J Korean Med Assoc.  2008 Apr;51(4):377-384. 10.5124/jkma.2008.51.4.377.

Juhns' Anatomical Schwa for Learning Second Languages

• Kim CC

• KMID: 2185750
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2008.51.4.377

Abstract

Every word has its proper schwa which is produced through the mouth by the appropriately posed or positioned chin, tongue, and neck. This proper unaccentuated vowel or syllable for the certain languages is named as Juhn's anatomical schwa. In learning 2nd languages it can be very useful and much linguistic to teach how to voice the proper schwa. In linguistics the proper schwa has been expressed by International phonetic alphabet or phonography for a long time but Juhn's anatomical schwa is defined that the unaccentuated vowel or syllable is produced by the appropriately posed or positioned chin, tongue, and neck. After birth the child grows and develops the skull to the end and the baby teeth are lost to develop the permanent teeth and the jaw joints are to be firm gradually before the age of 7. For the 7 years the child learns the mother tongue so that his facial appearance becomes alike to his tribe who speaks the same language. The chewing and swallowing is alike with each other. The jaw joints become also firm to speak mother tongue easily. Thereafter the child can voice other language schwa not enough to speak it spontaneously. This is the first idea of the Juhn's locked chin. So we can postulate that the locked chin is made to be the jaw joints as soft as those the children under the age of 7 have for L2. This is the Juhn's unlocking rule and the solution for the Juhn's locked chin. Then we can move our chin and tongue to the next step producing the schwa for the second language.

Keyword

Juhns' anatomical Schwa; Juhn's locked chin; Juhn's unlocking rule

MeSH Terms

Child
Chin
Deglutition
Humans
Jaw
Joints
Learning
Linguistics
Mastication
Mothers
Mouth
Neck
Parturition
Skull
Tongue
Tooth
Voice

Figure

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  Figure 1 The eustachian tube and the hyoid bone.

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  Figure 2 (A), (B) Show the hyois bone has 3 intrinsic and 3 extrinsic muscles, and its relations with the larynx and surroundings.

Reference

1. Gray's anatomy 34th.

2. http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hyoid_bone.

3. Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy. 2nd edtion.

4. Daniel A. Kister The study of English Poetry. 1992. Sogang University Press.

5. Fromkin Victotia, Rodman Robert. An Introduction to Language 5th. Harcourt Brace College Publshers.