The place of noise.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 582.

The position of the soft palate.

Force of articulation.

The position of the soft palate.

The work of vocal cords.

The manner of the production of noise (the way of forming obstruction).

The active organs of speech which form the obstruction (consequently the place of obstruction).

Summarizing what have been described, the majority of Russian and Ukrainian specialists in English phonetics consider relevant the following articulatory features:

1) type of obstruction;

2) place of obstruction and the active organ of speech;

Consonants are made with air stream that meets an obstruction in the mouth or nasal cavities. That is why in the production of consonant sounds there is a certain degree of noise.

Consonants are the bones of a word and the marginal elements of a syllable, the give them their basic shape.

The marginal elements of a syllable are 24 in number and they are classified according to the following principles:

the degree of noise;

the manner of articulation;

the place of articulation;

According to the degree of noise English (and Russian) consonants are divided into two big classes: noise consonants and sonorants.In the production of noise consonants there is a noise component characteristic. Noise consonants vary: 1) in the work of the special vocal cords; 2) in the degree of force of articulation.

According to the work of the vocal cords they may be voiceless and voiced. When the vocal cords are brought together and vibrate we hear voice and consonants are voiced. If the vocal cords are apart and do not vibrate we hear only noise and consonants are voiceless. The degree of noise may vary because of the force of articulation. Strongnoise consonants are produced with more muscular energy and stronger breath effort. Weaknoise consonants are produced with a relatively weak breath effort.

English phoneticians call the weak or voiced consonants lenis, and the strong or voiceless consonants fortis.

Sonorants (or sonorous consonants)are made with tone prevailing over noise because of a rather wide air passage.