Phonotactics

Phnotactics The linguistic term for possible phoneme combinations

Teachers who are awere of the demands of learning English for their ELLs and the specific linguistic needs based on students primary language are more effective during second langauge instruction.

1. Phonotactics Language Development for ELL Students By Gabby Villamagua

2. Phonotactics The linguistic term for possible phoneme combinations There are sounds that only appear at the end of a syllable but never at the beginning English speakers have trouble with the phoneme ( ng ) at the beginning of a word. For example: Vietnamese name Nguyen

3. Knowledge of sound distribution or phonotactics : decide / glark / ok but not / tlark / In English a number of consonant blends are possible at the beginnings of words but never but some combinations never occur Phonotactics

4. Phonotactics : three consonant phonemes First must be /s/ Second must be a voiceless stop Third phoneme must be a liquid or a glide (vowels) For example (see page 67) S + p + l ( splah ) S + p + l (spray) S + t + l (o) s + t + r (street)

5. Phonotactics : vowels Any kind of vowel can go at the beginning or middle of a syllable, only long vowels and reduced vowels can end a syllable No word or syllable in English end in /a/ for example Acquired vs. Learned

6. Tongue Twister Peggy Babcock, Peggy Babcock, Peggy Babcock, ...

7. Tongue Twisters Peggy Babcock Analysis: difficulty comes from physical Movement of the tongue but also from mixed patterns the brain has to deal with

8. Tongue Twisters Front/back movement of the tongue On/Off pattern of the voicing (voiceless/voiced)

9. Implications Language production is complex Process seems to occur “automatically ”

10. Implications Tongue twisters show upper limits on the capacity to produce language “naturally ” Insights from linguistics in the area of phonology ca help educators in the areas of teaching reading and second language Implications