Linguistics 101: It’s Tongues of Fun! Rachel Wang Chiba-Wisconsin ALT Toke High School

English Spelling Sucks  “ghoti” (not a real word)  lau gh, w o men, na ti on  spelling ≠ sound  International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)  Describing English sounds is helpful  Class  Speech contest

Consonants, part 1  Voiced vs. voiceless (whether vocal folds vibrate)  [b] vs. [p]  [ð] in mo th er vs. [θ] in th igh  Manner (how sound is produced)  Stopse.g. [b], [p], [d], [t]  Fricatives e.g. [f], [v], [s], [z]  Affricatese.g. [t ʃ ] in ch ur ch  Glides e.g. [j] in y es, [w]  Liquidse.g. [l], [ ɹ ]

Consonants, part 2  Place of Articulation  Bilabial (2 lips)  Labiodental (lip meets teeth)  Dental (teeth)  Alveolar (ridge behind front teeth)  Palatal  Velar  Glottal

Consonant Chart

Quiz  What is the difference between [k] and [g]?  How would you describe [t]?  Voicing?  Place?  Manner? Voicing: [k] is voiceless, [g] is voiced Voiceles s Alveolar Stop

Vowels beet bit bait bat bet bot boot book boat bought butt

Vowels  Front / backness  Height  Tense vs. lax  e.g. [i] vs. [ ɪ ]  Rounding beet bot bought bit boat book boot bait bet bat butt

Quiz  Differences between [i] and [u]?  Vowel in nation? Different: Front/back, rounding Same: Both are tense & high [e ɪ ], [ ə / ʌ ] beet bot bought bit boat book boot bait bet bat butt

Diphthongs  a ɪ e.g. b uy  a ʊ e.g. h ou se  ɔɪ e.g. t oy  Long vowels in English vs. Japanese  e ɪ or ej e.g. s ay -- Different than せ or せい  o ʊ or owe.g. s o Different than そ or そう

Phonological Rules (U.S.)  Helpful to know some rules of English sounds  /t/ & /d/ → [ ɾ ] between 2 consonants (when the 2 nd consonant is unstressed)  E.g. wa t er, la dd er  Plural endings [s] [z] [ ɪ z]  Voiceless sound (s, p, t, k, f)→ scat s  Voiced sounds (b, d, g, l, etc.) → zdog s  fricatives (ch, j, s, z) → [ ɪ z] bridg es

Stress  Three aspects of stress  Louder  Longer  Higher  Unstressed syllables become [ ə ] or [ ɪ ]  E.g. pho to graphy  13 (thirTEEN) vs. 30 (THIR d y)

Problem Solving Common Difficulties for Japanese Learners

Problem Solving I  How would you describe the physical difference?  Consonants  [s] vs. [ ʃ ]e.g. sip vs. ship  [b] vs. [v]e.g. boat vs. vote  [l] vs. [r]e.g. light vs. right  Vowels  Tense vs. laxe.g. beet vs. bit, boot vs. book  ɑ vs. æe.g. bot vs. bat  Interactive diagram –- can help show the differencehttp:// /english.htmlhttp:// /english.html

Problem Solving II  Rhythm  Nursery rhymese.g. Jack and Jill went up the hill  Nonsense syllablee.g. “What did you do with it?” da da da DA da da  Stress  Increase length of stressed (about 3:1, CANada)

 Important to do listening AND production practice  Some ideas  Bingo game  Explain using diagrams of mouth  Physical response (e.g. stand/crouch)  Fly swatter game ( たたき飛ぶ ）  Karuta  Blackboard race: 1 person from each team comes up. 1 st person to write “R” or “15” gets a pt. Activity Ideas for Class

Activity: Word Tree (or Listening Pyramid) START ship sip seeshe see she sin 1 shin 2 sin 3 shin 4 sin 5 shin 6 sin 7 shin 8

Activity: Giving/Following Instructions  Draw a sheep on the board.  Writer the letter “F” above the sheep.  Use the “F” as the start of the word “fry”  Write “light” next to “fry”  Draw a mouse next to the word “light”  etc.

Sharing Is Caring  Discuss with your partner:  A pronunciation activity you’ve done  If none, talk about one you’d like to do OR come up with a new activity

Helpful Resources Websites  International Phonetic Alphabet if interested  ml ml  remember-the-ipa-vowel-chart remember-the-ipa-vowel-chart Books  Minimal Pair Word Trees (Charles Redditt, 2006)  Teaching American English Pronunciation (Avery & Ehrlich)  Pronunciation: A Practical Approach (Linda Lane)

Any Questions?