Glossary of Pronunciation Terms

Glossary of Pronunciation Terms

accent	the unique speech patterns of a person or group
affricate	a speech sound (consonant) that contains a stop followed by an immediate fricative, as in the ch /ʧ/ in "chair"
air flow/airstream	the flow or passage of air out of the mouth
alveolar	sound formed by touching the tip of the tongue to the upper alveolar ridge, as in /t/ or /d/
alveolar ridge	the bony region at the roof and bottom of the mouth behind the front teeth; contains the tooth sockets
approximants	consonants with a partial obstruction of airflow, as in /w/ and /r/
articulation	the act of making speech sounds
aspiration	a small "explosion" of air when you make a sound
auditory	hearing (not seeing)
bilabial	consonant sounds formed using both lips, as in /p/ or /b/
close vowel (sometimes called "high" vowel)	a vowel sound that is pronounced with the tongue close to the roof of the mouth (but not close enough to constrict the air and make a consonant), as in /i:/ in the word "free"
consonant	a speech sound made when there is complete or partial obstruction of air in the mouth, as in /v/, /h/, /d/ (compare vowel)
clusters	blended sounds put together to make a single sound
curl	a position of the tongue where the tongue is shaped in a curve, not flat
dental	a consonant sound made when the tongue touches the upper teeth, as in /t/ and /n/
dialect	unique vocabulary, pronunciation and usage that is typical of a certain group of people
diphthong	a sound made by the combination of two vowel sounds in a single syllable, as in "boy", "loud" or "wide", where the sound starts as one vowel and moves towards another vowel
flatten	a positioning of the tongue where the tongue is flat not round
fricative	a speech sound (consonant) in which air is forced to pass through a small opening and creates friction, as in /f/ and /v/
glide/slide	moving the tongue while saying a word
glottal stop	the sound that is made when the vocal folds are closed very briefly; as in the middle of the word "uh-oh" (common in American English)
gum	the tissue around the base of the teeth
hard palate	hard part of the roof of the mouth
intonation	change in pitch of a sentence, up and down; the music or rhythm of speech
labiodental	sounds that are made with the lower lip and upper teeth, as in /f/ and /v/
larynx	the hollow, muscular organ in the throat that holds the vocal chords; the voice box
lateral	a speech sound that is made by touching the tongue to the middle of the alveolar ridge, allowing air to pass on both sides
lengthen sound	make the duration of the sound longer
linking	the joining of words when speaking, as in "Ca-nI-ha-va-bi-to-fegg?" (Can I have a bit of egg?)
lips spread	lips are open slightly and pulled back
lower	bottom of mouth
minimal pairs	two words that differ only in terms of one sound, as in "cat and bat" OR "fine and vine"
monophthong	a single vowel sound that does not change in auditory quality; also called a "pure vowel"
nasal consonants	consonant sounds made by pushing air through the nose, as in /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/
non-pulmonic	when the air comes from a source other than the lungs
obstruction	a blockage of air flow
open vowel (also called "low" vowel)	a vowel that is produced with the tongue far down from the roof of the mouth, as in the /a:/ sound in "far"
palatal	a sound that is made when the tongue is near or touching the roof of the mouth
palate	the roof of the mouth
phoneme	an individual speech sound
phonetic alphabet	an alphabet that represents the sounds of speech
phonetic transcription	a form of notation that uses symbols to identify the individual sounds (phonemes) in a word
plosive	a consonant sound produced when there is a complete obstruction of air followed by its sudden release, as in the /p/ of "pot"
pitch	amount of highness or lowness of a sound or speech
postalveolar	a consonant sound made with the tip of the tongue slightly back from the alveolar ridge, as in /ʃ/ in "shut"
pressed lips	top and bottom lips touching
protruded lips	rounded lips, pushed out
pulmonic	a sound that is made using the airstream directly from the lungs
raised	higher than the neutral position
reduction	the natural shortening of sounds when speaking (e.g. "going to" reduced to "gonna")
rhotic	a variety or dialect of English in which "r" is pronounced before a consonant (as in "hard") and at the end of words (as in "car"); Midwestern American English, for example, is "rhotic"
roof	the inside top part of the mouth
rounded lips	lips formed into the shape of a circle
rounded vowel	a vowel made with rounded lips
sentence stress	the placement of emphasis on specific words within a sentence or phrase
shorten sound	make the duration of a sound shorter
soft palate	soft part of the roof of the mouth
sonorant	sounds that are made when air is impeded only slightly, as in /m/, /n/
stop (stop consonant)	a consonant sound that is produced when the airflow is (temporarily) stopped entirely by the lips or tongue, as in /p/
syllable	a single unit of sound that creates one beat in a word; the word "coffee" has two syllables (cof-fee)
syllable nucleus	the central part of a syllable, usually a vowel
tap	touch quickly
tone	the emotion that is conveyed through the sound of speech (e.g. anger or sadness)
tongue	muscular tissue in the mouth used for tasting and articulating
tooth ridge	the hard area directly behind the top front teeth
trill	a vibrating sound made with a flapping tongue, as in the rolled "r" sound made when people roll their r's
upper	top of mouth
velar	of a sound that is made with the back of the tongue near the soft palate, as in the the /ŋ/ in "sing"
velum	a soft membrane on the roof of the mouth (also called "soft palate")
vocal chords (AmE cords)	two muscles inside the larynx that vibrate and create the voice
vocal tract	the entire apparatus that produces voice, starting in the lungs and ending at the lips and nostrils (openings of the mouth and nose)
voiced	of a sound made with the vocal chords (voice box) vibrating
voiceless/unvoiced	of a sound made without the vocal chords (voice box) vibrating
vowel	a speech sound made when air is free to pass through the mouth with little or no obstruction, as in sounds made with the letters a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y (compare consonant)
vowel backness	position of the tongue in relation to the back of the mouth when making a vowel sound (positions include front, near-front, centre, near-back, back)
vowel height	distance between the tongue and the roof of the mouth when pronouncing a vowel sound (IPA has 7 heights: close (highest), near-close, mid-close, mid, open-mid, near-open, open (lowest)
word stress	the placement of emphasis within a word that has more than one syllable

Syllables and Syllabication http://www.wordwooze.net/syllabication.html

This lesson teaches the basics of syllables and syllabication and includes the definition of a syllable, examples of single syllable and multiple syllable words, and the rules of syllabication, which outline the correct method of breaking or dividing words into syllables.

What is a Syllable?

A syllable is a unit of pronunciation consisting of a vowel sound, or a vowel sound grouped with one or more consonant sounds, pronounced by a single impulse of the voice, and forming either a complete word or one of the units of pronunciation that together make a word.
Examples of words containing a single syllable: got; cart; switch; torch; fault; breath.
Examples of words containing multiple syllables: to/day; big/ger; for/est; al/to/geth/er; con/di/tion/al/ly; ex/is/ten/tial/ism.

Rules of Syllabication

Syllabication Rule 1.
A one-syllable word is never divided.(say, rest)
Syllabication Rule 2.
Divide a compound word between the words that make up the compound word. (on/to, sun/light). When necessary, divide the smaller words into syllables. (un/der/dog)
Syllabication Rule 3.
When a word has a suffix, divide the word between the base word and the suffix. (youth/ful, sad/ly)
Syllabication Rule 4.
When a word has a prefix, divide the word between the prefix and the base word or root. (re/new, un/cover) Some prefixes have more than one syllable. (in/ter/weave, o/ver/take)
Syllabication Rule 5.
When two or more consonants come between the two vowels in a word, the word is usually divided between the first two consonants. (in/take, win/ner)
Syllabication Rule 6.
When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, the word is usually divided after the consonant if the first vowel is short. (wag/on, shiv/er)
Syllabication Rule 7.
When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, the word is usually divided before the consonant if the first vowel is long. (ra/dar, fi/ber)
Syllabication Rule 8.
When a vowel is sounded alone in a word, the vowel is a syllable itself. (gas/o/line, i/dol,)
Syllabication Rule 9.
When two vowels come together in a word and are sounded separately, divide the word between the two vowels. (pli/ers, di/ode)
Syllabication Rule 10.
When a word ends in le preceded by a consonant, divide the word before that consonant. (bot/tle, cra/dle)

Phonics Rules The vowels are "a,e,i,o, and u"; also sometimes "y" & "w". This also includes the diphthongs "oi,oy,ou,ow,au,aw, oo" and many others. The consonants are all the other letters which stop or limit the flow of air from the throat in speech. They are: "b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,qu,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z,ch,sh,th,ph,wh, ng, and gh". 1. Sometimes the rules don't work. There are many exceptions in English because of the vastness of the language and the many languages from which it has borrowed. The rules do work however, in the majority of the words. 2. Every syllable in every word must have a vowel. English is a "vocal" language; Every word must have a vowel. 3. "C" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "s". Examples: "cyst", "central", and "city". 4. "G" followed by "e, i or y" usually has the soft sound of "j". Example: "gem", "gym", and "gist". 5. When 2 consonants are joined together and form one new sound, they are a consonant digraph. They count as one sound and one letter and are never separated. Examples: "ch,sh,th,ph and wh". 6. When a syllable ends in a consonant and has only one vowel, that vowel is short. Examples: "fat, bed, fish, spot, luck". 7. When a syllable ends in a silent "e", the silent "e" is a signal that the vowel in front of it is long. Examples: "make, gene, kite, rope, and use". 8. When a syllable has 2 vowels together, the first vowel is usually long and the second is silent. Examples: "pain, eat, boat, res/cue, say, grow". NOTE: Diphthongs don't follow this rule; In a diphthong, the vowels blend together to create a single new sound. The diphthongs are: "oi,oy,ou,ow,au,aw, oo" and many others. 9. When a syllable ends in any vowel and is the only vowel, that vowel is usually long. Examples: "pa/per, me, I, o/pen, u/nit, and my". 10. When a vowel is followed by an "r" in the same syllable, that vowel is "r-controlled". It is not long nor short. "R-controlled "er,ir,and ur" often sound the same (like "er"). Examples: "term, sir, fir, fur, far, for, su/gar, or/der". Basic Syllable Rules 1. To find the number of syllables: ---count the vowels in the word, ---subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent "e" at the end of a word or the second vowel when two vowels a together in a syllable) ---subtract one vowel from every diphthong, (diphthongs only count as one vowel sound.) ---the number of vowels sounds left is the same as the number of syllables. The number of syllables that you hear when you pronounce a word is the same as the number of vowels sounds heard. For example: The word "came" has 2 vowels, but the "e" is silent, leaving one vowel sound andone syllable. The word "outside" has 4 vowels, but the "e" is silent and the "ou" is a diphthong which counts as only one sound, so this word has only two vowels sounds and therefore, two syllables. 2. Divide between two middle consonants. Split up words that have two middle consonants. For example: hap/pen, bas/ket, let/ter, sup/per, din/ner, and Den/nis. The only exceptions are the consonant digraphs. Never split up consonant digraphs as they really represent only one sound. The exceptions are "th", "sh", "ph", "th", "ch", and "wh". 3. Usually divide before a single middle consonant. When there is only one syllable, you usually divide in front of it, as in: "o/pen", "i/tem", "e/vil", and "re/port". The only exceptions are those times when the first syllable has an obvious short sound, as in "cab/in". 4. Divide before the consonant before an "-le" syllable. When you have a word that has the old-style spelling in which the "-le" sounds like "-el", divide before the consonant before the "-le". For example: "a/ble", "fum/ble", "rub/ble" "mum/ble" and "this/tle". The only exception to this are "ckle" words like "tick/le". 5. Divide off any compound words, prefixes, suffixes and roots which have vowel sounds. Split off the parts of compound words like "sports/car" and "house/boat". Divide off prefixes such at "un/happy", "pre/paid", or "re/write". Also divide off suffixes as in the words "farm/er", "teach/er", "hope/less" and "care/ful". In the word "stop/ping", the suffix is actually "-ping" because this word follows the rule that when you add "-ing" to a word with one syllable, you double the last consonant and add the "-ing".   Accent Rules When a word has more than one syllable, one of the syllables is always a little louder than the others. The syllable with the louder stress is the accented syllable. It may seem that the placement of accents in words is often random or accidental, but these are some rules that usually work. 1. Accents are often on the first syllable. Examples: ba'/sic, pro'/gram. 2. In words that have suffixes or prefixes, the accent is usually on the main root word. Examples: box'/es, un/tie'. 3. If de-, re-, ex-, in-,po-, pro-, or a- is the first syllable in a word, it is usually not accented. Examples: de/lay', ex/plore'. 4. Two vowel letters together in the last syllable of a word often indicates an accented last syllable. Examples: com/plain', con/ceal'. 5. When there are two like consonant letters within a word, the syllable before the double consonants is usually accented. Examples: be/gin'/ner, let'/ter. 6. The accent is usually on the syllable before the suffixes -ion, ity, -ic, -ical, -ian, -ial, or -ious, and on the second syllable before the suffix -ate. Examples: af/fec/ta'/tion, dif/fer/en'/ti/ate. 7. In words of three or more syllables, one of the first two syllables is usually accented. Examples: ac'/ci/dent, de/ter'/mine.