English Pronunciation

Improve your speaking skills Sprachenzentrum der Philipps-Universität Marburg

Biegenstraße 12, D-35032 Marburg Tel. +49 6421/28-21325, sz@staff.uni-marburg.de

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Vowels

1. How Do I Pronounce Consonant Blends? (bl, br, ch, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, sc, sh, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, th, tr, tw, wh, wr). www.youtube.com/watch?v=485J4amokuA or www.manythings.org/b/e/4541/

Consonant Cluster Exercises A consonant cluster is a group of consonants that appear together in a word without any vowels between them. When reading clusters, each letter within the cluster is pronounced individually: www.firstschoolyears.com/literacy/word/phonics/clusters/clusters.htm

2. How Do I Pronounce Two Vowels? (oa, ai, ay, ea) Practice with the song “When Two Vowels Go Walking” www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fb3Pdt8kxg

3. The Magic ‘e’ A video that teaches children about the magic e (silent e), which lengthens the preceding vowel sound when it comes at the end of a word. Song “The Magic E Song” www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZhl6YcrxZQ Song “The Silent E” www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVeq9a4dFIU

4. Long Vowels Word List rbeaudoin333.homestead.com/files/long_vowels/list_fry_words_1.pdf

British vs. American Pronunciation (BE vs. AE)

Collaboration of these two channels pointing out the differences between AE and BE pronunciation: www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZ78RwhSPc

YouTube Channel (AE) – Rachel’s English - www.rachelsenglish.com/video-category/pronunciation

YouTube Channel (BE) – Anglo Link www.youtube.com/channel/UCaRMivfyupj3ucUyJbZbCNg?sub_confirmation=1

English Pronunciation

Improve your speaking skills Sprachenzentrum der Philipps-Universität Marburg

Biegenstraße 12, D-35032 Marburg Tel. +49 6421/28-21325, sz@staff.uni-marburg.de

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The Connected Speech “When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a word, stop, and then say the next word in the sentence. Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words bump into each other. To make speech flow smoothly the way we pronounce the end and beginning of some words can change depending on the sounds at the beginning and end of those words. These changes are described as features of connected speech” (BBC Learning English).

For further linguistic explanations on this topic, explore the YouTube channel Linguistics Marburg: www.youtube.com/user/LinguisticsMarburg?feature=watch.

1. Learn how the Connected Speech works in English: www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7VREyOLPz0

2. Linking - Explore how native speakers of English naturally merge multiple words

together until they sound as if they are only one word. www.pronuncian.com/Linking/Default.aspx

Intonation and Stress

1. Rhythm in Speech (AE) www.elementalenglish.com/rhythm-in-speech/

2. Intonation in Speech (Part 1-7) Speaking and understanding English doesn’t just come from using correct grammar and vocabulary. Native English speakers convey meaning in their sentences with pitch - the ups and downs - and the musical notes of their sentences. Learn how to do that in this video: www.elementalenglish.com/introduction-to-intonation-english-pronunciation-lesson/

3. Word Stress in 2-syllable Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives This video explains why the noun the PREsent is stressed on the 1st syllable and the verb form to preSENT on the 2nd. www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOcuwgpyaeI

English Pronunciation

Improve your speaking skills Sprachenzentrum der Philipps-Universität Marburg

Biegenstraße 12, D-35032 Marburg Tel. +49 6421/28-21325, sz@staff.uni-marburg.de

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4. Word Stress on Suffixes (Part 1-4)

The videos explain how speakers can learn the stress pattern of words which have the stress on the suffix (-eer, -ique, -ese, -ee). www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh7oENCD0Nk&feature=BFa&list=PL86EC24EE7FC5AB0A Practice the use of word stress with quizzes: www.soundsofenglish.org/hollys_corner/wordstress/intro_ex1.htm

5. Vowel Changes (e.g land vs. England). Learn the rules of pronunciation of English vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsafCqJC1wU

6. The Bossy ‘r’ Change

The ‘r’ likes to change the sound of the vowels i, e, a, o, u (e.g. cat -> car). These vowels are also called r-controlled vowels. The video explains what happens to the sound patterns of these words. www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE2HFLDPPDc

7. How To Pronounce Past Tense Forms Dr. English expl2346ains how speakers can distinguish the three possible ways of pronouncing past tense forms in English: watched / wanted /listened. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAfs1h6tgLc

8. Tongue Twisters Tongue twisters are especially useful in pronunciation when focusing on specific, related phonemes, or sounds. The British Council has collected famous tongue twisters with

which you can exercise your pronunciation muscles. learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/tongue-twisters

9. The Silent Letters in English A-Z Silent letters make the spelling of words different from their pronunciation. Here’s a list of common words with silent letters from A to Z! www.espressoenglish.net/silent-letters-in-english-from-a-to-z/

The IPA This video explains how to manage the British English IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) chart: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LzpH3AHX5g&index=2&list=PL67CF2C29C5D476A3 Use an Interactive Phonetic (IP) chart to improve your pronunciation: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/phonemic-chart www.onestopenglish.com/skills/pronunciation/phonemic-chart-and-app/interactive-phonemic-chart/ Phonetics Focus Learn all about phonetics and practice it. cambridgeenglishonline.com/Phonetics_Focus/