МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ

ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«ДОНСКОЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ ТЕХНИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»

ПРАКТИЧЕСКАЯ ФОНЕТИКА АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

УЧЕБНОЕ ПОСОБИЕ

Ростов-на-Дону
ДГТУ
2019
 CONTENTS
1. Phonetics
2. Organs of Speech
3. Sounds and phonemes
4. Transcription
5. Reading rules
6. Classification of vowels
7. Reduction
8. Elision
9. Classification of consonants
10. Assimilation
 1. PHONETICS

Phonetics is the study of human sounds in general without reference to their

systematic role in a specific language. Phonetics is divided into three types
according to the production (articulatory), transmission (acoustic) and perception
(auditive) of sounds.

Sounds can be divided into vowels and consonants.

There are 20 vowels and 24 consonant phonemes in English.

A phoneme is the functional classification of the sounds of a particular language. It

is the organizational unit of phonology. Phonemes are usually written in square
brackets [ ].

Phonology is the functional classification of a particular language. It is the system

of sounds by means of which meanings are differentiated in a language and which
serve as the building blocks for the higher levels, e.g. morphology.

RP- Received Pronunciation is the standard pronunciation of British English. It

stamps originally from the speech of the middle and upper classes in London. In
the course of the 19th century is developed into a sociolect, particularly when
adopted by the public schools, and attained a wide distribution in Wales and
Scotland as well. It is often abbreviated to RP.

RP is the form of English which differs from American English in some key
respects, mainly in the realization of vowels and in the lack of [r] in syllable-final
position, e.g. a word like “dark” is pronounced without an [r] in RP and with an [r]
in American English.

International Phonetic Alphabet is a system of transcribing the sounds of

language which consists of some Latin and Greek letters and a variety of additional
symbols. The goal is to represent each recognizable sound in a unique fashion.
This alphabet was developed at the end of the 19th century.
 2. ORGANS OF SPEECH

All the sounds we make are the result of muscles contracting. The air from
the lungs passes into the wind-pipe, then into the larynx where the vocal cords are
located and then goes through the vocal tract different parts of which are called
articulators or speech organs.
The vocal cords are two elastic folds which may be kept apart or brought
together. The opening between them is called the glottis.
Voice is produced when the airflow forced between the vocal cords brings
them together and makes them vibrate. On coming out of the larynx the air stream
passes through the pharynx.
The pharyngal cavity extends from the top of the larynx to the soft palate,
which directs the air stream either to the mouth or nasal cavities, which function
as the principal resonators.
The soft palate is the furthest part of the palate from the teeth. Most of the
palate is hard. This hard and fixed part of the palate is divided into two sections:
the hard palate (the highest part of the palate) and the teeth ridge or alveolar ridge.
The most important organ of speech is the tongue. Phoneticians divide the
tongue into four sections, the part which lies opposite the soft palate is called the
back of the tongue; the part facing the hard palate is called the front; the one lying
under the teeth ridge is known as the blade and its extremity the tip.
The lips can take up various positions as well. They can be brought firmly
together or kept apart neutral, rounded, or protruded forward.
When the vocal cords are wide apart and do not vibrate the airflow escapes
easily and no voice is produced.
The diagram shows the speech organs that we use in the production of
different speech sounds.
 Fig. 1 Organs of speech

Organs of speech are: nasal cavity, lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, larynx, palate (soft
and hard), uvula, tongue (tip, blade, front, back), epiglottis, pharynx, vocal cords,
and trachea.
The speech organs are divided into active (movable) and passive (fixed).

Active Speech Organs Passive Speech Organs

the vocal cords (in the larynx) the hard palate
the tongue the teeth ridge or alveolar ridge
the lips the teeth
the soft palate (the velum) with the uvula the walls of the resonators
the back wall of the pharynx the upper jaw
the lower jaw
the lungs

When the soft palate is raised the air escapes through the mouth cavity; when it is
lowered the air escapes through the nasal cavity.
In the process of articulation, i.e. production of speech sounds, active and passive
speech organs come into contact.
1. Read the descriptions of the functions of the various organs of speech and
decide which organ of speech functions which way.

1. ____ change the shape and size of the mouth opening. They can be rounded and
unrounded. When unrounded they can be spread or neutral.
2. The bulk of ____ can move horizontally and vertically. Its movements can
change the volume and shape of the mouth resonator, as the result of which
different sounds are produced.
3. The soft palate and ____ separate the mouth cavity from the nasal cavity. ____
regulates the way of the stream of air in speech. When it is raised, the stream of air
goes out through the mouth cavity. When it is lowered, the stream of air goes out
through the nasal cavity.
4. ____ can be lowered to increase the volume of the mouth cavity.

5. ____ are two muscles by the sides of the larynx. The space between ____ is
called the glottis. When the ____ are tense, they are brought close together, the
stream of air touches them, makes them vibrate, and they produce voice. When
____ are lax, the stream of air goes out freely and no voice is produced. When
____ vibrate, vowels and voiced consonants are produced; when they do not
vibrate, voiceless consonants are produced.
6. When we speak, ____ push the stream of air out.

7. ____, ____, and ____ are the passive organs of speech. They serve as places of
articulation, and active organs of speech form an obstruction to the stream of air
with them.

2. Are these statements true or false? Correct the false ones.

1. The soft palate serves to open and close the entrance to the nasal cavity.

2. The space between the vocal folds is the epiglottis. 

3. The vocal cords are pressed together during voiceless consonants. 

4. When the air is made to move out of the lungs we say that there is an egressive
pulmonic airstream.
5. Articulatory phonetics studies different parts of the vocal tract.

6. Hard palate is an active articulator.

7. Root part of the tongue forms the front wall of the pharynx.

8. In the articulation of nasal sounds, the upper lip is lowered, and the air passes
through the nose.

9. Pharynx is called the voice box. 

3. SOUNDS AND PHONEMES

Letters and sounds must never be mixed up. Letters are written and sounds
are spoken. It is very useful to have written letters to remind us of corresponding
sounds, but this is all they do. They cannot make us pronounce sounds which we
don’t already know; they simply remind us. In ordinary English spelling is not
always easy to understand what sounds the letters stand for.
Speech sounds are divided into vowels and consonants. Vowels are voiced
speech sounds produced in the mouth cavity with no obstruction to the airflow.
Consonants are produced with a complete or an incomplete obstruction to the
airflow. They can be voiced and voiceless.
A complete obstruction is formed when two speech organs come in contact
and thus block the air-passage through the mouth. An incomplete obstruction is
formed when an active speech organ is held so close to a passive speech organ that
the air-passage gets narrowed, or constricted but is not blocked.
One should discriminate speech sounds from phonemes. The phoneme is the
smallest language unit which has a set of distinctive features and helps to make
words and their forms. Sounds are realizations of phonemes in speech. Various
speech realizations of the phoneme are called its allophones.
Thus there are 20 vowel phonemes (6 vowel letters) and 24 consonant
phonemes (20 consonant letters) in English.

Name Letters Sounds

 Consonants 20 24
Vowels 6 20
Total 26 44

4. TRANSCRITION
Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of speech sounds. It is
usually written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in which every
English sound has its own symbol. Each sound in transcription is written
separately.
In English, there are two types of stress, and both of them are identified in
the transcription. First — this is the main emphasis (main stress) placed in front of
the stressed syllable on top. The second stress — additional (secondary stress) is
placed before the stressed syllable below:

This mark shows Words and utterances are

primary (main) stress on enclosed in square brackets
the next syllable

This mark shows

secondary stress on the
next syllable
[prəˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃ(ə)n]
Absence of a mark shows
an unstressed following
syllable

Fig.2 Transcription

Transcription signs of English sounds:

Vowel sounds
Short і U ʌ ᴐ ə e æ
vowels
sit put up box under pen bag
Long i: u: ɑ: ɔ: ə:
vowels tee moon class door her
Diphthongs iə uə ɑi ɔi əu ɛə au ei
Complex near poor my boy go chair now take
sounds

Consonants
Voiced b d ʒ ʤ g v ð z
consonants
book door television Jim go five this zoo
Voiceless p t ʃ ʧ k f θ s
consonants
pen ten show chair key five Thank sister
s
Other m n ŋ h l r w j
consonants moon nine song hand look red well your

1. Write down transcription to the words below:

meat, get, pole, want, find, rough, chirp, sound, bash, sheep, hip, sun, laugh, chips,
smoke, zinc, flout, when, tax, aches, boil, tune, bomb

2. Read the words in transcription:

a) [bed, nɔt, pa:t, tɜ:m, pɪt, tu:l, pæt, bʌt, mi:l, smɔ:l, ´fɑːmə, luk, kæt, mu:n, fɜ:m,
tɔp, fi:l, ə´tend, dʌn, mɪs, lɔ:, fut]

b) [gəu, ɪə, juə, naɪs, teɪk, pɔɪnt, hεə, daɪəl, flauə, baund, sləu, taɪp, vɔɪs, ə´pɪə,
kaunt, ´peɪpə, ad´maɪə, kauəd, ə´fεə, sɪ´kjuə]

c) [fri:, θi:m, wɪtʃ, ʃɔp, rɪŋ, eɪdʒ, ðəuz, rɪ´vɪʒn, rɪtʃ, θɪŋ, ´lektʃə, ´weðə, wɔtʃ, rɔŋ,
wɪʃ, θrəu, ´treʒə, tʃa:dʒ,´ri:dɪŋ, ´mʌðə, rʌʃn, ju:θ]

3. Read the words in transcription paying attention to vowel length:

[i:] — [ɪ] [ɑː] — [ʌ] [ɔ:] — [ɔ] [u:] — [u]

bi:t bɪt kɑːt kʌt pɔ:t pɔt fu:l ful
pi:k pɪk dɑːk dʌk kɔ:d kɔd pu:l pul
li:v lɪv hɑːt hʌt skɔ:n skɔn fu:d fut
li:d lɪd stɑːf stʌf mɔ: s mɔs lu:p luk
si:t sɪt tʃɑːm tʃʌm spɔ:t spɔt bu:t buk

4. Read the words in transcription paying attention to the pronunciation of

vowels:
 [e] — [æ] [ɔ] — [ʌ] [ɔ:] — [ɜ:] [e] — [ɜ:] [ɪə] — [εə]
men mæn kɔt kʌt wɔ:k wɜ:k bed bɜ:d dɪə dεə
set sæt dɔn dʌn bɔ:d bɜ:d hed hɜ:d hɪə hεə
bed bæd dɔ l dʌl ʃɔ:t ʃɜ:t ten tɜ:n fɪə fεə
hed hæd dɔg dʌg bɔ:n bɜ:n pel pɜ:l tʃɪə tʃεə
ten tæn dʒɔg dʒʌg tɔ: n tɜ:n fen fɜ:n ʃɪə ʃεə

5. Read the words in transcription and practise the following sounds:

[t] — [d] [p] — [b] [k] — [g] [f] — [v] [s] — [z]
bet bed kæp kæb Bæk bæg ɔf ɔv/əv si:s si:z
set sed læp læb pɪk pɪg seɪf seɪv pleɪs pleɪz
hɑːt hɑːd kʌp kʌb dɔk dɔg li:f li:v kləus kləuz
fi:t fi:d mɔp mɔb li:k li:g pru:f pru:v kɔ:s kɔ:z
kɔ:t kɔ:d nɪp nɪb frɔk frɔg sɜ:f sɜ:v reɪs reɪz

6. Read the words in transcription paying attention to the pronunciation of

consonants:

[w] — [v] [θ] — [s] [ð] — [z] [ŋ] — [n]

west vest θɪk sɪk ði: zɪ wɪŋ wɪn
weɪn veɪn θɪn sɪn ðen zen θɪŋ θɪn
waɪn vaɪn θɔ:t sɔ:t ðəu zəun sʌŋ sʌn
went vent feɪθ feɪs beɪð beɪz ræŋ ræn
waɪl vaɪl mauθ maus kləuðz kləuz pæŋ pæn

7. Read the words in transcription:

[´wɪndəu, ´lɔːjə, ´fju:tʃə, dɪk´lεə, ´prɒdʒekt, ´sɜːtənli, prə´feʃn, ´θɪətə, ´waɪələs, rɪ

´sɜːtʃ, ´hʌzbənd, ðεə, ´meʒə, ´reɪlweɪ, ´vɜːʃn, ´pɪktʃə, ´hju:mən, ´pεərənts, ðem
´selvz, ´nauədeɪz, ´djuərɪŋ, ´tʃɪldrən, ´nʌθɪŋ, ´læŋgwɪdʒ, sə´fɪʃnt, ´ju:ʒəl, tə´geðə,
dɪs´t∫a:dʒ, ɪm´pɒsəbl, θæŋk, ˌ endʒɪ´nɪə, ´kwestʃən, wɪ´ðaut, ´θɜ:zdi, ´dʒænjuərɪ]

8. Match the words with transcriptions.

raise ´ɪndʌstrɪ balance brænd

brand treɪd budget æd
sharp weɪʤ trade rent
provide ´bʌʤɪt research rɪ´pɔ:t
country reɪz account ʃɑ:p
coin ´bæləns slogan ə´kɑʊnt
scale rɪ´sɜ:ʧ sell kɔɪn
add fʌnd local plɑ:nt
 rent ´prɒdəkt cheque skeɪl
industry ʧek product stɔ:
brand ´slɜʊgən fund prə´vɑɪd
credit sel wage ´kʌntrɪ
plant ´lɜʊkəl report ´kredɪt

9. Bad elephants jokes. Match the punch lines (a-e) to the relevant question.
1. [wɔt taɪm ɪz ɪt wen ən elɪfənt sɪts ɔn jə fens] [ðɛərə fʊtprɪnts ɪn ðe bʌtə]
2. [haʊ də jə get daʊn frəm ən elɪfənt] [ɪt sɪts ɔn ə liːf ən weɪts tɪl ɔːtəm]
3. [haʊ də jə nəʊ ɪf ən elɪfənt əz bɪn ɪn jə frɪʤ] [jə hæv tə get daʊn frəm ə dɑːk]
4.[ haʊ du: elɪfənts meɪk ɔ:l kɔ:lz] [taɪm tə get ə njuː wʌn]
5.[ haʊ dəz ən elɪfənt get daʊn frəm ə triː] [trʌŋk əf kɔ:s]

5. READING RULES

VOWELS

The final letter Letters

in the word A o e i y u
Vowel [еɪ] [əʊ] [i:] [aɪ] [aɪ] [ju:]
I take note me like type tube
consonant [æ] [ɒ] [е] [ɪ] [ɪ] [ʌ]
II bag not pen pig system cup
vowel + r [ɑ:] [ɔ:] [ɜ:] [ɜ:] [ɜ:] [ɜ:]
III park sort her first myrtle fur
vowel +r +e [еə] [ɔ:] [ɪə] [aɪə] [aɪə] [jʊə]
IV fare more here fire tyre pure
I type of syllable – an open syllable – the syllable with final vowel. The stressed
vowel in the word is read as in the alphabet.
II type of syllable – a closed syllable – the stressed vowel is followed by one or
several consonants (any consonant, except r). The vowel in a closed syllable is
short.
III type of syllable – a stressed vowel is followed by the consonant r [ɑ:].
IV type of syllable – the stressed vowel is followed by the consonant r and a
vowel.
1. Read the words with the letter E
a) mete – eve; Pete – these; Pete – Steve; mete – scene; Pete – theme; Swede –
grebe – bree;
b) fever – ferny; Plenum – jerky; veto – service; Cedar – mercy; Swedish – hermit;
Negus – merchant; velum – servant; Venus – merger; Rebus – nervy; velar –
permit; memo – German; Cretan – thermal;
с) verb – were; term – were; serve – servant; nerve – nervy; serve – were; there –
were; thermo – thermal; merge – merger; fern – were; serve – service; jerk – jerky;
term – termer; fern – ferny; germ – German; her – hermit;
d) them – these; bed – Bede; fence – Eve; fledge – Bede; met – mete; wed –
Swede; edge – brave; pet – Pete; twelve – theme; ledge – grebe;
e) here – mere – sere – sphere – queer; ear – near – dear – rear – tear; deer – beer –
veer – steer – fear; shear – smear – spear – hear – clear.

2. Transcribe the words and explain the rules of reading.

Pet, Peter, pert, mere, serf, fern, sect, recede, delta, delete, met, mete, jerky,
depend, meddle, Ede, Ed, kern, elect, sincere, eke, severe, serpent, sentiment,
sediment.

3. Read the words with the letter A

a) far – car – bar – mar – tar – star; car – cart – barn – card – par – carp; carve –
starve; barge – large; march – mar; sparse; charge; parch – par; large – charge;
charm – chart, starch;
b) cat – cart; bat – bart; badge – barge; cad – card; mat – smart; stab – bard; match
– march; have – hard; cap – cart; bad – bard; dad – yard; bad – bard;
c) part – party; scar – scarlet hard – hardship; dark – darken; part – partner; start –
starter; farm – farmer; marsh – marshy; spar – sparker; hard – hardy; Marx –
Marist; march – marcher;
d) parrot – party; carrot – carbon; parry – partly; carry – carcass; barrack – barber;
garret – garlic; marry – Martin;
e) funny – farmer tunnel – tarnish mutter – Martin cutter – carter
gunner – garter hunter – harder vulgar – farming;
f) Status – starter; Taker – tartan; paper – party; major – Marxist; Statement –
stardom; Tamer – tarnish; lazy – larder; hazy – carter; Statesman – starlet; Taper –
tardy; laky – lardy; cater – carver;
g) grace – graze – pace; craze – race – lace; mat – mate; brace – braze – race; maze
– trace – mace; back – bake; tack – take; shack – shake;
h) mare – hare – care dare – fare – air pair – fair – impair.

4. Transcribe the words and explain the rules of reading.

Pat, date, dart, data, park, compare, substance, fame, fare, stack, glare, fact, daze,
flash, cage, matter, Ada.

5. Read the words with the letter I, Y.

a) style – tyke; dyke – type; syce – Tyne;
b) mile – pile; lime – crime; gripe – stripe;
c) ivy – thirsty; liner – dirty; vital – fireman; stylish – virgin; nylon – thirty; China
– chirpy; stylist – circus; diner – firstly; miner – thirdly; primer – skirmish;
d) Thirst – thirsty Fir – skirmish Third – thirdly dirt – dirty Third – thirty Firm –
fireman; First – firstly sir – circus chirp – chirpy bird – flirting birch – birchen kirk
– skirmish;
e) rid – ride – ridge; mince – mine – midge; grid – bride – bridge; wince – wine –
ridge; scrub – scribe – midge; wince – wine – ridge;
f) mire – hire – tire – fire – tired viral – spiral – firing – hiring; spire – sire – quire
– byre – wire wiry – wiring – virus – tyrant; tyre – pyre – lyre – squire – dire; miry
– siren – spirant – tiring.

6. Transcribe the words and explain the rules of reading

File, fire, fill, bird, nymph, expire, fist, style, stick, shrive, Byrd, type, typical, try,
cryptic, incidence, lymph, tryst, intrude, abyss, physical, ivy, Styx, tidy, stylus,
system.

7. Read the words with letter O.

a) for – form; fork – cork; torch – scorch; or – storm; born – corn; sort – short; nor
– norm; ford – cord; torn – thorn;
b) thorn – thorny; Orb – orbit; or – order; for – forward; lord – lordly; Sort – sorter;
form – former; storm – stormy; North – Nordic; port – porter; fort – fortress; sport
– sportsman; Scorch – scorcher;
c) cod – corn cock – cord; Bob – born code – cord; odd – lord; fog – forge; Non –
morn tone – torn; cone – corn phone – form; stone – storm; bone – born;
d) sharp – short; are – form; parch – porch; are – or; card – cord; farm – form; far –
for; farce – force; start – torch; charm – storm;
e) boss – brose; mop – mope; nod – node; hop – hope; loss – close; mock – smoke;
cross – rose; cock – coke; not – note; cod – code; this – those; stock – stoke; rod –
rode; rod – rode;
f) fort – for – four; sport – spore – soar; York – your – your; torn – tore – door;
short – shore – floor; horse – core – hoarse.

8. Transcribe the words and explain the rules of reading.

Stole, sore, omit, photo, coddle, rosy, soppy, gore, solo, sordid, cod, cord, connect,
lock, provoke, ode, odd, cork, convene, yoke, Togo.

9. Read the words with the letter U.

a) fur – further; curl – curly; Turk – Turkish; urge – urgent; fur – furnish; surd –
sturdy; turk – turnip; fur – furnace; surd – surplus; nurse – murder;
b) but – bart; cuff – carve; cut – cart; us – starve; duck – dark; hum – harm; bun –
barn; spun – spar; gull – Carl; shut – sharp; cud – card; gulf – scarf;
c) super – surplus; Cuban – curly; tuna – turbo; music – murmur; stupid – sturdy;
Ruby – scurvy; ruler – urgent; human – murder; student – surly; Lunar – turner;
truly – urban; lucid – churlish; cubic – curdy; Unit – turnip; fumy – furnace;
spumy – churchy;
d) ruse – Bruce; rude – crude; plume – flute; fluke – plume; rune – prune; prude –
brute; flute – fluke; jute – June.

10. Transcribe the words and explain the rules of reading.

Sturdy, stub, corrupt, tuna, mule, vulgar, ugly, unbend, unburden, surge, usher,
urchin, pure, super, true, trumpet, tulip, stunk, stupid, abuse, acute, curse, brute,
buckle, burner, drug, dune, dusk, due, judo, undercut, rum, rune.

11. Read the words according to the reading rules:

a) Rucksack, hymn [-m], Japan, stem, stark, plunder, best, code, nod, sent, these,
cod, spoke, theme, then, enter, cell, dose, depth, less, sit, mile, home, miss, gave,
tip, tide, tap, late, mad, made, fill, cake, pine, bat, hate, act, ice, plot, face, stamp,
spot, pile, land, mist, mole, mark, cap, nose, harm, start, form, five, pipe, land, fry,
ton, tone, cut, shade, shall, blame, prepare, mere, store, care, cure, germ, hurt, hare,
a wise man, rare, spare time, pure
b) Farm, firm, form, fern, start, stork, stern, spurn, skirt, word, sparse, scorch,
churl, garb, garland, hurdle, orchard, surly, turbo, verger, virgin, darter, northern;
c) Ann can take care of a car. He met her here. A fine girl sits by the fire. Tom has
more horses at home. For sure he must buy pure fur in future. I type the myth about
tyrants and sly myrmidons.

12. Transcribe the words and explain the rules of reading.

a) Tapper – taper – Tartar; Ladder – lazy – larder; Choppy – chafer – charter;
Manner – maker – market; Pantry – paper – partner;
b) pepper – plenum – person; vector – Venus – verdict; sherry – rebus – perfect;
Edwin – Eden – Bernard; tennis – these – thermal;
c) Turret – tuna – turner; Rubber – ruby – Turkish; Hurry – Hubert – hurdler;
under – unit – further; Current – cubic – curly;
d) Timber – timer – thirty; differ – diver – dirty; sister – spider – skirmish; clipper
– climate – girlish; Finnish – final – firmer.

13. Transcribe the following words.

а) be, feel, we, me, see, meet, deed, feet, need
b) it, is, in, ill, sit, fill, live, win, till, mill
c) bed, pen, ten, tell, set, let, met
d) tie, lie, my, pie, die, life, time, five, nine, smile
e) man, bad, hat, lamp, glad, fat, cat, black, sack
f) day, late, tale, main, pain, rain, male, fail
g) park, mark, arm, are, car, farm, large
h) air, chair, care, fair, rare, parent
i) there, where
j) here, near, mere, clear, fear, bear
k) hire, fire, tyre, buyer, flyer
l) our, flour, power, flower, down, town
m) her, term, bird, firm, burn, turn, fur, learn
n) sorry, story, warm, word, door, all, taught, talk

14. Transcribe the following words.

a ) think, thing, thin, thought, death, threat.
b) sing, song, bang, long, something, going, hung, wrong.
c) this, that, those, the, these, there, other, another.
d) ship, shop, she, clash, sharp, shine, shame, shape.
e) chess, chop, chamber, charm, charity, future.
f) phone, photo, phenomenon, phantom, pharos, philharmonic, phase.
g) knife, know, knock, knit, knight, knee, knack.
h) what, where, when, wheel, whiff, whig, whip, whim.
15. Transcribe the following words.
 Pan, pane, tap, tape, red, reed, them, theme, miss, mice, shin, shine, rob, robe, dot,

dote, tub, tube, duck, duke, pad, pat, bad, bat, fan, fat, tell, tent, kid, grin, wig.
Pym, Bake, pale, eke, globe, we, sweep, side, style, hole, robe, yoke, duke, sod,
yon, hot, nun, hug, ruff, fume, tube, be, go, my, K, gulf, shame, shame, dense,
solve, aid, hail, shut, smash, chip, chain, waist, bay, day, by, chop, chest, ship,
shelf, shape, C, D, fish, chip, pea, sea, tea, beach, spring, lung, die, lie, bye, join,
job, tea, tree, beech, jest, thin, freeze, this, that, these, those, foe, pie, cease, lymph,
nymph, cab, cup, fact, fat, fatal, vat, vacant, back, bake, neck, yes, yet, agent, back,
bacon, yell, typist, tax, sex, famous, final, cell, cent, ceiling, prince, dunce, silent,
as, has, pilot, match, mate, fetch, fate, crutch, gent, gin, total, badge, open, bridge,
moment, mob, pig, page, red, rage, sell, shell, human, pet, Pete, student, stud, fill,
file, lack, lace, music, land, mice, lake, back, bake, bike, flag, act, jade, cage, cup,
Yale, slab, guide, guest, shot, cap, value, due.

Sounds Letters Examples

[ i: ] e, ee me, see, bee, tree, three, meet
ea tea, eat, read, speak, clean, please
ie, ei field, believe, receive
[i] i ill, miss, fish, dinner
y system, happy, city
[e] e bell, pen, end, get
ea+d (th) bread, head, breakfast, healthy
[ɔ] o not, model, rock, continent
w+a want, was, watch
qu+o quantity
[ ɔ:] or more, order, store
aw, au law, saw, raw
ou+gt+ht bought, thought
al, all all, hall, always, wall
alk talk, stalk, balk
qu+ar quarter
[æ] a cat, happy, animal
[ɑ:] ar party, mark, arm, garden
alm, alf, alve calm, drama ,half,
aff, aft, ath staff, craft, father
ant, ance, anch plant, dance, branch
 ass, st, sk, sp pass, past, ask, grasp
[ʌ] gun, London, brother
[ ju:] u user, music, huge, tune
ew new, stew
eu neutral,
ue, ui hue, suit
[ u:] r, l, j + u June, rude
o, oo + l,m,n move, room, cool, spoon
ew crew, blew
ue, ui blue, juice, fruit
ou group, route
[u] oo look, book, foot
u put, full, sugar
ou could, should, would
neutral a, e about, violent
sound[ə] o, i memory, reason, family
[ɜ:] er, ur, ir serve, burn, sir
or work,
ear earn, earth
[ɪə] ea ear, dear
ere mere, here
[eə] are rare, share
air air, hair
ere there, where
[eɪ] a name, blame
ai, ay aim, wait, play, may
ei (ai) + gh eight, straight
ey they
ea break, great
[ɑɪ] i, ie ice, nice, lie, die
i+ld, i+nd mild, kind
i+gh fight, night
y, uy my, style, apply, guy
[ɔɪ] oi, oy oil, voice, boy, toy
[ɔu] o no, open, vote
o+ld old, bold
oa, ow road, coast, soap

1. Read the following words:

/ ɔ / - was, what, want, wash, watch;
/ e / - head, dead, bread, death, health;
/ ə / - worker, driver, painter, famous, dangerous, various, doctor, tractor,
conductor;
/ æ / - lad, bat, fat, cat,
/ i / - money, hockey, trolley, wind, window, city, money, holiday, lady, lazy,
fifty, seventy;
/ ju: / – suit, endue , imbue, ensue, due, cue, sue, tune, cute, suitor;

/ u / - look, book, took, cook, should, could, improvement, prove, move, , sugar,
full, push, bush, bull, stool, rook, crook, hook, nook, shook, hook, foot, wood,
wool, good, stood
/ ɜ: / - her, first, fur, early, work, term, third, burn, word, person, shirt, turn, earn,
world, serve, skirt, curtain, learn, worth, earth, learn, curl, bird, hurl, firm, murk;
/ ʌ / - lunch, son, young, blood, enough, cup, some, country, flood, rough, but,
love, couple, tough, must, mother, trouble, some, come, among, money, son, won,
wonderful, front, glove, love, lovely, brother, other;
/ u: / - do, moon, group, fruiter, who, spoon, trouble, tourist, fruity, move, too,
though, soon, cool, fool, true, fruitage, blue, rule, June, rumor, jubilee, fruit, rue,
imbrue, juice, fruitless, clue, cruise, sluice, fruitful, flute, ruse, juicy, soother,
money, cruiser, cooler, rude, scooter, sooner, movement, spook, saloon, baboon;
/ i: / - we, week, weak, field, receive, he, seek, speak, piece, deceive, she, meet,
mean, niece, seize, these, see, flea, chief, ceiling, tree, green, street,
feel, sea, meat, team, peace, tea, read, lead, reader, leader, key, brief;
/ ɑ: / - far, father, pass, ask, half, plant, hard, rather, grass, task, calm, can't, star,
bath, last, grasp, palm, grant, park, path, past, mask, calf, demand, after, craft,
grass, class, fast, rather, half; France, chance, dance, glance, trance, branch, stanch,
ranch planch, fast, aren’t, clasp, lance, stanch, cast, vast, shan’t, staff, chaff, aft,
craft, shaft, bluff ,bath, lath, fluff, basket, dancer, craftsman, nasty, grafter, master,
glassy, advance, engraft, supplant, enchant, implant, entrance, command, enhance,
replant, unclasp, disbranch, transplant, calves, halves, charm, farm, harm, balm,
barn, calf, scarf;
/ ɔ: / - maw, short, all, author, daughter, fought, war, yaw, sought, door, fall,
because, taw, taught, raw, brought, warm, floor, dawn, chalk, wrought, draw,
caught, slaw, bought, warn, , more, small, saw, launch, thought, jaw, wardrobe,
ball, tall, caw, call, small, talk, walk, war, award, reward, law, strawberry, autumn,
four, ought, court, course, your, fourth, paw, thaw, naught;
/ ɔɪ / - boil, boy, coin, toy, spoil, moist, noise, voice, soil, choice, troy, moil, roil,
toil, groin, loin, soy, joy, cloy, noel, oil, join, joist;
/ ɔu / - goat, stone, boat, low, cold, nose, road, know, old, whole, soap, gold, show,
spoke, goal, fold, window, told, coat, boat, toast, slow, mold, narrow, grow, snow,
sold, hold, bold, would, foam;
/ ɑu / - found, how, round, now, out, down, South, town, house, round, out, about,
brown, down, power, powder;
/ ɑɪ / - fine, fight, child, kind, sign, life, light, mild, find, design, sky, night, wild,
mild, designer, try, high, blind, mind, die, tie, lie, night, high, sight,
flight, kind, find, neigh, bind, rind, nigh, thigh, tight, might, slight, right, bright,
plight;
/ eɪ / - make, rain, day, grey, eight, lake, wait, say, they, weigh, take, main, may,
obey, neighbor, date, point, play, pay, today, aim, paint, nail, change, strange,
exchange, they, weight, neigh, freight, straight;
/uə / - poor, tour, moor; sure, surely;
/ eə / - parents, pair, there, bear, hair, pear , where, spare, air, hair, chair, pair, fair;
/ ɪə / - near, here, dear, mere, hear, ear, clear, dear, fear

2. Transcribe these words and read them:

Deep, snow, clean, seat, raw meat, new grain, each toy, low voice, flew
low, soothe Brown, shrewd boy, grey soil, show-boat, weak moan, blue
mood, good wood, new glue, frail maid, green paint, main jail, took aim,
wool goat, staunch crowd, gay queen, plain boot, low lawn, round cloud,
foul hawk, sharp teeth, new tooth, dark hood, proud joy, loud noise, good
choice, cheap clay, sea coast,  bare, fat, fan, fire, pad, tell, chair, kid, grin, more,
wig, Pym, cure, bake, pale, bar, far, eke, globe, herb, fir, we, sweep, for, fur, word,
side, style, urn, farmer, hole, robe, care, here, lure, farm, yoke, duke, sod, horn,
worm, serve, burn, nun, ruff, fume, tube, be, hair, dare, mere, go, my, K, gulf, hair,
fear, mire, harsh, shame, shame, dense, board, berth, sir, burn, world, aid, hail,
shut, smash, chip, turn, former, hare, chain, waist, bay, day, by, chop, chest, ship,
girl, horse, starve, roar, shelf, shape, C, D, fish, chip, mare, square, pea, sea, beach,
spring, sort, fair, star, lung, die, bye, jam, jar, byre, job, tea, tree, beech, jest, germ,
thin, freeze, this, these, that, those, foe, nor, pie, first, fern, dire, cease, lymph,
furnish, tyrant, sturdy, student, care, cab, cup, fair, fact, fatal, mare, mat, note, rare,
vat, hare, vacant, near, back, lake, beer, tire, shore, neck, hoarse, yes, yet, agent,
pure, back, during, bacon, third, yell, birch, typist, err, tax, sex, famous, short,
final, cell. Lord, hurt, cent, ceiling, purse, prince, silent, work, as, has, pilot,
worker, mate, her, fetch, fate, verb, tyrant, serve, bird, crutch, gent, gin, total, burn,
perfect, badge, open, bridge, moment, mob, sell, shell, guide, due, varnish. 
   Back, bark, had, hard, gem, germ, ten, tern, twill, twirl, spit, sprit, cock, cork,
shot, short, cub, curb, feud, neutral, feudal, deuce, cue, Europe, dew, few, new,
newt, ewe, dice, niece, field, yield, chief, grief, grieve, belief, believe, achieve,
brief, thief, shriek, priest, shield, siege. Great, break, steak; bear, year, wear, tear,
pear, swear, they, grey, prey, whey, rein, vein, feint, eight, freight, weight. Eye,
height, either, neither, dead, head, bread, ready, meadow, steady, thread, death,
feather, leather, weather, breath, health, wealth, peasant, pleasant, pheasant,
measure, treasure, pleasure, range, change, haste, waste, paste, strange, danger.
Find, mind, bind, child, wild, mild, able, table, fable, cradle, idle, rifle, trifle, bible,
bridle, cycle, noble, bugle, scarce, negro, nitrogen, hydrogen, micron, migrant.
Old, told, sold, fold, hold, gold, droll, bolt, live, love, about, above, give, clever,
river, vivid, seven, eleven, every, heavy, ever, never, heaven, solid, valid, static,
visit, physics, rapid, Spanish, Latin, cabin, radish, satin, credit, merit, limit, finish,
profit, polish, florin, punish. Capital, family, energy, medical, mineral, physical,
comedy, opera, origin, probably, enemy, melody. 
3. Read the following words and word combinations and explain the reading
rules.
a) weight, lain, coin, play, neighbor, neutral, grew, pie, pool, took, toy,
autumn, how, know, narrow, true, group, bread, peace, feel, dare, mere,
where, sore, ore, nasty, salt, lure, sure, jerk, jaw, fruit, foe, paw, hair, dear,
chair, peer, car, moor;
b) west, warm, lid, hint, hay, quick, fling, flight, site, sight, prey, ray, burn, lone,
lord, cord, circle, line, their, note, write, wound, few, huge, tube, white, lesson,
you, eight, man, men, woman, women, gate, let, parent, bell, left, west, cube,
mouth, top, pot, there, where, low, see, good, book, boil, soil, first, firm, fur, form,
large, car, tomb, loom, make, bow, mean, black, bag, we, they, north, because, our,
Peter, Mary, text, south, sea, tea, right, east, know, knew, geology, book, tell, plan,
hid, run, apple, this, that, word, where, mathematics, with, thick, thin, got, rot, god,
study, end, England, Ukraine, night, live, leave, bridge, call, hand;
c) a white bear, a poor fellow, a new dish, a low couch, a big mouth, a narrow path,
a broken chair, an old gypsy, chilly weather, brown bread, good maize, bitter beer,
fresh air, red hair, bad flour, repeat each word, correct these mistakes, close the
window, take the pill.

4. Read the following words and word combinations and explain the reading
rules.
a) farmer – warder, varnish – warship, barman – wardress, farther – warmer;
b) former – warder, Cornish – warty, corner – warmer, corny – warship;
c) work – worker, worse – worse, worth – worthy, work – workman, world –
worldly, worst – worsen, word – wordy, worm – wormy;
d) warmer – wormy, wardress – worthy, quarter – wordy, award – a word, warder
– worker, warship – worship, reward – reword.

5. Group the words according to the type of reading of the vowel:

Sport, wore, slave, solve, hunt, ward, hard, wove, stove, worry, hurry, pause, paw,
care, ware, as, was, soar, sour, sore, war, pore, square, spoor, flour, yarn, yawn,
more, moor, pure, urge, lynx, hear, room, raze, roam, here, prey, tire, fair, raise,
rise, rood, four, or, there, hair, their, they, blue, blew, ore, boar, feud, few, lie, lay,
loud, load, law, fruit, fare, fur, far, fire, cool, coal, curl, girl, dire, dear, true, warm,
work, farm, where, your, tyre, fear, deal, queer, quire, quart, world, peace.

6. Read the following words with the first stressed syllable:

valley, Charley, launcher, cooler, sparrow, famous, ferrous, armor, harbor,
Monday, August, outer, spacer, rarely, shower, airship, mountain, Mary, Friday,
vary, captain, steamer, staring, speaker, freedom, parent, carry, warrant, needless,
fruitless, neutral, oral, warmer, newly, forum, horror, story, cruiser, fewer, firing,
tyrant, spiral, virgin, current, purer, poorer.

7. Read the following words with the final stressed syllable:

Renew, produce, beneath, asleep, despite, inform, obtain, around, below, occur,
devoice, afire, avail, away, revere, repay, request, require, repair, aware, afford,
adore, appear, default, mistook, devour, aboard, because, against, awake, ashore,
afloat, afraid, ajar, before, demure, anew, inquire, endear, surprise, reward, reserve,
sincere, affirm, reform, immure, appeal.

READING OF CONSONANTS AND SOME COMBINATIONS

Letters Reading Position in the word Examples
c [s] before e, i, y nice, pencil, cycle
[k] in other cases
ck [k] after short vowel black
ch [ʧ] always chess, teach
tch [ʧ] after short vowel match, catch
g [ʤ] before e, i, y page, gin, gypsy
[g] in other cases green, garden, go, gun
gh - almost always light, night
[f] exceptions laugh, enough
kn [n] at the beginning of a word knee, know, knife
 nk [ŋk] at the end of a word ink, thank
ng [ŋ] at the end of a word and in ing, sing, singing, singer
er words formed of verbs
[ŋg] before l, r and u+vowel single, hungry, language
ph [f] always phone
qu [kw] at the beginning and in the quick, square, require
middle of words
[k] at the end of words technique, unique
s [s] at the beginning of a word, see, test, caps
before and after voiceless cons.
[z] after vowel, voiced consonant bees, opens, please
and between vowels
ss [s] in the middle and at the end of missing, Bess
words
sh [ʃ] In any position shave, dish
sion [ʒn] after vowel vision
ssion [ʃn] always mission, profession
sure [ʒə] after vowel leisure, pleasure
th [θ] at the beginning and the end of thick, myth
notional words
[ð] between vowels , in form words, bathe, the, this, then
demonstrative pronouns and
some adverbs
tion [ʃn] always revolution, nation
ture [ʧə] always lecture, nature
wh [w] before vowels, except o when, why, which, but
who [hu:], whose [hu:z]
wr [r] at the beginning of a word write, wrap
x [ks] before consonants and at the end next, text
of words
[gz] before a stressed vowel exam

1. Read the words with the letter C:

a) cist – cyst, cab – cad – cam, Cum – scum – cut, since – fence, cell – celt, can –
camp – cap, Cub – cud – scud, mince – pence, cell – cent, cob – cod – con, since –
mince, Cis – cess, clog – crop – cop, fence – pence;
b) Pack – stack – slack, duck – stuck – struck, Deck – neck – reck, Nick – stick –
click, lock – clock – block;
c) sell – cell – Kent, slap – clap, slot – clot, sent – cent – kept, slump – clump, slick
– click, sit – cyst – kiss, slip – clip, struck – cluck;
c) sat – cat, sob – cod, Sam – cam, stud – cud, sum – cum, sup – cup;
d) desk – deck brisk – brick, fish – flick, disk – dick risk – rick disc – slick, act –
pact, fact – pact, crab – cram, crag – crack, stick –sect, tact – duct, crib – script;
e) Crimp, Rick, deck, crop, lock, suck, clack, Clip, Lick, neck, clock, crux, struck,
back, Click, cress, feck, dock, crump, luck, sack, Dick, clap, specs, sock, cluck,
cram, stack, Sick, fleck, cross, rock, duck, cramp, lack.

2. Read the words with the letter G:

a) gem – gym, gest – gist, gip – gyp, gin – gym;
b) gap – gas – gad, gum – glum – grunt, got – god – gob, grog – gloss;
c) glad – grab – grub, gut – gust – gulp, golf – gulf – gas, gum – gun – gull;
d) Bag – lag – hag – brag – crag, Bug – lug – hug – fug – plug, Beg – leg – keg –
clef – peg, Bog – log – hog – fog – flog, Big – pig – brig – grig – big;
e) Dog – dodge, leg – fledge bad – badge, Log – lodge, hog – hodge, pod – podge,
Bag – badge, brig – bridge, bud – budge, Plug – plunge egg – edge fled – fledge.

3. Read the words with th:

a) thin, thick, theft, thud, myth, math, thigh, Blyth, kith, thrum, thrift, thrust, depth,
thrill, this – myth, that – math, with – filth, this – pith, that – depth, with – Smith,
this – throb, that – thrill, with – Blyth, then, thus, that, this, them;
d) thin, think, thing, three, throw, though, thought, thirty, Thursday, thousand,
healthy, wealthy, something, anything, everything, bath, both, cloth, earth, death;
this, that, these, those, their, then, they, them, though, other, another, mother,
brother, father, either, neither, with, weather, together, further.

4. Read the words with the letter S:

sit, since, six, self, send, see, sleep, slow, say, save, so, small, soon, start, stay, still,
face, miss, listen, last; as, does, was, has, is, days, dogs, moves, his, hers, cause,
lose, phase, noise, busy, easy, lazy, noisy, nose, rose.

5. Read the words with / ʃ - ʒ /:

she, shall, ship, shop, shape, sharp, should, shut, shout, short,

show, shore, shoe,

shine, sure, nation, ocean, fish, wash, push, treasure, measure,

pleasure, usual, division, decision, collision, invasion, visual, vision,

illusion, inclusion, provision, explosion, leisure, rouge, beige,

garage, barrage, region.

6. Read the words:

mice, corn, stress, sack, crystal, resist, central, cotton, accident, racial, accost,
fence, husband, brick, cinder, scenic, cancel, initial, since, page, game, large,
Gypsy, gibber, guilt, garden, German, globe, huge, guitar, grid, league, slash,
chart, shade, chronically, torch, shame, chap, ash, echo, such, crash, scheme,
spring, thick, then, quest, phase, finger, cipher, thing, equip, further, physics, rung,
frequent, swing, than, angle, phenomenon, worthy, sequence, lecture, fusion,
expression, mention, precision, function, future, permission, provision,
construction, picture, transmission, right, white, knot, wreck, whoop, know, while,
wrist, fought, knack, whip, wriggle, freight, whale, high.

7. Transcribe these words and read them:

class, half, fashion, chemicals, profession, abolish, account, job, year, work,
factory, week, visitor, wage, admit, variety, vault, advice, full, home, utmost,
agency, employ, advance, utilize, update, brand, joint, dollar, sharing, assert,
movable, ordinary, doubtful, earning, associate, unearned, typical, tycoon, backing,
advise, trust, social, creditor, bankrupt, insurance, benefit, income, gold, overtime,
discount, budget, flexible, loan, forward, buyer, seller, capable, transfer, free,
token, process, tide, third, location, shift, tax, cash, recession, item, cost, certify,
busy, data, competitive, coverage, technology, retail, purchase, taxpayer, chief,
client, coin, estate, profits, tariff, commerce, grants, finance, supplier, population,
complaint, market, contract, swing, support, production, storing, landlord,
copyright, crash, commodity, burden, verification, industrial, dominant, currency,
stockbroker, monetary, design, source, project, customs, delivery, deal, fuel,
debtor, shrink, well-run, shipment, urban, repair, legal, seal, schedule, exchange,
revival, annual, response, reserve, demand, depot, repay, official, proposal, unified,
postpone, welfare, part, overplay, display, global, emission, expenses, necessity,
migrant, losing, trademark, force, franchisee, gamble, habitant, identical, layoff,
excessive, bonus, investment, order, interact.

6. CLASSIFICATION OF VOWELS

The English vowel phonemes are classified according to the following

principles:
I. According to the stability of articulation.
II. According to the tongue position.
III. According to the height of the raised part of the tongue.
IV. According to the lip position.
V. According to the length of the vowel.
VI. According to the character of vowel end.
1. According to the stability of articulation the English vowel phonemes are
divided into three groups: monophthongs, diphthongs and diphthongoids.
Monophthongs Diphthongs Diphthongized Vowels
i, e, æ, ɔ, u, ʌ, ə, ɑ:, ɔ:, ɜ: ei, ai, au, iə, eə, əu, ɔi, uə i:, u:
A monophthong is a pure vowel sound in the pronunciation of which speech
organs do not change their position.
 A diphthong is a complex sound which consists of two vowel elements
pronounced so as to form a single syllable. The first element of a diphthong is
called the nucleus; it is strong, clear and distinct. The second element is called the
glide; it is rather weak.
In the articulation of diphthongized vowels (diphthongoids) speech organs
very slightly change their position.
2. According to the tongue position vowels are divided into five groups:
front, front-retracted, central, back and back-advanced.
Front Front- Central Back Back-
retracted advanced
i:, e, æ i ɜ:, ə, ʌ u:, ɔ:, ɔ, ɑ: u
Front vowels are produced when the bulk of the tongue is in the front part of
the mouth. At the same time the front part of the tongue is raised in the direction of
the hard palate, forming a large empty space in the back part of the mouth, e.g. see,
spell, man.
Front-retracted vowels are produced with the bulk of the tongue in the front
part of the mouth. However it is a little retracted, and the front of the tongue is
nearer to centre than to front is raised, e.g. fish.
Central vowels are produced when the central part of the tongue is raised
towards the juncture between the hard and the soft palate, e.g. muscles, work,
about.
Back vowels are produced when the bulk of the tongue is in the back of the
mouth. At the same time the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the soft
palate, forming an empty space in the front part of the mouth, e.g. got, saw, too.
Back-advanced vowels are produced when the bulk of the tongue is in the
back part of the mouth. However, it is a little advanced, and the central part of the
tongue is raised towards the front part of the soft palate, e.g. arm, pull.
3. According to the height of the raised part of the tongue vowels are divided
into three groups: close, open and mid-open.
Close Open Mid
i:, i, u:, u æ, a:, ɔ, ʌ e, ɜ:, ə , ɔ:
 Close vowels are produced when the tongue comes close to the roof of the
mouth, e.g. see, sit, too, put.
Open vowels are produced when the tongue is very low in the mouth, e.g.
man, arm, got, cup.
Mid vowels are produced when the tongue is half way between its high and
low position, e.g. ten, fur, ago, saw.
4. According to the lip position vowels are divided into two groups: rounded and
unrounded.

Unrounded Vowels

Rounded Vowels

i:, i, e, æ, ɜ:, ə, ʌ, ɑ:
 ɔ:, ɔ, u, u:

Unrounded vowels are pronounced when the lips are neutral or, see, sit, ten,
man, cup, arm, fur, ago.
Rounded vowels are produced when the lips are drawn together so that the
opening between them is more or less round [ɔ:, ɔ, u, u:], e.g. hot, saw, put, too.
5. According to the length of the vowels they are divided into short and long.
Long Vowels

Short Vowels

i:, u:, ɑ:
, ɔ:, ɜ:

i, e, ɔ, u, ʌ, ə

6. According to the character of vowel end they are divided into free and
checked.
A checked vowel is a stressed vowel followed by a strong voiceless
consonant and a vowel is cut off by it, e.g. better, cart
A free vowel is a vowel followed by a weak consonant or by no consonant
and the end of it is weak. Such vowels are in closed syllables ending in a voiced
consonant or in an open syllable, before, money, beggar, bead.

7. REDUCTION
Reduction is a historical process of weakening, shortening and
disappearance of a vowel sound in unstressed position in a word usually in the
connected speech.
In English there is a great number of function words which can be
pronounced either in their strong form or in their weak form. A strong form is
usually called a full form, while a weak form has the name of a reduced form.
Function words influenced by the process of reduction are articles, auxiliary
and modal verbs; personal pronouns, conjunctions, indefinite pronouns, particles,
prepositions (except at the end of sense-group or followed by a pronoun).
These words have strong forms when they are stressed. When they
unstressed they have one of the weak forms:
Compare:
She can swim faster than I can. - [ʃikən swim fɑ:stə ðən ai kæn]
She is from Scotland. – Where are you from?
[ʃiz frəm skɔtlənd] – [weərə ju:frɔm].
There are three degrees of reduction: quantitative reduction, qualitative
reduction, zero reduction.
1. Quantitative reduction is a shortening of the length of a vowel sound, e. g.
 he [hi:— hi], she [ʃi:- ʃi].
2. Qualitative reduction is a process of weakening of a vowel, e.g. but [bәt], can
[kæn-kən].
3. Zero reduction is the omission of a vowel (the elision of vowels) in the
unstressed position, e.g.
I'm up already. [aim ʌp "ᴐ:lredi].
Do you live here? [dju liv hiə].

Strong and Weak Forms

Words Strong Forms Weak Forms
Articles
the ði: ðə + consonant
ði + vowel
a æ+C ə+C
an æn + V ən + V
Prepositions
at æt ət
for fɔ: + C fə + C
fɔ:r + V fər + V
from frɔm frəm
into intu: intə + C
intu + V
of ɔf əv, v
to tu: tə + C
tu + V
Pronouns
you ju: ju, u
he hi: hi, i
she ʃi: ʃi
we wi: wi
me mi: mi
her hɜ: + C hə, ə + C
hɜ:r + V hər, ər + V
his hiz iz
him him im
us ʌs əs, s
them ðem ðəm, əm
your jɔ: + C jɔ:, jə + C
jɔ:r + V jɔ:, jər + V
 our auə + C aə + C
auər + V aər + V
Verbs
be bi: bi
been bi:n bin
am æm əm, m
are ɑ: + C ɑ, ə + C
ɑ:r + V ɑr, ər + V
is iz z– after vowels and
voiced consonants
s - after voiceless
consonants
iz – after s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ
was wɔz wəz
were wɜ: + C wɜ, wə + C
wɜ:r + V wɜr, ər + V
have hæv həv, əv, v – after personal
pronouns
has hæz həz, əz, z after voiced
consonants
s- after voiceless
consonants
had hæd həd, əd, d - after personal
pronouns
can kæn kən, kn
could kud kəd, kd
must mʌst məst, məs
will wil l
would wud wəd, əd, d - after
personal pronouns
shall ʃæl ʃəl, ʃl - after personal
pronouns
should ʃud ʃəd, ʃd - - after personal
pronouns
do du: du, də
does dʌz dəz
Conjunctions
and ænd ənd, ən, n
that ðæt ðət
but bʌt bət
than ðæn ðən, ðn
as æz əz
or ɔ: + C ɔ:, ə + C
ɔ:r + V ɔ:, ər + V
Particles
to tu: tə + C
tu + V
there ðeə ðə + C
ðər + V

Note! The following words are never reduced:

who, which, what, where, how, when, then, on, in, with, within, this, these, those,
that, I, they, it, my, their, our

1. Decide if the underlined words are likely to be in their weak form or their
strong form.
1. –Who did you give the money to?
- To my sister.
2. I’d like a cup of coffee.
3. – My sister used to go out with Elvis.
- Not the Elvis!
4. What’s your dress made of?
5. That’s her! Over there.
6. - Do you like jazz?
- Yes, I do.
7. I’m going to study math and physics, but I’m not sure where.
8. – Who’s that letter from?
- From my parents.
9. I really like rock and roll.
10. – Which did you order? Fish or meat?
- I ordered fish and meat. I’m feeling hungry.

2. Find the words in which unstressed vowels are not reduced:

a) government, assurance, terrible, crock ware

b) translation, improvable, partial, monotonous

c) meaningless, soluble, wisdom, trainer

d) monkey, canvas, carpet, dismount

3. Choose the words, in which the unstressed vowel is not reduced and has its
primary alphabetical meaning. Explain the rule:

stamina, contest, participant, costume, sedentary, snooker, polo, badminton, racket,

victory, samba, hockey.

4. Transcribe the following words and explain why the unstressed vowel is
reduced or not:

[ba‫׀‬nana ‫׀‬profit pre‫׀‬vented ‫׀‬

tribune ma‫׀‬chine ‫׀‬ticket ‫׀‬statue po‫׀‬litical ‫׀‬lovely
‫׀‬
dangerous ‫׀‬movement ‫׀‬horrible ‫׀‬echo ‫׀‬giddy]

5. Transcribe the sentences and name the type of reduction in the words "can"
and "he".
I can read it alone. He is right.

6. Give examples to illustrate the verb "to do" in the reduced and non-reduced
forms.

7. Find reduction in the following sentences.

1. He is 17 but I am not sure.
2. She wants to be your friend.
3. When will you come there?
4. Give me your pen.
5. Her cake is good but yours is better.
6. We will go to London.
7. I want to see you again on Monday.
8. We can speak English as well.
9. How did they get there?
10. I must give it to you.
11. Are you serious?
12. Mary did not like this film, didn’t she?
13. He could do it for us.
14. Have you been at home or not?
15. Were they in Moscow 2 days ago? I should know it.

8. ELISION
Elision is a process where one or more phonemes are dropped to simplify the
pronunciation. It may occur for both vowels and consonants, although it is much
more common for consonants. The reason is the difficulty of putting certain
consonant sounds together while maintaining a regular rhythm and speed.
Elision can be historical and contemporary. English spelling is full of
"silent" letters which bear witness to historical elision, e.g. walk /wo:k/, knee /ni:/,
knight /nait/, castle /ka:sl/, write /rait/, iron /aɪən /.There is a tendency nowadays to
pronounce sounds which are not pronounced as a result of historical elision, e.g.
often / ɔfn /—> /of t ə n/.
Elision of Vowels
Loss of weak vowel after p, t, k
tomato [tˈmɑːtəʊ]
potato [pˈteɪtəʊ]
Loss of the weak vowel /ə /+ n, l or r
police [pˈliːs]
correct [kˈrekt]
Loss of initial /ə /
- when followed by a continuant and preceded by a word final consonant
He was annoyed
get another
- when final /ə / occurs with a following final /r / and word initial vowel /ə /
father and son
as a matter of fact
Elision of Consonants
Elision is the omission of one or more consonant sounds in a word or a phrase.
There are 5 the most common types of consonant elision:
1. H-dropping in auxiliary verbs and pronouns: have, has, him, he, her;
2. T-dropping: listen, fasten, castle;
3. L-dropping before a vowel sound [ɔː]: already, alright;
4. Loss of plosive, when 2 plosives are together [pp, bb, tt, pb, td, tb, kk…]:
stop touching, lamppost, Tom cooks.
5. Loss of syllables in monosyllabic words: police [p-li:s], dictionary [dɪkʃ-ri],
vocabulary [və(ʊ)ˈ-ka-bjʊ-ri].

- /t,d/ in clusters
acts [æks]
landlady [ˈlænleɪdɪ]
- other consonants in clusters
clothes [kləʊz]
the Sixth’s throne [sɪkθ θrəun] or [sɪksrəun]
- /t/ at word boundaries
the next day. (/t/ elided between /ks/ and /d/)
reached Paris (/t/ elided between / ʧ / and /p/)
a carved statuette (/d/ elided between /v/ and /st/)
Loss of final /v/ in of before consonants.
lots of them [lɒts ɔ ðem]
waste of time [weɪst ɔ taɪm]

1. Transcribe and read the examples below, observe the elision of / t, d /:

cleft palate, slammed the door, waste paper, hair-brained scheme, crushed
strawberries, stringed musical instrument, bathed the baby, trapped by, cracked
pots, dubbed film, bugged telephone, enriched foodstuffs, ridged surface, dived
below, closed doors, breathed deeply.
2. Transcribe the words below. Single out the vowels that may be elided in these
words:
nursery, temporary, reasonable, petitioner, phonetically, parliament, policeman,
potato, buffalo, difficult, preference, government, banana, secretary, bachelor,
boundary, Edinburgh, naturally, several, especially, awfully, suppose, carefully,
comfortable, history, possibly, machine, perhaps, suffering, interesting.

3. Transcribe the words below. Single out the consonants that may be elided
in these words:
handbag, humpty-dumpty, landscape, postman, attempt, sanctuary, a sixth round
empty, next stop, last Saturday, night time, lamb, next time, crumbs, punctual.

4. Some of the words in the list below have elision; others do not. Pronounce
each word correctly and say how many syllables it has:
Interesting, medicine, evening, history, laboratory, similar, literal, basically, every,
nursery, camera, elementary, business, desperate, necessary, diamond, virtually,
extraordinary, cemetery, different, momentary, general, preference, favorite,
diaper, temperature, Barbara, federal, melody, traveling, classify, veterinarian,
respiratory.

5. In the following sentences, the words in bold show how certain words or
phrases sound in ordinary, fast speech. Work out how they should really be
written.
Example: A Hollywood studio wants to film my scream-play! = screenplay
1. Tonight there are likely to be some miss patches in the North.
2. The pry minister is due to visit Russia within the next few weeks.
3. Careful on that street. There’s a lot of bag guys there.
4. The next strain will be arriving at platform 2 in 5 minutes.
5. I wooden chews that one if I were you.
6. I’m not hungry. I’ll just have a letter salad, I think.
7. I really ought to buy some new close.
8. He was blown up by a lamb-mine.
9. There were sick students waiting for the teacher.
10. You shouldn’t stay under a sum-bed too long or you’ll burn.
11. The prisoner was taken away wearing hang-cuffs.
12. Their goods were kept in coal storage for months.
13. No, I don’t want a burger. I don’t like farce food.
14. I’m not really a cap person. I much prefer dogs.
15. I think England last won the World Cup over 30 years ago.
16. We’d better face the fax. They’re not going to accept our offer.
17. We’ve got to go ahead. Now’s not the time to get coal feet.
18. Hey, mind the gap! It’s really wide on this platform.
19. Sorry, this is a private party. If you’re not on the guest list you can’t get in.
20. The defendant pleaded knock guilty.
21. Can you lend me sick squid till Friday?
22. There were ache girls and ape boys at the party.
23. Of course, these things only happen in farce peach.

6. Decide what the elisions are in the following sentences.

1. We finally arrived the next day.
2. This is Everton’s last chance to win the league.
3. We had a cold lunch in a small bar.
4. If you visit Britain , you must try some fish and chips.
5. Her mum always served sherry on Christmas morning.

7. In the following phrases indicate write a if there is elision in the highlighted

segment and b if there isn't.
1. I was saved by the bell.
2. He looked ok.
3. The last face I saw was yours.
4. Has he been yet?
5. Will he make it?
6. The first time.
7. Will he go tomorrow?
8. I looked round the market.

8. Match the following phrases with their equivalents in phonetic script.

1. Do you want a cup of tea? a) fænsijə bai twi:t

2. You must be joking! b) gɔtəni ʧeinʤ
3. Come off it! c) gɔtə gɔu twɜ:k
4. Shut up! d) ʤə wʌnə kʌpə ti:
5. I’m worn out. e) ai mɔf tə bed
6. Fancy to bite to eat? f) kʌ mɔfit
7. I’m off to bed. g) ʃʌ tʌp
8. Got any change? h) kənjə lemijə kwid
9. Got to go to work. i) jə mʌs bi ʤɔukiŋ
10. Can you lend me a quid? j) aim wɔ: naut

9. Work out the following questions and responses from their transcription:

1. wɔtsjə neim? a) fəgɔtə nɔ:redi?

2. weəʤə kʌm frɔm? b) frə mitəlijə nju:
3. fænsijə kɔfi? c) nɔt ʤʌ snau, θæŋks
4. jə wɔf nau? d) həul dɔnə sek
5. gɔt ðə taim? e) tem pa: stu:

10. Here are some words and phrases written in phonemic script. Transcribe
them into ordinary script, and then decide where they fit into the text below:

sɔ:t ə `pɜ:sən `wʌndəfəl pleis ðeiv gɔt it

rein `eksələm `ma:kits `mavələs
`stəʊni gəʊ in ðə si: `i:vəm betər
braʊn su:p `a:kitekʧəz nais bri:z
`mu:viŋ `kʌp"prais `hɔlədeiz
wemp bʌst fən`tæstik(ə)li

1. Jack and I were going to Italy for our holidays, but the __1__ travel firm that
was offering three weeks in the sun for $500 __2__. We went to Brighton instead.
Now Brighton is a __3__ to have a seaside holiday, provided you don’t want to
__4__ lie on the beach. The beach is __5__, you see, and the sea is a cold, __6__.
But the restaurants in Brighton are __7__ good. Indian, Chinese, you name it,
__8__. There are theatres and cinemas and some really __9__. Even the __10__.
You can have a __11__ holiday in Brighton. And it’s __12__ if you’re
the__13__likes a constant stiff __14__, fast-__15__ clouds and a good chance of
__16__.

11. Find elision in the following sentences.

1. He was such a busy man, that he often forgot his hat.
2. I have almost done my homework but suddenly I have heard some whistle and
as always lost my concentration.
3. Mashed potato was not tasty and I didn’t know how to tell it to her.
4. Knife is too sharp. Listen to me and be careful.
5. Today was a bad day and I have taken wrong decisions.
6. He has forgotten to fasten his seatbelt.
7. I don’t like this old doll.
8. We are in such a hurry, we are going to the library.
9. Think carefully where the castle is.
10.He has never been to this castle.

CONSONANTS
There are 20 consonants [ «B», «C», «D», «F», «G», «H», «J», «K», «L», «M»,
«N», «P», «Q», «R», «S», «T», «V», «W», «X», «Y», «Z»] in the English
language and 24 consonant phonemes [p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʒ, ∫, ∫h, t∫ , m,
n, ŋ, w, r, 1, j,h.]
Modifications of the English consonants
-aspiration
-palatalization
-labialization
-elision
-assimilation
 ASPIRATION
Aspiration is a strong burst of breath with which these 3 consonant [p, t, k] sounds
are pronounced.
/p/ Peter, please, play, Paul, pick, peace, pit, pig, pass, pill, poison, put;
/t/ take, took, tip, tall, taste, time, till, until, Kate, teacher, teach, tease;
/k/ kiss, Kate, kill, Kim, book, look, keep, kept, could, cake, can, cork.
/p/
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
/t/
A tutor who tooted a flute died to tutor two tooters to toot.
Said the two to the tutor,
“Is it harder to toot Or to tutor two tooters to toot!”
/k/
Nutty Knott was not in.
Nutty Knott was out
Knotting knots in netting.
Nutty Knott was out,
But lots of knots
Were in Nutty Knott’s knotty netting.
1. Which words are pronounced with aspiration?
Tape, cap, be, bet, Kate, pin, line, ten, table, stone, look, took, pane, spy, still,
steal, speak, speed, skill, sky, killer, keep, kitty, kitchen, Kara, kiss, Taylor, tiny,
tin, can, could.

PALATALIZATION
Palatalization refers to the way of pronouncing a consonant in which part of the
tongue is moved close to the hard palate. The following English consonants are
palatalized [ʒ, ∫, dʒ, t∫, l].
/ʒ/ measure, pleasure, treasure, seizure, leisure;
/∫/ she, shy, shine, shake, shook, shoot, shell, caution;
/dʒ / John, Jack, joy, jealous, jeep, jam, journey;
/ t∫/ teacher, China, chase, cheer, cheerful, chain;
/l/ lake, love, pill, dill, deal, like, little, lady, leap, lovely.

Read the following tongue-twisters

/∫/

 She sells sea shells by the sea shore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So

if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
 Shirley has just finished washing this sheet in the washing machine.
 Sharon washed dishes in a dishwasher, next she washed shades in a washing
machine. Should she wash the dishes in the dishwasher, before washing
the shades in the washing machine?
 After much persuasion he took the decision to watch “Treasure Island” on
television at leisure.

/ʒ/

 Beige lingerie is more usual than azure bijou, azure bijou is less usual than beige
lingerie.
 Visual revision of a fuselage for corrosion usually occasions garage, camouflage
and demontage of the fuselage.

/ t∫/

 Cherry teaches children at church. Cherry also checks the rooms and

does chores.
 The teacher changed the question in the challenge. The challengers changed the
answers for the question.
 Charles is a cheerful chicken farmer. A poacher is
watching Charles’ chickens choosing which to snatch, and chuckles at
the chance of a choice chicken to chew for his lunch. But the chuckle
reaches Charles who chases the poacher and catches him.

/dʒ /

 Joyful joggers jog joyously. James, John, Jenny and Johnny are joggers.

 The generous gymnasts like orange juice. The orange juice makes
the gymnasts genuinely happy.
 Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an
imaginary menagerie?

LABIALIZATION
Labialization is the involvement the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity
produces another sound.
The most common type of labialization is when the sound /w/ is preceded any
other consonant sound.
/w/ twinkle, twist, twitter, swan, queen, language, quarter, dwarf, tweed, twisted.

9. CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS

All English consonant phonemes can be classified according to: degree of noise,
manner of place, place of articulation.
According to degree of noise consonant phonemes could be divided into voiced
[b, d, g, v, z, ð, dʒ, ʒ], voiceless [p, t, k, f, s, θ, ∫, h] and sonorants [m, n, ŋ, l, w,
r, j].
According to the manner of place consonant phonemes could be divided into
plosives [b, p, d, t, g, k, m, n, ŋ], fricatives [f, v, ð, θ, z, s ʒ, ∫, h, l, w, r, j] and
affricates [dʒ, t∫].
According to the place of articulation consonant phonemes could be divided into:
1. Labial
2. Lingual
3. Glottal
Labial consonant sounds are divided into: bilabial [b, p, m, w], labia-dental [f,
v];
Lingual consonant sounds are divided into interdental [ð, θ], dental [-----],
alveolar [d, t, n, l, z, s], post-alveolar [r], palato-alveolar [ʒ, ∫, dʒ, t∫], medio-
lingual [j], back-lingual [ g, k, ŋ].
Glottal consonant sound is [h].

10. ASSIMILATION
Assimilation is a process of alternation of speech sounds as a result of which one
of the sounds becomes fully or partially similar to the adjoining sound. Types of
assimilation could be distinguished according to the: 1) direction and 2) degree of
completeness.
Direction of assimilation
-progressive (the articulatory features of one sound are changed under the
influence of the preceding sound ) e.g. dogs [dɒɡz] voiced sound /d/ influenced
voiceless /s/ and /s/ became /z/, cats [kæts] voiceless /t/ influenced /s/ and it
became voiceless too;
-regressive (the articulatory features of one sound are changed under the influence
of the following sound ) e.g in the tree [ in ðə triː] interdental / ð/ influences
alveolar /t/ and it becomes dental;
-reciprocal (double) (mutual influence of the adjacent sounds) e.g. try [ˈtraɪ]
voiceless /t/ influences sonorant /r/ and it becomes partialyy voiceless; post-
alveolar /r/ influences alveolar /t/ and it becomes post-alveolar too.
Degree of completeness
According to the degree of completeness assimilation could be complete and
incomplete (partial).
Assimilation is called complete if the two adjoining sounds become alike or merge
into one: lamppost [ˈlæmpoʊst].
Assimilation is called incomplete when the likeness of the adjoining sounds is
partial as the assimilated sound retains its major articulatory features: play [ˈpleɪ]
voiceless /p/ influences sonorant /l/ and sonorant /l/ becomes partially devoiced.

Main cases of assimilation

Progressive assimilation:
1. Voicing
A voiced sound influences voiceless one and it becomes voiced: goods [ɡʊdz]
2. Devoicing
A voiceless sound influences voiced one and it becomes voiceless: books [bʊks]
3. Loss of aspiration
[S] influences aspirated sounds [p, t, k] and they lose their aspiration: speak, still,
skill.

Regressive assimilation:
1. Interdental sounds [θ, ð] influence alveolar sounds [t, d, n, l, s, z] and they
become dental: on the table [ð → n→ dental];
2. Plosive+plosive →loss of plosion [bb, pp, bp, gg, kk, kg, nn…]: 2 nd plosive
influences the 1st one: good day [d+d → loss of first plosive];
3. Plosive+[l]→ lateral plosion: lateral [l] influences all plosive sounds and they
become lateral: please, glow, blew [l → p, g, b → lateral plosion];
4. Plosive+[n,m] → nasal plosion: nasal [n, m] influence all plosive sounds and
they become nasal: garden, good morning [n, m→ d → nasal plosion];
5. Labio-dental [f,v] influence alveolar [n] or bilabial [m] and they become labio-
dental: sunflower, comfort [f→n, m→ labio-dental];
6. Plosives [d, t]+ affricates [dʒ, t∫]→ affricates influence plosives and affricate
plosion is appeared: Bad Jack [dʒ → b];
7. Plosives [d, t] + [j] → [dʒ, t∫]: would you- [wʊd ju- d+j→ dʒ]; meet you- [miːt
ju- t+j→ t∫];
8. Consonant + [w]→ labiolization (lip-rounding); [w] influences the preceeding
sound and it becomes labiolized: swan [swɑːn], w → s –it becomes labialized:
queen [kwiːn], k+w:
9. [n+g,k→ ŋ]: congress [kɒŋɡrɛs] [g] influences [n] and it becomes nasal [ŋ]; tin
can [tiŋ kæn- [k] influences[n] and it becomes [ŋ];
10. Interdental sounds [θ; ð] + [s] → interdental [θ; ð] become [s]: birth
certificate [bəːθ səˈtɪfɪkət: s→θ→s].

Double (reciprocal) assimilation

1. Alveolar [t,d]+ post-alveolar [r]; [r] influences [t,d] and they become post-
alveolar; voiceless [t] influences sonorant [r] and it becomes partially devoiced;
2. Lateral plosion+ voiceless consonant sound: please [p+l], voiceless [p]
influences sonorant [l] and it becomes partially devoiced; lateral [l] influences
[p] and it becomes lateral too.
3. Nasal plosion+ voiceless consonant sound: Kate knows [t+n], voiceless [t]
influences sonorant [n] and it becomes partially devoiced; nasal [n] influences
[k] and it becomes lateral too.
4. Labialized [w] + voiceless consonant sound: swan [s+w], voiceless [s]
influences labialized [w] and it becomes partially devoiced; labialized [w]
influences voiceless [s] and it becomes lateral too.

1. Find assimilation in the following sentences:

1. Read this book please, I will put it on the table.

2. Bad Jack likes good milk.
3. Would you stay in the middle of the swan?
4. Quick, don’t be slow!
5. The trip is over at last.
6. Try to fix this bookcase.
7. Good bye, my little kitten.
8. I can go to the congress.
9. Rooms are little, you need to take some measures.
10. Tin can is opened.
11. Where is my birth certificate?
12. Sit down, please. Here is a black chair.
13. He worked for his pleasure.
14. When has it happened? The button is broken.
15. A cattle is hot.
16. What time is it? And where is my black cat?
17. Pray for me, my little child.
18. Come to me, bad boy.

2. Make up your own sentences using the following types of assimilations:

Lateral plosion+ devoicing+ dental+ voicing (2);
Nasal plosion+ loss of plosion+ affricate plosion;
Voicing+ labio-dental+ post-alveolar+ devoicing;
Labialization+ nasal ŋ+ devoicing(2)+dental;
Interdental+ nasal plosion+ affricate plosion+labio-dental.

3. Find assimilations in the following collocations:

Good garden, bad decisions, Tom will come, comfortable place, tenth city, fixed
computers, opened bottles, he worked, can get, good child, on the table, in the car,
fix this, play with me, try it, dream about big houses, lamppost.

4. Transcribe the following words and find assimilation in them (progressive,

regressive, reciprocal):
In them, press, calls, trap, tremble, at the theatre, cry, tree, price, friends, play,
triumph, could you, feel well, look carefully, good nose, bad milk, stay here.
5. Find all cases of assimilations in the following sentences.
1. It’s in that box.
2. There are eleven players in a soccer team.
3. Can you see that kid over there?
4. There ten cups on the table.
5. I’m going to give up smoking this year.