English Pronunciation (3)

 

 

Ship, sheep, schwa and more

1) Ship and sheep

You can click here to listen to the words in this section.

There's an important difference between the sounds of ship and sheep (and it and eat, hill and he'll, list and least, sit and seat, and lots of other common words). That's because English has a short "i" sound as in ship, it, hill, list and sit, which is the ɪ sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet; but it also has a long "ee" sound as in sheep, eat, sea, he'll, tree and seat. This long "ee" is the iː sound in the IPA.

International Phonetic Alphabet vowel length markerIt's the ː after the i that shows that there's a long vowel sound. We'll see the ː symbol again after the letter a to make the long "aa" sound in star and car; after e to make the long "ay" sound in day and say; and after u, to make the long "oo" sound in food.

Most students of English don't make the long "ee" sound long enough. I often ask students to practice with the word really. I ask them to exaggerate the "ee" sound, pulling back their lips and cheeks as if they're doing a big smile. I say "I want to see your teeth! And I want a loooooong "ee" sound. When we use the word "really", we're emphasizing, we're saying something is very very good or very very bad - so emphasize! Show me those teeth!"

(The letter i also makes another sound, as in bite, bike, bicycle, eye, fire, light and why. This sound is aɪ in the IPA. Click here to listen.)

 

2) The schwa sound

You can click here to listen to the words in this section.

International Phonetic Alphabet schwa soundThe ə symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet shows that there is the shortest possible vowel sound. It's called the schwa sound, and it is the most common sound in the English language. The schwa sound is so short that you can't tell if it's an a, e, i, o or u.

In other words, every schwa sound is identical. There is only one schwa sound; there isn't one schwa sound for a and another for e, i, o or u.

Students often ask if "schwa" is an English word. No, it's not really English, it was invented by a German language expert in about 1880.

Students also ask if the schwa is ever a "sh" sound. No, it is never a "sh" sound; it's a vowel sound.

Click here to listen to the schwa sound in 100 words.

 

The schwa in words

A lot of words always contain a schwa. In the word man, we say the a sound in full. It's not a schwa.
In the words human and Roman, the a becomes a schwa sound, so there is almost no a sound at all.

It's the same in the word mountain, where the ai is always a schwa sound. It's the shortest possible vowel sound between the t and the n. We could write the word like this: mount-n. In the IPA, it's like this: maʊntən.

The schwa sound can be at the start of a word, as in addition, edition, advice and obscure; it can be between two consonant sounds, as in human, lesson or president. Or the schwa sound can be at the end of a word, as in Russia or tiger.

The vowel sound in the word the is usually a schwa (IPA: ðə). For example, "the beach, the cat, the best thing..." If the next word starts with a vowel, the is usually pronounced thee (IPA: ðiː). For example, "the apple, the Earth, the important thing...

The vowel sound in the word to is usually a schwa. For example, "I want to go to the beach." If you listen very carefully, you can hear that the vowel sound in to is just a little bit longer if the next word starts with a vowel. "I want to understand..."

Because all vowels sound the same when they become a schwa, there are lots of words in English that are spelled differently but pronounced the same ("homophones"). For example, addition and edition; current and currant; gorilla and guerilla; naval and navel, and duel and dual.

Some people speak clearly and carefully - they enunciate well. For example, professors, lawyers, television announcers and opera singers. They say the correct vowel (a, e, i, o or u) where another person who is less careful will say a schwa. For people who don't enunciate clearly, there are a lot more homophones. For example precede and proceed, or bazaar and bizarre, are homophones if you don't speak clearly.

Click here for more about stress in words.

 

The schwa in sentences

All sentences have extra schwa sounds, because any vowel (a, e, i, o or u) can become a schwa if it's in an unstressed part of a sentence. We stress the important words in a sentence, and the other words get shorter and lighter.
In this sentence, the letters in bold type become schwa sounds: "Do you want a tea or coffee?"
The sentence sounds like this: "D'y' want' tea or coffee?"

Click here for more about stress in sentences.

 

No vowel sound at all

The schwa is the shortest possible vowel sound between the t and the n in mountain, but it is still a sound.

It's possible to go direct from a consonant like t to a final n without any vowel sound at all. For example, kitten. We could write kitten like this: kitn. You can do it with other letters too, such as v as in even and heaven. In the IPA, these words are kɪtn, iːvn, hevn. There's no schwa in these words.

We often go straight to a final l-sound with no vowel sound: middle, people, little, apple (IPA: mɪdl, piːpl, lɪtl, æpl). There's no schwa sound here. These four words are written with two consonants next to each other. There are also lots of words we write with a vowel between two consonants, but we don't say the vowel. For example, there's no schwa sound in the middle of chocolate (IPA: tʃɒklət); there's no vowel sound at all between the c and l.
This is called elision. We "elide" the vowel in kitten, even and heaven and in every (IPA: evri); different (IPA: dɪfrənt); motion (IPA: məʊʃn); portal (IPA: pɔːtl) and many other words. Again, it's not a schwa sound; there's no vowel sound at all.

I'm sure you know that with some verbs in the past simple we say the final vowel sound (as a schwa) and with others we don't say the final vowel:
In past tenses like needed, wanted, interested, hated, shouted, painted, visited and lifted we do pronounce the final e, as a schwa sound.
In loved and liked we go direct from the v and the k to the final d. There's no schwa sound before the d. Here's a list of the most common words where we don't say the final vowel: loved, liked, looked, asked, learned, listened, walked, played, stopped, heard, laughed, missed, bored, recognised, fixed, watched, showed and used.

 

3) Words with -ough

Through, thorough, enough, though, cough, bough and bought/ brought/ thought; these words are spelt the same, but they have completely different pronunciation.

Words with -ough: Pronounced like: International Phonetic Alphabet:
through, throughout, throughput zoo, moo, too θruː
thorough, thoroughly, borough This -ough is a schwa sound. θʌrə
enough, rough, slough (verb) stuff, puff, huff ɪnʌf
though, although, dough, doughnut no, so, go, low ðəʊ
cough, trough off kɒf
bough, plough, slough (noun) how, now, cow baʊ
thought, ought, bought,
nought, sought, wrought
sort, fort, port θɔːt

 

4) Silent letters

  • B is silent if it’s at the end of a word after another consonant, as in bomb, comb, dumb and thumb. It's even silent if the next letter is a vowel, as in bombing or dumbing down. It's also silent in a few other words such as debt, doubt and subtle.
  • C is often silent when it's part of sc, as in science, ascent, scene, scissors, miscellaneous and muscle. Click here to listen to examples.
  • D is usually silent in Wednesday and handsome.
  • G is usually silent when it's part of gh, unless the word starts with gh as in ghost, ghastly or Ghana. The gh is silent in daughter, dough, thought, drought, through and thorough. However the gh is not silent in "compound words" where the g is really the end of one word, and the h is the start of a new word. So, it's not silent in dog + house = doghouse. And there are words where gh is pronounced like f; for example enough, laugh, draught, cough, rough and tough.
  • H is silent at the start of four words (hour, honest, honour and heir). And, for some Americans, herb. We do say the h at the start of every other word, for example: have, hat, hazard, head, heart, her, him, his, hit, holiday, horrible, hotel, human, huge, humour. We also say the h in the middle of every word, for example: behind, Yahoo, prohibit, megahertz, coherent, beehive, treehouse, prehistoric. Click here to listen to examples.
  • K is silent in knee, knife, knight, knot, know, knew and knowledge.
  • L is silent in half, calf, calm, salmon, should, would, walk, talk and folk.
  • P is silent in cupboard, raspberry, receipt and lots of words that come from Greek (pneuma gives us pneumatic and pneumonia; pseudes gives us pseudonym, pseudoscience, pseudomonas and pseudopod; psyche gives us psychiatry, psychology and psychosis; and ptero gives us pterodactyl, pterosaur and diptera.)
  • R is silent nearly all the time in British English, unless it’s followed by a vowel sound. Of course, if it's at the start of a word, it's always followed by a vowel sound. American English is "rhotic", which means they usually say the r. Click here to read more.
  • S is silent in debris, aisle, isle and island.
  • T is silent in often, soften, Christmas, fasten, listen, castle and whistle; and at the end of a lot of words that come from French, such as argot, ballet, beret, cabaret, chalet, debut, gourmet, mortgage, rapport, ricochet and tourniquet.
  • U is silent when it is there to show that a letter g is a hard g (as in dog) and not a soft g (as in fragile). In other words, u is silent when comes after a g and before another vowel, as in guess, guest, guide, guidance, guild, guard and guardian.
  • W is silent in two, whole, write, wrong, wreck, wrinkle and sword.
  • The usual mistake with silent letters is to say the l in walk and talk. These words have no l sound at all.

    There are some English words which are often mis-spelled because a letter is almost silent. The letters in bold in these words are not silent, but they are a bit lazy: arctic, Antarctic, environment, February, fragile, government, interesting, library, missile, sandwich.

    In American English, people often say, and even write: nucular instead of nuclear, calvary instead of cavalry, cashay instead of cache, carmel instead of caramel, aks instead of ask, bob or barb wire instead of barbed wire, cannidate instead of candidate, excape instead of escape, fedral instead of federal, irregardless instead of regardless, take for granite instead of take for granted, and upmost for utmost. Ex-US-president George W Bush (known as "Dubya" because he couldn't say "double you" for the letter W in his name) usually said nucular instead of nuclear. However, this is not a good example to follow.

    Now that I've finished 'taking the mickey' about bad spelling in American, I have to admit that a lot of English people say, and even write, should of instead of should have, and that's not the only thing we do wrong. eBay.co.uk is the home of bad spelling in Britain. My personal favourites so far are dingy instead of dinghy, and ekzorst instead of exhaust. "Dingy" is quite nice because it means dirty and dull. eBay is also the home of optimistic descriptions, such as "excellent condition", "immaculate", "as new" and "mechanically perfect". When I was looking for a nice school minibus for Linguetic, I looked at several eBay horrors. I had to say to one seller, "This vehicle has the wrong engine, three missing seats, I can put my finger through the bodywork in two places, and the only part that's done 45,000 miles is the tachograph. The rest of it's done over 200,000 miles, or I'm Priscilla, Queen of the Desert."

     

    5) Extra letters

    Sometimes students say extra letters in English - letters that don't exist.

    People from France and Spain know they should say the h at the start of words like hospital. However, in French and Spanish a letter h at the start of a word is always silent, so the English rule is difficult for them. Because it gives them a lot to remember, they often add an extra h to words that don't start with an h. For example, let's take the sentence "The other hotel is often happier." Students from France and Spain often say "The hother 'otel is hoften 'appier." This is very cute, which is great if you want to be cute, but not so good if you want to be serious!

    Students from Spanish-speaking countries often add a little extra "e" sound between two words, especially if the next word starts with "sc...", "sm...", "sp..." or "st...", so that Scotland becomes eScotland.

    Students from Italy often add a little extra "a" sound between two words, especially between two consonants, so that "I like them a lot" becomes "I like-a them a lot."

    Of course, every country has its own special difficulties with English. For example, Russian students find articles (a, the) difficult. For students from some countries, the problem is pronunciation, sometimes it's grammar, sometimes cultural differences, and sometimes shyness about talking.

     

    6) Love, over and move

    If English had phonetic spelling, all words with -ove would be pronounced -ov. In fact, only one is: hover.

    Words with -ove: ove is pronounced like: International Phonetic Alphabet:
    hover of, not, top hɒvə
    love, above, cover, discover,
    government, shove, dove, plover
    cup, but, duck lʌv
    over, cove, clove, rover, stove
    Dover, grove, mangrove, wove
    go, so, low əʊvə
    move, movie, remove, prove,
    improve, approve, reprove
    zoo, moo, too muːv

    For more about spelling, see Nicholas's IPA Machine.

     

    7) The Earth (the th sound in English)

    There are two different th sounds in English.*

    About the sounds

    1,500 years ago, the Anglo-Saxons had two different letters for the two different th sounds. Their letter þ ("thorn") was the th sound in words like thing, earth and south. Their letter ð ("eth") was the th sound in words like this, that and them.

    Today, the International Phonetic Alphabet has two different symbols:
    θ is the th sound in words like thing, earth, south and three. Yes, that's right, it's the Greek letter theta.
    ð is the th sound in words like this, that and them. Yes, it's the Anglo-Saxon eth.

    However, in modern English spelling we only have one way to write two sounds. There is no easy rule, so you have to remember to say the th differently for different words. Thick, thin, through and south have the θ sound; this, that, though and southern have the ð.

    Click here to listen to words with ð.
    Click here to listen to works with θ.

    Word with th θ like Earth and three
    ð like this and that
    International Phonetic Alphabet
    thing, anything θ θɪŋ, eniθɪŋ
    think, thought θ θɪŋk, θɔːt
    Earth, thick, thin θ ɜːθ, θɪk, θɪn
    bath, both θ bɑːθ, bəʊθ
    fourth, fifth θ fɔːθ, fɪfθ
    north, south θ nɔːθ, saʊθ
    path, hearth θ pɑːθ, hɑːθ
    theme, mathematics θ θiːm, mæθəmætɪks
    faith, death θ feɪθ, deθ
    with, the ð wɪð, ðə
    these, those ð ðiːz, ðəʊz
    this, that ð ðɪs, ðæt
    though, although ð ðəʊ, ɔːl'ðəʊ
    together, altogether ð tə'ɡeðə, ˌɔːltəɡeðə
    father, mother ð fɑːðə, mʌðə
    rather, southern ð rɑːðə, sʌðən
    feather, leather, weather ð feðə, leðə, weðə
    gather, bother ð ɡæðə, bɒðə

    How to say the "th" sounds

    A lot of people who learn English as a second language say "s" for the th in thing, earth and three, and they say "z" for the th in this, that and them. In other words, they say sing, erss, sree, zis, zat and zem. If you want to do that, I'm not going to stop you. It doesn't usually make problems; people can still understand you. However, you may prefer to say the Earth with a perfect accent.

    Mouth cross-sectionThis is how to make the th sound:

  • Open your mouth a little, so that there is a distance (a gap) of 4mm-5mm between your top front teeth and your bottom front teeth.
  • Open your lips a little, so that there is a gap of 7mm or more between your top lip and your bottom lip.
  • Put the tip of your tongue into the gap between your teeth. It's OK if your tongue touches your bottom lip, but it mustn't touch your top lip.
  • To make the th sound, breathe out so that the air comes out over the top of your tongue - and pull your tongue backwards. And that's it! That is the secret of saying "thing" instead of "sing". That's the θ sound.

    Now for the ð sound. Do exactly the same as for the θ sound, but make an "errrrrr" sound in your chest as you do it. (Compare "s" and "z". For the "s" in "sing", you just breathe out. For the "z" in "zing", you have to make an "errrrrr" sound in your chest. It's the difference between whispering and speaking aloud.)

    And that's it!

    Of course, you won't go instantly from ze Erss to the Earth. To help you, try this - when you say a th sound, put your tongue forward more than necessary. In other words, exaggerate. When I teach th I often say to students "I want to see the tip of your tongue every time you say a 'th' sound. Come on, more than that, I can't see it, where's that tongue?" When you are expert, you can keep your tongue invisible, but when you are learning, let's see the tip of your tongue.

     

     

    * A few words in English are spelled with a th but pronounced with a simple t. Almost all of these are names of people (like Thomas) or places (like Thames). Click here for more.