Preena Kangkun

2202224
Course Syllabus Assignments and pronunciation practices Test dates Blackboard assignments and self-practice

English spelling and pronunciation

I take it you already know Of tough and bough and cough and dough? Others may stumble, but not you On hiccough, thorough, rough, and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps, To learn of less familiar traps? Beware of heard, a dreadful word, That looks like beard and sounds like bird.
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And dead: it's said like bed, not bead For goodness' sake don't call it "deed"! Watch out for meat and great and threat (They rhyme with suite and straight and debt). A moth is not a moth in mother, Nor both in bother, broth in brother, And here is not a match for there, Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
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And then there's dose and rose and lose Just look them up--and goose and choose, And cork and work and cord and ward And font and front and word and sword, And do and go and thwart and cart-Come, come, I've hardly made a start! A dreadful language? Man alive, I'd mastered it when I was five!
T.S. Watt/Richard Krough

English spelling and pronunciation

The same spelling can be pronounced several different ways
tough, bough, cough, dough Soft, toll, above, hot

The same sound can be spelled differently

heard, bird agent, beige, saint, weigh, dismay

= There is no one-to-one correlation between spelling and pronunciation

 Phonetic symbols Useful tool for distinguishing sounds of a language

Each phonetic symbol represents only one distinctive sound (a phoneme) Why distinctive? Phonemes
The smallest unit of sound in a language that can

distinguish two words

cat hat /k/ vs. /h/ - initial position far fear /a/ vs. /I/ - medial position

A minimal pair differs in only one sound in the same

position Phonemes are written in slanting lines /f/ /p/ /t/

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The IPA
International Phonetic Symbols Transcriptions and pronunciation will be based on General American English Modified version See p. 3 & 4 for table of symbols Consonants 24 consonant sounds Voiced and voiceless sounds

Voiced sounds are produced with the vibration of the vocal cords/folds Compare /b/ and /p/ or /z/ and /s/

Phonemes
Vowel sounds: 15 single vowels and 3 diphthongs
See symbols for vowels and diphthongs on p.4 Consonant sounds and vowel sounds can be arranged

in the consonant chart and vowel chart on p. 7. We will look at the charts in detail later.

Phonemes vs Allophones
Phonetic symbols can be used for phonemes or allophones Phonemes are abstract units that can change the

meaning of a word Allophones are subsets of phonemes Changing the allophone does not change the meaning of a word Allophones are written in square brackets [ ]
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Phonemes vs Allophones
Water

Phonemes & Allophones

H2O

/p/

ice

water

vapor

[p]

[p ]

[p ]

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Some basic allophonic rules

/p,t,k/
Aspirated in initial

position /p n/ [p /t n/ [t /k n/ [k

n] n] n]

May be unreleased in final position /r p/ [r p ] /r t/ [r t ] /r k/ [r k ]

Unaspirated after /s/ /spar/ /star/ /skar/

[spar] [star] [skar]

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/t/ flapping
/t/ becomes a flap [ ] between two vowels, the second

of which is unstressed
water city elevator pretty Or between a vowel and an /r/ before an unstressed

syllable party artists hearty smarter

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Production of speech sounds

Vocal organs Primary function are for the survival of human beings But are also used for speech production Egressive Pulmonic Airstream mechanism Outgoing breath from the lungs Outgoing air gets modified in the production of consonants or vowels

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Production of speech sounds

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Vocal cords

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Consonants vs. Vowels

Vowels are significant in syllables; consonants cannot

form a syllable. There is some kind of obstruction on the airstream in producing consonant sounds; the airstream is let out freely in producing vowel sounds. Consonants can be voiced or voiceless; all vowels are voiced Consonants can be oral or nasal; vowels sounds are oral
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Classification of consonants
There are 24 consonant sounds. They need to be

classified based on 3 criteria. Voicing quality voiced vs. voiceless Place of articulation: bilabial, interdental, labiodental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, palatal, velar, glottal Manner of articulation: plosive, nasal, affricate, fricative, approximant, lateral VPM: Voice, Place, Manner
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Place of articulation
bilabial
interdental labiodental alveolar palato-alveolar palatal velar glottal

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Manner of articulation
plosive
nasal affricate fricative approximant lateral

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Consonants
/p/ is the voiceless bilabial plosive sound.
Bilabial Labiodental Interdental Alveolar Palatoalveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

Plosive Nasal Affricate Fricative Approximant Lateral

p b m

t d n t f v s z r l j d

k g

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Pronunciation practice
The th sounds = interdental fricatives voiceless interdental fricatives th at the end of ordinal numbers: fifth, tenth th that ends a noun: warmth, strength th in numbers: three, thousand th in the beginning of nouns, verbs, and adjectives: thumb, think, thick thunder, throw, thin

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 Voiced interdental fricatives

th in demonstrative: that, these, those th at the beginning of a pronoun: them, their, they -the that ends a verb: bathe, clothe, breathe th in some connectives: thus, therefore, furthermore th before er and the vowel preceding it is stressed: weather, brother, gather, other, either ( ether) Voiceless >> voiced south >> southern north >> northen worth >> worthy mouth >> mouths See English Pronunciation in Use # 17 Arthurs mother
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 Labiodental fricatives

Spellings for the voiceless labiodental fricative f fell, friend ff puff, affair ph physics, hyphen -gh rough, draught (drought) -fe safe, strife Spellings for the voiced labiodental fricatives v never, vanilla -ve stove, sleeve !! of Stephen = /v/

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Dont pronounce /v/ as /w/ (the bilabial approximant) vein wane verse worse vest west vet wet See English Pronunciation in Use #8 Few and View

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Palato-alveolar
Fricatives vs. affricates dish vs. ditch shop vs. chop

Spellings for the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative sh shoe, shy, fishing s sure, mansion, insurance -ss- issue, tissue, mission -sc- conscious, crescendo /krI-/ c ancient, glacier, racial, delicious -tinitial, nation, negotiable ch and che in French loan words chef champagne moustache
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 Spellings for the voiced palato-alveolar fricative

-spleasure, visual, casual -zazure, seizure, glazier g and ge in French loan words beige, camouflage, mirage Spellings for the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate ch chin, check c cello, concerto t nature, feature, actual -tch catch, watch

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Spellings for the voiced palato-alveolar affricate j joke, job g ginger, giant, agenda -ge George, village, image d soldier, procedure -dj- adjust, adjourn -dge- grudge, bridge See English Pronunciation in Use #12 sheep, jeep, cheap
/l/ and /r/ See English Pronunciation in Use #13 flies, fries /l/ alveolar lateral /r/ alveolar approximant
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/s/ and /z/

Alveolar fricative sounds

Tongue tip points toward alveolar ridge without

touching it /s/ voiceless alveolar fricative Spellings: s sing, stone ss lesson, fussy, across se sense, goose, promise c (before e, i, y) cent, citrus, cycle
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-ce sc ps -st-z sw/z/ z zz -ze s ss

police, office scissors, muscle psalm, psychic, pseudonym listen, fasten, Christmas quartz, waltz, pretzel, pizza sword, answer voiced alveolar fricative zebra, hazard fuzzy, dizzy size, prize busy, easy, wisdom dessert, possess
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 -se please, noise, close(v), impose x

xerox, anxiety

Some observations: Nouns and verbs with the same spelling, ending with se, the se of the noun (or adjective) is normally pronounced /s/, whereas the verb is pronounced /z/ use to use excuse to excuse house to house

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 The letter x maybe pronounced /ks/ or /gz/

/ks/

/gz/

six, sixty, next, mix (when ex- is stressed) extra, expert, excellent (when ex- is followed by a voiceless cons) expect, exclaim, extract (when ex- is followed by a stressed vowel) exact, exist, exotic, example

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Silent letters
Letters that are written but not pronounced

exhibit aisle corps comb

exhaust isle island rendez vous climb moisten

debris fasten

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-s, -ed endings

See 2202224 pronunciation of s and ed endings

rabbits

dogs horses -s ending rule s is pronounced /s/ after all voiceless sounds except /s, , t/ s is pronounced /z/ after all voiced sounds except /z, , d/ s is pronouncd /Iz/ after all the exceptions.

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-s, -ed endings

typed

mailed wasted -ed ending rule -ed is pronounced /t/ after all voiceless sounds except /t/ -ed is pronounced /d/ after all voiced sounds except /d/ -ed is pronounced /Id/ after /t, d/ These rules apply only to verbs not adjectives. naked, wicked, beloved I have learned French for 2 years. He is a learned man.
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The syllable
Vowels are the center/ the nucleus of syllables
Structure of a syllable
Syllable Rhyme Onset str Nucleus i Coda ngs

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English syllables
Syllable structure C, V
Open syllable means V, CV Closed syllable means VC, CnVCn onset + rhyme = (nucleus + coda) a - nucleus at rhyme (nucleus // + coda /t/ ) mat onset (/m/) + rhyme (nucleus // + coda /t/ ) flat, hat, that etc. rhyme with mat, sharing the same

nucleus and coda.

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The syllable
Phonotactics = possible combinations of sounds in a

language Phonotactics of English allows up to 3 consonant sounds in the onset and 4 in the coda. spring, sixths Are these possible English words? sfrimjs, tsotsoh, scrants, frumps

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Consonant clusters
The onset may contain many consonant sounds. They

are pronounced one after another without any vowel sound in between. dishes, knight (no cluster) tax /tks/ cvcc Initial consonant cluster cc- spot, flash, star, plug, muse ccc splash, spring, Final consonant cluster -cc milk, fist, mind - ccc sphinx, fists, minds, filmed - cccc twelfths
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Exercise 1

Chocolate Onion Procedure Pizza Voucher Lettuce Weather, whether Drown Knighthood Rice

Secretary Massage Gems Asleep Snooze Machine Bold Thigh Prison Mayonnaise
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The vowel sounds of English

Vowels are classified according to The height of the tongue (high, mid, low) The part of the tongue (front, central, back) The degree of muscular tension of the tongue (tense, lax) The degree of lip rounding (rounded, unrounded) See vowel chart p.7 (in introduction)

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 green and grin both are high-front vowels same height and part of tongue, same degree of lip-

rounding different degree of muscular tension seen and soon both are high tense vowels same height of tongue, same degree of muscular tension different part of tongue, different degree of liprounding,
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 Tense unrounded high-front vowel Examples:

/i:/ recent easy seek believe caffein ski amoeba /i/ valley

meter season speech achieve receive suite pretty

legal creature succeed hygiene either Phoenix hockey

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 Lax unrounded high front vowel Examples (small cap I)

begin

instant example biggest gym rhythm cottage village minute build marriage women

opinion enough palace busy guitar been

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 Tense unrounded mid-front vowel Examples: famous

chamber saint raisin betray obey vein neighbor great break Gourmet (t silent)

danger date (not dead) display veil (not veal) braid (not bread) bouquet /bUkeI/

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 Lax unrounded mid-front vowel

Examples: many

necessary legendary head special personnel (not personal) measure leopard Leonard said (say -/seI/) again bury burial chair care bear Lax unrounded low-front vowel travel balance cabin magic laugh aunt chair care bear
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Central vowels
Stressed: cup Unstressed: ago

bird later (see page 4 of intro)

mother hungry flood lovely luncheon cousin

cup: oven jumping blood bird: heard urge journal verse world purpose earn courtesy

does

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 ago:

alive April occur lettuce dungeon official famous gorgeous later:

soda policy opposite ocean pigeon commercial dangerous courageous

zebra gentlemen develop sergeant surgeon nation mention tortoise anxious religious

sugar another nature

grammar popular chamber neighbor liquor grandeur

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 Lax rounded high-back vowel

Examples: put could hood

sure would book

sugar should poor

Tense vs Lax pool pull stewed stood food foot soup fruit See English Pronunciation in Use: Sun, full, June # 18
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Back vowels
Tense rounded high-back vowel

/u:/ tomb who move tooth spoon baloon choose loose rule rude true glue fruit juice bruise chew tube few /fju:/ /u/ (unstressed + word medial) issuable situation annual

emulate
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 Tense rounded mid-back

Examples: both oak soul dough
home load poultry although October toe oboe elbow sorrow chauffeur plateau

Transcription exercise # 2

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Tense unrounded low-back Vowel vs tense rounded mid-back

Some varieties of English do not distinguish between the vowel sounds in words such as baht and bought. Both vowels are tense but one is rounded, the other one is not, and the unrounded one is lower (and more front) than the rounded one. Tense unrounded low-back Examples: hot, body, bomb, Drama , carpet, star, garden, smart, farmer

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Tense unrounded low-back Vowel vs tense rounded mid-back

Examples of words that can be pronounced either way: mock, log, frog, wrong, forest, borrow, sorry, orange (spelled with o + velar sounds, or + r sounds) Tense rounded mid-back Examples: salt, walk, warm, prawn, awful, author, august, cost, lost, morning, bought, taught, slaughter, cough, broad

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Diphthongs
Vowel sounds pronounced together smoothly and

continuously within the same syllable A combination of two different positions of the tongue with an audible glide from one another Examples of words with diphthongs fine found foil Examples of words with vowels with slight diphthongs fame foam feel fool
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Word Stress
Stress means degree of loudness given to a word or a

syllable. There are 3 degrees of stress: Primary the loudest table Secondary not very loud introduction Weak no stress paper Every word has one syllable that is pronounced with the highest degree of loudness (primary stress)

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Word Stress
Stress is important
invalid (n.) vs. invalid (adj.) desert (n.) vs. dessert (n.) Stress is marked on the vowel.

One syllable words mat, so, fish, etc. Two syllable words apple, delete, beware, paper Three syllable words attitude, deliver, lemonade Four syllable words introduction, consistency

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Word Stress
There are no definite stress rules but there are some

useful observations on where to mark a primary stress. 1. Most 2-syllable nouns ending with er,-or,-ure, -ace, -ice, -ess, and age have primary stress on the 1st syllable 2. Two-syllable adjectives ending with ous have primary stress on the first syllable e.g. famous nervous If there are more than 2 syllables, the primary stress falls on the third syllable from ous marvelous, adventurous

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Word Stress
3. Reflexive pronouns are stressed on the 2nd syllable. 4. For disyllabic nouns and verbs that are homographs,primary stress falls on the 1st syllable for nouns and second syllable for verbs. increase (n.) increase (v.) 5. A primary stress falls on these endings: -ee, -eer, -ette, -oo, -oon, -ade, -ese : advisee, engineer, kitchenette, taboo, balloon, parade, Japanese

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Word Stress
6. Stress remains on the same syllable of the base word when certain prefixes and suffixes are added to the base. (There is no stress shift.) 7. A primary stress falls on the syllable right before ion, ic, ical, ity, -ian, -ify, -graphy, -logy education, organic, historical, originality, comedian, identify, bibliography, anthropology (In some cases, we can see there is a stress shift to the syllable right before these endings.) magic magician, organ organic, history - historical

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Word Stress
Compound Nouns: primary stress falls on the first

element and secondary stress falls on the second element sewing machine fortune teller
Compound Verbs: primary stress falls on the second

element and primary stress falls on the first element overestimate understand withdraw Two-word verbs: primary stress falls on the particle and secondary stress falls on the verb pass away turn on put off
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Word Stress
Compound adjectives
There are two stress patterns for compound adjectives: 1. secondary-primary

self-centered secondhand good-looking one-sided 2. primary-secondary breathtaking heart-broken color-blind

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Sentence Stress
Normal Sentence Stress Pattern

In a sentence, function words are not stressed (receive

weak stress) but content words are normally stressed. Monosyllabic function words receive weak stress so the vowel sound in these words is reduced to // or /I/ e.g. and /nd/ is reduced to /nd/. Sara bought some books for her sister. This is a happy little frog. Sentence stress creates rhythm.

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Sentence Stress
A long sentence is divided into thought groups. The

last content word in a thought group is marked with primary stress. Other content words are marked with secondary stress. I normally eat at the canteen / but today Jim took me to a fine restaurant to have lunch with him. The sentence is divided into 2 thought groups. We usually make a pause at the end of each thought group. When there are punctuation marks like , ; and conjunctions, we usually pause there.
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Sentence Stress
Exceptions
Some function words which often add significant info

frequently receive stress e.g. wh question words and demonstratives. Function words normally receive stress when they show a contrast. I said I gave her a call, not him. Emphatic stress. We can mark a primary stress on the word we want to emphasize. This means we dont use the normal sentence stress pattern. I see what you mean. There is no need to yell.
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Intonation
It is the rising and falling of pitches in a thought

group. There are 3 levels of pitch. High =3, Mid = 2, Low = 1

Intonation has many functions 1. grammatical function. Different types of sentence

take different intonation patterns. Statement: 2-3-1 The high pitch coincides with the word that receives primary stress. Yes/No question : 2-3 Non-final statement: 2-3-2 You can cook,/ and so can I.
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Intonation
2. Focusing function, showing emphasis.

Sara loved her new apartment. (normal/default pattern) Sara loved her new apartment Sara loved her new apartment Sara loved her new apartment Sara loved her new apartment 3. Attitudinal function : I am good.

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Intonation
4. Discourse function (turn-taking, old-new

information) 2-3-1 : statement command (asking someone to do something) wh-question (seeking information) 2-3-2 : non-final statement/clause 2-3 : yes/no question

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Intonation
Intonation patterns in long sentences. 2-3-2/2-3-1 sustained or non-final statement/final. 2-3/2-3/2-3-1 series Dont forget to buy lettuce,/ tomatoes,/ and cucumbers for the salad. 2-3-1/2-3 or 3-1 You are not ill,/ are you? 2-3-1/ 2-3 (not certain of the statement) 2-3-1/ 3-1 (needs confirmation for the statement)
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