Friday, October 19, 2012

You're the expert!

One of the nice things about a science class based on food and cooking is that in some cases YOU have real first-hand experience with the topics we're discussing. That means that sometimes (maybe even quite often), you will have experience or insight that is beyond what I have. I like that! It means that I can learn something too, and I always try to learn at least 1 new thing every day.
Related to this, someone pointed out a pronunciation I slipped up on in class yesterday... I have a very basic understanding of German, and in reading what was written on my slide while I was talking and thinking about what was coming up, I did a really bad job on the word "kuchen". It is absolutely NOT pronounced "koo-chin"... The typical American English "ch" pronunciation is generated almost entirely in the front of the mouth with the tongue and the teeth (it's a more "dental" sound), whereas the "ch" in "kuchen" is generated in the back of the mouth and throat, almost as if you're pronouncing a "hard c" and an "h" at the same time, a little like the "ch" in "chalazae" or "Bach". When this German "ch" is in the middle of a word, it is often pronounced almost like a "g", but a little farther back in the mouth/throat.
The biomechanics of linguistics is really pretty fascinating, and if you think about just how the sound of different letters and words are produced in the mouth, it's fun to experiment. Most people don't think about the way tongue, teeth, lips, cheeks, throat and lungs interact to do something as "simple" as speaking, if this is something you're really interested in you should check out the Speech, Language, Hearing Sciences department at MSUM.

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