One of the most difficult things about the English language is its pronunciation. Students focus their attention on the ponetic symbols and, sometimes, forget about other important elements such as intonation and, above all, stress.
11. Pronunciation
Pronouncing every word correctly…
Stressed language vs Syllabic language.
Example:
The beautiful mountain appeared transfixed in the
distance.
He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn’t have to do
any homework in the evening.
13. Intonation. Practice
Mark the stressed words in the following sentences. After you have found the stressed words, practice reading the sentences
aloud.
John is coming over tonight. We are going to work on our homework together.
Ecstasy is an extremely dangerous drug.
We should have visited some more castles while we were traveling through the back roads of
France.
Jack bought a new car last Friday.
They are looking forward to your visiting them next January.
Exciting discoveries lie in Tom's future.
Would you like to come over and play a game of chess?
They have been having to work hard these last few months on their challenging experiment.
14. Strong and Weak forms
Dictionary transcription.
/ /
Function words.
Little or no semantic content.
Closed class.
Weak forms do not usually appear in
sentence-final position or in
contrastive/emphatic use.
15. Strong and Weak forms
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
the ,
a/an e, n , n
some sm sm, sm̩
Determiners and Quantifiers.
16. Strong and Weak forms
Pronouns.
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
his hz z
him hm m
her h
you j j, j
your j j
she
he h h
we w w
them m m, m
us s s, s
17. Strong and Weak forms
Conjunctions
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
and nd
nd, n,
n̩d, n̩
but bt bt
that t t
18. Strong and Weak forms
Prepositions / ‘Particles’.
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
than n n
at t t
for f f
from frm
frm,
fm, fm̩
of v v, v
to t t, t
as z z, z
there
19. Strong and Weak forms
Auxiliaries.
orthography strong form(s) weak form(s)
can kn kn, kn̩
could kd kd
have hv v, v
has hz z, z
had hd d, d
will wl l
Shall l l, l, l
Should d d
must mst mst, ms
do d d, d
does dz dz, z
am m m, m̩
are
was wz wz
were w w
20. To know more…
Listen&Read along
(http://www.manythings.org/listen).
Listen&Repead podcast
(http://www.manythings.org/repeat).
Minimal pairs
(http://www.manythings.org/pp).
Daily Pronunciation Practice
(http://www.manythings.org/lar).
Sounds&Letters
(http://www.rafamoreno.com/Materiales/Sounds_Letters.pdf).
Pronunciation Drill
(http://www.rafamoreno.com/Materiales/Pronunciation_Drill.pdf).