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

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

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

Studying English, you will constantly be something, and soon you will learn to correlate letter designations and sounds without thinking, automatically. Don't 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 that 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 than they are written, that is, it is not always possible to guess how it is pronounced from the spelling of a word. As linguists joke: “We write Manchester, but we read Liverpool.”

In the history of many languages, the following pattern can be traced: the phonetic structure becomes more complicated, while 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 similarly, but over time this discrepancy became more and more, the situation was aggravated by the variety of dialects, and now we are already in words though, thought and through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.

No one is in a hurry to reform English spelling, there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language no longer has 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, meeting resistance among a significant part of native speakers. Much easier to leave as is.

What is transcription and why is it needed?

Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. It should not be feared or avoided, because it is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great to save time and help 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 out a new word that comes across in the text, you must definitely look at its transcription and / or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then you will not be understood.

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 English words Russian letters” - that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn tricky badges if can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from 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 the help of 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 fully load, then click on the desired sound.

Please note that in 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 and short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
• accent icon- if a word is transcribed, in which there is more than one syllable, stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (a comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.

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

In English phonetics, there are no such concepts as softness / hardness of consonants, but there is a 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 (diphthogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
• consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as whole sounds.

Table of English sounds with examples and cards

Having studied how English sounds are pronounced separately, 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 sound as part of a word, and not separately.

In the tables below, all sounds are given with example words. With the help of 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 detailed description how to press the tongue against the palate 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 it on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide the upper teeth on the lower lip” and be able to perform this action.
2. Practical- listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier that way. You simply repeat after the speaker, trying to imitate the sound as closely as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all the movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should control, but you can just record yourself on a webcam and watch from the side.

If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the Video Puzzle exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down 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 the video, and then collect sentences from words.

Detailed overview of this service:

In addition, for practical exercises, various kind people There are many videos available on YouTube. For example, in these two videos, the sounds of English speech in American and British versions are analyzed in detail:

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

You should not, having started studying English, strive to achieve a “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the above are, as it were, “generalized” British and American variants), 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 such a way that 1) it is clear, 2) it does not hurt your hearing 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 that, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and types of syllable can be read nine different ways, and there are 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 it.

If you look in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics, by different authors can be told in different ways with varying degrees of immersion in details. I think that it makes no sense to delve into the wilds of phonetic science (you can dive there indefinitely), but the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is English reading rules for children.

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

What is open and closed syllable?

In English, an open syllable and a closed one are distinguished, it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

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

The syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, while ending in a consonant,
• after a vowel there are two or more consonants.

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

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 on 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, a combination of "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 “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:] – combined with “ir”	first, girl, bird
i – combined with “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 accord.	say, books, six
S [z] - at the end of words after ch. and voiced accord.	days, beds
S [ʃ] - combined with sh	shop, ship
Reading the letter "T"
T [t] - except for combinations of 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 the word	sing, bring, king
G [ŋg] - combined ng in the middle of a word	strongest

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, intimidating even. Among them are some of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph reads like [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th reads like [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds are not in Russian, their pronunciation requires some training. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of the word reads like [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 sh combination reads like [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y reads like [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y reads: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch reads like: 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. It can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

How to remember the rules of reading?

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, they need to be able to use. But how can you use what you do not know? How else can you! Through 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:

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

Study of any foreign language, especially English, involves a well-built system. Each element determines the degree of language acquisition. And therein lies A complex approach. It is important to understand: English phonetics is one of the main categories of linguistics. Therefore, her role is significant.

English phonetics

Features of intonation

The falling tone plays an important role in imperative and narrative sentences. Therefore, in business and everyday speech, all affirmative sentences always fall into a lower tone of voice. A rising tone indicates doubt or uncertainty. Yes, and when transferring it is also used. But unlike the Russian rising tone, English raises intonation at the end of a sentence. This is the distinguishing feature.

Rhythm characteristic

Generally, English phonetics is such that stressed syllables occur in most cases at regular intervals. And when unstressed syllables are in smaller numbers than stressed ones, they require faster pronunciation.

Types of stress

There are three types of them in English.

1. Word stress implies emphasis on the desired syllable.
2. Phrasal stress involves the emphasis in the voice of the whole word in comparison with other words in the sentence.
3. Logical stresses are a kind of markers: they emphasize especially important words that do not have the usual stress.

Each type of stress must be correctly used.

What for?

In general, everything related to the study of a language should be studied without unnecessary questions, because over the years rules have been formed that form systems.

Understanding. Of course, common sense can somehow be understood without stress. But still, the subtleties of speech, such as irony, sarcasm, hidden hints will be impossible to understand. This will affect the perception of incoming information.

An indicator of the culture of speech. Proficiency in such a branch of linguistics as English phonetics is the most important moment. Correct pronunciation allows you to show your abilities. Of course, it’s not worth “manipulating” but it’s important to use words correctly.

Thanks to the study of phonetics, you can master classical English. But in England there are special dialects reminiscent of our dialectisms. Mastering them (if necessary) is much easier if you know the base.

Also, the study of the phonetic structure plays the role of a memory factor. Words and expressions are much easier to remember if you pay attention to their sound. The "musical" shell helps in this matter. What is confirmed by practice.

Outcome

If the priorities are professional language learning, the ability to understand and correctly express thoughts, then phonetics as a section of the language plays a fundamental role in this aspect. Therefore, it is important to responsibly and systematically approach the study of the phonetic structure of the English language.

Transcription- this is a written representation of the sounds of a language using special signs, with the aim of accurately conveying pronunciation. International transcription is used as the main one. With its help, you can record the sound of any word, regardless of whether it belongs to any language.

International phonetic alphabet(English) International Phonetic Alphabet, abbr. IPA; fr. Alphabet phonetique international, abbr. API) is a sign system for recording transcription based on the Latin alphabet. Developed and maintained by the IPA International Phonetic Association. The characters for the IPA were chosen to be in harmony with the Latin alphabet. Therefore, most characters are letters of the Latin and Greek alphabets or their modifications. Many British dictionaries, including educational dictionaries, such as Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, now use the international phonetic alphabet to convey the pronunciation of words. However, most American publications (and some British ones) use their own designations, which are considered more intuitive for readers unfamiliar with the IPA.
The colon after the sign means that the sound is long and needs to be pronounced a little longer. In English dictionaries, there are two types of stress, primary and secondary, and both are placed before the stressed syllable. In transcription, the main emphasis is placed at the top - [... ʹ ...] and the secondary at the bottom [... ͵ ...]. Both types of stress are used in polysyllabic and compound words. It is also worth mentioning that there are rules under which some sounds and letters are not pronounced. In transcription, they are placed in parentheses - [.. (..) ..].

Transcription marks

used in the proposed dictionaries and articles with pronunciation examples

Vowel sounds
	close to the harness and in the word and wa	f ee l
[ı]	close to short and in the word and gla	f i ll
[e]	The transcription mark is similar to uh in the word this is	f e ll
[æ]	- middle between a and uh. Open your mouth for pronunciation a try to pronounce uh.	c a t
[ɑ:]	long sound ah:d ah th	c a rt
[ɒ]	Brief about in the word t about t	c o t
[ɔ:]	Reminds me of a drawn out about in the word P about lono	f a ll
[ɜ:]	Long sound, middle between about and: uh... Reminds yo in the word G yo those	c u rt
[ə]	Short, obscure, unstressed sound. In Russian, it is heard in unstressed syllables: five room a t	b a nan a
[ʌ]	Close to unstressed a in the word to a mouse.In English, it is usually stressed	c u t
[ʋ]	close to sound at in the word t at t	f u ll
	close to sound at, pronounced at length: at-smart	f oo l
	Close to Russian ah in the word B ah feces	f i le
	her in the word w her ka	f ai l
[ɔı]	oh in the word b oh nya	f oi l
	ay in the word P ay per	f ou l
[əʋ]		f oa l
[ıə]	Combination [ı] and [ə] with an accent on [ı]. Approximately Ie	t ie r
[ʋə]	Combination [ʋ] and [ə] with accent on [ʋ] Approximately ue	t ou r
	The first element of the combination is close to uh in the word uh that. It is followed by a faint sound [ə] . The combination is roughly pronounced Ea	t ea r

resp. Russian P

Consonants
[p]	p ier
[t]	resp. Russian t	t ier
[b]	resp. Russian b	b eer
[d]	resp. Russian d	d eer
[m]	resp. Russian m	m ere
[n]	resp. Russian n	n ear
[k]	resp. Russian to	ba k e
[l]	resp. Russian l	l eer
[g]	resp. Russian G	g ear
[f]	resp. Russian f	f ear
[v]	resp. Russian in	v eer
[s]	resp. Russian With	ba s e
[z]	resp. Russian h	Bai z e
[ʃ]	resp. Russian w	sh eer [ʃıə]
[ʒ]	resp. Russian and	bei g e
	resp. Russian h	ch eer
	resp. Russian j	j eer
[r]	matches the sound R in the word and R ebay	r ear
[h]	exhalation, resembling a weakly pronounced sound X	h ear
[j]	sounds like Russian th before vowels: New Y orc, if[yesli]. Occurs in combination with vowels.	y ear
	long Yu in the word Yu zhny
	e in the word e eh
	e in the word yo lka
	I in the word I ma

The following consonants do not even have approximate equivalents in Russian
[w]	sound in uttered with the same lips. In translation, it is denoted by letters in or at: W illiams At Ilyame, AT Ilyame	w eir
[ŋ]	Open your mouth and say n without closing your mouth	wro ng
[θ]	Pull out the slightly flattened tip of the tongue between the teeth and say Russian With	wra th
[ð]	With the same position of the tongue, say h.	th is [ðıs]

in site documents and dictionary entries is used as a new version of the international transcription of the English language, that is, the one that has become widespread recently and the old version. Both transcription options differ only in the outline of some sounds.

Changes in the new transcription variant

old form	For example	New form
	f ee l
[i]	f i ll	[ı]
[e]	f e ll	[e]
[ɔ:]	f a ll	[ɔ:]
[u]	f u ll	[ʋ]
	f oo l
	f ai l
	f oa l	[əʋ]
	f i le
	f ou l
[ɔi]	f oi l	[ɔı]
[æ]	c a t	[æ]
[ɔ]	c o t	[ɒ]
[ʌ]	c u t	[ʌ]
[ə:]	c u rt	[ɜ:]
[ɑ:]	c a rt	[ɑ:]
	t ie r	[ıə]
[ɛə]	t ea r
	t ou r	[ʋə]
[ə]	b a nan a	[ə]

Consists of 26 letters, among which 20 are consonants, 5 are vowels, and the letter Y can denote both consonant and vowel sounds. Due to the fact that in English there are more sounds than letters, the same letter or combination of letters can convey completely different sounds. But it can also be the other way around. One sound per letter can be represented different letters or a combination of letters. For this reason, phonetic transcription is used, where each character conveys only one sound.

It is believed that one of the most difficult spellings to learn is English spelling. This is due to the fact that the letter a large number of words contain letters that are not pronounced when read. And vice versa. Many sounds that are pronounced do not have graphic equivalents. There are many exceptions to the reading rules. And in fact, English learners are forced to memorize the spelling and reading of almost all new English words. That is why dictionaries indicate the transcription of each word.

In order to successfully study English phonetics, it is necessary to solder the main differences between the phonetic systems of English and Russian.

1. Both in Russian and in English, consonants are divided into voiced and deaf. At the same time, both in English and in Russian, the sign of sonority-deafness of consonants is a semantic difference. For example, in Russian: vase - phase, was - ardor, goat - braid. In English, the following examples can be given: - get up, - rice; - premium, - price; - bride, - bright.

Another important difference is that in English, voiced consonants at the end of a word are not stunned. See for yourself. In the following words, we see the deaf pronunciation of the final consonant: garden [sat], knife [burden], oak [dup]. In English, the situation is different. In the following words, we see the voiced pronunciation of the final consonant: road - road. please - please. move - move.

2. There is no phonetic category of hardness - softness, which is one of the main ones in the Russian language. The phonetic category of hardness - softness performs a meaningful function in Russian. For example: was - beat, knead - mother, take - brother. There is no such thing in English. In contrast, soft consonants are completely absent from English.

3. There are sounds in English that are not in Russian at all. These are sounds [h], [w], nasal [ŋ]. It is very important to learn how to pronounce them correctly.

4. When pronouncing English vowels, lips take much less part than when pronouncing similar vowels in Russian. When learning a language, you should not make unnecessary movements with your lips.

5. There are diphthongs in English. For example: , , . Diphthongs are a combination of two vowel sounds that are pronounced together as a single sound. The first part of these sounds is always articulated more strongly. Since there are no diphthongs in Russian, when learning English, you need to pay attention to their pronunciation. Diphthongs must be pronounced together in one syllable.

6. There are short and long vowels in English, which is not in Russian. It is important to understand that the brevity and longitude of English vowels have a semantic difference. Here are a few examples: beet - beets, bit - a piece; leave - leave, live - live.

Stress in English.

Both in Russian and in English, the stressed syllable is present in all polysyllabic words. The stressed syllable is pronounced with more duration and force than the others. In English, as in Russian, stress can fall on any syllable (at the end, middle or beginning of a word). However, in transcription, stress is not denoted in the same way as in Russian. In Russian, stress is indicated above the stressed syllable. For example, water [vadaˆ]. In English, stress is indicated before the stressed syllable. For example, again [əˈgen].

Intonation in English

In English, as well as in Russian, there are ascending and descending tones of intonation. However, there significant differences in their use.

1. Declarative sentences use a falling tone in both languages. For example: He is a driver. He is a driver.

2. The falling tone is used in English and in some interrogative sentences. We are talking about sentences where there are interrogative words: what? (what? what?), who? (who?), where? (where?), etc. For example: Who is this? Who is it? In Russian, such sentences use a rising tone.

3. In interrogative sentences where there is no interrogative word, an ascending tone is used in both languages. But there is small feature. In Russian, after a sharp rise in tone, there is a sharp fall. In English, a smoother rising tone is used without it falling. For example: Is Steve English? Is Steve English?

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

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

Theoretical phonetics of the English language explores the close relationship between oral, internal and written speech. But phonetics as a whole explores not only the language 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 the practical phonetics of the English language. It is not by chance that we mention the theoretical and practical components. The thing is, sounds as intangible phenomena are those elements of the language system that allow you to translate words and sentences into a material sound form. Otherwise, oral communication would be impossible. That is the importance of English phonetics and that is why we have devoted 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 very handy tool to understand how English sounds.

Transcriptions are special characters that indicate how to pronounce speech sounds. Transcription helps to understand the difference between spelling and pronunciation in English.

As we have already said, there are 48 sounds in the English language. So, 48 characters were created English transcription- one sign 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 in a certain way, but sometimes two letters at once denote 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]
• ch - 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 correct skills. English pronunciation words and sentences. In addition, the practical phonetics of the English language helps to hear and understand the speech of its native speakers.

In practice, we all feel how, during the pronunciation of sounds, the air meets barriers formed by our tongue, lips, teeth, and even alveoli. Depending on this, two types of consonants are distinguished: deaf and voiced:

But that's not all the options. A more detailed classification distinguishes consonant sounds in English according to the specific barriers that the air meets:

• Stop consonants. The organs of speech close in such a way 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].
• fricative 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-fricative consonants. The barrier opens slowly and at the same time passes into the gap: [tʃ, dʒ].
• labial consonants. The lower lip approaches the upper one: [f, v].
• Interdental consonants. The tip of the tongue is 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 the vowel sounds, they are also not the same. They are affected by different positions of the tongue relative to the palate:

• Front vowels. The tip of the tongue rests against 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 to 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 pronounce it correctly. Well, for children, it is desirable to combine the study of English phonetics with the game. For example, as in this phonetics exercise:

English phonetics exercises

To practice English pronunciation, it is also necessary to take into account stress- that is, highlighting one or more syllables in a word. The stressed syllable is pronounced more vigorously, with greater tension of the organs of speech. Stress helps to distinguish words and understand their meaning both in themselves and in context. For example:

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

The second important aspect of the 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 in English phonetics is performed in the classroom Beginner level(Elementary):

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

You can train in English phonetics and in this way:

1. Spell the words: Yes, Last, Key, Yellow, Funny, Girl, Toy, Now, Sleep, Drama, Kiss, King.
2. Say the transcription words: 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, the development of English phonetics will be simpler, more entertaining and more effective.