English Pronunciation — Study Guide #1

Prof. Marcos Feitosa

NAME: _____________________________________________________________
Note: If you are not sure how to pronounce these words, you can check the phonetic transcription from a
dictionary. This is a project, not a test.

1) Observe the place of articulation of the initial consonant pronounced in the following
words and check whether they are:
(B) bilabial – both lips: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/, /ʍ/
(L) labiodental – lower lip and upper teeth: /f/, /v/
(I) interdental – tip of the tongue and teeth: /ð/, /θ/
(A) alveolar – tip of the tongue and tooth ridge: /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, / / l ,/ɹ/
(AP) alveopalatal – blade of the tongue and hard palate: /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /j/
(V) velar – back of the tongue and soft palate: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/, /w/, /ʍ/

( ) kick ( ) sock ( ) top ( ) luck ( ) cake ( ) city

( ) Xerox ( ) Physics ( ) mnemonic ( ) pneumonia
( ) knight ( ) night ( ) short ( ) chop ( ) chef ( ) thin
( ) thus ( ) red ( ) blue ( ) purple ( ) tip ( ) vast
( ) fast ( ) yeast ( ) what ( ) thorn ( ) this ( ) nap
( ) doll ( ) poll ( ) shore ( ) just ( ) garage ( ) self
( ) check ( ) chin ( ) shin ( ) grab ( ) knuckle ( ) zap

2) Now observe the manner of articulation of the initial consonant pronounced in the
following words and check whether they are:
(P) plosives (stops): /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
(F) fricatives: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/
(A) affricates: /ʧ/, /ʤ/
(N) nasals: /m/, /n/, / ŋ/
(L) liquids: /l/, / ɹ/
(SV) semi-vowels: /w/, / ʍ/, /j/

( ) year ( ) better ( ) dot ( ) kettle ( ) gasp ( ) shock

( ) more ( ) chunk ( ) rock ( ) lock ( ) gist ( ) gig
( ) psychology ( ) knit ( ) thump ( ) toddler ( ) Christmas
( ) child ( ) wrestle ( ) faith ( ) Xanadu ( ) juggler ( ) thumb

3) Now check if the initial consonant pronounced in the following words are voiced (VD) or
voiceless (VL):
( ) yonder ( ) uniform ( ) untied ( ) tied ( ) died ( ) thy
( ) thigh ( ) muck ( ) naught ( ) knack ( ) jingle ( ) single
( ) shingle ( ) chip ( ) ship ( ) choke ( ) wet ( ) witch
( ) whole ( ) wrong ( ) whose ( ) lie ( ) ring ( ) giggle
( ) gender ( ) drop ( ) tree ( ) three ( ) free ( ) see
( ) baby ( ) pit ( ) kit ( ) Xena ( ) unicorn ( ) humble

4) Check the underlined vowels from the following words and categorize them in terms of
tongue height:
(H) high (M) mid (L) low

( ) bake ( ) back ( ) beak ( ) brick ( ) beg ( ) cook

( ) cool ( ) coal ( ) cot ( ) cut ( ) cat ( ) Kate

5) Check the underlined vowels from the following words and categorize them in terms of
frontness / backness of the tongue:
(F) front (C) central (B) back

( ) buck ( ) beast ( ) boast ( ) best ( ) botch ( ) batch

( ) belt ( ) yield ( ) young ( ) day ( ) doe ( ) do
( ) done ( ) did ( ) dope ( ) duck ( ) don’t ( ) error
( ) error ( ) word ( ) sword ( ) swear ( ) sway ( ) moon
6) Check if the underlined vowels (or diphthongs) are pronounced with
(R) rounded or (U) unrounded lips:
( ) oats ( ) height ( ) chamber ( ) surroundings ( ) feet
( ) look ( ) Luke ( ) John ( ) apple ( ) lost ( ) lose
( ) loose ( ) blood ( ) door ( ) bush ( ) stupid ( ) put
( ) cut ( ) cute ( ) kite ( ) don’t ( ) front ( ) comb

7) Which word was transcribed? Check the correct option.

a) /ʃɔɹ/
( ) shore ( ) sore ( ) chore ( ) lore

b) /’laɪəɹ/
( ) layer ( ) liar ( ) lawyer ( ) lower

c) /θʌm/
( ) dumb ( ) thump ( ) thong ( ) thumb

d) /ðʌs/
( ) thus ( ) dusk ( ) these ( ) this

e) /’æmpəl/
( ) apple ( ) ample ( ) hamper ( ) ramble

f) /ɪ’lɑ:ʤɪkəl/
( ) irascible ( ) irrational ( ) illogical ( ) apostle

g) /’kæsəl/
( ) cattle ( ) kettle ( ) casual ( ) castle

h) /’θʌndəɹ/
( ) tumble ( ) thunder ( ) tumor ( ) wonder

8) Transcribe these words phonemically. More than one pronunciation is possible for some words.
RP and GA are both acceptable.

a) altitude ____________________________________

b) loyalty ___________________________________

c) rampage ___________________________________

d) higher ______________________________________

e) fighting _____________________________________

f) ferocious ____________________________________

g) generous ___________________________________

h) wrong __________________

i) wrestle _________________

j) muscle ________________

k) muscular _______________

l) impression ________________________

m) tenderness ______________________

n) anesthesia ______________________
9) These are the lyrics to a song. Some verbs in the past are underlined. Transcribe them
phonemically. Remember the rules for pronunciation for the “-ed” at the end of regular
verbs in the past. You can listen to the song watching this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jne9t8sHpUc
“Ironic” (Alanis Morissette, album “Jagged little pill”, 1995, Maverick/Warner)

And old man turned ninety-eight

He won the lottery and died the next day
It’s a black fly in your Chardonnay
It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late
Isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?

(Chorus:)
It’s like rain on your wedding day
It’s a free ride when you’ve already paid
It’s the good advice that you just didn’t take
And who would have thought? It figures...

Mr. Play-it-safe was afraid to fly

He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids goodbye
He waited his whole damn life to take that flight
And as the plane crashed down, he thought:
“Well, isn’t this nice?...”
And isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?

(Chorus)

Well, life has a funny way of sneaking up on you

When you think everything’s okay and everything’s going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out
when you think everything’s gone wrong
and everything blows up in your face

A traffic jam when you’re already late

A no-smoking sign on your cigarette break
It’s like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife
It’s meeting the man of my dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife
And isn’t it ironic? Don’t you think?
A little too ironic... yeah, I really do think...

(Chorus)

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you

Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out...

Now, transcribe the past verbs from the song phonetically in IPA:
• turned ______________
• won _________
• died __________
• was _________
• packed ___________
• kissed ___________
• waited __________
• crashed _________
• thought __________
Note: some of these have more than one possible pronunciation. I recommend you listen to the song
carefully, but I will accept any correct pronunciation for the verb, as long as it is properly transcribed in
the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
10) Can you read the nursery rhyme transcribed phonemically below? Write it in plain English
and then try to answer the riddle. Here goes a hint: you don’t need to do a lot of math in
order to solve it.

/ æz aɪ wɒz ‘gəʊɪŋ tʊ seɪnt aɪvz /

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/ aɪ ‘meɾə mæn wɪð ‘sevən waɪvz /

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/ i:ʧ waɪf hæd ‘sevən sæks /

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/ i:ʧ sæk hæd ‘sevən kæts /

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/ i:ʧ kæt hæd ‘sevən kɪts /

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/ kɪts kæts sæks ən waɪvz /

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/ hau ‘meni wəɹ ‘gəʊɪŋ tʊ seint aɪvz ? /

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...now, can you guess the answer to the riddle?

Transcribe the answer phonemically: ________________