ENGLISH SOUNDS: PART I

ENGLISH SOUINDS: PART I

Hi! This is Professor Panda again! How are you? I hope everyone is well.

Today I want to cover just a few extremely basic points that might be of help to you in understanding both how to speak and how to write in English. I must apologize for the fact that some of what I will talk about is a bit “slanted” toward those who speak Japanese (Nihongo), but along with English, they are the languages I know best. I used to know some Vietnamese but over many years and lack of practice, I have forgotten 99% of what I learned. I hope sometime in the next couple of years, to return to Viet Nam and then I can get a bit of much needed practice!

Anyway, let’s get started and remember to have a good dictionary with you for this lesson.

Before I do however, I want to mention something that will be very helpful to you. When you are studying all the words and phrases and sentences in these lessons, make sure that you articulate (speak) aloud. In fact, it is really helpful if you read the entire lesson aloud. Try never to read these lessons silently. Perception of a sound is not the same as the production of a sound – thinking the sound is not the same as speaking the sound. Clear speaking (articulation) is the best way to make your brain recognize sounds as English sounds. Silent reading does not activate your brain, speaking aloud does. I assure you that you will make much faster progress this way.

Consonants

Ok, the first things I want to talk about are consonants, which are simply speech sounds that are characterized by constriction or obstruction of the airflow at various points in the mouth or throat when talking. For example: “t” is a consonant because in order to pronounce it, you use the tongue to block airflow at the edge of the mouth between the upper teeth and the gum.

What letters in English are consonants? As you will see in a minute, anything that is not a vowel (I know, I know, I’m a big help!)

Vowels

Vowels are speech sounds that are produced without any obstruction of airflow in the mouth. For example: “i” is a vowel because to pronounce it, you push air forward and out smoothly, without using your tongue.

Syllables

A syllable is a unit or part of spoken language that consists of:

• A vowel or vowel-like consant alone, or,



• A vowel or vowel-like consonant pronounced with one or more consonant sounds before or after
  

It is how words are divided when speaking. For example: the word consonant is divided into three syllables – con-so-nant. By looking up a word in your dictionary, you see that the word is broken down for you into syllables. Practice the word by slowly pronouncing each syllable slowly, and then you can increase speed until you are comfortable with how you are saying the word.


Sounds

Japanese is quite simple in comparison to English when it comes to sounds. Japanese has only 14 consonants and 5 vowels. English however has 24 consonants (which include the “semi-vowels “Y” and “w”) and even though English has only 5 vowels as well, it has at least 12 vowel sounds! It is much easier for and English speaker to speak Japanese sounds because they already exist in English; however, it is often a real struggle for Japanese speakers to master English pronunciation because they have to deal with many sounds that do not exist in Japanese!

Also, in Japanese, each syllable ends with a vowel and each syllable is considered to have the same “weight” or emphasis – Japanese syllables sound as though they have the same length. This is not quite the same in English, for example:

Karaoke – in Japanese the word has four syllables: Ka-ra-o-ke. In English the same word also has four syllables: car-rie-oh-key. You can already start to see a difference in pronunciation!

In Japanese, each syllable sounds as though it has exactly the same length as all the others. Each syllable is short and open. In English, syllables are not characterized by the same length – car-rie-oh-key. Pronounce both the Japanese word and the English word. With care, you can begin to hear the slight difference in length between “oh” and “key”. The same thing applies in other words like Eng-lish or Jap-a-nese. Can you hear the long “nese”?

Well, that’s enough for today! Next time we will discuss specific vowel sounds to help you along the way to pronouncing Western English. I’m a bit hungry now and need a snack! I think I’ll have a bit of panda soup! Would you like some?

Bye bye until next time!

Lesson 2. What Is Grammar?

WHAT IS GRAMMAR?

 

            “Grammar,” Henry Fowler wrote in his soon-to-be famous, 1926, Dictionary of Modern English Usage, is “a poor despised branch of learning.”  Well maybe he was a bit grumpy that day.

 

            To the rest of us, grammar is a branch of linguistics (the study of language) that deals with the form and the structure of words.  It is an attempt to make clear  what the skilled writer and speaker of English does by instinct.  When people are said to have “good” or “bad” grammar, the understanding is that they choose to obey or ignore the rules of accepted usage associated with their language whether it is English or Japanese.

 

            Grammar is one of the oldest fields of study, as well as one of the most durable.  Even Plato can be labeled as an early grammarian (a person who studies grammar), because he was responsible for dividing the sentence into subject and verb, a division still exists today!

 

WHAT IS USAGE?

 

            Usage is the normal way we use language in speaking and writing.  Because we use language for different purposes, there are various levels of usage.  The following table lists the “big three”.

 

LEVEL OF USAGE	EXAMPLES
1.  Standard English:  formal usage	They have done nothing.
2.  Standard English:  informal (conversational) usage	They’ve done nothing.
3.  Nonstandard (“Friendly-speak”) usage	Dey ain’t done nothin’.

 

 

LEVEL OF USAGE

 

1. Standard English (formal usage) – “They have done nothing.”
2. Standard English (informal (conversational) usage) – “They’ve done nothing.”
3. Non-Standard (“Friendly-speak”) usage – “Dey ain’t done notin’.”

 

The main difference between Standard English and non-Standard English (“Friendly-speak”) appears in the use of pronouns and certain verb forms.  For example, where a speaker in Standard English would use brought, a speaker of nonstandard English would use brung.  There are also several words and expressions that are considered nonstandard, such as slang words.

LEVEL OF USAGE

 

1. Standard English (formal usage) – “They have done nothing.”
2. Standard English (informal (conversational) usage) – “They’ve done nothing.”
3. Non-Standard (“Friendly-speak”) usage – “Dey ain’t done notin’.”

 

The main difference between Standard English and non-Standard English (“Friendly-speak”) appears in the use of pronouns and certain verb forms.  For example, where a speaker in Standard English would use "brought", a speaker of nonstandard English would use "brung".  There are also several words and expressions that are considered nonstandard, such as slang words.

 

DECIDING WHICH GRAMMAR TO LEARN

 

            Which grammar?  Does that mean that there is more than one?  Yes, indeed there are several different types of grammar, including historical (how language has changed through the centuries) and comparative (comparing languages).  But don’t worry too much.  Here we I will only be interested in two types of grammar:  the two you have to know in order to improve your speech and writing.

            Descriptive English grammar gives names to things:  the parts of speech and the parts of a sentence.  When you learn descriptive grammar, you understand what every word is (its part of speech) and what every word does (its function in the sentence).  If a person is not careful, however, descriptive grammar can go overboard fast and you can end up saying things like “balloon is the object of the gerund, in a gerund phrase that is acting as the predicate nominative of the linking verb ‘appear’.”  Don’t worry because we will not go into that level of terminology; besides, I’m not quite sure what that all means anyway.  There is, however, one important reason to learn some English grammar terms and that is to understand why a particular word or phrase is correct or incorrect. 

            Functional grammar makes up most of what we will learn.  Functional English grammar tells you how words behave when they are doing their jobs properly.  Functional grammar guides you to the right expression; that is, the one that fits what you are trying to say, by insuring that the sentence is put together correctly.  When you are agonizing over whether to say I or me, you are actually solving a problem of functional grammar.  So in order to be successful in our study of English grammar, we will use this formula:  a little descriptive grammar + a lot of functional grammar = better grammar overall.

 

LET'S STUDY ENGLISH!

Hi! I'm Professor Panda!

For the last couple of years I have been providing informal lessons and discussions about English Grammar, usage, spelling, and composition for our friends in Japan! We decided to expand things just a bit, and provide a place where all our "pupils" can find the lessons we have published in Japan, in case they missed or lost one, as well as a place to discuss "Western English" as is spoken in the US and Canada, rather than the UK. Here we can discuss problems, find solutions, and practice, practice, practice. So please join us - young and old - boys and girls - and we will have lots of fun along the way!

Oh! And coming in 2009, we hope to be providing actual "up close and personal" English lessons and practice for all of our friends in Gifu Prefecture! Stay tuned for more information!

Now - let's study English!