Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment [ 12 ]

12- ] Spelling & Vocabulary Enrichment .

English Phonetics and Phonology .

Language starts with the ear . When a baby starts to talk he does it by hearing the sounds and imitating them . It is well known that a child of ten years old or less can learn any language perfectly , if he is brought up surrounded by that language . But often this age the ability to imitate perfectly becomes less and well all know only too well that adults have great difficulty in mastering pronunciation [ as well as other parts ] of foreign languages . Some people are more talented than others . Our native language won’t let us . By the time we are grown up the habits of our own language are so strong that they are very difficult to break .

Letters and Sounds :

    Letters are written , but sounds are spoken . In ordinary English spelling it is nit always easy to know what sounds the letters stand for , for example in the words “ ‘city’ , ‘busy’ , ‘pretty’ , ‘women’ , ‘village’ ” , the letters “ i, y , e, u , o and a” all stand for the same vowel sound ‘i’ which occurs in ‘sit’ . Some vowel sounds which are ordinarily spelt in the same way sound different . The word ‘lead’ as a verb ‘li:d’ sounds different as an adjective ‘led’ as in ‘lead pipe’ . It is also clear that some words which are spelt differently sound the same , for example ‘rain’ , ‘rein’ , ‘reign’ which are all pronounced ‘rein’ .

In any language we can identify a small number of regularly used sounds [ vowels and consonants ] that we call phonemes ; for example , the vowels in the words ‘pin’ and ‘pen’ are different phonemes and so are the consonants at the beginning of the words ‘pet’ and ‘bet’ . Because of the notoriously confusing nature of English spelling , it is particularly important to learn to think of English pronunciation in terms of phonemes rather than letters of the alphabet ; one must be aware , for example , that the word ‘enough’ begins with the same vowel phoneme as that at the beginning of ‘inept’ and ends with the same consonant as ‘stuff’ . We often use special symbols to represent speech sounds . They must be known .  There are more than forty four sounds in English . Each of the sounds is represented by one letter of the phonetic alphabet called ‘phonemes’, and the method of representing each phoneme by one syllable is called ‘phonemic transcription .They are vowels and consonants . English speakers vary quite a lot in their vowel sounds , the vowels used by an Australian , an American and Scotsman in the word ‘see’ are all different , but they are all recognized as ‘i:’.The larger units of speech such as the syllable and the aspects of speech such as the stress [ which could be roughly described as the relative strength of a syllable ] and intonation [ the use of the pitch of the voice to convey meaning ] . Languages have also different accents ; they are pronounced differently by people from different geographical places , from different social classes , of different ages and different educational backgrounds . The word ‘accent’ is often confused with dialect . We use the word ‘dialect’ to refer to a variety of a language which is different from ‘dialect’ to refer to a variety of a language which is different from others not just in pronunciation but also in such matters as vocabulary , grammar and word order . Differences of accent , on the other hand , are pronunciation differences only . The pronunciation of English in North America is different from most accents found in Britain . There are exceptions to this – you can find accents in parts of Britain that sound American , and accents in North America that sound English . But the pronunciation that you are likely to hear from most Americans does sound noticeably different from BBC pronunciation .

When we speak , we produce a continuous stream of sounds . In studying speech we divide this stream into small pieces that we call ‘segments’ . The word ‘man’ is pronounced with a first segment ‘m’ , a second segment ‘æ’ and a third segment ‘n’ . The letter of the alphabet in writing is a unit which corresponds fairly well to the unit of speech  - the segment . If we look at the letters of the alphabet we use in writing English we have five letters that are called vowel : ‘a’ , ‘e’ , ‘i’ , ‘o’ , ‘u’ . Substituting one letter for another will change meaning . Thus with a letter ‘p’ before and a letter ‘t’ after the vowel letter , we get the five words spelt ‘pat’ , ‘pet’ , ‘pit’ ,’pot’ , ‘put’ , each of which has a different meaning . We can do the same with ‘sounds’ . If we look at the short vowels I ,e , æ , Λ , D, U for example , we can see how substituting one for another in between the explosive ‘p’ and ‘t’ gives us different words  ‘pit / pıt’ , ‘pet / pet’ , ‘pat / pæt’ , ] putt / pΛt’ .

Only by studying both the phonetics and the phonology of English it is possible to acquire a full understanding of the use of sounds in English speech . The most important thing for communication is that we should be able to make use of the full set of phonemes . In every language we find that there are restrictions on the sequences of phonemes that are uused . For example , no English word begins with the consonant sequence ‘zbf’ and no words end with the sequence ‘æh’ . In phonology we try to analyse the restrictions and regularities are in a particular language , and it is usually found helpful to do this by studying the syllables of the language .

The Syllable .

The syllable is a very important unit .A syllable is a part of a word that can be sounded by itself . Each syllable has its own vowel sound . For example the word ‘pillow’ is pronounced ‘pil – low’, so it has two syllables .The word ‘tablet’ is pronounced ‘tab – let’ , so it has two syllables . Most people seem to believe that , even if they cannot define what a syllable is , they can count how many syllables there are in a given word or sentence . If they are asked to do this they often tap they finger as they count , which illustrates the syllable’s importance in the rhythm of speech. As a matter of fact , if one tries the experiment of asking English speakers to count the syllables in , say , a recorded sentence , there is often a considerable amount of disagreement .

The structure of the English syllable :

Let us look in more detail at syllable onsets . The word can begin with a vowel , or with one , two or three consonants . In the same way , we can look at how a word ends when it is the last word spoken before a pause ; it can end with a vowel , or with one , two , three or [ in a small number of cases ] four consonants . No word ends with more than four consonants .

If the first syllable of the word in question begins with a vowel , we say that this initial syllable has a zero onset . If the syllable begins with one consonant , that initial consonant may be any consonant phoneme except [ing / dg ] .When we have two or more consonants together we call them a consonant cluster . It will be noticed that there must be a vowel in the center of the syllable .

Analyzing syllable structure can be useful to foreign learners of English . An understanding of the basic structures will help learners to become aware of precisely what type of consonant cluster presents pronunciation problems – most learners find some English clusters difficult , but few find all of them difficult . The study of syllable structure is a subject of considerable interest to phonologists. There are many different ways of deciding how to divide syllables .

[ You can see the Introductions to the ‘Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, Wells 2000 and the English Pronunciation Dictionary , Jones , Roach and Hartman ,1997 ] .

English has a more complex syllable structure than most languages , but it is advisable to discover exactly which types of consonant cluster are difficult for leaners of a particular native-language background and construct exercises to give practice in them .

Strong and weak syllables :

One of the most noticeable features of English is that some of its syllables are strong while many others are weak ; this is also true of many other languages , but it is necessary to study how these weak syllables are pronounced and where they occur in English . Stress is very important in deciding whether a syllable is strong or weak . When we compare weak syllables with strong syllables , we find the vowel in a weak syllable tends to be shorter  , of lower intensity and different in quality . For example ,in the word ‘father’ the second syllable which is weak is shorter than the first , is less loud and has a vowel that cannot occur in strong syllables . In a word like ‘bottle’ the weak second syllable contains no vowel at all , but consists entirely of the consonant ‘l’ . We call this a syllable consonant . The strong syllables are stressed and the weak syllables are unstressed .The most important thing to note is that any strong syllable will have as its peak on of the vowel phonemes .If the vowel is short then the strong syllable will always have a coda as well . Weak syllables can only have one of a very small number of possible peaks . At the end of a word we may have a weak syllable ending with a vowel [ with no coda ] .

Stressed and unstressed syllables :

     There is no simple way of knowing which syllable or syllables in an English word that must be stressed , but every time you learn another word you must be sure to learn how it is stressed – any good dictionary of English will give you this . If you stress the wrong word for it spoils the shape of the word for an English hearer and he may have difficulty in recognizing the word. 

   All stressed syllables have one characteristic in common , that is ‘prominence’ as stressed syllables are recognized as stressed because they are more prominent than unstressed syllables . What makes a syllable prominent these four factors 1-] Loudness . Stressed syllables are louder than unstressed . 2-] Length . If one of the syllables in a word like ‘nonsense’ is made longer than the others , there is a quite a strong tendency for that syllable to be heard as stressed . 3-] Pitch . Every voiced syllable is said on some pitch ; pitch is speech is closely related to the frequency of vibration of the vocal folds and to the musical notion of low- and         –high-pitched notes . If all syllables are said with low pitch except for one said with high pitch , then the high-pitched syllable will be heard as stressed and the others as unstressed . 4-] Quality . A syllable will tend to be prominent if it contains a vowel that is different in quality from neighboring vowels . We can look on stressed syllables as occurring against a ‘background’ of the weak syllables so that their prominence is increased by contrast with these background qualities . The most frequently encountered vowels in weak syllables are ‘i, u , ı, and schwa [ syllabic consonants  are also quite common ] .

   Generally these four factors work together in combination , although syllables may sometimes be made prominent by means of only one or two of them . Experimental work has shown that these factors are not equally important ; the strongest effect is produced by pitch , and length is also a powerful factor . Loudness and quality have much less effect .

    In order to decide on stress placement , it is necessary to make use of some or all of the following information : 1-] Whether the word is morphologically simple or complex as a result either of containing one or more affixes , or of being a compound word . 2-] What the grammatical category of the word is [ noun , verb , adjective etc. ] . 3-] How many syllables the word has . 4-] What the phonological structure of those syllables is .

Some Spelling Patterns .

Words with ‘a’’a:’ sound :

Ask , mask , flask , fast , last , vast , blast , master , disaster , class , glass , grass , pass , task , cast , mast , ass  , fat , mat , rat  , hat.

Words with ‘u’ sound :

Bull , full , pull , dull , gull , bully , fully , gully , helpfully , sunny , cut , hut , nut  , put , push , bush , brush , hush , hug , rug , bug , but , run , sun ,gun , tub , rub , fun , dub , cup , rush  .

Words with ‘ qu ‘ sound :

Quack , question , quiz , quilt , quick , queen , quite , quiet , square , squeak , squirrel , banquet , liquid , conquer , quart , quality , quantity .

Words with ‘ow’ endings  sound:

Arrow , narrow , sparrow , yellow , elbow , pillow , window , follow , hollow , borrow , sorrow , burrow , shadow , shallow , allow , now , snow , blow , grow , show , glow , rainbow , slow , throw , cow .

Words with ‘en’ and ‘on’ endings sound:

Happen , seven , kitten , mitten , given , fatten , sudden , drunken , golden , fallen , bitten , weaken hasten .

Button , lesson , person , skeleton , prison , season .

Words with ‘ ild’ and ‘ ind’ sound s :

Mild , wild , child .

Bind , find , kind , mind , wind , blind , grind , minder , reminder , remind .

Words with the ‘ost’ and ‘oll’ sounds :

Post , host , ghost , most , almost .

Roll , toll , troll , stroll , scroll , swollen .

Words with the ‘soft c’ [ before ‘e , i, y’ sound :

City , circus , center , cereal , certain , cycle , bicycle , circle , December , except , excellent  recent , concert , face , race , pace , mice , nice , place , trace , space office , rice , notice , police , ice .

Words with the ending ‘le’ sound :

Candle , handle , paddle , middle , angle , bangle , rectangle , jingle , single , fumble , jumble , crumble , grumble , tangle , tingle , double , trouble , bubble scramble , simple , humble , rubble , couple .

Words with the ‘ie’ sound :

Brief , grief , chief , thief , frieze , priest , field , shield , belief , believe , relief , relieve , view , interview , piece .

Words with the ‘ei’ sound : Eight , eighteen , eighty , reins , vein , reign , sleigh , weigh , weight , freight , neighbour , height , either , neither , leisure , sleight , deceit , receive , achieve , wield , receipt , their , forfeit .

Words with the ‘able’ ending sound :

Table , able , stable , vegetable , capable .

Words with ‘ey’ ending sound :

Abbey  , alley , valley , donkey , key , monkey , honey , money , jockey , dopey , trolley , chimney , chutney , turkey , journey ,hockey , battery  .

Words with ‘et’ ending sound :

Jacket , packet , racket , ticket , wicket , cricket , thicket , locket , pocket , rocket , socket , bucket , upset , gadget , pellet , bullet , bonnet , cabinet , magnet , net , tablet , helmet  , triplet , puppet  , trumpet .

Words with silent letters :

Gnat , knee , wrap , lamb , tomb , comb , wraper , knife ,climb , thumb , write , knock , night , flight , sight , height .

Words with ‘o’ ‘ open o’ sound :

Top , hop , hot , shop , got , dog , frog , fog .

Words with ‘i’ sound  :

Sit , hit , hid , did , fit  , dig , pig , big , pin , win , sin , hill.

Words with ‘e’ sound :

Let , hen , pen , pet , ten , get , men , leg ,beg , bed , fed , red , net   .

Words with ‘ ei’ pronounced  sound :

Make  , take , came , ate , late , fate , plate , shake , fake , brake , sake , cake .

Words with ‘ou’ sound :

Home  , rode , nose , hope , those , hose , go , so , no , do , to , slow , show , flow .

Words with ‘ ai’ sound :

Mine , like , hide , ride , time , shine , nine , pine .

Words with ‘i:’ ‘long i’ sound :

Be , he , she , me , we ,  sleep , tree , bee , keep , meet , sheet , green , spleen , greet , fleet , meal , read , mean , clean , team , eat , keen , heat , neat , beat , seem , see .

Words with ‘ ay ‘ ending :

Day , may , say , stay , way , lay , pray , bray , play , slay , gay  .

Words with ‘u:’ ‘long u’ sound :

Hoot , shoot , suit , flute , soon , moon , soothe , pool , pollute , proof , hoop , hoof , stoop , stool , prove , broom , brood , bruise , cruise , choose , shoe , glue , blue  , gloom , .

Words with ‘o:’ ‘long o’ sound :

Door , snort , shore , floor , store , snooze , snoop , snort , snore  , more  , glory , gore , horde , horn .

Words with ‘y’ ‘ai’ sound ending :

By , my , fly , try , why , shy , sky , fry , cry , ply .