INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA

Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209

PRONUNCIATION

The Sounds of English

 INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA
Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209

Consonant Clusters/Common Mistakes

Consonant clusters: Two or more consonants with no vowel between them.

 beginning of word e.g. pretty; street

 middle of word e.g. degree; entry; instrument

 end of word e.g. sift; asks

Consonant clusters at the end of words can show grammatical meaning:

 plurals e.g. students; books

 past tense e.g. cooked; climbed

 present tense e.g. loves; thinks

Common mistakes with consonants:

 use a different consonant e.g. ‘light’ sounds like ‘night’

 delete consonant at end of word e.g. ‘save’ sounds like ‘say’

 add a vowel e.g. ‘past’ sounds like ‘pasta’

Common mistakes with consonant clusters:

 delete them e.g. ‘first’ sounds like ‘fur’

 delete some of them e.g. ‘tense’ sounds like ‘ten’

 add a vowel after or between consonants e.g. ‘just’ sounds like ‘just
a’; or ‘improved’ sounds like ‘improve it’

 pronounce a different consonant e.g. ‘fly’ sounds like ‘fry’

 INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA
Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209
Sounds Practice:
 INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA
Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209
 INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA
Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209
Pronunciation

How do you understand a new word of a new language? We have to break the
word to be able to correctly pronounce it.

A part of a word or a word which contains a single vowel sound is known as a

syllable. It is a single unit of speech that builds up the structure of every
word. It gives a word its pronunciation.

Each word contains at least one or more syllable as a word can be

formed without a consonant sound but can’t be formed without a vowel
sound. E.g. ‘a’

Following are the examples of words with single syllable:

1. Man 2. Cup 3. Hat

Single vowel sound can be made of more than one vowel letters. E.g.

1. Moon 2. Cake 3. Bought

As all of these words contain only one vowel sound, therefore, they are
single syllable words.

Examples of words with two syllables:

1. Garden : gar den

2. Hotel : ho tel

3. Consist : con sist

4. Focus : fo cus

Examples of words with the three syllables:

1. September : sep tem ber

2. Department : de part ment

3. Telephone : te le phone
 INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA
Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209

4. Camera : ca me ra

5. Saturday : sa tur day

Examples of words with four syllables:

1. Information : in for may tion

2. Practically : prac ti ca lly

3. Photography : pho to gra phy

4. Competition : com pe ti tion

Similarly, there can be words with even more syllables.

Word Stress:
When a word has more than one syllable, not all syllables are pronounces with the same
degree of force.

Phoneme - The smallest unit at the level of sounds of one particular language is called
‘phoneme’. Peter Roach defines phonemes as “the abstract set of unit as the basis of our
speech.” Phonemes are systematically distinguishable from each other, e.g. the /t/ from /p/
in /tin/ and /pin/. The phoneme of spoken language differs from the letters of a written
language.

The phonemes of English and their number vary from dialect to dialect, and also depend
on the interpretation of the individual researcher. The number of consonant phonemes is
generally put at 24 (or slightly more). The number of vowels is subject to greater variation;
there are 20 vowel phonemes in Received Pronunciation, 14–16 in General American and
20– 21 in Australian English. Out of this 12 are pure vowels or Monophthongs and 8 are
vowel glides or Diphthongs.

Stress - Stress is the intensity or prominence given to a syllable. It may be defined as

‘emphasis on a syllable or word in the form of prominent, relative loudness’. In traditional
approach, each English word consisting of more than one syllable can be ascribed to any
 INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA
Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209
one of these three degrees – primary or loud, secondary or medium and unstressed.

Regarding the production of stress, Peter Roach observes that it depends on the speaker
using “more muscular energy than is used for unstressed syllables”. If prominence is given
to a syllable in isolated words, it is called word-stress. When prominence is given to syllable
in sentences, it is called sentence

Vowels can be considered the cornerstone of the English writing system. Nearly every word
requires at least one vowel to be formed and pronounced correctly. Let’s quickly go over
some of the most common vowel sounds and examples of how they’re used.

In order to have the pronunciation of an English speaker, practice is imperative. Here are a
few tips on how to improve your English pronunciation skills, and ideas for English
pronunciation exercises.

1.) Visualize the word before saying: Some words are just difficult to pronounce, whether
due to their length or odd pronunciation rules. Sometimes, the most helpful thing is to
visualize what the word looks like on paper before you try pronouncing it, especially if you
tend to be better at reading and writing English than you are at speaking it. This will help you
know which letter (or letters) come(s) next so that you’re better prepared to actually say it.

2.) Watch yourself say the word: It can also be helpful to watch yourself say a word that
you’re having a hard time with. You can practice words while standing in front of a mirror or
even record a video of yourself saying it, so that you can actually see how your mouth and
face move as you speak. This way, you can better memorize the movements and see where
you might be making a mistake so you can more effectively fix it.

3.) Watch shows/movies in English: By watching television shows or movies in English,

you can quickly familiarize yourself with the pronunciation of multiple words. Once you
become used to hearing these words, they’ll become easier to pronounce yourself. When it
comes to English pronunciation, YouTube is another good source of listening and watching
material.
 INSTITUTE OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT KOLKATA
Course –BscH&HA , Sem 2, Sub-Communication skills –II, Code- BHA209

4.) Record yourself speaking and listen to the recording: If you’re having a hard time
with a certain word or sound, you can record yourself trying to say it and compare it to how it
sounds when someone else says it. This way, like tuning an instrument, you can slowly
correct your pronunciation against that example.

5.) Drills: No one wants to hear this, but doing drills and exercises to strengthen your
English pronunciation is the best way to ensure you master it! This may not be as fun as
watching movies, but it definitely has its place in the learning process.

Prepared By- Sharmi Banerjee