Differences in the Articulatory Bases of English and Russian Vowels.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 2395.

The position of the lips is not the same in forming English and Ukrainian labialized vowel phonemes. In forming English labialized sounds the lips are rounded but not protruded. In Ukrainian the rounding of the lips is accompanied by considerable protrusion.

The position of the lips is not the same in pronouncing English and Ukrainian non-labialized vowels either. In pronouncing English non-labialized vowels the lips are flat and not protruded. In making Ukrainian non-labialized vowels the lips move noticeably forward from the teeth.

Articulatory bases of English and Russian vowels are different.

1. The lips. In the production of Russian vowels the lips are considerably protruded and rounded: [о], [у]. In the English [ɒ], [ɔ:], [ʋ], [u:] such protrusion does not take place. In the neutral position, that is, when a person does not speak, the lips of the Russian people are lax and their corners lowered. The Englishmen have the so-called "flat-type" position of the lips, their lips are rather tense and the corners of the lips are raised, which resembles a smile.

2.The bulk of the tongue in the production of the Russian vowels occupies mostly the front part of the mouth cavity, in the articulation of the English vowels the bulk of the tongue occupies more positions than in the Russian vowel production.

3.The principle of the degree of tenseness and the character of the end in vowel classification is inseparably connected with the next principle.

4.The length of the vowels. Long vowels in English are considered to be tense. There are no long vowels which can be opposed phonetically to short vowels in the Russian language. Length in the Russian vowel system is an irrelevant feature.

5. The stability of articulation. There are monophthongs and diphthongs in the Russian vowel system, but there are no diphthongs, which exist in the English vowel system and are characterized by phonetic instability and phonetic unity.