Exercise 1 – Next to each monophthong, add words that contain the vowel.

Check your answers using the Cambridge dictionary:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/

/iː/
/ɪ/
/e/
/æ/
/ə/
/ɜː/
/ʌ/
/uː/
Exercise 2 : circle the 2 odd-one-outs
/ʊ/
- mock, money, shop, blog, knob, country
- curd, nerves, bird, cub, stern, bun /ᴐː/
- good, food, mood, moot, brood, book
- hood, booed, look, foot, poodle, hooked
/ɒ/
- caught, court, port, code, moment /ɑː/
- pan, pane, pass, path, hack, rag
- Thames, ten, Dane, bread, change
Partie I. Free vowels (voyelles libres)

A vowel is considered free when its phonological environment allows it to be long either in the form of a:
- tense vowel (puke /juː/ Pete /iː/)
- diphthong (pine cone cane)
TIP: the pronunciation corresponds to the way you say the letters A E I O U.

spelling IPA Examples (please add more)

<a> /eɪ/ RSPCA mate briˈgade coˌmmuniˈca○

t ion

<e> /iː/ EU Pete interˈvene comˈple○

t ion

<i> <y> /aɪ/ GI sci-fi Fry pine Tyne comˈpile aˈttri○

t ion

<o> /əʊ/ OCR NATO Cone aˈlone eˈmo○

t ion

<u> /(j)uː/ UN gnu Cute iˈmmune revoˈlu○

t ion

Environment 1: STRESSED Environment 2: unstressed

❖ Word or syllable final (ˈV#) ❖ Latin plurals:
➢ ago fry hi gnu ➢ 1 fungus => 2 fungi | calculus => 2 calculi | syllabus => i
➢ alphabet acronym => FBI DNA EU OED (other: ˈgemini ˈjedi ˈLevi’s)

❖ When the vowel is followed by 1 consonant & a mute <e> (ˈV+C+<e>) ❖ Suffix/ending in: -ise -ize -ify -ade
➢ stake meme vine ode huge ➢ ˈClarify ˈcertify ˈcascade ˈrenegade

❖ When the vowel is followed by ○

1 consonant & the strong suffix -ion (EXCEPT <i>) ❖ Final vowels in loanwords:
➢ ˈTofu ˈtutu ˈmenu Laˈtino aˌmeriˈcano ˈcello ˈphoto
○ ○
➢ comple t ion contriˈbu t ion |vs.| atte n ○○
t ion sedu○
c ○
t ion
/iː/ /juː/ |vs.| /ɛ/ /ʌ/
Nb: Whine/y vs. Whinnying. Shade/y vs. shabby
Partie II. Checked vowels (voyelles entravées)

A vowel is considered checked when its phonological environment makes it short or lax.
The environments are given below.
TIP: the pronunciation corresponds to the way you say the letters in pat, pet, pit, pot, putt / put

spelling IPA Examples (please add more)

<a> / æ / Mat, ˈbatter, ˈpanic, ˈpacify

<e> / e / Met, ˈbetter, ˈmedical,

<i> <y> / ɪ / bit, ˈmittens, ˌsimˈplicity, intui○

t ion

<o> / ɒ / Rock, ˈbottle, ˌgeneˈrosity, ˈmodify

/ ʌ / Bud, stumble, ˌunˈdo, sedu○ c ○ t ion

<u>
/ ʊ / Rarer: pull, push, put, pudding, bull, bush

Environment 1: STRESSED Environment 2: unstressed

❖ When the vowel is followed by a final consonant (ˈVC#)
➢ Mat, met, myth, sod
❖ When the vowel is followed by at least 2 consonants (ˈVCC(C))
➢ Batter, better, succulent, cobble, attract, box (/ks/)
❖ When the vowel is followed by a stress-imposing ending (-ic, -ical, -ity, -ify and
only for <i> with -ion)
➢ ˌSysteˈmatic, ˌecoˈnomical, intuition
Nb: bible => biblical, sacrifice => sacrificial (-ion & co),
❖ Unstressed <i>/<y> are generally /ɪ/ when they are inside
a word and followed by a consonant.
➢ CYnical, BIcycle, DANCing => /ɪ/
❖ When the primary stress is too close to the unstressed
vowel in a free environment => it becomes checked
➢ de.TER.mine, e.XA.mine, JAS.mine /ɪ/
➢ vs. UN.der.mine /aɪ/ (NB: mine is the root of the word
with under => prefix).Compounds: ˈsky||line, ˈdead||line,
ˈgrape||vine, ˈgold||vine
(NB: the word before can be deleted => the second word
keeps its original pronunciation).
Ressources:

https://thesoundofenglish.org/chapter-3-audio/
My channel (based on P3’s workbook)
https://youtu.be/8Wp_uFdglH0
https://youtu.be/xDNA3Ue3SJ0
https://youtu.be/zfo2j_laVTU

❖ The weak /i/ is used when the word final <y> is not pronounced as /aɪ/. If flexional forms are added the <y> becomes <i> but keeps its
pronunciation /i/.
➢ Happy, easy & easiest, spunky & spunkier.