I hate lice! - Minimal Pairs

Just last week a colleague told me of the following situation:

Abby: What makes you blood boil?

Alex: Lice. I really hate them!

Abby: Oh, erm, perhaps you could pop to Boots in the break, get some shampoo or something... [backing away from Alex]

Alex: ??????

It took a while and a lot of effort on poor Alex's part to explain that he was in fact talking about lies rather than lice and that Abby could therefore return to her normal position free from the fear of catching said lice.

On such an occasion, a minimal pair would save the day.

Say what?????

A minimal pair is two words in a language which differ in respect of one single phoneme. So, chin & gin, gin & Jean, Jean & John and John & job qualify but chin & China, gin & grin, Jean & joint and John & yawn don't. Have a look at the phonemic transcription, I have highlighted the differing phoneme in each pair:


Minimal Pairs

/tʃɪn/ & /dʒɪn/

/dʒɪn/ & /dʒiːn/

/dʒiːn/ & /dʒɒn/

/dʒɒn/ & /dʒɒb/

Non-Minimal Pairs

/tʃɪn/ & /ˈtʃaɪnə/ - another syllable is added as well as the diphthong /aɪ/.

/dʒɪn/ & /ɡrɪn/ - the affricate /tʃ/ is replaced by two singular phonemes /ɡ/ and /r/.

/dʒiːn/ & /dʒɔɪnt/ - the vowel is changed and /t/ added.

/dʒɒn/ & /jɔːn/ - the affricate is replaced and the vowel is changed.

Minimal pairs are incredibly useful in teaching pronunciation. Students will often offer up the pair that they can't distinguish. Going back to an earlier post 'This time next week I'll be lying on a bitch', I'm sure you will have been asked the difference between bitch & beach before, if not that then shit & sheet or cock & Coke. Don't blush, you know it's happened!

On other occasions you'll need to come up with a minimal pair for your student to practice with. This can sometimes be tricky but luckily it's all been done for you! Follow this link Minimal Pair for English RP - John Higgins to find a useful table of minimal pairs to use with your students.

Note, the examples given are minimal pairs for RP speakers but might not be so in your dialect. For example, being a speaker of Northern English, I make no distinction between book & buck and other such cases of /ʌ/ and /ʊ/, where I use /ʊ/ in both.

Practice Exercise

1. Taking chin & gin,  for example, first transcribe them on the board. 
2. Now explain the difference between /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ -  in this case it's a simple voiceless vs. voiced distinction. 
3. Next write up the carrier phrase: 'I'm going to say ________ again.'
4. Number your transcriptions on the board: 1. /tʃɪn/  2. /dʒɪn/
5. Now choose one of the two - don't tell your students which one - and read the carrier phrase at least twice with your chosen variant in the gap: e.g. 'I'm going to say chin again.'
6. Invite students to guess which word you're saying, they must respond with the number not the word.
7. Once you've done this a few times, making sure they've heard plenty of examples of both, get them to try in pairs - or with you if it's a small class.

This can easily become a game with a big class. Perhaps get students to run and slap the word they think you're saying, or put one student in a 'hot seat' and fire minimal pairs at them from a larger group on the board. Whatever you do, don't forget how useful minimal pairs are.

Enjoy!

Tools of the trade - IPA part 2.

So, we've had a quick tour of the consonants, now let's focus on the vowels. This is the vowel quadrilateral found on the IPA. As you can see there are lots of symbols, some will be familiar and others not. Before we get into specific symbols I'll explain how to read this chart.

The shape you can see here is a stylized version of the vowel space within the vocal tract where each one is formed. The figures below should make that a bit clearer.

Labels on the chart

Front - made with the body of the tongue bunched towards the front of the mouth. In reality this is not right at the front. If you start trying to make vowels with the tongue near the teeth, this will result in one of two things... either you'll make a fricative (see IPA part 1.) or end up looking like this...

Fabulous gurning from Les Dawson - legend.

Central - made with the body of your tongue bunched up towards or pulled down away from the roof of your mouth, practice by producing a schwa.

Back - made with the body of your tongue pulled back in the direction of your throat.

Close - the space between the body of the tongue and the roof of the mouth is minimal. However, not close enough to cause friction (see 'fricatives' IPA part 1.)

Mid - more open than close vowels. The jaw moves down slightly to achieve this, unless you are a ventrilaquist - in which case, you are creepy so stop reading my blog!

Open - more open again, but not jaw-swingingly so.

Rounded - produced with rounded lips (circular). These symbols are found to the left of each bullet point at the edge of the chart.

Unrounded - produced with spread lips (wide). The symbols to the right of each bullet point.

To help you think about this, consider the following British English vowels and their labels:

/iː/ close-front unrounded
/ɪ/ close-front unrounded
/e/ close-mid front unrounded
/æ/ open-front unrounded
/ɑː/ open-back unrounded
/ɒ/ open-back rounded
/ʌ/ open-mid unrounded
/ɔː/ open-mid back rounded
/ʊ/ close-back rounded
/uː/ close-back rounded


The more familiar you become with the vowel quadrilateral and the concept of the vowel space, the more able you'll be to correct your students. Whether it's Vlad and the /e, æ/ distinction, Marta with her love of /iː/ or the universal absence of poor old schwa /ə/, helping students with vowels will greatly improve their chances of being understood.

Practice activity

I use a vowel warm up activity with my students (link below), this helps them to feel the position of each vowel in the list above. If they can do this activity in front of a mirror then all the better.

Vowel warm ups

Tools of the trade - IPA part 1.

Have you heard of the IPA? Nope? Well, it could turn out quite useful for you and your students.

The IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet, it's where the phonemic symbols you're used to using come from so you should be familiar with some of it already. The other symbols are useful to learn as you might hear your students pronounce some. So, let's take a tour of the IPA together!

The full IPA Chart (2005)

The bit that I use most with students is the top table of consonants...

How to read the IPA - Consonants

Manner: the left-hand column tells you the type of sound made, let me explain what each label means...

Nasal - air-flow from the lungs comes out through the nose.
Plosive - an closure is made, released with a little exPLOSion and air-flow comes out through the mouth.
Fricative - an obstruction is put in the way of the air stream, which then has to pass through at high speed, making a characteristic whistling/buzzing sound.
Approximant - imagine a vowel masquerading as a consonant, a very close, but not quite touching consonant.
Trill - one of those lovely 'arrrrrriba' sounds when the tongue or lips make a series of beats.
Tap, Flap - like an 'arrrrrriba' but with just one hit of the tongue or bottom lip. (Try saying 'better' in an American accent).
Lateral fricative - a fricative where the air-flow comes over the side of the tongue rather then straight down the middle. (Try saying 'Llandudno' in a Welsh accent).
Lateral approximant - one of those almost-vowels but with the air-flow coming over the side of the tongue again.
Lateral flap - a single fluid tap movement with air released over the side of the tongue.

Place: the top of each column tells you where the sound is made, it starts at the lips and ends at the vocal folds - i.e. front to back.

Bilabial - made with both lips.
Labiodental - made with the bottom lip and top row of teeth.
Dental - made at the teeth.
Alveolar - made at the hard gum ridge behind your top teeth.
Post-alveolar - a bit further back than alveolar.
Retroflex - made by curving your tongue tip back, a bit further back than Post-alveolar. (Try saying 'really' with an Indian accent)
Palatal - made at the middle of the roof of your mouth.
Velar - made at the soft fleshy bit of the roof of your mouth.
Uvular - made slightly further back than velar. (Try using the back of your tongue to make a 'k' sound in an Arabic accent).
Pharyngeal - made by pulling the tongue body back to squeeze the pharynx.
Epiglottal - made at the epiglottis.
Glottal - made at the glottis (the gap between your vocal folds).

• To help you hear what the symbols sound like, have a listen to this interactive IPA chart:

Clickable IPA chart

• When you click on a sound you'll hear it  in initial, medial and final position accompanied by /ɑː/. 
• For example, when you click on /p/ you'll hear /pɑː ɑːpɑː ɑːp/.

Hope this helps you get a better understanding of the IPA. Please note that the information given here is by no means the whole picture. 

Part 2. coming soon...