SOUNDS OF ENGLISH The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) IPA is a pronunciation alphabet in which every speech sound is represented

d by a symbol.

ROMAN ALPHABET (26 letters) ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWX YZ INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA) 1. VOWEL SOUNDS 2. CONSONANT SOUNDS 3. DIPHTHONGS VOWEL SOUNDS may be defined as those sounds which are produced without blocking or constricting the passage of air. are formed by the movement of the tongue and the lips Three Classifications of Vowel Sounds according to the location of the Tongue 1. Front vowels if the front part of the tongue is active 2. Central/Middle vowels if the middle part is active 3. Back vowels if the rear part is active Classifications of vowel sounds according to the shape of the lips 1. Lips are spread (front vowels) 2. Lips are neutral *neither spread nor rounded (central vowels)

3. Lips are rounded (back vowels) LIPS SHOULD BE SPREAD (Front vowels) /i/ - BEAT (long) heat seat Phoenix leave deed intervene

LIPS SHOULD BE SPREAD (Front vowels) /I/ bit (short) hit kit sit marriage captain miss minutes gym

LIPS SHOULD BE SPREAD (Front vowels) /e/ ATE lake make grate Kate hate cable way take

LIPS SHOULD BE SPREAD (Front vowels) // BET bread any second jeopardy LIPS SHOULD BE SPREAD (Front vowels) // BAT man hat anger cap jam gland sack hamburger spread Leonard get met

LIPS SHOULD BE NEUTRAL (neither spread nor rounded) central vowels /^/ LOVE brother judge cup cut LIPS ARE ROUNDED (back vowels) /u/ BOOT (long) balloon groom much clutch run touch

soon taboo pool

moon June fruit

LIPS ARE ROUNDED (back vowels) /U/ TOOK (short) pull cook book could LIPS ARE ROUNDED (back vowels) /0/ BOAT coat hope phone own chose most loan bone would push look full

LIPS ARE HALF ROUNDED (BACK VOWELS) / / HALL mall roll dawn ton call song often saw

LIPS ARE ROUNDED (back vowels) // DARK father arm farm party DIPHTHONGS is a combination of two vowel sounds blended in one syllable the tongue moves from one vowel sound to the other has longer duration than a pure vowel psalm calm balm rock

DIPHTHONGS 1. [ai] - sigh, light, cry, glide, drive 2. [au] - brown, down, ouch, towel, crown 3. [ei] - paint, grain, reign, deign, crane 4. [ou] - grow, know, sow, row, bestow 5. [oi] - soil, coy, boy, boil, broil 6. /iu/ - queue, few, huge, fuse CONSONANT SOUNDS sounds which are produced when the passage of air is either partially or completely obstructed When the vocal cords are vibrating regularly, we say that the sound is voiced. Without the vibration, the sound is voiceless (or equivalently, unvoiced). This is exactly the property that distinguishes many sounds in English and other languages.

CONSONANT SOUNDS CONSONANTS b IPA [b] EXAMPLES baby, best, buy, bring, blind, absent, about, number, labor, robber, tub center, cellar, cigarette, cinema, agency, notice; cake, come, cucumber, clean, cry, scratch, act, panic Check, lecture, cheat day, dear, die, door, duty, admire, hidden, lady, kind, ride, ended fast, female, five, forest, fund, fry, flight, often, deaf, cuff game, get, go, gun, great, global, giggle, ago, begin, dog, egg; general, gin, giant, agent, suggest, Egypt, energy, huge, manage hair, help, history, home, hotel, hunt, behind, inherit hour, honor, honest, heir, vehicle, Sarah jam, Jane, jet, jelly, Jim, jingle, joke, John, June, just Kate, kind, kill, kilogram, sky, blanket, break, take, look late, let, live, alone, close, slim, please, old, nicely,

[s]

[k]

[ts] d [d]

[f]

[g]

[d]

[h]

[-]

[d]

[k]

[l]

table, file, all m [m] make, men, mind, mother, must, my, common, summer, name, form, team napkin, never, night, no, nuclear, funny, student, kindness, ton, sun paper, person, pick, pour, public, repair, apple, keep, top, crisp quality, question, quite, equal, require unique, technique, antique, grotesque rain, red, rise, brief, grow, scream, truck, arrive, hurry, turn, more, car

[n]

[p]

[kw]

[k]

[r]

[s]

send, simple, song, system, street, lost, kiss, release cause, present, reason, realism, advise, always, is, was task, tell, time, tone, rest think, method, thread other, them vast, vein, vivid, voice, even, review, invest, give, move, active wall, war, way, west, wind,

[z]

[t]

//: thin
//: then v [v]

[w]

word, would, swear, swim, twenty, twist x [ks] exercise, exchange, expect, ex-wife, axis, fix, relax exam, exact, executive, exert, exist, exit, exult Xenon, Xerox, xenophobia, xylophone yield, young, yell, yeast zero, zoo, horizon, puzzle, crazy, organize, quiz, jazz pizza, Mozart, Nazi, waltz

[gz]

[z]

y z

/j/ [z]

[ts]

PARTIAL LIST OF WORDS SOME FILIPINO SPEAKERS OFTEN FIND DIFFICULT TO PRONOUNCE DISTINCTLY mum-mom-maam hut-hot-hat it-eat-eight slow-slaw
roll-role

cut-cat-cot coat-caught called-cold thought-taught

speech-spits