English

Phonology
Prepared and presented by
Mr. Omar Shehadeh
 Contents
01 Why Should We Learn Pronunciation?
02 Sound System
03 Consonants and Place of Articulation
04 Vowels
1 Why Should We Learn Pronunciation?

3
 Why Should We Learn Pronunciation?
 Pronunciation is the first thing that people notice about you, when you
start to speak.
 Pronunciation is not about removing your accent. It is about making
your English sounds clear.
 If you don’t have good pronunciation, you have bad pronunciation.
 Without clear pronunciation, messages can get lost or confused.
Examples: “You can bark here” instead of “You can park here”.
“I can’t sink when you’re talking loudly” instead of
“I can’t think when you’re talking loudly”.
 Why Should We Learn Pronunciation?
 Your confidence will grow.

 You may have excellent grammar and advanced vocabulary but if you
have a bad pronunciation, then your communication skills are very poor.
1

2 Sound System

3
 Sound System

Language

Consonants Vowels
Sounds that are made by complete Sounds made without any obstruction
or partial obstruction of the air flow. of the air flow.
UK: 24 US: 24 UK: 20 US: 21
1

3 Consonants and Place of Articulation

6 Velar (3) k g ŋ
7 Glottal (1) h ----
 Sound Example Transcription Sound Example Transcription
1 /p/ play /pleɪ/ P 13 /tʃ/ check /ʧɛk/
C
2 /b/ boy /bɔɪ/ a 14 /dʒ/ jam /ʤæm/
o
i
n 3 /f/ fly /flaɪ/ 15 /k/ cat /kæt/
r
s
4 /v/ visit /vɪzɪt/ s 16 /g/ get /gɛt/
o
n 5 /θ/ three /θri/ 17 /m/ my /maɪ/
a 6 /ð/ that /ðæt/ 18 /w/ wet /wɛt/
n S
t 7 /s/ son /sʌn/ 19 /n/ net /nɛt/
i
8 /z/ zoo /zu/ n 20 /l/ lip /lɪp/
P 9 g
/t/ tea /ti/ 21 /y/ yet /yɛt/
a l
i 10 /d/ day /deɪ/ 22 /r/ red /rɛd/
e
r 11 /ʃ/ she /ʃi/ 23 /ŋ/ king /kɪŋ/
s
12 /ʒ/ vision /vɪʒən/ 24 /h/ home /hoʊm/
4 Vowels

6
 Vowels
UK: 20 US: 21

Simple Compound
Sounds that consist of one vowel Sounds that consist of two vowel
sound only. sounds after each other.
UK: 12 US: 10 + 6 r-contolled vowels UK: 8 US: 5

Short Long
UK: 7 UK: 5
US: 7 US: 3
 British Simple Vowels American Simple Vowels
Sound Example Transcription Sound Example Transcription
1 /ɪ/ hit /hɪt/ 1 /ɪ/ hit /hɪt/
2 /ʊ/ foot /fʊt/ 2 /ʊ/ foot /fʊt/
S S
h 3 /e/ bed /bed/ h 3 /ɛ/ bed /bɛd/
o 4 /ɒ/ hot /hɒt/ o 4 /ɑ/ hot /hɑt/
r 5 /ʌ/ cut /kʌt/ r 5 /ʌ/ cut /kʌt/
t t
6 /æ/ cat /kæt/ 6 /æ/ cat /kæt/
7 /ə/ about /əˈbaʊt/ 7 /ə/ about /əˈbaʊt/
8 /i:/ heat /hi:t/ L 8 /i/ heat /hit/
L 9 /u:/ food /fu:d/ o 9 /u/ food /fud/
o n
10 /ɔ:/ small /smɔ:l/ g 10 /ɔ/ small /smɔl/
n
g 11 /ɜ:/ bird /bɜːd/
12 /ɑ:/ car /ka:/
 Spellings of Simple Vowels
Common Uncommon
Sound Examples Examples
spellings spellings
i six, tip, pin, list, fill, trim, river, slim e English, enough
y symbol, lady, crystal, system, gym u busy, business
/ɪ/
ey hockey, journey, honey, money, valley ui build, circuit
a village, orange
oo look, book, took, good, wood, foot o woman, wolf
/ʊ/
u put, bull, full, sugar, push, pull ou could, should
u bus, cup, but, number, husband ou double, couple
/ʌ/
o son, month, love, brother, come oo blood, flood
/æ/ a black, man, cat, stand, that, have
 Spellings of Simple Vowels
Common Uncommon
Sound Examples Examples
spellings spellings
ee three, meet, agree, feel, see, bleed ei receive, deceive
ea sea, tea, read, team, clean, wheat eo people
/i/ e me, be, she, these, scene, we, fever ey key
ie piece, field, believe, achieve, grieve
i+C+e police, machine, magazine, routine
u+C+e rude, rule, June, blue, excuse, crucial ui juice, fruit
oo food, mood, too, moon, tool, pool
/u/ ew few, new, blew, chew, crew, jewel
o do, who, lose, move, prove, two
ou soup, group, route, through, you
 Spellings of Simple Vowels
Common Uncommon
Sound Examples Examples
spellings spellings
This vowel is called ‘schwa’ and it only occurs in
unstressed syllables and can be represented by any
/ə/
vowel letter. For example, famous, correct, seven,
about
al talk, walk, always, salt, wall, ball
/ɔ/
aw saw, draw, awful, hawk, dawn
e ten, seven, help, wet, every, set a any, many
/ɛ/
ea bread, dead, head, spread, death ai said, again
o hot, stop, not, hospital, doctor ought bought, thought
/ɑ/ wa want, wash, what, swan, swallow aught daughter, taught
au sauce, author, audience, cause, audio
 British Compound Vowels American Compound Vowels
Sound Example Transcription Sound Example Transcription
1 /eɪ/ play /pleɪ/ 1 /eɪ/ play /pleɪ/
2 /ɔɪ/ boy /bɔɪ/ 2 /ɔɪ/ boy /bɔɪ/
3 /aɪ/ fly /flaɪ/ 3 /aɪ/ fly /flaɪ/
4 /əʊ/ go /gəʊ/ 4 /oʊ/ go /goʊ/
5 /aʊ/ how /haʊ/ 5 /aʊ/ how /haʊ/
6 /ɪə/ fear /fɪə/ R-controlled Vowels
7 /ʊə/ poor /pʊə/ 1 /ɪr/ fear /fir/
8 /eə/ bear /beə/ 2 /ʊr/ poor /pʊr/
3 /ɛr/ bear /bɛr/
4 /ɑr/ car /kɑr/
5 /ər/ bird /bərd/
The American 21st extra vowel 6 /ɔr/ board /bɔrd/
 Spellings of Compound Vowels
Common Uncommon
Sound Examples Examples
spellings spellings
a+C+e plane, made, age, save, place, name eigh eight, weight
/eɪ/ ai explain, jail, rain, paint, faint, fail ey they, grey
ay day, stay, play, pay, may, pray ea break, steak, great
oi coin, noise, toilet, choice, point
/ɔɪ/
oy boy, toy, enjoy, royal, annoy, loyal
i+C+e nine, twice, mine, fine, life, line, five uy buy, guy
igh high, night, fight, light, tight, sight i I, find, climb, hi
/aɪ/
y my, why, fly, by, try, sky, cry ye dye, bye
ie die, lie, pie, tie
 Spellings of Compound Vowels
Common Uncommon
Sound Examples Examples
spellings spellings
o home, go, close, old, don’t, photo oe toe, woe
/oʊ/ ow slow, low, flow, grow, own, show
oa road, toast, boat, load, coat, soap
ou out, loud, proud, sound, ground, our
/aʊ/
ow now, town, crowd, down, owl, how
 Spellings of R-controlled Vowels
Common Uncommon
Sound Examples Examples
spellings spellings
eer cheer, engineer, deer, steer, career
/ɪr/ ere here, sphere, sincere, interfere
ear ear, year, hear, gear, fear, near
air hair, pair, airport, stairs, fair, air eir their, heir
/ɛr/ are square, care, fare, scare, bare, rare ere there, where
ear bear, wear
/ɑr/ ar are, part, art, far, start, mark
/ʊr/ ur sure, blur, euro, tour, cure, plural
 Spellings of R-controlled Vowels
Common Uncommon
Sound Examples Examples
spellings spellings
ear learn, heard, search, earn, earth or world, work, word
er herb, serve, verse, person, concern
/ər/
ir girl, bird, third, circle, dirty, thirsty
ur fur, burn, curse, occur, turkey, nurse
or sport, door, short, born, cord, glory oar board, roar
/ɔr/ our course, court, four, source, your oor door, floor
war war, warm, warn, award, reward
Exercise: Transcribe the following words
/sɛt/ /ˈsʌmər/
/kʌp/ /ʃʊr/
/bæd/ /tɔl/
/ril/ /kɛr/
/lʊk/ /bɔrn/
/lɑt/ /dɪr/
/bɪt/ /fɑr/
/bəˈnænə/ /ʃoʊ/
/tul/ /steɪ/
/saʊθ/ /nɔɪz/
/faɪn/
 Answers
/sɛt/ sed /ˈsʌmər/ summer
/kʌp/ cup /ʃʊr/ sure
/bæd/ bad /tɔl/ tall
/ril/ real /kɛr/ care
/lʊk/ look /bɔrn/ born
/lɑt/ lot /dɪr/ dear
/bɪt/ bit /fɑr/ far
/bəˈnænə/ banana /ʃoʊ/ show
/tul/ tool /steɪ/ stay
/saʊθ/ south /nɔɪz/ noise
/faɪn/ fine
Exercise: Transcribe the following words
tour stairs
shut bike
smart pool
got man
fit spend
sport all
toy winner
put problem
feet clear
phone owl
train
 Answers
poor /pur/ stairs /stɛrz/
shut /ʃʌt/ bike /baɪk/
smart /smɑrt/ pool /pul/
got /gɑt/ man /mæn/
fit /fɪt/ spend /spɛnd/
sport /spɔrt/ all /ɔl/
toy /tɔɪ/ winner /ˈwɪnər/
put /pʊt/ problem /ˈprɑbləm/
feet /fit/ clear /klɪr/
phone /foʊn/ owl /aʊl/
train /treɪn/