Course Contents "Theory of English Phonetics"
MODULE 1. MAJOR NATIONAL VARIANTS OF STANDARD ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION[1]
Theme 1. PHONIC SUBSTANCE OF LANGUAGE AND WAYS OF ITS ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION
1.1 Language use in oral verbal communication.
1.2. Pronunciation as a way of materializing of oral form of language.
1.3. Phonic structure of language and its components:
1.3.1. The system of sounds. 1.3.2. The syllabic structure. 1.3.3. Word/lexical stress. 1.3.4. Intonation.
1.4. Units of language vs. speech.
1.5. Phonetics as a science and its branches. Phonetics and phonology.
1.6. Pedagogical phonetics: theories of teaching pronunciation in current TEFL/ TESOL practices.
Theme 2.PRONUNCIATION VARIETIES/ACCENTS OF ENGLISH
2.1. Defining an accent.
2.2. Major accents of English.
2.3. Social shapes of English.
2.4. The problem of Standard English and models of English for intercultural communication.
2.5.Pronunciation norm and its codification.
2.6.Specialist dictionaries of English pronunciation.
2.7.Variation in standard/literary pronunciation.
Theme 3. MAJOR ACCENTS IN THE UK
3.1. Phonological and phonetic dimensions for an accent description.
3.2 RP/BBC English as the British national standard of pronunciation:
3.2.1.Socio-historical survey of RP/BBC English.
3.2.2 Phonological and phonetic dimensions of RP/BBC English.
3.3. Cockney as an example of a broad accent of English.
3.4. Estuary English.
3.5. Chief differences between RP and regional accents of British English.
Theme 4.GENERAL AMERICAN AS THE AMERICAN ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION STANDARD
4.1. Contemporary sociolinguistic situation in the USA.
4.2. General American phonological and phonetic description/discrimination:
4.2.1. Segmental differences:a) systemic; b) structural; c) selectional; d) realizational.
4.2.2. Prosodic differences: a) word-stress patterns distribution; b) differences in sentence/utterance-level stress c) intonation distictions.
4.2.3. Voice quality distinctions.
4.3. Major US regional accents.
Theme 5. ACCENTS OF ENGLISH OUTSIDE UK AND USA
5.1. Australian English pronunciation.
5.1.1. Sociolinguistic situation and distinctive features of Australian English (AuE).
5.1.2. Phonological and phonetic distinctions of AuE.
5.2. Canadian English pronunciation(CnE).
5.2.1.Sociolinguistic situation and distinctive features of CnE.
5.2.2.Phonological and phonetic distinctions of CnE.
5.3. New Zealand English pronunciation (NZ English).
5.3.1. Sociolinguistic situation and distinctive features of NZ English.
5.3.2. Phonological and phonetic distinctions of NZ English.
5.4. New Englishes.
5.5. Ukrainian English.
MODULE 2. SOUND STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH
Theme 6. ARTICULATORY AND FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF SPEECH SOUNDS
6.1. Aspects of speech sounds.
6.2. Speech sounds as articulatory units and the problem of their classification.
6.3. The articulatory classification of the English vowels.
6.5. The functional aspect of speech sounds. The phoneme theory as the basis of phonology.
6.6. Three aspects and three functions of the phoneme.
6.7. Vowel and consonant adjustments in connected speech: coarticulatory phenomena.
Theme 7. THE SYLLABLE
7.1. The syllable as an integral part of the word. Types of syllables in English.
7.2. The syllable formation theories.
7.3. Basic rules of syllabification in English.
7.4. Division into syllables in writing.
Theme 8. WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH
8.1. The nature of English word stress.
8.2. Types of English word stress.
8.3. Word stress tendencies.
8.4. Word stress functions.
8.5. Word stress patterns. Guidelines in the English word stress placement.
8.6.Variation in word stress.
Theme 9. THE PROSODIC SYSTEM OF ENGLISH
9.1. A general notion of prosody.
9.2. Intonation as a complex unity of prosodic features.
9.3. The pitch component of intonation.
9.4. The force component of intonation.
9.5 The temporal component of Intonation.
9.6. The main functions of intonation.
9.7. Semantic functions of English nuclear tones.
