Activity of the lips...

[Asha Anand <>]

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Hi Gang,

   Below is an interesting activity of the lips!
   It goes like this...

Activity of the lips 
--------------------

The lips play a very important part in French.
When a vowel is described as having 'rounded' lips, 
the lips are slightly drawn together and pursed, 
as when an English speaker expresses exaggerated 
surprise with the vowel 'ooh!' Equally, if the lips 
are said to be 'spread', the corners are pulled 
firmly back towards the cheeks, tending to reveal
the front teeth.

In English, lip position is not important, and vowel 
sounds tend to merge because of this. In French, 
the activity of the lips means that every vowel sound
is clearly distinct from every other.

In English, there are few 'pure' vowel sounds, but
largely
dipthongs instead. In French, the tension maintained
in the
lips, tongue, and the mouth in general prevents
dipthongs 
occurring, as the vowel sound is kept constant
throughout.

Gender changes?
---------------

This is even more interesting. The meaning of the
words
change depending on the gender. A few examples:

    (masculine)	             (feminine)		
le livre    - book 	la livre    - pound 
le manche   - handle 	la manche   - sleeve
le mode     - method   	la mode     - fashion
le moule    - mould   	la moule    - mussel
le page     - page(boy)	la page     - page(in book)
le physique - physique 	la physique - physics
le tour     - turn     	la turn     - tower

'I'm learning...'
Asha



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