Week 3 Pronunciation Class

DIPHTHONGS OR DOUBLE VOWEL SOUNDS

Described as the continuous glide from the initial to the final vowel. There are 9 English double
vowels and all of them are falling diphthongs. This means that the stress comes at the start of
the gilde. Variations in the quality of these vowels are called allophonic variations and are
what lead to accents or regional variations in pronunciation.

AY as in SAY /eI/

Made up of /e/ which can be found in Head and /I/ which can be found in ________.

The tongue moves from the half raised position to the raised position. The jaw closes slightly
and your lips are neutral.

Letter that is replaced with Word Phonetic spelling

AY s​ ound​.

A Fate

Take

Lady

Lazy

Bass

Ay Play

Ray

Say

Day

Ai Plain
 Stain

Fail

Trail

Ei Weight

Reign

Eight

Feign

Unusual Spellings

Ey Grey

Ao Gaol

Au Gauge

Sentence to practice:
The day was grey which made the lady lazy.
Take the lazy lady up to the trail to the gaol.

I as in Sigh /​aI/
A falling diphthong that is composed of / ​æ / ​the vowel sound in ________ and /I/ the vowel
sound in ________. The glide is bigger than in Say and the jaw movement is more obvious.

Letter that is replaced with ​I Word Phonetic spelling

sound​.

i Dice

Mine

Fine

White
y Try

Sly

Why

Fly

Scythe

igh Might

Tight

Flight

Sight

eigh Sleight

Height

ie Lie

Died

Pie

Unusual Spellings

ei either

uy buy

ye rye

dye

eye eye
 ai aisle

Sentences to Practice
1) What a sight it was to see the mice playing dice!
2) I tried to fly but there were no flights

OY as in Coy /ɔI/

Falling diphthong comprised of ​ /​ɒ​/ ​in _________ and ​ /I/​ in ________. The tongue
movement is from back to front. The lips change from round to neutral.

Letter that is replaced with Word Phonetic spelling

oy ​sound​.

Oy Boy

Joy

Toy

Coy

Oyster

Oi Choice

Voice

Boil

Coin

Unusual Spellings

Uoy Buoy

Sentence to practice:
 1) Oi, said Roy, You know about the Boyne?
2) There was joy in the boy’s voice
3) My choice was oysters

OH as in SO /əʊ/
This falling double vowel starts with the /​ə/ ​ neutral vowel (uh) and proceeds to / ​ʊ/​ sound
found in Hood.

There is a slight closing of the jaw. The lips change from neutral to slight rounding.

Letter that is replaced with Word Phonetic spelling

oh s​ ound​.

o no

old

bolster

mope

Oa roam

foam

oak

loathe

Oe doe

toe

roe

hoe
 Ow Low

Know

Slow

Ou Though

Mould

Soul

Unusual Spellings

Au Mauve

Eau Plateau

Ew Sew

Oo Brooch

Sentence to practice:
1) Go slow on the plateau
2) Bolser the door with old oak beams

OW as in How /aʊ/
Starting with the vowel sound /​ a:/ ​ in _________ then moving to /​ ʊ/ ​ sound in ______. There
is a large glide of the tongue. The lips are slightly neutral open position and then are slightly
rounded at the end.

Letter that is replaced with Word Phonetic spelling

ow s​ ound​.

Ou Bough

Plough
 Ao Maori

Sentence to practice
1) Now, How do you plough?
2) It was a lousy deal the Maori got

Centring Diphthongs

Made up of the vowel sounds in Hid, Head and Hood followed by the neutral vowel:
/Iə/ - Consists of /I/ in Hid and the neutral vowel /ə/
Eer - cheer, beer, peer,
Ear - fear, dear, rear
Ere - here,
Eir - weird, weir
Ier - pier, fierce
Eu - museum

Sentence to practice

1) I fear it was weird to drink beer in here.

2) I went with my peers to the rear of museum

/eə/ - Consists of ________ in ____________ and the ___________

Are - dare, hare, rare

Air - flair, chair, pair
Ear - wear, bear,
Eir - heir, their
Ere - there
Ar - scarce
Sentence to practice

1) He was the heir to a bear

2) I dare you to sit there on that chair

/​ʊə/ - Consists of ________ in __________ and the _____________

Oo - poor, boor, moor

Ure - pure, sure, cure
Ur - during, jury, mural
Ewer - fewer
Our - tour, amour, gourmet
Ue - fluency
Ua - truant

Sentence to practice

You won’t see a mural when you do your tour of the moor.

PRACTICE THE FOLLOWING POEM

Write the phonetics under each line.

I have a little frog

_______________________________________

His name is Tiny Tim.

_______________________________________

I put him in the bathtub

_______________________________________

To see if he could swim

_______________________________________

He drank up all the water,

_______________________________________

And gobbled up the soap!

_______________________________________

And when he tried to talk

_______________________________________

He had a bubble in his throat

_______________________________________

HETERONYMS

Homonyms or homographs are words of like spelling, but with more than one
meaning and sound. When pronounced differently, they are known as
heteronyms.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was cultivated was to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full, the workers had to refuse refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture at the store.

 5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his tasty dessert in the desert.

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present
the present to his girlfriend.

8) A bass was painted on the bass of the drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does (female) are present.

15) A seamstress and sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail around the mast.

18) Upon seeing the tear in her painting she shed a tear.

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate to my most intimate friend.

Extract from The Irish Times: ​‘Why English is so hard to learn’