Homonyms, homographs, homophones and minimal pairs 1

 I have been too busy to do much on this blog for the past year, but I'm hoping to revive it in the coming months. Keep your fingers crossed.

Today's post concerns four seemingly basic categories of relationships between words that can be rather confusing for first-year students of English Studies, let alone learners with no background in linguistics. Today's post will be followed by one with exercises.

1. Homonyms are words which are spelt and pronounced the same and which have different, unrelated meanings. They may have very different etymological origins or they may be traced back to the same word, but in this case their connection is no longer relevant to modern-day speakers, who may just as well be unaware of it. The most popular example is that of the words bank, meaning: 1) the edge of a river, 2) a financial institution. 

2. Homographs are two words that are spelt the same but pronounced differently and usually have unrelated meanings, e.g. you can sow /səʊ/ seeds in a field or a flowerpot, but a female pig is called a sow /saʊ/, with two different diphthong phonemes despite the same spelling. The spelling <ow> is often pronounced in the two ways given above. Interestingly, sometimes two grammatical forms of a word have different pronunciations despite having the same spelling: the infinitive and present tense of read is pronounced /riːd/, whereas the past form read is pronounced /red/.

3. Homophones are the opposites of homographs in that they are pronounced the same despite different spelling. The negative particle no and the verb know are pronounced the same, i.e. /nəʊ/, as are the letter name C, the verb see and the noun sea /siː/. Owing to the complex history of English spelling homophones as well as homographs abound, particularly one-syllable words.

4. If two words, regardless of their spelling, are pronounced with just one phonemic difference between them, they are a minimal pair. Not particularly significant in more theoretical phonological studies, minimal pairs are of paramount importance in pronunciation teaching and speech therapy: exercises based on minimal pairs allow teachers and therapists to study phonemic hearing skills (can a student/patient perceive the difference between two or more distinct sounds?) and production skills (can they pronounce the sounds in question differently?).

For practical purposes it makes sense to present minimal pairs where the sounds in question are similar and thus likely to be confused. Contrasting thin and fin (voiceless dental/labio-dental fricatives) or bet and bat (short front monophthong vowels) is more justified than contrasting the vowels of bat and boot or the initial consonants of what and shot. 

Sometimes two words which are spelt similarly but one of them is one sound longer than the other are also called minimal pairs. One example pair is thing /θɪŋ/and think /θɪŋk/: here despite similar spelling the former word contains just one velar consonant at the end while the latter contains two, a voiced nasal and a voiceless plosive/stop.

In some cases it is possible to produce a long minimal set (of more than two items). Consider these examples: 1) pat-bat-mat-fat-vat-that-tat-lat-gnat-chat-rat-cat-hat (C + /æt/)
2) bit-beat-bet-bat-but-Bart-bot-bought-boot-Bert-bait-bite-boat-bout (/b/ + V + /t/)

5. It is worth noting that different accents of English have different homographs and homophones. In non-rhotic accents like RP, the words caught and court are pronounced the same, i.e. /kɔːt/, while in rhotic ones like GA, court naturally contains an /r/ sound. Likewise, the words ant and aunt are pronounced the same as /ænt/ in accents without the TRAP-BATH split, e.g. GA, while in accents with the split, including RP, the word aunt is pronounced /ɑːnt/. Changes occur over time as well: in modern-day RP speakers do not pronounce /ʊə/ in pour, hence pour and pore are homophones (/pɔː/). The disappearance of a voiceless [ʍ] as a phoneme marked as <wh> in spelling also means that which and witch, whales and Wales have become homophones in RP and many other accents (/w/ in both rather than /ʍ/ as opposed to /w/).

Word Stress: Different patterns in compound words

The following phrases are near-homographs and consist of two syllables. In some the first syllable is stressed Oo, in others the second oO. The difference between them is that some are just nouns described by adjectives (in one case a phrasal verb) whereas others are compound words whose meanings are different from the meanings of their components.

oO  (a) black bird, (a) tall boy, (a) black leg, (a) light house, (a) green house, (a) hot dog, (a) black board, (to) check in

Oo (a) blackbird, (a) tallboy, (a) blackleg, (a) lighthouse, (a) greenhouse, (a) hotdog, (a) blackboard, check-in

Ex. Which word with which pattern has the following meaning?

1. a chest of drawers, 2. a bun with a sausage/weiner and vegetables, 3. a tower with a light source on top, 4. a designated area at an airport or a convention centre, 5. someone who refuses to go on strike, 6. a glass structure for growing plants in

KEY

1. a tallboy Oo, 2. a hotdog Oo, 3. a lighthouse Oo, 4. check-in Oo, 5. a blackleg Oo, 6. a greenhouse Oo

Speech on sociophonetics

 Today I have something different: in case you'd like to hear me speak about sociophonetics, namely Margaret Thatcher's pronunciation and the way it was interpreted by Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady and Gillian Anderson in Season 4 of The Crown, here is something for you.

Word stress for speakers of Polish 1: Introduction

This is a short introduction to word stress with examples focused on some common difficulties experienced by native speakers of Polish.

English does not have strongly fixed word stress. Shorter nouns and adjectives are likely to be stressed on the first syllable, many short verbs are stressed on the last syllable, final stress is more likely in Latinate or French-derived words than Germanic ones, but it is difficult to generalise. By contrast, Polish word stress is fairly fixed on the penultimate (last but one) syllable, while some verb forms with suffixes and a number of foreign words are stressed on the antepenultimate (last but two) syllable. Numerous speakers of Polish do not, however, pronounce those exceptional words in the standard way but instead move the word stress to the penultimate syllable to the dismay of some prescriptivists and Polish language teachers.  

A major difference between English and Polish lies in the reduction of most unstressed English syllables to the schwa sound (more on which below), while Polish phonology does not have reduced vowels, just quieter, shorter versions of full vowels. Comparing the schwa sound to unstressed versions of the Polish /a/, /ɛ/ or /i/ should be, in my opinion, avoided in TEFL.

1. Many books use capital O and lowercase o to mark stressed and unstressed syllables, e.g. those by Cambridge University Press.

Poland, yellow Oo insist, believe oO

This is different from phonetic symbols, where a stroke at the top of the line is used to indicate that the next syllable is stressed.
/ˈpəʊlənd/, /ˈjeləʊ/, /ɪnˈsɪst/, /bɪˈliːv/

2. Some words have more than one stressed syllable. In those words there is a main stress (a stroke at the top of the line) and a secondary stress (a stroke at the bottom).

understand OoO, magazine OoO, photographic OoOo
/ˌʌndəˈstænd/, /ˌmægəˈziːn/, /ˌfəʊtəˈgræfɪk/

3. Stressed syllables are longer, somewhat louder and the pitch often goes up.
In unstressed syllables the most common sound is the schwa /ə/ or the front close vowel /ɪ/, even if the spelling suggests a full vowel.

nature Oo /'neɪtʃə/ the "ure" is not /uːr/ or /juːr/, but /ə/ (/ɚ/ in US English and other rhotic varieties).

4. Some unstressed syllables have syllabic consonants - according to some sources there is no real vowel there at all:
/l/ in double, battle, /n/ in station, fashion, /m/ rhythm, chasm Oo
/ˈdʌbl/, /ˈbætl/, /ˈsteɪʃn/, /ˈfæʃn/, /ˈrɪðm/, /ˈkæzm/

5. The most common traps for Polish speakers are words which are similar to Polish ones (cognate words) but with different stress patterns.

kalendarz oOo, dinozaur oOo, rakieta oOo, natura oOo, kultura oOo, lemoniada ooOo,
afrykański OoOo, polityka OoOo
calendar Ooo, dinosaur Ooo, rocket Oo, nature Oo, culture Oo, lemonade OoO /ˌleməˈneɪd/,
African Ooo, politics Ooo

6. Almost no Polish words have final syllable stress, which is why Polish speakers avoid it in English.

along, ago, begin, belong, bereave, between, Chinese, dessert, evade, fatigue, go on … oO

7. Some words are double traps: some Polish speakers may not believe the stress in an English word is analogical to that in a Polish word.

mechanik, komputer oOo / mechanic, computer oOo
Ameryka oOoo / America oOoo

As a result, many Polish learners of English are likely to say */'kɒmpjuːtə/ instead of /kəm'pjuːtə/, */'mekənɪk/ instead of /mɪ'kænɪk/, */ˌæmə'rɪkə/ or */ˌæmə'riːkə/ (or another version with additional errors such as Polish vowels) instead of /ə'merɪkə/.

8. The final point worth mentioning is the difference in word stress that occurs in British and American English:

adult, garage, ballet, café   British Oo, American oO

Trios 3

I used The Free Dictionary at thefreedictionary.com .

Ex. Fill in the gaps with one word. The same word in the same form is needed in each of the three sentences.

1. You've made some progress but there's still ___ for improvement.
My London flat was so small there was no ___ to swing a cat.
The computers are assembled in a clean ___.

2. Don't give me this ___ look. It's not my fault Jane didn't arrive.
I gave up my job at a corporation: it was stressful, the competition was ___ and the salary wasn't high anyway.
The neighbour's ___ dog once killed a wild pigeon. [not: angry, bad]

3. Octopodes do not have an ___ shell.
The castle had an inner wall and an ___ wall.
Johnnie watched an old science fiction movie about evil robots from ___ space.

4. I don't have time for this, I have bigger ___ to fry.
Oliver drinks like a ___. Last night he was so drunk we had to call a taxi to take him home.
On my first day in the new department I felt like a ___ out of water.

5. Their Tinder date was a disaster: he kept telling rude jokes and she decided to ___ on him earlier and go home.
If you ___ someone out from gaol (jail), you pay to get them released earlier.
You have to ___ out the boat or it will sink.

6. If I buy ten lottery tickets, perhaps I'll strike it ___ this time.
Don't worry about failing the second driving test. Third time ___.
Grandma thanks her ___ stars that all her grandchildren went to university and found good jobs.

7. I hate conflicts and I never enter the ___.
My cheap jacket began to ___ around the edges after a month.
Tempers will ___ if aunt and uncle start discussing abortion laws again.

8. The passenger was caught with a ___ of drugs under his clothes.

Don't try to repair your laptop on your own or you'll ___ it and maybe start a fire too.

If he thinks he'll make tons of money by importing cheap Chinese games consoles, he's one ___ short of a load. 


KEY
1. room, 2. fierce, 3. outer, 4. fish, 5. bail, 6. lucky, 7.fray, 8. brick

Trios 2

 Ex. Fill in the gaps with one word. The same word in the same form is needed in each of the three sentences.

1. It was with a ___ heart that I brought my friend the bad news.

Jane's Norwegian boyfriend is a great fan of ___ metal.

For this dessert you will need 300 ml of ___ or double cream. There's no low-fat option in this recipe.

2. People who vote for different parties in different elections are ___ voters.

Autumn leaves were ___ on the surface of the lake.

Dozens of hot air balloons were ___ in the blue summer sky.

3. Tiny Tim was known for the high ___ of his singing voice.

Right before the start of the football match a man in a dog costume ran onto the ___ and was caught by two security guards.

The night in the jungle was ___ black, with no city lights to be seen for dozens of miles.

4. "Revenge is a dish best ___ cold."

Are you being ___, Madam? Shall I bring you a menu?

Our uncle ___ in the navy for 15 years.

5. Jason was ___ between staying in his hometown and moving to San Francisco.

The old hotel building was damaged in a fire and had to be ___ down.

If I'd known Mr Grumpy was coming, I'd have ___ off immediately.

6. I had a quick ___, ate my breakfast in a hurry and left for work.

Fran's grandparents always ___ her with gifts on her birthday.

Pauline's baby ___ was a success even though she got three identical teddy bears.

7. There are 100 employees on the ___ at the factory.

When Trudy quit the job, someone in the department had to take care of the ___ of account.

Children these days don't realise that in the past you had to keep phone ___ or directories at home in order to call anyone.

KEY

1. heavy, 2. floating, 3. pitch, 4. served, 5. torn, 6. shower, 7. books

Trios 1

In this series of exercises, inspired by a use of English task in Cambridge CPE examinations in the 2000's, you will need the same word to fill in the gaps in three sentences. The trick is that the word in question is usually used in different ways: it has multiple meanings, it is used in metaphorical expressions, phrasal verbs and idioms, it is converted from a noun to a verb or adjective etc. The word should be used in the same form in all three sentences: if the verb do is the answer, the sentences should not require does, doing, done, did etc.

Ex. Fill in the gaps with one word. The same word in the same form is needed in each of the three sentences.

1. When the man promised I'd earn millions by selling cryptocurrencies, it was a ___ light to me. 
It's Chris's stag night. Let's go out and paint the town ___. 
The thief left a false clue; it was a ___ herring.

2. You didn't study for your test and you got 10% of the score. Now you have to ___ the music.

Both the ___ and the hands of the clock were painted black; it was useless, you couldn't see a thing.

Gemma trusts people and takes their opinions at ___ value.

3. The company's meetings were so long and boring nobody wanted to ___ them.

Get off your high ___, Al: being a manager doesn't mean you never make mistakes.

Our teenage son spent all his money on a special gaming ___ instead of saving.

4. I took swimming lessons as a child but I still won't swim to the ___ end of the pool.

We're between the devil and the ___ blue sea: we can sell the house cheaply or spend far too much on getting it repaired.

The celebrity expressed her ___ apology following the scandal she had caused last week.

5. The smoke alarm went ___ for no reason, but we still had to leave the building.

The milk was left on the counter for three days and it went ___.

Don't just sit there, get ___ the couch and help me.

6. I'll have a double hamburger and large ___ fries.

Don't listen to him, he's a #*%@, pardon my ___.

They have a ___ window in the living room and can access the garden from there or the front lawn.

7. I'm feeling off ___ today. I had a bad headache all night.

100% on your exam? Oh, ___ me impressed!

Attending English lessons at school may be easy, but studying for a degree in English Language and Literature is a horse of another ___.

8. Don't ___ the dog without asking the owner first. It could bite you.

Developing organic plastic made from seaweed was a ___ of genius.

The vampire appeared at the ___ of midnight.

KEY

1. red, 2. face, 3. chair, 4. deep, 5. off, 6. French (in the first and third sentence some native speakers spell it "french"), 7. colour, 8. stroke

Odd one out: adjectives

I took some of the words from dictionary.com. 

Ex. Each of the following sets of adjectives consists of three words which are synonyms or near-synonyms and one word whose meaning is different. Choose the word which is different.

1. gaudy; garish; perky; chintzy
2. impressionable; gullible; naive; impregnable
3. mauve; bland; dull; insipid
4. antediluvian; prehistoric; primordial; precarious
5. bubbly; flabby; sparkling; effervescent
6. vitriolic; harsh; scathing; meretricious
7. apt; irrespective; pertinent; germane
8. bereft; deprived; pernicious; lacking
9. inclement; tempestuous; stormy; feigned
10. imperial; royal; regal; infernal
11. immodest; boastful; bragging; indecent
12. incandescent; loquacious; luminous; radiant
13. bemused; perused; perplexed; befuddled

In the following examples the items are idioms and other phrases used as adjectives.

14. off colour; under the weather; right as rain; below par
15. on cloud nine; as happy as Larry; over the moon; over the hill

KEY
1. perky, 2. impregnable, 3. mauve, 4. precarious, 5. flabby, 6. meretricious, 7. irrespective, 8. pernicious, 9. feigned, 10. infernal, 11. indecent, 12. loquacious, 13. perused, 14. right as rain, 15. over the hill

Word stress: The '-able' suffix

 The word able is pronounced /'eɪbəl/ or /'eɪbl̩/. The difference in transcription is just a matter of how we treat the syllabic allophone of /l/, i.e. whether we write the schwa /ə/ symbol or a stroke under the /l/. Some sources regard this unstressed vowel as /ʊ/. The diphthong /eɪ/ occurs in words like table, cable, fable and the name Mabel. 

By contrast, the suffix -able does not have a stressed vowel at all and is pronounced /-əbəl/ or /-əbl̩/. Many foreign speakers of English stress the suffix unnecessarily, which can make the word impossible for listeners to understand. Anecdotal examples include a Polish speaker of English pronouncing comfortable as come for table.

The suffix -ible has same pronunciation as -able.

Ex. 1 Put the following words containing -able in two categories: a. with a stressed sound /eɪ/ or b. with the unstressed /ə/. Which syllable carries primary stress?

preferable, publishable, vegetable, stable, unstable, capable, comfortable, drinkable, portable, irreconcilable, indescribable, unfathomable, unbreakable, sable, remarkable

Ex. 2 Do the following words contain -able or -ible?

leg__ble, illeg__ble, ed__ble, imagin__ble, ined__ble, respons__ble, permiss__ble, inflamm__ble

KEY

1. a. stable - 1st, unstable - 2nd, sable - 1st

b. preferable, publishable, vegetable, capable, comfortable, drinkable, portable - 1st, irreconcilable - 4th, indescribable - 3rd, unfathomable, unbreakable, remarkable - 2nd

2. Inflammable and imaginable have "a"; all the other words have "i"

Linking sounds: /j/, /w/ and /r/

 In February 2019 I wrote a post about linking and intrusive /r/ in connected speech. Linking /j/ and /w/ work in a similar way:

a. linking /j/ connects /iː/, [i] or a diphthong ending in /-ɪ/ to the next word which begins with a vowel,
b. linking /w/ connects /uː/ or a diphthong ending in /-ʊ/ to the next word which begins with a vowel,
c. /r/ is used after the remaining vowel sounds: /ɑː/, /ɜː/, /ɔː/, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/, /ə/.

Ex. Read the following sentences and find the places where you should use a linking /j/ or /w/.

1. I think it's great news for you and me.
2. Did you see Alan's car yesterday? It's blue and green.
3. Sue and Ray have a cow and five chickens. 
4. Ray always says he is fed up with the hard work.
5. Joe isn't fond of coffee or tea; he drinks water instead.
6. Germany is larger than Austria and Switzerland. 
7. 'How about a day at the beach?' 'But it's windy outside. I don't want the wind to blow in my face.'

Are there any places where we use a linking or intrusive /r/?

KEY

1. you /w/ and, 2. see /j/ Alan's; blue /w/ and, 3. Sue /w/ and; cow /w/ and, 4. Ray /j/ always; he /j/ is, 5. Joe /w/ isn't; coffee /j/ or, 6. Germany /j/ is, 7. How /w/ about; day /j/ at; windy /j/ outside; blow /w/ in

/r/: 5. water /r/ instead; 6. Austria /r/ or

Devoicing of voiced consonants

Voice and voicelessness in English consonants can be a complicated topic. Describing the phonology of English has never been an objective of this blog, which is why in today's post I describe the basics which can be confusing to Polish students of English in particular and may also be similarly difficult to speakers of other languages where the devoicing of consonants works in a comparable way, e.g. other Slavic languages, German or Finnish.

English has a few pairs of voiced-voiceless consonants, namely /b/-/p/, /d/-/t/, /g/-/k/, /v/-/f/, /z/-/s/, /ð/-/θ/, /ʒ/-/ʃ/, /dʒ/-/tʃ/. All of these are separate phonemes, distinct categories in the English speaker's mind. In languages such as Polish in some environments (around voiceless consonants, at the end of a word) a voiced consonant clearly becomes a voiceless one: the word mewa 'seagull' has /v/ represented by the letter <w>, but the Genitive plural mew before a pause contains /f/, as does mewka, a diminutive form (a small or young seagull) with the sequence /fk/ represented by <wk>. The same could be said about /b/ in żaba 'frog' and /p/ in żab 'frog-Gen-pl' and żabka 'little frog'.

Now when we look at the English words bird and frog, we will see that they are not spelt phonemically the same as Bert and frock respectively. Even though the /d/ and /g/ are devoiced at the end of a word before a pause or a consonant (i.e. excluding the bird is, the frogs where /d/ and /g/ clearly remain), these are not the same as /t/ or /k/. What is the difference then and why do English speakers distinguish between these consonants?

The difference lies in two things: vowel length and fortis-lenis. Before a voiced consonant, even when devoiced, the vowel is a fraction of a second longer: a short vowel becomes relatively longer (but we do not use the length mark [ː] to indicate that) and a long vowel or diphthong becomes even slightly longer than it would be when followed by a voiceless sound. The fortis-lenis distinction is just a Latin way of naming the force or loudness with which consonants are produced. A voiceless consonant like /p/, /s/ or /f/ is pronounced somewhat more loudly than a devoiced version (allophone) of /b/, /z/ or /v/. 

In the 20th century linguists described devoicing in English as partial. These days, however, they tend to write about devoicing, though bearing in mind that a devoiced consonant does not sound identical to a voiceless one.

Devoicing matters in learning about the pronunciation of the Past Simple or past participle <-ed> as well as the Present Simple, plural or possessive (Saxon genitive) <-s>, <-es> and <-'s>. When a textbook mentions that /d/ or /z/ should be pronounced after a voiced consonant, semi-vowel or vowel, that does not mean no devoicing can occur - that depends on the environment, the surrounding sounds or pauses. The vowel length and fortis-lenis differences apply regardless.

As time goes by and pronunciation changes some new distinctions can appear and others can be lost. One good example is /ʍ/, the voiceless equivalent of /w/. Nowadays heard in the speech of some speakers of regional dialects in the UK and the USA, it was the recommended standard pronunciation of <wh> in words like what, when, where, whale, overwhelm and whence. These days the distinction is omitted e.g. in RP-based pronunciation textbooks and words like whales and Wales are treated as homophones.

The final remark is that what I know about the issue is based on studying British RP and occasionally learning about the American GA accent. Other rules may apply in Englishes spoken by native speakers, bilinguals or non-natives around the world.

I deliberately used no reference sources to create this post. Let me know in the comments if anything requires correction. I may be a linguist but I do not consider myself an expert on the theoretical side of phonology.

2020 Halloween Special

I used Tophonetics.com to transcribe some of the answers.

 Ex. Match the trivia about Gothic and horror literature with the phonemic transcription of the answers. Then write the answers using ordinary English spelling.

1. the most famous vampire, described in a novel by Bram Stoker

2. the evil alien clown from Stephen King's novel IT

3. the author of Psycho and other horror and science-fiction novels

4. the main character of a novel by Ira Levin, who falls prey to her husband and evil neighbours

5. In E. A. Poe's famous poem the mysterious raven repeats this one word

6. the monster Dr Jekyll turns into in R. L. Stevenson's novel

7. Stephen King's novel about a family trapped in a haunted hotel

8. H. P. Lovecraft's most famous evil alien

a. /'nevəmɔː/ b. /ˈdrækjələ/ c. /ˈrəʊzməri/ d. /'kθuːluː/ e. /ˈmɪstə haɪd/ f. /ˈpeniwaɪz/ g. /ˈrɒbət blɒk/ h. /ðə ˈʃaɪnɪŋ/

Key. 1b Dracula, 2f Pennywise, 3g Robert Bloch, 4c Rosemary, 5a nevermore, 6e Mister Hyde, 7h The Shining, 8d Cthulhu

Avoiding Polish "ą" and "ę" in English pronunciation

The sound inventory of Polish contains two phonemes which are treated as vowels even though phonetically speaking, they are diphthongs in which a non-nasal vowel is followed by a nasal semi-vowel. They are "ą" /ɔ̃/ and "ę" /ɛ̃/. Polish speakers of English may sometimes mishear and mispronounce e.g. the English vowel /æ/ or the sequence /en/ as /ɛ̃/ and the diphthong /əʊ/ or the sequence /ɒn/ as /ɔ̃/. In some cases the problem appears to lie in misinterpreting English spelling rather than mishearing a given word. Here we omit cases where in many native English accents vowel allophones are actually nasalised (e.g. in southern dialects of American English). 

N.B. There exist some borrowings from French in which the French nasal vowels close to /ɔ̃/ or /ɛ̃/ can be pronounced in a somewhat French manner. This group includes the words restaurant, genre, blancmange, croissant and pain (au chocolat), enfant (terrible).

Ex. In each set below there is pseudo-phonetic Polish transcription of common errors accompanied by the prescribed RP pronunciation in IPA. Write the words transcribed.

e.g. "kęt" /kɑːnt/ can't

a. "dęs" /dɑːns/   b. "częs" /tʃɑːns/   c. "frędz" /frendz/   d. "fręs" /frɑːns/
e. "pęz" /pænz/   f. "tęz" /tænz/   g. "hąk" /hɒŋk/   h. "dąt" /dəʊnt/
i. "łąt" /wəʊnt/   j. "łąt" /wɒnt/   k. "frąt" /frʌnt/   l. "ęt" /ænt/   m. "ęt" /ɑːnt/
n. "ęt" /ænd/ or weak forms /ən(d)/   o. "tąp" /tuːm/   p. "bąb" /bɒm/
q. "strąk" /strɒŋ/   r. "rąk" /rɒŋ/

KEY
a. dance, b. chance, c. friends, d. France, e. pans, f. tans, g. honk, h. don't, i. won't, j. want, k. front, l. ant, m. aunt, n. and, o. tomb, p. bomb, q. strong, r. wrong

Silent letters

This is a post about letters, particularly consonantal ones, which are not pronounced. The most common cases have been omitted, e.g. the "-e" in take.

Ex. In each set choose the word which is pronounced differently from the remaining words. Indicate which letter is or is not silent.

a. past - bath - party - logically
b. dumb - plumber - number - tomb
c. school - cause - muscle - cane
d. obtain - doubt - debt - bomb
e. castle - thistle - jostle - mostly
f. thyme - thick - thin - three
g. signing - reign - benign - ginger
h. hotel - honour - horror - hostel
i. heir - hair - hourly - honestly
j. folk - yolk - bulk - stalk
k. Malmö - palm - calmer - embalm
l. knowledge - acknowledge - knead - kneel
m. hymn - condemn - damnation - damn
n. pterodactyl - psalm - upside - psychology
o. corps - corpse - corporal - copious
p. choir - chorus - technical - church
q. gullet - ballet - bouquet - valet
r. fax - faux - lax - box
s. singsong - parson - lesson - person
t. wrapper - lower - whistle - white
u. wear - weary - more - merely
v. amazing - zany - lazy - rendezvous

KEY
a. logically silent "a",
b. number non-silent "b" (but number, the comparative of numb, also has a silent "b") ,
c. muscle silent "c" ("sc" pronounced /s/)
d. obtain non-silent "b"
e. mostly non-silent "t"
f. thyme silent "h" ("th" pronounced /t/)
g. ginger non-silent second "g"
h. honour silent "h"
i. hair non-silent "h" (in RP)
j. bulk non-silent "l"
k. Malmö non-silent "l"

l. knowledge non-silent "n"

m. damnation non-silent "n"

n. upside non-silent "p"

o. corps silent "p" (actually the entire word is pronounced just /kɔː/)

p. church both "h"s in "ch" are pronounced

q. gullet non-silent "t"

r. faux "x" is silent

s. singsong non-silent "o" (no syllabic /n/)

t. wrapper silent "w"

u. weary non-silent "r" (in RP)

v. rendezvous silent "z"

Pronunciation games 3

Make a Word
players in groups of 2-5

You'll need: 2 sets of cards (colour-coded) per group.

1. The aim of the game is to pick two cards, one from each stack or set, and make one word according to what both of the cards say. For example, one set of cards specifies the number of syllables, from one to four, while the other set specifies which sounds you need to use. Let's say a student has picked two cards:

Card 1 "Your word contains two syllables" and Card 2 "Your word begins with a /p/". The student says party and gets a point. 

2. Another option is to test just one category of sounds or features: particular vowels, consonants, weak and strong forms, words that rhyme etc. Use lexical sets or rhymes if your students don't know phonetic symbols. You can also have a set which specifies what speech part the word is. It is important, however, to keep the stacks or sets separate and make sure the cards don't contradict each other, so that no student picks for instance "Your word begins with a consonant" and "Your word begins with a vowel". Likewise, avoid requirements that would make the possible range of answers too narrow or even impossible, such as "Your word begins with /ʒ/" and "Your word contains /h/". For the same reason, avoid making three sets of cards, as they would make things too difficult.

You can add wildcards, such as any vowel or consonant, any number of syllables, any part of speech.

3. As always, if students disagree, they can ask you for help or use dictionaries on smartphones. Make sure they don't cheat by simply going to a word-searching website (or asking Siri).

4. When there's some time left and a group has used all the cards, the students can reshuffle them and continue.

5. You can also print out and distribute lists of all the tasks and simply give students cards with numbers and letters or dice. This is perhaps less exciting as a brief look at the list will reveal all the possible options. 

As a warm-up or a follow-up you can do an example in reverse, that is write a word on the board and ask the students to make rules that could be used on cards. For instance, if you write the word consider, the students will say things like "It has three syllables", "It begins with /k/" or "It contains /d/". 

Pronunciation of "x"

To make this exercise I used toPhonetics at https://tophonetics.com.

Ex. Categorise the following words depending on the pronunciation of the letter "x".

xenophobia, exhume, exalt, exit, xenon, examination, expect, example, xylophone, lexical, exhilarate, maximum, exonerate, syntax, Xena, coccyx, Xerox

1. /ks/  2. /gz/  3. /z/



KEY
1. /ks/ coccyx, exhume, exit, expect, lexical, maximum, syntax, Xerox (second "x")
2. /gz/ exalt, examination, example, exhilarate, exonerate
3. /z/ Xena, xenon, xenophobia, Xerox (first "x"), xylophone

Pronunciation games 2

Word Hunt 2-5 players (or more)

You'll need: sets of cards with questions or challenges (e.g. 15 cards for each group), a list of words for each group (e.g. 30 words)

1. The aim of the game is to pick a card and find the right words on the list. For example, the list contains the following words:

about, away, acorn, abacus, April, apricot, armour, attention

Card 1 says: "Find 3 words which begin with the schwa /ə/ sound". The student should select "about", "away" and "attention".

Card 2 says: "Find 3 words which consist of 3 syllables". The student should select "abacus", "apricot" and "attention".

Card 3 says: "Find 1 word which begins with the /ɑː/ sound". The student should select "armour".

Of course, if your students do not know IPA, use example words that illustrate the sounds tested.

2. Remind the students that some of the words can be used more than once; the students should not write on the list or cross out words.

3. Your cards can ask about many things: spelling and pronunciation, silent letters, minimal pairs, the number of syllables, word stress, words that rhyme etc.

4. A student who has answered a question correctly gets a point. If other players have doubts, they can ask you for help. Alternatively, you can allow them to use dictionaries or smartphones.

The cards can also ask about the meaning of words. For instance, a card says: "Fill in the gap in this sentence. 'He was a knight in shining ___.'". The answer is "armour".

This game is also an idea for a test: a list of words followed by a set of questions concerning their pronunciation. Needless to say, a written pronunciation test is similar to an exam for students of English attending a Linguistics class, so you need to decide if your students really need this form of testing.

Pronunciation of the "-ed" suffix

In May 2019 I wrote about the "-(e)s" suffix in plural nouns, the 3rd person singular form in the Present Simple tense as well as the "-'s" or "-s'" in so-called Saxon Genitive. The rules concerning the pronunciation of the "-ed" suffix of the Past Simple and Past Participle of regular verbs are quite similar: the suffix is voiceless after a voiceless sound, voiced after a voiced one and an additional vowel appears when the consonant is similar to the one in the suffix.

1. After a voiceless consonant "-ed" is pronounced /t/, e.g. walked /wɔːkt/, passed /pɑːst/.
2. After a voiced consonant, semi-vowel, vowel or diphthong "-ed" is pronounced /d/, e.g. bored /bɔːd/, played /pleɪd/.
3. After /t/ or /d/ "-ed" is pronounced /ɪd/ (some sources say it is /əd/), e.g. waited /'weɪtɪd/, faded /'feɪdɪd/.

The error that is the most typical of Polish learners of English is devoicing, namely pronouncing final /d/ as /t/ and /ɪd/ as /ɛt/, /ɛ/ being a Polish vowel represented by the letter "e".

Before a pause /d/ is actually devoiced but not the same as /t/. The details will be explained in a separate post.

Ex. Put the following verb forms in categories depending on the pronunciation of the "-ed" suffix.

baked, wasted, leaked, amazed, melted, smirked, highlighted, tired, greeted, marked, hated, expired, scoffed, grazed, camped, smiled, raised, jumped, booked, helped, watched, skied, surveyed, regretted, considered, added, missed, fainted

1. /t/   2. /d/   3. /ɪd/



KEY
1. /t/ baked, leaked, smirked, marked, scoffed, camped, jumped, booked, helped, watched, missed
2. /d/ amazed, tired, expired, grazed, smiled, raised, skied, surveyed, considered
3. /ɪd/ wasted, melted, highlighted, greeted, hated, regretted, added, fainted

Pronunciation games 1

With today's post I begin a series of simple ideas to use games in pronunciation classes.

Pronunciation race 2-4 players

You'll need: a blank board game template, pieces, dice

1. Download a simple blank board game template or draw one yourself. It should be a simple start-to-finish or Chutes-and-Ladders / Snakes-and-Ladders type of game. Make sure the colours are not too bright. Print it out in the A4 format.

2. In some of the spaces write the symbols that you want to revise. In my game I used symbols for English monophthong vowels.

2. Decide how many sets you want to use in your class. Copy the boards (one for up to four players) and give each team of players a die and up to four pieces.

3. Students are supposed to throw a die, move their pieces (a six does not mean they throw again) and if they land on a space with a symbol, they should say a word which contains the sound represented. Others listen and if they disagree, someone can challenge the player and use a dictionary/smartphone to check the pronunciation of the word. A player who says nothing for e.g. a minute or gives the wrong word misses the next turn.

4. The teacher should move between the groups and listen to them play, correcting mistakes if necessary. Note that the more teams, the more difficult it becomes to catch mistakes or make sure students do not cheat or use L1 to communicate.

5. The game works best with adults: it doesn't matter who makes the fewest mistakes or reaches the goal first. Children may treat the competitive aspect of the game too seriously and be unhappy if they 'lose'. If adult students insist on counting points, they may do so provided they write down the symbols and words as well. The teacher may then check their lists to correct any mistakes made during the game.

6. After some time or after everyone has reached the finishing line in the game, the teacher may ask which sound was the most difficult.

N.B. If you use a chutes-and-ladders template or one with many spaces, the game will last longer (Chutes and Ladders adds another element of chance - students who come up with correct words may not finish the game, and students who are worse at pronunciation may reach the goal first; a template similar to Ludo can make things too complicated and the gameplay too long). Of course the more students play using one board, the longer the game takes.

A more time-consuming variant is to mark some of the spaces with the same symbol or use a highlighter to colour it in and prepare one set of cards for each team containing phonemic symbols. In this way the boards themselves can be reused for other exercises and only the cards are replaced.

This is of course the most basic idea possible. I'll be referring to today's post in some of my later posts.

Calques from Polish 2

This is a continuation of an exercise I wrote in 2017. 

Ex. Correct the following sentences: they contain non-native phrases translated directly from Polish.

1. When you write an essay, you have to plan it in advance to make sure it has arms and legs.

2. Jane was tired and left the party in English. No one knew she was gone until the others started to leave.

3. I know nothing about philosophy. During Professor Jones's lecture on Hegel I sat as if I was at a Turkish sermon.

4. Jake's plans to move to Portugal and open a B&B are just castles from sand.

5. Before you make business with the Chinese, you need to know a few things about Chinese culture.

6. The secretary printed out the document and put a spinach on the pages.

7. Frank's a morning bird - he gets up at six even on Sundays.

8. It's worth to see this film.

9. I can't remember the last time I watched a tele-tournament.

10. Father tried to throw smoking last year but he started to smoke again after a week.

11. She always got high marks from her English exams.

12. I forgot my umbrella and got as wet as a hen.

13. The shopkeeper doubled and tripled to serve all the customers.

14. After the divorce the actor didn't have a penny at his soul.

15. You have to pay for the course from above.

Key

1. ... it makes sense. 2. ... left the party without saying goodbye. 3. ... Hegel I couldn't understand a word/a thing. / Professor Jones's lecture on Hegel was all Greek/double Dutch to me. 4. ... are just pie in the sky. 5. ... do business. 6. ... put a paper clip on the pages. 7. ... an early bird. 8. This film is worth seeing. 9. ... a game show/quiz show on TV. 10. ... to quit/give up smoking 11. ... high marks in 12. ... soaking wet. 13. The shopkeeper bent over backwards 14. ... the actor was broke/penniless. 15. ... pay for the course up front/in advance.

Polish words mistranslated into English: 1. mieć ręce i nogi, 2. wychodzić po angielsku, 3. siedzieć jak na tureckim kazaniu, 4. zamki na piasku, 5. robić interesy/biznes, 6. spinacz, 7. ranny ptaszek, 8. warto obejrzeć, 9. teleturniej, 10. rzucić palenie, 11. oceny z egzaminów, 12. zmoknąć jak kura, 13. dwoić się i troić, 14. nie mieć grosza przy duszy, 15. z góry