Unit 6: Freeman and Freeman Application Questions

Melissa Stanton: Freeman and Freeman Application Questions

A)

1.     Thrasonical: After Thraso, a braggart soldier in the comedy Eunuchus (161 BCE) by the Roman playwright Terence. The name is derived from the Greek word tharsos (bold). Earliest documented example of the word used allusively: 1564.

2.     Gauntlet: From Old French gantelet, diminutive of gant (glove). The metaphorical sense of the word arises from the medieval custom of a knight throwing his gauntlet to the ground to challenge someone. An opponent would pick it up to indicate that he accepted the challenge.

3.     Ventriloquism: Literally speaking, ventriloquism is speaking from the stomach, from the former belief that the voice was produced from the ventriloquist's belly. The word is derived from Latin ventriloquus (ventriloquist), from ventr- (belly) + loqui (to speak). Earliest recorded use: 1797.

4.     Jeeves: After Reginald Jeeves, a valet in the stories by P.G. Wodehouse. Jeeves first made his appearance in a short story in 1915. Earliest documented example of the word used allusively: 1952.

5.     Expostulate: From Latin expostulare (to require), from ex- (intensive prefix) + postulare (to demand). Ultimately from the Indo-European root prek- (to ask), which is also the source of words such as pray, precarious, deprecate, postulate, and precatory. Earliest documented use: 1548.

6.     Three-ring circus: After a circus with three separate rings in which performances take place simultaneously. Earliest documented use: 1898.

7.     Jumbo: The word was popularized after Jumbo, a very large elephant exhibited by circus showman P.T. Barnum. Jumbo was captured in Africa, sold to a zoo in Paris, traded to London Zoo, and again sold to Barnum who took him to New York.

8.     Fool's gold: Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice, "All that glisters is not gold." Fool's gold is another name for pyrite, also known as iron pyrite or iron sulfide. Its shiny yellow luster has many fooled into believing they have struck gold while holding a mineral of little value. The name pyrite is from Greek pyrites (of fire), from pyr (fire) because it produces sparks when struck against a hard surface. Some related words are fire, pyre, pyrosis (heartburn), pyromania (an irresistible impulse to set things on fire), and empyreal (relating to the sky or heaven, believed to contain pure light or fire).

9.     Ostracize: [From Greek ostrakizein, from ostrakon (shell or potsherd), from the fact that in ancient Greece these were used as ballots in voting to banish someone. Ultimately from Indo-European root ost- (bone) that gave birth to such words as oyster, osteopathy, ossify, and Sanskrit asthi (bone).]

10.   Neanderthal: [After Neanderthal (literally, Neander valley) in western Germany near Düsseldorf, where bones of a Neanderthal man were first discovered in 1856. In 1904 German spelling was regularized so Thal became Tal.]

Note: Etymology of all ten words was found on http://wordsmith.org/.

B)

Phonetic	Semantic	Etymological
Rat	Infinite/infinity	Abacus: Greek
Will	Similar/similarity	Ballot: Italian
Brag	Sign/signal	Coward: Old French
Tin	Host/hostel	Freedom: German
Art	Invent/inventor	Mistress: French

Note: Etymological Origins were found on http://www.westegg.com/etymology/

C) #9: The letter g

Hard: /g/	Soft: /j/
Gap	Ginger
Goose	Giant
Gorge	Gypsy
Guppy	Geography
Gutter	Gerbil
Gate	Gymnast
Good	Generous

Generalization: “The letter G is pronounced with a Soft sound (like J) if it is followed by an E, I, and Y. The letter G is pronounced with a Hard sound (like G) if it is followed by A, O or U” (http://www.say-it-in-english.com/MoreRules.html)

Exception: “A good example of the unpredictable nature of this rule is guilt (the fact of having broken a legal or moral law), pronounced with a Hard G because of the silent U after the G, and gilt  (gold-covered), pronounced the same way, with a Hard G, and in violation of the rule, and jilt , (to break off a romantic relationship when the other person doesn't want to), with a J which is pronounced with the Soft G sound and follows the rule” (http://www.say-it-in-english.com/MoreRules.html).

Allophones and Dialects: Freeman and Freeman page 96-97

5. In the words pit and spit the /p/ and /p^h/ are allophones of the /p/ phoneme. The first consonant of pit has an extra puff of air after it which is not found after the /p/ of spit. This extra puff of air is noted as /p^h/; /p/ and /p^h/ belong to the same phoneme in English. Depending on the language, having this same phoneme in a L1 does not mean that it produces the same allophones.  For instance, in Chinese, switching /p/ and /p^h/ does change the meaning of the word.

6. In order to answer this question I referenced an article on how to speak in a British accent.  The article suggests that one trying to acquire a British accent should do the following: “pronounce U in stupid and in duty with the ew sound. Avoid the oo as in an American accent; thus it is pronounced stewpid, not stoopid, etc. In the standard English accent, the A (for example, in father) is pronounced at the back of the mouth with an open throat - it sounds like "Arh". This is the case in pretty much all British accents, but it's exaggerated in RP. In southern England and in RP, words such as "bath", "path", "glass", "grass" also use this vowel. However, in other parts of Britain "bath", "path", etc. sound like "ah" (WikiHow).

I know that in British English they have a different vocabulary. For instance, when I went to London and I held the door for someone they said “Cheers”. I found this odd because I think of this word when used in the context of a toast.  However, in London it means “thank you”.  Also, the term “brolly” means umbrella and “boot” means the trunk of a car.  I still remember the constant phrase used on the “tube” (subway), “mind the gap please”. 

I have always associated the British accent with greater intelligence. It just sounds more proper than the way that we speak in America.  Unfortunately, although I hate to admit it, and I’m sorry if I offend anyone, I often associate a deep southern accent with someone being uneducated and a New York accent with someone being rude.

In a way, I think it could be beneficial to someone who speaks a regional dialect to develop a standard speech in order to eliminate any preconceived notions or stigmas due to the way a person talks. However, I would never want these classes to cause an individual to lose their identity.

Minimal Pairs Activity

Minimal Pairs Activity: When assigned this activity I thought to myself, “Why re-create the wheel?” 

My lesson uses a worksheet that was created by Spectronics (http://www.spectronicsinoz.com/activities/minimal-pair).  The worksheet is pasted below.

Lesson:

Each student will receive the handout above.  The first minute or two of the lesson will be dedicated to listening to the pronunciation of each word, accompanied by looking at the visual.

After the initial listening portion is completed, students will receive an amended version of the worksheet which is pasted below. Students will work with a partner to try to identify the correct “s” or “sh” sound for each word that is said aloud and write the correct sound in the space above the picture. (Please note that in the blog it would not allow me to "white-out" the word above the picture).

After partner work is complete, students will review the activity as a whole group to check if they got the sound correct or not.