INFORMATION ANALYSIS & PARTICIPATION IN DEBATES

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/ie/ vs /ea/

/ɪə/

This diphthong is pronounced as a long E sound sliding into an Ur sound. 
Try saying these words: (the diphthong is in red)

• pier
  
• hear
  
• steer
  
• clear
  
• fear
  
• deer
  
• ear

/eə/ 

This diphthong is pronounced as a long A sound sliding into an Ur sound. 
Try saying these words: (the diphthong is in red)

• bear
  
• hair
  
• fair
  
• stairs
  
• pair
  
• wear
  
• where

/k/ vs /g/

The voiceless (unvoiced) K sound(IPA symbol: k) can be found in English words such as cat, kid, black, box, cake, quit, and chorus

The voiced G sound(IPA symbol: g) can be found in English words such as girl, go, egg, big, single, and dog.

The G consonant can also make a softer j sound that is found in words such as Germany and gym (IPA symbol:dʒ). We will study this sound in a later lesson.

Both of these sounds are called stop consonants. That means the air used to make these sounds is stopped for a short time before it exits your mouth. Both of these sounds are produced by stopping air in the back part of your mouth. The back part of your tongue should touch the roof of your mouth in the back to briefly stop the air. You release the air to make these sounds. The force of the air is stronger for the K sound than the G sound. The G sound is voiced while the K sound is voiceless.

Voiced and voiceless sounds

In the English language, we use many voiced sounds. That means that the vocal cords vibrate when you say that sound. The G sound is a voiced sound because the vocal cords vibrate when you make the sound.

The K sound is a voiceless or unvoiced sound because the vocal cords do not vibrate when you make the sound. Instead, we use air to make the sound.

In this video, Rachel from Rachel's English will show you how to position your mouth to make each of these sounds.

There are six spellings of the K sound: k, ck, c, ch, x, qu/que.

k spelling

• kid
  
• kitten
  
• like
  
• bake
  
• thinking

ck spelling

• back
  
• ducks
  
• sick
  
• truck
  
• black

c spelling
(If C is followed by the letters E or I, the word will usually be pronounced with an S sound: city, face.)

• cart
  
• cup
  
• cat
  
• cool
  
• caught

x spelling
The x spelling can be pronounced in two different ways:

• K + S sound = fix, fox, next, box
  
• G + Z sound = example, exist

ch spelling - These words are a challenge.
(The most common pronunciation for the ch spelling is the CH sound as in China. We will study this sound in a later lesson.)

In these words, the ch spelling is pronounced with a K sound.

• chorus
  
• choir
  
• ache
  
• chaos
  
• school

qu/que spelling - These words are more difficult.
The qu / que spelling is pronounced as a K + W sound.

• quit
  
• quiet
  
• quick
  
• question
  
• queen

When the que spelling is at the end of the word it is pronounced as only a K sound.

• antique
  
• unique

Now practice the voiced G sound

Now, let's practice the voiced G sound. Remember, your vocal cords should vibrate when you make this sound.

There are three spellings of the G sound: g/gg, ng, gue.

g/gg spelling

The g spelling sometimes makes a softer g or j sound like in Germany. Words are pronounced with the softer j sound when the g spelling is followed by e, i, or, y (giant, gym, large). All other spellings should be pronounced with the hard G sound you have learned about in this lesson.

• go
  
• good
  
• great
  
• big
  
• bigger
  
• egg
  
• again

ng spelling

• bring
  
• sing
  
• anger
  
• finger
  
• language (note: The second gin language is a j sound)

gue spelling - These are challenging words.

When the gue spelling is at the end of the word, it is usually pronounced as a G sound only.

• league
  
• dialogue
  

Some words do not follow the rule.

• argue(g + vowel sound)

When the gue spelling is in the middle or beginning of a word, it is pronounced as a g + vowel sound.

• guerrilla
  
• guest
  
• guess
  

Finally, practice the sounds side-by-side

Remember to voice the G sound and use only air for the K sound!

G	K
go	cool
bag	back
hang	cake
green	queen
sing	sink

Now say these sentences out loud.

The K sounds are in blue. The G sounds are in green:

1)    The dog can lick the girl.
2)    Kick the big green ball.
3)    The bigc ake cooled in the kitchen.
4)    The school chorus will sing for the queen in England.
5)    Get a clean fork from the sink.
6)    Please be quiet so I can ask you a quick question.
7)    I thinkI like to speak the English language.
8)    The kitten is in black the box.
9)    Bring Kate the bigger egg.
10)   He quickly corrected the group.

Intonation

The entire variation of pitch while speaking is called intonation. A very obvious difference in intonation can be observed when looking at statements and questions. Take for example American English:

• When someone utters an echo or asks declarative questions (like He found it on the street?), the intonation (i.e. the voice) is rising to a higher pitch at the end.

• When someone asks a wh-question (like Where did he find it?) or utters a statement (like He found it on the street.), the intonation (i.e. the voice) is falling to a lower pitch at the end.

• Yes or no questions (Did he find it on the street?) often have a rising end, but not always.

Intonation also deals with the stress of words. Words are stressed to make a certain emphasis. A sentence can be spoken differently, depending on the speaker's intention.

Look at the following sentences. Speak them out loud and especially stress the word that is in bold writing. Then think about how the meaning of the utterance changes.

• I did not read anything about the disaster.
• I did not read anything about the disaster.
• I did not read anything about the disaster.
• I did not read anything about the disaster.
• I did not read anything about the disaster.
• I did not read anything about the disaster.

You can use intonation to exaggerate / highlight / stress a single word within a sentence, so that it becomes more important (than all the other words in that sentence).   Sentence stress with correct intonation is done by:

1. Slowing your target word down (to be slower than all other words)
2. Pausing before or after (or before AND after) your target word
3. Using an exaggerated, sliding melody on your target word
4. Saying the non-target words much more quickly (to show that they are not as important as the target word.

/t/ vs /d/

LA POSTURA EN COMÚN

Para reproducir el sonido D y T en inglés. La lengua toca el paladar (región alveolar) y empuja hacia arriba. La postura es parecida a la postura de la L en español.

¡A PRACTICAR!

Minimal pairs

Esta es sólo una pequeña lista de los pares mínimos entre la D y la T con el cual puedes practicar.

D (inicial)	T (inicial	D (final)	T (final)
do	to	and	ant
down	town	feed	feet
dent	tent	seed	seat

/f/ and /v/ sounds

/b/ and /v/ sounds

 

/θ/ and /ð/ SOUNDS

¿Has notado que existen sonidos en inglés que suenan parecido y se le dificultan pronunciar? Es por eso que hoy continuaremos con nuestros tips de pronunciación en inglés, que le ayudarán a entender mejor la fonética de este idioma y de paso mejorar la misma.

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Los sonidos /θ/ y /ð/, son sonidos que no existen en la fonética española. En el inglés, los encontramos en palabras como three, thirteen, they and them.

Sin embargo, como hispanohablantes generalmente se nos complica la pronunciación en inglés de estos sonidos porque creemos que se pronuncian como los sonidos /t/ o /d/ del español. A pesar de que su sonido es parecido al de estos últimos, es importante hacer la diferenciación para evitar confusiones.

Los sonidos /θ/ y /ð/ representan en inglés el sonido de la combinación de letras t y h (th). Ambos sonidos son dentales fricativos, es decir, su punto de articulación está en los dientes superiores y se pronuncian tocando estos dientes con la lengua, lo que produce una fricción. Se diferencian de los sonidos /t/ y /d/ ya que el punto de articulación de estos últimos son los alvéolos, es decir, al pronunciar los sonidos /t/ y /d/ la lengua toca la parte de atrás de los dientes superiores.

 

Practique pronunciando las siguientes palabras e intente marcar la diferencia en la pronunciación:

Ahora, es importante entender la diferencia de pronunciación entre /θ/ y /ð/. Como se mencionó anteriormente, sus puntos de articulación son los mismos y ambas son fricativas. La única diferencia entre estos dos sonidos del inglés es que /θ/ es un sonido sordo y /ð/ es sonoro. Al pronunciar /ð/, el paso del aire entre los dientes y la lengua debe producir un zumbido y una vibración fuerte, mientras que al pronunciar /θ/ no hay zumbido y la vibración es bastante leve.
Practique con las siguientes palabras e intente entender y producir la diferencia entre los dos:

/θ/                                                       /ð/

Three /θriː/                                     This /ðɪs/

Throw /θrəʊ/                                  Those /ðəʊz/

Thriller /ˈθrɪləʳ/                               These /ðiːz/

¿Cuándo se utilizan los fonemas æ, ʌ, ɑ:, ə?

(Source: https://pronunciaringles.com/2008/10/29/cuando-se-utilizan-los-fonemas-a/comment-page-1/) 

Hay cuatro fonemas ingleses que nos pueden sonar a la “a” española y he comparado estos fonemas usando los vídeos de la BBC. La pregunta ahora es ¿cuándo se utiliza un fonema u otro?
 

Si te fijas en algún diccionario de fonética* verás que:

• /ɑ:/
  La /ɑ:/ aparece en palabras como “park”, “bark”, “march”, “car” y “carnival”. También existe alguna palabra como “calm” y “father” que se pronuncia con /ɑ:/.
• /æ/
  La /æ/ aparece en palabras como “man”, “cat”, “bank”, “hat” y “barrier”.
• /ɑ:/ y /æ/
  Hay muchas palabras que se pronuncian con /ɑ:/ en inglés británico y /æ/ en americano, por ejemplo “halve”, “last”, “bath”, “after” y “staff”.
• /ʌ/
  La /ʌ/ se emplea en palabras como “brother”, “mother”, “cousin”, “son” y “mud”.
• vocal /ə/
  Aunque nos parezca increíble, el fonema /ə/ se emplea en casi todas las sílabas inacentuadas. No sé cómo no enseñan eso el primer día de clase  A continuación indico unos ejemplos y pongo en negrita lo que se pronuncia con /ə/ “about”, “common”, “standard”, “butter”, “banana”, “father”. Fíjate que en todos los casos el fonema /ə/ aparece en sílabas inacentuadas. Para más información, echa un vistazo a la entrada en la que se explica cómo se pronuncia el fonema /ə/ y la entrada en la que se muestra un vídeo de la BBC para explicar cuándo se utiliza este fonema.
  

HEALTH

1-Minute speech about it. If you click on the image above, you'll find interesting vocabulary and structures to be used in your oral presentation.