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Engelska A1/HS1/LS
Autumn 2010
Uttalslära
Exercises: KEY
1. Vowels: Monophthongs
a) What is a monophthong?
Answer: A vowel sound with only one sound; a pure vowel
b) What do the terms open vowel and close vowel stand for?
Answer: In an open vowel, the tongue is low in the mouth and the oral cavity
(munhålan) is open. In a close vowel, the tongue is high, near the roof of the mouth, and
the oral cavity is more closed.
c) What do the terms back vowel and front vowel stand for?
Answer: In a back vowel, the back of the tongue is higher than the front. In a front
vowel, the front of the tongue is higher than the back.
d) How do you spell the word that is transcribed...
1. /pıt/
a) peat
b) pit
c) pet
d) pat
e) pot
2. /pi:t/
a) peat
b) pit
c) pet
d) pat
e) pot
3. /pæt/
a) peat
b) pot
c) pet
d) pat
e) put
4. /pQt/ (RP)
a) peat
b) pot
c) pet
d) pat
e) put
5. /pO:(r)t/
a) pot
b) port
c) part
d) pat
e) put
6. /pUt/
a) pot
b) port
c) part
d) pat
e) put
7. /hVt/
a) hut
b) heat
c) hot
d) hat
e) hurt
8. /hæt/
a) hut
b) heat
c) hot
d) hat
e) hurt
9. /h3:(r)t/
a) hut
b) heat
c) hot
d) hat
e) hurt
10. /bUl/
a) ball
b) bell
c) bull
d) bill
e) bail
11. /bO:l/
a) ball
b) bell
c) bull
d) bill
e) bail
12. /bi:d/
a) bead
b) bid
c) bread
d) breed
e) bed
13. /bred/
a) bead
b) bid
c) bread
d) breed
e) bed
14. /bri:d/
a) bead
b) bid
c) bread
d) breed
e) bed
15. /sæd/
a) said
b) seed
c) Sid
d) sod
e) sad
16. /sed/
a) said
b) seed
c) Sid
d) sod
e) sad
2. Vowels: Diphthongs
a) What is a diphthong?
Answer: A vowel sound which consists of two sounds.
b) Are there equally many diphthongs in RP and GA?
Answer: No, RP has more diphthongs than GA.
c) How do you spell the word that is transcribed...
1. /saı/
a) say
b) sigh
c) soy
d) sow
e) sew
2. /seı/
a) say
b) sigh
c) soy
d) sow
e) sew
3. /saU/
a) say
b) sigh
c) soy
d) sow
e) sew
4. /s@U||so(U)/
a) say
b) sigh
c) soy
d) saw
e) sew
Comment to 3: the word “sow” can also be pronounced /s@U||so(U)/ , meaning “to
plant”.
5. /sOı/
a) say
b) sigh
c) soy
d) sow
e) sew
6. /deı/
a) die
b) do
c) day
d) dye
e) doe
7. /be@||be(@)r/
a) burr
b) beer
c) bore
d) bear
e) boar
8. /bı@||bı(@)r/
a) burr
b) beer
c) bore
d) bear
e) boar
Which vowel sound occurs in the word...
9. boy
a) /aı/
b) /O:/
c) /@U/
d) /Oı/
e) /eı/
10. loud
a) /@U/
e) /Oı/
b) /u:/
c) /aU/
d) /aı/
3. Consonants (and vowels, too)
a) What is the difference between a vowel and a consonant?
Answer: A vowel is produced with a free flow of air through the oral cavity. A
consonant is produced with some type of obstruction of the oral cavity; it’s blocked off
partially or completely.
b) How is a fricative produced?
Answer: With friction. The air is pushed between the tongue or lips and the roof of the
mouth or the lips to create a sound.
c) How is a nasal produced?
Answer: The oral cavity is completely blocked, so the air has to go through the nose.
d) When is the letter “j” pronounced /j/?
Answer: Never! It is pronounced /dʒ/. The /j/ sound is usually spelt with the letter “y”
e) Which one of the following sounds is a plosive?
a) /ɜ:/
b) /θ/
c) /aı/
d) /m/
e) /t/
1. Which one of the following sounds is normally voiced in English?
a) /S/
b) /s/
c) /v/
d) /t/
e) /f/
2. And which one of these sounds is normally voiced in English?
a) /f/
b) /k/
c) /θ/
d) /h/
e) /ʒ /
How do you spell the word that is transcribed...
3. /Sıp/
a) sheep
b) shop
c) chip
d) ship
f) cheap
4. /Si:p/
a) sheep
b) shop
c) chip
d) ship
f) cheap
5. /tSi:p
a) sheep
b) shop
c) chip
d) ship
f) cheap
6. /tSıp
a) sheep
b) shop
c) chip
d) ship
f) cheap
7. /cA:s(@)l||cæs(@)l/
a) case
b) caste
c) castle
d) class
e) cease
8. /bQm||bA:m/
a) boom
b) beam
c) broom
d) bark
e) bomb
9. /ju:s/
a) Jews
b) use (noun) c) use (verb)
d) juice
e) deuce
10. In which of the following words is the underlined letter p pronounced /p/?
a) corpse
b) coup
c) receipt
d) pseudonym
e) psalm
11. In which of the following words is the underlined letter b pronounced /b/?
a) climbing b) crumb
c) doubt
d) bombs
e) timber
12. In which of the following words is ed pronounced /t/?
a) nodded b) breathed c) closed
d) watched e) judged
13. In which of the following words is the underlined letter n pronounced /n/?
a) solemn
b) damned c) condemnation d) hymn
e) column
14. In which of the following words are the underlined letters th pronounced /T/?
a) breathe b) mouths c) clothes
d) southern e) wreath
15. How many examples of dark /l/ are there in the following sentence in RP?
The letters involved are underlined.
“The little girl has a silver bracelet”
a) one
b) two
c) three
d) four
e) five
16. How many examples of pronounced /r/ are there in the following sentence in RP? The
letters involved are underlined.
“Her brother is taller than her uncle.”
a) one
b) two
c) three
d) four
e) five
4. Sounds in context
a) What is meant by assimilation?
Answer: That a sound is changed by the preceding or following sound. The changed sound
becomes more like the sound that influences it.
b) What is meant by elision?
Answer: That a sound is omitted (not pronounced) in a word because of the neighbouring
sounds; the sound is omitted in order to make the word easier to say. This happens especially in
rapid or casual speech.
c) In the following list of four words, there is one example of progressive assimilation, one example
of regressive assimilation and one example of elision. Which is which? How have the sounds
changed in the words? And what is the remaining word an example of (something we talked about in
Seminar 2)?
a) gunpoint
/ˈgʌmpɔınt/ Regressive assimilation. /n/ has changed to /m/ because of the
following /p/.
b) drawing (RP) /ˈdrɔ:rıŋ/ Intrusive /r/.
c) washed
/wɒʃt/ Progressive assimilation. The -ed ending is pronounced /t/.
d) fifth
/fıθ/ Elision. The /f/ in the word is omitted. Note that it is perfectly correct
English to pronounce the word /fıfθ/, without elision.
d) Which one of the following word classes does not have words with “strong” and “weak”
pronunciation?
a) adjective b) preposition c) pronoun d) auxiliary verb
e) conjunction
e) How many words take the weak form in the following two sentences? The sentences contain 14
words.
“Go and see what the noise is! — It is the bus coming from town.”
a) three words b) four words c) five words d) six words e) seven words
Comment: The “is” after “noise” is not in the weak form (end position in the sentence).
5. Stress and intonation
a) What is meant by primary stress?
Answer: In a word with more than one syllable, one of the syllables is pronounced with a
stronger emphasis than the other syllables. This is the primary stress. (Some long words also
have a secondary stress, which means that one syllable has a slightly stronger emphasis than the
unstressed syllables, but not as much as the syllable that carries the primary stress.)
b) Which of the following words can not be stressed in two different ways, changing the meaning
and the word class of the word?
a) balance b) conduct
c) insult
d) perfect
e) record
c) What is sentence stress? How is sentence stress related to the use of weak forms of words in
English?
Answer: In a sentence, all words are not pronounced with equal stress or emphasis. Usually,
the content words are stressed in the sentence, and the form words (for instance prepositions,
determiners, or auxiliary verbs) are unstressed unless there is some particular reason to
emphasise them. Many of these form words have a weak form that is used when they are
unstressed.
d) According to general intonation rules, which of the following types of sentence has a falling
pitch?
a) Yes/no questions
b) Polite requests
c) Reserved statements
d) WH-questions
e) Tag questions asking for information
e) What is the most common type of pitch in the following sentences?
1. “Eat your breakfast!” Falling
2. “What time is it?” Falling
3. “It’s half past twelve.” Falling
4. “Are you coming?” Rising
5. “She was there, wasn’t she” (confirmation question) Falling
6. “She was there, wasn’t she?” (real question) Rising
6. American English
a) What is the difference between GA and RP use of /l/?
Answer: RP has two different realisations of /l/ : clear and dark. Clear /l/ is used before vowels
(and before /j/, but there are very few words where that occurs). In GA, a more or less dark
realisation of /l/ is used in all positions.
b) What is the difference between GA and RP pronunciation of endings like -ary and -ery, for
instance in words such as military or cemetery?
Answer: In RP, the vowel is reduced to /@/ (schwa), or completely omitted. In GA, the vowel
sound is less reduced.
c) What is the difference between GA and RP in the pronunciation of /t/ in words such as better and
tomato?
Answer: GA speakers often use a shorter, voiced sound somewhere between /t/ and /d/, known
as a flap.
d) Which one of the following words is transcribed according to GA pronunciation?
a) leisure /ˈleʒә/
b) vitamin /ˈvıtamın/
c) shone /ʃɒn/
d) clerk /klɜ :rk/
e) lieutenant /lefˈtenәnt/
e) In which of the following words is the primary stress placed according to GA pronunciation?
a) gaˈrage b) doˈnate
c) ˈballet d) reˈsearch e) ˈplateau