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Lecture A2

Lecture A2. English Phonetics and Phonology. It’s time to learn some key terms. The following vocabulary is essential for understanding and talking about English phonetics and phonology. Phonetics? Phonology?. Study of sound in human language (Phonetics).

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Lecture A2

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  1. Lecture A2 English Phonetics and Phonology

  2. It’s time to learn some key terms. • The following vocabulary is essential for understanding and talking about English phonetics and phonology.

  3. Phonetics? Phonology? • Study of sound in human language (Phonetics). • The study of the selection and patterns of sounds in a single language (Phonology).

  4. If this is the Department of English Language and Literature… • Where does phonetics and phonology fit?

  5. Linguistics. • This is the science (social science NOT medical) that deals with the general study of language. • A specialist in linguistics is a linguist. • Don’t confuse ‘linguist’ with a person who speaks many languages… there are other terms for that!

  6. Linguistics… • Is a large subject. • Some linguists focus on… • Grammar & Syntax • Language History • Language Learning • Society, culture and language (that’s me!) • Government policy and language • …And many more… • A linguist who focuses on phonetics and phonology is called… • Phonetician • Phonologist

  7. Let’s Review… • How do we make sounds? • Moving the tongue, lips and other speech organs… = articulations • Maybe you’ve heard this term before… • When someone tests your speaking, they check for: • Proficiency (you can communicate content) • Fluency (smoothness, comfort with the language) • Articulation (ability to correctly make sounds) • We use this with “native speakers” also • “The CEO is very intelligent and he saved the business. However, he isn’t very articulate when he speaks on TV.”

  8. Different types of Phonetics. • Linguistics is a large subject… • And so is phonetics. • Three main areas: • Articulatory phonetics (using speech organs) • Auditory phonetics (how we hear sounds) • Psycholinguistics (how the brain interprets sounds)

  9. Our course… • …will survey all three branches of phonetics… • …but focus mainly on articulatory phonetics and auditory phonetics • Articulatory Textbook • Auditory Extra exercises

  10. Let’s Practice. • Exercises on page #10 in course textbook. • Use the camera on your phone as a mirror. • Expressions in the textbook: • Cut-out = don’t say it (delete it from the word) • Long and short sounds?

  11. Look at your partner • One person speaks, the other listens (then switch). Read the follow words: • Mother • Mate • Moose • Mild • Morning • March

  12. “M” • Sound is made with… • Lips (bilabial) • Air escaping the nose (nasal) • Voice is used (voiced) • The opposite of voiced is ___________. • When we talk about making sounds we will use these (***) terms used in parenthesis. Be sure to memorize them!

  13. “T” • What do we need to do to make a “T” sound? • Is it short or long?

  14. “T” • Tongue-tip against the teeth ridge (alveolar) • Air escapes from mouth (NOT the nose) (oral) • Without voice (voiceless)

  15. Types of Symbols • In the study of sound we use two types of symbols: • Phonetics symbols (from the IPA) • Orthographic symbols (regular spelling)

  16. Phonetic Symbols

  17. Orthographic Symbols

  18. English Spelling • Is there a close connection between English pronunciation and spelling? • Why or why not? • How do you say these words: • Hospital • Knee • Fish

  19. Fish

  20. Potato

  21. Clicks, lip trills… • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ6oe2U7AOA

  22. No language… • …can produce or represent all the possible sounds the human speech apparatus can make. • Wow!

  23. Other examples: • Standard English does not… • Make the Spanish [j] as in “jefe” • Or the French [fw] sound as in “foi” (faith)

  24. Phonemes • To analyze speech, we must segment it. • This is also called segmentation. • To segment speech means to divide into smaller parts. • This is different from syllables (don’t confuse them!)

  25. How many segments…? • Segments are smaller sounds of a word. • Man • Pan • Fan • What is the difference between these words?

  26. Minimal Pairs • A minimal pair is when words differ by one sound. • Man, Pan and Fan are minimal pairs. • They differ by one sound…

  27. With your partners… • Make minimal pairs by changing the first sound in the following words: • Hate • Pen • Kick • Sea • Down • Lane • Feet

  28. When you have many minimal pairs… • Ban, tan, ran, pan… (different first sound) • We called this a minimal set. • Why? • Because these similar sounding words can change in other ways… • Bat, tat, rat, pat (different ending sound) • Bun, ton, run, pun (different middle sound)

  29. Why do this? Why analyze this? • This kind of ‘sound experimentation’ helps us understand which sound are most significant in a language. • Phonemes, then, are contrastive units of sound • Example: Man • How many phonemes?

  30. When we label sounds (phonemes)… • Use / / • Man has three phonemes • /M/ae/n/ • In Standard English there are typically 20 vowel phonemes and 24 consonant phonemes.

  31. WHAT? • 20 vowel sounds… • 24 consonant sounds… • How many letters in the English alphabet? • This is what gives English its range of sounds and variation between accents. • T: pronounce [tea] and then [button] • Are these [T] sounds the same of different? • Why?

  32. Tea & Button • Hopefully… • …you pronounce these [T] sounds differently. • Tea (tongue-tip T) • Button (Glottal stop T)

  33. Try these words with a partner. • Kitten • Cotton Group 1 • Britain • Bottle • Rattle Group 2 • Brittle • Do you notice anything similar or different between word group 1 and 2?

  34. How can I possibly learn pronunciation by analyzing phonemes??? • Phonemes are good to identify… • …But are very abstract. • You cannot produce a “phoneme”

  35. Allophones • Allophones are the different sounds that represent a single phoneme. • Example: the aspirated k in kit and the unaspiratedk in skit, which are allophones of the phoneme k.

  36. Phoneme / Allophone • Phonemes are abstract • Allophones are the sounds that represent the phoneme. • We can write a phoneme, but can’t really pronounce it. • We can speak an allophone. Allophones are different ways to speak a written phoneme.

  37. Speak these phrases to a partner. • John told Mary to stop the car • Stop and go • When you come to the sign, stop • Is the word stop spoken differently? • What are the phonemes? /s/t/ah/p • As a phoneme, /p/ is always the same • But when spoken the “p” sound… • Varies

  38. In sum… • Phonemes are ABSTRACT sound units in a language. • Allophones are REAL sound units based on the phonemes in a language.

  39. Phonemes in English and Other Languages • One person’s individual speech = idiolect • “Native speakers” can understand differences between idiolects of there native language. • Non-native speakers… have trouble. • Example: English speaker learning French • Tu (definition ‘you’) • Tout (definition ‘all’) • English speakers hear these as the same sound • However, they are different phonemes /y/ and /u/

  40. In other words… • Our native language influences how we hear sounds in a different language. • For me this happens with “middle” sounds such as ㄷ/ㄸ/ orㅅ/ㅆ. I can hear and make the first sounds ㄷ/ㅅbut have trouble with ㄸ/ㅆ.

  41. Therefore… • Non-natives must learn to interpret the sound system of English as heard by English native speakers and ignore the perceptions imposed by years of speaking and listening to their own language. • Any English person learning a foreign language will have to undertake the same process in reverse.

  42. How can we apply this in class? • Improving pronunciation is difficult. • There will be times you will not understand your partners during practice exercises. • BUT BE CAREFUL! • Don’t revert to “sound translation”

  43. Sound translation? • For example… • Applying Korean syllables to a word your partner cannot understand. Example: 핸드 • 핸드폰 • Applying Konglish sounds or word stress • You: phone (f-sound) • Partner: ????? • You: phone! (f-sound) • Partner: ????? • You: 폰! 폰! 폰! (p-sound)

  44. Sound translation is a bad habit… • …and you will be unlikely to improve. • Don’t do sound translation… • …instead… • If you or your partner cannot understand something, circle or underline the word… ask for help… check the dictionary… move on to the next word.

  45. Pronunciation… Energy? • When we make sounds, we use different amounts of energy. • Sometimes this energy is strong, other times this energy is weak. • Strong and weak energy  consonants • /p/ & /b/ are good examples. • Both sounds are articulated the same way, but use different amounts of energy.

  46. Energy (Strong and Weak) • Is /p/ strong? Or /b/ ?

  47. Vowels! • Three groups of English vowels:

  48. In other words… • Short • Long • Long (using lip and/or tongue) • You will see different symbols to write these in dictionaries (more on this later!)

  49. Short / Long / Long

  50. So much to think about! • But wait! There is more! • Phonemes… • Allophones… • Consonants… • Vowels…

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