UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL MAYOR DE SAN MARCOS Universidad del Perú, DECANA DE AMÉRICA
FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera
FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Yony Cárdenas Cornelio
FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN DECANO Dr. Carlos Barriga Hernández DIRECTORA ACADÉMICA Dra. Elsa Barrientos Jiménez DIRECTOR ADMINISTRATIVO Prof. Enrique Pérez Zevallos PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES SIN TÍTULO PEDAGÓGICO EN LENGUA EXTRANJERA DIRECTORA Mg. María Emperatriz Escalante López COMITÉ DIRECTIVO Dra. Edith Reyes de Rojas Lic. Walter Gutiérrez Gutiérrez
Yoni Cárdenas Cornelio Fonética y Fonología del Inglés II Serie: Textos para el Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera Primera edición Lima, febrero de 2009 ©
Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera Facultad de Educación, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos Av. Germán Amézaga s/n. Lima 1, Ciudad Universitaria UNMSM - Pabellón Administrativo de la Facultad de Educación 2.º piso, oficina 203 Teléfono: 619-7000 anexos 3021, 3022 / E-mail: prog_idiomas_edu@unmsm.edu.pe Website: www.unmsm.edu.pe/educacion/licenciatura/index.htm
Ilustración de carátula: David A. Villanueva Diseño, diagramación e impresión: Centro de Producción Editorial e Imprenta de la UNMSM Este libro es propiedad del Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera de la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Ninguna parte de este libro puede ser reproducida o utilizada por cualquier medio, sea éste electrónico, mecánico o cualquier otro medio inventado, sin permiso por escrito de los editores.
Table of contents
INTRODUCTION.
7
Acknowledgments.
8
English vowels and consonants (Review).
9
UNIT I Phonological processes 1.1. Assimilation.
15
1.2. Elision.
19
1.3. Dissimilation.
23
1.4. Insertion or epenphesis.
23
1.5. Neutralization.
24
1.6. Gemination.
24
ACTIVITY.
28 UNIT II
Stress, word stress, stressed syllable, sentence stress and English rhythm 2.1. Word stress.
33
2.2. Types of stress.
33
2.3. Word stress in English.
34
2.4. Importance of word stress.
35
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
2.5. Rules of word stress in English.
36
2.6. Syllable stress.
45
2.7. Sentence stress.
47
2.8. Sentence rhythm.
52
ACTIVITY.
57 UNIT III Connected speech
3.1. Assimilation.
61
3.2. Compounds and phrases.
67
3.3. Double consonant sounds.
68
3.4. Double consonants letters.
67
3.5. Elision.
69
3.6. R Liaison.
71
3.7. Stress shift.
71
3.8. T-voicing.
72
3.9. Weak forms.
73
3.10. Weak vowels.
75
3.11. Word linking.
76
ACTIVITY.
80 UNIT IV Suprasegmental Phonology
4.1. Prosodic features: intonation, stress, tone, pitch and length
85
4.2. Kinds of intonation by Mimi Ponsonby
94
4.2.1. Intonation 1: The rising-falling pattern (Statements, Wh-question).
94
4.2.2. Intonation 2: The falling-rising pattern (Yes / No question, request for repetition, greetings).
97
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
4.2.3. Intonation 3: Combined patterns (pausing in the middle, lists, doubt, apology, etc). 100 4.2.4. Intonation 4: Tag questions.
103
4.2.5. Weak forms, linking and elision (Review 1).
106
4.2.6. Weak forms, linking, tag question, intonation, syllable stress and rhythm (Review 2).
108
4.2.7. Stress, consecutive stress, the shifting tonic, linking, elision, weak forms (Review 3).
111
4.2.8. Rhythm and jingles. American light verse: A contemporary selection. 114 ACTIVITY.
130 UNIT V The english syllable
5.1. Definition.
135
5.2. Kinds of syllable in the process of syllabification.
135
5.3. The structure of the syllabe (by Turncer Cam).
136
5.4. Kinds of syllabes according to its structure.
137
5.5. Syllabification.
137
5.6. Rules for phonetic syllabification.
138
5.7. Rules for ortographic syllabification.
142
5.8. Diphthongs.
142
5.9. Crescendo diphthongs.
147
5.10. Syllabic consonants.
147
5.11. Articulation.
148
5.12. Co articulation.
149
5.13. Breaking.
149
ACTIVITY.
151
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
UNIT VI Selected reading 6.1. Global english and the teaching of pronunciation.
155
6.2. Rhythm.
158
6.3. Developing pronunciation through songs.
162
6.4. Teaching the schwa.
168
6.5. Intonation.
171
6.6. Word stress.
175
6.7. Connected speech (1 and 2).
180
6.8. English sentence stress.
188
6.9. Integrating pronunciation into classroom activities.
191
6.10. Teaching pronunciation with phonemic symbols.
195
6.11. Pronunciation chart activities.
199
6.12. Practicing pronunciation through proverbs.
204
KEY.
207
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
225
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Introduction
This book aims at deepening the study of English Phonetics and Phonology focusing on suprasegmental aspects of the language, phonological processes and application of the theory in the classroom, in order to help teachers to speak with appropriate stress and intonation and avoid being misunderstood.. In this anthology we have selected burning and attractive articles written by different authors, all of them, well known all over the world. Among these articles, we have included phonological processes such as assimilation, elision, epenthesis or insertion, neutralization, germination and other important processes considered in language learning. Word stress, types of stress, importance of word stress, sentence stress and rules for stressing correctly were considered in the second unit. Different aspects such as elision, linking, assimilation, R liaison, stress shift, T voicing and weak forms, all of them connected with spoken language were considered in the third unit. In the fourth unit we have considered basic information about suprasegmental phonology (intonation, stress, tone pitch and length), then we concentrated on kinds of intonation with lots of exercises, following mainly ideas found the book “How now, Brown cow?, Written by Mimi Ponsonby. In the fifth unit we have considered the study of the English syllable, its structure and some rules for syllabification. We have also developed important aspects related diphthongs, syllabic consonants, articulation and co articulation among others. Finally, in the sixth unit, we have considered basic and interesting reading materials for deepening what we have been doing in the earlier chapters. Most of these articles in chapter sixth are owned by the British Council BBC and they were first published on the http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/tink/ articles website. Global English, Intonation, connected speech and rhythm are some of these interesting materials that are used free of charge. Other important websites were also used to prepare this anthology and they are at the end of each unit and in the bibliography at the end of the book. YONY CĂ RDENAS CORNELIO
Acknowledgements
First and foremost our thanks to our dear students from the specialty of English who took the course of English Phonetics and Phonology at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, classes of 96, 97 and 98, 99 regular and upgrading courses. They were the ones who in a way made us think that something else was needed in the course and this book is the result of it, completing the practical aspect of the course. At the same time I would like to give my deepest recognition to Peter Roach, Mimi Ponsonby, Anne Baker, Joanne Kenworthy, Scott Thornbury, Michael Vaughan-Rees, Adrian Underhill, Daniel Jones (“English Pronunciation Dictionary”, 91), J C Wells (“Longman Pronunciation Dictionary”, 90), among others, for providing us clear theory on this matter, and that allowed us to complete with the practical aspect of the course, making it comprehensible and easy to be understood. We would also like to thank our friends Carmen Caceda Cordoba, a colleague of mine from whom I have learned to become a dedicated professional in ELT, to the seniorest of all, Rosalyn Hurst, my English trainer, who is always clarifying our doubts, to David Villanueva for always being ready to solve our computer illiteracy, as well as for being in charge of the correction. To our families, especially my husband Mr. Alfredo Villanueva for not complaining and understanding the work even during holidays, to our friends who can not be mentioned individually but who are always with us being sources of ideas. Last but not least, to our university for supporting us in the developing of this book as a way to improve the professional development of the ELT in Peru. We also want to thank University of San Marcos professors Dr. Gustavo Solís Fonseca, Dr. Félix Quesada and Dr. Aída Mendoza Cuba, and professors Ricardo Floyd P., Angélika Marsch and Andrés Easthouse from Universidad de Lima from whom we have learned a lot in the summer courses. Special thanks to Mrs. Maria Escalante López, Director of the Foreign Language School for giving us the chance of organising, reviewing, designing and redesigning this specialised book, which is going to help English Teachers in the Program of Lisenced of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Education, and National University of San Marcos.
FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
ENGLISH VOWELS AND CONSONANTS (REVIEW) The vowels Long vowels i: a: u: :: ::
sheep far fool horse bird
Short vowels æ
ship hat foot sock (UK) cup
e
The consonants Voiced b book
Voiceless p pen
d
day
t
town
g
give
k
cat
v
very
f
fish
ð
the
think
z
zoo
s
say
vision
she
jump
cheese
l
look
r
run
j
yes
w
we
m
moon
n
name
ŋ
sing
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head above mother (US) worm (US)
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Diphthongs e
day
a
eye boy
a mouth nose (UK) o e
nose (US) ear (UK) hair (UK) pure (UK)
Other symbols h ~ i ţ u
/’hænd/ hand ~ /’kwæs./ croissant (UK) /’hæp.’i/ happy /’bţ./ butter (US) /,n.flu’en.z/ influenza /’lt./ little
l, m, n can be pronounced either: l or , etc.:
r
<>
/’le.bl/ = /’le.bl/ or /’le.b/ linking r is pronounced only before a vowel in British English: f:r: f:ræp.z four : four apples
’
Main stress
/,ek.spek’ten/
expectation
,
secondary stress
/,ri:’tel/
retell
.
syllable division
/’ss.tm/
system
Source: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/help/phonetics.ht
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Before we star with our course, it is necessary to review the basic consonant and vowel charts. Table 1 Point of Articulation
Manner of Articulation
Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Alveopalatal Velar
Stops
Voiceless Voiced
/p/ /b/
.
.
/t/ /d/
.
/k/ /g/
Fricatives
Voiceless Voiced
.
/f/ /v/
/q/ /ð/
/s/ /z/
// //
/h/
Affricates
Voiceless Voiced
.
.
.
.
// //
Nasals
/m/
.
.
/n/
.
/ŋ/
Lateral
.
.
.
/l/
.
.
Semivowels
/w/
.
.
/r/
/j/
.
Table 2. Modern English Vowels. Vowels Front
Diphthongs
Central
Back
/i:/
/u:/
High
/i/
Mid
/e/
Low
// // /æ/
//
/a:/
ear
/a/
fly
/e/
air
//
boy
// insure /:/
/:/
//
/e/
way
// go /a/
now
// (Rogers, 2000)
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UNIT I
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES OBJECTIVES 1. Be aware of the principal phonological processes of assimilation and elision. 2. Understand the processes of dissimilation, epenthesis or insertion behind the connected speech. 3. Understand the process of neutralization and germination. 4. Have an overview about other phonological processes. 5. Apply these rules into the exercises to understand the processes.
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES There are different kinds of processes in all languages, but the most relevant in English and for language teachers are:
Assimilation /,sm.’le.n/ Colleen Richey establishes (97) that assimilation is a phonological process where a phone becomes similar to a nearby phone. It is found in all languages which cause speech sounds to be modified in a way which makes them more similar to their neighbours. A well-known example is that of English alveolar consonants such as /t, d, n/ which, when they are followed by a consonant which does not have alveolar place of articulation, tend to adopt the place of articulation of the following consonant. Let’s take a look at the English prefix {–in} [m]
[n]
[ŋ]
I[m]potent
i[n]direct
i[ŋ]conclusive
I[m]partial
i[n]dependent
i[ŋ]considerate
I[m]possible
i[n]tolerance
i[ŋ]correct
I[m]practical
i[n]sufferable
i[ŋ]complete
I[m]mature
i[n]sufficient
i[n]convenient
The nasal in the prefix in- has the same place of articulation as the following consonant: [ m ] before
[p, b, m]
(bilabials)
[ n ] before
[t, d, s]
(alveolars)
[ ŋ ] before
[k, g]
(velars)
We say: the nasal assimilates in place of articulation to the following consonant. Consider the following data: I[ n ] advisable
i[ n ]take
I[ n ]animate
i[ n ]direct
I[ n ]ordinate
i[ n ]secure
Based on these data, [in] occurs in the most environments: before vowels, t, d, and s. Therefore, we want to say that the underlying form of the prefix is /n/
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
/n/
→
[m] / ___ bilabial consonants
→
[ŋ] / ___ velar consonants
→
[n] elsewhere
1.1.1. Direction of assimilation Assimilation is type of co articulation. It is the alteration of a speech sound to make it more similar to its neighbours. Assimilation, then, is concerned with one sound becoming phonetically similar to an adjacent sound. A. There are two kinds of assimilation Regressive assimilation. When the assimilation is backward, then the phone assimilates to a preceding phone, this is, one segment influences another that precedes it. The sound that changes is called the assimilated sound or the target. The sound that causes the change is called the conditioning sound or trigger. Two sounds that have the same place or articulation are called homorganic. Assimilated sound
←
Conditioning sound
/p/
/b/
‘football’ /ft.b:l/
→
/fp.b:l/
1. Thus the /t/ at the end of the ‘foot’ /ft/ change to /p/ when followed by /b/ in the word ‘football’, giving the pronunciation /fp.b:l/ . ‘football’
/ft.b:l/
→
/fp. b:l/
/t/
→
/p/ / - bilabial sounds
/t/ assimilates to /p/ before bilabial sounds. Let’s see some regressive assimilation processes: 2. A similar case is the assimilation of /s/ to a following // or /j/, resulting in the pronunciation of ‘this ship’ as / ð’p/ and this year as / ð’’jr/. This assimilation can be considered to be optional and is called regressive assimilation, this is, and the fricative alveopalatal // is passing its characteristics to the preceding sound phoneme /s/, the same as the continuant alveopalatal /j/. ‘this ship’
/ðsp/
→
/ð’p/
‘this year’
/ðs’jr/
→
/ð’’jr/.
/s/
→
/
[] / -
/s/
→
/
[]
/ -j
The /s/ is assimilated to / / before / / or / j /
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
3. The assimilation of /n/ is a rather special case: many English words begin with the prefixes ‘in-‘ and ‘un-‘, and in a number of cases the /n/ of these prefixes is followed by a consonant which is not alveolar. In some cases it seems to be normal that the /n/ is regularly assimilated to the place of articulation of the following consonants (e.g. ‘inquest’ / iŋ. kwest/), while in others this assimilation is optional (for example: ’incautious’ may be /in’k:.s/ or /iŋ’k:.s/. Where it is clear that the prefix is attached to a word that exists independently, so that prefix and stem are easily separable, the assimilation is normally treated as optional. When it seems more like an integral part of the word, the assimilation is shown as obligatory. See the rules: A) ‘incautious’ can be transcribed as /in’k:.s/ or /iŋ’k:.s/, being the assimilation optional because the prefix and the stem are easily separable. n
→
[ŋ or n]
- k (optional) -g
B) ‘inquest’ / /iŋ. kwest/. The prefix n is an integral part of the word. n
→
[ŋ]
/
- k (obligatory)
In B the assimilation is obligatory because ‘in’ is an integral part of the word “Inquest” /’iŋ.kwest/, that means an official attempt by the court to find out the cause on someone’s death. Source: Daniel Jones, “English Pronunciation dictionary”, 94
4. The alveolar consonants /t, d, n/ when they occur at the end of a word or syllable, can optionally assimilate to the place of articulation of the consonant at the beginning of the next syllable. Thus /n/ can become bilabial m before the bilabials /p, b, m/ as in the examples: ten men
/,te[n] ‘men/
→
/,te[m] ’men/
downbeat
/‘da[n] bi:t/
→
/’da[m] bi:t/
/n/
→
[m] / ___m, b (bilabials) (optional)
5. In the same way d can change to b and g respectively, as in red paint
/,red ’peint /
→
/,reb ’peint/
admit
/d ’mt /
→
/b ’mt/
bad guys
/’bæd ,gaiz/
→
/’bæg ,gaz/
/d/
→
[b]
-p -m
/d/
→
[g] /
-g
It is also possible for t to change to p and k respectively, though a more frequent possibility is for t to be realized as glottal stop when followed by another
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
consonant. / ? /. A glottal voiceless sound produced by the closure of the vocal cords. eight boys /,eit biz/ → t
→
/,ei?biz/ (,eip’biz) ? / - Consonant
6. In the same way s and z can change to and respectively, but only before or j at the beginning of the next syllable. In you, you’re the j may disappear. this shape
/,ðs’ep/
→
[,ð’ep]
these shoes
/,ði:z’u:z/
→
[,ði:’u:z]
unless you…
/,n’lesju/
→
[,n’lesju[
as you see
/,æzju‘si: /
→
[,æu‘si:]
B. Progressive assimilation When assimilation is forward, this is rightward; the assimilation is to a following phone. Conditioning sound
→
Assimilated sound
Assimilation can also operate in the other direction (progressive assimilation); that is, alveolar consonants sometimes assimilate to the place of articulation of the consonants, at the end of the preceding syllable. In English this applies only to syllabic n, changing it to syllabic m or ŋ depending on the place of the preceding plosive. ribbon
/‘rbn/
→
[‘rbm]
(Note that although ribbon /‘rb n/ can also be pronounced /‘ribn/, with a phonetic vowel between the b and n, then, this assimilation can operate only if the two consonants are in direct contact, without any phonetic between them). bacon
/‘beik n/
→
[beikŋ]
up and down
/,p n ‘dan/
→
[,p m ‘dan]
This kind of assimilation cannot apply when the following sound is a vowel. happens
‘hæp nz
→
[‘hæp mz]
happen suddenly
,hæp n ‘sd n li →
happening
[‘hæp n ŋ] (cannot assimilate)
[,hæp m ‘sd n li]
n → m / pMore examples on assimilation 1. Yod coalescence (or coalescent assimilation) is the process which changes t or d plus j into or respectively. Across word boundaries, in standard accents it mainly affects phrases involving you or your.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
let you out
,let ju’at
→
,letu’at
would you try
,wdju’tra
→
,wu’tra
get your bags
,get j: ‘bægz
→
,get:’bægz
2. Within a word, the status of yod coalescence depends on whether the following vowel is strong or weak. -Where the vowel is strong , e, u:, or , yod coalescence can frequently be heard in Be E, although it is not considered standard. In AmE there is usually no j present, so the possibility of assimilation does not arise. tune
tju:n
→
tu:n
endure
n’dj
→
in’
factual
‘f æktjul
→
‘f ækul
educate
‘edjuket
→
‘euket
3. Historically, a process of yod coalescence is the origin of the used by all speakers in words such as nature, and of the in words such as religion. Similarly, yod coalescence involving fricatives ( sj → ; zj → ) explains the in words such as pressure, delicious patient, Russian, and the in words such as measure. For example, delicious d’l s came to English from Latin, via French delicieux delisjo; but the sj coalesced into several centuries ago. /’pre.r, d’l.s, ’pe.nt, ’r.n, me/ Source: Logman Pronunciation dictionary.
1.2. Elision /e’ln/ 1. Elision is the omission (= deletion) of a sound that would otherwise be present. It is particularly characteristic of rapid or casual speech. It is not random, but follows certain rules, which differ from one language to another. Elision, then, is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce. Sometimes, sounds may be elided for euphonic effect. (Pleasant or harmonious sound). English does not often show elision in writing. The elided form of a word or phrase may become a standard alternative for the full form, if used often enough. In English, this is called a contraction, such as can’t from cannot. Contraction differs from elision in that contractions are set forms that have morphologized, but elisions are not. Examples of elision in English.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
comfortable: fifth: him:
/’kftbl/ /’ffθ/ /hm/
→ → →
/’kftbl/ /’fθ/ /m/
laboratory:
/læ’brtri/
→
/’læbrtri/ (American english), /l’brtri/ (British english)
temperature: vegetable:
/’tmprt/ /’vdtbl/
→ →
/’tmpt/, /’tmprt/ /’vdtbl/
A synonym for elision is syncope /sŋ.kp/. This term is most often associated with the elision of vowels between consonants. e.g. Latin tabula
→
Spanish tabla.
e.g. Eng. He has
→
he’s.
The opposite of elision is epenthesis /e’pent.θss/, whereby sounds are inserted into a word to ease pronunciation /i:/. 2. Some types of elision typically occur within a single syllable and therefore within a word and they are represented by transcribing a second pronunciation. In English they include. 2.1. The elision of t in st and of d in nd. Thus lunch /ln/ may be pronounced /ln/ or, less commonly /ln/; strange stren may be /stren/ or, less commonly, /stren/ (Note that in a word such as enjoy /n’/, the consonants are in different syllables and no elision is possible). /ln/ lunch /ln/ /ln/ /estren/ strange /stren/ /stren/ 2.2. The elision of p in mps, of t in nts, and of k in ŋks, ŋkt. Thus jumped mpt may be pronounced mpt, less commonly, /mt/; lynx lŋks may be lŋks or, less commonly, lŋs.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
3. Other types of elision occur only at syllable boundaries. This applies both within words and between words. They include the elision of t and d when surrounded by other consonants, and the elision of before a liquid. 3.1. Elision of a t or d is usually possible when it is preceded by one of certain consonants at the end of a syllable, if the next syllable (or word ) starts with a consonant. Under these conditions t may be elided in ft, st, and less commonly in pt, kt, tt, θt, t; d may be elided in d, nd and less commonly in bd, gd, dd, vd, ðd, zd, md, ŋd. Additionally, t is sometimes elided in the contracted negative-n’t, no matter what kind of sound follows. - Next /nekst/ in isolation, or before a vowel sound, this word is Pronounced /nekst/. But in a phrase such as next thing, next question it is often pronounced /neks/, with elision of the t. -
Stand /stænd/ in Isolation, or before a vowel sound, this word is pronounced stænd. But is a phrase such as stand clear, stand firm it is often pronounced stæn, with elision of the d.
- Didn’t /‘didnt/ When followed by another word in a phrase this word is sometimes pronounced /‘didn/, with elision of the t. 3.2. Elision of the is often (though not always) possible when it is followed by a liquid (= l or r) and then a weak vowel. This has the effect of making the liquid SYLLABIC. unless COMPRESSION also occurs (in which case all trace of the disappears). See the example: -
Camera /‘kæm r / The full form is ‘kæmr. When is elided, in the first instance it makes the r syllabic: ‘kæm r . This is usually compressed to give ‘kæmr. All these possibilities occur.
-
Mother /‘mð/ / r In Br E r is usually inserted at the end of this word when the following word begins with a vowel sound (R-liaison = non-rhothic accents, when r is not pronounced). Hence mother and father becomes /,mðr n ‘fa:ð/. The of mother is now in a elision environment; hence the phrase can also be pronounced /,mð r n ‘fa:ð/. In AmE the full form is /,mðr n ‘fa:ðr/, which can likewise become /,mð rn ‘fa:ðr/ by compression. This compressed form of mother does not occur when the word said is isolation.
4. In casual speech is also sometimes elided in the first syllable of a word in which the second syllable is stressed and begins with a liquid. The initial syllable then undergoes compression. Thus terrific t’rfk sometimes become ‘trfk, or collide k’lad becomes klad.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
The same applies to cases of apparent elision of in some speakers occasional pronunciation of words such as incident ‘n,sdnt, capacity K’pæst, where there usually seems to be a compensatory lengthening of the preceding consonant, given the effect of n’s:dnt , K’pæs:t. 5. Sometimes a pronunciation that was originally the result of elision has become the only possibility for some speakers. Some people have ‘Kæmra as the only pronunciation for camera, or pli:s as the only form for police. For many English people it would feel very artificial to pronounce t in postman ‘psmn. The elision can be: a.
Aphæresis or aphesis (Initial). Pronounced /’frss/, when a consonant is elided at the beginning of a word, as in ‘coon’ for ‘raccoon’ or ‘till’ for ‘until’. It is the loss of one or more sounds from the beginning of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel. [k]nife pronounced /’naf/
b.
a’cute
>
cute
[e]’gyptian
>
gyptian
[a]’mend
>
mend
>
gypsy
Syncope (Medial). Pronounced /‘sŋkp/. The loss of one or more sounds at the interior of a word, especially the loss of an unstressed vowel. postman /‘ps. mn/; o’er for over, heav’n for heaven, ‘fish ‘n’ chips’. 1.
2.
The loss of any sound •
old english hláford
>
english lord
•
english worcester, pronounced [‘wst]
•
english gloucester, pronounced [‘glst]
Syncope in informal speech Various sorts of colloquial reductions might be called “syncope”. Forms such as “didn’t” that are written with an apostrophe are, however, generally called contractions: •
english go[ing t]o
>
gonna
•
english wa[nt t]o
>
wanna
•
english did n[o]t
>
didn’t
•
english do[n’t k]no[w]
>
dunno
•
english I [woul]d [h]ave
>
I’d’ve
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
c.
Apocope (Final). Pronounced /’pkpi/. It is the loss of one or more sounds from the end of a word, and especially the loss of an unstressed vowel. ‘I don’t know’
/I duno/
postman
/‘ps mn/.
1.3. Dissimilation /,dsm.’le.n/ Dissimilation is a phonological process that involves one of two similar or identical sounds within a word becoming less like the other or even disappearing entirely. Because r’s in successive syllables are particularly difficult to pronounce, they frequently dissimilate. One historical example of dissimilation is marble, from French marbre. In this case the second r has dissimilated to l in order to prevent a repetition of the r and ease articulation. marbre
→
marble
Other contemporary examples of dissimilation include enterprise, governor, impropriety, prerogative, surprise, and thermometer, in which there is a tendency for the first r to drop out of the pronunciation resulting in enterprise
[’en.t.praz]
governor
[’gv.n.r]
impropriety
[,im.p-‘pra..t]
prerogative
[p-‘rg..tv]
surprise
[s ‘praz]
thermometer
[θ ‘mm..t]
Note that other consonants besides r may be altered or omitted as a result of dissimilation, such as n in government (‘gv. n. mnt]. Source: The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. http://www.bartleby.com/64/C007/066.html
Dissimilation, then, is a phenomenon whereby similar consonant or vowel sounds in a word becomes less similar. For example, when one /r/ sound occurs before another in the middle of a word in rhotic dialects of English, the first tends to drop out, as in “beserk” for berserk, “supprise” for surprise, “paticular” for particular, and “govenor” for governor (note this doesn’t affect the pronunciation of government, which has only one /r/).
1.4. Insertion or epenthesis /ep’ent.θe.ss, in’s:n/ The epenthesis is the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially to the interior of a word or initial position. (phonetics).
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
It is also defined as the insertion of a phoneme, letter, or syllable into a word, usually to satisfy the phonological constraints of a language or poetic context. I speak english
/a es’pi:k iŋgl/
He is a estudent
/hi:z es’tjudnt/
1.5. Neutralization /,nju:trl.a’ze.n/ Two phonemes (= sounds whose difference has the power of distinguishing words) may, in certain phonetic environments, not be distinguishable. We call this neutralization. 1.5.1. In most environments English /p/ and /b/ are in opposition; that is, they carry a potential difference in meaning. This can be seen in the pair pin /pn/ and bin /bn/, cup /kp/ and cub /kb/. Note, however, that after /s/ the opposition is neutralized (since p here has no ASPIRATION).We conventionally write spin /spn/ phonemically as spn ; but since there is no possible difference between /p/ and /b/ here we could just as well write /sbn/. 1.5.2. One type of neutralization is symbolized explicitly in Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (LPD) by the use of symbols i and u. The opposition between i: and operates in most environments, as seen in green /gri:n/ and grin /grn/, leap /li:p/ and lip /lp/. But there are two environments in which it is neutralized: •
When the vowel is in a WEAK syllable at the end of a word ( or at the end of part of a compound word of the stem) as in happy /’hæp.i/ valley /’væl.i/, babies /‘bebiz/.
•
When the vowel is in a weak syllable before another vowel, as in radiation, /,re. di’e.n/, glorious, /’gl:.ri.s/.
In these positions the traditional Received Pronunciation (Standard English) form is (a short vowel). But in fact some speakers use , some use i: some, use something intermediate or indeterminate, and some use fluctuate between the two possibilities. The Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (LPD) symbol i (a short vowel) reflects this. Similarly, The Longman Pronunciation Dictionary LPD symbol /u/ represents the neutralization of the opposition between u: and . This neutralization is also found in certain other weak syllables, for example in one pronunciation of stimulate /’stm. ju.let/ (also ‘stIm. j. let).
1.6. Gemination /,em.’ne.n/ N (Noun) Doubling, duplication, repetition. Phonetics. the doubling of a consonantal sound. Rhetoric. the immediate repetition of a word, phrase, etc., for rhetorical effect.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Summary of important phonological processes in English: 1. Assimilation /,sm.’le.n/. Sounds becoming more alike. These can be voicing, manner or place. there is usually a conditioning factor and an effected sound. Example: /fp.b:l/. 2. Elision /e’ln/. It is the omission of a segment. It could be: 2.1. Aphæresis: deletion of first segment(s) of a word (initial). Example: around – round. 2.2. Syncope: deletion of segment(s) from the middle of a word or end of the syllable: suppose -- sppose. (medial) 2.3. Apocope: deletion of last segment(s) of a word (final). Example: breakfast – Breakfast. 3. Insertion (epenthesis) /in’s:n, ep’ent.θe.ss/. Inserting segment(s) into a word: example: [straik[ --[estraik]. 4. Neutralization /nutr’lasen/. A contrast that usually exists in a language (like the two vowels in bate and bet) is not realized in certain phonological environments as in this case before /r/. 5. Haplology /hæp’ll. . /. It is defined as the elimination of a syllable when two consecutive identical or similar syllables occur. The phenomenon was identified by American philologist Maurice Bloomfield in the 20th century. Conditions: 1) Syllables are both medial; and 2) The structure of the two syllables is similar. Examples English (colloquial): •
Engla land
>
England
•
particularly
>
particuly
•
pierced-ear earrings
>
pierced earrings
•
probably
>
probly
6. Gemination /emi’ne n/. A segment, vowel or consonant, becomes double long like the /s/ in the phrase Miss Sandy. (Note that if her name were Miss Andie, the /s/ would be shorter). 7. Degemination /demi’ne n/. Two similar neighbouring consonants are reduced to one single consonant, as in ‘immature’: the double /m/ in the spelling is pronounced as a single /m/.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
8. Consonant harmony /’ksnænt ’ha:mn/. One consonant becomes more like another: often exactly alike as in a child saying gog for dog. 9. Denasalization /dnezla’zen/. Removing the feature ‘nasal’ from a segment leaves you with a voiced stop at the same place of articulation. Imagine talking with a stuffy nose. Example: nut -- dut. 10. Devoicing /d’vsŋ/. A voiced segment becomes voiceless. Usually nothing else changes as in ‘vote -- fote. 11. Metathesis /met’æθss/. It is responsible for the most common types of speech errors, such as children acquiring spaghetti as pasghetti, ask as /’æks/. Some other frequent English pronunciations that display metathesis are: /’æks/ for ask (possibly the most common metathesis in English) /’æstrks/ for asterisk /’kmftrbl/ for comfortable /ntr’dju’s/ for introduce /’ntrgl/ for integral /rvlnt/ for relevant 12. Nasalization /nezla’zen/. In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. This usually applies to vowels as in the nasalization of the vowel /a/ in ‘pond’. In the International Phonetic Alphabet nasalization is indicated by printing a tilde above the symbol for the sound to be nasalized: [ã] is the nasalized equivalent of [a], and [ ~v] is the nasalized equivalent of [v]. The nasals consonants can nasalize the vowels. 13. Palatalization /pæltla’zen/. A sound, usually before a /j/ glide but often before a high front vowel, is moved closer to the palat. miss you -- mishu or ‘make Eve -- [mejciv] where [c] is a palatal stop as in ‘keep’. Note that when alveolar stops palatalized, they usually become africates. 14. Spirantization /sparnt’zen/ /n/. Stops become fricatives, usually between vowels. example ata -- asa. Only the manner changes here. Note though that place might also change. Since there is no voiced bilabial fricative in English, when you spirantize a [b] in english you often get [v]. 15. Voicing assimilation /‘vsŋ asimi’le n/. Segment becomes like another usually adjacent segment, in voicing. Example ‘ata’ -- [ada], have to -- hafta. vowel harmony: Rare in English: one vowel becomes more like a nearby vowel. 16. Vowel reduction /’valwl r ‘dk n/. Vowels in unstressed syllables become shwa or similar short lax vowel.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Observe the excercises and the processes in the each one: 1. He estudies english 2. He waited till 7 o’clock 3. They went to the fupbol 4. Sorry, it is asks not aks 5. It is the same to say happi: or happ
Insertion Elision Assimilation Metathesis Neutralization
BIBLIOGRAPHY Wells, J. C. (1997)
Pronunciation dictionary. Essex, Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
Jones Daniels (1997)
English Pronunciation Dictionary. Edited by Peter Roach and James Hartman. CUP.
Anne C. Newton, Editor. (1997)
American light verse: A contemporary selection. English teaching forum, a journal for the teacher of english outside the United Sates. Volumen XV, Number 4.
Underhill, Adrian (1994)
Sound foundations. Oxford, Heineman English Language Teaching.
Cambridge University Press (1995)
International Cambridge dictionary of english. Cambridge University Press.
Cunninghan, Sarah and Bowler, Bill (1991)
Headway upper-intermedial pronunciation. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
(1993)
Headway intermedial pronunciation. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/english/courses/eng718/phonprocesses.html http://www.personal.rdg.ac.uk/~llsroach/phon2/asscoareli-into.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissimilation http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/m/a/mam1034/csd300.phonologicalprocesses.html http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/Table3.htm
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
ACTIVITY 1. Mention some phonological processes and give examples. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ 2. Give the rule for the assimilation process of the English prefix in- . Consider the following examples i[m]practical, i[n]sufferable and i[Ĺ&#x2039;]complete. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ 3. How many kinds of assimilation do we have? Give an example. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 4. What do you understand by elision? Give an example. Why is it important in language learning? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 5. Explain the phonological process of elision. Give some examples. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 6. Mention kinds of elision. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
7. Explain the yod coalescence as a process. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 8. Explain the process of dissimilation. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 9. Explain epenthesis or insertion of one or two sounds in the process of learning English. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 10. What do you understand by neutralization? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 11. What do you understand by elision? Give an example. Why is it important in language learning? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 12. Explain epenthesis or insertion of one or two sounds in the process of learning English. ____________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 13. What do you understand by neutralization? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
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UNIT II
STRESS, STRESSED SYLLABLE, WORD STRESS, SENTENCE STRESS AND ENGLISH RHYTHM OBJECTIVES 1. Recognize the difference among word stress, syllable stress and sentence stress. 2. Recognize types of stress. 3. Be aware of the importance of word stress and sentence stress. 4. Get familiar with rules of word stress in English. 5. Point out the importance of sentence stress and English rhythm.
STRESS, STRESSED SYLLABLE, WORD STRESS, SENTENCE STRESS AND ENGLISH RHYTHM 2.1. Word Stress is phonemic in English, this is the movement of stress in a word from one position to another changes the meaning of the word. For example, the words desert /’dez.t/ and dessert /d.’z:t/ are distinguished by stress, as are the noun a record /’rek.:d/ and the verb to record /r’k:d/. Stressed syllables in English are louder than non-stressed syllables, as well as being longer and having a higher pitch. They also tend to have a fuller realization than unstressed syllables. Examples of stress in English words, using boldface to represent stressed syllables, are holiday, alone, admiration, confidential, degree, and weaker. Ordinarily, grammatical words (auxiliary verbs, prepositions, pronouns, etc.) do not receive stress, whereas content or lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) must have at least one stressed syllable. English is a stress-timed language. That is, stressed syllables appear at a roughly steady tempo (approximately fixed tempo), and non-stressed syllables are shortened to accommodate this. (A) Stress-timed language (Rhythm). See the example.
Taken from http://members.tripod.com/chifenchen/rhythm.htm
2.2. Types of stress Traditional approaches describe English as having three degrees of stress: Primary ( ’ ), secondary ( , ) and unstressed. However, if stress is defined as relative respiratory force (that is, it involves greater pressure from the lungs than unstressed syllables), as most phoneticians argue, and is inherent in the word rather than the sentence (that is, it is lexical rather than prosodic), then these traditional approaches combines two distinct processes:
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
a) Stress on the one hand, and b) vowel reduction on the other. In this case, primary stress is actually prosodic stress, whereas secondary stress is simple stress in some positions, and an unstressed but not reduced vowel in others. Either way, there is a three-way phonemic distinction: Either three degrees of stress, or else stressed, unstressed, and reduced. In languages, such as Russian and English, vowel reduction may occur when a vowel changes from a stressed to an unstressed position. In English, many unstressed vowels reduce to schwa-like vowels, though the details vary with dialect. Unit 2. Practice 1 Degrees of stress Words Janet Elephant Jemina Mississipi
Sentence pattern
∙ ■∙∙ ∙■∙ .∙∙■∙
Stressed and unstressed syllable Janet Elephant JeMina MissiSSipi
Reduced syllable
(The unstressed syllable changes to schwa)
‘ænt / ‘ænt ‘elfnt / ‘elfnt ‘mana / ‘mana/ .mis‘sp / .mis‘sp
When a stressed syllable contains a pure vowel (rather than a diphthong), followed by a single consonant and then another vowel, as in holiday, many native speakers feel that the consonant belongs to the preceding stressed syllable, /’hl..de/. However, when the stressed vowel is a diphthong, as in admiration or weaker, speakers agree that the consonant belongs to the following syllable: /’ædm’ren/. (Phonetically, the vowel in weak is also a diphthong, [ij].)
2.3. Word stress in English The Word Stress in English is the magic key to understanding spoken English. Native speakers of English use word stress naturally. Word stress is so natural for them that they do not even know they use it. Non-native speakers, who speak English to native speakers without using word stress, encounter two problems: 1. They find it difficult to understand native speakers, especially those speaking fast. 2. The native speakers may find it difficult to understand them. To understand word stress helps to understand what syllable is. Every word is made from syllables. Each word has one, two, three or more syllables.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Word
number of syllables dog
dog
green
green
orange table expensive
1
/gri:n/ quite
quite quiet
1
/d g/
/kwá
1
t/
qui-et /’kwa
.
2
t/
or-ange /’or.
2
n
ta-ble
2
/te . b l/ ex-pen-sive /ek. ‘spen.s
v/
3
in-ter-est-ing interesting
/‘ n.tres. t ŋ/
4
(3 in fast speech) realistic unexceptional
re-a-lis-tic ,r . a. ‘l
s. t k
un-ex-cep-tion-al /, n. k.’sep.
n.l/
4 5
Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o, or u) or vowel sound.
2.4. Importance of word stress Word stress is not used in all languages. Some languages, Japanese or French for example, pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-pha-sis. Other languages, English for example, use word stress.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language if you want. It is part of the language! English speakers use word stress to communicate rapidly and accurately, even in difficult conditions. If, for example, you do not hear a word clearly, you can still understand the word because of the position of the stress. Think again about the two words photograph and photographer. Now imagine that you are speaking to somebody by telephone over a very bad line. You cannot hear clearly. In fact, you hear only the first two syllables of one of these words, photo... Which word is it, photograph or photographer? Of course, with word stress you will know immediately which word it is because in reality you will hear either PHOto... or phoTO... So without hearing the whole word, you probably know what the word is ( PHOto...graph or phoTO...grapher). It’s magic! (Of course, you also have the ‘context’ of your conversation to help you.) This is a simple example of how word stress helps us understand English. There are many, many other examples, because we use word stress all the time, without thinking about it. Example: Decide which stress pattern do the words belong to and write it in the space? Unit 2. Practice 2 Stress pattern 1. Manchester 2. Anthony 3. Jemina 4. elephant 5. Morocco 6. Amazon 7. Carpenter 8. happiness
■∙∙
∙■∙
∙∙■
2.5. Rules of word stress in English In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength in one word. We accentuate ONE syllable, this is, we say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables remain very quietly. Let’s take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Shape
Total syllables
Stressed syllable
PHO TO GRAPH
3
#1
PHO TO GRAPH ER
4
#2
PHO TO GRAPH IC
4
#3
This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera. The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Native speakers of English listen carefully for the STRESSED syllables, but not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension. Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the radio or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it! There are two very important rules about word stress: 1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word). 2. The stress is always on a vowel. There are some rules about which syllable to stress. But...the rules are rather complicated! Probably the best way to learn is from experience. Listen carefully to spoken English and try to develop a feeling for the “music” of the language. When you learn a new word, you should also learn its stress pattern. If you keep a vocabulary book, make a note to show which syllable is stressed. If you do not know, you can look in a dictionary. All dictionaries give the phonetic spelling of a word. This is where they show which syllable is stressed, usually with an apostrophe (‘) just before or just after the stressed syllable. (The notes at the front of the dictionary will explain the system used.) Look at this example for the word plastic. There are 2 syllables. Syllable #1 is stressed. Which one is correct?
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Example
Phonetic spelling: dictionary A
Phonetic spelling: dictionary B
/plæs’tik/
/’plæs tik/
PLAS TIC
There are two very simple rules about word stress: 1. One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a “secondary” stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words). 2. We can only stress vowels, not consonants. Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to “feel” the music of the language and to add the stress naturally. Rule 1. Stress on first syllable Rule
Example
Most 2-syllable nouns
PRESent, EXport, CHIna, Table
Most 2-syllable adjectives
PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy
There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or and adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contact and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable (www.englishclubtip.com).
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Unit 2. Practice 3 Pronounce the words and provide the stress appropriately. Import, object, pencil, ruler, lotion, tiger, lemon, mirror and disco. Quickly, rapid, slowly, heavy, silly, bony, early and stormy. Rule 2. Stress on last syllable Rule
Example
Most 2-syllable verbs
To preSENT, to exPORT, to decide, to beGIN
Unit 2. Practice 4 (Stress on last syllable) Word stress. Read the words and pronounce them correctly providing the appropriate stress. relax
produce
skate
destroy
invite
research
depend
assist
survive
intent
repair
return
collect
suggest
prefer
Rule 3. Phonemic stress. There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or and adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contact and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable (www.englishclubtip.com).
Unit 2. Practice 5 Practice the following words that change the meaning by changing only the stress. Stress in the first syllable
Stress in the second syllable
‘Abstract (Adjevtive)
abs’tract (Noun)
‘conduct (Noun)
con’duct (verb)
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
‘contract (noun)
con’tract (verb)
‘contrast (noun)
con’trast (verb)
‘desert (noun)
de’ssert (noun)
‘import (noun)
im’port (verb)
Rule 4. Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end) Rule
Example
Words ending in –ic
GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic
Words ending in –sion and –tion
aTTENtion, revelation
Unit 2. Practice 6 Pronounce the words correctly and provide the right stress in A and B: (penultimate = second from end) A. Ending in ic autographic
autodidactic
acrylic
authentic
autistic
rhythmic
automatic
axiomatic
rubric
barbaric
basic
rustic
boracic
boric
prosodic
B. Ending in -sion and –tion: (penultimate = second from end) -sion
-tion
admission
action
passion
promotion
tension
simulation
permission
deduction
adquisition
relation
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Important note For a few words, native English speakers don’t always ‘agree’ on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsiom and others say TELevison. Another example is CONtroversy and controversy (www. englishclubtip.com). Rule 5. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) Rule
Example
Words ending in –cy, -ty, -phy and –gy
deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, photography, geOLogy
Words ending in –al
CRItical, geoLOGical
Unit 2. Practice 7 A) Pronounce the words ending in –cy correctly and provide the appropriate stress Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)
adequacy
agency
absorbency
accountancy
aristocracy
autocracy
adequacy
advertency
consistency
consonancy
agency
aristocracy
constancy
consultancy
ascendancy
autocracy
competency
conveniency
bureaucracy
clemency
B) Pronounce the words ending in –ty correctly and provide the appropriate stress. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
ability
austerity
bestiality
brutality
abnormality
automaticity
biodiversity
calamity
absorbability
barbarity
bioelectricity
capability
absurdity
bellicosity
biosafety
carnality
audacity
benignity
bisexuality
catholicity
C) Pronounce the words ending in â&#x20AC;&#x201C;phy correctly and provide the adequate stress. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) autography
bibliography
geography
mythography
biography
calligraphy
filmography
oscillography
cardiography
chronography
ethnography
petrography
cosmography
crystallography
idiography
philosophy
encephalography
historiography
mammography
radiography
D) Pronounce the words correctly ending in â&#x20AC;&#x201C;gy correctly and provide the adequate stress. Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)
allergy
analogy
genealogy
laryngology
anthology
apology
histology
lexicology
astrology
astrobiology
hydrology
monology
biotechnology
cardiology
ideology
morphology
chronology
climatology
immunology
musicology
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
E) Pronounce the words correctly ending in –al Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) abdominal
aesthetical
analytical
nonmarital
aboriginal
aeronautical
compositional
psychological
philosophical
agrichemical
computational
professional
acquisitional
agricultural
epidemiological
monolitical
additional
alphabetical
noninflectional
nonpractical
Rule 6. Compound words (words with two parts) Rule
Example
a) For compound nouns, the stress is BLACKbird, GREENhouse on the first part b) For compound adjectives, the stress bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned is on the second part c) For compound verbs, the stress is to understand, to overflow on the second part
Unit 2. Practice 8 A) For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part: BLACKbird. Practice the words loudly and provide the adequate stress. blackboard
bathtub
blue-green
saucepan
housework
hwatermelon
saleswork
grasshopper
highlight
iceland
boyfriend
fishtank
bedroom
seafood
tumbledown
bathroom
undercut
underworld
wallpaper
diningtable
witchcraft
B) For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part: bad TEMpered.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Practice the words loudly and provide the adequate stress. long-legged
staff-necked
long-winded
three-headed
baby-faced
tight-fisted
flowered-dress
short-tempered
sure-footed
masked man
thin-skinned
high-heeled
six-sided
smooth-tongue
freckle-faced
long-handled
broken-hearted
stone-faced
green-eyed
light-footed
kind-hearted
C) For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part: to understand, to overflow. Practice the words loudly and provide the adequate stress. turn back (return)
talk back (to) (answer rudely)
Keep down (Do not vomit)
take charge (of) (assume responsibility)
write down (make notes)
Kick around (Discuss)
look over (review)
talk over (discuss):
Kick down (Break something with your feet)
Bring back (return)
Highlighted
Let down (Disappoint)
Call back (telephone again)
Keep around (Keep something near you)
Lock down (Make something very secure)
Unit 2. Practice 9 Now read the 4-syllable words and write them on the appropriate space Stress pattern 1. Felicity 2. Afghanistan 3. Alexander 4. Wolverhampton 5. Rhinoceros 6. Mississipi
∙■∙∙
∙∙■∙
Taken from “Rhymes Rhythm, Michael Vaughan- Reeds
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
2.6. Syllable Stress In words of more than one syllable, the syllables do not all have equal stress. There is usually one that has particularly strong stress. This means that on this syllable your voice is louder and usually pitched higher, and you hang on to the syllable considerably longer than on the other syllables of that word. Different stressing can change the meaning of a word or make it completely unrecognisable. So stressed syllables in English are usually held longer than unstressed syllables. They may also be louder and higher in pitch. Although all stressed vowels are long, stressed vowels at the end of a word or before a voiced consonant are held somewhat longer than vowels before voiceless consonants. Long Before a voiceless consonant
Longer Before a voiced consonant word end.
Seat
seed
Shoot
shoe
Bet
bed
Make
made
Rip
rib
An accent is the placement of intonation pitch-prominence (= higher or lower pitch than the surroundings) on a word. Speakers choose to accent certain words (or to de-accent others) because of the particular meaning they wish to convey in a particular situation. Accents can fall only on stressed syllables. Thus to accent the word collapse k’læps the pitchprominence goes on the syllables læps, but on tumble ‘t mbl on the syllable t m. Summing up the rules a) Always stress the syllable before one that’s pronounced [n] –ssion/ -tion, [ s ] –cious/ -tions. [ l ] –cial/-tial, etc., e. g. attention, spacious, artificial. b) In words ending ‘-ic’, ‘-ical’, ‘-ically’, the stress is on the syllable before ‘-ic’, except ‘Árabic, a’rithmetic, ‘lunatic, ‘heretic, ‘politics, and ‘rhetoric (but adjectives: arith’metic, he’retical, po’litical, rhe’torical). c) Words ending in ‘-ese’ have the stress on this syllable (Chinése, journa’lese). d) Do not stress the negative prefix attached to an adjective (‘possible, im’possible; ‘literate, i’lliterate) except: ‘nowhere, ‘nothing, and ‘nobody, nonsense.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
PRACTICE A. Exaggerate the stressing as much as you can - i.e. Make the stressed syllable louder, higher and longer than the unstressed ones. a) Completion efficient invasion financial advantageous vivacious. b) Photogenic scientific materialistic geographical musical technical. c) psychology/psychologist meteorology/meteorologist ideology/ideologist. d) Chinese Japanese Portuguese Cantonese Balinese Viernese. e) Organised/disorganised complete/incomplete attractive/unattractive legal/illegal where/nowhere sense/nonsense. B. Practise shifting the stress photograph
politics
competing
analyse
photographer
political
competitor
analysis
photographic
politician
competition
analytical
C. Practise the words. Where are the stresses? Photography
develop
photographic
amateurs
political
Institute
photographs
possibility
politician
competitive
Career
technical
competition
distinguished
politics
Answers: C. pho’tography / ‘institute / ca’reer / de’velop / ‘photographs / ‘technical / photo’graphic / possi’bility / compe’tition / ‘amateurs / poli’tician / dis’tinguished / po’litical / com’petitive / ‘politics
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Dialogue: Photography or politics?
Diana:
What have you decided to do after college, Jeremy?
Jeremy:
I’m going to take up photography. Mr McKenzie’s recommended the course at the Institute. He believes I could make a career as a photographer.
Diana:
You’ll have to develop your own photographs. That requires technical skill. Jeremy, you’re not a technician! And photographic materials are very expensive.
Jeremy:
Well, Diana, Mr McKenzie thinks there’s a possibility I might win the Observer competition. I sent in four entries. All the competitors are amateurs, like myself.
Diana:
I detest competitions. I never agree with the decision of the judges! I’m going to be a politician. I shall become the most distinguished woman on the political scene!
Jeremy:
I thought you hated competing! Don’t tell me politics isn’t competitive!
2.7. Sentence Stress Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence stress can help you to understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast. Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or “beat”. You remember that word stress is accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent on certain words within a sentence. In general, in any given English utterance there will be particular words that carry more “weight” or “volume” (stress) than others. From a speaking perspective, sentence stress will affect the degree to which an ESL student sounds “natural”. In terms of listening, it affects how well a student can understand the utterances they hear.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
What is the difference between “word stress” and “sentence stress”? Whereas sentence stress refers to the process whereby particular words are stressed within an overall sentence. Word stress refers to the process whereby particular syllables (or parts of words) are stressed within and overall word. In general, sentence stress is more of a consideration for overall fluency - word stress tends to have more of a phonological and morphemic importance I am a proFESsional phoTOgrapher whose MAIN INterest is to TAKE SPEcial, BLACK and WHITE PHOtographs that exHIBit ABstract MEANings in their photoGRAPHic STRUCture. Most sentences have two types of word: •
Content words – stressed
Content words
•
Main verbs
go, talk, writing, dance, sell, give, employ
Nouns
student, desk, book, car, music,
Adjectives
big, clever, studious, red, big, interesting
Adverbs
quickly, slowly, loudly, never, always, rarely
Negative aux. verbs
can’t, don’t, aren’t, doesn’t, didn’t
Demonstratives
this, that, those, these.
Question marks
who, which, where, how, What
Grammatical words- unstressed Pronouns Prepositions Articles Conjunctions Auxiliary verbs Verb to be
I, you, he , they, We, she, it On, under, with, behind, across The, a, some, an, any But, and, so, because, Can, should, must, can, have, do Is, was, am
For example: I am speaking to the young workers.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
You’re listening to the music, but you aren’t concentrated in the topic. He is speaking quickly, so it is difficult for him to understand him. Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that carry the meaning or sense. Grammatical words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its correct form or “structure”. If you remove the grammatical words from a sentence, you will probably still understand the sentence. If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will not understand the sentence. The sentence has no sense or meaning. Imagine that you receive this telegram message: Will
you
SELL
Me
CAR
because
I’m
GONE
to
FRANCE
This sentence is not complete. It is not a “grammatically correct” sentence. But you probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone to France. We can add a few words: Will
you
SELL
My
CAR
because
I’ve
GONE
to
FRANCE
The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the message more correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make one complete, grammatically correct sentence. But the information is basically the same: Content Words Will
you
SELL
My
CAR
because
I’ve
GONE
to
FRANCE.
Grammatical Words In our sentence, the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or stressed. Why is this important for pronunciation? It is important because it adds “music” to the language. It is the rhythm of the English language. It changes the speed at which we speak (and listen to) the language. The time between each stressed word is the same. In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between SELL and CAR and 3 syllables between CAR and GONE. But the time (t) between SELL and CAR and between CAR and GONE is the
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
same. We maintain a constant beat on the stressed words. To do this, we say “my” more slowly, and “because I’ve” more quickly. We change the speed of the small structure words so that the rhythm of the key content words stays the same. Syllables 2 Will
1 you
__________ t1
SELL beat
my _____ t1
3 CAR
because
1 I’ve
_____________
beat
t1
GONE beat
to ___ t1
FRANCE. beat
Rules for Sentence Stress in English The basic rules of sentence stress are: 1. Content words are stressed 2. Grammatical words are unstressed 3. The time between stressed words is always the same
Exceptions The above rules are for what is called “neutral” or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a grammatical word, for example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue: “They’ve been to Mongolia, haven’t they?” “No, THEY haven’t, but WE have. Note also that when “be” is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case it is a content word).
Special STAIR Exercises S.T.A. I. R stands for: •
S tress
•
T iming
•
A rticulation
•
I ntonation
•
R hythm
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
These are the 5 essential components of good English pronunciation. Make sure people can understand your English by using the interactive S.T.A.I.R exercises in Pronunciation Power.
Sentence Stress Practice Unit 2. Practice 10 Practice the stress in the sentences keeping the rhythm of the original sentence.
These are the One
house that
Jaqueline
built
Two
Three
Four
1.
This is the
house that
Jack
built
2.
These are the houses that
Jack
built
3.
These are the houses that
Jaqueline
built
4. This is the
house that my
mother
bicycle
Peter
designed
5.
This is the
6.
Those are the people we
met in the
7.
That is the
saw on the
8.
Those are the people we
drove to the
9.
That is the
gardener who
works for my mother
taller than
Peter and
person I
10.
Andrew is
11.
Tom’s not as tall as the
rest of the
12.
What an
amazingly
lively
13.
How can we
possibily
get there in - 51 -
repaired
park stairs party
Thomas family production
time
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
B. Repeat the sentences loudly 1. Can you pass me a plastic knife? 2. I want to take a photography class? 3. China is the place where I was born. 4. Please, turn off the television before you go out. 5. I can’t decide which book to borrow. 6. Do you understand this lesson’ 7. Sparky is a very happy puppy. 8. It is critical that you finish your essay. 9. My Grandfather wears an old-fashioned coat. 10. There is a lot of traffic today on the highway.
2.8. Sentence rhythm Sentence rhythm is a natural part of language development. Most children master the intonation patterns and rhythms of language before they master the words. Because the patterns and rhythms of our native language are so deeply ingrained, the best way to review writing is to read it out loud. Any lapses in meaning or coherence can then be seen easily. It is important to remember that an English sentence will have a certain number of beats. Stressed (content words always take up an entire ‘beat’, while unstressed grammatical words fall between the beats. The time between beats is always the same. For this reason grammatical words are often spoken faster and with less volume. They are literally being squeezed into the gap between regular stressed beats. In the examples below, all the grammatical words (or groups of grammatical words) take the same amount of time to pronounce the number of sounds or syllables they include. Doing simple rhythmic clap or thump in time to the spoken sentence demonstrate how this happens. Rhythm is timing patterns among syllables. There are basically two types of sentence rhythm in languages: A) “Stress-timed rhythm” and B) “syllables-timed rhythm”. English has “stress-times rhythm and Spanish, a syllable-time rhythm. Stress-time rhythm has an alternation of stressed and unstressed. Important Note: Negative words and negative “to-be, “to have”, and auxiliary verbs need to be stressed: (e.g., no, never, isn’t, haven’t, can’t, don’t, won’t).
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Unit 2. Practice 11 Mark the stressed words in the sentences following the model. See the examples: I am talking to the clever students Beart1
beat 2
beat 3
You are sitting on the desk but you aren’t listening to us. Beart1
beat 2
beat 3 beat 4
He’s writing quickly so it is difficult for him to hear me. Beart1 beat 2
beat 3
beat 4
1. John is coming over tonight. We are going to work on our homework together. 2. Ecstasy is an extremely dangerous drug. 3. We should have visited some more castles while we were traveling through the back roads of France. 4. Jack bought a new car last Friday. 5. They are looking forward to your visiting them next January. 6. Exciting discoveries lie in Tom’s future. 7. Would you like to come over and play a game of chess? 8. They have had to work hard these last few months on their challenging experiment. 9. Shakespeare wrote passionate, moving poetry. 10. As you might have expected, he has just thought of a new approach to the pattern. Unit 2. Practice 12 Read the sentence emphasizing the stressed syllables making them louder, longer, clearer, and high-pitched. 1. John wants to be an actor, so he wants to live in Hollywood. 2. He is writing quickly so it is difficult for him to hear me. 3. Mary made an appointment with the dentist on Monday. 4. After the movie, they went to a bar to have beer.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Unit 2. Practice 13 Fill in spaces with the corresponding modal or verb to be. (Remember if you hear the “to-be” or auxiliary verb is stressed, then the sentence is negative). 13. A. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
I ______ understand your story. Tom _______ come to the party tonight. They _______ hear the speaker. We _______ told to do that. They ________ doing the homework. The students ___weren’t___ here last night.
(can, can’t) (can, can’t) (can, can’t) (were, weren’t) (are, aren’t) (were, weren’t)
13.B. Repeat the sentences loudly 1. Can you pass me a plastic knife? 2. I want to take a photography class? 3. China is the place where I was born. 4. Please turn off the television before you go out. 5. I can’t decide which book to borrow. 6. Do you understand this lesson’. 7. Sparky is a very happy puppy. 8. It is critical that you finish your essay. 9. My Grandfather wears an old-fashioned coat. 10 There is a lot of traffic today on the highway. Here’s how we can improve our pronunciation: 1. Learn the following rules concerning pronunciation. 2. English is considered a stressed language while many other languages are considered syllabic. 3. In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length). 4. English pronunciation focuses on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, non-stressed, words.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
5. Stressed words are considered content words: Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter - (most) principle verbs e.g. visit, construct - Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting - Adverbs e.g. often, carefully 6. Non-stressed words are considered function words: Determiners e.g. the, a - Auxiliary verbs e.g. am, were - Prepositions e.g. before, of - Conjunctions e.g. but, and - Pronouns e.g. they, she 7. Read the following sentence aloud: The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance. 8. Read the following sentence aloud: He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn’t have to do any homework in the evening. 9. Notice that the first sentence actually takes about the same time to speak well! 10. Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are 5 stressed words in each sentence. 11. Write down a few sentences, or take a few example sentences from a book or exercise. 12. First underline the stressed words, then read aloud focusing on stressing the underlined words and gliding over the non-stressed words. 13. Be surprised at how quickly your pronunciation improves! By focusing on stressed words, non-stressed words and syllables take on their more muted nature. 14. When listening to native speakers, focus on how those speakers stress certain words and begin to copy this. Tips: 1. Remember that non-stressed words and syllables are often “swallowed” in English. 2. Always focus on pronouncing stressed words well, non-stressed words can be glided over. 3. Don’t focus on pronouncing each word. Focus on the stressed words in each sentence.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
BIBLIOGRAPHY Anne C. Newton, Editor. (1997)
American light verse: A contemporary selection. English teaching forum, a journal for the teacher of english outside the United Sates. Volumen XV, Number 4.
J.C. Wells (2006)
English intonation: an introduction. Cambridge University Press.
P. Ashby (2005)
Speech sounds. London: Routledge, Second edition.
A. Cruttenden (2001)
Gimsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pronunciation of english. London: Edward Arnold. Sixth edition.
B. Collins and I. M. Mees (2003)
Practical phonetics and phonology. London: Routledge.
J.D. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor (1980)
Better english pronunciation. Cambridge University Press. Second edition.
P. Roach (2000)
English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge University Press. Third edition.
P. Roach, J. Hartman and J. Setter (ed.) (2006)
English pronouncing dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Seventeenth edition.
J.C. Wells (2000)
Longman pronunciation dictionary. Longman.
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/word-stress-rules.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/quiz/quiz2/ http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/pronunciation/pdf/quiz/pronunciation_quiz_1.pdf http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/pronunciation/mp3/pronunciation_quiz_1.mp3 http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/Table3.htm
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
ACTIVITY 1. Why is word stress phonemic? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. Indicate the traditional types of stress and the three degrees of stress. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 3. What are the problems non-native speakers face when they speak to native speakers? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 4. Why is word stress so important? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 5. What are the simple rules for word stress? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 6. Where are most 2-syllable nouns stressed? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
7. Where are most 2-syllable verbs stressed? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 8. Give examples of lexical entries where the stress is phonemic. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 9. What is the difference between word stress and sentence stress? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 10. What are the basic rules for sentence stress? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
o
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UNIT III CONNECTED SPEECH OBJECTIVES 1. Be aware of the different processes that take place in connected speech in spoken language. 2. Get familiar with different changes as a result of assimilation. 3. Recognize compound words and how they are stressed. 4. Understand how double consonants are pronounced in connected speech. 5. Understand the importance of elision process in connected speech. 6. Learn how r is pronounced in isolation and in connected speech. 7. Understand how stress changes in connected speech. 8. Understand how /t/ can be pronounced as a voiced sound /d/ in connected speech.
CONNECTED SPEECH When a word occurs in a phrase or sentence, its pronunciation may sometimes be different from the pronunciation used when it is said in isolation. Some of the characteristics of the phonetics of connected speech are discussed in this unit. 3.1. Assimilation 3.2. Compounds and phrases 3.3. Double consonant sounds 3.4. Double consonant letters 3.5. Elision 3.6. R liaison 3.7. Stress shift 3.8. T-Voicing 3.9. Weak forms 3.10. Word linking
3.1. Assimilation It is a process in which one or more segments become adapted in one or more aspects to a neighbouring segment. Example: in English, the alveolar nasal of the prefix /in-/ changes to [l] in illegal (complete convergence) and to [m] in input (partial convergence). In the latter case the change is from alveolar to labial under influence of the neighbouring labial segment [p]. When assimilation takes place between two vowels it is more commonly referred to as vowel harmony (agreement among vowels in successive syllables in respect of one or more feautures: bathtub â&#x2020;&#x2019; battered in a child). Sounds tend to change as a result of assimilation. Let see some of this common assimilations. / t / changes to / p / before / m / / b / or / p / / d / changes to / b / before / m / / b / or / p / / n / changes to / m / before / m / / b / or / p /
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
/ t / changes to / k / before / k / or /g/ / d / changes to / g / before / k / or / g / / n / changes to / ŋ / before / k / or / g / / s / changes to / / before / / or / j / / z / changes to / / before / / or / j / /θ/ changes to / s / before / s / 1. / t / changes to / p / before / m / / b / or / p / /t/→/p/
/ -m / / -b / / -p /
basket maker
mixed bag
best man
mixed blessing
cat burglar
mixed marriage
cigarette paper
mixed metaphor
circuit borrad
pocket money
coconut butter
post mortem
court martial
pot plant
direct method
private property
dust bowl
put back
fast motion
put by
first base
right pair
flight plan
secret police
foot brake
set point
front bench
set back
front man
set piece
fruit machine
sheet metal
Great Britain
sit back
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
2. / d / changes to / b / before / m / / b / or / p / /d/→/b/
/ -m / / -b / / -p /
bad pain
good cook
blood bank
good morning
blood bath
grand master
blood brother
ground plan
blood poisoning
head boy
blood pressure
hold back
blood pudding
lord mayor
broad bean
mud bath
card punch
mud pie
closed book
old bailey
command module
old boy
command post
old man
custard pie
old maid
custard powder
old moon
dead beat
oxford blue
food poisoning
red bag
food processor
second mate
gold plate
sound barrier
gold medal
stand by
gold mine
united party
good man
word blindness
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
3. / n / changes to / m / before / m / / b / or / p / /n/â&#x2020;&#x2019;/m/
/ -m / / -b / / -p /
action planning
iron man
american plan
on me
brown paper
one pair
brown bear
open book
chicken breast
open market
common market
open prison
cold man
pen pal
cotton belt
pin money
cotton picker
queen bee
down payment
queen mother
fan belt
question mark
fan mail
roman mile
foreign minister
sun bath
foreign mission
sun blind
garden party
tin plate
green belt
town planning
green bean
venetian blind
hen party
virgen birth
human being
wine box
in blue
wine bar
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
4. / t / changes to / k / before / k / or /g/ / -k /
cigarette card
short cut
/ -g /
credit card
smart card
cut glass
street credibility
fat girl
street cry
first class
that cake
/t/→/k/
flan cap
5. / d / changes to / g / before / k / or / g / / -k /
bad girl
hard cash
/ -g /
bird call
hard copy
closed game
hard core
cold call
hard court
cold cream
highland cattle
field glasses
red carpet
good cook
sand castle
grand canyon
second class
ground control
second comino
ground cover
second cousin
had come
slide guitar
/d/→/g/
had gone
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
6. / n / changes to /ŋ/ before / k / or / g / -k / /n/→/ŋ/ / -g /
action group
open court
common good
roman calendar
common ground
roman candle
garden cress
roman catholic
golden gate
tin can
golden goose
tone control
human capital
town clero
in camera
town crier
iron curtain
7. / s / changes to / / before / / or / j / followed by a rounded vowel sound /s/→//
/ - o / u /
bus shelter
nice yacht
/ -j o / u /
dress shop
space shuttle
nice shoes
8. / z / changes to / / before / / or / j / followed by a rounded vowel sound /z/→//
/ - o / u /
cheese shop
/ -j o / u /
Rose show
where’s tours?
these sheep
9. / θ / changes to / s / before / s / / θ / → / s / / / -s /
bath salts
earth science
bath seat
fifth set
birth certificate
fourth season
both sexes
fourth summer
both sides
north-south divide Source: http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/assimilation.html#as04
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3.2. Compounds and phrases A two-element compound is typically pronounced with early stress: that is to say, its first element has more stress than its second. ‘bedtime /‘bed tam/ ‘block obuster /‘blk obst / || /‘bl:k obst r/ Notice that, although many such compounds are written as single words, others are written as two words. ‘christmas ocard ‘visitors’ book ‘music olessons ‘beauty ocontest 3.2.1. On the other hand, a two-word phrase is typically pronounced with late stress: that is to say, its second word has more stress than its first. ,next ‘time ,typed ‘cards ,several ‘books ,weekly ‘lessons 3.2.2. These, and all stress patterns, can be changed if the speaker wants to emphasize a particular contrast. ,Not a oschool 'boy, __ a ,school ’girl! ,Not omusic ‘lessons, __ ,just otime to ’practise. ,Not ‘weekly olessons, __ ’monthly ones! 3.2.3. Sometimes a compound has a different meaning from the corresponding phrase. A ‘darkroom (a room developing photographs) A ,dark ‘room (a room which is dark because there is little light in it) A ‘yellow ohammer (a kind of bird) A ,yellow ‘hammer (a hammer coloured yellow) A ‘moving van (to carry furniture when one moves house) A ,moving ‘van (a van that is motion). 3.2.4. Some expression, which are grammatically compounds, are nevertheless pronounced with late stress (= as if they were phrases). There is no firm rule; that is why many compounds and phrases are listed separately with their stress patterns.
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One group of expressions of this type comprises those where the first element names the material or ingredient out of which a thing is made. a ,rubber ’duck ,paper ’plates ,cheese ’sandwiches ,apple ’crumble’ a ,pork ’pie Note, however, that expressions involving cake, juice, water take early stress. ‘almond cake ‘orange juice ‘barley owater 3.2.5. In names of English places, note that all take late (final stress) stress except street, which takes early (beginning) stress. ,Melrose ‘Road ,Lavender ‘Crescent ,Oxford ‘Circus ,King’s ‘Avenue but ‘Gower Street
3.3. Double Consonant Sounds Double consonant sounds (“geminates”) in English phonetic are found only across grammatical boundaries: where two words occur next to one another in connected speech, or in the two parts of a compound word, or a stem and an affix. They are always found in a syllable boundary, too. Examples are a nice sight /,nais’sat/, midday, /md’de/, soulless /’sl ls/ || /‘sol ls/ . 3.3.2. Although cases like these consist of two identical phonemes in succession, they are not usually pronounced like two distinct complete sounds. The details depend upon their manner of ARTICULATION. •
Fricatives, nasal, liquids: a geminate is pronounced like a single sound, except that it lasts longer. In this set, /ðs’set/ the two s’s come together to make a long s: between the two vowels, straddling (being found) the syllable boundary. In ten names, /ten ’nemz/we get a long n:
•
Plosives: a geminate is pronounces like a single sound, with just one sequence of approach-hold-release; but the hold is longer in a geminate. In big game,
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/,bg’gem/ there is a single phonetic g: between the two vowels, straddling the syllable boundary. Exceptionally, because of the possibility of a GLOTTAL STOP, a geminated t may consist phonetically of ?t: that time /,ðæt’tam / but a single long alveolar t: is also possible. •
Affricates are the only case where two successive complete consonant sounds are pronounced independently, one after the other. In rich choice /,rt ’ts/ the fricative part of the first can be separately heard before the beginning of the second . In orange juice there are two separate ’s.
3.4. Double consonants letters 3.4.1. Double consonant letters in English spelling normally correspond to a single consonant sound in pronunciation. So happy is pronounced /’hæp.i/ (not /’hæppi/); rabbit rhymes perfectly with habit, Ellen rhymes perfectly with Helen. 3.4.2. The main exception arises in a few words with cc before i or e, for example succeed /sk’si:d/. The other import exception is where the two consonant letters in question belong to two different parts of a compound word, or one to a stem and one to an affix. Then the two letters most often correspond to two phonemes (DOUBLE CONSONANT SOUNDS). Examples: parttime /,pa:t’ tam/, unnamed /n’ nemd/ meanness /’mi:n.ns/ (however many adverbs in ly drop one I sound when attached to a stem ending in l: fully /’fli/).
3.5. Elision It is the omission or loss of a vowel, a consonant, a syllable, a segment, or segments in oral speech. The nature of elision may be stated quite simple: under certain circumstances sounds disappear; one might express this in more technical language by saying that in certain circumstances a phoneme may be realized as zero, or have zero realization. As with assimilation, elision is typical of rapid, casual speech; the process of change in phoneme realizations produced by changing the speed of speech is sometimes called gradation. Producing elisions is something which foreign learners do not need to learn to do, but it is important for them to be aware that when native speakers of English talk to each other, quite a number of phonemes that the foreigner might expect to hear are not actually pronounced. We will look at some example, though only a small numbers of the many possibilities can be given here. Peter Roach (83). pp. 108-110. 3.5.1. Loss of weak vowel after p, t, k. In words like ‘potato’, ‘tomato’, ‘canary’, ‘perhaps’, ‘today’, the vowel in the first syllable may disappear; the aspiration of the initial plosive takes up the whole
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of the middle portion of the syllable, resulting in these pronunciation, where h indicates aspiration: /p h tet/, /t h ma:t/, /k h ner/, /p h h æ ps/, /t h de/. 3.5.2. Weak vowel + n, l or r becomes syllabic consonant. Examples: ‘tonight’
/t’nat/
→
/ ‘t ņait/;
‘police’
/p’li:s/
→
/ ‘pi:s/,
‘correct’
/k’rekt/
→
/krekt/.
3.5.3. Avoidance of complex consonant clusters. It has been said that no normal English speaker would ever pronounce all the consonants between the last two words of the following: ‘George the sixth’s throne’ /: ð sksθs θrn/. Though this is not impossible to pronounce, something like /… sks θrn is more likety. In clusters of three plosives or two plosives plus a fricative, the middle plosive or two may disappear, so that the following pronunciations result: ‘acts’ / æks/; ‘looked back’ /’lk bæk/; scripts / ‘skrps/. 3.5.4. Loss of final v in ‘of’ before consonants. Examples : ‘lots of them’ / lts ðm/; ‘waste of time’ /west mn/. 3.5.5. It is difficult to know whether contractions of grammatical words should be regarded as examples of elision or not. The fact that they are regularly represented with special spelling forms makes them seem rather different from the above examples. The best known cases are: •
‘had’, ‘would’ : spelt ‘d, pronounced d after vowels, d after consonants.
•
‘Is’, ‘has’ spelt ‘s, pronounced s after fortis consonants (voiceless) , z after lenis consonants (voiced) , except that after s, z, , , , - is pronounced z and ‘has’ is pronounced z in contracted form.
•
‘Wil’: spelt ‘ll, pronounced l after vowels and syllabic after consonants.
•
‘Have’: spelt ‘ve, pronounced v after vowels, v after consonants.
•
‘Not’: spelt ‘n’t, pronounced nt after vowels, syllabic ņt after consonants. (There are also vowel changes associated with n’t; e.g. ‘can’ kæn- ‘can’t’ ka.nt, ‘do’ du:- ‘don’t dnt).
•
‘Are’: spelt ‘re, pronounced after vowels, usually with some change in the preceding vowel, e.g. ‘you’ ju: - ‘you’re’ j, ‘we’ wi:’ – ‘we’re’ w, ‘they’ ðe -‘they’re’ ðe, linking r is used when a vowel follows. Contracted ‘are’ is also pronounced as or r when following a consonant.
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3.6. R Liaison 3.6.1. In BrE (RP), and other non-rhotic accents, a word said in isolation never ends in r. Nevertheless, in connected speech an r may be pronounced in some cases if the next word begins with a vowel sound. 3.6.2. This typically happens with a word (syllable) that ends in one of the vowels , :, :, :, , e, , when the following word (syllable) begins with a vowel sound. Far /fa:r/ || /fa:r/ In isolation, or before a consonant sound, this word is, in RP, pronounced /fa:/. But in phrases such as far away, far out it is usually pronounced /fa:r/. (In Gen Am it is always /fa:r/, whatever the environment it occurs in). Near /n/ || /nr/ In isolation, the RP form is /n/. But in a phrase such as near enough it is usually pronounced /nr/. 3.6.3. Usually, as in the cases just mentioned, the spelling includes r. The inserted r-sound is then known as linking r. It corresponds to a historical r, now lost before a consonant or pause. 3.6.4. In RP (standard english), however, as in other non-rhotic accents, the insertion is frequently made even if there is no r in the spelling. This intrusive /r/ does not correspond to historical r, and there is no corresponding r in AmE. Comma /’km/ || /’k:m/ In isolation, the RP form is /’km./. But in a phrase such as put a comma in, it is often pronounced /’km.r/ (In american english it is always /’k:m/, whatever the environment). Thaw /:/ || /:/ In isolation, RP thaw is /:/. In the phrase thaw out, intrusive r may be added, giving /:r’at/ (In Gem Am there is no r). (Thaw: the period of warmer weather that causes ice and snow to turn into water). The dictionary does show r liaison within a word, whether linking or intrusive. The linking r, being obligatory, is shown thus: storing /st:rŋ/. The intrusive r, being optional, is shown thus: thawing /:rŋ/.
3.7. Stress Shift 3.7.1. Some words seem to change their stress patterns in connected speech. Although in isolation we say fundamental with the main stress these on ment and Japanese with the main stress on /ni:z/, in connected speech these words often have a different pattern. For example, there might be greater stress on fnd than on ment, or greater stress on /æp/ than on /ni:z/. This phenomenon is known as stress shift. 3.7.2. A phrase usually receives late stress. The placing of primary stress on the last element means that the basic stress of the first element is weakened by one degree: combining weekly /’wi:.kli/ and lessons /’les.enz/ gives the phrases weekly lessons /,wi:okli’ les.enz/
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Hence one would expect that fundamental /,fn.de’men.tel/ plus mistake /m’stek/ would give /fn,de’men.tel m’stek/ and that Japanese /,æp’ni:z/ plus language /’læŋ.gw/would give /,æp,ni:z’ læŋ.gw/. 3.7.3. But these stress patterns are unbalanced. In fact, native speakers of English usually switch round the stress levels in the first element, and say /,fn.d,men.telm’stek/, /,æpni:z’læŋ.gw/. 3.7.4. The same thing happens with a phrase such as that made by combining very lazy /,veri’le.zi/ with people ‘pi:pl. The usual pattern involves stress shift, thus, ver,le z ‘pi:pl. 3.7.5. Stress shift potentially affects all words entered in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary that include the secondary stress-mark (,). In practice, though, it is likely to apply only to those which are regularly followed in a phrase by a more strongly stressed word: most adjectives, but only certain nouns.
3.8. T-voicing For most Americans and Canadians the phoneme t is sometimes pronounced as a voiced sound. Where this is the usual AmE pronunciation it is shown by the symbol /t/. ˘ 3.8.1. Phonetically, t is a voiced alveolar tap (flap). It sounds like a quick English d, and also ˘ like the r of some languages. For many Americans, it is actually identical with their d in the same environment, so that AmE shutter /’t.r/ may sound identical with ˘ shudder /’d.r/. 3.8.2. Learners of English as a foreign language who take AmE as their model are encouraged to use t where appropriate. ˘ 3.8.3. After n, AmE t can optionally be elided (omitted). Accordingly, it is shown in italics, as ˘ ţ. Thus AmE winter /’wntr/ can sound identical to winner /’wnr/. Note, however, ˘ consider this pronunciation incorrect. that some speakers of AmE 3.8.4. In connected speech, t at the end of a word may change to t if both the following ˘ condition apply: • the sound before the t is a vowel sound or r. • the next word begins with a vowel sound and follows without a pause. Thus in AmE right /rat/ may pronounced /rat/ in the phrase right away /,rat’we/, ˘ ˘ over right out /,rat’at/. But in right now /rat’na/ no t is possible: nor in left ˘ /,left’.vr/. ˘ 3.8.5. Under the same condition, if the sound before a t at the end of a word is n, the t change to t (and therefore possibly disappear): paint /pent/, but paint it /’pen t t/. ˘ ˘ people consider this incorrect. Again, some
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3.9. Weak forms 3.9.1. Many English function words (grammatical words), such as articles, pronouns, preposition, auxiliaries, modals etc, have more than one pronunciation. In particular, they have a strong form, containing a strong vowel, and a weak form, containing a weak vowel. An example is at, with strong form æt and weak form t. 3.9.2. The weak form is generally used if the word is unstressed (as is usually the case with function or grammatical words). The strong form is used only when the word is stressed for some reason. Jim´s at lunch. He´ll be back at one. … /t/…/t/… We say “at home “, not “in home”. ... /’æt/… I´ll invite them round. … /ðm/… They were delighted.… /w/ || /wr/ Tell me how they were. … /w:/ || /’w:r/ 3.9.3. Nevertheless, the strong form is used even for certain unstressed functions words: (i) Usually, in the case of a preposition followed by a pronoun at the end of a sentence. I´m looking at you… /ætj/ or /tj/. (ii) Always, when a word is left exposed by a syntactic operation involving the movement or deletion of the word on which it depends Where does he come from? … (he comes from X) /’km frm/ || /’km frm/. I can speak better than you can ( = than you can speak) /’kn spi:k ... ’ju: kæn/ It was aimed at but not achieved … (= they aimed at it ) /’eimd æt/ “Stranded” or “left” like this, the last word in each sentence or phrase has to be strong. 3.9.4. It is important for learners of English to use weak forms appropriately. Otherwise, listeners may think they are emphasizing a word where this is not really so. Equally, native speakers should not be misled into supposing that careful or declamatory speech demands strong forms throughout. One exception is in singing, where strong forms are often used. Even here, though, articles are generally weak.
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UNIT 3. Practice 1 Strong and weak forms of auxiliary verbs The weak form (unstressed form) is used when the auxiliary verb is at the beginning or in the middle of sentence. The strong form (strong stress) is used when the auxiliary verb is at the end of a sentence. Auxiliary verb do does have has were was can
Weak form /d/ or /d/ /dz/ /hv/ /hz/ /w/ /wz/ /kn/
Strong form /du:/ /dz/ /hæv/ /hæz/ /w:/ /wz/ /kæn/
Instruction. According to the position of the weak or strong form decide if the sentence is Strong (S) or weak (W). 1. When was your birthday?
(W)
It was in April.
(W)
2. Have you got a good English dictionary? Yes, I have.
( ) ( )
3. Does your mother work in an office?
( )
Yes, she does.
( )
4. Where were your parents married?
( )
I think they were married in London.
( )
5. Has your father got dark hair?
( )
Yes, he has.
( )
6. Do you get the bus to work’?
( )
Yes, I do.
( )
7. How many languages can you speak?
( )
I can speak two - English and French
( )
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8. Does she live in the north of England?
( )
Yes, she does
( )
9. Can you speak English?
( )
Yes, she can.
( )
10. Has she got a job?
( )
Yes, she has,
( )
11. Have they got any children)
( )
Yes, they have.
( )
12. Do they share the housework?
( )
Yes, they do,
( )
13. Were they married in Japan?
( )
Yes, they were
( )
3.10. Weak Vowels 3.10.1. Among unstressed syllables it is useful to distinguish between those that nevertheless contain a strong vowel and those that have a weak vowel. This distinction has implication for syllabification and sometimes for rhythm. 3.10.2. A stressed syllable (shown in words of more than one syllable by one of the marks ‘ (primary stress) , (secondary stress) = equal to primary or secondary stress, must always contain a strong vowel. This may be any vowel or diphthong except , i, u. All the syllables in the following words, whether stressed or unstressed, are strong - vowelled: red
/red/
hope
/hp/ || /hop/
bedtime
/’bed, tam/
undone
/,n’dn/
acorn
/’ek:n/ || /’ek:rn/
butane
/’bju:ten/
3.10.3. The vowels , i ,u are always weak. So, too, is in many cases, as well as in BrE and o in AmE. The unstressed syllables in the following words are all weakvowelled: allow
/’la/
happy
/’hæp.i/
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situation
/,stu’en/
carelessness
/’kelsns/ or /lsns/
remember
/r’mem.b/ or /r’membr/
standard
/’stændd/ or /’stændrd/
stimulus
/’stmjls/ or /’stmjls/
3.10.4. The weak vowels may be realized in the form of a SYLLABIC CONSONANT (some consonants such as ņ, can for the nucleus of a syllable), as in suddenly /sdņli/. Diphthongs arising from the COMPRESSION of weak syllables (the capacity of sequence of sounds to be pronounced either as two separate syllables, or compressed into a single syllable), as in annual / ‘ænjul/, remain weak. 3.10.5. The distinction between weak // and // has the power of distinguishing word in Received Pronunciation (RP), Standard English. For example, V. I Lenin is ’lenn, but Jhon Lennon is ’lenn. The words rabbit ´ræbt and abbot ‘æbt do not rhyme. In certain other kinds of English, however, this distinction may be neutralized. (NEUTRALIZATION: the suppression of an opposition between phonemes operative in other positions phonemes): either is used instead of weak in virtually all positions, or the choice between and depends upon the phonetic context. So rabbit at Longman Pronunciation Dictionary shows a secondary pronunciation /´ræbt/. 3.10.6. Even in RP and other kinds of English that maintain the distinction between weak and , many words may be heard with either pronunciation, and this is shown in LPD. For example, carelessness, civil, private are nowadays usually pronounced /’kelsns/, /’svl/, /’pravt/. A conservative minority say /’kelsns/, /’svl/, /’pravt/, and these are given in as secondary pronunciations.
3.11. Word linking It takes place when a word that begins with a vowel sound is linked to the consonant sound at the end of the word before it. Practice the sentence loudly making linking words appropriately. 1. The west End 2. Marble Arch 3. Gatwick Airport
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4. Heathrow Airport /w/ 5. The City of London /j/ 6. The Royal Albert Hall 7. The Houses of Parliament 8. The Tower of London 9. The London Underground 10. Then Bank of England Unit 3: Practice 2 Where does the linking take place and say if ‘t’ or ‘d’ is taking place in the linking. 1. She laughed at the joke. ..t.. 2. She jumped over the wall …. 3. The pane crashed in the jungle …. 4. Columbus discovered America …. 5. The bomb destroyed a house …. 6. They traveled across Europe by train …. 7. He introduced Amanda to his friends …. Source: Headway Pronunciation P-I. Bill Bowler. Sue Parminter. 2004.
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Unit 3. Practice 3 Read the sentences and say what form the prepositions are used in them: Strong or weak form? Prepositions to from for at of
Weak form /t/ /frm/ /f/ or /fr/ /t/ /v/
Strong form /tu:/ /frm/ /f:/ /æt/ /v/
B: Hello, Can I speak to (a) Miss Moneypenny? S: Speaking. B: Hello. I am phoning from (b) the Ritz. I am looking from (c) James Bond. We had a lunch appointment at (d). Isn’t he there? S: I’m sorry, sir, but he’s gone to (e) Budapest. B: I was afraid of (f) that. Where exactly? S: He’s staying at (g) at the Hotel Royal. B: Why didn’t he listen to (h) me? He’s just asking for (i) trouble. S: He’s only staying there for (j) a couple of (k) days. B: All right. Contact him and tell him from (l) me he is a damn fool. Oh, and you can tell him I’m waiting for (m) his call. S: Yes, sir.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY J.C. Wells (2006)
English intonation: an introduction. Cambridge University Press.
(1997)
Pronunciation dictionary. Essex, Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
(2000)
Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Longman,
Jones Daniel (1997)
English pronunciation dictionary. Edited by Peter Roach and James Hartman. CUP.
P. Ashby (2005)
Speech sounds. London: Routledge, Second edition.
A. Cruttenden (2001)
Gimson’s pronunciation of english. London: Edward Arnold. Sixth edition.
B. Collins & I. M. Mees (2003)
Practical phonetics and phonology. London: Routledge.
J.D. O’Connor (1980)
Better english pronunciation. Cambridge University Press. Second edition.
P. Roach (2000)
English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge University Press. Third edition.
P. Roach, J. Hartman & J. Setter (ed.) (2006)
English pronouncing dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Seventeenth edition.
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phonetics.htm http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/quiz/quiz2/ http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/pronunciation/pdf/quiz/pronunciation_quiz_1.pdf http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/pronunciation/mp3/pronunciation_quiz_1.mp3 http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/assimilation.html#as04
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ACTIVITY 1. What can you say about assimilation in connected speech? ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ 2. Can you explain the assimilation of /t, d/ into /p, b/ before bilabial nasal and bilabial stops? (Case 1, 2). Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 3. Can you explain the assimilation alveolar nasal /n/ into bilabial nasal /m/? (Case 3) _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 4. Can you explain the assimilation of /t/ into voiceless velar /k/ (Case 4). Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 5. What about the assimilation of alveolar stop voiced /d/ into velar stop voiced /g/? (Case 5) _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 6. How is a compound word stressed? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 7. How are double consonant letters treated? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
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8. Where are double consonants sounds found? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 9. Explain some cases of elision. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 10. Explain the pronunciation of R-liaison briefly? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 11. What do you understand by Stress shift? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 12. Explain the phenomenon of T-voicing. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 13. What do you know about weak forms? Why is it so important in English language learning? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ o
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UNIT IV SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY OBJECTIVES 1. Understand the components of the suprasegmental phonology: Intonation, Length and stress. 2. Get familiar with the rising-falling pattern (Statements, Wh- question). 3. Understand and produce sentences following the fall-rise pattern. (Yes / No question, request for repetition, greetings). 4. Produce sentences following combined patterns (pausing in the middle, lists, doubt, apology, etc) 5. Be aware of the tag questions intonation pattern. 6. Be aware of the intonation pattern behind weak forms, linking, elision and shifting tonic. 7. Practice the intonation, Length and stress through rhythm and jingles.
SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY Suprasegmental phenomena are those that pertain to intonation, length and stress. Suprasegmental phenomena, also called prosodic phenomena, are normally examined in relation to individual lexical items or short phrases. However, many interesting prosodic patterns can be described only in terms of major constituents or entire sentences. Moreover, they are intimately connected with the syntactic and semantic properties of the sentences in which they occur. The prosodic properties of entire sentences, particularly those pertaining to pitch and stress, are referred to as intonation. Intonational studies are not so well developed as those which deal with the suprasegmental properties of individual lexical items, and we will restrict our attention to examples that show the close relationship between intonation and the syntactic and semantic structure of sentences (Langacker, 82). Four major features in the teaching of English suprasegmentals will be introduced in this chapter: 1) intonation units, 2) stress, 3) tone, 4) pitch range and 5) length by reviewing relevant and current research (Mehmet Celik, University of Turkey).
4.1. Prosodic features: Intonation, stress, tone, pitch and length Intonation Intonation is the music of the language. In English, we use tone to signal emotion, questioning, and parts of the sentence among many other things. It’s important to recognize the meaning behind the tones used in everyday speech, and to be able to use them so that there are no misunderstandings between the speaker and the listener. It is generally true that mistakes in pronunciation of sounds can be overlooked, but mistakes in intonation make a lasting impression. In English and many other languages, for example, questions answerable by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ occur with rising (or non-falling) intonation, while declaratives and other kinds of questions occur with final falling intonation. (1) Did Danny buy a cow? Ye, No.
Rising intonation
(2) Danny bought a cow.
Falling intonation
(3) What did Danny buy?
Falling intonation
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
For Cruttenden (1986:35), intonation has three important features: 1) Division of a (dividing) a stream of speech into intonation units, 2) Selection of a syllable (of a word), which is assigned the ‘tonic’ status, and 3) Selection of a tone for the intonation unit To this list, another feature can be added: pitch range, or key (Brazil et al., 1980). Let’s study then the suprasegmental elements that characterized English Language: 1) intonation units, 2) stress, 3) tone, 4) pitch range and length by reviewing relevant and current research (Mehmet Celik, University of Turkey.
1) Intonation Unit An ‘intonation unit’ is a piece of utterance, a continuous stream of sounds, bounded by a fairly perceptible pause. Pausing in some sense is a way of packaging the information such that the lexical items put together in an intonation unit form certain psychological and lexic~grammatical realities. Typical examples would be the inclusion of subordinate clauses and prepositional phrases in intonation units. Consider the example below, in which slashes correspond to pauses (Roach, 1983:146) (see Halliday, 1967; Leech & Svartvik, 1975 for more): the meaning is given in brackets. •
Those who sold quickly / made a profit (A profit is made by those who sold quickly.)
•
Those who sold / quickly made a profit (A profit was quickly made by those who sold.)
2) Stress In every word in English, there is one main emphasized syllable. The vowel sound in this syllable sounds higher in pitch, longer, and louder, and this is called stress. This helps create the rhythm of the language, and knowing how to recognize the stressed syllable will help you with comprehension. Placing the stress where it should be when you’re speaking helps native speakers understand you better as well. The stress is related to syllable stress, word stress and sentence stress, which were developed in Unit II. The stress is very important in English because in some cases the stress can also be phonological because it will change the meaning of the word. Stress on the second syllable will be a verb and on the first will be a noun or adjective, for example: ‘record and re’cord. (Review unit II on stress)
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Four major types of stress are identified: 2.1. unmarked tonic stress 2.2. emphatic stress 2.3. contrastive stress 2.4. new information stress Tonic stress. An intonation unit almost always has one peak of stress, which is called ‘tonic stress’, or ‘nucleus’. Because stress applies to syllables, the syllable that receives the tonic stress is called ‘tonic syllable’. The term tonic stress is usually preferred to refer to this kind of stress in referring, proclaiming, and reporting utterances. Tonic stress is almost always found in a content word in utterance final position. Consider the following, in which the tonic syllable is underlined: 1. I’m going. 2. I’m going to London. 3. I’m going to London for a holiday. A question does arise as to what happens to the previously tonic assigned syllables. They still get stressed, however, not as much as the tonic syllable, producing a three level stress for utterances: the stressed, (content words) unstressed (grammatical words) and the unmarked (going and holiday in the sentence). I’m going to London for HOliday. 2.1. Unmarked tonic stress. It refers to the word that should be marked, but it is not because another word was emphasized. Example: I’m go into London for Holiday. 2.2. Emphatic stress. One reason to move the tonic stress from its utterance final position is to assign an emphasis to a content word, which is usually a modal auxiliary, an intensifier, an adverb, etc. Compare the following examples. The first two examples are adapted from. Roach (1983: 144). i. It was very BOring. (unmarked) ii. It was VEry boring. (emphatic) i. You mustn’t talk so LOUDly. (unmarked) ii. You MUSTN’T talk so loudly. (emphatic)
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Some intensifying adverbs and modifiers (or their derivatives) that are emphatic by nature are (Leech & Svartvik, 1.975:135): indeed, utterly, absolute, terrific, tremendous, awfully, terribly, great, grand, really, definitely, truly, literally, extremely, surely, completely, barely, entirely, very (adverb), very (adjective), quite, too, enough, pretty, far, especially, alone, only, own, -self. 2.3. Contrastive Stress. In contrastive contexts, the stress pattern is quite different from the emphatic and non-emphatic stresses in that any lexical item in an utterance can receive the tonic stress provided that the contrastively stressed item can be contrastable in that universe of speech. No distinction exists between content and function words regarding this. The contrasted item receives the tonic stress provided that it is contrastive with some lexical element (notion.) in the stimulus utterance. Examples: a) Do you like this one or THAT one? b) I like THIS one. Consider the following sentences where we can find contrast. C) She played the piano yesterday. (It was her who...) D) She played the piano yesterday. (She only played (not. harmed) ...) E) She played the piano yesterday. (It was the piano that...) F) She played the piano yesterday. (It was yesterday...) 2.4. New Information Stress. In a response given to a wh-question, the information supplied, naturally enough, is stressed. That is, it is pronounced with more breath force, since it is more prominent against a background given information in the question. The concept of new information is much clearer to students of English in responses to wh-questions than in declarative statements. a) What’s your NAME b) My name’s GEORGE. a) Where are you FROM? b) I’m from WALES. a) Where do you LIVE b) I live in BONN
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The questions given above could also be answered in short form except for the last one, in which case the answers are: • George, • Wales, • in Bonn In other words, ‘given’ information is omitted, not repeated. In the exchange: a) What’s your name? b) (My name’s) George. The ‘new’ information in this response is ‘George.’ The part referring to his name is given in the question, so it may be omitted. Regarding the significance of new information declarative statements, Ladefoged (1982:100) states: ‘In general, new information is more likely to receive a tonic accent than material that has already been mentioned.
3) Tone A unit of speech bounded by pauses has movement, of music and rhythm, associated with the pitch of voice (Roach, 1983: 113). This certain pattern of voice movement is called ‘tone’. A tone is a certain pattern, not an arbitrary one, because it is meaningful in discourse. By means of tones, speakers signal whether to refer, agree, disagree, question or hesitate, or indicate completion and continuation of turn-taking, in speech. Tone allows identifying different kinds of sentences: A falling tone, rising tone, falling rising tone, rising falling and a combination of them, etc. that will be seen later on. What makes a tone a rising or failing or any other type of tone is the direction of the pitch movement on the last stressed (tonic) syllable (Brown, 1977:45). If the tonic syllable is in non-final position, the glide continues over the rest of the syllables. A fall in pitch on the tonic syllable renders (provides) the tone as ‘fall’. A ‘rise’ tone is one in which the tonic syllable is the start of an upward glide of pitch. This glide is of two kinds; if the upward movement is higher, then it is ‘high rise’; if it is lower, then it is ‘low rise’. ‘Fall-rise’ has first a pitch fall and then a rise. 3.1. Falling intonation: In statements, wh-questions, imperatives, requests, exclamations, and Yes/No questions (when the speaker uses a falling intonation, we assume that he already knows the answer). Examples: a) Statements: I’ll report you to the headmaster. b) Wh-questions: Where is the PENcil?
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c) Imperatives: Go and see a DOCtor. d) Requests: Please sit DOWN. e) Exclamations: Watch OUT! f) Yes/No questions: (when the speaker uses a falling intonation, we assume that the speaker already knows the answer and he only needs confirmation). a) Have you MET him? b) YES. 3.2. Rising intonation a) Yes/No questions when the speaker is sure that he does not know the answer and that the addressee knows the answer. In this question we have three possible answers from addressee: A) Isn’t he NICE? B) i) Yes. ii) No. iii) I don’t know. 3.3. High-Rising: Asking for repetition or clarification. If the tonic stress is uttered with extra pitch height, as in the following intonation units, we may think that the speaker is asking for a repetition or clarification, or indicating disbelief. a) I’m taking up TAxidermy this autumn. b) Taking up WHAT? (clarification). a) She passed her DRIving test. b) She PASSED? (disbelief). 3.4. Falling- Rising (Followed by a Fall) Sentential adverbs, compound sentences and so on. Consider the following in which the former of the intonation units are uttered with a fallinrising tone (the slash indicates a pause): Sentencial adverbs: • Private enterPRISE / is always EFficient. • A quick tour of the CIty / would be NICE. • PreSUmably / he thinks he CAN. • Usually / he comes on SUNday.
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Compound sentences: One of the most frequent complex clause types in English is one that has dependent (adverbial or subordinate) clause followed by an independent (main) clause. When such a clause has two intonation units, the first, non-final, normally has a fall-rise while the second, final, has falling tone. Therefore, the tone observed in non-final intonation units can be said to have a ‘dependency’ tone, which is falling-rising. Consider the following: •
When I passed my REAding test / I was VEry happy. non final (Fall-rise) (dependency tone)
•
final intonation (Falling)
If you SEE him / give my MESsage.
When the order of complex clause is reversed, we may still observe the pattern fall-rise and fall respectively, as in •
I WON’T deliver the goods / unless I receive the PAYment.
•
The moon revolves around the EARTH / as we ALLknow.
4) Pitch Pitch represents the perceived fundamental frequency of a sound. It is one of the three major auditory attributes of sounds along with loudness and timbre. When the actual fundamental frequency can be precisely determined through physical measurement, it may differ from the perceived pitch because of overtones, also known as partials, harmonic or otherwise, in the sound. The human auditory perception system may also have trouble distinguishing frequency differences between notes under certain circumstances. According to acoustical terminology, it is the auditory attribute of sound according to which sounds can be ordered on a scale from low to high. Pitch is one of the acoustic correlates of stress (Underhill 1994:57). From a physiological point of view, ‘...pitch is primarily dependent on the rate of vibration of vocal cords... (Cruttenden, 1986:3). When the vocal cords are stretched, the pitch of voice increases. Pitch variations in speech are realized by the alteration of the tension of vocal cords (Ladefoged, 1982:226). The rate of vibration in vocal cords is increased by more air pressure from the lungs. In an overwhelming majority of syllables that are stressed, a higher pitch is observed. Therefore, loudness to a certain extent contributes to the make-up of pitch. That is, higher pitch is heard louder than lower pitch. The term ‘key’ can be described as utterance pitch; specific and/or meaningful sequences of pitches in an intonation unit. For a key to be significant: 1) It should be under speaker’s control,
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2) It should be perceptible to ordinary speakers, and 3) It should represent a contrast (Roach, 1983:113). For each intonation unit, speaker must choose one of the three keys as required for the conversation. Most of the speech for a speaker takes place at the mid (unmarked) pitch (key), employed in normal and unemotional speech. In contrast, high and low pitches (keys) are marked: high key is used for emotionally charged intonation units while use of low key indicates an existence of equivalence (as in appositive expressions), and relatively less significant contribution to the speech. There are three kinds of keys (pitch): high, mid and low (Coulthard,1977) and speakers make use of them depending on what and how they want to say the things. 1. Mid pitch. (unmarked) In denotative or declarative statements (affirmative or negative) I wan to go to the market. It is not raining today. 2. High pitch. 2.1. Exclamations: High: She: Oh GOD¡ Mid: Low: He:/have you GUESSED?/
2.2. Contrastivity: High: DAVdi¡ / Mid: / we’re going to MARgate this year / Low:
High: YALE / Mid: / I’m going to HARvard / Low. 2.3. Echo/repeat: a) 30 thousand dollars. (said Barney sadly) b) 30 thousand dollars¡. Echo. (high).
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3. Low pitch 3.1.Co-reference: High: Mid: / I TOLD you already / Low: DUMmy / ( it refers back to you) 3.2. Non-defining relative clauses High: Mid: / my DOCtor /
/ is very WELL-known /
Low: who’s a neuROlogist 3.3. Statements of opinion. High: Mid: / the GOvernment / / will agree with our deMANDS Low: I THINK
5. Length In phonetics, length or quantity is a feature of sounds that are distinctively longer than other sounds. There are short vowels as well as long consonants (the latter are often called geminates). Many languages do not have distinctive length. Among the languages that have distinctive length, there are only a few that have both distinctive vowel length and distinctive consonant length. It is more common that there is only one or that they depend on each other. The languages that distinguish between different lengths have usually long and short sounds. English distinguish between long and short vowels: English short vowels:
//, /e/, /æ/, //, //, //, //
English long vowels:
/i:/, /3:/, /a:/, /:/, /u:/.
Length may be distinctive for vowels, for consonants, or for both, although distinctive length is more common with vowels than with consonants. Phonetically, of course, considerable variation in length is possible. In English the length is phonological because we can change the meaning of the word. It –eat; leave, live; sheep, ship; heat, hit (short //and long /i:/) Pull, pool; full, fool (short // and log /u:/ )
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Heart /ha:t/; hard /ha:d/; harm /ha:m/ (long vowel /a:/) Caught /k:t/ cord /k:d/; corn /k:n/; course /k:s/ (long vowel /:/)
4.2. Kinds of intonation by Mimi Ponsonby 4.2.1.
Intonation 1: The rising-falling pattern (Statements, Wh- question) Stress, rhythm and intonation are, if anything, more important for communication than the correct pronunciation of individual sounds. We have looked at intonation when we saw how meaning could be altered by shifting the Tonic. The Tonic is the syllable of greatest stress an utterance. It is also the syllable where most `movement´ occurs. A sentence with the Tonic at the end will look like this, the voice rising on each stressed syllable and then falling slightly below the pitch it was at before: ‘A farmer went trotting upon his grey mare’. The whole sentence seems to be dropping like a series of small towards the Tonic, in which all the features of the other stressed syllables-movement, loudness, lengthare present in an exaggerated form. This is called the ‘rising-falling’ intonation pattern. If the Tonic is the last syllable in the sentence, the voice will slide from high to low within that syllable. I bought some food.
Jane’s away.
If there are one or more unstressed syllables after the Tonic, the voice drops on the following syllable and there is no further movement until the end of the phrase or sentence. I thought I saw a burglar.
I thought I saw an alligator.
This pattern is used (a)
for statements.
(b)
for ‘wh’ questions (what, when, where, which, who, whom, whose, why, and how).
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There is also a plain ‘falling’ pattern, in which the voice does not rise on the Tonic, but remains flat and then falls either within the final syllable or on the following one: I feel sick.
It’s snowing.
The difference between this and the first pattern is that if you use the second you will sound distinctly bored or, at the very least, lacking in enthusiasm. Practice A. Statements (a)
(b)
(c)
Final syllable
Second –last syllable
Followed by several syllables
I took the books.
I`ve bought you a present.
I’ve dropped the thermometer.
I put them down
My father’s a teacher.
He’s going into politics.
We`re going to church. We’re going by taxi.
I think he’s an anthropologist.
B. ‘Wh-’questions (a)
(b)
(c)
What’s that?
What are you going?
When will you finish it?
Where’s the tea?
When did you get there?
Which is the easiest?
Which is yours?
Where are you going?
Who were you talking to?
Who’s that girl?
Why didn’t you tell me?
Why don’t we go to the cinema?
Whose are these?
How are the children?
How did you hurt yourself?
C. Practice making a difference between rising-falling and falling intonation It’s raining.
I’m ill.
I’m going away.
I’ve killed him.
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DIALOGUE: What time does the plane leave?
ROBERT:
What’s the time?
EMILY:
Ten past two, dear.
ROBERT:
When does the plane leave?
EMILY:
Not until a quarter to four.
ROBERT:
Why did we get here so early?
EMILY:
Because you said we must allow plenty of time for traffic jams and accidents.
ROBERT:
Where’s my briefcase? What have you done with my briefcase?
EMILY:
It’s there, dear, between your feet.
ROBERT:
Emily! Where are you going?
EMILY:
I’m going to ask that gentleman what they were announcing over the loudspeaker.
ROBERT:
Which gentleman?
EMILY:
That man over there with all the packages.
ROBERT:
Who is he?
EMILY:
I don’t know. But he looked as though he was listening to the announcement… Yes, I was afraid so. The plane’s delayed. It won’t be leaving till five.
ROBERT:
How did he manage to hear it if we didn’t?
EMILY:
Because he was listening. You were talking too much to hear.
ROBERT:
What do you mean, I was talking too much?
EMILY:
Oh dear. Never mind.
ROBERT:
What time is it now, Emily?
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4.2.2.
Intonation 2: The falling-rising pattern (Yes / No question, request for repetition, greetings). This pattern is the reverse of the one rising-falling pattern. The main movement in the sentence is still on the Tonic syllable, but this time the voice falls on the Tonic and then rises. You use this pattern to ask questions that require an answer of Yes or No. Let’s look at three sentences, first as statement with a rising-falling pattern, and then in question form: (a)
I bought some food.
(b)
Did you buy some food?
I saw a burglar.
Did you see a burglar?
A saw an alligator
Did you see an alligator?
Did you notice that the second pattern is, in fact, not the exact reverse of the first? In the statement, once the voice has fallen after the Tonic, it stays at the same level, but in the question the voice continues to rise to the end of the sentence. Be careful not to rise too sharply, especially if you have a lot to add after the Tonic, or you’ll end up in a squeak! /s’kwi:k/ (very high tone of voice). Did you see an alligator in the bath at the party last night? The fall-rise pattern is also used for greetings, the voice rising and falling on the greeting, and then, on the name that follows falling a little more and rising again sharply. Hello, Jane!
Good evening, Mrs. Baker!
You also use this tune with ‘Wh’ questions when you’re asking for information to be repeated. The intonation here usually expresses shock or anger, implying, I don’t believe you.
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I saw your girlfriend at the cinema last night.
Where did you see her? At the cinema. She was with Charlie Brown. Who was she with? Charlie Brown? PRACTICE 1 (a)
(b)
A. Yes / no questions
C. Requests for repetition
Are you alone?
What did you say?
Can I come in?
When was all this?
May I sit down?
Where did you say you found it?
Do you mind if I smoke?
Which pills did you take?
Are you sure?
Who did you say you went with?
Have you got an ashtray?
Whose wife danced on the table?
May I borrow some matches?
Why did you think it was me?
Would it be possible to have a cup of tea?
How did you get in?
Oh, am I being a nuisance? /’nju:sns/ (someone who annoys you and causes trouble) B. Greetings Hullo, Peter. Good morning, Doctor. Good afternoon, Mr Mumble. Good evening, everybody.
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DIALOGUE: Were you at home last night?
SERGEANT: Good evening, Sir. Mr Holmes? HOLMES:
Good evening, officer. Yes, that’s right-John Holmes. Won’t you come in?
SERGEANT: Thank you. May I ask you a few questions? HOLMES:
Yes, of course. Won’t you sit down?
SERGEANT: Thank you. It’s about last night. Were you at home, Mr Holmes? HOLMES:
Yes, Sergeant, I was, actually. I wasn’t feeling very well.
SERGEANT: Were you alone? HOLMES:
Er, yes. My wife had gone to the cinema with a friend.
SERGEANT: Did you go out at all? HOLMES:
No, I stayed in all evening-that is, except for a few minutes when I popped out to post a letter.
SERGEANT: Do you remember what time this was? HOLMES:
Yes, it was about-um-half past eight.
SERGEANT: What time did you say? Half past eight? Anybody see you when you- erpopped out to post a letter. /pa:pt’aut/ (Go somewhere suddenly) HOLMES:
No, I don’t think so. Oh yes, just a minute. The caretaker said ‘good evening’.
SERGEANT: The caretaker, Mr Holmes? Mr Holmes, the caretaker was murdered last night. /’ketek/ (Someone who looks after a building) Vocabulary Popped out. /pa:pt’aut/. Go somewhere suddenly. Caretaker. /’ketek/. Someone who looks after a building.
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4.2.3.
Intonation 3: Combined patterns. (Pausing in the middle, lists, doubt, apology, etc.) Intonation is one of the means a speakers uses to send signals to the listener, such as ‘don’t interrupt me’: ‘I haven’t finished yet’, or ‘That’s all for the moment’. Over to you, if the speakers pauses in the middle of a sentence, he will stop on a rising tone to show you that he intends to continue.
I was about to put my hands inside the box… when I heard a ticking noise. /tkŋ/ (strong) In the first part of the sentence, up to the pause, the pattern is the ordinary risingfalling one of statements, until you come to the Tonic, which has the falling-rising tune. This falling-rising only on the Tonic is frequently used to express doubt, hesitation, or apology. It can also imply, Can I help you? Well… I’m sorry.
I think I’ve got it.
Dr Mark’s secretary.
You use the falling-rising tune, too, when enumerating lists. Every item in your list will have its own pattern, each one on the same level as the last: Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday…
If your list is complete, the final item will have the rise-fall pattern, indicating to your listener that it is the last element. This is called a `closed´ list: I’m free on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. If you want to show that you could go on but leave the rest to your listener’s imagination, you use the falling-rising pattern on the last item as well. This is called an ‘open’ list: I’m free on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday….
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Implying that any day of the week is possible. This applies to questions, too: Are you free on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday? Are you free on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday…? Practice 1 A. (a) If you go to the India / you must see the Taj Mahal. I’ve bought a painting / but now I don’t like it. I saw your uncle in the park/ but I don’t think he saw me (b) Yes.
No
I don’t think so.
Excuse me.
Williams’ Bakery.
I’m sorry to bother you.
Mandrake College.
B. (a) Closed lists -statements and questions We went to Rome and Athens and Beirut and Cairo. I can offer you tea or coffee or hot chocolate. Did you see my cousin or my uncle or my aunt? Shall we go to the cinema or the pub or stay at home? (b) Open lists Now say the sentences in B (a) again, using the falling-rising intonation on the last item as well.
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DIALOGUE : I’m afraid I’m lost
OLD LADY:
Excuse me. I’m terribly sorry to bother you…
POLICEMAN:
Yes? That’s quite all right. Can’t I help you at all?
OLD LADY:
I don’t know to begin.
POLICEMAN:
Well, the beginning’s always a good place to start.
OLD LADY:
But, you see, I don’t know the beginning. I’m looking for a small, oldfashioned hotel where I – if only I could remember the name!
POLICEMAN:
Or the name of the street?
OLD LADY:
The street? Oh I’ve no idea. I’m afraid.
POLICEMAN:
Or the area?
OLD LADY:
I know it was not far from the Pier. Or could that have been last year. I wonder? No, no, last year I went with Emily- I think.
POLICEMAN:
Did you say near the Pier? There’s no pier here.
OLD LADY:
There must be ! My hotel was near it.
POLICEMAN:
Which pier? /p:t/ (port)
OLD LADY:
Eastbourne Pier, of course!
POLICEMAN:
Eastbourne? But this is Seaford!
OLD LADY:
Seaford! Really? I thought it seemed rather a long way!
Vocabulary Pier. /p:t/. port.
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4.2.4.
Intonation 4. Tag questions Tag questions are those little questions stuck at the end of a sentence, usually asking for confirmation of what has just been said. In the first pattern the speaker makes a statement which he or she believes to be true. The tag question is not really asking a question –the speaker does not except anything but agreement. You’re learning English, aren’t you? Yes, I am The sentence, being a statement, will have a rise –fall intonation pattern, and so will the tag question: You’re learning English, aren’t you? You killed Cock Robin, didn’t you? In the second pattern the speaker is not at all sure of the truth of his statement. In fact, though it has a statement form. It’s really a question, so it will have a fallingrising intonation, and so will the tag question: You didn’t eat it, did you?
She will be there tonight, won’t she?
The third pattern starts making a definite statement. The speaker seems certain that its true. Then there comes a slight pause, as if an awful feeling of doubt in creeping in /’krpŋ/ (moving carefuly). The tag question expresses this doubt with a falling-rising intonation: That’s my money-isn’t it?
You said you wanted to go to Aden-didn’t you?
Two things to note (a) If the main sentence is in the affirmative, the tag question is always in the negative. If the main sentence is in the negative, the tag question is in the affirmative. (b) Although there’s a comma before the tag question you link if the question itself begins with a vowel: That’s the answer, isn’t it?
I’m not going to fall, am I?
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Practice 1 A. Rising-falling This is your frog, isn’t it? You know where I found it, don’t you? And you put it in my bed, didn’t you? So you know what’s going to happen to you, don’t you? And you won’t do it again, will you? B. Falling-rising You’ll come with me to the school fete, wont you? I’ll pick you up at two, shall I? And we’ll go by car, shall we? We won’t have to stay long, will we? You’ll come and some tea afterwards, won’t you? C. Definite statement followed by doubt-rising-falling, falling-rising You have got to buy the tickets –haven’t you’ I didn’t turn off the bath water –didn’t I? The hotel is in this street –isn’t it? You weren’t in the plane crash –were you? D. Tag question with special stress-rising-falling, falling-rising within the Stressed word. I like pop music-don’t you? We’re going to the pub on Saturday -aren’t you? We’ve been invited to the Joneses- haven’t you? Mine’s a real diamond- isn’t yours?
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DIALOGUE: Fish like a bit of silence, don’t they?
PASSER-BY:
Nasty weather, isn’t it?
FISHERMAN:
All right if you’re a duck.
PASSER-BY:
Come here regularly, don’t you?
FISHERMAN:
Yes, I do.
PASSER-BY:
Come fishing every Sunday, don’t you?
FISHERMAN:
That’s right.
PASSER-BY:
No many other people today, are there?
FISHERMAN:
No there aren’t, are there?
PASSER-BY:
Caught some fish already, have you?
FISHERMAN:
No, not yet.
PASSER-BY:
Stay here all day, will you?
FISHERMAN:
I should like to.
PASSER-BY:
You don’t mind if I sit down, do you? My talking doesn’t disturb you, does it?
FISHERMAN:
No, but it seems to disturb the fish.
PASSER-BY:
Ah, they like a bit of silence, don’t they? Same as me. I like a bit of peace, too, don’t you?
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4.2.5.
Weak forms, linking and elision (Review 1) Weak forms: Linking:
out of [v] the [ð] car; peas and [n] carrots and [n] cabbage. sitting on an ant’s nest; your bit of beef.
Elision:
detes(t) picnics; couldn’(t) stay; roas(t) pork.
Two consecutives stresses: ‘stop grumbling’; ‘brown bread’; ‘boiled beef’. Rising intonation of incomplete lists: tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cucumber, beetroot… Unit 4. Practice 1 (4.2.5. B and C) A. Few proverbs Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
Here today, gone tomorrow.
A red rag to bull.
A bull in a china shop.
There’s no smoke without fire. You can’t fit a square peg into a round hole. /peg/ (a stick of wood). B. Which is s/he saying? (a) That sounds to me like a foul. vowel. (b) We’ve decided to cover this part with glass. grass. (c ) What a cat your cousin is! cad
/kæd/ (a man who cannot be trusted)
(d) These sheep are going to have their wool shorn off. torn. (e) I didn’t realize it was so light, did you? late, Vocabulary Shear, shorn /, :n/ take out the wool. Check your answers in the answers key (B and C).
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C. Do you know how the ‘o’s and ‘u’s (either separately or in combination) are pronounced in the names of these fruit and vegetables? Put the correct phonetic symbol(s) after each one. (a) lemon [ ]
(g) broad bean [ ]
(m) turnip [ ]
(s) apricot[ ]
(b) lettuce [ ]
(h) asparagus [ ]
(n) melon [ ]
(t) carrot [ ]
(c) almond [ ]
(i) beetroot [ ]
(o) currant [ ]
(u) cucumber [ ] [ ]
(d) sultana [ ]
(j) artichoke [ ]
(p) grapefruit [ ]
(v) potato [ ] [ ]
(e) orange [ ]
(k) sprout [ ]
(q) sugarbeet [ ]
(w) onion [ ] [ ]
(f) sweetcorn [ ]
(l) walnut [ ]
(r) gooseberry [ ]
(x) mushroom [ ] (y) cauliflower [ ] [ ]
D. Listen to the dialogue. Mark the stresses syllables. detest
beautiful
perfect
salad
beetroot
basket
cabbage
behind
tomatoes
rabbit
indoors
pudding
chicken
cucumber
dumplings
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DIALOGUE: Bit of beef at the picnic
PAUL:
Picnics! Detest picnics!
KATE:
Paul, do stop grumbling and get the basket out of the car. We couldn’t stay indoors today. It’s beautiful!
PAUL:
I do like a proper Sunday dinner. What I like is roast pork with apple sauce and gravy, peas and carrots and cabbage, and treacle tart for pudding… /’tri:kl ta:rt/ (azúcar, melaza)
KATE:
Here’s a perfect spot! Spread the rug behind this bush. Good. Look, we’ve got brown bread and butter and pâté and cold chicken…
PAUL:
Blast! I’m sitting on an ant’s nest! Picnics! /blæst/ criticise very strongly)
KATE:
And the salad’s got tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, cucumber, beetroot…
PAUL:
Rabbit food! Oh for a plate of boiled beef and dumplings!
KATE:
Oh dear! Paul, I do believe your bit of beef is coming this way! Isn’t that a Bull?
4.2.6.
Weak forms, linking, tag question, intonation, syllable stress and rhythm (Review 2). Weak forms: Linking:
of [v], to [t] and so on. that’s a; sort of; sitting in.
Tag question: You’re sitting in, isn’t it?; just joking, aren’t you?; the plants, can’t it? Intonation: rising-falling on statements and ‘wh-’ questions, falling-rising on ‘yes/ no’ question.
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Syllable stress: make your voice higher and louder and hang on to the syllable a little longer on the stresses. Rhythm: Feel it, like music. Not the same all the way through, but regular within each phrase. Unit 4. Practice 2 (4.2.6. B, C and D) A few more proverbs A. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
Many hands make light work.
Look after the pence and the pounds will look after themselves. Look after the sense and the sounds will look after themselves. A fool and his money are soon parted.
Penny wise, pound foolish.
Never look a gift horse in the month.
Half a loaf is better than no bread
A woman, a dog and a walnut tree.
Beggars can’t be choosers.
The more you beat ’em the better they be. B. Which is s/he saying? (a)
How many lambs have you got this year? rams
(b)
That’s a photograph of a marsh hare I took last spring. march
(c)
Don’t leave those boots lying about in the hall. books
(d)
Water has to be transported by means of a long train. drain.
(e)
Do you think this cream’s all right? green’s
C. Which of these words rhyme with ‘funny’? Money
Monday
chutney
Sonny
botany
anemone
Puny
Pony
journey
Sony
alimony
runny
Many
honey
sunny
Coney
Granny
Mummy
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D. Listen to the dialogue. How many syllables are there in these words? (a) position (k) Extraordinary (j) stethoscope
(c) everybody (b) listening (l) pitched
(e) especial (d) noises
(g) aren’t (f) hear
(i) serious (h) audible
Vocabulary Broth. /br:θ/. A thin soup with a meat or vegetable flavour. Ram(s). /ræm/. A male sheep. Hare. /her/. Animals similar to rabbit but bigger. Marsh. /mar/. An area of soft wet land. DIALOGUE: Listening to the plants talking
GEORGE:
That’s a funny sort of position you’re sitting in, isn’t it?
ANDREW:
I’m listening to the plants talking.
GEORGE:
Andrew! Plants can’t talk –everybody knows that.
ANDREW:
But they make noises. Not noises like the ones human beings make. Not even animal noises. Special sounds. You can hardly hear them with the human ear.
GEORGE:
Well, if they aren’t audible, how do you know they make them? Come on, you’re just joking, aren’t you?
ANDREW:
I’m as serious as…as… Sunday. Honestly, George. Cross my heart and hope to die.
GEORGE:
What’s that thing that’s hanging round your neck? Looks like sort of a snake.
ANDREW:
It’s a doctor stethoscope. Lie down on the ground and put the stethoscope into your ears. Hear anything?
GEORGE:
Golly. I did! How extraordinary! A very high-pitched squeaking! It can’t be the plants, can it?
Vocabulary Golly /’ga:l/ Interj. Colloq. ¡Caray¡
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4.2.7.
Stress: consecutive stress, the shifting tonic, linking, elision, weak forms. (Review 3) Stress: no stress on negative prefixes: impo’lite; un’happy. Consecutive stresses: a ‘good ‘heavens; ‘big ‘black ‘beard; ‘mer’maid. The shifting Tonic: are you a ‘mer’maid? Of ‘course I’m a ‘mer’maid. Intonation: especially of questions. Linking: are you a; seen a: got a Elision: hasn(‘t) got time; han(d) some; bi(g) black. Weak forms: but [bt] are you; handsome and [n] dashing. also within words: polite [p’la]; forgive [f’gv]; handsome [‘hænsm] Vocabulary: Dashing /’dæŋ/ (go somewhere in a hurry) Unit 4. Practice 3 (4.2.7 B,C y D)
A. Still more proverbs Pride comes before a fall.
Great minds think alike
One good turn deserves another.
Fools seldom differ. /‘dfr/,
If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. Nothing venture, nothing gain. If ‘ifs’ and ‘ands’ were pots and pans, there’d be no need for tinkers. Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggarman, thief. Tinkers /’tnkr/ (to make changes to repair something) B. Which is s/he saying? (a)
The brute! He pinched my shin! chin! gin!
(b)
I just adore fresh bread. french
(c)
I’ll find out if he ever came to the surface again. service
(d)
Have you ever seen such an awful sore before in all your life? shore chore jaw
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(e)
I’m so cross. I’ve lost the marvellous cot I got from Tom and Margaret. cod cart card
C) Underline the Tonic in each phrase or sentence in the following dialogue: I’m going to the Repton Show in October. That’s a boat show, isn’t it? No, a motor show. Are you going to Repton alone? No, Peter’s going, too. Peter’ Peter who? Which Peter? Peter Blenkinsop. I told you I was going to Repton with Peter. When did you tell me? It must have been someone else. You never told me. D) Mark the stressed syllables in these words before you practice the dialogue orally? Mermaid
before
unhappy
handsome
actually
impolite
upset
borrow
delighted
unadventurous
Check your answers to exercises b and c in the answer key.
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DIALOGUE: Nobody wants a mermaid
PASSER-BY:
Good heavens! Forgive me, but- are you a mermaid?
MERMAID:
Of course I’m a mermaid! You can see I m a mermaid. It’s most impolite to stare like that.
PASSER-BY:
I’m terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. Only I’ve never seen a mermaid before
MERMAID:
(weeping) Well, now you have.
PASSER-BY:
Oh dear! I didn’t mean to upset you.
MERMAID:
It wasn’t you. It’s just that I’m so unhappy. He doesn’t love me.
PASSER-BY:
Who doesn’t love you? Haven’t you got a hankie? No, of course not. How silly of me. Here, borrow mine. That’s right. Have a good blow and tell me all about it.
MERMAID:
He’s a sailor, you see. He’s so handsome and dashing with his big black beard and flashing eyes. But he doesn’t want a mermaid.
PASSER-BY:
There, there. He ought to be delighted –you can follow him out to sea.
MERMAID:
He says he hasn’t got time for girls at sea.
PASSER-BY:
Don’t you think you’d actually be happier with a nice, quiet, ordinary, unadventurous chap- like me?
Vocabulary Dashing. /’dæŋ/ Hit somebody or someone violently. Ojos matadores. Flashing. /flæŋ/ Bright, brilliant.
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4.2.8. Rhythm and gingles. American light Verse: A Contemporary Selection Anne C. Newton, Editor 1. The purple cow I never saw a purple cow I never hope to see one; Bu I can tell you, anyhow, I’d rather see than be one. 2. The Abominable Snowman I’ve never seen an abominable snowman, I’m hoping not to see one; I’m also hoping, if I do, That it will be a wee one. 3. Babies. I think that whenever I see one, I’d rather have been than still be one. 4. Risposte Ah, yes, I wrote “The Purple Cow” – I’m sorry, now, I wrote it¡ But I can tell you, anyhow, I’ll kill you if you quote it. 5. The Hippopotamus Behold the hippopotamus¡ We laugh at how he looks to us, And yet in moments dank and grim
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I wonder how we look to him. Peace, peace, thou hippopotamus¡ We really look all right to us, As you no doubt delight the eye Of other hippopotami. 6. The Camel The came has a single hump: The dromedary, two; Or else the other way around. I’m never sure. Are You? 7. The Purist I give you now professor Twist, A conscientious scientist. Trustees exclaimed, “He never bungles¡” And sent him off to distant jungles. Camped on a tropic riverside, One day he missed his living bride. She had, the guide informed him later, Been eaten by an alligator. Professor Twist could not but smile. “You mean” he said, “a crocodile” 8. The panther The panther is lie a leopard, Except it hasn’t been peppered. Should you behold a panther crouch Prepare to say Ouch. Better yet, if called by a panther, Don’t anther.
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9. Adventures of Isabel Isabel met an enormous bear; Isabel, Isabel, didn’t care The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous. The bear’s big mouth was cruel and cavernous. The bear said, “Isabel, glad to meet you. How do, Isabel, now I’ll eat you¡” Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry; Isabel didn’t scream or scurry. She washed her hands and She straightened her hair up, Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up. Once in a night as black as pitch, Isabel met a wicked old witch. The witch’s face was cross and wrinkled; The witch’s gums with teeth were sprinkled. “Ho, ho. Isabel¡” the old witch crowed. “I’ll turn you into an ugly toad¡” Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry; Isabel didn’t scream or scurry. She showed no range and she showed no rancor, But she turned the witch into milk and drank her. Isabel met a troublesome doctor; He punched and he poked till he really shocked her. The doctor’s talk was coughs and chills, And the doctor’s satchel bulged with pills. The doctor said unto Isabel,
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“Swallow this; it will make you well¡” Isabel, Isabel, didn’t worry; Isabel didn’t scream or scurry. She took those pills from the pill concocter, And Isabel calmly cured the doctor. 10. Distant views Two sayings that I’ve been inclined In puzzlement off times to ponder Are out of sight is out of mind And absence makes the heart grow fonder. They’re opposite as day and night, The very height of contradiction, No more alike than black and white, Or large and small, or fact and fiction To reconcile them, though, I’ve quit; It’s not a thing I’m growing grey from, For I have found, at last, that it Depends on whom you are away from 11. Reading Matter People say, with piercing look, “I can read you like a book.” Whereupon I bow my head And submit to being read, Hoping, with a hope quite grim, They’re the kind who merely skims
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12. Wishful Thinking If I had the wings of a bird of the air And the fins of a fish of the sea, I could travel with speed and abandon all care, I could ramble the wide world free. The wings of a bird and the fins of a fish, As well as the legs of a deer— I could fly, I could swim, I could run as I wish, But I’d certainly look mighty queer. 13. Argument If you convinced me And I convinced you, Would there not still be Two points of view? 14. Surplus Commodity The getting is easy, The giving is nice; The taking’s the tough part About advice. 15. Etiquette The people tell the story of a sparrow and the cat, The feline thin and hungry and the bird exceeding fat, With eager, famished energy and claws of gripping steel, Puss pounced upon the sparrow and prepared to make a meal. The sparrow never struggled when he knew that he was caught (If somewhat slow in action he was mighty quick of thought),
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But chirped in simple dignity that seemed to fit the case, “No gentleman would ever eat before he washed his face¡” This hint against his manners wounded Tommy like a knife, For cats are great observers of the niceties of life; He paused to lick his paws, which seemed the proper things to do When, chirruping derisively, away the sparrow flew¡ In helpless, hopeless hunger at the sparrow on the bough Poor Tommy glowered longingly and vowed a solemn vow “Henceforth I’ll eat my dinner first, and then wash myself¡” and that’s the universal etiquette for educated cats. Arthur Guiterman 16. The naught prepositions I lately lost a preposition; It hid, I thought, beneath my chair. And angrily I cried: “Perdition¡” Up from out of in under there¡” Correctness is my vade mecum. (go with me) And straggling phrases I abhor; And yet I wondered: “what should he come Up from out of in under for?” Morris Bishop
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17. Favourite That poem is splendid thing, I love to ear you quote it. I like the thought, I like the swing, I like it all. (I wrote it) Mother Goose Rhymes: A child’s Literary Heritage 1. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are¡ Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are¡ 2. Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses. And all the king’s men. Couldn’t put Humpty together again. 3. Little Bo-Peep Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep And can’t tell where to find them. Leave them alone, and they will come home Bringing their tails behind them.
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4. Little Boy Blue Little Boy Blue, Come blow your horn; The sheep’s in the meadow, The cow’s in the corn . Where’s the little boy That looks after the sheep? He’s under the haystack, Fast asleep. 5. Ladybird, Ladybird Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly away home. Your houses is on fire, Your children will burn. Fly to the east, Fly to the west, Fly to the one you love the best. 6. A Dillar, A dollar A dillar, a dollar, A ten o’clock scholar What makes you come so soon? You used to come at ten o’clock, But now you come at noon. 7. Jack and Jill Jack and Jill Went up the hill. To fetch a pail of water.
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Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after. 8. Little Polly Flinders Little Polly Flinders. Sat among the cinders, Warming her pretty little toes. Her mother came and caught her And spanked her little daughter. For spoiling her nice new clothes. 9. Little Tommy Tucker Little Tommy Tucker Sings for his supper. What shall he eat? White bread and butter. How shall he cut it Without any knife? How shall he marry Without any wife? 10. The old Woman in the shoe There was and old woman. Who lived in a shoe. She had so many children. She didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what to do. She fed them some broth.
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Without any bread, Then spanked them all soundly and sent them to bed. 11. Mary had a little Lamb Mary had a little lamb. Its fleece was white as snow; And everywhere that Mary went. The lamb was sure to go. It followed her to school one day, Which was against the rule; It made that children laugh and play To see a lamb at school. 12. Hi, Diddle, Diddle Hi, diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon. 13. Sing a Song of Sixpence Sing a song of sixpence, A pocketful of rye, Four-and-Twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie. When the pie was opened, The birds began to sing;
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Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before the King¡ The king was in his countinghouse, Counting out his money; The Queen was in the parlor, Eating bread and honey; The maid was in the garden, Hanging out the clothes; Along came a blackbird And snipped off her nose¡ 14. Mary, Mary, Quite contrary Mary, Mary, Quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells, And cockleshells, And pretty maids all in row. 15. A tisket, A tasket A tisket, a tasket, A green and yellow basket, I wrote a letter to my love And on the way I dropped it. I dropped it, I drooped it, And on the way I drooped it.
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16. This is the House that Jack Built This is the house that Jack built. This is the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the man all tattered and torn,
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That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tattered and torn, That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the cock that crowed in the morn, That waked the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tattered and torn, That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. This is the farmer sowing his corn, That kept the cock that crowed in the morn, That waked the priest all shaven and shorn, That married the man all tattered and torn,
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That kissed the maiden all forlorn, That milked the cow with the crumpled horn, That tossed the dog, That worried the cat, That killed the rat, That ate the malt That lay in the house that Jack built. Come butter come Come, butter, come, Come, butter, come! Peter stands at the gate, Waiting for a buttered cake; Come, butter, come. Unit 4. Practice 4 (4.2.8. A, B and C) A. Do you know how these words are pronounced? although
bought
dough
fought
plough
thorough
dizzy
borough
brought
drought
nought
rough
caterpillar
tough
bough
cough
enough
ought
sought
thought
trough
B. ¿How is the letter ‘a’ pronounced in English in the names of these places? France
Wales
Holland
Portugal
New Zealand
Japan
China
Bulgaria
Malaysia
South Africa
Brazil Spain
Nassau Arabia
Uganda Albania
Hungary Romania
Yugoslavia Australia
C. Here are all the months of the year. Put a stress mark on the stressed syllables january february
march april
may june
july august
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september october
november december
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
D. Weak forms. Listen to the teacher or the tape. The speakers are speaking very fast. What are they saying? Copy the sentences on your notebook E. Practice the intonation pattern. A) Hullo, how are you?
A) How do you do?
B) I’m very well. But how are you?
B) Dow do you do?
A) Why do you ask?
A) Haven’t we met before?
B) I thought you looked ill.
B) Have we? When?
A) What do you mean, ill?
A) At your cousin’s party.
B) You’ve got spots.
B) Whose cousin?
A) Who?
A) Your cousin.
B) You.
B) I haven’t got a cousin.
A) What spots?
A) You must have¡ we met there¡
B) Sort of red spots.
B) Are you sure it was me?
A) Where?
A) Well, why don’t we have a cup of coffee and see if we can find out?
B) All over your face. A) What shall I do? B) You could always wear a veil. Vocabulary: Veil /vel/ (A thin piece of cloth worn over the woman’s head or face)
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Roach, P. (1983)
English phonetics and phonology: A practical coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Underhill, A. (1994)
Sound foundations: Living phonology. Oxford: Heinemann.
Kenworthy, J. (1987)
Teaching english pronunciation. London: Longman.
Coulthard, M. (1977)
An introduction to discourse analysis. Harlow (Essex): Longman.
Langacker, Ronalnd W. (1998)
Fundamental of linguistic analysis. University of California, San Diego Harcourt Brace Iovanovich, Inc.
Ponsonby, Mimi. (1987)
How now Brown Cow. A course in pronunciation of english. Cambridge, Hall International English Language Teaching Ltd.
Yolanda D. Federici Foreword Eulalie Osgood Grover. (1988)
Mother Gosse rymes. American light verse.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Celik-Intonation.html http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# http://www.oupchina.com.hk/dict/phonetic/home.html http://www.ingilish.com/englishsyllablestress.htm
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ACTIVITY 1. What can you understand by suprasegmental phonology? Mention the English suprasegmental elements. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. What is intonation and what are the three important features about intonation? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 3. What is an intonation unitâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 4. What are the four major types of stress identified? Give brief explanation. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 5. Give a definition of tone and mention the different kind of sentences according to the tone, mentioning sub classifications. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 6. Define pitch and its classification. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
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7. What do you know about length? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 8. Can you explain the rising-falling pattern? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 9. What pattern do ‘request for repetition’ and ‘greetings’ follow? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 10. What intonation patterns do sentences that express ‘pausing in the middle’ and ‘making lists’ follow? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 11. What intonation patterns do sentences that express ‘doubt’ and ‘apology’ follow? Give examples. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 12. Explain ‘tag question’ intonation pattern and give examples? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 13. How is intonation behind weak forms, linking, elision and shifting tonic? Explain. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
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14. How and what exercises would you use to teach suprasegmental aspect of the language to your students in the classroom? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
o
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UNIT V ENGLISH SYLLABLE OBJECTIVES 1. Understand the concept of English syllable. 2. Understand the structure of English Syllable. 3. Get familiar with syllabification rules. 4. Find out the difference between phonetic syllable and orthographic syllable. 5. Find out the difference between syllable and diphthongs. 6. Be aware of the syllabic consonants and its importance for Syllable division. 7. Understand articulation, co articulation, and breaking in the syllable formation.
Syllable Rythme
Onset Nucleus E.g.
/k /sk
æ i
Coda t/
‘cat’
n/
‘skin’
ENGLISH SYLLABLE 5.1. Definition In phonetics, a syllable is a group of sounds that are pronounced together. Every English word consists of one or more complete syllables. glad consists of one syllable: /glæd/ Coming consists of two syllables: /km/ and /ŋ/ So does valley: /’væl/ and // tobacco consists of three syllables: /t’bæk/ and // or /-o/ Each syllable contains one vowel, and only one. This vowel may be preceded or followed by one or more consonants. The vowel itself may be a short vowel, a long vowel, or a diphthong; or, if it is the weak vowel , it may be combined with a nasal or liquid to give a SYLLABIC CONSONANT. All four types appear in the example lubrication /,lu:.br’ke.n/. Syllables carry the features of stress and intonation. They are important in verse and metrics, since the rhythm of a word or phrase is determined by the number and nature of the syllables it contains. The division of a word into syllables is its ‘syllabification’. The syllabification of entries can be shown by spacing between successive syllables or by a dot.
5.2. Kinds of syllables in the process of syllabification Phonetic (spoken) syllables must not be confused with orthographic (written) syllables A) Phonetic Syllable. Corresponds to syllables classification of the spoken language. E.g. /’hæp/ and /n/. B) Orthographic syllable. It is a group of letters in spelling. When a word is split across two lines of writing, it should be broken at an orthographic syllable boundary. In some cases this may not exactly correspond to a phonetic syllable boundary. In the word happen the spelling includes two p’s, and the orthographic syllabification is hap.pen. But the pronunciation has only a single p. and the syllables are /’hæp/ and /n/. a) hap.pen (orthographic syllabification) b) /’hæp/, /n/ (phonetic syllabification)
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5.3. The structure of the syllable (by Tuncer Can) First of all, if we have a look at the structural properties of syllable we observe that syllable consists of a central peak of sonority (usually a vowel), and the consonants that cluster around this central peak. The preceding consonant or consonants cluster is called the “onset”. For example, the “b” in the word “bar” is the onset. The consonant or consonant cluster which is following the peak (nucleus) of sonority is called the “coda”. For example, the “rt” cluster in the word “art” is the coda. The peak of sonority is called the “nucleus”. In the word “bar” “a” is the nucleus. The nucleus is a vowel in most cases, although the consonants [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ], and the velar nasal (the ‘/h/’ sound) can also be the nucleus of a syllable. Table 3. Structural Properties of the syllable. Parts
Description
Optionality
Initial segment of a syllable
(Optional)
– Nucleus
Central segment of a syllable
Obligatory
– Coda
Closing segment of a syllable
(Optional)
– Onset
As seen in Table 3. English syllables require a nucleus, which is usually a vowel, and optionally onset or coda, which are usually consonants or consonant clusters. In case they have an onset, English Syllables may start with 1, 2 or 3 consonants. In English syllables, consonant clusters are not arbitrarily formed, their representation is as follows: Consonant Clusters: 1.
s + (initial)
p,t,k,f,m,n,w,l,y,r / s:pre-initial/others:initial
2.
s + other consonants + (post-initials) l,r,w,j =pre-initial+initial+post-initials In the following words, the onset is in bold; the rest underlined. read flop strap
The consonant clusters which constitute the coda are also not arbitrarily formed, they can be described as: ”any consonant except for h, r, w, j may be final consonant. There may be two kinds of Final Cluster: 1) Final cluster: /pre-final + final / final + post final, Pre-finals (m, n, nasal, l, s. Example: bump, belt 2) Final cluster: /Post-finals (s, z, t, d, /q/. Example: bets, beds). Syllables of English can be “open” or “closed”, if a syllable ends with a vowel (i.e.CV, CVV) this is open syllable but if it ends with a consonant or a consonant cluster (i.e. CVC, VCC) this would be closed syllable.
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So, the structural formula for the English Syllable can be drawn as: (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)(C), with a maximal example being strengths (/strεŋkθs/, although it can be pronounced /strεŋθs/). 1. Final cluster / pre - final + final / final + post final, pre finals (m, n, nasal, l, s). 2. Final cluster / post final (s,z, t, d, q = bets, beds). Pre-initial + Initial + Post-initials -Vowel - Pre-final + Final+ Post-final or (C) (C) (C) Onset
V
(C) (C) (C) (C)
Nucleus
Coda, or
Onset + Rhyme (the rest of the syllable after the onset). Rhyme can be divided as nucleus + coda. One tree diagram exemplifying this phenomenon is:
σ rhyme onset
nucleus
coda
5.4. Kinds of syllables according to its structure Syllables of English can be: “open” or closed” 1. Open syllable: If the syllable ends with a vowel (i.e CV, CVV) 2. Closed syllable: If the syllable ends with a consonant or a consonant cluster (i.e. CVC, VCC) this would be a closed syllable.
5.5 Syllabification Syllable divisions are shown by pacing. This makes the transcription easier to read, as well as making certain details of pronunciation more explicit. Nevertheless the question of syllabification in English is controversial, and must therefore be discussed. It is generally agreed that phonetic syllable divisions must be such as to avoid (as far as possible) creating consonants clusters which are not found in words in isolation. Hence we can argue whether candy is kan-di or cand-i, but it cannot be ca-ndi, since it is not possible initial consonant cluster in English. These two extracts indicate the complexity of syllabification (in English) and the consequent difficulty in finding rules:
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Syllabification is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written. In most languages, the actually spoken syllables are the basis of syllabification in writing too. However, due to the very weak correspondence between sounds and letters in the spelling of modern English, for example, written syllabification in English has to be based mostly on etymological i.e. morphological instead of phonetic principles. English “written” syllables therefore do not correspond to the actually spoken syllables of the living language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllable#Syllabification As a result, most even native English speakers are unable to syllabify (or spell) words with any degree of accuracy without consulting a dictionary or using a word processor. The process is, in fact, so complicated that even schools usually do not provide much more advice on the topic than to consult a dictionary. Even the Internet does not seem to provide any general syllabification guide, explanation, or discussion not meant for experts. In addition, there are differences between British and US syllabification and even between dictionaries of the same kind of English. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabification http://www.createdbyteachers.com/syllablerulescharts.html
5.6. Rules for Phonetic Syllabification Harley (2003) proposes fourteen rules to describe how English words are formed or framed. She describes this phenomenon through Phonotactics. She first defines phonotactics as “the rules that describe possible sequences of sounds for forming English words”. These rules are: 1. All phonological words must contain at least one syllable, and hence must contain at least one vowel. 2. Sequences of repeated consonants are not possible. 3. The velar nasal /ng/ never occurs in the onset of a syllable. 4. The glottal fricative /h/ never occurs in the coda of a syllable. 5. The affricates /ts/ and /dz/, and the glottal fricative /h/ do not occur in complex onsets. 6. The first consonant in a two-consonant onset must be an obstruent.(p,t,k, d, f, g). 7. The second consonant in a two-consonant onset must not be a voiced obstruent. 8. If the first consonant of a two-consonant onset is not an /s/, the second consonant must be a liquid or a glide – the second consonant must be /l/, /r/, /w/, or /j/. 9. Every subsequence contained within a sequence of consonants must obey all the relevant phonotactic rules.
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10. No glides in syllable codas. 11. The second consonant in a two-consonant coda cannot be /ng/, /d/, /r/, /3/. 12. If the second consonant in a complex coda is voiced, the first consonant in the coda must also be voiced. 13. When a non-alveolar nasal is in a coda together with a non-alveolar obstruent, they msut have the same place of articulation, and obstruent must be a voiceless stop. 14. Two obstruents in a coda together must have the same voicing. (Harley, H. 2003)
Onset The following syllable combinations can occur as the onset: All single consonant phonemes except /ŋ/ Plosive plus approximant other than /j/: /pl/, /bl/, /kl/, /gl/, /pr/, /br/, /tr/*, /dr/*, /kr/, /gr/, /tw/, /dw/, /gw/, /kw/
play, blood, clean, glove, prize, bring, tree, dream, crowd, green, twin, dwarf, language, quick
Voiceless fricative plus approximant other than /j/: /fl/, /sl/, /fr/, /θr/, /r/, /sw/, /θw/
floor, sleep, friend, three, shrimp, swing, thwart
Consonant plus /j/: /pj/, /bj/, /tj/, /dj/, /kj/, /gj/, /mj/, /nj/, /fj/, /vj/, /θj/, /sj/, /zj/, /hj/, /lj/
pure, beautiful, tube, during, cute, argue, music, new, few, view, thurifer, suit, Zeus, huge, lurid
/s/ plus voiceless plosive: /sp/, /st/, /sk/
speak, stop, skill
/s/ plus nasal: /sm/, /sn/
smile, snow
/s/ plus voiceless fricative: /sf/
sphere
/s/ plus voiceless plosive plus approximant: /spl/, /spr/, /spj/, /smj/, /str/, /stj/, /skl/, /skr/, /skw/, /skj/
split, spring, spew, smew, street, student, sclerosis, scream, square, skewer
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Nucleus The following can occur as the nucleus: •
All vowel sounds
•
/m/, /n/ and /l/ in certain situations ( syllabic)
•
/r/ in rhotic varieties of English () in certain situations (see below under word-level rules, syllabic)
Coda The following can occur as the coda: The single consonant phonemes except /h/, /w/, /j/ and, in non-rhotic varieties, /r/ Lateral approximant + plosive: /lp/, /lb/, /lt/, /ld/, /lk/
help, bulb, belt, hold, milk
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + plosive: /rp/, /rb/, /rt/, /rd/, /rk/, /rg/
harp, orb, fort, beard, mark, morgue
Lateral approximant + fricative or affricate: /lf/, /lv/, /lθ/, /ls/, /l/, /lt/, /l/
golf, solve, wealth, else, Welsh, belch, indulge
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + fricative or affricate: /rf/, /rv/, /rθ/ /rs/, /r/, /rt/, /r/
dwarf, carve, north, force, marsh, arch, large
Lateral approximant + nasal: /lm/, /ln/
film, kiln (oven)
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + nasal or lateral: /rm/, /rn/, /rl/
arm, born, snarl (gruñón)
Nasal + homorganic plosive: /mp/, /nt/, /nd/, /ŋk/ Nasal + fricative or affricate: /mf/, /mθ/ in non-rhotic varieties, /nθ/, /ns/, /nz/, /nt/, /n/, /ŋθ/ in some varieties Voiceless fricative + voiceless plosive: /ft/, /sp/, /st/, /sk/
jump, tent, end, pink triumph, warmth, month, prince, bronze, lunch, lounge, length left, crisp, lost, ask
Two voiceless fricatives:
/fθ/
fifth
Two voiceless plosives:
/pt/, /kt/
opt, act
Plosive + voiceless fricative: /pθ/, /ps/, /tθ/, /ts/, /dθ/, /dz/, /ks/
depth, lapse, eighth, klutz (torpe), width (ancho), box
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Lateral approximant + two consonants: /lpt/, /lfθ/, /lts/, /lst/, /lkt/, /lks/
sculpt, twelfth, waltz, whilst, mulct, calx
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + two consonants: /rmθ/, /rpt/, /rps/, /rts/, /rst/, /rkt/
Warmth, excerpt, corpse, quartz, horst, infarct
Nasal + homorganic plosive + plosive or fricative: Prompt, glimpse, thousandth, /mpt/, /mps/, /ndθ/, /ŋkt/, /ŋks/, /ŋkθ/ in some varieties distinct, jinx, length Three obstruents: /ksθ/, /kst/
sixth, next Source: http://www.ingilish.com/englishsyllablestress.htm
Note: For some speakers, a fricative before /θ/ is elided so that these never appear phonetically: /ffθ/ becomes [fθ], /siksθ/ becomes [sikθ], /twelfθ/ becomes [twelθ]
Syllable-level rules 1. Both the onset and the coda are optional. 2. /j/ at the end of an onset (/pj/, /bj/, /tj/, /dj/, /kj/, /fj/, /vj/, /θj/, /sj/, /zj/, /hj/, /mj/, /nj/, /lj/, /spj/, /stj/, /skj/) must be followed by /u:/ or // 3. Long vowels and diphthongs are usually not followed by /ŋ/ 4. // is rare in syllable-initial position 5. Stop + /w/ before /u:, , , a/ are excluded.
Word-level rules • // does not occur in stressed syllables • // does not occur in word-initial position in native English words although it can occur syllable-initial, e.g. /tr(r)/ • /θj/ occurs in word-initial position in a few obscure words: thew, thurible, etc.; it is more likely to appear syllable initial, e.g. /nθjuz/ • /m/, /n/, /l/ and, in rhotic varieties, /r/ can be the syllable nucleus (ie a syllabic consonant) in an unstressed syllable following another consonant, especially /t/, /d/, /s/ or /z/. • Certain short vowel sounds //, /æ/, // and // (Checked vowels) cannot occur without a coda in a single syllable word. In Standard English the checked (//, //, /æ/, //, //, and //) are those that usually must be followed by a consonant in a stressed syllable, (up, bit, bet, but, put, but). while free vowels are those that may stand in a stressed open syllable with no following consonant. (bee, bay, boo, bra, buy, toe, cow, boy). Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonotactics
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5.7 Rules for orthographic syllabification Rule 1.
Every syllable has one vowel sound.
Rule 2.
The number of vowels sounds in a Word equals the number of syllables. Home= 1
Rule 3.
tax . i
foot . ball
tooth . brush
but . ter
hun . gry
When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is usually divided after the consonant if the vowel is short. lev . er
Rule 9.
reach . ing
When two or more consonants come between two vowels in a word, it is usually divided between the first two consonants. sis . ter
Rule 8.
bush . el
A compound word is divided between the two words that make the compound word. in . side
Rule 7.
bell
When a word has a ck or an x in it, the word is usually divided after the ck or x. nick . el
Rule 6.
feel
Consonant blends and digraphs are never separated. rest . ing
Rule 5.
pub. lish . ing =3
A one syllable words is never divided. stop
Rule 4.
sub . ject =2
cab . in
hab . it
When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is u s u a l l y divided before the consonant if the vowel is long. ba . sin
fe . ver
ma . jor
Rule 10. When two vowels come together in a word, and are sounded separately, divide the word between the two vowels. ra . di . o
di . et
i . de . a
Rule 11. When a vowel is sounded alone in a word, it forms a syllable itself. gra . u . ate
a . pron
u . nit
Rule 12. A word that has a prefix is divided between the root word and the prefix. dis . count
miss . fit
un . tie
Rule 13. When be, de, ex and re are at the beginning of a word, they make a syllable of their own. be . came
de . fend
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Rule 14. A word that has a suffix is divided between the root word and the suffix. kind . ness
thank . ful
stuff . ing
Rule 15. When a word ends in le, preceded by a consonant, the word is divided before that consonant. pur . ple
fum . ble
mid . dle
Rule 16. When –ed comes at the end of a word, it forms a syllable only when preceded by d or t. s tart . ed Rule 17.
fund . ed
When a word or a syllable ends in al or el, these letters usually form the last syllable. lev . el
us . u . al
Rule 18. When ture and tion are at the end of a word, they make their own syllable. lo . tion
pos . ture.
Rule 19. A word should be divided between syllables at the end of a line. The hyphen (.) stays with the syllable at the end of the line. Source: http://www.createdbyteachers.com/syllablerulescharts.html
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Application 1. Apply the rules to the word syllabification.
O R / / \ | NC | | | [ w i n]
O R / / \ | NC | | | [ d ou Ǿ ]
‘wind’
‘dow (window)’ s
O R /|\ / \ | | | N C | | | | || || [ s t r ǡ ŋ k θ s ] ‘strengths’
S: syllable O: onset R: rhyme N: nucleus C: coda
O R / / \ | NC | | | [r i: d ] ‘read’
s
s
O R /\ / \ | | NC | | | | [ f l a p] ‘flap’
O R / / \ | NC | | | [ r i: d ] ‘read’
s
s
O R / / \ | NC | | | [ t o p] ‘top’
O R / / \ | NC | | | [w i n] ‘win’
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Unit V. Practice 1 A) Read the words loud out providing adequate stress. B) Represent the verbs, adjetives and nouns using syllable tree representations. 1. Two-syllable words VERBS 1. deceive 2. sharpen 3. collect 4. pronounce 5. copy
6. object 7. conquer 8. record 9. polish 10. depend
ADJECTIVES 1. Easy 2. complete 3. major 4. alone 5. below
6. yellow 7. early 8. happy 9. heavy 10. dirty
NOUNS 1. bishop
6. office
2. aspect
7. array
3. affair
8. petrol
4. carpet
9. dentist
5. defeat
10. Autumn
2. Three syllable words VERBS 1. entertain
6. elicit
2. resurrect
7. compete
3. abandon
8. imagine
4. deliver
9. determine
5. interrupt
10. separate
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ADJECTIVES 1. important
6. insolent
2. enormous
7. fantastic
3. veredic
8. negative
4. decimal
9. accurate
5. abnormal
10. tomato
Compound words a. First element adjectival, stress on the second element loud-speaker bad-tempered head-quarters second-class three-wheeler b. First element nominal, stress on the first element typewriter car-ferry sunrise suitcase tea-cup c. Mixture of type a and b long-surfing gunman shoelace red-blooded gear-box over-weight
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5.8. Diphthongs A diphthong is a complex vowel: a sequence of two vowel qualities within a single syllable. Several English vowel phonemes are diphthongal. The /a/ of time /tam/, for example, involves a movement of the tongue from a starting-point /a/ towards an endpoint //. Ordinary diphthongs are diminuendo (or falling), in that the prominence decreases as we pass from the first element to the second: the /a/ part of /a/ is more prominent than the // part. (Compare CRESCENDO DIPHTHONGS). An English diphthong has the same duration and rhythmic characteristics as a long vowel.
5.9. Crescendo diphthongs 5.9.1.
A crescendo (or rising) diphthongs is one in which the prominence increases as we pass from the first element to the second.
5.9.2.
All English diphthongs phonemes are diminuendo (falling) diphthongs: in nice nais the prominence decreases as we pass from a to . No English phoneme has crescendo diphthong as its usual phonetic realization. Nevertheless, crescendo diphthong may arise in one of two ways. •
A semivowel (j or w) is followed by a vowel. In the words yes /jes/ and win /wn/, the sequences represented by /je/ and /w/ could be regarded as crescendo diphthongs.
•
A vowel written in LPD (Longman pronunciation dictionary) as i or u is compressed with a following vowel (see COMPRENSSION). If lenient ‘li:niˇnt is compressed from three syllables to two, there are actually two distinct possible outcomes (although admittedly it may be difficult to hear the difference between them). Rather than changing all the way to the corresponding semivowel j (giving ‘li:n jnt), the i may merely come to form the less prominent part of a crescendo diphthong ĭ, thus ‘li:n ĭnt. Similarly, influence /’nflu.ns/, rather than becoming /’n.flw.ns/, may be pronounced with a crescendo diphthong ŭ, thus ‘Inflŭns,. This is particularly likely if a semivowel give rise to a difficult sequence of consonants, as in glorious /’gl:ris/. Where –rj- is awkward.
5.10. Syllabic consonants 5.10.1. Most syllables contain a vowel sound. Sometimes, though, a syllable consists only of a consonant (or consonants). If so, this consonant (or one of them) is a nasal (usually n) or liquid (l or, especially in AmE, r). For example, in the usual pronunciation of suddenly /’sd.n.li/, the second syllable consists of n alone. Such a consonant is called a syllabic consonant.
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5.10.2. Instead of syllabic consonant it is always possible to pronounce a vowel plus an ordinary (non-syllabic) consonant. Thus it is possible, though not usual, to say /’sdnli/ rather than /’sdnli/. 5.10.3. Likely syllabic consonants are shown with the symbol , thus suddenly /’sdnli/. Longman Principle Dictionary `s regular principle is that a raised symbol indicates a sound whose insertion LPD does not recommend. Hence this notation implies that LPD prefers bare n in the second syllable. Since there is then no proper vowel in this syllable, the n must be syllabic. 5.10.4. Similarly, in middle /’mdļ/ LPD recommends pronunciations with syllabic l, thus /’mdļ/ In father /’f:ð/ or /’f:ðr/ LPD (Longman Pronunciation Dictionary) recommends for AmE (American english) a pronunciation with syllabic r, thus /’f:ð r/. 5.10.5. The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) provides a special diacritic, to show a syllabic consonant, thus ņ , /’sd..ņ.li/ For AmE syllabic r, the symbol is sometimes used, thus /’f:ð/. Because LPD uses spaces to show syllabification, it does not need these conventions. Any nasal or liquid in a syllable in which there in no other vowel must automatically be syllabic. 5.10.6. Syllabic consonants are also sometimes used where LPD shows italic plus a nasal or liquid, thus distant /’dstnt/. Although there is a possible pronunciation `dIst nt, LPD recommends `dIstnt. (In fact, in some varieties of English or styles of speech, a syllabic consonant may arise from almost any sequence of and a nasal or liquid.) 5.10.7. When followed by a weak vowel, syllabic consonants may lose their syllabic quality, becoming plain non-syllabic consonants: see COMPRESSION. For example, threatening /’retn.ŋ/ may be pronounced with three syllables, including syllabic n, thus /’ret n ŋ/; or compressed into two syllables, with plain n, thus /’retnŋ/.
5.11. Articulation English consonants have the following typical manners of articulation: p, t, k, b, d, g are plosives, articulated with a complete obstruction of the mount passage entirely blocking the air flow for a moment. f, v, θ, ð, s, z, , are fricatives, articulated by narrowing the mouth passage so as to make the air flow turbulent, while allowing it to pass through continuously. , are affricates, articulated with firs a complete (and also usually tr, dr) obstruction and the a narrowing of the mouth passage (AFRICATES). m, n, ŋ are nasals, articulated by completely obstructing the mouth passage but allowing the air to pass out through the nose. r, l are liquids articulated by diverting or modifying the air flow through the mouth, but allowing it to pass through continuously without turbulence (see LIQUIDS) j, w are semivowels, anticipatorily like vowels, but functioning like consonants because they are not syllabic.
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5.12. Co articulation 5.12.1. Speech sounds tend to be influenced by the speech sounds which surround them. Coarticulation is the retention of a phonetic feature that was present in a preceding sound, or the anticipation of a feature that will be needed for a following sound. Most allophonic variation – though not all – is coarticulatory). For example, a vowel or liquid that is adjacent to a nasal tends to be somewhat nasalized. This coarticulation of nasality applies to the vowels in money /’mni/ and to the l in elm /elm/. 5.12.2. The English “voiced” obstruents tend to be devoiced when adjacent to a voiceless consonant or to a pause, e.g. the consonants in good /gd/ when said in isolation, or in a phrase such as the first good thing. This is coarticulation of voicing. 5.12.3. Many consonants vary somewhat depending on which vowel comes after them. Thus the in sheep /i:p/ is more i:-like, the in short /:t/ us /:rt/more :like. This is coarticulation of place of articulation. Other examples are the d in dream /dri:m/ (post-alveolar because of the r) and the b in obvious ‘b viˇs || ‘:b- (sometimes labiodentals because of the v). 5.12.4. For cases where coarticulation is variable, and may lead to the use of what sounds like a different phoneme see ASIMILATION.
5.13. Breaking When a vowel is followed in the same syllable by r or l, a glide sound may develop before liquid. The vowel thus become a diphthong, and is said to undergo breaking. Two types of breaking are particularly frequent in English, are shown explicitly in LPD: 1. Feel /f:l/ Besides the traditional pronunciation /f:l/, the form /f:l/ (or fl/) is often to be heard, especially in BrE (British English). This happens when I follows i:, e, a, , and is termed pre-I breaking. 2. Fear /fl/ or /fr/. In AmE (American English), the usual pronunciation involves the phoneme I. (Unlike BrE, AmE has no phoneme ) However, this word may actually sound more like /fr/, especially if said slowly. This is due to pre-r breaking, which arises when r follows I, e, æ, particularly in a word of one syllable.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Roach, P. (1983)
English phonetics and phonology: A practical coursebook. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Underhill, A. (1994)
Sound foundations: Living Phonology. Oxford: Heinemann.
Kenworthy, J. (1987)
Teaching english pronunciation. London: Longman.
Coulthard, M. (1977)
An introduction to discourse analysis. Harlow (Essex): Longman.
Langacker, Ronalnd W. (1998)
“Fundamental of linguistic analysis”. University of California, San Diego Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Ponsonby, Mimi. (1987)
How now Brown Cow. A course in pronunciation of english. Cambridge, Hall International English Language Teaching Ltd.
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Celik-Intonation.html http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# http://www.oupchina.com.hk/dict/phonetic/home.html http://www.ingilish.com/englishsyllablestress.htm http://cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba/phon/syllables.html
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ACTIVITY 1. What is a syllable? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 2. Explain the structure of a syllable. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 3. Mention kinds of syllables in the process of syllabification. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 4. Mention kinds of syllables according to its structure. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 5. What do you understand by syllabification? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 6. Mention some phonic syllabification rules. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 7. Mention some orthographic syllabification rules. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________
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8. What is a diphthong? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 9. What do you understand by crescendo diphthongs? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 6. What is a Syllabic consonant? Mention some of them. _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 7. What is the difference between articulation and co articulation? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 8. What is breaking? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ 10. Represent the words using a tree, similar to ones we have present earlier in the course: lunch, cooper, transatlantic, syllabic, rhyme, island, breakfast and book. lunch
cooper
transatlantic
syllabic
breakfast
book
rhyme
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UNIT VI
SELECTED READING OBJECTIVES 1. Reinforce the theory on suprasegmental phonology. 2. Deepen the information received. 3. Clarify certain concepts form another perspective. 4. Apply the theory into the classroom.
6.1. GLOBAL ENGLISH AND THE TEACHING OF PRONUNCIATION Jennifer Jenkins, lecturer in sociolinguistics and phonology at King’s College, London The emergence of so many different kinds (or ‘varieties’) of international English has caused a number of linguists to question the use of native speaker pronunciation models in the teaching of English. This article presents my research into the pronunciation of global English and gives some teaching implications. 1. What is global English? 2. What are the implications of EIL for pronunciation? 3. The findings from research 4. What are the implications for pronunciation teaching? 1. What is global English? The term ‘global English’ is being used increasingly nowadays. It is a means of demonstrating that English is spoken in every part of the world, both among speakers within a particular country who share a first language, and across speakers from different countries/first languages. English is no longer spoken only by its native speakers in the UK, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and by those who learn English in order to communicate with native speakers. It is also spoken among non-native speakers within countries like India, the Philippines and Singapore and internationally among non- native speakers from a wide range of countries/first languages throughout the world. This last use of English is often referred to as ‘English as an International Language’ or EIL, and it is this kind of English which we will focus on here as it is the largest group of English speakers, numbering around 1.5 billion. 2. What are the implications of EIL for pronunciation? The emergence of so many different kinds (or ‘varieties’) of international English has caused a number of linguists to question the use of native speaker pronunciation models in the teaching of English. Their argument is that native speaker accents are not necessarily the most intelligible or appropriate accents when a non-native speaker is communicating with another non-native speaker. As regards intelligible pronunciation for EIL, we need to identify which pronunciation features are crucial for mutual understanding when a non-native speaker of English talks
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to another non-native speaker and which are not at all important. These are often not the same features that are crucial and unimportant for a native speaker of English 3. The findings from research In my research I analysed interactions between non-native speakers of English. The aim was to find out which features of British/American English pronunciation are essential for intelligible pronunciation, and which are not. The findings have been formed into a pronunciation core for teaching which is known as the Lingua Franca Core. This is to indicate that it is intended as a guide for lingua franca interactions, not interactions between a native and non-native speaker of English. The main features of the Lingua Franca Core are... •
All the consonants are important except for ‘th’ sounds as in ‘thin’ and ‘this’
•
Consonant clusters are important at the beginning and in the middle of words. For example, the cluster in the word ‘string’ cannot be simplified to ‘sting’ or ‘tring’ and remain intelligible.
•
The contrast between long and short vowels is important. For example, the difference between the vowel sounds in ‘sit’ and seat’
•
Nuclear (or tonic) stress is also essential. This is the stress on the most important word (or syllable) in a group of words. For example, there is a difference in meaning between ‘My son uses a computer’ which is a neutral statement of fact and ‘My SON uses a computer’, where there is an added meaning (such as that another person known to the speaker and listener does not use a computer).
On the other hand, many other items which are regularly taught on English pronunciation courses appear not to be essential for intelligibility in EIL interactions. These are... •
The ‘th’ sounds (see above)
•
Vowel quality, that is, the difference between vowel sounds where length is not involved, e.g. a German speaker may pronounce the ‘e’ in the word ‘chess’ more like an ‘a’ as in the word ‘cat’.
•
Weak forms such as the words ‘to’, ‘of’ and ‘from’ whose vowels are often pronounced as schwa instead of with their full quality.
•
Other features of connected speech such as assimilation (where the final sound of a word alters to make it more like the first sound of the next word, so that, e.g. ‘red paint’ becomes ‘reb paint’.
•
Word stress.
•
Pitch movement.
•
Stress timing.
All these things are said to be important for a native speaker listener either because they aid intelligibility or because they are thought to make an accent more appropriate.
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4. What are the implications for pronunciation teaching? •
Students should be given choice. That is, when students are learning English so that they can use it in international contexts with other non-native speakers from different first languages, they should be given the choice of acquiring a pronunciation that is more relevant to EIL intelligibility than traditional pronunciation syllabuses offer. Up to now, the goal of pronunciation teaching has been to enable students to acquire an accent that is as close as possible to that of a native speaker. But for EIL communication, this is not the most intelligible accent and some of the non-core items may even make them less intelligible to another non-native speaker.
•
The non-core items are not only unimportant for intelligibility but also socially more appropriate. After all, native speakers have different accents depending on the region where they were born and live. So why should non-native speakers of an international language not be allowed to do the same?
•
Finally, students should be given plenty of exposure in their pronunciation classrooms to other non-native accents of English so that they can understand them easily even if a speaker has not yet managed to acquire the core features. For EIL, this is much more important than having classroom exposure to native speaker accents.
Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website. ”Global English and the teaching of pronunciation”, by Jennifer Jenkins, Lecturer in sociolinguistics and phonology at King’s College, London, British Council BBC and It is used free of charge (2002). Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio. UNMSM-EPG
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6.2. RHYTHM Steve Darn, Izmir University of Economics Rhythm is both a feature of and product of the phonological structure of English. The phonology of any language is a system, so that a change in one part of the system will affect some or all of the other parts. 1. Sentence stress 2. Connected speech 3. Teaching rhythm 4. Recognition 5. Production 6. Conclusion The system looks like this:
Sounds
Sentence stress
Word stress
Features of connected speech
Phonology
Intonations
Rhythm
English is a very rhythmical language, so that a learner who can maintain the rhythm of the language is more likely to sound both natural and fluent. The two components of the system which have the greatest influence on rhythm are sentence stress and the various features of connected speech, i.e. what happens to words when we put them in an utterance.
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Sentence stress In any sentence, some words carry a stress. These are the ‘strong’ or ‘lexical’ words (usually nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs). The remaining words are ‘grammatical’ words and are unstressed or ‘weak’ (conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, auxiliaries, articles). ‘It’s the worst thing that you could do’ The rhythm produced by this combination of stressed and unstressed syllables is a major characteristic of spoken English and makes English a stress-timed language. In stress-timed languages, there is a roughly equal amount of time between each stress in a sentence, compared with a syllable-timed language (such as French, Turkish and West Indian English) in which syllables are produced at a steady rate which is unaffected by stress differences. Sentence stress is an important factor in fluency, as English spoken with only strong forms has the wrong rhythm, sounds unnatural and does not help the listener to distinguish emphasis or meaning.
Connected speech Speed is also a factor in fluency. When we speak quickly, we speak in groups of words which are continuous and may not have pauses between them. This causes changes to the ‘shape’ of words. Unstressed words always sound different when used in a sentence as opposed to being said in isolation. The most common features of connected speech are the weak forms of grammatical and some lexical words (and, to, of, have, was, were) and contractions, some of which are acceptable in written English (can’t, won’t, didn’t, I’ll, he’d, they’ve, should’ve). However, we often ignore other features which preserve rhythm and make the language sound natural. The most common of these are: •
Elision (losing sounds)
•
Linking (adding or joining sounds between words)
•
Assimilation (changing sounds)
Added to these is the use of the schwa, the most common vowel sound in English. Many unstressed vowel sounds tend to become schwa, and because it is an important feature of weak forms, learners should be able to recognise and produce it. There is a temptation to try to teach the rules associated with these features, using phonemic script to write examples. An awareness-raising approach is often more profitable, starting by asking students what happens to certain words when we put them in a sentence:
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listen it’s upstairs one or two right kind
why did you? unpopular first girl Christmas
ask them four o’clock blue apple last Monday
This might be followed by a categorisation task, from which rules or guidelines could be elicited.
Teaching rhythm Rhythm, then, is a product of sentence stress and what happens to the words and sounds between the stresses. Unfortunately, learners are often introduced first to written forms and then to the complexities of spelling. Learners whose mother tongue is phonemic or syllabletimed have particular problems. Teachers should remember to: •
Provide natural models of new target language before introducing the written form.
•
Use natural language themselves in the classroom.
•
Encourage learners to listen carefully to authentic speech.
•
Teach recognition before production.
•
Integrate rhythm and other aspects of phonology into grammar, vocabulary and functional language lessons as well as listening and speaking activities.
A number of useful teaching techniques are listed here, focusing either on rhythm as a whole or on contributing aspects, and divided into recognition and production activities.
Recognition •
Speed dictations (the boys are good / the boy is good / the boy was good).
•
Dictogloss and other variations on dictation.
•
Ask students how many words they hear in a sentence (to practise recognising word boundaries).
•
Ask; “What’s the third / fifth / seventh word?” in the sentence.
•
Teaching weak forms and contractions at the presentation stage, and highlighting these on the board.
•
Matching phrases to stress patterns.
•
Using tapescripts. Marking stresses and weak forms.
•
Using recordings of deliberately ‘unnatural’ English.
•
Authentic listening.
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Production •
Drills (especially back-chaining).
•
Physical movement (finger-clicking, clapping, tapping, jumping) in time to the rhythm of the sentence .
•
Focus on stress in short dialogues (can you? Yes I can)
•
Making short dialogues, paying attention to stress and rhythm (How often do you speak English? Once in a while)
•
Headlines, notes and memos (build the rhythm with content words, then add the rest)
•
Reading out short sentences with only the stressed words (How…come…school?), then add the other words without slowing down.
•
Reading aloud (with plenty of rehearsal time)
•
Focus on short utterances with distinctive stress and intonation patterns and a specific rhythm (long numbers, ‘phone numbers, football results)
•
Jazz chants.
•
Poems, rhymes and tongue-twisters (limericks are good at higher levels).
•
Songs. (the rhythm of English lends itself to rock and pop music, while rap involves fitting words into distinct beat).
Conclusion Because phonology is a system, learners cannot achieve a natural rhythm in speech without understanding the stress-timed nature of the language and the interrelated components of stress, connected speech and intonation. Attention to phonology begins at lower levels and builds up as learners progress towards fluency. There are specific phonology courses available, while most integrated syllabuses include pronunciation activities which run in parallel to structural, functional and skills development. Above all it is important to remember that there is a place for phonology in nearly every lesson. This article published: 4th April, 2007 Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Rhythm” by Steve Darn, Izmir University of Economics British Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio.UNMSM-EPG
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6.3. DEVELOPING PRONUNCIATION THROUGH SONGS Balbina Ebong & Marta J. Sabbadini, British Council, Cameroon Like us, you might already use songs in class, and find that your students enjoy them. But have you considered choosing songs specifically to work on pronunciation? Songs provide examples of authentic, memorable and rhythmic language. They can be motivating for students keen to repeatedly listen to and imitate their musical heroes. Here, we look at some aspects of pronunciation that can be focused on through songs. 1. Using songs to focus on sounds 2. Using songs to focus on words 3. Using songs to focus on connected speech 4. Conclusion 1. Using songs to focus on sounds Sounds are the smallest unit from which words are formed and can be categorised as vowels and consonants. Why are they difficult? •
As languages differ in their range of sounds, students have to learn to ‘physically’ produce certain sounds previously unknown to them. Learners can find sounds difficult to pick out, and may not see the point in focusing on them.
•
However, incorrectly pronounced sounds strain communication, sometimes even changing a phrase’s meaning.
How songs can help •
Songs are authentic and easily accessible examples of spoken English. The rhymes in songs provide listeners with repetition of similar sounds.
•
Students often choose to listen to songs time and again, indirectly exposing them to these sounds.
What we do To focus learners on particular sounds, we create activities based on songs’ rhymes.
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Activity 1 We replace some of the rhymes in the song, with a gap. Students listen and fill the gaps, using the song to guide them. More analytically minded students can then categorise the words according to sounds. (From ‘An Englishman in New York,’ by Sting)
:
e
talk New York walk
day say
one sun run
Alternatively, we highlight differences between sounds, using the lyrics to show how changing one sound can alter meaning (minimal pairs). Activity 2 We choose six words from a song from which minimal pairs can be created heaven - even hunger - ‘anger man - mad (From ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon), We write the pairs separately on cards and give out one set per group of four or five students. The students then match the pairs. They then listen to the song and ‘grab’ the correct one. Choices are then checked against the lyrics. 2. Using songs to focus on words Words are combinations of sounds which form together to give meaning. A word is uttered in syllables, usually one emphasised syllable (the stress) and the rest weak (unstressed). Why are they difficult? •
Even when the same words exist in both languages, the number of syllables is not always identical.
•
Each English word has its own stress pattern, with very complex ‘rules’ to guide learners.
•
Weak syllables are central to English, though students often find this hard to believe. Moreover, focusing on these can result in over-emphasis (not weakening) of these syllables.
How songs can help •
Words in songs fit the music, helping learners associate the number of syllables / stress in these words, with memorable rhythms.
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•
The relaxed atmosphere songs create can expose students to this difficult pronunciation area, without their realizing.
•
Songs contain endless examples of weak syllables, helping to convince learners of the way English is pronounced.
What we do To raise learners’ awareness of the number of syllables / word stress, our activities target specific words, especially those where the music makes the stress patterns clearer. Activity 3 We give out the lyrics, with certain words for students to guess the number of syllables, leaving a space by each word to write the number in. Students then listen, checking their predictions. At higher levels, we repeat the activity, with students underlining the stressed syllable whilst listening. We then drill these words and sing or chant the whole song through. 3. Using songs to focus on connected speech Connected speech is the natural way we speak, linking together and emphasising certain words, rather than each word standing alone. Contractions (two words forming one) are an extreme example of the way we connect speech, to the extent that the written form too is affected. Why is it difficult? •
Students normally learn words individually and, especially at lower levels, tend to pronounce each word separately.
•
Students frequently misconceive contractions as being ‘incorrect’, only used in ‘slang’.
•
Not all words within a phrase carry the same weight.
How songs can help •
Songs, and especially the chorus, provide real and ‘catchy’ examples of how whole phrases are pronounced often to the extent that students find it difficult to pick out individual words. The music further emphasises the ‘flow’ of the words.
•
Songs, like other spoken texts, are full of contractions.
•
Students can be keen to reproduce this, in order to sing the song as they hear it.
What we do We use songs that have numerous contracted words to convince learners that contractions are natural in English.
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Activity 4 •
We rewrite the lyrics with the contractions in full form ‘I am wondering why’ ‘I cannot see’
•
Students listen, identifying the contracted words. On a second listening, they rewrite the words with the contractions ‘I’m wondering why’ ‘I can’t see’
•
This works even with the lowest level classes.
To help learners hear how words flow in phrases, we choose catchy tunes for learners to fit words to. Activity 5 •
We play each line of the chorus, for learners to hum back until they get the rhythm.
•
In groups, students then order the lines of the song on strips of paper by remembering the tune.
•
Other activities can focus on highlighting the strong words in phrases, and singing only these, replacing the rest with ‘mmm’. Finally, students can practise and present their singing, for example for a ‘song contest’.
•
Alternatively, more creative groups could write their own words to fit the tune.
4. Conclusion There are no ‘standard’ songs for teaching pronunciation. Any song can be an example of different pronunciation aspects. However, we try to choose songs that are clear (use quality recordings where possible), not too fast, memorable, likely to appeal to our learners (possibly songs they already know) and easy to create activities for, depending on the area of pronunciation we are focusing on. Finally, a word of warning: songs are creative works, so be ready to justify the occasional ‘mis-pronunciation’ to your students! This article published: 21st June, 2006.
Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Developing English through songs” by Balbina Ebong & Marta J. Sabbadini, British Council, Cameroon. British Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio.UNMSM-EPG
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Using songs to focus on connected speech SONGS ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon Imagine there’s no Heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace You may say that I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people Sharing all the world You may say that I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will live as one
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‘An Englishman in New York,’ by Sting I don’t drink coffee I take tea my dear I like my toast done on one side And you can hear it in my accent when I talk I’m an Englishman in New York See me walking down Fifth Avenue A walking cane here at my side I take it everywhere I walk I’m an Englishman in New York I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in New York I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in New York If, “Manners maketh man” as someone said Then he’s the hero of the day It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile Be yourself no matter what they say I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in New York I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in New York Modesty, propriety can lead to notoriety You could end up as the only one Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society At night a candle’s brighter than the sun Takes more than combat gear to make a man Takes more than a license for a gun Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can A gentleman will walk but never run If, “Manners maketh man” as someone said Then he’s the hero of the day It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile Be yourself no matter what they say I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in New York I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in New York
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6.4. TEACHING THE SCHWA Catherine Morley, British Council, Mexico If you only learn or teach one phoneme, make sure it’s the most common English sound - the schwa. 1. Why the schwa is the most common sound 2. Why I teach the schwa 3. How I teach the schwa 4. Conclusion 1. Why the schwa is the most common sound In stress-timed languages such as English, stresses occur at regular intervals. The words which are most important for communication of the message, that is, nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs, are normally stressed in connected speech. Grammar words such as auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, linkers and prepositions are not usually stressed, and are reduced to keep the stress pattern regular. This means that they are said faster and at a lower volume than stressed syllables, and the vowel sounds lose their purity, often becoming a schwa Listen to these two examples of the same question. The first is with every word stressed and the second is faster and more natural with vowels being reduced. “ Whát kínd of músic dó yóu líke?”
(slowly)
“ Whatkín of músic doyoulíke?”
(fast)
The same thing happens with individual words. While stressed syllables maintain the full vowel sound, unstressed syllables are weakened. For example, the letters in bold in the following words can all be pronounced with a schwa (depending on the speaker’s accent): support, banana, button, excellent, experiment, colour, sister, picture. 2. Why I teach the schwa To understand the concept of word or sentence stress, learners also need to be aware of the characteristics of ‘unstress’, which include the occurrence of the schwa. In addition, if learners expect to hear the full pronunciation of all vowel sounds, they may fail to recognise known language, especially when listening to native speakers. Even if they understand, students often do not notice unstressed auxiliaries, leading to mistakes such as, “What you do?’” and “They coming now”. Helping your students to notice the schwa won’t necessarily lead to an immediate improvement in listening skills or natural-sounding pronunciation, but it will raise their awareness of an important feature of spoken English.
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3. How I teach the schwa Fast dictation I find this activity useful for introducing the schwa in context. However, it can be repeated several times with the same group of students, as it also recycles grammar and vocabulary. Warn students that you are going to dictate at normal speaking speed, and that you will not repeat anything. Tell them to write what they hear, even if it’s only one word. Then read out some sentences or questions including language recently studied in class. For example, I used these questions with Pre-Intermediate level students, following revision of present simple questions: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
How many brothers and sisters have you got? How often do you play tennis? What kind of music do you like? What time do you usually get up? How much does it cost?
After reading the sentences, allow students to compare in pairs or groups. Then read again, while students make changes and additions, before a final comparison with their partner(s). Next, invite individual learners to write the sentences on the board, while others offer corrections. The teacher can correct any final mistakes that other learners do not notice. Say the first sentence again naturally, and ask learners which words are stressed. Repeat the sentence, trying to keep stress and intonation consistent, until learners are able to correctly identify the stressed syllables. Then point to the schwa on the phonemic chart and make a schwa sound. Get students to repeat. Read the first sentence again and ask learners to identify the schwa sounds. Repeat the sentence naturally until students are able to do this. Ask them to identify the stress and schwas in the other sentences, working in pairs or groups. My students found the following, although again there is some variation between accents. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
How many brothers and sisters have you got? How often do you play tennis? What kind of music do you like? What time do you usually get up? How much does it cost?
I normally get learners to write the schwa symbol underneath the alphabetic script. Once this is done, you can drill the sentences, perhaps by ‘backchaining’. This is where the sentence is drilled starting from the end, gradually adding more words. Try to maintain natural sentence stress when drilling. A danger of focusing on the schwa is that it can be given too much emphasis, so correct this tendency if it occurs in individual and choral repetitions.
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After doing this activity for the first time, I ask learners some awareness-raising questions: •
What kinds of words are stressed? (Content words, i.e. nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs).
•
What kinds of words are generally not stressed? (‘Grammar words’, i.e. auxiliary verbs, pronouns, articles, linkers, prepositions).
•
Do stressed syllables ever contain schwa? (No).
•
Do you think this is more important for listening or speaking? (Students will often say ‘speaking’ but in fact this is more important for what Underhill calls ‘receptive pronunciation’: learners will still be understood if they give all vowel sounds their full value, but it’s worth practising these features orally to help learners ‘develop an ear’ for them).
Stress and schwa prediction Take a short section of tape or video script (a short dialogue or a few short paragraphs of spoken text). Before listening or watching, ask learners to identify the stressed syllables and schwas, and to rehearse speaking the text. They then listen or watch and compare their version with the recording. There will probably be differences, but this can lead to a useful discussion, raising issues such as variations in the use of schwa between accents, and emphatic stress to correct what someone else has said. Word stress and schwa I often ask learners to identify word stress and schwa in multiple-syllable words recently studied in class. This recycles vocabulary, and illustrates the point that schwa does not occur in stressed syllables. It also helps with aural comprehension as well as correct pronunciation of these words. A gentle reminder You may still find, even when drilling, that learners are tempted to pronounce the full vowel sound in unstressed syllables. I give my students a gentle reminder that schwa is the ‘Friday afternoon’ sound. Slumping in the chair and looking exhausted while saying schwa normally gets a laugh! 4. Conclusion Many of my students have seemed fascinated by the insight that English is not spoken as they thought, with every vowel being given its full sound, and after an initial introduction to the schwa start to look for it themselves in other words and sentences. More ambitious students take every opportunity to practise this ‘native-speaker’ feature, while others revert to the full vowel sound after drilling, but in either case their expectations of how English sounds will have changed (This article published 21ts march, 2006). Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Teaching the Schwa” by Catherine Morley, British Council, Mexico. British Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio.UNMSM-EPG
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6.5. INTONATION Marta J. Sabbadini, British Council, Cameroon Intonation is crucial for communication. It’s also a largely unconscious mechanism, and as such, a complex aspect of pronunciation. It’s no surprise that many teachers don’t feel confident about tackling it in the classroom. When teaching grammar or lexis, we find ways of making the language accessible to our learners. How then to do this with intonation? 1. What is intonation? 2. Why teach intonation? 3. Can I improve my own awareness of intonation? 4. How I help my students: •
Awareness-raising
•
Intonation and grammar
•
Intonation and attitudes
•
Intonation and discourse
5. Conclusion 1. What is intonation? Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Without intonation, it’s impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that go with words. Listen to somebody speaking without paying attention to the words: the ‘melody’ you hear is the intonation. It has the following features: •
It’s divided into phrases, also known as ‘tone-units’.
•
The pitch moves up and down, within a ‘pitch range’. Everybody has their own pitch range. Languages, too, differ in pitch range. English has particularly wide pitchrange.
•
In each tone unit, the pitch movement (a rise or fall in tone, or a combination of the two) takes place on the most important syllable known as the ‘tonic-syllable’. The tonic-syllable is usually a high-content word, near the end of the unit.
•
These patterns of pitch variation are essential to a phrase’s meaning. Changing the intonation can completely change the meaning. Example: -
Say: ‘It’s raining’.
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-
Now say it again using the same words, but giving it different meaning. You could say it to mean ‘What a surprise!’, or ‘How annoying!’, or ‘That’s great!’. There are many possibilities.
2. Why teach intonation? Intonation exists in every language, so the concept we’re introducing isn’t new. However, learners are often so busy finding their words that intonation suffers. Yet intonation can be as important as word choice - we don’t always realise how much difference intonation makes: •
Awareness of intonation aids communication.
•
Incorrect intonation can result in misunderstandings, speakers losing interest or even taking offence!
Though it’s unlikely our learners will need native-speaker-level pronunciation, what they do need, is greater awareness of intonation to facilitate their speaking and listening. 3. Can I improve my own awareness of intonation? It’s difficult to hear our own intonation. Choose somebody to listen to closely: as you listen, visualise the melody in your head, ‘seeing’ how it’s divided into tone-units. Next time you do a class speaking activity, focus on your students’ intonation. Are there students whose language is ‘correct’, but something doesn’t sound right? Do they come across as boring or insincere? It may well be their pitch range isn’t varied enough. 4. How I help my students Awareness-raising Some techniques I find useful for raising learners’ awareness of intonation: Provide learners with models - don’t be afraid to exaggerate your intonation. Let students compare two examples of the same phrase, ex: varied/flat intonation, English / L1. Ask students to have a 2-minute conversation in pairs as ‘robots’ (elicit the word using a picture if necessary), i.e. with no intonation. When they then go back to speaking ‘normally’, point out that the difference is made by intonation - this is what gives movement to our voices. Get students to imitate my intonation, but without words, just humming. Intonation doesn’t exist in isolation. So it makes sense to approach it together with other factors. Intonation and grammar Where patterns associating intonation and grammar are predictable, I highlight these to my students. I see these as starting-points, rather than rules. Some examples are:
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Wh-word questions: falling intonation Yes / No questions: rising Statements: falling Question - Tags: ‘chat’ - falling; ‘check’ - rising Lists: rising, rising, rising, falling When practising these constructions, I include activities focusing specifically on intonation. For example, Question-Tags: Students in groups are assigned jobs to mime to each other. Students make notes about what they think each person’s job is. They then have to check they’ve understood the jobs: Students use rising/falling intonation question-tags depending how sure they are: ‘You’re a pilot, aren’t you?’. At the end, students confirm their jobs. Intonation and attitude It’s important that students are aware of the strong link between intonation and attitude, even if it’s difficult to provide rules here. The first thing is for learners to recognise the effect of intonation changes. I say the word ‘bananas’ - firstly with an ‘interested’ intonation (varied tone); then ‘uninterested’ (flat). Students identify the two and describe the difference. We then brainstorm attitudes, such as ‘enthusiastic’, ‘bored’, ‘surprised’, ‘relieved’. I say ‘bananas’ for these. Students then do the same in pairs, guessing each other’s attitude. This can be developed by asking students to ‘greet’ everybody with a particular attitude. At the end, the class identify each person’s attitude. For younger learners, I use ‘Mr Men’ characters (Miss Happy, Mr Grumpy, Miss Frightened, etc.) Each student is allocated a character and, as above, they greet the class with that character’s voice. Intonation and discourse Learners’ also need awareness of intonation in longer stretches of language. Here, we can give our learners clearer guidelines: ‘new’ information = fall tone; ‘shared’ knowledge = ‘fall-rise’. A simple shopping dialogue demonstrates this: SK:
Can I help you?
C:
I’d like a chocolate (fall) ice-cream.
SK:
One chocolate (fall-rise) ice-cream. Anything else?
C:
One strawberry (fall) ice-cream.
SK:
One chocolate (fall), one strawberry (fall). Anything else?
C:
Yes. One chocolate (fall), one strawberry (fall), and one vanilla (fall-rise).
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Higher level students can identify the ‘new’ / ‘shared’ information, and then practice reading accordingly. With lower level students, we memorise the dialogue together. Although I don’t refer to intonation directly, I use my hands to indicate it (fall = hand pointing down; fall-rise = down then up). Students then prepare their own dialogues. I’ve found my learners pick up these patterns very quickly. 5. Conclusion When working on intonation in the classroom: Remember that intonation is relevant to any speaking activity, and makes interesting remedial/revision work. Remember that students don’t always have to ‘know’ we’re focusing on intonation: every time I drill phrases they’re hearing intonation models. Provide realistic and clear contexts. Avoid going into theory. Help students find patterns / rules-of-thumb, wherever possible. Use a consistent system for marking intonation on the board for example: arrow for tone; tonic-syllable in CAPITALS; double lines ( // ) for tone-unit boundaries. Keep it positive and don’t expect perfection. The last thing I’d want is to make my students so anxious about their intonation that they stop speaking! This article published: 16th March, 2006. Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Intonation” by Marta J. Sabbadini, British Council, Cameroon British Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio. UNMSM-EPG
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6.6. WORD STRESS Emma Pathare, Teacher, Trainer, Dubai A major benefit of focusing students on how words are stressed is the extra mental engagement with the word that it gives. A language learner needs to engage with a word many times, preferably in different ways, in order to really learn it - identifying and practising word stress can provide one or two of those engagements. 1. Why word stress is important 2. What word stress is 3. Some ‘rules’ of word stress 4. How I help my students 5. In the classroom 6. Conclusion 1. Why word stress is important Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of misunderstanding in English. Here are the reasons why: Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word very difficult to hear and understand; for example, try saying the following words: oO
Oo
b’tell
hottle
And now in a sentence: “I carried the b’tell to the hottle.” Now reverse the stress patterns for the two words and you should be able to make sense of the sentence! “I carried the bottle to the hotel.” Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the word: “They will desert* the desert** by tomorrow.” oO
Oo
desert*
desert**
Think about the grammatical difference between desert* and desert**.
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I will look at this in more detail later. Even if the speaker can be understood, mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good communication from taking place. These three reasons tell me that word stress is an important part of the English language, and it is something I should help my students with. 2. What word stress is When we stress syllables in words, we use a combination of different features. Experiment now with the word computer. Say it out loud. Listen to yourself. The second syllable of the three is stressed. What are you doing so that the listener can hear that stress? A stressed syllable combines five features: It is l-o-n-g-e-r - com p-u-ter It is LOUDER - comPUTer It has a change in pitch from the syllables coming before and afterwards. The pitch of a stressed syllable is usually higher. It is said more clearly -The vowel sound is purer. Compare the first and last vowel sounds with the stressed sound. It uses larger facial movements - Look in the mirror when you say the word. Look at your jaw and lips in particular. It is equally important to remember that the unstressed syllables of a word have the opposite features of a stressed syllable! 3. Some â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;rulesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of word stress There are patterns in word stress in English but, as a rule (!), it is dangerous to say there are fixed rules. Exceptions can usually be found. Here are some general tendencies for word stress in English:
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Word
Type of word
Tendency
Exceptions
apple table happy
two-syllable nouns and adjectives
stress on the first syllable Oo apple
hotel lagoon
suspect import insult
the noun has stress on the first syllable Oo “You are the suspect!” words which can be used as both the verb has stress on the second nouns and verbs syllable oO “I suspect you.”
hairbrush football
fairly equally balanced but with stronger stress on the first part Oo hairbrush
compound nouns
respect witness
4. How I help my students Students can be alarmed when they meet words which are similar but have different stress patterns: Oo
o O oo
Ooo
oooOo
Equal
Equality
Equalise
Equalisation
A useful thing you can do is to help students see connections with other word families. Patterns can usually be found, for example: Oo
o O oo
Ooo
oooOo
Final
Finality
Finalise
finalisation
Neutral
Neutrality
Neutralise
neutralisation
There are some recognised differences in word stress which depend on the variety of English being used, for example: OoOo
OOoo
Caribbean
Caribbean
aluminium (British English)
aluminium (American English)
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These differences are noted in good learner dictionaries. If words like these come up in class, point them out to students. Ask if there are similar cases of differences in word stress in their own language - this will heighten awareness and interest. 5. In the classroom Raise awareness & build confidence You can use the same questions with your students that I have used in this article. These will help to raise the students’ awareness of word stress and its importance. Some learners love to learn about the ‘technical’ side of language, while others like to ‘feel’ or ‘see’ the language more, hearing the music of word stress or seeing the shapes of the words. Try to use a variety of approaches: helping students to engage with English in different ways will help them in their goal to become more proficient users of the language. Build students’ confidence by drawing their attention to the tendencies and patterns in word stress that do exist. Mark the stress Use a clear easy-to-see way of marking stress on the board and on handouts for students. I use the big circle - small circle (O o) method. It is very easy to see and has the added advantage of identifying the number of syllables in the word, as well as the stressed syllable. Students also need to be aware of the way dictionaries usually mark stress - with a mark before the stressed syllable, e.g. ‘apple. By knowing this, students will be able to check word stress independently. Cuisenaire rods These different sized, small coloured blocks are great for helping students to ‘see’ the word stress. The students build the words using different blocks to represent stressed and unstressed syllables. (Children’s small building blocks are a good substitute!) Integrate word stress into your lessons You don’t need to teach separate lessons on word stress. Instead, you can integrate it into your normal lessons. The ideal time to focus students’ attention on it is when introducing vocabulary. Meaning and spelling are usually clarified for students but the sound and stress of the word can all too often be forgotten. Quickly and simply elicit the stress pattern of the word from the students (as you would the meaning) and mark it on the board. Drill it too! Students can use stress patterns as another way to organise and sort their vocabulary. For example, in their vocabulary books they can have a section for nouns with the pattern O o, and then a section for the pattern o O. Three syllable words can be sorted into O o o (Saturday, hospital) and o O o (computer, unhappy).
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Remember what I noted before: The more times students mentally engage with new vocabulary, the more they are likely to actually learn it. Engaging students through word stress helps to reinforce the learning of the words. Troubleshooting Initially, many students (and teachers!) find it difficult to hear word stress. A useful strategy is to focus on one word putting the stress on its different syllables in turn. For example: oo0 Computer
0oo Computer
o0o Computer
Say the word in the different ways for the students, really exaggerating the stressed syllable and compressing the unstressed ones. Ask the students which version of the word sounds ‘the best’ or ‘the most natural’. By hearing the word stressed incorrectly, students can more easily pick out the correct version. A personalised and effective way of getting students to hear the importance of correct word stress is by using people’s names as examples. I introduce word stress with my name: “How many parts/syllables are there in my name?” “Which is the strongest - the first or second?” “Is it Emma or Emma?” Then you can question students about their own names - this will give them a personalised connection to the issue of words stress, with a word they will never forget! Conclusion Any work on aspects of pronunciation can take a long time to show improvements and be challenging for both the students and the teacher, but working on word stress can be fun and over time will help your students to be better understood and more confident speakers (this article published 21th february 2005). Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Word Stress” by Emma Pathare, Teacher, Trainer, DubaiBritish Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio.UNMSM-EPG.
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6.7. CONNECTED SPEECH Connected speech 1 Vanessa Steele Teaching pronunciation used to involve little more than identifying and practicing the sounds of which a language is composed, that is to say, its phonemes. Recently however, there has been a shift of focus towards the other systems operating within phonology, which may be more important in terms of overall intelligibility. 1. What connected speech is? 2. How this affects native and non-native speakers 3. Aspects of connected speech 4. Working on weak forms 5. Conclusion 1. What connected speech is? “English people speak so fast” is a complaint I often hear from my students, and often from those at an advanced level, where ignorance of the vocabulary used is not the reason for their lack of comprehension. When students see a spoken sentence in its written form, they have no trouble comprehending. Why is this? The reason, it seems, is that speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut borderlines between each word. In spoken discourse, we adapt our pronunciation to our audience and articulate with maximal economy of movement rather than maximal clarity. Thus, certain words are lost, and certain phonemes linked together as we attempt to get our message across. 2. How this affects native and non-native speakers As native speakers, we have various devices for dealing with indistinct utterances caused by connected speech. We take account of the context; we assume we hear words with which we are familiar within that context. In real life interaction, phonetically ambiguous pairs like “ a new display” / “ a nudist play”, are rarely a problem as we are actively making predictions about which syntactic forms and lexical items are likely to occur in a given situation. Non-native speakers, however, are rarely able to predict which lexical item may or may not appear in a particular situation. They tend to depend almost solely on the sounds
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which they hear. Learners whose instruction has focused heavily on accuracy suffer a “devastating diminuation of phonetic information at the segmental level when they encounter normal speech.” (Brown 1990.) 3. Aspects of connected speech So what is it that we do when stringing words together that causes so many problems for students? Weak Forms There are a large number of words in English which can have a “full” form and a “weak” form. This is because English is a stressed timed language, and in trying to make the intervals between stressed syllables equal, to give the phrase rhythm, we tend to swallow non-essential words. Thus, conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, auxiliaries and articles are often lost, causing comprehension problems for students, particularly for those whose language is syllable timed. Some examples of words which have weak forms are; And fish and chips (fish´n chips) a chair and a table (a chair ´n a table) Can She can speak Spanish better than I can (The first “can” is the weak form, the second the full form.) Of A pint of beer That´s the last of the wine! Have Have you finished? (weak) Yes, I have. (full) Should Well, you should have told me. (Both”should” and “have” are weak here) The relevance of certain features of connected speech to students’ needs is often debated. However, this is not the case with weak forms. Learners must come to not only recognise and cope with the weak forms they hear, but also to use them themselves when speaking English. If they do not their language will sound unnatural and over formalised, with too many stressed forms making it difficult for the listener to identify the points of focus. This, the degree to which connected speech contributes towards “naturalness” or “intelligibility”, is a useful starting point from which to measure the value to students of the different features of connected speech.
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4. Working on weak forms Here are some ways in which we can attempt to help our students with weak forms. How many words do you hear? Play a short dialogue, or a group of sentences, and ask students to listen and write down the number of words they hear. Go over each phrase to check whether they could identify all the words and then to see if they can accurately produce what they heard. Contrast the weak or natural version with the full version, pointing out that the full version is often more difficult to pronounce. Unnatural speech Activities built around “unnatural speech” are an enjoyable way of working on weak forms and rhythm. To obtain “unnatural speech”, record someone reading a sentence as if it were just a list of words. A good way of doing this is to put the words onto flash cards, and to reveal one at a time, so the reader gives each word its full pronunciation. When you have a few sentences, play them several times to the students, who should then work in pairs to try to make the speech more natural sounding. They can then either use graphics to show the points they would change, or take turns reading out their different versions, or record themselves using a more natural pronunciation. Conduct a general feedback session at the end of the activity, discussing reasons for the changes the groups have made. Integrating Integrate pronunciation into vocabulary work, practising, for example, the weak form in phrases with “of” (a loaf of bread, a cup of coffee, a can of coke ). Integrate weak forms into grammar work. If practising “going to” for example, the teacher can write on the board examples such as; Go on holiday Earn more money Buy a car Ask different students to read these phrases as a sentence with “going to”. Listen for and highlight the weak form of “to” before the consonant sounds, and the “full” form of “to” with the linking “w” sound before the vowel. 5. Conclusion Pronunciation work should be seen as an integral part of what goes on in the classroom. Try not to fall into the text book trap of dividing language up into isolated chunks. One lesson on grammar, the next on vocabulary, then pronunciation and so on. All language, like speech, is connected, and students will benefit from learning the weak forms and stress patterns of new words from the start, rather than in a remedial lesson months later.
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Raising students awareness of these forms, whenever they arise, is the first step towards helping your learners to speak a little more naturally. Even if they do not assimilate these forms at first, “...in many cases, the simple awareness of their existence can help enormously in enabling students to better understand the language they hear.” ( Gerald Kelly- “How to Teach Pronunciation.”)
Connected speech 2 Vanessa Steele An advanced student of mine speaks both clearly and usually correctly, but can often sound over formal and at times stilted. He has learnt his English “through the eye” and has trouble interpreting the utterances of native speakers who do not monitor their output. His delivery is an attempt at a precise version of every sound. With native speakers, articulatory precision is a stylistic device, a conscious choice if we want to emphasize a point, be insistent or threatening. In normal social interaction though, this is not usually the case and articulatory imprecision is the more natural and functional option. 1. Aspects of connected speech 2. Intrusion and linking 3. Elision 4. Working on connected speech 5. Integrating work on connected speech 6. Conclusion 1. Aspects of connected speech Speech is a continuous stream of sounds, without clear-cut borderlines between them, and the different aspects of connected speech help to explain why written English is so different from spoken English. So, what is it that native speakers do when stringing words together that causes so many problems for students? 2. Intrusion and linking When two vowel sounds meet, we tend to insert an extra sound which resembles either a / j /, / w / or / r / , to mark the transition sound between the two vowels, a device referred to as intrusion. For example:
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Intruding /r/ The media /r/ are to blame. Law(r)and order. Intruding /j/ I /j/ agree. They /j/ are here! Intruding /w/ I want to /w/ eat. Please do /w/ it. Word boundaries involving a consonant and a vowel are also linked, as we tend to drag final consonants to initial vowels or vice versa. For example: Get on. (geton) Not at all. (notatall) It´s no joke. (snow joke) 3. Elision As I have mentioned, a native speaker’s aim in connecting words is maxium ease and efficiency of tongue movement when getting our message across. In minimizing our efforts, we weaken our articulation. If articulation is weakened too much, the sound may disappear altogether, a process known as elision. It is the vowels from unstressed syllables which are the first to be elided in non-precise pronunciation. Common sound deletions A syllable containing the unstressed “schwa” or is often lost. For example, int(e)rest, sim(i)lar, lib(a)ry, diff(e)rent, t(o)night. / t / and / d / With consonants, it is / t / and / d / which are most commonly elided, especially when they appear in a consonant cluster. For example,
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The same process can occur across word boundaries, for example, mus(t) be the firs(t) three you an(d) me we stopp(ed) for lunch /h/ The / h / sound is also often deleted. For example, you shouldn´t (h)ave tell (h)im. 4. Working on connected speech If your learners have not worked on these forms before, you might wish to set some lesson time aside to work specifically on these features of connected speech. One way of introducing them to sound deletions could be to write a few short phrases on the board. For example: That´s an interesting idea. Are you coming out tonight? It´s the tallest building. You must tell him. Try if possible to use language you have recently been working on in the classroom. Then ask the class to count the number of sounds in each word, and write the numbers which they give you on the board above the words, like this: 3 you
4 must
4 tell
3 him
Now play a recording of the phrases, or read them yourself, and ask the learners to listen again and write down how many sounds they hear. Prompt them if necessary, asking if, for example, the “t” is really pronunced twice between “must” and “tell”, or only once. •
Drill the phrases then ask the students to practise these phrases themselves. You could also read out the phrases, once using the elided forms, then again in a more clipped, emphatic manner.
•
Ask the learners which sounds more natural. Highlight that the features of connected speech not only make the phrase more natural sounding but that it is also easier to pronounce the words in this way.
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Exercises like this help to show learners the differences between written and spoken English, and they highlight the importance of listening to words rather than relying on their written forms. 5. Integrating work on connected speech It is a good idea to try and integrate work on connected speech into everyday lessons. When studying grammar for example, don´t focus solely on the form of the words, draw attention to the way they are pronounced in natural conversation. •
Superlatives, for example, provide practise of sound deletions. You could write a few phrases on the board: The Nile is the longest river in the world. The Vatican is the smallest country in the world.
•
Ask the students to listen to the sounds while you repeat the phrases a few times and see if they can spot the disappearance of the “t” on the superlative adjective.
•
Drill the phrases, chorally and individually. Students might like to write their own general knowledge quiz, using questions such as, “Which is the tallest building in the world?”
•
As they read their questions, make sure they elide the final “t” (unless of course, the next word begins with a vowel).
Such exercises provide practice of both grammatical form and pronunciation, and the repetition helps students to begin using these features of connected speech in a natural manner. Anything which you have recently been working on in class can be used as a basis for pronunciation work. For example, a useful way of practising the intruding sounds / r /, / w / and / j / is when studying phrasal verbs. Do/ w /up Play / j / up Go/ w /away Go/ w /out •
Drill the verbs chorally and individually before providing a more personalized practice activity in which students ask each other questions using the verbs you are focusing on.
Phrasal verbs can also be used to show how we tend to link final consonants and initial vowels across word boundaries. Get out (getout) Put on (puton) Come out (cumout)
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6. Conclusion Students often find pronunciation work fun and stimulating, as well as valuable. However, they will need time and confidence in order to assimilate the features of connected speech and to make them their own. Research does suggest though, that by simply drawing students attention to these forms, you are givng them considerable help towards making sense of the language they hear. This article published: 28th February, 2005 Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Connected Speech 1,2, by Vanessa Steele, British Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio. UNMSM-EPG
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6.8. ENGLISH SENTENCE STRESS Lynn Gallacher, British Council, Spain Sentence stress is a difficult area to work on for learners and teachers alike. For this reason it’s also an area which is often neglected, but this aspect of the language can cause problems for learners in both their speaking and perhaps more importantly listening. 1. English is a stress timed language 2. Listening 3. Listening activities 4. Speaking 5. Speaking activities 6. Conclusion English is a stress timed language The English language is often referred to as stress-timed. This means that stress in a spoken sentence occurs at regular intervals and the length it takes to say something depends on the number of stressed syllables rather than the number of syllables itself. Try saying or listening to the sentences below: 1 1 and
2 2 and
3 3 and
4 4
1 and a
2 and a
3 and a
4
1 and then a
2 and then a
3 and then a
4
The four sentences take the same length of time to say and you will notice the numbers are stressed and the unstressed words in between are said much more quickly in order to keep the rhythm of the language. In other languages, which are not stress-timed the stress would fall more equally on each word and syllable. Listening In a recent class I discussed with my students the reasons they found listening difficult in English. Some comments were: “The words come too fast” “I panic when I don’t understand every word” “Some words are swallowed”
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I think what students are referring to here, amongst other things, is the stress-timed aspect of English. Listening Activities Here are some activities I’ve done in class with students of all levels to raise awareness of stress time in English and help them overcome the difficulties it causes during listening. After completing a listening comprehension task in class, give the students the tape script and play a very short extract. Students mark on the tape script the words that are stressed. Discuss the kinds of words that are stressed. They will usually be the words that give meaning: verbs, nouns and adjectives. Give the students the tape script to a listening before they hear it and ask them to predict which words they think will be stressed. Play the tape to check the predictions. Play a fairly short listening extract, maybe a paragraph in length, students write down the important (stressed) words they hear. You can play the tape several times. Emphasise that this isn’t a dictation exercise you don’t want students to try to write down every word. In groups ask the students to try and recreate the listening extract using the words they have and their knowledge of the English language. Compare the students’ version with the original. Discuss with students the aim of this activity - to show how native speakers listen and understand the language, taking note of the important words, usually stressed ones, and using their knowledge of the language to build meaning. The important conclusion being it is not necessary to understand every word. Speaking Stress timing can help speakers communicate meaning. Learners need to be made aware of the fact that the way they say something can affect it’s meaning. Read to the sentence below with the stress on different words. You can hear that the meaning changes. I asked you to buy me a bunch of red roses. I asked you to buy me a bunch of red roses. I asked you to buy me a bunch of red roses. I asked you to buy me a bunch of red roses. Not using stress-time can also make students sound laboured when they speak and can cause irritation on the part of the listener. The activities below are designed to practise stress-time and increase students’ fluency.
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Speaking activities Stress timing is most noticeable in patterned language such as poetry and limericks. Here are some limericks I’ve used with my students: There was a young lady from Niger, Who smiled as she rode on a tiger. After the ride She was inside, And the smile on the face of the tiger. There once was a lady named Lynn Who was so uncommonly thin, that when she essayed to drink lemonade, she slipped through the straw and fell in! I read the limericks aloud and checked the students understand them. The students in groups then try writing one. It’s fun to use the names of the students in the class to start the limerick. Next we mark the stressed syllables and the students read the limericks out, trying to keep to the rhythm. Recently I was working with 2 advanced students who were about to take the speaking part of the Proficiency exam. Their grammar and vocabulary was fine but when they spoke English they didn’t sound fluent. They spoke very deliberately and gave words equal stress. I asked them to record themselves speaking and then listen to the recording. They were aware they didn’t sound fluent but still didn’t know what to do about it. Next we used the cassette from the course book they were using, and chose a two-person dialogue to listen to. The students, using the tape-script, recorded themselves again and again until the dialogue sounded as close as possible to the original. Conclusion In this article I have outlined the difficulty my students have with listening and speaking in relation to English as a stress-timed language and suggested some ways to help students. It should be noted that stress-time is only one of many factors that influence how we say something. Speech rhythms change according to the meaning the speaker wants to convey, who the speaker is talking to and the context they are speaking in. It’s also quite a difficult area for students to work on, so don’t expect instant results (this article published 17th january, 2005). Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www.teaching,org.uk.website.” English Sentence Stress”, by Lynn Gallacher, British Council, Spain, British Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio. UNMSM-EPG
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6.9. INTEGRATING PRONUNCIATION INTO CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES Barney Griffiths, Teacher trainer, Teacher, Materials writer, Spain. Pronunciation work has traditionally taken a secondary role in language teaching to work on grammar and more recently lexis. In my work as a teacher trainer I have been surprised at how often experienced teachers are reluctant to tackle pronunciation issues in class. I can think of at least two reasons why pronunciation tends to be neglected: firstly, the lack of clear guidelines and rules available in course books, and secondly the fact that isolated exercises once a month do not seem to have much of an effect. This is not surprising, however; like all other areas of language teaching, pronunciation needs constant attention for it to have a lasting affect on students, which means integrating it into daily classroom procedures. I find that addressing issues regularly during the language feedback or group correction stage of a lesson helps to focus learners’ attention on its importance and lead to more positive experiences. 1. Using student talk to teach pronunciation 2. Word stress 3. Vowel sounds 4. Diphthongs 5. Weak forms 6. Sentence stress 7. Conclusion 1. Using student talk to teach pronunciation Pronunciation work can be kept simple and employ exercises which are both accessible and enjoyable for students, whatever their level. Whenever students do a freer speaking activity, the main aim is usually for them to develop their spoken fluency in the language. However, the activity also serves to work on students’ accuracy through the feedback we give them on their use of language. When my students do such a group or pair work activity at any level I listen in and take notes which are divided into three areas of language: pronunciation, grammar and lexis. Within the latter, as well as unknown lexis I will also include areas such as register, function, set phrases…and within the former I will include notes on any area of pronunciation that leads to miscommunication. This includes diphthongs, vowel sounds (including weak forms), consonant sounds, word stress and sentence stress. All of these areas can be dealt with quickly and efficiently by having some simple exercises ready which require nothing more than the board and a basic knowledge of the phonemic chart.
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If learners are introduced to the phonemic chart one phoneme at a time, it can be introduced from beginner level and students are quick to appreciate its value. A rule for when ‘ea’ is pronounced /e/ (head) and when it is pronounced /i:/ (bead) will not necessarily aid production, whereas the activities I propose here will. Once your students get used to the exercises, pronunciation work becomes even more efficient and dare I say it, effective. 2. Word stress Here is a simple exercise I repeat regularly for work on word stress and individual sounds. I hear a pre-intermediate learner say: ‘I suppose (pronounced with stress on first syllable) I will see her tonight’. The listener doesn’t understand because of the mispronunciation and asks the other student to repeat until finally they write it down and we see what the word was. After the activity, on the board I put a column with two bubbles to represent word stress, the first small, the second much larger. I write ‘suppose’ under the bubbles and drill it before asking students to think of other two syllable words with second-syllable stress. I get ‘outside’, ‘today’, ‘below’ and ‘behind’, which I accept as correct before asking for verbs only. I then get ‘accept’, ‘believe’, ‘forget’….and these go in the same column. If a student asks for rules during this exercise, in this case ‘Do all 2-syllable verbs have this stress pattern?’, for example, I either ask them to think of examples that contradict their rule to give myself time to consider it or I tell them we will look at rules for this the following lesson. As a general rule I find that this procedure encourages learner autonomy by having learners form their own hypotheses which are then confirmed or disproved by the teacher in the following lesson. 3. Vowel sounds I hear a pre-intermediate learner say: ‘Not now because he is did (dead)’. After the activity, on the board I draw a column with the heading /e/. In this column I write the word ‘dead’ and have students repeat it. I then ask for examples of words which rhyme with this, which students find easy (‘red’, ‘bed’, etc.). I do not write these, however. I then ask for words which rhyme and have the same vowel spelling, i.e. ‘ea’. I put students in pairs or groups to think of words, giving myself some thinking time, too. In this case, depending on the level I will get ‘head’, ‘bread’, ‘read’, ‘lead’,… and we end up with an extendable list of words with the same spelling and sound. It is the cognitive work of trying to think of similar words, writing them down and their organisation into columns that helps learners retain sounds and spellings, rather than their simply revising the lists. This is why all students should be encouraged to copy the list into their notebooks.
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If the classroom allows it, it’s also a great idea to have students pin posters with sound columns up on the wall and add to them whenever a new item comes up for that sound, particularly if it is a strange or different spelling. The idea is to get a basic poster with a phoneme at the top and various columns with different spellings.
‘e’ Bed Pen
/e/ ‘ea’ Dead Head
‘ai’ Said
4. Diphthongs I hear an intermediate learner say: ‘I didn’t find (pronounced / f i: n d /) it anywhere’. I make a column with /ai/, drill ‘find’ and my students give me ‘fight’, ‘bike’, ‘buy’, ‘eye’, ‘my’, etc. for the sound. I accept these without writing them and then encourage students to think of other words spelt like ‘find’. I get ‘mind’ and ‘kind’. There may be only one or two for any given pattern. If I have thought of any other words myself I add them to the column, ensuring that they are not obscure words or too high for this particular level (in this case I might choose to introduce ‘bind’ and ‘grind’, but probably not ‘rind’ or ‘hind’). 5. Weak forms I hear an elementary learner say: ‘I will buy vegetables (pronouncing ‘table’ at the end)’. I note that this is also an opportunity to work on word stress. I make a column with a schwa, and drill ‘vegetable’, marking the word stress. With an elementary class there is a case for simply teaching this point rather than eliciting known words, so I point out the number of syllables and the stress on the beginning of the word, explaining that this makes the final syllable weak and not pronounced as the word ‘table’. I add to the list ‘comfortable’ and ‘presentable’ as further examples, but avoid adding more so as not to overwhelm students at this level. For the second example I point out that the stress is on the second syllable. I can think of objections teachers have made to my suggesting this, such as students’ confusion at the lack of a steadfast rule or the non-uniformity of the examples, for example, but to cater to this merely serves to reinforce students’ belief that a language always obeys a strict set of rules. In my experience this approach is not a useful one. The only way to learn these fundamental pronunciation points is to notice them, note them down and practise them regularly.
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6. Sentence stress I use fluency drills to work on sentence stress. I hear an intermediate learner say: ‘He told me I couldn’t have a holiday’ (bold words are stressed). This causes confusion due to the stress being placed on the wrong words in the sentence, i.e. the pronouns, or grammar words, as opposed to the content words. The activity is simply a choral drill, but of the whole sentence and maintaining an English rhythm. ‘He told me I couldn’t have a holiday’. The trick here is not to over-exaggerate on the stressed words, but keep the stress and rhythm natural. Think in terms of modelling a rhythm, rather than a stress pattern. Using gesture like the conductor of an orchestra or tapping on the board to show the rhythm is especially helpful for students who cannot hear it easily. Admittedly, this latter exercise on sentence stress does seem to take longer to have an effect, but if highlighted early on and practised relatively often, students do seem to internalise how English stress differs from their own language and helps overcome what in later stages of learning becomes a fossilised way of speaking. Sentence stress causes more communication problems for a fluent speaker than any number of grammatical errors. 7. Conclusion One of the beauties of using student speech for pronunciation work is that it directly addresses students problems. I have attempted to provide a couple of very simple exercises here to help teachers integrate pronunciation into their classes on a regular basis. Regular work in this area helps learners to develop their own hypotheses and gut-feeling for English pronunciation, something experts and researchers have long emphasised as an essential skill of a good language learner (this article published 8th november, 2004). Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Integrating pronunciation in the classroom”, by Barney Griffiths, Teacher trainer, Teacher, Materials writer, Spain , British Council BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio.UNMSM-EPG
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6.10. TEACHING PRONUNCIATION WITH PHONEMIC SYMBOLS Alan Stanton, teacher trainer and materials writer Phonemic symbols represent the sounds of the English language. Using them can be a valuable tool to improving your students’ pronunciation. 1. Why use phonemic symbols? 2. Is it important for teachers to know the phonemic symbols? 3. Is it difficult to learn phonemic symbols? 4. What is the best way to learn phonemic symbols? 5. Which phonemic symbols are the easiest to learn? 6. Don’t I need to have a perfect English accent in order to use phonemic symbols? 1. Why use phonemic symbols? The alphabet which we use to write English has 26 letters but (British) English has 44 sounds. Inevitably, English spelling is not a reliable guide to pronunciation because •
Some letters have more than one sound
•
Sometimes letters are not pronounced at all
•
The same sound may be represented by different letters
•
Sometimes syllables indicated by the spelling are not pronounced at all
Here a few challenging questions to put to your students: •
How do you pronounce gh in ‘enough’, ‘through’ and ‘ghost’? (like f in fun, not pronounced, like g in got)
•
How many syllables are there in ‘chocolate’? (3)
The letters of the alphabet can be a poor guide to pronunciation. Phonemic symbols, in contrast, are a totally reliable guide. Each symbol represents one sound consistently. Here are five good reasons why students should know phonemic symbols. 1.1. Students can use dictionaries effectively. The second bit of information in dictionaries for English language learners is the word in phonemic symbols. It comes right after the word itself. Knowing phonemic symbols enables students to get the maximum information from dictionaries. 1.2. Students can become independent learners. They can find out the pronunciation of a word by themselves without asking the teacher. What is more, they can write down the correct pronunciation of a word that they hear. If they cannot use phonemic
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symbols for this, they will use the sound values of letters in their own language and this will perpetuate pronunciation errors. 1.3. Phonemic symbols are a visual aid. Students can see that two words differ, or are the same, in pronunciation. For example they can see that ‘son’ and sun’ must be pronounced the same because the phonemic symbols are the same. They can use their eyes to help their ears and if they are able to hold and manipulate cards with the symbols on, then they are using the sense of touch as well. The more senses students use, the better they will learn. 1.4. Phonemic symbols, arranged in a chart, are part of every student’s armoury of learning resources. Just as they have a dictionary for vocabulary and a grammar book for grammar, so they need reference materials for pronunciation: the phonemic symbols and simple, key words that show the sound of each symbol. 1.5. Although speaking a language is a performance skill, knowledge of how the language works is still of great value. Here is another question to ask students: How many different sounds are there in English? Usually, students do not know. Phonemic symbols on the wall in a classroom remind them that there are 44. Even if they have not mastered all of them, they know what the target is and where the problems are. The chart is a map of English sounds. Even with a map, you can get lost but you are better off with a map than without one. 2. Is it important for teachers to know the phonemic symbols? To be frank, yes. Every profession has specialist knowledge that is not widely known outside the profession. If you are a doctor, you will be able to name every bone in the human body, which most people can’t do. If you are a language teacher, then you know phonemic symbols, which most people don’t. Students can learn these symbols by themselves and one day you might meet a student who asks you to write a word on the board using phonemic symbols. It is best to be prepared. 3. Is it difficult to learn phonemic symbols? Absolutely not. 19 of the 44 symbols have the same sound and shape as letters of the alphabet. This means that some words, such as ‘pet’, look the same whether written with phonemic symbols or letters of the alphabet. That leaves just 25 to learn. Compare that with the hundreds of different pieces of information in a grammar book or the thousands of words in even a small dictionary. It is a very small learning load. Moreover, it is visual and shapes are easy to remember. Anyone who can drive is able to recognise more than 25 symbols giving information about road conditions. Even if we go beyond separate, individual sounds and include linking, elision and assimilation, there is still a limited and clearly defined set of things to learn. 4. What is the best way to learn phonemic symbols? Most native-speaker teachers of English learn grammar from the textbooks they use when they first start teaching, because they are unlikely to have been exposed to any
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formal study of English grammar. They learn by teaching, which is a very effective way of learning. It is possible to learn phonemic symbols in the same way. You just need to keep one symbol ahead of the students. 5. Which phonemic symbols are the easiest to learn? The consonants are the easiest, because most of them have the same form as a letter of the alphabet (17 out of 24). Therefore, it is best to start by teaching students a large number of consonant symbols and a small number of easy vowel symbols such as /e/ and /i/. Note, however, that the sound /j/ represents the initial sound of ‘yellow’, not the initial sound of ‘judge’. Experience shows that students are very likely to make mistakes with the symbol /j/, so it needs special attention. 6. Don’t I need to have a perfect English accent in order to use phonemic symbols? Not at all. It is true that the 44 phonemes in British English are based on the sounds of Received Pronunciation, an accent which is not frequently heard nowadays. Most native-speaker teachers do not have this accent but still use phonemic symbols. When the symbols are arranged in a chart, each one occupies a box. This indicates that the real sound that you actually hear can vary up to certain limits, depending on the influence of other sounds and on individual ways of speaking. There is not just one perfect way to say each sound - there is an acceptable range of pronunciations. Think of the pieces in a game of chess. They can vary considerably in size, shape and appearance but we can always recognise a knight because it behaves like a knight and not like a king. The point is that words such as ‘ship’, sheep’, ‘sip’ and ‘seep’ should sound different from each other, not that each sound is pronounced exactly like the sounds of RP. Learning phonemic symbols will help students to understand the importance of length and voicing. Simply knowing that the symbol : indicates a long sound can be very helpful. There is no end to our study of grammar and vocabulary but phonemic symbols are limited, visual and physical. They may seem challenging at first but it is like learning to swim or ride a bicycle. Once you can do it, it is easy and you never forget.
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PHONEMIC SYMBOLS
i:
u:
::
a:
:
æ
Vowel sounds
e
Diphthongs
e
e
a
a
Consonants - Unvoiced and voiced pairs 1 Unvoiced
p
t
k
Voiced
b
d
g
Consonants - Unvoiced and voiced pairs 2 Unvoiced
f
s
Voiced
v
ð
z
Other consonants
m
n
ŋ
h
l
r
w
j
(this article published 5th march, 2002)
Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Teaching pronunciation with phonemic symbols”, by Alan Stanton, teacher trainer and materials writer, BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio. UNMSM-EPG
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6.11. PRONUNCIATION CHART ACTIVITIES Catherine Morley, British Council, Mexico These activities are designed for use with the teaching English interactive phonemic chart. If your students have access to computers at home, you can download and copy the chart for them to use with their homework. 1. Vocabulary recycling and revision of phonemic symbols. 2. Voiced and unvoiced consonants. 3. Sound and spelling correspondence. 4. Using the chart for autonomous learning. 1. Vocabulary recycling and revision of phonemic symbols If you have a computer with a projector, the chart can be used in class to recycle and reinforce recently learned vocabulary, at the same time as revising the phonemic symbols. All these activities assume that learners have had at least some initial introduction to the phonemic alphabet. •
Give the students a list of recently learned words with a specific sound underlined, e.g. one of the vowel sounds. The learners then categorise the words into the different vowel sounds. To make the activity easier, you could restrict the number of vowel sounds used, and give learners the options they have to choose from. They can come and click on these sounds on the board or computer to check. When checking with the whole class, one student can stand at the board or sit at the computer, clicking on the ‘correct’ sound for each word, which the teacher confirms or rejects.
•
Give the students a list of recently learned words in phonemic script. In groups, they have to work out what the words are. They can send a group member to the board or the computer to click on sounds to help them check. They then have to write the words in alphabetic script. This can be made more learner-centred if, after some work in class on the phonemic alphabet, learners choose 5 recently learned words and write them in phonemic script for homework. In the next class they exchange books and use the chart to help them work out the words.
•
Individual learners prepare a recently learned word in phonemic script. They come to the board or computer and spell it out. Other learners have to identify the word, and any mistakes in the phonemic transcription, then give its alphabetic spelling. A variation on both the above activities is for you or the learners to prepare phonemic transcriptions of vocabulary with a deliberate mistake. Learners in groups identify the mistake and replace it with the correct phoneme.
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•
Learners work in two teams. One team member stands at the board or sits at the computer, and the other team calls out a word (you could specify a subject area, recently learned vocabulary, or leave the choice of words open). The team member has to spell out the word on the chart, and receives a point for a correct answer. The class is the judge, with the teacher having the final say.
•
The teacher gives one learner a word, written alphabetically. The learner has to tap out the word in phonemic script, while other learners identify it. As a variation, the teacher gives one learner a word in phonemic script. He taps it out on the board, and the other team gets a point for giving the correct spelling.
•
Write the name of your favourite famous person in phonemic script on the board. The class as a whole has to work out who it is using their existing knowledge of the phonemic chart. They then write the name of a favourite famous person in phonemic script on a piece of paper (an English name, e.g. Tom Cruise, not Enrique Iglesias). The teacher collects these and redistributes them. Learners have to work out who this person is - they can take turns in clicking on the sounds on the board or the computer to check individual sounds. Once they’ve worked out the name, they can find the person who wrote it and ask some more questions, e.g. why they like this person, what films they’ve been in etc.
2. Voiced and unvoiced consonants Certain pairs of consonants can be problematic for some learners. In some cases, the main difference between the pair is whether the consonant is voiced or unvoiced, that is, whether or not the vocal chords vibrate when making this sound. •
This discovery activity can be used to help learners notice the difference between voiced and unvoiced consonants. Begin by asking learners what noise a bee makes. As they make a buzzing noise, do the same and put your fingers on your throat, indicating that they should do likewise. This will allow them to feel the vibrations of the vocal chords that occur with voiced consonant sounds. Ask them if they can feel the vibrations.
•
Then focus on a voiced / unvoiced pair such as s and z. Make the sounds with your fingers on your throat, indicating that the learners should do the same. You can help learners with this by getting them to make the ‘bee’ sounds for z, and the sound a snake is supposed to make for s. Ask them when they feel the vocal chords vibrate - with s or z? (The answer should be z). Tell them that this is the main difference between the two sounds, and that z is voiced while s is unvoiced. You could then give them a list of words and ask them to categorise the underlined consonant sound into these two categories. With /s/ and /z/, you might choose to include some third person singular verb and plural endings. In this list the sound being focused on is the final sound in each case.
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/s/ cups speaks gets puts tents plants bags looks stops rice place
/z/ pens reads goes lives cars sees hears learns rise rose plays
•
Learners then use the chart to decide which of the other consonant sounds are voiced and which are unvoiced. In a computer lab, learners could do this in pairs. They listen to a sound and repeat it, with their fingers on their throat to check if it is voiced or unvoiced. In class with the computer and a projector, the teacher or a learner could click on sounds while the rest of the class repeat them and categorise them into voiced or unvoiced.
•
As a follow up, you could do a minimal pairs activity using some voiced / unvoiced pairs, focusing on initial consonant sounds. Display this list or something similar on the board and say a word from each pair. After each word learners have to say voiced or unvoiced, depending on which of the pair they hear. They can then test each other in pairs. Voiced ben do gone van gin zoo
•
Unvoiced pen to con fan chin sue
This activity has the advantage of establishing the voiced / unvoiced distinction, and a shared gesture that learners and the teacher can use in class to indicate that a sound is voiced or unvoiced, i.e. the fingers on the throat. It also helps learners to become conscious of the muscle movements involved in voicing a consonant. All of this will be useful in future classes if problem arise in the discrimination or production of voiced / unvoiced consonant pairs.
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3. Sound and spelling correspondence The chart can also be used to highlight both patterns and variations in sound and spelling correspondence. For example, as a discovery activity to help learners notice the effect of adding an ‘e’ to the end of a word, you could give the learners some of the words from the following list: cap mat pin not pet kit sit win hat cut
cape mate pine note pete kite site wine hate cute
•
Learners use the chart to help them write the phonemic transcription for each word, checking with a dictionary if necessary. The teacher then asks them to formulate a general ‘rule’ for the effect of adding an ‘e’ to the end of a word. (It makes the vowel sound ‘say its name’, i.e. the ‘a’ in ‘cape’ sounds like the letter A as it is said in the alphabet.)
•
It is not advisable to over-emphasise the irregularity of English spelling, given that 80% of English words do fit into regular patterns. However, speakers of languages such as Spanish, Italian or Japanese where there is a very high correspondence between sound and spelling may need to have their attention drawn to the different possibilities for pronunciation in English.
•
One way of doing this is to give them a list of known words where the same letter or combination of letters, normally a vowel or vowels, represent different sounds. Learners will have at least some idea of how these words are pronounced, and can categorise the words according to the sound represented, using the chart to help them, before holding a final class check. For example, you could give learners the following list of words including the letter a, which they categorise according to how the as are pronounced. Where the word contains more than one a with different sounds, underline which a you want them to use to make their categorisations. Spanish, capital, make, art, car, understand, average, banana, take, practice. To make the activity easier, give the students the phonemic symbols for the different possible pronunciations of e.
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4. Using the chart for autonomous learning If learners have access to a computer outside class, they can use the chart together with a dictionary to check the pronunciation of new words they meet in their own reading. This is particularly useful for learners who are not yet fully familiar with all the sounds on the chart. Encourage your learners to record the pronunciation of new words they meet, both in and out of class, in their vocabulary notebooks. •
You can also set homework related to pronunciation, which learners can check using the online chart before bringing to class. As mentioned above, you could ask them to write 5 new words from the class in phonemic script for homework, to be used to test their classmates. Similarly, if you want to focus on a sound which is problematic for your learners, ask them to find 5 words including that sound and write them in phonemic script. With a little training, your learners could prepare their own ‘minimal pairs’, for example with the sounds /i:/ and /I/. Depending on their level, they might come up with something like this: /I/ sit hit hill mill bin ship
•
/i:/ seat heat wheel meal been sheep
They can use these to test their classmates’ ability to discriminate between these sounds, as well as their own pronunciation, in the next class. They simply show the two lists of words to a partner, and say one of the words. The partner responds ‘left’ or ‘right’. For example, in the list above, if student A says ‘seat’, student B will (hopefully) respond ‘right’ (this article published 17th january, 2005).
Source: Copyright for this material is owned by British Council BBC World Service and it was first published on the www. teaching,org.uk.website.” Pronunciation Chart Activities”, by Catherine Morley, British Council, Mexico, BBC and It is used free of charge. Adapted by Yony Cárdenas Cornelio.UNMSM-EPG
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6.12. PRACTICING PRONUNCIATION THROUGH PROVERBS Yi Yang Practicing pronunciation can be very tedious. Proverbs, however, will give fun. For example, when practicing “a”, students will prefer reading “No pains, no gains” to some monotonous sentences such as “He looks pale today.” Sentences with several words involving the same sound are good materials for practicing that sound. Many proverbs contain the rhetorical devices related to sound such as alliteration, rhyme and repetition, and thus very suitable for pronunciation exercises (For instance: Practice makes perfect. / Where there is a will, there is a way.) Repeating a sound two or more times in a short sentence can give the student a deeper impression, and the euphonic rhythm can keep the boredom away. The following is a list of proverbs that can be used for pronunciation exercises. Sounds are marked with boldface instead of being represented by phonetic symbols because the American and British symbols are different, and some symbols may be distorted on the internet.
Vowels •
A friend in need is a friend indeed.
•
Every bullet has its billet.
•
A good wife and health is a man’s best wealth. / East and west, home is best.
•
A drowning man will catch at a straw.
•
He laughs best who laughs last.
•
He who has an art has everywhere a part.
•
A little pot is soon hot. / A spot is most seen on the finest cloth.
•
New lords, new laws. / Walls have ears.
•
One man beats the bush, another man catches the bird.
•
Well begun is half done.
•
Finders keepers, losers weepers.
•
Kind words are the music of the world. / The early bird catches the worm.
•
Haste makes waste.
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•
Little strokes fell great oaks. / As you sow you shall mow.
•
Good advice is beyond price. / Might makes right.
•
An ounce of discretion is worth a pound of learning.
•
No joy without annoy.
•
Constant dripping wears away a stone.
Consonants •
Penny wise, pound foolish./ Practice makes perfect.
•
There is nothing which has been bitter before being ripe.
•
Time and tide wait for no man.
•
A bird in hand is worth two in the wood. / Every dog has his day.
•
Care killed the cat.
•
A good name is better than a golden girdle.
•
Fair feathers make fair fowls. / Birds of a feather flock together.
•
Even the weariest river winds somewhere safe to sea.
•
Something is better than nothing. / Birds of a feather flock together.
•
Least said, soonest mended. / More haste, less speed.
•
A lazy youth, a lousy age.
•
No sunshine but hath some shadow. / Better be sure than sorry.
•
Labor is often the father of leisure.
•
Work has bitter root but sweet fruit.
•
There is no royal road to learning.
•
It is hard to be high and humble. / Do on the hills as you would do in the hall.
•
Everybody has his merits and faults.
•
No garden without its weeds.
•
Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.
•
Every Jack has his Jill.
•
Try before you trust.
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•
Better be drunk than drowned.
•
A miss is as good as a mile. / Many a little makes a mickle.
•
A stitch in time saves nine.
•
Seeing is believing. / Everything must have a beginning.
•
Look before you leap. / A cracked bell can never sound well.
•
Willful waste makes woeful want. / Where there is a will, there is a way.
Students could later be asked to interpret the meaning of the proverbs orally or in writing, which will lead the pronunciation activity naturally to a speaking or writing activity. Source: Yi Yang, yangyi@gse.harvard.edu The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. V, N.º 3, march 1999 URL: http://iteslj.org/Lessons/Yang-Proverbs.html
o
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KEY Unit I. Practice 1 Summary of the phonological processes 1. Assimilation: /,sm.’le.n/. Sounds becoming more alike. These can be voicing, manner or place. there is usually a conditioning factor and an effected sound. 2. Elision: /e’ln/. Deletion of some segments in different positions. Could be: 2.1. Aphæresis or aphesis: (Initial). /’frss/ and /’æfiss/. Deletion of first segment(s) of a word. Example: around – round. 2.2. Syncope. (Medial). /‘sŋkp/. Deletion of segment(s) at the middle of a word or end of the syllable: suppose -- sppose. (medial). 2.3. Apocope: (Final). /’pkpi/. Deletion of last segment(s) of a word. Example: breakfast – Breakfast. 3. Insertion (epenthesis): /in’s:n, ep’ent.θe.ss/. Inserting segment(s) into a word: example: [straik[ --[estraik]. 4. Neutralization: nutr’lasen/. A contrast that usually exists in a language (like the two vowels in bate and bet) is not realized in certain phonological environments as in this case before /r/. 5. Haplology. Pronounced /hæp’ll../. Elimination of a syllable when two consecutive identical or similar syllables occur. Syllable or part of a syllable (usually vc or cv) is deleted when there is an identical one nearby. Example: probably-probly. (there are two [ab] combinations and one is deleted). Conditions: 1) Syllables are both medial; and 2) The structure of the two syllables is similar. Examples of English (colloquial): Engla land > England 6. Gemination: /emi’nen/. A segment, vowel or consonant, becomes double long like the /s/ in the phrase Miss Sandy. (Note that if her name were Miss Andie, the /s/ would be shorter). 7. Degemination. /demi’nen/. Two similar neighbouring consonants are reduced to one single consonant, as in ‘immature’: the double /m/ in the spelling is pronounced as a single /m/.
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
8. Consonant harmony: /’knsnnt ‘ha:mn / consonant becomes more like another: often exactly alike as in a child saying gog for dog. 9. Denasalization:/dnezla’zen/ removing the feature ‘nasal’ from a segment leaves you with a voiced stop at the same place of articulation. Imagine talking with a stuffy nose. Example: nut -- dut. 10. Devoicing: / d’vsŋ/ a voiced segment becomes voiceless. Usually nothing else changes as in ‘vote - fote. 11. Metathesis: /met’æθss/ is responsible for the most common types of speech errors, such as children acquiring spaghetti as pasghetti, ask as /’æks/. Some other frequent English pronunciations that display metathesis are: /’æks/ for ask (possibly the most common metathesis in English)
/’æstrks/ for asterisk /’kmftrbl/ for comfortable /ntr’dju’s/ for introduce /’ntrgl/ for integral /rvlnt/ for relevant 12. Nasalization: /nezla’zen/ In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. This usually applies to vowels as in the nasalization of the vowel /a/ in ‘pond’. In the International Phonetic Alphabet nasalization is indicated by printing a tilde above the symbol for the sound to be nasalized: [ã] is the nasalized equivalent of ~ is the nasalized equivalent of [v]. The nasals consonants can nasañize the [a], and [v] vowels. 13. Palatalization: /pæltla’zen/, a sound, usually before a /j/ glide but often before a high front vowel, is moved closer to the palat. miss you -- mishu or ‘make Eve -- [mejciv] where [c] is a palatal stop as in ‘keep’. Note that when alveolar stops palatalized, they usually become africates. 14. Spirantization: /sparnt’zen / n/ Stops become fricatives, usually between vowels. example ata -- asa. Only the manner changes here. Note though that place might also change. Since there is no voiced bilabial fricative in English, when you spirantize a [b] in english you often get [v]. 15. Voicing assimilation: /‘v sŋ asimi’le n/ Segment becomes like another usually adjacent segment, in voicing. Example ‘ata’ -- [ada], have to -- hafta. vowel harmony: Rare in English: one vowel becomes more like a nearby vowel. Vowel reduction: /’valwl r ‘dk n/. Vowels in unstressed syllables become shwa or similar short lax vowel.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Unit 2. Practice 1 (p. 34) Degrees of Stress Words
Sentence pattern
Stressed and unstressed syllable
Reduced syllable (The unstressed syllable changes to schwa)
Janet
■∙
Janet
‘
Elephant
■∙∙
Elephant
‘el
Jemina
∙■∙
Jemina
Mississipi
Mississipi
.∙∙ ■∙
æn
t/‘
æn
f nt / ‘el
f nt
’ma na/
’ma na
.mis ’s p /.mis ’s p
Unit 2. Practice 2 (p. 36) Stress pattern 1. Manchester 2. Anthony
■∙∙ ■ ■
∙■∙
4. elephant
■
■
5. Morocco 6. Amazon 7. carpenter 8. happiness
∙∙■
■
3. Jemina
■ ■ ■ Unit 2. Practice 3 (p. 39)
Pronounce the words stress appropriately.
Import, object, pencil, ruler, lotion, tiger, lemon, mirror and disco. Quickly, rapid, slowly, heavy, silly, bony, early and stormy.
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t
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Unit 2. Practice 4 (Stress on last syllable) (p. 39) Word stress. Read the words and pronounce them correctly. re’lax
pro’duce
skate
des’troy
in’vite
re’search
de’pend
a’ssist
sur’vive
in’tent
re’pair
re’turn
co’llect
su’ggest
pre’fer
Unit 2. Practice 5 (p. 39) Practice the following words that change the meaning by changing only the stress. Stress in the first syllable
Stress in the second syllable
‘abstract (adjective)
abs‘tract (noun)
‘conduct (noun)
con‘duct (verb)
‘contract (noun)
con‘tract (verb)
‘contrast (noun)
con‘trast (verb)
‘dessert (noun)
de‘sert (noun)
’import (noun)
im’port (verb)
Unit 2. Practice 6 (p. 40) Pronounce the words correctly: (penultimate = second from end) A. Ending in -ic auto‘graphic
autodi’dactic
a’crylic
au‘thentic
au’tistic
rhythmic
auto‘matic
axio’matic
‘rubric
bar‘baric
‘basic
‘ustic
bo‘racic
‘boric
pro’sodic
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
B. Ending in -sion and –tion: (penultimate = second from end) (p. 40) -sion
-tion
a’dmission
‘action
‘passion
pro’motion
‘tension
simu’lation
pe’rmission
de’duction
ad’mission
re’lation
Unit 2. Practice 7 (p. 41) A. Pronounce the words correctly ending in –cy Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) a’dequacy
‘agency
ab’sorbency
a’ccountancy
aris’tocracy
au’tocracy
a’dequacy
ad’vertency
con’sistency
con’sonancy
‘agency
aris’tocracy
‘constancy
con’sultancy
as’cendancy
au’tocracy
com’petency
con’veniency
bu’reaucracy
‘clemency
B. Pronounce the words correctly ending in –ty (p. 42) stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) a’bility
aus’terity
bes’tiality
bru’tality
abnor’mality
automa’ticity
biodi’versity
ca’lamity
absorba’bility
bar’barity
bioelec’tricity
capa’bility
ab’surdity
belli’cosity
bio’safety
car’nality
au’dacity
be’nignity
bisex’uality
catho’licity
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
C. Pronounce the words correctly ending in –phy (p. 42) Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) au’tography
bi’bliography
’geography
my’thography
’biography
ca’lligraphy
fil’mography
osci’llography
car’diography
chro’nography
eth’nography
pe’trography
cos’mography
crysta’llography
i’diography
phi’losophy
encepha’lography
histo’riography
ma’mmography
ra’diography
D. Pronounce the words correctly ending in –gy (p. 42) Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) ’allergy
a’nalogy
ge’nealogy
laryn’gology
an’thology
a’pology
his’tology
lexicology
as’trology
astro’biology
hy’drology
mo’nology
biotech’nology
car’diology
i’deology
mor’phology
chro’nology
cli’matology
immu’nology
musi’cology
E. Pronounce the words correctly ending in –al (p. 43) Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end) abd’ominal
aes’thetical
ana’lytical
non’marital
abo’riginal
aero’nautical
compo’sitional
psycho’logical
philo’sophical
agri’chemical
compu’tational
pro’fessional
acqui’sitional
agri’cultural
epidemio’logical
monol’itical
a’dditional
alpha’betical
non’inflectional
non’practical
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Unit 2. Practice 8 (p. 43) A. For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part: BLACKbird. ’blackboard
’bathtub
’blue-green
’saucepan
’housework
’watermelon
’saleswork
’grasshopper
’highlight
’iceland
’boyfriend
’fishtank
’bedroom
’seafood
’tumbledown
’bathroom
’undercut
’underworld
’wallpaper
’diningtable
’witchcraft
B. For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part: bad-TEMpered (p. 44). long-’legged
staff-’necked
long-’winded
three-’headed
baby-’faced
’tight-fisted
flowered-’dress
short-’tempered
sure-’footed
masked’ man
thin-’skinned
high-’heeled
six-’sided
smooth-’tongue
freckle-’faced
long-’handled
broken-’hearted
stone-’faced
green-’eyed
light-’footed
kind-’hearted
C. For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part: to understand, to overflow (p. 44). turn ’back (return)
talk ’back (to) (answer rudely)
keep ’down (do not vomit)
take ’charge (of) (assume responsibility) look ’over (review) bring ’back (return)
write ’down (make notes) talk ’over (discuss)
kick ’around (discuss) kick ’down (break something with your feet) let ’down (disappoint)
call ’back (telephone again)
keep ’around (keep something near you)
high’lighted
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lock ’down (make something very secure)
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Unit 2. Practice 9 (p. 44) Now read the 4-syllable words and write on the appropriate space.
∙■∙∙
Stress pattern
∙∙■∙
1. Felicity 2. Afghanistan 3. Alexander 4. Wolverhampton 5. rhinoceros 6. Mississipi Unit 2. Practice 10 (p. 51) A. Practice the stress in the sentences keeping the rhythm of the original sentence. These are the
house that
Jaqueline
built
One
Two
Three
Four
1. This is the 2. These are the 3. These are the
house that houses that houses that
Jack Jack Jaqueline
built built built
4. This is the
house that my
mother
designed
5. This is the 6. Those are the 7. That is the 8. Those are the 9. That is the 10. Andrew is 11. Tom’s not as 12. What an 13. How can we
bicycle people we person I people we gardener who taller than tall as the amazingly possibily
Peter met in the saw on the drove to the works for my Peter and rest of the lively get there in
repaired park stairs party mother Thomas family production time
B. Repeat the sentences loudly (p. 52). 1. Can you pass me a plastic knife? 2. I want to take a photography class?
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
3. China is the place where I was born. 4. Please turn off the television before you go out. 5. I can’t decide which book to borrow. 6. Do you understand this lesson’ 7. Sparky is a very happy puppy. 8. It is critical that you finish your essay. 9. My Grandfather wears an old-fashioned coat. 10. There is a lot of traffic today on the highway. Unit 2. Practice 11 (p. 53) Mark the stressed words in the sentences following the model. See the examples: I am talking to the clever students beart 1
beat 2
beat 3
You are sitting on the desk but you aren’t listening to us. beart 1
beat 2
beat 3
beat 4
He’s writing quickly so it is difficult for him to hear me. beart 1
beat 2
beat 3
beat 4
1. John is coming over tonight. We are going to work on our homework together. 2. Ecstasy is an extremely dangerous drug. 3. We should have visited some more castles while we were traveling through the back roads of France. 4. Jack bought a new car last Friday. 5. They are looking forward to your visiting them next January. 6. Exciting discoveries lie in Tom’s future. 7. Would you like to come over and play a game of chess? 8. They have had to work hard these last few months on their challenging experiment. 9. Shakespeare wrote passionate, moving poetry. 10. As you might have expected, he has just thought of a new approach to the pattern.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Unit 2. Practice 12 (p. 53) Read the sentence emphasizing the stressed syllables making them louder, longer, clearer and high-pitched. 1. John wants to be an actor, so he wants to live in Hollywood. 2. He is writing quickly so it is difficult for him to hear me. 3. Mary made an appointment with the dentist on Monday. 4. After the movie, they went to a bar to have beer. Unit 2. Practice 13 (p. 54) 13.A. Fill in spaces with the corresponding modal or verb to be. (Remember if you hear the “to-be” or auxiliary verb is stressed, then the sentence is negative). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
I __can____ understand your story. Tom __can_____ come to the party tonight. They __can’t_____ hear the speaker. We __weren’t____ told to do that. They _are_____ doing the homework. The students ___weren’t___ here last night.
13 B. Repeat the sentences loudly 1. Can you pass me a plastic knife? 2. I want to take a photography class? 3. China is the place where I was born. 4. Please turn off the television before you go out. 5. I can’t decide which book to borrow. 6. Do you understand this lesson’ 7. Sparky is a very happy puppy. 8. It is critical that you finish your essay. 9. My Grandfather wears an old-fashioned coat. 10. There is a lot of traffic today on the highway.
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(can, can’t) (can, can’t) (can, can’t) (were, weren’t) (are, aren’t) (were, weren’t)
FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Unit 3. Practice 1 (p. 74) Strong and weak forms of auxiliary verbs. The weak form is used when the auxiliary verb is at the beginning or in the middle of sentence, and when it is not stressed. The strong form is used when the auxiliary verb is at the end of a sentence, or stressed. Auxiliary verb do does have has were was can
Weak form /d/ or /d/ /dz/ /hv/ /hz/ /w/ /wz/ /kn/
Strong form /du:/ /dz/ /hæv/ /hæz/ /w :/ /wz/ /kæn/
Instruction. According to the position of the weak or strong form decide if the sentence is Strong (S) or weak (w). 1. When was your birthday?
(W)
It was in April.
(W)
2. Have you got a good English dictionary? Yes, I have.
(W) (S)
3. Does your mother work in an office?
(W)
Yes, she does.
(S)
4. Where were your parents married?
(W)
I think they were married in London.
(W)
5. Has your father got dark hair?
(W)
Yes, he has.
(S)
6. Do you get the bus to work’
(W)
Yes, I do.
(S)
7. How many language can you speak?
(W)
I can speak two – English and French
(W)
8. Does she live in the north of England?
(W)
Yes, she does
(S)
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
9. Can you speak English?
(W)
Yes, she can.
(S)
10. Has she got a job?
(W)
Yes, she has,
(S)
11. Have they got any children)
(W)
Yes, they have.
(S)
12. Do they share the housework?
(W)
Yes, they do,
(S)
13. Were they married in Japan?
(W)
Yes, they were
(S) Unit 2. Practice 2 (p. 77)
Where does the linking take place and say if ‘t’ or ‘d’ is taking place in the linking. 1. She laughed at the joke. t 2. She jumped over the wall t 3. The van crashed in the jungle t 4. Columbus discovered America d 5. The bomb destroyed ahouse d 6. They traveled across Europe by train d 7. He introduced Amanda to his friends t
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Unit 3. Practice 3 (p. 78) Key: The prepositions because the come in the middle of sentences and are not stressed are pronounced with weak pronunciation. Prepositions to from for at of B: S: B:
S: B: S: B: S: B: S:
Weak form /t/ /frm/ /f/ or /fr/ /t/ /v/
Strong form /tu:/ /frm/ /f:/ /æt/ /v/
Hello, Can I speak to (a) Miss Moneypenny? Speaking. Hello. I am phoning from (b) the Ritz. I am looking from (c) James Bond. We had a lunch appointment at (d). Isn’t he there? I’m sorry, sir, but he’s gone to (e) Budapest. I was afraid of (f) that. Where exactly? He’s staying at (g) at the Hotel Royal. Why didn’t he listen to (h) me? He’s just asking for (i) trouble. He’s only staying there for (j) a couple of (k) days. All right. Contact him and tell him from (l) me he is a damn fool. Oh, and you can tell him I’m waiting for (m) his call. Yes, sir. Unit 4. Practice 1 (4.2.5. B, C and D)
4.2.4. Weak forms, linking and elision (Review 1) B. (a) vowel
(b) glass
(c) cat
(d) shorn
C. (a) [ ]
(g) [ :]
(m) [ :]
(s) [ ]
(b) [ ]
(h) [ ]
(n) [ ]
(t) [ ]
(c) [ ]
(i) [u:]
(o) [ ]
(u) [ju:] [ ]
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(e) light
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
(d) [ ]
(j) [
(e) [ ] (f) [ :]
]
(p) [u:]
(v) [ ] [
(k) [a ]
(q) [ ]
(w) [ ] [ ]
(l) [ ]
(r) [ ]
(x) [ ] [ ] (y) [ ] [a
D. de’test
‘basket
in’doors
‘beautiful
‘cabbage
‘pudding
‘perfect
be’hind
‘chicken
‘salad
to’matoes
‘cucumber
‘beetroot
‘rabbit
‘dumplings
]
]
Unit 4. Practice 2 (4.2.6. B, C and D) 4.2.6. Weak forms, linking, tag question, intonation, syllable stress and rhythm (Review 2). B. (a) rams
(b) marsh
(c) books
(d) drain
(e) cream’s
C. money, honey, sunny, Sonny, runny D. (a) 3 (b) 2 (c) 4 (d) 2 (e) 2 (f) 1 (g) 1 (h) 3 (i) 3 (j) 3 (k) 3 (l) i Unit 4. Parctice 3 (4.2.7. B, C and D) 4.2.7. Stress, consecutive stress, the shifting tonic, linking, elision, weak forms. (Review 3) B. (a) gin
(b) French
(c) service
(d) shore
(e) cod
C. I’m going to the Repton Show in October. That’s a boat show, isn’t it’ No, a motor show. Are you going to Repton alone? No, peter’s going, too. Peter’ Peter who? Which Peter? Peter Blenkinsop. I told you I was going to Repton with Peter. When did you tell me? It must have been someone else. You never told me. D. ‘mermaid, impo’lite, be’fore, up’set, un’happy, ‘borrow, ‘handsome, de’lighted ‘actually, unad’venturous.
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Unit 4. Practice 4 (4.2.8. A, B, C and D) 4.2.8. Rhythm and gingles. A few more rhymes and jingles A. [:lð]
[b:t]
[d]
[f:t]
[pla]
[θr]
[θru:]
[‘br]
[br:t]
[drat]
[n:t]
[rf]
[ð]
[tf]
[ba]
[kf ]
[inf]
[:t]
[s:t ]
[θ:t]
[trf]
[s’kbr:]
[sl]
[e]
[]
[]
[i: - ]
[ - æ ]
[]
[e - ]
[ - e - ]
[æ - ]
[ ]
[æ - :]
[æ - ]
[]
[: - ]
[e]
[ - e - ]
[æ - e - ]
[e - ]
[ - e - ]
[‘brbrid] [‘lfbr] B. [:]
C. ‘Janu(a)ry, ‘March, ‘May, Ju’ly, Sep’tember, No’vember,’Feb(r)u(a)ry, ‘Apr(i)l, ‘June, ‘August, Oc’tober, De’cember. (a) I thought you were one of the ones who won an award at the bazaar on Thursday. (b) I bought you some more oranges and a pound of bananas at the greengrocer’s that’s just opened at the corner of Earl’s Court Gardens. (c) You can see from her early work that there’s a certain sense of purpose, almost of urgency, which she appears to have lost as soon as she started to be accepted as a serious artist. (d) More than a thousand representatives from the whole of the Third World were presents at the concert given in the park yesterday afternoon to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Ernest Hurlingham. (e) There was an extraordinary man at your party who said that for years and years he’d had been wanting to meet us. He said he would have asked the Templetons to introduce us, but he hadn’t seen them for ages and didn’t know what had happened to them.
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Unit V. Practice 1 (A, p. 145) 1.A. Read the words lout out providing the adequate stress. 1. Two-syllable words VERBS 1. de’ceive
/d.’sv/
6. ‘object
/’b.kt/
2. ‘sharpen
/’a:p.n/
7. ‘conquer
/’kŋk. (r)/
3. co’llect
/k ’lekt/
8. re’cord
/r.’k:d/
4. pro’nounce /pr’nans/ 9. ‘polish
/’p.l/
5. ‘copy
/d.’pend/
/‘kp/
10. de’pend
ADJECTIVES 1. ‘easy
/’i: . z/
6. ‘yellow
/‘jel./
2. com’plete
/km ‘pli:t/
7. ‘early
/’:.l/
3. ‘major
/‘me./
8. ‘happy
/’hæp./
4. a’lone
/ ‘ln/
9. ‘heavy
/’hev./
5. be’low
/b ‘la/
10. ‘dirty
/’d:t/
NOUNS 1. ‘bishop
/’b.p/
6. ‘office
/‘f.s/
2. ‘aspect
/’æsp. ekt/
7. a’rray
/ .‘re/
3. a’ffair
/’fe/
8. ‘petrol
/‘pet.rl/
4. ‘carpet
/’ka:p.t/
9. ‘dentist
/‘den.tst/
5. de’feat
/d’fi:t/
10. ‘autumn
/‘:.tn/
2. Three syllable words VERBS 1. enter’tain
/,en. t. ‘ten/
6. e’licit
/ ’ls.t/
2. resurr’ect
/rez. , ‘rekt/
7. com’peting
/km. ‘pi:t. iŋ/
3. a’bandon
/ ’bæn. dn/
8. I’magine
/.’mæ.n/
4. de’liver
/d ’lv. r/
9. de’termine
/d ’t:. mn/
5. ‘interrupt
/‘n. t’rpt/
10 ‘separate
/’sep. r. et/
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FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
ADJECTIVES 1. im’portant
/m ‘p:t.nt/
6. ‘insolent
/’n.sl.nt/
2. e’normous /’n:.ms
7. fan’tastic
/fæn ‘tæst.k/
3. veredic
/’ver..dk/
8. ‘negative
/’neg.t.v/
4. ‘decimal
/’des ,ml/
9. ‘accurate
/‘æk.jr.t/
5. ab’normal
/æb ’n:.ml/
10. to’mato
/t ‘ma:.t/
Compound words a) First element adjectival, stress on the second element 1. loud’speaker
/,la ‘spi:.k/
2. bad-‘tempered
/bæd ‘tem.p/
3. head’quarters
/hed ‘kw:.tz/
4. second-‘class
/,sek. nd ‘kla:s/
5. three-‘wheeler
/θri: ‘hwi:.lr/
b) First element nominal, stress on the first element 1. ‘type,writer
/’tap ,ra.t(r)/
2. ‘car-,ferry
/’ka: ,fer./
3. ‘sun,rise
/‘sn.,raz/
4. ‘suit,case
/‘su:t .,kes/
5. ‘tea-,cup
/’ti:.kp/
c) Mixture of type a and b 1. ‘long-,surfing
/,lŋ ’s:f.ŋ/
2. ‘gun ,man
/’gn.,mæn/
3. ‘shoe ,lace
/’u:.,les/
4. ,red-‘blooded
/,red ‘bld.d/
5. ‘gear-,box
/’g. ,bks/
6. over-‘weight
/.v. ‘wet/
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PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Unit 5. Practice 1 (B, p. 145) 1.B. Represent the verbs, adjectives and nouns in exercise 1, using syllable trees representations. Sharpen
Deceive /dǰ sǰv/ s / O
|
s / \ O R / \ NC
\ R / \ NC
|
|
ǰ]
[d
| |
/ɇȉa:p . ǟn/ s / \ O R / \ NC | |
|
[ ɇȉ
ǰ v]
[s
s / O
\ R / \ NC | | [ǟ Q ]
D p ]
Pronounce
Collect /Nǟ ɇleNW/ s
s
/ O
\ R / \ NC | | [ ɇO H NW]
/ O
\ R / \ NC | [k ǟ]
|
|
/prǟɇQDȐQV s / \ O R /\ / \ | | NC | | | [p r ǟ]
s / O
|
\ R / \ N C | |
[Q DȐ Q V]
Object
Copy /kǘSǰ s
s
/ \ O R / \ NC |
/ \ O R / \ NC |
[k ǘ ]
[S ǰ ]
|
Conquer /kǘŋk. ǟ s / \ O R / \ N C | | |
|
[ N ǘ ŋ k ]
|
[ ɇǘ E ] Polish /pǘ Oǰȉ/
s / \ O R / \ NC | |
|
[ Ȫ ǰ N ]
\ R / \ NC |
s / \ O R / \ NC |
s / \ O R / \ N C | |
[ǟ]
[p ǘ]
[ O ǰ ȉ ]
s / O
/ɇǘE ȪǰNW s / \ O R / \ NC | |
|
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|
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baker, Ann (1982a)
Tree or three? An elementary pronunciation course. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. UK.
(1982b)
Introducing english pronunciation, a teacher´s guide to three or tree? or ship or sheep? Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. UK.
(1990)
Ship or sheep? An Intermedial Pronunciation Course. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. UK.
Bowler, Bill and Parminter, Sue (1992)
Headway pre intermediate pronunciation. Oxford, Oxford University Press. UK.
Cambridge University Press (1996)
International Cambridge dictionary of english. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. UK.
Clifford, Prator & Wallace Betty (1995)
Manual of american english pronunciation. New York, C.B.S College Publishing, fourth edition. UK.
Collins (1997)
Collins cobuild english language dictionary. Suffolk, Collins Birmingham University. UK.
Crowell Trager, Edith & Cook Henderson, Sara (1983)
Pds pronunciation drills for learners of english. New Jersey, Prentice Hall Regents, second edition.
Cunninghan, Sarah and Bowler, Bill (1991)
Headway upper-intermedial pronunciation. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
(1993)
Headway intermedial pronunciation. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES DE LENGUAS EXTRANJERAS
Cunningham, Sarah and Moor, Peter (1996)
Headway elementary pronunciation. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Harper Collins Ltd. Harper Collins spanish-english dictionary. New York, Harper Collins Ltd. Hubbard Jones Thorton Wheeler (1990)
A training course for TEFL. Oxford, Oxford University.
Jones, Daniel (2007)
English pronunciation dictionary. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Kenworthy, Joanne (1987)
Teaching english pronunciation. New York, Longman Group UK Limited.
Longman Group UK Limited (1993)
Language activator. The worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first production dictionary. Essex, Longman Group Ltd.
(1995)
Longman dictionary of contemporary english. Essex, Longman Group Ltd.
Matthews, Alan Spratt, Mary & Dangerfield, Les (1990)
At the Chalkface, practical techniques in language teaching. London, Edward Arnold, a division of Hodder & Stoughton.
Oxford University Press (1994)
The Oxford spanish-english english-spanish dictionary. New York, Oxford University Press.
Ponsonby, Mimi (1987)
How now brown cow. A course in pronunciation of english. Cambridge, Hall International English Language Teaching Ltd.
Richards, Jack, Platt, John & Weber, Heidi (1985)
Longman dictionary of applied linguistics. Essex, Longman Group Limited.
Roach, Peter (1989)
English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, eighth printing.
Scott, Foresman (1983)
Advanced dictionary. Illinois, Scott Foresman and Company,
- 226 -
FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA DEL IDIOMA INGLÉS II
Sheeler, W. D. and Markley, R. W. (1991)
Sounds and rhythm, a pronunciation course. New Jersey, Prentice Hall Regents, second edition.
Stockwell, Robert (1965)
The sounds of english and spanish. Chicago, The University of Chicago Press.
Underhill, Adrian (1994)
Sound foundations. Oxford, Heineman English Language Teaching.
Vaughan-Rees, Michael (1994)
Rhymes and rhythm, a poem based course for english pronunciation.
Wells, J. C. (1997)
Pronunciation dictionary. Essex, Addison Wesley Longman Limited.
Anne C. Newton (Editor). (1997)
American light verse: A contemporary selection. English teaching forum. A journal for the teacher of english outside the United Sates. Volumen XV, Nº 4.
Otras fuentes para consultar Carr Phillip (1999)
English phonetics and phonology: An Introduction.
Goldsmith John A. (1996)
The handbook of phonological theory.
(1999)
Phonological theory: The essential readings.
Roca Iggy, Johnsin Wyn (1999)
A course in phonology.
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/# http://www.oupchina.com.hk/dict/phonetic/home.html http://www.telefonica.net/web2/eseducativa/alphabet_mp3.html http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omphonetics/contenidotematico.htm http://www.google.com.pe/search?hl=es&q=+elision+in+english&meta= http://www.sil.org/capacitar/FONETICA/cursos/cursoafricadas.PDF
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