1

PRACTICAL PHONETICS WRITTEN BY HENRY E. WOOD TO GET THE

DEGREE AS A TEACHER OF ENGLISH
INDEX.
Pag
e

Index 1

Preface 4

Standard English 5

What is Phonetics? 5

The English Language 6

Alphabet 6

Pronunciation Features 7

What is Linguistics? 8

Communicative Approach 10

The Audio-Lingual Method 12

Main Difficulties with Consonants 13

Main Difficulties with Vowels 14

Rhythm in Spanish 15

Phonetics 15

Phonemes 15

Vowels 16

Diphthongs, triphthongs 16

Organs of Speech 17

Place of Articulation 18

Description of Consonants 19
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The Vocal Tract 20

Distinguishing Consonants 23

Manner of Articulation 23

English Alphabet 25

Common English Pronunciation Problems 25

Consonants 28

Vowel Chart 30

Complete IPA Vowel Chart 30

Diphthong Chart (British Pronunciation) 31

American Pronunciation 31

Minimal Pairs 33

Minimal Pair Tasks – When and How? 33

Games for Ear Training 35

Making Repetition Fun 38

The Stress System ‘Weak Forms and the Schwa’ 39

Awareness Activities for the Stress System 39

Linkage of Sounds 40

Intonation 40

Tips for Dealing with Intonation 41

Tips for Achieving a Good Model of Spoken English 41

The Schwa 46

What is a Sound Schwa anyway? 47

Phonology 47

English Stress and Vowel Reduction 48

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Vowel System 48

(Inter) Dental Fricatives 49

Alveolar and Alveolar Palatal, Fricatives and Affricatives 49

Diphthongs 49

Consonants 55

‘Z’ in Spanish and English 59

Alveolar Fricatives in Spanish and English 59

What Sounds Can I Choose to Compare? 60

The Chaos (a poem) 61

Process of Pronunciation Correction 63

Falling and Rising Intonation 63

Weak Forms 63

Homophones, American English 64

What´s a Cognate? 73

False Cognates 74

Conclusions 77

Appendix 1 78

Bibliography 79
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PRACTICAL PHONETICS.
PREFACE.

This work does not have the intention to be one more, but to be a practical one.
Having seen the needs of my students about pronunciation during many years of
teaching, I have worked hard enough to give them the minimum aspects to
understand the phonetic symbols.

It has not been an easy task since for my students and teachers phonetic symbols
are not so simple mainly when they are not interested in them. But I have achieved
that some of my students get interested about phonetics not so, many teachers of
English.

Phonetics is meant the science of speech sounds, their production by means of

lips, tongue, palate, and vocal chords, stress and intonation. A foreign language
teacher will find that a thorough knowledge of the essentials of phonetics will be
extremely helpful to him / her in his / her classroom.

Phonetics, to define it we will begin by its etymology. The prefix ‘phon’1 (as well
as the suffix ‘phone’) comes from the Greek "phôné" which means the voice’, the
‘sound’. Phonetics is also a word which comes from Greek. It is an adjective from
“phôné", the word "phônêtikos" which means a relation with the sounds of the
human language. Hence phonetics is a term that has to do with sounds produced
by mankind.

It is not a question of making a student to be repeating time and time again, but to
tell him / her where to place the tongue to produce the sound from the very start.
Students do not need to imitate us the way we repeat once we tell them where and
how to put their tongue.

A simple drawing on the board, a little experimenting with your fingers, and there
you are, the sound that appeared so difficult to appreciate is now understood in its
mechanism,

We have only 5 vowels in Spanish and those same vowels we have them in
English plus 7 more that makes 12, and those 7 vowels do not exist in Spanish, but
we can reproduce them easily, mainly by means of Phonetics.

How should you teach pronunciation? It is very simple, first of all you have to draw
a mouth sideways on the board and by this means you can explain the student

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where to place his/her tongue and make him/her repeat once or twice and you can
realize that the sound comes out fluently.

It is very important to try to imitate the original sounds as much as we can, but
Daniel Jones said ‘No two people pronounce exactly alike. The differences arise
from variety of causes, such as locality, early influences and social surroundings,
there are also individual peculiarities for which is difficult or impossible to account’2.
This is true because of many reasons, but we have to try to do our best with the
pronunciation.

Standard English is the variety of English that is held by many to be 'correct' in

the sense that it shows none of the regional or other variations that are considered
by some to be ungrammatical, or non-standard English. Received Pronunciation,
often called RP, is the way Standard English is spoken; without regional
variations. Standard English and RP are widely used in the media and by public
figures, so it has prestige status and is regarded by many as the most desirable
form of the language.

Further on I will recommend you some tips you could use in class. One thing you
should be sure of is to convince yourself of the need of Phonetics. It is a weapon to
start with, for you to correct yourself.

It is not so hard for me to convince my students about the need to have a good
pronunciation. By means of Phonetics they can imitate a native speaker as much
as they can. So as you can see Phonetics becomes a missile, a very powerful
weapon to teach pronunciation.

Once this dissertation may be approved I should like to mention my beloved

teacher Rubén Alfredo Colores López de Nava, he who was the one that involved
me in this passionate world of Phonetics, ‘may rest in peace’. Another teacher who
continued teaching me and giving me a piece of advice about Phonetics was Javier
Bravo, and I also want to remember my teacher of English Literature Hermilo
Hernández López, ‘may rest in peace’. My tutor Juan Martín Ramírez Hernández
who from now on will become my guide.

English phonetic transcription has played a very big role in my process of learning
English pronunciation. As a teacher, I teach phonetic transcription to all my
students. I still do not know a person with good pronunciation who does not know
phonetic transcription. I want to meet a person who does not care about
transcription and who has good English pronunciation.

What is Phonetics? It is a way of pronouncing words. It concerns describing the

sound of speech that occurs in the languages, English. Phonetics can be defined
as a science, which deals both in theory and practice with the sounds related in
speech. My point here is simple; in order to be competent in English, before
2
Jones, Daniel. 1972. The Pronunciation of English. Cambridge. U.K.
 6

learning the morphology, syntax and semantics of English, one must learn about
phonetics first. It is the easiest way in improving a person's speaking ability in
English.

John Haycraft said, ‘The teaching of pronunciation should, however, be an

integral part of any course. For one thing, students are as concerned about it as
they are with any aspect of learning English’3.

In a survey of 500 adult students from Cordoba, Barcelona, Paris, Turin and Rome
conducted in 1973, one of the questions asked was ‘What do you find most difficult
in English: ‘Grammar’, ‘Speaking’, ‘Understanding’, ‘Pronunciation’, ‘Idioms’,
‘Writing’? Among these alternatives ‘Pronunciation’ was in a substantial majority.

On this work I will concentrate on Received Pronunciation, the kind of English

used by educated native speakers in south-east England and its surrounding
boroughs.

THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

It is important to state from the outset that there are several English dialects or
varieties. The grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of American native speakers
of English are not identical to the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of British
speakers of English. Indeed, within Britain itself there are varieties of spoken
English that are to a large extent mutually unintelligible.

The variety of English that is the basis of comparison is that used by educated,
middle-class people from the south of England. This variety is sometimes called
Standard English or BBC English or Oxford English. The phonology of this variety
is called Received Pronunciation (RP).

Introduction: English is a member of the Germanic language family, which in turn

belongs to the Indo-European language family. There are over 3504 million native
speakers in several countries across the globe, from Canada to New Zealand. It is
the joint or second official language in many more.

English is the language of international business and politics, and by far the most
commonly-learned second language.

Alphabet: The English alphabet consists of 26 Roman letters. There are no

diacritics such as the umlaut in German or the circumflex in French. The
exception is words imported from other languages, e.g. rôle, naïve from French.
However, these words are increasingly written without the diacritic, even in formal
English.

3
Haycraft, John. 1978.An Introduction to English Language Teaching. Longman.
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Although the varieties of spoken English sound very different, all native-speakers
use the same writing conventions.

Pronunciation involves far more than individual sounds. Word stress, sentence
stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English, not to
mention the way we often slur words and phrases together in casual speech. 'What
are you going to do?' becomes 'Whaddaya gonna do?' English pronunciation
involves too many complexities for learners to strive for a complete elimination of
accent, but improving pronunciation will boost self esteem, facilitate
communication, and possibly lead to a better job or a least more respect in the
workplace. Effective communication is of greatest importance, so choose first to
work on problems that significantly hinder communication and let the rest go.
Remember that your students also need to learn strategies for dealing with
misunderstandings, since native pronunciation is for most an unrealistic goal.

A student's first language often interferes with English pronunciation. For example,
/p/ is aspirated in English but not in Spanish, so when a Spanish speaker
pronounces 'pig' without a puff of air on the /p/, an American may hear 'big'
instead. Sometimes the students will be able to identify specific problem sounds
and sometimes they won't. You can ask them for suggestions, but you will also
need to observe them over time and make note of problem sounds. Another
challenge resulting from differences in the first language is the inability to hear
certain English sounds that the native language does not contain. Often these are
vowels, as in 'ship' and 'sheep,' which many learners cannot distinguish. The
Japanese are known for confusing /r/ and /l/, as their language contains neither of
these but instead has one sound somewhere between the two. For problems such
as these, listening is crucial because students cannot produce a sound they cannot
hear. Descriptions of the sound and mouth position can help students increase
their awareness of subtle sound differences.

Here are some ideas for focusing on specific Pronunciation Features.

• Voicing
Voiced sounds will make the throat vibrate. For example, /g/ is a voiced
sound while /k/ is not, even though the mouth is in the same position for
both sounds. Have your students touch their throats while pronouncing
voiced and voiceless sounds? They should feel vibration with the voiced
sounds only.
• Aspiration
Aspiration refers to a puff of air when a sound is produced. Many languages
have far fewer aspirated sounds than English, and students may have
trouble hearing the aspiration. The English /p/, /t/, /k/, and /ch/ are some of
the more commonly aspirated sounds. Although these are not always
aspirated, at the beginning of a word they usually are. To illustrate
aspiration, have your students hold up a piece of facial tissue a few inches
away from their mouths and push it with a puff of air while pronouncing a
word containing the target sound.
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• Mouth-Position
Draw simple diagrams of tongue and lip positions. Make sure all students
can clearly see your mouth while you model sounds. Have students use a
mirror to see their mouth, lips, and tongue while they imitate you.
• Intonation
Word or sentence intonation can be mimicked with a kazoo, or alternatively
by humming. This will take the students' attention off of the meaning of a
word or sentence and help them focus on the intonation.
• Linking
We pronounce phrases and even whole sentences as one smooth sound
instead of a series of separate words. 'Will Amy go away,' is rendered
'Willaymeegowaway.' To help learners link words, try starting at the end of
a sentence and have them repeat a phrase, adding more of the sentence as
they can master it. For example, 'gowaway,' then 'aymeegowaway,' and
• Finally 'Willaymeegowaway' without any pauses between words.

Vowel-Length
You can demonstrate varying vowel lengths within a word by stretching
rubber bands on the longer vowels and letting them contract on shorter
ones. Then let the students try it. For example, the word 'fifteen' would
have the rubber band stretched for the 'ee' vowel, but the word 'fifty' would
not have the band stretched because both of its vowels are spoken quickly.

• Syllables
o Have students count syllables in a word and hold up the correct
number of fingers, or place objects on table to represent each
syllable.
o Illustrate syllable stress by clapping softly and loudly corresponding
to the syllables of a word. For example, the word 'beautiful' would
be loud-soft-soft. Practice with short lists of words with the same
syllabic stress pattern ('beautiful,' 'telephone,' 'Florida') and then
see if your learners can list other words with that pattern.
• Specific Sounds
o Minimal pairs, or words such as 'bit/bat' that differ by only one
sound, are useful for helping students distinguish similar sounds.
They can be used to illustrate voicing ('curl/girl') or commonly
confused sounds ('play/pray'). Remember that it's the sound and not
the spelling you are focusing on.
o Tongue twisters are useful for practicing specific target sounds, plus
they're fun. Make sure the vocabulary is not too difficult.

WHAT IS LINGUISTICS?
In its broadest sense, Linguistics is the study of human language: how it is
structured, how it is used to represent meaning, how it is used to communicate
ideas, how it is formed, how it is decoded. Linguistics tries to look for commonality
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across all human languages, and should not be confused with 'Language
Teaching' which aims to teach a single language. It is confusing that an expert in
languages is called a 'linguist', since it leaves no name for an expert in Linguistics
maybe he should be called a 'linguistician'.

Contemporary Linguistics is divided into sub fields of study; some of these are:

Syntax

The study of the grammatical form of sentences: what makes the sentence
"He gave the book to Mary" have the form of a typical English sentence,
while the sentence "gave he book the Mary to" does not?

Semantics

The study of the meaning of sentences: in the sentence "He gave the book
to Mary" what was happening? who was doing the giving? who was doing
the receiving?

Lexicon

The study of the form and meanings of words and phrases

Pragmatics

The study of how sentences are used to communicate: what are the rules of
discourse that mean we can follow each other's conversations; why when
someone asks you "Can you tell me the time?" you do not answer "yes"
or "no".

Morphology

The study of the form of words: how groups of words share related
meanings through regular patterning: what links "like", "likes", "liked",
"likeness", "likely", "likelihood"?

Phonology

The study of the pronunciation of words and sentences: what basic sounds
are used by a language, what regular patterning occurs in words; why does
the sound used at the end of the word "sing" not occur at the beginning of a
word?
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Phonetics

The study of the production of speech by the human vocal mechanisms:

how are sounds made how do speakers of different accents differ.

Psycholinguistics

The study of the mental processes by which sentences are constructed and
decoded by human beings.

Sociolinguistics

The study of how language variation is related to its use in society to form
groups of geographical region, economic class or ethnicity.

Computational linguistics

The study of how computers can be used to analyze and generate

sentences.

I should like to make an introduction to the Communicative Approach and

say how it would be useful in Phonetics.

Many of today's pronunciation teaching practitioners try to go beyond traditional

classroom techniques such as repetition drills, recognition and discrimination tasks,
descriptions of the articulatory system or transcription practice. Since the advent of
communicative approach, which has dominated the whole spectrum of foreign
language teaching, pronunciation methodology, has started to advocate more
discourse-based approaches. In addition, the focus has shifted dramatically from
teaching segmentals to supreasegmentals with a view to improving general
comprehensibility. Today's pronunciation curricula tend to reflect a more balanced
treatment of suprasegmentals integrated with segmentals with highly functional
load for some time; however, pronunciation has ignored the interaction of the
sound with function and meaning, traditionally focusing only on accurate production
of sounds and intonation patterns. Now the scope of pronunciation instruction is
being seriously questioned since accuracy and fluency are regarded to be highly
interrelated. Consequently, fluency-based communicative activities are more and
more often incorporated into pronunciation instruction, particularly into initial stages
of a lesson in the form of warm-ups. For a detailed treatment of fluency-building
activities such as discussion wheel, fluency workshop or personal introduction
collage.
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Communicative approach holds that oral communication is the primary use of

language and therefore should be central to the mode of instruction. Although
pronunciation is not an explicit feature in this mode of instruction, the importance of
pronunciation has been highlighted by it. By focusing more on active
communication in the classroom, it has been recognized that pronunciation
competence below a certain threshold renders even the most grammatically and
lexically advanced student unintelligible.

This renewed focus on pronunciation has raised many new problems for the
teacher working within the Communicative Approach. One problem is that the
artificial and contrived teacher centered nature of previous pronunciation
instruction techniques does not allow for a comfortable fit with the discourse-based
Communicative Approach. As a result of teacher training methods centered
around the Communicative Approach and the rigidly adhered-to Presentation,
Practice, Production (PPP) model of instruction, a generation of teachers
impartial to, and inadequately trained in the instruction of pronunciation has been
produced.

In an attempt to keep pronunciation communicative, materials writers have

developed materials that focus on suprasegmental aspects of pronunciation.
Generally, integration of pronunciation was only treated with token significance by
material developers in the 1980’s and was more or less pushed to the outer to be
taught in isolation by practitioners still interested enough in its worth and
knowledgeable in its form and function.

The Natural Approach is based on the following tenets5:

• Language acquisition (an unconscious process developed through using

language meaningfully) is different from language learning (consciously
learning or discovering rules about a language) and language acquisition is
the only way competence in a second language occurs. (The
acquisition/learning hypothesis).

•
Conscious learning operates only as a monitor or editor that checks or
repairs the output of what has been acquired. (The monitor hypothesis)
• Grammatical structures are acquired in a predictable order and it does little
good to try to learn them in another order.(The natural order hypothesis).
• People acquire language best from messages that are just slightly
beyond their current competence. (The input hypothesis)
• The learner's emotional state can act as a filter that impedes or
blocks input necessary to acquisition. (The affective filter
hypothesis)
Here are some of the objectives of the Natural Approach

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• it is designed to help beginner become intermediates

• It is designed to depend on learner needs

The syllabus:

The syllabus for the Natural Approach is a communicative syllabus.

Types of learning techniques and activities

• Comprehensible input is presented in the target language, using
techniques such as TPR (Teaching Proficiency Through Reading
and Storytelling), mime and gesture.
• Group techniques are similar to Communicative Language Teaching.
• Learners start to talk when they are ready.

And now to continue I should like to make another introduction, but now to the
Audio Lingual Method and say how it would be useful in Phonetics.

Summarizing the main objectives of this method are:

 Students will learn to use language as a means of expression.

 Activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks
promote learning.
 Language that is meaningful to the learner promotes learning.

The Audio-Lingual Method was based on linguistic and psychological

theory and one of its main premises was the scientific descriptive analysis of a
wide assortment of languages. On the other hand, conditioning and habit-formation
models of learning put forward by behavioristic psychologists were married with the
pattern practices of the Audio-lingual Method. The following points sum up the
characteristics of the method.

The audio-lingual method6 was widely used in the United States and other
countries in the 1950's and 1960's. It is still used in some programs today.
Approach Theory of language

The Structural view of language is the view behind the audio-lingual method.
Particular emphasis was laid on mastering the building blocks of language and
learning the rules for combining them.

The Audio lingual approach to language teaching emphasizes certain kinds of

necessary phonetic abilities

The Audio lingual approach to foreign language instruction places a great

emphasis on teaching students the phonology of the target language in contrast

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with certain other approaches which emphasizes a mastery of skills such as

reading or translation. On this work I intend to discuss some of the reasons for
such an emphasis on phonology in the Audio lingual Method. During the course of
the discussion some evaluative comments will be made on certain methods and
techniques that are used in classrooms by teachers and on several of the
assumptions behind such methods. These comments will lead me into a
presentation of some major objections to the assumptions and derivative practices.
I will briefly outline a few current ideas about our present understanding of what
may be called the ‘facts’ of phonology in general and of English phonology in
particular, and I will suggest that present methods almost entirely fail to
communicate most of these facts to students. I will conclude by suggesting that
future developments in our art must include some provision for helping students to
master just such facts.

One fundamental assumption behind much of what we do in classrooms in foreign

language instruction is that language lives in the throat and mouth and not on
paper, that is, that language essentially speech. Consequently, in the linguistic
literature, we read such statements as ‘language in speech not writing’; the spoken
language is ‘primary’ and the written language is ‘secondary’ all human beings
have access to systems of sounds, whereas have no access to writing systems to
represent these systems of sounds, and children always learn to speak before they
learn to write.

Summarizing the main objectives of this method are:

 Accurate pronunciation and gramar.

 Ability to respond quickly and accurately in speech situations.
 Knowledge of sufficient vocabulary to use with grammar patterns.

I will enlist the main difficulties Spanish speakers can have when they speak
English, according to J. D. O’Connor.

MAIN DIFFICULTIES WITH CONSONANTS.

/v/ and /b/ are confused; sometimes /b/ replaces /v/ and sometimes the
reverse. /b/ must be a complete stop in all positions and /v/ a lip-teeth friction
sound.

/ð/ and /d/ are confused; sometimes /d/ (a very dental variety) replaces /ð/ and
sometimes the reverse. /d/ must be a complete alveolar stop in all positions, and /
ð/ a dental friction sound.

/g/ is often replaced by a similar friction sound; this does not generally lead to
misunderstanding but should be avoided; /g/ must be a complete stop in all
positions.
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/s/ and /z/ are confused, /s/ usually being used for both, though only /z/ occurs
before voiced consonants. /s/ before other consonants is very weak.

/ʃ/ and /ʒ/ do not occur in Spanish and are both replaced by /s/.

/dʒ/ and /ʧ/ are confused, /ʧ/ being used for both.

/h/ is replaced by a strong voiceless friction sound made between the back of the
tongue and the soft palate.
This does not cause confusion, but give a disagreeable effect, and the mouth
friction must be avoided.

/t/ is very dental in Spanish.

/ŋ/ does not occur independently in Spanish and is replaced by /n/ or /ŋg/.

/l/ is always clear in Spanish.

/r/ in Spanish is a tongue-tip trill.

/p, t, k/ are not aspirated in Spanish.

The only consonant sequences which occur in Spanish are initial stop or /f/ + /r/
or /l/. Other initial sequences and practically all final sequences are very difficult
and need much practice.

MAIN DIFFICULTIES WITH VOWELS.

/i:/ and /ɪ/ are confused, the replacement being a vowel usually more like /i:/
than / ɪ/.

/æ/, /ʌ/ and /ɑ:/ (if there is no letter ‘r’ in the spelling) are all confused, /ʌ/ being
used for all three. Where r occurs in the spelling, /ɑ:/ is replaced by the vowel + /r/
of Spanish tarta ‘tap’.

/ə/, /əʊ/ and /ɔ:/ (if there is no letter ‘r’ in the spelling) are all confused, a vowel
intermediate between /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ being used for all three. Where ‘r’ occurs in the
spelling /ɔ:/ is replaced by the vowel + /r/ Of Spanish parque ‘park.

/u:/ and /ʊ/ are confused, the replacement being a vowel usually more like /u:/
than /ʊ/.

/ɜ:/ is replaced by the vowel + /r/ of Spanish ver ‘see’.

 15

/ə/ is usually replaced by some other vowel suggested by the spelling (with /r/
added if the spelling has r).

/ɪə , eə, ʊə/ are replaced by the vowel + /r/ of Spanish vivir ‘go’, ver see, duro
hard.

There is no distinction between long and short vowels in Spanish and all vowels
have the same length as the English short vowels. Special attention must be given
to lengthening to long vowels….

Rhythm in Spanish is like that in French or Hindi. Stressed syllables occur, but
each syllable has approximately the same length and there is none of the variation
in length which results in English from the grouping of syllables into rhythm units.
Special attention must be given to this, to the use of /ə/ in weak syllables and to the
weak forms of unstressed words, which do not occur in Spanish.

Phonetics is the science of speech sounds and it is divided in three sub-fields.

1. Acoustic phonetics: analysis of speech sound waves.

2. Auditory phonetics: how the ear and brain process speech sounds.
3. Articulatory phonetics: how speech sounds are produced by the human vocal
organs.

PHONEMES.
Individual speech sounds are called phones or segments.

Two broad classes of phones:

Consonants: Made by restricting airflow.

Can be voiced or unvoiced.

Can be identified by place and manner of articulation.

Vowels: Airflow is unobstructed.

Always voiced.
Louder than consonants.

VOWELS.
Vowels are voiced. Vowels are determined by how high the tongue is raised in the
mouth and by whether it is the front, the middle or the back part of the tongue.
 16

Front Vowels: /i:/ lead

/ɪ/ lid

/e/ led

/æ/ lad

Middle Vowels: /ɑ:/ heart

/ɒ/ hot

/ɔ:/ horse

/ʊ/ full

/u:/ fool

Back Vowels: /ʌ/ luck

/ɜ:/ lurk

/ə/ again

DIPHTHONGS: When we glide a sound from one vowel position to other, we

call it diphthong.

/eɪ/ say

/ɑɪ/ side

/ɔɪ/ boy

/ɑu/ now

/əʊ/ know

/ɪə/ dear

/eə/ bear

/ʊə/ lure
 17

For some authors there are two more diphthongs, but they are not precisely
diphthongs but triphthongs, and they are five.

/ɑʊə/ towel hour

/ɑɪə/ fire liar

/əɪə/ layer player

/ɔɪə/ loyal royal

/əʊə/ lower mower

ORGANS OF SPEECH.
LL Lips
TT Teeth
Alveolar ridge, convex part of the mouth,
TR
immediately behind the teeth
Hard palate, concave part of the roof of the
H
mouth
S Soft palate in lowered position
Uvula, the loose hanging end of the soft
U
palate
P Pharynx
Blade of the tongue, including the tip, the
BL
part opposite the teeth ridge
Front of the tongue, the part opposite the
F
hard palate
Back of the tongue, the part opposite the
B
soft palate
Epiglottis; this is drawn over the windpipe
E
when swallowing
W Windpipe
FP Food passage
V Vocal cords or vocal lips
The upper extremity of the windpipe
Larynx (Adam’s apple) which contains and protects
the vocal cords
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PLACE OF ARTICULATION.
• The place of obstruction of air at some points in the vocal cords.
• Used to classify consonants
• Each place of articulation has an adjective applied to a consonant

Lips Labial/ Bilabial Teeth Dental Alveolar ridge Alveolar Hard palate Palatal Soft
palate Velar Uvula Uvular Pharynx Pharyngeal Tip Apical Blade Laminal Front
Dorsal Back Dorsal.

DISCRIPTION OF CONSONANTS.

Consonants Place

/p/ Bilabial

/b/ Bilabial
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/t/ Tip-alveolar

/d/ Tip-alveolar

/k/ Back-velar

/g/ Back-velar

Blade/front –
/ /
palato-alveolar

Blade/front –
/ /
palato-alveolar

/m/ Bilabial

/n/ Tip-alveolar

/ / Back-velar

/f/ Labio-dental

/v/ Labio-dental

/ / Tip-dental

/ / Tip-dental

/s/ Blade-alveolar

/z/ Blade-alveolar

Blade/front –palato-
/ /
alveolar

Blade/front –palato-
/ /
alveolar

/h/ Glottal

/l/ Tip-alveolar

/r/ Blade-postalveolar

/w/ Bilabial back-velar

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/j/ Front-palatal

THE VOCAL TRACT.

The human vocal tract, within which speech sounds are produced, is made up of a
number of structures in the head and neck, extending from the lips and nostrils
down to the larynx at the top of the trachea. A cross-section of the vocal tract (at
the mid-line of the head) is shown in Figure 1. Though all of the structures in the
human vocal tract also appear in the vocal tracts of chimpanzees, other apes, and
monkeys, the overall layout and arrangement of these structures, especially at the
back of the throat, is strikingly different in humans than it is in other primates.
These differences appear to be related to the uniquely human capacity for speech.

The Human Vocal Tract. Fig 1.

 21

The structures that are used to form speech sounds (principally the tongue,
teeth and lips) are called articulators. Some of the more important structures in
the vocal tract are described below.

The larynx (or voice box) is made mostly of cartilage and sits at the top of the
trachea (the ìwind pipeî that connects the nose and mouth with the lungs). The
larynx provides a rigid framework within which two bands of muscle, the vocal folds
(sometimes called ìvocal chordsî) are stretched across the top of the airway to the
lungs. When fully tensed and drawn together, the vocal folds can effectively block
the flow of air out of the lungs (or provide a last ditch barrier against food or water
that threatens to get into the lungs). In a somewhat more relaxed state, the vocal
folds vibrate as air from the lungs is forced between them. This process is
characteristic of the production of vowel sounds in all the world is languages. The
vocal folds can be positioned in a variety of ways that are used to produce different
vowel qualities in various languages and sometimes are also used in forming
consonant sounds. The vocal folds are drawn fully apart when breathing, especially
during heavy exertion. The human larynx, however, can only open to about half the
cross-sectional area of the trachea and so always somewhat resists the flow of air
into and out of the lungs.

The tongue, as indicated above, plays a decisive role in forming the

constrictions for many consonants and in distinguishing vowels. The tongue is, by
far, the most mobile and flexible structure in the vocal tract. It is able to assume a
wide variety of complex three-dimensional shapes and to touch all the other
structures in the mouth from the lips to the back wall of the pharynx. In forming
many consonant sounds the tongue plays a key role in making the constriction in
the vocal tract that characterizes the consonant. Differences in vowel quality are
determined largely by shapes the tongue assumes without significantly constricting
the vocal tract.

The pharynx is the open space at the back of the throat that runs from the back
of the nasal cavity down to the larynx. A crucial distinguishing feature of this cavity
in humans is that the front wall of the oral pharynx (below the velum) is formed by
the back (or root) of the tongue. Mostly because of the flexibility of the tongue this
means that the shape and size of the pharynx can vary greatly.

The velum is the back part of the soft palate, the fleshy part of the roof of your
mouth that you can feel with your tongue or finger about half to two-thirds of the
way back from your teeth. The velum is a moveable structure that, when pressed
up and back, closes the airway from the mouth into the nasal cavity.

The epiglottis is the small structure that projects backward into the airway just
above the larynx and vocal folds. It helps to keep food and water out of the larynx.
 22

The human epiglottis cannot touch the velum, but in other mammals the epiglottis
and larynx can make a tight closure with the opening into the nasal cavity. This
makes it possible for them to drink and breathe at the same time because water (or
food) can pass around the larynx into the oesophagus without risk of getting into
the airway. Adult humans cannot match this feat, though infants can.

In forming constrictions of the vocal tract various parts of the tongue touch or
approach several important landmarks along the roof of the mouth. The most
important of these landmarks for describing English consonants are the teeth, the
alveolar ridge (a slight prominence that you can feel with your tongue, just behind
your upper teeth), the hard palate (the bony part of the roof of your mouth), and the
velum. These are used to make or shape the constrictions of the vocal tract that
characterize many consonants. Different parts of the tongue are used for different
consonants, the constriction being produced with the tip of the tongue, the tongue
blade (the area just behind the tip), various points along the upper surface of the
tongue, or the tongue root.

DISTINGUISHING CONSONANTS.
Consonants can be differentiated in any language by reference to three
parameters; place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing. Other
parameters will also be relevant in some languages. We will apply this principle
here to the description and differentiation of English consonants.

The place of articulation for a consonant is the point in the vocal tract where
the constriction for that consonant is formed. For each of the places of articulation
listed below, consider what other consonants there might be (other than those
used as examples below) that use the same place of articulation.

Bilabial a bilabial place of articulation is used for the first sound in words like pin
and bin. Notice that in saying these words you begin by bringing your lips together.

Labiodental words like fin begin with a labiodental articulation in which the
upper teeth contact or approach the lower lip.

Dental, dental articulations are those like the first consonant in thin that involve
the tongue touching or approaching the back of the teeth.

Alveolar the front of the tongue touches or approaches the alveolar ridge in
forming consonants such at those at the beginning of tin and den.

Palatal notice that the first sounds in chump and jump also involve the front of
the tongue touching the roof of the mouth, but a bit further back than with the
alveolar examples above. This more back point of contact is the (hard) palate.
 23

Though most palatal sounds use the front of the tongue, there is one in English
that uses the back of the tongue; this is the first sound in yet.

Velar In the first sounds in cow and gout, the back of the tongue raises high
enough to touch the velum, making a closure there.

Glottal sometimes the vocal folds are drawn close enough together to produce a
slight hissing or whispering sound. This is called a glottal place of articulation and
occurs in the first sound of words like how and who in English.

Other places of articulation that are not relevant to any English consonants are
used in some other languages.

Manner of Articulation: Obviously, there must be some further way to

differentiate consonants because in English there are two or more consonants that
are produced at each of the places of articulation described above (except for
glottals). The next basic distinction has to do with how much the flow of air is
constricted in the vocal tract. Tack and sack both begin with alveolar sounds, but
they are not identical. What distinguishes them is the extent to which a constriction
is made at the alveolar ridge in these two cases.

Stop, Tack begins with what is known as a stop consonant. Stop consonants are
those where there is a momentary complete closure of the vocal tract. Notice that
while making the first sound in tack you cannot hum or breathe. If you were to start
to say tack very slowly and a little loudly (as though you were trying very hard to
be clear in a noisy environment), and you then were to freeze at the moment when
the tongue touches the alveolar ridge, your vocal tract would be completely closed,
with no air able to enter or leave through your mouth or nose. You cannot hum
through stop consonants because humming requires moving air through the vocal
folds, which you cannot do when the vocal tract is completely blocked higher up.
Such a complete blockage is characteristic of consonants that have the stop
manner of articulation. The constriction that characterizes the consonant is made
by briefly completely stopping the flow of air. In normal fast speech, however, this
interruption of the flow of air can be extremely brief, sometimes only a few
milliseconds (thousandths of a second).

Fricative another way to interrupt the flow of air out of the mouth occurs in the
first sound in sack. Here the tongue approaches the alveolar ridge, but allows a
small channel to form between the tongue and the roof of the mouth. Air rushing
through this small channel becomes very turbulent and produces the hissing sound
that is characteristic of this sort of consonant. Notice that the first sound in sack
can be sustained. You can take a deep breath and make the s in ssssssssack
last as long as your air holds out.
 24

Affricate, affricates combine the stop and fricative manners of articulation into a
single new type. In words like chat the first sound begins with a palatal stop, but
then very quickly moves into a fricative at the same point of articulation.

Nasal the first sound in Macintosh is a nasal, a sound where the flow of air is
blocked in the mouth but allowed to flow freely through the nasal cavity. Nasals
involve an articulation inside the oral cavity that corresponds to some stop. Thus,
the first sounds in Mack and back are both stop consonants in so far as the activity
of the lips is concerned (closing off the airstream altogether). However, you will
notice that you can hum through the first sound in Mack, but not the first sound in
back. The reason for this is that we produce nasals by lowering the velum to allow
air to pass from the pharynx into the nasal cavity and out the nose.

Liquid, liquids are somewhat vowel-like articulations that allow quite free passage
of air around an obstruction. The air may flow freely around the sides of the
tongue, as in the first sound in lake, or it may flow over a curled back tongue, as in
the first sound in rake.

Glide, the first sounds in we and yes are called glides, which are the most vowel-
like of the consonants. In these sounds the air flow is quite free. Notice that the first
sound in we is very similar to the first sound in oops, and the first sound in yes is
quite similar to the first sound in eat.

ENGLISH ALPHABET.

COMMON ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION PROBLEMS.

FIX PROBLEM ENGLISH WORD COMMON WORD
SOUND ERROR
Voiceless. Friction. Front of /ʃ/ "sherry" /ʧ/ "cherry"
tongue to palate
Keep tongue front & low and /æ/ "ran" /ʌ/ "run"
jaws apart.
Tongue low, back & fixed. /ɔ:/ "bought" /əʊ/ "boat"
Jaws together.
Back of tongue high. Lips /ʊ/ "full" /u:/ "fool"
 25

rounded but relaxed. Short.

Fix tongue in /ɜ:/ "bird"

central position.
Long.
Tongue central. /əʊ/ "note" /ɑ/ "not"
Then tightly
round lips.
Voiced. /b/ "bet" /v/ "vet"
Vibration. Trap
air with lips.
Voiced. Friction /v/ "vet" /b/ "bet"
with top teeth &
bottom lip.
Voiced. Friction. /ð/ "clothe" /θ/ "cloth"
Tongue
between lips.
Tip of tongue /d/ "laid" /ð/ "lathe"
behind top
teeth.
Voiceless: tip of /s/ "mass" /ʃ/ "mash"
tongue behind
top teeth.
Friction.
Relax the mouth /ɪ/ "sit" /i:/ "seat"
and keep sound
short.
Voiceless. /ʃ/ "push" /s/ "puss"
Friction. Front
of tongue to
palate.
Quickly push air /h/ "hot" "ch" in "loch"
from throat out
of mouth.
Voiced: Tip to /dʒ/ "wage"
alveolar. Front
to palate.
Voiced: Tip to /dʒ/ "Jerry" /ʃ/ "sherry"
alveolar. Front
to palate.
Voiceless stop: /k/ "could" /w/ "would"
back of tongue
to back roof.
Voiceless stop: /k/ "come" /g/ "gum"
back of tongue
to back roof.
Voiced stop: /ŋ/ + /g/ "thing" /ŋ/ + /k/ "think"
back of tongue
to back roof.
Tongue touches /n/ "sun"
alveolar ridge.
Nasal.
 26

Back of tongue /ŋ/ + /k/ "think" /ŋ/ + /g/ /ŋ/ + /g/

to back roof.
Nasal.

British "r" is Silent "survivor" /r/ "Sir Ivor"

weaker &
usually silent
unless followed
by a vowel.
Glide /j/(i:) the /j/ "yam" /dʒ/ "jam"
tongue quickly
to next sound
Start with lips /w/ "win"
tightly rounded. "(g)win"
Unround &
glide.
Start with lips /w/ "will" /b/ "bill"
tightly rounded.
Unround &
glide.
Voiceless: tip of /s/ "rice" /z/ "rise"
tongue behind
top teeth.
Friction.

To continue I am going to present an analysis of sounds of the following vowels: a,

e, i, o, u.

Analysis of ‘a’. It has the following sounds: eɪ, ə, ɔ:, ɑ:, æ, ɪ.

Examples:

table attack talk tart tackle cottage luggage

/’teɪbl/ /ə’tæk/ /tɔ:k/ /tɑ:t/ /’tækl/ /’kɒtɪdʒ/ /’lʌgɪdʒ/

Analysis of ‘e’. It has the following sounds: e, ɪ, ə, ɜ:.

Examples:

pencil example photographer pert

/’pensl/ /ɪg’zɑ:mpl/ /fə’tɒgrəfə/ /pɜ:t/

It is also unvoiced.
 27

Examples:

table
/’teɪbl/

Analysis of ‘i’. It has the following sounds: ɑi, ɪ, ɜ:, ə, i:.

time tin girl missile even

/tɑim/ /tɪn/ /gɜ:l/ /’mɪsəl/ /i:vn/

Analysis of ‘o’. It has the following sounds: ɒ, əʊ, ə, ʌ, ɔ:. Americans instead of
using ɒ, they use a kind of ‘a’ and instead of using əʊ, they use oʊ.

Examples:

lot low photograph Monday condor

/lɒt/ /ləʊ/ /’fəʊtəgrɑ:f/ /’mʌndeɪ/ /kɒndɔ:/

/lɑt/ /loʊ/ /’foʊtəgrɑ:f/ American pronunciation.

Analysis of ‘u’. It has the following sounds: ʌ, ju:, ɜ:, ə.

Examples:

culture unit turn condominium

/’kʌlʧə/ /’ju:nɪt/ /tɜ:n/ /,kɒndə’mɪnɪəm/

All of these sounds are Received Pronunciation (Standard English).

CONSONANTS: They are classified in bi-labial, labiodental, dental, alveolar,

palato-alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal.

Places of articulation for English consonants.

Bilabial: /p/, /b/, /m/

Labiodental: /v/, /f/
Dental: / ð/, / θ/
Alveolar: /s/, /z/, /t/, /d/
Palato-alveolar: /ʃ/, /ʧ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/
Palatal: /j/
Velar: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/
Glottal: /h/

Manner of articulation for English consonants.

Examples for English consonants:

 28

Stop (plosive): /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

Nasal: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/
Fricative: /f/, /v/, / ð/, /θ/
Sibilant: /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/
Affricate: /ʧ/, /dʒ/
Approximant: /j/, /w/, /l/
Tap (flap): /r/

DISCRIPTION OF VOWELS: They are described in terms of three articulatory

parameters.

Height: is the tongue high or low in the mouth?

Backness: is the tongue at the front or back of the mouth?

Rounding: are the lips rounded or unrounded?

Examples: /i:/, /u:/, /ɑ/, /ɒ/

Vowe Exampl Articulatory

l e Description
i: read high front unrounded
u: rude high back rounded
ɑ right low front unrounded
ɒ rod low back rounded

The symbol /:/ is a length mark; note that the vowel in /hi:d/ ‘heed’ is longer in
duration than the vowel in /hɪd/ ‘hid’
 29

VOWEL CHART.
This chart shows the position of the vowels /i:/, /u:/, /ɑ/, /ɒ/ based on the position
of the tongue.
Front Back

i: ʊ:

Close Open
ɑ ɒ

American linguists prefer the terms high and low, the IPA (International Phonetic
Alphabet) prescribes the terms close and open instead.

High vowel: tongue is close to the roof of mouth.

Low vowel: mouth is wide open.

COMPLETE IPA VOWEL CHART.

Front Central Back

i: u:

ɪ ʊ

ɜ:
ə
e ɔ:
 30

æ ʌ ɒ
a:

DIPHTHONGS CHART.
BRITISH PRONUNCIATION.

Front Central Back

ɪə ʊə

eɪ eʊ

eə ɔi

ɑɪ aʊ

AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION.

Now I will analyze every vowel.

 31

i: this is the vowel we call the long-i and it does have a rule to be pronounced, it is
pronounced like the ‘i’ in Spanish. As it was mentioned previously the symbol /:/ is
a long sound so we pronounce the i: with a long sound. For example:

see like the word ‘sí’ in Spanish so whenever you see this double ‘ee’ pronounce
that i as we do in Spanish.

In some words the two letters ea sometimes are pronounced with the long-i, but
this is not a rule, this two letters are also pronounced in some words, as if it were
an ɑ: For example:

tea but we have the word ‘break’ and we pronounce it /breɪk/

/ti:/

And it also sometimes we pronounce these two letters ea like in breakfast.

/e/ /’brekfəst/

Heart hearth
/hɑ:t/ /hɑ:θ/

When we have a word with the ‘table’ ending that ‘a’ will be pronounced with e-
sound. For example:

portable comfortable
/’pɔ:təbl/ /’kʌmftebl/

Fig. 1

ɪ This is the short-i and when it is before a consonant we will pronounce it as

though it were a short-i. For example:

sit
/sɪt/
 32

But this is not a rule because we have the words ‘live’ as a verb and live as an
adjective
/’lɪv/ /’laɪv/

MINIMAL PAIRS.

It will not be sufficient to just hear the sound that is new, it needs to be compared
and contrasted with the sound from the students’ own language which is mistaken
for it. This involves creating minimal pairs of sounds to highlight the differences in,
e.g. ship/sheep; fit/feet, since the sound /ɪ/ in the English ship and fit does not
feature in Spanish, French or Italian and is substituted with /i/ as in sheep and
feet. Consonant clusters beginning with /θ/ are a problem for Germans, Spanish,
French and Italians. Minimal pair work can contrast /θ/ in three with the /t/ as in
tree.

MINIMAL PAIR TASKS-WHEN AND HOW?

It is best to deal with minimal pair work when it arises out of a real need. It can be a
mistake to identify sounds which cause bother for the learners in your host country
and then introduce activities out of the blue that bear no relation to the rest of the
lesson. If a problem arises during a class with a teacher and you are asked to
model a consonant or vowel, then it is an appropriate moment to give a set of
minimal pairs to illustrate the sound, so have a list prepared wherever possible.

With these two vowels we can make an exercise called ‘Minimal Pairs’

i: ɪ
beet bit
kneel nil
seat sit
beat bit
 33

Fig. 2

e this vowel has the pronunciation of a short-i, it is voiceless at the end of each
word, and we also pronounce it like the ‘e’ in Spanish. For example:

short-i example
/ɪg’za:mpl/

With this example I also can show that the ‘e’ at the end of the word is unvoiced.

Words like: pen ten send

/pen/ /ten/ /send/

This ‘e’ is pronounced like in Spanish.

But it also has the sound of long-i. For example:

Eve even
/i:v/ /i:vn/

Among other words.

Fig. 3
 34

æ This is a vowel we do not have in Spanish, but we can reproduce it, you just
place the tip of your tongue behind your lower teeth and pronounce an ‘a’ in
Spanish, and there you can get the sound. For example:

sad tan apple

/sæd/ /tæn/ /’æpl/

GAMES FOR EAR TRAINING.

Prepare a list of minimal pairs, e.g. hit /heat bit/beat sit/seat
grin/green tin/teen.

Read out one pair and get students to say which word is each, writing them on the
board.

Read one of the words twice. ‘Are they the same or different?’ (The Same.)

Read the contrasting words. ‘Are they the same or different?’ (Different.)

Continue with all the pairs, mixing same and different. Students write S or D in their
notebooks.

Pairs can confer and then read the list of pairs again for checking.

Alternatively, make it into a team challenge game. Doing this with numbers from
the beginning is great fun, e.g. ‘13 or 30? 14 or 40?’ and numbers which cause
confusion, such as 6 and 7 in combinations 66 or 67.

Minimal pair pictures. With younger learners the minimal pair listening can
become a drawing exercise. Either circle the drawing if you hear the word, e.g.
house or mouse or ask a class to draw the word they hear and compare drawings
to check.

Odd man out. Read a list of four words, all except one containing the
same consonant cluster or vowel. ‘Was it 1, 2, 3, or 4?’ For example,
church; shoe; chess; cheese.
 35

How many times? Choose a sound to focus on and after initial

repetition read sentences or a short text containing the sound once,
twice or even three times. Teams must say if they have heard it more
than once or just once. Pick some sentences where the sound is not
there at all.

Let us make another table of Minimal Pairs.

i: ɪ e Æ
teen Tin ten tan
keen Kin ken can
peak pick peck pack
sear Sit set sat

Fig. 4

ɑ: This is a vowel we produce in the back part of the mouth, we do not have it in
Spanish, but we can reproduce it. For example.
 36

are car bar

/ɑ:/ /kɑ:/ /bɑ:/
/ɑ:(r)/ /k ɑ:(r)/ /b ɑ:(r)/

We have to mark something outstanding; in British English we do not pronounce

the ‘r’ in the middle of a word and at the end, not so in American English.

Fig. 5

ɒ This is a vowel we do not have in Spanish. It is a sound between ‘a’ and ‘o’. For
example:

hot lot cottage

/hɒt/ /lɒt/ /’kɒtɪdʒ/

But in American pronunciation, it rather sounds as if it were an ‘a’

Fig. 6
 37

ɔ: This is the ‘o’ sound we have in Spanish and we pronounce it in English in the
same way. For example:

door Lord sword dwarf warm mourn

/dɔ:/ /lɔ:d/ /sɔ:d/ /dwɔ:f/ /wɔ:m/ /mɔ:n/

board court caught bought

/bɔ:d/ /kɔ:t/ /kɔ:t/ /bɔ:t/

Crawl straw Austria altar almanac

/krɔ:l/ /strɔ:/ /ɒstrɪə/ /ɔ:ltə/ /ɔ:lmənæk/

Take a look at the word Austria and check the pronunciation.

As you can see in some words with the vowels ‘oa’, ‘ou’, ‘au’, ‘ou’, ‘aw’, ‘au’, ‘a’.
What I have found that all the ‘aw’s’ are pronounce ɔ: and the ‘au’s, but I have
found a word that is not pronounced in that way, the word ‘aunt’. Americans
pronounce it like ‘ant’ /ænt/ but not so British, they pronounce it /ɑ:nt/ . In the case
of the word ‘laugh’ as you can see we have the diphthong ‘au’, but British
pronounce it /lɑ:f/ and Americans /læf/. We also pronounce this diphthong /ɒ/ as
we mentioned above in ‘Austria’, but also in ‘Australia’ in this word ‘laurel’
British pronounce it /’lɒrəl/ and Americans /’lɔ:rəl/.

So as you can see this sound appears with a different spelling. Be careful when
you cope with this kind of words, you should consult a reliable dictionary.

MAKING REPETITION FUN.

Repetition of phrases and words is a necessary part of language learning.

Teenagers are the most reticent group of learners, since they are more concerned
with making fools of themselves in front of their peers. Making repetition into a fun
activity, and not a chore, can be done in a variety of ways.

Play with volume. Ask learners to say something in a louder voice, increasing
the volume (be wary of the classes next door) or ask students to speak in a
whisper, very quietly.

Experiment with tone. Say something in a curious, surprised,

angry, bored or frightened tone. This is great for raising awareness of
intonation and its importance. Even beginners’ classes enjoy
experimenting with different ways of asking Yes? or saying Thank you.
 38

This is also useful for higher level students preparing for reading aloud in
exams.

Experiment with speed. ‘How fast can you say it?’, building up speed like a
train.

Adding to a list (see list games for practising unstressed syllables below) and
making it into a game-like activity: ‘We went to the park and we played tennis,
played football, played cards on the grass, played ...’

Playing with numbers. Counting in evens, odds, tens, backwards or saying

times tables. If you have younger learners and beginners use

Playing with rhyme. Play rhyme games, where one student says a word and
the next adds one that rhymes, e.g. day ... play ... say ... pay ... grey.

Categorize words. Mix up groups of words with contrasting vowels or

consonants which cause difficulty with different stress patterns. Students in pairs
words with the class. Students think of more words to fit each category.

THE STRESS SYSTEM: WEAK FORMS AND THE

SCHWA /ə/
The most important sound in the English language is the schwa /ə/. Note its
presence in the following basic exchanges: ‘Hə ve you got thə time?’ ‘Yes, it’s
nine ə ‘clock.’ This neutral vowel is used in unstressed syllables of words and
weak forms in a sentence. It should be a priority to help students become aware of
this throughout their course, from beginners up to advanced level. This weak
vowel-sound /ə/ can replace every vowel sound and so has its own symbol. If you
wish to teach any symbols this one should be the main one. Word stress in English
is variable: any syllable can carry the main stress whereas in other languages
stress may fall on the last syllable, so learners are surprised. Getting the stress on
the wrong syllable can make the word incomprehensible to native English
speakers. This has more impact on intelligibility than mispronounced sound the
vowel sound becomes a schwa.)

Who are you waiting for? Where are you from?

I’m waiting fə my sister. I’m frəm Spain.

 39

AWARENESS ACTIVITIES FOR THE STRESS

SYSTEM.

Work on recognizing weak forms helps students to hear unstressed elements in

speech and greatly improves listening comprehension. From beginner level
upwards, five-minute activities to integrate with all lessons:

Counting syllables (on fingers) through listening, not looking at words.

Dividing a sentence into groups of syllables through listening.

Practicing with visuals of two-syllable words with stress on the first

syllable, e.g. Germən, and sets like: mother, father, sister, brother; doctor,
teacher, driver, baker; better, faster, cheaper.

Encourage students to anticipate the pronunciation of new words

encountered in reading and mark the stress of new words when you write them on
the board. If dictionaries are used, draw attention to stress markings in students’
dictionaries.

Use songs. Sentence stress and the schwa /ə/ are usually very clear in songs.
Singers greatly exaggerate stressed syllables and the contrast is more marked.
Use individual singers with strong, clear voices. Integrate this aspect with your
other exploitation tasks for songs.

LINKAGE OF SOUNDS.
When listening to English at normal speed you will note that we move smoothly
from one word to the next, so that there aren’t pauses between words. This can be
seen in the most basic expressions: Thanks a lot. Thanksə sounds like a single,
two-syllable word), and the most elementary of sentences: I’m a student (I’mə ...).
Pausing after every word sounds artificial. Indicate linkage in board summaries for
all classes.

Treat groups of words and phrases as they come up in a course:

could have = couldəv; must have = mustəv; might have = mightəv;

INTONATION.
Intonation is very important for intelligibility since it tells the listener something
about the speaker’s intentions. Misunderstanding can occur when you might think
 40

a speaker sounds bored when there is not the same use of pitch or variation in
melody in the voice in their own language. Link your intonation practice to the
functional use of language in the students’ course. Take short dialogues from their
textbook in order to focus on one feature.

Example: Asking for repetition: listen and read. Notice where the voice rises or
falls. Then listen and repeat.

A: What time’s the Amsterdam train? A: How far is it to Amsterdam?

B: Eleven B: About 200 km

A: Sorry? What time? A: How far?

B: Eleven, eleven in the morning. B: About 200 km

TIPS FOR DEALING WITH INTONATION.

The pitch movement at the end of a sentence or question is essential for

meaning and understanding the speaker’s attitude. Focus on this clearly.

Try not to use very long examples for practice, as students find it difficult.

Use your hands as a conductor to show sweep and flow of pitch as you
ask a question for speech practice. Keep these hand movements consistent.

Use arrows on the board to highlight pitch rising or falling.

Use backchaining: read long sentences down from the end to help students
repeat them, e.g. ‘Do you mind if I smoke?’ Do this in a lively, brisk manner.

Assistant: smoke? Students: smoke?

Assistant: if I smoke? Students: if I smoke?

Assistant: mind if I smoke? Students: mind if I smoke?

Assistant: Do you mind if I smoke? Students: Do you mind if I smoke?

Focus on intonation depending on the functional language of their main

textbook. Re-use short known dialogues from their books. This means you can
completely focus on intonation, without worrying about them not understanding
the dialogue.
 41

TIPS FOR ACHIEVING A GOOD MODEL OF

SPOKEN ENGLISH
Speed. Don’t change, keep to a fairly normal speed but pause a little longer
between sense groups. The learners’ ears have to tune in to your voice and this
will take time. Slowing down too much will only distort the sound you are modelling.

Consistency. Don’t change your intonation. This is easier said than done if you
are not used to modelling intonation. One tip is to break your model by giving a
brief command to the class which then helps you to repeat the item, e.g. ‘What’s
your name?’ ‘Listen again / all together / What’s your name?’

Variety. Use a good balance of whole class or choral responses and individual
repetition.

Listening. Move around and listen to individuals. Try to be silent when students
are speaking so that you can listen to them. When students repeat, don’t repeat
with them.

Frequency. It is better to do five minutes of speech work every lesson than one
long session every now and then. Pronunciation practice can be boring and
repetitive if you do it for a long time.

Clarity. Make every possible use of visual clues to help students. Speak clearly,
facing them so they can all see your mouth and facial expression. When using
video, exploit the video with sound off, asking questions about the speaker’s mood
(e.g. ‘Is he angry?’ Friendly?’) and body language, before showing the video
with sound on.

The linking /r/ in: here and there; better and bitter; closer and browser; mother
and father.

Let us make another table of Minimal Pairs.

ɑ: ɒ ɔ:
cart hot door
card not roar
dart lot soar
lard John cord
 42

Fig. 7

ʊ We do not have this sound in Spanish, but you can do it by opening your mouth
semi opened. For example:

full bull pull look book

/fʊl/ /bʊl/ /pʊl/ /lʊk/ /bʊk/

As you can see we have this pronunciation in some ‘u’s’ and double ‘o’s’

Fig. 8

u: This is the ‘u’ sound we have in Spanish, we round the mouth and we
pronounce it in English in the same way. For example:

rude suit moon room

/ru:d/ /su:t/ /mu:n/ /ru:m/

Let us make another table of Minimal Pairs.

 43

ʊ u:
took root
soot Suit
look Luke
cook boot

Fig. 9
ʌ This is the ‘a’ sound we have in Spanish. For example:

sun son country couple brother

/sʌn/ /sʌn/ /’kʌntrɪ/ /’kʌpl/ /’brʌðə/

So as you can see this is an ‘a’ like the one we have in Spanish and we have this
pronunciation in some ‘u’s’, ‘o’s’, the two words ‘ou’. Be careful this is not a rule;
remember just in case of a doubt you have to check a reliable dictionary.
 44

Fig. 10

ɜ: We do not have this sound in Spanish, but we can produce it and we have it
‘i’s’, ‘u’s’, ‘e’s’. For example:

girl bird hurt burn permanent pert

/gɜ:l/ /bɜ:d/ /hɜ:t/ /bɜ:n/ /’pɜ:mənənt/ /pɜ:t/

We have to mark that Americans pronounce the ‘r’ in these words.

Fig. 11

ə This is perhaps one of the most difficult vowels to be pronounced for foreign
English students. This vowel appears at the beginning of words, in the middle and
at the end. This is the only phonetic symbol that has a name, it is called ‘schwa’ is
from Hebrew origin and then passes to the German language and then to English.
For example:

again Maria banana photographer

/ə’gen/ /mər’ɪə/ /bə’nɑ:nə/ /fə’tɒgrəfə/
 45

Americans pronounce this word like this: banana

/bə’nænə/

Fig. 12

THE SCHWA.
The Schwa is the name for the most common sound in English. It is a weak,
unstressed sound and it occurs in many words. It is often the sound in grammar
words such as articles and prepositions.

Getting the schwa sound correct is a good way of making your pronunciation
more accurate and natural and get closer to the native English speakers.

In unstressed syllables: any vowel letter can be pronounced as schwa and

the pronunciation of a vowel letter can change depending on whether the syllable
in which it occurs is stressed or not.

Not just a letter: The sound schwa does not only represent a single letter. In
some words it is the sound of several letters or even a whole syllable.

This is often, but not only, seen in words which have a syllable made up of a vowel
letter followed by the letter 'r'. Remember the schwa sound is only used if the
syllable which it is in is not stressed.

A schwa sound can be represented by any vowel. In most dialects, for example,
the schwa sound is found in the following words:
 46

The a is schwa in adept.

The e is schwa in synthesis.

The i is schwa in decimal.

The o is schwa in harmony.

The u is schwa in medium.

The y is schwa in syringe.

a e i o u
alphabet chapel dormitory actor faculty
alph ə chap ə dorm ə act ə r facl ə ty
bet l tory

WHAT IS A ‘SCHWA’ SOUND ANYWAY?

The name comes from the Hebrew point system devised to indicate7 vowels in a
writing system that normally didn't use them. The phoneme and the associated
grapheme - a turned e / ə / - were identified in the late 19th Century. It has been
part of the IPA (International Phonetic Association) notation since it was first
published in 1897.

Phonology: The phonological system of Spanish is significantly different from

that of English, particularly in the aspects of vowel sounds and sentence stress.
These differences are very serious obstacles to Spanish learners being able to
acquire a native-English-speaker accent.

Spanish has 5 pure vowels and 5 diphthongs. The length of the vowel is not
significant in distinguishing between words. This contrasts with English, which has
12 pure vowel sounds and 8 diphthongs, for some authors 10. The length of the
vowel sound plays an important role. It is not surprising, therefore, that Spanish
7
http://www.fortunecity.com
 47

learners may have great difficulty in producing or even perceiving the various
English vowel sounds. Specific problems include the failure to distinguish the
sounds in words such as ship/sheep, taught/tot, fool/full or cart/cat/cut.

Producing English consonant sounds is not so problematic for many Spanish

learners, but difficult enough! They may have problems in the following aspects:

• Failure to pronounce the end consonant accurately or strongly enough ; e.g.

cart for the English word card or brish for bridge or thing for think.
• Problems with the /v/ in words such as vowel or revive.
• Difficulties in sufficiently distinguishing words such as see/she or
jeep/sheep/cheap.
• The tendency to prefix words beginning with a consonant cluster on s- with
an /ε/ sound; so, for example, school becomes eschool and strip becomes
estrip.
• The swallowing of sounds in other consonant clusters; examples: next
becomes nes and instead becomes istead.

Spanish is a syllable-timed language. When Spanish speakers transfer the

intonation patterns of their mother tongue into English, which is a stress-timed
language, the result can be barely comprehensible to native English speakers. This
is because the meaning or information usually conveyed in English by the
combination of stress, pitch and rhythm in a sentence is flattened or evened out
by the Spanish learner.

Due to shared Latin influence English and Spanish have many cognates, and the
corresponding collection of false friends, such as eventual (English translation >
possible) or particular (English translation > private), and so on.

English stress and vowel reduction: This aspect of English is rather

complex and can get technical, but put as simply as possible, it is difficult for a non-
native speaker of English to know where to put the "stress" or "accent" in words
of two or more syllables. For example, English can distinguish between 'conVICT'
(a verb) and 'CONvict' (a noun) simply by stressing the second vs. the first
syllable. Associated with stress ("accent") is the fact that unstressed syllables in
English have "reduced" vowels. Compare the way the vowels are pronounced in
'PHOtograph' (stressed on the first syllable) vs. 'phoTOgrapher' (stressed on the
second syllable) vs. 'photoGRAPHic' (stressed on the third syllable).

Vowel system: English has an unusually large number of vowels, with two
high front vowels (i, I), two high back vowels (u, U), two mid front vowels (e, E),
and both low front and low central vowels (æ, a), among others. Many languages
have only the vowel sounds /i, u, e, o, a/. You may thus want to illustrate problems
speakers of such languages have with English vowels.
 48

(Inter) Dental Fricatives: The two sounds written as "th" in English, as in

'thigh' and 'thy', are quite unusual among the world's languages and almost
invariably are difficult for second language learners of English. Just think about
non-native speakers of English trying to say the phrase 'this thing'.

Alveolar and alveopalatal fricatives and affricates: English has an

unsually large number of fricatives and affricate sounds in alveol and (alveo)
palatal part of the mouth, causing pronunciation problems for speakers who lack
some of these sounds. These are the sounds at the beginnings of the words 'sue',
'zoo', 'shoe', 'genre', 'chew', and 'Jew'.

DIPHTHONGS.
In British English we have eight vowels, for some authors ten and in American
English there are only five.

eɪ This is a diphthong that we have in British and American English. For example:

bay table name

/beɪ/ /’teɪbl/ /neɪm/

Fig. 13
aɪ This is a diphthong that we have in British and American English. For example:

sky lie right

/skaɪ/ /laɪ/ /raɪt/

So as you can see this is the original sound of the ‘i’ in the alphabet and some
‘y’s’ and ‘i’s’ are pronounced like that, but this is not a rule.
 49

Fig. 14

ɔi This is a diphthong that we have in British and American English. For example:

coin toy joy

/kɔin/ /tɔi/ /dʒɔi/

Fig. 15

au This is a diphthong that we have in British and American English. For

example:

how now cow

/hau/ /nau/ /kau/
 50

Fig. 16

ou This is the diphthong Americans use. For example:

go low row bow

/gou/ /lou/ /rou/ /bou/

British do not pronounce like that with this diphthong the ‘o’ becomes ‘ə’ and this is
the north-east pronunciation, the fancy way to pronounce the ‘o’ in London, Oxford,
Cambridge and its surroundings.

go low row bow

/geʊ/ /leʊ/ /reʊ/ /beʊ/

The diphthong would be like this ‘eʊ’

With the words ‘row’ and ‘bow’ be careful they have another pronunciation
depending on the meaning. For example:

row bow
/raʊ/ /baʊ/

It also has the the sound /ʌ/ , / əʊ/, /ɑu/ , /and /ʊ/

country couple pountry mountain poulp pour

/’kʌntrɪ/ /’kʌpl/ /’pəʊltrɪ/ /’mɑuntɪn/ /pʊlp/ /pɔ:/

You should check a reliable dictionary. We have many cases about it.
 51

Fig. 17

ɪə This is a mere British sound. For example:

near beer
/nɪə/ /bɪə/

This pronunciation appears in these two letters ‘ea’, ‘ee’, but it is not a rule.

Fig.18

eə This is a mere British sound. For example:

 52

care tear hair

/keə/ /teə/ /heə/

This pronunciation appears in these three letters ‘a’, ‘ea’, ‘ai’, but it is not a rule.

Among other words.

Fig. 19

ʊə This is a mere British sound. For example:

tour cure pure

/tʊə/ /kjʊə/ /pjʊə/
 53

Fig 20

The next two diphthongs (they are sort of triphthongs) are accepted by some
authors, they are not very common in most phonetic books since most of
phoneticians recognize just eight. For example:

ɑɪə This is a very British pronunciation. For example:

fire conspire higher tired

/fɑɪə/ /kən’spɑɪə/ /hɑɪə/ /tɑɪəd/

towel tower shower

/’tɑuəl/ /’tɑuə/ /‘ʃɑuə/

Among other words.

Through all of these years of teaching I should like to share some of my

experiences. I have realized that when I teach the alphabet, most of my students
tend to confuse the vowels a, e, i, with the vowels in Spanish, they confuse the ‘a’
in English with the ‘e’ in Spanish, the ‘e’ in English with the ’i’ in Spanish and the
‘i’ in English with the ‘a’ in Spanish.

So whenever I finish teaching the alphabet I emphasize these three vowels.

CONSONANTS.

b This is a labial consonant like the one we have in Spanish so it has the same
phoneme. For example:

ball rob cabbage babe

/bɔ:l/ /rɒb/ /’kæbɪdʒ/ /beɪb/

c This consonant is like in Spanish (Spanish spoken in Mexico). For example:

come attraction Mac

/kʌm/ /ətrækʃn/ /mæk/

d This is a palatal consonant in English, in Spanish is dental. Americans make it ‘r’

(kind of a single flap ‘r’) in the pronunciation when it appears in the middle of a
word. For example:

done addition dad needed

 54

/dʌn/ /ədɪʃn/ /dæd/ /ni:dɪd/

It also has the pronunciation /dʒ/

For example:

educate graduate
/’edʒukeit/ /’grædʒuət/

f This consonant is like in Spanish. For example:

fame affection puff

/feɪm/ /əfekʃn/ /pʌf/

g This is a sound slightly alike in Spanish, but with very definite variations. At the
beginning of a word sounds a bit like in Spanish not so at the end, at the beginning
it also has an affricative sound. When we have the ‘g’ at the end it sounds a bit
guttural, in some words it is voiceless. For example:

get dog George gnaw gnome

/get/ /dɒg/ /dʒɔ:dʒ/ /nɔ:/ /nɔ:m/

h This sound is a bit aspirated in British English not so in American English it is a

bit stronger. It is also unvoiced just in four words and its variations: hour, honor,
honest, heir.

home house honest

/həʊm/ /haus/ /’ɒnɪst/

It is sometimes dropped mainly when we use the object pronouns ‘him’ and ‘her’.

For example:

Tell him tell her

We can say:

Tell ‘im tell ‘er

Britons drop the ‘h’ in the words ‘him’, ‘have’, ‘has’, and ‘had’. This is considered
colloquial English, but in the spoken English is used.

j This consonant has also an affricative sound. For example:

judge jug
 55

/dʒʌdʒ/ /dʒʌg/

k This consonant has the same sound than in Spanish, but in some words it is
voicless. For example:

key acknowledge knock know

/ki:/ /ək’nɒlɪdʒ/ /nɒk/ /nəʊ/

l This phoneme is like in Spanish we put the tip of the tongue on the same place in
the mouth. We have to highlight that the double-ll does not exit in the alphabet,
however we have it in many words and we pronounce it like ‘l’. For example:

lane alight call allow

/leɪn/ /ə’laɪt/ /kɔ:l/ /ə’laʊ/

m This consonant has the same sound than in Spanish, it is the same phoneme.
For example:

madam ammunition mum

/’mædəm/ /,æmju:’nɪʃn/ /mʌm/

n This consonant has the same sound than in Spanish, it is the same phoneme.
For example:

name annual nun

/neɪm/ /’ænjuəl/ /nʌn/

ŋ This is a sound that we have in Spanish so we can reproduce it in English quite

well. For instance: ‘chango’, ‘tango’, ‘mango’ in these words we do not place the
tip of the tongue on the palate ridge, but it remains suspended. In English we have
in the next words ‘ng’, ‘an’, ‘un’ ‘nk’, among other words. You should check a
reliable dictionary.

going ankle uncle rank

/’gəʊɪŋ/ /’æŋkl/ /’ʌŋkl/ /ræŋk/

p This consonant has the same sound than in Spanish, it is the same phoneme.
For example:

pencil appear cap

/’pensl/ /ə’pɪə/ /kæp/

q This consonant has a similar pronunciation to ‘k’. For example:

 56

question acquisition
/’kwesʧən/ /,ækwɪ’sɪʃn/

r This consonant is strong like in Spanish, but is not vibrating. British do not
pronounce it in the middle and at the end of any word just at the beginning of a
word, but very soft. For example:

car corner Robert

/kɑ:/ /’kɔ:nə/ /’rɒbət/

s This consonant has the same sound than in Spanish, but it also has a voiced
sound with ‘z’, and we also pronounce it with a sibilant sound. For example:

It also has the pronunciation /ʃ/

For example:

tension mission
/’tenʃn/ /’mɪʃn/

some assignment pens caps sure

/səm/ /ə’sɑɪnmənt/ /penz/ /kæps/ /ʃʊə/

t This is a palatal consonant in English, in Spanish is dental. Americans make it ‘r’

(kind of a single flap ‘r’) when it is in the middle of a word and in some words they
drop it, for instance in the words ‘twenty’, ‘plenty’, wanted. It also has a sibilant
sound. For example:

time attention rat

/tɑɪm/ /ə’tenʃn/ /ræt/

It also has the pronunciation /ʧ/ and /ʃ/

For example:

question picture reaction nation

/’kwesʧən/ /’pɪkʧ ə/ /ri:ækʃn/ /’neɪʃn/

v This is a labiodental consonant and we have some problems in Spanish with it

since we do not pronounce it as it should be and we confuse it with ‘b’. For
example:

very avocado live

/verɪ/ /æ,vəkɑ:dəʊ/ /lɪv/
 57

w We pronounce this consonant as it were a ‘u’. It is also unvoiced at the end of

some words. Sometimes when we have the vowels ‘wh’ it sounds with an ‘h’
sound.
For example:

what await avow whole

/wɒt/ /ə’weɪt/ /ə’vəʊ/ /həʊl/

x This is a consonant with a double sound ‘ks’. It also has the ‘z’ sound. For
example:

box fix xenon xenophobia

/ bɒks/ /fɪks/ /’zenɔ:n/ /,zenə’fəʊbɪə/

y This consonant besides its own proper sound /j/ also has the ‘ɑɪ’ sound. In most
words when they end in ‘ey’, the ‘y’ sounds /ɪ/. For example:

young sky Sidney Britney

/jʌŋ/ /skɑɪ/ /sɪdnɪ/ /brɪtnɪ/

z This a consonant with a very sibilant sound. For example:

zebra zigzag
/’zebrə/ /’zɪgzæg/

Here are two examples comparing English and Spanish. The first illustrates the
"CONFUSION OF SPELLING WITH PRONUNCIATION" error. The second,
though seemingly involving a similar topic, would be a comparison of the desired
type.

"z" in Spanish and English.

Spanish and English pronounce the letter "z" differently. In Spanish, pronounced in
Mexico "z" is a voiceless alveolar fricative. In English "z" is a voiced alveolar
fricative. For example, zapato 'shoe' in Spanish is pronounced /sapato/ whereas
English zap is pronounced /zæp/.

Why is this wrong? Because the focus is on the letter "z". Spanish and English
do NOT "pronounce" the letter "z". They pronounce sounds represented by the
letter "z". This letter is one of the written representations in Spanish for the
sound /s/, a comparison of no interest at all between Spanish and English, since
both languages have this sound.
 58

Alveolar Fricatives in Spanish and English.

Spanish has only one alveolar fricative, the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/, as in
sopa /sopa/ 'soup', zapato /sapato/ 'shoe', cerveza /serbesa/ 'beer'. English has
two alveolar fricatives: voiceless as in soup /sup/, cease /sis/ and voiced as in
zap /zæp/,cruise /cruz/.

Why is this right? Because the focus in on sounds. It points out that in the area of
alveolar fricatives, English has two, /s/ and /z/, whereas Spanish has only one, /s/.
This fact has implications for Spanish speakers learning English. Because Spanish
lacks a /z/ sound, we will expect this sound to be difficult for Spanish speakers to
pronounce, and in fact, a typical feature of a Spanish accent in English is to
pronounce a word like 'busy' /bIzi/ as /bIsi/, substituting /s/ for the English /z/. This
has NOTHING to do with the way the words are spelt; it has to do with the difference
in the sound systems of the two languages. As the examples in the paragraph
above show, the sound /s/ in Spanish has several spellings--"s" as in sopa, "z" as
in zapato, and "c" as in cerveza. Likewise, English /s/ can be spelled with "s" or
"c" and /z/ can be spelled with "z" or "s". The written symbols of both languages
thus represent unreliable guides to pronunciation.

θ We have this sound in Spanish and it is very easy to be produced. This is the
unvoiced-th. In Spanish we have it in words that end in ‘d’ . For example: David,
verdad, soledad so that final ‘d’ we pronounce it as we do in English. We have
this sound at the beginning of words in the middle and at the end, the 99% of
words with ‘th’ are pronounced with the unvoiced-th. For example:

think athlete both

/θɪŋk/ /‘æθli:t/ /bəʊθ/

ð This is the voiced-th and we can produce it very easily in Spanish, Spaniards in
Spain have it when they pronounce the ‘c’s’, and ‘z’s’. For example: acción,
zapato, cazar, reacción. And in English we just have the 1% of unvoiced.th’s.
We have it at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of words. For example:

this although breathe

/ðɪs/ /ɔ:l’ðəʊ / /bri:ð/

When I get to the pronunciation of the unvoiced-th /θ/ I always tell my students that
we have this sound in Spanish in those words ending with ‘d’ like ‘Soledad’,
‘verdad’, ‘David’, etc. We have to be aware where we place the tip of the tongue
when we pronounce that ending-d.

I have also realized that there is a big problem with the ‘b’ and ‘v’ since we
pronounce them in the same way in Spanish, but not so in English. The
pronunciation of the labial-b has a different pronunciation and for those latin
 59

students it is not so easy to be produced because they do not have the practice.
Students could confuse the ‘boys’ and ‘voice’ pronunciation, so you as a teacher
of English are obliged to show your students how to pronounce the labiodental-v
you press your upper teeth with your lower lip.

Another important point is the pronunciation of the voiced and unvoiced-th as I

mentioned above.

WHAT SOUNDS CAN I CHOOSE TO COMPARE?

Every language has differences in pronunciation from every other language.
However, there is no question that some languages have fewer distinct sounds
than others and hence pose fewer problems in mastering pronunciation than
languages with more complex sound systems. For example, Spanish has a smaller
set of sounds than English. There are thus fewer hurdles for English speakers to
clear in learning Spanish than vice versa--though an English speaker may end up
with an accent when speaking English, there are few sounds in Spanish which do
not have close counterparts in English and which the English speaker can draw on
when trying to speak Spanish.

If you find that the language which you want to compare to English is of this type,
you might consider taking English as the "complicated" language, citing problems
that English may pose for speakers of the other language. Here are some features
of English pronunciation which tend to be unusual among languages of the world
and hence often pose problems for speakers of other languages:

I am going to write most of the words you can find with the voiced-th, among
others. You should check a reliable dictionary.

bother, brother, clothes, either, father, farther, further, leather, loathe,

mother, mouth (verb), northern, seethe, thine, thou, through, thy, thus, with,
writhe, together, wreathe, wither, without, withal, withdraw, southern, teethe,
than, that, this, these, those, there, their, they, them, then, thee, the, bathe,
zither, another, other, others, weather, whether, with, though, although.

I include this piece of poem which seems interesting about pronunciation.

The Chaos

Dearest creature in creation,

Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
 60

I will keep you, Suzy, busy,

Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,

Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,

Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour

And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Finally, which rhymes with enough -

Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!
 61

PROCESS OF PRONUNCIATION CORRECTION.

1. Students record their English pronunciation reading a paragraph covering most
sounds in a tape (we can do this in a lab).

2. I listen to the recording of each student, and fill up a problem diagnosis form
covering segmental features for the student’s reference.

3. The students are then grouped by the similarity of their pronunciation problems. I
counsel the students individually and sometimes by pairs or groups depending on
the characteristic of each group.

4. The whole class listens and orally practices the most difficult words considered
by them.

The result of this practice is very encouraging. About half to two thirds of students
in a class have improved.

Most improved students’ English speaking are at low-intermediate level and above;
while those at the beginner’s level improved only on the segmental features. Some
might even become frustrated feeling that it is hard for them to improve. The most
effective way of pronunciation could be individual counseling; and yet, group
counseling can be an alternative when dealing with large classes.

FALLING AND RISING INTONATION.

These two intonations in English are quite simple, we use ‘falling intonation’
when we have ‘question words’ like what, where, when, etc.

For example:

What’s your name? We go up in ‘what’s’, then we go straight in ‘your’ and we go

down in ‘name?’.

Where do you live? The same happens with this question.

In the case of the ‘rising intonation’, we use it whenever we have any modal verb
(auxiliary).

For example:

Do you like English? We go up in ‘do you’, then we go straight ‘like’ and we

raise the intonation in ‘English?’

Can you speak English? The same happens with this question.
 62

So as you can see the falling and rising intonation is very simple to be identified.

WEAK FORMS.
To use and to understand weak forms is very important for ESL teachers and
students since native English speakers use them in an every day English.
The next weak forms are some of the most important ones.

a an the some and but of to for

/ə/ /ən/ /ðə/ /səm/ /ən(d) /bət/ /əv/ /tə/ /fə(r)/

am been could her from at them us

/əm/ /bɪn/ /kəd/ /(h)ə(r)/ /frəm/ /ət/ /ðəm/ /əs/

that as than there are was were has

/ðət/ /əs/ /ðən/ /ðə(r)/ /ɑ:(r)/ /wəz/ /wə(r)/ /(h)əz/

have had does shall can must your

/(h)əv/ /(h)əd/ /dəz/ /ʃəl/ /kən/ /məst/ /jə(r)/
/ʃl/ /məs/

HOMOPHONES, AMERICAN ENGLISH.

A Homophone is a "word pronounced the same as, but different in meaning from
another, whether spelled the same or not…”(bear, bare)” Note that some
homophones are also homographs (bear) and that some homophones are also
heteronyms (lead)

1. accessary, accessory
2. ad, add
3. ail, ale
4. air, heir
5. aisle, I'll, isle
6. all, awl
7. allowed, aloud
8. alms, arms
9. altar, alter
10. arc, ark
11. aren't, aunt
 63

12. ate, eight

13. auger, augur
14. auk, orc
15. aural, oral
16. away, aweigh
17. awe, oar, or, ore
18. axel, axle
19. aye, eye, I
20. bail, bale
21. bait, bate
22. baize, bays
23. bald, bawled
24. ball, bawl
25. band, banned
26. bard, barred
27. bare, bear
28. bark, barque
29. baron, barren
30. base, bass
31. bay, bey
32. bazaar, bizarre
33. be, bee
34. beach, beech
35. bean, been
36. beat, beet
37. beau, bow
38. beer, bier
39. bel, bell, belle
40. berry, bury
41. berth, birth
42. bight, bite, byte
43. billed, build
44. bitten, bittern
45. blew, blue
46. bloc, block
47. boar, bore
48. board, bored
49. boarder, border
50. bold, bowled
51. boos, booze
52. born, borne
53. bough, bow
54. boy, buoy
55. brae, bray
56. braid, brayed
57. braise, brays, braze
58. brake, break
 64

59. bread, bred

60. brews, bruise
61. bridal, bridle
62. broach, brooch
63. bur, burr
64. but, butt
65. buy, by, bye
66. buyer, byre
67. calendar, calender
68. call, caul
69. canvas, canvass
70. cast, caste
71. caster, castor
72. caught, court
73. caw, core, corps
74. cede, seed
75. ceiling, sealing
76. cell, sell
77. censer, censor, sensor
78. cent, scent, sent
79. cereal, serial
80. cheap, cheep
81. check, cheque
82. choir, quire
83. chord, cord
84. cite, sight, site
85. clack, claque
86. clew, clue
87. climb, clime
88. close, cloze
89. coal, kohl
90. coarse, course
91. coign, coin
92. colonel, kernel
93. complacent, complaisant
94. complement, compliment
95. coo, coup
96. cops, copse
97. council, counsel
98. cousin, cozen
99. creak, creek
100. crews, cruise
101. cue, kyu, queue
102. curb, kerb
103. currant, current
104. cymbol, symbol
105. dam, damn
 65

106. days, daze

107. dear, deer
108. descent, dissent
109. desert, dessert
110. deviser, divisor

111. dew, due

112. die, dye
113. discreet, discrete
114. doe, doh, dough
115. done, dun
116. douse, dowse
117. draft, draught
118. dual, duel
119. earn, urn
120. eery, eyrie
121. ewe, yew, you
122. faint, feint
123. fah, far
124. fair, fare
125. farther, father
126. fate, fête
127. faun, fawn
128. fay, fey
129. faze, phase
130. feat, feet
131. ferrule, ferule
132. few, phew
133. fie, phi
134. file, phial
135. find, fined
136. fir, fur
137. fizz, phiz
138. flair, flare
139. flaw, floor
140. flea, flee
141. flex, flecks
142. flew, flu, flue
143. floe, flow
144. flour, flower
145. foaled, fold
146. for, fore, four
147. foreword, forward
148. fort, fought
149. forth, fourth
150. foul, fowl
151. franc, frank
 66

152. freeze, frieze

153. friar, fryer
154. furs, furze
155. gait, gate
156. galipot, gallipot
157. gallop, galop
158. gamble, gambol
159. gays, gaze
160. genes, jeans
161. gild, guild
162. gilt, guilt
163. giro, gyro
164. gnaw, nor
165. gneiss, nice
166. gorilla, guerilla
167. grate, great
168. greave, grieve
169. greys, graze
170. grisly, grizzly
171. groan, grown
172. guessed, guest
173. hail, hale
174. hair, hare
175. hall, haul
176. hangar, hanger
177. hart, heart
178. haw, hoar, whore
179. hay, hey
180. heal, heel, he'll
181. hear, here
182. heard, herd
183. he'd, heed
184. heroin, heroine
185. hew, hue
186. hi, high
187. higher, hire
188. him, hymn
189. ho, hoe
190. hoard, horde
191. hoarse, horse
192. holey, holy, wholly
193. hour, our
194. idle, idol
195. in, inn
196. indict, indite
197. it's, its
198. jewel, joule
 67

199. key, quay

200. knave, nave
201. knead, need
202. knew, new
203. knight, night
204. knit, nit
205. knob, nob
206. knock, nock
207. knot, not
208. know, no
209. knows, nose
210. laager, lager
211. lac, lack
212. lade, laid
213. lain, lane
214. lam, lamb
215. laps, lapse
216. larva, lava
217. lase, laze
218. law, lore
219. lay, ley
220. lea, lee

221. leach, leech

222. lead, led
223. leak, leek
224. lean, lien
225. lessen, lesson
226. levee, levy
227. liar, lyre
228. licence, license
229. licker, liquor
230. lie, lye
231. lieu, loo
232. links, lynx
233. lo, low
234. load, lode
235. loan, lone
236. locks, lox
237. loop, loupe
238. loot, lute
239. made, maid
240. mail, male
241. main, mane
242. maize, maze
243. mall, maul
244. manna, manner
 68

245. mantel, mantle

246. mare, mayor
247. mark, marque
248. marshal, martial
249. marten, martin
250. mask, masque
251. maw, more
252. me, mi
253. mean, mien
254. meat, meet, mete
255. medal, meddle
256. metal, mettle
257. meter, metre
258. might, mite
259. miner, minor, mynah
260. mind, mined
261. missed, mist
262. moat, mote
263. mode, mowed
264. moor, more
265. moose, mousse
266. morning, mourning
267. muscle, mussel
268. naval, navel
269. nay, neigh
270. nigh, nye
271. none, nun
272. od, odd
273. ode, owed
274. oh, owe
275. one, won
276. packed, pact
277. packs, pax
278. pail, pale
279. pain, pane
280. pair, pare, pear
281. palate, palette, pallet
282. pascal, paschal
283. paten, patten, pattern
284. pause, paws, pores, pours
285. pawn, porn
286. pea, pee
287. peace, piece
288. peak, peek, peke, pique
289. peal, peel
290. pearl, purl
291. pedal, peddle
 69

292. peer, pier

293. pi, pie
294. pica, pika
295. place, plaice
296. plain, plane
297. pleas, please
298. plum, plumb
299. pole, poll
300. poof, pouffe
301. practice, practise
302. praise, prays, preys
303. principal, principle
304. profit, prophet
305. quarts, quartz
306. quean, queen
307. rain, reign, rein
308. raise, rays, raze
309. rap, wrap
310. raw, roar
311. read, reed
312. read, red
313. real, reel
314. reek, wreak
315. rest, wrest
316. retch, wretch
317. review, revue
318. rheum, room
319. right, rite, wright, write
320. ring, wring
321. road, rode
322. roe, row
323. role, roll
324. roo, roux, rue
325. rood, rude
326. root, route
327. rose, rows
328. rota, rotor
329. rote, wrote
330. rough, ruff

331. rouse, rows

332. rung, wrung
333. rye, wry
334. saver, savour
335. spade, spayed
336. sale, sail
337. sane, seine
 70

338. satire, satyr

339. sauce, source
340. saw, soar, sore
341. scene, seen
342. scull, skull
343. sea, see
344. seam, seem
345. sear, seer, sere
346. seas, sees, seize
347. sew, so, sow
348. shake, sheikh
349. shear, sheer
350. shoe, shoo
351. sic, sick
352. side, sighed
353. sign, sine
354. sink, synch
355. slay, sleigh
356. sloe, slow
357. sole, soul
358. some, sum
359. son, sun
360. sort, sought
361. spa, spar
362. staid, stayed
363. stair, stare
364. stake, steak
365. stalk, stork
366. stationary, stationery
367. steal, steel
368. stile, style
369. storey, story
370. straight, strait
371. sweet, suite
372. swat, swot
373. tacks, tax
374. tale, tail
375. talk, torque
376. tare, tear
377. taught, taut, tort
378. te, tea, tee
379. team, teem
380. tear, tier
381. teas, tease
382. terce, terse
383. tern, turn
384. there, their, they're
 71

385. threw, through

386. throes, throws
387. throne, thrown
388. thyme, time
389. tic, tick
390. tide, tied
391. tire, tyre
392. to, too, two
393. toad, toed, towed
394. told, tolled
395. tole, toll
396. ton, tun
397. tor, tore
398. tough, tuff
399. troop, troupe
400. tuba, tuber
401. vain, vane, vein
402. vale, veil
403. vial, vile
404. wail, wale, whale
405. wain, wane
406. waist, waste
407. wait, weight
408. waive, wave
409. wall, waul
410. war, wore
411. ware, wear, where
412. warn, worn
413. wart, wort
414. watt, what
415. wax, whacks
416. way, weigh, whey
417. we, wee, whee
418. weak, week
419. we'd, weed
420. weal, we'll, wheel
421. wean, ween
422. weather, whether
423. weaver, weever
424. weir, we're
425. were, whirr
426. wet, whet
427. wheald, wheeled
428. which, witch
429. whig, wig
430. while, wile
431. whine, wine
 72

432. whirl, whorl

433. whirled, world
434. whit, wit
435. white, wight
436. who's, whose
437. woe, whoa
438. wood, would
439. yaw, yore, your, you're
440. yoke, yolk
441. you'll, yule

WHAT’S A COGNATE?
Cognates are words that have a common origin. The word cognate8 derives
from Latin cognatus, from co (with) +gnatus, natus, past participle of nascor "to
be born". Literally it means "related by blood, having a common ancestor, or
related by an analogous nature, character, or function"9.

There are true and false cognates an example of a true cognate: ‘family’ in
Spanish ‘familia’, ‘natural’, in Spanish ‘natural’ so these are examples of true
cognates, among others.

False cognates are words that are commonly thought to be related (have a
common origin) whereas linguistic examination reveals they are unrelated. The
similarity of words between languages is not enough to demonstrate that the
words are related to each other, in much the same way that facial resemblance
does not imply a close genetic relationship between people.

In a popular and less technical sense, the term "cognate" also is used to refer to
words in two languages that are similar but have no common origin, such as the
Spanish sopa (meaning "soup") and the English "soap".

Also in a popular and not technical sense, the phrase "false cognate" is used to
refer to cognates that have different meanings, such as the Spanish molestar (to

8
http://www.ednews.or/articles
9
 73

bother) and the English "molest" (to abuse sexually). A more precise term to use
for such word pairs is "false friends".

Now I will write a list of ‘false cognates’:

An abstract: resumen (y no abstracto)

Actual: real, efectivo (y no actual, que se dice current)
Actually: en realidad (y no actualmente, que se dice currently o nowadays)
To advertise: anunciar (y no advertir, que se dice to warn)
Advice: consejos (y no aviso, que se dice warning, notice)
To apologize: pedir disculpas (y no apología, que se dice defense)
Apt: propenso (y no apto, que se dice qualified, able)
Argument: discusión, pelea (y no argumento de un libro / una película, que se
dice plot)
Arm: brazo (y no arma, que se dice gun)
Assessment: evaluación (y no asesoría, que se dice consultancy)
To assist: ayudar (y no asistir a algún lugar, que se dice to attend)
Balloon: globo (y no balón, que se dice ball)
Bank: banco - la institución (y no banca de plaza, que se dice bench)
Billet: acuartelamiento, alojamiento militar (y no billete, que se dice bill)
Brave: valiente (y no bravo, que se dice fierce)
Camp: base militar o campamento (y no campo en general, que se dice field)
Carpet: alfombra (y no carpeta, que se dice folder)
Cartoon: dibujos animados, tira cómica (y no cartón, que se dice cardboard)
Casualty: víctima o herido (y no casualidad, que se dice coincidence)
Collar: cuello de las prendas de vestir (y no collar, que se dice necklace)
College: universidad o escuela superior (y no colegio, que se dice school)
Command: orden, mandato (y no comando, que se dice commando unit)
Commodity: mercancía o materia prima (y no comodidad, que se dice comfort)
Complexión: tez, tono de la piel (y no complexión, que se dice body type)
Conductor: director de orquesta o cobrador (y no conductor, que se dice driver)
Confident: seguro de sí mismo (y no confidente, que se dice confidant)
Constipated: estreñido (y no estar constipado, que se dice to have a cold/chill)
Council: consejo (y no conciliar, que se dice to reconcile)
Deception: engaño (y no decepción, que se dice disappointment)
Dessert: postre (y no desierto, que se dice desert)
Dinner: comida (y no dinero, que se dice money)
Diversion: desviación (y no diversión, alegría, que se dice fun)
Economics: economía (y no económicos, que se dice cheap)
Embarrassed: avergonzado (y no embarazado, que se dice pregnant)
Eventual: definitivo o posible (y no eventual, que se dice casual, incidental)
Eventually: finalmente, tarde o temprano (y no eventualmente, que se dice
posible, by chance)
Exit: salida (y no éxito, que se dice success)
Fabric: tela (y no fábrica, que se dice factory)
Form: formulario (y no forma, que se dice shape)
 74

Fume: vapor y gas (y no fumar, que se dice smoke)

Gracious: cortés (y no gracioso, que se dice funny)
Grocery: tienda de comestibles (y no grosería, que se dice bad word, swear
word)
Horn: cuerno (y no horno, que se dice oven)
Idiom: modismo, locución (y no idioma, que se dice language, tongue)
Inhabitant: habitante (y no inhabitado, que se dice uninhabited)
Involve: involucrar (y no envolver, que se dice wrap)
Large: grande, de volumen (y no largo, que se dice long)
Lecture: conferencia (y no lectura, que se dice reading)
Library: biblioteca (y no librería, que se dice bookshop, bookstore)
Luxury: lujo (y no lujuria, que se dice lust)
Media: medios informativos (y no media, que se dice stocking)
Misery: tristeza (y no miseria, que se dice poverty)
To molest: abusar sexualmente (y no molestar, que se dice to bother o to
annoy)
Notice: nota, anuncio (y no noticia, que se dice a piece of news)
Occurrence: aparición (y no ocurrencia, que se dice absurd idea)
Once: una vez (y no once, que se dice eleven)
Quince: membrillo (y no quince, que se dice fifteen)
Ordinary: común (y no ordinario, que se dice vulgar)
Pan: cazo, cacerola (y no pan, que se dice bread)
Parents: padres (y no parientes, que se dice relatives, relations)
Policy: política (y no policía, que se dice police)
Preservative: conservante (y no preservativo, que se dice condom)
To quit: abandonar (y no quitar, que se dice to remove o put away)
Regular: de tamaño normal (y no regular, que se dice average, not so good)
Rude: maleducado (y no rudo, que se dice tough)
To realize: darse cuenta (y no realizar, que se dice to make)
To record: grabar (y no recordar, que se dice to remember o to recall)
To remove: quitar (y no remover, que se dice to stir)
To resume: reanudar (y no resumir, que se dice to summarize o to sum up)
Salad: ensalada (y no salado, que se dice salty)
Sane: cuerdo (y no sano, que se dice healthy)
Sensible: sensitivo (y no sensible, que se dice sensitive)
Signature: firma (y no asignatura, que se dice subject)
Sin: pecado (y no sin, que se dice without)
Spade: pala (y no espada, que se dice sword)
Success: éxito (y no suceso, que se dice happening o event)
To support: apoyar (y no soportar, que se dice to put up with)
Sympathy: compasión (y no simpatía, que se dice friendliness, affection)
Target: objetivo (y no tarjeta, que se dice card)
Terrific: tremendo (y no terrífico, que se dice terrifying)
To traduce: calumniar (y no traducir, que se dice to translate)
To translate: traducir (y no trasladar, que se dice to move)
Tramp: vagabundo (y no trampa, que se dice trap)
Zealous: entusiasta (y no celoso, que se dice jealous).
 75

CONCLUSIONS.

 The phonetic correction supposes a reflection and a deep analysis

about those mistakes produced by the students themselves what
matters is to find practical solutions, to correct them and to get to a
conceptualization that it is able to systematize the operation of the
tongue.

 It is necessary to know the nature and the origin of those mistakes to

be corrected properly and give the students solid basis on phonetics.

 Those corrections must be done by the students so they discover

themselves led by the teacher ‘the mistake’ be capable to correct
themselves and their classmates too.

 Being nearly non-existent documented information about the topic, I

think that this handbook can be considered as a guide or a book for
the students of English to be consulted.

 It would very useful to take into account all what I have written on this
work and the deep and methodical developed study as one more tool
in the English teaching, in any level of courses of English, mainly for
 76

those who are teachers to improve the quality in the teaching of this
foreign language.

 There are very few English teachers interested in the study of

Phonetics and worried about it, colleagues of English and native
English teachers too. Very few native English speakers have worried
about the study on this field and I think it is because of ignorance
since it is really fascinating to go deep in it.

APPENDIX 1.

Pure Diphthongs Consonats

Vowels
i: eɪ p
ɪ ɑi b
E ɔi t
Æ əʊ d
ʌ ɑʊ k
ɑ: ɪə g
ɒ eə ʧ
ɔ: ʊə dʒ
ʊ ɑɪə f
u: ɑʊə v
ɜ: əɪə θ
ə ɔɪə ð
əʊə s
z
ʃ
 77

ʒ
m
n
ŋ
r
l
h
j
w

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Baker, Ann. 2003. Ship or Sheep. Cambridge. U. K.

Freeman, D. L. 1986. Techniques and principles of Language Teaching. Oxford

University Press.

Jones, Daniel. 1978. The Pronunciation of English. Cambridge. U. K.

Jones, Daniel. 1980. English Pronouncing Dictionary. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.

Kenyon, J. S. & Knott, T. A. 1953. A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English.

A Merriam-Webster.

Littlewood, W. T. 1983. Communicative Approach to Language teaching

Methodology. Dublin University.

Mackenzie, Munro. 1967. Modern English Pronunciation Practice. Longman

Mortimer, Colin. 2000. Weak Forms. Cambridge. U. K.

Mortimer, Colin. 1975. Sound Right. Longman.

Scrivener, Jim. 1994. Learning Teaching. MacMillan-Heinemann.

 78

Trim, John. 2002. English Pronunciation Illustrated. Cambridge. U.K.

http://eleaston.com/Pronunciation/ American English Pronunciation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American and British English Pronunciation Differences

79