PDF Version Habit Breaker for CONSONANTS

the

HABIT BREAKER

for the 5 Most Commonly Mispronounced Consonant Sounds in Standard British English Inside

NG TH R H Z 2 Week ACTION PLAN

Copyright © 2015 Ashley Howard Ashley Howard has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work. All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, including the accompanying audio, in any form of binding or cover or circulated electronically without prior permission of Edwin Publishing and Media Ltd. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978-0-9933602-1-3

Edwin Publishing and Media Ltd First published in 2015 by Edwin Publishing and Media Ltd 57 London Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 1BS www.edwinpublishing.co.uk

Disclaimer: The information in this book has been compiled by way of general guidance in relation to the specific subjects addressed, but is not a substitute for individual professional guidance on specific circumstances. Please consult a medical professional before beginning any physical exercises or speech related exercises, particularly if you have known specific issues that may influence their general safety and efficacy. If you engage in the exercises in this book, you agree that you do so at your own risk, are voluntarily participating in these activities, assume all risk of injury to yourself, and agree to release and discharge the author and publisher from any and all claims or causes of action, known or unknown, arising out of the author or publisher’s negligence.

the HABIT-BREAKER for the 5 Most Commonly Mispronounced Consonant Sounds in Standard British English

2 WEEK ACTION PLAN

adapted, written and illustrated by

Ashley Howard

Hello Again! Wow, you must really be serious about this! You’ve taken your next giant leap on your pronunciation ‘roadmap’ journey towards speaking British English with more clarity and more confidence. This is the perfect and logical next step in the journey - breaking your old pronunciation habits. Which is why we’ve called this the habit-breaker - because it will help you to identify your current habits, change towards new habits and then practice them until they become your new habit. Simple really. And to help you do this, we’ve suggested that you work on each of the 5 consonants for 3 days before moving on to the next, so that you have time to get the hang of one sound before moving on.

Your 2-Week Plan

Page

DAY 1 - 3 DAY 4 - 6

the NG consonant sound

1

the TH consonant sound

5

DAY 7 - 9

the H consonant sound

10

DAY 10 - 12 the R consonant sound

12

DAY 13 - 15 the Z consonant sound

17

BONUS

21

A ‘How To’ for integrating new habits into live speech

How To Download The Audio If you have downloaded this as a PDF, the audio icons are not clickable. If you download the EPUB version of this, then most devices will allow the audio icons to be interactive and you can then simply click on the icons and hear the audio examples. Instead, you could continue to use this PDF version and simply download the audio files and use the numbers next to the audio icons to corrispond with the track numbers. To download the audio: 1. Login to the member’s area: www.englishpronunciationroadmap.com/members-area/login/ 2. Click on ‘Habit Breaker Consonants’ in the top menu 3. Scroll down and find the relevant AUDIO downloads 4. Click to download and the zip file should start to download, but if it doesn’t here’s a ‘How to download...’ guide www.englishpronunciationroadmap.com/how-to-download-audio-and-pdf-files/

Any Helpful Advice Before I Start? Just follow the ‘4-STEP PLAN’ STEP 1 - What do I know? This is just a quick reminder of what you learnt about each vowel sound from the 5 Day Audio MINI COURSE. STEP 2 - What is my HABIT? Read, listen and try out each of the common habits and identify which one best describes or sounds like your habit. STEP 3 - How to I change my HABIT? Once you’ve identified your habit, find the same coloured ‘fix it’ icon in the section on the next page to break your habit. Read, listen and try out the exercises to encourage the new pronounciation. STEP 4 - Practice, Practice, Practice Practice the final words and sentences for 3 days, and then move on to the next work day.

And use the handy colour-coded icons Tells you how much time to set aside to fully explore each workday. The most IMPORTANT icons - they are at the end of each habit in step 2. Once you know your habit, go to the corresponding icon in step 3 to learn how to break your habit. Audio for each example - listening is key to your progress. Suggests that you record yourself, so that you can listen and compare.

That’s it - good luck and go for it! And if you need me at any point, just reach out and I or one of team will help you: [email protected]


DAY 1-3 STEP 1 - What do I know?

Set Aside 20min

So, here’s what you learnt from the DAY 1 of the 5 Day Audio MINI COURSE: Target Sound:


Phonetic symbol:

phonetic symbol - ŋ

Pronunciation: In an RP accent the NG sound is made with the back of the tongue raising up in the back of the mouth, touching the beginning of the soft palate which encourages the sound up into the nose. The jaw is loose and the teeth and the lips loosely are apart. This sound is voiced.

1

STEP 2 - What is my HABIT? Read, listen and try out the following habits and identify which one best describes or sounds like what you do. - Are you unnecessarily adding a G sound? The ‘g’ is almost always silent. If you add the G sound, you’re making two sounds, which we could describe as two separate parts: firstly, the back of the tongue rises up in the back of the mouth, touches the beginning of the soft palate, which encourages the sound to travel exclusively through the nose, as it should; then secondly, the soft palate lifts – you may not be able to feel this, but if you slow the sound down, the result is that the soft palate blocks the entrance to the nose, so the vibrations stop and gather momentarily - and then the back of the tongue drops suddenly, releasing a G sound. It is this second part that should be avoided. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with an NG sound followed by a G sound, then only with an NG sound as they should be in RP: ‘hang’, ‘rung’, ‘ring’, ‘thing’, ‘emailing’, ‘asking’, ‘eating’, ‘sleeping’, ‘writing’ and ‘speaking’. If you do this, go to 2

NG sound

G sound

3

1


DAY 1-3 - Are you replacing an NG sound with an N sound? Some speakers replace the NG sound with an N sound as in ‘nine’ when it is written as an ‘ing’ suffix as in ‘emailing’, ‘asking’, ‘eating’, ‘sleeping’, ‘writing’, ‘reading’ and ‘speaking’. This means that the tongue tip touches the area just in front of the alveolar ridge (some speakers place the tongue tip further back) instead of the back of the tongue rising and touching the soft palate. Listen to the words, firstly spoken with an N sound and then with an NG sound as they should in RP. If you do this, go to N sound

4

5

- Is the back of your tongue not fully touching your soft palate? Some speakers raise the back of the tongue towards the soft palate, but leave a small space in between. This means that the vibrations travel through the mouth as well as the nose, so in a word like ‘song’, the vowel is longer, slightly more nasal in quality and the back of the tongue raises up but doesn’t fully touch the back of roof of the mouth and the NG sound isn’t fully made. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken without the back of the tongue touching the soft palate and then with an NG sound as they should be in RP: ‘hang’, ‘rung’, ‘ring’, ‘thing’, ‘emailing’, ‘asking’, ‘eating’, ‘sleeping’, ‘writing’ and ‘speaking’. If you do this, go to 6

STEP 3 - How to I change my HABIT? Once you’ve identified your habit, find the same coloured ‘fix it’ icon in the section on the next page to break your habit. Read, listen and try out the exercises to encourage the new pronounciation. - How do I avoid a G sound when the NG is at the end of a word? A G sound is made with a sudden release of the back of the tongue. It belongs to the plosive group of consonants. Whereas an NG sound without the final G sound is more continuous and flowing – the sound travels up into the nose. Whilst there are some exceptions where the G should be spoken – which we’ll look at under Are there any exceptions? on the following page – a good way to start might be to lengthen the NG sound at the end of a word like ‘sing’ and then slowly reduce the volume of your voice - like turning down the volume dial of a speaker - so that the NG fades into silence instead of ending suddenly. It’s a bit like the sound of sailors singing on a little boat that travels out across the ocean, getting smaller and smaller, quieter and quieter, gradually disappearing over the horizon. Or the sound of a motorbike 2


DAY 1-3 fading into the distance. Whilst doing this, keep the back of the tongue raised up in the back of your mouth, touching the beginning of the soft palate, and avoid any movement or release. Whilst the NG sound is not as long as this in conversational speech, it might help you to feel and hear the possibility of the back of the tongue staying still and the sound being longer and uninterrupted. It might look a bit like:

sinnnnnnnnnnn

nng

7

Repeat the same exercise with the following words: hang

rung

ring

sang

sing

song

thing

king

gong 8

- How do I avoid the unnecessary G when the NG is followed by a vowel sound? When the NG sound is followed by a vowel sound, the back of the tongue has to move down into it’s position for the vowel sound. If this happens too suddenly you may be making a G sound inadvertently. So the back of the tongue should release from the soft palate slowly. Whilst there are some exceptions where the G should be spoken – which we’ll look at under the subsection below Are there any exceptions? – a good way to start might be to lengthen the NG sound at the end of a word like ‘sing’ with a finger on the top of your nose to feel the vibrations of your voice travelling continuously to your finger. If you were to say ‘singer’, the vibrations should continue, as you encourage the back of the tongue to peel slowly away from the soft palate. It’s a bit like a drawbridge being lowered slowly in the back of your mouth. As your tongue peels down the vibrations slowly release out of your mouth for ‘er’ – the SCHWA vowel sound. So if you are pronouncing the G sound the vibrations to your nose will stop suddenly rather than gradually. Play with the following words using the same exercise: 9 sang out

bring up

hang up

song and dance

wing it

10

This ‘peeling’ NG sound also happens within many words – here’s a useful pattern to notice. If the ‘-er’ suffix is added to a verb making it noun, as in ‘singer’, or if the ‘-ing’ suffix is added for a continuous verb form, as in ‘swinging’, the G should not be pronounced. Play the same ‘peeling’ NG game with these words: singer

winger

dead ringer

clinger-on

ringing

banging

swinging 11

There’s a bit more info on the ‘-er’ suffix rule in the section below entitled When should I pronounce the G in an ‘ng’?. - How do I avoid replacing an NG with an N in ‘ing’ suffixes? Most speakers instinctively make an NG sound in words like ‘bring’, ‘ring’ and ‘sing’ where the NG is not a suffix. So long as you are avoiding an unnecessary G sound, making a second NG when the suffix ‘ing’ is added to these words is about repetition and rhyme. Say ‘singing’ and feel the back of the tongue rise up in the back of your mouth, touching the beginning of the soft palate for the first

3


DAY 1-3 ‘ng’, and encourage the back of the tongue to peel away and then repeat the exact same movement for the second ‘ng’. Play with the following words: 12

bringing hanging

ringing

emailing

singing

asking

pinging

eating

flinging

sleeping

winging

writing

wringing

reading

speaking 13

- How do I get the back of my tongue to fully touch my soft palate?

A good way to start might be to use other sounds where the back of the tongue fully touches the soft palate, like a G or K sound. Say ‘gag’ and ‘keg’ to feel this. The only difference between the K and G sounds in comparison to an NG sound is that the sound is stopped and released suddenly (K/G) instead of passing continuously up and out through the nose (NG). Compare this difference in words like ‘back’, ‘bag’ and ‘bang’. The back of the tongue rises and touches the soft palate for all three words, but for ‘bang’, the soft palate remains low, so the sound continues to pass up through the nose. Play with the following words: 14 lock long

kick king

Rick ring

bag bang

hag hang

rag rang 15

> Are there any exceptions? As most non-native speakers rely on spelling to help guide them towards pronunciation, the written ‘ng’ can be misleading when speaking in an RP accent. Whilst a written ‘ng’ is mostly spoken as the single NG sound described above, there are some exceptions. These are explained fully in the complete eBook - British English Pronunciation Roadmap: A Clear Path To Clear Speech. STEP 4 - Practice, practice, practice for 3 days, then look at DAY 7-9. > Practice words and typical spellings for the NG sound NG among evening

hang

hanger lighting

something stink

bring

missing

meeting

washing

anchor sanction

rang

strong

ING (suffix)

belong

nothing think

ring

morning

distinct

wrong

calling during

function instinct

puncture

young

boiling living

N (followed by a K sound)

willing

blanket

being

thing

clearing

playing bank

tranquil

saying drunk

conquer

punctuation 16

> Practice Sentences • I’ve been asking Andrew to clarify the emailing and filing policies for months. • Wearing Lycra and dancing madly is not something I feel comfortable doing in public! • We walked along the river in Kettering on Sunday and it was snowing like mad. • They rang every hour yesterday – I’m going crazy! It’s alarming! It’s infuriating! 17

4



Set Aside 20min



Phonetic symbol:

ð (voiced) and θ (voiceless)

Pronunciation:

The TH sound is made with the tongue tip gently touching just behind or just under the top front teeth. The body of the tongue is long and thin and its sides are not touching any of the other teeth. There is a voiceless and voiced TH sound, so the breath or vibration should be able to come out through your mouth around your tongue. The jaw is loose and the teeth and the lips loosely are apart.

18

LOOK - Something you don’t know! > When should a TH be voiceless and when should it be voiced? Unfortunately there is no pattern for you to follow. One way to be sure is to look at the phonetic transcription in a dictionary. Most speakers know instinctively when to use each sound and once you have clarified words of which you are uncertain, you will soon build familiarity and confidence. Here are some examples: Voiceless Voiced thing

mathematics

these

with

thought

Matthew this

brothers

Thursday

sixth then

weather

throw

bath that

bathe

thimble

path those

loathe

19

5


DAY 4-6 STEP 2 - What is my HABIT? Read, listen and try out the following habits and identify which one best describes or sounds like what you do. The TH sound is not used in many other languages and so a lot of non-native speakers pronounce the TH incorrectly or replace it altogether with another sound. - Are you replacing a voiceless TH with an F, S or T sound? Some speakers replace a voiceless TH sound with either an F sound - so ‘thought’ might sound more like ‘fought’; an S sound – so ‘thank you’ might sound more like ‘sank you’; or a T sound - so ‘both’ might sound more like ‘boat’. If you do this, go to 20 - Are you replacing a voiced TH with a V, Z or D sound? Some speakers replace a voiced TH with either a V sound - so ‘gather’ might sound more like ‘gaver’; a Z sound - so ‘these’ might sound more like ‘zese’; or a D sound - so ‘this’ might sound more like ‘dis’. If you do this, go to 21

- Are you using a ‘blocked’TH sound? Some speakers put their tongue in the correct position for a TH sound but tend to press their tongue too firmly and ‘block’ the space between their teeth, which completely stops the air or sound from coming out of their mouth. They then release their tongue suddenly, which makes a sound that is similar to a T or D sound, making it sound more like a plosive instead of a fricative. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with a ‘blocked’ TH sound and then with the fricative TH sound as they should be in RP: ‘thing’, ‘Thursday’, ‘mathematics’, ‘both’, ‘these’, ‘there’, ‘gather’, ‘with’ and ‘loath’. If you do this, go to 22

- Are you making the voiced TH sound voiceless? Some speakers make a voiced TH sound more like the voiceless TH sound, especially when it is at the end of a word. Put your fingers on your larynx as you say the following words - which should all be pronounced with a voiced TH sound - paying attention to the presence or absence of vibration: ‘breathe’, ‘bathe’, ‘with’, ‘gather’, ‘soothing’, ‘these’, ‘those’. Now listen to the words, firstly spoken with a voiceless TH sound and then with a voiced TH sound as they should in RP. If you do this, go to 23

- Are you making the voiceless TH sound voiced?

Some speakers make a voiceless TH sound more like the voiced TH sound. Put your fingers on your larynx as you say the following words - which should all be pronounced with a voiceless TH sound paying attention to the presence or absence of vibration: ‘breath’, ‘bath’, ‘nothing’, ‘everything’, ‘thistle’, ‘thimble’. Now listen to the words, firstly spoken with a voiced TH sound and then with a voiceless TH sound as they should in RP. If you do this, go to 24

6


DAY 4-6 STEP 3 - How to I change my HABIT? Once you’ve identified your habit, find the same coloured ‘fix it’ icon in the section on the next page to break your habit. Read, listen and try out the exercises to encourage the new pronounciation. - How do I avoid ‘blocking’ or replacing the TH sound with other sounds? If your habit is to replace the TH sound with another consonant or ‘block’ the TH sound, the two most important factors are: to encourage the tongue tip to gently touch just behind or just under the top front teeth; and to make the sound long and friction-like in quality. By focusing on how to avoid ‘blocking’ the TH, those of you who replace it with other sounds will learn how to make the TH sound and use it accurately. One way to avoid ‘blocking’ the space, through which you want this long friction-like sound to travel, might be to encourage the tongue to be long and thin, ensuring that the blade and front of the tongue are low. Another sound where the tongue is in a long and thin position is the L sound, as in ‘lie’. For an L sound, the tongue tip is touching the alveolar ridge, it is long and thin, and the sound can travel continuously for as long as you want it to, which are qualities that you can apply to the TH sound. Play this game: make an L sound but this time with your tongue tip gently touching just behind or just under your top front teeth instead of your alveolar ridge (this is just an exercise and not how you should normally pronounce an L sound). Keep your tongue long and thin and ensure the blade and front of the tongue are not touching any of the back of the top front teeth or hard palate. This is almost exactly the position that your tongue should be in for a TH sound. Say ‘lie’ with your tongue in this strange position for the L sound and make the L really long. Now say ‘thigh’ with your tongue in the same place, and elongate the TH sound. The breath should be able to travel freely and continuously out through your mouth and the blade and front of your tongue should be relaxed and not touching the back of your top front teeth or hard palate. 25

Remember a TH sound is a fricative, so it should have a similar length and quality to a V as in ‘vine’ and an F sound as in ‘fine’. Play with the following words, using this adapted L sound to help guide you: loathe

lathe

lithe

Leith

lath

26 27

- How do I make a voiced TH sound?

Firstly, it’s vital to be able to feel the difference between a voiced and voiceless TH sound. A good way to start might be to compare the difference between other pairs of fricative sounds, like the S and Z sounds, which most speakers do instinctively. Lengthen the S and Z sounds in the words ‘Sue’ and ‘zoo’ with your fingers on your larynx (or gently plug your ears with your fingers) and pay attention to the feeling of vibration on the ‘z’ and the absence of vibration on the ‘s’. For the voiced Z sound, you might experience a buzzing or tingling sensation not only behind your fingers but also on the tongue tip or blade. This is the same experience that you’re hoping for when saying a voiced TH, as in ‘this’ and ‘bathe’. Now compare the voiceless S sound with the voiceless TH sounds in ‘thistle’ and ‘bath’. Fricatives can be lengthened, which might be useful in order to really feel the difference between voiced and voiceless. 28

7


DAY 4-6 For those who struggle with making a voiced TH sound at the ends of words, it might be helpful to play with words that can be extended with a vowel sound or a suffix, for instance ‘bathe’ and ‘bathing’. The presence of a vowel sound after a voiced TH sound tends to enable most speakers to pronounce the TH sound with vibrations. Now lengthen the TH sound in ‘bathing’, stretching it out in order to really feel the vibrations and then immediately repeat the word in the same way but end with the lengthened voiced TH sound. Remember that the ability to lengthen is crucial in avoiding a ‘blocked’ TH sound. Play with these words: 29 soothing soothe

loathing loath

seething seethe

writhing writhe 30

Another consideration might be that a voiced TH sound tends to make the preceding vowel sound very slightly longer in some words, for example ‘sheathe’ and ‘sheath’. This might be another way to help you pronounce the difference between these two sounds. 31

- How do I make a voiceless TH sound? A good way to start might be to whisper words with the voiceless TH sound. Whisper the word ‘thought’ and place your fingers on your larynx, paying attention to the lack of vibration and the light and breathy quality. Whisper the ‘th’, retaining the light and breathy quality but then say the rest of the word on full voice. Play the same game with the following word pairs, encouraging the ‘th’ in the second word of each pair to be voiceless: 32

wreath writhe

bath bathe

ether either

breath breathe 33

8


DAY 4-6 STEP 4 - Practice, practice, practice for 3 days, then look at DAY 7-9. > Practice words and typical spellings for the voiced TH TH

the

these

another

this

then

either

weather

Northern THE

those mother

Southern

breathe

that

they

father

together

scathe

bathe

though

there

clothing

booth teethe

rather

although

mouth v. clothe

seethe

34

> Practice words and typical spellings for the voiceless TH TH three

think thirsty

something birthday

thought thorough author

sympathetic strength

thank

Thursday

thunder

method pathway

north

therapy

nothing cloth

locksmith

thing

thousand toothbrush

everything

beneath south

earth

both

third

thirteen

healthy

truthful

youthful tenth

aftermath

> Practice Sentences (voiceless TH is underlined and voiced TH is in bold)

authority mouth

teeth

growth 35

• Putting on her thimble, Beth threaded the needle. • Father Benjamin sat in the cathedral listening to the thunder. • Keith was a thickset man with thinning hair and crooked teeth. • Both Ruth and Garth sat beneath the shelter, their teeth chattering as the snow thawed. 36

9



Set Aside 20min



Phonetic symbol:

h

Pronunciation: The H sound is made with the vocal folds approximating (almost touching). The tongue tip is behind the bottom front teeth and the middle of the tongue is in the middle of the mouth. The jaw is loose and the teeth and the lips are loosely apart.You can’t see this sound being made but if you hold your hand up in front of your mouth, as you make an H sound, you should be able to feel a nearly silent warm breath on the palm of your hand. This sound is voiceless.

37

STEP 2 - What is my HABIT? Read, listen and try out the following habits and identify which one best describes or sounds like what you do. - Are you not pronouncing an H sound and/or adding it unnecessarily before some vowel sounds? Some speakers do not make this sound at all: so ‘howl’ sounds more like ‘owl’, ‘his’ sounds more like ‘is’, and ‘hold’ sounds more like ‘old’. Speakers that do this may even add an H sounds unnecessarily, especially before words that begin with vowel sounds: so ‘and’ sounds more like ‘hand’ and ‘all’ sounds more like ‘hall’. If you do this, go to 38

- Are you over-pronouncing the H sound? This can be done in two ways: either by forcing too much breath out too suddenly, so that the H sound is particularly throaty in quality, or by raising the back of your tongue, thereby reducing the space in the back of your mouth to create an H that has a similar quality to a K sound or a Uvular R. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with too forceful a breath, then with the back of the tongue raised, and finally with an H sound as they should be in RP: ‘hi’, ‘how’, ‘him’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘here’, ‘behind’, ‘hold’, ‘hand’ and ‘headache’. If you do this, go to 39

10


DAY 7-9 Some speakers make an H with the body of the tongue specifically when followed by a FLEECE, KIT and DRESS vowel sound, as in ‘heat’, ‘hit’ and ‘help’. Listen to these words, firstly spoken with the body of the tongue raised, and then with an H sound as they should be in RP. If you do this, go to 40

- Are you confusing H and W sounds in words spelt ‘wh’?

There are many words spelt ‘wh’. Some are pronounced with a W sound, and others are pronounced with an H sound, so some speakers confuse the two. The following words are pronounced with an H sound: ‘who’, ‘whose’, ‘whole’, ‘whom’ and ‘whore’ whereas ‘what’, ‘when’, ‘why’, ‘where’ and ‘while’ are pronounced with a W sound. Unfortunately, there is no reliable rule to help you know when to use an H sound and when to use a W sound, however words can be checked for their phonetic transcription in a reliable dictionary. If you do this, go to 41 STEP 3 - How to I change my HABIT? Once you’ve identified your habit, find the same coloured ‘fix it’ icon in the section on the next page to break your habit. Read, listen and try out the exercises to encourage the new pronounciation. The H sound is essentially a slightly audible whispered breath. A good way to start might be to whisper the word ‘arm’. Before you get to the ‘m’ notice the audible breathy quality of the ‘ar’, which is in essence an H sound. Whisper the word again, allowing the beginning of the word to have this whispered quality before the breath turns into sound, and you will have said ‘harm’. 42 If you tend to force too much breath out suddenly, keep your hand in front of your mouth and encourage a gentle but constant flow of warm breath. If you tend to make an H with the back of your tongue or middle of your tongue raised, look in a mirror, and encourage the tongue to stay low, in the same sort of position as a yawn for the H sound, but then let it move accordingly for the following vowel sound: arm harm

own hone

add had

am ham

ill hill

Ed head

eat heat 43

STEP 4 - Practice, practice, practice for 3 days, then look at DAY 10-12. > Practice words and typical spellings for the H sound H

have

hundred history

hand

help

homework helicopter

high homemade reheat

house

hope

hospital behaviour

home

happy rehearsal

hurt

headache

heart hearing

forehead

handshake holiday

inhalation 44

> Practice sentences • The hen hurried to the hen house to check on her eggs before they hatched.

45

• Henry seems happy today! I hope he hasn’t bought everyone homemade brownies again. • Her behaviour is abhorred – I haven’t heard any positive feedback from her clients. • I hear that Harry Howard and Hazel are getting hitched! Harry and Hazel Howard! Hilarious! 11

the R consonant sound


Set Aside 20min



Phonetic symbol:

r

Pronunciation: The R sound is made with the tongue tip curling up towards the area just behind the alveolar ridge – but not touching – and the body of the tongue scooping in the middle. The jaw should remain relaxed, the teeth parted and the lips in a very loose pouting shape. The R is a voiced sound

46

STEP 2 - What is my HABIT? Read, listen and try out the following habits and identify which one best describes or sounds like what you do. There are many types of R sounds, made in very different ways. Some are more obviously different to the R sound in RP, but others are much subtler to hear and feel. Here is a list of the most typical R sounds: - Are you using a Labiodental R sound? A labiodental R (lip and teeth R) sound is made with the lower lip lightly touching the upper teeth and the tongue tip down behind the bottom front teeth. It looks very similar to a V sound, but it is not a fricative. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with a labiodental R, then with the R used in RP: ‘rip’, ‘ran’, ‘crash’, ‘grey’, ‘hurry’ and ‘carry’. If you do this, go to

47

12


DAY 10-12 - Are you using a Weak R sound? A weak R sound is made in a similar way to a labiodental R, but the tongue tip is very slightly curling up towards the alveolar ridge at the same time. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with a weak R, then with the R used in RP: ‘rip’, ‘ran’, ‘crash’, ‘grey’, ‘hurry’ and ‘carry’. If you do this, go to

48

- Are you using a Retroflex R sound? A retroflex R sound is made with the tongue tip curling further up and back towards the centre of the roof of the mouth. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with a retroflex R, then with the R used in RP: ‘rip’, ‘ran’, ‘crash’, ‘grey’, ‘hurry’ and ‘carry’. If you do this, go to

49

- Are you using a Molar R sound? A molar R is made with the whole tongue retracting back in the mouth, bunching without the tongue tip curling upward. The upper back edges of the tongue are touching the inner edges of the upper back molars. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with a molar R, then with the R used in RP: ‘rip’, ‘ran’, ‘crash’, ‘grey’, ‘hurry’ and ‘carry’. If you do this, go to

50

- Are you using a Uvular Fricative R sound? A uvular fricative R sound is made with the back of the tongue rising up towards the uvular – in the same way as a K sound – but instead of touching it, it creates a narrow space causing a friction-like sound when vibrations pass up and out. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with a uvular fricative R, then with the R used in RP: ‘rip’, ‘ran’, ‘crash’, ‘grey’, ‘hurry’ and ‘carry’. If you do this, go to 51

13


DAY 10-12 - Are you using Tapped and Trilled R sounds? The retroflex R and the R used in RP can be tapped. They can also be trilled as can the uvular R. For a tapped R, instead of the tongue holding its position and the sound travelling through the space around and over it, the tongue very quickly touches then releases from the closest point of articulation depending on which R you make. For a trilled R the tongue touches and releases many times in rapid succession. Listen to the following words, firstly spoken with a tapped and trilled retroflex R, then with a trilled uvular R, then a tapped and trilled R used in RP, and then the R used in RP: ‘crash’, ‘grey’, ‘hurry’ and ‘carry’. If you do this, go to 52 - Are you replacing an R sound with an L sound? Some speakers replace an R sound with an L sound. An L sound is made with the tongue in a very similar shape to the R sound used in RP, except that the tongue tip actually touches the alveolar ridge for an L sound, so ‘rag’ might sound more like ‘lag’ and ‘wrong’ sound more like ‘long’. If you do this, go to 53 STEP 3 - How to I change my HABIT? Once you’ve identified your habit, find the same coloured ‘fix it’ icon in the section on the next page to break your habit. Read, listen and try out the exercises to encourage the new pronounciation. - How do I change to the R sound used in RP? Whilst there are some big differences in the type of R that you might be using habitual, changing your habitual R to the R sound used in RP is all about creating a curving, scooping shape with your tongue body and with the tongue tip pointing up towards the area just behind your alveolar ridge without them touching. So use the following exercise to help create this curving, scooping shape. An L sound as in words like ‘light’, ‘lee’ and ‘lane’ is made in a very similar way to this R sound, the only difference being that for an L sound the tongue tip touches the area just in front of the alveolar ridge. Sustain the L sound and pay attention to the feeling of its shape inside your mouth. It’s okay if your tongue tip doesn’t normally touch the alveolar ridge for your habitual L sound, but for the purpose of this exercise, put the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge and compare the following pictures:

L sound

R sound

54

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DAY 10-12 Say the word ‘Lorraine’. Once your tongue tip releases after the L sound encourage the body of your tongue to remain in the same shape and position as for the L sound but without the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge. Play the same game with ‘Loretta’, ‘larynx’, ‘lorry’ and ‘Larry’. Other consonants that have a similar shape and position are T, D and N. Play with ‘terrain’, ‘derive’ and ‘narrate’. Another way to use this exercise is to play with word combinations, where the first word ends with an ‘l’ and the second word starts with an ‘r’, for example ‘pale red’, ‘feel ridiculous’, ‘call Robin’, ‘tall rock’ and ‘sell rockets’. 55

- How do I change a weak or labiodental R? Changing a weak R or labiodental R (lip and teeth R) sound is about discouraging your lower lip from touching your upper teeth and encouraging your tongue tip to curve up. Firstly, hold a finger vertically over your lips, as if you were asking someone to be quiet.Then roll your lower lip down by sliding your finger down towards your chin. Keep your lower lip held down, so that your lower front teeth are very slightly exposed, then say the following words: ran

run

write

rod

rang

ring

rack

rock

rag

rouge

56

Now, take your finger away from your lower lip but keep your lower lip in a subtler version of that same position with the muscles of your lips. It might feel like a subtle pout – ensure that the lower lip is down, exposing the bottom teeth. Look in a mirror and your lower front teeth should be very slightly exposed. Repeat the words above, encouraging your tongue tip to curve up and backwards towards the area just behind the alveolar ridge and your lips in a very subtle pout. It’s vital that as soon as you have said the R sound you release your lips into their resting position. Building this new habit may some take time and regular practice. The words above are useful in as much as there are no other consonant sounds that use the lips. Once you are confident with these, play with other words where the R sound is in between two vowel sounds, or words that have a consonant before an R sound, for example: hurry

marry

carry

curry

credit

crisis

cream

grape

groan 57

Many British speakers use a weak R sound, and it is actually becoming much more widely accepted in English pronunciation. However, if you still wish to change towards the R used for RP, a weak R can be a particularly stubborn habit to break, so whilst the suggestions above for how to change your habit are hopefully useful and effective, they may not offer you the specific guidance that you might need, in which case you might benefit from some one-to-one coaching. But as I said, it is a small part of a big picture, and should only receive the attention that you choose to place on it. > Anything else? - Should I pronounce every written R? Not every written ‘r’ is spoken. This is explained fully in the complete eBook - British English Pronunciation Roadmap: A Clear Path To Clear Speech.

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DAY 10-12 STEP 4 - Practice, practice, practice for 3 days, then look at DAY 13-15. > Practice words and typical spellings for the R sound R

original

surround

rang

carry rhythm

ring WR

pride wrong

diarrhoea

broken write rhetoric

RR

crash wrap

marry

worried

RH

rhubarb

wreathe

rhapsody

rheumatic 58

> Practice Sentences for the R sound • The road we live on is right next to Reading train station. • Thankfully Chris is through the really problematic phase of his treatment. • Ralph is always running late. His unpredictability is infuriating. • I’ve been brought the wrong files. Who is responsible? • Would you carry that furry grey cat and put him outside the orange basket. 59

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the Z consonant sound


Set Aside 20min

So, here’s what you learnt from the DAY 5 of the 5 Day Audio MINI COURSE Target Sound:


Phonetic symbol:

z

Pronunciation: This sound belongs to a pair of sounds - Z and S. The only difference between the S and Z sounds is that the S is a voiceless sound and the Z is a voiced sound. One of the most typical ways to make the S and Z sounds is by creating a narrow space between the tongue blade and the alveolar ridge. This space is almost like a v-shaped furrow running from the middle to the tip of the tongue. The tongue blade doesn’t touch the alveolar ridge – the breath or vibration simply travels over it. With both sounds, the jaw is loose and the teeth and the lips are loosely apart. For some, the tongue tip is hovering close to but not touching the alveolar ridge, and for others it is behind the bottom teeth. 60

STEP 2 - What is my HABIT? Read, listen and try out the following habits and identify which one best describes or sounds like what you do. - Do you have a lisp? Aside from any accent differences, some speakers find the S sound in particular difficult to make because of a lisp, which also tends to affect the CH sound, as in ‘cheese’, DG sound, as in ‘journey’, SH sound, as in ‘shoe’ and ZH sound, as in ‘pleasure’. If you have a lisp, this section may well help you to understand and possibly even make progress with your S and Z sounds, but it cannot offer you the specific guidance that you might want, in which case you might benefit from some one-to-one coaching. - Are you making the Z sound more like the S sound? Quite simply, you might be making the voiced Z sound, especially at the ends of words, more like an voiceless S sound, so words like ‘buzz’ sound more like ‘bus’. Put your fingers on your larynx as you say these words, paying attention to the presence or absence of vibration. If you do this, go to - Are you making the S sound more like the Z sound?

61

You might be pronouncing words that should be said with a voiceless S sound more like a voiced Z sound, so words like ‘sue’ sound more like ‘zoo’, and ‘sip’ sounds more like ‘zip’. Put your fingers on your larynx as you say these words, paying attention to the presence or absence of vibration. If you do this, go to 62

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DAY 13-15 - Are you replacing an S sound with a SH sound? Some speakers replace the S with a SH sound in STR consonant clusters, as in: strain

strip

straight

stripe

strove

stream

astronomy

strive

stroll 63

And some speakers confuse words like ‘sell’ and ‘shell’, ‘sock’ and ‘shock’, ‘sake’ and ‘shake’. If you do any of these things, go to 64

- Are you unnecessarily adding a vowel before an S sound? Some speakers add a vowel sound, typically the DRESS vowel sound before a consonant cluster at the beginning of the word that starts with ‘s’. For example ‘eh…special’, ‘eh…stranger’, ‘eh…scratch’ ‘eh…spray’. If you do this, go to 65

STEP 3 - How to I change my HABIT? Once you’ve identified your habit, find the same coloured ‘fix it’ icon in the section on the next page to break your habit. Read, listen and try out the exercises to encourage the new pronounciation. - How do I make a voiced Z sound? For those who struggle with making a voiced Z sound at the ends of words, it might be helpful to play with words that can be extended with a vowel sound or a suffix, for example ‘buzz’ and ‘buzzing’.The presence of a vowel sound after a voiced Z sound tends to enable most speakers to pronounce the Z sound with vibrations. Now lengthen the Z sound in ‘buzzing’, stretching it out in order to really feel the vibrations and then immediately repeat the word in the same way but end with the lengthened voiced Z sound. Hopefully you will have said ‘buzz’ with a voiced Z sound. Play with these words: laser laze

pleasing please

frozen froze

66

easy ease

67

Another consideration might be that a voiced Z sound tends to make some preceding vowel sounds very slightly longer in some words. Listen to this in the following pairs of words: Lace laze

base baize

face faze

race raise

ice eyes

lice lies 68

This might be another way to help you pronounce the difference between these two sounds.

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DAY 13-15 - How do I make a voiceless S sound? A good way to start might be to whisper words with the voiceless S sound.Whisper the word ‘so’ and place your fingers on your larynx, paying attention to the lack of vibration and the light and breathy quality.Very slowly, whisper the ‘s’, retaining the light and breathy quality but then say the rest of the word on full voice. You might also notice that the vowel sound before a voiceless S sound is slightly short than when followed by a voiced Z sound. Play the same game with the following word pairs, encouraging the ‘s’ in the first word of each pair to be voiceless: peace peas

bus buzz

lacy lazy

lice lies

niece knees 69

- How do I avoid replacing an S sound with an SH sound?

A good way to start might be to say the ‘st’ in the first line of words below without the ‘yoo’ sound and in the second line of words without an R sound. Most speakers find that the ‘s’ is then easier to pronounce as an S sound instead of a SH. For example, say ‘steam’ then ‘stream’, paying attention to the quality of the S sound. When reintroducing the ‘yoo’ sound or R after the ‘st’, make the S sound longer than you might usually to ensure accurate pronunciation: 70

stew strain

stupid strip

studious

stupor

straight

stripe

astute strove

stupendous stream

studio

astronomy

costume

strive

stroll 71

- How do I avoid adding a vowel before an S sound?

Most speakers that add a vowel sound only tend to do so when the ‘s’ is in a consonant cluster at the beginning of a word. Play with saying an S sound on itself own, and then elongating it into a word that you struggle with. For example ‘sss…scratch’. Play the same game with the following words: sss…scratch

scrape

scream

stretch

stream

strap

sprain

sprite 72

LOOK - Extra Useful Info! > How should I pronounce the ‘s’ in suffixes ‘s’, ‘es’ and ‘ies’? The ‘s’ in ‘es’, ‘ise’ ‘ies’ suffixes are almost always pronounced with a Z sound (note that the ‘ise’ suffix is often written ‘ize’ in American English): dishes

boxes

matches

crosses

democracies

zombies

diaries

socialise

prioritise

glamorise

buses

wishes

redundancies penalise

abolishes

societies

ostracise

squashes

obscenities

capitalise

galvanise 73

Whilst there is no reliable rule about when to pronounce the suffix ‘s’ as an S sound or Z sound, it is sometimes true that if the sound before the ‘s’ is a voiced consonant sound (like B, D, G,V, Z, voiced TH, ZH, DG, M, N, NG, L) it will mostly be pronounced as the voiced Z sound: 74

men’s

women’s

girls

feeds

owns 19

begs

emails

letters

meetings


DAY 13-15 If the sound before the ‘s’ is a voiceless consonant sound, it will mostly be pronounced as the voiceless S sound: shorts

clocks

hits

shuts

packs

hooks

flicks

meets

eats

its 75

Whilst there is no conclusive pattern to follow, one way to be sure is to look at the phonetic transcription in a reliable dictionary. It may also be helpful to know that there are words like ‘abuse/abuse’, and ‘lose/loose’ where the ‘s’ is voiceless for the noun/adjective but voiced for the verb.There are some exceptions, however, where the sound is voiced for both noun and verb, such as ‘fuse’ and ‘bruise’.There are also many words that depend on the voiced and voiceless distinction for accuracy of meaning, for instance ‘lice’ and ‘lies’, ‘lace’ and ‘lays’, ‘peace’ and ‘peas’, ‘mace’ and ‘maze’ and ‘rice’ and ‘rise’. 76

STEP 4 - Practice, practice, practice for 3 days, then you’ve completed the course! > Practice words and typical spellings for the S sound S

sister

C

central

CE

juice

massive SE

sell

salmon

circle

cycle

pronounce fitness

goose

sat

receive

pace

assignment

house

sit

purpose

sun

Saturday

decide

fancy

Greece

ice SC

necessity

south

cereal

specific

cell cross

pence

SS

scent

muscle

fascinating

experience

excite

zone

size

crazy

ZZ

jazz

fizzy

puzzle

close season

those

supervise

president

SS

zoo SE S dessert

zip

organise has

ZE

horizon his scissors

cheese was

expert 77

> Practice words and typical spellings for the Z sound Z

sock

prance

X (KS)

grease

seen

amaze please

presume

X (GZ)

> Practice sentences (voiceless S is underlined and voiced Z is in bold)

exert

prize

sneeze

whose

because

music exalt

reason exude 78

• Simon, Sarah and Susan are ecstatic about starting summer school. • This scooter is the fastest I’ve ever seen or experienced. • Most citizens settle in one district for some time. • I’m amazed at your brazen attitude towards the disorganisation of this present situation. 79

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BONUS Hurray, you’ve done it - WELL DONE!

“Now, how do I integrate these new habits into live speech?” First and foremost, do what you did when you acquired your first language - practice building these sounds and words into your muscle memory until they become habitual. Which means, quite simply - listen, repeat, listen, repeat, listen and repeat. In addition to this, you can then start to create what I call ‘word banks’.These are banks of words based on their pronunciation NOT their spelling or meaning. And more importantly, choose words that you use every single day. And you don’t need to start with many - maybe just 5 or 10.You can check the pronunciation with something like the online Oxford Dictionary (which has audio of thousands of words) and get practicing these core words and using them with their new pronunciation in live speech. And it’s a bit like dominoes - once you change one word, others WILL start to follow. What follows is 2 exercises for each of the 5 consonant sounds, which ask you to list 12 frequently used words containing each consonant sound, and then 6 phrases in which you might use those words (you could even cheat by stealing some words from the ‘step 4 practice sections’ at the end of each of the workdays). Have a go.

Word Banks > the NG consonant sound (DAY 1 - 3) - Ex. 1 - My Word Bank What are your 12 most frequently used words containing the NG consonant sound? 1 …………………

2 …………………

3 …………………

4 …………………

5 …………………

6 …………………

7 …………………

8 …………………

9 …………………

10 ………………… 11 ………………… 12 …………………

- Ex. 2 - My Phrase Bank What are your 6 most frequently used phrases containing the NG consonant sound? 1 ….…………….……………………………… 2 ….…………….……………………………… 3 ….…………….……………………………… 4 ….…………….……………………………… 5 ….…………….……………………………… 6 ….…………….………………………………

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BONUS > the TH consonant sound (DAY 4 - 6) - Ex. 1 - My Word Bank What are your 12 most frequently used words containing the TH consonant sound? 1 …………………

2 …………………

3 …………………

4 …………………

5 …………………

6 …………………

7 …………………

8 …………………

9 …………………

10 ………………… 11 ………………… 12 …………………

- Ex. 2 - My Phrase Bank What are your 6 most frequently used phrases containing the TH consonant sound? 1 ….…………….……………………………… 2 ….…………….……………………………… 3 ….…………….……………………………… 4 ….…………….……………………………… 5 ….…………….……………………………… 6 ….…………….………………………………

> the H consonant sound (DAY 7 - 9) - Ex. 1 - My Word Bank What are your 12 most frequently used words containing the H consonant sound? 1 …………………

2 …………………

3 …………………

4 …………………

5 …………………

6 …………………

7 …………………

8 …………………

9 …………………

10 ………………… 11 ………………… 12 …………………

- Ex. 2 - My Phrase Bank What are your 6 most frequently used phrases containing the H consonant sound? 1 ….…………….……………………………… 2 ….…………….……………………………… 3 ….…………….……………………………… 4 ….…………….……………………………… 5 ….…………….……………………………… 6 ….…………….………………………………

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BONUS > the R consonant sound (DAY 10 - 12) - Ex. 1 - My Word Bank What are your 12 most frequently used words containing the R consonant sound? 1 …………………

2 …………………

3 …………………

4 …………………

5 …………………

6 …………………

7 …………………

8 …………………

9 …………………

10 ………………… 11 ………………… 12 …………………

- Ex. 2 - My Phrase Bank What are your 6 most frequently used phrases containing the R consonant sound? 1 ….…………….……………………………… 2 ….…………….……………………………… 3 ….…………….……………………………… 4 ….…………….……………………………… 5 ….…………….……………………………… 6 ….…………….………………………………

> the Z consonant sound (DAY 13 - 15) - Ex. 1 - My Word Bank What are your 12 most frequently used words containing the Z consonant sound? 1 …………………

2 …………………

3 …………………

4 …………………

5 …………………

6 …………………

7 …………………

8 …………………

9 …………………

10 ………………… 11 ………………… 12 …………………

- Ex. 2 - My Phrase Bank What are your 6 most frequently used phrases containing the Z consonant sound? 1 ….…………….……………………………… 2 ….…………….……………………………… 3 ….…………….……………………………… 4 ….…………….……………………………… 5 ….…………….……………………………… 6 ….…………….………………………………

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So, What’s The Next Step... You took up the 5 Day Audio MINI COURSE challenge and got top marks, and now you’ve completed the 2 Week Habit Breaker Action Plan. So now you have all the tools and resources for these 5 consonant sounds to start making a real difference in the way you communicate yourself and the way others engage with you. So, what’s next...

Be patient... I know I said this at the end of the 5 Day Audio MINI COURSE, but I’ll take care of the rest. And I was right, the first time, wasn’t I? Because here you are 2 weeks later much more informed and in control of your pronunciation - so trust me on this. I really want you to succeed. I’ll let you know shortly what the next best step is to get you accelerating in your vocal transformation - I promise. I’ll speak to you soon Ashley P.S. Keep checking your email. P.P.S If you really can’t wait and want a sneak preview, click on this link- its nickname is ‘the ULTIMATE Habit Breaker’: www.englishpronunciationroadmap.com/ultimate-habit-breaker P.P.P.S Oh, and before I forget:

... Join The Facebook Community - Private Group Remember, you’re not on your own. You now have access to the English Prounciation Roadmap Community via a private Facebook group, where you can ask me questions directly, speak to others who are on the same journey and get helpful tips and advice. I’m looking forward to helping you. Send a request to join the group (URL below) and so long as your customer details match, you’ll be accepted: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Join.EPR.Community/ If your Facebook name is different to the name we have for you, just let us know.

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PDF Version Habit Breaker for CONSONANTS

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