Differences in the articulation basis of English and Russian vowel and consonant phonemes and their peculiarities.

Speech sounds belonging to the most general types are found in all languages. This general typological community of speech sounds existing in different languages is due to the typologically and functionally identical structure of the speech organs of people, belonging to different races and nationalities. And yet, despite the typological community of speech sounds in different languages, not a single sound of one language is absolutely identical spectrally with a typologically identical sound of another language. One of the principal causes of spectral differences in typologically identical sounds of different languages is the difference in the articulation basis.

The articulation basis of a language may be defined as the sum total of general tendencies in the movements and positions of the speech organs, both during the speech and in neutral position, characteristic of all the native speakers of that language. The articulation basis of one language may differ from that of another in the general tendencies its native speakers have in the way they move and hold their lips and tongues both in speech and in silence, in the way they coordinate the work of the obstructer and vibrator mechanisms etc.

The peculiarities of the sound system of a language are caused by those of its articulation basis and should not be confused with the latter. The most general and characteristic points of difference between the articulation basis of English and that of Russian in the matter of lip and tongue positions is the general tendency toward retracted positions in English and toward advanced position in Russian. Accordingly, lip protrusion does not normally occur in English speech, whereas it is common in Russian. The result is that the formation of the English rounded vowels is not accompanied by lip protrusion, as the case is in English.

Besides, in the articulation of the English vowels the bulk of the tongue occupies more positions than in the production of the Russian vowels. When the bulk of the tongue moves in the horizontal direction it may occupy five positions in English (fully front, front-retracted, central, fully back and back-advanced). Each of the three vertical positions of the tongue (high, mid, low) in English is subdivided into a narrow and broad variety. Such variety of the bulk of the tongue positions is not observed in the production of the Russian vowel sounds. In Russian there are only three horizontal positions (front, central and back) and three vertical positions (high, mid, low) do not have narrow and broad varieties. The articulatory peculiarities in the pronunciation of English vowels constitute the basis for the formation of diphthongs when the position of the tongue changes within the articulation of one and the same vowel. There are no diphthongs in the Russian vowel system.

In the English vowel system length is phonologically relevant feature, and according to it the English vowels are subdivided into long and short, while in the Russian vowel system length is a phonologically irrelevant feature.

According to the character of their end some of the English vowels are checked others are free while all Russian vowels are free.

Russian vowels are not differentiated according to their tenseness as this feature is determined by the length and the character of the end of the vowel. All Russian vowels are more tense in a stressed position than in an unstressed one. In English the long vowels are tense, the short ones are lax.

In general there are 6 vowel phonemes in Russian and 20 in English, and all English vowels have no counterparts in Russian.

As it has already been mentioned, in English the tongue in neutral position lies somewhat farther back than in Russian. At the same time in English the tip of the tongue has a general tendency to move towards the teeth-ridge, whereas in Russian the blade of the tongue tends to move towards the upper front teeth. The result is that forelingual consonants [t, d, s, z, l, n] are alveolar and apical in English and dental and dorsal in Russian.

Palatalization, or soft colouring of consonants is not a phonemic feature of English phonemes [∫, 3, d3, t∫], whereas it is a phonemic feature in Russian which has 16 pairs of palatalized and non-palatalized consonant phonemes.

The English voiceless consonants [p, t, k, f, s, ∫, t∫] are pronounced more energetically than the similar Russian consonants. The English voiced consonants [b, d, g, v, z, ð,3] are not replaced by the corresponding voiceless consonants in the word-final position and before voiceless consonants as the similar Russian consonants.

The English voiceless plosives [p, t, k] are pronounced with aspiration when followed by a stressed vowel and not preceded by [s], whereas similar Russian consonants are pronounced without aspiration.

The English consonants [∫, 3] are short, the similar Russian consonants are long. There are no long consonant phonemes in English at all.

In English word-final sonorants [m, n, l, ŋ] are lengthened before a pause, especially when they are preceded by a short vowel whereas the similar Russian consonants are short in the same position.

In general there are 24 consonant phonemes in English and 36 in Russian.

Consonant phonemes in English which have no counterparts in Russian are the following: the bilabial constrictive sonorant [w], the interdental fricatives [θ, ð], the voiced affricate [d3], the post alveolar constrictive sonorant [r], the backlingual nasal sonorant [ŋ], the glottal fricative [h].

Consonant phonemes in Russian which have no counterparts in English are the following: the palatalized consonants [п’,б’, т’,д’, к’, г’, м’, н’, ф’, в’, с, з’, р’], the voiceless affricate [ц], the rolled alveolar sonorant [р], the backlingual voiceless fricative [х].

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Positional and combinative changes of vowels and consonants in connected speech.	\|	Assignment

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