kazembikhof@yahoo.

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ESL teacher
Phonetic symbols for English
This is the standard set of phonemic symbols for English (RP and similar accents).

Vowels Consonants
kit, bid, hymn, minute ɪ pen, copy, happen p
dress, bed, head, many e back, baby, job b
trap, bad æ tea, tight, button t
lot, odd, wash ɒ day, ladder, odd d
strut, mud, love, blood ʌ key, clock, school k
foot, good, put ʊ get, giggle, ghost g
fleece, sea, machine iː church, match, nature tʃ
face, day, break eɪ judge, age, soldier dʒ
price, high, try aɪ fat, coffee, rough, photo f
choice, boy ɔɪ view, heavy, move v
goose, two, blue, group uː thing, author, path θ
goat, show, no əʊ this, other, smooth ð
mouth, now aʊ soon, cease, sister s
near, here, weary ɪə zero, music, roses, buzz z
square. fair, various eə ship, sure, national ʃ
start, father ɑː pleasure, vision ʒ
Thought, law, north, war ɔː hot, whole, ahead h
poor, jury, cure ʊə more, hammer, sum m
nurse, work, learn, shirt ɜː nice, know, funny, sun n
about, common, standard ə ring, anger, thanks, sung ŋ
happy, radiate. glorious i light, valley, feel l
thank you, influence, situation :u right, wrong, sorry, arrange r
suddenly, cotton n̩ yet, use, beauty, few j
middle, metal l̩ wet, one, when, queen w
)stress mark ( ˈ )glottal stop (
ʔ
What, got, not, lettuce

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Vowels and consonants
vow‧el / ˈvaʊəl / noun [ countable ]
1 one of the human speech sounds that you make by letting your breath flow out without closing any part
of your mouth or throat
2 a letter of the alphabet used to represent a vowel. In English the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes
y.
con‧so‧nant 1 / ˈkɒnsənənt $ ˈkɑːn- / noun [ countable ]
1 a speech sound made by partly or completely stopping the flow of air through your mouth.
2 a letter that represents a consonant sound. The letters ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, ‘u’, and sometimes ‘y’ represent
vowels, and all the other letters are consonants.

16 Vowels:
Vowels Sample Persian Sound
trap, bad
/æ /
/ træp / , / bæd /
َ‫ا‬
dress, bed, head, many
/e /
/ dres /,/ bed /,/ hed /,/ 'meni / ِ‫ا‬
/ ɔː /
thought, law, north, war
/ θɔːt /, / lɔː /,/ nɔːθ $ nɔːrθ /,/ wɔː $ wɔːr /
ُ‫ا‬
start, father
/ ɑː /
/ stɑːt $ stɑːrt /,/ ˈfɑːðə $ -ər /
‫آ‬
fleece, sea, machine
/ iː /
/ fliːs /,/ siː /,/ məˈʃiːn /
‫ای‬
goose, two, blue, group
/ uː /
/ ɡuːs /,/ tuː /,/ bluː /,/ gruːp /
‫او‬
nurse, stir, learn, refer
/ ɜː /
/ nɜːs $ nɜːrs /,/ stɜː $ stɜːr /,/ lɜːn $ lɜːrn /,/ rɪˈfɜː $ rɪˈfɜːr /

strut, mud, love, blood

/ʌ /
/ strʌt /,/ mʌd /,/ lʌv /,/ blʌd /

Examples:

pronunciation word
/ wɜːm, wɜːrm / Worm
/ wɔːm, wɔːrm / Warm
/ wɜːd, wɜːrd / Word
/ wɔːd, wɔːrd / Ward
/ wɜːk, wɜːrk / Work
/ wɜːld, wɜːrld / World

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 / ʃɜːt $ ʃɜːrt / Shirt
/ liːv / Leave
/ lɪv / live
/ siːt / seat
/ sɪt / sit
/ set / set
/ biːt / beat
/ bɪt / bit
/ bet / bet
/ kɑːp / cop
/ kʌp / cup
/ kɑːfiː / coffee
/ fuːl / fool
/ fʊl / full
/ gʊd / good
/ bʊk / book
a cup of coffee  a / kʌp / of / kɑːfiː /
/ ʊ /  middle lips
/ uː /  narrow lips

/ iː /

/ɪ/

/ ɑː /
Lowering the body of tongue

th / θ /
th / ð /
w/w/

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 /θ/
The tip of the tongue touches the back of upper teeth

1. Schwa – Functions of schwa

2. Stress/ Stress Pattern
3. Intonation

1. Schwa – Functions of schwa

schwa / ʃwɑː / noun [ countable ] technical
1 a vowel typically heard in parts of a word that are spoken without STRESS 1 ( 4 ) , such as the ‘a’ in ‘about’
2 the sign (ə), used to represent the vowel schwa

When these words are used as devices which

connect some parts of your sentences to each
other, they are pronounced this way:
1. a/an / ə, ən /
2. and / ən, ənd/
3. of / əv, ə/
4. for / fə(r)/
5. from / frəm/
6. –(i)al /-əl / personal, social
7. –(i)an /-ən/ Persian, American
8. was /wəz/
9. were /wər/
10. can /kən/
11. shall /ʃəl/
12. what /wət/
13. does /dəz/
14. that / ðət / This is the place thət I call home.
15. than / ðən/ This is better thən that.

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 16. are /ər/
17. but /bət/
18. at /ət/ Look at that!
19. as /əz/
20. the /ðə/ As long əz you’re the teacher, we’re all going down.
21. Them

The class that you like.  The class ðə/tʃ/ou like. But you said,
This is bigger thən that.  This is bigger ðən ðæt.

BUT, remember, if they appear as individual words

then you’ll have to pronounce them with their strong
pronunciation.

2. Stress/ Stress Pattern (pronunciation patterns)

/ ɑ:færi:neʃ /
A systematic higher pitch of voice on certain syllable in English language.

Stress Patterns

Set1
The stress comes right before the repeated pattern.
American (Amr.)
ə ɔː i æ ə ɔː i ə ɔː i æə ɔː i ə i
O’bligatory ‘mandatory De’rogatory Pre’paratory ‘bigotry
British (Brt.) əə i əə i əə i əə i

ə ɔː i ə ɔː i
Conserve con’servatory observe ob’servatory

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 Set2

American (Amr.)
ɑː ɑː ɑː ɑː ɑː ɑː
audio auto caught taught thought bought
British (Brt.) ɔː ɔː ɔː ɔː ɔː ɔː

ɑː ɑː ɑː
naughty cause pause

aʊ
exception: drought

Variation in the sound /t/:

1. /t/  /D/ better beder metal medal

2. /t/  /n/ going to  gonna want to  wanna trying to  tryinna
3. /t/  /Ø/ (Ø= /t/ is not pronounced)
international international internet inernet
4. /t/  /ʔ/ (glottal stop)
Brt. What, got, that, not, lettuce  Wha/ʔ/, go/ʔ/, tha/ʔ/, no/ʔ/
Amr. Getting Ge/ʔ/ing
5. /t/  /R/ I’ve got to  I’ve gotta  I’ve gora
6. /tn/  threaten / important / certain

Set3
tract= pull
tract + -or (subject making)  tractor= something that pulls
ex-  out extract de-  down detract
pro-  forward protract con-  together contract
re-  back retract
Stress variations parallel to changes in part of speech:
 If the word is a noun, normally stress is always on the first syllable. an /’ekstrækt/ S1
 If the word is a verb, normally stress is always on the main root. to /Iks’trækt/ S2

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exception: contact (N: S1/ V:S1), control (N: S2/V: S2) , … noun and verb are the same

N: S1/ V:S1 N: S2/V: S2 N: S1/V: S2

access Complete contain
combat effect, conscript
affect
concert (only n. No verb) suf’ficient console
(adj)
concrete (Adj. S2) Arrest conduct
constant (adj) efficient, conserve
,efficiency
contact Control extract
convoy Concern conflict
effort ad’minister compound
(n, v, adj.)
expert (noun and adjective) Result contract
injure – injured - injury re’petitive consort
(repe’titiou (consortium
s) )
innovative ad’dress combat
input repair v,n contest
interest Correct content
(Adj. S2)
process Pathetic construct
Exhibit contrast

abstrac
t
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 Request converse
convert
convey
convict
convict
export
import
object
research
transfer
present: v
prι’zent/n
’prezənt
refund
impact
Con’tributor
y–
‘Celebratory
–
An’ticipator
y–
Par’ticipator
y

S1 stress on first syllable

S2 stress on second syllable

æ ə
æpplicable (Amr)‘ əp’plicable (Brt)
æpplicant ədmit, ədmission
ædvent (the time when something first‘ ədmissible (ədmissible reasons, facts etc
begins to be widely used) are əcceptable or əllowed, especially in a
court of law)
ædvocate‘ əd’venture
,ædmiration, ‘ædmirable ədmire
Ædoration ədore, ədorable
ædverb‘ Adhesive
ædjective‘
ædver’tisement (Amr) əd’vertisement (Brt)

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 /ædversary /’ædvërseri‘ adverse, adversity
acquisition Acquire

Set4
Wherever we have –sion and –tion, the stress always comes on the syllable before
these parts. For example:
‘na-tion congratu’la-tion defi’nition ad’mission admi’ration

Equation /zh/
Suggestion /ch/
Question /ch/

PROBLEM
Nowadays many people in different countries choose to
live in an unhealthy way.
• Why do you think they choose to live in an unhealthy
way?
• What can be done about it?
Argument
Some people believe that it is the responsibility of
manufacturers to reduce packaging, some others believe
that it is up to consumers to avoid buying products with
too much packaging.
• What do you think? Explain in details and examples
through your own opinion and knowledge.

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Point of view

Some people believe that in order to help global warming,

we should reduce air travel.
• What do you think? Explain in details and examples
through your own opinion and knowledge.

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