When I was a child, my mother made sure that I had a stack of books to read – especially during the summer holidays. One of my favourite things to "read" was the Highlights Magazine series. I’m not sure if it is still in publication, but I really enjoyed solving the hidden picture puzzles at the back of these magazines. I liked the illustrations because they encouraged me to see one picture in different ways. One of my favourites was “Find the faces in the tree”. Here’s an example of the illustration that kept me busy for quite some time. [How many faces can you find? Hint: It's more than 9, but it's less than 11. ] It was not until I became an ESL teacher that I began to realize that auditory illusions (illusions of hearing) were also quite common in the English language. Oftentimes, sounds are stringed together so tightly in certain phrases that it is very difficult for the brain to process where one word ends, and another word begins. If English is your second language, then the process of decoding meaning from these blended sounds becomes even more challenging. These types of tightly-connected phrases of sounds are called oronyms. Click on the play button below to listen to the first example of an oronym. [audio mp3="https://englishcoachingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Orynym-1.mp3"][/audio] Did the speaker say “an ice-cold shower” or did the speaker say, “a nice cold shower”? Now, click on the play button below to listen to the second example. [audio mp3="https://englishcoachingonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/oronym2.mp3"][/audio] Is the speaker referring to astronomy or to livestock farmers? How would you have written the sentence that the speaker said? Would you have written it this way: The sun's rays meet. Or, would you have written it this way: The sons raise meat. If the context of the speech is unknown, it's almost impossible to determine which version is correct. If you’d like more information about oronyms and how common they are in the English language, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Please email: elaine@englishcoachingonline.com or send me a Tweet @eng_onlinecoach
