Re: Phonology

Christopher Bates wrote:


>Does anyone have any advice regarding how to learn to pronounce sounds
>that don't feature in your own native tongue?
>
Smart-ass answer: Same way you get to Carnegie Hall:  Practice, practice.
But P.Clark already suggested that. Along with good tips from Chr. Thalmann
and Christophe Grandsire.

(Since we don't know your present level of knowledge, we hope we're not
insulting your intelligence......)

I don't know how good the website IPA sound samples are, as I've never been
able to hear them on this computer.  But you certainly need a live model of
some sort, and a fair amount of explanation. Try to find an introductory
phonetics text, if you haven't already.   It doesn't do much good to be told
that something is "velar" if you don't know exactly where or what the velum
is. Once you understand how you're producing the sounds of English, you can
figure out ways to modify them. A good (or even not so good) series of
cutaway drawing of the mouth and tongue will help, especially if they show
what the tongue is doing to produce a given sound.

Also Listen and Look.  If you have any Spanish speaking friends, for ex.,
watch their mouths closely as they speak.  (If they freak out, tell them
you're trying to learn lip-reading or something).  Failing that, just watch
yourself in a mirror as you practice moving your lips and tongue around to
different places.

It's hard at first, but fun in a weird way, and eventually you can re-train
yourself.  Babies, after all, can babble all sort of sounds; we merely
suppress that ability in the process of acquiring our native language.

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