Decoding written words

*Pronunciation* is the ability to repeat a word after hearing it. We call ***decoding a written word*** or ***reading aloud a word*** the ability to pronounce a word while reading it. The inability to read aloud a word correctly is a decoding difficulty.

When teaching children to read, *sounding out a word* means pronouncing each letter (or each phoneme) slowly in sequence. For example "cake" is sounded out as /k, eɪ, k/ and "talk" is sounded out as /t, æ, l, k/. Decoding a word means to pronounce all phonemes at a normal speed. Occasionally in this wiki instead of *decoding* a word we will say *sounding out* a word: "cake" is sounded out as /keɪk/ and "talk" is sounded out as /tɔːk/.

## Dictionaries

Many dictionaries use a standardized system of pronunciation symbols known as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

These are particularly important in learning how to pronounce English. As English contains many vowels that don't exist in other languages, it can be very useful for students to physically "see" the different sound in minimal pairs such as *sit* and *seat* or *see* and *she* in order to differentiate sounds they do not normally perceive.

While some teachers consider it an unnecessary complication to teach students these symbols, others maintain that if the ulterior motive of a teacher is to help students progress by themselves in their language learning, at least an introduction to the most frequently-used symbols is desirable. In this website we think that the IPA is the best way to learn the sounds of a language.

### Phonetic rules

#### Regular verbs

*Main article:* Past tense pronunciation
A large group of words affected by the idiosincracies of English is that of the past tense pronunciation of regular verbs. The past tenses of pick, beg and lift are pronounced /pɪkt/, /begd/ and /lɪftɪd/, i.e. there are three pronunciation for "-ed": /t/, /d/ and /ɪd/.

#### Final **r**

*Main articles*: Rhotic and non-rhotic accent *and* Decoding the letter R

In Received Pronunciation (Standard British English), the letter **r** is not pronounced before a consonant or at the end of a word:
car - care - near - door - cure - fire - sour - sir - letter - start - scarce - weird - north - Ireland - nurse - concert.

It is however pronounced if the following word begins with a vowel. As "final e" is often not pronounced, a word like "more" is reduced to /mɔː/.

However, if the following word begins with an vowel then the "r" is pronounced and attaches itself to the vowel. Hence, "more apples" is pronounced /mɔːˈræplz/.

This is a phonetic rule. This means it applies even if /r/ is not written "r", as in *colonel* /ˈkɜːrnəl/, pronounced /ˈkɜːnəl/ in Received Pronunciation.

#### Final -**s** or -**es**

Main article: Pronunciation of the morpheme “-s”
The final **s** or **es** of plural nouns, the **possessive ’s** and verbs in the **third person singular** have three different pronunciations, as follows:

* /s/ after /p/, /k/, /t/, etc.: stops – books – Bert’s

* /z/ after /n/, /d/, /m/, /v/, etc.: opens – beds – Sam’s – goes

* /ɪz/ after /tʃ/, /ʃ/, /s/, etc.: watches – dishes – Alice’s - garages

**Note**: In most of the words ending in the letter **s**, it is pronounced /z/: *plays* /pleɪz/; *raise* /reɪz/; *rise* /raɪz/ (see above) and also Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/.

### Orthographic rules

#### ce, ci, cy

*Main article:* Decoding the letter C

* In most of the words having the sequences **ce, ci, cy**, the letter "c" is pronounced /s/: bicycle - city - place - race - rice

There are many exceptions in which "ce" or "ci" are pronounced /ʃ/ (ocean, social, sufficient). In very few cases "c" followed by "e" is pronounced /k/: sceptic*BrE* /ˈskeptɪk/ (skeptic)*AmE* - soccer /ˈsɒkər/.

#### Magic **e**

*Main article: Magic e*

The magic **e** is not pronounced, but instead influences the the sound of the preceding vowel letter, so that it is pronounced like the name of the letter in the English alphabet.

* Typical contrasts with and without the "magic e": *rat/rate*; *bit/bite*; *rot/rote*; *met/mete*.

There are exceptions though, and they are listed in the article Silent e. Consider the very common word "have", which "logically" should be pronounced in the same way as *haven* or the end of *behave* or *shave* or *cave*. As another example, many students are confused because *determine* doesn't rhyme with *mine*.

#### Short sounds of vowels

*Main article: So-called “short” and “long” vowels*
In general, the vowel sound in single syllable words ending in a consonant, such as *hat*; *get*; *sit*, *not* and *but*, is one of the so-called "short" sounds: /æ/ (or /ɑː/*BrE*), /e/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/ (or /ɔː/*AmE*), and /ʌ/.

The same so-called "short" sound occurs in most words where the vowel letter is followed by two consonants:

* /æ/: batter, landing, aspect
* /ɑː/*BrE*, /æ/*AmE*: example, giraffe
* /e/: better, rest, ending
* /ɪ/: bitter, sister, winter
* /ɒ/: bottle, hotter, problem
* /ɔː/*AmE*, /ɒ/*BrE*: offer, cloth, lost
* /ʌ/: butter, under, summer

## Some idiosyncratic pronunciations

### Schwa

*Main article:* IPA phoneme /ə/
The most common sound in all varieties of the English language is the schwa. We use it for the vowel sounds in many common words – *about*, *water*, *doctor*, *another*, *America*, where it corresponds to the syllables which do not carry the word stress.

### -**ough**

The combination of letters **ough** has nine different pronunciations:

* /ɔː/: bought, fought, nought, ought, sought, thought
* /ʌf/: enough, rough, tough
* /aʊ/: drought, plough*BrE* (plow*AmE*), bough *(branch of a tree)*
* /əʊ/: dough, doughnut (Am. spelling also "donut"), though, although, borough,*AmE* thorough*AmE*
* /ɒf/: cough, trough *(a narrow box with food or water for animals)*
* /ə/: borough*BrE*, thorough*BrE*
* /uː/: through (US informal spelling "thru")
* /ʌp/: hiccough (also "hiccup")
* /ɒx/ or /ɒk/: lough *(lake in Ireland, same as* "loch" *in Scotland)*

### Silent letters

*Main article: Silent letter*
As a rule, silent letters represent antique pronunciations, though some were introduced deliberately in a misguided effort which attempted to clarify the history of the word.

* B: bom(b) - clim(b) - de(b)t - dou(b)t - su(b)tle - lam(b)
* G: champa(g)ne - desi(g)n - fore(ig)n - si(g)n
* GH: ei(gh)t - li(gh)t - ni(gh)t - strai(gh)t - throu(gh) - wei(gh) - wei(gh)t
* H: (h)onor - r(h)ythm - t(h)yme - w(h)en - w(h)ite
* K: (k)nee - (k)nife - (k)now
* L: ta(l)k - wa(l)k
* N: autum(n) - colum(n) - hym(n)
* S: ai(s)le - i(s)land
* T: cas(t)le - lis(t)en - of(t)en
* W: (w)rite - (w)ho

### Silent syllables

* *bus(i)ness*; *diff(e)rent*; *choc(o)late*; *ev(e)ning*;

See also Varisyllabic words.

### Unwritten sounds

Main article: Unwritten sounds

* could'(ə)ve - eigh(t)th - mechanis(ə)m - (w)one - rhyth(ə)m
* cent(ə)ring*BrE*/centering*AmE*
* Edinbur~~gh~~(ə) /ˈedɪnbrə,*BrE* ˈedɪnˌbɜːrə*AmE*/

### **th**

The combination of letters **th** has two different pronunciations:

* unvoiced (/θ/): thing - think - third - thirsty - thirty - Thursday - bath - birthday - both - earth - fourth - teeth;

* voiced (/ð/): there - father - leather - mother - than - that - the - them - then - this - those - together - weather;

### **s**

The letter **s** can be pronounced as /s/, /z/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/

* /s/: case - goose - loose - obese
* /z/: advise - lose - rose - wise
* /ʃ/: compulsion - sugar - sure - tension
* /ʒ/: measure - pleasure - vision

See also Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/.

### Unusual pronunciations of consonant letters

In certain words, consonant letters have unusual pronunciations: sol**d**ier /dʒ/; enou**gh** /f/; co**l**onel /r/.

### Different pronunciations of vowel letters

All vowels have at least 5 pronunciations. Below there are two examples.

* letter "a" (not counting combinations of vowel letters such as "ea" or "ai"): **/eɪ/**, as in *game*; **/æ/**, as in *hand*; **/ə/**, as in *chocolate*, *privacy*, *about*; **/ɒ/**, as in *what*, *was*; **/ɔː/**, as in *water*, *call*; **/e/**, as in *many*, *any*; /ɑː/ as in start; /eə/ as in *square*;
* letter "u": 7 typical pronunciations: **/ʌ/**, as in *sun*; **/uː/** as in *June*; **/juː/** as in *use*; **/ɜː/**, as in *burn*; **/jʊə/** as in *cure*; and **/ʊə/** or **/ɔː/** and in *sure*. In addition, less frequent pronunciations include **/ʊ/**, as in *put*; **/ɪ/**, as in *busy*, *biscuit* and **/e/** as in *bury*.

## Alternative pronunciations

Apart from the alternative pronunciations existing between American and British Englishes, as in *schedule* /ˈʃedjuːl,*BrE* ˈskedʒuːl*AmE*/ or adver**tise**ment /ˌædvərˈtaɪzmənt /*AmE* and ad**ver**tisement /ədˈvɜːtɪsmənt/*BrE*, even in British English there are several words which people may pronounce differently. In 1981, the BBC produced a guide which set out some of the words which can be pronounced in more than one way. Differences may be in the pronunciation of a vowel, as in the word *economic*, where the first syllable can be pronounced as the "e" in *me* /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk/ or in *met* /ˌekəˈnɒmɪk/; and *privacy* (short i /ˈprɪvəsi/ or long i /ˈpraɪvəsi/), or they can be in the word stress, as in **con**troversy or con**tro**versy.

The following words have alternative pronunciations (or variant pronunciations) both in British English and American English:

/s/ vs. /z/
* absorb /əbˈzɔːrb, əbˈsɔːrb/
* treatise /ˈtriːtɪs, ˈtriːtɪz/

Different stress
* applicable /əˈplɪkəbl, ˈæplɪkəbl/
* princess /ˌprɪnˈses, ˈprɪnses/

Different vowel
* because /bɪˈkɒz, bɪˈkɔːz,*AmE* bɪˈkʌz/
* data /ˈdeɪtə, ˈdɑːtə,*BrE* ˈdætə*AmE*/
* director /dəˈrektər, dɪˈrektər, daɪˈrektər/
* economic /ˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk, ˌekəˈnɒmɪk/
* either /ˈaɪðər, ˈiːðər/
* envelope /ˈenvələʊp, ˈɒnvələʊp/
* handkerchief /ˈhæŋkərtʃɪf, ˈhæŋkərtʃiːf/
* Monday /ˈmʌndeɪ, ˈmʌndiː/
* neither /ˈnaɪðər, ˈniːðər/
* room /ruːm, rʊm/
* vacation /vəˈkeɪʃən, veɪˈkeɪʃən/

Optional consonant
* clothes /kləʊðz, kləʊz/
* forehead /ˈfɔːrhed, ˈfɒrɪd,*BrE* ˈfɔːrɪd*AmE*/
* often /ˈɒfn, ˈɒftən/*BrE* /ˈɔːfn, ˈɔːftən/*AmE*

Optionall syllable
* different /ˈdɪfərənt, ˈdɪfrənt/
* family /ˈfæməliː, ˈfæmliː/

See Varisyllabic words

More than one difference
* finance /ˈfaɪnæns, faɪˈnæns, fəˈnæns/

## References

1. ↑ Crystal, David. *The English Language*. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-100396-0

## See also

* Category:Decoding written words. Exercises that help decode written words

* Decoding difficulties
* Digraph
* Diphthong
* Homophone
* Trigraph
* Triphthong

## External links

* British Council BBC Teaching English: Phonemic symbols
* BBC, Pronunciation tips
* The University of Iowa, Phonetics
* "IPA transcription systems for English", John Wells, 2001.