English Pronunciation Guide PDF

# ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION As mentioned earlier, in order to speak correct English correct English pronunciation should be used. By being careful in one's speech habits simple mistakes in speaking can be avoided. Learning appropriate pronunciation techniques given one confidence to avoid common lapses...

# ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION As mentioned earlier, in order to speak correct English correct English pronunciation should be used. By being careful in one's speech habits simple mistakes in speaking can be avoided. Learning appropriate pronunciation techniques given one confidence to avoid common lapses and errors in speaking. Interestingly, there is no such thing as a "correct pronunciation" because there is no one right way of speaking. The pronunciation of English varies from country to another and there are marked pronunciation features associated with English spoken in important English-speaking countries like the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia. Even within the UK there are variations between England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. One particular accent called Received Pronunciation (RP) has come to be accepted as the standard in the UK. Thus, it is better to consider pronunciation in terms of "acceptable pronunciation" and "unacceptable pronunciation" rather than correct or incorrect pronunciation. Acceptable pronunciation is clearly intelligible to all ordinary people, whereas unacceptable pronunciation refers to a way of talking that is difficult for most people to understand. # PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION Phonetic transcription can be defined as a kind of alphabetical writing in which each letter represents one sound. It is thus, the writing of a language by means of a separate symbol for every sound. A pronunciation symbol or a phonetic symbol represents each English sound. As the letters of the English alphabet can be a poor guide to pronunciation, it is advisable to learn the phonetic symbols of English because these symbols are a reliable guide to English pronunciation. Knowledge of these symbols is useful in referring to a dictionary to find out the pronunciation of any word. Every good dictionary contains a list of phonetic symbols. ## CONSONANT SOUNDS A consonant sound may be defined as a speech sound that is produced with stoppage of air. For example, to say the word "pepper" our lips try to stop air from passing through them while producing the sound "p". Thus, the voice or breath is partially hindered by the tongue, teeth, lips or other organs of articulation. There are twenty four consonant sounds in English. These consonant sounds are classified according to the nature of consonant as plosives, fricatives, nasal consonants, lateral consonants, and affricates. ### ** ** Lateral consonant and Fricatives | Phonetic Symbols | Examples | | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | p | Paper, Pipe, Plastic, cap, cup, Upper, accept | | b | Bull, Base, mob, table, Carbon, absorb | | t | table, Start, Top, Rot, Take, Cat, cattle | | d | Design, Date, Develop, Bad, doll, Grade, Tend | | k | Kick, Factor, Act, Block, chemist, Cast | | ɡ | Give, Ago, Against, Organic, Graphite, Diagram | | tʃ | Chance, Rich, Feature, Beach, Discharge, Launch | | dʒ | Judge, Adjust, Magic, Charge, Bridge | | f | Fast, Flash, Draft, Effect, filter, Eit, Graph | | v | Very, Variant, Velocity, verticle, give, Negative | | θ | Theary, Thermal, Thrust, Faith, Further, Earth | | ð | Brother, Gather, feather, father, Mother, Neither | | s | Simple, Sea, Mass, Ask, Assembly | | z | Zero, Design, Physical, positive, Result, busy, laser | | ʃ | Shift, Pressure, Nation, Ash, Grusk, Machine | | ʒ | Vision, Pleasure, Measure, Intrusion | | m | Machine, Compare, Automatic, Column, Compact | | n | New, Number, Carbon, Crane, Drain, Election | | ŋ | Evening, Building, Bearing, Distinguish | | h | Hardware, Heavy, Height, Handle | | l | Level, call, collect, Realise | | r | Role, Red, Correct, Marriage | | w | Water, Weaver, Wonders, Wet | | j | yes, yours, year, you | There are twenty vowel sounds. Vowel sounds are classified as pure vowels and diphthongs. There are twelve pure vowels and eight diphthongs. Pure vowels are further classified as long vowels and short vowels. Study, tables 7.4 - 7.5 and 7.6 which contain phonetic symbols for vowel sounds. ## ** ** Long Vowel Symbols | Phonetic symbols | Examples | | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | i: | Easy, Feel, Free, Seize, Unique | | u: | shoe, fool, true, truth, zoo | | ɜ: | Firm, birth, bum, hurt, Art, fast, aunt, part | | a: | Port, sport, Jaw, yawn | | ɔ: | Hot, shut, blood, cut, hut | ## ** ** Short Vowel Symbols | Phonetic symbols | Examples | | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | e | Pet ,said, led, men | | ɒ | Hot, shut, pot | | ʌ | Hut, cut, shut, blood | | æ | Hat, bat, cat | | ɑ | Ago, about, announce | | ʊ | Food, book, wood | | I | Hit, sit, fill | ## ** ** Diphthong Symbols A diphthong is a combination of two short vowels. | Phonetic symbols | Examples | | ------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ɪə | Fear, here, year | | eə | Fair, hair, ain | | ʊə | Poor, true | | ɔɪ | Oil, boil, spoil , joy, loyal | | eɪ | Say, late, train, They, sight, bike | | aɪ | Fry, sight, bike | | əʊ | Go, so, old, gold , now, how | | aʊ | Now, how, about, out, house | # ** ** PRONUNCIATION GUIDELINES Pronunciation guidelines related to consonants: Following spellings too closely may result in mistakes while pronouncing consonant sounds. Remember the following simple guidelines 1. The spelling "CH" may confuse you because it has three different sounds: ts, k, and s. Study the following examples: * **CH pronounced as tf:** Chair, chairman, chain, chalk, challenge, cherish, change, beach, recharge, chamber * **CH pronounced as k:** Character, cholera, chord, choreographer, cholestrol, chrome, chromium, chromite, archives, schism, mechanical, chronological, chronology, chromium, archangel, mechanics. * **CH pronounced as s:** Chef, chiffon, cache, machine, chauffeur, chagrin, chaise, champagne, chivalry, chassis, chivalrous, chivalry, chauvinist, chic, brochure 2. The spelling "G" may also confuse you because it has three different sounds: g, dʒ, and 3. Study the following examples: * **G pronounced as g**: Gadget, gainful, galaxy, gallery, gallant, garment, glossary, glue, gossip, govern, graceful, graduate, graphite, grease, galvanise, glossary, regress, magnet, against, regard. * **G pronounced as dʒ (the letters in bold)**: Cage, gem, gemstone, generation, generous, gender, gene, generate, generous, genius, gesture, giraffe, gym, gymnast, gyroscope, gypsy, manage, change, stranger, baggage. * **G pronounced as 3 (the letters in bold)** Garage, mirage, beige, regime, rouge, bourgeois. 3. The spelling "S" has generally the sound s, but may also have the sounds: ʃ, z and 3. Study the following examples: * **S pronounced as s** : Sugar, sugary, sure, surely, pension, tension, expansion, ensure, insure, insurance. * **S pronounced as z**: Busy, these, rays, lease, noise, chase, cause, disease, because, arise, expose, pause, praise, rose, transition, trousers. * **S pronounced as 3**: Pleasure, measure, treasure, vision, leisure, treasury 4. The spelling "SS" may have the sounds s and z. Study the following examples: * **SS pronounced as s**: Aggressive, miss, kiss, asses, masses, classes, assent, assert, assistance, association, assumption, dissect. * **SS pronounced as ʃ**: Aggression, passion, mission, session, assuredly. * **SS pronounced as z**: Dissolve. 5. The spelling "T" has generally the sound t, but it may also have the sounds ts and s. Study the following examples: * **T pronounced as tf**: Nature, culture, future, puncture, mature, capture, lecture, picture, gesture, signature. * **T pronounced as s**: Differential, mention, edition, nation, relation, location, sanction. 6. Sometimes consonants are not pronounced at all. They become silent. Study the following examples: (The letters in bold are silent) * Handsome , grandfather, grandmother, grandson, forehead, cupboard, psychology, adjust, adjustment, adjective, adjoin. * Often, subtle, sign, signboard, farm, palm, calm, artist, starter, charter, market, knot, know, knowledge, bouquet. ## MINIMAL PAIRS A minimal pairs is a group of words that differ from each other only in one sound. However, this difference brings about a change in meaning. For example, the words "fill" and "till" differ only in the first consonant sound, but they mean different things. They are minimal pairs. Read the following minimal pairs aloud: | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | sip | ship | said | shed | face | phase | rage | | so | show | same | shame | race | raise | refuge | | sack | shack | sank | shank | seal | zeal | region| | sake | shake | seat | sheet | sip | zip | major | | sale | shale | self | shelf | sage | says | hedger | | sell | shell | sock | shock | page | pays | | ## VOWEL SOUNDS | | | |---|---|---| | Some possible letters representing the vowel | Vowel Sound | Examples | | /ea/, /29, /e/, /sely, /ey/ | i: | Free, meat, field, key, unique | | /oo/, /u/, /ou/, /ew/, /ue/ | u: | 200, truth, juice, true, shoe | | /ir/, /ur/, /er/, /can | ɜ: | Shirt, learn, stern | | /a/, /ar/, /ai/, /ar/, /car | ɑ: | East, farm, calm, clerk, aunt | | /a/, /av/, /al/, /or/, /oo/, /our/, /au/, /o/, /augh/, /ough/, /wor | ɔ: | Water, warm, talk, port, course, board, cause, sword, coast | | /e/, /ea/, /ai | e | Hed, head, said | | /o/, /oe | ɒ | Socket, entrepreneur | | /u/, /oo/, /u/, /o/ | ʌ | Fun, couple, enough, blood | | /a/ | æ | Man, stand, apt | | /al/, /e/, /or/, /ox/, /ue/, /10/, /ou/ | ɑ | Adult, entrance, anthem, fame, factor, entrepreneur, mature, luminous | | /u/, /oo/, /oul | ʊ | Pull, look, should | | /i/, /e/, /y/, /a/, /ui/ | ɪ | Sit, behave, baby, accurate, circuit | | /ea/, /eer/, /iu/, /year | ɪə | Fear, peer, year, helium | | /a/, /ay/, /ai/, /au | eɪ | Made, say, train, gauge | | /oo/, /uer | ʊə | Poor, truer | | /ow/, /ou | əʊ | Now, how, founder | | /oi/, /oy | ɔɪ | Spell, coil, joy, loyal | | /y/, /igh/, /ig/, /i/, /e/, /eigh | aɪ | Try, sight, sigh, five | | /o/, /ow/, /oa | au | So, law, coal | | /ai/, /are/, /ae | eə | Chain, care, cereal | ## Minimal pairs Read the following minimal pairs aloud: | | | | | | | | | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | sit | seat | cut | cart | farm | firm | red | raid | | fill | fell | hut | hurt | heart | hurt | men | main | | hill | heal | shut | shirt | hast | lust| sent | saint | | hit | heat | full | foll | codm | came | fed | fade | | lid | lead | pull | pole | card | cund | het | late | | mill | meal | spot | sport | hard | hurd | met | mate | | knit | neat | pot | port | fast | first | sell | sale | | pick | peak | cop | corp | hast | lost | trend | trained | | slip | sleep | shot | short | pant | pot | pen | pain | | ship | sheep | set | sort | cast | cast | fell | edge | | live | heave | cot | court | bard | bird | go | age | | date | diet | fell | file | set | sight | tell | tail| | lay | lie | plate | plight | het | light | fate | fight |