Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 1

Pronunciation Lesson Plan

Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters

CLASS DESCRIPTION
This lesson is designed to meet the needs of Japanese adult learners studying in a
conversational English course at a university in Japan. The students in this class are all relatively
advanced ELLs in terms of reading and writing but may lack oral fluency and basic
pronunciation skills. This class has between 20 and 30 students, all in their late teens to early
20s and all majoring in either English literature or English education. Some of the students will
participate in an extended study abroad program prior to graduating. This is a 90 minute class.
This lesson builds upon a supposed previous lesson that covered initial consonant clusters.
Students are familiar with IPA.
LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION
The most common syllabic structure of the languages of the world is CV, also called
open-syllable. English, however, has “a distinct propensity for consonant clustering” (Celce-
Murcia, Brinton, & Goodwin, 2010, p. 99). English syllables can:
• Consist of a solitary vowel (I, eye)
• Consist of a vowel and as many as three initial consonants (pie, spy, spry)
• Consist of a vowel and as many as three final consonants (at, ask, asked)
• Consist of a vowel with one or more initial consonants and as many as four final
consonants (ten, tent, tempt, tempts)
• Consist of a vowel with nearly the full range of initial and final consonant cluster
possibilities (splints)
These consonant clusters may consist of as many as three consonants (CCCV+) in word-initial
position and as many as four consonants (+VCCCC) in word-final position. The word
strengths, for example, is CCCVCCCC.
Unlike word-initial consonant clusters, pronunciation of individual consonants within a
word-final consonant cluster is very typically influenced by their placement within the cluster.
Pronunciation of word-final consonant clusters exhibit the following:
• consonant clusters consisting of two stops à first stop is unreleased, second is released.
(second stop is commonly an inflectional ending)
• consonant clusters consisting of a liquid plus a stop à the final stop is typically
unreleased
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 2

• consonant clusters of three or more consonants à may result in cluster reduction,

whereby the speaker simply drops one of the consonants entirely (typically a middle
consonant) in order to more easily produce the cluster
• final consonant of a consonant cluster à may be moved to the front of the following
word if that word begins with a vowel sound (resyllabification)
There are a few grammatical endings that frequently result in consonant clustering. In this
lesson attention will be drawn to the following rules:
The Past Tense Rule:
• If a verb ends with a /t/ or a /d/, the past tense is pronounced /əәd/.
Otherwise:
• If a verb ends with a voiced sound, the past tense ~ed is pronounced /d/.
• If a verb ends with an unvoiced sound, the past tense ~ed is pronounced /t/.
(Avery & Ehrlich, 1992, p. 48)
The Plural, 3PS Present Tense, Possessive Rule:
• If a noun ends with /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, or /dʒ/ (sibilants), the plural is pronounced
/əәz/.
Otherwise:
• If a noun ends with a voiced sound, the plural is pronounced /z/.
• If a noun ends with an unvoiced sound, the plural is pronounced /s/.
(Avery & Ehrlich, 1992, p. 50)a
LESSON OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to:
1. Recognize that proper English pronunciation requires mastery of consonant
clusters (this would have been emphasized in the previous lesson)
2. Understand that the pronunciation of grammatical endings for regular past tense,
plural, third person singular and possessive very often result in a consonant
cluster
3. Discriminate between contrastive pairs of words (class/clap/clasp/claps)
4. Pronounce a teacher-selected set of words containing consonant clusters
5. Pronounce a self-selected set of words containing consonant clusters
6. Use these words when speaking English for a communicative purpose
RATIONALE
Why teach consonant clusters?
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 3

The Japanese language follows an almost entirely open-syllable CV pattern that does not
allow for consonant clustering. The lone exception is the nasal /n/ which stands on its own as a
phoneme. See Appendix I for a full listing of the Japanese syllabic library. These consonant
clusters are, predictably, very problematic for Japanese learners. For most inexperienced
Japanese speakers of English, the error in pronouncing consonant clusters takes the shape of
inserting an extra vowel after each consonant. The word lipstick, for example, would typically
come out as lipusuchiku. The vowels are added throughout the word, but seem particularly
noticeable when the come in word-final position. Thompson (2001) referred to this as a
“rounding-off vowel” (p. 298).
Why these objectives?
#1: Learners should be cognizant of the fact that deviating from the consonant cluster by
inserting an epenthetic vowel is very likely to diminish the comprehensibility of their speech
(Celce-Murcia et al., 2010, p. 102).
#2: The pronunciation of grammatical endings is relevant for several reasons. First,
students already know hundreds of nouns and verbs and thus this information provides them with
a large body of vocabulary upon which they can practice the consonant clustering that these
grammatical/inflectional endings provide. Second, the rules of pronunciation for these endings
are entirely rule-based with few (if any) exceptions. Third, cognizance of these rules may have a
greater and more immediate impact upon student pronunciation of consonant clusters because
they will be using past tense, plural, etc. in so much of their oral practice that the habit of
properly producing these clusters may carryover to other clusters not associated with
grammatical endings.
#3: Discrimination may be the most challenging of all the listed objectives. The work of
Dupoux, et al (1999) demonstrated that when Japanese speakers hear consonant clusters (which,
as was explained above, do not occur in Japanese), they employ a repair strategy in which they
perceive an epenthetic vowel /u/ which is not actually there. Learning to discriminate between
the CC and CVC minimal pairs seems appropriate, however this pattern does not, technically,
allow for minimal pair work. “Contrastive pairs,” (for example [class/clap/clasp/claps]) seem a
good substitute.
#4/5: Here the focus is on mastering the pronunciation of vocabulary that has already
been acquired, though it can reasonably be expected that some students will not know some of
the student-selected vocabulary produced by their peers.
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 4

#6: The goal is always to have students use their new language skills to engage in
communicative tasks.
Why this context?
Many of these students will study or travel abroad extensively, and a good number of
them will become English teachers themselves. My experience when speaking with Japanese
learners is that they lack confidence in their spoken English because they feel their pronunciation
is inadequate. Some of that may be attributable to a Japanese sociocultural norm that expects
perfection; some of it may be attributable to the native speaker fallacy. Another cause may be
that English education in many Japanese high schools tends to view oral skills, which are not
tested by most university entrance exams, as a less productive use of classroom time than
reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary memorization. Whatever the root cause(s) may be,
the bottom line is that these students need to be confident in their English pronunciation.

THE LESSON
1) Materials
1. English syllable structure chart (consonant cluster chart) provided in previous class.
2. OHP or projector of some kind. (whiteboard would work, too)
3. OHP transparency or otherwise editable/annotatable copy of the syllable structure chart
that can be projected for entire class to see
4. Projectable image of rules for pronunciation of grammatical endings + handout to take
home
5. Worksheet for group-discovery of rules for pronouncing plurals, 3PS present tense and
possessives (Appendix III)
(Optional additional materials)
a) Master list of verbs (ideally provided to ss early in the term and gradually worked
through as the semester progresses)
b) Additional list of common final consonant clusters not focused upon in this lesson. (See
Appendix IV)

2) Warm-up/Introductory Context (10 minutes)

As ss file in, T asks each s to write one of their self-generated initial cluster words from their
homework on the board. These self-generated words were supposed to be words related to
the topic “What I did last summer vacation.”

Greetings, T briefly chats with students about something topical and relevant.
T: “Do you remember what we covered last class?” (initial clusters)
Ss: “Initial consonant clusters”
T: “That’s right. Ok, now please get out the list of words from last class”
T then leads the students in a choral repetition of about 10 words from the last class. These
words are not, for the most part, new vocabulary for the students – they are words the
students possess but may struggle to properly pronounce.

T: “So for your homework you found ten words with initial consonant clusters, right?”
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 5

Ss: “Yes, we did”

T: “Great. As you came into class today I asked you to write one of your words on the board.
It looks like almost everybody must have written a word on the board; we have about 25
words here. Please repeat after me.”

T then turns to the board and the choral repetition continues. When finished T encourages ss
to write down and/or ask about any words they do not understand. Ss listen to peers explain
the meaning(s) of any of the unknown vocabulary, with T assisting as appropriate.
For example:
(Student1 wrote the word stamp on the board)
Student2: “what does stamp mean?”
T: “Who wrote stamp?”
Student1: “I did. A stamp is the sticker you put on a letter before you send it.”

TRANSITION:
T: “Ok, so does anybody remember the main difference in pronunciation between Japanese
and English – we talked about this a little bit last class.”
Ss: “Japanese syllables are usually consonant +vowel syllables, English often has many
consonants next to each other in one syllable.”
T: “That’s right. And as you know we call those consonant clusters. They can come at the
beginning of the syllable – like the words we just practiced – or at the end of the syllable.
When they come at the end of the syllable we call them final consonant clusters. Today we’re
going to work on final consonant clusters.”

3) Presenting Consonant Clusters

Part 1: Noticing Patterns of Clustering in Relation to Grammatical Endings (10 min)
T: “Ok class, please get out the English Syllable Structure chart from last class. Today we’re
going to practice final consonant clusters.”

T instructs ss to get into groups of three. Each group is assigned one of the consonant cluster
boxes from the chart (Appendix II).

T: “I’ll do one of the boxes as an example. Box ‘CCVCC’ has three words: brand, trains,
and swings. What I want you to do is identify what part of speech each of these words is.
You can use your dictionaries for this exercise. What part of speech is brand?”
S1: “It’s a noun.”
T: “And what about trains?”
S2: “It’s a noun, too.”
T: “Is it a singular noun or a plural noun?”
S2: “Singular.”
T: “Good. Can trains be any other part of speech?”
S3: “It can be a verb.”
T: “That’s right, it is often a verb. What tense is trains?
S4: “Present tense.”
T: “Very good. Who trains? I trains? You b?”
S5: “He or she or it trains.”
T: “And what do we call verbs that go with he/she/it?”
S6: “Third person singular verbs.”
(Continue on with swings)
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 6

T: “Ok, you have 3 minutes to identify the parts of speech in your box”

After 3 minutes are up, ss report to T what parts of speech and the grammatical inflections
the words in their respective boxes are. T projects and annotates the English Syllable
Structure Chart as ss report. This should move along fairly rapidly – the point is to notice
that past tense, plural and third person singular appear very often.

T: “Do you notice any common grammatical endings here?”

Ss: “Plurals, past tense and third person singular.”
T: “Very good”

TRANSITION:
T: “I have some good news for you guys. There are very strong rules for pronouncing the
final consonant clusters we just identified. Let’s look at the first rule.”

Part 2: The Pronunciation Rules for Grammatical Endings (20 min)

T projects the following chart of past tense verbs:

Chart 1
Unvoiced Example words (unvoiced) Voiced Example words (voiced)
sound (w/IPA transcription) sound (w/IPA transcription)
/p/ hoped /ho pt/ /b/ lobbed /l bd/
/t/ wanted /w nt d/ /d/ demanded /d mænd d/
/k/ talked /t kt/ /g/ snagged /snægd/
/f/ laughed /læft/ /v/ saved /se vd/
/s/ passed /pæst/ /z/ breezed /brizd/

/ / fished /f t/ /d / judged /d d d/
/t / watched /w t t/ /ð/ bathed /be ðd/
/θ/ unearthed / n rθt/ /n/ opened /o p nd/
/m/ calmed /k lmd/
/ŋ/ winged /w ŋd/
/l/ called /k ld/
/r/ cared /k rd/

T attempts to elicit the rule from the students by asking a series of guiding questions, for
example:
• What is a voiced and unvoiced sound?
• Do you notice any difference between the pronunciation of the final ~ed when it
comes to voiced and unvoiced consonants that come right before the ~ed?
• How does English pronounce the ~ed if it follows right after an unvoiced consonant
sound?
• How does English pronounce the ~ed if it follows right after a voiced consonant
sound?
• Are there any exceptions to this rule?
• How does English pronounce the ~ed if it follows right after a /t/ or /d/ sound?
As ss respond to the questions, T annotates the OHP/Projected image to reflect ss’
observations.
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 7

Note: The first question about voiced/unvoiced may be the most difficult for these students to
answer, so elicitation of the answer may play out something along the lines of the following:
T: “First of all, can anybody tell me the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds?”
S1: “Voiced means your vocal chords vibrate, unvoiced means they don’t.”
T: “Ok, can you give me an example?”
S2: “For example in Japanese we have the unvoiced /ka/ and the voiced /ga/. When we write
these characters they are exactly the same except the voiced /ga/ gets an extra little mark in
the upper right. Like two small dashes. Like this:
/ka/ à か
/ga/ à が
(The little mark is a diacritic that marks voicing of the syllables consonant)
T: “Ok, you’re right, sort of. Remember that Japanese syllables always consist of what?”
S6: “A consonant followed by a vowel.”
T: “And when it comes to voicing, what do we know about vowels? Are they voiced or
unvoiced.?”
S7: “All vowels are voiced.”
T: “That’s right. So we can’t really say that /ka/ is unvoiced, can we?”
S8: “We can’t… The syllable has two sounds, /k/ and /a/. The /k/ is unvoiced and the /a/ is
voiced.”
T: “Exactly. And how many voiced consonants do you have in Japanese?”
S3: “Well, syllables starting with G, Z, J, B and D all have the mark [diacritic]… but…”
S4: “But some other sounds are only voiced… I mean there is no unvoiced sound that
matches it so we just write the character without the mark. For example syllables starting
with, N, M, R, W, and Y are all voiced, too. But no mark.”
S5: “Yeah, and syllables starting with P have a different mark, like a circle.”
T: “Excellent. You guys have a very good understanding of voiced and unvoiced. Yes,
voiced sounds in English include /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /j/, /th/, /n/, /m/, /ng/, /l/ and /r/.
Unvoiced sounds include /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /sh/, /ch/, and /th/.

After going through all the elicitation questions T projects the following rule for the class to
see and
The Past Tense Rule:
If a verb ends with a /t/ or a /d/, the past tense is pronounced /əәd/.
Otherwise:
If a verb ends with a voiced sound, the past tense ~ed is pronounced /d/.
If a verb ends with an unvoiced sound, the past tense ~ed is pronounced /t/.
===================END RULE 1===================

T: “Ok, good job, now we have to discover one more rule. This time I’d like you to work in
your same groups of three. Please look at the following chart of plural nouns, 3PS present
tense verbs and possessives. (T projects chart 2) This chart is similar to the chart we just
worked on together, but this time you will work with your group to figure out the rules for
pronouncing the final sounds of these words.”

Chart 2
Unvoiced Example words Voiced Example words (voiced)
sound (unvoiced) sound (w/IPA transcription)
(w/IPA transcription)
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 8

/p/ ropes /ro ps/ /b/ robes /ro bz/

/t/ bats /bæts/ /d/ fads /fædz/
/k/ socks /s ks/ /g/ dogs /d gz/
/f/ reefs /r fs/ /v/ thieves /θivz/
/s/ houses /ha z z/ /z/ mazes /me z z/

/ / marshes /m r z/ /d / judges /d d z/
/t / churches /t rt z/ /ð/ clothes /klo ðz/
/θ/ cloths /kl θs/ /n/ pawns /p nz/
/m/ farms /f rmz/
/ŋ/ things /θiŋz/
/l/ balls /b lz/
/r/ bars /b rz/

T hands out a worksheet (Appendix III) containing the chart (Chart 2) as well as some
guiding questions with space for written responses.

T: “S1, what is each group supposed to do?”

S1: “We are supposed to look at the chart together and try to figure out the pronunciation
rule for plural nouns, 3PS present tense verbs and possessives.”
T: “Perfect. You have about 5 minutes to try and figure out the rule. Go for it!”

T monitors the activity and assists where necessary or when asked. If ss seem to finish
quickly, T can bring the activity back to open class before the 5 minutes are up. T can extend
the amount of time to complete the activity if it seems necessary, but only modestly and
while keeping in mind the rest of the day’s agenda. When ss have completed the activity, T
calls on one group at a time asking them to answer each of the questions from the worksheet.
T reveals the rule after ss have answered questions.

The Plural, 3PS Present Tense, Possessive Rule:

If a noun ends with /s/, /z/, / /, /ʒ/, /t /, or /dʒ/ (sibilants), the plural is pronounced /əәz/.
Otherwise:
If a noun ends with a voiced sound, the plural is pronounced /z/.
If a noun ends with an unvoiced sound, the plural is pronounced /s/.
===================END RULE 2===================

TRANSITION:
T: “Now that we know two very useful rules about common types of consonant clustering,
let’s put those rules to use and start practicing their pronunciation.”

4) Focused Practice Exercises

i) Pronunciation Drill & Listening Discrimination (10 min)
T: “First, we’re going to quickly practice the vocabulary from Chart 1 and Chart 2. Please
repeat after me.”

T pronounces each word on the charts twice, with ss chorally repeating. T can stop on any
given word if it seems class is struggling.
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 9

T: “Very nicely done. Next, we’re going to practice listening for the correct form. I’m
going to hold up cards that have a word written on them. I’m going to pronounce the word
two different ways. One pronunciation will be right, the other will be wrong. Your job is to
listen and tell me whether the first or the second pronunciation is correct.”

T provides an example, holding up a card with the word WATCHED on it. T first
pronounces the word as /w t t/ (correct), and then pronounces it a second time as /w t d/
(incorrect). Following the example, T goes through the same vocabulary from the charts and
pronunciation drill.

Feedback: T should have taken note of the items ss struggled with (if any) and can briefly
address them at the end of the activity.

TRANSITION:
T: “You all did pretty well. Next, we’re going to work on building some consonant clusters
together. Your homework was to bring 10 words that had initial consonant clusters to class
– these words were supposed to be about what you did on your last summer vacation. Please
get out your list.”

ii) Controlled Practice (Adding or Augmenting a Word-Final Consonant Cluster) (10 min)
T: “For this activity, I want you to focus on the nouns and verbs on your list. You’re going
to use the rules we just discovered to make the nouns and verbs on your list end with
consonant clusters. For example…” [T projects the verb talk for ss to see.] “For the verbs,
such as talk, you will first add ~ed to make them past tense. Then you will decide, based on
the rules we discovered, how this ~ed should be pronounced. In the case of talked, it should
be pronounced /t kt/. For nouns, please add an ~s to make them plural.”

T gives ss about 5 minutes to complete this task.

Ss should spend the next 5 minutes practicing pronunciation of their words in isolation with
their group. Each s leads their partners through a simplistic pronunciation drill. For example
a group consisting of S1, S2, and S3 would be led through a choral repetition of each ss
words by the student who chose those words (ie S1’s words are read by S1 and chorally
repeated by S2 and S3). Ss are encouraged to provide feedback or ask questions if the
pronunciation is difficult or incorrect.

Feedback: T should continuously float around to the different groups, listening in and
monitoring for proper pronunciation of these self-selected words and providing pronunciation
modeling as appropriate.

iii) Guided Practice –Using Self-Selected Words in an Oral Report (~10 min)

Next, T instructs ss to create a short report (less than 5 sentences) that employ at least some
of the same self-selected past tense verbs and the plural nouns. The report should be about
what the s did on their last summer vacation.

After ss have written their sentences they share read them aloud in small groups. T
encourages group mates to listen actively and provide peer feedback if/when they either do
not understand what a fellow classmate has said or if they notice a pronunciation error.
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 10

Feedback: T should continuously float around to the different groups, listening in and
monitoring for proper pronunciation of these self-selected words and providing pronunciation
modeling as appropriate.

TRANSITION:
T: “Ok, now that you’ve practiced these words both alone and in a sentence/report, I think
it’s time we used them to actually have conversations with classmates. Have any of you ever
heard of speed-dating?”

5) Communicative Activity – “Speed Dating” (a version of the 4, 3, 2 activity) (20 min)

T: “In Speed dating, a lot of people gather together in a room. The people talk one-on-one
and rotate every few minutes so they can meet all the other people. Many speed daters take
notes about the people they meet. At the end, after they have met everybody, they look at
their notes and decide which people they might like to go on a real date with. Today, we’re
going to play a speed dating game, but instead of choosing a person to go on a date with
you’re going to choose the vacation that sounds like the most fun.”

T hands out a worksheet with a very simple chart on it, such as the following:

Classmate Where….? What…? How…? Why…? (Question of

Name choice)
Your teacher Seoul ate spicy food ~30,000 yen Short flight Hopes to go again
from Japan next summer

T explains to ss the idea of the activity is to ask some basic questions about classmates’ summer
vacations. They should write down names as well as the answers to questions that they can
control. For example, the “What….?” question could be as simple as “What did you do on that
vacation?” or something along the lines of “What did you enjoy the most on that vacation?” T
models this in front of class, leading them through the example already given on the chart while
asking ss to identify what the questions were based on the answers written in the boxes. T then
gives the class a few minutes to determine, individually, which questions they want to ask.

T designates half of the class as the stationary students and the other half as the rotating students.
Ss will partner up and exchange information with one another. The twist is that each speed-
dating round will be slightly shorter than the preceding round. Ss may have 3 minutes in the first
round to exchange information, 2’40” for the second round, 2’20” for the third round, 2 minutes
for the fourth round, etc. (obviously there is threshold beyond which expecting effective transfer
of information would be unreasonable). If there are around 25 ss, there will be 12 rounds,
maximum. Ideally the activity will allow all ss to interact with all their classmates, however the
activity may need to be shortened if time is running out.

Feedback:
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 11

T should continuously float around to the different groups, listening in and monitoring for proper
pronunciation. T should take note of both good examples (highlights) as well as problems
(especially if there is a general pattern in the class). T should intervene in communication only
in cases where ss either request it or seem to be struggling mightily.

With about 5 minutes left in class, T brings it back to open class and asks ss to share which
vacations seemed like the most (fun, exciting, dangerous, expensive, etc.).

Homework could be to investigate one of places a classmate went and then come prepared to
share something interesting they learned during their investigation. For example: “Every
skyscraper in Seoul is required by law to have a piece of art in front of it for the public to enjoy.”

===================END LESSON===================

6) Contingency Plan – Where is it?

Ss must describe the vacation one of their classmates took without naming the classmate or the
country/region. For example:
S1: “You can eat spicy food in this place. It’s cheap to fly there from Japan. It is a national
capital.”
S9: “SEOUL!”
S1: “Yeah, that’s right.”
T: “Who took a vacation to Seoul?”
S5: “I did.”
T: “Ok, S5, please describe a classmate’s vacation.”
(activity continues through several rounds like this as time allows/dictates)
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 12

REFERENCES

Avery, P., & Ehrlich, S. (1992). Teaching American English Pronunciation (6th printing.).

Oxford University Press, USA.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Goodwin, J. M. (2010). Teaching Pronunciation Hardback

with Audio CDs (2): A Course Book and Reference Guide (2nd ed.). Cambridge

University Press.

Dupoux, E., Kakehi, K., Hirose, Y., Pallier, C., & Mehler, J. (1999). Epenthetic vowels in

Japanese: A perceptual illusion? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception

and Performance, 25(6), 1568–1578. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.25.6.1568

Hewings. (1998). Pronunciation Plus Student’s Book- Practice through Interaction by

Hewings,Martin; Goldstein,Sharon. [1998] Paperback. Cambridge UP.

Thompson, I. (2001). Japanese speakers. In Swan, M., & Smith, B. (2001). Learner English: A

Teacher’s Guide to Interference and other Problems (2nd ed.). Cambridge University

Press.
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 13

Appendix I

Index of Japanese Syllables

Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 14

Appendix II

English Syllable Structure Chart

(Celce-Murcia et al., 2010, p. 463)

Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 15

Appendix III

Worksheet for group-discovery of rules for pronouncing plurals, 3PS present tense and possessives

Unvoiced Example words Voiced Example words (voiced)

sound (unvoiced) sound (w/IPA transcription)
(w/IPA transcription)
/p/ ropes /ro ps/ /b/ robes /ro bz/
/t/ bats /bæts/ /d/ fads /fædz/
/k/ socks /s ks/ /g/ dogs /d gz/
/f/ reefs /r fs/ /v/ thieves /θivz/
/s/ houses /ha z z/ /z/ mazes /me z z/

/ / marshes /m r z/ /d / judges /d d z/
/t / churches /t rt z/ /ð/ clothes /klo ðz/
/θ/ cloths /kl θs/ /n/ pawns /p nz/
/m/ farms /f rmz/
/ŋ/ things /θiŋz/
/l/ balls /b lz/
/r/ bars /b rz/

Directions:
Try to answer the following questions, using the words in the chart above as your clues. Remember to pay
attention to the phonetic spelling when answering the questions.

1. Do you notice any difference between the pronunciation of the final ~s when it comes to voiced and unvoiced
consonants that come right before the ~s?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
2. How does English pronounce the ~s if it follows right after an unvoiced consonant sound?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
3. How does English pronounce the ~s if it follows right after a voiced consonant sound?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Are there any exceptions to this rule?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. How does English pronounce the ~s if it follows right after a /s/, /z/, / /, /ʒ/, /t /, or /dʒ/ sound?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Aaron Sponseller – Pronunciation LP (Frequent Grammatical Word-Final Consonant Clusters) 16

Appendix IV

Additional Word-Final Consonant Clusters not Discussed in Lesson (sample only

Final Consonant Clusters

-ft
.h.
.h. .H.
.H. .d.
.d. .D.
.D. .8.
.8. .?.
.?. .t.
.t. .T.
.T. .n.
.n. .N.
.N.
drift left craft puffed
gift theft raft stuffed
lift shaft
shift
sift
sniffed
swift
thrift

-ct
.h.
.h. .H.
.H. .d.
.d. .D.
D. .8.
.8. .?.
.?. .t.
.t. .T.
.T. .n.
.n. .N.
.N.
creeked clicked ached checked act ducked spooked cooked joked blocked
freaked kicked baked wrecked cracked plucked hooked poked knocked
licked raked collect fact sucked looked soaked locked
peaked nicked connect packed shocked
peeked picked correct stacked
squeaked pricked expect
strict reflect
tricked

-mp
.h.
.h. .H.
.H. .d.
.d. .D.
.D. .8.
.8. .?.
.?. .t.
.t. .T.
.T. .n.
.n. .N.
.N.
blimp hemp camp bump chomp
limp temp champ dump stomp
shrimp clamp jump swamp
cramp lump
damp stump
lamp thump
ramp
stamp

*This is just a sample, the full file can be downloaded from:

http://galofalltrades.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Final-Consonant-Clusters-List.pdf
I particularly like this list because it lists the words according the vowel that immediate precedes the
consonant cluster. I am trying to contact the creator of the list to make sure I have permission to use their
work.

Another great list can be downloaded at:

http://firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/phonics/clusters/resources/CVCC Word Bank.pdf
This resource is reproducible without permission according to the website/worksheet.