OCCLUSIVE NASAL SONORANTS


 

|m] occurs in all word positions, spelt "m, mm, mb, mn", eg mean, summer, seam, comb, autumn

Definition,[m] is occlusive, nasal, bila­bial.

Articulation. 1.The lips are firmly kept together.

2. The soft palate is lowered and the
air goes through the nose.

Fig.33.

3. The vocal cords vibrate.
Recommendations. 1. Start with Arti­
culation Exercises II, 1; IV, 3.

2. Press your lips together and push the air through the nose.

Allophones. When placed at the end of an isolated word or a sense-group after a short vowel or before a voiced consonant or a vowel [m] sounds longer, eg dim [dim:], lambs [laem:z], mole [m:3ul]. When pronounced before a voiceless consonant (m] sounds shorter, cf lamp — lambs.


Comparison with the Russian [ì. ì'].The Russian sonorant {mj is produced in the same way, but the lips are not so tense as for the English |m]. Remember that in Russian there is a palatal­ized [m'J. When we pronounce it the front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate forming the front secondary obstruction (focus). The Russian sounds [ì] and (m'J differentiate the mean­ing of words, eg ìàë — ìÿë; ìîë — ì¸ë.

Possible Mistakes. 1. Sometimes Russian learners of English replace the English [m] by the Russian [mJ. When (m) is pro­duced one must be careful to close the lips firmly.

2. In case they palatalize the English [m] (a phonetic mistake) care should be taken not to raise the front part of the tongue to the hard palate before the articulation of [m] is accomplished, cf medal — ìåäàëü, minister — ìèíèñòð, mister — ìèñòåð, minute — ìèíóòà.

[n] occurs in all word positions, spelt "n, nn, kn, gn, pn", eg not, sunny, sun, know, gnaw, sign, pneumonia.

Detinition.[n] is occlusive nasal, forelingual, apical, alveolar. Articulation. 1.The tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge.

2. The soft palate is lowered and the air escapes through the
nose.

3. The vocal cords vibrate.
Recommendations.1. Start with Ar­
ticulation Exercise 111, 6—9.

2. Put the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge and push the air through the nose.

Allophones.Like in the case with [mj the sonorant [n) may have variants of different length. It depends on the position of [n] in the word (see the allo­phones of [m]), cf tin, send, net, sent.

Comparison with the Russian |h, h'J.The Russian sonorant (í] is lormed with the blade of the tongue (not the tip) pressed against the upper teeth. The tip of the tongue is passive and lowered.

The palatalized Russian (í*) is produced with the secondary front focus (the front part of the tongue is raised to the hard palate). The two Russian phonemes distinguish the meaning of words, cf íîñ — í¸ñ.