Pronunciation: Aspects of

Phonology and Phonetics

M.Ed. Maria Luisa Mu -

Contents

Part 1: Aspects of Phonology and

Phonetics

Part 2: Teaching Pronunciation

WHY teach pronunciation?
English is not pronounced as
it is written: vowels and
consonants can be
pronounced in different ways
and there are no accents to
help you with stress
Incorrect pronunciation is one
of the main reasons for
breakdown in communication
The more help SS are given
with their pronunciation, the
more confident they feel when
speaking
Theres no point in teaching
SS new words or phrases if
they cant pronounce them
comprehensibly
Despite many irregularities,
there are also many rules
which can help
pronunciation. About 70% of
words in English follow a
regular pronunciation pattern
If SS are taught to recognize
phonemic script, this will
enable them to check
pronunciation for themselves
4
Observing a lesson
 What is Pronunciation

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The Articulators
 The Phonemic Chart

Introducing the chart and its sounds to

students.
Recognizing and producing sounds
One or two-syllable words:
Produce each sound aloud
Connect the sounds with a single flow so it
becomes a word.
Repeat the procedure for phrases
The vowel system
Sounds
American English sounds
British English sounds
How are consonants produced?

Plosives (Stops):
When a complete closure is made
somewhere in the vocal tract.
Fricatives:
Produced with some obstruction but
without any stop so the sound can be
extended.
How are consonants produced?

Affricates:
A combination of plosives and fricatives.
They begin as a plosive and then released
slowly into a period of fricative noise.
The consonant system
 Classroom Task

Form two groups. One group will present the

vowel sounds and their characteristics. The
other group will present the consonant sounds.
Think of different ways of presenting your tasks
so your students will understand how to produce
the sounds.
 Pronunciation issues

1. Perfection versus intelligibility

2. What students can hear versus what
students can say
3. To use or not to use phonemic symbols
4. When to teach pronunciation
 Teaching Pronunciation

Segmental:
Vowels, consonants and individual sounds

Suprasegmental:
stress and intonation.
Which aspect ot pronunciation?
Learner variables (age, proficiency, aptitude,
learning style)
Setting variables(access to target language)
Institutional variables (experienced teachers,
material)
Linguistic variables (problems according to L1)
Methodological variables (specific teaching
approach)
Connected
speech
 Possibilities of relationship
between sounds

Assimilation
Elision
Linking
Rhythm
 Assimilation
Sounds modify each other when they meet.
Ex: That /t/ and /b/ book
Could you pass that book?
Final /t/ from that becomes /p/ to approximate /b/
from book
/t/ becomes /p/ before /b/
/d/ becomes /b/ before /b/
/n/ becomes /m/ before /m/
 Elision

A sound disappears.
Ex: next day /t/ elided between /ks/ and
/d/ so /nekst/ becomes /neks/
Syllabic consonant. Ex: collect /klekt/
It is indicated in print by an apostrophe
Examples: isnt, Ill, cause, CapnCook
 Linking

When two vowel sounds meet

Linking /r/ . Ex: Her English is good . /r/ is
pronounced.
Her German is good. /r/ is not
pronounced.
Intrusive /r/ . Ex: I saw it.
 Word Stress
Morphological: Unlike suffixes , prefixes are
often stressed
Syntactic information: Some words change
their stress depending on whether they are
verbs or nouns (first syllable)
Compound words usually have stress in the
second syllable
http://elt.oup.com/student/englishfile/upperint/c_
pronunciation/nef_upperint_stressgame?
cc=pe&selLanguage=en
 Sentence stress
Content words (also called 'lexical words'),
namely nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and main
verbs because they carry a high information
load.
Function words (also called 'grammar words' or
'form words'), i.e. determiners (e.g. the, a),
conjunctions (e.g. and, but), pronouns (e.g. she,
them), prepositions (e.g. at, from), auxiliary
verbs (e.g. do, be, can), are not stressed.
 Functions of intonation
Emotional: attitude
Grammatical: questions vs. Statements
Information structure: what is known vs.
what is new
Textual: larger stretches of discourse
Psychological: easier to percieve or
memorize
Indexical: markers of group membership
Intonation and sentence rhtyhm
Short answers are normally stressed
Auxiliaries in echo questions used to show
interest
Emphatic use of an auxiliary
So do I, Neither do I ( auxiliary is not stressed,
the stress falls on the other two words
Question tags
 Rhythm

Rhythm is the way a language sounds as

a result of the pattern of stressed and
unstressed syllables in speech.
A stress-time language has the stressed
syllable in speech at more or less equal
intervals.
Ring Jack soon,
Telephone Alison afterwards
 Stress timing

1 2 3 4
1 and 2 and 3 and 4
1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4
1 and then a 2 and then a 3 and then a 4