HON MCC 101 Talk to Me
Assignment 7: due
Read Chapter 6 in Fromkin book.
This chapter talks about the individual sounds (phonemes) that make up (mostly English) speech. These roughly correspond to letters of the alphabet, although you all know that letters can be produced with different sounds (e.g. /g/ in /giraffe/ vs. /get/ and /s/ in /sand/ vs. /these/) or not at all (/k/ in /knot/).
A speaker makes sounds by blowing air from her lungs, pass the vocal chords, tongue and teeth and out of the holes in her face (I know: not a pretty concept). These parts of your neck and head are collectively called the vocal tract. Different sounds are formed by the shape of the vocal tract (adjusted by the placement of your tongue), whether the vocal chords are vibrating or not, and where the air is directed (mouth, nose, or stopped briefly).
Think about how your mouth moves and where your tongue (front, back and medial) is in your mouth (front near the teeth, back near the glottis or medial near the ridges on the roof of your mouth) for the following sounds:
a) tongue in /p/ vs. /d/
b) air flow in /n/, /m/, /ng/
c) tongue in /sh/ vs. /ch/
d) any vowel
I’m told that putting a lollipop in your mouth helps you tell what the tongue is trying to do. It can’t hurt, if the lollipop is used in moderation.
Do exercises #1, 3(b, c, d, i, n), 4, 6, (11 or 12) .