6 Lesson 6: How is Language Biological? (has activity)
Activity! Pronunciation Practice
A. /ɹ/ and /l/ (the second sound is the sound beginning the word ‘lovely’)
You are at a party with your friends. Several of them are international students. One of them is a friend from Japan who has difficulty saying English /ɹ/ and /l/ differently because in Japanese, there is only one approximant sound close to either of these sounds. Your friends turn to you and say, “Hey! You are in a linguistics class. Help us figure out how to make these sounds.”
- Use your knowledge of how sounds are made in the mouth to help your friend understand how to make these two different sounds.
- Describe the sounds using the descriptive terms we have learned in class.
In detail, explain to your friend how to make each of the sounds so that you describe the difference between them. Use everyday language rather to explain the linguistic terms you use.
B. /w/ and /u/
You have a friend from South Korea. She has difficulty pronouncing English /w/ and /u/ differently, because there is no [w] sound in Korean. Use your knowledge of how sounds are made in the mouth to help your friend understand how to make these two different sounds.
- Describe the sounds using the descriptive terms we have learned in class.
- In detail, explain to your friend how to make each of the sounds so that you describe the difference between them. Use everyday language rather to explain the linguistic terms you use.
C. /f/ and /p/
Your friend from South Korea also has trouble pronouncing /f/ and /p/ because Korean does not have an [f] sound. Use your knowledge of how sounds are made in the mouth to help your friend understand how to make these two different sounds.
Describe the sounds using the descriptive terms we have learned in class.
2In detail, explain to your friend how to make each of the sounds so that you describe the difference between them. Use everyday language rather to explain the linguistic terms you use.