Table Of Content

4a Consent sequences Exercises 1 Does your language have sequenecs of twro, chrce, four or more consonants? If s, list the ones which are similar co English sequences, 2 Does yout language have stop + stop sequences? Practise again the cxamples on p. 69. 3 Besure that you can distinguish the following: spy. espy: state, estate; scape, escapes suppor, sport; succumb, scum; polite, plight; tsrrain, train; below, blow; strange, estrange; ascribe, scribe; esquire, squire; astute, stewed: ticket, ticked; wrapped, rapid, wrap it 4 Does yout language have nasil explosion (p. 70) or lateral explosion (p. 72)? Practise those examples again, 15 Pracaise again all the ather examplesin this chapter, being very careful to fallow the instructions given. Finish with the longer sequences on p. 77. B The vowels of English Vowels are made by voiced air passing through diffcrent mouth- shapes; the differences in the shape of che mouth are caused by diferent postions of the tongue and of te lips. eis easy Losee and to feel the Tip diferences, hueitis very dificult to sce orto feel rhe tongue differences, and that is why a detailed description of the tongue position for acettain vovrel dnes not really help as to pronounce it well ‘Vowels must be learned by listening and imitating: Loould tell you thatthe English vowel for as in saw is made by rounding the lipsand, by placing the back of che tonguc ina position misl-way between the highes: possible and the lowest posible postion, bucit would be mach morc belpfal fT could simply say the sound for you and get youto inminate nte, Since Lcanoot do this oust leave te listening and imieating to you. So spend some of your listening time os the vowels. ‘As said at she boginning ofchaptec 3 English speakers vary quite a Torin thear vowel sounds; the vowels used by an Australian, an Ameri~ ‘can anda Scotsman ia the wore see arcall different, but chey ate all recognized quite easily 28. So the actual sounds dhat you we for she English vowels are notso important as the differences that you make Derwoen chem, There must be diferences between the vowels, and thats ‘what we will concentrate on Simple vowels fist, ¢} In your language you will have a vowel which is ke the English 1) in se, and one which is like the English /4/ in sun, and almost certainly ‘one which iclike the English ‘en get. They may not be exactly the same as the English vowels you hear in listening to English, tutrhey will do for a starting point, Say the words bi:d bead and bed bed several ‘émesand listen carefully vo the sound afthe vowels; then try toy a vowel which is beret the other two, and different from both, not ied and not bed, but... brd - that will be the vowel in bid. Younced co Vowels thece different vewels for the thee words fea, bid ua bed. Tre suce that the middle vowel is dffeeut and ere the other ewo: one ching which wall help you to distinguish fc! from jaf is chat jsf iskonger than jx/as well as differencin che quality of the sound. Pracsise those thece words (and listen for chem in English) until you are sure that you can keep them separate. The most likely difficulty is that yor will confuse lif with 1, so be sure that {sf ismearce in quality to jef andl thatiz is always shortce than sty ‘Remember that when the vowels are followed by a strong consonant they are shorter than when they ace followed by a weak consonant, 0 that hea, hit and fet all have shorter vowels than bead, bd and bed, but even so the vowel fifi aways fonger than the vowels ij anc efi. any one sct. Now practise the following sets and pay attention to both thelength ofthe vowels and eheir qualiy: Visd lead hd Ted led ed wheat wnt wit wet wet isn been bin bin ben Ben check tfrk chick ——_efek chock fil feel At fal fel fell rit reach rtf ich retf wretch Jez. al Now younced another vowel hetween jef and /aj, that isthe vowel Jaf. Say the words bed bed end bad budseveral nrres ancl be sure that ‘your mouth is cuite wide open for the vowel of bad. Listen to the vowels carefully and then try to say a vowel which is betmere those two, avowel which sounds a butik fej and.a but like jaf bnt which is differenc from both, You nusthave dhfferent vowelsin fed, bad and hud, Practise those thrce words until yon can zhways make a difference beeween them; they all hav comparatively short vowelsso that length dilferences wi'l not help you heee ‘Practise the following sets and be sure that exch word really sounds differents ten ten cen ten tan con bet ber bat bat bat but pen pen pen pan pan pon seks sex seks sacks Saks sucks ded ded dnd Dad dad dud me mesh maf mash maf muh fa Simpl vowels 1a 8 Bs AL ‘Now aryl ive of hese vowelsin che ser given below: you ill see thae there are gapsin some of che sets, where uo word exists, for ostance there n no word Yek; but for practice you can fillin che gaps too, Some of the words are richer uncommon, bur don’t worry about the meanings just be sure chat the vowel sounds are different: bead bid bid bed bed beed bad bad bad leak tk lick Trek Tack — lake luck jneel fil ill het ell hel Hal hat bull teen un tin. ten ten ten wn TAN ton eat tt init net net onait gat nat mut least lest lise lest lest ast Tost ream am im vem ram Tam rom bit beac bit bit bet bet bat bar bat bur favaof fa Bogland when the doctor wants to lock into your mouth and ree eas nc sakryou vo any Ah cece vowel tevnuse for this vowel the congve is very low und be ean see over itto the back of the palate anu the pharynx. Soif you haveno vowel aacily ike jas/in-your lan guage you may find a mixror useful keep ‘your rmouth wid: open and play with various vowel sounds until you nd one which allows yout to sce the very back of the soft palace quite ‘dearly: ¢his will he simiar to an Englisin arf, but you must compare it ‘with the faxf vowels that you ear v-hen you listen to English and, dijuse your sound ifecessary. Remeunber that jarjis a ong vowel The short vowel jf is abit hike fax! iu qualiy chough of course they myst he kepe separate. For /oehe lips may be lightly rounded, for Jas] ekey arenot. Tey she fallowing ses: lake tuck fack atk Tok doe kad cad koxd card kod cod dak duck dark dok dock ast tase Last lose lost aks bucks barks barks boks bos kap cup ka:p carp KOP_ cop Jo. 2.0003 fn your language there will bea vowel whidh is similar to the Bnglish ur Vowels jus/in two. The fus{ in English, like fis/ and fax is always longer than the other-vawels. Between jo} and /u:/ younced to make two other vowels of, long ane, asin fs} ae, and ey, a short one, asin pot ‘pet. Poe Jor the mouth is less open than for fof and the lips ace more sounded, but jos neazer in quality to fo chan to jus). or fo the lips arcalso rounded, but thesound isnearer in quality 0 {ur}. All four vowck, /o,2:, 9, u:j, must be kepe separate, and the difftrences of lengch will help in his, Tey the following sets: fod. shod shored fod. should shood kod cod ord cord kod covid coved wod wad ward ward wod would svoved Ipk lock tok ook Luke pol Poll pol Paul pol pull pool iar ‘The vowel /:/asin /ha:/lerisa long vowel whichis nor very elosein quality to any of the other vowels and usually sounds rather vague and indistinct tothe foreign learner. You must licen to the vowel especially carcfully and try toimitate the indistinctness of it (*hongh co an English listener it sounds quite distinct’). Two things wall help: keep yyonr teeth qsie close together and do not cound your lips at all = smile when you say ic! The two commonest mistakes with js are, fies, to replace itby /er{ or by some vowel in your own language ‘which has lip-rounding but which is net likely to be confused with any other English vowel, and second, ancl more impartane, itis replaced by {xj by Japanese speakers and speakers of many Aftican languages and ‘others In the first case there isno danger of misunderstanding, although. the vowel will sound strange: in the second case there is danger of mise understanding, since words ike batt hurt and ha:t heart will he confused. {In your listening-time pay special attention to aif and experiment (always wath teeth close together and a smile on your face} until you approach the right quality; then make sure that you can distinguish it fiom ja:j which has the tecth further apart in the following pairs: pss purse = pas pass bain bum © baim barn hid heard acd hard fasm firm faim Farin pa:t{e perched —po:t{t parched aks Jurks lacks larks fy ‘The vowel /a/ in bana:ne banana is the commonest of the English Simple vowels “vanels and is ashust version of [a}, Tes parcicularly shore and indistinet aareeteiemor Bnd) cg, :n agen again, Kancern contain, paustenan post “hn, tn Enel poston, thats before a pau, atin beto beter exfe Asi, reals satan the wow sounds more like fx, though itis not usually 99 sreene are wo main dius with his vowel: fist 0 ides hacia, know when itis this vowel you should be sinting at: an vreon htop the ight quality Inthe firs case, do not be deosived by Enel spellings there’ no single lero which abways stands for his vowel so relyon your ear listen very carefully and you will hear “Tosony of examples of join every bit of English yor hsten to, Tm the smrond ene. icisoffon tseful to think of leaving out the vows] abto- pererin words such ss Kondem conde, sods Soda, dent an ‘Brenan, where J comes between consonants. OF course, you will aor peal leave out the vowrel, kc yoa wallhave a minima vowel too thaeis what (ai. Then inal postion, atin temper siaune wero, abza.¥ oberve, you raust agein Keep it very snort ane aaa barre, Brtin final postion t weed net be so sort andit may be rave like aj, with the mouth a line anoce open than in ether positions. Try the following examples: In medial pesition pohaps perhaps kamen sonra entotern cutertain rmberss embarrass dinoz dinners hindad hindered mow! amateor glemares glamorous kamfatab| comfortable kempetnont component andastend understand mens, wmenace parle pilot terab| tettible paumanant. permanent korerdgas courageous 7 stend send aamnieg Sbeteake ebatroct Be. Tatoy Seed wey eee pe % sa Vowels apie appear adgain adjourn afens offence ° In final position su:na sooner sels sailor meso mae keola colle safo sulphur jeu chauffur Tike Mes Shenker palo Persia kanads Canada fietere flatcerer admarara admire kala colour zefa zephve prkef> picture ams China madara murderer kompovz0 composer More examples of fa/ will be found ples ofa found in the next chapter when wecon- tir che we om of conan words such acarand erin octal times and fo | for you, Diphthongs A diphthong is a glide from one vowel to another, and the whele actslike one of the long, simple vowels; so vehi tat beet also ber, bau, bar, bay, bar, bre, bea, bus, The diphthongs of Fnglish arcin three groups: those which end in fo, fav, av), those which end in f, fet, a, a1, and those which end in /2, 12, €2, vf. Jou, a0f ‘Both these diphthongs end with of eather than jos) although you will not be: misunderstood if you do use fus/. To get jouf asin s9uso, start ‘with fay/and then glide away ta fo/ with the lip goering slightly rounded and che sound becoming lessloud asthe glide progresses. Be sore thatthe first part ofthe diphthong is /a/{a real English /:/2) and not reanphinglike tan ese arte sensi dlphthong. not a simple vowel of the [ot type. fov/and fay must be kept quite rane ey efalownags ef amie mos ekepeass lv low lw seu so wt aw anew snow 2 snore our boar boat. boughe klavz close claws kavk coke :" keol coal all Ketek ends my Diphthongs Fox] stare with fa. Say tan fon, and then after che f4)-sound add an Jalythisshould give taon foun, jaf isnot difical for most people, Be Sure that fay] and [2b] aee diferent. Try che following: nay now nay know lavd loud leud load favnd found feund phoned rag row (quarrel) ras row (line) dat doubt davt duce caunz towns rounz tones Remember when yon practise these examples that diphehongs are shovter before steong consonants and longer before weak ones, justlike the other vowels, so bavt boat has shorter diphthong than kletz lose sad daut dovbeashortcr one thap laud fod. Go back overall chose xuinples and getche lengths right. When ny consonant follows, asin lou ow, the diphthong teat is longest. Jen anor “phese diphthongs ll end un, not (i (though itis notseriousif you dose fit} Sinally), fer! beyins with fe asin mest. Say men snd then add ja) fier ef, gliding smoothly from fy oj! and making the sound less oud asthe glide progresses this will give memn ma, The most common mistake isto use a Tong, simple vowel, 0 ery to be sure that there isa glide from fej to jx/; however, f you do uscasimple vowel for ferfit will not be misunderstood some accents of English (6g, Scotish) do the sarse. But fex/ and je) must be quite separate, Try the following Next fate let lee ser! sil sel sell perpa papet pepe pepper trerd trade tred tread perk rake ek wreck fer full fel fall {ar} glides from faj to ff, and the loudness hecomes fess as the glide propseses. Say fan ji, and then addy after the ja, with a srnooth bis cis will yive you fara fine, Be sre that [a issepazatefeom jet: wait white wert war land Tied led Laid rats rice ers race rat rise rarz rise lank like lark luke fal file fel fail Joa glides from > o/h), nd as ual the loudness boconss Less doing 85 Vowels the glide. Say 439: ow and then ada jx, as before, This will give you [4391 joy. The j23f sound is not as long in orf asit is when itis alone, as in doy), forf isnota very common diphthong and itis not likely to be confused with any other vowel or diphtbong. Try these words: bor boy tor toy anor annoy maz noise sal oll dgom join avard avoid —_borlz busls vars voice hoist hoist — dgomnt joint. arta loiter 9, €8,09/ ‘These arc all glides to the sort of {2/-sound Sound in final position, as eseribed on p. 83. 19f glides from {xf (aot ty} to this fa! wards like his hear, nta neus, cte. Ifyou do use ff at the begining of the glide it vil soond a hitstcange but you will not be misunderstood. Try the we je year bra ber kha clear fio fear raf real brad heard ardrez ieleus karen Korcan fies ficree ——pras pierce nara nearer taal really Words snch ac fanta fluntier and gl ta; tsthe resule of adding an ending af or jas{ tau word which ends with jef, should bbe pronounced in the same way as the /ra} in har, near, eze. The same istrue for words such as indra Badia, eerra area, jusnran snaon, ete. To make fea, stare with the word haz has (with che proper English fe borweon ef and {nj} and thea add js aftr the gliding smoottly from fay] to /4f; zhis wall give you the word hea ha Noice that the begivning of the diphehoug is ff sathee shan fe}. You must keep /ra/and fea; quite separate; cry the following: 26 glorious, who hrs here hea hair bra becr bea bare stad steered stead stared 92 carseat aits rah really reali rarely wrart weary weart wary Joe] starts from Jo} (not fus/} and glides to fafsiE you use fur] at che beginning of the glide it will sound. bit strange but you will not be misunderstood. Fry the following: pus poor infosrans insurance Josh surcly Kjvarnpsatr curiosity Ffeortas furious kjea cure 86 53 Diphthorgs . ples pure eworst tourist foo sure piv purely Allehese weeds may also be arctwnunced with fof instead of fsa/ in RP, {po:, for, kjoyf ete, Other words, ke fete, bier, continuous, are ako usually prondunced with {o3/ five, blos, kentinjoes though they can always be pronounced with /u:3j_ fuze, blue, kentin]uzas~ and in any ease they must not be peonounced with foal Thivis ase true for crue! and jewel which must have either {9} ot {uss{, Vowel sequences These are vowel sequences as well as consonant sequences bur they are otto difficult In general, when one vowel (or diphthong) falloves another you should pronounce cach one quite ncrmally bus wich a smooth giide between thern, The most conumon sequences are formed by acing faj toa diphthoug, especially co far snd fav] in words like faa fre and ava our, When youlister Lo these twasecuences jat2, a09/ ‘yourwill notice that the jin fire stad the fin on ae rather wea sin fact both segarnes nay sound rashor ike tat. [tis probably best for ‘you notto itnieate this bueco pronounce the sequences as f-+9/ and jav-al, though the fifand che fo should nec be made too steang. Try the following tare tyre rave tower tral trial traval trowel wanat quict tated cred kauad cowacd pavafol powerful bate buyer bave bower fae flyer flava dower aan rot ratot riot sear outs fasart showery “The less common sequences /e12, 209, oj should be pronounced with the normal diphthong smoothly followed by af. The fj and /4j need not be weakened at all. Try? aren greyet ampli employer 1 Qrau thrower grea grower plere player bacreral betrayal poral royal brez lawyers folavez followers 87 54 Vowels Jit} and jos} are also folionved by jaf in words like frrerand Rluer which may be pronounced friza or fra, and blura or blag, as we have seen, ‘The verb ending ~ig jt) gives various sequences in words like the following: bin being sis secing uy doing stjuny ste stavig allowing bavi bowing dro drawing sony sawing geen going nawig knowing Tn words lice saying, enjaying, fying, where ine followsa word ending ‘with fax), j2uf oF ay), atas common to pronounce serp, ndsonq, larg, iffyou find this easier. In words ike carrying, pity, te, wherea word which ends with Jaj has fryf added eo iv is usual (und best for you) to pronounce kerisen, prtimy, etc. although karrand prtrare che normal forms. Other vowel sequences ate found bo:h within words and between ‘worls. These also should Se performed with a smooth glide between the vowels (See alse p. x01.) Here arcsome examples: keros chaos ron rin brond beyond rake react lux] bluish gretaid grey-eyed end theend mataun my own barograh biography keuoparent co-operst Juraint — youaren't gavsct — goout turawez two kows metarouzt tusjus may Lowe itto you? Exercises (Answers, where appropriate, on p. #35) + What vowels and diphthongs do you have in your language? Which of the English oncs cause you dificulty? 2 During your listening-tiene listen carcfally wo one of the difficule vowels ata Gime and cey to gct che sound of itinto your head. Make aise of ewenty words containing cach diFicule vowel and practise them. 83 Exercises Ga back and practise all the examples giver. in ths chapter, and 3 ncontrate on making diffrence: between the ciferent vowel, 4 Teche length of vowels nportant in your language? Practise making the difference between the long vowek incloding the diphthongs) and the short vowels of English, Don't forget chat vowel lengths affoceed by following steong and weak consonants; complete the following lis: forall the vowels anc practise i, thinhing about vowel length: bird bist nz is sed set 45 Make alist of phtascslike thoones on p. 88, where vowel oF diphthong at the end of one word is immedietely: followed by srther ar the begining. of the next. Practise saying thein smoothly, with no break bet the vowels. 89