English Vowel Sounds

A vowel letter can represent different vowel sounds: hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l], art [a:rt], any ['eni].
The same vowel sound is often represented by different vowel letters in writing: [ei] they, weigh, May, cake, steak, rain.

Open and closed syllables

 Open syllable: Kate [keit], Pete [pi:t], note [nout], site [sait], cute [kyu:t].

Closed syllable: cat [kæt], pet [pet], not [not], sit [sit], cut (the neutral sound [ə]).

Vowels and vowel combinations

The vowels A, E, I, O, U, Y alone, in combination with one another or with R, W represent different vowel sounds. The chart below lists the vowel sounds according to the American variant of pronunciation.

Sounds	Letters	Examples	Notes
[i:]	e, ee ea ie, ei	be, eve, see, meet, sleep, meal, read, leave, sea, team, field, believe, receive	been [i]; bread, deaf [e]; great, break [ei]; friend [e]
[i]	i y	it, kiss, tip, pick, dinner, Systems, busy, pity, sunny	machine, ski, liter, pizza [i:]
[e]	e ea	let, tell, press, send, end, bread, dead, weather, leather	meter [i:] sea, mean [i:]
[ei]	a ai, ay ei, ey ea	late, make, race, able, stable, aim, wait, play, say, day, eight, weight, they, hey, break, great, steak	said, says [e]; height, eye [ai]
[æ]	a	cat, apple, land, travel, mad; AmE: last, class, dance, castle, half
[a:]	ar a	army, car, party, garden, park, father, calm, palm, drama; BrE: last, class, dance, castle, half	war, warm [o:]
[ai]	i, ie y, uy	ice, find, smile, tie, lie, die, my, style, apply, buy, guy
[au]	ou ow	out, about, house, mouse, now, brown, cow, owl, powder	group, soup [u:] know, own [ou]
[o]	o	not, rock, model, bottle, copy
[o:]	or o aw, au ought al, wa-	more, order, cord, port, long, gone, cost, coffee, law, saw, pause, because, bought, thought, caught, hall, always, water, war, want	work, Word [ər]
[oi]	oi, oy	oil, voice, noise, boy, toy
[ou]	o oa, ow	go, note, open, old, most, road, boat, low, own, bowl	do, move [u:] how, owl [au]
[yu:]	u ew eu ue, ui	use, duty, music, cute, huge, tune, few, dew, mew, new, euphemism, feud, neutral, hue, cue, due, sue, suit
[u:]	u o, oo ew ue, ui ou	rude, Lucy, June, do, move, room, tool, crew, chew, flew, jewel, blue, true, fruit, juice, group, through, route; AmE: duty, new, sue, student	guide, quite [ai]; build [i]
[u]	o o u ou	look, book, foot, good, put, push, pull, full, sugar, would, could, Should
neutral sound [ə]	u, o ou a, e o, i	gun, cut, son, money, love, tough, enough, rough, about, brutal, taken, violent, memory, reason, family	Also: stressed, [ʌ]; Unstressed, [ə].
[ər]	er, ur, ir or, ar ear	serve, herb, burn, hurt, girl, sir, work, word, doctor, dollar, heard, earn, earnest, earth	heart, hearth [a:]

http://usefulenglish.ru/phonetics/english-vowel-sounds

earning the snds

The sounds are organized into the following different groups:

Short vowels
 

Long vowels

Diphthongs (double vowel sounds)

Voiceless consonants

Voiced consonants

Other consonants

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/

Consonant letters and their sounds

A consonant letter usually represents one consonant sound. Some consonant letters, for example, c, g, s, can represent two different consonant sounds.

Letters	Sounds	Examples
b	[b]	baby, best, buy, bring, blind, absent, about, number, labor, robber, tub
c	[s] [k]	center, cellar, cigarette, cinema, agency, notice; cake, come, cucumber, clean, cry, scratch, act, panic
d	[d]	day, dear, die, door, duty, admire, hidden, lady, kind, ride, ended
f	[f]	fast, female, five, forest, fund, fry, flight, often, deaf, cuff
g	[g] [j] [zh]	game, gap, get, go, gun, great, global, giggle, ago, begin, dog, egg; general, gin, giant, agent, suggest, Egypt, energy, huge, manage; mirage, garage, beige, rouge
h	[h] [-]	hair, help, history, home, hotel, hunt, behind, inherit; hour, honor, honest, heir, vehicle, Sarah
j	[j]	jam, Jane, jet, jelly, Jim, jingle, joke, John, June, just
k	[k]	Kate, kind, kill, kilogram, sky, blanket, break, take, look
l	[l]	late, let, live, alone, close, slim, please, old, nicely, table, file, all
m	[m]	make, men, mind, mother, must, my, common, summer, name, form, team
n	[n]	napkin, never, night, no, nuclear, funny, student, kindness, ton, sun
p	[p]	paper, person, pick, pour, public, repair, apple, keep, top, crisp
q (qu)	[kw] [k]	quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require; unique, technique, antique, grotesque
r	[r]	rain, red, rise, brief, grow, scream, truck, arrive, hurry, turn, more, car
s	[s] [z]	send, simple, song, system, street, lost, kiss, release; cause, present, reason, realism, advise, always, is, was
t	[t]	task, tell, time, tone, tune, hotel, attentive, student, boat, rest
v	[v]	vast, vein, vivid, voice, even, review, invest, give, move, active
w	[w]	wall, war, way, west, wind, word, would, swear, swim, twenty, twist
x	[ks] [gz] [z]	exercise, exchange, expect, ex-wife, axis, fix, relax; exam, exact, executive, exert, exist, exit, exult; Xenon, Xerox, xenophobia, xylophone
z	[z] [ts]	zero, zoo, horizon, puzzle, crazy, organize, quiz, jazz; pizza, Mozart, Nazi, waltz

Note 1: the letter Y

The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant. As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds [i], [ai]. As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.

[i]: baby, hurry, lyrics, mystery;

[ai]: by, try, rely, nylon, type;

[y]: yacht, yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you, young, Yukon.

 Note 2: the letter W

The letter W represents the vowel sound [u:] in the diphthongs [au] and [ou]: now, how, owl, brown; low, own, bowl.

Consonant combinations

Letters	Sounds	Examples
cc	[ks] [k]	accent, accept, access, eccentric, accident; accommodate, account, accuse, occur, acclaim
ch tch	[ch]	chain, check, chief, choose, teacher, much, church; kitchen, catch, match, watch, pitch, stretch
ch (Latin, Greek) ch (French)	[k] [sh]	character, chemical, Chris, archive, mechanic, technical, ache; champagne, charlatan, chef, chic, machine, cache
ck	[k]	black, pack, deck, kick, pick, cracker, pocket, rocket
dge	[j]	bridge, edge, judge, knowledge, budget, badger
gh	[g] [f] [-]	ghost, ghastly, Ghana, ghetto; cough, enough, rough, tough, laugh; though, through, weigh, neighbor, bought, daughter
gu	[g] [gw]	guard, guess, guest, guide, guitar, dialogue; Language, linguistics, Guatemala, Nicaragua
ng	[ŋ] [ŋ]+[g]	king, sing, singer, singing, bang, long, wrong, tongue; finger, anger, angry, longer, longest, single
ph	[f]	phone, photograph, phrase, phenomenon, biography
qu	[kw] [k]	quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require; unique, technique, antique, grotesque
sc	[s] [sk]	science, scissors, scene, scent, scythe; scan, scandal, scare, score, Scotch, scuba
sch	[sk] [sh]	school, scholar, scheme, schedule; schnauzer, schedule
sh	[sh]	share, she, shine, shoe, fish, cash, push, punish
th	[θ] [ð]	thank, thick, think, thought, thunder, author, breath, bath; this, that, then, though, father, brother, breathe, bathe
wh	[w] [h]	what, when, where, which, while, why, whale, wheel, white; who, whom, whose, whole
xh	[ks] [ks]+[h] [g]+[z]	exhibition; exhumation, exhume, exhale; exhaust, exhibit, exhilarate, exhort, exhume, exhale
With silent letters	Sounds	Examples
bt, pt	[t]	doubt, debt, subtle; receipt, pterodactyl
kn, gn, pn	[n]	knee, knife, know; gnome, sign, foreign; pneumonia, pneumatic
mb, lm	[m]	lamb, climb, bomb, comb, tomb; calm, palm, salmon
ps	[s]	psalm, pseudonym, psychologist, psychiatrist
rh	[r]	rhapsody, rhetoric, rheumatism, rhythm, rhyme
wr	[r]	wrap, wreck, wrestle, wrinkle, wrist, write, wrong
Letters in the suffix	Sounds	Examples
ti, ci, si, su	[sh]	nation, patient, special, vicious, pension, Asia, sensual, pressure
si, su	[zh]	vision, fusion, Asia, usual, visual, measure, pleasure

http://usefulenglish.ru/phonetics/english-consonant-sounds

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZIPOGkyx-7I/hqdefault.jpg

Diphthong comes from the Greek word diphthongs which mean "having two sounds." Notice the di- for "double." So diphthongs are double vowel sounds in words like late, ride, or pout. If two vowels in a row are the same, as in boot or beer, then it's not a diphthong. Linguists, scholars who study language, analyze diphthongs, which differ from language to language. Ironically, the word diphthong has no diphthongs.

A diphthong is a sound made by combining two vowels, specifically when it starts as one vowel sound and goes to another, like the oy sound in oil.

Diphthong
• Diphthong: Sounds which consist of a movement or glide from one vowel to another.
• Pure Vowel: A vowel which remains constant, it does not glide.
• Diphthongs have the same length as the long vowels.
• The first part (sound) is much longer and stronger than the second part.
• Example: aɪ in the words ‘eye’ and ‘ɪ ’ consists of the ‘a’ vowel, and only in about the last quarter of the diphthong, does the glide to ‘ɪ’ becomes noticeable.

English has 8 diphthongs.
Centering diphthong:
1. three (3) ending in ‘ə’ : ɪə, eə, ʊə
Closing diphthong
2. Three (3) ending in ‘ɪ’: eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ
3. Two (2) ending in ‘ʊ’: əʊ, aʊ

Examples:
• ɪə : beard, weird, fierce, ear, beer, tear
• eə: aired, cairn, scarce, bear, hair,
• ʊə: moored, tour, lure, sure, pure
• eɪ : paid, pain, face, shade, age, wait, taste, paper
• aɪ: tide, time, nice, buy, bike, pie, eye, kite, fine
• ɔɪ: void, loin, voice, oil, boil, coin, toy, Roy
• əʊ: load, home, most, bone, phone, boat, bowl
• aʊ: loud, gown, house, cow, bow, brow, grouse

First, let us take up the 12 pure vowels. When pronounced, they do not change quality and that is why they are termed as ‘monophthongs’. For ease of study, they are given in the form of a table, below:

Note: Please refer this table for the symbolic representation of the vowels according to their respective serial number.

1 is the vowel found in neat, seat, sheet, each
2 occurs in words like: in, if, bid, city
3 as in set, head, net
4 occurs in bat, cat, ant
5 in ask, car, aunt
6 in words like: on, not, cot, odd
7 in caught, horse, law
8 in put, book, hook
9 in boon, two, move, group
10 in cup, come, does
11 in bird, earn, learn
12 in ago (first syllable)

The next 8 vowels are diphthongs. They glide from one quality to another within the same syllable.

13 in here, near, rear
14 in tour, poor, doer
15 in care, dare, share
16 in play, aim, name
17 in boy, boil, soil
18 in eyes, buy, ice
19 in cow, noun, crown
20 in go, boat, own

Triphthong

 (ˈtrɪfθɒŋ; ˈtrɪp-)

n

1. (Phonetics & Phonology) a composite vowel sound during the articulation of which the vocal organs move from one position througha second, ending in a third

2. (Phonetics & Phonology) a trigraph representing a composite vowel sound such as this

1. a monosyllabic speech-sound sequence made up of three differing vowel qualities, as in some pronunciations of our.

2. trigraph

Triphthongs

• A triphthong is a glide from one vowel to another and to a third, all produced rapidly and without interruption. For example, a careful pronunciation of the word ‘hour’ begins with a vowel quality similar to ‘ɑ:’ goes on to ‘ʊ’ then ends in ‘ə’.
• It says /aʊə/
• Triphthong: 5 closing diphthongs with ‘ə’ added on the end.
– eɪ + ə = eɪə . as in layer, player
– aɪ + ə = aɪə. as in lire, fire
– ɔɪ + ə = ɔɪə, as in loyal, royal
– əʊ + ə = əuə, as in lower, mower
– aʊ + ə = auə, as in power, hour.

http://www.english-efl.com/speak-english/pronunciation/english-diphthongs-and-triphthongs/

https://www.google.com.mx/search?q=triphthongs+and+diphthongs+charts&rlz=1C1LENN_enMX516MX516&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTmIqFn8vJAhUKhoMKHbXkA8gQsAQILQ

What is Word Stress?

In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.

Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the "shape" of each word is different.

Mistakes in word stress are a common cause of misunderstanding in English. Here are the reasons why:

Stressing the wrong syllable in a word can make the word very difficult to hear and understand; for example, try saying the following words: 

• "I carried the b'tell to the hottle."
  
  Now reverse the stress patterns for the two words and you should be able to make sense of the sentence!
  "I carried the bottle to the hotel."

• Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the word:
  "They will desert* the desert** by tomorrow."

·          

o O desert*

O o desert**

·        
Think about the grammatical difference between desert* and desert**. 

·         Even if the speaker can be understood, mistakes with word stress can make the listener feel irritated, or perhaps even amused, and could prevent good communication from taking place.

These three reasons tell me that word stress is an important part of the English language, and it is something I should help my students with.

What word stress is
When we stress syllables in words, we use a combination of different features. Experiment now with the word 'computer'. Say it out loud. Listen to yourself. The second syllable of the three is stressed. What are you doing so that the listener can hear that stress?

• A stressed syllable combines five features:
• It is l-o-n-g-e-r - com p-u-ter
• It is LOUDER - comPUTer
• It has a change in pitch from the syllables coming before and afterwards. The pitch of a stressed syllable is usually higher.
• It is said more clearly -The vowel sound is purer. Compare the first and last vowel sounds with the stressed sound.
• It uses larger facial movements - Look in the mirror when you say the word. Look at your jaw and lips in particular.

It is equally important to remember that the unstressed syllables of a word have the opposite features of a stressed syllable!

Some 'rules' of word stress
there are patterns in word stress in English but, as a rule (!), it is dangerous to say there are fixed rules. Exceptions can usually be found.

• Here are some general tendencies for word stress in English:

Word	Type of Word	Tendency	Exceptions
Apple table happy	two-syllable nouns and adjectives	stress on the first syllable O o apple	hotel lagoon
suspect import insult	words which can be used as both nouns and verbs	the noun has stress on the first syllable O o "You are the suspect!" The verb has stress on the second syllable o O "I suspect you."	respect witness
hairbrush football	compound nouns	fairly equally balanced but with stronger stress  on the first part O o hairbrush

How I help my students
Students can be alarmed when they meet words which are similar but have different stress patterns:

In the classroom

• Raise awareness & build confidence
  You can use the same questions with your students that I have used in this article. These will help to raise the students' awareness of word stress and its importance. Some learners love to learn about the 'technical' side of language, while others like to 'feel' or 'see' the language more, hearing the music of word stress or seeing the shapes of the words. Try to use a variety of approaches: helping students to engage with English in different ways will help them in their goal to become more proficient users of the language. Build students' confidence by drawing their attention to the tendencies and patterns in word stress that do exist.

• Mark the stress
  Use a clear easy-to-see way of marking stress on the board and on handouts for students. I use the big circle - small circle (O o) method. It is very easy to see and has the added advantage of identifying the number of syllables in the word, as well as the stressed syllable.
  
  Students also need to be aware of the way dictionaries usually mark stress - with a mark before the stressed syllable, e.g. 'apple. By knowing this, students will be able to check word stress independently.

• Cuisenaire rods
  These different sized, small coloured blocks are great for helping students to 'see' the word stress. The students build the words using different blocks to represent stressed and unstressed syllables. (Children's small building blocks are a good substitute!)
• Integrate word stress into your lessons
  you don't need to teach separate lessons on word stress. Instead, you can integrate it into your normal lessons. The ideal time to focus students' attention on it is when introducing vocabulary. Meaning and spelling are usually clarified for students but the sound and stress of the word can all too often be forgotten.
  
  
• Quickly and simply elicit the stress pattern of the word from the students (as you would the meaning) and mark it on the board. Drill it too!
  
  Students can use stress patterns as another way to organise and sort their vocabulary. For example, in their vocabulary books they can have a section for nouns with the pattern O o, and then a section for the pattern o O. Three syllable words can be sorted into O o o (Saturday, hospital) and o O o (computer, unhappy). 

• Remember what I noted before: The more times students mentally engage with new vocabulary, the more they are likely to actually learn it. Engaging students through word stress helps to reinforce the learning of the words.

• Troubleshooting
  initially, many students (and teachers!) find it difficult to hear word stress. A useful strategy is to focus on one word putting the stress on its different syllables in turn. For example:

o o 0 computer

0 o o computer

o 0 o computer

• Say the word in the different ways for the students, really exaggerating the stressed syllable and compressing the unstressed ones. Ask the students which version of the word sounds 'the best' or 'the most natural'.
  
  By hearing the word stressed incorrectly, students can more easily pick out the correct version.
  
  A personalized and effective way of getting students to hear the importance of correct word stress is by using people's names as examples. I introduce Word stress with my name:
•  
• "How many parts/syllables are there in my name?"
• "Which is the strongest - the first or second?"
• "Is it Emma or Emma?"

• Then you can question students about their own names - this will give them a personalized connection to the issue of word stress, with a word they will never forget!
  
  Conclusion
  any work on aspects of pronunciation can take a long time to show improvements and be challenging for both the students and the teacher, but working on word stress can be fun and over time will help your students to be better understood and more confident speakers.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/word-stress

REDUCTION: We can go one step beyond reducing one of the sentences to a subordinate clause. We can reduce it to less than clause. We can reduce it to a phrase (a group of words without both a subject and verb). A sentence may be reduced to a:( the ​act of making something, or of something ​becoming, ​smaller in ​size, ​amount, ​degree, ​importance)

• Participial phrase The boy, scared by the movie, began to cry. The boy was scared by the movie. The boy began to cry.
• Gerund phrase studying for the test increased his confidence. He studied for the test.  He felt confident.
• Infinitive phrase She was excited to see the movie star in the restaurant. She saw the movie star in the restaurant. She was excited.
• Prepositional phrase The story in the newspaper was interesting. There was a story in the newspaper. The story was interesting.

Same time

Time clauses with "while" and "when" can be reduced by deleting the subject and "be" verb.

While I was eating dinner, I watched television.

While eating dinner, I watched television.

When you are in Rome, (you) do as the Romans do.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

If there is no "be" verb, change the verb in the subordinating clause to its -ing form. Sometimes the subordinator (when or while) can be deleted as well.

When I opened the door, I saw a strange sight.

When opening the door, I saw a strange sight.

Opening the door, I saw a strange sight.

Note: If the subjects are different, you may not reduce the adverbial clause.

While I was taking a shower, my sister called from California.

While taking a shower, my sister called from California.

Be careful when reducing time clauses that come at the end of sentences.

We saw many beautiful birds while we were fishing in the lake.

We saw many beautiful birds while fishing in the lake.

We saw many beautiful birds fishing in the lake.

Different times

After I finished my homework, I went to bed.

After finishing my homework, I went to bed.

After I had finished my homework, I went to bed.

After having finished my homework, I went to bed.

Having finished my homework, I went to bed.

Before he left the dance, Jerry said good-bye to his girlfriend.

Before leaving the dance, Jerry said good-bye to his girlfriend.

Other clauses

Sometimes clauses with because can be reduced.

Because he was a doctor, George knew how to handle the situation.

Being a doctor, George knew how to handle the situation.

As a doctor, George knew how to handle the situation.

http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/reducing_adverbial_clauses.html

Reduce to an Adjective

1.     Relative pronoun

2.    Remove the verb (usually 'be', but also 'seem', 'appear', etc.)

3.    Place the adjective used in the relative clause before the modified noun

Examples:

The children who were happy played until nine in the evening. -> Reduced: The happy children played until nine in the evening.
The house which was beautiful was sold for $300,000. -> Reduced: The beautiful house was sold for $300,000.

Reduce to an Adjective Phrase

1. Remove the relative pronoun
2. Remove the verb (usually 'be', but also 'seem', 'appear', etc.)
3. Place the adjective phrase after the modified noun

Examples:

The product, which seemed perfect in many ways, failed to succeed in the market. -> Reduced: The product, perfect in many ways, failed to succeed in the market.
The boy who was pleased by his grades went out with his friends to celebrate. -> Reduced: The boy pleased by his grades went out with his friends to celebrate.

Reduce to a Prepositional phrase

1.    Remove the relative pronoun

2.    Remove the verb 'be'

3.    Place the Propositional phrase after the modified noun

Examples:

The box which was on the table was made in Italy. -> Reduced: The box on the table was made in Italy.
The woman who was at the meeting spoke about business in Europe. -> Reduced: The woman at the meeting spoke about business in Europe./i>

Reduce to an Past Participle

1. Remove the relative pronoun
2. Remove the verb 'be'
3. Place the past participle before the modified noun

Examples:

The desk which was stained was antique. -> Reduced: The stained desk was antique.
The man who was elected was very popular. -> Reduced: The elected man was very popular.

Reduce to a Past Participle Phrase

1. Remove the relative pronoun
2. Remove the verb 'be'
3. Place the past  participle phrase after the modified noun

Examples:

The car which was purchased in Seattle was a vintage Mustang.-> Reduced: The car purchased in Seattle was a vintage Mustang.
The elephant which was born in captivity was set free. -> Reduced: The elephant born in captivity was set free.

Reduce to a Present Participle 1

1. Remove the relative pronoun
2. Remove the verb 'be'
3. Place the present participle phrase after the modified noun

Examples:

The professor who is teaching mathematics will leave the university. -> Reduced: The professor teaching mathematics will leave the university.
The dog that is lying on the floor won't get up. -> Reduced: The dog lying on the floor won't get up.

Reduce to a Present Participle 2

Some actions verbs reduce to the  present participle (ing form) especially when the present tense is used.

1. Remove the relative pronoun
2. Change the verb to the  present participle form
3. Place the present participle phrase after the modified noun

Examples:

The man who lives near my home walks to work every day. -> Reduced: The man living near my home walks to work every day.
The girl who attends my school lives at the end of the street. -> Reduced: The girl attending my school lives at the end of the street.

http://esl.about.com/od/grammarstructures/a/Reduced-Relative-Clauses.htm