Little Boy and I were playing yesterday. He's become quite the chatter box, though he's only starting to grasp words. Because he loves to make lots of noise with his voice, he opens his mouth really wide. So wide that I saw his tongue move down and back before he started yelling /ɑ/ at me. Every time he went to yell, down and back went the tongue.
I mention this because I had been having a hard time picturing the front/back and high/low distinction when producing vowels. I can hear the distinctions, well, insofar as any native English speaker can. This is to say I can hear the distinctions English makes quite clearly. Others may be a bit more difficult, but I digress. It was good to see the actual mechanics of speech production put in front of me so accidentally.
It was nice to see that.
I mention this because I had been having a hard time picturing the front/back and high/low distinction when producing vowels. I can hear the distinctions, well, insofar as any native English speaker can. This is to say I can hear the distinctions English makes quite clearly. Others may be a bit more difficult, but I digress. It was good to see the actual mechanics of speech production put in front of me so accidentally.
It was nice to see that.
