Difference between revisions of "Sounds of English"
Line 93: | Line 93: | ||
</ul> | </ul> | ||
− | <p>Exceptions include more recent borrowings from French, e.g. garage /<span style="color:darkgreen;">ɡə <b>'rɑːʒ</b></span>/ < | + | <p>Exceptions include more recent borrowings from French, e.g. garage /<span style="color:darkgreen;">ɡə <b>'rɑːʒ</b></span>/ <sup style="color:darkblue;font-size:9px;">US</sup> /<span style="color:darkgreen;"><b>ˈɡær</b> ɪdʒ</span>/ <span style="color:darkblue;font-size:9px;">UK</sup>, fuselage /<span style="color:darkgreen;"><b>ˈfjuː</b> sə lɑːʒ</span>, triage, montage, etc.</p> |
<h3><span style="font-size:14px;">/<b style="color:darkgreen;">e</b>/</span></h3> | <h3><span style="font-size:14px;">/<b style="color:darkgreen;">e</b>/</span></h3> |
Revision as of 02:59, 20 September 2017
Contents
Vowels
Vowels are always voiced (which means the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is made).
ˈvaʊəlz ər 'ɔːlwəz 'vɔɪst
Long "pure" vowels
/ɑ:/
- R, star, car, far
- father, bother, bottle US
- clerk UK
/i:/
- B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V, Z US
- he, she, me, we
- sea, tea, seem, feet, key
- apostrophe, Socrates, catastrophe /kə ˈtæ strə fi/
/u:/
- 2, Q, U, W, you
- choose, use
- new, flew, grew, knew, true, blue
- to strong form only, through
/ɔː/
- 4, 40
- door, floor, shore, store
- daughter, caught, thought, fought
- law, saw, lawyer /ˈlɔː jər/
- fluorine, chlorine
/ɜː/
- first, third, 30, 30th
- shirt, clerk, certification, learn
- Some people sometimes pronounce words like sure & pure with this sound rather than ʃʊr, pjʊr, (myself included).
/ɒ/
- primarily UK. US substitutes /ɑ:/
- what UK 1
- bottle /ˈbɒ tl/, throttle
- shot, spot, lots, of UK 1, pots
- knowledge /ˈnɒl ɪdʒ
US 1 = ʌ in what and of, ɑ: in the other examples.
Short vowels
/ʌ/
- 1, 100
- sun, but, mud, uncle
- son, won, brother, other, another, above
- flood, blood
- tough, rough, enough /ɪ ˈnʌf/
/ʊ/
- Look!, a good cookbook
- put, push, pull
- woman /'wʊ mən/
/ɪ/
- 6, him, this, finish, minute (n.)
- been, again
- below, behind, between, beneath, bemoan, belabor, besmirch, etc.
- women /'wi min/, electric, elegance /'el ɪ ɡəns/, enough /ɪ ˈnʌf/
- -age 1, -e(d)ge /ɪdʒ/ (village, marriage, storage, baggage, luggage, mortgage /ˈmɔː ɡɪdʒ/, college, knowledge)
Exceptions include more recent borrowings from French, e.g. garage /ɡə 'rɑːʒ/ US /ˈɡær ɪdʒ/ UK</sup>, fuselage /ˈfjuː sə lɑːʒ, triage, montage, etc.</p>
<p>The precise realisation of this form varies. In South Africa the sound is closer to /e/, while in the US it is closer to /ɛ/. (fête, bête, lait, aime pouvaient). Since the distinction is not considered phonemic (since the long "A" sound is realized as the diphthong /eɪ/), the standard transcription is /e/ though the sound is closer to /ɛ/ than /e/ (fée, pourrai, pouvez, aimer.) </p>
1 Most commonly the first schwa is dropped entirely. ˈkʌmf təbl / 'kʌm fə təbl
<p>1 As a demonstrative pronoun / determiner that is pronounced /ðæt/, as a relative pronoun, that is usually pronounced /ðət/, though it may be dropped entirely.</p>
<p>1 both "poor" and "sure" can be pronounced with ɔː i.e. ʃɔː, pɔː</p>
<p>Most consonants are paired: at each position one can make two sounds (one voiced, one unvoiced). For example:</p>
/e/
/ə/
/æ/
Diphthongs
/eɪ/
said (/səd/)says (/səz/)/ɑɪ/
/əʊ / oʊ/
/ɑʊ/
/ɔɪ/
/eə/
/ʊə/
/ɪə/
Consonants
Voiced
Unvoiced
b
big
p
pig
v
even Stephen
f
enough phonetics
d
stewed
t
cooked
z
reads
s
writes
ʒ
pleasure
ʃ
sure
dʒ
badge, joke
tʃ
batch, choke
g
agree
k
cake, second(s), chemistry