| Home | Grammar | Phonetics | Phrases | Vocabulary | Idioms | Writing | Hobby | About | Messages |
Spelling and pronunciation are closely related and should be studied together. This is especially true of English vowel sounds and their representation in writing.
There are six vowel letters in English: A, E, I, O, U, Y. The letter Y represents the vowel sounds [i], [ai] (mystery, type) and the consonant (semivowel) sound [y] (yes). Together, vowel letters represent from 15 to 22 vowel sounds. This difference mostly comes from counting the diphthongs differently in British and American English. Generally, American linguists list five diphthongs: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].
The number of English vowel sounds represented by vowel letters and their combinations with other vowels and with certain consonants is larger than the number of vowel letters, which means that one and the same vowel letter or letter combination represents more than one sound. English also has several spelling variants for each vowel sound, which means that the same vowel sound is represented by different letters and letter combinations in writing.
For example, the letter A typically represents five sounds as in Kate [keit], cat [kæt], call [ko:l], card [ka:rd], alone [ə'loun]. Its common open-syllable sound [ei] is represented in writing not only by the letter A as in "Kate" but also by five different vowel combinations as in "may, rain, weigh, they, break". Further, the combinations EI, EY, which are usually pronounced [ei] in English words, represent the sound [ai] in words of foreign origin: Einstein, geyser. There is also a connection between a sound, its spelling, and the surrounding letters. For example, the combination AR, which is normally pronounced [a:r] as in "car, park, hard", is pronounced [o:r] after the consonant W, e.g., war, ward, warm, warn.
The most practical approach is to learn typical spelling patterns for vowel sounds. The other spelling variants may be present only in a couple of words or in words that are not used very often.
The material below covers typical spelling patterns for English vowel sounds, proceeding from the sound to spelling. If it is more convenient for you to proceed from the letters and letter combinations to the sounds that they represent, you can reorganize this material according to your wish. An example how to do it is given in the file Method 2 in the section Phonetics.
Spelling examples: me, Pete, Japanese, equal, rewrite, seem, read, piece, seize, police.
Letter E in the open syllable
The sound [i:] is represented by the letter E in the open syllable of the root: me, be, he, she, we; Pete, eve, these, theme, scene, complete, intervene, precede.
The sound [i:] is represented by the letter E in the open syllable of the suffix: Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Maltese, Portuguese, Lebanese, Burmese, manganese.
Letter E in the closed syllable
The sound [i:] is represented by the letter E in the closed syllable of the root (hidden [i:]), usually under stress: equal, evening, evil, recent, region, meter, secret, media, demon, female, legal, genius, senior, convenient, frequent, veto, premium, previous.
The sound [i:] is represented by the letter E in the closed syllable of the prefix (hidden [i:]), stressed or unstressed: rewrite, retell, remake, prehistoric, prewar, premature, prepaid, preview.
Combinations EE, EA
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination EE: see, free, agree, knee, feel, feed, proceed, succeed, keen, seek, seem, screen, deep, greet, sleeve.
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination EA: sea, tea, peace, teach, lead, read, peak, deal, reveal, scream, team, clean, leap, please, release, beat, beneath, breathe, creature, leave.
Combinations IE, EI
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination IE in the root: piece, field, achieve, believe, relief, brief, chief, fiend, siege, shriek, priest.
The sound [i:] is represented by the combination EI in the root: seize, receive, receipt, deceive, conceive, perceive, ceiling, Leigh.
Letter I
In some English words of foreign origin, the sound [i:] is represented in writing by the letter I: police, caprice, gasoline, machine, magazine, marine, routine, vaccine, prestige, regime, reprise, elite, naive, pizza, ski, liter, fatigue, intrigue, antique, physique, unique, technique.
There are several rare spellings for the sound [i:]: key, people, Aesop, Oedipus.
Spelling examples: sit, ignore, public, working, enough, reply, hardness, boxes, symbol, lady, Annie, honey.
Letter I
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter I in the closed syllable of the root: it, sit, miss, tip, pick, pin, dinner, bring, list, fill, trim, river, consist.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter I in the closed syllable of the prefix: ignore, inform, illogical, immune, irregular.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter I in the closed syllable of the suffix or ending: justice, public, habit, native, foolish, working.
Letter E
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter E in the closed syllable of the root: English, pretty, ecology, enough, eleven, electric.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter E in the closed syllable of the prefix: effect, emotion, despair, deny, depart, remove, repair, repeat, reply, preliminary, prepare, prevent, secure.
The short sound [i] is represented by the letter E in the closed syllable of the suffix or ending: hardness, madness, actress, countless, childless, rocket, pocket, boxes, catches, added, counted.
It is very difficult to decide where to say the long sound [i:] and where to say the short sound [i] when they are represented by the letter E in the root or prefix. For better memorization, it is advisable to keep a comparison list of such words arranged in two columns.
Letter Y
The sound [i] is represented by the letter Y in the closed syllable of the root: symbol, lyrics, myriad, hymn, hypnosis, pyramid, sympathy, synchronize, crystal, system, typical, tyranny, mystery, myth, rhythm, antonym, synonym, pseudonym, acronym.
The sound [i] is represented by the letter Y in the suffix: lady, family, Daddy, duty, whisky, carry, hurry, funny, happy, busy, dirty, many, very, lovely, nicely, hardly, Larry, Billy, Mary.
Combinations IE, EY
The sound [i] is represented by the combination IE in the suffix: Annie, Carrie, Katie, auntie.
The sound [i] is represented by the combination EY in the suffix: honey, hockey, journey, money, monkey, Sydney, Casey, Rodney.
Note: According to many dictionaries, the letter Y in the suffix (lady) and the combinations IE, EY in the suffix (Annie, honey) are pronounced as a shorter variant of the long sound [i:].
Spelling examples: end, well, bread, heavy, many.
Letter E
The sound [e] is represented by the letter E in the closed syllable in the root, prefix, or suffix: bet, set, well, guest, seldom, every, berry, regular, accept, connect, inspector, impress, address, architect, entrance, entire, enlarge, enjoy.
Combination EA
There are many words (but still a limited number of them) in which the sound [e] is represented by the combination EA.
Learn them by heart: bread, dead, head, header, lead, read, spread, thread, dread, tread, instead; already, ready, steady, meadow; sweat, sweater, threat, threaten; breath, death, health, stealth, wealth; weather, leather, feather; measure, pleasure, treasure, treasury, pleasant, peasant, pheasant; dealt, meant, cleanse, jealous, realm; heaven, heavy, endeavor, deaf; breakfast, breast, treachery, weapon.
Rare spellings for the sound [e]: any, many, friend, said, says, bury.
Spelling examples: age, lake, nation, wait, play, they, eight.
Letter A in the open syllable
The sound [ei] is represented by the letter A in the open syllable in the root: Kate, ate, late, take, race, name, save, ache, table, cradle, change, strange, paste, waste.
The sound [ei] is represented by the letter A in the open syllable in the suffix: decorate, educate, create, celebrate, concentrate, dictate, investigate, originate.
Letter A in the closed syllable
In a number of cases, the letter A has the sound [ei] in the closed syllable or in the syllable that is not easily recognizable as an open syllable (hidden [ei]): bacon, baby, lazy, angel, danger, stranger, April, paper, basin, basis, Asia, pastry, nation, patriot, fatal, naval, facial, racial, vacant, ancient, patient, radio.
Combinations AI, EI
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination AI before a consonant in the root: aim, aid, sail, tail, main, vain, rain, raise, faint, paint, saint, strait, straight, remain, complain, disdain, explain, restrain.
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination EI before a consonant in the root: rein, veil, vein, feign, reign, deign, sleigh, weigh, weight, eight, freight, neighbor.
Combinations AY, EY
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination AY at the end of the word: day, gray, may, say, way, hay, play, pray, stay, stray, essay, relay, delay.
The sound [ei] is represented by the combination EY at the end of the word: they, prey, hey, whey, survey, obey, convey.
In some words of foreign origin the combinations EI, EY are pronounced as [ai]: Einstein, Fahrenheit, geyser, Meyer.
Combination EA
In just a few words, the sound [ei] is represented by the combination EA: break, great, steak.
Words of French origin
In some English words of French origin, the final sound [ei] is represented in writing by the letters E, EE, ET: cafe, attache, pate, resume, fiance, fiancee, divorcee, matinee; ballet, beret, buffet, bouquet, fillet, gourmet.
There are some English words with the ending EE that has the sound [i:]: employee, trainee, refugee. A large number of English words have the ending ET (pronounced [it]): bullet, wallet, skillet, packet, picket, pocket, rocket. It's a good idea to organize them in columns for comparison.
Spelling examples: bad, sat, bank, stand, family, accident, apple.
Letter A in the closed syllable
In American English, the letter A under stress in the closed syllable is usually pronounced [æ]: ask, task, fast, last, contrast, master, disaster, castle, answer, act, pack, actor, factory, add, mad, staff, after, class, glass, grass, jazz, chance, dance, land, handle, command, talent, example, happy, happen, travel, fashion, bath, matter, Manhattan.
In British English, the letter A in many of these words is pronounced [a:], for example, class, dance, answer, master, castle, fast, disaster, after, bath.
The sound [ei] represented in writing by the letter A changes to [æ] in some derivatives: Nature [ei] – natural [æ]; nation [ei] – national [æ]; sane [ei] – sanity [æ], vain – vanity.
Rare spelling for [æ] (AmE): aunt, laugh.
Spelling examples: army, regard, father, calm, bravo, mirage.
Combination AR
The sound [a:] is represented by the combination AR in the root, usually under stress: arm, art, car, card, yard, part, charge, large, margin, argue, guard, regard, pardon, market.
Letter A
The letter A represents the sound [a:] in several English words in American English: father, Pa, Papa, Ma, Mama; calm, palm, balm, alms, psalm. (The letter L in these words is silent.)
The letter A represents the sound [a:] in some words of foreign origin: drama, Panama, saga, cantata, sonata, spa, bravo, aria, lama; entree, ensemble; mirage, garage, espionage, sabotage, massage, facade.
Sounds [æ] and [a:] in AmE and BrE
Note that in British English, the letter A generally has the sound [æ] as in "cat" in the closed syllable, but the letter A usually has the sound [a:] before the consonants f, ff, ph, sk, sp, ss, st, th, nce, nd, and some others. In American English, the letter A in the closed syllable is usually pronounced [æ] as in "cat" in all cases.
Examples of words with AmE [æ] or BrE [a:]: staff, after, draft, ask, task, grasp, grass, glass, class, fast, last, castle, master, disaster, bath, path, example, chance, dance, answer, demand, command.
Rare spelling for [a:]: sergeant, heart; (BrE) aunt, laugh.
Spelling examples: nice, surprise, minus, private, type, reply, dynamic, find, light, tie.
Letter I in the open syllable
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter I in the open syllable of the root or suffix: ice, nice, ride, life, file, smile, line, pipe, quite, wise, hi, polite, surprise, prize, organize, modernize, combine, arrive.
Letter I in the closed syllable
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter I, stressed or unstressed, in the closed syllable of the root or prefix (hidden [ai]): idea, identical, idol, isolation, item, science, society, client, crisis, climate, minus, private, library, finance, horizon, diagram, dial, bicycle, biography, digest, digress.
Letter Y
The sound [ai] is represented by the letter Y in some English words and in many words of Greek and Latin origin: by, my, cry, dry, fry, sky; style, type, hype, rhyme; deny, rely, apply, reply, satisfy, modify, signify; analyze, paralyze; cyber, cycle, cyclone, dynamic, dynamite, hybrid, hyphen, nylon, hyperactive, hypodermic, psychopath, psychiatrist.
Other spelling variants for the sound [ai]
The sound [ai] is also represented by other spelling variants in a limited number of words.
Before LD, ND and some other consonant combinations: child, mild, wild; climb; find, kind, mind, blind; rifle, trifle, title, idle, Bible.
Before GH, GHT, GN: high, sigh, thigh; fight, light, night, right; sign, align, benign, malign.
Combinations IE, EI, EY, UY: die, tie, lie, pie, vie; dye, lye, rye, bye; height, either, neither; eye, geyser; buy, guy.
Latin plural ending I: alumni, fungi, stimuli, alkali, alibi. (Nouns with Latin plural endings are listed in the file Irregular Plural Nouns in the section Writing.)
Spelling examples: how, brown, out, noun.
Combinations OW, OU
The sound [au] is represented by the combination OW: now, how, cow, row, bow, brow, allow, plow, crowd, owl, fowl, howl, prowl, down, gown, town, clown, brown, drown, crown, browse, browser, powder, power, flower, tower.
The sound [au] is represented by the combination OU: out, about, doubt, couch, cloud, loud, proud, foul, noun, announce, bounce, ounce, pound, found, ground, hound, around, sound, surround, count, account, amount, mountain, house, mouse, louse, blouse, mouth, south, scout, shout, bough, plough, drought.
It is pretty difficult to decide where to say [ou] and where [au] when they are represented by the combination OW in writing, e.g., own – owl, bowl – brown, mow – pow. Besides, there are a few homonyms that are spelled the same but pronounced differently: row [rou] and [rau]; bow [bou] and [bau]; sow [sou] and [sau]. It is advisable to keep a comparison list of such words.
It is also pretty difficult to decide where to write OW and where to write OU, for example, fowl – foul, browse – blouse. It's useful to have a comparison list of such words too.
Spelling examples: more, order, law, call, cause, caught, bought, course, war, water.
Spelling patterns for the sound [o:]
Combinations OR, ORE: cord, Ford, form, born, corn, torn, short, sport, torch, porch; orange, order, orient, normal, mortal, sorry, story, glory, borrow, sorrow, forum, morning; bore, more, before, shore, sore, store, tore, explore, ignore.
Combination AW: law, draw, drawer, saw, thaw, crawl, shawl, dawn, lawn, awful, awkward.
Combinations AL, ALL: all, ball, call, fall, hall, wall, appall, alter, always, already, walk, talk, chalk, false, salt, halt.
Combination AU: cause, pause, applause, sauce, audio, audience, fraud, August, auto, author, Paul, fault, launch, laundry.
Combination AUGHT: caught, taught, daughter, slaughter, haughty.
Combination OUGHT: bought, brought, fought, ought, sought, thought, cough.
Combinations OUR, OAR, OOR: course, court, four, mourn, pour, source, your; board, hoarse, hoard, roar, soar, broad; door, floor.
Combinations WAR, WA: war, warm, ward, warden, warn, warning, award, reward; water, want, wand, wash, wasp, watch, swamp, swan.
Combination QUA (quar, quan, quadr): quart, quarter, headquarters, quantity, quantum, quality, quadrant.
Letter O as [o:] in AmE: long, wrong, boss, lost, cost, dog, gone, coffee.
There are several spelling variants for the sound [o:] that are also used for other sounds, for example, door [o:] – poor [u], pour [o:] – tour [u], cost [o:] – post [ou]. However, spelling patterns for the sound [o:] are quite recognizable and should be easy to memorize.
Short [o] in BrE and long [o] in AmE
It is interesting to note that in American English there is no sound like the British short sound [o]. Instead of it, the sound that sounds like a hybrid of the long sounds [o:] and [a:] is pronounced in American English where British English has the short sound [o]. This hybrid American sound often clearly sounds like long [a:] and is shown in American transcription as [o] or [a:]. The same hybrid sound [o] / [a:] is often pronounced in American English in words like "daughter, ought, water" in which long [o:] is considered to be standard. But long [o:] always remains [o:] in the stressed syllable before [r]: more [mo:r], lord [lo:rd], normal, port.
Examples of words with BrE short [o] or AmE hybrid long [o] / [a:]: got, not, hot, stop, rob, odd, off, dog, log, clock, coffee, gone, long, song, cost, loss, boss, bomb, bond, soft, often, body, hobby, dollar, doctor, document, occupy, college, compliment, conference, model, monitor, option, follow, tomorrow, sorry, orange; want, wash, watch, what, swamp, swallow, swan.
This peculiar hybrid sound [o], the sound [r] that is pronounced in all positions, and the sound [æ] in words like "class, ask, castle, fast, demand, dance" give American English its characteristic accent.
Spelling examples: boil, noise, toy, loyal.
Combinations OI, OY
The sound [oi] is represented in writing by the combination OI: oil, ointment, boil, foil, spoil, toil, coin, join, voice, void, avoid, point, appoint, noise, poison, hoist, moist, exploit, loiter, embroidery.
The sound [oi] is represented in writing by the combination OY: boy, joy, ploy, soy, toy, annoy, destroy, employ, corduroy, oyster, loyal, royal, voyage.
Spelling examples: home, post, bonus, hero, know, road.
Letter O in the open syllable
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the open syllable of the root: home, role, cone, stone, hope, note, close, remote, suppose, homeless, lonely, hopeful.
Letter O in the closed syllable
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the closed syllable of the root, often before L: old, bold, cold, hold, sold, bolt, colt, roll, poll, toll, control, folk, yolk, most, post, host, ghost, gross, both, comb, don't, won't.
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the closed syllable of the prefix or root or in the syllable that is not easily recognizable as an open syllable (hidden [ou]): prohibition, coeducation, coworker, pronoun, open, obey, omit, omen, opal, ocean, potent, polar, solar, motor, rotor, modal, total, moment, rodent, soldier, bonus, focus, notice, social, donate, donut, vogue, rogue.
Letter O in the final position
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter O in the final position in the word: go, no, pro, so, cargo, echo, hero, zero, piano, potato, tomato, mosquito, radio, studio, Mexico, Idaho, motto, logo, veto.
Combinations OW, OA
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter combination OW: know, low, show, row, tow, owe, grow, throw, blow, flow; bowl, own, blown, flown, grown, shown, thrown, growth; follow, hollow, borrow, narrow, window, yellow.
The sound [ou] is represented by the letter combination OA: oat, oak, coal, goal, load, road, boat, coat, soak, toast, roast, coast, boast, coach, approach, cockroach.
Combinations OE, OUGH, OU
The sound [ou] is represented by the combinations OE, OUGH, OU in a limited number of words: toe, roe, doe, foe, woe; though, although, dough; soul, shoulder, poultry, boulder, mould / mold.
Because the letter O can represent different vowel sounds (e.g., [ou], [o:], [o], [ə]) and can also form a number of combinations with the other vowels, it is most useful to study its pronunciation by arranging groups of words in columns on one page according to the sound the letter O represents.
Spelling examples: use, rude, food, do, few, blue, group.
Spelling patterns for the sound [u:]
The letter U and the combinations EW, EU, UE, UI represent the sound [u:] after the consonants R, L, J, CH. The vowel O and the combinations OO, OU represent the sound [u:].
Letter U as [u:]: rude, crude, rule, rumor, brutal, prune; Lucy, Luke, lumen, flute; judicial, June, junior, Julia, judo; chute, parachute.
Letter O as [u:]: do, two, who, whom, whose, lose, move, prove, improve, tomb, womb.
Combination OO as [u:]: food, mood, room, cool, pool, school, scoop, moon, cartoon, tooth, boots, poodle, ooze, choose, soothe, shoot, too, zoo, bamboo, taboo, kangaroo, shampoo, tattoo.
Combination OU as [u:]: group, soup, loupe, cougar, coupon, mousse, route, routine, wound, souvenir, through, rouge.
Combination OE as [u:]: shoe, canoe.
Combination EW as [u:]: jewel, Jew, flew, blew, chew, crew, screw.
Combination UE as [u:]: true, blue, clue, glue.
Combination UI as [u:]: juice, fruit, bruise, cruise, recruit, sluice.
Spelling patterns for the sound [yu:]
The letter U and the combinations EW, EU, UE, UI represent the sound [yu:] after all other consonants (except R, L, J, CH). The letter U is pronounced [yu:] when it starts the word.
Letter U as [yu:]: use, usual, union, unit, unite, unique, universe, universal, university, urine, utility, utensil, ubiquitous.
Letter U as [yu:]: fume, funeral, fuse, refuse, fuel; cube, cute, vacuum; music, museum, amuse, community, immune, mute; pupil, human, humor, huge, Hugh.
Letter U as [yu:]: duty, due, produce, tulip, tune, student; nude, nuclear, numeral, menu; super, Susan, consumer.
Combination EW as [yu:]: few, nephew, view, dew, new, mew, pew.
Combination EU as [yu:]: eucalyptus, euphemism, feud, neurotic, neutral.
Combinations UE, UI as [yu:]: hue, cue, due, sue, pursue, suit.
After Y always [yu:]: yule, yuletide, Yukon; youth, yew.
Rare spelling for [yu:]: beauty.
Note: In American English, the sound [u:], not [yu:], is usually pronounced after the consonants D, T, N, S, though both variants are considered standard. Examples: duty ['du:ti], dew [du:], due [du:], dual; tune [tu:n], tulip ['tu:lip], student; new [nu:], nude [nu:d], nuclear; suit [su:t], sue [su:], pursue, super.
Spelling examples: book, good, pull, sugar, could.
Spelling patterns for the short sound [u]
Combination OO: book, cook, look, hook, shook, took, good, stood, wood, hood, childhood, foot, wool, broom, rookie.
Letter U: put, push, pull, bush, bull, bullet, full, pudding, sugar, cushion, butcher.
Letter O: wolf, woman;
Combination OU: could, should, would.
It is quite difficult to decide where to say the long sound [u:] and where to say the short sound [u] when they are represented by the combination OO (and, to a lesser extent, by the letter U). It's advisable to keep a comparison list of such words. In some cases, there are two variants of pronunciation: room – [ru:m] / [rum]; roof – [ru:f] / [ruf]; hoop – [hu:p] / [hup]; soot – [sut] / [su:t].
Spelling examples: verb, turn, first, learn, work, journey, dollar.
In American English, the sound [ər] is represented by the combinations of vowels with the letter R in the root, prefix, or suffix, under stress or unstressed. The sound [r] is pronounced in all positions in the word in AmE. All vowels can form such combinations. The combination AR represents the sound [ər] only in an unstressed position, usually in the suffix.
Spelling patterns for the sound [ər]
Combination ER: her, herb, serve, verb, verse, were, certain, person, concern, emergency, energy, perceive, percent, prefer, teacher, mister, buyer, finger, better, powder.
Combination UR: urge, fur, burn, turn, curse, purse, purr, hurry, current, occur, curtain, furnish, turkey, purpose, pursue, disturb, pleasure, lecture, pressure.
Combination IR: sir, fir, girl, bird, stir, shirt, skirt, third, whirl, circle, circus, dirty, thirsty.
Combination EAR: learn, heard, search, early, earn, earth, pearl, yearn, rehearse.
Combination OR: word, work, worm, world, worry, worse, worth; attorney, forgive, forget, doctor, visitor, favor, effort, comfort.
Combination OUR: courage, courtesy, journey, journal, glamour.
Combination AR: dollar, collar, grammar, sugar, solar, vulgar, anarchy, monarchy, beggar, coward, hazard.
Combination YR: martyr, satyr, zephyr.
Combination EUR: amateur, connoisseur, chauffeur.
It is quite easy to memorize spelling patterns of words with the sound [ər] by arranging such words in columns according to their spelling.
Spelling examples: about, son, much, rough, golden, possible.
The neutral sound [ə] (the schwa) is the most common vowel sound of English. It occurs in initial, medial, or final position in the root, prefix, and suffix, under stress or unstressed. Usually, trancription symbols for the neutral sound are [ʌ] (caret) in stressed syllables and [ə] (schwa) in unstressed syllables. In American ESL materials, the neutral sound is often shown as [ə] (schwa) in both stressed and unstressed syllables. The neutral sound is represented by several spelling patterns.
Spelling patterns for the neutral sound
Letter A: about, around, asleep, Italy, ornament, likable, central, resistance, assistant, cinema, opera, soda.
Letter O: son, mother, money, other, front, done, some, love, observe, oppress, decorate, memory, history, freedom, lesson.
Letter U: but, sun, much, lucky, ugly, sudden, number, punish, publish, consult, submit, success, suggest, unhappy, understand, industry, difficult, minus, helpful, skillful.
Letter E: tolerate, operate, academy, gallery, system, golden, kitten, different, movement.
Letter I: terrible, possible, family.
Letter combination OU: rough, tough, country, cousin, couple, double, trouble, touch, flourish, nourish, young, famous, dangerous.
Letter combination OO: blood, flood.
The neutral sound is one of the most difficult vowel sounds in terms of pronunciation and spelling. In everyday speech, the unstressed short vowels are often pronounced as the neutral sound, and in some cases the neutral sound is dropped. In other cases, the neutral sound may appear in the syllable between two consonants where there is no vowel in spelling, for example, table, apple, riddle, prism. This stresses the necessity to study the pronunciation of English words together with their spelling.
Написание слов и их произношение тесно связаны и должны изучаться вместе. Это особенно верно в отношении английских гласных звуков и их передачи на письме.
В английском языке шесть гласных букв: A, E, I, O, U, Y. Буква Y передает гласные звуки [i], [ai] (mystery, type) и согласный (полугласный) звук [y] (yes). Вместе, гласные буквы передают от 15 до 22 гласных звуков. Эта разница в основном происходит из разного подсчета числа дифтонгов в британском и американском английском. Обычно, американские лингвисты приводят пять дифтонгов: [ei], [ai], [au], [oi], [ou].
Количество английских гласных звуков, передаваемых гласными буквами и их сочетаниями с другими гласными и с некоторыми согласными, больше, чем число гласных букв, а это значит, что одна и та же гласная буква или буквосочетание передает более одного звука. В английском языке также есть несколько вариантов написания для каждого гласного звука, что значит, что один и тот же гласный звук представлен на письме разными буквами и буквосочетаниями.
Например, буква A типично передает пять звуков как в словах Kate [keit], cat [kæt], call [ko:l], card [ka:rd], alone [ə'loun]. Ее распространенный звук открытого слога [ei] представлен на письме не только буквой A как в Kate, но и пятью различными сочетаниями гласных букв как в may, rain, weigh, they, break. Далее, буквосочетания EY, EI, которые обычно произносятся [ei] в английских словах, передают звук [ai] в словах иностранного происхождения: Einstein, geyser. Также есть связь между звуком, его написанием и окружающими буквами. Например, буквосочетание AR, которое обычно произносится [a:r] как в car, park, hard, произносится [o:r] после согласной W, например, war, ward, warm, warn.
Наиболее практичный подход – выучить типичные модели написания для гласных звуков. Другие варианты написания могут присутствовать только в нескольких словах или в словах, которые не часто употребляются.
Материал, приведенный ниже, освещает типичные варианты написания для английских гласных звуков, идя от звука к написанию. Если вам более удобно идти от букв и буквосочетаний к звукам, которые они передают, вы можете преобразовать данный материал согласно своему желанию. Пример, как это сделать, дан в файле Method 2 в разделе Phonetics.
Примеры написания: me, Pete, Japanese, equal, rewrite, seem, read, piece, seize, police.
Буква E в открытом слоге
Звук [i:] передается буквой E в открытом слоге корня: me, be, he, she, we; Pete, eve, these, theme, scene, complete, intervene, precede.
Звук [i:] передается буквой E в открытом слоге суффикса: Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Maltese, Portuguese, Lebanese, Burmese, manganese.
Буква E в закрытом слоге
Звук [i:] передается буквой E в закрытом слоге корня (скрытое [i:]), обычно под ударением: equal, evening, evil, recent, region, meter, secret, media, demon, female, legal, genius, senior, convenient, frequent, veto, premium, previous.
Звук [i:] передается буквой E в закрытом слоге приставки (скрытое [i:]), под ударением или без ударения: rewrite, retell, remake, prehistoric, prewar, premature, prepaid, preview.
Буквосочетания EE, EA
Звук [i:] передается буквосочетанием EE: see, free, agree, knee, feel, feed, proceed, succeed, keen, seek, seem, screen, deep, greet, sleeve.
Звук [i:] передается буквосочетанием EA: sea, tea, peace, teach, lead (вести), read (читать), peak, deal, reveal, scream, team, clean, leap, please, release, beat, beneath, breathe, creature, leave.
Буквосочетания IE, EI
Звук [i:] передается буквосочетанием IE в корне: piece, field, achieve, believe, relief, brief, chief, fiend, siege, shriek, priest.
Звук [i:] передается буквосочетанием EI в корне: seize, receive, receipt, deceive, conceive, perceive, ceiling, Leigh.
Буква I
В некоторых английских словах иностранного происхождения звук [i:] представлен на письме буквой I: police, caprice, gasoline, machine, magazine, marine, routine, vaccine, prestige, regime, reprise, elite, naive, pizza, ski, liter, fatigue, intrigue, antique, physique, unique, technique.
Есть несколько редких вариантов написания для звука [i:]: key, people, Aesop, Oedipus.
Примеры написания: sit, ignore, public, working, enough, reply, hardness, boxes, symbol, lady, Annie, honey.
Буква I
Краткий звук [i] передается буквой I в закрытом слоге корня: it, sit, miss, tip, pick, pin, dinner, bring, list, fill, trim, river, consist.
Краткий звук [i] передается буквой I в закрытом слоге приставки: ignore, inform, illogical, immune, irregular.
Краткий звук [i] передается буквой I в закрытом слоге суффикса или окончания:: justice, public, habit, native, foolish, working.
Буква E
Краткий звук [i] передается буквой E в закрытом слоге корня: English, pretty, ecology, enough, eleven, electric.
Краткий звук [i] передается буквой E в закрытом слоге приставки: effect, emotion, despair, deny, depart, remove, repair, repeat, reply, preliminary, prepare, prevent, secure.
Краткий звук [i] передается буквой E в закрытом слоге суффикса или окончания: hardness, madness, actress, countless, childless, rocket, pocket, boxes, catches, added, counted.
Очень трудно решить, где произнести долгий звук [i:], а где краткий звук [i], когда они передаются буквой E в корне или в приставке. Для лучшего запоминания целесообразно вести сравнительный список таких слов, расположенных в две колонки.
Буква Y
Звук [i] передается буквой Y в закрытом слоге корня: symbol, lyrics, myriad, hymn, hypnosis, pyramid, sympathy, synchronize, crystal, system, typical, tyranny, mystery, myth, rhythm, antonym, synonym, pseudonym, acronym.
Звук [i] передается буквой Y в суффиксе: lady, family, Daddy, duty, whisky, carry, hurry, funny, happy, busy, dirty, many, very, lovely, nicely, hardly, Larry, Billy, Mary.
Буквосочетания IE, EY
Звук [i] передается буквосочетанием IE в суффиксе: Annie, Carrie, Katie, auntie.
Звук [i] передается буквосочетаниями IE, EY в суффиксе: honey, hockey, journey, money, monkey, Sydney, Casey, Rodney.
Примечание: Согласно многим словарям, буква Y в суффиксе (lady) и буквосочетания IE, EY в суффиксе (Annie, honey) произносятся как более короткий вариант долгого звука [i:].
Примеры написания: end, well, bread, heavy, many.
Буква E
Звук [e] передается буквой E в закрытом слоге корня, приставки или суффикса: bet, set, well, guest, seldom, every, berry, regular, accept, connect, inspector, impress, address, architect, entrance, entire, enlarge, enjoy.
Буквосочетание EA
Есть много слов (но все же их ограниченное число), в которых звук [e] передается буквосочетанием EA.
Выучите их наизусть: bread, dead, head, header, lead (свинец), read (читал), spread, thread, dread, tread, instead; already, ready, steady, meadow; sweat, sweater, threat, threaten; breath, death, health, stealth, wealth; weather, leather, feather; measure, pleasure, treasure, treasury, pleasant, peasant, pheasant; dealt, meant, cleanse, jealous, realm; heaven, heavy, endeavor, deaf; breakfast, breast, treachery, weapon.
Редкие варианты написания для звука [e]: any, many, friend, said, says, bury.
Примеры написания: age, lake, nation, wait, play, they, eight.
Буква A в открытом слоге
Звук [ei] передается буквой A в открытом слоге корня: Kate, ate, late, take, race, name, save, ache, table, cradle, change, strange, paste, waste.
Звук [ei] передается буквой A в открытом слоге суффикса: decorate, educate, create, celebrate, concentrate, dictate, investigate, originate.
Буква A в закрытом слоге
В ряде случаев, буква A имеет звук [ei] в закрытом слоге или в слоге, который нелегко распознать как открытый слог (скрытое [ei]): bacon, baby, lazy, angel, danger, stranger, April, paper, basin, basis, Asia, pastry, nation, patriot, fatal, naval, facial, racial, vacant, ancient, patient, radio.
Буквосочетания AI, EI
Звук [ei] передается буквосочетанием AI перед согласной в корне: aim, aid, sail, tail, main, vain, rain, raise, faint, paint, saint, strait, straight, remain, complain, disdain, explain, restrain.
Звук [ei] передается буквосочетанием EI перед согласной в корне: rein, veil, vein, feign, reign, deign, sleigh, weigh, weight, eight, freight, neighbor.
Буквосочетания AY, EY
Звук [ei] передается буквосочетанием AY в конце слова: day, gray, may, say, way, hay, play, pray, stay, stray, essay, relay, delay.
Звук [ei] передается буквосочетанием EY в конце слова: they, prey, hey, whey, survey, obey, convey.
В некоторых словах иностранного происхождения буквосочетания EI, EY произносятся как [ai]: Einstein, Fahrenheit, geyser, Meyer.
Буквосочетание EA
В нескольких словах, звук [ei] передается буквосочетанием EA: break, great, steak.
Слова французского происхождения
В некоторых английских словах французского происхождения конечный звук [ei] представлен на письме буквами E, EE, ET: cafe, attache, pate, resume, fiance, fiancee, divorcee, matinee; ballet, beret, buffet, bouquet, fillet, gourmet.
Есть некоторые английские слова с окончанием EE, имеющим звук [i:]: employee, trainee, refugee. Большое количество английских слов имеют окончание ET (произносится [it]): bullet, wallet, skillet, packet, picket, pocket, rocket. Полезно расположить их в колонках для сравнения.
Примеры написания: bad, sat, bank, stand, family, accident, apple.
Буква A в закрытом слоге
В американском английском буква A под ударением в закрытом слоге обычно произносится [æ]: ask, task, fast, last, contrast, master, disaster, castle, answer, act, pack, actor, factory, add, mad, staff, after, class, glass, grass, jazz, chance, dance, land, handle, command, talent, example, happy, happen, travel, fashion, bath, matter, Manhattan.
В британском английском буква A во многих из этих слов произносится [a:], например, class, dance, answer, master, castle, fast, disaster, after, bath.
Звук [ei], представленный на письме буквой A, изменяется на звук [æ] в некоторых производных словах: Nature [ei] – natural [æ]; nation [ei] – national [æ]; sane [ei] – sanity [æ], vain – vanity.
Редкое написание для [æ] (AmE): aunt, laugh.
Примеры написания: army, regard, father, calm, bravo, mirage.
Буквосочетание AR
Звук [a:] передается буквосочетанием AR в корне, обычно под ударением: arm, art, car, card, yard, part, charge, large, margin, argue, guard, regard, pardon, market.
Буква A
Буква A передает звук [a:] в нескольких английских словах в американском английском: father, Pa, Papa, Ma, Mama; calm, palm, balm, alms, psalm. (Буква L в этих словах немая.)
Буква A передает звук [a:] в некоторых словах иностранного происхождения: drama, Panama, saga, cantata, sonata, spa, bravo, aria, lama; entree, ensemble; mirage, garage, espionage, sabotage, massage, facade.
Звуки [æ] и [a:] в AmE и BrE
Отметьте, что в британском английском буква A в целом имеет звук [æ] как в слове "cat" в закрытом слоге, но буква A обычно имеет звук [a:] перед согласными f, ff, ph, sk, sp, ss, st, th, nce, nd и некоторыми другими. В американском английском буква A в закрытом слоге обычно произносится [æ] как в слове "cat" во всех случаях.
Примеры слов с AmE [æ] или BrE [a:]: staff, after, draft, ask, task, grasp, grass, glass, class, fast, last, castle, master, disaster, bath, path, example, chance, dance, answer, demand, command.
Редкое написание для [a:]: sergeant, heart; (BrE) aunt, laugh.
Примеры написания: nice, surprise, minus, private, type, reply, dynamic, find, light, tie.
Буква I в открытом слоге
Звук [ai] передается буквой I в открытом слоге корня или суффикса: ice, nice, ride, life, file, smile, line, pipe, quite, wise, hi, polite, surprise, prize, organize, modernize, combine, arrive.
Буква I в закрытом слоге
Звук [ai] передается буквой I, под ударением или без ударения, в закрытом слоге корня или приставки (скрытое [ai]): idea, identical, idol, isolation, item, science, society, client, crisis, climate, minus, private, library, finance, horizon, diagram, dial, bicycle, biography, digest, digress.
Буква Y
Звук [ai] передается буквой Y в некоторых английских словах и во многих словах греческого и латинского происхождения: by, my, cry, dry, fry, sky; style, type, hype, rhyme; deny, rely, apply, reply, satisfy, modify, signify; analyze, paralyze; cyber, cycle, cyclone, dynamic, dynamite, hybrid, hyphen, nylon, hyperactive, hypodermic, psychopath, psychiatrist.
Другие варианты написания для звука [ai]
Звук [ai] также представлен другими вариантами написания в ограниченном числе слов.
Перед LD, ND и некоторыми другими сочетаниями согласных: child, mild, wild; climb; find, kind, mind, blind; rifle, trifle, title, idle, Bible.
Перед GH, GHT, GN: high, sigh, thigh; fight, light, night, right; sign, align, benign, malign.
Буквосочетания IE, EI, EY, UY: die, tie, lie, pie, vie; dye, lye, rye, bye; height, either, neither, eye, geyser; buy, guy.
Латинское окончание мн. числа I: alumni, fungi, stimuli, alkali, alibi. (Существительные с латинскими окончаниями мн. числа приведены в файле Irregular Plural Nouns в разделе Writing.)
Примеры написания: how, brown, out, noun.
Буквосочетания OW, OU
Звук [au] передается буквосочетанием OW: now, how, cow, row, bow, brow, allow, plow, crowd, owl, fowl, howl, prowl, down, gown, town, clown, brown, drown, crown, browse, browser, powder, power, flower, tower.
Звук [au] передается буквосочетанием OU: out, about, doubt, couch, cloud, loud, proud, foul, noun, announce, bounce, ounce, pound, found, ground, hound, around, sound, surround, count, account, amount, mountain, house, mouse, louse, blouse, mouth, south, scout, shout, bough, plough, drought.
Довольно трудно решить, где произнести звук [ou], а где звук [au], когда они представлены на письме сочетанием OW, например, own – owl, bowl – brown, mow – pow. Кроме того, есть несколько омонимов, которые пишутся одинаково, но произносятся по-разному: row [rou] и [rau]; bow [bou] и [bau]; sow [sou] и [sau]. Целесообразно вести сравнительный список таких слов.
Также довольно трудно решить, где писать OW, а где писать OU, например, fowl – foul, browse – blouse. Полезно иметь сравнительный список и таких слов.
Примеры написания: more, order, law, call, cause, caught, bought, course, war, water.
Модели написания для звука [o:]
Буквосочетания OR, ORE: cord, Ford, form, born, corn, torn, short, sport, torch, porch; orange, order, orient, normal, mortal, sorry, story, glory, borrow, sorrow, forum, morning; bore, more, before, shore, sore, store, tore, explore, ignore.
Буквосочетание AW: law, draw, drawer, saw, thaw, crawl, shawl, dawn, lawn, awful, awkward.
Буквосочетания AL, ALL: all, ball, call, fall, hall, wall, appall, alter, always, already, walk, talk, chalk, false, salt, halt.
Буквосочетание AU: cause, pause, applause, sauce, audio, audience, fraud, August, auto, author, Paul, fault, launch, laundry.
Буквосочетание AUGHT: caught, taught, daughter, slaughter, haughty.
Буквосочетание OUGHT: bought, brought, fought, ought, sought, thought, cough.
Буквосочетания OUR, OAR, OOR: course, court, four, mourn, pour, source, your; board, hoarse, hoard, roar, soar, broad; door, floor.
Буквосочетания WAR, WA: war, warm, ward, warden, warn, warning, award, reward; water, want, wand, wash, wasp, watch, swamp, swan.
Буквосочетания QUA (quar, quan, quadr): quart, quarter, headquarters, quantity, quantum, quality, quadrant.
Буква O как [o:] в AmE: long, wrong, boss, lost, cost, dog, gone, coffee.
Есть несколько вариантов написания для звука [o:], которые также используются для других звуков, например, door [o:] – poor [u], pour [o:] – tour [u], cost [o:] – post [ou]. Тем не менее, модели написания для звука [o:] вполне узнаваемые и должны легко запоминаться.
Краткий [o] в BrE и долгий [o] в AmE
Интересно отметить, что в американском английском нет такого звука, как британский краткий звук [o]. Вместо него, звук, который звучит как гибрид долгих звуков [o:] и [a:], произносится в американском английском там, где в британском английском краткий звук [o]. Этот гибридный американский звук часто звучит явно как долгий звук [a:] и показывается в американской транскрипции как [o] или [a:]. Тот же гибридный звук [o] / [a:] часто произносится в AmE в словах типа daughter, ought, water, в которых долгое [o:] считается стандартом. Однако долгое [o:] всегда остается [o:] в ударном слоге перед [r]: more [mo:r], lord [lo:rd], normal, port.
Примеры слов с BrE кратким [o] или AmE гибридным долгим [o] / [a:]: got, not, hot, stop, rob, odd, off, dog, log, clock, coffee, gone, long, song, cost, loss, boss, bomb, bond, soft, often, body, hobby, dollar, doctor, document, occupy, college, compliment, conference, model, monitor, option, follow, tomorrow, sorry, orange; want, wash, watch, what, swamp, swallow, swan.
Этот своеобразный гибридный звук [o], звук [r], который произносится во всех положениях, и звук [æ] в словах типа class, ask, castle, fast, demand, dance придают американскому английскому его характерный акцент.
Примеры написания: boil, noise, toy, loyal.
Буквосочетания OI, OY
Звук [oi] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OI: oil, ointment, boil, foil, spoil, toil, coin, join, voice, void, avoid, point, appoint, noise, poison, hoist, moist, exploit, loiter, embroidery.
Звук [oi] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OY: boy, joy, ploy, soy, toy, annoy, destroy, employ, corduroy, oyster, loyal, royal, voyage.
Примеры написания: home, post, bonus, hero, know, road.
Буква O в открытом слоге
Звук [ou] передается буквой O в открытом слоге корня: home, role, cone, stone, hope, note, close, remote, suppose, homeless, lonely, hopeful.
Буква O в закрытом слоге
Звук [ou] передается буквой O в закрытом слоге корня, часто перед L: old, bold, cold, hold, sold, bolt, colt, roll, poll, toll, control, folk, yolk, most, post, host, ghost, gross, both, comb, don't, won't.
Звук [ou] передается буквой O в закрытом слоге приставки или корня или в слоге, который нелегко распознать как открытый слог (скрытое [ou]): prohibition, coeducation, coworker, pronoun, open, obey, omit, omen, opal, ocean, potent, polar, solar, motor, rotor, modal, total, moment, rodent, soldier, bonus, focus, notice, social, donate, donut, vogue, rogue.
Буква O в конечном положении
Звук [ou] передается буквой O в конечном положении в слове: go, no, pro, so, cargo, echo, hero, zero, piano, potato, tomato, mosquito, radio, studio, Mexico, Idaho, motto, logo, veto.
Буквосочетания OW, OA
Звук [ou] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OW: know, low, show, row, tow, owe, grow, throw, blow, flow; bowl, own, blown, flown, grown, shown, thrown, growth; follow, hollow, borrow, narrow, window, yellow.
Звук [ou] представлен на письме буквосочетанием OA: oat, oak, coal, goal, load, road, boat, coat, soak, toast, roast, coast, boast, coach, approach, cockroach.
Буквосочетания OE, OUGH, OU
Звук [ou] представлен на письме буквосочетаниями OE, OUGH, OU в ограниченном числе слов: toe, roe, doe, foe, woe; though, although, dough; soul, shoulder, poultry, boulder, mould / mold.
Поскольку буква O может передавать разные гласные звуки (например, [ou], [o:], [o], [ə]), а также может образовывать ряд буквосочетаний с другими гласными, очень полезно изучать ее произношение, расположив группы слов в колонках на одной странице согласно звуку, который буква O передает.
Примеры написания: use, rude, food, do, few, blue, group.
Модели написания для звука [u:]
Буква U и буквосочетания EW, EU, UE, UI передают звук [u:] после согласных букв R, L, J, CH. Гласная O и буквосочетания OO, OU передают звук [u:].
Буква U as [u:]: rude, crude, rule, rumor, brutal, prune; Lucy, Luke, lumen, flute; judicial, June, junior, Julia, judo; chute, parachute.
Буква O as [u:]: do, two, who, whom, whose, lose, move, prove, improve, tomb, womb.
Буквосочетание OO as [u:]: food, mood, room, cool, pool, school, scoop, moon, cartoon, tooth, boots, poodle, ooze, choose, soothe, shoot, too, zoo, bamboo, taboo, kangaroo, shampoo, tattoo.
Буквосочетание OU as [u:]: group, soup, loupe, cougar, coupon, mousse, route, routine, wound, souvenir, through, rouge.
Буквосочетание OE as [u:]: shoe, canoe.
Буквосочетание EW as [u:]: jewel, Jew, flew, blew, chew, crew, screw.
Буквосочетание UE as [u:]: true, blue, clue, glue.
Буквосочетание UI as [u:]: juice, fruit, bruise, cruise, recruit, sluice.
Модели написания для звука [yu:]
Буква U и буквосочетания EW, EU, UE, UI передают звук [yu:] после всех остальных согласных букв (кроме R, L, J, CH). Буква U произносится [yu:], когда она начинает слово.
Буква U as [yu:]: use, usual, union, unit, unite, unique, universe, universal, university, urine, utility, utensil, ubiquitous.
Буква U as [yu:]: fume, funeral, fuse, refuse, fuel; cube, cute, vacuum; music, museum, amuse, community, immune, mute; pupil, human, humor, huge, Hugh.
Буква U as [yu:]: duty, due, produce, tulip, tune, student; nude, nuclear, numeral, menu; super, Susan, consumer.
Буквосочетание EW as [yu:]: few, nephew, view, dew, new, mew, pew.
Буквосочетание EU as [yu:]: eucalyptus, euphemism, feud, neurotic, neutral.
Буквосочетания UE, UI as [yu:]: hue, cue, due, sue, pursue, suit.
После Y всегда [yu:]: yule, yuletide, Yukon; youth, yew.
Редкое написание для [yu:]: beauty.
Примечание: В американском английском звук [u:], а не [yu:], обычно произносится после согласных D, T, N, S, хотя оба варианта считаются стандартом. Примеры: duty ['du:ti], dew [du:], due [du:], dual; tune [tu:n], tulip ['tu:lip], student; new [nu:], nude [nu:d], nuclear; suit [su:t], sue [su:], pursue, super.
Примеры написания: book, good, pull, sugar, could.
Модели написания для краткого звука [u]
Буквосочетание OO: book, cook, look, hook, shook, took, good, stood, wood, hood, childhood, foot, wool, broom, rookie.
Буква U: put, push, pull, bush, bull, bullet, full, pudding, sugar, cushion, butcher.
Буква O: wolf, woman;
Буквосочетание OU: could, should, would.
Довольно трудно решить, где произнести долгий звук [u:], а где краткий звук [u], когда они представлены буквосочетанием OO (и буквой U, хотя и в меньшей степени). Целесообразно вести сравнительный список таких слов. В некоторых случаях есть два варианта произношения: room – [ru:m] / [rum]; roof – [ru:f] / [ruf]; hoop – [hu:p] / [hup]; soot – [sut] / [su:t].
Примеры написания: verb, turn, first, learn, work, journey, dollar.
В американском английском, звук [ər] передается сочетаниями гласных с буквой R в корне, приставке или суффиксе, под ударением или без ударения. Звук [r] произносится во всех положениях в слове в AmE. Все гласные буквы могут образовывать такие сочетания. Сочетание AR передает звук [ər] только в безударном положении, обычно в суффиксе.
Модели написания для звука [ər]
Буквосочетание ER: her, herb, serve, verb, verse, were, certain, person, concern, emergency, energy, perceive, percent, prefer, teacher, mister, buyer, finger, better, powder.
Буквосочетание UR: urge, fur, burn, turn, curse, purse, purr, hurry, current, occur, curtain, furnish, turkey, purpose, pursue, disturb, pleasure, lecture, pressure.
Буквосочетание IR: sir, fir, girl, bird, stir, shirt, skirt, third, whirl, circle, circus, dirty, thirsty.
Буквосочетание EAR: learn, heard, search, early, earn, earth, pearl, yearn, rehearse.
Буквосочетание OR: word, work, worm, world, worry, worse, worth; attorney, forgive, forget, doctor, visitor, favor, effort, comfort.
Буквосочетание OUR: courage, courtesy, journey, journal, glamour.
Буквосочетание AR: dollar, collar, grammar, sugar, solar, vulgar, anarchy, monarchy, beggar, coward, hazard.
Буквосочетание YR: martyr, satyr, zephyr.
Буквосочетание EUR: amateur, connoisseur, chauffeur.
Довольно легко запомнить модели написания слов со звуком [ər], если расположить такие слова в колонках согласно их написанию.
Примеры написания: about, son, much, rough, golden, possible.
Нейтральный звук [ə] – самый распространенный гласный звук английского языка. Он встречается в начальном, среднем или конечном положении в корне, приставке и суффиксе, под ударением или без ударения. Обычно, символы транскрипции для нейтрального звука – [ʌ] (caret) в ударных слогах и [ə] (schwa) в безударных слогах. В американских материалах ESL нейтральный звук часто дается как [ə] (schwa) и в ударных, и в безударных слогах. Нейтральный звук представлен несколькими моделями написания.
Модели написания для нейтрального звука
Буква A: about, around, asleep, Italy, ornament, likable, central, resistance, assistant, cinema, opera, soda.
Буква O: son, mother, money, other, front, done, some, love, observe, oppress, decorate, memory, history, freedom, lesson.
Буква U: but, sun, much, lucky, ugly, sudden, number, punish, publish, consult, submit, success, suggest, unhappy, understand, industry, difficult, minus, helpful, skillful.
Буква E: tolerate, operate, academy, gallery, system, golden, kitten, different, movement.
Буква I: terrible, possible, family.
Буквосочетание OU: rough, tough, country, cousin, couple, double, trouble, touch, flourish, nourish, young, famous, dangerous.
Буквосочетание OO: blood, flood.
Нейтральный звук – один из самых трудных гласных звуков, говоря о произношении и правописании. В разговорной речи безударные краткие гласные часто произносятся как нейтральный звук, а в некоторых случаях нейтральный звук выпадает. В других случаях нейтральный звук может появляться в слоге между двумя согласными, где для него нет гласной на письме, например, table, apple, riddle, prism. Это усиливает необходимость изучать произношение английских слов вместе с их написанием.
Spelling patterns for English vowel sounds. Vowel letter combinations and the sounds they may represent.
Модели написания для английских гласных звуков. Сочетания гласных букв и звуки, которые они могут передавать.