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English as any other natural language is based on sounds which are combined to form longer units, such as words, phrases and sentences. Nowadays in comparison with prior times more attention is paid to teaching pronunciation and spoken language on the whole. It means that both teachers and students must be involved in phonetic practice, teachers – acting as phoneticians, students – learning to become ones.
PHONETICS AS A SCIENCE, ITS AIMS AND SIGNIFICANCE
English as any other natural language is based on sounds which are combined to form longer units, such as words, phrases and sentences. Nowadays in comparison with prior times more attention is paid to teaching pronunciation and spoken language on the whole. It means that both teachers and students must be involved in phonetic practice, teachers – acting as phoneticians, students – learning to become ones.
Students of a foreign language are necessarily becoming phoneticians: they must realize how to utter correct sounds and how to arrange them into words, sentences to be understood by other speakers – this is a practical aspect of phonetics.
Phonetics is primarily concerned with the expression level though it is obliged to take the content level into consideration too, because only meaningful sound sequences are regarded as speech.
Theoretical phonetics which studies the sound system of the language is concerned not only with human noises, their nature and combinations but their functions in relation to the meaning.
The two courses of Phonetics traditionally studied at the faculties of foreign languages coincide much and differ somehow in their tasks and aims.
Being an independent branch of linguistics like grammar, lexicology and stylistics, phonetics ascertains its connection with these branches through orthography which is rather complicated in English.
Since Phonetics formulates the rules of pronunciation for separate sounds and sound combinations, it is divided into two major parts respectively: segmental phonetics and suprasegmental phonetics.
Phonetics provides a description of how sounds are produced by the speech organs (articulatory phonetics); how they are perceived by hearers (auditory phonetics); how they are transmitted from the speaker to the hearer (acoustic phonetics); and how they function in the language (functional phonetics).
Each of these branches of phonetics has its own method of investigation and its own terminology. The articulatory aspect of speech sounds is studied through direct observation combined with x-ray photography or x-ray cinematography, laryngoscopic investigation of vocal cords movement. Special laboratory equipment: spectrograph, intonograph and other sound-analysing and sound-synthesizing machines complete the method of direct observation.
Besides the four mentioned above branches there are other divisions of Phonetics through which its connection with major linguistic disciplines and approaches can be seen.
General phonetics studies the sound system of several languages being a part of general linguistics. Special phonetics studies the sounds of a particular language at a particular period of time, synchronically (descriptive phonetics) or diachronically, in the historical development (historical phonetics, as a part of the history of the language). Comparative phonetics studies correlation between the phonetic systems of two or more languages.
Phonetics as a whole and all of its branches have not come into being all at once: they developed gradually and their development was closely connected with and determined by the development of the other branches of Linguistics, as well as other non-linguistic sciences.
L E C T U R E 2
PHONOLOGY AS A BRANCH OF PHONETICS. DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
The sound matter of the language can be analyzed either from the physical and physiological point of view or from the functional one, which largely determines the distinction between Phonetics and Phonology, though the latter can be also defined and realized as Functional Phonetics. So phonetics studies sounds as articulatory and acoustic units, while phonology investigates sounds as units, which serve communicative purposes – that is those sounds which can fulfill the distinctive function.
Phonetics and phonology may be interpreted as two different levels of abstraction at which linguistic analysis of the sound system is carried out. Phoneticians are mainly interested in the analysis of the physical implementation of sound units, whereas phonologists mainly deal with phonological analysis when only structurally and functionally relevant sounds are studied. Phonetics must be viewed upon as the material basis for the phonological “upper storey”, or superstructure, which represents phenomena of a higher degree of abstraction.
The distinction between phonetics and phonology may be also defined in terms of the dichotomies between language and speech. Phonology lies in the domain of language, but not speech; phonetics, on the other hand, lies both in the domain of speech and language. So it is essential to distinguish between speech sounds, language sounds and phonemes as units of phonetics and phonology.
The interconnection between phonetics and phonology is simple and transparent, on the one hand, and complex and manifold, on the other. The topic is highly controversial and is based on stereotypes and prejudices, which are hard to overcome: phonology is a part of phonetics, not vice versa; being a derivative of phonetics, phonology can hardly be regarded as a mere reflection of it; natural phonological process cannot be explained exclusively through phonetic analysis, with reference to phonetic phenomena, or characteristics; phonology is no less concrete than phonetics, no matter how far the analyzed segment or sound sequence is from the actual phonetic presentation.
Phonetics is tackled on as an explanatory science not due to its own possibilities only, but due to specific paradigmatic and syntagmatic conditions in the language system the knowledge of which only phonology can supply.
L E C T U R E 3
PHONOLOGY AS A SCIENCE. THE MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHONOLOGY
Phonology analyzes the ways that sounds work or function in individual languages; it studies sounds as elements of a system where what matters, is not only the phonetic constitution of elements, but the various relations which obtain among them.
Phonology is a comparatively new branch of phonetics. It is based on the phoneme theory whose foundations were first laid down by I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay in the years between 1868 and 1881. He defined the phoneme as a psychical image of a sound which initiated the so called “mentalist” view of the phoneme.
His views were developed by his disciple L.V. Shcherba who stated that though in actual speech we utter a great variety of sounds they are united in a comparatively small number of sound types which are capable to distinguish the meaning and the form of words. He called these sound types phonemes while actually uttered speech sounds representing phonemes were called phonemic variants or allophones.
.L.V. Shcherba’s disciples stated that the phoneme is material, real and objective because it really exists in the form of speech sounds, its allophones.
The abstractional conception of the phoneme was originated by Ferdinand de Saussure, the famous Swiss linguist and the Danish linguist L. Hjelmslev. It was advocated by their pupils in the Copenhagen Linguistic Circle who viewed this problem as algebraic. The “abstract” view regards the phoneme independent of the phonetic properties.
The abstracted and generalized character of the phoneme is denied in D. Jones’ conception. He presents the phoneme as a family of sounds consisting of an important sound of the language together with the other related sounds. The phoneme is defined as the sum of all its allophones.
N.S. Trubetzkoy, L. Bloomfield, R. Jakobson viewed the phoneme as the minimal sound unit by which meanings may be differentiated. They stated that the features of the phoneme involved in the differentiation of words are called distinctive. They can be found in contrastive sets.
The importance of Trubetzkoy’s works in the domain of sound features lies in: 1) elaborating a comprehensive taxonomy of distinctive features, and 2) systematizing phonological oppositions based upon such features.
R. Jakobson greatly influenced and even determined the linguistic thinking of phonologists by demonstrating the possibility of presenting all types of oppositions and features as binary ones.
The problem of the phoneme can be solved on a “populational basis” (J.A. Perry), that is on the definition of the phoneme as a unit of an idiolect (D. Jones, K. Pike), a dialect (L. Bloomfield), a multidialect – the phoneme is a unit of the English Language as a whole (Q. Trager, H. Smith), or a “supralect” – the phoneme is a unit of a standard form, by which the dialects and idiolects may be compared (J.A. Perry).
Considering the status of the phoneme as a member of phonematic oppositions especial importance was attached to working out the theories of distinctive features and oppositions. It is on the theories of distinctive features and oppositions that the further progress of Phonology now, much like before, depends on, first and foremost.
The current theories of distinctive features and oppositions vary from school to school, and even from phonologist to phonologist.
L E C T U R E 4
THE PHONEME AS THE UNIT OF PHONOLOGY.
THE PROPERTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF THE PHONEME
A great variety of sounds we utter in actual speech may be united into comparatively small number of sound types which are capable to distinguish the meaning and the form of words.
There are many definitions of the phoneme which reflect different aspects of this linguistic unit. The first definition runs as follows: the phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds. It is opposed to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.
The phoneme is a functional unit. The functions that phonemes perform in the language are: constitutive, recognitive, distinctive.
The phoneme is material, real and objective. Phonemes realize themselves in speech through speech sounds, their allophones which are characterized by some phonetic similarity between them. The principle allophones are not subjected to obvious changes, subsidiary members are influenced by the neighbouring sounds.
All the allophones are important for practical purposes; if they are not pronounced properly in actual speech it makes a person’s speech “foreign”.
Subsidiary allophones are subdivided into positional and combinatory. The first ones are used in certain positions traditionally. The second ones represent the result of assimilation and accommodation.
All the allophoned of the same phoneme have some articulatory features in common: they possess the same invariant: try, tap, little, bit, hunt.
The articulatory features which form the invariant of the phoneme are called distinctive or relevant. The articulatory features which do not serve to distinguish meaning are called not-distinctive, irrelevant or redundant.
If we replace one phoneme by another (bit-bid) the mistake is called phonological.
If one allophone of the phoneme is replace by another allophone of the same phoneme the mistake is called phonetic.
Each phoneme manifests itself in a certain pattern of distribution (free variation, complimentary distribution, contrastive distribution).
Phonemes of the language may be discovered by method of minimal pairs or by distinctive oppositions – that is commutation test.
In order to state the inventory of all the phonemes of the language the system of oppositions must be established.
L E C T U R E 5
ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE.
THE HIERACHY OF VARIETIES OF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION
ENGLISH DIALECTS
English was originally spoken in England and south-eastern Scotland. Later on it was introduced to Ireland and Wales, was exported to Northern America, Australia, South Africa and so on. Nowadays over 400 million people speak English as their first language.
Two main types of English are spoken in the English-speaking world: English English and American English. All the English-speaking nations have their own national varieties of pronunciation. The literary spoken form has its national pronunciation standard.
There are countries with more than one national language – in this case scholars speak about bilingualism in contrast to monolingualism typical of a country with one national language.
Every national variety of the language falls into territorial or regional dialects, or accents. Regional standards are usually grouped into major dialect areas.
There are 10 different areas of the British Isles (London, Norwich, Bristol, Pontypridd, Walsall, Bradford, Belfast, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh) which represent different territorial, or regional types of the English language comprising such groups of dialects as the Southern English, the Northern English and the Scottish English (Standard Scottish).
Dialects as well as languages are distinguished from each other by differences in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. But unlike languages dialects have no literary normalized form. National variants possess it. The term “accent” is used if we refer to varieties in pronunciation only.
Language has always been viewed as a social phenomenon. Linguistics is inseparably connected with social sciences; suchlike interdisciplinary subjects appeared as a proof of it: sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, ethnolinguistics, anthropological linguistics, dialectology, functional stylistics.
The social differentiation of language is closely connected with the social differentiation of society. Every language community, ranging from a small group to a nation has its own social dialect, and consequently, its own social accent.
L E C T U R E 6
STANDARD ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION.
RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION. ESTUARY ENGLISH.
ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY
In the British Isles the teaching norm is Received Pronunciation or RP. It is also called ‘Standard English Pronunciation’ or ‘Public School Pronunciation’. RP is often identified in the public mind with BBC English.
RP is a minority pronunciation. Speakers of RP are at the top of the social scale and their speech gives no clue to their regional origin.
RP stands in strong contrast to all the other ways of pronouncing Standard English put together.
By the way English people speak they are divided into three groups: RP speakers of Standard English – those without an accent; non-RP speakers of Standard English – those with an accent; dialect speakers.
In England alone Standard English speakers are divided by an accent-bar, on one side of which is RP, and on the other side all the other accents.
Within RP itself it is convenient to distinguish several types:
Advanced pronunciations, when they are not the result of temporary fashion, may indicate the way in which the RP system will develop and become in future general RP
Estuary English is supposed to be a new kind of English that is due to take over as the new Standard English which is going to replace old-fashioned RP as the standard accent.
Many of the features that distinguish it from RP are features it shares with Cockney: things that may mark it as being distinctively south-eastern. But these features are spreading geographically and socially, thus justifying the claim that Estuary English is ‘tomorrow’s RP’.
In the first edition of the English Pronouncing Dictionary Daniel Jones described the type of pronunciation as a kind of standard, having its base in the educated pronunciation of London and the Home Counties.
But in recent times the original concept of RP has been diluted due
to particular changes in the British society. There are, nevertheless,
two limiting factors in defining the model: firstly, the dictionary
represents the pronunciation current in usage among speakers of the
middle generation while the speech of the young is likely at any time
to be unstable, often reflecting transitory fashion; secondly, certain
bounds are provided by the nature of the phonological system itself.
L E C T U R E 7
AMERICAN ENGLISH
The sociolinguistic situation in the USA moulded by certain historic, geographic, demographic, political, cultural and linguistic factors may be characterized as exoglossic, i.e. having several languages on the same territory with the predominance of American English.
The starting point of American English was the English language of the early 17th century which has developed under particular circumstances into an independent variety - the national variant of English in America.
The foundations of most diversities in American pronunciation were laid during the colonial period. Some of the present differences in American pronunciation are attributed to that period as well.
American English shows a lesser degree of dialect that British English; three main types of cultivated speech are recognized: the Eastern type, the Southern type and Western or General American which do not conflict with each other. The most widespread type of American standard pronunciation is General American.
GA is the form of speech used by radio and TV and also in all forms of official intercourse, it is the language of educated people.
The total number of AE consonants of the three major types, GA, Eastern American, Southern American, in general coincides with the inventory of RP consonants with the only exception being the AE /hw/ phoneme which is not listed in the system of RP consonants.
The differences mainly concern the pronunciation of the individual consonant phonemes and their occurrence, or distribution.
The most marked differences between GA and RP are in the articulation and distribution of vowel phonemes.