English Phonetics Phonetics is part of a larger field of study called phonology. Phonology studies how words are pronounced in order to determine standardization and how accents vary from region to region. As with many languages, English has a wide range of dialects. American English differs from British English, and both differ from Australian English. Within these dialects,…

Tongue Twisters in English! Have you ever heard someone say a funny phrase like “If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes does he choose?,” and wondered, what are they saying? This is a popular example of a tongue twister. Tongue twisters are fun and nonsensical, intended to confuse both the speaker and the listener. They…

Speech Sounds As words are articulated, air flows through the vocal cords and is manipulated to create different sounds. This manipulation can occur in the vocal cord itself, as well as in the mouth with the the help of teeth, lips, and the tongue. Some speech sounds are produced without any closure of the airflow.…

Words without vowels! It may be surprising to learn that the English language has many words that do not have any vowels at all. Vowels are the letters A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y. All letters that are not vowels are called consonants. Most people probably think they don’t know of any words without vowels, but…

Vowels in English! Though we may not think of them beyond their role in spelling out a word, the 26 letters of the English alphabet are symbols representing speech sounds. Letters help to tell the reader how a word is articulated. Speech sounds are broken into two different types, vowels and consonants. Whether a sound is…

Consonant Definition Consonants are unique part of linguistics that are straightforward to remember, but much more complex to understand. Simply put, consonants are letters that are not vowels. So any letter that is not A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y is a consonant. Remembering that rule is the easiest way to determine whether a letter is…

Syllable Syllables are the individual units of pronunciation that help to both write and articulate a word. Organizing words into syllables helps to break them into smaller pieces. All words have at least one syllable and some words, especially medical terms, can be longer than ten. There are different six types of syllables that determine where emphasis is placed in a…

There is no greater expert than the Englishman himself. In the media, you will find English speakers everywhere. You can turn on the English radio, watch TV, or follow an English series without subtitles. Listen very carefully and focus on the pronunciation of the English words. Even if you do not know the meaning of…

If you are learning the English language, accurate pronunciation is very important. Regardless of how good your English is grammatical, it is very important to pronounce well. This will help other people understand you well without having to repeat yourself. However, if you are not good in English pronunciation, don’t despair. Fortunately, it is quite…