Файл: Advanced_English_Pronunciation_in_Use.pdf

Section A Getting started

Exercises

These exercises depend on you having internet access. It may be that you have to download free software to listen to some of the material.

4. 1 Visit the websites of two English-language internet radio stations from different countries. You could take two of the four given in A or look for others. (The website h ttp://www.pe n gu i n radio.com/can help you find them.) Find one recent news story that you are familiar with that is reported on both stations and listen carefully to the broadcast on the first radio station. Write down a few of the key words you hear. Now listen in detail to the story on the second radio station and notice whether these key words are pronounced in the same or a different way. What differences do you notice?

4.2 Go to h ttp://www.bbc. co.u k/voi ces/. Follow links to 'Voices Recordings'. Here you can listen to voices from many parts of the UK. Choose one of the recordings by clicking on a dot on the map, and then do the following :

SSome clips have a section on 'More about the speech in this clip'. Read this, focusing in particular on information about pronunciation. Some dialect words, which you may not find

in the dictionary, are explained here.

6 Do the same with any other 'More clips from this interview'.

7Go back and listen to the 'Voice clip(s)'. These don't have transcripts. How much of them do you understand? Do you notice features of pronunciation you observed and read about

earlier?

8 Do the same with accents from other parts of the UK by clicking on other dots on the map.

4.3 Go to h ttp://di ctionary.cambrid ge.org/ and look up the following words in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

Is the usual British and American pronunciation the same or different for each? Try to work out from the phonemic symbols how each is pronounced. (See Section El for advice, if necessary.) If you want to hear how these words are pronounced in North American English, go to h ttp://www.m-w.com/.

Notice that where more than one pronunciation is given, the most common one comes first.

4.4Go to h ttp://www. genome.gov/page.cfm?pageID=l0002096 and look up the following words:

centromere monosomy nucleotide

Listen to the explanations and find out how they are pronounced. Say the words after the recording.

Follow up: Use your search engine (such as Goog/e) to try to find one other website that gives information about the pronunciation of terms in a specialist area. Use the search words 'pronunciation guide [specialist area]'.

Pronunciation in slow and fast speech (1 )

In Units 5 and 6 we will introduce some of the changes in pronunciation that take place in fast speech when compared with slow, careful speech. These include linking sounds, leaving out sounds and changing sounds. These changes are looked at in more detail in Units 26 to 3 1 .

4Speechisbrokenup into units. often with a pause between them. Within these speech units,words are 7 linked together smoothly. (For more on speech units, see Unit 32.) In fastspeech in particular, these units may be quite long and the words spoken quickly. Compare the units (marked with 1I below] inthese

examples ofslow and fast speech:

Slow speech: A nurse is explaining how to make a sling:

1/ this goes under the arml/ and then over the shoulderl/ all the timel/ make sure you support the arml/ talk to the patientl/ and find out what positionl/ is most comfortable for theml/

Fast speech: Three friends are in a Chinese restaurant:

A: 1/ is anyone having a starter or notl/ or are we going straight to the main cou rsel/

B:1/ I'm going to go straight to the main coursel/

C:1/ yeahl/

B: 1/ but I might have an extra portion of somethingl/ you never know//

A:1/ do they do nice sweets herel/

C:1/ I think it's just Iycheesl/

A:1/ what's Iycheesl/

B:1/ they're the funny little white onesl/ aren't theyl/

C:1/ that's rightl/ I'm not terribly keen on theml/

listen again to some ofthe long units from the restaurant conversation. Notice how the words are run together:

;7'Because words within units are run together, it can sometimes be difficult to understand them. However, one or more word in each unit is emphasised and may be said more clearly than others (see also Units 33

and 34). It is important to focus on these, as they usually carry the most important information in the

unit. listen to these speech units from the restaurant conversation and notice how the words with syllables in large capital letters are emphasised:

I/I'm going to go STRAIGHT to the MAIN coursel/ 1/ I think it's just lyCHEESI/

1/ they're the FUNny little WHITE onesl/ 1/ that's RIGHTI/

English Pronunciation in Use (Advanced)

Pronunciation in slow and fast speech (2)

It occurred to me that Terry hadn't been in touch for ages, so I thought I ought to phone him. Well, just then there was a ring on the front door and there he was.

Ihlis missed out ItI is missed out ItI is missed out Ihl is missed out

Formore details, see Units8, 9, 29 and 30.

A'As well as sounds, syllables orwhole wordsthatwe would expect to hear in slow speech may be reduced

/ormissed out in fast speech. listen and notice howthe highlighted parts are reduced or missed out in thisconversation:

4Soundsin words may also change in fast speech compared with howthey are said in slow speech orhow

7 they are represented indictionaries. listenand notice how the sound/t/changes in the highlighted parts ofthis conversation:

1nl is missed out and ItI is said like Ipl before Iml

Formore details, see Units 26 and 29.

It is not essential to make these changes in your own speech in order to be understood, although they can help your speech sound more natural and fluent.

English Pronunciation in Use (Advanced)