Title: // and // sounds and its problems Faced by the Students of ESL Having Punjabi as their Mother-tongue

Course: Phonetics and Phonology Presented by: Khurram Piracha Roll Number 29 Presented to: Prof. Dr. Mubashar Nadeem Dept. of English, Federal Urdu University, Lahore.

Introduction:
In this document two English sounds, // and // are discussed and later the problem of utterance faced by the students of ESL having Punjabi as their mother-tongue is mentioned. // and // are consonant fricative sounds.

Consonants
The basic speech sound in which the breath is at least to some extent blocked and which can be combined with a vowel to form a syllable is a consonant. Consonants sounds in any language are the outcome of the brief stoppage or restraint of airstream during speech at different 'points of articulation'. While speaking, the vocal cords either vibrate or they do not, resulting in voiced or voiceless consonant sounds.

Fricatives
It is a kind of consonant made by the friction of breath in a narrow opening, producing a blustery air flow. Fricatives are considerably the largest set of English consonants. // is a strong friction sound and // is a weak one. The soft palate is raised so much that all the breath is enforced to go through the mouth. There is a contraction between the tip of the tongue and the back of the alveolar ridge. The front of the tongue is higher than /s/ and /z/. The lips are a little rounded. These two sounds are paired together because they take the same place of articulation in mouth. // is unvoiced, meaning only air passes through the mouth. And // is voiced, meaning you make sound with the vocal cords.

The Fricative of English

English fricatives have five articulatory positions:

1. labio-dental: 2. dental: 3. alveolar: 4. post-alveolar: 5. glottal:

f,v - fine, vine , think, this s,z - price, prize , - mission, vision h - hard

These fricatives are called post-alveolar, which can be taken to mean that the tongue is in contact with an area slightly further back than that for s, z. If you make s, then , you should be able to feel your tongue move backwards.

Post-alveolar fricative

The air escapes through a passage along the centre of the tongue, as in s, z, but the passage is a little wider. Most BBC speakers have rounded lips for , , and this is an important difference between these consonants and s, z. The fricative is a common and widely distributed phoneme, but is not. All the other fricatives described so far (f, v, , , s, z, ) can be found in initial, medial and final positions, as shown in the example words. In the case of , however, the distribution is much more limited. Very few English words begin with (Peter Roach. 2009)

The // Sound in English

Linguists name the // sound a 'voiceless post-alveolar fricative'. The 'post-alveolar' point of articulation is just at the back of the 'alveolar', the point for /s/ and /z/. To create the // sound, air is enforced between a wide gap in the centre of the front of the tongue and the behind the tooth ridge. The sides of the tongue may contact the side teeth. The lips are kept slightly uptight, and may project somewhat during the articulation of the sound. This sound is a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be able to produce for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire extent.

Common // sound spellings

Example Word initial
1. she 2. shore /i/ //

3. shell

/el/

Word Internal
1. fashion 2. ashamed 3. crushing /f.n/ /emd/ /kr./

Word final
1. crash 2. wish /kr/ /w/

ch spelling:
1. moustache 2. chef /mst/ /ef/

The // sound in suffixes

1. Station 2. Solution 3. Partial 4. Nutritious /ste.n/ /slu.n/ /p.l/ /njutr.s/

The // sound before suffixes

1. Pressure 2. Assure /pre.r/ /r/

The // Sound in English

The // sound is voiced (the vocal cords vibrate during its utterance), and is the corresponding item to the unvoiced // sound. To produce the // sound, air is forced between a wide gap in the center of the front of the tongue and the back of the tooth ridge. The sides of the tongue may contact the side teeth. The lips are kept slightly uptight, and may project somewhat during the articulation of the sound. This sound is a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be uttered for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire period.

Common // sound spellings

ge spelling
1. beige 2. garage be r

The // sound in suffixes

1. Version 2. conclusion vn knklun

 The // sound before suffixes

1. Leisure 2. measure le me

Non-phonetic // sound words

1. Genre 2. luxurious nr lris

Difficulties faced by the Punjabi Speaking People.

The ESL students who have Punjabi as their mother tongue do not find any difficulty while uttering the // sound because they find its equivalent in their language. The // sound is represented in Punjab by the alphabet . On the other hand, the Punjabi speaking ESL students find the // sound difficult to utter because there is no such sound in Punjabi. Though, the // sound has its equivalent in Urdu language which is widely spoken throughout the country. The // sound is represented in Urdu by the alphabet . The people having rural background feel great difficulty while uttering this sound, and they use /j/ or /d/ sound instead. To give examples of mispronunciation // sound, some words are given below.
Mispronunciation by Punjabi Word Correct Pronunciation speaking ESL students

1. Pleasure

/ ple/

/plej/

2. Measure 3. Treasure 4. Leisure 5. vision 6. conclusion 7. beige

/me/ /tre/ /le/ /vn/ /knklun/ /be/

/mej/ /trej/ /lej/ /vjn/ knklujn/ /bed/

It is important to note here that the new generation who is being taught in urban areas find it less difficult to learn the // sound. They can easily grasp the sound after a good practice.

References
Consonant: definition of consonant in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/consonant Fricative: definition of fricative in Oxford dictionary (British & World English). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/fricative?q=fricative The SH [] and DJ [] Consonants | Rachel's English. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.rachelsenglish.com/videos/sh-and-dj-consonants U.S. English Pronunciation - Lesson 6: the sounds // and // -- ESLport.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.eslport.com/2008/10/us-english-pronunciation-lesson-6.html American English Pronunciation Lesson: zh sound //. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.pronuncian.com/Lessons/Default.aspx?Lesson=119 Fricatives. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://notendur.hi.is/peturk/KENNSLA/02/TOP/fric.html O'Connor, J. D. (1980). Better English pronunciation. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press. Roach, P. (2009). English phonetics and phonology: A practical course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Home page for British English Dictionary and Thesaurus - Cambridge Dictionaries Online. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/