VYTAUTAS MAGNUS UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH PHILOLOGY Audronė Raškauskienė Jurgita Vaičenonienė PHONETICS: DRILLS AND EXERCISES A Resource Book for Students Kaunas, 2013 2 UDK 811.111‘342(075.8) Ra233 This resource book was approved for publication at the meeting of the Department of English Philology, Faculty of Humanities on 9 October 2012 (Protocol No. 5) and the meeting of the Committee of the Faculty of Humanities, Vytautas Magnus University on 3 December 2012 (Protocol No. 6‐4). Reviewed by Prof. Dr. Ingrida Eglė Žindžiuvienė ISBN 978‐9955‐12‐871‐7 (internetinis) ISBN 978‐9955‐12‐872‐4 (spausdintas) © Audronė Raškauskienė, 2013 © Jurgita Vaičenonienė, 2013 © Vytautas Magnus University, 2013 3 This resource book is dedicated to the memory of Vitalija Liutvinskienė (1956­2011) who for twenty years was a devoted teacher at the Department of English Philology, Vytautas Magnus University, and who taught English Phonetics among other subjects. 4 FOREWORD The importance of intercultural communication is growing in a globalized and ever‐changing world. In this context, the role of English as an international language cannot be denied. The knowledge of English Phonetics, i.e. how particular sounds are produced, their properties, how we perceive speech and what happens to speech sounds when we speak fast, helps us to speak clearly and understand others correctly, which is of utmost importance, especially in intercultural contexts. The present resource book is designed as a supplement to Peter Roach’s (2010) textbook English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course and may be used to accompany lecture courses on English Phonetics at university level. It is equally suitable for self‐study and for in‐class situation with a teacher. Phonetics: Drills and Exercises gives students practice in pronunciation and transcription of English sounds, enhances their understanding of phonological structures and rules, and improves speaking and listening skills. The resource book consists of 13 units and 7 appendices. Each unit contains the information about the texts to be read on the unit’s topic, a list of key terms, a variety of pronunciation and transcription exercises, online resources for further practice, and study questions which help to revise the material practiced in the unit. Units 1‐4, 11‐13 and appendices E, F, and G were prepared by Assoc. Prof. Audronė Raškauskienė, whereas units 5‐10 and appendices A, B, C, and D were prepared by Dr. Jurgita Vaičenonienė. The authors extend their gratitude to Lina Kišonytė who contributed the resource book by painting the mid‐sagittal sections of the human head in Unit 3, Darius Tumšys for pictures in Units 5‐7, and Edmundas Unguraitis for the pictorial story in Appendix A. 5 CONTENTS Foreword 4 1 Symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) 6 2 Accents and Dialects of English 12 3 Production of Speech Sounds 16 4 Vowels, Diphthongs, and Triphthongs 20 5 Plosive Consonants of English (p, t, k, b, d, g) 28 6 Fricative (f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h) and Affricate (tʃ, dʒ) Consonants of English 34 7 Nasal (m, n, ŋ) and Approximant (l, r, w, j) Consonants of English 40 8 The Syllable 47 9 Strong and Weak Syllables 52 10 Stress Placement in Simple Words 57 11 Stress Placement in Complex Words 63 12 Weak Forms 68 13 Aspects of Connected Speech 74 References 82 Appendix A Diagnostic Test 87 Appendix B Vowels, Diphthongs and Silent Letters 89 Appendix C Group Discussion of the Film “My Fair Lady” 92 Appendix D Topics for Individual Presentations 93 Appendix E Sentence Stress and Weak Forms 94 Appendix F E­Lectures and Suggestions for In­Class Activities by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Handke, “The Virtual Linguistics Campus” 97 Appendix G Links to Additional Transcription Exercises 99 6 SYMBOLS OF THE INTERNATIONAL 1 PHONETIC ALPHABET (IPA) Readings Roach, P. 2010. English Phonetics and Phonology. A Practical Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1‐3; 31‐37. Key terms Consonants Diacritics Diphthongs IPA Phoneme Transcription Vowels Practice 1. Review the English Alphabet (adapted from http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/english‐ phonetics.html). A a [eɪ] N n [en] B b [bi:] O o [əʊ] C c [si:] P p [pi:] D d [di:] Q q [kju:] E e [i:] R r [a:] F f [ef] S s [es] G g [dʒi:] T t [ti:] H h [eɪtʃ] U u [ju:] I i [aɪ] V v [vi:] J j [dʒɪ] W w [dʌblju:] K k [keɪ] X x [eks] L l [el] Y y [waɪ] M m [em] Z z [zed] in Am E [zi:] Note: In English, there is no one‐to‐one relation between the system of writing and the system of pronunciation. The English alphabet has 26 letters but in (Standard British) English there are approximately 44 speech sounds. A set of phonetic symbols called the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used to represent the basic sounds of spoken languages. 7 2. Pronounce the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet correctly. Practice writing the IPA symbols in the spaces provided. Add at least three more examples of words containing each of the symbols (adapted from http://www.studyenglishtoday.net/english‐phonetics.html; http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/consonants.html). Symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) i. Short vowels Student’s IPA Examples Student’s examples transcription ʌ [ ] cup, luck, love, fun æ [ ] cat, black, mat, hat e [ ] met, bed, pen, best ə [ ] away, cinema, under ɪ [ ] hit, sitting, hymn, in ɒ [ ] hot, rock, dog, wash ʊ [ ] put, could, good, foot i [ ] happy, lucky, stadium ii. Long vowels Student’s IPA Examples Student’s examples transcription ɑ: [ ] arm, father, car, start ɜ: [ ] turn, learn, girl, fur i: [ ] see, heat, key, sea ɔ: [ ] call, four, north, bought u: [ ] blue, food, new, cool Note: The colon /:/ represents longer duration in pronunciation and is found in the transcription of long vowels. iii. Diphthongs Student’s IPA Examples Student’s examples transcription aɪ [ ] five, eye, kite, buy eɪ [ ] say, eight, cake, made ɔɪ [ ] boy, join, noise, toy a [ ] now, out, cow, loud əʊ [ ] go, home, no, low eə [ ] where, air, share, wear ɪə [ ] near, here, ear, sheer pure, tourist, cure, [ ] ʊə newer 8 iv. Consonants: Student’s IPA Examples Student’s examples transcription b [ ] bad, lab, job, back d [ ] did, lady, dog, bad f [ ] find, if, off, fat g [ ] give, flag, go, bag h [ ] how, hello, whole, head j [ ] yes, yellow, year, yawn k [ ] cat, back, pick, scan l [ ] leg, little, like, feel m [ ] man, lemon, miss, climb n [ ] no, ten, need, know ŋ [ ] sing, finger, long, king p [ ] pet, map, top, spin r [ ] red, try, right, wrong s [ ] sun, miss, see, police ʃ [ ] she, crash, ship, station t [ ] tea, getting, time, bit t ʃ [ ] check, church, pitch, chair θ [ ] think, both, bath, thumb ð [ ] this, mother, with, that v [ ] voice, five, view, save w [ ] wet, window, queen, win z [ ] zoo, lazy, zero, please ʒ [ ] pleasure, vision, measure, d ʒ [ ] just, large, jam, age v. Note the names of the following speech sounds (phonemes): [ʊ] ‘upsilon’ [æ] ‘ash’ [ɒ] open ‘o’ [ʌ] ‘caret’ [ə] ‘schwa’ [ŋ] ‘eng’ [ð] ‘eth’ [θ] ‘theta’ [j] ‘yod’ [ʃ] ‘esh’ [ʒ] ‘yogh’ 3. Listen and repeat the sounds of English on the following BBC Learning English website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/chart.shtml. 9 4. Listen and repeat the pronunciation of consonants on http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels/chapter6/soundsvowels.html. Provide your examples with each consonant: Consonant Example Student’s example b buy d die g guy p pie t tie k kite w why l lie r rye m my n nigh ŋ rang f fie θ thigh s sigh ʃ shy h high v vie ð thy z Zion ʒ vision chime ʃ d ʒ jive 5. Write down the phonemes that occur in English but do not occur in your language: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Write down the phonemes that occur in your native language but not in English: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 10 7. Revision of terms. Complete the crossword puzzle below: Across: Down: 1. Name for the symbol [ʒ] 1. Name for the symbol [j] 3. Name for the symbol [ʌ] 2. Name for the symbol [ʃ] 5. Name for the symbol [ʊ] 4. International Phonetic Alphabet 7. Author of the textbook English Phonetics 6. Punctuation mark which is found in the and Phonology transcription of long vowels 9. Name for the symbol [æ] 8. Name for the symbol [ə] 11. Name for the symbol [ð] 10. Name for the symbol [θ] 6 8 7 10 5 4 9 3 2 11 1 Online resources 1. Definitions of the key terms. http://www.cambridge.org/servlet/file/EPP_PED_Glossary.pdf?ITEM_ENT_ID=2491706&ITEM_ VERSION=1&COLLSPEC_ENT_ID=7 2. Extra exercises for use with English Phonetics and Phonology. http://www.cambridge.org/us/esl/catalog/subject/project/custom/resourceview/item2491714/ ?site_locale=en_US&currentResourceID=2491738&currentProjectID=5629545 11 3. Why are phonetics important? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJG0uErf8WY 4. The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet. http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc‐soundsipa.htm 5. The sounds of English. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/ 6. Interactive phonetic chart for English pronunciation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HeujZ45OZE&feature=related 7. Pronunciation tips. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/vowel_short_1s.html 8. Transcription tips. http://davidbrett.uniss.it/phonology/transcription%20exercises/tips%20for%20transcription.html 9. Ladefoged, P. English Vowels. In A Course in Phonetics 5 th. Ed. Thomson/ Wadsworth Publishers. http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter4/4vowels.html 10. Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.