MODULE 1: PRONUNCIATION

 

It refers to the way in which a word or a language is spoken.

English is a global language and therefore their pronunciations vary with cultures, regions and speakers. There are certain styles and methods of English language that every speaker of English should follow for correct pronunciation.

A brief understanding of phonetics makes it easier.  Phonetics is the  study of speech sounds and their production(the act of creation), transmission(transfer), reception(the manner of receiving),   analysis, classification and so on.  Phonetics is a fundamental branch of linguistics. It deals with the study of speech sounds.

In English there is no one to one correspondence (relation) between the letters (system of writing) and sounds or the system of  pronunciation. That is why English language can  be considered as the most unphonetic language. The 26 letters of the English produce 44 different sounds.                   

To represent the basic sound system in languages linguists use a set of phonetic symbols. Each symbol has a distinct sound. These 44 sounds can be classified as vowels and consonants.
Vowels are again categorized as pure vowels or monophthongs and vowel glides or diphthongs.

 

 

 

Vowels are 20 in number out of which 12 are pure vowels and 8 are diphthongs.

There are 24 Consonant sounds.

 

Vowels are made by opening the mouth and letting air come out freely. The following are 12 Pure vowel sounds (Monophthongs) in English.  The letters in bold show the corresponding sound in words.

Monophthongs

 

 more examples:

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are a combination of two pure vowels.

Also called vowel glides, as it begins with a vowel sounds and glides(move smoothly) with another vowel sound. The letters in bold below show the sound in words.

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise:

 

Categorize the following words according to the monophthongs and diphthongs in them.

 

 

Right, spoon, spare, spy, sight, fuel, fly, close, hike, tail, rare, moon, power, cable, wear, raise, size, simple, couple, toil, joke, harm, horse, chart, thing, chin, steal, poor, steak, summer, badge, near, bear, pier, cook, sound, boy, poor, during, might, may, loan, burn, shot, pass, mat, couple, horrible, train, peer, so, action, wear, go, try, day, clear, shy, role, foe, lady, push, food, cart, passage.