ASPIRATION AS A NON-PHONOLOGICAL FEATURE CAPABLE OF DIFFERENTIATING MEANINGS

Voiceless consonants: p, t, k tsh can be aspirated in certain positions.
When the tip of the tongue reaches the alveolar ridge to release t for instance in the word too, he vocal cords don't start to vibrate immediately, there's a short period when breath is flowing out of the mouth more or less unimpededly. That is aspiration.

For d in do on the other hand there is no aspiration since the vocal cords start vibrating either before the release or immediately.
In the words 'pop' 'tot' 'kick' the 1st plosive is quite heavier aspirated while the second before a pause is less so. In the words 'pepper' 'totter' 'kicker' the 2nd plosive in each word has little or no aspiration because it is followed by an unstressed vowel. And the 1st plosive is heavily aspirated. After /s/ none of them is aspirated. In other accents aspiration may be heavier than in RP. For example, in Cockney initial p, t, k are very heavily aspirated and /t/ in particular may be realized as an affricate. That is instead of the explosion. Bring followed by more or less unimpeded breath it's followed by a clear fricative segment like /s/
RP: 'tar' /tha:/ Cockney: /tsa:/

On the other hand in some accents of Lancashire and Scotland aspiration may be totally absent.

Presence or absent not phonological cab cap we can’t differenciate meaning – final position – и is not devoiced. In the initial position it is possible to make difference

10. RELIABLE FACTORS FOR SYLLABLE DIVISION
Q.10.

The matter of syllabification is concerned with a constituency of a syllable. It’s often being said that vowels ate typically central in the syllable and consonants are typically marginal. If we split a word like “consignment” into syllables, we no doubt arrive at con-sighn-ment, where indeed the vowels are in the center and the consonants surround them. The peak of the syllable formed by a vowel or a sonorant is called the crest and the consonants preceding the peak and following it are called slopes.

The most ancient theory of syllable division states that there are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels. The theory does not define the boundary of the syllable and doesn’t show the mechanism of syllable division. Even if it gives the constituency of a syllable, it doesn’t consider sonorants as syllable forming phonemes. For ex., l is often syllabic following consonant (middle); the word final “n” also forms a syllable by itself as the vowels do.

From the very start FDS states that in a language there are not only separate sounds, but also there is a stream of sounds. He mentions the fact that sounds are often treated in isolation, while a syllable is given to us in all the immediacy of speech. The study of sounds in isolation is mostly confined to the description of kinesthetic movements. When we have to do with sound combinations we treat speech sounds almost in terms of algebraic equations. As a sound combination involves a certain number of mutually interdependent mechanical and acoustic elements strongly associated with kinetic movements. Let’s consider the following: in isolation the sound p is characterized by a pressure of the lips – a complete closing of the mouth cavity and its opening. But in a sound combination one of its potential characteristics is realized.

Всегда необходимо, какое то приспособительное движение органов речи с тем, чтобы они приняли положение, необходимое для артикуляции следующей фонемы.

It happens to every phoneme constituting a word “polite” ›l‹. FDS calls this kind of closing implosion and the opening is called explosion. The boundary lies between every implosion and explosion.

В языке имеются не только звуки, но и поток произносимых звуков.

Ценность науки о звуках – это когда мы наталкиваемся на факт внутренней взаимозависимости. Дух или большего числа элементов, когда вариации одного элемента определяются вариациями другого элемента.

При изучении изолированных звуков достаточно определить положение органов артикуляции. При произнесении сочетания 2х звуков свобода связывать между собою фонологические типы ограничена возможностью связывать артикуляторные движения.

Чтобы понимать, что происходит внутри звукосочетаний, звукосочетания должны рассматриваться как алгебраические уравнения.

C‹l‹o›ck k is occlusive, l is constrictive. There is more opening. There is no sign of boundary, so there is only one syllable.

B‹i›b‹le

‹ - opening (explosion)

› - closing (implosion)

11.The treatment of Intonation Structure in Contour Blocks

Generally speaking, intonation helps to determine meaning, gives clues about the attitude of the speaker and how he feels about what he is saying. Intonation indicates what is shared knowledge between the speaker and the listener and what is new information.

There are different approaches to intonation. It can be treated as one or many things.

According to the American school of phoneticians, intonation is pitch. The intonation refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch, when we’re speaking. Pitch depends on the rate of vibrations of the vocal cords. The slower the rate is, the lower the pitch is; the higher the rate is, the higher the pitch is. Differences of pitch are used in languages to make differences of meaning. Pitch can be extrahigh, high, mid and low. It can be called a vertical approach to intonation.

Pitch creates tone. There are 4 main tones that have different logical meaning and possess different emotional expression.

Within the speech of a single person contrasts in pitch are significant. Let’s consider several examples.

• “I don’t know”:1) low fall – grim, 2) high fall – categoric
• “Not once”: 1) low fall – “Never”, 2) fall-rise – “Many times”
• “You’ll fall”: 1) fall-rise – warning (Ведь упадешь!), 2) fall – statement (Ты точно упадешь!)
• “No”: 1) answer to “Do you beat your wife?” with rise-fall – objection, 2) reaction to “I don’t like oranges” with fall-rise – implication is expressed (А что с тобой?)

Pitch may perform exactly the same demarcative function (ф-ция разграничения) as a pause. The difference between “I don’t know” and “I don’t, no” lies in the pitch that operates on whole utterances. Or: “My brother – who’s abroad – has sent me a letter” (I have only one brother) and “My brother who’s abroad - has sent me a letter” (I have many brothers).

So pitch phenomena are very complex. There can be numerous combinations of falls and rises and, consequently, the attitudes and emotions they express.

According to the British school of phonetics, intonation is a contour. A contour represents a tone-group consisting structurally of 4 basic parts. It’s a horizontal approach to intonation.

A contour contains the pre-head, the head, the nucleus and the tail.

Nucleus is the last stressed syllable of the contour. It is the syllable within which the tone changes (rises or falls):Don't you know it?

Head is the first fully stressed syllable: Whata difference from this time last week!

The stretch lying between the head and the nucleus is called body.

The syllables before the first stressed syllable are called pre-head: But do you 'really understand it?

Tail consists of the unstressed or weakly stressed syllables after the nucleus up to a pause: But can I ↓believe you when you say that?

The meaning of a contour may change with a new choice of nucleus tone and a new placement of the pre-head, head and tail within the voice range. The number of possible combinations is more than 100. But not all of them are equally important. That’s why, the number may be reduced to fewer combinations that are important. Thus Prof. O’Connor gives only 10 important tone-groups.

According to the Russian school of phonetics, intonation is many things. It’s a complex unity of several phonetic items. Here is a general scheme:

INTONATION

RHYTHM + SPEECH + TEMPO + TIMBER [tæmbә]

MELODY

STRESS

LOUDNESS TONE DURATION

PROLONGATION

AMPLITUDE OF VIBRATIONS PITCH PAUSATION

RESPIRATION RATE OF VIBRATIONS

So by intonation Russian phoneticians usually understand speech melody, pitch, stress, tone, loudness, rhythm etc. On the surface the approach looks heterogeneous, but beneath the surface there are more distinct interconnections.

Rhythm is defined as a regular co-occurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables. The definition shows that rhythm is closely connected with stress. Stress is connected with loudness (the stressed syllable is pronounced louder than others). Loudness depends upon the amplitude of vibrations (the greater the amplitude – the louder the sound). And the amplitude of vibrations in its turn depends upon the force of exhalation - that is respiration.

Speech melody is a contour consisting of different tones. A tone is either no change in pitch (level tone) or a change in pitch (fall, rise…). Pitch is based upon the rate of vibrations(see above).

Tempo is the rate of an utterance (it can normal, fast be slow). Tempo of an utterance influences the durationof the syllables. The more durable the utterance is, the more prolonged are the sounds and the syllables (prolongation). There can never be constant prolongation of sounds or syllables, that’s why there occur some pauses (pausation). The number of pauses influences the tempo of the utterance.

Timber is the quality of a musical sound, a special colouring of the speaker’s voice. It’s used to express various emotions and moods.

Conclusion. In the treatment of intonation as one thing (pitch or contour) phoneticians just single out the most important phonetic item and view it as the cause of possible semantic modifications. As to Russian phoneticians, they consider intonation to be a more complicated thing. So the attitudes, emotions and logic conveyed by an utterance are dependent on a number of intonation components.

13. SPEECH MELODY AS THE BASIC MEANINGFUL UNIT OF INTONATION
Q.13.

Speech melody is represented graphically as a contour which consists of tones. A tone is either no change in pitch (a level tone) or a change in pitch (from high to low, from low to high). Pitch depends on the rate of vibrations.

Differences in the rate of vibration correspond to differences in pitch. The slower the rate, the lowers the pitch, and the higher the rate, the higher the pitch. The rate of 70 vibrations per second corresponds to a very low note in a male voice and 1 thousand per secondgives a high note in a female voice. The VC are typically longer and heavier in the adult male than in female, and therefore they vibrate at lower rates. Though obviously there are variations of range for both males and females. The musculature of the VC is something that can be made longer or shorter and also thicker or thinner. Length and thickness as with harp strings produce slower vibrations and lower pitches; shortness and thinness produce faster vibrations and higher pitches. Our control of rate of vibration and therefore of pitch is very sensitive and we make use of it very extensively in language. A brief example of the kind of use is the difference between
a)'not vonce' meaning'never' said as a categorical reply to the question 'have you met her?' and
b) 'not v once' meaning 'many times'.
In a) the vocal cords vibration changes from rapid to slow and the pitch falls whereas in b) the reverse takes place.
Tone Logical Meaning Emotional Expression
\/ Implication Hint
/\ Antithesis, contrast, opposition Objection, great interest, rage
\ Finality Sadness, indifference, categoric attitude
/ Lack of Finality Sympathy, warmth, doubt, hesitation, suprise

The choice of rising or falling pitch marks a difference of meaning . E.g. 'he won't pay for anything'
a) HE WON'T PAY FOR \ ANYTHING (means he'll pay for nothing which case it has a fall on "anything' (он ни за что не хочет платить)
b) HE WON'T PAY FOR \/ ANYTHING (means 'he won't pay for rubbish' with a fall rise on 'anything' (он за хлам платить не собирается)

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