Phonetics

Cinzia Giglioni

Università della Valle d’Aosta

Task 1

Match the terms 1 – 3 with the definitions A – C.

1. Stress

2. Phoneme

3. Intonation

A. The music of our voices

B. Giving emphasis to one syllable

C. An individual sound

Match the terms 1 – 3 with the definitions A – C.

1. Stress

2. Phoneme

3. Intonation

A. The music of our voices

B. Giving emphasis to one syllable

C. An individual sound

Task 1

Match the terms 1 – 3 with the definitions A – C.

1. An individual sound is mispronounced

2. A request is made with very flat intonation

3. The wrong syllable is stressed in a word

A. The word is incomprehensible

B. The listener might understand “bin” when the speaker wanted to say “pin”

C. The speaker can sound arrogant and demanding

Task 2

Match the terms 1 – 3 with the definitions A – C.

1. An individual sound is mispronounced

2. A request is made with very flat intonation

3. The wrong syllable is stressed in a word

A. The word is incomprehensible

B. The listener might understand “bin” when the speaker wanted to say “pin”

C. The speaker can sound arrogant and demanding

Task 2

INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET(IPA)

SYMBOLS

…from Latin: e.g. /m//v//ɑ/

…from Greek: e.g. /θ//ð//ʊ/

…created:/ŋ/

…and the diacritic symbols:/ː//'//ˌ/

Aims of the lesson:

• Becoming more aware of how and why we use English sounds

(language awareness, metalinguistic analysis)

• Improving English pronunciation

MINIMAL PAIRS

3θriː

tin kæt

triːθɪn hæt

Let’s compare!

Italian sounds which don’t exist in English

Examples of English sounds which don’t exist in Italian

Consonants

/λ/ aglio

/ɲ/ gnomo

/dz/ zelo

/ts/ zio

Vowels

/ə/ about

/ɜ:/ bird

/æ/ cat

/ɪ:/ see

Diphthongs

/aʊ/ now

/əʊ/ go

/eə/ there

Consonants

/ð/ then

/θ/ thin

/ɳ/ long

/ʒ / measure

Let’s compare!

7 vowels

23 consonants

12 vowels

8 diphtongs

24 consonants

= 30

= 44

Consonants and their symbols

/b/ as in bag/d/ as in dog/f/ as in fat/g/ as in good/h/ as in hat/l/ as in late/m/ as in man

/n/ as in note/p/ as in pot/r/ as in rope/s/ as in sock/t/ as in tear/v/ as in vowel/w/ as in worm/z/ as in zoo

Other familiar symbols, but…

• /k/ cake, crack, ache, stomach

• /g/ get, give; NO: gem

• /h/ happy, here; NO: thirsty, show, Thomas, hour, heir,

• /j/ your, yes, cute; NO: jam

• /s/ piece/peace, sell/cell,

• /z/ zone, lazy, nose/knows,

NO: pizza

Confusion between spellings and sounds

• beat, seed, piece, machine /i:/

• day, veil, obey /eı/

• shoe, sugar, issue, mansion, mission, nation, suspicion, ocean, conscious, chaperon, schist, fuchsia /∫/

one single sound may correspond

to more than one letter

Confusion between spellings and sounds

man car name

/æ/ man /α:/ car /eɪ/ name

/t∫/ cheese, church, cheap

/∫/ chalet, champagne, Chigago, chic

/k/ character, chemistry, chaos

Confusion between spellings and sounds: silent letters

<b> in subtle, doubt, comb, lamb

<w> in answer

<k> in knife, know, knight

<gh> in bright, light, night

<-e> in name, time, goose

Silent letters – Which letters are silent in the following words?

tomb whistle folk Greenwich

pneumatic soften dumb honest

receipt weigh debt

psychiatry column scissors knot

comb heir aisle

Homophones: flour, flower

He took a bow at

the end of the

concert /baʊ/

He was wearing a

bow tie /bəʊ/

Homographs

Words, words, words….

WORD STRESS

Melancholic

ˌmeləŋ’kɒlɪk

Secondary

stress

Primary

stress

STRESS SHIFT

afternoon afternoon tea

Japanese Japanese Girl

weekend weekend traffic

Classic Italian-speakers errors

adjective, colleague, canal, report……

IN COMPOUNDS

e-mail, home-page, web-site, chat-line

ASSIMILATION

a consonant sound at the end of a word becomes similar to a

consonant sound at the beginning of another word:

/s + ʃ/ /ʃ:/ this shop /ðɪʃ’ʃɒp/

/t + k/ /k:/ that cake /ðæk’keɪk/

/t + g/ /g:/ greet guests /gri:g’gests/

LINKING /r/

Normally /r/ is not pronounced in the final position in BBC

English. In connected speech, however, the final spelling ‘r’ of a word is pronounced if the first sound of the next word is a vowel:

That’s my car /ka:/

That car is new. /ka:r ɪz nju:/

INTRUSIVE CONSONANTS:/j/ /w/

- if the first word ends in /ɪ/ and the next word starts with any

vowel sound, we add /j/

every ear /evrɪ ʲɪə/

sounds like every year

- if the first word ends with /u:/ or /ʊ/ and the next word starts

with any vowel sound, we add /w/

you ache /ju: ʷeɪk/

sounds like you wake

ELISION

a sound which would be present in a word spoken in isolationis omitted in connected speech, e.g.:omission of /t/, omissionof /d/

next please /neks pli:z/

I don’t know /ai dəʊ nəʊ/

you and me /ju: ən mi:/

stand there /stæn ðeə/

VOWEL REDUCTION

If you say the following sentences rapidly, stressing theunderlined syllables:

You and me

I wish you would tell me

You will notice that in the second sentence the vowels inthese two words are reduced, i.e. become shorter and lessclear:

/ju: ən mi:/

/aɪ ’wɪʃ jʊ wʊd ‘tel mɪ/

STRONG AND WEAK FORMS

strong form weak form

and /ænd/ /ən/

of /ɒv/ /əv/

you /ju:/ /jʊ/

does /dʌz/ /dəz/

have /hæv/ /həv/ /əv/

INTONATION

I had coffee cake and honey

I had coffee, cake and honey

FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION

1. INDICATOR OF ATTITUDE - expresses our attitude at the moment of speaking to the situation we are in, or to what we are talking about, or to ourselves or to our listener;

2. GRAMMATICAL INDICATOR - indicates if our utterance is a declarative sentence, an imperative, an exclamation, a question;

3. DISCOURSE INDICATOR – reveals the relationship between utterances and information throughout the discourse.

Exercises

1. In each of these groups of words, one word is exactly the sameas in normal letters. Underline it. Then write the others in normal

letters.

/'pensəl/ /'peɪpə/ /pen/ /'nəʊtbʊk/

/desk/ /fæks/ /kəm'pjuːtə/ /'telɪfəʊn/

/nek/ /hed/ /hænd/ /leg/

/hen/ /pɪg/ /ʃiːp/ /kaʊ/

/griːn/ /bluː/ /red/ /blæk/

/get/ /teɪk/ /gɪv/ /gəʊ/

/'sevən//ten/ /θriː/ /faɪv/

1. KEY

pencil paper pen notebook

desk fax computer telephone

neck head hand leg

hen pig sheep cow

green blue red black

get take give go

seven ten three five

2. Here is a list of different activities. In each one, one of the words is written with phonemic symbols. Write it in normal

letters.

Ski /dʒʌmpɪŋ/

/wɒʃɪŋ/ the dishes

/juːzɪŋ/ a computer

/sɪŋɪŋ/ a song

/θɪŋkɪŋ/ about something

/pleɪjɪŋ/ games

2. KEY

Ski jumping

washing the dishes

using a computer

singing a song

thinking about something

playing games

3. Long vs. short vowels

• bee• sheet• bit• cat• food• cangaroo• put• third• but• core• far• marsh (fever)• set

3. KEY

Long

• bee

• sheet

• food

• cangaroo

• third

• core

• far

• marsh

Short

• bit

• cat

• put

• but

• set

4. Insert the missing words

/i:/ /ɪ/ /e/ æ

bead

bet

did

ken

lad

seat

4. KEY

/i:/ /ɪ/ /e/ æ

bead bid bed bad

beat bit bet bat

deed did dead dad

keen kin ken can

lead lid led lad

seat sit set sat

5. Diphthongs: identify the words

1. /ʧaɪld/

2. /’weɪʤɪz/

3. /ʃaʊt/

4. /ʧɔɪs/

5. /ʃaɪ/

6. /’deɪnʤə/

7. /en’ʤɔɪd/

8. /’aɪðə/

9. /ʃaʊə/

5. KEYS

1. /ʧaɪld/

2. /’weɪʤɪz/

3. /ʃaʊt/

4. /ʧɔɪs/

5. /ʃaɪ/

6. /’deɪnʤə/

7. /en’ʤɔɪd/

8. /’aɪðə/

9. /ʃaʊə/

1. Child

2. Wages

3. Shout

4. Choice

5. Shy

6. Danger

7. Enjoyed

8. Either

9. shower

6.Identify the correct transcription

• Soul

a. /sɒl/

b. /sɔ:l/

c. /səʊl/

• Throw

a. /θrɔ:/

b. /θrəʊ/

c. /θru:/

• Sew

a. /sɔ:/

b. /səʊ/

c. /sju:/

• Ought

a. /ɔ:t/

b. /əʊt/

c. /ɒt/

6.KEY

• Soul

a. /sɒl/

b. /sɔ:l/

c. /səʊl/

• Throw

a. /θrɔ:/

b. /θrəʊ/

c. /θru:/

• Sew

a. /sɔ:/

b. /səʊ/

c. /sju:/

• Ought

a. /ɔ:t/

b. /əʊt/

c. /ɒt/

7. For each of the following words, choose the correct vowel sound

• foot

– a) /ʊ/

– b) /u:/

– c) /əʊ/

• stir

– a) /ɜː/

– b) /ɪ/

– c) /ə/

• want

– a) /ɑː/

– b) /ɒ/

– c) /ə/

• clear

– a) /i:/

– b) /ə/

– c) /ɪə/

• straw

– a) /ɜ:/

– b) /ɔ:/

– c) /ʌ/

7.KEY

• foot

a) /ʊ/

• stir

a) /ɜ:/

• Want

b) /ɒ/

• clear

– c) /ɪə/

• straw

– b) /ɔ:/

8. Match the word and the phonetic transcription

1) orange2) women3) quay/key4) children5) ceiling6) this7) these8) machine9) minute10) promise11) cottage12) language

a) / mə’ʃi:n/b) /’si:lɪɳ/c) /ði:z/d) /’læɳgwɪdʒ/e) /’ɒrɪndʒ/f) /’wɪmɪn/g) /ðɪs/h) /’tʃɪldrən/i) /’prɒmɪs/j) /’kɒtɪdʒ/k) /’mɪnɪt/l) /ki:/

8. KEY1-e 8-a

2-f 9-k

3-l 10-i

4-h 11-j

5-b 12-d

6-g

7-c

9. Choose the word which matches the phonetictranscription

1) /maʊðz/ a) mouths

b) months

c) mouse

2) /nəʊ/ a) nor

b) now

c) know/no

3) /praʊd/ a) pride

b) proud

c) prude

4) /fɪəʳ/ a) fear

b) fair

c) far

9. KEY

1) A

2) C

3) B

4) A

10. Words commonly mispronounced. Guess what these words are

1. /wɜ:d/ - .........................

2. /əʊnli/ - ........................

3. /frʌnt/ - ........................

4. /'eəriə/ - ......................

5. /pla:nt/ - .......................

6. /vəraɪəti/ - ....................

7. /peərənt/ - ....................

8. /ðeə/ - .........................

9. laɪən/ - ......................

10./breθ/ - ......................

11./bri:ð/ - .....................

12/rɪ'si:t/ - .....................

13./mə’tjuə/ - ...................

14./hɪə/ - .........................

15./ri:dʒən/ - .........………

16./dɪ'li:t/ - ......................

17./bækwəd/ - ..................

18./fo:wəd/ - ....................

19./pə’tɪkjələ/ - ................

20./nʌθɪɳ/ - .....................

10. KEY

1)word 10)breath 19)particular

2)only 11) breathe 20) nothing

3)front 12)receipt

4)area 13) mature

5)plant 14)hear-here

6)variety 15)region

7)parent 16)delete

8)there 17)backward

9)lion 18)forward

Links

• http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/download/pron_chart/pron_chart.shtml

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/spelling/recognising/homophones/quiz.shtml

• http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/flash/flashin.htm