Language is a system of systems. One is grammar and the other major system is phonology. Spoken language consists of sounds and patterns of sounds.

Phonetics:

Phonetics is the precise study of human speech sounds – how they are produced, how they are transmitted and how they are heard. As such, the study of phonetics crosses language barriers, since it is concerned with all speech sounds and not just those of one particular language.

Phonology:

Phonology is the broader study of major speech sounds, and their organization, in a particular language. Fr the present purposes we can say that phonology deals with how English organizes its elements of speech in to an integrated system.

Phonetics

After the air has left the larynx, it passes into the vocal tract. Consonants are produced by obstructing the air flow through the vocal tract. There are a number of places where these obstructions can take place. These places are known as the articulators.

Lips (labial) Teeth (dental) Alveolar Ridge Hard Palate (Palatal) Soft Palate (Velar) Throat (Glottal)

LIPS:If both of the lips are used to articulate a sound, then it is said to be a bilabial sound. Examples

of bilabial sounds include: /p/,/b/ and /m/. Two sounds use the lower lip together with the upper teeth and so are called labio-dental

consonants. These sounds are:/f/ and /v/.

TEETH:The two 'th' sounds of English are formed by forcing air through the teeth. If you say the soft /th/ in /thin/ and then the hard /th/ sound in /then/, you can feel the air being

forced through the teeth. The tongue tip and rims are articulating with the upper teeth. The upper teeth are also used when you say f and v. In this case however, air is being forced

through the upper teeth and lower lip.

ALVEOLARAn alveolar sound is when the tongue tip, or blade, touches the bony prominence behind the top

teeth. The following sounds are alveolar:/t/,/d/,/s/,/z/,/l/,/r/,/n/. Four sounds are said to be palato-alveolar. This is partly because the blade of the tongue

straddles both the alveolar ridge and the front of the hard palate as air is forced through to make the following sounds:

The in sheep. The in genre. The in cheap. And the in jeep.

HARD PALATE:

This is the hard bit of the arched bony structure that forms the roof of the mouth. The /j/ sound in yes is the clearest example of a palato sound.

SOFT PALATE:

The soft palate is toward the back of the mouth. It is where the roof of the mouth givesway to the soft area behind it. It can just be felt with your tongue if you curl it as farback and as high as you can.The velar sounds are usually made when the back of the tongue is pressed against thesoft palate. They include the /k/ in cat, the /g/ in girl and the /ng/ in hang. /w/ is also regarded as a labio-velar sound, because it simultaneously uses both lipswhilst raising the back of the tongue towards the velum. Try saying /wheel/ and /win/and feel the position of your tongue.

GLOTTIS:

Glottal sounds are those sounds that are made in the larynx through the closure or narrowing of the glottis. /h/ as in Helen is an example of a glottal sound. It is physically impossible to feel the process using your tongue. It is as far back as you can get in your mouth. The glottal stopis becoming a more widespread part of British English. You also use your glottis for speech when you whisper or speak in a creaky voice.

FORTIS / LENIS:

Fortis sounds are those that are made with strong muscular effort, originating in the lungs. Lenis is the opposite. The distinction is made because even voiced sounds can be made voiceless and yet still remain distinct from one another. Try whispering /pick/ and then /big/. You can still differentiate the two because the intensity of the burst of air is greater for /p/ than for /b/. Other fortis sounds include /t/ and /k/.

Other Lenis sounds include /d/ and /g/. Can you think of any other sounds????? In English, the fortis/lenis distinction happens to duplicate the voiced/voiceless one found in

minimal pairs. So all the voiced sounds are lenis and all the voiceless sounds are fortis sounds.

CONSONANT SYMBOL KEY WORD

ch Chain

j Jam

f F Fast

v V Van

th θ Three

th δ this

s s Sing

z z Zero

sh ζ Shine

su Pleasure

h h Hat

m m Money

n n Name

ng Bring מ

l l Light

r r Reader

y j Yet

w w wet

CONSONANT SYMBOL KEY WORD

P P Pin

b b Bat

t t Tea

d d Day

k k Key

g g get

List of consonant Phonetic symbols That help us in seeing correct Pronunciation from the dictionary

Vowel Phonemes

Pit

Pet

Pat

Pot

Luck

Good

Ago

Meat

Car

Door

Girl

Too

day

Sound Symbols Cow

Bear Sky

Tour Boy

Go Beer

SYLLABLE:A syllable is a sound, or group of

sounds, produced by a single chest pulse and containing a

vowel.You will notice that each syllable contains a vowel. If a syllable consists of a single phoneme, that phoneme must be a vowel. We have also seen that a syllable cannot contain more than one vowel. If there happen to be two vowel letters in writing, those letters will invariably represent just a single sound. So the rule is:

When Two Vowels are Walking, then first does the talking

The following words have a single vowel;So, may, the, words, have, one, read. Where as emphasis has three syllables; em / pha / sis. There are various syllable structures:

List A (C = Consonant, & V = Vowel)

Syllable Structure

Go CV

YOU CV

PLAY CCV

STAR CCV

STRAW CCCV

SQUARE CCCV

List B

AT VC

US VC

ASK VCC

TASK CVCC

JUMPS CVCCC

PREANCED CCVCCC

TEXTS CVCCCC

Word Number of Syllables

Blue blue 1

ball ball 1

quite quite 1

quiet Qui – et 2

Orange Or - ange 2

Table Ta - ble 2

Expensive Ex – pen - sive 3

Interesting In – ter – est - ing 4

Realistic Re- al – ist - ic 4

Unexceptional Un – ex – cep – tion - al 5

We can say that each syllable is made up of at least one phoneme. There are few examples of syllables containing phonemes.

1 phoneme: a; u/tter; a/gainst.2 phonemes: so un/til re/turn3 phonemes: try dis/play tur/ning

There are 26 Alphabets of English Language but we have 44 consonant speech sounds and 20 vowel speech sounds to which we call phoneme. In fact a phoneme is the smallest meaningful unit of sound.

WORD STRESS:In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one

word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong,

important) and all the other syllables very quietly.

Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound

The same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each

word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is

different.Word Total Syllables Stressed Syllables

PHO TO GRAPH 3 1

PHO TO GRAPHER 4 2

PHOTO GRAPH IC 4 3

This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera The syllables that are not stressed are ‘weak’ or ‘small’ or ‘quiet’. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.

Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it!

There are two very important rules about word stress:

1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)

2. The stress is always on a vowel.

Word stress is not usedin all languages. Somelanguages, Japanese orFrench for example,pronounce each syllablewith eq-ual em-pha-sis.There are some rulesAbout which syllable tostress. But...the rules areRather complicated!Probably the best way tolearn is from experience.Listen carefully toSpoken English and tryto develop a feeling forthe "music“of thelanguage.

Stress on first syllable

Most 2 syllable nouns CHIna, TAble, EXport

Most 2-syllable adjectives SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

Stress on last syllable

Most 2-syllable verbs to exPORT, to deCIDE, to beGIN

Stress on penultimate syllable

Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic

Words ending in -sion and -tion

teleVIsion, reveLAtion

Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy

deMOcracy, dependaBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy

Words ending in -al CRItical, geoLOGical

Compound words (words with two parts)

For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part

BLACKbird, GREENhouse

For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part

bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned

For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part

to underSTAND, to overFLOW

Sentence Stress in English:Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress,sentence stress can help you to understand spoken English, especiallywhen spoken fast.Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". You rememberthat word stress is accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stressis accent on certain words within a sentence.There are two types of Words:• Content words• Structure wordsContent words are the key words of a sentence. They are the importantwords that carry the meaning or sense Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simplewords that make the sentence correct grammatically. They give thesentence its correct form or "structure".If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably stillunderstand the sentence.If you remove the content words from asentence, you will not understand the sentence. The sentence has nosense or meaning. e.g;

Now these words are conveying some meaning these are content wordswhere as structure words that will grammatically correct the sentence donot convey any meaning.

SELL CAR GONE FRANCE

will you SELL my CAR because I ‘ve GONE to FRANCE

So in a sentence we stress content words. Why is this important forpronunciation? It is important because it adds "music" to the language. It is therhythm of the English language. It changes the speed at which we speak (andlisten to) the language. The time between each stressed word is the same.

Rules for Sentence Stress:The basic rules of sentence stress are:1. content words are stressed 2. structure words are unstressed 3. The time between stressed words is always the same

Content Words Stressed

Main verbs SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY

Nouns CAR, MUSIC, MARY

Adjectives RED, BIG, INTERESTING

Adverbs QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER

Negative auxiliaries DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure Words Un-stressed

Pronouns he, we, they

Prepositions on, at, into

Articles a, an, the

Conjunctions and, but, because

Auxiliary verbs do, be, have, can, must

But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct information.

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?""No, THEY haven't, but WE have.

Intonation:

The messages that we convey to one another depends just as much on how we say something as on what it is that we actually say. However, it is possible to use the same words to convey a huge variety of meanings, moods or intentions. In the study of intonation, pitch, loudness and length are the most importantfactors. They work together to give certain syllables prominence over the others. The concepts of intonation are very closely related to those in stress, the differencebeing that stress is concerned with individual words, whereas intonation extendsover a phrase or utterance. Intonation in fact tells you something about speakers feelings or attitude.The words themselves carry the bulk of the meaning, but intonationpattern allows the speaker to add personal comment. Like we say, My fault? & My fault? (Mmmmmmy fault??????) The stress on any word changes the meaning. Now the bold words will show the stress on a single word in the followingexamples.

It sounded dreadful.Did you like it?Well, it did sound rather strange.Isn’t it wonderful!I don’t think so.It’s your fault.My fault?Listen to him!Pardon?

Expressing expressions is actually intonation. We have different expressions!

1. Expressionless and without feelings…2. Surprised and annoyed…3. Very direct and personal criticism …4. Indicating a very personal disagreement …5. Asking for a repetition in a rather annoyed fashion … 6. Inviting others to join in the speakers criticism of what some body is saying7. Asking for another persons opinion8. Being hesitant and then half agreeing9. Very enthusiastic10. Being very critical of what has been heard …Now intonation has different patterns:Tune 1: Falling• (=I’m OK, in response t the question how are you?)Tune 2: Rising High Are you OK?• Tune 3: Rising Low I agree• Tune 4: Falling Rising I agree, but…..• it expresses some doubt…Tune 5: Rising falling I didn't,t expect that•

How to pronounce “The” in English:Normally, we pronounce "the" with a short sound (like "thuh"). But when "the" comes before avowel sound, we pronounce it as a long "thee".

So we use a long "thee" before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel. Some times Consonants produce the sound of a vowel then:

Vowel Sound We Write We Say

A The apple Thee apple

E The egg Thee egg

I The ice cream Thee ice cream

O The orange Thee orange

U The ugli fruit Thee ugli fruit

We write with We say with

The house Consonant (h) Thuh house Consonant sound

The hour Consonant (h) Thee our Vowel sound

The university Vowel (u) Thuh youniversity Consonant sound

The umbrella Vowel (u) Thee umbrella Vowel sound

How to pronounce “ed” in EnglishThe past simple tense and past participle of all regular verbs end in -ed. For example: Work Worked WorkedIn addition, many adjectives are made from the past participle and so end in -ed. For example:• I like painted furniture. The question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?The answer is: In 3 ways - / Id/ or / t/ or / d/

If the base verb ends in one of these sounds:

example base verb*:

examplewith -ed:

pronouncethe -ed:

extra syllable?

unvoiced /t/ Want Wanted/Id/ Yesvoiced /d/ End Ended

unvoiced

/p/ Hope Hoped

/t/

No

/f/ Laugh Laughed

/s/ Fax Faxed

/S/ Wash Washed

/tS/ Watch Watched

/k/ Like Liked

voiced all other sounds,

for example...

Play Played/d/Allow Allowed

beg begged

Pronunciation Tips:These English pronunciation tips will help you get the most out of your Pronunciation Powerprogram.Tip 1

Do not confuse pronunciation of words with their spelling! For example, "threw" and "through", although spelled differently, are pronounced the same. Also, identical letters or letter clusters in words do not always produce the same sound. For example, the "ough" in "though" and "through" represents a different sound in each word.

Learn to practise what you hear, not what you see.

Tip 2Imagine a sound in your mind before you say it. Try to visualize the positioning of your mouth and face. Think about how you are going to make the sound.

Tip 3In addition to listening for specific sounds, pay attention to pauses, the intonation of the

instructor's voice and patterns of emphasis. This can be just as important as the pronunciation of sounds.

Tip 4The English language has many different dialects, and words can be pronounced differently. It is important, however, that you pronounce words clearly to ensure effective communication.

Tip 5you must practise what you are learning! Remember that you are teaching your mouth a new

way to move. You are building muscles that you do not use in your own language. It is like going to the gym and exercising your body. Use the program to exercise your mouth a little bit each day.

Tongue-Twisters

A tongue-twister is a sequence of words that is difficult to pronounce quickly and correctly. Even native English speakers find the tongue-twisters on this page difficult to say quickly. Try them yourself. Try to say them as fast as possible, but correctly!

A proper copper coffee pot.

Mixed biscuits, mixed biscuits.

A box of biscuits, a box of mixed biscuits and a biscuit mixer!

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper.Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled pepper?If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper,Where's the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?

Pink lorry, yellow lorry.

Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather.

She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore.

The sixth sick Sheik's sixth sheep is sick.[Sometimes described as the hardest tongue-twister in the English language.]

Swan swam over the pond,Swim swan swim!Swan swam back again -Well swum swan!

Three gray geese in green fields grazing.

We surely shall see the sun shine soon.