UNIT 2.Monophthongs and diphthongoids
LESSON 1 Sounds [ɪ] – [i:]
[i:] is a diphthongoid, front, close, unrounded, long.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The tongue is in the front part of the mouth. The front of the tongue is rather high in the mouth. The tongue is tense; the side rims of it make a firm contact with the upper teeth. The lips are spread.
Task 1Listen and then say the sound (A9a).
[i:] is usually spelled:
ee, ea – see agree eat seat team
ie - field piece
e (in an open syllable) - these metre secret evening equal Peter museum European Chinese Japanese complete
ey - key
i - ski kilo litre pizza police machine magazine
eo - people
Task 2Now listen and say these sentences:
1 Can you see the sea?
2 A piece of pizza, please.
3 Peter’s in the team.
4 A kilo of peaches and a litre of cream.
5 Please can you teach me to speak Portuguese?
[ɪ]is a monophthong, front-retracted, close, unrounded, short.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The tongue is in the front part of the mouth but slightly retracted. The part of the tongue nearer to centre than to front is raised to a half-close position. The side rims of the tongue make a light contact with the upper teeth. The tongue is lax. The lips are loosely spread.
Task 3Listen and then say the sound (A10a).
[ɪ]is usually spelled:
i (in a closed syllable) – if listen miss dinner swim
u, y - busy business building system
Task 4Now listen and say these phrases:
1 fifty-six
2 dinner in the kitchen
3 a cinema ticket
4 a picture of a building
5 big business
Task 5Compare pronunciation and transcription of the words:
fit – feet sit – seat chip – cheap fill – feel miss – meet ship – sheep | it-eat pig – peace nick – niece myth – meat sin – sea brick – bean |
Task 6Read the words and transcribe:
Bridge, pitch, teeth, stick, feel, thin, weak, peel, deal, kick, speed, knit, freeze, wrist, keep, green, ship, sheep.
Tongue twisters
[ɪ]
· Did Mick quick-kick sick Rick?
· Six thick thistle sticks.
· The important Indian was ill with injuries inside the igloo.
· It`s a pity that little Kitty lives in a big city.
· Six little kittens lost their mittens.
It`s a pity, they were so pretty.
[i:]
· Feel the heat, breathe, reach your peak, win the meet.
· Don’t be a geek.
· Pieces of meat get stuck in his teeth when he eats veal steamed with sesame seeds.
· Eagles eat electric eels easily.
· He speaks Chinese and Japanese with equal ease.
Sounds [ʊ] – [u:]
[u:] is a diphthongoid, back, close, rounded, long.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The tongue is in the back part of the mouth. The back of the tongue is rather high in the mouth. The vowel is diphthongized. No firm contact is made between the rims of the tongue and the upper teeth. The tongue is tense. The lips are very closely rounded. The mouth is open only very little. The vowel is long.
Task 1Listen and then say the sound (A16).
[u:] is often spelled:
oo, ou, oe, u, ue, ew – too group shoe blue
u, ew (there is often a [j]sound before the[u:]) – music new
other spellings of [u:] – two fruit juice
Task 2Now listen and say these phrases:
1 me too
2 work in groups
3 new shoes
4 red and blue
5 listen to the music
6 forty-two
7 fruit juice
[ʊ] is a monophthong, back-advanced, close, rounded, short.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The whole body of the tongue is in the back part of the mouth. The part of the tongue nearer to the centre than to the back is raised just above the half-close position. There is no firm contact between the side rims of the tongue and the upper teeth. The tongue is rather lax. The lips are rounded. The vowel is short.
Task 3Listen and then say the sound (A17).
[ʊ]is often spelled:
u, oo (followed by k and in the words good, foot, soot, wood, wool),
ou - full sugar book foot would
o – woman
Task 4Now listen and say these phrases:
1 My bag’s full.
2 Where’s my book?
3 my left foot
4 a kilo of sugar
5 Who’s that woman?
Task 5Read and transcribe:
cute – mute wood – fume food – flute took – tune | hook – foot cook – good tattoo – taboo balloon -baboon |
Task 6Transcribe the words and read:
Cool, room, moon, good, zoo, roof, cook, tube, flute, mute, huge, book, rude, look.
Tongue twisters
[ʊ]
· How much wood could a woodchuck could chuck wood? If a woodchuck could chuck wood in a truck, would a woodchuck cluck while the wood was chucked?
· He took the book to school.
· Put some sugar in the pudding.
· The cook took a good look to cookery book.
· It`s good he could go on foot.
[u:]
· Ulysses usually uses union U-boats.
· A Tudor who tooted a flute
Tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
Said the two to their tutor,
“Is it harder to toot
or to tutor two tooters to toot?”
· Too good to be true.
· The ruler is on the stool.
LESSON 2 Sounds [ʌ] - [a:]
[a:] is a monothphthong, back, open, unrounded, long.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The mouth is open. The tongue is in the back part of the mouth. The back of the tongue is only slightly raised. No contact is made between the rims of the tongue and the upper teeth. The lips are neutral.
Task 1Listen and then say the sound (A24).
[a:]is usually spelled:
a, ar - after afternoon ask answer bath bathroom can't class dance fast father glass tomato bar car card far park star start
au, ear, al - aunt laugh heart half (The letter 1 in half is silent.)
Task 2Listen and say these sentences.
1 How far's the car park?
2 We went to a large bar full of film stars.
3 We're starting in half an hour.
[Λ] is a monophthong, central, mid, unrounded, short.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The tongue is in the central part of the mouth. The front of the tongue is raised to the back of the hard palate just above the fully open position. No contact is made between the tongue and the upper teeth. The tongue is lax. The jaws are considerably separated. The lips are neutrally open. The vowel is short.
Task 3Listen and then say the sound (A25).
[Λ]is usually spelled:
u (in an closed syllable), ou, o -bus colour come cup front London luck Monday month mother much nothing number run study sun uncle under
Task 4Listen and say these sentences:
1 Good luck with your exam next month!
2 Take the number one bus.
3 I said 'Come on Monday', not 'Come on Sunday'.
4 My brother's studying in London.
Task 5Read and transcribe:
funny - farmer hut - heart much - March hunter - harder cup - carp | hug - huge just - June us - use luck - Luke cut - cute |
Tongue twisters
[ʌ]
· The duck ducks under a dock.
· How much wood could a woodchuck could chuck wood? If a woodchuck could chuck wood in a truck, would a woodchuck cluck while the wood was chucked?
· You must not touch the luggage.
· As snug as a bug in a rug.
· Tough luck.
[a:]
· Arnie and Arthur are army archers.
· He laughs best who laughs last.
· Far from heart, far from eyes.
· It`s enough to make the cat laugh.
· Half heart is no heart.
Sounds [ɒ] - [ɔ:]
[ɒ]is a monophthong, back, open, rounded, short.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. It is articulated with the mouth wide open and slight open lip-rounding. The body of the tongue is even more retracted than in the case with the vowel [a:]. The back of the tongue is only slightly raised. No contact is made between the rims of the tongue and the upper teeth.
Task 1Listen and say the sound(A30).
[ɒ]is usually spelled:
o (in a closed syllable), a - bottle box chocolate clock coffee copy cost cross doctor dog gone got holiday hospital hot job lock long lost lot not off often possible shop song sorry stop top wrong quality want wash wasn't watch what
Task 2Now listen and say these sentences:
1 Have you got a lot of shopping?
2 John's gone to the shops.
3 How much did your holiday cost?
4 She said the coffee wasn't very good, but I thought it was.
[ɔ:]is a monophthong, back, open, rounded, long.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The tongue is in the back part of the mouth. The back of the tongue is raised to a half-open position. No contact is made between the rims of the tongue and the upper teeth. The mouth is less open and the lips are more rounded than for the vowel [ɒ].
Task 3Listen and say the sound (A31).
[ɔ:]is usually spelled:
a (followed by ll, t) - all ball call fall tall wall water
al (followed by a consonant) - talk walk
au - autumn
aw - saw
augh -caught daughter taught
ough - bought thought
ar - quarter warm
or - born corner forty horse short sort
oor - door floor
ore - before more
our - four
Task 4Now listen and say these phrases:
1 quarter past four 4 walking on water
2 born in autumn 5 the fourth door on the fourth floor
3 have some more
Task 5Compare pronunciation of the words:
cod-corn pot - port cock - cork fox - forks Bob - born shot - short | ship - sheep kid - keep book - boot cook - cool bun - barn luck - clerk |
Tongue twisters
[ɒ]
· When a doctor doctors a doctor, does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as the doctor being doctored wants to be doctored or does the doctor doing the doctoring doctor as he wants to doctor?
- Lots and lots of clocks and watches have gone wrong.
- Rod often got into a hot water.
- Molly`s got a spot on her frock.
- Tom and his dog went to the pond.
[ɔ:]
· Austin is an awful author in Australia.
- Orba ordered orange orchids for the orchestra.
- Of all the saws I ever saw a saw,
I never saw a saw as that saw saws.
- The hall is on the fourth floor.
- George was born in August.
LESSON 3 Sounds [e], [æ], [ə:]
[e]is a monophthong, front, mid, unrounded, short.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The tongue is in the front part of a mouth. The front of the tongue is raised to the hard palate, but not as high as for [ɪ]. The side rims of the tongue make a light contact with the upper teeth. The tongue may be tenser than in the case of[ɪ].The lips are loosely spread.
Task 1Listen and say the sound (A37).
[e]is usually spelled:
e (in a closed syllable) - check leg letter red sentence
ea - bread head read (past tense)
ie - friend
a - any many
ai - again said
Task 2Listen and say these sentences:
1 Tell me again.
2 Send me a cheque.
3 Correct these sentences.
4 Twenty to twelve.
5 Help your friend.
[æ] is a monophthong, front, open, unrounded.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The mouth is more open than for [e]. The tongue is in the front part of the mouth. The front of the tongue is rather low in the mouth. The side rims of the tongue make a very slight contact with the back upper teeth.
Task 3Listen and say the sound (A38).
[æ]is usually spelled:
a (in a closed syllable) - back camera factory hat jam manager map plan traffic
Task 4Listen and say these sentences:
1 Thanks for the cash.
2 I ran to the bank.
3 Where's my black jacket?
4 That man works in a jam factory.
5 Let me carry your bags.
Task 5Compare pronunciation and transcription of the words:
men - man pen - pan bed - bad mess - mass set - sad get - gap | let - lack Kent - can trick - track neck - back then - that fit - fat | meat - mat meet - match heck - hat met - math rip - rap keep - cap |
Task 6Transcribe the words:
Form, bag, war, thin, look, seek, order, pencil, cute, parrot, not, hell, north, forces, wool, sea-port, lip, leap, sat, zoo.
[ə:] is a monophthong, central, mid, unrounded, long.
Articulation: Look at the diagram. The tongue is almost flat. The central part of the tongue is slightly higher than the front and the back of the tongue, which are raised between the half-close and half-open position. No firm contact is made between the rims of the tongue and the upper teeth, the lips are neutrally spread, they do not cover the teeth. The passage between the teeth is rather narrow. It is long.
Task 7Listen and say the sound (A43).
Note: [ə:]is a sound English speakers often make when they aren't sure what to say, and we often write it 'er'. Listen.
A: What date is it today? B: Er, I think it's the tenth.
[ə:]is spelled:
ir - bird first birthday circle thirty
or - word work world worse worst
ur - turn Thursday
our - journey
ear - ear earth heard learn
er - service Germany prefer dessert weren't verb university
Task 8Now listen and say these sentences:
1 My birthday's on Thursday the thirty-first and hers is a week later.
2 When would you prefer, Tuesday or Thursday?
3 That was the worst journey in the world!
4 Have you ever heard this word?
5 A: The cakes weren't very good. B: I thought they were.
6 She went to university to learn German.
Task 9Read and compare and transcribe the words:
four - fur torn - turn Paul - pearl warm - worm walk - work | ten - turn Ben - burn bed - bird head - heard west - worst | shut - shirt hut - hurt bun - burn bug - berg gull - girl |
Tongue twisters
[e]
- Will the vet get that pet into a net? Not yet.
- Red leather yellow leather (repeat).
- Everybody saw Eddie and the Eskimo enter the elevator on the elephant.
- The weather is getting better and better.
- Get ten eggs ready for breakfast.
[æ]
· The bass with a bad back Dad whacked with a bat.
- If a fat cat pats a rat,
- Can the fat rat pat the cat back?
- The cat sat on the hat.
- Andrew and Alice asked if Annie's active animals were angry.
[ə:]
· Ernie had an early urge to irk Irving.
- Many words hurt more than swords.
- The turner came first at his work.
- First come, first served.
UNIT 3. Diphthongs
LESSON 4 Sounds [eɪ], [aɪ], [ɔɪ]