OOM AAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAMOMMOAMAMOME Hees te etait Eva Estebas Vilaplana Curso interactivo de pronunciaci6n inglesa para hispanohablantes neo] netbibloTeach Yourself English Pronunciation An Interactive Course For Spanish Speakers Eva Estebas Vilaplana‘TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION [AN INTERACTIVE COURSE FOR SPANISH SPEAKERS |r form of redaction, dante, able vommunaon a pocesing lth ‘ Slotecannivcaone wrth pemann fthe whe exept cert plow coos CEDRO fp Reprrape ihr Cet, ie edn) ned snc BNCY any pat ts wo 9 9 9 9 9 9 9) 5 9 9 9 9 ° ® 9 9 9 ‘No part fthie pan may be reps onetime by ay meso snot nade petals, with the eee onset ihe urate eprint mot im a et eer letra sage omarion boca he coer eng, How can you use it? Ifyou mobile does at havea ender susesnstvan guy muon ovo 3 ely ntl he not sable 7 foryou pve Copyright © 2009 by Netbiblo, 5. L. ue ere you wil nd some recommendations NoEROT P tiem toning poten Tha aie ccingecmpedegataacst — (=) Se Catt iS Os crue -Sn : > Dae aes Si Stasi seoos he saosin ose ze sorb comm wenger D tyou havea Nolo smi ty. for nse, Ky des, pede lay com embe: of European Union Publishes Forn Gorsora seme, {SBN NED) 978.3435 ol Depot C31%5.2008, (Open the aplication and shoot che QR Editorial Manoger: Crna Seco Lopez ‘When accoping, Elton tb Gee svintow wll opened Fe gene Goi. ow pec conen Fst Publsed 2000 by Neti, 2. SSCSCOSCSCSSCSCHSSSSEESLESEETo Lola and DanielAcknowledgements first became acquainted with English phonetics through Maria Josep Solé at Univers:at JAuronoma de Barcelona. | am highly indebted co her for always encouraging me to ‘work on this topic and for reading a first draft of this book and giving me very inspiring feedback. This book has also benefited from many discussions with my teachers at ‘University College London during 1995-2001, Michael Ashby, jl House, John Maidment ace John Wells. Thanks co all. | would also like to thank Silvia Barreto at UNED for her ‘comments on the book and for her support over the years, Many thanks are also due to Rodrigo Brunoti for allowing me to see the book from a different perspective. Thanks to Angela Duthie not only for her help with proolreading but also for very useful feedback Tam also grateful xo Milagros Huertas and Asun Butragueto for their comments on the CD-ROM. Finally, { would also like ro thank my students at Lavapies, especilly those in the year 2006-2007, for their discussions on English and Spanish phonetics and for their encouragement on my work, None of those named here is tesponsible fo the final version of the book and any errors are mine alone Very special thanks ate due fo Juana Gil who gave me the epportunty todo the records atthe Phonetics Laboratory atthe CSIC. Lam very grateful 0 Helena Alvez and Jorge Rico for their technical support during the recording sessions. They all made me feel at home. Tam also indebted to those whose voices are heard in the CD-ROM, Susannah Lewis, Jonathan White, Nathan Burklewicz and Isabel Soto, who is always there any tie I need het, Tam also grateful to Nick Franklin for his collaboration with che rococtitgs Close to home, | thank Rafael Avil for having lived the writing of the book with me, for his invaluable collaboration in all aspects and for giving me technical, inelectual and psychological support { would also like to thank Toni Estebas and Dolors Vilaplana for puting up with me and my work over the years and for their constant help and encouragement. ° 9 5 5 ° ° . . . ° . 9 ° . . e s ° ® ° ° . ® ° °. ° ° . ° e ° e ° ° e e J °: | Contents | / Introduction ey co phonetic symbols for English and Spanish xxv List of woiced and voiceless sounds in English wa Ca Rone i Tip 7. Spanish fa} vs. Engh fs) fe] fa} 2 Tip 2, spanish fo] vs. English fe) fa} 7 Tip 3. Spanish fi vs. English fc [i B i Tip 4. Spanish (ol 9s. Enghsh 24 fo] Vv i Tip 5. Spanish fu vs. English fu] fo} 2B Tip 6. English weak vowel [a] 26 Tip 7. Enghsh weak vowel and [u} 30 Tip 8 Diphuhongs ending wih (fas fs for) 2 Tip 9. Diphthongs ending wih fl ({au] (aul) % 3 Tip 10. Diphthongs ending with [a] ({re} [e8] {ua)) 38 Tip 11. Triphthongs a Tip 12. Spanish fa vs. Enalish {h] 46 Tip 13. Spanish [p €K] vs. English ip tk] 8 Tip 14. Spanish [b 4 gl ¥s. English b d g] Gnitial poston) 56 Tip 15. Spanish fb d al vs. English fb d ginal position. 38 Tip 16. Spanish [bd g] vs. English (b og} (medial position)Tip 17. English (sl 64 Tip 18. English (s) [ds] or Tip 19. English Ui 7 Tip 20. English [3 2) B Tip 21. English [0] [8] 7 Tip 22. English ¥] 1 80 Tip 23. English [m] {nl [9] 2 Tip 24. Enslish [w] 86 Tip 25. English {i 88 Tip 26. English [¢] 2 Cee Re UCC Rees | Tip 27. {s] «consonants 98 Tip 26. pt) +[Iriw] 100 Tip 29. Final consonant clusters 102 Tip 30. Piralstiied person singular/posessve case 106 Tip 31, Past tense 10 Tip 32. Consonats clusters and vowel elsion us Chapter 4 Words in company Tip 33. Assimilation of (ni, (t] and [4] 1s Tip 34. Assimilation of [8} and (2) 12 | Tip 35. {d) and ft) + Gil 126 Tip 36. Elision ot] and (4. 128 Tip 37, Voicing and devoicing 123 Chapter 5 Stress Tip 38. Siressed and unstressed syllables 138 Tip 38, Double and muliple sessed words 145 Tip 40. Suess in nouns and verbs. 149 Tip Al. Sicess in compounds and phrases 3 Coe tonne ere aes Tip 42, Spanish rhythm vs English chychen 158 Tip 43. Rhythm and consecutive stressed words 164 Tip 44. Rhythm and stress shift. 168 Tip 45. The effects of English rhythm on syllable duration 169 Tip 46, The ellects ol lish rhychm on vowel quality: weak forms, 73 fe Ee ees CLD Tip 47. Old end new information, Tip 48, Content woris and function words Tip 69. Contras Tip 50, Events, anno, Tip 51. Porasal verbs and prepos! macernents and descriptions 197 verbs Chapter 8 Intonation Tip 52. Puch range 202 Tip 53. Statements Tip 54. Non-final clauses. Tip 58. Wh-question Tip 56. Yes-no questions Tip 57. Tag questions Tip 58. Asking for repetiion Tip 59. Commands Tip 60. Exclamations, greetings and social formuls Tip 61. Vocatives Tip 62. Solutions to the exercises SCeeeeeeesseeessa EBE AWARE 1 BE AWARE 4: BE AWARE 5: BE AWARE 6 BE AWARE 7: BE AWARE 6: BE AWARE 8: BE AWARE 10: BE AWARE 11 BE AWARE 12: BE AWARE 13: BE AWARE 14: BE AWARE 15. BE AWARE 16: BE AWARE 17: BE AWARE 18: BE AWARE 20: BE AWARE 21 BE AWARE 23: BE AWARE 24: BE AWARE 19: BE AWARE 22; Using phonetic transeripcion, Homophones Silent levers Similar words in English and Spanish Ih] in possessive pronouns and adjectives The glottal stop Double consonants Names of places and nares of peopl. Nasalization in GA Sulfixes ‘Consonant clusters Linking Compression Contractions [Negative contractions Syllable division: Vowels Syllable division: Prefixes and suffixes Existential expressions (here + "to be") resent and past perfect Canieantt soxifiary + have Are/aentt Inconation and meaning Felling-ising intonation, 2 2» 37 49 3 3 % 85 a 99 06 us es 132 Lt 131 13 168 v2 188 196 2 27 Introduction his book is addressed to Spanish speakers who have been learning English for some time, who have a good command of English, grammat and vocabulary. who can understand English speakers fairly well and yet who have serious communication problems when they speak this language. Nowadays, tins situation is very common among students of English whose first language is Spanish, English is aught at schools, from a very early age; people enrol in private schools and language centers for several years; they finish all the avalable courses and obtain certificates and diplomas in this language: however, che students still do no feel confident enough when speaking English and they might even have dificulty communicating with English speakers, I seems that something is missing. English 1s not the same as French or lualian, or even German ‘What you have learn in these languages seems to be fixed forever. You may forget words or expressions but still you can make yourself understood and you can still grasp what 4 native speaker says. However, that isnot the case in English. Alter years and years of studying this language, people still complain of being unable to hold conversations 1m English on the phone, or understand English films, or being confident 9 ask a question sna conference, among many other examples. Why is that so? ‘With English becoming the most spoken language in the world with millions of people using it as a lingua franca, thousand of English courses and grammars have appeared on the market presenting novel and original methodologies for the learning of English and including a huge variety of activities which allow the students to develop language skills, in several areas: reading, vocabulary, use of English, listening comprehension, writing, and conversation abilities, to name just a few, In most books, however, there is one area which is hardly covered or not covered at all, and even in those cases where this area is presented in the book, the teacher frequently decides not to pay much attention co it. The area we are talking about is, of course, pronunciation. ‘The pronunciation ov, 10 use @ move formal sword, the phonetics of a language, has always been considered a secondeclass issue in language classes for several reasons. Students do not lee that itis worth spending time learning pronunciation when there are so many other“importaat”thingsto learn (vocabulary, grammar, phrasal verbs, etc), Furthermore, the study of pronunciation does not have imimediate results. If we learn a new word, we feel that we have taken a step forward, However, this is not the case with pronunciation, which requires constant practice and drilling before we are able 1o reproduce a particular asdsound, Students and teachers, therefore, skip pronunciation since it requites too much elfor and, because i is such a slow process, cesuls are hard to measure, The avoidance cof phonetics teaching might have less eraumatic implications in the learning of languages ‘which are closer 10 ours (for example, italian, Portuguese or French) and maybe with @ few pronunciation hints we are able fo sound relatively “correct” when we speak these languages. However, this cannot be applied to English since Spanish and English are very dierent 28 far as pronunciation is concerned Jf we were to learn French, we would spend alot of time studying its verb system due 10 its rich morphology. If we were to learn Japanese, we would devote our ime co the study of symbols given the different writing system. If we want to speak English, we must rake the effort to learn English phonetics since that is where the main difficulty lies, English grarmmar is relatively simple compared to Spanish grammar. English vocabulary is not chat difficult since plenty of English words ate derived from Latin or French and sound very familiar 10 us. However, English pronunciation is cadically different from Spanish pronunciation and merely listening to English conversations will not be enough to give you a full understanding of just how far apart che two languages are, For example, whereas the vocalic system of Spanish consists of five vowels, the English language bas twelve main vowels, none of which coincides in quality with eny of the Spanish vowels. Icisa common situation that when a Spanish student of English pronounces a word suck as coat, English speakers understand goat instead. Why is this so? Hf Spanish students of English want to find the answer co these questions and many more, ifthey want co fill che spp that exists between books and real usage, they should devote some time to the study of English phonetics. This book offersa variety of theoretical explanations and practical exercises forthe learning of English pronunciation addressed to Spanish speakers. tis nota general book on English phonetics because we believe that sadents {rom different language backgrounds have diferent necessities and priorities while studying English pronunciation, For example ‘whereas fora Japanese native speaker i will be crucial to spend some time drilling the diferences between (f] and [this mighe not be @ problem for a Spanish speaker, Thus, this book focusses on the learning of English pronunciation for the needs of Spanish speakers, This means that we will not only examine the main differences between che too languages but we will also take advantage of the similares. [Fyou were a musician that played the violin and now decided to study the guitar, you would apply alot of your former knowledge to the learning of the new instrument, no matter how differen the two instruments are, The sare happens with phonetics, Even though we have internalized the pronunciation habits of our native language. we should not see them as a hindrance for the learning of a new pronunciation system but as reference point wich will help us to understand and grasp new pronunciation habits ‘The accent adopted in the book is RP (Received Pronunciation) which isthe “standard” pronunciation in Great Britain, Even though RP is used by a minority of English speakers round the world, is the English accent chats universally understood by native English speakers and foreign speakers alike, and therefore the standard accent described in most TEAC YOURSFLEEACUSH PRONUNCIATION books and matertals of British English asa foreign language Tt isan accent which should be familiar to Spanish speakers of Englist. Thus, the reasons to choose RP asthe model accent is this book are wo: (I) it @ neutral accent that everybody understands and (2) there are plenty of Books on RE pronunciation on the market if students want 10 find bout more about it, Furthermote, the book also includes some comments abot which aspects of RP ace essential for intelligiiy and wihich aspects are only zelevant for che imitation ofa native like accent The book is accompanied by a CD-ROM which contaias the software application 10 access the audio material and the interactive ear-training exercises. cis crucial chat the students work with che book and the software on the CD-ROM together since the information in the book can only be fully understood if is complemented with the audio material and exercises.How to use the book ‘The book covers the following espects of English pronunciation: Vowels Consonants (Combination of consonants Words in company siress Rhythm and weak forms ‘Accent placement and new information 8 Inonation Each opi is structured in short sections called “tis” that can be read sequentially or not depending on the necessities ofthe students, that is, depending on whether the student wants to use the book as a course in English pronunciation or as a reference book to check particular and indwidval pronunciation problems Throughout the books, the students will find several boxes entitled Be aware. These boxes include a variety of additional points to help Spanish speakers gain a deeper understanding, ‘of the way English pronunciation works, and its relationship with English spelling. All the items in the book marked with the symbol @ correspond to audio material chat can be listened to using the sofiware application provided on the CD-ROM, ach pronunciation tip is divided in the following sections: 1. Common mistake Foreach tip, the student can first listen to an example of the most common “mistake” produced by Spanish speakers in celation to the phenomenon under study. In this ‘vay, the student can check whether (he produces the same “mistake” when uttering the same (or similar) examples. If chat is the case, (S)he will find an explanation of the differences between the two languages and the way of addressing the English pronunciation in the following sections. Sometimes an exaniple may contain more tha one pronunciation problem. For instance, for the pronunciation of the word fool ‘we need :0 pay attention not only to the vowel (long [ue]) but also to the consonants (aspirated (t] and dark (I). However, the three aspects will be examined separately and therefore for each section we will only concentrate on one pronunciation feature te is important to note that the terms “mistake’ and “error” are not intended 10 discourage Spanish speakers when they speak English. Every student of a second. language transfers his/her pronunciation habits 10 the new language and this is not in any way negative since xis natural and expected. “Mistake” and “error’ ere simply used co highlight the differences between the pronunciation systems of the two languages so as to make Spanish speakers realize how far apart the wo systems are and how ineligibility problems may be avoided if they have good knowledge of English phonetics “e Expected pronunciation Afvertakingnote ofthe mostcommon pronunciation "mistake" theswudentshouldlisten o the English pronunciation of the example, 50 as to contrast the first pronunciation ‘with the expected one, Even though at this stage the student might not know how to adapt his/her pronunciation to the expected one, (Jhe should be aware that there are certain differences between the two productions, in Chapter 8 (Intonation), the Common mistake and the Expected pronunciation sections are not included in most of the tips since the intonation with which a sentence is produced is not a matter of being, “right” or “wrong” but it depends on the meaning the speaker wants to convey. Description Im this section, we present the main ideas to be taken into account co improve the pronunciation of @ given saund or prosodic aspect, such as stress or intonation, We rot only highlight che main differences between English and Spanish but we also show how learners can make use of their similarities. Mote pronunciation examples are included after each description Common spellings “This section only appears in the chapters elated to vowels and consonants. The aim of this section isto provide examples of the most common spellings ofa given sound. We ddo not expect che scudent to memorize these spellings. These are only examples. What the student should learn is the expected pronunciation of each sound along with ts phonetic ranscription, In this way, when the student comes across new word and. does not know its pronunciation (jhe can look it up in a dictionary and be able to infer how the word should be produced by looking at the phonetic transcription, Ear eaiing, This section contains several exercises for students to practice the pronunciation of a given sound or prosodic feature. Students can choose to do the exercises on theit computers with interactive feedback or inthe book. In this lst case, the solutions ro che exercises can be found at the end ofthe book, Some ofthe exercises in chapiers 5 and 6 also contain 2 section called “transcription practice” which is optional. This section is aimed at those students who want further practice on transcription. The solutions tothe transcriptions are also found atthe end of the book, Other accents [Av the end ofthe tips describing vowels and consonants, we mention some of the differences beoween. RP and other English accents, in particular, GA (General ‘American This section is not compulsory for those students that do not want to adopt a GA accent. However, we think it can be usefl to know the differences and similarities berween the two accents glen the massive number of people using art ‘American accent nowadaysHow to use the software included in the CD-ROM = naka Cond Ena ps romuncinton’ 0 Oa OO he sottwate allows the students co play the audio files of all the exaray les includeel in each tip and box, and 2. do the same eat training exercises found in the book and check their solutions Figure 2. ab menu wah the deren The software is basically designed for study, “The software is organized in the same way asthe book. Students can choose whether shey want to work with tips or boxes by clicking on the appropriate chapter or Be Aware box From the pull-down menu on the left side of the screen r —__ , | | e | fast ist) | \ fast ast) = | etck on ine eon ple Sections 4 and 5 contain the ear taining exercises also found inthe book. At the end o Er each exercise, scents will ind three butions with the possiblities illstrated below | Sections 1, 2, 3 and 5 contain the audio files of the examples in the book, In order to listen to an audio file, students should click on the icon illustrated below. Soa, (Ciisetiesves ] C Sioeinewen) (Gna | 1 Ztows ine stents tong out wether thor answers are ht or wrong Figure 1. Pulldown meng lL 9tozt slthe Chapeers ith the di and Be Bare bores, Figure 4. Example ofthe possible od ofan exercise Each tip contains the same sections as those found in che book, namely, (D) Common mistake and expected pronunciation, (2) Tip description, (3) Common s and (5) Other accents. Once you i co work with by cl tings, @) Ear ering jou can select the se of the following buttor ve chosen the jon you want ing on 0% of the tab menu. fae BRSome notes on the installation of Teach Yourself English Pronunciation software package ‘The Teach Yourself Enghsh Pronunciation CD-ROM supplied with this book contains a self- extracting file to help you install in your computer all the necessary files to access the audio content and to run interactively the exercises of the book Figure 5. Contents of Teach Yourself Enash Apnunction CO ROM root older, ‘The CD-ROM should automatically star running the installer programme shortly aftr you insert itn the computer CD/DVD unit. If fats to do so, simply run the setup. {x file rom the CD-ROM root fide by just double-clicking on tH corresponding icon “The installer programme will prompt you to enter the itectory where the programme files will be stored. By default, al les are stored im the e:\P¥ogram Files\Teach Yourself English Pronunciation folder (nce installacion is successfully completed, the installer programme will reste shortcut ‘icon to the Teach Yourself English Pronunciation programme on your Desktop (see Figure 6) You will also be abe to access the programme from che corresponding older in Windows Start (see Figure 7), 2h Yours Engish Pronunciation | Figure 6. Teach Yourself English Pronunciation Desktop icon The Teach Yourself English Pronunciation progeammeisa Windowsapplicationhatessentialy ‘ses your default Internet browser to display its content. Some mincr differences can be expected when displaying graphical content in different browsers. The programme has extensively been tésted in the fre browsers MS Internet Explorer 7/8 and Molla Fuefox 3.cand should be supported by later versions. I'you run older versions ofthese browsers ‘we would strongly recommend you t0 update them, otherwise the programme content tay not display correctly. The latest versions ofthese browsers can be downloaded from the following public websites: ‘ww microsoft com/windows/interne-explorer/worldwide sites asp ‘wow mozilla-europe org each Youre Engin Promun & Chars fortnsater & Dowel. forsale BB tesen Your Eagan Ponunciatl J 4 Tostaza i Tosiaas ow pLaves Vieotan FF Wiesons tea Figure 7. Teach Yourself Engish Pronunciation folder content 2 sreeashor rom Vineows Sart, shang ts fone nstales, the main Dprogiam =e and the unasialler sofwareYou can also install these font the Teach Yourself Engl ssful installation of the programme from Start (see Figure 7). We recommend you to install both font packages, which are produced by SIL International and distributed un pen Font License (OFL). For more information and to download the latest version of these or other [PA (International Phonetic Association) st the website fonts, you can ts sil orgicms/scripts/page phpsite_id=prsiGrcat_id=FontDownloadsIPa If you can not see the new fonts immediately after installation, you may have to quit and plication fer the font co become available -an temove all Teach Yourself English Pronunciation files from your PC by the Uninstall programme for the Teach Yourself English Pronunc simply running folder from Windows Star (see [EACH YOURSELF ENCLISH PRONUNCIATION Key to phonetic symbols for English and Spanish Vowels English Spanish f=) bad fe] sal fA love fe] mss fo] card oan fel bea fo] das (el shu wus foun (bean fol bass bl call fl opt fu] moon [el allow {happy [ul situation fo] i Gina) fol bass (ina) isd shige (in GA) eo ponte symbol fr Eg ar Spas a O66 SOO O44 OF 4445448 . ° °English Spanish pie [al calgo say [el] my eae toy Io) sox cow [aw] raudo Tow few tendo low (in GA) fow] Lou near fa] piano care fie] Piedra, Poor jo] ration {iu]— diurno {wa] agua [we] bucno (oa) muy Iwo} cuata Consonants Engh Spanish {bl pen fp) pan fb) boy by is tie {0 ws (d] day [4] dar {cold (col fol gue (3) got [cheese (] — churro [6s] lames fs] ave, yo (in emphatic content) English tf fine Mun (8) think (8) those (ak x00 Ol shame 1B] weagure th bet frm] meet fo} ae fo] sing Whe Wood (bauer GnGay (w] wine Oe Spanish Ul lve. yo 1 feo 18) coro ost fo) jarron im} mes fm) narie iN am lear IK] lave Spanish wich ‘a Catalan accent) in pen (1 pew fw) huevo Hy Gpanish with Catalan accent)Other phonetic symbols eat = : : (7 aspiraion of fp IB obo Getween vowel List of voiced and [.] devotcing of voiced sounds [8] cada Coetween-vowels) . * 5 eae Bolter or voiceless sounds in English Stress + stressed syllable in the spelling many, *under*stand Iovadaunt veg sounds TM main or primary stress meni “reduced with yoca td vibration) (prnduced with no veal fod vibration) al (pre-primary or secondary stress [andelstzend] bead ioe } ‘When lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs) consisting of only one syllable Id] doe {we 4 appear in isolation they aft stressed but no sires mark is used, Stress marks are used [a] game (“came ‘when wohds have more chan abie syllable or when the) appear in company we andre eal ee {1 chin b4 viords, as in the following examples. Mel ice 3 read i) ovaylable Word insolation po at mir eae {8° thin * reading Prisag) ‘multi-syllable word in isolation sess mark. trae fel oa >| fara) cone-syllable word in company stress mark. ite roe Ol sty > [hy] bot » Intonation [mj meee a [nl nice a | presence of an intonation break Ubought bananas | pea:s | and strawberries ‘aes j High pitch Mae f $ M mid pitch {fl red . L lowpltch [rl buuter Gin GA) ¢ tw wine * Non-phonetic symbols O_o > ; ® indicates thar Spanish speakers do not have any problem with the pronunciation All vowels and diphthongs > FT @ indicates audio material, 4 ees = ‘ ®CHAPTER 1 Vowelsa aye EM TE TT EI ——— Tip 1. Spanish [a] vs. English fo} (ce] [a] ‘Common mistake ban (bain) ban Iban} bun {ban} Expected pronunciation @ ban {born} ban {been] bun [ban] Description English has three vowels with an actype of quality (oi, {a0} and [AD as opposed to Spanish which onty has one, chats, fl. The cost common mistake fora Spanish speaker 1s to produce the three English vowels with the Spanish [a}. This obviously leads to possible misunderstandings since an English speaker will not be able to determine ‘whether the Spanish speaker means bar ar bun Tne word barn, on the other hand, can be more easily understood given the production of the [7] by Sparish speakers, As we will discuss in Tip 26, che [f] sound is only produced tn RP English when tis followed by 2 vowel. Thus, in darn (fba:n) the (5 not produced tn RP since @ consonant follows, Those speakers that want to adopt RP as their model of pronunciation should not produce the [rin barn. In his case, barn willbe distinguished from ban and bun by means ofthe vowel quality only. in many ather English dialects, however, the presence of che {fis common. Spanish speakers may choose to produce the [F] co facilitate distinguishing the word barn ftom the other two. However, itis important for Spanish speakers to note that English (ris ciferene from che Spanish one Gee Tip 26 for detail) Let us now look at she three English vowels and cheir qualities {ol {at} is a long and back vowel. In order to understand how this vowel should be produced, imagine that you are yawning or gargling, When we yawn, we lower the back ofthe tongue ina similar way o the production of English fo]. Try to place the articulatrs in a postion of yawning and then utter th [0:] sound. Furthermore, you should also know that (0: is a long vowel. This means that, compared to other vowels, such as faa or Js), fx} has 2 longer duration tn phonetic tanscription, the two dots (3) indicate a long sound 2 TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH PRonUNCATON Listen to a ew words vontatning [0:]. Repeat ued anita the speaker's pronunciation, 8 arm {form} cat (ka sian {sta:t) father {fardo} balen {oo:m le) ‘The quality ofthe [ae] sound is between Spanish [a] and lel. In order to produce chis vowel, say a long Spanish [a] and in the middle try co change 1 to [e] while keeping, the same degree of mouth opening 2s for the fa If you compare the productian of the Sparish vowels fal and [a], you can fel thar che tongue is lower (and the mouth usually ‘more open) for fa] than for (el, For che uttering of English [ee] the mouth kas 10 ave a similar degree of opening as for the Spanish {a] but the postion ofthe tongue is similar to Spanish [el Listen to few words containing [ze], Repeat and imitate che speaker's pronunciation a lad [led] cat (kee sad (seed madam (mesdom) pack [pek) lal [a] isthe shortest a.type vowel in English. Its quality is quite similar co Spanish fa] but ivis a bi shorter. Listen wa few words containing [A] Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation 8 sun {san} flood nd] love (wv) rubber [snba} luck ts] Compare the pronunciation af words containing che three vowel qualities. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation @ lak [lok] Tock (leek) Tuck (ak) bard fara bad [baed] bud [bad] march [most] match [meet] much [mat] com {torn} taste) conan} clerk [Kerk] ack [a] luck (Wak) calm —[ka:m] cam [kee] come tkam]‘Common spellings ef} blast blast] a" farder tla:de] sa laugh tort} ‘ht shah Us) “a psalm {sa:m} f=) bad (peed) Now cut that] o come arn] “oo! blood {ola Ear training @ Exercise 1 You will now listen to the pronunciation of one of the following words: barn [bain], ban {been} and bun [ban], For each pronunciation, tick the word that is produced. Example barn ban bun barn ban bun bern ban bun bam ban bun barn ban bun barn ban bun barn ban bu, barn ben bun bam ban bun barn ban bun 10 barn ban bun @ Exercise 2 Listen tothe pronunciation ofthe following words and decide whether they ae produced wath fo: [ae] or (a. Tick your answer Example ad fa] v fee} tad a 2 bor fo) fe} fs) 3 sand for] fae] In} done f0:} [a] [a] black for] [2] fa) Jove fa] fe] Ay co fo) fae) farm fox] [ae] In) mater [a] [el fA) a © Exercise 3 You will now hear three sentences which only differ in one word containing an a-type of, vowel. Listen to the chree sentences and decide in which order they are produced. Write 1 for the first sentence you hear, 2 for the second and 3 for the third Example, 2 paid three hundred pounds fora cart. [katt] 3 [paid three hundred pounds fora cat (keet] 1 paid three hundeed pounds fora cut, {kat} 1 He's gotabigbark [bark] He's gota big back, [baek] Hes gota big buck [bak] 2 Thereszofarm [hair] Theres no ham. {haem There's no har, {ham} 3. He was parting (portn) He was patting tpsun] He was putting [patty] 4 Wegotabluecarp.— [ko:p] Tve gota blue cap. {keep} Ue gota blue cup. [ap] 5. Marnie makes che workd go round. [7m Manny makes the world go round, [maeri Money makes the world go round. [mani 6 Wsamark mo] Ws. a Mac. [meek] Wsa muck [mak]Other accents In General American some of che words thar in RP English vontamn an [o:] vowel are produced with [ze] This matnly occurs in words which have no [for {I} sounds after the vowel. Thus, for example, fasts pronounced as [forst] in RP and as ffzest} in GA. The words «ar and calm, on che contrary. maintain the [ar] sound in GA since the vowel 1s followed by (f or I] ({ko%r, (ka:im. Listen to the following words produced with an RP aecent and a GA aecent 6 a Ga fase tas) test] last borst} est) bath [ba:8) {bae8] Jaugh [lof] [leef] sas {ola} {gles} hence fains}_———tfzens} Noxe the pronunciation differences and similarities of yan and can't in the following, expressions int RP and GA ° Re ca Yes, Lean, (keen) [keen] No, Lean, [aint] Ikeont] @ Exercise 4 Listen to the following words and decide whether they are produced with an RP accent or GA accent, Tick your answer. Example grant, RP_ [grant] GA (oreent] 2 pass RP (po:s] GA pans} 2. cant RP [kaint] GA [keent] 3. dance RP [dons] GA [daens] 4 Mask RP fase) GA fleesk} 5. France RP [rains] GA {freens} 6 demand RP [at'maxnd] GA [atmeend} 7 nasty RP [ne:st) GA Freesti 8 grant RP (grant GA [arent] 9. master RP ('marsta} GA [meester] 10. past RP {parst} GA Ipeest] ‘TEACH YOURSEY ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION ee Cee One| Common mistake o [bet bert} bed ied Expected pronunciation 9 bed [bed bied {bad} Description English @-type vowels ate (e] and [ae] which differ both in duration and in quality Spanish students of English tend to produce these two vowels with a Spanish (el whose quality rather diferent from English (@} ever though both sounds are transcribed with the same symbol ((e). Furthermore, Spanish speakers tend to produce the word bin with an (e]. The presence of ff] is commion in many English dialects and it can facilitate the distinction between bed and bir if itis produced propery (ee Tip 26). However, for those speakers that watt co adopt an RP accent the [fl most be dropped since in RP English the {*}is not produced before a consonant (see Tip 26) For details on she eiferences between {e)and {dl refer vo Tip 15. fe] English (ei a bit more open than the Spanish [e} In order to grasp the different quality ‘between English fe] and Sparish fe]. Spanish speakers should produce a long Spanish {o] and in the riddle they should open their mouth a bit more by lowering the jaw and the tongue. The resulting sound shouldbe similar to an English (2) tf any help. This vowel is similar to the Catalan sound in the words pera or mel and to the Galician sound im the words fer or gs Listen o few words containing an English (el, Repeat and mitae the speaker's pronunciation oll fell mess [mes] bread loreal] ready [rei] tess es) chapter vanesSometimes Spanish speakers may have problems in dilferentating [e] from [2e]. Ore they know thatthe [ze] vowel has a quality between Spanish (al and [e}, 2 common mistake isto produce 2] 109 closer fe], and thus the word marry meer is often hear as merry [mer] Itis important shat they pay special attention to his distinction in order to avoid misunderstandings. Compare tne pronunciation of pais of words containing [e] and [ze], Repeat and imitae the speaker's pronunciation. © omeny fer marry (imeed) pen [pen] pan [peen] belly bell] dally [beeli) many {meni Manny (rmaenif eg lea} lg ee} [s:] The vowel [si] is longer than English [e] and 1s produced in a rather different way. [s: has a very similar quality 10 the Enghsh weak vowel fa}. che only ciference being that [5] is much longer than 9}, For the production of [3:], Spanish speakers should ‘open thetr mouth very litle, as in mouth breathing, Then, they should try 19 produce & sound without moving any ofthe aticulaters. The [si] and [a] vowels are similar to the sound Spanish speakers sometimes produce when they think aloud (ehh, See Tip 6 for rmore details on the [a] vowel Listen to few words containing {3}. Repest and imitate the speaker's pronunciation @ shit fsx) purse [p35] serve (S831 early [sti] lexn fan) Compare the pronuncistion of pairs of words containing (@] and [2:], Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation @ ferry [eri furry [fei Ben [ben] burn [ba:n} bread [hed] heard {hard} Ness Ines] nurse [pais] bled bled) blurred [bis:d] Note the pronunciation ofthe verb werent with one zyilable and with the vowel [31] werent (wa:nt] ‘Compare the two sentences: @ We werent there [wa:nt} ‘We went there went] Common spellings ofl ler let] ‘eo dead {ded} ai said sed) ey sie [sai] ur fur (fs: er verdant (va:dont] Year" peas) {sit Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the pronunciation of the following words and decide whether chey are produced swith fef or (21. Tick your answer Example fresh + tel {4 1. pen fel te] 2. berry te ts] 3. servant fe (a 4 nerve fel (3 5. refer tel ts 6. reflect fel te] 7 third fl fo] 8 curd te] ts 9. beter fel te 10 fxm fel {=@ Exercise 2 You will now hear pelts of sexvences which only differ in one word contamming either [2] or (ai. Listen to the sentences and decide in which order they are produced. Wiite | for the frst sentence you hear and 2 for the second Example 2 tvegorabigbed athome (bed) 1 tvegorabigbird at home [bard] 1 Hes gov big head {hes} Hers go a big herd [had] 2 The parce is for Bett {eet The pateel is for Bertie fast) 3 tS a huge shed Gea] Its a huge sherd jai] 4 Benny took the car fen) Bernie took the car Ubs:ni] 5 He's got atenner tren} Hes gota Turner tana} 6 She lent lots of things last summer lent She ear fos of things last summer find) Exercise 3 Look at the following paits of words concaining (e} or (a2) and decide which one the speaker produces Tick the word that you hear Example flesh fief] ash [lee 4 kettle fetal] cole (Keetal 2 wee vet] x (oaet] 3 led (led) lad flee) 4 lever [eto] tauer Plata} 5. said [sed] (seed) 6 tn [ten] tao teen} 7 bed [bed bad [bee 8 Terry [ter tarry [teri] 9 ber [bet] bar [baet) 10 dead [dea] stad (danet Other accents ‘In General American, the [2!] vowel 1s usually pronounced wich an exura [F qualty as if the two sounds ((at] and {f]) were produced simultaneously. The symbol used to arscribe chis vowel is (2) Also American (aif tends to be pronounced with rounded lips. tn otder to produce an American {2} try to uter [3] and [r] at che same time ard round you lps Lister «o che following words produced with a GA accent @ shit fest} purse [pois] serve [sou] early (ect learn (lan) @ Exercise 4 LUsten to the following words and deciee whether iney ate produced with an RP accen oF @ GA zccens Tick your answer Example ta + RP Ifa) GA (fs) Ls RP (sa%] GA [sou] 2 earth BP (a6) Ga (a8) 3 wore 8 (wm G& fwoem) + term RP [tsim| GA [tom] 5 pearl RP (pail) GA fpxl] © eamnes ap [mise] GA snust) 7 fem RP [fm] GA [fem] 8 cunt RP (hard GA (kod) 8 din RP (dst) GA (dot) 10 keenes RP [ks:nal) GA [koneBE AWARE 1: Using phonetic transcription Spanish is a language in which sounds and leters always agree. This means that tbe pronunciation of 2 word is predictable from the spelting, tis, therefore, quite straightforward to teach Spanish pronunciation to non-native speakers since it is possible to give chem generalizations of this kind: “in Spanish the leter‘a is always pronounced as [a] (asin casa)” Given the close relationship in Spanish berween sounds and letters, Spanish speakers tend to apply similar generalizations when they speak English. Therefore, ‘words such as board or quay tend to be produced as [boatd} or [kwai] by Spanish speakers instead of [ba:d] and [kit]. In English, sounds and lewers do not agree, that is, one lewer can have several pronunciations and one sound can be spelt in mary diferent ways. This is llustrated below forthe leer" and the sound Uf} In English the lener“a" can be pronounced as: @ [ae] cat {o] bar fo] call fo] watch fed] sale fea) fare fo} again In English eke sound ff} canbe spelt as: o short sugar passion notion “e “precious sch? machine Given the lack of agreement between sounds and letters in English, the only way for foreign students of English tobe able to grasp English pronunciation isto knew hhow to read, write and interpret a phonetic transcription. It is, therefore, crucial to have some notion of phonetics wo understand and avercome the difficulties of English pronunciation ee Ua) Common mistake @ deep (sp] dip (ain) Expected pronun deep {ip} dip [sip] Description English has two vowels of an type, fi] and bi, which differ both in quality and duration The most common mistake for Spanish speakers is to pronounce both sounds with a Spanish {i] vowel, thus making the words deep and dip undistinguishable for an Enghsh speaker. Again students of English should try to overcome this problem if chey want t0 avoid misunderstandings fe) ‘The production of English {F] should not be a big problem for a Spanish speaker since English (i) and Spanish fi] are almost idennical in quality. The only aspect Spanish speakers have 1 pay attention to when uttering this Sound isto make i longer than thei usval Spanish [i Listen to a few words containing [i]. Repeat and imitate the speaker’s pronunciation please Ipfiz] vest Inia} niece tris} degree [argris] sex levi) i English tis much shorter than fe] and its quality is nearer to Spanish fe] than to Spanish fi. Thus, Spanish speakers should be aware that if shey want 10 produce an English (i they should rry 19 make it sound closer to the vowel ofthe Spanish word mes than to the vowel of mis ‘Compare the pronunciation of the following words in the two languages. Note that the vowel of English miss is closer co that of Spanish mes than to that of Spanysh‘Also note that English {e} ts more open than spanish (2] even though the same symbol 1s used in cranscription (see Tip 2 far more derailss Combate the prostnciation of he folowing worn the two languages © Spanish mus [is] English miss rus] ones (mes| ness {mes} Listen (0 a few words containing [t]. Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation o dia (oinj an (siks] Wp th} cave {eva} rhythm [ndem) ow tse u ine following sets of English words wich sllustrave the contrast between (i: fi and fe}. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation © cead {rid nd [nd] red fred cheek ik] tuck (ik) hows ek) beater [ bites fttal hewer foetal Penally listen 10 a few words sontarnang (ke, (tl fe] and [3:]. Repeat and imitace the speaker's prontanciation @ een fin} un fun) ten Ren cunt} bean fin] bun ban] Ben [ben] burn fan} Pee pit] pt prt} pet pet) pet pat} Note the uiverent promuacraceon a tbe words this and these tbs {o%s] these (ez) Common spellings o oe meet mit} er read fred e pee {ois} woachine {malin} © heme {Gi 14 © Tero r Youn evcust pRoNNCATION, es op {trp} y hymn them} . reflect [n'fiek} training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the pronunciation ofthe following words and decide witether they ate produced with [i] oF ft} Tick your ansie, Example silly tel - U. Pater fa in 2 beast tH ta 3, sreet ied a + nil fl a 3 mulk te] ia} 6. bee fy ta 7 king iy 13 3. queen i 9. celease el w 10. mirror fe it} @ Exercise 2 Look atthe following words and listen 40 the pronunciation of onty one of them. Tick che word that is produced Example beat [bit] wb [bt] ber [bet] 1 eat {nit} nic [nt] net [net] 2 peas [pick] pick — [pak] peck —[pek} 3. seat [sit] sk [sit sex [set] + Powe [pit] pe [pr] pet (etl 5. heel [hill hill that) hell [hel 6. lead tid [ha] led [ied] Teach {rit} rick fr] wretch [re] 8. feel au fl) fil fel 9 meal [rth vail fo) Mel {melp 10 Neil frit sil [nt] Nell [nell ape Yous@ Exercise 3 You will now hear pairs of sencences which only differ in one word containing either {iJ or fie. Listen to the sentences ane decide in which order they are produced, Write 1 for the first sentence you hear and 2 for the second. Example, 2 Sheheatsthe oven. {hits] 1 Shebitsthe oven [hits] 1. He was beaten by a lon, [bictant He was bitten by lon, [orton] 2 Canyou feel? (fa) Can you fill i? trl) 3. Thisisa very high heel (rit) This sa very high hil. thal 4 You should leave alone fli ‘You should live alone. {hv} 5 She threw our che pet [pit] She threw out the pil Ip} 6. Wsa white bean {bin} lesa white bin {om} © Exercise 4 ‘You will now hear pairs of sentences which only differ in one word containing either {if or fe]. Listen to the sentences and decide in which order they are produced. Write L for the first sentence you hear and 2 for the second Example 1 This is biter {torte} 2 Thisis beter [bets] 1 Thisis the best bid {bx} This isthe best bed {bed} 2 Sa blue pin town] lesa blue pen (peal 3. You should have ss [siks} You should have sex {seks} 4 Ihsayellow eine Isnt Ws yellow ten. frent] 5. Tve got tin soldiers fn} Ive gotten soldiers. fren} 6 tlhe to ell fet Tip 4. Spanish [0] vs. English [9:] [0] Common mistake @ shox [tfory shot {tion Expected pronunciation @ shoxt tl shot on) Description English has ewo vowels of the o-ype, namely, [23] and [o]. As with the other pairs of vowels, [2] and [0] differ both in quality and duration. [0] i more open and shorter than [oi]. Spanish speakers tend to produce both sounds wich the Spanish [0] vowel, as illustrated with the short and shor example. Furthermore Spanish speakers also tend (0 produce the post-vocalic{f] in short. Lf Spanish speakers want to stick to an RP accent, the final ff] should not be pronounced since in RP English the {f] 1s only produced when its followed by a vowel (see Tip 26 for more details) However, forthe purpose of inteligubicyii nota mistake to produce the (fin skort vith an English quality as tis common in many English accents and of course understandable by RP speakers. See ps 7 and 18 for details on the diferences bewween ft] and [J] [ol English [oe is similar to the Spanish {o] but is much longer than the Spanish sound as indicated by the two dots (ED. In order to practice the [oi] vowel, Spanish speakers can use a Spanish word such as col and produce it with a much longer vowel than usual, The resulting sound will be similar 1 the English for] of the word cal kal} hme: inmae feeListen to afew words containing fo: Repest and mica the speaker’ pronunciation Common spellings o call tke] { @ by coe north {0:0} north [no:8) q “at alll fort) taunery lanai ou" thought [Bost] water fworta] ona fraud {fro:d] law {lo:] “aw paw {po} ‘oa broad [brad tel ai" call {tork] The English vowel {Of shorter dhan [ae] and w as produced with 2 slghuly more open ‘mouth For the production of o}. Spanish speakers can siat pronouncing long Spanish (lv lor tot) {o] and in the middle they should open their mouth a bit more by lowering the jaw and the congue The result should be a sound close to English {o} wash (wo! ou! cough Lot] any help... This vowels simular wo the Catalan sound in the words jd o sla and to the Galician sound in the words ola or po Ear training This vowel is also similar wo che sound used in Andalusian when che -s in plurals is dropped or pronounced as (hl, a5 os minus. @ Exercise 1 Listen 10 afew words containing fo}. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation Listen to the pronunciation ofthe following words and decide whether they are produced ae iol woth fo] oF fo] Tick your answer tox test) Example; more (oi tel swatch twos Let fe {oh holiday fhotadert 2. score fal {2} yacht liot i 3. tot [ol fo} Now compare the pronunciation of pairs of words containing {o:} and fo. Repeat and | 4, fog [od fol imitate the speaker's pronunciation, { 5. fraught fo] (o} @ valk {work wok twvok] 6. almost . 3} ‘corks [korks] cox [koks] 7. thought Io] {0} sport {spoxt spot (spot) 8. long tel Morden {maiden} modern, ['modanj | 9. horse fo] caller helo} callar [kolo] | 10. corner {0} TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH PRWLAION 1 Ccaptr onal |@ Exercise 2 Listen to the pronunciation of the following palrs of words containing [23] or fo]. For cach pair, decide whether they are produced with the same vowel (making the two words homophones) or with a different vowel, Tick your answer. Example: dawn Don same + different 1. caught court same different 2. caught cot same different 3. bored: board same diferent 4. shod shored same different 5. saw sore same different 6 pote paw same different 7 mourning morning samme different 8 com con same different © Exercise 3 ‘You will now hear pars of sentences which only difer in one word containing [2] or fo} Listen tothe sentences and decide in which order they are produced, Write 1 forthe first sentence you hear and 2 for the second Example, Heres ports {pos} 1 Hees pots. {pois} 1 The court smear the gorden kot ‘The cot is near the garden. [kor sa blue cord, {ka:d] Ws a blue cod. (kod) 3. Take the forks with you {foks} Take the fox with you (foks] 4 I's a brown cork. Ukork} its a brown cock {kok} 5. The shirt is for Mrs. Morley. {motli] The shits for Mrs. Melly {rot 6 This is Paul {poll This oll {pot Other accents InGeneral American, the sound fo] doesnotexist. Words containing [o] in RP are produced ether with an [o] Giilar to RP fo:) or with an [o] (similar to RP [0] but much longen). Listen to the following examples produced with @ GA accent ee {lot lost {lost pat {pot boss {bos} watch {wat} dog {deq] holiday (holades} Boston {lbastan] yacht Gor) gone [gen] Listen to the following words and decide whether they are produced with an RP accent or GA accent. Tick your answer. Note that the words from 6 till 10 are only distinguished bby vowel length (GA {o] is longer than RP o]) but nox quality Example stop RP. [stopl ¥ GA [stop] 1. fog RP [fog] GA [fos] 2 lodge RP. (lods] GA flads) 3. not RP. not] GA {not] 4 cod RP [kod] GA [kad] 5. odd RP fod] GA fad) 6. cough RP [kof] GA [kof] T. cost RP. [kost] GA [Rost] 8 moth RP {mod G& [m8 9. cross RP. {kros] GA [kr98] 10, cloth RP. {kl08] GA [kt] Im General American, the sound {9:] only occurs when the following sound is an ff], as in war [wait]. However, when no [f] follows, [o] is used instead of [o!} For example, law 's produced as [lo] in GA (and as [fot] in RP). Spanish speakers should note that fo] is produced with 2 more open mouth chan {23 Listen to the following examples produced with an RP accent and a GA accent e Rp ca law (ol haw 1) m toil 20 io) Be Pisiczecs paw (p21) paw [pol ae pause ipo] pause {po bought ibart} bought {bot} choc 1:\tqiate Sn aIn some American dialects there is no distinc between (a] and [9] and words such as lot, ost and lay ate produced with (a, Ths is illustrated below. @ lot flat] lost Host] law tia] BE AWARE 2: Homophones 1m English i is almost impossible to predict the pronunciation ofa given word from its spelling and, even though we might think thar we kaw cereain generizacions or example, the leters “ea tend to be pronounced a5 [las tn sea or te), here are always many exceptions to these “rules” (for example, "2a" is pronounced 3s [e] in ‘weaker, as [60] in pear, a [0] in dear, an as (ex in brea) A good way ta realize how far"apart sounds and leters are in English is to find amophones. Homophones are words that are pronounced exactly the same despite dllferences in the spelling. The following list contains a few examples of English homophones. Thereare many more andit can be a good exercise for Spanish speakers toadd more cases to this list. ome ight let) awe oat or ore bo blew blue [bi] board. bored [bo:d} caught court koa} colonel Kernel [ksinal] flour flower {fave} hour our [ave] paw pore our lea: right vite write fren) saw sore {sol threw through (ry ‘wat vveighe wert wich wich wnt] RACH OURS excUSH RONNATION es eee aan E Common mistake @ foal (ful) all tall Expected pronunciation e fool [fu:l] full itu Description English has ewo vowels with an U-type of quality, fu and [u}.Simitar eo eke (ef ane (f andthe {oz and [o} pais, the u-vowels differ both in quality and duration. A common mistake for Spanish speakers is to pronounce fol and jul with the same vowel quality aglish speakers since it nat re, Cis importa fr Spanish (Gpanish (u}) This may cause misunderstandings with clear whether the word [full means “foot” or “fll”. Th speakers both to perceive and produce the 1wo vowel qu rnilar to the Spanish (ul but is speakers should produce English (u:] duration fa longer than the Spanish sound, Spanish, 1 Spanish {uj but they should lengthen its Listen to a few words containing [us]. Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation @ moon (mun) route {rus} blue fetus) ruler (rustal crew Uru)tu} 1 Ear training English [U has a shorter duration than Js) us qualiy is between Spanish fu] an tnetete pean ler thw th sound shal be ue Spanish pea tay o Exercise 1 produce a long Spanish {u) and inthe middle open their mouth a bit and slightly relax Listen othe pronunciation ofthe following words and decide whether they ae produced {hei ips so a8 to havea bit less of lip rounding, with [ul] or [Ul Tick your answer Note thar all words ae spelt with double °o” Coo") Listen toa few words consining [i] Repeat and imate the speaker’ pronunciation Thus, students cannot rely onthe speling to differentiate between the two sounds. a geod (gud) Examples cook tw] etl wif fora 1. spoon (wl wl vt por) 2. book ul fu woman uma) 5. food el ) took ftw 4 foot (ui wl ; ; o 5. brook ul (ul ow cmp he oni fps of word soanng fu df ee 6. wool Ww) ww 7 wood Ww wl Luke tux) took tok) 8. tool tu) to wooed wud would boule fo, ball to & rool wl wo 10. tooth (ul uy) posling (push) pulling {pun woot Grea) woot Gogs Bark) fw] «exercise? - Listen tothe pronunciation of the following pars of words and decide whether they are Common spellings produced withthe same sound (ovo [fu] vowels oF two fu} vowels) or differen (ur and of) ww soos lovsl [uD Tick your answer ue cue {ku} Example tool took same different wor bwo {rer 1. route root same different ew serew {stows - 2. crook wound same afferent ww rumour {nme} 3. boor flute same different ww frat {frust} 4. soon wool same different ful oo" cook tho] 5 loot look same different w put [pul 6. woman Wagdy same different “ou could [ke] 7 sugar cookie same Aiecene 8. miby bales seme aiflerene 9. schoo! scoop same different 10. broke Deuise same Aiferene@ Exercise 3 You wall now hear pars of sentences which only difer in one word containing fu: oF fu} Listen tothe sentences and decide in which order they are produced. Write for the first serience you hear and 2 forthe second, Example 2 Laake! es me! thu] 1 Look es met todd 1, Iesablue pool putt esa blue pull, {put 2. ‘This suit ts filehy, [su:t] This 5001s filthy (svt) 3. She coved {hua she could tka 4 Ws ewentyaue eleven its It’s twenty tg eleven, {to} ae oC) Common mistake @ banana dissertation (banana [ciser'teifon} Expected pronunciation @ banana (beInaino] dissertation [étsoltesfon] Description ‘The (a} vowel is, by far, the most frequently used vowel in English, soit is crucial that Spanish speakers pay special atrencion to this sound ifthey want to improve their English pronunciation. The [a] vowel js called schow ami it onty occurs in unstressed syilables | TEACH YOURSELF GUSH PRONUNATION This isillustrated in the previous exumples, where the [] symbol indicates che beginning of the stressed syllable, The [9] vowel occurs in syllables without (], that i, in syllables, ‘which are not stressed, 4 schwa can only occur in stressed syllables wen iis par ofa diphthong as in [r9), [22] and [Ue] (see Tip 10) or a triphthong asin fara, [ea], (ote, [ava] and (ava) Gee Tip 10. Since the [9] sound does not exist in the Spanish voeaic system, students of English tend to use any of the Sparislt vowels instead. Usually the choice of a given vowel depends on the spelling, Thus, for example, wlereas in banana Spanish speakers use an (a] sound in the unstressed syllables (bla}nanfa)), in dissertation they produce an {e] and an fo} (disfelratifofe). Even though English speakers can sail understand these tovo words, the lack of (a inthe Spanish pronunciation of English causes a very strong foceign accent Let us now see how we can produce a schwva. As previously mentioned, (] is similar is quality to [as] but is much shorter. The schwa ts produced with a narrow opening ofthe mouth bur without chamges in che articulators Iti the sound that requires less effort in production since, apart from the slight mouth opening, no other articulatory movement is required, Spanish speakers use a similar sound when they chink aloud, as in evchhh Many help... English [ois close to the Catalan vowel at the end of hala or mare Listen co few words containing fa]. Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation. The letters produced with [a] ace underlined in the spelling © agai {elgen} accountant [skauntont] conte {[senta] dangersus (derndoras} mother {made} Now listen to some words which are similarin English arudén Spanish in terms of spelling and stcess pattern, and see how they differ with respect o the pronunciation of [a}. Repeat ‘and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. @ Amanda {olmaonds] camera [keemera] Marina metiino} Serena [satin] Bonanza {balnaerzo} apes vows 27 SS 2‘Common spellings The fa] sound can be spelt in a variety of lewers or combinations of eters. Here area few examples. ° 1 Allfive wowel levers “yale {oloun} broken ['breukan] impossible _fim'posabal] produce (pratjuss} “u" suspect [sas}pekt]} 2. Combination of two vowel luers nation {nexfon) villain [vilen} glamorous [gleemaras] veo" dungeon ——_[dandgon] 3. Vowel lewers + "¢ ac’ patievlag pote} ‘er” father [tarda] "or" doctor [dokta]} “uet Arthur. [0:88] 4 Combination of two vowel letters +r" “our” colour: [kalo] eur” amateur [zemeta) vote’ pleasute (1630) Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following words and decide whether the underlined sounds (vowels or a combination of vowel +“) are produced with [a] or not. Tick the lener (or combination of leuers) produced with fo, Example: letter feta] 1. connection. 6. assistant 2 underground 7. production 3. wesenvation 8. traveler + tailor 9. alterwards 5. accommodation 10. incredible @ Exercise 2 The following underlined letiers should be produced with fo], as indicated im the transcriptions. Listen to the pronunciations of the speaker and decide whether her productions are right (the produces the underlined leuers with [al) or wrong (She Produces a different sound), Tick your answer Example: alive [star ght ¥ wrong, 4. sailor {sera} right wrong, 2. accept [ok’sept] sight wrong 3. beggar ((bege} right wrong, 4. Londen {Mandan} right ‘wrong, 5. proceed [pre's] right ‘wrong 6. lemon Herman] right wrong 7. commute karjurt) right wrong, 8 severe {ssvia] right wrong 9. paper (espa right wrong, 10. convey Ikon'ves} right wrong BE AWARE 3: Silent letters Given the tendency in Spanish to pronounce a (or almost all) the leters that appear in the spelling, Spanish speakers also tend to produce all the letters in English words, Thus, words such as soften and cupboard are usually pronounced as 'soften] and [kapboft} by Spanish speakers, instead of fsofon] and [xbad] In English, however, chere are lots of words that contain letters which ae silent, that is, lets which are not produced. Apart from the [f] (before a consonant or before 4 pause) in non-rhone accents (see Tip 26 for more detail) there are many othet letters which are not pronounced in some English words. The following ist illustrates few words containing silent leers (undevlined in the spetiing). Being aware of the presence of silen letrs in English can help Spanish speakers to improve theit English pronunciation @ sword {s0:d) debt (eq) calm {kam} know {nou} lam psalm {so:m] receipt cupboard [aba] sign strong frost soften right {rant}BRAS ar ULE) Common mistake @ 8 happy (api © creular ('sitkuter| Expected pronunciation o happy thaepil circular f'sa:kjule] Description [i] and (ul are two weak vowels, that is, vowels which can only occur in unstressed syllables, as in che case of (0. il and [u] indicate chat in some unstressed syllables the contrast between {x} and [i] and [U} and {u:] is lost, that is itis not clear whether the English speaker procuces ft or [i] and (ul or (u] when che syllable is unstressed. Thus, [i] reflects the toss of contrast beeween ff} and (F] and [ul reflets the loss of conteast ‘eeween fu} anu] {i mainly occurs in unstressed wordsfinal syllables, a5 in happy (heepi). The final [i] remains the same when a morpheme is added co he word, asin Rappter Pheepia. i]s also found in unstressed syllables wien the next sound isa vowel, as in medka nid} English {i has che same quality as Spanish {i {u) occurs in unstressed syllables, especially afer {js in cular sa:kjula], Sometimes {u) is also found after [tf], when (tf is the result of a merging process between a {t) and the following [i] (See Tip 35 for more details) For example, the word situation can be pronounced as {srtiuefan} or even mote commonly as {stfulerfan]. English Ju) lias the same quality as Spanish fu Thus, Spanish speakers should nor have any problem in producing these sounds since they ate similar to Spanish fi] and [u. Listen to the following words containing [i] and fu}. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. 6 i wl media (micdio} situation [stfuerfon} Ubrary attra) fluctuare ——_(Maktfuert) Annie (ni manual {fmaenjust] every (ew, maturate ——_[rmaptfuren} radio freidiou} curator Ikjurerta] salient (sextant) ingeruous —_frtdgenjuas} 30 RADI YOURSELF ENCUSH POMUNCATON ‘Common spellings oy toy {tori "ie" married ['meeria Toni [tounil aposttophe —_[alpostrafi fu} cu citeulste——sarkjulert) Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following words and decide whether they contain [i i o (i). Remember that [only accurs in unstessed syllables. Tick your answer. Example) mint ken a 1 sunny fof oo 2. crystal i of 3. icy oo 4. mertier i oo 5. piece f} o@ ff 6. varjous Bo@ it 7 Dylan mo 8 machine wow 9. brownie Go 10, cathedeal goo © Exercise 2 Listen to the following words and decide whether they contain {ur} or [u]. Remember that {U} only occurs it unstressed syllables. in all cases, [ur] and [ul are preceded by a {i} Words containing fu] are not used in this exercise. Tick your answer, Example) review ¥ (ul 1 community tw) 2. stimulate tal 3. music ul 4 contextual — (ui} lel 5. mysician, {wl (J 6. student (wl tu) 7 pupil (wa tu 8. compuer [es] ) 9 duplicate (] w W umeric us) wl hope owes Be 2 2 & © @ 6.0. 6 68.8 6 6888688866086leq a bake [bere] Pa OKO en “ar pain ipein} ‘ay” bay [bes] Common mistake i fo] “ot soil {soul] 9 bay [ball oy" coy (kot ba [bel | doy boi) | Expected pronunciation © Exercise 1 bay [bail [Look at the following pairs of words. Listen to the pronunciation of only one of them. Tick ie word that is produced bax [ber] | boy {bat Example: bike + bake Description lat! [ed English has three diphthongs that end with an [1] vowel ((ay] fet] and fon). These 1 tke male diphthongs are similar in quality co the Spanish ones in the words hay, ley and vay. The . main difference between the wo languages lies in the second vowel ofthe diphthong 2 de aay nish this vowel has a clear [i] quality, whereas in English the [1] sound is beeween 3. liar layer ish [i] and [2], as described in Tip 3. Spanish speakers should ery to produce the 4m a part ofthe diphthong with a less tense and more relaxed fi] sound. However, no ¥ May rmisunderstandings wil be caused if chey use a Spanish {i type of vowel. Listen to a few words containing the three types of diphthongs ({ar), fer] and [or]). Repeat fen) tou] and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, 5 pointer pointer @ sigh [sal] say [se soy fst] 6) joy lighter [arto] later feral loner [ante] 2K coy ay | fra {ere Thoy [tra] 8. sale coil find [kaund] [keind} ned [kotnd] ried [frend] ved [frexd] [frou ton) € Common spellings Loy wey ofa mine {mar} bo < vie’ ue [tay] y 4 Se tn 4 v ey {hra]@ Exercise 2 You will now hear sets of dheee sentences which only differ in one word containing a diphthong ending in (2 ((atl [et] and or). Listen to the three sentences and decide in swhick ord chey are produced. Write 1 tor the first sence you hear, 2 Tor the second and 3 for the tied Example) 1 This isthe best buy [ball 3 This isthe best bay. bet} 2 Thisisthe best boy. [bot] 1 Hes gotatil Ife) He's gota fall fren) He's gota fol. (to) 2 isalong line {lain {ca fong lane. (ein) lesa Long fein os] 3. Myname’s Rye. (ell My name's Ray. (rea) My name's Roy (od 4 Ics a good pint {paint) esa good paint [pert lesa good point {point} 5. Wsadarkalsle (atl lesa dark ale fell) esa dank oil foul 6 This is a hard tile. [tail] Thisisahardiste tell Thisisahardcoit toll TEACH YOURSELF ENCUSH PRONUNCIATION Se re eco Common. ke @ now {nau [nou] knows Expected pronunciation Cy {nav} koaw {nou} Description English has two diphthongs that end with an fu] vowel, fau] and [60} The production of [au] as in now, should not be a big problem for a Spanish speaker since this diphthong, {is similar to the Spanish one in the word pausa. The [U} qualty ofthe final vowel is bit. rmore relaxed than the Spanish [ul as described in Tip 5, However, the usage of a Spanish [u] athe end of the diphthong should not cause ineligibility problems “The [2b] diphthong, on the other hand, is more problematic for 2 Spanish speaker sie the [a] vowel is not part of the Spanish vocalic system. Thus, Spanish speakers tend to produce this diphthong with an initial [0] sound (fou). This has a strong foreign accent effet in RP English but noc in ocher varieties of English, such as Ga, where [ou] is the norm. Thus, itis acceptable for Spanish speakers to use [oul instead of [@U], However, if Spanish speakers want 1 stick co an RP acceat, they should remember that eu] starts with a slight opening of the mouth as f for mouth breathing. With this position of the | Srueulators the sound shat will emerge és close co ae English (al, See Tip 6 for more details on this vowel. From the [2] quality they should move to an [U] vowel type which as before, is close to a Spanish [u] but wt is produced in a less tense way. Listen toa few words containing the two types of diphthongs ((au] and [au). Repeat and imitate the speaker's @ gout [gavt] goat [gout] cowed (kaud] code [kaud]) about (ebaut} bast [2 bat] dove [daut] dow [daut] oud (laud) load flav] l hou oneCommon spellings @ fav} “ou” out faut] ‘ow now [nau] fou] “oar om faut} “ow’ low {lau} “ot bone feoun} Ear training G Exercise 1 Listen tothe pronunciation of the following words and decide whether they are produced with [aU] or fau}. Tick your answer. Exomple brown [au] foul 1. throne fa} {ou} 2. thrown {au} feu] 3. crowded [au] [oul 4. show fay] [ou] 5. shower fav) fou} 6. snow (au {ov} 7 cow feu] fou) 8. bawling fav] foul 9. prone fa) [ov 10. round feu] foul © Exercise 2 You will now hear pairs of sentences which only differ in one word containing [at] or [au]. Listen to the sentences and decide in which order they are produced. Write for the first sentence you hear and 2 forthe second, Example 1 sa clean town {tav9] 2 sa clezn tone. {teun} Ls such a comfortable couch, {kaus}] 1s such a comfortable coach [out] | | | 2 "Now", she said. {nau} No" she sald {nov} 3. Pamused to row with he friends, (quarrel) {rau} Pam used to row with her friends. (use oars to move a boat) [rau] 4. Hesaclown {klaun] He'sa clone, [kleun] 5. The musician bowed. (bent the head forward) {ava} The musician bowed, (played a string instrumend [baud 6 Mary found him {tevnd) Mary phoned him {found} Other accents ‘As mentioned at the beginning of the tip, in GA the diphthong in boat is [ou] as opposed to RP fou}. Listen tothe following words produced with RP {OU} and Ga fou) ° RP GA boat [baut} boat [bout] coat [kaut) coat [kout) noe fnaut) note {nout) load laud} oad [loud] BE AWARE 4: Similar words in English and Spanish English and Spanish have a lot of words that are very similar in terms of the spelling Therefore, when Spanish speakers read these words, they have no problems in understanding chem. However, the problem usually emerges when it comes 10 pronunciation since che English pronunciation of these words is usvally very different from the Spanish one. This may eause intelligibility problems Both ta cerms of the production andthe perception ofthese words. Here are some examples of such eords. Itcan bea good exercis for Spanish speakers to rnake their own ist of words inchuding the phonetic transcription so as to be aware ofthe pronunciation differences. © anxiety peculiar Iptkiusto} colonel tedious (Priscros) euro vegetable _['vedstabel gynaecologist [gainakoledgist] vehicle (viakat} lethal Tide xylophone _[zatlofaun] Cheer vena Sd10. Diphthoags ending wits fo] ({r0] [ee] [va)) Common mistake @ — pict [piet} pear [pear] poor [puar} Expected pronunciation @ pier — [pra] peat [veal poor fpua} Description in English there ate three diphthongs that end with an [a] vowel quality, that is, {09 [60] and [ua] Since he fa] sound is not part of the Spanish vocalic system, Spanish speakers tend to use other vowel qualities in these contexts, mainly. (e] as in per and [a sin pea or poor Futchermore since the three English (a]-encing diphthongs ae always spelt with an “r*letter (except forthe word idea), Spanish speakers also produce a final f} atthe end ofthe aforementioned words. As mentioned in previous tips, the production of final (fis the norm in some English accents anc che presence off] in the pronunciation of Spanish speakers is perfectly acceptable. However, if Spanish speakers wish to produce the chee [a-ending diphthongs in a more RP English type of pronunciation, chey should concentrate on two aspects (1) avoid the production af the [f], and (2) try to use a final fa] vowel rather than [aor fel. As discussed in Typ 6, the fa} sound is the most neutral English typeof vowel and is produced with almost no movement ofthe articulatrs apart from a narrow opening of the mouth The first vowel qualities of the three diphthongs ({ta, fea] end (val) correspond to English [} (See Tip 3), [el Gee Tip 2 and fu} Gee Tip 5) vowels. Even though itis {important that Spanish students of English try to teproduce these sounds, they should pay more attention tothe final pact of the diphthong wich, in this case, isthe cause of the strong foreign accent Ie ts important to note that sometimes words containing the [va] diptthong can be pronounced in RP English with an fo:} vowel instead, Both pronunciations can be used indistinctvely, although nowadays there isa greater tendency to produce these words with the fot] sound rather than the diphthong, especially in frequently used words, Tis isthe case, for example, of poor which vends to be pronounced as {22%} instead of favs. © Teach OURS EN PRONUIICATIN (elnananesents iaeacepeeme Let us now examine a lew exarnples with the [ia], fea] and fue} diphthongs. First, we will listen to a few tems contrasting (ta] and [ea]. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, @ here {rua} hare thea} dear {600} dare [429] fear the) fare [feo} weary hwo] wary weer] steer {sual sare [stea] Now we will listen to @ few words produced both with the [Ua] diphthong and the [ox] vowel. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, @ moor [mva} Imo: sure (val lod cour {tua} {to ‘Common spellings @ [ta] “ear” dear [dr9} veer? deet {¢r0] “ee wer {9} “ene” hese (bxo] "ea’ idea [ardra] fea) “are sare {mes} “tie pair ipe0] “eit their (dea) a there (960) (val pot {ov} pure (eival our tourist truant}Ear training © Exercise 3 Listen to the pronunciation ofthe following words and decide whether they are produced wth [ua] or fo}. Tick your answer. \ \ Hi @ Exercise 1 | prodiaced, Write 1 forthe first sentence you hear and 2 for the second mere [mur mare {mer} fury jue) { | Listen to the pronunciation of the following words and decide whether they are produced Example: endure [ua] + [ol | swith 3] or [9]. Tick your answer, 1 mature, fue} (op Example care bi} + [oa] 2. pure {v9} fo: 1. near tol (es) 3. poatly {v9} fa} 2. heir fhe} {eal 4. insurance fva} tod 3, beard re) ea] 3. fury {uo} fo} 4 hair {ia} feo] 6. curious [ve] {o:] 5. hare loa) lea} | | 6. pierce 3] {eo} | Other accents 7 peer fra} fea} if Ye ook up ina diesonary for che wanscripion of words suchas per, pear and poor | shared {a} tea} in General American, you will find chat these words are transcribed without a), that i is, [pir], [Per] and [pur] However, as far as the actual pronunciation of these words is 9, questionnaize {ta) {ea} concerned, GA speakers do pronounce [a] before {r] in these contexts. 10, shearing ba] (oof Listen othe following words produced witha GA accent. Note that eventhough there i . ‘no [a] in the transcription, che [a] is actually produced. ti | @ Exercise 2 ® per pn pear [per] poor [put] | You wil now heat pas of setences which oly fe one word conning the ee et : | hang fo} of fea]. Listen to the sentences and decile in which onder they are share [fed our fur | | 1. Wsagreen pier [p19} , 2, Let's give a cheer to the boys (th) | Lets give a chair to the boys. [tea] Common mistake 3 I's a buge beer. {bra} o fire [fajer] Is a huge bear. [bea] layer fejer} 4. ‘What a nice ear! [ia] loyal flojal] 5. ‘This is a rear door [ra] dower [lowe#] This isa rare door. rea}Expected pronunciation e fire [fara] ler {les} loyal {loral) tower {rave} lower (lave Description English has five triphthongs which are composed of one ofthe diphthongs ending with, {0} ay fe] and fon) oF {u} (fav) and fou) followed by [a]. This illustrated below. lal + fl = fal fel + fel = fel fo] + [fo] = foro) feu] + [9] = [aval fou] + fol = (ov9 ‘The main problem that Spanish speakers find in the production of these triphthongs 15 the final sound, chats, ce {a] vowel, which is usualy pronounced as (a (as in loyal ot [e] {as in comer followed by Spanish ff] when the “eis present inthe spelling, Spanish speakers who adopt an RP accent should flrs ofall avoid the production of the final [ff] and thea they showta pay special atencion co the pronunciation of the [a As presented, in Tip 6, [2] is produced with almost no movernent of the articulators and with only a narrow opening ofthe mouth. As stated in previous sections the final (fis produced in ‘many English accents. Thus, Spanish speakers should only not produce it they want to stick co an RP accent Listen toa few words containing one of the English triphthongs. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. lor lara} hire hate} player [pera] prayer {preva} coyer {kore} employer ——_[umplora] our [avs] flower {fava} slower [stove] mower {aval Sometimes in RP, especially in fast speech, the vowel in the middle of the ariphthong il or fl) is not clearly targeted and therefore it sounds as if was nae prodeced. This seats thatthe sounds [i] and {u] cannot be perceived and what the listenet bears is 3 TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH PRONUNCATON. (Pinte tee ecemnensen— a longer first vowel. This is ltsteated below. The symbol (} indicaves a long vowel. Listen to the words. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, o fire [fae] ({ata] > [2:e]), prayer [presa] (ev] > lee) employer impo] {ote > (oie) our {ea} ((ave| > fa0)) slower [sls:a] ({aua] > (se) Note that when the first vowel of the trighthong is fa}, we transcribe the lengthened vowel as [3:], This is so because, as we saw in Tip 6, the [a] alone, that is, without being parc of a diphihong or a criphthong, cannot occur in a stressed syllable and therefore che sequence [9:9] is reinterpreted as (ata). As mentioned in tips 2 and 6, [a] and [st] have the same vowel quality, the only difference being chat (3:] is longer chan [a]. Itismot necessary for Spanish spealersto omit the second vowel ofthe ciphthong when they speak English, However, itis interesting that chey know the existence af this phenomenon since it can help ro understand the pronunciation of some English native speakers Common spellings Given the great variety of spellings found! in triphthongs, only the most common ones are listed below. a) tie shire Lato] “yre tyre [tare] vier ner {drara] “i iron {axan voir choir (kowara] [eta] “ayer” Layee (lera} “eyer sreyer {oreia] “yor” conveyor fkanvera} [pro] oye royal {rox “oye” Moyer {mor} you joyous (agoras} [ava] “ower” power {aus} ‘oue” sour {sauo] ‘owar coward fkauadl} fave] “ower rower {rove} chaps owls 48. . e ° 2 °Ear tr 1% @ Exercise 1 Listen to the pronunciation of the following words and decide with which trphthong, they are produced. Tick your answer, Example: 0. buyer hour enjoyable quiet slier prayer nowadays: goer shower borrower @ Exercise 2 Listen o the pronunciation of the following words and decide whether the speaker omits the second vowel of the triphthong or not. Tick the pronunciation you heat, ample shower layer hire coyer tower liar player + [ax] + (aval fara} fare] {a1 (210) iar] {avs} {eva} {ave} [av] fave} fava] {era [ate] favs} {eva} {o18) {avs} {axel fer} [eval fove] (evo) (eral {ere] tex] [ero} [evel {ove} [ous] (200) {ove + [a9] les} fe] fast {sre} to:0] {ora} fae} (ea) (ota) (or) (219) (o%9] (or) [o19} CHAPTER 2 Consonants‘Common mistake @ tulle belouy high (ail Expected pronunciation e bello thelleu) ‘high [har] One ofthe most common mistakes for Spanish speakers is the mispronunciaion ofthe English ound [h, which appeass in some English words such as hello or high. This sound does nat exis in Spanish and hence Spanish speakers tend to produce the previous wards wth ef, wich isthe sound that begins the Spanish word jardin In order to prodice English Spanish speakers should ty 10 make a sound stmlac to the expulsion of ai through the mouth ina strong breath Hany help... The pronunciation of Englis fh isclose co he way Andalusian and Canavion speakers produce the fst sound of words such as javube or geno. Listen 10 the following words containing [h] Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation @ hand thew] bow hav) hot inet] hotel [hau'tel] bouse Iravs} Common spellings @ fh} ck him frum wh” who (hur) 46 TRAD! YOURSELF ENGUISA DROWUACIATION @ Exercise 1 LUsten to the pronunciation of English words beginning wich che (hl sound. In some cases the speaker produces the right sound (as indicated in the transcription), buc in cxher cases she produces the wrong sound, that i, the Spanish fx) as at the hegsnning of the word jaan, For each word idenuify whether the pronueistion is right oF not. Tick your answer Example hi hat] y right wrong, he {hi} night + wrong 1 Harry (heer right wrong, 2 hie thats} ight ‘wrong 3. handkerchief fhaenkatfe] right wrong, 4 fuarbour (ho:bs} right wrong 5. hunger (hange] right wrong 6. him {him} right wrong 7 hundred Ihandrad} righ wrong 8 hood {hud} right wrong @ Exercise 2 You will now hear the pronunciation of the phrase Fi, have you had a ice holiday? five Limes. For each pronunciation, indicate which {h] sounds are wrongly produced (as the Spanish a at the beginning ofthe word arin Tek he lees at are roar the wrong way. Example; ave you had a nice holiday? 1. Hii, have you had a nice holiday? iL bave you bad a nice holiday? 3. Hi have you had a nice holiday? 4. Hi, have you had a nice holiday? 5. Hi, have you had a nice holiday? hase 2 Carnes@ Exercise 3 Even though [hJ is the most common pronunciation for the letter“ there are some English words where the spelling "h” is silent. Listen to the following words which begin with the letter “h” and indicate whether the “h” is produced ({h)) or not. Tick your answer ‘Example helicopter» [h] no [hl L. history thy no thy 2. hour (ni) ro (hl 3. honest th) no fh] 4, habitat th no (h] 5. hair fh) ‘no {fh} 6 heir thy no fh) 7 heavy ts no [hl 8. help nl 20 [h] @ Exercise 4 ‘As before, nat all the words that contain the spelling “wh” are produced with {h]. Now Iisten to the following words that begin with the leters “wh” and indicate whether they are produced wich [h} or not. Tick your answer. Example white I) not 1. where th no Ih} 2. whore th ro (h] 3. wheat {hi no {h] . 4. what ih no [fh] 5 whoe th 1 {h] 6. whom thi no [h] 7 when ih no th} 8. whose th so fh BE AWARE 5: (h] in possessive pronouns and adjectives leis sometimes difficult for Spanish speakcrs to pronounce expressions such as tll hie oF tall him since itis hard to utter the combination ofa final consonant followed ‘by. {hk tis important to note, though, that most of the times the [h] is dropped in these sequences. If Spanish speakers drop the Jh} of possessive pronouns (him. ket) and adjectives (his. her) in phrases such as the following ones, they will have less ‘Pronunciation difficulties and they will sound more natural 9 ellher {tel 9} tell him (tel am] ask her sister flask o ‘sista] ask his sister {la:sk r2'sista] The (h] is not dropped atthe beginning of a sentence. This is illustrated below. © hersiser {he lsst0] his siner {he ‘ssta] REA Raa as | Common mistake ° pe (pa) wy toi cow {kau} Expected pronunciation ° pie {p*ar} wy toa cow (kau) eeDescription ‘The sounds (p tk] exist both in English (pol, oa, coo!) and in Spanish (pas, tas, cas. {pl and {K] are produced with the same positon ofthe articulators im he (0 languages It) on the other hand, has a slightly diferent place of arciculation, Whereas in Spanish the [t] sound is produced with the tip of the tongue touching the upper teeth, in English the 1p of the tongue is not im contact with the upper teeth but is slightly retracted. English ft] has 2 similar place of articulation t Spanish [0] Spanish speakers should try to place the tip of the tongue as if they were pronouncing an {n] when they produce an English [t) Apart from this small difference, English and Spanish (p t k] differ in a much more important aspect, that is, the presence (in English) and the absence (in Spanish) of aspiration, In English these sounds are aspirated, that is, they ate produced witha strong expulsion of air which citkes the following vowel partially voiceless, that is, a5 if the vowel was produced with an initial whisper Im Spanish, on the ochee hang, aspiration does not occur. Aspiration is marked with the symbol ["}. Compare the pronunciation of the following English names produced by a Spanish speaker (without aspiration) and by an English speaker (with aspiration). ° Spanish English Pam [pam] Pam [peer] Tina {tinal Tina [eno] Kare — [ket] Kae [Wert] Aspiration in English cakes place in stressed syllables which start with (ph, [or [K) Thus. iis obligatory 10 aspirate che fest syllable of paper Because st is stressed but not the second one @ paper {prepa} Addivionally, the presence of fs} before (p}, [1] and [K] blacks aspiration irespective of whether the syllable is stressed or not. Thus che [p} in pain is aspirated but the one is Spain isnot 2 pain [prein] {pein} tis essential that Spanish speakers produce che sounds [p, [1] and (k] with aspiration in the right contexts in English, otherwise they will sound as foreign and inappropriate 2s, English speakers when chey aspirate Spanish words, asin pala, corre or come Spain 6 palo corre come ") Ir} wm) Furthermore, not using aspiration of [pl [t] and {k] in the expected contexts may af incellgtbility since “pill” tray be understood as “bill”, “pack” as “back” and “Kate “gate” by native English speakers, See Tip 14 for further details. 50. TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH PRCNUNGATION Jn final position, aspiration is opvional. Thus, for example whereas the first sound uf che word put must be aspirated, the final one ca he aspirated or not [p'ut]_ or [put] Ie is important to note that aspiration is not marked in che transcription found in dictionaries, Thus, if students look up @ word «x a dictionary, they will not find any symbol indicating the presence or absence of aspiration in [p], If} or k]. Students should remember that any time that [p), [t] or [K] appear in a stressed syllable which is not preceded by (s} they should be aspirated. In this book, we will keep the ["} symbol 10 indicate aspitaton only in ths tp and in the next but notin the rest ofthe sections, @ pu Listen toa few words containingaspirate [pl] it] and fk]. Repeat and imitate che speaker's pronunciation © pool [purl tool (Pu) cool [kul] pin [phn] un [thin] kin [kan] Paul (po) tall ho} call (Wout pair [pre9] tear [tea] cae fea) pee [phe] cea il bey Wid Now let us listen to 2 few words containing the sounds (p,[t] and [k] sometimes with aspirauion and some other times without aspiration, depending on the stress patern of the words and the presence offs} atthe beginning ofthe syllable. Repeac and imitate the speaker's pronunciation & cookie Wubi] carpet opr") sopping (eepin] sxicker tsuko} staple Fstexpal} Finally, listen (0 the following pairs of words containing the sourds [pl, [1] ond [k] preceded or not by [s]- Note how the 8] blocks aspiration. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation © pox Ipro:t"] sport {spo:t") sate peed stale ste) itl] stall (sal) pie (pat) spy [spar] tool [hus] stool [stu] coop [k scoop [skurp"] rape 2 consenants weueweweeveRP eS ee er ‘Common spellings © ipl pen [p%eny pe" slope Isloup") “pp” happy Cheep) toot on [ten] “te” late flex”) “eh bener [beta] ‘th® Thomas. {tomes} Wook kin Win} “come k'xm] “ke” ake [leak ek" sack [seek] ‘ec occur folks} Ych* school (sku!) quite [k’wart"] Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the pronunciation of English words beginning with an sspirated [p],{t] and {k]_ tm some cases, the speaker produces che right sound, shat 18, with aspiration ts ‘dicate inthe trenscription), but in other cases she produces the wrong sound (without aspiration). For each word, identify whether the pronunciarion is right (with aspiration) or wrong (without aspiration), Tick your answer Example ple pal] ight wrong. all (a) Fighe + wrong 2 park fprak") sigh wrong Rear fel ght wrong 3. time [Pam] right wrong 4 tell [el] right wrong, 5. pull [pPol} sight wrong, 6 call Wo right wrong Two [the] right wrong 8 kind Wand) ght wrong & pain [pein] right wrong, 10 take fiPerkY] right wrong, Look atthe following sentences which contain exactly the same sounds. Note thatthe only way to differentiate them is by the presence of aspiration in the words which do not have an initial (s} and che absence of wt im words bezinning with [s}. Lizen to the sentences and decide in which order they are produced, Write for the xs sentence you ‘hear and 2 for the second. Example: 1 Wsparked. ts 'porkt") 2 Itsparked. [at 'sporkt"} 1. Kate's paired ens bead) Kate spared. {k'ect speedy, 2 Is talked, [rts btackt"] It stalked. [rt 'stoxkt") 3. Rick’s cooled. [rks 'k"'usid) Rick schooled. [nk 'skusid] 4 Wepase ns presst] Itspacee. [it 'sperst"] 5. We tacked [nts Wank] lestacked. (oe 'stackt"] © Exercise 3 Read the following phrases and sick the [pl [t] and [k] sounds tha you think should be aspirated. Then listen to them and check your answers Example Tims from Texas, —_'t'uma fram 't'eksas} 1 Cold cottee 6. Stay still 2. Take your rime 7. Tenible sory, 3 Type the ener 4 Call che police ‘Two pints. 5 Baerscoming 9. Tenspiders 10, Standby tickerOther cents BE AWARE 6: The glottal stop The sounds [pt] and [kl follow the same pronunciation pauernsinmostEnglishaccents, é ene ‘There is, however, one main ditierence with che production of the {t] sound in General In RP English it is common to replace the (t] by2 glottal stop ({?]) in certain contexts. ‘American. When the [t] appears between vowels (as in butter), iis produced wit a [4 ‘The glosal stop is produced by # complete closure-of the voeal folds and the sound. sour which isthe same sound as the one produced in he riddle of the Spanish word that emerges when they open is similar to a gentle cough. The glotialstop'is used in» pero (pero, Spanish speakers who take GA as their pronunciation model should noe ‘many languages in emphatic speech, as for example; befaté the expression [7] Ah! ‘have any problems in producing this sound. Itis also found in many varieties of English as a substitution of [t]. For exasaple, in. Listen to the GA pronunciation ofthe fllowing words containing an inervocale[] Cockney he working class London accent) is common to bear goal 0p inthe produced as (¢} ‘middle of words such as butter or button. In RP English, however, the replacement of , {i by a glotal stop is only produced when the [tJ appears a the end ofa stable (and bute toaree is usualy preceded by a vowel, [n] of [ml) and when the following sible starts beer {erer] swith a consonant. This is lusttated below. re mater {mazcer] ataceae city (surij @ — nogmany no? meri lite (ori padre ea was wae ‘mit © Exercise 4 ire see a cee Listen to the fll cds and decide whether th rT han RE eater anu haty Ascen tothe following words and decide whether they are produced with an RP accent ‘ (och iP ora GA aceene with () Tek your answer Teg Uhl ou Chat Example: lauer RP flesta] + GA faoror] ‘When the following syllable stars with a vowel, the {t] cannot be replaced by a slotl stop in RP 1 writer RP’ fraita] GA rawror] ; 2. greater RE fgrerta] GA [arerrer) [No glottal stop n RE 3. cattle RP [keetal] GA (keerel] @ — notagain [not gen} 4. kettle RP [ketal] GA (keral] buner {pate} 5. brighter RP fbrarta} GA [fbratrer) ‘put it [put st} 6. Bewy RP (bet GA fer 1. wer RP (ta) GA [acor] 8 lewer RP fetal GA Weror} TEACH YOURSELF NASH RONUNCHTICN chaper2 contents 525Posse eceeceeseeceseeereeseecesessees Common mistake @ boat [bout} dove {dout} goat [gout] Expected pronunciation @ boat [bout] dote — [daut} goat [gout] Description The sounds [b d 9 exist both in Enis (bay, day. gay) and in Spanish ta, data, got). tm both languages, [ban [a] are produced wit the same postion ofthe articulators. English {d], onthe other hand, isa br more reacted than Spanish [das we have also cbserved for {tj Thus, whereas in Spanish the [d] sound i produced with the ip ofthe tongue touching, the upper teeth in English the up ofthe tongue is place further back and does net touch the weeth. English 6 has the same place ofarculation as Spanish (9 The main difference berween Spanish and English [6 d g] in word initial postion is that whereas i Spanish these sounds are vieed (produced with vocal fold vibration), tn English they ate devoied (produced with no vibration of the vocal folds). The lack of voicing is indicated by the [} symbol ‘This means that in word initial position in English, [b} sounds clase to [p], (g] to It] and [g] t {K] As for", [,] snot used in the transcription fourm dictionaries. Thus, studeits of English should remember that [b dg] loose their voice i word initial postion {fh dg) even though the devoicing is not indicated in dictionaries” ‘This eads us toa very irmportant question: if fp] i similar [p], fg] tft and {9}, how can English speakers distinguish between pin and bin, de and te ot goat an coat) As discussed in Tp 13, che answer has odo withthe presence or absence ofaspiation. ‘Whereas in initial position Spanish speakers distinguish the puts (p b], [td] and tk 9} by the presence or absence of wicing, English speakers distinguish them by the Presence or absence of aspiration since in this language all sounds are produced with no ‘ocal fold vibration. Let us now look a afew examples for both languages. Note that both “voiceless” and “devoiced” mean lack of vocal fold vibration, the only difference being that a devoiced sound is originally voiced and becomes voiceless (or devoiced) in 8 Spanish English {p] oiceless) par [par] _ [p"] (voiceless, aspiration) pn [pn {b} voiced) bar bar] p] evoiced favoieless},no aspiration) bin [bIM) {t] (oiceless) tos ftos] _ {t"] (voiceless, aspiration) tie (Pan) [a] oiced) dos fdos) 1g} evoiced favoiceless}. no aspiration) die [dat] {K) Goieeess) col [kof] {K"](woiceess, aspiration) coat [2Ut] [aloe go [gol] [g] Geviced [voiceless]. no aspiralon) eat [gout] ‘Common spellings @ fb] "bY bay er) i) “a day (den) “dh? dhal (do:l] I] ey [ged “gh” ghost [geust] ‘eu’ gues’ [gest] Ear ti ining © Exercise 1 Listen 10 the following paits of words beginning with a voiceless, aspirated sound Ip? tk] and a devoiced sound Ib dg} Indicate in which onder they are produced Write | for the first word you hear and 2 for the second. Example, 1 pull (pu) 2 bull (bei) Lame [tem 5. Kate dame (dei) gate 2 came etm] 6. park game [germ] bark 3 per [pt] 7 teen beer fore) dean 4 town ftPaun} 8 carry down [4aun} Gary re aati@ Exercise 2 ‘You will now listen to one word only. Tick the word che speaker produces. Example: pan tell cave paid 8 Common mistake @ tohe ffoup) rode {rout] rogue [Fouk) eon (rey Benj Iptera (tp) iW'=u) (pers) Expected pronunciation @ robe [rou] rode freug) rogue [roug} Description Simular to the behaviour observed in intial position, English [b d g] ate also devoiced {in final position. Thus, che (b] in mbe sounds sila o [P,the [} im rade 10 ft] andthe Ig} in rogue to IK}. Since the tendency for Spanish speakers isto produce final (bd g] 5 [p tK] no big problems are found in these pronunciations. However, as beiore, the question that arises frotm this situation is how English speakers distinguish between robe ban dell give bade dip goal base do itt and rope, ode and wrote and rug and ruck? In this case, the presence or absence of aspiration is not a decisive cue since [p t K] can ‘or cannot be aspirated in final position, Obviously. if someone produces [reup"] with an aspitated (p'] everyone will understand rope However, ifthe speaker does not produce 38 TEACH YOURSELF ENCUSH PROWLAATION bent (gel gen] tbexd) 00} gout thors] du) aspiration (which is possible), another cue wast be used to distinguish robe ftom rope. The ‘main cue that English speaiers use to differentiate between the aforementioned pairs of swords is wwe! durin. When a word is followed by a voiceless sound such a [pt K] the preceding vowel is shorter zhan when itis followed by a dewoiced sound fb d g]. Thus the diphehong in rope is shorter than that of robe Listen to the following pairs of words paying attention to the duration of the vowel, Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, @ rope [ravpl robe fraub] wrote freut] rode [raud) ruck fra rug [eg] Common spellings @ fb] “bY sob sob] spe’ bbe (brat) g trovd) (ravd] a) leg} (veig] ‘esi Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following pairs of words ending witha voiceless sound [p t k] and a devoiced sound [2 4 gl. indicate in which order they are produced. Write forthe frst word you hear and 2 fr the second Example Le ted 2 frock frog 3 up vib 4 write ride 1 2 ted fieg) {rok} {frog} {0} (eg) teat (raid) mop. mob [meph {mob} rack mg ripe aide code leek Teague (reek {reeg] [traip] {trai} [kout] {koud] tick] lig] Cape 2: Consonants| @ Exercise 2 ‘You will now listen to one word only. Tick the word the speaker produces, example ¥ sack [sek] see seg] Lup tte] ab tech] 2 sar [set] sad seed] 3 lock lok] tog log] 4 tip tel ib (Hb) 5. mat [meet] mad [meed] 6 pick (pil ps [org] 7. moat {meut] mode {maud] 8. back — [baek] ‘bag [beg] wWegreceores eer eee ( Poe CNR Ce tc) Common mistake @ obey {o'Bei) today [tuel] again [a'yen| j Expected pronunciation 7 @ — obey febbex] cosay[Reléen again (o'gen] Description In Enghsh, the only envionment where fb dg] are fully voiced is when they are surrounded by voiced sounds, such as vowels, In Spanish, in this context [b d gl are produced with friction, chat is, with a smal) noise caused by che ait passing through a constriction. somewhere in the mouth. Thus, [f 8 yl are the sounds sed by Spanish speakers in words such as lave [laRo}, lado faB0} and ing [tayo], When Spanish speakers produce English words containing [b d g] between vowels, they usvally pronounce them with friction causing a srong foreign accent effect. In order to overcome this situation, Spanish speakers should ty 10 produce English incervocabic fb d g] as the Spanish sounds atthe beginning of the swords bota, dota (Enghish [ais shabuly reccacted, see Tip [4 for more details) and gota Listen to the pronunciation ofthe following Spanish and English words. First compare the pronunciation of Spanish {b d g] in medial position ([B 6 yD and in initial position ({b d gD). Then, listen to the English words and note thatthe pronunciation, of English (b dg] between vowels is similar to the pronunciation of Spanish [b d g] wordintally, ° Spanish Engh | lavo lao} bora [bota] labour [letbe] | lado {labo} dota [dota] ladder [laeda] | Jago Cayo) gota faotal logger (leegs) Ici important to-note chat whea words appear in connected speech, {b d g] in inital Position may become fully voiced if they are preceded by a voiced sound. Thus, for ‘example, the [b} in boy is devoiced when its uttered in isolation bux is fully voiced if the speaker says abo 8 boy feat aboy [2 tbo} ‘Common spellings { fb) cabin (kesbin} ‘bb” rabbit (reebat} i) cancer {rade} “dd” reddish rec] Ig] *e"—Slogan {'slougan} ge” trigger {tiga} “choeter >: CaesunaneeEar training @ Exercise 1 ‘You will hear the following English words or combinations of wordscontainingintervocalic [b dg] twice. In one case, the speaker produces [b d g] in she right way {b dg) and in the other case in the wrong way ([B 8 y). Indicate which ofthe swo productions is right (che first or the second). Tick your answer Example giggle frst ¥ second 1. leader first second 2 agame first second 3. neighbour frst second 4. she does fast second 5. tradition first second, 6. forget first secon 7. table first second 8 abird firs: second @ Exercise 2 Listen to the following words or combinations of words containing English {bd g] surrounded by voiced sounds, In some cases the speaker produces the right sound, that 15, [Dl {d] or (g] (as in indicated in che rranscription). but in other cases she produces the swrong sound ((B], [0] or {yD}. For each word identify whether the pronunciation of the underlined sounds is right ({b d gl) oF wrong (IB 8 yD). Tick your answer Example wo guys (tu gan] righe ¥ wrong 1 adog {e409} ight wrong 2 aboard {ood right wrong 3. more days (mo: der] right wrong, 4. ago [gov] right wrong 5. a goa {o'goun) night ‘wrong 6. a boat {o'bavt] night wrong, 7 the gil {60 93] right wong, 8. above {ebay righe wrong. 8 adoven [o'er wight wrong 10, abear {e'be9] righ wrong TECH YOURSELF ENGUSH PRONUOATION BE AWARE 7: Double consonants In English there are a lot of words which are spelt with double consonants, that 4s, the same consonant appears twice in writing, s in the word rabit, Despite the presence of two consonant liters in the spelling, the pronunciation only involves fone sound, a illustrated below. @ mabbit treebm} tener fhetay Emma fem} mussel mascot inner {ina} ladder leeds} ‘The only time when double letters are produced as double sounds is when the two lewers belong to two different morphemes, as inthe following cases, The presence ‘of double sotinds, however, does not mean that the speaker actually produces (wo sepatate sounds, Most ofthe times, a double sound s pronounced like a single sound, except that it lasts longer. Inthe following examples double sounds are pronounced as long single sounds, even though two sounds appear in the transcription © L prefix+word midday [omudes) 2. word +suffix meanness _ffmiinnes] 3. compound pareime — {parttaum} 4 across words “ull lady fo eal Sometimes he occurrence ofdoublesounds may be the consequence ofan assimilation process, where the inal sounel ofa given word becomes the same as the first sound ofthe following word, as in the example below (ee Tip 33 for more detail. © tenminutes ten] > Cem ‘muats} ‘The only sounds which are produced twice when they are in contact are [i] and (das in the following examples. {nts 'foldst} tfonnds dsu:s] @ rich chocolate. orange juice cape 2: orcasTerereseecs " Common mistake @ show {woul fashion [asjon} vision [eisjon} pleasure fplesur] Expected pronunciation @ show eu) fashion (eefon} vision [sagan] pleasure [pega] Description {f)is the sound that begins English words such as show, shop and sugar In Spanish, tis, sound is Tot part ofthe standard pronunciation system, (J) is very close tothe sound twe make when we Want someone to shut up (ssh). Itcan be a common mistake for Spanish speakers to produce J} as the Spanish sound at che beginning of the word thocrate[tfokalate], Thus, some speakers would preduce show {fou} a [You] and shop {jon} 2s [Hop]. In this last case this could be the cause of a misunderstanding since English speakers would understand chop instead. Is also frequent for Spanish speakers co,use [5] instead of [] and words such as fashion {feefan], bush {buf} or Washington wofintan] are often produced as |"fasjon), [bus} or {‘wasiriton}. Spanish speakers should avoid using [1] or {s] in English words where I] is expected any help... [J] used in the Andalusian accent spoken in Cadiz, where the word salchchon s usually produced as [saffffon) Us used in Catalan in words such as xa [ai] and caixa [kaa] and sn Gaba in words such 2s laxa [laf or xanta [ant fs] is the sound produced in the middle of words such as pleasure or vision It is also found in some French words, such as gendarme or rouge. Like {f], [3] is not part of the standard Spanish pronunciation. tn order to produce [3] Spanish speakers can start making 2 long {f} sound and tn the middle they should start singing. The resulting sound would be [3) since fg) is ce voiced counterpart of [J]. leis very common for Spanish speakers to use [f] or even {s] instead of [g}. Ie ws important that they try 10 produce [3} if they want to improve their English pronunciation. Finally, itis also ‘Important to remember that, except in words borrowed from French such as gendarme Ih] does not appear in word inicial position in English and we only find it in medial and final positions. Uf any help... 3] is used in French in words such as le [So] or Jaques [3] [Bl is used in Catalan in words such as pages [pases] or pujar [pulsa}. [3] is also used by some Argentinian speakers in words such as lover [BolRer} and eallar kala] Listen to a few words containing [[] and [3] Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation fh shop {oo} sugar {iuge} fashion Ieefon} short [fort] pation [nesfon} {3} division {dtvtg0n) earage ('geer0:3) closure [kiouga) leisure tesa] rouge {rus} Common spellings @ BL rsh" shine {fain} “st sure 4 ss" assure [efo:] se station {stefan} ch" brochure [bref] ocean oaufon} Gis pleasure [lege] ye’ menage Imalnas] “Chaar 2: Caneomante.Ear tr ng 5 A aula Gs @ Exercise 1 Lien te following English words and dectde whether they contain a [] or a [3}. Tick Common mistake @@ chop [Nop] example) sh “o rey oe feeal 1 patent 0 3} 2. shout 0 bi Expected pronunciation 3. invasion: iit) (3 ; e chop [op] 4 wish o isl James [ageimz] 5 beige 0 3] 6 usual Ul io) Description 7. measure wl bl {tf is the sound produced at che beginning of English words such as chop, check and 8 lotion u bl children. It is the same sound as the Spanish sound at the beginning of chocolate. So, 5 I Spanish speakers usually produce English {tf] in the correct way. anions o bs [a3] is the voiced counterpart of [tf] and itis the sound produced at the beginning of the 10 sion ul i) swords James, on and Geayge. This sound is sometimes used in Spanish in words such as ‘yo [d30] or oye ['odge} when they are produced with emphasis. Thus, Spanish speakers . should not have big difficulties in producing [d3]. The oaly problem is that sometimes © Exercise 2 hey produce [] instead of [dg] mainly due tothe wrong assucrption that a *Y" in the steno the following pairs of English words, One of them is produced witha ff) and che spelling fas to be produced asf] which is stmilar in quality tothe vowel [i other one with aI) Tick che word that contains ero 1) Nek ihe &L Hf any help... This sound is used in Catalan in a word such as injust {infdgust] Example machine revision Listen to a few paits of words containing [tf] and {ds} in word initial position 1. passion explosion Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation 2. elision_ precious e chin {thin} gin [dsinj 3. treasuce notion chest nest) jes (dgest] 4 cushion aubergine choice os5} Joyce {43015} 5. vision. ‘motion, choke [tjauk]_ joke [d3euk] & measuring ensuring tn word final position, fg) ts devoiced ([dgD, chat is, itis produced with no vocal fld 7 machine regime vibration and hence its pronunciation is clos to [tj]. This is similar to the devoicing 8. courgene cautionary of bd g] in the same positon (see Tip 15). In order to distinguish between {i} and [eg] in word final position, English speakers use vowel duration. The vowel preceding {he voiceless sound (1M) is shorter thae che vowel preceding the devoiced sound ((d3) icing is not marked in ghe phonological transcription found in ditionaries but itis in here forthe purpose of clarity 6 "TEACH YOURSELF ENGUSH PROAUNCATION haper2 ConsensListen to the following words containing [tf] 2nd [43] in word final position. Nove that Ear training they ae distinguished by the duration of the vowel. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. @ Exercise 1 © 8 th te ridge (ns) | Look tthe flowing pars of words only distinguished by the presence off] oF [5 € search {saxti] surge Iso:d3) i| Listen to the pronunciation of only one of them. Tick the word that is produced. e 4 lent) age lerdg] | Example: cheep (tip) seep (esi) € batch {bat badge [bois © . 1 chew thus} Jew (asus) Finally (is important to note that sometimes the main problem for Spanish speakers is e to be able to distinguish between [tf] and [J] or [43] and {3}. Firs, listen co a few pairs of i 2 chock (ok) eck [30K] ® ‘words contraszing [tf] and [f] and then to a few words containing [ds] and [3], Repeat and. { 3. Che {ten} J [aser) {mitate the speakers pronunciation } 4 perch pat purge {pa:ds] e eo ft o 5. chugs Wag) jug Idsag) e chap {tfop] shop Liop) 6. chive (ar) jive [asa é ‘match [meet{] ‘mash [reef] 7. cheese [siz] Gs 103i:2) cher {hfe shauer {esta} 8 chunk [ani junk fdsanK1 ‘ chilling (idaho) shilling [at {es} bs] © Exercise 2 2 major fmerdga} measure meso} Looks at the following pairs of words only distinguished by the presence of [tf] oF I] dlanger {lderdsa] pleasure [plese] Listen to the pronunciation of only one of them. Tick the word that is produced. pidgcon ——pxdgan} vision thagen} Example cheap ep) v sheep Bel € imagine fmaedsin] invasion ~unlvergon} ep tio} sis bio} ® ; 2 match [meet] enash ——(rmaefl ° ‘Common spellings - 3. witches [watz] wishes [hwaft2} 3 © fe] “ch” church (ant) 4 che [it] sheet [ft] € ich" match, {meets 5. watching (‘wotfin] washing ['woftn] € nature [nerf] 6. choose ftfuz] shoes Buz} g (esl sin {dsm : ayn {dsim} f George (csorss) € “a soldier [seuidsa] e “dg” lodger lodge} e Wess cea| @ Exercise 3 | Ustento the following sts of words only distinguished by the presence of ft] rf Indicate in which order they are produced. Whe 1 for che frst word you hea, 2 for the second and 3 fr the third Example, 3 Shane_[oin} 1 chain [tfetn) 2 jane sean] Race ‘Common mistake @ yellow {elou} Expected pronunciation Lhe i] @ yellow {jeteu} chill te -_ in asa Description . is the sound that appears he beginning of elow ad ys In Spanish this sound can 2 shoed Besa) be found in a word such as nieve fnjee] and i has a similar quality to the vowel {i In chewed (suey Sparish, words that start with the leer "y" are usually produced with QJ] (or example, sae ida ya Lia) and sometimes with (d3} (for example, ya (d3a] in emphatic situations). Thus, it 'Scomimor for Spanish speakers co produce Gor fe) athe beginning ofa word such 3 bash Ibe] as eli fo some cass, this tay lead to resundersandings since words sch 4s jam a rn | ser and am Gaem| ae olen confused by Spanish speakers It amportat for | Spanish speakers remember tha the spelling" English coresponds of an not | badge Ibeeds] {dsl orb). i 4s eshing thesin} Shean ocur athe Beginning or ince suai ofan a ae appear at che end of t " ‘word. This also very common as pat of the sequences [ju] or [ua] as in music muzik] catching (eet or burea bjuerou} . “ ' cadging, (keedsin] Listen to a few words containing [i] word initially or word medially. Repeat and imitate | 5 sheer fe} the speaker's pronunciation cheer tio} ex tet jeer {dst0] . young, Ling] yesterday esto] i 6. shin bin) beyond [brjond} chin [tin] year [ital in (d3in} 8 {asin} Listen to a few words where [j] is part ofthe [ju:] or [ua] sequences. Nove that [val is 1 akerty fhe sometimes pronounced ie Tip 10 for more details). Repeat animate the speakers eee pronancaton Jerry (seri) oO ont june] endure linlgjos] 8 sheep Wisp} few (fu) cheap bcp) crate Imjus] jeep (asin dual [ojucany TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION rate 2 Canonse © Common spellings © Exercise 2 Byes lest The flowing English words begin with fi indice inthe ansription In some | cases the speaker proiues the right sound but in other cases she produces a wrong one % ‘As part of the sequences [jut] or {jua), it can be written as ({d5)). For each word identify whether the pronunciation is right, a8 in the transcription, © “er Eorope ——_juarep} or wrong, Tick your answer z seu new trie Example, yard lio) right v wrong ut due ai € wee oe 2 York tisk. right wrong | € en twos) 2. yogurt fiogat) right wrong, € 3. yawn {jo:n] ght ‘wrong, | cor 4 Yolanda Utenda} right wrong Eartraining 5 yelp tialp] right wrong | @ Exercise 1 6. yoga {Yeugo} night wrong, Listen othe folowing pairs of words distinguished by the presence of jor [Indicate sn 7 you tis} night wrong ssi onde hey are produced. Write 1 forthe fist word you hear and 2 fr the second 8. yen lien) right swrong Example 2 yew uel 1 Jew [eu L yak Bank) j Jack — [dseok] j Leta cont 2. Yale jes!) jail [seal Common mistake 3. yob job} 92 sue {su} job [dgob] z00 {su} 4 yolk Gauk) . eo } joke (ds0uk] Expected pronunciation 5 yaw fied : Sue isu) € jv (esa) 00 eu] © 6. is yin fin} pti Deseri € gn (dgin) ription e | ben [a] is the sound produced atthe beginning ofthe words Sue and sips similar t the . ye Get) firs sound nthe Spanish word sole Spanteh speakers usally pronounce English fa in z yes (eset) the correct wy. rn) fz) on the ezher hand, occurs atthe beginning ofthe words zooand zip and isthe voiced 2 deem costerpart offs} The most comenen mistake for Spanish speakers sto produce [23s “Chames ? Consonanvs{s] since tne first sound isnot part of the Spanish standard pronunciation system. This ‘may be the cause of tnisundersiandings since Sue and coo wll be pronounced in the same 1! way fora Spanish speaker. In order co produce [2], Spanish speakers should make along | s}and stare singing inthe middle of chs sound. The resulting sound would be [2 Hany help... {2] isthe sound found in Cetalan in a word such as casa [kaze] Listen to che following pairs of words containing [s} and [2]. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, @ sip [sp] ip lap] ssid [sed] z (eed) sing [sin] zing tn] racing fretsin] raising firerzin) buses [basi] buzzes [baat] In word final position {2] 1s devoiced ([z[). This means that it sounds similar to (5) Thus, words such as bus and buze ate not distinguished by the presence or absence of voicing but by the duration ofthe vowel, which is longer when the last sound is devoiced (uze (bag) and shorcer wher the last sound is originally voiceless (bus (bas). As in che previous cases, the symbol used to indicate devoicing is []. This symbol is not used in the transcription found in dictionaries Listen to the following pairs of words and note the differences in vowel length. Repeat and imitate the speaker's proounciation, @ bus {bas} buss [baz] dice [dash des [dag] race frets) rays reg] lace {lets} lays (ie) fuss ths] fuzz [i] Common spellings 8) 8 sister fststo] Ye eer {saida} vss glass [olors} fe sone feaun] se" rose (rouz] ‘ee’ buzzing oan) “e—xylophone —_(zatlafoun} [ 2a cv ounsar cn mencon @ Exercise 1 Look at the following pairs of words only distinguished by the presence of [s] oF [2] Listen to the pronunciation of only one of them. Tick the word that is produced, Example: doses (daustz] ¥ cores [douztz] 1 seal [sit zeal [all 2 sp [seep] zap (2aep] 3. fussy [asi fuzey [ni 4 sink [sink] inc (eink) 5. racer [res] recor fretzol 6. looser fsa] loser fuze] 7 tecy —flexsi lazy (lew 8. prices. [fprausiz] prizes [praxzz] @ Exercise 2 Listen to the following pairs of words only distinguished by the presence of fs] or [g] in final position. Indicate tn which order they are produced. Remember that the cue you hhave to pay attention to in order to distinguish these words is vowel duration, Write 1 for the first word you hear and 2 for the second. Example, 1 flece_ fis} 2 fleas —flsg]) L rice [rats] 5. Bruce [bru:s] vise {rau} bruise [brag] 2 niece [nis] 6. mace [mers] ees. [ig] maze (mera) 3. price {prars) 7 piece pits) pice {pratg] peas [pie] 4 cxce vers) 8 ce [as] cays [trerz) eyes (21g)@ Exercise 3 rl Lisen to the following English words and decide shesher the underlined letter) Ri Om] \| | corespond to [s],[2} oF f3)- Tick your answer: \| € e e © : e e t Eoammple—musel +s) re) bs) 2. trousers: {s} co bl 2 sist 's] ta is} 3 visionary ts} tal is) 4 glasses i3] tal 63) 5. scissors [s) fa is) 8. daisy ‘5 te) is) 7 lien bs] ta) 3) 8. husband {s} tf 3) 9 pleasurable isl te ts] 10) potson Is) fa 5 BE AWARE 8: Names of places and names of people ‘The names of places'can be difficult for Spanish speakers to pronounce since most af the time the spelling of sich names is similar in the two languages but the pronunciation tends tobe very diferent. Look at che following list containing names Of places in Great Brivin, Firs, think how you would pronounce them and then Cheek whether your pronunciation coincides with the English one or not, © Edinburgh edinbro} Norwich nord} Greenwich grenntf} Souhwark ['sxBak) Hampshire [heemple) Thames [tema] London [landan} Yorkshire _Tfoikfe] Similar ficulties may be found in names of people. This is‘ilustrated im the following words, @ Deborah debra} Horatio tharerfiou] Graham ('gretar} Isaac farzak] Goliath [gaara Leonard flenad] Hermione fhalmarsni sean te kis advisable for Spanish speakers to check the pronunciation of names of places and ‘names of people 1n a dictionary or ask a native speaker abour it before making their own guesses Common mistake @ © think [Bink) that {dat] Expected pronunciation @ think [@mnk] that [Beet] [9] is the sound produced at che beginning of English words such as ¢hink, thief and thousand. This sound should not be a problem for Spanish speakers since itis the same sound as the Spamish one atthe beginning of aapato, circ or zorv. {tis produced with the tip ofthe tongue between the teeth [B] is the sound at the beginning of that, them and the. In Spanish the same sound is used as an allophone of [], when [4] appears between vowels, as in cada [ka®al. [0] is produced in the same way as [8] but with voicing. in order to make {6}, Spanish speakers should utter @ long [8] and then stat singing in the middle. The resulting sound woul be 8} Note thatthe sound {8} is mostly used for determiners and pronouns: the, this, these, that those, they, chem, their thee, etc. A common mistake for Spanish speakers is to produce these words with (d} rather than [8] Listen to a few words containing [0} and [0]. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation @ (8) chin {an} thanks [Beenks] thirsty {8a:st) theatre {810t0] nothing fnaBan] 8) then {Gen} this (o1s] brother orate) leather {heal father {oda}In final position (8] is devoiced ({8)) and thus its pronunciation is very close to (8). As @ Exercise 2 i ‘we have seen in the previous sections, the vowels before voiceless sounds are shorter { than the vowels before devoiced sounds. Thus, the words teeth (ti) and tethe({29) Listen to the following pronunciation of some English determiners, pronouns and } conjunctions. Indicate whether they are produced with the right sound ((B)),asindicaed | |) are distinguished by vowel duration, which shorter in the frst word and longer in in the transcription, oF the wrong one ({d), Tick your answer. | the sesond. Remember that the small cisle indicating devoicing Is not used in the vranscription found in dictionaries but we use in here for clarity Example: they ee} + ight wrong Now listen to « few examples ofthe sounds (8] and (0) in final postion. Note that oe tatu von the vowels preceding 9] ae shorter than chose preceding [8]. Repeat and imitate the ba {es} gh wrong, speakers pronunciation 2. those (Gauz} right wrong tech tig} secthe 1 3 thetn {sem right wrong ! woeath (8) breathe [ori] 4 theies {6e02} right wrong both {bou8} oath (1209 5. that (sext) right wrong wth (es wth {28} 6. these {oi} right ovrong | fa (fxd) bathe (ver9) 7 thee (eid right wrong H fi 8 thy (Gay) right wrong i Common spellings 9, whether [weds] right wrong T]he path (0:8) 10. though [eeu] right wrong | ow the [69 ki “the” breathe [brid] @ Exercise 3 , Listen to the following pairs of words only distinguished by the presence of [d] or [0] kal ig Indicate in which order they ate produced, Write I for the fust word you hear and 2 for | the second. @ Exercise 1 Example: 1 theyre [609] Listen to the following words containing “th” in the spelling, Indicate whether they are > dave [dea] produced with (8) or [8]. Tick your answer Example smooth (91 + (0) 1 they [et 5. though [Bau 1. nether 8 16 day der) doe (dau) 2. other 8 8) 2 then [Ben} 6 thes [6002] 3. fourth (8) © den {deny dares [deaz) 4. clothing, (8) (6 5 earth tal ol 3. those [au 7 loathing fou8an] t 6. breathing (e] 13) doze [deuz] loading [taudin} i 7 mother el ‘a 4 they've [Serv] 8 chat [Geet] | 8. thesis 8 ial Dave [dew] DAT [daet} 9. south (8) (a) 10, southeen @ ta {SAO YURSE Eon PROMLNCATON (ape 2 caressPevececseterevcetrscsesserseseseeeeesees Common mistake 9 feny (ei very [beri] Expected pronunciation @ feny (eri, wery ver} Description {fl isthe sound produced ai the beginning of the English words ferry, fine andl four spanish speakers do not have any problems in producing this sound which isthe same ane asthe Spanish sound atthe beginning of fara. [vl is the voiced counterpart of ff and i is found in English atthe beginning ofthe words tely, vst and voice. In Spanish, words spelt with a °v"letier are produced with fb), as for example vista [bisita]. Thus, che most common mistake for Spanish speakers is to produce the English word very as (ber. In order to pronounce [v), Spanish speakers Should utter a long, ff] and then start singing in the middle, The ending sound would be Iv} It is very important for Spanish speakers to make sure that they produce [V] when necessary, otherwise they may be subject to misunderstandangs since very [ver] comecass with erry [beri Listen to @ few words containing ff] and (VJ. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. @ few fu) view [vju:] ~ fx etl vat vent) fal Heal veil (ven fan [feen} van [veen} fairy {Heer vary (Neer Jn word final poston, [v] is devoid (ly, thot Js, tis produced with no wacal fod vibration, which means that [sounds similar co ff]. As discussed with other paits of consonants, ff] and {y] are distinguished in final position by the duration ofthe preceding ‘vowel, which is shorter before [f] and longer before [y]. Devoicing is nat marked in the ‘ranscription found in dictionaries. Listen 1 a few pairs of words containing (f] and [van fina! position, Note the differences sn vowel length, Repeat and imicate the speaker pronunciation e sale {serf] save [sery) leaf (hif] leave iy proof fons} prove pray] fe fla) lve (iar calf [kasi] carve [ka:y] Common spellings © oP find tan “HY. offer fof] “gh” aug flor] Mo never fneva] ve" ve fy] Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen tothe following words conaining {f] and [v| and decide in which order they are produced. Remember that in word final position, If] and [y) are distinguished by the Gfuraton ofthe preceding vowel, Write forthe first word you hear and 2 forthe second. Example, 1 feel_—_ffil} 2 veal [vil] 1 Dre fern) 5 suk (ssi vine [vain] serve [53:y] 2 fault [ft] 6 off fof vault [vot of fod 3. file axl 7 sie [strat] wile [vat] strive [strary] 4 focal [aul] 8 half [hos] vocal [tvaukel] halve fhavy)@ Exercise 2 Look atthe following pairs of words distinguished by the presence of fb} or [¥] and listen, to the pronunciation of only one of them. Tick the word that is produced Example) v bet {bet] ver [vet] Lbest best] vest [vest] 2 by [ball wie vat 3. bolt —{bavit) volt [vault] 4 bow [haul vow [vau] 5 boat [bavt} vote [veut] 6 bowel [baual] vowel [vaual} T bent — {bent} vent {vent} 8 ba [oat] vat (veet} Beas GO m ONT Common mistake @ © ram [fam] © ran [fan] rang (Fan) or anal Expected pronunciation @ rom {rem} an reen] sang [ren] Description ‘whereas the pronunciation system of Spanish contains two nasal sounds, fm] and [}, the English one has thre, {mi asin mother 'ma8a, {nas in nigh [naxt} and [gas in ring [9], The pronunciation of Engish mand [ni] should nox bea problem fora Spanish speaker, since these sounds are similar to the Spanish sounds at the beginning of che words madre and nocke [fon the other hand, only occurs in Spanish asthe resulk of an assimilation process, when the [nis followed by k] or [g], asin tengo tengo}. Thus, che 2 TEACH YOURSELF EGSH PRONLNOATIN ‘mou common mistake fora Spanish speaker is o produce the [q] sound as fn] in English words. & good example of this can be found in gerands, such as taking olin, which tend to be produced as [teikin] or [vin] by Spanish speakers. The production of final fad instead of [fg] may cause intelligibility problems since pairs such as ran ftzer| and rang (ree) may be confused In order to produce English [n), Spanish speakers can start saying the Spanish word tengo and stop after the first syllable [teg}. The last sound should be very similar to English [n}. [eis important that che tip of the tongues lowered ard does not touch the alveolar ridge Hany help... In some Spanish accents, sch as the Andalusian accent, sis common to produce words with 2 final (1 as [g), for example, ven [ben] and per [pan] ts order to make suce'that the [9] 8 properly produced, some Spanish speakers tend 10 ‘cera fk} ot a [g] ater the [a] all contents. Although this is right in some cases, as in rank (reqk] and im stronger [strongal, ic is wrong in other cases, a i rang (reen] and ringieg rnin] where no fg] is present in the English pronunciation In English, [q} never appears in ward inal postion and is always followed by “g" or “k" inthe speling The {k] sound after [9] is always pronounced, as in thanks (8ee0Ks}. [a], on the other hand, is sometimes pronounced, a in longer longa] and sometimes not, a3 in bringing (bry. The general rule forthe pronuncistion ot not of [gl afer (n] can be summarised as fellows 4. le-wor final postion, the (gs never produced long, (ion running {ranun] 2. In word medial postion, the (g] isnot produced if the word derives from a verb, singing (ssqra] singer (sinel 3. In word medial position, the (g] is produced if che word isnot derived from a verb. longer fongel finger (Hingel “Listen to the following words containing [mi], [n] and {9}. Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation, ° bara [baer] ban been bang [been] rum [rom run ran} rang (rag) simmer fstma} snoer [stn] singer sino} hammer [heema] Hanna (haena] hanger [heen] com [rom] Ron fron] wrong 09] (haper2 carsoneee Beeeveeoeeeeeeseevsesssecsesceseseeeeeee Now listen to a few words contsining (gj. Make sure that you know how to produce this sound especially in those cases where the following [9] i not pronounced. Spanish speakers should pay special attention to verbs ending sm -ing Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation ° rink [rink] ring, ino) ringing —(1amg) bank —[baenk) bang been] banging — {tbaentn] sink {stk} sing [sm] singing [sin] brink (brink) bring [onin} bringing [(brnin] young — Gaal younger [anga} hungry {hangri) hunger Prange} anger [eengel monger fmagga) ang {heen} hanger (heen) clang [klaen] clanger —kleene) long lon) longing [Yoqin] Glerived from @ verb) longer [tongal rived from an adjective) Common spellings @ [mm] sm milk [erat “mm hammer hagmo] ‘mb lamb lise] In) se not ros) “ne” alone fleun} “an” funny [tani “kx” know {nou an" sign [sain] to sing Iss) bank [beenk} Ear training @ Exercise 1 Look atthe following pairs of words and listen to che pronunciation of only one of them, Tick the word that is produced Example + berging (beenin| banning —(baeg} L sing sin) sin [sm 2 rung [rao] run tan} 3. tongue fay) en (unl ling (ln) lynn {an} 5. sung [san] son {ssn} 6, wrong’ {fon} Ron {ron} 7 singer final sinner {sina} 8 banger [beens] banner =a} BE AWARE 9: Nasalization in GA English has three nasal sounds {m}, {a}, {0} Gee Tip 23). They are called “nasal” ‘Because they are produced with ir going out chrough the nose. The vowels that occur ‘ext to nasal sounds tend to be nasalized, that is, part ofthe vowel is also produced ‘with air escaping through the nose. In languages such as French, nasalized vowels ave in contrast with non-nasalized (ot oral) vowels. Thus, for example the French ‘words lot *prize’? flo} and lang “long” [10] are only distinguished by the presence or absence of a nasalized vowel, Nasalization is marked with the symbol [~) at the top of the vowel. ‘iw RP English and in Spanish, nasalization is a mechanical effect, that is, i occurs ‘without the speaker being conscious oft. Thus, the vowel in the English word mum and the vowel in the Spanish word ven are nasalized. In some accents ofthe United States, however, nasalization not only occurs in vowels next to nasal consomants but also in vowels which are not in contact with any nasal sound: This phenomenon gives an overall nasal quality to some American accents Here are some exaraples of it @ — Theletteris for Stand (08 Nate fr ‘stéend He drives 100 fast. Ini ‘role tis eet] ‘The party was a blast. [a part waz 8 blast}Common mistake @ what [ower] whisky Towiski Expected pronunciation @ what (wot) whisky [vsti Description what, whisky oF wait The English sound [wv is found at the beginning of words such and has a similar quality to the vowel {u} In Spanish, the same sound is pi the beginning of the word huevo (weo}. Thus, Spanish speakers should not have any problems in producing English [w] because the same sound exists in the two languages, Sometimes, though, Spanish speakers pronounce words beginning with fw] with an initial [a] Sound (lgweBop and they tend to do the same when they speak English, Thus. itis common for Spanish speakers to produce words such as wheat or whisky wth a {g} preceding the [w]. In RP these words are produced with no sound before [ww] and Spanish speakers should try to avotd the intial] Listen 10 a few words beginning with [w]. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation where wea} wait (wert) wedding {wedin] cwin [twin] apie (ewarat] Common spellings 9 wow way wei] sah? aby wail su quite [wat Ear trait © Exercise 1 The following words contain an initial [w] sound. Sometimes the speaker produces them in a wrong way, that is, with an intial [g]. Listen to the production of the words and decide whether the speaker pronounces them correctly (with initial fw), as indicated in the transcription, or incorrectly (wich initial {gw}. Tick your answer Example) when [wen] right + wrong L were [wea] right wrong 2 why [war] right wrong 3. wha [wot] right ‘wrong 4. which "(wat 5. whether [weds] wight 6 while [wanl} right wrong 7 whine [wan] ight wrong & whice (wart) sight wrong, 9. whereas fwear'sez| right wrong, 10. wheat [wit] right wrong Other accents ln General American, Scottish and Irish, words starting with “wh” ace usualy produced a5 [hw]. In case Spanish speakers would like to adopt one of these accents, they should rake sure that the sound they produce before (os [h] and not (a cen to the following words produced wilh a GA ac wha [hwot} why (hwa} when {wen} where thweer] hag consonansf : @ Exercise 2 Listen to the following words and decide whether they are produced with an RP accent or GA accent depending on whether the [his pronounced or nox. Tick your answer Exaniple white RP [wait] ¥ GA (hw) 1 while RP wat) GA thwal 2. whim RP (wom) GA phar} 3. whistle RP [vast] GA (hens!) 4. whine RP [warn] GA fhwatn] 5, wheat RP [wt] GA (hw) 6. which RP [wa] GA out] Twhereas RP [wearzez] GA hwer'sez} & Whimey RP Few] GA Phun) Common mistake 99 lsh tet) milk lovitk] Expected pronunciation oe @ ight (an) - ilk ler Description English [ls similar to Spanish (} when the following sound isa vowel or fi Thus, the {l ofthe English words light, Ive and value is very close tothe Spanich [I] in fore. This means chat Spanish speakers should not have any problem im proctuing the English {ll before a vowel or [i]. However, when the English [I] s followed by a consonant (as in mi) or appears in word final postion before a pause (asin mil), the [}'s produced with an extea {u) qualuy This type of fs known as “dark” I] as opposed to the {of light which is described as “clear” fi]. The symbol used in phonetic transcription to mark dark [ls fH) Dark ff] is not transcribed in dictionaries, so Spanish speakers should remember to use this type of sound in the appropriate contexts. In order to produce ft], Spanish speakers can try to make a long [l} and in the middle produce an [u] vowel simultaneously with the t). Many help... {i]s siilar to the [ll used in Catalan in words such as lamina [taminal or sal [sat]. Listen to 2 few words containing clear [I] and dark ff]. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, @ Clear} love tev) fate (lest) histen [rsen} low flu} alone {alaun] Dak ff] meal i] girl {g3t] school [skust} silk [stk] help thetp! Listen tothe following pairs of words contrasting the two 1ypes off} sounds, Repeat and Imugate che speakers pronunciation @ sell [set] selling {setin] feel {fit] feeling (Hien) fool ut] foolish (fu) pull [put] puller {pute} fa {fox falling [Hosig) Common spellings om oh learn {lain} “yellow {eteEar training @ Exercise 1 | Listen to the following words which should be produced with a dack [f]. The speaker, however, sometimes uses a clear [I]. Decide whether the speaker produces the right type | of sound (ark f), as indicated in the tianseription, ar the wrong one (clear fl). Tick your answer ‘Whereas in RP English the occurrence of clear {!] and a dark [H depends on the phonetic context (clear [I] before a vowel or fj} and dark [H] defore a consonant or a pause), in General American most {ll sounds tend to have a dark quality, no matter the «ype of| sound that follows it Example salt [soit] ight v wrong 1. seal [stith ght wrong 2 pill (pH) right wrong 3 ral free} right wrong | 4 smile fsmant] right wrong, 5. post [punt] right weong, | 6 old [auts) sight wrong, | Tile {fas} sight wrong B. still [sttt] right wrong i Other accents: ! Listen tothe following words produced with a GA accent. Whereas in RP these words ‘would contain a clear [] in GA they are pronounced with a dark ff] Remember that the dark quality of the [His not marked in dictionaries. Thus Spanish speakers whe adopt a GA accent have to remember to use a dark (fall the time @ love fav) late fer) tien fhison} i tow au] | alone (atoun} ) @ Exercise 2 Listen to the following words and decide whether they are produced with an RP accent ra GA accent depenciing on whether the prevocalic [I] is clear (RP) or dark (GA). Tick your answer Ei 90 eam rounaar ecu momacaToN Example; light Re flat] ~ GA fat] 1, tullaby RP [lalbay] GA [ntobarl 2 length RP flenf] Ga fen6] 3. life RP (larf] GA frarf} 4, leaflet RP (lisflet}, GA [tiftat] 3. tink RP [ink] GA thnk) 6. jely RP fidget GA [eget 7. Louis RP flusi) GA fui] 8. lake RE [lerk] GA fetk) BE AWARE 10: Suffixes The pronunciation of English suffixes such as -ous Cious -cous), -able, -ure or on (Go mention a few) tends to be sather difficult fr Spanish speakers ince their main tendency isto produce these suffixes according tothe spelling. Thus, itis common 19 hear Spanish speakers saying {maf belous] (marvellous) or [tisolnenbol] (reasonable) These sulfixes, however, are produced in a much easier vay in English since they all contain a schwa (fa) Gee Tipo for more details). Being aware of the presence of fo} in all these suffixes may be of great help 10 Spanish speakers to improve their pronunciation. & few examples are provided below. o marvellous —_[Ima:vas} fashionable —_fifeefnebel], denios ——igbios reasonable [ritenobel] righteous (rartfes} ‘irreparable {treprabal] pressure fprefe] inspection _[tn'spekfan} procedure Ipralsixdga] Aevotion —_(¢'vaufon] candidature _['keendidet{e) ‘organization —_[:ganar'zerfen} In the case of -ate the pronunciation of the sulfix may vary depending on whether the word Is a noun ora verb, asin the following examples. ° Now Verb ceruficate ——_(ratrikat] {solufiker} duplicate (@jusplikat] fejusptker] hap 2 Caner: : ‘ Common mistake @ right (ait) Expected pronunciation sight front Description Spanish has two types of sounds, the one in perro, ranscribed as ff] (fpefo)), and the fone in per, transcribed with the symbol {f] (pero). {cis very imporcant to note that none ofthe Spanish r-sounds corresponds 0 the English one. English Ir, as in righ, red ot arrow, is produced wich a curved yp of the tongue Which is notin contact with the palate “The lips are a bit rounded. The most common mistake for Spanish speakers is 10 use the Spanish sounds ((f] and [F])nstead of the English one (fy) when uttering English words. This does no: cause misundersiandings but gives a very strong foreign accent elect. Listen to 2 few words containing f]. Repeat and imitae the speakers pronunciation oan prem} real [rca borrow [borau) rather [rade] correct (krekt) In some English accents, such as RP, the (fis only pronounced when iis followed by a ‘vowel (asin red [red]) but not when is followed by a consonant (ain farm (farm)) or pause (asin far [far)). These accents are called non-rhotic as opposed thotic accents, such as irish, Scottish or American English, where the [F] is pronounced in all contexts. Thus, 1m BP the (is not produced in the following words. Listen 1 the following examples. Repeat and itntate the speaker's pronunciaion. @ before a consonant before a pause farm [form] far fax} marie [me four for) short {fost} sir {sai} lord flo:d) ear (nva] murder ('ma:do] more [mor] However, ifthe werds of the second list are {cllowed by a word beginning with a vows in connected speech, the ff] is pronounced, This phenomenon is called linking fr. Lister. toa few examples. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. © faraway (Yor alwer] four apples [foie 'zopatz} sir Andrew (ser aandrus] near it {invar st] more ice (mor ass] ‘The insertion of fr} before @ vowel is frequent in non-shevie accents even in those cases where there is no ff] in the spelling, This s known as inirusie r} and it mainly occurs in words ending with [a], [21] and [at] when the following word begins with a vowel Some of the most common examples of intrusive {rl are presented below Intrusive [F] doesnot occur in rhoie accents Listen tothe following phrases. Repeat al imitate the speaker's pronunciation o the idea of it [6i ar'drar av xt} aw i far'sorr the Shah of Persia [88 a:r av 'pifa) Common spellings @ (© ed fred) so carrot [keerat] we write [rat]Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen 10 the following words containing an [F] sound, In some cases the spesker produces the right English sound ({f), as indicated in the transcription, but in other cases she produces the wrong sound Spanish (F or [F). For each word identify whether the pronunciation is right ([) or wrong (F] or [e}. Tick your answer. Example: airive ——[eratv] right + wrong 1. sorry (sox) right wrong, 2 wrong ron) rahe wrong 3. ready [reaij right wrong 4, story storri) right wrong 5. hurry [has righe wrong 6 rare trea] night wrong 7 around —araund} ight wrong, 8. remember [almembe] right wrong, © matcied —[imeerid] right wrong 10. road {reud] right wrong, @ Exercise 2 ‘The following sentences contain several words which might be pronounced with @ Linking (¢] due to the next word starting with a vowel. Underline che words in which the final [| should be pronounced. Then listen to the speaker and check whether she produces a linking [r] im che places you have marked, Example {dont remember it but | guess my sister is right Peter is joining us tae oe. My father and my mother are coming tonight. ‘Aler all { prefer ic without suger ‘Are there any apples in the Fridge? The ear is out of order tm afraid The teacher and his wife are in Hampshite today. 1 2 3 4 5 6 You are as all as your brother 7 8 Take the other word for example 9 ‘The letter arrived before L left 10. Our uncle gave usa ja of peanut butter 4 TEACH YOURSELF QUIS PRONUNCIATION @ Exercise 3 The following sequences of words contain an item ending with [o} and followed by another tem with an initial vowel. The speaker produces each phrase twice, with and ‘without intrusive [7] berween the [6] and the following vowel. Listen tothe phrases and decide in which order they are produced. Write | for the frst sentence you heat and 2 for the second Example ‘Amanda arrives, 1 [elmeendar aarvz} intrusive ff) 2 [ameende alrarvz] {no intrusive (1) 1. Patricia understands {pdtnfor andalsteendz} (rurusive (A) [paltnjo andelsteendz} (no intrusive {1} 2. The sofais new [69'saufar 2 'nju:) [ba ‘saute 1 niu Gotrusive f)) (no intrusive (e)) 3. Write a comma alter a verb [rat 9 komar larftar a 'vs:b] {rat 9 ‘koma la:ftar a 'vs:b] (intrusive [-) (oo ieurasive (el) 4. The gorilla ts dangerous, [62 galnior 1 deindseras] [be galnte 12 ‘deindgoras) Gacrasive [) (oo inarusive (el) 5. The cinema is closed [oe 'sinamer x 'klouzd) [62 !siname x 'klouzd) Gaerusive (FD) (oo ineeusive (FD) 6. “China and Japan {hfainar en dss'paen] (oecusive [FD {WGasna en d3a'paen] {0 inncusive () 1 Shesa salsa enthusiast [fiz 2 'seelsor inlajuszicest] Liz 2 seetso in!8jurzizest} Gnerusive [FD (no inerusive fr) 8 Thad pizza in the morning. [ar haed 'pictser in 88 !moinin} [at haed Ipictsa zn 89 'mainin} Gncrusive [) {no intrusive (4) ape 2: Consonantpeeceerr essere cerreseseseeesese Other accents In rhotic accents, such as G contexts, that is, vel (asin red (red) as 6 as before a consonant (as in farm ruse (as in far [fxr ed with a GA accent far lost} four [tox] lord llo:ra ‘more [mor] ‘Note that when the vowel preceding the fr] sound i fs], the wo sounds are not produced one after the other but they merge into a single sound which is transcribed as [3] @ mune Insss} sr (sa) @ Exercise 4 Listen to the following wo: for a GA accent depending on the ed with an RP accent a consonant or a pause (GA) or not (RF). Tick your answer Example car RP ko: GA [ka] 1. word Re [wad] GA [ware] 2. spark RP [spark] GA [spatrk) 3. sour RP [koa] GA fkaiet] RE [past} GA {parrt] Re isto] GA stair] RP [pail] GA [pss leer RP feta] GA fléter| 8. temper RP ftempa} GA temper] 9. fur RP fey GA fan} 10. manner RP Imaena]_ «GA (Imaznar] CHAPTER 3 Combination of consonantsEar training ACPO eno - © Exercise 1 Listen to the folowing words which stat with an [S] followed by one or exo consonants, as shown in the transcription. Indicate whether the words are produced with the right ‘Common mistake ° dow festou) pronunciation {{S] + consonants} or the wrong one ([es] + consonanvs). Tice your answer Spain {es!pein] Example smart [sma] sight wrong L sseet [sti] right wrong Expected pronunciation | 2 slice [stats] right wrong @ sow [slou} | 3. story [stoxri} right wrong Spain {spein | 4. sport [spoa} right wrong, | 5. straight. [ster] right wrong Description i 6 snail {sned} right wrong i yer of English wor econ : | 7 small [smal] right wrong, Alarge numberof English words start with a combination of two consonants consisting Secu fet oe som ‘of an [8] and another consonant, such a8 [p] (Spain), {1} (steal), [k] (sk), [ma] (Smoke), s (stu) st [n] (snore), [I] (slow) or [f] (Sphere). Since in Spanish there are no words which start with ans] followed by a consonant, ts dificult for Spanish speakers to produce the previous BE AWARE 11: Consonant clusters English words. Thus, Spanish speakers usually pronounce an [el vowel before the [s} ‘This should be avoided since it causes a very strong foreign accent eflect. Listen to the following words produced with an intial [s] followed by a consonant Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation. o steal [sti:l] sky [ska] smoke I[smeuk] snore [sno] sphere {sha} Note that the same applies when the word starts with an intial {s] followed by 10 consonants, as for example strorg. No (e] vowel should be produced before the [s]. Listen to the following words produced with an inital [5] followed by two consonants Repeat and imicate che speaker's pronunciation, @ song [stro] screw [skru) square [skwea} spray [spret] splash [splee{] TEACH YOURSELF ENGL PRONUNCIATION English allows more consonant clusters (combination of consonants) atthe beginning, and atthe end of syllables than Spanish. In Spanish we can have a maximum of two consonants atthe beginning of syllable and at the end oft In English, onthe other zrand, we can have a maxiraum of three consonants sylabl-initally and a maximum, of four consonants sylable-fnally. This illustrated below for the two languages. umber of fale Spans © English tral onsonants 1 ven (ten) ay ea) 2 ten tren] pray [pred] 3 = spray [spr] Nurber of yble spans © Exch ‘final consonants 1 tes {tes} sick [stk], 2 texto fteks-to} six (sks) 3 = sixth fstks@] + - sixths _[siks@s] Since Spanish does not have combinations of three or four consonants, ti usually difficult for Spanish speakers to produce consonant clusters, especially at the end of syllables, Spanish speakers should be aware of this and should try to produce English consonant closers so ast avoid communication and intligbilty problems (Gee ups 2731 for more detail) ‘Chapter: Cambiason of eonsonntsPee eer ee 88 8 HH 8888888 cha ea ak! Common mistake @ plane iplein} ee itn Expected pronunciation 9 plane {pjorn] sree ttc] Description In English, when [p], [t] and [k] are followed by {H, [el, [j] or [w] in a stressed syllable, the second consonant looses part of ats voicing. This means chat (H], (rl, i) and [w] are prod na if they were whispered. The lack of voicing is marked with [, ] under the consonant. However, devoicing is not marked tn dictionaries and therefore we should remember in wich contests it occurs. with no vocal fold wibrat In order 10 devoice (tf), (7, fi] or [wl after (p), (8) and [K). wry 0 pi wore whispered roduce them as if they Listen to the following words produced with a devoiced (1), [fi] or fw]. Repeat and imate the speaker's pronunciation @ plot {olor} wy tas] cute (kus win {ean} In order to understand the devoicing of (,{¢,{i] and (WI before fp}. [1] and [k} in English, it can be helpful ro listen to a few Spanish words produced by an English native speaker. Note how she applies the devoicing phenomenon to the Spanish wo plaza {lea} wes tues] quiero throu] ccuesta [kyesta} Finally, we should know thatthe devoicing eect {s] precedes the consonant cluster, as im scream siressed as in plasty (ples stsati Listen to the following words with and wishour devoicing of, [and iv] depending on the context chey appear. Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation blocked in two contexts: (1) when an im oF (2) when the syllable Is not @ cream (igi scream [skein] choir [kya] squire [skwara] cure tkivo] skewer Iskjve} platter ('pleeta) splauer Ispleeta} plastic (plecstik] plasticity {plee'susoti) triangle {trareengal] angular ftraveengjuo] cure {iv} ator {kjurerto] quote Ikyout quotation {kwau'terfan] Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the pronunciation of English words containing + devoiced (J), {f] ater [p}, [t} or {K] in stressed syllable, as shown in the transcription, In som speaker produces the right sound (with devoicing), but in other cases she produces the wrong sound (without devoicing). For each word identify whether the pronunciation is right (with devoicing) or wrong (without devoicing), Tick your answer Example: tain tyean] wo righ wrong 1. clown [Klaun} right wrong 2 pride Iprand] right wrong 3. crust east] ‘wrong + tube [tub] wrong 5. ewice ftwais] sight wrong 6. travel [ltraavel} right wrong Tune fijusn} sight wrong 8 clever [Kleva} night wrong@ Exercise 2 Look at the following phrases and their transcriptions. Place a circle underneath the 1.9, Gil and fw] sounds you think should be devoiced. Then listen to them and check your answers Example Clean the say. (iin 8 ber) 1. Wes Trafalgar Square bts trlteelga 'skweo] 2. Whata strange tradition! [wot a 'streinds traletfon] 3. lesa tragie quart [its 9 treedstk eworal] 4. Shes quite clumsy. (ie kevart klar] 5. What stupid question! [wot o 'stjurpid 'kwestjen] 6 Iksaquiet crew. [its 9 ewvarot‘kru:) 7 Splendid quality [splendid kwolati) 8, Wsquareer to twelve [nts kworto ta Iwetv] 9. Hesastrictcutor hie a ‘sti juta) 10, Us the Queen's treasure [its 09 kwine 'tre39] Tees Clg re Common mistake © complained {komiplein} complaint {kom'plein] Expected pronunciation @ complained [komipleind] complaint [kornpletnt] ‘TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH RONLACITION Description (One of the main differences between English and Spanish ial consonant chistes is the number of consonants allowed atthe end ofa syllable in each language. In Spanish, syllables can have a maximum of wo final consonants (texto (teks-to)), whereas in English chey can have a maximum of four (exts[teksts). Furthermore, most of the Spanish words that have 10 consonants in syllable final position are of foreign origin (for example, duplex (dupleks) and the main tendency in Spanish words is to have one consonant (or none) at the end of a syllable (for exaumple ‘mar (maf). in some Spanish accents, such asthe Andalusian accent, cis final consonant tends to be dropped in several cases, For example, in Andalusian the final [s] consonants fof the phrase los nitos are not pronounced. Thus, Spanish speakers find x difficult co produce more than one consonant syilabe-finally and they tend to pronounce words such 5 complained fkamipleand] or complaine (kornplexnt] wich a final (0. The main problem derived from this situation is that sometimes the non-production of finel consonants leads to communication problems, that is, part of the meaning the speaker wants to convey is lst, especialy if we drop consonants that indicate past ense or plural. For example, if someone produces the utterance 1 drained as [at dren] (vith no final fa), the listener understands a present action rather chan the past one, Siclaly, some words right be confused ifthe lat consonant isnot produced, For instance, if we drop the [t] in bel it will be understood as bell Listen to the following words containing a diferent nurnber of final consonants. Repeat and imitate the speaker's prorunciation. ° lived {iv} sales [sexlz] sixth [siks6] sinned [sind] es legal seventh 'sovend axed [taekst] trunks — [anks) eighth ford] linked Lake] fields ff riinths —— [nanns) glimpsed [ght mpst] tempts ftempts} renths tends} Now listen to a few English words produced by a Spanish speaker and an English one. Note that the underlined sounds are dropped in the Spanish pronunciation of these words. However, in English they are pronounced. ° Search Engish test [tes] [test] compact tkompak} [kompaxkt Bond [bon] [bond], wind {win} fan) Cape 3 Cabana consonantsEar training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following words and indicate the number of final consonants you hear. Note that the number of sounds does nor always colncide wich che number of letters. Tick your answer. Example filth v2 3 Ef 2 stamp 1 203 4 2 lamb D2 30 4 3, orange 1 2 30 4 4 caned 12 3 4 5, doubt 12030 4 6. half » 2 3 4 7 wax 1 203 4 8, cwelfths 1 2 30 4 9. carved 1 2.3 4 10. tapse 2 2 300 4 @ Exercise 2 Listen to the following words ending with a different number of final consonants (from ‘one to three), Two transcriptions are provided, One of them is right and the other wrong, Tick the right pronunciation @ Exercise 3 Listen to the following pairs of sentences which are only distinguished by the presence of one or two final consonants in one of the words. Indicate in which onder they are produced. Write for che first sentence you hear and 2 for the second. Exaenple plumb talked fast chalk friend least parked sphinx (eal {pla} feos) Ist] [tfortk} Trend) (sis) ist Ipok) [sfinks} leery + feent} [plarby = {tockt? ° tfrsl (som fren} Isiks) Example 2 Tvegotan iron bell. (bel) 1 Tve got an iron belt. felt) 1 Shewalked wihia limb fhm} She walked withalbmp. {hp 2 fine him {fain] L find him, [fain] 3. ‘The mill is white. (mil) The milk is white fev} 4. There ass bang outsite [been] There wasa bank outside, [baenk] 5. People sing {sn} People sink (sink) 6 Hebrought mero ahall, hod He brought me toahalt, thar] 7 That goat was beautiful. [geul) That gold was beaurifal ——_—(gauid} 8. Yovaguinst the ban {been} ‘Yim against the band, [baend)BE AWARE 12: Linking In English, when a word ends with a consonant or a combination of consonants (for example, scrambled ([skraembeld)) and the following word starts with a vowel (for exemple, eggs fegz), the last consonant of the first word tends to-be pronounced as if i was the frst consonant of the second word, asin f'skreembol ‘degz], This phenomenon, known’ as inking. can be very useful for Spanish speakers since facilitates che production of final consonants or combinations of consonants, in connected speech. A lew more examples ae provided below. ° scrambled eggs _—_[skeeembold'egz] > [skreernbel degz] looked out (ukt ‘aut] > fuk taut} find out {fain ‘aut} > than Get fond of [fond ov} > [fon dov} fist answer {fasst'ernso} > ffs to:nsa} Tliked tt {ar tackt rt) > [arlatk nt] not atall [not at 'o:!) > [no te ‘to: Ot tater) Common mistake Ge cas thats dogs [doks} horses ['xorses] Expected pronunciation o cas [keets} dogs (doga horses Uho:sig} 106 Teco oR cus PRONUNGATION Description In English the “s" used in plurals (asin cats) im che thiré person singular (as in he looks) and in the possessive case (as in Kate’) is sometimes pronounced as {s] and other times 25 [2] or 12] depending on the preceding sound Ifthe word ends with a vorceless consonant (such as (pt), {Kl or [8)), then {s] is used. “Thus, for example, the word cat ends with a voiceless sound [t] and therefore the plural is pronounced wich aa [s]. Listen 1 the following words ending with {s]. Repeat and pronunciation nitate the speaker's o cas [keots] looks (loks} Kate's [kets] UF he word ends with a voiced consonant (such as (0, (df, [n, [no I) ora vowel, then [2's used. However, as we saw in Tip 20, (2 in word final position loses its voicing (Qg) and sounds very similar to [s]. la these cases, che anly way to distinguish between {5} and (zis by the length of the preceding sounds The sounds before {s} ate shorter than those before [2] Dillerences in duration are clearly naiceabie in vowels Liszen 10 the following words ending with [2] Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation @ dogs {(dogz] vans trang] Jave’s (ageing) Finally ithe word ends with fs, 2, §, 3.1, d3] then the plual i [2]. As befor, the [2 is devoiced atthe end of words (rg) Listen to the following words ending with [1g]. Repeat and imitate che speaker's pronunciation, @ horses thessez] garages 'genrardzz] rises irae] reaches rit) fishes tg Georges ds0:d512] Spanish speakers usually produce che English “-s° endings as (s] or [is] chat is, with zo voicing of the final sound. Since English *-s" endings are either voiceless ({s]) or devoiced ([z] oF (12), the Spanish pronunciation of [5] or lis] is acceptable, However, the aspect Spanish speakers should remember when they produce “-" endings in English is to lengthen the sounds preceding a devoiced [2] Chater 3 Combination ol anssransLet us nav listen to afew examples of pairs of words ending with {3} or (@]. Note the @ Exercise 2 differences tn the duration of che vowels, Repeat and imitate the speaker’ pronunciation Listen to the following pairs of words ending with {s] or fj, Decide in which order they o bicks tbasks) tags fbeeee, ne prodced We I fr the fit word you heer and 2 fr he second, Reteber hat ae fans) ae foot sm order to distinguish the words you should pay aention ro the length of the sounds i preceding [sand (2) The sounds especially vowel) preceding fs] are shores than those rmucks mais] mugs [msg] preeding * Preceding [8] ae shorerthan nips trips] nbs {rug} lops xp} labs lista] Example 1 docks [doks} 2 dogs {dogz] training 1 decks Uoks} logs {loge} @ Exercise 1 racks [reeks] ssten to the following words produced witha plural form, Decide whether they end with Listen to the following words produced with a plural form, Decide whether they end. rage (rage) {5}, [2] or fg). Tick the sund/s you hear. Since may be difficult distinguish between {5} and 2] you can vanscribe the words fist and predict che plural ending by looking at 3 e e € € € thevoleag condition (waced wel) af the ast sound ofthe word hata woe mas tpats voigeless sounds is provided at the beginning of the book. pods [poaz) Example: planes Is) ~i fal fpleinay 4 bucks [bsks) i bugs b foes ts a ta) ° bea tourists {s] a fel % . taps. {tps} bushes [sl A la} as faba} knives Is} fl (al 6 leeks {leks} tables Is) a wl leagues Lig) books is) F lg} foxes Is] if ta forks Is] ie] “ta we 7 picks {ots] (pia) eharehes sh fa tu) 8 bets [bets] 10, songs ts] a al beds {bedz)Ao ‘Common mistake @ looked (tux seemed {sim ied tht Expected pronunciation @ looked {Wuet] seemed. [sizmd) liked (ifud) Description In English the regular past tense ending “ed” is sometimes pronounced {t), fd] or {tc} depencling on the preceding sound, If che word ends with a voiceless consonant (uch as [p(k [f(s] oF ff), then {tis produced Listen to the following verbs ending with (t] Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. e cooked [kokt] laughed ost pushed [putt If the verb ends with a voiced consonant (such as (b}, {g]. [ml, [n} or {I) oF a vowel, then {d] is used. As mentioned in Tip 15, che (d] sound in word final position tends to be devoiced ((d)). This means that it sounds very similar co {Q}. Thus, ft] and (d) 2¢ the: end of words are distinguished by the duration of the previous sounds which are shorter when the final consonant is [t} Listen to the following verbs ending with [d] Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, @ named {neumd) called the} tied itard} Let us now listen (oa few pats of verbs ending with (t] and [4]. Note that the sounds (mainly vowels) before [] ate longer than those before ft}. Repeatand imitae che speaker's pronunciation I No ceemounsr oon moO ) @ leafed tit) leaved bia) sacked [scokt] sagged [ead] locked {okt} logged {lood) roped [reupt] robed lrevbg} tapped [tzept tabbed ttesba] Finally if the word ends with It] oF [] then the past form is pronounced [1d] As before, the final (d} loses is voicing ig). Listen to the following verbs ending with [iq]. Repeat and imitate the speaker’ pronunciation. @ — geeted toring) landed (een) added (feedrd] ‘The main difficulty that Spanish speakers have i relation to the production ofthe English past cense is that they usually do not pronounce the last sound ({t] or [d]) especially when these sounds are preceded by another consonant. Thus, looked is produced as [Wuk} and scemed as {sim]. This may give rise to misunderstandings since the listener wil understand a present action rather than @ past one, Thus, ts very important for Spanish speakers to pay special atencion tothe production of final consonants in English Ear training © Exercise 1 Listen 1o the following words produced wich a regular past tense. Decide whether they end with (1), [dor [td]. Tick the sound/s you hear Since it may be difficult ro distinguish beaween ft] and) you can transcribe the words first and predict che past tense ending by leaking atthe voicing condition (voiced voiceless) ofthe lat sound of the word, A list of voiced and voiceless sounds is provided ac the beginning ofthe book. Example loaded Mid)» bd} Ploudig] 1, cancelled tid) bd) 2, watched Ia tq) 3. promped ft} Ed] id) + urggeed = td 5. travelled Wo idl td) 6. mocked Wl ted) 7 shifted fi id fd} 8 marked = ft} fd] td) 9. tried f(a td} 10. indicaed =) Chapt: Combaatondtconcnans EyPOSH SH OSH SESS SSHTO HP SHHSH SH HOH SERENE AHHEE @ Exercise 2 Look at the following pairs of words, The speaker only pronounces one of the two tenses (either present or past) Indicate which form he produces. Tick your answer Example: punish (panig] + punished pant} 1, receive in'siy] received [r'sive] 2. confirm’ [karifo:mn} confirmed —_[kanlfsimd) 3. cash theesl cashed (heeft 4 type [tarp] typed {taxpt} 5 disguise (drstgatz]}_—— disguised. ——_(@s'gared) 6 concern fkan’sain] concerned —_[kan's3:nd] Tiron fata] ironed {atend] 8 dress {ares} dressed {drest} 9. crown {ravn] crowned [kraund) 10, produce ——Ipraldjuss) produced -—_—praldjust © Exercise 3 Listen 10 the following pairs of words (including both verbs and nouns or adjectives) ending with [t] or [d). Decide in which order they are produced. Write 1 for che fist ‘word you hear and 2 for the second, Remember that in order to distinguish the words you should pay atiention to che length of the sounds preceding [t] and [q]. The sounds (especially vowels) preceding [t] are shorter than those preceding fd]. Example 2 —searched faut) 1 surgea [ssid 1 font {font} fond {fong] 2 sent [sent] send {senq} 3. picked (pitt) pigged {pid} 4 lene ent] tend {lena plucked {plakt) plugged olga) Join [dsaine joined {dsoing} backed beet] bogged (berg) nipped [npr] nibbed {ab} BE AWARE 13: Compression Sometimes in English a sequence of sounds can be pronounced in two different ‘ways: () either as two separate syllables or (2) compressed into a single syllable, The ‘compressed option tends to be very corimon in syllables containing a sch ((o). ‘The compressed version is more common in fast speech or in frequently used Words, Some examples of compression are provided below. © contrary fkontrar] = > ~—_kontri) lateral a desperate —_(desporet] > (esprat} category Ukastagari] > fkeetagri] preference _['preferens] > ['prefrens} brary atbrod] => lanbri acura [naetforat) > neetfral] Even though the general tendency for Spanish speakers is to produce the uncompressed foray, i is advisable to tise the compressed veision since iti easie= to utter Furthermore, there are certain words where the compressed option has ‘become the natural one, as in the following examples, @ interesting (hintrastag) chocolate Itfoklon)32. Consonant clusters and vowel elision Common mistake @ Tile [lite] gatden (garden) Expected pronunciation ole fio or fra gaden {'9a:dn] or garden} Description Sometimes the production of two consecutive consonants in English is caused by the elision or dropping of an intervening vowel. For example, the word litle can be pronounced as [ital] or fil]. In the second pronunciation, the vowel fa} is dropped. and thus the sequence [ti] constitutes a consonatt cluster. This phenomenon only occurs in unstressed syllables and the vowel that is elided is always {a]. Even though the two pronunciations (with arid without fa) ate correct, the second typeof promunciation tends to be more frequently used ‘The most common context for the elision of the schwa and the subsequent creation of a consonant cluster & when the fiaal consonant is either an [n] (as in garden, written or pardon) or an [I] (9 tle, eravel or cual). ‘The main problem for Spanish speakers is that they usually produce an [e] vowel between the wo consonanis which causesa strong foreign accent effect. They should try to produce either [a] or even preferably no vowel at all between the two consonants Let us now listen (0 a few examples produced with and without fa}, Repeat and imitate the speaer's pronunciation @ — wricen [nin] Untan} pardon pose] po:den] ion [vs] [gen] ceriain {so:tr] {so:ton} ceavel (treewt (treevell cuddle (xa (adel) bottle bow) [botall riddle Ural] {ndal) li HA © Teor ours evcuss mowncamon Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following words produced in two different ways, chat is, with and without {o, Listen to che two pronunciations and decide in which order they are produced. Write | for the first pronunciation you hear and 2 for the second Example: collection 1 kallekfo) 2 [kallekfon] 1 battle (eect) (baetal] 2 eaten fiem) fistan] 3. vocal (veut) veukoll 4 pension penn} [penfon] 5 hidden {hdr} (fhuden} © Exercise 2 Listen to the following words and decide whether they are produced with [a] or not. Tick the transcription you bear. Example subele + Esau (satol} 1. mansion {(maenin] {fmaenjon] 2. sudden {sadn} {sadn} 3. trifle thrash] (rafal 4. eension {tenn} [enjont 5. crumble Ckrambl] (kearmbal) 6. burden (ba:dn} (’ba:dan} 7 bottle (oot {tote 8 kinen (etn) fkxtan] 9. dazzle {decal} {ez 10, raven frervn} {renven} (Caper Cantinatn of earsste S 8 EF €& & vo <= 20 = Ques n wo Oo: oe I 6666666 Pere eee Kee ee eSPes cee ee see uaa poses ta be plas tos wend Such processes involve changes in che pronunciation of a given sound located atthe end of word due tothe influence of she sound that begitis the next word, For example the (afin cn can be proceed as fnf in a pease suck as eer mites because ofthe eect of the [ml atthe begioning of the word miles. This type of process occurs in connected speech, that is, when words appear in company. In English, connected speech processes ate not obligatory. Thus, the pronunciation often miles with an fn is equally sccepcable Since connected speech processes are not compulsory, tips 33-36 do not include the Common miciche section because the non-production of a particular process is not an error buta speaker's choice. Expected pronunciation © —oneboy ——wnntbos] (less frequen) fwam 'bor] (more frequent) cone git flwangat] less equen) fiway gal) (more frequent) Description Ie is very frequent atoss languages thot when words appear in company some sounds in ‘word Final postion become similar to the sound that begins the following word. Thus for example, the word one finishes with an [n}. However, in the phrase oné boy the (n] becomes (ml and inthe pase one gil it becores [9] due to che influence ofthe sounds a the beginning ofthe folowing words, This phenomenon is kaowe as assimilation and ic only affects certain consonants “The English consonams thar uswally undergo an assimilation process ave fr, fe] and fd). “They sulle the changes specified below. Listen co the following phrases with and without assimilation, Repeat anc imitate the speaker’ pronunciation {a becomes [my] when olowed by @ — [pl_onepack ——wan'paek] > flan pack fo] one boy [Mwan'bo} twa bat) fm] one mine wan tmnt) > wan rant] THe rexcerouRseir icusH RONAN I Deere Cricut eeu Cl ff becomes (ig wher flowed by: @ IK onecat Cwan'kast] wag keot] fol onegin (wan'ga] > wan ‘ga {19 becomes [p] wien followed by © {P] tha pack [Reet peak} [Ozep 'pank) fe) chacboy ——[Baxt ba] Baep bord {mj tharmint [Beet int] [Beep mnt} {t] becomes {kJ when fllowed by: © IK) thatcar [eet keel] Baek eet) (a) chatgie at 'gat] > eek'ga} {al becomes {b} when followed by @ {pl dad pack —fbeed'peek] > bee pack] [bl bad boy [beed'bo] © [baeb 'bor} Im] bad mine foeed mint} Eee Imant] {d] becomes {g} when followed by © IK badcat (bavd'keet] > [baeg eet] {o] bade baed'ga} «> tbaea ‘os ‘Assimtations are usually blocked in slow speech or when the speaker produces a pause between the two words, This is Wastrated below. Listen co the following phrases produced ‘with no assimilation of fd}. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation © — Shebabad git - —(fz0 beed gori} slow speech she’s bad, git Wz'beed | 'goa} presence of « pause ven though the assimilation of [n,[} and {is not obligatory in English, the production of assimilatory processes is highly encouraged given che high frequency with which assirullacions occur it rhs language. Assimilatory processes can also take place within words, especially when they sre complex, that 1s when they are made of either two words (compounds) or when 2 prefix isadded to a word. This is illustrated in che following examples, compound white «board fwanbod} > — [warpbo.d) prefic + word tun + plugged lanphgd) = > (amipiagd]| PO OO SS SHOT ST SO 8S 8 ee ni sakers should mot have any problems in producing the [n] assimilations since Sea ese of proceses exit in Spurish. Fr example, un ps [Um piso, un eso [um 'geso}, un mes [um ‘mes}, un coche [un 'kotfe] and un gato (un 'gato]. “The [tf] and [dl] assimilaons are nox common in Spanish since no Spanish words finish seth these sounds. However, Spanish speakers should not worry too much about zhem bbeezuse they tend to occur unconsciously, For example, the Spanish pronunciation ofthe Frghch word football's Mupbol. Th [fa che end of fot assealated 1 the fllowing, ova (6) ad sbereve tx produced as (p| This isa mechanical process that speakers produce spontaneously. Bartraining @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following phrases produced in «wo different ways, thats, with and without assimilation. Listen t© the two pronunciations and decide in which order they are produced. Write forthe firs phrase you hear and 2 forthe second. Example) tenboais, 2 fen bouts} 1 ftem 'bauts) 1 couldbe ud bi] hub bi] 2 teango [at kon ‘gou {a1 ken ‘gou} 5, lae breakfast [ert Ibrekfast] flletp 'brekfast} + goodbye [gud bay] {gub bay) 5, eleven minutes [evn ‘muruts) [Hlevm ‘manits} 6 rigl question [rant kwestfen] [rank ‘kwestjan} 7% oldeer 8B green coat 9. get more 10, iemon curd @ Exercise 2 [ould ‘ko:] {ulg kar} {grin aut) Yorizn ‘kaut] [get 'mo:] {9p mos) lemon kar} fleman 'ks:d} Listen to the following phrases or words and decide whether they are produced sith assimilation or not. Tick ihe zranscripcion you heat Example: suitcase. [surtkers) + tsukkers} No assimilation ‘Assimilation 1 sad mater {seed Imaeto] {soeb ‘maeta] 2. pronunciation book fprenansieifen'buk) —_[pranansiexfam uk] 3. hot meal hot mii {hop ‘mit + onppurpose {on pa:pas] Jom 'p2ipas} 5 swerease enters} {unris) 6 whxeboard (wana) ((watpbard) 1 hardcopy thors opi) {tho:g 'kopi 8. unplugged {anplagd] lamiplaga] 8 loudery (laud eran) {avg 'krex} 10 joinme {(8s01n mil {lagoim mi}Expected pronunciation 9 thisyear (01s at less frequen) {1 ay (onore frequen) does your brother sing? [dnz ja: 'brabasin] (less frequent) {idag jos "bead 'siq) (more frequent) Description English [s] and (z] also undergo an assimilation process in the following contexts. Listen ta the pronunciation af the phrases with and wiehout assientlacion, Repeat and recicae he speaker’s pronunciation {sf becomes ff} wher fotlowed by @ GJ this yogurt [ors ogat) > — [x joget} [5] this gendarme lors'sendam) = [fS1{'3ondasm| 1) this shoe (1s ux] > pox uy {2} becomes [3] when foliowe: @ in} these yogurts (oi:z jogets} > [ig 'jogats} {3} hese gendarmes [iz '5endarma] [dig '5onda:mz] [2] becomes {3} when flowed by: © UL theseshoes (oie Sure] > lois us The [,] means chat the [3] is devo! the influence of the fallowing voiceless sound [f} Thus, the sequence {5 f] sounds very close to ff] As in the previous tip, it tS important to remember that the assimilatory processes of (s] and [2] are not compulsory and that in slow speech or when a pause is present 12a TeACH URSELF NCU PRONUNCIATION @ This yogur This yogurt (is Jogat) slow speech Ts togau) presence of a pause However, given the high frequency with which chese assimilations are produced in English itis important for Spanish speakers to t3y 10 make them if they went to sound ‘more natural, For details on the prosunciation of (J) and [3] reer to Tip 17, imilation of {2}. The first colome £3). Note thatthe combination fg f] sounds cio pies of the sequence [zj) being Produced as (3 i. 3 speakers pronunciation, Listen t he following questions produced with sequence [2 f] becoming to ff]. The second column shows ex Repeat and mt o Reo Does she go? (ts § 9307 kJ>6) Does yout brother go? {fdas benb0 ‘geu) Us she going? (3 Si'gourg} Is your brother going? [hs jor tbraba 'gaurg] Has she gone {ees §'g0n} Has your brother gone? (thang ja: brads gon} How ts she? How's your brother? [hau'g fi {haus jo: 'bendo} Whereis she? {wear sf] [was jo: erat) caper wots in compare ABS. t peroeoev oer eee | Ear training @ Exercise 1 Listes the following phrases produced in two different ways, that is, with and without assimilation of {s] and fz], Listen to the two pronunciations and decide in which order they are produced, Write 1 forthe first phrase you hear and 2 for the second Example fess sugar 2s fuga} i (ef fuga} 1 thisyell fs eth 6 diessyou bles ju} (61f ‘el] {lblef jul 2. missyou ms jul 1 hisship {iz Sip {rm ju] thes ‘tel 3. these shop: [k2'fops) 8 niceyachts (nats js] 18:3 Sons} Unaxs oss] 4 this yolk {181s 'jeuk) 9. she’s shy: tig fan} (1 uk) As Sauk 5 she'ssure fiz ox) 10. Miss Sharpe Imus fo:p] 6 {rg orp] @ Exercise 2 Listen t6 the following phrases and decide whether they are produced with assimilacion ‘or not, Tiek the transcriprion you hear Example, who'sshe? hug fi) + thus fi Noarsiitaion Assimilation 1 dress shop (ares op) {ref fop 2. lose you luz ju) fuss ju) 3 Tess should {tes ud) {ef fod] 4. clase yard tklov2 'o:d) (Klou3 joa) 5. worse use (as Sus} tf uss) 5 wheres Shane? [hweaz'femn] {wo9g fein] 7 faceyou (ers ju} (ea ju) 8. how's Giselle? {havz stzel) {fhavg stzel] 9. press shi” Upres i] Tre it] 30. bes shaking {hie erkan] (hig fern) BE AWARE 14: Contractions (One ofthe first things students of English learn whem they start studying English is that some verbs, such as to have or foe, are usually produced in a contracted form, 48m the sentences youre nlce or Te been here Even though Spanish speakers know about these contractions, they: sill prefer 10 use the non-contracted form (you are nice or I have been here) when they speak English, This is due to the fact that there are no similar contractions in Spanish sand thus Spanish speakers assume that they will be better understood if they use the non-contracted version. This s, however, wrong, The contracted form s, by fa, more frequently used than the non-contracted one and Spanish speakers should «ry to use contractions if they want 70 sound more natural, Being aware of how these contractions are produced may be of great help to star using thems more regulary. ‘Note that a very imoportant aspect for these contractions to sound natural is that they are act stressed. tm fam) 9 Tmnice [aim nats} Youre ls] You're nice lis: nats) Hes thiel Hes nice {hz nats] She's {fe} ‘She's nice. (ie ‘nans) Were wi} Were nice {ia ars] They're (e9] ‘They're nice, {620 !nars] Tve fav) Wwebeen here fav bin tua} Youve toy Youve been here, ju He's (hig He's been here. {hie bin hrs} She's hz) She's eee tere (fe bien x} Weve {win] We've been here, fwiv bin hia} Theyve _ [en]~ They've heen here, [Oerv birn a} For the contraction of will (1), add [I] to all the pronouns. For the contraction of had (¢@) and would Ca), add] to all the pronouns, as illustrated below. aw lai) @ Tbe here. {aul bith} You'll ul You'll be here {il bina) fe fad] @ Ta takenit {or 'terken 1} You'd Gud You'd dot {jus du: a]Re Aes | Expected pronunciation @ — letyou fletiul ess freques | (erful (omore frequent) didyou [td ju) | {eedgu} Description In English the com and {d] + [} across words tend to be produced as (tf) and {93} cespectively. That i, ff] + Uj] merge ino single sound (tf) and fe} + Gl ince {ds}. Even though E i et you odd you with (9) and [G] followed by Uj) is right, che production ofa single sound, that is, (tf ot (43, is |) more frequently used | ‘Since Spanish speakers tend to produce English words starting with [j] as [d3] (see Tip 19), i they should not have big problems in producing [d3) im phrases such as did you [dtd3u}. |; However they shoutd pay more attention in not using [ds] when che sound preceding { | is {t], as th let you which should be pronounced as [letfu} nor [ed3u], i Listen to some examples of the two types of pronunciations. Repeat and i |) speakers pronunciation i Les frequen More frequent | met you (imet jul [metju} {got you Ugot jul (gotju} | ‘suit you [sust ju), ('suxtfu) | would you (wud jul thwudgul { could you kod jul Phudgu} | hed you {heed ju) theedgul (Note that the mengin f (tT + (if anc fal + {if into (Aff and (dsj: cimes can also «vio (etiUexfon] being produced as fsnfuerfan} ffs eset caronncnn Ear training @ Exercise 1 caia {tora (A followed by U] underlined) Sometimes the ces with two sounds (t+ fi ) and other times on thatthe speaker produces, ‘eke the pronunc te tl vith 1M pucyou through, sic fea) (si) 2 This is not your fault (+i ts) 3 Write pour name, p (d+ ts 4 Doni eutyour finger. Weal (sl 5 Field your mother iat ids} 6, Tsayd you're right (dl + {63} 7. Hl eadyou a poem he {es 8 Add your telephone number [al « Uy ids] @ Exercise 2 Listen to 2 few questions which sant either with did you, co ase is (2) « {f] or [ds] Tit would you Indicare ‘whether the pronunciation in eac jour a Example: Did youtlike i, st? +a ¥ 43) ‘Would you like sore cote? ili (si 2 Did you viste your frienis? fol + GI (asi 3. Could you pass me th +t (6s 4 Wout yo lke co hav 1 tal + * fas} 5. Would you go with him to the party?) + Gi (63) 6 Could you take the rain? 1) + a3) 7. Could you come on Tuesday il {a31 8 Did you have ance time 1a) +0) £3): Des aCe IC] Expected pronunciation © lastEriday [loss Yrarder} (les frequent) [lo:s raider] (more frequent) fet fine (ett aun] Description English {t] and [4] can be elided (not produced) at the end of a syllable if these two ccondivions are met 1. [t}and fd should be preceded by a consonant ofthe seme voicing, thai, ft] preceded bya voiceless sound, as n las, and [d] preceded by a voiced sound, asin cold (alist of voioed and voiceless sounds can be found at the beginning of the book) 2, [t] and [4] should be followed by a consonant other than [h]. ‘This can happen both across words and within a word (mainly in compound words) 35 stated in the fllowing sequences, The elided sound is underined in the spelling Listen oth following phrases and words produced with and without elisten oft or fd. Repeat and imitate the speakers pronunciation 6 No-lision Fsion last night fharst Ina] (ors ‘naxt} cold night {keuld 'naxt} (Kou! ‘naxt] next Monday {nekst !mandes} [neks 'mander] found them [Haund bom} [aun 3am] postman [poustman} {(peusmen} windsurf (wandsasf] (vanss:f] textbook {tekstbuk] [teksbok] mindless {'mamndlas] [marnias} ‘As with assimilations,elisions are not compulsory. However, the use of them in the right contexts can help the speaker to have a more natural English accent. Since Spanish speakers have the tendency of dropping final consonants more frequently than expected, 128 TEACH YOURSELF EucSH PRONUNCITION they should be careful to produce elisions in the appropriate environments. For example, in the following sequences elisions are not possible Listen to the following phrases witere elisions of {t] or [al] ae not possible in English Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. a last flasst) ({t] is followed by a pause) last April ——_fla:st expr} At) is followed by a vowel) cold hand [keuld 'haend) U[d] is followed by [ny spent money [spent ‘mani Uo] and [differ in voicing) bank oan fbzank Haun} {kd canno: be elie, only ft or [4)) Furthermore, Spanish speakers should try to avoid using elisions when the dropping of a sound triggers a semantic or grammatical loss. For example, even though the sentence 1 failed the exam ((at fetid 81 1g!zaeml) can be produced with an elision of the {Gin fied ((an el &i aglzzern), iis advisable to pronounce the [d] 50 as not to loose the past meaning, In negative contractions, such as did't ot can't, the [f] can be elided even though [n] and [t] differ in voicing. This ean happen in almost all contexts, even before a vowel or {h]. The only environment where [t} cannot be dropped is when the negative form is followed by a pause. Listen tothe following examples. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. @ didn't chink [did '81nk] can do {ko:0 au] dont arrive {daun a'rary) shouldnt hurry (fod hsi Tcouldn’, far kudnt] Sometimes elisions and assimilations (see tips 35 ara 36) can co-occur, asin the following, ‘examples. The speaker lirst produces the phrase with no elision or assimilation and then with both phenomena, Repeat and imitate che speaker’s pronunciation. 6 No sion or assimilation Etision and assimilation dont mind {dount !maind] ['deum ‘main and me fend ric] [om imi} last year (Horst te} Pars ro] cant cope [ko:nt keup] {ko:n koup] Chapter 4: Words company a |Listen to the following phrases or words produced in two different ways, that ts, with ‘and without elsion of (] and [Listen 10 the two pronunciations and decide im which order they are produced. Example fastfood «2st urd] 2 Marsa] 1 wildcat (wail eeet) [vat kat) 2 second thought 'sekond Bat [seken ‘Bo: 3 bestman [best meen} {bes !meen 4 nixed gril [mokst ‘gr Crmuks ‘gr 5 pretend that Iritend eet] [peiten Beet] 6 roast beet {roust bit] {revs bit] 1 agains the law [@’gemst 8 tor) fo'geans Ba to: 8 bandleader (oaendi:do} {aenti:cal 8 postcard {(peustka:o} [pauskaid] 0 round-table {raund 'texbl {raun texbl] 30 TecHvouRse.rencus pronunecanon @ Exercise 2 Look atthe folowing phrases or words and decide whether the underlined {to [can be eliged or not. Tickyour answer. In those cases where you thinlethat the elision is not pasibe, think of a reason. Then listen tothe speaker's pronunciation and check your answers Example: current research ¥ no elision liston 0} ane {t differ in voicing) 1. beyond imagination no elision lision, 2. just one no eision elision 3. ground floor no elision, elision 4 sold house no elision elision 5, tos island no elision cision 6. called them no elision elision 7 Heng them no elision lision. 8. best-seller no elision dlision 9. kane aspect no elision elision 10. grandchildren no lision elision @ Exercise 3 Listen to the following phrases and decide whether the speaker produces them with no elision or assimilation or with both phenomena, Tick your answer. Example blind mice (blaind'mais]_—_» [blaum!mats) Noclision or assimilation Liston and assimilation 1 teeland can (atiand keen] (attan keen] 2. first show {fast You} (ss You! 5. -wor't go (waunt ‘gau} {(weuig'g0u) 4. lend me {end mi} them mi 5. most shops {imoust fops} meus ops} 6. don’ being {deunt orn} (dum 'orin} 7. best shoes fest uz] {ef uz] 8. beyond control (biliond kanltraul) [bron kan'trou 9. cost you {host jul (ko ju} 10, shoulda’ come (odont kam} {Yuden eam]3 BE AWARE 15: Negative contractions ‘As with positive contractions, Spanish speakers should be encouraged: to use egatve contractions as she in or I mun rather than Shes nol of I mustno since. ‘ee contacted version ie move feequently used than the non-cooemcsedl : {important forthe students to know how. negative contractions tend {6 be Inorderto be able to use them more regularly. Unlike positive contract contractions ae always stressed : Payee ‘When the contracted form contains two syllables, the first one is stressed and the.second cone is produced with a schwa [a]. The final [t} must be produced when the word is fllowed by a pause, otherwise the [canbe dropped, 25 in the fllowing examples e couldn’, [at kudont) You shouldns. {ju fudent) ‘They wouldnt. (Ser'veudont] Tepuldnt do it {ar 'kuden (du: 1] ‘You shouldnt laugh {ju fuden Yor] They wouldnt leave.‘ [Ger Wwoden liv] 1 didn [at didnt) 1 didnt want to. {ar Widen wont tu} She doesnt, {ff dazant] ‘She doesnt dare, [fi 'tazon 0} He hasnt {hi'heezant] He hasn't signed it. (hilhaezan'saind st} ‘We havent. [wi lhaevant] We haventt read it. [wi'heevan red rt] tient [tant] Ieisnit yours. {1t'zen loz] ‘The following negative contraction have only one syllable which is always stessed ° We arent {wi ont} Wearent ready. owilain red] Tcant {ar 'ka:nt] Leanit swim, [ar 'ka:n 'swim) ‘They dont. [er dount} ‘They dont drink. [6er aun ‘drank] PRE roi cuse: pci Ra ue eri ‘Common mistake @ Theatre {de Nels} [de ‘els komin} [de els sironin] The girl's coming Expected pronunciation @ — Thegirls (Bo'gxlz] The girls coining (Ba ‘ga:'g Karma [69 ‘gailz 'ateniq} The girls ironing Description In tips 15, 20 or 30 (among others), we have seen that some voiced sourids are devoiced when followed by a pause or a voiceless sound. For example, the final sound of the word girs 2] is devoiced before a pause. This means that itis produced very similar 10 [5]. The symbol to indicate that an originally voiced sound loses al or part ofits voicing is {,},asin [gailg}. Similarly, in the phrase The girl's comang, f2] becomes [z] due to the following word starving with a voiceless sound, {k]. However, when [2} is followed bby a voiced sound (2 vowel or a voiced consonant) it remains fully voiced, as in The girs ironing Spanish speakers tenel © produce a voiceless sound ({s]) in all the aforementioned contexts, This is fot a problem in the cases where devoicing is expected, that is, before 4 pause or before a voiceless sound. 4s previously stated, [2] is very similar 1o[s] and. therefove the two soundscan be easily swapped, However, the main dificult fr Spanish speakers is to maintain the flly voiced [2] between voiced sounds. In order to practise the pronunciation of fully voiced sounds accross words, we suggest to produce a sentence, such as The git’ ronng. n a slow motion and with one hand touching the larynx. Since this sentence fs all voiced the vocal folds should vibrate throughout its production. Note that not all voiced sounds can change their voicing condition before a pause or a voiceless sound. For example, [mJ and ft] ae fully voiced irrespective ofthe following phonetic context, The sounds that change their voice condition ate listed below. The common aspect about these sounds is that chey have a voiceless counterpart, that is, a sound which is pronounced exactly the same except for is voicing condition. Thus, [mm] or [] cannot be devoiced because they do not have a voiceless partner. So, only Chapter 4 Weds in companyvoiced sounds with a voiceless partner can be devaiced. In the following list che voiceless counterpart appears in brackets. bce) MD dsp Bg fas] cis) bi dob (tp iol cK) Listen to the following phrases. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation, ° Fully voiced Devoiced lo) Breathe normally Breathe strongly. florid ‘noms (rig ‘stron w The north of London The north of Cork {Ba !no:8 ov and} [Be lno:8 oy kak} ta Shes mice She's cue iz 'nars} Uiz'kiust} bi A beige anorak beige coat {o bers ‘sonaraek] folbers kau) {ea} George lft. George talked {esasds Net] {50:05 tok) to Bob let Bob talked {ob ft} {bob 'tkt] ta Fred let Fred called (red tery (freq tog} ial Craig tet Craig talked thog Nett [rong "oit} © esc YOURSELF ENGLISH PRONUNCATION Ear training Exercise 1 Look at the following phrases which contain @ word that ends with a voiced sound (underlined). Try to predict whether this sound will be produced as fully voiced or as, devoiced by examining the following phonesic context, that is, the vaiced/votceess condition of the fist sound in the following word, Tick your answer before listening 10 the sentences, Then listen to the speaker's pronunciation and check your answers. Example: The boysarrived._ fully voiced [2] devoieed [2] 1. Read the book. fully voiced (dl evoiced fd) 2. He gave me two. fully voiced (v} devoiced [yl 3. Ws very smooth. fully voiced [8] devoiced [8] 4 Graba sandwich, fully voiced (b] evoiced [5] 5, She was pleased. fully voiced (2) dewoiced [2] 6. He could take t. fully voiced (4) devoiced (4) 7. Side effect fuily voiced [0] Aevoiced [4] 8 Dont judge Tom. fully voiced fds} —_devoiced (3) 9. Job security fully voiced [b] devoiced {of 10. His brother fully voiced 2} devoiced [2] @ Exercise 2 Look the transcriptions ofthe fllowing words Sometimes they end wich fully voeed sound and other tmes with a devoiced sound, Tick the word that riggers the voc condition before listening to the phrases. For example, since the final sound of add is devoiced ({aeq)) the folowing word rust start with a weiceless sound, as in some. In tase you have doubts ahou which sounds are acid and which ones are voiceless, you can chece the chart at the beginning ofthe book, Then listen tothe productions ofthe speaker and cheek your answers Example add fed) more ¥ some 1. loud laud} noise shout 2. Hes {hig} good nll 3. Hove far ay) John Paul 4 bad (beed} look cemper 5. grade [grerd] 4 c 6. have thaey] fone wo 7. Jane's [ogeine]_ book pen 8 fog fog) drops patches rub [rab] yourhands Tom's hands 20. Clive Marv Johnson Smith Chapter words companyStress Ww ao Lu e oO 4 < UO b bias iectvbvsesssssssesssbseceedePRR cE Mtl Common mistake @ — comtfor konto] dictionary —_[aikjolnari Cantterbury — [kaniterburl] Expected pronunciation © *comfor: karat] dictionary (WtKJoneri *Canterbury — (keentabri] Description Both English and Spanish have stressed and unstressed syllables. Stressed sflables are characterised by being more prominent and salient chan the tnstressed ones. Thus, for cexanple, it Spanish ete firs syllable of the word “Pedro ts stressed, whereas che (as one is unstressed, The same stress distribution is observed in the English word *Peter. In this, book stressed syllables will be marked with an asterisk () in the spelling and with the symbol (in the cranserition Just as native speakers of @ given language know how to pronounce the vowels ancl ‘consonants that make up a word, they also know is stress distribution. Thus, an English speaker kriows that the English words "comfort, ‘dictionary and *Canterbury are stressed ‘on the frst splable. A common mistake for Spanish speakers is «o apply ce stress distribution of Spanish words to the English ones, especially in those cases where the two words are similar. As a result ofthis, Spanish speakers tend co stress the previous words according to thei language, nately, comfort, dctio*nary or Can*terbury. Once smote che result(s a very scong foreign accent effect, When fearing a new language. 1 is very important for students o pay attention 19 how words ae pronounced not only in terms of vowels and consonants but also in terms of stressed and unstressed syllables There are two important differences between English and Spanish stress’ (3) the svess distribution and (2) ihe effets of steess on vowel quality English has a wider stress distribution than Spanish, tn Spanish, words can be stressed on the final, penultimate and antepenultimae syllables, whereas in English they can also be stressed on the syllable preceding the antepenultimate one, An example of the dliflecent s:tess disteibuxion is provided in the following page for che wo languages. 136 rexcnyounsets vast eoMUNcTION Suressed sl Spanish English Final Ratmen, batlloon Penultimace *Pedvo *Pever Ancepenultimace *Monica "Melanie Pre-antepenultimate decorator Thereisone context in which Spanish wordscanalso be stressed on the pre-antepenultimate syilable, namely, when pronouns ate atached to an imperative verb, such as pasamels or subeelo. These cases, however, ae in che minority The second and most important aspect concerning English sess isthe effect as on the qualiy of vowels, that is, unstressed syllables are usually produced with a weak, vowel, camely, fa}, [i and (ul. The wowels [i] and (Uf can be both strong and weal, For example, inthe word biscuit fbiskr] te firsts strong and the second one weak. Thus, English unstressed syllables usually concain one of these vowels ((}, [i], [ul. {1} and [u)) For more details on weak vowels, se ups 6, 7 and 46. Sometimes sttong vowels cat also appear in unstressed sylabies. Tas is Wlastated in the following examples, where unstressed sylables contain a strong vowel, namely, f9u] and for] respectively. However, te majority of English unstressed syllables are produced witha weak vowel B wrmorow *clavichord. {colmorao} (eovikard Since vowel weakening is not common in Spanish, itis importsnt for Spanish speakers ro _pay spectal attention to this phenomenn in order to improve their English pronunciation, The following words have the same stress distribution in English and in Spanish. Whereas Spanish maintains a strong vowel quality in stressed and unstressed syllables, English produces most unstressed syllables with a weak vowel. Listen ro the following English and Spanish words looking a differences im vowel quality ° Sponish English *Nowingharn [notingam) {[notigam] *Manchester [mantfester] (meenttista} Satmantha (salmanna] {salmaenda] sala {salsa} [(serisal Now listen tothe following English words which ate similar to Spanish words but which éifer in their stress distribution. Note that except for a few words (mainly thase with a French origin) most of the words have a weak vowel inthe unstressed syllables Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. caper Se| Final stress Penultimate sess utnique ‘salmon. 'seemen} retgime con*nector —_[kalnekta] evbe region frisdsan] tech*nique —_tekrick] protduction — [pralakjen] Antepenultimate stress Pre-antepenultimate sess sHilena [helena] sresumony —(testumeni samateur—_faemata] sarbirary — facbatroi) general (dgenaral) sprivileges — (pervaidsz] scircular——[skjue intoxicated inltoksikertd] Ear training @ Exercise 1 The following 1wo-syllable words have the same spelling in English and in Spanish Listen to the English pronunciation and state whether the stressed syllable isthe same or is different in the wo languages. Tick your answer, Example "etal same ~ siffrer 1. doctor same different 2. melon same different 3. divan same diferent 4. metal same different 5. meno same different 6. sola some different 7 logo same different 8. Paris same different ) 9. factor same different 10, baron some aitferest Transcription practice: Listen to the words again and eranscribe the speakers bronunciaion wih the stress matk Pay special tention ta weak vowels Eample “oul (tov PCS SSS SSS SST OS ee SS Se OOS SHH ETE 8 TT pe @ Exercise 2 Listen to the following English words and mark the stressed syllable with an asterisk [Note that some of the words are similar to Spanish words but the stress distribution is different. Syllable division is indicated, Example: *princip-al inrep-aa-ble flexible in-struct L 2 3 4 5 6 industry 1 compare 8. nowadays 9. probsa-ble 10. novelist LL canni-bal 12. com-pro-mise 13. cartoon 14. bachelor 15. endurance 16. crima-nat 1 Apel 18, cremate 19, check-out 20. re-sponse Transcription practice: Listen 10 the words aguin and transcribe the speaker's prosunciation wis the srese mark Pey special azention to Weak vowels, Example “principal fprnsiel)ti Yea rsrouenrencusr mennoanon Ce @ Exescise 3 @ Exercise 4 Listen to the following pars of English words. For each word mark the stressed syllable Listen tothe following pars of words contatning two syllables and indicate whether they with an asterisk. Note that the stress does not always fall on the same syllable. Syllable ate stressed on the same sjlable (first or second syllable) of not. Tick your answer aivision is indicated Example: tourist touristic Exemple: protduce problem yes vno 1 magnify mageni-fi-cent: 2 eject rescue yes 10. 2. reer reference 2, endless enlarge yes 0 3. indica 3. remark. rehearse yes x0 4. respect respect 4 supper support yes no 5. com-pase composer 5. surprise surround yes no 6 compete competence 6. condense conclude yes no 7, re-quire requisite 1 almost along, yes no 8. residue re-sid-ual 8 concern concert yes v0 9. syn-o-nym sy-non-y-mous 9 rejoice review yes 0 10, com-mis-sion comemis-sa-ty 10. abbey obey yes 0 Transcription practice: Listen to the words agtin and acanscribe the speaker's pronunciauon wid che stress mark Pay special aentin to weak waves Example ssourist Transcription practice: Listen to the words again and transcribe the speaker's pronuneiation with the stress matk, Pay special ttention ro weak vowels, (sonst) touetsne ualstk] Example prosducepraldjss) ‘problem —[prasiam|é & BE AWARE 16: Syllable division: Vowels ‘When Spanish speakers consulta dictionary to obtain the syllable division ofa word such as mother they might find a rather unexpected segmentation: moth-er: This so because English and Spanish follow different rules as far as spllable-diision is) concerned. The main tendency for Spanish speakers is to divide syllables im terms oF. ‘consonant-vowel sequences, such as ma-no. Two consonants can precede: fol the vowel, such as cf-go or texto [teks-to]. In English, on the othet hand, syllable division works rather differently. One of the main differences has t do with the = behaviour of certain vowels. Whezeas in Spanish all vowels can appear in sylable final positon, in Enghsh fe, (o, [ze] and [4] hardly ever occur at the ene “This, the syllables including one of these vowels must end with a examples are included below. pecal {pet-al level flev-all honest fontst] bother 1108-3] madam ('meed-am] gov-el oreev- af] mother [mab colour thal In English, spoken sylables do not always coincide with writen syllables, especially in words containing double leners. When a word with a double letter is split across tseo lines of writing, the double letter is separated. This is illustrated below. The pronunciation, however, has only one sound lester fetal belly {eli} dob-by bobs. BrOREY fgrog-) hap-py {theep-i] ‘Sal-ly ['seel- fun-ny (tan-i} mummy fami] \ Tip 39. Double and multiple stressed wards | i Common mistake © phototgraphic {fotolgrafix} orgenitzation {ofgani'seifon} iresponsitbility {ieesponsotbiti} Expected pronunciation @ ——*photorgraphic LYoutalgreetk) organi*zation [o:genat'zexfon] *irretsponsi*bility Lin;sponstbilati) Description 1m Spanish, each word has one stressed syllable, as in fotografi, organizn*cién or irresponsabilitdad. In English, on the other hand, some words (especially long words) ray have more than one stressed syllable. Thus, the English words ‘photographic and “organi*zation have (wo stresses and virresponst*ilty has three Injong words with more than one stress, the last stress s calle primary or main stress and itis characterised by being more prominent than the Previous stresses. In transcription, 4 primary stress is marked with che dacritc (atthe beginning ofthe stressed syllable Pre-primary stresses (usually known as secondary stresses) are less prominent than the primary one and are marked with the diacritic [Jat the beginning of the sressed sylable English words containing more tharvone stress can be double-stressed (with two sitesses) ‘or multiple-stressed (with three stresse) “The most common mistake for Spanish speakers isto produce English double or muleiple stressed words with one single stress resulting in @ rather strong foreign accent. tt i, thetefore, important for Spanish speakers to pay special stention 0 the stress patterns of long words ‘Chapmer 5: Suess:Listen to the following Words containing two or thiee stresses. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciaciot. Two smesses Three stresses sunder*stand *mistrepretsent iiand'steend? {mmisyepn'zent] paradoxical ‘discon*tinutation [paeraldoksikel] {atskan tinjterfon] *incroduce ‘incompatibility {antraidjuss} [unker peetibsati| “inter*conti*nental | cele? mental | ehment Lintekonténent!] [Note thatthe pronunciation of pre-primary stresses is Sometimes related tothe presence of ptefixes and suffixes. When a prefix is added to 2 word, the prefix normally beecs ¢ pre-primary stess, as illustrated below. Listen to the following words. Repeat and imitate | the speakers pronuneiation | agree tear] saisatyree Lats efective —_fektrv) sinef*fective ——[anfektrv} detcided [dr'saicid) tunde*cided [andi'sardid) | catpacty ——[kolpaesati) *aisca" pacity (diskelpaesat] When a suffix is added to a word, the main stress of che original word becomes pte |) rary, as tn the following examples. Usten to the words. Repeat and irate the | speaker's pronunciation | @ original —_folndnay otrigitalty — (ayadgineelti \' occupy _okjupat] soccutpation —[ok)u!perfen) \ *sicenate {sctfuert] situation [sni{ju'exfen} E M5 TeCrCURL His ROMNOITIN Ear training @ Exercise 1 ‘The following English words are double or multiple-stressed. Listen to them and mark the stressed sy{lables with an asterisk. Syllable division is indicated. Example as-'so-ci-taction fun-da-men-tal referee eivelezaction furthermore 1 2 3 4 5. Japanese 6 undesira-bility 7 magazine 8 afternoon 9. com-posi-tion 10. pubsli-ca-tion 1 seventeen 12. corre-spond-ent 13, tertito-real 14 contradiction 15. pre-sen-ta-tion 16, inccom-pre-hen-sibility 17 generosity 18. misin-terpre-a-tion 19 ietegurlariay 20. pobisi-cian Transcription practice: Listen co the words again and wanscribe the speaker’ renunciation wh the sess aks Remember hat primar stress w marked wt fF] Seat preprmary esses wth] tthe Begining of he sessed ylables Exarple: ssteoctation {fasaustedn]ar 1 @ Exercise 2 a STR ess in ni The following English words (let column) are single-stressed as indicated with the CUE Roy asterisk. However, when a pref or suffi is added tothe word (right column) they become double or muliple-sressed. Predict the location of the primary and pre~ primary stresses in the words ofthe right column, Mark the stessed silabls with an Common mistake ctr Syllable division is indicated. The, listen to the speaker’ prorunctation and © rsuspecrits*him — ailsospek is im] check your answers. “John’s the *suspect fljon is de 'saspek] Example: *monument smopeu-tmen-tal he Expected pronunciation cotherent in-co-herent : : @ —_Lsutspectats “him [ar salgpekt ts hum} ser Spee Johnisthe “suspect dgone Ba 'saspekt] airreesion ris-diseccton orbey disobey Description “graphic rmon-o-geaphie Im English there are a few words, made up of two syllables, whose grammatical category curious custiosity (verb or noun/adjective)is distinguished by the location ofthe stress. I the stress falls on the last syllable, the word isa verb. Ififatis on the first syllable, isa noun oran adjective. nsoaily mod-fi-ca-tion Thus, for example, to suspect i a verb and “uspect isa noun. A common mistake for + probable prob-a-bility Spanish speakers is to produce the two words with the same stress distribution which advantage dis-ad-van-tage usual ts placing the stress on the first syllable no matter whether itis verb or 2 Listen tothe following pairs of words whose grammatical category varies according tothe location ofthe stress. Nore that stress differences also trigger vocalic differences. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation SOOO SOT HST HRT OOOO NOTH OT TTOe ovens NounsiAdecives obtject object fab'dgekt} [obdgekt) Transcription practice: Listen fo the words again and teanscrbe the speakers 4 present spresen onuneiotion. Mark primary (1) an pre-primary stresses. pronunciation, Mati primary ((D and prespeimary sreses Ipefzent] lrzot) Eyomple “morument [imeakimant] — tmonu"mental_(-nenjubmental rebel rebel Iriel) {reball z esteort “escort a filskoxt) [lesko:t] protject project - {prastsokt} {prodgekt] pe ee tet eat or “chapuar 5: Suess.Ear training Eartraiming @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following words which are produced twice, as a verb (with final stress) and fas a noun or adjective (with initial stress). Indicate in which order the speaker produces the two grammatical categories. Write 1 for the first grammatical category you hear and 2 forthe secon, Example: transport noup/adjective 1. subject verb noupladjeceive 2 record verb noun/adjective 3. survey verb nounladjecnive 4. progress ver noundadjective 5. refuse verb nounladjective 6. frequent verb ounvadecive 7. contract vert noundadjective 8 protest ver noun/adjecrive 9 imsulk verbs noun/adjective 10, contrast verb nounvadjective “TEAC YOURSELF ENGUSH PRONUNCIATION Transcription practice: Lsen te the words again and transcribe the speakers ‘pronunciation withthe seas mate Pay special tention co the changes inthe ses disinbacion ana im he quality of the vowels applicable Beample transport (rs) taonstpot oo) Utraenspo BE AWARE 17: Syllable division: Prefixes and suffixes Another important aspect that Spanish speakers should bear in mind if they divide English words into syllables is that, in English, morpheme boundaries, such as in, dis, -ed, er, -ngcanmot be split. For example, whereas in Spanish the word inexperto is divided as [/-reks-peF-to, that is, with a division ofthe prefixin-, in English this isnot possible and the prefix remains in one syllable, [un-eks-pait Some examples of syllable division in English words conaining prefixes or suixes (including verb endings, comparative/supertative forms and plurals) are provided belaw. Prefixes unable {pner-bal] read-ing iwactive ——(andeokt-ry] foolist disagree [dhs fast-er disarm [dts4arm} sail-or misinterpret [mis-n! bushes sub-ecit ——(sabJedeat} loaded tape 5 SesEPC ce 88 ttt eee SEES STO HCC COOH OESTRONE Seu Deeps Common mistake @ © Wea geen thouse Wa *greenthouse (vith three bedrooms and two bathrooms) (full of plants and vegetables) Expected pronunciation @ Its "green *house (with three bedrooms and two bathrooms) esa ‘greenhouse (ull of plants and vegetables) Description 1 English when two words ae strung cogether they can make up a phrase ora compound From a semantic point of view, « phrase reflects the meaning of the two words, For example, a green house is a house which has been painted green (una casa verde). The meaning of a compound, on the other hand, is usually independent from its constituents ‘Thus, a greenhouse isa glass building used for growing plants (un invernadero). 4s far as the pronunciation is concerned, compounds and phrases can be distinguished by the location ofthe stress. A phrase has two stresses, 9 primary one on the [ast word and.a pre-primary one on the first word, asin *green thouse Larsn haus]. A compound, con the other hand, tends 10 receive only one (primary) stress on the first element, as in “greenhouse [grinhaus} ‘The most common mistake for Spanish speakers is to produce both types of word sequences 25 if they were phrases, that i, with two stresses In some cases, this can lead to misunderstandings. Fr example, ifa Spanish speaker wants to say tengoun invernadero and says ve gota "green *house, the English speaker will understand chat he has 2 house painted green Sometimes the spelling can help to decide whether a given word sequence isa phrase oF a ‘compound. Phrases usually contain two separate words. Compounds, on the other hand can be written in different ways, that is, as one word (blackbird), as ewo words separated by ahyphen (head:-hunter) oF as two words separated by a space (the White Hous). In cis last case there is no indication 10 the student of English that the two words should be treated as a compound TS2 TEACH YOURSELF ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION The following combinations of words can be either a phrase or a compound depending on the location of the main stress. Listen co these sequences. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. ° Phrases Compounds black *bird (para negro} blackbird (ro) [bleek bad} {bleekbo:d] head *hunter (Cazador principal) “headhunter (azaejecutivos) {ped thant} {hed hanta} a twhite *house (una casa blanca) the *White House (a Casa Blanca) [0 wart ‘haus] 100 Wart haus} ‘yellow shammer (martillo amar) syellowhammer —— Gerderan,pajara) [jeleu haem} {jeteuhzema] high *school (escuela ata) high schoo! stu) [hat'skusl (thar sku “blue “bell (ampanc azul) ‘bluebell Sacto) [btu bell (Pblurbely “English “teacher (profesor ingles) *English teacher (profesor de ingles) {analy fo] tingit tifa} Even though the general rule sto stress the first element of a compound word, there ate several exceptions and many English compounds can have two stresses (pee-primary and primary) as in phrases Sore of che cases with double stress ae listed below. Repeat and Innate the speaker's pronunciation. ° 1, Names of people E*hizabeth "Taylor “Jane "Austen “Williane "Shakespeare [nhzebe6 'texta) [dsein ‘ostin] Laljom feukspre} chapters Sess SSNames of places (except those ending in street) oxford *Road {oksfod ‘roud) Paddington *Station (pardinton 'stexfan} Russell Square [sal skwea] *Oxford Street (lokstad strist] [Names of institutions (including hotels and restaurants). ‘Buckingham "Palace [bakinam 'pzelas} *King’ *College (han koled che “Savoy Hotel {88 soyor hav'tel} Compounds in which the firs element is an ingredient (except those ending in juice and cake) ‘ham “sandwich, apple *pie mushroom “soup [neem !seenwids} {22pal pa] [majrum ‘susp orange juice chocolate cake [onnds duis) (oklak kesk} Compounds in which the fist element indicates the time (excepe those ending in time) ssummer "poliday [same tholader) Easter “Sunday iste sander] svicter “sports [wante ‘sposts} summertime ['sametarm| Compounds functioning as adverbs *Soulh-tWest (sav8 west} *down*staits (daur'steoz] > uptfront Lap tant} ‘TEACH YOURSELF ENGLSH PRONUNCIATION @ Exercise 1 Listen to the following combinations of words which are produced as a phrase (with 1wo stresses) anid as a compound (with stress on the fist word). Indicate ier wiich order the speaker produces the twa sequences, The translation is provided in order to clarify the ‘wo meanings. Write 1 forthe first combination of words you hear and 2 forthe second. Example 2 bigtwig bag vag) (pita grande) bigwig ——oigvag] pez gordo) 1. “black *board [leek borg) (tabla negra ‘blackboard ——_[blaekboid (rear) 2 ‘sweet "seller [swit!selo] Gvendedor amet) *sweetselier ——(/swistsela] (vendedor de caramelos) 3. Mall "boy {tot bor} (chico ato) stallboy {reaoaet «comodad 4 tblack “leg [blank leg] (ierna negra) *blackleg (bisekieg} fesquirod 3. rad “house [meed ‘have (casa loa) smadhouse —_(Imzedhaus} Armanicomiy 5 “low "brow {feu 'brau} (rene baa) ‘towbeow tNevbrau] (aco culo) 7 tareen ly Corin fan} (rosea verde) sgreently (arena «pulgond 8 “black horn sespine negra Volackehorn fendrino) 9. ‘eross words [ros Wwa:d2] (palabras enfadadas) “erosswords —_froswardz} (rucigromas) 10. “blue “print [lus tprnt} (nar azul Yotueprint ——_(blusprant| (anteproyecay crete Seeeer eer reso eee eee eee ee ess ee ewe efe’ merece @ Exercise 2 “The following pairs of compounds have a different stress distribution, that is, one of them issingle stressed (with astzesson the lirst element) and the other one is doule-sressed {with one stress on each element ofthe compound), For each pai, decide whieh compound is single-stressed and which one is double-stressed, Mark the stressed syllables with ant asterisk, Then listen to the words and check your answers Example "Camden “Rese (name ofa place) “Camden Street (the second element is street) 1 igh Coure high road Christmas Eve Christmas time 3. tomato juice tomato salad 4 mille tooth milk pudding 5 daisy chain Daisy Smith 6 Barbiean Centre sports centre Transcription practice: Listen 10 the words again and inenscribe the speakers pronuncinion wi he seas marks. Remember that primary stress is matked with and pre-primary stress with {] athe beginning of the stressed syllables Example *sComden "Road, {kaemden 903} "Camden Sree, [eaemdon sti} BR fcancere shemale oon CHAPTER 6 Rhythm and weak formseau uc Common mistake @ “Jonathan will a¢rrive tot morrow after*noon fionatan wil afaif tumofo — after'nun) Expected pronunciation @ “Jonathan wil trrive to*morrow ater*noon (idona8on wal alrary talmorauarftalnu:n) Description ‘One ofthe main differences between Spanish and English pronunciation isthe production of chythm. Rhythm can be deseribed as the periodic tepetition ofan event, Spanish and English diller in the eype of event that is periodically cepeated. Whereas it Spacish th events that occu at approximately equal imervals are the sylables, in English they are the stress Spanish chythm, known as syilable-timed rhythm, is characterised by producing syllables at more or less regular intervals, Thus, in Spanish the duration of each syllable is faitly Similar, no matter whether che syllable is stressed or unstressed. For example, the following Spanish sentence consists ofa series of stressed syllables (marked wich *) and “unstressed sylables (with no mark). The number of unstressed sjllabes between sizesses is indicated by the numbers below. Despite differences in thett stress condition, syllables tend to be produced at siailar time periods. Tus all the syllables ofthe sentence ate of similar length @ ‘omaha legatra matfana por la “arde 4 L 3 English rhyghm, on the other hand, is knowe as stresctmad chyitny, while wean eae stresses occur at approximately equal intervals. This means that the duration beoween. stressed syllables tends co be approximately the same, irrespective of the number of intervenitig unstressed syllables. For example, in the (ollowing English sentence the same aciucit of ce Is expected Between stresses event though the number of intermediate syllables varies from stress to stress (#13). The tendency in English to keep the samme lamaunt of time between stresses has an eflect on the duration ofthe syllables and on che quality of some vowels, The higher the number of unstressed syllables between stresses the mote quickly they wil have to be produced (see Tip 45) In order to produce syllables more quickly, vowels in unstressed syllables are frequently weakened (see Tip 46), 158 rACOURSHENCUEHOROWUNATION @ “Jonathan will a*rive tomorrow afte-*noon + 1 3 ‘The two types of rhythmic patterns found in Spanish and ic Englis obviously lead &o significant pronunciation problems when speakers of any of the two languages speak the other language. Let us first listen to the previous Spanish sentence produced by @” English speaker “Jonathan Hegatré mataana por la tarde {ldsoneten ljogata: manjaina po: le ta:de} Apart from the expected vowel and consonane differences, the speaker tries to maincain 4 suress-timed rhythmic pattern while pronouncing the Spanish sentence. As a result of this, the speaker reduces the duration ofthe unstressed syllables and changes the quality of the unstressed vowels, The resulting pronunciation is bizarre for Spanish speakers since we expecta similar duration for all syllables and no alteration of the vowel quality Just as this pronunciation sounds very unnatural to @ native Spanish speaker, Spanish speakers sound rather odd when they speak English with a sylable-timed rhythm. 1 we Tien again che pronunciation of che senvence “Jonathan willa*rrive ("morrow afer“noon bby a Spanish speaker presented at the begining of this ip, we can now understand that part of the strong foreign accent derives [rom the similar duration with which syllables are produced and che lack of weak vowels in the unstressed syllables, Ic is, therefore, cructal that Spanish speakers pay special attention to rhyehm ifthey want to sound more natural when they speak English ‘A good way to start the study of English rhythm is through songs and nursery rhymes Ichas been observed thar people that have @ very strong foreign atvent in spontaneous speech have a fess strong accent when they sing oF even recite. Ths is so because the hythmie patterns ofthe Song and the verse help the student to sound more natural, “The following songs an excellent example of how English rhychm works since it contains stressed syllables which are separated by different numbers of intervening unstressed. syllables, a indicated by the numbers below. In otder to be aware of the thythmie pattern of the song, we recommend the students to star clapping their hands with periodic ebythm belore singing. Then they can start singing the song according tthe tempo chey are using. They should realize chat in order to keep the same rhythm throughout the song, in cases where more unstressed syllables are produced between stresses (as in meri the syllables should be produced more quickly. Listen tothe Song, Repeat and iia speaker's promucetacion © FRow, “row, *row your *hoat o 0 1 *Gently *down the *stream. (+ one beat for breathing) L 1 Cup to ac we as: : . : Bereserseresvsece Merrily, "merrily, tmernly, *mersily 2 2 2 2 ‘Life is *but a “dream, ron Once we know how o sing the song and especially how to accommodate syllables within the rhychmic patterns, then we can try 1 recite the song (with no music) but still, _keepingthe same iempo. Thisis the next step cowards maving from songsto spontaneous speech, Let us now listen to it. Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation @ —FRow, trow, *row your *boat “Gently “down the *siream “Merrily, tmerrily, “merrily, *merrily *Life is tbura "dream Finally, students can try to apply the rhythmic pattern of the song to real speech, that i, to inverted sentences that have the same stress distribution as that ofthe song, This is a very good way to understand how English rhythm works and to realize how unstressed sles shrink between stresses, Listen 10 the following example comparing the :ong with an invented text. Note that the number of syllables between stresses is exactly the same inthe song and in the text, Repeat and imitate the speaker's pronunciation. @ ——*Row, “row, *row your "boat *Genily "down the "stream, ‘John, *Pam, *Mike and ‘James Went to "take the train, Merrily, *merrily, Smerrily, merrily Lifes but a dream singing and “dancing and ‘laughing so *loudly that *People "turned a*way. Now listen to the invented text alone, Repeat and imecace rhe speaker's pronunciation. © “John, *Pam, "Mike and *James Went to "take the *train, “Singing and "dancing and “laughing s0 “loudly zhat *People ‘earned a*way, @ Exercise t Listen to the following English songs and nursery rhymes. Mack the stressed syllables with an asterisk, Once you have matked the thythmie pattern of ee song, sing t while clapping your hands so as to Keep the tempo. Then, recite it without music but sil keeping the same tempo. Example: “Hey didadle “diddle, The *cat and the “fiddle, The "cow jumped ‘over the *moon, The “litle dog “laughed to “see such “sport, And the “dish run a*way with the "spoon, 2. How much is that doggy in the window? The one with the waggily tll How much is that doggy in the window? J do hope that dogey’s forsale 2 Little Miss Muffet sat on a nufle, Eating her curds and whey, long came a spider ‘Who sat down beside her And frightened Miss Mulfet away, 3. Mampry Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpey had a great fal. All the king’s horses And all the king’ men Couldnt: put Humpty together again! 4 Twinkle, owinkle, lle star How J wonder where you are Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky ‘Twinkle, owinkle, Jule star How I wonder where you are.@ Exercise 2 Listen to the following sentences and mark the sressed sylables with an asterisk Example: “John should have *told me You shouldst have bought a yellow phone Sally's forgotien to pass it to Jon Fred and Ron ate caking the bus. 1 ahane you for picking me up. Some ofthe students ae wearing a sult Mel enjoyed the pudding with cream. Your sister will oin us. ‘You must come co che party and dance, @ Exercise 3 ach of the previous senences shaces the same rhythmic pattern with one afthe sentences in the songs Hey diddle diddle and Humpty Dumpty from Exercise 1. Match the sentences that have che same thythmic structure, Ther listen to the spealzer producing the two Sentences with the sate rhythmic structure. Alter each peis of sentences, repear and mite che speaker's pronunciation, Example, *Hey dial *diddle ‘John should have "old me. 1. The *eat and the *fiddle ‘The “cow jumped “over the * moon, 3. The “isle dog “laughed to *5e such sport, 4 And the “dish run atway with the *spoon 5, *Humpay *Dumpey sa ona “wal 6. *Humpry *Dumpry *had a great *all ‘All ahe king's horses and *all che king’ "moe 8 *Coulde't put “Humpty cotgether again! Tex _THACHOURSELF ENGLISH paonncATON © Exercise 4 Listen tothe following sentences and mark te sresses with an asterisk. Note that each sentence contains four stresses which are separated iy a different number of intervening unstressed syllables. Then reproduce the servences imitating the pronureiation ofthe speak Example When ¢Molly arrived, her "friends had ‘lef My mother will goto the cinema on Sunday. Susan has bought a few apples and some grapes I dont like strawberries but L love bananas. Ifyou take the bus, you'l arrive late He was born in Birmingham but is living in London. ‘What shall do after watering the flowers? He teaches linguistics at University College I've been to Manhattan with Mary and her sister. Melanie adores visting her friends 10. Why didnt you ask your father about the books? BE AWARE 18: Existential expressions (there + “to be”) 111s often dificult for Spanish speakers to pronounce expressions such as there and there's since, asis mentioned on several occasions throughout the book, Spanish speakers aim at producing all the sounds. Itis very important to note that existential ‘expressions are usually produced in their weak form which involves no stress and the presence of a schora (fa). This is illustrated in the following examples. The production of existential expressions in their weak form can be of great help to ‘Spanish speakers to improve thelz English pronunciation Theres [62] @ There's rabbit There're (ere) ‘There was [80 waz] There were (88. wo] There'll {0al) There'd (oa) [02 9 reebr] There cwo cabbies. (Sar ‘ws raebrts} There wasa rabbit. [60 wor 0 reer} There were wo rabbis. [Bowe ux: Yeebns} There'll be arabbit. [Bol bio reebr] ‘There'd be a rabbit. [6ed bi a 'reebrt} Chapter shen andes ams