How to make the Sounds of English: The Inside Story Episode 19
Use /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ to discover English stress and unstress
While you are working with these two sounds /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ there are other useful insights to be gained. You can use /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ to discover English stress and unstress. Although these two central vowels /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ have different symbols, for practical classroom purposes they can be formed with the tongue, lips and jaw in similar positions, relaxed and as far as possible without muscle tone (See Teaching the English sounds /ǝ/ and /ɜː/) However there is a difference which is crucial for spoken English: while the vowel quality is practically the same, /ǝ/ is always unstressed, short, minimal, while /ɜː/ is stressed, long and clear. And this means that there is some muscles tone present in the sound /ɜː/ and a slight shift of the tongue position position to a point a little lower than /ǝ/.
So this brings us to an interesting and illuminating question: If the two sounds have (almost) identical vowel qualities, what else is it that we are hearing when we hear the difference?
Lung or pulmonic pressure, the basis of stress
A large part of the answer is that in /ɜː/ we are hearing (aside from its length) the extra volume and power of the sound, caused by extra lung pressure brought to bear on the exhalation that is producing the sound. To put it differently the stream of air forced out of the lungs and through the vocal cords is under greater pressure for /ɜː/ than for /ǝ/. This pressure is produced by the muscles. Technically this is referred to as pulmonic pressure, which just means that lungs provide the pressure. And this is precisely the pressure that is used to stress an English syllable, so it is worth getting to feel this muscular pressure in the body, to develop the awareness or proprioception of this lung pressure, in order to be able to help our learners to operate the stress system. And we could call this pulmonic pressure the fifth muscle button (see my May 2012 post Making pronunciation physical: Finding the ‘muscle buttons’.
Here are three simple exercises for you and your students that get to the heart of what makes a syllable stressed, and that enable us to use /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ to discover English stress and unstress. First making use of the /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ distinction.
Pulmonic pressure Ex 1
Say /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ alternately, and notice:
1) the greater volume of /ɜː/
2) the greater muscular effort of your lungs when producing /ɜː/. You can notice this by putting you hands on your chest, and on your abdomen, and on your sides. You may also be able to notice stronger air flow out of the mouth. What you are noticing here is pulmonic pressure.
Pulmonic pressure Ex 2
Now try this with a fricative consonant, and if we take a voiceless one you may find this easier to observe.
Say /f/ and make it last a couple of seconds. Now say it more strongly as if it is stressed like this /’ff/. You will immediately be able to hear the higher air pressure producing a stronger version of /f/
But now alternate greater and lesser lung pressure so that you can really get the feeling in your body of what your lungs have to do to stress a syllable
Like this /ff…’ff…ff…’ff…ff…’ff…/
You should have the sensation of alternating strong lung pressure with weak lung pressure.
Pulmonic pressure Ex 3
Do the same thing with another unvoiced fricative consonant /s/.
Say /s/ and make it last a couple of seconds. Now say it more strongly as if it is stressed like this /’ss/. Again you will be able to hear the higher air pressure producing a stronger version of /s/
Now alternate the two so that you can really get the feeling in your body of what your lungs have to do to stress a syllable
Like this /ss…’ss…ss…’ss…/
And once again you should have the sensation of alternating strong lung pressure with weak lung pressure. This pulmonic lung pressure is the basis of stress, and its absence is the basis of unstress. And as I said we might call this pulmonic pressure the fifth muscle button
In conclusion we can use /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ to discover English stress and unstress. Even while teaching and learning sounds we can use that contact with the speech muscles prepare the way for mastery of the Engllsh stress and unstress system.
Thank you very much for your wonderful explanations on the Story of Sounds and on your Youtube episodes. I appreciate them very much. I mean I am a fan of your stories.
While reading Episode 19, I came across a question that came up on my mind, and I wonder if you could kindly find a little time to help clarify the question I came up with.
My question goes:
In Episode 19, you mention that the two central vowels (/ǝ/ and /ɜː/) have different symbols, and they are for our practical classroom purposes formed with the tongue, lips and jaw in the same position.
On the other hand, according to the IPA chart , the tongue positions of /ǝ/ and /ɜː/ are shown to be different in the mouth.
In this regard, would you please help me with how to find a reconciliation between your explanation with the IPA chart ?
I would really appreciate any of your brief comment on this point. Thank you very much!!!
Sincerely,
Chun Suk Jung
Hi Chun Suk Jung. Thanks for your useful and perceptive question about /ǝ/ and /ɜː/. I agree that from a phonetic point of view they are different sounds, and on the IPA chart /ɜː/ is shown as having the tongue a bit lower than /ǝ/. And I also find that this is the case when I make the two sounds in my own mouth. Several things to say here:
1. I have modified and added a little to what I said about this in Episodes 18 and 19 on my website, in the light of your comment. So thanks very much for that. (btw I am slowly changing the titles of pieces in this Category from The Inside Story of Sounds to How to Make the Sounds of English)
2. As I say here and there I see myself as focussing on phonemes for language learners rather than on phonetics for language scientists. This gives me some licence to work with what is ‘good enough’ for unambiguous comfortable intelligibility in listening and speaking, not to go for perfection unless it is asked for or required, and to go for learners strong faculties which are usually the sensed muscular aspects of pronunciation followed by listening discernment, and are less usually the technical descriptions which can have the effect of distancing or abstracting learners from the inner, physical, proprioceptive work that needs to be done.
3. This allows me to take various short cuts when working with learners, such as discovering /ǝ/ by getting them to make a very short version of /ɜː/. And then I also have ensure they remove the energy invested in /ɜː/. And conversely, discovering /ɜː/ by making a long version of /ǝ/. And then I have to ensure they energise the muscular movement, which typically has the effect of lowering the tongue slightly and taking them to the approximate the zone of /ɜː/. I’m trying this in my mouth as I write, and I think it is true for me. What about you?
I hope this addresses your question and comment Chun Suk Jung and thanks again for raising them.
Thank you very much indeed.^^
Your explanations unambiguously clarified things and, of course, exactly addressed the question I asked.
I respect you. Thank you ve~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ry much again.^^
Sincerely,
Chun Suk Jung