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Sundae2132 Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
about the pronunciations of /l/ and /n/--help!!
0 This has been a question puzzling me for years: I'm not too sure about the EXACT positions of the tip of tongue when pronouncing these two alphabets. 02 br
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00 I know they are differenct and people won't be confused when they hear me say them. But I just want to be accurate, so if any native English speakers could help me with it that would be really great. 02 br
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00 To pronounce either of them, you have to put the tip of your tongue against ridge, which is behind the upper teeth. My question is, is it the same position (ridge) for both /n/ and /l/, or the touched places of the ridge are slightly different? To be specific, would you curve you tongue harder and touch the place furthur inward the mouth (away from the front teeth) when you pronounce /n/ than when you pronounce /l/? To put it another way, when you start to prounce the words "letter " and "name", does the tip of the tongue touch the same place behind the upper teeth? If not, is the one for "name" further away from the upper teeth? 02 br
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00 Thank you very much for any answer. 0-
02 br
00 I know they are differenct and people won't be confused when they hear me say them. But I just want to be accurate, so if any native English speakers could help me with it that would be really great. 02 br
02 br
00 To pronounce either of them, you have to put the tip of your tongue against ridge, which is behind the upper teeth. My question is, is it the same position (ridge) for both /n/ and /l/, or the touched places of the ridge are slightly different? To be specific, would you curve you tongue harder and touch the place furthur inward the mouth (away from the front teeth) when you pronounce /n/ than when you pronounce /l/? To put it another way, when you start to prounce the words "letter " and "name", does the tip of the tongue touch the same place behind the upper teeth? If not, is the one for "name" further away from the upper teeth? 02 br
02 br
00 Thank you very much for any answer. 0-
Top answer
0 Hi, 02 br 00 l and n should be pronounced with the tongue in the same position... well, in theory! The tip of the tongue could touch the back of the upper teeth or touch the roof of your mouth somewhere behind your upper teeth (but not far behind).
- 0 Hi, 02 br 00 l and n should be pronounced with the tongue in the same position...
- well, in theory!
- The tip of the tongue could touch the back of the upper teeth or touch the roof of your mouth somewhere behind your upper teeth (but not far behind).
- I tried to pronounce some words with n's and l's, both in Italian and in English, and I think my tongue is in the same position for both n's and l's, and it doesn't touch my upper teeth.
- 02 br 02 br 00 Ps: I forgot I have a book that deals with pronunciation, I'll check it and post something else in a few minutes 0-
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7 Answers
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0 Hi, 02 br
00 l and n should be pronounced with the tongue in the same position... well, in theory! The tip of the tongue could touch the back of the upper teeth or touch the roof of your mouth somewhere behind your upper teeth (but not far behind). I tried to pronounce some words with n's and l's, both in Italian and in English, and I think my tongue is in the same position for both n
00 l and n should be pronounced with the tongue in the same position... well, in theory! The tip of the tongue could touch the back of the upper teeth or touch the roof of your mouth somewhere behind your upper teeth (but not far behind). I tried to pronounce some words with n's and l's, both in Italian and in English, and I think my tongue is in the same position for both n
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0 American Accent Training, by Ann Cook: 02 br
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01 font 01 i 00 [...] When you learn to pronounce the L correctly, you will feel its similarity with T, D and N. Actually, the tongue is positioned in the same place in the mouth for all four sounds -- behind the teeth. The difference is in how and where the air comes out. [...] You should be able t
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01 font 01 i 00 [...] When you learn to pronounce the L correctly, you will feel its similarity with T, D and N. Actually, the tongue is positioned in the same place in the mouth for all four sounds -- behind the teeth. The difference is in how and where the air comes out. [...] You should be able t
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0 Hey Kooyeen! Thank you very much for your efforts and exhaustive explanation. I was told by an Aussie girl today (I'm in Australia) that as for the position of the tip of the tongue, "l" is behind "n", but she didn't mention the back of the teeth...in some cases my tongue touches the back of the upper teeth too. Perhaps there's no big difference either way. And I read about the same thing you
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0 I'd say there is a difference with how much tongue is touching the teeth/roof of mouth. 02 br
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00 In L - only the very tip of the tongue touches the space where the teeth meet the roof of the mouth, right in that little corner. As though you were using your tongue to point at it. 02 br
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00 In N - more of the tongue is touching the roof of the mouth, the
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00 In L - only the very tip of the tongue touches the space where the teeth meet the roof of the mouth, right in that little corner. As though you were using your tongue to point at it. 02 br
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00 In N - more of the tongue is touching the roof of the mouth, the
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0 The position of the tongue tip is the same - on the alveolar ridge, behind the front teeth. /l/ is a lateral approximant, so you tend to narrow the body of the tongue to allow more airflow around the edges. 0-
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0 My assessment is basically the same as Nona's. I would just add that for /l/ the passages from the throat are left open, allowing air into the mouth. For /n/ these are blocked off by the higher position of the main body of the tongue, forcing most of the air upward through the nasal passages instead of into the mouth. 02 br
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00 Saying /l/, /n/, /l/, /n/, /l/, /n/,
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00 Saying /l/, /n/, /l/, /n/, /l/, /n/,
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0 Thank you guys I appreciate all your responses ^^ I'm been practicing these two very hard and I found the trick is: with /l/ the tongue is curved and with /n/ the front half of the tongue is flat, touching the roof of the mouth. As for /n/, whether the tip of the tongue touches the back teech or just a little bit of it don't seem to make any difference to me. Since there is an /n/ in my name I
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