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LIFF AV1 
The poem is a demonstration of the seemingly chaotic relationship between spelling and pronunciation in English. 
 Let’s just take the ending “OUGH” as an example: 
 
"UFF" tough, enough 
"OFF" cough 
"AW" bough, slough 
"OW" though, dough 
"OO" through 
“UP” hiccough 
See how many different sounds there are depending on the word. 
When the English tongue we speak 
Why is break not rhymed with weak? 
 
Won’t you tell me why it’s true 
We say sew, but also few? 
 
And the maker of a verse 
Cannot rhyme his horse with worse? 
Beard is not the same as heard 
Cord is different from word, 
 
Cow is cow, low is low, 
Shoe is never rhymed with foe. 
 
Think of hose /z/ and dose /s/and lose /z/ 
And think of goose /s/ and yet of choose /z/ 
 
Think of comb and tomb and bomb 
Doll and roll and home and some 
 
And since pay is rhymed with say, 
Why not paid with said, I pray? 
 
Think of blood and food and good 
Mould is not pronounced like could 
 
Why is done, but gone and lone, 
Is there any reason known? 
 
To sum it up, it seems to me 
That sounds and letters don’t agree. 
 
What kind of English pronunciations are we going to study? Well, mostly the standard one. 
Which one is the Standard English? 
Received Pronunciation (também conhecido como R.P., inglês Oxford ou Inglês da BBC) é o nome dado ao sotaque 
padrão da língua inglesa utilizado no Reino Unido. Estudantes estrangeiros de inglês britânico aprendem essa 
modalidade de inglês nas escolas. Dicionários de língua inglesa produzidos no Reino Unido também adotam o 
Received Pronunciation como sotaque padrão. Ainda que não haja nada intrínseco no Received Pronunciation que 
o faça superior a outras variedades de inglês, fatores sociolinguísticos lhe dão um prestígio especial na Inglaterra e 
no País de Gales. 
STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH 
Vale dizer que há também uma forma de inglês americano considerada padrão. Essa forma “padrão” é conhecida 
como Standard American English (SAE) ou General American. Trata-se de uma forma do inglês americano falado e 
escrito sem as influências e interferências do inglês falado em cada região. De modo geral, é o inglês usado por 
jornalistas (CNN, ABC, New York Times, etc.), órgãos governamentais (o Presidente Obama o usa em seus 
discursos), escolas e faculdades (Havard, Yale, etc.) e grandes empresas (o mundo dos negócios das grandes 
corporações). 
 
PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY 
Phonetics studies the sounds of a language. 
For example in Portuguese there are 26 letters (agora com o Novo Acordo Ortográfico) and 31 phonemes 
In English there are 26 letters and 36 phonemes. (24 consonant sounds, 12 vowel sounds), and 8 diphthongs. 
 
Phonology studies the variation of these sounds according to accents and dialects. 
Let’s see how it works: 
Em Português temos, por exemplo, o “s” chiado do carioca: Casas, folhas 
O “r” retroflexo dos paulistas: porta, portão, porteira 
A vogal mais aberta no Nordeste Menino 
And in English: 
For example, in English, the "p" sound in pot is aspirated (pronounced [pʰ]), while that in spot is not aspirated 
(pronounced [p]). However, English speakers intuitively treat both sounds as variations (allophones) of the same 
phonological category, that is, of the phoneme /p/. 
The pot is on the table. 
There is a spot on the sun. 
 
So as we can see there were two main features of cockney accent. 
The first is the pronunciation of the diphthong “AI”. 
In the sentence “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”. 
And: “In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen” 
Dropped ‘h’ at beginning of words 
 
Phonemes are the sounds of the words 
Graphemes are the written forms of the words. 
How many letters and phonemes are there in the following words? 
 
 
 Relação entre pronúncia e escrita em inglês; 
 Dialetos e acentos da Língua Inglesa; 
 Diferença entre fonética e fonologia, letra e fonema. 
 Speakers of a language have to be aware of the need to vary language use according to the context of 
communicative interaction, i.e. language varies with variation in topic, participants, setting, purpose, and 
medium (verbal or written). 
 Moreover, language varies according to academic domains (content areas) and tasks. 
 There are more than 5 million distinct words in the English language: The Oxford Dictionary of English (2005) 
lists more than 400,000 entries; William Shakespeare used about 15,000; the average person whose first 
language is English knows about 4300 words, although they understand the exact meaning of only 70 per cent 
or so of these. 
 
SPOKEN AND WRITTEN ENGLISH 
 
 
SPEAKING 
LET’S SEE WHAT HAPPENS IN BOTH INTERVIEWS: 
Enter, please 
I hope you do not mind be being inquisitive, but can I ask you why… 
I’m looking forward to… 
He doesn’t shake hands. 
He interrupts her all the day. 
Cheers, bye. 
WRITING 
Before you start writing any article, you need to ask yourself 
 Who's the target audience? 
 What’s the best way to communicate my message? 
 Does my topic require a certain delivery style? 
Answering these questions will help you decide if you should use a formal writing style or an informal writing style. 
There are 4 different delivery styles that are used: 
1) Extemporaneous - previously planned but delivered with the help of few or no notes. 
2) Impromptu (Improvised) - delivered without previous preparation 
3) Memorization - previously planned and recited from memory 
4) Reading (manuscript) - previously planned and read from notes 
 
ONE MORE EXAMPLE 
WRITING: This is to inform you that your book has been rejected by our publishing company as it was not up to 
the required standard. In case you would like us to reconsider it, we would suggest that you go over it and make 
some necessary changes. 
SPEAKING: You know that book I wrote? Well, the publishing company rejected it. They thought it was awful. But 
hey, I did the best I could, and I think it was great. I'm not gonna redo it the way they said I should. 
DIFFERENT STYLES BETWEEN INFORMAL & FORMAL ENGLISH 
1. Active & Passive Voice 
Informal: Our technician repaired the fault 
on 12th June. Now it’s your turn to pay us. 
Formal: Although the fault was repaired on 
12th June, payment for this intervention 
has still not been received. 
 
2. Verb Form: Phrasal Verbs & Latinate 
Informal: The company laid him off because he didn't work much. 
Formal: His insufficient production conducted to his dismissal. 
 
3. Language: Direct & Formulaic (rebuscado) 
Informal: I’m sorry but …/I’m happy to say that … 
Formal: We regret to inform you that …/We have pleasure in announcing that … 
 
4. Use of Slang 
Informal He had to get some money out of a hole in the wall … 
Formal He withdrew the amount from an ATM. 
 
5. Personal Form & Nominators 
Informal If you lose it, then please contact us as soon as possible. 
Formal Any loss of this document should be reported immediately … 
 
6. Linking Words 
Informal I have never seen a movie I did not like. 
Formal I have never seen a movie that I did not like. 
7. Singular & Plural Person 
Informal I can help you to solve this problem. Call me! 
Formal We can assist in the resolution of this matter. Contact us on our toll-free number. 
 
8. Contractions 
Informal: He can’t come. 
Formal: He cannot come. 
 
9. Prepositions: 
Informal: He is the man I am talking to. 
Formal: He is the man to whom I am talking. 
EXAMPLES 
To a friend it is acceptable to say, “Hey Jack, how’re you doing buddy?” 
To a Governor you would say, “Good afternoon Governor, how are you doing today?” 
To your girlfriend/boyfriend, “Do you want to grab a bite to eat? I need to ask you something.” 
To your girlfriend’s father, “Mr. Jones, would you care to have dinner with me tonight? I would like to talk to you 
about your daughter, and myself.” 
To a coworker,“ Morning Joe.” 
To your boss or a client, “ Good morning, Mr. Smith or Good morning, sir.” 
To a friend, “Man! Was that movie really cool or what, we need to see it again!” 
We might say, “Give it to me now!” but in a book we might see it written as “Could you please pass that to me?” 
A person talking to a friend might say “The kids were always sticking filthy whatsits in their gobs – the mum was 
just useless.” A report written by a social worker might read “The children frequently put dirty toys in their 
mouths. The mother was not maintaining any order.” 
 
EXERCISES 
1. Which of the forms below may be used in a FORMAL context? 
A) Kids (children) 
B) Guy (man/boy) 
C) Awesome (wonderful) 
D) Won’t (will not) 
E) Invigorating (kindling/making alive) 
 
2. Which of the forms below may be used in an INFORMAL context? 
A) Cannot (can’t) 
B) Begin (commence) 
C) Ensure (make sure) 
D) Several (many) 
E) Please refer to… (Remember – avoid imperative forms) 
3. In which alternative all words may be used in a FORMAL context? 
A) Can’t (cannot) – Supply (furnish) – Entail (involve) 
B) Submit (have to give) – Receive (get) – Carry out (effect) 
C) Submit (have to give) – Receive (get) - Effect (carry out) 
D) Disclose (tell) – Exceed – Go over 
E) On receipt (when we get) – Exceed (go over) – Take away (withdraw) 
1) Particularidades da fala e da escrita. (Particularities of speaking and writing) 
2) Contextos de uso do inglês formal e do informal. (Contexts of use of formal and informal English) 
See what the North-American Patrick Brown wrote in July, 2003: “The orthography of English is absurd if not 
insane. There isn't any justification for it - it's just the way it is. Of course, those of us who are used to it feel 
attached to the charming madness of English spelling, and we'd be bereft were it ever changed.” 
 
First, there is considerable ambiguity in the English spelling system, and it works in both directions: many sounds 
to one spelling, and many spellings to one sound. The former situation results in ‘eye-rhymes’, or forms which look 
as if they ought to have the same pronunciation. 
Same spelling, different pronunciation 
PLOUGH /AW/ 
COUGH /OFF/ 
THROUGH /U:/ 
DOUGH /OW/ 
 
Different spelling, same pronunciation 
SEE [I:] 
SEA [I:] 
PEOPLE [I:] 
AMOEBA [I:] 
FIEND [I:] 
CONSONANTS 
A consonant is a speech sound made by 
partially or completely blocking the flow of 
air through the mouth (using the lips, teeth, 
tongue, and palate). 
 
Consonant X Contoid 
Since the word ‘consonant’ is used in describing 
the phonology of a language that can include sounds which could be classed phonetically as vowels (Y, W), so we 
ought also to have a different word which covers just those sounds which are phonetically of the type that 
produces a significant obstruction to the flow of air through the vocal tract: the term proposed is CONTOID. 
 ATTENTION - In some words, the h is soundless: hour, honest, honesty, heir, honor, honorary, herb. 
 
[dз] jaw, magic, age 
[θ] think, bathtub, mouth 
[ð] the, father 
[t∫] chair, witch 
[r] red, marry, car (retroflex) 
VOWELS 
A vowel is a speech sound made by allowing breath to flow out of the mouth, without closing any part of the 
mouth or throat. 
 
Schwa – it appears only in unstressed syllables. 
The vowel of words like 'bought', 'coffee' varies among dialects. Northeastern American varieties use this one, 
called 'open o', while most Californians (esp. Southern Californians), use 'ah' . 
DIPHTHONGS OR TWIN-VOWELS OR GLIDING VOWELS 
Vowel diphthong refers to the blending of two vowels sounds, both vowel sounds are usually heard and they make 
a gliding sound: 
ATTENTION: In the English word “ride”, the “i” would be transcribed phonetically as 
/ai/. Although it appears as a single letter in our writing, it actually consists of two vowels — if you say the word 
you should be able to hear the two. The same happens to “no”, “so” /ow/ 
DIGRAPH 
A digraph is a combination of letters or characters used to represent a single speech sound. 
 
EXAMPLES OF CONSONANT DIGRAPHS 
CH – chin, such 
SH – ship, wish 
TH – thin, with, this 
WH - whip 
NG - sing 
CK - cock 
PH - phone 
GU - vogue 
BB - clubbed 
SS - miss 
VOWEL DIGRAPHS 
A vowel digraph is two letters with the first letter making a long sound and the second letter is silent. We call 
this: "first one does the talking, the second keeps on walking." 
 
In English include EA (teach), EE (free), EY (key), IE (piece),), OO (book), OA (road) and UE (true), AU (Audience), EO 
(people), IO (region), AI (main), OU (soul). 
 
ATTENTION: friend 
 
The digraph OO has two sounds. One is the sound heard in hook, book, good (short). The other sound is the 
sound heard in tooth, choose, goose (long). 
BLEND OR CLUSTER 
BLEND OR CLUSTER 
It is a combination of two or more letters, where all of the sounds can be distinguished. 
 
CONSONANT BLEND OR CLUSTER 
Two or three consonants are blended together, each consonant sound may be heard in the blend. Some examples 
of consonant blends are: 
BL–black, CL–clap, FL–flip, GL–glass, SL–slip, BR–brick, 
DR–drop, SC–scale, SK–skip, RL – world, SW–swell, STR – stray (in which there are two clusters: s+t and t+r). 
One of the most difficult clusters to be pronounced is RL, as in WORLD. 
SEMIVOWEL OR GLIDE 
A semivowel (or glide) is a sound, such as English /w/ or /j/ ("y"), that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but 
functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. 
The letter y is a consonant at the beginning of a syllable. If it is anywhere else in the syllable, it is a vowel or a 
semivowel. 
 
Examples of Y as a Consonant - yes - yam - yell - yellow - yogurt - yacht 
Examples of Y as a Vowel - gym - my - cycle - baby - hairy - sky - fairy 
Examples of Y as a Semivowel – valley 
 
The letter w is a consonant at the beginning of a syllable or after another consonant. If it is anywhere else in the 
syllable, it is a semivowel. 
Examples of W as a Consonant – winged – why – swell 
Examples of W as a semivowel – bow – jaw –known - lawn 
IS THERE A CASE WHERE THE "W" IS A VOWEL ON ITS OWN? 
Yes and no. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, this happens in the word spelled “cwm,” pronounced 
“koom” and meaning "a steep hollow at the upper end of a mountain valley." 
Although it is sometimes used as an example of a word in which "w" is a vowel, it is more often used as an 
example of a rare English word without a vowel. 
COUNTING PHONEMES 
How many phonemes are there in: 
 
a) rich? 3 /r/ /i/ /ch/(digraph) 
b) pitch? 3 /p/ /i/ /tch/(digraph) 
c) bring?– 4 /b/ /r/ /i/ /ng/(digraph) 
d) shoot? 3 /sh/ (digraph) /o/ (digraph) /t/ 
e) shy? 2 /sh/ (digraph) /y/ 
f) six? 4 /s / /i / / k / /s/ as the "x" has two distinct speech sounds. 
g) brought? 4 /b/ /r/ /ou/ /ght/ 
h) through? 3 /th/ /r/ /ough/ 
i) thorough?4 /th/ /o/ /r/ /ough/ 
k) Bible? 5 /b/ /i/ /b/ /l/ /e/ 
RULES 
 Digraphs count as 1 phoneme. 
 Even if a vowel has a double sound, it is 1 phoneme. For example, in the word shy, even with the sound /ai/, 
you will have 1 phoneme. 
 “Time” has 3 phonemes /t/ /i/ /m/. –E at the end of the word is a magic –E. It doesn’t count as a phoneme. 
 If the word ends in “LE” the “E” is counted. 
EXAMPLES 
 
EXAMPLES 
How many words are there in “scarecrow”? 
Six in Australian and UK English - s / c / are / c / r / ow However, American English has more emphasis on the first 
"r", and thus there is an extra phoneme - s / c / a / re / c / r / ow (7 phonemes) 
 
How many words are there in “whistle”? 
Five or 6. Five if you pronounce /w/ /i/ /s/ /e/ /l/. Six if you aspire the “H”: /h/ /w/ /i/ /s/ /e/ /l/. 
 
How many phonemes are there in BIBLE? 
Five. /b/ /i/ /b/ /l/ /e/. If the word ends in “LE” the“E” is counted. 
 
How many phonemes are there in GLOW? 
Three. /g/ /l/ /o/. Even if the /o/ has an /ow/ sound, it counts as one phoneme. The /w/ has a mute sound. 
EXERCISES 
1. In what Word the y is a semivowel? 
a) yes 
b) yellow 
c) gym 
d) boy 
e) yacht 
 
2. In what option the number of phonemes is WRONG? 
a) dream -5 
b) glow - 3 
c) sweet - 4 
d) spread - 5 
e) slice - 4 
3. Which word sounds different? 
a) tea 
b) pea 
c) see 
d) we 
e) the 
 
4. Which word does NOT have three phonemes? 
a) ride 
b) knock 
c) wreck 
d) road 
e) among 
 
1) Alfabeto da língua inglesa, 
 com quadros descritivos 
e analíticos das consoantes 
e vogais. (English alphabet, 
with descriptive and analytical 
charts of consonants and vowels) 
2) Dígrafos e os encontros vocálicos 
e consonantais. (Digraphs and the 
vocalic and consonantal clusters) 
 
There are 21 consonant letters in English, for 24 consonant sounds in most English accents. Unlike vowels, consonants 
usually match closely enough to permit easy transference or, in some cases, do not match at all. 
Examples in which they do not match 
[dз] jaw, magic, age 
[θ] think, bathtub, mouth 
[ð] the, father 
[t∫] chair, witch 
[r] red, marry, car (retroflex) 
CONSONANT AND CONTOID 
A consonant is a speech sound made by partially or completely blocking the flow of air through the mouth (using the 
lips, teeth, tongue, and palate). 
 
CONSONANTS – include sounds which could be classed phonetically as vowels (Y, W), 
 
CONTOIDS – don’t include sounds which could be classed phonetically as vowels (Y, W). 
PLACE OF ARTICULATION 
The place of articulation is where in the vocal tract the obstruction of the consonant occurs, and which speech organs 
are involved. 
BILABIAL /b/ /p/ /m/ /w/ 
DENTAL 
labio dental/f/ /v/ 
Interdental /θ/ /ð/ 
ALVEOLAR /t /d/ /n/ /z/ /s/ /l/ 
PALATAL /r/ /š/ /t∫/ /∫/ /dз/ /j/ 
VELAR/g/ /k/ /h/ /ŋ/ 
MANNER OF ARTICULATION 
How air escapes from the vocal tract when the consonant or approximant (vowel-like) sound is made. 
STOPS (PLOSIVES):/p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ 
FRICATIVES: /f/ /v/ /h/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /∫/ /š/ 
AFFRICATES: /t∫/ /dз/ 
LATERAL: /l/ 
RETROFLEX: /r/ 
NASALS: /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ 
SEMIVOWELS(GLIDES): /j/ /w/ 
WHAT ABOUT THE LETTERS /C/, /Q/, & /X/ ? 
You may have noticed that the letters /c/, /q/, /x/ do not have a phoneme listed. This happens because they are not 
listed as a pure phoneme, as the sounds that they represent can be represented by other letters or spellings. 
For example: 
the letter c can be represented by the phonemes /k/ or /s/ as in can, cent. 
the letter x as in fox can be represented by two phonemes /ks/ 
the letter q can be represented by two phonemes /kw/ as in queue 
CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT FLAP, GLOTTAL, GLIDE and APPROXIMANT 
FLAPPING RULE OR TAPPING 
Intervocalic alveolar flapping (more accurately 'tapping') is a phonological process found in many dialects of English, 
especially North American English and Australian English, by which T and D surface as the tap [ɾ] : 
 There is a Lenition, i.e, a kind of consonant mutation. Lenition means 'softening' or 'weakening' (from Latin lenis = 
weak), and it refers to the change of a consonant considered 'stronger' into one considered 'weaker' (or fortis → lenis). 
 after vowel: butter , buddy, better 
 after r: barter 
 after l: faculty (but not immediately post-tonic: alter → al[tʰ]er, not *al[ɾ]er) 
GLOTTAL 
Glottal is a phonological phenomenon that occurs in everyday informal English. The phonetic symbol for a glottal stop 
is ʔ. 
In a true glottal stop there is complete obstruction to the passage of air, and the result is a period of silence. Hold your 
breath. 
It happens: 
 With a t-sound before unstressed vowel 
Fountain – Foun- tain (like a hiccup) - Cur-tain - Bu-tton 
 
 Before a final T: I can’t - Let me know 
 
 In front of a p, t or k if there is not a vowel immediately following 
e.g. captive - kÆʔptiv, catkin’ kÆʔtkin, arctic’ a:ʔktik); 
 
NOTE: A similar case is that of tʃ when following a stressed vowel, as in in ‘butcher’ bυʔtʃə. 
APPROXIMANT (VOWEL-LIKE) 
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough or 
with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Approximants are divided into the following two sub-
classes: 
liquids 
lateral approximants like [l] (as in less) 
non-lateral approximants like [ɹ] (as in rest) 
semi-vowels - also known as "glides" . They are vowels masquerading as consonants. 
Examples of Y as a Consonant - yes - yam - yell - yellow - yogurt - yacht 
Examples of Y as a Vowel - gym - my - cycle - baby - hairy - sky - fairy 
Examples of Y as a Semivowel – valley 
Examples of W as a Consonant – winged – why – swell. 
Examples of W as a semivowel – bow – jaw –known - lawn 
VOICED SOUNDS 
Involving vibration of the vocal cords 
 
VOICELESS SOUNDS 
No vibration of the vocal cords 
 
PRONOUNCING PAST TENSE VERBS 
/d/ When the pronunciation of the infinitive ends in a VOWEL OR VOICED CONSONANT 
 
PRONOUNCING PAST TENSE VERBS 
/t/ When the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a voiceless consonant 
 
/ d/ When the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with an alveolar stop consonant – /d/ or /t/ 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF PLURAL NOUNS, GENITIVE CASE AND PRESENT TENSE VERBS (THIRD PERSONS) 
The -s is pronounced like /z/ after voiced sounds. 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF PLURAL NOUNS, GENITIVE CASE AND PRESENT TENSE VERBS (THIRD PERSONS) 
The -s is pronounced like /s/ after voiceless sounds. 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF PLURAL NOUNS, GENITIVE CASE AND PRESENT TENSE VERBS (THIRD PERSONS) 
The -s is pronounced with an additional syllable - similar to "iz" - after the following endings, both voiced and voiceless 
which are sibilant. 
 
MOST COMMON ERRORS WITH THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY PORTUGUESE NATIVE SPEAKERS. 
The aspiration of the English /p/, /t/ and /k/, when occurring word-initially or at the beginning of stressed syllables, 
has no equivalent in Portuguese. 
pig [phIg] if pronounced as [pIg], without aspiration, could be perceived as big 
tin [thIn] if pronounced as [tIn], without aspiration, could be perceived as din 
kit [khIt] if pronounced as [kIt], without aspiration, could be perceived as git 
MOST COMMON ERRORS WITH THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY PORTUGUESE NATIVE SPEAKERS. 
In some accents in Brazil /t/ and /d/ are palatalized in the presence of a vowel as in words like leite ['leytshi] and pode 
['pódzhi]. This Portuguese phenomenon, if transferred to English, will neutralize the contrast between words like: 
till [thIl] - chill [tshIl] 
tip [thIp] - chip [tshIp] 
dim [dIm] - Jim [dzhIm] 
MOST COMMON ERRORS WITH THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY PORTUGUESE NATIVE SPEAKERS. 
The phonemes /Ø/ and /ð/ have no close counterparts in Portuguese. Commonly, students resort to the clusters /ts/ 
or /dz/ as substitutes, which neutralize the contrast between words like: 
math - mats 
breathe - breeds 
 
Other students might use /s/ and /z/ as substitutes, which is still less desirable because /s/ and /z/ have a heavy 
functional load and this substitution could result in the neutralization of minimal pairs like: thin - sin 
thick - sick 
faith - face 
MOST COMMON ERRORS WITH THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY PORTUGUESE NATIVE SPEAKERS. 
The English retroflex /r/ does not have a similar sound in Portuguese, except in one dialect in certain areas of the state 
of São Paulo. 
hat [hæt] - rat [ræt] 
head [hed] - red [red] 
high [hay] - rye [ray] 
hoe [how] - row [row] 
MOST COMMON ERRORS WITH THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY PORTUGUESE NATIVE SPEAKERS. 
In Portuguese /s/ between two vowels has a /z/ sound, but in English it may occur or not, as there is no rule for it. So, 
be careful: 
House /s/ 
Mouse /s/Use (noun) /s/ 
Vase /s/ 
Case /s/ 
RECOMMENDATION 
Final –s 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8ksyiycxq4&feature=related 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoZTs06AUGo&feature=related 
 
Past Simple Regular Verb Endings 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-EC_kk0Lso 
 
'th' /θ/ & /ð/ vs. / t / & / d / - American English Pronunciation Lesson 
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQyUi4QvC0&feature=related 
Contents 
1) Classification (voiced or voiceless, place and manner of articulation) and peculiarities of consonants (lenition, 
glottal, approximants and flap phenomena) 
 
2) Pronunciation of consonants in final position and in the simple past. 
VOWEL DEFINITION 
A vowel is a speech sound made by allowing breath to flow out of the mouth, without closing any part of the mouth or 
throat. 
 
PARTICULARITIES of the vowel sounds in English: 
 vowels sounds are always voiced 
 TENSENESS: This is another distinctive feature in speech sounds that deserves attention. Tenseness, 
produced by the tension of the vocalization muscles, is a characteristic that occurs in English vowels (long 
vowel sounds\) while nonexistent in Portuguese. Let’s see better the so-called Long and Short Vowel Sounds 
 THERE ARE NO NASAL VOWELS IN ENGLISH. Vowels preceding nasal consonants are nasalized, but there is no 
phonemic distinction between nasal and oral vowels (and all vowels are considered phonemically oral). 
However, the word "huh" is generally pronounced with a nasal vowel. 
NOTATION 
In the International Phonetic Alphabet the sign ː (not a colon, but two triangles facing each other) is used for vowel 
length. 
Diacritics 
Macron (ā), used to indicate a long vowel 
Breves (ă) are used to mark short vowels 
VOWELS CLASSIFICATION 
 
RULES FOR SHORT AND LONG VOWEL SOUNDS 
 
VOWEL DIGRAPHS (LONG VOWEL SOUND) 
A vowel digraph is two letters with the first letter making a long sound and the second letter is silent. We call 
this: "first one does the talking, the second keeps on walking." 
 
In English include EA (teach), EE (free), EY (key), IE (piece),), OO (book), OA (road) and UE (true), AU (Audience), EO 
(people), IO (region), AI (main), OU (soul). 
 
ATTENTION: friend (the long sound is the –e, the -i is a silent letter) 
 
SIGHT WORDS 
Sight words are also called IRREGULAR WORDS OR OUTLAW WORDS. They are words that not follow these rules of 
long and short sound. 
 WHOM — This should have short vowel sounds because they are closed syllables, like sat and cot, BUT IT HAS 
A LONG SOUND. 
 AGAIN, AGAINST, SAYS AND SAID — These should have long a sounds because of the AI vowel combination, 
like say and pain. (digraph). Attention to the sound, BUT THEY HAVE A SHORT SOUND. 
 BEEN — This should have a long e sound, like seen, BUT IT HAS A SHORT SOUND 
 The vowels i and o have the long vowel sound when followed by two or more consonants. Exceptions: 
MONTH, FRONT, OTHER,AMONG. (SHORT VOWEL SOUND) 
 When the vowel "o" is followed by "i," the two-vowel rule is not followed, as in "BOIL." – neither long nor 
short. 
 COUGH, THOUGHT, TOUGH – short sound 
R-CONTROLLED VOWEL (ALSO KNOWN AS R-COLORED VOWELS OR MURMUR DIPHTHONGS) 
AR - car, star, arm, shark 
ER - sister, brother, waiter, barber, butter, hammer, shutter. 
IR - shirt, skirt, girl, bird 
OR - corn, fork, cord 
UR - church, nurse, curve, burger 
 
ATTENTION: 
Grammarians have no consensus about how to classify the following vowels. 
Some will say they are long. Others that they are not long nor short. They are R-controlled. 
SCHWA /ə/ 
It is a sound that appears only in unstressed syllables. It happens to the vowel that comes immediately after or before 
the stressed vowel. 
 Example: the word photographer might be pronounced /fô'tógrafêr/ instead of the correct /fə'tagrəfər/. 
 like the 'a' in about [əbaʊt] 
like the 'e' in taken [ˈteɪkən] 
like the 'i' in pencil [ˈpɛnsəl] 
like the 'o' in eloquent [ˈɛləkwənt] 
like the 'u' in supply [səˈplaɪ] 
like the 'y' in sibyl [ˈsɪbəl] 
/a/ among, afraid, probably, attempt, away, adept 
/e/ Children, synthesis /i/ decimal 
/o/ Complete, harmony /u/ medium 
/y/ syringe 
 
 
EXERCISES 
1. Underline the word which contains the short form of the vowel: 
a) arrive heart fun heat 
b) fake seat vase come 
c) but meet seat cake 
d) each wheel hill bean 
e) rich meal reach eat 
 
2. Which word has a long vowel sound?: 
a) beat b) bet c) man d) men 
 
3. Which word sounds different? 
a) mother b) brother c) bother d) another 
Contents 
1)Redeploy the vocalic phonemes 
2)Work the concept of long and short vowel sounds 
 See what the North-American Patrick Brown wrote in July, 2003: “The orthography of English is absurd if not 
insane. There isn't any justification for it - it's just the way it is. Of course, those of us who are used to it feel 
attached to the charming madness of English spelling, and we'd be bereft were it ever changed.” 
 
First, there is considerable ambiguity in the English spelling system, and it works in both directions: many sounds to 
one spelling, and many spellings to one sound. 
 
Same spelling, different pronunciation 
PLOUGH /AW/ 
COUGH /OFF/ 
THROUGH /U:/ 
DOUGH /OW/ 
 
Different spelling, same pronunciation 
SEE [I:] 
SEA [I:] 
PEOPLE [I:] 
AMOEBA [I:] 
FIEND [I:] 
RULES FOR COUNTING THE NUMBER OF PHONEMES 
 Digraphs and diphthongs count as 1 phoneme. 
 Even if a vowel has a double sound, it is 1 phoneme. For example, in the word shy, even with the sound /ai/, 
you will have 1 phoneme. 
 “Time” has 3 phonemes /t/ /i/ /m/. –E at the end of the word is a magic –E. It doesn’t count as a phoneme. 
 If the word ends in “LE” the “E” is counted. 
How many phonemes are there in the following words? 
 
EXAMPLES 
How many words are there in “scarecrow”? 
Six in Australian and UK English - s / c / are / c / r / ow 
However, American English has more emphasis on the first "r", and thus there is an extra phoneme - s / c / a / re / c / r 
/ ow (7 phonemes) 
 
How many words are there in “whistle”? 
Five or 6. Five if you pronounce /w/ /i/ /s/ /e/ /l/. 
Six if you aspire the “H”: /h/ /w/ /i/ /s/ /e/ /l/. 
 
How many phonemes are there in BIBLE? 
Five. /b/ /i/ /b/ /l/ /e/. If the word ends in “LE” the “E” is counted. 
SEMIVOWELS OR GLIDES 
They are vowels masquerading as consonants. 
Examples of Y as a Consonant - yes - yam - yell - yellow - yogurt - yacht 
Examples of Y as a Vowel - gym - my - cycle - baby - hairy - sky - fairy 
Examples of Y as a Semivowel – valley 
Examples of W as a Consonant – winged – why – swell. 
Examples of W as a semivowel – bow – jaw –known - lawn 
PRONOUNCING PAST TENSE VERBS 
/d/ When the pronunciation of the infinitive ends in a VOWEL OR VOICED CONSONANT 
 
PRONOUNCING PAST TENSE VERBS 
/t/ When the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with a voiceless consonant 
 
/ d/ When the pronunciation of the infinitive ends with an alveolar stop consonant – /d/ or /t/ 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF PLURAL NOUNS, GENITIVE CASE AND PRESENT TENSE VERBS (THIRD PERSONS) 
The -s is pronounced like /z/ after voiced sounds. 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF PLURAL NOUNS, GENITIVE CASE AND PRESENT TENSE VERBS (THIRD PERSONS) 
The -s is pronounced like /s/ after voiceless sounds. 
 
PRONUNCIATION OF PLURAL NOUNS, GENITIVE CASE AND PRESENT TENSE VERBS (THIRD PERSONS) 
The -s is pronounced with an additional syllable - similar to "iz" - after the following endings, both voiced and voiceless 
which are sibilant. 
 
VOWELS CLASSIFICATION 
SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS 
 
LONG VOWEL SOUNDS 
 
RULES FOR LONG VOWEL SOUNDS 
 Vowel-consonant—e (magic –e) - the first vowel is usually LONG and the e is silent. E.g.: place, cake, mice, 
vote, mute. 
Exceptions: verbs – live, love, come 
 
 A syllable ends in any vowel and is the only vowel. 
E.g.:"pa/per, o/pen, u/nit. 
 
 A word has ONE vowel and it comes at the end of the word. 
E.g.: he – we – why - yo-yo - my 
 
 The vowels i and o have the LONG VOWEL SOUND when followed by two or more consonants. E.g.: child –
mind – light – old – colt 
 
 A syllable has 2 vowels together (digraph) , the first vowel is usually LONG and the second is silent. 
E.g.: pain, eat, boat, say, grow. 
RULES FOR SHORT VOWEL SOUNDS 
 A syllable ends in a consonant and has only one vowel 
E.g.: fat, bed, fish, spot, luck. 
 A vowel is followed by two consonants (digraphs) 
E.g.: Sammy, Beth, Ross 
RULES FOR SHORT AND LONG VOWEL SOUNDS 
According to some grammarians, diphthongs are neither long nor short. They are classified as diphthongs. 
 
According to some grammarians, when the diphthong doesn’t come at the end of the syllable and is represented by 
one vowel, this vowel is long and when it is represented by two vowels, it is neither long nor short. 
Let’s see the second case: 
mAke - long 
nIght – long 
nOIse – neither long nor short 
bOUgh - neither long nor short 
 
At the end of the syllable – neither long nor short 
no – neither long nor short 
day – neither long nor short 
low – neither long nor short 
boy - neither long nor short 
 
The following diphthongs are always NEITHER LONG NOR SHORT. 
here, near – neither long nor short 
there, wear – neither long nor short 
cure – neither long nor short 
SCHWA /ə/ 
It is a sound that appears only in unstressed syllables. It happens to the vowel that comes immediately after or before 
the stressed vowel. 
The word photographer might be pronounced /fô'tógrafêr/ instead of the correct /fə'tagrəfər/. 
 like the 'a' in about [ə’baʊt] 
like the 'e' in taken [‘teɪkən] 
like the 'i' in pencil [‘pɛnsəl] 
like the 'o' in eloquent [‘ɛləkwənt] 
like the 'u' in supply [sə’plaɪ] 
like the 'y' in sibyl [‘sɪbəl] 
 
EXERCISES 
1. Underline the word which contains the short form of the vowel: 
a) arrive heart fun heat 
b) fake seat vase come 
c) but meet seat cake 
d) each wheel hill bean 
e) rich meal reach eat 
2. In what option the number of phonemes is WRONG? 
a) dream -4 
b) glow - 3 
c) sweet - 4 
d) spread - 5 
e) slice - 4