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So as to acquaint the teacher with this sound system and to maximize the teacher's classroom
performance in this area, the following sections have been written.
Pronunciation
Phonemic Symbols
Accent
Stress
Intonation
Pronunciation Errors
What is Pronunciation?
The first being the physical ability to articulate sounds, where to place your tongue and
lips!
The second is stress, both in individual words and in sentences.
Thirdly, intonation, the pitch and 'music' used to change this (falling or rising).
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The alphabet we use to write English has 26 letters but English has 44 sounds. Inevitably,
English spelling is not a reliable guide to pronunciation because:
1. Some letters have more than one sound. "O in Nose, Hot, Ton and For"
2. Sometimes letters are not pronounced at all. "Knife"
3. The same sound may be represented by different letters. "Eye, Tie, and Pine"
4. Sometimes syllables indicated by the spelling are not pronounced at all. "Vegetable,
chocolate and clothes"
The letters of the alphabet can be a poor guide to pronunciation. Phonemic symbols, in
contrast, are a totally reliable guide. Each symbol represents one sound consistently.
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To be frank, yes. Every profession has specialist knowledge that is not widely known outside
the profession. If you are a doctor, you will be able to name every bone in the human body,
which most people can't do. If you are a language teacher, then you know phonemic symbols,
which most people don't. Students can learn these symbols by themselves and one day you
might meet a student who asks you to write a word on the board using phonemic symbols. It is
best to be prepared.
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Is it difficult to learn?
Absolutely not! 19 of the 44 symbols have the same sound and shape as letters of the
alphabet.
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These can be seen below. You already know them! Note that most of these are consonants.
*Note that with the last symbol / j / you need to be careful. It is pronounced as in "Yes" and
not as in "Jack".
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That leaves just 17 to learn. Compare that with the hundreds of different pieces of information
in a grammar book or the thousands of words in a small dictionary. Moreover, it is visual and
shapes are easy to remember. Anyone who can drive is able to recognize more than 17
symbols giving information about road conditions. Even if we go beyond separate, individual
sounds and include linking, elision and assimilation, there is still a limited and clearly defined
set of things to learn.
The 17 phonemes that we need to learn can be seen below. Note that most of these are
vowels.
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In addition to the 19 consonants which you already know, and the 17 new symbols for the IPA,
there are also 8 diphthong combinations of vowel sounds (and even a number of triphthongs).
These are straightforward to learn once you have mastered the single vowel sounds. An
example can be seen below:
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Not at all. It is true that the 44 phonemes in British English are based on Received
Pronunciation, an accent which is not frequently heard nowadays (approximately 7% of the
current British population speak it and often it is called colloquially 'The Queen's English').
Most native-speaker teachers do not have this accent but still use phonemic symbols. When
the symbols are arranged in a chart, each one occupies a box. This indicates that the real
sound that you actually hear can vary up to certain limits, depending on the influence of other
sounds and on individual ways of speaking. There is not just one perfect way to say each
sound - there is an acceptable range of pronunciations. Think of the pieces in a game of chess.
They can vary considerably in size, shape and appearance but we can always recognize a
knight because it behaves like a knight and not like a king.
The point is that such words such as 'ship', 'sheep', 'sip' and 'seep' should sound different from
each other, not that each sound is pronounced exactly like the sounds of RP.
Learning phonemic symbols will help students to understand the importance of length and
voicing. Simply knowing that the symbol : indicates a long sound can be very helpful.
There is no end to our study of grammar and vocabulary but phonemic symbols are limited,
visual and physical. They may seem challenging at first but it is like learning to swim or ride a
bike. Once you do it, it is easy and you never forget.
Students need to be understood and to be able to say what they want to say. Their
pronunciation should be at least adequate for that purpose. They need to know the various
sounds that occur in the language and differentiate between them. They should be able to
apply certain rules, eg. past tense endings, t, d or id. Likewise, a knowledge of correct rhythm
and stress and appropriate intonation is essential.
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Phonetic Chart
Stress
This is more important than mispronounced sounds! Getting the stress wrong can make the
word incomprehensible to native speakers. There are two kinds of stress; word and sentence.
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Word Stress
For ALL new words show the stress on the board. Sometimes it is easier to grasp stress by
seeing, not listening.
Use ' before the stressed syllable, or a box above, even use your hands and clap
Highlight changing stress i.e. photograph/photographer
Show the grammatical function ie. 'permit' as a verb and a noun: 'permit' and 'permit'
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Sentence Stress
Have you ever PLAYED VOLLEYBALL? I can RUN can be compared to I CAN run
The Schwa, the most common sound in English which sounds like "uh" is used in unstressed
syllables of words and weak forms in a sentence. It can replace every vowel in English.
a) Use list games i.e. I'd like a cup of coffee, please. I'd like a cup of coffee and a sandwich,
please etc.
b) Students highlight words that they think are the most important in a sentence; this is useful
for listening skills as
students identify the main message.
c) Use songs: the stress and schwa are usually clear and singers exaggerate stressed syllables.
d) Newspaper headlines are reduced to keywords, therefore stressed. The contrast highlights
stress patterns.
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Intonation
This is very important for intelligibility, it says something about the speaker's intentions.
Misunderstanding occurs when the speaker, for example, sounds bored as they use different
pitch/variation in their language.
For example,
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Sounds Confused
is confused with
is confused with
is confused with
Again there is no short and long vowel differentiation. Note, also, that there are often no
differences in these two sounds in various dialects of English (Scottish etc).
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Sounds Mispronounced
is trilled
Use of a trilled R instead of the soft R is the most recognizable aspect of a Russian accent!
This sound is often separated in Russian into two distinct sounds. It should be taught that this
must be a soft, singular sound.
is said as
Often there is the use of G or N instead of NG i.e. Wing-wig or win. This is because the Nasal
NG does not exist in Russian. Students will need to be shown the position of the tongue and
the airflows diagrammatically on the whiteboard.
is said as or even
There is the use of S/Z instead of TH i.e. Sin for thin, useful for youthful, Zen for then. To
correct this, have the students start with T and then show that the tongue must protrude from
the teeth in order to make the TH sound.
is said as
We often also see a use of V instead of W. This causes real problems with work, worm, worth
and worse etc. The students need to be shown that the teeth rest upon the bottom lip in and
English V, and vibrate, while the W is a rounded mouth sound.
is said as or even
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is said as
is said as
For example, Bird will become Bed.
is said as
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a) Generally, long vowels sounds like short vowels i.e. field-filled, seat-sit.
b) T/D/L/N are aspirated by the tongue touching the top teeth-this sounds "foreign"
c) Final voiced consonants (T, D, G) are devoiced in Russian ie. lab-lap, said-set
d) P, K, T are not aspirated. Therefore, mispronounced at beginning of words ie. Pit-bit, come-
gum.
e) Dark L (full, hill) replaces Clear L (light, fly)
f) Consonant Clusters are very difficult for Russians! i.e. Months, clothes, sixth.
g) Initial Clusters; TW, TR, PR, DR, BR cause problems i.e. twice, tree, price.
h) 2nd part of diphthongs and 2nd/3rd part of tripthongs tend to be over pronounced.