Theme: Phonetics and its connections with social sciences Contents Introduction 2 Chapter I. General notes on Phonetics 5

The subject of the course work: sections and branches of phonetics.
Object of the coursework: areas and educational institutions where phonetics is taught.
The main aim of the present course paper is thorough linguistic analysis of the connection of phonetics and discourse.
This aim puts forward the following tasks to fulfill:

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  to define the term phonetics and its historical development;
  
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  to study the phonetic and phonological terms and concepts;
  
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  to analyze the types, aspects and methods of investigation of modern English phonetics ;
  
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  to study the connection of phonetics with other linguistic and non-linguistic disciplines
  
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  to investigate specific features of phonetics and discourse in communication.
  

The main material of the given course paper is taken from different books on theoretical and practical phonetics as such English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course (by Abduazizov A.A) T., 2006, A Theoretical Course of English Phonetics (Leontyeva S.F). M., 2002.Theoretical Phonetics of English (Sokolova M.A. and others) M., 1994, English Phonetics. A Theoretical Course, Vassilyev V.A.) M., 1970, Pronunciation Theory of English (Alimardanov R.A.) and many others.
The theoretical value of the present course paper is that the theoretical part of the work can be used in delivering lectures on the Theoretical Phonetics of Modern English.
The practical significance of the present course paper is that the practical results gained by investigating the given problem may be used as examples or mini-tests in seminars and practical lessons on English phonetics.

Chapter I. General notes on Phonetics
1.1 Phonetics as a branch of linguistics. Branches of phonetics. Methods of investigation
Language as “the most important means of human intercourse” exists in the material form of speech sounds. It cannot exist without being spoken. Oral speech is the primary process of communication by means of language. Written speech is secondary; it represents what exists in oral speech.²
In oral speech grammar and vocabulary as language aspects are expressed in sounds. The modification of words and their combination into sentences are first of all phonetic phenomena. We cannot change the grammatical form of a verb or a noun without changing the corresponding sounds. The communicative type of sentences can often be determined only by intonation. Hence the importance of the sound (phonetic) aspect of a language is obvious. To speak any language a person must know nearly all the 100% of its phonetics while only 50-90% of the grammar and 1% of the vocabulary may be sufficient.³
The terms “phonetics” and “phonetic” come from the Greek word (fo:ne:) sound. The term “phonetics” may denote either the phonetic system of a concrete language or the phonetic science. Both the phonetic system of a language and the phonetic science are inseparably connected with each other but at the same time the one cannot be taken for the other. The phonetic system of a language is an objective reality while the phonetic science is a reflected reality.
Phonetics as a science is a branch of linguistics. It is concerned with the study of the sound system of a language. Phonetics has a long history. It was known to the ancient Greeks and Hindus. But up to the 19^th century it was considered to be a part of grammar. As an independent linguistic science it began to develop in Russia and Western Europe in the 2^nd half of the 19^th century.⁴
Being an independent science, phonetics is at the same time closely connected with other linguistic sciences – grammar, lexicology, stylistics and the history of a language since the phonetic system of a language, its vocabulary and grammar constitutes one indivisible whole. It is also closely interconnected with such sciences as physiology, biology, physics, pedagogy, psychology, mathematics, cybernetics. The object of phonetics is the sound matter of a language which comprises speech sounds and prosodic characteristics of speech (stress, pitch, rhythm, tempo, etc.)
Sounds and prosodic phenomena of speech are of a complex nature. They involve a number of simultaneous activities on the part of the speaker and the hearer: the movement of speech organs that is regulated by the central nervous system; the perception of sound waves resulting from the work of speech organs; the formation of the concept in the brain (at a linguistic level)⁵.
Phonetics is connected with linguistic and non-linguistic sciences: acoustics, physiology, psychology, logic, grammar, lexicology, stylistics, pedagogics, mathematics etc.
The connection of phonetics with grammar, lexicology and stylistics is exercised first of all via orthography, which in its turn is very closely connected with phonetics.
Phonetics formulates the rules of pronunciation for separate sounds and sound combinations. The rules of reading are based on the relation of sounds to orthography and present certain difficulties in learning the English language, especially on the initial stage of studying. Thus, vowel sounds, for instance, are pronounced not only as we name the letters corresponding to them: the letter a as /eI/, the letter e as /i:/, the letter I as /aI/, the letter y as /waI/, the letter u as /ju:/ the letter o as /ou/, but a can be pronounced as: /æ/ - can, /ɑ:/ - car, /ɛə/ - care; e can be pronounced as: /e/ - them, /3:/ - fern, /Iə/ - here, etc⁶.
Though the system of rules of reading phonetics is connected with grammar and helps to pronounce correctly singular and plural forms of nouns, the past tense forms and past participles of English regular verbs, e.g. /d/ is pronounced after voiced consonants (beg-begged), /t/-after voiceless consonants (wish-wished). It is only if we know that /s/ is pronounced after voiceless consonants, /z/ after voiced and /Iz/ after sibilants, that we can pronounce the words books, bags, boxes correctly. The ending -ed is pronounced /Id/ following /t/ or /d/, e.g. waited /’weItId/, folded, /’fəuld Id/. Some adjectives have a form with /Id/, e.g. crooked /’krukId/, naked /’neIkId/, ragged /’ræɡId/.
One of them important phonetic phenomena - sound interchange - is another manifestation of the connection of phonetics with grammar. For instance, this connection can be observed in the category of number. Thus, the interchange of /f-v/, /s-z/, /q-ð/ helps to differentiate singular and plural forms of such nouns as: calf-calves /f-v/, leaf-leaves /f-v/, house-houses /s-z/.
Vowel interchange helps to distinguish the singular and the plural of such words as: basis – bases /`beIsIs - `beIsi:z/, crisis – crises /`kraIsIs - `kraIsi:z/, analysis-analyses /ə`næləsIs- ə`næləsi:z/, and also: man-men /mæn-men/, foot-feet /fut-fi:t/, goose-geese /gu:s-gi:z/, mouse –mice /maus-maIs/.
Vowel interchange is connected with the tense forms of irregular verbs, for instance: sing-sang-sung; write-wrote-written, etc.⁷
Vowel interchange can help to distinguish between

1. 
   nouns and verbs, e.g. bath-bathe /a:-eI/,
   
2. 
   adjectives and nouns, e.g. hot-heat /ɔ -i:/,
   
3. 
   verbs and adjectives, e.g. moderate-moderate /eI-I/,
   
4. 
   nouns and nouns, e.g. shade-shadow /eI-æ/,
   
5. 
   nouns and adjectives, e.g. type-typical /aI-I/.
   

Vowel interchange can be observed in onomatopoeic compounds:
jiggle - joggle толчок, покачивание
flip - flop лёгкий удар, шлепок
chip - chop рубить топором, штыковать
flap - flop шлепать, шлёпнуть
hip - hop подпрыгивание при ходьбе⁸
Consonants can interchange in different parts of speech for example in nouns and verbs:
extent – extend /t-d/
mouth - mouth /q-ð/
relief - relieve /f-v/
Phonetics is also connected with grammar through its intonation component. Sometimes intonation alone can serve to single out predication in the sentence. Compare:
`He came home. Not Mary or John.
He `came home. So you can see him now.
He came `home. He is at home, and you said he was going to the club.
In affirmative sentence the rising nuclear tone may serve to show that it is a question. Cf.:
He `came home.
He ˡcame ˏhome?
Pausation may also perform a differentiatory function. If we compare two similar sentences pronounced with different places of the pause, we shall see that their meaning will be different.
ˡWhat ˡwriting ˡpoet is doing is ˎinteresting.
If we make a pause after the word what, we are interested in what the poet is doing in general. If the pause is made after the word writing we want to know, what book or article the poet is writing.
Phonetics is also connected with lexicology. It is only to the presence of stress, or accent, in the right place, that we can distinguish certain nouns from verbs (formed by conversion), e.g.
ˡabstract реферат - to abˡstract извлекать
ˡobject предмет - to obˡject не одобрять
ˡtransfer перенос - to transˡfer переносить
Homographs can be differentiated only due to pronunciation, because they are identical in spelling, e.g.
bow /bəu/ лук - bow /bau/ поклон
lead /li:d/ руководство - lead /led/ свинец
row /rəu/ ряд - row /rau/ шум
sewer /səuə/ швея - sewer /sju:ə/ сточная труба
tear /tɛə/ разрыв - tear /tIə/ слеза
wind /wInd/ ветер - wind /waInd/ виток⁹
Due to the position of word accent we can distinguish between homonymous words and word groups, e.g.
`blackbird дрозд - ˈblack `bird чёрная птица
Phonetics is also connected with stylistics; first of all through intonation and its components: speech melody, utterance stress, rhythm, pausation and voice tamber which serve to express emotions, to distinguish between different attitudes on the part of the author and speaker. Very often the writer helps the reader to interpret his ideas through special words and remarks such as: a pause, a short pause, angrily, hopefully, gently, incredulously, etc. For example:
“Now let me ask you girls and boys, would you paper a room with representations of horses?”
After a pause, one half of the children cried in chorus, “Yes, sir!” Upon which the other half, seeing in the gentleman’s face that “Yes” was wrong, cried out in chorus, “No, sir!”- As the custom is in these examinations.
“Of course, no. Why wouldn’t you?”
A pause. (Ch. Dickens. Hard Times)

If the author wants to make a word or a sentence specially prominent or logically accented, he uses graphical expressive means, e.g.:

“You must paper it,” said the gentleman, rather warmly.
“You must paper it,” said Thomas Gradgrind, “whether you like it or not. Don’t tell us you wouldn’t paper it’. (ibid)
Phonetics is also connected with stylistics through repetition of words, phrases and sounds. Repetition of this kind serves the basis of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration.
Consequently, sound phenomena have different aspects, which are closely interconnected: articulatory (physiological), acoustic(physic), auditory(perceptual) and linguistic(phonological, social, functional).¹⁰
Speech sounds are products of human organism. They result from the activities of the diaphragm, the lungs, the bronchi, the trachea, the larynx with the vocal cords in it, the pharynx, the mouth cavity with the speech organs situated in it and the nasal cavity.
Sound production is impossible without respiration, which consists of two alternating phases-inspiration and expiration. Speech sounds are based chiefly on expiration, though in some African languages there are sounds produced by inspiration.
Expiration, during which speech sounds are produced, is called phonic expiration. Phonic expiration differs from ordinary biological non-phonic expiration. In phonic expiration the air comes from the lungs not freely but in spurts, because the speech organs often block the air-passage.
The lungs are the source of energy. They supply the air-pressure (the spectral component of sounds) and at the same time they regulate the force of the air-pressure, thus producing variations in the intensity of speech sounds.
Sound production actually takes place in the larynx, the pharynx and the oral and the nasal cavities. The air-stream coming from the lungs undergoes important modifications in them.
One part of sound production is phonation, or voice-production.
When the vocal cords, situated in the larynx, are tensed and brought loosely together, the air-pressure below the vocal cords becomes very high and the air comes from the lungs in regular puffs making the vocal cords vibrate. Their vibrations are complex and, mainly, regular or periodic. The regular vibrations of the vocal cords are transmitted to the air-stream and the acoustic effect perceived by the human ear is that of a vocal tone.
This is what we call voice.
The other part of sound-production is articulation, i.e. all the movement and positions of the speech organs necessary to pronounce a speech sound. The movements of speech organs modify the shape, size and volume of the supralaryngeal cavities (the pharynx, the mouth and the nasal cavity) and the voice coming from the lungs receives characteristic resonance depending on the shape, size and volume of the cavities (resonance chambers). As a result, a vowel sound of a certain quality is produced.
When in the supralaryngeal cavities there is an obstruction to the air-stream, a certain noise is produced. The character of the noise-friction or plosion – depends on the type of obstruction (a complete closure or a constriction) and determines the particular quality of a consonant. When an obstruction is created and the vocal cords vibrate, a voiced consonant is produced. When the vocal cords do not vibrate, the result is a voiceless consonant.
Thus sound production is a complicated phenomenon. The main sourced of vibration in the production of speech sounds are the vocal cords and various kinds of obstruction.
Complex periodic vibrations of the vocal cords are the physiological basis of speech melody and voice-timbre as components of prosody. The amplitude of vibration is the physiological basis of intensity-the dynamic component of prosody.
Like any other sound of nature speech sounds exist in the form of sound waves and have the same physical properties-frequency, intensity, duration and spectrum¹¹.
Frequency is the number of vibrations per second generated by the vocal cords. Frequency produced by the vibration of the vocal cords over their whole length is the fundamental frequency. It determines the musical pitch of the tone and forms an acoustic basis of speech melody.
Frequency is measured in hers or cycles per second (ops).
Intensity of speech sounds depends on the amplitude of vibrations. Changes in intensity are associated with stress in those languages which have force stress, or dynamic stress.
On the one hand, it is a physiological mechanism which reacts to acoustic stimuli. The human ear transforms mechanical vibrations of the air into nervous stimuli and transmits them to the brain.
On the other hand, it is also a psychological mechanism which selects from the great amount of acoustic information only that which is linguistically significant. The human brain interprets acoustic phenomena in terms of a given language system. In this way, different acoustic stimuli may be interpreted as being the same sound unit. Thus for an Englishman the soft /l/ as in “let” and the hard / ł / as in “tell” are one and same unit, as the difference between them is not significant in distinguishing words or grammatical forms in English. A Russian would consider these sounds as different units, since in the Russian language the soft /л’/ as in “мель” and the hard /л/ as in ‘мел” serve to differentiate words. A listener’s reactions are conditioned by his experience of handling his own language.¹²
In what way does the human ear perceive and interpret the acoustic properties of speech sounds-frequencies, intensity, duration?
The same frequency of vibrations is always perceived as the same pitch regardless of the other qualities of the vibrating body. The greater the frequency, the higher is the pitch of the voice and vice-versa. Our perception of the pitch of the voice depends largely (but not solely) on the fundamental frequency carried by vowels and other voiced sounds. Impressions of a change of pitch may be induced by variations of intensity on the same frequency. Our perception goes further than the limits of fundamental frequency (the total range of a speaking voice being as extensive as 80-350 cps). The human ear perceives frequencies from 16 cps to about 20,000 cps.
Formant frequencies, which are much higher than the fundamental frequency, determine our identification of different qualities of speech sounds.
Changes in intensity are perceived by our ear as variations in the loudness of a sound. The greater the intensity of a sound, the louder the sound. But our perception of loudness does not depend on intensity alone. A sound or a syllable may be perceived as louder, in comparison with neighboring sounds or syllables, because there is a marked pitch change on it or because it is longer than the others.
Furthermore, some sounds, owing to their nature, are louder or more sonorous than others. This /ɑ:/ is more powerful than /i:/, and vowels generally have more carrying power than consonants.
Our judgments relating to loudness are not as fine as those relating to either quality or pitch.
Different duration of speech sounds is perceived as a difference in their length. The time necessary for the recognition of a sound depends on the nature of the sound and the pitch. The minimum duration of a vowel to be recognized may be 4 msec. But our perception of length does not always correspond to the actual duration of speech sounds or other units. Thus the length of rhythmic groups in an English utterance is considered to be approximately the same since it is a characteristic feature of English rhythm that stressed syllables occur at more or less equal intervals of time. But the actual duration of rhythmic groups is far from being equal. This is an example of how our brain interprets from the acoustic material only that which is linguistically significant.
Our hearing mechanism plays an important role in controlling our own speech. The control of our sound production is complementary to our articulatory habits. The process of communication would be impossible if the speaker himself did not perceive the sounds he pronounces. If this control is disturbed, disturbances in the production or speech sounds are likely to appear.
Speech sounds and prosodic features are linguistic phenomena. They are realizations of language units-phonemes and prosodies. Representing language units in actual speech, speech and prosodic features (pitch, stress, temporal characteristics etc.) perform certain linguistic functions. They constitute meaningful units-morphemes, words, word forms, utterances. All the words of a language consist of speech sounds and have stress. All the utterances consist of words, and, consequently, of sounds; they are characterized by certain pitch-and-stress patterns, temporal features, rhythm.¹³
Speech sounds and prosodic features serve to differentiate the units they form. Communication by means of language is possible only because speech sounds (and prosodic features) can be opposed to one another for purposes of differentiating words, word forms, and communicative units-utterances.
Simultaneously all the sound phenomena provide a basis for the hearer to identify them as concrete words, word forms or utterances.
Thus, speech sounds and prosodic features of speech perform constitutive, distinctive and identificatory functions.
The linguistic aspect of speech sounds is also called the function or social aspect, because of the role which sound matter plays in the functioning of language as a social phenomenon. Thus, speech sounds and prosodic features are functional and significant phenomena of language.
Depending on which of the aspects of speech sounds is studied, phonetics is subdivided into the following branches.
Physiological phonetics is concerned with the study of speech sounds as physiological phenomena. It deals with our voice-producing mechanism and the way we produce sounds, stress, intonation. It studies respiration, phonation (voice- production), articulation and also the mental processes necessary for the mastery of a phonetic system. Since sounds of speech are no only produced but are also perceived by the listener and the speaker himself, physiological phonetics is also concerned with man’s perception of sounds, pitch variation, loudness and length. In fact, physiological phonetics can be subdivided into articulatory and auditory (perceptual) phonetics.
Methods employed in physiological phonetics are experimental. They involve palatography, laryngoscopy, photography, cinematography, X-ray photography, X-ray cinematography, electromyography and various kinds of technique to study sound-perception.¹⁴
The methods of investigation used in phonetics vary, but there are three principal methods: (1) the direct observation method; (2) the linguistic method; (3) the experimental method.
1. The direct observation method comprises three important modes of phonetic analysis: by ear, by sight and by muscular sensation. Investigation by means of this method can be effective only if the persons employing it have been specially trained to observe the minutest movements of their own and other people’s speech organs, and to distinguish the slightest variations in sound quality. Every phonetician undergoes a special training, in the course of which his “phonetic ear”, and also his muscular sensation, are developed. By a “phonetic ear” is meant the capability to distinguish the exact quality of sounds pronounced in various sound sequences or in isolation, whether in one’s mother tongue or in a foreign language.
The muscular sensation is developed by constant and regular practice in articulating various sounds. A trained phonetician should be able to pronounce sounds of a given quality (e.g. an open back unrounded vowel, a trilled [r], a fronted [k], etc.), as well as to recognize, by means of his highly developed muscular sensation the exact nature of the articulation of any speech sound that he hears.
2. The aim of the linguistic method of investigation of any concrete phonetic phenomena, such as sound, stress, intonation or any other feature, is to determine in what way all of these phonetic features are used in a language to convey a certain meaning. An accurate phonetic analysis (made either by ear or by means of some instruments or apparatus) is of no use whatever unless it serves as a clue that will help to interpret the linguistic function of a phonetic phenomenon.
The linguistic method utilizes linguistic analysis in observing the actual facts of language and interpreting their social significance. It likewise makes use of linguistic experiment to determine, with the help of native informants, the functioning power of some concrete phonetic feature in a language or in a specific dialect which is being subjected to investigation.
The linguistic method, therefore, is of paramount importance.
3. The experimental method is based, as a rule, upon the use of special apparatus or instruments, such as the laryngoscope, the artificial palate, the kymograph, the magnetic tape recorder, the oscillograph, the intonograph.¹⁵
Special laboratory equipment, such as kymograph, spectrograph, oscillograph and intonograph help to obtain the necessary data about prosodic properties of speech sounds.
A kymograph records qualitative variations of sounds in the form of kymographic tracings.
A spectrograph produces sound spectrograms which help to list the frequencies of a given sound and its relative amplitudes.
An oscillograph records oscillograms of sound vibrations of any frequency. Automatically recorded oscillograms can be observed upon the screen.
An intonograph measures automatically: 1) the fundamental tone of the vocal cords, 2) the average sound pressure, 3) the duration or length of speech (pausation). The results are recorded: 1) visually upon the screen of the electron-ray tube, 2) on paper or film with the continuous reproduction by tape recorder, 3) in digits (while estimating the limits of the recorded area along the screen of the electron-ray tube).
Theoretical significance of phonetics is connected with the further development of the problem of the synchronic study and description of the phonetic system of a national language, the comparative analysis and description of different languages, the study of the correspondences between them, the diachronic description of successive changes in the phonetic system of a language or different languages.
Practical significance of phonetics is connected with teaching foreign languages. Practical phonetics is applied in methods of speech correction, teaching deaf-mutes, film dubbing, transliteration, radio and television.