The Sounds Of English And German

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Grammar, Style, Working Technique, grade: 14, University of Marburg, course: Problems of English Grammar, language: English, abstract: This work is titled “A Contrastive Analysis of the English and the German Sound System. Problems and Suggestions for Teaching.” The features of sound in a language are systematically structured. They are divided into two main branches: (a) the branch of segmental features including consonants and vowels, and (b) the branch of supra-segmental features including stress, intonation, pause, juncture, and rhythm (Nasr 1997: 2). My paper refers to branch (a) and illustrates the differences between the English (RP) and German consonant and vowel systems. The resulting contrasts reveal the main difficulties German learners of English are confronted with, therefore, these need to be exposed in teaching (Kufner 1971: 36). After contrasting the sound systems, I will comment on the aim and importance of learning English pronunciation, and then I will explain the error degrees caused by the sound contrasts. Later, there is an overview of the most important qualifications of a phonetic teacher, and finally I will provide suggestions for teaching the pronunciation difficulties caused by the differences between the two languages.

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1, University of Salzburg (Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: DELS I, language: English, abstract: This paper aims to show the most important consonant-related differences between English and German. Not only are phonemic features compared, it also deals with the phonetic differences of consonants that are phonologically identical. The comparison also briefly looks at eventual difficulties in pronunciation of unfamiliar sounds for the learner of the respective language. The consonants are grouped according to the parameter manner of articulation, and each group, for example plosives, nasals, fricatives, affricates, laterals, R-variants and glides, is compared in a separate chapter. Additionally to the distinctive sounds, the most important allophonic variants of certain phonemes of both languages are looked at.The differences described in this comparison do not claim to be exhaustive, however the paper aims to give a general overview regarding the most predominant differences and similarities of the English and German consonant systems, phonologically as well as phonetically. Unless stated differently, the English referred to is RP.