ครูมืออาชีพ - Great Lesson Ideas : Primary English

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Phonetics

A Beginner's Guide to Phonetics By Jean Peccei

Some basic anatomy When speaking (or singing), air from the lungs first passes through the larynx(in everyday language  - the voice box, or Adam's apple).  Inside the larynx are two tiny but very important membranes, commonly called vocal cords, but usually referred to as vocal folds by phoneticians. These membranes are set into vibration by the passing air, producing sound. They are controlled by a set of muscles and cartilage which allows them to change their shape, and consequently the quality of sound they produce, including changes in pitch. The vocal folds can also be kept from vibrating by keeping them  completely open or completely shut.  The vocal folds and the opening between them is called the glottis. Figure 1 below shows the larynx seen from above with the vocal cords/folds and their associated cartilages (thyroarytenoid, arytenoid and cricoid) and muscle..

Figure 1. The larynx Source: Department of Otolaryngology, University of Washington

Once the vibrating column of air had passed through the larynx, its shape can be molded into different sounds as it passes through the vocal tract.   See Figure 2 below

Figure 2. The vocal tract Source: Department of Linguistics, University of Pennsylvania

Speech sounds Every language has a unique set of sounds, its phonemes, that are used to build its words. These sounds are contrastive. That is, they differentiate between words. Compare these English word pairs which differ in only one of their phonemes: sat/set    sin/sit   mop/top Languages vary in terms of the number of distinct phonemes they use. English, for example, has approximately 44 phonemes (depending on the accent), while Italian has approximately 25. When describing and analyzing the sound systems of languages, linguists use the International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA. In this alphabet each sound is given a unique symbol which allows us to capture similarities and differences that are obscured by the written form. For example, the first sounds of kit and  cut are identical, although they are spelled with different letters - c and k. On the other hand, the sounds written with the letter y in silly and young are completely different from each other. The chart below illustrates the IPA symbols for the consonants and vowels of the standard British English accent

Classifying speech sounds Speech sounds are of two major types -  vowels and consonants. Here we look at each of these major types in a bit more detail. _______________ Vowels are speech sounds produced with no obstruction to the air flow coming from the lungs. Vowels take on their different sound qualities by subtle changes of shape in the vocal tract as they are being produced.  For example, in producing the vowel sound /i:/ as in bean, the lower and upper jaw are quite close together and the front part of the tongue is slightly raised towards the roof of the mouth, while in producing /u:/ as in boon, it is the back part of the tongue is raised. In producing /a:/ as in barn, the jaws are quite far apart, and it is the central part of the tongue which is slightly raised. Vowels are also differentiated by the degree to which the lips are rounded or spread, e.g. /i:/ is made with spread lips, /u:/  with rounded lips and /a:/ with the lips in a neutral position. Finally, vowels will vary in terms of their length - how long they are held. The /e/ in pet is short vowel compared to the /u:/ in boon. (The : after a vowel symbol indicates that it is a long vowel.). 'Pure' vowels vs diphthongs. A diphthong is a long, complex vowel which starts with the sound quality of one vowel and ends with the sound quality of another one. Although they are classified as single phonemes, diphthongs are given a double symbol to show both the quality they start with and the quality they end with. The English diphthongs in the chart above are illustrated in the words bite, bait, boy, toe,house, poor, ear, and air. Languages vary in their use of diphthongs. For example, English has several, while Italian has none. _______________ Consonants are speech sounds that involve a momentary interruption or obstruction of the air flow. Consonants can be described and differentiated from each other by using three main classifications: voice,  place, and manner of articulation.. 1. Voice: Are the vocal cords vibrating when they are produced? Both /p/ and /b/ are made by closing the lips briefly to stop the flow of air and then releasing it. The only difference between them is that  /b/ is voiced while /p/ is not. But what a key difference this voicing contrast makes linguistically! Would you rather receive a bat on the head or a pat on the head? 2. Place of articulation: Where in the vocal tract is the air flow obstructed? The vocal tract extends from the lips all the way back to the glottis. (See Figure 2 above) The main places of articulation that are used to contrast phonemes in English, starting from the front of the vocal tract, are:   labial (lips) - as in the first and last consonants of pip   labio-dental (teeth and lips) - as in first consonant of fish   dental (sometimes called linguo-dental since in English these consonants are formed by placing the   tongue between the teeth) - as in the first consonant of this (Note that even though in the written form of   this, that sound is spelled with two letters, t and h, it is a single phoneme)   alveolar (the bumpy ridge just behind your upper teeth) - as in the first and last consonants of ten   post-alveolar (sometimes called palato-alveolar since it is the area between the alveolar ridge and the   hard palate) - as in the first consonant of ship. (Again, note that this is a single phoneme although in the   written form it is often spelled with two letters, s and h.)   palatal (hard palate, or 'roof' of the mouth')  - as in the first consonant of yet   velar (soft palate or velum which can open or close to control airflow into the nasal cavity) - as in the first   consonant of cat.   glottal (glottis,  the vocal cords and the opening between them)  - as in the first consonant of hen 3. Manner of articulation: To what degree is the air flow obstructed? Consonants can involve a complete obstruction of the airflow as in /p/ or /k/ all the way down a very minimal obstruction as in /w/ or/j/.  The main manners of articulation that are used to contrast phonemes in English, starting with those requiring the most obstruction, are:   plosive (complete obstruction followed by release) - as in the first consonant of ten   fricative (very close but not complete obstruction involving friction) - as in the first consonant of set   affricate (very close obstruction where the consonant begins as a plosive and ends as a fricative - the   double symbol indicates both the quality it starts with the quality it ends with) -  as in the first and last   consonants of church  (Again, note that although in the written form of church, that sound is spelled   with two letters, c and h, this is a single phoneme)   nasal (complete obstruction of the air flow in the mouth but with the velum open so that air can escape     from the nose producing a humming sound) - as in first and last consonants of man   approximant (some obstruction but not enough to cause friction). These consonants are sometimes   further divided into two types:      liquids - as in the /l/ of let, where the tongue touches the alveolar ridge but the air is allowed to flow      freely past the sides of the tongue and the /r/ of ride where the tongue approaches the palate.      glides (a very slight closure, almost like a vowel) -  as in the /w/ of wet and the /j/ of yet. Glide      consonants are sometimes called semi-vowels.

Have a go! If your eyes have started to glaze over from reading, try some action instead. Close your eyes while you're doing this so you can concentrate on the sensations in your vocal tract. Do you like plenty of room on buses and trains?  Try these exercises the next time you're on public transport and I guarantee no one will want to sit next to you. 1. Say each of the following syllables: ba da ga You'll feel the obstruction of the air flow moving backwards in your mouth from the lips to the alveolar ridge to the velum. These syllables began with plosive consonants, which obstructed the airflow completely. 2. Now try these: va za ha These syllables began with fricative consonants but you'll still feel the obstruction moving back from the lips to the alveolar ridge to the glottis 3. Say: ta sa ta sa ta sa Here you are alternating the plosive /t/ with the fricative /s/. They both involve obstruction of the airflow at the alveolar ridge, but you can feel the alternation between complete closure and near closure. producing friction. 4. Say da za na la ra Here all the consonants are articulated at the alveolar ridge, but you can feel the obstruction becoming less and less as you move from the plosive /d/ to the fricative /z/ to the nasal /n/ to the approximants /l/ and /r/. 5. Say ma ba ma ba ma ba Both /b/ and /m/ involve complete closure at the lips, but the nasal /m/ allows the air to escape through your nose.  You should feel your velum opening and closing as you move between /m/ and /b/. You can try the same thing with closure at the alveolar ridge by alternating da na da na da na 6. Say la ta la ta la ta Pay attention to what your tongue is doing. In both cases it will actually touch the alveolar ridge. But when you are saying /t/ the sides of the tongue will be up forming a complete closure and when you are saying  /l/ the sides of the tongue will be down, allowing the air to flow out quite freely. http://jcarreras.homestead.com/rrphonetics1.html

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Use Facebook to Learn English

1. You can connect to other English learners through joining groups and pages.

Here are a few pages to ‘like’:

The English Guru – This is my Facebook page. I try to engage people by having interactive conversations. I also post links to aid you with your English learning.

Livemocha – I just love Live mocha’s website. Their page on Facebook is a great resource as well.

EnglishBrnoCZ – Nina posts a lot of great links, tips, and videos that will help you in your English learning journey.

2. Posting your status

You can post things that are happening to you that are important, funny, interesting, etc.   Then, your friends can respond back to you and you can have a conversation.  Having a conversation on Facebook is nice because you can see the entire conversation and multiple people can join in the fun.

3. Connecting and reconnecting to English speaking friends

You can connect to your Twitter friends and other friends who speak English on Facebook. You can talk with your friends via Facebook email, IMs, posting on their wall or replying to their statuses.

All in all, Facebook is a great social media tool, not only to find long lost friends, but a great place to make new friends and practice English.

http://yvonnecrawford.com/2011/03/21/three-ways-to-use-facebook-to-learn-english/

What is ELT?

What is ELT?

ELT stands for Extract Load and Transform and is a technique for moving and transforming data from one location and format to another instance and format. In this style of integration, the target DBMS becomes the transformation engine. This is in contrast to traditional ETL, or Extract Transform and Load which is the traditional technique for moving and transforming data in which an ETL engine that is separate from either the source or target DBMS performs the data transformations. Many of the discussions I’ve read on the topic of ETL vs. ELT focus on discussions like how does one work vs. the other and when I should one use a particular approach. I’d like to talk about a few of those questions, but first I’d like to tackle a slightly different question: why should you care about ELT?When thinking about data integration techniques, it’s important to understand what you are optimizing for. Depending on the objectives, one could optimize for timeliness (average time of information availability), cost of integration, availability of information (uptime of the integration chain), data cleanliness and integrity, process auditability or other factors. An understanding of the primary optimization objective is the first step in determining an overall integration approach.

The reality is, with a scalable Data Integration platform like Informatica and a scalable dbms platform, one can basically achieve any level of performance they desire using either integration technique. What we often lose sight of, however, is cost and efficiency. Some of the writings I’ve read on the topic, including the excellent blog from Dan Lindstedt. — ETL, ELT – Challenges and Metadata

Dan introduces what I would consider to be arbitrary volume metrics to determine when to use one technique vs. the other which more or less end up looking like: high volume = ELT, lower volume = ETL.

Informatica supports both techniques. So why do we care about ELT? Because it provides optimal efficiency and reduced cost in certain integration scenarios regardless of the data volumes involved. This is an indirect way of stating that ELT can be the most efficient and therefore proper way to process data regardless of volume. It can also be the least efficient regardless of volume. Let’s explore this further.

Everything in IT has at least four categories of costs associated with it: the upfront licensing cost, the cost of operation (electricity, cooling, etc.), the implementation cost and the maintenance cost which includes both manpower and vendor software support. If we are optimizing integration workloads, we must consider most of these and we must consider them both in the context of integration platform (hardware and software) and dbms (hardware and software) platform costs.

Integration jobs, even on the same project, can have tremendously different signatures. Some information gets passed through relatively unscathed (un-transformed) and is more or less passed through as-is. The assumption is that the time cost of doing format-oriented transformations (unpadding, splitting, text case standardizing, etc) is zero amortized over the networking or process switching costs of moving from one data source to another or the I/O cost of reading and writing the data from the source and to the target respectively. Do the processing in the ETL engine, do it ELT style in the source dbms or target dbms, it doesn’t matter much. It should all perform about the same.

Selection and projection operations, hierarchical operations, set-oriented transformations like heterogeneous joins or aggregates on either entire sets of data or small-sets with in streams of real-time data on the other hand have high compute costs relative to other costs (and in some cases can introduce additional I/O).

No single approach to integration (ELT or ETL) will give an optimal solution to all workloads from either the perspective of cost, efficiency or performance.