Practical Phonetics

JMB
 Practical Phonetics 1

A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS

FOR
first semester students

PHONETICS SEMESTER ONE |

 Practical Phonetics 2

PART ONE

THE NEED FOR CLASSES IN PHONETICS:

A considerable difference between Polish sounds and English sounds.

The Polish and English sound systems are by no means the same. There are English vowels: long vowels
, short vowels /and diphthongs ɪə eə eɪ ɔɪ aɪ əʊ aʊ /
which do not appear in Polish, and Polish nasal vowels /ą, ę / which do not exist in English. English
consonants / / do not appear in Polish, whereas /ć, ń, ź, ś, dź/ do not occur in English.

The differences between the written form and the spoken form.

English pronunciation seems to be particularly difficult for a Polish learner. In Polish, the relationship
between spelling and pronunciation is pretty straightforward: with some exceptions, each letter
corresponds to the spoken sound. A word like "ktokolwiek". It has ten letters and ten sounds.

With a few modifications, the English spelling has existed for centuries, but the pronunciation has
constantly been changing.

EXAMPLES:
1 thoroughly – 10 letters /’/- 6 phonemes

2 daughter, laughter /’

3 initial "a" apple / /,

about //,

ache ,

arm //,

awful ,

Aesop / i: /,

any / e /,

Aries /

aisle /

4 "ough" though // bough /

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 Practical Phonetics 3

rough /

cough /

thorough /’ /

ought //

through /

Constant changes and few rules (with exceptions)

English pronunciation evolves all the time:

• Some changes: poor  and sure // now the more common pronunciation is the one
with 

• T-glottalization: In many British accents, particularly in London and the South East, the
pronunciation of the "t" sound in words like "butter" or "water" is often realized as a glottal
stop [ʔ] instead of a clear [t] sound. This is known as "t-glottalization."

• H-dropping: The dropping of the initial "h" sound in words is a well-known feature of many
British accents, especially Cockney. However, this is not limited to Cockney anymore and can
be found in various degrees across different regions and social groups.

• Rhoticity: Some accents are becoming more rhotic, which means they are starting to
pronounce the "r" sound at the end of words and syllables. This is a shift away from the
traditional non-rhotic feature of Received Pronunciation.

• Influence of Multiculturalism: Due to the diverse linguistic landscape in modern Britain, there
might be influences from other languages and dialects, leading to the introduction of new
sounds or changes in pronunciation.

• L-vocalization: In some accents, particularly in London and the Southeast, the "l" sound at the
end of syllables might be pronounced as a "w" sound or omitted altogether. For example,
"milk" might be pronounced as "miwk."

• American influence on the pronunciation of such words as "exit", "ate", and "forehead".

• Rules exist, but practically all have exceptions like call, wall, tall, hall, ball / but shall //.
dead, head, dread / e / but mead and lead /,and read both / e / and / , depending on
the meaning.

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Word stress

In Polish, the stress almost always falls on the penultimate syllable / 'zebra, huś'tawka, magne'tofon/.
Some rules govern word stress in English, but they are very complicated and have many exceptions
(see Appendix).

EXERCISE: put the words in the correct order starting with the word in which the stress is on the first
syllable and ending with the one in which the stress is on the fifth syllable:

unimportant, practical, personification, request, consideration.

Those who did not get discouraged may try to read the poem included in the Appendix

WHAT ARE PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY?

Speakers of a language know a system that enables them to create and understand new utterances.
This unconscious knowledge, which is often labelled linguistic competence, constitutes the central
subject matter of linguistics. In attempting to describe linguistic competence, linguists construct
grammar, an explicit system of elements and rules needed to form and interpret sentences.

The main components of grammar:

COMPONENT FUNCTION

Phonetics the articulation and perception of speech sounds

Phonology the patterning of speech sounds
Morphology word formation
Syntax sentence formation
Semantics the interpretation of words and sentences
Phonetics studies the sounds of spoken language. In other words, it is the study of the inventory and
structure of the sounds of a language. The act of communication starts in the brain (no brain, no
speech).

Phonetics is about “human noises” which convey "the message": the nature of the noises, their
combinations and their functions in relation to the message.

BRITISH VS AMERICAN ENGLISH

There are many varieties of English, probably the most important being British English and American
English.
The American variety of English preserved older linguistic forms that in Britain were transformed to
others, e.g. the retention of the flat  as in fast  past / which became the broad
 in BE.

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A variety of British English called "Received Pronunciation" (RP - the educated speech of the south-
eastern region of Britain) is a non-rhotic accent, which means that we pronounce the letter r only
when the next sound is a vowel. In rhotic accents (e.g. in American English), the letter r is always
pronounced.

SOME DIFFERENCES IN PRONUNCIATION 1

vowels diphthongs consonants

AE  vs BE // pass, bath, AE // vs BE / broke, /t/ can be voiced in AE (the
grass going, rope, no, wrote, lonely, flapped sound-one tap of the
alone, note tongue against the alveolar
ridge) letter, butter, better, I
AE // vs BE // pot, got, not AE-the monophthong / / vs BE got it,
diphthong // specialisation,
generalisation, civilisation, little, kettle, bottle
r-colouring fertile, hostile, fragile, mobile, twenty, wanted, plenty, winter
blur, bird, turn AE monophthong /:/ vs BE a flap consonant: very, Mary,
teacher, mother, better // due, news, duke, duty, sorry, bury
knew, student, stupid (but:
beauty, music, pure)

RECEIVED PRONUNCIATION
During our classes, we shall deal with a variety of British English called modern or contemporary
Received Pronunciation. Received Pronunciation (RP), sometimes quite misleadingly called the
Queen’s/King’s English, Oxford English, BBC English, or posh English, is an accent, not a regional dialect.
However, it is associated with the educated speech of people from the south-eastern region of Britain
(London, Oxford, Cambridge) who graduated from public boarding schools (public schools in the UK
are prestigious secondary schools that charge high fees; they are NOT financed from the budget and
are independent of the government, so they differ from state schools). RP speakers, who constitute
only 3% to 5% of all speakers of English (spoken in England), are perceived as people with a high social
and/or educational status. RP can be further divided into Conservative RP (used by older speakers and
the aristocracy) and Contemporary RP (used by younger people). Still, both accents are deprived of
regional pronunciation features.
In the 20th century, people who climbed the social ladder felt the need to get rid of their regional
pronunciation features and speak RP, not to be perceived as uneducated or belonging to lower social
strata. Today, we may observe a reverse tendency among some young RP speakers who try to
incorporate some regional elements into their pronunciation.
"Contemporary RP" refers to an updated or modern version of Received Pronunciation (RP), which is
the historically prestigious accent of Standard British English. RP has evolved over time, and
contemporary RP reflects the changes and shifts in pronunciation that have occurred in British English
accents.

• 1
Arabski, J., Wymowa amerykańska. PWN, Warszawa 1987.

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Received Pronunciation was traditionally associated with the educated and upper classes in the UK
and served as a model for standard speech in broadcasting, education, and other formal contexts.
However, as accents and language use have changed and diversified, the concept of RP has also
evolved.
Contemporary RP acknowledges that language is not static and that accents change over time due to
various factors such as social influences, immigration, and exposure to media. Therefore,
contemporary RP incorporates some of the changes that have occurred in British accents while still
maintaining a relatively neutral and standardized form of English.
Some features of contemporary RP include:
• Updated Vowel Sounds: Reflecting the vowel shifts that have occurred in British accents,
contemporary RP might include modified vowel pronunciations compared to the older, more
traditional RP.
• Less Conservatism: Contemporary RP might incorporate certain features that were historically
considered non-standard, such as the pronunciation of the "r" sound in some contexts
(rhoticity), which was traditionally avoided in RP.
• Inclusion of Regional Influences: While RP was traditionally associated with a specific southern
English accent, contemporary RP might allow for a broader range of regional influences,
recognizing that many educated individuals from various regions now use this style of speech
• Modern Lexicon and Intonation: Contemporary RP would incorporate modern vocabulary and
intonation patterns that reflect the language trends of today.
Some people would use the term “Standard Southern British English” to refer to a neutral or non-
regional accent that is commonly heard in the southern parts of England.
Those who learn English as a foreign language are bound to encounter RP in dictionaries and grammar
books. Phonetic transcription in such reliable dictionaries as The Oxford English Dictionary or The
Cambridge English Dictionary is based on RP and General American for the American variety of English.
Only about 3% of the British population speak RP, so why then do we teach it?
It is the pronunciation most widely understood and most widely and thoroughly described.

THE PHONEME 2
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that makes a difference to meaning in any given language.
One can establish the phonemes of a language using the so-called minimal pairs. These are pairs of
words that differ only in one sound segment, e.g. bet, pet.
A set of words: pin, bin, tin, din, kin, chin, gin, fin, thin, sin, shin, win, which differ only in the first
consonant, gives us twelve contrastive elements-twelve English phonemes:
/and/. We should consider other positions in the
word (not only initial but also medial and final) as e.g. such phoneme as // does not occur in the initial
position.
There are many different ways in which the sound representing a phoneme is produced by native
speakers of English. // at the beginning of the word bad will be produced with very little voicing. In
certain circumstances, however, a speaker may decide to say the phoneme with full voicing. It is still
the same phoneme.

2
A Phoneme, A Grapheme, A Morpheme: What’s the Difference ....
https://www.theliteracynest.com/2019/08/a-phoneme-a-grapheme-a-morpheme.html
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We can say that we have two different realisations (ways of producing) of the same phoneme. One
can replace the other, but the meaning will be the same. The two realisations are said to be in free
variation. When one realisation of a phoneme occurs where the other cannot, e.g. / in love is clear
and in all dark, and one cannot replace the other, we say that the two variations are in complementary
distribution. Such different realisations of the same phoneme are called allophones.

ARTICULATORS
larynx = krtań, epiglottis = nagłośnia, uvula = języczek

THE PRINCIPAL ORGANS OF ARTICULATION

THE VOCAL FOLDS (COR DS)

The vocal folds act as a vibrator set in motion by lung air. This vibration of the vocal folds is a standard
feature of all vowels or of such consonants as /  / compared with voiceless /  /. In order to achieve
the effect of voice, the vocal folds are brought sufficiently close together so that they vibrate when
subjected to air pressure from the lungs.

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A typical mistake made by Polish learners is to devoice all consonants at the end of words. In English,
voiced consonants do not undergo this process. Consequently, one must remember whether e.g.
exercise has // or // in the word-final position. /ˈeksəsaɪz/)
On the other hand, voiceless consonants are not automatically voiced between vowels. The typical
Polish pronunciation of basic as */bejzyk/ is incorrect3.

Some misleading words:

dinosaur, disappear, analysis, philosophy/philosophical, courtesy, disagree, crisis, episode, fantasy,

paralysis, disadvantage, disappoint, misunderstand, thesis, disapprove, disallow, hypnosis

Voiceless consonants do not become voiced at the end of words, even if a voiced sound is at the
beginning of the next word. The pronunciation of hit eight as /hidejt /, watch us as /łodżas /or laugh
at him as /lavethym / is incorrect4.

Some more examples5:

black night, both bags, deep down, each woman, get along, great body, half done, hot water, keep
well, lifeboat, light blue, look there, Miss Glover, not go, out of, piece of, put it, short memory, six
days, state government, such girls, talk last, think where, this was, top layer, want boys, which letter,
white desk, without me, write less

The -ed ending and the –s ending are voiced when the preceding sound is voiced and voiceless
when the preceding sound is a voiceless consonant. When the final sound has a similar place and
manner of articulation, we insert the vowel / to facilitate the pronunciation: handed, spotted,
bushes, buses, Alice's, and the ending is voiced.

//in the singular sometimes remains voiceless in the plural. The following words end in //: baths,
booths, oaths, paths, mouths. The same lack of rules concerns words that end in //. The following
words are pronounced with // at the end: aperitifs, chiefs, cliffs, gulfs, handkerchiefs, motifs, safes,
scarfs, sheriffs.
The letter ‘x’ is usually voiced before a stressed syllable: exact, exam, example, exist, exotic (unless
there is a consonant after it: explode) and voiceless when it occurs after a stressed syllable: exercise,
lexicon, maximum, oxygen, saxophone6.

3
4
Sobkowiak, W., English Phonetics for Poles, Wydawnictwo Bene Nati, 1996
5
ibid
6
ibid
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PART TWO
PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION

TYPES OF TRANSCRIPTIONS
We cannot talk about the only transcription of a word.. One can transcribe words as precisely as
possible, based on what one can hear, using the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) or other
phonetic notation systems. The simple word jam can be transcribed in a variety of ways:
IPA:
/dʒæm/
X-SAMPA:
/dZ{m/
Kirshenbaum Phonetic Alphabet:
/dʒ{m/
WorldBet
/dZ{m/
American Heritage Dictionary Notation:
jăm
General American Phonemic Notation:
jæm
If we are trying to describe how a particular person pronounces the word cat in or how English speakers
pronounce it, we have to start generalising -- we must decide which details to include and which details
to ignore. We usually distinguish between two kinds of transcription, based on how many details the
transcribers decide to ignore:
Narrow transcription: includes as many aspects and details of a particular pronunciation as possible
We may use the diacritics provided in the IPA to show minute differences between sounds.
Broad transcription (or phonemic transcription): omits as many details as possible, including only
those aspects of a pronunciation that are necessary to demonstrate the differences in meaning.

THE IPA
The International Phonetic Alphabet is a set of symbols based chiefly on the Latin alphabet, developed
in the 19th century to represent the sounds of spoken language.
To facilitate learning, you may use the following website https://tophonetics.com/, where it is possible
to paste the words/text to convert them into phonetic transcription using the IPA symbols. Select the
British option, please. More traditional students can use a paper dictionary such as the
Longman/Oxford/Cambridge Pronunciation Dictionaries.

SUGGESTIONS/TRICKS FOR IMPROVING TRANSCRIPTIONS 7

Here are some tips to help you learn to use broad transcription of English. Imagine you are someone
who struggles with spelling. If you were intentionally trying to misspell a word, how would you go

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 Practical Phonetics 10

about it? For instance, you could deliberately misspell "knight" as "night" or "nite." This could provide
you with hints about the sounds that are present and those that are absent.
• Compare the word to others whose transcriptions you feel more confident about. If two words sound
the same, their transcriptions should match. If two words rhyme, their transcriptions should end
similarly.
• Determine the number of sounds the word contains and how those sounds are pronounced before
you concern yourself with which symbols represent those sounds.
• While we typically read from left to right, remember that there's no rule stating you must write that
way. You don't have to perfect the symbol for one sound before moving on to the next. If you know
the first and last consonants but are uncertain about the middle vowel, jot down the consonants first
and leave the vowel for later.
• If you're unsure about a specific sound, consider other words where that sound is used.
• Read your transcription aloud to ensure it conveys the intended meaning.
• Practice is key. Keep practicing.
• Engage in exercises.
• Mentally transcribe words while waiting for the bus.
• Use IPA to write your grocery lists.
• Write your diary entries in IPA.
• When insomnia strikes, read stories in IPA.

MORE TIPS:

Always enclose your transcriptions in brackets to set them apart from regular text.

There is no concept of an unspoken symbol in phonetic transcription . We

pronounce each and every symbol.

The IPA symbol /c/ signifies the tongue -body striking the hard palate. English does
not employ this sound. If you are tempted to include /c/ in transcribing average
English speech, you are likely mistaken.

The commonly spelled "ng" sound is represented by the symb ol/. Only
introduce / if it is pronounced -- is it closer to "singer" or "finger"? Similarly,
clusters spelled "nk" (and often "nc") typically hold this sound : //.

Keep in mind: y is // and j is .

Do not use capital letters in transcription. The waiter Bill and the bill he brings are
pronounced in the same way and must be transcribed in the same way .

Remember about the schwa! 8

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THE ENGLISH PHONEMES AND HOW THEY ARE SPELT:

Every speech sound belongs to one or other of the two main classes known as vowels and
consonants.

Vowels Consonants

have a central syllabic function have a marginal syllabic function

linguistically

phonetically more sonorous (we perceive them as less sonorous

louder and longer)

no stricture (minimal obstruction to the stricture (closure or narrowing which

air) involves some friction)

voiced voiced or voiceless

difficult to describe easy to describe in terms of articulation

because of precise places of contact or
phonetic movement
description

VOICELESS CONSONANTS VOICED CONSONANTS

IPA Spelling IPA Spelling

 Drop, dropped  Rob, robbed

 Take, letter, Thames  Desk, add

 Fine, puff, enough, photographic  Love, of

 Kind, act, account, ache, queen  Give, bigger, ghost, guest

 Soft, kiss, ceiling, science  Zebra, dizzy, nose

/ Shame, machine, sugar, assurance,  Collision, measure, azure, garage
nation, conscience, facial, ocean

 Thanks  This


 house

 Cheap, watch, nature  Gem, judge, adjective, suggestion,

soldier

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 Practical Phonetics 12

 Yellow, onion

 Line, bill

 Red, terrific, writer, rhyme

 Water, what, one, suite

 Mum, swimming, thumb, damn

 Night, sinner, gnaw, knee,

pneumonia

 Ring, thank

PURE VOWELS DIPHTHONGS

IPA Spelling IPA Spelling

 Father, far, palm, heart, laugh, clerk  Line, high, pie, try

 Cat  House, now

Bet, breath, any Late, eight, prey, main, day

 Kid, pretty, sieve, busy, women, Air, dare, wear

village

 Cheese, sea, be, piece, receive, key,  Beer, near, here, idea, pier
machine

 Fog, swan, because, cough,  Go, load, toe,

knowledge

 Lord, fall, awful, daughter, ought,  Noise, boy

board, door

 Pull, could, foot, woman  Poor, tour, sure


 Too, you, to, two

 Fur, first, hers, learn, world, journey

 Sun, son, cousin, flood, does

 Too many possibilities

 ("medium i", “happy i”) is usually pronounced like a shorter version of 

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PART THREE
THE VOWELS

It is not possible to identify a “place of articulation” of a vowel. There are, however, some criteria on
the basis of which we will describe vowels. All vowels are voiced continuant sounds.
For linguistic purposes, the vowels are classified according to tongue positions. Daniel Jones created
the system used by most phoneticians to describe vowels. It is called:

THE CARDINAL VOWEL SCALE

Cardinal vowels are not actual vowels; they are just used to describe the sounds of languages.

CARDINAL VOWEL CHART 9

The cardinal vowels are a standard reference system used to describe, classify and compare vowels
of most European languages.

The English vowel in the word beach can be described with reference to cardinal vowel 1. A cardinal
vowel is a vowel pronounced with the tongue in the most extreme position possible, either front or
back, high or low.

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https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Primary-cardinal-vowels-Roach-1991-13_fig2_329806129

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CARDINAL VOWEL SYSTEM VS ENGLISH VOWEL SYSTEM 10

RP ENGLISH MONOPHTHONGS CHART 11

10
http://www.linguisticsweb.org/doku.php?id=linguisticsweb:glossary:vowels
11
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RP_English_monophthongs_chart.svg

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The diagram below presents the English and Polish vowels and their positions (the Polish vowels are in
brackets).

THE CRITERIA USED TO DESCRIBE VOWELS:

• The position of the tongue:

Tongue height (vertical axis)
o the tongue is raised, close to the roof of the oral cavity – high or close vowels – the name
refers to the position of the tongue high in the mouth or close to the palate –
o the body of the tongue is low in the mouth with the mouth wide open - the vowels are called
open or low vowels.
o the tongue is in an intermediate position - the vowels are called mid vowels.
Tongue frontness/backness (horizontal axis)
o the front part of the tongue is highest - front vowels
o the central part of the tongue is highest - central vowels
o the rear part of the tongue is highest - back vowels

• The position of the lips.

o The lips are rounded, and then the vowel is rounded
o The lips are spread, and then the vowel is unrounded.
• The cavity through which the air is released – oral or nasal
o the air escapes through the nasal cavity - nasal vowels. There are nasal or nasalised vowels in
every language, but this distinction will be more critical in Polish (ą, ę) than in English, where
the feature is contextual.
o the air escapes through the oral cavity – oral vowels

• Muscular tension

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differs when we produce different vowels, for instance the long vowel /i:/ in seat and the short one /ı/
in sit.
o Long vowels –marked in the IPA alphabet by a colon –always have a higher degree of muscular
tension in the speech organs involved in their articulation. These vowels are tense since the
articulators are tense when we produce them.
o When we produce the vowel of sit, the articulatory organs are less strained, laxer than in the
case of //. We describe these vowels as lax.
Vowel duration, associated with tenseness, has a phonemic, contrastive value in English.

• Length
The “:” sign after the vowel symbol shows its length. There are seven short vowels in English
/and five long vowels .Length is not the only distinctive
feature, as the quality of the sounds such as / is also different. The length of a vowel and
diphthong depends on the context. If a voiceless consonant follows a vowel, the length of the vowel
gets reduced. This shortening is called pre-fortis clipping.
Although // is classified as a short vowel and behaves like one (never appears in open syllables), it is
much longer than other short vowels, especially when followed by a voiced consonant, e.g. man, sad,
bad.

RULES FOR VOWEL PRONUNCIATION

How a vowel is pronounced depends on the following factors:

o whether a vowel is in a stressed or unstressed syllable, e.g. frequent (adj.) //and
frequent (v.) //
o whether the syllable is open or closed. Open syllables end in a vowel or a consonant + silent e.
All closed syllables end in a consonant. Short vowels do not appear in open syllables. Cf. sit/site
o the neighbouring phonemes, e.g. pre-fortis clipping
o the number of syllables-rhythmic clipping, e.g. //in man is longer than in manuscript; /
in the word lead is longer than in leader

MONOPHTHONGS AND DIPHTHONGS

• Monophthongs
are pure vowel sounds that preserve the same quality throughout the entire duration of their
articulation. The tongue does not move.

• Diphthongs
consist of two vowels joined together. They are part of the same syllabic unit. The tongue moves during
the production of a diphthong. In any diphthong, one of the vocalic elements is stronger than the other.
If the weaker element is first and there is a glide towards the stronger vocalic element, the diphthong
is a rising one. It does not exist in English, which only has falling diphthongs, diphthongs in which the
glide is from the dominant vocalic element to the weaker one. (e.g. boy, buy in English).

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 Practical Phonetics 17

PART FOUR
THE ENGLISH SIMPLE (“PURE”) VOWELS OR MONOPHTHONGS.

ENGLISH FRONT VOWELS.

THERE ARE FOUR FRONT VOWEL PHONEMES IN ENGLISH:

//, //, // and /æ/
1. // is a close (high) tense unrounded vowel. It is long.
It can be compared to the Polish cluster ij in the word kij.
// occurs in word-initial position: evil, word-medial position: lean and word-final position: tea. It is
longer at the end of words, shorter if followed by a voiced sound, the shortest if followed by a voiceless
consonant.
Spellings: e: evil, ee: eel, see, feet, or ea east; ie: fiend, ei: seizing, i: machine, very rarely: ey: key; ay:
quay /ki:/, eo: people, oe: Oedipus or eau: Beauchamp12
2.  is a close (high) lax unrounded vowel. It is short.
It should be confused neither with Polish y nor i. It occurs in both stressed and unstressed syllables.
Its length varies, as in the preceding vowel, depending on the following consonant (pre-fortis clipping).
It occurs at the beginning of words: it, in the middle: still, and at the end of words: nicely. It is the
second most common English vowel in unstressed syllables.
Spellings: i e.g. it, or y; synonym. Other spellings: minute /’mınıt/ (remember that the homograph
which means tiny is pronounced /maı’nju:t/), private /’praıvıt/, women /’wımın/. Day /deı/ may be
pronounced / dı/ if it is at the end of words: Friday /'fraıdı/13.
3.  is a mid lax unrounded vowel. It is short.
Similar to Polish e (esp. in such words as sień, dzień), but the tongue (its front and central part) should
be raised higher towards the hard palate.
It occurs at the beginning of words: end, or in the middle of words: tell. It never occurs at the end of
words.
Spellings: e in words like elf, fell, or ea in lead (ołów), head or bread. It is exceptionally represented by
the letter a in ate (the older form of the past tense of eat), many, any, Thames or Pall Mall (also
pronounced / ˈpælˈmæl/.14
4. /æ/ is an open (low) lax unrounded vowel. It is short.
It is much broader and more open than Polish e. The lower jaw is in a quite low position, the tongue
touching the front teeth, with its sides on the gums. Longer than /e/.
/æ/ is more open than /e/, the jaw is lower.
Polish speakers of English find it particularly difficult to make the difference between the two vowels
(which is a contrastive, phonemic difference). It occurs at the beginning of words: ant /ænt/, or in the
middle: fat /fæt/. It never occurs at the end of words.

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 Practical Phonetics 18

Spellings: a: act, fat, exceptions ai: plait /plæt/, plaid /plæd/15.

ENGLISH BACK VOWELS.

THERE ARE FIVE BACK VOWELS IN ENGLISH :
//, //, //, // and /

1. / is an open (low) tense unrounded vowel. It is long.

It differs from Polish a. It is much longer and more back (the tongue is low with its back pulled to the
back of the mouth cavity)
It occurs in word-initial position: are, word-medial position: start, and word-final position: car.
Spellings: a followed by a silent r in syllable or word-final position: jar, carpet, or by a silent l in palm,
calm, balm. Exceptions: aunt //, Berkeley /, hearth //, father /’,
sergeant /’, memoir //16.

2. / is an open (low) lax, slightly rounded vowel. It is short.

It is intermediate between Polish o and a. More back and open than Polish o, the lips are more
rounded.
It occurs at the beginning of words: on, or in the middle of words: lot. It never occurs at the end of
words.
Spellings: o pot. Exceptionally ou, a and au in cough, want, or laurel17.

3. /is a mid tense vowel, more rounded than /It is long.

It differs from the Polish o. It is longer, slightly more close and the lips are more rounded.
It occurs at the beginning of words: awesome, in the middle of words: fork, and at the end of words:
law.
Spellings: aw or au: lawn, author. Or is also pronounced // at the end of words or before
consonants or a silent e: nor, bore, lord. Exceptions: oo in floor, door, oa in board, broad, coarse and
hoard, ough in (n)ought, sought, wrought, and a in water or wrath and ou in course, source18.

4. // is a close (high) lax rounded vowel. It is short.

It differs from Polish u; the space between the back of the tongue and the soft palate is a little larger.
It is more central and shorter; the lips are more rounded.
The vowel occurs mainly in the middle of words (pull), only rarely at the end of weak forms of to, do,
who, and never at the beginning of words. Spellings: u in pull, butcher, cushion; o w: wolf, Worcester;
double oo, followed by k: look, book; by t: foot, soot, by d: wood, stood; by the lateral l: wool, or a
nasal: room, broom, groom; ou in verb forms would, could, should19.

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 Practical Phonetics 19

5. /:/ is the highest back vowel of English. It is a long tense rounded vowel.

Similar to Polish u but much longer, with strong lip rounding and protruding.
It occurs at the beginning of words (rarely): ooze, in the middle of words: maroon, and at the end of
words: tattoo.
Polish learners of English must remember that the vowel differs from the previous one: it is more close
and tense.
Spellings: u or oo: rude, tattoo. O in strong forms of to, who, and in ado. Ou in route, through, routine,
soup. Oe in shoe, canoe. The sound often follows /j/, which is optional in words like suit /su:t/sju:t/,
but obligatorily in beauty and its derivatives, in feud, music, mutiny, deluge, etc20.

ENGLISH CENTRAL VOWELS.

THERE ARE THREE CENTRAL VOWEL PHONEMES IN ENGLISH: //, // AND /:/

1. // is a half-open lax unrounded vowel. It is short.

It is shorter and not so open as Polish a.

It occurs at the beginning of words: udder, or in the middle of words: mother. It never occurs at the
end of words or syllables.
Spellings: u: undo, but, o: love, front, money; rarely spelt ou: courage, southern, rough, tough, and
exceptionally oo in blood and flood and oe in does. Many Polish speakers of English find it difficult to
acquire the correct pronunciation of / / mistaking it for some variant of a or o21.

2. // is the most common English sound, a mid lax unrounded vowel. It has a
name: the schwa. It is short.

The schwa occurs in all positions, but never in stressed syllables: among, contain, father. It replaces
full-value vowels in most weak forms. Most English unstressed vowels are pronounced as a schwa, but
if the stress placement changes and shifts to them, they will retain their primary value: cf. Satan,
Satanic, Satanism
Spellings: too numerous to enumerate.

3. /:/ is a mid tense unrounded vowel. It is the tense counterpart of the schwa,
and it only occurs in stressed syllables. It is long.

There is no similar sound in Polish. During the articulation of this vowel, the tongue and the lips are
held in neutral positions. It is long, and the letter r is not pronounced when the vowel occurs before a
consonant or a pause.
It occurs at the beginning of words: early, in the middle of words: first, and at the end of words: refer.
Spellings: ir, ur, er, or yr or ear: bird, burn, learn. Rarely our in words like courtesy, journal, journey,
and, exceptionally, o in colonel.

20
ibid
21
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 Practical Phonetics 20

SHORT MONOPHTHONGS

Front Central Back

Close   
Mid   
Open   

LONG MONOPHTHONGS

Front Central Back

Close   

Mid   
Open   

22

22
The tables were based on: Monophthongs of a fairly conservative variety of RP. From Roach (2004,
p. 242)

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 Practical Phonetics 21

APPENDIX 1
STRESS RULES

Most two-syllable nouns and adjectives have stress on the first syllable: HOMEwork, PRETty

Most two-syllable verbs have stress on the last syllable: beGIN, proDUCE

Nouns and verbs of more than two syllables ending in –vowel+consonant or –vowel+consonant+
silent ‘e’ have stress on the antepenultimate (third from the end) syllable: FORtitude, DEtonate,
GRAduate

Words ending in –ee, -eer, -ese, -oo, -ette, -oon have stress on the final syllable: refugEE,
mountainEER, tabOO

Words ending in –ery, -ate, -orous, -mentary, -eous have stress on the antepenultimate syllable:
FORtunate, SONorous, compliMENtary

Words ending in –ic, -ish, -ive, -ure, -ation, -mental have stress on the penultimate syllable: terRIFic,
SELFish, reveLAtion

Suffixes –ly, -er (except after Greek elements-SEISmograph, seisMOgrapher), -ness, -ful, -less, -able,
-ment do not affect stress: HAppy, HAppiness

COlour, COlourless,

NORthern, NORtherner

Negative prefixes do not affect stress (except: no, non in some words): HAppy, unHAppy

Polysyllabic words usually have more than one stress, i.e. a primary and secondary stress:
interNAtional, antibiOtic

Words ending in –onomy, -onomist, -osophy, -osopher, -ology, -ologist are stressed on the
antepenultimate syllable.

Compound words (words with two parts) that are nouns are stressed on the first part: BLACKbird. If
the compound is an adjective, the stress goes on to the second part: bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned.
If the compound is a verb, the stress also goes on the second part: underSTAND, overLOOK

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 Practical Phonetics 22

Classify the words according to their stress pattern.

satisfaction, congratulations, beautiful, environmental, terrific, November, together, employee,

monumental, horrible, Japanese, manufacture, electric, crazily, engineer, autocrat, mountaineer,
barbaric, realisation, satisfaction, constitution, picturesque, adoption, gratitude, connoisseur,
raconteur, liquefy, astonish, revelation, governmental, detonate, acoustic, detainee, objection,
engineer, arabesque, sybaritic, indecisive, coalesce, protective, abject, develop, comfortable

Stress patterns:

---*-

-*-

--*

--*-

*--

*-

Read out the following sentences:

There will be a lot of technological advances in the next five years.

He’s the chairman of the Industrial Development Association.

New production techniques have led to significant reductions in cost.

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 Practical Phonetics 23

Mark the stress placement in these words:

Calculation decision reaction distribution

Television relation association operation

Biology biological policy political

Geography geographical university managerial

Photography photographic society sociological

Technology technological electricity electrical

Economic terrific strategic logic

Domestic metabolic statistic pathogenic

Personality antibiotic computerisation solution

Surgical pharmacology digital

Analytical microscopic agricultural

Compound noun list:

Quiet-room Blackbird Greenhouse Rainfall Footrest Dancing master Walking stick Writing paper
Greenfly Bluebottle Leatherjacket

Two-syllable words that can function as nouns (stress on the first syllable) and verbs (stress on the
second syllable)

Progress, import, export, rebel, present, record, produce, contract, desert, object, insult, permit,
protest, convert, transport

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 Practical Phonetics 24

APPENDIX 2
DIFFICULT WORDS

Acknowledge Acid Ache Acid Alter Aeroplane

Adjourn Almond Aisle acre Aquarium Aisle

Advantageous Arrival Anxious Ancient Archaic Allow

Anchor Aunt Archaeology Angular Autumn Allowance

Anxious Banquet Arithmetic Banausic Awe August

(mechanical)
Apple Beloved Banana Bass Awful
Beige
Asparagus Biscuit Bizarre Bear Bald
Birthday
Assurance Body Body Bough barrette
Blonde
Bathe Borough Calm Bowled Bias
Bother
bureaucratic Canary Chaos Dairy Boundary
Breathe
Butcher Cello Chauffeur Daughter Bouquet
Campaign
Calf Charles’s Clothes Devouring Campaign
Chocolate
Camouflage Chimpanzee Colour Diameter Caribbean
Circuit
Cauliflower colloquy Comfortable Diary Champagne
Clerk
Ceiling colonel Competitive Doubt Choir
Cliché
Certain Comfortable Completion Enquiry Courtesy
cognac
Chassis Conscience Crooked European Crawl
Comfortable
Comfortable Delusion Ecstatic exacerbate Diarrhoea
Curtain
convalesce Develop Enclosure flourish Disguise
Dozen
Cough Disapproval Exactly Fountain Dough
Entertainment
Crooked Dishonest Fabulous galloping Dowry
Espionage
Cupboard Dreary Foreign Gauge Euclidean
Exhibition

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 Practical Phonetics 25

Doubt entrepreneur Fortunate Extraordinary guillotine Fatal

Draught Exhausted Generous Front Height Flour

Envious fatigue Halves Gangster Ian Global

Evasion Forehead Hippopotamus Gnome idiosyncrasy Growl

Evil Further Hyena Half infatuation Halfpenny

Exhibit Geyser incorruptible Hurt Interior handkerchief

fiftieth Giraffe Injection Hymn iridocyclitis Height

Generous Idyllic Insure Hyphen Lemonade Hurt

Handkerchief Imaginary Knowledge indictment liaison impede

Heir Injure Laser Intrusion Linoleum indict

Ideologist jeopardise Lathe Iron manoeuvre Lawn

Illiterate Legacy Length Island mayonnaise maintenance

impromptu Leisure Leopard Moustache Mayor Merely

Inhuman Leopard Library Mouths Mysterious Millionaire

Leicester Lettuce malevolence Nightingale Notable Mouldy

lieutenant Model Margarine November Owl Odyssey

Mosquito Obedient marshmallow Philology Parent Pastry

nonchalant Partial Massage Photographic Pint Pear

Onion Physician Nothing Poet Pneumonia pharaoh

Perfect Prestige Oven Porcupine Postage Plough

Precision Purpose Penguin Prologue Prior Poignant

Procedure Raspberry Performance Pyjamas Purpose Pony

Receipt Scent Persuasion Quay Rehearsal Prayer

Register Schedule Philosophy Receipt Reign Reign

Rhinoceros Southern Pour Restaurant Riot Salt

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 Practical Phonetics 26

Sieve Spacious Pronunciation Ridiculous Sour Sarah

Soup splendiferous Psychiatric Righteous Stalk Scarce

Species Sponge Recapture Sacred Stir Sew

Stenographer Strawberry Recipe Said Stoic Sigh

Stomach Strength Sagged Syringe Straight Spear

Subtle Thames Sauce tabernacle Suede surveillance

Sword Theology Says Target Their They’re

Thorough Theresa Silhouette These Thigh Triangle

Tomato Thirst Sovereign Thorough Though Turtle

Tongue Ton Succeed Tortoise treacherous ubiquitous

Unsolicited Via toboggan Unattractive Vegetarian Vampire

Wealthy Vineyard urethra Unsuitable Weary Vogue

Worry Wicked Vehicle Variety Weird Wiry

Worse Winding Wages Whining Won’t Word

Wrap Wonder Worst Won World Work

Wreathes Worthy Zoological Worth Worm Yolk

Zoologist Wrestle

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 Practical Phonetics 27

APPENDIX 4
TRANSCRIBE/READ THE FOLLOWING:
Dearest creature in creation, Liberty, library, heave and heaven,

Study English pronunciation. Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.

I will teach you in my verse We say hallowed, but allowed,

Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. People, leopard, towed, but vowed.

I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Mark the differences, moreover,

Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Between mover, cover, clover;

Tear in eye, your dress will tear. Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,

So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer. Chalice, but police and lice;

Camel, constable, unstable,

Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Principle, disciple, label.

Dies and diet, lord and word,

Sword and sward, retain and Britain. Petal, panel, and canal,

(Mind the latter, how it's written.) Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.

Now I surely will not plague you Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,

With such words as plaque and ague. Senator, spectator, mayor.

But be careful how you speak: Tour, but our and succour, four.

Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Cloven, oven, how and low, Sea, idea, Korea, area,

Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Psalm, Maria, but malaria.

Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,

Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Compare alien with Italian,

Exiles, similes, and reviles; Dandelion and battalion.

Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Sally with ally, yea, ye,

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 Practical Phonetics 28

Solar, mica, war and far; Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.

One, anemone, Balmoral, Say aver, but ever, fever,

Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.

Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Heron, granary, canary.

Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Crevice and device and eerie.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Face, but preface, not efface.

Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Blood and flood are not like food, Large, but target, gin, give, verging,

Nor is mould like should and would. Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.

Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Ear, but earn and wear and tear

Toward, to forward, to reward. Do not rhyme with here but ere.

And your pronunciation's OK Seven is right, but so is even,

When you correctly say croquet, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,

Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve, Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,

Friend and fiend, alive and live. Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!

And enamour rhyme with hammer. Is a paling stout and spikey?

River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Won't it make you lose your wits,

Doll and roll and some and home. Writing groats and saying grits?

Stranger does not rhyme with anger, It's a dark abyss or tunnel:

Neither does devour with clangour. Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,

Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Islington and Isle of Wight,

Font, front, won't, want, grand, and grant, Housewife, verdict, and indict.

Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,

And then singer, ginger, linger, Finally, which rhymes with enough --

PHONETICS SEMESTER ONE |

 Practical Phonetics 29

Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?

Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. Hiccough has the sound of cup.

My advice is to give up!!!

Query does not rhyme with very,

Nor does fury sound like bury.

Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.

Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.

Though the differences seem little,

We say actual but victual.

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 Practical Phonetics 30

Bibliography:

• Arabski, J. (1987). Wymowa amerykańska. PWN

• Brazil, D. (1994). Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English. CUP.

• Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D.M., Goodwin, J. (1996). Teaching Pronunciation. Cambridge

University Press.

• Digby, Ch., Myers, J. (1993). Making Sense of Spelling and Pronunciation. Prentice Hall
International.

• Garcia Lecumberri M.J., Maidment J.A. (2000). English Transcription Course. Wydawnictwo
Arnold.

• Gimson, A.C. (2001). An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. Edward Arnold.

• Kelly, G. (2000). How to Teach Pronunciation. Longman.

• Laroy, C. (1999). Pronunciation. OUP.

• Mortimer, C. (1985). Elements of Pronunciation. Intensive Practice for Intermediate and More
Advanced Students. Cambridge University Press.

• O'Connor, J.D. Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge University Press.

• Ponsonby, M. (1995). How Now, Brown Cow? Prentice Hall Macmillan.

• Reszkiewicz, A. (1984). Correct Your English Pronunciation. PWN.

• Rogerson, P. (1990). Speaking Clearly. CUP.

• Sobkowiak, W. (1996). English Phonetics for Poles. Wydawnictwo Bene Nati.

• Szpyra-Kozłowska, J., Sobkowiak, W. (2001). Workbook in English Phonetics. Lublin.

• Taylor, L. (1993). Pronunciation in Action. Prentice Hall International.

• Vaughan-Rees, M. (2002). Test Your Pronunciation Penguin English Guides.

• Wikipedia

PHONETICS SEMESTER ONE |