Articulatory and physiological classification of English vowels in the works of Soviet, British and American phoneticians

The first linguist who tried to classify vowel sounds for all languages was D.Jones. He devised the system of 8 cardinal vowels. The basis of the system is physiological.

Cardinal vowel #1 corresponds to the position of the front part of the tongue razed the gradual lowering of the tongue lowest position gives another point for cardinal point #5. The lowest front position of the tongue gives the point for cardinal #4. The upper back limit for the tongue position gives the point for cardinal #8. This position for cardinal vowels #1, 4, 5, 8 were copied from x-ray photographs the tongue positions between this points x-ray and equidistant points for #2, 3, 6, 7 were found. The symbols for the eight cardinal vowels are: 1 -i, 2 - e, 3 - ε, 4 - a, 5 - ^, 6 - o, 7 – o:, 8 - u.

Acoustically vowels differ due to their tembral coloring, each vowel is characterized by its own formants. Russian phoneticians suggest a classification of vowels according to the following principals: 1) position of the lips; 2) position of the tongue; 3) degree of tenseness and the character of the end; 4) length; 5) stability of articulation.1. rounded u-u:; o-o: and unrounded; 2. Horizontal movements of the tongue: back vowels – when the bulk of the t moves backwards, the back part of the t is raised towards the soft palate: fully back (o-o:,u:, oi), back advanced (u, a:); front vowels- when the bulk of the t moves forward, the front part of the t is raised towards the hard palate: fully front (i:, e, ei), front- retracted (I, au, ai), central (^). Vertical movements of the t: high: narrow variation (i:, u:)/ broad v (I,u); mid: n/b; low: n/b. 3. Long vowels – tense (when the muscle of the lips, tongue, cheeks, back walls of pharynx are tense) i: u: D. Jones. Short vowels – lax (when the organs are relatively relaxed). Acc to the character of the end: checked (occur in stressed syllables ending in a fortis voiceless cons /bet/ /ka:t/; unchecked – occur terminally/ are followed by a lenis voiced cons /a:/ in /ka:d/. 4. Long and short. Length may depend on the number of factors: position of a vowel in the word (tie-tied-tight); word stress- vowel is longer in stressed syllable than in unstressed (fOrecast-N, forecAst- V-shorter); the number of syllables in the word- in polysyllabic words vowels are shorter (verse-universe); the change of the syllabic structure- in words with open type of syll the vowels are longer than in words with closed type of syll; sonority- vowel of low sonority are longer than vowel of greater sonority (/I/ is longer than /o/, /i:/ is longer than /a:/); the tempo of speech- the higher the rate of sp, the shorter the vowels.5. Not singled out by Br and Am phoneticians. Monophthongs (simple vowels)- pure unchanging vowel sound, organs of sp don’t change the position. Diphthongs (complex vowels) – complex sound, which consists of 2 elements and the are pronounced to form a single syllable. The organs of sp start in the position of the 1^st vowel and they glide to the position of the 2^nd vowel.

Articulatory and physiological classification of English consonants in the works of Soviet, British and American phoneticians.

A consonant is sound produced with the obstruction to the airstream. The organs of sp are tense at the place of obstruction. The particular quality of consonant depends on the work of the vocal cords, the position of soft palate, mouth/ nasal cavity.

English consonants can be classified acc to the following principals:

Soviet phoneticians suggest the classification from the viewpoint of closure. It may be: 1) complete closure- is formed when the organs of sp come in contact with each other- the occlusive (stop or closive) and nasal consonants are produced [p, b, t, d, k, g, m, n, ng] and R.S. [п, б, к, г, п’, б’, т’, д’, к’, г’, м’, н’, м, н]. 2) incomplete closure- is formed when the articulator is held close to the articulation as to constrict the air passage without locking it - than constrictive are produced: E.S. [f,v,th, th,h,s,z,sh,3,w,j,r] and R.S. [ф,в,с,з,х,ф’,в’,с’,з’,ж,ш,ж’,ш’,й,л,л’]. 3) intermittent closure- is formed when a series of rapid intermittent taps is made by a flexible organ on a fixed surface – affricates (ch, d3)

According to the work of the vocal cords and the force of escalation consonants are subdivided into voiced “lenis”- the force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension are weaker (b,d,g,v,z, 3) and voiceless “fortis”- the force of exhalation and the degree of muscular tension are greater [p, t, k,s,f, th, h,sh].

According to the sp organs involved and the place of obstruction. 1)Labial: bilabial – produced with both lips [p, b, m, n]; labiodentals – articulated with te lower lip against the edge of the upper teeth [f, v]. 2)Lingual: forelingual- articulated with the tip of the blade of the tongue

According to the apposition of the tip of the tongue they may be: dorsal – articulated by the blade of the tongue[t], apical- against alv ridge/ upper teeth [t, d, s, z, th], cacuminal- tip raised against the back part of the alv ridge, the front is lowered forming a spoon [r]. Mediolingual – with the front part of the tongue raised high to the hard palate [j]. Backlingual- produced with the back part of the t raised towards soft palate [k, g, ng]. Acc to the place of obstructon: interdental –the tip of the t is between the teeth [th], dental, alveolar- the tip of the t against the upper teeth ridge [t, d, s, z, n, l], post-alveolar- the tip/blade against the back part of the teeth ridge [r], palato-alveolar – the tip of the blade of the t against teeth ridge.

Acc to the position of the soft palate: oral- when the soft palate is raised and the air from the lungs gets into the pharynx and then into the mouth cavity [p, t, k, f, v]; nasal- when the soft palate is lowered and th air on its way out passes through the nasal cavity [n, ng, m].

Acc to the shape of narrowing constrictive cons and affricates are subdivided into sounds with flat narrowing [f, v, th, sh, d3], round narr [s, z, w].

Acc to the principle of noise prevalence. Soviet phon: occlusive –noise/nasals and sonorants; constrictives –noise/affricatives and sonorants.

Acc to manner of noise production. Occlusive noise cons are subdivided into plosive –sp organs forn a complete obstruction which is then quickly released with explosion [d], affricates- sp organs forma a complete obstruction, it is released, but slowly [ch, d3].