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 Quest
for
Playful Pronunciation
Practice
The 44 sounds of English English, one at a time |
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Page Contents |
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Phonetic
Fonts The 20
Vocalic and Diphthongal Sounds |
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The 24
Consonantal Sounds Problem
Sounds for Japanese Learners |
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| IPA-SAM Phonetic
Fonts |
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To view this page correctly in Microsoft
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to install the pronunciation symbols of the International Phonetics
Association (IPA) on your computer. The IPA-SAM Sophia TrueType
fonts used are kindly made available free of
charge by the Department of Phonetics and Linguistics at University
College London (UCL).
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| The 20
Vocalic and Diphthongal Sounds |
A
{
aI
aU
e
eI
e@
I
i:
I@
Q
@U
O:
OI
U
u:
U@
3:
V
@
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| Sound |
Examples |
Audio |
| /A
/ |
Famous stars smoke cigars
in cars and bars! |
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| /{/ |
That fat cat sat
on a rat. Now it's flat
as a mat! |
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| /aI/ |
Mike
likes bikes
with spikes to ride
on ice. |
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| /aU/ |
I doubt
he'll clout the lout
who stole his trout. He'll shout
out loud! |
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| /e/ |
The clever never
ever say "Never
ever!". |
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| /eI/ |
If there's a delay,
they pay
to stay another day. |
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| /e@/ |
They dare to stare at fair hair because it's
rare there.
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| /I
/ |
If the stick
isn't thick, you'll split
it when you hit
it.
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| /i:/ |
Don't freeze the cheese, please, Louise! |
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| /I@/ |
It's clear
the beer is dear
here! |
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| /Q/ |
Doctor
Oscar often
operates on
opposition politicians. |
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| /@U/ |
Joan won't go
home to Rome by boat
alone.
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| /O:/ |
She caught her daughter
in the water with a naughty
boy. |
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| /OI/ |
The noise from Roy's toys annoys other boys.
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| /U/ |
The cook
shook when he took
a look at the cook
book. |
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| /u:/ |
Whose
two new
blue shoes
did Sue lose? |
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| /U@/ |
If the water on the tour isn't pure,
you can't be sure
there'll be a cure! |
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| /3:/ |
Bert
wasn't hurt but got dirt
on his shirt. |
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| /V/ |
If mother had another brother, I'd have another
uncle.
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| /@/ |
A moment
ago he announced
a new address. |
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| The 24
Consonantal Sounds |
b
p d
t dZ
tS D
T v
f g
k z
s Z
S h
j l
m n
N r
w
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| Sound |
Examples |
Audio |
| /b/ |
Barry's
barrel of beer was a
better buy than
Bob's bargain
bottles.
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| /p/ |
Pete
persuaded Pam to
pick up
Paula's parcel at the
post office. |
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| /d/ |
Dad
does detest
dealing with dogs'
droppings in the driveway.
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| /t/ |
Toddlers'
toilet training
takes time. |
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| /dZ/ |
Jolting
gelignite is generally
jolly dangerous! |
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| /tS/ |
Charles
said cherries, cheese
and chocolate are
cheap in
China. |
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| /D/ |
It's the weather
there that bothers
them.
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| /T/ |
A thirsty
thief thanked
Theo for his thermos.
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| /v/ |
Vera
values the variety of
vitamins in vegetables. |
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| /f/ |
Inefficient
farmers fear
future foreign
food imports.
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| /g/ |
The giggling
girls gradually
got a grip on themselves.
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| /k/ |
Cairo
kids quickly
catch colds in
Canada. |
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| /z/ |
The zippy
Zaire zebra
zigzagged
through the Zurich zoo.
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| /s/ |
Super
salesmen soon
succeed in
selling something. |
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| /Z/ |
We should treasure
leisure for its immeasurable
pleasure! |
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| /S/ |
She
showed the shy
shogun a Shinto
shrine.
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| /h/ |
When Helen
had Harry,
her husband
hurried her to
hospital.
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| /j/ |
You
used your
yellow uniform
yesterday.
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| /l/ |
Larry
lured lots of
lovely ladies
to his lair. |
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| /m/ |
Most
managers make
much more
money than me.
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| /n/ |
I'll naturally
never know
Naples like my Neapolitan
neighbour.
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| /N/ |
Karaoke king Bing sang a long song in
Hong Kong. |
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| /r/ |
Ronald
Reagan wrecked his
red Rolls
Royce. |
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| /w/ |
We await snowy
winter weather
without warm
winds.
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| Problem
Sounds for Japanese Learners |
The
Japanese language has roughly half as many sounds as English, but this
doesn't prevent it from eagerly soaking up vast quantities of western
words and expressions. This process is uniquely facilitated by the
existence of the katakana
phonetic script, which basically compresses foreign words into the same
limited range of sounds available for native ones. The Japanese themselves
think that this system is very smart. The downside is that school children
face an almost impossible task unlearning it when approaching real English
in the classroom. They fail to distinguish between the separate English
sounds in, for example, birth, bus and bath — all of
which for their convenience are similarly transcribed in the katakana
syllabary.
After more than a decade of teaching
English in Japan, I have come up with the following series of contrastive
sounds that Japanese speakers really need to learn to tell apart if they
are to avoid comprehension difficulties with English speakers unfamiliar
with Japanese.
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| Sound |
Examples |
Audio |
| /A
/ |
Be fast to be first!
The firm farmer
ran his farm like a firm.
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| /3:/ |
| /eI/ |
That lazy
lady is never
ready! |
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| /e/ |
| /@U/ |
Polish
polish is popular in Poland.
We won't want
it!
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| /Q/ |
| /i:/ |
He's
his own boss. The wheel will come off.
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| /I
/ |
| /Q/ |
He plays golf by the gulf but he's not a
nut.
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| /V/ |
| /O:/ |
Grandma
was born at home. Bowling isn't boring!
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| /@U/ |
| /O:/ |
All over Turkey I talked to Turks who
walked to work. |
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| /3:/ |
| /V/ |
My uncle's ankles
give him trouble when he travels.
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| /{/ |
| /b/ |
This berry's very sweet. Rival rebel
gangs. Travel troubles.
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| /v/ |
| /r/ |
Jerry really likes cherry jelly. A
pleasant present. Arrive alive!
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| /l/ |
| /s/ |
Sue's shoes. It isn't selfish to sell
fish or shellfish. |
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| /S/ |
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