CHASING PIRATES. DIPHTHONGS /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/

Norah Jones' swirling singing will, this time, take us into the slippery world of some diphthongs /eɪ/ /aɪ/ /əʊ/ /aʊ/ (phonemically analyzed as a sequence of a semivowel and a monophthong) with her song Chasing pirates.
WARNING: don’t confuse /əʊ/ and /aʊ/ (they are often mixed up!). Click first on the phonetic chart on the right to hear the difference.

I have to admit I chose this song because I like it, nevertheless, it does serve the purpose of showing the difference between these very diphthongs. American English is commonly described as having wide diphthongs, made with less oral tension. This is quite evident in the song where the singer (born in New York) makes little distinction between /əʊ/ /aʊ/, but she does make it.

Native-Burmese speakers find it almost impossible to pronounce diphthongs and triphthongs. The same is true of native-Caribbean speakers.

Listen to the song and fill in the gaps (using ordinary spelling, not phonetics) as you listen to it.






For further practice with diphthongs, try this game

SOME PEOPLE HAVE IT WORSE THAN ME

Some stuff for advanced level. Tim Minchin's witty humour can be difficult to follow for non native speakers of English, but he's certainly a treasure source of material to practice all aspects of connective speech. It contains language that might be offensive, but be aware that the intention is purely humorous. The song Some People Have It Worse Than Me composed and interpreted by Tim Minchin.


"Simultaneously an excellent stand-up comedian, a purveyor of physical comedy, an accomplished musician and a lyricist of diabolical ingenuity. Witty, smart, and unabashedly offensive.” (The Age, Melbourne)

“Articulate, thoughtful, dry and unashamedly polysyllabic… dark irreverent and talented… excellent, provoking, funny.” (The Age, Melbourne)

Simply listen and read at the same time. To follow the lyrics, move the bar down (on the right of the lyrics). To control the speed move up (+) or down (-) as needed.

Can you spot the 7 differences between what's written and what he actually says? If you do, send them as a comment.

Lyrics | Tim Minchin lyrics - Some People Have It Worse Than Me lyrics

THAT DAY. /S/ INITIAL POSITION

Some latin based languages tend to add an intrusive 'e' sound before the /s/ sound when it is followed by a consonant in initial position.

eg: 'e'Steve 'e'speaks 'e'Spanish.

The song That Day by Natalie Imbruglia will help in the practice of the sound /s/ in initial position as well as the practice of this sound in connective speech. Try to hear the language as chunks of speech rather than individual words. In this way you will soon be able to hear (and then hopefully produce) language as it is really spoken rather than as you think it is spoken.

Listen to the song and fill in the gaps with the missing words, most of them are adjectives connected by commas. As you fill in the gaps remember to write the commas when needed or your answer will be seen as incorrect. If you need help click on the ? button and you will get the words transcribed phonetically.
Natalie Imbruglia - That Day




Further practice in phonetic transcription for advanced students. Try the following matching exercise:



These two activities have been made with the help of PhoTransEdit, a programme for transcribing ordinary English into phonetics

ENGLISH PHONETICS TRANSCRIPTION EDITOR

Here is a great page on phonetic resources where you can download PhoTransEdit , a free Windows tool created to help you typing phonetic transcriptions. The tool includes:

• Automatic phonetic transcription of English texts.
• A phonetic keyboard to edit/create phonetic transcriptions.
• Statistics on the number of times a sound is found in a transcription.
• A converter of IPA symbols into HTML code numbers.

Sample Images:

In PhoTransEdit you can also find links to other phonetic resources.

VIVA LA VI DA. VOWELS /ɪː/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /e/ /ɜː/ /ɔː/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ɒ/

This post has been designed principally for Spanish speakers, but it can also be useful for other nationalities by skipping the first activity and doing the rest.

There are 46 sounds in the English sound system, 22 of which are vowel sounds. Compare this with Spanish, which has 5 vowel sounds, none of which are equivalent to any vowel sound in English. English vowels are difficult to identify and produce in most latin based languages.

• First of all, note where the vowel chart is placed in the mouth cavity (Fig B) and then observe where each vowel is produced (Fig A) . Click on the chart on the right to hear and repeat the following vowel sounds /ɪː/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /e/ /ɜː/ /ɔː/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ɒ/ as many times as you need to.
  

The British band Cold Play , presently on tour in Spain, will help to introduce some of the most confusing vowels /ɪː/ /ɪ/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /e/ /ɜː/ /ɔː/ /æ/ /ʌ/ /ɑː/ /ɒ/ with their song Viva la vida.

Listen to this video from the MTV awards with a translation of the lyrics in Spanish. Try to identify the words in English as you listen and read the translation.

• Listen now to the same song but with the lyrics in English. Do the lyrics coincide with what you hear?
  

• Do the matching exercise by dragging the words taken from the song on the right to the corresponding vowel sound they contain, on the left. Only one answer can be correct.

WISH YOU WERE HERE. LIQUID AND GLIDE CONSONANTS. /l/ /r/ /j/ /w/

Liquid consonants /l/ /r/ are sounds where the airstream is obstructed, but not so much as to either stop it or create friction. Pronounce all or are very slowly and hear the difference between the vowel and the liquid consonants. Some languages trill r's, of course. In American English the /r/ is considered a retroflex because of how the tongue flexes back toward the alveolar ridge (in most dialects). /l/ is considered a lateral liquid because it is made by putting the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, then letting the airstream flow around the sides of the tongue - laterally.
Glide consonants, also known as semivowels /j/ /w/. Sounds with little or no obstruction to the airstream in the mouth.
Glides and Liquids are the closest things to vowels among the consonants - in fact, in some languages they function almost as vowels; Sanskrit, for example, has syllabic l and r.

1. Click on the phonemes /l/ /r/ /j/ /w/ in the consonant chart on the right before you listen to the song. Take into account that the graphemes that stand for /j/ are:

• 'y' in initial position as in yellow, yes, you.
• 'u' and 'eu' + consonant in initial position as in university, united, Europe.
• Compression in connective speech as in tell me a story /ˈtelmjəˈstɒri/
  

The graphemes that stand for /w/ are:

• 'wh' as in white, where, whiskey.
• 'w' as in win, wet, wish.
• Compression in connective speech as in about to arrive /əˈbəʊtwəˈraɪv/

1. Do the gap- fill activity as you listen to the song by the legendary English rock band Pink Floyd. Use the clues (the liquid and glide consonants /l/ /r/ /j/ /w/ the words contain) as you need them, but remember you will lose points. You can repeat the activity as many times as you need to. Use the scroller on the right to move up or down.

Do the matching activity. Read the instructions before you do it.

SING A NASAL SONG /n/ /m/ /ŋ/

Nasal consonants /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ are produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. A nasal consonant is also called nasal stop or nasal continuant.

• It is advisable to click on the phonemes /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ in the consonant chart on the right before you listen to the song. To produce /ŋ/ you obstruct the air stream through your mouth by bringing the back of your tongue into contact with the soft palate. The spellings for /ŋ/ are:
  
  
  • 'ng' as in sing, crying, long
  • 'nk' as in rank, thanks, think
  
  
• Paying special attention to these sounds, listen and sing along with Sing, a song composed by the Scottish band Travis

• Do the gap- fill activity as you listen again. Use the clues (the nasal consonants /n/ /m/ /ŋ/ the words contain) as you need them, but remember you will lose points. You can repeat the activity as many times as you need to. Use the scroller on the right to move up or down.
  

• For more activities with nasal consonants click here
• Do you like seafood? List all the food you can see in the video.