English Pronunciation Practice A Practical Course for Students of English By Wang Guizhen Faculty of English Language

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English Pronunciation PracticeA Practical
Course for Students of EnglishByWang
GuizhenFaculty of English Language
CultureGuangdong University of Foreign Studies
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Revision

• Part I English Phonemes

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English vowels vowel classification

• The English pure vowels can be classified
  according to
• the height of the raised part of the tongue
• the part of the tongue raised
• the position of the lips

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pot
p
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English Consonants Consonant Classification

• The English consonants can be classified
  according to
• place of articulation
• manner of articulation
• voicing, i.e. voiced or voiceless

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Place of articulation Manner of articulation Bilabial Labio- Dental Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Palatal Velar Glotal
Plosive p b t d k ?
Fricative f v ? ? s z ? ? h
Affricate t? d?
Nasal m n ?
Lateral l
Approximant w r j
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Reading Practice

• I shall have to try and get some cash from our
  bank at lunchtime. Then we can let them have the
  money that they want as soon as they like. What
  are they asking us to pay them?

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Reading Practice

• I shall have to try and get some cash from our
  bank at lunchtime. Then we can let them have the
  money that they want as soon as they like. What
  are they asking us to pay them? (15/41)

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Part II The Rhythmic Structure of English

• Rhythm and stress
• Rhythm and the length of sounds
• Rhythm and sound linking
• Rhythm and assimilation
• Rhythm and weak forms

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ENGLISH STRESS RHYTHM
I. Stressed-Timed Rhythm Rhythm in
speech syllable-timed languages stress-timed
languages Syllable-timed language an
approximately equal amount
of time to each syllable Stress-timed language
the rhythm is based on a
larger unit
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• How did you manage to keep so calm
• secs.33 .33 .33 .33 .33 .33 .5 .5
  1.0 ?
• secs.5 .25 .25 .5 .25 .25 .67 .33
  1.0

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Whos coming to
the birthday par-
ty?
By a non-native speaker of English.
Whos coming
to the birthday par-
ty?
By a native speaker of English.
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was
at war Fig 11 was at war in the
sentence England was at war with America. --
(By non-native speaker of English)
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was
at war Fig 12 was at war in
the sentence England was at war with America.
-- (By native speaker of English)
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Amptitude
was
at war
Fig was at war in the sentence England was at
war with America.
-- (By
non-native speaker of English)
Amptitude
was
at war Fig
was at war in the sentence England was at war
with America.
-- (By native
speaker of English)
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I. Rhythm and stress

• Sentence stress has two main functions
• 1. To indicate the important words in the
  sentence
• 2. To serve as the basis for the rhythmical
• structure of the sentence.

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• Ex. 1 Content words are usually stressed and
  function
• words unstressed
• I called her at home, but she was at school.
• Keep her from moving so I can take her
  picture.
• Nothing happened to Ted during the storm.
• Take it or leave it the choice is up to you.
• Ex. 2 Content words are not always stressed
• -- Hello, I'm John. What's your name?
• -- My name's Frank. I'm Simon Brown's cousin.
  Where do you live?
• -- Next door to the Browns'. Where do you live?

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• Bert's friend John has just sold two very fine
  old paintings.
• The Daniel Jones Pronouncing Dictionary lists
  most versions of modern English Pronunciation.
• What would you have done if he had talked to you
  in the street?
• It would have been better not to have paid for it
  before you had received it.

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Ex. 3 Each of the following sentences contains
the same amount of stressed syllables. Read them
at a steady, regular speed.

• He asked me to give him a ticket.
• He should ask if we could give him a ticket.
• He should have asked us if we could give him
  another ticket.

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Ex. 4 Give suitable answers to the three
questions you hear.

• i) (No.) It's on the twenty-first.
• ii) I've got a ticket.
• iii) (No.) She sells clothes.
• iv) (No.) He's got a cold.
• v) (Yes.) (No.) We're not going till Thursday
  night.

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Ex. 5 Respond to the two different things you
hear.

• i) He's got a new car.
• ii) I've got some flowers.
• iii) I've been to Paris.
• iv) Then I'll have some soup.
• v) He said he'd phone.

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II. Rhythm and the length of sounds

• 1. Vowels are longer when final or followed by a
  voiced consonant than when followed by a
  voiceless consonant.
• 2. Vowels are longer in stressed monosyllables
  than when followed by an unstressed syllable or
  syllables.
• 3. Vowels are longer in stressed syllables than
  in unstressed syllables.

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Table 3 Length of /i/ in different phonetic
contexts in accented monosyllables
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III. Rhythm and sound linking

• 1. To blend or join the final consonant of one
  word with the initial word of the following word,
  as in "post?office".
• 2. To link the final vowels /?/ and /?/ to a
  following vowel by adding the /r/ sound, which is
  called linking-r, as in "her own", or
  intrusive-r, as in "the idea?of".
• 3. To make smooth transitions when words are
  separated by more than two consonants, i.e. treat
  them as consonant sequences, as in "next?topic".
• 4. To make smooth transitions when the preceding
  word ends with a vowel and the following word
  begins also with a vowel sound by adding a slight
  /j/ or /w/, as in "my?arm".
• 5. To change the pronunciation of some final and
  initial consonants, as in "Did?you ".

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Ex. 6 Write down the phrases you hear.

• 1. ______________ 2. ______________
• 3. ______________ 4. ______________

• 5. ______________ 6. ______________
• 7. ______________ 8. ______________

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• Key Ex. 6
• What of it?
• 2. Its after nine already.
• 3. Come on in.
• 4. They looked as if theyre angry.
• 5. How much is it?
• 6. Are you sure about all of it?
• 7. Shes on the phone.
• 8. If its time, Ill go.

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Ex. 7 Read the following dialogues, paying
special attention to the linking.

• 1.
• -- Can?I help?you, sir?
• --Yes, I'm?in?a rush I'm?afraid. Can?I have?a
  piece?of? apple cake please, with?icecream?
• -- Certainly, sir. I'll?ask the waiter to
  come?over?as soon?as possible.
• 2.
• -- Switch?off the light, David.
  It's?almost?eleven.
• -- I'm scared?of the dark. I think?I heard?a
  noise. Look? over there! Something?on the window
  ledge?is moving!

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• 3.
• -- How?often do?I have to do?it?
• -- You?ought to do?every?exercise once?a week.
• -- Do?I have to do?every?exercise?
• -- Yes, it should take?you?about two?hours.
  Though?I don't suppose?it will!
• 4.
• -- Actually, I?ought to practise more regularly?I
  suppose.
• -- Well, don't worry?about?it. I?often forget
  myself.
• -- Perhaps we?ought to try?and go together.

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• 5.
• -- How?is?it going, Edward?
• -- Not bad?at?all. It's not?exactly?a busy place
  though.
• -- Where?are you staying?
• -- Just?a little pub?on the?edge?of town.
• -- And what?are you doing?on your?own?
• -- Not?a lot?actually. This?evening there's?a
  match? on TV, so?I'll get?a snack?in town?and
  watch?a bit?of football?afterwards.

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IV. Rhythm and Assimilation and Elision

• 1) ________________ 2) _________________
• 3) ________________ 4) _________________
• 5) ________________ 6) _________________

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• Key Ex.
• 1. That man.
• 2. Of course.
• 3. Weve phoned him.
• 4. That goat.
• 5. Good morning.
• 6. I cant go.

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Ex. 8 Fill in the blanks with the words you hear.

• 1) They're ____________ aren't they?
• 2) I can't find mine. Can I ____________?
• 3) I ____________ it. Do you?
• 4) Everyone can see that it ____________.
• 5) ________so often if you can manage by
  yourself.
• 6) That's the ____________ to start.
• 7) This is his ____________.
• 8) ____________ looks nice.

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• Key Ex.8
• 1) They're _nice shoes__ aren't they?
• 2) I can't find mine. Can I ___use yours__?
• 3) I ___I dont believe___ it. Do you?
• 4) Everyone can see that it ___it cant be
  done___.
• 5) ___Dont go____ so often if you can manage by
  yourself.
• 6) That's the ___right place___ to start.
• 7) This is his __own car___.
• 8) __That cup__ looks nice.

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Ex. 9 Write down the words you hear.

• Dropping of vowels and consonants within a word
• 1) _______________ 2) _________________
• 3) _______________ 4) _________________
• Dropping of sounds at the word boundaries
• 1) _______________ 2) _________________
• 3) _______________ 4) _________________

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Key Ex. 9

• robbery
• nursery
• correct
• direction
• February
• suffering

• Get him a pen.
• Get another.
• Not alone.
• Take her along.
• He was annoyed.
• Rob him

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V. Rhythm and weak forms

• Ex. 10 Write down the phrases or sentences you
  hear.
• 1) ________________ 2) _________________
• 3) ________________ 4) _________________
• 5) ________________ 6) _________________

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Key Ex. 10

• 1 Thats our own.
• 2. Have you tried them all?
• 3. Itll get in the way of the door.
• 4. Its from overseas.
• 5. For at least one or two.
• 6. The only remark that was to the point.

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• 1. -- Give me a book now.
• -- Just a minute.
• 2. -- It's an orange that I'd like.
• -- I thought you were saying 'an apple'.
• 3. -- What is the old man doing?
• -- He's telling the children stories.
• 4. -- Somebody's going to take her home.
• -- Anything wrong with her?
• 5. -- I like his novels.
• -- I like his poems.

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• I.
• A I saw them together.
• B Where did you see them?
• A In the town.
• B When did you see them?
• A This morning.
• B Did you say anything to them?
• A I told them I should tell you.
• B Which youve now done. Thank you.
• A Arent you going to send for them?
• B No need. Ive already invited them for dinner.
• A Them? Both of them? Together?
• B Like to join us?

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• 2.
• A We all know that we face problems. We know
  that we face difficulties. We are all aware that
  the difficulties that we face are not
  difficulties that will be overcome immediately,
  or that will be overcome easily. We all
  recognize that the problems that confront us are
  not problems that will be solved overnight. But
  I sometimes wonder if we realise if we realise
  sufficiently that
• B That that was the clock striking two, Frank!
  Go to sleep!
• A Sorry, dear. Didnt know it was so late. My
  big day, tomorrow, you know. Ah, well.
  Goodnight.
• B Its a lovely speech, Frank.

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• 3.
• A Hes not on the fourth floor now, hes been
  moved to the fifth. Use the lift. Ill ring to
  say youve arrived.
• B No hurry. Er how is he, Nurse?
• A I think hes improved. Still coughs a lot, of
  course.
• B And he behaves all right, does he?
• A Oh, yes. We have plenty of laughs! Well miss
  him when he leaves!
• B He loves pretty nurses, Grandad does! Its a
  family weakness! By the way, he wanted me to
  bring him this gift. For his special favourite
  a nurse called Soft.
• A How lovely!
• B Funny name, Soft, isnt it?
• A Yes. But Ive got used to it.
• B Oh. Sorry.
• A Well, Ill ring to say youve arrived.
• B Im sorry!

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• 4.
• A I havent always lived in this cottage, you
  know.
• B Havent you? How pretty it is!
• A Youve not been here long, of course.
• B I havent, no. Only a month, in fact. But its
  a very nice village. Ive grown to love it
  already.
• A You havent seen Ferringly House, yet, I
  suppose?
• B Oh, its magnificent! A beautiful house!
• A But the new people havent looked after it
  properly, you know.
• B Well, I havent seen it closely, of course,
  Mrs, er
• A Ferringly. Madeleine Ferringly.

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• 5.
• A Jims left, of course.
• B Hes left, too, has he?
• A And Jean.
• B Yes, shes gone to work at Fletchers, they
  tell me.
• A Oh, its changed a lot since you were here.
  Its become much more efficient, of course. But
  its lost the personal touch, Im afraid.
• B And what about our old friend Martin?
• A Oh, Martins stayed on.
• B And become more efficient?
• A Hes had to. At avoiding work, that is.

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Thank you.