UNIVERSIDAD DE LA FRONTERA

FACULTAD DE EDUCACION, CS. SOCIALES Y HUMANIDADES

DEPTO. DE LENGUAS, LITERATURA Y COMUNICACIÓN
TALLER DE PRONUNCIACIÓN EN INGLES
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THE STANDARD LEXICAL SET

A lexical set is used in pedagogic contexts. It consists of a group of words all of which have the
same pronunciation for a certain sound in a given variety of English.
The key word is a special word that is the name of the Standard Lexical Set. This word was
chosen so that it clearly identifies the vowel that it names, even if you cannot recognize or pronounce the
vowel sound accurately out of context. So, KIT is the vowel in bin, minute, this, etc., as well as in KIT
itself, while FLEECE is the name of the vowel in sea, sheep, machine, etc.

VOWELS
VOWEL TYPE SYMBOL KEYWORD OTHER EXAMPLES
/ɪ/ KIT bin, minute, this

/e/ DRESS bed, head, many

Short /æ/ TRAP bad, cat

monophthongs /ɒ/ LOT dog, wash

/ʌ/ STRUT fun, some, blood

/ʊ/ FOOT good, put

/iː/
FLEECE sea, sheep, machine

/uː/ GOOSE two, blue, group

Long
monophthongs /ɑː/ START palm, father

/ɔː/ THOUGHT law, north, war

/ɜː/ NURSE learn, refer, first,

/ə/ ABOUT common, standard

Weak vowels /i/ HAPPY radiate, glorious

/u/ THANK YOU influence, situation

/eɪ/ FACE day, break

/aɪ/ PRICE high, try

Closing
/ɔɪ/ CHOICE boy
diphthongs
/əʊ/ GOAT show, no, also

/aʊ/ MOUTH now

/ɪə/ NEAR here, fear

Centring
/eə/ SQUARE bear, fair, various
diphthongs
/ʊə/ POOR jury, cure
 CONSONANTS
.
CONSONANT TYPE SYMBOL KEYWORD OTHER EXAMPLES
/p/ PEN copy, happen

/b/ BACK baby, job

/t/ TEA tight, button

Plosives
/d/ DAY ladder, odd

/k/ KEY clock, school

/g/ GET giggle, ghost

/f/
FLAT coffee, rough, photo

/v/
VIEW heavy, move

/θ/
THING autor, path

/ð/
THIS other, smooth
Fricatives SOON cease, sister
/s/
/z/
ZERO music, roses, buzz

/ʃ/
SHIP sure, national

/ʒ/
PLEASURE vision, casual

/h/
HOT whole, ahead

/tʃ/
CHURCH match, nature
Affricates
/dʒ/
JUDGE age, soldier

/m/
MORE summer, ham

Nasals /n/
NICE know, funny, sun

/ŋ/
RING anger, thanks, sung
Lateral /l/
LIGHT valley, feel

/r/
RIGHT wrong, sorry, arrange

Approximants /j/
YET use, beauty, few

/w/
WET one, when, queen