Post on 07-Nov-2014
description
Towards
Better English Pronunciation
Objectives:
Participants will be able to: define the main features of good pronunciation, Improve their implementation of the English sounds
system, Identify problems of English sounds, Select and implement teaching techniques to teach
good pronunciation, Demonstrate recognition/production drills with
problem sounds, Implement appropriate pronunciation correction
techniques.
Phonetics and Phonology
Phonetics Phonology
Language independent
Study of all soundsPhonetic is different to Phonology in matter that it is
the production of sounds.
Language dependent
Phonology is a subset of phonetics.Phonology, in the other hand refers to the sound systems of a language
Phonemics: narrow study of sounds
Phonetics: broad study of sounds
What is Phonetics?
Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. Articulatory phonetics – how speech sounds
are produced Acoustic phonetics – the transmission and
physical properties of speech sounds Auditory phonetics – perception of speech
sounds Phonetic transcriptions – one sound = one
symbol.
Why do I need to learn Why do I need to learn Phonetics?Phonetics? Phonetics increases your knowledge
in matters of pronunciation. By knowing how languages are
produced you can better your pronunciation.
It facilitates the acquisition of new words.
It helps you to read the dictionary using the correct sounds inscripted in the words.
Task Sheet 1
What are the main features of good Pronunciation?
Features of good Pronunciation
Correct articulation of speech sounds.
Correct stress.
Correct intonation.
Proper pauses.
Task Sheet 2
Why should teachers know how sounds are made?
Can pronunciation written down? What is the term used for written
pronunciation? Do teachers need to know how to read
“written pronunciation”? Why?
Task Sheet 3
Do your teachers/students have pronunciation problems?
What difficulties do they have? What are their problematic English
sounds?
Vowels Diphthongs Consonants
The Points of Articulation
11
22
44
33
66
99
1111
77
1010
55
88
1212
1313
1.1. Nasal CavityNasal Cavity
2.2. Oral CavityOral Cavity
3.3. LipsLips
4.4. TeethTeeth
5.5. Alveolar ridgeAlveolar ridge
6.6. Hard palateHard palate
7.7. Soft palateSoft palate
8.8. Tip of the Tip of the tonguetongue
9.9. Blade of the Blade of the tonguetongue
10.10. Back of the Back of the tonguetongue
11.11. EpiglottisEpiglottis
12.12. Vocal foldsVocal folds
13.13. PharinxPharinx
The Articulators
You should know:
Segmental (vowels – diphthongs – consonants )
Suprasegmental
( Intonation – Stress – Length)
word sentence
Segmental
Individual sounds
Includes tongue height and advancement, manner and place of articulation, lip rounding, etc.
Can be identified by viewing a single segment
Suprasegmental
Supra- means ‘over’ or ‘above’ These are things that “ride on top of”
individual sounds Include length, intonation, tone, and stress Almost impossible to identify in single
segment
Suprasegmentals ! What are those? Length
High vowels shorter than low vowels Voiceless consonants longer than voiced consonants Voiceless fricatives longest Length is influenced by the surrounding sounds
Tone Can change meaning in some languages (like Chinese)
Stress Stressed syllables more prominent than unstressed
ones Stressed syllables usually contain tense vowels Stressed syllables are often longer Unstressed syllables reduce vowel
Intonation Rising and falling intonation can change meaning
Segmentals ! What are those?
Vowels
Vowels are all made in the mouth (place), with little or no air flow constriction (manner) and are always voiced in English
So the system that describes vowels does so in terms 3 characteristics: tongue placement tongue height lip rounding
Diphthongs
Smooth glide from one vowel position to another as /au/ in now also made up of 2 vowels as /ou/, /oi/
Major /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /aʊ/
Minor (if at all) /eɪ/ /oʊ/
Consonants
The descriptions of the sounds we call consonants are based on the human articulatory system (lungs to pump air in and out, vocal folds, oral cavity including tongue and lips, and nasal cavity).
Consonants are described using 3 characteristics: vocal quality (voiced/voiceless) point of articulation manner of articulation النطق
How to distinguish phonemes?
Place of articulationEx. /p/ VS /t/
pop VS top Manner of articulation
Ex. /b/ VS /m/Bob VS mob
VoicingEx. /s/ VS /z/
Sue VS zoo
Minimal Pairs and Minimal SetsMinimal Pairs and Minimal Sets
Sometimes listening activities are complicated because of the minimal pairs. MPs are two word that just differ in one phoneme. Some of them are very similar in pronunciation and context helps a lot to identify what word they are referring to:
Sheep-ship Sheet-shit Bet-bat Soup-soap
Minimal Pairs and Minimal SetsMinimal Pairs and Minimal Sets
A minimal set is a group of words that can be differentiated by changing one phoneme.
Feat, fit, fat, fate, fought, foot. Big, pig, rig, gig, dig, wig
Minimal Pairs
A pair of words that differ by just one phoneme in the same position and have different
meanings.
Ex. sip VS zip
Important Rules
Nouns and adjectives of 2 syllables usually have the stress on the first syllable.
As: father, happy, window ,children, yellow, lovely
Verbs of 2 syllables usually have the stress on the second syllable.
As:suggest , invite , reply , prepare , decide , agree
Words borrowed from other languages usually have the stress on the last syllable.
As:cassette , shampoo , degree , refugee Words with many syllables usually have the
stress on the syllable before the last.
As: information , accommodation , photographic ,terrific
Nouns usually have the stress on the first syllable
Verbs usually have the stress on the second syllable
There are many exceptions to all these guidelines.
A very common exception is report
,it is the same in both the noun and verb form and the stress is on the second part , result is another exception.
Nouns: record , object , produce , import
Verbs: record , object , produce , import