PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

Pronunciation Guide
A. INDIVIDUAL SOUNDS
Vowels and diphthongs

The sounds /l/ and /n/ can often be "syllabic" – that is, they can form a syllable by themselves
without a vowel. There is a syllabic / l/ in the usual pronunciation of middle / 'mɪdl/, and a
syllabic /n/ in sudden /'sʌdn/.

Consonants

Weak vowels /i/ and /u/

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 PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

The sounds represented by /i:/ and / ɪ/ must always be made different, as in heat /hi:t/ compared
with hit / hɪt/. The symbol /i/ represents a vowel that can be sounded as either /i:/ or /ɪ/, or as a
sound which is a compromise between them. In a word such ashappy /'hæpi/, younger speakers use
a quality more like /i:/, but short in duration. When /i/ is followed by /ə/ the sequence can also be
pronounced / jə/. So the word dubious can be /'dju:biəs / or /'dju:bjəs/. In the same way, the two
vowels represented /u:/ and /ʊ/ must be kept distinct but /u/ represents a weak vowel that varies
between them. If /u/ is followed directly by a consonant sound, it can also be pronounced as /ə/.
So stimulate can be /'stɪmjuleɪt/ or /'stɪmjəleɪt/.

Weak forms and strong forms

Certain very common words, for example at, for, and can, have two pronunciations. We give the
usual (weak) pronunciation first. The second pronunciation (strong) must be used if the word is
stressed, and also generally when the word is at the end of a sentence. For example:
 Can /kən/ you help?
 I’ll help if I can /kæn/.

PRACTICE
/i:/ & /I/
 Minimal Pairs
pit Pete gin Jean mid mead grin green
bitch beach bid bead lick leak
living leaving pick peak live leave

 Tongue Twisters
1. Tim's team was licked by the leaking roof.
2. Pip and Pete shipped the sheep ships cheaply.
3. Those bins are for Bill Beal's beans.
4. Does Jim still steal Jill's jeans?
5. Will Wheeler's team get many hits in this heat?
6. The girls snickered at Jill and Jean's sneakers.
7. Leaving the living sinners at the scene, Will Wheeler grieved.
8. Pick cherries at their peak or Pete will see the pits.
9. Beach bins are filled with field filler.
10. He's giving his healing pills to all the sinners on the scene.

/æ/ & /e/

 Minimal pairs
then than met mat end and
Brendan Brandon bread Brad led lad
bet bat blend bland
Kent can't guess gas

 Tongue Twisters
1. Lassie headed back to Peg and Allen for ten apples.
2. Hedley sadly said sending Sally a man was extra bad.
3. Matt never had less capital than several checks ago.

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

4. Rather than settling Al and Ellie's debts, Fran just laughed and left.
5. Dennis and Kent can't dance because they're dense dancers.
6. Dan's den is a sad shed back of Beck's badly built bed and breakfast.
7. Clem's clams went up Betty's back and tampered with her temper.
8. Ed's ad said track treks led lads into mass messes.
9. Ted tampered a tad in Brad's bread and jam.
10. Stan stemmed his temper tantrum and lent Landry a bank check.

/u:/ & /Ʊ/

 Minimal pairs
food foot Luke look
pool pull fool full

 Tongue Twisters
That cook couldn’t cook if he didn’t look at the cook book.
Sue knew too few tunes on the flute.
The cook pushed into the bush with his foot.
/Ɔ:/ & /ɒ/
 Minimal pairs
sport spot cork cock forks fox stalk stock
court cot naught not port pot cord cod

 Tongue Twisters
Paul wants to call his daughter not to pour water on the floor and watch out the dog.
John wants to watch Walter wash the dog.
Laura’s daughter bought a house and called it Laura.
/ɑ:/, /з:/ & /ʌ/
 Tongue Twisters
It’s hard to park a car in a dark car park.
The girl heard the nurse work.
My mother’s brother’s my uncle, my uncle’s son’s my cousin.
Hudd uttered another word about the other otters.
My buddy's body was odd but added bulk to the ruck.

The schwa /ə/

In English, some words and syllables are pronounced more strongly than others: they are stressed.
In unstressed words and syllables, the sound /ə/ is often used. /ə/ can usually be found in function
words which are unstressed in the sentence, in prefixes and suffixes, and in content words as well.

 Find all the possible schwas in the following sentences. Then read them aloud.
1. It's five to two and we're late.
2. A table for four, please, around seven if
possible.
3. She can type 60 words per minute.
4. George'll cut them into smaller pieces if
you ask him.
5. Pass the spoons and forks, please.
6. I'm going to appeal this decision, you
know.
7. The President said that that was his policy.
8. You could've informed me about it.
9. Do you have to work late this evening?
10. Good-bye, see you later.
11. I don't know, but we could ask them.
12. I thought it was really exciting.
13. Where are my leather gloves?
14. Marilyn is taller than Charlotte.

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

15. There were seven or eight of them 18. The train services many villages around
present. here.
16. Pierre is famous everywhere he goes. 19. Can you remember the directions there?
17. The officers expressed several opinions. 20. There are a lot of mountains in British
Columbia.
 Listen and Repeat
each and every three or four Get some sleep.
cold as ice Wait for your brother. close to home
feel at ease None have broken. that was that
John had gone box of apples There are some.
That would be cup of tea ten to two.
wonderful. we can stay
These are cheap. more than that

DIPHTHONGS
 Tongue Twisters
The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
Nile crocodiles have the wildest smiles.
Sarah and Mary share their pears fairly.
Rose knows Joe phones Sophie, but Sophie and Joe don’t know Rose knows.
Roy enjoys noisy toys.
Mrs. Brown counted cows coming down the mountain.
Hello, This is Captain Oates speaking. Below us is the coast of Italy. We are very close to Rome
– the road below us goes from Rome to the coast. We shall fly over the city before landing.
Please obey the NO SMOKING notices.

Problematic consonants
&
 Minimal pairs

thigh thy
ether either
teeth teethe
 Tongue twisters
- The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.
- Elizabeth's birthday is on the third Thursday of this month.
- I thought a thought.
But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought.
If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought,
I wouldn't have thought so much
- My father and mother live together with my other brother.
- Rather than loathing their mothers, soothe their fathers.
- Breeding breathing southern otters in the north is worth thousands to them.
/s/,/z/, /∫/ & / /
/s/ /z/ /∫/ / / /s/ /∫/
sue zoo Aleutian allusion sip ship
ceasing mesher measure sane Shane
seizing leasing leashing
rice rise bass bash
Cass cash

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

 Tongue twisters
- Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
- It’s six or seven years since Sydney’s sister sang that song.
- Zebras in zoos are like dolphins in pools.
- Sharon shouldn’t wash her shoes in the shower.
- Did you see Treasure Island on television yesterday?
- She sells sea shells on the sea shore;
The shells that she sells are sea shells I'm sure.
So if she sells sea shells on the sea shore,
I'm sure that the shells are sea shore shells.
- Pleasure is measured under Marjorie's rigid supervision.
- Frazier envisioned a provision for his Parisian subdivisions.
/tʃ/ & /dʒ/
 Minimal pairs
chin gin chain Jane H age
cheer jeer rich ridge larch large
choke joke search surge

 Tongue twisters
Which child put chalk on the teacher’s chair?
Ginger spilt orange juice on George’s jacket.
John saw an unusual collision while indulging in a rigid regime.
Angela's original diversion was encouraged by Jane and Jean.
Her version of the procedure verges on injury to the individual.
The searchers for perch perished on the chilly seashore.

B. CONNECTED SPEECH
I. RHYTHM, SENTENCE STRESS, AND INTONATION
1. RHYTHM
English is a stressed-time language, which means there is a tendency for stressed syllables to occur
at regular intervals.

2. PLACEMENT OF STRESS IN SENTENCES

In a sentence, content words are usually stressed, and function words are usually unstressed unless
they are to be given special attention.
Content words: Nouns, main verbs, adverbs, adjectives, question words, demonstratives, negatives,
numbers.
Function words:

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

 Practice: Read aloud this poem, paying attention to the rhythm and sentence stress.
There was a young teacher called Wood
Whose students just wouldn’t use ‘could’
But a teacher called Woodward
Discovered they could could
And did so whenever they should.
A mathematician called Hyde
Proclaiming his knowledge with pride

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

Said ‘The answer, my friend,

As you’ll find in the end
Is that the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of
the squares on the other two sides.’

3. INTONATION
The term intonation refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch when we are speaking.
Below are some common intonation patterns in English:
3.1. Fall on complete, denote statement

3.2. Wh-questions
The voice often falls in questions beginning with ‘When, Where, Why, What,’ etc.

3.3. Yes/No questions

The voice usually rises in questions to which the answer is ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.
Read the following dialogue:
A: Have a cigarette!
B: No, thanks. I’ve stopped smoking.
A: How do you stay so slim. Most people put on weight when they stop smoking.
B: That’s because people often eat sweets instead of smoking.
A: I eat sweets as well! Perhaps that’s why you are slimmer than me.
B: I’m reading a book called “Be fit, stay slim”. It tells you to eat a lot of potatoes, and
wholemeal bread, and baked beans.
A: I thought potatoes and all these things were fattening.

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

B: No, it’s sweet things that are fattening. We should eat less fat and sugar. The book advises
eating a lot of fruit.
A: That’s easy in the summer. But it’s not so easy in winter.
B: it’s possible in winter, too. You can freeze some things - frozen raspberries are very good.
Anyway this book gives some suggested menus. Breakfast: cereal, two slices of toast, tea or
coffee. Lunch: a cheese sandwich, and two small peaches.
A: It doesn’t sound much. What’s for supper?
B: Vegetable soup, beans on toast, and a small ice cream. I love beans on toast. It’s so easy to
make.

3.4. Alternative questions

e.g.
The speaker mentions two possible answers. The voice rises on the first alterative, and falls on the
second. The two possible answers may be single words, as above, or longer phrases:
e.g.

3.5. Question tags

 falling
The speaker is certain of what he/she says. He/She expects the other person to agree with him/her.
The voice falls on the question tag.
e.g.
 rising
The speaker is not certain. He/She is asking for confirmation. The voice rises on the question tag.
e.g.
3.6. Echo questions
The speaker repeats something said by another person:
1. while he/she thinks what to reply

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

e.g.

2. to query what the other person said, ask for further explanation
e.g. A: Every cook should have a computer.
B:
A: Yes, to keep a record of menus and recipes.
3. because he/she did not hear or understand or believe what was said
e.g. A: The new manager is coming tomorrow. His name is Sprot.
B: I

3.7. Correcting
1. The voice falls on the correct word, to emphasise it.
e.g. A: Her birthday is on the tenth of December.

2. The voice falls and rises on the incorrect information, then falls on the correct information, to
emphasise it.

3.8. Listing
The voice rises on each item of the list, until the final one, where it falls.

3.9. Polite rise

Because a rise sounds less definite than a fall, it can be used to sound polite, especially when
beginning a conversation. It is common when answering the phone.

3.10. Yes/No short answers

The voice often falls on ‘Yes’, which could be a complete answer, and also on ‘it was’, which is
also a complete, definite statement. The speaker often goes on to give a more detailed answer, also
with a fall. W
3.11. Rise in subordinate clause or non-final phrase, fall in main clause

3.12. Statement implying ‘but . . . . .’

The voice falls and rises. The fall marks the important information; the rise implies that though the
speaker may have made a positive statement, he/she is going to qualify it. He/She may actually say
‘but or may simply imply it.

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

II. LINKING
Linking is the blending of multiple words together until they sound as if they are only one word.
1. Linking consonants and vowels

1. Linking vowels

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

PRACTICE
Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Exercise 3

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

III. ASSIMILATION
Assimilation is a process where sounds in separate words change when they are put together in
speech. One way this happens is by the second sound changing to be more similar to the first.
Example
The phrase 'white bag', which becomes 'wipe bag' when it is said.

SOME RULES FOR ASSIMILATION

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

IV. ELISION
Elision is the omission of sounds, syllables or words in speech. This is done to make the language
easier to say, and faster.
Example
'I don't know' /I duno/ , /kamra/ for camera, and 'fish 'n' chips' are all examples of elision.

PRACTICE
Listen to the song and fill in the blanks with the word(s) you hear. Find out all the cases of
linking, assimilation and elision of sounds.
LOVER’S CONCERTO

How __________ __________ the rain

That __________ __________ on the meadow
Birds high __________ __________ the trees
Serenade the __________ with their melodies oh oh oh
See there beyond the hills

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PRONUNCIATION Teacher: Dinh Thi Phuong Thoa

The bright __________ __________ the rainbow

Some magic from above
Made this day __________ __________
Just __________ __________ __________ __________

You hold me __________ __________ __________

And say __________ __________, you love me
__________ __________ your __________ __________ true
Everything will be __________ __________ __________

Now I belong to you

From this __________ __________ forever
Just love me tenderly
And I'll give to you every __________ __________ me oh oh oh
__________ __________ make me cry
Through long lonely nights __________ __________
Be always true to me
__________ __________ __________ in your heart eternally

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