It was a pleasure to watch the wonderful way in which they worked.

“What”, “why”, “when” and “where” are the words we require quite often when we want to ask questions. (56)

[tw]

A twister of twists,

Once twisted a twist,

And the twist that he twisted,

Was a tree-twisted twist.

Now in twisting this twist,

If a twist should untwist,

The twist that untwisted,

The twist that untwisted

Would untwist the twist. (57)

[r]

Definition. [r] is constrictive, medial, fore-lingual, cacuminal, post-alveolar.

Articulation. 1. The tip of the tongue is held in a position near to but not touching the back of the alveolar ridge, the front part of the tongue is low and the back is rather high so that the tongue has a curved shape (cacuminal articulation).

2. The position of the lips is determined by that of the following vowel.

3. The soft palate is raised and the air flows quietly between the tip of the tongue, and the palate. 4. The vocal cords vibrate.

Recommendations. 1.Put the tip of the tongue against the back of the alveolar ridge without touch­ing it. If you touch the alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue there will be a firm contact between them and the resulting sound is [1] but not [r]. Remember that [r] is a purely gliding sound with no sudden change, eg light — right, low — row, lock — rock.

3. Keep the lips in the position for the following vowel, eg reach (spread lips), root (rounded lips).

4. Push the air through the mouth so that you could hear a smooth glide.

If you still find it difficult to pronounce the sonorant [r], try approaching it from the Russian sound [ж]. Get the speech organs ready for [ж]. Pronounce a long sound [ж], eg [жжж]. Now curl the tip of the tongue back behind the alveolar ridge and make the air passage wider than for the Russian [ж]. If the tip of the tongue does not vibrate you get the English sonorant [r].

Allophones. 1. After [θ, ð ] a single tap [r] is heard, which is formed by the tip of the tongue on the alveolar ridge, eg three, with respect.

2. After voiceless consonants [r] is devoiced. The position of \ the tongue is the same but the air stream is pushed through the passage between the tip of the tongue and the hard palate, causing some friction, eg pray, proud, prime, tree, try, tram, cream, cry, cruel.

Possible Mistakes. 1. Russian learners often replace the Eng­lish post-alveolar sonorant [r] by the Russian alveolar rolled [p]. To avoid this mistake they should move the tip of the tongue to the back of the alveolar ridge and keep it tense at some distance from it so that no tapping of the tongue could be made when the air goes through the passage. They should try to pronounce the English sonorant [r] starting from the Russian sound [ж].

2. Not to pronounce the palatalized sound [p'] students should keep the front part of the tongue low.

3. Learners should not be misled by the spelling into pro­nouncing post-vocalic letter " r". In words such as star, arm, harm, etc the " r" -letter is used to show the length of the preced­ing vowel, and in beer, poor, here, etc as a sign of the [ə ] element of the diphthong. In connected speech the final " r" gives the so-called linking [r], eg poor old man.

4. Sometimes learners of English insert the so-called 'intru­sive' [r] when there is no letter " r" in the spelling, eg Africa and Asia. Russian learners are not recommended to do it.

[r]

High roller.

Low roller.

Lower a roller. (58)

Those red rose are really very pretty. (59)

The real reason is really rather curious. (60)

Harris rarely reads literary review. (61)

A truly rural frugal ruler’s mural. (62)

Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran. (63)

Weak writers want white ruled writing paper. (64)

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry. (65)

How many berries could a bare berry carry,

If a bare berry could carry berries?

Well they can't carry berries

(Which could make you very wary)

But a bare berry carried is more scary! (66)

[j]

Definition. [j] is constrictive, medial, mediolingual, palatal.

Articulation. 1.The front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate.

2. The sides of the tongue are raised and the air goes along the central part of it.

3. The lips are generally neutral or spread.

4. The soft palate is raised and the air escapes through the mouth.

5. The vocal cords are kept together and vibrate.

Recommendations. 1. Keep the lips neutral or slightly spread.

2. Raise the front part of the tongue to voice the hard palate so that the passage could be rather wide and push the air through the mouth. The sound [j] should be short and weak. The tongue glides in the direction of the following vowel. Be careful not to make any friction in the glide.

Allophones. When [j] follows fortis voiceless consonants it is partially devoiced, eg pew, tune, hue.

Possible Mistakes. 1. Russian students of English often re­place the English [j] by the Russian [j]. To avoid this mistake one should remember that the front part of the tongue is not raised too high. The air passage is rather wide and thus no friction is heard, eg yard — яд, yell — ел, yacht — йота.

If it is difficult for the students to pronounce [j] glidelike, they should begin with the position of the English sound [i: J and then move smoothly and quickly to the following vowel, eg yes [ies]. The [i: ] should be very short.

[j]

Excuse me if I refuse, but this suit isn’t suitable. (67)

Yesterday I heard a curious and beautiful new tune. (68)

Don’t argue about the duty, or you’ll make me furious – I know the value of duty. (69)

Unique New York,
You need New York,
You know you need unique New York. (70)