T H E SO U N D S O F

SP O K E N E N G L I SH

A MA N U A L OF EA R T R A IN IN G
FOR E N GLI SH ST U D E N TS

WALTER RI PP MA N N

N EW Y O RK

E P D U TT ON 69 CO
°
. . .
 N OT E

As the titl e of thi s book is ambiti ous, and the

sub titl e may n ot suffice to in dica te its l imi ta tions,
-

it is well to warn the reader that he will fin d no

exhausti ve treatm ent of Englis h sp eech soun ds .

T ha t would h ave required kn owl edge greater than

min e and m ore space than was at my disp o sal
, .

Th e littl e book is an attem p t to gai n fell ow workers

-

in a fiel d whi ch is unduly n egl ected yet f ull of

,

p romis e Fascinating indeed are the probl ems

.

aff orded by the s eech of tho se aro und us ; p er

p
p l exing ofte n sti mulatin g to further in quiry
, .

It was in teachi ng the pronunciation of foreign

lan guag es th at I fi rst realis ed h ow i mp ortan t it is
to acquire a kn o wl edge of the s ounds of the m other
tongue Before the l ea rner can ac quire the fresh
.

habits of sp eec h peculiar to the foreign lang uage ,

his tea cher must kn o w cl early what distin gui shes

the new sounds from those famil iar in the m other
tongue f or onl y then can the foreign pronun ciati on
,

be im parted in a m ethodical way . It has been

sho wn convincingl y that it is v ain to trust al tog ether

to imita tion however correct and cl ear may be the

,

The book may therefore be use ful to the te acher

of foreign langua ges ; but it is inte nded also f or a
V

2 03 86 3 6
vi N ote

larger c ircle I n our Training Coll eges noted for

.
,

ea rn e st work the i m p ortan ce of the spoken lan guage

,

has l ong been felt an d much atte nti on has be en

,

devote d to the cultivati on of the voice My obj ect .

has not b een to write on voice p roduction though ,

occasional reference to the subj ect has b een made .

It has not be en my aim to say how the language

ought to be sp oken to improve upon the ordina ry
,

spe ech of our day but to represe nt it to the best

,

of my abi lity and to enabl e others to di stin gui sh

,

spe ech soun ds wh en th ey hear th em I f it be

.

desirable to im prove upon our spe ech its present ,

condi tion and tendencies must first be de te rmined .

T h e difficul ti es of th e un de rtaking ha ve bee n con

sid erabl e ; I co nf ess th at I h av e ofte n given m
y
impressions rather than the w ell substantiated resul ts
-

of ob servation I am co nfid ent that particul arly

.

those who have had no phoneti c trai ning wil l regard

as sli pshod so m e of th e p ro nun ciations whi ch I s ta te

to be usual I can only ask th em to put aside all

.

p reco nce iv ed notions of what is correct and to ”

,

li sten care fully to the un con strain ed sp e ech of their

fri ends I f they still fi nd that the facts do not bear
out wha t is her e sta ted th ey will do me a servi ce
,

by sending me th eir correcti ons .

The l earn ed criti c who ch an ces to take up this

book may fee l off end ed that I shoul d ha ve treated
p hon eti cs in so conv e rsational a to n e and disap ,

p oin ted at fi ndi ng littl e or nothi ng with whi ch he is

not w ell acqu ain ted My endeavour has bee n to
.

p ut things very sim ply and to make the beginner

,

in p hone tics h ear f e n himse lf It is only a fi rst

.
 N ote vii
step ; but I am not wi thou t hope th at so me will be
induced to take a seco nd ste p and a thi rd until the ,

num ber of stu de nts is f ar larger than at p res e n t .

Th e teachers in our schools have had scan t oppor

tuniti es f or ear training and the mother to ngue has
-
,

Ihave bee n much en co uraged in my work by

the generous help of friends ; to P rof A T Baker . . .
,

M r W O sborne Brigstocke P rin ci pal A Bu rrell

.
, .
,

Dr E R Ed wards M iss E Fogerty Mr W W Gr eg

. .
,
.
, .
,

Dr H F Heath D r R J Ll oyd Mr R B M cKerrow

. .
, . .
, . .
,

and P rof G C M oore S mi th I am m u ch in debted

. . .
,

for useful and suggesti ve criticisms .

LO ND ON WA LTE R RI P P M A N N
l at N ovember 1 905

I am gl ad to say that it has not been necessary

to make any f ar re achin g ch ange s in the later
-

editi ons T h at the boo k has aro us ed in teres t

.

is e viden t ; an d if its readers ha v e not agreed with

it in every detail that is what I fully anticipated and
,

even de sired for its obj ect was to re nder stude nts
,

m ore critical in their co nsideration of the S oken

p
language T o make a dogmati c p ron o unce m e n t on
.

all p oi n ts w oul d have bee n mis l ea di ng .

This book has now bee n su l e m en ted by a vol um e

pp
of Sp ecimens o f E nglish in whi ch I have given in the
, ,

pho netic transcri ptio n a num ber of pas sag es ran gi ng

,

in sty l e fro m the careful and e levated to the col

loquial and familiar .

M ay 1 91 3 W R ’ .
 C ON T E N T S

I N raonv on ON
' '

1 Purpo e of th e B ook
s

D iff ere nt W ys of
a A pproac ingh th e

S tan dard Speec h

Tm: ORG AN B or S p am s
h l h
B reat ing
g
a Th e V ocal C ho d r s

V oice
i
N

Th e V el um ; N asalising
T h e M out hP assage Vo wel and Con sonan t

Contin uan ts
S tops
Pl ace of Cl osure or N a rro wing
Th e Epigl otti s

S h outing
Tm: RE P RE SE NT A TI ON or S ea s on SOU N D S
Th e I nadequacy Of th e Spel ling ; i ts Causes
Spelli ng Re form
The N eed Of a Phonetic Al ph abet

Th e Sounds of S tandard Engli h

s

T HE 80 17a CON SI D E R E D S E P ARA T E LY

S tops
Lip S tops
 C onte nts

23 The
. Tongu e an d i ts P arts

24 . T th S top
ee s

25 . F ont
r and Bac k Stop s

26 Continuan ts ; Li p C on ti nuants
.

T h
27 Lip ee t Conti nuants
.

28 . Tee th Continu an ts

29 . Th e B ushing Sounds
30 Th e
. Hiss ing Sounds
81 . Th e Lis ping S ou nds
32 Th e Liquids
. th e r Sounds
38 The 1
. S oun ds
34 . Fo
r nt and Bac k Co ntinuan ts

85 . The h Soun ds
36 . V owel s
87 . Th e a Sounds
88 . a. and 9

39 . Th e Fo r nt V owels as and e
40 . m
ai an d c

M iddl e and Cl ose a

42 . Th e i Sounds
43 Th e B ack V owe ls ;
. O pe n 0

44 M iddl e an d Cl ose 0
.

45 . Th e at S ounds
46 . 801m m IN C ON N ECT E D Sp s s c s
47 . Strong and Weak Forms
48 . U ns tressed Lax i
49 . A ssi mil a ti on

6 0 S implifi cation of Consonant Groups

.

51 . S tress of the Word

52 . Sonority th e Syl labl e
63 . S tress of th e Se ntence ; Sca nni ng
54 . SM 0
 C ontents xi

55 . Pitch

56 . Importance of Ear Training

-
.

57 .

Arrm rcns

Ex ercises

Lis ts of Words with Ph oneti c Tran sc

ri
p tion
A . Ge neral
BProper N mes
. a

On th Teach ing of Read in g

e
 T HE ORGA N S O F S P EEC H .

by p ermi ssion
’
P l a te 1 1 1 i n A 9 Lu schka D er Schl undk f d es M ensa/ze n rep rod uced

gL
. . . s

th e P u bh shers M es s rs. a up p 4: C o
.
. Tfi bi ng e n
 INTROD UCTI ON
THAT a book dealing with Engli sh pro nunciati on 1 .

in quite a sim l e wa
p y shoul d yet be in tended f or
En gli sh readers rather th an for foreigners may
seem to re qui re som e exp l an ation . H ave I not
”
bee n talki ng En glis h all my life 1 the reader may
“
ask ; why shoul d I co n c e rn m y se l f with th e pro
”
nunciati on Of my m other to n gue 1 If he is quite
sa tisfi ed with the wa in w hich he speaks and n eeds
y ,

no help in teachi n g others to sp eak the n thi s l ittl e

,

book is indeed superfluous—for hi m but exp eri ence

has sho wn th at there are man y wh o are gropin g abo u t
in darkn es s anx ious f or light on the subje ct
,
. It is
above all the teacher wh o is co n s ta n tl y brought face

to face with so m e difficul ty on the part of a pupi l .

He re ali ses that som ething is wrong in the p ronuncia

tion of a word but he cann ot cl early tell where the
,

faul t lies ; he trusts th at im prov em ent will follow if

he repe atedl y utters the word correctl y pron ounced
and gets the p upil to say it after him T o his di stre ss
.

the pupil still say s the word in the old way and ,

at last the teacher gives up in de spair . When a

foreign lang uage is atte mpted the di ffi culties b e co m e
,

even m ore apparent ; but these we do not p rop o se

to co ns ider here e xce pt in so f ar as they thro w
,

light on our im m edia te subject the p ro nunciation

,

of Engl i sh.

A
 T he S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng l i sh

2
. T here are se v eral ways of approachi ng the question .

We m ay turn ttention ma inly to the require

our a

m ents of the p ubli c sp eaker cl ergy man actor , ,

si ng er ,
l ecturer reciter or p oliti cian ; thi s is th e
, ,

p rovi nce of th e teach e rs of el ocu ti on I t m

. us t be

co nfe ssed th at thes e h av e rarel y had a sc i entifi c

training ; in ma ny cases th ey base their teachi ng

on th eir own exp e ri e nce as re citers an d on what
their powers of Observation have enabled th em to
l earn fro m th eir pupil s ; an d th ey frequ e ntly h and
on traditions Obtain ed from their own teachers ,

whi ch may have nothing but old age to recomm end

them I t is to be feared th at the majority of those
.

p rofes si ng to teach e l oc ution are l ittl e bette r th an

quacks and by no one is thi s m ore readil y ackn ow

ledged th an by the few who ha v e mad e an earnest
study of the art of public speaki ng an d si n gi ng .

The phy si cist co nside rs th e p rod uction of so unds

from anoth er point of vi ew ; he m easures the wav es
of sound with delicate instrum ents The physiol ogist
.
,

again stu di es the organs of spe ech in a sta te of h ealth

,

and sickn e ss .

From all th ese the phonetician d eri ves as si stance .

His conce rn is the spoken language gene rally He .

seeks to ascertain h ow soun d s are p rodu ced and how ,

th ey are represented in writing h e traces the changes

which sounds undergo according to ti me and place ;
he atte mp ts to de te rm in e th e stan dard of sp e ech for
his own tim e and his own surroundi ngs h e consid ers
how the pronunciation is be st i mparte d to the young
and to foreigners .

When the reader has come to the e nd of this little

 T h e Aim of th e P h onetician 3

book he
, wi ll co m plicated these p robl e m s are
see h ow ,

and how mu ch yet aw aits sol u tion ; he ma al o ha ve

y s

acq uired so m e i ntere st in th es e probl ems and d esire

to give his he lp S uch help is urge ntly need ed ; the

.

num ber of seriou s stud e nts is di str es si ng ly sm all and ,

real p ro gress can only be made if their num ber grows

considerably .

Refer ence has been made to the qu estion of stan 3 ,

dard sp eech ; it is conve nient to di scuss this at o nce ,

as the stand ard sel ected natu rall y aff ects the wa
y in
which the subject of Engli sh pronuncia tion is treated .

It is generally agreed tha t there are two principal

typ e s of Engli sh sp eech : Sou thern E ngli sh of which ,

Dr H Sweet is the bes t kn own exp o n en t and

.

Northern Engli sh which Dr R J L l oyd has

, . .

described in an ex cell ent book South ern Engli sh

.

m ay be d efi ned as the Engli sh spoken in London T h e .

definition will at once stri ke the reader as re quiri ng

so m e m odifi cation— for wh at form of En gli sh is not

s o k en in Lo ndon ? and the di al e ct ( or rather set of

p
”
dial ects) p eculiar to Londo n and kn own as cockney
is certainly not to be set up as the standard .

Th e object Of sp e ech is to comm unicate w hat is in

the mi nd of the sp eaker to others the m ore ade
quate ly it attain s thi s end th e b etter it is If there
,
.

is anything in the mann e r of sp ee ch which attracts

atten tion to its el f ( for e xampl e talkin in plac e of
’
,

“
talki ng or ot f or
,
” ’
then our atte ntion
is di stracted from the subj ect di sc ussed we say .

“
th at such faulty speech j ars up on us The sam e .

is tru e if the pro nunciatio n is i ndi stinct or the voice

,
1 The S ounds of S pok e n E ng li sh

p itched too high or if the speaker stam m ers ; we

,

th en suff er from th e strain Of lis te ning and again the ,

Obj e ct of speec h to comm uni cate thought is not

, ,

attai n ed with th e l e as t am oun t of eff ort I t follows .

na turally from wh at has bee n said tha t it is our duty

'

towards our fell ows to speak in such a way that no

thi ng j ars on th eir ear nothin g strai ns th eir atte ntion
, .

T o re tai n certa in pe cul ia riti es Of spe ech which we

know to di ff er fro m gene ral usage is nothin g short
of rud eness I n a grea t man we may ov erl ook it in
.
,

ackn owl edgm e nt of the servi ces he has r endered to

mankin d ; but we who are in a h um bl er positi on

mu st e nd eav our to r end er it as easy and pl easan t as
pos sibl e for oth e rs to foll ow what we say .

We are now abl e to give a better definition of

stan dard spe e ch as co ns id e red in this book : it is that

form of spoken Englis h which will appear to the

ma jority of ed ucate d Londone rs as entirely fr ee from
u nu sual featu res T his sp eech will be acce ptabl e not
.

only in London but throughout the so uth of England ;

,

th ere is reason to b eli eve that it is spreading ; and

n owh e re will it be un inte lligibl e or eve n objection

abl e .

I t must be co nfessed that on so m e p oin ts th ere

,

is un ce rtai nty 1 and th ese will be disc ussed later

, .

Language is al way s changin g and th e younger ,

generation does not speak exactly as the older

h h h h
I t mi g t be t oug t t at re ference to a di cti onary would
be suffi cie nt to settl e di sp uted points Ho e er, it may be wv
sai d t a t n o d ictionar —n ot e en th e f am iliar
.

h y v ebste r or W
th e grea t O xford h gl ish d iction ary , now in course O f ubli ca
p
—can be implici tly truswd
ti on in matte rs of p ronunciati on .
 THE O RGANS O F S P EECH
For speaki ng w e ne ed breath .

In ordinary breathing we take about th e sam e

tim e to draw the breath into th e lun gs as to l e t it
ou t. I n Engli sh spe ech we use only the breath whi ch
is l et out ; an d wh e n we are sp eaki ng we accord
ingly draw it in qui ckl y and l et it out sl owly T his
.

requires car eful adj us tment ; if we are not careful ,

our breath giv es ou t in the m iddl e of a sente nce .

Thi s is one of th e thi ngs th at j ar and must be

,

avoid ed .

T h e m ore breath we can draw in ( or inh al e) at

Once the l onger we can use it for speech as we let
,

it cut (or exh al e it) I t is th erefore to our advan

.

tage to grow acc ustomed to taking deep breath s ,

and th us to in crease the cap acity of the l ungs .

D eep breath s expresses exactly what is wanted .

The lungs are li ke two elastic bel lows We may

.

expand th em only a littl e ; we can expand th em a

great d eal The student shoul d make hims elf
.

familiar wi th the shape Of the lungs T hey occupy

.

th e ch es t whi ch is a kind of box with elastic

,

sid es an d bottom The sid es are h el d out by the

.

ribs and when the two sets of ribs are draw n apart
, ,

th e sides of the box are mad e larger .The bottom

of the box (call ed the diaphragm ) is not flat but ,

rounded bulging up wards wh en the lungs are empty

, .

0
 B reath i ng 7

Wh en ho wev er the diaphragm contracts

, ,
th at so

breath is drawn in to the lungs to their full capacity ,

it becom es p ractical ly fiat If at the sam e tim e .

we extend the ribs then we have a con siderabl y,

in creased space f or th e lungs O ften how ever there .

, ,

is the l ess sa tis factory kin d of breathi n g in which

the ribs are not sufficie ntly active The de scendi ng .

diaphragm then press es on the soft parts un dern eath ,

and thi s in t u rn l e ad s to a u shi ng forw ard of the

p
abdo m e n l .

Good breathi ng is e ssential not only for the singer

or the publi c sp eaker ; it is esse ntial for every
teacher and for every pup il It is nece ssary for .

good speech and it is n ec essa ry f or good heal th

, .

Th e teach er shoul d as certain as soon as p o ssibl e

whether his pup il s are breathi ng w ell a simpl e test
is to dete rm i ne h ow l on g they can hol d their breath .

They shoul d certai nl y all be abl e to do so for forty

s eco nds and sho ul d rad ual ly l earn to em it a vo w el
, g
sound for at l e ast thirty seco n ds withou t a pau se ,

and with uniform p itch and volu m e B reathin g .

exercise s shoul d form a regular part Of the pup ils ’

p hy sical tr ain in g and the te ach e r sho ul d m ake a

,

p oi nt of dr awi ng the in stru ctor s spe cial atte ntion to

’

u ils who se bre athi ng app ea rs def e ctive

p p .

Th e teacher shoul d als o make sure that th e air 5 .

brea th e d i s the be st procurab l e under the condition s ;

Anoth er v
de fec ti e met hod of b reat h ing con sists in raisi ng

th e sh ould ers f or th e purpose of in creasing th e ca paci ty Of th e

l ungs . Th e h h
s oul ders s oul d , h wv
o e er, n ot be m o ed a t all in v
breat ing h .
8 T he S ound s of S p ok e n E ng li s h

he mu st v r relax in his care that the v entil ation

ne e

is good . Th e r esu l ts Of r ec ent r esearch h av e not yet

be en suffi ci ently taken to heart and much weariness ,

and ill h eal th are sti l l du e to quite avoidabl e caus es

-
.

I t may be laid down as an absolute necessity that

th ere sh ould be a pause of at least fi ve mi nu tes in
the winte r and at l east ten in the summer betw ee n
,

consecuti v e p e riods of teaching the pe ri ods th em ,

sel v e s not e xcee di ng fifty m inut es ev en in th e case of ,

th e ol d est pup il s of scho ol ag e D uri ng the interval

.

th e doors and wi ndow s shoul d be thr own wid e ope n ,

and the roo m fl u shed with fr es h air The floor .

“
sh oul d be e ith er of h ard wood tr eated with dustl ess
Oil or of cork li nol eum The blackboard should be
.

wiped with a dam p cl oth in order to p revent the

,

ch alk from vitiati ng the air I n thi s way th e

.

mi crob es and pa rti cl es of dust will be se nsibly

‘

reduced in number and th e p roportion of oxygen

,

in the air wi ll re mai n sati sfactory .

Th e seats and de sks m ust be of such a ki nd th at

th e p upil s will nat urally assum e p osi ti ons f avour abl e
f or goo d breat hi ng . Th ey must be grad uate d in
siz e ; th e seats must h ave suitably curv ed ba cks
;
and th ere m ust be som e adj ustment by whi ch the

edg e of th e d esk wil l ov e rh ang the edge of the seat

wh en the pupils are writing wh ereas th ere is a cl ear

,

spac e b e tw een th em when th e

pupil stand s T hi s .

m ay be Obtai ned eith er by m aki ng the d esk as a

whol e or th e lid of it m ov e forward and backward ;
, ,

or by making the seat movable It is not th e place .

h ere to ente r i nto further details with r egard to

the se i mportant mattersg it must suffi ce to remind
 Good A i r and a Good P os ture 9

the teacher that unceasi ng perseveran ce is required .

Ge ntly but firmly he must insist that his pupils

, ,

hol d them selves w ell ; not stiffl y Of cour se nor , ,

without variety of p osition T o sit rigidl y m eans a

.

great strai n for a chil d 1 and it is very d esirable th at

u il s sho u l d have freq u e nt o ortu nities of ch an gin g
p p pp
th eir p o sture and esp ecially of resting against the
,

back of the seat .

It will often be found that a few minutes given to

’

brea thi ng exerci se s in the middl e of a l e sson wi ll

s erve to freshe n the pupil s A n e x ce ll ent set of .

ex erci s es is given in D r H ul be rt s B rea thing f or Voice

’

P roduction (p ubl by N ov ell o) w hich teachers wi ll

.
,

do well to r ead and to put i n to M any of

the throat trou bl es of which teach e rs com plain are
directly due to bad breathi ng and bad ventilation .

Singing and sp eaki ng in choru s if heartily done ,

by all m ay be regarded as ad mi rabl e breathing

,

exercises apart from their use in other respects

,
.

A f ew w ords wi th regard to choru s w ork may be

us eful to the teacher I f well carried out it can
.
,

be Of great service T he indi vidual is e ncouraged

.

to sp eak up w ell ; it is Ofte n foun d th at the clas s

speaki ng in choru s is better in p ronun cia tion th an

the majority of th ose co mp osin g it When a chil d .

sp eaks al on e sel f co nsciou sne ss m ay m ake it he sitate

,
-

or preven t it from rai si ng its voice But the chorus .

Th e cus tom of insis i ng t on h

tig tly -fold ed ms is
ar not to be
e ncouraged .

Th e e xercises sugg es tedby M r B urrell in Clea/r Sp ec /cine

a nd Good Read i ng ( p 1 6 and fe ll ) are al so recommended
. . .
re T he Sou nds of S pok e n E ng lis h

work m ust be guided with care and used wi th

m od eration . Nothin g could sur ely be m ore Obj ec
ti ona bl e than the m onoto nous sing song i n to which
-

th e readi ng of a class is al m o st sure to d egene rate

if all or nearl y all th eir reading is in chorus The .

teach er will gua rd against this by making th e pupils

h
T is di a g ram re

p re sents a v e rtica l
h o gh th
secti on t r u e

l y
ar n x, th hi d e n er

p t of wh i h i
ar c s re

m d
ove howi g s n

g
,

th e narrowin

th o gh
r u h h
w ic
th e breat h
to p ass .

f eel wh at they read ,thus i nsisting on expressive

and

and ther efore in t eresting s e ech

p .

Case s of m ou th breathing usually due to ad enoid

-
,

growths cannot be cured by the teach er ; but it is

,

his duty to take the earl i est po ssibl e noti ce of such

a cas e and to en sure th at thos e in charge of th e
,

chil d are warn ed of the d anger in curred by d el ay

in co ns ul ting a m edical man .

 T he Vocal C h ords 1 x

The breath on l eavi ng the lungs passes through

the wi ndpi p e— and in ordi n ary breathin g there is
nothin g in its wa In speaki ng how ever there
y .
, ,

is ofte n som ethin g in its way : a beautifu l con

trivan ce capa bl e of the mo st vari ed and del i ca te
,

ad j us tm e nt and kn o wn as the v ocal ch or ds

, Th ey .

are si tu ated wher e in a m an w e see the “ A d am s , ,

’

a
pp l e .
”

Th e acco mpanyi ng i llus trati on will serve to e x

plain their nature I t wil l be seen th at the vocal
.

V ie w of th e vocal

ch o d op d to
r s e ne

th i wid t
e r t t es ex e n ,

sh owi g th windpip
n e e

to its bif m ca ti on .

chord s sp ri ng fro m both sid es of the win d pi pe Th ey -

.

are really rather of th e nature of fl e xibl e ridge s or

shall o w fl ap s th an cords By m eans of muscl e s acti ng .

on certai n ca rtilag e s th e y can be brought c l o sel y or

lightly together T h ey co nsi st of a soft fle shy part

.

at one end and a h arder cartil agin ous pa rt at the

,

Th e po si tion
of the vocal chord s in other word s ,

the natu re of the glottis (ti e the ope ning bet we en .

the vocal chords) m odifie s the breath in many way s,

.

W he n they are apart in wh at we may call the ,

rest po sitio n the brea th pass es through unhi nd ered

, .
 1 2 T he Sou nds of S poke n E ng li s h

Wh en want a particularly large supply of brea th

we ,

as in bl owi ng w e ke e
p th,e m still m ore a a rt
p W h en .

we wi sh to hold our breath we cl ose th em firmly ,

”
.

When we wis h to clear our throat we p ress th em ,

”

toge th er and th en l et the breath com e out in j erks

if thi s is done violently and (as a rul e) unintenti on
al ly a cough is
, produ ced som eti m es we do it

sli ghtly befo re the O eni ng vowel of a word sp oken

p
emphatically (thi s is comm only the case in Ge rma n ,

“
and is kn own as th e gl ottal stop
We may also close only the fl eshy ends and l eave ,

th e cartilaginous ends ope n ; then we sp eak in a

whi s per .

7 . I f we neith er leave the vocal chords part nor a

bring the m togeth er quite cl osely , but l et th em

touch lightly th e n the air as it passes out will
,

make th em vibrate ; and breath acco mpani ed by

thi s vibration is voi ce 1 in the narrower appl ication
of the word I n ordi nary spe ech this vibration is
.

an e ssenti al part of al l vow els and of m any conson

ants T h ey re according y ca ed v oice sound s ;

2
. a l ll d
thos e prod uced without vibration of th e vocal chords
are voi cel e ss
3 .

Th e vibration can be fe lt in several ways Utte r .

a l on g 3 and th e n a l ong z ( the sou nd s at the b eginn i ng

of seal and z eal re sp e cti vely ) agai n l ong 3 agai n l ong z

, , ,

a nd so on at the sa m e ti m e u t yo ur fi nger s to your

p
th roat or put y our hands to both e ars or lay your
, ,

h and on the top of your head and y ou cannot fail ,

Al o
s call ed tone .
9
Or, toned .

Or, un toned, brea t hd

e .
1 4 T he Sounds of S pok e n E ng li sh
is due to rtain changes aff ecting hi s vocal chord s ;
ce

it is important that th e voice shoul d not be subj ected

to any excessiv e strain whe n it is in this stag e .

Ce rtain affe ctions of the throat inte rfere with th e

action of the vocal ch ord s and they be com e i nca a bl e
p ,
“
of vibrating ; th en we l ose our voice Wh en w e .
”

“
l ow er th e voice w e make th e vibrations sl ow er
”
, ,

and l ow er th e
pitc h Wh en w e drop the voice
“
.

to a whi sper we are inte ntionall y prev enting

,

th em from vibrating Thi s much di minishes the .

carrying p ower of th e v oice and we th ereby ensure ,

that our words are h eard only by those who are

“
quite cl ose A pecul iar vari ety is the stage asid e
.
,
”

wh en the actor trie s to co nv ey the impression that

his w ords are not h ea rd by tho se near him y et ,

desires th em to be h eard by the sp ectators many of ,

whom are much farther away This is a v ery l oud .

whi sper ; it naturally requires a co nsiderable eff ort

an d is very tiring .

T h e breath
which has pas sed b etwe en the vocal
chords and issue s from the windpipe pass es
through the m outh or through th e nose or through
, ,

both T his is r end ered p ossibl e by a soft m ovabl e

.

flap whi ch can at will be mad e to cl ose the w ay

through th e nos e or— h anging loo sely—to l eav e
,

both passages Open Take a small m irror and look

.

at th e insid e of your m ou th standing so tha t as ,

mu ch light as po ssi bl e falls into it ; y ou wil l see this

flap th e v el um ha nging down with a ki nd of V in
, ,

th e centre the l owe r extre mity of whi ch is known

,

as the w e ld Stil l watchi ng your m outh i nh al e

.
,
T h roug h th e M outh and th roug h th e N ose r 5

thro ugh the nose and exh al e through the mouth ;

see h ow the vel um m oves as y ou do thi s Af ter a .

littl e whil e try to m ove the v el um cl o sin g an d Op e n ,

ing the no se passage witho ut utte rin g a sound and

,

wi thout breathi ng .

I n Fren ch there are four nasal v ow el s ( occu rrin g in

not ban vin blame) in whi ch the vel um h ang s l oo se and ,

breath pas se s through n os e and m outh I n standard .

En gli sh such vowels do not exis t but another form ,

“
of nasal vo w el p rod ucing a , twang is som etim e s ,

heard in many forms of what m ay be call ed di ale ct

speech . Th e Lo ndoner is ofte n carel ess about
cl os ing the n ose passage an d som e breath is all owed ,

to pass out by that way so as to be per cep tibl e to

the ear in the form of fri ction and to impair the ,

qual ity of the vowels Th e nasal twang is very .

n oticeabl e in som e form s of A m erican Engl ish .

Th e nasal i sing te n dency ma y als o be ob served

in untrain ed singers and p ubl ic sp eaker s ; it is
undo ubtedl y a m eans of in creas in g the ca rryi ng

p o w er o f the voice and of red ucin g the eff ort of

,

maki ng one self understood by a large audi ence T h e .

sam e eff ect can ho w ever be produced by trai ning

, ,

the muscl es of the chest by m eans of breathi ng

exerci se s and with m ore agreeabl e re sul ts to the ear
,
.

P upils wh o show a te n dency to nasali si ng can be

cured by freque nt exerci ses in uttering the m outh
( or or al vo w el s
) .

I t is h owever m aintai ned by some teach ers of voice p o

, ,
r

d ucti on th t th e best vowel sounds are produced wh e n th e

a

v l um do
e es n ot q uite pre v nte th e passage of air t h o gh th
r u e

nose .
 1 6 T he S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng l is h
In p rod uc ing a nasal consonant ( su ch as m) , we
stOp the br ea th so m e wh er e in the m outh at th e

li ps when we u tte r m) , and l et it pass out through

the nose .

A col d in the nos e often prevents the breath from

passi ng through it ; and thi s renders it im pos sibl e
to produce th e nasal consonants m n and ng (as in , ,

si ng) the ln ndred sounds b d and g bein g sub

'

, , ,

stituted for th em A si milar difficul ty is experienced

.

by childr en wi th adenoid growths T his is comm only .

“
call ed speaki ng through the nose it is j ust the
reve rse .

9 ,
I n spe aking, as a rul e , the passag e to th e nose is
cl os ed an d the breath fi nds its pa ssag e th rough the

mouth T he shap e of this passag e can be m odified

.

in many way s, b ecause se veral organs of sp w ch are

The l ow er be m oved up and down

j aw can .

Th e li ps can be cl os ed or kept lightly touchi ng , ,

or th e l owe r li p m ay touch the upp e r te eth or the

lip s may be apart assumi ng various shap es from a
, ,

narrow sl it to a large or sm al l circl e T h ey m ay .

al so be thrust forward p rotru d ed , .

Th e to ngu e is capab l e of an ev en greater vari ety

of po sition A gai n w atc h the insi d e of your m outh
.

by m eans of your little m irror Say a (as in he) a .

,

i f ather) a ( as in who) and ob serve th e m ov e

( as n , ,

m ents of yo ur to n gu e ; th en m ake the sam e m ove

m en ts but without uttering th e soun d s
, You wi ll .

so on fe el how you r to n gue m ov es without ne edi ng ,

to l ook at it T his consciousness of the muscular

.
 Vow el and C ons onant r7

acti on of your to ngue is val uable and y ou m ust ,

take pai ns to devel op it Watch the m ovem ents .

of your to n gue as y ou u tter other vowe l so unds ;

they wil l be treated sy stematicall y in due co u rse .

By m eans of these m ovabl e organs of speech the

mo uth passage assum es various forms ; it may still
be wide e nough to l eave a fre e co u rse f or the
breath or it may be quite narrow or it may be
, ,

cl os ed at som e point .

If the passage is free the resul t is a vowel ; if

,

not, it is a co nsonant ‘ .

If the passage is so narrow at some p oint tha t the 1 0 .

breath cann ot pass through wi thout rubbing or

brushi ng we have a continuan t (so m etim es call ed
,

a fricative ) Th us whe n we say f or c th e breath

.
,

pass es out through the teeth ; the onl y diff ere nce
between th e two soun ds being that in saying a th e ,

brea th is al so engaged in setting the vocal chords

vibrating Say e (as in he) and grad uall y raise th e
.

tongue sti ll further thus narrowing the passage ;

,

y ou w il l reach a p oin t w he n y ou no l onger

p rod u ce
a vowel but a co n tin uant n am el y the s o un d heard
, ,

at the beginni ng of yes T he se sound s are call ed

.

contin uan ts becau se we can prol ong the m at will ;

,

ind eed we can dw ell on them until no m ore breath

,

is l eft in the l ungs .

If the passage is cl osed al together at som e point we 1 L ,

have a stop ; the breath is stopp ed Say hop e or wit .

or back and noti ce h ow in each cas e there is a c l osure

1 Th
is d fi ni ti on h as i ts dr wback s as will b see n la t r
e a , e e .

B
1 8 T he Sounds of S p ok en E ng li s h

at th e Stops co nsist Of two parts : the closing

end .

of th e passage and the subsequent opening of it ;

,

this ope ning res embl es a littl e exp l osion and ste ps are ,

accordi ngly som e tim es call ed pl o siv e s or exp l osiv es .

Obse rve that th e ear does not require to perceive both

th e cl osur e and the ope ning ; one is en ough to gi v e
th e imp re ssion Of the sound Wh en y ou say hop e or .

wit or luck y ou ne ed o nl y hear the cl osing Of th e

,

pa ssa ge ; y ou ca n l ea v e yo u r m ou th sh ut y et to th e ,

car th e word will se em co m pl ete ( T h e s o un d wi ll .

,

howe ve r carry further if you open the passage again ;

,

and in public sp eakin g it is th ere fore to be rec om

m end e d ) Simil arly in utteri ng th e word s p ain tel l

.
, , ,

come only th e op eni ng of th e passage is audible ; y e t

,

the ear is sati sfied I n th e middl e Of a w ord l ike

.

night time car eful l y p ro nounced

,
we h ea r both th e ,

cl o sure and the Ope ning ; and the in terv al b etween

the two giv e s our car th e im p r ession th at th ere are
two s I n quick sp eech however the cl osure is
t 1 ’
.
, ,

usuall y i na u dibl e in su ch word s or m or e corre ctly , ,

the sounds overlap .

T h e narrowi ng or cl osi ng of the as sage may be

p
affe cted at variou s
poin ts T h e lip s m ay be partial ly .

or com ple te ly closed ; the l ow er lip m ay be p ressed

agai n st th e u
p p er te eth di ff e ren t parts Of th e tongue
m ay be p ressed agai nst th e teeth or th e gum s or , ,

th e pa lat e P ass your fi ng er al ong the roof Of yo ur

.

m outh and n oti ce th at o nl y th e fro nt Of it is h ard

,

we di sti nguish th e h ard palate an d the s oft palate .

When w e are eati ng or dri nking the food passes ,

1
Con id wh t h pp ns in th cas of u h word
s er a a e e e s c s as
vi ntne r, l a mp ma n .
 Heari ng 1 9

down the gullet behind the windpipe To prevent

, .

food entering the windpipe whi ch causes a choki ng ,

se nsatio n and co ugh in g there is the ep iglottis ( see

,

the di agram on p a carti l agin o us flap whi ch

.

covers the top Of it ; this flap is rais ed when we are

breathing Hence the wis dom of the rul e not to
.
,

sp eak whi l e y ou are eati ng .

In order that sp eech may have its full effect it is ,

ne cessa ry tha t the bearer shoul d hear well ; this is

by no m eans so co mm on as is generally suppo sed .

Th e im portance Of testing the eyesight is now recog

nised ; but the h earing is usual l y n egl ected A tte n .

ti on must be drawn to this matter as teachers Ofte n ,

re gard pupils as inatte nti ve an d d ull and rep rim an d

them when they are reall y h ard Of hearing Th e
, .

teacher s mistake is to som e exte nt pardonabl e be

’

cause the d efect is easil y overl ooked esp eciall y as a ,

u
p p il m a
y hear badl y in one ear and not in the other ,

and thus see m i natte ntive o nl y whe n the teacher

happ e ns to be standing on the si de of his defective

ear. Further it is a defect whi ch Ofte n varies in
,

inte nsi ty fro m day to day according to the pupil s

,
’

general condi tion Of heal th T hese considerations .

p oi n t to the urge nt n ecessity Of institutin g an in

sp ection of the hearin g in our schoo ls T he teach er .

can hi m sel f apply the si mpl e test Of seein g at wh at

distance the pupil is abl e to hear whi spered doubl e

num bers such as 35 81
, each car shoul d be tes ted
,

s e a rate l y a cl oth bein g p re ss ed aga inst the other

p , .

The teacher will note down the two dis tan ces for
each pupil and will probably be surpris ed at the
,
 20 T he S ou nds of Spok en E ng lis h

variations Observ ed It is cl ear that defecti ve h ear

.

ing shoul d constitu te a stro ng clai m for a front seat in

th e class— room more so than d efective eyesight whi ch
, ,

usual lybe rectifi ed by th e use Of suita bl e sp ectacl es .

It is ha rdly n ecessary to point out that lack of

cl eanl iness in the ears may in te rf ere with the h ear
ing and that carel essness with regard to the te eth
,

may l ead to th eir l oss and to d ef ects Of spe ech ,

apa rt from oth e r unpl easant co ns eq ue n ces I t is

.

cl ear that an ythi n g in the natur e of tight lacing -

renders good breathing imp ossibl e and the fashion

Of l ettin g th e h air cover the ears is als o to be dis

couraged as renderin g the h ea ri ng m ore diffi cul t

, .

I n men tight collars an d be l ts Often interfe re with

,

Lastly teachers (particularly mal e teachers) require

,

to be warned agains t sh outing this onl y tir es the m

and irri ta te s th e nerv es Of th eir p upils whil e the
,

sam e Object can be achi eved by car e ful artic ul ation .

Where it is u sed to keep th e class in order the

“
,
”

teach er shoul d earnestly consider how it is that

oth ers can keep order with out shouti ng ; us ually
his di ffi culties in main tai ni ng dis ciplin e are due to
ill heal th ov e rstrain or gen eral in capacity
-
, , .

Wh en the throat is relaxed a gargl e wi th some

,

astrin g en t will be found a sim pl e rem edy a sol ution

Of alum in water may be recomm ended for this pur

p o se O r,
a bit Of borax ma
y be h e l d in th e ch eek .

16 ,
From a very early tim e the attempt has been mad e
to re prese nt th e sp ok en lang uage by means of signs .
n T he S ounds of S pok e n E ng li s h

I n m ed iseval tim es wh en there was no pri nting

, ,

no dail y pa p e r no univ e r sal co mpul sory ed ucation

, ,

th ere was a good d eal of freedom in the spellin g ,

and pe op l e wrote v ery m uch as th ey pl eased

phon eti cally if they were not spoilt by
,
a l ittle

kn owl edge .B ut the in v ention of p rin ti ng and the

di ssem ination of l earning changed all thi s A uni .

form spellin g cam e to be recognised ; the nation

acqu ired the h abit of regarding it as correct and ,

woul d tol erate no devi ation from it Though it .

represents the pronunciation of a former age we still ,

use it ; an d w e are quite ups et wh en we read the sp el

lings labor center theref or nay ev en when two words

, , ,

are contrary to our usage run together as in f orever

, , , .

Wh en our spelling rec eived its pre sent form not

only was the language very diff erently pronounced ,

but the p edantic had al ready be en abl e to wreak

“
their wi cked will on it T hus the learn ed m en
.

of m edi aeval France spell ed p a/rf aiet though the c of ,

L atin p erf eetwm had devel oped into the i Of parf ait /
,

and th ey did not p ron ounce th e c whi ch they intro

duced i nto the spelli ng The word passed in to

.

English and here al so the c was at first onl y writte n ;

,
“
later on it cam e to be pronounced Th e l earn ed .

si milarly in trod u ced a b i nto the Fr ench words doutef

and dette ( b ecau se of the La tin dubita re and debita

) ,

but had the good sense to drop it ; we hav e it stil l

in doubt and debt though we l eav e it unpro noun ced
, .

I n l ate r times we find som ethi ng simil ar : the l ea rned

force us to spell p hilosop hy with p h and not f .

Th e word com es from Greek through Lati n ; th e

Gree ks pro nounced th e p h actuall y as p plus h at th e
 E ng lis h S p el ling 23

time when the Ro m ans took to spelling Greek words

in th eir lan guag e a nd thes e co ntinu ed to spe ll p h
,

even whe n th e Gre eks no l onger p ro nounced p plus

h but f as we do now
, ,
.

The su bject of sp elling re f orm is not within the 1 8 .

sc o e of this book but it p r ese n ts its el f na tu rall y

p
to all who take an inte lli ge n t i nte re st in the lan
guage It se em s probabl e that m u ch good will
.

be achieved by the Sim plified S pell ing S oci ety

( 4 4 Gre a t R u sse ll Street Lo n
, do n W C, ; an nual
. .

su b scri tion from whi ch has bee n rece ntl y

p
e stabl ished and wi ll undou bted l y p rofit by the ex

eri ence Of the si ster s ociety in the U nited Sta te s

p .

S uch spelli ngs as wel f ul tho thru bred aetio w ill

, , , , , ,

sur e ly co mm e n d th em sel ve s a s so on as the e y e O f

the man in the street has bee n made familiar

with the m and th e ety mol ogical se ntim en tali st h as
realis ed the asto undi ng weakne ss Of his a rguments .

Howeve r di stant may be a compl ete reform it is ,

certai nly help ful to be consciou s of the evi l ; onl y

thus can we ne utrali z e som e Of its bad effects Th e .

m ost Obvious of these is the lack of ear trai ni ng

in our schools where the m other ton gue has bee n
,

l earnt on the basi s of the writte n and not the sp oke n

language .The only m ethod f or teaching Englis h
readin g and writi ng which can co m m end itself to the
stu dent of the lan gua ge n o l e ss than to the s tu dent

of chil dhood is th e m ethod ide ntified with the nam e

Of Mi ss D al e . A pa rt fro m the sympathy and l ove

of chil dre n pe rvading all her work it is of un usual ,

i mportance because sh e has sol ved the p robl em Of

 24 The S ounds of S pok e n E ng l is h

t rti ng from the spoken

s a language, while avoiding
a ll
phonetic sym bo ls .

It is howev er convenient for the student of phon

, ,

eties to h ave a set of generally acce pted signs other

wis e he woul d be unabl e to exp re ss in writing the
pro nunci ation in su ch a way th at oth er stude nts
co ul d und erstand wha t h e m ean t Withou t phonetic .

sym bols the d esignati on of sounds be co m es a wkw ard .

I t was one Of Miss Dal e s many h appy thoughts to ’

connect sounds an d th eir writte n form with defin ite

“ “
words for in stance the moon OO an d the fern er
,

but howev er suitabl e that is for the little ones it is ,

in co nv enient for the grown up stud ent -

.

Th e re are many p honetic al phabe ts all el se be ing

equal th e on e m os t wid ely use d is cl early th e m os t
,

val uable We hav e therefore chosen for this book

.

the al p h abet of the A ssoc iat io n ph onét ique in ter

na tional s which is al ready w e ll kn own in Englan d
,

owi ng to its us e in a number of books for elem entary

ins truction in French German and even Latin I t
, ,
.

wi ll co mm end itself to the st ude nt by its great sim

p lici ty What will really present dif ficulty is rather
.

th e d e te rmination Of th e actual nat ur e of the sp oke n

word tha n the represe ntation of the sound s when
,

once dete rm in ed .

20
. We now give the sounds occurring normally in
s tand ard Engli sh an d th eir phon eti c signs ; th e
,

signs for consonan ts which are l ikely to be nu

fami liar are encl ose d .

 S ig ns for th e C onsonants 25

Oons onants .

bat rabble

p at app le

man ha mmer
dab bidden
tap bitten
nut winner

out wawle
eat taekle

4 as in can never lea ve

m as in f an fler
sti leaf

U as in this leather elothe

z as in z eal easel lose

m seal
'

s as lesson lease

g as in

i as in yes

r as in red very
1 as in lip pal lor p ill
h as in hot
, l t rs doubtf ul
‘

wh eth er h
t is can be cal l e d a sound of stan
d rd Eng li sh ; Se e §
26 T he S ounds of S p ok e n E ng lish

V ow el s .

A ttentzon should be p aid to the signs f these, ma/ngl

'

or as

a general id ea o f the soun ds, which are di scussed in

deta i l in 36 and f all The sign in dica tes length,
.

and half length .

is th e firs t vowe l sou nd 1 n

i bead .

is the v owel so un d in bi t .

is t e fi t vow so un d in braid
h rs e l 1
.

is the vowel sound in bet .

is the fir st vow el sound in f airy .

is th e vowel sound in bat .

is the first vow el sound in boat bite

1
, .

is the first vow el sound in f a ther .

is the fir st vowel sound in glory .

is the vowel sound in p ot .

is the first vow e sou d in boat

l n 1
.

is th e firs t vo w el so u nd 1
in rud e .

is th e v owel soun d in p ut .

is the vow el sou nd in burn .

9 is th e seco nd vowel sound in better .

A is the vowel sound in but .

h h
I t is m os t im portant t at y ou s oul d not confuse sou nd
h
wit letter . Th
us in bead we hv
a e th e l e tters e and a , w i c h h
rep res en t v
owels in bed and bad but th e e in bea d h as qui te
a diff ere n t v
al ue from th e e in bed .Th e two l ette rs ea in bead
h h h
toget e r repres ent two sounds w ic are described in 5 42 .
 Sig ns for th e Vowe ls 27

'

The foll owi ng sente nces o ventional writte n in the c n

and the p hon etic sp ell i ng will give s om e idea Of the

use of thi s al ph abet for re pre se ntin g connecte d speech

as s o ke n a) very carefully ( b) quite coll oqui all y

p ( , .

For purp oses v

of con eni ence th e r an d u are n ot used in
ordi n ary tran scri p t, as h
t ere is no danger of confus ion .

( )
a Th e s erious t dent Of p honetic s soo n grow s
s u
l 2
stj uwde nt e v f o ne tiks
’
be si r e s j su wu
°
grou z

in te re sted in the su bject ,

and every fre sh sp ake er
1
in terestid in sabd 5ikt, send evri fre j
be s
pij ke

p res ents n ew materials for study .

j m e ti : riel z is sta di
’

pri z e nts n uw
’ °
.

( )
b D id y ou hear what he tol d m e last ght ?
ni

d5u hie wot i toul mi l o xs nait ?

I n th e Sp eci mens o
f E nglish th e di p t ongs ere represented hh h
by [ uw] and [ ij ] are sim pl y printed [u r] a nd [i x] .

3
v h
O bse r e t a t th e acce nt p reced es th e stressed syll abl e .

vw
I n th e Sp eci mens of E ng l ish th e o el of th e stressed sy llabl e
is pri nted in t i s typ e h .
 T HE S O UND S C O NS I DERED SEP A RA TELY
Co ns onants — s to ps .

21 . T he s uno ds whi ch p resen t l eas t diffi cul ty to the

t dent are
s u th e sto p s, in p rod ucing whi ch the flow
of breath is compl ete ly ch ecked We have already .

s een in 1 1 th at eve ry sto p stri ctly sp eaki ng consi sts

, ,

of th ree p art s th e cl o sing and th e Op e ni ng of th e

,

p as sa g e a n d th e p au se bet w e e n an d th at only th e ,

cl o si ng or o nl y th e O eni ng nee d be h ea rd for the

p
e ar to di sti ngu i sh th e soun d Th e i nterval betwe en .

th e cl o sure and the Op en ing m ay be n oticeabl e in ,

whi ch case we call the co nsonant doubl e .

Stops may be voiced or voice less that is they , ,

may be p rod uc ed with or wi thout vi bration Of the

vocal chord s (see
Stops may be produced by stopping the br eath at
som epoint in th e m ou th and th an l etting it burst

th rough th e Ob stacl e ; th ese are oral ste ps .

T h e breath sto pp ed at so m e p oi nt in the m outh

, ,

m ay be all owed to p ass out through the n ose ; the

sounds th us prod uced ar e cal l ed nasal
1 .

Utte r the foll owing sounds and dete rmine wheth er ,

th ey are voiced or voiceless oral or nasal : ,

[P g
:
n t b k m d
) , : : : s )

k
For th e sa e of con enience th e nasal sO
1 v
unds , in producing

h h h
w ic th e breat doe s n ot al so pass ou t t roug th e m out , h h h
h h
et c w ic
. are not nasal o el s ( se e vw
are in cl uded under
“ ”
s tOps.
11
S oun ds in ph oneti c transcri p t are e n cl osed in sq uare

brack e ts .

28
3c T he Sou nds of S p ok en E ng l i sh

ing, thi s sound is voi ced ; but when it is i mmedi ately

follow ed by a voicel ess sound it may be partly voiced
, ,

th en v oi cel ess (phonetic sign : In) T h en lamp is .

stri ctly l aem m

[ p] W e m
. ay sa
y [ ]
: m is unvoi c e d or

devocal iz e d b efore a voicel ess stop ) Notice the

.

difference in l ength of [m] in lamb hammer gbwm , , ,

moon in whi ch of th ese word s is it short ?

I n comf ort tri ump h th e [m ] is ofte n labiod ental the
,

breath is sto pp ed by the upp er te eth and lower lip ,

not by both li p s .

I n p ri sm schism th e m may have syl l abi c v al ue ;

,

it then do es the work u sually pe rformed by a vowel .

We say [priz em] or [priz m] wh ere [m] is the sign

,

for syll abic m .

s writte n m or mm
[ ]
m i .

In the prod uction of the lip stops th e tongue play s

no pa rt excep t by l e avin g a free pa ssage ; but it is
,

active in th e p rodu ction of the sto ps we ne xt h av e

to consider T his is th erefore th e right place to giv e

.

th e nam e s by which we desi gnate the various p arts

of th e tongu e We di stingui sh
.

the p oint,

th e blad e (above and behin d the poi nt wh en th e

to ngu e li es flat) ,

th e f ront (y et furth er b ehi nd ) and ,

th e back ; al so
the rid ge or dorsum (an imaginary li ne drawn
al ong th e midd l e of the top of the ton gue fro m end

to end) and
,

the rim ( running all round the edge of the tongue

wh en it lies flat) .
 P oi nt S top s 31

When th e na rro wing or closu re of the passage is

mad e by the fro n t rim of the tongu e w e say it is of ,

ap ical formatio n when it is made by the surfac e of

'

th e tongue be hin d the fro nt rim w e say it is of dorsal

,

P oin t —Th e breath is stopp ed by the action 24

stop s
l .

of the poin t of the to ngu e to uching the te eth (in

whi ch case we have tru e dental s) or the upp er gums
( thi s is kn ow n as a lveolar arti cul atio n al v e ol i ,

be in g the l earned word f or the gums) I n Engl i sh .

the poin t of the tongue rare ly to uches the teeth ;

usuall y it to u che s th e upp er gums so m e time s the ,

hard pal ate (this shoul d be avoided ) in whi ch case ,

it approaches See the diagram on p 1 26 . .

He nc e in carel ess spe e ch at last som eti m es beco m e s

Li ttl e childre n are heard to say [ikl] for
little ; co mpare al so the ch ange fro m Latin tremere to

T hree different sounds may be p roduc ed with this

1 [.t] whe
,
n there has bee n no vibratio n of the

vocal chords .

I n p reci se or e m ph atic sp eech sufficie nt breath

,

escap es after the ope ning of the passag e to give th e

e ff e ct of [ h ] ; th u s take it &[ t ai k it his oc curs
]
h
T .

m ostl y before acce n ted vow el s an d som eti m es fi nall y

,

he sent me such a charming note [hi se nt mi sat; s

tS ax mi g n ou t ]
h 3
.

1 h
Th e point stops are als o call ed tee t or d en tal stops .

3
h h
On th e ot er and, in Som erset clea n, clod are som e ti mes
pronounce d wi t [ th
l See footn ote 8 on
page 29 .
 T he Sou nds of S p ok en E ng l i s h

In certain kind s of uneducated southe rn English

spe ec h t s occasionall y dropp ed be twee n v ow els
[] i ,

in such words as water butter , .

t
[] is writte n t or tt ; d in the od oi v erbs afte r

v oicel ess sounds as in stopped [ stopt] ; rarely th in

, ,

words of foreign origin .

d wh e n th e re has bee n vibration of the v ocal

2.
[ ] ,

chords .

d
[ ] is written d or dd .

3 [n] wh en the velu m is l owered and the breath

.
,

ss es ou t thr ou gh th e n ose G r y speaking

p a ( e ne all .
,

thi s sound is voiced ; but when it is im medi ately

p reced e d or foll ow e d by a voi c el ess soun d it ma
y ,

becom e voicel ess ( n) in part Th en sneer is strictly .

[ sn n i e
],
h int Noti ce th e diff erence in l en gth

of [n] in mine own manner an name ; in which of

, , , ,

th ese words is it l ong ?

I n month anthem the [n] is a true de ntal : the
,

tongue touches th e te eth .

I n listen op en w e may hav e syllabi c n [ n] Co mpare

, .

wha t was said about syllabic m in § 22 .

s written n or an
[ ]
n i .

Front andtop s — The breath is stopped by

back s

som e pa rt of th e ridg e of th e tongu e m ee ting

th e front or hard pala te giving f ront stop s ; or ,

the back or soft palate givi ng back stg ye , .

Say [ku ] and th en [In] ; now whi spe r the m In .

whi ch case is the cl osure m ore forward in the

m outh ? Co mpa re with these th e pla ce of cl osure
when you say [k c ] .
 F ront and B ack S tops 33

H our the se exampl es it be seen that the wi ll

eff ect for the ear is very much the sam e and we ,

sh all here make u se of the sam e signs f or front an d

In there is a distin ct te ndency to

cockn ey spe ec h
,

make the cl osure so f ar forward th at the [ k g] are ,

perce p tib l y m odifi ed ( This

p ronun ci ation is sug
.

gested by the spe llin g gym den leg/ind empl oyed by -

, ,

those who try to represen t co ckney spe ech ) Th e .

al ataliz i ng te n de ncy is not to be e n couraged

p a

m ore e ff ective [k] is p rodu ced by di sti nctly back

ward articu lation S light variation s in the place of
.

cl osure du e to the place of articulation of neigh

bouring sounds in a word are in evit abl e .

T hree diff erent sounds may be p rod uced with thi s

1 .
[ ]
k ,
wh en there has been no vibration of the

I n preci se emph atic spe ech sufficient breath

or ,

e scap es after the Op en ing of the passage to give the

eff ect of [ h] ; thus come come &[k am k am] T hi s
h h
, , .

occurs mo stly before accen ted vowel s som etim es ,

finally give him a good shake &[ giv im e gud

,

s wri tte n c k ck cc (as in accuse

[ ]
k i , , ,

q (as in queen [ kw ij n] ) s]
ch (as in chord [ k
as he, cc, c
c, me
.

2 . g
[ ] ,
when there has bee n vibration of the vocal

Som etim e s [g] is p ro noun ced with the tip of the

1
See f ootnote 8 on page 29 .
34 T he Sou nd s of S p ok e n E ng li s h

to ngue so th at it sounds like [d] ; thus glory becomes

e way in whi ch s p rod uced
dlorg [ dl oxri
] T h .
[]
1 i
( see 33 e
) px l ains this .

g
[ ] i s wri tt en g and gg ; rarel y gh ( as in ghost

For [ks ] an d [gz ] written a: see 30 .

3. wh en th e
velum is low ered and th e breath
p asses o u t thr o ugh the n ose ( G e n e rall y s eaki ng
p .
,

thi s so un d is voi ced ; but when it is imm edia tely

foll owed by a voi cel ess sound it may be at first ,

voiced th en v oicel ess

,
th e [ 0] may be un voice d
see § 23 3) b efor e a voi cel ess st0 p T h en length is
( ,
.

strictl y l eg fid] or Noti ce the diff er ence

[
in l ength of [D ] in sing si nger dri nk bang ; in whi ch
, , ,

of these words is it short ?

[9 ] is wri tte n ng as in long , and n befor e

g ,

k or c as in longer [l ongs ] lank [l asgk] lgna [l i nks]

, , , , .

Wh at do es ng repre sent in singer ? in fin ger ? in

dropping of g is re ally an incorrect te rm

Th e “
.

Th ere is n o [g] in th e ending i ng [in] 1

what does
take place is the subs titution of [n] for T his
occurs in baby sp e ech in vulgar spe ech and in th e
, ,

s eech of som e sectio ns of s ociety

p I t is on no .

accou nt to be tol erated .

Th e Opp o site m i stake is made only by the un

e d ucated wh o p ro noun ce kitchen as [ kitS
,
ig] chicken ,

and sudden as [ sa di g
[
as tS iki D ] , ] .

Noti ce the substitution of this sound by the nu

ed uca te d for the unf am iliar pal atal nasal
[ p ] in
I n stand ard Engli s ; in
1
h ce rta in dial ec ts th e e ndin
g 4 t
is al ways pronounced 1 0g [ ] .
 Lip C ontinuants 35

Boulogne [the uneducated [bulog] 1 and f or

b ]
uIOp , ,

the e qually unfamiliar nasal vowel [6 ] in the likench

word continent [k5tin6 ] the un educate d [k ontinog]
, .

For [n] becom in g [m ] or [D ] by assim il atio n see ,

g 49
—continuants
.

C ons onants .

It will
be see n that the articulations of these 26 ,

sounds are m ore difficul t to an al y se th an tho se of

the stops There is roughly speaking onl y one

.
, ,

way of cl o si ng a passage en tirel y ; but there are

various ways of cl o sing it partially .

Th e co nti nu an ts usually go in pairs on e bei ng ,

voicel e ss the other voiced

, .

Li po t inuants — Th e breath passes between the

c n

two lip s (hence the term bi labials) ; the to n gu e is in

a po sitio n s o m e w hat cl o s er th an the [11 o sitio n i a
] p , . .

bunched up at the back ( see 5 an d we m a

y there
fore call the se sounds lip velar conti nuants -
.

Th e voiced sound [w] is th at c omm only u se d in

stand ard Engl i sh whether th e sp el l i ng be 10 or wh
, .

I n northern E ngl i sh and in Scot ch the voicel e ss [m]

is us ed where the ordinary sp ell i ng has wh .

It is very doubtful whether [in] has a right to be

regarded as a norm al soun d in standard Engli sh .

It is taught by profe ssors of el oc ution and is ,

therefore comm only heard at recitals and also at

ama te ur theatrical s On the regular stage it is by
.

no m ean s the rul e and in the pu lpit it is p roba bl y

,

the e xception If it com es naturally to pupils who

.
,

bri ng it with them from the North they n e ed not ,

be i nterfered with ; there is certai nl y no good reason

Th e ed ucated comm onl y say [ bul oun] [ bul oin] is also h eard
1
.
 36 The S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

why it sh ould be f orced on sp eakers of southern

Engli sh who generally p roduce a grossly exagg e
,

rated and quite ludicrous travesty of the north ern

soun d .Which do y ou use yourse lf ? I f [A ] is it ,

natural to y ou or ac quired ? ,
D o the rest of your
family use it ? A ny of your fri ends ? What pro
p ortio n of c hi l dre n in yo ur cl ass ?

It may be noted that after voicel ess sounds [ as]

so m etim es take s the place of
[w] even in standard ,

Englis h ; twenty is p ronounced [twenti] or [tmenti ]

swim sh im
and swim
[ ] or
[ ] So metimes also the
.

so un d [a ] is heard in where p ro nounced with great

e m p h as is in the case of sp eakers wh o do not ordi

,

narily us e it .

It shoul d be noted that these sounds are not con

tinnante in the stri ct sense of the te rm for the lips ,

are grad uall y brought nearer and graduall y drawn

a art T h e sound s do not continue in th e sam e

p .

p o sition at all ; h enc e th ey h av e been desc ri bed as

“
gl iding not h el d
,
”
.
”

T h e word conquer is som eti m es p edantically pro

n ounced [ kogkwe] in st ead of [k og ke] ; bu t it is the

rul e to sound th e [w] in conquest Co mpare li quor .

[ ]
l i k e,
exchequer

A w has often influenced a foll owing a Consider .

the followi ng cases

was, warm, squa bble; mm M , & W 6 }, W 3

27
,
teeth cont inuants —The breath pass es be
Li p
tween th e l ow er lip and the upper te eth (also
betwee n the i ntersti ces of the upper te eth ) ; th e
38 T he Sou nds of S pok e n E ng l is h
is c rily betwee n the to ngue and the
n ot n e e ssa

te eth in som e cases it is i nd e ed a good deal farth er

back .

T he point continuants in clud e

1 T he hushing, his sing, l and l i sping sound s, and
.

the r sounds, in which th e pl ace of articulati on is

o g the middle lin e of the m outh (media l forma
al n

tion) ; and
2 Th e I sounds th e narrowi ng f or which is be
.
,

tween the side ri m or rims of the tongue and th e

sid e teeth ( lateral form ati on
) .

Th e r sounds and th e l so unds are so metim es call ed

li qui ds .

Th e bushing soun ds — For

the production of th e
sh soun ds the passa ge is narrowed b etw een the blade

(see 23) of the tongu e and the hard palate A broad .

current of air is broken agai nst the edg e of the te eth .

Th ere is som e fri ction be tween the to ngue and the

gums but that against the front teeth is more
,

noticeabl e .

Watch a Fre nchman utteri ng these so unds and ,

se e wha t he doe s with his li ps D o y ou use your .

li ps in th e sam e way ?

voiceless [ S ] is usuall y writte n sh ; also 5 after

Th e
consonants (as in tensi on [ ts u S en
] censur e ,

It is writte n es c or t before a f ront vowel ( e or i)

, ,

( as in p assion [pseS en] cap ricious ,

station

I n all these cases [ S ] ar ose from [ sj ] .

Th e bushing an d hi ssi ng soun ds are als o ca ll ed sibilan ts .

 The Hu sh i ng S ou nd s 39

O b serve the coll o quial pronunciation of this year

ear s sik sj az z
]
as [bi sj e x ; six y [ ] .

The com bin ation [ tS

] is very comm on and is u sually ,

writte n ch or tch In som e case s it ari ses from [tj ]

.
,

when t foll ows the chief acce nt of the word and

p recedes either fro nt vowel ( or i) or which
1
a e a

goes back to [j u x] (as in ri ghteous [raitS es

] natur e ,

Th e com bi nati on [ k S ] si m i larl y goes

back to [ kej ] in ana ioue [ seDkS es
] ( n otice ana iety

[ Aw a y is [l ak S e ri
] bu t lu a u rious is ,

[ l ]
ri e s or som eti m e s
'
eg z u x

The p ro nunciatio n of associate as

ofi cia t
e as i n stead of [ e so u S
ie it o fi Seit] is
i
’

,
'

p edantic ; [pro pisieit] is al so faulty f or

'

T he voiced [5] standing al one bet ween vowels is

not comm on in En gl ish bei ng foun d only where s ,

is foll o wed by a front vo wel or by i t which goe s ,

back to [j u z] Here the devel opm ent is from [sj ]

.

to [ z j ] and then to [ 5] Exa mpl e s are vision [vi gen] ,

measure [ megs] The spe ll ing z is found only in

.

[ ]
az ure sage or [ eigj e
] som etime s [ eegj ue], .

O bserve the car el ess p ron unci ation of as usual as

sag j uwguel] p raise ye t e Lord as [prei 5 j ij be l ozd]
[ , h .

I nd ia rubber is ge n erall y p ron ounced [indge ra b e] .

On the other h and the co m bin atio n [d5] is quite

,

common T hi s is writte n j (as in j et

.
g before
e or i ( as in gem
[ d gem
] gin
[ dgin
] age
[ 5]
eid , ,

observe also gaol [dgeilD and som eti m es dg (as in ’

1
See al so 5 45 .

Some spe a k ers say

[O SOU S
'
ieit] but

[ 1 na n S ]
ie it bu t
40 T he S ounds of S p ok e n E ng l is h

edge It is sp el l e d ch in ostrich, sa ndwich,

1

Greenwich, Harwich, Woolwich, and in sp inach .

What is the val ue of ng in the follo wing words

Th e hi ssing sound s — Disti ngui sh cl early the voice

l ess [8] as voiced [2] as in z eal Compare
in seal and th e .

th e m ann er of p rodu cti on of th e h issing and the

h ushing sounds : utte r [ S ] and (Why will th ese
show th e di stin ction m ore cl early than 5 z
[ ] and
[ ] )
7
You will fi nd that th e br eath is m ore wi dely diff used
when y ou utter [ S ] in prod ucing [8] your tongue
form s a narrow channel and th e breath is thus
directed against a p oint See the diagram on p 1 26 . . .

Th e usual sp ell ing of both voice l ess [s] and voiced

z
[ ] is 3 Notice th
. at

l . inflections is [ z] after a voiced sound

T he s of

compare fi l ls [fil z ] glances [glozns iz ] dogs [dogz) f aces

, , ,

ut hits [hi ts] cats [k wts]

[ f eisiz
] b , , .

2 Th e . fi nal 3 of s om e words of one s yllabl e is [ z]

as, has, is, his, was ; but this, us.

Som etimes the verb has [z] the substantive or

3 .
,

adj ecti v e s
[]
use [j uwa] use [j uw s]

difluse [di f j uwz ] difiuse [di f j uws]

’ ’

close kl ons
close [kl ouz ] [ ]
lose [l uwz ] loose [luw e]
( Notice the di ff e re nce in the l ength of the v owel ) .

1
M any p ronounce [ tS
] in sa nd wich , [ d3] in sa nd wiches.
 Th e Hiss i ng S ounds 4x

4 . Notice also that we h ave

[ ]
Z
[8]
disobey
dissol vent, dissolute
WW W
Fi nd other exampl es are many ) . How do
ou ro no un ce disa rm ?
y p

5 . 2: repres e nts [ks ]

in exercise, excellent, and in extra, exceed , exp ress, extol,

but [gz ] in exert, examine, anxiety, exa l t, exonerate, ex

D y ou agree with this sta te m e nt 1

o

Try to fin d a rul e f or the p ro nuncia tio n of x .

In both p ronuncia tions of as may be heard

exile ,

[ ]
ks being p erh aps the m ore co mm on .

For the dro ppi ng of h in co m po un ds with ex se e

5 47 .

The voice l ess [ s] is us ually writte n 3 but als o 83 , ,

an d e or so before e an d i (as in city scene but not in

, ,

scep tic

Say whi ch of the so unds [ S, 5,

ts
,
d5, 3, z] occur in
the foll o wing w ords
chm eh, machine, ledger, leiswre, seiz ure,
-
cease, ease,

lesion, legion, singe, excessi ve, exa mp le

scissors, chisel , .

Notic e that final [z] is unvoiced toward s the end ;

thus is is strictly [iz a] compare wh at was said about
fi nal [v ] in 27 I s she often be co me s [ i5 S
. i]
i] or [i s .

The te rm li spi ng is give n to various m ispronun

ciation s of the s s o un ds It may be due to a lasting
.
42 Th e S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

or a i g malf ormation of the te eth palate or

pass n , ,

tongue l or it may be simply a bad habit A slight

, .

ha bitual li sp is often heard and par ents and fri ends ,

have be e n known fooli shl y to encourage a chil d in

the belief that the li sp is pretty it is important to
drive this idea out bf the chil d s head The treat ’
.

m ent of li sp ers is vari ed ; generall y th ey can pro

du ce the right sound after some expe rim enting .

Wh en the right sound has been found and di stin

guish ed by th e child the rest is entir ely a m atte r of
,

p erse v e rance T here

. m u st be fr e q u e n t r e p e titio n in
many combi nations Th e exerci ses shoul d be practi sed
.

sparingl y at first and grad uall y i ncreased otherwi se

, ,

the strain may be too great and interfere wi th the

chil d s regular work
’
.

Th e li sp ing o
s un ds —Di stin gui sh clearly th e
voicel e ss [ 0] as in thistle and th e voiced [5] as in this
, .

Co mpare the m anner of production of the li sping and

the hi ssing so unds u tte r [ 0] and You will fi nd
that in the case of [ 0] the breath is not passing
through a narrow ch annel and issues between the tips ,

of the upper teeth and of the tongue Th e tongue may .

be be t wee n th e t e eth and the sounds are accordi ngly

,

so m etim es call ed in t erdental but thi s is by no m eans

essential Our English lispi ng sounds are usuall y
.

formed b etwee n the point of th e tongue and the

back of th e front upper teeth ; part of th e to ngue
fill s up the small gap betwe en the teeth without ,

advan cing beyond their ba ck surface .

In a great many cases lisping is due to an v

o er-l ong

tongu e ; or th e tongue m ay be “
tied,
&
in w ic h h case th e
l igatur e is eas il y cut .
 T h e Lis p i ng S ounds 43

Wh ich of the followin g w ords ha ve [ 0] and which

h ave
&
thorn, thou, bath ba ths , bathe , then, think, clothe ,
*
,
* *

“
doth , with, f a ther, thump , lethal , leather, lath, la the ,
lithe , loath , loathe , breath , breathe , heathen, heath,
* ’ * *

Wha t do you noti ce with regard to the words

marked with an asteri sk ? Of w hat doe s it remin d
y ou in co nn ectio n with the hissin g sou nds ?

Notice that final [6 ] is un voiced or whisp ered to

wards the end ; co mpar e what has bee n said abou t
final [ v] and final

A faul t co m m on esp ecially in bad southern

,

Engli sh and found al m o st in variab ly in baby sp eech

, ,

is the su bstitu tion of [v f] f or [6 ,

Th e b aby say s
,

[i m ] f or [ dam ] the cockney [ nafigk] for [nA OiD]

, ,

[ fev e
] f or fe ds
[ ] T his fa ul t sho ul d on no acco unt be
.

tol erated ; the chil d ( we are of cour se not referring

to the baby ) can p rod u ce the li sp ing s ound s without
dif ficul ty . It need o nl y be told to place the to ngue
between the te eth Wh en once the difference in the
.

mann er of p rod uction of [ f] and [ 0] is kno wn the ,

chil d can al so hear the diff erence ; all th at is now

required is perseve rance .

I n carel ess sp eech [ h ] is so m etim es su b stitu ted f or

th us I think so becom es [ai higk sou] T his al so .

has its parall el in baby speech e g [h u ge ] f or sugar

, . . .

The l i q ui ds —T his desi gnation co m prises the r 32

.

o d
s un s and the l so unds .
44 T he S ou n d s of S p ok e n E ng li s h

The o ds writte n r are extre m el y varied and

s un ,

are l ikel y to gi v e so m e trou bl e to th e stud ent He .

shoul d in the first place asce rtain from his friends

(we are assum ing that th ese sp eak standard Englis h )

wheth er they notic e an ythin g peculiar about his r .

If th ey do not it is p robabl e that he uses the

,

untrill ed r (T h e p
. ho n eti c sign for this is a
[] bu t it ,

is customary to u se [ r] unl ess excep ti onal accu racy

,

be d esired ) .

T his soun d is p roduced by all owing the brea th to

pass b etween the rais ed point of the tongue an d th e
ridge of the uppe r gums l When the breath makes .

th e tip of the to n gue vibrate we have the trill ed or ,

roll ed [ r] Can y ou roll your r ? Do es anyone y ou

.

know habituall y do so ? H ave y ou noticed wh ether

Frenchm en or Germans ever do it ?
An other ki nd of r is that p rod uced at th e back of
the m onth by the help of the u vula (see
,
an d

call ed the throat r or uvular r (p ho netic sign :

as di stin guis h ed from the to ng ue or teeth r (l ingual

or dental r) It is not a normal sound in standard

.

Engli sh but is occasionall y found I t used to be

,
.

frequent in D urham and Northumberla nd (the

“
N orthumbrian burr but is dying out there now .

Notice that after [t] and [d] the narrowing for [r]
is particul arl y small and th er efore the friction of the
,

breath parti cularly noticeabl e Say such words as .

dry drink drol l try trill trap and caref ully ob serve
, , , , , ,

the nature of the [r] Noti ce also that afte r voice l ess
.

1 k
Th e bac of th e tongue m ay al so be rais e d to some e xtent ;
h
h ow does t is exp lain th e substi tu ti on of [ w] for [ r] w ic is h h
some ti mes board
46 The Sounds of S p ok e n E ng l i s h

with and without [ r] has led to th e addition of [ r]

,

when there is no j ustifi cation for it Even educated .

e
p p o l e are ofte n h ea rd to p ro n o un ce the idea o f it as

aidi er cv it e som etim es be co m es

[ o i ] Th e I nd ia Ofi c

china orna ments beco m es

[ oi i ndj er ofi s] ; [ tS aine r

ox n em ents] an d cl ergym en hav e been kn o wn to sa

y
[ vik to :j er au e kwij n]
’
. Sim i lar l y in vul gar s eech
, p
o wi nde r is oupen ] [pe pox
[ ] etc are
'
t , r ez
ge n aut , ,

quite comm on .

T here is an aff ec te d p ronun ci ation of this [ a]

whi ch makes it appro ximate to a d eep the
comi c papers r epr e sent my dear f ell ow as my deah
“

fellah to indi cate th e sp e ech of a sw ell .

The sub stitution of [ w] for [r] is a manneri sm

whi ch shoul d not be tol erated ; it is th e resul t of a
bad ha bit not of any d ef ect of the organs of sp eech
, .

Wh en a word contains the l etter r twice carel ess ,

sp eake rs incl in e to drop one of th em ; F ebruary

becom es [febj ueri] temp orari ly [te mperili] library

, ,

[ laibri
],
l i terary l ite ri
[ ] w
, ary
[ sj uw e n u w
p j
m e ri] contemp orary [kentemp eri]
,
.Veterinary usually
b ecom e s [v ete nri ] or [ v etneri] .

In order to produce the sound of [l ] we l et ,

th e breath pass ou t betw ee n the side rims of th e

tongue and the side gums and teeth ; the p oint of
th e to n gu e to uch es th e roof of the m outh s om ewh ere
al o ng th e mi ddl e l in e .

Utte r [l] with th e point of the to ngue drawn

back as far as po ssibl e ; then u tte r [1] several times ,

gradually bringin g th e p oint of the to ngue forward ,

unti l it eventually to uches the tee th You wi ll .

 T he L S ou nds 47

n otice a diff erence in the qual ity of the sound : the

so un d is dark 1 whe n the tongue is farther back
”
,
“
cl ear wh en it is forwa rd in the m outh Notice
”
.

th at when the to n gue is drawn back it is bunched ,

up behi n d I n stand a rd E n gl i sh the [l] is frequ e ntly

.

p ro n o u n ced w ith the to ngue fairly back in the

mo uth the darkne ss of the [l] is particularly
”

n oticeabl e w h en it com e s at th e end of a w ord 2 .

Exc es sive withdrawal of the to n gue tip is not to

be e nco uraged in chil dren they shoul d rather
“
p r a cti se the c l e ar tho u gh they n eed n ot go so
“
f ar as ac tuall y to l et the to n gu e to uch the teeth
”
.

T his is however a good rul e an d if instill ed in

, , ,

the chil dren wil l do something to counteract any

“
te nden cy to darkn ess of the [I] It is not likely .

that th ey will ac quire the habit of actually touchi ng

the teeth when they say [1] but a sufficiently cl ear “ ”

can be obtain ed if the p oin t of co ntact is at the

[]
1
upper g ums an d even a littl e farther back than
,
”
that It shoul d be n oted that the [1] may be dark
.
,

even when the point of the to ngu e touches the te eth ,

if the back of the tongue is raised .

In cockn ey sp eech the [1] is so m etim es l o st through ,

no co n tact taki ng place tai l is p ron ounced [t aej o] or

som ethin g simil ar wi th a very o pe n [0] ( see 5 43) in
,

ce an d after co n son ants al so the final l as

p l a of []
l , ,

in giggle is very l iabl e to di sapp ea r T hi s recal ls the

,
.

treatm ent of fi nal r in stand ard E nglis h I n carel e ss .

speech th e [1] al so disapp ears in only and in all right .

1
Th e term
“
k h
dar ere im pl ies a d e ep and obscure reson

ance , with li ttl e fricti on .

Con tras t th e [l ] of wi l l and wi l li ng (

z
ere i ts
positi on wh
w v
bet een fron t owel s l eads to f orward form ation ) .
48 T he Sounds of S pok e n E ng l ish

Colonel is p ro nounced [ ke znel ] ; the older sp ell ing

coronel e xp l ain s this .

Notice th at when [1] c omes next to a v oice less

sound it may becom e partly or wholl y voicel ess
,

T hus clear beco m es ha lt [ bolt] T he fricti on .

becom es noticeabl e then ; try to utter [l] and

observe this Th e voi cel ess sound is the familiar
.

W el s h l l .

I n bubble riddle etc we may have syll abi c l

, , .
,

Co mpare wha t was said about syllabic m in § 22 ,

and about sy llabic n in § 24 .

Th e I is not p ro nounced in ca lf half sal ve 1 balk , , , ,

caulk, cha lk, f alcon, it

f olk
,
stalk, talk, walk, yolk, almond ,

W H M M M PM M W M W , W
should, would, could (wh er e it is not e tym ol ogical ly

j ustifi ed ) ; golf is usuall y [ golf], but also [ gof] 3, and

rarely [goxf ] 3
.

It was said above tha t for [1] we let the breath

ass o ut at both sides of the mou th ; but, as a
p
matter of fact, m ost pe opl e l et it out onl y on on e
side On whi ch side do es it pas s out in your own
.

case ? I s the sam e true of your whole family ;

A scertain which is the usual side in th e case of

wha t the to ngue does when y ou utte r th e word he .

You se e that it rises in front Ra ise it a littl e m ore .

,

un til the passage becom es quite narrow ; the vow el

h v]
‘

1 Som e pronoun ce t is word [sa l .

9 Some pron oun ce t is word h [ f ol ken

] .

Th ese are m odifi cati ons of th e Scotch form of th e word .

 F ront C ontinuants 49

wi ll pass into the so und whi ch we hav e at the

be gin nin g of yes [j es] and whi ch we also hav e in
,

sue
[ sj u zw
] f or which see § 45 A s a rul e the
, .

friction is very slight and indeed hard ly p erceptibl e

,

to the ear but in the sl o wly uttered deliberate yes ,

th e fri ction can often be heard very di stinctly The .

so und is al s o n ote w orthy as b ei ng li ke w

“ ” “ ”
[ ] an d ,

gliding not hel d ( see

, 26 I n car eless
,

sp e ech it so m eti m e s e i to
p as s s n
[ 5] after [d] during
is p ronounced [dguwri p] inste ad of [dj uwri g] th e ,

dew becom es [d5uw] i t mad e you start [ it m ei d su

,

stox t]
. Soldier is r eg ularly pron ounced [souldge ] ,

and uerdu/re grandeur h av e both

not souldj e
[ ] , p ro ,

nun ciati ons [dj e] bein g p referred by careful s eaker s

, p .

Af ter voice l ess sou nd s as in Tuesday tube [ j ]

, , ,

occasionally passe s in to th e corresp o ndi ng voi cel ess

[c],
w hich is the consonant soun d in the G e rm an

ich ; and som etim es it eve n be com e s [ S ] compa re th e ,

car el e ss p ronunciation of don t you know [dountj enou] ’

la st year [10 18 tjie ] he ll meet you [ hij l mij tju] I sha ll

’
,

hit you is in vu l gar speech [ oi S el itSe

] For thi s .

devel opm ent in unstressed syllabl es see 45 , .

B ack continuants — When we utter the vowel

so un d of who the back of the to n gu e is raised ; if we

raise it a littl e higher there is fri ction and we

, ,

obtain the back continuant s T he se do not normally .

bel ong to standard En gli sh T h e voiceless [x] is .

,

however not uncomm on in the pronunciation of

,

word s taken from Scotch We lsh or German eve n , ,

in su ch w ords [k] is ge nerally sub stituted T he .

Scotch loch is p ronounced [fox] or [l ok] the German

D
5° T he S ou n d s of S pok en E ng lis h

Hoch( heimer) is ways spelt and pronounced

al hock
[h ok] . In Scotch [x] occurs norm al ly .

r (uvula r r) —This sound which does not

Th roat .
,

n orm all y b el ong to sta n dard Englis h has bee n ,

referred to in 32 .

Th e ho —We considered the glottis (the

s un ds

interval be tw een th e vocal chords ) in § 6 We saw .

th at when it is quite Ope n th e breath pass es through ,

without p roducing any audi ble sound When how .

,

e v e r th e gl ottis is s om ewh at narrowed the breath

, ,

brushes past th e vocal chords and an h is p rod uced ; ,

this we may call a voicel ess gl ottal continuant l .

Now there may be various kinds of glottal [h] .

The passage be twee n th e vocal chords may be more or

l ess narrow and it may r emain uniform or gradually
,

grow narrower or wider Th e current of breath may .

grad uall y grow stronger or weaker Wh en th ere is .

a strong curre nt of breath and th e op ening is very ,

narrow w e call it wheezing ”

.
,

I n standard English the h is a gl ottal contin ua nt

onl y wh en there is precis e and emp hatic utterance .

Ordinarily it is p rod uce d in the m outh passage .

Wh en we say ha th e vocal chords are not drawn

,

togeth er until the vowel is sounded ; the mouth ,

1
[ h] is desc ribed as voi
ce l ess but it m ay
be prod uced also

wi t hv
oice We a e see n
. hv h
t a t th e ocal c
ords cons ist of a v h
h
fl es y and a cartil agi nous part : it is p oss ibl e to l e t th e f orm er
v h
ibrate, w il e th e l atter is l ef t open , an d th e brea t passi ng h
h
th roug p rod uces [ ] h
Try to utter t is sound
. h .
 T he H S ounds 5 1

ho wever gets into position f or uttering the vo wel a

,

littl e b e fore the ti m e and the breath as it passe s

,

through p rod uces an h sound I n [ho] then we .

,

p ra ctical l y have a voicel ess [0 ] foll owed by the

ordi nary voiced [o] in he a voicel ess [i] foll ow ed by
,

the ordinary [i] vowel ; in who a voicel ess [u] f ol ,

l owed by the ordi nary [ u] W hisp er the se words

.
,

and al so hay and hoe ; and after each whi s er the

p ,

[ ]
h o nly Notice tha.t the ear detects a n act u al

difference in the se h soun ds .

A good deal depe nds on the current of breath

with whi ch th e [h ] is uttered I n standard Engl i sh
.

the curre n t doe s not keep on gro wing in volum e

un til the vowel is s ound ed ; it dis tinctl y dimi ni shes

before the vowel app ears This may be graphicall y

.

represented by the signs h

If the cu rrent of breath doe s not dim ini sh in this
way but starts weakl y and doe s not reach its
,

maxi mum force until the vo wel is reached the ear ,

doe s not receive the imp ression of a di stin ct [h ] .

This so un d may be writte n [h < ] or si mply

T his ( the soft brea th p recede s i niti al vo wel s

in standa rd En gl i sh ; it is the sound which in

c ockney sp eech c o mm onl y repre se nts th e more
disti nct h th ose wh o use it are said to drop
the ir h s Co nscious of the defect they ofte n prefix
’
.
”
,

a ful l even an e xaggerated [ h ] to words which h ave

,

no h It need h ardl y be sai d that carel essness in

.

the u se of h is not to be tol erated It is interesting

to n ote th at no h is e v er dropp ed in the sp eech of
A m eri cans e xce p t in the w e ak form s of he him her
, , , .
5: T he S oun d s of S p ok e n E ng li s h

h
[ ] occ urs in s ta ndard Engl ish onl y b efore stres sed

vowels I ni tial h be fore unstressed vowels is only

.

p ro n ou n ced when pr eced ed by a pause .

Notic e that :
1 W ritte n h is not prono unced in heir honest
.
, ,

honour hour and words derived from th ese

, ,
.

It is now p ronounced in standa rd Engli sh in herb ,

hosp ital humble humour ( a fair num b er of ed ucated

, ,

sp eake rs still p ro nou nce this word without

2 I t is regarded as correct to say a history bu t an

.
,

historical novel ; a ha bit bu t an habitual action ; many

, ,

however pronounce th e h in both cases

,
.

3 Certai n word s dr op the h wh en th ey occur in

.

an un stre ssed p o sition in the sen te nc e ; this is a

regular feature of standard coll oquial sp eech and ,

do es not conv ey th e slighte st suggestion of vulgarity .

It must be recognised that such words have two

forms weak and strong a ccordi ng as th ey are us ed
, ,

without or with emphasi s Co mpare the following .

s ente nces :

T om h as b ee n th ere Has he though ? .

tom ez bij u (bin ) h aez i (Sou ?

I gave her a book Wh at to h er ?
.
,

ai g eiv or e buk . wot, tu he x?

Find as m any words having strong and weak

forms as y ou can by ob serving the ordinary spe ech
of th ose arou nd y ou Th en com pare the li st give n
.

in § 47 .

For th e dropp ing of h in the second pa rt of com

pou nd word s see § 4 7 , .

54 T he S ou nds of S pok e n E ng lish

o d utte red by th e baby be fore it has acquired

s un ,

co ntrol over the muscl es of th e to ngue It is also .

comm on a s an i nte rj ection Utter it and watch the

.
,

tongue with your mirror ; y ou will see that the

middl e of the to ngue ridge is slightly rai sed Th e .

opening of the m outh is gen erall y larger th an in the

case of th e oth er vowel s See the diagram on p 1 25
. . .

Utter th e standard Englis h sound of a in hat ,

for which th e sign is [ as] Say several tim es [0 as]

.

and watch the ton gu e as y ou do so ; y ou will see

that it m oves forward and is a little high er in fro nt

and l ow e r at back f or e Ope n ing of the
[ as
] T h .

mouth is ofte n quite as large f or [ as] as for

Now try to p roduce the sound whi ch lies b etwee n
th e two with the ton gue occupyi ng an in term edia te
,

po sition y ou will obtain the sound [a] whi ch is the ,

north ern En glis h v owel in hat and the vowel in th e

,

French word chat ; in standard Engli sh it occ urs onl y

as the first pa rt of th e di phthongs in bite ait and
[ b ]
bout [baut] .
1 T hi s [a] is som etim e s call ed th e cl ear
“ ”

a sound . See the di agram on p 1 23 . .

N ext draw the tongue 3 littl e back and y ou wil l

,
.
,

obt ia n a v ri ety o [ ] which i da rk and has a

a f a s
“ ”

sugg e stion of the vowel in al l T his sound is

co on y substitute d for the pure or neutral
mm l “ ”

co ckney speech so th at f ast is m ad e to so un d

[ ]
0 in ,

like [f oxst] p ark li ke [poxk]

, .

“ ”
This darkeni ng of the a sound should not be
p er m itte d ; in orde r to counte ract it it may be ,

ad visabl e to make th e class u tte r i g y

[ ]
a s n l and in

N oti ce th e faul ty te nd ency to raise th e tongue too h igh i n

h hh
utte ring th e first part of t is dip t ong ; see 5 40 .
 T he A Sou nds 55

chorus unti l they are quite cl ear as to the nature of

,

the required sound .

I t is som etim es found th at precise sp eakers through ,

an exce ss ive de sire to avoid an

y su spi cion of cockn ey
l eanin gs in their sp e ec h sub stitu te [a] for [a] saying , , ,

f or i nstance [f axiSe ] in place of

, it is parti
cul arly ladi e s of real or wo ul d be r e fin em ent wh o -

commi t thi s mi stake A mistake it is l ike every .

,

other deviation from what is generally recognised

by the e ducate d .

In oth er cases the clear p ronuncia tion of a is

often heard e g in glass bath p ast answer dema nd
, . .
, , , , , ,

grant everlasting,
Both [a] and [ as] o cc ur partien
.
,

larly in the sp eech of ladies What is the A m erican .

p ro nun ciation of ha lf ?

I n standard Engl i sh there is p racticall y n o short

ut o nl y the l on g [ ox] hi ch shoul d be n eith e r
[ ] b w
1
a , ,

“ ”
dark nor cl ear If w e analy se it careful ly we
“ ”
.
,
2
ofte n find th at it is not a singl e vowel of uniform
“ ”
value only the first part bein g pure
,
the rest
being a faint variant ; but f or p ractical purposes we
may regard it as uniform in qu al ity as in good ,

s eech it is a pure l o ng vo we l
p .

There is a short sound cl o se ly akin to it (in 38 .

p o sition, but n ot in soun d ), whi ch we h ave in but,

much, etc , and for which the sign is [A ]

. The back .

1
However, h
t ere is pronun ciati on of are, interm ediate
a

be t wee n th e emph [ ]
atic oz an d th e un stressed ic m ay wh h
sho t prefi x
be des cribe d as
[ ]
a r . Th e a in th e unstressed

tra ns an d th e second a of a d va ntageous al so h v th

a e e sound

of [ ] 0 som e times .
2
Especia l ly wh n i t i fi
e s n al .
56 T he S ou nds of S pok en E ng l is h
of the to ngu e is raised a little in the p rod uction of
thi s sound and som etim es th e front also and in con
,

se qu en ce th ere are sev eral varieti e s of it It occurs .

only in syll abl es h avi ng som e str ess ; w e h av e [ A ]

in teacup unf it until ; bu t not in welcome whi ch
, , ,

is not f el t to be a co mpo un d Wh en it is un stress ed .

,

it becom es the dull vowel [e] ; un stressed but is [be t] .

Observe the vul gar p ronunciation of j ust as [dgest] .

Th e dull vowel [9 ] occurs very co mm onl y in ordi

nary sp eec h ; m os t unstre ssed sylla bl es con tain this

vowel or th e variety of [i] m entioned below It is .

found for instance in the italicised syllables of

, ,

vowel variety carpenter ordina ry Th e long [9 1] is

, , , .

variously writte n we hav e it in f ern f ir f ur word

1
, , , .

( I n n orth e rn En gli sh there is som e v ari ety in th e

accordin g to th e writte n vowel whi ch it rep r esents ) .

Noti ce th e precise and the ordinary pronun ci ation of

such words as p aternal
p olite potato The un educated
, , .

often ins ert [9 ] in such words as Henry [beneri] mn ,

brella [m borola] and so m eti m es th ey su bstitute [i ]

for [e] as in miracle wrongly p ronounced [mirikl]
, , ,

phil osop he r wro ngly p ronounce d

, and in

Th e l etters e, i, tressed syllabl es

and y in uns

repre sent a ve ry laxly articulated sou nd for whi ch ,

the sign [i] is us ed in this book It vari es some .

wha t in differe nt sp eakers ; se v eral soun ds inte r

mediate betwee n the ope n [I ] and the mi ddl e [e] may
M any cul tivated peopl e pronounce gi l as g sel ; but e z l
[ ] [g ] r

Cl k sergea nt h v
is to be pre ferred . er ,
[ ]
not 9 2 l o a e a s
 F ront Vow e ls 57

be he ard T his serv es to e xplain the

.
un certain ty of

spell in g in su ch cases as ensure and insure, enquire

Som eti m es the vowel disapp ears al o t gether , as in

Th e l ette r 0 in un stre ssed syllabl es p reced ing the

chie f stre ss is u sually bu t in p re ci se spe ech an
—
o s oun d is he ard in such w ord s as conceive, o
‘
fi cial,
i

p ossess . Af ter
the chief stre ss [0] is rarel y heard ; but
p [ ]p ]
e och 1 ok an d other u n co m m o n w ords kee p the [ o] .

Th e front vo wel s — Utte r the word he and notice 39

. .

what the to ngu e doe s You can do so by l ooki ng in to

.

your mirror or by putti ng a finger j ust inside your

,

front upp er teeth or by whi sp eri ng the sound and

, ,

fe eling wh at happ ens .

You wil l genoral by fi nd that you can analyse vowels

“
whisp er them, because the
”
best if you voice does not

By this time your muscu lar consciousness ( se e 9 ) should

be ameiderably develop ed, and you should be conscious of
what your tongue, lip s, etc , are doing, without having
.

You will fin d th at you are rai sing your tongu e very

high in fro nt : [ a] and [i] are e xtre me s ; in the one
case the front of the to ngue is practically as l ow
as it can be in the other it is r ais ed as hi gh as p os
,

sibl e . You might rai se the tongue fa rther but the ,

resulti ng sound would not be a vowel Th e passage .

woul d be too narro w ther e w o ul d be frictio n and a

, ,

continuant woul d be the resul t (see

Utter a pu re [0 ] and grad ually raise the front of
58 Th e Sou nds of S p ok en E ng lis h
the tongue until you reach [i] You may eith er ke ep
.

your vocal chords vibrating all the time or you may ,

whi spe r the so unds ; but see that th e to ngue m oves

sl ow ly a nd steadil y You will reali se that v ery many
.

so unds lie b etwee n a and i ; as th ey are all

[ ] [] p ro

duced with the rai si ng of the front of the to ngu e ,

th ey are call ed front vowels .

We have already noticed cl ear [a] and have m et ,

with [as] whi ch is th e vowel soun d in ha t [h aat]

, .

Wh en unstress ed th e [ as] gives pl ace to [e] ; that

est becomes Get
[ ]
t [ ] .

The educated so meti m es substitu te a cl os er

un

sou nd m idd e e) for aa ; they sa

( th e l [ ] y [keb] f or
ca b
[
,
ketj
] for ca tch
[ Oep ks
, ] for h
t anks
[ beo k] for ,

bank Th e sam e mi stake ma y al so be h ea rd in th e

.

pronunci ation of carriage radish J an uary , I n any

, .
,

many the first vow el is al way s [e] Wh at is it in .

The o d [as] is onl y found short There is

s un .

a ki ndred l ong so und as in f air for wh ich ,

th e ton gue is rath e r high er I t is often call ed the

.

op en as b ei ng a still m ore o e n sou nd

[ ] p .

A di ff erence in the form ati on of [ as] and [ 5 2] must

.

be n oticed ; it is not confi ned to this pair of vowels .

I n uttering a vowel soun d w e may adj ust th e arti cul a

tions so favourably that the resul ting sound is clear
and d e cid ed ; this m ay be call ed tense arti cul atio n ,

p rod uci n g te ns e vow el s I f w e do not troubl e to

.

adj ust th e a rticula tions car eful ly if We h ave lax ,

arti culation we obtai n lax v owel s

,
I n standa rd .
 T he E S ou nds
Engli sh we do not arti culate t ensely e xcept in ,

p reci s e and e m ph atic speech ( Notice h o w te ns e l y .

th e Fre n ch and the Germ ans artic ul ate their acce nte d
l ong vo we l s ) I n teachi ng chil dre n the terms tight
.

and loose m a
y be u sed .

Th e a rticulatio n of [ ex ] is re l ativel y te n se th at of ,

[ as] is l a x For
. 8 s ee the di agram on p 1 23
[ ] . .

Notice th at [ ex] is alway s foll ow ed by a m ore or

less disti nct there is M ary is
Consider the value of ear in bear and bearing -
.

T here is a vul gar p ro nunciati o n of I dare say as

ai desci i nstead of ai d ais sei
[ ] , [ ] .

T he diphthongs in bite and bout are pro nou nc ed by 40 ,

the un ed ucated in ma ny ways not p ermi ssibl e in

The first e l em e nt shoul d be cl ear
“ ”
standa rd En glis h .

[ ]
a . A p ur e
[ ]
0 w o ul d not be off e nsive h ere ,

though it is much l ess comm on ; 1 but any pushing

forw ard of the to n gue b eyond the [a] l i m it any ,

sub stitution of [ as] f or [a] is not to be tol erated , .

Th e nasali si ng of the se diphtho ngs ad ds to the un

p l e asa nt efi ect P
’

rob abl y the b est m eans of counter

.

acting the se te nden cie s i s to insist on [oi] and [ c u]

if the pure [0 ] has b een practised as was suggested ,

above it wil l form a ste ppi ng ston e to the ac qui sitio n

-
,

of good di phthongs .

T here is a com m on te nden cy to sub stit ute [a] for

ai before r e g i n fi re T hi s sho ul d be avoid e d
[ ] ,
. . . .

T he e nding ile in agile doci le f ertile f utile hostile

-
, , , , ,

1 h
I t is eard on th e stag e and in publ ic spe a i ng gen eral l y k
v
in ord inary con ersa tion i t sugge sts th e s peec of a f ore igner, h
es e cial l y i f th e 0
p [ ]
el e m en t of th e di
p t ong is l engt ened hh h .
60 T he S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng l i s h

p ueri leis p rono unce d [ail] , and not [il] as use d to be

the case, and as is comm on in the Uni ted State s .

The t sounds in the seri es obtain ed by raisi ng

ne x ,

th e ton gue a littl e high er than f or [ e] are middle ,

“
[]
e and cl o se
[ e
] Th e vow el in p en get f ell is
.
, ,

usu all y th e m iddl e som e sp eake rs erh

[]
e
(p a s
p
m ostly ladi es) u se th e cl ose [ e ] here but th e ve ry ,

cl ose e h eard in French été is not foun d in standa rd

[ ] , ,

English For ordinary purpo ses the sign [e] may

.

se rv e to d esigna te both [ e as th ey are so

] a nd
[]
e ,

cl osel y conn ected When unstressed the [ e] gi ves

.
,

pl a ce to [ ]
e th u s un stre ssed the m is com
[ ] Noti ce .

that em real ly go es back to the old form hem

’
.

For [ e] see the diagram on p 1 22 . .

O bserve the coll oquial te nd ency to pronounce get

as git retty is correctl y p ro no unce d p riti
[ ] . P [ ] .

A fairly clo se [ 9 ] is in standard Englis h th e first

el em ent of the diphthong in la id ta me late etc , , , .

T here is not one uniform vowel sound l n the se

words ; p ronounce aid quite sl owly and you wil l ,

notice th at th e to ngu e ris es before the co nsonant is

reach ed The di phth ong is l ong whe n a voiced
.

soun d follo ws it short before a voi cele ss sound

, .

T h us laid [leid ] is l onger th an late [leit] Te st thi s .

state m en t by fi n di ng other words contain i ng th e

diphthong and pronouncing them to yourself or

,

getting others to p ro nounce th em What is the .

quantity of the [ei] wh en the dip htho ng is fi nal ?

I n vulgar sp e ech th e first el em ent of the diphtho ng
te nd s to [a] som etim es alm ost to [o]
, .
62 T he S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng li sh

Notice the frequ ent cockn ey pronu nciation of y as -

[ ]
ei eg,
i
.n wi n.dy [
,
wi n d ei ] .

O fte n [e] is sub stituted for thi s sound as in unity , ,

ability p ro n oun ced

[j i ] also in A p ril
’

, u w n e t e b il eti , , ,

visible but this is av oided by som e sp eakers .

Th e [i] in the di phthon gs [ai] an d [oi] as in buy , ,

boy is very l ow
, .

I n bwd we hav e not a singl e vow el but a kind of ,

diphthong I f y ou utte r it slowly y ou will find

.
,

that the tongue does not remai n in a uniform

p o sition but ri se s a l ittl e toward s the e nd th e
, ,

s ound be co mi ng cl o ser It m ay begin cl ose in .

,

whi ch case the furth er ri sing reduces the passag e so

m uch that w e h av e [j ] ; bead in thi s case is [bij d] .

Or th e vow el m ay begi n f ai rly op e n and ri se to

t e c o e p o itio ; then
h l s s n b e a d is [i d] 1
Wh en the .

dip hthong is fol lowed by a voicel ess sound it is ,

shorte n ed ; beat [bij t] [b l it] is shorter th an bead .

Com pare al so seed seat sit; f eed f eet fit Caref ul , , , ,

.

sp e ake rs pro n ou n ce been l i ke bean n ot l i ke bin m ost ,

sp eake r s however us e the shorte ned form in

, ,

ordi nary sp eech .

For [i] se e the diagram on p 1 22 . .

I n dea r f ear etc we hav e a rath er op en v owel of

, , .
, ,

varying l ength foll owed by [ e] we may write [die] but

, ,

stri ctly it is dI e d I e and som eti m es d e B e for e

[ ] , [ ]
'
.

[r] as in dearest th e [ 9 ] b ecom es fai nt or di sappears

, , .

Standard English contains no [i ] as cl ose as the French

[]
i and the Germ an
[ ]
i x Co n vi n ce you r se l f of
. thi s

by aski ng foreigners to pronounce words containi ng

th ese sounds in their own language or in English
, .

Th e first part is still more op en in a comm on vulg ar p ro

nunciati on of tea , p lease .
 F ront Vow e ls 63

Notice the frequ e nt pronuncia tion of ear, yea r, as

[ ]
j e x an d tha t of dear as d e x
, [ j ] .

W e are now abl e to give the whole series of vowels

from [i] to [a] occ urri n g in standard English .

cl ose i (di agram , p.1 22)

op e n I

cl ose e ( diagram , p 1 22)

.

o pe n a ( di agram , p 1 23)
.

more Op en a;

cl ear a (diagram , p.1 23)

0 (di a gram , p 1 25 )
.

It wi ll be good p ractice for y ou to utte r this series

of so unds fro m [ a] to [ i ] and vice versa and l ong as
, ,

well as short .

Th e raisi ng of the ton gue for the [i] sound s is be st

see n if the upper and l ower tee th are kep t wel l apa rt .

Th e back el s — When the front vowels have 43

v ow ,

be en caref ully diff e re nti ated the back vo w els will

,

be found to p res ent little diffi culty O wing to the .

64 T he Sounds of S pok e n E ng lish

fact that the back of the tongue does not admit of

so m uch vari ety of m ov em ent as th e front of the

tongue th e num be r of sounds in th e series [ a] to [u]

,

is sm aller than in the se ri es [ a] to [i ] .

You will see that th ere is s om e rese m blan ce be tween

th e sounds of the two se ri es Th us we had a lax [ as]
.

an d a te nse e front vow el s ; and th e re are

[ ]
8 1 in th
correspondin g open 0 soun ds when the tongue is
raised a littl e at th e back .

T he arti culation of these sounds is often unsatis

factory owing to the l ower j aw not bei ng m ov ed
down suffici ently th e te eth b e ing hardly separated
, .

The back vow el s gain in qual ity ( cp § 36 ) if th ey are .

p rodu ced with lip ro undi ng Th e Ope ni ng is la rge in

.

the case of the soun ds in which th e tongu e is only

slightl y ra ised ; as it ri ses hi gh er th e ope ni ng of th e ,

li ps grow s sm alle r until for [u] it is onl y the size of

,

th e end of an ordinary l ead pe ncil Thi s li p roun ding .

is rare with south e rn Englis h sp eakers who have not

had special voi ce train ing ; th ey usuall y bring togeth er
or separate th e lips without ro undin g .

T he hort vowel sound in not wha t etc is a laxly

s , , .
,

a rti cul ated o pe n

,
much m ore ope n than any 0 in
French or German with the front of th e to ngue even
,

l owe r th an for [a] It is len gthened a littl e be fore

.

a voice d fi nal co nsonan t as in dog , [dog] ; but it

shoul d n ev er be mad e quite l o ng Th e p ronun ciation
.

[ god ] for God is d e te sta bl e B e for e 33 s

[ ]
.
[ ]
st st , ,

and f 17; or p h f
3p [ sp ] th
, [ ] the l ong sound is
, ,

occas ionally heard Determine whether in the foll ow

ing words you use the l ong or the short sound : loss ,
 Ba ck Vowe ls 65

lost. f roth, 07 088. cough, 80fl , 601766 , Of . Ofi ccf , cloth. moss.

gosp el Exte nd the i n q uiry to your frie nd s
. .

When the short [ 0] is in an unstress ed syllable it

e ither di sap ears e n tire ly as in lesson where th e n is
p ( [ ] ,

sy llabic see g or it may becom e [e

, ] as in mi nor ,

r it may becom e the s oun d h ch

[ m ain s
] o , w i wi l l
be exp lain ed in § 44 Thus October is [ok toube ] or .
’

connect is ko nekt o nl y in reci e e h

[ ] [ ]
'
k ube
'
O to p s sp ec ,

but usually [kOnekt] or

’

Th e l ong [ a] in la w, laud , lord is rather ten sel y

arti cul ate d , certainly not so laxl y as the short

Before voice l ess sounds the vo wel is s om ewha t

s horte n ed as in short ( compare shawl and shot) It
, .

is in sta n dard Engl i sh th e o nl y sound of stress ed or

r ca r) before a co nsonant ; there is no diff e ren ce
2
( o
in so un d be twee n la ud and lord f ought and f ort stalk , ,

and stark ca wed an d card

,
I t is tru e that som e .

s eakers try to make a dis tin ction Th e l on g [ox

] is
p .

not a si mpl e l on g vowel but reall y a di phthong ,

of whi ch the secon d e l em en t is [ e] ; an d in w ord s

3

con tainin g a written r these p reci se sp eakers som e ,

what l engthen the [9 ] el e m ent T h us they will say .

ed ] f or lord
f or la nd and [l ox ,
It may be add ed .

th at they ge nerally d o so onl y if the dis tin ction has

bee n spoken abou t and they have exp re ssed their ,

firm belief in its e xi ste n ce ; the n f or a whil e the , ,

may be heard A si mpl e te st w hich the student

.
,

shoul d appl y to hi s friends is tha t of aski ng the m ,

1
For [ c g] see th e di agram on p 1 25 . .

3 Ex ce p ti ons are borrow , e tc , work, . attorn ey , e tc .

To p ronounce t i s h [ 0] d is tin ctly in suc h wo d

r s as l a w, sa w,

is a m is ta e k .

E
66 The Sou nds of S p ok e n E ng li s h

to write down the word he utte rs If he says [f oxt] .

,

m eaning f ought m ost p eopl e will write down f ort

, ,

b ecause the sound gives th em no guidance and th e ,

su b stan ti v e is lik el y to occu r to th em first Similarly .

,

if he says [loxd] m e aning la ud th ey will write down

, ,

The word lore, which h ardl y occurs in ordi nary

sp eech is ofte n pronounced
,
in order to dis
tingui sh it from la w th e [ 9 ] sou nd b ein g m uch m ore
,

di sti nct th an in la w more bore etc Consider the

, , , .

value of ore in more water and in more ink

-
, .

Th ere is much vari ation in th e p ronunciation of

th e words daunt, f la unt, gaunt, gauntlet, haunch, hau nt,

j aund ice j aunt la unch

, , laun dry, paunch,
, saunter, staunch,

taunt, caunt . The general te nd ency s ee ms to be in

favour of [oz] not ,

Wh en unstressed the sound is ofte n shortened to

,

[ ]
c or [ ]
c
2
th us autum n a l becom e s
[ o tA mn el
] or ’

[ O
’
t a mn el
] or whe n str ess ed is e x unstressed c or
[ ] [] ,

[6 ] or [ e
A vari ety of th e Open not eq ually o en in al l
p
sp eake rs of stand a rd Engl i sh i s th e first el em e nt in ,

th e diphthong foun d in boy [boi] Th e pronun ciation .

s al so h eard
[ b ]
2
6 i i .

I t is absurd to speak of f ort and ca ught morn , and da wn as

cock n ey rim es h
pe rf ectly g ood ti m es in standard
t ey are

E nglis h h
and a s ou t ern Englis m an onl
y s ows ignora nce by h h
sp eakin h
g of t e m as bad Conmdering , owe er, t at standard
. h v h
h v
E ngli s is by n o mea ns uni e rsal , th e woul d be oe t is ad vised
p
-

v h
to a oid t es e ri m es .

9
For [ 6 ] see th e note on p 68 . .
 T he 0 Sou nds 67

g
I n vul gar sp eech [oi] som eti m es be com e s [ Oi ] thus
boil is p rono unced [ boil ] O nly in choir (also writte n
.

quire) is thi s p ronunciati on cu rrent in good sp eech .

“
Utter the sound usuall y call ed l ong 0 and foun d 44 ,

in bode boat etc , y ou w i

, ll ob serv e th at the soun d is
.

not uniform as th e to n gu e ri se s a l ittl e befor e the

,

conso nant is reached l In deed the action of the.

to ngue is quite similar to wh at we noticed in the

case of [ ei] in § 4 1 and also to [ izj ] or [I xi] in § 42 ,

where ho wever it is l e ss obvious to th e ear

, , The .

“
diphthongal character of the l ong 0 is so essential ,

tha t when a stranger m ere ly say s [oxnox] f or oh no &

we at o n ce recogni se tha t he is not Englis h .

Th e first el e m ent of thi s diphthong is a middl e

som etim es a fairly cl ose [ 0 ] in stan dard En gl is h the
s never so cl os e as in French 0 ] or in Ge rm an
[ ]
o i [
[ ] (
o x 2
. W atch foreign er s whe n they u tter the se so un d s ;

n otice h ow te nsely they artic ul ate and how m u ch ,

m ore th ey roun d their li ps th an we do ) I n coc kn ey .

spe e ch the fir st el e m e nt is ro n o u n ced with th e

p
to ngu e l ower and rai sed in front Th e secon d is a .
-

i t sou n d place a fi nger again st the in terval bet we en

the u ppe r and l o w er teeth and n otice h ow they are ,

bro ught a littl e cl o ser towards the end of the diph

thong O bserve als o the action of the lip s T he
. .

diphthong is l onger befor e voic ed th an b efore

voic el e ss continua nts ; verify thi s statem ent by say
1
I n th e case of h
t is di p th h ong as well as in t h at in na me ,

p a il , etc .
(see untrain ed singers us ual l
y be tray t h e msel v es

by p assin g too soon to th e second part of th e di p t h ho g n .

9
For [ 0 ] see th e diagram on p 1 24 . .
 68 T he S ou nds of S pok e n E ng li sh

In ylla bl es that are w eakly stressed the first

s ,

p a rt of th e di phtho n g beco m es
[ ] [ ]
a 6 1
or e v e n ,

th e second part disapp earing al together Th us f ellow .

is in pr ecise sp eech [ f elozu] but i n ordina ry sp e ech ,

[ fel o ,f el O
] and in ca rel ess (but not n ecessaril y
,
“
vulgar) spee ch [fele] 2
I n ladi es sp e ech the [en]
.
’

occurs even in stress ed syllables and may then be ,

confidently described as a sign of afi ectation

‘

T h e p r efix pro when stressed is gene rall y pro

, ,

nounced [pron] In p rocess and p rogress [p ro] is

.

som e tim es h eard ; in the su bstanti ves p ro j ect and

p roduce it is the rul e .

45 . Th e o
u s u n s are d
cl early paral l el to the i sounds .

I n both cases we hav e a laxly articulate d short sound ,

and a di phthong in which the to ngue ris es towards

the e nd .

Th e hort sound in would book etc is Op en and

s , ,
.
, ,

the sign for it is [ U ] D o y ou noti ce any diff eren ce

.

in th e l ength of the vowel sound in th e words should

and p ut p ul l and cook ?
,
O bserve oth ers if you are ,

unce rtain in you r ow n case (You will som etim es .

find it hard to d ete rm i ne wh at is your natu ral in ,

stinctiv e way of pronoun cin g a word whe n once ,

[ O] is [ o] pronounc d with th wh ol e body of th e tongue

1 e e

more forw ard t h

an usual . T o th e v
i t gi es an e ff ect l i e
ear k
th at of F re nc h ea or Ge rman h
6 ; but f or t ese sounds th e lips
are rou nded .
9
Th e pronunciati ons [ winde , p il e] for wimdow, p i ll ow are
,

h v v
owe er, a oided by educa ted spea kers .
70 T he S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng l i s h

this can hardly be considered standard Engl ish .

Notice al so the various pronunciations of your sure , .

Before spoken [r] as in p oorest enduring the [9 ]

, , ,

becom es v ery fai nt or di sapp ears .

— “
Th e so c all ed l ong 11 in such words as due dew , ,

dude consi sts of thre e parts The seco nd and third .

are th e vow el sou nd s in do whi ch ha v e j u st bee n ,

di scuss ed ; th e first is [j ] which after voi cel ess sounds

,

te nds to b ecome th e voiceless [c] and even [ S ] as ,

was m e ntion ed in § 34 T h us tune is in ordinary

.

Sp e ech tj u wn ] and ofte n [ to u wu] n car el ess speech

[ , i
it may even become [tj uwn] .

T h e ture in na ture crea ture f orf eitw e etc

-
, is ,
/
, .
,

gen erally p o o ed [ j ] the pronunciation [tj e]

r n u n c t e 1

or [ tj ii ] soun ds aff e cte d in ord inary spe ech Venture .

is usually [ v entj e] so m eti mes [ven S

, e
] [v entj e] or , ,

ensure is al way s sen j e

[ v e ntj ii
]
. C [ ] .

I n allud e, allusion,*
l ucent, lmmowus, f
l ute, “ lute
'

absolute, absolution, dissolute,

* *
sa lute, dissolution,
*

*
sup ersti tion,
*
both [uw] and [j uw] may be
Susan
h eard [uw] is probably more comm on in the word s
marked with an asteri sk P reci se sp eakers prefer
.

n all th e words giv en

[ j u w ] i I n assume p resu me .
,

[ ] is reg ularly h eard A s a rul e [j ] is not

j uw .

in serted after [r] [ S ] or co nsonant pl us

, ,

Notice the p ronunciation of casua l [k aaguel]

or
[kaagwel] sensua l [sen j uel] usua l [j uw gu el] or
, ,

[ j uw ge l
] visual [viz j uel]
, E ducate is [edj ukeit] or
.

[ e d gukeit
] ca reful speakers prefer th e former .

“
As the l ong u begi ns with a conso nantal sound
”

1
See al so 5 29 .
 B a ck Vow e ls 71

it is correct to say a u niform, a un iversity, a union,

a E uro p ea n ,
(1 eu logy .T o write an befor e such w ord s

is a gro ss mi stake .

W e find the [u] el em ent ch anged in uns tressed

syl labl es thus value be co m es [v aalj ii ], regular beco m es
regj iil e, regj e l e , a nd, very coll oquiall y, [ re gl e
[ ] ] .

We are now abl e to give the whol e seri es of

vo wels from [u] to [a] occurri ng in stan dard Engli sh
cl o se 11 di
( g a ra m ,

p .1 2 4)
ope n U

c l o se 0 ( diagram , p 1 24)
.

mi ddl e 0

o pe n 0 (d i agram , p 1 25 )
.

d ark (1

P racti se thi s serie s as was, su gge sted

co nn ection with the [i ] to [ a] s e rie s .
 THE S O UNDS IN CO NNECT ED SP EECH
46 ,
Let take a fam ili ar nurs ery rime as an
us

exa m p l e of sim l e co nv e rsa ti onal Engl ish ; it wi ll

p
se rve to gi v e u s som e id ea of th e p robl e ms whi ch

have to be consid ered wh en w e deal with th e so unds

of conn ected spe ech This is the rime .

si n a son ev siksp ens e pokit f ul e v rai f ozr en

tm ti bl aakbe zdz ; I be ikt in 9 ps i wen be pai we z
oiipnd be be zdz n b aan to sin I woz n(t) bea a ig ’
t
d ein ti di s to set bi f o: be ki p
’
.

47 ,
P ed an ticall y p recise ch is as m uch out of
sp ee

place in the nurse ry as vu lgar spe ech ; th erefore we

d o not say , sip of soy cv sikspens .

N otice tha t the followi ng words ha ve strong and

w eak f orms a w eak form be in g re g ul arly us ed when
,

th ey are not stre ss ed

e , on

be ( be fore con sonants)

Oi ( be f ore owels ) v
h ez , l oz , 2
h ev , l e v , v ha w
h ed , l ed , d h eed
iz , z , s i z
'

0 r ( l . ( )
9 r axr
wez
w r we :e ( r)
D
'

e I, e l , 1
J
9

coul d ked
s h oul d
fed ,
Id It , ,
(1

1
These form s
foun d , f or in sta nce , a t th e begi nning of
are

h
ti es ti ons ; t us h ave y ou been there ? is [ h av j u bij n Ge e ]
q
.

v
vw
ll ey are also f ound a fter o el s, e g , I had done so, [ ai h ed . .

da n sou ] .

72
 S trong and W e ak F orm s 73

98 .

ju , J G

5 9 m,( e m)
iu(r) j o( r) i ° ( r)
, ,

to ( be fore c on s on an ts )
f e ( r) , f r
en d , nd, en , n
be t

s e m , am

Th e trong form s f or weak one s in ord inary

us e of s

conversa tion is undou btedly a fault an d shoul d be ,

avoid ed ; m uch of the unnatu ral readi ng al oud in ou r

school s is du e to this ca u se Foreign ers who have

.

lived l o ng in England ofte n fail in thi s re sp ect wh en

th ey h ave overcom e alm ost all other diffi cul ties It .

is als o not un comm on in the sp eech of col o ni als .

Notice [p ens] but [siksp ens]

, .

A word which form s the second part of a com

p oun d ofte n ch an ge s in p ronu nci ation a w eake r form ,

bein g sub stitu ted Com pare p enny and halfp enny
.
,

boar d and cup board, come and welcome, day and yester
day, ways and al ways, f ast and breakf ast, mouth and
P ortsnwuth, lan d and E ngland, f ord an d Oxf ord .

T he first l etter of the seco nd part is so m etim e s

See th e n ote on p 72
. .
74 T he Sounds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

dropped ; thus th e w in housewife ( case for ne edl es ,

reen wich Har wich Woolwich N orwich

e tc )
[ l
.l A Zl f
] G , , , , ,

Keswick Warwick is n o l onger p ronounced nor th e

, ,

m / m, and in
orehead ,
h in f
shep herd, Clap ha , Sydenha

m any words b eginning with en , e g , exha le, 1 exhaust, . .

exhibi t, exhilarate, exhort Th e dropp ing of h in .

Sometim es there is a change in the first part of a

compoun d word Co mpare ha lf and ha lfp emvy three
.
,

and threep ence , f ore and f orehead , break and breakf ast .

tress of comp ound s like

Th e s ep ence is
sk discussed
bel ow blackbirds

I n p ocket theecond vow el is not middle [e] but a

s ,

very laxly arti cul ated variety of [I ] with th e ton gue ,

only a littl e higher than for cl ose [9 ] see 5 38 I n .

th e sp ee ch of el ocutioni sts the middl e [e] ofte n ap

p ears h ere Th ey t ell of th e [gazeden cv ij den]

.
,

j ust as th ey succe ed in pronouncing [dev 1 1] ins tead

of [devel] th us av oidi ng all off ence ; f or [dev el] is
,

said by co mm o n p eo p l e but [dev11] only by th e ,

p olit e .

Noti ce that in f our an d—

twenty the r is p ronou nced
-
,

as it com e s b etween vow el s ; but it is m u te in bef ore

the King wh ere it co m es before a co n so nan t as in

, ,

the word f orth See 5 32 . .

In and the d is dropp ed Here it might be a case .

of assimil ati on ; tha t is to say the t whi ch imme

1
W h en ed
c on tras t wi t h h
in hal e , t is word is al so pro
noun ced [ eks h eil ] .
 A ss i m i l ati on 75

diate ly follo ws and whi ch is cl osely akin to it m ight

, ,

h ave ch anged it to [ t] and the tw o woul d have ,

fall en together .

I n sit down do y ou u tter both [t] and [d] ? I f

,

y ou s
p eak naturally y ou p robably say [ sidanu] or
,

[ sitaun
] W h
. at is you r
p ro nun ci atio n of hold ti ght ,

less z ea l ?
In cup board n n o e but the a bsurdly precise pro
o
n un ce the [p] .

A ss imi lati on o o t is comm on in English

of c ns n an s ,

an d the m ore coll oqui al the sp eech is the m ore ,

assim il ati on y ou are li kel y to fi nd Assimil ati on .

red uces the number of m ovem ents whi ch have to be

made and thu s repre sen ts a sa vi ng of tro ubl e and
,

in coll oqui al speech we in cl ine to take as little

troub le as po ssibl e .

Th e general rul e is th at whe n two soun ds co m e ,

together those m ovem e nts of articulation which are

,

co mm on to both are executed once only T hus in .

1 the
don stoppin g of the passage for [11 ] als o doe s
’
t ,

duty f or [t] it is the opening of the passage whi ch

constitutes the [t] I n starup the cl osure f or [m ]
.

al so does d uty for ess the cl osure f or [ t]

[p] I n w it n .

rem ai ns f or [ n] which m erel y requires the Op e ning

,

of the n ose passa ge and vibration of the vocal chord s

-
.

Utter the word clean and observe whether y ou ,

p rod u ce the [ ]
k i n the sa m e w ay as in keen ; probabl y

y o u w i ll fi n d th at f or the k
[ ] o f clean y ou op en the

l h
T he c an ge in the q uali ty of th e owel is intere stin g ; v
poss ibl y don t p
’
v
reser es th e old pronun ciation of th e owel v
in do .
76 T he S oun ds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

cl osure onl y at the sid es leaving th e ce ntre of the

,

tongue in contact ready for th e prod uction of

,

See wh eth er anythi n g simil ar happ ens wh e n y ou say

th e word atlas .

Sometim es a voiced sound mak es a neighbourm g

soun d voiced or a voicel ess soun d mak es a n eighbo ur
,

ing so und voi ce l ess Exampl es in th e nurse ry ri me

.

zdz a] and [beikt] ; fi nd simi la r exampl es of

[ be
1 an d th e ed of th e t rtici l
th e s of th e plu ral pa s pa p e ,

and d e te rmi ne in each case wheth er th e final so und

is voiced or v oi ce l ess Try to find pa irs lik e la gged

.

and lacked, bids and bits .

Utter the words ap t, act, and notice carefully

when y ou make th e cl os ure for [t] ; probably it is
earl i er th an y ou woul d h av e thought Do y ou make .

the [n] closure in op en before or afte r the [p]

ope ning ?
I n compo und words and in neighbouring words ,

which b el ong cl osely together assim ilatio n is com ,

mon When one word ends in a voicel ess sound and

.

the other begins with a voice d sound or vice versa it , ,

is usuall y the se co nd whi ch p re vails O bserve .

cupboard
[ Abed] rasp berry [roxz beri] blackn
k , ,

[ g ]
blae d
ux bedti m,[
e be taim
] hold tight [ h oul tait
] ,

Consider the p ronunciation of observe obstacle , .

,

goosebm y , absolve, absolute .

In careless spee ch [hoz j u] is heard for [hoxsj u] ,

[l w d bru
g rouv
] does duty for W oke Grove, an d

[h es i for ha s seen I s she is re gularly p rono unced

j n] .

[ S i]
i5 or [ ]
i j
,
i in q u i ck co nv ersa tio n .

Th e nasal s freq uently change to suit the place of

1
S trictl y s peak ing th e e of th e pl ural was a l wa
ys v
oiced in th e
older lan ua e , a n d
g g it is in ca ts, tip s t h at we ha v e ass i mil ati on.
78 T he S ounds of S p ok en E ng li sh

this te nde ncy to si mplif y groups of consonants d ,

an d t bein g th e soun ds m ost fr equ entl y dro

pp ed .

d is p ro nounced in handkerchief [h aagketS

not if ],
ha ndsome [ haensem ] , Windsor [ wi n z e], Gu ildf ord
I ngoldsby [ ingel z bi] , Wednesday [ wenz di] l

The d in f riends, grand ather f o often

is als

dropped ; and ,
in very car el ess s eech the d of
p ,

su ch words as old , cold , chi ld, thousand , kind ness,

t is n ot p ro n oun ced in chr i sten

[ k ri s en
] glisten ,

[g li sen
] hasten
, [ h eisen
] listen
[ l i sen] ,
m oisten ,

ustle [bas al] castle

[ m oisen
] ap ostle
,
b ,

[ k oz sel
] ep istle
, g ris tle
[ gr isel ] h ustle ,

osl e p estle [pes el] rustle [rss el ]

[ b as al
] ,
ostler
[ ] , , ,

thistle [ Gi sel ] trestle [ tresel]

,
whistle [ wi sel ] , ,

wrestle [ resel ] *
Westbom ne [ wesben] ” Vest
,
-
,

mins ter [w esminste] Christmas [ krisme s] chestnu t

, ,

[St es n et
] coastgua rd
, [k ous ox
g d ] f ten [oxf e n]
o , ,

f ten [soxf en] mortgage [mozgidg] directly

*
so , ,

e:cactly
*
ost
p p one
waistcoat [ w ei ]
sket, w eske t , bankrup tcy [ basDk

repsi] .

I n very carel ess sp eech the t of such words as

slep t swep t wep t is drop ed ; al so in acts f acts
, , p , ,

i nsects, sects .

Noti ce the French rosbif bif teclc , .

th is not p ronounced in asthma [ aasme] isthmus ,

sm e s and ( car e l es sly ) in dep th s

[ i ] .

p is not p ron oun ced in empty [ e m ti] j ump ed ,

Th e fi rst d is some tim es h eard in th e pronuncia tion of t ish

word .
 C onsonant G rou p s S i m p l i fi e d 79

[ g
d a m t] emp t [ temt], attemp t
,
t contemp t

p eremp tory symp tom

[ ]
sim te m
[ , ]
1
sa
pp hire swf aie ,
Sappho [ c o ]
sa i u .

c is n ot p ro nounced in corp uscle muscl e

m sel ] oictua ls vitla
[ n [ ,] in dic t ,

So many edu cated speakers say [oz st] f or asked ,

that thi s pronunciation must be regarded as no longer

i ncorrect .

Wh at is the usual pronunciation of neat station ?

I n careful spee ch the simpl ifications mark ed with
as te ri sk are avoided as al so such
p ronun ciatio n s ,

[
as ail d 5ASSlj
] f or P ll j ust see
[dif ikl k w n]
ests z f or ,

difiicult questions The omi ssion of [k] in the pro

.

nu nciation of arctic and antar ctic and of g in rec

[ ] o gn ise

is gen erally r egard ed as faul ty .

Unfam il ia r groups of consonants at the beginni ng

of w ords are sim pl ified by dropp i ng the first sound

n otice the si m pli fication of

bd in bdelliwm
chth in chthonian

9” in gna w: gm gnome, 9”t

°

, 1

gz ( ) x in Xerxes [ ksi z
z ex j ] ,
Xenop hon
kn in knee, knit, kn ow, e tc .

mn in mnemonic
ai si s , o [taisis]
p hth in p hthisis
[ d ] al s

1
It s h o ld h ow v
u ,
e er, be n ote d th at in passing f rom [ m] to
[ t] h
t ere is a tran si tion al sound or glid e
”
h h
w ic h as th e
v al ue of a f aint [ p] .

2
Th e e in vi ctu a ls an d i nd ict h as n o e tym ol ogica l j ustifica ~

ti on, as may be see n from th e m iddl e Engli h s spell in g ( vita i l le

,
80 T he Sounds of S pok e n E ng lis h

pn in p neumatic, p neumonia ;
ps in p sal m, p seudo , P syche, p sychic [ saikik] ,

pt in p tarmigan , P tolemy
sw b e com es 3 in sword (observe al so answer );
wr in wreck, write, etc
.

Similarly an unfamili ar group at the end of a

,

word is sim plifi ed usual ly by dropping the last

,

soun d ; notice

ln in ki ln ( som e do not drop thi s n) ;

mb in bomb, catacomb, climb, comb, dumb, hecatomb,
lamb, li mb, p lumber, succumb, tomb;
mn in

(The Opp osite te nd ency found in vul gar spe ech

is ,

where [ m in t
v ox ] is said for vermin
[d raun d
] for
,

drown ) .

Observe drachm [dream ] , yacht [j ot] ,

imp ugn
p hysiognomy diap hr agm
ai e f rsem , p arad igm [
[ d ] p ]
aeredaim , p hlegm
[ flem] ,

sign [sai n] , f eign, reign, f oreign, benign .

In[ ] h
raiave a dip hthong
we I t is worth n oti ng
.

th at th e English di phthongs [ai au oi ei ou] etc , , , , , .

,

all h ave the stres s on the form er e l e m ent .

B lackbirds and the sp elling we dis

black birds : in
ti nguish th ese by wri tin g the firs t as one word th e ,

secon d as two Wh at di ff erence is there in the

.

sou nd s ? I f you listen caref ully y ou will fi nd that ,

the se cond vowel in the comp ound word is j ust a

 S tress of th e C om pou nd W ord 81

littl e horter th an in birds standi ng al one and th at

s ,

in blackbirds the Op e nin g of th e cl osur e f or [k] is n ot

hea rd whil e in black birds it m ay be audibl e Th e
, .

chief diff erence howe v er lies in th e stre ss of th e

, ,

comp ound word B lackbirds is an ex ampl e of

.

desce n ding str ess black birds is p rono u n ced with

l evel stre ss pe rhaps with asce ndi ng stress

Take the foll o wi ng co mpo un d w ords or group s ,

an d cl ass ify the m accordi ng to their str ess

Siap ence, rainbow, good morning, looking glass, moon

shi ne, bra vo I twenty f our, twenty f our men, High Street,
- ~

London Road, watersp out, right of way, undo, M r J ones,

P ark Lane, season ticket, swnflower, Hongkong, steel p en,
Chinese, ha l lo &bill of f are, earthqua ke, sea wall, B ond
Street, Gr osvenor Squa re, f ourteen, Hyde P ark .

Try to ded uce so m e rul e s fro m th e se ex am pl e s .

It has been said that l ev el stress contrast s and ,

une ven stre ss un ites th e ideas e xp re ssed by the com

p o u n d words ; do y ou agree with thi s ?

Notice what difficul ty our l evel stress give s to th e
G e rman ; he wi ll utter steel p en Hyde P ark etc
‘

,
.
, ,

with desce ndi n g stress D o so yo ursel f and ob se rve

.
,

how strange it sounds .

Noti ce th e diff e rence in stress of

S ub stantive or A dj ective V erb
absent to absen t
to accent

consort to consort
to converse
to desert
to m/is
to present
32 Th e Sounds of S p oke n E ng l i s h

Sub stantive
p roceeds
p roduce

p rotest
rebel

record

f
re use

Subs tantive

Some words of two syllable s h ave the on

th e first or the seco nd sylla bl e according to th eir

th e sen te nce Consider the acce nt of the
.

ital icised words in th e foll owi ng sente nces : Th ey

sat outsid e .A n outside passenger Am ong the
.

Chinese A Chinese lantern His age is fif teen I

. . .

hav e fif tee n s hi lli ngs Some fell by th e wayside A

. .

wayside inn Try to find a rul e gov ernin g these

.

cases .

Th e stres ses in a s e nte nc e are co nsidered in 5 4 .

When woul d be p ronounce d as voicel ess [m] by

som e hardly by a southern English nurse saying
,

th e ri m e Notice how th e ton gue mov es f orward

as th e n passes over i n to
[ ] th [ ]
e 5 in when the .

Was is in th e weak form becau se it is quite

unstressed ; but noti ce : [ wsxe
j u rixeli j es ai ,

woz ].
 Sy llables 83

In p ened,
o observe carefully how the consonan ts
articul ated
are and put their action down in
,

writing .

How many syllabl es are there in op ened bubbles , ,

chas ms,
mittens ?
P robably y ou have no diffi cul ty in un de rstanding
and answeri ng this qu e stio n, bu t if asked to describe

a sy ll able y ou might hesita te f or it is not easy

, .

Utte r [a] and then [ t] ; which carri e s farther ,

w hich has greater ful n ess of so und or sonority ? If

y ou wish ed to attract the atte ntion Of som e on e and ,

were o nl y all owed to utter one of these two so und s ,

y ou w oul d p refer [ a] without hesi tation Why is [ a]

.

m ore so norous than [ t] ? Because whereas [ t] is

,

onl y a bri e f noise in [ o] the current of breath is

,

rendered m usical by the vibration of the vocal

chord s and has a free passage through the wide
,

Ope n m outh Ind eed [a] is the m ost sonorous of all

.

so und s. It is cl ear that voiced sounds are m ore

so n orou s tha n voicel ess vowels than conso nants
, ,

continuants th an stops .The li qui d s an d nasals

stand be t w ee n vow els and con so nan ts in p oin t of

so n ority they are voiced and with either a fair pas ~

sage thro ugh the m ou th or a free passage thro u gh

the nose A good deal natu rally depend s on the

.

force and the pitch of the sound s ; a whi spe red [a]
may not ca rry so f ar as a forcibl e [ s] .

N ow if a sound with good carryin g po wer has f or

its n eighbours so un ds that do not carry f ar it he lps ,

them to be heard ; noti ce how such weakly sonorous

so un d s as [ t] or [ p] occ urring in the w ords Of a song

are quite cl ear l y heard at the other e nd of a large

84 The S ounds of S pok e n E ng lish

o c rt h all Th ey are carried al ong by the full sound

c n e .

ing vow el s as the greate r vol ume of air empl oyed

,

causes more pre ssure and he nce a more forcibl e ,

an d l oud er r el ease It is th e sounds of greater

.

sonority th at carry the sy llabl e whi ch term is also ,

appl ied to a vowel standi ng al one or besi d e other ,

vowels Of p ractically equal sonority I n Englis h .

,

the syllabl e is gene rall y carri ed by vowels ; some

ti mes al so by l iquids and nasals which are then ,

call ed sy ll abic l .

Rul es for di vidi n g words into syllabl es are given

in m ost gramma rs and are requir ed for writing and
,

p ri nti ng ; b u t th ey do not al w ay s re rese nt th e

p
ac tual sta te of thi ngs Wh en a conso nant come s
.

b etween two vowels it really bel ongs to both ,

sy llabl es. I n leaving we pronoun ce n either lea ring -

From the phonetic poi nt of view we may think of

words and group s Of words as co nsi sti ng Of a seri es
of so unds Of vary in g so n ority W e may indicate .

the sonority v ery rough ly by li nes ; if we co nnect

th eir top ends we shal l Obtain a curv e Thus the
, .

word sonority might be repre sented as foll ows ( no

atte m t is here made at scientific acc uracy
p ) .

s o n o r i t y
For syll abic m se a 22 for syl labic n, s 24 ; for sy ll a bic
l . 5 33
.
86 Th e S ou nds of S pok e n E ng li sh
stress whi ch w e can d esignate by the signs and x
,

ex tra stro ng stress wi ll be and seconda ry str ess

Th e first l in e of Sing a Song of Sixpe nce will th en ,

X X
“
Here sing and six have the stronge st str ess ;
s o ng has ordi nary stre ss
“
.

Seco ndary stress is given to that syllabl e of a

word whi ch is stre ssed but has not the chi ef stress ;
,

th us th e stresses in energetic may be wri tten x / x

The nu rsery rhy m e the n shows the foll o wi ng
str es ses

X X
X X
X X
X
X X
X X X
X X X
X X X
P erh aps y ou do not read the p oem in thi s w ay ;
ma rk th e stre sses for yoursel f without l oo ki ng at
,

the book .

A ccep t no sta tements without verif yi ng the m .

It will have struck you th at y ou h ave really be en

s ann ing th e p oe m Hith e rto y ou m ay have don e
c .

it by m eans of the signs and taken from ,

v

“
L atin p rosody where th ey stand for l ong and
,
”

short Consider the question which of the se two

”
.

sy ste ms Of scansio n is the m ore acc ur ate and the

more co nv e ni e nt .
 Scanning 87

It ma y also strike y ou that in reading the poe m 5313

we do not make a pause at the end Of each word :

“
an d of co urse we do n ot read it al l in one breath .

How many breath s do y ou req uir e for readi ng it

sl owl y ? for r eading it quickl y ? Wh at guide s y ou
in fin di ng pl aces for yo ur pau se s ? Take an y doze n
l ines of p rose a nd read the mal ou d ; n otic e where
y ou pause f or b reath . T he w ords whi ch are read
in one breath are call ed a breath group .

A fter co n sideri ng several passage s from this point

of vi e w y ou w il l real i se tha t good readi ng depe nd s
,

to so m e e xte nt on the choice of sui tabl e pl ace s for

taking breath Let your fri end s read to y ou and
.
,

Observe how they manage their breath .

We have sp oken several tim es of stre ss and y ou 5 4 ,

.

h ave p robably follow ed without diffi cul ty W hat is .

s tress ? Utter the series Of sounds then

and 1 You u se m ore force for the
stre ssed tha n for the un stre ssed vo w el s that is to ,

say y ou pu t m ore brea th i n to them

,
Place your .

han d cl ose in front of you r li ps as y ou say the

above soun ds and
, you wi l l n oti ce a di stinct in
crease oi breath as the stre ssed syll abl e is uttered .

We use this stress for purp o ses Of e mphasi s ; gen e

rall y sp eaking we exp e nd m ore brea th on those
,

syllabl es of a word or w ord s Of a se n tence

, w hi ch ,

are m ore i m p ortant f or the m ean ing W e may say

.

th at Englis h se nte nce stress is guided by l ogical

considerations I s thi s e qual ly true of French ? of
.

German ? Has anything struck y ou about the

l
The mark p r ecedes th e s tressed s
yl l abl e ,
88 T he Sounds of S p ok e n E ng li s h

stress in French or ,
in Engl ish as sp oken by a

fi enchma n ?

Stress due to force of breath is not th e only

, ,

m eans of acce ntuation at our di sp osal We can .

al so rod u ce v rio u ff ect by ch angin g th e p i tch

p a s e s

of th e v oice Wh en th e pitch of a voice hardl y

.

vari es at all we co nsider it m onotonous Certain

,
.

cl ergym en ha v e acqu ired th e h abit of read in g the

Church se rvi ce in monotone ; cons id er wh eth er this

has any advantage or disadvan tage Wh en there is .

very great and regular or m onotonous variati on of

pitch in a v oi ce we call it a sing so ng
”
-
.
,

I n standa rd sp eech th e re is m oderate variati on of

pitch it becom es conside rabl e only in dramatic and
oratori cal declam ation when a skill ed use of pitch
,

variations ma y produce a d eeply moving or hi ghl y

stirring efi ect so m ewh at rese mbl ing tha t rod ced
‘

, p u

by song .

O bserve the pitch chang es in ordinary sp eech The .

most Ob vi ous case is the rise of p itch in qu estions in ,

contrast with th e te ndency to l ower the pitch in a

state m e nt Ev en though we h ave the same ord er
.

of words as in a state ment this change of pitch al one ,

suffi ce s to show that a qu estion is being asked Say .

You are going out and You are goin g out? Try to say

A re you going out 7 with the sam e falling pitch as in

You are going out, an d observe the strange efi ect
'

D e te rmin e th e changes of
p itc h in su ch q u estio ns

as : I s your brother ta ll er short ? I s yowr uncle s house

- ’

in the town or in the coun try ? Notice that joy or any

great excite ment l eads to the use of a high er pitc h
th an usual .
90 T he Sou nds of S p oke n E ng li sh

exampl e s et by th e par ents

influence of and th e
gove rnesses and nurses I n talki ng to educated .

strange rs w e are us uall y car ef ul in our

, p ronu ncia
ti on If we occupy a position which makes it
.

nece ssary to speak to large numb ers w e m u st be ,

pa rticularly care ful and th at in several r espe cts :

,

the voice must be pl easant carry f ar and hav e , ,

good stayi ng power .

A pl easant voice is to a certain degree a natural

gift ; it depends on the quality of the v ocal chords ,

the shape of the roof of the m outh and so on M any , .

voice s are spoil t by bad habits such as exce ssi ve ,

nasal ising or very hi gh pitch

, Th e teach e r Of el o .

cution ofte n gives val uabl e criti cism and h elp h e re .

Listen atte ntively to any criticisms which your fri ends

m ake about your voice .

The voice of a publi c speaker ( which incl udes the

class teacher and coll ege lecturer no l ess th an the
cl ergym an actor or politician) m ust carry f ar His
, , .

words mu st pe netrate to every hearer ev en in a l arge ,

hall If th e re is any straining to catch his words

.
,

those words will not p rod uce th eir best eff ect The .

must articul ate more carefull y th an in ordinary

conversation : unstressed vowels will have greater
imp ortan ce and be l ess red uced co nsonants will ,

nev e r be slurr ed over Th e stressed vow els are the

.

m o st im portant of all be cause they are the m ost

so norous sounds and h elp the others ( see he
wi ll l et the vocal chords vibrate l onger for th em to ,

reinforce their val ue and he will prod uce the m in

,
 P ubl ic S pe ak i ng 91

su ch a way that they give their ch arac teri stic sound

m ost cl early For this purpo se he wi ll fi nd it best
.

to artic ulate m ore tensely ( thi s applie s al so to the

consonan ts) th an in ordinary spe ech and a di stinct
roundin g of the li ps f or the back vowel s wi ll enabl e
hi m to add to their value He will prefer to keep
.

the to ngue poin t well forw ard in the m outh f or

Thi s and other hin ts he may obtain fro m the teacher
of el oc uti on .

However pl easant a voice may be and howev er ,

far it m ay carry it will yet be of littl e use if it tires

,

soo n it must have staying po wer T his again is to .

som e e xten t a natu ral gift the throat may be con

stitu tionally w eak Traini ng ho wever can do very
.
, ,

much to i mp rove the po wers Of end u rance A bove .

all ,
good breathi ng is essential hi n ts have b ee n
given in 4 h ow thi s may be assured and the teacher ,

cann ot be recomm ended too warmly to give from

1 5 to 25 mi nu tes every m ornin g to breathi ng ax er
cises ; he will be ampl y re paid f or the tim e spe nt in
th at way by the greater ease wi th which he gets
through hi s teaching and by the inevitabl e imp rove
,

m ent in hi s gen eral heal th It has al so been poi nte d

.

ou t above tha t bad v en til atio n and du st are cal c ula ted

to i nterfere with hi s voice An other sugge stio n m ay

.

be helpful : to k ee p the tongue as for ward in the

m outh as p ossibl e Th e average to n gue positio n in
.

many southern E ngli sh teachers is too f ar back in

the m outh and this is foun d to l ead to serious fatigue
,

it may in dee d be regarded as one Of the mai n caus es

”
of teachers sore throat
’
.

It is in gi v ing advice on the manag em e nt of the

92 T he Sounds of S pok e n E ng lis h
voi ce for public sp eaki ng that trustworthy teachers
Of el ocution are m ost hel pful . When they make
dogmatic statements as to how a sound or word is
or shoul d be pronounced th eir gui dan ce is not equally
,

sati sf ac tory
, and th e stud e nt is earn estly recom

m ended al way s to test their sta tem ents himsel f .

Th e sam e requ est is addr e ssed to hi m with regard

to the p rese nt book ; if it arous es i nterest th ere is
,

no ha rm if it al so a ro u se s opp ositio n
.
94 T he S ounds of S p ok e n E ng l i s h

twop ence, threeperweShow th e di fference betwee n the

.

Engl ish and th e French pronunci ation of f ranc and ,

between the English and the German p ronunciation

9 A waiter was h eard to remark path eticall y that

.

“
h e never could tell wh ether a cus tom er w ante d col d
“
lam b or col d ham
”
Wh at cause d his unce rtainty ?
.

1 0 Th e p ro nunciati on of the chil dre n of Wal worth

.

atte n di ng the Ch urch school s has gi v en m uch con

cern to Canon Horsl ey who says tha t in th eir sp eech ,

“
I v e be en to take h er hom e be co m es binte r tiker
’ ”

“ “ ”
rom e Oh shake hands becom es ow shy cans
,
”
, ,
”

I ve b een havi ng a gam e becom es bin navina

.

“ ’ “ ”
and

gime Consider th e pronunciation suggested by thi s

.

rough transcription trans cribe it m ore carefull y and

, ,

co mm ent on su ch features of th e Wal worth dial ect

as it ill u stra tes .

1 1 You are famili ar with the term

.
“
alli tera

ti on and know that it is a favouri te device of ch eap

,
”

journalis m Criticise th e al lite ration in the foll owing

.

scare lin es : -
CITY CLERK CHA SED T H IEF .

TA KEN S O LI C I TO R SH OT
. .

I 2 M ention words in which th e fol lowi ng l ette rs

.

are writte n but not sounded : b g gh k l m n t w , , , , , , , , .

1 3 Co mm ent on th e foll owing sta te m ent : Th e

.
“

lette rs I and r are call ed trill s b ecause th ere is a ,

vibration in the sounds or in som e part of the vocal ,

a ratus by whi ch w e p ron oun ce th e m

”
a
pp .

“
1 4 Co nsid er this sta te m ent : Th e ai in f air ea in
.
,

lead ie in fie ld an
, ? in receive are none of them true
, ,

di phthongs ; they are m ore or less clumsy ways of

showing the l ength of an el em entary vowel so un d
”
-
.
 E x e rci s es 95

15 . English has two e sou nds as in f ed f eed and, , ,

four it sound s as in but p ul l f ar f ool

, , , D o y ou
,
.
”

a gree with this ?

1 6 Wh y doe s crystal l ook nicer than kristle whi ch

.
,

represents the sam e soun ds ? A ccount f or such

spe ll in gs as Edythe , S m ythe Whyte
, .

1 7 Say quickl y but di stinctly :

.

She sells sea shells in a salt fi sh shop

-
.

I s Ste p hen S mi th s son a sm ith too ?

’

How man y houses had H arry Hall ?

Long and loudl y littl e Lil y laughed .

Th e ski ll ed den ti st e xtract e d the thre e teeth .

D o y ou want the thick thread or the thin ?

I n sil en ce h e sat on the sa nds by the si l very sea .

A boat is floating over the ocean .

With a l oud sho ut h e cam e ou t of the house .

The firs t qu estion Ch arl e s aske d was strange .

Three grey gee s e in the green gras s grazi ng .

1 8 Di scuss the old fas hion ed for m of addre ss

.
-

“ ” “
min e ho st Do you say an hi storical novel ? ”
.

“
a
( or an
) hote l at Fo lke sto n e H ow do y ou
”
p ro no un ce the Gr an d Hotel ? T ranscribe your
”

p ro n un ci atio n of I g ave her her hat .

1 9 Wh at is the d e rivatio n of ventri loguist? Does

.

the te rm correctly i ndica te the way in which ventri

l oqui sts p rod uce their soun d s ? Which sounds do
ou thi n k m o st l ikel y to give th e m diffi c ul ty ?
y
20 I n the Fre n ch of the 1 2th ce ntury l un d e r
.

certain circum stances becam e a vowel ; thus altre

became autre and chevals b ecam e cheoaus How do .

ou e x lai n this ch ange ? P oin t to a sim il ar chan ge

y p
in Eng lish
96 T he S ound s of Sp ok e n E ng lis h

How would y ou teach a foreigner to p ronounce

21 .

the Engl is h th sounds ?

22 Littl e chil dre n say p ease for p lease ga mma or
.
,

Ill ustra te th e tendency shown in th ese exam pl es from

th e sp eech of grown u p p eo pl e -
.

23 Co mm ent on the littl e chi ld s p ronunci ation of

’
.

tsai n f or cha in f ee f or three noder for another and

, , ,

24 Consider carefully the qu esti on why the

.
,

p ro n un cia tio n of a foreign lan guag e p resents diffi

cul ti ce draw on any foreign languag e you know

25 . Latin ca mera is our cha mber na mem s our

Th e ,

number Latin humilis our hum ble L ati n si milare our

, ,

re semble
( ) A ccou nt f or th e b in the En gli sh word s
. .

26 Co ns ider the value of a re in sure pare na ture

.
.

, , ,

figure .

27 What l ight is thr o wn on the p ronunciation of

.

th e past by the foll owing q uotations

( ) Whil h wi thd w n t th ir m ad l bou smil es

a e e, ra , a e a r ,

A nd sa fe en oy s j th e Sabba th of his toil s .

( D ryde n ) .

( b) D re ading e vnf
by fl atterers besi eg d ,
e ool s ,
’

A nd so obl igi ng t at h e ne er obl ig d

’
h
( P ope )
’
.

(c) Contemp la te is bad enoug , but bal cony m ak es m e h sic k .

( Rogers )
(d) Th e dam e ,
of m anner v
arious , te mper fi c l e, k
N ow all for pl easure , now th e con en ticl e ( Oe l man ) v . .

( e) Th h
ere is littl e doubt t at in th e p ronun ciation of succ e ssor
th e antepe nul timate acce nt will pre ail ( al ker ) v . W .

h h
(f ) To ke tc [ ca tc ] h im at a an tage in h is snares v .

( S pe nser ) .

( g) Y e t h e was ki nd , or, if se ere v in aug ht ,

Th e l o v
e h e bore to l earning was in faul t .
( Goldsmi th )
98 T he Sou nds of S p ok e n E ng li s h

Words which have occurred in th e te xt of th e

book are not rep eated h ere .

Wh en two p ronunciations are given both may be ,

consid er ed a s co mm o n ; the first is g ene rall y to be

preferr ed If however a pronunciation is enclosed

.
, ,

in brackets it is to be r egarded as faul ty , .

A . Ge neral .

abdomen ,
aeb doum en
'
a dvantageous , sed v en
teidges, wdv aen te idge s
’
eebdom e n
( )
’ ’

ab initio aeb i ni S iou j ou

,
' ’

,
-
advertisem ent, ed v e ztiz
’

absci ssion aab si gen m ent

’

acacia e k ei S ae gi s, ij d5is
’ ’
e ,

accen t ae grotat, i routeet

'
aeksen t
’

, g
aeks ent ; ( v e rb ) aek sent ae ra te d, e :e reitid
’ ’ '

a ccli m atiz e ae rial, e e ri el , s i x

’
aeklim etaiz eriel
' '

, ,

ae rie, e:ri, i :eri

’ '
klaim etaiz
'
e

acc ol ad e , aekol eid

'
a ero naut e:rono:t ,
’

accoutr e , e ku wte a e sth eti cs ij s de tiks

’ ’

ace tic, e sij tik, se ( e sOetiks)

’ '
-

acousti cs, e k a u stiks a fortiori ci f oz S j oxrai ,

’ ’

again e gen e
)
’ '
e ku w stiks
(
'

g
, ei n ,

acrobat, aekrobaet agai nst e

'

genst e g einst
’ ’

, ,

ad ag e, aedid5 ag e d
’
eid5id
'

ad ep t, aedept, e d ep t aggrandi z em en t
’ ’ '
e raan
g ,

adi e u , e dj uw diz ment

’

ad infinitum, a
'
ed infi nait
'
aghast e goxst ,
’

a gil e eed5ail
’
em ,

ad mirabl e, a dmire bl agu e eigj uw

’

ad miratio n , asd mi rei S ai sl e ail

’ '
en ,

em , al be it o:lbij it
'
ad nau seam , a3d n e :si a
’ '
,

al gebra sel d5ibre

’

j mm
-
,

alibi aelibai
’
ad o, e duw
'

ad ul t, sedA lt, e dAl t ali enat e eil j e neit

' ' ’
,

ad v al or e m , zed v e loxrem all egiance el i d e ns

’

j 5 ,
W ord lis t abd o-biz

artifi ce r, a z
’
all e e le
’
gron l e1g tifi se
'

i gl t
r ,
-

all o
'
o artis te oxtij st ist
,
’

,
-

asa foetida sese f etide

’ ’
all oy e l oi ,
’
,

all y e la i
’
askan ce, e skaen s,
'
—
o:n s
,

alm ana c o:lm en aek ,

'
asp iran t ,
'
e spaire n t
al so assi j
'
cl sou ees i ni
'

, ee ,

al w ay s o:l wiz w ez w eiz sete l , e te l

’ ’ ’

, ,
-
,
-
ato

a ma te ur aam ete : eem e

,
'

,
'
a ttorney e te xni ,
’

am e nity e m e niti aval anche

[tS s
’
sev el a x
'
ue
,
n ,

a m o ng e mA a wkward ed
U ( e m ep ) ok
’ ’ ’

, ,

anaemi c e nij m ik aw ry e rai

’ '

, ,

an archi st a n ekist a y ah
'
aj e
,

ana rchy mneki een o:ki s)

’ '

, , ci ,

anchovy a en tS
’
ou vi ,

a n e m o ne e n em e ni baboo boxbuw
’ ’

, ,

an ina aan d gain e bacillus be sil es

’ ’

g , ,

angli ce se9 lis i bagatell e baegete l

’ ’

g , ,

an t , sent
'
bakshi sh baek S ij S ,
’

a nti p odes aan tip odij z bal co ny baelkeni

’ ’

, ,

antiqu e aan tij k ball et baslei

' ’
, ,

an tithe sis aan ti balsam bozl sem

’ ’

, ,

aori st e :eris t
,
'
basal t bsesolt be sozl t
,
'

,
’

a erture aep e tS bass (voice ) b ei s

' ’
'
e
p , ,

a hasi a e f eiz j e
p ,
’
be cau se bi kozz brkez ,
’

a o hthegm aap0 0em b edi zen bi daiz en

’ ’

p p , ,

a oth e o si s aspe Qi ou sis b egon e bi gen

’ ’

p , , ,

a
pp a ratu s aep e reite s [ e p o ,
'
b elligerent be lidgerent ,
’

a
pp a r ent e p ex rent p a3r ,
’

,
-
b etroth bi troue ,
’

bi cy cle baisikl ( bai

’ '

a
p ri o n e i p ri oxrai ,
’ ’
,

saikl )
'

a ro os ae ropo u
’

p p ,

arch usu ly a l t s bigot bige t,

’

archa ngel a :kein dgel ,

'
bijou bij guw
,
'

arch e ty p e o:kitaip ,
’
bill etd oux bil ei duw ,
’ ’

ar chi a :ki o:kj

’ '
bison baisen ,
’

a rchive s o:kaiv z ,
’
bitum e n bitj umen ,
'
,

arid aarid bi tj uwm en

' ’

arr as a r e s ,
bizarre bi zo : ,
’
1 00 The S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng l is h

bl ancmange ble m en (d)5 ,

’

bli th e ble i e capuchin ksspj utS

’ ’

, in ,

bl ous e blau z ( bluwz )

,
’ ’
carouse ke rauz ,
’

boatswain bousen ,
’
cas hier ke ire ,
’

bod ega bo dij ge ’

casino ke s1 nou
'
'

, ,

bo mbast bom beest ,

’
, cath edra Oidre (ke ,
'

bombe st 01 dre
°
’

bona fi de, boun e

’
fe idi
'
cauliflower, kolifi aue
'

booth , buwiS '

ce libate , selibe t
'

borough bare ( b arou) ,

’ ’ ’
cell o, tS
el ou
’

bou quet bu kei ,

’
c entenary ,
'
se ntenri,

bo u rn be xn bu z on
,
'
,
’
sen
’
te neri
bravad o bre v eidou '
cere (c l othe m ents ize
)
'

, ,
-
, s
dou se
’
bre
i
va x ] n,
fl
e n
brazi er brei ge breiz j e
,
'
,
’
chay beate ,
’
li egri
breeches britS iz bri j ,
’
,
’
cham oi s (l eather) , ’
semi
S
brougham bru xem ,
’
, chaperon S aep eroun ,
’

brou em ( broum ) charad e S d S o reid

’ ’ ’ '
e ru x , ,

brusqu e bru sk brAsk ,

’

,
’
chari vari S aerij v u x rij ,
’ ’

bu fi et b uf ei ch arl atan S l
'
' '

,
ox e te n aen , ,
-

bu l wark bul wek chastisem ent, t§aestiz m ent

’ ’
,

bureau bj u xrou bj u ron

,
'

,
'
hauff eur S
c ouf e ,
’

burgher be xge ,
’
ch aunt t§a:nt ,
’

ch au vini st S
’
ouvini st ,

cabal ke bael
,
'
chi c S, ik
'

cach et kas S ei ,
’
chi me ra kai micro ki ,
’

cadi keidi
,
'
chir o kairo
'

cae sura si z j u xre ,

'
chivalri c S i vaelrik ,
’

cam bri c keimbrik chi v al rou s S

’
ivelres
'

w
, ,

campani l e kaem pe nij li

ii
’
chiv al r rv elri tS
i
hoir k r e
, ’

canon ksenj en ,
’
c ,
’

cantata kaen toxte ,

’
chol eri c kelerik ,
’

cantonm ent kaen tuwn ,

’
chough tSAf ,
'

m en t ton cicala si kozl e

’ ’
-
, ,

caou tchou c kau tS uk ci cero ne sis e rouni

’ ’

cap a—i e ksep epij

, ,

ci nqu e sk
' ’

, ,

capita t kaepitelist ,
'
circuit se iki t ,
'
102 The S ounds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

d ebonair debenexe ,
'
doctrinal doktri n el ,
'

d ebris d ebri
,
’
trainel'

d ecad e d eked dekeid

,
'

,
’
doge doud 5 ,
’

decad ence dekedens ,

’
dol orou s doleres ,
'

decease di sij s ,
’
domi cil e domisail
decorous dekeres di ,
'

, douch e du j duwj , ,
'

’
ke zre s doughty ,

dei gratia dij ar greijiei , dramatis pe rso na dt ss ,

’

d em esne di m ein ,
'
m etis pe xsounij
’

demi se di m aiz ,
’
draught drmft ,
'

dem onstrate demenstreit ,

’
droll e droul eri
demy (pap er) di m ai ,
'
drom dm m ide ri
'

d ep ot de u ( di j pou) drou ght, draut (droxt)

’ ’ ’

d ereli ct d
frelikt
,

,
'
dubiety, dj q baieti
d esiderate di sidereit ,
’
ducat, dAt '

d esign di zai n
,
’
ductil e, dAktail ’

de signate d ez igneit ,
'

, duteo us, dj uwtj es

’

( diut GS)
'
d es
'

desist di z ist
,
'
dy nasty, di nesti, dainesti ' '

d esuetude deswi tj uwd ,

’
dy sentery, disentri '

di aeresi s dai i: resis ,

'
°

diapas on daie pe iz en ,
eau de Col ogn e
’
ou ,
'
di
didacti c di daektik ,
ko l eun
' ’

dilatory dil et( e)ri ,

ech el on
’
e j elon ,
’

dil ettante di li taanti eclat ekl or e kl o

’ ' '

, , ,

di ocese daiosis ,
’
e en ij n
’

,
’

dis (b efore v oi ced sounds ) e er eze

’ ’

, ,

di z ( before voi cel ess efi ete e fij t

’ '

sounds eglantin e
’

) , e gl entain ,

dis habill e e ith er ij be

’ ’

,
aiee , ,

di sputant disp j utent e l i cit i lisit

,
'

,
’

distich di stik,
'
el ite e lij t ,
’

di van di v aen ( daiv en)

,
’
el ixi r i likse
’

,
’

di v ers daiv e zs
,
'
e maci a te d i m ei j ieitid ,
’

diverse di v e :s ,
embrasur e em breige
’

,
’

divi sible di vi z ibl e ne rv ate

’
v eit
’

,
ene x ,

doc il e dousail dosail enu n cia te i na n j ieit

' ’ '

, , ,
e nvel op e ,
’
env e loup ,
’
en fe alty fi zelti
,
’

v el ou
p fecund fij kA nd ,
’

,
’
fe
e nvirons en vaire nz ,
'
feod f j uwd
,
’

epaul et epol et ,
'
f eofl , f ef
'
'

epitom e i pitomi ,
’
fetish, fij tij , f e
’ ’

e poch ij p ok ( ep ok)
,
’ ’
finan ce, fi naens ’

equ erry ekw eri e kweri ,

’

,
’
fi nancier, fi naanj e, sj e ’
-

erase i reis
,
’
fi nesse, ’fi nes ’

erasure i reige ,
'
fi ssure , 'fi j e
ere eze
,
'
flaccid, fleeks id
esch eat es tjrj t ,
’
flam boyant, flaem boj ent ’

e sche w es tjuw ,
’ '
fluor, flu x e
esote ric eso terik ,
'
foetid fetid
,
'

esp ionage espionid5 ,

'
forfeit f oxfit ,
’

evasi ve i v ersrv ,
’
fragile f raedgail
,
’

exch e quer eks tj eke ,

'
franchi se ,
-
j i z

excise eksaiz ek saiz

,
’

,
’
frigate fri got ,
'

excuse ( verb) eks kj uwz ,

’

, frontier f rontiie ,
’
,
’
f rA n
( su b st
) ek s kj uws
'
fuch sia f j uwj e ,
’

e x e rt k t f ugue f iuwg
’ ’

p e sp e
, x ,

exp letive ek splij tiv ,

’
furl ough fe ll ou ,
'

exqui site ekskwiz it ,

’
furore f j u roxri
,
'

extant ek staent ekste nt

,
’

,
’
futil e f j uwtail
,
’

extemp ore ek stem eri ,

’

extirpate ekste zpert ,

’
gala geil e
,
'

extraordinary ek strox
’
gallant ( o lite) ge lach t ’

dneri ,
’
eks tre oz dineri
,
’ p
gambol aamb ’
,

e xude , eg z
’

j uwd ,
-
ks gaol dge
,
’

gari sh g ezrij ,
’

gas eous gaesj es gei5j es

, ,

facade f e se id f e seid ’

,
'
gauch e gou j ,
’

facil e f aesil
,
gauge geidg,,
'

facsimi l e f mk simil i ,
’
generic d 5e narik ,
’

fakir f e ki ze f eikie
,
’

,
'
ge sture d 5e st &
e ,

fal chion f oxl jen ,

’
gewgaw gj uwgox ,
’

gey ser gaise gei se

.

fanatic f e naatik ,
’

,
’
,
'

farinaceous f wri neij es ,

’
ghoul guwl ,
'
 1 04 T he S ounds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

gibb eri sh beri j h eigho beihou

'
’

gibb et dgib
, ,

it ,
’
h einou s heines ,
'

em orrha e , hem oridg,

’

g
gig g ig ,
r i
e o n e,heroin ’

gi anti c d 5a1 gwntik ’

h eroi sm h eroiz m ’

gilg ( of fi sh )
, ,

gil ; ,
'
heterogene ous h ete ro ,

l iquid) d gil
’ ’

,
d 5ij nj es
gill y fl ow er, d5il ifla ue
’
hiatus, hai eites ’

gimlet, giml it
’
hi erarch , haierozk
’

gi mp,
gi mp
’
hi rsute, he z sj u wt ’

gl st, d grst
'
hosier, houge , h ouz j e
’ '

gizzard, iz ed '
housewif e (case f or
glacial , g ei S
'
el g n eedl es,
’
haz if
gl acier, gleij e, glae sj e, ie
’ '
-
hussar, hu z ox, bA z o: ’ ’

gladiolus, gl e daieles, ’
hussy ha zi,
’

gl aedi ou l es
’
hygi ene h aidgrj n ,
'

glamour, glaem e
’
hygi enic haidgroni k , ,

goitre, goite
’
hi dgi ij nik
’

go ndola, gond ele (gon ’

hym eneal haimr ni z el ,

doul e)
'
hyp erbol e , hai pe zbeli ’

gosli ng, goz lip ’

hyp ochondri acal, h aipo
gouge, guwdg, gaudg ken draiekl , hip o
’ ' ’

gourd, gu zed, go:d [gre

’ ’
hypotenuse, hai p otenj nws '

gravam e n, grae v ei m '

hy ssop, hisep '

greasy , gri j z r gTiJ SI

'

g re at. grout ( gro 19)

’ '
'
id entical ai dentikl ,
’

gross ,
grous
'
id io sy ncrasy idio siokresi ,
’

g uerdon ge zden ,
'
idyll aidil
,
’

guill otine gile tij n ,

’
il l ustrative ilestreitiv ,
’

gunwal e ganel i l A stre tiv

,
’ ’

gutta percha gate pextj e im b ecil e imbl srj l il

-
,
’ ’

,
’

,
-

gyves dgaiv z ,
’
imbrogl io im broulj ou ,
'

1m p rou s im pies ,
'

hal be rd h aalbed ,
ind ecorous in deke res
’
,
’

halcyon h aelsj en ,
i ndi ct in da it
'
,
’

hautboy houbei indi ssolubl e indi solj ubl

,
'

,
’

heifer hefe ,
'
inexorable in egz erebl eks ,
'

,
-
1 06 T he Sou nds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

m edi cam ent, medikem ent, icety nais(e)ti

’ ’
n ,

m e dikem ent ni ch e ni tS
' ’
,

m edioc re, m ij diouke no m encla ture o m en

’ ’

, n
m edi ocrity, mi j di okr iti kl etj e
’

m eerschaum , mi xe j em oo se
’ ' ’
n , nuwz , nuws
mel anchol y, m el egkeli n orse
’ ’

, nox
s

m em oir, m emwa : nunci o i

Sou
’ ’

, nA n
m enageri e, mi n aedgeri tial ns p j el
’ ’
nup ,

m enu, m enj u, m e nuw

’ ’

M essrs, m esez ’

b i
O e san ” ?
’
be1se ns
'

m etall urgy , metel e zdgi,

iJ
’
t
0 b9 86 , 0 I S
mj twl ed si
l

m etam orphosis , m ete

’
m ozf esis
m e tath es is, mi taede sis
’

m etre , mi j te
’

m e zzotint , m etsotint
’ obtuse ob tj uw s ,
’

mia sma, mai aez m e, mi

’ o ccult o kAl t ,
’

octopus ektope s ok
’

mill enary , m i l eneri

’ , ,
'

minatory , main eteri

' toupes
'

miniatur e , minietj e, tj e
'
-
oligarchy eliguzki ,
’

omnis ci ent om nije nt si ’

-

minute (adj ), mai nj uwt,

’
, ,

mi
on erous one re s ,
'

mirage, mi ro z 5
’ onomatopeia onem ete pize ,
'

mi san thrope , misen Oroup

’ ope rati ve Operetiv ,
'

pereitiv '
’
e
mi scell any, mi sel eni
o
'

orch e stral , oxkestrel, ozki

'

mi schi ef, mistS if

'

m orose , m e re ns
’ ord eal , oxdi rel ’

myth , mi fl, mai 9
' ’ organi zation,
z e i j en , n ai
’
-

m ythol ogy , mi flol ed gi

’

oris on, oriz en, s '

-

na i ve '
n eiv
orm olu , oxmelu w
'

naiv eté ,
,
’
n eivtei
ornate , o neit '

e te noxj j eit
naus a
' osi er ouge ,
’

nauseous noz jj es nox j

’ ’
es , ,

ne er n sx id
’ ’ ’

, e ea nt, p e gent,
neither us ilie m j fie p aadgent
' '
, ,
W ordlis t m ed i c-p uiss

palaver, 'p e l ozv e ’ p ait, pl wt’

’
l
'

pal frey . pox lfn paelf n )

( p l ebi s cite , pl ebi sait

panacea, psene sue p l e nary, plij’neri

, ’

panegyric, p aeni dgirik pl e nteo us,

'

p l en tj es

( lentj es
)
'

p l et p
o ra,
p e dere
’

p l ethoric ,
’

p l e fle r ik
pl over, pla ve
’
rafli n e ,
p aerefin
'
a
p
p a ria h p j
81
, r e
'

p oignant, ’poinj ent

’

paroc hial pe roukj el oig r d

’

, p n a d . po n i e

parve nu pozv enj u o ade , d d

’
m m
’
m i
’

, p p o e , p o o:

pas te l p se ste l paestel po mm el, pA m el

’ ' '

, ,

p as til l e p ae s
,
ti l
j p a
es til
’

,
’

p ongee , p'ond5i
’

p a te n t p e
,
i te n
’
t (p ae te n t)
’

p orpoi se , pox pe s
pa tho s
p e
,
i flo s
’

p o sth um ous ,
p os tj um e
’
s

patois p aatwn: p otsh erd, potj e x

’
d
’
,

patri m ony p aetrim eni p r eceden ce ,’ pri sij dens

’ ’

pa tro n e
,
i
p tre n
’

p re c ede n t, p resident
pa tro n age
p aetre nidg
,
'
, p red atory , redetri
'

p e itre nidg p re l a te ,
p
’
re et

troniz e p relude , prelj u wd

' ’

pa , p ze trenaiz ,

pe itre na’iz pre mature, prem etj u e,

' '

p ecc a v i , p e k e i va i
’

prij m etj ue
p ed a gog u e , p e d e o
g g
’

p re m ier ,

p ed ago y . p ed egodsi. si
g
’
-
p re m i se
i k iz it
p rem is e
'
e
p q r u srte ,
p e z w
p etard, pi’ tox d p re sage ,
’

ph aeton, f e’ite n pre sere n

p h a l a n x ,
f e ileegks, p re stige ,'
f ts l aepks
'

p ri m er , p ri m e ,
r
p ’ ai m o
'

h eg m t c e ma ik p ri stin e, ’ pristain, p ri stin

’
l fl
’

p a i , g e t
p iazza ,
p i setse
’

privacy , pra iv esi , priv esi

'

pi quant, pij kent ac , profli esi

’
fli
’

p r o g y ’ g
p iq u e , pj i
’
k ro
p p hecy , p ro fi si
p iteo u s , p i tj
'
es ( p it j e s
)
'
ro
p p he sy , profisai
’

aakmd pu isne , pj uwni

' ’

p p l
a id. pl wd. pl eid puissan t, pwi j se nt
' ’ ’

p l
xc 7
ro8 T he S ou nds of S pok e n E ng lis h

pumi ce , pamis reredo s ri xedos

'

p u rl oin , p e z l oin reservoir re z evw ox ’

,
’

p urport, parpet resin rez en rozen

'

,
'

,
’

resonance re z enens ,
’

quagmi re kw ae respite resp it ’ '

’
e , ,

quandai kwon eri d e:ri re staurant restore g

,
’

,
-
'
,
’

quaranti ne kworentij n reveill e ri vseli ,

’
,
’

quay h i .
reverie reveri ,
'

queue kj uw ,
’
rhetoric reterik ,
’

qui escent kwai ese nt rheum ruwm ,

’

,
'

quinin e kwi nij n ,

rhythm riiSm ’

,
'

quoif koif,
’
rhythmical ri9mj k el ,
’

quoit koit,
’
ribal d ribol d riboxl d ,
’

,
'

quoth kwon O ,
’
rouge ruw5 ,
'

routine ru tij n ,
'

ragg ed raagid , rowl ock rAl ek

’

,
’

ranch (e ) ruse ruwz

, ,
’

rancour raepke ,
’

rapi er reipixe
,
’

rapine raapin raspain

,
’
sach et saaj ei ,
’
,
'

rase reiz '

sa a so i e
g
’

se g
, ,

rations (army) raajnz ient se il j ent ,

’

,
’

recluse ri kluws sa lin e se lai n

’ '

recondi te rekendait sali n e se ilain

’

reconnaissance ri kone sam pl e soxm pl saempl ’ ' '

, , ,

sa rcop hagus sc z kof ege s

’
se ns ,

reco nnoitre reke noite sati ety se taieti ,

'

,
’

redol ent red ol ent satire

’
saataie
’

, ,

regi cide redgisaid satyr

’ ’

,
saete ,

r egime re gij m , scall op skol ep

’

,
’

rei ndeer reindie scath e,

skeilS
'

,
’

rem ons trate ri monstreit sceni c sij nik ,

’

,
'

renaissan ce ri neisens sce pti c skep tik ,

’

,
'

re ndez vous rondi vuw sch ed ul e j e dj ul ( skedj ul )

’ ’ '

, ,

repertoire repe xtwa : hi siz r

, p
’ '

replica t oplike scimitar simito

’ '

, ,

req ui em rekwiem scintill ate

,
'
sintil ei t ,
’
n o T he S ou nds of S p oke n E ng l i s h

toward ,
tozd, tu wozd
'
vase ,
'
v oz z
( voxz )
’

veh em ent vi iment

'
’

v ehi cle vij ikl

,

transient traan z j ent ,

'

,
’

transition tra n sigen ,

'
v erm i ce lli v e rmi seli ,
’

treatise trij tis ,

'
vertigo ve xtigou ,
’

tribunal trai bj uwn el ,

’

,
tri vice gerent vais dgere nt
-
,
’
-

tribune tribj un ,
'
vi ce v ersa vaisi v e zse ,
’ '

tril ogy tril ed gi , vignette vi nj et ,

’

trio trrj ou
,
'
vilif y vilif ai ,
'

tripartite tripuxtait ,
’
V irago vi rei ,
’

triptych triptik ,
’
V i sco un t v unt ,
'

trophy troufi ,
’
vi s or vize ,
’

troth trou 9 troO,

’

,
’
viva voce vaiv e v ousi ,
’ '

trough trof ,
’
vouch safe vautSseif ,
’ ’

trow trou ,
'

tr st tris t trai st
,
’

,
’

wainscot wein sket ,

’

tu bine, te zbain
'

wal rus wolre s ’

turquoi se ,
’
keiz ,
te x
was sail w msil
,
’

,
te k oiz
’

weir wi xe
'

tyranni c tai raanik ti ,

'

,
,

fi ndge
wharfi ng er, wox
'

tyranny ti reni '

wind , wind o etry

(
’
,
p
ty rant tairont ,
’
'
wind, waind )
’

W i ndl as s, wi n dl es
'

wi seacre, waiz eike

’

ity j u bikwiti ,
’

worsted (w ool), wustid

’

’
u kas e, j u k e is worsted (d efeated), wex '

uncouth m k q ,
’

tid
s
und ula tory an dj u l etri
’

,
wrath ’
ro:0
uni son j uwn isen
' ,
,
wr oth ,
’
rou 0
-
d
tox
uphols ter A p h ouls te
’

j ei
’
,
yea.
u su rp j u z e :p
'

, y e o ma n , j oumen
’

va ry, v e
’

g exri zeal ot z el et ,
'

v a et,
’
v aelit z eal ous ze les '

valiant v aelj ent ,

’
ze nith zeni 9 z rj ni0, ,
’

valis e v e lij z ve lij e

,
’

,
’
zool ogy z o oledgi ,
’
 tow ard - Be th

H
A be rgave nn y, aebege ve ni A the naeum, a i uij om
’

A bin ger, aebindge A the n e, e 0ij ni

' ’

A e n eas , i j ni j aes A the ns, aadenz , inz

.
’ ’
-

A e n eid, ij niid A th l on e , aed l oun

’ ‘

A eschylus, ij skil e s A uchinl eck, mflik

' ’

A e tna, etne A v a, a z v e
’ ’

A fgh
'
an wf 13n
l
2
g ,

Aflal o, e flc Baa l, be iel

’ ’

A ilsa, eil z e B acchanal , bzs kenel

’ '

A ix la-Ch ape ll e, ei ks l a Bacch us, bsekes

’ ’
-

Sc p el
'
Baden P owell, beid en
-
'

Al bany, ozlbe ni po uol ’

’ '

Al cester, o :lste Bagehot, baed get, baeget

’ ’

Al ma Tadem a, Balcarres, baal kaaris

'
aal m e
’
-

’
twd1m 9 Bal four, bself o: ’

Al mondb ury , ux m beri

'
Bastill e , baes tij l
’

Al n wick, aenik Beacons fi eld, bij kenz fi j ld,

' ’

Al ph a, aalfe
’
bekenz fi j l d
’

Am bro sia, aem brouz j e B eau champ , brj tS

’
em
’

A m eer, aemi :e Beaucl erc, boukl ex

' ’
e,
A nabasis, e n aabesis
’
boukli :e
'

A n chises, mp kai si j z B eau fort, bouf e xt, f et

' ’
-

A ns tru ther, mnste , B eaulieu, bj u zli , boul i

' ' ’

Beaum ont, bo um ent, ’

A ntrob us, mntre bes

' ’
bo ument
A phrodi te , aef ro daiti B eethov e n,
’
beithouv en,
’

A pocryp ha, e okrife

’
beitouv e n
’

p
Ar e opagus, sari epeges
'
B ell ew, belj u ( bi l uw)
’ ’

A rgy ll, 0 ail

g
'
'
B ell ingh am, belind59 m
'

Arion, e rai en
'
Bel voir, bij v e
'

Aris toph an es, aeri stof enij z Be rke l ey, buxkli

’ ’

A rmada, a xm ox Berks hire, bo k e

’
d e,
’

oxm eide
’
Berti e ( surnam e), bozti ’

A rmita ge, oz mitidg B e ssborough , bez bere

’ ’

A te , citi
'
Bethphage, be 9f egij ’

I I I
1 1 2 The Sou nd s of S p ok e n E ng l i sh

Bethune brj ten be dj uwn Bu eno s A yres bj u ij nos

,
'
,
’
,
'

Bezant bez e nt bi z aant

’ ’
bj uin os ezri j z ( siz aie z )
’ '
, , , ,

Bigel ow bigelou Burgh cl ere be z kl sze

,
'
,
’

Bisph am bisph em B urghersh be zge z S

,
’
, ,
'

biz p em
’
Burghl ey be zli ,
’

Blenh eim blenem Bury be ri

,
’
,
’

Bl om (e) fi eld bluwm fi j ld bu ry be ri be ri bri ,

’
-
, , ,

Blount blant , Byssh e biS

’

,
’

Boanerges boue ne zdgrj z Byzan tine bai z aentain

,
'

,
'

Boe r bu z e boue
,
’
bi z aentin ,
’ ’

Boleyn bulen bul in ,

’

,
'

Bolingbroke bolin bruk ,

'
,
'
boulipbruk Cadiz keidiz ,
’

Bompas bampe s Cadogan ke c n

'

i
’

Caed mon ke fi on
, ,

Bobtes bo outij z
' '

, ,

Borghese boxgeiz i Cairo kairou

,
’

,
’

Borrow es barouz Caius ( Coll ege ) h ijz

,
’
,
’

Bo sanquet bousegkit Calais k aslei kaelis

,
’
,
’

,
’

Botti celli boti tSeli Cald eron kozlderen

,
’

,
’

Bo ucicault buwsikou Callaghan ka leh san

,
’
,
’

Bough ey bouwi Call iope ke laiopi

,
’

,
’

Bo ughton baute n be zten Callirrhoe ke li roui

,
'

,
’

,
’

Boulger bouldge ,
’

Bourchi er bautS e Cambridge keimbridg,

,
'

,
’

Bourke be :k ,
Campagna kaem poznj e
’
,
’

Brabazon braabez en Cam pd en kmmde n

,
'

,
’

Breadal bane bri oxlben Canaan keinen ,

’

, ,
'

bri daalben
’
Candac e kaen deisi ,
'

Brechin brij kin ,

Capell keipe l
'

,
'

Bridl ington bridlipte n Carew keiri ke ru w ,

'
,
'

,
’

’
be xlig te n Carlyon kd i l aien ,
'

Broke bruk ,
’
Carmich ael ko m aikel ,
’

Brougham bru z em Carn egi e ko negi ko magi

,
’

,
'

,
’

Broughton brozte n Castl erea reagh )

,
’
-
,

B uccl eugh, be kl uw kozsel rei

' ’

Buchan, bA ke n ’
Catholic, kaedelis
’

Buchanan, bj u kaene n
'
 The S ounds of S p ok e n E ng lish

D emy ( Magdale n College Gairdner, go z d no

’

O xford ) di me i ,
’
Gal way, gozlwei
’

D enbigh d enbi ,
’

D erby doxbi ,
'

D eute ronomy dj uwte , Geiki e, grj ki

’

rone mi Geofl rey , dgef ri

’ ’ ’

Dives daivrj z
,
'
G eoghegan, g eigen
’

Donegal doni go:l ,

’
Giaour , d5aue
'

Dono hue dA n ehuw ,

'
Gibral t ar , d5i brozl te
'

Doug ty dauti ,
’
Gifi en, dgif en
' ’

Dro heda droh ede ’

Glami s, glozmz ’

g
,

D vo ak, dv ozgek Glasgow , gl aesgou

' '

Gl o uces te r, gloste
'

Ec cl esiastes iklij z i aestrj z ,

’

Gomm e, m
Edi nburgh edi nbare bre ,
'
,
-
Go schen, gou S en
Eiste ddfod ais teSvod ,
’

Go ugh , gof
’

Elcho elkou
'
,
’

Greav es, greiv z

’

’
El l n, el ’
g
gli Greenwich , grinidg,
'

Eh z abe th r , eliz e bij fle n

’

G rosv enor, grouvne

’

El ysia n, e liz j en '

Guildford, g ilf ed
’

El y sium , e liz j em ’

Gy e, gai
’

Elz evir, el z iv e x, vi e’
-

Euripides, j u ripidij z '

Had es h eidrj z
,
'

Europe j u zre p ,
'

Haigh beig ,
'

Europ ean j uro p iz en ,

’

H am ish heim iS ’

Exm outh eksme B ,

’

Harcourt hozket
,

,
’

Faust faust ’ Harl ech hozlik ,

’

Fau stus f ozste s ’ Hastings heistip z ,

’

Fe (a)th erstonhaugh
,
Hawarde n hozde n ,
’

,
,
h eiwe xde n
’

f ece stenh o:
’

Fildes, f aildz ’ Haweis, h ozwis, h ois

' ’

Folkestone, f ouksten ’ H eadlam, h edl em

'

Foulis, f aulz ' H ebe, hij bi ’

Fow ey , f oi
’ Heneage, h enidg
’

Froud e, f ruwd ' H ercul es, he zkj ul rj z

’

Gaeli c, g aelik ( Scotland),

’ H ermione, he maioni ’

'
e il ik ( I r eland
H erodotus, h e red etes ’

g )
W ordlist D e my Le y

H e rsche ll h e z j el ,
'
K eigh ley ,
’
h ij li ,
'
kai li,
Hertf ord h oxf ed ,
' ’
kij Oli
Hervey hozvi ,
’
Keightley ,
Hobart hA be t ,
'
K eith , ki j O ’

Holm es houmz ,
'
K eogh Keough K Eogh
, ,
’
,

Holyhead holih ed ,
’
K eho e kj ou ,
’

Hop etoun houpte n ,

’
Ker ke : koz kse
,
’

, ,

K es wi ck ke zik ,
’

Hough hA f ,
’
Key nes kein z ,
’

Houghto n , Kh edive ke dij v ,

'

Huguenot hj uwgenot ,
’
Kirkby Ste ph en ke z bi ,
'

Hu1s h hj uwi S '

sti v en
'
’

I an, i zen Kirkcu dbright ke kuwbri ,

'

I dd es l eigh idal i ,
’
Knolly s Kn owl e s noul z
, ,
’

In gel ow indgelou ,
’
Koran koxre n koz raan
,
'
,
'

Iona ai oune
,
’
koz roxn
’

Iroq uois irokwux ,

'
Kough , kj ou
'

I srael iz ree l
,
’

Ith aca i Oeke Laflan, l mf e n, l e f sen

’ ’ '

I v eagh s ivi ,
’
L ama, la xme
’

Ixion i ksaien,
’
La ocoo n, lei oukoon '

J a i rus d5e aire s

,
’
L ares, l exrij z ’

“
J aq ues ( A s y ou l ike it L ascelles lseselz '

d5eikwiz
'
Latho m, l eiflem
J ea n, d5ij n
'
L ayard , l exed ’

J erusal em , d 5i ruwsel e m
’
L eam in gto n, lem igten ’

J erv aul x (A bb ey ) , Lefevre, le fi j v e ’

’
dse xv ou Lehm ann, l ei men
’

J ervi s d goi vis

,
’
Leice ster, le ste '

J erv ois , dge x vis

'
L eigh , lij ’

J eune ,
L eighton, l eiten ’

d 50 h aenis
’
Leitri m , lij trim ’

be z g Leomin ster, l em ste

’

Kaiser kaiz e ,
’
Le Qu eux, l e kj uw ’

Lev es on Gower, lj uwsen

'
Kearsarge ki zesoxg ,
’
e

Kedl es ton kelsen ; ( D er ,

’
go:
by shire ) , ked elste n
'
Ley , lij '
 T he S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng lis h

Ley 8 (school liJ z ’

M ain m aanerip
’

Lisl e lail M aj endi e, m aed gendi

’
,

Llandudn o l wn di dnou ,
'
Male t, maelit
’

Ll ewellyn lu elin ,
’
Maori, maxori
'

Lochi el lokij l ,
’
M arazion, maere z aien '

Loughboro lAf bere ,

'

Lovibond, la vbe nd Mar ro ugh moxlbere

’ '
,

Lu lu g o:d M arsei llai se m oz se l eiz

’ ' '

Lu e, l uwk, lj uwk M aryl ebone maeribe n

' ’ '

Lymin gton, limig ten

’
Masham maeS , em m aasem
’
,
’

Lyons, laienz '

Massachusetts maese ,
~

’
Ly v eden, livden
'
t uw si ts
Mat m asoe
'
er,
M G ee, M Ghee, m e grj
‘ ‘ ’
Maughan, moz u '

Machiavelli m aekj e v eli ,

’
Mau rice, moris ’

M ackay M Kay me kai ,

‘
,
’
M edici, medi tS
’
i
Mackenzi e me kenz i ,
’

, M eikl ej ohn, mikeld5on

’

m ok e p i M el huish, me li S
’ ’

M acl ean me kl ein ,

’
M enpes, m amp ie
’

M acLehose, m aakelh ouz

’
M ento ne men touni,
’

M acl eod, m e klaud ’

M enzies, mip iz , mepiz
’ ’

M acm ahon m ek moxn ,

’
M eux , mj u wz , mj u wks
’ ’

M acM anu s, m ek m se nes

’
Mi ch eldever, m it eldeve
’

M acnam ara, m aekne muzre '

Milan, milen, mi 11
’

M acneill , m ek nij l '

M illard, mi loxd, m iled ’ '

M aconochi e, m e kogki ’
M ivart, maiv et
'

M acquoid, m e koid
’
M ohun, muwn’

M agdalen(e ) (Coll ege ), M ol eyns ( de ) , m A l inz

’

’
dlin
m ox M olyneux, m alinj uw
'

Magna Charta ,
’
maegne Mom eri e, mA meri
’

’
ko:te M onck, maok ’

M agrath me gruz M onckton, m A gkten

’ ’

M a ire Monro( e ), m en rou

.
’
m e gwai e
’

fi
,

M a n, m e h a m, m e :n M ontaigne, men te in ’

Maharaj ah, muhe rozdge ’

Morant, mo rmnt ’

M ahomet, me hom it ’
Moule, m uwl , m oul
’ ’

Mahoney, moxni M owbray , moubri, muwbri

’ '
u s T he S ou nds of S p ok e n E ng l i sh

P yram id , pire m id
’
S anh e drin saenhed rin ,
'

P ythagoras, pai a ge raes

’
Sassenach saasenaek ,
’

S aunders soxnde z ,
'

S cone skuwn’

Q i t kwikset
'
u xo e , ,

Scrym geour, skrimdge

'

S carl e, se zl
’

ah , dge
'
'
Ra rox

Raleigh re z li resli ’ ’
S el ous , se luws ’

, ,
S eneca, seneke '

Ral ph reif resli rozlf

,
'

,
’

,
’

S eton, Setoun, srj te n ’

Rayl eigh reili ,

’

S everu s, si vij re s ’

Rs ay , rei
’

Shaughnessy, S ’
oznesi
Reha n reien ,
’

Sh erbourne, S e z ben
’

Renaissance ri neisens ’

s hire, S e ( ie
Re nter,
’
roite
,
S)
Shr ewsbury, S ru wz be ri,
’

Reyna rd renal d ’

b
S ’
’
,
rou z eri
Rh eims rij mz ,
’

Sikh, sij k
Rhod esia rou dij z j e ,
'

S lough , slau ’

Rhys rij s ,
’

Somers, sames ’

Ro mney ramni ,
’

Somerset, sameset '

Roth esay rodsi ,

’

Sophocl es, sof eklij z '

Ro use ruwz raus ,

'
,
’

Southwark, sa eek '

Rowton rozten ,
’

South well, 8A 5 9 1 '

Ro xburgh roksbere ,
'

Sphynx, sfigks ’

Ruthven riven ,
’

Stagirite , staed girait

'
’

Stanton stoxnten,
’

Sach everel l sae S

ev erel ,
'
Stour stu ie
,
'

St Clair sigkl exe ,

'
Strachan S troxn ,
’

St J oh n sindgen ,
’
Stranraer straen rae ,
’

St L ege r sent ledge ,

’

, Symonds Symons simenz , ,

'

sil endge
’

St M aur simo: ,
’
T eignm outh, tinm e G
’

St Neots se nij ts ,
’
Tel emachu s, te l emekes
'

St P aul sent pozl ,

’
T erp si chore, te z p sikori
’

St Roch sent rouk ,

’
Th am es, temz
'

Sali sbury soxl z be ri ,

’

S al to un sozl taun ,
’
T h eseus , Oij sj u ws
'

Sandy s saendz ,
’
Thorold, Om ld
’
 P yra-Z u i d

Th ucydid es, 9j u sididij z V iétoi, fi zetoz r

' ’

Ti ghe , tai V i lliers, vi le z

’ ’

Tin tag e l , tin taad gel V i nci, vih tS

’ ’
i
T oll em ac h e, t olm a
'

T o wces te r , toi s te
’

’
W aldegrav e wozlgreiv ,
’

te inbi
Walh all a v eel hael e,
'

tre f selge , trm

’ ’

Waugh wo: ,
’

f elga
W eguelin w egelin ’

T red ega r, tri dij ge

’ ,

W e m yss wi j m z ,
’

T ref usis, tri f j uwsis

'

W esl eyan we z lien ’

T re l oar , tri loxe

’ ,

W ill ard wi l oxd ’

T re v elyan, tri vilj en, tri

’ ,

’
Wol sel ey wul z li ,
'

v el j e n
Worces te r wu ste ’

Troubri dge , truwbrid5

’ ,

Wylie Wy lli e wai li

,
'

T ynem outh , ti nm e O
' ,

Xenophon, z enef en
’

Xerx es z e xksij z
'

Urquhart e zket ,
’
,

Uru gua y j u zregwai

,
’

Uttoxeter A ks ite ,
’
Yeam es, j ermz
Y eatm an , j eitm en
’

Y onge , J A D
'

V alpa rai so, v aelp e raiz ou

’

Y o se mite , j o semiti
’

V anbm gh’ v&nbr9

'

V an Dyck, v aan daik

'

V augh an , v oxn
’
Zenana, z i n ox
'
ne
V av as ou r, v aev e se Zeu s, z j uw s
’ ’

V e ne zu ela, v eniz w eile Zouch e , z u w S

’ ’

V ezi n, vij z i n Zuider Ze e, zaid e zei

’ ’ '

The lists must be regarded as an exp eriment I t

above .

is f
not to be eap ected tha t the selection o words an d in

the p ronunciation ind icated will commend

ea mrestlg invited, tha t it ma y be possible to imp rove

so
the lists in subseque nt editions .
1 20 .
T he Sou nds of S p ok en E ng l i sh

AP P END I X III

On the T e aching of Reading .

THOU GH the teaching of reading d oe s not stri ctly

com e with in th e scop e of thi s book, a f ew hi nts m ay

be given on th e subj ect .

For the first stages the stude nt is referred to the

wh olly adm irabl e work of Miss Dal e, based thro ugh
out on a care ful stud y of the spoken languag e .

L ate r on it is important that the pupils shoul d be

ab l e to read al oud with di s tinct a rticulati on and an

a gr e eabl e voi ce Far the m ost hel pful book is Mr

.

B urr ell s Cl ear Sp eaking and Good Readi ng (pub

’

lish ed by Longmans) He dw ells on th e importan ce

.

of good breathi ng and a good po sture and gives suit

,

abl e e xe rci se s f or ensuring both He condem ns all

.

th at is aff ected or stagy indeed hi s whol e book is

an el oqu e nt pl ea for qu i e t and r estraint He ri ghtly
.

ad vise s the teacher to li ste n caref ul ly to good speake rs ,

av oidi ng ( as a rul e ) tho se of hi s own p rof ess io n In .

deal ing with pho neti cs h e h ardl y appreciates the

ad van tag e s atta chi ng to a thorou gh study of th e

language as it is actually spoken ; but we can re

co m m en d withou t r e se rve th e later chap te r
s of hi s
book ( vi Th e Reading L ess on ; vii Readi ng and
. .

Reciting ; viii S pecim en L essons in Recitati on ; ix

. .

On th e High er St udy of Readi ng a nd S peaki ng) .

1 22 A p pe ndix IV
.
 A p p e nd ix I V . 1 23

h
T is d iag mra re pre s ents th e v owel [ a] . I n north ern

En gli h it i f o
s s und ln words lik e p a t ; in sou th ern

Engl ls h i t is th e fi rst part of th e hh g

dip t on In hous e

[ h ens ] , bite [ hal t]

.
 1 26 A p p e nd ix IV .

foll owi ng diagram are the resul t of ex

T he
periments with an artifi cial palate covered wi th ,

fi ne p owder When certain sounds are uttered

.
,

the tongue touches th e palate and some of th e

p owd e r is r e m oved W h at is b l ac k in th e di a
. gram s

indi cates those parts of the hard palate whi ch are

touched by the to ngue .

T h e se g
d ia rams s ow h w h e re th e ton g ue touc h es th e pa ate in l
th e p rod uction of
[S ] s ud
[] s ly
re s pecti v e .

T h ese g
di a by M r D um v il l e, and are tak en rom hi s E l emen ts of French
rams are f
P ronuncia ti on a nd D i cti on h ll
T ey i ustrate th e m anner of prod ucti on of th e
gl h gl h
.

E n i s and th e Frenc [ t] h ll
I t wi be noticed t at in th e ease of th e En is h
f th
.

sound th e tongue is er er back t h an in th e case of th e Frenc h sound.

 U N I V E R SI T Y o r C A LI FO R N I A LI B R AIi Y
‘

Los A n ge l e s
T h is book is D U E on th e l a st d a te sta m p ed be l ow
.

i L9 —Se r l e s 4 4 4