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From: Prakhar Sachan
Date: 22 Oct 2006
Time: 11:17:54 -0500
Remote Name: 202.141.136.155
Hi Kimberley, You ask: >>Out of curiousity, what were some of the "hard" words for you? What made them "hard" for you? Was it the initial consonant of the word, the length, etc.? << Well, there is no hard and fast rule over here, because some words that haven't been hard all of a sudden can become hard catching me completely unaware! But, there have been some words that have kind of always been hard for me. These words mostly have been vowels say for examples words stating with a. It has always been the starting letter of the word word length has never troubled me. What made them hard in the first place? I'm afraid I don't have a definite answer to that, but I do have an answer to why they were hard. One of the explanations is; say for example words starting with a. In order to pronounce a(a vowel) and voiced consonants one's larynx must always be vibrating(or phonating). You can find that out by saying out loud a word starting with 'a', stretching the initial sound, and placing your fingers on the larynx region. You'd find it vibrating. What happened/happens with me is, instead of aiding my speech process, I'd perform a Valsalva Maneuver, which would result in an effort closure of the larynx. As such, no air would pass through, hence NO phonation hence no aa sound. There is still so much more to it, but I hope this answers your question. If not, let me know! Best regards, Prakhar