Beruflich Dokumente
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Contents
E Intonation ............................................................................................................................................. 98
Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................................122
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
This workbook Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology follows the contents of
various publications in the field (see the bibliography) being intended and designed
as an auxiliary material meant to help students improve their knowledge and
pronunciation abilities. The first part takes into discussion some theoretical issues
proposing a series of multiple-choice exercises, true/false sentences, and a number
of open questions that require the students’ need to revise the theoretical material
introduced during the courses. The second chapter combines theory with practice in
order to consolidate the information accumulated so far. The third chapter (the largest
one), however, mostly focuses on some practical exercises meant to assist students
in improving their pronunciation. The series of exercises alternate with theoretical
parts that facilitate a better understanding of the topics taken into discussion and
analysed. The listening parts are meant to offer learners the possibility to get
accustomed to some Standard English pronunciation, as well as other varieties of
English (a series of exercises purposefully focus on the distinction British English –
American English). These listening sessions give this workbook an extra dose of
practicality which might prove useful not only for students studying English, but also
for those interested in learning a foreign language.
There are also exercises that require the students’ knowledge of phonemic symbols.
Being able to understand phonemic symbols is a useful skill to have in order to make
use of the information about pronunciation in dictionaries. Many dictionaries
represent pronunciation using the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet
(IPA), or a similar system. From this you can find out about the sounds that make up
a word and how it is stressed. For example, the Cambridge Advanced Learner's
Dictionary (CALD) gives the pronunciations of 'lemon', 'lemonade' and 'lemon sole' (a
type of fish) as shown here.
/ˈlem.ən/ - The word has two syllables with stress on the first syllable.
/ˌlem.əˈneɪd/ - The word has three syllables with primary (main) stress on the third
syllable and secondary stress on the first.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
It is useful to spend some time learning the IPA symbols so that you can make use of
pronunciation symbols shown in dictionaries. A full list of phonemic symbols used in
this workbook, and in many dictionaries, is given on page 9.
This workbook is particularly useful for students who want to work further on
pronunciation, to improve their understanding and ensure that they are easily
understood both by native and non-native English speakers.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
1. Bilabial
2. Labiodental
3. Dental and
interdental
4. Alveolar
5. Postalveolar
a. Retroflex
b. Palato-
alveolar
6. Palatal
7. Velar
8. Glottal
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Voicing
Post-Alveolar
Labiodental
Retroflex
Alveolar
Bilabial
Glottal
Palatal
Dental
Velar
Alveolar
Palato-
Plosive Voiceless p t k ?
/Stop
Voiced b d g
Fricative Voiceless f θ s ʃ h
Obstruent
Voiced v ð z ʒ
Affricate Voiceless tʃ
Voiced dʒ
Nasal Voiced m n ŋ
Lateral Voiced l
Sonorant
Liquid
Glide Voiced w j w
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Vowels
Diphthongs
Consonants
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 2. Match the three elements required for the production of sound with the
human speech organs actually performing that function and their location in the
human body.
1. source of energy a. the vocal cords x. the head
2. vibrator b. the oral and nasal cavities y. the chest
3. resonator(s) c. the air-stream originating z. the throat
from the lungs
Exercise 5. Match the positions of articulation in the first column with the respective
articulators and points of articulation in the next two columns (II and III), and the
sounds (IV) produced in these positions:
I II
1. dental a. the apex of the tongue
2. velar b. the front of the tongue
3. alveolar c. the lower lip
4. labio-dental d. the back of the tongue
III IV
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 6. Match the following definitions with the terms thus defined.
Exercise 7. Speech sounds are primarily divided into contoids and vocoids, depending
on whether there is an obstruction in the passage of the air-stream through the
mouth.
a. List the English contoids.
b. List the English vocoids.
Exercise 8. Contoids are further divided into obstruents (or non-sonorants) and
sonorants. What are the English sonorant contoids?
Exercise 10. Descriptions may be given in a simplified form, namely by indicating the
main features which contribute to the corresponding quality of a sound. Thus [t] is: a
voiceless, alveolar plosive. Give the English sounds corresponding to the following
(simplified) descriptions:
1. voiced, alveolar, fricative
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 11. Give the English sounds for the following simplified descriptions:
1. central, mid-open, short, unrounded vowel
2. back, close, long, rounded vowel
3. back, mid-open, long, rounded vowel
4. front, close, short, unrounded vowel
5. back, close, short, rounded vowel
Exercise 12. Give the glides to [ɪ] and state their characteristics.
Exercise 13. Give the centering diphthongs and state their characteristics.
Exercise 14. Give the glides to [ʊ] and state their characteristics.
Exercise 16. Indicate whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE:
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 18. Complete the following sentences with the missing words;
• The two branches of the study of the sound structure of languages are………….
and …………… .
• Phonetics is divided into ………….. branches.
• What are they?
Exercise 19. Match the name of the branch of phonetics (in column 1) with the subject
it deals with (in column 2).
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
1 2
a. Articulatory phonetics x. physical properties
b. Acoustic phonetics y. production of speech sounds
c. Auditory phonetics z. perception
Exercise 21. Match the words in the first column with those in the second column so
as to obtain minimal pairs.
1. catch 6. jail a. zip f. cap
2. pip 7. lap b. fail g. tear
3. cheap 8. pair c. lass h. she
4. sap 9. say d. Sam i. lay
5. he 10. sink e. mink j. heap
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 24. The syllable. Phonetically, attempts at defining the syllable have been
made at all levels: articulatory, auditory and acoustic.
a. Define the syllable from a phonetic point of view.
b. Define the syllable from a phonological point of view.
c. How many segments can there be in a syllable?
d. Give examples of syllables consisting of only one (central) segment.
e. Give examples of syllables made up of an initial and a central segment only.
f. Give examples of syllables made up of a central and a final segment only.
g. Give examples of syllables with segments in all possible positions.
h. What is a free or open syllable?
i. What is a checked or closed syllable?
b. As actual speech …………………. (is/is not) a continuum of sound and there are
no clear cut word or grammatical boundaries, the feature which marks the
contrast between (a) that’s fear and (b) that sphere ……………….. (is not/is)
related to the manner in which the transition from a segmental phoneme to the
following one is made.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
c. Such a transition can be either smooth (close) as that linking /t/ to /s/ in that’s
fear /ðæts’fɪə/, or “broken” (open) as the transition from /s/ to /f/ in that’s
fear /ðæts’fɪə/. Both………… and ……………… transitions are called junctures.
i. Are (a) that’s wine /ðæts+waɪn/ and (b) that swine /ðæt+swaɪn/ a minimal
pair? Explain which feature gives the utterances: (a) that’s wine and (b) that
swine the status of a minimal pair.
j. What are the phonetic features that distinguish the following two utterances:
(a) a nice house and (b) an ice house? Transcribe the utterances and insert the
plus juncture where necessary.
k. We have discussed so far the following minimal pairs based on juncture: (i) a.
that’s fear and b. that sphere, (ii) a. that’s wine and b. that swine, (iii) a. a nice
house and b. an ice house. In front of which phonemes does + juncture occur?
Exercise 27. Syllable prominence is due to a variety of factors. What are they?
Exercise 28. Accent is felt differently by the speaker and the listener.
a. How does the speaker feel accent?
b. How does the listener perceive accent?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
c. Analyse the following words from the accentual point of view. Ascertain
whether a change in their accentual pattern brings about a change in their
grammatical function: affix, increase, abstract, import, accent, insult, contest,
contrast, replay, inlay, survey.
Exercise 30. In a) I know there are two syllables and one rhythmic unit; in b) I know
it there are three syllables; in c) I know it by heart there are five syllables.
a. How many rhythmic units are there in b) and c)?
b. Do we pronounce a), b) and c) within the same amount of time?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 33. Speak about the main functions of intonation in English, explaining them
and giving examples in each case.
Exercise 34. Specify the number of tone-groups in English and briefly comment on
their main characteristics and attitudinal meanings. Give examples of your own.
Exercise 35. Think about the role of intonation for practical purposes and mention:
a. the situations in which a falling type of intonation is used;
b. the cases in which a rising type of intonation is preferred;
c. the contexts in which one can make use of a rise-fall intonation type.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 36. For each group of sounds listed, state the phonetic feature(s) they all
share.
Example: [p] [b] [m] Features: bilabial, stop, consonant
Exercise 37. What phonetic property or feature distinguishes the sets of sounds in
column A from those in column B?
Exercise 38. Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following phonetic
descriptions; then give an English word that contains that sound.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 39. For each of the following consonants, state whether it is voiced or
voiceless, its place of articulation, and its manner of articulation.
Exercise 40. List the phonetic properties of each of the following vowels (height,
front/back(ness), rounded/unrounded, and tense/lax).
Exercise 41. Among the following words tick those which start with a nasal sound:
a. know h. gnaw
b. mother i. look
c. another j. go
d. power k. beer
e. tea l. dear
f. kill m. near
g. mare n. pneumonia
Exercise 42. a. Put the following words into two columns according to whether their
consonant is voiced or not:
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
/eɪt/, /du:/, /hɪə/, /pi:/, /i:gə/, /æd/, /beɪ/, /ti:/, /zu:/, /səʊ/, /θaɪ/, /of/, /ɪtʃ/,
/əv/, /ðə/, /ʃi:/, /edʒ/, /kæt/, /ru:ʒ/
+ voice - voice
b. For each word of the column +voice find the word in the other column whose first
consonant is the voiceless counterpart.
Exercise 43. Circle the words in which the consonant in the middle is voiced:
Exercise 44. a. Circle the words that begin with a bilabial consonant:
mat gnat sat bat rat pat
b. Circle the words that begin with a velar consonant:
knot got lot cot hot pot
c. Circle the words that begin with a labiodental consonant:
fat cat that mat chat vat
d. Circle the words that begin with an alveolar consonant:
zip nip lip sip tip dip
e. Circle the words that begin with a dental consonant:
pie guy shy thigh thy high
f. Circle the words that begin with a palato-alveolar consonant:
sigh shy tie thigh thy lie
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 46. Write the symbol that corresponds to each of the following descriptions,
and then give a word that contains the phoneme.
Exercise 47. Collect a set of words in which each of the voiced and voiceless
consonants occur as the first sound of a word, in the middle of a word (specifically
between two vowels), and at the end of a word, as in: [b] bird, rubbing, rub; [p] pan,
tapping, tap. How are each of these sounds ordinarily spelled? (Note: English single
and double consonants, as in rub and rubbing, tap and tapping, represent the same
sound. The doubled consonants tell us how the vowel before them is to be
pronounced; cf. tapping, taping.)
Voiced: Voiceless:
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________ ______________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
____________________________
____________________________
Exercise 48. Provide an articulator description for each of the following sounds.
[w] [j]
Voicing
Place
Manner
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Nasality
Example word
Exercise 49. Provide an articulatory description for each of the following vowels; that
is, indicate its height, position (front or back), tension, and lip configuration.
[ɔ:] [ɑː]
Height
Position
Tension
Rounding
Example word
Exercise 50. (a) Which of the following words begin with a voiceless fricative?
hang dogs cut ship chip foot zip sit
(b) Which of the following words begin with a voiced sound?
nap jug knock lot pet jump fin
(c) Which of the following words ends with a stop sound?
nap hang jug nudge bet lamb lots
(d) Which of the following words ends with an alveolar sound?
pot sad boss lamb lamp size hen call
(e) Which of the following words contain an approximant consonant?
wash hall map sing sigh red yellow
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 51. (a) What do the initial consonants of these words have in common?
wash let right yet wish rough
(b) What do the final consonants of these words have in common?
hop hot pass wish rough lock scratch
(c) What do the initial consonants of these words have in common?
fish ship zip sigh house view
Exercise 52. How do the consonants at the end of the words in List A differ from those
at the end of the words in List B?
List A List B
(a) ham top
sin lock
sing rot
If you say [siŋg], ignore the final [g] for this exercise.
Exercise 53. (a) Which of the following words contains a rounded vowel?
put seek hook grew grey hoe hold
(b) Which of the following words contains a front vowel?
see seat met tap throw tape through
(c) Which of the following words contains a high vowel?
see seat steak throw list lost through
(d) Which of the following words contains a central vowel?
about put luck hit purse father kept
(e) Which of the following words contains a high back vowel?
put love hit heat luck look food
Exercise 54. (a) What do the vowels in these words have in common?
bet hair rose post love purse mate
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 55. Give as detailed a description as you can of the vowels in the following
words:
father leaving hear thoroughly fast
haste lookalike sausage ooze
_______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ ________________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________
Exercise 56. What are the differences between the following pairs:
(a) /p/ and /b/? (e) /b/ and /m/?
(b) /d/ and / ð /? (f) /n/ and / ŋ /?
(c) /b/ and /v/? (g) /s/ and / ʃ /?
(d) / ð / and /z/? (h) /f/ and / θ /?
Exercise 58. Write down the phonetic symbols representing the following
descriptions, and illustrate each of the sounds with two English words.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 59. Do the following pairs of vowels have the same or different quality of
tenseness?
Exercise 60. Transcribe the following words. In each line, circle the word(s) that
begin(s) with a consonant that meets the description on the left.
Exercise 61. Transcribe the following words and circle the one(s) that contain(s) a
vowel that fits the description on the left.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 62. State whether the place of articulation is the same (S) or different (D) in
the initial consonants of each pair. In either case, state the place of articulation.
Example: now – pneumonia Same; alveolar
sun – sugar Different; alveolar vs. palato-alveolar
Exercise 63. State whether the manner of articulation is the same (S) or different (D)
in the final consonants of each pair. In either case, state the manner of articulation.
Example: bomb – ten Same; nasal
rough – zip Different; fricative vs. stop
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 64. State whether the vowels in the underlined portions are the same or
different in the following words. In either case, state the phonetic description of the
vowels, together with the phonetic symbols.
Example: keel – city Same; /i:/ high, front, tense
mess – mass Different; /e/ mid, front – /æ/ low, front
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
But there are more than 40 vowel and consonant sounds in English. In some words
the number of letters is the same as the number of sounds.
best – 4 letters, 4 sounds
b e s t
1 2 3 4
dentist – 7 letters, 7 sounds
d e n t i s t
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
But sometimes, the number of sounds is different from the number of letters.
In green, ee is one sound, and in happy, pp is one sound.
green, happy – 5 letters, 4 sounds
g r e e n h a p p y
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
In bread, ea is one sound.
bread – 5 letters, 4 sounds
b r e a d
1 2 3 4
In some words there are silent letters (letters with no sound). In listen, t is silent.
listen – 6 letters, 5 sounds
l i s t e n
1 2 3 - 4 5
In some words, one letter is two sounds. The x in six is two sounds like k + s.
six – 3 letters, 4 sounds
s i x
1 2 3 4
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
We sometimes write the same sound differently in different words. For example, the
e in red sounds like the ea in bread.
Sometimes two words have the same pronunciation but different spellings
(homophones).
know – no: A: Do you know? B: No, I don’t.
And sometimes two words have the same spelling but different pronunciations.
read (infinitive and present tense) – read (past tense)
A: Do you want to read the newspaper?
B: No thanks, I read it this morning.
Because there are more sounds than letters, we use symbols for pronunciation (see
the IPA symbols on page 9).
/best/ best, /ˈdentɪst/ dentist, /grɪːn/ green, /ˈhæpi/ happy, /ˈkɒfi/ coffee, /ˈlɪsən/
listen, /θrɪː/ three, /siks/ six, /sɒks/ socks, /nəʊ/ no, /nəʊ/ know, /red/ red, /red/
read (past tense), /rɪːd/ read (infinitive and present tense)
Exercise 65. Write the number of letters and the number of sounds in these words.
letters sounds
green 5 4
1 all
2 back
3 could
4 knee
5 sixty
6 thing
7 who
8 address
Exercise 66. Look at the words below and put them into the correct column based on
the number of sounds. The number of letters and the number of sounds is always
different in these words.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 67. All five words in each group have the same vowel letter – a, e, i, o or u
– but one has a different vowel sound. Circle the word with the different vowel sound
in each group.
Exercise 68. Write words that rhyme (the end part of the word sounds the same).
EXAMPLE red be d
1 key tr__
2 blue sh__
3 not w___
4 one r__
5 date w___
6 lie w__
7 so sh__
8 beer n___
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
1. /ʃʌt/ a. later
2. /hɑːt/ b. joke
3. /θɪŋk/ c. heart
4. /wɜːk/ d. there
5. /leɪtə/ e. doubt
6. /bɔːt/ f. work
7. /puːl/ g. shut
8. /dɑʊt/ h. think
9. /dʒəʊk/ i. pool
10. /ðeə/ j. bought
Exercise 70. Circle the sound that you hear when pronouncing the following words:
Exercise 71. Complete the transcriptions with one of the following diphthongs:
/eɪ/ /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ /ɪə/ /eə/ /ʊə/
1. make /m _ _ k/ 6. hear /h _ _/
2. sure /ʃ _ _/ 7. town /t _ _ n/
3. bear /b _ _/ 8. home /h _ _ m/
4. island /- - lənd/ 9. sight /s _ _ t/
5. employ /ɪmpl _ _/ 10. know /n _ _ /
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 73. In this story there are 12 incorrect words. The correct word is
pronounced the same as the incorrect one, but the spelling is different. Correct them
using words from the box.
son some meat way threw pears sent week buy piece road two
Exercise 74. These words all contain the vowel sound /æ/. Make another word with
the same consonant sounds, but changing the vowel sound to /ei/.
Examples: pan ___pain___ plan ___plane___
Exercise 75. The word ape contains the two sounds /ei/ and /p/. if you reverse the
sounds, you get the word pay /pei/. Reverse the sounds in these words and write the
new word.
EXAMPLE tops ___spot___
Exercise 76. The word knife contains the three sounds /n/, /ɑɪ/ and /f/. If you
reverse the sounds, you get the word fine /fɑɪn/. Reverse the sounds in these words.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 77. Add the sound /g/ or /k/ to the beginning of these words and write the
new words. Remember: think of sounds, not spelling. For example, if you add /k/ to
the beginning of water /wɔːtə/, you get quarter /kwɔːtə/. The sound is similar but
the spelling is completely different.
EXAMPLE eight ___gate___
Exercise 78. Find the phonetic symbol for the first sound in each of the following
words:
a. this g. knee
b. usual h. hear
c. church i. phonetics
d. Christian j. giant
e. thousand k. one
f. psychology
Exercise 79. Find the phonetic symbol for the last sound in each of the following
words:
a. tough f. shapes
b. kicked g. bones
c. loved h. parking
d. health i. wave
e. dog j. large
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
/ə/
This is the most frequent vowel sound in spoken English, which can also represent
several letters or syllables. It can be found in unstressed function words such as a,
am, an, but, can, of; in prefixes and suffixes such as in-, suc-, to-, ad-, -ible, -able,
-ment; in words such as according, lemon, purpose, second etc.
♫ - L1
Exercise 81. Listen. In each sentence or phrase there are two vowels which are not
/ə/. Circle them.
EXAMPLE an apple and a banana
♫ - L2
Exercise 82. Write the words in the correct part of the table. Then listen and check.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
/ɜː/
A sound that can be encountered in words such as: world - /wɜːld/, third - /θɜːd/.
Exercise 83. Tick the words that contain the /ɜː/ sound.
♫ - L3
Exercise 84. Listen and put the words in the correct groups.
beard car chair church curtains dirty door floor four girl horse
large March near nurse pair parked purse shirt shorts stars surfer
third warm wearing
words with /ɜː/ words with /ɔː/ words with /ɑː/ words with other sounds
1 __church__ 1 ___door___ 1 ____car___ 1 ___beard__
2 __________ 2 __________ 2 _________ 2 __________
3 __________ 3 __________ 3 _________ 3 __________
4 __________ 4 __________ 4 _________ 4 __________
5 __________ 5 __________ 5 _________ 5 __________
6 __________ 6 __________
7 __________
8 __________
9 __________
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
/ʌ/
There are several letter combinations that produce this sound: mother -/mʌðə/,
country - /kʌntrɪː/, flood - /flʌd/
Exercise 85. Choose the most appropriate option and underline the /ʌ/ sound in the
italicized words.
Exercise 86. a. Read these words out and write them in the correct column.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
____________ ______________
Exercise 87. Say whether the pairs of words below are the same (S) or different (D) in
what concerns their vowel sounds.
Exercise 88. Circle all the /ɪː/ sounds and underline all the /ɪ/ sounds.
big busy dinner give green in listen meet office people pizza
please repeat six tea three
Exercise 89. Find a way from Start to Finish. You may pass a square only if the word
in it has the sound /ɪ:/. You can move horizontally or vertically only.
START
leave earth health reach teach meat
dream dead cream jeans steak cheat
east bread tea death heat peak
beach break peace search leaf meant
seat please team early beat bean
head bear wear dreamt sweat clean
FINISH
Exercise 90. Change the vowel sound from /e/ to /i:/in these words. Write the new
words.
EXAMPLE met __meat/meet__
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 91. Make words with these beginnings and endings and write them in the
correct part of the table.
Beginnings: wi li mi ni fi ti si qui
Endings: ght fe t ce ne me le de ll sh te n
Words with the vowel /aɪ/ Words with the vowel /ɪ/
wife wit
Exercise 92. a. Circle the words with /uː/. (There are nine.)
food four June look news room school soup spoon sugar tow Tuesday two
book cookery cough could good looking lunch soon sugar thought through
Exercise 93. Circle the words that have /ʊ/ or /uː/, then put them in the correct
column.
/ʊ/ /uː/
___foot___ ___true___
_________ __________
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
_________ __________
_________ __________
_________ __________
_________ __________
Exercise 94. Make words with these beginnings and endings and write them in the
correct part of the table.
Words with the vowel /ɑː/ Words with the vowel /eə/
bar bare
Exercise 95. Circle the word with the different vowel sound. You can use a dictionary
if you are not sure.
EXAMPLE foot look blood push
♫ - L4
Exercise 96. Listen and circle the word you hear.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 97. Put one of the letters y, i, u or w in each gap to make a word. The word
must contain the sound /ɔɪ/ or /aʊ/. Write /ɔɪ/ or /aʊ/after each word.
EXAMPLE to_n __town__/aʊ/
Exercise 98. One word in each group does not have the same vowel sound as the
other words. Find it!
Ex. coil noise foil full boil
♫ - L5
Exercise 99. Listen and underline the word with a different vowel sound.
EXAMPLE black want mad hand
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L6
Exercise 100. Listen and circle the word you hear.
♫ - L7
Exercise 101. Read the words and circle the one with the different vowel sound. Then
listen and check.
EXAMPLE soap hope sold soup
Exercise 102. Put the following words into the corresponding columns:
a. ill - eel - kneel - nil - will – wheel - field - bean - filled - bin - ski – sick
i i:
sit seat
ɔ: ɒ u:
call
c. caught - owe - coal - own - sore –mow - scowl - brow - door - now - paw – found
ɔ: əʊ aʊ
sore
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 103. In the following groups of words underline the word which contains the
short form of the vowel.
Exercise 104. Which word comes next? (Tip: Try saying them out loud to hear the
sound.)
Exercise 105. (a) In the first column below each word consists of a consonant followed
by a vowel. (You may have learned to call some or all of these vowels ‘diphthongs.’
Right now we are concerned only with identifying the different vowel-units of English,
whether they are to be counted as diphthongs or simple vowels.) In the second column
the same eight vowel-units appear again, in a different order, in words which end
with one consonant. The third column has words with the same eight vowel-units, re-
arranged, followed by two consonants. Identify the vowels of column II and column III
by matching with those of column I.
I II III
1 see _______ loaf _________ wild
2 may _______ lake ________ point
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
(b) The six words in column IV, below, contain vowels which do not ordinarily occur
at the end of a word. They may be followed by one consonant, as in column IV, or two
consonants, as in column V, and sometimes by three consonants (e.g. tempt, midst).
Match the words of column V with those of column IV.
IV V
(a) pit ____ husk
(b) pet ____ fox
(c) pat ____ rest
(d) put ____ wolf
(e) putt ____ sift
(f ) pot ____ fact
(a) The words in the left-hand column below begin with 22 different consonants. The
words in the right-hand columns begin with the same 22 consonants, but in a
different order. Match each word on the left with the word on the right which has the
same initial consonant (sound, not letter), and put the appropriate number in front of
the word. An example is given.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
(b) The words in the left-hand columns below end with 21 different consonants. The
words in the right-hand columns have the same final consonants, but in a different
order. Match each word on the left with the word on the right which has the same
final consonant. An example is given.
(c) This time match the final consonant of each word in the left-hand columns with
the initial consonant of a word in the right-hand columns – if there is such a match.
An example is given.
(d) Two of the words in the left-hand columns have final consonants for which there
is no match in initial position. What are the words?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
(e) Three words in the right-hand columns have initial consonants for which there is
no match in final position. What are they?
Exercise 107. Write the following words under the correct phonetic sound.
there three breathe thin moth whether although nothing throw either
/θ/ /ð/
Exercise 108. Find a way from Start to Finish. You may pass a square only if the
word in it has the sound /θ/. You can move horizontally or vertically only.
START
north northern either weather breathe those
south bath bathe thought breath youth
southern third their through though thumb
Thailand cloth path fifth with worth
month clothes these brother that teeth
throw thing author other they wealth
FINISH
♫ - L8
Exercise 109. Listen. Which words have /θ/, and which words have /ð/?
1 What are you thinking about? 5 What are those things over there?
2 Can I have another? 6 is the plural of ‘tooth’ ‘teeth’?
3 Are you good at maths? 7 Is today the fourth or the fifth?
4 Where’s the bathroom?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 110. Tick the words that contain the /dʒ/ sound.
1. gin 5. yam 9. jet 13. damage
2. large 6. soldier 10. gear 14. mayor
3. goat 7. guilty 11. just 15. collage
4. injury 8. gum 12. get 16. college
♫ - L9
Exercise 111. Listen and circle the odd one out.
EXAMPLE larger generally guess fridge
1 village get Germany page
2 coach check Christmas temperature
3 June vegetable give cabbage
4 station Russian picture information
♫ - L10
Exercise 112. Listen and put these words into two groups.
teacher lounge bridge chair large chicken cheap juice Dutch language
chips orange cheese dangerous
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
/s/
Apart from the letter „s‟, the /s/ sound can be represented by a number of consonant
combinations, such as: psyche, cellar, science, listen.
Exercise 114. Tick the words that contain the /s/ sound.
♫ - L11
Exercise 115. Listen and circle the word you hear.
/ŋ/
Exercise 116. Find a way from Start to Finish. You may pass a square only if the word
in it has the sound /ŋ/. You can move horizontally or vertically only.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
START
sing think thick strong wrong rung
sign uncle unless drug strange comb
thanks angry signal drank English finger
anxious angel single monkey money young
language tongue skiing skin came ink
lounge danger band dream swim wing
FINISH
♫ - L12
Exercise 117. Listen and circle the word you hear.
1. Robin or robbing? My friend likes Robin Banks/robbing banks.
2. Ran or rang? Tom ran/rang yesterday.
3. Swing or swim? She had a swing/swim in the garden.
4. Warned or warmed? The son warned/sun warmed me.
5. Singing or sinking? The people were singing/sinking fast.
Exercise 118. Add one of these sounds to the start of these words to make other
words: /h/, /j/, /w/. Think of sounds, not spelling.
EXAMPLE air ___hair___where___
1. earth _____ 6. eyes _____ 11. I’ll _____
2. ear _____ 7. all _____ 12. eat _____
3. or _____ 8. aid _____ 13. ache _____
4. in _____ 9. ill _____ 14. eye _____
5. eight _____ 10. art _____ 15. old _____
Exercise 119. In these groups of words, three of the words begin with the same
consonant sound and one of the words begins with a different sound. Circle the one
with the different sound.
EXAMPLE hour half home high
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 120. Each sentence contains four or five examples of one of these sounds:
/h/, /w/, /j/. write the phonemic letter under the sounds in the sentences.
EXAMPLE A fusion of Cuban and European music. /j/
J j j j
1. Your uniform used to be yellow. /j/
Exercise 121. (a). Write the symbols for the vowels in the following words:
bread rough foot hymn broad ward
pull cough mat friend calf learn
cool team err seal curl
(b). Write the symbols for the diphthongs in the following words:
tone style out
way beer coil
hair why they
Exercise 123. Practice with symbols. Each word below has three consonants separated
by two vowels (CVCVC). Write the symbols for the three consonants.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 124. Transcribe the one-syllable words below, using our set of consonant
and vowel symbols.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
chime crouch
knife spout
jive loud
Exercise 125. (a). Words for phonetic transcription practice: Level 1. Transcribe the
following words. We’ve filled in the correct answers for the first word as an example.
Diphthongs count as one sound.
Word Number of sounds Phonetic transcription
1. pat _____3______ [ _____pæt____ ]
2. boat ____________ [ _____________ ]
3. flat ____________ [ _____________ ]
4. rope ____________ [ _____________ ]
5. two ____________ [ _____________ ]
6. east ____________ [ _____________ ]
7. room ____________ [ _____________ ]
8. dog ____________ [ _____________ ]
9. fed ____________ [ _____________ ]
10. snake ____________ [ _____________ ]
11. grass ____________ [ _____________ ]
12. phone ____________ [ _____________ ]
13. thought ____________ [ _____________ ]
14. this ____________ [ _____________ ]
15. think ____________ [ _____________ ]
16. awful ____________ [ _____________ ]
17. raise ____________ [ _____________ ]
18. book ____________ [ _____________ ]
19. cheap ____________ [ _____________ ]
20. lunch ____________ [ _____________ ]
21. plane ____________ [ _____________ ]
22. roll ____________ [ _____________ ]
23. sell ____________ [ _____________ ]
24. easy ____________ [ _____________ ]
25. table ____________ [ _____________ ]
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 126. How many sound segments are there in each of the following words?
Do the same as in the previous exercise.
Exercise 127. The following is a phonetic transcription of an excerpt of the poem "The
Walrus and the Carpenter", from Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking Glass. Each
line of the poem contains one or more words that is/are transcribed incorrectly, at
the phonemic or "broad" level of transcription.
Task1: Identify the word(s) that has(have) been transcribed incorrectly, and then write
the correct form of the transcription.
Task 2: Write each line in normal English orthography.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 128. The following sentences have been partially transcribed, but the vowels
have been left blank. Fill in the vowels.
Exercise 129. Tongue Twisters. Quickly say the following sentences and give their
phonetic transcription.
Exercise 130. This poem illustrates the various English spelling complexities. Read it
aloud. Give its phonetic transcription.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
English spelling is a particular obstacle to non-native speakers. This is due to the fact
that during the course of its history it has been influenced by numerous languages,
especially by German, Latin, French and the Scandinavian languages. Thus, for
example, the sound /ʃ/ is to be found in the following letter combinations: shut,
champagne, nation, expansion, conscience, issue, and sugar.
Sometimes words do not sound alike despite their similar spellings (homographs):
bow - /bəʊ/ and /bɑʊ/, close - /kləʊz/ and /kləʊs/, live - /lɪv/ and /lɑɪv/. Other
words sound alike, but are spelled differently (homophones): aren’t / aunt - /ɑːnt/,
bare / bear -/beə/, and seen / scene - /sɪːn/.
It was already noted over 400 years ago that English used more letters than necessary
to spell many of its words, and during the 17th century numerous redundant letters
were removed, the emergent standard spellings tending to prefer one of the shorter
forms among the alternatives previously in use. For example, in the 16th century the
word bit was sometimes spelt byte. Many words were reduced like byte by the loss of
a silent final -E, the replacement of Y by I, and the simplification of doubled
consonants. But many other words have kept unnecessary letters, for instance the B
in debt, the E in have or the P in receipt.
After the 17th century this process of simplification of English spelling slowed down,
thanks to the standardizing influence of printing and the spread of dictionaries. The
American lexicographer Noah Webster took the process of simplification a step
further in the early 19th century, and Americans today use some distinctive spellings
of the type his dictionary recommended, such as center, traveling, favor, defense,
realize (Br.Eng. centre, travelling, favour, defence, realise).
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
u: /ʌ/ - bun, /ʊ/ - put, /ɪ/ - busy, /e/ - bury, /uː/ - rude, /juː/ - huge,
/ə/ - focus, /ɜː/ - burn.
ea: /ɪː/ - beach, /e/ - bread, /eɪ/ - break, /eə/ - bear, /ɪə/ - dear.
oo: /uː/ - too, /ʊ/ - look, /ʌ/ - flood, /əʊ/ - brooch, /ɔː/ - floor.
ei: /eɪ/ - eight, /ɪː/ - receive, /ɪ/ - counterfeit, /e/ - leisure, /ɑɪ/ - height.
ou: /ɑʊ/ - out, /əʊ/ - soul, /ʌ/ - touch, /ʊ/ - could, /uː/ - you, /ɔː/ - pour.
ough: /əʊ/ - though, /uː/ - through, /ɔː/ - bought, /ɑʊ/ - drought, /ə/ -
borough, /ɒf/ - cough, /ʌf/ - enough.
Exercise 131. Circle the word that is pronounced differently from the other three
words.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Suffixes
-s suffix
The morpheme -s of the 3rd person singular (he works), of the plural form of the
noun (books), of the genitive (John’s) and of the contraction of is or has (he’s) is
pronounced in three different ways depending on the sound of the preceding
consonant:
/ɪz/ after sibilant (fricative and affricate) consonants: /s/ /ʃ/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/
slices /slɑɪsɪz/; brushes /brʌʃɪz/; churches /tʃɜːtʃɪz/; wages /weɪdʒɪz/.
Some unvoiced sounds, /θ/ and /f/, become voiced when the -s suffix is added.
Compare:
bath /bɑːθ/ baths /bɑːðz/
knife /nɑɪf/ knives /nɑɪvz/
Exercise 132. Write the sound /s/, /z/ or /ɪz/ next to the following words.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 133. Find a way from Start to Finish. You may not pass a square if the word
contains the sound /z/. You can move horizontally or vertically only.
START
spots squares prize since six sports
streets wise sells sits exact escapes
rice rise sense science lose lost
oasis desert smokes songs crisps box
place face snacks seas voice boxes
plays phase nose smiles focus concert
FINISH
-ed suffix
The morpheme -ed of the past tense (or past participle) is also pronounced in three
different ways depending on the preceding consonant:
/t/ after unvoiced consonants: /f/ /k/ /p/ /s/ /tʃ/ /ʃ/
clapped /klæpt/; brushed /brʌʃt/; laughed /lɑːft/; wished /wɪʃt/.
/d / in other cases:
earned /ɜːnd/; carried /kær ɪd/; changed /tʃeɪndʒd/; harmed /hɑːmd/.
Exercise 134. Pronounce the past form of these regular verbs paying attention to the
–ed suffix.
1. study _____ 6. answer _____
2. judge _____ 7. test _____
3. listen _____ 8. invent _____
4. miss _____ 9. research _____
5. work _____ 10. enjoy _____
-e suffix
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Sometimes the addition of the –e suffix to a noun to form a verb changes the quality
both of the vowels sound and of the final –th:
Exercise 135. Circle the best option and read out the word chosen.
Exercise 136. a. Which of the words in the following list have the phoneme [θ] in their
pronunciation?
though, plethora, gather depths, seethe, thick, betrothal, kith, swathe, wroth, teeth,
wreathe, wraith, throat, mouth, soothe, growth, fifth, length, wreath, lathe, width,
sheath, northern, thief, rhythm, thumb, cloth, with, froth, moth, myth, sheathe,
worthy, bathe, south, booth, loath, oath, froth, breather, strength, breath, method,
north, feather, Prometheus, ethos, clothes, smith, swath, pith, faith, plinth, scathe,
thought, smooth, loathe, Plymouth, wealthy, fourth, scythe, tithe.
Homographs
Some examples of homographs:
to lead /lɪːd/ lead /led/
to read /rɪːd/ read /red/
to live /lɪv/ live /lɑɪv/
The sound may also change according to the where the stress is on the word:
to record /rɪ'kɔːd/ record /'rekɔːd/
to present /prɪ'zent/ present /'preznt/
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 137. Read out the sentences below and circle the transcription that best
suits your choice.
♫ - L13
Exercise 138. Listen to the sentences. Look at the words in italics. Underline the words
in italics which contain the sound /s/ and circle the ones which contain the sound
/z/. Then listen again and repeat.
EXAMPLE You can have my tent. It’s no use to me. I never use it.
Homophones
Some examples of homophones:
son / sun /sʌn/
allowed / aloud /əlɑʊd/
minor / miner /mɑɪnə/
Exercise 139. English has fairly numerous sets of homophones, or homonyms, like
pale and pail or cite, site, and sight. Since they are pronounced the same, they are
transcribed the same way in a phonological transcription: in our system /peil/ for the
first set and /sait/ for the second. Each of the following transcriptions represents a
set of homophones – two unless otherwise noted. See if you can write the words that
are represented.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 140. Listen to the teacher and circle the word that you hear in its context1.
Silent letters
a) Some consonants are written but not pronounced. This is either because they were
once pronounced (knock) or come from a foreign language (psychology).
Initial position
cz – czar
kn – knock, knee, knight, knife
gn – gnat, gnaw, gnome
pn – pneumonia
ps – psychology, psychiatry, pseudo
pt – Ptolemy
wr – write, wrong, wring, wrist
wh – who, whom, whose, whole
End position
1 1. /hu:z/ book is this? 2. They said /ðeə/ house was in the country. 3. I’d love to /seil/ to Greece. 4. He /rəud/ the
horse and won the race. 5. The structure is made of /sti:l/. 6. Is that the /rait/ answer? 7. /hiə/ is where the battle
took place. 8. The monarch’s /rein/ was peaceful. 9. He couldn’t /beə/ to be seen. 10. This novel is /bai/ a famous
author.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Other positions
doubt muscle castle whistle isle viscount sword Norwich
Exercise 142. Circle the word in which the letters L or R are silent. (Imagine the accent
is from South East England, so the R is silent if there is no vowel sound after it).
EXAMPLE cold calm collect film
Exercise 143. Underline the word which does not have the sound /t/. You can use a
dictionary.
EXAMPLE asked castle letter first
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 144. In one word in each group, the ‘b’ or ‘p’ is not pronounced. Underline
the word.
EXAMPLE double doubt Dublin
Exercise 145. In the following list of words state which consonants are silent:
e.g. silent p: pneumonia
♫ - L14
Exercise 146. Listen to and repeat these pairs of words. Then put them into the
sentences below and listen and repeat the sentences.
EXAMPLE Last year, Tom __weighed__ more than Sam, but now they both have the
same __weight__ .
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Here are the possible two-consonant clusters at the start of English words:
/p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ /g/ /m/ /n/ /f/ /v/ /θ/ /ʃ/ /h/
+/r/ pray trip crime brown drop grow x x fry x three shrink x
+/j/ pure tube queue beauty due x music news few view x x huge
Here are the possible three-consonant clusters at the start of English words:
+ /l/ splash x x
+ /w/ x x squeak
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L15
Exercise 147. Listen and underline the sentence you hear.
EXAMPLE The band isn’t very popular. / The brand isn’t very popular.
There are many more combinations of consonant sounds possible at the end of
English words than at the beginning. There can be up to four consonant sounds in a
final consonant cluster.
Some final clusters with three or four consonants can be difficult to pronounce even
for native English speakers, so in some words these are commonly simplified. For
example, the middle consonant of the clusters /kts/, /mps/, /mpt/, /nts/, /ndz/ and
/skt/ is hardly heard or sometimes even left out:
products – products /prɒdʌks/ jumps – jumps /dʒʌmps/
camped – camped /kæmt/ clients – clients /klaɪənts/
hands – hands /hænz/ asked – asked /ɑːst/
Notice also:
twelfth – twelfth /twelθ/ fifths – fifths /fɪθs/ or fifths /fɪfs/
Leaving final consonants out of consonant clusters at the end of words can cause
misunderstanding, and you should avoid this. For example, say:
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
In particular, avoid leaving out /z/ or /s/ in plurals and third person singular verb
forms, and /t/ or /d/ in –ed verbs and adjectives:
Exercise 148. How many final consonant sounds – 1, 2, 3 or 4 – do the words below
have when they are spoken slowly and carefully? (Note that the number of consonant
sounds may be different from the number of consonant letters.) Write the words in
the appropriate row.
accents against aspects attempts axe catch contexts diamonds ears earth
grasped laughed ledge next risked sculpts stamps tempts touched
♫ - L16
Exercise 149. Listen and underline the word you hear.
EXAMPLE I accept/accepted the award gratefully.
♫ - L17
Exercise 150. Anna failed her test to become a newsreader for her local English
language radio station. Look at the transcript of the news item that she read. Then
listen to the news being read clearly and correct the words that Anna pronounced
wrongly.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
The police thin (think) the rose on the south coat will be pack when the seven
Felton Pop Festival beginners neck weekend. Lass year more than 10,000 pop fan
pack into the feel where the festival was hell. There is simpler accommodation
on a nearby farm, but most people will camper in small tense.
Some clusters found within words can also be found at the beginning of words (dislike
– slow), at the end of words (important – lamp), or both (escape – Scotland/ask); but
others can’t (abstract, invisible).
When consonant clusters are divided by a pause, they are often easier to pronounce:
// if Tom can’t take you to the film, try Mike //
// there’ll be three suitcases, two of Joan’s, plus my own //
Words that commonly go together in phrases and compounds are generally said
within speech units. Consonants at the word boundaries are usually run together in a
cluster. For example:
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 151. Match a word from box A with a word from box B to make compound
nouns. Say the compounds aloud, making sure you run the words in the compound
together.
A
blood direct general golf lamp first passive rock lost speech time tourist
B
club property music poisoning class shade smoking speech strike therapist
trap travel
…………………………………… ………………………………………
…………………………………… ………………………………………
…………………………………… ………………………………………
…………………………………… ………………………………………
…………………………………… ………………………………………
…………………………………… ………………………………………
In some words, vowels tend to be left out in conversation. When this happens, the
word loses an unstressed syllable.
average novelist happening
Some dictionaries show that the vowel /ə/ can be left out using the symbol ə:
/ævərɪdʒ/, /nɒvəlɪst/, /hæpənɪŋ/.
It is not necessary to leave these vowels out in your own speech in order to be
understood, but leaving them out can make your speech sound more fluent and
natural, and being aware of these changes can help you understand rapid speech.
Most vowels left out in this way come before /r/, /l/ or /n/.
Before /r/ -
considerable directory battery dictionary conference favourite
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
In a few words, left-out vowels come before sounds other than /r/, /l/ and /n/. For
example: government, medicine, vegetable
In a few two-syllable words with stress on the second syllable, the first vowel is often
left out in rapid speech so that the word is said with only one syllable:
♫ - L18
Exercise 152. Listen to the words in the box said slowly and carefully and write the
number of syllables you hear:
♫ - L19
Exercise 153. Listen to the words from the previous exercise used in sentences.
Again, write the number of syllables you hear. Is this the same number as in the
exercise above (write S) or a different number (write D)?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
EXAMPLE
I must be losing my memory. 2 – D He was dressed formally. 3 - S
Introducing syllables
We can divide a word into one or more syllables. For example mum has one syllable,
mother has two syllables and grandmother has three syllables. A syllable is a group
of one or more sounds. The essential part of a syllable is a vowel sound (V). Some
syllables are just one vowel sound. For example, these words have one syllable, and
the syllable is just one vowel sound: eye /aɪ/, owe /əʊ/.
A syllable can have consonant sounds (C) before the V, after the V or before and after
the V. Here are some more examples (they are all words of one syllable).
CV VC CVC
Go /gəʊ/ if /ɪf/ ten /ten/
my /maɪ/ egg /eg/ nose /nəʊz/
know /nəʊ/ ice /aɪs/ mouth /maʊθ/
weigh /weɪ/ eight /eɪt/ knife /naɪf/
Remember that letters are not the same as sounds. For example, the consonant letters
W and Y are not consonant sounds if they come after the vowel sound in the syllable
e.g. saw, say. They are part of the vowel sound. In some accents, for example South
East English, the same is true for the consonant letter R. Here are some more
examples. They are words of one syllable and they all have the pattern CV.
how /haʊ/, law /lɔː/, pay /peɪ/, why /waɪ/, car /kɑː/, hair /heə/.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Some people use the word syllable to talk about the parts of a written word. But here,
the word syllable is used to talk about the pronunciation of words, not the writing.
For example, in writing we can divide ‘chocolate’ into three parts like this: cho-co-
late. But when we say the word, we pronounce only two syllables, like this: chocolate
/ tʃɒk.lət/. (The dot shows where the two syllables are divided.) A number of other
words may be pronounced with fewer syllables than in writing. Listen to these
examples.
aunt cook dad doctor grandfather officer passenger sister teacher uncle
♫ - L20
Exercise 155. Listen to these tongue-twisters. How many syllables are there in each?
Write the number. Then listen again and repeat.
EXAMPLE She sells sea shells on the sea shore. = ___8 syllables___
Different words have different stress patterns (patterns of stressed and unstressed
syllables). Take a look at the following examples.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 156. Write the full words in the correct column, according to their stress
pattern.
Mon Tues Thu Sat today tomorrow Apr Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov holiday
2nd 11th 13 30 13th 30th 17 70 afternoon
Some words are both nouns and verbs. For example, record is a noun if you put stress
on the first syllable, and a verb if you put stress on the second syllable. Listen to these
examples. You will hear each word twice, first as a noun and then as a verb.
However, there is not always a change of stress in words that are both nouns and
verbs. For example, answer, picture, promise, reply, travel, visit always have stress on
the same syllable.
The strong or primary stress on one syllable has the effect of weakening the
pronunciation of the secondary syllables. It is therefore important to be able to
determine the stress pattern of words.
1. village 6. passion
2. society 7. anxiety
3. talkative 8. universal
4. suffragette 9. career
5. classify 10. economics
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 158. Mark the shift in stress in the following pairs of words.
1. economy economics
2. experiment experimental
3. history historian
4. nation nationality
5. philosophy philosophical
6. psychiatry psychiatric
7. science scientific
8. examine examination
9. idiot idiotic
10. demonstrate demonstration
Exercise 159. Mark the primary stress in the following pairs of nouns and verbs.
1. to conduct conduct
2. to desert desert
3. to present present
4. to subject subject
5. to conflict conflict
6. to decrease decrease
7. to object object
8. to produce produce
9. to suspect suspect
10. to rebel rebel
Exercise 160. Find the word in each group that the primary stress located on the
different syllable from the other three.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L22
Exercise 161. Listen and circle the word with a different stress pattern from the others.
EXAMPLE money machine mountain message
♫ - L23
Exercise 162. Read the sentences and decide what stress pattern the words in bold
have. Then listen, check and repeat.
EXAMPLE I got my first record as a present when I was eleven.
record = ___Oo___ present = ___Oo___
1. You’ve progressed well this year, but I’d like to see even more progress.
progressed = _____ progress = _____
2. We import too much petrol and the country’s export figures are going down.
import = _____ export = _____
3. It started as a student protest, but now the army has rebelled against the
government.
protest = _____ rebelled = _____
4. In the desert, there is a big contrast between temperatures in the day and at
night.
desert = _____ contrast = _____
5. These companies produce household objects such as fridges and washing
machines.
produce = _____ objects = _____
Exercise 163. (a). For the following animal names mark the stress and give their
phonetic transcription; also circle any stop consonants.
1. elephant 2. hyena
3. monkey 4. giraffe
5. gorilla 6. wombat
7. kangaroo 8. zebra
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
(b). Finally, provide phonetic transcriptions, with stress, for the following astronomical
terms. Also, circle any alveolar consonants.
1. astronomy 2. galaxy
3. equinox 4. autumnal
5. solstice 6. telescope
7. satellite 8. radar
9. spaceship 10. vernal
Exercise 164. Look at the chart below. Each number represents a syllable. The
underlined or big numbers represent the stressed syllables. Place the words under
the chart into the correct columns.
Exercise 165. Are these one-stress words (write1) or two-stress words (2)? Circle the
main stressed syllables and underline the secondary stressed syllables. Use your
dictionary if necessary.
EXAMPLE experiment (1) thermostatic (2)
1. occasional ( ) 6. incoherent ( )
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
2. supplement ( ) 7. electronic ( )
3. temperamental ( ) 8. spectacular ( )
4. cosmopolitan ( ) 9. documentary ( )
5. pedestrian ( )
Compound words are made from two smaller words put together, for example book
+ shop =bookshop. (They are not always written as one word, for example shoe
shop.)In most compound words, the stress is on the first part. For example, the word
bookshop has two syllables and the stress is on the first syllable. Listen to these
examples.
♫ - L24
Oo bookshop, bus stop, footpath, airport, shoe shop, road sign, car park,
bedroom
Ooo traffic light, bus station, sunglasses, boarding card, window seat, check-in
desk
Oooo travel agent, art gallery, supermarket, tape recorder, photocopy
If the first part of the compound word is an adjective, there may be stress on the
second part, too, for example OO double room.
♫ - L25
OO first class, half price, hand made
OOo bad-tempered, old-fashioned, short-sighted
OoO overnight, second hand
Sometimes a compound word looks the same as a normal adjective and noun or a
normal noun and verb, but the pronunciation is different. Compare:
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
We keep these plants in a greenhouse Mr. Olsen lives in a small, green house
during the winter months. next to the river.
Oo compound word OO noun and verb
I saw her bus pass. I saw her bus pass.
Compound nouns
Most compound nouns have the primary stress on the first element. Compare this to
the equal stress of adjective and noun:
'dining-room 'textbook 'blackbird
'dark 'room 'library 'book 'black 'bird
Compound adjectives
The stress generally falls on the second element with the –ed participle and -ing
participle:
bad-'tempered old-'fashioned good-'looking
However, if one of the elements of the compound adjective is a noun, stress will fall
on the noun, even if it is the first element:
'law-abiding 'record-breaking
Compound verbs
The stress generally falls on the second element:
out'run over'rate under'line
1. blackboard 6. train-spotting
2. mobile phone 7. football
3. well-dressed 8. bus stop
4. highlight 9. out-dated
5. swimming pool 10. over-ripe
Exercise 167. Rewrite the sentences forming compound adjectives and mark the
primary stress.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L26
Exercise 168. Listen. In each sentence, one of the compound words (in bold) has stress
on the first part (Oo) and the other has stress on the second part too (OO). Circle the
word if there is stress on the second part too.
EXAMPLE They did the photocopies overnight.
We can build longer words by adding parts to the beginning or end of shorter words.
Usually, this does not change the stress: it stays on the same syllable as in the original
word. Look at the example below.
for get
for get ful
for get ful ness
for gett a ble
un for gett a ble
Here is a list of beginnings and endings (suffixes and prefixes) which do not change
the stress of the shorter word:
-able (drinkable) in-/im- (impossible) -ness (happiness0
-al (musical) -ise (civilize) -ship (friendship)
-er (player) -ish (childish) un- (happy)
-ful (helpful) -less (childless) under- (underpay)
-hood (childhood) -ly (friendly)
-ing (boring) -ment (employment)
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
However, some endings (suffixes) do change the stress in the shorter word. When we
add the endings –ion, –ian, –ic, -ious, -ulous, -orous or -eous the stress always
moves to the syllable before these endings. Here are some examples:
educate – education scientist - scientific
electric – electrician economy - economic
decorate – decoration atom - atomic
music – musician artist - artistic
communicate – communication industry – industrious
miracle – miraculous advantage – advantageous
mystery – mysterious carnivore – carnivorous
outrage - outrageous
Some suffixes themselves usually have the main stress. These include –ee, -eer, -ese
and –ette. For example:
ˌabsenˈtee ˌNepalˈese ˌmountaiˈneer
ˌJapanˈese ˌengiˈneer ˌdiˈskette
ˌrefuˈgee ˌcigarˈette
Exercise 169. Write the words from the box in the correct column according to the
pronunciation of –tion, -sion or –ssion.
♫ - L27
Exercise 170. Underline the syllable which you think has the main stress in the
following words.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Now listen and check your answers. Then say the words aloud.
Exercise 171. Decide whether the words in the previous exercise have the same stress
pattern as their root word (write S) or a different stress pattern (write D).
EXAMPLE resident (D) (ˈresident - reˈside)
performance (S) (perˈformance - perˈform)
defiant…………………………….. applicant………………………………
convergence……………………… coincidence……………………………
reference………………………….. informant………………………………….
excellence………………………… acceptance…………………………………
correspondent…………………… insistence…………………………………….
assistant………………………….. significance…………………………………
maintenance……………………..
Exercise 172. Combine each word with one of the endings from the box, and give the
stress pattern of your new word. You may need to change or add other letters to the
first word. Use a dictionary to help you if necessary.
-ion -ic
EXAMPLE inform ___information___ ___ooOo___
Exercise 173. Make a word ending in –ity from each of these words, and give the
stress pattern.
EXAMPLE author ___authority___ ___oOoo___
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Some words don’t change their stress pattern when a suffix is added to the root word,
but do change the pronunciation of the vowel in the main stressed syllable. Compare:
exˈtreme - exˈtremity deˈrive - deˈrivative
/ɪː/ /e/ /aɪ/ /ɪ/
The following table shows a number of possible vowel changes. The main stressed
syllable and the pronunciation of the vowel in this syllable are shown:
In some words, as well as a change in the pronunciation of the vowel in the stressed
syllable, there is also a change in the pronunciation of the consonant(s) that follow it.
/aɪt/ igˈnite - igˈnition /ɪʃ/ /uːs/ proˈduce - proˈduction, proˈductive /ʌk/
/aɪn/ ˈsign – ˈsignature /ɪgn/ /uːs/ introˈduce - introˈduction, introˈductory /ʌk/
In other words like these, there is a change in the pronunciation of the vowel in the
stressed syllable, and also the spelling of either this vowel and/or the consonant(s)
that follow it:
/aɪd/ colˈlide - colˈlision /ɪʒ/ /ɪːv/ deˈceive - deˈception, deˈceptive /ep/
/aɪd/ diˈvide - diˈvision /ɪʒ/ /ɪː/ reˈpeat - reˈpetitive /e/
/aɪd/ proˈvide - proˈvision /ɪʒ/ /ɑː/ exˈample - exˈemplary /e/
/aɪb/ subˈscribe - subˈscription /ɪp/ /eɪ/ exˈplain - exˈplanatory /æ/
/aɪb/ deˈscribe - deˈscription, deˈscriptive /ɪp/ /eɪ/ reˈtain - reˈtention /e/
/aɪb/ preˈscribe - preˈscription, preˈscriptive /ɪp/ /aɪ/ apˈply - apˈplicable /ɪ/
Exercise 174. Which of these words have main stress on the same syllable as their
root word? Write S (Same) or D (Different).
EXAMPLE familiarise (S) (faˈmiliarise - faˈmiliar)
cancellation (D) (cancelˈlation - ˈcancel)
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Many English words have their origins in other languages. Some of these words are
no longer thought of as ‘foreign’; for example, bungalow (Hindi origin), caravan
(Persian origin), tomato (Spanish origin). Others, however, are still associated with the
language they are borrowed from either because they are recent borrowings or
because they keep the appearance of a foreign word. Some of these latter words are
said with a pronunciation that makes them sound like English words; others may also
be said in a way that is close to their pronunciation in the original language.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L28
Exercise 175. Listen and repeat these foreign words used in English. What language
do you think each word comes from: French, Chinese, Italian, German, Japanese or
Spanish? If you are not sure, use the examples above and try to notice similar spellings
or sounds.
♫ - L29
Exercise 176. Listen and repeat the French words in column A. Then try to match them
with the brief definition in column B. Use the example sentences below the table to
help you.
A B
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
1. My particular bête noire is people who use mobile phones when they are driving.
2. The trial of the two teenagers became an international cause célèbre.
3. Where I work, smart suits are de rigueur for the women.
4. The restaurant has a clientele that includes film stars and famous sports people.
5. There was a contretemps between the neighbours over the fence dividing their
gardens.
6. All the rooms in the hotel are en suite.
7. She writes under the nom de plume of Cathy Kay.
8. I really envy him for his savoir-faire.
♫ - L30
Exercise 177. Here are some Russian words used in English. First, try reading them
aloud. Then listen and compare your pronunciation with the recording. Try to find the
meaning of the words.
Joining words
In speech, words are not separated; they join together. Sometimes it is difficult to
know where one word finishes and the next word begins. For example, pets enter
sounds the same as pet centre because the consonant /s/ could be at the end of the
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
first word or at the start of the second word. Listen to the examples. The phrases on
the left sound the same as the phrases on the right.
♫ - L31
pets enter pet centre
stopped aching stop taking
ice-cream I scream
known aim no name
called Annie call Danny
clocks tops clock stops
missed a night Mr Knight
Exercise 178. What two words do you get if you move the consonant from the end of
one word to the beginning of the next or vice versa? Complete the table. Remember:
think about sound not spelling!
EXAMPLE cats eyes ___cat size___
The consonant sound /r/ is used to separate vowel sounds when there is a letter R at
the end of the first word. In many accents of English, including Southern British, this
final letter R is not pronounced, so the word ends in a vowel sound. For example, the
word after is pronounced /ɑːftə/. But if the following word begins with a vowel sound,
the R is pronounced, in order to separate the two vowels. For example, the R is
pronounced in after eight /ɑːftə◡reɪt/. In this case, the R sounds like it is at the start
of the next word, so after eight sounds like after rate. Listen to the examples.
♫ - L32
R not pronounced R pronounced sounds like …
her card her ace her race
under sixteen under age under rage
after nine after eight after rate
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
The sounds /j/ and /w/ can also be pronounced to separate vowel sounds.
• If the first word ends in a vowel sound like /ɪ/ and the next word starts with
any vowel sound, we add the sound /j/ (Y).
• If the first word ends in a vowel sound like /u:/ or /ʊ/ and the next word starts
with any vowel sound, we add the sound /w/ (W).
Listen to the examples. Notice that /j/ or /w/ is pronounced even when there is no Y
or W in the spelling.
♫ - L33
no /j/ or /w/ pronounced /j/or /w/ pronounced sounds like …
every toe /evrɪ təʊ/ every ear /evrɪ jɪə/ every year
he saves /hɪ seɪvz/ he earns /hɪ jɜːnz/ he yearns
you drank /juː dræŋk/ you ache /juː weɪk/ you wake
you hurt /juː hɜːt/
Exercise 179. The word rise is ‘hidden’ in this sentence: Her eyes are open. It is the
underlined part. This is clear if we look at the phonemic spelling. The word rise is
/raɪz/. You can see this underlined in this phonemic spelling of the sentence:
/həraɪzərəʊpən/. The words in the box are ‘hidden’ in the sentences below. Find them
and underline them, and write the hidden word after the sentence.
wait rage winter yours reach years why rise ride wake
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L34
Now listen to the sentences. Can you hear the ‘hidden words’? Try saying the
sentences, making sure you pronounce the hidden words.
In a sentence, we put stress on one syllable of all the most important words. In some
situations, emergencies for example, all of the words are important. In this case, there
is stress on one syllable of all of the words (in some cases, the sentence may have
only one word). Listen to the sentence stress in these examples:
♫ - L35
O Help! Quick! Smile!
Oo Quiet! Sorry!
OO Look out! Take care! Wake up! Don’t move! Come back! Stand
still! Sit down!
OoO Don’t forget! Hurry up! Go away! Stay awake! Don’t be late!
OOo Keep quiet! Don’t worry!
OOO Don’t look now! Go straight on! Don’t turn round!
oOoo Emergency!
In English sentence stress, the following kinds of words are usually stressed. The
examples given are from the sentences above: verbs (help), two-part verbs (look out),
adjectives (quick), nouns (emergency) and negative auxiliary verbs (don’t). Positive
auxiliary verbs such as be in Don’t be late! are not usually stressed.
prepositions conjunctions
at /ət/ that /ðət/
for /fə/ as /əz/
from /frəm/ than /ðən/
of /əv/ and /ən/ , /n/
to /tə/ but /bət/
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
pronouns determiners
he /hɪ/ his /ɪz/
him /ɪm/, /əm/ her /hə/ , /ə/
her /hə/ our /ɑː/
us /əs/ your /jə/
them /ðəm/ a, an /ə/ , /ən/
some /səm/ the /ðə/ , /ðɪː/
All of the sentences below have three syllables with this stress pattern: OoO. The
middle word in each sentence is unstressed because it is not as important as the other
two words. Listen.
♫ - L36
O o O
What’s your name?
Tom was right.
Dogs can swim.
Close the door!
Wait and see.
Go to bed!
Exercise 180. Underline the weak function words in the following sentences.
Articles
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
the - The definite article the is reduced to /ðə/ before consonants (or consonant
sounds): the mother, the table, the university, the one-year plan.
Exercise 182. Say whether the following pronunciation of the definite article is /ðə/
or /ðɪː/.
Auxiliary verbs
be and have are generally pronounced as a single syllable:
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Exercise 183. Underline the weak function words in the following sentences.
Exercise 184. Think of a computer which people speak into and it writes what they
say. This computer wrote these sentences incorrectly. Write the correct sentences.
EXAMPLE We had beans an rice. ___We had beans and rice.___
♫ - L37
Exercise 185. Write the sentences below again. Change the people to pronouns, and
make the auxiliary verbs (has/is/are etc) into contractions. Then underline the
stressed syllables in your sentences. There should be two in each sentence. Then
listen, check and repeat.
EXAMPLE Helen has given Robert some money. ___She’s given him some
money.___
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L38
Exercise 186. Listen. Write what you hear in each space. Use contracted forms, but
also think about what the non-contracted forms would be.
Exercise 187. Think of a computer which people speak into and it writes what they
say. This computer wrote the underlined parts of these conversations incorrectly. (You
can read what the computer heard in phonemic letters.) Write the correct words.
EXAMPLE Do you know Mike?
Yes. Ametim /æˈmetɪm/ yesterday. ____ I met him _______
1. Come on kids. Do your homework!
Wivdunit /wɪvˈdʌnɪt/ already! ____________________
2. What’s his name?
I don’t know. Alaskim /æˈlæskɪm/. ___________________
3. Goodbye.
Goodbye. Alseeya /ælˈsɪːjə/ tomorrow. ________________
4. Why isn’t Neil here?
Hisgonta /hɪzˈgɒntə/ Paris for the weekend. __________________
5. Have you told Maria yet?
No. Altella /ælˈtelə/ tomorrow. _________________
You don’t normally put stress on are in the middle of a sentence. Listen to this rhyme.
♫ - L39a Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Flowers are nice,
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Many people pronounce are just as the weak vowel sound /ə/, but if the following
word begins with a vowel sound, the /r/ is pronounced too, for example People are
angry.
The word is (and ‘s) is not usually spoken as a separate syllable; it is usually joined to
the syllable before, for example Snow is/’s white. But if the word before ends with
letters like S, CE, GE, and CH, it is a new syllable, for example Grass is green.
♫ - L39b
Listen to the examples.
♫ - L40
Exercise 188. Circle the word are if you think the /r/ is pronounced. Then listen, check
and repeat.
♫ - L41
Exercise 189. Tick (√) the sentences where is is always a separate syllable. Then listen,
check and repeat.
EXAMPLE a. Lunch is ready! √ b. Dinner is ready!
1. a. The house is cold. b. The room is cold.
2. a. The taxi is here. b. The bus is here.
3. a. The beach is crowded. b. The park is crowded.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L42
Exercise 190. Listen and circle the verb you hear.
1. People are/were angry. 6. The fish are/were dying.
2. Alice is/was here. 7. The place is/was nice.
3. Your face is/was dirty. 8. Paris is/was nice.
4. The birds are/were singing. 9. The children are/were tired.
5. The books are/were cheap. 10. My friends are/were coming.
OooO is a very common rhythm in questions beginning with Wh- words (when, where,
what, etc.) followed by auxiliary verbs.
In very fast speech, some speakers pronounce many of these questions with only
three syllables. Listen
♫ -L43
OoO
What do you want? /wɒdjəˈwɒnt/ (sounds like: What dya want?)
What does he do? /wɒtsɪˈduː/ (sounds like: What si do?
Where have you been? /weəvjəˈbɪn/ (sounds like: Wherve ya bin?)
Where did he go? /weərdɪˈgəʊ/ (sounds like: Where di go?)
Exercise 191. Think of a computer which people speak into and it writes what they
say. This computer wrote the underlined parts of these questions incorrectly. (You
can read what it heard in phonemic letters.) Correct the writing.
EXAMPLE What dya /djə/ mean? ___ What do you mean? ___
1. Who vya /vjə/ told? ___________________________
2. What di /dɪ/ say? __________________________
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
E. INTONATION
I. Question tags
Question tags are short questions added to the end of a statement, usually to produce
a response from a hearer. We use a falling tone for question tags when we expect the
hearer to acknowledge that what we have just said is correct, for example, when we
are giving our opinion.
They didn’t PLAY very well↘, DID they↘?
GREAT FILM↘, WASn’t it↘?
We use a rising tone when we invite the hearer to say whether what we have just said
is correct or not, for example, when we are not certain that something is true:
JapanESE↘, ISn’t it↗?
NOT on a DIet again↘, ARE you↗?
Question tags usually have a falling tone when the statement is obviously correct:
You're not WELL↘ , ARE you ↘?
HOT ↘, ISn't it ↘?
We also use a falling tone when we want the hearer to admit that something they may
not have accepted before is, in fact, correct:
TOLD you I was RIGHT ↘, DIDn't I↘?
WRONG again ↘, WEREN'T you↘?
Question tags can also follow exclamations, and these tags usually have a falling tone:
What a riDICulous thing to SAY ↘, WASn't it ↘?
When both the statement and the question tag are positive, the question tag usually
has a rising tone:
Came by CAR ↘, DID you ↗?
You've FINished ↘, HAVE you ↗?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
This pattern is sometimes used to be critical or sarcastic. These sentences often begin
with 'So ... ' or 'Oh, ... ':
So you THINK you're CLEVer ↘, DO you ↗?
Exercise 192. Do you think the question tags in this conversation are likely to have a
rising tone (put ↗) or a falling tone (↘)?
♫ - L44
Now listen and check your predictions.
♫ - L45
Exercise 193. Listen and decide whether the question tags in B's responses have a
rising tone (put ↗ in the space provided) or a falling tone (↘).
EXAMPLE A: Great race. B: She ran well, didn't she__↘__ ?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Now listen again. Press 'pause' before each B part and read it aloud. Then press 'play'
again and compare your pronunciation with what follows.
Exercise 194. Suggest an appropriate question tag to complete B's responses. Then
read them aloud, using either a rising or falling tone on the tag as appropriate.
EXAMPLE A: Did you see the eclipse yesterday?
B: Fantastic,………wasn’t it……. __↘__?
♫ - L46
Now listen and check your answers.
A cleft sentence is divided into two parts, allowing us to focus particular attention on
information in one part of the sentence. Cleft sentences are common in speech. In
these examples the focus is on 'my gold necklace':
A what- cleft (sometimes called a pseudo-cleft) has what + subject + verb in the first
clause followed by be + the focus.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
An it- cleft has it + be + the focus in the first clause and is followed by a relative (that
or who) clause.
What- clefts typically have a fall-rising tone at the end of the what- clause and a
falling tone in the other part of the sentence. Remember that the tone begins on the
last prominent syllable of the speech unit:
Notice that the order of information in the cleft sentence can often be reversed, but
that the two parts keep the same tone:
We can use all instead of what if we want to emphasise that only one thing is done:
A: Paul hasn't spoken to me since I scratched his car.
B: ALL you've got to SAY ↘↗is that you're SORry ↘.
It- clefts typically have a falling tone in the clause beginning with it. Tone choice in
the relative clause depends on meaning in context:
A: Pity about the flowers. They must have been eaten by snails.
B: It was the FROST ↘ that KILLED them ↘↗.
2
For these two dialogues the information provided by the relative clause is ‘not news’; that’s why a fall-rising
tone is used.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L47
Exercise 195. Listen to each A part. Press 'pause' before each B part and read it aloud
using the intonation marked. Then press 'play' again and compare your pronunciation
with what follows.
Now do the same with these. Before you answer, think about where the fall-rising and
falling tones start.
5 A: My train to work was late yet again.
B: What you should do is write and complain.
6 A: All the plants in my garden are dying.
B: What we want is some rain.
7 A: What did you get from the butcher's?
B: All they had left were these sausages.
8 A: What's the view like from your bedroom window?
B: All I can see is a block of flats.
When we ask a question, we might be trying to find out information that we don't
already know. Alternatively, we might ask a question in order to make sure that
3
For these two dialogues the information provided by the relative clause is ‘news’; that’s why a falling tone is
used.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
information we think we know is, in fact, correct. Finding out questions usually end
with a falling tone:
WHAT part of SPAIN we’re you in ↘ ?
HOW much ARE they ↘ ?
Note: Because wh- questions are often used to find out information, they often,
although not always, end with a falling tone.
Note: Because yes-no questions are often used to make sure, they often, although
not always, end with a rising or fall-rising tone.
However, wh- questions can have a rising or fall-rising tone when they are
making sure, and yes-no question can have a falling tone when they are finding out:
WHEN'S your birthday ↗? - a rising tone shows that I'm checking the date; it
might be polite to suggest that I do know but have
temporarily forgotten
Have you SEEN her recently ↘? – I don't know whether you have or not
In making sure questions we can usually use a fall-rising tone or a rising tone with
little difference in meaning. However, a fall-rising tone often sounds more polite than
a rising tone. In particular, a fall-rising tone is often preferred in questions asked for
social reasons; that is, mainly to be polite and friendly rather than to check
information:
Do you WANT to take your COAT off ↘↗?
Are you SURE you can MANage that ↘↗?
Other kinds of questions can also be used to produce a reply from a hearer. In these,
too, we use a falling tone to find out and a rising (or fall-rising) tone to make sure.
For example, sentences which ask for assistance with would you mind, perhaps or I
wonder usually have a falling tone:
Would you MIND holding THIS ↘?
I WONder if you could HELP me ↘?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Note : Wh- and yes -no questions used to offer assistance often have a falling tone
as this sounds more genuine, and therefore more polite, than a rising or fall-rising
tone:
Can I HELP you ↘?
WHAT can I DO for you ↘?
Statements which are intended to produce a reply often have a rising tone because
they are usually asking for confirmation of something we think we already know:
You've FINished alREADy ↗?
You HAVen't even STARted ↗?
♫ - L48
Exercise 196. Listen to each question and decide whether the speaker is finding out
(with a falling tone) or making sure (with a rising tone). Underline your answer.
EXAMPLE Who are they playing next week? finding out/making sure
Exercise 197. Joe and Olivia are going on holiday in the morning, but Joe is excited
and can't sleep. Do you think Joe's questions are likely to have a rising tone (put ↗) or
a falling tone (↘)?
J: Are you awake ___? 0: Mmm.
J: I wonder what time it is ___? 0: Er, four o'clock.
J: When did you book the taxi for ___? 0: Eight.
J: Which terminal does the plane leave from ___? 0: Don't know.
J: You don't know ___? 0: No.
J: Doesn't Philip work at the airport ___? 0: No, Adam.
J: Are you sure ___? 0: Yes.
J: What time is it again ___? 0: Four.
J: Would you mind if I put the radio on ___? 0: No.
J: When's the taxi coming ___? 0: Zzzzz.
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♫ - L49
Now listen and check your predictions.
Negative yes-no questions are commonly used to show surprise, pleasure, etc.,
particularly when we encourage others to agree with us. These usually have a falling
tone:
WASn't it TERrible ↘? DIDn't she sound riDICulous ↘?
HAVen't I been STUpid ↘? AREN'T they BEAUtiful ↘?
In informal English we can also use positive yes-no questions, particularly to express
criticism. These often have a rising tone:
Are you CRAzy ↗? Have you gone MAD ↗?
Wh- questions are also used to make a comment, particularly ones with modal verbs.
These usually have a falling tone:
HOW was I supposed to know ↘?
WHAT'S it to do with YOU ↘ ?
Sometimes we ask a question and suggest a possible answer ourselves before the
hearer replies. As the purpose of these possible answers is to make sure that what we
think we know is correct, they usually have a fall-rising tone:
Where are you off to? the SUpermarket ↘↗?
How are you getting there? with NICola ↘↗?
What are you going to wear? NOT that old JUMper again ↘↗?
We can use questions to give instructions or make suggestions. These usually have a
falling tone, and often (but not always) include modal verbs:
Will you PLEASE leave it aLONE ↘?
COULD we have the BILL, please ↘?
WOULD you turn the LIGHT off ↘?
COULDn't you just reFUSE ↘?
WHY don't you go by TRAIN ↘?
HOW about putting it over THERE ↘?
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 198. Do you think the questions in B's responses are more likely to have a
rising tone (put ↗) or a falling tone (↘)?
EXAMPLE A: I thought Madrid played brilliantly. B: Weren't they amazing __↘__?
♫ - L50
Listen and check your answers.
V. Repeat questions
We use some questions to get people to repeat all or part of what they have said. We
may want to check that we heard it correctly, or perhaps we found it surprising.
Because these questions are usually making sure, they often have a rising tone.
Some repeat questions consist of:
• a single wh- word (who, what, where, when, why, how, which):
A: She used to work in Wollongong. B: WHERE ↗?
• a phrase beginning with a wh- word (e.g. how many, what sort, what time):
A: I paid €200,000 for it. B: HOW much ↗?
• a longer question beginning with a wh- word (e.g. When did you get there ?):
A: It starts at midday. B: WHEN does it start ↗?
All these repeat questions have a rising tone starting on the wh- word.
When questions are used to find out, they have a falling tone. In these finding out
questions the falling tone starts after the wh- word. Compare:
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or we focus on part of what was said using a wh- word or phrase at the end:
A: We're staying with Zara. B: You're staying with WHO ↗?
A: There were at least 500 people in the room. B: There were HOW many ↗?
We can use what or do + what to focus on the verb or the part of the sentence
beginning with the verb:
A: I bought Chris a rabbit. B: You WHAT ↗? or: You did WHAT ↗?
A number of common phrases with rising tone are used to ask people to repeat. For
example:
I'm SORRy ↗? SORRy ↗? PARdon ↗?
WHAT did you say ↗? SAY that aGAIN ↗? SAY it aGAIN ↗?
WHAT ↗? You WHAT ↗? (these two are less polite and some
people avoid them)
Note: Some of these can also be used to find out (with falling tone):
A: Zak told me he was leaving. B: WHAT did you SAY ↘? (= What did you say
to him?)
Exercise 199. Choose a question from the box to complete each conversation. (You
won't need them all.)
How many? What time was it? She's doing what?
Why was he there? How much? Which one's yours?
How old is it? When did you leave?
What were you looking for? Who did you want to see?
What sort? You did what? How far is it?
Where? When do you need it ?
EXAMPLE: A: I'd like to see Mrs. Kirby, please. B: …Who did you want to see? …
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
A: Mrs. Kirby.
♫ - L51
Now listen and check your answers. Press 'pause' before each B part and read aloud
what you have written with a rising tone. Then press 'play' again and compare your
answer and your pronunciation with what follows.
Exercise 200. Do you think the questions in these conversations are more likely to
have a rising tone (put ↗) or a falling tone (↘)?
EXAMPLE A: The play starts at 7.00. B: When have we got to be there __↘__?
A: At 6.30.
1. A: She's quite upset, you know. B: What did you say___? A: She's quite upset.
2. A: There's a problem with the cooling system. B: How can you tell ___?
A: The engine's overheating.
3. A: I'd like an ice cream. Pistachio flavour. B: What sort do you want___?
A: Pistachio.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L52
Now listen and check your answers.
When we are contrasting two words or phrases, we emphasise the parts that we want
to contrast by making them prominent:
A: You looked exhausted last night.
B: Yes, but even though I was TIRED ↗, I couldn't get to SLEEP ↘. - 'not being
able to get to sleep' is contrasted with 'being tired'
Note: The contrasting phrase sometimes comes first and sometimes second.
Here are some common patterns of comparison and contrast:
• using a comparative form of an adjective:
I think it's more important to have COMfortable clothes↘ than STYlish ones↗.
• using either ... or:
You can either catch the EARlier train ↘↗ or the LATer one ↘.
I've either left my wallet at HOME ↘↗ or I've LOST it ↘.
• using ... , not ... or . .. not ... , ... :
He's got bronCHItis ↘, not just a COUGH ↘↗.
I'm not really ANgry with him ↘↗, just a bit anNOYED ↘.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
• using other contrasting phrases (e.g. catch the bus versus walk home; reducing the
cost of public transport versus increasing it):
Rather than catch the BUS ↘↗, maybe we could WALK home ↘.
We should be reDUcing the cost of public transport ↘ instead of inCREASing
it ↗.
Exercise 201. In B's responses one part is said with a falling tone and the other with
a fall-rising tone. Write ↘ for a falling tone or ↘↗ for a fall-rising tone where you think
these tones are likely.
EXAMPLE A: How on earth do you sit down in those jeans?
B: They're really quite comfortable ↘ even though they're tight ↘↗.
♫ - L53
Now listen and check your answers.
VII. Contradictions
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Usually this word (wasn't in this example) has falling tone and a step up in pitch. The
symbol ↑ is used to show a step up in pitch. In other words, the voice moves up to a
noticeably higher level than it was at before.
• To contradict a positive verb, we can use not or a contraction with -n't (don't, can't,
won't, shouldn't, etc.). Not or the contraction is made prominent:
A: It's your fault we're late.
B: It's ↑NOT my fault ↘.
• To contradict a negative verb, we use a positive form of the auxiliary or modal verb
(be, have, can, would etc.). The auxiliary or modal verb is made prominent:
A: You can't remember your uncle Bob, can you ?
B: Yes, I ↑CAN remember him ↘.
A: You don't seem to like my cooking.
B: But I ↑DO like it ↘.
• In other contradictions we emphasise (also with a step up and falling tone) the word
that corrects what the other speaker has said:
A: Carmen must have overslept again.
B: No, she's ↑ILL ↘.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 202. Underline the one word out of the two in bold that is more likely to be
emphasised with a step up in pitch at the beginning of a falling tone.
EXAMPLE a A: The meeting's next Thursday, isn't it? B: No, it's next Tuesday.
b A: The meeting's this Tuesday, isn't it ? B: No, it's next Tuesday.
2. a A: Your parents have lent you a car, then? B: No, they've bought me a car.
b A: Your parents have bought you a bike, then ? B: No, they've bought me a car.
3. a A: Isn't it time for you to get up ? B: No, I'm not going to school today.
b A: Won't you be late for school ? B: No, I'm not going to school today.
4. a A: I want to use the laptop this afternoon. B: But I took it to work.
b A: Alex just phoned. She wants you to bring the laptop into work. B: But I took it to
work.
♫ - L54
Now listen and check your answers. Then listen again. Press 'pause' before each B part
and read it aloud. Make sure you step up in pitch in the right place. Then press 'play'
again and compare your pronunciation with what follows.
Exercise 203. Underline the syllable in each word in bold where you think the speaker
will step up and start a falling tone.
EXAMPLE A: Here's the microscope you wanted. B: But I asked for a microphone.
1. A: So you think it's a hardware problem? B: No, I said it's a software problem.
2. A: Yes, parties are always better outdoors. B: But we're holding it indoors.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L55
Now listen and check your answers. Then listen again. Press 'pause' before each B part
and read it aloud. Make sure you step up in pitch in the right place. Then press 'play'
again and compare your pronunciation with what follows.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Although we commonly talk about 'English pronunciation', obviously not all speakers
of English pronounce it in the same way. Even between countries where English is the
first language of the majority of the population there are considerable differences,
and we can distinguish between the pronunciation of 'British English', 'American
English', 'Australian English', 'South African English', and so on.
Across these varieties of English, there may be differences in how vowels and
consonants are pronounced, how words are stressed, and in intonation. For example,
listen and notice differences between standard British English (Br) and American
English (US) pronunciation in these sentences (you will hear British English first):
♫ - L56
That’s better. In US /t/ is ‘flapped’ so that it sounds like /d/ when it comes
between two vowels.
I’m picking up the • car = /kɑː/ in Br and /kɑːr/ in Us. In Br, /r/ is
car next Tuesday. pronounced only when it is followed by a vowel, while
in US it is also pronounced before consonants and at
the end of a word.
• Tuesday = /tjuː-/ in Br and /tuː-/ in US. Some
sounds /tj/, /nj/, /dj/, etc. are not used in US.
What’s your Some words are stressed differently in Br and US, including
address? aˈddress (Br) and ˈaddress (US).
I went out because Some speakers of US (and also Australian and New Zealand
I was hot and English) use a ‘high rising’ tone for statements where most
wanted some fresh speakers of Br would use a falling tone.
air.
Within Britain and the US there are also many regional accents. For example, listen
and notice differences in pronunciation in these sentences, said first by a speaker of
‘BBC English’ and then by a speaker from the city of Birmingham in England (you will
hear BBC English first):
♫ - L57
See you tonight. The second vowel in ‘tonight’ is pronounced /aɪ/ in BBC
English but /ɔɪ/ (as in ‘boy’) in a Birmingham accent.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L58
Exercise 204. Listen to these sentences. Is the accent from North America (they
pronounce the R after the vowel) or South East England? Write Am or Eng.
EXAMPLE He asked her to dance. ___Eng___
♫ - L59
Exercise 205. Listen. You will hear the sentences twice, once in American English (A),
once in British English (B). Write the order A-B or B-A.
EXAMPLE The coffee’s hot. ___A-B___
♫ - L60
Exercise 206. Listen to these sentences. Is the accent from Britain or America? Write
B or A.
EXAMPLE The girl’s first birthday. _____A_____
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
1. It’s hard work, of course. _____ 6. He was born on Thursday the thirty-
2. Are you sure? _____ first. _____
3. Law and order. _____ 7. She taught German. _____
4. I walk to work. _____ 8. I learned to surf in Brazil. _____
5. I saw the bird fall. _____ 9.
‘Caught’ and ‘court’ sound the same
in
my accent. _____
♫ - L61
Exercise 207. Listen. You will hear speakers from Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia
and South Africa talking about what they enjoy doing in their spare time4. Which of
these accents are you most familiar with? Is there one you find easier to understand
than the others?
♫ - L62
4 Speaker 1 (Britain)
I don't get a lot of time to myself these days, but if I have a couple of hours to spare then I go down to
the tennis club. I've just joined a tennis club near me and we've moved to a new house and er the tennis
courts are right outside the back of my garden, so I just literally walk down and go through the gate and
spend a couple of hours knocking balls about.
Speaker 2 (United States )
When I've got some free time urn I like to read. Usually I avoid the latest fiction and look for novels or
novelists that I've always known about and wanted to read. But occasionally I just stroll through a
bookshop and sometimes it's just the cover of a book that makes me grab it and take it home.
Speaker 3 (Canada)
When I've got spare time I like to go to the lake. It's about a twenty minute drive and when I get there I
go water skiing. I just love water skiing when the weather's good. And afterward if I've got enough energy,
I pick Saskatoon berries on the lane behind the cabin. And later on in the week I make some pies.
Speaker 4 (Australia)
My favourite thing to do on a sunny day is to go to the beach. It takes about an hour from my house. I
have to get the train and a bus, but it's worth it. Lots of my friends live near the beach, so it's always the
perfect way to catch up and enjoy the sunshine.
Speaker 5 (South Africa)
One of my favourite things to do when I've got a bit of spare time is to go fishing with my friends. Er we
get a bit of tackle together, the fishing rods, pile it all into the back of a four-by-four and we head up
into the mountains. There's some wonderful streams up there, well stocked with trout, and carp, and
bream. We normally take a bit of a picnic up, you know, some bread rolls, and some ham and cheese,
and it's just a nice day out.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 208. Here is a text read aloud first by a British English speaker and then an
American English speaker. Listen as many times as you need and note differences in
pronunciation that you observe, focusing on the underlined words. A few are done for
you.
1. ___________________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________________
3. the first vowel is more ‘open’ in US
4. said /njuː/ in Br and /nuː/ in US
5. ________________________________________________________________
6. ________________________________________________________________
7. ________________________________________________________________
8. ________________________________________________________________
9. the first vowel is different - /ɑː/ (like ‘car’) in Br and /æ/ (like ‘hat’) in US
10. ________________________________________________________________
11. ________________________________________________________________
12. ________________________________________________________________
13. ________________________________________________________________
14. ________________________________________________________________
15. the first vowel is different - /ɔː/ (like ‘or’) in Br and /ʊ/ (like ‘put’) in US; also,
the ‘r’ is pronounced in US
16. ________________________________________________________________
17. ________________________________________________________________
♫ - L63
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Exercise 209. You will hear four more people talking about what they enjoy doing in
their spare time. They are from northern England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland. Listen as many times as you need and write brief notes about what they say.
Now read the transcripts below5. Are there particular features of their pronunciation
that you had problems understanding? In what ways is their pronunciation different
from BBC English - that is, British English spoken without a regional accent?
In this notebook you will use British English as a model for pronunciation. In
particular, you will use the variety that has come to be known as ‘BBC English’. BBC
5
1 (northern England)
When I get a day off, I like to go up into the Yorkshire Dales. These are sort of hills, er about twenty miles
from where I live. And I'll er walk through the day. I'll set off while it's still dark and walk for about eight
hours. And at the end of that finish up in a village somewhere and have a nice meal.
2 (Scotland)
I live in the country and I'm I'm quite lucky because where I live is sort of on the top of um a range of
low, flat hills. So it's quite windy. On good days, I like to take my children out and we go and fly kites.
The children have got little kites, because obviously if it's too windy and with a big kite it would be really
too, too much for them, they couldn't control it. Um but they they thoroughly enjoy being out just just
in the fresh air.
3 (Wales )
In my spare time I really like visiting gardens. Usually, the gardens of big houses. And at every time of
the year there's something different to see. The spring, of course, is the best time, when everything's
coming into bud, and then later in the summer into full flower. It's really wonderful. And even when it's
raining, you can still get great pleasure visiting gardens.
4 (Northern Ireland)
Usually, 'cause erm I'm working during the week er and sometimes on a Saturday as well the only day off
that I have would be a Sunday. Er and on Sunday we like to get up early, make a big breakfast and if the
weather's good er I take my kids for a long walk in the country. Erm we go off er with our little fishing
rods and sometimes er go down to the local stream and with a net and try and er catch a few tiddlers or
something like that.
(Note: A tiddler is a very small fish.)
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
The use of English has spread far beyond those countries where it is used as a first
language. In some countries, such as India, Malawi, the Philippines and Singapore,
English is an important second language for many speakers, and has often become
the language used in official contexts such as courts, parliament and higher
education. More recently, many other countries, such as Brazil, China, Thailand and
Russia, have recognised the importance of English as an international language of
communication, and encouraged its teaching in schools and colleges. In each country,
the English spoken is influenced by other languages widely used there, and each
variety is different in features of its grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
The widespread use of English as an international language means that much of the
interaction in English that now goes on around the world is between speakers who
don't have English as a first language. For example, when German and Spanish
politicians meet to discuss policies of the European Union, their chosen language of
communication might well be English. The same might apply when Saudi Arabian and
Japanese people meet to do business.
♫ - L64
Exercise 210. You will hear speakers with international accents of English from five
countries talking about their families. Where do you think they are from? Listen and
write the name of the country in the space.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Now check your answers below6. Which of these accents do you find easiest to
understand and which most difficult? Can you say why? Which of these English accents
is closest to your own?
6
Speaker 1
I have one brother and one sister. My brother is thirty years old. Er he's married. He has two children er
three and five. He works as a teacher in a local school. My sister is twenty-five and she's just finished
her degree and she has decided to go round the world travelling, so that was a bit of a shock for my
parents.
Speaker 2
I have er only one sister. She is older than me and er she is getting married, actually, next year, which is
very exciting for all of us. And we are very busy preparing for the wedding. Erm but I am married myself
all two years now. Er I had a lovely wedding and it is my anniversary next week.
Speaker 3
There are four people in my family, my parents and my brother and me. My brother is two years younger
than me, and he's married with a kid. And my father, er both my parents are retired now, but my father
is still going to senior citizen university, where he's doing photography, whereas my mum is interested
in cooking.
Speaker 4
I have one brother, he's two years older than I am. He's a dentist. He's married and he has two kids. Erm
they are aged twenty and eighteen. The older one is already at the university. He studies archaeology,
and er the younger one er is going to take his 'A’ levels very soon.
Speaker 5
I am er thirty-two years old and I have a sister urn who is twenty-eight. And I have older brother, er
thirty-four. And my sister is now married and lives in America, and my brother is a lawyer. And erm I am
married er myself and erm my wife er is from Germany. And er we're living happily together.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
♫ - L65
Exercise 211. Listen. You will hear the same text read three times: first by a speaker
of BBC English, second by a speaker of Jamaican English, and third by a Polish speaker
of English. They are talking about moving into a new house and some of the things
they have had to buy.
Here are some notes on how the pronunciation in part of the reading by the speaker
of Jamaican English is different from that in the reading by the speaker of BBC English.
1. the first vowel is close to /ɒ/ (as in ‘hot’); /ɔː/ in BBC English. Also ‘l’ is not
pronounced.
2. said with a ‘d’: /brʌdə/.
3. the vowel is close to /ɪː/ and sounds like ‘pleats’; /eɪ/ in BBC English.
4. the vowel is close to /uː/ (as in ‘too’); /əʊ/ in BBC English.
5. The vowel is close to /ɪə/, and sounds like ‘cheers’; /eə/ in BBC English.
6. Said with a ‘d’: /də/.
Now do the same for this part of the text read by the Polish speaker of English.
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Practice in English Phonetics and Phonology
Bibliography
Chiţoran, Dumitru, and Lucreţia Petri. Workbook in English Phonetics and Phonology.
Bucuresti: Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică, 1977. Print.
Forel, Claire-A., and Genoveva Puskas (updated by Cornelia Hamann and Carmen
Schmitz, University of Oldenburg). Phonetics and Phonology. Reader for First
Year English Linguistics. University of Geneva, 2005. Web. 12 Jan. 2015.
Roach. Peter. English Phonetics and Phonology. A practical course. Fourth edition.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Print.
Yavas, Mehmet. Applied English Phonology. Second edition. Oxford UK: Wiley-
Blackwell, 2011. Print.
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