SEMINAR 1. ARTICULATION OF ENGLISH CONSONANT AND VOWEL PHONEMES.

TOPICS FOR REPORTS:

1) General principles of consonant articulation;

2) Approaches to English consonants classifications;

3) The problem of affricates;

4) General mistakes of consonant articulation Russian learners of English tend to make;

5) General principles of vowel articulation;

6) English vowels classifications;

7) The problem of diphthongs;

8) General mistakes of vowel articulation Russian learners of English tend to make.

HOME PRACTICE

Exercise 1. Draw a picture of the organs of speech and explain their functions.

Exercise 2. Draw the position of the organs of speech in pronouncing the consonants [p], [t], [k], [m], [n], [ŋ].

Exercise 3. On one and the same drawing show the difference in the position of the speech organs in articulating the following pairs of English and Russian consonants:

(1) [n] – [ŋ] – [н];

(2) [l] – [ł] – [л];

(3) [s] – [∫] – [ш];

(4) [t] – [t∫] – [ч].

Exercise 4. Draw the position of the tongue in pronouncing the English consonants [θ], [ð], [∫], [Z], [s], [z], [w], [r], [j], [l], [t∫].

Exercise 5. Draw the tongue position in pronouncing the vowels [i:], [u:], [æ], [з:] and [a:].

Exercise 6. On one and the same drawing show the difference in the position of the speech organs in articulating the following pairs of English and Russian vowels:

(1) [x] – [э] - [я];

(2) [F] – [э] – [е];

(3) [P] – [а].

Exercise 7. Name the consonant or the vowel in question matching the following definitions:

1) It is a monophthong. It is a close (high) vowel of broad variation, back-advanced, labialized, short and lax.

2) It is a monophthong. It is an open (low) vowel of broad variation, back, labialized, short, and tense.

3) It is a noise, unicentral, constrictive, fricative, alveolar, forelingual apical, voiced, lenis, oral, median and non-labialized consonant.

4) It is a diphthongoid. It is a close (high) vowel of narrow variation; front, non-labialized, long, and tense.

5) It is a noise, unicentral, occlusive, plosive, velar, backlingual, voiced, lenis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

6) It is a monophthong. It is a mid-open vowel of narrow variation; front, non-labialized, short, and lax.

7) It is a noise, unicentral, constrictive, fricative, alveolar, forelingual apical, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

8) It is a sonorous, unicentral, occlusive, bilabial, nasal, median, non-labialized consonant.

9) It is a monophthong. It is an open (low) vowel of broad variation, back-advanced, non-labialized, long, and tense.

10) It is a noise, unicentral, constrictive, fricative, glottal, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

11) It is a diphthong. The nucleus is mid-open of narrow variation, central (mixed), non-labialized, short, and lax; the glide is [V].

12) It is a monophthong. It is a mid-open vowel of narrow variation, central (mixed), non-labialized, long, tense

13) It is a diphthongoid. It is a close (high) vowel of narrow variation, back, labialized, long, and tense.

14) It is a noise, unicentral, occlusive, plosive, alveolar, foreligual apical, voiced, lenis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

15) It is a noise, unicentral, constrictive, fricative, labio-dental, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

16) It is a sonorous, unicentral, constrictive, palatal, mediolingual, lenis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

17) It is a noise, unicentral, constrictive, fricative, labio-dental, voiced, lenis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

18) It is a monophthong. It is a mid-open vowel of broad variation, central (mixed), non-labialized, short, and lax.

19) It is a noise, unicentral, occlusive, plosive, bilabial, voiced, lenis, oral, median, and non-labialized consonant.

20) It is a noise, unicentral, occlusive, plosive, bilabial, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized, and aspirated consonant.

21) It is a monophthong. It is a close (high) vowel of broad variation, front-retracted, non-labialized, short, and lax.

22) It is a noise, unicental, occlusive, plosive, velar, backlingual, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized, aspirated consonant.

23) It is a sonorous, unicentral, occlusive, alveolar, forelingual apical, nasal, non-labialized consonant.

24) It is a noise, unicentral, occlusive, plosive, alveolar, forelingual apical, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized, and aspirated consonant.

25) It is a monophthong. It is a mid-open vowel of broad variation, back, labialized, long and tense.

26) It is a monophthong. It is an open (low) vowel of broad variation, front, non-labialized, half-long, tense.

27) It is a diphthong. The nucleus is open (low) of broad variation, front-retracted, non-labialized, long, tense; the glide is [I].

28) It is a noise, unicentral, constrictive, fricative, palato-alveolar, forelingual apical, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

29) It is a noise, unicentral, constrictive, fricative, palato-alveolar, forelingual apical, voiced, lenis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

30) It is a sonorous, bicentral, constrictive, bilabial, backlingual, velar, oral, median, labialized consonant.

31) It is a sonorous, unicentral, occlusive, velar, backlingual, nasal, non-labialized consonant.

32) It is a sonorous, unicentral, constricrive, post-alveolar, forelingual, cacuminal, rolled, median, oral, non-labialized consonant.

33) It is a monophthong. It is a mid-open vowel of broad variation, mixed, non-labialized, short, and lax.

34) It is a diphthong. The nucleus is open (low) of broad variation, front-retracted, non-labialized, long, tense; the glide is [V].

35) It is a noise, bicentral, affricate, palato-alveolar, fore- and mediolingual apical, voiceless, fortis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

36) It is a noise, bicentral, affricate, palato-alveolar, fore- and mediolingual apical, voiced, lenis, oral, median, non-labialized consonant.

37) It is a diphthong. The nucleus is open (low) of narrow variation, back, labialized, short, tense; the glide is [I].

38) It is a diphthong. The nucleus is close (high) of broad variation, front-retracted, non-labialized, short, lax. The glide is the shwa.

39) It is a diphthong. The nucleus is mid-open of narrow variation; front, non-labialized, short, lax. The glide is the shwa.

40) It is a diphthong. The nucleus is close (high) of narrow variation, back-advanced, labialized, short, and lax. The glide is the shwa.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF STUDY:

Miscellaneous

Fig.5. Speech Organs.

1) Read about the work of speech organs and state the biological and speech functions of the organs in the picture on the next page;

2) Make sure you can speak on these items:

a) the direction of the air stream released from the lungs;

b) three different states of the vocal cords;

c) the position of the soft palate which influences the direction of the air stream;

d) the parts of the palate;

e) the parts of the tongue;

f) the position of the movable organs of the mouth (the shape of the lips and the tongue);

g) the active and passive organs of speech and their role in the sound formation.

3) Classify the speech organs into 4 groups according to their main sound-producing function: the power mechanism; the vibrator mechanism; the resonator mechanism; and the obstructer mechanism.

4) Write out practical tips to acquire correct pronunciation. What are phonetic and phonological mistakes?

Consonants

5) What is a consonant sound?

6) How do the consonants change on the articulatory level?

7) What is the function of the vocal cords in the production of voice and voiceless noise consonants?

8) How does the degree of noise vary because of the force of articulation?

9) What is a sonorant? State the difference between sonorants and noise consonants.

10) How does the position of the soft palate determine the quality of a sonorant?

11) Define every type of obstruction.

12) Why are plosives called “stops”? Define the stops according to the place of articulation.

13) What consonant sounds are called ‘occlusive’ and what ‘constrictive’? What is the difference between occlusives and constrictives?

14) What is aspiration? How can one achieve the aspiration effect?

15) What is palatalization? In what cases may palatalization mistakes occur?

16) What consonant sounds are called ‘fricatives’? What fricatives are bicentral?

17) What consonants are called ‘affricates’ and why? Why are they bicentral?

Vowels

18) According to the stability of articulation there are three groups of vowels. Do you think it is enough to distinguish only two groups: monophthongs and diphthongs?

19) What characteristic do all front vowels have in common that is different from the back vowels?

20) What is the difference between front and front-retracted vowels?

21) What is the difference between back and back-advanced vowels?

22) What makes central and front vowels different?

23) What characteristic makes close vowels unlike mid and open ones?

24) Why is it necessary to distinguish narrow and broad variants of close, mid and open vowels?

25) What’s the difference between free and checked vowels?

26) Are there any historically long and short vowels in English?

27) What can modify vowel length in English?

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