Schwa Magazine

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On this issue you will find: The Importance of Phonetics Phonetic Differences among Celebrities Tongue Twisters And more!

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Schwa!

MAGAZINE

CONTENIDO:

Importance of Phonetics

1

History of IPA

2

Consonants / Vowels

3

Manner and Place of Articulation

4

IPA Alphabet

5

25 Difficult Words to Pronounce

6

Pronounciation Differences among Celebrities

7

Tongue Twisters

9

Author’s Opinion

10

Importance of Phonetics What is phonetics?

According to Faisal Mohammadzai (2012), “by phonetics is meant the science of speech sounds, their production by means of lips, tongue, palate, and vocal chords, their acoustic qualities, their combination into syllables and other sound groups, and finally quantity, stress and intonation. Phonetics thus may

be called that part of linguistic science which deals with the outward aspect of language as opposed to the inner or psychological side of language, or it may be lookt upon as that part of physics and of physiology which deals specially

with sounds as used by human beings to communicate thoughts and feelings to one another. “

Importance of Phonetics in English Language Phonetics is an important aspect that people have to put it in the first place when learning or teaching the English language.

First, English phonetics is the science, which studies the characteristics of human sound making, especially those sounds used in speech. It also provides methods for their description, classification and transcription ． Closely connected to the study of grammar and

lexicology, it can help the English learner to better understand vocabulary and grammar ． Second, English phonetics is an essential part of language and also an important element in communication. One must have good communication to be able to comprehend others when speaking or reading aloud.

This is proven by the fact that the better we pronounce English, the more

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easily we can understand each other and be understood.

Third, an English teacher must demonstrate good pronunciation. For this reason teaching phonetics is a major premise for English instruction because without any knowledge of pronunciation and intonation, the outcome will not always be satisfactory.

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SCHWA!

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History of IPA What is IPA? The IPA is the Innternational Phonetic Alphabet which is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation and it was devised by theInternational Phonetic Association.

ge students and teachers in order to understand those qualities of speech that are dis-

tinctive in spoken language.

These qualities are phonemes, intonation, and the separat i o n

The IPA is used by foreign langua-

Now the history!

In 1886, a group of French and British la nguage teachers formed what would come to be known from 1897 onw a r d s a s the International Phonetic Association Their original alphabet was based on a spelling reform for English known as

the Romic alphabet, but in order to make it usable for other languages, the values of the symbols were allowed “ The best scheme of Phonetics is a stiff uncertain thing.�

Thomas Edward Brown

to vary from language to language.

Since its creation, the IPA has undergone a number of revisions.

The alphabet was last revised in May 2005 with the addition of a letter for a labiodental flap.

3

Consonants

Vowels

4

Manner of Articulation According to the manner of articulation (how the breath is used) the consonants are: stops, also known as plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, laterals, and approximants. Nasals, laterals and approximants are always voiced; stops, fricatives and affricates can be voiced or unvoiced.

Stops /Plosives/

During production of these sounds, the airflow from the lungs is completely blocked at some point, then released. In English, they are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /g/.

The flow of air is constricted, but not totally stopped or blocked. In English, these include

Fricatives

/f/, /v/, /

/, /

/,

/s/, /z/, /

/, /

/, and /h/.

These sounds begin like stops, with a complete blockage of air/closure of the vocal tract, Affricates

and end with a restricted flow of air like fricatives. English has two affricates - the / sounds of "church" and the /

Nasals Laterals Approximants

/

/ of "judge".

Nasals are sounds made with air passing through the nose. In English, these are /m/, /n/, and /

/.

Lateral consonants allow the air to escape at the sides of the tongue. In English there is only one such sound - /l/ In the production of an approximant, one articulator is close to another, but the vocal tract is not narrowed to such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced. In English, these are /j/, /w/ and /r/. Approximants /j/ and /w/ are also referred to as semi-vowels.

Place of Articulation According to the place of articulation (where in the mouth or throat the sound is produced) the consonants are: Bilabial: with both lips

/p/, /b/, /m/

Labiodental: between lower lip and upper teeth

/f/, /v/

Dental/Interdental: between the teeth

/

Alveolar: the ridge behind the upper front teeth

/t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/

Alveo-palatal (or post-alveolar): it is the area between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate

/

Palatal: hard palate, or 'roof' of the mouth'

/j/

Velar: the soft palate or velum

/k/, /g/, /

Glottal (laryngeal): space between the vocal cords /h/

/, /

/, /

/

/, /

/

/, /

/

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Título del artículo interior Este artículo puede incluir 150-200 palabras.

Una ventaja de utilizar el boletín como herramienta para promocionarse es que puede reutilizar el contenido de otro material de marketing, como comunicados de prensa, estudios de mercado e informes.

Quizá su principal objetivo sea distribuir un boletín para vender su producto o servicio, pero la clave del éxito de un boletín es conseguir que sea útil para el público.

Un buen método consiste en escribir sus propios artículos, o bien incluir un calendario de próximos eventos o una oferta especial.

también para el sitio web. Microsoft Publisher ofrece una manera fácil de convertir el boletín en una publicación para la Web. Por tanto, cuando acabe de escribir el boletín, conviértalo en sitio web y publíquelo.

Pie de imagen o gráfico.

También puede consultar artículos o buscar artículos “de relleno” en el World Wide Web. Escriba acerca de una variedad de temas, pero procure que los artículos sean breves.

La mayor parte del contenido que incluya en el boletín lo puede utilizar Título del artículo interior

Este artículo puede incluir 100-150 palabras.

Algunos boletines incluyen una columna que se actualiza en cada edición; por ejemplo, los últimos libros publiEl tema de los boletines es casi intercados, una carta del presidente o un minable. Puede incluir artículos sobre editorial. También puede mostrar el tecnologías actuales o innovaciones en perfil de nuevos empleados, clientes o su campo.

“Incluya aquí una frase o una cita del artículo para captar la atención del distribuidores. lector”.

Quizá desee mencionar las tendencias comerciales o económicas, así como realizar predicciones.

Si el boletín se distribuye internamente, puede comentar las mejoras que se van a llevar a cabo. Incluya cifras de los beneficios para mostrar el crecimiento de su negocio.

Título del artículo interior

Este artículo puede incluir 75-125 palabras.

La selección de imágenes o gráficos es importante al agregar contenido al boletín.

Piense en el artículo y pregúntese si la imagen mejora el mensaje que intenta transmitir. Evite seleccionar imágenes que parezcan estar fuera de contexto.

Microsoft Publisher incluye miles de imágenes prediseñadas que puede importar a su boletín, además de herramientas para dibujar formas y

símbolos.

Una vez elegida la imagen, colóquela cerca del artículo. Asegúrese de que el pie de imagen está próximo a la imagen.

Pie de imagen o gráfico.

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25 Difficult Words to Pronounce!

Here is the first batch of most difficult words according to some people.

Are you ready?

1. Thistle (allows a pause and then repeats with me): Be careful not to step on the thistle.

2. Crisps: Potato chips are called crisps in England.

3. Should: you should not pronounce the l when you say the word should.

4. Would: Would and wood sound the same when you say them out loud.

5. Clothes: Put on warm clothes before you head outside today.

6. Order: The order of these words is not important.

7. Murder: A man was charged with murder over the holidays.

8. Air: The air is so cold you can see your breath.

9. Literature: You can download classic literature for free online.

10. Language: English is a difficult language to learn.

11. Onomatopoeia: Ono-

matopoeia refers to words that sound like their meaning.

12.

Deterioration: It is difficult to watch the deterioration of a friend’s health.

13. Little: If you practice, your English will improve little by little.

14. Assailant: The assailant was caught by the police.

15. Catastrophic: A catastrophic earthquake struck the Centre of the city.

16. Alter: Don’t alter your plans just because I can’t go.

17. Exclamation: One exclamation mark is enough to get your point across.

18. Crocodile: Captain Hook was petrified of the crocodile in the movie Peter Pan.

19. Unfortunate: It is unfortunate that the weather has delayed our trip.

20. Six: Six plus six equals twelve, which is also known as a dozen.

21. Development: The development of new technology has allowed us to receive information very quickly.

22. Decision: It wasn’t my decision to have a picnic in the rain.

23. Ambulance: When you hear an ambulance you must pull over to the side of the road.

24. Law: The law states that residents must clear their sidewalk when it snows.

25. Low: If you bend down low, you will see where the children are hiding.

Among s e c n e r e ion Diff t a i c n u o Pron es Celebriti How did Sofia Vergara get on Modern Family without losing her accent? Do Americans have a double standard when it comes to accepting foreign accents?

Last week while being interviewed on Regis and Kelly, Sofia Vergara admitted her own surprise at being so successful on American television in spite of her Colombian accent. When asked if she was disappointed not to have won an Emmy, she replied, “I won already just to be there with this accent! I never thought I was going to be part of a show like Modern Family or have a role that was going to be able to be nominated for anything with this accent!”

Despite her beauty and acting talent, she still believed that her accent would prevent her from being truly successful. So, why did it work for her?

Are Americans more forgiving of her accent because she is famous, or is there something different about her accent compared

to, for example, the teachers in Arizona being forced to reduce their accent to stay in the classroom?

It is believed that it is because some individuals’ accents are easier to understand than others. Some people have mastered the ability to speak English

clearly while still retaining parts of the intonation and pronunciation of their native language. Sofia has studied English long enough to master the necessary pronunciation while still revealing her Colombian heritage. So, even though we clearly hear the

accent, we also easily understand what she says.

And this is, or should be, the goal of accent reduction training: to learn to speak English clearly enough to be easily understood, without losing all traces of your heritage.

So whether your dream is to be as successful as Sofia Vergara on Modern Family, to blend in inconspicuously with y o u r Amer ican neighbor s, or something in between, if you take the steps to work on your American English pronunciation, you are headed toward your dream.

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On the contrary, it is obvious the difference of Vergara´s accent compared to the actress in the same sitcom Julie Bowen, who´s a native English Speaker.

To get a similar pronunciation of a native speaker, it is important to comprehend the phonetic symbols because they are a great help when it comes to learning to pronounce English words correctly.

Any time you open a dictionary, you can find the correct pronunciation of words you don't know by looking at the phonetic pronunciation that follows the word. Unfortunately, learning the phonetic alphabet is not always the easiest thing to do.

Another factor in pronunciation is the how the word is stressed.

Understanding the phonetic alphabet can greatly simplify the learning process, especially for students

who do not have the opportunity to work with a teacher.

Another contrast in pronunciation is the one speak by British people. Their pronunciation between North American English pronunciations and British English pronunciations differences in vowels and consonants, as well as stress and intonation. You can make a comparison between these two actresses and the British actress Emma Watson. For example, in Britain, the vowel In Britain, the “o” vowel, [ɒ], in words like dog, hod, pot, is pronounced with rounded lips and the tongue back in the mouth. Americans do not have this vowel, instead pronouncing the same words using the “ah”vowel, [ɑ], with the lips unrounded and the tongue back but more relaxed. This is the same vowel in card or bard. In some cases in the US the “o” is pronounced using the “or” vowel in words like long

(Central East Coast) and horrid (especially in the western US).

Therefore, in British English the pronunciation of glottal stops change. In many areas the American “t”, when not the initial consonant in a word, is pronounced closer to a “d”, and in some cases can disappear altogether. Thus latter and butter sounds more like ladder and budder, and words like twenty and dentist can sound like twenny and Dennis.

Why do Americans pronounce t as d? Perhaps, because to pronounce the frequent “r” s at the end of words ending in “er” it is easier to say “der”than “ter”. Finally, In Britain, the non-rhotic accent gives rise to linking “r”s, where an otherwise unpronounced “r”, in “clear”, is pronounced if followed by a vowel, “clear away”. An intrusive “r” is an “r” added in such a situation where none actu-

9

Tongue Twisters Betty butter: Betty bought some butter, but the butter Betty bought was bitter, so Betty bought some better butter, and the better butter Betty bought was better than the bitter butter Betty bought before!

2. Biscuit mixer: I bought a bit of baking powder and baked a batch of biscuits. I brought a big basket of biscuits back to the bakery and baked a basket of big biscuits. Then I took the big basket of biscuits and the basket of big biscuits and mixed the big biscuits with the basket of biscuits that was next to the big basket and put a bunch of biscuits from the basket into a biscuit mixer and brought the basket of biscuits and the box of mixed biscuits and the biscuit mixer to the bakery and opened a tin of sardines.

3. Doctor doctoring: When 1.

a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the doctori n g do c to r as the do c to r being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?

4. Mary Mac: Mary Mac's mother's making Mary Mac marries me. My mother's making me marry Mary Mac. Will I always be so merry when Mary's taking care of me? Will I always be so merry when I marry Mary Mac? 5. Nature watcher: Out in the pasture the nature watcher watches the catcher. While the catcher watches the pitcher who pitches the balls. Whether the temperature's up or whether the temperature's down, the nature watcher,

the catcher and the pitcher are always around.

The pitcher pitches, the catcher catches and the watcher watches. So whether the temperature's rises or whether the temperature falls the nature watcher just watches the catcher who's watching the pitcher who's watching the balls.

6. Wish to wish: I wish to wish the wish you wish to wish, but if you wish the wish the witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish Whether the weather: Whether the weather is fine, or whether the weather is not. Whether the weather is cold, or whether the weather is

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Author’s Opinion!

Authors’ opinion It is clear that nowadays the education system in Costa Rica does not set writing standards. This might be because technology has opened up new options for entertainment and communication, so people spend less time reading to they did a generation ago.

maybe a year or longer to attain the same reading level.

appropriate, like color for colour and jail for gaol.

Even reasonably educated people struggle to spell English correctly.

Studies of posts made to internet news groups show that more than 50 per cent of people misspelled minuscule, millennium and embarrassment. Even

However some new spellings are slowly creeping in. The Oxford Dictionary lists tho (though), thru (through) and luv (love), but not others like Hi (high), lo (low) and helth (health), although these have all had significant usage.

But we should not lose sight of the daunting hurdle current English spelling presents to those attempting to become literate. Our writing system is supposed to be phonetic, but in practice a basic sound in the language can often be represented by more than one spelling. And conversely a letter or letter group can often represent more than one sound.

English spelling also presents two other major challenges. First, it is awash with silent letters, such as in the body parts of wrist, thumb, knee, limb and knuckle. And second, there are no reliable rules about when consonants should be doubled.

What this means is that, in order to be able to follow common usage, you have to learn to spell every individual word in English.

Education reformer and author John Holt tells the story of a young girl who thought she was mastering English spelling. Then she came across the word "one" and burst into tears. This is not surprising since only one of its three sounds is discernible from its spelling, but it is a step up on words like quiche and quay which arguably do not clearly convey any of their sounds.

Studies show that languages related to English, but with more phonetic writing systems, are simpler and faster to learn. Italian children can typically read material before they can understand what it means. For children learning English, the understanding often comes first because they take

We need to be open to new spellings.

Gradually introducing them will make it easier for future learners to become literate. Ideally this should be done systematically and with intelligent guidance.

the quite common words definitely, proceeding and separate were misspelled 20 per cent or more of the time. How did we get into this mess and how can we get out of it?

After the Norman conquest of 1066, Anglo-Saxon spent around 300 years in an awkward tango with Old French.

The language which emerged had gained a lot of new words, but also a lot of new spellings.

Since that time English has maintained a voracious appetite for absorbing foreign words, often with minimal or no change to their spelling, such as latte, yacht, borscht, guerrilla and dachshund.

Other languages typically have bodies responsible for regular spelling revisions. English doesn't. Technically in English you cannot even say that a word is misspelled, only that the spelling doesn't follow common usage.

Common usage is defined by dictionaries, which have a history of recording just that, the major exception being Noah Webster's US dictionary first published in 1828, which included a few simplifications that he thought

Those of us who have spent years trying to master English spelling often feel a strong attachment to its current form. Rather than looking at words letter-by-letter, we treat them like ideographs. But we could still do the same if we changed the spelling of, say, yacht to yot, which would be simpler to write and faster to learn.

Language is a tool, not a historic artefact. It is much easier to cut down a tree with a saw than with a stone adze. And it is much easier to work with a phonetic writing system than with one in which spelling and pronunciation are not clearly linked.