Rules for reading transcriptions in English. Pronunciation of English vowels

", transcription is used by everyone, sometimes even unconsciously. First, let's refresh our memory, what does the phrase "English transcription" mean?

English Transcription is a sequence of phonetic symbols that helps us understand how to read a particular sound or word. Often, students are faced with transcription at the beginning of learning a language, when it is still quite difficult to read even quite simple words, and then they simply don’t pay attention to it. However, this will not be the case forever.

As soon as a student begins to skillfully use complex grammatical structures and develops a good lexicon for free communication, then the desire immediately appears to speak beautifully, like a native speaker, that is, to improve your pronunciation of English words. This is where we remember the good old transcription.

In order not to have to remember the well-forgotten old things, we suggest returning to the repetition from time to time. Of course, ideally, the transcription should be completed together with the teacher, because writing cannot convey all the subtleties of pronunciation, but if you are reading this article now, the foundation beautiful pronunciation And correct reading already laid down, and you will definitely achieve your desired goal.

Transcription of vowel sounds

Vowel sounds are of two types - single sounds and diphthongs.

[ ʌ ] - [a] - short;
[a:]- [a] - deep;
[i]- [and] - short;
[i:]- [and] - long;
[o]- [o] - short;
[o:]- [o] - deep;
[u]- [y] - short;
[u:]- [y] - long;
[e]- as in the word “plaid”;
[ ɜ: ] - as in the word “honey”.

English diphthongs

A diphthong is a sound that consists of two sounds. Most often, a diphthong can be divided into two sounds, however, this cannot be conveyed in writing. Often diphthongs are indicated not by a combination of several characters, but by their own sign.

[əu]- [ OU ];
[au]- [au];
[ei]- [ Hey ];
[oi]- [ Ouch ];
[ai]- [ouch].

Rules for pronunciation of vowels in English

• Sound " a"has four varieties:
  [ ʌ ] - short sound, as in the words “duck”, “cut”;
  [ æ ] - soft sound. There is no analogue to it in the Russian language. It is read as in the word “cat”;
  [a:]- a long sound that is read as in the word “car”;
  [ ɔ ] - a short sound that sounds similar to both “o” and “a”. In British pronunciation, it is more of an "o", as in "hot" or "not".

• Sound " e" can be read in three ways:
  [e]- for example, as in the word “let”;
  [ ə: ] - this sound is a little reminiscent of the Russian letter “ё”, only it is read a little softer. For example, "bird", "fur";
  [ ə ] - one of the most common sounds in English transcription. In sound, this sound is similar to the Russian sound “e”. It occurs only in unstressed syllables and can be practically inaudible or indistinguishable, for example, ["letə", "letter" - letter.

• Sound " i"can be long or short:
  [I]- short sound, for example, as in the word “film”;
  [i:]- a long sound, for example, as in “sheep”.

• Sound " O"also has 2 options - long and short:
  [ ɔ ] - short sound, as in the word “bond”;
  [ ɔ: ] - a long sound, as in the word “more”.

• Sound " u" can also be pronounced in two ways. It can be long or short:
  [u]- short sound, as in the word “put”;
  [u:]- long sound, as in the word “blue”.

Transcription of consonants

In the transcription of consonant sounds, everything is quite simple. Basically they sound similar to Russian. It is enough to take a thoughtful look at the above-mentioned letter combinations a couple of times, and they will remain in your memory.

Consonants
[b]- [b];
[d]- [d];
[f]- [f];
[ 3 ] - [ and ];
[dʒ]- [j];
[g]- [ G ];
[h]- [ X ];
[k]- [ To ];
[l]- [l];
[m]- [m];
[n]- [n];
[p]- [ P ];
[s]- [ With ];
[t]- [ T ];
[v]- [ V ];
[z]- [z];
[t∫]- [h];
[ ∫ ] - [w];
[r]- soft [r], as in the word Russian;
[ O ]- a sign of softness as in the Russian letter “ё” (Christmas tree).

English consonants that are not in Russian and their pronunciation:
[ θ ] - soft letter “c”, the tongue is located between the front teeth of the upper and lower jaws;
[ æ ] - like “e”, only more sharply;
[ ð ] - like “θ”, only with the addition of a voice, like a soft letter “z”;
[ ŋ ] - nasal, in the French manner, sound [n];
[ ə ] - neutral sound;
[w]-like “v” and “u” together, soft pronunciation.

Features of English transcription

In order to make it easier to navigate reading words, it is important to know the main features of transcription:

• Feature 1. Transcription is always formatted in square brackets
• Feature 2. In order not to get confused about where to place the stress in a word, it is worth considering that it is always placed before the stressed syllable. ["neim] - transcription of the word name.
• Feature 3. It is important to understand that transcription is not the English letters and sounds that make up a word. Transcription is the sound of words.
• Feature 4. IN English language transcription consists of vowel sounds, diphthongs and consonants.
• Feature 5. In order to show that the sound is long, a colon is used in transcription.

Of course, knowing only character sets, it is quite difficult to read everything correctly, because there are many exceptions. In order to read correctly, you need to understand that there are closed and open syllables. Open syllable ends with a vowel (game, sunshine), closed- on a consonant (ball, dog). Some sounds in English can be pronounced differently depending on the type of syllable.

Conclusion

It is worth remembering that in any business the main thing is practice (by the way, you can start practicing English remotely right now). Transcribing sounds in English will be easy for you if you work hard at it. Reading the rules once is not enough. It is important to return to them, work through them and repeat them regularly until they are practiced to the point of automaticity. In the end, transcription will allow you to deliver correct pronunciation sounds in English.

Memorizing English with transcription and correct pronunciation English letters and words will be perfectly supported by dictionaries. You can use both English online dictionaries and good old printed publications. The main thing is not to give up!

Inspiration to you and success in your studies. May the knowledge be with you!

Big and Friendly family EnglishDom

This article is for those who only learning to read English. The twenty-first lesson is devoted to the topic "English alphabet", and to remember it better, a video is attached to the alphabet (classic British version).

There are two methods of teaching reading: from sound to letter And from letter to sound. The first twenty lessons of the cycle were based on the methodology "from sound to letter" and now that we've passed all english sounds, you can safely move to another level. Therefore, in the next five lessons we will go "from letter to sound" and today it's time to learn English alphabet.

In Lesson #21 you will learn that

• There are only 6 vowels in English;
• what is an open syllable?
• how vowels are read in an open syllable.

Let's start with English alphabet. Listen to the song "ABC", watch the video and remember how to pronounce letters in English. Total in English 6 vowels And 20 consonants.

English Alphabet Video ABC Song

(classic British version)

Learned English alphabet? Then let's move on. This is what the alphabet looks like in writing: Rules for reading vowels in English

REMEMBER:

1. total in English 6 vowels:

Aa —

Ee —

II —

Oo —

Uu —

Yy —

1. a vowel under stress is read in 4 ways, depending on what type of syllable it is in. In total there are 24 sounds.

Types of syllables in English

Rule (main thing). In an open syllable, the vowel letter is read as in the alphabet.

f a mous = f a-mous

c u cumber=c u-cum-ber

In English there is also conditionally open syllable. These are one-syllable words with an "e" at the end. EXAMPLES. P e te, l a te,c o ke.

Letter e at the end of a word unreadable and called " e-mute". It shows that the root vowel must be read, as in the alphabet. There are a lot of such words in the English language.

How to divide a word into syllables? (repetition)

How to divide a word into syllables? Let's take, for example, the word CUCUMBER (cucumber) and divide it into syllables.

General rule that's how it is: as many vowels as there are syllables.

C U C U M.B. E R - three vowels, therefore three syllables: C U-C U M-B E R

1. The first syllable ends in a vowel => it open
2. The second syllable ends in a consonant => he closed
3. The third syllable ends in a consonant => he too closed

Parsing:

BER: the letter combination ER at the end of a word is read as [ə]

But don’t worry about it just yet, the most important thing to remember is that vowels in English in an OPEN SYLLABLE they are read as in the alphabet. Therefore, if you have learned the English alphabet (the video, of course, will speed up this process), then you can already read the words with open syllable.

Now let's get started repeating the rules for reading vowels. Let me remind you that there are only 6 of them. Let's take the first letter of the alphabet. It reads "Hey". It's easy to remember if you look at the picture. " Hey, who eats nuts? Find the sound and listen to how it is pronounced -

So, let's move on to reading the first vowel of the English alphabet. Letter A in a stressed syllable denotes 4 sounds. See TABLE below. Moreover, if letter A stands in an unstressed syllable, it is read [ə] .

So before you start reading first vowel of the English alphabet, summarize:

• in the first (open) type of syllable (I) all stressed vowels are read as in the alphabet
• and in the second (II), third (III) and fourth (IV) - according to the table

Reading the English letter A in four syllable types

So, let's start reading. Here in front of you 4 syllable types (I - open, II-closed, III, IV). The square brackets indicate how to pronounce the letter Aa in this type of syllable UNDER Stress. Phrases are tongue twisters that need to be repeated many times to remember. reading the letter Aa in the appropriate syllable type.

For those who have just joined. A dictionary is connected to the site; click on a word and you will hear its correct pronunciation. To hear how to pronounce the sound in [square brackets], look it up in the phonemic chart.

Reading the vowel Aa in 4 types of syllables. Tongue Twisters

1. - This l a ke is a f a mouse pl a ce in W a les. (see Lesson #20)

2. [æ] - Abl a ck c a ts a t on a m a t and a te a f a t r a t. (see Lesson #3)

3. —The p ar ks, g ar dens and f ar ms are l ar ge and ch ar ming. (Lesson #6)

4. - My p are nts* take c are of r are h are s. (see Lesson #18)

LISTEN to how the sounds are pronounced , [æ], , —

*parents – [`peərənts]

Pronunciation is important! For you, the author's pronunciation lessons:

Phonetic exercises for reading the letter A in open and closed syllables

A(I,II):

lake, jam, apple, famous, name, fan, trade, lamp, maze, batman, gate, stand, to behave, matter, skate, as, cable, take, rabbit, amazing , to decamp, to debate, Danish, raffish, rally, slake, snake, slalom, slam, fate, place, blame, can, rage, frank, splash, spade, damp, African, admiral, age, and, to arrange, to attack;

to is a verb feature. Most verbs have stress on the second syllable

Phonetic exercises for reading the letter A in the third and fourth type of syllable

A (III,IV):

car, large, care, rare, cart, hare, chart, card, stare, dark, market, bare, yard, star, glare, far, bar, apartment, parents, spare, scare, lark, mare, bare, dare, carpet, particle, barefoot, March, larch, square.

Exceptions:
1 – have, vase
2 – any, many [`meni], ate

In an unstressed syllable A is read as [ə]:
a bout, a round, a cross, to a ttack, alpha bet, Africa, to a dvise, to a dress

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Phonetic exercises for practicing reading the letter A with audio recording and answers (closed content)

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Name: Phonetic exercises with audio recording

Description: Access to restricted content*Repeat the rules of reading in English*

So, let's sum it up results of the twenty-first lesson on teaching English reading and pronunciation at the same time:

• you have learned the English alphabet;
• you learned what an open syllable is in English;
• do you know how to read a vowel letter Ahh in an open syllable;
• you have consolidated the pronunciation of the English sounds , [æ], , .

The first thing a person who begins to learn English encounters is the difficulty of reading most words. There are many jokes about this among even the native speakers of this language, let alone those for whom it is not native. One Dutch linguist even wrote a poem containing the most difficult and controversial cases English phonetics- it is difficult to read it without errors even for someone who knows the language well.

But jokes are jokes, but we need to learn to pronounce words correctly. The rules of reading in English help with this. For beginners, they will be a little difficult, but this is just out of habit. Once you understand them and reinforce the theory well with examples, you will see how much they will make your life easier.

What are these rules for?

Without knowing them, learning to read will be difficult. Of course, you can memorize the transcription of those words that you come across. But in this case, your reading abilities will be very limited. What if you come across a word with a familiar root, but an unclear suffix or prefix? Or In such cases, mistakes are inevitable if you do not know the rules of reading in English. For beginners, they are especially important because they allow you to feel and understand the logic of language construction at all levels, starting with phonetics.

Reading consonants

• always pronounced firmly;
• voiced sounds are not deafened at the ends of words;
• after the sounds there is aspiration, because the lips open faster than in pronunciation in Russian;
• the sound [w] is pronounced pronouncedly, with two lips;
• when pronouncing the sound [v], on the contrary, only the lower lip is involved;
• many sounds are pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching the alveoli, and not the teeth (as in Russian pronunciation).

Vowel reading: 4 syllable types

We continue to analyze the rules of reading in English. For beginners, it is better to present the material with examples. Then it will be clearer how to pronounce this or that sound.

There are only six in the English alphabet, but the difficulty of reading them is due to the presence of four different types of syllables:

• open;
• closed;
• vowel + r;
• vowel + r + vowel.

Let's look at them all in order, not forgetting about examples.

In an open syllable, the vowel is read as it is called in the alphabet: O is read as “ou (eu)”, U is read as a long “yu”, etc. The only exception is the letter Y, which is pronounced as “ay”. How to determine that a syllable is open? It must end with a vowel, which can stand:

• at the end of a monosyllabic word (me, go);
• at the beginning or middle (game, time, music);
• next to another vowel (suit).

IN closed syllable, which ends in a consonant (sometimes doubled), vowels are read truncated:

• Aa [æ] turns into something between the Russian sounds [a] and [e], for example: cat, apple.
• Uu [ʌ] is similar to the Russian sound [a], for example: rubber, jump.
• Ii is read as a short Russian sound [and], for example: sit, finger.
• Ee [e] is read with the sound [e], for example: pen, egg.
• Oo [ɔ] is read with a short sound [o], for example: shop, fox.
• Yy [i] under stress must be read as a short sound [i], for example: mystery, myth.

This is the minimum that includes the rules of reading in English for beginners. It is better not to rush with exercises for all 4 types, but first to thoroughly understand the differences between closed and open syllables. Then you can move on to more complex cases.

The syllable type “vowel + r” is read as follows:

• -ar is pronounced with a long sound [aaa];
• -or is read as long [ooo];
• -ur, -ir, -er are similar to the sound [o], but only pronounced in the throat.

The syllable type “vowel + r + vowel” turns the sound into a special two-part phenomenon of English phonetics - a diphthong:

• Aa is read [ɛə], example: dare.
• Ee is read, example: mere.
• Ii is read, example: fire.
• Uu is read, example: cure.
• Yy is read, example: tire.

The exception is the letter Oo, which in the fourth type of syllable is not read as a diphthong, but simply as a long [ɔ:]. For example: more.

Reading letter combinations

Rules for reading in English (for beginners and advanced learners) cannot do without an explanation of the various combinations of consonants and vowels. Let's start with the first ones.

The combination wr at the beginning of a word: the sound [w] is not pronounced. Examples: write, wrist, wrong.

The combination wh at the beginning of a word: the sound [h] is not pronounced. Examples: why, what, white. But there is an exception here: if -wh is followed by the letter -o, then the sound [w] “drops out” when reading. These are the words: who, whole, whose and others.

In letter combinations kn and gn at the beginning of a word: only the sound [n] is read. Examples: knot, gnat.

The combination ng at the end of a word sounds like the sound [ŋ] pronounced through the nose (going), and in the middle of the word it sounds like just [ŋg], for example: hungry, singer.

The combination ch is read like the Russian sound [ch’], soft. For example: cheese, coach.

The combination sh gives the sound [ʃ], similar to the Russian [ш] in the soft version of pronunciation. For example: she, push.

The combination of letters qu is read, for example: queen, quite.

The unstressed combination -our is read [ə]: colour, favorite.

The combination of letters -sion after a consonant is pronounced [ʃn], for example: mission. And then voicing occurs before [ʒn], example: decision.

Before the letters e, i, y: the consonant C is pronounced with the sound [s], G is pronounced . In other cases it reads like this: C - [k], G - [g]. Compare: cell - cat, gym - game.

The letter combinations of vowels: -ee, as well as -ea give a long sound, the combination -ai is read, the combination -oo conveys a long sound. For example: bee, seal, moon.

True, there are sometimes exceptions. For example, blood: in this word the double O is read as the sound [ʌ]. But there are few such cases. They are easy to remember and do not complicate reading rules in English too much.

For beginners

For children and adults, the explanation of the rules will be different. Young “Englishmen” will learn knowledge well if it is presented with elements of play and fairy tales. For example, we can explain types 1 and 2 of reading as “open” and “closed” doors, where in the first case the letters feel free and shout their name (from the alphabet) loudly, and in the second they are almost inaudible. In a similar way, you can compose a kind of grammatical fairy tale and tell it to your child. An interactive element could be a task: “unspell” words by reading them correctly. This makes it much easier and more interesting to remember the rules of reading in English.

For elementary school

The small table below includes rules for reading vowels in two types of syllables. For the convenience of a child who is new to transcription, next to the sound is placed its approximate reading, written in Russian letters. In any case, the table must be read aloud with an adult who knows the language: you need to pay attention to how the same letter behaves in different types of syllables, and understand the proposed examples of words.

Students are often given homework to learn transcription icons. You can make a set of cards and practice like this: you read a short word with a certain sound, and the child shows a card with its designation. When working in groups, everyone had their own set.

Read without hesitation

How can you quickly and efficiently remember the rules of reading in English? For beginners, the exercises will be the most the best option. It’s great if you can combine 2 types of activities: listen to samples and read on your own. However, this approach can quickly become boring, so it would be good to include elements of play and competition. For example, take two different lists words on a variety of rules - one for you, the other for a friend - and see who can read it faster and with fewer mistakes. The game option could be this: using mixed cards with individual words and transcription icons, find and post matches.

Who needs reading rules in English? For beginners to study it (this goes without saying), for those who continue - to test themselves, and for those who have forgotten - to remember knowledge that has not been used for a long time.

Letter sounds - 44 English phonemes, which are divided into two categories: consonants and vowels. Since sounds cannot be written down, graphemes (letters or combinations of letters) are used to convey sounds in writing.

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in the English language. The standard English alphabet begins with the letter a and ends with the letter z.

When classifying alphabetic characters, the following are distinguished:

• 5 pure vowels: a, e, i, o, u;
• 19 pure consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z;
• 2 semivowels: y, w.

Learning the English alphabet requires knowledge of both the symbol that represents each letter and the phonetic sounds associated with that letter. Learning English phonetics is difficult. Only a small number of letters have no exceptions in the basic sound.

In most cases, each letter has several phonemes. The letter B sometimes sounds like bat (bat) or does not sound, for example, in the words crumb (cram), dumb (dam). The letter C sounds like the “k” for cat, or the “c” for ceiling, or the “tch” for church. And the list of exceptions is endless.

Vowel sounds

Vowels represent the main category of phonemes in English speech. There are 20 vowel sounds in spoken English. This discrepancy (with respect to letter characters) underlies the difficulty of writing in English.

For short and long vowels, additional vowel sounds are used. For the sounds a and e – when the vowel accompanies the sound r. For o the options are varied.

Consonants

alphabet order

Transcription and stress

Phonetic transcriptions tell about the pronunciation of words. In English dictionaries it is necessary condition, because the spelling does not tell how the word is pronounced.

Phonetic transcriptions are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in which each English sound assigned its own symbol. For example, the IPA-based phonetic transcription of the word home is /hoʊm/, the transcription of come is /kʌm/, despite the fact that the spelling of the words is similar (both end in –ome), but transcribed with differences.

The rules do not fully cover aspects of stress in English words. The language is characterized by the presence of exceptions, and the British themselves make mistakes, especially in polysyllabic words.

But obviously some basic rules still apply:

Prefixes in two-syllable words are not stressed except in some nouns or adjectives. Two-syllable nouns starting with a prefix are studied individually.

English consonants

There are fewer consonant letters in the English alphabet than consonant sounds. Therefore, to expand the alphabet, digraphs like "ch", "sh", "th" and "zh", and some letters and digraphs represent more than just one consonant. For example, the sound written “th” in this is transcribed as /ð/, and “th” in thin – /θ/.

English consonant sounds are classified according to a combination of functions:

In addition, there is a function "voiceless alveolar stop", /t/ when the airflow mechanism is lowered.

According to the method of formation, consonant sounds are divided into:

1. Approximant: j, w, r.
2. Nine fricative consonants: f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ,ʒ,h.
3. Lateral approximant: l.
4. Two affricative sounds: tʃ and dʒ.
5. Six explosive sounds: p,b,t,d,k,g.
6. Nasal consonants: m, n, ŋ.

The sound – [x] – is a voiceless fricative – non-standard for the English language. Although in some original words, such as ugh (ugh!), it is an additional marker of irritation. IN in writing The fricative is represented as "gh".

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Features of English consonants

A consonant combination is a set of two or three consonant letters that, when pronounced, retain the original sound. Such sets occur either at the beginning or at the end of a word. For example, the word brave, in which both “b” and “r” are pronounced, is the initial combination. In the word bank “-nk” is the final combination.

Classification:

1. The starting combinations are classified into sets with "l", "r", and "s". In "l" the combination ends with "l". An example would be the letters “bl” in the word blind. In the same way, the final sound in “r” is combined with “r” when “br” and “cr”, for example, in the words bridge, crane. On the contrary, in “s” it begins with s, “st” and “sn” - stap, snail.
2. The final combinations are grouped into sets with "s", "l" and "n": -st, -sk, -ld, -nd, -nk. Examples: first, desk, gold, sand, sink.

Digraphs

Consonant digraphs refer to a set of consonants that form a single sound. Some digraphs appear both at the beginning and at the end of a word - “sh”, “ch” and “th”. There are also strict initial and final digraphs – “kn-” and “-ck”.

Examples of digraphs:

Features of digraphs:

Table of pronunciation of English consonants

English vowels

Each English vowel is pronounced in three ways:

1. like a long sound;
2. like a short sound;
3. as a neutral vowel sound (schwa).

There are 5 vowels in the English alphabet, but sometimes y becomes a vowel and is pronounced like i, and w replaces u, for example in the digraph ow.

Rules for reading vowels

Short vowels, which are characterized by a "short" sound, occur when a word contains one vowel, either at the beginning of a word or between two consonants. For example, if, elk, hop, fan. The typical short vowel pattern is consonant+vowel+consonant (CGS).

Words are taught in the form of families, which represent groups of words with general pattern, for example in the pattern “-ag” – bag, wag, tag or “-at” – cat, bat, hat.

Features of reading vowels:

The vowel sound in unstressed syllables is expressed with a shortened neutral sound ("schwa"), the phonemic symbol /ə/, especially if no syllabic consonants are used.

For example:

• a in about, around, approve, above [ə bʌv];
• e in accident, mother, taken, camera;
• i in, family, lentil, officer pencil;
• o in memory, common, freedom, purpose, London;
• u in supply, industry, suggest, difficult, succeed, minimum;
• and even y in sibyl;
• schwa appears in function words: to, from, are.

Features of vowel sounds in English

Vowels are classified as monophthongs, diphthongs or triphthongs. A monophthong is when there is one vowel sound in a syllable, a diphthong is when there are two vowel sounds in a syllable.

Let's take a closer look:

1. Monophthongs – pure and stable vowels, acoustic characteristic(timbre) of which does not change during the time they are pronounced.
2. A diphthong is a sound formed by the combination of two adjacent vowels in one syllable. Technically, the tongue (or other parts of the vocal apparatus) moves when pronouncing a vowel sound - the first position is stronger than the second. In the transcription of a diphthong, the first character represents starting point body of the tongue, the second symbol is the direction of movement. For example, you should be aware that in the letter combination /aj/, the body of the tongue is in the lower central position represented by the symbol /a/, and immediately begins to move up and forward to the position for /i/.
3. Diphthongs are often formed when individual vowels work together in fast conversation. Usually (in the speaker’s speech) the body of the tongue does not have time to reach the /i/ position. Therefore, the diphthong often ends closer to /ɪ/ or even to /e/. In the diphthong /aw/, the body of the tongue moves from the low central position of /a/, then moves up and back to the position of /u/. Although there are also single diphthongs, which are heard as separate vowel sounds (phonemes).
4. There are also triphthongs in English.(combinations of three adjacent vowels), including three sound types, for example, fire /fʌɪə/, flower /flaʊər/. But in any case, all diphthongs and triphthongs are formed from monophthongs.

Pronunciation table for simple English vowel sounds

All vowel sounds are formed from only 12 monophthongs. Every word in English, regardless of spelling, is pronounced using some combination of these sounds.

The table shows examples of simple English vowels with pronunciation in Russian:

Diphthong pronunciation table

Learning transcription of English words

Let's look at some features of English transcription:

There are a large number of videos online on the Internet to listen to the pronunciation of sounds, and you can also practice using exercises.

The combination of letters in English is a phenomenon that is closely related to phonetics, since often the reading of consonants or vowels changes if another letter appears next to them. It is important not only to navigate various options such combinations, but also to understand how certain methods of connecting individual letters differ and what pronunciation features will arise. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the main letter combinations in the English language and provide a special classification of this phenomenon so that it is somewhat easier to understand the entire algorithm of actions.

Basic principles of combinations of English letters

The norms of the English language allow the letters of the alphabet to be combined in such a way that new variants of sounds are subsequently formed. It must be remembered that sometimes such combinations are pronounced completely differently than it seems at first glance, and the phonetics of both letters used in a particular combination may be lost.

Methods of letter combinations in the English language allow the formation of new sounds by combining two consonant letters, two vowels, as well as a combined version of vowels and consonants. In this case, a certain combination can be formed by connecting three letters; they are called triphthongs and differ from diphthongs in that they consist of three rather than two elements. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the basic rules for reading English letter combinations, and you can start with the vowel + vowel options.

Letter combinations vowels + vowels

When reading English letter combinations that include consonants, it is necessary to take into account both letters that are part of a particular construction. The options may be as follows:

ai –– pain, rain;
ay-– game, pay;
ei –– deceive, weight, height;
ea – [e]– head, read, break;
ey –– key, grey, eye;
ee –– tree, screen;
ew –– new, few;
eu –– neutral, feudalism;
oo – [u] [ɔ:] [ʌ]– wool, pool, door, blood;
oa – [əu]– road, soap;
ou –– house, mouse;
ie – [e]– friend, field, diet.

All these variants with vowels are quite common and in English are read only in accordance with the specified reading rules. Their sound conveys only vowel sounds, however, it is important not to confuse the letter combinations, otherwise there is a risk of incorrect spelling of words and constructions.

Letter combinations consonants + consonants

It is necessary to remember very well how one or another combination of consonant letters is read, since there are significantly more such types of combinations than with vowels. Below are the most common ways to pronounce English consonants in combination with each other:

ch – [k] [ʃ]– chair, character, machine;
ck – [k]– stock, shock;
tch– the combination tch – is consonant with the sound ch – – match, catch; the sound h in English is characterized by two variants of consonant combinations;
bt at the end of a word - [t]– doubt, debt;
gh– after combinations ou, au [f], [–]– cough, slight;
dg-– hedgehog, edge;
th – The interdental sound th is read in two ways. In auxiliary parts of speech and between vowel sounds, the th sound in English gives [ð] – brother, the, and at the beginning or end of words, as well as before consonants, it sounds like [θ] – throw, bath;
sh – the sound sh can be read as [ʃ] – shrimp, shell;
gn – [n]– sign, reign;
mb- in the middle of a word – remember, at the end of a word [m]– thumb;
mn – in the middle of a word – insomnia, at the end of a word [m]– column;
kn – in the middle of a word – sickness, at the beginning of the word [n]– knock;
wh – [w]– what, wheel;
ng- in the middle of a word [ŋg]– singer, at the end of a word [ŋ] – ring;
ph – [f]– philosopher, photo;
wr – [r]– write, wrong.

It is important to pay attention to how th, kn and other combinations are read, which have two pronunciation options and sound differently depending on their position in the word. The rule for reading all the above combinations must always be observed, otherwise errors in the reading process and, accordingly, pronunciation will be inevitable.

Letter combinations vowels + consonants

Another option for combinations is vowels and consonants. Some letters in the alphabet can form certain ways of pronunciation, and this phonetic variation is also quite common. Here are the methods:

er- in an unstressed position [ə] – worker, looker;
or- in an unstressed position [ə] – doctor, traitor;
an- before consonants – swan, plant;
al – [ɔ:] – chat, talk. Another reading option is – half, calf;
wa –– was, water;
wor -– word, work;
war -– war, ward;
igh –– right, night;
qu –– quiet, sequence;
ild –– wild, mild;
ind -– find, bind.

All these options, presented with transcription, must be taken into account when pronouncing and reading the corresponding combinations. To display a combination of letters in English, a table can become an element that can group all the main options and present information in the most concise form. Here's what it might look like:

All these methods of combining letters of the English alphabet are very actively used in the language and are taken into account when studying phonetics and reading rules. All possible options should be memorized gradually, but it is necessary to know them, since, judging by the examples, some of them can be read differently. By focusing on all reading methods, you will be able to avoid many mistakes, and the interlocutor will be able to assess the level of preparation of the speaker, who, in turn, will correctly use the rules of letter combinations and not take liberties in pronunciation.