PHONETICS

A. Introduction to Phonetics
B. English Sounds
C. English Pronunciation
D. Stress. Intonation & Pronunciation
E. Common Errors in Pronunciation PHONETICS- II
F. Silent and non-silent Letters
G. Syllables and Structure
H. Word Stress Rules
I. Spelling Rules and Words Often Misspelt

D. STRESS, INTONATION & PRONUNCIATION

Energy Control
There are 4 basic ways that energy can be controlled when speaking alanguage.
Stress
We change the direction, pressure, and volume of air in our vocal tracts to make
letter and word sounds. Stress is the amount of energy or effort that we use to
make these changes. American English is a stress language. More stress, or more
energy, is used to pronounce words that are more important in a sentence.
Rhythm
Have you ever tapped your foot when listening to music? You tap your foot to the
rhythm or beat of the musical sounds. Sometimes the rhythm of the music is fast
and sometimes it is slow. Spoken language also has rhythm. The rhythm of spoken
words and sentences change as the amount of energy used to pronounce them
changes.
Intonation
We change the pitch, or music, of our voice, to put emotion and meaning into our
words and sentences. The intonation or pitch of our voice can go up or down or stay
flat. Often, we change the intonation of our voice before (intonation goes up)and
after (intonation goes down) we pronounce stressed words. More pronunciation
energy is used when intonation is going up an less is used when intonation is going
down.
Pause
We can add a pause, or a moment of silence, between words to add meaningand
emotion to what we say. Pause = No pronunciation energy.
There is a relationship, there is a connection, between stress, rhythm, intonation,
and pause. Basic prosody is the study of these relationships and how they are used
to add emotion and meaning to words and sentences.

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MCQ:

1. Which category of English sounds includes words like ‘pat,’ ‘top,’ and ‘cat’?
b. Long vowels
c. Voiced Stops
d. Voiceless stops
e. Fricatives

2. What is the IPA symbol for the voiced ‘th’ sound found in words like ‘this’ and ‘mother’?
a. /0/
b. /u/
c. / /
d. /s/

3. Which category of English sounds is produced by allowing air to flow through the nasal
passages whils blocking the oral cavity?
a. Voiceless stops
b. Liquids
c. Nasal Consonants
d. Glides

4. What is the IPA symbol for the schwa sound, as in the word ‘banana.’?
a. /u/
b. / /
c. / /
d. /ae/

5. Which category of English sounds is represented by the IPA symbols /ai/, / /, and /au/?
a. Dipthongs
b. Long vowels
c. Voiceless th
d. Schwa
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 E. Common Errors in Pronunciation

English has been called one of the most difficult languages to learn. One of the most
common mistakes among new English learners involves pronunciation. Mispronunciation
can result from a poor grasp of phonics, unusual spellings, guess work, vagueness and
ineptness of the language, misunderstanding of words and phrases, and confusing latter
sounds or combinations for non-native speakers.

To make the best possible impression with one’s english language pronunciation skills, it is
extremely important that one masters some of the trickier sounds of english that cause
non-natives to struggle.

MCQ:

1. What potential consequences can mispronunciation of English sounds lead to for non-
native speakers?
Improved communication
Increased understanding by listeners
Laughter, anger,, and offence by listeners
Native-like fluency

2. Which of the following is often mispronounced by non-native speakers and

represented by the IPA symbols /0/ and /o’/?
Fricatives
Vowels
Nasal consonants
Glides

3. The schwa sound, represented by /e/, is commonly mispronounced by non-native

English speakers. What is unique about this sound?
It is always accented.
It is a nasal sound.
It is an accented, central vowel.
It is a voiced fricative.

4. Which pair of English sounds is frequently confused by non-native speakers, with one
sound involving the lip rounding and the other involving the upper teeth touching the
lower lip?
/s/ and /f/
/v/ and /w/
/0/ and /o’/
/f/ and /p/

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 5. Silent letters in English words can pose pronunciation challenges. Which word
contains a silent letter “b” in standard pronunciation?
Comb
Muscle
Yacht
Wednesday
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F. Silent Letters and Non-silent Letters

Whether you are learning English for the first time or are a native speaker, English can be a very
complicated language. Given the hundreds of spelling and grammar rules, English doesn't
always look the way it sounds. A perfect example of this is the use of silent letters within words.
In this lesson, we'll discuss the silent letter rules and review several examples.
Pronunciation is the way in which a word or a language is spoken. This may refer to generally
agreed-upon sequences of sounds used in speaking a given word or language.

 Syllables are counted as units of sound (phones) used in language.

 The branch of linguistics which studies these units of sound is phonetics.
 In English pronunciation, a silent letter—a term used informally—is a letter or letter
combination of the alphabet that is usually not pronounced in a word. Examples include
the b in subtle, the c in scissors, the g in design, the t in listen, and the gh in thought.

Many words contain silent letters. In fact, "roughly 60 percent of words in English have a silent
letter in them," (Dubosarsky 2008). Keep reading to learn the types of silent letters as well as
how they affect pronunciation and English language learning.

Silent Letters
Silent letters are letters found in words that are not pronounced and cannot be matched to any
specific sound made by a word. Silent letters can be broken up into two major groups: auxiliary
and dummy.

Auxiliary Silent Letters

Auxiliary silent letters work with other letters to form one specific sound. They include
exocentric and endocentric combinations. Exocentric combinations make a sound that doesn't
sound like either of the letters in the silent letter pair. A good example of this is 'ph' when it

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makes the 'f' sound. These types of silent letters aren't always considered true silent letters, but
it's important to be familiar with these members of the silent letter family.
On the other hand, endocentric combinations produce the sound of one of the letters in a pair.
A double consonant such as 'ff' in the word 'huffed' is a good example. Only one 'f' is
pronounced.

Dummy Silent Letters

Dummy silent letters are simply letters that are not pronounced. Dummy letters, like many
silent letters, are found in words for a few reasons. First, inert letters may be pronounced when
the base word changes to a longer word. For example, in the word 'sign', the 'g' is not
pronounced, but in the word 'signature', the 'g' makes a sound. If the letters in words do not
change to make a sound, then they are known as empty letters.
Secondly, silent letters exist in words as a result of the English language changing over time. The
silent 'k' in the words 'knife' and 'knight' were at one point pronounced. Over time, prior to the
seventeenth century, English speakers stopped pronouncing the 'k' in favor of the 'n' sound, yet
the spelling of these words didn't change.

Rules & Examples

The best way to look at the rules for silent letters is to discuss them directly with the examples.
Let's get started.
Silent B
The letter 'b' can act as a silent letter when it comes before 't' or if it comes after 'm'. Words
such as 'comb', 'tomb', 'bomb', 'debt', and 'doubt' are good examples of the 'b' acting as a silent
letter. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule; the word 'obtain' doesn't abide by
the rules.
Silent C
The letter 'c' is silent when it follows the letter 's' and comes before 'i', 'e', or 'y'. Some words
include 'science' and 'scepter'. The combination 'ck' produces the 'k' sound only, as in 'snack'
and 'hack'.
Silent E
The silent 'e' serves an important purpose in English. When a silent 'e' is at the end of a word,
the vowel before it makes a long vowel sound, as in the words 'cake', 'hike', and 'bike'.
Silent GH
The 'gh' letter pair is completely silent when appearing in the middle and at the end of a word.
In fact, if the 'gh' pair is preceded by an 'i', the 'i' makes a long vowel sound as in the words
'light', 'fight', 'night', and 'sight'. Other examples of the silent 'gh' are 'bought', 'fought', 'caught',
'taught', and 'ought'.

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 Types of Silent Letters

The two groups categorized are as follows:

Auxiliary Letters
"Auxiliary letters are part of a group of letters that spell a sound that does not have a usual
single letter to represent it. For example,

 /th/ thing
 /th/ there
 /sh/ share
 /zh/ treasure
 /ng/ song."

Dummy Letters

"Dummy letters have two subgroups: inert letters and empty letters.

Inert letters are letters that in a given word segment are sometimes heard and sometimes not
heard. For example,

 resign (g is not heard)

 resignation (g is heard)
 malign (g is not heard)
 malignant (g is heard)."

Empty letters

"Empty letters do not have a function like auxiliary letters or inert letters. For example, the
letter u in the word gauge is empty. Here are some examples of silent consonants:

 b: dumb, thumb
 c: indict
 ch: yacht
 d: bridge, ledge, edge
 g: foreign, sign, design, assign
 h: rhinoceros, spaghetti
 k: knee, knit, knob, know, knuckle
 l: calf, talk, could, should, would
 m: mnemonic
 n: autumn, column
 p: raspberry, receipt
 t: castle, listen, whistle
 w: answer, wrap, wreath, wreck, wring, wrong, write," (Carney 1994).

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Empty letters are more difficult to predict in new words than other silent letters. "There are no
rules that we can apply to words with empty letters[;] you just have to use them and remember
their spelling," (Strausser and Paniza 2007).

Silent Consonants

Silent consonants make pronunciation much more difficult, especially for English language
learners. A few spelling sequences containing silent letters are discussed below:

 b is always silent in the spelling sequences mb and bt occurring in the word-final

position: comb, numb, bomb, limb, debt...
 d is always silent in the spelling sequence dj: adjective, adjunct, adjacent...
 g is silent in the spelling sequence gm or gn: phlegm, gnarl, champagne, sign, gnat,
gnaw...
 h is silent in the spelling sequence gh and in the word-final position: ghost, ghetto,
aghast, ghastly, ah, eh, oh...
 k is always silent in the word-initial spelling sequence kn: kneel, knee, knob, knight,
knave, knowledge, knife, knock,"

 The word knight, for example, used to be pronounced in English with the k and the gh
sounded out (ke-nee-g-hht), as were many of the silent e's and l's.

And the silent w in words like wreck or write was originally there to show a funny sort of Old
English r sound that was different from the the ordinary r. But over time the way people spoke
English changed, even though the spelling didn't. And don't forget The Great Vowel Shift ..., "
(Dubosarsky 2008).

How do you really pronounce the word “often”? Is it with a T or without T? We follow a rule
when pronouncing Ts. As you know, language evolves and changes over time.
Silent Ts: -sten, -ften, and –stle

If you see these letter combinations: -sten, -ften, and -stle, the T is silent. This is not always the
rule, but usually, this is the format we follow.
Examples:
listen = lis(ə)n castle = kasəl
moisten = mois(ə)n soften = sôfən
fasten = fas(ə)n hasten = hās(ə)n
glisten = ɡlis(ə)n apostle = əˈpäsəl

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thistle = THisəl whistle = (h)wisəl
wrestle = resəl
In addition to these, T is also silent in words: Christmas and mortgage.

Now the word “often” is the exemption because it is pronounced both ways, with T or with a
silent T. So you either say:

 often: ôf(t)ən OR
 often: ôf (ə)n
This is so because of the history of the word. In the 1700s, “often” was pronounced with a T,
and after that, they stopped pronouncing it with a T. They pronounced it “ôf (ə)n.” Then, later
on, people started to pronounce it with T again, “ôf(t)ən.” So nowadays, it is acceptable to say
“often” with a T, or without a T. It really depends on a person’s accent or what country they are
from. But either way, it is acceptable. If you don’t like the T sound in “often”, go for the silent T.
It is really your choice, and most of the time, it depends on where the person comes from.

Non-Silent Ts: -tly, -stl or -ftl

If you see the letter combinations –tly, -stl or -ftl, these are signs that you should pronounce the
T sound.

Examples:
Mostly lastly justly
Softly swiftly tightly
Jointly shortly

Conclusion:
If you notice, language is always changing and evolving. Language doesn’t stay the same
because we adopt words and sounds from other languages. To help you learn them, try to
remember the general rules and be aware of the few exemptions.

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MCQ:
1. What is the correct pronunciation of the word ‘library”?
a. /lai’breri/
b. /la’breri/
c. / ‘laibreri/
d. / ‘libreri/

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2. How is thw word “debris” correctly pronounced?
a. /deibris/
b. /dibrai/
c. /de‘ibri:/
d. /dei ‘bri:/
3. Which of the following word is often mispronounced as /experience/ instead of
/ik’spieriens/?
a. Government
b. Achievement
c. Experience
d. Restaurant

4. What is the correct pronunciation of the word “genre”?

a. / ‘dzenre/
b. / ‘dzaner/
c. / dzenre/
d. / ‘dza:nr/

5. Which word is often mispronounced as /eksstempor/ instead of /ik’stemperi/?

a. Extensive
b. Extempore
c. Extravagant
d. Extremely
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