Reflection 6

SHORT VOWELS VS LONG VOWELS

           In the previous chapters I learned about short and long vowels. In this occasion we have a comparison between them. Short vowels are only relatively short and they can have quite different lengths in different context, while long vowels are the vowels that tend to be longer than the short vowels in the same context. Also, Long vowels are different to the short vowel in length and quality. Finally, you can recognize the long vowel because they have an specific symbol that is two dots (:) meanwhile short vowels are composed only for the vowel symbol.

 

To get more information please visit the following page.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpep1Jrj5qY&feature=related

      http://www.recitfga.qc.ca/english/activities/sitsat-2007/ann_fairhurst_lozyk/vowel2.html

Reflection 5

ENGLISH PLOSIVES

          In this occasion I am going to talk about stops or plosives consonants.  A plosive is formed by the complete obstruction of the vocal tract by the articulators. This obstruction is then released, allowing the air to "explode" out of the mouth. When the air is blocked by the articulator, it begins to rise in pressure. Then, when the air is released, the high pressure air rushes out into the lower pressure area beyond the blockage. In English there are six plosive consonants, there are , , , , , . The plosives have different places of articulation. The plosive b, p are bilabial; t, d are alveolar; and k, g are velar. Finally, I can mention that All this consonants can occur at initial medial and final position.

For more information about this topic you can visit the following sites:

·         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_consonant

·         https://notendur.hi.is/peturk/KENNSLA/02/TOP/plos.html

·         http://tanvirdhaka.blogspot.com/2009/10/english-plosive-sounds.html

Videos

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyhk6g4T-2M

Reflection 4

DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTONGS

          In this chapter we learned about diphthongs and triphthongs. Diphthongs are types of vowels where two vowel sounds are connected in a continuous, gliding motion. They are often referred to as gliding vowels. There are two kinds of diphthongs; the centring glide towards the schwa vowel, while closing end with a glide towards a closer vowel We have to remember that the first part of the diphthongs is much longer and stronger than the second part. On the other hand a triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and then a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption

For more information you can visit the following pages:

·         http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/esl0105.htmlt

·         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diphthong

·         http://www.fonetiks.org/engsou4.html

·         http://www.paulmeier.com/ipa/diphthongs.html

Videos

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4Q1QN-SFCM

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjYVGAKQMdI

Reflection 3

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS

          In the English language there are five long vowels. For these reason in this chapter we learned about the long vowels. The long vowels are the vowels that tend to be longer than the short vowels in the same context. These vowels are different to the short vowel in length and quality.

           You can recognize the long vowel because they have an specific symbols that consist of one vowel symbol and together this we can find a length mark made of two dots : . 
  
That is all for this chapter for more information you can visit the following sites:

·         http://www.firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/phonics/vowels/vowels.htm

·         http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/index.shtml

·         http://www.abcfastphonics.com/long-short-vowels.html

Video

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY6EZjcDZdA

Reflection 2

         THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH

           We as humans have the necessity and the capacity to communicate and express our ideas, feelings, opinions and so on in an orally way. For this reason, in this chapter we studied the production of speech sounds.  All sounds that we make when we speak are the result of muscle contracting, and to produce the sounds is we use two cavities. These are the oral and the nasal cavity. To produce these sounds we need the help of different parts of the vocal tract. These parts are called articulators, and the study of them is called articulatory phonetics. The articulators are: the pharynx, the soft and the hard palate, the alveolar ridge, the tongue, the teeth and the lips.

          There are two types of sounds that we produce; their names are vowel and consonants. In this course vowel are called vocoids and consonants contoids.          English has a large number of vowels sounds, there are classified in cardinal, short and long.

         Short vowels or vocoids are only relatively short and they can have quite different lengths in different context. 

For more information about this interesting topic you can visit the following pages:

·         http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/

·         http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation/english_vowel_sounds.html

·         http://lovelylanguage.com/pronunciation/sounds/speech-organs/

Videos

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4E86gqzyO4

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsfQESpi-Ec&feature=related

Reflection 1

INTRODUCTION

 

           I am going to talk about the “English Phonetics and Phonology” book written by Peter Roach. In this chapter we can find a brief explanation about the course and how it is organized.  The principal aim of this course is to explain how English is pronounced in the accent normally chosen as the standard for people learning the English spoken. In this section of the book, we could find clear explanation about phonemes (Vowels and consonants) that are a small number of regularly used sounds. To represent each speech sound is used the International Phonetic Association (IPA chart). Furthermore, we learned about the difference between accent and dialect. Accent is concerned only with pronunciation differences, while dialect refers to all language variation including grammatical and lexical factors. Finally, I can mention that this course is based in the BBC pronunciation because it is accepted as the official accent to speak English properly and it is used in recent editions of dictionaries.

For more information you can visit the following pages

·         http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/literacy/lit_site/lit_sites/phonemes_001/

·         http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/

·         http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAPhoneme.htm

Videos

·         http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIemPxHSb6Q