Week 6: Sounds

1. Carefully read Chapter 6 from An Introduction to Language, pp. 231-266.  Take notes while reading, so you can bring along your questions and any points unclear to you to the next class meeting. 

2. Please open the following link: Learning English Pronunciation. This is an excellent site to learn the International Phonetic Alphabet and practice the sounds, both of American and British English, represented by the symbols used in this system of transcription.

3. Attempt to do the exercises, pp. 268-271.  Bring any questions or doubts to the next class.

4. Participate in the class discussion of the chapter's contents and the exercises.  Make sure that you understand the material.  Ask again if you don't understand.  Once you can do the exercises, type them as a Microsoft Word or any other word processing document and save it into a floppy or a USB. 

5. Review the material with the help of the chapter's summary, pp. 267-268.  Remember to use the Glossary of linguistic terms at the end of the textbook, pp. 573-598, and Index, pp. 599-620, for any queries.  The insides of the flaps of both the front and back covers of the textbook have very useful charts related to this and the next chapter.  

6. Submit online your homework, the exercises to this chapter.  To do so, click here, select Homework from the menu on the left, then select Chapter 6 Homework Submission and follow the instructions.  You will need to use phonetic symbols in your homework to this chapter.  Not all the fonts support phonetic symbols.  The best one is "Lucinda sans Unicode."  Check if you have this one on your computer.  You can also copy and paste the symbols from the Phonetic Symbols Chart.  Obviously, there is no need for you to copy and paste those symbols that are identical to the letters of the alphabet.  You can type the letters, not forgetting to enclose the transcription in the brackets.  However, you will need to copy the special symbols from the chart and past them into your transcriptions.  

7. After the homework deadline has passed, you can check the correct answers by clicking here, selecting Tools from the menu on the left, selecting View Grades, and checking the file returned to you by the instructor.

8. Extra credit additional study:  Go and explore at least two of the related Internet sites below.  Summarize them and show it to the instructor.  Focus on how the sites expand on the information found in the textbook.

   Sammy’s Interactive Practice

   Speech Animator

   Vowel Sounds

   Sonority Scale

Quiz 2

1. Carefully review the exercises to Chapters 4, 5, and 6.  Review the instructor's feedback on your submissions.  Check the correct answers from the keys to the exercises that have been sent to you (see the View Grades → Homework in the Blackboard Assessment and Evaluation Component of this course on the College Blackboard platform).

2. Reread the relevant part of a chapter if you still fail to understand a point or the answers to an exercise.

3. Reread the summaries of Chapters 4, 5, and 6.  Remember to use the Glossary of linguistic terms at the end of the textbook, pp. 573-598, and Index, pp. 599-620, for any term, item, or topic that you need to return to and review.

4. Go to the Assessment and Evaluation Component on the College Blackboard platform, select "Quizzes/Practice Tests" from the menu on the left, and do all three practice quizzes to Chapters 4, 5, and 6.  Every time you have finished and submitted your answers, you will be able to see your score in the View Grades (available from the Tools on Bb) and also your correct and incorrect answers.  Focus on the wrong answers and try to understand why they are wrong.  

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