Pronunciation concept, 8 5 13

Sound Groupings Based on MOA.Consonant Sounds - In these sounds the vocal folds are not completely open and the flow of air is somehow restricted.. Stop - In these sounds the vocal folds

Concepts in Pronunciation

Stephen van Vlack

Foreword

This book is written with Korean students in mind There are many comments included which deal concretely with the Korean language and target some of the problems which Korean students, in particular, have when learning English pronunciation The book is intended for classroom use with a native speaker of English, but it is possible for the student to work with the book alone

The concepts provided in this book are intended to help the student better understand the mechanisms of human speech This includes Korean as well as English It is, therefore, not out

of the realm of possibility for the student to actually improve their Korean pronunciation as well as their English by using this book

Try to have fun with it and never stop experimenting with sounds

Table of Contents

Page #

Part 1 - The Vocal Process 2 Part 2 - Sounds and Articulation 11

Consonant Sounds 11

Stop Consonants 12

Fricative Consonants 20

Nasal Consonants 31

A Special Fricative 35 Affricate Consonants 39

Glide Consonants 44

Lateral Consonants 48 Vowel Sounds 53

Front Vowels 55 Back Vowels 60 Central Vowels 64

Diphthongs 68

Part 3 - Stress 72

Word-level Stress 72

Sentence-level Stress 75

Part 4 - Intonation 76

Quizzes 77

Quiz 1 77 Quiz 2 79

Quiz 3 81 Appendix 82

Goals

This book has two purposes The first one is to get the students to pronounce English better The second goal is to give the students the ability to turn around and teach pronunciation effectively to their own students In order to do this, the

students must learn some of the basic underlying principals which guide pronunciation, and English pronunciation in

particular The concepts the students learn in this course will enable them to think in a very concrete way about what actually occurs as they make sounds By learning the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), hopefully their knowledge of pronunciation will be converted from a more passive into a more active state and that is exactly what we need to be effective teachers

A large part of what I want students to do in this course is

to play with sounds I hope that this book, and the course

designed to compliment it will give the students the chance to play with their voices By using and viewing pronunciation in a different light, they should acquire a better feel for the

mechanisms that are used in the vocal process and hopefully find their English voice

Point of View

There are many different aspects of phonetics For the purposes of this course we are going to focus on very basic sound in meaning That means that we are not going to go into excessive little details of pronunciation Instead, we are going to look at sound patterns that change meaning in English or those which are necessary for intelligible pronunciation The

transcriptions the students will encounter, and will ultimately be responsible for producing, are what is called broad transcription The dialect we will be looking at is SAE (Standard American English) or something as close to that as possible On occasion,

interesting facts will be made about other dialects and particular points will be pointed out

In general, to lessen confusion we will not be looking at allophones, or different phonemes that hold the same meaning

We will also be looking at more rapid forms of speech to a

smaller extent In no way is this book intended to be a definitive text on English phonetics The book will just scratch the surface

of this immensely interesting field

Organization

The book is organized into several sections The two main sections cover the sounds themselves After an introduction of how sounds are made, the sounds are broken into consonants and vowels Consonant sounds are grouped according to their manner of articulation Vowel sounds are divided according to their place of articulation Lastly, there are some very short sections on some of the higher level phonetic peculiarities of English, like tense and intonation which are followed by an

appendix The appendix includes information on some Korean phonetic features

Part 1 The Vocal Process

Turning air into sound

How sound is made is really quite simple Sound begins with air Air is pumped out of the lungs and into your larynx, a pipe in your throat

As the air moves up the larynx, it moves through your voice box Your voice box is that lump which sticks out on your neck It is larger for men

than for women Children have small voice boxes

It is in the voice box that air is first changed into sound Air enters the voice box and moves across the vocal cords Your vocal cords are stringy muscles which are stretched across the inside of your voice box As the air moves across the vocal cords, friction is created which creates sound Air flow out of the voice box is

controlled by the vocal folds, muscles which cover the voice box and are able to open or close Think of the vocal folds as two doors which, when open, allow air to

pass and when closed stop the flow of air

Once the air gets out of the voice box it winds up in one of two places; the mouth or the nasal cavity Often, it goes to both Where the air goes is determined by the uvula When the uvula is lowered, air passes into the nasal cavity and out the nose When the uvula is raised, air flow to the nose is blocked and it must move through the mouth alone

Articulators

Inside the mouth, there are many parts which determine exactly how a particular sound is made These are called articulators The most important articulator is the tongue What part of the mouth the tongue touches determines which sound will be made The lips are also important articulators It is important to remember that the articulators in our

mouths are able to move A good definition for articulators would be the parts of the mouth which move around or touch other parts in order to create specific sounds

Classifying sounds

Sounds are classified based on two different criteria; Manner of Articulation and Place of Articulation Manner of Articulation refers to how the flow of air is controlled during the process of making a sound For example, is the flow of air stopped or somehow impeded? The vocal folds are the most important factor in determining Manner of

Articulation (MOA) Place of Articulation (POA) refers to what the articulators are doing as the sound is being made Usually we are

concerned with what part of the mouth they are touching or where they are located The tongue is the most important factor in determining Place

of Articulation (POA)

Sound Groupings Based on MOA.

Consonant Sounds - In these sounds the vocal folds are not completely open and the flow of air is somehow restricted

Stop - In these sounds the vocal folds are entirely closed before the sound

is made Air pushes against the closed vocal folds until the pressure

becomes too great and forces them open The vocal folds burst

open releasing a large amount of air and then close again slowly

Fricative - In these sounds the vocal folds are open, but only slightly Air

flow is halted but never completely stopped The small opening in

the vocal folds causes a large amount of friction in the voice box

and that is why these sounds are called fricatives

Nasal - These are sounds in which the uvula is lowered causing the air to

move through the nasal cavity instead of the mouth Both fricative

consonants and vowels can be nasal, but there are no nasal vowels

in Standard American English

Affricate - These sounds are a mix of two sounds; one stop and one

fricative, and share elements of both Affricates begin with the

vocal folds closed As the air begins to put pressure on them, they

open up slightly and the air is allowed to escape There is no

explosion of air, as in stop sounds

Glide - The flow of air is almost completely free For this reason these

sounds are sometimes called `Semi-vowels` They differentiate

themselves by having some sort of movement going on inside the

mouth

Lateral - These sounds also fall under the Semi-vowel classification but are

different because the air moves along the sides of the tongue

Vowel Sounds - These sounds have no obstruction of the air flow This

means that the vocal folds are completely open as the sounds are made

Sound Groupings Based on POA.

Bi-labial - These sounds are made using both lips The lips are either closed

completely and open up or are rounded, like you are kissing

something a little bit far away from you

Labio-dental - In these sounds the upper teeth are touching the lower lip Inter-dental - The tip of the tongue sticks out from between the two

front teeth

Dental - The tip or front of the tongue touches the back of the teeth as

the sound is made

Alveolar - The front of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge as the sound

Consonant Chart

It is helpful to put all 24 consonant sounds of English into a single chart That way we get look at how the sounds are grouped It is easy to tell which ones are similar and which ones are very different

Below is a chart which shows the Manner and Place of Articulation for Standard American English (SAE) consonant sounds

Stop Fricative Nasal Affricate Glide Lateral

+voice -voice +voice -voice +voice +voice -voice +voice +voice

One last Point: Voicing

As shown in the chart above, voicing is one of the most important features of English pronunciation Voicing is when your vocal folds vibrate during articulation (the moment when you make a sound) If you put your hand on your voice box as you make a voiced sound like /v/, you should feel a strong vibration in your throat That is voicing Sounds that have voicing are said to be +voice Sounds with no voicing (the vocal folds

do not vibrate) are called -voice

Because voicing is so important in English, you must make sure you master this simple process You must be able to hear differences in voiced sounds and also be able to control voicing in your own

pronunciation Practice a lot if you have any problems

IPA Consonant Symbols and Their Sounds

IPA Dictionary English Examples

Symbol Symbol

/p/ p pay, apple, stop

/b/ b bat, rabbit, tub

/t/ t top, cutter, cat

/d/ d dog, ladder, bed

/k/ k car, cookie, cake

/g/ g go, begin, egg

/f/ f fun, office, scoff

/v/ v very, savory, have

// th think, bathtub, month

/ð/ th these, father, breathe

/s/ s sit, whisper, kiss

/z/ z zoo, busy, buzz

// sh shoe, luscious, wish

// zh rouge, vision, measure /h/ h hat, behind

/m/ m me, sophomore, slum /n/ n no, running, gun

//  swing, singer, swimming // ch chair, catcher, witch

// j jaw, magic, age

/w/ w we, away

/j/ y yes, emulate

/l/ l lamp, pillow, pull

/r/ r red, marry, car

IPA Vowel Symbols and Their Sounds

IPA Dictionary English Examples

Symbol Symbol

// i or  bit, skin, win

// e or  bet, head, egg

/æ / a or  fat, happy, at

// a or  pot, father, slobber

// ur herb, first, urchin

// r father, after, further // u or  up, come, slum

/u/  soon, you, rule // oo or  book, put, should

Diphthongs

/o/  open, own, no /e/  y fate, they, hey // ou cow, out, ouch

// oi noise, coy, oil

Part 2 Sounds and Articulation

There are two main types of sounds in English; consonants and vowels They can be differentiated mainly in their manner of articulation

Consonants occur with some sort of stopping or at least some slowing down of the air flow This means that the vocal folds do not remain completely open as we make a consonant sound In consonants, the vocal folds somehow impede the flow of air Vowels, on the other hand, are produced with no halting or impeding of the flow of air The vocal folds are completely opened and air moves with no restrictions

Consonant Sounds

There are 24 consonant sounds in Standard American English Because sound systems, are above all, systematic, it is important to know how and where they are made in the mouth Look for patterns that repeat themselves It is important that you be able to group certain sounds together This should make it easier for you to be able to understand and feel how sounds are interrelated If you can make one sound in a group well, then you must be able to make the others well as long as you can understand the system of similarities and differences Have fun with this

Stop (Plosive) Consonants

/p/ and /b/ /t/ and /d/ /k/ and /g/

Stops, for the most part, are not that difficult for speakers of Korean All the same sounds are found in Korean, but voicing is a problem Korean stops come in groups of three and are differentiated by laryngealization1

and aspiration while English stops come in pairs differentiated by voicing

Be careful to acquire the differences in English Remember, even though the stop sounds in Korean are similar, they are not the same Try to

pronounce the sounds carefully

Articulation

Stops are made with a series of movements in the voice box

1 When you get ready to make a stop sound your vocal folds close tight

2 Your tongue and lips (articulators) move into the correct position for

the sound you want to make

3 Air is pushed into the voice box Pressure builds on the vocal folds

4 The vocal folds respond to the pressure and burst open, releasing a very

short rush of air.2

1

Laryngealization is also known as creaky voice It is believed to be a specific type of voicing but don`t let that confuse you It sounds a little like

an old dirty door closing slowly Think about Korean and which words might

be made using this creaky voice You should be able to feel creaky voice in your voice box

2This is where the word plosive comes from In stops, the air pops out

of the voice box violently like an explosion It might be helpful to think of these sounds as sounds which include an explosion of air

5 The vocal folds slam closed again, thus stopping the flow of air

Voicing Review

When the vocal folds, not the vocal cords (The vocal cords always vibrate That is how sound is made.), vibrate during articulation, we call this voicing Sounds that include voicing are called voiced sounds (+voice)

If a sound has no voicing, it is called voiceless (-voice) All consonants are either voiced or voiceless and the difference is often very important All vowels in English are voiced

An interesting thing to note is that voiced sounds are quite a bit louder than voiceless sounds This should help you in recognizing them when you listen to English

For practice, it is good to be able to feel the voicing The easiest way is to simply put your fingers, gently, on your voice box and see what you can feel as you talk You should be able to feel the voicing turn on and off as you make certain sounds If you cannot feel this, or you feel yourself voicing sounds you should not be voicing, then try to speak more slowly and carefully and see what you can feel If it feels good, it should sound good Feeling is believing

Sounds

The stop consonants in English can be thought of as occurring in three pairs Each of the pairs share the same place of articulation This means your tongue or lips should be in the same position when you make both a /p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/, and /k/ and /g/ sound

/p/ /b/ These are bi-labial sounds Your lips should be

together

Examples: please /pliz/, stop /stp/, and slip /slp

blouse /bls/, and dribble /drbl

/t/ /d/ These are dental-alveolar sounds The tip or

blade of the tongue can either touch the back

of the upper teeth or the alveolar ridge or both

Examples: to /tu/, take /tek/, and foot /ft/

door /dr/, food /fud/, and fodder /fd/

tongue moves back to touch the upper part

of the velum

Examples: clink /klk/, couch, /k/, and lock /lk/

greet /grit/, leg /lg/, and logger /lg/

Compare these words: peas and bees /piz/, /biz/

try and dry /tr/, /dr/

coo and goo /ku/, /gu/

When you say these words you should put your hand or dangle a piece of paper in front of your mouth You should see the piece of paper move with the aspirated sounds With some practice you should be able to feel the difference in your mouth

Try saying these pairs of sentences being very careful of aspiration:

Please, put the pudding in the pot

/pliz pt  pd n  pt/

But the bad boy wouldn`t budge

/bt  b d b wont b/

Try to take it easy with that toy

/tra t tek t izi w  t t/

Dennis, do not make my drink too dry

/dns du nt mek m drnk tu dr/

Colleen, can`t you husk that corn in the kitchen? /klin k nt ju hsk  t krn n  kn/

Go and get the gown you`re going to wear

/go nd gt  gn jor go tu wr/

Releasing is a way to tell the difference between pairs when they come at the end of a word The basic rule is that voiceless stops are unreleased when they happen at the end of the word If a sound is left unreleased this means that your lips and tongue move into the correct position to make the sound, but the explosion of air never happens The sound is never really made because the air that is being held behind the vocal folds is not

released

Compare these word pairs: tap and tab /t p/, /t b/

pot and pod /pt/, /pd/

buck and bug /bk/, /bg/

The last sound of the first word should be left unreleased In the second word all the sounds should be released.3 Practice saying words with the last sound both released and unreleased

When stop sounds occur in the middle of a word, they are neither

aspirated nor unreleased Look at the following words:

bubble, puppy /bbl/, /ppi/

waddle, otter /wdl/, t/

wagon, welcome /w gn/, /wlkm/

3

Remember, unreleased word-final stops are not part of all dialects of English They are, however, part of SAE North Americans, even in quite formal situations, will usually not release word-final voiceless stops If you want to speak very carefully or if you are angry you will release all sounds completely

Review and Practice: Stops

Answer the following questions

1 Which stop sounds are made furthest forward in the mouth?

2 Which ones are made furthest back?

3 What vibrates when we make voiced sounds?

4 Which articulators do we need to make stop sounds?

5 What are the three ways of differentiating pairs of stops?

Practice for Fun

The Stop Song

There are many ways that you can practice stop sounds One of the best ways to practice pronunciation is to sing In order to practice stops you do not sing songs in a normal way You have to sing special songs Here`s how

Take any song you like It does not matter if the words are in English or Korean or any other language, because you are going to replace the normal lyrics with sounds Instead of signing the regular words sing stop sounds instead So, for example, if you like the song Strangers in the Night, sing bupubupubu instead of the normal words Simply replace all the words with /p/ or /b/, or any other pair of stops you want to practice Make sure you keep the rhythm of the song, but simply insert your

favorite pair of stops and sing only those sounds

It will be very hard at first to be able to distinguish the two sounds,

or to make them sound different when you sing quicky, but if you keep

on trying you will get the feel for it Concentrate on the voicing Keeping

you fingers on your voice box to feel for vibration as you sing will help you develop a better feel for what is going on inside your mouth as you are doing this Try to have fun with it

Some Tongue Twisters

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

The beastly boys of the barnyard were busy bouncing rubber balls on their bare bottoms

Betty tripped on her baby`s rubber buggy bumper and fell into a

tremendous bunch of beets

Darren, the dog-training dingbat, dared Donna to drink all the liquid dynamite Dougal left lying on the round table

To touch the top of the toupee that Teddy always took with him to the track was Tom`s terrific fantasy

The cotton that Cornelius got to kill the cockroach in the cupboard got caught in the catch of the doorknob as he was running to enter the

Pete: Pauline, pass the pepper

Pauline: Isn`t it proper to say `please` when you want the pepper? Pete: OK, please pass the pepper

Pauline Impossible

Pete: Impossible, please tell me why?

Pauline: I`m feeling peculiar today and just want to be a pain

Betty: Bill, do you have a better way for basting beef than with this thin

tube?

Bill: Betty, you boob Nobody bastes beef

Betty: What are you blabbering about?

Bill: Beef, it`s never been basted Never has been, never will be

Betty: But it says in my book to baste the beef

Bill: That can`t be right

Betty: It`s the complete truth

Bill: No, look, it says to marinate the beef, not baste it

Todd: To be or not to be? That is tough question that I ask of me Tabitha: Todd, what in tarnation are you doing?

Todd: Isn`t it completely obvious, Tabitha?

Tabitha: No, Todd, I`m afraid it isn`t

Todd: Well, I will tell you Is it not true that I am an actor extra

ordinaire?

Tabitha: An actor, yes Extra ordinaire, don`t kid yourself

Todd: Doubters But I will not let you tempt me away from my

enticing new rendition of Hamlet

Tabitha: Ah, is that what you were trying to do; Hamlet? It sounded

more like a huge ham to me Dave: Debs, have you seen a dirty dog around here?

Debs: Actually, yes A tremendously dirty dog just ran by around thirty

seconds ago

Dave: Was the dog doing anything strange? Did it look dangerous? Debs: No, it was just doing what dogs usually do Why do you want to

know?

Dave: I have a new job I am the town`s new dog catcher I have a dozen

dirty dogs that I have to capture toady or I`m dead Now where did that damned dirty dog disappear to?

Kyle: Could you get those chickens in the coop It`s cold

Kath: What`s the big deal Kyle? The chickens won`t freeze

Kyle: No, but if we leave them out the coyotes will certainly kill them Kath: Chickens killed by coyotes might be contaminated

Kyle: Could you explain that, Kath?

Kath: Of course, Kyle Coyotes carry cooties which can kill humans, Kyle Kyle: Kath, How could cooties from coyotes kill?

Kath: Quite easily, Kyle Can`t you consider the concept of

contamination?

Kyle: No, Kath I can`t

Gill: Oh my God, Gwen, have you gotten your gums cleaned lately? Gwen: Of course, Gill The cleaning of the gums is a great way to glean

good health Why?

Gill: Well, gosh How can I say this? Gwen, I think your gums are no

good They are gushing blood

Gwen: Gushing blood? That`s no good What am I gonna do?

Gill: Well, Gwen, that`s easy Go to the gum doctor You`re a lucky girl,

your cousin is a dentist She has gums like a goat Go see her Gwen: Wow Gill, you`re a great friend I`m glad I got to see you today

But, please don`t look at me so goo-goo eyed

Gill: Oh Gwen, you know I`m gaga over you

Gwen: Oh, Gill, forget about that My gums, they`re gushing blood,

remember?

Gill: Oh gosh, I almost forgot Hurry, let`s go Swing it

Fricative (Continuant) Consonants

// and // /f/ and /v/ /s/4 and /z/ // and //5Fricatives are tough for Korean speakers Korean has very few

4

The sounds /s/ and // are allophones in Korean This means that they are both used as the same basic sound Which one you use in a certain phonological environment is predictable // is used when the sound which follows it is a high front vowel /s/ is used in all other environments Koreans make a lot of mistakes with these two sounds because they often cannot hear the

difference between the two sounds Be careful

5

This sound has come into English through French and is still mostly, but not entirely, found in words of French origin

fricative sounds There is a tendency to pronounce the fricatives of English

as affricates in Korean speech Be careful to keep the air flow going as you make these sounds

Articulation

Like stops, fricatives are made with a series of movements in the voice box The articulation of fricatives is, however, much simpler than for stops

1 When you get ready to make a fricative sound, your vocal folds move to

a position where they are mostly closed The vocal folds never close entirely when you are making a fricative sound

2 Your tongue and lips move into the correct position for the sound you

want to make

3 Air is pushed through the voice box The flow of air is restricted by the

vocal folds, but never stopped The vocal folds do not actually move during the articulation of the sound

4 The sound does not finish until you are ready to go onto the next

sound or you have run out of air.6

Sounds

The fricative consonants in English can be thought of as occurring

in pairs Each of the pairs share the same place of articulation This means your tongue or lips should be in the same position when you make both a // and //, /f/ and /v/, /s/ and /z/, and // and // sound

6

This is why fricative sounds are also called continuants The sound

is able to be continued for as long as the speaker wants or has air in her/his lungs The fact that fricatives can be continued is one main difference

between them and stops Take a deep breath and try making some fricative sounds for as long as you can

// /  / These are inter-dental sounds The tip

of your tongue should be placed between your teeth

Example: think, this /k/, /s/

/f/ /v/ These are labio-dental sounds The upper

teeth are placed gently on the lower lip and most of the air moves out the sides of the mouth

Example: finger, very /fg/, /vri/

/s/ /z/ These are alveolar sounds The front or the

middle of the tongue is rested against the back part of the alveolar ridge7 The tip of the tongue should dip down to a low spot in the mouth, behind the bottom row of teeth Example: sing, loser, zoo /s/, luz/, /zu/

// // These are palatal sounds The middle of the

tongue should be pushed against the rear part

of the hard palate at the highest part of the roof of your mouth The tongue tip is raised slightly and should point toward the upper row of teeth

Example: harsh, garage /hr/, /gr/

7

For some English speakers /s/ and /z/ are alveolar-palatal sounds This means that when some people make the sound, their tongue is resting partly on the alveolar ridge and partly on the hard palate See if you can feel where your tongue is when you make this sound

Loudness or volume is a side effect of voicing which allows us to differentiate fricative pairs Voiced sounds, especially among the fricatives, will be much louder than voiceless sounds This will help you in trying to recognize the sounds when you hear them Practice saying each sound as it appears at the end of a word

love /lv/ and loaf /lof/

cars /krz/ and kinks /kks/

breathe /bri/ and worth /w/

beige /be/ and shush //

Length is the last major difference Voiceless fricative sounds tend

to be longer than their voiced counterparts This means that the voiceless sounds will last longer (Can you notice the difference between soon /sun/ and zoo /zu/ The /s/ sound in the first word should definitely be longer than the /z/ in the second.) Just bear in mind that this is not a rule and that the difference is not huge We are talking 100th`s of a second here As you gain more experience and your ear becomes better trained, you should be able to hear the difference.8

Potential Problems

Non-native English speakers have two big problems with fricatives: voicing and place of articulation The only way to get around these two problems is through practice Most languages have similar sounds, but the

8

It is important to note that length, whether of consonants or of vowels, does not change the meaning of a word in English It helps us to recognize the sound and not much more

tongue might be placed in a slightly different place to make a sound that might be the same Work hard to make sure that your tongue falls into the right place for the English sound

Korean speakers have special problems with fricatives because there are very few of them in their language: /s/ and its three Korean renditions

is the only one You will have to work hard to place your tongue in all these strange places In order for your pronunciation to sound natural and flow well making these weird sounds must become like second nature

The best way to do this is to practice There are many different ways

of practicing One of the best is to take a book or anything written in English and read it out loud Listen carefully to what you sound like, or, better yet, tape record yourself as you speak Then listen and compare your pronunciation to that of a native speaker Don`t be too scared to do this Shyness won`t help you be a good language learner

For fricatives, one of the characteristic problems that Koreans face

is smoothness Because Korean has so many stop sounds, Koreans tend to halt the flow of air after every consonant vowel combination This makes their speech sound very choppy at best, and wrong as well Koreans tend to replace the fricatives of English with stop sounds or affricate sounds This can make it very hard for non-Koreans to understand you

Practice hard to try to make smooth transitions between fricatives and the vowel sounds that follow them If, for example, you are going to the zoo, and you want to tell someone, make sure that the air flow does not stop as you move from the /z/ to the /u/ There should be a smooth progression, in which your lips slowly become rounded and your tongue moves up toward the roof of your mouth Try it

Hints for Excellence

Voicing, especially for fricatives, is a huge problem because some of these sounds are represented by non-equivalent characters in the Hangul

writing system.9

One way of practicing voicing is to put your articulators into the right position to make a fricative sound; for example /f/ Put your upper teeth on your bottom lip Now, make the sound First make it voiceless Without moving your teeth or lips, try to turn on the voicing Do this continuously and with all the different pairs of fricatives until you have learned to control your voicing It will not be easy, so don`t be

discouraged

Another practice you can do, is the same song-based practice that was mentioned in the last section, except this time replace your favorite song`s lyrics with pairs of fricatives like /f/ and /v/ This will be even harder than singing in stops, but try hard and try to make your singing sound smooth There should be no stoppage of the air flow Smooth, smooth, smooth

It will help a lot if you can relax your throat when you make these sounds Korean requires a more tense throat Loosen up a little bit and keep the flow and you should be OK

Review and Practice: Fricatives

Answer the following questions

1 How many pairs of fricatives are there in English?

9

The sounds /z/ and /s/ in many words Korean has borrowed from

English are pronounced // or // A typical example is the word sports

/sprts/ Koreans pronounce this word /sp/ Be very careful to avoid making mistakes like this

4 Which fricative is of foreign origin?

5 Which fricative sounds are louder?

Some Tongue Twisters

She sells sea shells by the sea shore

Zorgon, the singer from Mars zoomed in a zig- zag motion towards his secret destination

The swell shoes she was wearing showed Sheila to be a shopper of super sense

George decided to secretly shove the shiny beige bobsled into the garage

as his wife Madge was applying rouge

This, these, that, those, and many other things made Thorfinn think twice about throwing away his fabulous throng of thoughts

When her thoughts were low Gwyneth, often thought about things that

no one thought enough of to bother thinking about, like throwing thick pudding out the window

For Sylvester, plants are better than flowers for a gift because flowers are dead, and plants are alive forever

Valerie valued her valet very much because he vanquished the vampire who was bothering her

Thelma: Theron, through which thought process did you become

such a thorough person?

Theron: Through my very own thinking, Thelma

Thelma: What is the secret to this, Theron?

Theron: Through thinking of things related to myself I find I become

more thorough

Thelma: What kind of things do you think about?

Theron: Things of which I am freely allowed to think about

Thelma: Thanks anyway, Theron I`ll go ask Beth

Thanatos: Thane, I want to thank you for that book you lent me Thane: That was nothing I have many more books

Thanatos: Please accept this gift as a sign of my thanks

Thane: What is this?

Thanatos: It`s a model of a theropod, one of my favorite dinosaurs Thane: It`s a lovely thing and an excellent thought

Thanatos: Yes, these theropods were very powerful in their day

Thane: Kind of like the way we are now?

Thanatos: Yes, but not as smart

Phil: Frank, go fly a kite

Frank: Phil, what form of fool do you take me for?

Phil: Not a fabulous fool, but a rather fun one for everyone

Frank: That`s it Stop floundering or I will force the truth from you Phil: OK But if you try to force the truth from me the folks will be

frightened

Frank: But I want other folks to be frightened of me I think it`s fantastic Phil: Then Frank, you are a fool

Frank: Now, Phil, my friend, you will help me find the frosting

immediately Without frosting, there is no way we can finish

Fiona`s birthday cake

Vern: Hey Velma! You were very vicious to Bev the other

afternoon

Velma: Bev is a villain She was very rude to the visitors I had in our

villa She even tried to vomit on them

Vern: That`s awful! Did she become violent?

Velma: She tried, but Valerie ventured to play the violin

Vern: That calmed her nerves?

Velma: Bev was visibly better after that

Vern: Boy, that Bev, sure is crazy

Suzie: Sam, you slimy sad sack I can`t swallow how you sacrificed yourself

for Selma

Sam: Well, Selma is one super somber chick I had to help her

Suzie: But, she loves to suck the energy from someone, anyone

Sam: I know, but you know all scatologists love to be abused We are all

sadists deep down

Suzie: I suggest you sail away soon on a schooner bound for Salvador At

least you`ll be safe from Selma

Zack: Zelda, which do you love better zebras or zebus?

Zelda: I think I really love zebus but only because I practice zen

Zack: Do you think that Zeus created zoos, or are they a person`s

creation?

Zelda: I can`t be sure

Zack: Well, what do you think of the xylophone and the zither as

excellent musical instruments?

Zelda: I think I wish you would go to Zimbabwe to your ask annoying

questions to someone else

Zack: Do you like horses?

Zelda: Do you like cuts and bruises?

Zack: OK, I`ll be as quiet as a zygote

Sasha: Shucks Sheila, you shouldn`t shove short people and babies face first into the mud

Sheila: Shut up Sasha! I can do whatever I want Only a shyster

would not love to have me shove his face in the mud Sasha: Don`t be shrewish It`s shkotzim

Sheila: Don`t you use your Yiddish on me

Sasha: Yiddish is the best, It`s a shoe in for fun

Sheila: Why don`t go out to the shed, shellac yourself, eat some

shell beans and forget the whole shebang

Sasha: Sure, you she-devil

Zuzu Zaza, what do you do for leisure?

Zaza: Darling, in my leisure time, I usually apply rouge to my beige skin Zuzu Lovely! That sounds luscious What`s up for your next vacation? Zaza: If I could only eat the soup de jour at Jacques` Famous Shack

Restaurant, I`d be happy I think I`ll go to Paris to partake in that Zuzu Mmmm, mmmmm good

Zaza: I also would love to have a seizure from too much pleasure

Zuzu I know, you do love leisure along with your pleasure

Zaza: But not as much as you dear

/l/ Try to write the following words in the IPA

Nasal Consonants

/m/, /n/ and //

For all intents and purposes, the nasal sounds are fricatives Their manner of articulation is exactly like the fricatives we mentioned above with one little difference The velum is lowered somewhere in the process, thus allowing air to flow into the nasal cavity and out of the nose English nasals are easy for Korean speakers because they are essentially the same in both languages.10

Articulation

Nasals are basically fricative sounds with a slight twist

1 When you get ready to make a nasal sound your vocal folds close

mostly but not entirely

2 Your velum lowers, allowing air to flow into the nasal cavity

3 Your tongue and lips move into the correct position

4 Air is pushed through the voice box As in all fricatives, the flow of air is

restricted by the vocal folds but never stops completely

5 The sound is finished when you have run out of air or are ready to move

onto the next sound You may also raise the velum, thus stopping the flow of air into the nasal cavity and out of the nose

10

There is one simple way to tell if the sound you are making is nasal

or not Hold your nose as you make the sound Then try to say the same sound again without holding your nose If the two sounds are different then the sound is nasal For example, make an /s/ sound and hold your nose No difference, right? Now make an /n/ sound and hold your nose It sounds weird because you are stopping the air from getting out the nose

The three nasal consonants are just fricatives in which the air flows through the nasal cavity and out the nose instead of through and out of the mouth The three sounds do not share place of articulation All nasal sounds in English are voiced

/m/ bi-labial This means that your two lips are touching

each other Your mouth is closed The location of the tongue does not affect the sound Put your tongue wherever it feels most comfortable

Example: mummy /mmi/, humdrum /hmdrm/

/n/ alveolar In this sound, the tip and front of the

tongue are touching the alveolar ridge

Example: nun /nn/, nibble /nbl/, moon /mun/

// velar This means that the back of the tongue is

moving back to touch the velum Example: dung /d/, dong /d/, ding /d/

Nasals in English are just about the same as they are in Korean

They even have the same distribution /m/ and /n/ can occur in the

beginning, middle, or end of a word, while // only comes at the end of syllables Since they are all voiced it is not hard to differentiate them Their places of articulation are also widely spread, so the sounds do not sound alike The nasals should not cause you any great trouble

Review and Practice: Nasals

Answer the following questions

1 What is the main difference between nasals and other fricatives?

2 Is it possible to make a non-nasal, bi-labial fricative? Why not?

3 In what position must // come?

4 Which nasal fricative is made furthest forward in the mouth?

5 Which nasal shares the same place of articulation as /k/ and /g/?

Some tongue twisters

There was nothing the nimble mind of Nellie could not master in a single night

Morris was a major badminton player for the Mimicker`s Midgets, an impressive team from Missoula, Montana

The nipping cold prohibited Niles form reaching Nirvana on the mountain top

Quentin was running for the phone when he heard a strange language coming from the room next door where the Nimsinging family lived

The mythological Minotaur tormented millions of Minoans in the town in Knossos on the magnificent island of Crete over many millenniums Laughing Lester was caught running along the lane screaming and telling about the coming of the Martians

Mimi: Mom`s making me meatballs for my birthday

Mini: What is she making me for my birthday?

Mimi: Maybe nothing Mom loves me more, you moron

Mini: Moron, moron?? I`ll make you eat mud

Mimi: You and which militia?

Mini: Mom!! Mimi is mimicking and mocking me

Mom: Mimi, stop mimicking and mocking Mini Don`t make me come

smack you

Mimi: But Mom, Mini started making funny faces at me

Mini: She`s lying Mom I`ve been quiet as a mouse

Nora: Neil Let`s not go to nowhere

Neil: Nora, you`re a nincompoop Let`s not go anywhere Well, we

could go to the Neverland Concert Hall to see Aaron Neville perform his nimble nocturne Hmmm, sounds great

Nora: No! Not on your knuckles, buddy

Neil: My name is Neil, not Buddy

Nora: Nobody tells me what to do, Neil you Nimrod

Neil: Now, Nora, be noble

Nora: Alright, how about a nightcap?

Neil OK, but only after I have my daily allotment of nicotine

Link:: Hey Blink, I`m beginning to think of becoming a shrink?

Blink: Why Link? Shrinks are never in the pink

Link: Interesting point Blink, but shrinks get to drink from the sink and

they can sing all the time

Blink: What sink, Link? Have you ever drank from a sink while singing? Link: Not a real sink, Blink The sink of being The sink of human

kindness, Blink`o boy

Blink: Now Link, no philosophizing with the Blinker It makes my head

ache

Link: Then there`s no philosophizing with anybody, Blink You`re my

only friend, you stinker

Blink: I`m going to bed We have to sling the hash early tomorrow Link: Be seeing you, Blink McDonald`s time

11

Beware In some dialects of British English there is no /h/ sound in the beginning of a word For most dialects of English when you see an `h` at the beginning of a word you will make the sound There are a few exceptions, such as the word herb /b/

Don`t worry too much about it

Articulation

/h/ is pronounced in much the same way the other fricatives are The vocal folds are open but not completely and they must never close

1 When you get ready to make an /h/ sound, your vocal folds move to a

position where they are mostly closed The vocal folds never close entirely when you are making an /h/ sound

2 Your tongue and lips move into the correct position for the sound you

want to make after the /h/ sound

3 A single puff of air is pushed through the voice box

4 The sound comes from the glottis, the space between the two vocal

folds, which resonates when the puff of air comes out

5 The puff of air moves through the throat and out the mouth

6 Unlike the other fricatives, /h/ can not e continued for as long as you

want or have air It is like a stop in that the air comes like a puff The flow of air, however, is regulated by the lungs and not the vocal folds

Sound

/h/ In the glottis, but there is no distinct placement of

the standard articulators (tongue, lips, teeth).12

Example: here /hir/, behind /bihand/

12

You can feel /h/ if you put your hand to your voice box Your voice box should move up slightly as you make the sound