| Kommentar |
This class will take place online, via MS Teams. If conditions permit, it will be taught in hybrid mode (face-to-face with simultaneous live-streaming). The room will be available Tuesdays and Wednesdays 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. throughout the semester. If students are on campus they can use the room to participate in the sessions even if the course is being taught entirely online. |
| Voraussetzungen |
Die verbindlich geltenden Zulassungsvoraussetzungen entnehmen Sie eigenverantwortlich den Modulhandbüchern und Studienordnungen Ihres jeweiligen Studienganges.
Es wird empfohlen, die Vorlesung "Phonetics" bereits in einem früheren Semester besucht zu haben, bevor man die Übung "Phonetics with Listening Practice (British)" belegt; alternativ kann man die Vorlesung und die Übung im gleichen Semester belegen. |
| Lerninhalte |
In this course we are concerned with certain aspects of what the British linguist J. R. Firth called "the noises we make with our faces in order to live".
You will learn how the sounds of English differ from the sounds of German, both in terms of the way they are produced and in terms of the way they relate to other sounds in the system(s) of the English language. You will practise producing individual English sounds and will also practise what the 18th century phonetician Joshua Steele called the "melody and measure" of English speech, i.e. its intonation and rhythm. Rhythm will provide a context in which to practise some other very important aspects of English, such as weak forms (the reduced, simplified way in which short function words like "should" or "some" or "than" are typically pronounced in normal speech), linking (running your words together smoothly into larger units, so that "an apron" sounds the same as "a napron"), and clipping (of which there are two types: 1) pre-fortis clipping, or shortening the length of the middle of a syllable if the end of the syllable is to be pronounced with more force, as in "search", where the vowel is shorter than the vowel in "surge", and 2) rhythmic clipping, or shortening the length of a stressed syllable if it is followed by unstressed ones, as in "search" -- "searching" -- "searchable").
In addition, you will have opportunities to review what you already know about the complicated relationship between sound and spelling in English.
The course includes a series of listening exercises, which are designed to provide a sample of all the major varieties of English. We will learn, among other things, why so many people misheard Neil Armstrong's famous first words from the surface of the moon, why Australians and New Zealanders misunderstand each other's short vowels (e.g. pan--pen--pin--pun), and what the underlying rhythm of Indian English is that makes it so difficult for speakers of other Englishes to understand what is being said. We will also listen to a recording of what English is predicted to sound like in 100 years' time.
We will meet weekly via MS Teams, and there will be other tasks for you to work on between the weekly meetings. At the beginning of the course, I would like to arrange an individual meeting with each student, for the purpose of assessing everyone's level and deciding which exercises we should work on together.
At the end of the course, there will be a brief (20 minutes) online oral exam, which will involve reading a text aloud, speaking spontaneously, and demonstrating at least a passive knowledge of the phonetic symbols used for transcribing English sounds.
Please note: This course is not designed for Erasmus or other exchange students, since their starting level is often too low and their needs too different from those of German students. Erasmus and other exchange students should enrol in course [134591] instead.
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