Transcript Rules for English Pronunciation

Rules
for
English
Pronunciation
“-(e)s”
q
/ z / after vowel sounds and voiced
consonants: dogs, girls, boys, loves, rubs,
calls, Tom's
q
/ s / after voiceless consonants: cats,
rocks, Jack's
q
/ Iz / after / s, z, S, tS or dZ /: buses,
houses, bushes, matches, bridges, Rose's,
chooses or, fetches
“-ed”
q
/ d / after vowel sounds and voiced consonants:
loved, pleased, rubbed, called
(but learned / learnt)
q
/ t / after voiceless sounds: fetched, hoped,
q
/ Id / after “d” or “t”: ended, wanted, lasted
also certain participial adjectives: wicked, ragged,
naked, rugged, beloved, jagged.
also in posttonic “-edly, -edness”: fixedly, markedness
“-ing”
/ IN / doing, going, sing, singer / "sIN@ /
but finger / "fINg@r /
Double vowel graphemes
q
“ee” = / i: /: tree, see, agree, referee,
deep, meet
q
“-eer-” = / I@(r) /: beer, career,
engineer
Double vowel graphemes
“-oo-” = / u: /: too, zoo, food, pool, room, root,
spoon, balloon
/ U /: good, hood, stood, wood, foot, soot,
wool;
_
always in “ook” / Uk /: book, cook, hook ,
look, shook, took
but: / Vd /: blood, flood
“-oor” = / U@(r) /: moor, poor
but: / O:(r) /: door, floor
Double consonants
Whenever there is a double consonant the preceding
single vowel is never diphthongised.
If the consonant is single it may diphthongise.
rubber / V /
occasion / @ /
back / & /, bake / eI /
ladder / & /, lady / eI /
difficult / I /, life / aI /
mugger / V /, page / eI /
dollar / Q BR. E. | A: Am. E./, dole / @U /
but roll / @U /
Double consonants
Whenever there is a double consonant the preceding
single vowel is never diphthongised.
If the consonant is single it may diphthongise.
grammar / & /, grame / eI /
bonnet / Q /, bone / @U /
apple / & /, ape / eI /
referral / e / fare / e@ /
pass / A: /, mass / A: / but bass / eI /
written / I /, write / aI /
buzz / V /, doze / @U /
“X”
q
Starting a word / "z - / xerox, xylophone
q
Before a stressed vowel / g"z / example,
exam, exhausted
q
In any other case / ks / box, ex"cess, ex-wife,
exit (Br. E.), Tipp-ex, extra, "excellent
Most “-au-”
/ O: / audio, August, Austria, author,
autumn, auxiliary, daughter, fraud
but aunt / & BR. E. | A: Am. E. /,
authentic / A: Am. E. /, laugh / A: /
“j-”
always / dZ / Jane, jet, join, June…
“y-”
always / j / you, yes, year, young…
But assimilation:
/ d / changes to / dZ / before / j /
did you
could you
should you
you / t / changes to / tS / before / j /
don’t you
not yet
can’t you
d@
want you
“-ch-”
q
British (Anglo-Saxon-rooted) words / tS /
bunches, catch, charity, children, pinch …
q
Greek-rooted words / k / "character, christmas,
"echo, me"chanic, school
also: "chemistry, choir / kwaI@ /, scheme, "psycho
French-rooted words / S / "chalet *, ma"chine
mous"tache, "parachute, "sachet *
also: champagne, chef
q
“-et” (French origin)
/ "_ eI / chalet, buffet, ballet, bidet ...
“-ci-”
/ S@ / "ancient, phy"sician, "social,
"special, sus"picious;
also: "ocean
/ Si" / always before tonic: speci"ality;
also: a"ppreciate, a"ssociate
Extremely common suffixes
q
-tion / S@n / action, collection, education, etc.
-cian / S@n / politician, musician, etc
q
-sion / Z@n / (tele)vision, confusion, occasion
but -nsion / nS@n / tension, extension
q
-ture / tS@ / culture, literature, future, mixture
but mature / m@"tjU@(r) /
q
-ous / @s / famous, dangerous, gorgeous,
marvellous, delicious,
3-consonant rule
middle one in cluster of 3 consonants is
usually elided, i.e. silent
Christmas,
castle,
handsome,
also in
But often
postman,
whistle,
Windsor,
soften,
And mashed potatoes
fasten,
next week
bustle,
postpone,
sandwich;
listen
“-nt” or “-nd” + Consonant
sound the t or d is not pronounced
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
·
I don’t know / "d@Un"n@U /,
he wouldn’t like it / "wUdn"laIk@t /,
you mustn’t smoke / "mVsn "sm@Uk /
last night / lA:snaIt /
Peter and John, / @n "dZQn /
you and me / ju:w@m"mi: /
second time / sek@n"taIm /
old car / @Ul"kA: /
she can’t go* / "kA:N"g@U /,
“can” and “can’t” pronunciation
When these words are followed by a consonant
sound, the difference between the positive and
the negative meaning is not the / t / sound, but
the length of the vowel sound and the stress (or
lack of it) in the modal verb.
I can drive / aI k(@)n draIv / I can’t drive / aI kA:n draIv /
She can stay / SI k(@)n steI / she can’t stay / SI kA:n steI /
Word stress
“Ordinary people who know nothing of
phonetics or elocution have difficulties
in understanding slow speech
composed of perfect sounds, while they
have no difficulty in comprehending an
imperfect gabble if only the accent
and rhythm are natural.” p. 15.
From the book "The Mechanisms of Speech"
by Alexander Graham Bell, 1916
The rhythm of a stress-timed language: English, Portuguese
The rhythm of a syllable-timed language: Spanish, French
Word stress
There are three golden 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.
3. Vowel schwa / @ / is never stressed.
Stress on English nouns and verbs
q
More than 90% of all 2 syllable
English nouns are stressed on the first
syllable.
q
More than 60% of 2 syllable verbs
are stressed on the second syllable.
Stress on English nouns and adjectives
Stress on first syllable
rule
example
>90% 2-syllable nouns PRESent, EXport,
CHIna, TAble
Most 2-syllable
adjectives
PRESent, SLENder,
CLEVer, HAPPy
Stress on English verbs
Stress on last syllable
rule
>60% 2-syllable
verbs
example
to
to
to
to
preSENT,
exPORT,
deCIDE,
beGIN
Stress on English nouns,
adjectives and verbs
Compound words (words with two parts)
rule
For compound nouns, the
stress is on the first part
example
BLACKbird,
GREENhouse
For compound adjectives, the bad-TEMpered,
stress is on the second part
old-FASHioned
For compound verbs, the
stress is on the second part
to underSTAND,
to overFLOW
Stressed vs Unstressed Words
Content vs Function Words
Stressed words are CONTENT WORDS
such as
•Nouns
e.g. kitchen, Peter
•(most) Principle Verbs e.g. visit, construct
•Adjectives
e.g. beautiful, interesting
•Adverbs
e.g. often, carefully
Stressed vs Unstressed Words
Content vs Function Words
Non-stressed words are FUNCTION
WORDS such as
•Determiners
•Prepositions
•Conjunctions
•Pronouns
•Auxiliary verbs
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
e.g.
the, a, some, … / @ /
as, at, for, from, of, to, … / @ /
but, and, … / @ /
them, us ... / @ /
does, am, can, have … / @ /
But don’t / @U /, doesn’t / V /, haven’t / & /, hasn’t / & /,
wasn’t / Q /, weren’t / 3: /, can’t / A: /, couldn’t, wouldn’t / U /,
won’t / @U /, mustn’t / V / (stressed because negative)
Rhythm in Words:
Visual Example
Shape
Total
Stressed
syllables syllable
P H O tograph,
E X cellent
I N teresting,
H O S pital
3
1st
Com P U ter,
Fan T A S tic,
Im P O R T ant,
To M O rrow
3
2nd
Intonation and Sentence Type
Declarative falling
e.g. I love you
 Wh-question falling
e.g. What’s your name?
 Yes/no question rising e.g. Are you English?
 Imperative
falling
e.g. Come here!
 Exclamation falling
e.g. How nice!
 Question tags:
- expecting confirmation
falling e.g. You’re English, aren’t you?
- less certain expectation
rising e.g. She likes beer, doesn’t she?

A. Underhill 1994: 84 Sound Foundations Heinemann
Typical Intonation Patterns
Could you do something for me?
Two teas, please !
The Chaos
By Gerard Nolst Trenité (1870-1946)
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Thank you
very much
for your patience