PRONUNCIATION: WORDS

3 Steps to good pronunciation: eg. vegetable

1. Syllables: /

How many syllables does the word have? eg. vej / tab / el

2. Stress: ^

Which part of the word has the stress? eg. VEJ / tab / el

3. Schwa:

Where there is NO stress, there is often (but not always) a schwa sound. eg. VEJ / t /b l
The Schwa:

The schwa the only phoneme with its own name is important to recognise and produce as it is the most common vowel sound in
English. A schwa sound can be represented by any vowel:
The a is schwa in adept: dept
The o is schwa in harmony: harmny.

The e is schwa in synthesis: synthsis.

The u is schwa in medium: medim.

The i is schwa in decimal: decmal.

The y is schwa in syringe: sringe.

Often (but not always) when there is a stressed sound, the other sound/s will be the schwa.
Eg. In the 1 syllable word 'man' the letter 'a' has it's full sound. In the 2 syllable word 'postman' the first syllable is stressed post.
Therefore, the syllable 'man' is not stressed and the letter 'a' is pronounced as schwa, represented by the symbol
: /POSTmn/
Complete with ^ for stress and for the schwa sound in each word.
survive

weather

brother

summer

level

protect

alert

management

animal

excitement

hazard

sustainable

service

student

synthesis

support

attention

report

award

global

decimal

Australia

difficult

banana

measure

theatre

arrive

medium

syringe

exception

pronounce

financial

occur

exam

leisure

describe

harmful

environment

popular

elicit

entice

expression

PRONUNCIATION: SENTENCES
In spoken English sentences, there are usually 2 types of words:

Function words: These are the less important words that connect the sentence. The
pronunciation is often reduced, using the schwa. eg. at = t

Information words: These are the important words that give the sentence meaning. The
pronunciation is often stressed.

eg. I'm going to see a movie tonight with Michael at the cinema in Manly.
'm gon t see movie tnight wth Michael t th cinma n Manly.
If the function words are removed, the meaning of the sentence is still understood:
go see movie tonight Michael cinema Manly.
A native speaker will usually only pronounce all the words fully if they are upset. \

Circle the stresses and underline the schwas in these sentences:

1. It's five to two and we're late.

2. A table for four, please, around seven if possible.

3. She can type 60 words per minute.

4. Dave'll cut them into smaller pieces if you ask him.

5. Pass the spoons and forks, please.

6. I'm going to appeal this decision, you know.

7. The President said that that was his policy.

8. You could've informed me about it.

9. Do you have to work late this evening?

10. Goodbye, see you later.

11. I don't know, but we could ask them.

12. I thought it was really exciting.