Pronunciation - Physical & Visual Activity

The Phonemic Chart

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

As spelling and sounds are different, we use a special script called “phonemic script”
to transcribe spoken language. For teaching purposes, English sounds are often displayed in the form of a phonemic chart, also known as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Here is a copy of the phonemic chart that you can download and / or print to use in class or for personal study.

In this course for the most famous ELT Specialist in Pronunciation, Adrian Underhill, he shows how to take pronunciation out of the head and into the body, to make pronunciation a physical activity, not just a mental activity. When we attend to muscles, muscles work by moving, and when things move they're visible. So; in a way, we're also making sounds visible - a visible approach to pronunciation. In this course, he's making pronunciation physical, and also visible - people who are deaf can see what their friends are saying. In this approach, we're using mime with mouth and gesture with hands to help to make the sounds visible, so that you'll be using your eyes.

You do not have to memorize the symbols but it is important to be aware of the chart, and to know how to use it if required.

Consonant sounds

Consonant sounds are formed when the moveable parts of the mouth, including the tongue and lips, obstruct the airflow from the lungs.

Try pronouncing these sounds, and decide where the obstruction is occurring:

/m/ as in man
/v/ as in van
/n/ as in nan
/t/ as in tan
/r/ as in ran
/k/ as in can

Consonants

Many of the consonants consist of “unvoiced” and “voiced” pairs. A voiced sound is made by activating the vocal cords. You can check this by putting your fingers on your throat to feel the vibration. In an unvoiced sound, the vocal cords aren’t used, so there is no vibration.

Vowel sounds

Vowel sounds mainly use the tongue and lips to modify the airflow through the mouth rather than obstructing it. Vowels can be “monophthongs” (single vowels) or “diphthongs” (a glide from one vowel to another). All vowels are voiced.

Here are the vowels of standard British English in phonemic script.

Vowel Sounds

The schwa Sound

There’s a vowel sound that is so frequent in English that it has its own name: schwa.
The symbol for the schwa is /ə/.
It’s the unstressed, neutral vowel sound and can be represented in spelling by many different letters or combinations of letters. As schwa is such a small sound, many English learners have difficulty in hearing and saying it. It’s very important that you learn the sound, if you want to have a natural-sounding accent. It can be found at the start, in the middle, or at the end of a word.
Look at the following examples of the schwa. Remember the schwa symbol is /ə/.

Beginning position

agree - əgri:
obstruct- əbstrʌkt
offence- əfens

Middle position

entered - entərd
dinners- dɪnəz
amateur - æmətɜ:

End position

doctor - dɒktə
teacher - ti:ʧə
colour - kʌlə

💡 Remember 👉 This is a British pronunciation, as some differences occur in American, eg:

teacher - ˈtiːʧə Br.
teacher - tiʧər Amr. 

Using the phonemic chart

To help you get more familiar with the script, look at the words given in phonemic. Using your chart, work out what each word is.

1. keɪk

1. mɑːstə

1. mʌðə

1. θæŋks

1. sɪɡəˈret

1. steɪʃn̩

1. taʊəl

1. krɪsməs

1. ʃʊɡə

1. wɪkɪd

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