miércoles, 6 de junio de 2012

Middle vowels

The defining characteristic of a middle vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel. The only mid vowel with a dedicated symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the mid central vowel [ə], a symbol which is also used for the vowel schwa.




/e/: middle, front, simple, spread, unlengthened

Egg, left, said,head, red, instead, any, leopard


/ə/: middle, central, neutral, simple, unlengthened

About, paper, banana, nation, the

Close Vowels


Close vowels:  The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
This term is prescribed by the International Phonetic Association. Close vowels are often referred to as high vowels, as in the Americanist phonetic tradition, because the tongue is positioned high in the mouth during the articulation of a close vowel.

Some close vowels are:


/i:/: high, front, spread, complex, lengthened
Beat, speech, people, key, police, scene, quay


/I/:  high, front, neutral, simple, unlengthened
Bit, sausage,, biggest, rhythm, mountain


/ʊ/: high, back, rounded, simple, unlengthened
Book, good,woman, push, pull, soap


/u/: high, back, rounded, complex, lengthened
Food, rude, true,  who, fruit, soup



Vowel

A vowel is a sound where air coming from the lungs is not blocked by the mouth or throat
All normal English words contain at least one vowel.

You can to describe a vowel according to this:




QUALITY:    Simple         /æ/
                    Complex      /iy/






TONGUE POSITION:        






High
                                

 Middle/central




     Low













AREA:                     Open                   Centre                  Back
                       



Lip shape:   
Spread        








Neutral                          












Rounded                                    











Vowel length:       
lengthened              I……………………..I     "THESE"
Unlengthened          I………….I                 "THIS"
 

Here are some examples of the description of the vowels:
/iy/: complex, high, open, spread, lengthened
/I/: simple, high, open, neutral, unlengthened
/Ə/: simple, middle, centre, neutral, unlengthened
/ e/: simple, middle, open, spread, unlengthened



martes, 5 de junio de 2012

Consonant Sounds Chart



VOICING

vd = voiced  "which the vocal cords vibrate"
vl = voiceless " which they do not"


MANNER: It is how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound and it could be: plosive-stops, fricatives, affricative, nasal, lateral, approximants


POINT: It is where you pronounce the sound, it could be: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, palatal. velar and glottal


If you want to listen the pronunciation of voiced consonant sound, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyKR7cBDpZE



lunes, 4 de junio de 2012

Tongue Twisters









Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?



Denise sees the fleece,
Denise sees the fleas.
At least Denise could sneeze
and feed and freeze the fleas.


If you understand, say "understand".
If you don't understand, say "don't understand".
But if you understand and say "don't understand".
How do I understand that you understand? Understand!


if you want more tongue twisters, click here

martes, 24 de abril de 2012

consonant sounds


Consonant Sounds
  


This was the first class of the element 2 and we started with the consonant sounds. In this class we learned about the correct pronunciation of some consonants and the teacher gave us a list of consonants and their pronunciation in the initial, medial and final position. Until now I have some little mistakes, but I think that my pronunciation will improve doing more exercises. In addition here are some consonant sounds: