# 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:

1. **Plosives** — sounds which are produced using explosive (or implosive) force.
2. **Nasals** — sounds which are produced by channelling air & vibration through the nose.
3. **Fricatives** — sounds which are produced using friction of air & vibration.
4. **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:

| Fricative connection    | Example words | Example IPA  |
| ----------------------- | ------------- | ------------ |
| fricatives together     | "have this"   | /a**vvðð**ɪ/ |
|                         | "his very"    | /ɪ**zzvv**ɛ/ |
|                         | "with the"    | /ɪðððə/      |
| fricative—plosive       | "have to"     | /a**vvt**ə/  |
| plosive(stop)—fricative | keep the"     | /ij**pðð**ə/ |
| liquid—fricative        | "call the"    | /oː**ɫðð**ə/ |
| fricative—liquid        | I've looked"  | /ɑj**vvl**ʊ/ |

### 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.&#x20;

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:

<table><thead><tr><th width="269">Approximant connection</th><th width="311">Description</th><th>Example IPA</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Aprxmnt into Vowel</td><td>Start with aprxmnt</td><td>water  → /'woː.təʴ/</td></tr><tr><td>Vowel—Aprxmnt—Vowel</td><td>Aprxmnt in the middle</td><td>lower → /'ləw.əʴ/</td></tr><tr><td>Vowel into Aprxmnt</td><td>End with aprxmnt</td><td>how → /haw/</td></tr><tr><td>Consonant—Aprxmnt—Vowel </td><td>Start with consonant before aprxmnt</td><td>twin → /twɪn/</td></tr><tr><td>Vowel—Aprxmnt—Consonant</td><td>End with consonant after aprxmnt</td><td>mouse → /maws/</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Plosives

***Plosives** are sounds which are produced using explosive (or implosive) force.*&#x20;

They should be practised as isolated from vowels as possible, but in practice, this is [next to impossible](#user-content-fn-1)[^1]. 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.

{% hint style="info" %}
It is important that you learn to release the stop position at the end of a word, even when there is no word after it!
{% endhint %}

In IPA transcription, this can be shown as such:

<table data-full-width="false"><thead><tr><th width="114">word</th><th width="172">unreleased (VN)</th><th width="152">unreleased into next word (VN)</th><th width="146">released (EN)</th><th>released into next word (EN)</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>cat is</td><td>/kăt̚/</td><td>/kăt̚ ɪt̚/</td><td>/katʼʰ/</td><td>/katʰɪz/</td></tr><tr><td>bet on</td><td>/ɓɛ̆t̚/</td><td>/ɓɛ̆t̚ on/</td><td>/bɛtʼʰ/</td><td>/bɛtʰɔn/</td></tr><tr><td>keep it</td><td>/kɪ̆p̚/</td><td>/kɪ̆p̚ ɪt̚/</td><td>/kɪjpʼʰ/</td><td>/kʰɪjpʰɪʔ/</td></tr><tr><td>did it</td><td>/ɗɪ̆t̚/</td><td>/ɗɪ̆t̚ ɪt̚/</td><td>/dɪdʼ/</td><td>/dɪdɪt/</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

{% hint style="info" %}
***TO DO**: add more final-position–stop examples*
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="info" %}
**About /a/ in IPA on&#x20;*****GitBook*****:**

GitBook have made the unfortunate stylistic font decision to represent the letter a as the single-storey form, so it is impossible for me to write the correct IPA symbol.

There is a ***subtle*** difference between the glyphs, due to the ɑ not being part of the font:

a as in cat: /kat/ — the a fits the font style.

ɑ as in far: /fɑːʴ/ — the ɑ is thinner than the font's line thickness.

Look for the difference: aɑaɑaɑaɑaɑaɑ

I apologize for this issue. There is unfortunately nothing that I can do about it.
{% endhint %}

[^1]: almost impossible
