The system of English phonemes (vowels and consonants)

Задания к семинарам по дисциплине «Теоретическая фонетика английского языка» 3 курс

Семинар 1

PHONETICS AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS

Задание к семинару

Define the term PHONETICS. What does the discipline study? Explain why it is an important branch of linguistics.

What’s the difference between general phonetics and pnonetics of a particular language?

Account for the physical aspect of speech. Which organs take part in it?

Speak of the articulatory, acoustic and auditory phonetics.

What is phonology? How is it viewed upon by different academic schools? Should it be consided a separate discipline?

What are other types of phonetics? What do they study?

How is phonetics connected with other disciplines?In what way can phonetic knowledge be applied in other sciences?

Рекомендуемая литература:

Васильев В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс. (На англ.яз.). – М., 1970.

Зиндер Л.Р. Общая фонетика. – М.,1979.

Леонтьева С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. – М.,1980.

Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. М.А. Соколова, К.П. Гинтовт, И.С. Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова. – М., 2006.

Фонетика английского языка. В.А. Васильев, А.Р. Катанская, др. – М., 1980.

Jones D. An Outline of English Phonetics. Camb., 1984.

Практическое задание:

Read and analyse the given articles on the problem.

Семинар 2

THE PHONEME THEORY

 

Задание к семинару

 

1.Give the definition of the PHONEME. What’s the difference between the phoneme and the allophone?

 

2.Account for the three aspects of the phoneme: material, abstract, functional.

 

3.What are distinctive and nondistinctive features of the phoneme? What is the invariant of the phoneme? Give examples.

 

4.What types of allophones do you know? What’s the difference between them? How would you organize the teaching process if you were to teach the pronunciation of English stops? What allophones would you first point out to the students?

 

5.Phonetic and phonological mistakes. Give examples. Is it important to differentiate between these two types in teaching?

 

6.The phoneme, the allophone, the phone. What do we actually pronounce?

 

7.What is notation? What do we need it for?

 

8.What are the two types of notation? What types of broad transcription do you know? Who introduced them? Which is better for teaching?

 

 

Рекомендуемая литература:

1. Васильев В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс. (На англ.яз.). – М., 1970.

2. Зиндер Л.Р. Общая фонетика. – М.,1979.

3. Леонтьева С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. – М.,1980.

4. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. М.А. Соколова, К.П. Гинтовт, И.С. Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова. – М., 2006.

5. Трубецкой Н.С. Основы фонологии. – М.,1960.

6. Фонетика английского языка. В.А. Васильев, А.Р. Катанская, др. – М., 1980.

7. Jones D. An Outline of English Phonetics. Camb., 1984.

 

Практическое задание:

Read and analyse the given articles on the problem.

 

Семинар 3

MAIN TRENDS IN THE PHONEME THEORY. METHODS OF PHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

 

Задание к семинару

 

1.Speak of the history of the phonological studies.

 

2.Account for the three main conceptions of the phoneme. What are their chief drawbacks and merits?

 

3.What are the aims of phonological analysis? What conclusions can you draw from comparing the social value of articulatory and acoustic sound attributes in English and Russian? Give examples.

 

4.Explain what methods are applied in the phonological analysis. Speak of the distributional method in detail. Explain the difference between contrastive and complementary distribution. What are the drawbacks of teh method?

 

5.What is the semantic method based on? Explain the principles of commutation test. Give examples of minimal pairs. What oppositions do you know?

 

6.What does morphonology study?

 

7.Account for Moscow school’s approach. What are its strong and weak points?

 

8.Account for Leningrad school’s approach. What are its strong and weak points? Which conception do you support?

 

 

Рекомендуемая литература:

1. Васильев В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс. (На англ.яз.). – М., 1970.

2. Зиндер Л.Р. Общая фонетика. – М.,1979.

3. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. М.А. Соколова, К.П. Гинтовт, И.С. Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова. – М., 2006.

4. Трубецкой Н.С. Основы фонологии. – М.,1960.

5. Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. – NY: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

6. Jones D. An Outline of English Phonetics. Camb., 1984.

 

 

Практическое задание:

Read and analyse the given articles on the problem.

Семинар 4

THE SYSTEM OF ENGLISH PHONEMES (VOWELS AND CONSONANTS)

 

Задание к семинару

 

1.What is the difference between two classes of sounds – vowels and consonants – in terms of articulation and auditory effect?

 

2.What articulatory attribultes of consonats can you consider relevant? What consonant phonemes can we distinguish according to the degree of noise?

 

3.Classify the consonants according to the place and manner of articulation.

 

4.Discuus the problematic and controversial points of consonant classifications.

 

5.Give a brief overview of the adaptive modifications of consonants known as assimilation, accomodation, elision. Illustrate the rules with examples.

 

6.What are relevant features of vowels? Speak about the stability articulation. How does the position of Soviet and Russian phoneticians differ?

 

7.Classify the vowels according to the position of the tongue. Account for the problematic points.

 

8.Discuss the function of quality and quantity in the sysytem of English vowels. Give examples.

 

9.What irrelevant features of vowels do you know?

 

10.What are the modifications of vowels in connected speech?

 

 

Рекомендуемая литература:

1. Васильев В.А. Фонетика английского языка. Теоретический курс. (На англ.яз.). – М., 1970.

2. Практическая фонетика английского языка. М.А. Соколова, К.П. Гинтовт, Л.А. Кантер, Н.И. Крылова, И.О. Тихонова, Г.А. Шабадаш. – М., 2005.

3. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка. М.А. Соколова, К.П. Гинтовт, И.С. Тихонова, Р.М. Тихонова. – М., 2006.

4. Трубецкой Н.С. Основы фонологии. – М.,1960.

5. Фонетика английского языка. В.А. Васильев, А.Р. Катанская, Н.Д. Лукина, Л.П. Маслова, Е.И. Торсуева, – М., 1980.

6. Crystal D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. – NY: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

7. Jones D. An Outline of English Phonetics. Camb., 1984.

 

 

Практические задания

 

1.Are the following statements true or false?

 

1)There is a three-feature difference between p and v.

2)The phoneme t has three allophonic variations.

3) m has properties of a sonorant and a stop.

4) t and d can never be dental.

5) s and z are always alveolar.

 

2.Choose the correct answer amomg the suggested multiple choice

 

1)The phonemes in the b – m pair differ by:

a) one feature

b) two features

c) three features

 

2)There exists a triple distinction between:

a) p,       

b) p,

c) b,

 

3)The phonemes w, j, r possess common property. they are all:

a) back consonants

b) lingual consonants

c) sonorants

 

4) p – b and f – v pair differ by one feature. It is:

a) the degree of noise

b) the manner of articulation

c) the place of articulation

 

 

3.Observe the following pairs of words and discuss the relevant features of the opposed sounds:

torn – dawn

taught – caught

ton – none

time – lime

tie – fie

ten – men

take – sake

tool – pull

tin – bin

teal – veal

 

4.The following list contains pairs of words that differ in one vowel sound. What makes them allophones of different phonemes?

 

b a d –b e d

head – hid

bucking – booking

al – all

bid – bead

but – bought

 

 

5.Read and analyse the given articles on the problem.

 

Семинар 5