IPA Chart PDF

IPA Chart PDF This is a great reference for you. The only problem is that this is unnecessarily complicated for out pronunciation class. This should represent all of the sounds in every language and not just American English. Just refer to the handout in class for a simplified list. Dan

Quiz: What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

YouThink.com - Quiz: What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

This is a fun quiz. The questions relate to many of the sounds that we talk about in class.

Answer all of the questions and let me know what American accent you have :)

Dan

English Pronouncing Dictionary with Instant Sound Free Online

English Pronouncing Dictionary with Instant Sound Free Online

This is a good tool for those of you trying to pronounce unfamiliar words. While many dictionaries have an audio feature, those are most computerized voices. This is an actual voice (at least it sounds like it) and, thus, a much better reference.

Dan

Assessment Paragraphs with stress and important vowels marked

This goes with the reading below. It is a marked up version of the paragraphs noting sentence stress and important vowels (using the IPA symbols from our list).

Please let me know if you see any mistakes or overlooked items in the document. This goes for both the pronunciation class students and anyone else who comes upon this.

Click here to download the document

Dan

Pronunciation Assessment Examples

Here are the examples that I promised for the assessment last Friday. Of course, if you haven't taken the assessment yet, you're cheating by listening to these :)

They are split into 2 files: Bariatric Surgery for Morbid Obesity and Why Do We Need Doctors.

I suggest that you download these by right-clicking and choosing "Save Target As...". That way, you can play them over and over again.

Dan

Pronouncing Individual Sounds : Part One

This is more of a teaching article, but it contains a good explanation for some pronunciation issues and some suggestions for working on those issues.

In short the author indicates that there are 3 reasons why language learners have difficulty with some sounds.
1) The sound may not exist in their first language.
2) The sound may exist, but it is used differently in their first language.
3) The sound may exist in their first language, but it is not perceived by them.

Dan

Dan Reading Pronouncing the Phonemes on the List

Here is a recording of me reading the list of Phonemes that I handed out on the first day of class.

Use this as a quick reference or see some of the other resources on this page for other pronunciation examples.

Please, right-click on this links and choose, "save file as..." to save it to your computer so you can play it over and over again and not use up my server resources :)
http://www.danielcraig.com/snu/pronunciation/phonemic_examples.mp3

Dan

Reduced Forms

Here's a great list of reduced forms. Some folks might consider these lazy English, but just about everyone does this to some extent in natural interactions.

Check it out.

English Phonology and Phonetics: Materials for Assimilation in English Phonemic or Phonetic Transcription. Effects of other Phonemes on Alveolar Conso

Here are quite a few rules and examples for Assimilation in English. Assimilation is when a sound changes based on the following sound.

See this site for a large number of examples.

Common phrases

Here is a short, yet helpful list of common phrases and their pronunciation.

This could be very useful.

AUE: The Audio Archive

This is another website that has audio samples that you can compare across different types of English speakers. There are more samples, but it is a little more difficult to compare.

See how you like it.

EEAWW: Sound Clips

This is very interesting. This site allows you to hear a passage read by 8 different English speakers. One male speaker and one female speaker from New Zealand, Australia, North America, and England.

Check it out.

Pronunciation Lessons

This is an interesting site that has audio to accompany the lessons. The audio isn't great, but it is ok. Also, the speaker is British, so you will likely hear some differences between their pronunciation and your teacher's.

Please take a look and let me know what you think.

...and a few WORDS from Caroline...and others

This is a great list of minimal pairs.

These are the same kind of words that we have used for practice in class. Say them and listen for the fine distinctions in the sounds. Recording yourself is a good way for you to hear how you pronounce these sounds. It's hard to listen to yourself as you talk :)

Perfect Pronunciation

This is a website sponsored by Merriam-Webster, the dictionary giant.

It has a wide range of resources that feature Flash-driven audio examples and drills.

Stress - Patterns - Authentic American Pronunciation

Here is an interesting resource for help with Stress Patterns in English.

Let's practice /z/

This page is good because it contains both video and audio examples of the /z/ sound being used.

The audio quality isn't great, but I think that it is good enough to hear the sound and how it is used in different words.

Eva Easton's Authentic American Pronunciation

This is an interesting site that offers a good deal of text and audio assistance with pronunciation.

Most of the help with with individual sounds, but there are also aspects of single and multiple word pronunciation.

Check out the "Consonant Sounds" for guidane with the /z/ sound.

Phonetics: The Sounds of English and Spanish - The University of Iowa#

This is a fantastic resource from the University of Iowa. It is a Flash interface that helps you with English (and Spanish and German) pronunciation. Not only are there samples of sounds, but there are also animations showing the positioning of the lips, tongue, and throat.

Go check it out.

Welcome to SNU Pronunciation

Welcome to SNU Pronunciation. The Pronunciation Clinic at SNU is meant to work on students English language pronunciation.

What is native English pronunciation? The answer to this question will likely be different depending on who you ask. The English language is indeed a global language, but this doesn't mean that everyone pronounces it the same. Pronunciation differs both within countries (New York vs. Los Angeles) and between countries (UK, USA, Australia, Singapore, India, ect).

Therefore, sounding like a "native speaker" is not the goal of this course. Our goal is to make you easier to understand by all speakers of English.

However, I am an American born and raised in the Chicago area. I have my own distinct pronunciation. Since I will be your model for much of the class, you will be exposed more to "American" pronunciate. To give you more exposure to a broad variety of English speakers, I will bring in auto recordings from various resources.

Lastly, you may be asking, "Dan, why do we have to come to this blog?" The answer is simple. There are many resources online that you can utilize to practice outside of class. A couple hours a week of practice will not go very far. On this blog, I will post links to online resources. These online resources can provide practice opportunities for you to do on your own 7 days a week. Check back often for new postings.