- •Theoretical english phonetics phonic substance of language and ways of its analysis and description
- •1. Language use in oral verbal communication
- •2. Pronunciation as a way of materializing of oral form of language
- •3. Phonic structure of language and its components
- •4. Units of language vs. Speech
- •5. Phonetics as a science and its branches. Phonetics and phonology
- •Pronunciation varieties/accents of english
- •1. Defining an accent
- •2. Major accents of english
- •1) Southern English or rp/bbc English;
- •2) General American/GenAm or Network English.
- •3. Social shapes of english
- •4. Pronunciation norm and its codification
- •5. Specialist dictionaries of english pronunciation
- •Articulatory and functional aspects of speech sounds
- •1. Aspects of speech sounds
- •2. Speech sounds as articulatory units and the problem of their classification
- •The sounds of English
- •3. The articulatory classification of the english vowels
- •4. The articulatory classification of the english consonants
- •5. Vowel and consonant adjustments in connected speech: coarticulatory phenomena
- •Basic rules of syllabification in english
- •Guidelines for syllabification of syllabic consonants
- •Division into syllables in writing
- •Word stress
- •1. The nature of english word stress
- •2. Types of english word stress
- •3. English word stress functions
- •4. Word accentual paterns. Guidelines to english word stress placement
- •Lexical stress of three-syllable simple words
- •Lexical stress of words of four or more syllables
- •Words with prefixes
- •References
5. Specialist dictionaries of english pronunciation
The most authoritative specialist dictionaries of English pronunciation which cover both of the two of the most prestigious accents of English—contemporary RP/BBC English and GenAM - are The English Pronouncing Dictionary (EPD) and The Longman English Pronunciation Dictionary (LPD).
The EPD has been in use for more than 80 years. It was originally compiled by Prof. Daniel Jones and first published in 1917. Later the EPD was edited and extensively revised by Prof. Alfred Charles Gimson - the 13th edition published in 1967.
The first 14 editions of the EPD covered only British English. The 15th edition (1997), published by Cambridge University Press and edited by Peter Roach, James Hartman and Jane Setter, introduced American pronunciation. American pronunciations in this dictionary are separated from the British transcriptions.
The most recent edition of the EPD is the 16th which was first published in 2003 under the title The Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary (CEPD) (For the CEPD review see: http://www.antimoon.com.cepd-review.htmy CEPD provides information on the current pronunciation of approximately 80,000 English words and phrases.
The LPD is compiled by John C. Wells and was first published in 1995. The author, Professor John Wells, holds the Chair of Phonetics in the University of London, a position previously occupied by A. C. Gimson and, before him, Daniel Jones.
The second (currently the latest) impression of the LPD is of 2000. It includes 135,000 pronunciations, giving full coverage of both British and American English. The dictionary shows recommended pronunciations - main variants - in blue for each word, as well as all existing alternative pronunciations.
Both The CEPD (2003) and The LPD (2000) are the most up-to-date, comprehensive, and authoritative sources of reference for the pronunciation of contemporary English which EFL teachers and learners can rely on.
Articulatory and functional aspects of speech sounds
1. Aspects of speech sounds
Speech sounds are 1) produced by man’s organs of speech, 2) travel in sound waves, and 3) are perceived by man’s hearing mechanism as 4) sounds of language functioning as units capable of differentiating meanings of the words.
It will be possible to distinguish the following four aspects: 1) articulatory 2) acoustic 3) auditory 4) functional (linguistic, social) of speech sounds.
The articulatory/sound production aspect: from the articulatory point of view every speech sound is a complex of definite coordinated and differentiated movements and positions of speech organs. The movements and positions necessary for the production of a speech sound constitute its articulation.
The acoustic aspect: every speech sound is a complex of acoustic effects and has its physical properties- it is a physical phenomenon, a kind of moving matter and energy. The physical (acoustic) properties of speech sounds consist of: 1) frequency, 2) spectrum, 3) intensity, 4) duration.
The auditory/sound-perception aspect involves the mechanism of hearing. It is a kind of psychological mechanism which (i) reacts to the physical properties of speech sounds, (ii) selecting from a great amount of information only the one which is linguistically relevant.
The functional/linguistic/social aspect is called so because of the role the sounds of language play in its functioning as medium of human communication.