Improving Pronunciation

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is a necessary part of speaking (oral communication). It involves making correct sounds of a particular language, as well as how sounds are put together in the flow of speech.

Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics:

Phonetics is the study of the sounds of human speech.

Phonology:

Phonology is the study of sound system of a particular language.

International Phonetic Association

International Phonetic Association has devised standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language which is called International Phonetic Alphabet.

International Phonetic AlphabetThe International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an

alphabetic system of phonetic notation (a set of phonetic symbols).

Phoneme

A phoneme is the smallest meaningful unit in the

sound system of a language.

Exapmles:/ʤ/, /θ/, /p/

Sounds in English

There are 44 sounds in English Language

24 Consonants 12 Vowels 07 short vowels 05 long vowels 08 diphthongs (a sound made by gliding

from one vowel sound to another)

Syllable

Syllable is a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, forming the whole or a part of a word.In dictionaries, syllable division is usually indicated by a heavy black dot.

Examples:/chair/ monosyllabic

/ho.tel/ bisyllabic

/dic.ta.tor/ trisyllabic

………….Continued

If a word has double letters, syllable division comes between both letters.

/com.mu.ni.ca.tion/

Syllable Stress:

In a word of two syllables, one syllable is pronounced with more force, or loudness, than the other. This difference of emphasis is called stress.

…………ContinuedA dictionary indicates a stressed syllable, usually by a mark like this (´).

Primary and Secondary Stress:

Words of three or more syllables may have two stresses, one heavier than the other. The heavier stress is called primary stress while the weaker stress is called secondary stress.

Primary stress usually appears at the top of the syllable while secondary stress appears at the bottom e.g. /com.′mu.ni.′ca.tion/

Stress-Timed Language

English is timed by the syllables we stress.

Exercise Which words give information that the

listener needs to understand the message?

1) What time do you close?

2) Could I have return ticket to Central please?

3) The answer is on page twelve.

4) Where did you park the car?

5) The meeting starts at three?

Figure out how each of the following words is pronounced:

/ʃi:p/

/wɒt/

/kɪŋ/

/θɪŋk/

/wɒtə/

/ʧi:p/

/feɪvə/

/bɔɪ/

/gɜ:l/

……….Continued

/ɪmɪteɪʃən/

/fæʃən/

/ɪntərækʃən/

/sɒftweə/

/enʤənɪə/

/ʧɒkəlɪt/

Connected Speech

When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a word, stop, then say the next word in the

sentence. Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words bump into each other.

To make speech flow smoothly the way we pronounce the end and beginning of some

words can change depending on the sounds at the beginning and end of those words.

Features of Connected Speech

Assimilation: Sounds that belong to one word can cause

changes in sounds belonging to other words.

When a word’s pronunciation is affected by sounds in a neighbouring word, we call this process assimilation.

Examples:Ten pins--- Tempins Have to ……haf to

………Continued

Would you like to have tea? Wuju like to have tea?

Nice to meet you. Nice to meechu.

Got you! Gotcha!

that boy . /ðap bɔɪ/

that girl . /ðak gɜ:l/

good pen . /gʊb pen/

good concert . /gʊg kɒnsət/

ten players . /tem pleɪəz/

ten cups ./teŋ kʌps/

Elision

Elision It is the omission of one or more sounds (such

as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce.

Examples:He leaves next week. (nex week)She acts like she owns the place! (aks)Handbag (hanbag)Letter ( lette) / letə /

Home task

Look at the underlined vowel letters in the following words and check each word in your dictionary. Find out which symbol does your dictionary use for each vowel letter:

Thirty purple birds returned early.

I like my bright lime butterfly.

They waited eight days for the late train.

Thank You

/θæŋk ju:/