SOUND & SPEECH

1. MAIN NEW FEATURES OF PRONUNCIATION.

PHONEMES (44)
CONSONANT
S (24)

VOICED

VOWEL

UNVOICED

SIMPLE
VOWEL
(12)

SHOR
T

DIPHTHON
G (8)

TRIPTHON
G

LONG

2. ENGLISH VOWEL SOUND

Tongue Position
Tongue Height
Tense
High

Lax

Front
(unrounded)

SUPRASEGME
/i:/
NTAL
FEATURES
/i/

Tense
Mid

Central
(unrounded)

/e/

Lax

INTONATION

Tense
Low
Lax
EXLPANATION:
1. /i/: high front unrounded tense vowel.

Back
(rounded)

/u:/
/u/

/3:/
STRES
//
S
//
/ :/

WORD
STRESS

//

SENTENC
/a:/
E
STRESS /o/

3. ENGLISH CONSONANT SOUND CHART

Place of
articulation
Manner of
articulation

Stops
(m tc)

Fricatives
(m xt)

Affricative
(m tc xt)

Bilabia
l (m
mi)

Labiodenta
l (m mi
rng)

Interdenta
l (rng)

Alveola
r (m
rng)

Alveorpalata
l (vm ngc
cng)

Palata
l (ngc
cng)

Velar
(ngc
mm
)

Vcl
s

/p/

/t/

/k/

Vd

/b/

/d/

/g/

Vcl
s

/f/

//

/s/

//

Vd

/v/

//

/z/

//

Vcl
s

/t/

Vd

/d/

Nassals (m
mi)

/m/

h*
depen
d on
the
contex
t

/n/

Lateral (m
bin)
Vd
Semi-vowel/
gliding/
approximan
/w/
t (bn
nguyn m)
EXPLANATION:

Glottal
(m
tc
thanh
hu)

//

/l/

/r/

/j/

/p/: voiceless bilabial stop.

VOWELS

DIPTHONGS

FRONT BACK

i:
e

End at front End at back

u
:
a:

u:
:

Lips can be

ei

i
ai

u
e

au

Closing

Centring

Closing

LOW

HIGH

TONGUE

4. A SUMMARY OF ENGLISH VOWEL CHARTS

Spread

Neutral

Rounded

STRESS
5. ADDING SUFFIXES:

a) Suffixes that attract/ receive stress: cc tip v ng nhn du nhn

Major

majorette

Taiwan

taiwanese

Evacuee

evacuee

Picture

picturesque

NOTE: the suffixes receive stress:

AIN
EE

STEM

EER

DERRIVED
WORDS

ESE
ETTE
ESQUE

b) Suffixes that cause stress to shift: cc tip v ng lm cho du nhn chuyn i/ hon i v tr
Photograph

photography

Climate

climatic

Legal

legality

Injure

injurious

Advantage

advantageous

Perfect

perfection

Photo

photography

Tranquil

tranquility

Proverb

proverbial

Reflex

reflexive

NOTE: the suffixes that the stress will fall on the syllable right before it.
EOUS
GRAPHY
IAL

STEM

IC
ION
IOUS

DERRIVED
WORDS

TY IVE

c) Suffixes that do not affect stress: cc tip v ng khng nh hng n du nhn

Attain

attainment

Refuse

refusal

Comfortable

Childlike

powerless

wonderful

widen

Devilish

hurriedly

development

beautify

amazing

Happiness

clockwise

refusal

poisonous

honesty

MENT
NESS
OUS
FY

ABLE
AGE
AL
EN

FUL
ING
ISH
LIKE

WISE
Y

6. A DISTINCTION BETWEEN CONTENT WORDS AND FUNCTIONS IN STRESS PLACEMENT:

Content words

concept

Include:

Are those words that express independent

meaning.

Noun
Main verb
Adverbs adjectives
Question words ( ex: why, when,
what)
- Demonstratives (this, that, these,
those)
Are usually stressed

Function words
Are words that have little or no
meanings in themselves, but which
express grammatical relationships

Article
Preposition
Auxiliaries
Pronouns
Conjunction
Relative pronouns

Are usually unstressed, unless they

are to be given special attention

Ex: Content words are in bold.

Mary has lived in England for ten years

He's going to fly to Chicago next week.

I don't understand this chapter of the book.

The children will be swimming in the ocean at five o'clock.

John had eaten lunch before his colleague arrived.

The best time to study is early in the morning or late in the evening.

The trees along the river are beginning to blossom.

Our friends called us yesterday and asked if we'd like to visit them next month.

You'll be happy to know that she's decided to take the position.

I won't give away your secret.

7. PRESENT SHORTLY ABOUT ASSIMILATION, TYPES OF ASSIMILATION AND
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES FOR EACH TYPE OF ASSIMILATION IN ASPECT OF
CONNECTED SPEECH.

Assimilation : is when a speech sound changes, and becomes more like another sound which follows it or
precedes it. Assimilation is only found in the most rapid and casual speech; generally speaking, the tendency is
again for regressive assimilation and the change in manner is most likely to be toward an easier consonantone which makes less obstruction ( s tc nghn) to the airflow. Thus it is possible to find cases where a final
plosive becomes a fricative or nasal.
Regressive assimilation (ng ha m thoi b - m sau nh hng ln m trc): it occurs when the
following sound influences the precede sound because the following sound is too dominant.
Ex. possible
a bilabial sound )

impossible ( as possible starts with a bilabial sound, the prefix im-ends in

Progressive assimilation (ng ha m tnh tin - m trc nh hng ln m sau ) : its occurs when the
preceding sound influences the following sound because the preceding sound is too dominant.
o Ex. Boys /z/ as /i/ : voiced
Cats /s/ as /t/ : voiceless
Coalescent Assimilation (ng ha m kt hp) occurs when two sounds are combined to form a new
or a different sound.
o Ex. /d/ + /j/ = // Would you /wuu/
Some rules for assimilation.
a. /t/ assimilates to /p/
/p/
/d/ assimilates to /b/
before bilabial sound
/b/
/n/ assimilates to /m/
/m/
Ex: that pen / t pen/
/ppen/
Hes rather fat boy.( /t/ assimilates to /p/)
Hes very good boy.(/d/ assimilate to /b/)
There are ten men in the class.
b. /t/ assimilates to /k/
before velar sound : /k/, /g/
/d/ assimilates to /g/
Ex: that cat / k kt/; good concert / gug kogso:t/
c. /n/ assimilates to // before velar sound /k/, /g/
Ex: Ive been going out too much lately.
d. /s/ assimilates to // before //
Ex: this ship /iip/
e. /z/ assimilates to // before //
Ex: cheese shop / tip/
f. /t/ + /j/= /t/
Ex: last year / la:st/+/jir/ = /lastir/
/d/ + /j/ = //
Ex: Would you /wuu/.
8. PRESENT SHORTLY ABOUT INTRUSION AND SOME ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES FOR
THE INTRUSION IN ASPECTS OF CONNECTED SPEECH.
Intrusion: when two vowel sounds meet, an extra consonant is added at the end of word and links it to another
word starting with vowel sound.
Ex Chine and Japan. /tain(r)n pn/

 Some rules of instrusion:

+ add /r/ when the first world ends in / / ; /a:/ ; /:/
Ex:
Mr. John was a victim of media exploitation. /re/
The media are to blam./ra:/
I saw it happen. /:ri/
+ Add /j/ when

- the first word end in / i:/

- Diphthong ends in /i/

Ex: I agree with you / aijri wid ju:/

+ add /w/ when

- the first word end in / u:/

- Diphthong ends in /u/

Ex Go on / guwon/, Who is? / hu:wiz/ , you are / ju:wa:/

INTONATION
9. Present shortly about in intonation, some types of intonation contour normally found English and
illustrative examples for each type of intonation.
Intonation is the rise and fall of voice or changing the pitch of voice: high voice, medium and low.
Intonation is closely connected with stress. There is different way to mark intonation.
Symbols used in describing intonation:
Intonation marking: (du ng iu )
I : stress mark
: falling mark
: rising mark
Rising-falling:
Falling-rising:

 TYPES AND FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION CONTOURS.

1. Falling intonation.
Used for + Information question words such as: Who, Which, etc
Ex: whats your name?
+ statements
Ex: He lives in New York
+ Imperatives
Ex: sit down
+ Tag questions expecting confirmation.
Ex she is tall, isnt she.

2. Rising intonation :
Used for : + Yes/No Question
Ex Do you like chicken?
+ Tag Questions used for tag questions showing less certainty.
Ex youre Vietnamese, arent you?
3. Rising, rising and finally falling : Used for lists of items.
Ex I need a pen, a ruler, and a pencil.
4. Falling-Rising intonation

: v yes, v no

The falling-rise used in a lot in English and has rather special function. In present context it
could be described as limited agreement or response with reservation.
Ex: A: John is a good student.
B: v yes.
Bs reply would be taken to mean that he would not completely agree with what A said
and A would probably expect B to go on explain why he was reluctant to agree.
5. Rising falling
~yes, ~no
This is used to convey rather strong feelings approval, disapproval or surprise. It is not usually
considered to be an important tone for foreign learners to acquire, though it is useful to practice
learning to distinguish it from other tone.
A: I think Ho Chi Minh city is very beautiful.

A: Isnt he handsome?

B: ~Yes.

B: ~No

10. INTONATION IN CONTEXT

OPEN QUESTION & CHECK QUESTION
An open question is where we ask for information we didnt have before, and the voice usually goes
down at the end.

A check question is where we make sure that the information we have is correct, and the voice usually
goes up at the end.

Ex:
A: Whats your name?

A: How old are you?

B: Judy

B: Thirty

A: Julie?

A: Thirteen?

B: No, Judy

B: No, I am thirty

A: Where are you from?

A: What do you do?

B: Beijing.

B: I am a businessman

A: Is that in China?

A: Youre a businessman?

B: Yes, that right.

B: Yes, I am.

OLD INFORMATION & NEW INFORMATION

Old information is what we often refer back to something we said before, and the voice normally
goes up at the end.
New information is what we also tell the listeners things we havent mentioned before, and the
voice normally goes down at the end.
EX:
A: Lets go to the beach at this weekend.
B: But the beach is crowded at weekend.
A: Lets go hiking.
B: But hiking is not good for my leg
A: So, where do we go this weekend?
B: Why dont we go to the cinema?
A: Cinema is not a bad idea.
B: Ill meet you at 7p.m.
A: Ok, we will meet at 7p.m.