The System of the English Phonemes

1. The System of the English Phonemes

2. Classification of the English phonemes

• There are two major classes of sounds
traditionally distinguished in any language.
They are consonants and vowels. On the
auditory level vowels consist of tone (voice)
only, and consonants have both noise and
tone. On the articulatory level the air-stream
meets an obstruction when a consonant is
articulated, but it the air escapes freely when
a vowel is pronounced.

3. consonants

• Scholars distinguish 24 consonant phonemes in
Received Pronunciation. There are some general
principles of consonant formation:
• an obstruction (an obstacle) is created in one of
supra-laryngal cavities (pharynx, mouth cavity,
nasal cavity).
• The muscular tension is created in the place of
obstruction;
• A stronger air-stream is required than in
articulating vowels.

4. Vassilyev’s classification

• According to professor Vassilyev primary importance
should be given to the manner of articulation. On this
ground he distinguishes two large classes of
consonants: occlusive, in the production of which a
complete obstruction is formed, and constrictive, in
the production of which an incomplete obstruction is
formed.
Each of these two classes is subdivided into noise
consonants and sonorants on the basis of prevailing
either noise or tone component. Noise occlusive
consonants are divided into plosive consonants (stops)
and affricates, and constrictive sonorants are
subdivided into medial and lateral phonemes.

5. Vassilyev’s classification

consonants
occlusive
Noise
consonants
Plosives
(stops)
sonorants
affricates
constrictive
Noise
consonants
medial
sonorants
lateral

6. M.A.Sokolova’s classification

• She classifies consonants according to 5
principles:
• the degree of noise;
• the manner of articulation;
• the place of articulation and the active organ
of speech;
• the force of articulation;
• the position of the soft palate.

7. M.A.Sokolova’s classification

• Sokolova believes 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. Noise consonants are
subdivided into occlusive, constrictive and
occlusive-constrictive (affricates). Sonorants are
also subdivided into occlusive and constrictive,
which are in its turn subdivided into medial and
lateral.

8. Sokolova’s classification

consonants
Noise
consonants
occlusive
constrictive
sonorants
Occlusiveconstrictive
(affricates)
occlusive
constrictive
medial
lateral

9. The place of articulation

• 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 classes into labial, lingual
and 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: a) forelingual; b) mediolingual; c)
backlingual

10. Classification according to the place of articulation

consonants
labial
bilabial
labiodental
forelingual
lingual
glottal
mediolingual
backlingual

11. Forelingual consonants

• Special attention should be paid to two groups
of forelingual consonants. They can be
subdivided on the one hand into apical and
cacuminal (r) and on the other hand according
to the work of the active organ, into
interdental, alveolar, post-alveolar and palatoalveolar.

12. Forelingual consonants

• Special attention should be paid to two groups
of forelingual consonants. They can be
subdivided on the one hand into apical and
cacuminal (r) and on the other hand according
to the work of the active organ, into
interdental, alveolar, post-alveolar and palatoalveolar.

13. affricates

• There exists a problem of affricates in English,
that is their phonological status and number.
Two questions arise in this respect:
• Are the English [tʃ] [d3] monophonemic
entities or biphonemic combinations? (do
they consist of one phoneme or two
phonemes)
• How many phonemes of the same kind exist in
the system of English consonants?

14. Russian phoneticians’ view of affricates

• From the point of view of Russian
phoneticians, a phoneme has three aspects:
articulatory, acoustic and functional, the latter
being the most important. According to these
three aspects they distinguish two affricates
[tʃ] and[d3]. As for British phoneticians, their
primary concern is the articulatory and
acoustic unity of these complexes. Daniel
Jones points out that there are six of them:
[tʃ], [d3], [ts], [dz], [tr], [dr].

15.

16. affricates

• According to N.S.Trubetskoy a sound complex
may be considered monomorphemic if:
• its elements belong to the same syllable;
• it is produced in one articulatory effort;
• its duration should not exceed normal
duration of either of its elements.

17. affricates

• Rule 1. Syllabic indivisibility. Butch|er – light|ship. In
the first case [tʃ]belongs to one syllable and cannot be
divided.
• Rule 2. Articulatory indivisibility. Special instrumental
analyses shows that all the sound complexes in
question are produced by one articulatory effort.
• Rule 3. Duration. The available data of that kind is not
reliable enough. Trubetskoy himself admits that this
condition is less important than the two previous ones.
We could be certain that the analyzed sounds are
articulatory indivisible and can be considered
monomorphemic.

18. affricates

• The rules suggested by Trubetskoy are based
on articulatory and phonological analyses.
Scholars also attach importance to
morphological criterion. As tʃ, d3 are
indispensable, they have a monomorphemic
status. Ts, dz – are not.

19. The changes that consonants undergo in connected speech

• In the flow of speech consonants undergo
certain changes: assimilation, dissimilation,
elision, epinthesis, metaphesis.

20. PHASES OF ARTICULATION

• THE ON-GLIDE (EXCURSION)
• THE DETENTION
• THE OFF-GLIDE (RECURSION)

21. assimilation

• Assimilation results from the influence of one
sound on another, when a sound becomes more
like another nearby sound. Obligatory and nonobligatory assimilation. Obligatory assimilation
occurs in the speech of all people in different
styles, non-obligatory – in careless speech.
Regressive assimilation: the post alveolar [t] in try
o labialized [t] in twice. Progressive assimilation –
happen, open – the sound [n] sounds like [m]
under the influence of [p]. The ending –ed is
devoiced after voiceless consonants.

22. dissimilation

• The opposite to assimilation is dissimilation. It
results in two sounds becoming less alike in
articulatory or acoustic terms. Many speakers
pronounce “fifths” like [fifts] to break up the
sequence of three fricatives with a stop.

23. Elision

• Elision in phonetics and phonology is the
omission of a sound (a phoneme) in speech.
Elision is common in casual conversation.
• More specifically, elision may refer to the
omission of an unstressed vowel, consonant,
or syllable. E.g. parade [p’reid].
http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/elisionter
m.htm

24. epenthesis

• Epenthesis (sound insertion) is a process that
inserts a vowel or a consonant within an
existing string of sounds. A typical example of
epenthesis is the “intrusive” [r], e.g. Africa(r)
and Asia.

25. metathesis

• Metathesis is a process that reorders a
sequence of sounds. It is typical for children’s
speech. In the adult speech “prescribe and
perscribe” are the most-cited examples of
methathesis.