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!