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open vocal tract; no significant constriction of the oral (and
pharyngeal) cavities exists. Therefore, vowels are considered to be

open sounds.

6.4. The articulatory classification of the English consonants

Сonsonants are produced with a significant constriction in the

oral and/or pharyngeal cavities during their production. For
consonants, the airstream from the vocal folds to the lips and

nostrils encounters some type of articulatory obstacle along the

way. Therefore, consonants are considered to be constricted
sounds.For most consonants this constriction occurs along the

sagittal midline of the vocal tract.

6.5 The functional aspect of speech sounds. The phoneme
theory

Speaking about the linguistic function of speech sounds, i. e.
“segments of speech”, we are going to discuss the definitions of

the phoneme, methods used in establishing the phonemic structure
of a language, the system of English phonemes, modifications of

sounds in connected speech. The phoneme is a minimal abstract
linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds

opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish

the meaning of morphemes and words.

6.6 Three aspects and three functions of the phoneme

According to this definition the phoneme is a unity of three

aspects: material, abstract and functional. Phoneme has 3
functions:

1. constitutive (phonemes exist in their material form, speech
sounds constitute morphemes, words, sentences; all of each are

meaningful);

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