The investigation of the phoneme as a language unit

[ж] - [?] man - sportsman

[?] - [?] some - wholesome

[? ] - [?] combine - combine

[ei] - [?] operation - operative

[зu] - [?] post - postpone

The alternated sounds are allophones of one and the same phoneme as they are derivatives of the same lexical units, the same morphemes. Thus the neutral sounds in the examples above are the neutralized allophones of the non-reduced vowels of full formation; so [?] in sportsman is an allophone of the [ж] phoneme as in man; [?] in photography is an allophone of the [зu] phoneme as in photograph.

The modifications of vowels in a speech chain are traced in the following directions: they are either quantitative or qualitative or both. These changes of vowels in a speech continuum are determined by a number of factors such as the position of the vowel in the word, accentual structure, tempo of speech, rhythm, etc.

The decrease of the vowel quantity or in other words the shortening of the vowel length is known as a quantitative modification of vowels, which may be illustrated as follows:

1.The shortening of the vowel length occurs in unstressed positions, e.g. blackboard, sorrow (reduction). In these cases reduction affects both the length of the unstressed vowels and their quality.

Form words often demonstrate quantitative reduction in unstressed positions: e.g. Is >he or ?she to blame? - [hi:], but: At >last he has ?come - [hi].

2. The length of a vowel depends on its position in a word. It varies in different phonetic environments. English vowels are said to have positional length, e.g. knee - need- neat (accommodation). The vowel [i:] is the longest in the final position, it is obviously shorter before the lenis voiced consonant [d], and it is the shortest before the fortis voiceless consonant [t].

Qualitative modification of most vowels occurs in unstressed positions. Unstressed vowels lose their "color", their quality, which is illustrated by the examples below:

1. In unstressed syllables vowels of full value are usually subjected to qualitative changes, e.g. man - sportsman, conduct - conduct.

In such cases the quality of the vowel is reduced to the neutral sound [?].

Nearly one sound in five is either [?] or the unstressed [i]. This high frequency of [?] is the result of the rhythmic pattern: if unstressed syllables are given only a short duration, the vowel in them which might be otherwise full is reduced.

It is common knowledge that English rhythm prefers a pattern in which stressed syllables alternate with unstressed ones. The effect of this can be seen even in single words, where a shift of stress is often accompanied by a change of vowel quality; a full vowel becomes [?], and [?] becomes a full vowel.

Compare: analyse - analysis.

2. Slight degree of nasalization marks vowels preceded or followed by the nasal consonants [n], [m], e.g. never, no, then, men (accommodation).

The realization of reduction as well as assimilation and accommodation is connected with the style of speech. In rapid colloquial speech reduction may result in vowel elision, the complete omission of the unstressed vowel, which is also known as zero reduction.

Zero reduction is likely to occur in a sequence of unstressed syllables, e.g. history, factory, literature, territory. It often occurs in initial unstressed syllables preceding the stressed one, e.g. correct, believe, suppose, perhaps.

The example below illustrates a stage-by-stage reduction (including zero reduction) of a phrase.

Has he done it? [hжz hi? ,d?n it] - [h?z hI ,d?n it] - [?z i ,d?n it] - [z i ,d?n it]

3. Sound Alternations: the sound variations in words, their derivatives and grammatical forms of words are known as sound alternations. It is perfectly obvious that sound alternations are caused by assimilation, accommodation and reduction in speech. Alternations of consonants are mainly due to contextual assimilations: the dark [і] in spell alternates with the clear [l] in spelling. Vowel alternations are the result of the reduction in unstressed positions: combine ['k?mbain] (n) - combine [k?m'bain] (v) where [?] in the stressed syllable of the noun alternates with the neutral sound in the unstressed syllable of the verb. Some sound alternations are traced to the phonetic changes in earlier periods of the language development and are known as historical.

Sound alternations are also widely spread on the synchronical level in the presentday English and are known as contextual. In connection with contextual sound alternations there arises a problem of phonemic identification of alternated sounds. The functioning of sounds in different grammatical forms and derivatives of words seems very complicated and flexible. The study of the relationship between phonemes and morphemes is called morphophonemics.

The interrelation of phonology and morphology in linguistic investigations is also known as morphophonology or morphonology which is actually the phonology of morphemes. Morphonology studies the way in which sounds can alternate as different realizations of one and the same morpheme. A morpheme is a minimal unit of meaning. We would all agree that such words as windy, dusty, sunny consist of two morphemes. Similarly, demonstration, alternation have two component morphemes.

The meanings of wind, dust, sun as well as of demonstrate, situate are obvious. But what function the morphemes -y and -ion perform. On the basis of the examples, it appears that the function of -y is to convert a noun into an adjective. Similarly -ion converts a verb into a noun. These morphemes have a grammatical meaning whose main purpose is to convert one part of speech into another. Each set of data below exemplifies a sound alternation in one and the same morpheme of two different parts of speech: malice - malicious, active - activity, 'abstract - abs'tract etc.

We are interested now in the sound in its weak position. Vowels are said to be in their strong position when they are in stressed syllables and in the weak position when they are in the unstressed ones. Consonants may well be said to be in their strong position before vowels and in the intervocalic position; they are in weak positions when they are word final or precede other consonants.

There may be different solutions to the problem of phoneme identification in weak position of alternated words. The question arises whether the sound [?] in the words ac'tivity and con'trast is a neutral phoneme or it is an allophone of the [a] or [o] phonemes (as in 'active, 'contrast,) which loses some of its distinctive features in the unstressed position.

The difference is quite essential as in the first case the neutral sound is identified as an independent neutral phoneme, in the second - it is a neutralized allophone of the [a] or [o] phonemes of the corresponding alternated words.

The loss of one or more distinctive features of a phoneme in the weak position is called phonemic neutralization. In English, the voicing opposition is neutralized after the initial [s]. We are well aware of the fact that the phonemes [t] and [d], for example, contrast in most environments: initially (tick --Dick), finally (bid - bit); after nasals (bend - bent), after [l] (cold - colt). But after [s] no contrast between [t], [d] is possible, nor there is a contrast between [p], [b] and [k], [g] in this environment. The voicing contrast is neutralized after initial [s].

1.3.2 General characteristics of consonant phonemes

In the English consonant system the following 24 consonant phonemes are distinguished: [p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, s, z, h, m, n, w, j, r, l, ?, t?, d?, ?, ?].The quality of the consonants depends on several aspects:

1) work of the vocal cords;

2) what cavity is used as a resonator;

3) the force of the articulation and some other factors.

There are few ways of classifying English consonants. According to V.A.Vassilyev primary importance should be given to the type of obstruction and the manner of production of noise [19].

On this ground he distinguishes two large classes of consonants:

1. occlusive, in the production of which a complete obstruction is formed;

2. constrictive, in the production of which an incomplete obstruction is formed.

The phonological relevance of this feature could be exemplified in the following oppositions:

[ti] - [si] tea - sea (occlusive - constrictive)

[si:d] - [si:z] seed - seas (occlusive - constrictive)

[pul] - [ful] pull - full (occlusive --constrictive)

[b?ut] - [v?ut] boat - vote (occlusive --constrictive)

Each of the two classes is subdivided into noise consonants and sonorants. The division is based on the factor of prevailing either noise or tone component in the auditory characteristic of a sound. In their turn noise consonants are divided into plosive consonants (or stops) and affricates.

Another point of view is shared by M.A. Sokolova, K.P. Gintovt,

G.S. Tikhonova, R.M. Tikhonova [19]. They suggest that the first and basic principle of classification should be the degree of noise. Such consideration leads to dividing English consonants into two general kinds: noise consonants and sonorants.

Sonorants are sounds that differ greatly from all other consonants of the language.

This is largely due to the fact that in their production the air passage between the two organs of speech is fairly wide, that is much wider than in the production of noise consonants.

As a result, the auditory effect is tone, not noise. This peculiarity of articulation makes sonorants sound more like vowels than consonants. On this ground some of the British phoneticians refer some of these consonants to the class of semivowels, [r], [j], [w], for example. Acoustically sonorants are opposed to all other consonants because they are characterized by sharply defined formant structure and the total energy of most of them is very high. However, on functional grounds, according to their position in the syllable, [r], [j], [w] are included in the consonantal category, but from the point of view of their phonetic description they are more perfectly treated as vowel glides.

The place of articulation is another characteristic of English consonants which should be considered from the phonological point of view. The place of articulation is determined by the active organ of speech against the point of articulation. According to this principle the English consonants are classed into: labial, lingual, glottal. The class of labial consonants is subdivided into:

a) bilabial;

b) labio-dental; and among the class of lingual consonants three subclasses are distinguished. They are:

a) forelingual;

b) mediolingual;

c) backlingual;

The importance of this characteristic as phonologically relevant could be proved by means of a simple example. In the system of English consonants there could be found oppositions based on the active organ of speech and the place of obstruction:

[pжn] -- [tжn] pan - tan (bilabial - forelingual)

[wai] - [lai] why - lie (bilabial - forelingual)

[weil] - [jeil] weil - yale (bilabial - mediolingual)

[pik] - [kik] pick - kick (bilabial - backlingual)

[les] - [jes] less - yes (forelingual - mediolingual)

[dei] - [gei] day - gay (forelingual - backlingual)

[sai] - [hai] sigh - high (forelingual - glottal)

[fi:t] - [si:t] feet - seat (labio-dental - forelingual)

Our next point should be made in connection, with another sound property, that is voiced -- voiceless characteristic which depends on the work of the vocal cords. It has long been believed that from the articulatory point of view the distinction between such pairs of consonants as [p, b], [t, d], [k, g], [s, z], [f, v], is based on the absence or presence of vibrations of the vocal cords, or on the absence or presence of voice or tone component. However, there is also energy difference. All voiced consonants are weak (lenis) and all voiceless consonants are strong (fortis).

According to the position of the soft palate consonants can be oral and nasal. There are relatively few consonantal types in English which require the lowered position of the soft palate. They are the nasal occlusive sonorants [m], [n] and [?]. They differ from oral plosives in that the soft palate is lowered allowing the escape of air into the nasal cavity. It is a well-known fact that no differences of meaning in English can be attributed to the presence or absence of nasalization. It is for this reason that it cannot be a phonologically relevant feature of English consonants, so it is an indispensable concomitant feature of English nasal consonants.

Another problem of a phonological character in the English consonantal system is the problem of affricates that is their phonological status and their number.

Language in everyday use is not conducted in terms of isolated, separate units; it is performed in connected sequences of larger units, in words, phrases and longer utterances. Consonants are modified according to the place of articulation. Assimilation takes place when a sound changes its character in order to become more like a neighboring sound.

The characteristic which can vary in this way is nearly always the place of articulation, and the sounds concerned are commonly those which involve a complete closure at some point in the mouth that is plosives and nasals which may be illustrated as follows:

1. The dental [t], [d], followed by the interdental [и], [р] sounds (partial regressive assimilation when the influence goes backwards from a "latter" sound to an "earlier" one), e.g. "eigth","at the", "breadth", "said that";

2. The post-alveolar [t], [d] under the influence of the post-alveolar [r] (partial regressive assimilation), e.g. "free", "true", "that right word", "dry", "dream", "the third room".

3. The post-alveolar [s], [z] (complete regressive assimilation), e.g. horse-shoe, this shop , does she;

4. The affricative [t + j], [d + j] combinations (incomplete regressive assimilation), e.g. graduate, congratulate, did you, could you, what do you say.

The manner of articulation is also changed as a result of assimilation, which includes:

1. Loss of plosion: in the sequence of two plosive consonants the former loses its plosion: glad to see you, great trouble, and old clock (partial regressive assimilations).

2. Nasal plosion: in the sequence of a plosive followed by a nasal sonorant the manner of articulation of the plosive sound and the work of the soft palate are involved, which results in the nasal character of plosion release: sudden, nor now, at night, let me see (partial regressive assimilations).

3. Lateral plosion: in the sequence of a plosive followed by the lateral sonorant [l] the noise production of the plosive stop is changed into that of the lateral stop: settle, table, at last (partial regressive assimilations). It is obvious that in each of the occasions one characteristic feature of the phoneme is lost.

The voicing value of a consonant may also change through assimilation. This type of assimilation affects the work of the vocal cords and the force of articulation. In the particular voiced lenis sounds become voiceless fortis when followed by another voiceless sound, e.g.:

1. Fortis voiceless/lenis voiced type of assimilation is best manifested by the regressive assimilation in such words as newspaper (news [z] + paper); goosebeny (goose [s] + berry). In casual informal speech voicing assimilation is often met, e.g. have to do it, five past two. The sounds which assimilate their voicing are usually, as the examples show, voiced lenis fricatives assimilated to the initial voiceless fortis consonant of the following word. Grammatical items, in particular, are most affected: [z] of has, is, does changes to [s], and [v] of of, have becomes [f], e.g. She's five. Of course. She has fine eyes. You've spoiled it. Does Pete like it?

2. The weak forms of the verbs is and has are also assimilated to the final voiceless fortis consonants of the preceding word thus the assimilation is functioning in the progressive direction, e.g. Your aunt's coming. What's your name? (partial progressive assimilation).

3. English sonorants [m, n, r, 1, j, w] preceded by the fortis voiceless consonants [p, t, k, s] are partially devoiced, e.g. smart, snake, tray, quick, twins, play, pride (partial progressive assimilation).

Lip position may be affected by the accommodation, the interchange of consonant + vowel type.

Labialisation of consonants is traced under the influence of the neighboring back vowels (accommodation), e.g. pool, moon, rude, soon, who, cool, etc. It is possible to speak about the spread lip position of consonants followed or preceded by front vowels [i:], [i], e.g. tea - beat; meet - team; feat - leaf, keep - leak; sit - miss (accommodation). The position of the soft palate is also involved in the accommodation.

Slight nasalization as the result of prolonged lowering of the soft palate is sometimes traced in vowels under the influence of the neighboring sonant [m] and [n], e.g. and, morning, men, come in (accommodation).

Elision or complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants, is observed in the structure of English words. It is typical of rapid colloquial speech and marks the following sounds:

1. Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns he, his, her, him and the forms of the auxiliary verb have, has, had is widespread, e.g. What has he done?

2. [1] tends to be lost when preceded by [a:], e.g. always, already, all right.

3. Alveolar plosives are often elided in case the cluster is followed by another consonant, e.g. next day, just one, mashed potatoes. If a vowel follows, the consonant remains, e.g. first of all, passed in time. Whole syllables may be elided in rapid speech: library ['laibri], literary ['litri].

Examples of historical elision are also known. They are initial consonants in write, know, knight, the medial consonant [t] in fasten, listen, whistle, castle.

While the elision is a very common process in connected speech, we also occasionally find sounds being inserted. When a word which ends in a vowel is followed by another word beginning with a vowel, the so-called intrusive "r" is sometimes pronounced between the vowels, e.g. Asia and Africa, the idea of it [рi:ai'di?r ?vit] ma and pa ['mа:r ?nd 'pa:]. The so-called linking "r," is a common example of insertion, e.g. clearer, a teacher of English. When the word-final vowel is a diphthong which glides to [i] such as [ai], [ei] the palatal sonorant [j] tends to be inserted, e.g. saying ['seiji?]; trying ['traii?].

In case of the [U]-gliding diphthongs [?u], [au] the bilabial sonorant [w] is sometimes inserted, e.g. going ['g?uwi?], allowing [?'lauwi?].

The process of inserting the sonorants [r], [j] or [w] may seem to contradict the tendency towards the economy of articulatory efforts. The explanation for it lies in the fact that it is apparently easier from the articulatory point of view to insert those sounds than to leave them out.

The insertion of a consonant-like sound, namely a sonorant, interrupts the sequence of two vowels (VV) to make it a more optional syllable type: consonant + vowel (CV). Thus, insertion occurs in connected speech in order to facilitate the process of articulation for the speaker, and not as a way of providing extra information for the listener.

The ability to produce English with an English-like pattern of stress and rhythm involves stress-timing (= the placement of stress only on selected syllables), which in turn requires speakers to take shortcuts in how they pronounce words.

Natural sounding pronunciation in conversational English is achieved through blends, overlapping, reduction and omissions of sounds to accommodate its stresstimed rhythmic pattern, i.e. to squeeze syllables between stressed elements and facilitate their articulation so that the regular timing can be maintained.

Such processes are called co-articulatory/adjustment phenomena and they comprise:

(1) change of consonant or vowel quality;

(2) loss of consonant or vowels, and even

(3) loss of entire syllables;

I must go = vowel change and consonant loss;

memory = vowel and syllable loss;

did you = consonant blending and vowel change;

actually = consonant blending, vowel and syllable loss.

Syllables or words which are articulated precisely are those high in information

content, while those which are weakened, shortened or dropped are predictable and can be guessed from the context.

English consonants have been remarkably stable over time, and have undergone few changes in the last 1500 years. On the other hand, English vowels have been quite unstable. Not surprisingly, then, the main differences between modern dialects almost always involve vowels.

Around the late 14th century, English began to undergo the Great Vowel Shift, in which the high long vowels [i] and [u] in words like price and mouth became diphthongized, first to [??] and [??] (where they remain today in some environments in some accents such as Canadian English) and later to their modern values [a?] and [a?]. This is not unique to English, as this also happened in Dutch (first shift only, but in dialects and other non-standard varieties frequently both) and German (both shifts).

The other long vowels became higher:

[e] became [i] (for example meet).

[a] became [e] (later diphthongized to [e?] (for example name).

[o] became [u] (for example goose).

[?] became [o] (later diphthongized to [??] (RP) and [o?] (GA), for example bone).

Later developments complicate the picture: whereas in Geoffrey Chaucer's time food, good, and blood all had the vowel [o] and in William Shakespeare's time they all had the vowel [u], in modern pronunciation good has shortened its vowel to [?] and blood has shortened and lowered its vowel to [?] in most accents.

Speaking of English consonants it must be said that there are some problems of phonological character in the English consonantal system; it is the problem of affricates - their phonological status and their number. The question is: what kind of facts a phonological theory has to explain.

1) Are the English [t?, d?] sounds monophonemic entities or biphonemic combinations (sequences, clusters)?

2) If they are monophonemic, how many phonemes of the same kind exist in English, or, in other words, can such clusters as [tr, dr] and [tи, dр] be considered affricates?

To define it is not an easy matter. One thing is clear: these sounds are complexes because articulatory we can distinguish two elements. Considering phonemic duality of affricates, it is necessary to analyze the relation of affricates to other consonant phonemes to be able to define their status in the system. The problem of affricates is a point of considerable controversy among phoneticians. According to Russian specialists in English phonetics, there are two affricates in English: [t?, d?]. D. Jones points out there are six of them: [t?, d? ], [ts, dz], and [tr, dr]. A.C. Gimson increases their number adding two more affricates: [tи, tр]. Russian phoneticians look at English affricates through the eyes of a phoneme theory, according to which a phoneme has three aspects: articulatory, acoustic and functional, the latter being the most significant one. As to British phoneticians, their primary concern is the articulatory-acoustic unity of these complexes. Before looking at these complexes from a functional point of view it is necessary to define their articulatory indivisibility. According to N.S. Trubetzkoy's point of view a sound complex may be considered monophonemic if: a) its elements belong to the same syllable; b) it is produced by one articulatory effort; c) its duration should not exceed normal duration of elements. Let's apply these criteria to the sound complexes.

1.Syllabic indivisibility

butcher [but? -?] lightship [lait-?ip]

mattress [mжtr-is] footrest [fut-rest]

curtsey [kз:-tsi] out-set [aut-set]

eighth [eitи] whitethorn [wait-иo:n]

In the words in the left column the sounds [t?], [tr], [ts], [tи] belong to one syllable and cannot be divided into two elements by a syllable dividing line.

2. Articulatory indivisibility. Special instrumental analysis shows that all the sound complexes are homogeneous and produced by one articulatory effort.

3. Duration. With G.P. Torsuyev we could state that length of sounds depends on the position in the phonetic context, therefore it cannot serve a reliable basis in phonological analysis. He writes that the length of English [t?] in the words chair and match is different; [t?] in match is considerably longer than |t| in mat and may be even longer than [?] in mash. This does not prove, however, that [t?] is biphonemic [23].

According to morphological criterion a sound complex is considered to be monophonemic if a morpheme boundary cannot pass within it because it is generally assumed that a phoneme is morphologically indivisible. If we consider [t?], [d?] from this point of view we could be secure to grant them a monophonemic status, since they are indispensable. As to [ts], [dz] and [tи], [dр] complexes their last elements are separate morphemes [s], [z], [и], [р] so these elements are easily singled out by the native speaker in any kind of phonetic context. These complexes do not correspond to the phonological models of the English language and cannot exist in the system of phonemes. The case with [tr], [dr] complexes is still more difficult.

By way of conclusion we could say that the two approaches have been adopted towards this phenomenon are as follows: the finding that there are eight affricates in English [t?], [d?], [tr], [dr], [ts], [dz], [tр], [dи] is consistent with articulatory and acoustic point of view, because in this respect the entities are indivisible. This is the way the British phoneticians see the situation.

On the other hand, Russian phoneticians are consistent in looking at the phenomenon from the morphological and the phonological point of view which allows them to define [t?], [d?] as monophonemic units and [tr], [dr], [ts], [dz], [tр], [dи] as biphonemic complexes. However, this point of view reveals the possibility of ignoring the articulatory and acoustic indivisibility.



CHAPTER II. THE METHODS OF EQUIVALENTS TRANSLATION INTO RUSSIAN

2.1 Differences in the articulation basis of English and Russian phonemes

People belonging to different races and nationalities possess an identical speech apparatus. That is why in all existing languages there are typologically identical sounds, such as consonants, vowels and sonorants. For instance, in all European languages of the Soviet Union there are such typologically identical sounds as [a, o, u, i, e, t, m, k, 1, s, d] etc. And yet, not a single sound of one language is absolutely identical spectrally with a typologically identical sound of another language.

This is due to the fact that people use their speech organs differently, or, as phoneticians say, it is due to the difference in the articulation basis. The articulation basis may be defined as the general tendencies (or habits) in the way native speakers use their speech organs both during speech and at rest. The articulation basis influences the phonetic system of a language. The articulation basis of one language may differ from the articulation basis of another language.

Though the articulation bases of English and Russian have not yet been studied we may only speak about the most characteristic features of the Received Pronunciation articulation basis as compared with the Kazakh and Russian Standard articulation bases.

Articulatory differences between vowels, consonants and sonorants depend on three articulatory criteria:

a) the presence or absence of an articulation abstraction to the air stream in the larynx or the super glottal cavities;

b) the concentrated or defused character or muscular tension;

c) the force of exhalation;

On the basis of these criteria consonants may be defined as sounds in the production of which:

1) there is an articulatory abstraction to the air stream;

2) muscular tension is concentrated in the place of abstraction;

3) exhaling force is rather strong;

Vowels may be defined as sounds in the production of which there is:

a) no artic abstraction to the air stream;

b) muscular tension is defused;

c) the exhalation force is rather weak;

Sonorants are intermediate sounds between noise consonants and vowels, because they have features common to both. There is an obstruction but not narrow enough to produce noise. Muscular tension is concentrated in the place of obstruction but the exhaling force is rather weak. English sonorants are: [m, n, l, r, w, j, ?].

Speech sounds according to its physical nature are vibratory movements of air environment evoked by the resonant body (speech organs).

Speech sounds are divided into musical (they are called also by tones) and non-musical (they are called noises).

Speech sounds differ from each other by the pitch, force and duration adn also by tembre. Pitch of sound defined by number of vibratory in units of time. For vowels o and y pitch is equal to 400 gtz, for a it'ss consist of already about 800 gtz. In speech pitch of voice depends on length and strained of voice copula.

Force of sound defined by the swing (amplitude) of vibratory. From the point of perception by the hearing aid of sound is called loudliness which defines not only by the strengtherning of wave but with hightness also, sounds of similiar force, but various heightness is percepted as sounds of various loudiness. Force of the sound has great meaning for the clearness in rendering and perception of speech, at the definition of the stress type.

Sound of speech acoustically is compound, because it contains not only the main tones but sounding-boarded tones.

In our research paper we will point out some peculiarities of English and Russian phonemes. At the same time we will try to analyze the differences and similarities in the articulatory bases of the consonants of these three languages.

Differences in the articulation bases of English and Russian, reflected in the system of consonants, are as follows: the English have a tendency to hold the tip of the tongue in neutral position at the level of the alveoli (or teeth-ridge), whereas the Russians keep it much lower, at tooth level. That is why there are about 50 % of all the consonants in R.P. which are articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveoli, as in [t, d, n, 1, s, z, ?, t?, d?, ?, r ].

They are alveolar, palato-alveolar and post-alveolar/and post-alveolar) in accordance with the place of obstruction. The tip of the tongue in the articulation of Russian fore lingual consonants occupies dental position.

The English have a general habit to hold the bulk of the tongue in neutral position a little further back, lower and flatter than the Russians. This may be observed in the articulation of the consonants /h, ?, / in British R.P.

The flatter and lower position of the bulk of the tongue limits the system of English "soft" consonants of which there are only five [ ?, t?, d?, ?, l ] whereas in Russian almost all the consonants may be "soft" (or palatalized). Compare the palatalized and velarized consonants in Russian:

рад-ряд жар-жарь борозда-бороздя

мот-мед вес- весь казна- казня

рвы-рви рожь-рощь угол- уголь

The English have a specific way of articulating final consonants. Voiced consonants in final position are always weak in English (even partially devoiced). They are called lenis. Voiceless consonants in final position, on the contrary, are strong. They are called fortis.

In Russian voiced consonants are impossible in final positions (except sonorants), and voiceless consonants in final position are always weak.

There is a specific way of articulating voiceless plosive consonants in English. When they are followed by a stressed vowel they are aspirated, as in "teacher", "paper", 'comrade". In Russian they are non-aspirated. There is a tendency to lengthen the English word-ending sonorants before a pause, especially when they are preceded by a short vowel as in "doll", "long", "sin". The similar Russian are short in the same position. Differences in the articulation bases of English, Russian reflected in the system of vowels are as follows: the positions and movements of the lips are very peculiar. On the one hand, when the English is silent, his lips occupy the so-called flat-type position, they are more or less tense and the corners are raised as in a smile. Russians keep the lips rather lax with the corners of the lips lowered.

Spreading of the lips for front vowels is rather typical of English. In Russian the lip position for unrounded vowels is neutral.

On the other hand, in the production of the Russian vowels [o, y] and the lips are rounded and considerably protruded. In English such protrusion does not take place, as in [?, ?, u, u:].

In the production of English vowels the bulk of the tongue is more often at the back of the mouth; in the production of Russian vowels the tongue is mostly in the front part of the mouth. Besides, the tongue may occupy more positions when articulating English vowels than in Russian vowel production.

English vowels are more tense than Russian. This is especially felt in unstressed syllables. In English an unstressed vowel does not always differ greatly from a stressed one. In Russian it is always short, lax and reduced. There are in English short and long vowels which are different both in quality and quantity. There are no such phonemic oppositions in the Russian languages.

Kazakh exhibits tongue-root vowel harmony, with some words of recent foreign origin (usually of Russian or Arabic origin) as exceptions. There is also a system of rounding harmony which resembles that of Kyrgyz, but which does not apply as strongly and is not reflected in the orthography.

When teaching English pronunciation in Russian school each group of sounds and intonation patterns should be considered separately by the teacher, depending on the difficulty of perception and articulation, as well as depending on the similarity of the sound phenomena of the Russian language. This makes it possible to determine, taking into account any difficulties should be based learning English pronunciation in Russian schools.

We have characterized the English vowel sounds that have particular or other similarities with the vowels of the Russian language. As it can be seen from the description, almost all the vowels in English have more or less similar couples in the Russian language.

In English, such phenomenon is excluded. English diphthongs cannot apart into two syllables. They are always pronounced together, i.e one effort with an emphasis on the core.

Each diphthong has lax, fading end. That is, the second element of the diphthong is a weak, sliding, extremely brief faint sound. His voice may not be identical to the sound of corresponding isolated vowel, as it is in the Russian language.

Although the transcription of the second element is transferred by sign of the vowel complete formation, it should be noted that this sign indicates only the movement of the speech organs to this vowel.

1) 3 diphthongs with a glide to [i]: [ei-ai-ei]

2) 2 diphthongs with a glide to [u]: [ou-au]

3) 3 diphthongs with a glide to [?] [i?-е?-u?].

In setting up the pronunciation of diphthongs [ai], [ei], [ei], [au] is necessary to consider the inherent common patterns and contrast with the Kazakh diphthongs (aй), (ей), (ой), (ay). In the final position before pausing English diphthongs pronounced drawl, before a voiced consonant is some shorter, and before voiceless consonants is very briefly.

Above description of the specific articulation of the vowel sounds allows us to identify the most important for the pronunciation production of differences between articulatory bases of Kazakh and English languages in the area of fields .

One of the main features of the English vowels pronunciation is their great strength compared with the Russian vowels. English labial vowel characteristic flat rounding of the lips like Kazakh labial vowels are pronounced with bulging lips. When pronouncing Russian (и) (ы), (e) unstressed loose lips are neutral (no special way of), the lower jaw is natural.

English vowels [i:], [i], [e], [ei] are pronounced in flat grin: lips slightly elongated strips to expose the upper and lower teeth; the lower jaw is launched so that the lower incisors were directly under the upper incisors.

In English difference from Russian is widely used moving articulation of vowel sounds (diphthongs).

In Russian language the organizing center in the word is a vowel sound, which creates a system of vowel harmony.

According to the law of vowel harmony in a single word can combine only similar sounds from the point of view the front (soft) or back (hard) formation.

Whereas the English language, there is complete independence of vowels and affixes the end of the vowel root, alternation vowels of front row with vowels of back row in the same word (army, answer, public, language).

Thus, the system of English vowels is marked the large number of contrasts than in Russian. So, there is no similarity between Russian and English vowels:

1) mixed sound of the front and back row, and

2) long and short; monophtong - diphthong.

Nowadays, English is taught in many schools and high schools in the Russian Republic. Since the students will eventually learn English on the basis of mother tongue, there is a need for a number of research tools based on a comparison of phonetics, vocabulary and grammar of English and Russian languages. The given research is considered the issues of teaching English pronunciation in attracting of such comparisons. In the practice of language teaching two ways of teaching pronunciation are mainly distributed. The first is based on imitation, i.e. by unconscious assimilation of phonetic phenomenon. On the basis of second is a meaningful learning.

This means that teaching pronunciation skills cannot be mechanical. Students need to maintain awareness of the linguistic features of foreign speech to the development of skills, and not vice versa, so this information is not given at all. This method of teaching pronunciation is called analytical and imitative. For example, learning English sound [a:] by students of Russian is a difficulty. Students are inclined to change the English long vowel [a:] (in the words garden, star) qualitatively and quantitatively, it's different from Kazakh vowel (a) (in the words of the ball-child).

Consequently, over the sound [a:] the teacher has to work longer and more laborious, to prevent the influence of the corresponding sound of the native language of students. On the other hand, the pronunciation of the English sound [?] are very easy to digest to Russian students.

Now we would like to suggest a number of effective phonetic exercises we have used in the process of teaching English pronunciation during our school practice. We have adopted them from the following textbooks “Practical phonetics of English language” by Dubovsky A.S., “Practical phonetics of English language” by Sokolova M.A., “Language files” by Crabtree M. and Powers I., also “Practical phonetics of English language” by Arakin V.D.

The following elaborated exercises which will help the learners develop correct pronunciation of English vowel and consonant phonemes. Practicing with phonetic materials allow pupils to activate their knowledge. There are some amounts of exercises which are suitable only for the learners, beginners and also there are some for the learners of intermediate level.

2.2 Differences in the articulation bases of English and Russian vowels

The lips. In the production of Russian vowels the lips are considerably protruded and rounded: /о, у/. In the articulation of the similar English vow protrusion does not take place.

The bulk of the tongue. In the articulation of the English vowels the bulk of the tongue occupies more positions than in the production of the Russian vowels. When the the tongue moves in the horizontal direction it may occupy a fully front and a front-retracted, a fully back and a back-advanced position. Each of the three vertical positions of the tongue (high, mid, low) in English is subdivided into a narrow and broad variety. Rus vow are classified according to the vertical movement of the tongue they may be divided into: high -- /и, ы, у/, mid -- /э, о/ and low -- /a/. According to the horizontal movement of the tongue Russian vowels may be subdivided into: front -- /и, э/, central -- /ы, a/ and back -- /o, y/.

The principle of the degree of tenseness in vowel classification is connected with the unchecked and checked character of the vowels.

The length of the vowels. Long vowels in English are considered to be tense. There are no long vowels which can be opposed to short vowels in the Russian language.

The stability of articulation. There are monophthongs and diphthongoids in the Russian vowel system, but there are no diphthongs.

There are 6 vowel phonemes in Russian and 20 in English.

Given below are English vowels which have no counterparts in Russian:

(1) long and short vowels /i: -- i/, /o: -- o/, /u: -- u/, /з:- з /, /a: -- /\/;

(2) slightly rounded, but not protruded vowels /u:, o:/;

(3) vowels articulated with the "flat" position of the lips /i:, i, e, ei/;

(4) very low vowels, such as /ж, o, a:/;

(5) front-retracted /i/ and back-advanced /u, a:/;

(6) central or mixed /з- з:/;

(7) checked and free vowels /siti/ /'m/\ni/ Russian сити, мани;

(8) diphthongs /ei, ai, oi, iз, аu, ou, еэ, uэ/.

An articulating English vowels Russian students can make the following mistakes:

(1) they do not observe the quantitative character of the long vowels;

(2) do not observe the qualitative difference in the articulation of such vowels as /i: -- i/, /u: -- u/, /o:- o/,

(3) replace the English vowels /i:, о, u, ж, / by the Russian vowels / и, о, у, а, э/;

(4) pronounce /i:, i, e, ei/ without the "flat position" of the lips;

(5) soften consonants which precede front vowels

(6) articulate /o, о:, u, u:, эu/ with the lips too much rounded and protruded;

(7) make the sounds /ж, o/ more narrow similarly to the Russian /э, о/;

(8) make both elements of the diphthongs equally distinct;

(9) pronounce initial vowels with a glottal stop.

2.3 Differences in the articulation bases of the English and Russian consonants

Differences in the system of consonants in English and in Russian are the following:

The English forelingual consonants are articulated with the apico-alveolar position of the tip of the tongue. The Russian forelingual consonants are mainly dorsal: in their articulation the tip of the tongue is passive and lowered, the blade is placed against the upper teeth. The Russian forelingual apical consonants are only: [л, л', ш, Ш', ж, ж`].

Russian students often use the hard /ш, ж/ phonemes instead of the soft English /?, З/. Palatalization is a phonemic feature in Russian. There is no opposition between palatalyzed -- non-palatalyzed consonants in English. The soft colouring of the English /?,t?, dЗ, l, З/ is non-phonemic.

In the articulation of /w/ the primary focus is formed by the lips, which are rounded but not protruded, as it happens when the Russian /y/ is pronounced. The bilabial /w/ which is pronounced with a round narrowing is very often mispronounced by Russians. They use the labiodental /в/ which is pronounced with a flat narrowing instead of the English /w/.

The primary focus in the articulation of "dark" [l] is formed by the tip of the tongue pressed against the teethridge in the initial position.

English voiceless plosives /p, t, k/ are aspirated, when followed by a stressed vowel and not preceded by /s/.

The English voiceless fortis /p, t, k, f, s, ?, tЗ/ are pronounced more energetically than similar Russian consonants.The English voiced consonants /b, d, g, v, d, z, З, dЗ/ are not replaced by the corresponding voiceless sounds in final positions and before voiceless consonants.

Consonant phonemes in English which have no counterparts in Russian are the following:

1. the bilabial sonorant /w/,

2. the dental consonants /р,и /,

3. the voiced affricate /dЗ/,

4. the post-alvcolar sonorant /r/,

5. the backlingual nasal sonorant /?/,

6. the glottal /h/.

Consonant phonemes in Russian which have no counterparts in English are the following;

1. the palatalized consonants /п`, б', т', д `/.

2. the voiceless affricate /ц/,

3. the rolled sonorant /p/,

4. the backlingual voiceless /x/.

The most common mistakes are the following:

-- dorsal articulation of the English /t, d/,

-- the use of the Russian rolled /p/ instead of the English /r/,

-- the use of the Russian /x/ instead of the English glottal /h/,

-- mispronunciation of the English interdental [р, и]

-- the use of the forelingual /n/ instead of the backlingual velar / ? /.

- the use of the Russian dark /ш , ж/ instead of the soft English /?, З/,

- the use of the labio-dental /v, в/ instead of the bilabial /w/,

- weak pronunciation of voiceless fortis /p, t, k, f, s, ? , t?/,

- devoicing of /b, d, g, v, р, z, З, dЗ / in the terminal position



CONCLUSION

In the course of our investigation of the complex nature of the phoneme we have revealed its significant role as a basic unit of speech. We have tried to show that there are a great number of definitions of the phoneme offered by different phonological schools and outstanding scholars.

Our contention is that all the definitions are valid within the frame of the theories in which they were postulated but they should not be meant to be universally valid. Nearly every phonological school offers its own way to describe various speech phenomena and the basic formative unit they choose to operate with at the level of phonology is usually called the phoneme but it should not be concluded that the concept that is called the phoneme is always the same thing. It is hardly so. In fact, some of the various concepts of the phoneme are not compatible with others. Some of the concepts of the phoneme may yet be found compatible or may at least supplement each other.

We have found out that the phoneme is material, real and objective. That means that it is realized in speech in the form of speech sounds, its allophones. The sets of speech sounds that are the allophones belonging to the same phoneme are not identical in their articulatory content though there remains some phonetic similarity between them. In this respect we have studied and analyzed all the distinctive features of the consonant and vowel phonemes on the basis of several languages: English, Russian and Kazakh. We have also studied functions of the phoneme and have come to the conclusion that the most important among them is the distinctive one as it differentiates not only the meaning of words but also the meaning of utterances.

Having studied theoretical aspects of the research we would like to state that there are two major classes of sounds traditionally distinguished by phoneticians in any language. According to the specific character of the work of the speech organs, sounds in practically all the languages are subdivided into two major subtypes: vowels (V) and consonants (C). Consonants articulations are relatively easy to feel, and as a result are most conveniently described in terms of place and manner of articulation.

We have revealed that vowels have no place of obstruction, the whole of speech apparatus takes place in their formation, while the articulation of consonants can be localized, an obstruction or narrowing for each consonant is made in a definite place of the speech apparatus.

The particular quality of vowels depends on the volume and shape of the mouth resonator, as well as on the shape and the size of the resonator opening. The mouth resonator is changed by the movements of the tongue and the lips. The particular quality of consonants depends on the kind of noise that results when the tongue or the lips obstruct the air passage. The kind of noise produced depends in its turn on the type of obstruction, on the shape and the type of the narrowing. The vocal cords also determine the quality of consonants. From the acoustic point of view, vowels are called the sounds of voice, they have high acoustic energy, while consonants are also the sounds of noise but which have low acoustic energy. Functional differences between vowels and consonants are defined by their role in syllable formation: vowels are syllable forming elements and consonants are units which function at the margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters.

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