A Practical Course in British English Pronunciation

The

Sound
of

FREE SAMPLE Chapter 1 pdf + mp3

English

by Joseph Hudson

Written & Produced at the Pronunciation Studio Self Study or Classroom Use 9 Chapters with Full Answer Key

The

Sound English
of
Published by Pronunciation Studio Ltd. 2012 1 Euston Road, London, NW1 2SA www.pronunciationlondon.co.uk Copyright Joseph Hudson 2011-12

All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of Joseph Hudson. For all queries regarding reproduction of this work in schools, please contact us via our website where a variety of licenses and afliate schemes are available. ISBN 978-0-9573836-0-9

www.thesoundofenglish.org

Index
1 Introduction 2 How to use the book. 3 IPA Chart Chapter/ Page Sounds 5-6 Consonants 7-8 Vowels 17-18 Fricative Consonants 29-30 Long Vowels 41-42 Plosive Consonants 53-54 Short Vowels 55 /h/ Fricative 65-66 Approximant Consonants 77-80 Diphthong Vowel Sounds 89-90 Nasal Consonants Sound Comparison Spelling & Sound 9 ghoti Introduction 10 Schwa 21-22 < s > Endings

1
4 - 15

2
16 - 27

19-20 vs

3
28 - 39

31-32 vs i: 43-44 Glottal Stop vs /t/ 67 Weak vs 68 Weak vs i -

33-34 Silent < r >

4
40 - 51

45-46 < ed > Endings 56 < h > Function 57-58 Silent Letters 69-70 < oo >

5
52 - 63

6
64 - 75

7
76 - 87

81-82< o >

8
88 - 99

91-92 vs g 103-104 Long vs Short Vowels

93-94 < a > 105-106 Contractions

101-102 Affricate Consonants 100 - 111 1 Introduction 2 How to use the book. 112 -130 Answer Key 3 IPA Chart 131-132 Glossary

133 Acknowledgements & Further Reading 134 About the Author, Voices & School

Structure

Intonation

Postscript 15 IPA

11 Function / Content 13 Patterns 12 Schwa Function 14 Usage

23-24 Schwa Function 25-26 Sentence Stress 27 Homographs Words & Tonic Syllable 35-36 2 Syllable Words 47-48 3 Syllable Words 59-60 Joining 37-38 Wh- Questions 49-50 Yes/No Questions 61-62 Prominence 39 Homophones

51 Silent Syllables 62-63 Verb/Noun Stress 75 have

71-72 Vowel Joining

73-74 Question Tags

83-84 Compounds 95-96 Double Stress Compounds 107-108 Stress Shift

85-86 High-fall

87 do

97-98 Fall-rise

99 are

109-110 Adverbials

111 Phrasal Verbs

Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

Introduction
English is a confusing language to pronounce. With its 19 vowels, 25 consonants, weak forms, linking and intonation it poses plenty of problems to the non-native speaker. Not to forget the way its written form is so dramatically different from its pronunciation. The Sound of English takes you step by step through these tricky areas, covering the sounds, structures and melodies of English in a logical way. Through studying the course you will learn: How to pronounce every vowel and consonant sound of English. Correct use of stress and intonation. The rules of joining and sound selection. To listen with accuracy to English speech. Phonetic symbols for all the sounds of English. The course will show you how to experience English as a native does: instinctively through listening and sound production. The course and book were designed, written and recorded through years of teaching experience at the Pronunciation Studio speech school in London. The method is modern and user-friendly, based on introducing, drilling and exercising all the key areas to gradually build students condence and knowledge. As you go through the course you can download extra materials and read tips on the course website: www.thesoundofenglish.org. You will also nd useful information about teachers and contact information if you have any questions. We hope you enjoy the course, let us know how you get on with improving your English pronunciation!

Joseph Hudson
Author & Teacher

The Sound of English

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How to Use the Book

Every chapter is split into the following sections: - Sounds: how to pronounce vowels and consonants. - Sound Comparison: focus on difficult sounds that are often confusing. - Spelling & Sound: how to turn written English into speech. - Structure: how English joins together and the weak/strong structure. - Intonation: the use of pitch and stress in speech. Most activities come with audio files to practise with. These are indicated with the following symbol in the left margin: 9.3 Every page of the course contains up to three parts: NOTES, EXERCISES and DRILLS as follows:

NOTES

All notes appear in grey boxes like this one. Here you will nd the rules and production notes for each section.

EXERCISES
- Complete the exercises and check your answers with the audio or answer key. - The answer key is found in the back of the book on pages 113-130.

DRILLS
- Repeat drills regularly with the recording until they become easy to produce. - There is space on the recordings to repeat after each sentence or sound.

EXTRA MATERIALS & CLASSES

- Many of the exercises in The Sound of English have extra practice activities available to download from our website, visit: www.thesoundofenglish.org - You can also find information about where to study the course with qualified teachers on the website.

Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

IPA Chart
IPA is phonetic script, it shows us the sounds to pronounce rather than spelling. The script is very useful for improving accuracy in pronunciation. You will learn each sound and its possible spellings on the course.

Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

- Consonants Sounds -free Vowels *Before beginning, download the audio pack from www.thesoundofenglish.org/

Chapter 1
:.r \_ f .'ll't't' ../ ' \W ,, )/

Spelling & ghoti Sound Schwa Function & Structure Content Patterns Intonation Usage Postscript IPA

/p:snli/

Answer Key Pages 113-114

Before beginning, download the free mp3 audio pack from: www.thesoundofenglish.org/free.html

:t1f
l+"16

Consonant Types | Sound

Consonant sounds are produced by blocking air as it leaves the mouth. This course shows you how to pronounce all 25 consonant sounds of English.

Below is an example of each consonant sound - listen and read them.

Type of Sound 1.1 1.3

Sound
p b 1.3

Example 1
pin bag time door cash girl full vest think those sight zoo shirt high chose joy mood now wall yellow room law

Example 2
cap robe late feed sock ag football knife cave earth bathe kiss nose crash pleasure catch stage calm turn bang pill

1.3

plosive
(complete block of air followed by explosion)

t d k g f v

fricative
(constant ow of air squeezed through a block, sounds like friction)

s z h

affricate nasal

t d m n w j r l/

(plosive followed by fricative)

(air is released through the nose)

approximant
(vowel-like consonant, no full block of air occurs)

Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

Consonant Articulation | Sound

We use the articulators: tongue, lips, & teeth, to block air. The places where we block air in English are shown below.

alveolar ridge lips teeth palate tongue glottis velum

EXERCISE
1.2 1. - Listen to the recording and match the sounds in the boxes with their articulation diagrams (the first one has been done). The arrows point to the place of articulation. 2. 3.

/
4.

t/d/l/n

f/v
5.

k/g/

m/p/b
6.

h/

- Check your answers in the answer key on page 112.

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Vowels | Sounds

A neutral English accent has 19 vowel sounds. There are 3 types of English vowel sound - short, long and diphthong. English spelling does not always show us which sound to pronounce. We will learn how to pronounce each individual vowel sound on this course.

Type of Sound 1.3

Sound

Spellings 1 e, o, u a, i u, oo, ou e, ea, ie u, o 2 a o, a ee, ea ew, oo, o_e ir, ur, wor al, aw, or, our, oor a, al, ar ay, ea, ae, ai oi, oy ie, i_e, i, y o, o_e, oa ou, ow eer, ear are, ere, ea, ai

Examples alive, the, today, supply thin, sit, rich put, look, should went, bread, friend fun, love, money cat, hand, fan rob, top, watch need, beat, team few, boot, lose third, turn, worse talk, law, port glass, half, car pay, great, maid noise, toy, choice fine, like, might no, stone, road round, how, brown beer, hear, steer care, there, bear

short
(single mouth position)

e i:

long
(single mouth position)

u: : : : e

diphthong
(double mouth position)

a a e

Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

Vowel Articulation| Sounds

A vowel sound is made by shaping the mouth as air ows out. Articulators used to shape the mouth are: tongue, lips and jaw.

The chart below shows examples of mouth positions in English.

Position Example

tongue
front

lips
spread

jaw
close

1.4

i: (keep)

mid

relaxed

mid

: (bird)

back

rounded

open

(watch)

DRILL
- Repeat the following sentences. Notice your jaw opening each time. 1.5
1. Keep this red bag. 2. Who took Pauls watch? 3. The bird runs fast.

- Which sentence contains only rounded vowels?

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Introduction | Spelling & Sound

1.6 - English spelling does not always indicate pronunciation. - It was famously claimed that the word fish could be spelt ghoti because:
:.r \/ ' \W ,, )/

gh in enough is pronounced /f/ o in women is pronounced // ti in motion is pronounced //

so ghoti could be pronounced /f/!

The pronunciation of many English sounds can be predicted by their spelling.

EXERCISE
- Each group of words contains an identical spelling. - Circle the word that you think is pronounced differently from the others. 1. goose 2. nose 3. played 4. father 5. paid 6. put 7. none 8. foot 9. slow 10. word 11. watch 1.7 - Listen and check your answers.
9

loose rose

choose

lose liked

stopped author maid but

Northern said

hut gone food cow worn was

done book now work wall

Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

:t1f

The Spelling & Sound section shows you how to select sounds accurately by interpreting spelling.
l+"16

_ f .'ll't't' ..-

Schwa | Spelling & Sound

- Match the words below with the IPA transcription on the right: Word 1.8
around manner sailor cactus

IPA Transcription mn 6 sel kkts rand

- Which sound appears in every IPA transcription? 1.9

The schwa sound // can be spelt as < a >, < e >, < o > and < u >.

The schwa is the most common vowel sound in English. The schwa is weak - it can never be stressed.

The production of the schwa is neutral: lips, jaw and tongue are relaxed

EXERCISE
- Every word in the box below contains one schwa sound. - Listen to the recording and underline the schwa in each word. 1.10

servant bacon _ persist _ _ picture commit alive jumper sublime London salad Peru structure suggest soldier persuade combine balloon terror cushion scripture tighten sofa Russia
- Think of any word in English with 3 syllables or more. - How many schwa sounds does it contain? Check in a dictionary. EXAMPLE: conspiracy = 2 schwa sounds.

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fe?)x)/

Function & Content | Structure

- Listen to the sentence below:

1.11

Shall we go for a walk? - Which words are stressed? Why?

Spoken English is divided into function and content words. Function words carry only grammatical meaning, such as:

Word Type Examples

prepositions to from for of with by auxiliaries are was do have could would shall can articles a an the quantiers some any few all pronouns he she it you I this that

Content words carry real meaning such as:

Word Type Examples

nouns car wedding James table joy verbs move drink turn enjoy think adjectives big interesting quiet slow bright adverbs quickly quietly fortunately often again

EXERCISE
- In the sentences below, underline the function words: 1.12
1. Can we go for a swim in the sea? 2. Its a beautiful day in the South of England. 3. How do you want to pay for this, sir? 4. Jessica Smith is required in Arrivals immediately. 5. When you get to the station, give me a call. 6. Would you like some of my carrot cake?

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Schwa Function Words | Structure

- Read and listen to the passage below, the schwa sound is written in IPA: 1.13

Id like t go shopping fr pair f shoes, bt th shops closed becse ths weathr lert. parrntly lots f snow is coming in frm th Highlnds so th govrnmnt hv dvised peopl t stay t home.
- Which function words are pronounced with a schwa sound in the passage?

Many function words are pronounced with schwa when they are weak. If a function word is stressed, it can not be pronounced with schwa. Function words are always strong when said alone.

DRILL
- Say the word on the left alone (strong), then say it in the sentence on the right using the schwa sound (weak):
Word Sentence (STRONG) (WEAK)

1.14

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

to /tu:/ I went to work early. /t/ are /:/ What are you doing? // was /wz/ Was it warm in Greece? /wz/ from /frm/ This cards from my family. /frm/ there /e/ There werent enough drinks. // can /kn/ Where can we buy a map? /kn/ her /h:/ Her cars broken down. /h/ for /f:/ Ill repeat for the last time! /f/

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Introduction | Intonation
- Listen to the following question being answered in three different ways: 1.15 A Johnny, have you nished your homework?
1. Yes B 2. Yes 3. Yes

- Which answer (B) means i) maybe ii) definitely iii) why are you asking me?
Spoken English uses 3 intonation patterns - fall, fall-rise & rise. Intonation shows us the speakers attitude to what they are saying.

DRILL
- Repeat after the recording: 1.16
1. a)Yes b)Yes c)Yes 2. a)No b)No c)No

EXERCISE
- Listen to the conversations and circle the answer you hear: 1.17 1. Are you married? 2. Did you enjoy the lm? 3. Can you aord this meal? 4. Youre drunk, arent you? 5. Is this your rst class? Yes Yes Yes No No

6. Did you eat all the chocolate? No

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Usage | Intonation
Intonation shows us a speakers attitude to their words. This course will show you how to produce English intonation in your speech.

Some important examples of intonation usage are displayed below.

EXERCISE
1. ATTITUDE

- Listen to the following conversation twice: 1.18 A Dad, Ive got some news, Im getting married! B Excellent i) How is the fathers reaction different in each case? ii) How does he show this with intonation?
2. IMPLICATION

- Listen to the following conversation twice: 1.19 A What did you think of the lm? B It was good.

i) What is the difference in meaning between the two versions? ii) How is the intonation in the word good different the second time?
3. REPETITION

Listen to the following conversation: 1.20 A Who are you meeting tonight? A Who are you meeting tonight? B Nicole Kidman. B Not the Nicole Kidman!

- Person A says the same question twice, but the intonation is different the second time. How does it change and why?

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IPA | Postscript
- Look at the dictionary entry for the word personally:

personally /p:snli/
- What differences do you notice between the spelt and the IPA versions?
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) shows the way we pronounce words. In English, the pronunciation of a word often differs from its spelling, making IPA a very useful study tool to improve your pronunciation. Stress is marked in IPA using the following symbol / /

EXERCISE
i) Write the words from the box below into the chart next to their IPA transcription. ii) Write the silent consonant from each word into the 3rd column. cupboard island half often write know light lamb handbag autumn
Word
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 autumn half

IPA

Silent Consonant(s)
n l

:tm h:f lm n alnd lat kbd rat fn hnbg

1.21

- Listen to the recording to check your answers and practise saying the words.
15 Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

Answer Key
Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pages 113 - 114 115 - 116 117 - 118 119 - 120 121 - 122 123 - 124 125 - 126 127 - 128 129 - 130

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Answer Key | Chapter 1 Consonant Articulation | Sounds

EXERCISE 1. f/v 2. t/d/l/n 3. m/p/b 4. k/g/ 5. / 6. h/

EXERCISE - sentence 2 Who took Pauls watch uses only rounded vowels.

Introduction | Spelling & Sound

EXERCISE 1. choose 2. lose 3. played 10. worn 11. wall 4. author 5. said 6. put 7. gone 8. food 9. slow

Schwa | Spelling & Sound

- around /rand/, manner /mn/, sailor /sel/, cactus /kkts/ - // appears in every IPA transcription (in bold above). EXERCISE servant persist bacon picture commit alive jumper sublime London salad Peru structure suggest soldier persuade combine balloon terror cushion scripture tighten sofa Russia

Function & Content | Structure

- go and walk are stressed because they carry meaning. - The other words shall, we, for, & a are all grammatical words used to gel the sentence. EXERCISE 1. Can we go for a swim in the sea? 2. Its a beautiful day in the South of England. 3. How do you want to pay for this sir? 4. Jessica Smith is required in Arrivals immediately. 5. When you get to the station, give me a call. 6. Would you like some of my carrot cake?

Schwa Function Words | Structure

- Function words pronounced with schwa in the passage: to, for, a, of, but, the, are, there, a, have, at.

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Answer Key | Chapter 1 Introduction | Intonation

- i) Maybe = yes EXERCISE 1. 2. ii) Denitely = yes iii) Why are you asking? = yes.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Usage | Intonation
EXERCISE 1. ATTITUDE i) In the rst version, the father is excited and interested, in the second he is uninterested and a little rude. ii) The fathers intonation is falling in both examples, the main difference is that he starts from a much higher pitch in the rst example. This shows more emotion. In the second version, he starts his phrase quite low, showing disinterest. 2. IMPLICATION i) In the rst version, we understand that person B really felt the lm was good. In the second version, he is not entirely sure, he is showing reservation, we are expecting him to say something less positive now. ii) In the rst version, person B uses falling intonation on it was good, whereas in the second version he uses fall-rising intonation, known as an implicational fall-rise. 3. REPETITION - The rst question is asking for new information, person A does not know the answer and uses falling intonation. The second time she asks, she already knows the answer, she is repeating the question and for this reason uses rising intonation.

IPA | Postscript
- The IPA version shows us a silent < r >, a long vowel /:/ and a silent < a >. It also indicates the pronunciation of the vowels // and /i/. EXERCISE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 autumn half lamb know island light cupboard write often handbag :tm h:f lm n alnd lat kbd rat fn hnbg
114

n l b k (and w) s gh p (and r) w t d
Joseph Hudson 2011-2012

What to do now?
Now you have completed the free sample, you have started on the road to improving your English pronunciation. Here are some options for continuing:

1. Download the full course 9 Chapters (140 pages + full audio) and study the course yourself. The full course pack costs 15.00 and can be downloaded instantly, visit:

www.thesoundofenglish.org/shop.html

2. Join The Sound of English Group Classes in central London, daily 17:30-19:00 and Saturdays 10:00 - 13:00. The entire course book is covered, classes cost: 25 / 1 Class | 90 / 5 Classes | 175 / 10 Classes | 300 / 20 Classes Visit www.thesoundofenglish.org/classes.html for dates and booking. Intensive 1 week and 1 weekend courses are also available.

3. Study with expert IPA Certied teachers at the Pronunciation Studio speech school in London both individually and in small groups. The school offers accent reduction, elocution, voice and advanced courses. Visit www.pronunciationlondon.co.uk for full details.

THE AUTHOR
Joseph Hudson (BA/CELTA/IPA Cert) is a teacher and writer based in London. He founded the Pronunciation Studio Speech school in 2007. His early career was as a general English teacher, where he learnt the rudiments of language learning. He is the author of the courses An English Accent and The Sound of English.

THE RECORDINGS
The audio pack features the voice of Erica Buist (BA/CELTA/IPA Cert) alongside the author. Erica is an experienced and vibrant classroom teacher. She has taught general English and pronunciation in Central America and England and joined the Pronunciation Studio in 2009. Her voice skills are notably clear and warm.

THE SCHOOL
Pronunciation Studio London provides education in all aspects of speech from phonetics, pronunciation and accent reduction to voice coaching and acting classes. Over 10,000 students have passed through its doors since 2007. Creative teaching, exciting materials, a passion for language learning in general and phonetics in particular are central to its popularity. Visit the Pronunciation Studio at www.pronunciationlondon.co.uk.

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