University of Bejaia First year : G3, G5, G6, G7

Module: Phonetics
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Teacher: Nacera Ouazar
Department of English
E-mail: naceraouazar@hotmail.fr

Lesson 01: Pronunciation and spelling

Both Pronunciation and spelling are important in learning any given Language. For
this reason, Learners of the English Language have to know about the relationship
between the pronunciation and spelling of the English Language to overcome their
difficulties in pronouncing some words of English Language. We know that in
English Language, the number of sounds (44 sounds) is more than the number of
Letters (26 Letters), so the 44 sounds are represented by only 26 Letters of the
English Alphabet.

This is one of the reasons the spelling of some words in English Language do not
much their pronunciation.

❖ Sounds v.s Letters

1. Same Letters, different pronunciation
In English Language we can find different sounds spelt down using the same
Letters:
Letters Words Sounds
Cough /kɒf/
Bough /baʊ/
ough
Tough /tf/
Through /ru:/
Ask /ɑ:sk/
a
Apple /æpl/

Considering the examples above, we can notice that the same Letters "ough"
stand for different sounds /ɒf/ , /aʊ/ , /f/, /u:/.The Letter "a" (2nd example)
represents different sounds which are /a:/ , /æ /. And these cases can occur with
both consonants and vowels.
2. Same pronunciation ,different Letters:
Also the opposite can occur in English language. In other words, different
Letters can have the same pronunciation:
Sounds Words Letters
Put /pʊf/ U
/ʊ / Book /bʊk/ OO
Could /kʊd/ OU
Kiss /kis/ SS
/S/
cent /sent/ C

The examples above illustrate some cases where we can find the same
sound is represented by different letters like the /ʊ/ sound can be
represented with the letter U, OO and OU, the /s/ sound can be
represented with the letter "S", "C".
3. More Letters, less sounds :(silent Letters)
Some Letters in English Language (especially consonants) appear in
spelling but they are not pronounced; below some examples:
Letters Silent in
b Subtle /stl/ , doubt /daʊt/

d Sandwich /sænwɪʧ/, Wednesday /wenzdei/

L Talk / tɔːk/, Half /ha:f/
K Know /nəʊ/, knee /ni:/

As a sum up of this lesson, we can say that the relationship between

Pronunciation and spelling in English Language is sometimes irregular,
therefore we can find the same pronunciation (or one sound) spelt down
using different Letters and a same Letter can represent different sounds.
Moreover, some letters are spelt down but they are not pronounced.

➢ Activities:
1) Find the different pronunciation (use the transcription (sounds)) for the
following Letters in the following words:
Letters: C, S, T , X
Words: cat, cinema, sleep, Loses, houses, too, Ambitious, substantial,
picture, fix, exam, exact.
Example:
Letter Words Sounds
Yes /jes/ /j/
Y
Gym /dʒɪm/ /ɪ/

2) Find out the different Letters for the same sound in the following
words:
Sounds Words Letters
Delicious ........................
Information ........................
//
Mansion ........................
Sheep ........................
Learn ........................
/ɜ:/ Bird ........................
Word ........................
Judge ........................
/dʒ/ Major ........................
Gentle ........................
Xylophone ........................
Zebra ........................
/z/
Present ........................
Lose ........................

3) Transcribe the following words and find out the silent letters:

Climb, Column, Whisper, Ghost, Thistle, Listen, Stomach, Gnome, Knock,

Autumn, Circuit, Sword, Wheel.