occasional observations on English pronunciation features, phonetics, teaching and learning
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Tuesday, 21 November 2017
ODPCE is now RDPCE
In 2001 Oxford University Press published the Oxford Dictionary of Pronunciation for Current English at the fairly decent price of less than £ 20.00. After more than a decade a second edition has become available, which is now sold by Routledge. The hardback edition costs £ 180.00 - a price that really puts me off. There's no paperback edition available, just an e-book at almost £ 36.00 to be consulted either online or offline. Offering dictionaries online seems to be an increasing trend - like it or not.
Saturday, 18 November 2017
Pronunciation exercises for EAL students - no. 9
This blog is about word-final /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ and pre-fortis clipping.
- I have a batch of documents here for you to sign.
- We are delighted to have the first batch of products.
- I was handed a badge with my name on it.
- I see this as a badge of honour.
- The eighth letter of the alphabet is the aitch.
- In the word heir you drop the aitch.
- She's 23 years of age.
- Hyacinth is the same age as me.
- The bird balanced on a branch of a larch.
- The larch is a popular tree species.
- The sums of money he had lost were large.
- Charities, by and large, do not pay tax.
- The police did not ban the march.
- She started work last March.
- In informal spoken British English margerine is often pronounced marge.
- Marjorie and Margaret are often shortened to Marge.
- The Nile perch is an edible fish.
- A high place where you can watch things is called a perch.
- Were there any plans to purge ethnic minorities?
- You should purge your hard disks before you leave the company.
- She was obviously stinking rich.
- The houses in this street belong to the rich and famous.
- The sun disappeared behind the ridge.
- It was just a small ridge of sand.
- Do an online search on ‘rabbit’ and see what it brings up.
- It was too dark to search further.
- Last year there was a surge in our profits.
- Adrenalin will surge through your veins.
Sunday, 12 November 2017
Pronunciation exercises for EAL students - no. 8
'Uckly' sounds ugly
Some of my phonetics students tend to replace the consonant sequences /-gl-/, /-gn-/ and /-gr-/ by their partners /-kl-/, /-kn-/ and /-kr-/.
- He thinks he's ugly but he's not.
- They live in an ugly block of flats.
- Jealousy is an ugly emotion.
- It's a really ugly picture of me.
- Indoctrination is such an ugly word.
- The couple are in an ugly fight over who will get the children.
- An igloo is a house made from blocks of hard snow or ice.
- The house is shaped like a gigantic igloo.
- The Inuit word 'igloo' means house.
- The evening sky was still aglow.
- Her face was aglow with happiness.
- The title of Tracey Peterson's book is Hearts Aglow.
- This chemical will agglutinate the cancer cells.
- The virus has lost the ability to agglutinate blood cells.
- When powders are added to liquids, they tend to agglomerate.
- After contact, the wetted particles agglomerate rapidly
- The candle ignited the plastic.
- These were the events that ignited the war in Europe.
- The compound ignites at 450 degrees Celsius.
- You can’t ignore the fact that many criminals never go to prison.
- Paul left his key in the ignition again.
- This is the most likely source of ignition.
- The phone rang but they ignored it.
- John rudely ignored the question.
- Just ignore him and he'll stop pestering you.
- The waiter totally ignored Glen.
- He was derided as an unschooled ignoramus.
- I don't believe in God - I am an agnostic.
- Dreaming is a highly complex cognitive activity.
- This substance is said to enhance cognitive functions.
Newspaper article headline
The renowned German daily FAZ published an article on business English on November 4th this year bearing this headline: