'transparent' not so transparen
Message de jardin62 posté le 03-03-2005 à 10:02:19 (S | E | F | I)
Hello!
Let's talk about the trap every listener would like to avoid !
"Transparent" words can be more difficult to understand than one might think!
ex: The spoken word chocolate klt bears very little resemblance to the French chocolat
... Difficult for learners to recognize and interpret very well known words when spoken!

*Three reasons for that :
1-missing syllables ( chocolate, interesting...)
2- unexpected vowels ( , / psychiatrist, knife, the /p/ disappears
-ed in "refused to ( the middle /d/ disappears), etc.
3- The so-called "transparent words" are no easier, even harder to identify aurally than words that have nothing in common with the learners' own language.

*PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS WHEN LISTENING ?
- Don't worry at first about what you don't hear. Concentrate on what you hear, i.e, the consonants and the stressed vowels.
Play with the syllables that stand out: if you distinctly recognize DIG, make a list of words it might belong to - the verb DIG itself, but also DIGnify, DIGnity, inDIGnant...

Try with JUST...JUST could be JUST, or part of JUSTify, JUSTice, adJUSTment.

Have a go with COM! ...........
COMma, COMbat, COMment, COMpact, acCOMmodate, inCOMpetent...

- Practise saying lists of words with the same ending and therefore the same stress pattern in order to engrave the rhythm in your mind:
DIGnity, EQuity, SANity, soLIDity, raPIDity, inTEGrity; DIGnify, JUSTify, PACify, soLIDify, perSONify, exEMPlify.

In these two series, the stress patterns are identical, so the most salient (=> projected) syllable is the same in related words. However, the difference is clearly heard in the final vowel, i/ in ity / ai/ in ify.

Moreover, in context, the -ity words will fill a noun slot and the -ify words a verb slot.

**I will let you 'swallow' this... and give you 2 other practical suggestions later on.
to those who have given time to this summary of an article from Ruth Huart I've found in a magazine. (Ruth Huart is University professor/ She writes extensively on the links between phonetics and grammar)