Language and Linguistics

Areas of Difficulty for Farsi Speakers        Consonants: I.     /w/ vs. /v/ Distinguish between /w/ and /v/ in the following minimal pairs: Wane          wail                  west                  wend               wine Vein           veil                   vest                   vend                 vine II. /th/ and / /  Pronounce these words carefully: Breath/breathe       bath/bathe        cloth/clothe       Now try this tongue twister: Those three thieves threw thirteen things in the thicket of thorn trees.     III. /r/  Practice English /r/ in different word positions, and avoid pronouncing it as a trill. Rumble       wrangle            restitution         result        rack         rash Scaring       leering              luring                purring     peering     sneering Scar            star                   fire                    banter       gander      smuggler   IV. Initial Consonant Clusters Pronounce the follow

Areas of Difficulty for Spanish Speakers Consonants: I. /b/ vs /v/ Practice pronouncing /b/ and /v/ in the following minimally-paired words carefully: Berry/very              boat/vote           buy/vie             rebel/revel robe/rove                libber/liver        bile/vile            bane/vane II. /p/, /t/, and /k/ Practice aspirating these consonants in word initial position as follows: Paper         point                painting           persecute         prosecute Talk           tainted              temple              temptation        tranquil Carry         carriage            curse                cartoon            chronicle III. /s/ vs. /sh/  Make the distinction between /s/ and / / using the following minimal pairs: Sill/shill                  sign/shine         simmer/shimmer           sue/shoe Sealed/shield          brass/brash      same/shame                  single/shingle Lease/leash             crass/crash        last/la