the sound system of english

The Sound System of English
Education 453:10

Phonology

The study of the sounds of language

Everyone speaks with an accent
The phonological system of a language
consists of its individual speech sounds, as
well as its stress, rhythm, and intonation
patterns

Phonemes

The smallest unit of sound that can affect
meaning in a language

Though the English alphabet has 26 letters,
English speakers produce more than 40
sounds

International Phonetic Alphabet

Most technical books for language teachers
and dictionaries use phonetic symbols to
represent English sounds and to describe
difficulties (Our text: p. 56, 57)

The International Phonetic Alphabet can be

used to transcribe any language (handout)

Pronunciation Difficulties

Interference from the first language

The sounds of the first language are
imprinted very early in the child’s
development; however, most children are
born with the vocal equipment to produce the
sounds of any language

Problems in English

Homographs (read and read)

Homophones (red and read)

Differs from language to language

http://
www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html

Individual Sounds

Especially difficult sounds are th in think and
its unvoiced equivalent th in then

Consonant clusters – spl, sks, etc.
Some languages have no consonant

clusters; other languages use consonant
clusters differently

Stressed and Unstressed Syllables

The degree of force with which a syllable is
uttered

In English words of more than one syllable,
one of the syllables is uttered with stronger
stress or emphasis than others (text p. 59)

Stress patterns are different in other
languages

Rhythm

English has a characteristic rhythm or stress
pattern

In connected English speech the stresses or
beats are spaced evenly through
sentences… John speaks French….

Unstressed syllables are compressed or de-
emphasized whereas in many languages,
equal stress is placed on all the syllables in
words

Sentence Stress


In an English sentence, the words that carry
the most information are stressed – content
words – and the less important or
grammatical function or form words are
unstressed

ESL students may have trouble
understanding speech even if they recognize
words in isolation… What do you mean?
Next month or necks month

/>ess_exB.htm

Intonation

English has characteristic patterns of rise
and fall in pitch, and three basic levels of
tone: High, Mid, and Low

ESL students and ELLs need focused
instruction on English intonation patterns…

Purposes of English Intonation
1. Communicate meaning
2. Communicate emotions or moods
3. Stress for emphasis
/>=-toSnwSqqz0

Teaching Pronunciation


Younger children who are learning English
seldom need a great deal of help with
pronunciation

Learners older than 11 or 12 are more likely
to have trouble with specific words, sounds,
intonation patterns… require focused
instruction

When to Teach Pronunciation
1. A student confuses or distorts specific
sounds that may interfere with
comprehension
2. Uses pronunciations that are stigmatized…
tree for three
3. Distorts the pronunciation of words by
stressing the wrong syllable
4. Uses inappropriate intonation

How to Teach Pronunciation
1. Read aloud often
2. Read the same statement several different
ways
3. Books on tape
4. Language arts software
5. Choral reading
6. Minimal pairs

….How to Teach Pronunciation

7. Practice producing sounds
8. Make up sentences
9. Create posters or booklets for certain
sounds
10. Allow pronunciation practice
11. Use pronunciation guides with older
students
12.Rehearse, read aloud, short passages
13. Be creative…skits….

Basic Principle
•
Understanding of sounds precedes
understanding of the written word.

Terminology

Phonological Awareness – the ability to
break down speech into smaller segments

Phoneme – the smallest unit of sound

Phonics – a method of teaching reading that
emphasizes the association of sounds with
letters

Classroom Considerations

Phonological awareness training – teaching
the sound structure of words


Auditory training

Phonics training – teaching the connection
between sounds and letters

Training with print

Classroom Considerations

It is important to first develop oral language
skills.

Phonological awareness skills should be
taught orally without print.

Phonological awareness training helps
children learn vocabulary and reading
skills.

Classroom Considerations

Phonological awareness training improves
reading, vocabulary, and syntactic skills

Phonological awareness training can be
implemented in the classroom

ESL students benefit from PA training

Teaching Pronunciation Abroad

/>emetrio-39388-tup2007-Improve-English-Pron
unciation-Five-Questions-Stress-gives-natu
ral-rhythm-spoken-as-Education-ppt-powerpo
int/