Week 5 Pronunciation Class

The Consonant Chart

Consonants

L - ​/​l/

This is defined as Alveolar lateral sustained voiced.

There are two types of L, the clear L and the dark L.

The clear L uses the phonetic symbol above. The tongue tip is raised to the upper
teeth ridge and the sound escapes over the sides.
L before a vowel is a clear L and also before before /j/ - (yuh). It can also occur in
a word when followed by a vowel in the same phrase - well off.

Examples of the clear L

Lip, let, lamp, climb, blow, glum, yellow, collect, million, failure.

Sentence to practice:
1) Lily laughed loudly.
2) I like the large black flag

Dark L - /ɫ/

The dark L is formed when the tip of the tongue touches the back of the teeth
ridge and the sound escapes at the sides. It has a back vowel quality like the ​u i​ n
hut.

The dark L occurs after a vowel, in the final position and before a consonant. Also
when two L’s meet in two separate words - Paul listen.

The best way to remember the dark l is that it has a long sound (Luh)

Examples:
Call, feel, till, help, field, milk, elbow, subtle, rattle, nettle, apple, stable, little

Sentence to practice:
1) The ball fell in the pool.
2) Will you help pull the milk cart.

Exceptions:
​L is not heard in the following words:
Almond, calm, palm, could, would, should, talk walk, salmon, folk.
R - /r/
There a few different types of R sound in the english language.

The flapped R​ - is the most common. The tongue tip is held up to just behind the
teeth ridge. The sides of the tongue are touching the upper molars and the soft
palate is raised. The central part of the tongue is lowered to create a hallow
effect.

Examples:
Read, rest, rat, marry, very, far away.

It is also heard after consonants with the exception of /t/ and /d/

Examples:
Free, throw, crow, mushroom.

Sentence to practice:
Ray reads the newspaper while the rats run over his feet!

The fricative r - /​ʁ/ (can also be used as an upside down lower r)

This is heard after /t/ and /d/. The tip of the tongue touches the rear part of the
teeth ridge.

Examples:
True, trip, drive, drink.

The devoiced r
This is heard when it follows the aspirate (non voiced) consonants p, t and k. It
occurs when the plosive consonants are accentuated.

Examples:
Press, pray, create.
Sentence to practice
The library looked literally littered with contemporary literature.

Uvular R
Produced by using the back of the tongue against the soft palate for example -
are.

Accents become very apparent with the use of R - it is here that you will notice
considerable differences between the English accent and the Irish accent.

THE SEMI VOWELS

W and Y are classed as semi vowels. While they are very near to being vowels
they are regarded as consonants because they cannot be sustained and the
indefinitie article treats them as a consonant and not a vowel e.g. a wood and not
an wood.

Y - /j/

Is a Yuh sound. It is made by the front of the tongue rising very close to the hard
palate and gliding immediately towards another vowel. It imitates the vowel
sound in heed /i:/

Examples
Yes, Yawn, Young, Unite, Huge

Sentence to practice
1) The yankees won the yacht race.
2) The community you view beyond the hill had billions.
W -/w/

Is a whuh sound. It is formed by rounded lips. Both the lips and the tongue glide
towards the following vowel. It is this glide which gives you the sound. The vowel
sound it imitates is the u sound in hoot - /u:/

Examples of words with

Will, warp, when, whither, language, persuade

Sentence to practice
1) The wife washes the webs from the wall.

W is silent in the following words:

Sword, wrap, wreck, write, who, whose, whom, whole.

Occasional a H sound is added to the initial W sound - this is defined as bilabial

fricative aspirate e.g. white, whirled, whale

Pronunciation in Practice
Write a short story using the words given in your notes over the past five weeks.
The story should be no less than five lines.