Unit 3 Lesson Plan (With Notes for Teachers) Consonants: Fricatives and Affricates Date: Sept. 30 Class: Classes 1, 2 & 3, Grade 2002 Subject: English Pronunciation for Communication Purpose: The students will learn the consonants: “fricatives” and “affricates” in English. Objectives: Students will be able to: Define - in their own words a definition for “fricatives” and “affricates”; Compare – based on the understanding of the basic concept, compare them with 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: Fricatives and Affricates This is Unit 3. In this unit, we are going to learn two groups of consonants: fricatives and affricates. At the same time, we are going to learn how to describe an object and to learn how to talk about one’s job with appropriate pronunciation and intonation in English. Introduction What do you know about fricatives and affricates in English? Well, if the stops completely block the airstream for a time in the pronunciation, the fricatives only partially block it, thus causing the friction-like noise characteristic of these sounds. There are nine fricative consonants, forming the largest set of consonants in English. /t(/ and /d(/ are affricate sounds, which you produce by blocking off the breath-stream between the tongue and gum ridge, for a stop and a fricative. The term affricate means "blend", in this case, consisting of a stop and a fricative. /t(/ and /d(/are the two English affricates and they differ primarily in terms of voicing. /f/ and /v/ /f/ and /v/ are labio-dental sounds. /f/ is voiceless and /v/ is voiced. They are fricative sounds that you produce by forcing the breathstream between you upper teeth and lower lip. They can be used at the beginning, middle and end of words. /f/ is not a problem sound for most of the students but /v/ may sometimes cause problems. It may substitute for another bilabial such as /w/, or a bilabial /b/ may be substituted for /v/. There is also a tendency to devoice /v/, especially at the ends of words. /(/ and /(/ /(/ and /(/ are interdental sounds. They are fricatives that you produce by squeezing the breathstream between your tongue and teeth. /(/ is voiceless and /(/ is voiced. These sounds tend to appear relatively late in the speech of children and cause considerable stress for both native and non-native speakers of English. Although the spelling seems to be highly consistent in English, the fact is that the "th" combination is used for both /(/ and /(/. They can be used at the beginning, middle and end of words. The problem with /(/ are many and varied. A dentalized [t] occurs when there is insufficient breath support. With a /f/ or /s/ substitution, the problem is not with airflow but with placement. This sound will require considerable effort to stabilize in all contexts. The problem with /(/ is quite similar. With insufficient airflow, a dentalized [d] will occur. Placement difficulties result in a /v/ or /z/ substitution. Devoicing may also be a common problem since English orthography uses the letters "th" for both /(/ and /(/. The following steps are useful in the pronunciation drill for these two consonants: Look in a mirror and say the [(] sound. Make sure you can see the edge of your tongue protruding between your teeth. Say [(] again. Say the [(] sound over and over again. Don't move your tongue between sounds. Try the following: [(] … [(] … [(] … [(] … thin [(] … [(] … [(] … [(] … thanks [(] … [(] … [(] … [(] … thought The same method can be applied to the practice of [(] sound. /s/ and /z/ /s/ and /z/ are alveolar sounds. They are fricatives that you produce by forcing air between your tongue and the upper or lower front teeth. /s/ is voiceless and /z/ is voiced. /s/ is one of the most useful sounds in English because it has an important grammatical function in forming possessives (Kate's), third person singular, present tense verbs (sits), and plurals (seats). Although /z/ is not as frequent in English speech as /s/, it performs similar grammatical functions in marking possessive (Susan's), third person singular, present tense verbs (runs), and plurals (dogs). Both /s/ and /z/ have been ranked as the most troublesome sounds in English, but it is rarely a serious problem for the Chinese EFL learners once their grammatical roles are mastered. They can be used at the beginning, middle and end of words. With /s/ and /z/, the main problem comes from the omissions, which may result from grammatical deficiencies (plural, possessive, and so on) or from a failure to pronounce the ends of words. The devoicing of final position /z/ may be helped by lengthening the preceding vowel. In the word prize, for example, many speakers of English devoice the final /z/ but lengthen the diphthong. /(/ and /(/ /(/ and /(/ are lingua-palatal fricatives. You produce them very much like the /s/ and /z/, except the tongue is farther back and the lips are rounded. /(/ is voiceless and /(/ is voiced. /(/ is not a particularly common sound in English or the languages of the world, but can be learned quite easily. /(/ is the least frequent of the consonants in English and is not common in the world's language. /(/ can be used in initial, medial, and final positions in words, but /(/ is not found in word-initial position in English words. With /(/ and /(/, lip rounding is very important. For example, you can get /(/ by making /s/ first, then move the tongue body a little backward, then say it again with rounded lips. /h/ /h/ is a voiceless glottal fricative. It is simply a stream of air from the larynx directed through the open mouth. It is not found in word-final position in English words. /h/ is not generally a problem sound, but some learners may use a voiceless velar fricative [(], as a substitution, which sounds more like a Chinese (h) in the pronunciation of 喝 (h) meaning "to drink". /t(/ and /d(/ /t(/ and /d(/ are affricate sounds, which you produce by blocking off the breath-stream between the tongue and gum ridge, for a stop and a fricative. The term affricate means "blend", in this case, consisting of a stop and a fricative. The /t(/ is a blend combined of [t] and [(]: it starts out as a [t] stop and then the tongue moves into the position for [(]. The /d(/ is a blend of [d] and [(]: it starts out as a [d] and then the tongue moves into the usual position for [(]. Both /t(/ and /d(/ can occur in initial, medial, and final positions in words. /t(/ and /d(/ are fairly easy to perceive at normal conversational levels. The overall strength of production is important for /t(/ because weakening leads to a [(] substitution. /d(/ is less tense than /t(/, but it is still made with considerable strength. Weakening may lead to a [(] substitution. Lip rounding will help to stabilize the sound. 辅音?: 摩擦音和破擦音 本单元我们将学习两类辅音：摩擦音和破擦音。 如果说爆破音是让气流成阻，那么摩擦音就是部分地阻塞气流，发音时气流可以持续通过口腔形成缝隙的部位，伴随而来的是一种轻微的摩擦声。 摩擦音是英语辅音中数量最多的一类音，包括/f/ /v/ /(/ /(/ /s/ /z/ /(/ /(/ /h/ /t(/ /d(/. /t∫/和/d(/是破擦音。发音时，舌尖抵住上齿龈后部，所产生的音既含/t/与/d/的爆破，又含/∫/与/(/的摩擦。“破擦音”这个词本身暗含“混合”之意，即由爆破音和摩擦音组成。/t∫/是清辅音, /d(/是浊辅音。 / f / / v / / f /和/ v /是唇齿音。前者是清辅音，后者是浊辅音。发音时，上齿紧挨下唇，然后将气流向外挤出。 对于大多数中国学生来说，发好/ f /不成问题，/ v /则不然。有些人都把/ v /发成双唇音/ w/或/ b /。此外，人们的发音中还出现将/ v /清音化的趋势，即用/ f /代替/ v /，特别是/ v /在词尾的时候。 /(/ /(/ /(/ 和 /(/是齿间音。发音时，舌尖抵及上齿内侧，或置于上下齿之间，舌身平放口中，气流从舌尖与上下齿之间形成的缝隙中挤出，摩擦生音。/(/是清辅音，/(/是浊辅音。 人们发/(/时，常常出现一些问题，例如，气流不足便导致齿化音/ t /的出现；发音部位出错便导致/ f /或/s/出现。/(/也面临着同样的问题，如气流不足，便发出齿化音/ d /；发音部位有误，便发成/ v /或/z/。由于字母组合th既能发成/(/也能发成/(/，人们就常常用/(/代替/(/。发音练习时可采取几个步骤： ⒈对着镜子，发/(/ ⒉确信你能看到舌边缘蠕动在上、下齿间。再发一次/(/ ⒊一遍一遍地念/(/，记住:不要移动舌头的位置。 试着做下面的发音训练： /(/ … /(/ … /(/ … thin /(/ … /(/ … /(/ … thanks /(/ … /(/ … /(/ … thought 可以用同样的方法进行/(/的发音训练。 /s/ /z/ /s/和/z/是齿龈音。发音时，舌尖抵上齿龈，气流从舌前端与齿龈间挤出，产生磨擦。/s/是清辅音，/z/是浊辅音。/s/在英语中出现频率很高，因为它可以帮助构成所有格（如Kate ‘s）, 主语为第三人称单数的动词现在时（如takes）和名词复数（如seats）。/z/的使用率远不及/s/，但它在构成所有格（如Susan’s），主语为第三人称单数的动词的现在时（runs）和名词复数(dogs)时，也发挥了同样重要的语法功能。人们普遍认为/s/和/z/是英语中最令人头痛的音，然而对于我国学生来说，一旦掌握它们的语法作用，其他问题都迎刃而解了。 /s/和/z/的问题源自省音。这是由语法成份残缺（如复数、所有格），或没有将词尾的音发出等造成的。/z/在词尾时，人们有时只是拖长位于前面的元音同时将/z/清音化。以单词prize为例，若将/z/发成/s/就成了price。 /(/ /(/ /(/和/(/是腭龈摩擦音。发/(/和/(/时，舌头在口腔中的位置比发/s/与/z/时靠后，整个舌面举平抬向硬腭，双唇呈圆状。/(/是清辅音，/(/是浊辅音。 发/(/和/(/时，口形要呈圆状。例如，发/(/时，先摆好/s/的口形，然后舌身往后靠，接着双唇突成圆形并吐出/(/的音。 / h / 发/ h /音时，摩擦不发生在口腔中的任何部位，发音时口张开，声门略为收缩，气流通过声门时只有轻微的摩擦，就像人们长出一口气那样，因此人们管它叫声门摩擦音。学习时要注意勿将/ h /发成汉语普通话中的（h）音，因为（h）在发音时，舌根接近软腭，所产生的气流带明显的摩擦。请注意这两个音的区别：“害”(hai) 与 high。 /t∫/ /d3/ /t∫/和/d3/是破擦音，发音部位与/(/和/(/相似，因此，可以在发/(/和/(/的基础上来练习/t∫/和/d3/的发音。发音时先将舌尖和舌端接触齿龈，如发/t/、/d/一样，同时舌面前部向硬腭抬起，双唇稍为突出，发/(/和/(/，其结果便是破擦音/t∫/和/d3/.