Practice question · Sort into groups
Sort each feature by whether Jenkins's Lingua Franca Core finds it MATTERS for international intelligibility or NOT.
Groups: Matters · Does not matter much
- Intonation contour direction
- Preserving initial consonant clusters
- Nuclear stress placement
- Weak forms and connected speech
- Producing the two th sounds accurately
- Vowel length distinctions
Hints
- The findings are based on measured breakdowns between non-native speakers.
- The rarest English consonants turned out not to cause breakdowns.
Show the answer
Matters: Preserving initial consonant clusters, Vowel length distinctions, Nuclear stress placement
Does not matter much: Producing the two th sounds accurately, Weak forms and connected speech, Intonation contour direction
Why
The result inverts the traditional teaching order, which introduced the th sounds early and nuclear stress late. Note the scope: this is evidence about non-native speakers communicating with each other, and it re-prioritises a syllabus rather than shortening it.
Practise Stress, Rhythm and Intelligibility
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