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ENGLISH
PHONETICS AND

PRONUNCIATION
/fəˈnetɪks/ & /prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃn/
 fəˈnetɪk ˈsɪmbls
 stress ruːlz
 ˌɪntəˈneɪʃn
 lɪŋkɪŋ saʊndz
 prəˌnʌnsiˈeɪʃn ruːlz
2

Contents

1. Phonetic Symbols

2. The 44 Phonemes in English

3. Vowels

4. Consonants

5. Stress rules

6. Intonation

7. Linking Sounds

8. Alphabet Pronunciation

9. Pronunciation of ed, the, s/es and r

10. Tongue Twisters

11. American and British Accent Differences

12. Contractions
3

A Short Guide to English Pronunciation


What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?

The IPA was created by the International Phonetic


Association, founded in 1886 in Paris. The International
Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system where each symbol
is associated with a particular sound. By using IPA you
can know exactly how to pronounce any word in any
language on the planet. Currently, the IPA consists of 107
sound symbols, 52 diacritics (accents) and 4 prosodic
marks (intonations) encompassing virtually every
phoneme used in every language on the earth. Many
British dictionaries, including the Oxford English
Dictionary and some learners’ dictionaries, now use the
International Phonetic Alphabet to represent the
pronunciation of words.

The IPA is an acronym for International Phonetic


Alphabet. It is a standardized set of symbols used for
representing the sound of human speech. While English
alphabets are used to construct written words, IPA
symbols are used to contruct spoken words otherwise
known as transcription. It is used for phonetic and
phonemic transcription of all languages. Although IPA
includes over 160 symbols for transcribing speech, only
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44 are used in the English language: 12 Vowels, 8


Diphthongs, and 24 Consonants.

How was the IPA Formed?

This is a short history of the IPA. Led by the


French linguist Paul Passy, it was invented by a group of
French and British language teachers known as the
International Phonetic Association, in Paris, in the late
19th century. It was intended as an international system of
phonetic transcription for oral languages, orginally
teaching.The Association based their alphabet upon the
Romic alphabet proposed by Henry Sweet. Several
revisions of the alphabet have been done during its
history, with a particular one put forth at the Kiel
Convention in 1989 to have been the most significant. To
date, changes to the alphabet are suggested and discussed
in the Association’s organ called Journal of the
International Phonetic Association (JIPA /dʒɑɪpə/).

Why Do We Need the IPA?

Put simply, we need the IPA because it helps us to


know exactly what sound we make when we talk. IPA is
important because the English spelling system is quite
unreliable. The letter ‘c’ for instance, is pronounced like
5

‘s’ in some words (e.g. cell), and ‘k’ in others (e.g. call).
Similarly, ‘o’ corresponds to one vowel sound in
‘robbery’ and a different one in ‘robe’.

Furthermore, these words--Love, Cove, and Move,


all look the same except for the first letters. If we try to
pronunce them by merely how we see them, we might
pronounce them thesame except for the first letters. But
the reality is different: they are not pronounced the same.
‘Love’ has the ‘uh’ short vowel sound as in ‘butter’,
‘Cove’ has the ‘oh’ diphthong, and ‘move’ has the ‘oo’
long vowel sound.

Thus, they are pronounced ‘Love’ /lʌv/ , ‘Cove’


/kəʊv/, and ‘Move’ /mu:v/. There are no rules to tell you
which word should be pronounced which way, you just
have to know; you just have to learn the pronunciation
when you learn the world. Therefore, IPA was invented
to help us learn and distinguish pronunciation.

The 44 Sounds (Phonemes) of English

It is generally agreed that there are approximately


44 sounds in English, with some variation dependent on
accent and articulation. The 44 English phonemes are
represented by the 26 letters of the English alphabet
individually and in combination. A phoneme is a speech
sound. It’s the smallest unit of sound that distinguishes
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one word from another. Various letters and letter
combinations are known as graphemes are used to

represent the sounds. The 44 English sounds can be


divided into two categories: consonants and vowels. A
consonant sound is one in which the airflow is cut off,
either partially or completely, when the sound is
produced. In contrast, a vowel sound is one in which the
airflow is unobstructed when the sound is made. The
vowel sounds are the music, or movement, of the English
language. The 44 phonemes represented below are in line
with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).Note that
there is no such thing as a definitive list of phonemes
because of accents, dialects and the evolution of language
itself. Therefore you may discover lists with more or less
than 44 sounds.

The 44 Phonemes in English

IPA
Phoneme Graphemes Examples
Symbol

1 b b, bb bug, bubble

2 d d, dd, ed dad, add, milled

fat, cliff, phone,


3 f f, ff, ph, gh, lf, ft
enough, half, often

4 g g, gg, gun, egg, ghost,


7
gh,gu,gue guest, prologue

5 h h, wh hop, who

jam, wage, giraffe,


j, ge, g, dge, di,
6 dʒ edge, soldier,
gg
exaggerate

kit, cat, Chris,


k, c, ch, cc, lk, accent, folk,
7 k
qu ,q(u), ck, x bouquet, queen,
rack, box

8 l l, ll live, well

m, mm, mb, man, summer,


9 m
mn, lm comb, column, palm

net, funny, know,


n, nn,kn, gn,
10 n gnat, pneumonic,
pn, mn
mnemonic

11 p p, pp pin, dippy

run, carrot, wrench,


12 r r, rr, wr, rh
rhyme

sit, less, circle,


s, ss, c, sc, ps,
13 s scene, psycho,
st, ce, se
listen, pace, course

tip, matter, Thomas,


14 t t, tt, th, ed
ripped

vine, of, Stephen,


15 v v, f, ph, ve
five
8

wit, why, quick,


16 w w, wh, u, o
choir

zed, buzz, his,


z, zz, s, ss, x,
17 z scissors,
ze, se
xylophone, craze

treasure, division,
18 ʒ s, si, z
azure

chip, watch, future,


19 tʃ ch, tch, tu, ti, te
action, righteous

sham, ocean, sure,


sh, ce, s, ci, si, special, pension,
20 ʃ
ch, sci, ti machine,
conscience, station

21 θ th thongs

22 ð th leather

23 ŋ ng, n, ngue ring, pink, tongue

you, onion,
24 j y, i, j
hallelujah

25 æ a, ai, au cat, plaid, laugh

a, ai, eigh, bay, maid, weigh,


aigh, ay, er, et, straight, pay, foyer,
26 eɪ
ei, au, a_e, ea, filet, eight, gauge,
ey mate, break, they

e, ea, u, ie, ai, end, bread, bury,


27 e
a, eo, ei, ae friend, said, many,
9
leopard, heifer,
aesthetic

be, bee, meat, lady,


e, ee, ea, y, ey,
key, phoenix, grief,
28 i: oe, ie, i, ei, eo,
ski, deceive,
ay
people, quay

it, England, women,


i, e, o, u, ui, y,
29 ɪ busy, guild, gym,
ie
sieve

spider, sky, night,


i, y, igh, ie, uy,
pie, guy, style,
30 aɪ ye, ai, is, eigh,
aisle, island, height,
i_e
kite

a, ho, au, aw, swan, honest, maul,


31 ɒ
ough slaw, fought

o, oa, o_e, oe, open, moat, bone,


32 əʊ ow, ough, eau, toe, sow, dough,
oo, ew beau, brooch, sew

wolf, look, bush,


33 ʊ o, oo, u,ou
would

lug, monkey, blood,


34 ʌ u, o, oo, ou
double

who, loon, dew,


o, oo, ew, ue,
blue, flute, shoe,
35 u: u_e, oe, ough,
through, fruit,
ui, oeu, ou
manoeuvre, group

36 ɔɪ oi, oy, uoy join, boy, buoy


10

37 aʊ ow, ou, ough now, shout, bough

about, ladder,
a, er, i, ar, our,
38 ə pencil, dollar,
ur
honour, augur

air, are, ear, chair, dare, pear,


39 eəʳ
ere, eir, ayer where, their, prayer

40 ɑ: a arm

bird, term, burn,


ir, er, ur, ear,
41 ɜ:ʳ pearl, word,
or, our, yr
journey, myrtle

aw, a, or, oor, paw, ball, fork,


ore, oar, our, poor, fore, board,
42 ɔ:
augh, ar, ough, four, taught, war,
au bought, sauce

ear, eer, ere,


43 ɪəʳ ear, steer, here, tier
ier

44 ʊəʳ ure, our cure, tourist


11

British English Phonetic Chart


12

Vowel Sounds
A vowel sound is made by shaping the air as it
leaves the mouth. We use the lips, tongue, and jaw to
make the shape. In English IPA, the vowel sounds are
divided into two categories: monophthongs and
diphthongs.
Monophthongs are simple vowels, composed of a
single phoneme, while diphthongs are complex vowels,
composed of two different monophthongs.
Throughout this text, we will use the terms “short
vowel sounds” and “long vowel sounds” in the stead of
monophthongs because we will be emphasizing the
contrast between short and long vowel sounds of the
same phoneme background. Now, let’s begin to master all
12 vowel sounds and 8 diphthongs.

Diphthong Sounds
Diphthongs are a few ‘vowels’ that are really a
sequence of two vowels. The name ‘diphthong’ was
derived from Greek di-‘two’+phthongos ‘sound’.The
most common diphthong is the sound in ‘eye’. It begins
something like{ɑ} and moved smoothly into {ɪ}. If you
say ‘eye’ slowly, you can hear one vowelchange into the
other. Because the sounds of a diphthong change from
beginning to end, they are transcribed in IPA with two
vowel symbols.
13

British English Vowels Chart


14
Consonant Sounds

Most of the English consonant IPA symbols


correspond to familiar letters and represent their usual
sound values. For example, {f} and {h} in IPA are
pronounced exactly as an English speaker would expect
from their spellings in ‘force’ and ‘horse’.

All consonants are produced by entirely or almost entirely


stopping the airstream coming from the lungs. When we
force it through such a narrow opening, the airflow at that
point becomes turbulent and noisy. We classify
consonants according to the following characteristics:

(a) voicing whether or not the vocal folds are


vibrating,
(b) its manner of articulation whether the sound is
made with a fully stopped or merely constricted
airstream,
(c) its place of articulation where in the mouth the
stoppage or constriction is made,
(d) nasality whether or not air is flowing through the
nasal cavity, and
(e) lip-rounding whether or not the lips are pursed.
15

English Consonants
16

English Pronunciation Chart (IPA)


Short Vowels

Long Vowels

Diphthongs

Voiced Consonants
17

Voiceless Consonants

Other Consonants
18

Place of Articulation
19

Short Vowels
20

Long Vowels
21
Diphthongs
22
23
Voiceless Consonants
24
Voiced Consonants
25

Other Consonants
26

Short Vowel /I/

အစ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
27

Words contains with the letters i, e, y, ui

Phrase examples
28

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
29

Short Vowel /Ʊ/

အွတ်

How to Articulate
 The back of the tongue is raised up to a
high position and touches the teeth at the
back of the mouth
 The jaw moves up a little
 The lips are usually rounded and forward
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
30

Words contains with the letters oo, u, ou, o

Phrase examples
31

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
32

Short Vowel /Ʌ/

အာ့

How to Articulate
 The tongue is in the middle of mouth
 The jaw moves up a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
33

Words contains with the letters , u, o, ou

Phrase Examples
34

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
35

Short Vowel /ɒ/


ေအာ့

How to Articulate
 The tongue is set at a low back position in
the mouth
 The jaw moves down
 The lips are unrounded and wide open
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
36

Words contains with the letters o, a

Phrase Examples
37

Sentence examples

Compare Phonetics
38

Short Vowel /ə/

အာ

How to Articulate
 The tongue is up a little and curls near the
top of the mouth
 The jaw moves down a little
 The lips are usually rounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
Tips: Practise the sound / Ʌ / and make
it very short
39

Words contains with the letters a, ar, e, er, o, or,


u, ure, ou(s), i(ble)
40

Sentence examples

Phrase Compare Phonetics


41

Short Vowel /e/

အဲ့

How To Articulate
 The tongue is put forward near the tooth
ridge, the side of tongue touch the teath,
and the tips of the tongue is behind the
lower teeth
 The jaw is up
 The lips are unrounded and may be pulled
back
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
42

Words contains with the letters e, ea, a

Phrases Examples
43

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
44

Short Vowel /æ/

အား

How To Articulate
 The tongue is put a little forward and low
in the mouth with the tip of the tongue is
behind the lower teeth
 The jaw move down
 The lips are unrounded and can be pulled
back
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
45

Words contains with the letters

Phrases Examples
46

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
47

Long Vowel /i:/

အီး

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is behind
the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
48

Words contains with the letters ee, ea, ie, ei,


e….e, ique
49

Sentence Examples

Phrases Examples Compare Phonetics


50

Long Vowel /u:/

အူး

How to Articulate
 The tongue is raised to a high back
position, against the teeth at the back of the
tongue is out forward to create an air
passage
 Jaw is raised
 The lips are rounded and put forward
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
51

Words contains with the letters oo, u, ew, o,


ue, ui, ou
52

Phrases Compare Phonetics

Sentence Examples
53

Long Vowel /ɑ:/

အား

How to Articulate
 The tongue is set at a back and low
position
 Jaw is lower more than the rest of the
back vowels
 The lips are unrounded and wide open
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the
nasal cavity
54

Words contains with the letters ar, a, au

Phrases
55

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
56

Long Vowel /ɔ:/

ေအား

How to Articulate
 The tongue is set at the back and in a
low-mid position
 Jaw is jaw moved down a little
 The lips are unrounded, but less than
/ɒ /
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the
nasal cavity
57

Words contains with the letters or, ore, a,


al, aw, au, augh,our, ough
58

Phrases Compare Phonetics

Sentence Examples
59

Long Vowel /ɜ:/

အား

How to Articulate

 The tip of the tongue curls up and is


near the top of the mouth
 The jaw moves down a little
 The lips are rounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the
nasal cavity
60

Words contains with the letters er, ear, ir,


or, ur
61

Phrases Compare Phonetics

Sentence Examples
62

အစ်အ

အာ
အစ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
63

Words contains with the letters ear, eer,


ere, ea
64

Phrases Examples

Sentence Examples
65

အွတ်အ

အွတ် အာ

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
66

Words contains with the letters oor, ou(r), u(re)

Phrases Examples
67

Sentence Examples
68

အိုင်း

အား
အစ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
69

Words contains with the letters i, y, ie, igh,


uy, ei, ui
70

Phrases Examples

Sentence Examples
71

အွိင်း

ေအာ
အစ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
72

Words contains with the letters oi, oy


73

Phrases Examples

Sentence Examples
74

အိုး

အာ အွတ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
75

Words contains with the letters


76

Phrases Examples

Sentence Examples
77

အဲး

အဲ့ အာ

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
78

Words contains with the letters are, ai(r), ear, ere


79

Phrases Examples

Sentence Examples
80

ေအာင်း

အား အွတ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is behind
the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
81

Words contains with the letters ou, ow

Phrases Examples
82

Sentence Examples
83

ေအး

အဲ့
အစ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is put forward and the tip is
behind the lower teeth
 Jaw moves lower a little
 The lips are unrounded
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised blocking off the nasal
cavity
84

Words contains with the letters a, ai, ay,


ey, eigh, ea
85

Phrases Examples

Sentence Examples
86

Initial ဖ
Voiceless Consonant /p/ Final ဖ်

How to Articulate
 The lips are closed to create a block in
the mouth
 The tongue position may be affected by
the sound before and after itself
 The vocal folds separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the
nasal cavity
 Keep the air pressure for a second and
then open the enclosed lips
 There is a small explosion of air when the
lips open
87

Words contains with the letters p, pp

Phrases
88

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
89

Initial ထ
Voiceless Consonant /t/ Final ထ်

How to Articulate
 The front and side of the tongue touch the
tooth ridge
 Lips shape may be affected by the sounds
before and itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 The vocal folds separate
 Keep the air pressure for a second and then
lower the tongue from the tooth ridge
 There is a small explosion of air out of the
mouth
90

Words contains with the letters t, tt, ed

Phrases
91

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
92

Initial ချ
Voiceless Consonant /ʧ/ Final ချ်

How to Articulate
 The front and side of the tongue touch the
teeth ridge
 The lips shape may be affected by the
sound before and after itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 The vocal folds separate
 Keep the air pressure for a second and then
lower the tongue releasing a frictional noise
from the throat
93

Words contains with the letters c, t, ch

Sentence Examples
94

Initial ခ
Voiceless Consonant /k/ Final ခ်

How to Articulate
 The back of the tongue is raised up to the
top of the mouth
 The lip may be affected by the sound
before and after itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 The vocal folds separate
 Air pressure is released by lowering the
tongue, producing a noise burst
 When articulation, you can feel the air on
your hand when you put it in front of your
mouth
95

Words contains with the letters c, k, ck, ch

Phrases
96

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
97

Initial ဖှ
Voiceless Consonant /f/ Final ဖှ်

How to Articulate
 The inner part of the lower lip touches the
upper teeth, creating a pressure
 The tongue position may be affected by the
second before and after itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Air pressure creates an audible frictional
voice
 When articulating, you can feel the air on
your hand when you put it in front of your
mouth
98

Words contains with the letters f, ff, ph, gh

Phrases
99

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
100
Initial သ

Voiceless Consonant /ɵ/ Final သ်

How to Articulate
 Push the tongue tip forward below the upper
teeth and into slight contact with the back of
the upper teeth to create an air pressure
between the tongue tip and upper teeth
 The tongue position may be affected by the
sound before and after itself
 The vocal fold separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Keep the air pressure for a split second and
then breathe out
 When articulation, you can feel the air on
your hand when you put it in front of your
mouth
101

Words contains with the letters

Phrases
102

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
103

Initial ဆ

Voiceless Consonant /s/ Final စ်

How to Articulate
 The tip of the tongue and the sides of the
tongue are raised up to the top of the
mouth, creating a narrow gap
 The tongue tip may be affected by the
second before and after itself
 The vocal fold separate
 It sound like the noise of a snake
104

Words contains with the letters s, c, ss, sc

Phrases
105

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
106
Initial ရှ

Voiceless Consonant /ʃ/ Final ရှ်

How to Articulate
 The tip and blade of the tongue are raised
to the palate and teeth, creating a small
gap along the upper surface of the tongue.
End of the tongue is curved back behind
tooth ridge
 The tip may be rounded a little and
forward
 The vocal fold separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Keep air pressure for a second and then
breathe out
 When articulation, you can feel the air on
your hand when you put it in front of your
mouth
107

Words contains with the letters sh, ti, ss, ci, ch, s
108

Phrases

Sentence Examples
109

Compare Phonetics
110

Initial ဘ

Voiced Consonant /b/ Final ဘ်

How to Articulate
 The lips are coming together, stopping the
air flow from the mouth
 The tongue position may be affected by the
second before and after itself
 The vocal fold separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Keep the air pressure for a second and then
open the enclosed lips
 When the lips part, there is a noise released
from the throat
111

Words contains with the letters b, bb

Phrases
112

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
113
Initial ဒ

Voiced Consonant /d/ Final ဒ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue of the tongue touches tooth
ridge while the side of the tongue press
against the upper side teeth
 The lip shape may be affected by the sound
before and after itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 The vocal fold separate
 Keep the air pressure for a second and then
lower the tongue releasing a noise from the
throat
114

Words contains with the letters d, dd, ed

Phrases
115

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
116

Initial ဂျ

Voiced Consonant /ʤ/ Final ဂျ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue of the tongue touches the
tooth ridge while the side of the tongue
press against the upper side teeth
 The lip shape may be affected by the
sound before and after itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
canity
 The vocal folds separate
 Keep the air pressure for a second
 There is a frictional nois released from the
throat when articulating
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Words contains with the letters d, g, j

Sentence Examples
118

Initial ဂ

Voiced Consonant /g/ Final ဂ်

How to Articulate
 The back of the tongue is raised and pulled
back to connect the back of the hard palate
and the soft palate
 The lips shape may be affected by the sound
before and after itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 The vocal folds separate
 Keep the air pressure for a second and then
then the lower the back of the tongue
 When the back of the tongue is lowered,
there is a noise released from the throat
119

Words contains with the letters g, gg, gh

Phrases
120

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
121

Initial ဗှ

Voiced Consonant /v/ Final ဗှ်

How to Articulate
 The inner part of the lower lip touches the
upper teeth to make a pressure
 The tongue position may be affected by the
second before and after itself
 The vocal fold separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Push air through the gap between the lower
lips and upper teeth, creating an audible
frictional noise
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Words contains with the letters v, f

Phrases
123

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
124

Initial သှ

Voiced Consonant /ᶞ/ Final သှ်

How to Articulate
 Push the tongue tip forward below the upper
teeth and into slight contact with the back of
the upper teeth to make air pressure between
the tongue tip and upper teeth
 The lips shape may be affected by the sound
before and after itself
 The vocal folds separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Push air through the gap between the surface
of the tongue and the forefront of the upper
teeth, creating an audible frictional noise
125

Words contains with the letters th

Phrases
126

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
127

Initial ဇ
Voiced Consonant /z/ Final ဇ်

How to Articulate
 The tip and the side of the tongue are raised
and contact with the hard palate, creating a
small gap
 The tongue tip may be raised or lowered
behind the upper teeth
 The lip shape may be affected by the second
before and after itself
 The vocal fold separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Keep the air pressure for a second and push
air through the gap
 There is an audible frictional noise released
from the throat
128

Words contains with the letters s, z, ss, zz, x

Phrases
129

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
130

Initial ယှ

Voiced Consonant /Ʒ/ Final ယှ်

How to Articulate
 The tip and the side of the tongue are raised
into contact with the palate and teeth, creating
a gap along the upper surface of the tongue
 The lips may be slightly rounded and moved
forward depending on the sound before and
after itself
 The vocal folds separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Keep the air pressure for a second and push
air through the gap along the upper surface of
the tongue
 There is an audible frictional noise released
from the throat
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Words contains with the letters si, s, g

Phrases
132

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
133

Initial မ

Nasal Consonant /m/ Final မ်

How to Articulate
 The lips are closed to block the air in the
mouth
 The tongue position may be affected by the
sound before and after itself
 The vocal fold separate and vibrate
 The soft plate is lowered and the lips stop
the air so air goes through the nose
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Words contains with the letters m

Phrases
135

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
136

Initial န

Nasal Consonant /n/ Final န်

How to Articulate
 The front and sides of the tongue touch the
tooth ridge, blocking the air in the mouth
 The lip shape may be affected by the sound
before and after itself
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is lowered, stopping the air
stream with the tongue and tooth ridge so
air goes through the nose
137

Words contains with the letters n

Phrases
138

Sentence Examples

Compare Phonetics
139

Initial င

Nasal Consonant /ŋ/ Final င်

How to Articulate
 The back of the tongue is raised and
pulled back to touch the back top of
the mouth, blocking the air in the
mouth
 The lip shape may be affected by the
sound before and after itself
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is lowered, stopping the
gap with the back of the tongue so air
goes through the nose
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Words contains with the letters ng, n

Sentence Examples
141

Initial ဟ

Non-final Consonant /h/ Final - မရိှ

How to Articulate
 The vocal folds are separated a little, creating
a small gap at the back of the mouth
 The lip and tongue shape may be affected by
the sound before and after itself
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Released the air forced under pressure
through the gap to create an audible
fractional sound
142

Words contains with the letters h

Phrases
143

Initial လ

Lateral Consonant /l/ Final လ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue tip and a part of the tongue edge
touch the tooth ridge
 The lip shape may be affected by the sound
before and after itself
 The vocal fold separate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Airflow passes the side of the tongue
144

Words contains with the letters l

Sentence Examples
145
Initial ရ

Consonant /r/ Final ရ်

How to Articulate
 The tongue is curved back towards the top of
the mouth
 The front of the tongue is usually near the
tooth ridge and folded back
 The lips are unrounded a little
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 The tongue lowers to a relaxed position
 The jaw moves down a little
146

Words contains with the letters r

Sentence Examples
147

Initial ဝ

Non-final Consonant /w/ Final မရှိ

How to Articulate
 The tongue begins at the position of the
vowel /u/ but the airways are slightly limited
 When used with a vowel to form a word, the
tongue moves to a relaxed position for the
following vowel
 The lips are rounded and put forward, then
move to the shape of the following vowel or
diphthong
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
148

Words contains with the letters w, qu, wh

Sentence Examples
149

Initial ယ

Non-final Consonant /j/ Final မရှိ

How to Articulate
 The tongue begins at the position of the vowel
/ i / but the air ways are slightly limited
 The tongue moves to a relaxed position
 The lip shape may be affected by the sound
before and after itself
 The vocal folds separate and vibrate
 The velum is raised, blocking off the nasal
cavity
 Move your front upper and lower teeth like
you want to bite something but do not let
them contact
150

Words contains with the letters y, u, ui, ea

Sentence Examples
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152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
Content words are stressed: nouns, verbs, adjectives and
adverbs.
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168
169
170

Grammatical words are not stressed: article (a, an,


the), pronoun (I, her, him…), conjunctions (but, as,
and….), auxiliary verb (do, has, can…)
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172
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Intonation

The rules of intonation in English


Have you heard about the rules of intonation in
English? If you have not heard of them yet, then let me
walk you through them. Here’s what you need to know!

Imagine yourself asking someone and realize was it


exactly the way it should sound? Sometimes, the way we
said things actually gets us really anxious in a way that
we get scared if we said it wrongly or sarcastically, or
jokingly. The point is, we want to make sure that we say
things with the correct intonation.
In particular, you talk to a friend and say, “My
shoes are nice, aren’t they?” Yet, you felt bewildered
whether you are trying to confirm it or simply trying to
ask about his/her point of view.
Truthfully, almost all of us struggle to distinguish
when to use the rising and falling intonation whenever we
utter a statement or a question. Subsequently, this
continues to confuse people with what we truly want to
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convey. That’s why in this article, we are going to learn
the different types of intonation.

What is Intonation?
Intonation is the way the voice rises or falls when
communicating. In short, it is the music of speech.
It focuses more on how you say it rather than what is
being said. This is important in English communication
because sentences may vary in meaning depending on the
intonation. It also yields dynamics on your speech and
makes it more compelling to hear.

So what are common types and rules of intonation?

The most common types of Intonation we have in


English are the following:
• Falling intonation
• Rising intonation
• Falling–rising intonation
• Rising–falling intonation

Falling Intonation
One of the most common intonation patterns in the
English language is the rules of falling intonation.
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This is when the pitch of the voice falls at the end of a
sentence. We commonly use them in statements,
commands, WH-questions, confirmatory question tags,
and exclamations.
Below are some examples where we use the falling
intonation:
In statements, we say:
Pleased to meet ↓you.
Mom wants to buy that ↓bag.
We should keep ↓going.
In commands, we say:
Show me the way to the ↓station.
Take your shoes ↓off.
Leave them on the ↓desk.
In WH-questions, we say:
What food do you ↓want?
Where do you come ↓from?
Whose book is ↓this?
In question tags, we use the rules of falling intonation
only when we seek confirmation or invite agreement.
For example, we say:
He thinks he’s so smart, doesn’t ↓he?
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They didn’t enjoy the party, did ↓they?
She’s the one you told me about, isn’t ↓she?
In exclamations, we say:
That’s a perfect ↓gift!
How nice of ↓you!
What a beautiful ↓performance!

Rising Intonation

Another intonation marking used in the English language


is the rules of rising intonation.
This is when the pitch of the voice rises at the end of the
sentence. It is commonly used in yes or no questions, and
question tags that show uncertainty.
In question tags showing uncertainty, we say:
You’re new here, aren’t ↑you?
He prefers the beach, doesn’t ↑he?
The rules were changed, weren’t ↑they?
In yes or no questions, we say: Do you like your
new ↑shirt? May I borrow your ↑book?
Will she ↑agree?
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Rising-Falling Intonation

We do not only use rising or falling intonations alone, but


we can likewise use a combination of both. Consider the
rules of rising-falling intonation.
This is generally used for giving out a list, a set of
choices, partial and conditional statements.
In stating a list, use rising intonation in the first series of
items. Then, use a falling intonation on the last item to
indicate that the list has ended. For instance:
She bought some ↑bread, ↑meat, ↑pasta, and ↓apples.
He enjoys outdoor activities such as ↑mountain
climbing, ↑trekking, and ↓camping.
This bag comes in colors of ↑white, ↑gray, ↑black,
and ↓yellow.
When used in choices, we say:
Would you like to have ↑tea or ↓coffee?
Is Jane coming ↑today or ↓tomorrow?
Did you say ↑east or ↓west?
We also use the rising-falling intonation in partial
statements. This is when the speaker is hesitant to fully
express his ideas and is unable to finish his statement.
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For example:
What was the place like? –Well, it ↑seemed ↓nice… (but
it’s too small.)
So did you enjoy the trip? –Hmmm, ↑yes I ↓did… (but it
was too short.)
Do Ethan and Ricky know you? –
Well, ↑Ethan ↓does… (but not Ricky.)
In conditional statements, we use the rising intonation in
the first clause, then gradually shift to the falling
intonation in the second clause.
So we say:
If you have any ↑questions, send me a ↓message.
Ever since you came ↑here, everything’s doing ↓well.
Unless she ↑asks, I’ll stay ↓silent.

Falling-rising intonation

Finally, one of the familiar rules of intonation is the usage


of the falling–rising intonation within a word. This is
often used when the speaker is uncertain of an answer to
a question or shows reluctance.
For example:
Should we ↓re↑port this incident?
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Do you think it is ↓va↑lid?
Would he ↓su↑pport the team?

Why learn the Rules of Intonation?

Unlike other languages, the English language follows


several rules of Intonation. We use a different intonation
in every different situation in English. And while other
people don’t give so much importance to the rules, having
the right intonation helps us sound clearer and more
natural.

Below are the five benefits of having a very good


intonation.

1. Awareness of intonation aids communication.

2. Incorrect intonation can result in misunderstandings,


speakers losing interest, or even taking offense!

3. Intonation allows you to play well in tune. So, the


better the tune, the more you’ll sound better and will be
perceived as a better speaker.
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4. Your tone is usually better and more consistent
because you have better control in managing your air
better in order to play in tune better. Your technique has
to improve in order to make the adjustments necessary to
play in tune.

5. You will feel more confident and at ease when you


know your intonation is good. When you have good
intonation, speaking in English will become more fun!

Now that you already know the reasons for the


importance of intonation in English, make sure you
practice and learn them. This will be a little challenging
at first, but trust, it will be totally useful if you already get
the hang of it. So, keep practicing.
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Linking Sounds
When learning pronunciation, it is important to
learn English linking sounds to help you speak
naturally and fluently in English. Below, you’ll find
many linking sounds examples and the linking sound
rules to help you. The linking sounds examples below
include similar consonants linking, consonant to
consonant linking sounds, consonant to vowel linking
sounds, and vowel to vowel linking sounds.

Linking is a pronunciation technique that allows


the speaker to smoothly say two or more words
together. When linked together the words sound like
one continuous word. Using linking sounds when
speaking English can make your speech sound much
more fluent and natural.

Consonant To Consonant Linking Examples


Here are some consonant to consonant linking sound
examples:

• red dress [redress]


• big gorilla [bigorilla]
• hot tomato [hotomato]
• feel lucky [feelucky]
• quiet town [quietown]
• *pink car [pinkar]
• *nice scarf [niscarf]
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Similar Consonant Sound Linking

Linking also occurs if the first word ends with a


consonant sound and the following word starts with
a similar consonant sound. Again, when words like
this are linked together, only one sound is
pronounced.

Here are some linking sound examples with similar


consonant sounds:

• need to [neeto]
• sleep better [sleebetter]
• dark gray = [dargray]
• cheese sandwich = [cheesandwich]
• breath through = [breathrough]

As you can see, each of these linking sound


examples do not have exactly the same consonant
sound, but they have a similar consonant sound.

Consonant To Vowel Linking Examples


When one word ends with a consonant sound, and the
following word starts with a vowel sound, the sounds
are often linked together. When linking occurs, the
two words flow together and sound like one single
word. Here are some consonant to vowel linking
sound examples:
183
• an elephant [anelephant]
• an apple [anapple]
• these are [theezare]
• Craig bought an apple. [Craig bough-ta–
napple.]

Vowel To Vowel Linking Examples


Linking also occurs when a word ends in a vowel
sound and the next word starts with a vowel sound.
When this happens, either a /w/ sound (‘w‘ as in
‘wall’) is used to connect the two words, or a /j/ sound
(‘y‘ as in ‘yell’).

Here are some vowel to vowel linking sound examples:

• two apples [twowapples]


• she asked [sheyasked]
• go out [gowout]
• see Anna [seeyAnna]

Example Sentences With Linking Sounds


Here are some example sentences with linking sounds.
Read each sentence aloud and try to identify the
linking sounds.

• There’s an apple in the tree.


• I ate an apple and a banana, too.
• There’s a big gorilla looking right at me.
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• She asked for a glass of water.
• When Anna met Andrew she asked him to go on
a date.
• I always sleep better when it’s dark.
• I need to see you right away.
• The sky was dark gray all day.
• I fell in the swimming pool and Amy fell in, too.
• These are delicious strawberries.

Answers

• There’s_an_apple in the tree.


• I ate_an_apple and_a banana, too.
• There’s_a big_gorilla looking right_at me.
• She_asked for a glass_of water.
• When_Anna met_Andrew she_asked him to go
on_a date.
• I always_sleep_better when_it’s dark.
• I need_to see you right_away.
• The sky was dark_gray all day.
• I fell_in the swimming pool and_Amy fell_in, too.
• These_are delicious_strawberries.
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Pronunciation of 'The'

• ‘The’ is pronounced as / ði / when it is followed by


a vowel sound.
e.g.: / ði / orange or if it refers to any particular
object.
• ‘The’ is pronounced as /ðə/ when it is followed by
a consonant sound for
e.g.: This is /ðə/ book on Phonetics.

Sounds used in past tense /t/, /d/, /id/

• If the root word ends with a voiceless consonant,


the‘d’ or ‘ed’ takes /t/ sound.
e.g.: helped, looked, washed, kissed, danced, fixed,
breathed, laughed, watched
• If the root word ends with a voiced consonant,
the‘d’ or ‘ed’ takes /d/ sound.
e.g.: called, cleaned, offered, damaged, loved,
used, followed, enjoyed, amazed
• If the root word ends with /t/ and /d/ sound, the
‘ed’ takes /id/ sound.
e.g.: wanted, needed

Sounds used in plural forms

We add ‘s’ or ‘es’ to make plural nouns and to


express third person singular. This is pronounced in
different ways /s/, /z/, /iz/.
• If the root word ends with voiceless consonants, it
takes /s/ sound.
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e.g. packs, caps, helps

• If the root word ends with voiced consonants or


vowel sounds, it takes /z/ sound
e.g. bags, boys, girls
• If the root word ends with /s/, /z/, / ʃ /, / tʃ / / dʒ/, it
takes /iz/ sound
e.g. roses, benches, bushes, judges, passes

Pronunciation of 'r'

• If a word ends with ‘r’, we should not pronounce


the ‘r’ sound.
• If a word ends with ‘r’ and the next word begins
with a vowel sound, we need to pronounce the
sound ‘r’.
• If ‘r’ is followed by a consonant sound, we should
not pronounce the sound ‘r’.
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English Alphabet Pronunciation
188

Tongue twisters

what is a tongue twister?

Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “a sentence or


phrase that is intended to be difficult to say, especially
when repeated quickly and often”. Tongue twisters
don’t make a lot of sense, but they are filled with repeated
sounds making them extremely helpful in speech therapy.
Basically, a tongue twister works the same way as
physical exercise. The more you practice, the better your
pronunciation will be. If you too want to improve or
perfect your English pronunciation, let’s dive into this
complete list of English tongue twisters..

• She sees cheese.


• Six sticky skeletons.
• Truly rural.
• Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.
• Which witch is which?
• Willy’s real rear wheel.
• Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
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• Scissors sizzle, thistles sizzle.
• A happy hippo hopped and hiccupped.
• Cooks cook cupcakes quickly.
• Really leery, rarely Larry.
• Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.
• A snake sneaks to seek a snack.
• Six Czech cricket critics.
• Blue bluebird.
• Red lorry, yellow lorry.

• Daddy Draws Doors.


• Three free throws.
• The big bug bit the little beetle.
• Friendly fleas and fireflies.
• Fresh fried fish.
• Specific Pacific.
• Fred fed Ted bread and Ted fed Fred bread.
• Betty’s big bunny bobbled by the blueberry bush.
• Six sticky skeletons.
• Green glass globes glow greenly.
• If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?
• Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
190
• Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper
picked.

• How much wood would a woodchuck chuck


if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.
• She sells seashells on the seashore.
The shells she sells are seashells, I’m sure.
And if she sells seashells on the seashore,
Then I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
• Birdie birdie in the sky laid a turdie in my eye.
If cows could fly I’d have a cow pie in my eye.
• How much ground would a groundhog hog, if a
groundhog could hog ground? A groundhog would
hog all the ground he could hog, if a groundhog
could hog ground.
191
• How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a
woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck,
he would, as much as he could, and chuck as much
wood as a woodchuck would if a woodchuck could
chuck wood.

Tongue twisters with “s”, “r”, “l” and “th”

If you are having problems pronouncing certain


sounds like “s”, “r”, “l” or “th”, practicing with the right
tongue twisters can ameliorate your speech impediment.
Here are a few examples:

Tongue twisters with “s”

• She sells seashells by the seashore of Seychelles.


• “Surely Sylvia swims!” shrieked Sammy surprised.
“Someone should show Sylvia some strokes so she
shall not sink.”
• Selfish shellfish. (repeat it several times)

Tongue twisters with “r” and “l”

• Red lorry, yellow lorry.


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• A really leery Larry rolls readily to the road.
• Rory’s lawn rake rarely rakes really right.
• Lucky rabbits like to cause a ruckus.
• I looked right at Larry’s rally and left in a hurry.
• Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged
rascal ran.

Tongue twisters with “th”

• The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled


the throne throughout Thursday.
• Something in a thirty-acre thermal thicket of thorns
and thistles thumped and thundered threatening the
three-D thoughts of Matthew the thug – although,
theatrically, it was only the thirteen-thousand

thistles and thorns through the underneath of his


thigh that the thirty-year-old thug thought of that
morning.
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Five Differences Between The British Accent
And The American Accent

1.Intonation

This is the most obvious difference. In the United


States, English speakers talk very slowly and much
more monotonously.

However, the English are much more expressive


and they lengthen the vowels a lot more. This
makes it easier for those who are learning English
to understand.

Improving your listening comprehension is a lot


easier when confronted by a British accent.

2.Vowels

Americans tends to simplify their language,


specifically the pronunciation of vowels.
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British English has 12 vowel and diphthong
sounds, while American English eliminates the odd
ones.

The short ‘a’ in words such as cup is replaced by


the sound ‘schwa’ or /ə/ which is the neutral vowel.
This ‘a’ is pronounced as the ‘i’ in animal.

The sound /ɒ/ which can be found in words such as


‘what’ or ‘box’. Americans replace it with an open
‘o’ or a long ‘a’.

Diphthongs that end in ‘schwa’ do not exist in the


American accent. The diphthong /ɪə/ that is found
in the word ‘beer’ would be pronounced /bɪr/.

3.The pronunciation of the letter ‘R’

This is the most visible difference between the


British accent and the American accent. American
English has what we call the ‘rhotic’ pronunciation
of the letter R.
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This means that the “r” is pronounced at the end of
the syllable, for example in the word art.

According to the ‘Received Pronunciation’


standard, the ‘r’ must not be pronounced and the
vowel before it must be emphasised more. A good
example of model English would be the word car
which is pronounced “Caa” it may sound a bit
strange, but this how the British pronounce it.

Special Symbols for American English

Symbol Phonetic value Example

butter,
ɚ rhotacized schwa, essentially [ər]
actor

stressed [ɚ] in English; often


ɝ bird, learn
transcribed the same way
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4.The pronunciation of the letter “T”

Here the opposite happens to the letter ‘r’. The


British pronounce the letter ‘T’ clearly at the end of
each word. A good example of this rule is the word
“out”.

Americans usually turn this type of ´t´ into a ‘r’. It


is not just to do the opposite to the British, it is just
how they speak. In order to be an authentic
cowboy, the word out would be pronounced ‘awr’.

In American English, when the letter ‘t’ comes


before or after another consonant, it is not really
pronounced. For example, there is not a big
difference between the pronunciation of can and
cannot.
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5. The words are shortened

It is a very common occurrence in American


English. It is what sets it apart from British
English. The English take their time with their
pronunciation and don´t usually get rid of letters.

Americans lean towards practicality, how strange


right? They usually are quick to leave out letters
when pronouncing words.

An example would be the word “facts”, which the


British pronounce like they are saying the word
“fax” however Americans normally ignore the “t”
all together.

As we have already mentioned, there are more


similarities than differences, but it is important to
take them into account when listening to different
accents.
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Contractions
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202
203
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References: https://.google.com/store/apps
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