Sometimes the letters "-ue" following "g" or "q" are not pronounced. A common mistake is to pronounce the end of such words as /-gju:/ or /-kju:/ instead of /-g/ or /-k/. Interestingly, American English spelling reflects these silent letters by simply removing them, e.g. American Eng. dialog, cf. British Eng. dialogue.
Ex. How should we pronounce the following words? Pay attention to other vowels as well.
dialogue, catalogue, rogue, ague, plaque, pique, vague, vogue, meringue, torque, fugue, league, plague
KEY
/ˈdaɪəlɒg/, /ˈkætəlɒg/, /rəʊg/, /ˈeɪgjuː/, /plɑːk/, /piːk/, /veɪg/, /vəʊg/, /məˈræŋ/, /tɔːk/, /fjuːg/, /li:g/, /pleɪg/
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Friday, 10 January 2020
Friday, 7 December 2018
Minimal pairs: /e/ and /ɜː/
Ex. Look at the following words containing the short vowel /e/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɜː/.
bed, Ben, bet, Beth, bled, deck, en (letter), Fens, lend, lent/Lent, Ned, nest, sled, ten, tent, wed, wedding, weld, west
Ex. 2. Would the answers to Ex. 1 be pronounced differently in a rhotic accent? Provide examples of such accents.
KEY
1. bird, burn, Bert, birth, blurred, Dirk, earn/urn, ferns, learned, learnt, nerd, nursed, slurred, turn, turned, word, wording, world, worst
2. Yes, all of the answers to Ex. 1. would contain /r/ following /ɜː/ in a rhotic accent, e.g. that of Standard American English, Canadian English, Irish English or Scottish English. Some sources use the symbol /ɝ/ instead.
bed, Ben, bet, Beth, bled, deck, en (letter), Fens, lend, lent/Lent, Ned, nest, sled, ten, tent, wed, wedding, weld, west
Ex. 2. Would the answers to Ex. 1 be pronounced differently in a rhotic accent? Provide examples of such accents.
KEY
1. bird, burn, Bert, birth, blurred, Dirk, earn/urn, ferns, learned, learnt, nerd, nursed, slurred, turn, turned, word, wording, world, worst
2. Yes, all of the answers to Ex. 1. would contain /r/ following /ɜː/ in a rhotic accent, e.g. that of Standard American English, Canadian English, Irish English or Scottish English. Some sources use the symbol /ɝ/ instead.
Monday, 26 November 2018
Minimal pairs: /ɒ/, /ɔː/ and /ɑː/ + British/American English
Ex. 1 Look at the following words containing the short vowel /ɒ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɔː/.
bod, cod, cot, don/Don, god, Oz (Australia), sod it, stock, wad, what
Ex. 2 Look at the following words containing the short vowel /ɒ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɑː/. Are these words minimal pairs in Standard American English?
Bobby, bot, cod, cot, comma, hot, logger, lock, mock, potty
Ex. 3 Look at the following words containing the long vowel /ɔː/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɑː/.
boar/bore, call, cord, core, dork, four, lord, more, ore, tore
KEY
1. bored, cord, court/caught, dawn/Dawn, gourd (also /gʊəd/), oars/ores, sordid, stalk/stork, ward, wart
2. Barbie, Bart, card, cart, calmer/karma, heart, lager, lark, mark, party
Standard American English does not have a short vowel /ɒ/ but uses long /ɑː/ instead. Since all of the words in the answer key contain postvocalic [r], which is pronounced in SAE but not British RP, the difference in American English would be that
of /ɑː/ and /ɑːr/, not /ɒ/ and /ɑː/.
of /ɑː/ and /ɑːr/, not /ɒ/ and /ɑː/.
3. bar, Carl, card, car, dark, far, lard, mar, are (full form), tar
Saturday, 10 November 2018
Minimal pairs: /æ/ and /ɑː/ + British/American English
Ex. 1. Look at the following words containing the short vowel /æ/ and find their counterparts containing the long vowel /ɑː/. Are these words minimal pairs in Standard American English?
at (full form), back, bad, badge, ban, bat, cat, cattle, chat, Dan, hat, lack, lad, mac, mat, pat, tat
Ex. 2. Which words have /æ/ in American English and /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation? How about the vowels in the remaining words?
gas, aunt, pass, bath, father, pat, class, math(s), mass, answer, example, ask, can't, task, mask, last, clap, barn
KEY: Ex. 1. art, bark, bard, barge, barn, Bart, cart, cartel, chart, darn, heart, lark, lard, mark, mart, part, tart These words also contain /r/ in Standard US English, so they aren't minimal pairs.
Ex. 2. /æ/ in American English and /ɑː/ in RP: aunt, pass, bath, class, math(s), answer, example, ask, can't, task, mask, last
/æ/ in both: gas, pat, mass, clap /ɑː/ in both: father, barn (+ /r/ in US English)
at (full form), back, bad, badge, ban, bat, cat, cattle, chat, Dan, hat, lack, lad, mac, mat, pat, tat
Ex. 2. Which words have /æ/ in American English and /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation? How about the vowels in the remaining words?
gas, aunt, pass, bath, father, pat, class, math(s), mass, answer, example, ask, can't, task, mask, last, clap, barn
KEY: Ex. 1. art, bark, bard, barge, barn, Bart, cart, cartel, chart, darn, heart, lark, lard, mark, mart, part, tart These words also contain /r/ in Standard US English, so they aren't minimal pairs.
Ex. 2. /æ/ in American English and /ɑː/ in RP: aunt, pass, bath, class, math(s), answer, example, ask, can't, task, mask, last
/æ/ in both: gas, pat, mass, clap /ɑː/ in both: father, barn (+ /r/ in US English)
Friday, 23 June 2017
Pronunciation of British place names
To create this post I used howjsay.com and ipa.typeit.org. The default accent on my blog is British RP.
Ex. Spell the following words phonetically.
1. Reading, 2. the Thames, 3. Leicester, 4. Gloucester, 5. Worcester, 6. Powys, 7. Torquay, 8. Edinburgh, 9. Isles of Scilly, 10. Inverness
KEY
1. /'redɪŋ/, 2. /ðə 'temz/, 3. /'lestə/, 4. /'glɒstə/, 5. /ˈwʊstə/, 6. /'poʊɪs/, /'pɑʊɪs/, 7. /tɔː'kiː/, 8. /'edɪnbᵊrə/, 9. /ɑɪlz əv 'sɪli/, 10. /ɪnvəˈnes/
Ex. Spell the following words phonetically.
1. Reading, 2. the Thames, 3. Leicester, 4. Gloucester, 5. Worcester, 6. Powys, 7. Torquay, 8. Edinburgh, 9. Isles of Scilly, 10. Inverness
KEY
1. /'redɪŋ/, 2. /ðə 'temz/, 3. /'lestə/, 4. /'glɒstə/, 5. /ˈwʊstə/, 6. /'poʊɪs/, /'pɑʊɪs/, 7. /tɔː'kiː/, 8. /'edɪnbᵊrə/, 9. /ɑɪlz əv 'sɪli/, 10. /ɪnvəˈnes/
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