Mind that the lips remain in contact and the explosion is produced by the air escaping through the nose.

or or : happen, open, I hope not, top men, help me

+ or : ribbon, subnormal, sob noisily, sub man

(c) or + or

Mind that the plosive closure is not released until the lower­ing of the soft palate has been accomplished.

+ or : nickname, picnic, look now. dark night, sick man, take mine

+ or : signal, ignorant, big news, big man, frogman

2. This exercise illustrates some special pronunciation which
stops have when immediately followed by the lateral . In
such clusters there is no vowel sound between the plosive
and . Listen how the speaker on the tape pronounces the
following clusters. Transcribe them.

(a) In and clusters the learner must remember to keep
the tip of the tongue pressed firmly against the palate all the
time he is saying the two sounds.

kettle, fatal, at least, at last; middle, riddle, that'll do, I'd like it

(b) In , , , clusters the alveolar contact for is made
at the time of the release of the plosive and the escape of air is
lateral.

apple, plain, stop laughing, group leader; blow, black, rub lightly, absorb light; clean, uncle, look lonely; glow, ugly, a big leaf

Practise reading the families of words at normal conversational speed.

(a) plus another plosive: kept, slept, dropped, snapped, stop trying, keep going, ripe tomato, a deep pool;

(b) plus another plosive: bobbed, robbed, sub-title;

(c) plus another plosive: football, foot path, hot toast, act two, that cat, first person;

(d) plus another plosive: breadcrumb, woodpecker, lead pencil, bad beer;

(e) plus another plosive: blackboard, desk chair, picked, tricked, black coffee, black dog, thick piece, look care­fully;

(f) plus another plosive: bagpipes, ragtime, big cake, dig deep.

Read the following sets of words.

· Concentrate on the difference between the sonorant in word initial position and preceded by the voiceless , , .

wig — twig weep — sweep win — queen

wit — twit wing — swing wheeze — quiz

Read the following sets of words.

· Make careful distinction between the sonorant in word initial position and preceded by the voiceless plosives , , .

roof — proof ravel — travel rank — crank

lest — pressed rot — trot raw — craw

6. Listen how the speaker on the tape pronounces the sonorant
in the initial position and preceded by the voiceless plo­sives , .

· Imitate the reading.

· Make as clear distinction as possible between the fully voiced and its partially devoiced counterpart.

lucky — plucky; lug — plug; law — claw; lean — clean

7. Listen how the speaker on the tape pronounces the follow­ing sets of words.

· Imitate the reading.

+ or : white thorn, sweet thought, sit there, get them;

+ or : breadth, width, hide them, bid them;

+ or : ninth, in the month, on those days;

+ or : although, all the time, stealth, all three.

Listen to the speaker on the tape reading the following sets of words.

· Transcribe and read them.

textbook not bad cut the finger

blackboard next day wide corridor

 

Listen how the speaker on the tape pronounces the words and the phrases.

· Imitate the reading.

: depths, lengths : truths, wreaths

: sixth, this thermometer : was that, raise them

: takes this, it's that : these thieves, those thoughts

: three, thrash : fifth, diphthong

: if those, enough though

10. Practise the correct pronunciation of in the monosyllables:

he, him, his, her, hers, have, has, had

Transcribe and read the sentences given below.

If he comes, tell him I'm out.

In his will he left his son most of his books.

Give her her books and her papers.

I hope he'll give her a hand. His success went to his head.

12.Practise pronouncing these words paying attention
to the degree of voicing.

book — table — rob date — order — mad

girl — ago — leg voice — over — dove

13.Practise reading the phrases below several times until you
can say them smoothly.

A large group of students graduates each year.

I heard that splendid speech you made last night.

They answered cor­rectly, and the instructor thanked them.

I request that all the books be removed from the desks.

 

Select an extract from a book you are studying. Read it concentrating your attention on the pronunciation of the -s, -es and -ed endings.