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.





This is my very first blogging experience! I'm looking forward to working and learning with everyone enrolled in ESL 502.