CONSONANT PHONEMES FREQUENCY AND PHONOTACTIC MODELS OF MODERN ENGLISH
Journal Title: Науковий вісник Херсонського державного університету. Серія: “Лінгвістика” - Year 2018, Vol 34, Issue 2
Abstract
The article deals with frequency of consonants in the English language and models of their distribution in the word structure. Statistic data of frequency of phonemes are employed in phonemic identification processes in systems of automatic speech recognition, and can also be used in teaching English as a foreign language. Attention to consonants in this article is due to their greater significance in the informative structure of the word and greater stability in the course of historical formation of the English language. The article presents different points of view on the causes of different frequency of both separate consonants and consonantal groups. Reasons for a greater semantic loading of consonants include physical and physiological differences of articulation and recognition of consonants as compared to vowels. The greater stability of consonants is made evident in accelerated speech. But scholars are not unanimous as to which distinctive feature is the most stable under acceleration. Higher frequency of certain consonants in relation to others is also explained by means of the notion of marking in oppositions; however, the principle “the unmarked member of the privative opposition is more common” is not absolute. According to proponents of the theory of sound symbolism differences in frequency of phonemes are due to differences in their phonetic meanings, e.g. on the scale “pleasant-unpleasant”, but the data of phonosemantics are often at variance with the data of consonantal frequency in the English language. Likewise disputable is the criterion of easiness/difficulty of articulation. Thus, determination of the factors affecting consonantal frequency continues to be an actual issue of phonology.
Authors and Affiliations
N. M. Lebedieva, L. L. Tkachenko
Keywords
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