Introduction To Phonetics Student
Introduction To Phonetics Student
Introduction To Phonetics Student
Introduction
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) chart is an excellent tool to help you improve your pronunciation,
both inside and outside the classroom. This lesson will introduce and explain the IPA chart, and it will
provide some practice of using it to transcribe commonly mispronounced vocabulary.
Exercise 1: Can you guess the words from their phonetics spellings below?
The symbols in the second column are often pronounced as the long
eə ɑɪ ɑʊ
sound ɪː, although they aren’t followed with ː. hair bi ke ow l
Exercise 2: Can you guess the words written in the phonetics below?
Consonant Sounds
There are 24 consonant sounds but only 21 letters. Most sounds are voiced, meaning we use our vocal
cords when making the sound, but there are 9 unvoiced sounds (shaded in the chart). Unvoiced sounds are
aspirated, which means a puff of air comes out of your mouth when you pronounce these sounds correctly.
p b t d tʃ dʒ k g
p ig b ig t en d og chess j azz k ing g irl
f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ
f lower v ase th umb mo ther s nake z ebra sh ower televis ion
m n ŋ h l r w j
m onkey n ose si ng h ouse l amp r oad w ater y acht
The first two rows are made up of the consonant pairs (on the right). Consonant Pairs:
The shape of the mouth when pronouncing these pairs is the same, but the /p/ and /b/ /f/ and /v/
difference is that one sound is voiced and the other is unvoiced. You can feel
/t/ and /d/ /θ/ and /ð/
the difference when practising these sounds by holding your throat. You
/tʃ/ and /dʒ/ /s/ and /z/
should feel some vibration when pronouncing the voiced sounds. Single
consonants, which do not have a pair, are arranged in the bottom row. /k/ and /g/ /ʃ/ and /ʒ
Exercise 3: Can you guess the words written in the phonetics below?
The stressed syllable in a word is shown by placing the symbol ˈ before the primary stressed syllable. There
can be a secondary stress in some words, which is shown by placing the symbol ˌ before the secondary
stressed syllable.
Syllables are shown with spacing when a word is written phonetically. See the examples below:
/en tə ˈteɪn mənt/ /dɪ ˈpləʊ mə/ /ˌɪn stɪ ˈtjuː ʃən/ /ˈɔː gən aɪz d/
(entertainment) (diploma) (institution) (organised)
Compare your answers with your partner and/or use a dictionary to check if you are correct.
In pairs, race your classmates to be the first to match the vocabulary with its correct phonetic spelling. Refer
back to the IPA Chart when needed.
A. Can you read the text below and transcribe it back into the English alphabet form?
ɪf juː kæn riːd ðɪs, kənˌgrætjʊˈleɪʃənz! juː ʃʊd naʊ hæv ə gʊd ˌʌndəˈstændɪŋ ɒv ði ˌɪntə(ː)ˈn
æʃənl fəʊˈnetɪk ˈælfəbɪt. ðɪs wɪl help juː ə lɒt wenˈevə juː lɜːn ə njuː wɜːd ænd wɒnt tuː ʧ
ek ðə kəˈrekt prəˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃən. ɔːl ðə best ɒn jɔː ˈlɜːnɪŋ ˈʤɜːni!
B. Try to write a short secret message to your partner, and have them guess what you’ve written.