- •The aims of studying the history of the English language. Synchronic and diachronic approaches to studying the language. The concept of ‘language change’.
- •Proto-Indo-European language and comparative linguistics.
- •Proto-Germanic language, its development from Proto-Indo-European.
- •Modern Germanic languages.
- •The earliest descriptions of the Germans, the ancient tribes that spoke Germanic languages.
- •Eastern Germanic, Western Germanic and Northern Germanic groups of languages.
- •The runic alphabet. Old English alphabet and pronunciation.
- •Common phonetic characteristics of the Germanic languages.
- •Grammar characteristics common to the Germanic languages.
- •Changes in the system of vowels in the Germanic languages.
- •Vocabulary
- •Periodisation in the history of the English language, Old English written records.
- •The historical background of Old English.
- •Phonetic processes in Old English (the system of vowels).
- •Independent changes. Development of monophthongs
- •Phonetic processes in Old English (the system of consonants).
- •Velar consonants in Early Old English. Growth of New Phonemes
- •Old English dialects.
- •The nominal system of Old English.
- •The vocabulary and word-building means in Old English.
- •Old English syntax.
- •The verbal system in Old English (grammatical categories).
- •The verbal system in Old English (morphological classification).
- •Economic and social conditions in the 11-12th centuries.
- •The Scandinavian invasions, the Norman Conquest & the way they influenced English.
- •Changes in the alphabet and spelling in Middle English. Middle English written records.
- •Middle English dialects. The London dialect.
- •Phonetic processes in Middle English (the system of vowels).
- •Phonetic processes in Middle English (system of consonants).
- •Changes in the categories of the noun in Middle English.
- •Lecture 2. The phonetical system of the English Language.
- •1. Classification of the English speech sounds.
- •2. The Role of Sound Phenomena in Communication.
- •3. The Syllable as a Phonetic and Phonological Unit.
- •4. Intonation and Prosody.
- •Rhythm and Speech Melody.
- •Problems of phonostylistics.
- •Phonostylistic Characteristics at the Level of Prosodic Features.
- •Timbre.
- •Delimitation.
- •Phonostylistic Characteristics of Conversational Style, Publicistic Style
- •Types of English Pronunciation.
- •American English Pronunciation.
- •Glossary of phonetic terms
- •Lectures 3, 4, 5. The main outline of the Lexicology of the English Language.
- •1. General Problems of the Theory of the Word. The Definition of the Word.
- •The Structure of the Word. Types of Morphemes and their Specific Features.
- •3. Affixation.
- •4. Conversion
- •5. Composition.
- •6. Shortening.
- •7. Back Formation.
- •8. Blending.
- •9. Sound Interchange.
- •10. Stress Interchange.
- •11. Sound Imitation.
- •1. Semasiology as a Branch of Linguistics.
- •2. The Word and its Meaning.
- •Meaning and Referent
- •Functional Approach to Meaning
- •3. Types Of Meaning.
- •Grammatical Meaning
- •Lexical Meaning
- •4. Polysemy of Words.
- •5. The Main Semantic Processes.
- •Synonyms.
- •2. Antonyms.
- •Homonyms.
- •1. Free and Non-Free Word Combinations.
- •2. Classifications of Phraseological Units.
- •3. Synonyms in Phraseology.
- •4. Antonyms in Phraseology.
- •5. Proverbs, Sayings.
- •1. The Native Element and Borrowed Words.
- •3. Criteria of Borrowings in English.
- •4. The Celtic Element in the English Vocabulary.
- •5. The Classical Element in the English Language.
- •8. Various Other Elements in the English Vocabulary.
- •9. False Etymology.
- •10. Types of Borrowings.
- •Ways of Classifying the Vocabulary.
- •Special Literary Vocabulary.
- •3. Special Colloquial Vocabulary.
- •1. The identifying function
- •2. The definitizing function
- •3. The individualizing function
- •Lectures 8, 9. Stylistics of the English Language.
- •3. Stylistic functions of the words having a lexico-stylistic paradigm.
- •3.1. Stylistic functions of literary (high-flown) words.
- •4. Stylistic functions of words having no lexico-stylistic paradigm.
- •5. Stylistic functions of phraseology.
- •2. Stylistic morphology of the english language.
- •2.1. Sd based on the use of nouns.
- •2.2. Sd based on the use of articles.
- •2.3. Sd based on the use of adjectives.
- •2.4. Sd based on the use of pronouns.
- •2.5. Sd based on the use of adverbs.
- •Alliteration;
- •Assonance;
- •Onomatopoeia.
- •2.6. Sd based on the use of verbs.
- •1. Phonetic means of stylistics.
- •2. Expressive means of english syntax.
- •3. Syntactical stylistic devices.
- •3. Figures of qualification.
- •3. Figures of opposition.
Rhythm and Speech Melody.
Pitch levels, pitch ranges, rate of pitch movement.
The terminal tone of an utterance.
The structure of an intonation group.
Rhythm.
The pitch level of the utterance (or the intonation group) is determined by the pitch of its highest-pitched syllable. It shows the degree of semantic importance in comparison with any other utterance, and also conveys the speaker’s attitudes and emotions. In unemphatic speech most phoneticians distinguish three pitch levels: low, mid and high.
The pitch range of an utterance is the interval between its highest-pitched syllable and its lowest-pitched syllable. According to circumstances the speaker changes his voice range. It may be widened and narrowed to express emphasis or the speaker’s attitudes and emotions.
The rate of pitch variations may be different depending on the time during which these variations take place, and on the range of the variations. Differences in the rate of pitch variations are semantically important. When the rate of the fall is fast, the falling tone sounds more categoric and definite than when the rate of the fall is slow.
The most important from the functional point of view is the terminal tone of an utterance. The peculiarity of the terminal tone in English is that it may occur not only on the “nucleus” but may be extended to the tail. The pitch of the tail depends on the kind of a terminal tone. It conveys certain meanings of its own which make the whole utterance more concrete and precise. The meanings of the falling tone are definiteness, incompleteness, non-finality, uncertainty, tentativeness. The falling-rising tone carries the meaning of reservation, implication, contrast.
The elements of the intonation group are the prehead, the head, the nucleus and the tail. The prehead is normally pronounced on the low or mid pitch level. The head is viewed as one melodic shape, one part of the pitch contour of the utterance. It acts as a unit independent of the nucleus. The functions of the head are to express relations between its constituent units. The fallowing types of head are distinguished: the descending head, the level head, the ascending head. The functional analysis of speech melody shows that the leading role in differentiating communicative types of utterances belongs to the terminal tone. That is why the communicative-distinctive function of speech melody is widely recognized. The distinctive function of intonation also manifests itself in other particular functions, e.g. the modal-stylistic (attitudinal) function.
Rhythm has been defined as regularity or periodicity in the occurrence of a particular phenomenon in an utterance. In some languages the recurring phenomena are stressed, in others – syllables. English is considered to be mostly a language with stressed-timed rhythm. The stressed syllable is the nucleus of the rhythmic unit. There are as many rhythmic units in an utterance as there are stressed syllables in it. The rhythmic group is also characterized by a pitch pattern and duration pattern. These prosodic characteristics make it possible to perceive the rhythmic unit as an actual discrete unit of prosody.