Theoretical phonetics. Study guide for second year students. Борискина О.О - 6 стр.

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23. Stress-time nature of Spoken English
24. Phonostylistics. Types and styles of pronunciation in English.

Part 1 English Speech Sounds

Issues to Study and Discuss:
   1. Sound-symbol Correspondence in English. The Role of the Phonemic
      Alphabet.
   2. Articulatory Classification of English Consonants.
   3. Articulatory Classification of English Vowels.
   4. Problematic Sounds.

Tasks

Task1. What kind of knowledge would enable you to pronounce a word
properly?
Could you (as a non-native speaker of English) rely on English spelling
conventions to pronounce / read an unknown word properly?
How do you pronounce the “a” in “banana”? the “c” in “success”? the “th” in
“Theresa”, “Theseus” and “Thames”?
Would you dare to read the word “Ghoti”?; to transcribe it?
How would you spell [ʃ ]?
Look through the funny observations of Bill Bryson and give examples of
“untruly and unpredictable language” Ref. [ Bryson,1990, SRM, pp.49-54].
Would you call the English alphabet regular in the way it symbolizes the sounds
of the language? Back up your opinion.
Make a conclusion about sound-symbol correspondence system in English and
the role of a phonetic/ phonemic alphabet as a set of special symbols by means
of which sounds may be represented.

Task 2. Although the English version of the Roman alphabet is the primary
source of symbols for transcribing English consonant phonemes, this alphabet
has only twenty one consonant letters. What additions have been made and
why?

Task 3. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) first introduced by D. Jones
is probably familiar to you. However, it is not the only system used by
phoneticians. To familiarize yourself with some other commonly used phonetic
/phonemic alphabets, see Ref. [Celce-M.,1996, SRM, pp. 65-66].
What is your conclusion about the similarities and differences found in the
alphabets?
Dwell on the broad versus narrow transcription.