Ah, phonetics. One of the more interesting classes we have here at the MTC. To explain the symbols in the title of the post a little bit, I spelled “phonetics” phonetically. Starting with the “f”, then the syllabic “n”, a front open mid vowel (as in “red”), the “t”, a front open high vowel (as in “lid”), the “k” (spelled in english with a “c” here) and lastly, the “s”. There are tons of interesting little things like that we are learning… we have some sound bytes for you of some interesting utterances!
In the following, the words “hour” and “mister” are contrasted several times in Korean. Pretty interesting, huh? Can you tell the difference?
[audio:http://chrisandevie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/korean_hour-vs-mister.mp3]Not to pick on Korean or anything, but the same is done here with “arm” and “foot”!
[audio:http://chrisandevie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/korean_arm-vs-foot.mp3]Differences can often be subtle and difficult to pick up, and consider also that there may need to be different letters in a native alphabet for some of these subtle variations… Pretty intense stuff!
Here is a little video that we found a fun and intriguing reason to study phonetics and how to write what you are hearing… notice all the strange clicking and “tsk” sounds? We are learning to actually write those sounds in way that can be read and understood by others who know the phonetic alphabet.
There are so many subtleties and nuances in speech that we overlook so often… one example in english being the word “mama” – when you say it quickly in normal speech, the “a”s make different vowel sounds… you are saying what would be spelled in english… “mah-muh”, right?
This last clip is composed of some recordings of class from my computer. I have to apologize for the sound quality, but you can hear what we basically do for a few hours every day! We here hit briefly on nasalized vowels, voiceless vowels (try making vowel sounds without moving your vocal chords – Hint: whisper!). The chanting is kinda weird at first, but we all get used to it… walking down the hallway of the phonetics building with classrooms of people chanting is really interesting!
[audio:http://chrisandevie.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/class.mp3]The cool fun and weird stuff you can do with the “speech apparatus” God has given each of us can go on and on… but a pretty nifty little trick can be seen →here on YouTube. If you decide to check it out, just prepare to be amazed.
Julie Fennell says
Hey Guys,
Love those videos. That throat singing is amazing. It took me a couple of times of listening before my ear got tuned into it, but it was cool once I got it. Have a Merry Christmas!
Paul Menard says
Hey Chris!
I remember the indian tribe that best expressed the Mongolian language…It was the Navaho! Fun fact!
mom says
was just listening to phonetics class. Pretty cool stuff!
Christopher says
Dude, Paul, Thanks so much man… I really appreciate it. I would really appreciate your prayers if you ever though about it! We need all the prayer we can Get… Check out the link at the end there… that’s some gnarly mongolian action! Sorry we did not get to catch up over the break there… It will happen though. If you ever come through Missouri- lemme know!
Paul Menard says
Hey Chris,
I just got around to checking out your website. Very clean and cool. In my World Missions class I learned a little bit about what you are interested in with New Tribes. We had a guest speaker who explained that he wanted to reach the Mongolians for Christ saying that the best way for him to do that was to study an American Indian language because it was the closest thing he had available to match the tonal expression! I thought that was pretty cool, Glad to see you are into this! Paul