Uzbekistan state university of world languages english language faculty №2 Course paper Theme: General principiles of vowel formation

Principles of classification of speech sounds
In all languages speech sounds are traditionally divided into two main types — vowels and consonants. From the articulatory point of view the main principles of the division are as follows: the presence or absence of obstruction; the distribution of muscular tension; the force of the air stream coming from the lungs. Vowels are speech sounds based on voice. There is no obstruction in their articulation. The muscular tension is spread evenly throughout the speech organs. The force of the air stream is rather weak. Consonants are speech sounds in the articulation of which there is an obstruction (plosion or friction). The muscular tension is concentrated at the place of obstruction. The air stream is strong. The articulatory boundary between vowels and consonants is not well marked. There are speech sounds that occupy an intermediate positionbetween vowels and consonants and have common features with both the of them. These are sonorants [m, n, ŋ, j, I, w, r]. There is an obstruction in their articulation and the muscular tension is concentrated at the place of obstruction as in the production of consonants. Like vowels they are based on voice. The force of the air is weak as in the case of vowels. Due to their great sonority some sonorants can be syllabic in some particular positions.But generally sonorants do not perform the function of syllable formation. That is why they are attributed to consonants. From the acoustic point of view vowels are complex periodic vibrations — tones. Consonants are non—periodic vibrations.
2.2. Problems that arise in the production of sound
Vowels are speech sounds based on voice. There is no obstruction in their articulation. The muscular tension is spread evenly throughout the speech organs. The force of the air stream is rather weakThe various qualities of English vowels are determined by the oral resonator — its size, volume and shape. The resonator - movable speech organs — the tongue and the lips. The position of the speech organs in the articulation of vowels may be kept for a variable period of time. All these factors determine the principles according to which vowels are classified: acc to the horizontal movement of the tongue: front (i:, ǽ, e, ei, eə, ai, au), front—retracted(I, iə), mixed (Λ, ə, 3:, əu), b a c k—advanced (u, uə), b a c k (u:, a:, uə, oi, o:, o); acc to the vertical movement of the tongue: close/high (i:, I, iə, u:, u, uə), mid (e, ei, eə, ə, 3:, Λ), open/low(ǽ, a:, ai, au, o:, o); acc to the position of the lips: rounded (o, o:, u, u:),unrounded (all the rest);acc to the degree of muscular tension: tense (long vowels), I a x (short); acc to the force of articulation at the end of the vowel: checked (historically short vowels under stress), free (long monophtongs and diphtongoids, unstressed vowel); acc to the stability of articulation: monophthongs (I,e, ǽ, a:, Λ, o, o:, u, ə), diphthongs (ei, ai, oi, au, ou, iə, eə, oə, uə), d i p h thongoids(i:, u:); acc to the length long, short.