Application Questions

Freeman& Freeman

Application Questions 5 & 6

5. The following are the allophones for the phoneme /l/:

   

     Clear/light “l” as in leaf (líf )

    Voiceless “l” as in clay (klé)

    Velarized/dark “l” as in cool (kúl )

     Silent “l” as in calf (kǽf)

English language learners tend to apply the same sound to the phoneme as they are not aware of the allophones. This leads to the mispronunciation of words.  When an ELL is listening to a native English speaker, they focus on the allophones and often become overwhelmed trying to decipher the differences (Freeman & Freeman, 2004).   

6.  Some of the common differences I have heard recently:

Aren’t                                      Ain’t

I do not have any                    I don’t got none

We are going                           We gonna go

That is for me                          That’s fir me

He doesn’t want to go            He don’t want to go

I feel that people do associate different dialects with greater/less intelligence.  For example, when people tend to use a lot of slang words (“dawg”) or improper grammar (“ain’t”) they can sound less intelligent. 

I think that if a regional dialect greatly affects a person’s career, then they should consider the dialect reduction course.  For instance, if the dialect is hindering effective communication with students/clients, it may be necessary to learn a more standard dialect. 

Freeman, D. and Freeman Y. (2004). Essential linguistics: What you need to know to

teach reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann.