ENGLISH DISTINCTIVE SOUNDS

H aspirated H
hotel / house / home / hello

Tongue-twister “ He has a humble house. Who? He! “

▪ TH a sound pronounced with your tongue among your teeth

(suono pronunciato con la lingua tra i denti )

TH [θ ] let the air out

( aria verso l' esterno )
the / thing / to think / breath /
thanks / three (3)

TH [ð] take the air in

( aria verso l'interno )

this / father / mother / their / together / that

▪ R it’s not rolled as it’s in Italian

at the beginning of a word it is pronounced

red rose / right(destra, dirittto,giusto)/ ring / Roger /rock and roll

in the middle of a word it is usually silent but it prolongs the

preceding vowel [: *]
dark / mark(segno, voto) / torture / March / torpor / sport

at the end of a word it is usually silent but it prolongs the

preceding vowel [ : * ]
far / bar / other / doctor / player / winter

▪ [ ɘ ] guttural, indistinct sound

abandon / actor / America / Italian

▪ [ З:] guttural, indistinct sound (usually when there is an R after it)

girl / dirty (sporco) / word / Saturday / verb / search / German

▪ closed vowels especially O / E

Robert / information / most / sport / post / morning

▪ not every vowel is read, as it’s in Italian

Italy / Britain / secretary / history / terrible / suitcase
[ itɘli ] [ britɘn] [ secrɘtri] [ histri ] [terɘbl] [su:tkeis]

▪ the final E is silent

active / true / blue / little / love / here

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 DIPHTHONGS

▪ oo [ u :] good / moon / food / soon / tooth

▪ oo [ u ] it’s a short sound when it’s followed by a “ k “

( suono breve se seguito da k )

book / cook / look / brook

and in the words

foot / goods / wood / wool / hood

exceptions: [ : ] door / floor

[ ^] blood / flood

▪ ee [ i:] see / meet / heel / week / steel

beer / teeth / need / cheek / feel / deep

▪ ea [ i:] sea / meat / heal / weak / steal

leave / speak / dream / hear / ear / heat

exceptions:

ea [ e ]
bread / breast / breath / breakfast / dead
deaf / head / health / heaven / heavy
jealous / lead / leather / meadow
measure / pleasant / pleasure / ready
to spread / sweat / sweater / threat
to tread / treasure / wealth / wealthy
weapon / weather

ea [З:] early / to learn / to search / to earn

earth / pearl

ea [З ɘ] bear / pear / to wear / to swear

ea [ ei ] great / to break / steak

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 CONSONANTS
C / G

▪ C+a/o/u [ k ] call / cost / curious / comic

and at the end of the word

▪ C+e/i/y [ s ] certain / city / cynic

▪ CC [ ks ] to accept / accent / accident

▪ CH + consonant [ k ] Christmas / chronologic

▪ CH + vowel [t] chin / chess / choice / church

and at the end of the word

exceptions:

▪ CH + vowel [ k ] ache / chemist / epoch / character

echo / chaos / architect / monarch

▪ CH [  ] chef / champagne / machine / chic

▪ CK [ k ] neck / sick / back

▪ TCH [ t] to catch / match / to fetch

▪ G+a/o/u [ g ] go / egg / gulf / gap

▪ G+e/i [ dz ] George / gem / gesture

▪ G+e/i [ghe/ghi] to get / to give / gift

▪ GH [ --- ] high / weight / right

bought / brought / thought

exceptions:
[ f ] enough / to cough / to laugh

▪ GN - this sound doesn’t exist in English

GN [ g / n] are pronounced separately in the middle of the word

dignity / ignorant / signature /magnete

GN [ n ] only n is pronounced at the beginning or at the end of the

word
gnat / to gnaw / sign / malign /benign

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 CONSONANTS
H/J / K/ M / N / PH / PS / S / SC / W / X

▪ H

aspirated at the beginning of the word here / honey / hole

not aspirated hour / honour / honest / heir

often silent in the middle of the word vehicle / rhythm / rhyme / John

▪ J [ dz ] joke / joy / jet

▪ K+N [n ] to know / knife / to knock / knee

▪ M + B [m ] bomb / comb / tomb /

▪ M + N [m ] autumn / hymn / to damn

▪ N + G [ ŋ ] sing / ring / sting

▪ PH [ f ] Philippe / philosophy

▪ PS [ s ] psychiatry / psychology

▪ S [ s ] kiss / yes / miss

▪ S [ z ] misery / is / eyes
use[ ju: s] / to use [ju:z]

▪ SC + o / a / u [ sk ] to scold /scarf / sculptor

▪ SC + e/i/y [ s ] scent / science / scientist

▪ W + R [ r ] write / wrong / wrinkle

▪ X [ ks ] exercise / fox

▪ X [ gs ] example / exotic

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 PECULIARITIES

▪ al [ l ] hospital / capital / bald / salt

international / national / general

▪ ture [ t  ɘ ] picture / nature / literature / furniture

signature / creature / future / lecture

▪ sure [  ] sure / to assure / insurance / sugar

▪ sure [  ɘ *] pleasure / leisure / treasure /measure
▪ sion [  ɘ n] vision / illusion / occasion / invasion

MINIMAL PAIRS
[ i ] [ i:]

▪ sit -seat

▪ bin -bean -been

▪ chip -cheap

▪ fit -feat - feet

▪ hill -heel - heal

▪ hit -heat

▪ it -eat

▪ ship -sheep

▪ live -leave

[æ ] [ ^ ]

❑ bat -but

❑ cap -cup

❑ cat -cut

❑ gay -guy

❑ hat -hut

❑ mad -mud

[æ ] [ e ]

bad -bed

man -men

pan -pen

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 DON’T DROP YOUR H’S!

hair air

hate ate

hear ear

heat eat

heel eel

hearing earring

high I

hill ill

EXERCICES

a) Practice pronouncing the hs correctly

- Who’s that with Henry Horning?

- It’s his wife Harriet.
- Harriet? But his wife’s name’s Helen!
- Oh no, Helen left him…He’s married to Harriet now.
- How did it happen?
- Well, last Christmas Henry and Harriet had a holiday in Holland.
- What happened?
- They had a horrible holiday and when home Helen left him!
- Oh…And who are those happy little girls?
- Hannah and Hazel, Harriet’s children from her first husband.
- But Henry hates having children around!
- Oh...How horrible to hear that!

b) Is the H pronounced [ p ] or silent [ s ]?

 This vehicle is very old, you need a new one. [ ]

 Your brother is really an honest man! [ ]

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  Hello Bob! How are you today? [ ]
 An hour for this translation is not enough! [ ]
 Her boyfriend’s name is John Smith. [ ]
 Home, sweet home! [ ]

- Now listen and check!

c) These are the names of some famous people. Who are they?

i. | dƺon’ lenɘn |

ii. | mik ‘dƺægɘ |

iii. | dƺein ‘fondɘ |

iv. | dƺu:liɘ ‘robɘts |

v. | dƺek ‘kenɘdi |

vi. ! dƺænit ‘dƺæksɘn |

d) Look at the newspaper headlines below. How many [ З : ] sounds are there?
Write the number in the box.

i.
Earl Robert thirtieth birthday

ii. German university burns

iii. Nurse Kirsty marries in Turkey

iv. Birmingham girl murdered

v. British workers “worst in the world”

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e) Listen ( and read) to Jasmine talking about her week-end.
Are the bold sounds [ æ ] or [ ^ ] ?
Mark the [ æ ] sounds with ▼▼▼ and the [ ^ ] sounds with ◡◡◡.

Last Sunday, I was sitting at my desk with a cup of tea, dreaming of having a holiday with a
beautiful young guy with an elegant hat and a smart car. I thought of sitting with him in a
comfortable armchair, stroking a cat and watching the sunset.
Then suddenly the door bell rang, I jumped up, went to the door to open… It wasn’t a guy,
but my neighbour, who lived in a hut, was wearing a cap and had as a pet a bat!

f) Word with similar vowel sounds

Tick [ √ ] the sound you hear.

▪ angry hungry

▪ leave live

▪ this these

▪ where were

▪ want won’t

▪ walk work

▪ ill hill

▪ bad bed

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 g) Look at the text below: how many examples of [ θ ] and [ ð ] can you find?
Mark the [ θ ] sounds with ▼▼▼ and the [ ð ] sounds with ◡◡◡.

This episode is about the theme they prefer: how to fool their father and mother. Its title is:
“Hold your breath, think and strike”! Three thirteen-year-old teenagers decide to play their
parents a trick: they pretend they are mad! When the thunder strikes on Thursdays they throw
their thin cat through the gate on the thorn-tree, breathe deeply and thank their theatrical bent.

- Now listen and check!

g) How many [ i ], [ i : ] and [ e ] are there in the following text?

Underline [ i ] with ↔↔↔ , [ i: ] with  and [ e ] with .
Are there any other similar sounds? Just underline them.

Our head manager usually meets his clients in a fine restaurant. She offers them a pleasant
meal: meat, steak, bread, pears and beer. This week my boss is feeling weak, so I’m meeting
the clients myself. If the weather is fine, I’ll drive them to the sea to see the local beach; there’s
a nice beech near the road and my bitch likes to run there. I usually take a seat and sit watching
her going up and down. Will the clients like it or will they prefer going to eat?

- Now listen and check!

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 h) How are the following words pronounced?
Choose one of the three alternatives.

1) High a. hai
b. haig
c. ai

2) Exercise a. eksƏsaiz
b. egsƏsaiz

c. egsƏrsaiz

3) Psycho a. psaikou
b. psikou
c. saikou

4) Know a. nau
b. knou
c. nou

5) Ignorant a. ignƏrƏnt
b. ig/nƏrƏnt
c. inƏrƏnt

6) Enough a. inau
b. en^f

c. in^f

i) Is there any relationship between the words of the exercise and the pictures?
Can you explain it?

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