Our catch phrase is on its way.

The JINGLES

(Note: This is a continuation of Installment 173.)

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

“Mr. H”, very much into salsa dancing and weight training, loves to exercise. But he has overdone it with “The Jingles”. He has developed his S3 l (but not his u or ul or any of his other S3 gestures, fortunately!) TOO much – and has become muscle bound so to speak, when he attempts to pronounce L, which is not an S3, but an S2 (“Synergy 2”) gesture. The fact that his tongue is a bit smaller than average compounds the situation.

To illustrate the impasse “Mr. H” is dealing with, let us look at how he pronounces the sequence

“Jingle N”, when he says it” at normal speed: Jing gu d eN. It should be pronounced Jing gu LeN, but due to the small surface area of “Mr. H” ’s somewhat small tongue, the pronunciation comes out as d instead of L. In past instances wherein clients exhibited the same problems I merely had them develop their tongue strength a bit more by substituting either a “super L” as in the word “taillight” or an s – intrinsically strong in English – as in the word “assessment”, and then making adjustments from there until the client had strengthened kerm L sufficiently.

However, “Mr. H”, workout person that he is, has actually “overstrengthened” his l gesture to the point that it automatically blocks any “super L” or “s” from being employed to strengthen his L! In over 99% of Jingles clients, l is so efficiently “weak” that it is, if anything squelched out of existence (as for example in the word “world”, so often mispronounced as “word” when its l is squelched out). However, “Mr. H” ‘s l gesture actually deflects the force of the s (meant to increase his ability to say “Super L” spontaneously) such that the subtle “l” is clearly heard: jIng gul sel instead of the correct jINg gu sel. Had the l not shown up, then the next step would have been to substitute “Super L” (L) for the s and, as a result, he would have successfully said jIng gu Lel àjing gu Lel.

In concluding today’s discussion, let me add that the problem “Mr. H” is dealing with is sometimes seen in native speakers of English too. If anyone is concerned enough about it, then seeking the services of a certified speech pathologist is suggested.

As for “Mr. H”, with his work ethic and overall good health, he should make it to the 90-level when he take his native level J-TEP (Jingles Test of English Pronunciation®) two or three weeks from now. The progress he showed in his session with me yesterday indicates that he will overcome the obstacles created by his slightly smaller-than-average tongue and his muscle bound mini-pitch change gesture l !

Steve Walker,Earthsaver and Jingles Creator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.