UNIVERSIDAD AUSTRAL DE CHILE

FACULTAD DE FILOSOFIA Y HUMANIDADES

Centro de Idiomas
PLAC - 029
Pronunciation ELEMENTALS
Part I: PHONEMIC CHART

1. VOWELS

2. CONSONANTS

From: englishpost.org

Part II: Considerations

1. The science that studies the sounds of human speech is called Phonetics.
Similarly, the science that deals with the specific sounds of a given
language is called Phonology.
2. English pronunciation may be challenging because it has a different sound
system. For example, in Spanish there are 5 vowel letters and 5 vowel
sounds; whereas in English there are 5 vowel letters and, at least, 12
different vowel sounds.
3. In Spanish, the most common vowel is “e”. In English, the vowel with most
occurrences is the “Schwa”.
4. A phonemic chart contains graphic symbols for sounds. These are called
phonemes. They are typically written between slant lines //.
5. Drilling is the process of learning something by constant repetition. It
works the same way physical training does: you repeat an activity until it is
mastered. It is a good way to practice pronunciation.
6. Another mechanism to practice pronunciation is making use of minimal
pairs. You practice this by contrasting words which differ in only one
sound. Example: “cut” vs “cat”.
7. Your pronunciation will improve as your listening becomes sharper and you
are able to pick more subtle sounds and differences between languages.
8. Stress, rhythm and intonation are as important as articulating sounds
properly.
UNIVERSIDAD AUSTRAL DE CHILE
FACULTAD DE FILOSOFIA Y HUMANIDADES
Centro de Idiomas
PLAC - 029
Part III: Practice

1. Write the correct vowel sound for each word.

a) / / bed i) / / sun
b) / / stop j) / / star
c) / / book k) / / away
d) / / key l) / / bat
e) / / back m) / / calm
f) / / shirt n) / / feel
g) / / fool o) / / doctor
h) / / lip p) / / four

2. Write the vowel sounds the teacher pronounces

a) / / b) / / c) / / d) / / e) / / f) / / g) / / i) / /

3. Practice the following minimal pairs.

/ɪ/ and /i:/ /æ/ and /ʌ/

did - deed began - begun
fill - feel drank - drunk
fit - feet fan - fun
hit - heat hat - hut
is - ease ran - run
slip - sleep sang - sung
still – steal swam – swum

/b/ and /v/ /d/ and /ð/

best - vest day - they
bet - vet dare - their
boat - vote dough - though
ban - van doze - those
bent - vent die – thy

/ʧ/ and /ʃ/ /j/ and /ʤ /

choose - shoes yet - jet
chop - shop yell - jell
chair - share yam - jam
cheap - sheep yak - jack
chip - ship yacht - jot

4. Practice the following tongue twister.

Betty Botter bought some butter, but she said "This butter’s bitter.
If I put it in my batter, it will make my batter bitter."
So, she bought some better butter, better than the bitter butter.
When she put it in her batter, the butter made her batter better.