Abstract:

Teachers of languages are still struggling to develop new efficient ways of overcoming phonetic interference. Unfortunately, there aren’t many tools available.

In the article we describe the method which we have named “the Doozer Language”. The method consists of devising the phonetic system for the imaginary language of Doozers, small humanoid creatures inhabiting Fraggle Rock (the names and personages are borrowed from Jim Henson’s show “Fraggle Rock”). Students’ involvement in the creation of the language is essential. They are given the task to invent the sound system of the language of Doozers, a funny ant-like green people. The principal requirement is to devise sounds that their speech apparatus is allegedly capable of producing. We assume that the sound system is similar to those of the Russian and the English languages, but has its definite features.

We ask students to come up with some sounds and then invite them to characterize the sounds in terms of the type of obstruction, manner of production, the work of the vocal cords, lip position, the position of the bulk of the tongue, soft palate and etc. These might be Russian-like sounds with a typically English lip position; voiceless [r] or [l], or rounded [u:] and many others.

Practice has revealed that students do this assignment willingly. At this stage the teacher’s assistance is necessary and in the article we give the outline of supervision.

Afterwards we make up oppositions of similar sounds and draw conclusions about what makes them contrast with each other, and pronounce the whole chain of sounds together. We proceed from the following idea: the phonologically relevant features of the phonemes of the three languages make the contrasting features of the languages stand out. The aim is to achieve greater awareness of these features which will ensure appropriate articulation of the target language and help students master it. Eventually, this will enable students to pronounce sounds consciously and avoid phonetic interference.

In the article we also dwell upon using and testing the method on first-year students of Moscow State Linguistic University, and describe its results and show its efficiency. In general students enjoy the task as it resembles a game, which provides an extra motivation for their involvement and better performance.

Keywords:

Phonetic interference, creation of the language, speech apparatus, sound system.