в;
• sonorants: л, м, н, р, й, у;
• Some consonants came into Kazakh from the Russian language. They are: в, ф, ц, ч, щ.
• The consonant х usually occurs in words borrowed from the Arabic, Russian, and other
languages. Very often х is replaced by the Kazakh қ, e.g.: хош-қош, хал-қал, рахмет-рақмет.
• The law of vowel harmony (syngarmonism) is a characteristic feature of all Turkic languages.
According to the Law the first vowel of a word determines the character of the remaining vowels.
If the first vowel is back, the remaining vowels are back too, as in бала (child), ағылшын
(English), қайталау (repeat), жүмыс (work). All the syllables in these words are hard. If the first
vowel is front, the remaining vowels are front, as in әке (father), түсіну (understand). It follows
that Kazakh words will either contain back or front vowels. If a word has both back and front
vowels, like мүғалім (teacher), кітап (book), рахмет (thanks), it is of foreign origin.
 Differences in the articulation bases of English and Kazakh
reflected in the system of consonants
•the English have a tendency to hold the tip of the tongue in neutral position at the level of the alveoli (or teeth-ridge), whereas the
Russians and the Kazakh keep it much lower, at tooth level. That is why there are about 50 % of all the consonants in R.P. which are
articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveoli, as in
•[t, d, n, 1, s, z, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, r ].
•They are alveolar, palato-alveolar and post-alveolar/and post-alveolar) in accordance with the place of obstruction. The tip of the
tongue in the articulation of Russian and Kazakh for lingual consonants occupies dental position.
•The English and the Kazakhs have a general habit to hold the bulk of the tongue in neutral position a little further back, lower and
flatter than the Russians. This may be observed in the articulation of the consonants /h, ŋ, / in British R.P. and [h, ң, қ, ғ] in Kazakh.
•In the production of the English and Kazakh [h] the root of the tongue moves in the direction of the pharyngeal cavity. In the
articulation of the Kazakh [ң, қ, ғ] the back part of the tongue is raised in the direction of the soft palate.
•In the production of English and Kazakh [ŋ] the soft palate makes up a complete obstruction with the back part of the tongue.
Russian students are apt to substitute the fore lingual [n] for the back lingual [ŋ].
•The flatter and lower position of the bulk of the tongue limits the system of English "soft" consonants of which there are only five
[ ʒ, tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, l ] whereas in
•The English have a specific way of articulating final consonants.
SOME PECULIARITIES OF ENGLISH AND KAZAKH PHONEMES.

• Kazakh has nine vowels: а, ә, е, і, ы, о, ө, ұ, ү. The following sounds [и] and [у] are called
dipthongoids by some linguists. The sound у is considered a semi-consonant by others. As such
it can appear between vowels, such as in "ауыз" mouth. Kazakh vowels are generally
pronounced short. Vowels followed by the consonant [й] are pronounced long, e.g.  үй [ui]i
(home, house) .
• The vowels are divided into:
• back (hard) vowels: а, о, ұ, ы;
• front (soft) vowels: ә, ө, ү, і, е;
• It is important to remember this classification as the law of vowel harmony is based on it.
•According to the law of vowel harmony in a single word can combine only similar sounds from the point of view the front (soft) or
back (hard) formation. Therefore, all Kazakh words are divided into hard and soft:
•көл (lake), ән (song) are soft, қoл (hand), жан (the soul) are hard.
•In this case, of soft are added affixes with vowels only from the front row, for example, in сен - дер - дeн (from you), and added to
the hard affixes with vowels only from back row: ба - лa - лар - ды (children – accusative case.).
•Whereas the English language, there is complete independence of vowels and affixes the end of the vowel root, alternation vowels
of front row with vowels of back row in the same word (army, answer, public, language).
•Thus, the system of English vowels is marked the large number of contrasts than in Kazakh. So, there is no similarity between
Kazakh and English vowels:[60]
•1) mixed sound of the front and back row, and
•2) long and short; monophtong - diphthong.
Nowadays, English is taught in many schools and high schools in the Kazakh Republic. Since the students will eventually learn
English on the basis of mother tongue, there is a need for a number of research tools based on a comparison of phonetics,
vocabulary and grammar of English and Kazakh languages. The given research is considered the issues of teaching English
pronunciation in attracting of such comparisons. In the practice of language teaching two ways of teaching pronunciation are mainly
distributed. The first is based on imitation, i.e. by unconscious assimilation of phonetic phenomenon. On the basis of second is a
meaningful learning.
We consider that since the students will eventually learn English on the basis of mother tongue, there is a need for a number of
research tools based on a comparison of phonetics, vocabulary and grammar of English and native languages. Students need to
maintain awareness of the linguistic features of foreign speech to the development of skills.
 Differences in the articulation bases of English and
Kazakh reflected in the system of vowels
• Several Kazakh vowels do not have similar in the English language - (ұ), (ү) and so
they usually do not caused influence of assimilation of English vowels. These vowels
are specific for the Kazakh language. Sounds (ұ) and (ү) are brief, incomplete
formation, lip, narrow, upper lift. In the formation of sound (ұ) the language takes on
the same position, and in the formation of sound (ы). When the lips are rounded and
protrude forward, however, mouth hole turns out not so narrow as in formation (ү).
• Vowels (ұ) and (ү) mainly differ from each other only in hardness and softness: (ұ) is
solid, i.e. back row (ү) is soft, i.e. of front row. The presence of these sounds is a
distinctive feature in relation to each other is confirmed by the following comparison:
ұн (flour) - үн (voice), тұр (stand) - түр (sort, kind), ұш (fly) - үш (three). These
sounds are used, mainly, in the first syllable of the word.
 A phoneme is an abstract linguistic unit
which is realized in speech in the material
form is called allophone
Allophones of a certain phoneme are speech sounds which are
realizations of one and the same phoneme and which, therefore,
cannot distinguish words. Their articulatory and acoustic
distinctions are conditioned by their position and their phonetic
environment.
Every language has a limited number of
phonemes. All the actual speech sounds are
allophones.
Allophones are phonetically similar sounds that
don’t contrast with each other.
Allophones of a certain phoneme have
articulatory and acoustic distinctions.
Allophones of a phoneme which never occur in identical
positions are said to be in complementary distribution.
For example, an RP speaker pronounces a «dark»
allophone of /I/ before consonants in final position,
whereas he usually pronounced a «clear» allophone of /I/
only before vowels and/j/.
 Every allophone displays a great range of variations in
connected speech. The variations are classified as
IDIOLECTAL

They embrace the individual peculiarities of articulating sounds caused by

the shape of the speaker’s speech and organs and by his articulatory habits.
 Diaphonic: They are caused by historical tendencies in
certain localities
Allophonic: They are caused by the phonetic position and
phonetic environment. The number of allophones is no less
than the number of phonetic positions and environment in
which the phoneme occurs.
Allophones of a phoneme, which do occur in the
same phonetic position, but can never
distinguish words, are said to be in free
variation. For example, /t/ in «Good night» may
be either a plosive or a non-plosive sound.
Though these sounds differ acoustically, they do
not distinguish words in English. Therefore,
they are allophones of the same phoneme and
are in free variation.
 Different allophones of the phoneme /t/
* in TEA: plosive, aspirated, alveolar;
* in LITTLE: laterally, exploded, alveolar;
* in KITTEN: nasally, exploded, alveolar;
* in OUTCOME: unexploded, alveolar ( glottal stop);
* in EIGHTH: unexploded, dental;
 Questions

1) What is an allophone?
2) What are idiolectal variations?
3) What are diaphonic and allophonic variations?