AS COMPARED WITH THE UKRAINIAN ONE

CLASS 2

JRhythm and intonation Practice.

1.1. Do the following exercise paying special attention to the sound /d/, /t/ sentence stress and nuclear tones.

Conversation in a Library

Reader: Good afternoon. I've just joined the library. How many books can I take out?

Librarian: You can take two books, and keep them for ten days. After that, if you have finished them, you return them. If you haven't finished, you can renew them.

Reader: How do I do that? Must I visit the library?

Librarian: No, you can telephone. Tell us the titles of the books, and the date they are due for return.

Reader: Splendid. Can you tell me where to find Thomas Hardy's books? I'm studying Victorian writers. I've read two of Thomas Hardy's books – Tess of the D'Urbevilles, and Far from the Madding Crowd. Today I want A Tale of Two Cities, or David Copperfield.

Librarian: Actually A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield are by Charles Dickens.

Revise reading rules by transcribing the following words

LPhonetic Theory Discussion Section.

Learn the following words and phrases to Theme 2.

Read Theme 2 and be ready to answer the questions given in 2.3.

Theme 2. THE ENGLISH CONSONANTAL SYSTEM

AS COMPARED WITH THE UKRAINIAN ONE

The systems of consonant phonemes in English and Ukrainian may be compared along the following lines:

1. The number of consonant phonemes in each of the two languages.

2. Consonant phonemes in one language which have no counterparts in the other.

3. Differences in the articulation of similar consonants existing in both languages.

1. There are 24 consonant phonemes in English. They are:

(a) six plosives: [p],[b], [t], [d], [k], [g];

(b) three nasal sonorants: [m], [n], [N];

(c) nine fricatives: [f], [v], [T], [D], [s], [z], [S], [Z], [h];

(d) four constrictive sonorants: [w], [l], [r], [j];

(e) two affricates: [tS], [dZ].

2. Ukrainian has no consonant phonemes like the following seven English phonemes:

(a) the bilabial constrictive median sonorant [w], as in wind [wInd];

(b) the interdental fricative consonants [T], [D], as in South [saUT] this, [DIs];

(c) the voiced affricate [dZ],as in June [dZu:n];

(d) the post-alveolar constrictive median sonorant [r], as in road [r@Ud];

(e) the backlingual nasal sonorant [N], as in sing [sIN];

(f) the glottal fricative voiceless [h], as in he [hi:].

3. The articulation of the English consonants differs from that of the Ukrainian in the following ways:

The English voiceless consonants [p], [t], [k], [f], [s], [S], [tS] are pronounced more energetically than the similar Ukrainian consonants.

The English voiced noise consonants [b], [d], [g], [v], [z], [Z] are much weaker than the similar Ukrainian consonants.

The English voiceless plosive consonants [p], [t], [k] are pronounced with aspiration in a stressed position when followed by a vowel, whereas the similar Ukrainian consonants are pronounced without any aspiration.

The English consonants [t], [d], [n], [s], [z] [l] have apical articulation whereas similar Ukrainian consonants have dorsal articulation. There is no dorsal articulation in English at all.

Many of the English forelingual consonants, such as [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l] have alveolar articulation, whereas the similar Ukrainian consonants have dental articulation.

The English phonemes [S], [Z] are short, whereas the similar Ukrainian consonants are long. There are no long consonant phonemes in English.

Palatalization of consonants is not a phonemic feature in English though the consonants [S], [Z], [tS], [dZ] are slightly palatalized, whereas it is a phonemic feature in Ukrainian, which has sixteen pairs of palatalized and non-palatalized consonant phonemes.

In English the voiced noise consonants [b], [d], [g], [v], [D], [z], [Z], [dZ] may occur in word-final positions and before voiceless consonants, whereas in Ukrainian voiced noise consonants cannot occur in these positions and are replaced by the corresponding voiceless sounds.