Definition [1] is constrictive, lateral, forelingual, apical, alveolar.
Articulation
1. The tip of the tongue is in firm contact with the alveolar ridge.
2. The soft palate is raised and the air goes freely to the mouth.
3. The sides of the tongue are lowered and the air can pass between them and the palate.
4. The vocal cords are brought together and vibrate.
Tongue Twister: Lazy lion is lying smiling at his lion cubs and lioness.
Definition [w] is constrictive, medial, bilabial, bicentral.
Articulation
1. The lips are firmly rounded and slightly protruded forming an incomplete obstruction.
2. The soft palate is raised and the air goes to the mouth.
3. The back part of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate forming the secondary focus.
4. The sides of the tongue are raised and the air goes along the central part of the tongue.
5. The vocal cords vibrate.
Tongue Twister: Swan swam over the sea. Swim, swan, swim! Swan swam back again. Well swum, swan!
My sister Wendy was twenty - one on Wednesday.
Will you, William? Will you, William? Will you, William? Can't you, don't you, won't you, William?
Definition [j] is constrictive, medial, mediolingual, palatal.
Articulation
1. The front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate.
2. The sides of the tongue are raised and the air goes along the central part of it.
3. The lips are generally neutral or spread.
4. The soft palate is raised and the air escapes through the mouth.
5. The vocal cords are kept together and vibrate.
Definition [r] is constrictive, medial, forelingual, cacuminal, post-alveolar.
Articulation
1. The tip of the tongue is held in a position near to, but not touching the back of the alveolar ridge, the front part of the tongue is low and the back is rather high so that the tongue has a curved shape (cacuminal articulation).
2. The position of the lips is determined by that of the following vowel.
3. The soft palate is raised and the air flows quietly between the tip of the tongue and the palate.
4. The vocal cords vibrate.
Tongue Twister: Three grey rabbits in the grass grow roses for us.
Read the tongue-twisters:
1. Jack the jailbird jacked a jeep.
2. John, where Molly had had had, had had had had. Had had had had the teachers approval
3. Judicial system.
4. June sheep sleep soundly.
5. Just think, that sphinx has a sphincter that stinks!
6. In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen.
7. Inchworms itching.
8. Is a pleasant peasants pheasant present?
9. Is this your sisters sixth zither, sir?
10. Its not the cough that carries you off, its the coffin they carry you off in!
1. What is the main feature of sonorous consonants? Enumerate the English sonorants.
2. What advice regarding the position of the soft palate would you give to a fellow-student who pronounces sing as [siŋg] instead of [siŋ]?
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3. What do sonorants have in common with and what differs them from other consonants?
4. What is the subdivision of the sonorous consonants according to the direction of the air stream in the mouth cavity?
5. Speak about the voicing of sonorants. Does a student of English make a phonetic or a phonological mistake if he does not observe partial devoicing of the sonorants in some positions?
6. Speak about the length of sonorants. Keeping in mind what you know about the positional length of the English sonorants what would you advise your fellow-student if he doesn't observe it?
7. What advice regarding the palatalization of the sonorous consonants would you give to a fellow-student who makes such errors in his pronunciation? Suppose a student pronounces lip as [ip] instead of [lip]. How would you correct the error regarding palatalization?
8. Speak about each sonorous consonant in detail.
9. What kind of mistake do Russian students of English make if they pronounce [n] instead of [ŋ] eg sing [sin] instead of [siŋ]?
10. Suppose your fellow-student pronounces the word sing as [siŋ]. Is the mistake phonetic or phonological? Keeping in mind what you know about the articulation of [ŋ] tell him or her what to do with the tongue and the soft palate to eliminate this error.
11. What is common in the articulation of the sonorants [r,j,w]?
12. What articulatory features of the consonants [n] and [1] differentiate the meaning of the words net and let?
13. What advice would you give your fellow-student who pronounces the Russian [j] instead of the English [j]?
14. How would your fellow-student probably pronounce the sonorant [w]? In what way can Russian pronunciation habits interfere?
15. How would a Russian learner of English probably pronounce the English [r]? Can you expect a phonological mistake?
˳: [4, c. 54-66].
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Vowels
: to find out about articulatory peculiarities of vowels
The first linguist who tried to describe and classify vowels for all languages was D. Jones. He devised the system of 8 Cardinal Vowels. The basis of the system is physiological. Cardinal vowel No. 1 corresponds to the position of the front part of the tongue raised as closed as possible to the palate. The gradual lowering of the tongue to the back lowest position gives another point for cardinal vowel No.5. The lowest front position of the tongue gives the point for cardinal vowel No.4. The upper back limit for the tongue position gives the point for cardinal No.8. These positions for Cardinal vowels were copied from X-ray photographs. The tongue positions between these points were X-rayed and the equidistant points for No.2, 3, 6, 7 were found. The IPA symbols (International Phonetic Alphabet) for the 8 Cardinal Vowels are: 1 -i, 2 - e, 3 - ε, 4 - a, 5 - a:, 6 -, 7 - o, 8 - u.
The system of Cardinal Vowels is an international standard. In spite of the theoretical significance of the Cardinal Vowel system its practical application is limited.
Vowels are voiced sounds produced without any obstruction in the pharyngal and nasal cavities and consequently have no noise component.
On the articulatory level the description of vowels notes changes:
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1. In the stability of articulation.
2. In the tongue position.
3. In the lip position.
4. In the character of vowel end.
Besides vowels differ in respect of their length
The Lip Position
Lip position is an important factor in description of vowels, and three main types are recognized.
- rounded when the lips are pushed forwards into the shape of a circle.
- spread where the corners of the lips are moved away from each other, as in a smile.
- neutral where the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread.
The Stability of Articulation
All English vowels are divided into three groups: pure vowels or monophthongs, diphthongs and diphthongoids.
Monophthongs are vowels the articulation of which is almost unchanging. The quality of such vowel is relatively pure. The English monophthongs are [i, e, æ, a:, A, L, P, :, ә]
Diphthongs. In the pronunciation of diphthongs the organs of speech glide from one vowel position to another within one syllable. The starting point, the nucleus, is strong and distinct. The glide which shows the direction of the quality change is very weak. In fact diphthongs consist of two clearly perceptible vowel elements. The English diphthongs are: [ei, ai, Oi, aV, V, iә, εə, uə]
Diphthongoids. In the pronunciation of diphthongoids the articulation is slightly changing but the difference between the starting point and the end is not so distinct as it is in the case of diphthongs. There are two diphthongoids in English
[u:, i:].
Triphthongs are vowels in which three vowel qualities can be perceived. The vowels in such words as player \pleiә\, fire \faiә\royal [rOiәl], tower [taVə]can be all analysed in this way. No new symbols are required, however, as each can be seen as a combination of a diphthong +\ә\.
Tongue position. The changes in the position of the tongue determine largely the shape of the mouth and pharyngeal cavities. The tongue may move forward and backward, up and down, thus changing the quality of vowel sounds.
(1) When the tongue moves forward and backward various parts of it may be raised in the direction of the palate.
When the tongue is in the front part of the mouth and the front part of it is raised to the hard palate a front vowel is pronounced. This is the position for English vowels [i:, e, æ].
When the tongue is in the front part of the mouth but slightly retracted, and the part of the tongue nearer to center than to front is raised, a front retracted vowel is pronounced. Such is the position for the English vowel [i].
When the front of the tongue is raised towards the back part of the hard palate the vowel is called central. This is the position for the English vowels [A], [:], [ə].
When the tongue is in back part of the mouth and the back of it is raised towards the soft palate a back vowel is pronounced. This is the position for the English [a:,L,P, u:].
When the is in the back part of the mouth and the back of it is raise3d towards the front part of the soft palate a back-advanced vowel is pronounced. This is the position for the English vowel [u].
(2) Moving up and down in the mouth various parts of the tongue may be raised to different height towards the roof of the mouth.
When the front or the back of the tongue is raised high towards the palate the vowel is called close. This is the way the English vowels [i, i:, u:,].
When the front or the back of the tongue is as low as possible in the mouth open vowels are pronounced. They are [æ, a:, o, o:]
Vowel Length
All English vowels with the exception of diphthongs are generally divided into long and short.
Long vowels are [i:, a:, L, :]
Short vowels are [i, e, o, u, λ, ә]
Read the tongue-twisters:
1. I am a mother pheasant plucker, I pluck mother pheasants. I am the best mother pheasant plucker, that ever plucked a mother pheasant!
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2. I am not a pheasant plucker, Im a pheasant pluckers son but Ill be plucking pheasants When the pheasant pluckers gone.
3. I bought a bit of baking powder and baked a batch of biscuits. I brought a big basket of biscuits back to the bakery and baked a basket of big biscuits. Then I took the big basket of biscuits and the basket of big biscuits and mixed the big biscuits with the basket of biscuits that was next to the big basket and put a bunch of biscuits from the basket into a biscuit mixer and brought the basket of biscuits and the box of mixed biscuits and the biscuit mixer to the bakery and opened a tin of sardines.
4. I bought a box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits, and a biscuit mixer.
5. I can think of six thin things and of six thick things too.
6. I cannot bear to see a bear Bear down upon a hare. When bare of hair he strips the hare, Right there I cry, Forbear!
7. I correctly recollect Rebecca MacGregors reckoning.
8. I know a boy named Tate who dined with his girl at eight eight. Im unable to state what Tate ate at eight eight or what Tates tte tte ate at eight eight.
9. I miss my Swiss Miss. My Swiss Miss misses me.
10. I need not your needles, theyre needless to me; For kneading of noodles, twere needless, you see; But did my neat knickers but need to be kneed, I then should have need of your needles indeed. Flee from fog to fight flu fast!
1. What is the quality of a vowel determined by?
2. What criteria are used for the classification of vowels?
3. What are English vowels subdivided into?
4. Define diphthongs.
5. From what aspects is the position of the tongue in the mouth cavity
characterized?
6. What groups of vowels are distinguished in English?
7. What are the traditional lip positions in English pronunciation?
8. What does the checkness of English vowel sounds depend on?
9. What is duration of a vowel modified by and what does it depend on?
10. Define tenseness.
˳: [4, c. 85-109; 2, . 35-42].
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