Unit 2 Lesson Plan (With Notes for Teachers) Consonants: Stops Date: Sept.23-27 Class: Classes 1, 2 & 3, Grade 2002 Subject: English Pronunciation for Communication Purpose: The students will learn the stop consonants in English. Objectives: Students will be able to: Define - in their own words a definition for “stops”; Compare – based on the understanding of the basic concept, compare stops and other consonants; Practice – imitate the sounds and do practice. Resources/Materials: Textbook: Wang, Guizhen, An English Pronunciation Course, Higher Education Press, Beijing, 2000; Handouts: illustration of the phonemes in focus; Recordings of native speakers Activities and Procedures: Stimulating: Begin by asking the class to find out how much the students know about what they are required to learn. Make sure that it serves the purpose of stimulating the students to think about the issue and have the desire to find out the answers themselves. Display examples by playing the recording of the native speakers showing the typical pronunciation in English. Ask the students to listen to the tapes to make a good discrimination of the sounds in focus. Have the students imitate the sound in focus. Have the students share what they have learned by reading out the practice materials in pairs. Have the students listen to the conversations recorded by native speakers of English and try to get the sounds in focus correct in their pronunciation. Have the students practice the guided conversation. Ask them to pay special attention to the sounds in focus in speech. Highlight the language function in the conversation in the practice. Have several pairs of the students present their conversation in the class. Comment on the students’ performance by highlighting the achievement of the students and the efforts they need for the improvement. Ask the students to do more practice after class and get ready for presentation during the next session. Notes for Teachers Consonants: Stops In this unit, we will learn the stop consonants in English. The stop consonants are made by completely stopping the airflow at some point in the mouth and then, for most productions, releasing it into the sound that follows. There are six stops in English: /p/ and /b/ are formed by the lips, /t/ and /d/ are made on the gum ridge behind the upper teeth, and /k/ and /(/ occur at the back of the mouth where the tongue makes a weal with the soft palate. /p/, /t/, /k/ are voiceless stops as they are not accompanied by vibration from the larynx, while /b/, /d/, /(/ are the voiced stops. These stops are among the most frequent sounds in English and have fairly consistent spellings. /p/ and /b/ You pronounce the /p/ and /b/ by stopping the airstream with you lips, building up pressure and suddenly releasing the air. They can be used at the beginning, middle and end of words. The following are some of the allophonic variations of /p/ and /b/. Allophonic variations of /p/: Allophone Occurrence Example [p(] Aspirated release in initial word and stressed positions poke [p-] Unreleased in word final position top ten [p ] Unaspirated release in clusters, esp. after /s/ spot [p:] Lengthening, when an arresting /p/ is followed by a releasing /p/ Stop Pete. [p(] Nasal release, before a syllabic nasal Stop him. Allophonic variations of /b/: Allophone Occurrence Example [b-] Unreleased in word final position rob [b:] lengthened when an arresting /b/ is followed by a releasing /b/ Rob Bob. [b(] Nasal resonance, before a syllabic nasal Rob him. /t/ and /d/ The /t/ sound is one of the most frequent in English and occur in all three positions at the word level. It has many variations and is a very interesting and productive sound in the language. /d/ is not as frequent in English nor does it have the number of varieties that /t/ has. You pronounce them by blocking the airstream with the tongue and upper gum ridge, building up air pressure and suddenly releasing it. The following are some of the allophonic variations of /t/ and /d/: Allophonic variations of /t/: Allophone Occurrence Example [t(] Aspirated release in word initial and stressed positions tape [t-] Unreleased in word final position coat [t ] Unaspirated release in consonant cluster, esp. with /s/ stop [t(] Dentalized before /(/ eighth [t(] Nasal release, before a syllabic nasal button [(] Flapped, intervocalically letter [(] Glottal stop, before syllabic [n] or [l] button [t:] Lengthening, when an arresting /t/ is followed by a releasing /t/ let Tim [t(r(] Affrication of initial position /tr/ train Allophonic variations of /d/: Allophone Occurrence Example [d(] Dentalized before an interdental width [d-] Unreleased in word final position dad [ d(l ] Bilateral release with /l/ padlock [d(] Nasal release, before a syllabic nasal bread'n butter [( ] Flapped, intervocalically ladder [d:] Lengthening, when an arresting /d/ is followed by a releasing /d/ sad Dave [d3r] Affrication of initial position /dr/ drain /k/ and /(/ You produce /k/ and /(/ by blocking the breath-stream with the back of the tongue and soft palate, building up the pressure, and suddenly releasing it. The "hard-c", as in cat, and the letter "k" account for most of the spellings of /k/, but there is also a silent-k in words such as know and knight. The spelling of /(/ is consistent in English, although there is a silent version in words such as gnash and gnat. Both /k/ and /(/ can occur at the beginning, middle, and end of words in English. The following are some of the allophonic variations of /k/ and /(/: Allophonic variations of /k/: Allophone Occurrence Example [k(] Aspirated release in word initial and stressed positions keep [k-] Unreleased in word final position take [k] Unaspirated release in consonant cluster, esp. with /s/ sky [k:] Lengthening, when an arresting /k/ is followed by a releasing /k/ take Kim [k(] Nasal release, before a syllabic nasal beacon [ k(l ] Bilateral release with /l/ clock [c] or [k] Assimilated to a front sound keen [(] Glottal stop, before syllabic [n] bacon [k(((((] Rounded, before a rounded sound quarter Allophonic variations of /(/: Allophone Occurrence Example [(-] Unreleased in word final position and some clusters flag [(:] Lengthening, when an arresting /(/ is followed by a releasing /(/ big grapes [((l ] Bilateral release before /l/ glad [((] Nasal release, before a syllabic nasal pig and goat [(] or [(] Assimilated to a fronted sound geese [((((((] Rounded, before a rounded sound goose Pronunciation difficulties The English stops do not generally cause an intelligibility problem among the Chinese EFL learners but some learners may devoice final position voiced stops so that tab may be pronounced as tap, code as coat and /li:(/ as /li:k/. Lengthening the vowel before the voiced stops will aid in the perception of a voiced final stop. /i:/ in need, for example, is usually a little bit longer than /i:/ in neat when they are in similar phonetic contexts. Another difficulty with the Chinese EFL learners is the pronunciation of the stops in consonant clusters. Drill the sounds in all positions, paying close attention to the strength of production and the degree of voicing. 辅音: 塞音 在这一单元，我们将学习英语的爆破音，也叫塞音。 英语的爆破音共有三对，发音方法是：使气流在口腔某处成阻，再让气流冲决阻碍，爆破生音，因此叫爆破音。英语的六个爆破音中：/p/和/b/的发音部位是双唇；/t/和/d/的发音部位是舌尖和齿龈；/k/和/(/发音时，则是用舌后部触软腭形成阻塞而爆破生音。其中/p/，/t/和/k/是清辅音，因为发这三个音时声带无需振动。相反的，/b/，/d/和/(/在发音时，声带振动，是浊辅音。 /p/和/b/ 当你发/p/和/b/两音时，双唇合拢而形成阻塞，然后让气流冲决阻碍，爆破生音。这两个音可出现在词首、词中和词尾三个部位，/p/和/b/在不同的语音环境中有不同的变体： /p/的音位变体 ①/p/在词首且在重读音节中时，是送气音如poke； ②当处于词尾时，可能失去爆破，如top tea； ③在/s/后形成辅音连缀时，/p/在发音时不送气，如spot； ④当两个/p/相邻时，无需产生两次爆破，而只是延长发音的时间，如stop Pete； ⑤当/p/后紧跟着的是鼻音时，此时爆破不在口腔，而在鼻腔，就是我们通常说的“鼻腔爆破”，如Stop him； /b/的音位变体： ①当处于词尾时，不完全爆破，如rob the man； ②当两个[b]相邻时，无需产生爆破，只是延长发音时间，如rob Bob； ③/b/在鼻音前时，爆破不在口腔，而在鼻腔，如rob him； /t/和/d/ /t/和/d/是齿龈爆破音. 发这两个音时，用舌尖抵齿龈成阻，让气流爆发而出。 /t/的音位变体 ①/t/在词首且在重读音节中时，是送气音如tape； ②当处于词尾时，可能失去爆破，如sit still； ③在/s/后形成辅音连缀时，/t/在发音时不送气，如stop； ④当处于/ /之前时，呈齿音化发音，如eighth； ⑤当/t/后紧跟着的是鼻音时，此时爆破不在口腔，而在鼻腔，就是我们通常说的“鼻腔爆破”，如button； ⑥当处于两个元音之间时，/t/听起来近似闪音，如letter； ⑦当/t/位于成音节/n/或/l/前时，便成了声门爆破音，如little； ⑧当两个/t/相邻时，无需产生两次爆破，而只是延长发音的时间，如let Tim; ⑨当处于辅音组合/tr/中时，发音兼具爆破与摩擦的特征，如train； /d/的音位变体： ①当处于齿间音（如/(/ /(/）之前时，呈齿音化发音，如width； ②当处于词尾时，不完全爆破，如Dad said so. ③当与/l/组合时，成为舌侧爆破音，如padlook； ④/d/在鼻音前时，爆破不在口腔，而在鼻腔，如bread’n butter; ⑤当两个/b/相邻时，无需产生爆破，只是延长发音时间，如sad Dave ⑥当处于辅音组合/dr/之中时，发音兼具爆破和摩擦的特征，如drain。 /k/和/(/ 发/k/和/(/两音时，用舌根顶住软腭堵住气流的出路，然后舌根猛地离开软腭使气流爆发而出。/k/是清辅音，/(/是浊辅音。 /k/的音位变体 ①/k/位于词首，且在重读音节中时，是送气音，如keep； ②当处于词尾时，可能失去爆破，如take three； ③在/s/后形成辅音连缀时，/k/在发音时不送气，如sky ④当两个/k/相邻时，无需产生两次爆破，而只是延长发音的时间，如take Kim; ⑤当/k/后紧跟着的是鼻音时，此时爆破不在口腔，而在鼻腔，就是我们通常说的“鼻腔爆破”，如beacon; ⑥当与/l/音组合时，成为舌侧爆破音，如clock； ⑦后跟前元音时，/k/的发音部位前移，如keen； ⑧位于成音节/n/时，便成了声门爆破，如bacon； ⑨位于圆唇音之前时，发音时亦呈圆唇，如quarter. /(/的音位变体 ①当处于词尾时，不完全爆破，如lag behind; ②当两个/(/相邻时，无需产生爆破，只是延长发音时间，如big grapes ③当与/l/组合时，与成为舌侧爆破音，如glad； ④/(/在鼻音前时，爆破不在口腔，而在鼻腔，如pig and goat; ⑤后跟前元音时，发音部位前移，如geese; ⑥位于圆唇音之前时，发音时亦呈圆唇，如goose. 发音难点解析 中国学生在学习英语爆破音时要注意的问题主要有以下两点： 一、爆破音的学习，就发音部位来说，并不难掌握：英语的爆破音与汉语的声母（b，p，d，t，k，g）极为相近。所不同之处主要体现在发音方法上。总的说来，英语的三对爆破音的区别特征是清辅音和浊辅音；而区别汉语三对声母的特征则是送气音与非送气音。当英语的爆破音位于词首时，清辅音的送气比汉语的对应音更为有力；浊辅音一般只有轻微的声带振动。当英语的爆破音位于词尾时，爆破可能非常地轻微，此时，帮助辨别清浊辅音的一个重要特征就是位于爆破音前的元音的长度。例如，在相似的语音环境中，need中的/i:/通常比neat中的/i:/稍长一些。另外，当浊辅音位于两个元音之间时，声带振动则是必须的。 二、在学习中要注意的另一个问题是这三对爆破音的音位变体。这些音位变体的主要形式我们已经接触过。例如，什么时侯爆破音会失去爆破：take them；鼻腔爆破音应怎么发：garden；旁流爆破音应怎么发：people；在辅音连缀中，当/p t k/出现在/s/之后，“送气”会减弱，如speak, sky, star。 掌握了以上发音方法，我们就能正确地发好英语的爆破音了。