Reading sounds in English for children. Rules for reading English

IN English language 26 letters. In different combinations and positions they represent 44 sounds.
In the English language, there are 24 consonant sounds, and they are represented in writing by 20 letters: Bb; Cc; Dd; Ff; Gg ; Hh; Jj; Kk; LI; mm; Nn; Pp; Qq; Rr; Ss; Tt; Vv; Ww; Xx; Zz.
In the English language, there are 12 vowel sounds and 8 diphthongs, and they are represented in writing by 6 letters: Aa; Ee; li; Oo; Uu; Yy.

Video:

[English language. Beginner course. Maria Rarenko. First educational channel.]

Transcription and stress

Phonetic transcription is an international system of symbols used to show exactly how words should be pronounced. Each sound is shown with a separate icon. These icons are always written in square brackets.
The transcription indicates verbal stress (which syllable in the word the stress falls on). Accent mark [‘] placed before the stressed syllable.

English consonants

Features of English consonants
1. English consonants expressed by letters b, f, g, m, s, v, z, are close in pronunciation to the corresponding Russian consonants, but should sound more energetic and intense.
2. English consonants are not softened.
3. Voiced consonants are never deafened - neither before voiceless consonants, nor at the end of a word.
4. Double consonants, that is, two identical consonants next to each other, are always pronounced as one sound.
5. Some English consonants are pronounced aspirated: the tip of the tongue must be pressed firmly against the alveoli (the tubercles where the teeth are attached to the gums). Then the air between the tongue and teeth will pass with force, and the result will be a noise (explosion), that is, aspiration.

Rules for reading consonant letters in English: ,

English vowel sounds

The reading of each vowel depends on:
1. from other letters standing next to it, in front of it or behind it;
2. from being in a shock or non-stress position.

Rules for reading vowels in English: ,

We have already mastered it. Today we have complex topic: reading rules in English. Why complicated? Yes, because in the English language there are open and closed syllables, several types of reading vowels, special rules for reading double letters and combinations of letters, and many other rules. And there are also exceptions to the rules. Sometimes it is not clear what is more, rules or exceptions. However, you still need to be able to read. First of all, let's look at reading vowels.

Dividing words into syllables

Since reading vowels depends on the type of stressed syllable, this is where you should start. If you understand the types of syllables, then everything will be much easier.

First, let's divide the word into syllables (this applies to polysyllabic words with multiple vowels). The number of syllables depends on the number of vowel sounds in the word. Find all the vowels in the word.

A) If a vowel is followed by one consonant (except – r), then this consonant belongs to the following syllable: сo-lour, fi-nish, e-le-ven.
There is an immediate exception: monosyllabic words with the final unpronounceable vowel e are not divided into syllables: rule, face, take.

B) If a vowel is followed by two consonants, then the first consonant will refer to the first syllable, and the second to the following: doc-tor, sis-ter, fac-to-ry.

C) If a word contains a sonant [l], [m], [n], [r], then the consonant in front of it belongs to the following syllable: ta-ble, cy-cle, no-ble.

D) Combinations of letters ld, nd form a separate syllable: frie-nd, mi-ld, spe-nd.

Syllable types

In English there are four types of stressed syllables.

1. Open syllable. This is a syllable that ends with a vowel: he, no, we.
This also includes words that end in silent - e: time, life, name.

2. Closed syllable. This is the name of a syllable that ends with one or more consonants (except – r):
mend, ten, best.

3. Syllable with letter r. In such a syllable, the letter r, as a rule, is not pronounced: car, mark, start.

4. Syllable with the combination r + e. In it, the letters r and e are also not pronounced: fire, where, cure.

Well, we've sorted out the syllables. Now we mentally divide the word into syllables and learn to read it.

Rules for reading vowels

Depending on the type of stressed syllable, four types of reading vowels are distinguished.

1. First type of reading. In an open syllable, vowels are read in the same way as they are called in the alphabet. This type of reading is also called alphabetic. Let's look at the examples in the table:

2. Second type of reading. Vowels in closed syllable read briefly.

3. Third type of reading. The letter r after a stressed vowel is not read, and the vowel sound becomes long.

4. The fourth type of reading. This combination is: stressed vowel + r + vowel

The letter y at the beginning of a word before a vowel is read as the sound [j], for example: yesterday - yesterday.

Reading unstressed vowels

In an unstressed position, vowels are read differently.

The letters e, i, y are read as the sound [i] – elastic elastic distort, distort, heavy [‘hevi] heavy.

The vowels a, o, u are read as the sound [ə] – amaze [ə’meiz] to amaze, develop to develop, successful successful

Combinations of vowels and vowels with consonants

Various combinations of vowel letters, as well as vowels and consonants, have their own reading rules. They will have to be learned separately.

• ee is read as a sound – meet
• ea is also read as – speak [‘spi:k] to speak
  Exception: head head, breakfast [‘brekfəst] breakfast, bread bread
• ai gives sound – main main
• ay is pronounced as a diphthong – day day
• oo before any consonant except k and r is read as – food [‘fu:d] food
  Exception: good good, room room
• oo before the letter k is pronounced as a short sound [u] – book book
• oi is read as [ɔi] – point
• oy also gives a diphthong [ɔi] – boy boy
• oa read as – coat [‘kout] coat
• ou reads like – house
• ou in some words of French origin is read as – group group
• ou before the letter r is pronounced [ɔ:] – four [‘fɔ:] four
  Exception: hour [‘auə] hour, our [‘auə] our
• ea before r gives a diphthong – near
• air sounds like [ɛə] – chair [‘ʧɛə] chair
• eer is read as a diphthong – engineer
• ew in most words is read as – new [‘nju:] new
• ow under stress in monosyllabic words and in the middle of polysyllabic words sounds like – now [‘nau] now, brown brown
• ow at the end of two-syllable words in unstressed position is read as – yellow [‘jelou] yellow
• w + or before a consonant sounds like [ə:] – work work
• wa is read as if it is followed by a final consonant (except r) or combinations of consonants – want [‘wɔnt] want
• al before k sounds like [ɔ:], while l is not pronounced – chalk [ʧɔ:k] chalk
• a + s before a consonant is read as – glass glass
• o before m and n is pronounced [ʌ] – son son
• o + th is read as [ʌ] – mother [‘mʌðə] mother
• ig h is read as , while gh is not pronounced – light light

As you can see, the rules for reading vowels in English are not complicated, but there are a lot of them. Do not forget that there are words - exceptions - that are read differently. There are quite a few of them too. We will look at reading consonant sounds another time.

Sounds English letters– 44 English phonemes, which are divided into two categories: consonants and vowels. Since sounds cannot be written down, graphemes (letters or combinations of letters) are used to convey sounds in writing.

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in the English language. The standard English alphabet begins with the letter a and ends with the letter z.

When classifying alphabetic characters, the following are distinguished:

• 5 pure vowels: a, e, i, o, u;
• 19 pure consonants: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, x, z;
• 2 semivowels: y, w.

Learning the English alphabet requires knowledge of both the symbol that represents each letter and the phonetic sounds associated with that letter. Learning English phonetics is difficult. Only a small number of letters have no exceptions in the basic sound.

In most cases, each letter has several phonemes. The letter B sometimes sounds like bat (bat) or does not sound, for example, in the words crumb (cram), dumb (dam). The letter C sounds like the “k” for cat, or the “c” for ceiling, or the “tch” for church. And the list of exceptions is endless.

Vowel sounds

Vowels represent the main category of phonemes in English speech. There are 20 vowel sounds in spoken English. This discrepancy (with respect to letter characters) underlies the difficulty of writing in English.

For short and long vowels, additional vowel sounds are used. For the sounds a and e – when the vowel accompanies the sound r. For o the options are varied.

Consonants

alphabet order

Transcription and stress

Phonetic transcriptions tell about the pronunciation of words. IN English words Arakh this is a necessary condition because the spelling does not indicate how the word is pronounced.

Phonetic transcriptions are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in which each English sound assigned its own symbol. For example, IPA based phonetic transcription the words home are /hoʊm/, the transcription of come is /kʌm/, despite the fact that the spelling of the words is similar (both end in –ome), but are transcribed with differences.

The rules do not fully cover aspects of stress in English words. The language is characterized by the presence of exceptions, and the British themselves make mistakes, especially in polysyllabic words.

But obviously some basic rules still apply:

Prefixes in two-syllable words are not stressed except in some nouns or adjectives. Two-syllable nouns starting with a prefix are studied individually.

English consonants

There are fewer consonant letters in the English alphabet than consonant sounds. Therefore, to expand the alphabet, digraphs like "ch", "sh", "th" and "zh", and some letters and digraphs represent more than just one consonant. For example, the sound written “th” in this is transcribed as /ð/, and “th” in thin – /θ/.

English consonant sounds are classified according to a combination of functions:

In addition, there is a function "voiceless alveolar stop", /t/ when the airflow mechanism is lowered.

According to the method of formation, consonant sounds are divided into:

1. Approximant: j, w, r.
2. Nine fricative consonants: f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ,ʒ,h.
3. Lateral approximant: l.
4. Two affricative sounds: tʃ and dʒ.
5. Six explosive sounds: p,b,t,d,k,g.
6. Nasal consonants: m, n, ŋ.

The sound – [x] – is a voiceless fricative – non-standard for the English language. Although in some original words, such as ugh (ugh!), it is an additional marker of irritation. In writing, the fricative is represented as "gh".

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Features of English consonants

A consonant combination is a set of two or three consonant letters that, when pronounced, retain the original sound. Such sets occur either at the beginning or at the end of a word. For example, the word brave, in which both “b” and “r” are pronounced, is the initial combination. In the word bank “-nk” is the final combination.

Classification:

1. The starting combinations are classified into sets with "l", "r", and "s". In "l" the combination ends with "l". An example would be the letters “bl” in the word blind. In the same way, the final sound in “r” is combined with “r” when “br” and “cr”, for example, in the words bridge, crane. On the contrary, in “s” it begins with s, “st” and “sn” - stap, snail.
2. The final combinations are grouped into sets with "s", "l" and "n": -st, -sk, -ld, -nd, -nk. Examples: first, desk, gold, sand, sink.

Digraphs

Consonant digraphs refer to a set of consonants that form a single sound. Some digraphs appear both at the beginning and at the end of a word - “sh”, “ch” and “th”. There are also strict initial and final digraphs – “kn-” and “-ck”.

Examples of digraphs:

Features of digraphs:

Table of pronunciation of English consonants

English vowels

Each English vowel is pronounced in three ways:

1. like a long sound;
2. like a short sound;
3. as a neutral vowel sound (schwa).

There are 5 vowels in the English alphabet, but sometimes y becomes a vowel and is pronounced like i, and w replaces u, for example in the digraph ow.

Rules for reading vowels

Short vowels, which are characterized by a "short" sound, occur when a word contains one vowel, either at the beginning of a word or between two consonants. For example, if, elk, hop, fan. The typical short vowel pattern is consonant+vowel+consonant (CGS).

Words are taught as families, which represent groups of words with a common pattern, such as the pattern “-ag” – bag, wag, tag or “-at” – cat, bat, hat.

Features of reading vowels:

The vowel sound in unstressed syllables is expressed with a shortened neutral sound ("schwa"), the phonemic symbol /ə/, especially if no syllabic consonants are used.

For example:

• a in about, around, approve, above [ə bʌv];
• e in accident, mother, taken, camera;
• i in, family, lentil, officer pencil;
• o in memory, common, freedom, purpose, London;
• u in supply, industry, suggest, difficult, succeed, minimum;
• and even y in sibyl;
• schwa appears in function words: to, from, are.

Features of vowel sounds in English

Vowels are classified as monophthongs, diphthongs or triphthongs. A monophthong is when there is one vowel sound in a syllable, a diphthong is when there are two vowel sounds in a syllable.

Let's take a closer look:

1. Monophthongs – pure and stable vowels, the acoustic characteristics (timbre) of which do not change during the time they are pronounced.
2. A diphthong is a sound formed by the combination of two adjacent vowels in one syllable. Technically, the tongue (or other parts of the vocal apparatus) moves when pronouncing a vowel sound - the first position is stronger than the second. In diphthong transcription, the first character represents the starting point of the body of the tongue, the second character represents the direction of movement. For example, you should be aware that in the letter combination /aj/, the body of the tongue is in the lower central position represented by the symbol /a/, and immediately begins to move up and forward to the position for /i/.
3. Diphthongs are often formed when individual vowels work together in fast conversation. Usually (in the speaker’s speech) the body of the tongue does not have time to reach the /i/ position. Therefore, the diphthong often ends closer to /ɪ/ or even to /e/. In the diphthong /aw/, the body of the tongue moves from the low central position of /a/, then moves up and back to the position of /u/. Although there are also single diphthongs, which are heard as separate vowel sounds (phonemes).
4. There are also triphthongs in English.(combinations of three adjacent vowels), including three sound types, for example, fire /fʌɪə/, flower /flaʊər/. But in any case, all diphthongs and triphthongs are formed from monophthongs.

Pronunciation table for simple English vowel sounds

All vowel sounds are formed from only 12 monophthongs. Every word in English, regardless of spelling, is pronounced using some combination of these sounds.

The table shows examples of simple English vowels with pronunciation in Russian:

Diphthong pronunciation table

Learning transcription of English words

Let's look at some features of English transcription:

Available online on the Internet a large number of video to listen to the pronunciation of sounds, and you can also practice using exercises.

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, which represent 24 consonants, 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs.
Reading vowels depends on which syllable the vowels are in. In English, it is customary to distinguish 4 types of syllables:

1. An open syllable ends with a vowel. In English, a syllable followed by a consonant + an unpronounceable final “e” is conventionally considered an open syllable.
The vowels in this syllable are pronounced the same way as they are called in the alphabet.

2. A closed syllable ends with a consonant. In this type of syllable, vowels convey short sounds.

3. The third type of syllable is a syllable in which a vowel is followed by the letter "r" (at the end of the syllable) or "r" + consonant. In this syllable, all vowels convey long sounds.

4. The fourth type of syllable is a syllable in which the vowel is followed by the combination "r" + vowel. In this syllable, all vowels convey long and complex sounds.

Reading vowels in four syllable types

Table of basic rules for reading vowels and consonants

"Mute" (unpronounceable) consonants

Notes:
1. The letter u conveys the same sounds as the letter i, but is rarely found in the middle of a word.
2. The above rules apply only to stressed syllables. In an unstressed position, vowels are reduced to the sounds [ə] and [i].
For example: arrive [ə"raiv], return, illumination, difficult ["difikəlt].