ACTIVITIES AND EXAMPLES FOR THE THEORY CLASS (LCO)

(1) Voicing. Listen to the following examples:

i) “On the very red carpet. Live on the air.” (heard from E!)
ii) “Teachers use authentic texts to teach from.”  (87. Kelly)

(2) Place or Point of Articulation. Do the following exercises:

a) Read the following examples and guess which sounds are being produced:

The price for the imperial palace was expensive. The bag with the money was brought by a bold beggar who
made his magnificent entrance on a mysterious mule and many Mongolian monkeys.

 The sounds produced in this area are / /, / / and / /. The place of articulation for these sounds is
...................................................... Other authors called them ............................................. sounds.

b) Read the following rhyme and guess which sounds are being produced:
A Flea and a Fly Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
A flea and a fly Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
Flew up in a flue. So they flew through a flap in the flue.

Vera invited some friends and when they arrived they gave her some videos which were very violent.

 The articulators used are ......................................................... and .....................................................

The resulting sounds are / / and / /, and their place of articulation is called
.......................................................

c) Write down the missing words which are dictated and guess which sounds are being produced:

Ethan was ……………………………… about many ………………… he thought he needed in his ……………...
His father and ………………. took him to the mall, where he also bought some smooth …………………
clothes for his …………………….. brothers.

 The point of articulation of the sounds / / and / /, produced in this area is

……………………………..

a) Complete the missing elements in the following bingo and guess which sounds are being produced with a
frequent repetition:

Visited the That

had In dreary
nine In the Nottingham
From severe While Sussex.
A busy In agency.
The Very

Ricardo Javier Palma – Consonant sounds – English Phonetics and Phonology I 1

  The sounds produced in this area are / /, / /, / /, / /, / / and / /. All of these sounds are
said to have an ………………………………. point of articulation.

e) Complete the missing letter(s) which represents the following sounds to be learned:

 Are you ….ure …….eila …..owed ……..eer plea…..ure in watching televi…..ion as a lei…..ure activity?
 …….y ……elly says ……e ……all sew ……eets ……ortly. Was that a mira…… or ca……ual vi……ion?
 ……olly ……uggling ……esters ……auntily ……uggled ……ingling ……acks.
 A ri…… ……inese mer……ant pur……ased eye-cat……ing pic……ures from the ……ief.
 ..…obert .…ented a ……adio and then ……ang ……ita fo… a ….omantic date with .…ed wine and
……ed ……oses.

 The sounds produced are / / and / /. Taking into account the part of the mouth involved we call
these sounds ……………………...
 The last sound produced is / /. For some authors, this sounds shares the ……………………..
articulation. For others, they are considered ………………………...

f) Read the following example and guess which sounds are being produced:

If you’re young, value your youth and use your time in useful occupations.

 The resulting sound is / /. The point of articulation of this sound is ………………………...

g) Discover the jumbled advertisements and guess which sounds are being produced:

KENT WEDDING LONG HANGING OUT COMPANY GLASSES!

FORGOTTEN,
WONDERFUL CARTER, THE SWELL DURING AUNT
GREATEST SPRING WENDY’S
GIFT EVENINGS.
GIVE SONGS CAKES, CARD BIGGERT
RAVING
DRINKS.
SINGING YOUR CREDIT SHE CAN GET. SANDWICHES, CONSULTANT.
GRANNY

 The sounds produced are / /, / /, / /, and / /. These are the last sounds which are still
observable and they are called ………………… sounds.

h) Choose the correct option in the following news report and guess which sounds are being produced:

Hunter (HALL/MALL) was hitch-hiking when he (HID/HIT) upon one (THOUSAND/HUNDRED) pounds
in a heavy (HAT/HUT) beside the highway. Apparently, it was hidden behind a (HAWK/HORSE) fence and
had been placed there by a lucky (HARE/HAIR) hunter who had high (ROPES/HOPES) that it would not be
found.

 The recurrent sound is / / and the point of articulation is ……………………………

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 (3) Manner of Articulation. Do the following exercises:

i) Consider the following text: Write the missing letters above each gap. 
A: I’ve / /een / /ol/ / you migh/ / have a vacan/ / room.
B: Yes, I’ve go/ / a s/ /are sin/ /le.
A: Wha/ / are your / /erms?
B: Thir/ /y seven / /oun/ /s for / /e/ / an/ / / /rea/ /fas/ /.
A: / /oul/ / I have a loo/ / a/ / the room, / /lease?
B: I/ /’s a bi/ / aw/ /war/ / jus/ / now. / /oul/ / you / /ome / /omorrow?

 ………………………….. Sounds:

j) Listen to the following song: 

Artist: ROBBIE WILLIAMS

Title: No Regrets

Tell me a story Mine to give away No regrets now / they only hurt
Where we all change Couldn't stay to watch me cry Sing me a love song
And we'd live our lives together You didn't have the time Drop me a line
And not enstranged So I softly slip away... Suppose it's just a point of view
But they tell me I'm doing fine
I didn't lose my mind it was No regrets / they don't work

j.1) Compare the underlined words from the song and answer the following questions:
a) Are they produced in the same way?
b) How would you describe the process by which you pronounce them?

k) Practise the following tongue twister:

…eaping …izards …ike to …ick …ove…y …emon …o…ipops for

…unch.
k.1) Compare the underlined sounds from the rhyme and answer the following questions:
a) Are they produced in the same way?
b) Where is the tongue place when you pronounce them?
c) How does the air go out of the mouth? Is plosion or friction involved?

l) Listen to the following poem and correct the underlined words:

The Ballad of Reading Gaol

By Oscar Wilde

Ricardo Javier Palma – Consonant sounds – English Phonetics and Phonology I 3

 I know not whether laws be right, The vilest deeds like poison weeds,
Or whether laws be wrong. Bloom well in prison air;
All that we know who lie in gaol, It is only what is good in man
Is that the wall is strong; That wastes and withers there;
And that each day is like a year, Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate,
A year whose days are long. And the warder is Despair.

l.1) Compare the underlined sounds from the poem and answer the following questions:
a) Are they produced in the same way?
b) Is the tongue involved in their production? How?
c) How does the air go out of the mouth? Is plosion or friction involved?

GRAPH OF CONSONANT PHONEMES

 The distributional table of the English consonant phonemes shows only …………….. empty
slots, out of a total of ………………………………….. (Initial can be found in just a few loan words,
e.g. gigolo, genre.)

m) Write the following words in their corresponding slot in the chart.

 INITIAL MEDIAL FINAL  INITIAL MEDIAL FINAL

 Pin Top  Father
 Rubber  Miss
 Boot  Zoo Choose
 Desk Word  Sure
 Come  Vision
 Guest Rug  Horse
 Richer Much  Must Some
 Charge  Nail Thin
 Tree  Hanger
 Address  Look Fall
 Fancy Affect  Red
 Voice River  Wet
 Think Faith  Yet

Dinner – Ahead – Joy – Laugh – Lady – Away – Pussy – Upper – Region – Rush– Tea
Soothe – Drive – Butter – Rib – Very – Reason – Weak – Rouge – Longer – Buy – Hammer –
Live –Beyond – Those – Extra – Again – Earthy – Ocean – Cheese – Same – Echo - Allow

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