Pecha Kucha Presentation Topics

1. The organs of speech and their function in phonation.

2. The articulatory classification of the English vowels.
3. The English vocalic system as compared with the Ukrainian one.
4. The articulatory classification of the English consonants.
5. The English consonantal system as compared with the Ukrainian one.
6. Modifications of the English consonants in the connected speech.
7. Modifications of the English vowels in connected speech (reduction, positional
variants).
8. Causes and typology of mistakes in the pronunciation of speech sounds.
9. Typical mistakes of Ukrainian Learners in the pronunciation of the English vowel
phonemes.
10.Typical mistakes of Ukrainian Learners in the pronunciation of the English
consonant phonemes.
11.New directions in the teaching of pronunciation [Celce-Murcia: Chapter 10].
12.Word stress in English.
13. The sound system and orthography [Celce-Murcia: Chapter 9].

Recommended Literature
Teaching Pronunciation : A Reference for Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages
/ Marianne Celce-Murcia, Donna M.Brinton, Janet M. Goodwin. ‒ Cambridge University
Press, 1996. ‒ 225 p.
https://kupdf.com/download/celce-murcia-39-s-teaching-
pronunciation_58c812e7dc0d603358339031_pdf

Teaching English Pronunciation / Joanne Kenworthy. ‒ Longman, 1988. ‒ 176 p.

https://ru.scribd.com/document/168207046/Teaching-English-Pronunciation-JOANNE-KENWORTHY

‼ Prepared monologue to present by heart - 2000 characters with spaces

 WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH

In every word of two or more syllables, one of the syllables is stronger than the others. What
makes a syllable sound emphasized or stressed? A combination of these three features creates syllable
stress:
 Length: The vowel in the stressed syllable is longer.
 Pitch: The stressed syllable has higher pitch.
 Clear Vowel: The stressed syllable has full, clear vowel.
Why is word stress important? Listeners rely on stress patterns to help them identify words. The
more frequently you misuse stress, the more effort listeners have to make to understand what you are
saying.
It is widely accepted that the word-accent in the English language is free. Linguists have a firm
belief that the nature of free word-stress in this or that language is determined by the unpredictability of
its place. However, research shows that in English there are certain factors which define the place of
word-stress in a word or a word form. Unlike languages in which the accent is completely free, the
freedom of word-stress in English is limited by a number of tendencies which let the place of the accent
in a word be predicted. Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember, as D. Jones marked, if it is at all
possible to formulate the rules of the place of word-stress in English they will contain a set of
exceptions.
The major factors which determine the accentual structure of English words are the following:
recessive, prototypical, rhythmic, progressive, semantic-morphological and the tendency of analogy.

Recessive tendency manifests itself in stressing the initial syllable of the word. According to
many linguists, this tendency is considered to be the oldest and one of the most decisive tendencies in
placing the English word-stress. There are two types of recessive tendency: 1) restricted - when the
stress falls on the root of the word if this word has a prefix, which has lost its meaning, e.g.: among [-'-],
forget [-'-]; and 2) unrestricted – when the stress falls on the initial syllable. This type of stress is
observed in the majority of native English words falls on the first syllable, e.g.: father ['- -], wonder ['-
-]. This tendency determined the process of assimilation of many loan words (mainly of French origin).
Prototypical tendency functions in loan words and is meant to follow the stress-pattern of the
language from which this word was borrowed.
Rhythmic tendency causes the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. It works in words
with more than two syllables. The rhythmic tendency is caused by the difficulty of pronouncing two
stressed syllables successively.
Progressive tendency influences the English word-stress to shift rightwards: from the initial
syllable closer to the end of the word.
Semantic-morphological tendency lies in stressing morphemes with grammatical and semantic
meaning (i.e. root, base, separable prefixes).
The tendency of analogy manifests itself in following the stress pattern of the base word in
derivatives.
Recessive, prototypical, and semantic-morphological tendencies are considered to be of the
greatest influence on stress placement in English words.
Many words in English have no systematic rules for stressed and unstressed syllables. Other
words have rules that are too complicated to be useful. You can sometimes determine where stress falls
in a word on the basis of its part of speech. In other words, recognizing that a word is a noun or a verb
can sometimes help you with syllable stress.
 The following guidelines will help you predict stress in words. Remember that these are
guidelines and that no rule is foolproof!

USING PREFIXES TO PREDICT WORD STRESS

1. A large number of borrowed words with prefixes a-, be-, com-, con-, de-, dis-, ex-, for-, in-,
ob-, pre-, pro-, re- have second syllable stress, e.g.: proCLAIM, forSEE;
2. Longer verbs with prefixes inter-, over-, under- have the stress on the root. But nouns
beginning with the same prefixes are stressed on the prefix, e.g.: verbs: interFERE, overSLEEP,
underSTAND; nouns: INTERview, OVERcoat, UNDERwear.
3. Do not stress the negative prefix attached to an adjective, e.g.: possible - IMpossible, literate –
ILliterate. It is only made prominent for a particular contrast:

- Do you enjoy driving?

- No, I really dis╵like it.
- I thought you ╵liked driving?
- No, I really ╵dislike it.

USING SUFFIXES TO PREDICT STRESS

1. In many cases of words borrowed from Greek, Latin or French, the stress pattern is determined
by the suffix. The stress will be on the syllable immediately before certain suffixes or on the
syllable which is two syllables before the suffix. NOTE! There are few exceptions to this rule.

1.1. The syllable immediately before the following suffixes is stressed:

-ity, -ety, -ic, -ical, -ify, -efy, -ia, -ial, -eal, -ual, -ible,
-ion (-tion, -sion, -ion), -ional, -ian, -ean, -ual, -ium, -ient,
-ience, -iency, -inal, -eous, -ious, -uous, -graphy, -logy

1.2. The stress is often two syllables before the following suffixes:
-ate, -ous, -ent, -ence, -ency, -ant, -ance,
-ancy, -ary, -ery, -ory, -tude, -graph, -gram

2. The stress is always on the suffix:

-ade, -aque, -iaue, -igue, -ee, -eer, -ese,
-esque, -ette, -iable, -itis, -oon, -osis

3. Generally the stress does not shift when these suffixes are added to words. Such suffixes are
called stress-neutral:
Derivational: -able, -age, -al, -cy, -acy, -dom, -er, -or, -our,
-ess, -fold, -ful, -good, -ish, -ism, -ist, -ive, -ize, -ise, -less,
-let, -like, -ling, -ment, -most, -ness, -ry, -ery, -scape, -ship,
-some, -ster, -ward, -wise, -worthy

Inflectional: -ed, -es, -ing, -en, -er, -est, -ly

4. The stress is always on the first element of the following double suffixes:
-mental, mentary, -izable, isable, arily
STRESS IN TWO-SYLLABLE NOUNS AND VERBS
 2.5. Listen and underline the stressed syllables. Which syllable is stressed for the nouns?
Which syllable is stressed for the verbs? Complete the rule.
Noun Verb
1 record record
2 object object
3 permit permit
4 suspect suspect
5 import import
6 rebel rebel
7 present present
8 conflict conflict
9 insult insult
Adapted from Clear Speech
Stress Rule for Two-Syllable Verb Forms

When a two-syllable word can be used as a noun or a verb, the verb

form is usually stressed on the__________ syllable.
And the noun form is stressed on the __________ syllable.

STRESS IN ABBREVIATIONS

Two-, three- and four-letter abbreviations said as individual letters often have main stress on the
last letter and secondary stress on the first:
The EU the UK the BBC the DNA
Such abbreviations usually have stress shift:
He works for the BBC. He works for BBC radio.

CAUSES AND TYPOLOGY OF MISTAKES

IN THE PRONUNCIATION OF SPEECH SOUNDS
Most mistakes in the pronunciation of a foreign language which are made by the learners
belonging to one and the same language community are the so-called typical mistakes, i.e. mistakes of
the same sort common to almost all the learners.
These mistakes are caused by the interference from the phonetic system of the learners’ mother
tongue. The interference may be of two kinds:
(1) the learners of a foreign language are apt to mispronounce certain sounds because no
identical or similar sounds exist in their native language, e.g. many Ukrainian learners substitute the
Ukrainian sound [x] for the English [] because the latter seems to them to be the same as in Ukrainian.
(2) secondly, learners mispronounce whole classes of foreign speech sounds in certain positions
because the similar classes in their mother tongue in the same position are pronounced in a more or less
different way. Thus Russian learners are apt to devoice the English voiced consonants in the word final
positions and before voiceless consonants because Russian voiced consonants do not occur in these
positions and are replaced by the corresponding voiceless ones.
In order to prevent or correct typical mistakes in the pronunciation of a foreign language it is
necessary for the learners to know all the points of difference between the phonetic system of the
foreign language and that of the learners’ mother tongue.
Which of the mistakes should be corrected in the first place?
This question should be decided on a phonological basis, i.e. depending on the extent to which
different types of pronunciation mistakes can hinder the listener’s understanding.
 From the phonological point of view mistakes in the pronunciation of speech sounds are divided
into:
(1) phonemic (phonological) mistakes;
(2) non-phonemic (phonetic) mistakes.
A phonemic mistake consists in the use of the different phonemes instead of the required ones,
as a result of which the mispronounced word is taken for another word by the hearer or becomes
meaningless. For instance, if the consonant [] or [] is pronounced instead of [] in the word tenth []
the latter may be taken for the word tense [] or will become [] which has no meaning.
A non-phonemic (phonetic) mistake consists in replacing the required variant of the phoneme
by another allophone, but as a result of which you can recognize the pronounced word. E.g. you
pronounce pen [] without aspiration, but it does not prevent the understanding because the meaning is
not changed. The use of the dark [l] instead of the light in will you [l ], the use of the Russian [x]
instead of [].
Phonetic mistakes do not result in the hearer’s misunderstanding of the words, but a great
number of such mistakes make one’s speech difficult to understand.
Of the two classes of pronunciation mistakes phonemic ones are the most serious because they
hinder the normal functioning of a language as a means of communication. Therefore, their correction or
prevention should be the first aim in teaching pronunciation.
However, gross non-phonemic mistakes, such as palatalization of consonants in English, should
also be corrected because such mistakes, if they are numerous, make one’s speech difficult to
understand.
Phonetic mistakes determine the effect of a foreign accent in speech. Foreign accent is a system
of violations of pronunciation features of a foreign language in the speech of non-native speakers. It
results from the interference of the user’s mother tongue most stable, fully automatized articulatory
skills.
One of the major reasons for the foreign accent is inability to fix the English articulatory setting
in speech by the non-native users. This assumption is confirmed by definite violations of the English
articulatory basis by Ukrainian learners of English in their English speech:
1. an excessive lip rounding and protrusion in the articulation of the English back vowels [],
[], [], [];
2. dorsal-palatal articulation of the English apical-alveolar sounds [], [];
3. the insufficient opening of the English low vowels [], [].
These features create the phenomenon of Ukrainian accent of English as a separate pronunciation
variety and as a foreign accent in the English speech of native Ukrainians.

TYPICAL MISTAKES OF UKRAINIAN LEARNERS

IN THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE ENGLISH VOWEL PHONEMES

mistakes in the pronunciation of sounds mistakes in the pronunciation of sounds which

due to the absence of certain features do not have the Ukrainian counterparts (do not
in the Ukrainian vocalic system exist in Ukrainian).

1. Typical mistakes due to the absence of certain systemic features in the Ukrainian (Russian)
vocalic system and some special phonetic properties of the English vowels in connected speech:
1.1. the mistakes in the length (phonemic, phonetic) of a vowel;
 1.2. the mistakes in the pronunciation of the vowels of unstable articulation (diphthongs)
which are absent in Ukrainian;
1.3. the mistakes caused by the difference in lip participation in the articulation of the English
and Ukrainian vowels (rounded vowels);
1.4. the mistakes due to the absence of open articulation in Ukrainian;
1.5. the mistakes in the pronunciation of the English unstressed vocalism.

1.1. The mistakes in the length (phonemic, phonetic) of a vowel. The Ukrainian vowels have
no phonemic length, but in English there are long and short vowels which can differentiate the meanings
of the words, e.g. ship [] - sheep[]. Thus Ukrainian learners are apt to fail to imitate the phonemic
length of an English vowel, i.e. can replace the required long vowel by the short or vice versa. This is a
bad phonemic mistake.
It is difficult for Ukrainian learners to imitate the proper phonetic length of vowels in connected
speech, i.e. to use the required positional length variants of the stressed vowels. As all the Ukrainian vowels
are unchecked, Ukrainian learners fail to pronounce the English short stressed vowels as checked before the
voiceless consonants.
1.2. The mistakes in the pronunciation of the vowels of unstable articulation (diphthongs)
which are absent in Ukrainian. The articulation of all Ukrainian vowels is stable, there are no
diphthongs in Ukrainian. Thus the articulation of the English diphthongs presents a certain difficulty for
Ukrainian learners.
1.3. The mistakes caused by the difference in lip participation in the articulation of the
English and Ukrainian vowels (rounded vowels). While articulating the English rounded vowels the lips
are not protruded, whereas it is typical of Ukrainian to protrude the lips. Thus Ukrainian learners are apt to
protrude the lips while articulating [Q]; []; []; [], which is a non-phonemic mistake.
1.4. The mistakes due to the absence of open articulation in Ukrainian. The open
articulations are characteristic of English while the corresponding Ukrainian vowels are less open.
Ukrainian learners are apt to mispronounce the sounds [{], [], [Q], [] making them not open enough.
1.5. The mistakes in the pronunciation of the English unstressed vocalism.
It is one of the typical mistakes of Ukrainian learners to mispronounce the English unstressed vowels
making them too strong, especially in the pre-tonic positions, e.g. consist [], collect [], of
[], to []. To avoid this mistake Ukrainian learners should concentrate the articulatory efforts on the
stressed syllables, making the unstressed ones weak and obscured.

2. Typical mistakes in the pronunciation of certain separate sounds which do not have the
Ukrainian counterparts (do not exist in Ukrainian). There is a number of vowels in English which do
not exist in Ukrainian (Russian) and the pronunciation of which is difficult for Ukrainian learners: [],
[], [{], []; certain diphthongs: [], []; the diphthongs with the neutral vowel as the glide: [], [],
[].