The English language is full of words and sounds borrowed from other languages, giving it a mixture of sound patterns.
Examples:
English word
|
Origin
|
pizza
|
Italian
|
skunk
|
Native American
|
academy
|
Greek
|
tobacco
|
Spanish
|
robot
|
Czech
|
kidnap
|
Danish
|
lottery
|
Dutch
|
mammoth
|
Russian
|
data
|
Latin
|
Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu
Depending on the word and blend, these five vowels can make up about 21 unique sounds.
Vowel
|
Long sound
|
Short sound
|
Additional sound
|
Blended
sounds |
A
|
baby
trade day |
apple
dad sad |
father
water ball |
wheat
lead train |
E
|
teeth
need green |
next
bed red |
cried
bread |
|
I
|
wide
like side |
pick
trip lip |
said
laid tried |
|
O
|
open
bone nose |
olive
October on |
book
loose |
road
toad crowd |
U
|
use
unicorn |
under
up umbrella |
purple
|
blue
true loud thought |
Bb Cc Dd Ff Gg Hh Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn
Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz
Consonant
|
Sounds
|
B
|
ball
boy |
C
|
color
city |
D
|
dog
daughter |
F
|
fight
father |
G
|
girl
giant |
H
|
happy
hard |
J
|
jump
January |
K
|
kid
king |
L
|
long
love |
M
|
mom
may |
N
|
November
nice |
P
|
purple
pink |
Q
|
quick
queen |
R
|
row
river |
S
|
September
wise |
T
|
teacher
time |
V
|
visit
vampire |
W
|
word
wife |
X
|
x-ray
extra |
Y
|
yellow
lady |
Z
|
zipper
zap |
Note: the letters c and g can have a hard sound or a soft sound.
- When
the letter c is pronounced as in cat or corner,
we call it hard.
- When
the letter c is pronounced as in city
or center, we call it soft.
- When
the letter g is pronounced as in go or get,
we call it hard.
- When
the letter g is pronounced as in giant
or gentle, we call it soft.
The same sounds
Examples:
- city and snake
- cake and kids
- zip and rose
Blended consonants
Examples:
Word
|
Explanation
|
cracker
|
The blended ck makes
a hard K sound.
|
white
|
The blended wh makes
an airy sound.
|
with
|
th blended
together can make a few sounds
|
the
|
|
thin
|
|
rough
|
gh blended
in this word makes an F sound
|
ghost
|
gh blended
in this word makes a G sound
|
through
|
gh blended
in this word makes an /oo/ sound
|
daughter
|
gh blended
in this word is silent
|
quick
|
q and u work
together to make a /kw/ wound
|
Christmas
|
ch blended in this word
makes a hard K sound
|
English
|
sh makes
a blended sound like shut
|
- Canada
- Northern
New England
- North
- Greater
New York City
- The
Midland
- The
South
- North
Central
- The
West
- Calm
some dialects pronounce the /l/ while others leave it silent. - Pin
and pen
some pronounce both words with a short /i/ while others say each word uniquely. - Far
In Southern dialects far is said like father, dropping /r/. - Cart
In Northern dialects the /r/ is dropped so cart = cot.
This was a review of some of the basic terms and concepts in phonology of the English language.