Phonology – phriend or phoe?

Ray ParkerNALA Dublin, 2013

A few simple principles

• English language teachers teach two languages not one!

• Spoken language is at least as systematic as any other part

• By focussing on important aspects of pronunciation we can score a double whammy!

• There’s nothing mysterious or complicated about phonology

3

Two Languages not One!

WritingGraphicPermanentConservativeDelivered in wordsHigh prestigeSecondaryLearned

SpeakingAcousticEphemeralProgressiveDelivered in utterancesLow prestigePrimaryAcquired

The size of the problem

• How many words?• 17,000?• How much grammar?• 400 structures?• How many phonemes?• 44

Elements of pronunciation

articulatory settingintonationstress timing utterance stress

strong & weak forms

csp’sclusters

phonemes

allophones

The possible components of the pronunciation element of a general English course

Pronunciation - our priorities

• Word stress• Delaying graphical interference• Stress timing• Modelling & correcting without

distortion

Word stress

1. You always get it right in speech2. Some people have problems identifying it.3. Physical violence is really helpful!4. We really have to be confident5. We really have to help learners6. Be consistent & make it routine

Word stress

1. Have a consistent board use strategy2. Share it with colleagues in your institution3. Use symbols which couldn’t possibly be

confused with normal writing4. Mine – and now that of many colleagues – is

the following

10

Misleading spellings

• bough• cough• though• through• thought• hiccough• enough• thorough

/baʊ//kɒf//ðəʊ//θru://θɔ:t//'hɪkʌp//ɪn'ʌf//'θʌrə/

Who is it?

ghoti

ghoti=

fish

ghoti

ghoti

Enough = /f/

ghoti

ghoti

enough = /f/

ghoti

women = / ɪ /

ghoti

nation = /ʃ/enough = /f/

ghoti

women = / ɪ /

• So what about this?

tchughce

21

onetwo

threefourfivesix

seven eightetc…..

Egyptian women manage businesses

Egyptian women manage businesses/ɪ'ʤɪpʃən 'wɪmɪn 'mænɪʤ 'bɪznɪsɪz/

Unhelpful spelling

Egyptian women manage businesses/ɪ'ʤɪpʃən 'wɪmɪn 'mænɪʤ 'bɪznɪsɪz/

Unhelpful spelling

So in our sample sentence these vowels represent the sound /ɪ/:

a e o u y i X

Delaying graphical interference

• Resisting bullying• Designating space on board and a specific time in

the lesson for adding written forms• Eliciting rather than presenting written form• Anticipating and focusing on potential

interference features – bizarre spellings– silent letters– redundant syllables

Components of pronunciation

28

articulatory setting

intonation

stress timing

sentence stress

strong & weak forms

csp’s

clusters

phonemes

allophones

The possible components of the pronunciation element of a general English course

Components of pronunciation

Top-down or bottom-up?

Utterance stress

What’s the system?

The good news:There is a system

Utterance stress

What’s the system?

The better news:The system is regular, reliable, predictable

Utterance stress

What’s the system?

The best news:It’s simple

Utterance stress

So which words are stressed in utterances and which ones

normally aren’t?

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Stress in utterancesOpen classescontent words

(stressed in sentences)(one syllable if polysyllabic)

Closed classesstructure words

(normally not stressed in sentences)(except polysyllabics)

class examples Class examples

nouns book, Ray pronouns he, there (e.g. there is ....)

(lexical) verbs to speak, to love conjunctions and, but

adjectives intelligent, green auxiliary verbs was, must

adverbs nicely, well prepositions for, from

numbers five, third determiners his, the

stress-timing

Ti amo

stress-timing

1 2 3

Ti amo

stress-timing

Ti amo, tesoro

stress-timing

1 2 3 4 5 6

Ti amo, tesoro

stress-timing

Fish, chips, peas

stress-timing

1 2 3

Fish, chips, peas

stress-timing

It’s in the shed at the bottom of the garden

stress-timing

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

It’s in the shed at the bottom of the garden

Sentence stress

Dogs bark

The dogs bark

The dogs will bark

The dogs are barking

The dogs have been barking

The dogs will have been barking

45

“Unusual stressing of items which would normally not be stressed

• Have you done your homework?• (¿Has hecho tus deberes?)

• Have you done your homework?• (¿Es verdad que has hecho tus deberes?)

46

“Unusual stressing of items which would normally not be stressed

• Have you done your homework?• (¿Tu, has hecho tus deberes?)

• Have you done your homework?• (¿Has hecho tus propios deberes?)

Workshop task 1

After you’ve completed the listening task, pair up with the other letter.1. Correct each other’s work. (between you,

you have all the words2. Discuss the level of difficulty you

encountered. Was one version more challenging than the other?

3. How would your learners manage such tasks?

Task 1 Big messages

• In terms of developing accurate listening expectations, version B is immensely valuable.

• In terms of moving towards acceptable pronunciation, version B is immensely valuable.

Task 2 marking key

Australia is a country where some of the most unusual animals in the world live. They’re called marsupials and include animals such as the kangaroo and the koala. The mother animals have got pouches of skin like pockets and they keep their babies there for the first few weeks of their lives.

Big messages from the workshop

1. We should help learners with word stress

2. We should delay boarding of new words3. We should focus on a top-down

approach to phonology4. We need to help students with

utterance stress by helping them to focus on unstressed words

Techniques for achieving these aims

• Consistent but delayed written modelling

• Back-chaining when drilling utterances

• Specially focussed listening activities