Phonology – The Sound of Language

Segmental Units – The English Phonemes

VIDEO SESSION # 4 – Language Phonology
https://youtu.be/wA9--WJSPws

So far we have discussed language acquisition and language learning, as well as communicative language and academic language. We have also reviewed a brief history of the English language and considered some ways history has influenced similarities and differences between English and other Latin-based languages.

Now it is time to pull apart the linguistic nuts and bolts of the English language in order to understand its components, so we can better serve our ELLs as they work to put these language pieces together. The next four weeks will be dedicated to the sound (phonology), structure (morphology), meaning (semantics), and arrangement (syntax) of English the language. We will begin with phonology.

Phonology is a subfield of linguistics that studies the sound system of a language and describes the way sounds function within a language or across languages. For the purposes of Applied Linguistics, we will begin by analyzing the smallest distinctive unit of sound within a language, the phoneme. These tiny units of sound are where communication begins. It is important to know that the ability to hear and speak all sounds in English is not universal. There are sounds that are produced in English that are not duplicated in other languages and vice versa. This is the source of many phonological difficulties for English learners.

When phonemes become distorted when listening or speaking, communication can be compromised. This week we will explore the sound system of the English language and evaluate the characteristics that help. We will also examine the features that hinder the language development of ELLs. 

This week's content contains audio clips that allow you to listen to the phoneme.  Increase the volume on your computer before proceeding. The icon right before a paragraph indicates that the paragraph contains audio clips. You will know the sound is audio if the icon appears in red when you roll over the text in bold.  Click on the word to hear the sound.