Units Four, Five

[ ۸- a : ]

Mind that Vowel No. 10 [۸] is a central open vowel (the narrow variant), a bit less open than the Russian [۸] (which is also a central

vowel). Make it checked in its shorter variant.

Remember that Vowel No. 5 [a:] is a back-advanced opeti vowel (the broad variant). But it is not advisable to open the mouth too

wide while articulating it.

The vowel [a:] is the best in quality when pronounced on a low pitch.

Mind that it is never checked even in its shortest length variant like in 'ask'.

1. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

A. hut — heart

grunt — grant

much — March

lust — last nuts — nard utter — after

B. 1. "Art for Heart's Sake" is a funny story. 2. Margie's grandfather once said the funny thing to her father. 3. The abruptness of his

answer proved too much for his aunt's heart. 4. He'd done some constructive thinking since his uncle's last visit.

[əu]

Mind that the nucleus of the diphthong is a m i x e d ( c e n t r a l i z e d ) vowel. So do not make it a b a c k vowel like the Russian [O].

It is a m i d vowel. So do not make it an o p e n vowel like the Russian [A]. The glide is Vowel No. 8 [u]. It should be extremely short but

distinct. The nucleus should be several times as long as the glide.

2. Read the words and the sentences:

A . show

old

cloak

don't close radio

B . 1. So the following7 week he noticed that the old man's interest was growing. 2. I've slowed it up and I hope the overall pattern of

her progress is quite satisfactory. 3. Margie hopes he won't know how to put it together. It won't be so very bad.

[ai — aiə]

Take care to make the nucleus a f r o n t-retracted open vowel. Make the nucleus long, much longer than the glide. Do not replace

it by Vowel No. 5 [a:], which is an open b a c k - a d v a n c e d vowel. Pronounce the glide indistinctly, like a weak |e], in fact, and make

it very short. Do not stress it.

When pronouncing the combination [ai] + [a] make the nucleus the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than

the vowel [a].

3. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

A . white — wire

Friday — prior

writer — riot

7 Do not insert the unnecessary [w] when the diphthong is followed by a vowel as in this word.

while — violent

to tie — entirely

eyes — Irish

B . 1 . " I t ' s an entirely new idea," said the writer. 2. "It's not quite her fault," he said quietly, in a tired tone. 3. The old man was prior in buying the things.

[au — аiə]

About the nucleus of the diphthong see the instructions given in Ex. 3: it is almost the same as in the diphthong [ai]. Pronounce the

glide indistinctly, like a weak [o], and make it very short. Do not stress it.

When pronouncing the combination [au] + [a] make the nucleus the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than

the vowel [a]. Do not insert the unnecessary [w] between the glide and [a]. To avoid [w] do not let the upper and the lower lips be

brought together.

[au — аuə]

About the nucleus of the diphthong see the instructions given in Ex. 3: it is almost the same as in the diphthong [ai]. Pronounce the

glide indistinctly, like a weak [o], and make it very short. Do not stress it.

When pronouncing the combination [au] + [a] make the nucleus the strongest element and the glide the weakest one, weaker than

the vowel [a]. Do not insert the unnecessary [w] between the glide and [a]. To avoid [w] do not let the upper and the lower lips be

brought together.

4. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

6. how — our

7. town — tower

8. now — towel

9. south — sour

10. thousand — shower

11. b.1. In the south milk quickly gets sour. 2. How I detest that school of ours! 3. Thousand of our people have seen the tower in the

south. 4. Now, what about taking a shower? — Yes. Let me fetch our towel.

[tʃ , dʒ]

Let the second element follow the first immediately tcf prevent you from the mistake of detaching the first element from the second.

Strain the muscles of the tongue.

Mind that both affricates are always articulated with a front secondary focus; that is they are somewhat palatal in any position in the

word: at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. But do not raise the middle of the tongue too high so as not to replace it by the

Russian [ч]. When the Russian [ч] is quickly followed by the Russian voiced consonants [Б, Д, Г, 3, Ж] something similar to the English

[ tʃ , dʒ] sounds: «дочь больна, с плеч долой, ключ забыл».

5. Read the words and the sentences:

A. chair

picture

gee

Margie

chalk

watch

juice

judge

B. 1. Just fool around with chalk. 2. Gee, Margie seems to have a chill. 3. The teacher of geography just turned the pages of the

picture book.

[ w - v ]

Mind that [w] is bilabial: it is articulated with both lips. The lips should first be pursed as if ready for a whistle and then quickly spread.

Do not start the consonant too early. Otherwise [Y] will sound before [w].

The consonant [v] should be articulated only with the lower lip and the upper teeth: it is labio-dental.

6. Read the pairs of words and the sentences. Do not mix up the consonants:

A. was — vase

word — verb

window — vigorous

went - vent

weak — Vic

a warded — adverted

B. 1. She was eleven but she understood it was a very old book. 2. It was very funny that instead of moving the way they were

supposed to they stood quite still. 3. Elsworth wanted to show him how very hard and how very well he was working. 4. As the

weeks went by Swain's visits grew very frequent.

[ t - d ]

Mind that the prevocalic voiceless [t] in a stressed syllable should be aspirated and strong whereas the voiced [d] in a similar case

should be non-aspirated and weak.

7. Read the pairs of words and the sentences:

A. two —do

tone — don't

Tommy — doctor

ton — done

take — date

tall — dollar

B. 1. Today Tommy found a real book. 2. Daddy and Tommy turned back. 3. Did Tom tell them he preferred telebooks? — He did.

4. "I can't do a thing with him," he told the doctor. "He won't take his pineapple juice. He doesn't like it."

Units Six, Seven, Eight

[o — o: — əu]'

Avoid mixing the vowels. Do not make [o:] and [3u] similar by dropping the glide and making the nucleus [3] like [0:] though both

are mid-open, [0:] is a very b a c k vowel, while [3] is a m i x e d ( c e n t r a l i z e d ) vowel. Take care not to diphthongize [0:].

Do not mix up Vowel No. 7 [0:] and No. 6 [o]. Though both are back vowels, Vowel No. 6 is much more open than No. 7.

The vowel [0:] is never checked even in its shortest length variant like in 'short'.

1. Read the words and the sentences:

A . on — all — oh

novels — Paul — sofa

doctor — door — don't

hyNpocrisy — reformer — social

often — xorder — xonly

B . 1. Oh no, she's not tall. 2. We know Maugham, the short story writer, was the son of a diplomat. 3. In his novels and stories

Maugham did not denounce the social order. 4. Her blouse was worn and old. Her face was short, her upper lip short, showing her

teeth, her lashes long and dark.

[0i]

Do not replace the nucleus of the diphthong by the Russian [O]: make it much more open than [O] and long. Make the glide short

and weak like a weak [e]. Do not stress it.

2. Read the words and the sentences: