u04a02 Application Questions

5. Freeman and Freeman state, "Each phoneme in English or any other language is actually a group of sounds, called phones. The phones that make up one phoneme are called allophones"(p. 87).

In English, /p/ and /ph/ are allophones of the /p/ phoneme.
Examples would include pit /p/ and spit /ph/.

There are different forms of allophones; ones with aspirations include an additional puff of air. Examples would include pig and pair. In Spanish, for example, there is no puff of air, therefore a student pronouncing pig may sound like big to English speakers. There are also unreleased allophones, which are very common in English words such as, keep and stop. This specific type links syllables in words together and is the most difficult for English Language Learners to hear the /p/ sound. They will either omit the sound or insert at wrong placement within a word.

According to Freeman and Freeman, "Each language uses a different invetory of sounds. As a result, some phonemes from one language may be identical to those in another language, and some may be different" (p.92).

6.English is standard but diverse. English in the U.S. has standard vocabulary, however areas have their own slang.People in areas of the U.S. have different pronunciations for words. Many people can be distinguished by their accent. People are very proud of their culture and  I would never think for people to be expected to speak in a "standard dialect". I do feel that an ELL should be taught by someone who speaks a "standard dialect" due to the fact that some accents are strong and it may make learning English more difficult for the student. When going to school in Spain, I went to Salamanca because it is said that this city has the "purest Spanish". When a student has learned the language, then they become familiar with these different accents. I feel it is best to learn a language through "standard dialect" but I do not feel that it should be required by the majority population. This is what makes us each diverse and in many ways is a reference to where we come from.