Week 14: Pronunciation of /r/ with /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ + final thoughts

The combination of /r/ with /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ are really difficult for me, so I thought I would end this project focusing on these features. The woman from the YouTube page frenchsounds has a helpful video regarding this.

I watched this video, practiced, and then practiced with my archetype. I also highlighted parts in my archetype to make it easier for me. I highlighted in yellow what was addressed in this video and also highlighted other features (/r/ with /s/, /b/, or /v/) which are also difficult for me. I decided to try some of the techniques she suggested on those features as well.

C’était le matin  

Winnie l’ourson et tigrou

se réveillaient

et vu que ces (que ces) bébés singes étaient partis

et en puis

les bébés singes ils étaient perdus

dans les arbres.

Ils avaient vu de chauves-souris.

Ils avaient vu des crocodiles,

z’hippopotame,

le girafe.

Ils avaient un très long voyage.

Ils ont même pas peut le train.

Et ils ont vu

un crocodile.

Ils avaient vu des grenouilles,

des boites avec des animaux qui sont pauvres,

qui trouver pas leur chemin,

des gens qui voulaient en prison les animaux qui sont pauvres, 
qui n'a pas manger.

Ils pouvaient pas payer.

Ils étaient dans en arbres terrible. 

Here is my recording. 

Final reflections

Comparison of recordings
When comparing this recording to my first recording, it is so different! I actually wasn't expecting it to be so different, partly because this week's recording was difficult for me and I repeated words numerous times. However, the biggest thing I noticed between the first and last week was the prosody: it was so much less French-like and really just sounded like I was reading a script (which, I guess, I technically was).

I also listened to the week 6 recording just to see how it would compare and it was much more similar to my last recording. In fact, I think I didn't improve too much after that, which is interesting because week 6 was when I first practiced /r/. That really seemed to be a turning point in my pronunciation.

Final thoughts
This project was a great experience and I really want to continue doing it! I think I will find a new archetype (likely another French one) and keep posting on this blog.

One thing that was difficult for me was I sometimes ran out of ideas or I wasn't sure what to focus on. I know that I need to work on other features but I think some of them weren't present in this archetype, maybe because I used an example from a child. This lack of focus also contributed to struggling with practicing every day.

Nonetheless, I think this project did what it intended for me: I am much more familiar with French phonology and think that once I start learning more French vocabulary, actually being able to speak and understand French will be easier.

I also hope to do this with other languages, such as Mandarin and Spanish! I really look forward to it and am so grateful for what I learned this semester!

Week 13: Nasal Vowels

This week I decided to focus more closely on vowels. In particular, I thought that nasal vowels would be useful to practice. I used the three following videos in order to practice these features.

After watching and practicing using these videos, I focused on my archetype. Below, I highlighted the aspects of my archetype which I think have nasal vowels. This was particularly enlightening, as there appear to be so many!

C’était le matin  

Winnie l’ourson et tigrou

se réveillaient

et vu que ces (que ces) bébés singes étaient partis

et en puis

les bébés singes ils étaient perdus

dans les arbres.

Ils avaient vu de chauves-souris.

Ils avaient vu des crocodiles,

z’hippopotame,

le girafe.

Ils avaient un très long voyage.

Ils ont même pas peut le train.

Et ils ont vu

un crocodile.

Ils avaient vu des grenouilles,

des boites avec des animaux qui sont pauvres,

qui trouver pas leur chemin,

des gens qui voulaient en prison les animaux qui sont pauvres, 
qui n'a pas manger.

Ils ne pas payer.

Ils étaient dans en arbres terrible. 

Here is my recording. 

Just as a side note, I find it difficult to focus on other aspects, such as the French /r/, while also focusing on another feature, such as this weeks' nasal vowels. 

Week 12: Speed of Speech

This week, I thought I would practice increasing the speed of my speech. Every week I've spoken (probably painfully) slowly in an effort to be as accurate as possible but obviously that's not a realistic way to actually communicate with Francophone speakers. However, I felt like I was fighting myself between speed of my speech and accuracy. I kept wanting to slow down due to accuracy but I tried to maintain both. I don't know how successful I was but I tried my best!

Here's my recording for the week.

Week 11: Voice Quality, again

After reviewing my post from last week, I noticed a few things. First, that my pronunciation of the French /r/ is improving but, second, that my voice quality is still not where I want it to be. I sound too "American" which I think might be a result of my vocal posture. Although I know the French language is generally fronted, I still have a difficult time displaying this in my speech because of my life-long vocal patterns I've created as an American English speaker. I listened to my archetype and perceived that, especially with her overemphasized speech, there is significant fronting that makes other aspects of her speech (such as /r/) easier.

However, I still felt unsure about what exactly to focus on, and so I started doing some research. I found an article by David Birdsong (2007) regarding whether or not speakers of other languages are able to sound like native-like French speakers if they began learning French later in life. He also indicated that mastery over both the global and local phonological elements are key to being identified as a native speaker. Obviously, I don't think I will attain this in this semester but it was helpful to determine the places I need to improve in order to be on the right track.

Even after doing all of this, though, I still felt unsure what to focus on because I had already practiced difficult vowels and consonants and I wasn't sure how to practice in ways I hadn't yet. But then, I had a revelation of sorts! I was washing my hands in the bathroom and I found myself just starting to recite the script of my archetype and, while looking in the mirror, I realized it looked like I was hardly fronting my speech at all! I then forced myself to exaggerate more (which I had thought I was doing!) and it actually was really difficult! While trying to force my lips more forward, I realized that my speech seemed to improve/was easier! It was slightly difficult to tell how much it improved, though, because I was mostly focusing on my lips.

I realized that this is a very simple method and even remember my classmates (Robin & Ana) have mentioned this method before. I can't believe I never tried it!

Here is my recording for this week.

Week 10: Rhythmic Groups

Due to our in-class work that focused on thought groups and prominence last week, I wanted to do the same for my practice on the blog. I began doing some more research and discovered that French has "rhythmic groups" instead of more specific intonation patterns.

This was an informative video regarding French rhymthic groups, where the woman broke them down into 7 different groups; these included:

1. subject PN + (obj PN +) verb
2. preposition + object of the preposition
3. (long) noun phrase as subject
• depends on speed of speech
4. (long) adjectival noun phrase
5. (long) adverb or adverbial phrase
6. (long) DO & infinitive phrases
7.  parenthetical expressions

This helped me make more sense of my archetype and also explained her frequent pauses--besides just being thought groups, they are also her rhythmic groups! I originally wanted to say that it's because she talks slower but I'm not sure that's so true. It seems that she sometimes has rhythmic groups in order to create greater dramatic emphasis for her story, which she definitely achieves. 

I decided to practice these this week and split up the rhythmic groups accordingly:

C’était le matin  

Winnie l’ourson et tigrou

se réveillaient

et vu que ces (que ces) bébés singes étaient partis

et en puis

les bébés singes ils étaient perdus

dans les arbres.

Ils avaient vu de chauves-souris.

Ils avaient vu des crocodiles,

z’hippopotame,

le girafe.

Ils avaient un très long voyage.

Ils ont même pas peut le train.

Et ils ont vu

un crocodile.

Ils avaient vu des grenouilles,

des boites avec des animaux qui sont pauvres,

qui trouver pas leur chemin,

des gens qui voulaient en prison les animaux qui sont pauvres,
qui n'a pas manger.

Ils ne pas payer.

Ils étaient dans en arbres terrible. 

Listen to my recording here.

Week 9: Thought Groups & Prominence in my Archetype

For the first segment, the slash marks indicate thought groups. For the second segment, slash marks indicate thought groups and IPA boundaries. 

/ C’était le maTIN /

/ Winnie l’ourson et tigROU /

/ se réveILLAIENT /

/ et vu que ces (que ces) bébés singes éTAIENT parTIS /

/ et en puis les bébés singes ils étaient perdUS /

/ dans les ARbres /

/ sɛte lə matɛ̃/
/ wInilœʁsɑ̃ ɛtIgʁu /
/ sə ʁɛ vəje /
/ evy kə se kə se bebesɑ̃nʒɛte pɑʁti /
/ ejœ̃npɥ lebebesɑ̃nʒ ɪl zɛtepɚdy /
/ dɑ̃nlezɑʁbʁə /