PHONETICS WORKSHOP

- Class 5 -

APPROXIMANT [ w, r, j ]

They are called approximant because the articulators approach each

other but don’t get sufficiently close to each other to produce a
“complete” consonant such as a plosive, a nasal or a fricative.

[ r ] - PALATO ALVEOLAR (approximant)

The tip of the tongue approaches the alveolar area in the way it would
for / t / or / d /, but never actually makes contact with any part of the
roof of the mouth.

/ r / - IT IS VOICED
It is usual for the lips to be rounded (slightly)

- This phoneme only occurs BEFORE VOWELS

Red / red /
Arrive / əraɪv /
Hearing / hɪərɪŋ /

- In these words the letter R is followed by a vowel, but there is no “r”

in the pronunciation

Car / kɑː /
Hard / hɑːd /
Ever / evə /
Verse / vɜːs /
Here / hɪə /
Cares / keəz /
[ j ] - PALATAL
[ w ] - BILABIAL

These consonants are phonetically like vowels but phonologically like

consonants.
The articulator of [ j ] is the same as / iː / but it is very short.

[ w ] is closely similar to / uː /

- They only occur BEFORE vowels. If a word beginning with a / w / or

/ j / is preceded by an indefinite article, it has to be the A form.

Way / weɪ / - A way

Year / jiə / - A year

Only in special contexts we hear a friction noise in / w / or / j /, when

they are preceded by / p /, / t /, / k / at the beginning of a syllable

Pure / pjʊə /
Tune / tjuːn /
Queue / kjuː /
Twin / twɪn /
Quin / kwɪn /
 WHAT IS STRESS?
Stress or accent is the emphasis or prominence given to a certain
syllable in a word or to a certain word in a phrase or sentence.

WORD STRESS: one syllable stands out more than the others. It is more
prominent.

Ta - ble Win - dow

O o O o

Stressed syllable = strong syllable

Unstressed syllable = weak syllable

● 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.

Stressing a word differently can change the meaning or type of the

word:
"They will desert the dessert by tomorrow."

oO Oo
desert dessert

Desert (v) Dessert (noun)

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

Hello “SCHWA” !! (the unstressed vowel)

We use the schwa / ə / whenever we come across a weak syllable

BANANA / bəˈnɑːnə /
 Weak A Away Banana Woman Sugar
/əˈweɪ/ /bəˈnɑːnə/ /ˈwʊmən/ /ˈʃʊɡə/

Weak E Garden Paper Under

/ˈɡɑːdən/ /ˈpeɪpə/ /ˈʌndə/
/ˈɡɑːdn̩/

Weak O Police Doctor Correct

/pəˈliːs/ /ˈdɒktə/ /kəˈrekt/

Weak U Support Figure Colour

/səˈpɔːt/ /ˈfɪɡə/ /ˈkʌlə/

We also use / ɪ / in weak syllables.

CARROT / ˈkærət / CABBAGE / ˈkæbɪdʒ /

Weak A Orange Cabbage

/ˈɒrɪndʒ/ /ˈkæbɪdʒ/

Weak E Dances Wanted Begin Women

/ˈdɑːnsɪz/ /ˈwɒntɪd/ /bɪˈɡɪn/ /ˈwɪmɪn/

Weak I Music Walking

/ˈmjuːzɪk/ /ˈwɔːkɪŋ/

Weak U Lettuce Minute

/ˈletɪs/ /ˈmɪnɪt/

LET’S PRACTICE!
Mr. Porter loves his pasta. / ˈmɪstə ˈpɔːtə ˈlʌvz ɪz ˈpæstə |
No one else can eat it faster. ˈnəʊ wʌn els kən iːt ˈɪt ˈfɑːstə |
Mr. Porter’s sister Rita, ˈmɪstə ˈpɔːtərz ˈsɪstə ˈriːtə |
buys the pasta by the metre. baɪz ðə ˈpæstə ˈbaɪ ðə ˈmiːtə |
Mr. Porter’s older daughter, ˈmɪstə pɔːtərz ˈəʊldə ˈdɔːtə |
boils it all in tubs of water. bɔɪlz ˈɪt ɔ:l ɪn tʌbz əv ˈwɔːtə |
Do you remember this? “Stress or accent is the emphasis or
prominence given to a certain syllable in a word or to a certain word
in a phrase or sentence.“

Well, some words are more important for the meaning you want to
convey than others, and this is what you call the RHYTHM OF ENGLISH.
When you speak of rhythm, you speak of some kind of combination
between strong syllables (stressed) and unstressed ones.

★ STRONG SYLLABLES usually fall on CONTENT WORDS

Nouns - verbs - adjectives - adverbs
(meaningful)

★ WEAK SYLLABLES fall on FUNCTION WORDS

Prepositions - articles - conjunctions - pronouns - auxiliaries
(they are empty of meaning and they connect with others)

/ ɪ / occurs most frequently in FUNCTION WORDS

IT /ɪt/ IN /ɪn/

/ ə / occurs ALWAYS in unstressed syllables of CONTENT WORDS

MISTER /ˈmɪstə/ DAUGHTER /ˈdɔːtə/

And in FUNCTION WORDS such as

THE /ðə/ OF /əv/

 LET’S DO SOME TRANSCRIPTIONS
a) | ðə ɡɜːlz fiːlz ɪmˈbærəst ˈbaɪ hə ˈmʌðəz ˈʃɑːpnəs |
b) | ðə ˈtu: ˈwɪmɪn ə ˈɡetɪŋ səʊkt ɪn ðə reɪn ənd ˈwɒnt tu kɔːl ə ˈtæksi |
c) | ən əʊld mæn əˈprəʊtʃɪz ðə ˈwʊmən ənd ˈɑːsks fər ə ˈfeɪvə |
d) | ði əʊld mæn z ˈhævɪŋ ə drɪŋk |
e) | ði əʊld mæn ˈɒfəz tu ɡɪv ɪz ʌmˈbrelə ɪn ɪkˈstʃeɪndʒ fər ə paʊnd nəʊt |
f) | ðə ˈmʌðər ˈlʊks ət ðə mæn səˈspɪʃəsli |
g) | ði əʊld mæn stiːlz ən ʌmˈbrelə |
h) | ði əʊld mæn ˈkrɒsɪz ðə stri:t ənd ˌdɪsəˈpɪəd ˈɪntə ə saɪd striːt |
i) | ˈhi: ɪz ˈwɔːkɪŋ ˈveri fɑːst |
j) | ˈmʌðər ən ˈdɔ:tər spɒt ði əʊld mæn ɪn ðə ˈred ˈlaɪən pʌb |
k) | ˈmʌðər ən ˈdɔ:tər ər ɪn ə ˈkæfeɪ ˈi:tɪŋ bəˈnɑːnə splɪts |
l) | ðə ˈmʌðər dɪˈsaɪdz tu ˈfɒləʊ ði əʊld mæn |
m) | ðə ˈwʊmən ɡɪvz ði əʊld mæn ə wʌn paʊnd nəʊt |

TIPS
- ˈmʌðər ( cuando la palabra siguiente empieza con vocal, la R se
pronuncia, sino es ˈmʌðə)
- TO es siempre /tə/ - cambia a /tʊ/ cuando la palabra siguiente
empieza con vocal
- AND es /ənd/ cuando la palabra siguiente empieza con vocal,
sino es /ən/