Duty of the student

by Edward Anthony

It is the duty of the student

Without exceptions to be prudent.

If smarter than his teacher, tact

Demands that he conceals the fact.

4.

A Bad Day

I overslept and missed my train,

slipped on the pavement

in the pouring rain,

sprained my ankle,

skinned my knees,

broke my glasses,

lost my keys,

got stuck in the lift,

it wouldn’t go,

kicked it twice and stubbed my toe,

bought a pen that didn’t write,

took it back and had a fight,

went home angry,

locked the door,

crawled into bed,

couldn’t take any more.

Lateral Plosion

As a result of coarticulation of the plosives [p, t, k, b, d, g] with the lateral sonant [l] (either within a word or at word boundaries) the plosion is heard during the pronunciation of the sonant as the air stream passes along the sides of the tongue, lowered for the articulation of [l]. This phenomenon is known as lateral plosion (partial regressive assimilation).^

e.g. plan, little, close, blow, I’d like, glance.

! 1) To pronounce the clusters correctly keep the tongue-tip pressed against the teethridge while articulating [pl], [tl], [kl], [bl], [dl], [gl].

! 2) In the clusters [pl], [tl], [kl] the sonant preceded by a voiceless consonant becomes a little bit devoiced (progressive assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords).

Note: In modern English the pronunciation standards (especially in fluent speech) are characterized by the so called ‘glottal stop’ at the junction of a plosive consonant and a lateral or nasal sonant. The symbol of glottal stop is [?].

e.g. [litl] —> [li?l]

[mitn] —> [mi?n]

Sound Drills

1. Pronounce the following words and phrases observing lateral plosion.

a)

[pl]		[bl]
please plan plenty plastic plant plum plural plane plosion splendid	apple people simple sample example couple employ complain helpless hopeless	bleak black bless block blond blood blue blame blind blouse	table double grumble global problem stumbling Dublin public edible terrible	horrible possible probable changeable reliable incredible responsible available unforgettable

[tl]		[dl]
little battle kattle metal bottle cutlet gentleman softly greatly brightly	mostly definitely exactly completely absolutely spotless thoughtless faultless Scotland	candle pedal paddle fiddle middle medal model idle idol	badly madly deadly hardly headline deadline deadlock endless childless regardless godliness Madeleine

[kl]		[gl]
clean clever class clerk clock clear climate cloud close (v.) close (n.) cloth	clothes clare ankle wrinkle unkle circle bicycle vehicle chocolate duckling declare conclusion	glad glimpse glitter glove glass glance gloomy glide globe Gloria glossary glamorous	wriggle eagle angle smuggle struggle burglar English piglet ugly

b)

pace – place peas – please pasta – plaster pain – plain late – plate lace – place peasant – pleasant cup – couple campaign – complain compete – complete

lit – little cat – cattle bat – battle pet – petal it – it’ll that – that’ll met – metal what – what’ll

keen – clean loud – cloud cap – clap lip – clip leer – clear rink – wrinkle geographic – geographical economic – economical

beak – bleak back – black bind – blind lame – blame link – blink low – blow dull – double globe – global similar – symbol

need – needle mid – middle rid – riddle pad – paddle candy – candle dead – deadly I’d – idle

lad – glad love – glove lied – glide eager – eagle anger – angle smug – smuggle burger – burglar

c)

–ly

bad – badly, mad – madly, dead – deadly, hard – hardly, frank – frankly, quick – quickly, soft – softly, late – lately, great – greatly, most – mostly, vague – vaguely, exact – exactly, definite – definitely, honest – honestly, complete – completely, absolute – absolutely

–able/–ible

eat – eatable (edible), terror – terrible, horror – horrible, comfort – comfortable, enjoy – enjoyable, response – responsible, rely – reliable, change – changeable, forget – (un)forgettable, regret – regrettable, understand – understandable

–less

help – helpless, hope – hopeless, spot – spotless, thought – thoughtless, fault – faultless, end – endless, regard – regardless, reck – reckless, thank – thankless

d)

[p + l]

stop laughing, to get up late, to sleep like a log, keep left, help Lucy, top level, ripe lemons, cheap lodging

[t + l]

a short-list, best-looking, tight-lipped, at last, at least, just looking, it’ll be, that’ll do, a minute later, to get lost, street lighting, most likely

[k + l]

speak louder, traffic lights, block letters, book learning, shake lightly, like lightning, to take liberties, to pick lavender

[b + l]

the tub leaks, to bribe lawyers, a kerb level, herb liqueur, a mob leader, sob love stories, Bob looks, to describe lots of details

[d + l]

I’d like, bad luck, good looks, a hard layer, grand luxury, the road leads, there’s some bread left

[g + l]

in vague language, a dog lead, a dog leash, a big lawn, a big loan, hug little John