recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Pronunciation exercises: \ʒ\ vs \ʃ\

**/ʒ/** is a voiced consonant. **/ʃ/** is an unvoiced consonant.

## /ʒ/

If a word begins or ends with /ʒ/ then it must be a loanword or a foreign word. Also, most words that have /ʒ/ are enclosed in vowels.

Examples:

* equation - usually
* ending in "sion": conclusion - confusion - decision - division - occasion - provision - television - vision
* ending in "sual": usual - visual
* ending in "sure": exposure - measure - pleasure

Words derived from French: beige, genre, lingerie

## /ʃ/

Since /ʒ/ normally doesn't appear at the beginning or end of the word, we will concentrate on the /ʃ/ sound in mid position.

At the beginning of the word: she, show

At the end of the word: wish, push

In the middle of the word:

* as "sh": fashion, publisher, relationship
* as "ss": assure, commission, discussion, expression, issue, mission, pressure, professional
* as "ti": action, education, essential, function, partial, patience, rational, substantial
* as "ci": efficient, musician, racial, special
* as "ce": ocean
* as "ch": machine
* /kʃ/ as "x": anxious, complexion

## /ʒ/ vs /ʃ/

There are very few minimal pairs /ʒ/ vs /ʃ/. One example is "measure" (a normal word) vs "mesher" (one who makes meshes, a word that doesn't appear in normal dictionaries).

These words don't rhyme
* equation - location; exposure - kosher; measure - pressure; vision - mission;

These words don't end in the same syllables
* visual - sensual

## Decoding /ʒ/ and /ʃ/

In Latin derived words /ʒ/ is spelled with a single "s" (measure, vision). /ʃ/ on the other hand, is normally spelled with "sh" and often spelled with "ti", "ci", and "ssi". This means that spelling is a reliable way to tell apart /ʒ/ and /ʃ/.

In French loanwords /ʒ/ is "g", as in "genre", or seldom "j" as in " déjà vu" /ˌdeɪʒɑː ˈvuː/.

Spelling anomaly

* "ti" as /ʒ/: equation

## Variant pronunciations

Several words are pronounced either with /ʒ/ or with /ʃ/. In most cases the difference is regional, with General American preferring /ʒ/ and Received Pronunciation preferring /ʃ/.

Non regional: Asia, Asian

/ʃ/,*BrE* /ʒ/ or /ʃ/*AmE*

* cashmere, coercion
* ending in "rsion": aversion, conversion, dispersion, excursion, immersion, perversion, version

/gʒ/ or /kʃ/

* luxurious, luxury

See Decoding exercises: "sion"

## See also

* Decoding the letter S
* Pronunciation exercises: /dʒ/ vs /tʃ/
* Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/
* Pronunciation exercises: /ʃ/ vs /tʃ/
Pronunciation quizzes

Do "boot", "foot" and "put" rhyme?
* All of them rhyme; all vowels sound the same
* Only "boot" and "foot" rhyme; "put" sounds different
* Only "boot" and "put" rhyme; "foot" sounds different
* Only "foot" and "put" rhyme; "boot" sounds different
* None of them rhyme; all vowels sound different

Solution

Do "owl", "bowl" and "foul" rhyme?
* All of them rhyme; all vowels sound the same
* Only "owl" and "bowl" rhyme; "foul" sounds different
* Only "owl" and "foul" rhyme; "bowl" sounds different
* Only "bowl" and "foul" rhyme; "owl" sounds different
* None of them rhyme; all vowels sound different

Solution
So-called “short i”

The so-called **“short i” sound** is an informal term that means **the short sound of the letter i** which is **IPA phoneme \ɪ\**.

* Examples: *kit*, *limit*, or *thing*

The term “short i” should only be used when the spelling is actually “i”. It's confusing to say "*myth* is pronounced with short *i*". If this sentence had to be spoken it would be better to say "*myth* is pronounced with the KIT vowel". Alternatively it could be said "*myth* is pronounced like the short sound of the letter i".

Another reason why the terms “long i” and “short i” are not recommended is because the opposition between /ɪ/ and /aɪ/ (“long i”) is not only a difference in length, but mainly a difference in quality.

## Examples

* bit, chips, fish, fit, hip, hit, kill, kiss, link, lip, liquid, quick, sing, sit, thick, thin, thing, think, this, win, with

## See also

* Decoding the letter I
* Decoding and spelling exercises: /ɪ/ vs /aɪ/
* So-called “short” and “long” vowels
IPA phoneme \t\

In Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/t/** corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "time", and "trap" and the final one in "hat" and "list". /t/ may sound [ɾ] (alveolar flap) in General American or [ʔ] (glottal stop) in Cockney. *Butter* sounds (in broad notation) /ˈbʌtər/ in all accents but in General American it is [ˈbʌɾər] and in Cockney it is [ˈbʌʔə].

/t/ is an unvoiced consonant; its voiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /d/. Bettwen vowels /t/ and /d/ may get neutralized as [ɾ] (a voiced consonant). Then "butter" may be pronounced [ˈbʌɾər] and "ladder" may be pronounced [ˈlæɾər].

## Common words

Some common words which practice the initial pronunciation of **/t/** include the following:

* table, take, talk, teacher, team, technology, tell, term, test, time, today, together, top, toward, town, train, travel, true, try, turn, type, too

Some common words which practice the mid-position pronunciation of **/t/** include the following:

* between vowels: attention, computer, city, data, detail, later, letter, material, matter, political, pretty, quality, return, security, society, water
* other: after, between, center, continue, control, country, history, its, little, party, political, stand, stay, still, stop, story, study, system, understand, until

Some common words which practice the final position pronunciation of **/t/** include the following:

* about, but, create, date, different, get, great, government, just, last, late, lot, meet, minute, next, note, part, point, put, quite, rate, site, vote, want, what, white, write

Past tense pronunciation: "ed" sounds /t/ after voiceless consonants

* asked, helped, fixed, laughed, passed, thanked, watched

## "th" as /t/

* Anthony,*BrE* Thailand /ˈtaɪlænd/, Thames /temz/, Thomas, thyme

## Homophones

* its - it's; mist - missed; past - passed; time- thyme; write - right;

## Minimal pairs

* awe - ought; day - date; fall - fault; fix - fixed; join - joint; lease - least; lie - light; loss - lost; no - note; pain - paint; pass - passed; play - plate; ray - rate; way, weigh - wait, weight; why - white;
* AmE: plan - plant;

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

Many Spanish speakers find hard to learn the past tense pronunciation of verbs. *Missed* may be pronounced \*[ˈmɪsɪd] instead of [mɪst] but they are perfectly able to pronounce *mist*.

## See also

* Decoding the letter T
* Past tense pronunciation
* Pronunciation exercises: /d/ vs /t/

## External links

* British Library, Received Pronunciation consonant sounds
IPA phoneme \θ\

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/θ/** corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "think", and "thought" and the final one in "bath" and "both".

/θ/ is an unvoiced consonant; its voiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /ð/. Both phonemes are consistently spelled "th". See Decoding exercises: "th".

## Common words

Initial pronunciation of **/θ/**:

* thanks, theater,*AmE* theatre,*BrE* theme, theory, therapy, thick, thin, thing, think, thirteen, thirst, thirty, thorough, thought, thousand, threat, three, threw, throat, through, throw, thumb, Thursday

Final pronunciation of **/θ/**:

* bath, beneath, birth, both, breath, death, depth, earth, faith, forth, growth, health, length, math,*AmE* month, mouth, north, path, smooth, south, strength, teeth, tooth, truth, wealth, worth, youth

Middle pronunciation of **/θ/**:

* anything, everything, nothing, something
* athlete, author, Dorothy, Ethiopia /ˌiːθiːˈoʊpiːə/, ethnic, healthy, hypothesis, Martha, mathematics, maths,*BrE* method, monthly, strengthen, wealthy

## Plurals

Irregular plurals of words ending in /θ/, as /ðz/

* baths, mouths, paths, youths

Several plurals of words ending in /θ/ are pronounced as /ðz/ and also as /θs/

* oaths, truths, wreaths

## /θ/ or /ð/

* booth, with

* /ð/,*BrE* *AmE* /θ/*AmE* within, without

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

#### Spain

Many speakers don't distinguish clearly between **/θ/** and **/ð/** and when they see "th" tend to pronounce it **[θ]**, a sound which corresponds to the letter "z" in Spanish. This happens also when speaking Spanish: Madrid's inhabitants are notorious for pronouncing [ma'driθ].

Another difficulty is the tendency to pronounce the initial letter "c" as **/θ/** in cognates like "city" and "centre".

#### Latin America

The **/θ/** sound doesn't exist, and speakers tend to replace it by /s/ or /t/. However if another phoneme must be chosen it has been suggested to use /f/, for example pronounce "think" as \*/fɪŋk/ instead of \*/sɪŋk/.

## References

1. ↑ Geoff Lindsey, The British English vowel system, comment dated March 11, 2012 at 3:38 pm.

## See also

* Decoding exercises: "th"
* Pronunciation exercises: /θ/ vs /ð/
* Pronunciation exercises: /θ/ vs /s/

## External links

* British Library, Received Pronunciation consonant sounds
Decoding exercises: "au"

Together with the article on decoding difficulties, this page sets out some words that can be used to become more aware of how you can sound out more correctly the different sounds corresponding to words containing "au", most often /ɔː/.

**IPA consonants**

## Examples

As /ɔː/

* assault - auction - audience - audio - audit - August - authentic - author - authority - automatic - autumn - caught - cause - clause - daughter - exhaust /ɪɡˈzɔːst/ - fault - fraud - launch - laundry - Laura - naughty - Paul - pause - sauce - taught

As /ɒ/*BrE* or /ɔː/*AmE*

* Aussie, Australia, Austria, cauliflower, sausage

As /ɑː/*BrE* or /æ/*AmE*

* aunt, draught,*BrE* laugh, laughter

The following sounds only appear in loan words.

As /əʊ/

* aubergine, au gratin, au revoir, au lait, au pair, chauffeur

As /aʊ/.

* sauerkraut /ˈsaʊərkraʊt/

## "eau"

* as /juː/: beauty, beautiful
* as /əʊ/: bureau
* as /ɒ/: bureaucracy
* as /ə/: bureaucrat

## Spelling anomalies

* As /eɪ/: gauge
* Silent "au": restaurant /ˈrestrɒnt,*BrE* ˈrestərənt/*AmE*

## The word "because"

In Received Pronunciation "because" is normally pronounced /bɪˈkɒz/ but it is one of the few instances in which it is possible to have a stressed schwa: /bɪˈkəz/.

In General American "because" is pronounced /bɪˈkɔz/ or /bɪˈkʌz/. In American English a stressed schwa is pronounced as /ʌ/.

## Homophones

* /ɔː/: aural - oral; clause - claws; pause - paws;
* General American /æ/: aunt - ant
* Non-rhotic accents /ɔː/: sauce - source
* /ɑː,*BrE* æ*AmE*/: draught*BrE* (flow of air) - draft (rough version, flow of air*AmE*)

## Variant pronunciatons

* astronaut /ˈæstrənɔːt,*BrE* *AmE* ˈæstrənɒt*AmE*/
* austerity /ɒˈsterəti,*BrE* ɔˈsterəti*AmE* *BrE*/
* Austin /ˈɒstɪn, ˈɔstɪn, ˈɔstən/
* Saudi /ˈsaʊdiː, ˈsɔdiː/
* sauna /ˈsɔnə, ˈsaʊnə/

## Spanish L1

Many Spanish speakers pronounce "au" as /aʊ/ which is the way "au" sounds in Spanish. For example, "automatización" sounds like [ˌaʊtomaˌtiθaˈθjon] or [ˌaʊtomaˌtisaˈsjon], and it is very common to hear Spanish speakers saying \*/ˌaʊtəˈmeɪʃən/ instead of /ˌɔːtəˈmeɪʃən/. Shorter and more common words, such as "cause" or "author" (which also have cognates in Spanish with the sound [aʊ]) apparently don't suffer this problem.

## References

1. ↑ *Collins English Dictionary*, "au lait"
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *Collins English Dictionary*, "because"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 John Wells’s phonetic blog, Archive 1-15 July 2007, *Stressed and unstressed schwa,* 13 July 2007.
4. ↑ *Collins American Dictionary*, because
IPA phoneme \v\

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol **/v/** corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "very", and "visit" and the final one in "five" and "love".

/v/ is a voiced consonant; its unvoiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /f/.

The phoneme /v/ is spelled very reliably with the letter V. The only important exception is the very common word "of", pronounced /əv/, /ɒv/*BrE* or /ʌv/.*AmE* See Pronunciation exercises: "of" vs "off".

## Common words

Some common words which practice the pronunciation of **/v/** include the following:

* with initial "**/v/**": valley, value, van, variable, vary, vast, vegetable, vehicle, verb, version, very, veteran, victim, victory, view, village, virus, vision, visit, voice, vote
* with final "**/v/**": above, arrive, believe, drive, expensive, five, give, have, improve, live, love, move, observe, positive, prove, receive, remove, save, solve, survive, wave
* with "**/v/**" in mid position: activity, available, cover, develop, even, ever, evidence, government, however, individual, investment, level, never, over, provide, service, seven, travel
* /vr/: every, several

## Spelling anomalies

* with "**f**": of. See Pronunciation exercises: "of" vs "off"
* with "**ph**": nephew /ˈnefjuː/ or /ˈnevjuː/, Stephen

## Plurals

Several plurals of words ending in /f/ are spelled with "ves" and pronounced /vz/.

* knife – knives; life – lives; loaf – loaves; wife – wives;

Note the following: beliefs, chiefs, gulfs, proofs, roofs. The plural of dwarf can be dwarfs or dwarves.

## /v/ devoicing

/v/ can be changed to /f/ in very common phrases:

* the modal verb “have to” *(meaning “must”)* can be pronounced /ˈhæv tə/ or /ˈhæf tə/
* “of course” can be pronounced /əv kɔːrs/ or /əf kɔːrs/

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

There is no /v/ in Spanish, and "v" sounds /b/. This means that Spanish speakers will confuse "ban" and "van", "vowel" and "bowel". Also they will normally pronounce "of" like "off".

In Spanish "nv" is pronounced /mb/. This mean they may pronounce ""in view" like "imbue".
Also, it is difficult for them to pronounce "circumvent".

## See also

* Decoding the letter V
* IPA phoneme /b/
* IPA phoneme /f/
* Pronunciation exercises: /b/ vs /v/

## External links

* British Library, Received Pronunciation consonant sounds
Decoding exercises: "eu"

The sequence "eu" very reliably represents IPA phonetic sequence /juː/ or IPA phoneme /uː/, depending on the previous consonant. If the following consonant is "r" then it normally represents IPA phonetic sequence /jʊə/ or IPA phoneme /ʊə/.

## At the beginning of the word "eu" sounds /juː/ or /jʊə/

* /juː/: eulogy, euphemism, euphoric
* /jʊə/: euro, Europe, European

## After /b, f, g, h, k, m, p, v/ "eu" sounds /juː/ or /jʊə/

* /juː/: feudal, queue, therapeutic
* /jʊə/: heuristic

## After /d, n, s, t, θ, z/ "eu" sounds /juː/,*BrE* /jʊə/,*BrE* /uː/*AmE* or /ʊə/*AmE*

* /juː,*BrE* uː/*AmE*: deuteronomy - maneuver*AmE* - manoeuvre*BrE* - neutral - neutron - pharmaceutical - pneumonia - pseudonym
* /jʊə,*BrE* ʊə/*AmE*: neuron, neurotic

## After /dʒ, l, r, ʃ, tʃ, ʒ/ "eu" sounds /uː/ (or /ʊə/)

* /uː/: leukaemia*BrE* - leukemia*AmE* - rheumatism

## Other pronunciations

* amateur: /ˈæmətər, ˈæmətʃər/
* chauffeur: /ˈʃəʊfər, ʃəʊˈfɜr*AmE*/
* pasteurise,*BrE* pasteurize: /ˈpɑːstʃəraɪz,*BrE* ˈpæstʃəraɪz*AmE*/

## Different syllables

* Silent e: closeup - makeup
* /iːə/: museum
* /iːjuː/: reuse
Mary-marry-merry merger

In most of the United States and Canada /eə/ is merged with /æ/ and with /e/. For 57% of American and Canadian speakers *Mary*, *merry* and *marry* are homophones. In others *marry* is distinct (9%) and in others *merry* is distinct (16%). Outside of North America (and also for 17% of Canadian and Americans) all three phonemes are distinct.

Since there is no distinction between /e/ and /eə/ it can be said that in American English there is no phoneme /eə/, only /e/. However the diphthong [ɛə] is heard when a syllable ends with /r/, as in *square* [skwɛər]. Phoneticians say that /e/ followed by /r/ at the end of the syllable is realized as [ɛə]. In other words, broad notation is /er/ and narrow notation is [ɛər].

Most American dictionaries write *marry* as /ˈmæri/ because it's easy to go from /ˈmæri/ to [mɛri], but it would be impossible to know if [ˈmɛri] stands for /ˈmæri/ or /ˈmeri/ in those places that make the difference (26% of North Americans).

Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary (MWLD) uses three symbols (narrow notation). /ɛ/ for "dress", /e/ for "scary", "carry" and "cherry", and /eɚ/ for "square".

## Homophones or minimal pairs

The following words are homophones in some accents and minimal pairs in others

## References

1. ↑ University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Harvard Dialect Survey (2003), Dialect Survey Results. 15. How do you pronounce Mary/merry/marry?
2. ↑ Wikipedia, Mary-marry-merry merger.
3. ↑ Pronuncian.com, 123: A Merry, Marry, Mary Christmas, December 23, 2010.
4. ↑ John Wells, merry Mary and hairy Harry, 28 December 2010.

## See also

* Pronunciation exercises: /eə/ vs /e/
* Decoding exercises: "arV" and "arrV"
* Decoding exercises: "erV" and "errV"
* Rhotic and non-rhotic accent
Rhotic and non-rhotic accent

**IPA consonants**

English pronunciation can be divided into two main accent groups:

* A **rhotic** speaker pronounces the letter "R" in *hard* and *water*.
* A **non-rhotic** speaker does not pronounce it in *hard,* and will only pronounce it in *water* if the following word begins with a vowel.

In other words, rhotic speakers pronounce "R" in all positions, while non-rhotic speakers pronounce it only if it is followed by a vowel.

None of the above is absolute, and speakers living in regions where one form or another "dominates" may or may not follow the dominant form.

The following table summarizes the rhotic and non-rhotic phonemes of English.

In this wiki the silent /r/ is always written (as in the column "Phonemes"), because it is very simple to delete it. Conversely, it is not always obvious where it can be inserted. In /eə, ɪə, ʊə/ and /ɜː/ it is obvious. In /ɑː, ɔː, ə, aɪə/ and /aʊə/ it is not.

Additionally, and mainly in some rhotic accents in North America, the /æ/ and the /e/ phonemes become /eə/ in the position vowel-consonant-vowel.

## See also

* Decoding the letter R
* Mary-marry-merry merger
Decoding exercises: "irV", "yrV", "irrV" and "yrrV"

**IPA consonants**

The sequence /ɪrV/, where V is any vowel, can be spelled "ir", "yr", "irr" and "yrr".

The following table shows the sounds of these four combinations in a stressed syllable. Unstressed sounds (/ə/ and /ɪ/) are shown in the examples.

## Common words

"ir"
* "i" as /ɪ/: spirit
* "i" as /aɪ/: virus
* "i" as /aɪə/: iron
* "i" as /ɜː/ stirring

"irr"
* "i" as /ɪ/: mirror

## Less common words

"ir" or "yr"
* "i" as /ɪ/: conspiracy, delirious, miracle, mirage, satiric, spirit
* "y" as /ɪ/: lyric, pyramid, syringe, tyranny
* "i" as /aɪ/: irate, Irish, ironic, irony, pirate, siren
* "y" as /aɪ/: gyrate, thyroid, tyrant
* "i" as /aɪə/: admirer, desirable, firearm
* "i" as /ə/: admirable, admiral, giraffe

ening in "ation": admiration, aspiration, expiration, inspiration, perspiration
* enquiry/inquiry

spelling: normally enquiry,*BrE* inquiry*AmE*
pronunciation: /ɪnˈkwaɪəri/*BrE* *AmE* /ˈɪnkwəri/*AmE*
"irr"
* "i" as /ɪ/: irrational, irrefutable, irregular, irrelevant, irreparable, irresistible, irrigation, irritation

## Proper nouns

* "i" or "y" as /ɪ/: Iran, Iraq, Miranda, Syria
* "i" or "y" as /aɪ/: Byron

## Variant pronunciations

* /ɪr/ or /aɪr/: direct - direction - director - directory
* environment /ɪnˈv**aɪrə**nmənt/, /ɪnˈv**aɪər**nmənt/; also /enˈv**aɪrə**nmənt/,*AmE* /enˈv**aɪər**nmənt/*AmE*
* /ɪr/,*BrE* /ɜːr/*AmE*: squirrel
* /ɪr/,*BrE* *AmE* /ɜːr/*AmE*: syrup

## Table "ir" and "irr"

 /ɜːr/ | N/A
 /aɪr/ | spiral, virus
 /aɪər/ | admirer, hiring

## See also

* Decoding the letter I
* Decoding the letter R
* Decoding exercises: "ir"
* Decoding exercises: "irr"
Decoding and spelling exercises: \ʌ\ vs \juː\

## Spelling

U as /ʌ/ is always followed by one or more consonants. In derived words a single consonant is usually doubled (cut, cutting; run, runner).

 "u" followed by a single consonant
 "u" followed by a double consonant
 "u" followed by two or more different consonants
 "u" at the end of the word

## See also

* Decoding the letter U
* So-called “short u”
* So-called “long u”
Voiced and unvoiced sounds

**IPA consonants**

#### Description

First let’s identify some “voiced” sounds. Put your fingers on your throat and say the words *open*, *dog*, *good* and *play*. You should feel some vibration in your throat at the end of these words.

#### Enumeration

Voiced sounds can be described or memorized. For some people memorization is easier than description or deduction.

The voiced sounds in English are all vowels and /b/, /d/, /ð/, /dʒ/, /g/, /j/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /r/, /v/, /w/, /z/ and /ʒ/.

### Unvoiced

#### Description

Now some “unvoiced” sounds. Say *push, shop, black* and *about*. You should feel no vibration in your throat at the end of these words.

#### Enumeration

Voiceless sounds can be described or memorized. For some people memorization is easier than description or deduction.

The voiceless sounds in English are /f/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/, /t/, /tʃ/ and /θ/.

## See also

* Past tense pronunciation
* Pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”
Decoding exercises: "err"

The letter E in the sequence "err" normally sounds /e/ in Received Pronunciation (as in f**e**rry) or /ə/ when unstressed (as in t**e**rrific). In derived words it sounds /ɜː/ (as in pref**e**rred).

In the United States /eər/*BrE* often sounds /er/. General American merges these two phonemes. See Mary-marry-merry merger.

## Common words

* As /e/: error - terrible - terror - terrorist - territory
* As /ɜː/: preferred - preferring

## Less common words

* As /e/: berry - cherry - errand - ferret - ferry - herring - interrogate - merry - sherry
* As /ɪ/: erratic - erroneous
* As /ə/: aberration - extraterrestrial - interrupt - interruption - interrogative - subterranean - terrific
* As /ɜː/: deferred - deferring - deterred - deterring - inferred - inferring - referral - referred - referring - transferred - transferring

## Variant pronunciations

* err /ɜːr, eər*AmE*/ - erred /ɜːrd, eərd*AmE*/ - erring /ɜːrɪŋ, eərɪŋ*AmE*/
* As /ə/,*BrE* /e/*AmE*: blackberry - blueberry - cranberry - raspberry - strawberry
* As /e/,*BrE* /ɜː/*AmE*: deterrent

## /r.r/

Note that in Received Pronunciation only one /r/ is pronounced.

* As /ər.r/: overrate - override - underrate

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary, err

## See also

* Decoding the letter E
* Decoding the letter R
* Decoding exercises: "er"
* Decoding exercises: "erV" and "errV"
Spelling exercises: "ou" vs "ow"

The digraphs **"ou"** and **"ow"** often represent the same sounds (/aʊ/ and /əʊ/). However we can have two conclusions:

* "ou" sonds /aʊ/ more often than /əʊ/
* "ou" is never at the end of the word with either of these two sounds (e.g. "you" and "caribou" sound /uː/).

## As /aʊ/

* with "ou":

* In the middle of the word: about - account - amount - announce - around - background - blouse - bound - boundary - cloud - compound - council - counsel - count - county - discount - doubt - encounter - flounder - foul - found - founder - ground - house - loud - mount - mountain - mouse - mouth - noun - out - outcome - output - pound - profound - proud - round - scout - shout - sound - south - surround - thousand - trout - wound *(verb wind)*

* with "ow":

* In the middle of the word: brown - browse - clown - crowd - crown - down - drown - frown - owl - powder - towel - town - vowel

* At the end of the word: allow - bow *(inclination)* - brow - cow - eyebrow - how - now - row *(quarrel)* - wow

## As /əʊ/

* with "ou":

* In the middle of the word: although - dough - shoulder - soul - though

* with "ow":

* In the middle of the word: bowl - grown - growth - owe - own

* At the end of the word: arrow - below - blow - borrow - bow *(for shooting arrows)* - crow - elbow - fellow - flow - follow - grow - know - low - narrow - row *(line)* - shadow - show - slow - snow - throw - tomorrow - tow - window - yellow

## See also

* Decoding and spelling exercises: /əʊ/ vs /aʊ/
* Decoding exercises: "ou"
* Decoding exercises: "ow"
Decoding the letter L

The letter **L**, lowercase **l** (pronounced /el/) normally represents IPA phoneme /l/. For examples see IPA phoneme /l/.

In several cases "l" is silent, and in some cases it modifies the sound of the previous vowel.

* "al" as /ɔː/: talk - walk
* "al" as /ɑː/: almond - balm - palm - psalm
* "al" as /ɑː/*BrE* or /æ/:*AmE* calf - half
* "al" as /æ/: salmon /ˈsæmən/ but salmonella /ˌsælməˈnelə/
* "ol" as /əʊ/: folklore - Sherlock H**ol**mes - Stockholm /ˈstɒk həʊm, ˈstɒk həʊlm/
* "ol" as /ə/: Lincoln. *cf. Linkin Park*
* "oul" as /ʊ/: could - should - would

Exception: "l" as /r/

* colonel /ˈkɜːrnəl/

Homophones

* colonel - kernel

In General American: balm - bomb
## Double l

Normally "ll" represents /l/, as in will, really, follow.

"ll" as /ll/ in two different syllables

* wholly /ˈhəʊlli, ˈhəʊli/
* goalless - soulless - wheelless

## See also

* Decoding exercises: "al"
* Decoding exercises: /əʊl/
* Spelling exercises: final "l" vs "ll"
Decoding exercises: "arr"

The letter A in the sequence "arr" normally sounds /æ/ in Received Pronunciation (as in c**a**rry) or /ə/ when unstressed (as in **a**rrange). In derived words it sounds /ɑː/ (as in st**a**rry).

In The United States /ær/*BrE* often sounds /eər/ or /er/. See Mary-marry-merry merger.

## Common words

* As /æ/: barrier - carry - embarrass - marriage - marry - narrative - narrow
* As /ə/: arrange - arrangement - arrest - arrival - arrive - narrate - narrator

## Less common words

* As /æ/: arrogant - arrow - barricade - carrot - parrot - sparrow
* As /ɑː/: barred - barring - catarrh - bizarre - scarred - scarring - starred - starring - starry
* As /ɒ/*BrE*, /ɔː/*AmE*: quarrel - warrant - warrior
* As /ə/: arrhythmia - diarrhea

## Proper nouns

* As /æ/: Harry, Larry

Games of Thrones
In *Games of Thrones* the sequence "arr" often sounds /eər/ (or at least that is shown in *A Wiki of Ice and Fire*). This doesn't happen in normal English. We can speculate that since George R. R. Martin is American he has the Mary-marry merger. Another explanation would be that the writers of *A Wiki of Ice and Fire* have said merger. In any case this would mean that /eər/ is actually /ær/.

* Arryn, Barristan, Harrenhal

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 *A Wiki of Ice and Fire*, Pronunciation guide.

## See also

* Decoding the letter A
* Decoding the letter R
* Decoding exercises: "ar"
* Decoding exercises: "arV" and "arrV"
Decoding and spelling exercises: \æ\ vs \eɪ\

**IPA consonants**

Since the spelling of **/æ/** and **/eɪ/** is often the same, many students confuse these two sounds, even if they are able to pronounce them. For example, the word "catering" is often pronounced as \*/ˈkætərɪŋ/ instead of /ˈkeɪtərɪŋ/.

## Spelling

/æ/ is always followed by one or more consonants. In derived words a single consonant is usually doubled (plan, planned; dad, daddy).

 /eɪ/ | information, make, paper | bass *(in music)* | ancient, strange, table

## Common words

### "a" as /æ/

* before single consonant: **a**verage, b**a**lance, d**a**mage, family, have, J**a**nuary, m**a**nage, n**a**tional, n**a**tural, st**a**ndard, value, travel
* before two consonants: **a**bsolutely, action, **a**ctually, angry, aspect, capture, ch**a**mpagne, contract, factor, financial, handle, practice, transport
* misleading silent e: cache, have

### "a" as /eɪ/

* before a single consonant: agency, baby, basic, behavior,*AmE* behaviour,*BrE* education, information, label, major, nature, paper, patient, situation
* before two consonants and silent e: able, acre, arrange, cable, change, range, strange, table, taste
* other: ancient, apron, chamber, champ**a**gne, danger, fr**a**grance, tasty

## Minimal pairs

* act - ached; add - aid; back - bake; bran - brain; cat - Kate; clam - claim; fact - faked; fat - fate; hat - hate; jams - James; lack - lake; mad - made/maid; man - main; mat - mate; pal - pale; pants - paints; plan - plane/plain; ran - rain; rat - rate; Sam - same; span - Spain; stack - stake; stand - stained; tax - takes; van - vain/vein/vane;

## Variant pronunciations

* apricot /ˈeɪprɪkɒt,*BrE* ˈæprɪkɒt*AmE*/
* data /ˈdeɪtə, ˈdɑːtə,*BrE* ˈdætə*AmE*/
* expatriate /ˌeksˈpætrɪət,*BrE* ˌeksˈpeɪtrɪət*AmE* /
* patriot /ˈpætrɪət,*BrE* ˈpeɪtrɪət*AmE* *BrE*/
Decoding and spelling exercises: \əʊ\ vs \aʊ\

The spelling of **/əʊ/** and **/aʊ/** is sometimes the same (as in "ow"). Moreover, "ou" in Spanish sounds [ou] (like /əʊ/ in an American accent) rather than [au]. For these reasons some students confuse these two sounds, even if they are able to pronounce them. For example, the word "tower" may be pronounced as \*/ˈtəʊər/ (or [ˈtowər]) instead of /ˈtaʊər/.

## "ou"

* /aʊ/: about, account, amount, announce, around, background, blouse, bound, boundary, cloud, compound, council, counsel, count, county, discount, doubt, encounter, flounder, foul, found, founder, ground, house, loud, mount, mountain, mouse, mouth, noun, out, outcome, output, pound, profound, proud, round, scout, shout, sound, south, surround, thousand, trout, wound *(verb wind),*
* /aʊə/: flour, hour, our *(unstressed* /ɑːr/), sour. See also Triphthong.
* /əʊ/: although - boulder - dough - shoulder - soul - though

## "ow"

* /aʊ/: allow, bow *(inclination)*, brow, brown, browse, clown, cow, crowd, crown, down, drown, eyebrow, frown, how, now, owl, powder, row *(quarrel)*, towel, town, vowel, wow
* /aʊə/: coward, flower, power, shower, tower

* /əʊ/: arrow, below, blow, borrow, bowl, crow, elbow, fellow, flow, follow, grow, grown, growth, know, low, narrow, owe, own, row *(line)*, shadow, show, slow, snow, throw, tomorrow, tow, window, yellow

## Minimal pairs

/aʊ/ vs. /əʊ/: arouse - arose; clown - clone; couch - coach; drown - drone; found - phoned; loud - load; noun - known; now - know/no; town - tone

## Homophones

* /aʊ/: council - counsel; flour - flower; foul - fowl;
* /əʊ/: grown - groan; know - no; sow - so - sew; soul - sole; tow - toe;

## Heteronyms

*Main article: Heteronym*

* bow: /baʊ/ *inclination* - /bəʊ/ *weapon;* row /raʊ/ *quarrel* - /rəʊ/ *line;*

## See also

* Decoding exercises: "ou"
* Decoding exercises: "ow"
* Spelling exercises: "ou" vs "ow"
Pronunciation exercises: \b\ vs \v\

/b/ is a bilabial voiced phoneme. /v/ is a labiodental voiced phoneme. The difference between /b/ and /v/ is the same as the difference between /p/ and /f/ (voiceless counterparts).

## Minimal pairs

There are very few minimal pairs contrasting /b/ and /v/

* ban - van; bent - vent; berry, burry - very; best - vest; bet - vet; boat - vote; bowel - vowel; curb (v.) - curve; curb*AmE*/kerb*BrE* (n.) - curve; Serb - serve
Pronunciation exercises: \θ\ vs \ð\

The difference between /θ/ and /ð/ is that /ð/ is voiced and /θ/ is not. Even if there are very few minimal pairs, these two sounds are clearly distinct phonemes.

/ð/ is much more common in grammar words and /θ/ in content words.

 Beginning of the word | thorough, through | thank, theory, three
 End of the word | both | bath, health, worth

In grey, lines with very few examples. In green, lines with (relatively) more examples.

### Grammar words

* At the beginning of the word: thorough /ˈθʌrə/*BrE* /ˈθɜːrəʊ/*AmE* - through
* At the end of the word: both - with *(also* /wɪð/)
* In mid position: anything - everything - nothing - something - within*AmE* - without*AmE*

### Content words

* At the beginning of the word: thank - theatre - theory - thermometer - thick - thief - thin - thing - think - third - thirsty - thirty - thought - thousand - thread - three - throw - thumb /θʌm/ - Thursday
* At the end of the word: bath - birth - breath - cloth - death - earth - faith - fourth - growth - health - length - month - moth - mouth - north - south - teeth - tooth - truth - worth
* In mid position: anthropology - Athens - author - athlete - birthday - enthusiasm - Ethiopia - ethnic - filthy - healthy - hypothesis - mathematics - method - monthly - wealthy

## /ð/

### Grammar words

* At the beginning of the word: than - that - the - their - them - then - there - these - they - this - those - though - thus - within *(AmE also* /wɪθˈɪn/) - without *(AmE also* /wɪθˈaʊt/)
* In mid position: although - another - either - neither - other - together - whether
* At the end of the word: with *(also* /wɪθ/)

### Content words

* At the end of the word: bathe - breathe - clothe - smooth - soothe
* In mid position: algorithm - bother - brother - clothes /kləʊðz, kləʊz/ - clothing - farther - father - feather - further - gather - leather - logarithm - mother - Netherlands - northern - rather - southern /ˈsʌðərn/ - rhythm - weather - worthy

Irregular plurals of words ending in /θ/, as /ðz/

* baths - mouths - paths - youths

## /ð/ or /θ/

* booth - notwithstanding - with - withdraw - withdrawal - withhold

* /ð/,*BrE* *AmE* /θ/*AmE*: loathsome - within - without

Several plurals of words ending in /θ/ are irreglular, pronounced as /ðz/. In American English they may be regular, pronounced as /θs/.

* /ðz/,*BrE* *AmE* /θs/*AmE*: baths - oaths - sheaths - truths - youths - wreaths

Conversely, at least one plural is regular in Received Pronunciation and may be irregular in American English.

* /θs/,*BrE* *AmE* /ðz/*AmE*: cloths

## Minimal pairs

There are no minimal pairs with two common words.

* ether /ˈiːθər/ - either /ˈaɪðər, ˈiːðər/; loath - loathe; mouth *(n.)* - mouth *(v. move lips);* teeth - teethe *(to grow teeth)*;

## External links

* Wikipedia, Pronunciation of English "th"
Decoding the letter N

**IPA consonants**

The letter **N**, lowercase **n** (pronounced /en/) normally represents IPA phoneme /n/. For examples see IPA phoneme /n/.

Before /k/ or /g/ it normally represents /ŋ/ as in *ink* /ɪŋk/ or *finger* /fɪŋɡər/. In other cases "n" can optionally be pronounced /ŋ/ as in an alternative pronunciation of *income* as [ˈɪŋkʌm]. There are no minimal pairs in which the difference is /nk/ and /ŋk/, or /ng/ and /ŋg/.

Before /p/ or /b/ "n" can be pronounced /m/ as in an alternative pronunciation of *input* as [ˈɪmpʊt]. There are no minimal pairs in which the difference is /np/ and /mp/, or /nb/ and /mb/.

Exceptions

* Silent n: autumn - column - condemn - hymn - solemn

## N in combinations

ng
*Main article:* Decoding exercises: "ng"

* as /ŋ/: hang - hanged - hanger - hanging - hangs
* as /ŋg/: anger - finger - hungry
* as /ng/: See IPA phoneme /n/ § Lack of assimilation
* as /ŋk/: length - strength
* as /ndʒ/: angel - arrange - danger - orange

gn
* as /n/: align - champagne - foreign - sign
* as /gn/: ignore - recognize - significant
* as /nj/: cognac - lasagna*AmE* - lasagne*BrE*. See also IPA phonetic symbol [ɲ]

nn
* as /n/:

To make the vowel short (see Double consonants): connect - dinner - funny - tennis
Prefix "in", with only one "n" pronounced: innovate - innumerable
* as /n.n/: meanness - nonnegotiable - unnecessary - unnoticed - unnumbered

### Lack of assimilation

Normally "nc", "nk" and "nq" sound /ŋk/. For examples of /nk/ see IPA phoneme /n/ § Lack of assimilation.

## Anticipated spelling difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

Spanish spelling requires "mb", "mp", "nf" and "nv"; "nb", "np", "mf" and "mv" are forbidden. For this reason many Spanish speakers will spell \*"cramberry" or \*"circunvent".

## References

1. ↑ Historical Sound Changes - Assimilation
Decoding the letter W

**IPA consonants**

The letter **W**, lowercase **w** (pronounced /ˈdʌbəljuː/) normally represents IPA phoneme /w/. For examples see IPA phoneme /w/.

## Exceptions

* Silent "w" (see also W in combinations, below)

answer - sword - toward /tɔːrd,*AmE* təˈwɔːrd*BrE*/ - towards /tɔːrdz,*AmE* təˈwɔːrdz*BrE*/
* Rwanda /ruːˈɑːndə, ruːˈændə/

## W in combinations

* "aw" normally sounds /ɔː/

awful - draw - law - raw - saw
Exceptions (as "a" + "w"): away - aware - award - Delaware - Hawaii
* "ew" normally sounds /juː/ or /uː/. *See main article IPA phoneme /uː/.*

* As /uː/: blew - brew - chew - crew - drew - jewel - screw - threw
* As /juː/ or /uː/: knew - new - stew
* As /juː/: few

* "ow". *See main article: Decoding exercises: "ow"*

* /əʊ/: know - row - window
* /aʊ/: brown - down - towel
* /ɒ/: knowledge

* "wr" sounds like "r"

wrap - wrapper - wrist - write - wrong
* "wh" in contemporary English in most dialects is identical to "w".

what - wheel - when - where - while - whisper - white - whopper - why
Exceptions as /h/: who - whole - whose
## Homophones

* wheel - we'll; won - one; wrap - rap; wright - right - rite;
* allowed - aloud; blew - blue; chews - choose; claws - clause; flower - flour; fowl - foul; know - no; threw - through;
Decoding exercises: "ss"

In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, **"ss"** normally corresponds to the IPA phonetic symbol **/s/** in words like "class" or "possible". In a few words "ss" is pronounced **/z/**, as in "dessert" or "scissors". In combination with a vowel "ss" is often pronounced **/ʃ/** as in "issue" or "discussion".

## As /s/

* In final position: access - across - address - business - class - cross - discuss - dress - express - guess - less - loss - miss - pass - press - process - success
* In middle position: asset - assessment - associate - assume - essential - impossible - lesson - message - necessary - passenger - possible - professor - successful

## As /z/

*This list is fairly complete (obvious derivatives are not included).*

* In middle position: Aussie*BrE* - brassiere - dessert - dissolve - hussar *(a soldier)* - Missouri - po**ss**ess - po**ss**ession - scissors - Tassie *(from Tasmania, also spelled* Tazzie)

## As /ʃ/

* "ssi": commission - depression - discussion - expression - impression - mission - passion - posse**ss**ion - professional - Russia - session
* "ssu": assure - issue - pressure - tissue

## Commonly confused words

* dessert (sweet food) /dɪˈzɜːrt/ - desert (abandon) /dɪˈzɜːrt/ - desert (dry place) /ˈdezərt/

## Two different syllables

/s.s/

* disservice, dyssomnia, misspeak, misspell

/z.s/ or /s.s/

* transsexual

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following section aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

### Spanish

Beginner Spanish speakers may pronounce "ssi" as /sj/. For example "discussion" can be pronounced \*/dɪˈskʌsjən/, which is similar to Spanish [diskuˈsjon].

## See also

* Decoding the letter S
* Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/
* Advanced decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/

## External links

* British Library, Received Pronunciation consonant sounds
Decoding exercises: "erV" and "errV"

**IPA consonants**

The sequence /erV/, where V is any vowel, can be spelled "er" (as in v**er**y) or "err" (as in m**err**y).

The following table shows the sounds of "erV" and "errV" in a stressed syllable. Unstressed sounds (/ə/ and /ɪ/) are shown in the examples.

 /ɪər/ | material | N/A

## Common words

"er"
* "e" as /e/: American, experiment, very
* "e" as /ɪə/: atmosphere, criterion *(pl.* criteria), era, experience, hero, material, merely, period, series, serious, severe
* "e" as /ɪ/: derive
* "e" as /ə/: characteristic, consideration, dangerous, delivery, generate, generation, interaction, operate, operation, overall
* varisyllabic words, "e" as /ə/ or silent: average, camera, considerable, different, federal, general, interest, liberal, literature, reference, several, temperature
* Silent "e": every

"err"
* As /e/: error, terrible, terrorist

## Less common words

"er"
* "e" as /e/: austerity, ceremony, cherish, clerical, derelict, derivation, dexterity, herald, heresy, heritage, heroism, heron, hysterical, imperative, inherit, merit, numeric, peril, perilous, perish, posterity, prosperity, severity, sheriff, sincerity, sterile, therapy, verify, verification
* "e" as /ɪ/: derogatory, eradicate, erect, erosion, erotic, eruption
* "e" as /ɪə/: bacteria, cereal, coherence, periodic, sphere
* "e" as /ə/: acceleration, adulterate, illiterate
* "e" as /iː/: rerun

"err"
* "e" as /e/: berry, cherry, errand, ferret, ferry, herring, interrogate, merry, sherry, terrace
* "e" as /ɜː/: deferred, deferring, deterred, deterring, inferred, inferring, referral, referred, referring, transferred, transferring
* "e" as /ɪ/: erratic, erroneous
* "e" as /ə/: aberration, extraterrestrial, interrupt, interruption, interrogative, subterranean, terrific

## Proper nouns

"er"
* "e" as /e/: Derek, Eric, Gerald
* "e" as /ɪə/: Algeria, Nigeria
* "e" as /ə/: Cameroon, Peru, Theresa
* "e" as /ə/ or silent: Catherine

"err"
* "e" as /e/: Jerry, Kerry

## Variant pronunciations

* "e" as /e,*AmE* *BrE* ɪə*AmE*/: spherical, stereo
* "e" as /e,*BrE* ɜː*AmE*/: deterrent

## Table "er" and "err"

 /ɪr/ | derive, erupt
 /ɜːr/ | were
 /er,*AmE* *BrE* ɪər*AmE*/ | spherical, stereo

## See also

* Decoding the letter E
* Decoding the letter R
* Decoding exercises: "er"
* Decoding exercises: "err"
American pronunciation vs. British pronunciation

**IPA consonants**

#### Rhoticity

Rhotic and non-rhotic accent: In Received Pronunciation, the letter **r** is not normally pronounced before a consonant or at the end of a word: *car*; *door*; *four*; *hard*; *more*; *start*; *Thursday*; *work*; While American English has non-rhotic varieties, notably in New England and south of the Mason-Dixon line, most  standard American English speakers render the **r** wherever it appears.

In this wiki the silent /r/ is always written, because it is very simple to delete it. Conversely, it is not always obvious where it can be inserted. In /eə, ɪə, ʊə, ɜː, aɪə/ and /aʊə/ it is obvious. In /ɑː, ɔː/ and /ə/ it is not.

#### No correspondence

Several vowel phonemes don't have the same correspondence in general American and Received pronunciation. For example BATH is pronounced with the vowel of TRAP in General American, and with the vowel of PALM in Received Pronunciation. In the following table the words that are in different lines for American English and British English are shown in bold. See also Lexical sets.

In the following cases even if the vowels do not sound exactly the same, there is a one-to-one correspondence.

 /ɔɪ/ | choice

#### Yod coalescence

Yod coalescence is a special case of assimilation. It occurs when a /j/ sound blends with the previous consonant.

 module | /ˈmɒdjuːl/ | /ˈmɒdʒuːl/

(\*) In the word "cordial" we can assume the following evolution: /ˈkɔːrdiːəl, ˈkɔːrdjəl, ˈkɔːrdʒəl/

### Specific

Difference in main stress

 vaccine | /vækˈsiːn / | /ˈvæksiːn/

Difference in secondary stress

 template | /ˈtemplət/ | /ˈtempleɪt/

There are several pronunciation differences which don't obey a general rule.

See also Wikipedia, American and British English pronunciation differences - Miscellaneous pronunciation differences

#### Variant words

This table shows similar words with different spelling and pronunciation. Related words that have a shared spelling are shown in green.

### See also

* American spelling vs. British spelling
* American vocabulary vs. British vocabulary

### External links

* John Wells’s phonetic blog, I don't believe it!, 8 March 2012
Pronunciation exercises: \ʌ\ vs \ɒ\

Depending on their mother tongue (L1)—and in the case of Spanish depending on their country of origin (see IPA phoneme /ʌ/​ § Spanish)—students may have difficulty distinguishing between **/ʌ/** and **/ɒ/**. More often than not, these supposed difficulties depend more on the interference of L1 than on the actual difficulties posed by English, and many, if not most students will greatly improve their pronunciation by simply becoming aware of certain differences, together with a minimum of practice.

## /ʌ/

* with "u": but - fun - just - much - must - number - public - result - run - study - such - sun - Sunday - under - up - us
* with "o": among - another - brother - come - company - cover - done - love - Monday - money - mother - other

Homophones: nun - none; won - one; sum - some; sun - son

## /ɒ/

In General American /ɒ/ is split in /ɑː/ and /ɔː/. See Phoneme /ɑː/ in General American and Phoneme /ɔː/ in General American. In this wiki /ɒ/ means /ɒ,*BrE* ɑː*AmE*/.

* /ɒ/ with "o": got - hot - lot - job
* /ɒ/ with "a": wad - wander - wasp - watch
* /ɒ,*BrE* ɔː*AmE*/ with "o": cough - gone - long - song - strong - wrong
* /ɒ, ɔː*AmE*/ with "a": wallet - want - warrant - warranty - wash
* /ɒ, ʌ*AmE*/: what

## /ɒ/ vs /ʌ/

### /ɑː/*AmE* vs /ʌ/

Received Pronunciation /ɒ/ vs /ʌ/ and General American /ɑː/ vs /ʌ/

* body - buddy; bot - but (strong form); collar - color*AmE*/colour;*BrE* fond - fund; hot - hut; lock - luck; shot - shut; wander - wonder; not - nut;

These words don't rhyme

* bother - brother; font - front;

### /ɔː/*AmE* vs /ʌ/

Received Pronunciation /ɒ/ vs /ʌ/. General American /ɔː/ vs /ʌ/

* boss - bus; gone - gun; long - lung; song - sung;

These words don't rhyme

* cough - tough; gone - done; song - among;

## O and m, n, v, w

Many words that spelled with o and are adjacent to m, n, v or w are pronounced with /ʌ/.

* /ʌ/: above, among, another, become, Colombia, come, comfortable, company, cover, discover, done, from, front, government, love, Monday, money, monkey, month, mother, none, nothing, once, one, some, son, tongue, wonder, wonderful
* /ɒ/: beyond, bomb, bond, involve, model, knock, not, novel, prompt, response, tomorrow, upon
* /ɒ,*BrE* ɔː*AmE*/: gone, on, onto

Ending in "ong"

* /ʌ/: among
* /ɒ,*BrE* ɔː*AmE*/: along, belong, long, song, strong, wrong

Variant pronunciations

* /ɒ, ɔː*AmE*/: donkey

## Variant pronunciations

* accomplish: /əˈkʌmplɪʃ*BrE*, əˈkɒmplɪʃ*AmE*/
* Coventry /ˈkʌvəntriː, ˈkɒvəntriː/
* from /frəm, frɒm, frʌm*AmE*/
* hover: /ˈhɒvər,*BrE* ˈhʌvər*AmE*/
* monetary: /ˈmɒnɪteriː,*AmE* ˈmʌnɪtriː*BrE*/
* of: /əv, ɒv,*BrE* ʌv*AmE*/
* soemebody: /ˈsʌmbədiː, ˈsʌmˌbɒdiː,*AmE* sʌmˌbʌdiː*AmE*/
* was: /wəz, wɒz,*BrE* wʌz*AmE*/
* what: /wɒt, wʌt*AmE*/

## Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

### Spanish

See Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /æ/ § Spanish.

## References

1. ↑ *Dictionary.com Unabridged.* Random House, Inc., somebody.

## See also

* Decoding and spelling exercises: "o" adjacent to "m", "n", "v" or "w"
* Homophones
* Pronunciation exercises: /ʌ/ vs /æ/
Pronunciation exercises: \dʒ\ vs \tʃ\

**IPA consonants**

/dʒ/ is voiced and /tʃ/ is voiceless.

## Minimal pairs

* Beginning of the word: chain - Jane; cherry - Jerry; chest - jest; chin - gin; choice - Joice; choke - joke; choose - jews;
* End of the word: batch - badge; etch - edge; march - Marge; rich - ridge; search - surge

## /tʃ/ or /dʒ/

Some words spelled with "ch" have an alternate pronunciation with /dʒ/.

* sandwich: /ˈsænwɪtʃ, ˈsænwɪdʒ/
* spinach: /ˈspɪnɪtʃ, ˈspɪnɪdʒ/
* Greenwich /ˈgrɪnɪdʒ, ˈgrɪnɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪdʒ/
* Norwich /ˈnɒrɪdʒ, ˈnɒrɪtʃ/

Other
* congratulations /kənˌɡrætʃʊˈleɪʃənz,*BrE* kənˌɡrætʃəˈleɪʃənz,*AmE* kənˌɡrædʒəˈleɪʃənz*AmE*/ The pronunciation with /dʒ/, even if it is recognized by Random House is regarded by some as informal or sloppy.

## References

1. ↑ Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. congratulation.
2. ↑ Charles Harrington Elster, *The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker*, 1999, page 104. Available in Google Books.

## See also

* Pronunciation exercises: /dʒ/ vs /ʒ/
* Pronunciation exercises: /ʒ/ vs /ʃ/
* Pronunciation exercises: /ʃ/ vs /tʃ/
Decoding exercises: "aa"

The letter combination **"aa"** is very uncommon in English.

## "aar" as /ɑːr/

* aardvark /ˈɑːrdˌvɑːrk/
* bazaar /bəˈzɑːr/

## Homophones

* Aaron - Erin. Both are /ˈerən/ in the Mary-merry merger
* bazaar /bəˈzɑːr/ - bizarre /bɪˈzɑːr, bəˈzɑːr/
* baa /bɑː/ - bar /bɑː(r)/. In non-rhotic accent the /r/ is silent before a consonant or at the end of the word.

## See also

* Decoding the letter A
* Decoding written words