1. Name active and passive organs of speech and show them on the scheme. How do they function?
2. What are the three states of the vocal cords?
3. When are voiced and voiceless sounds produced?
4. How does the position of the soft palate influence the direction of the air stream?
5. Describe the process of sound formation.
6. Draw a picture of the organs of articulation.
Unit 4
Section 1
Make a careful study of the text below and pick out the terms related to phonetics.
English Vowels and Consonants
Every language has its own sound system, which contains a certain number of phonemes. For example, there are 43 phonemes in Russian and 44 - in English.
As it has already been stated, the organs of speech are capable of uttering many different kinds of sounds. From the practical point of view it is convenient to distinguish 2 types of speech sounds - vowels and consonants. Vowels are voiced sounds produced in the supra glottal cavities without any obstruction to the air stream. The air passes freely, it is weak and it has no noise component (these are sounds of pure musical tone). The tongue and the vocal cords are tense.
For consonants the organs of articulation form some kind of obstruction to the air stream. They are tense at the place of obstruction. Consonants may be pronounced with or without vocal cord vibration and they are called voiced and voiceless consonants correspondingly. For the voiceless consonants the air stream is strong (they are called fortis), and for the voiced consonants it is much weaker (they are termed lenis).
These are sounds in which either noise prevails over tone (noise consonants) or tone prevails over noise (sonorants).
As the number of English letters (26) and sounds (44) does not coincide, spelling and pronunciation differ much in English, and a specific system of symbols has been devised to denote the exact pronunciation of words.
Below is given the set of symbols for identifying English vowels and consonants which is called transcription.
MONOPHTHONGS [ı] [e] [æ] [Λ] [α:] [ɔ] [ɔ:] [u] [ə] [з:]
DIPHTHONGS [eı] [aı] [ɔı] [au] [əu] [ıə] [εə] [uə]
DIPHTHONGOIDS [i:] [u:]
voiced (lenis/weak)
[b] [d] [g] [z] [ӡ ] [dӡ ] [v][ð]
voiceless (fortis/strong)
[p] [t] [k] [s] [∫] [t∫] [f] [θ] [h]
 |
[m] [n] [ŋ] [l] [w] [j] [r]
Section 2
[ æ ]
(front, open (broad variant), unrounded)
I. Observe the position of the lips and the tongue for the sound [æ ]. Read the
words in the columns. Pay attention to the positional length of [æ ].
add act [e–æ] pen - pan hem - ham
bag bat men - man set - sat
ham hat said - sad peck - pack
pan pack gem - jam send - sand
jab lap pet - pat net - gnat
badge batch bed - bad lend - land
can cap beg - bag kept - capped
II. Read the sentences. Follow the tonetic marks.
1. That’s flat. Это решено.
2. Can you imagine that? Жаль.
3. That’s bad grammar. Это неверно грамматически.
4. That’s absolutely fantastic! Это потрясающе!
5. That’s a bad taxi-cab accident. Это серьезная автомобильная
катастрофа.
6. Ann chatters like a magpie. Энн болтает как сорока.
7. Have the man carry the bags to the cabin. Пусть этот человек отнесет
чемоданы в дом.
8. Pat cannot catch that. Пэт не может понять этого.
9. He that hatches matches hatches catches. Не рой другому яму.
III. Observe the correct pronunciation of the rhythmic groups and the vowel [æ ].
'That’s the 'man who had a `hat on.| 'That’s the 'very 'man who had a 'felt
hat `on.| 'That’s the 'very 'man who 'had a 'felt hat `on | when it was `hot.||
IV. Match the following English idioms, proverbs and sayings with their Russian
equivalents. Make up situations to illustrate their usage.
1. One man is no man. a. Клин клином вышибают.
2. Habit cures habit. b. отдуваться (быть козлом отпущения)
3. stab smb in the back c. «денежный мешок» (о человеке)
4. a flash in the pan d. Один в поле не воин.
5. carry the can e. услуга за услугу
6. fat cat f. полоса невезения
7. You scratch my back g. мимолетный успех
and I’ll scratch yours.
V. Practise the pronunciation of the following rhyme and learn it by heart.
Alas, Alack!
by Walter de la Mare
Ann, Ann!
Come quick as you can!
There’s a fish that talks
In the frying – pan.
Out of the fat,
As clear as glass,
He put up his mouth
And moaned «Alas»
On, most mournful,
«Alas, Alack!»
Then turned to the sizzling.
And sank him back.
VI. Pronounce the tongue twisters in the quickest possible way. Observe the
correct articulation of [ æ ].
1. A black cat sat on the map and ate a fat rat. What a black cat!
2. Don’t pamper damp scamp tramps that camp under ramp lamps.
3. Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager managing an imaginary menagerie?
4. [ e - æ ] Pat keeps two pets – a cat and a rat.
Pat likes his pets, and his pets like pet.
Section 3
I. Test. Tick the words you recognize in the sentences you hear.
1. a) pen; b) pan
2. a) men; b) man
3. a) said; b) sad
4. a) gem; b) jam
5. a) pet; b) pat
6. a) bed; b) bad
II. Listen to the dialogue and learn it by heart.
A Bad Hijacker
Hostess Bradley: Alice! Perhaps that passenger is a hijacker!
Hostess Allen: Which passenger, Anne? That sad man with the camera?
He’s wearing black slacks and a jacket.
Hostess Bradley: No. That fat lady with the big black handbag in her left hand.
Hostess Allen: Is she standing next to the lavatory?
Hostess Bradley: Yes. She’s travelling to Amsterdam.
Hostess Allen: You’re mad, Anne, I don’t understand.
Hostess Bradley: You see, when she went into the lavatory, she didn’t have that
handbag in her hand, and now she’s…
Fat lady: (clapping her hands) EVERYBODY STAND! I’m a hijacker. And in this
handbag I have a…
Handbag: BANG!
