Background Art [2] English speakers are more likely to pronounce English words spreading their lips horizontally or with their lips stretched from ear to ear, while Asian language speakers are more likely to pronounce their native tongues, such as Korean or Japanese, pursing their lips or with their lips pursed. Therefore, Asians, such as Koreans and Japanese, do not seem to have as well-trained mouth muscles or nerves as English speakers', so they may feel unnatural when horizontally stretching their lips, or they may have difficulty in horizontally stretching their lips for long periods.

[3] For the foregoing reasons, most Asians are not good at assuming the same lip postures as English speakers do when speaking English. Thus, Asians are unable to pronounce English words like native English speakers.

Disclosure of Invention [4] An aspect of the present invention is to provide an English pronunciation correcting device which a user can wear in his/her mouth so that he/she can practice English pronunciation with his/her lips horizontally stretched and can eventually practice English words as native English speakers do.

[5] According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an English pronunciation correcting device comprising: a supporting unit, which is positioned in a user's mouth between front teeth and molar teeth; and oral cavity extension units, which are attached to the supporting unit and are put in at least one side of the user's lips.

Description of Drawings [6] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an English pronunciation correcting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; [7] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the English pronunciation correcting device of FIG. 1; [8] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an English pronunciation correcting device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention; [9] FIG. 4 is a top plan view of the English pronunciation correcting device of FIG. 3; [10] FIG. 5 is side sectional view of an English pronunciation correcting device according to still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and [11] FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the English pronunciation correcting device of FIG. 5.

Best Mode for carrying out the Invention [12] A Korean word is pronounced on a syllable-by-syllable basis: that is, a consonant (or consonants) and a vowel constituting each syllable are pronounced together as the minimum unit for pronunciation, while an English word is pronounced on a phoneme- by-phoneme basis: that is, phonemes can be pronounced independently from one another. For example, Koreans pronounce an English word'system'as if it consists of three syllables'si-seu-tem', but English speakers pronounce it as 's-i-s-t-a-m'<BR> . According to rules of Korean pronunciation, 'system'should be pronounced as'sit- tem'.

[13] Snce phonemes of an English word are pronounced separately from one another, English speakers are more likely to stretch their lips from ear to ear when speaking English.

[14] On the other hand, since a Korean word is pronounced on a syllable-by-syllable basis, Koreans are more likely to purse their lips than to spread their lips when speaking Korean.

[15] English speakers may look as if they are smiling even though they are not. On the other hand, Koreans may look as if they are angry about something even though they are not or may look blank or expressionless. This is why English speakers habitually stretch their lips horizontally, but Koreans habitually purse their lips.

[16] Snce the mouth, the ears, and the brain of human beings are connected to one another via nerves, people learn a language by memorizing sounds of each word, mouth shapes to pronounce each of the sounds, and the meaning (s) of each word in as- sociation with one another. In this regard, some English sounds that are generally pronounced by English speakers with their mouths pursed may be easily recognizable because lip postures that English speakers assume when pronouncing them are similar to lip postures that Koreans generally assume when speaking Korean.

[17] On the other hand, Koreans may have difficulty in pronouncing and recognizing some English sounds that are generally pronounced by English speakers with their mouths stretched from ear to ear because Koreans are not familiar with lip postures that English speakers usually take when pronouncing those English sounds and do not have any sound information associated with the lip postures in their brains.

[18] Koreans may feel unnatural or have a difficulty in horizontally stretching their lips for long periods. Like those who used not to work out regularly and get quickly exhausted with sudden exercise, Koreans may get easily fatigued with horizontally stretching the lips from ear to ear.

[19] Therefore, the present invention provides an English pronunciation correcting device that helps a user horizontally stretch his/her lips for long periods. More specifically, the user can wear the English pronunciation apparatus in his/her mouth and practice horizontally stretching his/her lips. Then, the user's mouth muscles and nerves used for stretching the mouth sideways are stimulated and well trained. Once the mouth muscles and nerves are well trained, the user can pronounce English words as easily and naturally as English speakers do.

[20] An English pronunciation correcting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the ac- companying drawings.

[21] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the English pronunciation correcting device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a supporting unit 100 is formed in almost the same arch shape as a row of teeth, a front teeth unit 100f is disposed at the center of the supporting unit 100 and contacts front teeth of a user when the user wears the English pronunciation correcting device, molar teeth units 1001 and 100r are disposed at both sides of the supporting unit 100 and contact molar teeth of the user when the user wears the English pro- nunciation correcting device, and a groove is formed in the supporting unit 100 along a longitudinal direction of the supporting unit 100 so that the front teeth and molar teeth of the user can fit in the English pronunciation correcting device.

[22] Oral cavity extension units 201 and 202, which are attached to the supporting unit 100 between the molar teeth units 1001 and 100r and the front teeth unit 100f, are formed as horns having an increasing width toward the molar teeth units 1001 and 100r.

[23] A state in which the supporting unit 100 is worn by a user will now be described.

First, when the user wears the English pronunciation correcting device, the user's front and molar teeth fit in the groove formed in the supporting unit 100, and the oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 are placed at both sides of the user's lips so that they can help the user horizontally stretch for long periods.

[24] Therefore, while the user wears the English pronunciation correcting device, the supporting unit 100 of the English pronunciation correcting device keeps stimulating muscles and nerves around the user's mouth, and the oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 keeps the user's mouth stretched horizontally.

[25] Therefore, the oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 are preferably disposed nearer to the molar teeth units 1001 and 100r than to the front teeth unit 100r so that they can horizontally stretch the user's mouth as much as possible.

[26] In addition, the oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 are preferably formed as horns so that they can be easily placed at both sides of the user's lips.

[27] The user can learn English speakers'ways of assuming different lip postures to pronounce English words and their English pronunciations and can correct his/her English pronunciation by using the English pronunciation correcting device to practice pronouncing English words with his/her lips stretched from ear to ear.

[28] English speakers move the jaw more widely when speaking than Koreans do. In the exemplary embodiment, once the user wears the English pronunciation correcting device in his/her mouth, the English pronunciation correcting device applies force to the molar teeth of the user, thereby forming an empty space in the oral cavity of the user. Therefore, the user can learn to correctly pronounce English words while moving his/her jaw as widely as English speakers do when speaking.

[29] English pronunciation correcting devices according to other exemplary em- bodiments of the present invention will now be described more fully with reference to FIGS. 3,4, and 5. Referring to FIG. 3, an English pronunciation correcting device includes supporting units 101 and 102, which are obtained by dividing the supporting unit 100 of FIG. 2, and oral cavity extension units 201 and 202, which are disposed at each of the supporting units 101 and 102.

[30] The supporting units 101 and 102 preferably have a length of 3-5 cm so that they can only cover small and big molar teeth. Therefore, when a user wears the English pronunciation correcting device in his/her mouth, the supporting units 101 and 102 are placed in the user's mouth to cover the small and big molar teeth, and the oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 are put in at least one side of the user's lips outside the user's mouth.

[31] Therefore, the user can freely move his/her tongue and lips and thus can practice English sounds that are made by using the front teeth and lips. Accordingly, the user can eventually differentiate a'v'sound from a'b'sound, a'f sound from a'p'sound, and an'1'sound from an'r'sound and to pronounce consonants, such as th, m, s, and z, and vowels, such as a, e, y, and i, like a native English speaker.

[32] Referring to FIG. 5, supporting units 100 and 102 are formed to be streamlined toward big molar teeth units 101L and 102L, respectively, so that they can be more firmly attached to teeth of a user and can enhance the user's comfortableness with wearing them when the English pronunciation correcting device is positioned in the user's mouth.

[33] Oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 are preferably attached to the supporting units 100 and 102, respectively, so that they can be disposed nearer to the big molar teeth units 101L and 102L, respectively, than to small molar teeth units 10 IS and 102S, respectively.

[34] The oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 are preferably formed as horns so that they can be easily put in at least one side of the user's lips when the English pro- nunciation correcting device is positioned in the user's mouth.

[35] Referring to FIG. 6, coupling units 201a and 202b are formed at oral cavity extension units 201 and 202, respectively, and a plurality of holes 301,303, 305,311, 313, and 315, to which the coupling units 201a and 202b can be coupled, are formed at the supporting units 101 and 102 so that the oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 can be attached to various portions of supporting units 101 and 102, respectively.

[36] Therefore, the English pronunciation correcting device can be suited for different sizes of mouths by adjusting the locations of the oral cavity extension units 201 and 202 attached to the supporting units 101 and 102, respectively. Accordingly, the user's comfortableness with wearing the English pronunciation correcting device can be enhanced.

[37] In addition, the English pronunciation correcting device can also be fitted in different sizes of mouths with the supporting units 101 and 102 adapted for each user's mouth. More specifically, the supporting units 101 and 102 are soaked in hot water with a predetermined temperature, and then they remained in the air until they are slightly cooled down to avoid any burn on the user's mouth. The user bites the supporting units 101 and 102 with his/her upper and lower teeth, and then the supporting units 101 and 102 are slightly adapted according to the shape of the user's mouth. Thereafter, the supporting units 101 and 102 are soaked in cold water so that their current shapes can be maintained. The supporting units 101 and 102 may be formed of thermoplastic resin so that they can be easily adapted.

[38] While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Therefore, it is to be understood that the above described embodiment is for purposes of illustration only and not to be construed as a limitation of the invention.

The scope of the invention is given by the appended claims, rather than the preceding description, and all variations and equivalents which fall within the range of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.

Industrial Applicability [39] As described above, according to the present invention, a user can correct or improve his/her English pronunciation and can correctly recognize English words spoken by English speakers by practicing pronouncing English words with his/her mouth stretched from ear to ear with wearing an English pronunciation correcting device.