1) Phonetics as a branch of linguistics
structure and functions of the speech sounds. - This branch of
linguistics is called phonetics.
Phonetics is an independent branch of linguistics like lexicology or
grammar. These linguistic sciences study language from three
different points of view. Lexicology deals with the vocabulary of
language, with the origin and development of words, with their
meaning and word building. Grammar defines the rules governing
the modification of words and the combination of words into
sentences. Phonetics studies the outer form of language; its sound
matter.Phonetics occupies itself with the study of the ways in
which the sounds are organized into a system of units and the
variation of the units in all types and styles of spoken language.
Theoretical Phonetics has the following branches: articulatory,
acoustic,auditory,functional /phonologicalEach branch of
Theoretical Phonetics investigates the appropriate aspect of speech
sounds.Articulatory Phonetics investigates the functioning of
one’s speech apparatus and mechanism. It is based on profound
knowledge of physiology and the structure of one’s speech
apparatus. While investigating the articulatory aspect of speech
sounds both subjective and objective methods are employed: the
method of direct observation (concerning the lips & the tongue
movements) – subjective method and X-ray photography and Xray cinematography (objective methods). Acoustic Phonetics
studies the acoustic properties of sounds (quantity, timber/voice
quality, intensity, the pitch of the voice and temporal factor) in
terms of the frequency of vibration and the amplitude of vibration
in relation to time. The analysis begins with a microphone, which
converts the air movement into corresponding electrical activity.
While investigating the acoustic aspect of speech sounds special
laboratory equipment is employed: spectrograph, intonograph,
sound analyzing & sound synthesizing machines.
Auditory Phonetics is aimed at investigating the hearing process
which is the brain activity.
Functional
Phonetics
presupposes
investigating
the
discriminatory (distinctive) function of speech sounds.
2) Methods of phonetic analysis
The oldest, simplest and most readily available method is the method of
direct observation. This method consists in observing the movements
and positions of one's own or other people's organs of speech in
pronouncing various speech sounds, as well as in analyzing one's own
kinaesthetic sensations during the articulation of speech sound in
comparing them with auditory impressions.
Objective methods involve the use of various instrumental techniques
(palatography, laryngoscopy, photography, cinematography, X-ray
photography and cinematography and electromyography). This type of
investigation together with direct observation is widely used in
experimental phonetics. The objective methods and the subjective ones
are complementary and not opposite to one another. Nowadays we may
use the up-to-date complex set to fix the articulatory parameters of
speech - so called articulograph.
comparative analysis of different languages. Practical
– is connected with teaching foreign languages, its
applied in methods of speech correction – film
doubling, translation, radio and telephone, its used in
criminal investigation when we hear humans voice
we can say if hes tall o short , young old what
country hes from., tired or cheerful y ect.
6) Conception of phon abroad. Prague linguistic
circule – idealistic conception – were interested
only in its distinctive feature. Ferdinand de
Saussure and L Hjelmslev – were interested in
abstract view – нечто бестелесноенеимеющ
материалбной субстанции. Americans –
Bloomfield and Yakobson – minimal sound
unit, denyed the abstractional aspect and
material was exaggerated. Jones – originated
the phisical view, phoneme I s a family of
soundsmaterial aspect is exaggerated.
3) Phonetics and other sciences. General phon – studies all the
sounds producing possibilities of
the human speech apparatus. Descriptive phon – gices a
description of all the phonetic units of the given language,
studies the contemporary phon system. Historical phon- studies
changes in the phon system and stages of historical
development. Comparative –studies correlation between
phon systems of two laguages. Practical phon – studies the
substance, material form of phon phenomena in relation to
meaning. Theoretical phon- is concerned with functioning of
phon units of the language.
5) Conception of phoneme in this country.
Vasiliev: “phoneme is the smallest further
indivisible language unit existing in the speech
of all the members of the given language
community as such speech sounds wich are
capable of differentiating the meaning.” So the
4) Significance of the phoneme. Theoretical – is
phoneme is abstractional,
connected with further development of the sinchronic
Material and functional.
study and description of the phonemic system, the
7. The dialectic unity
The phoneme is objective real, because it is realized in
speech in the material form in speech in the material form
of speech sounds, its allophones. On the other hand it’s an
abstract language unit. That is why we can look upon the
phoneme as a dialectical unity of the material and abstract
aspects. Thus we may state that it exists in the material
form of speech sounds, its allophones. Speech sounds are
necessarily allophones of one of the phonemes of the
language concerned. All the allophones of the same
phoneme have some articulatory features in common, that
is all of them possess the same invariant. That is why while
teaching pronunciation we cannot ask pupils to pronounce
this or that phoneme only one of its allophone.
8) Material aspect of phoneme. It exists in our
speech in the form of speech sounds (we can
Hear them they can be recordered) even if we
know that speech is produced by brain and
movements of organs of speech here
articulatory phonetics hels us.
9) Abstaract. Aspect.Ferdinand de Saussure viewed
phonemes as the sum of acoustic impressions and
articulatory movements. He also viewed phonemes
as disembodied units of the language formed by the
differences separating the acoustic image of one
sound from the rest of the units. Language in his
opinion contains nothing but differences. This
approach is called abstractional/ abstract.
10) Function aspect of the phoneme. Phoneme has 3
functions 1. constitutive (phonemes exist in their
material form speech sounds constitute morphemes
words sentences all of each are meaningful)2.
distinctive (it distinguishes one word from another
even whole sentences) 3. recognitive (it manifescts in
the process of identificacionnative speakers can
identify combination of phonemes as meaningful
units.)
11) Semantic method is applied for phonological
analysis of both unknown languages and languages
already described. The method is based on a
phonemic rule that phonemes can distinguish words
and morphemes when opposed to one another. It
consists in systematic substitution of one sound for
another in order to find out in which cases where the
phonetic context remains the same such replacing
leads to a change of meaning. This procedure is
called the commutation test. It consists in finding
minimal pairs of words and their grammatical forms.
For example: pen-ben, gain-cane, ten-den Minimal
pairs are useful for establishing the phonemes of the
language. Thus, a phoneme can only perform its
distinctive function if it is opposed to another
phoneme in the same position. Such an opposition is
called phonological.
12) the distributional method
Distribution is a total sum of occurrences of a linguistic unit ( a
phoneme, a morpheme, a word, a word combination). Distribution
presupposes contexts in which a segment can be used. For
example, in accordance with the distribution of the phoneme /N/ it
can’t be used word initially. But we may use it word medially and
word finally.
Distribution
contrastive
It is such a distribution in which allophones of different phonemes
occur in identical phonetic context (cake – bake, bike – bite).
non-contrastive
complementary
It is such a distribution in which different allophones of the same
phoneme occur in mutually exclusive positions ( /t/: try, at the,
twice, kettle, kitten)
free variation
It is such a distribution in which different allophones of the same
phoneme occur in the same phonetic context but are realized
differently (let me /’lemmi/ & /’let mi/). It is determined by social
and territorial stratification of language. Thus the distributional
method is based on the following two laws of phonetic and
allophonic distribution:
If more or less phonetically similar sounds occur in mutually
exclusive positions they are called allophones of one and the same
phoneme.
If more or less phonetically different sounds occur in the same
phonetic contexts they are called allophones of different
phonemes.
13) American based pronunciation. American
English shows a lesser degree of dialect than British
due to some historical factors: the existence of
standard English when first English settlers came to
America, the high mobility of population, internal
migrations of dofferent communities. So there are 3
types of amer language – 1. the eastern type (is
spoken in new England, in new york city, it bears a
remarkable resemblance to southern English.) 2. The
southern type (used in south and south-east of usa, it
possesses a striking distinctive feature – vowel
drawl.) 3. general American.(is spoken in atlantic
states: new york, new jersey y etc., it’s the
pronunciation standard as its language is used by
radio and tv.)
16) Types of sentence stress. 1.Normal (is used to arrange
the sentence phonetically, to single a nuclear of the centre
of the utterance – I want a blue dress) 2.Logical (when the
symantic centre is shifted from the last notional word to
soma other word than it’s a logical stress – the weather is
nice today)3. Emphatic (stress may differ according to the
degree of prominence with which the symantic sentence is
pronounced, emph stress is associated with fall rise and
mid and figh fall – the weather is nice today).
15)Conversational (familiar) - this kind of English is a means for
everyday communication, heard in natural conversational
interaction between speakers. This style occurs mainly in informal
external and internal relationships in speech of relatives, friends,
well - acquainted people and so on. So this is spontaneous,
colloquial, informal, everyday speech.
Informational - in press reporting, educational descriptive texts.
May be represented in monologues, dialogues, polylogues.
Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness normal or increased;
pauses are rather long; rhythm is stable, properly organized;
falling tones on the semantic centres, falling- rising in the initial
intonation groups. Academic (scientific) - style of lectures
(conferences, seminars). The purpose of communication as the
speaker’s aim is to attract the listener’s attention, to establish close
contacts with the audience and to direct the public attention to the
message carried in the contents of the text. Phonostylistic
characteristics: Loudness increased; pauses are rather long; rhythm
is properly organized; high proportion of compound terminal tones
(high fall + low rise, fall – rise, rise-fall-rise), a great number of
high categoric falls. Oratorical - this term serves for many kinds of
oratorical activities (especially this style uses in political
speeches). Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness enormously
increased; pauses are definitely long between the passages; rhythm
is properly organized; tones mostly emphatic, especially
emotionally underlined semantic centres, in non-final intonational
groups falling-rising tones are frequent. Declamatory (artistic)this is the style of declamation. This is a highly emotional and
expressive intonational style, that is why it needs special training.
This style can be heard on the stage, on the screen, in a TV studio,
thus we see that it is always a written form of the language read
aloud or recited. Phonostylistic characteristics: Loudness varied
according to the size of the audience and to the emotional setting;
pauses are long especially between the passages, prolonged
emphatic pauses are used to underline the emphasis; rhythm is
properly organized; common use of categoric low and high falls in
final and initial intonation groups and on semantic centres
14. Intonation and language teaching
Prosody (Intonation) is a complex unity of sentence stress,
rhythm, tempo, speech melody and voice timbre. Each syllable in
a sense group is pronounced on a certain pitch level and bears a
definite amount of loudness. Pitch movements are inseparably
connected with loudness; together with the tempo of speech they
form intonation patterns. Intonation patterns serve to actualize
sense groups.
Intonation is a language universal. There is wide agreement among
Russian linguists that on perception level intonation is a complex,
a whole, formed by significant variations of pitch, loudness and
tempo closely related. Some Russian linguists regard speech
timbre as the fourth component of intonation. According to R.
Kingdon the most important nuclear tones in English are: Low
Fall, High Fall, Low Rise, High Rise, and Fall-Rise.
The sense group is a group of words which is semantically and
syntactically complex.
In Phonetics actualized sense groups are called intonation groups.
Intonation patterns containing a number of syllables consist of the
following parts:
the prehead
the head (the 1st accented syllable)
the scale (begins with the 1st acc.syll.)
the nucleus (the last acc.syll.) – is the most important part of
the intonation pattern.
the tail – conveys no particular information
The parts of intonation patterns can be combined in various ways
expressing different meanings and attitudes.
The more the height of the pitch contrasts within the intonation
pattern, the more emphatic the intonation group is. The number of
possible combinations is more than 100. But not all of them are
equally important. That’s why the number may be reduced to
fewer combinations that are important. Thus Prof. O’Connor gives
10 important tone-groups. Each intonation group has a
communicative center (a semantic center). It conveys the most
important piece of information. which is usually something new.
The terminal tone arranges the intonation group both semantically
and phonetically.
The functions of intonation:

constitutive (it presupposes the integrative function on
the one hand when intonation arranges intonation
groups into bigger syntactic units: sentences, syntactic
wholes and texts)

delimitative (it manifests itself when intonation
divides texts, syntactic wholes and sentences units that
is intonation groups).

distinctive It is realized when intonation serves:
→ to distinguish communicative types of sentences
(the communicatively distinctive function)
→ the actual meaning of a sentence (the semanticallydistinctive function)
→ the speaker’s attitude to the contents of the sentence,
to the listener and to the topic of conversation (the
attitudinally-distinctive function)
→ the style of speech (the stylistically distinctive
function)
the syntactically distinctive function (one and the same
syntactic unit may be divided into a different number of
intonation groups. This division may be important for
the meaning).
→ the function of differentiating between the theme
and the rheme of an utterance.
The rheme is the communicative center of an
utterance. The theme is the rest of an utterance.
Each component of intonation has its distinctive function.
We should give preference to J.D.O.’ Connor and G.F. Arnold’s
system, which has no fever then ten different nuclear tones. It’s
quite sufficient for teaching pronunciation even to high-levelled
learners. All the relevant pitch changes in the pre-nuclear part are
indicated by arrows placed before the first stressed syllable instead
of an ordinary stress-mark:
That isn’t as simple as it
Sounds
We believe it’s clear that this system deserves recognition not only
because it reflects all relevant variations of the two prosodic
components of intonation but also because it serves a powerful
visual aid for teaching pronunciation
17) Vowel length in modern English is not
distinctive or its irrelevant. Quality is more
important. Vowel length may be different it
depends on the position of a vowel in the
word. [ka:- ka:d- ka:t] Vowels is the longest
in its final position. It’s a bit shorter before a
voice
consonant, the shortest is before voiceless
consonant.
18)Int patternThe sense group is a group of
words which is semantically and
syntactically complex.
In Phonetics actualized sense groups are
called intonation groups.
Intonation patterns containing a number of
syllables consist of the following parts:
- the prehead
- the head (the 1st accented syllable)
- the scale (begins with the 1st acc.syll.)
- the nucleus (the last acc.syll.) – is the
most important part of the intonation
pattern.
- the tail – conveys no particular
information
21) Types of transcription. Allophonic – is
based on 1 symbol per allophone and
provides a special sign, [] are used here. The
text is very different to read in this transcr
but its more comfortable for teaching
purposes. Its easer quiecker more
convenient to write by hand.
Phonetic – is international transcr it has
symbols that stand for phoneme in different
languages.
Is uses the fewest possible symbols and
simpliest shapes. Letters are from latin
alphabet.
23) Conversational (familiar) - this kind of
English is a means for everyday
communication, heard in natural
conversational interaction between speakers.
This style occurs mainly in informal
external and internal relationships in speech
of relatives, friends, well - acquainted
people and so on. So this is spontaneous,
colloquial, informal, everyday speech
Grammar level –
Use of short sentences as I amean you know
ect, great number of questions and
exclamations, colloqueial ellipses,
repetitions, verbal forms as he’s I’ll y ect.
19) Types of pauses They can be short
long and very long. 3 types: 1.syntactic
(separate syntactic units, passages, phrases
and intontat groups.) 2. Emphatic
(emphasize this o that part of utterance. She
is…the most charming girl)3. hestitation
(are used in spontaneous speech to gain
some time and think the are cold
embarrassing in linguistics).
20) Accentual phonemes (word stress)
The word-stress fulfills the following functions:

constitutive (helps to organize sound
continuum into words)

recognitive (helps to identify syllables as an
accentual pattern of a word)

distinctive (helps to distinguish the meanings
of words: a present – to present)
English words may have a primary stress and a secondary
one. Some parts of speech have two equivalent stresses:
→ compound adjectives: absent-minded, dark-eyed
→ phrasal verbs: to get on, to give up
The nature of Word Stress is very complex. Word Stress
presupposes such factors as: force, tone, length, vowel
color. In such European languages as Russian, German,
French, English stress has a dynamic nature (a force
character). Musical/ tone word stress may be found in
Chinese, Japanese. According to the place of word stress it
may be free or fixed. Fixed stress falls on a particular
syllable in a polysyllabic word.
the last syllable in French
the last but one syllable I Polish
the first syllable in Finish and Czech.
Russian and English have free word stress. The opposition
of the stress may change to distinguish different parts of
speech and members of paradigms (‘object – to ob’ject)
22) Components of extraling. Situation. 3
comp -1.purpose 2.participants 3. setting
purpose –
A speaker may teach, persuade, narrate and
etc so the speaker selects the phonetic
means to realize his purpose. participants(social status – he may be addressed by his
subordinant, equal,
Superior, age- older people speak in a high
tone than little children, sex – women use
more correct or standart pronunciation and
many high falls, emotional state – the
speech is differ if the person is irritaded
calm nervous o sad) setting – when the
conversation is face to face they are more
closer by so the speech is different too.
24) Functional styles. There are 5 styles by
Sokolova, 1.informational style (speech of
announces, oral representation of any kind of
information written text, formal conversation)
2.scientific, academic st (a lecture o a scientific
subject reading aloud a piece of scientific prose)
3.publicistic st (public discurse on a political topic
economic y etc ) 4.conversational, familiar (the way
of everyday communication) 5. declamatory (reading
aloud any piece of prose o poetry)
Phonostylistic is a part of linguistics it studies the
way phonetic means of the language function in
various oral realizations. phonost is concearned with
the study of phonetic expressive means from stylistic
pint of view. Functional style is – complex of
different varieties of speech realized in all kinds of
extra linguistic situation.
29) Changes in consonant quality. 1.voicing and
devoicing – [sed-set, dog-dok,] 2.loss of [h] –
[hi wants - i wants] 3. initial “hw” – why when
[hwen -hwy]. 4. loss of final [n] – sittin, lookin
5. glottal stops [not quiet – no/ quiet] 6. palatalized
final [k] – [kwik’] 6.linking and intrusive [r] – its a
far away country.
27.Principal styles of pronunciation in Great Britain
According to British dialectologists (P. Trudgill, J. Hannah, A.
Hughes and others), the following variants of English are referred
to the English-based group: English English, Welsh English,
Australian English, New Zealand English;
According to M. Sokolova and others, English English,
Welsh English, Scottish English and Northern Irish English should
be better combined into the British English subgroup, on the
ground of political,
geographical,
cultural unity
which brought
more similarities then differences for
those variants of
pronunciation.
Teaching practice as well as a pronouncing dictionary must base
their
recommendations on one or more models. A pronunciation model
is a carefully chosen and defined accent of a language.
In the nineteenth century Received Pronunciation
(RP) was a social marker, a prestige accent of an Englishman.
"Received" was understood in the sense of "accepted in the
best society". The speech of aristocracy and the court
phonetically was that of the London area. Then it lost its local
characteristics and was finally fixed as a ruling-class accent,
often referred to as "King's English". It was also the accent
taught at public schools. With the spread of education cultured
people not belonging to upper classes were eager to modify
their accent in the direction of social standards.
25)Types of american pronunciation. American English shows
a lesser degree of dialect than British due to some historical
factors: the existence of standard English when first English
settlers came to America, the high mobility of population,
internal migrations of dofferent communities. So there are 3
types of amer language – 1. the eastern type (is spoken in new
England, in new york city, it bears a remarkable resemblance to
southern English.) 2. The southern type (used in south and
south-east of usa, it possesses a striking distinctive feature –
vowel drawl.) 3. general American.(is spoken in atlantic states:
new york, new jersey y etc., it’s the pronunciation standard as
its language is used by radio and tv.)
26) Functions and tendencies of the English stress
Word stress in a language performs three functions.1.Word
stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word
into a language unit having a definite accentual structure, that is
a pattern of relationship among the syllables; a word does not
exist without the word stress Thus the word stress performs the
constitutive function. Sound continuum becomes a phrase when
it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.2.
Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of
syllables as a definite accentual pattern of a word. This function
of word stress is known as identificatoiy(у него так в лекции)
(or recognitive). Correct accentuation helps the listener to make
the process of communication easier, whereas the distorted
accentual pattern of words, misplaced word stresses prevent
normal understanding.3. Word stress alone is capable of
differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus
performing its distinctive function. The accentual patterns of
words or the degrees of word stress and their positions form
oppositions, e.g. 'import — im'port, 'billow — below.
Practical
2) Phonetic mistakes are connected with
pronunciation and don’t change the meaning
(aspiration- start-start) Phonological mistakes are
connected with changes of meaning
(he was heard badly – he was hurt badly).
5) Role of distance – It can be defined by several
features. So the first physical orientation
of participants is a distance. While lecture the speaker
stands I some distance from the audience but in a
private conversation are usually closer by. So it is
quiet natural that the speech of a lecturer and the
speech in face to face communication is
phonologically different in quite a
number of ways. Scenes may be arranged along the
following dimensions public, private,
impersonal, personal, politic, casual, high cultural,
law cultural, formal, informal.
.
12) Гласные в позиции. Vowel length in English is not
distinctive or its irrelevant. Quality is more important. Vowel
length may be different it depends on the position of a vowel in
the word. [ka:- ka:d- ka:t] Vowels is the longest in its final
position. It’s a bit shorter before a voice
consonant, the shortest is before voiceless consonant
9) Reading and speaking. Any of the ph-s styles may be realized
in the form of reading and
speaking. When a person reads a text he doesn’t have to think
what to say cause the text has already been written he only has to
think haw to say, haw to make it sound properly. When a
person produces a spontaneous piece of text he has to think of
what to say and how to say.
In other words the speaker has to decide spontaneously what ideas
he wants to express and
choose an adequate linguistic form of expression. Two most
important characteristics of spoken
speech are -1.hestitation 2. process of delimitation. Hestitation –
when the speaker doesn’t know
what to say so hestitation pauses apprear the are used to fill the
silence they can be: lengthening
of sounds, noises, words (well, anyway ect). Delimitation – pauses
in any part of the utterance.
.
Changes of vowel quality
1.According to the stability of articulation.
1)it is generally acknowledged that two historically long vowels [I:], [u:] have become diphthongized
and are often called diphthongoids; the organs of speech slightly change their articulation by the very
end of pronunciation, becoming more fronted. Ch.Barber tries to draw a parallel with the Great Vowel
Shift which took place in Middle English, where diphthongization was just one part of a complete
change of pattern in the long vowels. He claims that there is some resemblance to this process today
and other phonemes may move up to fill the places left vacant.
2)There is a tendency for some of the existing diphthongs to be smoothed out, to become shorter, so
that they are more like pure vowels.
a)this is very often the case with [ei], particulary in the word final position, where the glide is very
slight: [tə'dei], [sei],[mei].
b)diphthongs [ai], [au] are subject to a smoothing process where they are followed by neutral sound
[ə]:
Conservative RP: [tauə], [faiə]
General RP: [taə], [faə]
Advanced RP: [ta:], [fa:]
c)also diphthongs [ ], [ ] tend to be leveled to [ ]. Thus the pronunciation of the words pore, poor is
varied like this:
older speakers: [ ], [ ]
middle-aged speakers: [ ], [ ]
younger speakers: [ ], [ ]
It should be mentioned, however, that this tendency does not concern the diphthong [iə] when it is
final. The pro minence and length shift to the glide, this final quality often being near to [ ]:
Dear[diə]-[di ]
2.According to the horizontal and vertical movements of the tongue.
Very striking changes occur in the vowel quality affected by the horizontal movements of the tongue.
In fact the general tendency is marked by the centering of both front and back vowels:
a)the nuclei of [ai], [au] ten to be more back, especially in the male variant of the pronunciation;
b)the vowel phoneme [ǽ] is ofen replaced by [a] by younger speakers:[hǽv]-[hav],[ǽnd]-[and];
c)the nucleus of the diphthong [ ] varies considerably, ranging from [ou] among conervative speakers
to [ ] among advanced ones:
Conservative RP: [ ],[ ],[ ];
Advanced RP:[ ],[ ],[ ]
This tendency is so strong that the transcription symbol has been recently changed in many British
books: [ou]-[ ]
d)Back-advanced vowels [ ], [ ] are considerably fronted in the advanced RP:but[ ]-[bət], good [ ][gəd].
It should be mentioned here that there is a tendency for all short vowels to be made nearer the center of
the mouth, that is to move towards [ə], especially in unstressed position: honest[`anist]-[anəst].
Thus te horizontal changes in vowel quality may be listed like this:
Centering of short vowels:
More back pronunciation of the nuclei of diphthongs:[ai]-[ ],[ ]-[ ]
More advanced pronunciation of the diphthong:[ ],[ ]
More fronted pronunciation of the diphthongoids:[I:]-[I(j)], [u]-[u(w)].
Vertical changes in vowels may be traced in [e] and [ ] which tend to be closer in advanced RP. It has
also beek stated above that the nuclei of diphthongs [ei], [ ], [ ], [ ] become more open when these
phonemes are being leveled, particularly the diphthong [ ] , which is characterized by a great opening
of the first element: careful[`
]-[
]. The first element of the diphthong [ ] can be
lowered considerably. Thus several words with [ ] are given a shade [ ] pronunciation by some
advanced RP speakers; poor, sure [ , ]-[ , ]
3.Combinative changes.
It is general knowledge that when sounds are in company they influence each other. These changes are
called combinative. They take place only in certain phonetic contexts. In a diacritic study, however,
there is n sharp boundary between isolative and combinative changes.
1)Changes in [j+u:], [l+u:]. Words like suit, student, super may be pronounced either [sju:t] or [su:t],
[stju:dent] or [stu:dnt], [sju:pə] or [su:pə].The tendency is for middle-aged and younger speakers to
omit the [j] after [s] before [u:]. Word-internally [j] tends to be retained as in assume [asju:m]. There is
also fluctuation after [l]: word-initially lute [lu:t] is normal, but it is possible to pronounce [I`lju:zn] in
illusion, for example. These recent developments in combinatine RP changes bear remarkable
resemblance to American Standart pronunciation.
2)Change of [ ] to [ ] before [f,s,θ].Where orthographic “o” occurs before the voiceless fricatives
[f,s,θ] older speakers pronounce the vowel [ ]: loss [ ].This pronunciation is currently dying uot in
RP and being replaced by [ ]:[ ]
Words like salt and fault still may be pronounced with [ ]
4.Changes in length.
It is an accepted fact that English vowels vary in length according to the phonetic context-the
consonant they are followed by (voiceless,voised), syllabic border,the degree of stress, the types of
nuclear tone and so on.
Actually nowadwys there are changes in vowel length that are influenced by other factors. There is ,
for example, a strong tendency for the so called short vowels to be lengthened, and it is interesting to
note that this legthening can be heard sporadically in many words in any position.
The lengthening of [I] is often heard in big, his,is; of [ ] in good; [ ] in come. It should also be
mentioned that [I] is often lengthened in the final syllable, i.e. very, many.
Short vowels [ e,æ] are also very frequently lengthened in yes, bed, men, said, sad, bad, bag and so on
This tendency has considerably increased in the past few years.