PRESENTED BY: AMY E. LINGENFELTER Tackling English Pronunciation

Overview of Course:  Day/Step 1: Overview, warm up, voiced vs. voiceless consonants, phonetic symbols  Day/Step 2: Consonants  Day/Step 3: Consonant Clusters  Day/Step 4: Vowels  Day/Step 5: Vowel Clusters  Day/Step 6: Stress and Rhythm  Day/Step 7: Sounds in Connected Speech  Day/Step 8: Intonation  Day/Step 9: Sounds and Grammar  Day/Step 10: Pronouncing Written Words  Day/Step 11: Informal Speech and Idioms  Day/Step 12: Wrap up/Practice Test/Review

Today’s Class:  Tongue twisters to warm up tongue: twisters-improve-pronunciation/ twisters-improve-pronunciation/  Review HW and chart: physiology of short vowel pronunciation  Complete vowel differentiation exercises according to your needs: Speaking and Listening  “Pronunciation Plus” exercises: Unit 1: Pgs. 3-4, #1, 2, 6, 10, 13Unit 4: Pg. 10 #1-2 Unit 2: Pgs. 6-7 #1, 2, 4 Unit 5: Pgs. 12 #1-2 Unit 3: Pgs. 8-9 #1, 2, 3Unit 6: Pgs. 14 #1

Let’s Warm Up Our Tongues: 1. “Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.” 2. “A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.” 3. “I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.” 4. “Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread.” 5. “Betty Botter bought some butter But she said the butter’s bitter If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter But a bit of better butter will make my batter better So ‘twas better Betty Botter bought a bit of better butter”

Review Homework:  Watch the section of each video for each short vowel where Rachel talks about the physiology (tongue and mouth formation) of each. Please record for each vowel: 1. The position of the tongue (height, backness/forwardness) 2. The position of the mouth and lips (open, closed, spread apart, roundedness) 3. Relaxedness of the tongue (and location)

Watch these videos:  Video: Pronouncing /æ/: (“bat”)  Video: Pronouncing / ɛ /: (“bet”)  Video: Pronouncing / ɪ /: (“bit”)  Video: Pronouncing / ɒ /: (“bot”) TgI&list=PLB043E64B8BE05FB7 TgI&list=PLB043E64B8BE05FB7  Video: Pronouncing / ʌ / : (“but”)

Vowel Physiology: VowelTongue (Height and Backness/Forwardness) Mouth, Jaw, & Lips (Open, closed, spread apart, roundedness) Relaxedness of Tongue (and where)? /æ/: “bat” High Raised in back Front of the tongue touches bottom front teeth Medium jaw drop A lot of tongue visible Corners of the mouth pulled back a little, exposing some of the top teeth Flattened wide tongue in back Tense (in back) / ɛ /: “bet” Middle height Raised in mid front part Front of the tongue touches bottom front teeth lightly Medium jaw drop Rest of mouth has neutral position Flattened wide tongue in back Tense (in mid-front) / ɪ /: “bit” High (roof of mouth) Raised in mid front part Very tip remains down, lightly touching behind bottom front teeth No jaw drop Corners of mouth pulled back slightly Wide tongue in front Sort of tense (front) / ɒ /: “bot” Low Full tongue presses down Front of the tongue touches bottom front teeth lightly Mucho jaw drop Rest of mouth has neutral position Flattened wide tongue in back Sort of relaxed / ʌ / : “but” Middle height Slightly forward Front of the tongue touches bottom front teeth lightly Medium jaw drop Rest of the mouth very neutral Inside parts of the mouth drawn in Slightly tense and pressed down (back) Very relaxed

Some General Truths Specific to Native Spanish Speakers:  Native Spanish speakers seem to have the most difficulty differentiating the following phonemes: /i:/ as in “leak” vs. / ɪ / as in “lick” / ɒ / as in “cop” vs. / ʌ / as in “cup” /æ/ as in “sat” vs. /e/ &/ ɛ / as in “set” / ɪ / as in “fill” vs. / ʊ / as in “full” / ʊ / as in “should” vs. /u:/ as in “shoot” / ʊ / as in “full” vs. / ʌ / as in “fun”

Some General Truths Specific to Native Spanish Speakers:  Native Spanish speakers and others also have difficulty with: / ɔ : / as in “talk” vs. / ʌ / as in “tuck” / ɔ : / as in “talk” vs. / ɒ / as in “tock” / ə / as in “America” vs. / ʌ / as in “Mutton”

Differentiation Practice: / ɒ / vs. / ʌ /  / ɒ / as in “cop” vs. / ʌ / as in “cup” A) Cop B) Cup A) Lock B) Luck A) Snob B) Snub A) Ron B) Run A) Tock B) Tuck A) Doll B) Dull  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Watch these videos:  Videos: /i:/ as in /sheep/ vs. / ɪ / as in /ship/: ORMBCFo ORMBCFo  Videos: /i:/ as in /sheep/ vs. /a ɪ / as in /shy/:

Differentiation Practice: /i:/ vs. / ɪ /  /i:/ as in “leak” vs. / ɪ / as in “lick:” A) Leak B) Lick A) Sheep B) Ship A) Beat B) Bit A) Keen B) Kin A) Steal B) Still A) Jean B) Gin A) Leave B) Live  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Differentiation Practice: /æ/ vs. /e/ &/ ɛ /  /æ/ as in “sat” vs. /e/ &/ ɛ / as in “set” A) Sat B) Set C) Sit A) Can B) Ken C) Kin A) Sand B) Send A) Ram B) R.E.M. A) Pack B) Peck C) Pick A) Gas B) Guess  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Differentiation Practice: / ʊ / vs. / ʌ /  / ʊ / as in “full” vs. / ʌ / as in “fun” A) Look B) Luck A) Full B) Fun A) Put B) Putt A) Shook B) Shuck A) Book B) Buck  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Differentiation Practice: / ʊ / vs. /u:/  / ʊ / as in “should” vs. /u:/ as in “shoot” A) Put B) Poot A) Should B) Shoot A) Could B) Cooed A) Full B) Fool A) Soot B) Suit A) Roof (Dog) B) Roof *(Day 2)  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Differentiation Practice: / ɪ / vs. / ʊ /  / ɪ / as in “fill” vs. / ʊ / as in “full” A) Fit B) Foot A) Fill B) Full A) Kid B) Could A) Ship B) Should A) Git B) Good A) Pit B) Put  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Differentiation Practice: / ɔ :/ & / ɔ / vs. / ʌ /  / ɔ : / & / ɔ / as in “talk” vs. / ʌ / as in “tuck” A) Talk B) Tuck A) Stalk B) Stuck A) Shawn B) Shun A) Caught B) Cut A) Fought B) Fut  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Differentiation Practice: / ɔ :/ & / ɔ / vs. / ɒ /  / ɔ : / & / ɔ / as in “talk” vs. / ɒ / as in “tock” A) Talk B) Tock A) Stalk B) Stock A) Caught B) Cot A) Bought B) Bot A) Raw  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Differentiation Practice: / ə / vs. / ʌ /  / ə / as in “America” vs. / ʌ / as in “Mutton” A) America B) Money A) Purpose B) Enough A) Maria B) Rut A) Shouldn’t B) Nut A) Maiden B) Dungeon A) Syllabus B) Bus  Now let’s practice with a partner!

Please Write the Following Words Using Phonetic Symbols:  Furor- / fj ɜ :r ɔ : / or / fj ɜ :r ɜ : /  Pouring- / p ɔ :r ɪ ŋ / or / p ɔ :ri:ŋ /  Maiden- / me ɪ d ə n /  Alcoholic- / ælk ə h ɒ l ɪ k /  Matter- / mæd ɜ : / or / mæt ə r /  Rastafarian- / r ɒ st ə f ɑ :ri: ə n /  Rhinoceros- / ra ɪ n ɒ s ə r ə s/ or /ra ɪ n ɒ s ɜ :r ə s/  Mousehole- /ma ʊ sh ə ʊ l/  Onomatopoeia- / ɒ n ə m ɒ d ə pi: ə /  Oasis- / ə ʊ e ɪ s ɪ s /  Mutton- / m ʌʔ ə n / or / m ʌ t ə n /  Analogy- / ə næl ə d ʒɪ /  Purpose- / p ɜ :p ə s /  Shouldn’t- / ʃʊ d ə nt /  Armaggedon- / ɑ :m ə ɡɛ d ə n/

Some General Truths:  Short vowels are called short vowels because they involve more constriction of airflow in the mouth and/or vocal tract (/æ/…/e/ &/ ɛ /…/ ɪ /…/ ɒ /.../ ʌ /)  Long vowels are drawn-out and have less constriction in the mouth and/or vocal tract  The long vowels in English are similar to the Spanish vowels in articulation, except in Spanish the airflow is more constricted.

Some General Truths:  Any vowel that you think is the same in Spanish, like all the long vowels, in English are pronounced with less constriction, with a change or rounding/closing of the vowel at the end of the utterance (sound): LONG A- /e ɪ / (bate)- like “eeeee-i” LONG E- /i:/ (beat)- like “iiiiiiiii-y” LONG I- /a ɪ / (bite)- like “aaii” LONG 0- / ə ʊ / (boat)- like “ooo-u” LONG U- /u:/ (boot)- like “uuuu-w”

Some General Truths:  American English vowels tend to be very “lazy,” with a more relaxed tongue, and “softer” than Spanish: All short vowels: /æ/; /e/ &/ ɛ /; / ɪ /; / ɒ /; and / ʌ / / ʊ / (good) / ə / (America)  Many American English vowels tend to be produced more in the back of the tongue or throat

Watch these videos:  Video: Articulatory Phonetics: Vowels:

Watch these videos:  Video: Overview of short vowel sounds:

Vowel Sounds Phonics:

Voiced vs. Voiceless Consonants:

Phonetic Symbols: ʔ batman ɾ butter raw ɛ/ɛ/ /y er/ ir/ ur America ɔ/ɔ/