Solo Phonemes
Practising pronouncing phonemes without any extra sounds, such as vowels before or after.
Phoneme classes
All phonemes in English can be categorized into four main groups:
Plosives — sounds which are produced using explosive (or implosive) force.
Nasals — sounds which are produced by channelling air & vibration through the nose.
Fricatives — sounds which are produced using friction of air & vibration.
Approximants — sounds which are produced via a movement, bringing two parts of the mouth close together and then away again. Liquids and glides are part of this class.
How to practise each class
Fricatives & nasals
Fricatives are sounds which are produced using friction of air & vibration.
Nasals are sounds which are produced by channelling air & vibration through the nose.
They should be practised in an "infinite" form — a continuous sound, with no discernible start or end.
/fff/ not /fə/
/mmm/ not /mə/
You also need to practise them with vowels on either side, as well as other fricatives and other consonants:
fricatives together
"have this"
/avvððɪ/
"his very"
/ɪzzvvɛ/
"with the"
/ɪðððə/
fricative—plosive
"have to"
/avvtə/
plosive(stop)—fricative
keep the"
/ijpððə/
liquid—fricative
"call the"
/oːɫððə/
fricative—liquid
I've looked"
/ɑjvvlʊ/
Approximants
Approximants are sounds which are produced via a movement, bringing two parts of the mouth close together and then away again. Liquids and glides are part of this class.
They should be practised with an onset vowel and coda vowel. Pay attention to the approximants's maxima — the closest point between the organs of articulation for that phoneme.
The approximants are: w /w/ , wh /ʍ/ , r /ɹ/ , y /j/ , l- /l/ , -l /ɫ/. [Make a table of these.]
In English, an approximant can exist in 5 positions regularly. Using /w/ as an example:
Aprxmnt into Vowel
Start with aprxmnt
water → /'woː.təʴ/
Vowel—Aprxmnt—Vowel
Aprxmnt in the middle
lower → /'ləw.əʴ/
Vowel into Aprxmnt
End with aprxmnt
how → /haw/
Consonant—Aprxmnt—Vowel
Start with consonant before aprxmnt
twin → /twɪn/
Vowel—Aprxmnt—Consonant
End with consonant after aprxmnt
mouse → /maws/
Plosives
Plosives are sounds which are produced using explosive (or implosive) force.
They should be practised as isolated from vowels as possible, but in practice, this is . When practising the sound of /b/, try to make the vowel as tiny & quick as possible!
Instead of /bə/, aim for /bᵊ/.
Stops
Plosives are also known as "stops", because they can exist after a vowel, stopping the vowel sound. In some languages (such as Vietnamese), the stop position simply ends the vowel sound, but in English, the stop position is released afterwards.
If the stop position is not released, most English speakers (and other European language–speakers) cannot easily discern the difference between each stop position. It is not how English works, so we are totally unfamiliar with this pronunciation model, and — to us — all the words sound the same.
In IPA transcription, this can be shown as such:
cat is
/kăt̚/
/kăt̚ ɪt̚/
/katʼʰ/
/katʰɪz/
bet on
/ɓɛ̆t̚/
/ɓɛ̆t̚ on/
/bɛtʼʰ/
/bɛtʰɔn/
keep it
/kɪ̆p̚/
/kɪ̆p̚ ɪt̚/
/kɪjpʼʰ/
/kʰɪjpʰɪʔ/
did it
/ɗɪ̆t̚/
/ɗɪ̆t̚ ɪt̚/
/dɪdʼ/
/dɪdɪt/
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