'
Malmberg B.
Phonetics. N. Y. 1963.
ods. The explanation and description of the articulation of speech
sounds, the pronunciation rules of a language is the object of prac
tical or applied phonetics which is very important in teaching cor
rect pronunciation of a foreign language. Sometimes, as to its aims
of teaching the normal pronunciation of a language, this type of
phonetics is called a normative course o f phonetics. There is a
close relationship between theoretical and practical phonetics, as it
is important to combine theory and practice. It is impossible to rep
resent a good pronunciation rule without a theoretical explanation
of a particular question. Speaking about the phonetic system of a
language we mean the whole set of relations of its elements. The
phonetic elements or units are sounds, syllables, stress and intona
tion which have their linguistic functions observed in the identifi
cation and distinction of the utterances. In such words or
morphemes as lag - bag, m eet - seat, etc. the first sounds help to
distinguish their meanings. The words 'present - pre'sent are dis
tinct by the position of the stress. The sentence She came may be
pronounced in such a way as to be declarative, interrogative etc.
The following types of phonetics may be distinguished:
1. G en eral phonetics which studies the human sound -
producing possibilities, the functioning o f his speech m echa
nism and the ways they are used in all languages to pronounce
speech sounds syllables, stress and intonation. It is a part of
General Linguistics.
2. D escrip tiv e phonetics studies the phonetic system of a
certain language. For example: English phonetics, Russian pho
netics, Uzbek phonetics etc.
3. H isto rical o r d iach ro n ical ph o n etics, which studies the
changes a sound undergoes in the development of a language or
languages. Its material may be based on written historical and
literary monuments. Diachronical studies of the phonetic sys
tem may explain the present state (synchronical) of a language
and compare them. It is a part of a history course of a lan
guage. For example, Verner's and Grimm 's Laws, Ablaut, Um
laut, Great Vowel Shift etc. are the objects of diachronical
phonetics which is also called evolutionary phonetics.
4. C om parative-typological ph o n etics studies the pho
netic features of two or more languages of different systems such as
English, Russian, and Uzbek etc. It is a part of comparative-
typological linguistics. Its fundamental principle is using linguistic
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categorization of all the various units of the languages in compari
son. Comparative-typological phonetics is of great theoretical and
practical value. Theoretically it is important to compare phonetic
systems of all languages in order to establish language universals
(the facts and features which exist in many languages), similarities
and diffirencies between the sound structure, syllable types, stress
and intonation. From the results obtained it is possible to represent
adequate teaching materials and suggest effective methods of for
eign language teaching. The comparative-typological method is
also known by the terms «contrastive», «confrontative», «differen
tial» and «comparative» method. This method is used either in his
torical or synchronical analysis of a language.
1.2. S P E E C H A P P A R A T U S A N D P H O N E T I C
B A S IS
The speech apparatus or vocal tract consists of three parts: 1) the
respiratory mechanism, which furnishes the airflow necessary for
the production of most sounds; 2) the larynx, which creates most
of the sound energy used in speech; 3) the supraglottal cavities
which play the role of resonators to produce speech noises. The
supraglottal cavities are:
the pharynx, the mouth cavity
and
the
nasal cavity.
One more resonator is the labial cavity which func
tions in the pronunciation o f rounded and unrounded vowels and
also labial consonants. The roof of the
mouth is divided into:
the hard palate,
soft palate
(or velum),
the uvula
(the
end of the soft palate),
the teeth
ridge, the upper-teeth, the upper lip
and
the lower lip.
The most active
organ of speech is the tongue which
may be divided into:
the root, the
back, the center
(or front)
and the
blade with the tip
(see
fig. 1).
The four principal resonators of the
speech organs: I. The pharynx; П.
The mouth; III. The nasal cavity; IV.
The labial cavity.
Places of articulation; 1. Bilabial; 2. Labiodentals; 3. Dental;
4. Alveolar; 5. Retroflex; 6. Palato-alveolar; 7. Palatal; 8. Velar;
9. Uvular; 10. Pharyngal.
The larynx is at the upper end of the trachea which contains the
vocal cords. When the vocal cords are drawn near together the air vi
bration, coming from the lungs, produces voiced sounds. If the vocal
cords are apart they do not vibrate as a result of which voiceless con
sonants may be produced. The space between the vocal cords is
called the glottis.
The glottis is open during normal respiration. It may be
closed when the vocal cords are kept together.
The voiceless plosive consonants may be aspirated and un
aspirated. When the glottis is closed the unaspirated plosive con
sonants /p, t, к/ may be produced. During the occlusion of an
aspirated plosive consonant sound the glottis is open. This is es-
sentually a matter of the time relations between the closed phase
of articulation and the time of onset (aspiration) or preaspiration
of voicing as in /p h, th, kh/. The air which escapes the glottis is
closed for the articulation of the following vowel is heard as an
exhalation. The aspirated voiceless stops (plosives) are used be
fore vowels. Aspiration is usually weak before an unstressed
vowel. The unaspirated consonant is used before and after other
consonants. It is probable that the difference between aspirated
and unaspirated stops is not purely a matter of timing, since oral
pressure recordings frequently show a level or even slightly fal
ling, oral pressure during unaspirated stops, but oral pressure ris
ing right up to the moment of release in aspirated stops.
The state o f the glottis, its opening and closing, also the vi
bration of the vocal cords characterize the types of phonatory
structures: breath, voice, voiceless, murmur, creaky voice and
glottal stop.
In breath the vocal cords are kept apart, with slow airflow.
Voice is the result of periodic and closing of the glottis with vocal
cords vibration. As to voiceless sounds the glottis is closed and
vocal cords do not vibrate. In murmur the glottis is wide open as
for breath with a very slow air-flow generating no sound. Creak is
produced by a periodic opening o f a chink near the hyroid end of
the glottis. In creak the airflow passes through the narrow frica
tive type articulatory channels.1
The glottal stop usually indicated by the symbol (?) is pro
duced in the pharynx or in the larynx where it is possible to close
the air passage momentarily by bringing the vocal cords close to
gether.
The glottal stop replaces other stops in certain types o f the
English dialects. For example: in London cockney
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