Concepts in

Pronunciation

Stephen van Vlack

Foreword

This book is written with Korean students in mind. There

are many comments included which deal concretely with the

Korean language and target some of the problems which Korean

students, in particular, have when learning English pronunciation.

The book is intended for classroom use with a native speaker of

English, but it is possible for the student to work with the book

alone.

The concepts provided in this book are intended to help

the student better understand the mechanisms of human speech.

This includes Korean as well as English. It is, therefore, not out

of the realm of possibility for the student to actually improve

their Korean pronunciation as well as their English by using this

book.

Try to have fun with it and never stop experimenting with

sounds.

Table of Contents

Page #

Part 1 - The Vocal Process 2

Part 2 - Sounds and Articulation 11

Consonant Sounds 11

Stop Consonants 12

Fricative Consonants 20

Nasal Consonants 31

A Special Fricative 35

Affricate Consonants 39

Glide Consonants 44

Lateral Consonants 48

Vowel Sounds 53

Front Vowels 55

Back Vowels 60

Central Vowels 64

Diphthongs 68

Part 3 - Stress 72

Word-level Stress 72

Sentence-level Stress 75

Part 4 - Intonation 76

Quizzes 77

Quiz 1 77

Quiz 2 79

Quiz 3 81

Appendix 82

Introduction

Goals

This book has two purposes. The first one is to get the

students to pronounce English better. The second goal is to give

the students the ability to turn around and teach pronunciation

effectively to their own students. In order to do this, the

students must learn some of the basic underlying principals

which guide pronunciation, and English pronunciation in

particular. The concepts the students learn in this course will

enable them to think in a very concrete way about what actually

occurs as they make sounds. By learning the IPA (International

Phonetic Alphabet), hopefully their knowledge of pronunciation

will be converted from a more passive into a more active state

and that is exactly what we need to be effective teachers.

A large part of what I want students to do in this course is

to play with sounds. I hope that this book, and the course

designed to compliment it will give the students the chance to

play with their voices. By using and viewing pronunciation in a

different light, they should acquire a better feel for the

mechanisms that are used in the vocal process and hopefully

find their English voice.

Point of View

There are many different aspects of phonetics. For the

purposes of this course we are going to focus on very basic

sound in meaning. That means that we are not going to go into

excessive little details of pronunciation. Instead, we are going to

look at sound patterns that change meaning in English or those

which are necessary for intelligible pronunciation. The

transcriptions the students will encounter, and will ultimately be

responsible for producing, are what is called broad transcription.

The dialect we will be looking at is SAE (Standard American

English) or something as close to that as possible. On occasion,

interesting facts will be made about other dialects and particular

points will be pointed out.

In general, to lessen confusion we will not be looking at

allophones, or different phonemes that hold the same meaning.

We will also be looking at more rapid forms of speech to a

smaller extent. In no way is this book intended to be a definitive

text on English phonetics. The book will just scratch the surface

of this immensely interesting field.

Organization

The book is organized into several sections. The two main

sections cover the sounds themselves. After an introduction of

how sounds are made, the sounds are broken into consonants

and vowels. Consonant sounds are grouped according to their

manner of articulation. Vowel sounds are divided according to

their place of articulation. Lastly, there are some very short

sections on some of the higher level phonetic peculiarities of

English, like tense and intonation which are followed by an

appendix. The appendix includes information on some Korean

phonetic features.

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Part 1

The Vocal Process

Turning air into sound How sound is made is really quite simple. Sound begins with air. Air is pumped out of the lungs and into your larynx, a pipe in your throat. As the air moves up the larynx, it moves through your voice box. Your voice box is that lump which sticks out on your neck. It is larger for men

than for women. Children have small voice boxes. It is in the voice box that air is first changed into sound. Air enters the voice box and moves across the vocal cords. Your vocal cords are stringy muscles which are stretched across the inside of your voice box. As the air moves across the vocal cords, friction is created which creates sound. Air flow out of the voice box is controlled by the

vocal folds, muscles which cover the voice box and are able to open or close. Think of the vocal folds as two doors which, when open, allow air to

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pass and when closed stop the flow of air. Once the air gets out of the voice box it winds up in one of two places; the mouth or the nasal cavity. Often, it goes to both. Where the air goes is determined by the uvula. When the uvula is lowered, air passes into the nasal cavity and out the nose. When the uvula is raised, air flow to the nose is blocked and it must move through the mouth alone.

Articulators Inside the mouth, there are many parts which determine exactly how a particular sound is made. These are called articulators. The most important articulator is the tongue. What part of the mouth the tongue touches determines which sound will be made. The lips are also important articulators. It is important to remember that the articulators in our mouths are able to move. A good definition for articulators would be the parts of the mouth which move around or touch other parts in order to create specific sounds.

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Classifying sounds Sounds are classified based on two different criteria; Manner of Articulation and Place of Articulation. Manner of Articulation refers to how the flow of air is controlled during the process of making a sound. For example, is the flow of air stopped or somehow impeded? The vocal folds are the most important factor in determining Manner of Articulation (MOA). Place of Articulation (POA) refers to what the articulators are doing as the sound is being made. Usually we are concerned with what part of the mouth they are touching or where they are located. The tongue is the most important factor in determining Place of Articulation (POA).

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Sound Groupings Based on MOA. Consonant Sounds - In these sounds the vocal folds are not completely open and the flow of air is somehow restricted. Stop - In these sounds the vocal folds are entirely closed before the sound

is made. Air pushes against the closed vocal folds until the pressure becomes too great and forces them open. The vocal folds burst open releasing a large amount of air and then close again slowly.

Fricative - In these sounds the vocal folds are open, but only slightly. Air flow is halted but never completely stopped. The small opening in the vocal folds causes a large amount of friction in the voice box and that is why these sounds are called fricatives.

Nasal - These are sounds in which the uvula is lowered causing the air to move through the nasal cavity instead of the mouth. Both fricative consonants and vowels can be nasal, but there are no nasal vowels in Standard American English.

Affricate - These sounds are a mix of two sounds; one stop and one fricative, and share elements of both. Affricates begin with the vocal folds closed. As the air begins to put pressure on them, they open up slightly and the air is allowed to escape. There is no explosion of air, as in stop sounds.

Glide - The flow of air is almost completely free. For this reason these sounds are sometimes called `Semi-vowels`. They differentiate themselves by having some sort of movement going on inside the mouth.

Lateral - These sounds also fall under the Semi-vowel classification but are different because the air moves along the sides of the tongue.

Vowel Sounds - These sounds have no obstruction of the air flow. This means that the vocal folds are completely open as the sounds are made.

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Sound Groupings Based on POA. Bi-labial - These sounds are made using both lips. The lips are either closed

completely and open up or are rounded, like you are kissing something a little bit far away from you.

Labio-dental - In these sounds the upper teeth are touching the lower lip. Inter-dental - The tip of the tongue sticks out from between the two

front teeth. Dental - The tip or front of the tongue touches the back of the teeth as

the sound is made. Alveolar - The front of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge as the sound

is made. Palatal - In these sounds, the middle of the tongue is pushed up again the

palate. Velar - The back of the tongue pushes against the uvula in these sounds. Glottal - These sounds are articulated in the glottis, the space between the

two vocal folds. A very small opening in the glottis allows for a small puff of air to escape. As the air escapes it creates friction which makes the sound.

Consonant Chart It is helpful to put all 24 consonant sounds of English into a single chart. That way we get look at how the sounds are grouped. It is easy to tell which ones are similar and which ones are very different. Below is a chart which shows the Manner and Place of Articulation for Standard American English (SAE) consonant sounds.

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Stop Fricative Nasal Affricate Glide Lateral

+voice -voice +voice -voice +voice +voice -voice +voice +voice

Bi-labial b p m w

Labio-dental

v f

Inter-dental

Dental d t

Alveolar z s n l

Palatal j r

Velar g k

Glottal h

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One last Point: Voicing As shown in the chart above, voicing is one of the most important features of English pronunciation. Voicing is when your vocal folds vibrate during articulation (the moment when you make a sound). If you put your hand on your voice box as you make a voiced sound like /v/, you should feel a strong vibration in your throat. That is voicing. Sounds that have voicing are said to be +voice. Sounds with no voicing (the vocal folds do not vibrate) are called -voice. Because voicing is so important in English, you must make sure you master this simple process. You must be able to hear differences in voiced sounds and also be able to control voicing in your own pronunciation. Practice a lot if you have any problems.

IPA Consonant Symbols and Their Sounds

IPA Dictionary English Examples Symbol Symbol

/p/ p pay, apple, stop /b/ b bat, rabbit, tub /t/ t top, cutter, cat /d/ d dog, ladder, bed /k/ k car, cookie, cake /g/ g go, begin, egg /f/ f fun, office, scoff /v/ v very, savory, have // th think, bathtub, month /ð/ th these, father, breathe /s/ s sit, whisper, kiss /z/ z zoo, busy, buzz // sh shoe, luscious, wish

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// zh rouge, vision, measure /h/ h hat, behind /m/ m me, sophomore, slum /n/ n no, running, gun // swing, singer, swimming // ch chair, catcher, witch // j jaw, magic, age /w/ w we, away /j/ y yes, emulate /l/ l lamp, pillow, pull /r/ r red, marry, car

IPA Vowel Symbols and Their Sounds

IPA Dictionary English Examples Symbol Symbol

/i/ me, sea, deed // i or bit, skin, win /e/ ate, fate, they // e or bet, head, egg /æ / a or fat, happy, at // a or pot, father, slobber // ur herb, first, urchin // r father, after, further // u or up, come, slum // America, Korea, upon

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/u/ soon, you, rule // oo or book, put, should /o/ no, open, own // dog, all, caught

Diphthongs

/o/ open, own, no /e/ y fate, they, hey // ou cow, out, ouch // hi, fire, pie // oi noise, coy, oil

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Part 2

Sounds and Articulation

There are two main types of sounds in English; consonants and vowels. They can be differentiated mainly in their manner of articulation. Consonants occur with some sort of stopping or at least some slowing down of the air flow. This means that the vocal folds do not remain completely open as we make a consonant sound. In consonants, the vocal folds somehow impede the flow of air. Vowels, on the other hand, are produced with no halting or impeding of the flow of air. The vocal folds are completely opened and air moves with no restrictions.

Consonant Sounds

There are 24 consonant sounds in Standard American English.

Because sound systems, are above all, systematic, it is important to know how and where they are made in the mouth. Look for patterns that repeat themselves. It is important that you be able to group certain sounds together. This should make it easier for you to be able to understand and feel how sounds are interrelated. If you can make one sound in a group well, then you must be able to make the others well as long as you can understand the system of similarities and differences. Have fun with this.

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Stop (Plosive) Consonants

/p/ and /b/ /t/ and /d/ /k/ and /g/ Stops, for the most part, are not that difficult for speakers of Korean. All the same sounds are found in Korean, but voicing is a problem. Korean stops come in groups of three and are differentiated by laryngealization1 and aspiration while English stops come in pairs differentiated by voicing. Be careful to acquire the differences in English. Remember, even though the stop sounds in Korean are similar, they are not the same. Try to pronounce the sounds carefully. Articulation Stops are made with a series of movements in the voice box. 1. When you get ready to make a stop sound your vocal folds close tight. 2. Your tongue and lips (articulators) move into the correct position for

the sound you want to make. 3. Air is pushed into the voice box. Pressure builds on the vocal folds. 4. The vocal folds respond to the pressure and burst open, releasing a very short rush of air.2

1Laryngealization is also known as creaky voice. It is believed to be a

specific type of voicing but don`t let that confuse you. It sounds a little like

an old dirty door closing slowly. Think about Korean and which words might

be made using this creaky voice. You should be able to feel creaky voice in

your voice box.

2This is where the word plosive comes from. In stops, the air pops out

of the voice box violently like an explosion. It might be helpful to think of

these sounds as sounds which include an explosion of air.

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5. The vocal folds slam closed again, thus stopping the flow of air. Voicing Review When the vocal folds, not the vocal cords (The vocal cords always vibrate. That is how sound is made.), vibrate during articulation, we call this voicing. Sounds that include voicing are called voiced sounds (+voice). If a sound has no voicing, it is called voiceless (-voice). All consonants are either voiced or voiceless and the difference is often very important. All vowels in English are voiced. An interesting thing to note is that voiced sounds are quite a bit louder than voiceless sounds. This should help you in recognizing them when you listen to English. For practice, it is good to be able to feel the voicing. The easiest way is to simply put your fingers, gently, on your voice box and see what you can feel as you talk. You should be able to feel the voicing turn on and off as you make certain sounds. If you cannot feel this, or you feel yourself voicing sounds you should not be voicing, then try to speak more slowly and carefully and see what you can feel. If it feels good, it should sound good. Feeling is believing. Sounds The stop consonants in English can be thought of as occurring in three pairs. Each of the pairs share the same place of articulation. This means your tongue or lips should be in the same position when you make both a /p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, and /k/ and /g/ sound. -voice +voice Place of Articulation /p/ /b/ These are bi-labial sounds. Your lips should be

together. Examples: please /pliz/, stop /stp/, and slip /slp. blouse /bls/, and dribble /drbl

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/t/ /d/ These are dental-alveolar sounds. The tip or blade of the tongue can either touch the back of the upper teeth or the alveolar ridge or both.

Examples: to /tu/, take /tek/, and foot /ft/ door /dr/, food /fud/, and fodder /fd/ /k/ /g/ These are velar sounds. The back of the

tongue moves back to touch the upper part of the velum.

Examples: clink /klk/, couch, /k/, and lock /lk/ greet /grit/, leg /lg/, and logger /lg/ Differentiating Pairs The most obvious way in which the pairs of sounds are different is voicing. There are, however, some other ways of differentiating pairs. Aspiration occurs in voiceless stops when they are the first sound in a word. Aspiration is basically an extra puff of air. Compare these words: peas and bees /piz/, /biz/ try and dry /tr/, /dr/ coo and goo. /ku/, /gu/ When you say these words you should put your hand or dangle a piece of paper in front of your mouth. You should see the piece of paper move with the aspirated sounds. With some practice you should be able to feel the difference in your mouth. Try saying these pairs of sentences being very careful of aspiration: Please, put the pudding in the pot. /pliz pt pd n pt/ But the bad boy wouldn`t budge. /bt b d b wont b/ Try to take it easy with that toy. /tra t tek t izi w t t/

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Dennis, do not make my drink too dry. /dns du nt mek m drnk tu dr/ Colleen, can`t you husk that corn in the kitchen? /klin k nt ju hsk t krn n kn/ Go and get the gown you`re going to wear. /go nd gt gn jor go tu wr/ Releasing is a way to tell the difference between pairs when they come at the end of a word. The basic rule is that voiceless stops are unreleased when they happen at the end of the word. If a sound is left unreleased this means that your lips and tongue move into the correct position to make the sound, but the explosion of air never happens. The sound is never really made because the air that is being held behind the vocal folds is not released. Compare these word pairs: tap and tab /t p/, /t b/ pot and pod /pt/, /pd/ buck and bug /bk/, /bg/ The last sound of the first word should be left unreleased. In the second word all the sounds should be released.3 Practice saying words with the last sound both released and unreleased. When stop sounds occur in the middle of a word, they are neither aspirated nor unreleased. Look at the following words: bubble, puppy /bbl/, /ppi/ waddle, otter /wdl/, t/ wagon, welcome. /w gn/, /wlkm/

3Remember, unreleased word-final stops are not part of all dialects of

English. They are, however, part of SAE. North Americans, even in quite

formal situations, will usually not release word-final voiceless stops. If you

want to speak very carefully or if you are angry you will release all sounds

completely.

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Review and Practice: Stops Answer the following questions. 1. Which stop sounds are made furthest forward in the mouth? ________________ 2. Which ones are made furthest back? ________________ 3. What vibrates when we make voiced sounds? ________________ 4. Which articulators do we need to make stop sounds? ________________ 5. What are the three ways of differentiating pairs of stops? ________________ Practice for Fun The Stop Song There are many ways that you can practice stop sounds. One of the best ways to practice pronunciation is to sing. In order to practice stops you do not sing songs in a normal way. You have to sing special songs. Here`s how. Take any song you like. It does not matter if the words are in English or Korean or any other language, because you are going to replace the normal lyrics with sounds. Instead of signing the regular words sing stop sounds instead. So, for example, if you like the song Strangers in the Night, sing bupubupubu instead of the normal words. Simply replace all the words with /p/ or /b/, or any other pair of stops you want to practice. Make sure you keep the rhythm of the song, but simply insert your favorite pair of stops and sing only those sounds. It will be very hard at first to be able to distinguish the two sounds, or to make them sound different when you sing quicky, but if you keep on trying you will get the feel for it. Concentrate on the voicing. Keeping

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you fingers on your voice box to feel for vibration as you sing will help you develop a better feel for what is going on inside your mouth as you are doing this. Try to have fun with it. Some Tongue Twisters Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick? The beastly boys of the barnyard were busy bouncing rubber balls on their bare bottoms. Betty tripped on her baby`s rubber buggy bumper and fell into a tremendous bunch of beets. Darren, the dog-training dingbat, dared Donna to drink all the liquid dynamite Dougal left lying on the round table. To touch the top of the toupee that Teddy always took with him to the track was Tom`s terrific fantasy. The cotton that Cornelius got to kill the cockroach in the cupboard got caught in the catch of the doorknob as he was running to enter the kitchen. Cornelius was confounded by the incomplete comfort of the couch so he couldn`t catch a wink of sleep that night. The garbage that Gill was going to take to the game was composed of gum wrappers, chicken guts and gizzards, and goop from his dog`s kitchen.

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Dialogues Pete: Pauline, pass the pepper. Pauline: Isn`t it proper to say `please` when you want the pepper? Pete: OK, please pass the pepper. Pauline Impossible Pete: Impossible, please tell me why? Pauline: I`m feeling peculiar today and just want to be a pain. Betty: Bill, do you have a better way for basting beef than with this thin

tube? Bill: Betty, you boob. Nobody bastes beef. Betty: What are you blabbering about? Bill: Beef, it`s never been basted. Never has been, never will be. Betty: But it says in my book to baste the beef. Bill: That can`t be right. Betty: It`s the complete truth. Bill: No, look, it says to marinate the beef, not baste it. Todd: To be or not to be? That is tough question that I ask of me. Tabitha: Todd, what in tarnation are you doing? Todd: Isn`t it completely obvious, Tabitha? Tabitha: No, Todd, I`m afraid it isn`t. Todd: Well, I will tell you. Is it not true that I am an actor extra

ordinaire? Tabitha: An actor, yes. Extra ordinaire, don`t kid yourself. Todd: Doubters. But I will not let you tempt me away from my

enticing new rendition of Hamlet. Tabitha: Ah, is that what you were trying to do; Hamlet? It sounded

more like a huge ham to me . Dave: Debs, have you seen a dirty dog around here?

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Debs: Actually, yes. A tremendously dirty dog just ran by around thirty seconds ago.

Dave: Was the dog doing anything strange? Did it look dangerous? Debs: No, it was just doing what dogs usually do. Why do you want to

know? Dave: I have a new job. I am the town`s new dog catcher. I have a dozen

dirty dogs that I have to capture toady or I`m dead. Now where did that damned dirty dog disappear to?

Kyle: Could you get those chickens in the coop. It`s cold. Kath: What`s the big deal Kyle? The chickens won`t freeze. Kyle: No, but if we leave them out the coyotes will certainly kill them. Kath: Chickens killed by coyotes might be contaminated. Kyle: Could you explain that, Kath? Kath: Of course, Kyle. Coyotes carry cooties which can kill humans, Kyle. Kyle: Kath, How could cooties from coyotes kill? Kath: Quite easily, Kyle. Can`t you consider the concept of

contamination? Kyle: No, Kath. I can`t. Gill: Oh my God, Gwen, have you gotten your gums cleaned lately? Gwen: Of course, Gill. The cleaning of the gums is a great way to glean

good health. Why? Gill: Well, gosh. How can I say this? Gwen, I think your gums are no

good. They are gushing blood. Gwen: Gushing blood? That`s no good. What am I gonna do? Gill: Well, Gwen, that`s easy. Go to the gum doctor. You`re a lucky girl,

your cousin is a dentist. She has gums like a goat. Go see her. Gwen: Wow Gill, you`re a great friend. I`m glad I got to see you today.

But, please don`t look at me so goo-goo eyed. Gill: Oh Gwen, you know I`m gaga over you. Gwen: Oh, Gill, forget about that. My gums, they`re gushing blood,

remember?

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Gill: Oh gosh, I almost forgot. Hurry, let`s go. Swing it. IPA Practice Put the following into standard English orthography.

/bbl/ /drv/ /psn/ /grms/ /trki/ /kri/

/krik/ /hrb/ /hrt/ /hd/ /slp/ /slg/

Fricative (Continuant) Consonants

// and // /f/ and /v/ /s/4 and /z/ // and //5

Fricatives are tough for Korean speakers. Korean has very few

4The sounds /s/ and // are allophones in Korean. This means

that they are both used as the same basic sound. Which one you

use in a certain phonological environment is predictable. // is

used when the sound which follows it is a high front vowel. /s/ is

used in all other environments. Koreans make a lot of mistakes

with these two sounds because they often cannot hear the

difference between the two sounds. Be careful.

5This sound has come into English through French and is still mostly,

but not entirely, found in words of French origin.

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fricative sounds. There is a tendency to pronounce the fricatives of English as affricates in Korean speech. Be careful to keep the air flow going as you make these sounds. Articulation Like stops, fricatives are made with a series of movements in the voice box. The articulation of fricatives is, however, much simpler than for stops. 1. When you get ready to make a fricative sound, your vocal folds move to

a position where they are mostly closed. The vocal folds never close entirely when you are making a fricative sound.

2. Your tongue and lips move into the correct position for the sound you want to make.

3. Air is pushed through the voice box. The flow of air is restricted by the vocal folds, but never stopped. The vocal folds do not actually move during the articulation of the sound.

4. The sound does not finish until you are ready to go onto the next sound or you have run out of air.6

Sounds The fricative consonants in English can be thought of as occurring in pairs. Each of the pairs share the same place of articulation. This means your tongue or lips should be in the same position when you make both a // and //, /f/ and /v/, /s/ and /z/, and // and // sound. -voice +voice Place of Articulation

6This is why fricative sounds are also called continuants. The sound

is able to be continued for as long as the speaker wants or has air in her/his

lungs. The fact that fricatives can be continued is one main difference

between them and stops. Take a deep breath and try making some fricative

sounds for as long as you can.

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// // These are inter-dental sounds. The tip of your tongue should be placed between your teeth.

Example: think, this /k/, /s/ /f/ /v/ These are labio-dental sounds. The upper

teeth are placed gently on the lower lip and most of the air moves out the sides of the mouth.

Example: finger, very /fg/, /vri/ /s/ /z/ These are alveolar sounds. The front or the

middle of the tongue is rested against the back part of the alveolar ridge7. The tip of the tongue should dip down to a low spot in the mouth, behind the bottom row of teeth.

Example: sing, loser, zoo /s/, luz/, /zu/

// // These are palatal sounds. The middle of the tongue should be pushed against the rear part of the hard palate at the highest part of the roof of your mouth. The tongue tip is raised slightly and should point toward the upper row of teeth.

Example: harsh, garage /hr/, /gr/

7For some English speakers /s/ and /z/ are alveolar-palatal sounds.

This means that when some people make the sound, their tongue is resting

partly on the alveolar ridge and partly on the hard palate. See if you can feel

where your tongue is when you make this sound.

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Differentiating Pairs The most obvious way to differentiate fricative sounds which have the same place of articulation is our familiar friend voicing. All the fricatives we mentioned above are either voiced or voiceless and each one has an equal counterpart. In fricatives, voicing has a few side effects which make it easier to further differentiate sounds. Loudness or volume is a side effect of voicing which allows us to differentiate fricative pairs. Voiced sounds, especially among the fricatives, will be much louder than voiceless sounds. This will help you in trying to recognize the sounds when you hear them. Practice saying each sound as it appears at the end of a word. love /lv/ and loaf /lof/ cars /krz/ and kinks /kks/ breathe /bri/ and worth /w/ beige /be/ and shush // Length is the last major difference. Voiceless fricative sounds tend to be longer than their voiced counterparts. This means that the voiceless sounds will last longer. (Can you notice the difference between soon /sun/ and zoo /zu/. The /s/ sound in the first word should definitely be longer than the /z/ in the second.) Just bear in mind that this is not a rule and that the difference is not huge. We are talking 100th`s of a second here. As you gain more experience and your ear becomes better trained, you should be able to hear the difference.8 Potential Problems Non-native English speakers have two big problems with fricatives: voicing and place of articulation. The only way to get around these two problems is through practice. Most languages have similar sounds, but the

8It is important to note that length, whether of consonants or of vowels,

does not change the meaning of a word in English. It helps us to recognize the

sound and not much more.

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tongue might be placed in a slightly different place to make a sound that might be the same. Work hard to make sure that your tongue falls into the right place for the English sound. Korean speakers have special problems with fricatives because there are very few of them in their language: /s/ and its three Korean renditions is the only one. You will have to work hard to place your tongue in all these strange places. In order for your pronunciation to sound natural and flow well making these weird sounds must become like second nature. The best way to do this is to practice. There are many different ways of practicing. One of the best is to take a book or anything written in English and read it out loud. Listen carefully to what you sound like, or, better yet, tape record yourself as you speak. Then listen and compare your pronunciation to that of a native speaker. Don`t be too scared to do this. Shyness won`t help you be a good language learner. For fricatives, one of the characteristic problems that Koreans face is smoothness. Because Korean has so many stop sounds, Koreans tend to halt the flow of air after every consonant vowel combination. This makes their speech sound very choppy at best, and wrong as well. Koreans tend to replace the fricatives of English with stop sounds or affricate sounds. This can make it very hard for non-Koreans to understand you. Practice hard to try to make smooth transitions between fricatives and the vowel sounds that follow them. If, for example, you are going to the zoo, and you want to tell someone, make sure that the air flow does not stop as you move from the /z/ to the /u/. There should be a smooth progression, in which your lips slowly become rounded and your tongue moves up toward the roof of your mouth. Try it. Hints for Excellence Voicing, especially for fricatives, is a huge problem because some of these sounds are represented by non-equivalent characters in the Hangul

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writing system.9 One way of practicing voicing is to put your articulators into the right position to make a fricative sound; for example /f/. Put your upper teeth on your bottom lip. Now, make the sound. First make it voiceless. Without moving your teeth or lips, try to turn on the voicing. Do this continuously and with all the different pairs of fricatives until you have learned to control your voicing. It will not be easy, so don`t be discouraged. Another practice you can do, is the same song-based practice that was mentioned in the last section, except this time replace your favorite song`s lyrics with pairs of fricatives like /f/ and /v/. This will be even harder than singing in stops, but try hard and try to make your singing sound smooth. There should be no stoppage of the air flow. Smooth, smooth, smooth. It will help a lot if you can relax your throat when you make these sounds. Korean requires a more tense throat . Loosen up a little bit and keep the flow and you should be OK.

Review and Practice: Fricatives Answer the following questions. 1. How many pairs of fricatives are there in English? ________________ 2. What are the two most difficult things about fricatives? ________________ 3. What never stops when you make fricative sounds? ________________

9The sounds /z/ and /s/ in many words Korean has borrowed from

English are pronounced // or //. A typical example is the word sports

/sprts/. Koreans pronounce this word /sp/. Be very careful to

avoid making mistakes like this.

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4. Which fricative is of foreign origin? ________________ 5. Which fricative sounds are louder? ________________ Some Tongue Twisters She sells sea shells by the sea shore. Zorgon, the singer from Mars zoomed in a zig- zag motion towards his secret destination. The swell shoes she was wearing showed Sheila to be a shopper of super sense. George decided to secretly shove the shiny beige bobsled into the garage as his wife Madge was applying rouge. This, these, that, those, and many other things made Thorfinn think twice about throwing away his fabulous throng of thoughts. When her thoughts were low Gwyneth, often thought about things that no one thought enough of to bother thinking about, like throwing thick pudding out the window. For Sylvester, plants are better than flowers for a gift because flowers are dead, and plants are alive forever. Valerie valued her valet very much because he vanquished the vampire who was bothering her.

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Dialogues Thelma: Theron, through which thought process did you become

such a thorough person? Theron: Through my very own thinking, Thelma. Thelma: What is the secret to this, Theron? Theron: Through thinking of things related to myself I find I become

more thorough. Thelma: What kind of things do you think about? Theron: Things of which I am freely allowed to think about. Thelma: Thanks anyway, Theron. I`ll go ask Beth. Thanatos: Thane, I want to thank you for that book you lent me. Thane: That was nothing. I have many more books. Thanatos: Please accept this gift as a sign of my thanks. Thane: What is this? Thanatos: It`s a model of a theropod, one of my favorite dinosaurs. Thane: It`s a lovely thing and an excellent thought. Thanatos: Yes, these theropods were very powerful in their day. Thane: Kind of like the way we are now? Thanatos: Yes, but not as smart. Phil: Frank, go fly a kite. Frank: Phil, what form of fool do you take me for? Phil: Not a fabulous fool, but a rather fun one for everyone. Frank: That`s it. Stop floundering or I will force the truth from you. Phil: OK. But if you try to force the truth from me the folks will be

frightened. Frank: But I want other folks to be frightened of me. I think it`s fantastic. Phil: Then Frank, you are a fool. Frank: Now, Phil, my friend, you will help me find the frosting

immediately. Without frosting, there is no way we can finish Fiona`s birthday cake.

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Vern: Hey Velma! You were very vicious to Bev the other afternoon. Velma: Bev is a villain. She was very rude to the visitors I had in our

villa. She even tried to vomit on them. Vern: That`s awful! Did she become violent? Velma: She tried, but Valerie ventured to play the violin. Vern: That calmed her nerves? Velma: Bev was visibly better after that. Vern: Boy, that Bev, sure is crazy. Suzie: Sam, you slimy sad sack. I can`t swallow how you sacrificed yourself

for Selma. Sam: Well, Selma is one super somber chick. I had to help her. Suzie: But, she loves to suck the energy from someone, anyone. Sam: I know, but you know all scatologists love to be abused. We are all

sadists deep down. Suzie: I suggest you sail away soon on a schooner bound for Salvador. At

least you`ll be safe from Selma. Zack: Zelda, which do you love better zebras or zebus? Zelda: I think I really love zebus but only because I practice zen. Zack: Do you think that Zeus created zoos, or are they a person`s

creation? Zelda: I can`t be sure. Zack: Well, what do you think of the xylophone and the zither as

excellent musical instruments? Zelda: I think I wish you would go to Zimbabwe to your ask annoying

questions to someone else. Zack: Do you like horses? Zelda: Do you like cuts and bruises?

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Zack: OK, I`ll be as quiet as a zygote. Sasha: Shucks Sheila, you shouldn`t shove short people and babies face first into the mud. Sheila: Shut up Sasha! I can do whatever I want. Only a shyster

would not love to have me shove his face in the mud. Sasha: Don`t be shrewish. It`s shkotzim. Sheila: Don`t you use your Yiddish on me. Sasha: Yiddish is the best, It`s a shoe in for fun. Sheila: Why don`t go out to the shed, shellac yourself, eat some

shell beans and forget the whole shebang. Sasha: Sure, you she-devil. Zuzu Zaza, what do you do for leisure? Zaza: Darling, in my leisure time, I usually apply rouge to my beige skin. Zuzu Lovely! That sounds luscious. What`s up for your next vacation? Zaza: If I could only eat the soup de jour at Jacques` Famous Shack

Restaurant, I`d be happy. I think I`ll go to Paris to partake in that. Zuzu Mmmm, mmmmm good. Zaza: I also would love to have a seizure from too much pleasure. Zuzu I know, you do love leisure along with your pleasure. Zaza: But not as much as you dear. IPA Practice Write the following words in standard English.

/iss/ /frut/ /sup d r/ /ziro/

/r/ /vn/ /sm/ /rk/

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/sf/ /sst/ /wl/ /ru/

/bzr/ /fv/ /f/ /l/

Try to write the following words in the IPA. live disease throng forth shack sling measure brother dogs fish treasure

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Nasal Consonants

/m/, /n/ and // For all intents and purposes, the nasal sounds are fricatives. Their manner of articulation is exactly like the fricatives we mentioned above with one little difference. The velum is lowered somewhere in the process, thus allowing air to flow into the nasal cavity and out of the nose. English nasals are easy for Korean speakers because they are essentially the same in both languages.10 Articulation Nasals are basically fricative sounds with a slight twist. 1. When you get ready to make a nasal sound your vocal folds close

mostly but not entirely. 2. Your velum lowers, allowing air to flow into the nasal cavity. 3. Your tongue and lips move into the correct position. 4. Air is pushed through the voice box. As in all fricatives, the flow of air is

restricted by the vocal folds but never stops completely. 5. The sound is finished when you have run out of air or are ready to move

onto the next sound. You may also raise the velum, thus stopping the flow of air into the nasal cavity and out of the nose.

10

There is one simple way to tell if the sound you are making is nasal

or not. Hold your nose as you make the sound. Then try to say the same

sound again without holding your nose. If the two sounds are different then

the sound is nasal. For example, make an /s/ sound and hold your nose. No

difference, right? Now make an /n/ sound and hold your nose. It sounds weird

because you are stopping the air from getting out the nose.

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Sounds The three nasal consonants are just fricatives in which the air flows through the nasal cavity and out the nose instead of through and out of the mouth. The three sounds do not share place of articulation. All nasal sounds in English are voiced. Voiced Place of Articulation

/m/ bi-labial. This means that your two lips are touching each other. Your mouth is closed. The location of the tongue does not affect the sound. Put your tongue wherever it feels most comfortable.

Example: mummy /mmi/, humdrum /hmdrm/ /n/ alveolar. In this sound, the tip and front of the

tongue are touching the alveolar ridge. Example: nun /nn/, nibble /nbl/, moon /mun/ // velar. This means that the back of the tongue is

moving back to touch the velum Example: dung /d/, dong /d/, ding /d/ Nasals in English are just about the same as they are in Korean. They even have the same distribution. /m/ and /n/ can occur in the beginning, middle, or end of a word, while // only comes at the end of syllables. Since they are all voiced it is not hard to differentiate them. Their places of articulation are also widely spread, so the sounds do not sound alike. The nasals should not cause you any great trouble. Review and Practice: Nasals Answer the following questions. 1. What is the main difference between nasals and other fricatives?

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2. Is it possible to make a non-nasal, bi-labial fricative? Why not? 3. In what position must // come? 4. Which nasal fricative is made furthest forward in the mouth? 5. Which nasal shares the same place of articulation as /k/ and /g/? Some tongue twisters There was nothing the nimble mind of Nellie could not master in a single night. Morris was a major badminton player for the Mimicker`s Midgets, an impressive team from Missoula, Montana. The nipping cold prohibited Niles form reaching Nirvana on the mountain top. Quentin was running for the phone when he heard a strange language coming from the room next door where the Nimsinging family lived. The mythological Minotaur tormented millions of Minoans in the town in Knossos on the magnificent island of Crete over many millenniums. Laughing Lester was caught running along the lane screaming and telling about the coming of the Martians.

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Dialogues Mimi: Mom`s making me meatballs for my birthday. Mini: What is she making me for my birthday? Mimi: Maybe nothing. Mom loves me more, you moron. Mini: Moron, moron?? I`ll make you eat mud. Mimi: You and which militia? Mini: Mom!! Mimi is mimicking and mocking me. Mom: Mimi, stop mimicking and mocking Mini. Don`t make me come

smack you. Mimi: But Mom, Mini started making funny faces at me. Mini: She`s lying Mom. I`ve been quiet as a mouse. Nora: Neil. Let`s not go to nowhere. Neil: Nora, you`re a nincompoop. Let`s not go anywhere. Well, we

could go to the Neverland Concert Hall to see Aaron Neville perform his nimble nocturne. Hmmm, sounds great.

Nora: No! Not on your knuckles, buddy. Neil: My name is Neil, not Buddy. Nora: Nobody tells me what to do, Neil you Nimrod. Neil: Now, Nora, be noble. Nora: Alright, how about a nightcap? Neil OK, but only after I have my daily allotment of nicotine. Link:: Hey Blink, I`m beginning to think of becoming a shrink? Blink: Why Link? Shrinks are never in the pink. Link: Interesting point Blink, but shrinks get to drink from the sink and

they can sing all the time. Blink: What sink, Link? Have you ever drank from a sink while singing? Link: Not a real sink, Blink. The sink of being. The sink of human

kindness, Blink`o boy. Blink: Now Link, no philosophizing with the Blinker. It makes my head

ache. Link: Then there`s no philosophizing with anybody, Blink. You`re my

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only friend, you stinker. Blink: I`m going to bed. We have to sling the hash early tomorrow. Link: Be seeing you, Blink. McDonald`s time. IPA Practice Write the following words in standard English. /muv/ /r/ /nowr/ /hæ mbg/ /fg/ /hnd/

/lmn/ /rk/ /sn/ /s/ /n/ /hom/

A Special Fricative

/h/11 /h/ is a little different than all the other fricatives in English. First of all, it has no real place of articulation. Our traditional articulators don`t need to be in any special place because the sound is really made in the glottis. /h/ also, does not have a partner sound. It stands alone among the fricatives. It is also the easiest fricative sound for Koreans to pronounce.

11

Beware. In some dialects of British English there is no /h/ sound in

the beginning of a word. For most dialects of English when you see an `h` at

the beginning of a word you will make the sound. There are a few exceptions,

such as the word herb /b/.

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Don`t worry too much about it. Articulation /h/ is pronounced in much the same way the other fricatives are. The vocal folds are open but not completely and they must never close. 1. When you get ready to make an /h/ sound, your vocal folds move to a

position where they are mostly closed. The vocal folds never close entirely when you are making an /h/ sound.

2. Your tongue and lips move into the correct position for the sound you want to make after the /h/ sound.

3. A single puff of air is pushed through the voice box. 4. The sound comes from the glottis, the space between the two vocal

folds, which resonates when the puff of air comes out. 5. The puff of air moves through the throat and out the mouth. 6. Unlike the other fricatives, /h/ can not e continued for as long as you

want or have air. It is like a stop in that the air comes like a puff. The flow of air, however, is regulated by the lungs and not the vocal folds.

Sound -voice Place of Articulation

/h/ In the glottis, but there is no distinct placement of

the standard articulators (tongue, lips, teeth).12 Example: here /hir/, behind /bihand/

12

You can feel /h/ if you put your hand to your voice box. Your voice

box should move up slightly as you make the sound.

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Think of /h/ as being similar to aspiration; a big puff of air. The placement of the tongue will probably be wherever it should be for the next sound. There is no voicing. All that happens during /h/ is that a huge puff of air is sent up from your lungs. It is not stopped or but only impeded from the vocal folds. The air just rolls out of your mouth. Review: the Special Fricative /h/ Answer the following questions. 1. Where would we never expect to find the /h/ sound in a word? 2. What is the place of articulation for /h/? 3. Is /h/ really a continuant like other fricatives? 4. Does /h/ have voicing? 5. Why is /h/ easy for Korean speakers? Try saying these fun sentences: Happy Herman and his sister heavy Hester have a horrible haughty demeanor. The hearty winds of Hurricane Hortense whipped their way towards the unsuspecting island of Haiti. The house that humble Hazel has is humility itself except for all the horrendous hues which haunt the walls. Humanity believes in the humid humbug of a hybrid hunger for the hunting and hurting of hurdles less hysterical.

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Dialogues Harry: Hey Howard, have you had the hamburgers here? Howard: Here, hamburgers? Do they have hamburgers? Harry: They have happy hamburgers. It says so here on the happy

menu. Howard: I have never heard of happy hamburgers and thus have never

had one. Harry: How fortunate, I heard from Hoary that happy hamburgers

are horrendous. Howard: I hope you don`t have one. Harry: I hope I won`t either. Hazel: Hey Helen, How do you call your most hated havens here? Helen: I have to say Houston, Tallahassee, Hawaii, Hot Springs, and

Hamburg are all horrible. Hazel: How so? Helen: Having to do housework there is especially horrendous. Hazel: Have you ever had the advantage of traveling in Hungary? Helen: Is Hungary next to Turkey? Hazel: No Greece is next to Turkey, but Hungary is close by. IPA Practice Write the following words in standard English. /host/ /gost/ /hsptl/ /hrs/ /læ f/ /r/

/hn/ /het/ /hrvst/ /hp/

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/flf/ /nhsptbl/ /nhæ pi/ /kshzbnd/ /hg/ /mlodrm/

/mdl /nir/ /nevl/ /riflks/

Affricate Consonants

// and // Affricate sounds are interesting in their manner of articulation because they share properties of both stop and fricative sounds. Basically, they begin as stops and turn to fricatives, but end as stops again. Affricates are also found in Korean but they are slightly different. Be careful.13 Articulation Affricates are hybrid sounds. They are a combination of stops and fricatives. 1. When you get ready to make an affricative sound your vocal folds close. 2. Your tongue and lips move into the correct position to make the sound. 3. Air is pushed into the voice box, where it is trapped. 4. At this point the vocal folds open just a little bit and the air moves out.

There is no great explosion of sound like we find in the stop sounds. 5. Your tongue moves back to push up against the hard palate.

13

Take a look at the Korean consonant chart in the appendix to give

you a better idea of the similarities and differences between the English and

Korean sounds.

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6. The sound is finished quickly when the vocal folds start to close slowly. Sounds The two affricate consonants in English can also be thought of as occurring in pairs. Each pair member has the same places of articulation. This means your tongue or lips should be in the same position when you make both a // and //. Voiceless Voiced Place of articulation

// // These are dental-alveolar-palatal sounds.14 The tongue touches some different places during the actual articulation.

Examples: (cheap /ip/, church //) (jeep /ip/, judge //) Differentiating Pairs The most obvious way in which pairs of affricate sounds are different is our familiar friend voicing. Korean has these sounds, so most people have no major problems with them. Even if you make them using creaky voice, English speakers will probably be able to tell which sound you mean to make. Loudness is also important here. The voiced affricate will be louder than the voiceless one. This could help you in differentiating them in speech.

14

The tongue doesn`t actually move here. It merely rolls back. So, it

might start out with the tip of the tongue touching the back of the teeth. Then,

the blade of the tongue will come to rest on the alveolar ridge and finally the

front of the tongue will move up against the hard palate .

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Point of Interest: Articulation The most interesting thing about affricates is how they are made. They are a combination of fricative and stop sounds. They also have tongue movement within the sound itself. Tongue movement starts with the tip of the tongue touching the upper teeth or the alveolar ridge. As the air starts to move out of the voice box, the tongue rolls back to where to front of the tongue is touching the hard palate. These are good sounds for helping you get a good feel for how your tongue moves in your mouth. As you make these sounds, close your eyes and try to feel how your tongue rolls back from the teeth to the palate. Also, try to get a good feel for the way the air flow is controlled. Having Fun with These Sounds The Choo-choo train There are a few fun things we can do with these sounds. The first one is to try to imitate the sound a train makes. What you want to do is start making the sounds // followed by //. Stick thee vowel //. So, you want to say // to the rising and falling rhythm that a train makes. This is a lot of fun, especially if you try to speed the train up and slow it down .Make it sound like the train is trying to go over a steep hill. Have fun with this. It might seem stupid at first, but will help you get a better feel of how you can control the articulators inside your mouth. Review and Practice: Affricates Answer the following questions. 1. How are affricates differentiated in English? 2. Why are affricates called hybrid sounds? 3. Is there any explosion of air in affricates?

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4. Can affricates be continued for as long as you have air? 5. Does the tongue move dramatically while affricates are being articulated? Tongue Twisters How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? George the judge drove his jeep into a deep gorge. The junk that Ginger juggled made Joseph jitter. Chester chose to close the chest filled with chunks of chickens and chestnuts just as the chump hit his chest. Dialogues Chuck: Chad, did you chuck those chunks of chutney into the

church? Chad: Which church had chunks of chutney chucked into it? Chuck: The Chuvash church I chiseled out of chocolate. Chad: Oh that church. I just thought that the chutney and the

chocolate would go great together. Chuck: Well, you chipped it as you threw the chunks of chutney. Chad: I`m sorry. Chuck, does chutney always have chunks in it? Chuck: Actually chutney chosen by champion chefs is chunkless. Chad: Shucks Chuck, you know I can`t eat chunky chutney. Gen: Gene, do you figure many Georgians have ventured to Germany?

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Gene: Georgians to Germany? Do you mean Georgia in the Caucasus or in the US?

Gen: Is there a Georgia in Europe? Gene: Not Europe, Asia. It`s just right by Europe though. Gen: But Gene, are there many Georgians in Germany? Gene: Most Georgians in Germany came through Genoa and then Geneva. Gen: Are Genoa and Geneva near Germany? Gene: Boy, Gen, you`re not a genius are you? Genoa and Geneva are not

too far from Germany. Gen: How long does it take to walk from Genoa or Geneva to Germany? Gene: Which part of Germany? Gen: Do you know any geography? Gene: No. Gen: Go learn it. IPA Practice Write the following words in standard English

/nt/ /emb/ /k/ /k/ /æ kt/ /ok/ /l/ /p/ /inz/ /g/

/l/ /m/ /hn/ /w /f/ /m /spl/ /ln/ // /ln/

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Glide Consonants

/w/ and /j/ In general, glides are pretty easy sounds for Koreans. Koreans has both glides; /w/ and /j/ and while they are articulated somewhat differently, they are still very similar sounds.15 Articulation The glide sounds are also called semi-vowels. This means that the vocal folds are open more when you make glides than with any other consonant sounds. As a result there is very little restriction of the airflow and thus very little or no friction. For these reasons, their MOA is more similar to vowels than to other consonants.16 1. Glides are called glides because there is some sort of large scale

movement occurring in the mouth as you make these sounds. 2. As you make the sound, the back of the tongue should be moving

towards the uvula. This happens in addition to what the front part of the tongue might be doing.

15

Remember, it is not necessary for your sounds to made exactly as

they are described in this book for people to understand you. Think of all

these sounds as the keys on a computer keyboard. You don`t have to hit the

key exactly in the center to type the letter you want. If you hit it on the side or

the bottom or even the corner the letter will appear. Sounds are the same way.

If your tongue does not hit the exact right spot the sound might still be

recognizable, but will not sound native-like.

16

We identify these sounds as consonants, because phonologically,

they function more like consonants than vowels. In Korean, the same sounds

are definitely seen as vowel sounds functioning within diphthongs. Koreans,

therefore, run into problems when they encounter these sounds followed by a

vowel and particularly a vowel of a similar place of articulation; for example,

woo /wu/ and yeast /jist/

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3. As in the fricative sounds, your vocal folds never close as you are making glides.

Sounds Voiced Place of articulation

/w/ Bi-labial. When you make a /w/ sound your lips

move during articulation. They thrust forward and achieve a round configuration. Your tongue will also move forward slightly. Your tongue should be resting low in your mouth. It does not have to touch anything.

Example: water /wt/, away /we/ /j/ Palatal.17 With /j/ the middle/back of the tongue

should be touching your palate. As you make the sound your tongue should move forward slightly. You should be able to feel a small movement in your throat. You voice box should rise slightly. It`s kind of like a pulse of movement that comes out of your voice box and moves up and through your mouth.

Example: yellow /jlo/, music /mjuzk/ Review and Practice: Glides Answer the following questions. 1. What moves in your mouth as you make glides? 2. How are glides different from other consonants?

17

This sound is made a little further forward in Korean. The difference

is not huge, however.

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3. What do your vocal folds do as you make a glide sound? 4. How do you write these sounds in the Korean writing system? 5. In which position or a word do glides never occur? Some Tongue Twisters Wimpy William Wiggins wagged his wobbly canoe over the wild white water of the Wichita Falls. Prof Yeum loves to eat yeast, yams, yellow cucumbers and positively yearns for Yaweh as she listens to music. Wendy, Wallace`s woman friend ran through rough wild ragweed every Wednesday, except in winter when it is too cold. Yesterday morning, Yolanda yelled obscenities at Yvonne for spilling lemon juice all over the linoleum. Dialogues York: Yoohoo, I separated the yolk from the white. Yol: But that yolk isn`t yellow and the white isn`t white. That egg was

on the yacht too long and is yucky. York: Yol, is it too yucky to eat it? Yol: You bet ya. That egg is super yucky. York: Yackety-yack., yackety-yack. I`m going to eat it anyway. Yol: Well, you can eat that yucky egg but don`t come crying to me

when you get sick. York: But I ate an egg yesterday. Yol: Was it a yucky egg? York: No.

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Yol: I warned you. William: What in the world were you wearing yesterday? Wendy: You saw me? Where? William: Was that some sort of gown? It was see-through and small. Wendy: What I wear is my own business, William. You don`t own

me. William: I would if I could. Gowns are supposed to be white. Wendy: Not all gowns are white, some are yellow, or even black. William: I only want you to wear white gowns for me Wendy. IPA Practice Write the following words in standard English.

/ju/ /wont/ /jlp/ /j /wr/ /wt/

/wr/ /wd/ /jr/ /w/

/wp/ /jt/ /wl/ /jrn/ /wt/ /jn/

/wev/ /js /wæ ks/ /jist/

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Lateral Consonants

/r/ and /l/ These two sounds are viewed with dread by almost every language learner. The laterals seem to be the hardest sounds for language learners to master. In every language they seem to be difficult. This is probably because the laterals have many varieties and are somewhat less stable then other sounds.18 Articulation These consonant sounds are called laterals because the air moves through the mouth along either side of your tongue. In these sounds, as in the glides, the vocal folds are open more than when you make other consonant sounds, such as fricatives or stops. They also fall under the distinction of semi-vowels. 1. These sounds are like fricatives in that there is no stopping of air flow.

The vocal folds, however are opened more than in our friends the fricatives.

2. Your tongue should be sitting in the middle of your mouth. You must be able to feel the air moving on either side of your tongue as you make these sounds.

3. Both lateral sounds are voiced.

18

Laterals are called resonants. This means that the air moves through

the vocal tract with a smooth flow and that there is no friction. In this respect

they are like vowels, but the air must move on the sides of the tongue. This is

a very broad criteria, which allows for many different types of laterals,

especially /r/ sounds. Be careful of this sound, no matter what language you

are learning.

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Sounds /r/ and /l/ differ primarily in their POA. If you pay careful attention to the height of the tongue, you should be fine. Voiced Place of Articulation /r/ The /r/ sound in English is similar to the /w/sound.

Your tongue is in very much the same place for both sounds, laying nice and relaxed at the bottom of your mouth. Be careful not to round your lips when you make an /r/ sound. When you make an /r/ sound you want to think of yourself as a barking dog. There are many different types of /r/ sounds. American English generally uses what is called a retroflex /r/. In this sound the tip of the tongue curls back toward the back of the mouth. While you are doing this make sure you keep your tongue as low as possible. Only raise the front part of your tongue. When making an /r/ sound your tongue must never come even close to touching the roof of your mouth.

Example: hard /hrd/, right /rat/, correct /krkt/ /l/ Alveolar. Many people have huge problems

differentiating /l/ and /r/.The one main difference is that when you make an /l/ sound the tip of your tongue must touch the roof of your mouth at the alveolar ridge. If your tongue does not make contact, you are not making an /l/ sound. Also, in /l/ your whole tongue stretches toward its goal. The back of your tongue is not laying flat at the bottom of your mouth as in the /r/ sound. Practice a lot to get the feel of the difference between these two sounds.

Example: little /ltl/, yellow /jlo/

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Confusion One interesting thing about laterals is that native speakers of English don`t have problems differentiating /l/ and /r/. Often, however, children or adults with speech impediments will mix up /r/and /w/ or /l/ and /w/. The laterals are probably the last type of consonant sounds which children acquire when they are learning English. If you are having big problems with them, don`t feel so bad. Everybody does at one point or another. Review and Practice: Laterals

Answer the following questions 1. What sound is this a diagram for? 2. How can you tell? ` 3. Why are laterals especially hard? 4. In which lateral sound does the tongue touch something?

5. What`s the easiest way to make sure you do not make an /l/ when you want to make an /r/?

Fun Practice There are some fun ways of practicing these sounds. Again, singing comes into play. One of the best practices for /l/ is to sing the Smurf work song. Do you remember the cartoon series The Smurfs, well they sang a happy song that is made up principally of the syllable /l/. The song goes;

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lalalalalala, lalalalala. As you sing this happy song make sure your tongue touches the roof of your mouth. The best way to practice the standard North American retroflex /r/ is to pretend you are an angry dog and make a strong growling sound. As you do this, you should feel that your tongue is curled backwards and is not touching the roof of the mouth. Sound angry. Try saying these fun sentences. Harold is a horrible robber of little children`s lollipops. Lilith loves to feel limber in real lamb`s wool leggings. Rex the Rottweiler ran all around the grounds of the lovely ranch where he rightfully lived. The weather for the afternoon, I heard, should be rainy, cold, and miserable, but tomorrow should be wonderful. Dialogues Lucy: Linda, quick, look at all those lemmings to the left. Linda: Do you like lemmings Lucy? Lucy: Yes, I love lemmings. I think they are wonderful. Linda: Actually, I am full of wonder about lemmings. Lucy: Yes, lemmings certainly do love life. Linda: If they love life so much why do they all run into the ocean and

drown together. Lucy: Nobody knows. Lucy. It`s part of the process of being a lemming. Linda: Lemmings are losers, condemned to die. Lucy: Lemmings are not losers. They lose their lives to protect the lives of

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the young. Linda: I don`t believe you. Ralph: Being a lumberjack is rough work for the wrong person. Rory: Well, Ralph who would be the right person for being a lumberjack? Ralph: A lumberjack must be strong and not afraid of loneliness. A

lumberjack must also love trees. Rory: You mean love to kill trees. Ralph: No, Rory. All the lumberjacks I have lived with or met loved trees. Rory: Did the trees love the lumberjacks. Ralph: Trees radiate love for the Earth. Rory: Are you sure? Ralph: Of course. IPA Practice Write the following in Standard English.

/r/ /lvli/ /rv/ /lv/ /robt/ /low/

/fl/

/fr/ /gl/ /mrk/ /lo/ /hir/

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Vowel Sounds

Vowels are great and not half as confusing as you might think. They differentiate themselves from the consonants basically in the amount of air that is used. The vocal folds for vowels are wide open and there is no obstruction inside the voice box. Therefore, there is also no friction so vowel sounds are much cleaner than consonant sounds. When we are discussing vowels we do not have to think much about MOA, because it will always be the same. The tricky thing about vowels is their place of articulation. This is made especially difficult because in vowels the tongue should not actually touch any particular place in the mouth. That is there is no physical contact between the tongue and the mouth in vowels sounds. This sounds like hell doesn`t it? How are we to tell where the POA is if there is no contact? Well, the tongue does move in certain directions. The Place of Articulation in vowels is differentiated along two different planes: relative height and relative frontness. There are three distinctions in each category. Look at the vowels chart below to find the distinctions.

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Standard American English Vowel Chart

Rounding

One other criteria used to differentiate vowels is rounding. If the lips are rounded when you make a sound we say that the sound is round, as in the high, back vowel /u/. In standard dialects of North American English there are no front, rounded vowels. Only back vowels are rounded. Learning Vowels One of the most important things we need to do to learn the sounds of a second language, especially the vowels, is to play with our mouths. Because it is difficult to know where to put our tongues when we make vowels, we need to experiment with the sounds. Don`t be afraid to just make sounds. Revert to your childhood and do just what babies do when they are learning their first language: try sone cooing exercises. Just make sure you do this when you are alone. It could be embarrassing if someone were to hear you. The important thing in any exercise you do is to get a feel for what

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your tongue is doing within your mouth. Try to match tongue movement with changes in sound. Have fun! Try to mimic voices you hear on television or in the movies. Have fun with sound. If you are teaching, try to get your students to do lots of practice as well. Have them make what seem to be weird sound patterns and strange sounds. Little kids love this: being able to say things like `hamdalangdadingdong` and `fuvubapa` in their English class. Practicing saying meaningless combinations of weird sounds might also have the side effect of lowering their effective filter of both you and your students. Try it at home and in the classroom.

Front Vowels

/i/, //, /e/, //, / /, and // There are a few tricky sounds among the front vowels of English. You will need to be careful about the relative height of the tongue as you make these sounds, particularly the higher ones. Articulation The manner of articulation is not very important in vowels. Just remember, with vowels, the vocal folds are completely opened and air flow is not obstructed. Remember as well that all vowels in English are voiced. This can have an effect on the voicing of consonants which are located between vowels on the word level.19

19

One prime example of this is that voiceless consonants located

between two vowels tend to become voiced. Take, for example, the word

house /has/. The word final /s/ sound is voiceless. When we make this word

plural, the /s/ is no longer word final and is followed by a vowel: /hazz/.

The fact that the /s/ is now located between two vowels forces it to become

voiced as well. This is one of the most basic phonological phenomena in

English.

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Place of Articulation The place of articulation for vowels, like consonants, is based on the location of the tongue within the mouth. Because the tongue does not touch anything, this makes finding the location much harder. For the front vowels, the tongue is obviously more forward in the mouth. As was seen in the vowel chart above, the higher the location of the tongue as the sound is made, the further forward the tongue will be. In the same vein, for the lower sounds the tongue will be furthest back. If you keep this in mind it should make things easier. Remember, location is everything in vowels, even though it`s much harder for us to feel where our tongues are. Sounds /i/ This is the highest and most forward front vowel. Examples: beat /bit/, feed /fid/, city /sti/, and sheep /ip/

// This is a bit lower and further back than /i/. Examples: bit /bt/, fit /ft/, slid /sld/, and ship /p/20 /e/21 This is a mid-front vowel.

Examples: bait /bet/, raid, /red/, and made /med/

// This is a mid-front vowel that is beginning to get a little low. Examples: bet /bt/, red /rd, lead /ld, and bed /bd/

20

The difference between the vowels /i/ and // is not length. Yes, one

does tend to be longer than the other, but this is not part of its phonetic

character. Length never changes meaning in English. POA is the difference

here. One other difference is that /i/ is a tense sound while // is lax.

21

There is some confusion between this sound; /e/, and the

diphthongized version of the sound; /e/. Generally speaking, they are the

same sound in English, one is simply longer than the other. See Diphthongs.

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/æ / The tongue is getting quite low here, but it is sill near the front of

the mouth. Examples: bat /bæ t/, ladder /læ d/, fad /fæ d/

// This is the lowest and furthest back of the front vowels. Examples: body /bdi/, pot /pt/, and hobby /hbi/ One funny thing about front vowels that helps you feel the location of your tongue is the position of your jaw. As you say the sounds moving from the higher to lower ones in succession, your jaw should drop. That is, your mouth opens wider as you say them. If you say them in the opposite order (from lower to higher) your mouth will close tighter. ** A Warning: Length, or how long we might say a vowel, is not an important feature in English. Some vowels are sometimes longer than others, but this in no way has an effect on the semantic meaning of the word you are saying. If someone says that any one sound in English is long and another is short, or that there are long and short vowels in English, they are wrong. If you are teaching English, do not teach your students a long/short distinction in sounds. It will only confuse them. The difference is POA. Review and Practice: Front Vowels There is a nice easy way to remember each of the front vowels. Each sound can be equated with a certain emotion. In order to do this you must scream the sound. So, lets try it. /i/ It is the sound of surprised fear.

This is the sound you make when you see a mouse run across the floor of the school cafeteria. Eeee! I saw a mouse.

// It is the sound of disgust.

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This is the sound you make when you see something disgusting. IIIIh! The mouse just got stepped on.

/e/ This is the sound of trying to get someone`s attention.

You make this sound when you want someone to notice you. Ey, adjumma! Come over here and clean up this dead mouse.

// This is the sound you make when you are confused.

You make this sound when you didn`t understand what someone said. Eh, what`s that you said?

/æ / This is the sound of falling.

You might make this sound when you have fallen over a cliff. Honey, would you please just follow me along this path, aaeaeaeaeaeaeaeh.

// This is the sound of great pain.

When you feel great pain you should make this sound. What`s that elephant doing? Aaaaaaah. It stepped on my foot. Aaaaaaaah!

A good way to practice the /i/, // distinction is like this. When we scream, we tend to pronounce much more clearly and carefully so lets scream. Say, /iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii h/. As you change from one vowel sound to the other, you should be able to feel your tongue shift positions. Do this over and over and over again until you get a good feel for where your tongue is when you make each sound. You can do this exercise with all the vowels, because English vowels, like consonants, come in pairs; /e/ - //; / / - //. Have fun with it. One more trick. Because // is a lax vowel, we have a special practice for this. Pretend that you are really tired and that every step you take is a tremendous effort: imagine you have been walking in the dessert for 3 days with no water. What sound would you make as you walk? /h/ of course. So, practice walking as if you were in a stupor and all you could say was /h/ each time you put your foot down. It`s fun. Try it.

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IPA Practice Match the following words with their IPA equivalents. 1. hat 2. hot 3. heat 4. hit 5. hate 6. heart 7. net

A. /hit/ B. /het/ C. /h t/ D. /nt/ E. /ht/ F. /ht/ G. /hrt/

Write the words below in the IPA. 1. May _____________________ 2. he _____________________ 3. said _____________________ 4. mad _____________________ 5. dot _____________________ 6. sea _____________________ 7. met _____________________ 8. bathe _____________________ 9. not _____________________ 10. sit _____________________ Read the sentences in the IPA and write them out in standard English. 1. /hi me nt wnt mi hir/ _____________________________________

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2. /hz sst iz f t nd skeri/ _____________________________________ 3. nz her meks mi vri gri/ _____________________________________

Back Vowels

/u/, //, /o/, and //

The back vowels of English are not that difficult for Korean speakers. There is one tricky sound which Korean doesn`t have: //, but the rest of it should be no real problem. Articulation Among the back vowels there are few little tricks to remember. Back vowels in English are rounded. Front and central vowels are not. The basic problem with this is that they are not all rounded to the same degree. To make matters more confusing, rounding for the /o/ sound is optional.22

22

This means that there is also a diphthongized version of this sound:

/o/. The big difference between /o/ and /o/ is in length and rounding. The

latter is much longer and has a much more pronounced rounding o the lips

during articulation. One, however can be replaced with the other at any time.

They are viewed, as are /e/ and /e/, as one in the same sound. Generally,

speakers of British or Australian English always used the heavily

diphthongized versions. Speakers of Hiberno (Irish, Scottish)English never

use the diphthongized version. North American speakers of English use either.

The tendency is, however, to use the diphthong version, so that is what is

generally shown here.

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Place of Articulation The place of articulation for back vowels, like front vowels and consonants, is based on the location of the tongue within the mouth. Because the tongue does not touch anything, this makes finding the location much harder. When taking about POA of back vowels we talk about vowels as being high, mid, or low. Sounds /u/ This is the highest and most back of the English vowels. This

is a tense sound in that the lips are taut when you are making the sound.

Examples: you /ju/, dude /dud/, food /fud/, and fuel /fjul/

// This is a little bit further forward and lower than /u/. This sound is lax. Your lips are rounded but in a relaxed way.

Examples: book /bk/, could /kd/, and wood /wd/

/o/ This is a central back vowel. This sound also has a longer

more rounded version which is sometimes written /o/ Examples: boat /bot/, over /ov/, drove /drov/, and show /o/

// This is the lowest and furthest forward of all the back vowels. Examples: call /kl/, awful /fl/, horse /hrs/, and halt

/hlt/

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You can do the same thing with back vowels that you did with front vowels. Try to feel the location of your tongue by how low your jaw drops. As you say the sounds from high to low, your jaw should drop. That is, your mouth opens wider. If you say them in the opposite order your mouth will close tighter. Do this to try to get the feel for where your tongue is and why it might force your mouth to open wider as we move down in tongue length. Practice and Review: Back Vowels There is also a fun and easy way to remember the back vowels and its pretty much the same concept as we used on the front vowels. Try to associate each particular sound with an emotion or event. Here goes. /u/ This is the sound of embarrassed surprise or sympathy.

You might make this sound when you see something terrible happen to someone else. Uu, the bride fell down the steps, uu.

// This is a sound of dull pain.

If you experience a dull pain, like an old lady punches you in the arm, this is what you can say. Oeoeoeoe, my back is killing me.

/o/ This is a sound of pleasant surprise.

If you are surprised by something like a secret birthday party, you can say this. Ooooh, my baby is home from school.

// This sound is a reaction to extreme cuteness.

If you see something really cute, like a baby or a puppy, you can say this. Awwww, that sleeping baby is soooooo cute.

This can also be used as an accompaniment to /u/. Sometimes /u/ and // go together. So, for example, you

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see someone bungee jumping in the distance and their cord breaks, you would first say /u/ and then //. Practice saying them together. Oooh look the beautiful rat was run over by the truck, ooawww, that`s terrible.

In addition to what was mentioned above, you can also use some of the practices that were mentioned above for the front vowels. Don`t be afraid to experiment with sound. IPA Practice Write the following words in the IPA. 1. draw ______________________ 2. should ______________________ 3. note ______________________ 4. use (verb) ______________________ 5. cart ______________________ 6. court ______________________ Read the sentences below and write them out in standard English. 1. /h frnd lus ks hiz fnu bt hiz nt/ 2. /drs wntd tu it s krim bt t wz tu kold/ 3. / dstns btwin tu pnts z nmprtnt/

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Central Vowels

//, //, // and // In English, as well as in Korean, the central vowel is considered as the default sound.23 It is the reduced form of all the other sounds. This makes it easy for Koreans to make this sound, sometimes too easy. It often seems to appear in may places that it should not be. Be careful of inserting // to often. Articulation Strictly speaking, there is really only one central vowel in English, but we have different signs for stressed and unstressed sounds. Thus, we have stressed // and unstressed // central vowels. For central vowels, in American English there is also an r-coloring distinction.24 This brings the total to 4 different central vowels. Sound Distinction

// This is the unstressed central vowel. It is so important a sound it even has a name: schwa.

Examples: America /mrk/, and Korea /kri/

// This is the stressed central vowel. No one cares what it is called.

23

This means that we use this sound to replace other sounds, or where

a sound must be inserted. For examples just look at some English words

which have been borrowed into Korean. Consonant clusters like /st/ in stop

are broken up by the insertion of schwa: /stp/.

24

Be warned that dialects of British English do not have r-coloring and

the symbols // and // are not used when we are describing British English.

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Examples: lucky /lki/, up /p/, and but /bt/

// This is the r-colored unstressed central vowel. Examples: lover /lv/, and sister /sst/

// This is the stressed central vowel. Examples: dirt /dt/, herb /b/, and fur /f/

Basically, // and // are the same sound. The difference in location of the tongue when they are produced is tiny. They have been given different symbols because, in English, it is very important that we distinguish between stressed and unstressed sounds. In Korean, stress is unimportant, but you will need to worry about it in English. An important phenomenon that occurs in English is that, in rapid speech, all unstressed vowel sounds become schwa or //. Yes, the vowels in the same word change quality depending on how carefully the speaker wishes to pronounce the word. This can be very confusing, so please take note of it. A Problem One main problem here is how to tell if the central vowel is stressed or not. One easy way is to count the vowels. Only one vowel per sentence receives primary stress. If there is only one vowel in the sentence, it must be stressed. For example, in the word slurp, there is only one vowel sound, it must be stressed so we transcribe this word /slp/. If the word has more than one central vowel sound, you want to listen for the vowel that is made longer and louder than all other vowels. Let`s look at the word butter. Do we say /bt/ or /bt/? Of course, we say the latter one.25

25One good way to test for stress is to sing the word in question using

some different stress patterns. If you exaggerate the stress, you will probably

be able to figure out which one sounds correct.

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Practice and Review: Central Vowels Answer the following questions. 1. How many central vowels are there? 2. What percentage of central vowels are r-colored? 3. Why do we have two different central vowels in English? 4. Do r-colored central vowels have a different POA from schwa? Some Tongue Twisters Hester, her sister Jennifer, and their brother Lester together splurged on a sweater for their cat, Twister. Upon running up the upper escalator, Tuppence found she had the hiccups. Double the trouble and boil the bubble for the hubble of a rumble`s mumble. IPA Practice Match the following words with their IPA equivalents. 1. lover 2. cut 3. wonder 4. work 5. Glenda 6. Veronika

A. /wnd/ B. /vnk/ C. /glnd/ D. /lv/ E. /wk/ F. /kt/

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Write the following words in the IPA. 1. dirt 2. harbor 3. Virginia 4. peculiar 5. window 6. butter 7. hundred 8. ginger 9. dull 10. hurt Read the sentences in the IPA and write them in standard English. 1. /t wd bi bt f ju kd wk hir jrslf/ 2. /wn t bgz mi z roz/ 3. /n edi ples z wer wn d bi n ht de/ 4. / k t lf wz no fn/ 5. /bti kt dg tr tu it kn/

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Diphthongs

//, //, //, (/o/, and /e/) Diphthongs are tricky, but luckily English lost a good many of its diphthongs several hundred years ago. We have been left with either three or five diphthongs, depending on how you look at it. Compared to all the diphthong sounds of Korean, they should not be a problem Articulation Diphthongs are the combination of two vowels sounds. In the past, English had many more diphthongs sounds, but the number of real diphthongs (those sounds which initiate a meaning difference) is limited to three. There are two other optional diphthongs (/o/ and /e/) which appear in quite a few dialects of English and are merely diphthongized versions of standard vowels (/o/ and /e/). These two sounds are not thought of as separate sounds of themselves because they do change the meaning of the word. Place of Articulation The place of articulation for diphthongs, like for affricate consonants, changes. Diphthongs are generally identified as being either rising or falling. In modern English, because so many diphthongs have disappeared this distinction is no longer important, but should be known anyway. All diphthongs in English today are rising. For example, when you go to articulate the diphthong // your tongue starts out very low and fairly far forward as the sound continues your tongue moves up and back. This is a rising diphthong because your tongue is moving up.

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Sounds Places of Articulation

// This sound starts out at the bottom of your mouth and moves up and back.

Examples: out /t/, house /hs/, and cow /k/.

// This sound starts out in the bottom of your mouth and moves up and forward

Examples: height /ht/, write /rt/, and delight /dlt/.

// This sound starts out in the bottom and back of the mouth and moves up and forward.

Examples: boy /b/, boil /bl/, and embroil /mbrl/. /o/ This is the diphthongized version of /o/.26

/e/ This is the diphthongized version of /e/.

26

Can you see the difference between our real diphthongs and the last

two? The tongue moves much further away in the real diphthongs. For the

last two, the tongue merely moves up a little bit.

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Review and Practice: Diphthongs Answer the following questions. 1. How are diphthongs different from other vowel sounds? 2. How many diphthongs are there? 3. Can you make a diphthong without moving your tongue? 4. Are there any falling diphthongs in English? Some Tongue Twisters Howard thought about eating a brown cow. The height of the night gave Mike a fright. The coy boy named Roy played with a bright toy.

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IPA Practice Write the following sentences in English. 1. /h n brn k/ 2. / ht v fr wz mez/ 3. / b nemd r wz vri k/ 4. /w het z hrbl we tu lv/

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Part 3

Stress

Stress is not only what many of us feel while learning English, but is also a part of the English pronunciation system. In order to be a good speaker of English, stress must be understood. There are two main types of stress in English.

Word-level Stress

This is the stress that falls on one syllable in each word. Each word has one main stress and stress is marked on the vowel in the stressed syllable. Stressed syllables are produced, higher, longer and louder than other syllables. For one syllable words, the stress will be easy to find. In multi-syllable words stress can be difficult. If you have been studying English for a while, you will begin to develop feelings for what sounds good and what may be not so good. Stress is a great place to try to use your intuition. Say the word to yourself using different stress patterns. Your good intuition should tell you which one sounds better and is, therefore, acceptable. Here are some examples. Try saying these words changing the stress patterns. Mark the stressed syllable. 1. photographer 2. equipment 3. stadium 4. walkway

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5. newspaper Some Problems Sometimes words that look identical have different stress patterns. This is most common between nouns and verbs. Below is a list of some nouns and verbs which have different stress patterns. See if you can mark the stress on each side. Nouns combat digest export suspect survey progress record contest insult object

Verbs combat digest export suspect survey progress record contest insult object

Compound Nouns and Phrasal Verbs Compound nouns and phrasal verbs have predicable stress. In compound nouns the stress is almost always in the first part of the word. Take, for example, the word mailman. The stress is on the first syllable. In phrasal verbs the stress is on the second or prepositional part of the phrasal verb.

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Look at the two sentences below and as you pronounce them try to find the one which is the phrasal verb. Please put the toy armadillo up on the shelf. I am no longer going to put up with this kind of laziness.

Unstressed Syllables In the section on vowels, we were introduced to the central vowel schwa. Schwa is an unstressed vowel. // is also an unstressed vowel in English. In unstressed syllables the vowels are very often reduced to a schwa or // sound in rapid speech. Thus, stress has a very large effect on the actual pronunciation of a word. For example, the word carburetor in careful speech would be transcribed /krbret/. In rapid speech it is /krbrd/. If the stress were changed to the third syllable, it would be /kbred/ in rapid speech. This could cause a lot of confusion. Word stress is sometimes pretty tricky. There are many ways to go about learning it, but nothing can replace simple practice. The more exposure you have to English, the more you will be able to use the correct stress patterns. As you have seen incorrect word stress can change the meaning of a word or make a fairly common word unrecognizable. Be careful.

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Sentence-level Stress

Just like some syllables in words are stressed so are some words within a sentence. Stressed words with a sentence are also produced higher and longer than the other words. The rules of what words in a sentence receive stress are easy. Basically, content words are stressed, while function words are not. Content words are words which carry some sort of semantic meaning, like nouns, verbs, and modifiers. Function words are words which have grammatical or functional significance, like prepositions, article, and pronouns. Look at the sentences below and mark the words which receive word stress. The large woman with all those children looks like an old friend of mine. Chunky chickens and their children are wonderful to eat. The postcard that Bob sent me is chock full of all sorts of fun stuff. Sentence stress is not that difficult. You just have to practice in order to get used to following the simple rules. One of the best ways to practice pronunciation is to read aloud. Take any material and read it out loud as fast or as slowly as you want. Try to play a little with your voice. Have fun with it.

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Part 4

Intonation

English has three different tones. These tones are like musical notes and are differentiated by pitch. We, thus, have High, middle, and low tones in English. Intonation is the patterns of use these tones enjoy in language. Example High _______________ are Mid __________ How Low ____________________ you? In English there are two main intonation patterns: rising and falling. Rising is when the tones rise at the end of a sentence. High ___________________ fat? Mid _________ Is Low _____________John Falling is when the tones fall at the end of the sentence. High ___________ are Mid _______ We Low _________________thin. In English, rising intonation is used in yes/no questions. Yes/no questions are questions to which you must answer either yes or no. Falling intonation is used in all other types of sentences, from direct statements to wh-questions, and finally commands.

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Quizzes

Quiz 1

Enjoy the following quiz. Part 1 Rewrite the following in standard English

/w wz m n wk w t stren lk n hz fes mebi t

wz t hi h d st stoln ov bljn wn frm por old

wmin wt trbl psn hi wz lkli hv hi wz sun

rstd ba plis nd ledi gt h mni b k/

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Part 2 Write the following words in the IPA. Mark them for stress and syllables. luggage discover mystery

majoring unresponsive cooperate

refrigerate technology encourage

applications screen bitter

Part 3 Write the following sentences in the IPA. Why do you have to keep on bothering me like this? It`s going to school that Bob really hates. Betty is the woman who John thinks he is going to marry someday.

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Quiz 2

Enjoy quiz number 2. Part 1 Rewrite the following in standard English orthography.

/ wmin wntd tu pn m n hu bd h n sbwe/

/w du ju nsst n mek s du s bor z n s kl s/

/f pit pp pkt pk v pkld ppz h mni ppz dd

pit pp pk/

Rewrite the following words in the IPA dividing them into syllables and marking stress on the correct syllable. walk surprise subject negotiate

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order environmental radio treatment moisture goodbye

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Quiz 3

Take it. Enjoy it. Part 1 Show the difference in sound between the following words by writing them in the IPA. who work wok weak why where

will wow awoke walk when whack

Rewrite the following short story into standard English.

/t wz reni de nd vribdi wz rili bord ivn bg dg n

korn ivn so nown kspktd sml ivl m n tu bt por

dgz p t wz trbl h dg krd v kors b dli bord m

n wnt tu prsn for mni jirz for hz momntri l ps v slf

kntrol/

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Appendix

Below is a chart which shows the Manner and Place of Articulation for Standard Korean consonant sounds.

Stop -voice

Fricative -voice

Nasal +voice

Affricate -voice

Glide +voice

Lateral +voice

+asp +lar +lar +asp +lar

Bi-labial p ph p m

Dental-Alveolar

t th t s s n l

Palatal- Alveolar

h

Palatal j

Velar k kh k

Labial- Velar

w

Glottal h

(Adapted from, Maddieson. 1984. Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge: CUP.) The manners asp. and lar. are abbreviations for aspiration and laryngealization. These are features used to distinguish different stops and affricates, as well as fricatives. Aspiration is shown by the addition of a small `h` to right of the consonant. Laryngealization is indicated by a bar under the consonant. Study the chart above to see the differences between English and Korean. Compare the Korean consonant chart above with the English consonant chart on page 6.

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One More English Vowel Chart

Take a look at the chart above and compare it to the Korean chart on the next page. Comparing the two might help you figure out where your tongue is in your mouth as you make sounds. Once you know where your tongue is and what it is doing, the next step will be to be able to take conscious control of your tongue; the primary articulator.

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A Korean Vowel Chart27

27

Adapted from Maddieson. (1984). Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge:

CUP.