SESSION 3

SESSION 3

CONTENTS

RECAPITULATION
3. Vowels

3.1 Pure vowel sounds

3.2 Diphthongs
3.3 Awareness of vowel sounds

RECAPITULATION. What do you remember about session 2? (30/300)

3. VOWELS

3.1 Pure vowel sounds

1. In teams. (10/270).
Discuss: What do you understand by “pure vowel sounds” and diphthongs? Share your
definitions

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 2.- Class work. (5/260)
The following diagrams show the basic positions of the lips when pronouncing vowels. Match
the picture with the correct definition

Spread Neutral Rounded

________________ ______________
_____________

Diagrams taken from: Kelly, G. (2001). How to Teach Pronunciation. Ed. Jeremy Harmer. London, Pearson Education Limited (30).

3.-Class work. (5/255).

Now Look at the following descriptions of the basic positions. Match the correct name with its
definition

a) _____________ the corners of the lips are moved away from each other, as when smiling.
Example sound:

b) _____________ the lips are pushed forward into the shape of a circle. Example sound:

c) _____________ the lips are not noticeably rounded or spread. Example sound:

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 3.2 DIPHTHONGS
PURE VOWELS AND DIPHTHONGS

4.-In teams. (25/ 250).

A) Get together in teams of 3-4, then look at the phonetic symbols that were assigned
to your team. Discuss: How would you describe them? Reach an agreement and
advance a definition

Team 1 Team 3 Team 5

, , , , , , , ,

Team 2 Team 4 Team 6

, , ,
, , , ,

B) In teams. Now look at the following diagrams. Work with the selection that was assigned to
your team. 1)Write the name for the classification of sounds that you have to work with (look
at the names in the following chart); 2) Match the diagram with its definition (20/ 225):

a) Closing diphthongs b) Mid vowels c) Centring diphthongs

ending in / /
d) Close vowels e) Closing diphthongs ending f) Open vowels
in / /

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TEAM 1

______________________ :

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TEAM 2

___________________________________:

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TEAM 3

________________

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TEAM 4

___________________

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TEAM 5

___________________

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TEAM 6

___________________

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 DEFINITIONS

Characteristics
1 The glide begins in the position for /ɪ/, moving down and
back towards /ə/. The lips are neutral, but with a small
movement from spread to open

As in… beer, beard, fear, pierce, Ian, here, idea

Difficulties for Spanish

Characteristics
2 The glide begins in a position quite to /ɑː / moving up
towards /ʊ/. The lips start neutral, with a movement to
loosely rounded. The glide is not always completed, as the
movement involved is extensive.

As in… house, loud, down, how, bough

Difficulties for Spanish

Characteristics
3 The part of the tongue just behind the centre is raised, just
above the half-close position. The lips are rounded, but
loosely so. The tongue is relatively relaxed.

As in… book, good, woman, push, pull

Difficulties for Spanish

Characteristics
4 The glide begins in an open position, between front and
centre, moving up and slightly forward towards /I/. The
lips move from neutral, to loosely spread.

As in… high, tie, buy, kite, might, cry, eye

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 Characteristics
5 The centre of the tongue is between the half-close and
the half-open positions. Lips are relaxed, and neutrally
spread.

As in… about, paper, banana, nation, the (before

consonants)
Commonest vowel sound in English. Never stressed, and many unstressed vowels
tend towards this sound. Differs from other phonemes, in that its contrast with
similarly articulated long sound /3:/ does not involve a change of meaning
‘emptiness’, or ‘nothing’.

Difficulties for Spanish

Characteristics
6 The back of the tongue is raised just below the close
position. Lips are rounded. The tongue is tense.

As in… food, rude, true, who, fruit, soup

Characteristics
7 The back of the tongue is raised to between the half-
open and half-close positions. Lips are loosely rounded

As in… fork, call, snore, taught, bought, board, saw, pour,

broad, all, law, horse, hoarse
Difficulties for Spanish

Characteristics
8 The front of the tongue is raised to just below the half-
open position. Lips are neutrally open.

As in… hat, attack, antique, plait

Difficulties for Spanish
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 Characteristics
9 The centre of the tongue is raised to just above the fully
open position. Lips are neutrally open.

As in… run, uncle, front, nourish, does, come, flood

Difficulties for Spanish

Characteristics
10 The tongue, between the centre and the back, is in the
fully open position. Lips are neutrally open.

As in… far, part, half, class, command, clerk, memoir,

aunty, hearth
Difficulties for Spanish

Characteristics
11 The back of the tongue is in the fully open position. Lips
are lightly rounded

As in… dog, often, cough, want, because, knowledge,

Australia

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 Characteristics
12 The front of the tongue is slightly behind and below the
close front position. (The ‘close’ position is where the
tongue is closest to the roof of the mouth.) Lips are
spread. The tongue is tense, and the sides of the tongue
touch the upper molars.

As in… bead, key, cheese, scene, police, people, quay

Characteristics
13 The glide begins in the position for /ʊ/, moving forwards
and down towards /e/. The lips are neutral, but with a
small movement from spread to open

As in… *sure, moor, tour, obscure

*Quite a rare diphthong. Many speakers replace in with / /

Characteristics
14 The glide begins in the position for /e/, moving back
towards /ə/. The lips remain neutrally open.

As in… where, wear, chair, dare, stare, there

Characteristics
15 The centre of the tongue is between the half-close and
the half-open positions. Lips are relaxed, and neutrally
spread.

As in… shirt, her, word, further, pearl, serve, myrtle

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 Characteristics
16 The glide begins in the position for /e/, moving up and
slightly back towards /ɪ/. The lips are spread.

As in… cake, way, weigh, say, pain, they, vein

Characteristics
17 The glide begins in the position for /ɔ/, moving up and
forward towards /ɪ/. The lips start open and rounded,
and change to neutral.

As in… toy, avoid, voice, enjoy, boy

Characteristics
18 The front of the tongue is between the half-open and the
half-close positions. Lips are loosely spread. The tongue is
tenser than for /I/, and the sides of the tongue may
touch the upper molars.

As in… egg, left, said, bead, read (past), instead, any,

leisure, leopard

Characteristics
19 The glide begins in the position for /e/, moving up and
back towards /ʊ/. The lips are neutral but change to
loosely rounded.

As in… go, snow, toast, home, hello, although

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 Characteristics
20 The part of the tongue slightly nearer the centre is raised
to just above the half-close position (not as high as in
/i:/). The lips are spread loosely, and the tongue is more
relaxed. The sides of the tongue may just touch the
upper molars.

As in… bit, sausage, biggest, rhythm, mountain, busy,

women, sieve.

5.-After having matched the categories with its names; the phonetic symbols with their
descriptions, work with the strategy of “paraphrasing” so that you can share with the rest of
the participants the characteristics of the phonetic symbols that you analyzed (15/205).

BREAK (30/190)

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 6.-Watch the following video (10/160):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_xxzG72v7Q
7.-Make a spider map in which you synthetize the main ideas dealt with in it (20/150).

8.-The rest of the session is going to be about practice with the vowels sounds (130/130)

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