1. The direction of the air stream released from the lungs.
2. Three different states of the vocal cords.
3. The position of the soft palate which influences the direction of the air stream.
4. The parts of the palate.
5. The parts of the tongue.
6. The position of the movable organs of the mouth, i.e. the shape of the lips and tongue.
7. The active and passive organs of speech and their role in the sound formation.
Test 2
1. Consider the following questions and items in written form:
1. Suppose that a fellow-student pronounces the Russian [и] instead of the English [i]. Keeping in mind what you know about the articulation of the English vowel tell him what to do to eliminate the error. Do the same if you hear the Russian [ы] instead of the English [i].
2. Is the vowel [i] longer in lit or in lid?
3. Suppose a fellow-student pronounces the Russian [э] instead of the English [e]. What would you tell him to do in order to correct the sound?
4. What advice would you give a fellow-student who does not make the vowels [i] and [e] checked and short enough in the words sitter and letter?
5. We call [i] close and [æ] open. Can you explain why?
6. Suppose your fellow-student pronounces the Russian [э] instead of the English [æ]. Is it a phonetic or a phonological mistake? Give him advice how to change the Russian [э] for the English [æ].
7. How would you help your fellow-student if he says set instead of sat? Is this mistake phonetic or phonological?
8. Give examples where [æ] is the longest.
9. What articulatory features of the vowel sounds differentiate the meaning of the words sit — set — sat?
10. We call [æ] front and [α:] back. Can you explain why?
11. Suppose a fellow-student pronounces the Russian [a] instead of the English [α:]. Is it a phonetic or a phonological mistake? Keeping in mind what you know about the English vowel [α:] explain how to change the articulation.
12. Give examples to illustrate that [a:] is not equally long in different phonetic contexts.
13. If [α:] is too long and not checked in the word cart the mistake is called phonetic. Can you explain why?
14. What articulation exercises would you recommend for the vowel [α:]?
15. What articulation exercises would you recommend for the English vowel [Ŋ]?
16. Suppose your fellow-student pronounces the Russian [o] instead of the English [Ŋ]. Is it a phonetic or a phonological mistake? What would you tell him to do with the tongue, the jaws and the lips in order to change [o] to [Ŋ]?
17. We call [Ŋ] open and [i] close. Can you explain why?
18. Is [Ŋ] checked and shorter in nod or in not?
19. What articulation exercises would you recommend for [o:]?
20. What mistakes would your fellow-student probably make in the pronunciation of the vowel [o:]?
21. What would you recommend a Russian learner of English if he substitutes the English [o:] by the Russian [o]? Is his mistake phonetic or phonological?
22. What advice regarding length would you give a fellow-student who is to pronounce the following word sequence: bore — board — bought?
23. If the word port sounds as [p Ŋ t], is the mistake phonetic or phonological?
24. What articulatory features of the vowel differentiate the words port and pot?
25. Why is the vowel [ν] called back-advanced?
26. What articulation exercises would you recommend for [ν]?
27. What advice regarding lip position and tongue position would you give your fellow-student who pronounces the Russian [y] instead of the English [ν]?
Test 3
1. Consider the following questions and items in written form:
1. What is a consonant sound?
2. How do the consonants change on the articulatory level?
3. What are the two consonant classes according to the degree of noise?
4. What is the function of the vocal cords in the production of voiced and voiceless noise consonants?
5. How does the degree of noise vary because of the force of articulation?
6. What is a sonorant? State the difference between sonorants and noise consonants.
7. How does the position of the soft palate determine the quality of a sonorant?
8. Define every type of obstruction.
9. What are the four groups of consonants according to the manner of articulation?
10. What consonant sounds are called 'occlusive'?
11. Why are plosives called 'stops'?
12. What consonant sounds are called 'constrictive'? What is the difference between occlusives and constrictives?
13. How else are constrictive noise consonants called and why?
14. How do the fricatives vary in the work of the vocal cords and in the degree of force of articulation?
15. How are the constrictive sonorants made?
16. What consonant sounds are occlusive-constrictive?
17. How are the Russian rolled consonants [p, p'] produced?
18. Enumerate the consonant groups according to the place of articulation.
19. How are the forelingual consonants classified according to the work of the tip of the tongue?
20. How do the forelingual consonants differ according to the place of obstruction?
Test 4
1. Consider the following questions and items in written form:
1. According to the stability of articulation there are three groups of vowels. Do you think it is enough to distinguish only two groups: monophthongs and diphthongs?
2. Phoneticians speak of front vowels and back vowels. What characteristic do all the front vowels have in common that is different from the back vowels?
3. What is the difference between front and front-retracted vowels?
4. What is the difference between back and back-advanced vowels?
5. What makes central and front vowels different?
6. What characteristic makes close vowels unlike mid and open ones?
7. What would you tell your fellow-student to prove the necessity of distinguishing narrow and broad variants of close, mid and open vowels?
8. What is the difference between free and checked vowels?
9. How do different phonetic contexts modify vowel length in English?
10. Can the location of word stress and intonation influence vowel length?
11. Are there any historically long and short vowels in English?
Test 5
1. Consider the following questions and items in written form:
1. What is the main feature of sonorous consonants? Enumerate the English sonorants.
2. What advice regarding the position of the soft palate would you give to a fellow-student who pronounces sing as [siŋg] instead of [siŋ]?
3. What do sonorants have in common with and what differs them from other consonants?
4. What is the subdivision of the sonorous consonants according to the direction of the air stream in the mouth cavity?
5. Dwell on the voicing of sonorants. Does a student of English make a phonetic or a phonological mistake if he does not observe partial devoicing of the sonorants in some positions?
6. Dwell on the length of sonorants. Keeping in mind what you know about the positional length of the English sonorants what would you advise your fellow-student if he doesn't observe it?
7. What advice regarding the palatalization of the sonorous consonants would you give to a fellow-student who makes such errors in his pronunciation?
Suppose a student pronounces lip as [łip] instead of [lip]. How would you correct the error regarding palatalization?
8. Dwell on each sonorous consonant.
9. What kind of mistake do Russian students of English make if they pronounce [n] instead of [ŋ], eg sing [sin] instead of [siŋ]?
10. Suppose your fellow-student pronounces the word sing as [sin]. Is the mistake phonetic or phonological? Keeping in mind what you know about the articulation of [ŋ] tell him or her what to do with the tongue and the soft palate to eliminate this error.
11. What is common in the articulation of the sonorants [r, j, w]?
12. What articulatory features of the consonants [n] and [1] differentiate the meaning of the words net and let?
13. What advice would you give your fellow-student who pronounces the Russian [j] instead of the English [j]?
14. How would your fellow-student probably pronounce the sonorant [w]? In what way can Russian pronunciation habits interfere?
15. How would a Russian learner of English probably pronounce the English [r]? Can you expect a phonological mistake?
Test 6
1. Consider the following questions and items in written form:
1. What consonant sounds are called 'fricatives'?
2. What fricatives are bicentral?
3. How are fricatives classified according to the place of articulation?
4. What are the voiced counterparts of [f, θ, ∫, s]?
5. How are final fricatives pronounced?
6. How does the difference in voicing influence the length of the preceding vowels?
7. Suppose your fellow-student palatalizes fricatives. In what position may this mistake occur? In order to help him to pronounce the correct sounds what would you tell him to do with the tongue?
8. How would your fellow-student probably pronounce the English [θ, ð]? What would you recommend him to do with the tongue to escape the probable errors?
9. What common articulatory features can he traced in the articulation of the English [t, dl and [θ, ð; s, z]?
10. What articulatory features of the opposed consonants make the meaning of the following words different? pea — fee, cat— catch, head — fed theme— seem, thought — fought, place— plays
11. Suppose your fellow-student pronounces the word they as say or сей. In which case is the mistake phonological?
12. Give your own examples to show that the opposition of the sounds [f - v, θ - ð, s - z| in word initial or word final position is capable of differentiating the meaning.
13. Suppose your fellow-student pronounces the Russian [x] instead of the English [h]. Keeping in mind what you know about the articulation of the English sound tell him how to change the articulation. Why can we call this mistake phonetic?
Test 7
1. Consider the following questions and items in written form:
1.In order to help your fellow-student to make the vowel [υ] checked and short enough in the word book what would you recommend him to do?
2. Suppose a Russian learner of English pronounces the word luck as [lα:k]. Is this mistake phonetic or phonological? Keeping in mind what you know about the articulation of the vowels [Λ] and [α:] tell him what articulatory features differentiate the words lark and luck.
3. How would you help your fellow-student not to confuse the English [Λ] and the Russian [a]?
4. What mistake would a Russian learner of English probably make in the articulation of the vowel [Λ] in the word supper?
5. Suppose you teach a Russian the articulation of the vowel [з:]. In order to help him to produce the correct sound what would you tell him to do with his tongue, his jaws, his lips?
6.. How would you help a Russian learner who substitutes the English [з:] by the Russian [o:] or [e:]? Is this mistake phonetic or phonological?
7. Is there any vowel in Russian similar to the English [з:]?
8. What is the difference between the neutral vowel in the final and in the non-final position?
9. What mistakes can Russian learners probably make in the articulation of the neutral vowel?
10. What articulation exercises would you recommend for the vowel [i:]?
11. How would your fellow-student probably pronounce the English [i:]? What would you tell him to do not to confuse the English [i:] with the Russian [и]?
12. Keeping in mind what you know about the articulation of the vowels [ı] and [i:] explain what articulalory features differentiate the words sit and sent.
13. Give examples to show variations in length of the vowel [i:] in different positions.
14. What articulation exercises would you recommend for the vowel [u:]?
15. What is similar in the articulation of the vowels [u:] and [i:]?
16. What should a student do to avoid confusing the words pool and pull? Suppose he does so, is the mistake phonetic or phonological?
17. In what position is the vowel [u:] the shortest?
Test 8
1. Consider the following questions and items in written form:
1. Why are the occlusive plosive consonants called ‘stops’?
2. Define the stops according to the place of articulation.
3. How are stops divided according to the work of the vocal cords and the force of articulation? What are the voiced counterparts of [p, t, k]?
4. How are [b, d, g| pronounced in word final position? How would a Russian student probably pronounce them? Are the mistakes phonetic or phonological?
5. What is aspiration? Are Russian stops aspirated? Suppose a student of English makes [p, t, k] non-aspirated. Keeping in mind what you know about aspiration what would you tell him to do in order to correct the error?
6. How do the voiced and voiceless stops influence the length of preceding vowels?
7. What is palatalization? Why does this mistake occur in the pronunciation of Russian learners of English? In what cases may it occur? What advice regarding palatalization would you give a fellow-student who makes such errors in pronunciation?
8. What articulation exercises would you recommend for the stops [p, b, t, d, k, g] regarding their plosive articulation?
9. Suppose a fellow-student pronounces the Russian [т] instead of the English [t]. Is the mistake phonetic or phonological? Keeping in mind what you know about the English [t] tell him how to change the articulation.
10. What is the difference between the two consonant [b] in the word bob?
11. If a student of English substitutes the English [d] by the Russian [д], does he make a phonetic or a phonological mistake? Can you correct it?
12. What do the consonants [p, t, k] have in common?
13. Think of word pairs illustrating the pronunciation of the final voiceless (voiced) stops.
14. What articulatory features of the opposed consonants make the meaning of the following words different? rip — rib, tear—dear, pick — pig, park — bark, seat - sead, card — guard.
15. Suppose your fellow-student pronounces the Russian [т] instead of the English [t]. Why can we call this mistake phonetic?
Practical grammar
Test 1