The Phonology and Semantics of the English Language - Assignment Example

The Phonology and Semantics of English Language There are many problems, but the most serious is pollution. All types of pollution threaten our lives. We must preserve our natural resources and environment. Civil movements, to preserve the environment are increasing. Laws should be made to prevent air pollution. ðɛr ɑr mɛni prɑbləmz, bət ðə most sɪriəs ɪz pəluʃən. ɒl tajps əv pəluʃən θrɛtən awər lɪvz. wi məst prəzərv awər nætʃərəl risɒrsəz ænd ənvajrənmənt. sɪvəl muvmənts, tu prəzərv ðə ənvajrənmənt ɑr ɪnkrisɪŋ. lɒz ʃʊd bi med tu prɪvɛnt ɛr pəluʃən. Phonetics is the production of speech sounds by humans, often without former knowledge of the language being spoken. While Phonology is the study of patterns of sounds, mainly different sound patterns in different languages, or within a language, different patterns of sounds of an alphabet in different positions in words etc. Phonetics is the base for phonological analysis. Some linguistics include phonetic within the study of phonology. Phonology studies sounds at a particular stage in the development of the language to determine the sound patterns that can occur (Phonology, 2011). International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation, primarily based on the Latin alphabet. International Phonetic Association devised it as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language i.e. a system to transcribe the sounds of speech, independent of any particular language and valid for all languages. The IPA represents just those qualities of speech that are characteristic of spoken language: intonation, phonemes, the separation of syllables and words. International Phonetic Alphabet system is used in dictionaries to specify the pronunciation of words, as foundation for creating writing systems for previously unwritten language, by non-native speakers of English and teachers (IPA, 2011). Phonology is the base of written and spoken language. Without a standard sound pattern to letters symbolizing sound, we would be making mere utterances, just like we hear animals, which our fellow human beings will not be able to understand or interpret. After listening to the audio clip, I interpreted that the speaker is of Korean accent. Korean natives tend to use Korean ‘sound’ system while speaking English. Korean and English sound rules are quite different. Some of these differences do not have much impact but others can interfere greatly with one’s ability to communicate (APC, n.d). At times, it happens that the listeners do not understand what is said; the speaker is speaking too fast or the sound is very flat, unfriendly or impersonal. The first sentence, “I have started years ago”, in the clip, is spoken too fast, is very vague and neither the words nor the sentence was comprehendible in the first attempt. According to IPA, ‘start’ is pronounced as stɑrt, while, the speaker has pronounced it in a fairly different way. He pronounced the first ‘t’ as the sound of ‘h’ in hand. The last part of the word has been left silent. Good communication depends on proper pronunciation. Dialects may vary area wise, but understandable pronunciation is paramount to making one’s message understood. Proper pronunciation is reproducing the sound of the word while speaking in such a way, that any listener would effortlessly know and understand the message. Improper pronunciation results in breakdown in communication and requires more effort to understand (Saylor, 2010). As a whole, the monologue is confusing and monotonous. The speaker is trying hard to convey his message and for this purpose, he is repeating the sentences. The clip is somewhat incoherent and leaves many things for the listeners to interpret according to their understanding. Yet, he was able to successfully convey some part of what he was trying to say. Core problem lied in joining the sentences; to synergize the structure. He also didn’t have a vast pool of words to make the listener understand easily, for example use of “sold into presentation to souvenir shop” could have been better explained by saying ‘sold as gifts in souvenir shops’. The above sentence can be interpreted differently by the various listeners. A listener may think that the flowers are being presented in the souvenir shop for presentation and decoration purposes, or they might comprehend it as that the flowers are being sold in the souvenir shop to the customers. Wrong pronunciation may lead listeners to misunderstand what the listener is actually trying to say. Poor pronunciation may cause a negative first impression as well. Incorrect pronunciation makes it very difficult for the listeners to communicate with the non-native speakers as the speech is very vague and indistinguishable. There is another sentence in the end, which is rather difficult to understand. The speaker is either saying that “we request them”, or that “we take request from them”. By ‘them’ he means the customers. If the speaker is saying that he takes request from the customers, he means that he takes orders from them for the flowers he is selling. On the other hand, “we request them” may be interpreted in entirely different way. By that, the speaker may mean that there are special offers for the customers, which results in more sales of the flowers. The speaker has difficulty pronouncing the alphabet ‘d’, when at the end of the letter. In the words, such as started, tried and household, he leaves ‘d’ silent. While, in the word ‘decoration’, where ‘D’ is at the start, he pronounces it perfectly. The right IPA pronunciation of this word is dɛkəˈreɪʃən, and the speaker has almost said it correctly. The pronunciation of household according to IPA is haʊsˌhoʊld. Now here, it can be seen that in both the letters the sound of alphabet ‘d’ is the same. But, the speaker has pronounced it differently, as the sound rules of different languages differ in many ways. The lack of pauses between two words may also change the meaning of the sentences. It is not only the pronunciation of the word that is important, but also speech features such as stress, tone and pauses between the words are crucial for effectively conveying the message. In the sound track, there is no break between ‘can you’. The speaker says it as one word. It is not changing the meaning here, but undoubtedly it makes it difficult for the listener to make out what is being said. Pauses between sentences and words are used to facilitate certain operations involved in the making and in the perception of speech. In case of speech perception, pauses improve the accuracy of detection and interpretation. Pauses are useful for the listener and for the speaker (Reich, 1979). A pause at wrong place may bring about a change in the meaning, and give listener incorrect impression of what is being said. For example; the sentence, ‘a woman without her man is nothing’, can have two meanings, depending on where the speaker pauses. It may be said ‘A woman, without her, man is nothing’, with breaks after woman and her, or it may be said as ‘A woman without her man, is nothing’, where there is only one pause after man. Both sentences with same words have entirely different meaning, only with the change of pause between the words. The whole monologue is delivered in a flat, monotone and uninteresting voice. It is very important to pay attention to how you are saying something in order to make it more powerful. While speaking, voice is a very important tool. Your voice communicates a lot more than your words. The tone of your voice and the stress you are putting on your words, helps the listener to understand which part of the speech is more important and requires more attention. It also assists the listener in determining what state of mind you are in, such as whether you are nervous, confident, angry, happy, etc. Generally, talking at the same pace causes the listener to lose interest in what you are saying and they may ignore you. This happens because it all sounds the same, like a never ending buzz of noise. In the audio clip, the speaker is going on about the same thing, over and over again. This factor makes the listeners perceive him as being less intelligent, tired, boring and incompetent. Loudness, pitch and duration are prosodic (suprasegmental) features in language that contribute to meaning by establishing language contrast in phonetic segmental features (Cutajar, 2010). Analysis of separate, individual segments or phonological units in isolation is segmental phonology. Though, many contrasts in language and phonological processes can be noticed at a higher level, known as suprasegmental features. Stress, intonation and rhythm are phonological features that manifest themselves at suprasegmental level. It is not necessary that suprasegmental features are noticeable in phrases or sentences only, they may occur in words as well. Difference in stress placement, sometimes establishes distinction between words, e.g. for the word ‘envoy’, stress is placed on the ‘en’ part when used as noun and when used as verb, stress is on the part ‘voy’. The same sentence, word or phrase said with different stress placements, rhythm and intonation contours, could express satisfaction, excitement, confusion or surprise. A simple statement can be changed into a question by merely changing the tone and stress placement. Intelligible pronunciation is very essential for communicating effectively. When learning a language, only grammatical aspects are not important. Wrong pronunciation of words confuses the listeners and results in misinterpreting of meaning. Speech is basic form of language and also of communication. Teaching non-native speaker how to pronounce words can be very tricky and complicated. The first thing to be done is to get to understand why English words can be so challenging for non-native speakers to pronounce. Understanding problem from students point of view will equip you in a better way, to help them overcome it (How to teach English pronunciation to ESL learners, n.d). A students first language usually interferes with English pronunciation. Another problem, resulting from differences in the first language, is that some students are unable to hear certain English sounds that their native language does not contain. Often vowel sounds, like ship and sheep’, cannot be distinguished by the learners. Students will not be able to pronounce those sounds which they cannot distinguish. To help them make the proper sounds, demonstrate using models and different movements of tongue and lips (Teaching pronunciation, 2011). For better learning of your students, use phonetic charts that have symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Hang these charts in your class, and familiarize your students with the symbols used. These charts can be used to teach correct sounds for a given word or similar words and also help the students understand the sounds that they get wrong. Use phonetic charts to clarify the stress in multi-syllabic words. This is much more effective for those students whose reading level is more advanced than their spoken English. Students can be given worksheets or might be asked to write down a few multi-syllabic words. Ask your students to identify different syllables in each word and shade them in different colours. Students should then indicate which syllable carries the stress of the word and the unstressed syllables. Focus on specific pronunciation features like voicing, aspiration, mouth position, intonation, linking, vowel lengths, syllables and specific sounds. Tell students about the general rules of pronouncing a particular word or syllables, but also make it clear that the rules don’t hold everywhere. For example; the ‘ea’ sound in fear, sea and bread has a different pronunciation. The material taught in class should be carefully selected, as it should be useful for communication outside the class as well. The speaker should be told to focus on the listeners and their needs. Add some fun to the teaching sessions, as it takes away the pressure of having perfect grammar and pronunciation and creates a more relaxed and effective atmosphere. Many language learners feel embarrassed, self conscious and negative about their pronunciation. Try to make them feel comfortable and be patient while teaching them, as it is not that easy (Dalton, Mexico, 1979). Conduct simple exercises which help the students in production and reception of sounds. Use activities like pronunciation games at the end of class or after a test, or when students need a break from the usual course. Students can be asked to impersonate an actor or actress; this will require them to exaggerate their accent. It is much easier and fun to fake a native English accent than to learn out of books (Ludwig, 2010). Encourage your students to speak English while interacting with the people outside the class. Everything cannot be learnt from books, especially pronunciation. It needs to be practised. The best way for a learner to learn and have a strong grasp on his pronunciation abilities is to practically imply the knowledge. Bibliography: Phonology, 2011, Encyclopedia Britannica, viewed on February 28, 2011, from: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/457313/phonology International Phonetic Association, 2011, Omniglot, viewed on February 28, 2011, from: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ipa.htm American pronunciation coach, specializing in American English pronunciation and accent reduction, viewed on March 1, 2011, from: http://americanpronunciationcoach.com/KoreanAccentReduction.aspx Saylor S, 2010, ‘Importance of English Pronunciation’eHow.com , viewed on March 1, 2011, from: http://www.ehow.com/about_6636066_importance-english-pronunciation.html#ixzz1FLbitLyf Reich S. R, 1979, ‘Significance of pauses for speech perception’, journal of psycholinguistic research, vol. 9, no. 4, viewed on March 2,2011, from: http://www.springerlink.com/content/h3v4118462l86652/ Cutajar, 2010, ‘Suprasegmental Features of the English Language: A Look at how Pitch, Loudness and Duration Contribute to Meaning’ viewed on March 2, 2011, from: http://www.suite101.com/content/meaningful-contrasts-in-language-a211106#ixzz1FP8GleXU How to Teach Pronunciation to ESL Learners, eHow.com, viewed on March 2, 2011, from: http://www.ehow.com/how_4549513_teach-pronunciation-esl-learners.html#ixzz1FPQCHVCo Teaching pronunciation, 2011, Colorado State University, viewed on March 2, 2011, from: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/esl/pronunciation.cfm Ludwig P. A, 2010, ‘How to Teach Phonetics to ESL Students’, eHow.com, viewed on March 2, 2011, from:  http://www.ehow.com/how_7335348_teach-phonetics-esl-students.html#ixzz1FQZQzaQx Dalton D. F, and Mexico C, 1979, ‘some techniques for teaching pronunciation’, the internet TESL journal, vol. 3, no. 1, viewed on March 2, 2011, from: http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Dalton-Pronunciation.html Read More