ENGLISH PHONETICS-AN INTRODUCTION

These are the symbols for the sounds of English. The sounds are organised into the
following different groups:
Short
Short vowels

Long
Long vowels

Diphthongs (double vowel sounds)<

sounds)

Voiceless consonants

Voiced consonants

Vowel N 1 |i:|typical spellings: ee, e, ea, i, ie, ei, ey. Exceptions quay |ki:|, people |pi:pl<< |
Had I received all these keys, I could have eaten a piece of pizza and cheese with a
policeman in my suite.
| hd a rsi:vd l iz kiz | a kd (h)v itn< pis v pi:ts n tiz w p()li:smn n
ma swit |

Vowel N 2 || typical spellings: i, e, y, a, ie (Plurals). Exceptions: built |blt| , Sunday

|sndi|, business |bzns|, women |wmn|, minute |mnt|(time), sieve |sv| mischief
|!mstf|
The rich cities stand as salient symbols with their pretty private houses far from the
villages.
| rt stiz stnd z !seli^nt smblz w prti pravt hazz f fr()m
vldz |

Vowel N 3 |e| typical spellings: e, ea, a. Exceptions: says |sez |, said |sed |, bury |!beri |,
Geoffrey |!defri |, Leicester |!lest |, friend |frend |, ate |et |, again |!gen|.
Many healthy men dwell next to the Thames.
|!meni !heli men dwel neks(t) t temz |

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ENGLISH PHONETICS-AN INTRODUCTION

Vowel N 4 || typical spelling: a. Exceptions: plaid, (a cloth having a crisscross design)

|pld|, plait |plt |, reveille (a bugle call) |r!vli |, timbre |tmb |
That lad cannot miss mass.
| t ld knt ms ms |

Vowel N 5 |:| typical spellings: ar, ear, er, a, al, au. Exceptions: reservoir |!rezvw:|,
repertoire |!reptw: |, memoir |!memw: |.
March, for the sergeants heart is calm, he is dancing with his aunt.
| mt | f sdnts ht z km | hi z dns w z nt |

Vowel N 6 || typical spellings: o, a, ou, ow, au.

The don wanted to cough, to my knowledge, a sausage clogged his throat.
| dn wntd t kf | t ma !nlid ssd kld z rt |

Vowel N 7 |:| typical spellings: ar, or, ore, our, oar, oor, au(gh), a(l), aw, ou, oa, ure.
Note: sword |s:d |, worse |w:s |, worst |w:st |, word |w:d|, work |w:k |, worm |w:m |
He always ought to count to four, before slamming the door leading to his awesome
broad-leaved trees in the lawn.
| hi !:(l)w(e)z t t kant t f | bf slm d lid tu z s()m $brd !li:vd
tri:z n ln |

Vowel N 8 || typical spellings: u, oo, o, ou. Note worsted |wstd| (woolen fabric, (n),
beat thoroughly, (v). Worcester |wst|
The werewolf should not butcher that good looking woman in the woods.
| wewlf d nt bt t gd lk wmn n wdz |

Vowel N 9 |u:| typical spellings: u, oo, o, ou, ew, ue, ui, oe.
Susan is going to lose two kilos if instead of chewing food, she decides to eat soup with
that spoon and drink that blue juice.
| suzn z () t luz tu kilz | f nsted v tu fud | i dsadz tu it sup w
t spun | n(d) drk t blu: dus |

Vowel N 10 || typical spellings: u, oo, o, ou, (oe-does |dz| )

His young son cut his thumb and blood gushed forth.
| hz j sn kt z m n(d) bld t f |

Vowel N 11 |:| typical spellings: er, err, ur, urr, ir, irr, yr, yrr, w+or, ear, our. Exceptions:
colonel |k:nl<|, milieu |!mi:lj:| (the environmental condition)
The thirsty bird was perching in the myrtle, urging to scourge its worst purring foe.
| :sti bd wz pt n mtl | d t skd ts ws(t) !p:r f |

Vowel n 12 || (all vowels, always used in unstressed position)

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ENGLISH PHONETICS-AN INTRODUCTION

We know that spelling and pronunciation in English more often than not, do not coincide.
Here we are going to discuss some examples of words which are generally
mispronounced:
Bury, gout (gota, illness), custard, dour, puce (dark purplish brown), coup, forecastle
twopence, pastry, Thomas, dreary, toll, stomach, cucumber, gnaw (bite-deteriorate),
poignant (arousing effect, distressing), amateur, halfpenny, vow, chassis, aisle,
camouflage, adjourn, unbiased, athlete, cloth, mouths, whooping cough, row, hideous,
radiator, banquet, fungus, fungi, clover, canary, hyena, yolk, donkey, raspberry, pageant,
mischief, recipe, crises, Reynolds, haemorrhage, hasten, Leonard, ecstatic, sponge, shovel,
jostle, catarrh, awe, thaw, altar, pour, alter, chord, pheasant, heron, swallow, connoisseur,
masseur, mauve, devour, flour, eerie, Sarah, tear, pudding, nought, lesion, loose, yawn,
fowl, jury, smooth, mower, archives, skewer (long pin for holding meat), hierarchy,
plough, quay, rehab, Geoffrey, colonel, Worcester, courtesy, broad, yacht, memoir (and all
the French borrowings ending in oir), plait, timbre, business, lead (n), tough, island,
village, houses, psalm, pronunciation, minute (adj, n) Leicester, afraid, Polish, polish,
oven, southern, blood, certificate, clerk, Derby, Sergeant, bosom, soup, soap, gauge, gaol,
buoy, foul, owl, nephew, sign, virtuous, righteous, cello, grandeur, draught, drought,
castle, nestle, schedule, fuchsia, leisure, pleasure, rendezvous, pneumatic, mountain,
politics, Arabic, catholic, queue, bathe, separate (v, n), curiosity, inexplicable, tomato,
recommend, enthusiast, idiotic, rhetoric, anchor, anchorage, sieve, leopard, banana,
taught, antique, antic, front, nourish, Ian, beard, weigh, bough, pedagogy, climbing,
arsenic, arithmetic, ration, nation, preferable, comfortable, vegetable, doubt, debt, dumb,
psychic, architect, arch, ark, Arkansas, iron, creature, curse, course, combing, boot, foot,
muscle, choir, chorus, liar, possess, scissors, dessert, hussar, Missouri, dissolve, sign,
signature, long, longer, hang, hanger, anger, towards, tongue, sew, heart, suede, walk,
work, thwart, language, whistle, colloquial, adequate, squash, onion, yearn, senior, feud,
Zeus, adieu, eulogy, endure, diary, wreath, breath, breathe, rise, rice, wrestle, nestle,
singer, longing, period, serious, salmon, folk, knit, plumber, hoarse, adhere, heir, cushion,
moustache, rouge, censure, appreciate, genre, charade, dozen, disease, decease,
bourgeois, seizure, cause, niece, cruise, xenophobia, cough, dove, major, mayor, adjunct,
virtuous, butcher,curtsey, courteous, monk, occur, exist, exit, Anthony, pizza, reservoir,
furious, rarity, weary, scarce, fierce, tedium, paths, dough, tough, though, thought,
through, thorough, trough, rough, voyage, asylum, foyer, ballet, fete (elaborate party,
bestow honours), colour, collar, myrrh, frankincense, purse, womb, injure, bosom, pullet
(young chicken), wax, saunter, aunt, glove, reveille, faade accomplish, adult, almond,
auction, bouquet, caviar, covert, create, data, debris, debut, depot, equation, fianc, hero,
jury, licorice, luxurious, mayonnaise, soot, syrup, vehicle, via, youths, zebra, synod, awry
(turned, twisted, not working well), Southwark, Gloucester, Harwich, glove, focus, foci,
foliage, euthanasia.
The list can go on and on, its point is merely to remind us that if in doubt we should
always consult a dictionary.

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ENGLISH PHONETICS-AN INTRODUCTION

|wi n t spel n(d) prnnsien n l | mr fn n nt d nt knsad | h

wi () t dsks sm zmplz v wdz wt denrli msprnanst |
!beri | gt | !kstd | d-(d) | pjus (dk ppl bran) | ku | fksl< |tpns |
pestri | tms | drri | tl | stmk | kjukmb | n | pnjnt | mt | hepni |
va | si | al | kmfl | dn | nba()st | lit | kl | maz | hup kf |
ra (r) | hdi^s | rediet | bkwt | fs | fgi: (fga) | klv | kneri |
hain | jk | dki | rzb()ri | pd()nt | mstf | respi | krasiz | renldz |
hemrd | hesn | lend | eksttk | spnd | vl | dsl | kt | | | lt | p
| lt | kd | feznt | hern | swl | kns | ms | mv | dva() | fla() |
ri | ser | t (t) | pd | nt | !li:n | lu:s |j:n | fl | !dri | smu: |m() |
!:kavz | skju(:) !ha()r:ki |pl |ki | !ri:hb| !defri | !knl | !wst | !ktsi | brd |
jt | !memw | [nd l frent br()z end n (oir)] | plt | !tmb | bzns | led
(noun) | tf |!alnd | !vld | !hazz | sm | pr$nnsi!en | ma!njut (adj-n) !lest |
!fred | !pl | !pl | !vn | !s()n | bld | s!tfkt | klk | !dbi | !sd()nt |
!bz()m | sup | sp | ed | del | b | fal | al | !nevju | san | !vtu^s | !rats |
!tel | !rnd | drft | drat | ksl | nesl | !edjul | !fju | !le | !ple | !rndvu |
nju!mtk | !mantn | !pltks | !rbk | !klk | kju | be | !seprt (n) | $kjri!sti
| nks!plkbl | t!mt | $rek!mend | n!juzist | di!tk | !retrk | !k |
!krd | sv | !lepd | b!nn | tt | n!tik | !ntk | frnt | !nr | n | bd | we |
ba | !pedgdi | !klam | !:snk | !rmtk |rn | nen | prefrbl | kmftbl |
vedtbl | dat | det | dm | sakk | ktekt | t | k | !kns | a()n | krit |
ks | ks | km | but | ft | msl | kwa() | krs | la() | pzes | szz | dzt
| hz | mzri | dzlv | san | snt | l | l | h | h | | twdz
| t | s | ht | swed | wk | wk | wt | lwd | wsl | klkwi^l | dkwt
| skw | njn | jn | sini^ | fjud | zjus-zu:s zi(:)^s | dju | juldi | ndj |
da()ri | ri | bre | bri | raz | ras | resl | nesl | s | l | pri^d | sri^s |
smn | fk | nt | plm | hs | dh <($d!h) | e | kn | mst | ru | sen |
priiet | nr | rd | dzn | dziz | dsis | bw | si | kz | nis | kruz |
zenfbi^| kf | dv | med | me | dkt | vtu^s | bt | ktsi | kti^s |
mk | k | zst | ekst | ntni | pits | rezvw | fjri^s | rerti | wri |
skes | fs | tidi^m | pz | d | tf | | t | ru | r | trf | rf | vd |
salm | fe | ble | fet | kl | kl | m | frknsens | ps | wum | nd |
bzm | plt | wks | snt | nt | lv | rvli | f!s:d | kmpl | dlt (!dlt) |
mnd | kn | buke | kvi | kvt (adj, kv:t) | kriet | det (d:t) | debri |
debju | dep | kwen | finse | hr | dri | lkrs | lri^s |
me()nez | st | srp | vikl | va()^ (!vi(:)^)| juz | zebr (!zi:br) | !snd (!snd)
|!ra | !sk| !glst | !hrd | glv |!fks | !fsa | !fli^d |$ju:!nezi^ |
ls(t) kn () n nd n | ts pnt z mli t rmand s t f n dat | wi d
lwez knslt dknri |

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Compiled: Juan C. David