Introduction To Phonology

Presenter: Paul Mercieca School of Education Curtin University of Technology Tel: 9266 4224 E-mail: p.mercieca@curtin.edu.au

Overview Sounds the alphabet and spelling, phonemes and allophones, accent and intelligibility Word stress, syllables, weak forms, stresstiming and rhythm Sentence stress emphasis, content and structure words some teaching techniques Connected Speech Simplification and Linking Intonation and Suprasegmentals different meanings of intonation patterns Teaching phonology speaking skills, isolated and integrated activities

Overview This is a big area covering all the following areas, often just called pronunciation. You may wish to look in more detail at the readings, also the Underhill book, if you are curious.

Sounds the alphabet and spelling, phonemes and allophones, accent and intelligibility English is notoriously non-phonetic as a result of the 15C Great Vowel Shift and its hybrid nature. 44 phonemes, including vowels, diphthongs and consonants represent the significantly different sounds of English, but each phoneme also has many allophonic variants. Some accents may be more or less widely intelligible, but not all phonemes in all positions, initial, medial or final, require exact realisation. Minimal pair teaching, focussing on small differences between similar sounds, is useful but needs to be deployed carefully, unless our goal is perfect accent -whatever that might be!

Swans Learner English is a useful guide to the differences between English and many other languages. But although there are always some unfamiliar sounds in L1-L2 transfer, it is often the case that one languages phoneme is anothers allophonic variant. The phonemic chart is a good but not mandatory aid for teachers and learners. It helps identify different aspects of articulation, and is also very useful in helping students to become autonomous by using dictionaries more effectively. There are some useful strategies or tricks for helping with remediation and correction, but we will look at the wider implications of teacher intervention and feedback in a later session.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/phonemic-chart

http://www.phonemicchart.com/ http://www.onestopenglish.com/section_flash.asp?catid=60030

Word stress, syllables, weak forms, stresstiming and rhythm In multi-syllable words, one syllable receives more emphasis force/volume.and because English is stresstimed unlike Italian, which is syllable-timed more length. The resulting rhythm creates weak forms - non-stressed vowels often change - e.g. banana There are some patterns, which help us but most words have to be learnt which means being able to notice where the stress falls not easy for everyone! Again dictionaries help, and teachers need to help learners to note.

Sentence stress emphasis, content and structure words some teaching techniques As with syllables in words, so with words in sentences. Sentences usually have one main stress, on a content word, and often at the end. We often change the neutral form, to alter emphasis. This results in many weak forms, particularly on small structure, words like a, and, at, to etc. English often sounds mumbled as a result, but this is natural and needs presenting as such, and there are many useful teaching techniques such as jazz chants

Connected Speech Simplification and Linking In speech, sound and word boundaries are artificial. So inside and between words, sounds may change (assimilation), disappear (elision), appear (liaison) or cause confusion (juncture). Again, we need to resist the tendency to unnaturally over-articulate when teaching.

Simplification Assimilation - good boy, in bed Elision - old man, sandwich Linking Liaison - linking /r/ - her English intrusive /r/ - law and order intrusive /w/ - you are intrusive /j/ - he is Juncture - Ice Cream = I scream - Grade A = Grey Day

Intonation and Suprasegmentals different meanings of intonation patterns Prosodic features such as stress and intonation are all suprasegmental above the phonemic level. They are also a question of not what you say but the way that you say it, and related to paralinguistics like gesture, posture, timbre. Intonation or melody: pitch/height and range for attitude easier to notice and reproducebut no rules direction mostly for grammatical or discourse meaning harder to notice and reproduce..but some rules. e.g. Man City 6 Man United 1

Teaching phonology speaking skills, isolated and integrated activities Phonology is often taught and learnt per se, also as part of Speaking skills work, and included in specific language work which focusses on how particular language is pronounced. The focus may be on specific elements or on more fluent mastery of a range of elements.