English Pronunciatio
English •
•
•
Pronunciation In
Use
Self-study and classroom use
Mark Hancock
vM
C AM BR I D G E UN I VE R S ITY PRESS
Contents To the student To the read1er
5 7
Map of ccereers described in phonological terms
•
Section A Letters and sounds 1
Bye. buy Introducing Ietttn and sounds
2
P~.plall
3
&uk,t=1<
4
Ria, ri$e
5 6
Mm,
7 8
9 10 11
12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20
leJl. /tt:I fbI, /pI
"',hi
Doumt~ WIn
Carrot. ubbage Few, view Gate, Kate
Hear,
~ ·rt.
year
Wine, wm Sheep , ;UP. theap
Flies. fries Car. care Some. $Nn. sung N ote, not Arthur's mQther Sun, fitlJ, J_ Shin, short TO)!. town
'0 12
14 16
!d!. /tI Ii :!, lei '~. hJ /fl, Iv! IgI, M /hI,/w/, Ij! la l1, hi IJI, /d:/,ItJI !V,Ir! lo:(r)/,lea(rY
32 34 36
fmJ, /n1,1r;j/
38
1~.loI
/9/, IN IAI,IuI, fu:l 13:(rll, /::l:(r )l 1:>11, /aJ.JI
18
20 22 24
26 28 30
40
...
42 46
48
Section B Syllables, words and sentences 21 22
Eye, ~ mine Introducing lI}'l.I.abks Sahmlay &pkmlNr 13th lntroducing word scess
SO 52
23
R - m. ~ told her
54
Introducing seeeeece stress
Syllabl ~s
24 25 26 27
Dh, no snow! Ccesceanes at the start o f syllables Go - goal - gold Consonants at the end of syllables PauJ'$ ulh. Mu's flJXn Syllables: plural and other -6 cndinp P~e pl4yed. Rit4 rn kd SyUables: adding past tense endings
56 58 60
62
Word st ress 28 29
30 31
REt:ord, rrt:O RD Stress in two-sy llablc words Sewnd hand, booluhop Stress in compound words Unforgett4hle Stress in longer words 1 Pub/it;, pub licity Stress in lo nger words 2
64 66
68 70
]
Sentence stress 32 33 34
35 36 37
38 39 40
DON'T LOOK NO W! Sentences with all the words stressed THAT could be the MAN Unstressed words I'll ASK her (Alaska) Pro no uns a nd contractions She was FIRST Pronouncing the verb be WHAT do you THINK? Auxiliary verbs A PIECE. of CHUSE Prono uncing sho n words (a, of. or) Pets enter, pet centre Joining words 1 After eight, after rate Joining words 2 Greet gJU!sts, Greek gue$ts Joi ning words 3
n 74 76
78 80 82 84 86 88
Section C Conversation Could you say that again? Understanding conversation 90 'Was that the question f" he asked. Read ing aloud: ' pro nou ncing p unctuation ' 92 A shirt and a tie I a shirt and tie Grouping words 94
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49
Well, anyway . .. Telling a story I mean, it 's sort of like .. . Understanding small talk Right. OK ... Understa nd ing insrrucrio ns 'Like father like son ' as they say Quoting speech He JJliJl win Introd uction to emphatic stress
50 51
Schwam ... bJJm Schwam Emphasising added details I think you're in ~seat Emphasising important words
108
52
o,ips or salad? Emphasising co ntrasting a lternatives Fifty? N o, fifka! Emp hasising co rrections Look who's talking! Introducing tones Here? Yes, here! Asking and checking tones Where were you born? Tones in asking for information We're d osed tom orrow Tones in new and o ld information Dh , really? Contin uing or finishing tones It's fun. isn" it? Agreeing a nd disagreeing rcnes It was brilliant! High tones
112 114 116
53 54
55 56 57
58 59 60
Ehm â&#x20AC;˘.. Showing that yo u want to continue
96
98 100 10 2 104 106 110
118 120 122 124 126 128
Section D Reference 01 02 03 04
05 06
â&#x20AC;˘
Introduction to p honemic symbols Pronunciation test G uide for spea kers of specific languages Sound pairs Sentence stress phrasebook G lossary
130
137 141 144 161 16 2
~
166
Acknowledgements
200
To the student English ProtfJl7ldation in Use is a book to help students of English to work on pronunciation., for both speaking and undersranding. It is wrinm mainly for students of inn:rmediare bel
What will I need? You will need a cassette o r CD playe r to listen to the reco rded material that goes with this book. It will be very useful if you ha ve equipment [ 0 record you r own voice, so that you can hear your own progress. This symbo l indicates the tra ck nwnber for reco rded material l.e. CD or cassette A. track 1.
®
Also, wh en you are srudying individua l sounds, it is sometimes useful if you h ave a mirror. With this, you can co mpare the shape of your own mouth to the m outh in d iagra ms like this one from Unit 8.
See page 163 foe a Labelled diagram of the mouth and th roat.
How is English Pronunciation in Use organised? There are 60 units in the book . Each unit looks at a differmr point of pronunciation. Each unit has rwo pages. The page on the left has exp lanations and exa mples, and the pa ge on th e right has exercises. The 60 units are d ivided into three sections o f 20 units eac h. Section A is a bout how to say an d spell individual sounds. Section B is about joining sounds to ma ke words an d sentences. Sectio n C is a bo ut pr onunciation in co nversa tion. After the 60 units., there is a founh section, Section D, which co ntains th e follo wing: • • • • •
Introducti on to phonemic symbols Pronuncia tio n t l:5t Guide for speakers o f specific languages Sound pain Seereece suess phrascbook
o G""""" At the end of the book there is a Key with answers. With the book, there is also a set of four cassettes or CDs, one for each seaion of the book.
What order shall I do the un its in? It is better if you balance the work that you do from the th ree sections: first, do a unit from Section A, then a unit from Section B, then a unit from Section C, th en a no ther un it from Section A, and so on .
So, for exa mple , you could begin like this: Unit I , then Unit 2 1. then Unit 41 , the:n Unit 2, etc. At th e end of each uni t, yo u will find a not e telling you w here to go ne xt.
If you hav e problems in hearing the difkrence between individual sounds in Sa.:rion A of the book, you wil l be directed to one of the: exercises in S«rion D4 SoJmJ pairs.
5
You ma y w ant to focus your work more close ly. If so, beee are more Wfeas:
• Do the Pronunaatiotr tnt in Section o . Count your score for each section. If you d id specially well in an yone o f the sections, then yo u may want to row the units in that section of the book. • Look at Section 0 3 Guide for speaken of specific languages. Find your own langua ge (the languages are in alphabetical o rde r], The noees there will tell you w hich units are less important for spea kers o f your langu age and w hich sound pairs in sectio n D4 are recommended.
Do I need to know the phonemic symbols? It is possible to use th is book without knowing phonmUc sym bols, Ho~C"r, it is U5C'fuJ to learn them because they make it easier to ana lyse the pronunciation o f words. Also, many dictionaries uSC' phonemic symbols to show pronunciation. In Section 0 1 Introduction to phon~jc symbols, yo u w ill find a table of the phonem ic symbols, p lus a set of puzzles to help you learn th em.
Is this book only about pronunciation in speaking? No, it M 't. Pronunciation is important fe r both listening and speaking. In many o f the units. especia lly in Secrions B and C. the pronunciation poi nt is more important for listeni ng than speaking. For example. when they are spea king fast, many na tive spea kers join words together in certain ways. You need to be able to understand th is when you hear it, but it does ReX matter if you do not speak in th is way. People will still understa nd yo u. Pronunciation points like this are ~ shown with a grey background an d this sign: It is your dlOic:e whether you w ant to just focus on listening, o r whether you want to try to spea k that wa y too.
What accent of English is used in this book? For a model for you to copy when speaking, we have used o nly one accent, a Southern British accent. But when you are listening to peo ple spea king English. you will hear many different accems, If you are not used to these, it can be very di fficult to undcmand what is being said . Fo r this reason, you will hear a variety of acceers in some parts of the Iistming material. foe this book.
What is the Sentence stress phrasebook? It can help yo u to spea k more fluentl y if you say some: very common expressions with a fixed p ro nu nciati on , like a single word. In Section 0 5 $mtolt:e stress pbrasebook , so me co mmon expressions are given. and th ey are grouped together by th e way they sound: by th eir sentC'fJU sITus or rhythm. You an practise listening and repeating these to improve your fluency.
What is in the Glossary? In this book. the re are some words wbjch are specific to the subject o f pronunciation. You a n find an explanation o f the meaning of these words in Section D6 Glou.:try.
How should I use the record ings? When you are working wit h the recording, yo u should rep lay a track as o ften as you need to. When you are doing an exercise you may also need to pause the recording alter each sentence to give you lime to think or 10 write your a nswers, When you are instructed 10 repeat singk weeds there is a space on the recording for you 10 do so, but if you are repeating whole senrena:s you will have to pause the recording each time.
•
To the teacher Although English Prom4ndatiOf1 in Uu has hem written SO that it can be used for self-srudy, it will work equally well in a dass situation. In a classroom context, the learners can get immediate gui<bncc and feedback. from the teacher. Also, they ca n practise some of the dialogues and other exercises in pairs. You can direct students with particular pronunciation difficulties to do specific units on thrir own. In order ro simplify the jargon in the: book. many of the terms you may be familiar with are DO( used. For example, the rerm initi4l ronsonant ~ is nee used. 1be unit on initial COIUOn;lnl d usters is called Unit 24 Dh . no srrow!: Consonams at thr start of syllables. The following is an explanation of how the book is organised,. ending with the map o f COIlttIUS described in
pbonoIogical terms, Section A aims to cover the sounds o f English and their main spellings. The units are o rganised by letters rather than sounds. The intentio n is that this would be a more intuitive route: in for non-specia list users. At the sa me rime, this organisation helps to highlight so und-spelling regularities in Engl ish.
The vowels are co vered first via the five vowel letters o f the alphabet, and their 'long' and 'short' p ron unciations, for example t he letter A as in tape o r tap . The remaining vowel so unds a re presented as vowels which typically occur befo re a letter R. The co nsonant so unds are presented through either their most common spele lett tt, o r by one of their main spellings. The ordering of ebese units is more o r leu alphaberial. The units in Sa:rion A are nor presented as minimal pairs.. Vowels are paired according (0 their spelling. not' their potential for being confused with one anorhn. Consonants are paired mainly where share me same place of articulation. The units were not organised as minimal pa in to.- two reasons: â&#x20AC;˘ Any sound can form a minimal pair with a number of other so unds,. nor just one. Organising units according to minimal pain would therefore lead to a huge number o f units and a kit o f duplication. â&#x20AC;˘ Many minimal pairs will be reduedanr for an y given learner, so learners need to be sdeaive. Porenrial1yconfusing minimal pain are garhered rogether in Section D4 SowJJ p.nn. Learners arc encouraged to select from these according to their own needs.
mer
Ahemarives are induded for those areas of pronunciation which are especially StÂťCepribk: to variarion across differen r varieties o f English. For example, w hen: there is a letter R with no vowel after it, many speakers do nor prono unce the R and many ceber speakers do pronounce ie, and both varieties are peesenred, Ma ny vowel sounds are treated as local varia nts of vowel . R. For instan ce, the d iphtho ng !l:tl is initia lly presented nor as a sound in itself, bur as a variant o f fill when it occurs befo re R o r L
7
e lear ner s. For
som the boo k are pot ent iaUy irrelevant to Some o f th e pro nuncia tio n poi nts in er non -na tive spe ake rs of is mai nly to com mu nic ate wit h cxh aim se who n rne lea for e, Resea rch anc inst and IN is pro bably not: necessa ry. IW nds sou the of tion duc pro te ura acc h as JtJ and Eng.lish, nds wit h ot her app rox ima tion s suc sou e thes ute stit sub rs ake spe re suggests tha t whe suc h cas es, rea der s a re Uen niff f Jen kins: 200 0)" . In ma ny Id!, com munica tio n is not impeded kss ind ude d. My feeling pro nun ciat ion points are ~erthe se The ts. uni the in fact is th of tk for. Th us, a advised wh a t we aim for and w hat we set n wee bet wn dra be can rion ioc is tha t a disr k for JtJ (or lsi). lear ner mig ht aim for JfJI and sct nat ive spea kers, th ere doe s asp ire to com mu nic ate wit h r me lea a ere wh es cas in n eve instance, Similarly, pet enc e wo uld be sufficie nt. Fo r com e ptiv rece re whe s ure feat ion are ma ny pro nun ciat but not necessarily produce it. efSt2J1d speech wit h wea k form s, und ro d nee uld wo ner lear a h suc Imp orta nt for list eni ng'. bac kgr oun d sha de and the sign ' y gre a by ts uni the in d cate indi ure s. I ha ve This is ask the lear ner to pro duc e such feat ich wh es rcis exe be may re the s, duce. even. Nevertheles ess -rai ser tha n eo an~p t ro pro ren awa ter bet no is re the es, cas obs erv ed tha t in ma ny if the a im is receptive com pet enc e. e uni ts a re big ger tha n ind ivid ual sou nds . Th are ich wh ts uni ion ciat nun pro Sectio n B focuses o n ce seress. As the tide of the h syllables, wo rd seress an d sen ten wit m tu in ling dea , cks blo e thre in a com mu nic a tive a t more o r kss in isol atio n from ked loo are s ture fea e thes ts., ges sug a dic tion ary sec tion ss, it is the form as it may a ppe ar in me rd wo of e cas the in e, anc inst form in con text . For stre ss, we focus o n an unm ark ed e tenc sen of e cas the in ly, ilar Sim tha t is dea lt wit h here . pat tern 00 00. In a th ink ?' is p rese nte d wit h th e stre ss you do at Wh ' le, mp exa For B. Section $S pat tern 000 0, sentenCe could be sa id wit h the Sl:re e sam this t, tex con l ona sati ver tion B. spec:ifil; con lt wit h in Section C rath er tha n Sec dea are t tex con l ona sati ver con bu t sentences in ver sati on. These s whi ch emerge in the con text of con ure feat tion cia nun pro on ses focu Section C f grey sha din g in ton e. No te tha t the re is a lot o and e enc min pro on, sati ani include discourse org for pro d uct ion . It is felt mo re imp orta nt for listenin g tha n this section,. indicating ma terial tha t is ond the reach of ma ny features of into nat ion wil l be bey ny ma of y ster ma tive duc pro ile tha t wh them. efit from a receptive awa ren ess of lear ner s, they ma y nev ertheless ben
ed on th e spelllr.m ofSfHcific languages is bas fo,. uik G 3 0 tion Sec in ial ter ma The No te: 2001 )... . kha el Swa n and Bemard Sm ith: (M lish Eng r rne Lea in es not pro nun cia tion red the re, as ma ny o f the ola te fro m the info rma tion peesen Nevertheless, I hav e ha d to ext rap the pro n unciati on not es in k are not specifica lly men tion ed in boo this in ted sen pre rs pai l ima min tha t bookâ&#x20AC;˘
. _ , ~ l.< Mpt I~
Uh ... â&#x20AC;˘Jcnk.... J. 200 0 '1'W PbutuIoo of begIbegI Uh
....swan, M. and B. SntiIh 200 1 z.-.wr
Odo rd: Odo rd
~
Prfta.
lr. Camllri</slo tJnn.enitJ f'no-. ~ FmP oaI. Cam brid
i
(
e
I
•
Map of contents described in phonological terms A Lettersand sounds B Syllabln, words and sentences 1 Introduction to vowels and consonants 21 Introduction to syllables 2 The vowel sounds lel/,lrel 22 Introduction to word stress 3 The consonant sounds {bl./pl 23 Introd uction to sentence stress 4 The consonant sounds IsI.Iz/ 24 Syllables: initial consonant clusters 25 Syllables: final consonant clusters
C Conversation 41 Repairstratrgies 42 Pronouncing punctuation
26 Syllable structure and -s endings 27 Syllable structure and -ed endings
5 The consonant sounds Id!.ft l
6 The vowel sounds li:/.fel 7 Weak vowels /:JI. /II
43 Grouping words: chunking 44 Kttping your speaking tum: floor holding 45 Discourse markers in stOfY telling: back-channel responses 46 Discourse markers:'throwaway' words 47 Discourse markers:signalling next stage: ctence-or-state marker
8 The consonant sounds IfI, Ivl 9 The consonant sounds IgI, /kJ 10 The sounds /hi. Iw/, Ijl 11 The vowt=1sounds fall, /11
33 Sentence stress: unstressed words 34 Sentence stress: wt'ak forms of contractions of pronouns 35 Sentence stress: weak forms of contractions of be 36 Sentence stress: weak toens of contractions of auxiliaries 37 Sentence stress: weakforms of articles, prepositions and connectors 38 Unking consonant to vowel 39 Linking vowt=1to vowel 40 Assimilation and t=lision
60 High tones: evaluative comment
59 Intonation: opinion. disagreement, tag questions
58 Intonation: continuing or finishing tones
57 Intonation: old and new information
56 Tonic stress placement
53 Contrastive: stress: corrming 54 Introduction to tone: intonational idioms; fall and rise tones 55 Intonation: open and ch«=Ck questions
28 Word stress: twc-svnabre words 48 Pitch in pronouncing direct spttd1 29 Word stress: compounds 49 Contrastive stress 30 Word stress: sufflxes with penultimate stress 50 New and old information 31 Word stress: suffixes with ante-penultimate stress 51 Emphatic stress on important information 32 Sentence stress: short imperativ«=s 52 Contrastive stress onalternatives
12 Tht= consonant sounds IfI.fd3l.Itfl 13 The consonant soundsll/. /rl 14 The vowt=1sounds la:(r1/, It=;(rll 15 The consonant sounds IrnJ./n/,luI 16 Tht= vowt=ls sounds/<JUf, lol 17 The consonant sounds19/, I{)( 18 The vowelsounds /,J, /u/. /u:1 19 The vowel sounds 13:lrl/.I;:,:(rl/ 20 The vowelsounds J:n/./au/
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Glossary ;U."ttII 1 An accent is me way the people of a place: prooounce: rheir 1artgu2ge. For example, people in London and Sydney both speak English. but they have diffnmt accents.
auxiliary verb An auxi liary verb is 11 verb whi ch does n or hav e a mea ning by itself; it helps the grammar o f the sentence. For exa m ple, in Do yoe like m usid, do is an a ux iliary ver b.
C In dais book. the symbol C reeans consoru.nt socod. careful \ pccdl l {;N \ P<-'-ch People pronounce: senr~ dilkrendy when they speak carefully. For exampk, yo u may use careful speech when you are talking in public o r rea ding aloud. But in normal conversatio n you would USC' fast speech. con...m.J.1l1 so und the mouth.
A consonant sound is a sound we ma ke by obstructing the flow of a ir from
cuntr.-.,inn A contraction is a shan form of an auxiliary verb in writing. For example, are is conuacred to re in rhty'" . cmrh.l\i\;n~ Emphasising in speech is like underlining in w riting; we use it to make one word sta nd OU t as mor e: importan t than t he o thers . We ca n emphasise words by prono uncing them lou de r. longa' and/or higher.
me
minimal pair U rwo words are pronounced nearly same. bu t they hne just one sound difkr'mt., they are a minim..al pair, For elt2mp!e, in the pair ship Ifl ~ and shup /fi : ~, only the second sound is difmrot. na tive \ pe:akcr IC you a re 11 native speaker of a la nguage, that langua ge is yo ur first langua ge. the langua ge which yo u lea rn t as a yo ung ch ild.
phonemic \~mhol A phonemic symbol is a kne- which represenrs a sound. FOI" example, the first IOUnd in shoe is represented by the pbonemic 5ymbol lfl. m~mc Two words rhyme if they have the same final vowel o r vowel and consonant sounds. Fo r exampk, go rhymes with show and hat rh ymes with cot.
\Cntcnn' vtrc...\ Sentence srress is the pa ttern of strong and wea k syllables in a sentence. Fo r sentence How do you dol is no rma lly said wit h this sentence stress pattern: 0000 example. (m e first and last syllables strong., the second and third syllables weak).
me
A sound is the minimum scgrncnt of the pronunciation of a word. For example, the word this has three sounds: IH/, /II and N .
sound
vtre...\ pa ncm The pattern of stro ng and wea k syllables in a wo rd o r sentence is its stress pattern. In thi s book, Stress p atterns arc represented by big a nd small circles. Fo r examp le. the stress pattern of the word pronJ<lnCation is 00000. \~ lI.lbl.: A syllable is a word or part of a word that has one vowel sound. It may also have one or mcee consonant sounds. For example, ago has two syllabln. The first syllabI.: is just one vowe l sound. The: second syllab le is a consonant sound followed by a vowd sound.
a sentence . This ca n cha nge tone A tone is thC' way your vo ce gOC'S up o r down whC'11 you say the meaning o f the sentence. An unstressed syllable is one which is not prono unced strongly.
uuvtrc.... ccd
V
In this book. the symbo l V
mC'aRS ~I
sound.
a nd the oeber is Man y pairs o f conson ant so unds are similar:, bur one o f them is voiced is voiced wben nant conso is not. A not. For examp le, IdJ is simila r to It.!, but IdJ is voiced an d It.! there is vib ration in tbC' throat . voice
o bstruc t the' air flow from th e •'o w el ,ound A vowel sound is a sound we ma ke when WC' do n't mouth in speaking. on weak vowel Un st ressed syllabIC'S often co nta in a weak vowe l. The most comm is also SOtnC'rimC's wea k, is /.v. This is tbe first ~I sound in about, for examp le. The vowel iii in the second syllable o f orallgC', for examp le.
c1,
weak
\11 w
wlIrd
For exa m ple, the ,Ir''''' Word seress is the patte rn o f strong and wea k syllables in a wo rd . ly. So d«4k d
strong word d«UUd ha s rhree syllables and tbC' second OOC' is pronou ~ more ha s this word suns pattern ; 000.
-."'"-.,- --jow -
-
--
EItfIish Proncmc:Xrtion in Use
163
Key 1.1
LaS!: wult, I _ t m y son Jamie to the shops to buy SOt'f'Ie food. He got a pleU of meat and two pears. On th e way home, the bag brok e. Th e food fell onto th e road and got dirty. In the end, Jami e tMtw the food in the bin.
1.2
I dog eve 2 rabbit CVCVC 3 frog CCVC
1. 3
1 2 3 4
2. 1
2.2 2.3 2.4 3. 1
Phil the fox A M a ry the canary B Ida the spider B Claire the bear B
I/'~ <ok,
Po lly the parrot A Deborah the zebra B
Myrtle the turtle B Kitty the ca t A
II'" ~at
tra in eight
3 main
5 rain 6 hare
h.M cat
mop
~t
I uk
3 watch 4 sai d
S care 6 square
7 he..
21.. I man
2 ca p
1 heart
o pen
5 hay
O -
S spea
SID: Where are the pears?
JOE: SID:
SID: JOE:
Sm: 1
Bun?I!l Did you say lw4n? No,. pears. you know. fruit! O il, I sec, pears with a PI They're in the padt.. What, in the badt. of the truck? No. in the pack, you know, with a PI O h, I sec, pad with a PI Would you like one ? No, I'U have a fN.tUh, please. A beac:h?!11
""'p
1 lamb 2 climb
3,4
. '"
o tap'
JOE:
3.3
ta bl<
5 6 1 8
1 eight, ate 2 made. maid
SID: joe
3.2
4 gorilla CVCVCV 5 snake CCVC 6 bee CV
2 """
3 cupboard
o phcec
1 There's a bear in tha t tree, 2 He had the peach to himself. 1 1bey've earned it..
3 pill 5 recei pt
7 combing
6 psychology
4 Say 'boil'. 5 This is a nice affair. 6 Would you like a coffee?