SPEECH 3

Prepared by: Ms. Niezel R. Magsipok

Clear speech, proper pronunciation and strong communication skills have always been highly important in the academic, professional and personal worlds. This fact has never been more true now in this modern age, where it’s not only a useful skill, it’s a requirement to survive and thrive.

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Nasals [m], [n] and [ƞ]

Nasals describe a speech sound that is produced with breath escaping mainly through the nose rather than the mouth.

How to produce consonant sound [m] properly:

The consonant /m/ sound is a nasal consonant like /p/ and /b/. It is pronounced by stopping airflow through the mouth by putting both lips together, while continuing to let air flow through the nose.

Let’s begin the exercise with the initial sounds, followed by the medial and the final sounds. Speak slowly and with emphasis on our target sounds. Try to pronounce these examples properly.

Word Drills

Consonant Sound [m]
Initial	Medial	Final
majestic matter mighty mineral mirror mountain muscle music	compare enormous homes human remain remind tummy vitamin	awesome come from hum mom plum storm system

Phrase Drills

1. many marbles

2. mysterious man

3. meat market

4. mad mechanic

5. merry mermaid

6. middle-aged mother

7. magnificent moon

8. yummy macaroni

9. mild-mannered mailman

10. mighty monsoon

How to produce consonant sound [n] properly

Consonant [n] sound is made by the front/top part of the tongue raising and touching the roof of the mouth. The teeth part a bit, the lips are open, and the vocal cords make sound, nn.

Try these examples.

Consonant Sound [n]
Initial	Medial	Final
natural need neighbor never nice night nowhere nurture number	cranny enjoy encounter landscape planet plant round splendour thunder	children clean hone lesson oxygen plain queen typhoon vitamin

                               

Phrase Drills

1. nosy neighbor

2. nearby neighborhood

3. nice nanny

4. nervous newcomer

5. neat notebook

6. nimble niece

7. runny nose

8. nutritious noodles

9. nippy night

10. nine nurses

How to produce consonant sound [ƞ] properly

To produce consonant sound [ƞ], the middle part of the tongue must come up and touche the roof of the mouth/back of the throat.

Try to pronounce these examples and emphasize the target sounds.

Consonant Sound [ƞ]
Medial	Final
banging bringing hanging kingdom ringing singing stringing swinging winging	babbling being caring rolling sailing surrounding taking towering wasting

Phrase Drills

1. reigning king

2. swinging swing

3. singing singer

4. strumming guitar string

5. beginning spring

6. praying congregation

7. licking tongue

8. losing strength

9. breaking rung

10. prospering kingdom

Tongue Twister - a word or group of words difficult to articulate rapidly, usually because of a succession of similar consonantal sounds.

It is a phrase or sentence which is hard to speak fast, usually because of alliteration or a sequence of nearly similar sounds. It helps develop speech skills & helps in speech therapy. To get the full effect of a tongue twister you should try to repeat it several times, as quickly as possible, without stumbling or mispronouncing.

Tongue Twisters are used more to improve flexibility in the mouth, lips, and jaw. This leads to (2)two benefits:

1) improved diction and enunciation,

2) greater ability to properly form vowels in order to produce a clearer tone.

  

            Below are tongue twisters. Practice saying them and later, try to say them as fast as possible without missing out on the [m], [n] and [ƞ] sounds.

1. Mother made a mocha muffin wearing mini mittens and massive moccassins. (repeat 3x)

2. Nelson noted the number of nuts in his notebook.

The nuts numbered nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine.

Nelson nicked his notebook to note a new number of nuts.

3. It’s raining, it’s pouring

The old man is snoring

He drank to bed and hit his head

and won’t wake up till morning.

Try to watch this video from Youtube. Read the tongue twisters as fast as you can. http://youtu.be/yB_1VNQazNo

God Bless and Keep Safe! J