012 spelling and pronunciation

Spelling & PronunciationMonosyllabic words that are formed by one vowel letter sandwiched by one or more consonants generally take a short vowel sound.. • At the edges: o Several consona

Spelling & Pronunciation

Monosyllabic words that are formed by one vowel letter sandwiched by one or more consonants generally take a short vowel sound

BA S I C VOW E L PA TT ER N : ( C C) VC ( C)

<a> = <e> = d <i> = H <o> = P <u> = T <u> = U

• At the edges:

o Several consonant letters may stand for just one consonant sound

o There may be several consonant sounds together

• Exceptions: these are normally a small group of common every-day words that got fossilized

in the language E.g.:

a Silent <e>

When silent <e> is added at the end of a one-syllable word that ends in a single consonant, ‘the vowel letter in the middle tends to say its own name.’

S I L EN T <- e>

<a> =

duck → duke

• Exceptions: these are normally a small group of common every-day words that got fossilized

in the language E.g.:

<-ne> none !mUm gone !fPm

b Magic <-y>

When <y> is added at the end of a one-syllable word ending in a single consonant letter, the vowel

in the middle tends to say its own name

MA G I C <- y>

<a> =

c Final <-le>

When <le> is added at the end of a one-syllable word ending in a single consonant letter, the vowel in the middle tends to say its own name This does not apply to medial letter <e>

F I N A L <- l e >

<a> =

Consonant letters are normally doubled to keep a short vowel In other words, the occurrence of diphthongs and long vowels tends to be blocked by these double letters Compare:

DO U B LE C ON SO NA N TS

Si l en t <- e > M ag i c < - y> Fi n a l <- l e>

L on g Bl o c k e d Lo ng B l oc k ed L on g Bl o c k e d

Note: Words ending in <oll> in their base form take ?T For example:

stroll !rsq?Tk strolling !rsq?TkHM

4 Internal modifiers

a Radical <r>

A post-vocalic <r> letter indicates that the vowel sound is longer or more open This occurs in monosyllabic words and in the stressed syllable of longer words, too Final <-re> may also result in

a centring diphthong (i.e

RAD I CA L < r >

Basic Vowel Pattern Monosyllable Polysyllable <-re>

Note: This rule does not work either when the letter is doubled or when it is between two vowel sounds within the base form

b Troublesome <w>

The quality of letters <a, e, o> is distorted when they are followed by <w>

FI N A L T ROU B LE S OME < w >

Basic Vowel Pattern Monosyllable Polysyllable

The quality of <a> and <o> changes when they are preceded by <w>

I N I T IA L TROU B L ES OME < w >

Basic Vowel Pattern Monosyllable Polysyllable

5 Two vowels together: “the first says its name”

Although these patterns are highly inconsistent, there is a tendency: when there are two vowel letters together, many times “the first that came says its name”

TH E F I RS T VO W EL L E TT ER SA YS I TS NAM E

Spelling Examples

<ai> dH Complain rain raid

<ui> 'i(t9 Fruit nuisance

Common exceptions

The relationship between the spelling and pronunciation of consonants is much more straightforward than the behaviour of vowels

a The following letters always stand for the same phoneme, even if they are doubled:

• <b, bb> a.: Ben, lab, bobby, pebble

• <d, dd> c.: Dan, daddy, fuddy-duddy

• <f, ff> e.: Frank, cufflinks, puff

• <h> g.: hand, heart, hard

• <j> cY.: jam, major, juice

• <k> j.: kit, bike, Nike

• <l, ll> k.: lot, ball, allotted, rolling

• <m, mm> l.: more, humble, from, immediate

• <n, nn> m.: nice, then, thinner, beginning

• <v, vv> u.: vice, Eve, savvy

• <z, zz> y.: zoo, zebra, buzzing, fizzy

b <ph> e.: Phillips, phonetics, photograph

c <sh> R.: she, show, marsh

d <ch>

• sR.: chin, much, arch

• j.: architect, character, headache

e <gh>

• Silent: high, weigh, eight, night

f <th>

•

o Words ending in <-th>: bath, cloth, math (BUT with)

o Most content words beginning in <th->: theme, theatre, throw

•

o Grammar words beginning with <th->: they, this, that, etc (BUT though)

o Content words ending in <-the(r)>: bathe, breathe, bother

g <c>

• j <c> + consonant: act, buckle, mediocre

• j <c> + <a, o, u>: camera, cut, come

• r <c> + <e, i, y>: cinema, century, cycle

• jr <cc>: accident, success

• R.<-cious, -cial>: delicious, precious, special, glacial

h <g>

• f <ga, go, gu>, <gg>: gate, go, gun, bigger, leggings

• cY <ge, gi, gy>: gem, engine, gym (BUT girl, get, give, begin, tiger, finger, etc.)

i <qu> is generally:

• jv at the beginning or middle of a word: question, square, liquid

• j in “silent <-e> endings” <-que>: antique, unique

j <s> is very unstable See “.r or y.? The eternal nightmare!” in the set of notes

k <t>

• s generally: lot, talk, bottom

•

• R in the endings <-tious, -tion, -tial>: ambitious, information, initial

l <x>

• jr + unstressed vowel: Mexico, maximum

• jr + consonant or final: extra, excellent, sex, mix

• fy + stressed vowel: exam, exist

• y when initial in the word: xenophobic, Xavier, Xerox

m <y>

• i at the beginning of a word: yes, young, yacht

• H internally in a word: gym, myth, rhythm

• At the end of words:

o h in final unstressed position: city, busy, family

o `H in monosyllables: my, sty, fly, why, try

o `H under the effect of silent <-e> or radical <r>: rhyme, type, tyre

o `H when stressed: July, apply, deny

o `H in the ending <-fy>: justify, clarify, modify

Adapted from:

Fitzpatrick, F (1995) A teacher’s guide to practical pronunciation London: Prentice Hall

Short vowel sound

Basic Vowel Pattern (C)(C) V C (C) (C)

Double consonants

Latter

Vowel says its name

Silent <-e>

Pete h9 (Cf pet d.)

Magic <y>

Tony ?T (Cf Johnny P.)

Two vowel letters

rain dH., team h9., goat ?T.

Radical <r>

cart he

(e.g have, come, love)