Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
A processor usually works unconsciously with lexis and phonology when we listen
to him or her and as students we use lexis and phonology automatically when we
speak. They are designed to extract the meaning of what is said, not to notice the
speech sounds in the words. They are designed to do their job by design in the
service of efficient communication. But reading and spelling require a level of
metalinguistic speech that is not natural or easily acquired. English uses an
alphabetic writing system in which the letters, one by one and in combination,
represent single speech sounds. People who can take apart words into sounds,
recognize their identity, and put them together again have the foundation skill for
using the language properly.
Body
What is lexis?
Definition from a dictionary: Lexis (linguistics) words; vocabulary.
What is phonology?
Phonology is the study of the sound features used in a language to communicate
meaning. There are many different varieties of spoken English in the world, but all
spoken English has the features as individual sounds, word stress, sentence
stress, connected speech and intonation.
Key concepts:
a. Phoneme
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that has meaning in a language. (e.g.
books [s] to show plurals. English has 44 phonemes, which can be represented by
phonemic symbols and written in a phonemic script.
A phonemic symbol represents only one phoneme; it helps us know what the
correct pronunciation is. E.g. cat [kæt] ; made [meɪd]
b. Individual sounds
Vowels are all voiced: the airstream is not obstructed; they differ in the place in the
mouth, lip positions, and the height of the tongue.
Consonants are either voiced or voiceless (unvoiced): the airstream is interrupted,
diverted, or obstructed.
Learners need to be able to distinguish the difference between sounds by minimal
pairs. Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ in only one sound, e.g. ship/sheep
What is function?
A function is a reason why we communicate; a way of describing language use,
rather than just grammatically or lexically, to emphasize the meaning for the people
who are in the context where it is used.
e.g. Apologizing, greeting, clarifying, inviting, advising, agreeing, disagreeing,
refusing, thanking, interrupting, expressing obligation, expressing preferences
e.g. Would you like to come around for dinner? ->inviting
Key concepts
1. Exponents
The language we use to express one function is called exponent. One grammatical
form/exponent can have several functions, depending on the context.
e.g. can
ability: I can swim.
Requests: Can you turn off the TV?
Permission: Can I smoke here?
Possibility: It can be rainy at this time of year.
3. Appropriacy
It’s important to use the level of formality that suits a situation for appropriacy.
e.g. A teacher greets the students:
Too formal: I’d like to wish you all a very good morning.
Too informal: Hi, guys!
Appropriate: Good morning, everyone.
The language we use depends on the situation and on the person we are talking
to, so communicative competence can be gained.
Phonetic Symbols (APA)
Consonants Vowels
References
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/phoneticsymbolsforenglish.htm consulted on
November 30th at 10:14 pm