Theoretical phonetics. Study guide for second year students. Борискина О.О - 25 стр.

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Part 2 The Functional Aspect of Speech Sounds

Issues to Study and Discuss:

     1. Phoneme and Allophones:
        1.1 Definition of the phoneme and its functions.
        1.2 Types of allophones.
        1.3 Relevant and irrelevant features of the phoneme.
     2. Main Trends in Phoneme Theory.
     3. Methods of Phonological Analysis.

Tasks

Task1. Study the definitions of the phoneme and the allophone. Which of them
have you found user-friendly? scientifically relevant? Ref. [Соколова, 2004, pp.
41-42; Соколова, 2003, 22-23].
Task 2. Fill in the gaps and decide what function of the phoneme you consider
to be primary (of bigger, of minor importance)? Ref. [Соколова, 2004, pp. 41-
43].
        Firstly, the phoneme is a functional unit. The opposition of phonemes in
the same phonetic environment ______________________________________,
e.g. ban – man, fill – feel, try – dry. Sometimes the opposition of ____________
serves to distinguish ________________________________________, e.g. He
was heard badly. – He was hurt badly. Thus we may say that the phoneme can
fulfil ______________ function.
        Secondly, the phoneme is material, ____________ and ____________.
That means it is realized in speech in the material form of _________. The
phonemes __________ the material form of morphemes, so this function may be
called ___________.
        Thirdly, the phoneme performs ______________ function, because the
use of the right allophones and other phonetic units facilitates normal
___________ for the hearers.

Task 3. Compare the words spit and pit. How would you transcribe the sounds
represented by the letter p? What makes you pronounce these sounds
differently? Are they different phonemes? Are these sounds related? If you
switched the sounds, would the meaning of the words change?

Task 4. Aspirated VS. Not-aspirated;       Voiced VS. Devoiced
What does the occurrence of aspiration with English voiceless stop consonants
[p, t, k] depend on? Compare these phonemes with the Russian phonemes [п, т,
к].
What allophones of the phonemes [p], [t], [k] are used in the following words:
port, post, top, tone, dark, took, peal, test, stake, kin, skate, repeal, akin, spot,
detest, opal, appall, tower, cake, opus, oppose, record, recόrd, cave, gave,