THE 42 ELEMENTAL SOUNDS

AMERICAN ENGLISH SOUND EXPLORER GUIDE

DIRECTIONS: Use this checklist & the audio word lists to identify which of these
sounds of English conversation that you currently struggle with.

Vowels

/ɑ/
hot, on, want, got, thought, god, stop, lot, pop, rock, sock, dawn

/i/
me, be, we, he, going, she, think, see, really, mean, he’s, been

/ɪ/
it, is, in, this, it’s, with, if, him, did, really, will, didn’t, his, been, little

/u/
you, two, do, who, too, doing, into, you’ve, through, new, clue, shoe

/ʊ/
good, wood, look, could, should, put, wouldn’t, soot, book, rook, took

/ɛ/
well, get, yeah, when, tell, yes, then, an, never, them, let, anything

NOTES

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Vowels
/ẽ/
and, can, am, man, stand, chance, family, mail, sale, fail, very, where

/ə/
the, of, what, just, was, about, up, want, one, come, from, something

/ɔ/
all, sorry, off, thought, talk, god, call, long, always, wrong, song, boss

/æ/
that, have, at, as, back, had, has, after, last, happened, actually

/aʊ/
out, about, now, found, hour, how, down, town, wow, ow

/oʊ/
know – no, don’t, so, oh, go, okay, over, only, hone, those, won’t

/aɪ/
hi, guy, shy, fly, align, decide, arrive, outside, eye, knight

/eɪ/
they, okay, hey, say, take, way, make, maybe, thank, wait

/ɔɪ/
boy, point, choice, voice, enjoy, join, coin, employ, oil, loyal

NOTES

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Consonants

/m/
master, mean, arm, aim, me, meat, more, much, marry, man

/p/
person, please, help, app, appear, part, pride, prison, sample

/b/
boy, big, bad, bean, be, born, break, blast, build, burn, abs

/f/
free, friend, fear, for, fast, feed, family, far, fix, future, confess

/v/
vintage, virgin, verge, vengeance, have, grieve, save, version

/ð/
the, either, lather, gather, hither, farther, neither, rather, feather

/θ/
theater, thick, thirty, bath, math, oath, teeth, thin, thirteen, three

/ɹ/
wrong, right, role, rules, river, running, different, seriously, more

/s/
sick, sad, same, sir, sort, simple, seen, send, secret, sample

NOTES

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Consonants
/z/
zither, zoo, zirconium, has, ease, lease, graze, blaze, is, ms.

/t/
tick, tock, tape, tease, turn, table, tamper, tapestry, team

/d/
bad, damn, dawn, dentist, dirty, do, dad, dinner, dead

/l/
luck, learn, live, let, leave, like, listen, love, late, lore

/n/
need, no, never, nerd, non, not, north, Annie, another, nasty

/#/
chicken, cheat, chore, change, chase, hatchet, reach, torch, porch

/k/
clean, quick, crisis, kid, christmas, kindergarten, court, clap, kind, curt

/ʔ/
chop_, rat_, bruise_, make_, hiya_, house_, plant_, pipe_, dog_

/g/
give, gone, get, greed, great, gorgeous, Gabby, egg, Megan, eager

NOTES

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Consonants
/w/
one, wonder, wish, when, where, what, winter, whether, weak, wack

/h/
help, happy, him, her, hi, hello, ham, hazard, horse, hinder

/ɫ/
leave, list, laugh, feeling, alien, valid, log, loop, low, fault

/%/
jab, john, join, jersey, jive, ginger, jam, journey, Jordan, jest

/ʃ/
she, shirt, sure, shame, shackle, shape, hash, rash, tissue, issue

/ʒ/
measure, garage, pleasure, Asian, vision, fusion, fission, treasure

/&/
butter, badder, at a, meet a, a lotta, get a, sent a, had a, met a

/ŋ/
going, bank, sank, tank, rank, bang, gang, dang, bong, song

/j/
onion, yam, yonder, year, york, yesterday, eureka, yearn, your, you

NOTES

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