Table Of ContentDOCUMENT RESUME
FL 020 871
ED 352 836
Odisho, Edward Y.
AUTHOR
A Comparative Study of English and Spanish Vowel
TITLE
Systems: Theoretical and Practical Implications for
Teaching Pronunciation.
PUB DATE
[92]
NOTE
27p.
Guides
Reports - Research/Technical (143)
PUB TYPE
Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052)
Classroom Use
MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.
EDRS PRICE
Auditory Perception; Classroom Techniques;
DESCRIPTORS
Comparative Analysis; Contrastive Linguistics;
*English; English (Second Language); Language
Patterns; *Language Rhythm; *Pronunciation
Instruction; Second Language Instruction; *Spanish;
Spanish Speaking; Stress (Phonology); Syllables;
*Vowels
ABSTRACT
A study examines two major types of vowel systems in
languages, centripetal and centrifugal. English is assoniated with
the centripetal system, in which vowel quality and quantity (rhythm)
are heavily influenced by stress. In this system, vowels have a
strong tendency to move toward the center of the vowel area. Spanish
is associated with the centrifugal system, which has a syllable-timed
rhythm. In Spanish, vowels are located near the periphery of the
vowel area and resist any movement to the center. These diametrically
opposed vowel systems are subject to dynamics that further
differentiate them. However, analysis of these patterns in these two
languages and in others suggests that the systems are not mutually
exclusive but occur on a continuum from centripetal to centrifugal.
It is argued that the constraints and dynamics operating in the
different syste,as are often neglected in the teaching and learning of
pronunciation. The findings have the following implications for
classroom practice: (1) production of sounds should be preceded in
instruction by training in sound perception and recognition;
(2)
dynamics of the sound system may need to be learned before
phonological units are learned; and (3) pronunciation instruction
should include visual and tactile elements along with aural stimuli.
(Contains 25 references.) (MSE)
***********************************************************************
Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made
from the original document.
***********************************************************************
Systems:
Vowel
Spanish
and
A
Study English
Comparative
of
Theoretical and Practical Implications for Teaching Pronunciation
Edward Y. Odisho
Northeastern Illinois University
Address all correspondence to:
Edward Y. Odisho
Associate Professor
Department of Curriculum & Instruction
Northeastern Illinois University
5500 N. St. Louis
Chicago, Illinois 60625
[312) 794-2727
Phone:
English & Spanish Vowel Systems
Runnine, Head:
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE
THIS
Office of Educational Research and Improvement
MATERIAL HAS BEEN
GRANTE BY
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION
CENTER (ERIC)
Cf PM;
document has been reproduced as
received tram the person or organization
originating it
0 Minor changes have been made to improve
reproduction Quality
Points ot view or opinions stated in this docu-
TO THE EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES
ment do not necessarily represent official
INFORMATION CENTER
OEM position or policy
(ERIC)."
2
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
and Spanish Vowel
A Comparative Study of English
Implications
Systems: Theoretical and Practical
for Teaching Pronunciation
ABSTRACT
adult Hispanics appears
Teaching the English vowel system to
consonant
than teaching its
to be a far more challenging task
partly to the extensive
The difficulty is attributed
system.
differences between the two
qualitative and quantitative vocalic
the
them, and partly to
systems and the dynamics that control
in shaping the rhythm
significant role the vocalic system plays
identifies two
Theoretically, the study
type of each language.
and
here as centripetal
major types of vowel systems labeled
the traditional stress-
centrifugal; these are then associated with
Practically, the study
timed and syllable-timed rhythm types.
teaching
the approach to
the need
reconsider
to
highlights
underlying systems and
pronunciation taking into account the
that
languages and the dynamics
structures of the native and target
and to
understanding of the problems
govern them to secure a better
tackle them.
design more effective techniques to
Spanish Vowel
A Comparative Study of English and
Implications
Systems: Theoretical and Practical
for Teaching Pronunciation
INTRODUCTION
ESL/Bilingual students,
In teaching English pronunciation to
unjustifiably emphasize the
there are instances when teachers
the expense of the
segmental elements (vowels and consonants...) at
Thereis also
suprasegmental ones (stress, rhythm, intonation...).
thus
elements as isolated entities,
a tendency to treat the two
exist among them as
obscuring the underlying relationship that may
the teacher
Moreover, there are instances when
units of the whole.
pronunciation and
knowingly identifies a certain element/aspect of
given
that
because
and time
simply
weight
more
grants
it
therefore ranking
element/aspect is a serious source of difficulty,
semantic confusion.
high among the causes of mispronunciation and
this study.
The latter category is intimately related to
author emphasized the
In an earlier study (Odisho, 1990), the
Hispanics,
view that in teaching English pronunciation to adult
serious problems for
the vocalic system of English noses far more
This was attributed to four
them than the consonantal system.
factors:
different, both
First, the two vowel systems are drastically
qualitatively and quantitatively.
and
qualitative
the
control
that
dynamics
the
Second,
opposed
quantitative variation of the vowels are diametrically
to each other.
-2-
vowel
to exist between the
Third, a strong relationship seems
their rhythm types.
systems of the two languages and
one-to-one grapheme-phoneme
Fourth, the presence of a general
opposed to a highly
correspondence of vowels in Spanish as
of vowels
in
inconsistent grapheme-phoneme correspondence
Hispanic students when
English raises serious problems for
Spanish the
For instance, in
literacy skills are involved.
value very consistently,
letter a tends to retain its phonemic
wide variety of phonemic
whereas in English it can render a
e
in
/ and / E /
/, /3,6/, / 0,1, / 3 /,
/
values such as
respectively.
above, apple, arm, ball, able and any.
fourth
of this paper, the
In an attempt to restrict the scope
it
this discussion since
factor will be completely excluded from
literacy skills are
constitutes a pronunciation problem only when
considered only to the extent
The first factor will be
involved.
dynamics
third factors i.e., the
it is relevant to the second and
It is
relationship to rhythm type.
of the vowel system and its
the bulk of this study.
these two factors that will constitute
DISCUSSION OF VOWEL SYSTEMS
literature as timbre (MacPherson,
Vowel quality, also known in
the
for
stands
1965)
(Delattre,
color
vowel
or
1975)
It results
the ear.
acoustic/auditory impression of the vowel on
other
lips configurations and
from the differences in tongue and
of
required for the production
concomitant articulatory maneuvers
for vowel description
The basic three parameters
a given vowel.
i.e., rounded/
front/back, high/low, and lip-position
are:
-3-
has a minimum of
Using those three parameters, English
unrounded.
1971;
Robinett,
1965; Prator
&
11-12 basic vowels
(Delattre,
being described.
Whitley, 1986) depending on the variety of English
/ o I,
/ D /,
/ e 1, / E /I / Beth / 0L/,
They are:
/ I /,
/1
/
bet, hat,
/ as in beat, bit, bait,
/ A /, and / a
/ (41,
/ u /,
hot, bought, boat, pull, pool, but and about.
vowels (Stockwell &
Spanish, on the other hand, has five basic
1968;
Navarro;
1975;
1965; MacPherson,
1965; Delattre,
Bowen,
/ 0 / and /
cat /
/ e /,
/ L /,
/,
Dalbor, 1969; Whitley, 1986)
No discussion
respectively.
as in piso, peso, paso, pozo and puso,
will be made here
of the diphthongs or other combinations of vowels
quality of the
since their quality is essentially based on the
basic vowels in the two languages.
another feature that
Vowel quantity, length or duration is
In
Spanish and English.
accounts for further differences between
The
controversial.
this feature has been somewhat
English,
linguists
which
in
manner
the
in
reflected
controversy
is
quantitative contrast.
transcribe words that are thought to display
bit have been transcribed
For instance, the vowels in beat and
/iy/ vs.
i
/
1909),
/
(Jones,
/i:/ vs.
differently as:
i
/
/
(Gimson, 1967), / iy / vs.
(Trager & Smith, 1957), / i:/ vs. / I /
/ I / (Kenyon &
/ I / (Prator & Robinett, 1971) and / i / vs.
there seems to be a
As the transcription portrays,
Knott, 1953).
quantitative as in
disagreement on whether the difference is only
combination
Jones, or only qualitative as in Kenyon & Knott, or a
of the cases where
of both types of differences as in the rest
-4-
which entails
designates length and y designates diphthongization
length.
ground as the
Recently, the feature tense/lax has been gaining
vowels of
basis for the distinction of the so-called long/short
Unfortunately, even this
English such as beat/bit and pool/null.
and acceptable
feature does not seem to have a well-established
1978)
(MacKay,
it will remain so
definition and,
apparently,
of tenseness or
because an objective measurement of the degree
yet been possible
laxness in the muscles of articulation has not
tried to apply this
When Ladefoged
(1982)
1965).
(Delattre,
general
feature to classify the English vowels, the result was a
shortness (P.
association of tenseness with length and laxness with
in literature
81) an association that has been repeatedly attested
(Chomsky & Halle, 1968; Jakobson et al, 1969).
transcription, it has
However, despite these differences in
qualitative and
not been suggested by any linguist that the
vowels in
quantitative differences between the above types of
Consequently, to the extent it
English are mutually exclusive.
this study will treat the two features as
concerns English,
Delattre
(1965)
they entail each other.
interdependent i.e.,
the role of
corroborates this view by stating that in English,
not
duration in the i/I type distinctions is certain, but
in color
It is probably smaller than the difference
considerable.
primary or
Regardless of whether quantity plays a
63).
(P.
it is a part of the English vowel
secondary role in English,
have a
Unlike in English, quantity in Spanish does not
system.
It
-5-
Navarro (1968) also
41).
functional role (MacPherson, 1975, P.
characteristic feature
affirms this observation and states that the
whatever the
of Spanish pronunciation is the brevity of its vowels,
of the
degree of stress of these sounds may be and the form
50).
syllable in which they appear (P.
English and Spanish
But, so far, the comparison between the
elements without
vowel systems has been confined to the segmental
these
betweeri
interaction
any consideration for any possible
In the remaining part of
segments and the suprasegmental ones.
of the
this section, attention will be focused on the interaction
It is this interaction
vowel system with stress in each language.
system.
that constitutes what we call the dynamics of the vowel
heavily under the
In English, vowel quality and quantity fall
dynamics of
influence of stress and this interaction is part of the
strength within
The location of stress and its
the vowel system.
both qualita-
the word or sentence greatly influence the vowels
In syllables with a primary stress,
tively and quantitatively.
quality is very
vowel quantity (length) reaches its maximum and
weak stress,
In syllables with a secondary stress or a
distinct.
In
drastically.
both quality and quantity of vowels are reduced
reduced to
unstressed syllables, almost all English vowels can be
which also
[ a
] or [ I ] vowel quality (Dalbor, 1969;p 153)
either
the
implies a major reduction in quantity since both vowels are
Ladefoged (1982) confirms this fact in
shortest of all in English.
[a]
designate all vowels
may be used to
stating that the symbol
Dale and Poms' (1985)
that have a reduced vowel quality (P. 86).
--6-
a )
vowel in
is the sound that results when any
statement, that [
this salient
English is unstressed in a word, further supports
trend in English (P. 94).
reduction, hereafter
Such a qualitative and quantitative vowel
a
schwa, is a
labeled schwaization after the neutral vowel
r
very
but
English,
of
feature
characteristic
typically
for
In their teaching instructions
uncharacteristic of Spanish.
(1985) sum up their
the Spanish learners of English, Dale and Poms
pronounced
In Spanish, all vowels are
instructions as follows:
The
syllables of words.
clearly and distinctly, even in unaccented
vowels should
In English, unstressed
] does not exist.
schwa
In
in Spanish.
receive much less force than unstressed vowels do
must obscure any
order to sound like a native English speaker, you
Vowel
in accented syllables of words.
vowels that are not
It is an important
is not sloppy speech.
reduction to
01
]
[
feature of spoken English (P. 94).
characteristic feature of
Navarro (1968) highlights the same
Spanish does not use relaxed and
Spanish in a broader context:
French or the
colorless vowels analogous to the mute e
of
Obviously, the
29).
unaccented e of Portuguese and Catalan (P.
should be even
contrast between English and Spanish in this respect
which Spanish is
greater since neither of those languages with
to schwaization.
compared matches English in its susceptibility
be misconstrued
Nevertheless, the situation in Spanish should not
and quantitative vowel
as the absolute absence of qualitative
Navarro does not let this fact pass
susceptibility to change.
-7-
For
different contexts.
unnoticed; in fact, he emphasizes this in
vowel, under certain
vowel timbre (quality), he states that each
without altering
circumstances, undergoes perceptible changes, but
the words (P. 28).
the phonological unity or the semantic value of
stressed vowels
With regards to quantity, he points out that in the
greater length as compared to
one is ordinarily aware of a certain
vowel is shortened as to
those in weak syllables (P 50), but no
Vowels in Spanish may also
become muffled or silenced (P.
51).
and
for stylistic reasons
occasionally be given some length
emphasis (MacPherson, 1975).
Spanish demons.Lrates two
The above comparison of English and
subject to different
diametrically opposed vowel systems that are
English has a range of
dynamics further enhancing the differences.
broad as that of
vowel quality that is, at a minimum, twice as
it is the outcome
Vowel quantity, regardless of whether
Spanish.
certainly more relevant in
of long/short or tense/lax feature, is
three
English has vowels with at least
English than in Spanish.
/ I / and / a /.
i /,
phonetic lengths typically represented by /
(1965) describe English as
It is because of this Stockwell & Bowen
environments within words,
having three vowel systems in different
vary
not
does
that
system
one
only
has
Spanish
whereas
(P. 86).
significantly from one position in a word to another
English is the fact that
Perhaps, most important of all for
center (Whitley,
schwaization can pull almost all vowels to the
to the minimum.
thus reducing their tenseness and length
1986)
by revealing that 900
Delattre (1965) confirms this statistically
