Read the following extracts from Russian and foreign phoneticians and dwell on the difference in the points of view on the problem.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 476.

Further Theoretical Background

1. Consonant and Vowel Charts

We may regard them [consonant and vowel symbols] as shorthand descriptions of the articulations involved. Thus [p] is an abbreviation for ‘voiceless bilabial stop' and [1] is equivalent to ‘voiced alveolar lateral approximant'. The consonant symbols can then be arranged in the form of a chart as in Figure 1. The places of articulation are shown across the top of the chart, starting from the most forward articulation (bilabial) and going toward those sounds made in the back of the mouth (velar). The manners of articulation are shown on the vertical axis of the chart. By convention, the voiced-voiceless distinction is shown by putting the voiceless symbols to the left of the voiced symbols. The symbol [w] is shown in two places in the consonant chart in Figure 1. This is because it is articulated with both a narrowing of the lip aperture, which makes it bilabial, and a raising of the back of the tongue toward the soft palate, which makes it velar. The symbol [h] does not appear anywhere on the chart. In English, [h] acts like a consonant, but from an articulatory point of view it is simply the voiceless counterpart of the following vowel. It does not have a specific place of articulation, and its manner of articulation is the same as that of a vowel, only the state of the glottis is different.