4.1 I’m All Ears – Remington
In this section, you will apply all that you have learned so far to listen critically to Remington’s recording, a former University of Washington student. This activity has three steps:
- Following the text provided, listen to a recording taking into account the questions from the Listening Guide.
- Answer general questions about Remington’s pronunciation.
- Take a quiz that will help you focus on the problem areas contained in the recording.
1. Below you will find the listening guide. While it would be practically impossible to focus on so many different aspects of Remington’s pronunciation, please do your best.
LISTENING GUIDE
Try to focus on as many of these aspects of Remington’s pronunciation as possible.
- Are his vowels short, tense, and abrupt?
- Are his vowels non-glidy?
- Is he able to eliminate the schwa?
- To what extent are his vowels free from the influence of English?
- Are his consonants generally softer than those in English?
- Is he successful in eliminating a puff of air when pronouncing /p, t, k/?
- Is he able to differentiate between /b, d, g/ and their variants [β, ð, ɣ]?
- Does he pronounce the letter “d” between vowels correctly?
- Is the distinction between the tap [ɾ] and the trill [r] adequate?
- Can he pronounce the “ll” and the “y” as a soft English “j”?
- Are his “h’s” always silent?
- Are his “u’s” silent in gue, gui, que, qui?
- Did he remember to pronounce the “z” as an “s” (Latin America) or a /θ/, as in “thing” (Spain)?
- Is his speech free of the sound represented by the English “z”?
- Can he avoid pronouncing the “s” in words like “presidente” or “prisión” like an English “z”?
- Is his pronunciation of the “v” exactly like a “b”?
- Is he successful in producing a Spanish sounding “L” by not raising the body of his tongue?
Si algún fantasma ha recorrido alguna vez el mundo, ése es el racismo. Entiendo éste como un fenómeno que se sustenta en la creencia de la superioridad frente a lo diferente, en la creencia de que la cultura propia posee valores superiores a los de otras culturas. No está de más mencionar que, históricamente, el racismo ha sido una bandera para justificar las empresas de expansión, conquista, colonización y dominación, y que ha caminado de la mano con la intolerancia, la injusticia y la violencia.
Rigoberta Menchú Tum, VI Jornada Lascasiana, Mexico City, 1996
Listen now:
2. Write your answers in the boxes below.
3. Now, take the quiz.
