- •1. Phonetics as a linguistic science. Branches of phonetics. Phonetics and phonology
- •2. Articulatory classification of speech sounds
- •3. The phoneme as a linguistic unit. Its definition and functions
- •4. Manifestation of phonemes in speech. Phoneme and allophone
- •5. Methods of the identification of phonemes in a language
- •6. The distinctive and non-distinctive features of English vowels
- •7. The distinctive and non-distinctive features of English consonants
- •8. Problems of the phonemic inventory of English vowels
- •9. Problems of the phonemic inventory of English consonants
- •10. Types of phonetic transcription
- •11. The syllable as a phonetic, phonological unit. The functions of the syllable. Structural peculiarities of the English syllable
- •12. Theories of syllable formation and syllable division
- •13. The emergence of a pronunciation standard. Received Pronunciation (rp). Present-day situation
- •14. National and regional variants of English pronunciation
- •15. American English pronunciation. Peculiarities of General American pronunciation compared to British English
- •16. The syllable as a prosodic unit. Word stress, its nature and functions. Linguistically relevant types of word stress
- •17. The accentual tendencies in English. Basic word stress patterns in English
- •18. Speech prosody. Its perceptible qualities and acoustic properties
- •19. Prosody and intonation. Utterance prosody and its linguistic functions
- •20. The components (subsystems) of utterance prosody and units of its analysis
- •21. The tonal (pitch) subsystem of utterance prosody. Units of its analysis. Tones and tonal contours
- •22. The structure of a prosodic contour (intonation group) in English. The functions of its elements
- •23. Basic types of prosodic contours in English
- •24. Utterance stress in English, its phonetic nature and function. The relationship between utterance stress and word stress in English
- •25. Types of utterance stress. Factors conditioning the location of utterance stress
- •27. The basic unit of the rhythmic organization of speech and the problem of its phonetic delimitation in an utterance
- •28. The phonetic nature and types of speech rhythm in different languages.
- •29. Speech tempo and pausation
- •30. The notion of speech style. Phonetic style-forming means in English
16. The syllable as a prosodic unit. Word stress, its nature and functions. Linguistically relevant types of word stress
The SYLLABLE is widely recognized to be the smallest prosodic unit. It has no meaning of its own, but it is significant for constituting hierarchically higher prosodic units. Prosodic features of the syllable (tone, stress, duration) depend on its position and function in the rhythmic unit and in the utterance. A rhythmic unit is either 1 stressed syllable or a stressed syllable with a number of unstressed ones grouped around it. The stressed syllable is the nucleus of the rhythmic unit. There are as many rhythmic units in an utterance as there are stressed syllables in it. The unstressed syllables are called CLITICS. Those preceding the stressed syllable - PROCLITICS, those following it - ENCLITICS.
WORD-STRESS can be defined as the singling out 1 or more syllables in a word which is accomplished by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of voice, qualitative and quantitative characteristics of vowels.
Types of word-stress:
1. TONIC STRESS - refers to the syllable in a word which receives the most stress in an intonation unit.
2. EMPHATIC STRESS - if you decide to emphasize sth, you can change the stress from the principal noun to another content word such as an adjective or an intensifier.
3. CONTRASTIVE STRESS - is used to point out the difference between one object and another; tends to be used with determiners like "this, that, these, those".
4. NEW INFORMATION STRESS - when asked a question, the requested information is stressed more strongly (the rule of theme and rheme).
Degrees of word-stress:
1) primary
2) secondary
3) tertiary
4) weak
Functions of word-stress:
1. CONSTITUTIVE - unites syllables into words
2. DISTINCTIVE - helps to differentiate the meanings of words or their forms
3. IDENTIFICATORY - helps to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word.
17. The accentual tendencies in English. Basic word stress patterns in English
Accentual tendencies:
1. RECESSIVE - 1st and 2nd syllables in Germanic languages are usually stressed
2. RETENTIVE - the borrowed word retains its stress
3. RHYTHMICAL - causes the appearance of secondary stress in polysyllabic words
4. SEMANTIC FACTOR - the most important element of the word is stressed
Basic word-stress patterns:
1) 1 syllable - stressed (drink)
2) 2 syllable - 1st stressed (father)
3) 2 syllable - 2nd stressed (today)
4) 3 syllable - 1st stressed (energy)
5) 3 syllable - 2nd stressed (Canadian)
6) 3 syllable - 3rd stressed (employee)
7) 4 syllable - 2nd stressed (psychology)
8) 4 syllable - 3rd stressed (reputation)
18. Speech prosody. Its perceptible qualities and acoustic properties
PROSODY includes constant non-segmental characteristics of speech: variations in the pitch, loudness, tempo and timber of the voice. Prosody is a synonym to INTONATION - a study of principles and means of division of speech and connection of divided parts such as melody, dynamics, tempo and pausation. Prosody is a broader notion than intonation as it deals with various sound sequences (from syllables to texts), while intonation is applied to speech units no longer than syntagmas.
Perceptible qualities of speech prosody:
1. SPEECH MELODY (rising and falling of the basic tone)
2. SENTENCE STRESS (distributing strong and weak stresses in an utterance)
3. TEMPO (relative acceleration and deceleration of speech)
4. RHYTHM (regular occurance of pattern in time)
5. TIMBRE (tone quality, tone colour)
Acoustic properties of speech prosody:
1. FREQUENCY (=pitch) - Hz, cycles/sec
2. INTENSITY (=loudness) - dB
3. DURATION (=length) – msec