This chapter is the theoretical part of the course.
It is is composed of 3 units.
Note first of all that we are talking about sounds NOT letters (the question will be further discussed later).
The sounds of languages are transcribed(represented) by means of phonetic symbols (more will be said in Phonetics class) which are internationally accepted (I. P. A.). The symbols are put within slanted brackets//.
English counts 44 soundsclassified into two groups: vowels and consonants.
Have a look at the following link to get tips to remember the sound symbols.
This chapter focuses on the category of sounds called vowels.
English has got 20vowel sounds classified into two types:
Type1: Simple vowels also called single vowel sounds or monophthongs.
They are 12 and are further grouped into two categories: short [brief articulation (7)] and long [extended articulation (5)] vowels.
Insert VID2 (simple vowels)
Type 2: Double vowel sounds or diphthongs: they are 8 (considered as one sound made with the combination of two).
Insert VID3 (diphthongs)
OBSERVATIONS:
1-The existence of a great number of vowel sounds (which are most of the time unknown in our languages) and
2-the fact that some of the sounds of English are very similar to each other are among the things that make the learning of English very challenging /æ, e, ʌ /.
CONCLUSION: However we should necessarily learn to distinguish the sounds in order to avoid misunderstands.
Actually different words may happento contrast in respect of only one sound. Example: Pack /pæk/ Peck /pek/
If the speaker fails to pronounce that one sound distinctly in one of the two
words, the listener could in theory think that the speaker had said the other word.
THE CONSONANT SOUNDS OF ENGLISH
This chapter focuses on the category of sounds called CONSONANTS.
English has got 24 consonant sounds.
The following video introduces the consonant sound symbols.
OBSERVATIONS:
1-The identification and realization of some English consonants may also be hard for many learners because of almost the same issues enumerated with vowels (absence in the already known languages and or closeness between some of them).
Example: For most francophone learners the most challenging consonant sounds are / θ / and / ð /. They are generally confused respectively with the sounds / s / and / z /.
CONCLUSION 1: So it is necessary to do as much practice as possible in order to overcome this difficulty.
Let’s view a video on these specific consonant sounds of English.
CONCLUSION 2- Remember what we said about minimal pairs; i.e. the fact that some words are contrasted in only one sound.
Example: big /big/
Pig /pig/
Let’s learn to differentiate English consonants through minimal pairs!
SOUNDS VERSUS LETTERS
This chapter draws your attention to the importance of distinguishing sounds from letters; i.e transcription (pronunciation) from orthography (writing).
A very important aspect to be taken into account is the difference between sounds (pronunciation) and letters (spelling):
- What is said is not what is written! In phonetics we use what is called phonetic symbols to represent speech sounds. Phonetic symbols are to be distinguished from alphabet letters (used in written English, for example).
- For a given word, the number of sounds may be equal to, greater or smaller than the number of alphabet letters. Examples are:
- ‘Ten’: three sounds /ten/ Vs. three letters;
- ‘Box’: four sounds /bɔks/ Vs. three letters;
- ‘Through’: three sounds /θru: / Vs. seven letters.
- Sometimes one letter represents more than one sound: (man /æ/, watch /ɔ/, ago /ǝ/, car /a:/, name /ei/…).
- Sometimes different letters represent one sound: (‘cent vs. sent’ /s/; ‘phonetics vs. few and tough’ /f/).
The following video serves as illustration:
-Some other times, sounds can appear in the spelling but not in pronunciation of words: Wednesday, isle… (These are called silent letters).
Look at the following illustration videos on words with silent letters in English.
CONCLUSION: Once again, the best way to overcome this pronunciation trap (confusion of pronunciation with spelling) is to always check the pronunciation of a word we have learnt through reading.
WORD STRESS IN ENGLISH
This chapter deals with another important pronunciation feature in English: the stress.
In many languages, the strength of the voice is proportionally spread on all the syllables in a word (syllable-timed languages: no distinction among syllables).
Example (French): cons/ti/tu/tiondé/ve/loppe/ment ex/pert
In English (a stress-timed language) however, when we have a word of more than 1 syllable, we will have to decide which syllable(s) to put the emphasis on (stressed syllables: marked by greater loudness and duration and which one(s) to receive less strength.
-Each word considered in isolation bears:
- a primary stress (receiving the strongest emphasis: symbolized by a small top vertical line /ˈ/ at the beginning of the concerned syllable),
- AND, POSSIBLY, a secondary stress (receiving emphasis but not as much as the former type: symbolized by a small bottom vertical line /ˌ/ at the beginning of the concerned syllable)
- AND/OR tertiary stressor unstressed syllable(s) (receiving no emphasis; quickly pronounced and hardly heard) as well.
Examples: Constitition /ˌkɒnstɪˈtju:ʃən /
development / dɪˈveləpmənt /
compare with French
Expert /ˈekspɜ:t/
Boy /bɔɪ/
Now how to master word stress placement?
- The best way to correctly use stress in words is to avoid guessing (the same with the pronunciation of consonants and vowels) and always check the pronunciation of encountered words (look at their transcriptions in the dictionary/ a talking one preferably to make sure to hear a native pronunciation)!
- Actually, even if there are some clues which help to better master English word stress placement, there is no absolute rule that allows to predict stress in every word (English is a free stress language).
- So we will probably better succeed in learning stress placement by listening to native speakers and practicing than by focusing on whichever rules.
- Word stress is not optional in English. Rather, it is almost as important as the distinction between consonants and vowels: correct stress placement participates in our fluency.