Portal:Phonology/Segmentals

Vowels and consonants are called segmentals - individual sounds into which words can be segmented. We focus on the phonemes, that is, general sound categories that are distinctive in the language. For example, the /b/ and /p/ are considered different sounds in English - bat is a distinctly different word from pat - but this sound contrast may not be true in other languages. Learners will have difficulty with how English phonemes sound in particular contexts, which is where phonetics knowledge will be helpful for teachers.

1 Phonemes

1.1 Links / PDFs

• Minimal pairs page for English phonemes
• Pronunciation drills: Typical drills for teaching phonemes
• List of English phonemes for evaluation or self-evaluation
• Spelling-phoneme patterns

2 Consonants

2.1 Links / PDFs

• Overview of English consonant system
• Stop consonants
• /f/ and /v/
• sounds /θ/ & /ð/
• spelling patterns
• /l/ and /r/
• Alveolar /z/
• Palatal consonants
• Consonant clusters

3 Vowels

3.1 Links / PDFs

• Overview of vowel system
• Tense & lax /i/, /<small I</small /
• Lax vowel /æ/ cf. /ε/
• Long /ei/ & short /ε/
• Long & short /ou/, /υ/
• Tense & lax /u/
• Schwa and /ʌ/
• Tense and lax vowel alternations
• Comparison of American, UK, Australian vowels

4 Consonant - vowel interactions and morphology

Morphology refers to word formation, e.g., by means of prefixes and suffixes; these often involve pronunciation changes and variant forms, such as multiple pronunciations of -ed and plural -s.

• Vocalic /r/
• Consontant-vowel interactions
• Final consonants and syllabic consonants
• The -ed, -s, -es endings