English pronunciation for Chinese and

Vietnamese speakers

Pronunciation Doctor on YoutubeSunburst Media and Mission College, CACATESOL Teaching of Pronunciation Interest Group (TOP-IG) Co-founder & Co-coordinator

Marsha J. Chan

Pronunciation Doctor on Youtube.

Over 2000 free videos for learning English, curated into over 25 playlists.

www.youtube.com/user/pronunciationdoctor

Most of my students are from southern China, and they cannot pronounce an "l" sound at the beginning of a word or distinguish the sound from an initial "r" sound. How do you go about teaching this?

Dear Pronunciation Doctor

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What's the best way to teach students the difference between "walk" and "work”? I draw diagrams of the mouth and tongue, but it's still very difficult. Is there better way?

Dear Pronunciation Doctor

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The Vietnamese woman who works with me refuses to pronounce the ends of words. I keep telling her how, but she just won’t do it.

Dear Pronunciation Doctor

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It’s so taxing to listen to them speak. It’s like a sing-song staccato, and sometimes I just can’t figure out what they’re saying. Is there a way to make their pronunciation more listener-friendly?

Dear Pronunciation Doctor

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http://marshaprofdev.blogspot.com/2016/08/pronunciation-doctor-responds-to.html

Ana Wu’s Blog A

Conversation with a

Multilingualhttps://

ccsfeslpron.wordpress.com/

2016/08/01/marsha-chan/

A Mirror is a Must Every student must use a mirror fastidiously

and systematically. All together Direct line: student’s mouth–mirror–

teacher’s mouth 1st listen & watch the teacher 2nd look in the mirror, repeat 3 (5, 10)

times Long pause = waiting for students’ eyes

The speech organs–a static view

V v

A sagittal view of the mouth, nose, and throat Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Illu01_head_neck.jpg

The speech organs in motionhttps://youtu.be/uTOhDqhCKQs

The amazing tongue!

You wish to know all about my grandfather. Well, he's nearly ninety-three years old.

You wish to know all about my grandfather. Well, he's nearly ninety-three years old.

“My grandfather’s nearly 93”

PRONUNCIATION WORKOUT!Pronunciation is a physical act!

http://www.youtube.com/PronunciationDoctor

Playlist: Pronunciation Workout Videos

Both are sonorants. ◦ The sounds reverberate off the vocal organs

freely without obstruction. Both are liquid phonemes.

◦ Liquids produce only a partial closure in the mouth a resonant, vowel-like consonant.

◦ The tongue approaches a point of articulation within the mouth, but it does not obstruct the flow of air through the oral cavity. Contrast liquids/l/ and /r/ lake, rake

with stops /k/ and /p/: cup with obstruent /ʧ/ in chair

Characteristics of the sounds/l/ and/r/

The sound /l/ is a lateral consonant. ◦ The outward flow of air goes around the tongue

toward the sides of the mouth before it exits through the lips.

In English, /l/ and /r/ may be syllabic, acting like a vowel◦ the second syllables of table and father

/l/ and /r/ are mostly non-syllabic, acting like a consonant at the beginning ◦ rock, lock

Characteristics of the sounds/l/ and/r/ (2)

Bring tip of tongue near alveolar (gum) ridge, and let voiced breath travel over relaxed left and right sides of tongue. ◦ Postvocalic: all, fell, cold◦ Intervocalic: alive, belong, yellow◦ Prevocalic: let, lie, look

Two allophones◦ Clear/Light L: prevocalic: lay, slay, play◦ Dark L /ɫ/: Raise back of tongue toward velum

(soft palate), at back of roof of mouth. Insert short schwa-like vowel before the dark L in AmE. tile, tail, tell

To produce /l/

Do not round the lips for words ending in the sound /l/ (Vietnamese, southern Chinese).◦ Feel–few, dill-dew, mail–mayo◦ Use a mirror ◦ Hold the lips with fingers

Final /l/ – no lip rounding

Written language ≠ spoken language

The letter ‘r’ is used in many written languages, but it represents very different sounds.

Vietnamese ◦ ‘r’ letter name e-rờ; rờ /ɛ˧ɹəː˧˩ , ʐəː˧˩ /

Chinese◦ Mandarin /ɻ/Retroflex approximant ：日 rì ，人 rén◦ Cantonese has no r-like sound◦ Many other dialects

American English /ɹ/: ray, row

Many different sounds of/r/

spelled as jih and jen in the Wade-Giles system of

transcription

To produce American /r/ Anchor both L & R sides of tongue against

upper side teeth, round lips slightly, slowly curl tongue up near but not touching gum ridge let voiced breath travel over retroflexed tongue. ◦ Postvocalic: air, car, more◦ Intervocalic: array, arise, erase◦ Prevocalic: ray, ride, rock

Essential point: Do not allow tip of tongue to touch palate, the gum ridge, or teeth to cause stoppage or friction.

English has many more final consonant possibilities than Chinese or Vietnamese.◦ 0 final consonant: see, my, shoe◦ 1 final C: dog, cuff, smile /g, t, l/◦ 2 final C: dogs, cuffs, smiled /gz, fs, ld/◦ 3 final C: pants, curves, thanks /nts, rvz, ŋks/

Many combinations are not in students’ primary language inventory and will take instruction, practice (observation + production)

Many English final consonants

English tends to be explosive: air travels outward. Strong aspiration occurs on consonants beginning stressed syllables ◦ pay, come, tend◦ repay, become, attend

Vietnamese tends to be implosive, with lip closure or rounding at the ends of stop consonants. Compare◦ English hawk vs. Vietnamese học (study, learn)◦ cookbook

Airstream: explosion vs. implosion

Phonemic stops (plosives) in English◦ Labial: /p/, /b/◦ Linguadental: /t/, /d/◦ Velar: /k/, /g/◦ Glottal stop is non-phonemic in English

Uh-oh, kitten, bottle (BrE), Batman Glottal stops occur in Vietnamese,

Cantonese, and other Chinese dialects◦ They are not written down –– not in orthography◦ Belong to 2 lowest VN tones, 2 lowest Cant tones◦ Final stops are pre-glottalized

Glottal stop /ʔ/

Cantonese examples◦ 特別 (special) dak6 bit6 /daʔk6 biʔt6/ ◦ 北角（ North Point)◦ 食得（ edible, can eat)◦ 合作 （ cooperate)

Vietnamese examples◦ Mỹ (America)◦ Nguyễn (a common surname)◦ hoc tâp (study)◦ rất đẹp (very pretty)

Glottal stops in Cantonese and Vietnamese – examples

ʔcook/kʊk/

/kʊʔk/

English with unfriendly glottal stops

“My best attribute? That would be my glottal stop.”

Awareness◦ Conceptual: description◦ Auditory sensation:

listening discrimination◦ Visual sensation: eye

gaze on throat◦ Tactile sensation: fingers

on throat Preparation

◦ Pronunciation Workouts Practice

◦ Breathing and vibration through phrases

To avoid unwanted glottal stops

Constriction of

Did‿anyone call while‿I was‿out?

Is the news good‿or‿bad?

When can we bring‿him home?

Yes. Dad’s doctor called.

Very positive. He’s much better now.

This‿afternoon between 3:00‿and‿4:00.

Linking

The red curved lines show consonant to vowel linking. Note that we delete /h/ in ‘he, him, his, her’ in the middle of a sentence.

Tone. Chinese and Vietnamese are tone languages. Each word has its own tone.

Compare:◦ English: These pronunciations signify different

words: pan, fan, van, ban. (consonants)◦ Chinese: These pronunciations signify different

words: mā, má, mǎ, mà (tones)(mother, horse, hemp, scold)

Intonation: the rise and fall of the voice in speaking – important for meaning in English.

Tone ≠ intonation

Did_anyone call while_I was_out?

Is the news good_or bad? When can we bring_him

home?

Yes. Dad’s doctor called.

Very positive. He’s much better now.

This_afternoon between 3:00_and 4:00.

Intonation

The arrows show intonation, the direction of pitch change.

Email addresses◦ marsha@sunburstmedia.com◦ PronunciationDoctor@gmail.com

Websites◦ www.youtube.com/PronunciationDoctor◦ marshaprofdev.blogspot.com/◦ www.linkedin.com/in/PronunciationDoctor◦ www.sunburstmedia.com/present/present.html◦ www.slideshare.net/purplecast◦ www.missioncollege.edu/-profiles/chan_marsha.html

Tel/Fax (408) 245-8514 Sunburst Media

Marsha Chan’s contact info for speaking engagements & private lessons