Friday, September 11, 2015
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Pronunciation Guide
How to Speak English
Pronunciation symbols in dictionaries:
In dictionaries, the British
pronunciation is given first.
Consonants
|
p
|
pen
|
/pen/
|
|
b
|
bad
|
/bæd/
|
|
t
|
tea
|
/tiː/
|
|
d
|
did
|
/dɪd/
|
|
k
|
cat
|
/kæt/
|
|
ɡ
|
get
|
/ɡet/
|
|
tʃ
|
chain
|
/tʃeɪn/
|
|
dʒ
|
jam
|
/dʒæm/
|
|
f
|
fall
|
/fɔːl/
|
|
v
|
van
|
/væn/
|
|
θ
|
thin
|
/θɪn/
|
|
ð
|
this
|
/ðɪs/
|
|
s
|
see
|
/siː/
|
|
z
|
zoo
|
/zuː/
|
|
ʃ
|
shoe
|
/ʃuː/
|
|
ʒ
|
vision
|
/ˈvɪʒn/
|
|
h
|
hat
|
/hæt/
|
|
m
|
man
|
/mæn/
|
|
n
|
now
|
/naʊ/
|
|
ŋ
|
sing
|
/sɪŋ/
|
|
l
|
leg
|
/leɡ/
|
|
r
|
red
|
/red/
|
|
j
|
yes
|
/jes/
|
|
w
|
wet
|
/wet/
|
The
symbol (r) indicates that British pronunciation will have /r/ only if a vowel
sound follows directly at the beginning of the next word, as in far
away; otherwise the /r/ is omitted. For American English, all the /r/
sounds should be pronounced.
/x/
represents a fricative sound as in /lɒx/ for Scottish loch,
Irish lough.
Vowels and diphthongs
|
iː
|
see
|
/siː/
|
|
i
|
happy
|
/ˈhæpi/
|
|
ɪ
|
sit
|
/sɪt/
|
|
e
|
ten
|
/ten/
|
|
æ
|
cat
|
/kæt/
|
|
ɑː
|
father
|
/ˈfɑːðə(r)/
|
|
ɒ
|
got
|
/ɡɒt/ (British English)
|
|
ɔː
|
saw
|
/sɔː/
|
|
ʊ
|
put
|
/pʊt/
|
|
u
|
actual
|
/ˈæktʃuəl/
|
|
uː
|
too
|
/tuː/
|
|
ʌ
|
cup
|
/kʌp/
|
|
ɜː
|
fur
|
/fɜː(r)/
|
|
ə
|
about
|
/əˈbaʊt/
|
|
eɪ
|
say
|
/seɪ/
|
|
əʊ
|
go
|
/ɡəʊ/ (British English)
|
|
oʊ
|
go
|
/ɡoʊ/ (American English)
|
|
aɪ
|
my
|
/maɪ/
|
|
ɔɪ
|
boy
|
/bɔɪ/
|
|
aʊ
|
now
|
/naʊ/
|
|
ɪə
|
near
|
/nɪə(r)/ (British English)
|
|
eə
|
hair
|
/heə(r)/ (British English)
|
|
ʊə
|
pure
|
/pjʊə(r)/ (British English)
|
|
|
|
|
Many
British speakers use /ɔː/ instead of the diphthong /ʊə/, especially in common
words, so that sure becomes /ʃɔː(r)/, etc. The sound /ɒ/ does not
occur in American English, and words which have this vowel in British
pronunciation will instead have /ɑː/ or /ɔː/ in American English. For
instance, got is /ɡɒt/ in British English, but /ɡɑːt / in
American English, while dog is British /dɒɡ/, American /dɑːɡ/.
The three diphthongs /ɪə eə ʊə/ are found only in British English. In corresponding
places, American English has a simple vowel followed by /r/, so near is
/nɪr/, hair is / her/, and pure is
/pjʊr/.
Nasalized
vowels, marked with /～/, may be retained in certain words taken from French, as
in penchant /ˈpɒ̃ʃɒ̃/ and coq au vin / ˌkɒk
əʊ ˈvæ̃/.
Syllabic consonants
The
sounds /l/ and /n/ can often be "syllabic" – that is, they can form a
syllable by themselves without a vowel. There is a syllabic / l/ in the
usual pronunciation of middle / ˈmɪdl/, and a syllabic
/n/ in sudden /ˈsʌdn/.
Weak vowels /i/ and /u/
The
sounds represented by /iː/ and / ɪ/ must always be made different, as
in heat /hiːt/ compared with hit /hɪt/. The
symbol /i/ represents a vowel that can be sounded as either /iː/ or /ɪ/, or as
a sound which is a compromise between them. In a word such as happy /ˈhæpi/,
younger speakers use a quality more like /iː/, but short in duration. When /i/
is followed by /ə/ the sequence can also be pronounced / jə/. So the word dubious can
be /ˈdjuːbiəs / or /ˈdjuːbjəs/. In the same way, the two vowels
represented /uː/ and /ʊ/ must be kept distinct but /u/ represents a weak vowel
that varies between them. If /u/ is followed directly by a consonant sound, it
can also be pronounced as /ə/. So stimulate can be
/ˈstɪmjuleɪt/ or /ˈstɪmjəleɪt/.
Weak forms and strong forms
Certain
very common words, for example at, for, and can,
have two pronunciations. We give the usual (weak) pronunciation first. The
second pronunciation (strong) must be used if the word is stressed, and also
generally when the word is at the end of a sentence. For example:
·
Can /kən/ you help?
·
I’ll help if I can /kæn/.
Tapping of / t /
In
American English, if a /t/ sound is between two vowels, and the second vowel is
not stressed, the /t / can be pronounced very quickly, and made voiced so
that it is like a brief /d/ or the r-sound of certain languages. Technically,
the sound is a "tap", and can be symbolised by /t̬/. So Americans can
pronounce potato as /pəˈteɪt̬oʊ/, tapping the second /t/ in the
word (but not the first, because of the stress). British speakers don’t
generally do this.
The
conditions for tapping also arise very frequently when words are put together,
as in not only, what I, etc. In this case it doesn’t
matter whether the following vowel is stressed or not, and even British
speakers can use taps in this situation, though they sound rather casual.
The glottal stop
In
both British and American varieties of English, a /t/ which comes at the end of
a word or syllable can often be pronounced as a glottal stop /ʔ/ (a silent gap
produced by holding one’s breath briefly) instead of a /t/. For this to happen,
the next sound must not be a vowel or a syllabic /l/.
So football can
be /ˈfʊʔbɔːl/ instead of /ˈfʊtbɔːl/, and button can be /ˈbʌʔn/
instead of /ˈbʌtn/.
But
a glottal stop would not be used for the /t/ sounds in bottle or better because
of the sounds which come afterwards.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
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