Курсовая работа: The comparative typology of English, Russian and Uzbek languages

From the point of view of articulation vowels are speech sound in the production of which there are no noise producing obstructions. The obstructions by means of which vowels are formed may be of two kinds:

1) The fourth obstruction without which neither vowels nor voiced consonants are formed.

2) The third obstruction characteristic of both: English and Uzbek vowels.

The channels formed in the mouth cavity for vowel production by moving a certain part of the tongue and keeping the lips in a certain position cannot be regarded as obstructions. They change the shape and volume of the resonance chamber, and in this way, help to achieve the timbre (or quality) of voice, characteristic of the vowel in question.

In modern English we distinguish 21 vowel phonemes:

10. monophthongs [e, i, u, æ α:, c, c:, ۸,]ə, ə:]

9. Diphthongs [ei, ai, au, æ i, əi,]

In modern Uzbek we find 6 vowel letters and corresponding vowel phonemes [a, o, y, (e, э) i(и)]

The main principles of classifying the vowel phonemes are as-follows: a) according to the part (place of – articulation or horizontal movement) of the tongue; b) according to the height (vertical movement) of the long; c) according to the position of lips; d) according to quality (length) of vowels.

1. according to the part (horizontal movement) of the tongue vowel may be divided into;

central [ə: ə], front [i:, i, e, æ,] and back [a, u, æ, u, α:, æ:] vowels.

2. according to the height of the tongue into: close (high) [i:], [u:] medial [e, ə: ə, ¬] and open [æ, α:, æ:, æ] vowels

In the languages, in which hot only the quality but also quantity of vowels is of certain phonemic or positional value, one more subdivision appears.

3. according to vowel length th vowels may be divided into short; [i, ə, u, æ, ¬,] and long [i: ə: u: æ: α:] vowels. (In this case it belongs only to the English vowels as far as in Uzbek the length of the vowel is of no importance).

4. according to the position of lips vowels may be; rounded (or labilialized)

[u:, u: ۸,c c,] and unrrounded (non-labialized) [e, ə: ə, æ] vowels.

5. we may also subdivide vowels according to their tensely or laxity into: lax

[i, c, e, ۸, ə, ə, æ] and tense [i: u: ə: æ: α:] vowels.

Vowel quality, vowel length and the position of the lips are denoted in the classification by transcription symbols of the phoneme itself. For instance [α:] is a long diphthongized vowel phoneme, pronounced with lips unrounded and [æ:] is a rounded long diphthongized vowel, while [۸] and [e] are an unrounded monophthongs. The first and the second principles constitute the basis of any vowel classification. They were firs suggested by H. Sweet (1898).

1.3 Comparative vowel table

The first comparative vowel tables appeared in the 19th-century. Their aim was to prove the common origin of some two modern languages belonging to the same family. In the 1920s of the XX century Prof. D. Jones suggested a classification based on the principle of the so called «cardinal vowels». But these cardinal vowels are abstract notion and have nothing to do with the comparison of two language from the typological viewpoint.

The aim of our comparison is pedagogical. Every phoneme of the English language should be compared with the' Uzbek vowels as comparison of an unknown language phoneme with that of one's mother tongue is of great use. The aim of our comparison (does not need any universal principle) and is to underline the specific features of vowel formation in the two languages in question. The tables of English vowels (accepted in our country) are based on the principles of acad. L.V. Sherba's vowel classification, later on prof. G.P. Torsueva’s and prof. V.AVasiljev's classification.

1. According to the position of the tongue in the horizontal plane English vowels are divided into 3 groups: close, medial, and open. Each of them is subdivided into: narrow and broad.

2. According to the part of the tongue: front, – front – retracted, mixed, back advanced and back.

In comparing the English and Uzbek vowel systems one more principle should be accepted – central vowels must be divided into: l) central proper and central retracted.

Comparison shows, that:

1. the Uzbek [a] should be classified as broad open central retracted vowel

2. the neutral vowel [ə] in English was pronounced by – the English speakers examined as a broad medial, central retracted vowel.

3. the English [۸] was pronounced as an open narrow, central retracted vowel (evidently thanks to the new tendency to make it less back).