Vowel Reader - Chapter 2 Flashcards
explain which practical purposes phonetic transcriptions can serve describe some rules about phonetic transcriptions recognise what the organs of speech are understand some basic terminology understand the difference between voiced and voiceless consonant sounds understand why it is important for speakers of English to distinguish between voiced and voiceless consonant sounds
What are the endless combinations of a limited number of basic sounds called?
Phonemes
How can knowledge of the English sounds system help improve pronunciation?
Better pronunciation starts with better listening. Knowing what sounds are present in the English language and being able to read these phonemes, the eye can help the ear. Students will learn what sounds to pronounce in words and what to look out for.
What is English spelling notorious for?
English spelling is notorious for being unpredictable when it comes to representing sounds.
How are phonemes with a long sound recognized?
They have a colon.
For example -
i: = ee (bee)
Name the organs of speech of the tongue front to back
Tip - Blade - Front - Back
Name the organs of speech on the roof of the mouth front to back
Alveolar ridge - Hard palate - Soft palate/velum
What practical purposes do phonetic transcriptions serve?
Advantages for the student! They will be able to:
- look up the pronunciation of difficult words in a suitable dictionary.
- see (in a text written in the phonetic alphabet) the sounds that he hears e.g. in a recording
- sharpen his ears by writing down in the phonetic alphabet the sounds that he hears in words and sentences. He can check what he has written down with the help of a key
- read words or a text in the phonetic alphabet aloud; the text tells him exactly which sounds to produce.
What 4 rules are there about phonetic transcription?
- The same sound is always represented by the same symbol
- Phonetic transcriptions start and end with slashes: fish = / f /. You use single slashes for individual sounds, single words and short phrases. You use double slashes for sentences.
- You don’t use any capitals
- Stress is indicated by a stress mark (an apostrophe) before the stressed syllable: example /Ig’za:mpl/
What’s the hollow organ of speech connected to the nose called?
Nasal cavity
Define “apostrophe”
A punctuation mark. The apostrophe shows which syllable is stressed.
Define “consonant”
An alphabet letter.
Define “consonant sound”
A speech sound produced when the breath is partially or completely blocked by one or more organs of speech.
Define GA
This stands for General American, which is the traditional name for the standard American English accent.
Define organ of speech
Any of the organs of speech, such as the lips, the tongue, the teeth, etc. that play a part in producing the sounds of a language.
Define RP
This stands for Received Pronunciation which is the traditional name for the standard British English accent
Define syllable
A ‘unit of pronunciation’ that often consists of a vowel sound, with or without one or more accompanying consonant sounds before or after.
Define stress
The emphasis given to a certain syllable in a word or sentence.
Define vowel
An alphabet letter representing a speech sound.
Define vowel sound
A speech sound produced when the breath flows out through the mouth without being significantly blocked by any organ of speech
Stress: Information
If a word has more than one syllable such as alive /(schwa’laIv/, one of the syllables is always pronounced more strongly – we then say that that syllable is stressed. Stress is the contrast between strong and weak syllables within words (or strong and weak words within sentences – more about that later on in this reader)
Organs of speech: Font of the mouth
Upper teeth, upperlip
Lower lip, Lower teeth
Organs of speech: Furhter down the throat
Collective: The Larynx
Glottis (encasing)
Vocal cords - stripe (slit)
Why does ‘voice’ present a few problems for learners of English?
During speech, voice is switched on and off for different phonemes many times in a sentence. Native speakers of a language perform this difficult trick without conscious thinking. All languages have their own rules for when to switch voice on or off.
Languages such as Dutch and German are less critical about the contrast between voiced and voiceless sounds than English. They even have a rule about voiced and voiceless pairs of consonant sounds which says that at the end of a word you should always pronounce the voiceless one of the pair.
What’s the standard way of pronouncing English vowel sounds?
- The standard way of pronouncing vowel sounds in English is with the vocal cords vibrating, so they are always voiced
- Certain consonant sounds, the voiced consonant sounds, are pronounced with the vocal cords vibrating, too. Examples are: /m/, /l/, /r/
Whispering means that..
Your voice is off completely and the vocal chords are not at all used.
What are minimal pairs?
If there are two words that sound almost the same, but they have onse sound that is different, it is called a minimal pair. The sound that is different can be a vowel sound or a consonant sound.
