1. Pronunciation
1.1. It is the act of producing the sounds of a language.
1.1.1. It is the knowledge pertaining the different features of the target language phonological system, and the capacity for using them appropriately within the discourse. Labov & Wiliam (2003)
1.2. One of the most common difficulties for teaching pronunciation is that it easily evokes people's judgements.
1.2.1. One of the reasons that pronunciation is neglected or ignored is because not many English pronunciation teaching strategies or techniques are available to teachers in the classroom.
1.2.1.1. Pronunciation Learning Strategies
1.2.1.1.1. “Deliberate actions and thoughts that are consciously employed, often in logical sequence, for learning and gaining greater control over the use of various aspects of pronunciation” (Pawlak , 2010)
1.3. Pronunciation features
1.3.1. Segmental features
1.3.1.1. Any discrete unit that can be identified, either physically or auditory,
1.3.2. Suprasegmental features
1.3.2.1. Phonemes that cannot be easily analyzed as distinct segments, but rather belong to a syllable or even word.
1.4. Pronunciation course should consist of these parts:
1.4.1. Intonation
1.4.2. Stress and rhythm
1.4.3. Consonants
1.4.4. Vowels
1.4.4.1. They form the nucleus of each syllable in English.
1.4.4.1.1. Monophthongs.
1.4.4.1.2. Diphthongs.
1.4.4.1.3. Cardinal vowels
2. Phonology
2.1. Phonology: Is the study of the sound system of a language
2.1.1. Concerned with anatomy and physiology
2.1.1.1. Organs of speech
2.1.2. Basic activity
2.1.2.1. Phonemic analysis
2.1.2.1.1. Its objective is to establish what the phonemes are and arrive at the phonemic inventory of the language.
2.1.3. Sociolinguistic aspects
2.1.3.1. Accent
2.1.3.2. Intonation
2.2. The fundamental sound unit: Phoneme
2.2.1. Phonological competence involves
2.2.1.1. The sound-units
2.2.1.1.1. Phonemes
2.2.1.1.2. Allophones
2.2.1.2. The phonetic features which distinguish phonemes
2.2.1.2.1. Distinctive features, e.g. voicing, rounding, nasality, plosion.
2.2.1.3. The phonetic composition of words
2.2.1.3.1. Syllable structure, the sequence of phonemes, word stress, word tones
2.2.1.4. Sentence phonetics
2.2.1.4.1. Prosody
3. Phonetics
3.1. It is the scientific study of speech.
3.1.1. Its objectives are
3.1.1.1. How speech sounds are produced
3.1.1.1.1. To study the production of speech sounds we can do
3.1.1.2. How sounds are used in spoken language
3.1.1.3. How we can record speech sounds with written symbols
3.1.1.3.1. International Phonetic Association
3.1.1.4. How we hear and recognize different sounds.
4. Other important terms
4.1. Intelligibility
4.1.1. The extent to which utterances are understandable to a speaker’s audience,
4.1.1.1. Besides intelligibility, speakers of English need
4.1.1.1.1. Comprehensibility
4.1.1.1.2. Interpretability
4.2. Homophone
4.2.1. When two different words are pronounced identically.
4.3. Minimal pair
4.3.1. In establishing the set of phonemes of a language, it is usual to demonstrate the independent, contrastive nature of a phoneme by citing pairs of words which differ in one sound only and have different meanings.