Lingua Franca Core
The Lingua Franca Core (LFC) is a selection of pronunciation features of the English language recommended as a basis in teaching of English as a lingua franca. It was proposed by linguist Jennifer Jenkins in her 2000 book The Phonology of English as an International Language. Jenkins derived the LFC from features found to be crucial in non-native speakers' understanding of each other, and advocated that teachers focus on those features and regard deviations from other native features not as errors but as acceptable variations. The proposal sparked a debate among linguists and pedagogists, while Jenkins contended that much of the criticism was based on misinterpretations of her proposal. Features Jenkins summarised the Lingua Franca Core as follows: may be substituted by other consonants. Syllable-final is always produced (rhotic). Intervocalic are always pronounced rather than (lack of flapping). Allophonic variation within a consonant is allowed insofar as it does not interfere with another phoneme (as in for , which may be mistaken for ). Word-initial are aspirated. Pre-fortis clipping is present, so that the vowel in kit is shorter than that in kid. Omission of consonants in clusters is allowed word-medially and -finally (but not initially). Vowel epenthesis between consonants