Principles of classification of English vowels. Modification of English vowels in connected speech. Reduction.

Vowels are normally made with the air stream that meets no closure or narrowing in the mouth, pharyngal and nasal cavi­ties. That is why in the production of vowel sounds there is no noise component characteristic of consonantal sounds.

On the articulatory level the description of vowels notes changes:

1. in the stability of articulation,

2. in the tongue position,

3. in the lip position,

4. in the character of the vowel end.

Stability of Articulation.All English vowels are divided into three groups: pure vowels or monophthongs, diphthongs and diphthongoids.

Tongue Positions.The changes in the position of the tongue determine largerly the shape of the mouth and pharyngal cavities. The tongue may move forward and backward, up and down, thus changing the quality of vowel sounds.

Lip Position.The shape of the mouth cavity is also largely dependent on the position of the lips. When the lips are neutral or spread the vowels are termed unrounded.

Character of Vowel End.The quality of all English monophthongs in the stressed position is strongly affected by the following consonant of the same syllable. If a stressed vowel is followed by a strong voiceless consonant it is cut off by it. In this case the end of the vowel is strong and the vowel is called checked. Such vowels are heard in stressed closed syllables ending in a strong voiceless consonant, eg better, cart.

Reduction is a historical process of weakening, short­ening or disappearance of vowel sounds in unstressed positions. Reduction reflects the process of lexical and grammatical changes. Reduction is closely connected not only with word stress but also with rhythm and sentence stress.

Reduction is realized:

(a) in unstressed syllables within words

(b) in unstressed form-words, auxiliary and modal verbs, per­sonal and possessive pronouns within intonation groups and phrases.

Three different types of reduction are noticed in English.

1. Quantitative reduction, i.e. shortening of a vowel sound in the unstressed position, affects mainly long vowels

2. Qualitative reduction, i.e. obscuration of vowels to­wards [a, i, o], affects both long and short vowels

Vowels in unstressed form-words in most cases undergo both quantitative and qualitative reduction

3. The third type is the elision of vowels in the unstressed positio

Classification of English vowels according to the stability of articulation. Monophthongs. Diphthongoids. Mistakes typical of Russian learners of English and ways of correcting them.

Vowels are normally made with the air stream that meets no closure or narrowing in the mouth, pharyngal and nasal cavi­ties. That is why in the production of vowel sounds there is no noise component characteristic of consonantal sounds.

According to the stability of articulation there are 3 groups of vowels: monophthongs, diphthongs and diphthongoids.

Monophthongsare vowels the articulation of which is almost unchanging. The quality of such vowels is relatively pure. Most Russian vowels are monophthongs. The English monophthongs are: [i, e, ae, a, o, o:, u, , a].

In the pronunciation of diphthongs the organs of speech glide from one vowel position to another within one syl­lable. The starting point, the nucleus, is strong and distinct. The glide which shows the direction of the quality change is very weak. In fact diphthongs consist of two clearly perceptible vowel elements. There are no diphthongs in Russian. The English diph­thongs are: [ei, ai, oi, au,, ie].

In the pronunciation of diphthongoids the articula­tion is slightly changing but the difference between the starting point and the end is not so distinct as it is in the case of diph­thongs. There are two diphthongoids in English: [i:, u:]. The ini­tial "o" may serve as an example of a Russian diphthongoid, egочень.