HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY MID-TERM TEST ON

ENGLISH PRACTICAL PRONUNCIATION

FOR ENGLISH MAJOR
Subject code: EN09 – Test Number: 01
Student’s fullname: Phạm Minh Đức
Date of bith: 15/05/1997
Group/ Class: FHTM515
I. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS (40 points)
1. How many sounds are there in the IPA? How are they classified?

The international phonetic signboard has 44 sounds, including 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant
sounds.
- Vowels – these speech sounds in English are produced with air moving freely in different directions.
- Consonants – these phonetic sounds are produced by air too, but are stopped by various parts of the
mouth like tongue or teeth.
- In it: The vowel consists of 12 monophthongs and 8 double vowels (diphthongs).
+ Single vowels are divided into short monosyllabic vowels (e.g., /i/, /e/, /ɔ/...) and long monolithic
vowels (e.g., /a:/, /u:/, /ə:/...). The single vowels are arranged in the table in pairs and in order of
magnitude as the mouth opens gradually. Long monosyllabic vowels are denoted by the sign (ː).
+ Double vowels are formed by two single vowels combined (e.g.: /ɪə/, /eɪ/, /aʊ/....)
- Consonants are divided into voiced sounds (e.g., /b/, /v/, /m/...) and unvoiced sounds (e.g., /p/, /θ/,
/h/...). In the IPA table, the consonants in the top two rows are also arranged in pairs.

- Types of Consonants in Phonetics

Usually, consonant sounds of the English alphabet are divided into the following categories:
+ Fricative sounds – produced when the tongue rubs teeth or the roof of the mouth.
+ Plosive sounds – produced by stopping airflow with an explosive sound.
+ Nasal sounds – made through the nose.
+ Glottal sounds – pronounced in the throat.
+ Approximant sounds – similar to phonetic vowels.
+ Affricate sounds – a fusion of plosive and fricative sounds.

2. What is word stress? Give examples.

- Word stress, also called lexical stress, is the emphasis a speaker places on a specific syllable in a
multi-syllable word. When a word has more than two syllables in English, one syllable will receive
more importance than the others when it is pronounced. This is the syllable that receives the primary
word stress. This means that, compared to the other ones, the vowel sound of that syllable will be
slightly:
+ louder,
+ longer,
+ at a higher pitch
- Word stress is especially hard for non-native speakers to master. While there are a few conventions
and general rules governing which syllable is stressed in a word based on its spelling alone, these
conventions are often unreliable.
- Before we look at these conventions and their exceptions, let’s discuss how we can indicate syllables
and word stress in writing.
- Examples:
chapter: CHAPter
computer: comPUter
goverment: GOvernment
environment: enVIronment
dictionary: DICtionary
behavior: beHAVior
violence: VIolence
sentence: SENtence

II. EXERCISES (60 points)

1. Give 5 words containing the sound at the beginning of each line. Underline the letter(s)
containing the sound.
a. /i:/ : sea, green, key, read, seen.
b. /f/ : fan, phone, fill, photo, fell.
c. /eɪ/ : later, tasty, danger, explain,exchange.
d. /ʃ/ : nation, pollution, information,
2. Which word whose pronunciation of the underlined part differs from that of the others? Write
the answer in the provided space.
a. sometimes visit worship with ......sometimes........
b. washed looked stopped played .........played............
c. three through month than ……..than.……......
d. nation pollution question information …....question..........

3. Which word has the different stress pattern from the rest? Explain your choice.
a. adorable ability impossible entertainment
b. engineer corporate difficult different
c. popular position horrible positive
d. selfish correct purpose Surface
a. Entertainment
adorable: /əˈdôrəb(ə)l/, ability: /əˈbɪlɪti/, impossible: / ɪmˈpɒsəbl ,entertainment: /entər
ˈteɪnmənt/
b. engineer
c. positive
d. correct