廣東話人士常見的自然發音陷阱 #2: 你喜歡的是 「crap」💩 還是 「crab」 🦀?

 


上一篇有關發音的 newsletter,我介紹了英文母音音素/æ/ /ɛ/ (例如 「bad」  與「bed」分別的母音),隨後便收到了很多讀者回應,表示他們分不清兩者在英文發音上的分別。


其實這十分正常。


除非我們有意識地去理解外語中的聲音種類,再與自己的母語做對比,不然我們對外語的感知和發音,便一定會受到母語發音的負面影響。因為我們會自然地將這些發音,都歸類到原本腦中已在學母語過程中被動地建立的聲音類別之中。


我將應讀者們的要求,開始定期更新這個系列,寫更多有關廣東話人士學習英文發音時會遇上的「自然陷阱」。


這一篇,我們就來探討一下廣東話人士在區分在英文字尾的子音音素 /b//p/ 時的困難。


例如:


「crap」(/kræp/「弊喇」/ 糞便 💩/ 很差的東西)

「crab」 (/kræb/ 蟹 🦀)


「crap / crab」這對單字在母語人士聽來是完全不同的。


但廣東話人士很自然地會將「crap」和「crab」都唸成「crap」,即以 /p/ 音作為結尾的子音。因為在廣東話中是不存在 /b/的。


可想而知,若無法區分「crap」和「crab」,便有機會導致一些尷尬的情況。例如當你想說「you like crab」(你喜歡食蟹 🦀),但說出來的卻是「you like crap」(你喜歡💩)。


這是另一個廣東話人士會遇上的「自然陷阱」


我會在這裡先給大家一個分辨這些單字的小貼士。


下一次,我將講解更多關於英文 /p//b/ 的發音,以及為何廣東話人士會覺得它們困難。


______________________


「crap」和「crab」這組單字,除了最後子音的/p//b/外,其他的音素都相同。也就是說,我們只能靠它們最後的子音來作出區分。


想簡單分別「crap」和「crab」,先要了解的,是它們雖然都有同一個元音/æ/,但「crap」中的母音會稍為比「crab」的短一些




只要仔細聆聽一下,你會發現「crap」中的母音聽起來比「crab」中的母音短一點。


這是因為一個叫「vowel clipping」(剪短母音)的發音規則:


如果母音後面的結尾子音是一個我們稱為「清 unvoiced」的子音 (即喉嚨不會預先震動才發出的子音),前面的母音便會被「剪短」一點。


而子音 /p/ 正是「清 unvoiced」的,因此前面的母音便被剪短了。


假如母音後面的結尾子音是一個「濁 voiced」的子音(即喉嚨預先震動才發出的子音),或者後面並沒有子音,便不會引發「vowel clipping」。


/b/ 是「濁 voiced」的子音(/p/ 的濁版本),所以前面的母音不會被剪短。


因此,當要對比「crap」和「crab」的發音,最簡易的方法便是注意聽它們母音 /æ/ 的長度。


「crap」的母音比較短,因為它有「清」的尾音 /p/,所以整個音節聽起來也更短促。而「crab」的尾音是會「濁」子音 /b/,因此母音沒有被修剪,整體聽起來會比「crap」長一點。


你可以專注練習它們的長度差異來分辨這些單字。


再示範一次:





當然,除了「vowel clipping」外,/p//b/ 在實際發音上也有所不同。不過這對廣東話人士來說自然也是困難的,因為在廣東話中並沒有 /b/音。


下週,我會再作詳盡解釋。


在我們的「英文發音課程」中會有完整解說 : https://www.mscharlotteacademy.com/pronunciation



____________________


小練習:


嘗試以母音的長度差異,分辨出哪個是「crap」、哪個是「crab」。






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(English Version)



After the previous newsletter on the English vowel phonemes /æ/ and /ɛ/ (e.g. in “bad” vs. “bed”), I received a lot of comments from subscribers telling me that they did not realize those two vowels are different in English pronunciation.


This is natural.


Unless we consciously try to understand the sound categories in our foreign language and compare them to those in our native language, our perception and pronunciation of the sounds in that foreign language would be negatively influenced by the sounds in our native language, because what we naturally do is “bend” those sounds into the existing categories in our brains. 


Many subscribers asked if I could write about more such “natural traps” for Cantonese speakers learning to pronounce English, so I will add to this series from time to time. 


This time, I want to point out that Cantonese speakers naturally have difficulties differentiating between pairs of words like:


“crap” (/kræp/「弊喇」/ 糞便 💩/ 很差的東西)

“crab” (/kræb/ 蟹 🦀)


But this pair of words, again, is completely distinguishable to native speakers.


Cantonese speakers naturally pronounce both “crab” and “crap” as “crap,” with the /p/ sound as the ending consonant – because Cantonese does not have the sound /b/


Not differentiating between “crap” and “crab,” as you can imagine, can lead to embarrassing situations. For example, when you want to say “you like crab” (你喜歡食蟹 🦀) to a native speaker, you end up saying “you like ‘crap’” (你喜歡💩) instead.


This is another natural trap for Cantonese speakers. 


In this newsletter, I will first give you an easy tip on how to differentiate these words.


Next time, I will explain a bit more about the pair of sounds /p/ and /b/ and why this is so hard for Cantonese speakers. 

______________________


The pairs of words “crap” and “crab” have the same exact phonemes apart from the last consonant sound /p/ and /b/. This means that these two words are only differentiated from each other by this last consonant sound.


The easiest way of differentiating “crap” and “crab” is to understand that the vowel sound in “crap” is slightly shorter than that in “crab,” even though they are both the same vowel /æ/.



If you listen carefully, you can tell that the vowel sound in “crap” sounds like it is “cut short” a little bit compared to that in “crab.”


This is because of a sound rule called “vowel clipping” (「剪短」母音):


When a vowel sound ends in what we call an “unvoiced” consonant sound (喉嚨不會預先震動才發的子音) in an English syllable, then this vowel in front is “clipped,” or “cut short” a bit.


The consonant sound /p/ is “unvoiced,” so a vowel in front of it would be “clipped.”


This “vowel clipping” does not happen when a vowel ends in a consonant sound that is “voiced” (喉嚨預先震動才發的子音) or if there is no consonant sound after it. 


The consonant sound /b/ is “voiced” (it is the voiced version of /p/), so the vowel in front of it is not “clipped.”


Because of this, when we compare the pronunciations of the words “crap” and “crab,” the most easily discernible difference between them is the length of the vowel /æ/. 


The vowel in “crap” is shorter because of the unvoiced ending /p/, and so the whole word sounds shorter; the vowel in “crab” is not cut short because its ending consonant is the voiced /b/, and so the whole word sounds a bit longer than “crap.”


You can focus on practicing this difference in length to differentiate these words.


Here is the demonstration again:



Of course, beyond the effect of “vowel clipping,” the actual sounds /p/ and /b/ are different in pronunciation as well, but this is naturally very difficult for Cantonese speakers because Cantonese has no /b/ sound.


I will go into a bit more detail about this next week. 


The full explanation of this can be found in our “the Sounds of English” course: https://www.mscharlotteacademy.com/pronunciation

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Mini Exercise: 


Try differentiating between “crap” and “crab” by listening to the difference in vowel length. Which one is which? 




_____________


Answers:


#1 - “crap”

#2 - “crab”

#3 - “crab” 




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