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Discussion Post #4
Looking at the Mandarin phonetic inventory, I can see pretty quickly that the sound system is organized differently from American English. One big difference is that Mandarin focuses a lot on aspiration instead of voicing, so sounds like p / pʰ, t / tʰ, k / kʰ are treated as separate categories. The chart also shows several alveolopalatal sounds that English doesn’t really have, like x, q, and j. These are the ones i have run into the most in my early studies, hearing them you hear in words like xī, qǐng, and jiàng. Another group is the retroflex sounds, like zh, ch, and sh, which show up in words such as zhōng and shū. Mandarin also uses ü, which doesn’t exist in English, though i have seen it in German. Even though some symbols look familiar, the chart makes it clear that Mandarin organizes sounds by place of articulation in ways that don’t line up perfectly with English categories. In addition to these sounds, Mandarin also uses the four tones to change the meaning of words. For…
Read more…Discussion Post #3
The main structures of language that are discussed in How to Investigate Language Structure such as the medium of linguistic transmission, grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, and semantics are present in Spanish as they are in every language. However, there are specific structures that are unique to the Spanish language that I find interesting. For example, there is a common omission of subject pronouns (due to conjugated verbs), simple negation with “no” before verbs, and formal and informal ways to address someone directly (tu o usted). In order to form a more holistic understanding of Spanish, I will be focusing on phonetics in order to improve my pronunciation, semantics in order to learn more of the nuances of how different ways to communicate the same thing are used, and I will increase my integration of more complex vocabulary in order to be able to better express myself and understand others.
Read more…Discussion #4– Spring 2026
Russian consists of both soft and hard vowels and consonants which are used in different instances and when combined in different ways (as in, with different surrounding sounds in Russian). Many of these phonetic sounds have an English equivalent. However, sounds such as Ы, Щ (soft) and P (hard and soft), do not. The Ы sound is used in the following Russian words: мы [m-uh-ee]; English translation: my Cыр [syr]; English translation: cheese It sounds like a mixture between the ‘oo’ in book and the ‘ee’ in meet. Sometimes the letter y is cited as the closest English sound equivalent. It is also described as a guttural sound, made by pulling one’s tongue from the front to the back of the mouth during the sound production. The Щ (soft) sound is used in the following Russian words: Щека [sheh-KA]; English translation: cheek Ещё [yeh-SHCHO] or [yeh-SHOH]; English translation: still or more This sound is often described as the English combination of “shch.” The tongue is placed in the middle…
Read more…Discussion Post #4
Korean has 14 consonants and 10 vowels that make up its basic sounds. All these sounds are simple ones that we can make a direct translation from into English. When I work with Emily, she gives me the Korean sound but with English letters or relates it to an English word to help me understand it better. Some sounds sound similar, so we had to do extra work on them. For example, euh, and oh were two sounds I had a hard time differentiating. I learned that the position of my mouth and even my jaw were important to hear the difference.As I am progressing in my learning, I am beginning to struggle with tenses. For example, there are double consonants in Korean, such as ㅅ, which makes an s sound. When two of those consonants are put together and are side by side, they make a ss sound. The ss is much more prominent, like if a snake was hissing at you. This is something that I am already working to differentiate. Another example was when I was talking to my friend, and we were discussing the…
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