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Degree of noise

Consonants

Most phoneticians agree that relevant features of English consonants are:

1. degree of noise;

2. place of articulation;

3. manner of articulation.

But which of them has primary importance?

According to Васильев’s point of view, this is

Manner of articulation:

1. Occlusive

1.1. noise

1.1.1. plosives [b],[d],[g]; [p],[t],[k]

1.1.2. affricates [ʤ], [ʧ]

1.2. sonorants [m], [n], [ŋ]

2. Constrictive

2.1. noise [f],[v],[s],[z],[θ],[ð],[ʃ],[ʒ],[h]

2.2. sonorants

2.2.1. lateral [l]

2.2.2. medial [w],[r],[j] (й)

2.2.3.

Place of articulation:

1. Labial

1.1. bilabial [p],[b], [m], [w]

1.2. labio-dental [f], [v]

2. Lingual

2.1. forelingual

2.1.1. interdental [θ],[ð]

2.1.2. alveolar [t],[d],[s],[z],[n],[l]

2.1.3. post-alveolar [r]

2.1.4. palate-alveolar [ʃ],[ʒ], [ʤ], [ʧ]

2.2. medialingual [j]

2.3. backlingual [k],[g],[ŋ]

3. Glottal [h]

4.

According to Соколова’s point of view, this is

Degree of noise:

1. Noise

1.1. occlusive [p],[b],[t],[d],[k],[g]

1.2. constrictive [f],[v],[s],[z], [θ],[ð],[ʃ],[ʒ],[h]

1.3. occlusive-constrictive [ʤ], [ʧ]

2. Sonorants

2.1. occlusive [m],[n], [ŋ]

2.2. constrictive

2.2.1. medial [w],[r],[j]

2.2.2. lateral [l]

The problem of affricates

Some phoneticians consider affricates a separate class. That is, occlusive-constrictive consonants which are produced with a complete obstruction which is slowly released, and the air escapes from the mouth with friction. So, on the articulatory level we can’t refer affricates either to occlusive or to constrictive consonants, because they are known to consist both of the closure and the narrowing. So, the two English affricates, [ʧ] and [ʤ] form a quite independent group of occlusive-constrictive consonants.

It should also be mentioned that some English phoneticians, Jones and Gimson, enlarge the list of affricates with [ts], [dz], [tr], [dr]. From the functional point of view they can’t be considered one phoneme, because the morpheme boundary can pass within them. That is impossible with [ʧ] and [ʤ], e.g.:

Pit wrote a letter. [pɪ t rəut ]

In spite of the articulatory and acoustic indivisibility we should regard these complexes as bi-phonemic.

The problem of sonorants

Sonorants have always caused a lot of arguments among phoneticians. David Crystal defines sonorants as vowel-like consonants, that can be sounded continuously without any friction. It goes without saying that sonorants differ from all other consonants of the language. That is the reason why some phoneticians refer sonorants [r], [w], [j] to the special class of semi-vowels. However, most Russian phoneticians concider sonorants to belong to consonants. That can be easily proved with the help of phonological oppositions: [ b en – m en], [ l eɪk - s eɪk].

Degree of noise

Noise consonsants:

1. Fortis – all voiceless, [p], [k], [t]

2. Lenis – all voiced, [b], [g], [d]

[p] – 1) manner of articulation: occlusive;

2) place: bilabial;

3) noise: fortis

[ð] – 1) manner: constrictive;

2) place: interdental;

3) noise: lenis

Vowels

As you know, vowels have two main characteristics. The first is vowel length and the second is vowel quality. Which of this characteristics is distinctive?

It is quality. Actually this problem has for a long time been a point of disagreement among phoneticians. Most Russian phoneticians think the difference in quality is most important. They claim that a feature can be systematic if it doesn’t depend on the context. The length of English vowels depend on a lot of factors, the first being the phonetic context.

[iː] – 1. be [biː] – the longest

2. beed [biːd] – a bit shorter

3. beat [biːt] – much shorter

Vowel quality is distinctive, regardless of the position of the vowel. Vowel length is dependent on the phonetic context, in particular on the following consonant. It is the so-called “positional length”. Vowels are the longest in the open syllable. Slightly shorter before a sonorant or a voiceless lenis consonant, and they are the shortest before voiceless fortis consonant.

The components of vowel quality: