Language is truly a wonderful gift to humanity. This perfect tool for communication has a complex device, is a system of language units. Traditionally, starting the study of the language, they turn to phonetics - a branch of the science of language, the subject of which is the sound of speech, and more specifically, the classification of vowels and consonants.
Phonetics
Phonetics is designed to study speech sounds. It occupies a special position, which is determined by the fact that the subject of its study is language units that have a material nature. Sounding speech is formed by human speech organs and air vibrations. The perception of sounding speech occurs by the human hearing organs.
Phonetics deals with the smallest unit of language - the sound of speech. There are an infinite number of such sounds. After all, everyone pronounces them in his own way. But we can distinguish among this variety such sounds that are pronounced in the same way. The method of education is the basis for the classification of sounds.
The main thing that phonetics studies is the classification of vowels and consonants. Articulatory and acoustic sounds of speech are either vowels and consonants. Vowels provide speech with melodiousness. Consonants - by noise.
When air flows from the lungs through the vocal cords and the oral cavity freely, sounds are formed that are called vowels. They differ only in overtones formed by the movements of the tongue and lips.
Consonant sounds are obtained when the air overcomes obstacles in its path. They consist of voice and noise or just noise. Different methods of education and overcoming these obstacles make it possible to distinguish consonant sounds from each other. The classification of vowels / consonants of the Russian language is based on these differences. We will consider its principles further.
Phonetics is a section of linguistics in which the articulation and acoustic features of speech sounds are studied. Articulating phonetics is studying the anatomical and physiological nature of sound and the mechanisms of its production. Acoustic phonetics explores sound as oscillatory movements, carried out by passing it through the vocal cords and the oral cavity. The subjects of studying acoustic phonetics are its height, strength, longitude and timbre.
Acoustic classification of vowels
Acquaintance with phonetics usually begins with the study of vowels. We will not deviate from traditions that are due to their greater significance. They are syllabic. The consonants are adjacent to the vowels.
What classification of vowels and consonants will be the focus of our study of vowels in the first place?
First, consider the acoustic features of vowels:
- all these sounds are produced using the tone of voice;
- characterized by stress and shocklessness, that is, they are weak and strong;
- weak vowels are short in sound; when pronouncing them, it is not necessary to strain the vocal cords;
- strong vowels are distinguished by longer pronunciation and vocal cord tension.
The tone of vowels is not a meaningful characteristic. It can convey only the speakerโs emotional state or grammatical meaning. For example, in an interrogative sentence, a vowel is pronounced in a higher tone in a word that carries the largest semantic load.
Weak and short sounds are called unstressed in Russian. Strong and long are percussion. Stress is not fixed in our language and most often performs a grammatical function: home (singular), home (plural). Sometimes the stress is meaningful: LOCK (construction), LOCK (device for locking the door).
Classification of vowels by articulatory features. Augmented / Uninitiated Vowels
The articulation classification of vowels is much broader than acoustic. In addition to the voice, they are formed by the lips, tongue and lower jaw. Sound is formed in a certain way and is characterized by the following features:
- the participation of lips in his education;
- the degree of language lift;
- horizontal movement of the tongue in the oral cavity.
Vowels can be formed by stretching the lips, then they are called rounded (labialized). If the lips are not involved in the formation of the vowel, then it is called unlabeled (non-labialized).
The rounded vowels are formed when the lips protrude forward, close to each other. Air passes through a narrow space formed by folded lips, the mouth cavity is lengthened. The degree of roundedness is different: the vowel [o] is smaller, and the vowel [y] is characterized by a higher degree of roundedness. The remaining vowels are unbroken, that is, non-labialized.
Vowels according to the degree of vertical movement of the tongue, i.e., uplift
By the way the tongue rises to the palate, vowel sounds are:
- Top lift. These are the sounds [and], [s], [y]. They form when the tongue rises as high as possible. These sounds are also called narrow.
- The middle rise is the sounds [e], [o]. With their formation, the language drops slightly lower than with the formation of the previous ones.
- The lower lift is the sound [a]. It is formed with the lowest possible lowered language. This sound is also called wide.
The lower the rise, the wider the mouth opens and the lower the jaw.
Vowels in the horizontal movement of the tongue
Vowels according to the horizontal movement of the tongue in the mouth are also divided into three groups:
- The front row is the sounds [and], [e]. When they are formed, the front of the tongue must be raised to the front of the palate.
- The middle row is the sounds [a], [s]. When they form, the middle part of the tongue rises to the middle part of the palate.
- The back row is [y], [o]. With their formation, the back of the tongue rises to the back of the palatine part.
In a generalized form, the classification of vowels is reflected in the vowel triangle. You can see it in the figure below.
Shades of vowels
The division according to the row and rise does not correspond in any way to all the wealth and variety of vowels. In general, the classification of vowels / consonants of the Russian language is much wider than given in the textbooks of the school curriculum. Both the first and second can have pronunciation options. It depends on the position in which they stand.
In addition to the sound [and] there is one that is pronounced with a slightly greater openness of the mouth and a raising of the tongue lower than [and]. Such a sound is called [and] open. In transcription is designated [and e ]. Example: forests [l'i e sa '].
Not so open is the sound [s e ]. For example, in the word "iron", which is pronounced [zh e l'e'zny].
In a weak position, in front of the stressed syllable, instead of the sounds [a], [o], an un-liberalized sound [/ \] is pronounced. According to the position of the tongue, it takes a place between [a] and [o], for example: grass [tr / \ va], field [p / \ l'a '].
There are also reduced vowels, they are also called weakened sounds. This is [b] and [b]. [b] - this is the sound of the middle row of the mid-low rise. [b] - this sound is the sound of the front row of the mid-low rise. Examples: steam locomotive [par / wo] s, water [vde'i e no'y]. The weakening of their pronunciation is due to the remoteness of these vowels from the stress.
Sounds [and e ], [s e ], [/ \], [b], [b] are found only in the position without stress.
The dependence of vowels on the softness of consonants
Changing the pronunciation of vowels depending on the soft (palatalized) consonants is considered phonetics. The classification of vowels depending on such a neighborhood can be represented as follows:
- Vowels ['a], [' e], ['o], [' y] advance slightly up and forward at the beginning of pronunciation.
- If these vowels are between soft consonants, changes in articulation are maintained throughout the entire pronunciation of the sound: son-in-law [z'a't], aunt [t'o't'a], tulle [t'u'l '].
Types of stressed vowels
There are six positions in our language, which are represented by different types of stressed vowels. All of them are presented in the table below.
Types of Unstressed Vowels
The classification of vowels of speech that are not under stress depends on the proximity or remoteness of the stress and the position or position in relation to it:
- Vowels [and], [s], [y], standing in the pre-stressed syllable, are slightly weakened in their articulation, but they do not fundamentally change.
- If [s] stands after hissing and hard in front of the soft, then it slightly moves up and forward at the end of the pronunciation of the sound, for example, in the word f [sห] vet.
- The sound [y] at the very beginning of the word, standing in front of the consonants soft and after firm back-lingual or hissing, also slightly moves up and forward at the end of the pronunciation. For example: [yห] tyug, w [yห] rit.
- The vowel [y], if he stands behind a soft consonant, before a solid consonant, moves up and forward at the beginning of the pronunciation. For example: [l'u] bov.
- If [y] is between soft consonants, he moves up and forward throughout the entire time of utterance: [l'หห] beat.
- Vowels [a], [o], if they are after the rear-lingual at the beginning of the word, solid and [c], are pronounced [ใ], this vowel is formed in the middle row, the rise is low-middle, it is non-liberalized.
- Vowels [a], [o], [e], if they are after soft consonants, [h], [j] are pronounced as [ie], which is characterized as a non-labialized vowel, middle between [u] and [e], according to it is anterior to a number of formations; it is medium upper in terms of elevation.
- The vowels [e], [o], which stand after [w], [w], are pronounced as [ye], it is the sound of the front row, it is no longer s and not eh, such a sound can be heard, for example, in the word " to live. "
- The vowel [a] after [w], [g] is pronounced [ใ]. This sound can be heard in the word "w [ใ] pour".
- [and], [s], [y] weaken their articulation in the third and second pre-stressed syllables, but they do not change their pronunciation character.
- The vowel [y], if it stands in the second and third pre-stressed syllables, before the palatalized consonant and behind solid sounds, does not differ from the sound pronounced in the pre-stressed syllable, this also applies to vowels [s] and [and].
- Vowels [a], [o], [e] in the third and second pre-stressed syllables, at the very beginning of the word, change according to the type of syllable facing the stress - in the place of stressed vowels [a], [o] is pronounced [ใ], and in place [e] is pronounced [ye].
Changes in vowels of stressed sounds in stressed syllables are reflected in the table below.
Conclusion
Summing up, we can conclude: the position of the language affects the classification of vowels. Moving in the mouth, it creates different conditions for the formation of sounds. They are perceived as different vowels.