CONTRASTIVE PHONETICS

Original Comp. by F. Zabala

Annotated version by A. Perticone

Charts by Prof. Francisco Zabala, 2012

 IMPORTANT NOTE1: if the River Plate Spanish speaking learner uses a (Spanish)
advanced affricate for the grapheme <ch> in items with <ch> such as chico, ocho,
chocolate, chuchería, chimichurri (as younger people, and mostly females, tend to
do) then the English affricates will very difficult for them. The main problem for these
speakers will be, as stated above, the transfer of their L1 sound and subsequent
NEUTRALIZATION of English / t, tʃ / into an intermediate sound, which will make what
and watch homophonous, and the NEUTRALIZATION of English /d, dʒ/ into an
intermediate sound which will make dust and just homophonous. More examples: tin/
chin; tears/ cheers; what / watch; Don/ John; Deans/ jeans; ending/ engine, etc.
One important difference between the <ch> sound produced by these speakers and the
English <ch> sound is that in English, the second point of articulation in this palato-
alveolar consonant, produces the characteristic ‘sandpaper’ sound originating in the

1
Note by AMP
friction between the centre of the tongue and the post alveolar, pre-palatal area, whereas in
Spanish, these speakers will say chico, ocho, chancho producing friction mainly in the
alveolar area.
Saggittal sections compiled by Prof. Zabala.
Erratum: “a cite” should read “a site”