E P Tips

English Pronunciation Tips

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    • Transcription 1
  • Vowels
    • No schwa!
    • Vowel alternation: aɪ ~ ɪ
    • Vowel alternation: eɪ ~ æ
    • Vowel alternation: iː ~ e
    • Vowel alternation: əʊ ~ ɒ
    • ə elision in the first syllable
  • Word endings
    • -(m)ony = (m)əni
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    • -age = ɑːʒ
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    • -eous
    • -et
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    • -gm
    • -i = aɪ
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    • -ite = ɪt
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    • -our = aʊə
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    • -ture
    • -ward(s)
    • Non-silent <e>

Ear-training 4

http://blogjam.name/EPTips/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/jack.mp3
Alternative sound

In the days of King Alfred, there lived a poor woman, whose cottage was in a remote country village, many miles from London. She had been a widow some years, and had an only child named Jack.

This ear-training exercise is a bit more advanced. Above there is the sound recording and the text of the first two sentences of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. Try to make a phonetic transcription of the passage as pronounced by the speaker, Lynne Thompson. Then you can compare your version with mine by clicking on the show link below. My version has stress markings.

With thanks to Lynne Thompson and Librivox.

show

ɪn ðə ˈdeɪz əv kɪŋ ˈælfr(ɪ)1(r)d | ðeə lɪvd ə ˈpɔː ˈwʊmən | huːz ˈkɒtɪdʒ | wəz ɪn ə rɪˈməʊt kʌntri ˈvɪlɪdʒ | ˈmeni ˈmaɪlz | fr2əm ˈlʌndən | ˈʃiː həd3 biːn ə ˈwɪdəʊ | sʌm ˈjɪəz | æ4nd ˈhæd ən ˈəʊnli ˈtʃaɪld | neɪmd5 ˈdʒæk

Notes:

    1. It’s pretty hard to tell if this vowel is ɪ or ə.
    2. A very lightly pronounced r, if it’s there at all.
    3. Very hard to tell if the final consonant is d or b.
    4. A slight false start here and it isn’t clear whether she says ænd or ənd.
    5. The following dʒ makes it difficult to hear if there is a d at the end of named or not.

The diphthongs in there and years are not very diphthongal and sound quite like ɛː and ɪː respectively.  This is very common nowadays.


2013_09_27

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