Curso Pronunciación de Inglés

Plan de estudios
Omitir Plan de estudios

Module 1. Sounds
Organs of speech and phonemic symbols
Vowels vs consonants. Voicing
Consonant pairs - TH
Consonant pairs - JET vs YET
Consonant pairs - F, V, B
Consonant pairs - S vs Z
Consonant pairs - CHAIN vs JANE
Module 2. Sounds 2
Vowel pairs - SHIP vs SHEEP
Vowel pairs - CAT vs CUT
Vowel pairs - PULL vs POOL
Vowel pairs - NOT, NOUGHT and NOTE
Vowel pairs - HAT vs HEART
Schwa
Module 3. Words
Word stress
Noun vs Verb homograph stress
Word stress in compounds
Weak forms
Module 4. Sentences
Linking
Intrusive consonants
Assimilation
Emphatic stress
Intonation in Questions
Intonation in Tags
Rhythm
Hello. Have you ever been in a situa on where you think your English might let you down?
Perhaps you are in a business mee ng or an interview with a na ve English speaker
and you are worried that they won’t understand you
or maybe you are nervous because you think your pronuncia on is giving a bad impression.
Well in this course on English pronuncia on we aim to help you put that right.
Over the four modules of this course we are going to look at how English speakers make the sounds of
the language. We are going to look at how they use stress and intona on to create meaning. And we
are going to look at how words are linked together to create normal fluid conversa onal speech.
My name is David Phillips and I have been an English teacher for many years,
thirty of them in Mexico working with Spanish speakers just like you. Sign up and join me
to help improve your pronuncia on and speak English with confidence.
Lección 1: Órganos del habla y símbolos

fonéticos
Inicio de la transcripción. Saltar al final.
Hello, and welcome to this edX course on English phonology for Spanish speakers.
Phonology is simply the study of how the sounds of a language are connected to meaning.
Over the modules and lessons of this course,
we aim to teach you how to improve your pronuncia on of English, giving you more
confidence when you speak, and helping you make a good impression on the people listening to you.
To do this, we’re going to look at exactly how the sounds of English are different from Spanish,
and how to make unfamiliar sounds.
We’re also going to look at how English stress, intona on, and rhythm contribute to meaning,
and how to talk at the same speed as a na ve speaker, and s ll be understood!
First, we’re going to see how all human beings make the sounds of speech, whatever
their language. Everybody on Earth has the same organs which help them speak. Here they are:
This is what your mouth looks like. At the front, we have the lips, here, and the teeth.
Just behind your top teeth is a hard part which curves upwards - you can feel it with your
tongue - it’s called the alveolar ridge. Behind that, at the top of your mouth, is your palate -
the hard palate first, and then the so5 palate. Your pharynx is at the top of your throat,
and below that is your larynx. We’ll talk about what that does in the next lesson!
Together with your nose, these are the organs you need to speak English,
or any other language. You have exactly the same set of organs
as Winston Churchill, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman or Mick Jagger!
You’ve probably no ced that one problem with English pronuncia on is that the spelling of
English words o5en doesn’t help you pronounce them. Spanish, on the other hand, is very regular.
To help solve this problem, we have a set of symbols which we use to represent specific sounds
in English. They are called phonemic symbols. Here they are:
As you can see, some of the symbols look like le8ers, but some don’t. Please don’t panic! You don’t need to learn all
these symbols now. In fact, you don’t need to know them in order to pronounce English well, but
they are very useful to help us explain things to you, and we are going to introduce some of them during the lessons
and modules of this course. So a5er that short introduc on to phonology, it’s me to move forward and start making
some sounds!
Lesson 1: Organs of speech and phonemic symbols

This course aims to teach you how to improve your pronunciation of English.
This has several benefits:
 You will have increased confidence.

 Your listeners will understand you better.
 You will speak more quickly, and in this way keep your listeners’ attention better.
 You will understand native speakers better.
 You will be better able to appreciate English theater, poetry and song.
Phonology - the science of sound and meaning - deals with individual sounds, but also
with stress, intonation and rhythm.
The sounds of English are different from those of Spanish, but are formed with the
same set of speech organs:
Linguists,
phonologists and language teachers use a set of phonemic symbols which represent
the sounds of English. Some of the symbols look like letters, but some don’t. This
course will introduce you to some of these symbols, but it is not necessary to learn
them all in order to have a good pronunciation!
Lección 2: Vocales y consonantes

1. Inicio de la transcripción. Saltar al final.
2. Hello. In this lesson, we’re going to look at how sounds are divided into VOWELS and CONSONANTS,
3. and we’re going to see how voicing influences sounds.
4. First, VOWELS. These are sounds we make by blowing air from our mouths.
5. Like this: [long aaaaa sound]. We can change the sound by changing the shape of our mouths.
6. For example [long eeeeee sound] or [long uuuuuuu sound].
7. Spanish has five different sounds like this,
8. but English uses about twelve, depending on the accent.
9. If we start making one vowel sound, and then change to another,
10. we get what is called a DIPHTHONG. Like this. [au sound] or [ei sound].
11. To make CONSONANT sounds, we restrict the air in some way. For example,
12. we can block the air completely behind our lips, and then release it suddenly.
13. For example: [p sound]. Or we can create a very narrow space for the air to go out,
14. and release it slowly, for example [ssssssssss sound].
15. Or we can stop the air coming out of the mouth, but allow it to go through the nose,
16. for example [mmmmmmm sound]. We can also use our teeth,
17. tongue and lips to change the sound. For example, if we put our tongue behind the bottom teeth,
18. and let the air out slowly, we get an S sound [ssssssssss sound]. But if we put our
19. teeth on our bottom lip, and do the same thing, we get and F sound [ffffffffff sound].
20. In future lessons, we’re going to look at some more of these sounds in more detail.
21. Another important element in making consonants sounds is VOICING. Let’s do an experiment.
22. Put your fingers on the front of your throat, like this. Now say AAAAAAAAA.
23. Can you feel a vibration? Now try this sound [sssssssssss sound]. This time there’s
24. no vibration, is there? That vibration is your larynx, and it’s called VOICING.
25. Incidentally, when you have laryngitis, you cannot make your larynx vibrate,
26. which is why you “lose your voice”.
27. All vowel sounds have voicing. But not all consonants do.
28. Put your fingers on your throat again and make the [ssssssss sound].
29. Now make the same sound, but with vibration. It should sound like this
30. [zzzzzzzzzz sound]. Like an insect. You should be able to alternate between these two sounds
31. without moving any other part of your mouth, just by switching
32. on and switching off the vibration. [sssszzzzsssszzzz sound].
33. Let’s try another pair. Do you remember the F sound I made earlier?
34. Does it have vibration? [ffffffffffff sound].
35. No, it doesn’t. What happens if we add vibration? Try it!
36. We get [vvvvvvvvv sound]. In these pairs, we say there is one VOICED consonant,
37. and one UNVOICED consonant, and we will be meeting more of them in future lessons.
38.
Lesson 2: Vowels and consonants

Sounds can be divided into VOWELS and CONSONANTS
VOWELS are made be expelling air from the mouth. Changing the shape of the mouth
changes the vowel sound.
Spanish has five different vowels, but English uses about twelve.
DIPHTHONG:
A DIPHTHONG is a slide from one vowel to another
Vowels and diphthongs of English
CONSONANT:
CONSONANT sounds are made by restricting the air in some way. Either completely,
followed by a sudden release (plosive consonants) for example P or T; or by creating a
narrow space and forcing air out (fricative consonants) for example S or F; or by
releasing air through the nose (nasal consonants) for example M or N.
CONSONANT sounds can also be classified by WHERE the air is restricted, For
example, by closing the lips (bilabial consonants) for example B or M; by pressing the
top teeth to the bottom lip (labio-dental consonants) for example F; by pushing the
tongue against the teeth (dental) for example TH; by using the alveolar ridge behind the
top teeth (alveolar consonants), for example T, N or S; or by involving different parts of
the palate (palatal and velar consonants), for example SH or G.
Consonants of English
The third element to distinguish different consonants is VOICING, or vibration of the
larynx. This creates (in English) eight pairs of Voiced-Unvoiced consonants.
The other eight consonants are all voiced, but do not form pairs.
To distinguish phonemic symbols from letters, we usually use to slashes // to indicate

the symbol.
So p is a letter, but /p/ is a phonemic symbol.
"Bed" is a word made of letters, but /bed/ is a series of phonemic symbols. In this
case, they look similar, but this doesn’t always happen. For
example, "judge" is /ʤɅʤ/ and "thing" is /θIŋ/.
Lección 3: Pares de Consonantes - TH

1. Hello. In this lesson, we’re going to look at a pair of sounds that often cause
2. problems for Latin American Spanish speakers.
3. They’re usually spelled TH in English words. For example, in the word THINK.
4. To make these sounds the tip of your tongue should be touching the tips of your top teeth,
5. like this.
6. You try it [θ sound].
7. Now try saying these words after me: THIN - THICK - THANK.
8. If your tongue is a little too low, behind your bottom teeth, then you’ll make an S sound.
9. Listen to these pairs of words, try saying them, and feel how your tongue is a
10. little higher on the first and lower on the second. THIN - SIN, THICK - SICK, THANK - SANK.
11. On the other hand, if your tongue is too high, behind your alveolar ridge,
12. then you’ll make a T sound. Listen to these pairs of words and try saying them, feel how
13. your tongue is a little lower on the first, and higher on the second.
14. THIN - TIN, THICK - TICK, THANK - TANK But at the beginning, I mentioned two sounds,
15. didn’t I? The other sound is exactly the same as the one we’ve been practicing, except it has
16. VOICING, vibration of the larynx. It sounds like this: [ð sound]. Try saying these
17. words after me: THEN - BREATHE - THEY - WITH As with the first sound, if your tongue is a
18. little too low, behind your bottom teeth, then you will make a [zzzzzzz sound]. Listen to
19. these pairs of words, try saying them, and feel how your tongue is a little higher on the first
20. and lower on the second. THEN - ZEN, BREATHE - BREEZE, WITH - WHIZZ.
21. And again, if your tongue is too high, behind your alveolar ridge, then you will make a D
22. sound. Listen to these pairs of words, try saying them, and feel how your tongue is
23. a little lower on the first, and higher on the second. THEN - DEN, BREATHE - BREED, THEY - DAY.
24. The phonemic symbols for these two sounds look like this:
25. /ð/ - Voiced /θ/ - Voiceless
26. To finish this lesson. Here’s a sentence for you to practice:
27. THESE THINGS ARE THINNER THAN THOSE THINGS THERE. Have fun!
28.
Lesson 3: Consonant Pairs - TH

The letters TH usually represent one of two sounds, Voiced and Voiceless.
The phonemic symbols for these two sounds are:
/ð/ - Voiced
/θ/ - Voiceless
These sounds are Dental Fricatives. This means that the tongue should touch the tip of
the top teeth, and the air is forced out between the tongue and teeth.
The sounds are often confused with /Z/ and /d/ (voiced) or /S/ and /t/ (voiceless).
Here are some pairs of words to practice:
/ð/ vs /Z/
THEN ZEN
WITH WHIZZ
CLOTHING CLOSING
BATHE BAYS
BREATHE BREEZE
Practice:
Then-Zen
Tap to speak
With-Whizz
Tap to speak
Clothing-Closing
Tap to speak
Bathe-Bays
Tap to speak
Breathe-Breeze
Tap to speak
/ð/ vs /d/
THEN DEN
BREATHE BREED
THEY DAY
THOUGH DOE
WRITHE RIDE
THERE DARE
Practice:
Then-Den
Tap to speak
Breathe-Breed
Tap to speak
They-Day
Tap to speak
Though-Doe
Tap to speak
Writhe-Ride
Tap to speak
There-Dare
Tap to speak
/θ/ vs /S/
MOUTH MOUSE
THING SING
FOURTH FORCE
THICK SICK
THOUGHT SORT
Practice:
Mouth-Mouse
Tap to speak
Thing-Sing
Tap to speak
Fourth-Force
Tap to speak
Thick-Sick
Tap to speak
Thought-Sort
Tap to speak
/θ/ vs /t/
THIN TIN
THICK TICK
THREE TREE
THANKS TANKS
THREW TRUE
FOURTH FORT
Practice:
Thin-Tin
Tap to speak
Thick-Tick
Tap to speak
Three-Tree
Tap to speak
Thanks-Tanks
Tap to speak
Threw-True
Tap to speak
Fourth-Fort
Tap to speak
Record yourself saying each pair of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the first
sounds differently in each pair. The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who
are interested: they are not necessary to complete the activity successfully.
1) THEN - ZEN /ðen/ - /zen/
2) THEY - DAY /ðeI/ - /deI/
3) THING - SING /θIŋ/ - /sIŋ/
4) THREE - TREE /θri:/ - /si:/
5) BREATHE - BREEZE /bri:ð/ - /bri:z/
6) FOURTH - FORT /fɔ:(r)θ/ - /fɔ:(r)t/
Lección 4: Pares de consonantes - JET vs

YET
2. Hello. In this lesson
3. we’re going to look at jello.
4. And talk about the colour yellow
5. Or even yellow jello!
6. The sounds at the beginning of these two words are different,
7. but can be confusing for Spanish speakers. The sound at the beginning of “jello”, “January”,
8. “jump” and “jeans” is very similar to the sound at the beginning of Spanish words like “ya”, “yegua”
9. and “yendo”. Try saying these Spanish words, and notice how your tongue starts out touching the
10. top of your mouth, at the front of the alveolar ridge, then it moves down as you say the sound.
11. The English sound at the start of “jello” starts almost at the same place, perhaps a millimetre or
12. so further back, but also with the tongue touching the top of your mouth. Try saying these words:
13. JET, JULY, GENERAL, GINGER The phonetic symbol for this sound
14. is /ʤ/
15. And as you can see from the examples a moment ago, the sound is often spelled with a J or a G.
16. Now try saying the word JET again, but this time, don’t let your tongue
17. touch the top of your mouth as you begin the first sound. You should be saying YET.
18. The phonemic symbol for the sound at the beginning of YET
19. is /j/
20. Which is perhaps confusing, I know. Try some other pairs of words. JAM, with
21. the tongue touching, and YAM, not touching. How about JAWS - touching - and YOURS, not touching.
22. And of course the pair we started with: JELLO, touching, and YELLOW, not touching.
23. To JUMP between the sounds needs JUST a small ADJUSTMENT. Can YOU do it YET? YES, YOU
can.
24.
Lesson 4: Consonant Pairs - JET vs YET

The two sounds covered in this lesson are similar in production, and often confused by
Spanish speakers.
The first is /ʤ/ - a Voiced Palato-Alveolar Affricate, to be technical. This means it is
formed by placing the tongue so that the tip touches the alveolar ridge and the blade is
kept flat, parallel to the palate. The tongue then moves quickly down, away from the
alveolar ridge, and air escapes between the tongue and the ridge. The escape of air is
similar to the ZH /Ʒ/ sound in VISION. This sound is voiced. The unvoiced version is
the CH /ʧ/ sound in CHURCH or CHAIR.
The sound /ʤ/ begins words like JUMP, GENERAL, JUDO, GIN, JANE and GENIUS.
The second sound is /j/, which is sometimes called a semi-vowel, or an

APPROXIMANT, because the tongue comes close to the top of the mouth, but without
touching it.
The sound begins words like YOUNG, YES, YESTERDAY, YOU, and YEAR.
JELLO YELLOW
JAM YAM
JAWS YOURS
JET YET
JEW YOU
JEWS USE
JESS YES
JOKE YOLK
JETTY YETI
JELLO - YELLOW /ʤelɘƱ/ /jelɘƱ/
JAM - YAM /ʤæm/ /jæm/
JAWS - YOURS /ʤɔ:z/ /jɔ:(r)z/
JET - YET /ʤet/ /yet/
JEW - YOU /ʤu:/ /yu:/
JEWS - USE /ʤu:z/ /yu:z/
Lección 5: Pares de consonantes - F, V, B

2. Hello. Today we’re going to look at the sound usually written with a letter V, as in
3. VERY or VOTE, and we’re going to compare it to two other sounds,
4. F, as in FINE and FOOT, and B, as in BED and BOAT.
5. All these sounds have very easy phonemic symbols - they look like the letter /f/, /v/ and /b/
6. But remember the symbols don’t always correspond to spellings with the letters.
7. /f/ and /v/ are both labiodental fricative consonants.
8. What does that mean? Well, “labio” refers to the lips, and “dental” to the teeth, so to make these
9. sounds we need to have our top teeth resting on the bottom lip, almost as if we were biting it.
10. Then we push the air out through our teeth. If we make a voiceless sound, without vibration of the
11. larynx, we get /f/; if we add vibration, we get the voiced version of the sound, which is /v/.
12. Now, how does this compare to Spanish sounds? If you try saying the Spanish words FINO and VINO,
13. you should notice that in the first one, your teeth touch your bottom lip, as in the English
14. /f/, but in VINO, they don’t. To make an English /v/, you need to pull your lip back a little,
15. under your teeth, to the same position as the /f/. In fact, the Spanish V is closer to an English
16. /b/. This is called a bilabial plosive. Bilabial means two lips,
17. and it describes sounds which start with the lips closed together. Plosive describes sounds
18. where we release the air suddenly, instead of letting it escape slowly. You can exaggerate
19. /b/ [exaggerated] to hear this. When you say /b/, notice that your teeth don’t touch your lips.
20. So here are some groups of words to practice these three sounds together. Try saying them after me.
21. Remember to put your teeth on your bottom lip for both F and V.
22. Fail - Veil - Bale Foal - Vole - Bowl
23. Fat - Vat - Bat Fan - Van - Ban
24. Ferry - Very - Berry That’s Fine. Very good.
25.
Lesson 5: Consonant Pairs - F, V, B

In this lesson we compare three English sounds /v/ as in VERY or VOTE, /f/ as in FINE
and FOOT, and /b/ as in BED and BOAT. We also compare the pronunciation of V in
Spanish and English.
/f/ is an unvoiced labiodental fricative, produced by resting the top teeth resting on the
bottom lip, and pushing the air out through the teeth.
/v/ is the same, only it is voiced, which means adding vibration of the larynx.
/b/ is a voiced bilabial plosive, which means the air is first trapped behind closed lips,
and then released suddenly.
In Spanish, the letter V is normally pronounced in the same way as B, as a bilabial, not
as a labiodental as in English.
Here are some groups of words to practice these three sounds together.
FAIL VEIL BALE
FOAL VOLE BOWL
FAT VAT BAT
FAN VAN BAN

FERRY VERY BERRY
FOX VOX BOX
SERF SERVE SERB
DUFF DOVE DUB
Record yourself saying each trios of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the first
sounds differently in each trio. The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who
FAIL - VEIL - BALE /feIl/ /veIl/ /beIl/
FOAL - VOLE - BOWL /fɘƱl/ /vɘƱl/ /bɘƱl/
FAT - VAT - BAT /fæt/ /væt/ /bæt/
FILE - VILE - BILE /faIl/ /vaIl/ /baIl/
FEND - VEND - BEND /fend/ /vend/ /bend/
Lección 6: Pares de consonantes - S y Z

1. Hello. In this lesson we're just going to look at one sound, the first sound of the word ZOO.
2. This is an alveolar fricative, which in fact is the same as the first sound in SIT or STAND.
3. The difference, and I’m sure you’ve already guessed this, is that ZOO
4. begins with a voiced sound, while the first sound of SIT
5. is Unvoiced. You can practice changing from one to the other, like this [ssssszzzzzzsssssszzzzzzz
sound]
6. without moving anything in your mouth, just switching on
7. or off the vibration here in your larynx.
8. We’re looking at it here, because the Voiced sound, Z, isn’t used in Spanish.
9. Try saying these pairs of words after me:
10. SUE - ZOO SAID - ZED
11. SIP - ZIP SEWN - ZONE
12. HOUSE (the noun) - HOUSE (the verb) BUS - BUZZ
13. Good. Now while we’re on the subject of S, let’s have a look at another problem Spanish speakers
14. still have. Try saying that: SPANISH SPEAKERS STILL. Did you say it like I did, or did you
15. add an extra E at the beginning, something like ESPANISH ESPEAKERS ESTILL? In Spanish,
16. words can’t begin with an S followed by a consonant.
17. In English, it’s very common, although there are also some words that have an E
18. at the beginning as well, often with similar meanings, as you’ll see in our examples.
19. This is really a question of habit, rather than practicing sounds. Spanish speakers say
20. SOLO and SILLA and SENTIR without adding an E, so the problem isn’t about having an S at
21. the beginning of the word. Here are some pairs for you to practice - try saying them after me:
22. ESTATE - STATE
23. ESTEEM - STEAM ESPY - SPY
24. ESTRANGE - STRANGE ESPECIALLY - SPECIALLY
25. So here’s hoping that after this lesson, you don’t Struggle to Speak as much!
26.
Lesson 6: Consonant Pairs - S and Z

The first part of this lesson looks at the sound /z/, as in ZOO, and compares it to /s/, as
in SUE.
/z/ is a voiced alveolar fricative
/s/ is the unvoiced alveolar fricative
Some pairs to practice the difference:
SUE ZOO
SAID ZED
SIP ZIP
SAP ZAP
SINK ZINC
SEWN ZONE
A HOUSE HOUSE a person

(the noun) (the verb)
BUS BUZZ
MACE MAZE
PIECE PEAS
GROSS GROWS
Part Two:
In Spanish, words cannot begin with an S followed by a consonant. In English, it’s very
common, although there are also some words that have an E at the beginning as well,
often with similar meanings, as you’ll see in the examples. This is really a question of
habit, rather than practicing sounds. Spanish speakers
say SOLO and SILLO and SENTIR without adding an E, so the problem isn’t about
having an S at the beginning of the word.
Here are some pairs for you to practice:
ESTATE STATE
ESTEEM STEAM
ESPY SPY
(verb) (noun or verb)
ESTRANGE STRANGE
(verb) (adjective)
ESPECIALLY SPECIALLY
ESPOUSE SPOUSE
(verb) (noun)
ESCALOP SCALLOP
(a cut of meat) (a shell5ish)
1) SUE - ZOO /su:/ /zu:/
2) SAID - ZED /sed/ /zed/
3) SIP - ZIP /sIp/ /zIp/
4) SAP - ZAP /sæp/ /zæp/
5) SEWN - ZONE /sɘƱn/ /zɘƱn/

Say these words WITHOUT adding an E at the beginning!
Lección 7: Pares de Consonantes - CH y DG
1. Hello. In this lesson we are again going to look at two similar sounds.
2. First there is the sound at the beginning and end of CHURCH. This is not too difficult,
3. as it’s the same sound as Spanish CHUCHO or CHINA. In English it’s normally spelled CH. The
phonemic
4. symbol is a bit odd, and looks like this: /ʧ/
5. The second sound in today’s lesson is simply the voiced version of the first, as in JUDGE and JUMP.
6. This sound is similar to the Spanish sound at the beginning of YA and YERNO, but the English
7. sound is more forceful, with the tongue pressed a little harder against the top of the mouth
8. at the start of the sound. Also, this sound is usually spelled with J or G,
9. not Y. Lesson 4 of this module talks more about this difference.
10. The phonemic symbol for the sound is: /ʤ/
11. Here are some pairs to practice the two sounds. Try saying them after me.
12. CHAIN - JANE CHIN - GIN
13. CHEAP - JEEP CHOKE - JOKE
14. CHERRY - JERRY
15. That’s not too hard, is it? However, in English, but not in Spanish, this voiced sound can also
16. come at the end of a word. Spanish speakers therefore often use the unvoiced sound CH,
17. when the sound should be voiced. Try these pairs after me:
18. ETCH - EDGE H - AGE
19. RICH - RIDGE MARCH - MARGE
20. BATCH - BADGE Cheerio! Enjoy the rest of your day!
21.
Lesson 7: Consonant Pairs - CH and DG

In this lesson we look at two similar sounds:
/ʧ/ An unvoiced palato-alveolar affricate, as in CHURCH, CHAIR, CHIN
/ʤ/ A voiced palato-alveolar affricate, as in JUMP, JUDGE, JANE
The first of these is found in Spanish, while the second is similar to, but not the same
as, the Spanish sound at the beginning of YA, YEGUA and YERNO. At the start of the
English sound /ʤ/, the tongue should be pressed hard against the back of the alveolar
ridge. In the Spanish sound the contact is softer. (You can study the difference
between /ʤ/ and /j/ in Module 1, Lesson 4)
/ʤ/ is normally spelled J or G, or -DGE at the end of a word.

Here are some pairs to practice the two sounds in initial position:
CHAIN JANE
CHIN GIN
CHEAP JEEP
CHOKE JOKE
CHERRY JERRY
CHAR JAR
CHUNK JUNK
CHEST JEST
Here are some pairs to practice the sounds in final position:
ETCH EDGE
H AGE
RICH RIDGE
MARCH MARGE
BATCH BADGE
PERCH PURGE
SEARCH SURGE
LARCH LARGE
1) CHAIN - JANE /ʧeIn/ /ʤeIn/
2) CHIN - GIN /ʧIn/ /ʤIn/
3) CHEAP - JEEP /ʧi:p/ /ʤi:p/
4) RICH - RIDGE /rIʧ/ /rIʤ/
5) MARCH - MARGE /ma:(r)ʧ/ /ma:(r)ʤ/
6) BATCH - BADGE /bæʧ/ /bæʤ/

Lección 8: Pares de consonantes - K y G
2. Hello. In this lesson, we’re going to look at some sounds which don’t cause problems for Spanish
3. speakers when they come at the beginning or in the middle of a word, but can be difficult when
4. they come at the end. The first two are the sounds at the start of CAN and GET. They are called Velar
5. Plosives, because they are made by trapping air with the tongue at the back of the mouth,
6. against the Velum, the soft part of the palate at the back, and then releasing the air suddenly.
7. Like many other sounds we’ve seen, they’re a pair: C is Unvoiced and G is Voiced.
8. The phonemic symbols are: /k/ and /g/
9. It’s the second of these sounds, the voiced version, which can cause some problems for Spanish
10. speakers at the end of a word, so here are some pairs to practice. Say them after me:
11. CRACK - CRAG BACK - BAG
12. TUCK - TUG PICK - PIG
13. DOCK - DOG Now let’s add something. An N, before
14. the final letter, so instead of BAG, we have BANG. As you can hear, the G is not pronounced,
15. but the combination of N and G produces a new sound. It’s a Velar Nasal. This means that the
16. air is blocked at the back of the palate, like G, but it is released through the nose, like N or M.
17. If we add an N to the unvoiced ending, the same sound appears. Instead of BACK we get BANK. This
18. sound exists in Spanish, although there is no letter in the Spanish alphabet to represent it.
19. Try this: say the Spanish word NADA, and notice how your tongue starts on your alveolar ridge,
20. just behind your top teeth. Now say the Spanish word BANCO,
21. and notice where your tongue is when you say the N in the middle. It’s not at the front any more,
22. but has moved further back. The sound you are making is like an English final NG.
23. The phonemic symbol for this sound is: /ŋ/
24. which looks a little like a combination of N and G.
25. You can hear this sound in Spanish whenever there is an N followed by a C or G, as in English.
26. Here are some pairs to practice. Say them after me.
27. THINK - THING SANK - SANG
28. BUNK - BUNG RINK - RING
29. MINK - MING
30. Finally, an interesting note to end with, is what happens to the combination NG in the middle of a word.
31. If the root is a verb, the G is not pronounced. Listen to these.
32. SINGER - RINGER - HANGER - BRINGER In other cases,
33. the G is pronounced as well as the /ŋ/ sound. HUNGER - FINGER - LONGER - STRONGEST - ANGER
34. And in some others, the combination is pronounced N + ʤ:
35. DANGER - PLUNGER - STRANGER - RANGER
36. That’s probably given you enough to think about this lesson! Goodbye.
37.
Lesson 8: Consonant Pairs - K and G
In this lesson, we look at three sounds:
/k/ Unvoiced velar plosive, as in CAN, CAR, KICK
/g/ Voiced velar plosive, as in GET, GO, GIVE
/ŋ/ Voiced velar nasal, as in the final sound of SONG, THING, HONG KONG.
This sound does not appear in initial position (although it does in Vietnamese and some
other Asian languages). This sound exists in Spanish, although there is no letter in the
Spanish alphabet to represent it. It occurs in Spanish words containing the
combinations -ng- or -nc-, such as PONGO, TENGAN, BANCO, MANCA.
One problem for Spanish speakers is the pronunciation of final /g/ as a voiced
consonant.
Some pairs to practice:
CRACK CRAG
BACK BAG
TUCK TUG
PICK PIG
DOCK DOG
BRICK BRIG
PECK PEG
INVOKE IN VOGUE
A second problem is the combination of /n/ with /g/ or /k/.
In final position:
/n/ + /g/ = /ŋ/
But
/n/ + /k/ = /ŋk/
Some pairs to practice:
THINK THING
SANK SANG
BUNK BUNG
RINK RING
MINK MING
DUNK DUNG
CLINK CLING
PINK PING
In the middle of a word, what is called medial position, -ng- is normally
pronounced /ŋ/ when the agent suffix -er is added to a verb:
SINGER RINGER HANGER BRINGER
In other cases, -ng- is pronounced /ŋg/ sound.
HUNGER FINGER LONGER
STRONGEST ANGER
And in some other cases, the combination is pronounced /nʤ/:
DANGER PLUNGER STRANGER RANGER
A)
CRACK - CRAG /cræk/ /cræg/
TUCK - TUG /t˄k/ /t˄g/
PICK - PIG /pIk/ /pIg/
DOCK - DOG /dɒk/ /dɒg/
B)
THINK - THING /θIŋk/ /θIŋ/
SANK - SANG /sæŋk/ /sæŋ/
BUNK - BUNG /b˄ŋk/ /b˄ŋ/
WINK - WING /wIŋk/ /wIŋ/
Record yourself saying each pair of words carefully. Make sure you make a difference
between the words in each pair.
1) THEN - DEN /ðen/ - /den/
2) MYTH - MISS /mIθ/ - /mIs/
3) THIN - TIN /θIn/ - /tIn/
4) SEETHE - SEES /si:ð/ - /si:z/
sounds differently in each pair.
JESS - YES /ʤes/ /jes/
JOKE - YOLK /ʤɘƱk/ /jɘƱk/
JETTY - YETI /ʤetI/ /jetI/
Record yourself saying each trio of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the first
sounds differently in each trio.
FAN - VAN - BAN /fæn/ /væn/ /bæn/
FERRY - VERY - BERRY /ferI/ /verI/ /berI/
FOX - VOX - BOX /fɒks/ /vɒks/ /bɒks/

SINK - ZINC /sIŋk/ /zIŋk/
SEAL - ZEAL /si:l/ /zi:l/
SAP - ZAP /sæp/ /zæp/
Say these words WITHOUT adding an E at the beginning!
1) STRIKE /straIk/
2) SPEAK /spi:k/
3) SMOOTH /smu:ð/
1) CHAR - JAR /ʧa:(r)/ /ʤa:(r)/
2) CHEST - JEST /ʧest/ /ʤest/
3) SEARCH - SURGE /s3:(r)ʧ/ /s3:(r)ʤ/
4) LARCH - LARGE /la:(r)ʧ/ /la:(r)ʤ/
A)
BACK - BAG /bæk/ /bæg/
BRICK - BRIG /brIk/ /brIg/
B)
BANK - BANG /bæŋk/ /bæŋ/
RINK - RING /rIŋk/ /rIŋ/
Lección 1: Sonidos - H
2. Hello, and welcome to Module 2. In this first lesson, we’re going to look at H.
3. In Spanish, this letter is always silent, so it has
4. no effect on Spanish phonology. In English the letter H often represents the sound:
5. /h/
6. The technical name for this is a glottal approximant.
7. Let me explain: Take the Spanish sound represented by the letter J (jota).
8. It’s made at the back of the mouth or glottis, and is a glottal consonant. But jota is a fricative sound.
9. This means that the tongue restricts the air coming out of your throat, making a rough noise.
10. Now try moving your tongue a little bit forwards. Relax your tongue so it is just touching the back
11. of your bottom teeth. Try the sound again. This time there should be no restriction at the back
12. of your mouth, but a sound very similar to a deep sigh after a hard day at work.
13. [Extended /h/ as a sigh]
14. Another way to practice, at least if you wear glasses, like me,
15. is to pretend to clean them. This will also make an H sound!
16. Try saying these words after me: House - Home - Happy - Help - Here - Hello
17. Now let’s try some pairs without, and with H. Owes - Hose
18. Arm - Harm
19. Ate - Hate
20. Ear - Hear
21. There are some words in English where the H is silent. Let’s look at some of those.
22. H is silent at the beginning of these words: Hour - Honour - Heir - Honest
23. It’s also sometimes silent after a prefix: EXHAUSTED or EXHIBIT
24. The letter H is silent in combination with C or R, when the words came into English from Ancient
25. Greek. For example CHORUS - PSYCHOLOGY - STOMACH or RHINOCEROS - RHYME - DIARRHEA.
26. The H is also silent in words beginning with GH-, such as GHOST, GHETTO or GHERKIN
27. And finally, we have the combination of WH in words like WHERE, WHY, WHEN, and WHICH, but
28. remember that in WHO, it is the W that is silent. That’s all for this lesson. Goodbye.
29.
Lesson 1: Sounds - H
The letter H is always silent in Spanish, but in English it often represents the sound:
/h/
The technical name for this is a glottal approximant. But in fact it just sounds like a sigh,
with no restriction of the air coming from the throat.
For example:
HOUSE HOME HAPPY
HELP HERE HELLO
Some pairs without, and with H.
OWES HOSE
ARM HARM
ATE HATE
EAR HEAR
OWL HOWL
IS HIS
AIR HAIR
EEL HEEL
Cases where H is silent in English.

1) At the beginning of
HOUR HONOUR HEIR HONEST
1a) The word HERB is pronounced with an H in British and Australian English, but
the H is normally silent in American English.
1b) The H in HOTEL and HISTORIC is often silent after an indefinite article (A/AN), so
they are pronounced AN ‘OTEL and AN ‘ISTORIC OCCASION. But in any other
circumstances, the H is pronounced.
2) Sometime, after the prefix EX- EXHAUSTED or EXHIBIT
2a) But note EXHALE, for example, where the H is pronounced.
3) In combination with C or R in words of Ancient Greek origin.
CHORUS PSYCHOLOGY STOMACH
RHINOCEROS RHYME DIARRHEA
4) In words beginning with GH, such as GHOST, GHETTO or GHERKIN.
4a) -GH at the end of a word can be pronounced like an F, as in TOUGH or COUGH.
Or it may be silent, as in THROUGH, DOUGH, THOROUGH, PLOUGH etc.
5) The combination of WH- in words like WHERE, WHY, WHEN, and WHICH.
5a) In WHO, it is the W that is silent.

5b) In some people’s speech, often considered “refined” or “sophisticated”, the
combination WH- is actually pronounced as an aspirated W, or HW-. [Listen to Stewie
from Family Guy saying “Cool Whip” in this extract: family guy cool whip
Record yourself saying each pair of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the /h/
in the second of each pair. The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who are
interested: they are not necessary to complete the activity successfully.
OWES - HOSE /ɘʊz/ /hɘʊz/
ARM - HARM /a:(r)m/ /ha:(r)m/
ATE - HATE /eIt/ /heIt/
EAR - HEAR /Iɘ(r)/ /hIɘ(r)/
OWL - HOWL /aʊl/ /haʊl/
Lección 2: Vocales - BARCO y OVEJA

1. nicio de la transcripción. Saltar al final.
2. Hello. In this lesson we’re going to start looking at vowels. The biggest problem for
3. Spanish speakers is that standard English has 12 different vowels, while Spanish only has 5.
4. So very often, Spanish speakers try to fit English vowels into the closest one of the five they know.
5. In this lesson, and those that follow, we are going to try to expand your repertoire of vowels!
6. The first pair of sounds we’ll look at are the vowels sounds in the two words SHIP and SHEEP.
7. Spanish speakers often pronounce both of these like the Spanish I sound, as in MIL or SILLA,
8. but in English they are actually two different sounds. The phonemic symbols are:
9. /i:/ as in SHEEP, and /I/ as in SHIP
10. The first of these is close enough to the Spanish “I” sound that we don’t need to worry about it.
11. But what about the second? /i:/ is normally a long sound, in fact that’s what the two dots after
12. the phonemic symbol tell us: they always indicate a long vowel. On the other hand, /I/ is short.
13. Now let’s see what your tongue is doing. When you say a long , Spanish
14. EE sound, your tongue is probably touching the back of your bottom teeth. Try curling the tip
15. up a little, and moving it backwards. Not much, just a couple of millimetres.
16. Don’t open your mouth any more than it was. You should be able to say a short /I/ sound.
17. Let’s try some pairs of words. If you like, just listen to the difference first,
18. then rewind the video and practice saying them after me. The short vowel comes first:
19. SHIP - SHEEP CHIP - CHEAP
20. HILL - HEAL BID - BEAD
21. SIT - SEAT Now here are some words with both vowels:
22. these examples have the long vowel first and then the short vowel. Make sure your tongue is a little
23. further back for the second vowel:
24. CEILING
25. MEETING
26. SCENIC
27. GREENISH
28. HEATING
29. Notice that two of these examples end in -ING. The -ING ending is always pronounced with a short /I/.
30. And now, here are some words with the short vowel first and the long vowel second. This time
31. your tongue should be further back on the first vowel, and a bit further forward
32. on the second.
33. DEGREE
34. BELIEVE
35. RECEIVE
36. CRITIQUE
37. INDEED
38. I recommend two things for you to do, with this pair of vowels and with others that we look at
39. in later lessons: First - practice as much as you can, and second, listen to English speakers,
40. and train your ear to hear the different sounds. Goodbye.
41.
Lesson 2: Vowels - SHIP and SHEEP

Introduction
In this lesson we’re going to start looking at vowels. The biggest problem for Spanish
speakers is that standard English has 12 different vowels, while Spanish only has five.
This chart show the position of the tongue in the mouth for each of the 12 vowels.
The first pair to look at are known as short and long I, as in SHIP and SHEEP. Spanish
speakers often pronounce both of these like the Spanish I sound, as in MIL or SILLA,
but in English they are actually two different sounds.
The phonemic symbols are:

/i:/ as in SHEEP, and
/I/ as in SHIP
The two dots in /i:/ indicate a long sound.
The first of these is very similar to the Spanish “I” sound, and does not normally cause
problems. On the other hand, /I/ is short.
For the long sound, /i:/, the tongue is quite far forward, probably touching the back of
the bottom teeth. For the short sound /I/, the tongue is a little further back, and curled
up slightly, away from the teeth. The rest of the mouth should remain the same.
Some pairs of words to practice:
SHIP SHEEP
CHIP CHEAP
HILL HEAL
BID BEAD
SIT SEAT
FILL FEEL
SLIP SLEEP
RIP REAP
Some words with both vowels: long vowel first and short vowel second:
CEILING MEETING SCENIC GREENISH
HEATING DEEPLY SQUEAKY TREATY
Some words with the short vowel first and the long vowel second:
DEGREE BELIEVE RECEIVE CRITIQUE
INDEED BETWEEN REVEAL DISCREET
Record yourself saying each pair of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the
vowels differently. The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who are interested:
they are not necessary to complete the activity successfully.
SHIP - SHEEP /ʃIp/ /ʃi:p/
CHIP - CHEAP /ʧIp/ /ʧi:p/
FILL - FEEL /fIl/ /fi:l/
RIP - REAP /rIp/ /ri:p/
Record yourself saying each word. Make sure you pronounce the vowels differently.
The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who are interested: they are not
necessary to complete the activity successfully.
CEILING /si:lIŋ/
MEETING /mi:tIŋ/
DEGREE /dIgri:/
BELIEVE /bIli:v/
Lección 3: Vocales - CAT, CART y CUT

2. Hello. In this lesson, we’re going to look at three vowels which English uses
3. but Spanish doesn’t. They are /æ/ as in CAT, /a:/ as in CAR and /Ʌ/ as in CUT.
4. Here are the symbols: /æ/
5. /a:/
6. /Ʌ/
7. Let’s take CAT first. It’s very similar to a Spanish A sound, and in fact, you won’t have
8. too many problems if you use the Spanish sound. If you want to make the English sound more authentic,
9. you can stretch your lips wide, as if smiling. And if you open your mouth a little more,
10. you’ll get the sound as it appears in Australian and some American accents.
11. The sound in CAR is long. Did you notice the two dots after the symbol?
12. To make this sound, you can start with a Spanish A,
13. and simply open your mouth a little more, while keeping your lips rounded. /a:/
14. Let’s try some pairs of words to contrast short /æ/ with long /a:/.
15. Say them after me, or if you prefer, just listen first, and then rewind:
16. CAT - CART HAM - HARM
17. HAD - HARD JAZZ - JARS
18. SHACK - SHARK The third sound for this lesson is /Ʌ/ as in CUT.
19. To make this sound, you can start from /æ/ and make your lips rounder. Not too much, or it will
20. sound like OR. Here are some pairs to practice: Bat - But
21. Fan - Fun Sang - Sung
22. Pack - Puck Mad - Mud
23. Finally, let’s put all three sounds together. Say this groups of words after me:
24. Match - Much - March Ban - Bun - Barn
25. Hat - Hut - Heart Back - Buck - Bark
26. And that’s that for this lesson. Goodbye.
27.
Lesson 3: Vowels - CAT, CART and CUT

This lesson covers three vowels which English uses but Spanish doesn’t.
/æ/ as in CAT
/a:/ as in CAR
/Ʌ/ as in CUT.
/æ/ is very similar to a Spanish A sound, with the lips slightly wider.
/a:/ is a long sound. The mouth is more open, and the lips rounded as in a Spanish A.
Some pairs of words to contrast short /æ/ with long /a:/:
CAT CART
HAM HARM
HAD HARD
JAZZ JARS
SHACK SHARK
LAD LARD
TAP TARP
PAT PART
The sound /Ʌ/ as in CUT, is made with the mouth open the same amount as /æ/ but
with more rounded lips.
Some pairs to practice /æ/ and /Ʌ/:
BAT BUT
FAN FUN
SANG SUNG
PACK PUCK
MAD MUD
SNACK SNUCK
DRANK DRUNK
Finally, here are some groups of words to practice all three sounds:
MATCH MUCH MARCH
BAN BUN BARN
HAT HUT HEART
BACK BUCK BARK
HASH HUSH HARSH
BADGE BUDGE BARGE
Record yourself saying each trio of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the
vowels differently. The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who are interested:
they are not necessary to complete the activity successfully.
MATCH - MUCH - MARCH /mæʧ/ /m˄ʧ/ /ma:(r)ʧ/
BAN - BUN - BARN /bæn/ /b˄n/ /ba:(r)n/
HAT - HUT - HEART /hæt/ /h˄t/ /ha:(r)t/
BACK - BUCK - BARK /bæk/ /b˄k/ /ba:(r)k/
HASH - HUSH - HARSH /hæʃ/ /h˄ʃ/ /ha:(r)ʃ/
Lección 4: Vocales - PULL y POOL

1. io de la transcripción. Saltar al final.
2. Hello. In this lesson we’re going to look at two sounds associated with the letter U.
3. They are the short /Ʊ/ sound in PULL, and the long /u:/ sound in POOL.
4. Here are the phonemic symbols for these two sounds:
5. /Ʊ/ /u:/
6. The long sound is similar to Spanish U, but extended a bit more. To make the short /Ʊ/ sound,
7. keep your lips in the same position as /u:/, as if you were going to kiss someone, but move your
8. tongue backwards a little. The Spanish U sound is somewhere in between these two English sounds.
9. Here are some pairs to practice. Say them after me, or just listen first, and then rewind.
10. The short /Ʊ/ comes first, and then the long /u:/
11. Full - Fool Soot - Suit
12. Would - Wooed Hood - Who’d
13. Look - Luke Should - Shooed
14. Now let’s try some groups of three,
15. adding the /Ʌ/ sound from Lesson Three. Look - Luke - Luck
16. Could - Cooed - Cud Stood - Stewed - Stud
17. While we’re on the subject of U, let’s take a minute to look at words spelled with a U, with a
18. long -oo- sound, that in many accents of English seem to have a Y before the U. For example:
19. Cute - Due - Fuel - Excuse - Human - Perfume - Unique
20. Although U is very often pronounced like this,
21. there are a few other similar words which don’t have this extra Y sound in them, such as
22. Flute - Rude - Suit - Rule - Sumo
23. That’s all for this lesson. Goodbye. Tune in for another lesson soon!
24.
25. Lesson 4: Vowels - PULL and POOL

26. In this lesson we look at two sounds associated with the letter U.
27. They are the short /Ʊ/ sound in PULL,
28. The long /u:/ sound in POOL.

29.
30.
31. The long sound is similar to Spanish U, but more extended. The /Ʊ/ is also
with rounded lips, but with the tongue a little further back. The Spanish U sound
is between these two English sounds.
32. Some pairs to practice:

33. The short /Ʊ/ comes first, and then the long /u:/
FULL FOOL
SOOT SUIT
WOULD WOOED
HOOD WHO’D
LOOK LUKE
SHOULD SHOOED
34. Here are some groups of three, adding the /Ʌ/ sound from Lesson Three.
LOOK LUKE LUCK
COULD COOED CUD
STOOD STEWED STUD
35. Many words spelled with a U and containing the long /u:/ are pronounced in
many English accents as if there was a Y before the U.
36. For example:
CUTE /kyu:t/
DUE /dju:/
FUEL /5ju:ɘl/
EXCUSE /eks’kju:s/
HUMAN /’hyu:mɘn/
PERFUME /’p3:5ju:m/
UNIQUE /ju:ni:k/
37. Although U is very often pronounced like this, there are a few other similar
words which don’t have this extra Y sound in them, such as:
FLUTE /5lu:t/
RUDE /ru:d/
SUIT /su:t/
RULE /ru:l/
SUMO /’su:mɘu/
Record yourself saying each group of 2 or 3 words carefully. Make sure you pronounce
the vowels differently. The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who are
interested: they are not necessary to complete the activity successfully.
FULL - FOOL /fʊl/ /fu:l/
SOOT - SUIT /sʊt/ /su:t/
WOULD - WOOED /wʊd/ /wu:d/
STOOD - STEWED - STUD /stʊd/ /stju:d/ /st˄d/
Lección 5: Vocales – Schwa

2. Hello. In this lesson, we’re only going to look at one vowel. But it’s a very important one. In fact,
3. it’s so important, it’s the only phonemic symbol that has its own name. Schwa.
4. It looks like this: /ɘ/
5. It’s the most common vowel sound in English, but unfortunately, it doesn’t exist in Spanish.
6. So what does it sound like? It’s often called a weak vowel, and you never find it in a stressed
7. syllable. It’s the first vowel sound in ABOUT, FORGET and PURSUE. It’s the second vowel sound
8. in AFTER, CERTAIN and READER. For those of you who speak French,
9. it’s the vowel in Je as in Je t’aime! It’s the vowel sound you make when you’re trying
10. not to make a vowel sound. Look at this word: LABEL
11. Now try and say it like this, with no vowel between the B and the L.
12. LABL You can’t say it
13. without a vowel sound, but that vowel is schwa. Let’s look at it another way. Schwa is called
14. the weak vowel. It’s a default sound, when your speech organs are most relaxed,
15. in their neutral positions. So let’s try that. If you try and put your mouth,
16. lips and tongue into their most relaxed position, you should find your mouth is slightly open,
17. and your tongue is at the bottom of your mouth, with the tip resting against your bottom teeth.
18. Imagine you’ve just been exercising, and are a little out of breath,
19. so you need to breathe through your mouth. Now make a vowel sound, vibrating your vocal cords.
20. You should get something that sounds a bit like Lurch from the Adams Family,
21. perhaps not as loud. That’s schwa.
22. Now let’s try putting the sound into some words. In this first group,
23. the schwa is in the FIRST syllable. Say them after me, or just listen first, and then go back.
24. ABOUT - PERHAPS - MERINGUE - TOMORROW - VARIETY
25. Now here are some words with the schwa in the SECOND syllable.
26. SINGER - TABɘLE - VACANT - FLAVOUR - CANNON Finally, here are some three-syllable words with
2
27. schwas, one at the beginning, and one at the end. SURVIVOR - PERCUSSION - TREMENDOUS -
APPARENT - GORILLA
28. Schwa is a tricky sound to get right, but with practice it will become much easier, and it will
29. make a huge contribution to the authenticity of your pronunciation. So good luck! And Goodbye.
30.
31. Lesson 5: Vowels - Schwa

32. This lesson deals with the Weak vowel /ɘ/, also called Schwa.
33. This sound is the most commonly used vowel sound in English, but doesn’t
exist in Spanish
34. It is never found in stressed syllables. It’s the first vowel sound in ABOUT,
FORGET and PURSUE. It’s the second vowel sound in AFTER, CERTAIN and
READER.
35. It can be found in French, in Je as in Je t’aime! Or in German as the second

vowel in Danke.
36. One way to produce the sound is by attempting NOT to say a vowel sound,
although that may sound paradoxical. Take a word like LABEL, or CAN, or
TAKEN, and try to imagine they were spelled LABL, CN and TAKN. Try to say
them without the vowel. You'll find it’s impossible, but the result is a schwa.
37. Schwa is a default sound, produced when the speech organs are most
relaxed, in their neutral positions. The jaw and lips should be slightly open, and
the tongue resting on the bottom of the mouth, with the tip against the bottom
teeth.
38.
39.
40. Here are some words with schwa is in the FIRST syllable:
ABOUT PERHAPS MERINGUE TOMORROW
VARIETY AGREE SURVIVE PURSUIT

GARAGE MAROON
41. Now here are some words with the schwa in the SECOND syllable.
SINGER TABLE VACANT FLAVOUR
CANNON MARVEL JOKER HOPELESS
SPATIAL ZEBRA
42. Finally, here are some three-syllable words with 2 schwas, one at the
beginning, and one at the end.
SURVIVOR PERCUSSION TREMENDOUS APPARENT
GORILLA BERMUDA CONTAINER FOREVER
PERUSAL CONFUSION
43. The sound /ɘ/ can be represented by any written vowel, and Y:
A - Agree /ɘ´gri:/
E - Believe /bɘ´li:v/
I - Pencil /´pensɘl/
O - Memory /´memɘri/
U - Supply /sɘ´plai/
Y - Analysis /ɘńælɘsIs/
44. And also by digraphs such as:
AI - Certain /´s3:tɘn/
OU - Gorgeous /´gɔ:ʤɘs/
Or by no vowel at all, as in Rhythm /´riðɘm/
Record yourself saying each word carefully. Look at the phonemic transcription to see
where the schwas come, if you’re not sure.
ABOUT /ɘbaʊt/
PERHAPS /pɘ(r)hæps/
SINGER /sIŋɘ(r)/
TABLE /teIbɘl/
SURVIVOR /sɘ(r)vaIvɘ(r)/
PERCUSSION /pɘ(r)k˄ʃɘn/
Lección 6: Vocales - NOT, NAUGHT y NOTE

2. Hello. In this lesson, we’re going to look at two vowels and a diphthong.
3. A diphthong is simply a combination of two vowels. In other words, you start saying one vowel,
4. and then move smoothly to another one. The two vowels we’ll be dealing with
5. in this lesson are the long and short O sounds. The short sound has this symbol:
6. /ɒ/ and it comes in words like HOT, NOT,
7. DOG and COUGH. The long sound has this symbol:
8. /ɔ:/ It’s closer to a Spanish
9. O than the short sound, but not exactly the same. It comes in words like SORT, BALL, TALK and FOUR.
10. Notice that both these sounds can have other spellings apart from the letter O.
11. How are they different from a Spanish O? Starting from a Spanish O, to make the short /ɒ/
12. sound, we need to pull the tongue back a little, away from the teeth, and open the mouth slightly.
13. For the long /ɔ:/, again starting from a Spanish O, we should also open the mouth slightly,
14. but rounding the lips, and keeping the tongue behind the bottom teeth.
15. Here are some pairs of words to practice these two sounds. The short sound comes first.
16. Say them after me, or just listen, and then go back and practice:
17. Was - Wars Shot - Short
18. Pot - Port Bot - Bought
19. Spot - Sport
20. The diphthong I mentioned is the sound that comes in HOME, GO, THROW, and forms the name of the
21. letter O itself. The symbol is: /ɘʊ/
22. The sound starts with schwa /ɘ/ and then moves towards an OO
23. sound, mainly by rounding the lips and closing the mouth a little.
24. Let’s add the diphthong, and make some groups of three words to practice. Short O first, then long
25. O, then diphthong. Again, say them after me, or just listen first, and then go back and practice:
26. Cot - Caught - Coat Fox - Forks - Folks
27. Wok - Walk - Woke Chock - Chalk - Choke
28. Cod - Cord - Code
29. Finally, a little international note: in some American accents,
30. pairs of words like COT and CAUGHT, or CHOCK and CHALK
31. are pronounced identically, as /ka:t/ and /ʧa:k/ with a long /a:/ sound, with unrounded lips,
32. and the mouth a little more open than the /ɒ/. And that’s all for this lesson. Goodbye.
33.
Lesson 6: Vowels - NOT, NOUGHT and NOTE

In this lesson, we look at three sounds:
The short O sound:
/ɒ/ as in HOT, NOT, DOG and COUGH.
The long O sound:
/ɔ:/ as in SORT, BALL, TALK, FOUR.
And the diphthong:
/ɘʊ/ as in HOME, GO and THROW.

Here are some pairs of words to practice the two simple vowels. The short sound
comes first.
WAS WARS
SHOT SHORT
POT PORT
BOT BOUGHT
SPOT SPORT
ONE WORN
TROLL TRAWL
POD PAWED
And here are some groups of three words to practice all three sounds.
Short O first, then long O, then diphthong:
COT CAUGHT COAT
FOX FORKS FOLKS
WOK WALK WOKE
CHOCK CHALK CHOKE
COD CORD CODE
STOCK STORK STOKE
CON CORN CONE
ROD ROARED ROAD

Note:
In some American accents, pairs of words like COT and CAUGHT, or CHOCK and
CHALK are pronounced identically, as /ka:t/ and /ʧa:k/ with a long /a:/ sound, with
unrounded lips, and the mouth a little more open than the /ɒ/.
Record yourself saying each trio of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce all three
vowels differently and correctly. The phonemic transcriptions are for those of you who
COT - CAUGHT - COAT /kɒt/ /kɔ:t/ /kɘʊt/
FOX - FORKS - FOLKS /fɒks/ /fɔ:(r)ks/ /fɘʊks/
WOK - WALK - WOKE /wɒk/ /wɔ:k/ /wɘʊk/
CHOCK - CHALK - CHOKE /ʧɒk/ /ʧɔ:k/ /ʧɘʊk/
COD - CORD - CODE /kɒd/ /kɔ:(r)d/ /kɘʊd/
Lección 7: Vocales - /3:/
1. o de la transcripción. Saltar al final.

2. Hello. Do you remember schwa? We saw the weak, neutral sound in lesson 5 of this module.
3. If you skipped it, or if you want to go back and remind yourself,
4. do that now. I’ll wait.
5. OK? Good. In this lesson we’re going to
6. look at a very similar sound. It’s basically a longer, stronger version of schwa: /3:/.
7. The phonemic symbol looks like this: /3:/
8. although because it’s so similar to a schwa it is sometimes represented
9. with this symbol: /ɘ:/
10. Notice the two dots to indicate a long sound.
11. The interesting thing about this sound is that it can be represented by several different spelling
12. combinations, and for that reason it’s often confused with several other sounds by Spanish
13. speakers, depending on which written letter is being used. One thing a very large number
14. of these spellings have in common though, is the letter R after the written vowel.
15. For example, here are some words spelled with ER, but pronounced with /3:/
16. Were - Fern - Herd - Verb - Overt Here are some spelled IR
17. Bird - Girl - Stir - Shirt - Firm And some with OR, normally after W
18. World - Work - Word - Worth - Worse Also UR
19. Burn - Surf - Murder - Turkey - Hurt
20. Another common spelling for this sound is EAR Pearl - Learn - Earn - Search - Heard
21. Since Spanish speakers tend to replace /3:/ with various different Spanish vowels,
22. depending on the spelling, in this lesson we have several groups of pairs for you to practice
23. contrasting /3:/ with other sounds. Say them after me, or just listen first, and then go back.
24. These pairs contrast /3:/ spelled with an ER,
25. with the diphthong /eɘ/: Were - Wear
26. Her - Hair Per - Pear
27. Now we contrast /3:/ spelled IR with the long I, /i:/
28. Shirt - Sheet Chirp - Cheap
29. Flirt - Fleet or with the diphthong /Iɘ/:
30. Bird - Beard Stir - Steer
31. Fir - Fear
32. These pairs contrast /3:/ spelled OR with the long O sound /ɔ:/
33. World-Walled Work - Walk
34. Word - Ward And these contrast /3:/ spelled
35. UR with the long U sound /u:/ Burn - Boon
36. Hurt - Hoot Furl - Fool
37. Well, after all that hard work, you deserve a rest. You’ve earned it! Goodbye.
38.
Lesson 7: Vowels - /3:/

The sound /3:/ is a longer stronger version of schwa. It is sometimes represented with
this symbol /ɘ:/
This sound can be represented by several different spelling combinations, and for that
reason it is often confused with several other sounds by Spanish speakers, depending
on which written letter is representing it.
One thing a very large number of these spellings have in common though, is the letter
R after the written vowel.
For example:
Here are some words spelled with ER, but pronounced with /3:/
WERE FERN HERD
VERB OVERT
Here are some spelled IR:
BIRD GIRL STIR

SHIRT FIRM
And some with OR, normally after W:
WORLD WORK WORD
WORTH WORSE
Also UR:
BURN SURF MURDER
TURKEY HURT
Another common spelling for this sound is EAR:
PEARL LEARN EARN
SEARCH HEARD
Since Spanish speakers tend to replace /3:/ with various different Spanish vowels,
depending on the spelling, we have included several groups of pairs for you to practice
contrasting /3:/ with other sounds.
/3:/ spelled with an ER contrasted with the diphthong /eɘ/:
WERE WEAR
HER HAIR
PER PEAR
ERR AIR
/3:/ spelled IR contrasted with the long I, /i:/
SHIRT SHEET
CHIRP CHEAP
FLIRT FLEET
FIRS FEES
FIRST FEAST
/3:/ spelled IR contrasted with the diphthong /Iɘ/
BIRD BEARD
STIR STEER
FIR FEAR
/3:/ spelled OR contrasted with the long O sound /ɔ:/

WORLD WALLED
WORK WALK
WORD WARD
WORM WARM
/3:/ spelled UR contrasted with the long U sound /u:/
BURN BOON
HURT HOOT
FURL FOOL
CURD COOED
vowels differently and correctly. The phonemic transcriptions can help you identify the
second vowel sound in each pair, but they are not necessary to complete the activity
successfully.
WERE - WEAR /w3:(r)/ /weɘ(r)/
SHIRT - SHEET /ʃ3:(r)t/ /ʃi:t/
BIRD - BEARD /b3:(r)d/ /bIɘ(r)d/
WORLD - WALLED /w3:(r)ld/ /wɔ:ld/

BURN - BOON /b3:(r)n/ /bu:n/
Lección 8: Vocales - E Final

1. Hello. In this final lesson of Module two, we’re going to look at something a little bit different.
2. You’ve probably noticed that English has a very large number of words which end in E, but we
3. don’t pronounce it. So does that mean it has no function? Not exactly. In most of these words,
4. the E at the end influences the way we pronounce the vowel BEFORE it. In general,
5. it changes the pronunciation of the vowel to be the same as the name of the letter.
6. For example, the letters H - I - D are pronounced /hId/. But if we add an
7. E at the end, the letter I is pronounced like that: /aI/, and the word becomes /haId/.
8. It’s important to remember that this doesn’t happen to every word ending in a silent E -
9. GIVE, for example, or CARE - but it does apply most of the time.
10. So let’s start with A, and practice with some pairs of words where a short /æ/
11. sound changes to the diphthong /eI/. Say these after me, or just listen first and then go back.
12. Hat - Hate Man - Mane
13. Dam - Dame Cap - Cape
14. Mad - Made
15. Now let’s try E. Many words in which E follows this pattern have more than one syllable,
16. such as COMPLETE, STAMPEDE, OBESE, JAPANESE and MANGANESE.
17. One example where we can find a pair is this one: Met - Mete
18. A very common variation is words that end in ERE, where the ending is pronounced as the diphthong
19. /Iɘ/, such as SPHERE, REVERE, SINCERE, CASHMERE or INTERFERE. A couple of pairs to practice
are:
20. Her - Here Adder - Adhere
21. Moving on to the letter I, we have these pairs:
22. Fin - Fine Win - Wine
23. Rip - Ripe Tim - Time
24. Strip - Stripe
25. Here are some pairs to practice the letter O with a silent E:
26. Rod - Rode Hop - Hope
27. Cloth - Clothe Dot - Dote
28. Cop - Cope
29. And finally, some pairs contrasting words containing a U, with and without a final E
30. Dun - Dune Run - Rune
31. Dud - Dude Cub - Cube
32. Us - Use
33. I hope you can use this rule in your daily life. Goodbye.
34.
Lesson 8: Vowels - Final E
A letter E, after a single consonant, at the end of a word, is almost always silent, but it
influences the pronunciation of the preceding vowel.
In general, it changes the pronunciation of the vowel to be the same as the name of the
letter.
For example:
The letters H - I - D are pronounced /hId/. But if we add an E at the end, the letter I is
pronounced like its name: /aI/, and the word becomes /haId/.
It’s important to remember that this doesn’t happen to every word ending in a silent E -
GIVE, for example, or CARE - but it does apply most of the time.
A + consonant + E
HAT HATE
MAN MANE
DAM DAME
CAP CAPE
MAD MADE
PAN PANE
SHAM SHAME
RAT RATE
E + consonant + E usually occurs in words of more than one syllable, such as
COMPLETE, STAMPEDE, OBESE, JAPANESE and MANGANESE.
One contrasting pair is:
MET METE
A very common variation is words that end in ERE, where the ending is pronounced as
the diphthong /Iɘ/, such as SPHERE, REVERE, SINCERE, CASHMERE or
INTERFERE.
A couple of pairs to practice are:
HER HERE
ADDER ADHERE
I + consonant + E:
FIN FINE
WIN WINE
RIP RIPE
TIM TIME
STRIP STRIPE
RID RIDE
DIM DIME
HID HIDE
Note:
The same phenomenon occurs if we have the letter Y instead of I, in words like SKYPE
and RHYME
O + consonant + E:
ROD RODE
HOP HOPE
CLOTH CLOTHE
DOT DOTE
COP COPE
ROB ROBE
NOD NODE
CON CONE
And finally, U + consonant+ E:
DUN DUNE
RUN RUNE
DUD DUDE
CUB CUBE
US USE
TUN TUNE
CUT CUTE
TUB TUBE
vowels differently and correctly. The phonemic transcriptions can help you identify the
vowel sounds, but they are not necessary to complete the activity successfully.
HAT - HATE /hæt/ /heIt/
MET - METE /met/ /mi:t/
FIN - FINE /fIn/ /faIn/
ROD - RODE /rɒd/ /rɘʊd/
RUN - RUNE /r˄n/ /ru:n/

RIM - RHYME /rIm/ /raIm/
Record yourself saying each pair of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the /h/
in the second of each pair.
IS - HIS /Iz/ /hIz/
AIR - HAIR /eɘ(r)/ /heɘ(r)/
EEL - HEEL /i:l/ /hi:l/
vowels differently.
HILL - HEAL /hIl/ /hi:l/
BID - BEAD /bId/ /bi:d/
Record yourself saying each word. Make sure you pronounce the vowels differently.
TREATY /tri:tI/
BETWEEN /bItwi:n/
Record yourself saying each trio of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce the
vowels differently.
BADGE - BUDGE - BARGE /bæʤ/ /b˄ʤ/ /ba:(r)ʤ/
PACK - PUCK - PARK /pæk/ /p˄k/ /pa:(r)k/
Record yourself saying each group of 2 or 3 words carefully. Make sure you pronounce
the vowels differently.
HOOD - WHO’D /hʊd/ /hu:d/
SHOULD - SHOOED /ʃʊd/ /ʃu:d/
LOOK - LUKE - LUCK /lʊk/ /lu:k/ /l˄k/
Record yourself saying each word carefully. Look at the phonemic transcription to see
where the schwas come, if you’re not sure.
AGREE /ɘgri:/
HOPELESS /hɘʊplɘs/
GORILLA /gɘrIlɘ/
Record yourself saying each trio of words carefully. Make sure you pronounce all three
vowels differently and correctly.
STOCK - STORK - STOKE /stɒk/ /stɔ:(r)k/ /stɘʊk/
CON - CORN - CONE /kɒn/ /kɔ:(r)n/ /kɘʊn/
ROD - ROARED - ROAD /rɒd/ /rɔ:(r)d/ /rɘʊd/
HER - HAIR /h3:(r)/ /heɘ(r)/
CHIRP - CHEAP /ʧ3:(r)p/ /ʧi:p/
WORK - WALK /w3:(r)k/ /wɔ:k/
HURT - HOOT /h3:(r)t/ /hu:t/
CAP - CAPE /kæp/ /keIp/
WIN - WINE /wIn/ /waIn/
HOP - HOPE /hɒp/ /hɘʊp/
CUB - CUBE /k˄b/ /kju:b/
Lección 1: Palabra acentuada

2. Hello, and welcome to Module 3 of this course on English Phonology.
3. In this lesson, we’re going to start looking at STRESS. Not mental stress, but WORD STRESS.
4. Listen to this word: RABBIT
5. It has two syllables, but we say the first syllable louder and a little longer than the
6. second one. RABBIT
7. The word “rabbit” has the stress on the first syllable.
8. Now listen to this word: AGREE
9. This word also has two syllables, but here we say the second syllable
10. louder and longer than the first. AGREE.
11. The word “agree” has the stress on the second syllable.
12. All words with two or more syllables must have a stress, but unlike Spanish,
13. English does not have simple rules about which syllable is stressed,
14. and it doesn’t use a written accent when these rules are broken, as Spanish does.
15. If it’s any help, Nouns, Adjectives and Adverbs with 2 syllables
16. are normally stressed on the first syllable: WATER, BASKET, HAPPY, ABSTRACT, SELDOM, VERY.
17. While 2-syllable verbs are normally stressed on the second syllable: IGNORE, DENY, PRETEND
18. Words with one syllable may, or may not have stress.
19. That’s something we’ll look at in a later lesson.
20. Here are some three-syllable words. can you hear the stress?
21. MESSENGER The stress is on the first syllable.
22. MESSENGER UNDERSTAND
23. The stress is on the last syllable
24. UNDERSTAND How about BELIEVING.
25. The stress is on the second or middle syllable BELIEVING
26. Most three-syllable words have the stress on the first syllable,
27. but again, this “rule” has many exceptions. Words with four syllables normally have the stress
28. on the second or third syllable: DEPENDENCY,
29. PSYCHIATRIST or MISBEHAVING, SUPERHUMAN But again, there are exceptions.
30. Some suffixes - the bits we add to the end of a word to change its meaning - can
31. affect the stress of the word. Listen to the stress in these pairs:
32. GRAVITY - GRAVITATION POLITICS - POLITICIAN
33. EDUCATE - EDUCATION SARCASM - SARCASTIC
34. Can you hear how the stress moves nearer to the end of the word in the second of each pair?
35. It comes just BEFORE the suffix.
36. Sometimes the stress moves more than once, if we add a different suffix. Listen to these.
37. Where are the stresses? PHOTOGRAPH PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHIC
38. In PHOTOGRAPH, it’s on the first syllable, in PHOTOGRAPHER, it’s on the second,
39. and in PHOTOGRAPHIC, it’s on the third syllable.
40. Fortunately, that doesn’t happen very often! So, don’t let it stress you! Goodbye.
41.
Lesson 1: Word Stress
Stress is the name we give to the way we normally say some syllables louder and and
a little longer than others:
In RABBIT, the first syllable is stressed.
In AGREE, the second syllable is stresses.
All words with two or more syllables must have a stress, but unlike Spanish, English
does not have simple rules about which syllable is stressed, and it doesn’t use a written
accent when these rules are broken, as Spanish does.
There are some general patterns or tendencies, but they are NOT strict rules.
Nouns, Adjectives and Adverbs with 2 syllables are normally stressed on the first
syllable:
WATER BASKET
HAPPY ABSTRACT
SELDOM VERY
Verbs with 2 syllable are normally stressed on the second syllable:
IGNORE DENY PRETEND
Words with one syllable may, or may not have stress. This topic is covered in Module 2
Lesson 5.
Three syllable words frequently have the stress on the first syllable:
MESSENGER ARTICHOKE
FABULOUS RENEGADE
But there are many exceptions to this pattern. Words such as:
BELIEVING CONTAINER
DEVELOP BANANA
have the stress on the middle or second syllable.

Whereas words like:
UNDERSTAND REFUGEE
MACAROON DISAPPOINT
have the stress on the last or third syllable.

Words with four syllables normally have the stress on the second or third syllable:
DEPENDENCY PSYCHIATRIST
MISBEHAVING SUPERHUMAN
But again, there are exceptions.
Some suffixes can affect the stress of the word. Some of these suffixes move the stress
to the PENULTIMATE syllable:
-ation GRAVITY GRAVITATION
-ician POLITICS POLITICIAN
-ic SARCASM SARCASTIC

In others, the stress is on the suffix itself:
-ee REFUGE REFUGEE
-ese CHINA CHINESE
-ette CIGAR CIGARETTE
While other suffixes, especially Anglo-Saxon ones, don’t.

For example:
-al DIGITAL, PERSONAL
-dom KINGDOM, WISDOM
-ly QUICKLY, SLOWLY
-ed RELATED, OBSERVED
-er COMPUTER, OBSERVER
-ing RESPONDING, OFFERING
-ful PLENTIFUL, UNHELPFUL
-hood NEIGHBORHOOD, CHILDHOOD

-less THOUGHTLESS, EMOTIONLESS
-ness TIDINESS, HOPELESSNESS
Occasionally, the stress moves more than once, if we add a different suffix:
PHOTOGRAPH PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHIC
For a more complete list of suffixes and how they affect word stress,
see: https://www.wordstress.info/wp-
content/uploads/2014/08/Stress_Rules_suffixes.pdf
Record yourself saying these words, with the stress in the correct place as marked:
1) PHOTOGRAPHER
2) INTERNATIONAL
3) CORONARY
4) SUBURB
5) BALLOON
6) ABBREVIATION
7) PHOTOGRAPH
8) JAPANESE
9) UNDERSTANDING
10) PROFILE
Lección 2: Estrés homógrafo

2. Hello. Listen to this sentence. The economy depends on exports.
3. Did you hear the stress on the first syllable of EXPORTS? I’ll say it again:
4. The economy depends on exports. Now listen to this sentence:
5. Her company exports oranges.
6. Did you hear anything different? Listen again: Her company exports oranges.
7. EXPORTS has the stress on the second syllable, not the first.
8. So what’s the difference? In the first sentence, I was using the word as a NOUN,
9. and the stress is on the first syllable. In the second sentence, I was using it as a VERB,
10. and the stress is on the second syllable. There are several pairs like this in English.
11. Normally the word with the stress on the first syllable is a noun, and the word with
12. the stress on the second syllable is a verb, and generally the meanings are obviously connected.
13. Here are some more examples. I’ll say the pair of words, and then put them into a pair of sentences.
14. Decrease - Decrease There has been a decrease in sales this year
15. The temperature decreases as you go higher up the mountain
16. Contrast - Contrast I want to adjust the contrast on this photograph.
17. The north of the country contrasts dramatically with the south.
18. Suspect - Suspect The police interrogated the suspect.
19. We suspect that our accountant is not completely honest.
20. Reject Reject
21. These T-shirts are factory rejects, that’s why they’re cheap.
22. We reject any sort of discrimination here.
23. There are some Noun-Verb pairs where the meanings are different,
24. or at least not so closely connected. Present - Present
25. I got some lovely presents for my birthday.
26. I’d like to present Mr. Reggie Wilson, from Head Office.
27. Recall - Recall
28. The automobile company spent millions on the recall when the air bags failed.
29. I don’t recall the exact number, but I think it was about 500.
30. Project - Project Jim is in charge of this project.
31. Let me project my screen onto the whiteboard. Exploit - Exploit
32. The explorer Richard Burton wrote several books describing his exploits.
33. Capitalism too often exploits workers.
34. There are also a few pairs where the word with the stress on the first syllable is an Adjective,
35. rather than a Noun. Perfect - Perfect
36. This is the perfect job for you. It took many years to perfect this magic trick.
37. Or the second syllable stress indicates an Adjective rather than a Verb:
38. Content - Content
39. The style is good, but there isn’t much content. I am very content to stay at home and relax.
40. There are also one or two pairs of three-syllable words:
41. Attribute - Attribute
42. Punctuality is an important attribute of the successful entrepreneur.
43. She attribute her success to the support of her family.
44. Invalid - Invalid He was an invalid and needed a wheelchair.
45. The votes were invalid because they were marked twice.
46. You'll find a more complete list of these pairs in the Reference Section of this Lesson.
47. See if you can make some pairs of sentences of your own! Goodbye.
48.
Lesson 2: Homograph Stress

There are several pairs of 2-syllable words in English which are homographs - spelled
the same - but with the stress placed on the first, or second syllable, depending on the
word class and meaning.
Normally the word with the stress on the first syllable is a noun, and the word with the
stress on the second syllable is a verb, and generally the meanings are obviously
connected.
But there are other combinations.
Here are the examples you heard on the Video, and some other words which do the
same thing.
A) Stress on first syllable - NOUN

Stress on second syllable - VERB
Meanings connected
EXPORTS EXPORTS
The economy depends on exports.
Her company exports oranges.
DECREASE DECREASE
There has been a decrease in sales this year.
The temperature decreases as you go higher up the mountain.

CONTRAST CONTRAST
I want to adjust the contrast on this photograph.
The north of the country contrasts dramatically with the south.
SUSSPECT SUSSPECT
The police interrogated the suspect.
We suspect that our accountant is not completely honest.
REJECT REJECT
These T-shirts are factory rejects, that’s why they’re cheap.
We reject any sort of discrimination here.
Some other words like these:
Addict Ally Annex Combat
Con5lict Conscript Contest Convert
Convict Detail Discount Escort
Fragment Impact Import Increase
Insult Permit Pervert Produce

Progress Protest Rebel Record
Re5ill Refund Replay Research
Torment Transplant Transport Update
B) Stress on first syllable - NOUN

Meanings NOT closely connected
PRESENT PRESENT
I got some lovely presents for my birthday.
I’d like to present Mr. Reggie Wilson, from Head Office.
RECALL RECALL
The automobile company spent millions on the recall when the air bags failed.
I don’t recall the exact number, but I think it was about 500.
PROJECT PROJECT
Jim is in charge of this project.
Let me project my screen onto the whiteboard.
EXPLOIT EXPLOIT
The explorer Richard Burton wrote several books describing his exploits.
Capitalism too often exploits workers.
Address Compound Conduct
Console Consort Contract
Converse Default Defect
Desert Discharge Entrance
Extract Imprint Insert
Object Process Refuse
Resume Subject Survey
C) Stress on first syllable - ADJECTIVE

PERFECT PERFECT
This is the perfect job for you.
It took many years to perfect this magic trick.
Also Frequent
D) Stress on first syllable - NOUN
Stress on second syllable - ADJECTIVE
CONTENT CONTENT
The style is good, but there isn’t much content.
I am very content to stay at home and relax.
Compact Complex Minute
E) Three-syllable words which do the same thing:
ATTRIBUTE ATTRIBUTE
Punctuality is an important attribute of the successful entrepreneur.
She attribute her success to the support of her family.
INVALID INVALID
He was an invalid and needed a wheelchair.
The votes were invalid because they were marked twice.
Envelop(e) Override
For each sentence, decide if the underlined word is stressed on the first or
second syllable.
Lección 3: Acentuación de palabras en
compuestos
2. Hello. How many of you are fans of the series The Walking Dead? Even if you’re not, you probably
3. know it’s about zombies. The name gives you a clue - it’s literally about dead people who walk.
4. Or perhaps you prefer science fiction, something with traditional
5. flying saucers. You know, saucers that fly. So if the Walking Dead are dead people who walk,
6. and flying saucers are saucers that fly, that means a walking stick is a stick that walks,
7. doesn’t it? And a flying license is a license that flies.
8. Obviously not. A walking stick isn’t a stick that walks, it’s a stick that you use
9. to help YOU walk. And a flying license doesn’t fly, it’s a license that allows YOU to fly.
10. How do we tell the difference, then? And what does this have to do with stress?
11. Listen carefully. Zombies are Walking Dead. Extra help for your legs is a walking-stick.
12. Walking Dead has two stresses, one on each word. Walking-stick only has one, on the first syllable.
13. Listen to these two: A flying saucer is basic to any good science fiction film. It has two
14. stresses. If you want to be a pilot, you need a flying-license, only one stress.
15. Why is this? In “Flying Saucer”, the word Flying is an adjective, describing the Saucer.
16. There are two separate ideas, just as the phrase “blue eyes” has two independent ideas in it.
17. Or “happy children”. But how many ideas are there in “walking stick” or “flying license”? Only one.
18. Both these compounds refer to a single concept or object. So we
19. stress the compound as if it were a single word. This is the same with any compound formed from an
20. adjective and a noun to make a single idea. I live in a white house. Two stresses. It’s a house which
21. is white. The President of the United States lives in the White House. One stress. The White
22. House is not simply a house which is white, it is a single concept, the seat of the US Executive.
23. Have you ever noticed that fresh orange juice is usually yellow, not orange? Orange juice is
24. a single concept, and the colour doesn’t really matter. On the other hand, if you squeeze a
25. papaya, you’ll get orange juice - two stress because there are two concepts in the phrase.
26. Something to eat with your juice? How about a hotdog,
27. but certainly not a hot dog. A couple more examples:
28. a gentleman should, of course, be a gentle man. But they’re not exactly the same thing.
29. Much of Greenland isn’t green, so you can’t really call it a green land.
30. You shouldn’t wake up a sleeping baby, but the problem doesn’t apply to a sleeping pill.
31. So to summarise, If the first word describes the second, and their are two concept,
32. then two stresses. If the compound is one concept, then only one stress.
33. Simple, isn’t it!? Goodbye.
34.
Lesson 3: Word Stress in Compounds
The stress pattern on compound nouns is normally a single stress, on the first syllable,
as if the compound were a single word.
For example:
Noun+Noun Football
Bus stop
Noun + Verb Sunrise

Train-spotting
Verb + Adverb Playback

Check-out
Preposition + Verb Overcoat Underpass
Adverb + Verb Input

Output
Whether the compound is written as a single word, a hyphenated phrase, or two

separate words does not alter the stress pattern.
In the case of compounds formed by an adjective + noun, or gerund (-ing) + noun,

there is the possibility of confusion with adjective-noun phrases which are not
compounds.
For example:
A hot dog could be a dog with a high temperature, or it could be a sausage in a bun.
A flying saucer is a saucer which flies, but a flying license is not a license that flies, it is
a license that permits the holder to fly, a license for flying.
In these cases, the stress pattern serves to distinguish the two. True adjective-noun
compounds have only one stress, the same as other true compounds.
Combinations of adjective/gerund + noun which are not compounds have two stresses.
Compare:
TRUE COMPOUND ADJ/-ING + NOUN PHRASE
The White House A white house
A red-eye (5light) To have red eyes
The greenhouse effect A green house
Software Soft icecream
Greenland A green land
A gentleman A gentle reminder
A walking stick The Walking Dead
A hunting permit Hunting tigers
A swimming pool A swimming shark
A sleeping pill A sleeping baby

TRUE COMPOUND ADJ/-ING + NOUN PHRASE
Drinking water A drinking man
For each sentence, decide if the underlined phrase should have ONE main stress
or TWO main stresses.
Lección 4: Cambio de estrés

2. Hello. For this lesson, I’d like to start with a bit of poetry.
3. It is relevant, as you will soon see, so please be patient!
4. This is the first verse of a poem by William Blake called The Tyger. I’d like you to listen to the rhythm.
5. Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night;
6. What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
7. Please go on the internet and find the whole poem to read later, if you’re interested, but for the
8. moment I’d like you to notice how rhythmic it is. Classical English poetry is based on rhythm
9. created not by syllables, like Spanish or French poetry, but on a pattern of stresses.
10. English is is a poetic language, not only in its literature, but also in its speech. In poetry
11. based on stress patterns, it’s unusual to have two stressed syllables next to each other. In speech,
12. obviously this happens much more often, but English speakers still try to avoid it
13. if they can. In fact, English speakers are such natural poets, that they will try to
14. make their speech as rhythmic as possible. For this reason, some long words can be stressed
15. differently, depending on where they come in a sentence, and where the other stresses are.
16. This phenomenon is called Stress Shift. Here are some examples.
17. The word international has the stress on the third syllable: INTERNATIONAL But listen to this:
18. An international contract. The stress moves to the first syllable: INTERNATIONAL,
19. which improves the rhythm of the phrase. Many of the world’s problems are economic,
20. with the stress on the third syllable: ECONOMIC. So it’s not surprising that politicians frequently
21. talk about an economic recovery, with the stress on the first syllable: ECONOMIC.
22. A popular ritual in England is afternoon tea. The stress is on the first syllable:
23. AFTERNOON. But a famous book about Spanish bull-fighting written by Ernest Hemingway is
24. called “Death in the Afternoon”. The stress changes to the last syllable: AFTERNOON.
25. Talking of tea, the Japanese tea ceremony is one of the most famous rituals in the world.
26. JAPANESE has stress on the first syllable. And to appreciate the ceremony, you don’t have to speak
27. Japanese. JAPANESE, with the stress on the last syllable
28. The Reference section of this lesson has a fuller list of words that do this,
29. but for now, let’s just say that if you feel inspired to poetry when you speak English,
30. you’re probably doing it right! Goodbye.
31.
Lesson 4: Stress Shift

Stress shift is the name for the phenomenon where English speakers will change the
normal position of a word’s stress, either to avoid two stressed syllables occurring
together, or to make the rhythm of the phrase more regular, with the stressed syllables
more evenly spaced.
For example the word Japanese normally has the stress on the first syllable:
JAPANESE
But if we use that stress in the phrase He speaks Japanese, we would get two stressed
syllables together, followed by two unstressed syllables to end the phrase.
HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
However, if we stress the last syllable of Japanese instead of the first, we separate the
stressed syllables AND create a more rhythmic pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables.
HE SPEAKS JAPANESE
Another example: The word afternoon is normally stressed on the third syllable:
AFTERNOON
But if we use this pattern in the phrase afternoon tea, we will get two stressed syllables
together, and no rhythmic alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables.
AFTERNOON TEA
So in this phrase the word afternoon would normally be stressed on the first syllable,
which gives:
AFTERNOON TEA
To English speakers, this pattern is much more pleasing to the ear than the first.
Numbers from thirteen to nineteen can be shifted, For example:
SHE’S THIRTEEN
but
THIRTEEN DAYS
Compound numbers from 21 onwards can be pronounced with one or two stresses,
depending on the context:
FORTY-TWO DOLLARS
but
THE ANSWER IS FORTY-TWO
Only certain words behave like this, what follows is an incomplete list.
Afternoon Already Antique Bamboo
California
Berlin (listen to the Mamas and Catastrophic Chinese

the Papas’ California
Dreamin’)
Continental Economic European Fundamental
Hindu Hotel Inside Instrumental
Norwegian
International Japanese Photographic

(listen to the Beatles’
Norwegian Wood)
Unhappy Unknown
For each sentence, decide which syllable of the underlined word will probably be
stressed.
Lección 5: Estrés enfático
1. icio de la transcripción. Saltar al final.
2. Hello, and welcome to this next lesson in German pronunciation. Wait a minute. Sorry.
3. That’s not right. This is an ENGLISH pronunciation course.
4. Let me try that again. Hello, and welcome to this next lesson in English Grammar. Oh dear. I don’t
5. Oh dear.
6. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today! Of course, this is the English pronunciATION course, isn’t it.
7. Yes, it is. Don’t worry. My two unsuccessful introductions illustrate the topic
8. of this lesson - Emphatic Stress, or Contrastive Stress.
9. In other words, giving one word in a sentence more than usual stress in order to emphasize it,
10. usually because we want to draw attention to a contrast, or correct a piece of information.
11. When I corrected myself in the first introduction, I said: This is an ENGLISH pronunciation course.
12. I put extra emphasis on the word ENGLISH to contrast it with the mistake in my introduction,
13. when I said it was German. In my second attempt, I made the mistake
14. of calling it a grammar course, instead of the pronunciation course, so when I corrected myself,
15. I put extra emphasis on the word PRONUNCIATION, to focus on the exact location of my mistake.
16. This means that a sentence can carry different connotations, depending on if
17. and where we put extra stress.
18. For example: Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818.
19. This is a simple statement, with no special emphasis. Compare it with these:
20. MARY Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818. (Not her husband Percy)
21. Mary SHELLEY published Frankenstein in 1818. (Not her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft)
22. Mary Shelley published FRANKENSTEIN in 1818. (Not Dracula)
23. Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in EIGHTEEN 18. (Not 1918)
24. Mary Shelley PUBLISHED Frankenstein in 1818. (She started writing it three years before).
25. And so on. In less literary contexts,
26. perhaps after I go to the supermarket, my wife would mention that I forgot to buy bread.
27. And I might defend myself by saying: “Well, I bought the CHEESE!”
28. Or we can use emphatic stress as its name suggests, simply to reinforce one particular part
29. of what we say. When Cinderella is telling her fairy godmother of her problems, the godmother’s
30. response is to say: “You SHALL go to the ball!” So now you know.
31. Practice your English pronunciation a little every day, and you WILL get better in no time! Goodbye
32.
33. Lesson 5: Emphatic Stress
34. Emphatic stress, also called Contrastive Stress, describes the way
speakers will sometimes give one word in a sentence extra stress in order to
draw attention to it.
35. a) This may be simply in order to emphasize:
36. When Cinderella is telling her fairy godmother of her problems, the
godmother’s response is to say: “You SHALL go to the ball!” You shall go to the
ball!
37. Practice your English pronunciation a little every day, and you WILL get
better in no time!
38. b) Or to draw a contrast:
39. If I return from the supermarket and my wife mentions that I forgot to buy
bread, I might defend myself by saying: “Well, I bought the CHEESE!” Well, I
bought the Cheese!
40. c) Or to correct a mistake or misinterpretation:
41. - our own, or someone else’s - in a previous utterance. In this case, the
extra stress draws attention to the error, as well as the correction.
42. Here are the Mary Shelley examples from the video:
Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818. Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in

1818. This is a simple statement, with no special emphasis.
MARY Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818. "Mary" Shelley published Frankenstein in

1818. (Not her husband Percy).
Mary SHELLEY published Frankenstein in 1818. Mary "Shelley" published Frankenstein in

1818. (Not her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft).
Mary Shelley published FRANKENSTEIN in 1818. Mary Shelley published "Frankenstein" in

1818. (Not Dracula).
Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in EIGHTEEN 18. Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in
"Eighteen" 18. (Not 1918).
Mary Shelley PUBLISHED Frankenstein in 1818. Mary Shelley "published" Frankenstein in

1818. (She started writing it three years before).
For each sentence, read it aloud or mark the stresses three times, putting emphatic or
contrastive stress in a different place each time, depending on the information given in
the phrases marked a), b) and c) below each sentence.
For example:
The dog ate the steak I cooked for dinner.
a) ...not the cat.
The DOG ate the steak I cooked for dinner.
b) ...not for lunch.
The dog ate the steak I cooked for DINNER.
c) ...not the salmon.
The dog ate the STEAK I cooked for dinner.
1) She went to London last Tuesday.
...not Paris.
...not last Thursday.
...he didn’t.
2) He had four cups of black coffee.
...not three cups.
...not white coffee.

...not black tea.
3) I bought a new dictionary yesterday.
...not last week.
...not second-hand.
...not an encyclopedia.
4) Columbus sailed to America in 1492
...not Cortes.
...not 1494.
...not Africa.
5) Queen Victoria died in 1901.
...not 1801.
...not Queen Elizabeth.
...she wasn’t born then.
Lección 6: Formas Débiles

1. cio de la transcripción. Saltar al final.
2. Hola. ¿Recuerdas el poema “The Tiger” de la lección 4?
3. Hablamos sobre el ritmo de la poesía y el ritmo del inglés hablado, y cómo los angloparlantes son
inconscientemente
4. conscientes del patrón de sílabas acentuadas y no acentuadas en su habla.
5. Una de las principales diferencias entre el habla y la poesía es que en la poesía el patrón es
normalmente regular.
6. Escucha la primera línea del poema nuevamente e intenta escuchar el patrón:
7. Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
8. Alterna sílabas acentuadas y átonas.
9. Ahora escucha la segunda línea:
10. In the forests of the night.
11. La misma cosa. Pero en esta línea, la palabra THE aparece dos veces y en ambas ocasiones
12. no tiene acento. In the forests of the night.
13. Entonces tenemos una palabra completa que no se enfatiza. Es posible acentuar la palabra
14. THE, en cuyo caso sonaría como / θi: /. Pero en el poema, y de hecho casi siempre en el habla normal,
15. THE se pronuncia con un schwa. (¿Te acuerdas de schwa?) Así: / θɘ /.
16. En otras palabras, la palabra THE en realidad tiene dos pronunciaciones posibles.
17. Los llamamos la forma fuerte, / θi: /, y la forma débil, / θɘ /.
18. ¿Hay otras palabras que tengan formas débiles y fuertes? Sí. De hecho, muchas de ellos.
19. Escucha esta oración. Primero lo voy a decir muy despacio:
20. John and Mary can see a dog next to them.
21. Ahora lo voy a decir de nuevo a velocidad normal. Escucha de nuevo e intenta identificar
22. alguna forma débil. John and Mary can see a dog next to them.
23. Deberías haber escuchado cinco. Escucha de nuevo:
24. John and Mary can see a dog next to them. ¿Qué palabras tienen formas débiles? AND,
25. CAN, A, TO, THEM. En esta oración, todas estas palabras se pronuncian con schwa. No
26. / ænd /, sino / ɘn /. No / kæn / pero / kæn /, no / eI / sino simplemente / ɘ /, no / tu:
27. / pero / tɘ /, y no / ðem / pero / ðɘm /.
28. Entonces, ¿qué palabras tienen formas débiles? Bueno, si miras detenidamente las cinco palabras
nuevamente,
29. son una conjunción, AND; un verbo auxiliar, CAN; un artículo, A; una preposición,
30. TO; y un pronombre, THEM. todas estas palabras son lo que llamamos palabras funcionales.
31. Son las palabras gramaticales que unen las ideas en una oración.
32. Palabras como JOHN, MARY, SEE, DOG y NEXT se llaman palabras léxicas, porque contienen el
contenido de la oración
33. que las palabras funcionales conectan entre sí. Esto incluye sustantivos, verbos (excepto
34. auxiliares), adjetivos y la mayoría de los adverbios. En términos generales, las palabras
35. de función de una sílaba a menudo, aunque no siempre, tienen formas débiles, las palabras léxicas no.
36. Esta característica de la pronunciación
37. en inglés no es la más sencilla, porque depende mucho de schwa, que no es un sonido fácil.
38. Pero es parte fundamental del ritmo del inglés. ¡Así que sigue practicando
39. y te sorprenderá el efecto que tiene en tu fluidez!
40. Adiós.
41.
42. Lesson 6: Weak Forms

43. In normal English speech, many one-syllable function words (conjunctions,
prepositions, pronouns, auxiliary verbs and articles) are not pronounced with their
full value, with no stress, but are instead reduced to a schwa, /ɘ/,or sometimes a
short /I/ sound.
44. These are called weak forms. This does no apply to function words with
more than one syllable, such as WITHOUT or ANYONE, because all such words
must have a stressed syllable.
45. It does not happen with Lexical words (nouns, verbs apart from auxiliaries,
adjectives and most adverbs).
46. The principal reason for this is that English is what is called a “Stress-timed”
language, unlike Spanish, which is a “Syllable-timed” language. In other words,
the rhythm of the spoken language is a pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables, rather than being carried simply by the number of syllables.
47. These patterns, when restricted to regular repetition through a text, are
what create the rhythms of formal English poetry.
48. Here is a verse from Emily Dickinson. Note the alternation of stressed and
unstressed syllables, and how often these unstressed syllables are pronounced
with a schwa, or a short /I/ .
49.
50. /I/ /ɘ/
51. Because I could not stop for Death
52.
53. /I/ /I/ /ɘ/
54. He kindly stopped for me
55.
56. /ɘ/ /I/ /ɘ/
57. The Carriage held but just Ourselves
58.
59. /ɘ/ /I/
60. And Immortality.
61.
62. In the example of normal speech from the Video, the rhythm is not so
regular, but the weak forms are even more common:
63.
64. /ɘ/ /I/ /ɘ/ /ɘ/ /ɘ/ /ɘ/
65. John and Mary can see a dog next to them.
66.
67. Here is a list of some of the words most commonly reduced to a schwa in
normal speech:
CONJUNCTIONS
And, As, But, Or, Than, That
AUXILIARY Am*, Are*, Was, Were, Have*, Has*, Had*, Can, Must,
VERBS Would*, Could, Shall, Should
(* These auxiliaries are often reduced to contractions)
PREPOSITIONS At, For, From, Of, On, To
PRONOUNS
Her, That, Them, Us, You, Your
ARTICLES
The, A, An, Some
Identify the syllables in these sentences which would normally be pronounced as

weak forms, with either a schwa /ɘ/ or a short /I/.
Record yourself saying these words, with the stress in the correct place as marked:
1) DEVELOP
2) NEIGHBORHOOD
3) GRAVITATION
4) CIGARETTE
For each sentence, decide if the underlined word is stressed on the first or
second syllable.
For each sentence, decide if the underlined phrase should have ONE stress or
TWO stresses.
For each sentence, decide which syllable of the underlined word will probably be
stressed.
For each sentence, read it aloud or mark the stresses three times, putting emphatic or contrastive
stress in a different place each time, depending on the information given in the phrases marked a),
b) and c) below each sentence.
For example:
The dog ate the steak I cooked for dinner.
a) ...not the cat.
The DOG ate the steak I cooked for dinner.
b) ...not for lunch.
The dog ate the steak I cooked for DINNER.
c) ...not the salmon.
The dog ate the STEAK I cooked for dinner.
1) This recipe takes half a kilo of brown sugar.
a) ...not a whole kilo.
b) ...not white sugar.
c) ...not half a cup.
2) I can't find my brown leather bag
...not the black one.
...not yours.
...not the plastic one.
3) I want to visit the volcanoes in Costa Rica this summer
a) ...not next summer.

b) ...not the rainforests.
c) ...not Panama.
Identify the syllables in these sentences which would normally be pronounced as

weak forms, with either a schwa /ɘ/ or a short /I/.
Lección 1: Vinculación
2. Hola y bienvenido al Módulo cuatro de este curso de pronunciación en inglés.
3. En los módulos uno y dos analizamos los sonidos individuales. En el Módulo tres vimos cómo
4. el inglés usa el acento de las palabras, y en este Módulo, veremos algunas características
5. de la pronunciación que cubren oraciones completas.
6. Para mí, una de las habilidades más asombrosas que tienen los humanos es comprender lo que
7. las personas les están diciendo. El proceso de convertir ondas sonoras en sonidos del
8. habla, reconocer palabras, comprender la gramática, etc. es asombroso.
9. Una de las habilidades que damos por sentado es la capacidad del cerebro para separar palabras
insertando espacios
10. entre ellas. Digo insertar, porque eso es lo que haces. Yo no. Cuando dije “Because
11. that 's what you do”, escuchaste cinco palabras distintas. Seis si contamos la contracción.
12. Pero no los separé. Tú lo hiciste. Escuche de nuevo, con atención. “Because that 's
13. what you do”. No me detuve entre las palabras, pero las escuchaste por separado.
14. Una de las cosas que hacen los angloparlantes para que el habla sea más fluida es unir
15. palabras, sin hacer pausas entre ellas cada vez. Lo mismo sucede en español, y los hablantes
16. de ambos idiomas esperan que sus oyentes hagan el arduo trabajo de dividir el discurso continuo
17. en las piezas significativas que llamamos palabras.
18. En las lecciones dos y tres de este módulo, veremos algunas cosas interesantes que hace
19. el inglés en relación con el “linking” (enlace), pero por ahora solo consideraremos
20. el tipo más simple, que ocurre cuando una palabra termina en vocal y la siguiente comienza
21. con una. consonante, o viceversa.
22. Hace un momento utilicé la frase “one of the things”. Escuche cómo las palabras
23. ONE y OF están unidas: “One of”. Y luego THE y THINGS. "THE THINGS".
24. Echemos un vistazo más de cerca a algo que dije antes y veamos cómo funciona el enlace allí.
25. Aquí está la oración: To me, one of the most amazing abilities humans
26. have is understanding what people are saying to them.
27. El enlace de la vocal y la consonante al final y al comienzo de las palabras ocurre en “to me”,
28. “one of”, “most amazing abilities”, “have is understanding”, “people are
29. saying” “to them”. Escucha de nuevo: To me, one of the most amazing abilities humans
30. Escucha de nuevo: To me, one of the most amazing abilities humans
31. have is understanding what people are saying to them.
32. También debería poder escuchar las formas débiles de las palabras OF, THE, ARE y TO,
33. como vimos en el Módulo tres. Entonces, el inglés hablado no es una serie
34. de palabras independientes, todas pronunciadas por separado. El enlace, junto con las formas
35. débiles, ayuda a que el idioma fluya sin problemas y es un elemento importante para
36. darle a su pronunciación un sonido natural. Adiós.
37.
Lesson 1: Linking
Linking refers to the way words are spoken without any pause or space between them,
as if they were a single word. It is an important element in fluent, fluid speech.
The most common form of linking is when one word ends in a vowel, and the next
begins with a consonant.
For example:
WEREᴗGOING
PLAYᴗBALL
GOᴗDOWN
Or vice versa,when one word ends in a consonant, the next begins with a vowel.
ISᴗEATING
GOTᴗUP
BRITISHᴗARMY
This linking is often combined with weak forms of function words, again, as if the whole
phrase was a single word, and the function word simply an unstressed syllable in that
word.
/ɘ/ /I/ /ɘ/
THEᴗDOGᴗISᴗONᴗAᴗLEASH
/I/ /ɘ/ /ɘ/ /ɘ/

WEᴗCANᴗEATᴗAᴗDISHᴗOFᴗOATMEAL
Fun fact:
There are a few words in English where linking with an indefinite article (a/an) led to a
change in spelling.
In some cases the letter N moved from the article to the noun:
A napron >>> An apron
A nadder >>> An adder
A noumpere >>> An umpire
And sometimes the reverse happened:
An otch >>> A notch
An ekename (eke=also) >>> A nickname
The same phenomenon (called re-bracketing) explains why Ned and Nell are short
forms of Edward and Ellen.
For each sentence, mark the places where you think linking occurs with a ᴗ
To practice fluid speech, mark the schwas /ɘ/ in each sentence as well, and practice
saying them.
Lección 2: Consonantes intrusivas

1. Hola. En la primera lección de este módulo, analizamos la vinculación, específicamente
2. lo que sucede cuando una palabra termina en vocal y la siguiente comienza con consonante, o al revés.
3. Pero, ¿qué pasa si no es una vocal y una consonante, sino dos vocales o
4. dos consonantes? En esta lección, veremos la primera de estas dos situaciones y trataremos
5. la segunda en la lección 3.
6. Como estoy seguro sabes, existen diferencias entre las diversas variedades de inglés,
7. y las más conocidas probablemente se encuentran entre el inglés británico y el americano.
8. Una de estas diferencias es que el inglés americano estándar es rótico, mientras que
9. el inglés británico estándar no es rótico. Déjame explicarte: todo esto significa que
10. el inglés americano pronuncia la letra R en palabras como CLEAR, BIGGER o SPARK, mientras
11. que el inglés británico no lo hace.
12. De hecho, esto solo se aplica a las variedades estándar: hay acentos estadounidenses que
13. no pronuncian la R y otros británicos que sí. Y ni siquiera es completamente cierto
14. para los británicos estándar. Escuche estas dos frases:
15. The car goes fast. The car is blue. Hablo con acento británico estándar, pero
16. ¿escuchaste la R en la segunda oración? Las diré de nuevo.
17. The car goes fast. The car is blue. El inglés, ya sea británico, estadounidense
18. o de cualquier otra variedad, intenta evitar tener dos vocales juntas al final y al comienzo
19. de palabras consecutivas. preferimos tener una consonante que los separe.
20. Una forma en que los británicos hacen esto es pronunciar la R en palabras como CAR.
21. Aquí hay otro ejemplo de una letra que se pronuncia para evitar la situación de dos
22. vocales. Pero primero, di WENT. Observa cómo comienzas con los labios cerrados para decir
23. la W al principio. Ahora di: The cow goes home.
24. Si dices esto a velocidad normal, probablemente no cerrarás los labios completamente entre
25. la palabra COW y la palabra GOES, en otras palabras, no pronunció la W.
26. Pero ahora di: The cow is brown.
27. ¿Tus labios se cerraron? Ahora estás pronunciando la W para evitar tener que pasar de una vocal
28. directamente a otra. Esto se aplica en británicos o estadounidenses.
29. Un ejemplo más: di YELLOW y observa la posición de su lengua al principio, mientras dice el
30. sonido Y. Ahora prueba estas dos frases:
31. Say something Say anything Si prestas mucha atención a tu lengua, notarás
32. que pronuncias la Y completamente en la segunda frase, pero no en la primera. De nuevo, estás
33. separando las dos vocales.
34. Pero ese no es el final de la historia. ¿Qué pasa si no tenemos una R, W o Y conveniente
35. que podamos pronunciar en su totalidad para salir de problemas? Los angloparlantes no
36. se preocupan por eso. Si no está allí, agrégalo. Se denominan consonantes intrusivas.
37. Escucha estas tres frases, que contienen sonidos R intrusivos:
38. She saw it. The Victoria and Albert Museum and the writer Maya Angelou
39. Estos tres tienen sonidos W intrusivos: Go ahead To infinity! You are.
40. Y estos tres tienen sonidos Y intrusivos: Three of us Bi-annual and as Popeye famously
41. says: I am what I am
42. A veces, los angloparlantes también hacen esto en medio de una palabra, no solo entre palabras:
43. DRAWING a menudo se pronuncia / drɔ: rIŋ / con una R intrusiva, y HOUR se pronuncia
44. / aʊwɘ /, con una W intrusiva. Si lo practicas un poco, verás cuánto más
45. fácil es y cómo harás que tu discurso sea más fluido.
46. Adiós
47.
Lesson 2: Intrusive Consonants

English usually tries to avoid the juxtaposition of two vowels at the end of one word and
the beginning of the next word.
Speech can be more fluid if a consonant is added between these two vowels, to avoid a
hiatus, or pause.
If the first word of the pair ends in a letter R, W or Y, which are not normally
pronounced, they can be given their full value to provide the necessary bridging
consonant.
For example:
The door is open.

How about a pizza?
My oldest friend.
Note:
In most American varieties of English, the R in DOOR, CLEAR, BETTER etc, is already
pronounced anyway.
If there is no otherwise silent orthographic consonant, an INTRUSIVE consonant can

be added, again, either R /r/, W /w/ or Y /j/, depending on what the first vowel is, as
shown in the table below.
First vowel or diphthong sound Intrusive consonant
a: æ e ɘ 3: ɔ: Ʌ eɘ Iɘ ʊɘ /r/
ʊ u: aʊ ɘʊ /w/
I i: aI eI ɔI /j/
For example:
She saw it. /Qi: sɔ:rIt/
Maya Angelou /maIjɘrænʤɘlu:/
Go ahead /gɘʊwɘhed/
You are. /ju:wa:/
Three of us /θri:jɘvɘs/
I am what I am /aIjæm/
Add intrusive vowels to these sentences where you think they would occur:
Lección 3: Asimilación
1. icio de la transcripción. Saltar al final.
2. Hello. In this lesson, as promised, we’re going to look at what kind of linking can take place when
3. the sound at the end of one word, and the sound at the start of the next word are both consonants.
4. If the consonants are the same, then the solution is easy,
5. and we only pronounce the sound once, although slightly longer than a single sound would be:
6. Big gorilla. Bad dog. Julius Caesar. Bake cookies.
7. If the sounds are the same, except for one being the voiced version and the other the unvoiced
8. version, then again, we don’t pronounce both sounds. The first one “assimilates” to the second,
9. and we only pronounce the second one, but again, slightly longer than a normal single sound.
10. Five friends. Rap battle. Donald Trump. Robert Downey.
11. If the sounds are not the same, but are produced close to each other in the mouth,
12. in other words, if there is not a lot of movement involved in getting from one sound to another,
13. then we usually pronounce both sounds.
14. Both men. Brake handle. Own things. George Clooney.
15. However, if the two sounds are articulated very differently, then sometimes the second
16. sound will “pull” the first one towards it. This phenomenon is recognized in some spelling
17. changes both in English and in Spanish. For example, we say, and write, INDIRECT,
18. but IMPOSSIBLE. N and D are both alveolar sounds, and it’s easy to move from one to another,
19. but moving from N to P is much more complicated, so the N assimilates to the P, and becomes
20. M. P and M are both bilabial sounds, so it’s much easier to say them together.
21. However, this assimilation happens much more often than spelling rules would suggest. For example,
22. in TEN PEOPLE, the N also assimilates to the P, and we say /tempi:pɘl/.
23. Here are some other examples of this kind of assimilation:
24. RUN PAST becomes /rɅmpa:st/ as the N assimilates to the P and becomes M.
25. THAT MAN becomes /ðæpmæn/ as the T assimilates to the M and becomes P.
26. TEN CATS becomes /teŋkæts/ as the N assimilates to the C and becomes NG.
27. When the phrase WHAT IS THE TIME? is contracted, the voiced Z sound of IS
28. assimilates to the unvoiced sound of the T before it, and becomes S: “What’s the time?”
29. In DON’T YOU , the T and the Y assimilate together to become /ʧ/,
30. giving us the normal colloquial form of “dontcha”.
31.
Lesson 3: Assimilation
Assimilation refers to the way a consonant sound will change when next to another
consonant sound, either at the end and beginning of consecutive words, or in the
middle of a word, for example in compounds and prefixes.
1) If the sounds are identical, usually the first is suppressed, and the second is
pronounced slightly longer.
Big gorilla Bad dog Julius Caesar Bake cookies
2) If the two sounds are voiced and unvoiced versions of the same sound, the first will
take on the voicing of the second, and may then disappear, as in point 1) above.
Five friends Rap battle Donald Trump Robert Downey
3) If the sounds are different, but produced close together in the mouth, so that it is not
particularly difficult to move from one to the other, then both will keep their normal
value:
Both men Brake handle Own things George Clooney

However:
4) If the sounds are articulated very differently, in other words moving from one to
another is complicated, then the first sound may assimilate to another sound whose
articulation is closer to that of the second sound.
For example:
In the phrase THAT MAN, /t/ is an unvoiced alveolar plosive sound, and /m/ is bilabial
nasal. The /t/ remains unvoiced, and a plosive, but changes position in the mouth from
alveolar to bilabial. The unvoiced bilabial plosive is /p/, so the phrase is pronounced
as “THAP MAN”.
Some examples of this kind of assimilation are:
/t/ + /m/ >>> /p/ that man /ðæpmæn/
/t/ + /j/ >>> /ʧ/ don’t you /dɘʊnʧɘ/ (“Dontcha”)
/d/ + /j/ >>> /ʤ/ could you /kʊʤu:/
/n/ + /k/ >>> /ŋ/ ten cats /teŋkæts/
/n/ + /p/ >>> /m/ run past /rɅmpa:st/
/s/ + /j/ >>> /ʃ/ miss you /mIQju:/
/z/ + /j/ >>> /ʒ/ those years /ðɘʊʒjIɘz/
/v/ + /t/ >>> /f/ have to /hæftu:/
Record yourself saying these phrases at normal speed. There should be assimilation
between the words, as shown in parentheses after the phrases.
1) FIND TEN MEN (D → T, N → M)
2) TEN KILOS OF FOOD (N → Ƞ, V → F)
3) A BIG CAT CAME IN (G → C, T → C)
4) A BAD MAN KILLED TOM (D → B, N → Ƞ, D → T)
5) BOTH THESE SHIRTS (θ → ð, Z → ʃ)
Lección 4: Entonación (Parte 1)

2. Hello. Over the next three lessons, we’re going to look at the one major aspect of pronunciation
3. that we haven’t discussed yet. Intonation. Intonation is the melody of language,
4. the music, if you like. The way that the voice goes up↑, or down ↓ when we speak.
5. In these lessons, we’re going to look at the most common intonation patterns in English,
6. and what they mean, but you should remember that we will be generalizing.
7. Intonation can be used very subtly to express a variety of emotions and intentions,
8. and it also varies with different varieties of English around the world.
9. There are four basic patterns of intonation:
10. Falling, where the intonation goes down at the end of the phrase or sentence:
11. Rising, where it goes up at the end; Rise-Fall, where it goes up and then down; and finally,
12. Fall-Rise, which goes down and then up again. To make statements, we normally use
13. falling intonation. For example: There’s a policeman at the door.↓
14. He likes football. ↓ Queen Victoria died in 1901. ↓
15. We also use falling intonation for commands or imperatives:
16. Put your books away. ↓ Listen carefully. ↓
17. Take a seat. ↓ These sound rather
18. abrupt or authoritarian, and it doesn’t make much difference if you add the word “please”.
19. If you continue to use falling intonation, the imperative still doesn’t sound very polite:
20. Put your books away, please. ↓ Listen carefully, please. ↓
21. Take a seat, please. ↓
22. On the other hand, if you use falling intonation on the imperative,
23. but then add a rising intonation on the word “please”, it becomes a much more polite request:
24. Put your books away, ↓ please. ↑ Listen carefully, ↓ please. ↑
25. Take a seat, ↓ please. ↑ This pattern of intonation,
26. with a rise at the end, can make any request or offer more polite, even without the word “please”.
27. Is this seat ↓ taken? ↑ Can I help ↓ you? ↑
28. Pass me the ↓ salt. ↑
29. Since a falling intonation comes at the end of a statement, it indicates to the listener that the
30. speaker has finished their sentence. A rising intonation then, can have the opposite effect,
31. and tell the listener that we haven’t finished yet.
32. This is particularly useful in lists. Let’s try an experiment. I’m going to tell you my shopping
33. list, and I want you pause the video as soon as you think my list is finished. Just pause for
34. a second, then re-start it. OK? Here goes. I need to buy eggs ↑, cereal ↑, bread and
35. cheese ↑, potatoes and carrots ↑, and sugar ↓. Did you pause after sugar? Well done!
36. If we don’t end a list with a falling intonation, we can sometimes leave our listeners waiting
37. for the next thing on the list. I’d like you to take out your
38. pencil ↑, your notebook ↑, your eraser ↑,... You’re waiting for the next thing on the list,
39. aren’t you! On the other hand,
40. we can use this pattern to show that a list is endless, or at least too long to complete:
41. I like all kinds of animals: dogs ↑, cats ↑, horse ↑, snakes ↑, fish ↑........
42. So in this lesson we’ve seen intonation in statements ↑, imperatives ↑, requests ↑, and
43. lists ↓. Next time, we´ll look at questions, but goodbye for now.
44.
Lesson 4: Intonation (Part 1)

Intonation is the melody or music of a language, and refers to the way that the voice
goes up ↑, or down ↓ when we speak.
There are four basic patterns of intonation:
Falling, where the intonation goes down at the end of the phrase or sentence:
Rising, where it goes up at the end;
Rise-Fall, where it goes up and then down;
Fall-Rise, which goes down and then up again.
1) To make statements, we normally use falling intonation.

For example:
There’s a policeman at the door. ↓
He likes football. ↓
Queen Victoria died in 1901. ↓
2) We also use falling intonation for commands or imperatives:
Put your books away. ↓
Listen carefully. ↓
Take a seat. ↓
These sound rather abrupt or authoritarian, even if we add “polite” words such
as “please”.
Put your books away, please. ↓
Listen carefully, please. ↓
Take a seat, please. ↓
3) On the other hand, using a fall -rise pattern, it becomes a much more polite request:
Put your books away, ↓ please. ↑
Listen carefully, ↓ please. ↑
Take a seat, ↓ please. ↑
This fall-rise pattern of intonation can make any request or offer more polite, even
without the word “please”.
Is this seat ↓ taken? ↑
Can I help ↓ you? ↑
Pass me the ↓ salt. ↑
4) Since a falling intonation comes at the end of a statement, it indicates to the listener
that the speaker has finished their sentence.
A rising intonation then, can have the opposite effect, and tell the listener that the
utterance is not finished yet.
This is used in lists to indicate when a list is complete:
I need to buy eggs ↑, cereal ↑, bread and cheese ↑, potatoes and carrots ↑, and sugar. ↓
The Central Powers in World War One were Germany ↑, Austria-Hungary ↑, and Italy ↓.
A list without a final falling intonation seems incomplete, and could create confusion in
the listener, who is waiting for the next item.
5) However, omitting the final fall can be used to indicate that a list is endless, or at
least too long to complete:
I like all kinds of animals: dogs ↑, cats ↑, horse ↑, snakes ↑, 5ish ↑...
For each of the following sentences, choose the most probable intonation pattern:
A - Fall
B - Rise
C - Fall-Rise
D - Rise-Rise-Fall

2. Hello. In this lesson, we’re going to continue looking at intonation, this time in questions.
3. Grammatically, there are two important kinds of questions.
4. In English they are called Yes/No questions, which can be answered Yes or NO; and Wh- questions,
5. which begin with question words like When, Where,
6. Why or Who, and which need information as an answer.
7. These two types of questions are associated with two different intonation patterns.
8. Yes/No questions normally have rising intonation.
9. Do you live here? ↑ Can you swim? ↑
10. Have you read Don Quijote? ↑
11. WH- Questions, on the other hand, normally have falling intonation:
12. Where do you work? ↓ Why are you running? ↓
13. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? ↓
14. Questions which offer a choice normally rise on the first option and fall on the second:
15. Do you want tea ↑ or coffee? ↓ Was it you ↑ or your brother ↓ I saw?
16. Did they use to speak English ↑ or French ↓ at home?
17. If there are more than two choices, then all
18. options have rising intonation except the last one, like the lists we saw in Lesson 4.
19. Would you prefer to
20. live in England, ↑ Mexico ↑ or The US? ↓ Shall we adopt a dog, ↑ a cat, ↑ or both? ↓
21. Would you like water, ↑ a soda, ↑ beer, ↑ or something stronger? ↓
22. Before you choose what to drink, though, let’s look at tags.
23. Tags are the little question phrases that we add to the end of a statement. For example:
24. This is Lesson Five, isn’t it?
25. “Isn’t it” is a tag.
26. You speak Spanish, don’t you?
27. “Don’t you” is a tag.
28. I’m sure you’ve seen these before, but did you know there are different kinds of tag?
29. And the difference between them is the intonation.
30. Some tags are real questions. If I use one,
31. it’s because I think I know the answer, but I’m not at all sure.
32. Gandhi was a lawyer, wasn’t he? ↑
33. You haven’t told Mark yet, have you? ↑ They lived in Berlin, didn’t they? ↑
34. As you can hear, these question tags have rising intonation,
35. like the Yes/No questions we saw earlier.
36. Another kind of tag are called Confirmation Tags.
37. We use them when we are sure of an answer, but we would like someone to confirm it for us.
38. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, wasn’t he. ↓ You haven’t paid the electricity bill, have you! ↓
39. Everyone here speaks English, don’t they. ↓
40. These are not real questions, so as you can hear they have falling intonation, like statements.
41. So now you know how to use intonation in questions and tags, don’t you! ↓
42. Goodbye.
43.

Grammatically, there are two important kinds of question.
Yes/No questions normally have rising intonation.
Do you live here? ↑
Can you swim? ↑
Have you read Don Quijote? ↑
WH- Questions, on the other hand, normally have falling intonation:
Where do you work? ↓
Why are you running? ↓
Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? ↓
Questions which offer a choice normally rise on the first option and fall on the second:
Do you want tea ↑ or coffee? ↓
Was it you ↑ or your brother ↓ I saw?

Did they use to speak English ↑ or French ↓ at home?
If there are more than two choices, then all options have rising intonation except the
last one, like the lists we saw in Lesson 4.
Would you prefer to live in England, ↑ Mexico ↑ or The US? ↓
Shall we adopt a dog, ↑ a cat, ↑ or both? ↓
Would you like water, ↑ a soda, ↑ beer, ↑ or something stronger? ↓
Question Tags, when the speaker thinks they know the answer, but isn’t sure, have
rising intonation.
Gandhi was a lawyer, wasn’t he? ↑
You haven’t told Mark yet, have you? ↑
They lived in Berlin, didn’t they? ↑
Confirmation Tags, used when the speaker believes they know an answer, but wants to
get confirmation from the listener, use falling intonation...
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, wasn’t he. ↓
You haven’t paid the electricity bill, have you! ↓
Everyone here speaks English, don’t they. ↓
A - Fall
B - Rise
C - Fall-Rise
D - Rise-Fall

2. Hello, in this third and last lesson on intonation, we’re going to look at a few more
3. ways in which we can express our feelings by altering the intonation of our speech.
4. In the previous lesson I said that Wh- questions normally have falling intonation,
5. but what happens if we change that, and give a wh- question a rising intonation?
6. Imagine someone tells you they have fourteen brothers and sister.
7. You might respond: How many?! ↑
8. The rising intonation indicates at least surprise, and at most disbelief.
9. See how it works in these exchanges:
10. This is James, he lives in an apartment at the Ritz Hotel.
11. Where do you live? ↑
12. And if you remember the story of Jack and the Beanstalk,
13. there’s a conversation that goes something like this:
14. Did you sell the cow, Jack? Yes, mother. I exchanged it for five magic beans!
15. You did what? ↑
16. A common response to an incredible story is the word “Really”.
17. For example, I passed all my exams with 100%! Really! ↑
18. If we want to express cynicism or disbelief, we can use the
19. same word, but with falling intonation: I passed all my exams with 100%! Really? ↓
20. To express an exclamation or enthusiasm,
21. we normally use falling intonation, but beginning from a high starting point.
22. How lovely! ↓ It’s just
23. what I needed! ↓ It’s a great film! ↓
24. To express disappointment or sarcasm, we also use falling intonation,
25. but from a much lower starting point. Oh, that’s wonderful! ↓
26. We lost. Twelve nil! ↓ Well, you are clever! ↓
27. Finally, I’d like to go back for a moment to Contrastive Stress,
28. which we looked at in Module Three.
29. Do you remember the Frankenstein sentences we used as examples?
30. I’m going to say some of them again, but this time, listen to how the intonation rises on the
31. stressed words, and then falls at the end of the sentence, since these are statements, after all.
32. MARY ↑ Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818 ↓. (Not her husband Percy)
33. Mary Shelley published FRANK ↑ENSTEIN in 1818 ↓. (Not Dracula)
34. Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in EIGHTEEN ↑ 18 ↓. (Not 1918)
35. And that concludes our brief review of intonation in English.
36. But before you go, I would like to make an observation that you might find helpful.
37. As I mentioned a couple of lessons ago, intonation patterns can vary depending on
38. the variety of the language, and in the same way, different languages use intonation differently.
39. In general, the range of intonation, how much the tone varies between high and low,
40. tends to be less than in Spanish than in English. This means that Spanish speakers can sometimes
41. sound uninterested if they speak English with Spanish intonation patterns.
42. So don’t forget to sound excited! Goodbye.
43.

1) WH- questions normally have falling intonation, but if we give them rising intonation,
the result is a surprised or disbelieving response.
A: I have fourteen brothers and sisters.

B: How many?! ↑
A: This is James, he lives in an apartment at the Ritz Hotel.

B: Where do you live? ↑
Jack’s mother: Did you sell the cow, Jack?

Jack: Yes, mother. I exchanged it for five magic beans!
Jack’s Mother: You did what? ↑
2) Short answers can express surprise with high rising intonation.
A: Helen is 97 years old!

B: Is she? ↑
A: I passed all my exams with 100%!

B: Really! ↑
3) If we want to express cynicism or disbelief, we can use the same responses, but with
falling intonation:
A: Helen is 197 years old!

B: Is she? ↓
I passed all my exams with 100%! Really. ↓
4) To express an exclamation or enthusiasm, we normally use falling intonation, but

beginning from a high starting point.
↑ How lovely! ↓
It’s just ↑ what I needed! ↓
It’s a great ↑ 5ilm! ↓
5) To express disappointment or sarcasm, we also use falling intonation, but from a

much lower starting point.
Oh, that’s wonderful! ↓
We lost. Twelve nil! ↓
Well, you are clever! ↓
6) Sentences containing contrastive stress usually have a rise in intonation on the

stressed element.
MARY ↑ Shelley published Frankenstein in 1818 ↓. (Not her husband Percy)

Mary Shelley published FRANK ↑ ENSTEIN in 1818 ↓. (Not Dracula)
Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in EIGHTEEN ↑ 18. ↓ (Not 1918)
For each of the following sentences, choose the most probable intonation pattern for
the underlined section:
A - Fall
B - Rise
C - Fall-Rise
D - Rise-Fall
For each sentence, mark the places where you think linking occurs.
To practice fluid speech, mark the schwas /ɘ/ in each sentence as well, and practice
saying them.
Add intrusive vowels to these sentences where you think they would occur:
Identify the places where you would expect assimilation in normal speech. Say
the phrases to check.
A - Fall
B - Rise
C - Fall-Rise
D - Rise-Rise-Fall

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Plan de estudios

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Organs of speech and phonemic symbols

Vowels vs consonants. Voicing

Consonant pairs - JET vs YET

Consonant pairs - CHAIN vs JANE

Vowel pairs - SHIP vs SHEEP

Vowel pairs - CAT vs CUT

Vowel pairs - PULL vs POOL

Vowel pairs - NOT, NOUGHT and NOTE

Vowel pairs - HAT vs HEART

Noun vs Verb homograph stress

Word stress in compounds

Perhaps you are in a business mee ng or an interview with a na ve English speaker

and you are worried that they won’t understand you

to help improve your pronuncia on and speak English with conﬁdence.

Lección 1: Órganos del habla y símbolos

Over the modules and lessons of this course,

and how to make unfamiliar sounds.

and how to talk at the same speed as a na ve speaker, and s ll be understood!

as Winston Churchill, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman or Mick Jagger!

in English. They are called phonemic symbols. Here they are:

Lesson 1: Organs of speech and phonemic symbols

 You will have increased confidence.

Lección 2: Vocales y consonantes

Lesson 2: Vowels and consonants

A DIPHTHONG is a slide from one vowel to another

Vowels and diphthongs of English

To distinguish phonemic symbols from letters, we usually use to slashes // to indicate

So p is a letter, but /p/ is a phonemic symbol.

Lección 3: Pares de Consonantes - TH

Lesson 3: Consonant Pairs - TH

Here are some pairs of words to practice:

Here are some pairs of words to practice:

1) THEN - ZEN /ðen/ - /zen/

2) THEY - DAY /ðeI/ - /deI/

3) THING - SING /θIŋ/ - /sIŋ/

4) THREE - TREE /θri:/ - /si:/

5) BREATHE - BREEZE /bri:ð/ - /bri:z/

6) FOURTH - FORT /fɔ:(r)θ/ - /fɔ:(r)t/

Lección 4: Pares de consonantes - JET vs

Lesson 4: Consonant Pairs - JET vs YET

The second sound is /j/, which is sometimes called a semi-vowel, or an

Here are some pairs of words to practice:

JELLO - YELLOW /ʤelɘƱ/ /jelɘƱ/

JAM - YAM /ʤæm/ /jæm/

JAWS - YOURS /ʤɔ:z/ /jɔ:(r)z/

JET - YET /ʤet/ /yet/

JEW - YOU /ʤu:/ /yu:/

JEWS - USE /ʤu:z/ /yu:z/

Lección 5: Pares de consonantes - F, V, B

1. Inicio de la transcripción. Saltar al final.

Lesson 5: Consonant Pairs - F, V, B

FAIL VEIL BALE

FOAL VOLE BOWL

FAT VAT BAT

FAN VAN BAN

FOX VOX BOX

SERF SERVE SERB

DUFF DOVE DUB

FAIL - VEIL - BALE /feIl/ /veIl/ /beIl/

FOAL - VOLE - BOWL /fɘƱl/ /vɘƱl/ /bɘƱl/

FAT - VAT - BAT /fæt/ /væt/ /bæt/

FILE - VILE - BILE /faIl/ /vaIl/ /baIl/