[Menvi-discuss] formulating vowels

[Julie McGinnity]

We had a specialist come from France last year, and she described the
vowels to me and drew the shapes on my hand.  I am not a visual
learner though, so I learned the way Karen did.  I found it much
easier to listen and repeat what I heard spoken or sung.  French
vowels can be taught in a way so that they seem very difficult, but
the rule with French has always been: if you feel like you're over
doing it, you're probably just getting it right.  The mouth is a
contortionist.

This is why I stick to German if I can.  :)

On 2/21/12, Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonboy13 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Hello,
> Ask your teacher for visualization exercises as well. My teacher said to
> form an ooh vowel, sing ooh, pinch your index finger and thumb together and
> pull them out away from your mouth. It is to signify pulling the sound from
> your mouth, like you would pull wire or string. I think of there being a big
> block of gold in my mouth and I want only a perfect spirally bar coming out
> of my lips. When you pinch right as the attack happens and start pulling
> perfectly strait forward out of your mouth you get the luscious rich closed
> ooh sound almost all languages love.
> If you're talking about one of the weird sounds that are unique to French,
> just imitate the best you can. I'd also suggest listening to some Foust to
> hear what those singers do.
> Thank you,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karen Gearreald
> Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 7:34 PM
> To: 'This is for discussing music and braille literacy'
> Subject: Re: [Menvi-discuss] formulating vowels
>
> Kelsey, it is easy to become too worried about placing your lips and tongue
> and jaw in exactly the right position for French vowels.  I had a similar
> problem in college when I was learning to speak French.  Of course you will
> need to know the various positions for your phonetics class.  I think,
> however, that in actually producing the vowels, you will most easily learn
> to relax and remember if you imitate the correct sounds, just as you would
> if you were a baby in France.  Little blind children in France learn the
> vowels by sound through imitation and repetition; so can we.
>
> The big exception may be the front, rounded "u" vowel.  As Bettie Downing
> said, you can learn much by touching your tutor's mouth when this vowel is
> being pronounced.  Without undue tension, remember to round your lips as you
> bring them forward.  This is not a position that we use in English.
> Observing the forward rounding of the lips for the "u" vowel, someone once
> comically said:  "You look as if a rooster could perch on your lips."  Not a
> bad concept.  Your lips can still be soft and flexible, but give that silly
> rooster a place to stand.
>
> Karen Gearreald
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org
> [mailto:menvi-discuss-bounces at menvi.org] On Behalf Of Kelsey Nicolay
> Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 8:58 PM
> To: menvi-discuss at menvi.org
> Subject: [Menvi-discuss] formulating vowels
>
> Hello,
> I am taking a French phonetics course this semester and am
> currently working with a tutor.  We are learning about vowel
> height, vowel roundedness, and vowel backness.  How does a tutor
> explain how the mouth is supposed to form these vowels?
> Thanks,
>
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-- 
Julie McG
 Lindbergh High School class of 2009, participating member in Opera
Theater's Artist in Training Program, and proud graduate of Guiding
Eyes for the Blind

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal
life."
John 3:16