The Sounds of English: Consonants and Vowels

INTRODUCING ENGLISH SOUNDS
Good pronunciation is very important for good spoken communication. However, you
do not have to speak like a native English speaker to have good pronunciation.
There are many different natural varieties of English pronunciation in Britain and
around the world.
The sounds of English
When writing English we use the 26 letters of the alphabet. However, when speaking there are roughly 44
different sounds in English. These sounds are called phonemes.
If you're concentrating on the sounds of English, you need 44 characters to represent them all. One way
of doing this is to use the 'phonemic alphabet', which has some extra characters to represent the sounds
in English for which there is no clear equivalent letter or letters.
Writing with phonemes

You can use phonemes to write out the pronunciation of words and in many dictionaries for English
learners you will see the pronunciation written out. To show that what is written are phonemes (sounds)
and not letters, phonemic transcriptions are written between slashes, / /.
For example, the pronunciation of the word 'pet' is written: /pet/. There are different kinds of sounds,
consonants and vowels.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/multimedia/pron/chart/
CARLEY, P., MEES, I. and COLLINS, B. (2018): English Phonetics and Pronunciation
Practice. Routledge.
CONSONANTS
ACTIVITIES: to be checked on 22 APRIL in class
ACTIVITY 1 - WHICH VOWELS DO YOU HEAR??
Write the correct symbol between slashes on the dotted lines.
1. / i: / or / ɪ / seen ................... sin ...................

2. / e / or / ɪ / did ................... dead ...................
3. / ɒ / or / ɔ: / shot ................... short ...................
4. / æ / or / e/ said ................... sad ...................
5. /ɔ: / or / ɑ: / far ................... four ...................
6. / ʊ / or /u: / fool ................... full ...................
7. / ʌ / or / æ / hat ................... hut ...................
8. / ʌ / or / ɒ / shut ................... shot ...................
9. / ʌ / or / æ / match ................... much ...................
10. /ɔ: / or / ɒ / spot ................... sport ...................
11. / ɑ: / or / æ / match ................... march ...................
12. / i: / or / ɪ / sit ................... seat ...................
13. / ʌ / or / ɒ / sung ................... song ...................
14. / ʌ / or / æ / cat ................... cut ...................
15. / e / or / ɪ / meant ................... mint ...................
ACTIVITY 2 - WHICH CONSONANTS DO YOU HEAR??

Write the correct symbol between slashes on the dotted lines.
1.  or ð day ................... they ...................

2. / ð / or  Dan ................... than ...................
3.  / or / ʃ shot ................... lot ...................
4.  or / w / vet ................... wet ...................
5. / zSue ................... zoo ...................
6. dʒ or  mayor ................... major ...................
7 or  hat ................... mat ...................
8. dʒ or ʃ / chin ................... gin ...................
9.  or vast ................... fast ...................
10. / k / come ................... gum ...................
11.  or ʃso ................... show ...................
12.  or  sit ................... fit ...................
13. ŋ or  / sin ................... sing ...................
14. θ / or  sink................... think ...................
15. / θ / or  thank ................... tank ...................
16. / l / or  rap ................... lap ...................
17. / p / or  pet ................... bet ...................
18. / w / or  late ................... wait ...................
19. /  / or  you ................... Lou ...................
20. / dʒ/ or  joke ................... yolk ...................
21. / p / or  sin ................... pin ...................
22. / h / or  hi ................... why ...................

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INTRODUCING ENGLISH SOUNDS

The sounds of English

Writing with phonemes

1. / i: / or / ɪ / seen ................... sin ...................

ACTIVITY 2 - WHICH CONSONANTS DO YOU HEAR??

1.  or ð day ................... they ...................

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