1.

Grammar as a science

Grammar is the branch of linguistics that investigates the structure and rules of
language. It encompasses morphology (the study of word formation), syntax (the study of
sentence structure), phonology (the study of sounds), and semantics (the study of
meaning). By examining the patterns and regularities of language, grammarians aim to
uncover the underlying principles that govern the use of words and their arrangement in
sentences.
Components of English Grammar:
a) Morphology: Morphology focuses on the internal structure of words, including
the formation of roots, prefixes, suffixes, and inflections. It explores how words are
constructed and modified to convey different meanings or grammatical functions.
b) Syntax: Syntax analyzes the rules governing the arrangement of words, phrases,
and clauses to form grammatically correct sentences. It explores sentence structure, word
order, verb tense, agreement, and the relationships between different parts of a sentence.
c) Phonology: While often studied separately, phonology is an integral part of
grammar. It examines the sound patterns and phonetic rules that determine the
pronunciation of words and how they interact in connected speech.
d) Semantics: Semantics investigates the meaning of words, phrases, and
sentences. It explores how words combine to convey specific concepts and the
relationships between linguistic forms and their interpretations.
Grammar and Language Variation: English grammar is not a rigid and unchanging
system. It encompasses various dialects, registers, and styles that reflect the diversity of
its speakers. Grammar studies also consider language variation, including regional
differences, social contexts, and historical changes, providing insights into how language
evolves and adapts over time.
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive Grammar: Grammar can be approached from two
perspectives: prescriptive and descriptive. Prescriptive grammar focuses on establishing
norms and rules for "correct" language usage. Descriptive grammar, on the other hand,
seeks to describe how language is actually used by native speakers, acknowledging that
language evolves and varies in different contexts.
Grammar, as a scientific discipline, provides invaluable insights into the structure,
rules, and patterns of English language use. By studying grammar, we gain a deeper
understanding of how words combine to form meaningful expressions and how sentences
are constructed. This knowledge empowers us to communicate with clarity, precision,
and creativity, facilitating effective and meaningful interactions in the English language.

2. Parts of speech

Parts of speech are the basic categories into which words are classified based on
their grammatical functions and syntactic roles within a sentence. They provide a
framework for understanding how words behave and relate to one another in a language.
The traditional parts of speech include:
Noun: A noun is a word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea. Examples
include "dog," "book," "city," and "happiness." They can be concrete (e.g., "dog,"
"table") or abstract (e.g., "love," "freedom"). Nouns often function as the subject or
object of a sentence and can be singular or plural.
 Pronoun: A pronoun is used to replace a noun or noun phrase. It refers to a person
or thing mentioned earlier in the discourse or context. Examples include "he," "she," "it,"
and "they." Pronouns are used as substitutes for nouns to avoid repetition. They can
represent specific individuals (e.g., "he," "she") or general concepts (e.g., "it," "they").
Pronouns also include possessive forms (e.g., "mine," "hers") and reflexive forms (e.g.,
"myself," "yourself").
Verbs express actions, states, or occurrences. They are often the main component
of a sentence and indicate what the subject is doing (e.g., "run," "jump") or experiencing
(e.g., "be," "feel"). Verbs can be conjugated to show tense, aspect, mood, and agreement
with the subject.
Adjective: An adjective modifies or describes a noun or pronoun, providing
additional information about its qualities or attributes. Examples include "happy," "blue,"
"tall," and "beautiful." Adjectives are usually placed before the noun they modify.
Adverb: Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, providing information
about how, when, where, or to what extent an action or state occurs. They can indicate
manner (e.g., "quickly," "carefully"), time (e.g., "yesterday," "now"), place (e.g., "here,"
"everywhere"), or degree (e.g., "very," "extremely").
Preposition: Prepositions establish relationships between words in a sentence,
typically indicating location, direction, time, or manner. They are followed by a noun or
pronoun to form a prepositional phrase. Common prepositions include "in," "on," "at,"
"to," and "for."
Conjunction: Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses within a sentence.
Coordinating conjunctions, such as "and," "but," and "or," link words or phrases of equal
importance. Subordinating conjunctions, like "because," "although," and "while,"
introduce dependent clauses.
Interjection: An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses strong emotion or
surprise. It often stands alone and is punctuated with an exclamation mark. Examples
include "wow," "ouch," "oh," and "bravo."
Articles: Articles (definite and indefinite) precede nouns to indicate whether the
noun is specific or nonspecific. "The" is the definite article, used to refer to a particular
noun, while "a" or "an" are indefinite articles, used for nonspecific or generic nouns.
Understanding the parts of speech is crucial for constructing grammatically correct
and coherent sentences. Each part plays a unique role in conveying meaning, adding
precision, and establishing relationships between words.

3. Syntax

Syntax is the branch of linguistics that deals with the rules governing the structure
of sentences. It focuses on the arrangement of words, phrases, and clauses to create
grammatically correct and meaningful expressions. Syntax encompasses various
elements, including word order, sentence structure, verb tenses, agreement, and the
relationships between different parts of a sentence.
1. Word Order and Sentence Structure: English generally follows a subject-verb-
object (SVO) word order. For example, "She eats an apple." However, there are
exceptions and variations in certain contexts or sentence types, such as questions ("Does
she eat an apple?") and imperatives ("Eat an apple!"). Sentence Structure: English
sentences typically consist of a subject, verb, and object, though they can be more
complex. For instance, "John (subject) plays (verb) the piano (object)." Other
components like adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and clauses can also be
included to provide more information and detail.
2. Phrases and Clauses: English sentences contain various phrases and clauses.
Noun phrases function as subjects, objects, or modifiers and consist of a noun and any
accompanying words (e.g., "the big house"). Verb phrases include a verb and its
complements or modifiers (e.g., "has been studying diligently"). Clauses have a subject
and verb and can be independent (forming complete sentences) or dependent (functioning
as part of a larger sentence).
3. Syntactic Categories and Agreement: Words and phrases are classified into
syntactic categories based on their roles and functions within a sentence. These
categories include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and
more. Agreement refers to the correspondence between different elements in a sentence,
such as subject-verb agreement or noun-adjective agreement, ensuring grammatical
correctness and concordance.
4. Transformations: Syntax allows for the transformation of sentences through
processes like negation, questioning, and passive voice. These transformations alter the
word order or structure of a sentence while retaining its meaning. English syntax allows
for transformations that change the structure or word order of sentences. Examples
include forming negative sentences ("She does not eat apples") or changing active voice
to passive voice ("The book was written by John").
5. Ambiguity: Ambiguity can arise in English sentences due to multiple possible
interpretations. It can result from structural ambiguities, where different phrasal
groupings lead to different meanings, or lexical ambiguities, where a word has more than
one meaning. Context and additional linguistic cues are often necessary to resolve
ambiguity.
6. Conjunctions: English uses conjunctions to connect words, phrases, and clauses.
Common coordinating conjunctions include "and," "but," and "or," while subordinating
conjunctions like "although," "because," and "while" introduce dependent clauses.
7. Syntax and Language Comprehension: Understanding syntax is essential for
comprehending written and spoken language. The syntactic structure of a sentence guides
our interpretation and helps us extract meaning accurately. Syntax aids in disambiguating
sentences, identifying relationships between words, and grasping the intended message. It
enables us to create coherent and meaningful discourse while following the rules of a
particular language.
Understanding the syntax of English enables effective communication, accurate
interpretation, and grammatically correct writing. By following the rules of English
syntax, speakers and writers can convey their intended meaning clearly and ensure
coherence in their language use.

4. Morphemic structure of the word

The morphemic structure of a word refers to its internal structure and the
arrangement of its meaningful units called morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest
meaningful unit in a language. It can be a whole word or a part of a word that carries
meaning.
There are two main types of morphemes:
Free Morphemes: Free morphemes can stand alone as independent words and carry
meaning on their own. Examples of free morphemes include words like "book," "dog,"
"run," and "happy."
Bound Morphemes: Bound morphemes cannot stand alone as independent words
and need to be attached to other morphemes to convey meaning. Bound morphemes
include prefixes, suffixes, and infixes. Examples of bound morphemes include the prefix
"un-" in "undo," the suffix "-s" in "cats”.
Morphemes can combine to form complex words through processes such as
affixation, compounding, and derivation.
Affixation: Affixation involves attaching prefixes, suffixes, or infixes to a base or
root word. For example, the prefix "un-" can be added to the word "happy" to form
"unhappy." The suffix "-er" can be added to the word "teach" to form "teacher."
Compounding: Compounding involves combining two or more free morphemes to
create a new word. For example, "black" and "board" combine to form the compound
word "blackboard."
Derivation: Derivation involves adding a bound morpheme (prefix or suffix) to a
base word to create a new word with a different meaning or word class. For example,
adding the suffix "-able" to the verb "read" creates the adjective "readable." Adding the
prefix "dis-" to the adjective "honest" creates the adjective "dishonest."
Understanding the morphemic structure of a word helps in analyzing its meaning,
recognizing word families, and understanding how words are formed in a language. It
also aids in language learning, vocabulary development, and analyzing the relationships
between words.

5. Phonetics as a science
Phonetics is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualized or given audible
shape: the nature of these noises, their combinations, and their functions in relation to the meaning.
Practical or normative phonetics studies substance, the material form of phonetic phenomena in
relation to meaning.
Theoretical phonetics is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language.
Phonetics studies the sound system of the language, that is segmental units (phonemes, allophones),
suprasegmental units (word stress, syllabic structure, rhythmic organization, intonation). Thus phonetics
is divided into two major components: segmental phonetics, which is concerned with individual sounds
(i.e. "segments" of speech), their behaviour; and suprasegmental phonetics whose domain is the larger
units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts.
All speech sounds have 4 aspects (mechanisms):
- Articulatoty
- Acoustic
- Auditory
 - Functional – every language unit performs a certain function in actual speech. Functional aspect
deals with these functions.
In accord with these 4 aspects of speech sounds 4 branches are distinguished, each of them has its
own method of investigation:
- Articulatoty phonetics - studies (investigates) sound producing mechanism.
- Acoustic phonetics - studies the way in which the air vibrates between the speaker''s mouth and the
listener''s ear.
- Auditory phonetics- the branch of phonetics investigating the hearing process. Its interests lie more
in the sensation of hearing, which is brain activity, than in the physiological working of the ear or the
nervous activity between the ear and the brain.
- Functional phonetics – is also termed phonology. Studies the way in which sound phenomena
function in a particular language, how they are utilized in that language and what part they play in
manifesting the meaningful distinctions of the language.
Another subdivision of phonetics:
1. General phonetics – studies general laws, formulates general theories (theoy of intonation,
syllable, formation, phoneme)
2. Special phonetics – based on general phonetics. Deals with phonetical peculiarities of certain
language.
3. Some linguists distinguish historical phonetics – it traces the development of the phonetic
system in the course of time finding out the basic laws of the system.
Connection of phonetics with other sciences.
Ph is connected with grammar through its intonation component. Sometimes intonation alone can
serve to single out the logical predicate. ‘he came home, he ‘came home, he came ‘home). Pausation
may also perform a differentiatory function. If we compare 2 similar sentences pronounced with
different places of pause, the meaning will be different.
Ph is also connected with lexicology. It is only due to the presence of stress in the right place, that
we can distinguish certain nouns from verbs (formed by convercion): ‘object-ob’ject.
Homographs can be differentiated only due to pronaunciation, because they are identical in spelling:
bow(ou луг)-bow(au поклон), row(ou ряд)-row(au шум).
Ph is also connected with stylistics; first of all through intonation and its components: speech
melody, utterance (произнесение) stress, rythm, pausation and voicetember which serves to express
emotions.
Ph is also connected with stylistics through repetition of words, phrases and sounds. Repetition of
this kind serves the basis of rythm, rhyme and alliteration. The repetition of identical or similar sounds,
which is called alliteration, helps to impart ( передавать) a melodic effect to the utterance and to
express certain emotions.
Practical significance of Ph is connected with teaching foreign languages, speech correction, teaching
deaf-mutes глухонемой, film doubling.
All the branches of phonetics are absolutely indispensable to the teaching of the pronunciation of
foreign languages.
Phonetics is also widely used in teaching correct pronunciation and enunciation or elocution to
actors,' singers, radio-announcers and other public speakers; in eliminating dialectal features; in
logopedics - in curing numerous and various speech defects and pathologic disturbances of speech, such
as various forms of aphasia ([æ'feɪzɪə] потеря речи), in surdo-pedagogics, i.e. in teaching normal oral
speech to deaf глухой and dumb немой people (surdomutes).

6. The phoneme
 Phoneme-is the smallest contrastive unit of speech that distinguishes one word from another in
meaning.
There are 3 aspects of the phoneme:
1.The functional aspect
The phoneme is a functional unit. Function is usually understood to mean discriminatory function,
that is, the role of the various components of the phonetic system of the language in distinguishing one
morpheme from another, one word from another or also one utterance from another.
The opposition of phonemes in the same phonetic environment differentiates the meaning of
morphemes and words.
said— says; sleeper — sleepy; bath — path; light — like
Sometimes the opposition of phonemes serves to distinguish the meaning of the whole phrases:.
He was heard badly — He was hurt badly.
There is no room for you in my hut. – There is no room for you in my heart.
2. The material aspect
the phoneme is material, real and objective. That means it is realized in speech in the form of speech
sounds, its allophones.
3. The abstract (generilazed) aspect
The phoneme is a minimal language unit.
The phoneme belongs to the language, the allophone – to the speech.
Language is an abstract category, it’s an abstraction from speech. Speech is the reality of a language,
thus the phoneme as a language unit is materialized in speech sound. The phoneme is a sort of
generalization (abstraction).
Allophones are instances, realizations of phonemes in real speech.
Types:
principal The allophones which do not undergo any distinguishable changes in speech are called
principal.
subsidiary. Allophones that occur under influence of the neighboring sounds in different phonetic
situations are called subsidiary, e.g.:
a. deal, did - it is slightly palatalized before front vowels
b. bad pain, bedtime - it is pronounced without any plosion
с. sudden, admit - it is pronounced with nasal plosion before [n], [m]
d. dry - it becomes post-alveolar followed by [r].
We can’t pronounce a phoneme, we pronounce allophones, which are accompanied by several social
and personal characteristics. The actual pronounced sounds which we hear are formed with stylistic,
situational, personal characteristics. They are called phones. Stylistic variation
Phoneme Allophones Dialectal variation phones
Individual variation

7. English consonants
The phonological analysis of English consonant sounds helps to distinguish 24 phonemes. Principles
of classification suggested by Russian phoneticians provide the basis for establishing of the following
distinctive oppositions in the system of English consonants:
1. Degree of noise - bake - make, veal - wheel
 2. Place of articulation
a. labial vs. lingual
pain — cane
b. lingual vs. glottal
foam — home, care — hair, Tim - him
3. Manner of articulation
3.1 occlusive vs. constrictive pine -fine, bat - that, bee - thee
3.2 constrictive vs. affricates fare — chair, fail -jail
3.3 constrictive unicentral vs. constrictive bicentral – same – shame
4. Work of the vocal cords and the force of articulation
4.1 voiceless fortis vs. voiced lenis
pen — Ben, ten - den, coat - goal
5. Position of the soft palate
5.1 oral vs. nasal
pit — pin, seek — seen
There are consonant phonemes in the English language which can be classified according to the
articulating (main) organ into the following types:
1. Labial consonants which are subdivided into: a) bi-labial, i.e. articulated by means of both lips; b)
labio-dental - articulated by means of the lower lip with the upper teeth as the passive organ.
2. Lingual consonants which are subdivided into: a) fore-lingual; b) fron-lingual (or mid-lingual); c)
back-lingual.
In this group we distinguish: apical, dorsal and cacuminal [kæ'kju:mɪn(ə)l].
Apical consonants are articulated by the tip of the tongue which is brought into contact with the teeth
or the teeth ridge.
Dorsal consonants are articulated by lowering the tip of the tongue (so that it comes into contact with
the front lower teeth) while the closure or narrowing of the air passage occurs between the blade of the
tongue and the upper teeth.
In the articulation of the cacuminal consonants the tip of the tongue is curled back and is usually
brought into contact with the teeth ridge and the fore part of the hard palate.
3. Velar consonants are formed by means of a closure or a narrowing between the velum (soft palate)
and the back of the tongue, in cases when the velum is active.
4. Uvular consonants are formed by the activity of the uvula.
The English consonants form oppositions based on the following principles:
1) The manner of articulation (stops and constrictives).
2) The articulating organ (labial, lingual).
3) The passive speech organ (dental, alveolar, palatal, velar).
4) The shape of narrowing (a narrow slit or round aperture).
5) The presence or absence of voice (voiced and voiceless).
6) The prevalence of noise or musical tone (voiced noises and sonorants).
7) The kind of resonance (oral or nasal).
8) The noise-producing obstacles (single point and double-point).
 9) The manner of releasing closure (plosives and affricates).

8. English vowels
The quality of a vowel is known to be determined by the size, volume, and shape of the mouth
resonator, which are modified by the movement of active speech organs, that is the tongue and the lips.
Besides, the particular quality of a vowel can depend on a lot of other articulatory characteristics, such
as the relative stability of the tongue, the position of the lips, physical duration of the segment, the force
of articulation, the degree of tenseness of speech organs. So vowel quality could be thought of as a
bundle of definite articulatory characteristics which are sometimes intricately interconnected and
interdependent.
The analysis of the articulatory constituents of the quality of vowels allowed phoneticians to suggest
the criteria which are conceived to be of great importance in classificatory description. First to be
concerned here are the following criteria termed:
1. stability of articulation;
2. tongue position;
3. lip position;
4. character of the vowel end;
5. length;
6. tenseness.
Stability of articulation specifies the actual position of the articulating organ in the process of the
articulation of a vowel. There are two possible varieties: a) the tongue position is stable; b) it changes,
that is the tongue moves from one position to another. In the first case the articulated vowel is relatively
pure, in the second case a vowel consists of two clearly perceptible elements.
There exists in addition a third variety, an intermediate case, when the change in the tongue position
is fairly weak. So according to this principle the English vowels are subdivided into: 1. monophthongs,
2. diphthongs, 3. diphthongoids.
This interpretation is not shared by British phoneticians. A.C. Gimson, for example, distinguishes
twenty vocalic phonemes which are made of vowels and vowel glides. Seven of them are treated as
short phonemes.
Another principle we should consider from phonological point of view is the position of the tongue.
For the sake of convenience the position of the tongue in the mouth cavity is characterized from two
aspects, that is the horizontal and vertical movement.
According to the horizontal movement Russian phoneticians distinguish five classes of English
vowels. They are:
1. front: [i:], [e], [ei], [.], [ε(ə)];
2. front-retracted: [I], [I(ə)];
3. central: [٨] [з:] [ə], [з(u)], [ε(ə)];
4. back [ɒ], [ɔ:], [u:], [a:];
5. back-advanced: [u], [u(ə)].
As to the tongue position in its vertical movement British scholars distinguish three classes of
vowels: high (or close), mid (or half-open), and low (or open) vowels.
Another feature of English vowels which is sometimes included into the principles of classification is
lip rounding. Traditionally three lip positions are distinguished, that is spread, neutral and rounded. For
the purpose of classification it is sufficient to distinguish between two lip positions: rounded and
unrounded, or neutral. The fact is that any back vowel in English is produced with rounded lips, the
degree of rounding is different and depends on the height of the raised part of the tongue; the higher it is
raised the more rounded the lips are. So lip rounding is a phoneme constitutive indispensable feature,
because no back vowel can exist without it.
Another property of English vowel sounds – checkness depends on the character of the articulatory
transition from a vowel to a consonant. This kind of transition (VC) is very close in English unlike
Ukrainian. As a result all English short vowels are checked when stressed. The degree of checkness may
vary and depends on the following consonant. Before fortis voiceless consonant it is more perceptible
than before a lenis voiced consonant or sonorant. All long vowels are free.
The English monophthongs are traditionally divided into two varieties according to their length: a)
short vowels and long vowels.
A vowel like any sound has physical duration – time which is required for its production
(articulation).
Different scholars attach varying significance to vowel quantity.
The approach of D. Jones, an outstanding British phonetician, extends the principle, underlying
phonological relevance of vowel quantity. That means that words in such pairs as [bid] – [bi:d], [sit] –
[si:t], [ful] – [fu:d], [′fɒ:wə:d] (foreword) – [′fɔ:wəd] (forward) are distinguished from one another by
the opposition of different length, which D. Jones calls chronemes. The difference in quantity is
considered to be decisive and the difference in quality (the position of the active organ of speech) is
considered to be subordinate to the difference in quantity. According to the point of view of V.A.
Vassilyev, English is not a language in which chronemes as separate prosodic phonological units can
exist (1970: 204).
One more articulatory characteristic needs our attention. That is tenseness. It characterizes the state
of the organs of speech at the moment of production of a vowel.
Special instrumental analysis shows that historically long vowels are tense while historically short
vowels are lax.
Principles of classification provide the basis for the establishment of the following distinctive
oppositions:
1. Stability of articulation
1.1. monophthongs vs. diphthongs
bit - bait, kit - kite, John - join, debt — doubt
1.2. diphthongs vs. diphthongoids
bile - bee, boat — boot, raid - rude
2. Position of the tongue
2.1. horizontal movement of the tongue
a) front vs. central
cab — curb, bed — bird
b) back vs. central
pull – pearl, cart - curl, call - curl
2.2. vertical movement of the tongue
a) close (high) vs. mid-open (mid)
bid — bird, week - work
b) open (low) vs. mid-open (mid)
lark - lurk, call — curl, bard-bird
3. Position of the lips
rounded vs. unrounded don — darn, pot - part
 9. Modification of speech sounds in connected speech
Sound modifications are allophonic variations of speech sounds caused by their position in a word.
They are usually quite regular and can be stated in the form of rules which predict the use of certain
allophones in each position. Sound modifications are observed both within words and at word
boundaries. There are different types of sound modification in modern English, which characterize
consonants, vowels, or both.
Consonants are characterized by the following types of sound modifications: assimilation,
accommodation, elision, and inserting.
I. Assimilation is the adaptive modification of consonant by a neighbouring consonant within a
speech chain. There are different types of assimilation.
1. According to the direction of sound modification assimilation is divided into:
— progressive (dogs — voiced [z], cats — voiceless [s]);
— regressive (width — [d] becomes dental);
— reciprocal (tree — [t] becomes post-alveolar, [r] is partly devoiced).
2. According to the degree of sound modification assimilation can be:
— complete, when two sounds become completely alike or merge into one another (sandwich
['sænnwıʤ] → ['sænwıʤ] → ['sænıʤ]);
— incomplete, when the adjoining sounds are partially alike (sweet [w] is partially devoiced).
These types of assimilation may result in different modifications of the place of articulation, the
manner of articulation, and the force of articulation.
1) Assimilation affecting the place of articulation includes the following
modifications of consonants:
— alveolar [t, d, n, l, s, z] become dental before interdental [ð, θ] (eighth, breadth, on the, all the,
guess that, does that);
— alveolar [t, d] become post-alveolar before post-alveolar [r] (true, dream);
— alveolar [s, z] become post-alveolar before apical forelingual [∫] (this shelf, does she);
– Alveolar [t, d] become fricative before palatal mediolingual [j] (graduate, congratulate);
– Nasal [m, n] become labio-dental before labio-dental [‘f, v] (comfortt, infant);
– nasal [n] becomes dental before interdental [θ] (seventh);
— nasal [n] becomes velar before backlingual [k] (think);
— nasal [n] becomes palato-alveolar before palato-alveolar [t∫, ʤ] (pinch, change).
2) Assimilation affecting the manner of articulation includes the following modifications of
consonants:
— loss of plosion in the sequence of two stops [p, t, k, b, d, g] (and dad, that tape, fact) or in the
sequence of a stop and an affricate (a pointed chin, a sad joke);
— nasal plosion in the combination of a plosive consonant and a nasal sonorant (sudden, happen, at
night, submarine, let me);
— lateral plosion in the sequence of an occlusive consonant and a lateral sonorant (settle, please,
apple);
- anticipating lip-rounded position in the combination of consonants [t, d, k, g, s] and a sonorant
[w] (quite, swim, dweller).
3) Assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords includes the following modifications of
consonants:
— progressive partial devoicing of the sonorous [m, n, l, w, r, j] before voiceless [s, p, t, k, f, θ, ∫]
(small, slow, place, fly, sneer, try, throw, square, twilight, pure, few, tune, at last, at rest);
— progressive voicing or devoicing of the contracted forms of the auxiliary verbs is, has depending
on the preceding phoneme (That’s right. Jack’s gone. John’s come)
— progressive voicing or devoicing of the suffix –ed depending on the preceding sound doun ()
 10. The syllabic structure
Speech is a continuum. However, it can be broken into minimal pronounceable units into which
sounds show a tendency to cluster or group themselves. These smallest phonetic groups are generally
given the name of syllables. A meaningful language unit phonetically may be considered from the point
of view of syllable formation and syllable division.
The syllable is a complicated phenomenon and like a phoneme it can be studied on four levels -
articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional. The complexity of the phenomenon gave rise to many
theories.
We could start with the so-called expiratory (chest pulse or pressure) theory by R.H. Stetson. This
theory is based on the assumption that expiration in speech is a pulsating process and each syllable
should correspond to a single expiration. So the number of syllables in an utterance is determined by the
number of expirations made in the production of the utterance. This theory was strongly criticized by
Russian and foreign linguists. G.P. Torsuyev, for example, wrote that in a phrase a number of words and
consequently a number of syllables can be pronounced with a single expiration. This fact makes the
validity of the theory doubtful.
Another theory of syllable put forward by O. Jespersen is generally called the sonority theory.
According to O. Jespersen, each sound is characterized by a certain degree of sonority which is
understood us acoustic property of a sound that determines its perceptibility. According to V.A.
Vasssilyev the most serious drawback of this theory is that it fails to explain the actual mechanism of
syllable formation and syllable division. Besides, the concept of sonority is not very clearly defined.
Further experimental work aimed to description of the syllable resulted in lot of other theories.
However the question of articulatory mechanism of syllable in a still an open question in phonetics. We
might suppose that this mechanism is similar in all languages and could be regarded as phonetic
universal.
In Russian linguistics there has been adopted the theory of syllable by LV Shcherba. It is called the
theory of muscular tension. In most languages there is the syllabic phoneme in the centre of the syllable
which is usually a vowel phoneme or, in some languages, a sonorant. The phonemes preceding or
following the syllabic peak are called marginal. The tense of articulation increases within the range of
prevocalic consonants and then decreases within the range of postvocalic consonants.
Trying to define the syllable from articulatory point of view we may talk about universals. When we
mean the functional aspect of the syllable it should be defined with the reference to the structure of one
particular language.
The definition of the syllable from the functional point of view tends to single out the following
features of the syllable:
a) a syllable is a chain of phonemes of varying length;
b) a syllable is constructed on the basis of contrast of its constituents (which is usually of vowel -
consonant type);
c) the nucleus of a syllable is a vowel, the presence of consonants is optional; there are no
languages in which vowels are not used as syllable nuclei, however, there are languages in which this
function is performed by consonants;
d) the distribution of phonemes in the syllabic structure follows by the rules which are specific
enough for a particular language.
The syllable is a complicated phenomenon and like a phoneme it can be studied on four levels -
articulatory, acoustic, auditory and functional. The complexity of the phenomenon gave rise to many
theories.
We could start with the so-called expiratory (chest pulse or pressure) theory by R.H. Stetson. This
theory is based on the assumption that expiration in speech is a pulsating process and each syllable
should correspond to a single expiration. So the number of syllables in an utterance is determined by the
number of expirations made in the production of the utterance. This theory was strongly criticized by
Russian and foreign linguists. G.P. Torsuyev, for example, wrote that in a phrase a number of words and
consequently a number of syllables can be pronounced with a single expiration. This fact makes the
validity of the theory doubtful.
Another theory of syllable put forward by O. Jespersen is generally called the sonority theory.
According to O. Jespersen, each sound is characterized by a certain degree of sonority which is
understood us acoustic property of a sound that determines its perceptibility. According to V.A.
Vassilyev the most serious drawback of this theory is that it fails to explain the actual mechanism of
syllable formation and syllable division. Besides, the concept of sonority is not very clearly defined.
Further experimental work aimed to description of the syllable resulted in lot of other theories.
However the question of articulatory mechanism of syllable in a still an open question in phonetics. We
might suppose that this mechanism is similar in all languages and could be regarded as phonetic
universal.
In Russian linguistics there has been adopted the theory of syllable by LV Shcherba. It is called the
theory of muscular tension. In most languages there is the syllabic phoneme in the centre of the syllable
which is usually a vowel phoneme or, in some languages, a sonorant. The phonemes preceding or
following the syllabic peak are called marginal. The tense of articulation increases within the range of
prevocalic consonants and then decreases within the range of postvocalic consonants.

11. The accentual structure

The sequence of syllables in the word is not pronounced identically. The syllable or syllables which
are uttered with more prominence than the other syllables of the word are said to be stressed or
accented. Stress in the isolated word is termed word stress; stress in connected speech is termed
sentence stress.
Stress is defined differently by different authors. B.A. Bogoroditsky, for instance, defined stress as an
increase of energy, accompanied by an increase of expiratory and articulatory activity. D. Jones defined
stress as the degree of force, which is accompanied by a strong force of exhalation and gives an
impression of loudness. H. Sweet also stated that stress, is connected with the force of breath. According
to A.C. Gimson, the effect of prominence is achieved by any or all of four factors: force, tone, length
and vowel colour.
Word stress in a language performs three functions.
1. Word stress constitutes a word, it organizes the syllables of a word into a language unit having a
definite accentual structure, that is a pattern of relationship among the syllables; a word does not exist
without the word stress Thus the word stress performs the constitutive function. Sound continuum
becomes a phrase when it is divided into units organized by word stress into words.
2. Word stress enables a person to identify a succession of syllables as a definite accentual pattern of
a word. This function of word stress is known as recognitive. Correct accentuation helps the listener to
make the process of communication easier, whereas the distorted accentual pattern of words, misplaced
word stresses prevent normal understanding.
3. Word stress alone is capable of differentiating the meaning of words or their forms, thus
performing its distinctive function. The accentual patterns of words or the degrees of word stress and
their positions form oppositions, e.g. 'import — im'port, 'billow — below.
Place of word stress in English.
The word stress in English as well as in Russian is not only free but it may also be shifting,
performing the semantic function of differentiating lexical units, parts of speech, grammatical forms. In
English word stress is used as a means of word-building; in Russian it marks both word-building and
word formation, e.g. 'contrast — con'trast; 'habit — habitual 'music — mu'sician; дома — дома; чудная
— чудная, воды — воды.
 There are actually as many degrees of stress in a word as there are syllables. The opinions of
phoneticians differ as to how many degrees of stress are linguistically relevant in a word. The British
linguists usually distinguish three degrees of stress in the word. A.C. Gimson, for example, shows the
distribution of the degrees of stress in the word examination. The primary stress is the strongest, it is
marked by number 1, the secondary stress is the second strongest marked by 2. All the other degrees are
termed weak stress. Unstressed syllables are supposed to have weak stress. The American scholars B.
Bloch and G. Trager find four contrastive degrees of word stress, namely: loud, reduced loud, medial
and weak stresses. Other American linguists also distinguish four degrees of word stress but term them:
primary stress, secondary stress, tertiary stress and weak stress.
The stress placed on syllables within words is called word stress or lexical stress. The stress placed
on words within sentences is called sentence stress or prosodic stress.
Sentence stress is a greater prominence of words which are made more prominent in the international
group. The prominence of accented words is achieved through the greater force of utterance and changes
in the direction of voice pitch.
Stress in utterance provide the basis for understanding the content, they help to perform constitutive,
distinctive, indemnificatory function of intonation.
Word stress is definitely the key to understanding spoken English and it is used so naturally by native
speakers of the English language that they are not even aware they are doing it. When non native
speakers talk to English natives without the use of word stress they are likely to encounter two
problems:
1. The listener will find it difficult to understand the fast speaking native.
2. The native speakers may find it difficult to understand the non native speakers.
Any word spoken in isolation has at least one prominent syllable. We perceive it as stressed. Stress in
the isolated word is termed word stress, stress in connected speech is termed sentence stress. Stress is
indicated by placing a stress mark before the stressed syllable.
Word stress can be defined as the singling out of one or more syllables in a word, which is
accompanied by the change of the force of utterance, pitch of the voice, qualitative and quantitative
characteristics of the sound, which is usually a vowel.

12. Intonation
Intonation is a complex unity of non-segmental features of speech: 1. melody, pitch of the voice; 2.
sentence stress; 3. temporal characteristics (duration, tempo, pausation); 4. rhythm; 5. tamber.
Intonation organizes a sentence, determines communicative types of sentences and clauses, divides
sentences into intonation groups, gives prominence to words and phrases, expresses contrasts and
attitudes. The two main functions of intonation are: communicative and expressive.
There are two main approaches to the problem of intonation in Great Britain. One is known as a
contour analysis and the other may be called grammatical.
The first is represented by a large group of phoneticians: H. Sweet, D. Jones, L. Armstrong, and
others. According to this approach the smallest unit to which linguistic meaning can be attached is a
sense-group. Their theory is based that intonation consists of basic functional "blocks".
The grammatical approach to the study of intonation was worked out by M. Halliday. The main unit
of intonation is a clause. Intonation is a complex of three systemic variables: tonality, tonicity and tone,
which are connected with grammatical categories. Tonality marks the beginning and the end of a tone-
group. Tonicity marks the focal point of each tone-group. Tones can be primary and secondary. They
convey the attitude of the speaker. Halliday's theory is based on the syntactical function of intonation.
The tone unit is one of the most important of intonation theory. The interval between the highest and
the lowest pitch syllable is called the range of a sence group. The higher the pitch, the wider the range.
The change of pitch within the last stressed syllable of the tone group is called a nuclear tone. It may
occur not only in the nucleus, but extend to the tail terminal tone.
Intonation is a language universal. There are no languages which are spoken without any change of
prosodic parameters but intonation functions in various languages in a different way.
There is wide agreement among Russian linguists that on perception level intonation is a complex, a
whole, formed by significant variations of pitch, loudness and tempo closely related. Some Russian
linguists regard speech timbre as the fourth component of intonation. Neither its material form nor its
linguistic function has been thoroughly described. Though speech timbre definitely conveys certain
shades of attitudinal or emotional meaning there is no good reason to consider it alongside with the three
prosodic components of intonation, i.e. pitch, loudness and tempo.
Many foreign scholars (A. Gimson, R. Kingdon) restrict the formal definition of intonation to pitch
movement alone, though occasionally allowing in variations of loudness as well. According to D.
Crystal, the most important prosodic effects are those conveyed by the linguistic use of pitch movement,
or melody. It is clearly not possible to restrict the term intonation by the pitch parameters only because
generally all the three prosodic parameters function as a whole though in many cases the priority of the
pitch parameter is quite evident.
Intonation in unemphatic speech.
Unemphatic speech in English is characterized by three principle peculiarities:
1) Sentence stress is distributed equally among the notional words in a syntagm;
2) The stressed syllables of a syntagm form a gradually descending scale;
3) The last stressed syllable (and the unstressed ones that follows it) have one of the two main
"tunes" (the falling or the rising tone).
The structure of intonation pattern is the following: unstressed and half-stressed syllables preceding
the first stressed syllable constitute the pre-head of the intonation pattern, stressed and unstressed
syllables up to the last stressed syllable constitute the head, body or scale of the intonation group. The
last stressed syllable, within which fall or rise is accomplished in the intonation group is the nucleus, the
syllables that follow the nucleus form the tail.
Pre-heads may be of different types (according to L. Armstrong and ,J. Ward)
1. rising
2. mid
3. low
The English descending scale in an unemphatic speech is a scale of level syllables which follow each
other as if forming a step.
The English fall takes place within the last stressed syllable and if it is followed by any unstressed
syllables (tail), these are pronounced at a very low pitch level.
And in the Russian language the fall is distributed between the last stressed and the following
unstressed syllables.
The Russian rise takes place within the last stressed syllable and sounds rather high, while the
English rising tone is lower in its pitch.
Intonation in emphatic speech.
Emphasis is an all-round special increase of effort on the part of the speaker.
It is considered to be impossible to formulate exact rules for the use of emphatic intonation. However
there are some suggestions. Thus all cases of emphasis can be classified into: l) emphasis for intensity
and 2) emphasis for contrast.
There are various means of making an utterance sound emphatic. The variety of means is based on
the laws considerably different from those of the unemphatic speech.
 «As to the nature of the emphatic means we distinguish two types:
I. Emphatic means which are superimposed, upon the unemphatic scale without breaking its laws. In
this case the emphasis is attained by the following means:
a) All the stressed syllables of the intonation group get additional force;
b) Sometimes the range of the voice may be widened or narrowed and this does not violate any of the
rules of the unemphatic speech.
II. The second group of the emphatic means is based on breaking the laws of the unemphatic scale:
II.I. whereas the unemphatic speech employs only one type of a scale - the gradually descending
stepping -scale, the emphatic speech employs a number of them:
the ascending scale; the sliding scale; the level scale; the scandent scale.
II.2 The variety of the tones employed in the emphatic speech is also richer than that of the
unemphatic speech. These are:
The two variants of the falling tone - the high falling tone and the low falling tone.
Three variants of the rising tone - the falling-rising tone; the rising- falling tone; fall+rise.
The level stresses of the unemphatic scale also undergo changes in the emphatic speech. Not all the
words of intonation group may be stressed. The stress usually falls on the words which are either
emphasized or contrasted. Emphasis for contrast is not connected with the use of special words (such as
very, awful, huge, etc. used for intensity); any word may be emphasized.
E.g. why are you here? Why are you here? In the first example the speaker expresses surprise; in the
second – indignation.
As a very short resume we should give a few lines: "... intonation is the soul of a language while the
pronunciation of its sounds is its body", and everybody knows how vital it is to keep body and soul
together.

13. Stylistic devices

A stylistic devise – is a literary model in which semantic and structural features are blended so that it
represents a generalized pattern.
Stylistic devices – is choice or arrangement of units to achieve expressive or image-creating effect
A. Stilistic devices based on the interaction between the logical and nominal meanings of a word.
Antonomasia (the use of a proper name in place of a common one or vice versa to emphasise some
feature or quality): Lady Teasle; Miss Sharp; Mr.Credulous.
B. Stilistic devices based on the interaction between two logical meanings of a word.
Metaphor (the application of a word or phrase to an object or concept it does not literally denote, in
order to suggest similarity and association with another object or concept): …every hour in every day
she could wound his pride. (Dickens)
Metonymy (the transfer of name of one object onto another to which it is related; or of which it is a
part (synecdoche): I get my living by the sweat of my brow. (Dickens)
Irony (the expression of a meaning that is often the direct opposite of the intended meaning): Henry
could get gloriously tipsy on tea and conversation. (A.Huxley)
C. Stilistic devices based on the interaction between the logical and emotive meanings of a word.
 Hyperbole (the deliberate exaggeration of some quantity, quality, size, etc.; if it is smallness that is
being hyperbolized, we speak of understatement): The little woman, for she was of pocket size, crossed
her hands solemnly on her middle. (Galsworthy)
Epithet (an adjective or descriptive phrase used to characterize a person or object with the aim to give
them subjective evaluation): She gave Mrs.Silsburn a you–know–how–men–are look. (Salinger)
Oxymoron (when opposite or contradictory ideas are combined): For an eternity of seconds, it
seemed, the din was all but incredible. (Salinger)
D. Stilistic devices based on the interaction between the free and phraseological meanings of a word.
Zeugma (the context allows to realize two meanings of the same polysemantic word without
repetition of the word itself): There comes a period in every man’s life, but she’s just a semicolon in his.
(Evans)
Pun (the role of the context is similar to that of zeugma, while the structure is changed, for the central
word is repeated): Did you hit a woman with a child? – No, Sir, I hit her with a brick. (Th.Smith)
Violation of phraseological units (when phraseological meanings of the components are disregarded
and intentionally replaced by their original literal meanings): Another person who makes both ends meet
is the infant who sucks his toes. (Esar)

14. Stylistic classification of the English vocabulary

Aesthetic Classification
• Positive (elevated) – superneutral words
• Negative (degraded) – subneutral words
Superneutral words are used in official documents, diplometic and commercial correspondence,
legislation etc. Such words have a tinge of pomposity, colouring of solemnity and are usually termed
“solemn words”.
Archaism
The term denotes words that are practically out of use in present-day language and are felt as
obsolete. Archaism may be subdivided into two groups:
1) historical archaisms - the words that lost their referents.
archaisms proper - the words that have been ousted by synonyms.
Bookish words are used in cultivated speech only - in books or in such types of oral communication
as public speeches, official negotiations etc.
Borrowed and foreign words.
Sub-neutral words
Among the sub-neutral words the following groups are distinguished
Words used in informal speech only – colloquial, jargon and slang, as well as individual creations
(nonce-words), vulgarisms
The first group lies nearest to neutral words. They have no stylistic intentions in their use on the
speaker’s part.
The words of the second group have been created on purpose with a view of intentional stylistic
degradation.
The lowest place is taken by vulgarisms i.e. words which due to their indecency are scarcely
admissible in civilized community.
Colloquial words are words with a tinge of familiarity and in officially about them. There is nothing
ethically improper about them. But they cannot be used in official forms of speech. To colloquialism
can be referred:
 colloquialisms proper ( colloquial substitutes of neutral words), e.g. young man - fellow - chap...
phonetic variants of neutral words fellow-fella
diminutives of neutral words and proper names bird-birdy
words whose primary meaning refer them to neutral words while their figurative meaning places
them outside the neutral field, making them lightly colloquial e.g. spoon
most interjections belong to colloquial sphere.

Jargon words appear in professional or social groups for the purpose of replacing those words which
already exist in the language.
Jargon words can be subdivided into two groups: Proffesional and social jargonisms.
Professional jargonism are informal substitutes of professional terms. They are used by
representatives of the profession to facilitate communication.
Rightsizing, downsizing - cокращать штат
Strategizing - планировать
high performance culture - результаты работы с высокими показателями
benchmarks - вехи этапы и критерии.
That secretary is good at multitasking. She can answer the phone while she is working on the email
and puttiing new entries into her boss’s calendar.
When you are on the phone with the client, you need to be mindful and keep focusing on the
conversation, not checking the prices our stocks and bonds.
The boss thinks we need to spend more quality time with our dutch clients
Social jargonism are made up of words relevant for represantatives of the given social group with
common interests. (I-also-beling-to-this-group function)
Cant - secret languange of the underworld. The only reason it appeared is striving to secrecy.
Slang - the part of vocabulary made by commonly understood and widely used words and
expressions, intentional substitutes of neutral and elevated words and expressions.
Cockney - Rhyming slang, although there are exceptions.
Nonce-words are chance words, occasional words created for the given occasion by analogy with
existing words by means of affixation, composition, conversion etc. Such words produce humorous
effects and disappear completely.
There was a balconyful of people.
Vulgar words considered offensive for polite usage. two groups:
lexical vulgarisms - express ideas considered unmentionable.
stylistic vulgarisms - words whoose lexical meanings have nothing indecent about them but their
stylistic value express derogatory attitude of the speaker towards the object of speech.
Dialect words show the social and geographical standing of the speaker.

15. Style. Syntactical expressive means

Syntax deals with the patterns of word arrangement and formulates roles for correct sentence
building. Sometimes a need arises to intensify the utterance and the normative structures are replaced by
what is traditionally called rhetorical figures, figures of speech or syntactical stylistic devices. Patterns
of such devices are well-known and they are systematised according to some principles. For example,
I.R Galperin singles out the following principles: 1) compositional patterns of syntactical arrangement,
2) peculiar linkage, 3) particular use of colloquial constructions, 4) stylistic use of structural meaning.
Inversion (stylistic)(инверсия) is a syntactical stylistic device in which the direct word order is
changed either completely so that the predicate precedes the subject (complete inversion), or partially so
that the object precedes the subject-predicate pair (partial inversion)
Example: Of all my old association, of all my old pursuits and hopes, of all the living and the dead
world, this one poor soul alone comes natural to me. (Ch.Dickens)
Detachment – a stylistic device based on singling out a secondary member of the sentence with the
help of punctuation (intonation)
Example: I have to beg you nearly killed, ingloriously, in a jeep accident. (I.Shaw)
Ellipsis is such a syntactic structure in which there is a deliberate omission of one or more words in
the sentence for some stylistic purposes, i.e. there is no subject, or predicate, or both. The main parts of
elliptical sentences are omitted by the speaker intentionally in cases when they are semantically
redundant. To make the sentence grammatically complete the words are to be supplied.
It is a typical feature of the spoken language so in direct intercourse elliptical sentences can not be
viewed as stylistic devices. But in the written language, in literature, they are used as a means of
imitating real speech to achieve some stylistic effect. Ellipsis makes speech dynamic, informative and
unofficial.
E.g., Then suddenly he was struck violently. By nothing! (H.Wells. The Invisible Man).
A nominative (nominal) sentence is a variant of one-member structures: it has neither subject nor
predicate. It is called nominative or nominal because its basic (head) component is a noun or a noun-like
element (gerund, numeral).
There are such structural types of nominative sentences as:
1. Unextended nominative sentences consisting of a single element:
Morning. April. Problems.
2. Extended nominative sentences consisting of the basic component and one or more words
modifying it, e.g., Nice morning. Late April. Horribly great problems.
3. Multicomponent nominative sentences containing two or more basic elements, e.g.,
Late April and horribly great problems.
A sequence of nominative sentences makes for dynamic description of events. Sets of nominative
sentences are used to expressively depict the time of the action, the place of the action, the attendant
circumstances of the action, the participants of the action.
Aposiopesis (break-in-the-narrative), like ellipsis, is also realized through incompleteness of
sentence structure, though this incompleteness is of different structural and semantic nature: it appears
when the speaker is unwilling to proceed and breaks off his narration abruptly:
If you go on like this...
The information implied by aposiopesis is usually clear in communicative situation. Break-in-the-
narrative expresses such modal meanings as threat, warning, doubt, indecision, excitement, and promise.
Stylistic repetition of language units in speech (separate words, word-combinations or sentences) is
one of the most frequent and potent stylistic devices. As an expressive language means, repetition serves
to emphasize the state of a personage overcome by strong emotions. As a stylistic device it is used to lay
logical emphasis and draw the reader’s attention to something very important in the utterance. E.g., I
wake up and I’m alone; I walk round and I’m alone; and I talk with people and I’m alone. There are
such structural types of repetition as:
1. Consecutive contact repetition of sentence parts and separate sentences:
( ordinary) aa …, a …; a, … aaa
 І am weary, weary, weary of the whole thing!
2. Anaphora. The repeated word or word-combination is at the beginning of each consecutive
syntactic structure: a …., a …., a ….,
Victory is what we need. Victory is what we expect.
3. Epiphora. The repeated unit is placed at the end of each consecutive syntactic structure ….. a, ….
a, …. a,
It is natural to be scared in a case like that. You are sure to be petrified in a case like that.
Prolepsis is repetition of the noun subject in the form of a personal pronoun. The stylistic purpose of
this device is to emphasize the subject, to make it more conspicuous. E.g.: «Miss Tillie Webster, she
slept forty days and nights without waking up» (O'Henry).
Prolepsis is especially typical of uncultivated speech: «Bolivar, he's plenty tired, and he can't carry
double»
Polysyndeton. Stylistic significance is inherent in the intentional recurrence of form-words, for the
most part conjunctions. The repetition of the conjunction and underlines close connection of the
successive statements, e.g.: «It (the tent) is soaked and heavy, and it flogs about, and tumbles down on
you, and clings round your head, and makes you mad» (Jerome).
Occasionally, it may create a general impression of solemnity, probably, due to certain association
with the style of the Bible. E.g.: «And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and
beat upon the house; and it fell; and great was the fall of it» (Matthew).
The conjunction and is extremely often used in colloquial speech, where it is not a stylistic device but
mere pleonasm caused by the poverty of the speaker's vocabulary.

16. Stylistics as a science

Stylistics is a branch of linguistics which studies the system of styles of a language, describes norms
and ways of using literary language in different situations of communication, in various types and
genres of written speech, in different spheres of life. The aim of stylistics is to help the reader to get
more information from the language means used in speech, to receive aesthetic pleasure while reading.
Style – is a product of individual choices and the patterns of choices among linguistic possibilities.
Style – is a set of characteristics by which we distinguish one author from another.
Style is regarded as something that belongs exclusively to the plane of expression and not to the
plane of content.
Norm – is an invariant, which should embrace all variable phonemic, morphological, lexical, and
syntactic patterns with their typical properties circulating in the language at a definite period of time.
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex
systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The
word "language" has at least two basic meanings: language as a general concept, and "a language" (a
specific linguistic system, e.g. "French"). In French, the language used by Ferdinand de Saussure who
first explicitly formulated the distinction, uses the word language for language as a concept and langue
as the specific instance of language.
Speech is the vocalized form of human communication. It is based upon the syntactic combination of
lexicals and names that are drawn from very large (usually to about 10,000 different words)
vocabularies. Each spoken word is created out of the phonetic combination of a limited set of vowel and
consonant speech sound units.
A text, within literary theory, is a coherent set of symbols that transmits some kind of informative
message.[citation needed] This set of symbols is considered in terms of the informative message's
content, rather than in terms of its physical form or the medium in which it is represented. In the most
basic terms established by structuralist criticism, therefore, a "text" is any object that can be "read,"
whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or
styles of clothing.
Sublanguage is a subvariety of language used in a particular field or by a particular social group and
characterized especially by distinctive vocabulary.

17. Phonetic expressive means

Euphony (assonance) – smooth and pleasant effect, sense of ease and comfort in pronouncing or
hearing: silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain (E.Poe);
Cacophony (dissonance) – a sense of strain and discomfort in pronouncing or hearing: Nor soul
helps flesh now more that flesh helps soul (R.Browning).
Alliteration – repetition of similar consonant sounds at the beginning of words or stressed syllables.
Function: to impart a melodic effect, to serve as a musical accompaniment. Example: Peter Piper picked
a peck of pickled pepper.
Paronomasia – phonetic stylistic device which exists in cooccurence of paronyms. 2 words which
are semantically incompatible due to proximity of phonetic image and positional closeness become
contextually connected and charged with one another’s connotations. These imaginary sense
correlations result in paronymic attraction (raven – never, politics – poultry). Paronyms – words similar
in sound but different in meaning (affect-effect).
Paonymic attraction (acc. to Minaeva) – 3 manifestations:
pun – play upon words (The growing British empire – some called it Brutish empire…);
malapropism – misuse of bookish, literary words to sound more knowledgeable (I’m quite analyzed
(=paralyzed) for my part); L. Caroll (antipathies – the antipodes (a jocular word used to refer to
Australia and New Zealand);
folk etymology (false, children) – These gentlemen are legatees… - Sammy is a leg-at-ease (Stand at
ease!).
It is not confined to imaginative prose writing and children’s literature. It can be used in the
following spheres:
in advertising (Armani mania. From sensible to sensational).
in newspaper headlines (Good Cooks and Old Books);
in scientific writing (a writer adopts and adapts new derivatives).
Paronymic attraction enables the writer to pass on some extra, purely aesthetic information to convey
euphonic effect.
Graphon is graphical fixation of phonetic peculiarities of pronunciation with the violation of the
accepted spelling in order to reflect authentic pronunciation. Can be temporary or permanent.
Temporary graphon is used to reflect pronunciation peculiarities caused by temporary factors:
tender age, intoxicati on, ignorance of the discussed topic, overemotional state, etc. Permanent graphon
– permanent factors – social, territorial, educational status and speech defects (stammer, lisping).
The function of graphon – individualizes the character’s speech, conveys the atmosphere of
authentic live communication.
E.g. sellybrated – celebrated (W.Thackeray) ; peepul – people (S. Lewis)
In written speech, graphon may take different forms:
change of spelling: doubling (N-no!), multiplication (Appeeee Noooooyeeeeer!), hypenhation
(grinning like a c him-pan-zee), s p a c e d l e t t e r s;
change of type of print: italics (You are a baby, Robert), bold type, CAPITALISATION (Help. Help!
HELP!)
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