English Spelling

The pronunciation of English vocalic graphemes is not always the same. One wrongly assumes they are consistent as in other languages, but they are not.

The relationship between spelling and sound is unpredictable; therefore  the pronunciation is chaotic, erratic even whimsical. It is part of the peculiar

English Muddle.

Aware of the problem,  and given that neither the spelling nor the ear can be trusted

we  wrote the following material.

1)           Sound&Spelling related Mind Maps:

            that relate a particular sound with the different graphemes.

2)           Jolly Stories for Learrning:

             they associate words with the same sound but different spelling.

3)           Audio:  

the stories above recorded by English actors

    

FREQUENT ERRORS:

   

1)   To pronounce wrongly a letter as a diphtong or viceversa

2)   Overgeneralizations  

NOTE

The a diphthongs in Nation

but it does not in its derived words.

Likewise, the stress changes position in derived words. 

Bear in mind that one must constantly particularize in English.

This linguistic trait creates patterns in the mind that transfer to everyday life.

I daresay that the English language:

1)     creates productive patterns of behavior against overgeneralizations

2)     develops alertness to minute signals that make the difference.

MINDMAPS

FREE SAMPLE MINDMAP, More here

These pronunciation MINDMAPS are unique. They relate sound and  spelling.

a) The target sound appears in phonetics in a central image.
b) Branches with different spellings radiate from the central image.

 The mind maps are enhanced with colour and pictures to add interest and loveliness. So they attract attention, enhance memory and improve the recall.

Mind maps store data efficiently and so multiply your capacity.

It is an evident visual display of the English sounds related to spelling. 

All the system displayed  in 22 mindmaps.

GO ON, look at the sample map and take the wise decision of continuing if you wish to improve your pronunciation or somebody else’s.

The branches should be read clockwise the first time so as to be acquainted with the procedure.

Book & ebook available @ Amazon

The Importance of a Pause

Pausing is an essential part of clear speech, giving the speaker time to place stresses and the listener time to absorb information. Sometimes (though not often), a pause will go beyond clarity and entirely change the meaning of what is said, as in these 10 examples:

1.Let’s eat, grandma!

2. Let’s eat grandma!

Explanation

Version 1 is a suggestion to eat something with the listener – ‘grandma’. Version 2 would indicate the speaker is a cannibal who intends to eat his grandma; she is the direct object of the verb ‘eat’. 

1. A woman without her man, is nothing.

2. A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Explanation

This is a famous example of pausing entirely inverting the meaning of a sentence. Version one has the meaning ‘A woman is nothing without her man’ and version 2 has the opposite meaning ‘A man is nothing without a woman’. 

1. Oh, no vodka?

2. Oh no! Vodka.

Explanation

Version 1 uses the exclamation ‘oh’ to show surprise at the lack of vodka. Version 2 uses the exclamation ‘Oh no!’ to demonstrate a negative reaction to the presence of vodka. The speaker in version 2 might have a hangover.

1. Why don’t you run over, Kate?

2. Why don’t you run over Kate?

Explanation

Version 1 uses the meaning of ‘run over’ as in ‘visit now’, with Kate being the listener. Version 2 uses the transitive ‘run someone over’ meaning to hit them with a moving vehicle, with the object being Kate. Kate would probably prefer to hear version 1.

1. Don’t eat that, honey.

2. Don’t eat that honey.

Explanation

Version 1 uses the imperative ‘Don’t eat that’, with the determiner ‘that’ referring to an object, ‘honey’ is used as an affectionate term for the listener in this version, like ‘darling’ or ‘dear’. In version 2, honey is the object, so the listener shouldn’t eat the honey.

1. Call me, gorgeous, if you like.

2. Call me gorgeous, if you like.

Explanation

Version one has the imperative ‘Call me’ and this is directed to the listener who is ‘gorgeous’. Version 2 has the imperative ‘Call me gorgeous’ so the speaker believes he is highly attractive and deserves the name ‘gorgeous’.

 

1. Most of the time, travellers have jet lag.

2. Most of the time travellers have jet lag.

Explanation

Version 1 has 2 clauses, the main clause being ‘travellers have jet lag’ and the adverbial clause gives us further information – ‘most of the time’. The lack of a comma in version 2 indicates that there is just one clause and ‘time travellers’ is a compound noun in the science fiction sense of going into the past or future.

More here...

Stephen Hawking Tribute

Stephen Hawking: The HBO interview

SOUND & SPELLING MINDMAPS

In the book Funny Stories by Alba Paz 22 full-color mental maps are included, created by her to better understand how phonetics works, more info below, here are some of them:

MIND MAP 2

MIND MAP 6

All 22 mind maps are now available in an excellent full color paper edition, click on the cover page above for more info. And in ebook format for Kindle here: Mindmaps Kindle Edition.

Explanation:

The Mind Map is an expression of Radiant Thinking and is therefore a natural function of the human mind. It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain. Mind Maps can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance. The Mind Map has four essential characteristics:

1) The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image.

2) The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image as branches.

3) Branches consist of a key image or key word printed on an associated line. Topics of lesser importance are also represented as branches attached to higher level branches.

4) The branches form a connected nodal structure.

Mind maps may be enhanced with colour and pictures, to add interest, beauty and individuality . These in turn  add creativity, enhance memory and improve  the recall of information. Storing data efficiently multiplies your capacity. It is like the difference between a cluttered warehouse and a library with an ordering system”

(adapted from The Mind Map Book by Tony Bazan with Barry Buzan, BBC Books)

Available now in a very nice colorful paperback edition here. Kindle edition here: Alba Paz's Mindmaps Kindle Edition.

The 5 most popular articles from Pronunciation Studio in 2017

Top 5 Articles 2017

5

/ʃ/ the Whisper Sound

A close look at voiceless fricative sound /ʃ/ – how to pronounce it, and where it appears in English. The article also contains several ways to tell people to ‘shut up’  and a very difficult tongue twister…

View Article

4

Let's Not Get Rid of your Accent

Last September the BBC released a documentary about a Polish lady living in the UK who felt she was suffering discrimination as a result of her accent. In the film a voice coach is hired and, presumably mistaking the accent for an infestation of ants, promptly claims she can “get rid of” it. What? We looked into this bizarre use of language further….

View Article

3

A Pronunciation Guide to Silent Letters

Silent letters are everywhere in English, largely owing to the language’s rapid and uneven development in vocabulary and pronunciation. They cause problems for native speakers and language learners alike, so in this guide, we looked at silent consonants B C D G H K L N P R S W and worked out any patterns in their origins.

View Article

2

English Puns

Puns are jokes that play on words for comic effect, many using similar pronunciations of different words. In this article we chose 10 puns and worked out why they were funny. We also explored a particularly unfunny type of pun called a ‘dad joke’.

View Article

1

English Vowel Length

By far the most popular article on this year’s blog was a fairly technical look at how vowel length changes in pronunciation. We explored how the often quoted distinction between ‘long’ and ‘short’ vowels really doesn’t work in English and along the way saw how SHIP can easily be longer than SHEEP.

View Article

Alba´s MindMaps!

Explanation:

The Mind Map is an expression of Radiant Thinking and is therefore a natural function of the human mind. It is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlocking the potential of the brain. Mind Maps can be applied to every aspect of life where improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance. The Mind Map has four essential characteristics:

1) The subject of attention is crystallized in a central image.

2) The main themes of the subject radiate from the central image as branches.

3) Branches consist of a key image or key word printed on an associated line. Topics of lesser importance are also represented as branches attached to higher level branches.

4) The branches form a connected nodal structure.

Mind maps may be enhanced with colour and pictures, to add interest, beauty and individuality . These in turn  add creativity, enhance memory and improve  the recall of information. Storing data efficiently multiplies your capacity. It is like the difference between a cluttered warehouse and a library with an ordering system”

Available now in a very nice colorful paperback edition here. Kindle edition here: Alba Paz's Mindmaps Kindle Edition.

English Puns

A pun /ˈpʌn/ is a play on words for comic effect. Here are a few of our favourites that will hopefully make you laugh;

“A man just attacked me with milk, cream and butter. I mean, how dairy!”

The pun is based on the word ‘dairy’, which is pronounced the same way as ‘dare he’ if you use a linking /r/ and drop the ‘h’ in ‘he’: /ˈdeəri/.

“I’m on a seafood diet. Every time I see food, I eat it!”

Plays on the homophones ‘sea’ and ‘see’, which are both pronounced /ˈsiː/.

“I want to make a joke about Sodium, but… Na.”

Plays on the homograph ‘Na’ which is both the chemical element Sodium, and an informal way of saying ‘no’. It’s pronounced with a long /æ/ sound: [ˈnæː].

“Did you hear about the Roman cannibal whose wife disappeared? He said he was glad he ate her.”

Plays on the homophone ‘gladiator’ and ‘glad he ate her’, in order to reach this pronunciation you need to join the words and drop both ‘h’ in the sentence to make /ˈglædieɪtə/.

“Atheism, the non-prophet organisation.”

This is based on the famous pun by American comedian George Carlin, playing on the homophones ‘prophet’ and ‘profit’, which are both pronounced /ˈprɒfɪt/ .

He’s all right now.”

The combination ‘all right’ is used as a homophone with the word ‘alright’ here: /ˌɔːlˈraɪt/.

“What time do you have to go to the dentist?”
“Tooth hurtie.”

The time ‘two thirty’ is pronounced as a homophone with ‘tooth hurtie’, as it would be in connected speech: /ˌtuːθ ˈɜːti/. The ‘h’ in ‘hurtie’  isn’t heard clearly whether you pronounce it or not, as the voiceless fricative /θ/ is directly before it.

“I just went to an emotional wedding. Even the cake was in tiers.”

A play on the homophones ‘tears’ and ‘tiers’, which are both pronounced /ˈtɪəz/

“When you get a bladder infection, you know urine trouble.”

The word ‘urine’ is pronounced in the same way as ‘you’re in’ if you join it with a linking /r/: /ˈjɔːrɪn/, though they could also be pronounced /ˈjɜːrɪn/

“Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.”

Perhaps the most famous of all puns, this by Groucho Marx plays on the homonym (both a homograph and a homophone) of the word ‘flies’ pronounced /ˈflaɪz/ which is both the verb ‘to fly’ in the third person, and the noun ‘fly’ in its plural form. It also plays on different uses of the word ‘like’ which is a preposition in the first sentence and a verb in the second.

More HERE

P – the Spit Sound

How to pronounce P

/p/ is a plosive sound made by putting both lips together, stopping the air as it leaves the body, then releasing it with an explosion of air. Let’s have a go everyone: /p/ “speak proper”.

Aspiration (or when to spit)

/p/ in English pronunciation is subtly different from /p/ in many other languages because the sound normally comes with an extra puff of air called aspiration – so an English speaker would say the /p/ in PARK with aspiration, but a French speaker, for example, would pronounce the /p/ in PARC without aspiration.

Aspiration happens nearly always on a /p/ in English, but is particularly strong before a stressed vowel, like in PORT, POLITICS & DEPART. It’s important to aspirate because if you don’t, your /p/ may sound like a /b/ to native speakers, so if you’re trying to say PARK, a native might hear BARK.

Aspiration doesn’t happen after /s/, so you won’t hear it in SPELL, SPRAY or SPECIAL. Ironically then, there is no aspiration in the word ASPIRATION. Similarly bizarre is the fact that a SPIT sound in English contains aspiration, but the word SPIT itself does not… perplexing.

Silent P

/p/ appears in 2 very commonly mispronounced words by learners of English, but it shouldn’t! Don’t say the ‘p’ in RECEIPT, and don’t say the ‘p’ in CUPBOARD. Also, leave it out of RASPBERRY

In words starting PS, the ‘p’ is silent so don’t pronounce it in: PSYCHOLOGY, PSYCHOGENETIC, PSYCHODRAMA, PSYCHIC, PSALM, PSEUDO or everyone’s favourite guest at the motel: PSYCHOPATH.

Hiccough

The phoneme /p/ is always spelt with a ‘p’… except in one very bizarre word: HICCOUGH, in which the GH is pronounced /p/. This is caused by what is technically known as ‘folk etymology’. In other words, some bright spark in the late 16th century inexplicably and erroneously decided that a cough was a physical part of a HICCUP. The spelling of HICCUP with ‘cough’ then entered the language without changing the original pronunciation, to make one of the most preposterous spellings in the English language.

What a Nighpmare!

When a /t/ appears at the end of a syllable and is followed by a bilabial sound, namely /m,p,b/ it can be pronounced as an unreleased /p/ in connected speech. So BATMAN effectively becomes BAPMAN, FOOTBALL is FOOPBALL, and your FLATMATE turns into a FLAPMATE. This may sound like a NIGHPMARE, but most people do it without realising.

Read more....

Misleading Spelling

The pronunciation of English vocalic graphemes is not always the same. One wrongly assumes they are consistent as in other languages, but they are not.

The relationship between spelling and sound is unpredictable; therefore  the pronunciation is chaotic, erratic even whimsical. It is part of the peculiar

English Muddle.

Aware of the problem,  and given that neither the spelling nor the ear can be trusted

we  wrote the following material.

1)           Sound&Spelling related Mind Maps:

            that relate a particular sound with the different graphemes.

2)           Jolly Stories for Learrning:

             they associate words with the same sound but different spelling.

3)           Audio:  

the stories above recorded by English actors.

    

FREQUENT ERRORS:

   

1)   To pronounce wrongly a letter as a diphtong or viceversa.

2)   Overgeneralizations:

The a diphthongs in Nation

but it does not in its derived words.

Likewise, the stress changes position in derived words. 

Bear in mind that one must constantly particularize in English.

This linguistic trait creates patterns in the mind that transfer to everyday life.

I daresay that the English language:

1)     creates productive patterns of behavior against overgeneralizations

2)     develops alertness to minute signals that make the difference.