Acknowledgements
About this book
Getting started
Accents (1): Varieties of English
Accents (2): English as an international language
Finding out about pronunciation (1): dictionaries
Finding out about pronunciation (2): online resources
Pronunciation in slow and fast speech (1)
Pronunciation in slow and fast speech (2)
Pronunciation of words and phrases
Consonant clusters
Play, grow, splash: Consonant clusters at the beginning of words
Jump, next, glimpsed: Consonant clusters at the end of words
Abstract, next Friday: Consonant clusters within and across words
Stress in words and phrases
[Characters not reproducible]Contro[Characters not reproducible]versial and controversial: Word stress and prominence
[Characters not reproducible]Comfort and [Characters not reproducible]comfortable: Suffixes and word stress (1)
Ac[Characters not reproducible]celerate and ac[Characters not reproducible]cele[Characters not reproducible]ration: Suffixes and word stress (2)
Ex[Characters not reproducible]treme and ex[Characters not reproducible]tremity: Suffixes and word stress (3)
Dis[Characters not reproducible]organised and [Characters not reproducible]recon[Characters notreproducible]sider: Prefixes and word stress (1)
[Characters not reproducible]Subway and [Characters not reproducible]super[Characters not reproducible]power: Prefixes and word stress (2)
[Characters not reproducible]News[Characters not reproducible]paper and [Characters not reproducible]absolute [Characters not reproducible]zero: Stress in compound nouns
[Characters not reproducible]Hair-[Characters not reproducible]raising and [Characters not reproducible]hard-[Characters not reproducible]working: Stress in compound adjectives and in abbreviations
[Characters not reproducible]Closed-circuit [Characters not reproducible]television and [Characters not reproducible]sell-by date: Stress in longer compound nouns
[Characters not reproducible]Dream of and [Characters not reproducible]live for: One-stress phrasal verbs
[Characters not reproducible]Hang a[Characters not reproducible]round and [Characters not reproducible]look [Characters not reproducible]up to: Two-stress phrasal verbs
Stressed and unstressed syllables
Some, the, from, etc.: Weak forms of function words
Well, You do it then!: Prominent function words
Calcu/[Characters not reproducible]/late and calcu/e/late: Vowels in unstressed syllables in content words
Listen, bottle, politician, etc.: Syllabic consonants
Foreign words
Deja vu, angst, tsunami: Foreign words in English
Pronunciation in conversation
Features of fluent speech
One[Characters not reproducible]evening, stop[Characters not reproducible]now, go[Characters not reproducible]away, etc.: Linking sounds
I'll get it, These're mine: Contracted forms
I'm not sure, Not sure, 'm not sure: Ellipsis and 'near ellipsis'
Last night, I haven't seen her: Leaving out consonant sounds (1):/t/
An old car, a bottle of water: Leaving out consonant sounds (2):/d/,/h/,/l/,/v/
Average, novelist, happening: Words that lose a syllable
Organising information in conversation
//We stuck a picture// of an elephant//: Breaking speech into units
//It's blue// dark blue//: Prominent words in speech units (1)
//I've always been terrified of spiders//: Prominent words in speech units (2)
//I'll believe it when I see it//: Fixed phrases and idioms in speech units
She's got an essay to write: Non-prominence on final 'empty' content words
I can't stand the stuff: Non-prominence on final vague expressions
Just help yourself; Throw it to me: Prominence in reflexive and personal pronouns
Intonation in telling, asking and answering
I'm quite busy [Characters not reproducible] at the moment [Characters not reproducible]: Falling and rising tones
They taste great [Characters not reproducible], these biscuits [Characters not reproducible]: Tails
Great film [Characters not reproducible], wasn't it [Characters not reproducible]?: Question tags
What I don't understand [Characters not reproducible] is how it got there [Characters not reproducible]: Cleft sentences
Finding out or making sure?: Questions (1)
Wasn't it terrible [Characters not reproducible]? Are you crazy [Characters not reproducible]?: Questions (2)
'I paid [Characters not reproducible]200,000 for it.' 'How much [Characters not reproducible]?': Repeat questions
Although I was tired [Characters not reproducible], I couldn't get to sleep [Characters not reproducible]: Comparisons and contrasts
'You were asleep in the class!': 'I [Characters not reproducible] Wasn't asleep [Characters not reproducible].': Contradictions
You couldn't carry it upstairs for me [Characters not reproducible]?: Requests and reservation
On the whole [Characters not reproducible], it went very well: Attitude words and phrases (1)
She just forgot, presumably [Characters not reproducible]?: Attitude words and phrases (2)
How embarrassing [Characters not reproducible]!: Exclamations
Intonation in managing conversation
Mhm, Right, I see: Keeping conversation going
On top of that...[Characters not reproducible]; Anyway...[Characters not reproducible]: Adding information and changing topic
Pronunciation in formal settings
Before she left school// she started her own business: Dividing prepared speech into units (1)
One of the paintings// he left to his sister: Dividing prepared speech into units (2)
Lima - as I'm sure you know [Characters not reproducible] - is the capital of Peru: Pronunciation of inserts
We expected profits to drop, but they [Characters not reproducible] rose: Step-ups - contrasts and new topics
The headteacher, Mr [Characters not reproducible] Lee, will be talking to parents: Step-downs - adding information and ending topics
Small, medium, and large: Tones in a series of similar items
'Politicians are the same all over...': Level tone in quoting and building suspense
Reference
The phonemic alphabet: Practice
Consonant clusters: Further practice
Word stress: Further practice
Glossary
Further reading
Key
Key to phonemic and other symbols