Contents
INTRODUCTION
1 Purpose of the Course 1
2 Model of English Pronunciation 2
3 Spelling and Sounds 3
4 Phonemic and Phonetic Transcription 7
5 Key to Phonetic Symbols and Other Signs 8
CHAPTER ONE Individual Sounds of English
Unit 1 Articulators 11
Unit 2 English Phonemes 14
2.1 Phonemes and Allophones 14
2.2 Classification of English Phonemes 15
Unit 3 Front Vowels: /??/, /?/, /?/, /?/ 22
Unit 4 Central Vowels: /?/, /??/, /?/ 38
Unit 5 Back Vowels: /??/, /?/, /??/, /?/, /??/ 48
Unit 6 Diphthongs 64
6.1 Closing Diphthongs: /??/, /??/, /??/, /??/, /??/ 64
6.2 Centering Diphthongs: /??/, /??/, /??/ 80
Unit 7 Plosives: /?, ?/, /?, ?/, /?, ?/ 89
7.1 Bilabial Plosives /?, ?/ 89
7.2 Alveolar Plosives /?, ?/ 96
7.3 Velar Plosives /?, ?/ 105
Unit 8 Fricatives: /?, ?/, /?, ?/, /?, ?/, /?, ?/, /?/ 112
8.1 Labio-Dental Fricatives /?, ?/ 112
8.2 Dental Fricatives /?, ?/ 118
8.3 Alveolar Fricatives /?, ?/ 123
8.4 Palato-Alveolar Fricatives /?, ?/ 131
8.5 Glottal Fricative /?/ 136
Unit 9 Affricates /??, ??/ 140
Unit 10 Nasals: /?/, /?/, /?/ 146
10.1 Bilabial Nasal /?/ 146
10.2 Alveolar Nasal /n/ 148
10.3 Velar Nasal /?/ 152
Unit 11 Lateral /?/ 155
Unit 12 Approximants: /?/, /?/, /?/ 159
12.1 Post-Alveolar Approximant /?/ 159
12.2 Palatal Approximant /?/ 162
12.3 Labial-Velar Approximant /?/ 165
CHAPTER TWO Phonemes in Combination
Unit 13 English Syllable 172
13.1 The Nature of English Syllable 172
13.2 The Structure of English Syllable 173
13.3 Pronunciation of -s Endings 177
13.4 Pronunciation of -ed Endings 179
Unit 14 Consonant Clusters 182
14.1 Consonant Clusters at the Beginning of Syllables 182
14.2 Consonant Clusters at the End of Syllables 194
14.3 Longer Consonant Clusters at Word Boundaries 200
CHAPTER THREE Sound Changes in Connected Speech
Unit 15 Strong and Weak Forms 203
15.1 The Use of Weak Forms 204
15.2 The Use of Strong Forms 209
Unit 16 Linking (Liaison) 211
16.1 Linking Consonant to Vowel 211
16.2 Linking Consonant to the Same Consonant 212
16.3 Linking Consonant to Consonant 213
Unit 17 Elision (Contractions) 217
17.1 Loss of Weak Vowels (in unstressed syllables) 217
17.2 Loss of Medial Consonant in Clusters of Three Consonants 218
17.3 Elision of /?/ in Weak Forms of Pronouns 218
17.4 Contraction of Verb Forms (auxiliaries and modal auxiliaries) 219
Unit 18 Assimilation 222
18.1 Historical Assimilation 222
18.2 Contextual Assimilation 224
CHAPTER FOUR Stress Patterns
Unit 19 Introduction to Stress 228
19.1 The Nature of Stress 228
19.2 The Levels of Stress 229
19.3 The Kinds of Stress 230
Unit 20 Word Stress 231
20.1 Stressing of Prefix 231
20.2 Stressing of Suffix 232
20.3 Stressing of Compounds 234
20.4 Stress Shift 244
Unit 21 Sentence Stress 248
21.1 Sense Stress 248
21.2 Logical Stress 255
21.3 Emotional Stress 255
CHAPTER FIVE Intonation
Unit 22 Intonation (1) 257
22.1 Falling and Rising Tones 257
22.2 Tails 259
22.3 Question Tags 261
22.4 Cleft Sentences 263
22.5 Questions (1) 264
22.6 Questions (2) 267
Unit 23 Intonation (2) 270
23.1 Repeat Questions 270
23.2 Comparisons and Contrasts 273
23.3 Requests and Reservation 276
23.4 Attitude Words and Phrases (1) 278
23.5 Attitude Words and Phrases (2) 280
AppendixⅠ Rules of Pronunciation 283
Appendix?Ⅱ Differences in Pronunciation between British English
and American English 293
Appendix?Ⅲ English Syllable Structure 304
Appendix?Ⅳ Tense-Lax Vowel Alternations in Stressed Syllables of
Base Forms and Derived Words 305
References 307