Phonetics is a section that studies sounds. Its main goal is to teach you how to correctly pronounce English sounds and words, and also to develop your ability to perceive the speech of native speakers. Therefore, in order to learn to speak and read English correctly, you need to know the English alphabet and learn the pronunciation of individual phonemes and the words in which they are used. English phonetics The English language is built on the Latin alphabet, has only 26 letters (instead of the usual 33), but almost twice as many sounds are superimposed on these familiar letters, namely 46 different phonemes. English sounds are very important for language learners, so you need to understand how they are used in speech and why.

As stated above, distinguishing feature The English language is a huge number of sounds that do not correspond to the number of letters available. That is, one letter can convey several phonemes, depending on the letters that are next to each other. Based on this, it is necessary to speak very carefully and carefully. Incorrect use of a particular sound leads to misunderstandings.

For example, the word "bed" (bed) and the word "bad" (bad) They are pronounced and written almost identically, so it is quite easy to get confused about them. At this stage of learning English, many begin to transcribe pronunciation in Russian in order to facilitate the memorization process.

However, this “relief” is very misleading, as it often leads to even greater confusion between words with similar pronunciation. After all, both words “bed” and “bad” in Russian can be transcribed exclusively as "bad" without reflecting the duality of sound in any way. Therefore, it is better to learn sounds separately.

Learning English phonetics will undoubtedly bring some clarity to the pronunciation and mastery of all phrases and words that will come your way during learning.

First of all, you should create a dictionary in which you will designate all the sounds in traditional transcription, and then, next to them, their sound version in your native language.
Special cases of pronunciation should also be indicated, indicating that this word needs to be pronounced in a special way or writing down that it is impossible to give an analogy of the Russian sound. London - London For convenience, it is better to divide phonemes into groups. For example, consonants, vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs. It is also necessary to constantly practice and perform exercises of this type:

The main city of Great Britain is London. London - ["lʌndən]- 6 letters, 6 sounds. Let's find it on the map of England. Where is it? Then, let’s check with our friend: How do you write it? How do you spell it? Now spell this name - Spell this name for us:

- London - [Landen]

This way you will practice not only the pronunciation of sounds, but also learn useful words and phrases in foreign languages.

Now let's move on directly to their writing and pronunciation.

Sounds of English

Let's meet brief description all sounds using this table

Sound	Pronunciation
Vowels
[ı]	short [and], as in “outside And»
[e]	similar to [e] - “sh” e exist"
[ɒ]	short [o] - “in O T"
[ʊ]	short, close to [y]
[ʌ]	similar to Russian [a]
[ə]	unstressed, close to [e]
	looks like a long [and]
[ɑ:]	deep and long [a] - “g A lka"
[ə:] = [ɜ:]	long [ё] in “sv” e cla"
	long [y], like “b” at lka"
[ᴐ:]	deep and long [o] - “d O lgo"
[æ]	Russian [uh]
Diphthogs (two tones)
	[hey] - same
[ʊə]	[ue] - poor
[əʊ]	[оу] - tone
[ᴐı]	[ouch] - join
	[ouch] - kite
	[ea] - hair
[ıə]	[ie] - fear
Triphthongs (three tones)
	[ауе] - power
	[yue] - European
	[aie] - fire
Consonants
[b]	Russian [b]
[v]	analog [in]
[j]	weak Russian [th]
[d]	like [d]
[w]	short [y]
[k]	[j]aspirated
[ɡ]	like [g]
[z]	like [z]
[ʤ]	[d] and [g] together
[ʒ]	like [f]
[l]	soft [l]
[m]	like [m]
[n]	like [n]
[ŋ]	[n] “in the nose”
[p]	[p] aspirated
[r]	weak [p]
[t]	[t]aspirated
[f]	like [f]
[h]	just exhale
[ʧ]	like [h]
[ʃ]	average between [w] and [sch]
[s]	like [s]
[ð]	voiced [θ] with voice
[θ]	tip of tongue between upper and lower teeth, without voice

Notes:

• Double vowels are read as one sound: moon - - [moon] or bitter - ["bitǝ] - [bite]
• Voiced consonants in English, unlike Russian, do not become voiceless: in a word good [good] the sound [d] is pronounced clearly, just like [g] in dog [dog] etc.

The meaning of correct pronunciation

As I already said, it is very important and extremely necessary to improve English pronunciation because large number words in this language differ by only one or two sounds. But sometimes, even such a small difference is critically significant for correct and accurate contact with primary native speakers.

People mainly learn English to communicate with foreigners in a given situation. However, if your pronunciation is low and you often confuse accents, then no communication will work.

At the same time, many people are sure that the rules of pronunciation in English there is no need to learn, as it is a waste of time. But even wide vocabulary and extensive knowledge of grammar is not enough for you to fully communicate.

Let's talk about the pronunciation of English words. Yes, it's difficult. It is sometimes very difficult to copy their speech. Oh, I really want to say something like that right away, in English, but no, not so quickly. Our language is not as soft, not as varied in sound effects as English. It contains more than 50 sounds. And what to do with them? How to remember? But everything is not as scary as it seems. After all, all sounds are formed with the help of our mouth, which means it’s real. I have often seen how those beginning to study a language, finding literature in which the pronunciation of all English words is given in Russian letters, became wildly delighted. Yes, I don’t argue, this makes the work easier at first, and this technique has a right to exist. And since my site, after all, is designed for such people, you will find all the new words not in transcription, but written in Russian letters, and this will make your life easier at first. Although I am not a supporter of this method, I do it, one might say, at the request of the workers.

But what will you do when you come across an unfamiliar, never-before-seen word? You will, of course, use a dictionary. And in the dictionary... Fathers! But this is not something a mere mortal can read. Except English letters, there are some other icons nearby. In short, read this nonsense for yourself. But take your time. These icons, as you know from school, are called transcription. If you know it, it makes reading the word a lot easier. Even in Russian there is such a transcription, because After all, even in our native language, the spelling and pronunciation of words are far from the same. That's why we learn a lot of rules in order to be literate. And in English you simply need to understand these signs, otherwise you will not be able to pronounce a single word correctly. I advise you to arm yourself English-Russian dictionary and compare words with transcription as needed. It is necessary to gradually develop the skill of reading through transcription. And you will soon appreciate this knowledge and begin to read and pronounce words correctly.

Theoretical phonetics of English

Theoretical phonetics of the English language absorbs generalized information about parts of the phonetic structure of an English word. It explains the interaction between acoustic and written forms of speech. Phonetics pays attention not only to sound aspects, but also to the human articulatory apparatus.
When studying the theoretical phonetics of the English language, a person encounters the following topics:
1. Phonemes of the English language. Distinctive Features phonemes.
2. Cardinal type vowels.
3. Articulation abilities of sounds.
4. Correct interpretation of the phoneme.
5. Methods of conducting phonetic analysis of a word.
6. Phonological schools.
7. System of vowel sounds.
8. System of consonants.
9. What are alloforms?
Quite a long time is devoted to the method of carrying out phonetic analysis of words. Using analysis, sounds are broken down into consonants and vowels, and their classification is made. Special attention

Phonetic features of the English language in examples

The first thing you need to master in phonetics is transcription. English pretty unusual language, in which there are a bunch of rules for pronunciating words and letter combinations. And the first step in learning this is transcription.

The English alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet, while the Russian alphabet is based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Hence all the difficulties: in English there are practically no sounds that would be similar to Russian ones. For example, in English there are often diphthongs (two vowels in one syllable): source, joy, team.

To pronounce these words correctly, you must know diphthongs and read the transcriptions of /ɔɪ/ and /aʊ/, as well as English phonetics pronunciation sounds transcription alphabet.

Interesting video about diphthongs:

It is very easy to get confused in the pronunciation of English sounds. For example, the word “lead” is read as “lead”. Here two vowels are combined into one sound. But the word “break” is pronounced like “break”, and here it is necessary to pronounce two sounds.

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In order not to get lost in the peculiarities and subtleties of pronunciation, we recommend always checking the dictionary. In addition, an excellent tool is Google Translator, which speaks everything english words, observing intonation, stress and correct pronunciation.

Vowel Sounds - Vowel Sounds

In English there are long and short sounds, whereas in Russian all vowels are pronounced equally. So sometimes the entire meaning of a word can change depending on the length of pronunciation of a sound:

Port (port) – pronounced /pɔːt/

Pot (pot) - pronounced short /pot/

Wheel (wheel) - pronounced /ˈwiːl/, whereas

Will (will) - will sound like short /wɪl/

Therefore, to learn how to communicate correctly, you need English transcription and pronunciation of sounds in English.

After all, if you forget to lengthen one vowel sound in a conversation, you will talk about “ports” instead of “peas,” and all “wheels” will be replaced by “will.” That is why phonetics is very important in learning English, and the pronunciation of English sounds must be listened to and studied in any case.

And here are the vowels or Vowel Sounds, as well as the pronunciation of sounds in English in the table below:

Did you know that english alphabet consists of 26 letters and 46 different sounds? The same letter can convey several sounds at the same time. Just don't panic! We'll tell you how easy it is to remember English sounds without boring tables and cramming.

As a rule, in class English child maintains a separate dictionary, in which the pages are divided into three columns: “word”, “transcription”, “translation”. New words are written down there, which you then need to learn. And if everything is clear with the “word” and “translation” columns, then with “transcription” there are often difficulties.

What is transcription? This is a kind of instruction on how to read a word. It is usually written in square brackets. For example: . The characters that are inside the square brackets are the sounds of the English language. One symbol = one sound. Only these symbols do not always look like letters of the alphabet . Let's look at the English sounds that are most difficult for a child and how to learn them:

We select associations

It's no secret that complex things are easier to remember using the method of associations. This rule works especially well for children.

ʊ - short [y] - very similar to the icon "horseshoe"
æ - wide [e] - open your mouth wide and say “e”. We call this symbol "bug icon" 🐞
ŋ - [ny] - a funny sound that is similar to how the Baby Elephant spoke in the cartoon “38 Parrots” 🐘. You need to say “n”, but a little “on the nose”, like you have a runny nose. Try holding your nose with your fingers, opening your mouth slightly and saying “n.” Did it work?

ð - interdental [z]
θ - interdental [s]

To remember this pair of sounds, you can tell your child a whole fairy tale: “Once upon a time there lived a little bunny (our tongue). But he was very timid, so he sat in the hole (in his mouth) all the time. But one day he dared to stick the very tip of his nose out of the hole (put the tip of the tongue between the teeth). At first he said quietly [θ], and then loudly [ð].

s, d, n, t- [s], [d], [n], [t] - remember the episode of “Jumble” about English pronunciation? “You need to talk as if there is a hot potato in your mouth,” is the best explanation for the baby. When you make these sounds the tongue touches the hard palate and alveoli, a little further than in Russian.
r- [r] - the English “r” is not like ours. In Russian, the tongue seems to tremble in the mouth. In English, language "wraps up" tip back towards the soft palate.
w- [у]/[в] - there is no such sound in the Russian language either. First we stretch out our lips, trying to say “y”, but then our lips should seem "spring", without closing and returning to a smile. Remember how you say “Wow!”
e- narrow [e] - similar to the Russian “e” without the “y”. When pronouncing, we open our mouth quite a bit.
ə - dull [e] - dull, slightly “compressed” sound, very short and almost indistinguishable. When you say the word "m" O loko", then you pronounce this sound in place of the first “o”. The symbol is called funny– "schwa".
ɜ - middle [e] - reads like the letter e in the word “ice”.
j- [th] - very important don't be confused with the letter Jj (“jay”)! In transcription, this symbol means something completely different from the letter.

To make things even easier, we drew the basic symbols English transcription with appropriate sounds of the Russian language.

Advice site: Tell your child that he copes with sounds brilliantly. After all, at this stage, the baby should feel relaxed and not hesitate to experiment. Otherwise, the child will think that he looks funny and will refuse to continue classes.

If home lessons do not bring the desired results, come to us. Teachers of the site will always find an easy way to even the most complex knowledge📚 free!

The phonetic system of the English language includes 44 sounds (20 vowels and 24 consonants).

Consonants Consonants		Vowels Vowels
doubles	unpaired	monophthongs	diphthongs
[p] - [b]	[m]	[ᴧ]
[t] - [d]	[n]	[æ]
[k] - [g]	[l]	[ɔ]	[əu]
[s] - [z]	[r]	[e]
[f] - [v]	[w]	[ι]	[ɔι]
[θ] - [ð]	[j]	[u]	[ιə]
[∫] - [Ʒ]	[h]	[ə]
-	[ƞ]	[ɔ:]	[εə]
		[ə:]

Vowels can be front and back, they can be open and closed, rounded and unrounded, clear and nasal. To understand these definitions, you need to understand the structure of the articulatory apparatus.

The division of vowels into front and back, open and closed depends on the position of the tongue. The division of vowels into rounded and unrounded depends on the participation of the lips. The division of vowels into pure and nasal depends on the position of the velum.

When articulating various sounds, the correct position of the tongue, lips and velum must be strictly observed.

English vowels sounds are divided into monophthongs, i.e. sounds consisting of one element, and diphthongs, or triphthongs, i.e. sounds consisting of 2 or 3 elements. Vowel sounds can be short or long. The longitude of a sound is indicated in transcription by 2 dots, .

Based on the participation of the speech organs (articulation), vowel sounds are divided into:
• anterior lingual - sounds formed by the front part of the tongue - [ι], , [æ]
• middle-lingual - sounds formed by the middle part of the tongue - [ᴧ]
• back-lingual - sounds formed by the back of the tongue - , [u]
• closed - sounds formed with a slight opening of the mouth - [ι], , [u]
• open - sounds pronounced wide open mouth - [æ],
• half-open (half-closed) - sounds formed by a half-open mouth - [e], [ᴧ].

English consonants

classified according to the following principles:
1. according to the method of barrier formation:
   • stops - [k], [g], [р], [b], [m], [n]
   • slotted - [f], [v], [h], [l], [j], [w], [r], [t], [d], [θ], [ð]
   • octopus-slit - ,
2. on the work of the active organ of speech and the place of formation of the obstruction:
   • labiolabial - [p], [b], [m], [w]
   • labiodental - [f], [v]
   • front-lingual - [l], [n], [z], [s], [θ], [ð], [r], [t], [d]
   • middle language - [j], [Ʒ]
   • back-lingual - [k], [g], [h]
3. by the participation of the vocal cords:
   • voiced - [r], [b], [g], [v], [m], [ð], [z], [d], [n]
   • deaf - [p], [f], [θ], [k], [t], [s], [∫],

Final voiceless consonants are characterized by strong articulation; a significant weakening of articulation is inherent in final voiced consonants.

The consonant sounds of the English language are pronounced more energetically than the corresponding sounds of the Russian language. Most of them are pronounced aspirated ( aspiration).

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