Phonological and non-phonological features in the system of english vowels (11)

Substitution gives us a useful tool for establishing contrastive units, phonemes. The basic method of establishing a phoneme inventory is finding a minimal pair of words which form contrast in one segment only, like hot/cot. Similarly, in word sets like heed, hid, head, had, etc, any 2 words can form a minimal pair in which there’s contrast in respect of one vowel segment only.

There’re 20 vowel sounds which have a distinctive function in RP. Here are the words illustrating the contrasts established by replacing one vowel for the other (this will give us 17 phonemes):

Features which distinguish the vowel sounds in the minimal pairs

The basic classifying features of English vowels are quality, length, position of the lips, among which quality is the only phonemic one as a change in quality creates contrast and serves to distinguish words and their forms

1. Vowel quality which depends on the height and the front-back position of the tongue.

According to the vertical position of the tongue, vowels can be:

a) close (high):

• narrow [i:], [u:]

• broad [i], [u], [iə], [uə]

b) mid:

• narrow [e, 3:, ə, ei, 3u]

• broad [ə, ]

c) open (low)

• narrow [εə, o:, oi]

• broad [æ, ai, au, o, a:]

According to the horizontal position of the tongue, they are classified into:

1. front [i:], [e], [ei], [æ],[εə]

2. central [], [3:], [ə ], [3u], [εu]

3. back [o], [o:], [u:], [a:]

2. Содержание

   • Different approaches to the problem of phoneme. The definition of phoneme
   • The notions of phoneme and allophone. Functions of phoneme (7)
   • The definition of intonation. Componentes of intonation. Structural and functional approaches to the problem of its components (28)
   • Sentence accentuation
   • The difference between rp and ga in the system of vowels and consonants (4)
   • Phonological and non-phonological features in the system of english consonants (10)
   • Presence or absence of voice:
   • Position of the soft palate and the velum:
   • 10. Практическая часть
   • Territorial and social differences in the pronunciation of english in different countries (1)
   • The notion of interference. Prerequisites for phonetic interference (segmental level) (12)
   • Phonetic basis. Articulatory basis: static and dynamic approaches
   • Intonational (prosodic) basis.
   • Principal and subsidiary variants of english phonemes
   • Principle;
   • Subsidiary.
   • The definition of prosody. Functions of prosody (29)
   • Structural function
   • Social function
   • Aesthetic
   • Stylistic
   • Phonological and non-phonological features in the system of english vowels (11)
   • Stability of articulation:
   • 11. Практическая часть
   • The difference between rp and ga in the pronunctiation (word-stress, prosody (5)
   • Social variations in english pronunciation. Social factors and phonetic markers
   • Functions of intonation
   • The orphoepic norm of english (rp) and its types
   • Southern English Pronunciation, or rp;
   • Northern English Pronunciation;
   • Standard Scottish Pronunciation.
   • Intonation and prosody. The correlation between these notions