Unit 4 Lesson Plan (With Notes for Teachers) Nasals, Approximants & Lateral(s) Date: Oct. 8-11 Class: Classes 1, 2 & 3, Grade 2002 Subject: English Pronunciation for Communication Purpose: The students will learn the consonants: nasals, approximants & lateral(s) in English. Objectives: Students will be able to: Define - in their own words a definition for Nasals, Approximants & Lateral(s); 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 Nasals, Approximants & Lateral(s) In this unit, we will learn Nasals, approximants and lateral(s) in English. Like the stops, the nasals are all made by closing the vocal tract at some point in the mouth. Unlike the stops or any other sounds in the language, there is an opening into the nasal cavity in the pronunciation so that the sound can be resonated through the nose. The nasal consonants are /m/, /n/, and /(/. /w/, /r/, and /j/ are called approximants because it is an articulation in which the articulators approach each other but do not get sufficiently close to each other to produce a "complete" consonant such as a stop, nasal or fricative. /l/ is called a "lateral" because during its pronunciation, the passage of air through the mouth does not go in the usual way along the centre of the tongue. /m/, /n/ & /(/ /m/ and /n/ are simple, straight-forward consonants: the /m/ occurs at the front of the mouth and is grouped with the labials, the /n/ is produced on the upper gum ridge and is alveolar. The place of articulation of /(/ is the same as that of /k/ and /(/. It is made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate. If we compare nasals with stops, fricatives and affricates, we will find that the nasals present quite a different picture in that they have some vowel-like qualities: they can be syllabic. Both /m/ and /n/ can occur in initial, medial, and final position in words. /(/, however, never occurs in word-initial position. Most Chinese EFL learners have no problems with /m/ and /(/. For /n/, however, it is necessary to check for a /l/ substitution because in some Chinese dialects, [n] and [l] serve as free variants. Allophonic variations of /m/: Syllabic: something Lengthened, when an arresting /m/ is followed by a releasing /m/: some more The labiodnetal nasal, when followed by /f/: comfort Allophonic variations of /n/: Dentalized before a labiodental /f/ or /v/:invite Velarized before /k/ or /(/: think Syllabic: button Lengthening, when /n/ arrests and releases adjoining syllables: ten names Allophonic variations of /(/: The alveolar [n], when followed by an alveolar: taking ten Syllabic: lock and key /w/ and /j/ /w/ and /j/ are similar in several ways. First, they are closely related to a vowel sound: /j/ is similar to the vowel /i:/ and /w/ is very much like the vowel /u:/. Because of this, they are also called semivowels. Secondly, neither /j/ or /w/ will ever occur in word-final position in English. Thirdly, they are both voiced consonants. In pronunciation, for /j/ the lips are relaxed and the tongue is in the high front space; for /w/ the lips are rounded and the tongue is in the high back space. Then there is a movement away from these positions to whatever sound which follows. The more modern term for /j/ and /w/ is approximant, which is an articulation in which the articulators approach each other but do not get sufficiently close to each other to produce a "complete" consonant such as a plosive, nasal or fricative. /j/ and /w/ are not problem sounds for most Chinese EFL learners except it is necessary to emphasize the fact that the pronunciation of /w/ requires considerable lip rounding. /r/ /r/ is the other approximant besides /j/ and /w/ in English. The important thing about the articulation of /r/ is that the tip of the tongue approaches the alveolar area in approximately the way it would for a /t/ or /d/, but never actually makes contact with any part of the roof of the mouth. During the pronunciation, the tongue is in fact usually slightly curled backwards with the tip raised. /r/ is a difficult sound for many Chinese EFL learners. The difficulties mainly come in two ways. Some use the (r) sound in Chinese Putonghua, such as (rì) 日, as a substitution, which sounds more like a fricative than an approximant. The substitution of a flap-r, which sounds more like a /l/ than /r/, is also common among the learners. Experience show that it is helpful to stress the necessity of the slight lip-rounding in the pronunciation of the sound. Now, try to make a long /r/ sound and feel that no part of the tongue is in contact with the roof of the mouth at any time. Allophonic variations of /r/: Devoiced as in voiceless clusters: treat The one-tap flap /r/: very The retroflexed /r/: right The back /r/, before or after /k/ or /(/: crate grey /l/ The fact that the /l/ phoneme is typically produced with potential air flow around one or both sides of the tongue makes it unique among English speech sounds. It is also highly variable in terms of its articulation. Several important variations exist. In pronunciation, you produce it by dropping the sides of the tongue and allowing air to escape around the sides. /l/ is also one of the English speech sounds that often causes trouble for Chinese learners. Check for the typical substitution of /r/ or /n/. Another important fact about /l/ is the difference between the two distinctive allophones: clear-l and dark-l. Allophonic variations of /l/: Syllabic: bottle "Clear-l", made with the tongue in the classical fronted position: lease "Dark-l", (the tongue tip and blade in the post alveolar position): call Devoiced in consonant clusters with voiceless stops: play The post-palatal, or velar /l/: milk 辅音?: 鼻腔音、延续音和旁流音 本单元我们将学习英语中的鼻腔音、延续音以及旁流音。鼻腔音与爆破音相同之处在于发音时气流在口腔某一处成阻。鼻腔音与爆破音以及所有其他音不同的是，发鼻音时口腔通道完全阻塞,气流只能通过鼻腔产生共鸣。英语的鼻腔音包括/ m、n、( /。 / w /、/ r /、/ j /是延续音。发延续音时发音器官彼此接近，但无接触、无摩擦, 亦不产生爆破。 / l /是旁流音。发音时，口腔中部形成阻碍，气流可从一侧或两侧逸出。 / m / / n / / ( / / m /和/ n /发音简单直接。/ m /是由双唇紧闭发出的音，发音时上下唇紧闭，舌身平放，软腭下垂，气流从鼻腔泄出。/ n /是个齿音，发音时舌头抵住上齿龈。/ ( /的发音部位与爆破音/ k /和/ ( /相同，舌后部触及软腭，堵塞口腔通道，双唇开，气流从鼻腔泄出。鼻音与爆破音、摩擦音以及破擦音有很大的不同，它具有某些类似元音的性质：可以自成音节。 大部分中国英语学习者发/ m /和/ n /都没有问题。我国某些方言中[ n ]和[ l ]是自由变异体，来自这些方言区的同学在学习中会有一些困难。分不清/ n /与/ l /主要的问题是将鼻腔音/ n /与口腔音/ l /混淆了。只要严格按照两种不同的发音方法去处理，问题是不难解决的。以下是/ m /、/ n /与/ ( /受语音环境影响而产生的不同变体。 /m/的音位变体：可自成音节，如 something; 位于前面的单词以/ m /音结束而紧跟着的单词又以/ m /为首时，延长发音时间，如 some more; 后接/ f /时发成唇齿鼻音，如 comfort / n /的音位变体: 在唇齿音/ f /或/ v /前齿化，如 invite; 在/ k /或/(/音前软腭化，如 think; 自成音节，如 button; 位于前面的单词以/n/音结束而紧跟着的单词又以/ n /音为首时延长发音时间，如 ten names; / ( /的音位变体: 后跟一个齿龈音时受同化而成为齿龈音, 如 taking ten; 自成音节，如 lock and key / w / / j / / w /和/ j /在三个方面很相似。第一，他们的发音分别与元音/ u: /和/ i: /相似，发音时气流在通道上基本不受阻碍，只是稍有摩擦，因此又被称作半元音。第二，/ w /和/ j /都不出现在英语单词的词尾。第三，他们是浊辅音。发/ j /时双唇呈扁平状，舌向硬腭抬起，略高于元音/ i: /，中间留有小缝隙形成不完全阻碍，气流从缝隙泄出时引起舌前硬腭间摩擦而成音。发/ w /时呈发/ u: /的姿势，舌向软腭抬起，双唇收圆，稍向前突出，气流在通过双唇时发生轻微摩擦而成音。现代语音学家将这两个音称作延续音。延续音的发音器官彼此接近，但与所谓“完全的”辅音如爆破音、鼻音以及摩擦音不同的是，它兼具元音与辅音的特点。 对于大部分的中国学生来说, 发/ w /和/ j /并不困难，需要强调的是发/ w /时双唇需要收圆。 / r / 另一个延续音是/ r /，发音时舌尖向上齿龈后部卷起，舌前部下陷略成凹形，舌身两侧向上弯曲，双唇略突出成圆形，气流由舌尖和齿龈后部间的缝隙泄出成音。注意舌尖不可接触上齿龈，否则就发成了/ t /和/ d /的音。 对于大部分的中国学生来说，发/ r /时会出现两种问题。一些学生用汉语普通话中的（r）音（如发“日”）代替/r/，汉语中的（r）听起来更像是摩擦音, 试比较”row” 与”肉”。还有些学生将其发成了闪音r，听起来像是在发英语的/ l /，而不是/ r /, 如将row说成low。记住发/ r /时略有圆唇。 / r /的音位变体: 位于词首的/ r /，如right; 在清辅音群中清音化，如treat; 闪音/ r /，如very; 在/ k /或/ ( /后的/ r /舌位稍后移，如crate grey / l / / l /在英语语音中很特殊，发音时舌尖抵上齿龈，气流从一侧或两侧逸出。/l/与别的英语辅音不同之处在于：在众多的音位变体中，有两个显得特别突出，需要加以注意：“清晰”[l]：位于词首元音前，“模糊”[l]位于词尾元音后。“清晰”[l]在发音时舌前部向着硬腭略抬起，而“模糊”[l]在发音时则是舌前部稍压低，舌后部却朝软腭稍为抬高。 “清晰”[l]与汉语的（1）基本相同，需要重点练习的是“模糊”[l]：call, full, tall, fill。 此外，在学习/ l /音时，还要注意它与/ r /与/ n /的区别，如light, night, right。 / l /的音位变体: 舌伸向口腔最前部，形成“清晰”[l]，如, lease; 舌尖与舌叶位于后齿龈处形成“模糊”[l] call; 自成音节，如 bottle; 与清爆破音形成辅音群时清音化，如 play; 在软腭音前舌位稍后移，如 milk.