Articulatory Aspect of speech sound

vowels in English and Russian/Kazakh

Connection with other topics:

The System of

English Consonant Phonemes
The System of the English Vowel Phonemes
Modification of Sounds in Connected Speech

Plan

articulatory mechanisms and its work should be introduced.
Speech is impossible

without the following four mechanisms:

Psychological characteristic of speech mechanisms

the power mechanism

the vibrator mechanism

The resonator mechanism

The obstructor mechanism

–
diaphragm
-the lungs
-the bronchi
-the windpipe (or trachea
-the glottis

-the larynx
-the mouth cavity
- the nasal cavity

The vibrator mechanism (the voice producing mechanism) consists of the vocal cords, they are in, the larynx,, or, voice box. The vocal cords are two horizontal folds" off elastic tissue.’
They may be opened or closed (completely or incompletely}, ,
The pitch of the voice is controlled mostly by the tenion of the vocal cords. Voice produced by the vocal cords ^vibration is modified by the shape and volume of the air passage.'

The resonator mechanism consists of the
-pharynx
-the larynx
-the mouth cavity
-the nasal cavity

The obstructor mechanism consists of the
- the lips
-the teeth
-the soft palate with -the uvula
-the hard palate
-the alveolar ridge

Due to the identical structure of speech organs of people

of different places and nationalities all languages have sounds of identical types. But being identical typologically these sounds are not identical articulatorily.
The differences in the articulation of sounds in different languages are explained by the fact, that each language has it's own tendencies and most of articulation, which form the articulation basis of the language.

The articulation basis of the language is all the articulatory habits,

characteristic of all the native speakers of the given language. 

The main peculiarities of the English articulation basis are:

the tongue is broadened and flattened;

the tip is slightly hollowed out and slightly drawn back from the teeth;

the lips are neutral, they are deliberately neutralized and spread, the upper lip is tense.

consonant classification:
1. The type of obstruction and the manner

of production of noise.

2.Another principle is the place of articulation.

3.The next principle is the presence or absence of voice which depends on the work of the vocal cords.

4. Position of the soft palate.

of articulation

Vowels according to:
part of the tongue used

Position of the tongue
Lip rounding

system there are 12 vowel monophthongs and 8 or 9

diphthongs.
The quality of a vowel depends, first of all, on its stability, on the tongue position,
-lip position,
-character of the vowel end,
-0length,
-tenseness
1. According to this principle E. vowels are subdivided into
a)monophthongs
b) diphthongs,
c) diphthongoids.[ i: ], [ u: ].
According to the position of the tongue vowels are classed from vertical and horizontal planes. From the horizontal plane vowels are divided into :
front;
2. front-retracted ;
3.central ;
4. back ;
5. back-advanced.
From the vertical plane E. vowels are divided into: 1. close; 2. mid; 3. open. Each class has wide and narrow variations. According to the lip rounding vowels have 3 positions: spread, neutral, rounded. The next point is checkness

checked when stressed. The degree of checkness depends on the

following consonant. All long vowels are free. According to the length E. vowels are traditionally divided into short and long vowels, it is a historical phenomenon. Besides, there exists the positional length of vowels, depending on the position of a vowel in a word. From the point of view of tenseness all historically long vowels are tense, while short vowels are lax.

They are:
(1) the on-glide, or the initial stage,
(2)

the retention-stage, or the medial stage, and
(3) the off-glide (release), or the final stage.

In English there are two principal ways of linking two adjacent speech sounds: I. Merging of stages. II. Interpenetration of stages. The type of junction depends on the nature of the sounds that are joined together. As all English sounds come under the classification of consonants and vowels we may speak of joining:
(a) a consonant to a following vowel (C + V), as in the word [mi:] me;
(b) a vowel to a following consonant (V + C), as in the word [σn] on;
(c) two consonants (C + C), as in the word [bləυ] blow:
(d) two vowels (V + V), as in the word [riæləti] reality.

Modification of Sounds in Connected Speech

within words and word boundaries. There are the following types

of modification:
-assimilation,
-accommodation,
-reduction,
-elision,
-inserting.

The adaptive modification of a consonant by a neighbouring consonant in a speech chain is assimilation.

Accommodation is used to denote the interchanges of VC or CV types.

Reduction is actually qualitative or quantitative weakening of vowels in unstressed positions.

Elision is a complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants.

Inserting is a process of sound addition.

θ]: eighth, at the, said that

• t, d > post-alveolar

before [r]: tree, true, dream, the third room

• s, z > post-alveolar before [∫]: this shop, does she

• t, d > affricates before [j]: graduate, could you

• m > labio-dental before [f]: symphony

Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns and the forms of the auxiliary verb have.

[l] lends to be lost when preceded by [o:]: always, already, all right

In cluster of consonants: next day, just one. mashed potatoes

Lip position

• consonant + back vowel: pool, rude, who (rounded)

• consonant + front vowel: tea, sit, keep (spread)

Linking [r] (potential pronunciation of [r]): car owner

Intrusive [r]: [r] is pronounced where no r is seen in the spelling china and glass: it is not recommended to foreign learners.

Assimilation

Accommodation

Elision

Inserting of sounds

- need - neat

2.3. Nasalization of vowels: preceded or followed

by [n, m]: never, then, men