Stumbling
Blocks to Stepping Stones:
Shortcuts
to Comprehensible Pronunciation
Randall Rightmire
UCSB ESL/Linguistics
rightmire@linguistics.ucsb.edu
CATESOL 37th Annual State Conference
San Francisco
April 8, 2006
1. What is a “pronunciation shortcut”?
A “pronunciation shortcut” is
any substitution, distortion, or exaggeration of native-like articulation that
we can teach as a temporary means to the improvement of a student’s
intelligibility and/or comprehensibility.
Languages:
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, et
al.
Problem:
[r, l] (no contrast)
Where:
Ends of words (Chinese); anywhere (Japanese)
Shortcut:
Substitute [l]
(alveolar) à [l] (interdental)
2. What are comprehensibility
and intelligibility?
John Field (2005)
“Terms such as intelligibility and comprehensibility are used interchangeably.”
“Intelligibility is measured
by the ability of judges to transcribe the actual words of an utterance,
comprehensibility by an overall rating of how easy it is to understand a given
speaker.”
Field “restricts the term intelligibility to features of the
speech signal…. Intelligibility forms part of a wider construct of
comprehensibility.”
3. Why teach shortcuts?
Andrea Toth (2005)
[T]here seems to be a
determination in the ESL profession to have our students pronounce [t, d, s, z]
as prescribed with little regard to the students’ perceptions of what they need
to improve, to the functional load, or to the level to which intelligibility is
diminished if an item is mispronounced.”
4. Activity
Pair up and, with your partner, choose identities A
and B.
Partner A: Close your eyes and listen.
Partner B: Read the four
words in your “A” set; read two with your native-like [l] and two with the
interdental [l] you just learned.
Partner A: Could you tell
which was which? Was the interdental
[l] different enough to cause distraction, stigma, misunderstanding?
Partners A and B: reverse
roles; partner B, read the words in your “B” set.
5. “Dr. Seuss Sentences”
“And left! Think of left.
Think about BEFT.
Why is it that BEFT always go
to the left?”
In the activities on the back
of this handout, we will use “Dr. Seuss Words,” e.g., “Ree-un.”
6. Consonant Devoicing
Languages:
German, Russian, et al.
Problem:
[b,
d, g, v, z], etc. (voiced consonants)
à [p, t, k, f, s], etc.
(voiceless consonants)
Where:
At ends of words
Shortcut:
Exaggerate the length of the
preceding vowel (Dauer
1992)
(hid) not: hit but:
hih-it
(cub) not: cup but:
cuh-up
7. Weakening of Voiced Stops
Language: Spanish
Problem:
[b,
d, g] (voiced stops)
à (fricatives)
Where:
At ends of words; between
vowels
Shortcut:
Substitute
b à p
d à t
g à k
And
Lengthen the preceding vowel
(except schwa)
(robe) not: rove but: row-ope
(bad) not: bath but: baa-at
(read) not: wreath but: ree-eat
(about) not: avout but: a-pout
8. Tense and Lax Vowels
Languages: most
Problem:
[i, i] (heat, hit)
[e, ε] (shade,
shed)
[u, u] (shoed, should)
(no contrast between tense
and lax vowels)
Where:
Everywhere
Shortcut:
Exaggerated schwa off-glide
to lax vowels
(sin) not: scene but: see-in
(Ken) not: Kane but: kay-un
(pen) not: pain but pay-un
9. Weakening of the Voiced Alveo-Palatal Fricative
Language: Chinese
Problem:
[ž] à [y]
Where:
Between
vowels
Shortcut:
Substitute
[ž] à [š]
(persuasion)
not:
persway-yun but: persway-shun
(supervision)
not: supervee-yun but:
supervee-shun
References
Dauer, Rebecca (1992) Accurate English: A Complete Course in Pronunciation. Prentice
Hall.
Field, John
(2005). Intelligibility and the
listener: the role of lexical stress. TESOL Quarterly, 39, 3: 399-423.
Seuss, Dr.
(1975). Oh, the Thinks You Can Think.
New York: Random House.
Toth, Andrea
(2005). What not to teach when teaching
pronunciation. CATESOL Journal, 17, 1: 125-131
Activity 1
A
His car looked like a bat
car.
The mother was looking for
her cup.
The mother hit her boy in the
back of the car.
B
His car looked like a baa-at car.
The mother was looking for
her cuh-up.
The mother hih-it her boy in the back of the car.
Activity 2
A
Jerry tried to find his rove.
It was a bath night.
She said she was going to
wreath.
What are you talking avout.
B
Jerry tried to find his row-ope
It was a baa-at night.
She said she was going to ree-eat.
What are you talking a-pout.
Activity 3
A
The movie was full of
scenes.
My teacher’s name is
Kane.
The teacher told us we can
write in pain.
B
The movie was full of see-ins.
My teacher’s name is Kay-un.
The teacher told us we can
write in pay-un.
Activity 4
A
She used a lot of persway-yun.
She
gave me a lot of good supervee-yun.
B
She used a lot of persway-shun.
She
gave me a lot of good supervee-shun.