UFR-LLSH
L1
English Pronunciation
Heather HILTON
office 23-106
hilton@univ-savoie.fr
Hilton
English Pronunciation
LECTURE 1
•
•
•
•
•
Objectives for LEA
Course organization/ syllabus
The importance of pronunciation
English pronunciation in particular
French learners and English
pronunciation
Hilton
English Pronunciation
General objectives for LEA
A "triple major"
(you specialize in 3 things)
2 languages
+
international business
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Language objectives for LEA
• 2 languages, at an advanced level
• Better language skills than the average
French learner of English (German,
Spanish, Italian)...
• … to "give you an edge" in the job
market.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English objectives for LEA
How can you improve your English?
We find that students leaving the French
secondary schools are often quite weak
in basic language knowledge:
• English pronunciation
• English vocabulary
• English grammar
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English objectives for LEA
This language knowledge is essential for
effective communication, both
 speaking, of course,
 but (more importantly) listening.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English objectives for LEA
In an international business situation, it's not
enough to communicate approximately
("Me Tarzan, You Jane" fashion…)
In negotiation, details are very important!
If you want to be convincing, you have to be
very sure of WHAT you're saying, and HOW
you're saying it!
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English objectives for LEA
[ Cultural information, too...
- background, content ]
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Objectives for this course
In this course, we will try to motivate you to
improve your English pronunciation.
We cannot improve your pronunciation for
you...
Only YOU can do that!
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Course organization
Course organization:
5 lectures: important concepts for English
pronunciation.
12 lessons (interactive classroom 13-114):
intensive practice session, with the teacher
10 lab sessions (self-access lab 13-212):
individualized practice, using special
software.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Course assessment
COURSE GRADE:
Final oral exam
50 %
Written test + 50 %
attendance, participation in lessons and labs.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Course assessment
Students who haven't...
• attended lectures, lessons, and labs,
• worked on the words in the course booklet,
• practiced A LOT outside of class,
...probably will NOT pass the final oral exam.
IMPORTANT EXCEPTION: Bilingual students
(English-speaking parent/s) can see me for special
status (lessons, labs).
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Course organization & syllabus
Any questions??
Hilton
English Pronunciation
LECTURE 1
•
•
•
•
•
Objectives for LEA
Course organization/ syllabus
The importance of pronunciation
English pronunciation in particular
French learners and English
pronunciation
Hilton
English Pronunciation
The importance of pronunciation
A baby learns its first language (L1) by:
1. listening to the sounds that adults make
2. playing with the sounds s/he can make
(INTONATION first, then SYLLABLES)
3. trying to imitate the sounds adults make
4. learning that certain sounds mean certain
things
Hilton
English Pronunciation
The importance of pronunciation
LISTENING is the most fundamental language
skill (the one we use to learn how to speak).
You may not care how well you can pronounce
the sounds of English, but you will certainly
need to know about these sounds if you want
to UNDERSTAND normal spoken English.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English pronunciation
Will you have pronunciation courses in Italian?
in Spanish? in German?
Probably not.
So why a special course for L1 English?
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English pronunciation
The pronunciation of English is a
particularly "tricky" (= difficult) problem.
Can you tell me why?
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English pronunciation
comb
weigh
bought
1. Complicated groups of letters may represent
relatively simple sounds...
Hilton
English Pronunciation
(This is the same in French…)
beaux
ils travaillent
grenouille
Hilton
English Pronunciation
BUT: in English pronunciation...
no
hat
dog
made
student goes
study
now
wear
does snow
dear
2. The same letters/ groups of letters
frequently do NOT sound the same!
Hilton
English Pronunciation
home
sword
hot
toward
word
although
woman
women
to
through
could
you
out
soul
bough
rough
The chaotic nature of
sound - symbol correspondance
in English
Hilton
English Pronunciation
This does NOT happen in French!
– au is always /o/
– ou is always /u/
– é is always /e/ …
Hilton
English Pronunciation
English pronunciation
Another problem in English is word stress:
(accentuated syllable in polysyllabic words)
Examples: 'perfect (adj.)
'mountain
'celebrate
to per'fect (vb.)
mountai'neering
ce'lebrity
Apparently "irregular" (unpredictable).
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Special problems for French learners
Look at these English words:
chaos, jury, horrible, leopard
They certainly LOOK familiar, don't they?
These are what we call COGNATES:
words that look the same,
and have the same meaning
in two languages.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Special problems for French learners
Cognates are GREAT when you're READING!
( >50% of English vocabulary
comes from French or Latin )
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Special problems for French learners
But cognates are a special problem for French
learners of English (and English learners of French),
because they NEVER sound the same in both
languages!
chaos
theater
amateur
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Special problems for French learners
Our two languages are very close, lexically,
but very different phonologically.
Many French learners of English simply
pronounce English words with French phonemes.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Special problems for French learners
This type of (lazy) "Frenglish" pronunciation is not
good enough for our advanced level in LEA.
In this course, we are going to require you to work
very intensely on producing and understanding
the sounds of English.
Hilton
English Pronunciation
Brainstorming topic:
chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur
Say them in French.
Listen to them in English.
Can you describe – precisely – the differences
in pronunciation?
Hilton
English Pronunciation
chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur
Hilton
English Pronunciation
chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur
vowel sounds
(the biggest difference)
Hilton
English Pronunciation
chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur
Hilton
English Pronunciation
chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur
certain consonant sounds
[h]
[ th ]
[r]
final consonants
Hilton
English Pronunciation
chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur
Hilton
English Pronunciation
chaos - leopard - horrible - amateur
word stress
(always on final syllable in French)
various places in English
Hilton
English Pronunciation
• English vowel sounds
• Certain consonant sounds + final
consonants
• Word stress
These will be our major preoccupations
(our major focus) for the semester
(see course syllabus).
Hilton