Phoneme. Classification of phonemes. Phoneme theories

Phoneme is the smallest language unit possessing no meaning. Allophone is a variant o phoneme which depends on dialectal, stylistic variations or phonetic situation.

Phoneme theories:

1) Mentalistic (I. Baudauin de Courtenay and E. Sapin) – phoneme is an ideal image in our mind everyone is aiming at;

2) Functional (L. Bloomfield, R. Jacobson and N. Trubetskoy) – phoneme is a language unit that has its own function. They fulfill the particular function in the language (differentiating between the words). They have no variants and if pronunciation of the sound can change the meaning of the word, then they are different sounds;

3) Abstract (L. Hjelmsler and Uldall) – phonemes are considered irrespective of their functional aspect and physical characteristics;

Physical (B. Bloch and K. Trager) – phonemes are grouped into familiesaccording to their physical characteristics.

Phonemes

Vowels Consonants

1. Vowels

Monophthongs Diphthongs Diphthongoids

single vowels 2 vowels a vowel+schwa (ə)

(a, u) (au, ou)

2. Vowels (position of the tongue)

Front Front-retracted Central Back Back-advanced

[i:] [i] [Ʌ] [ɔ:] [υ]

1. Consonant (active speech organ)

Labial Lingual Glottal

h

Bilabial Labial-dental Fore-lingual Medi-lingual Back-lingual

p, b, m f, v n, l y k, g

2. Consonant (type of obstruction)

Noise Sonorants

Occlusive Constrictive Occ-constr. Occlusive Constrictive

b v d p Medial Lateral

n w

Syllabic structure of English words. Syllable formation and syllable division

Syllable is a part of a word consisting of a vowel (and one or several consonants) and possessing no meaning

Theories of syllables:

1) Expiratory (R. Stetson) – the number of syllables in the word is equal to the number of expirations we need to pronounce this word. This theory was criticized by Torsunov who said that the whole phrase can be uttered in one expiration.

2) Sonirity (O. Jesperson) –every syllable is characterized by a certain degree of sonority.

3) Theory of muscular tension (Scherba, modified by Vassilyev) – syllable is described from physical POV.

4) Loudness (Zhinkin) – combination of production and perception level of syllables.

Syllable formation is based on the phonetic opposition “vowel-consonant”, where vowel is a nucleus of the syllable and consonant is optional.

Syllable division. A subbranch of phonetics dealing with syllable division is phonotactics. The rules of syllable division in English are almost the same as in Russian, but with one difference: the number of syllables in the word is equal to the number of pronounced vowels. The main function of syllable is distinctive.