TESL 566 Phonology Fall Semester 2013

Dee Matchett Pronunciation Practicum

09-12-2013 thru 11-21-13

with Aza Kazimova Aza was born in Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea and spent most of her life in the capital city of Baku. She speaks Azerbaijani, which is related to the Turkish language and although Aza doesnt speak Turkish, she understands that language also. Aza grew up under the rule of communist Russia in the Russian school system and she is a fluent speaker. She considers Russian her native tongue and is saddened that speaking Russian has fallen out of favor now that Azerbaijan is free from communist rule. She also speaks Lezgin, a Daghastani dialect that was her mothers native tongue. Aza has been in the United States for 19 months and is seeking asylum in the US. Because she left the Muslim faith of her father and the community, choosing to adopt the Christian faith, it is dangerous for her to return to her homeland. I met Aza in February of 2012, shortly after her arrival in Tennessee. Her English skills have improved greatly since that time. She has made a concerted effort to learn English. She did study English in school for six years, but instruction was in Russian with exercises for grammar and translation only without a focus on verbal communication. However, she and her sister took private instruction from an English speaking Russian teacher who helped them with pronunciation. Her English vocabulary is probably high intermediate to advanced level. She has excellent reading skills. Her spelling and writing ability in English are fairly good. We are meeting for 30 minutes before and after Watchmen (prayer meeting) for pronunciation practice. I listen for pronunciation during Watchman and Aza makes notes on

TESL 566 Phonology Fall Semester 2013

Dee Matchett Pronunciation Practicum

09-12-2013 thru 11-21-13

anything she had difficulty understanding. Hopefully this will help her listening skills as well. Afterward, we compare notes and decide what to work on in the next session. In our first session , Aza shared pronunciation issues that she felt a need to address and some difficulty she had with listening skills also. Speaking: /I/ and // spill for spell

// and // and /d/ then, thin, den // and /s/ Thunday for Sunday

r sounds in general

Listening: /d/ and /t/ (flapped /t/) pardy for party budder for butter Days of the week: Mon-dee or Monday Picture/pitcher In the time we had before Watchmen we addressed the two listening items. The family Aza is living with have strong southern accents and Aza sometimes has difficulty understanding their speech. Aza says: party but they pronounce it pardy. They also say the days of the week as Sundee, Mondee, Tuesdee, etc. Aza was confused by the difference in spelling vs pronunciation and was concerned that people wouldnt understand her if she pronounced them the way they are spelled. I explained to her that people will understand her just fine if she continues to pronounce them the way they are

TESL 566 Phonology Fall Semester 2013

Dee Matchett Pronunciation Practicum

09-12-2013 thru 11-21-13

spelled, but she can use a flapped /t/ if she wants and explained how the tongue draws back after touching tooth ridge. Barbara Williams came in about that time. She teaches first grade in Jefferson County and I asked her to say the days of the week for Asa. Very clearly Barbara pronounced them, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. We explained to Asa that this is the way children are taught in school, but she will hear the days of the week pronounced both ways because people have different accents. Not being able to distinguish when someone says pitcher for picture is also confusing for her. This is another speech reduction she will have to pick up from context. My notes during Watchmen: chuch for church werd for word (with almost no r sound) Fadder for Father dis for this curb for curve It doesnt matter for me / instead of to me

From Azas notes during Watchmen: Joel 2:23 So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten Aza: Is it pronounced like sword? Or like swim? What kind of locust is this?

TESL 566 Phonology Fall Semester 2013

Dee Matchett Pronunciation Practicum

09-12-2013 thru 11-21-13

Explained: pronounced like /sw/ in swim. Swarming is an adjective describing what the locusts are doing, not a species of locust. Aza wanted to know if there was a rule about when the w is silent in sw and I told her Id find out. ****************************************************************************** The /d// problem seemed like the easiest place to start. So, I explained difference in tongue placement and voicing. We practiced exaggerating the tongue moving beyond the teeth. Once she got that and added voicing she was producing well. We used den and thin to practice and worked with a list of minimal pairs. Sword SWORD: The pronunciation changed in Middle English. It is from the same Old Norse root as the German Schwert and the Dutch zwaard. Doesnt occur in any other initial consonant position, except as part of a consonant cluster. Does occur in consonant cluster in medial position: answer, and is silent there as well. Aza pronounces the /w/, but easily pronounced answer without the /w/ when I explained. She was just pronouncing it according to the spelling. Easy fix. Shared this site: http://speechscience.com/tips/top-pronounciation-tips-for-russian-speakers/

Using Minimal Pair Exercises from http://tedpower.co.uk/minimal2924.html

TESL 566 Phonology Fall Semester 2013

Dee Matchett Pronunciation Practicum

09-12-2013 thru 11-21-13

Aza wants to become a US citizen. She is highly motivated to learn English, merge with American society and make her home here. I think this has been a huge influence on the speed at which she has acquired speaking skills. She has taken advantage of opportunities to make friends and engage in conversation as much as possible. Over the last two months, weve met for language practice six times and I see her on other occasions as well. She doesnt mind being corrected and she has made a lot of progress. When shes trying to figure out how to make a sound, she will study my mouth, ask me to open wider so she can see my tongue or turn my head to get a side view. I am her Sammy diagram. I have learned so much doing this assignment. Ive had to stop and think about how the mouth and tongue move for pronunciation and how to clearly describe that process. Aza catches on quickly and it didnt take long before minimal pairs were easily pronounced correctly, but in conversation she was making the same errors. Therefore, I had to figure out another way to help her. Our Chapter 7 assignment on Common Pronunciation Problems was timely and I chose to develop an exercise for Aza using phrases that placed the /// in initial, middle and final position. I included /s/ and /d/ as much as possible since Aza was substituting them for/ /. There is much improvement in this area. On the pronunciation diagnostic reading and interview, you can hear substitutions a few times (wis instead of with, de instead of the sometimes) but this is much less frequent than before. R-controlled vowels have been a problem for Aza also, but she is making much improvement. Aza and I are planning on continuing to work together. She also has a grammar issue with noun/verb agreement that we will address. She substitutes /iy/ (long e) for several vowel sounds ///ey/, so we will work on that as well. Her word stress and intonation are pretty good, but occasionally she will place stress on the wrong syllable, especially if the word is unfamiliar. She recently received a temporary work Visa that she can use until her asylum case is decided. She is studying to get her drivers license. She exhibits great determination to acclimate to America life and it is a joy to help her with that process.