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Unit 13 presents pronunciation and phonology. Phonology is a branch of linguistics concerned with the systematic organization of sounds in languages. Although phonology is used to indicate the whole sound system of a language the unit focuses on the areas of stress, rhythm and intonation. Intonation is the variation on volume and pitch in a phrase or sentence and carries information in questioning, agreeing/disagreeing or confirming. It is also used to express emotions or feelings. Intonation can be expressed on paper by drawing a curve over the sentence indicated rising and falling pitch. Techniques for teaching intonation are outlined below. Stress indicates the word being emphasized in a sentence. Depending on what word is stressed can effect what the author is trying to say. An analogy would be highlighting a word in bold or underlining it in writing. There are also rules on where to put stress on syllables in given words. Stress can be on the first, last, third, penultimate (second to last), ante-penultimate (third to last) or for a compound noun (1st part), compound adjective (2nd part), or compound verb (2nd part). A poem by Bernard Shaw is used to show how English spelling does not closely match pronunciation. Although it may not be scientific (deliberately using examples of spelling and pronunciation anomalies) it shows that oftentimes it is difficult to get the pronunciation of a word simply from reading it. International Phonetic Alphabet is given as a method of expressing English words phonetically, although most dictionaries use pronunciation respelling systems intended to be more comfortable for English readers. It does take some learning to remember the phoneme charts but may be more useful for people whose primary language is not English. In the context of phonetics and phonology, articulation is the movement of the speech organs (tongue, lips, jaw, etc.) to make speech sounds. The place of articulation is used by linguists to describe the physical location of a phoneme's production. These locations are listed below. * velar : soft palate tongue strikes back of roof of mouth : /k/ and /g/ * palatal : tongue contacts central part of roof of mouth : /j/ * palatal-alveolar : between alveolar ridge and palatal : [sh]in /?/, vi[s]ion /?/ * alveolar : the front or tip of the tongue is raised toward the alveolar ridge. : /t/ * dental : tongue contacts front teeth : [th]ing /?/, [th]is /ð/ * labio-dental : top teeth contact lower lip : /f/ and /v/ * bilabial : lips come together : /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/ * glottal : throat only : [h]at /?h/ Also the manner of articulation controls the voiced sound, for example /b/ and /m/ are both bilabial, however they sound very different. The various manners of articulation are outlined below. * plosive : is a consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases : /p/, /t/, /b/, /d/, /k/, /g/ * fricative : consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together : /s/, /f/, /v/ * nasal : an occlusive consonant produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose : /n/, /m/. * lateral : consonant in which air stream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but it is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth : /l/ * affricate : a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative : [ch]urch /t?/, [j]udge /d?/, * approximant : sound produced by narrowing, but not blocking the vocal tract : /w/, /r/, /j/ Activities can be designed for learning the pronunciation of individual sounds. These activities are outlined below. * peer dictation : students read text while partner dictates. * your own mouth : teacher over-emphasizes parts of a word so students can see what your mouth is doing. * visuals : draw a diagram of the mouth showing how a particular sound is made. * tongue twisters : if students can master a tongue twister they should find regular speech easier. Pronunciation can be taught as a whole lesson, as part of each lesson, or as required. There is no right or wrong way and each teacher has to decide what is best for their particular classroom.
