Integrative Narrative:
I remember how I became interested in language. When I was seven, I believed that English was the center and origin for all languages of the world. When we are young, we are the center of our world, thus; it made sense to me that English would also be the center. The day that I learned that English is in fact not the mother language, I felt really small in a big world during a present time of millennia past. I first became interested in the origin of words. Where and when did they come about? I was fascinated with prefixes and suffixes. These strengthened my understanding of everything. The more I read, the more articulate I became. Articulation of thought is an art. We can't fully read each other's mind's, so we have to speak to each other. I like talking about ideas, and with a better grasp of the English language I can more effectively say what I think. This ability has empowered and inspired me to speak other languages other than english. I grew up in central California and was widely exposed to the Spanish language. I studied Spanish in middle school and high school and so have been conceptualizing language since.
In stride to further analyze the Spanish language I decided to join the school of World Languages and Cultures at CSUMB. I chose the Spanish major with a focus in linguistics so I could study the science of language through the Spanish perspective. I want to study Spanish linguistics so I can obtain the ability to learn other Latin based languages. I figure the more languages I know, the more relations I will have, and the more people I can learn from. Language and understanding come hand in hand. Language is partly organized by reason and logic, in turn; language explains both logic and reason. A cultured person is a worldly person. Empathy is a result of culture emersion. When one is immersed into a new culture, that person is consequently adopting a new way of life and is naturally wearing the shoes of a new world. Empathy is the intellectual imagining of someone else’s thoughts and feeling in order to better understand that person’s current position. Practicing empathy builds understanding; understanding creates reason and reasoning brings peace.
I transferred to CSUMB in 2010 as an upper-division undergraduate student. My first semester, I took an introductory course on Phonetics and Phonology with Dr. Earl Brown. After the first week I knew that phonetics was going to be my focus of study. Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of spoken sound; along with the observation and identification of articulation of the mouth and throat. Articulatory phonetics is the study of the combined movement of the throat, the tongue and the lips. The movement of these three variables manipulate the air generated from the lungs. The spoken sound happens when there is an obstruction of air that is caused by a combination of speech organs. Consonants, place of articulation is the identified place of contact that obstructs the air flow from the lungs. The obstruction of air is what creates each speech sound, also known as phone . There are two types of place of articulation. There is active place of articulation and passive place of articulation. Active place of articulation generally involves the tongue and the upper lip, while passive place of articulation consists of the stationary variables from the teeth and gums, to the roof of the mouth back to the uvula. Place of articulation is when active, and passive articulation cause friction of passing air and create a phone. Vowels do not have the same characteristics of point of articulation as consonants do, because vowels experience little obstruction in the vocal tract. The sound of vowels is sonorous; meaning that the phone of a vowel is created by a humming resonance in the throat. When you sing in the shower, your throat hums sweet sounds consisted of vowels. We do not sing to the letter /t/. We sing to /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/.
Two ways to describe the place of articulation of each vowel; there is a vertical feature and a horizontal feature. The vertical feature is the relevance of the distance of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. For example, the vowel /a/ in Spanish, has low vertical feature because the tongue is positioned low in the vocal tract in relation to the roof of the mouth; in contrast to the vowel /i/, which has high vertical feature because the tongue is positioned high in the vocal tract in relation to the roof of the mouth; allowing less room for air to pass through. The other classification for the place of articulation of vowels is that of horizontal feature. Horizontal feature describes lateral place of articulation of the vertical feature. In other words, which part of the tongue (back, front, middle) rises, to form vertical feature? This is horizontal feature. For example, the vowel /a/ in Spanish, is a back vowel because the back of the tongue rises to restrict air flow. In contrast, the vowel [u] is a front vowel because the back of the tongue is low, while the front of the tongue is in a higher position in relation to the roof of the mouth. The articulation of vowels is less tangible than consonants. For this reason Spanish speakers have the most difficulty pronouncing the vowels as they are in English, and vise versa, English to spanish. I think that the vowels are the main distinction in pronunciation between Spanish and English. I have been tutoring Spanish speakers in English, and have observed this struggle personally. It is extremely difficult to explain the pronunciation of the vowel /a/ in English, to a Spanish speaker. And so, I have decided to research and write my thesis paper on the limits of articulation of the letter /a/ in Spanish, and compare them to the limits of articulation of the letter /a/ in English. With an in depth understanding of the limits of articulation in Spanish and English, I will be able to effectively guide learners to the proper pronunciation, whichever they may desire.
I remember how I became interested in language. When I was seven, I believed that English was the center and origin for all languages of the world. When we are young, we are the center of our world, thus; it made sense to me that English would also be the center. The day that I learned that English is in fact not the mother language, I felt really small in a big world during a present time of millennia past. I first became interested in the origin of words. Where and when did they come about? I was fascinated with prefixes and suffixes. These strengthened my understanding of everything. The more I read, the more articulate I became. Articulation of thought is an art. We can't fully read each other's mind's, so we have to speak to each other. I like talking about ideas, and with a better grasp of the English language I can more effectively say what I think. This ability has empowered and inspired me to speak other languages other than english. I grew up in central California and was widely exposed to the Spanish language. I studied Spanish in middle school and high school and so have been conceptualizing language since.
In stride to further analyze the Spanish language I decided to join the school of World Languages and Cultures at CSUMB. I chose the Spanish major with a focus in linguistics so I could study the science of language through the Spanish perspective. I want to study Spanish linguistics so I can obtain the ability to learn other Latin based languages. I figure the more languages I know, the more relations I will have, and the more people I can learn from. Language and understanding come hand in hand. Language is partly organized by reason and logic, in turn; language explains both logic and reason. A cultured person is a worldly person. Empathy is a result of culture emersion. When one is immersed into a new culture, that person is consequently adopting a new way of life and is naturally wearing the shoes of a new world. Empathy is the intellectual imagining of someone else’s thoughts and feeling in order to better understand that person’s current position. Practicing empathy builds understanding; understanding creates reason and reasoning brings peace.
I transferred to CSUMB in 2010 as an upper-division undergraduate student. My first semester, I took an introductory course on Phonetics and Phonology with Dr. Earl Brown. After the first week I knew that phonetics was going to be my focus of study. Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of spoken sound; along with the observation and identification of articulation of the mouth and throat. Articulatory phonetics is the study of the combined movement of the throat, the tongue and the lips. The movement of these three variables manipulate the air generated from the lungs. The spoken sound happens when there is an obstruction of air that is caused by a combination of speech organs. Consonants, place of articulation is the identified place of contact that obstructs the air flow from the lungs. The obstruction of air is what creates each speech sound, also known as phone . There are two types of place of articulation. There is active place of articulation and passive place of articulation. Active place of articulation generally involves the tongue and the upper lip, while passive place of articulation consists of the stationary variables from the teeth and gums, to the roof of the mouth back to the uvula. Place of articulation is when active, and passive articulation cause friction of passing air and create a phone. Vowels do not have the same characteristics of point of articulation as consonants do, because vowels experience little obstruction in the vocal tract. The sound of vowels is sonorous; meaning that the phone of a vowel is created by a humming resonance in the throat. When you sing in the shower, your throat hums sweet sounds consisted of vowels. We do not sing to the letter /t/. We sing to /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/.
Two ways to describe the place of articulation of each vowel; there is a vertical feature and a horizontal feature. The vertical feature is the relevance of the distance of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. For example, the vowel /a/ in Spanish, has low vertical feature because the tongue is positioned low in the vocal tract in relation to the roof of the mouth; in contrast to the vowel /i/, which has high vertical feature because the tongue is positioned high in the vocal tract in relation to the roof of the mouth; allowing less room for air to pass through. The other classification for the place of articulation of vowels is that of horizontal feature. Horizontal feature describes lateral place of articulation of the vertical feature. In other words, which part of the tongue (back, front, middle) rises, to form vertical feature? This is horizontal feature. For example, the vowel /a/ in Spanish, is a back vowel because the back of the tongue rises to restrict air flow. In contrast, the vowel [u] is a front vowel because the back of the tongue is low, while the front of the tongue is in a higher position in relation to the roof of the mouth. The articulation of vowels is less tangible than consonants. For this reason Spanish speakers have the most difficulty pronouncing the vowels as they are in English, and vise versa, English to spanish. I think that the vowels are the main distinction in pronunciation between Spanish and English. I have been tutoring Spanish speakers in English, and have observed this struggle personally. It is extremely difficult to explain the pronunciation of the vowel /a/ in English, to a Spanish speaker. And so, I have decided to research and write my thesis paper on the limits of articulation of the letter /a/ in Spanish, and compare them to the limits of articulation of the letter /a/ in English. With an in depth understanding of the limits of articulation in Spanish and English, I will be able to effectively guide learners to the proper pronunciation, whichever they may desire.