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Pronunciation

When learning a new language, we often strive towards sounding as close as we can to a native speaker. But what do we mean by good pronunciation? How can we improve our spoken language? These are questions explored in this article.
Painting: A man in striped pajamas is facing a seated woman, she is wearing a black dress.
The Conversation by Henri Matisse. Image: Henri Matisse / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

English learners are often encouraged to imitate a standard version of English from either the United Kingdom or the United States. Many pupils enjoy the challenge of sounding as much as possible like native speakers. Others feel that this approach does not let them express their own identity, and that sounding like a non-native speaker does not matter if the pronunciation is easy to understand.

Pronunciation tips: English as a lingua franca

Today there are more people who use English as a lingua franca than there are native speakers. Researcher Jennifer Jenkins has identified the following as core features of English pronunciation when English is used as a lingua franca. These tips explain what you should focus on in order to be understood when speaking English.

  • Make sure you pronounce consonant sounds clearly, especially at the beginning and in the middle of words.
  • Make sure you pronounce long vowels and short vowel sounds clearly. For example, the word 'sick' has a short vowel sound, while 'seek' has a long vowel sound. If you pronounce 'sick' with a long vowel it will sound like 'seek' and may cause confusion. Other examples are pick-peak, lick-leek, list-least,live-leave, ship-sheep, and there are many others.
  • Think about where you put the stress in a sentence. What is the difference between 'He did it', 'He did it' and 'He did it'?
  • Think about how you say the vowel /ɜ:/, which is found in words like bird, heard, turd. For a Norwegian the temptation can be to go for the vowel /ø/ when pronouncing these words, or something in between the two sounds.

Jenkins also found that the differences between the consonant sounds /θ/ as in 'thing' and /ð/ as in 'this', and dark /l/ as found in the last l in 'little' do not make a difference to others understanding you.

The sounds of the English language:

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, but English has 44 different sounds that make up words. A linguist would call these sounds phonemes.

Familiarising yourself with the different sounds of the English language through listening and speaking will help develop a clear pronunciation that is easy to understand.

Open the document below to get an overview of the sounds in the English language.

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What is a phoneme?

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another. Let's say you have the word 'bat', you can replace the b with an h to get 'hat'. Using h instead of b changes the meaning of the word, so h and b are phonemes.

Phonemes are not just single letters, they can also be combinations of letters, like th and ch. If we replace the b in 'bat' with ch or th we get 'chat' and 'that'. This shows us that phonemes are not the same as letters.

If you Google "44 phonemes in English" you will find a number of articles about the sounds that make up the English language.

Are you saying it right?

Below, you will find some sentences that will challenge your pronunciation. Work with a partner and discuss if you are pronouncing the different words right. If you are unsure about something, look it up in a dictionary that includes audio, or ask your teacher to listen to your pronunciation.

Do you replace /w/ with /v/?

It is common for Norwegian pupils to get the pronunciation of the letters w and v mixed up. Read the following sentences, and pay special attention to /w/ and /v/.

  • William is very worried for various reasons.

  • Wanda was a vicious witch.

  • World leaders were gathered in Verona.

  • We bought a new vent for the bathroom.

  • We went to the volleyball event.

  • He planted a weeping willow very close to his villa.

  • The widow wept by the window: it was very sad.

Do you replace /t/ with /θ/ or /ð/ (th-sounds)?

How do you pronounce the letter t in the following words?

  • weight

  • height

  • fight

  • plight

  • straight

  • midnight

  • eyesight

Do you replace /tʃ/ with /t/?

How would you say the following words?

  • change

  • charge

  • achieve

  • kitchen

  • catch

  • each

  • cheap

How do you pronounce the /ʃ/ sound?

How would you say the following words?

  • question

  • shadow

  • ratio

  • suspicious

  • national

  • politician

  • coach

How do you pronounce the /dʒ/ sound?

How would you say the following words?

  • judge

  • journey

  • large

  • project

  • knowledge

  • technology

  • injury

How would you pronounce words that end in -ed?

How would you say the following words?

  • walked

  • stumbled

  • closed

  • abandoned

  • abolished

  • axed

  • abridged

Can you tell the difference between short and long vowel sounds?

Pronounce the word pairs: What is the main difference between the words in each pair?

  • back — bake

  • sit — seat

  • rat — rate

  • mad — made

  • bed — bead

  • shin — shine

  • rot — wrote

Do you replace /ð/ /with /d/ or /t/?

How do you say the following words?

  • they

  • there

  • brother

  • further

  • either

  • whether

  • themselves

Do you replace /θ/ with /d/ or /t/?

How would you say the following words?

  • this

  • thousands

  • ethics

  • worthwhile

  • theoretical

  • breath

  • throughout

Where to put the stress in a word:

Putting the stress in a word on the wrong syllable can easily mark you out as a non-native speaker. However, it will not significantly influence how well others understand you. How do you say the following words?

  • corridor

  • umbrella

  • perfection

  • discovery

  • refrigerator

  • veterinarian

  • misunderstanding

  • politician

  • area

How to work on pronunciation:

  • Look up new words you read to find out how they are pronounced.

  • Listen to English every day and pay attention to how things are said. You can for example watch movies, play digital games, listen to audiobooks, or watch the news.

  • Find the lyrics to your favourite songs and sing along.

  • Find a role model for how you want to speak, and practise saying things the way they do. Theatre actors are especially good at clear pronunciation, because their words have to reach all the way to the back of the theatre. On YouTube, you can find videos of actors who read different texts. Find the same text they read, listen to the recording, and try to read the text in the same way.

  • Take every opportunity to speak English.

Sources

EngFluent, English Pronunciation Exercises (Practice Them to Sound Like a Native Speaker). Retrieved from: Link to the EngFluent website (engfluent.com)

Iannuzzi M., Rindal U., 2018, Uttaleundervisning i verdensspråket engelsk. Retrieved from: Link to article on the webpage Utdanningsnytt (utdanningsnytt.no)

Rindal, U., 2016, "Riktig" engelsk uttale, Utdanningsforskning.no. Retrieved from: Link to article on the webpage Utdanningsforskning.no (utdanningsforskning.no)

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