Sounds in English and their pronunciation. Transcription and reading rules in English

Study of any foreign language begins with learning its alphabet. After this, it turns out that these letters sound and are used in words differently. So in the English language there are 26 letters, but as many as 48 sounds that are indicated by these letters. The rules for pronunciation of sounds, letters and, accordingly, words are studied by phonetics in English.

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of speech and the sound structure of language (syllables, sound combinations, patterns of combining sounds into a speech chain).

Theoretical phonetics of the English language explores the close connection between oral, internal and in writing. But phonetics as a whole studies not only the linguistic function, but also the material side of its object: the work of the pronunciation apparatus, as well as the acoustic characteristics of sound phenomena and their perception by native speakers. This is practical phonetics of the English language. It is no coincidence that we mention the theoretical and practical components. The fact is that sounds, as intangible phenomena, are those elements of the language system that allow words and sentences to be embodied in material sound form. Otherwise, oral communication would be impossible. This is the importance of English phonetics and why we have dedicated a separate article to it.

English Phonetics for Beginners

In one of the recent ones, we talked about how English sounds and the syllables in which they are used are pronounced, and presented them in tables with pronunciation - transcription. Then they found out that transcription is a very convenient tool for understanding how the English language sounds.

Transcription is special symbols that indicate how speech sounds should be pronounced. Transcription helps you understand the difference between spelling and pronunciation in English.

As we have already said, there are 48 sounds in the English language. This means that 48 characters were created English transcription- one character for each sound:

Vowels. 6 letters: a, e, i, o, u, y

Consonants. 21 letters: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z

Each letter sounds a certain way, but sometimes two letters at once indicate one sound, as can be seen in the tables. This combination of letters is called a digraph. Examples of digraphs:

• gh [g] – ghost
• ph [f] – photo [‘foutou]
• sh [ʃ] – shine [ʃaɪn]
• th [ð], [θ] – think [θɪŋk]
• сh – chess.

A vowel sound that smoothly passes from one to another is a diphthong. Examples of diphthongs:

• ea – bread
• ie – friend
• ai – again [əˈɡen]
• au – autumn [ˈɔːtəm].

It is important to consider that the number of letters and sounds in a word may vary. For example, the word “help” has 4 letters and 4 sounds, and the word “six” has three letters but 4 sounds.

Practical phonetics of the English language

In we mentioned the inextricable connection between English phonetics and anatomy. Phonetics exercises are designed specifically to turn theoretical knowledge into skills for correct English pronunciation of words and sentences. In addition, practical phonetics of the English language helps to hear and understand the speech of its native speakers.

In practice, we all feel how, when pronouncing sounds, the air encounters barriers formed by our tongue, lips, teeth and even alveoli. Depending on this, two types of consonant sounds are distinguished: voiceless and voiced:

But these are not all the options. A more detailed classification distinguishes consonant sounds in English according to the specific obstacles that the air encounters:

• Stop consonants. The organs of speech close so that they completely block the passage for air: [p, b, t, d, k, g].
• Nasal consonants. Air passes out through the nasal cavity: [n, m, ŋ].
• Friction consonants. The organs of speech do not close completely and a narrow passage remains - a gap for air: [θ, ð, ʃ, ʒ, s, z, h, f, v, w, r, j, l].
• Stop-frictional consonants. The barrier opens slowly and at the same time turns into a gap: [tʃ, dʒ].
• Labial consonants. The lower lip comes closer to the upper: [f, v].
• Interdental consonants. The tip of the tongue is located between the lower and upper front teeth: [θ, ð].
• Alveolar consonants. The tip of the tongue touches or rises to the alveoli: [t, d, l, s, z].

As for vowel sounds, they are also not the same. They are influenced different positions tongue relative to the palate:

• Front vowels. The tip of the tongue rests on the base of the lower teeth, and the back of the tongue comes quite close to the palate: [i:].
• Back vowels. The tongue is pulled back and the tip of the tongue is lowered, and the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate: [a:].

At first glance, this classification may seem difficult, but believe me, in practice you will feel and immediately understand what’s what. And understanding the origin of the sound will help you pronounce it correctly. Well, for children it is advisable to combine the study of English phonetics with games. For example, like in this phonics exercise:

English Phonetics Exercises

To practice English pronunciation, you must also take into account emphasis- that is, highlighting one or more syllables in a word. A stressed syllable is pronounced more energetically, with greater tension in the speech organs. Stress helps you distinguish words and understand their meaning, both on their own and in context. For example:

• to ex`port(verb “export”)
• `export(noun “export”).

The second important aspect of pronunciation of phrases and sentences is intonation. Through intonation we understand or “explain” whether a sentence is a narrative, a question, a request, or an exclamation.

The simplest exercise on English phonetics is performed in class Beginner level(Elementary):

1. Write your name in English.
2. Now spell out your name.
3. Do the same with three to five more names (you can think of friends, family members and/or classmates).

You can practice English phonetics in this way:

1. Spell the words: Yes, Last, Key, Yellow, Funny, Girl, Toy, Now, Sleep, Drama, Kiss, King.
2. Say the words according to the transcription: Yes, Last, Key, Yellow, Funny, Girl, Toy, Now, Sleep, Drama ["dra:mə], Kiss, King

But we advise you not to forget about additional resources for learning English, such as channels and blogs. With them, mastering English phonetics will be simpler, more fun and effective.

Why is it so difficult for us to understand English speech, even if we know all the words? Because if you look closely, almost all sounds in English are different from Russian. Yes, they are similar - but just don't look at them in more detail yet. They are pronounced differently, they sound differently and they merge into words differently too.

Sounds in English

It may seem that the phonetics of the English language has many points of contact and that these sounds are interchangeable, however, when perceiving speech by ear, we cannot isolate individual words and distinguish those that are similar in pronunciation, but different in meaning. In fact, the phonetics of the English language has only three vowel sounds - [e]-(е), [ɔ]-(о), [u]-(у) and five consonants - [k]-(к), [g]- (g), [m]-(m), [p]-(p), [b]-(b), which can be called similar to Russian. You can add five more diphthongs to them: -(ey), -(ay), -(ау), [ɔi]-(ой), -(оу) (among which the combination does not occur in the Russian language proper). However, there are still differences - >th< в дифтонгах не произносится до конца, согласные более оторваны от гласных, которые, в свою очередь, по звуку более полые и переходящие. Всего теоретическая фонетика английского языка насчитывает 12 гласных звуков, 8 дифтонгов и 24 согласных.

Pronunciation of vowels

Single vowel sounds:

[i:] - extended >i< - /meal/;

[i] - short and hollow >i< - /if/;

[e] - similar to the sound >e< - /then/;

[ æ ] - >е<, стремящееся к >A<, но не переходящее в него, более полое, чем >uh< - /mad/;

[a:] - extended >a<, смещенное в заднюю часть ротовой полости - /start/;

[ɔ] - short, rather hollow >o< - /box/;

[ɔ:] - extended >o< - /all/;

[u] - short >у<, произносящееся со слегка округленными губами - /took/;

[u:] - extended >у<, при котором губы не выдаются слишком вперед - /soon/;

[ʌ] - short, reminiscent of tending to >a< звук >O< - /done/;

[ə] - a barely distinguishable, unaccented sound, close to [ʌ], always unstressed - /taker/;

[ə:] - extended sound, reminiscent of tending to >o< гласный >e< - /pearl/;

Just like in Russian, the phonetics of the English language contains two-part vowel sounds (diphthongs):

[ei] - combination >hey<, с неполновыраженным >th< - /sake/;

[ ou ] - merged sounds >оу<, где >O< более продолжительная, а >at< нечеткая - /show/;

[ai] - compound sound >ai<, в котором >th< не до конца выражено - /fine/;

[au] - passing sound >ау<, произносимый с более протяжной >A< поднимающуюся в самом конце к >at< - /found/;

[ɔi] - combination > oh<, с более очевидным >O< и малоразличимым >th< - /boy/;

[iə] - starting with a hollow >i< звук >ie<, переходящий в нечно среднее между >uh< и >A< - /here/;

[ɛə] - hollow sound >е<, переходящий ближе к концу в >A<, составляя >ea< - /where/;

[uə] - moving from slightly rounded lips >у<, превращающийся в >A<, близкое к >e, forming the sound >ea< - /poor/;

Pronunciation of consonants

In some phrases, consonants may sound differently. But in all cases, without exception, they are pronounced hard. The phonetics of the English language does not contain softened consonants.

[f] - sound >f<, который, в отличие от русского произношения, производится постановкой нижней губы за верхние зубы (по внутреннему краю), а не перед (по внешнему) - /fall/;

[d] - similar to the sound >d<, но производится не частью площади языка, а самым его концом - /drum/;

[v] - reminds >v<, но так же, как и при звуке >f<, нижняя губа уходит под верхние зубы, а не выставляется впереди - /revolve/;

[k] - similar to the sound >k< - /kettle/;

[θ] - played from the position between the sound >t< и звуком >With<, когда язык скользит с неба на зубы и попадает в щель между верхним и нижним рядами - /third/;

[g] - analogue of sound >g< - /game/;

[ ð ] - the principle of reproduction is the same as that of the sound [ θ ], i.e. the tongue, descending from the upper palate, falls between two rows of teeth, simultaneously pronouncing as if and >t< и >With<, но, в отличие от глухого [ θ ], здесь происходит подзвучивание, так что он опускается скорее не от >T< к >With<, а от >T< к >h< - /this/;

[tʃ] - sound consistent with the sound >h<, однако произносящийся не площадкой языка, а окончанием - /child/;

[s] - consonant >s<, но, если >With< воспроизводится при сложенной желобом площадке языка, находящейся у альвеол верхнего неба, то [ s ] - концом языка, находящимся у этой же точки - /step/;

[dʒ] - close combination of sounds >j<, однако произносимый с кончиком языка у верхненебных альвеол, а не путем примыкания к альвеолам языковой площадки - /joy/;

[z] - according to the method of reproduction, similar to >s<, т.е. при конце языка приставленном к выступам неба над верхними зубами, но доведенный до звонкого состояния, приближенного к >h< - /zone/;

[ m ] - analog > m< - /mild/;

[ʃ] - reminiscent>ш< звук, который осуществляется посредством примыкания кончика языка к альвеолам на верхнем небе - /shop/;

[n] - close to >n<, только >n< извлекается площадкой языка, а [ n ] - концом - /november/;

[ʒ] - a sound produced at the end of the tongue, similar to >ж< - /measure/;

[ŋ] - vaguely resembles >n< получающимся звуком и положением рта, но [ ŋ ] - более нечеткое, образующееся смыканием основания языка и верхнего неба - /morning/;

[h] - close in sound to >x<, производится выдыханием и более беспрепятственным прохождением воздуха - /hot/;

[l] - sounds almost like >l<, однако вместо площадки задействован конец языка - /laught/;

[p] - similar to >p< - /pork/;

[r] - like >r< без рокота, составляется основанием языка и верхним небом - /role/;

[b] - analogue >b< - /bird/;

[j] - sounds almost like >th<, однако более полый и твердый - /yellow/;

[t] - consonant >t<, произносится при помощи конца языка, подходящего к альвеолам на небе верхней челюсти - /tail/;

[w] - like sound >v<, стремящийся к >at<, только губы не касаются концов зубов, как при собственно >V<, т.е. губы округляются и немного вытягиваются - /wolf/.

Transcription and reading rules in English are two closely related concepts. Reading rules explain how letters and letter combinations are pronounced in different cases, and with the help of transcription we record and read speech sounds.

Reading rules can confuse a beginner. There are many of them, they are confusing, and there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. In fact, these rules are only so scary if you understand them deeply and try to learn them by heart, along with the exceptions. In reality, everything is much simpler: reading rules do not need to be remembered by heart.

While studying English, you will constantly be doing something, and soon you will learn to correlate letters and sounds without thinking, automatically. There is no need to worry about exceptions either. Usually the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of a word are remembered as one whole - you just know that such and such a word is pronounced this way.

Feature of English phonetics: we write “Manchester” - we read “Liverpool”

The phonetics of the English language has a noticeable feature: words are often read differently from how they are written, that is, from the spelling of a word it is not always possible to guess how it is pronounced. As linguists joke: “We write “Manchester”, but read “Liverpool.”

In the history of many languages, the following pattern can be traced: the phonetic structure becomes more complex, but the letters and spelling remain the same or change with great delay. English is no exception. At the dawn of its development, words were read and pronounced more or less similar, but over time this discrepancy became greater and greater, the situation was aggravated by the diversity of dialects, and now we are in words though, thought And through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.

Nobody is in a hurry to reform English spelling; there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language has long no longer had a single “control center”. Reforms initiated in London may be coolly received in Sydney and rejected in Washington. And in general, spelling reform is always a painful process that meets resistance among a significant part of native speakers. It's much easier to leave it as is.

What is transcription and why is it needed?

Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. She should not be afraid or avoided, because she is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great for saving time and helping to avoid mistakes. One glance at the transcription of an English word is enough for you to understand how it is read correctly.

When you memorize or write down a new word that comes across in the text, you definitely need to look at its transcription and/or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then they will not understand you.

Is it possible to write English words in Russian letters?

Sometimes on websites or even in books you can see “English transcription in Russian” or “pronunciation of English words in Russian letters” - that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn tricky icons if Can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from the English phonetics so much that the sound can only be conveyed very, very approximately. We simply do not have some sounds of English speech, as well as vice versa.

Transcription and pronunciation of all sounds of the English language separately (video)

With this interesting video table, you can listen to the sound of all sounds separately and see how they are recorded using transcription. Click on play and wait for the video to load completely, then click on the sound you want.

Please note that in the transcription, in addition to the symbols themselves denoting sounds, the following are used:

• Square brackets– traditionally, transcription is always written in [square brackets]. For example: [z].
• Vowel length icon– in English, vowels can be long or short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
• Accent icon– if a word with more than one syllable is transcribed, the stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.

In total, there are 44 sounds in the English language, which, like in Russian, are divided into consonants and vowels. Among them there are sounds similar to Russian, for example: [b] - [b], [n] - [n], and sounds that have no analogues in the Russian language: [ ð ], [θ ].

In English phonetics there are no such concepts as softness/hardness of consonants, but there is longitude of vowels (not characteristic of the Russian language) - vowels can be short [a] and long. It should also be noted that vowel sounds in English can be:

• single (monophthongs): [ i: ], [ e ],
• consisting of two sounds (diphtogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
• consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as solid sounds.

English sound table with examples and cards

Having studied how English sounds are pronounced individually, be sure to listen to how they are read whole words. It is often easier for students to understand and hear the pronunciation of English sounds when they are heard as part of a word, rather than separately.

In the tables below, all sounds are given with example words. Using electronic cards you can listen to the pronunciation.

Consonants in English
[ f] fox	[ d] date	[ v] vase	[ k] cat
[ θ ] think	[ g] go	[ ð ] father	[ tʃ] change
[ s] say	[ dʒ] age	[ z] zoo	[ m] mom
[ ʃ ] ship	[ n] nose	[ ʒ ] pleasure	[ ŋ ] sing
[ h]hound	[ l] lazy	[ p] pen	[ r] red
[ b] bro	[ j] yes	[ t] today	[ w] wine

Vowel sounds in English
[ i:] he, she	[ ei] name	[ i] his, it	[ ai] line
[ e]ten	[ au] town	[ æ ] hat	[ ɔi] toy
[ a:] car	[ ou] go home	[ ɔ ] not	[ iə] here
[ ʌ ] nut	[ ɛə ] dare	[ u] good	[ uə] poor
[ u:] food	[ juə]Europe	[ ju:] tune	[ aiə] fire
[ ɜ: ] turn	[ auə] our	[ ə ]paper	[ ɔ: ] all

How to learn to pronounce English sounds?

There are two approaches:

1. Theoretical– textbooks usually have a detailed description of how to press your tongue to the roof of your mouth to form a certain sound. With an illustration showing a cross-section of a human head. The method is scientifically correct, but it is difficult to use on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide the upper teeth along the lower lip” and will be able to perform this action.
2. Practical– listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier this way. You simply repeat after the announcer, trying to imitate the sound as accurately as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should supervise, but you can simply record yourself on a webcam and watch from the outside.

If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the “Video Puzzles” exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down your speech and, as in Lingvaleo, watch the translation of words by clicking on them directly in the subtitles.

In video puzzles, you first need to watch a video and then assemble sentences from words.

Detailed review of this service:

In addition, many kind people have made many videos for practical training that are available on YouTube. For example, these two videos examine in detail the sounds of English speech in the American and British versions:

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

When you start learning English, you shouldn’t strive to achieve “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the “generalized” British and American versions are presented above), and secondly, even native speakers who speak professionally (for example, actors) often take lessons from special trainers in order to master the features of or another version of pronunciation - practicing speech is not an easy task.

Just try to speak in a way that 1) is understandable and 2) doesn’t hurt your ears too much.

Reading rules in English: table and cards

Reading rules in English are, rather, not even rules, but generalized recommendations that are not particularly accurate. Not only can, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and syllable types be read in nine different ways, but there are also exceptions. For example, in the words food, too it is read as , and in the words good, look – as [u]. There is no pattern here, you just need to remember this.

If you look in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics in general, can be told differently by different authors with varying degrees of immersion in detail. I think that there is no point in delving into the jungle of phonetic science (you can dive into it ad infinitum), and the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is reading rules in English for children.

For this article, I took as a basis the rules given in the textbook “English. Grades 1 – 4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. Believe me, this is more than enough for both children and adults!

What is an open and closed syllable?

In English, there are open and closed syllables; it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

• the syllable ends with a vowel and is the last in the word,
• a vowel is followed by another vowel,
• a vowel is followed by a consonant, and followed by one or more vowels.

A syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, and ends with a consonant,
• A vowel is followed by two or more consonants.

In these cards and the table below you can see how different letters are pronounced in different combinations and syllable types.

Reading rules
Reading the letter “A”
A – in an open syllable	name, face, cake
A [æ] – in a closed syllable	hat, cat, man
A – in a closed syllable on r	far, car, park
A [εə] – at the end of the word vowel + re	dare, care, stare
A [ɔ:] – combinations all, au	all, wall, fall, autumn
Reading the letter “O”
O [əu] – in an open syllable	no, go, home
O [ɒ] – in a closed stressed syllable	not, box, hot
O [ɜ:] – in some words with “wor”	world, word
O [ɔ:] – in a closed syllable with r	form, fork, horse, door, floor
O – in combination “oo”	too, food
O [u] – in combination “oo”	book, look, good
O – in combination “ow”	town, down
O [ɔɪ] – in combination “oy”	toy, boy, enjoy
O [ʊə] – in combination “oo”	poor
Reading the letter “U”
U, – in an open syllable	pupil, blue, student
U [ʌ] – in a closed syllable	nut, bus, cup
U [u] – in a closed syllable	put, full
U [ɜ:] – in combination “ur”	turn, hurt, burn
Reading the letter “E”
E – in an open syllable, combination “ee”, “ea”	he, she, see, street, meat, sea
E [e] – in a closed syllable, combination “ea”	hen, ten, bed, head, bread
E [ɜ:] – in combinations “er”, “ear”	her, heard
E [ɪə] – in combinations of “ear”	hear, near
Reading the letter “I”
i – in an open syllable	five, line, night, light
i [ɪ] – in a closed syllable	his, it, pig
i [ɜ:] – in combination “ir”	first, girl, bird
i – in combination “ire”	fire, tired
Reading the letter “Y”
Y – at the end of a word	try, my, cry
Y [ɪ] – at the end of a word	family, happy, lucky
Y [j] – at the beginning or middle of a word	yes, year, yellow
Reading the letter “C”
C [s] – before i, e, y	pencil, bicycle
C [k] – except for combinations ch, tch and not before i, e, y	cat, come
C – in combinations ch, tch	chair, change, match, catch
Reading the letter “S”
S [s] – except: at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	say, books, six
S [z] – at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	days, beds
S [ʃ] – in combination sh	shop, ship
Reading the letter “T”
T [t] – except combinations th	ten, teacher, today
T [ð] – in combination th	then, mother, there
T [θ] – in combination th	thin, sixth, thick
Reading the letter “P”
P [p] – except for the combination ph	pen, penalty, powder
P [f] – in combination ph	photo
Reading the letter “G”
G [g] – except for combinations ng, not before e, i, y	go, big, dog
G – before e, i, y	age, engineer
G [ŋ] – in combination ng at the end of a word	sing, bring, king
G [ŋg] – in combination ng in the middle of a word	strongest

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, even intimidating. From it we can highlight several of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph is read as [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th is read as [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds do not exist in the Russian language; their pronunciation requires some practice. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] - this is a nasal (that is, pronounced as if in the nose) version of the sound [n]. A common mistake is to read it as . There is no “g” in this sound. Examples: strong, King Kong, wrong.
• The combination sh is read as [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y is read as [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y is read as: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch is read as: match, catch.

Basic rules for reading vowels

• In an open stressed syllable, vowels are usually read as in: no, go, name, face, pupil, he, five. These can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

How to remember reading rules?

Most people who are fluent in English as a foreign language will not be able to immediately name even a few basic reading rules. Rules readings do not need to be memorized, you need to be able to use them. But is it possible to use what you don’t know? As much as possible! Thanks to frequent practice, knowledge turns into skills and actions begin to be performed automatically, unconsciously.

In order for the reading rules to quickly reach the automatic stage, I recommend:

• Study the rules themselves - read, comprehend, speak examples out loud.
• Practicing reading aloud will help develop pronunciation skills, and at the same time, the rules of reading will be reinforced. Take the text with audio, video with subtitles so that you have something to compare it with.
• Do small written works - writing practice is useful for developing vocabulary, consolidating knowledge of grammar and, of course, improving spelling.

Why is it important to learn English pronunciation? Yes, because pronunciation is the first thing people notice about your English!

Learn to pronounce English words correctly as early as possible. English pronunciation is unpredictable! If you give up on practicing your pronunciation, you will start making mistakes that will become irreparable over time. The longer you ignore pronunciation problems, the more likely you will never be able to get rid of them. So fight procrastination!

How to learn pronunciation: algorithm of actions

The sounds of the English language are different from Russian ones. Do you want to speak English well? Then you will have to learn to recognize and pronounce them.

1. Learn sounds and their phonetic symbols. Learn to recognize each sound - then you can learn pronunciation by ear. To learn how to pronounce a word correctly, you must know what sounds you hear. For example, /dɒk/ and /dʌk/ - can you hear the difference? We must learn to hear.
2. Learn phonetic transcription and word stress.
3. Choose a pronunciation model, American or British.

Several recording systems exist to convey the sounds of the English language. Russian-speaking students are more familiar with the international phonetic notation system IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), but American dictionaries use an alternative system different from IPA (see Merriam-Webster Dictionary, New Oxford American Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Dictionary of the English Language). So if you see the symbols ā, ä, ī in the transcription, don’t be alarmed: this is an American transcription.

A dictionary, half a kingdom for a dictionary!..

English pronunciation, as we have already said, is unpredictable, so guessing how to pronounce a word is a futile exercise that will also reinforce a bad habit.

This is why (and especially at the beginning of learning!) it is so important to carefully check how a particular word is pronounced. Think of every word as a potential trap—not just “difficult” words like “determine” or “process.” The simplest English words, such as “of”, “won’t”, “does” or “most”, may surprise you.

If you are not 100% sure how to pronounce a word, don’t guess - if possible, try to check the dictionary before saying the word out loud.

As you read, ask yourself, “Do I know how to pronounce this word? Can I make a phonetic transcription of it?” If you're not sure, look in the dictionary. If you are a beginner, you should repeat this procedure as often as possible.

1. Make it a habit to check your pronunciation in a dictionary. If you are not 100% sure how to pronounce a word, don’t guess - if possible, try to check the dictionary before saying the word out loud. As you read, ask yourself, “Do I know how to pronounce this word? Can I make a phonetic transcription of it?” If you're not sure, look in the dictionary. If you are a beginner, you should repeat this procedure as often as possible.
2. Listen and remember. Any source of spoken language will do: television, podcasts, films, audio books... While listening, pay attention to how words and sounds are pronounced. If a non-native speaker speaks, note his mistakes.
3. Practice! Practice can take many forms. You can work on a system (for example, 15 minutes with a dictionary or pronunciation exercises) or just repeat a few words while doing something else (watching a movie or taking a shower). It is important to do this regularly - then you will notice progress.
4. Develop a system for learning pronunciation for yourself. For example, find a list of the most commonly used English words and learn how to pronounce them.

Good English pronunciation - what is it?

There are three levels of English pronunciation:

Level 1. People around you often don’t understand what you want to say. You pronounce English words incorrectly.

Level 2. People around you can understand you, but for this they need to make an effort.

Level 3. You are easily understood. Your pronunciation is clear and pleasant to the ear.

Learn more about Level 3

There are only two standards of English pronunciation:

1. American - General American, or GenAm;
2. British - Received Pronunciation (RP).

If you speak with a GenAm or RP accent, you will be understood around the world by both native speakers and non-native English speakers. GenAm and RP are heard on television, in films, on - that's why they are familiar to everyone.

Note that not all native English speakers have GenAm or RP pronunciation and not all speak at Level 3. If you were born and raised in Scotland, any Scotsman - and most likely any Briton - will understand you, an American - not necessarily, but those for whom English is not a native language - most likely not. With this pronunciation, you are likely to experience a number of difficulties communicating with English-speaking residents of Houston, Berlin or Seoul.

English pronunciation: complete chaos

And yet, mastering English pronunciation is not an easy task. At the beginning of the last century, the Dutch linguist Gerard Nolst Trenité (how to pronounce his name is a topic for a separate study) wrote an entire poem on this topic in his heart. And it’s called (you won’t be surprised): “Chaos”.

If you can correctly read every word in this wonderful poem, you speak English better than 90% of native English speakers in the world. One Frenchman, having tried it, said that he would prefer six months of hard labor to reading six lines out loud.

8 Pronunciation Mistakes That Helped the Development of Modern English

If you didn’t make a single discovery for yourself while listening to the previous poem, congratulations! You have mastered all the intricacies of English pronunciation and have reached a level that many native speakers will envy. For the rest of us, let’s note: your mistakes in pronunciation can serve the English language well!

There is a well-known story about how an emeritus English professor gave a speech. Addressing the students, the professor said: “You shouldn’t worry too much if your plans go oary after graduation.” The listeners looked at each other in bewilderment. Little by little those present began to understand: throughout During his long career, the respected professor incorrectly pronounced the word “awry” ([əˈraɪ] - obliquely; to one side; incorrectly; unsuccessfully).

Unfortunately, this can happen to anyone. A striking example: recently the public relations service of the English railway station St. Pancras (named after Saint Pancras) has released the results of a survey on the topic “The most common pronunciation errors.” By the way, the station itself is regularly called the pancreas - no wonder they had to hire PR specialists!

So: the researchers revealed an unjustified preference for the prefix “ex-”: out of 1000 English people surveyed, 340 pronounced “ex-cetera” instead of “etcetera”, and 260 ordered “ex-presso” instead of “espresso”.

Prefixes are also confused: in one case out of five, the doctor is asked not for “prescription,” but for “perscription” or “proscription.”

For better or worse, in real life English speakers quite often make mistakes in word usage and pronunciation. The 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains 171,476 common words. But the vocabulary of the average Briton is on average tens of thousands of words more modest, and even fewer are used in everyday life. The situation when an Englishman does not know how to correctly read a word that is essentially familiar to him does not surprise anyone.

However, there is nothing more fickle in language than what is “right.” Errors force the language to develop: today it is an error, and tomorrow it is a norm recorded in dictionaries. Here are some of the most obvious examples of how incorrect pronunciation has become normative.

Words that once started with "n"

In the words "adder" (viper) and "umpire" (judge, mediator, arbitrator), the first letter was originally "n". However, in everyday speech, for example, “a nadder” was heard so often that the sound “n” was heard as part of the previous word: [æn] adder, umpire. In philology, this phenomenon is called re-decomposition.

When the sounds change places

Let's take examples from zoology: the word "wasp" (wasp) once sounded like "waps", "bird" (bird) - like "brid", "horse" (horse) - "hros". Remember this the next time you want to complain about people who say “aks” instead of “ask,” “nucular” instead of “nuclear,” or “perscription” instead of “prescription.”

This phenomenon is called “metathesis”.

When the sounds disappear

Although it is often difficult for a learner of English to make the connection between the writing of an English word and its pronunciation, in reality the English writing is a repository of information about the history of pronunciation. The ancient Britons would have thought their descendants lazy if they heard them pronounce the name of the third day of the week. Wednesday was named “Woden's day” (in honor of the Scandinavian god Odin), so the letter “d” in the word “Wednesday” is not for beauty - until recently it was voiced. No one pronounces the “t” in “Christmas” anymore - but the name of this holiday comes from the name of Christ. These are examples of syncopation.

When foreign sounds invade a word

Often the cause of phonetic changes is our physiology. When we move from a nasal sound to a non-nasal sound, a consonant can be inserted between them. Thus, “thunder” was once “thuner”, not “thunder”, and “empty” was “emty”, not “empty”. Now with the word “hamster” (hamster), in which the sound “p” slips through, the same process is happening.

When the "l" sound goes to the dark side

"Dark l" in linguist jargon is the sound "l" that is pronounced with the back of the tongue raised. In English it occurs after vowels, such as in the words "full" or "pole". You can raise your tongue so that the “l” sounds almost like a “w”. Once upon a time in the words “folk”, “talk”, “walk” the sound “l” was pronounced. Now almost everyone pronounces them with a “w”: “fowk”, “tawk”, “wawk”.

“Ch-ch-ch-changes,” as Bowie sang...

Your elderly second cousin from England would probably not like the way you pronounce the word “tune.” Be sure: she will definitely insert the sound “y” - “tyune” into this word. The same applies to the words "tutor", "duke" and the like. But the process of formation of affricates is ongoing, whether someone likes it or not. The younger generation already knows this pronunciation as the norm.

Looking for familiar words

Borrowings from other languages ​​can be a source of quite predictable and quite funny mistakes. Knowing a foreign language poorly, we try to find an analogy for foreign words in our native language - the result is a kind of compromise between the sound of words and their meaning. This is the so-called folk etymology.

Let's take for example the word "female", which is not at all derived, as one might assume, from "male", but comes from the Old French "femelle" (woman). Or "penthouse", which is not related to the house, "house", but comes from the Anglo-Norman "pentiz" - an extension (by the way, the building term "pentice" is preserved in modern English).

We speak as we write

Alas, when learning English spelling, we all face many difficulties. This is because the pronunciation of so many English words changed after their spelling became fixed.

For example, in Norwegian "sk" is pronounced like "sh", so early English-speaking skiers "went shiing" rather than "skiing". And those who later read about it in magazines began to pronounce this word as it is spelled.

Based on the spelling of the word “salmon” (salmon), some modern Americans, when ordering a salmon roll at a sushi bar, pronounce “l” - by the way, this is exactly how this word was originally pronounced.

Your head is spinning, right? Let's stop here. And in your spare time, remember: what English words are you tempted to pronounce incorrectly? What pronunciation mistakes do you personally consider excusable? This could serve as a topic for independent study or discussion in English courses.

My accent is my enemy... How can I get closer to the ideal?

If you speak with a slight foreign accent, you will, of course, be understood. But keep this in mind: the more foreign signs in your accent, the more difficult it will be for your interlocutors (everyone is accustomed to the GenAm/RP standard, which cannot be said about a Russian or Spanish accent). The less your accent resembles the pronunciation of a native speaker, the more often you will be misunderstood and questioned.

Interesting fact: Native speakers, especially Americans, understand a wide range of foreign accents very well because they have to communicate with immigrants every day in their own country. For an American, a slight Spanish or Chinese accent is not difficult.
It's a different story for non-native English speakers - if you speak Chinese-accented English to someone from Germany or India, they'll have to work hard to understand you.

Not all pronunciation errors are equally serious. It's not a big deal if you pronounce a couple of English sounds a little differently than native speakers do.

It's much worse if you:

• speak too fast to show off;
• swallow sounds (worl instead of world);
• you put the emphasis in the wrong place (DEvelop instead of deVELop);
• pronounce the wrong sounds (determine as if it rhymed with mine, or target with the j sound);
• you confuse two different sounds (pronounce ship and hit as sheep and heat, and hope as hop).

“A foreigner will always speak with an accent”

This argument can discourage an English learner from taking pronunciation seriously! You were born and raised in a country where English is not the official language, so why bother trying to get the vowels right?

It's a fact that most foreigners speak with an accent, but no one is forcing you to be one of them. Many comedians perfectly imitate the speech of actors and politicians. Hugh Laurie as Dr. House speaks with a perfect American accent, although he himself is British.

Believe me, there are no barriers between you and perfect pronunciation. It's great if you have a talent for imitating sounds. If you can imitate the speech of those who speak the same language as you, this is already a good start. But even without this kind of inclination, you can achieve anything with perseverance and modern technology.

You may not end up being considered one of our own, but your clear, soothing pronunciation will undoubtedly earn you sympathy and respect among native English speakers.

And here are some more tips on how to achieve perfect English pronunciation from an Engvid.com teacher named Jade:

14823

In contact with

1. Vowels- no obstruction is created for the air during pronunciation. At the same time, the pressure is minimal.

2. Consonants- the throat tract narrows, completely or partially blocking the air flow. He overcomes obstacles by changing his direction in one way or another.

In writing, all sounds are displayed using phonetic transcription - a special way of transmitting sounds, in which each of them has its own written symbol. The transcription absolutely accurately conveys all the features of the sound, demonstrating longitude and stress.

It should also be noted that in English words can be in a strong or weak form. When a word is stressed, it is considered to be in the strong form. If the word is not stressed, then it, accordingly, is in a weak form. Often conjunctions, pronouns and prepositions appear in the weak form. For example, in the preposition of, the sound [ɒv] is a strong form, and the sound [əv] is a weak form. In almost all cases, the appearance of the weak form is explained by replacing the stressed vowel in the strong form with an unstressed [ə], but in all other cases the sound is shortened. In the transcriptions of all English textbooks, sounds are displayed in a strong form, because, knowing the strong form of a sound, you can quite easily turn it into a strong form.

It is important to know:

1. In English, sounds are never softened, but are always pronounced firmly.

2. Sounds are not doubled, for example, the word running is pronounced [ˈrʌnɪŋ].

Differences between phonetics of English and Russian languages

English, however, like every other language, has its own characteristics. To understand them, it is necessary to consider the differences between the phonetics of English and Russian:

1. In the Russian language, there is no division among vowels into short and long. In the English language there is a similar division, and replacing a long sound with a short one can lead to significant changes, even changing the meaning of the word. In phonetic transcription, long vowels are indicated by the sign [:].

2. In addition, in English, all vowels are divided into monophthongs and diphthongs. Monophthongs are called vowel sounds, the sound of which does not change throughout. For example, a bed. Diphthongs same - these are vowel sounds that consist of two parts pronounced within the same syllable. Example: - old.

3. Also in the English language there is one more feature: voiced vowels located at the end of a word or before a voiceless consonant are not deafened. In other words, they are not replaced by a voiceless vowel sound. After all, deafening sounds can change the meaning of the entire word.

4. Consonants in English are pronounced firmly, regardless of the next vowel. In the Russian language, softening is possible: for example, before the vowel sound [i] - [silence].

Articulation of sounds. Speech apparatus

In general, the articular apparatus is the same for everyone. Only the pronunciation of sounds differs, which depends on the characteristics of a particular language. The speech apparatus itself consists of the following organs:

- language;

- hard and soft palate;

- lips;

- teeth.

In addition, behind the upper teeth there are special tubercles, or alveoli. Most of the sounds in English are produced in the mouth because the tongue and lips are very mobile and their movements can be combined in a variety of ways. Just behind the alveoli is the hard palate, and the soft palate is directly at the root of the tongue.

The vocal apparatus also includes the vocal cords. For example, when creating voiceless consonants, the vocal cords are completely relaxed. When they are tense, the air passing through them causes the ligaments to vibrate, which is why we hear voiced consonants or vowels.

English intonation

In English, intonation is a complex combination of pitch, rhythm of pronunciation, phrasal stress and tempo. Also, intonation is one of the most basic means of expressing what a person says. The melody can also be different. Just as in the Russian language, the melody of the English language is divided into two main types:

1. Descending tone, which is used mainly to express categorical and complete statements. All affirmative sentences are pronounced in a descending tone. In addition, it is used in narrative and imperative speech. In English this happens especially sharply and deeply.

2. Rising tone, which is used to express the incompleteness of what is said, uncertainty and lack of categoricalness. For example, it is widely used in enumeration. It should be mentioned that the English rising tone is very different from the Russian rising tone. Indeed, in Russian sentences the tone rises at the beginning of the sentence, and in English - at the end.

A characteristic feature of the rhythm of the English language is that stressed syllables in a sentence are pronounced at approximately equal intervals of time. That is why the speed with which unstressed syllables are pronounced directly depends on the number of unstressed syllables located on both sides of the stressed syllable. If there are fewer unstressed syllables, they are pronounced much faster.

Written representation of stress and melody in English:

["] - is placed before a stressed syllable only if it is not final.

signs [↘] and [↗] - used before the final syllable as a replacement for the accent mark. An arrow pointing down indicates a lower voice in the syllable it precedes. An arrow pointing up indicates raising the voice in the final syllable and in subsequent unstressed ones. For example: ↘Tellme.

Descending tone

A falling tone in English is a smooth fall of the voice in stressed syllables (you can give an example of a ladder along which stressed syllables descend). In this case, the voice drops very sharply precisely on the last stressed syllable. If we compare it with the Russian language, here the rise in tone occurs gradually in each stressed syllable, moreover, it does not sound sharp. The English falling tone is somewhat reminiscent of command intonation in monosyllabic tones:

Halt! - Stop!

Drink! - Drink!

Falling tone (or FallingTone) is the tone of sentence completeness, affirmation and certainty. That is why it is used in the following situations:

1. At the end of exclamatory sentences. Example:

What a flash of lightning!

2. At the end of short narrative sentences. Example:

3. At the end of imperative sentences, which carry a command, prohibition or order. Example:

Don't drink this water!

4. At the end of special offers which begin with an interrogative pronoun. Example:

What is your name?

Why are you smiling?

Where is my dog?

5. In the second part of the dividing questions. This happens in cases where the narrator is confident in what was said in the first part of the sentence and does not need confirmation that he is right. Example:

Water is cold, isn't it?

6. When saying greeting. Example:

7. When highlighting an appeal in a sentence. Example:

Jack, we will see you in a day.

8. When an application at the end of a sentence is highlighted. Example:

He is my friend, a driver.

9. At the end of the subordinate clause, which is located before the main one, but only when the last sentence should be pronounced with a rising tone. Example:

When you arrive, will I see you?

Rising tone

The main distinguishing feature of the rising tone of the English language from Russian is that the first syllable is pronounced rather low, and after it there is a slow rise until the last stressed syllable. Eg:

Can you give it to me?

Are you sure you will come?

If we draw another analogy with the Russian language, then this tone is somewhat reminiscent of the intonation of a person who asks again with some degree of surprise: I’m already home. - At home? The rising tone is the tone of incompleteness, doubt, uncertainty. This is why the following are often used with a rising tone:

1. In sentences with a common subject. Example:

My teacher and I left the class-room.

2. In the case when adverbial is at the beginning of the sentence. Example:

Last week there were a lot of problems.

3. Everything homogeneous members of the sentence which are listed. This does not apply to the last member if it is the end of a sentence. Example:

I see many cars, trees, buses and benches on the street.

4. General issues, which begin with modal or auxiliary verbs and require a “Yes” or “No” answer. Example:

Have you ever been in California?

5. The last part of the dividing question, when the questioner wants more specific information because he is not sure of what he said in the first part. Example:

You are a student, are n't you?

6. First half of the question which involves choice. Example:

Do you like coffee or tea?

7. An imperative sentence, which expresses a polite request. Example:

Will you give me our telephone?

8. Subordinate clause, which comes before the main clause. Example:

As soon as I come back home, I will call you.

9. Words of gratitude or farewell; also the phrase all right. Example:

It should be remembered that if a phrase is pronounced with a descending tone, then it is perceived as threat.

Descending-rising tone

In English speech, the falling-rising tone is used to demonstrate various emotions, from objection to doubt. Rise and fall happens:

Within the same word.

Within two adjacent syllables.

Within two syllables, between which there is one (or more) unstressed syllables.

Conventionally, our vocal range can be represented as two horizontal parallel lines. If we pronounce something in a descending-rising tone, then our voice first of all decreases to its lowest value and then gradually rises. However, it does not reach the maximum value. If we compare this tone with the Russian language, then the intonation of the phrase: “But I won’t come!” is approximately the same.

In addition to confirming various facts, the descending-ascending tone sometimes carries a certain subtext. This happens in the following cases:

1. When clarification.

I think he's a teacher.

2. When friendly weak objection:

I "m affraid you are wrong.

3. During assumptions which is being questioned.

What color was that bus? It could be white.

4. With contrast and juxtaposition.

There are a lot of pencils, but not pens.

Types of stress

There are three types of stress in English.

Word stress- highlighting a separate syllable in a word. In English transcription, verbal stress is indicated by a special sign [‘], which is placed before the syllable under stress.

Phrase stress call the stronger reproduction of individual words of a sentence in comparison with other words. Often only significant words fall under this stress:

Nouns;

Adverbs;

Interrogative pronouns;

Demonstrative pronouns;

Nouns;

Semantic verbs.

And possessive and personal pronouns and all function words, as a rule, cannot be stressed.

And finally logical stress. There are times when it becomes necessary to highlight a particular word in a sentence that seems most important to the person speaking. It is in this case that those words that are normally unstressed may fall under stress, and some significant words may lose phrasal stress.

Word stress

Word stress is the emphasis on one or more syllables within one word. At the same time, the pronunciation of the stressed syllable is more energetic, the muscles are more tense. Word stress is one of the most important parts of a word because it helps differentiate grammatical forms from each other. In addition, in English, word stress can be used to distinguish one part of speech from another. Example:

`export is a noun meaning "export";

To ex`port is already a verb meaning to export.

Another distinctive feature of the English language is that the stress in a word is placed before the stressed syllable, and not on the vowel sound, as in the Russian language. Words that have four or five syllables can have two or even three stresses at once. In this case, one of them will still be the main one and will be indicated by an accent sign from above, and all minor ones will be indicated by the same accent sign, but only from below. Example:

Demon`stration - display, demonstration.

Cases of changes in word stress

In English, all words that consist of three or more syllables necessarily have two equivalent stresses. In addition, compound adjectives, verbs with adverbs, and many compound nouns can also have two accents.

Also, some numerals can have two stresses (meaning numerals from thirteen to nineteen). One stress will fall on the first syllable, and the second will fall on the suffix teen.

Often words that have two stresses can lose one of them under the influence of neighboring words. For example, if there is a stressed word before it, then only the second stress will remain.

My number is eighteen.

But if a word with two stresses is followed by a stressed word, then the first of them loses the second stress.

She has sixteen pens.

Word stress in words with a separable prefix

Sometimes in English the formation of words occurs with the help of prefixes, which change the semantic meaning of the word, although they do not change its belonging to one or another part of speech. Each of the prefixes below has its own meaning. Therefore, words with similar prefixes can have two meanings that are equivalent to each other: one of them is in the word itself, and the other is in the word with the prefix.

The most commonly used English prefixes are:

1. Prefixes with a negative meaning:

perfect - imperfect

fortunately - unfortunately

appear - disappear

2. The prefix re-, the meaning of which is “again”, “again” (corresponds to the prefix re- in Russian):

3. The prefix miss-, the meaning of which is “incorrect”:

understand - missunderstand

3. Prefix pre-, the meaning of which is “before”, “before”:

hystory - prehystory

4. The prefix inter-, the meaning of which is “among”, “between”:

national - international

5. Prefix ex-, the meaning of which is “former”:

president - expresident

6. Prefix sub-, the meaning of which is “under”:

divide - subdivide

7. Prefix ultra-, the meaning of which is “over”, “ultra”:

light - ultralight

It should also be noted that in the English language there are a great many prefixes that have completely or partially lost their true meaning. Such words are often not divided and are not perceived by a person as a unit with a prefix: discuss, refuse, repeat, and so on.

Cases of stress in compound words

Compound words are words that have two different roots. There are several ways to spell these words:

Hyphenated;

Separately.

But, despite this, in semantic terms they are one whole. In Russian there are also compound words: blue-yellow, plane, fireproof, and so on.

For the most part, the stress in compound words should fall on the first part:

But there can also be two stresses equal to each other at once:

If both parts of a compound word are adjectives, then they will also have two stresses:

A verb followed by a postpositional adverb also always has the same stress. This is explained by the fact that the postposition itself changes the meaning of the verb:

Pronunciation of vowel sounds in the third or fourth type of syllable

As we already know, the pronunciation of a stressed vowel directly depends on the type of syllable. And the type of syllable, in turn, can be determined by which letters follow the stressed vowel.

If the syllable type is third, then after the stressed vowel there is the letter r. In this case, the vowels are read as long sounds. Eg:

corner - [`kɔ:nə]

turn - [tə:n]

If the syllable type is fourth, then after the vowel there is the letter r, and after it there is a vowel. Accordingly, we read vowel sounds in word types such as diphthongs or three-term components. Eg:

fire - [faiə]

tyrant - [`taiərənt]

There are some notes though:

1. The letter u, located after the sounds [r, dʒ] in the fourth type of syllable, we always read as [uə]:

jury - [`dʒuəri].

2. If a word contains two letters r at once, then we read the vowel located in front of them as a closed syllable:

hurry - [`hʌri].

Phrase stress

Phrase stress is the emphasis by voice on individual words in a phrase or sentence. Compared to the English language, the Russian language does not have such a pronounced emphasis on words - after all, the stress falls on almost every word. Our speech seems more fluent. But in the English language there is a peculiar alternation of unstressed and stressed syllables, which gives the sentence the necessary rhythm. And although our language also has a fairly large number of complex words, the rhythm of sentences is not as prominent as in the case of English sentences. If we pronounce English speech based on Russian rules, then our reading will seem to be reading syllables. That is why it is so necessary to know all the features and rules of phrasal stress in the English language.

Parts of speech in English that can be stressed:

Nouns

The `teacher is in `classroom.

Adjectives

The table is `red.

Numerals

Adverbs

Semantic verbs

I `want to `be your boyfriend.

Interrogative and demonstrative pronouns

`When will you come?

`This is a pencil.

Unstressed words in English are:

Possessive and personal pronouns

Give`me`yourpen.

Articles

`The notebook is red.

Your cake is good, `but I like candies.

Particles

I want `to see you again.

Prepositions

We will go `to Paris.

Verb to be

He to be is a good driver.

Modal verbs

I`can speak Spanish rather good.

Auxiliary verbs

Sometimes modals and auxiliary verbs can also be stressed. This happens in the following cases:

At the end of a syntagm and a sentence in the position after an unstressed syllable:

I know who you`are.

In short negative forms:

I `can't give it to you.

In answers to general questions:

First a general question:

`Are you serious?

If the negative form is complete, then only the particle will be stressed, but not the verb:

I don't like you!

In English, any stress is indicated on letters by the symbol "`", which is placed immediately before the stressed syllable.

Logical stress

In addition to phrasal and verbal stress, which exist in a sentence on a permanent basis, in the English language there is also logical stress - this is also the highlighting of a certain word in a sentence more strongly than others using stress. This type of stress is used to somehow contrast one word with another, as well as to enhance the meaning of the word. Example:

I saw this picture.

In this case, we contrast “I” with other pronouns “You” and “You”.

Based on the fact that logical stress goes beyond the boundaries of simple phrasal stress, we can make sure that exactly the word that would be unstressed in another situation is highlighted in a sentence - for example, an article, a preposition, and so on.

She sit "on chair not "on the bed.

It should be noted that within one sentence there can be exactly as many variants of logical stress as there are words in it. In this case, everything will depend on which word the speaker wants to highlight, and this, accordingly, depends on the purpose of the utterance.

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in the English language, which can represent 48 sounds in writing.

A [ei] Nn [en]

Bb [bi:] Oo [ou]

Cc [si:] Pp [pi:]

Dd[ di: ] Qq [ kju: ]

Ee[ i: ] Rr [ a: ]

Ff[ ef ] Ss [ es ]

Gg[ dʒi: ] Tt [ ti: ]

Hh[eitʃ]Uu[ju:]

Ii [ai] Vv [vi:]

Jj[ dʒei ] Ww [ `dʌbl `ju: ]

Kk[ kei ] Xx [ eks ]

Ll[el]Yy[wai]

Mm[ em ] Zz [ zed ]

Phonetic transcription

If you do not yet know the English alphabet, then first of all you need to learn all 26 letters and learn to read them correctly. Phonetic transcription is a graphic representation of sounds, each of which is necessarily written in square arches.

In general, each language has a certain number of sounds that make up words. We hear sounds in human speech, and letters are used in writing.

The sound composition is extremely irregular - it is constantly changing. In contrast, the graphic representation of words almost never changes. Another difference between the pronunciation of sounds and their graphic representation is that the English language has 44 sounds, and the Latin alphabet used in the language has only 26 letters. That is why the same letter can have several sound variations, depending on its position in the word. In order to simplify the study of the English language, phonetic transcription is used, in other words, a graphic display system in which each sound has a corresponding graphic sign. Below are graphic symbols to represent the sounds of the English language.

Vowels:

[ɔi] - cowboy

[juə] - Europe

[aiə] - empire

Consonants:

[ʒ] - treasure

Classification of sounds in English

In English, sounds are divided according to the following criteria.

Vowel sounds(English vowels) are those sounds that are classified as pure musical tone. The air that passes through the vocal cords when speaking vibrates. The oral cavity is wide open, so there are no barriers to air - air passes freely. In this case, muscle tension is evenly distributed throughout the speech apparatus.

Unlike vowel sounds, during pronunciation consonant sounds(English consonants) exhaled air encounters a partial or complete barrier, and its friction against the walls of the barrier creates the very noise that is a distinctive feature of consonant sounds. When pronouncing sonants and voiced consonants, the vocal cords vibrate, but in the case of voiceless sounds they are not involved and do not take part in articulation. Muscle tension is concentrated specifically at the site of the obstruction. The width of the passage directly affects the intensity of the noise - the larger the gap, the weaker the sound. Those consonant sounds during the pronunciation of which the voiced component exceeds the noise are called sonorous(or sonants), yet other sounds are called noisy.

The English language has twenty-four consonant sounds (seven of them are sonorant), and twenty vowel sounds.

Rhythmic groups

A rhythmic group is a rather small (when compared with a semantic group) unit of division of the flow of speech, unique to the English language. The basis of any rhythmic group is the stressed syllable. It should be noted that in English there are two or more semantic groups in one sentence. Accordingly, in each semantic group there is exactly the same number of rhythmic groups as there are stressed syllables located in it. It turns out that the rhythmic group is just one stressed syllable and all those unstressed syllables that belong to it.

In the case when unstressed syllables are located before the stressed one, they are called pre-stressed. And when unstressed syllables are found after a stressed syllable, they are called unstressed. For example, in the sentence "Take that" there is only one rhythmic group, which consists of one overstressed syllable and one stressed syllable.

And the sentence “I `couldn’t `tell you about it `then” consists of three rhythmic groups:

1. "I `couldn't"

3. "about it `then".

The first of them contains one stressed and one pre-stressed syllable; in the second group - one overstressed and one stressed syllable; in the third group - one stressed syllable and three pre-stressed syllables.

Each of the rhythmic groups is articulated together, without any pauses, as if it were one word that consists of several syllables. Unstressed words must be pronounced at the same time as the stressed word, regardless of their number. Example:

Yoy can't left `him.

According to the amount of time spent on pronunciation, three unstressed words are equal to one stressed word "left".

Consonant sounds. Classification

If, during articulation of air, the flow encounters an obstacle in the oral cavity and, breaking it, passes through the gap, then such sounds are called consonants. The main difference between such sounds and vowel sounds is that when air is decelerated through certain parts of the articulatory apparatus, noise occurs.

There are different principles for classifying consonant sounds in English. The criteria for separating these sounds can be as follows:

Active organs of articulation and place of obstruction;

The method of noise generation and the location of the obstacle;

Superiority of the musical component or noise;

The number of foci making up the noise.

If we take into account the functioning of the vocal cords, then all consonant sounds can be divided into voiced and voiceless. The strength of the air flow and the level of muscle tension are much higher during the articulation of voiceless consonant sounds, so the term from the Latin language “fortis”, that is, “strong”, is used to designate them. When articulating voiced consonants, all these indicators are significantly lower, so the term “lenis”, that is, weak, is used to designate such sounds.

Some of the consonant sounds are contrasted, for example, [t] and [d]. Other sounds, such as [r], [h], [l], [w], [m], [n], do not have their own pairs.

Depending on the position of the active organs of articulation relative to the place of obstruction, consonant sounds can be divided into labial, lingual or pharyngeal. Labials, accordingly, can also be divided into labiolabial and labiodental.

Lingual sounds are divided into back-lingual, middle-lingual and front-lingual. When articulating anterior lingual vowels, the front part of the tongue touches various parts of the soft palate. According to this principle, sounds are also divided into interdental, alveolar, posterior alveolar and palatal-alveolar consonant sounds. The middle lingual consonant sound [j] is formed as a result of the middle part of the tongue touching the hard palate.

Rear lingual consonants, namely [k], [g], [N], appear after bringing the posterior lobe of the tongue to the hard palate. There is also a pharyngeal consonant sound ([h]), which is formed in the pharynx.

The famous philologist L.V. Shcherba proposed to designate certain provisions of the language with the following terms:

Apical position - the upper part of the tongue is directed upward;

Kakuminal structure - the upper part of the tongue is moved away from the alveoli, and its middle part is directed downward;

Dorsal structure - the upper part of the tongue is lowered, and its middle part touches the hard palate.

It should also be noted that if, during the formation of a consonant, the sound exceeds noise, then noisy consonants appear, and if the musical component exceeds, then sonants appear. Frictional, as well as occlusive-frictional consonant sounds can have either one or two obstructions in their articulation. According to this principle, they are divided into single-focus and bifocal consonant sounds.

There are a total of twenty-four consonant phonemes in the English language.

Vowel sounds. Classification

Many famous researchers of English phonetics from different countries have tried to classify vowel sounds in some way. All proposed classifications differed significantly from each other, because they were based on different principles: the complexity of the sound structure, the position of the tongue or lips, brevity or longitude. Below are the main criteria by which vowel sounds can be classified:

By stability of pronunciation;

According to the horizontal position of the tongue;

According to the vertical position of the tongue;

By their longitude;

By the position of the lips;

By the strength of articulation at the end of pronouncing sounds;

According to the degree of tension of the speech organs.

If we divide all vowel sounds according to the horizontal position of the tongue during articulation, we get something like this:

Front sounds ([x], [e] and, as well as diphthongs and);

Sounds of the front row moved back ([I], as well as diphthongs and );

Mixed vowel sounds ([q], [A] and [W]);

Back row sounds shifted forward ([u] and [a:], as well as diphthongs and);

Back sounds ([L] and [O], as well as diphthong).

During the articulation of sounds of the first two groups, the tongue is raised towards the hard palate and alveoli. To pronounce mixed vowel sounds, the back of the tongue rises evenly. To articulate the last two groups, the tongue rises towards the soft palate.

Also, all vowel sounds can be divided according to the degree of vertical elevation of the tongue, then we get the following classification:

High pitch sounds (, [u], [i] and );

Mid-rise sounds (, , [q], [W] and [e]);

Low rise sounds ([R] [O], , [a:], [au], [A], and [x]).

In addition, all these subclasses can also be divided into wide and narrow options:

High lift in a narrow version ( and );

Wide option ([u] and [I]);

Medium rise in narrow version (, [W] and [e]);

Wide option ([q], [L] and );

Low rise in narrow version ( and [A]);

Wide variant (, [аu], [x], [а:] and [O]).

According to the position of the lips during articulation, all vowel sounds can be divided into unrounded and rounded.

In addition, when classifying sounds, their duration can be taken into account. Then vowel sounds are divided into:

Short monophthongs ([A], [q], [O], [u], [e], [x] and [i]);

Long monophthongs ([R], [W] and [L]);

Diphthongs (, , , , , , and [аu]);

Diphthongoids ( and ).

Monophthongs are those vowel sounds during the pronunciation of which all speech organs are completely motionless. Diphthongs are vowel sounds, during the articulation of which there is a smooth transition from one arrangement of the speech organs to another, because all the elements of a diphthong are one full-fledged phoneme. The first element of each diphthong is the nucleus, and the second is the glide. In this case, the emphasis constantly falls on the core.

Diphthongoids are special vowel sounds of the English language, when pronounced, there is a subtle change in the position of the speech organs from one element to the next, because all elements of diphthongoids are very similar in the method and nature of articulation. This type of sounds is considered intermediate - between monophthongs and diphthongs.

In general, the English language has twenty vowel phonemes: ten monophthongs, eight diphthongs and two diphthongoids.

In English, the length of sounds is not something static and unchanging. This is explained by the fact that there is a so-called positional longitude of sounds. In other words, the same vowel sounds can have different sound durations. This, in turn, depends on several factors at once: on the number of syllables in a word, on stress, on the position of a syllable in a word, and so on. If the syllable is final and stressed, then diphthongs and long vowels will have the greatest sound in this position. In the position before the sonorant sound their length will be slightly less, and before voiced and voiceless consonants - even less. In addition, unstressed sounds are shorter than stressed sounds.

We should also talk about the vowel sound [x]. The British claim that vowels in the position before a given sound have a longer duration than long vowels. Before voiced consonants, this feature is even more pronounced.

Another characteristic feature that distinguishes the English language from the Russian language is the so-called truncation. Truncated vowels are short sounds that are stressed in a syllable that ends in a voiceless sound. For example, or. This feature is explained by the fact that in this position, when pronouncing a vowel sound, weakened articulation is not observed. In addition, when approaching the end, the sound intensity does not decrease in any way. It’s just that a vowel sound is suddenly interrupted by a subsequent consonant sound. Untruncated vowel sounds in English are called diphthongs, unstressed vowels and long monophthongs. They can be in an open syllable at the end or in a closed syllable, which is located before a voiced consonant. Eg, .

Rules for pronunciation of combinations of English sounds

In English, when pronouncing certain combinations of vowel sounds, or combinations of vowels and consonants, it is necessary to pay special attention to the transition from one phoneme to another. For successful articulation, you need to be able to relax your speech apparatus, in particular your lips and tongue. There are three stages in the formation of sound combinations:

Attack - movement of the organs of the articulatory apparatus and adoption of the starting position;

Exposure - the speech apparatus adheres to the accepted position for some time;

Indentation - relaxation of organs after the articulation process.

It should be noted that in the process of sound formation, all phases merge into a certain chain when the final phase is superimposed on the initial phase of the next sound combination.

Assimilation, elision and adaptation

When phonemes are connected into unique chains, the speech apparatus adapts to a very rapid change in position for a more comfortable change from one articulation to another. In this process, even the sound quality itself can change. This is called assimilation, or assimilation.

Assimilation is a process when a consonant sound changes during the speech stream under the influence of a neighboring one, and it is noticed that one sound becomes similar to another. Articulation can be partial when there are different variants of phonemes, and complete when the sound is completely similar to the neighboring one.

When a consonant sound changes under the influence of a vowel sound, adaptation occurs. If, during careless speech, the articulation of a sound is not fully realized, then this process is called elision.

There are several types of assimilation:

Assimilation by direction;

Assimilation in accordance with the location of the obstacle;

Assimilation by lip work;

Assimilation according to the method of noise generation.

The first type of assimilation is divided into three subtypes:

Regressive;

Progressive;

Double assimilation.

When the direction of assimilation is progressive, the previous sound affects the subsequent one. For example, in the word "style" the sound [t] lost its aspiration under the influence of the previous fricative sound [s].

In regressively directed assimilation, the previous sound affects the subsequent one. For example, in the word seventh the sound [n] became dental under the influence of the consonant sound [T].

During mutual assimilation, both sounds that are nearby mutually influence each other, conveying some of the features of their articulation. For example, in the word “twin” the consonant [t] is slightly rounded, and the sound [w] is deafened.

Combination of voiceless and voiced consonants

If in a word after a voiced consonant there is a dull consonant, then it does not affect it, that is, it does not muffle:

Also, a voiceless consonant does not become more voiced under the influence of the next voiced consonant:

But there are some exceptions. Sounds such as [r], [l], and [w] may be partially muted after plosive sounds. See for yourself:

In this case, the consonant sound [w] will be pronounced as if together with the previous consonant sound.

How stop consonants are combined

A combination of stop consonants in one place of formation: alveolar, labial and velar.

During the articulation of such a combination of sounds, the organs of the speech apparatus practically do not change their position when moving from one sound to another. In other words, there is no complete obstruction, and no explosion occurs at the boundary of two sounds. At this stage, the explosion is replaced by a dull or voiced pause. Therefore, it is the second sound that ends with an explosion:

I like green apples

A combination of plosive consonants in different places of formation.

When two stop sounds are adjacent, but from different places of formation, complete obstruction at the end of the articulation of the first phoneme occurs only when the speech apparatus is already prepared to pronounce the second sound. There is also a loss of explosion. Instead of this explosion, a ringing or dull pause appears. In addition, the length of this pause, necessary for “rebuilding” the articulatory apparatus, is much longer than in the above case:

For example, to pronounce labial and alveolar plosives, the tip of the tongue touches the alveoli until the lips close to articulate the following sound:

A combination of plosives and nasals.

If, when pronouncing two plosive sounds, instead of the first explosion there is a pause (the path for the air flow to exit is blocked), then when a plosive and nasal sound are combined, a so-called “nasal explosion” occurs. The complete obstruction disappears during the articulation of the nasal consonant, and the air flow leaves the oral cavity. Therefore, in order for a nasal explosion to occur, you should not remove the complete obstruction until you are ready to articulate the subsequent sound.

Stop making this

Combination of sonants with other consonants

Three sonants, which are combined with a noisy consonant sound, are capable of forming a syllable. That is why they are called sonants. It is worth noting that these sounds are not always able to form a syllable, but only in those cases when they are located in a final position out of stress after a noisy consonant sound or with a previous silent vowel sound that follows a noisy consonant.

Other sonorant sounds (such as) are not sonants, since they are not able to form syllables (even the sound [N], which is equal in duration to a sonant). This sound can only be articulated with the vowel sound that forms the syllable. And the sound [j] is pronounced only with a subsequent consonant sound, creating a syllable. The letter combinations wr and wh are always pronounced as a single consonant sound - [w], [h] or [r] - and each forms a syllable with only the following vowel sound. Examples:

Combination of plosive consonants with lateral sonant [l]

The combination of nasal and plosive consonants provides a path for airflow, which disappears when the obstruction of the first sound disappears through the nasal cavity. The same process can occur when combining the sounds kl, gl, pl, bl, tl and dl. After the first sound is pronounced, the obstacle has not yet closed, but the speech apparatus is already completely ready for the articulation of the sound [l]. After this, the obstacle opens and the air flow passes along the gap that has appeared between the tongue and the palate. This process is also called longitudinal explosion. After aspirating a voiceless consonant, the sound [l] is muffled, but only partially.

Muted:

Not muted:

In addition, combinations of sounds and in the position before stressed vowel sounds are pronounced together:

Semantic segments in a sentence

If a sentence is long enough, then a person simply physically cannot speak it in one breath, which is why it is divided into parts - the so-called semantic segments. A certain semantic segment can consist of one or several words, a simple common clause or a subordinate clause.

For example, take the sentence “This is the picture that Erica painted.” This sentence can have only two semantic parts - “This is a picture” and “which Erica painted” (subordinate clause). But if we begin to divide each semantic group into further segments, then this may violate the entire meaning of this sentence. It should be noted that dividing any sentence into segments directly depends on the speed at which we pronounce it. If we say “This is the picture Erica painted” quickly enough, then there will be absolutely no need to divide it into segments.

At the border of two semantic groups there are pauses, which also play an important role. To graphically display such pauses, special icons | are used, which are placed after the last word of the semantic segment.

We all remember the Soviet cartoon and the phrase “You can’t pour water on soup.” In this sentence, a semantic pause can be placed both after the word “impossible” and after the word “soup”. And the difference between these two proposals will be simply huge!

Pour over soup | cannot be watered.

You can't pour soup on | water.

Separating semantic groups in writing is done using commas, but this does not happen in all cases. This is especially true for the English language, where the placement of punctuation marks follows completely different laws.

Sounds in English

Vowel sounds

Pronunciation of vowel sounds in English

The good news is that the English language only has six vowels. But these six letters can convey as many as twenty-two vowel sounds (this is not such good news, but there is still a chance to learn them). All sounds of the English language, in particular vowels, differ significantly from the sounds of the Russian language. And if consonant sounds determine how well English-speaking citizens will understand you, then vowel sounds will tell them about the speaker's accent (British, American, etc.). Our person, speaking Russian, is not able to hear the obvious difference between vowel sounds precisely because there are no analogues in his native language. In order to pronounce them correctly, you need to additionally train your articulatory apparatus - repeat these same sounds many times. It is quite difficult for an ordinary person to distinguish these sounds by ear, therefore, first of all, it is necessary to learn how to pronounce them correctly. In principle, this is where learning English begins.

Basic rules for correct pronunciation of English sounds:

Correct articulation is needed, that is, the correct position of the organs of the articulatory apparatus and their specific movements;

If the articulation is correct, then you need to correctly pronounce this or that sound. It is recommended to do this by checking your pronunciation with speech standards;

You need to repeat it until you get it right. The most important thing here is training;

If it doesn’t work out, train some more!

English sound [i:]. Pronunciation

In English, this sound is considered a diphthongized monophthong (a rather complex name). This is a long vowel sound.

The length of the sound is a very important detail of pronunciation, since an English-speaking person can easily determine how long the sound you are pronouncing is. In addition, it is the length of the vowel sound that can radically change the semantic meaning of a word (both for the listener and for the speaker).

The articulation of this sound can be explained approximately as follows: the sound originates in the depths of the mouth, and then moves from there forward and slightly upward. In other words, a sound consists of two similar (but by no means identical) sounds, smoothly flowing from one sound to another. At the end of the articulation of the sound, the middle of the tongue rises high.

If we draw an analogy with the Russian language, then this sound is very reminiscent of our “I”:

In writing, this sound is conveyed by the letter “E” if it is followed by a consonant sound, and then by a silent “e”; also - using a combination of letters ea, ee, ei, ie. There is one exception - key - [ki:].

English sound [i]. Pronunciation

This sound of the English language is pronounced briefly, easily and abruptly, without any tension. The position of the tongue during articulation is almost the same as in the case of the sound [i:], only the lips are somewhat stretched and almost passive. In the position before the consonant sounds [m, n, l], this sound becomes slightly longer, and in the position before the voiceless consonant sounds it is pronounced very briefly.

[kritik] - critic

Designation of the sound [i] in writing:

The letter "I" if it is followed by one or more consonants.

kiss, sit, kid, big.

The sound “E”, which is in an unstressed position in a word.

English sound [e]. Pronunciation

When articulating this sound, the mouth is slightly open, the lips are slightly stretched or completely passive, most of the tongue is moved to the front of the mouth, and its tip is located near the lower teeth. All consonants that are in position before a given sound are never softened.

text - [ text ]

In writing, this sound is denoted by the letter “E,” but only in cases where it is followed by one or more consonant sounds.

English sound [æ]. Pronunciation

In English, the sound [æ] is more open than the previous sound [e]. When articulating this sound, the middle lobe of the tongue is slightly raised, the lower jaw is lowered, the lips are completely neutral, and the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth. All consonants that are in a word before a given sound are never softened.

If we compare this sound with the Russian alphabet, then we simply do not have an analogue.

lamp - [læmp]

plan - [plæn]

The sound [æ] is represented in writing using the letter “A”, which is read as [æ] only in cases where it is followed by one or more consonant sounds.

Differences in pronunciation between the sounds [æ] and [e]

Despite the fact that both these sounds are short, the difference in their pronunciation lies precisely in the degree of openness. For example, the sound [æ] is a very short sound, during the articulation of which the tongue is positioned in such a way that it is as flat as possible, while the lower jaw is dropped quite low. On the contrary, when articulating the vowel sound [e], the jaw is practically not lowered, the jaw moves right up to the base of the lower teeth, and the lips are somewhat stretched.

Englishsound[ʌ]. Pronunciation

This English sound is short. When it is articulated, the tongue is in almost the same position as when silent, but its middle lobe is slightly raised and touches the soft palate. In this case, the lips compress slightly, and the distance between the jaws is quite large.

Due to the fact that this sound is truncated, it is pronounced with some tension.

The consonant sound [ʌ] is expressed in writing in several ways:

Using the letter u, followed by one or more consonants;

Using the letter o, the consonants v, th, m, n.

English sound [a:]. Pronunciation

This sound of the English language is open, drawn-out. When it is articulated, the tongue is somewhat pulled away from the teeth and is located low in the mouth, its root is pressed (just as during a medical examination by a doctor). The mouth is slightly open and the lips are passive.

spark - [ spa:k ]

after - [a:ftə]

In writing, this sound is conveyed in several ways:

Using a combination of letters a and r;

Also by using the letter a placed before nt, th and f;

Using the combination a-s - any consonant sound.

The only exception in this case is the word "aunt".

English sound [o]. Pronunciation

This English sound is short and open. When articulating, the upper lip is slightly raised and the lower lip touches the teeth. In this case, the lower jaw drops strongly down, the tongue is located low in the mouth, and its tip is located at some distance from the teeth.

In order to learn how to pronounce this sound correctly, you need to open your mouth in the same way as when articulating the vowel sound [A], but your lips are slightly rounded.

office - [ɔfis]

The English sound is [ɔ:]. Pronunciation

When articulating this sound, the lips are very rounded, but, unlike the pronunciation of the Russian sound O, they are not stretched at all. In this case, the root of the tongue is pressed down, and the tip of the tongue is located at some distance from the teeth. The lower jaw drops.

This sound is pronounced protractedly.

horn - [hɔ:n]

already - [ ɔ:redi ]

English sound [u]. Pronunciation

This English consonant is short. When articulated, the lips are slightly rounded, and the tip of the tongue is somewhat lowered and distant from the teeth. The tongue is pulled back, and its posterior lobe touches the soft palate, but not as far or high as when pronouncing the Russian sound U.

This sound must be pronounced briefly, without any tension.

Englishsound[u:]. Pronunciation

This English sound is considered a diphthong. Its articulation differs at different stages of pronunciation: the beginning of the sound is more open than its end. When pronouncing, the tongue moves slightly back, rising upward. When the articulation of sound ends, the tongue is at the very top, touching the soft palate, and the lips are slightly rounded, but not at all elongated.

This sound should be pronounced tensely and drawn out.

goose - [gu:s]

The English sound is [ə:]. Pronunciation

When articulating this sound, the entire tongue is slightly raised, its surface is flat, the lips are tense and somewhat stretched. In this case, the teeth are exposed, and the distance between the jaws is quite small.

This sound is pronounced without much tension.

It should be noted that the British pronounce this sound (or a sound as close as possible to it) in cases where they do not know what to say.

girl - [gə:l]

bird - [bə:d]

The sound [ə:] is expressed in writing in several ways:

Using the vowels u, y, e and i when followed by the consonant r;

Using a combination of ear and consonant sound.

The English sound is [ə]. Pronunciation

In English (as well as in Russian), vowel sounds are somewhat shortened in an unstressed position. This sound cannot be pronounced correctly separately from other sounds, since it is always outside the stress.

In order to avoid mistakes when pronouncing it, you must constantly concentrate on the stressed vowel sound.

letter - [letə]

paper - [peipə]

Englishsound[ei]. Pronunciation

This sound is also a diphthong and combines two different sounds - [i] and [e]. The entire sound is pronounced completely together, without any pauses. The main element of sound (also called the core) [e] is always in the stressed position. The second part (or slide) is always in a weak position.

table - [teibl]

English sound [ai]. Pronunciation

This sound is a diphthong. When articulating the first element of this sound - [a] - the tongue rests on the lower teeth, it is located quite low in the oral cavity. At the same time, both its anterior and posterior parts rise to the hard palate.

In writing, the sound [ai] can be expressed in several ways:

Using the letter i, if followed by a consonant, and then a silent e;

Using the sound y, located at the end of a monosyllabic word (then it is read as [ai]);

Before combinations of the letters gh, nd and ld, the sound і is also read as [ai].

English sound [ɔi]. Pronunciation

This is a diphthongized sound of the English language. It combines two elements - [i] and [o]. When articulated, the lips are in a neutral position. The most important point in this case is that the first element of the sound should be pronounced without any participation of the lips, and the second element turned into a kind of Russian Y.

voice - [vɔis]

poison - [pɔizn]

Using the combination of letters oi;

Using the combination of letters oy.

English sound [au]. Pronunciation

This sound combines two elements - [a] and [u]. When articulating the first element, the front part of the tongue rests on the lower teeth, and the tongue is located very low in the mouth (while its front and back parts are raised towards the palate). As for the sound [u], it is pronounced somewhat indistinctly.

brown - [braun]

There are several options for transmitting this sound in writing:

Using the combination of letters ou;

Using a combination of letters ow.

In this case, the only exceptions are the words country and cousin.

The English sound is [uə]. Pronunciation

This sound also consists of two different elements. When articulating this sound, the lips are slightly rounded, but in no way stretched.

The second element is pronounced somewhat indistinctly.

There is also another variety of this sound - [juə], in which the sound [j] is pronounced like the Russian “th”.

cruel - [kruəl]

surely - [ʃuəli]

usually - [ju:ʒuəli]

Englishsound[iə]. Pronunciation

This English sound, like some previous ones, consists of two different elements. It is necessary to know that any consonant sound in front of it is never softened.

appear - [əpiə]

There are several options for transmitting this sound in written form:

Using the letter e followed by an r and then a vowel;

Using the combination of letters ear;

Using the letter combination eer.

The English sound is [ɛə]. Pronunciation

This English sound is also considered a diphthong, that is, it combines two different sounds. In this sound, the open sound [e] transitions quite smoothly into its neutral version.

were - [wɛə]

staircase - [stɛəkeis]

There are several options for rendering this diphthong in writing:

Using the combination of letters a+r+e;

Using the combination of letters air;

Using a combination of letters eir, but exclusively in one word - their.

Consonants

English sound [m]. Pronunciation

The articulation of this sound is very close to the Russian sound M, but there is one difference: when pronouncing the English sound, the lips are closed somewhat more tightly.

It belongs to stop consonants, since during its articulation the organs of the speech apparatus close and then open.

English sounds [p, b]. Pronunciation

The sound of these consonants is very similar to the sound of the Russian sounds B and P, but the difference between them is that the English versions are pronounced with some aspiration. In other words, during articulation, the lips are first in a closed position and then suddenly open.

It should also be noted that the combination of letters ph is often read as [f].

photo - [ `foutou ]

English sound [f]. Pronunciation

If we compare this sound with the Russian F, it is pronounced somewhat more energetically. Refers to the stop consonants of the English language.

photo - [ `foutou ].

English sound [v]. Pronunciation

This sound is pronounced in the same way as the Russian B, but has one difference: when articulating at the end of the sound, deafening does not occur. Also refers to stop consonants.

English sounds [t, d]. Pronunciation

The articulation of these sounds also resembles the articulation of the Russian consonants T and D, but the difference between them is that the English sounds are pronounced with some aspiration. In addition, these sounds are never softened in position before a vowel or at the end of a word. It should also be mentioned that the unvoiced sound [t] both at the beginning and at the end of a word is pronounced more energetically.

English consonants [n, l, s, z]. Pronunciation

The articulation of these sounds is practically no different from the articulation of their Russian variants. When pronouncing, the upper part of the tongue rises to the alveoli, and the air flow passes between them.

visit - ["visit]

It is also necessary to mention that there are several options for transmitting sounds [s, z] in writing:

Using the letters Ss or Zz;

Using the combination of letters ss;

Using the letters Cc in position before some vowels.

English sound [w]. Pronunciation

The articulation of this English sound is reminiscent of the Russian sound U, but differs in that the lips are somewhat rounded and move forward slightly.

Eg:

English sound [θ]. Pronunciation

This sound has no corresponding analogue in our language. This sound is dull. When articulating, the tongue completely relaxes, and its front part, in combination with the tips of the teeth, creates a narrow gap, slightly pressing against each other. The exhaled air passes strongly through this gap. In this case, the tip of the tongue should not protrude beyond the upper teeth or touch them too tightly, since a completely different sound may be obtained - [t]. The teeth should be exposed, in particular the upper ones, but the lower lip should not touch them.

thick - [θik]

Timothy - [timəθi]

There is only one option for displaying this sound in written form - using a combination of letters th:

In some pronouns;

At the end of a word in the position before the letter e;

Also, if this sound at the end of a numeral forms ordinal numbers.

English sound [ð]. Pronunciation

The articulation of this sound is very similar to the articulation of the previous sound [θ] - all organs of the articulatory apparatus occupy approximately the same position. The only difference can be considered that the sound [ð] is voiced.

When pronouncing this sound, you should remember that the lips are in no way obliged to touch.

Just like the previous one, this sound is displayed in written form using a combination of letters th:

In the article the;

In some pronouns.

Difference in pronunciation between the sounds [θ] - [s] - [t]

Due to the fact that in our language there is no such sound as [θ], some are trying to replace it with [s] or [t], which can lead to a complete change in the semantics of the word. After all, [θ] is interdental, that is, during its articulation, the front part of the tongue is located between the teeth. The vowels [t, s], on the contrary, are alveolar.

sick - [sik] and thick - [θik]