Lecture 1 Phonetics as a Linguistic Science Plan

General Characteristics of Consonants

Thus, in accordance with the above-given grouping of sounds, the sounds of Eng­lish an be classified as follows:

There are few ways of classifying English consonants. According to V.A.Vassilyev primary importance should be given to the type of obstruction and the manner of produc­tion of noise. On this ground he distinguishes two large classes of consonants:

1. 
   occlusive, in the production of which a complete obstruction is formed;
   
2. 
   constrictive, in the production of which an incomplete obstruction is formed.
   

The phonological relevance of this feature could be exemplified in the following op­positions:

[ti] - [si] tea - sea (occlusive - constrictive)

[si:d] - [si:z] seed - seas (occlusive - constrictive)

[pul] - [ful] pull - full (occlusive —constrictive)

[bsut] - [vsut] boat - vote (occlusive —constrictive)

Each of the two classes is subdivided into noise consonants and sonorants. The division is based on the factor of prevailing either noise or tone component in the auditory characteristic of a sound. In their turn noise consonants are divided into plosive conso­nants (or stops) and affricates.

Another point of view is shared by M.A. Sokolova, K.P. Gintovt, G.S. Tikhonova, R.M. Tikhonova. They suggest that the first and basic principle of classification should be the degree of noise. Such consideration leads to dividing English consonants into two general kinds: noise consonants and sonorants.

Sonorants are sounds that differ greatly from all other consonants of the language. This is largely due to the fact that in their production the air passage between the two organs of speech is fairly wide, that is much wider than in the production of noise con­sonants. As a result, the auditory effect is tone, not noise. This peculiarity of articulation makes sonorants sound more like vowels than consonants. On this ground some of the British phoneticians refer some of these consonants to the class of semivowels, [r], [j], [w], for example. Acoustically sonorants are opposed to all other consonants because they are characterized by sharply defined formant structure and the total energy of most of them is very high. However, on functional grounds, according to their position in the syllable, [r], [j], [w] are included in the consonantal category, but from the point of view of their phonetic description they are more perfectly treated as vowel glides.

The place of articulation is another characteristic of English consonants which should be considered from the phonological point of view. The place of articulation is determined by the active organ of speech against the point of articulation. According to this principle the English consonants are classed into: labial, lingual, glottal. The class of labial consonants is subdivided into: a) bilabial; b) labio-dental.

The importance of this characteristic as phonologically relevant could be proved by means of a simple example. In the system of English consonants there could be found op­positions based on the active organ of speech and the place of obstruction.

Our next point should be made in connection, with another sound property, that is voiced — voiceless characteristic which depends on the work of the vocal cords. It has long been believed that from the articulatory point of view the distinction between such pairs of consonants as [p, b], [t, d], [k, g], [s, z], [f, v], [tf, ф] is based on the absence or presence of vibrations of the vocal cords, or on the absence or presence of voice or tone component. However, there is also energy difference. All voiced consonants are weak (lenis) and all voiceless consonants are strong (fortis).

According to the position of the soft palate consonants can be oral and nasal. There are relatively few consonantal types in English which require the lowered position of the soft palate. They are the nasal occlusive sonorants [m], [n] and [g]. They differ from oral plosives in that the soft palate is lowered allowing the escape of air into the nasal cavity. It is a well-known fact that no differences of meaning in English can be attributed to the presence or absence of nasalization. It is for this reason that it cannot be a phonologically relevant feature of English consonants, so it is an indispensable concomitant feature of English nasal consonants. Another problem of a phonological character in the English consonantal system is the problem of affricates, that is their phonological status and their number.

The question is: what kind of facts a phonological theory has to explain?

1. 
   Are the English [tf, ф] sounds monophonemic entities or biphonemic combinations (sequences, clusters)?
   
2. 
   If they are monophonemic, how many phonemes of the same kind exist in the system of English consonants, or, in other words, can such clusters as [tr, dr], [tf, ф] and be considered affricates?
   

Theoretically in each language there might be as many affricates as there are fricatives but in reality the number of them is limited and there are languages where there are none.