2020 Halloween Special

I used Tophonetics.com to transcribe some of the answers.

 Ex. Match the trivia about Gothic and horror literature with the phonemic transcription of the answers. Then write the answers using ordinary English spelling.

1. the most famous vampire, described in a novel by Bram Stoker

2. the evil alien clown from Stephen King's novel IT

3. the author of Psycho and other horror and science-fiction novels

4. the main character of a novel by Ira Levin, who falls prey to her husband and evil neighbours

5. In E. A. Poe's famous poem the mysterious raven repeats this one word

6. the monster Dr Jekyll turns into in R. L. Stevenson's novel

7. Stephen King's novel about a family trapped in a haunted hotel

8. H. P. Lovecraft's most famous evil alien

a. /'nevəmɔː/ b. /ˈdrækjələ/ c. /ˈrəʊzməri/ d. /'kθuːluː/ e. /ˈmɪstə haɪd/ f. /ˈpeniwaɪz/ g. /ˈrɒbət blɒk/ h. /ðə ˈʃaɪnɪŋ/

Key. 1b Dracula, 2f Pennywise, 3g Robert Bloch, 4c Rosemary, 5a nevermore, 6e Mister Hyde, 7h The Shining, 8d Cthulhu

Avoiding Polish "ą" and "ę" in English pronunciation

The sound inventory of Polish contains two phonemes which are treated as vowels even though phonetically speaking, they are diphthongs in which a non-nasal vowel is followed by a nasal semi-vowel. They are "ą" /ɔ̃/ and "ę" /ɛ̃/. Polish speakers of English may sometimes mishear and mispronounce e.g. the English vowel /æ/ or the sequence /en/ as /ɛ̃/ and the diphthong /əʊ/ or the sequence /ɒn/ as /ɔ̃/. In some cases the problem appears to lie in misinterpreting English spelling rather than mishearing a given word. Here we omit cases where in many native English accents vowel allophones are actually nasalised (e.g. in southern dialects of American English). 

N.B. There exist some borrowings from French in which the French nasal vowels close to /ɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃/ can be pronounced in a somewhat French manner. This group includes the words restaurant, genre, blancmange, croissant and pain (au chocolat), enfant (terrible).

Ex. In each set below there is pseudo-phonetic Polish transcription of common errors accompanied by the prescribed RP pronunciation in IPA. Write the words transcribed.

e.g. "kęt" /kɑːnt/ can't

a. "dęs" /dɑːns/   b. "częs" /tʃɑːns/   c. "frędz" /frendz/   d. "fręs" /frɑːns/
e. "pęz" /pænz/   f. "tęz" /tænz/   g. "hąk" /hɒŋk/   h. "dąt" /dəʊnt/
i. "łąt" /wəʊnt/   j. "łąt" /wɒnt/   k. "frąt" /frʌnt/   l. "ęt" /ænt/   m. "ęt" /ɑːnt/
n. "ęt" /ænd/ or weak forms /ən(d)/   o. "tąp" /tuːm/   p. "bąb" /bɒm/
q. "strąk" /strɒŋ/   r. "rąk" /rɒŋ/

KEY
a. dance, b. chance, c. friends, d. France, e. pans, f. tans, g. honk, h. don't, i. won't, j. want, k. front, l. ant, m. aunt, n. and, o. tomb, p. bomb, q. strong, r. wrong

Silent letters

This is a post about letters, particularly consonantal ones, which are not pronounced. The most common cases have been omitted, e.g. the "-e" in take.

Ex. In each set choose the word which is pronounced differently from the remaining words. Indicate which letter is or is not silent.

a. past - bath - party - logically
b. dumb - plumber - number - tomb
c. school - cause - muscle - cane
d. obtain - doubt - debt - bomb
e. castle - thistle - jostle - mostly
f. thyme - thick - thin - three
g. signing - reign - benign - ginger
h. hotel - honour - horror - hostel
i. heir - hair - hourly - honestly
j. folk - yolk - bulk - stalk
k. Malmö - palm - calmer - embalm
l. knowledge - acknowledge - knead - kneel
m. hymn - condemn - damnation - damn
n. pterodactyl - psalm - upside - psychology
o. corps - corpse - corporal - copious
p. choir - chorus - technical - church
q. gullet - ballet - bouquet - valet
r. fax - faux - lax - box
s. singsong - parson - lesson - person
t. wrapper - lower - whistle - white
u. wear - weary - more - merely
v. amazing - zany - lazy - rendezvous

KEY
a. logically silent "a",
b. number non-silent "b" (but number, the comparative of numb, also has a silent "b") ,
c. muscle silent "c" ("sc" pronounced /s/)
d. obtain non-silent "b"
e. mostly non-silent "t"
f. thyme silent "h" ("th" pronounced /t/)
g. ginger non-silent second "g"
h. honour silent "h"
i. hair non-silent "h" (in RP)
j. bulk non-silent "l"
k. Malmö non-silent "l"

l. knowledge non-silent "n"

m. damnation non-silent "n"

n. upside non-silent "p"

o. corps silent "p" (actually the entire word is pronounced just /kɔː/)

p. church both "h"s in "ch" are pronounced

q. gullet non-silent "t"

r. faux "x" is silent

s. singsong non-silent "o" (no syllabic /n/)

t. wrapper silent "w"

u. weary non-silent "r" (in RP)

v. rendezvous silent "z"

Pronunciation games 3

Make a Word
players in groups of 2-5

You'll need: 2 sets of cards (colour-coded) per group.

1. The aim of the game is to pick two cards, one from each stack or set, and make one word according to what both of the cards say. For example, one set of cards specifies the number of syllables, from one to four, while the other set specifies which sounds you need to use. Let's say a student has picked two cards:

Card 1 "Your word contains two syllables" and Card 2 "Your word begins with a /p/". The student says party and gets a point. 

2. Another option is to test just one category of sounds or features: particular vowels, consonants, weak and strong forms, words that rhyme etc. Use lexical sets or rhymes if your students don't know phonetic symbols. You can also have a set which specifies what speech part the word is. It is important, however, to keep the stacks or sets separate and make sure the cards don't contradict each other, so that no student picks for instance "Your word begins with a consonant" and "Your word begins with a vowel". Likewise, avoid requirements that would make the possible range of answers too narrow or even impossible, such as "Your word begins with /ʒ/" and "Your word contains /h/". For the same reason, avoid making three sets of cards, as they would make things too difficult.

You can add wildcards, such as any vowel or consonant, any number of syllables, any part of speech.

3. As always, if students disagree, they can ask you for help or use dictionaries on smartphones. Make sure they don't cheat by simply going to a word-searching website (or asking Siri).

4. When there's some time left and a group has used all the cards, the students can reshuffle them and continue.

5. You can also print out and distribute lists of all the tasks and simply give students cards with numbers and letters or dice. This is perhaps less exciting as a brief look at the list will reveal all the possible options. 

As a warm-up or a follow-up you can do an example in reverse, that is write a word on the board and ask the students to make rules that could be used on cards. For instance, if you write the word consider, the students will say things like "It has three syllables", "It begins with /k/" or "It contains /d/". 

Pronunciation of "x"

To make this exercise I used toPhonetics at https://tophonetics.com.

Ex. Categorise the following words depending on the pronunciation of the letter "x".

xenophobia, exhume, exalt, exit, xenon, examination, expect, example, xylophone, lexical, exhilarate, maximum, exonerate, syntax, Xena, coccyx, Xerox

1. /ks/  2. /gz/  3. /z/



KEY
1. /ks/ coccyx, exhume, exit, expect, lexical, maximum, syntax, Xerox (second "x")
2. /gz/ exalt, examination, example, exhilarate, exonerate
3. /z/ Xena, xenon, xenophobia, Xerox (first "x"), xylophone

Pronunciation games 2

Word Hunt 2-5 players (or more)

You'll need: sets of cards with questions or challenges (e.g. 15 cards for each group), a list of words for each group (e.g. 30 words)

1. The aim of the game is to pick a card and find the right words on the list. For example, the list contains the following words:

about, away, acorn, abacus, April, apricot, armour, attention

Card 1 says: "Find 3 words which begin with the schwa /ə/ sound". The student should select "about", "away" and "attention".

Card 2 says: "Find 3 words which consist of 3 syllables". The student should select "abacus", "apricot" and "attention".

Card 3 says: "Find 1 word which begins with the /ɑː/ sound". The student should select "armour".

Of course, if your students do not know IPA, use example words that illustrate the sounds tested.

2. Remind the students that some of the words can be used more than once; the students should not write on the list or cross out words.

3. Your cards can ask about many things: spelling and pronunciation, silent letters, minimal pairs, the number of syllables, word stress, words that rhyme etc.

4. A student who has answered a question correctly gets a point. If other players have doubts, they can ask you for help. Alternatively, you can allow them to use dictionaries or smartphones.

The cards can also ask about the meaning of words. For instance, a card says: "Fill in the gap in this sentence. 'He was a knight in shining ___.'". The answer is "armour".

This game is also an idea for a test: a list of words followed by a set of questions concerning their pronunciation. Needless to say, a written pronunciation test is similar to an exam for students of English attending a Linguistics class, so you need to decide if your students really need this form of testing.

Pronunciation of the "-ed" suffix

In May 2019 I wrote about the "-(e)s" suffix in plural nouns, the 3rd person singular form in the Present Simple tense as well as the "-'s" or "-s'" in so-called Saxon Genitive. The rules concerning the pronunciation of the "-ed" suffix of the Past Simple and Past Participle of regular verbs are quite similar: the suffix is voiceless after a voiceless sound, voiced after a voiced one and an additional vowel appears when the consonant is similar to the one in the suffix.

1. After a voiceless consonant "-ed" is pronounced /t/, e.g. walked /wɔːkt/, passed /pɑːst/.
2. After a voiced consonant, semi-vowel, vowel or diphthong "-ed" is pronounced /d/, e.g. bored /bɔːd/, played /pleɪd/.
3. After /t/ or /d/ "-ed" is pronounced /ɪd/ (some sources say it is /əd/), e.g. waited /'weɪtɪd/, faded /'feɪdɪd/.

The error that is the most typical of Polish learners of English is devoicing, namely pronouncing final /d/ as /t/ and /ɪd/ as /ɛt/, /ɛ/ being a Polish vowel represented by the letter "e".

Before a pause /d/ is actually devoiced but not the same as /t/. The details will be explained in a separate post.

Ex. Put the following verb forms in categories depending on the pronunciation of the "-ed" suffix.

baked, wasted, leaked, amazed, melted, smirked, highlighted, tired, greeted, marked, hated, expired, scoffed, grazed, camped, smiled, raised, jumped, booked, helped, watched, skied, surveyed, regretted, considered, added, missed, fainted

1. /t/   2. /d/   3. /ɪd/



KEY
1. /t/ baked, leaked, smirked, marked, scoffed, camped, jumped, booked, helped, watched, missed
2. /d/ amazed, tired, expired, grazed, smiled, raised, skied, surveyed, considered
3. /ɪd/ wasted, melted, highlighted, greeted, hated, regretted, added, fainted

Pronunciation games 1

With today's post I begin a series of simple ideas to use games in pronunciation classes.

Pronunciation race 2-4 players

You'll need: a blank board game template, pieces, dice

1. Download a simple blank board game template or draw one yourself. It should be a simple start-to-finish or Chutes-and-Ladders / Snakes-and-Ladders type of game. Make sure the colours are not too bright. Print it out in the A4 format.

2. In some of the spaces write the symbols that you want to revise. In my game I used symbols for English monophthong vowels.

2. Decide how many sets you want to use in your class. Copy the boards (one for up to four players) and give each team of players a die and up to four pieces.

3. Students are supposed to throw a die, move their pieces (a six does not mean they throw again) and if they land on a space with a symbol, they should say a word which contains the sound represented. Others listen and if they disagree, someone can challenge the player and use a dictionary/smartphone to check the pronunciation of the word. A player who says nothing for e.g. a minute or gives the wrong word misses the next turn.

4. The teacher should move between the groups and listen to them play, correcting mistakes if necessary. Note that the more teams, the more difficult it becomes to catch mistakes or make sure students do not cheat or use L1 to communicate.

5. The game works best with adults: it doesn't matter who makes the fewest mistakes or reaches the goal first. Children may treat the competitive aspect of the game too seriously and be unhappy if they 'lose'. If adult students insist on counting points, they may do so provided they write down the symbols and words as well. The teacher may then check their lists to correct any mistakes made during the game.

6. After some time or after everyone has reached the finishing line in the game, the teacher may ask which sound was the most difficult.

N.B. If you use a chutes-and-ladders template or one with many spaces, the game will last longer (Chutes and Ladders adds another element of chance - students who come up with correct words may not finish the game, and students who are worse at pronunciation may reach the goal first; a template similar to Ludo can make things too complicated and the gameplay too long). Of course the more students play using one board, the longer the game takes.

A more time-consuming variant is to mark some of the spaces with the same symbol or use a highlighter to colour it in and prepare one set of cards for each team containing phonemic symbols. In this way the boards themselves can be reused for other exercises and only the cards are replaced.

This is of course the most basic idea possible. I'll be referring to today's post in some of my later posts.

Calques from Polish 2

This is a continuation of an exercise I wrote in 2017. 

Ex. Correct the following sentences: they contain non-native phrases translated directly from Polish.

1. When you write an essay, you have to plan it in advance to make sure it has arms and legs.

2. Jane was tired and left the party in English. No one knew she was gone until the others started to leave.

3. I know nothing about philosophy. During Professor Jones's lecture on Hegel I sat as if I was at a Turkish sermon.

4. Jake's plans to move to Portugal and open a B&B are just castles from sand.

5. Before you make business with the Chinese, you need to know a few things about Chinese culture.

6. The secretary printed out the document and put a spinach on the pages.

7. Frank's a morning bird - he gets up at six even on Sundays.

8. It's worth to see this film.

9. I can't remember the last time I watched a tele-tournament.

10. Father tried to throw smoking last year but he started to smoke again after a week.

11. She always got high marks from her English exams.

12. I forgot my umbrella and got as wet as a hen.

13. The shopkeeper doubled and tripled to serve all the customers.

14. After the divorce the actor didn't have a penny at his soul.

15. You have to pay for the course from above.

Key

1. ... it makes sense. 2. ... left the party without saying goodbye. 3. ... Hegel I couldn't understand a word/a thing. / Professor Jones's lecture on Hegel was all Greek/double Dutch to me. 4. ... are just pie in the sky. 5. ... do business. 6. ... put a paper clip on the pages. 7. ... an early bird. 8. This film is worth seeing. 9. ... a game show/quiz show on TV. 10. ... to quit/give up smoking 11. ... high marks in 12. ... soaking wet. 13. The shopkeeper bent over backwards 14. ... the actor was broke/penniless. 15. ... pay for the course up front/in advance.

Polish words mistranslated into English: 1. mieć ręce i nogi, 2. wychodzić po angielsku, 3. siedzieć jak na tureckim kazaniu, 4. zamki na piasku, 5. robić interesy/biznes, 6. spinacz, 7. ranny ptaszek, 8. warto obejrzeć, 9. teleturniej, 10. rzucić palenie, 11. oceny z egzaminów, 12. zmoknąć jak kura, 13. dwoić się i troić, 14. nie mieć grosza przy duszy, 15. z góry

Words connected by derivation: changes in pronunciation

Some words which share a common root (one is derived from the other or both are derived from another word) are pronounced differently: the stress shifts to another syllable or the stressed vowel changes its quality. Sometimes this is made obvious by the spelling, cf. long - length, think - thought; in the exercise below, however, we focus on examples where the spelling is not very helpful in determining the pronunciation.

I used Tophonetics at https://tophonetics.com/

Ex. How should we pronounce the following pairs of words? Pay attention to vowel sounds and word stress.

clean - cleanliness, clear - clarity, know - knowledge, moral - morality, nation - national, photograph - photography, social - society, various - variety, wide - width


Key

/kliːn/ - /ˈklenlɪnɪs/, /klɪə/ - /ˈklærɪti/, /nəʊ/ - /ˈnɒlɪʤ/, /ˈmɒrəl/ - /məˈrælɪti/, /ˈneɪʃən/ - /ˈnæʃənl/, /ˈfəʊtəgrɑːf/ - /fəˈtɒgrəfi/, /ˈsəʊʃəl/ - /səˈsaɪəti/, /ˈveərɪəs/ - /vəˈraɪəti/, /waɪd/ - /wɪdθ/

Silent "-ue"

Sometimes the letters "-ue" following "g" or "q" are not pronounced. A common mistake is to pronounce the end of such words as /-gju:/ or /-kju:/ instead of /-g/ or /-k/. Interestingly, American English spelling reflects these silent letters by simply removing them, e.g. American Eng. dialog, cf. British Eng. dialogue.

Ex. How should we pronounce the following words? Pay attention to other vowels as well.

dialogue, catalogue, rogue, ague, plaque, pique, vague, vogue, meringue, torque, fugue, league, plague

KEY
/ˈdaɪəlɒg/, /ˈkætəlɒg/, /rəʊg/, /ˈeɪgjuː/, /plɑːk/, /piːk/, /veɪg/, /vəʊg/, /məˈræŋ/, /tɔːk/, /fjuːg/, /li:g/, /pleɪg/