Inglés - Mestres

Topic 9 Description of the phonological system of the English language. Learning models and techniques. Perception, discrimination and emission of sounds, intonation, rhythm and stress. Phonetic correction.

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INDEX

0. INTRODUCTION 1. SEGMENTAL FEATURES

1.1. English vowels

1.1.1. Diphthongs and triphthongs 1.2. English consonants

1.2.1. Classification according to place of articulation 1.2.2. Classification according to manner of articulation

2. A DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH CONSONANT INVENTORY COMPARED TO THE SPANISH CONSONANT SYSTEM 3. SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES

3.1. Stress 3.2. Rhythm 3.3. Intonation

4. TEACHING AND LEARNING PRONUNCIATION

4.1. Perception and discrimination 4.2. Emission of sounds, intonation, rhythm and stress (production) 4.3. Phonetic correction

5. CONCLUSION 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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0. INTRODUCTION

The phonological system of a language is made up of a set of finite sounds chosen from all the sounds human beings can articulate. These sounds, according to Jones, are known as PHONEMES, and they acquire meaning and value in the context of use, when being in contact with neighbouring sounds. Traditionally, a phoneme was defined as the minimal unit in the sound system of a language. Gimson said that a phoneme “is the smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about some change of meaning”. PHONEMES have been the object of wide and extensive research by both PHONETICS and PHONOLOGY. Phonetics is concerned with the nature and typology of sounds, regardless of any particular language. Phonology studies the functions of phonemes in a given language. They complement each other. A sound event takes place when certain organs are activated to take part in the articulating process. The speech mechanism organs and cavities involved in sound production are: 1. Lungs 2. Resonators: pharynx, larynx, mouth, nose. 3. Articulators: tongue, palate, teeth, lips, vocal folds/cords.

a) The VOCAL FOLDS are two bands of elastic tissue which can be compressed tightly and then separated abruptly (PLOSIVE SOUND), or slowly (VOICED SOUND).

b) The PALATE is another important agent in the articulating process. It is said to be hard at the front and soft at the back. Depending on its position, lowered or raise, it may force the air to be released through the oral or the nasal cavity, thus producing oral or nasal sounds, correspondingly.

c) The TONGUE also plays a decisive role, especially due to its high level of mobility. It is accepted that this organ is divided into various parts, being the TIP and the BLADE, (the two most forward parts) the most useful.

d) Likewise, although with less importance, special attention should also be given to the LIPS and the TEETH. With regards to the lips, their importance stems from its degree of rounding, giving way to FLAT, ROUNDED or NEUTRAL SOUNDS. As for the teeth, only the two upper teeth are worth mentioning in the process, as the others hardly have any importance.

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In all languages we speak with air from the lungs. We draw it into the lungs quickly and release it interfering with its passage in various ways and at different places. From an articulatory point of view, we distinguish: 1. Segmental features: vowels and consonants. 2. Suprasegmental features: stress, rhythm and intonation.

1. SEGMENTAL FEATURES

1.1.- ENGLISH VOWELS Once the articulating organs have been properly described, I would like to move on to refer to the vowels themselves. To begin with, it seems important to state that a vowel is a sound that is produced when the air is released without any obstacle. In contrast, when the air finds any type of obstruction in its way out, a consonant sound is produced. The English vowels phonemes are twelve. We are going to classify them into a diagram, taking into account: a) The degree of raising of the tongue: close, half-close, half-open or open. b) The part of the tongue which is highest: front, central or back.

If we take into account the position of the lips, vowels can be: a) Spread /i:, ɪ, e/ b) Neutral /æ, Ə, Ʌ, a:, ɜ:/ c) Rounded /ɒ, Ɔ:, Ʊ, u:/

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Moreover, it is worth pointing out that, unlike consonants, all vowels are said to be VOICED, that is, they are produced with a vibration of the vocal folds. Examples: / a: / car / æ / hat / Ʌ / cup / e / ten / ɜ: / work / Ə / again / ɪ / sit / i: / see / ɒ / hot / Ɔ: / fall / Ʊ / put / u: / moon We can also find two semivowels: / w / well, / j / yes. 1.1.1.- Diphthongs and triphthongs On referring to vowel sounds, there is another concept that is worth mentioning: DIPHTHONGS and TRIPHTHONGS. DIPHGTHONGS are regarded as long vowels sounds that are produced when we move from a vowel to another. Their classification depends on two main variables: 1. According to the direction of the movement of the tongue, they can be:

Closing:

Front-closing / aɪ eɪ Ɔɪ /: since the tongue moves towards a front close position. Back-closing / aƱ ƏƱ /: since the tongue moves towards a back close position.

Centring / eƏ ɪƏ ƱƏ /: since the direction of the movement of the tongue is the centre of the trapezium.

2. According to the distance that the tongue travels from one sound to the other, diphthongs

can be long (wide) or short (narrow).

/ aɪ / buy (long) / eɪ / bay (short) / Ɔɪ / boy (long) / aƱ / now (long) / ƏƱ / no (short) / eƏ / pair (short) / ɪƏ / near (short) / ƱƏ / poor (short)

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Furthermore, on referring to closing diphthongs, we may find that they may be combined with a final “schwa“, thus uttering a sound known as TRIPHTHONG:

/ a ɪ Ə / higher

/e ɪ Ə / player

/ Ɔ ɪ Ə / lawyer

/ a Ʊ Ə/ hour

/ Ə Ʊ Ə / lower Nevertheless, it is worth mentioning that triphthongs are generally used as full forms only in formal language; in everyday uses, there is a tendency to enlarge the second vowel sound and to omit the final “schwa“. The transcription system we are using is called Gimson and it is used for vowels and consonants. This system distinguishes vowels both in quantity (:) and in quality by means of a different symbol for each phoneme. From a phonological point of view we distinguish vowels and consonants in terms of how they are used in the in the structure of spoken language. Vowel sounds are usually syllabic while consonant sounds are non-syllabyc (or alphabetic), vowel sound are usually central (in terms of syllable position) and consonant sounds are marginal in the structure of the syllable. 1.2.- ENGLISH CONSONANTS From a phonetic point of view, consonants usually face some obstacle, closure or narrowing when being pronounced. We have two possible classifications: according to the place of articulation and according to the manner of articulation. However, there is another aspect to consider when speaking about consonant sounds: voiced and voiceless considerations. When the vocal cords are relatively close and tense, and vibrate in the production of a sound, we deal with voiced consonants. On the contrary, when the vocal cords are relatively separate and they do not vibrate when pronouncing a sound, then we deal with voiceless consonants. All sounds involved in speech are classified in the RP model (Received Pronunciation/General British) usually illustrated in a table with manner and place of articulation.

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1.2.1.- Classification according to place of articulation According to this, English consonants can be summarized as follows.

Bilabial /b, p, m / when the articulators are the lips.

Labiodental /f, v/ when the articulators are the upper teeth and the lower lip.

Dental /θ, ð /: they are produced when the tongue tip is on or near the inner surface of the upper teeth.

Alveolar /t, n, d, l, s, z/: they are produced when the tongue tip is on or near the tooth ridge.

Post-alveolar /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/. Articulators: tip of the tongue-alveolar ridge; centre of the tongue-hard palate. /r/: Articulators: tongue and the part slightly behind the alveolar ridge.

Palatal /j/ is produced when the tongue is articulated near the hard palate. However, this consonant is usually included in the category of semi-vowel.

Velar /k, g, ŋ, w/ are produced when the back of the tongue is on or near the soft palate (velum). /w/ is also considered a semi-vowel.

Glottal /h/ is produced by air passing from the windpipe through the vocal cords, causing friction but not vibration as in hi. This sound is articulated in the glottis.

1.2.2.- Classification according to manner of articulation According to the manner of articulation (or acoustic energy), consonants can be:

Plosive consonants: are produced when the air stream is blocked or stopped completely before its release, and suddenly the air escapes making an explosive sound.

/p, t, k/ voiceless /b, d, g/ voiced

- Fricative consonants: are produced when the articulatory organs approach but do not

touch each other. The air goes out by means of a friction.

/f, θ, s, ʃ, h/ voiceless /v, ð, z, ʒ/ voiced

- Affricate consonants: its articulation involves an obstruction as well as a friction.

/tʃ/ voiceless /dʒ/ voiced

- Nasal consonants: they are produced with a total closure within the mouth while the

soft palate is held in its lowered position, allowing the air to escape freely through the nose, giving the sound the special resonance provided by the nasal cavity. All nasals in English are voiced: /m, n, ŋ/

- Lateral consonant /l/ the tip of the tongue is in contact with the upper teeth ridge,

allowing the air to escape on its sides. - Approximants: /r, w, j/ the two articulators approximate each other without getting

into real contact. /w, j/ are considered as semi-vowels.

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2. A DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH CONSONANT INVENTORY COMPARED TO THE SPANISH

CONSONANT SYSTEM

When comparing English and Spanish consonant systems, we find important differences and some similarities. Thus, regarding quantity, the English consonant system counts on twenty-four consonants whereas Spanish counts on just nineteen. Regarding the place of articulation, physically, the speech organs are equally distributed in both systems. However, regarding manner of articulation, there are relevant contrasts in the way consonant sounds are produced in both systems. Regarding voicing, we must note the distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants is a primary characteristic of English consonants, not being the case for Spanish (except for dialectal variations). This is also the case of aspiration, which is primarily characteristic of the English phonological system. Another feature that helps contrast English and Spanish is positional restrictions, by which all the English consonants, except for /h/, may be in final syllable position whereas for Spanish only seven consonants may appear in this position.

3. SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES

The study of stress, rhythm and pitch (or intonation) in speech is called prosody. English prosody is different from Spanish prosody in a number of ways, and even quite advanced students of English will profit from specific help with rhythm, stress and intonation in their speech. The prosodic features of a unit of speech, whether a syllable, word, phrase or clause, are typically called suprasegmental features, because they extend over more than one segment of speech. If we listen to English speech, we will hear how it divides, phonetically, into spurts or chunks of speech, which are called prosodic units or intonation units. These will often correspond to grammatical units, though not always. Several phonetic cues characterise prosodic units, such as the gradual decline in pitch and lengthening of vowels over the duration of the unit, until the pitch and speed are re-set to begin the next unit. Breathing only seems to occur at these boundaries. When we speak we give more emphasis to some parts than to others. Stress, rhythm and intonation have to do with the perception of this emphasis. 3.1.- STRESS Stress can be defined as a phonological feature by which a syllable is perceived as more prominent than others. In other words, it could be described as “the relative strength with which syllables are pronounced”.

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Strong (or stressed) syllables show four main differences with the weak, or unstressed forms: 1. Stressed syllables are generally perceived as louder than weak syllables. 2. The strong syllables tend to be made longer than the unstressed syllables. 3. Strong syllables are perceived as having higher pitch, and I will speak about pitch in greater

details later in this topic. 4. Finally, and importantly, vowels in English tend to have a different quality when stressed. It is difficult to establish rules for the accentuation of simple words in English so our pupils should learn the accentual patterns of each new word just as they must learn its pronunciation. And we must make them aware that unorthodox placing of stress can lead to misunderstanding. However, there are some productive rules that we should remember: 1. The influence of suffixes:

o Suffixes that leave the stress on the stem unaffected: -ment or –ly (fulfilment, usually). o Suffixes that take themselves the stress: -ation, -esque or –ese (limitation, picturesque,

Chinese). o Suffixes that shift the stress: -ic or –ity (economic, curiosity).

2. Stress in compound words:

o Nouns and adjectives formed by monosyllabic words: the stress goes on the first

element (rainbow, seasick). o Verbs formed by monosyllabic words: the stress goes on the second element (uplift). o Words formed by elements with more than one syllable: nouns and adjectives have a

primary stress on the first element and a secondary on the second one (waiting-room); verbs have a primary stress on the second element and a secondary on the first one (undertake).

3.2. RHYTHM It is the characteristic movement or timing of connected speech. It is created by the contracting and relaxing of chest muscles (pulses). English characteristically has a stress-timed rhythm (Spanish is syllable-timed). This means that stressed syllables appear at a roughly constant rate (which is why stress-timed rhythm is sometimes called isochronous rhythm).

Stressed words in connected speech are nouns, main verbs, adjectives and adverbs; and all those words pronounced strongly due to emphasis.

Unstressed words in connected speech are: articles and determiners (generally), auxiliary and modal verbs, personal pronouns and short prepositions and conjunctions (weak forms).

In stress-timed rhythm, the unstressed syllables are reduced, that is to say, shortened. The vowels in the unstressed syllables are pronounced less fully, approximating to schwa.

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Acquiring English rhythm when speaking, is generally hard. Even advanced students tend to stress every syllable, as in Spanish, and this makes their speech lack expression to English ears. Practice is key, so students should be encouraged to practice repeating strongly rhythmical utterances, so they become used to making unstressed syllables weak. Nursery rhymes are perfect, but they can be boring for older students, who will enjoy fragments of strongly accented modern poetry, for example. 3.3.- INTONATION When speaking, people generally raise and lower the pitch of their voice, forming pitch patterns. This is called intonation. In other words, intonation is the melody of language. In English there exist different intonation patterns: 1. The RISE-FALL pattern: we find it in statements and wh- questions.

______________________ What time is it?

2. The FALL-RISE: we find it in yes-no questions, greetings and requests for repetition.

______________________ Have you got a car? 3. Combined patterns: pausing in the middle, lists, doubt, apology...

I’m free on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.

4. Question tags: when the meaning of the question tag is expressing doubt or uncertainty,

the intonation pattern is rising; when it expresses agreement or rapport, the intonation pattern is lowering or falling.

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4. TEACHING AND LEARNING PRONUNCIATION

When teaching pronunciation, we must take into account our pupils’ age, their natural ability, their motivation and the objectives set out by the Educational System.

When we learn a language, the best resource is imitation, so some elements must be present on the model to imitate: good pronunciation, good application and correct intonation. As we are dealing with young pupils, they will imitate a bad pronunciation as exactly as they will do a good one. The basic model used for pronunciation is British RP/General British. When the teacher is not a native speaker it would be a good idea to use different materials: video, CD, DVDs... It is also a good thing to teach the children to recognise their speech organs and how they work.

Some activities that can be used to practise pronunciation are: minimal pairs (ship/sheep), songs, rhymes, tongue-twisters... The activities should be meaningful and contextualised. We will not pay much attention to the students’ mistakes, because this could provoke future fear.

4.1.- PERCEPTION AND DISCRIMINATION

The pupils must be aware that the sounds they are hearing or producing are English. When people learn a new language, they usually make use of their native sound system; so it is the teacher’s task to ear-train them.

Apart from the individual sounds, we must also train the supra-segmental features: stress, rhythm and intonation.

4.2.- EMISSION OF SOUNDS, INTONATION, RHYTHM AND STRESS (PRODUCTION)

Pronunciation must not be taught isolated, but integrated within our lessons, as we are going to use a communicative approach. It is not going to take the form of rules.

It is important to correct the mistakes that can affect the comprehension; not only sounds, but also stress, rhythm or intonation. Pupils must be aware that there are some mistakes that can lead to confusion or misinterpretation on the part of the hearer.

4.3.- PHONETIC CORRECTION

When learning a foreign language, there can be pronunciation problems. In the case of Spanish speakers, the problems that may affect comprehension can be:

Vowels: there is no quantity distinction in Spanish. / ɪ / and / i: / are confused. / a: /, / æ / and / Ʌ / are confused. In Spanish we use / Ʌ /.

Consonants:

/ d / and / ð / are confused. / b / and / v / are confused. / s / and / z / are confused. / g / must always be plosive and not fricative. <j> is pronounced as in “llave” instead of / dʒ /.

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Stress: We are not used to stressing three and four-syllable words on their first syllables. Stress is a difficult question to deal with students because there is no consistent rule for them to follow. Rhythm: Rhythm in Spanish is roughly syllable-timed and so there is none of the variation in length which results in English from the grouping of syllables into rhythm units. Intonation: We tend to use a very narrow pitch range in Spanish. Our final falling pitch movement is not low enough. We do not use rise-fall tunes. We have a more lineal range.

5. CONCLUSION

The teaching of a foreign language involves not only learning its grammatical structure or lexicon, it also involves learning its phonological system in order to produce a good command of it. The teacher must have a deep knowledge of this system to guide the pupils in an adequate way, and must be aware of the differences between both languages. The attitude must not be severe as to correction, since there is more than one variety in the target language: the child must be given different possibilities of the target language as far as pronunciation is concerned.

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY

BAKER, A. Introducing English Pronunciation. CUP. Cambridge. 2006. (2nd ed.) BAKER, A. Ship or Sheep? An Intermediate Pronunciation Course. CUP. Cambridge. 2006.

(3rd ed.) BAKER, A. Tree or Three? An Elementary Pronunciation Course. CUP. Cambridge. 2006. (2nd

ed.) BREWSTER, J., ELLIS, G. and GIRARD, D. The Primary English Teacher's Guide. Penguin.

London. 1992. CRYSTAL, D. Linguistics. Penguin Books. London. 1990. GIMSON, A. C. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. Edward Arnold. London.

1989. HARMER, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman. 1983.

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A STANDARD OF PRONUNCIATION

RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION (RP) It is a fact that English language is sensitive to variations in pronunciation, and that, socially speaking, there is an attitude towards a certain set of sound values which is considered to be more acceptable than another. Moreover, a standard pronunciation exists, although it has never been explicitly in posed by any official body. This unofficial standard emerges from disparities between the speech sounds of younger and older generations, different parts of the country, and also social classes. For reasons of politics, commerce, and the presence of the Court, it was the pronunciation of the south-east of England, and more particularly, to that of the London region, that this prestige was attached. This standard is called Received Pronunciation (RP). The speech of the Court, phonetically largely that of the London area, increasingly acquired a prestige value and, in time, lost some of the local characteristics of London speech. It may be said to have been finally fixed, as the speech of the ruling class, through the conformist influence of the public schools of the nineteenth century. With the spread of education, the situation arose in which an educated man might not belong to the upper classes and still retain his regional characteristics. Then, those eager for social advancement felt obliged to modify their accent in the direction of the social standard. Pronunciation was, therefore, a marker of position in society. Great prestige is still attached to this implicitly accepted social standard of pronunciation since it has become widely known and accepted through the advent of the radio. The BBC formerly recommended this form of pronunciation for its announcers mainly because it was the type which was most widely understood and which excited least prejudice of a regional kind. Thus, RP often became identified in the public mind with ‘BBC English’. This special position, basically educated Southern British English, has become the form of pronunciation most commonly described in books on the phonetics of British English and traditionally taught to foreigners. Furthermore, English functions as a lingua franca worldwide. The adoption of RP (Received Pronunciation or General British) has the following advantages:

- Its widely intelligible in most English-speaking communities.

- It represents no regional characteristics.

- It enjoys social prestige (though some young people reject it)

- it has been described thoughtfully and we have much more material to use

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ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Place of articulation

Manner of articulation

Plo

sive

(V

oic

eles

s)

Plo

sive

(V

oic

ed)

Fric

ativ

e (V

oic

eles

s)

Fric

ativ

e (V

oic

ed)

Aff

rica

te (

Vo

icel

ess)

Aff

rica

te (

Vo

iced

)

Nas

al

Late

ral

Ap

pro

xim

ants

Bilabial /p/ /b/ /m/

Labiodental /f/ /v/

Dental /θ/ /ð/

Alveolar /t/ /d/ /s/ /z/ /n/ /l/

Post-alveolar /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/ /r/

Palatal /j/

Velar /k/ /g/ /ŋ/ /w/

Glottal /h/

Examples: /p/ Peter, pool /t/ ten, top /k/ cat, coat /b/ body, bag /d/ day, dog /g/ get, game /f/ funny, fish /θ/ think, thanks /s/ said, same /ʃ/ ship, shake /h/ him, house /v/ very, van /ð/ this, then /z/ zip, zoo /ʒ/ decision, conclusion, treasure /tʃ/ cheap, church /dʒ/ jacket, jump /m/ mother, many /n/ name, no /ŋ/ bring, ring, singer /l/ line, live /r/ sorry, Mary /w/ well, when / j/ yes, yummy

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