Master the Pronunciation Theory & Practice and Become Comfortable Teaching it!
Mid Vowels
For mid vowels the tongue is neither high not low in the mouth.
Moving from /e/ through to /ɔː/, we also notice the different positions of the tongue;
/e/ is a front vowel, and
/ɔ:/ is a back vowel.
Let's see the characteristics for each Mid Vowel
/e/
/e/ - Technical Name - ‘Close-Mid Front Unrounded Vowel’.
The Technical Name tells us about HOW the sound is made physically (about what muscle we use, and how we use them).
The front of the tongue is between the half-open and half-close positions.
(The ‘close’ position is where the tongue is closest to the roof of the mouth.)
Lips are loosely spread.
The tongue is tenser then for /ı/.
The sides of the tongue may touch the upper molars.
Visuals to help you remember /e/ easier.
Common Words including the sound /e/
Homophones – words which have the same pronunciation but different spellings
/e/ Sound difficulties for:
Arabic, Indian Languages and Turkish.
Tips for sound difficulties:
Check the Phonology of your own first Language of your Students’ first Language (L1) on Wikipedia.
See what English sounds don’t exist in your/your Students L1. Proactively anticipate possible difficulties.
Here is the Phonology of my L1. (Ro)
Here is the Phonology of my Students’ L1. (Tr)
Which is Yours?
(if you are not a native English speaker, of course! 🙂 )
Whhis is/are your students’?
/ə/ (Schwa)
/ə/ (Schwa)- Technical Name - ‘Mid-Central Vowel’.
The Technical Name tells us about HOW the sound is made physically (about what muscle we use, and how we use them).
The centre of the tongue is between the half-open and half-close positions.
Lips are relaxed and neutrally spread.
/ə/ is the most common sound in all varieties of the English language.
It is so important that it even has its own name – schwa. (meaning emptiness or nothing)
It corresponds to most syllables which do not carry the word stress.
Visuals to help you remember/ə/ (Schwa) easier.
Words including the sound /ə/ (Schwa)
More Words including the Schwa Sound – HERE
/ə/ (Schwa) Sound difficulties for:
Arabic, Chinese, French, Greek, German, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Scandinavian Languages, Spanish, Turkish
/ɜː/
/ɜː/ - Technical Name - ‘Open-Mid Central Unrounded Vowel’.
The Technical Name tells us about HOW the sound is made physically (about what muscle we use, and how we use them).
The centre of the tongue is between the half-open and half-close positions.
Lips are relaxed and neutrally spread.
Visuals to help you remember /ɜː/ easier.
Words including the sound /ɜː/
/ɜː/ Sound difficulties for:
Japanese
/ə/ and /ɜː/ NOTE!
/ǝ/ and /ɜː/ SIMILARITIES:
– two central vowels
– formed with the tongue, lips, and jaw in the same position,
(the tongue, lips, and jaw are relaxed and as far as possible without muscle tone)
/ǝ/ and /ɜː/ DIFFERENCES:
(while the vowel quality is practically the same)
– have different symbols,
– /ǝ/ is always unstressed, short, minimal, while
– /ɜː/ is stressed, long and clear
– the stream of air forced out of the lungs and through the vocal cords is under greater pressure for /ɜː/ than for /ǝ/.
/ɔ:/
/ɔ:/ - Technical Name - ‘Open-Mid Back Rounded Vowel’
The Technical Name tells us about HOW the sound is made physically (about what muscle we use, and how we use them).
The back of the tongue is raised to between the half-open and half-close positions.
Lips are rounded.
The tongue is tense.
Visuals to help you remember /ɔ:/ easier.
Words including the sound /ɔ:/
/ɔ:/ Sound difficulties for:
Arabic, Chinese, French, Greek, German, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish
Teaching TIPS:
Discovering the key muscles for Mid Vowels
Adrian Underhill is a legend in teaching Pronunciation and you can find on his blog a lot of useful information in this regard. You can access it on the links below:
Blog Articles
Working with /ə/ and /ɜː/ and a discovery about stress and unstresses
Discovering the vowel /ɔ:/ starting from /ɜː/
YouTube Video
Using HOMOPHONES
Homophones – Words which have the same pronunciation but different spellings.
See the homophones given above for each Close Vowel.
Using Minimal Pairs
Minimal Pairs – A Pair of Words that differ in meaning when only one sound (one phoneme) is changed.
You can find more Minimal Pairs with the sounds/e/ and /ɜː/ (used in context and with audio included) HERE.
You can find more Minimal Pairs with the sounds /ɔː/ and /ɜ:/HERE.
Using TONGUE TWISTERS
We have already noticed that some neighboring vowel sounds (/iː/ and/ɪ/; /uː/and /ʊ/are similar to each other and create confusion for Learners.
To help Learners noticing the differences between similar vowels and practice them in context we can make great use of TONGUE TWISTERS.
/e/
Ten wet hens beg Jed.
/ten wet hens beg dʒed/
Meg met Ted, Ted met Meg
Set wet pets on the red deck.
Ken said Ted meant to send the rent cheque but left the cheque on the bench when he mended the fence.
/ken sed ted ment tʊ send ðə rent tʃek bʌt left ðə tʃek ɑːn ðə bentʃ wen hiː mendıd ðə fens/
A warm worm walks to work.
/ə wɔːrm wɝːm wɑːks tʊ wɝːk/
The first birds I heard were the blackbirds.
/ðə ˈfɝːst bɝːds aɪ hɝːd wɝː ðə blæk.bɝːd/
Larry Hurley, a burly squirrel hurler, hurled a furry squirrel through a curly grill.
/læri hɝː.li ə ˈbɝː.li ˈskwɝː.əl hɜː.lər hɝːld ə ˈfɜː.ri ˈskwɝː.əl /θruː ə ˈkɝː.li ɡrɪl/
A nurse anesthetist unearthed a nest.
/ə nɝːs əˈnes.θə.t̬ɪst. /ʌnˈɝːθid ə nest/
Sure, sir, the ship’s sure shipshape, sir.
/ʃʊr sɝː ðə ʃɪps ʃʊr ˈʃɪp.ʃeɪp sɝː/
References:
How to teach pronunciation by Gerald Kelly, Longman, 2000.
The sound /e/ – English Language Club
The sound /ə/ – English Language Club
The sound /ɜː/ – English Language Club
The sound /ɔ:/- English Language Club
How to remember IPA Phonems – English Jade
https://dictionary.cambridge.org
https://teflpedia.com/Open-mid_central_unrounded_vowel
https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/homophones-vowel-sound-e.htm
https://teflpedia.com/Schwa_sound
https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/homophones-vowel-sound-or.htm
You can practice phonemes and sounds here:
Woldl love to know:
Do you feel comfortable teaching pronunciation?
What are some of your Struggles/Learnings/Tips?
Feel free to share in the comments below.
You never Know who you can help / inspire! 🙂
This Post Has One Comment
You need to be a part of a contest for one of the finest sites on the internet. Im going to highly recommend this blog!