Linguistics 101: It’s Tongues of Fun!

Rachel WangChiba-Wisconsin ALT

Toke High School

English Spelling Sucks

“ghoti” (not a real word) laugh, women, nation

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 mother vs. [θ] in thigh

Manner (how sound is produced) Stops e.g. [b], [p], [d], [t] Fricatives e.g. [f], [v], [s], [z] Affricates e.g. [tʃ] in church Glides e.g. [j] in yes, [w] Liquids e.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

VoicelessAlveolarStop

Vowels

Front / backness

Height

Tense vs. lax e.g. [i] vs. [ɪ]

Rounding

beet

bot

bought

bit

boat

bookboot

bait

bet

bat

butt

Quiz Differences between [i] and [u]?

Vowel in nation?

Different: Front/back, roundingSame: Both are tense & high

[eɪ], [ə/ʌ]

beet

bot

bought

bit

boat

bookboot

bait

bet

bat

butt

Diphthongs

aɪ e.g. buy

aʊ e.g. house

ɔɪ e.g. toy

Long vowels in English vs. Japanese eɪ or ej e.g. say -- Different than せ or せい oʊ or ow e.g. soDifferent 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 2nd consonant is unstressed) E.g. water, ladder

Plural endings [s] [z] [ɪz] Voiceless sound (s, p, t, k, f) → s cats Voiced sounds (b, d, g, l, etc.) → z dogs fricatives (ch, j, s, z) → [ɪz] bridges

Stress

Three aspects of stress Louder Longer Higher

Unstressed syllables become [ə] or [ɪ] E.g. photography

13 (thirTEEN) vs. 30 (THIRdy)

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. lax e.g. beet vs. bit, boot vs. book ɑ vs. æ e.g. bot vs. bat

Interactive diagram –- can help show the differencehttp://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/english.html

Problem Solving II

Rhythm Nursery rhymese.g. Jack and Jill went up the hill Nonsense syllable e.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. 1st person to write “R” or “15” gets a pt.

Activity Ideas for Class

Activity: Word Tree(or Listening Pyramid)

START

ship sip

see she see she

sin1

shin2

sin3

shin4

sin5

shin6

sin7

shin8

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

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/english/english.html

http://allthingslinguistic.com/post/67308552090/how-to-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?