Theoretical phonetics
Примерные вопросы для контроля знаний
1. Phonetics
as a branch of linguistics. Phonetics and other disciplines. Applications of
phonetics.
2. Branches
of phonetics.
3. Aspects
of the sound matter of language.
4. Components
of the phonetic system of language.
5. National
and regional pronunciation variants in English.
6. British
and American pronunciation models.
7. Most
distinctive features of BBC English and Network English.
8. The
articulatory classification of English vowels.
9. The
articulatory classification of English consonants.
10.Phoneme
as many-sided dialectic unity of language. Types of allophones. Distinctive and
irrelevant features of the phoneme.
11.Main
phonological schools.
12.The
system of vowel phonemes in English. Problem of diphthongs.
13.The
system of consonant phonemes in English. Problem of affricates.
14.Modifications
of English consonants and vowels in speech.
15.Alternations
of speech sounds in English.
16.Theories
on syllable division and formation.
17.The
structure and functions of syllable in English.
18.Word
stress in English.
19.Intonation
and prosody: definition, functions, components, spheres of application.
20.The
structure of English tone-group.
21.The
phonological level of intonation.
22.Methods
of phonetic analysis.
23.Phonostylistics.
Types and styles of pronunciation in English.
24.Phonetics
of the spoken discourse.
Lecture 1
. Phonetics as a branch of
linguistics
. Aspects and units of phonetics
. Branches of phonetics
. Methods of phonetic analysis
1. Phonetics as a branch of
linguistics
begin our study of language by
examining the inventory, structure and functions of the speech sounds. This
branch of linguistics is called phonetics.is an independent branch of
linguistics like lexicology or grammar. These linguistic sciences study
language from three different points of view. Lexicology deals with the
vocabulary of language, with the origin and development of words, with their
meaning and word building. Grammar defines the rules governing the modification
of words and the combination of words into sentences. Phonetics studies the
outer form of language; its sound matter. The phonetician investigates the
phonemes and their allophones, the syllabic structure the distribution of
stress, and intonation. He is interested in the sounds that are produced by the
human speech-organs insofar as these sounds have a role in language. Let us
refer to this limited range of sounds as the phonic medium and to individual
sounds within that range as speech-sounds. We may now define phonetics as the
study of the phonic medium. Phonetics is the study of the way humans make,
transmit, and receive speech sounds. Phonetics occupies itself with the study
of the ways in which the sounds are organized into a system of units and the
variation of the units in all types and styles of spoken language.is a basic
branch of linguistics. Neither linguistic theory nor linguistic practice can do
without phonetics. No kind of linguistic study can be made without constant
consideration of the material on the expression level.
. Aspects and units of phonetics
speech is the result of a highly
complicated series of events. Let us consider the speech chain, which may be
diagrammed in simplified form like this:
Speaker's brain
|
Speaker's vocal tract
|
Transmission of sounds
|
Listener's ear
|
Listener's brain
|
|
|
through air
|
|
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
linguistic
|
articulatory
|
acoustic
|
auditory
|
linguistic
|
formation of the concept takes place
in the brain of a speaker. This stage may be called psychological. The message
formed within the brain is transmitted along the nervous system to the speech
organs. Therefore, we may say that the human brain controls the behaviour of
the articulating organs which effects in producing a particular pattern of
speech sounds. This second stage may be called physiological. The movements of
the speech apparatus disturb the air stream thus producing sound waves.
Consequently, the third stage may be called physical or acoustic. Further, any
communication requires a listener, as well as a speaker. So the last stages are
the reception of the sound waves by the listener's hearing physiological
apparatus, the transmission of the spoken message through the nervous system to
the brain and the linguistic interpretation of the information conveyed. . The
sound phenomena have different aspects:
(a) the articulatory aspect;
(b) the acoustic aspect;
(c) the auditory (perceptive)
aspect;
(d) the functional (linguistic)
aspect.it is possible to show the correlation between the stages of the speech
chain and the aspects of the sound matter.comprises all the movements and
positions of the speech organs necessary to pronounce a speech sound. According
to their main sound-producing functions, the speech organs can be divided into
the following four groups:
(1) the power mechanism;
(2) the vibration mechanism;
(3) the resonator mechanism;
(4) the obstruction
mechanism.functions of the power mechanism consist in the supply of the energy
in the form of the air pressure and in regulating the force of the air stream.
The power mechanism includes: (1) the diaphragm, (2) the lungs, (3) the
bronchi, (4) the windpipe, or trachea. The glottis and the supra-glottal
cavities enter into the power mechanism as parts of the respiratory tract. The
vibration mechanism consists of the larynx, or voice box, containing the vocal
cords. The most important function of the vocal cords is their role in the
production of voice. The pharynx, the mouth, and the nasal cavity function as
the principal resonators thus constituting the resonator mechanism. The
obstruction mechanism (the tongue, the lips, the teeth, and the palate) forms
the different types of obstructions.acoustic aspect studies sound waves. The
basic vibrations of the vocal cords over their whole length produce the
fundamental tone of voice. The simultaneous vibrations of each part of the
vocal cords produce partial tones (overtones and harmonics). The number of
vibrations per second is called frequency. Frequency of basic vibrations of the
vocal cords is the fundamental frequency. Fundamental frequency determines the
pitch of the voice and forms an acoustic basis of speech melody. Intensity of
speech sounds depends on the amplitude of vibration.auditory (sound-perception)
aspect, on the one hand, is a physiological mechanism. We can perceive sound
waves within a range of 16 Hz-20.000 Hz with a difference in 3 Hz. The human
ear transforms mechanical vibrations of the air into nervous and transmits them
to brain. The listener hears the acoustic features of the fundamental
frequency, formant frequency, intensity and duration in terms of perceptible
categories of pitch, quality, loudness and length. On the other hand, it is
also a psychological mechanism. The point is that repetitions of what might be
heard as the same utterance are only coincidentally, if ever, acoustically
identical. Phonetic identity is a. theoretical ideal. Phonetic similarity, not
phonetic identity, is the criterion with which we operate in the linguistic
analysis.aspect. Phonemes, syllables, stress, and intonation are linguistic
phenomena. They constitute meaningful units (morphemes, words, word-forms,
utterances). Sounds of speech perform different linguistic functions.
's have a look at the correlation of
some phonetic terms discussed above.
articulatory characteristics
|
acoustic properties
|
auditory(perceptible) qualities
|
linguistic phenomena
|
vibration of the vocal cords
|
fundamental frequency
|
melody
|
pitch
|
different positions and movements
of speech organs
|
formant frequency
|
phoneme
|
the amplitude of vibrations
|
intensity
|
loudness
|
stress
|
the quantity of time during which
the sound is pronounced
|
duration
|
length
|
tempo, rhythm, pauses
|
The phonetic system of language is a
set of phonetic units arranged in an orderly way to replace each other in a
given framework. Phonetics is divided into two major components (or systems):
segmental phonetics, which is concerned with individual sounds (i.e.
"segments" of speech) and suprasegmental phonetics dealing with the
larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts.
. Segmental units are sounds of
speech (vowels and consonants) which form the vocalic and consonantal systems;
. Suprasegmental, or prosodic, units
are syllables, accentual (rhythmic) units, intonation groups, utterances, which
form the subsystem of pitch, stress, rhythm, tempo, pauses.we may define
phonetics as a branch of linguistics that studies speech sounds in the broad
sense, comprising segmental sounds, suprasegmental units and prosodic phenomena
(pith, stress, tempo, rhythm, pauses).us consider the four components of the
phonetic system of language.first and the basic component of the phonetic
structure of language is the system of its segmental phonemes existing in the
material form of their allophones. The phonemic component has 3 aspects, or
manifestations:
. the system of its phonemes as
discrete isolated units;
. the distribution of the allophones
of the phonemes;
. the methods of joining speech
sounds together in words and at their junction, or the methods of effecting VC,
CV, CC, and VV transitions.second component is the syllabic structure of words.
The syllabic structure has two aspects, which are inseparable from each other:
syllable formation and syllable division.third component is the accentual
structure of words as items of vocabulary (i.e. as pronounced in isolation).
The accentual structure of words has three aspects: the physical (acoustic) nature
of word accent; the position of the accent in disyllabic and polysyllabic
words; the degrees of word accent.fourth component of the phonetic system is
the intonational structure of utterances. The four components of the phonetic
system of language (phonemic, syllabic, accentual and intonational) all
constitute its pronunciation (in the broad sense of the term).
. Branches of phonetics
know that the phonic medium can be
studied from four points of view: the articulatory, the acoustic, the auditory,
and the functional.may consider the branches of phonetics according to these
aspects. Articulatory phonetics is the study of the way the vocal organs are
used to produce speech sounds. Acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical
properties of speech sounds. Auditory phonetics is the study of the way people
perceive speech sounds. Of these three branches of phonetics, the longest
established, and until recently the most highly developed, is articulatory
phonetics. For this reason, most of terms used by linguists to refer to
speech-sounds are articulatory in origin.are also interested in the way in
which sound phenomena function in a particular language. In other words, they
study the abstract side of the sounds of language. The branch of phonetics
concerned with the study of the functional (linguistic) aspect of speech sounds
is called phonology. By contrast with phonetics, which studies all possible
sounds that the human vocal apparatus can make, phonology studies only those
contrasts in sound which make differences of meaning within language.the four
branches of phonetics described above, there are other divisions of the
science. We may speak of general phonetics and the phonetics of a particular
language (special or descriptive phonetics). General phonetics studies all the
sound-producing possibilities of the human speech apparatus and the ways they
are used for purpose of communication. The phonetics of a particular language
studies the contemporary phonetic system of the particular language, i.e. the
system of its pronunciation, and gives a description of all the phonetic units
of the language. Descriptive phonetics is based on general
phonetics.distinguish also historical phonetics whose aim is to trace and
establish the successive changes in the phonetic system of a given language (or
a language family) at different stages of its development. Historical phonetics
is a part of the history of language.connected with historical phonetics is
comparative phonetics whose aims are to study the correlation between the
phonetic systems of two or more languages and find out the correspondences
between the speech sounds of kindred languages.can also be theoretical and
practical. At the faculties of Foreign Languages in this country, two courses
are introduced:
1. Practical, or normative,
phonetics that studies the substance, the material form of phonetic phenomena
in relation to meaning.
2. Theoretical phonetics,
which is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in language.
dichotomy is that which holds between theoretical and applied linguists.
Briefly, theoretical linguistics studies language with a view to constructing
theory of its structure and functions and without regard to any practical
applications that the investigation of language might have. Applied linguistics
has as its concerns the application of the concepts and findings of linguistics
to a variety of practical tasks, including language teaching.the branches of
phonetics are closely connected not only with one another but also with other branches
of linguistics. This connection is determined by the fact that language is a
system whose components are inseparably connected with one another. is also
connected with many other sciences. Acoustic phonetics is connected with
physics and mathematics. Articulatory phonetics is connected with physiology,
anatomy, and anthropology. Historical phonetics is connected with general
history of the people whose language is studied; it is also connected with
archaeology. Phonology is connected with communication (information) theory,
mathematics, and statistics.
. Methods of phonetic analysis
distinguish between subjective,
introspective methods of phonetic investigation and objective methods.oldest,
simplest and most readily available method is the method of direct observation.
This method consists in observing the movements and positions of one's own or
other people's organs of speech in pronouncing various speech sounds, as well
as in analyzing one's own kinaesthetic sensations during the articulation of speech
sound in comparing them with auditory impressions.methods involve the use of
various instrumental techniques (palatography, laryngoscopy, photography,
cinematography, X-ray photography and cinematography and electromyography).
This type of investigation together with direct observation is widely used in
experimental phonetics. The objective methods and the subjective ones are
complementary and not opposite to one another. Nowadays we may use the
up-to-date complex set to fix the articulatory parameters of speech - so called
articulograph.phonetics comes close to studying physics and the tools used in
this field enable the investigator to measure and analyze the movement of the
air in the terms of acoustics. This generally means introducing a microphone into
the speech chain, converting the air movement into corresponding electrical
activity and analyzing (Ксень,
это
слово
у
Красы
через
«s», но,
по-моему,
тут
«z») the result in terms of frequency of vibration and the amplitude of
vibration in relation to time. The spectra of speech sounds are investigated by
means of the apparatus called the sound spectrograph. Pitch as a component of
intonation can be investigated by intonograph.acoustic aspect of speech sounds
is investigated not only with the help of sound-analyzing techniques, but also
by means of speech-synthesizing devices.
Lecture 2. Regional and stylistic
varieties of English pronunciation
1.
Spoken and written language
.
Classification of pronunciation variants in English. British and American
pronunciation models
.
Types and styles of pronunciation
. Spoken and Written language
don't need to speak in order to use
language. Language can be written, broadcast from tapes and CDs, and produced
by computers in limited ways. Nevertheless, speech remains the primary way
humans encode and broadcast language. Speaking and writing are different in
both origin and practice. Our ability to use language is as old as humankind
is. It reflects the biological and cognitive modification that has occurred
during the evolution of our species. Writing is the symbolic representation of
language by graphic signs. It is comparatively recent cultural development.
Spoken language is acquired without specific formal instruction, whereas
writing must be taught and learned through deliberate effort. The origins of
the written language lie in the spoken language, not the other way round.
The written form of language is
usually a generally accepted standard and is the same throughout the country.
But spoken language may vary from place to place. Such distinct forms of
language are called dialects! The varieties of the language are conditioned by
language communities ranging from small groups to nations. Speaking about the
nations we refer to the national variants of the language. According to A.D.
Schweitzer national language is a historical category evolving from conditions
of economic and political concentration which characterizes the formation of nation.
In the case of English there exists a great diversity in the realization of the
language and particularly in terms of pronunciation. Though every national
variant of English has considerable differences in pronunciation, vocabulary
and grammar; they all have much in common which gives us ground to speak of one
and the same language - the English language.
Every national variety of language
falls into territorial or regional dialects. Dialects are distinguished from
each other by differences in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. When we
refer to varieties in pronunciation only, we use the term accent. So local
accents may have many features of pronunciation in common and are grouped into
territorial or area accents. For certain reasons one of the dialects becomes
the standard language of the nation and its pronunciation or accent - the
standard pronunciation.literary spoken form has its national pronunciation
standard. A standard may be defined as "a socially accepted variety of
language established by a codified norm of correctness" (K. Macanalay).
Standard national pronunciation is sometimes called "an orthoepic norm''.
Some phoneticians however prefer the term "literary pronunciation".
. Classification of pronunciation
variants in English. British and
American pronunciation models
two main types of English are spoken
in the English-speaking world: British English and American English.to British
dialectologists (P. Trudgill, J. Hannah, A. Hughes and others), the following
variants of English are referred to the English-based group: English English,
Welsh English, Australian English, New Zealand English; to the American-based
group: United States English, Canadian English. Scottish English and Ireland
English fall somewhere between the two, being somewhat by themselves.to M.
Sokolova and others, English English, Welsh English, Scottish English and
Northern Irish English should be better combined into the British English
subgroup, on the ground of political, geographical, cultural unity which
brought more similarities - then differences for those variants of
pronunciation.
practice as well as a pronouncing
dictionary must base their recommendations on one or more models. A
pronunciation model is a carefully chosen and defined accent of a language.
In the nineteenth century Received
Pronunciation (RP) was a social marker, a prestige accent of an Englishman.
"Received" was understood in the sense of "accepted in the best
society". The speech of aristocracy and the court phonetically was that of
the London area. Then it lost its local characteristics and was finally fixed
as a ruling-class accent, often referred to as "King's English". It
was also the accent taught at public schools. With the spread of education
cultured people not belonging to upper classes were eager to modify their
accent in the direction of social standards.the first edition of English
Pronouncing Dictionary (1917), Daniel Jones defined the type of pronunciation
recorded as "Public School Pronunciation" (PSP). He had by 1926,
however, abandoned the term PSP in favour of "Received Pronunciation"
(RP). The type of speech he had in mind was not restricted to London and the
Home Counties, however being characteristic by the nineteenth century of
upper-class speech throughout the country. The Editor of the 14th Edition of the
dictionary, A.C. Gimson, commented in 1977 "Such a definition of RP is
hardly tenable today". A more broadly-based and accessible model accent
for British English is represented in the 15th (1997) and the 16th (2003)
editions - ВВС English.
This is the pronunciation of professional speakers employed by the BBC as
newsreaders and announcers. Of course, one finds differences between such
speakers - they have their own personal characteristics, and an increasing
number of broadcasters with Scottish, Welsh and Irish accents are employed. On
this ground J.C. Wells (Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 33rd edition - 2000)
considers that the term BBC pronunciation has become less appropriate.
According to J.C. Wells, in England and Wales RP is widely regarded as a model
for correct pronunciation, particularly for educated formal speech.American
English, the selection (in EPD) also follows what is frequently heard from
professional voices on national. network news and information programmes. It is
similar to what has been termed General American, which refers to a
geographically (largely non-coastal) and socially based set of pronunciation
features. It is important to note that no single dialect - regional or social -
has been singled out as an American standard. Even national media (radio,
television, movies, CD-ROM, etc.), with professionally trained voices have
speakers with regionally mixed features. However, Network English, in its most
colourless form, can be described as a relatively homogeneous dialect that
reflects the ongoing development of progressive American dialects. This
"dialect" itself contains some variant forms. The variants involve
vowels before [r], possible differences in words like cot and caught and some
vowels before [l]. It is fully rhotic. These differences largely pass unnoticed
by the audiences for Network English, and are also reflective of age
differences. What are thought to be the more progressive (used by educated,
socially mobile, and younger speakers) variants are considered as first variants.
J.C. Wells prefers the term General American. This is what is spoken by the
majority of Americans, namely those who do not have a noticeable eastern or
southern accent.
. Types and styles of pronunciation
of speech or pronunciation are those
special forms of speech suited to the aim and the contents of the utterance,
the circumstances of communication, the character of the audience, etc. As D.
Jones points out, a person may pronounce the same word or sequence of words
quite differently under different circumstances.in ordinary conversation the
word and is frequently pronounced [n] when unstressed (e.g. in bread and butter
['bredn 'butэ], but in serious
conversation the word, even when unstressed, might
often be pronounced [ænd]. In other words, all speakers
use more than one style of pronunciation, and variations in the pronunciation
of speech sounds, words and sentences peculiar to different styles of speech
may be called stylistic variations.different styles of pronunciation may be
distinguished, although no generally accepted classification of styles of
pronunciation has been worked out and the peculiarities of different styles
have not yet been sufficiently investigated.. Jones distinguishes among
different styles of pronunciation the rapid familiar style, the slower
colloquial style, the natural style used in addressing a fair-sized audience,
the acquired style of the stage, and the acquired style used in singing..V.
Shcherba wrote of the need to distinguish a great variety of styles of speech,
in accordance with the great variety of different social occasions and
situations, but for the sake of simplicity he suggested that only two styles of
pronunciation should be distinguished: (1) colloquial style characteristic of
people's quiet talk, and (2) full style, which we use when we want to make our
speech especially distinct and, for this purpose, clearly articulate all the
syllables of each word.kind of style used in pronunciation has a definite
effect on the phonemic and allophonic composition of words. More deliberate and
distinct utterance results in the use of full vowel sounds in some of the
unstressed syllables. Consonants, too, uttered in formal style, will sometimes
disappear in colloquial. It is clear that the chief phonetic characteristics of
the colloquial style are various forms of the reduction of speech sounds and
various kinds of assimilation. The degree of reduction and assimilation depends
on the tempo of speech..M. Gaiduchic distinguishes five phonetic styles: solemn
(торжественный),
"scientific business (научно-деловой),
official business (официально-деловой),
everyday (бытовой), and
familiar (непринужденный).
As we may see the above-mentioned phonetic styles on the whole correlate with
functional styles of the language. They are differentiated on the basis of
spheres of discourse.other way of classifying phonetic styles is suggested by
J.A. Dubovsky who discriminates the following five styles: informal ordinary,
formal neutral, formal official, informal familiar, and declamatory. The division
is based on different degrees of formality or rather familiarity between the
speaker and the listener. Within each style subdivisions are observed.
M.Sokolova and other's approach is slightly different. When we consider the
problem of classifying phonetic styles according to the criteria described
above we should distinguish between segmental and suprasegmental level of
analysis because some of them (the aim of the utterance, for example) result in
variations of mainly suprasegmental level, while others (the formality of
situation, for example) reveal segmental varieties. So it seems preferable to
consider each level separately until a more adequate system of correlation is
found.style-differentiating characteristics mentioned above give good grounds for
establishing intonational styles. There are five intonational styles singled
out mainly according to the purpose of communication and to which we could
refer all the main varieties of the texts. They are as follows:
1.
Informational style.
2.
Academic style (Scientific).
3.
Publicistic style.
4.
Declamatory style (Artistic).
5.
Conversational style (Familiar).
But differentiation of intonation
according" to the purpose of communication is not enough; there are other
factors that affect intonation in various situations. Besides any style is
seldom realized in its pure form.
Lecture 3 Classification of English
speech sounds
1.
Articulatory classification of
English consonants
2.
Articulatory classification of
English vowels
1. Articulatory classification of
English consonants
are two major classes of sounds
traditionally distinguished in any language - consonants and vowels. The
opposition "vowels vs. consonants" is a linguistic universal. The
distinction is based mainly on auditory effect. Consonants are known to have
voice and noise combined, while vowels are sounds consisting of voice only.
From the articulatory point of view the difference is due to the work of speech
organs. In case of vowels no obstruction is made, so on the perception level their
integral characteristic is tone, not noise. In case of consonants various
obstructions are made. So consonants are characterized by a complete, partial
or intermittent blockage of the air passage. 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 characteristic.phoneticians classify consonants according to the
following principles: i) degree of noise; ii) place of articulation; iii)
manner of articulation; iv) position of the soft palate; v) force of
articulation.
(I) There are few ways of seeing
situation concerning the classification of English consonants. According to
V.A. Vassilyev primary importance should be given to the type of obstruction
and the manner of production noise. On this ground he distinguishes two large
classes:
a)
occlusive, in the production of
which a complete obstruction is formed;
b)
constrictive, in the production of
which an incomplete obstruction is formed. Each of two classless is subdivided
into noise consonants and sonorants.
Another point of view is shared by a
group of Russian phoneticians. They suggest that the first and basic principle
of classification should be the degree of noise. Such consideration leads to
dividing English consonants into two general kinds: a) noise consonants; b)
sonorants.term "degree of noise" belongs to auditory level of
analysis. But there is an intrinsic connection between articulatory and
auditory aspects of describing speech sounds. In this case the term of auditory
aspect defines the characteristic more adequately.are sounds that differ
greatly from other consonants. This is due to the fact that in their production
the air passage between the two organs of speech is fairly wide, that is much
wider than in the production of noise consonants. As a result, the auditory
effect is tone, not noise. This peculiarity of articulation makes sonorants
sound more like vowels than consonants. Acoustically sonorants are opposed to
all other consonants because they are characterized by sharply defined formant
structure and the total energy of most of them is very high.are no sonorants in
the classifications suggested by British and American scholars. Daniel Jones and
Henry A. Gleason, for example, give separate groups
of nasals [m, n, η], the lateral [1] and semi-vowels, or glides [w, r, j
(y)]. Bernard Bloch and George Trager
besides nasals and lateral give trilled [r]. According to Russian phoneticians
sonorants are considered to be consonants from articulatory, acoustic and
phonological point of view.
(II) The place of articulation. This
principle of consonant classification is rather universal. The only difference
is that V.A. Vassilyev, G.P. Torsuev, O.I. Dikushina, A.C. Gimson give more
detailed and precise enumerations of active organs of speech than H.A. Gleason,
B. Bloch, G. Trager and others. There is, however, controversy about terming
the active organs of speech. Thus, Russian phoneticians divide the tongue into
the following parts: (1) front with the tip, (2) middle, and (3) back.
Following L.V. Shcherba's terminology the front part of the tongue is
subdivided into: (a) apical, (b) dorsal, (c) cacuminal and (d) retroflexed
according to the position of the tip and the blade of the tongue in relation to
the teeth ridge. А.С.
Gimson's terms differ from those used by Russian phoneticians: apical is
equivalent to forelingual; frontal is equivalent to mediolingual; dorsum is the
whole upper area of the tongue. H.A. Gleason's terms in respect to the bulk of
the tongue are: apex - the part of the tongue that lies at rest opposite the
alveoli; front - the part of the tongue that lies at rest opposite the fore
part of the palate; back, or dorsum - the part of the tongue that lies at rest
opposite the velum or the back part of the palate.
(III) A.L. Trakhterov, G.P.
Torsyev, V.A. Vassilyev and other Russian scholars consider the principle of
classification according to the manner of articulation to be one of the most
important and classify consonants very accurately, logically and thoroughly. They
suggest a classification from the point of view of the closure. It may be: (1)
complete closure, then occlusive (stop or plosive) consonants are produced; (2)
incomplete closure, then constrictive consonants are produced; (3) the
combination of the two closures, then occlusive-constrictive consonants, or
affricates, are produced; (4) intermittent closure, then rolled, or trilled
consonants are produced..C. Gimson, H.A. Gleason, D. Jones and other foreign
phoneticians include in the manner of noise production groups of lateral,
nasals, and semivowels - subgroups of consonants which do not belong to a
single class.phoneticians subdivide consonants into unicentral (pronounced with
one focus) and bicentral (pronounced with two foci), according to the number of
noise producing centers, or foci.to the shape of narrowing constrictive
consonants and affricates are subdivided into sounds with flat narrowing and
round narrowing.
(IV) According to the position of
the soft palate all consonants are subdivided into oral and nasal. When the
soft palate is raised oral consonants are produced; when the soft palate is
lowered nasal consonants are produced.
(V) According to the force of
articulation consonants may be fortis and lenis. This characteristic is
connected with the work of the vocal cords: voiceless consonants are strong and
voiced are weak.
. The articulatory classification of
English Vowels
first linguist who tried to describe
and classify vowels for all languages was D. Jones. He devised the system of 8
Cardinal Vowels. The basis of the system is physiological. Cardinal vowel No. 1
corresponds to the position of the front part of the tongue raised as closed as
possible to the palate. The gradual lowering of the tongue to the back lowest
position gives another point for cardinal vowel No.5. The lowest front position
of the tongue gives the point for cardinal vowel No.4. The upper back limit for
the tongue position gives the point for cardinal No.8. These positions for
Cardinal vowels were copied from X-ray photographs. The tongue positions
between these points were X-rayed and the equidistant points for No.2, 3, 6, 7
were found. The IPA symbols (International Phonetic Alphabet) for the
8 Cardinal Vowels are: 1 -i, 2 - e, 3 - ε, 4 - a, 5 - a:, 6 -
, 7 - o, 8 - u.
system of Cardinal Vowels is an
international standard. In spite of the theoretical significance of the
Cardinal Vowel system its practical application is limited. In language
teaching this system can be learned only by oral instructions from a teacher
who knows how to pronounce the Cardinal Vowels.Russian phoneticians suggest a
classification of vowels according to the following principles: 1) stability of
articulation; 2) tongue position; 3) lip position; 4) character of the vowel
end; 5) length; 6) tenseness.
1. Stability of articulation. This
principle is not singled out by British and American phoneticians. Thus, P.
Roach writes: "British English (BBC accent) is generally described as
having short vowels, long vowels and diphthongs". According to Russian
scholars vowels are subdivided into: a) monophthongs (the tongue position is
stable); b) diphthongs (it changes, that is the tongue moves from one position
to another); c) diphthongoids (an intermediate case, when the change in the
position is fairly weak).
Diphthongs are defined differently
by different authors. A.C. Gimson, for example, distinguishes 20 vocalic
phonemes which are made of vowels and vowel glides. D. Jones defines diphthongs
as unisyllabic gliding sounds in the articulation of which the organs of speech
start from one position and then elide to another position. There are two
vowels in English [i:, u:] that may have a diphthongal glide where they have
full length (be, do), and the tendency for diphthongization is becoming
gradually stronger.
2. The position of the tongue.
According to the horizontal movement Russian phoneticians distinguish five
classes: 1) front; 2) front-retracted; 3) central; 4) back; 5) back-advanced.
British phoneticians do not single
out the classes of front-retracted and back-advanced vowels. So both [i:] and
[i] are classed as front, and both [u:] and [Y] are classed as back.way British
and Russian phoneticians approach the vertical movement of the tongue is also
slightly different. British scholars distinguish three classes of vowels: high
(or close), mid (or half-open) and low (or open) vowels. Russian phoneticians
made the classification more detailed distinguishing two subclasses in each
class, i.e. broad and narrow variations of the three vertical positions.
Consequently, six groups of vowels are distinguished.
English vowels and diphthongs may be
placed on the Cardinal Vowel quadrilateral as shown in Figs. 2, 3, 4.
3. Another feature of English vowels
is lip position. Traditionally three lip positions are distinguished, that is
spread, neutral, rounded. Lip rounding takes place rather due to physiological
reasons than to any other. Any back vowel in English is produced with rounded
lips, the degree of rounding is different and depends on the height of the
raised part of the tongue; the higher it is raised the more rounded the lips
are.
4.
Character of the vowel end. This
quality depends on the kind of the articulatory transition from a vowel to a
consonant. This transition (VC) is very closed in English unlike Russian. As a
result all English short vowels are checked when stressed. The degree of
checkness may vary and depends on the following consonants (+ voiceless -
voiced - sonorant -).
5.
We should point out that vowel
length or quantity has for a long time been the point of disagreement among
phoneticians. It is a common knowledge that a vowel like any sound has physical
duration. When sounds are used in connected speech they cannot help being
influenced by one another. Duration of a vowel depends on the following
factors: 1) its own length; 2) the accent of the syllable in which it occurs;
3) phonetic context; 4) the position in a rhythmic structure; 5) the position
in a tone group; 6) the position in an utterance; 7) the tempo of the whole
utterance; 8) the type of pronunciation. The problem the analysts are concerned
with is whether variations in quantity are meaningful (relevant). Such
contrasts are investigated in phonology.
There is one more articulatory
characteristic that needs our attention, namely tenseness. It characterizes the
state of the organs of speech at the moment of vowel production. Special
instrumental analysis shows that historically long vowels are tense while
historically short are lax.
1. Definition of the phoneme
and its functions
. Types of allophones and main
features of the phoneme
. Methods of the phonemic
analysis
. Main phonological schools
. Definition of the phoneme and its
functions
know how sounds are produced is not
enough to describe and classify them as language units. When we talk about the
sounds of language, the term "sound" can be interpreted in two
different ways. First, we can say that [t] and [d], for example, are two
different sounds in English: e.g. ten-den, seat-seed. But on the other hand, we
know that [t] in let us and [t] in let them are not the same. In both examples
the sounds differ in one articulatory feature only. In the second case the
difference between the sounds has functionally no significance. It is clear
that the sense of "sound" in these two cases is different. To avoid
this ambiguity, linguists use two separate terms: phoneme and allophone.phoneme
is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech
sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the
meaning of morphemes and words.us consider the phoneme from the point of view
of its aspects., 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. The opposition of phonemes in the same phonetic environment
differentiates the meaning of morphemes and words: e.g. bath-path, light-like.
Sometimes the opposition of phonemes serves to distinguish the meaning of the
whole phrases: He was heard badly - He was hurt badly. Thus we may say that the
phoneme can fulfill the distinctive function., 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., the phoneme performs the
recognitive function, because the use of the right allophones and other
phonetic units facilitates normal recognition. We may add that the phoneme is a
material and objective unit as well as an abstract and generalized one at the
same time.
. Types of allophones and the main
features of the phoneme
us consider the English phoneme [d].
It is occlusive, forelingual, apical, alveolar, lenis consonant. This is how it
sounds in isolation or in such words as door, darn, down, etc, when it retains
its typical articulatory characteristics. In this case the consonant [d] is
called principal allophone. The allophones which do not undergo any
distinguishable changes in speech are called principal.that occur under
influence of the neighboring sounds in different phonetic situations are called
subsidiary, e.g.:. deal, did - it is slightly palatalized before front vowels.
bad pain, bedtime - it is pronounced without any plosion
с.
sudden, admit - it is pronounced with nasal plosion before [n], [m] . dry - it
becomes post-alveolar followed by [r].we consider the production of the
allophones of the phoneme above we will find out that they possess three
articulatory features in common - all of them are forelingual lenis stops.
Consequently, though allophones of the same phoneme possess similar
articulatory features they may frequently show considerable phonetic
differences.speakers do not observe the difference between the allophones of
the same phoneme. At the same time they realize that allophones of each phoneme
possess a bundle of distinctive features that makes this phoneme functionally
different from all other phonemes of the language. This functionally relevant
bundle is called the invariant of the phoneme. All the allophones of the
phoneme [d] instance, are occlusive, forelingual, lenis. If occlusive
articulation is changed for constrictive one [d] will be replaced by [z]: e. g.
breed - breeze, deal - zeal, the articulatory features which form the invariant
of the phoneme are called distinctive or relevant. extract relevant features of
the phoneme we have to oppose it to some other phoneme in the phonetic
context.the opposed sounds differ in one articulatory feature and this
difference brings about changes in the meaning this feature is called relevant:
for example, port - court, [p] and [k] are consonants, occlusive, fortis; the
only difference being that [p] is labial and [t] is lingual.articulatory
features which do not serve to distinguish meaning are called non-distinctive,
irrelevant or redundant. For example, it is impossible to oppose an aspirated
[ph] to a non-aspirated one in the same phonetic context to distinguish
meaning.know that anyone who studies a foreign language makes mistakes in the
articulation of sounds. L.V. Shcherba classifies the pronunciation errors as
phonological and phonetic. If an allophone is replaced by an allophone of a
different phoneme the mistake is called phonological. If an allophone of the
phoneme is replaced by another allophone of the same phoneme the mistake is
called phonetic.
. Methods of the phonemic analysis
aim of the phonological analysis is,
firstly, to determine which differences of sounds are phonemic and which are
non-phonemic and, secondly, to find the inventory of phonemes of the
language.it was mentioned above, phonology has its own methods of
investigation. Semantic method is applied for phonological analysis of both
unknown languages and languages already described. The method is based on a
phonemic rule that phonemes can distinguish words and morphemes when opposed to
one another. It consists in systematic substitution of one sound for another in
order to find out in which cases where the phonetic context remains the same
such replacing leads to a change of meaning. This procedure is called the
commutation test. It consists in finding minimal pairs of words and their
grammatical forms. For example: [pen] [ben][gain][kain][ten][den]Minimal pairs
are useful for establishing the phonemes of the language. Thus, a phoneme can
only perform its distinctive function if it is opposed to another phoneme in
the same position. Such an opposition is called phonological. Let us consider
the classification of phonological oppositions worked out by N.S. Trubetzkoy.
It is based on the number of distinctive articulatory features underlying the
opposition.
. If the opposition is based on a
single difference in the articulation of two speech sounds, it is a single
phonological opposition, e.g. [p]-[t], as in [pen]-[ten]; bilabial vs.
forelingual, all the other features are the same.
. If the sounds in distinctive
opposition have two differences in their articulation, the opposition is double
one, or a sum of two single oppositions, e.g. [p]-[d], as in [pen]-[den], 1)
bilabial vs. forelingual 2) voiceless-fortis vs. voiced-lenis
. If there are three articulatory
differences, the opposition is triple one, or a sum of three single
oppositions, e.g. [p]- [ð], as in [pei]-[ ðei]:
1) bilabial vs. forelingual, 2) occlusive vs. constrictive, 3) voiceless-fortis
vs. voiced-lenis.descriptivists, whose most zealous representative is, perhaps,
Zellig Harris, declare the distributional method to be the only scientific one.
At the same time they declare the semantic method unscientific because they
consider recourse to meaning external to linguistics. Descriptivists consider
the phonemic analysis in terms of distribution. They consider it possible to
discover the phonemes of a language by the rigid application of a
distributional method. It means to group all the sounds pronounced by native
speakers into phoneme according to the laws of phonemic and allophonic
distribution:
. Allophones of different phonemes
occur in the same phonetic context. In this case their distribution is
contrastive.
. Allophones of the same phoneme(s)
never occur in the same phonetic context. In this case their distribution is
complementary.is, however, a third possibility, namely, that the sounds both
occur in a language but the speakers are inconsistent in the way they use them,
for example, калоши-галоши,
and [‘ei∫э - ‘егжэ].
In such cases we must take them as free variants of a single phoneme. We could
explain the case on the basis of sociolinguistics. Thus, there are three types
of distribution: contrastive, complementary and free variation.
. Main phonological schools
us consider the phrase [на лугу кос нет]
and words [вАлы
], [сАма].
Logically, there can only be three answers to the question: which phonemes are
represented by the consonant sound [c] in [кос] and by the
vowel sound [А]
in [вАлы]:(1)
If [кос]
and [вАлы]
are grammatical forms of the words коза and вол
respectively, then the consonant [c] represents phoneme /з/,
while the vowel [А]
is an allophone of the phoneme /o/. If [кос] and [вАлы]
are grammatical forms of the words коса and вал
respectively, then the consonant [c] belongs to the phoneme /с/,
while the vowel [А]
should be assigned to the phoneme /а/.
СП
(2) The consonant [c] in [кос] belongs to the phoneme Id
no matter whether it is a form of коза or that of коса,
while the vowel [А]
in [вАлы]
represents the phoneme /a/ no matter whether it is a form of вол
or that of вал.
П
(3) The consonant [c] represents neither phoneme /з/,
nor phoneme Id, while the vowel [А] in [вАлы]
does not belong either to the phoneme /a/ or to the phoneme /о/.
there are three possible answers to the above questions, there are three
schools of thought on the problem of identifying phonemes.linguists who give
the first answer belong to the so-called morphological (Moscow phonological)
school (R.I. Avanesov, V.N. Sidorov, P.S. Kuznetsov, A.A. Reformatsky, and N.F.
Yakovlev). The exponents of this school maintain that two different phonemes in
different allomorphs of the same morpheme may be represented on the synchronic
level by one and the same sound, which is their common variant and,
consequently, one and the same sound may belong to one phoneme in one word and
to another phoneme in another word.order to decide to which phoneme the sounds
in a phonologically weak (neutral) position belong, it is necessary to find
another allomorph of the same morpheme in which the phoneme occurs in the
strong position, i.e. one in which it retains all its distinctive features. The
strong position of a Russian consonant phoneme is that before a vowel sound of
the same word, whereas the strong position of a vowel phoneme is that under
stress. The consonant [c] in кос belongs to the phoneme Id
because in the strong position in such allomorphs of the same morpheme as in коса,
косы
the phoneme is definitely /с/. In коз the same
sound [c] is a variant of the phoneme /з/ because in
the strong position, as in коза, козы,
the phoneme is definitely /з/. The vowel [А]
in валы
is an allophone of the phoneme /a/ because the phoneme occurs in the strong
position in вал
while the same vowel [А]
in волы
is a variant of the phoneme /o/ because this phoneme is found in the strong
position in вол.to
this school of thought, the neutral vowel sound in original should
be assigned to the English phoneme /σ/ because
this phoneme occurs in the strong position in such word as origin.second school
of thought, originated by L.V. Shcherba, advocates the autonomy of the phoneme
and its independence from the morpheme. Different allomorphs of a morpheme may
differ from each other on the synchronic level not only in their allophonic,
but also in their phonemic composition. According to the Leningrad (Petersburg)
phonological school (L.V. Shcherba, L.R. Zinder, M.I. Matusevich), speech
sounds in a phonologically neutral position belong to that phoneme with whose
principal variant they completely or nearly coincide. Thus, the sound [c] in [кос]
should be assigned to the phoneme /с/ because it fully coincides with the
latter's principal variant, which is free from the influence of neighboring
speech sounds. The vowel [А] in [вАлы] should be
assigned to the phoneme /a/ because it nearly coincides with the latter's
principal variant [a]. The vowel [ъ] in [въдАвос]
does not even resemble either [o] or [a] or [А] but it is
still assigned to the /a/ phoneme because both /o/ and /a/ are reduced to [ъ].to
the third school of thought, there exist types of phonemes higher than the unit
phoneme. Different linguists call them differently. One of the terms for them
introduced by Prague Linguistic Circle, namely by N.S. Trubetzkoy and R.
Jacobson, is archiphoneme. According to them, the archiphoneme is a combination
of distinctive features common to two phonemes. Thus each of the speech sounds
[c], [з]
represents the phonemes /c/, /з/. These two phonemes differ from
each other only in matter of voice, while both of them possess the other two
distinctive features: (1) forelingual (2) fricative articulation. These two
features together constitute the archiphoneme to which both [c] and [з]
belong. This archiphoneme is, therefore, neither voiceless nor voiced. It
designated by Russian capital letter C. The sound [c] in [кос]
in both На лугу кос нет
and На лугу коз нет
belongs to this archiphoneme and not to the phoneme /c/ or /з/.phoneme
/а/
and /о/
belong to archiphoneme which is realized in the sound [A], as in [вАлы]
meaning both валы
and волы.
Lecture 5. The system of the English
phonemes
1. The system of consonant
phonemes. Problem of affricates
. The system of vowel phonemes.
Problems of diphthongs and vowel length
. The system of consonant phonemes.
Problem of affricates
phonological analysis of English
consonant sounds helps to distinguish 24 phonemes: [p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, θ,
ð, s, z, ∫, ж(не
нашла
ничего
лучше
),
h, t∫, dж, m, n, ŋ, w,
r, 1, j]. Principles of classification suggested by Russian phoneticians
provide the basis for establishing of the following distinctive oppositions in
the system of English consonants:
1.
Degree of noise
bake - make, veal - wheel
2.
Place of articulation
a. labial vs. lingual
pain - cane
b. lingual vs. glottal
foam - home, care - hair, Tim - him
1.
Manner of articulation
3.1 occlusive vs. constrictive pine
-fine, bat - that, bee - thee
3.2 constrictive vs. affricates
fare - chair, fail -jail
3.3 constrictive unicentral vs.
constrictive bicentral
same - shame
. Work of the vocal cords and the
force of articulation
4.1 voiceless fortis vs. voiced
lenis - Ben, ten - den, coat - goal
. Position of the soft palate
.1 oral vs. nasal
pit - pin, seek - seenare some
problems of phonological character in the English consonantal system; it is the
problem of affricates - their phonological status and their number. The
question is: what kind of facts a phonological theory has to explain.
) Are the English [t∫, dж]
sounds monophonemic entities or biphonemic combinations (sequences, clusters)?
) If they are monophonemic, how many
phonemes of the same kind exist in English, or, in other words, can such
clusters as [tr, dr] and [tθ, dð] be
considered affricates?
To define it is not an easy matter.
One thing is clear: these sounds are complexes because articulatory we can
distinguish two elements. Considering phonemic duality of affricates, it is
necessary to analyze the relation of affricates to other consonant phonemes to
be able to define their status in the system.problem of affricates is a point
of considerable controversy among phoneticians. According to Russian
specialists in English phonetics, there are two affricates in English: [t∫,
dж].
D. Jones points out there are six of them: [t∫, dж],
[ts, dz], and [tr, dr]. A.C. Gimson increases their number adding two more
affricates: [tθ, tð]. Russian phoneticians
look at English affricates through the eyes of a phoneme theory, according to
which a phoneme has three aspects: articulatory, acoustic and functional, the
latter being the most significant one. As to British phoneticians, their
primary concern is the articulatory-acoustic unity of these complexes.looking
at these complexes from a functional point of view it is necessary to define
their articulatory indivisibility.to N.S. Trubetzkoy's point of view a sound
complex may be considered monophonemic if: a) its elements belong to the same
syllable; b) it is produced by one articulatory effort; c) its duration should
not exceed normal duration of elements. Let us apply these criteria to the
sound complexes.
. Syllabic indivisibility[but∫
-ə] lightship [lait-∫ip][mætr-is]
footrest [fut-rest][kз:-tsi]
out-set [aut-set][eitθ]
whitethorn [wait-θo:n]the words in the left
column the sounds [t∫], [tr], [ts], [tθ] belong to one syllable and
cannot be divided into two elements by a syllable dividing line.
2. Articulatory indivisibility.
Special instrumental analysis shows that all the sound complexes are
homogeneous and produced by one articulatory effort.
. Duration. With G.P. Torsuyev we
could state that length of sounds depends on the position in the phonetic
context, therefore it cannot serve a reliable basis in phonological analysis.
He writes that the length of English [t∫] in the words chair and match is
different; [t∫] in match is considerably longer than |t| in mat and may
be even longer than [∫] in mash. This does not prove, however, that [t∫]
is biphonemic.to morphological criterion a sound complex is considered to be
monophonemic if a morpheme boundary cannot pass within it because it is
generally assumed that a phoneme is morphologically indivisible. If we consider
[t∫], [dж] from this point of
view we could be secure to grant them a monophonemic status, since they are
indispensable. As to [ts], [dz] and [tθ], [dð] complexes their last
elements are separate morphemes [s], [z], [θ], [ð] so these
elements are easily singled out by the native speaker in any kind of phonetic
context. These complexes do not correspond to the phonological models of the
English language and cannot exist in the system of phonemes. The case with
[tr], [dr] complexes is still more difficult.way of conclusion we could say
that the two approaches have been adopted towards this phenomenon are as
follows: the finding that there are eight affricates in English [t∫], [dж],
[tr], [dr], [ts], [dz], [tð], [dθ] is consistent
with articulatory and acoustic point of view, because in this respect the
entities are indivisible. This is the way the British phoneticians see the
situation. On the other hand, Russian phoneticians are consistent in looking at
the phenomenon from the morphological and the phonological point of view which
allows them to define [t∫], [dж]
as monophonemic units and [tr], [dr], [ts], [dz], [tð], [dθ] as
biphonemic complexes. However, this point of view reveals the possibility of
ignoring the articulatory and acoustic
indivisibility.
phonetics linguistics
language
2. The system of vowel phonemes.
Problems of diphthongs and vowel length
following 20 vowel phonemes are
distinguished in BBC English (RP): [i:, a:, o:, u:, з:,
i, e, æ, σ, υ, л(типа
крышка
домика),
ə; ei, ai, oi, аυ,
eυ, υə, iə].of
classification provide the basis for the establishment of the following
distinctive oppositions:
. Stability of articulation
.1. monophthongs vs. diphthongs-
bait, kit - kite, John - join, debt - doubt
.2. diphthongs vs. diphthongoids -
bee, boat - boot, raid - rude
. Position of the tongue
.1. horizontal movement of the
tongue ) front vs. central- curb, bed - bird ) back vs. central- pearl, cart -
curl, call - curl
.2. vertical movement of the tongue
a)
close (high) vs. mid-open (mid) bid
- bird, week - work
b)
open (low) vs. mid-open (mid) lark -
lurk, call - curl, bard-bird
3. Position of the lips rounded vs.
unrounded don - darn, pot - partEnglish diphthongs are, like the affricates,
the object of a sharp phonological controversy, whose essence is the same as in
the case of affricates are the English diphthongs biphonemic sound complexes or
composite monophonemic entities?are defined differently by different authors.
One definition is based on the ability of a vowel to form a syllable. Since in
a diphthong only one element serves as a syllabic nucleus, a diphthong is a
single sound. Another definition of a diphthong as a single sound is based on
the instability of the second element. The 3d group of scientists defines a
diphthong from the accentual point of view: since only one element is accented
and the other is unaccented, a diphthong is a single sound.. Jones defines
diphthongs as unisyllabic gliding sounds in the articulation of which the
organs of speech start from one position and then glide to another position..S.
Trubetzkoy states that a diphthong should be (a) unisyllabic, that is the parts
of a diphthong cannot belong to two syllables; (b) monophonemic with gliding
articulation; (c) its length should not exceed the length of a single
phoneme.accordance with the principle of structural simplicity and economy
American descriptivists liquidated the diphthongs in English as unit
phonemes.same phonological criteria may be used for justifying the monophonemic
treatment of the English diphthongs as those applicable to the English
affricates. They are the criteria of articulatory, morphophonological (and, in
the case of diphthongs, also syllabic) indivisibility, commutability and
duration. Applied to the English diphthongs, all these criteria support the
view of their monophonemic status.of length. There are long vowel phonemes in
English and short. However, the length of the vowels is not the only
distinctive feature of minimal pairs like Pete -pit, beet - bit, etc.
In other words the difference between i: i. u: - υ is
not only quantitative but also qualitative, which is conditioned by different
positions of the bulk of the tongue. For example, in words bead- bid not only
the length of the vowels is different but in the [i:] articulation the bulk of
the tongue occupies more front and high position then in the articulation of
[i].difference is the main relevant feature that serves to differentiate long
and short vowel phonemes because quantitative characteristics of long vowels
depend on the position they occupy in a word:
(a) they are the longest in the
terminal position: bee, bar, her;
(b) they are shorter before voiced
consonants: bead, hard, cord;
(c) they are the shortest before
voiceless consonants: beet, cart.
Lecture 6. Alternations and
modifications of speech sounds in English
1.
The notion of alternation and its types
.
Contextual alternations in English
.
Modifications of sounds in English
. The notion of alternation and its
types
sound variations in words, their
derivatives and grammatical form words, are known as sound alternations. For
example: the dark [l] in spell alternate with the clear [l] in spelling;
combine (n) [‘kσmbain], combine
[kəm’bain] where [n] in the stressed syllable of the noun alternates with
the neutral sound. It is perfectly obvious that sound alternations of this type
are caused by assimilation, accommodation and reduction in speech. To approach
the matter from the phonological viewpoint, it is important to differentiate
phonemic and allophone alternations. Some sound alternations are traced to the
phonemic changes in earlier periods of the language development and are known
as historical. Historical alternations mark both vowels and consonants, though
the alternating sounds are not affected by the phonemic position or context.
The sounds changes, which occurred in the process of historical development of
the language, are reflected in present-day English as alternations of phonemes
differentiating words, their derivatives and grammatical forms. The following
list of examples presents the types of alternations:
. Vowel alternations.
.2 Distinction of causal verbal
forms: [i-e] sit - set; [ai-ei] rise - raise; [o - e] fall-fell
.3
Distinction of parts of speech in etymologically correlated words [a: -
æ] class - classify, [o: - e] long -
length; [ei - æ]
nation - national
. Consonants alternations
.1 Distinction of irregular verbal
forms [d - t] send - sent
.2 distinction of parts of speech [s
- z] advice - advise; [k - t∫] speak - speech;
. Vowel and consonant alternations
[i - ai] + [v - f] live - life; [a: - ae] + [θ
- ð] bath - bathe.
. Contextual alternations in English
are also widely spread on the
synchronic level in the present-day English and are known as contextual. In
connection with contextual sound alternations there arises a problem of
phonemic identification of alternated sounds. The study of the relationship
between phonemes and morphemes is called morphophonemics. The interrelation of
phonology and morphology is also known as morphophonology оr
mоrрhоnоlogy
which is actually the phonology of morphemes. Morphonology studies the way in
which sounds can alternate in different realizations of one and the same
morpheme.are interested in the sound in its weak position. Scholars of
different trends are not unanimous in solving the problem.so-called
morphological (Moscow phonological) school supports the theory of
neutralization of phonemes. The concept of neutralization derives originally
from the Prague School of phonology. Neutralization occurs when two or more
closely related sounds, which are in contrast with each other in most
positions, are found to be non-contrastive in certain other positions. That
means that there are environment where the two sounds do not contrast with each
other, even though they normally do. When this happens, the opposition between
the two sounds is said to be neutralized. The loss of one or more distinctive
feature(s) of a phoneme in the weak position is called phonemic
neutralization.Moscow philologists claim that interchange of sounds manifests
close connection between phonetics and morphology. Alternations are observed in
one and the same morpheme and actualize the phonemic structure of the morpheme.
Thus, phonemic content of the morpheme/is constant. It should be noted here
that alternations of morphemes cannot be mistaken for the oppositions of
minimal pairs in different stems of words. Lets us compare some examples:
postman [ə] < [æ],
sixpence [ə] < [e]. Thus, one and the same sound may belong to
different phonemessupporters of the morphological trend define the phoneme as
follows «Это функциональная
единица,
представленная
рядом
позиционно
чередующихся
звуков»
(М.В.
Панов).
The notion of «фонетический
ряд»,
suggested by R.I. Avanesov, demonstrates positionally determined realizations
of the phoneme. Positionally alternating sounds are grouped into one phoneme
whether they are similar or have common features (that is common allophones)
with other phonemes.Russian preposition с
+ noun may have the following realizations: с
Колей
- [c], с
Тимошей
- [c'], с
Галей
- [з],
с
Димой
- [з'],
с
Шypoй
- [ш].
с
Женей
- [ж],
с
Щукарём
- [ш'].the
morphological conception the alternations of the phonemes are not analyzed
apart from the morpheme, as form and content make dialectical unity. The
phonetic system is not isolated from the grammatical and lexical structure of
the language, and the unity between the form and the content cannot be
destroyed.as an answer to the problem is not entirely satisfactory since
ordinary speakers are in no doubt that the sound which occurs in a word like гриб
is [п]
not [б],
and in English word speak [ph] is nothing but [p]. The perception of the
listeners makes us find the morphological conception too discrepant and
confiding.so-called Leningrad (Petersburg) school asserts that the phoneme is
independent of the morpheme. The supporters of this conception claim that the
phoneme cannot lose any of its distinctive features. In the line of words of
the same root morpheme (гриб
- грибы)
the sound [п] is an allophone
of the phoneme /п/
and the sound [б]
manifests the phoneme /б/.
Consequently, the consonants [6] and [п]
do not lose any their distinctive features and represent different phonemes. It
seems that according to this point of view the unity between the form and the
content is destroyed, thus phonology is isolated from morphology.to N.S.
Trubetzkoy, an archiphoneme is defined as a combination of distinctive features
common to two phonemes. It consists of the shared features of two or more
closely related phonemes but excludes the feature which distinguishes them. For
example: archiphoneme [П]
consists of the features: bilabial, plosive, but excludes voicing which
separates them.of the disadvantages in extending the notion of an archiphoneme
is that the Prague School phonologists limited neutralization to closely
related phonemes. A neutralization can be said to occur only if there is
uncertainty about the identity of the sound in the position of neutralization.
Before two phonemes can be neutralized, they must have common qualities which
do not occur in other phonemes. Thus [p], [b] can neutralize because they are
the only labial plosives in the language, they share these two features, but no
other sounds share them. However, [n] and [ŋ] cannot neutralize, so any
neutralization of nasals must involve all the three of them - [n], [ŋ],
[m].
. Modifications of sounds in English
in actual speech are seldom
pronounced by themselves. To pronounce a word consisting of more than one
sound, it is necessary to join the sounds together in the proper way. There
exist several types of junction, some of which are common to all or many
languages, while others are characteristic of individual languages. In order to
master these specific types of junction it is necessary to understand the
mechanism of joining sounds together. This mechanism can only be understood
after analyzing the stages in the articulation of a speech-sound pronounced in
isolation.speech-sound pronounced in isolation has three stages of
articulation. They are (1) the on-glide, or the initial stage, (2) the
retention-stage, or the medial stage, and (3) the off-glide (release), or the
final stage.on-glide, or the beginning of a sound, is the stage during which
the organs of speech move away from a neutral position to lake up the position
necessary for the pronunciation of a consonant or a vowel. The on-glide
produces no audible sound. The retention-stage or the middle of a sound is the
stage during which the organs of speech are kept for some time either in the
same position necessary to pronounce the sound (in the case of non-complex
sounds) or move from one position to another (within complex sounds, such as
diphthongoids, diphthongs and affricates). For the retention-stage of a stop
consonant the term stop-stage may also be used. The off-glide, or the end of a
sound, is the stage during which the organs of speech move away to a neutral
position. The off-glide of most sounds is not audible, the exception being
plosives whose off-glide produces the sound of plosion before a vowel and in a
word-final position before a pause.English there are two principal ways of
linking two adjacent speech sounds: I. Merging of stages. II. Interpenetration
of stages. The type of junction depends on the nature of the sounds that are
joined together. As all English sounds come under the classification of
consonants and vowels we may speak of joining:
(a) a consonant to a following vowel
(C + V), as in the word [mi:] me;
(b) a vowel to
a following consonant (V + C), as in the word [σn]
on;
(c) two consonants (C + C), as in the
word [bləυ] blow:
(d) two vowels (V +
V), as in the word [riæləti] reality.of
stages, as compared with interpenetration of stages, is a simpler and looser
way of joining sounds together. It usually takes place if two adjacent sounds
of a different nature are joined together. In this case the end of the
preceding sound penetrates into the beginning of the following sound. In other
words, the end of the first sound and the beginning of the second are
articulated almost simultaneously. Interpenetration
of stages usually takes place when consonants of a similar or identical nature
are joined. In this case the end of the first sound penetrates not only into
the beginning but also into the middle part of the second sound, as in
[ækt] act, [begd] begged.modifications
are observed both within words and word boundaries. There are the following
types of modification: assimilation, accommodation, reduction, elision, and
inserting. The adaptive modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant
in a speech chain is assimilation. Accommodation is used to denote the
interchanges of VC or CV types. Reduction is actually qualitative or
quantitative weakening of vowels in unstressed positions. Elision is a complete
loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants. Inserting is a process of sound
addition.OF CONSONANTS
. Assimilation
.1. Place of articulation
• t,
d > dental before [ð, θ]: eighth, at
the, said that
• t, d > post-alveolar before
[r]: tree, true, dream, the third room
• s, z > post-alveolar before [∫]:
this shop, does she
• t, d > affricates before [j]:
graduate, could you
• m > labio-dental before [f]:
symphony
• n
> dental before [θ]: seventh
• n > velar before [k]: thank
.2. Manner of articulation
• loss of plosion: glad to see you,
great trouble
• nasal plosion: sudden, at night,
let me see
• lateral plosion: settle, at last
.3. Work of the vocal cords
• voiced > voiceless: newspaper,
gooseberry (and in grammatical …)
has, is, does > [s]; of, have
> [f] : In English typical assimilation is voiced > voiceless; voiceless
> voiced is not typical.
.4. Degree of noise
• sonorants > are partially
devoiced after [p, t, k, s]
. Accommodation
.1. Lip position
• consonant + back vowel: pool,
rude, who (rounded)
• consonant + front vowel: tea, sit,
keep (spread)
. Elision
.1. Loss of [h] in personal and possessive
pronouns and the forms of the auxiliary verb have.
.2. [l] lends to be lost when
preceded by [o:]: always, already, all right
.3. In cluster of consonants: next
day, just one. mashed potatoes
. Inserting of sounds
.1. Linking [r] (potential
pronunciation of [r]): car owner
.2. Intrusive [r]: [r] is pronounced
where no r is seen in the spelling china and glass: it is not recommended to
foreign learners.OF VOWELS
. Reduction
.1. Quantitative
.2. Qualitative
. Accommodation
.2 Positional length of vowels: knee
- need - neat
.3. Nasalization of vowels: preceded
or followed by [n, m]: never, then, men syllabic structure in English
. Theories on syllable formal ion
and division.
. The structure and functions of
syllables in English
. Theories on syllable formation and
divisioncan be broken into minimal pronounceable units into which sounds show a
tendency to cluster or group. These smallest phonetic groups arc generally
given the name of syllables. Being the smallest pronounceable units, syllables
form morphemes, words and phrases. Each of these units is characterized by a
certain syllabic structure. Thus a meaningful language unit phonetically may be
considered from the point of view of syllable formation and syllable division.syllable
is a complicated phenomenon and like a phoneme it can be studied on four levels
- articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional. The complexity of the
phenomenon gave rise to many theories.could start with the so-called expiratory
(chest pulse or pressure) theory by R.H. Stetson. This theory is based on the
assumption that expiration in speech is a pulsating process and each syllable
should correspond to a single expiration. So the number of syllables in an
utterance is determined by the number of expirations made in the production of
the utterance. This theory was strongly criticized by Russian and foreign
linguists. G.P. Torsuyev, for example, wrote that in a phrase a number of words
and consequently a number of syllables can be pronounced with a single
expiration. This fact makes the validity of the theory doubtful.theory of
syllable put forward by O. Jespersen is generally called the sonority theory.
According to O. Jespersen, each sound is characterized by a certain degree of
sonority which is understood us acoustic property of a sound that determines
its perceptibility. According to this sound property a ranking of speech sounds
could be established: <the least sonorous> voiceless plosives
voiced fricatives voiced plosives voiced fricatives
sonorants close vowels open vowels <the most sonorous>.
In the word plant for example we may use the following wave of sonority:
[pla:nt]. According to V.A. Vasssilyev the most serious drawback of this theory
is that it fails to explain the actual mechanism of syllable formation and
syllable division. Besides, the concept of sonority is not very clearly
defined.experimental work aimed to description of the syllable resulted in lot
of other theories. However the question of articulatory mechanism of syllable
in a still an open question in phonetics. We might suppose that this mechanism
is similar in all languages and could be regarded as phonetic universal.Russian
linguistics there has been adopted the theory of syllable by LV Shcherba. It is
called the theory of muscular tension. In most languages there is the syllabic
phoneme in the centre of the syllable which is usually a vowel phoneme or, in
some languages, a sonorant. The phonemes preceding or following the syllabic
peak are called marginal. The tense of articulation increases within the range
of prevocalic consonants and then decreases within the range of postvocalic
consonants.linguist and psychologist N.I. Zhinkin has suggested the so-called
loudness theory which seems to combine both production and perception levels.
The experiments carried out by N.I. Zhinkin showed that the arc of loudness of
perception level is formed due to variations of the volume pharyngeal passage
which is modified by contractions of its walls. The narrowing of the passage
and the increase in muscular tension which results from it reinforce the actual
loudness of a vowel thus forming the peak of the syllabic. So the syllable is
the arc оf
loudness which correlates with the arc of articulatory effort on the speed
production level since variations in loudness are due to the work of all speech
mechanisms.is perfectly obvious that no phonetician has succeeded so far in
giving an adequate explanation of what the syllable is. The difficulties seem
to arise from the various possibilities of approach to the unit. There exist
two points of view:
. Sоme
linguists consider the syllable to be a purely articulatory unit which lacks
any functional value. This point of view is defended on the ground that the
boundaries of syllables do not always coincide with those of morphemes.
. However the majority of linguists
treat the syllable as the smallest pronounceable unit which can reveal some
linguistic function.to define the syllable from articulatory point of view we
may talk about universals. When we mean the functional aspect of the syllable
it should be defined with the reference to the structure of one particular
language.definition of the syllable from the functional point of view tends to
single out the following features of the syllable:) a syllable is a chain of
phonemes of varying length;) a syllable is constructed on the basis of contrast
of its constituents (which is usually of vowel - consonant type);) the nucleus
of a syllable is a vowel, the presence of consonants is optional; there are no
languages in which vowels are not used as syllable nuclei, however, there are
languages in which this function is performed by consonants;) the distribution
of phonemes in the syllabic structure follows by the rules which are specific
enough for a particular language.
. The structure and functions of
syllables in Englishformation in English is based on the phonological
opposition vowel - consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are
not with the exceptions of [l], [m], [n], which become syllabic in a final
position preceded by aconsonant: bottle [bσtl], bottom
[bσtm],
button
[b/\tn]
and [r] (in those accents which pronounce [r]) perhaps [præps].
The structure of English syllables
can be summarized as follows:
• Many syllables have one or more
consonants preceding the nucleus. These make up the syllable onset: me, so,
plow.
• Many syllables have one or more
consonants, following the nucleus. They make up the syllable coda. They are
traditionally known as closed syllables: cat, jump.
• The combination of nucleus and
coda has a special significance, making up the rhyming property of a syllable.
English language has developed the
closed type of syllable as the fundamental one while in Russian it is the open
type that forms the basis of syllable formation.other aspect of this component
is syllable division. The problem of syllable division in case of intervocalic
consonants and their clusters, like in such words as city, extra, standing and
others.us consider the first word ['sit.i]. There exist two possibilities:) the
point of syllable division is after the intervocalic consonant:) the point of
syllable division is inside the consonant.both cases the first syllable remains
closed because the shot vowel should remains check The result of instrumentally
analyses show, that the point of syllable division in such words is inside the
intervocalic consonant. EPD indicates the point of division after the
consonant.second case. There are two syllables in the word extra but where
should the boundary between them fall?
) [e - kstrə]. It is unlike
that people would opt for a division between [e] and [kstrə] because there
are no syllables in English which begin with consonant sequence [kstr].
) Similarly, a division between
[ekstr] and [ə] would be unnatural.
) [ek - strə], [eks - trə],
[ekst - rə] are possible. People usually prefer either of the first two
options here, but there no obvious way of deciding between them.some cases we
may take into account the morphemic structure of words. For example, standing consists
of two syllables; on phonetic grounds [stæn - diŋ). on grammatical
grounds [stænd - iŋ].
Now we shall consider two functions
of the syllable.first is constitutive function. It lies in its ability to be a
part of a word itself. The syllables form language units of greater magnitude
that is words, morphemes, and utterances. It this respect two things should be
emphasized. First, the syllable is the unit within which the relations between
distinctive features of phonemes and their acoustic correlates are revealed.
Second, within a syllable (or syllables) prosodic characteristics of speech are
realized, which form the stress pattern of a word and the intonation structure
of an utterance. In sum, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both
segmental and suprasegmental features.other function is distinctive one. In
this respect the syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate
words and word-forms. One minimal pare has been found in English to illustrate
the word distinctive function in the syllabic: nitrate - night-rate. There
analogical distinction between word combinations can be illustrated by many
more examples: an aim - a name; an ice house - a nice house, etc. Sometimes the
difference in syllable division may be the basic ground for differentiation in
such pairs as I saw her rise.- I saw her eyes; I saw the meat - I saw them eat.
Lecture 8. Word stress in English
1.
Nature of word stress
.
Place of word stress in English. Degrees of stress
.
Functions and tendencies of the English stress
.
Typology of accentual structures
sequence of syllables in the word is
not pronounced identically. The syllable or syllables which are uttered with more
prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or
accented. Stress in the isolated word is termed word stress; stress in
connected speech is termed sentence stress.is defined differently by different
authors. B.A. Bogoroditsky, for instance, defined stress as an increase of
energy, accompanied by an increase of expiratory and articulatory activity. D.
Jones defined stress as the degree of force, which is accompanied by a strong
force of exhalation and gives an impression of loudness. H. Sweet also stated
that stress, is connected with the force of breath. According to A.C. Gimson,
the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of four factors: force,
tone, length and vowel colour.we compare stressed and unstressed syllables in
the words contract ['kσntrækt], to
contract [kən'trækt], we may note that
in the stressed syllable:
(a) the force is greater, which is
connected with more energetic articulation;
(b) the pitch of voice is higher,
which is connected with stronger tenseness of the vocal cords and the walls of
the resonance chamber;
(c) the quantity of the vowel [æ]
in [kən'trækt] is greater, the vowel becomes
longer;
(d) the quality of the vowel [æ]
in the stressed syllable is different from the quality of this vowel in the unstressed
position, in which it is more narrow than ['æ].
On the auditory level a stressed
syllable is the part of the word which has a special prominence. It is produced
by a greater loudness and length, modifications in the pitch and quality. The
physical correlates are: intensity, duration, frequency and the formant
structure. All these features can be analyzed on the acoustic level. Word
stress can be defined as the singling out of one or more syllables in a word,
which is accompanied by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of the
voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the sound, which is
usually a vowel. In different languages one of the factors constituting word
stress is usually more significant than the others. According to the most
important feature different types, of word stress are distinguished in
different languages.
) If special prominence in a
stressed syllable or syllables is achieved mainly through the intensity of
articulation, such type of stress is called dynamic, or force stress.
) If special prominence in a
stressed syllable is achieved mainly through the change of pitch, or musical
tone, such accent is called musical, or tonic. It is characteristic of the
Japanese, Korean and other oriental languages.
) If special prominence in a
stressed syllable is achieved through the changes in the quantity of the
vowels, which are longer in the stressed syllables than in the unstressed ones,
such type of stress is called quantitative.
) Qualitative type of stress is
achieved through the changes in the quality of the vowel under stress.word
stress is traditionally defined as dynamic, but in fact, the special prominence
of the stressed syllables is manifested in the English language not only
through the increase of intensity, but also through the changes in the vowel
quantity, consonant and vowel quality and pitch of the voice.word stress is not
only dynamic but mostly quantitative and qualitative. The length of Russian
vowels always depends on the position in a word.we should like to distinguish
the notions of word stress and sentence stress. They are first of all different
in their sphere of application as they are applied to different language units:
word stress is naturally applied to a word, as a linguistic unit, sentence stress
is applied to a phrase. Secondly, the distinction of the rhythmic structure of
a word and a phrase is clearly observed in the cases when the word stress in
notional words is omitted in a phrase, e.g. I 'don't think he is 'right or when
the rhythmic structure of the isolated word does not coincide with that of a
phrase, e.g. 'Fifteen. 'Room Fifteen. 'Fifteen 'pages.in a speech chain the
phonetic structure of a word obtains additional characteristics connected with
rhythm, melody, and tempo. Though the sentence stress falls on the syllable
marked by the word stress it is not realized in the stressed syllable of an
isolated word but in a word within speech continuum. Since the spheres of word
stress and sentence stress fall apart their functions are actually different.
Sentence stress organizes a sentence into a linguistic unit, helps to form its
rhythmic and intonation pattern, and performs its distinctive function on the
level of a phrase.difficulties peculiar to the accentual structure of the
English language are connected with the vowel special and inherent prominence.
In identical positions the intensity of English vowels is different. The
highest in intensity is /a:/, then go /о:,
з:,
i:, u:, æ, σ, e, υ,
i/.English vowels may occur in accented syllables, the only exception is /ə/,
which is never stressed. English vowels /i, и,
ə υ/
tend to occur in unstressed syllables. Syllables with the syllabic /1, m, n/
are never stressed. Unstressed diphthongs may partially lose their glide
quality. In stressed syllables English stops have complete closure, fricatives
have full friction, and features of fortis/lenis distinction are clearly
defined.
. Place of word stress in English.
Degrees of stress
are also differentiated according to
the place of word stress. The traditional classification of languages
concerning place of stress in a word is into those with a fixed stress and
those with a free stress. In languages with a fixed stress the occurrence of
the word stress is limited to a particular syllable in a polysyllabic word. For
instance, in French the stress falls on the last syllable of the word (if
pronounced in isolation), in Finnish and Czech it is fixed on the first
syllable, in Polish on the one but last syllable. In languages with a free
stress its place is not confined to a specific position in the word. In one
word it may fall on the first syllable, in another on the second syllable, in
the third word - on the last syllable, etc. The free placement of stress is
exemplified in the English and Russian languages, e.g. English: 'appetite -
be'ginning - ba'lloon; Russian: озеро
- погода
- молоко.word
stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free but it may also be
shifting, performing the semantic function of differentiating lexical units,
parts of speech, grammatical forms. In English word stress is used as a means
of word-building; in Russian it marks both word-building and word formation,
e.g. 'contrast - con'trast; 'habit - habitual 'music - mu'sician; дома
- дома;
чудная
- чудная,
воды
- воды.are
actually as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables. The
opinions of phoneticians differ as to how many degrees of stress are
linguistically relevant in a word. The British linguists usually distinguish
three degrees of stress in the word. A.C. Gimson, for example, shows the
distribution of the degrees of stress in the word examination. The primary
stress is the strongest, it is marked by number 1, the secondary stress is the
second strongest marked by 2. All the other degrees are termed weak stress.
Unstressed syllables are supposed to have weak stress. The American scholars B.
Bloch and G. Trager find four contrastive degrees of word stress, namely: loud,
reduced loud, medial and weak stresses. Other American linguists also
distinguish four degrees of word stress but term them: primary stress,
secondary stress, tertiary stress and weak stress. The difference between the
secondary and tertiary stresses is very subtle and seems subjective. The
criteria of their difference are very vague. The second pretonic syllables of
such words as libe'ration, recog'nition are marked by secondary stress in BrE,
in AmE they are said to have tertiary stress. In AmE tertiary stress also
affects the suffixes -ory, -ary, -ony of nouns and the suffixes -ate, -ize, -y
of verbs, which are considered unstressed in BrE, e.g. 'territory, 'ceremony,
'dictionary; 'demonstrate, 'organize, 'simplify.linguists do not always deny
the existence of tertiary stress as a tendency to use a tertiary stress on a
post-tonic syllable in RP is also traced.
. Functions and tendencies of the
English stress
stress in a language performs three
functions.
. Word stress constitutes a word, it
organizes the syllables of a word into a language unit having a definite
accentual structure, that is a pattern of relationship among the syllables; a
word does not exist without the word stress Thus the word stress performs the
constitutive function. Sound continuum becomes a phrase when it is divided into
units organized by word stress into words.
. Word stress enables a person to
identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word.
This function of word stress is known as identificatoiy(у
него
так
в
лекции)
(or recognitive). Correct accentuation helps the listener to make the process
of communication easier, whereas the distorted accentual pattern of words,
misplaced word stresses prevent normal understanding.
. Word stress alone is capable of
differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus performing its
distinctive function. The accentual patterns of words or the degrees of word
stress and their positions form oppositions, e.g. 'import - im'port, 'billow -
below.accentual structure of English words is liable to instability due to the
different origin of several layers in the Modern English word-stock. In
Germanic languages the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable or
the second syllable, the root syllable in the English words with prefixes. This
tendency was called recessive. Most English words of Anglo-Saxon origin as well
as the French borrowings (dated back to the 15th century) are subjected to this
recessive tendency. Unrestricted recessive tendency is observed in the native
English words having no prefix, e.g. mother, daughter, brother, swallow, ,in
assimilated French borrowings, e.g. reason, colour, restaurant. Restricted
recessive tendency marks English words with prefixes, e.g. foresee, begin,
withdraw, apart. A great number of words of Anglo-Saxon origin are monosyllabic
or disyllabic, both notional words and form words. They tend to alternate in
the flow of speech, e.g. 'don't be'lieve he's 'right.rhythm of alternating
stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to the rhythmical tendency in the
present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the
multisyllabic French borrowings, e.g. revolution, organi'sation, assimilation,
etc. It also explains the placement of primary stress on the third syllable
from the end in three- and four-syllable words, e.g. 'cinema, 'situate,
ar'ticulate. The interrelation of both the recessive and the rhythmical
tendencies is traced in the process of accentual assimilation of the
French-borrowed word personal on the diachronic level, e.g. perso'nal -
'perso'nal - 'personal.appearance of the stress on the first syllable is the
result of the recessive tendency and at the same time adaptation to the
rhythmical tendency. The recessive tendency being stronger, the trisyllabic
words like personal gained the only stress on the third syllable from the end,
e.g. 'family, 'library, faculty, 'possible.accentual patterns of the words
territory, dictionary, necessary in AmE with the primary stress on the first
syllable and the tertiary stress on the third are other examples illustrating
the correlation of the recessive and rhythmical tendencies. Nowadays we witness
a great number of variations in the accentual structure of English
multisyllabic words as a result of the interrelation of the tendencies. The
stress on the initial syllable is caused by the diachronical recessive tendency
or the stress on the second syllable under the influence of the strong
rhythmical tendency of the present day, e.g. 'hospitable - ho'spitable,
'distribute - dis'tribute, 'aristocrat - a'ristocrat, 'laryngoscope -
la'ryngoscope.third tendency was traced in the instability of the accentual
structure of English word stress, the retentive tendency: a derivative often
retains the stress of the original or parent word, e.g. 'similar - as'simitate,
recom'mend - recommen 'dation.
. Typology of accentual structures
numerous variations of English word
stress are systematized in the typology of accentual structure of English words
worked out by G.P. Torsuyev. He classifies them according to the number of
stressed syllables, their degree or character (the main and the secondary
stress). The distribution of stressed syllables within the word accentual types
forms accentual structures of words. Accentual types and accentual structures
are closely connected with the morphological type of words, with the number of
syllables, the semantic value of the root and the prefix of the word.accentual
types are:
. ['___]. This accentual type marks
both simple and compound words. The accentual structures of this type may
include two and more syllables, e.g. 'fafher, 'possibly, 'mother-in-law,
'gas-pipe.
. [ '_ '_ ]. The accentual type is
commonly realized in compound words, most of them are with separable prefixes,
e.g. 'radio-'active, 're'write, 'diso'bey.
. [ '_' _ '_ ] and 4. ['_' _ '_ '_].
The accentual types are met in initial compound abbreviations like 'U'S'A,
'U'S'S'R.
. ['_ ,___]. The type is realized
both in simple and compound words, veryamong compound words, e.g.
'hair-,dresser, 'substructure.
. [, _'___]. The accentual type
marks a great number of simple words and some compound words as well. In simple
words the stresses fall onto:
. the prefix and the root:
maga'zine;
. the root and the suffix:
,hospi'tality;
. the prefix and the suffix:
disorganization.other five types are rare and found in small number of
words.data given above suggest an idea of the great variability in the
accentual structure of English words. The most widely spread among the
enumerated accentual types are supposed to be Type 1, Type 2, Type 5 and Type
6. Each type includes varieties of definite accentual structures with different
numbers of syllables and marks thousands of words. So the four of them cover
the main bulk of most common English words and are therefore most typical for
the English vocabulary.variability of the word accentual structure is
multiplied in connected speech. The accentual structure of words may be altered
under the influence of rhythm, e.g. An 'unpolished 'stone but: The 'stone was
un'polished.tempo of speech may influence the accentual pattern of words. With
the quickening of the speed the carefulness of articulation is diminished, the
vowels are reduced or elided, the secondary stress may be dropped, e.g. The
'whole organi'zation of the 'meeting was 'faulty.
Lecture 9. Intonation in English
1. Intonation: definition,
approaches, functions
. Components of intonation and
the structure of English tone-group
. The phonological aspect of
intonation
. Intonation: approaches,
definitions, functions
is a language universal. There are
no languages which are spoken without any change of prosodic parameters but
intonation functions in various languages in a different way.are two main
approaches to the problem of intonation in Great Britain. One is known as a
contour analysis and the other may be called grammatical.first is represented
by a large group of phoneticians: H. Sweet, D. Jones, G. Palmer, L. Armstrong,
I. Ward, R. Kingdon, J. O'Connor, A. Gimson and others. It is traditional and
widely used. According to this approach the smallest unit to which linguistic
meaning can be attached is a tone-group (sense-group). Their theory is based on
the assumption that intonation consists of basic functional "blocks".
They pay much attention to these "blocks" but not to the way they are
connected. Intonation is treated by them as a layer that is superimposed on the
lexico-grammatical structure. In fact the aim of communication determines the
intonation structure, not vice versa.grammatical approach to the study of
intonation was worked out by M. Halliday. The main unit of intonation is a
clause. Intonation is a complex of three systemic variables: tonality, tonicity
and tone, which are connected with grammatical categories. Tonality marks the
beginning and the end of a tone-group. Tonicity marks the focal point of each
tone-group. Tone is the third unit in Halliday's system. Tones can be primary
and secondary. They convey the attitude of the speaker. Hallyday's theory is
based on the syntactical function of intonation. founder of the American school
of intonation K. Pike in his book «The Intonation of American English»
considers «pitch phonemes» and «contours» to be the main units of intonation.
He describes different contours and their meanings, but the word «meaning»
stands apart from communicative function of intonation.is wide agreement among
Russian linguists that on perception level intonation is a complex, a whole,
formed by significant variations of pitch, loudness and tempo closely related.
Some Russian linguists regard speech timbre as the fourth component of
intonation. Neither its material form nor its linguistic function has been
thoroughly described. Though speech timbre definitely conveys certain shades of
attitudinal or emotional meaning there is no good reason to consider it
alongside with the three prosodic components of intonation, i.e. pitch,
loudness and tempo.. Sokolova and others write that the term prosody embraces
the three prosodic components and substitutes the term intonation. It is widely
used in linguistic literature, it causes no misunderstanding and, consequently,
it is more adequate. They feel strongly that this term would be more suitable
for their book too, but, unfortunately, it has not been accepted in the
teaching process yet.foreign scholars (A. Gimson, R. Kingdon) restrict the
formal definition of intonation to pitch movement alone, though occasionally
allowing in variations of loudness as well. According to D. Crystal, the most
important prosodic effects are those conveyed by the linguistic use of pitch
movement, or melody. It is clearly not possible to restrict the term intonation
by the pitch parameters only because generally all the three prosodic
parameters function as a whole though in many cases the priority of the pitch
parameter is quite evident.is no general agreement about either the number or
the headings of the functions of intonation which can be illustrated by the
difference in the approach to the subject by some prominent Russian
phoneticians. T.M. Nikolayeva names three functions of intonation:
delimitating, integrating and semantic. L.K. Tseplitis suggests the semantic,
syntactic and stylistic functions the former being the primary and the two
latter being the secondary functions. N.V. Cheremisina singles out the
following main functions of intonation: communicative, distinctive (or
phonological), delimitating, expressive, appellative, aesthetic, integrating.
Other Russian and foreign phoneticians also display some difference in heading
the linguistic functions of intonation.. Crystal distinguishes the following
functions of intonation.
• Emotional function's most obvious
role is to express attitudinal meaning -sarcasm, surprise, reserve, impatience,
delight, shock, anger, interest, and thousands of other semantic nuances.
• Grammatical function helps to
identify grammatical structure in speech, performing a role similar to
punctuation. Units such as clause and sentence often depend on intonation for
their spoken identity, and several specific contrasts, such as
question/statement, make systematic use of it.
• Informational function helps draw
attention to what meaning is given and what is new in an utterance. The word
carrying the most prominent tone in a contour signals the part of an utterance
that the speaker is treating as new information.
• Textual function helps larger
units of meaning than the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio
news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped through the use of pitch.
In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the progress of the action.
• Psychological function helps us to
organize speech into units that are easier to perceive and memorize. Most
people would find a sequence of numbers, for example, difficult to recall. The
task is made easier by using intonation to chunk the sequence into two units.
• Indexical function, along with
other prosodic features, is an important marker of personal or social identity.
Lawyers, preachers, newscasters, sports commentators, army sergeants, and
several other occupations are readily identified through their distinctive
prosody.
2. Components of intonation and the
structure of English intonation group
us consider the components of
intonation.the pitch component we may consider the distinct variations in the
direction of pitch, pitch level and pitch range.to R. Kingdon the most
important nuclear tones in English are: Low Fall, High Fall, Low Rise, High
Rise, and Fall-Rise.meanings of the nuclear tones are difficult to specify in general
terms. Roughly speaking the falling tone of any level and range expresses
certainty, completeness, and independence. A rising tone on the contrary
expresses uncertainty, incompleteness or dependence. A falling-rising tone may
combine the falling tone's meaning of assertion, certainty with the rising
tone's meaning of dependence, incompleteness. At the end of a phrase it often
conveys a feeling of reservation; that is, it asserts something and at the same
time suggests that there is something else to be said. At the beginning or in
the middle of a phrase it is a more forceful alternative to the rising tone,
expressing the assertion of one point, together with the implication that
another point is to follow. The falling-rising tone, as its name suggests,
consists of a fall in pitch followed by a rise. If the nucleus is the last
syllable of the intonation group the fall and rise both take place on one
syllable. In English there is often clear evidence of an intonation-group
boundary, but no audible nuclear tone movement preceding. In such a
circumstance two courses are open: either one may classify the phenomenon as a
further kind of head or one may consider it to be the level nuclear tone. Low
Level tone is very characteristic of reading poetry. Mid-Level tone is
particularly common in spontaneous speech functionally replacing the rising
tone. There are two more nuclear tones in English: Rise-Fall and
Rise-Fall-Rise. But adding refinement to speech they are not absolutely
essential tones for the foreign learner to acquire. Rise-Fall can always be
replaced by High Fall and Rise-Fall-Rise by Fall-Rise without making nonsense
of the utterance.to D. Crystal, there are nine ways of saying Yes as an answer
to the question Will you marry me?
. Low fall. The most neutral tone; a
detached, unemotional statement of fact.
. Full fall. Emotionally involved;
the higher the onset of the tone, the more involved the speaker; choice of
emotion (surprise, excitement, irritation) depends on the speaker's facial
expression.
. Mid fall. Routine, uncommitted
comment; detached and unexcited.
. Low rise. Facial expression
important; with a 'happy' face, the tone is sympathetic and friendly; with a
'grim' face, it is guarded and ominous.
. Full rise. Emotionally involved,
often «disbelief or shock, the extent of the emotion depending on the width of
the tone.
. High rise. Mild query or
puzzlement; often used in echoing what has just been said.
. Level. Bored, sarcastic, ironic.
. Fall-rise. A strongly emotional
tone; a straight or 'negative' face conveys uncertainty, doubt, or
tentativeness; a positive face conveys encouragement or urgency.
. Rise-fall. Strong emotional
involvement; depending on the face, the attitude might be delighted,
challenging, or complacent.more pitch parameters are pitch ranges and pitch
levels. Three pitch ranges are generally distinguished: normal, wide, and
narrow. Pitch levels may be high, medium, and low.is used in a variety of ways.
Gross differences of meaning (such as anger, menace, and excitement) can be
conveyed by using an overall loudness level.tempo of speech is the third
component of intonation. The term tempo implies the rate of the utterance and
pausation. The rate of speech can be normal, slow and fast. The parts of the
utterance which are particularly important sound slower. Unimportant parts are
commonly pronounced at a greater speed than normal.stretch of speech can be
split into smaller portions, i.e. phonetic wholes, phrases, intonation groups
by means of pauses. By 'pause' here we mean a complete stop of phonation. We
may distinguish the following three kinds of pauses:
. Short pauses which may be used to
separate intonation groups within a phrase. .
. Longer pauses which normally
manifest the end of the phrase.
. Very long pauses, which are
approximately twice as long as the first type, are used to separate phonetic
wholes., there may be distinguished syntactic, emphatic and hesitation
pauses.pauses separate phonopassages, phrases, and intonation groups. Emphatic
pauses serve to make especially prominent certain parts of the utterance.
Hesitation pauses are mainly used in spontaneous speech to gain some time to
think over what to say next. They may be silent or filled.syllable of the
speech chain has a special pitch colouring. Some of the syllables have
significant moves of tone up and down. Each syllable bears a definite amount of
loudness. Pitch movements are inseparably connected with loudness. Together
with the tempo of speech they form an intonation pattern which is the basic
unit of intonation. An intonation pattern contains one nucleus and may contain
other stressed or unstressed syllables normally preceding or following the
nucleus. The boundaries of an intonation pattern may be marked by stops of
phonation that is temporal pauses.patterns serve to actualize syntagms in oral
speech. It may be well to remind you here that the syntagm is a group of words
which is semantically and syntactically complete. In phonetics actualized
syntagms are called intonation groups (sense-groups, tone-groups). Each
intonation group may consist of one or more potential syntagms, e.g. the
sentence / think he is coming soon has two potential syntagms: / think and he
is coming soon. In oral speech it is normally actualized as one intonation group.intonation
group is a stretch of speech which may have the length of the whole phrase. But
the phrase often contains more than one intonation group. The number of
intonation groups depends on the length of the phrase and the degree of
semantic importance or emphasis given to various parts of it:bed was not'
slept, in- ,This be was not' slept inadditional terminal tone on this bed
expresses an emphasis on this bed in contrast to other beds.all stressed
syllables are of equal importance. One of the syllables has the greater
prominence than the others and forms the nucleus, or focal point of an
intonation pattern. Formally the nucleus may be described as a strongly
stressed syllable which is generally the last strongly accented syllable of an
intonation pattern and which marks a significant change of pitch direction,
that is where the pitch goes distinctly up or down. The nuclear tone is the
most important part of the intonation pattern without which the latter cannot
exist at all. On the other hand an intonation pattern may consist of one
syllable which is its nucleus. The tone of a nucleus determines the pitch of
the rest of the intonation pattern following it which is called the tail. Thus
after a falling tone, the rest of the intonation pattern is at a low pitch.
After a rising tone the rest of the intonation pattern moves in an upward pitch
direction:, Mary - Well, Mary.nucleus and the tail form what is called terminal
tone. The two other sections of the intonation pattern are the head and the
pre-head which form the pre-nuclear part of the intonation pattern and, like
the tail, they may be looked upon as optional elements:District is one of the
loveliest 'parts of, Britain. pre-nuclear part can take a variety of pitch
patterns. Variation within the prе-nucleus
does not usually affect the grammatical meaning of the utterance, though it
often conveys meanings associated with attitude or phonetic styles. There are
three common types of prе-nucleus:
a descending type in which the pitch gradually descends (often in
"steps") to the nucleus; an ascending type in which the syllables
form an ascending sequence and a level type when all the syllables stay more or
less on the same level.meaning of the intonation group is the combination of
the «meaning» of the terminal tone and the pre-nuclear part combined with the
«meaning» of pitch range and pitch level. The parts of the intonation pattern
can be combined in various ways manifesting changes in meaning, cf.: the High
Head combined with Low Fall, High Fall, Low Rise, High Rise, Fall-Rise in the
phrase Not at all.
>Not at all (reserved, calm).
>Not at all) (surprised,
concerned).
>Not at all (encouraging,
friendly).
> Not at all (questioning).
> Not at all (intensely
encouraging, protesting).more the height of the pitch contrasts within the
intonation pattern the more emphatic the intonation group sounds, cf.: 's won.
Fan tastic.tastic.changes of pitch, loudness and tempo are not haphazard
variations. The rules of change are highly organized. No matter how variable
the individual variations of these prosodic components are they tend to become
formalized or standardized, so that all speakers of the language use them in
similar ways under similar circumstances. These abstracted characteristics of
intonation structures may be called intonation patterns which form the prosodic
system of English.intonation patterns may be completely colourless in meaning:
they give to the listener no implication of the speaker's attitude or feeling.
They serve a mechanical function - they provide a mold into which all sentences
may be poured so that they achieve utterance. Such intonation patterns
represent the intonational minimum of speech. The number of possible
combinations is more than a hundred but not all of them ate equally important.
Some of them do not differ much in meaning, others are very rarely used. That
is why in teaching it is necessary to deal only with a very limited number of
intonation patterns, which are the result of a careful choice.
. The phonological aspect of
intonation
has a special branch, intonology,
whose domain is the larger units of connected speech: intonation groups,
phrases and even phonetic passages or blocks of discourse.descriptions of
intonation show that phonological facts of intonation system are much more open
to question than in the field of segmental phonology. Descriptions differ
according to the kind of meaning they regard intonation is carrying and also
according to the significance they attach to different parts of the tone-unit.
J.D. O'Connor and G.F. Arnold assert that a major function of intonation is to
express the speaker's attitude to the situation he/she is placed in, and they
attach these meanings not to pre-head, head and nucleus separately, but to each
of ten 'tone-unit types' *as they combine with each of four sentence types,
statement, question, command and exclamation.. Halliday supposes that English
intonation contrasts are grammatical. He argues first that there is a neutral
or unmarked tone choice and then explains all other choices as meaningful by
contrast. Thus if one takes the statement I don't know the suggested
intonational meanings are: Low Fall - neutral. Low Rise - non-committal, High
Rise - contradictory, Fall-Rise - with reservation, Rise-Fall - with
commitment. Unlike J.D. O'Connor and G.F. Arnold, M. Halliday attributes
separate significance to the prе-nuclear
choices, again taking one choice as neutral and the other(s) as meaningful by
contrast.. Crystal presents an approach based on the view "that any
explanation of intonational meaning cannot be arrived at by seeing the issues
solely in either grammatical or attitudinal terms". He ignores the
significance of pre-head and head choices and deals only with terminal tones.is
still impossible to classify, in any practical analysis of intonation, all the
fine shades of feeling and attitude which can be conveyed by slight changes in
pitch, by lengthening or shortening tones, by increasing or decreasing the
loudness of the voice, by changing its quality, and in various other ways. On the
other hand it is quite possible to make a broad classification of intonation
patterns which are so different in their nature that they materially: change
the meaning of the utterance and to make different pitches and degrees of
loudness in each of them. Such an analysis resembles the phonetic analysis of
sounds of a language whereby phoneticians establish the number of significant
sounds it uses.distinctive function of intonation is realized in the opposition
of the same word sequences which differ in certain parameters of the intonation
pattern. Intonation patterns make their distinctive contribution at intonation
group, phrase and text levels. Thus in the phrases:Mary, comes let me
know at once (a few people are expected to come but it is Mary who interests
the speaker)->Mary comes let me know at once (no one else but Mary
is expected to come)intonation patterns of the first intonation groups are
opposed. In the opposition I enjoyed it - I enjoyed it the pitch pattern
operates over the whole phrase adding in the second phrase the notion that the
speaker has reservations (implying a continuation something like 'but it could
have been a lot better').section of the intonation pattern, any of its three
constituents can perform the distinctive function thus being phonological
units. These units form a complex system of intonemes, tonemes, accentemes,
chronemes, etc. These phonological units like phonemes consist of a number of
variants. The terminal tonemes, for instance, consist of a number of allotones,
which are mutually non-distinctive. The principal allotone is realized in the
nucleus alone. The subsidiary allotones are realized not only in the nucleus,
but also in the pre-head and in the tail, if there are any, cf.:. No, Tom. Oh,
no, Mary.most powerful phonological unit is the terminal tone. The opposition
of terminal tones distinguishes different types of sentence. The same sequence
of words may be interpreted as a different syntactical type, i.e. a statement
or a question, a question or an exclamation being pronounced with different
terminal tones, e.g.:saw it (statement) - Tom saw it? (general question)'t you
enjoy it? (general question) - Didn't you enjoy it? (exclamation)you be quiet?
(request) - Will you be quiet? (command).number of terminal tones indicates the
number of intonation groups. Sometimes the number of intonation groups may be
important for meaning. For example, the sentence My sister, who lives in the
South, has just arrived may mean two different things. In oral speech it is
marked by using two or three intonation groups. If the meaning is: 'my only
sister who happens to live in the South', then the division would be into three
intonation groups: My sister, who lives in the South, has just arrived. On the
other hand, if the meaning is 'that one of my two sisters, who lives in the
South', the division is into two intonation groups.with the increase of
loudness terminal tones serve to single out the semantic centre of the
utterance. By semantic centre we mean the information centre which may
simultaneously concentrate the expression of attitudes and feelings. The words
in an utterance do not necessarily all contribute an equal amount of
information, some are more important to the meaning than others. This largely
depends on the context or situation in which the intonation group or a phrase
is said. Some words are predisposed by their function in the language to be
stressed. In English lexical (content) words are generally accented while
grammatical (form) words are more likely to be unaccented although words
belonging to both of these groups may be unaccented or accented if the meaning
requires it.us consider the sentence It was an unusually rainy day. As the
beginning of, say, a story told on the radio the last three words would be
particularly important, they form the semantic centre with the nucleus on the
word day. The first three words play a minor part. The listener would get a
pretty clear picture of the story's setting if the first three words were not
heard and the last three were heard clearly. If the last three words which form
the semantic centre were lost there would be virtually no information gained at
all.same sentences may be said in response to the question What sort of day was
it? In this case the word day in the reply would lose some of its force because
the questioner already possesses the information that it might otherwise have
given him. In this situation there are only two important words - unusually
rainy - and they would be sufficient as a complete answer to the question. The
nucleus will be on the word rainy. Going further still, in reply to the
question Did it rain yesterday? the single word unusually would bear the major
part of the information, would be, in this sense, more important than all the
others and consequently would be the nucleus of the intonation pattern.words
may be also important to the meaning if the context makes them so. The word
was, for instance, has had little value in the previous examples, but if the
sentences were said as a contradiction in the reply to It wasn 't a rainy day
yesterday, was it?, then was would be the most important word of all and
indeed, the reply might simply be It was, omitting the following words as no
longer worth saying. In this phrase the word was is the nucleus of the semantic
centre.variations of the accentuation achieved by shifting the position of the
terminal tone serve a striking example of how the opposition of the
distribution of terminal tones is fulfilling the distinctive function.the
phrase I don't want you to read anything has the low-falling terminal tone on
the word anything, it means that for this or other reason the person should
avoid reading. If the same word sequence is pronounced with the falling-rising
tone on the same word, the phrase means that the person must have a careful
choice in reading. It should be pointed out here that the most important role
of the opposition of terminal tones is that of differentiating the attitudes
and emotions expressed by the speaker. The speaker must be particularly careful
about the attitudes and emotions he expresses since the hearer is frequently
more interested in the speaker's attitude or feeling than in his words - that
is whether he speaks nicely or nastily. For instance, the special question Why?
may be pronounced with the low falling tone sounding rather detached, sometimes
even hostile. When pronounced with the low-rising tone it is sympathetic,
friendly, interested.the other sections of the intonation pattern differentiate
only attitudinal or emotional meaning, e.g.: being pronounced with the high рге-head,
Hello sounds more friendly than when pronounced with the low pre-head, cf.:
He llo! - O He
llo!commonly, however, different kinds of pre-heads, heads, the same as pitch
ranges and levels fulfil their distinctive function not alone but in the
combination with other prosodic constituents.have been concerned with the
relationship between intonation, grammatical patterns and lexical composition.
Usually the speaker's intonation is in balance with the words and structures he
chooses. If he says something nice, his intonation usually reflects the same
characteristic. All types of questions, for instance, express a certain amount
of interest which is generally expressed in their grammatical structure and a
special interrogative intonation. However, there are cases when intonation is
in contradiction with the syntactic structure and the lexical content of the
utterance neutralizing and compensating them, e.g.: a statement may sound
questioning, interested. In this case intonation neutralizes its grammatical
structure. It compensates the grammatical means of expressing this kind of
meaning: Do you know what I'm here for? - No (questioning)are cases when
intonation neutralizes or compensates the lexical content of the utterance as
it happens, for instance, in the command Phone him at once, please, when the
meaning of the word please is neutralized by intonation.of balance between
intonation and word content, or intonation and the grammatical structure of the
utterance may serve special speech effects. A highly forceful or exciting
statement said with a very matter-of-fact intonation may, by its lack of
balance, produce a type of irony; if one says something very complimentary, but
with an intonation of contempt, the result is an insult.