Unit 3

Phonology

When we talk about phonology the first thing that comes to our mind is to analyse  these sounds and discover why this happens. This involves discovering how what happens in the brain is transformed and produced as the physical sound. In this unit I checked some relevant aspects about it. First of all, what is the meaning of Phonology? Is the study of sound features used in a language to communicate meaning .In English these features include Phonemes, words stress, sentence stress and intonation. First of all, a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can make a difference to meaning in a language. Think of when adults try to get a baby to say his or her first word. They often persuade  him or her to sound out the beginning of a word by repeating that sound, or phoneme, over and over by saying something like, 'M, m, m' for 'Mommy.' The 'm' sound, often written as /m/, is an example of a phoneme. On the other hand, we can say that the phonemes of a language are represented in writing by phonemic symbols, such as /i:/ /aI/. The phonemes of English are often shown in a chart, called the phonemic chart. Phonological phenomena are no longer seen as operating on one linear sequence of segments, called phonemes. Many classrooms have a copy of the phonetic chart on the wall. This can help direct learners´ attention to particular sounds when they learn new language or for correction so learners may not need to learn all the symbols on the chart but just the sounds that are problematic for them. Second of all, the stress accent on the syllables of individual words either in asentence or in isolation we give stress  to a syllable we say it with greater energy and usually higher with more length  vowel sound.. This called sentences stress. Normally one word in the sentence has primary and main stress. Finally, Intonation is important: if the word 'right' is said with the pitch of the voice rising, it is likely to be heard as a question or as an invitation to a speaker to continue, while falling pitch is more likely to be heard as confirmation or agreement. Trough it we can show emotions and attitudes emphasise according to other people the function of what are saying. As conclusion, Teachers and future teachers need a well-rounded concept of the phonology of the language they are going to teach and the native language of learners.

References: 

YouTube,. (2015). Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Retrieved 23 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elFOQnWr5Co

YouTube,. (2015). Introduction To Phonology. Retrieved 23 April 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK6ST72JJFk

Wikipedia,. (2015). Phonology. Retrieved 23 April 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonology