Appendix A--Basic Features of English Pronunciation

To effectively transmit good pronunciation habits to your students, it is important for you as a
teacher to have a fundamental knowledge of English phonetics. The following can be considered
to be the most salient pronunciation features of the language:
The Sounds of English
English is not a phonetic language, which means that many English words are not pronounced
the way they are spelled. To correctly pronounce a word, familiarize yourself and your students
with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA); it is also used in some dictionaries to indicate
proper pronunciation and thus serves as an important reference tool for your students.
Abridged IPA American English

Source: http://www.lingolex.com/phonet.gif

Vowels are indicated in the upper left of the chart, diphthongs (two adjacent vowel sounds in one
syllable) in the upper right, and consonants in the lower half. See Appendix B for a
comprehensive IPA Chart of all speech sounds, including their manner of articulation.
Voicing
Voicing is a sound feature produced by the vibration of the larynx (vocal cords); sounds are said
to be voiceless when vibration is absent. All English vowels are voiced; some consonants are
voiced while others are not. Note that the presence or lack of voicing produces a different
phoneme (sound), even though the two are created through the same manner of articulation in the

mouth. The chart below illustrates the voiced/voiceless consonant contrasts in English:

There is an easy way to tell if a sound is voiced or not. Just place your hand on your throat and
make the sound. If you feel vibration, the sound is voiced; if not, its voiceless.
Syllables
A syllable is a part of a word. All English words have at least one syllable, and each syllable
occurs on a vowel sound.
car

One Syllable

air/port

Two Syllables

a/part/ment

Three Syllables

Your students can tap a hand or finger to count the number of syllables in a word. If they are still
unsure, have them check their dictionary. Being able to discern syllable boundaries as input is
important for good production as well as overall listening comprehension.
Stress
In English, there are some sounds, words, parts of words, and parts of sentences that are
pronounced stronger than others; this is called stress. Stress is important because it contains
meaning using the wrong stress can mean that your students will not be understood by a
listener, or that they produce an incorrect or unintended message.

Rhythm and Intonation

English is considered to be a stress-timed language, which means any one syllable may last a
different amount of time. Rhythm is the alternating pattern of strong and weak syllables in an
utterance; intonation is the rising and falling of vocal pitch. Together they form the music of
the language. This is important because English uses rhythm and intonation to convey meaning
and feeling. If an English learner uses the wrong rhythm or intonation, or none at all, the listener
may be confused by what he or she says, or may think that the speaker is bored or uninterested in
the conversation.
Linking and Reductions
Linking is when two words sound like one word when they are said together. Reductions are
short forms of words. English has many of these forms, and saying them correctly means your
students will have a more natural sound to their spoken production.
Pronunciation and Grammar
English grammar is also connected to pronunciation. For example, changing the stress on a
syllable can change a verb to a noun, singular/plural noun forms and certain verb forms are
pronounced differently from each other.
All of the above features combined give English its characteristic sound. For a good example
of what this means, watch the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=BZXcRqFmFa8

Notice that while the lyrics are essentially gibberish, it sounds as if he is singing in English. This
is because the vowels, consonants, stress, rhythm, and intonation are that of the English
language. For your students, long-term acquisition of these features will help them sound more
native like, and therefore allow them to communicate more effectively.
Basic Rules for English Pronunciation
Rules for Stress
Stress in Syllables

In English words with two or more syllables, one syllable always gets primary (the most)
stress. This means that the syllable is stronger it is pronounced longer, louder, and
more clearly:
ar/port

a/prt/ment

In dictionaries, stressed syllables are marked with the symbol ()

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is made of two nouns connected together. Always stress the first part
of the noun:
ar/port

bs stop pst office

Stress in Sentences

English sentences contain content words and function words. Content words carry
information; function words are used to indicate grammatical structure and relationship.
In English, content words are usually stressed, while function words are not:

Stressed
Nouns (cat, table)
Verbs (work, study)
Adjectives (fast, red)
Adverbs (quickly, very)
Demonstratives (this, those)
Question Words (what, when, where)
Negatives (not, contractions with be/do)

Unstressed
Articles (a, an, the)
Auxiliary Verbs (am, is, will)
Prepositions (in, on, at, to, for)
Conjunctions (and, but, or, when, if)
Relative Pronouns (which, that)
Personal Pronouns (I, you, he, them)

Contrastive Stress

When you correct wrong information from a speaker, stress the information in your
answer that is correct:
Question:
Answer:

Do you have class on Friday?

No, I work on Friday.

Question:
Answer:

Do you have class on Friday?

No, I have class on Thursday.

Rules for Intonation

Questions and Lists

In Wh- (information) questions, the voice goes down at the end:

When do you go to class?

In Yes/No and Tag questions, the voice goes up at the end:

Do you like pizza?
You like pizza, dont you?

When reciting a list, the voice goes down after the last item. This tells the listener that the
speaker has completed their utterance:
I like coffee, tea, and juice.

Depending on your students cultural and linguistic background, your students feel
somewhat self-conscious about using their voice in this manner, or that they may sound overexaggerated. Assure them that this is perfectly acceptable, indeed expected, in spoken English.

Rules for Linking and Reductions

Reductions

In English, the following function words are reduced in speaking. They are pronounced
quickly and unclearly:

The preposition to is also often reduced after a verb, and the prepositions to and of
are often reduced after a modal:

Pronunciation Rules for Grammar

Word endings for plural nouns, possessives, present tense verbs, and contractions of the verbs
is and has

The s ending of words in English has three forms of pronunciation. The correct
pronunciation depends on the last sound of the word:

Pronunciation of Past Tense Regular Verb Endings

The ed (past tense) ending has three different pronunciations. Like the rule above, the
right pronunciation depends on the last sound of the base form of the verb: