English phonology, Phonotactics,

and Suprasegmentals
phyen@ctu.edu.vn

1
What is a phoneme?

• A phoneme = a distinctive or
contrastive sound in English
• Distinctive sound  the sound makes
a difference in meaning and has
communicative value
• Different phonemes make contrasts in
words

2
What is a minimal pair?

• A minimal pair = a set of different

words consisting of all the same
sound except for one

3
Is it important to teach our learners
about minimal pairs? Why? What can
you do to help learners produce the
minimal pairs correctly?

4
What is an allophone?

• An allophone = a predictable variant

of a phoneme

5
What is a phonemic rule?

• A phonemic rule = the predictability

of the allophones of a phoneme
 The rule stipulates the different
environments in which each allophones
appear

6
What is a phonological process? Give
examples

• A phonological process = a
phenomemon in which assimilations
take place.

7
What are the suprasegmental features
of languages?

• Suprasegmental features =
articulatory features which are
superimposed over more than one
segment.
• 2 types = stress and intonation

8
What is a stress?

• In articulatory terms, stress involves a

rise in air pressure; an increase in the
activity of the larynx, resulting in
higher pitch.
• In acoustic terms, the stress syllable is
perceived as longer, louder, and of
higher pitch.

9
What are the functions of stress? Give
examples
• Distinguishes different parts of speech
• Distinguishes a word from a phrase
• Distinguishes parts of speech in
derivationally related words
• Expresses the strong form or full vowel
of a syllable/ word in pronunciation.
• Used for contrastive emphasis
• Signal new as opposed to old
information
10
What is an intonation? Give examples
of different meanings brought by
different intonations.

• An intonation = a pattern of pitch

variation in a sentence

11
What is an intonation? Give examples
of different meanings brought by
different intonations.

• An intonation = a pattern of pitch

variation in a sentence

12
What challenges do Vietnamese
learners encounter when learning
English suprasegmental features? How
can you help them overcome these
challenges?

13
Solutions
• Get learners exposed to English language
as much as possible (watching movies or
video clips, speaking to native speakers,
…)
• Make use of the dictionaries, especially
the electronic ones.
• Get learners to practice (T demonstrates,
ss imitate; Role-playing …)
• ….
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