Friday, 8 April 2011

Welcome

Welcome to the PGCTE Phonetics blog. I am the Monitor of the course at the EFL University, Hyderabad. I will be glad to be of help with any queries you might have in the subject. You are also encouraged to use the blog for discussion amongst yourselves.

All the best!!

116 comments:

  1. I have gone through the modules but i found that most of illustrations are from Peter Roach but the book is not mentioned in reference books.

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  2. Which work of Peter Roach are you referring to? It is possible that the omission was by oversight. However, if you have access to Roach's ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY, do make use of it. It is one of the best textbooks of Phonetics.

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  3. Sir, I'm Ramalakshmi, one of the PGCTE students. I find the accent part difficult. How could you mark accent in a written communication without knowing the intention of the speaker? An individual word has got an accent. But do the same word has to be accented the same way when it comes in a sentence? That's where my score went down :-(

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    1. word stress in english is fixed so far as the syllable that receives the stress in a word remain so both in isolation and within a sentence. Emphasis is volitional and dependent on the intention of the speaker, but does not change the stress pattern.

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  4. Sir I m shaili PGCTE(distance) student while doing the assignment even i found it difficult to mark tone groups and the accent(the passage is from The Gift of the Magi). can u please help me?

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  5. @ Ramalakshmi...In written communication, you are expected to follow the default patterns of marking intonation, which applies to the choice of the tonic syllable, and to what kind of tones are used for what kind of structures. Hope this helps.

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  6. @Shaili... My previous comment should help you also in the task. All the best :)

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  7. It was a good experience with the phonetics class and lab at EFLU. But I feel bad that I could not attend Mr. Domnique's class. Many of my North Indian friends could not overcome their mother tongue influence/overlapping.

    Sir, one of my friends want to do her research in Phonetics. She was inspired by Ms. Didla Grace. But she doesn't know where to start with or what to research on. Could you give me (her) some idea?

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  8. @NIVI... glad that you found the contact classes useful. Well you can not attend everyone's classes, can you... Happy that you have gone back with rich memories of the classes, and a few happy regrets.

    As for research in Phonetics...Since we at Distance Education are no more offering PHD/MPhil degrees, it might help your friend to talk to the face-to-face Phonetics Department to which Dr. Grace and Dr. Domique Savio belong. I can only post to you their email ids...they will be able to help you more specifically: ;

    Hope they would respond to your query :)

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. You may check the following link for the email addresses:

    http://www.efluniversity.ac.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=159&Itemid=363

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  11. Thank q Sir. I got the ids and I hope my friend would make use of it.
    Explanation please: It is said that 80% of the learners are Visual-Spatial and Visual-Spatial learners are said to imbibe whole words rather than morphemes and phonemes. In that cases how can u justify teaching phonetics(symbols) to them as the most of the syllabus now concentrates on teaching individual sounds to the beginners rather than whole words.

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  12. @NIVI...No one has reached the peak of Mount Everest by dropping themselves down there..it is by taking the necessary steps of climbing up the mountain in the small steps and stages that constitute the act of mountaineering. Similarly if you do not know, what "卸", "压" and "接" stand for in Chinese, how will you be able to explain how you would read "卸压接" in Chinese and know that it is pronounced /ksi-jæ-ciə/ and means "relief received." I hope you have understood why we teach the building blocks of languages like phones, phonemes and morphemes :)

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  13. Sir, can you please tell me who can help me with the assignments of Methods,Materials,Literature and Practice.(PGCTE)

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  14. Please check the PGCTE website, and find out who the monitors of the courses are. Then, from the section on "Meet your teachers" on the site, find the teachers and their email ids. You can contact them for your doubts.

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  15. gud evening sir....
    while reading d study material of pgcte i found it difficult to differenciate between voiceless and voiced sounds.... sir plz help me... how to recognize these sounds.

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  16. Dear Anita..one way to recognize them is by keeping your fingers on the vocal cords softly and feeling the vibration. The other way is to cup your ears, and then feel the buzz created by vibration for voiced sounds, and the absence of that for voiceless sounds.

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  17. sir, for every sentence, should we mark tone goup at the beginning and at the end even in the middle it is not neccessary. and in a sentense when we mark tone group at the end, is there any need of marking again for the next sentence in the beginning.
    Ex.
    //Thank q Sir.// I got the ids /and I hope my friend would make use of it.//
    after sir i marked .....but for the next sentense..?

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  18. Dear Ramu. Yes, you are expected t mark tone-group boundaries, whether they occur in the beginning, middle or end of a sentence. The "//" you mark in between two sentences, stands for both the sentences, and there fore it should not look like "////".

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  19. Sir, please let me know that when we are answering the questions in maximum 300-350 words ,does it include prepositions and articles..?

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  20. Sir, when auxiliary verbs plays a role of main verb, can it be considered as a structural verb? eg: he was in the class. in the sentence the word " was" is considered as .....structural or functional?

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  21. Sir, when auxiliary verbs plays a role of main verb, can it be considered as a structural verb? eg: he was in the class. in the sentence the word " was" is considered as .....structural or functional?

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    1. When auxiliary verbs function as the main verbs of a sentence, they are not considered functional. They are main verbs.

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  22. sir, in (phonetics) block -1, assignment 2,question no 3, was given space to be written. Is the space enough to write?

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  23. You have to write your answer within the given space. It will depend on how you organize your answer, that will determine if the space is sufficient or not. We will however not welcome answers longer than what can fit in the given space.

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  24. Hello Anish!
    I am enrolled for the the 2014-2015 PGCTE course, and received my course material recently.
    According to the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary:
    /ˌpɜ:səˈnel/ : personnel
    /ˈpɜ:sənl/ : personal
    whereas /pɜ:snel/ isn't listed as the phonetic transcription anywhere.
    Which word ( personnel/ personal) do we take into consideration?
    Likewise, /ɪmˈpi:dns/ is listed in the dictionary as phonetic transcription for 'impedance', /ɪmpi:dnts/ isn't listed anywhere. Pl. help clarify....tks.

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  25. If this exercise had come in the last block (connected speech), I could have said 'epenthesis' for 'impedance', adding the /t/ sound.

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  26. Awaiting your response, Anish.
    Thanks.

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  27. It has been a week since my last comment, yet to receive a reply...could somebody pl. revert?

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  28. Deafening silence!
    Kindly revert.

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  29. Dear ELC,

    We are busy at the University these days with the classes and exams for the PGCTE course. Therefore, the delay in the reply. As for your query, both words have been transcribed correctly. This is not a transcription exercise, but an exercise for you to read the transcription and guess the right word, which may have multiple pronunciations each varying slightly from the other in predictable ways, yet intelligible to speakers of English as the same word. The pronunciation in OED is correct but just one of them. All the best with the exercise!

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  30. Thank you for the reply.

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  31. I JOINED FOR PGCTE IN THE YEAR 2013.BUT I COULDNT SEND THE ASSIGNMENTS.CAN ICONTINUE NEXT YEAR

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  32. Dear dreams! Yes you can. Just make sure, you follow the deadlines for 2014-15 for the first and the second set of assignments.

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  33. Hi
    I submitted my assignments almost 3 months ago, amongst them 2 for Phonetics.I am yet to get any acknowledgement, nor feedback. Pl. revert.

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    1. Thank for letting us know. But we have no student on our rolls whose name is ELC. So unless you tell us your roll no. and name, there is nothing we can tell you here. Regrets.

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  34. Oops, sorry for the oversight, I should have signed my name:)
    Tarveen Walia, Roll no.14215.

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    1. Thank you Ms. Tarveen Walia for the details. Your Phonetics Assignments 4 and 5 have been evaluated. The results will be uploaded soon on the PGCTE googlesite.

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  35. Replies
    1. The link to the googlesite is mentioned on the very page where the link to this blog was. If you cannot locate it, just serach for PGCTE in Google, and click on the googlesites page that is usually the first or the second of the search results. You grades are by the way up on the site. Regards.

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  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  37. Hi Anish
    I have seen my Phonetics grade on the site. It's a pity that for the other subjects we need to call up a land line no. , it makes the whole online thing so much more difficult, if we need to straddle two platforms.
    When do I get my marked copy back?

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  38. Hi...
    First, thanks for Phonetics & Spoken English Monitor for provide such promptly service which diminish the distance of Distance education...

    SIR I would Like to query regarding to extend the period of assignment completion...May you tell me that what should i do, if i can't complete assignment in this Year i.e. upto 14 nov 2014 and rest of 28 Feb 2015... Although this is my first year.. i got my assignment with books in June 2014...


    shortly i will ask some question related Phonetics
    thanks....



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    1. Dear Mr. Kailash Gour, Sorry for the delay in the reply.

      I am sorry that the University does not allow any late submissions of assignments, except for a few days for postal delays as long as the parcel carries a clear date of it having been dispatched by the due date. Of course, we don't stop you from sending us your assignments continuously. The deadlines are basically meant to decide who can attend the contact programme and take the exams at the end of that year. So if you miss the deadline for the first year, you are ruled out from getting the chance to attend the contact programme for that year. All the assignments you send us after the deadline, then will be considered as being sent for the next year to which you are automatically considered as have entered. Of course this freedom gets constrained in the second year, as you need to pay 50% of the fees to enter the third year, after which the registration is cancelled. Even if you miss the first deadline but submit everything by the second deadline, you are considered ineligible for the first year.

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  39. I m MA in English litt. have done B.Ed as well and reaching in CBSE school.i would like to do English phonetics & spoken from eflu distance mode how could i get admission and what is the duration of the course kindly give the all necessary details....

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  40. Dear Mr. Hussain!

    As of now, we at EFLU have only three courses via the Distance mode, namely, PGCTE, PGDTE and MA in English. We do not have a separate course in Phonetics. The PGCTE and PGDTE courses have one paper each in Phonetics along with papers in General Linguistics, ELT and Literature. The details of the PGCTE course are available at . Regards.

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  41. Hi. I am vandana. I enrolled for PGCTE for the year 2014-2015. I noticed that grades were last updated on Jan 8. I didn't see grades against my roll number and I also haven't received any acknowledgment from eflu. Can you please let me know the fate of my phonetics assignments? My roll number is 14173.
    Thank you.
    - Vandana

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    1. How many assignments have you submitted, and when? It is possible that your assignment(s) is/are being evaluated at this point by one of our academic counselors. I have one of your grades, which I shall be posting soon to the website after monitoring the evaluation of your paper. Thanks.

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  42. Pls give names pf books as refreces for assignments.

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    1. You are expected to do the assignments by reading the blocks. All additional readings are listed at the end of each unit.

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  43. Hello sir
    This is Ms srujana mandarapu recently have enrolled for 2015-16 pgcte program. sir let me know whether I have an access to the university library as I want to refer to the recommended books.
    Thank you.

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  44. Sir plz help me out with word stress. Stress is marked on the 1st syllables for nouns and adjectives and 2nd syllable for verbs. then why is invalid marked on the 2nd syllable being it an adjective.in'VALID

    Kindly reply me sir.

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    1. There is no blanket rule for word stress in English, saying all nouns and adjectives are stressed on the first syllable and that verbs are on the second syllable. May I know where are you assuming this from, that makes you wonder about the pattern of stress in
      /ɪnˈvæl.ɪd/?

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    2. Word Stress Rules

      There are two very simple rules about word stress:

      One word has only one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. If you hear two stresses, you hear two words. Two stresses cannot be one word. It is true that there can be a "secondary" stress in some words. But a secondary stress is much smaller than the main [primary] stress, and is only used in long words.)
      We can only stress vowels, not consonants.
      Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions. It is better to try to "feel" the music of the language and to add the stress naturally.

      A. Stress on first syllable

      rule example
      Most 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport, CHIna, TAble
      Most 2-syllable adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy
      B. Stress on last syllable

      rule example
      Most 2-syllable verbs preSENT, exPORT, deCIDE, beGIN
      There are many two-syllable words in English whose meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example is a two-syllable word. If we stress the first syllable, it is a noun (gift) or an adjective (opposite of absent). But if we stress the second syllable, it becomes a verb (to offer). More examples: the words export, import, contract and object can all be nouns or verbs depending on whether the stress is on the first or second syllable.

      I read on the site English club

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    3. When you read this, didn't you read this very categorically stated disclaimer?: "Here are some more, rather complicated, rules that can help you understand where to put the stress. But do not rely on them too much, because there are many exceptions."

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  45. Sir kindly respond to my queries

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    1. Our responses are delayed because we are extremely busy with the PGCTE Contact programme cum examinations 2015 currently. Hope you can understand.

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    2. Sir let me know whether I have an access to the library ....

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    3. Yes you do. On payment of Rs. 100/-, you get access to the EFLU library for a period of one month.

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  46. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Dear PGCTE participant: Refrain from putting up questions here from the Assignments! You do disservice to the community by doing so!

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  47. Thank u sir
    Then how to go about word stress...

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  48. hello sir, i am sorry to bother you in your busy schedule. but this is quiet urgent. i have enrolled for PGCTE 2015-2016. i have plans of going abroad next year. i would request you to give me the dates for the contact cum examination program in June- July. so that i plan accordingly. attend the session and then leave.

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  49. Dear Nargees!

    The dates are not fixed this early. It is likely to start on 16/17 June and end on 13/14 of July 2016. Add a few days at both ends. The dates this year were June 19-July 16, 2015.

    You will need to wait till February 2016 to know the exact dates.

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  50. thanks sir, this indeed is of great help to me.

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  51. i have a lot of doubts in phonetics and phonology unit 1 introduction to linguistics.principles of phonemic analysis is going above my head sir.who do i contact sir?

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    1. For queries/clarifications in any course, please feel free to contact the course monitors. They are all listed in the PGCTE googlesites page as: The PGCTE Course Monitors, with their phone numbers and their email addresses!

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  52. its unit 2 5 principles of phonemic analysis.

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  53. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  54. For queries/clarifications in any course, please feel free to contact the course monitors. They are all listed in the PGCTE googlesites page as: The PGCTE Course Monitors, with their phone numbers and their email addresses!

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  55. I tried to understand what is scientific study but couldn't get. I would request to you to explain here.

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    1. It is not clear what exactly is your query on. "Scientific study"? of what? If your query is on the scientific methodology, there are many resources on the internet. This one from the Wikipedia could also help: Scientific Method

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  56. Dear Sir,
    So sorry to disturb you in your busy schedule. In our area we had few problems with the postal service and so I couldn't send my assignments soon. But, I have posted it today. Since, today is the last date, will my assignments will be accepted? Kindly reply.
    Regards.

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  57. Sir, this is Himani Tallapragada. I have sent my first 14 assignments by courier on 26th Nov. I didn't receive any acknowledgement from EFLU till now. Kindly let me know if the couriered assignments are delivered?

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    1. We do not send any acknowledgments for received assignments, as we are in position to acknowledge thousands of assignments received every month. You need to track your assignments via the India Post website. Regards and Best!

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  58. Dear Sir,

    Due to my pregnancy which is due for end of May i will not be able to make it for the contact cum examination programme which is to be held in June. so i have decided to come next June 2017. Is there any procedure to send a requisition letter to extend my period. i have not sent the assignments due for November also as i was not in a condition to do so. Will the assignment topics remain the same for my enrollment in June 2017. Kindly reply sir.

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    1. We hope you have received our reply to your email with the same concern. Regards and best!

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  59. Sir, for syllable structure, the dictionaries listed in our handybook hav different divisions. If cross checked online, few of them match n few do not. Which one should b followed.
    Right now I m referring to Oxford advanced learner's dictionary. For few words, when I crosscheck online are more acceptable than given in the dictionary. Plz help. Hope I don't lose my marks if I follow what I find online

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    1. You may continue using the OED. The difference in syllable divisions is because of the revision in the theoretical understanding of the phonotactics of English vowels. We shall deal with that when you come for the Contact Programme. Best!

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  60. Sir,
    I have enrolled for the PGCTE 2015-16 course. I have sent 14 assignments before 30th November and more later. This post is to inquire whether I receive any assessed copy of the assignment and if so, then when?
    Thanking you,
    Regards,
    Shubha Acharya

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    1. The assignments submitted as part of the first deadline, are now almost ready to be dispatched. You can always find out your grades for the same, by calling up the Dist Education Office at +91-40-2768-9431.

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  61. hello Sir
    when can I expect the grades for my assignments?

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    1. The assignments submitted as part of the first deadline, are now almost ready to be dispatched. You can always find out your grades for the same, by calling up the Dist Education Office at +91-40-2768-9431.

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  62. Hello Sir... would we be able to get model question papers on PGCTE courses from the EFLU website?

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    1. As you must have noticed Rajdeep, we have closed down the website for technical reasons! So, no services anymore through the site.

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  63. Sir,may i get any sort of information/help in writing the assignments.

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    1. No help in writing assignments will be offered from our end. It constitutes "use of unfair means" as per the University's rules. Any help taken from fellow PGCTE participants in doing the assignments results in both getting an "F" grade. So, please read the blocks and do the assignments on your own. All the best!

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  64. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  65. Sunita
    Sir I am finding phonetics little difficult specially block iv. How to differentiate voiced and voiceless?

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    1. It is difficult for us to offer you help on this online. You may read more about them on the web if you like to, or call us to clarify your doubts. My office number is 040-27689643

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  66. Dear Sir,
    I shifted from my old rented house to a new house. In this shifting I lost my question paper which I am suppose to solve bit, i have all my blocks. I eagerly want to do this course Sir.
    Kindly give me a solution or where can I download the papers.
    Kind Regards

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    1. Please write to our Office regarding your issue. They will be able to help you with a soft copy. Use the eflu_sde email ID registered with rediffmail, that is mentioned in your admission letter.

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  67. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  68. Hello sir,
    One clarification. while answering the assignments,can we use the quote from the other books by giving references.

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  69. Sir/ Ma'am,
    I have a doubt that concerns the Assignment one of Block 1. There are certain pairs of phonemes for which it is a little difficult to find out minimal pairs. In such a case can we pair up an English word with than of Hindi? For eg for /a:/ and /u:/ tool and tal(hindi for lake)

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Dear Akshita,
      Please contact me on contact@commuway.com for reinforcing your conceptualization on phonetics. I could not understand as to what you are trying to seek responses from an expert.

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    3. Dear Akshita,
      Please contact me on contact@commuway.com for reinforcing your conceptualization on phonetics. I could not understand as to what you are trying to seek responses from an expert.

      Delete
    4. Dear Akshita,
      Please contact me on contact@commuway.com for reinforcing your conceptualization on phonetics. I could not understand as to what you are trying to seek responses from an expert.

      Delete
  70. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  71. Dear sir,
    I am subapriya from chennai. I enrolled for pgcte during 2014-15. I completed my assignments but missed the contact programme. This year I am eagerly awaiting to attend the programme. When I will receive the communication about contact programme. Kindly I request you to let me know. Thank you.

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  72. Dear sir,
    I am subapriya from chennai. I enrolled for pgcte during 2014-15. I completed my assignments but missed the contact programme. This year I am eagerly awaiting to attend the programme. When I will receive the communication about contact programme. Kindly I request you to let me know. Thank you.

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  73. Is there separate blogs for each subjects as i have some doubts regarding practice teaching assignments

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  74. When will be the Session 2018-19 start

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  75. I AM DOING MY PGCTE COURSE 2018 THROUGH CORRESPONDENCE AND I AM DESPERATELY LOOKING FOR A TEACHER .PLEASE HELP MY CONTACT NO.:9039531890 , E-MAIL ID:kinshukagrawal2003@gmail.com

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  76. some guidance would also be greatly appreciated

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  77. Sir can u provide us model assignment answer sheet for reference plzzzz

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