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The notions of phoneme and allophone. Functions of phoneme (7)

A phoneme – is a minimal contrastive unit of a language => a reliable method of establishing phonemes. The comutation test: 2 phonemes (sounds) are realization of different phonemes if they provide phonological contrast (= if they occur in at least one minimal pair). Minimal pair – a pair of words differing in only one sound (bit – pit).

The relationships between the phoneme and the phone (speech sound) may be illustrated by the following scheme: Allophones of the same phoneme, no matter how different their articulation may be, function as the same linguistic unit. Phonemes differentiate words like tie and die from each other, and to be able to hear and produce phonemic differences is part of what it means to be a competent speaker of the language.

Allophones, on the other hand, have no such function: they usually occur in different positions in the word (i.e. in different environments) and hence cannot be opposed to each other to make meaningful distinctions. For example the dark [ł] occurs following a vowel as in pill cold, but it is not found before a vowel, whereas the clear [l] only occurs before a vowel, as in lip, like. These two vowels cannot therefore contrast with each other in the way that [1] contrasts with [r] in lip — rip or lake — rake, there are no pairs of words which differ only in that one has [ł] and the other — [1].

Allophones of each phoneme possess a bundle of distinctive features, that makes this phoneme functionally different from all other phonemes of the language concerned. This functionally relevant bundle of articulatory features is called the invariant of the phoneme.

The behavior of allophones in phonetic context, their ability to occur in certain definite positions – distribution.

There are 3 types of distribution:

  1. constrastive/parallel/overlapping – in this position these types of distribution are typical: [n] – [ŋ]

  2. complementary – allophones of one and the same phoneme. Never in the same position: [k] – [k] (aspirated – non-aspirated).

  3. free variation – allophones of one and the same phoneme that allocate in the same position. They aren’t able to differentiate the meaning: Good night with glottal stop and without it.

Functions of phoneme:

  1. constituetive – phoneme constitutes words, word combinations etc. Phonemes have no meaning of their own, linguistically important for in the material form of their allophones they serve as a building material for words and morphemes;

  2. distinctive – phonemes help to distinguish the meanings of words, morphemes;

  3. identificatory (recognitive) – phoneme makes up gr-l forms of words, sentences, so the right use of allophones.

Some phonologists single out delimiting function.

The function of phonemes is to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words. So the phoneme is an abstract linguistic unit, it is an abstraction from actual speech sounds, that is allophonic modifications.

Semantic and enclitic approaches to rhythmic units of speech. Analyze the two approaches in the following phrase. “Mr. ‘Wilson is in the ‘hospital till ‘six o’clock”.

Eng.SR- a regular reoccurrence of stressed syl-s.Many linguists feel that these should be a basic R unit for all types of SA-ties. The basic R unit for stressed –timed lang-s is a Rhythmic group- a speech segment which contains a stress syllable+ unstressed ones attached to it. There are 2 points of view of the character of unstressed syllables attachment:

The semantic p.of v.: acc to it the unstressed syllables tend to be drawn to the stressed one of the same word or to the lex unit acc to their semantic or gram connection.

The enclitic p.of v.: the unstressed syllables b/stressed ones tend to join the proceeding stressed syl-l.In this case the str. Syl will always be the first in the group and the R group will include all the follow.units.

E.g 1. ‘Walk /‘down /the ‘path/ to the ‘end /of the ca’nal.

2. ‘Walk /‘down the/ ‘path to the /‘end of the ca/’nal.

According to the enclitic approach the phrase Mr. ‘Wilson is in the ‘hospital till ‘six o’clock shall be divided into rhythmic groups in the following way: Mr. ‘Wilson is in the - ‘hospital till - ‘six o’clock. Except the first rhythmic group, that includes proclitics, the stressed syllable goes first in the rhythmic group, not depending on its position in the word.

According to the semantic approach the unstressed syllables in the word adjoin to the stressed syllable of the same word; the unstressed syllables representing auxiliary and other not accented words adjoin to such lexical unit, to which they are adjoined semantically. In this case the following phrase is going to look like: Mr. ‘Wilson is- in the ‘hospital - till ‘six o’clock.

It was proved experimentally that S.tempo and style influence the division into R.groups. The Sem.tendency is more typical of accurate rather slow speech when a phrase falls into separate words. The Enclit.tendency prevails in informal speech which is characterized by a quick tempo.

R groups tend to be pronounced at regular intervals of time irrespective of the number of unstressed syllables.If there few or no unstressed syl-l it should be pronounced lower; if many they should be pronounced quickly and rapidly.

Thus,E. is lang-ge with stressed-timed character of R where stressed syl-s are pronounced at equal period of time and the basic R unit is a R group.

Билет 3

Tendencies in the incidence of stress in English.

Languages are also differentiated according to the place of word stress. The traditional classification of languages concerning place of stress in a word is into those with a fixed stress and those with a free stress:

1.Fixed stress – all the words have a stressed syllable in one and the same position in relation to the beginning or the end of the word. French- the main accent is tied to the last syllable of the word. Czech- the main accent falls on the initial syllable of each word and gram. form of a word(+Finnish, Estonian, Polish)

2.Leng.with Free stress (E,R) – stress may occur on any syllable of the word.

The word stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free but it may also be shifting, performing the semantic function of differentiating lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms. In English word stress is used as a means of word-building; in Russian it marks both word-building and word formation, e.g. 'contrast — con'trast; 'habit — habitual 'music — mu'sician; дома — дома; чудная — чудная, воды — воды.

Languages are classified as to the place of sgress in order to decide on stress-placement it is necessary to take into consideration the following factors:

The word is:

  1. morphologically simple, complex or compound

  2. the grammatical category to which the word belongs (noun, verb adj.)

  3. the number of syllables in the word

  4. the phonological structure of the syllables (syl. wait)

English has a hybrid stress-system

Tendencies:

1.Recessive - in Germanic lang-s the word stress originally fell on the initial syllable of the root syllable of a word.

Words of anglo-sax. origin and French words borrowed bfore the 15th cent are subjected to the recessive tendency.

If the word has a prefix which has lost its meaning the stress falls on the root syllable. (ago)

-Unrestricted recessive stress – falls on the initial syllable (if there is no a prefix which has lost its meaning)- father, mother, wonder.

-Restricted- falls on the root of native English words with a prefix which has lost its meaning: among, before, forget.

2. Rhythmical tendency- The rhythm of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables gave birth to the rhythmical tendency in the present-day English which caused the appearance of the secondary stress in the multisyllabic French borrowings, e.g. revolution, organi'sation, assimilation, etc. It also explains the placement of primary stress on the third syllable from the end in three- and four-syllable words, e.g. 'cinema, 'situate, ar'ticulate. The interrelation of both the recessive and the rhythmical tendencies is traced in the process of accentual assimilation of the French-borrowed word personal on the diachronic level, e.g. perso'nal — 'perso'nal — 'personal.

historical rhythm- French borrowing with the stress on the last syllable: redicálrádi,cal(+secondary stress) radical.

In Eng there are many short words. Long fr. Words were pronounces with 2 stresses, then the second stress disappeared.

The result of this process in Modern Eng is that majority of 3-4 syllabic words with one accent are stressed on the third syllable from the end, and thus stress is called rhythmical.

3. Retentive- a derivative retains the stress of the original words (person- personal).Semantic factor- compound numerals and adj and words with meaningful prefixes like ex-president have one and the same stress pattern.

The units of rhythm in prose and verse.

For many years the object of phonet.analysis was a short sentence(one sense-group). However, the analysis of larger text units( long complex sentences- Superphras.unit) contributed a lot to the treatment of speech R.

Prof.Antipova studied R. on the basis of larger text units. She worked out a dif.approach to the treatment of SP. She defines R- periodicity of similar and commensurable (соизмерим.) text units. Similarity and commensurability are obtained by prosodic means such as: the pitch of the voice, the force of articulation and duration. So, SR- a complex prosodic phenomenon formed by all prosodic means + the R.structure of the text appears to be closely connected with its semantic structure for its various semant.units may at the same time become R.ones if they are similar and commensurable.

Sem.units in poetry(verse): foot, line ,stanza. R. was first described in poetics. The laws of versification included such means of rhythmic arrangement as meter, rhyme, lines, stanzas, lex.repetition, alliteration and some others. Foot – a stressed syl-l with the unstressed syl-s(called clitics) that either precede it(proclitics) or follow it(enclitics). Line- a graphic representation of one or two intonation groups, normally with an equal number of feet in them. Stanza- part of the poem with the fixed number of lines, in a classic verse with a patterned order of rhymes b/the lines.

Experiment.analyses have shown that the beginning of a line in any poetic text is generally marked by the tone maximum and the intensity max.The end of a line is marked by a tone min., intensity min., usually a falling tone, by a short pause.

Lines belonging to the same stanza usually have the same number of rhythm.groups. Stanza:

E.g. I `wandered `lonely `as a \cloud

That `floats on `high o’`er(over) ↑vales and \hills

When `all at` once I ↑saw a \crowd

A `host of ^golden \daffo,dils.

The beginning of each unit is brought out by maximal pitch and intensity values, while the end is accompanied by a relative drop of pitch and intensity, which is especially noticeable at the end of a line. A line normally finishes with slowing down of tempo and a pause; in case it coincides with end of stanza, the pause is longer.→major generalizations about R.units:

  1. R.U-s constitute a hierarchy:each bigger consists of a smaller ones(foot-line-stanza)

  2. In reading aloud all the prosodic features(pitch,intensity,tempo,pause,voice quality) take part: they indicate the boundaries and pattern the basic units of R.

In prose we can single out semant.units: sense-group, sentence, superphras.unity. each of them may become a R.unit if it meets a requirements (similarity in prosodic organization).If any of sem.groups doesn’t display prosodic similarity then it can’t be regarded a rhythm.unit. a phrase or a sentence of text doesn’t display commensurability, for phrases usually vary in length. In such texts a phrase is not considered a rhythm.unit and usually a sense –group and a SPU show most stable regularity in their prosodic organization and are recognized as rhythm.units in prose. The major R.unit for all types of texts is a R.group; then in poetry-line, stanza; in prose- sense-group,SPU.

+( по Шевченко)Units of R. are style specific: in speaking or prose reading the basic R.units are: R.group, intonation group and a SPU. It was found, that a long sentence in prose which consists of a number of intonation groups and practically functions as a SPU falls into smaller periods uniting intonation groups by two or three. Practically identical units are named dif-ly in prose and verse. The smallest R.unit is foot(or R.group). Units of R. are actually units of meaning: there is correlation b/foot and word, intonation group and a clause, a speech paragraph and a theme.

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