Teaching Tips

Teaching the Pronunciation of Swedish Exotic Vowels

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Abstract

Learning a new language as an adult is often a hard task, particularly the pronunciation of new speech sounds. Earlier research has shown (e.g., Bannert, 1990; Zetterholm & Tronnier, 2017) that second language learners of Swedish have difficulties learning to pronounce some Swedish vowels, especially the front rounded vowels, and distinguishing them from each other and from unrounded vowels. For intelligible speech, it is of importance that there is an audible distinction in the pronunciation of the different rounded vowels. Otherwise a native listener might misunderstand the speaker referring to the number of minimal pairs with the vowel as the distinctive feature. In comparison with languages around the world, the Swedish vowel inventory is relatively large (Ladefoged, 2005), and some are exotic from a worldwide perspective. These vowels are one of the most difficult pronunciation features of Swedish pronunciation for second language learners to master.

How to Cite:

Zetterholm, E., (2016) “Teaching the Pronunciation of Swedish Exotic Vowels”, Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Proceedings 8(1).