What is Phonology?

What is Phonology?Presented by Mrs. Mary Acevedo, M.Ed., TESOL

Phonology: o one of the sub-fields of linguisticso the study of sound systems and

abstract sound units

Phonology is…

The phonological system of a language includes :

An inventory of sounds and their features, and

Rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.

Phonology is…

Phoneme: Smallest unit of sound that Is a distinctive sound unit and that Makes a difference in meaning

Minimal pairs: Two words that differ by one phoneme –

“bat” /b æ t /; “pat” /p æ t/ Important instructional tool in ESL!

How do we learn sounds?

Babies listen to sounds from native language producers (parents and sometimes teachers)

Babies internalize sounds– learn to produce Behavioral Learning Theory, BF Skinner: imitation

Babies can hear or produce any sound Social Interactionist Theory, Piaget and others:

Nature AND Nurture As children grow up brain forms “connection”

and is “hard wired” for native English sounds Nativist Theory, Noam Chomsky: SET THE

PARAMETERS! Critical Period Hypothesis, Eric Lenneberg: Up until

about puberty children can learn native pronunciation of any language (L1 and L2) – after that will be much more difficult (if not impossible)

How do we learn sounds?

Second Language Learners listen to the sounds produced by their teachers. L2 learners internalize sounds by activities involving

attention and practice: Minimal pair practice and Drilling (e.g., tongue

twisters) (Contrastive Analysis) Using visuals (studying diagrams showing points of

articulation) and realia or props (touching, models of mouths, rubber bands, pieces of paper, mirrors, etc.) to focus (Attention)

Reading sentences and focusing on sounds, stress, rhythm, intonation (Ausubel)

Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and their features, and the rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.

INVENTORY = the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm

Vowels 5 letters: a, e, i, o, u about 20 different vowel sounds in

American English Consonants

about 24 different consonant sounds in American English

Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and their features: THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA)--CONSONANTS

Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and their features:THE INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA)--VOWELS

Phonology consists of an inventory of sounds and their features, and the rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.

RULES = Points of articulation (see next slide) Voiced/voiceless Blends Stops Fricatives Affricates Nasals Liquids Glides Phonemic Sequence – way in which sounds can be

arranged in language (in initial, mid (medial) or final positions)

Consonants – Place/Manner of Articulation

Vowels – Place/Manner of Articulation(This is a diagram of a person’s mouth (side-view), just like the last slide is.)

American English has 14 vowel sounds and 5 dipthongs

Pronunciation Challenges for ELLs1. When native languages don’t have or don’t distinguish between the sounds that English distinguishes, either interference or substitution of other sounds occurs.

Interference “eskool” for “school” = Spanish “dussin” for “dozen” = Swedish (also Spanish has Z

spelling but not the sound)

Substitution “beeble” for “people = Arabic “flied lice” for “fried rice” = Chinese “dem” for “them” = Most languages do not have

the “th” sounds, so /d/ is produced instead of /ð/ (voiced “th”); also, “sink” is produced for “think” in languages that have no /θ/ (voiceless “th”).

Problem Vowels for Spanish Speakers

Pronunciation Challenges for ELLs

2. English has poor sound/symbol correspondence between phonology and orthography, so problems with spelling and reading will occur.– Example: In many European languages, including Spanish, each letter has

precisely one sound. This is excellent sound/symbol correspondence. However,…

in English, the letter o has 4 sounds! odd, open, to, oven The sound / ʃ / can be spelled ship, sugar, station, and so on There are many examples of both vowels and

consonants with this problem!

Pronunciation Challenges for ELLs

3. Lack of cultural knowledge to master semantics and pragmatics Registers

formal (written – correct – long forms) informal (spoken)

Reductions going to “gonna”

Contractions will not “won’t” NOTE: Contractions don’t occur in every

language! Changing a sound

Did you eat yet? “Jeet yet?”

Phonology - Implications for InstructionWhat can we learn from SLA Theory?

Attention Theories: Teachers and students who have Phonological Awareness and understand that students will not readily be able to pronounce words that don’t exist in their languages will not be frustrated. Students don’t have to memorize IPA, but

discussions about sounds are important.

Critical Period Hypothesis: They may never have native-like pronunciation.

Affective Filter Hypothesis: Control classroom behavior – no teasing!

Phonology - Implications for InstructionWhat can we learn from SLA Theory?

Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis: Teach students the difference between English and their native languages. Focus on place/manner of articulation and demonstrate how sounds are produced. “Dangerous English” – A foreign accent may

cause embarrassment if a mispronunciation results in a “dangerous” word– obscene or vulgar language. Sometimes it’s hard for an ELL to distinguish the “long e” sound from the “short i” sound. That’s OK if the student mixes up ship and sheep, but it’s not OK if the student mixes up sheet and shit. Close your eyes and imagine your sweet, 4th grade ELL asking you for 4 shits of paper!– Time for major behavior management after that mistake!!

Phonology - Implications for InstructionWhat can we learn from SLA Theory?

ERROR CORRECTION: See handout in folder. Think of how

the SLA theories influence when, how, and whether errors should be corrected.