Listening and Speaking: Vowel and Consonant Speech Sounds for JSS 1

Speech Sounds (Vowels and Consonants)

Performance Objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. Identify and classify English speech sounds;
2. Produce correct speech sounds.

Introduction to English Speech Sounds

Speech sounds are the individual sounds made by human beings during spoken communication.

In the English language, there is a difference between letters of the alphabet and speech sounds. While the English alphabet has 26 letters, there are 44 distinct speech sounds. These 44 sounds are divided into two main categories: vowels and consonants. Understanding these sounds helps learners to speak clearly and pronounce words correctly.

English Vowels

A vowel sound is a speech sound produced without any obstruction to the flow of air from the lungs through the mouth.

During the production of a vowel sound, the tongue, lips and teeth do not block the air. The English language has 20 vowel sounds. These 20 sounds are divided into two main groups: monophthongs and diphthongs.

Monophthongs (Pure Vowels)

A monophthong is a single, pure vowel sound that does not change its quality during pronunciation.

When pronouncing a monophthong, the organs of speech remain in a fixed position. There are 12 monophthongs in English. These are further divided into short vowels and long vowels. Long vowels are written with a colon-like symbol (:) in phonetic notation to show that the sound is stretched.

Examples of short monophthongs include:

1. The sound /ɪ/ as in “pit” or “sit”
2. The sound /e/ as in “bed” or “met”
3. The sound /æ/ as in “cat” or “man”
4. The sound /ɒ/ as in “pot” or “hot”
5. The sound /ʊ/ as in “put” or “book”
6. The sound /ʌ/ as in “cup” or “bus”
7. The sound /ə/ as in “about” or “teacher”

Examples of long monophthongs include:

1. The sound /i:/ as in “seat” or “meet”
2. The sound /ɑ:/ as in “father” or “car”
3. The sound /ɔ:/ as in “port” or “saw”
4. The sound /u:/ as in “boot” or “blue”
5. The sound /ɜ:/ as in “girl” or “bird”

Diphthongs (Gliding Vowels)

A diphthong is a gliding vowel sound that starts with one vowel sound and moves smoothly into another within the same syllable.

When pronouncing a diphthong, the tongue and lips glide from one position to another. There are 8 diphthongs in English.

Examples of diphthongs include:

1. The sound /eɪ/ as in “gate” or “play”
2. The sound /aɪ/ as in “my” or “bite”
3. The sound /ɔɪ/ as in “boy” or “oil”
4. The sound /əʊ/ as in “go” or “home”
5. The sound /aʊ/ as in “house” or “now”
6. The sound /ɪə/ as in “near” or “here”
7. The sound /eə/ as in “hair” or “there”
8. The sound /ʊə/ as in “tour” or “pure”

English Consonants

A consonant sound is a speech sound produced by obstructing or restricting the flow of air from the lungs through the mouth or nose.

During the production of a consonant sound, the organs of speech (such as the tongue, teeth, lips or palate) come together to block or narrow the passage of air. There are 24 consonant sounds in English. These sounds are classified based on how the air is obstructed. The five main classes are stops, fricatives, nasals, liquids and semi-vowels.

Stops (Plosives)

A stop is a consonant sound produced by completely blocking the airflow and then releasing it suddenly.

The sudden release of air creates a small explosion sound. There are 6 stop consonants in English.

Examples of stops include:

1. The sound /p/ as in “pen” or “cap”
2. The sound /b/ as in “boy” or “rub”
3. The sound /t/ as in “tea” or “bat”
4. The sound /d/ as in “dog” or “sad”
5. The sound /k/ as in “cat” or “back”
6. The sound /g/ as in “go” or “bag”

Fricatives

A fricative is a consonant sound produced by forcing air through a narrow space in the mouth, creating a continuous friction sound.

The air escapes with a hissing or buzzing noise. There are 9 fricative consonants in English.

Examples of fricatives include:

1. The sound /f/ as in “fan” or “leaf”
2. The sound /v/ as in “van” or “love”
3. The sound /θ/ as in “thin” or “path”
4. The sound /ð/ as in “this” or “mother”
5. The sound /s/ as in “sun” or “bus”
6. The sound /z/ as in “zoo” or “buzz”
7. The sound /ʃ/ as in “shoe” or “fish”
8. The sound /ʒ/ as in “measure” or “vision”
9. The sound /h/ as in “hat” or “house”

Nasals

A nasal is a consonant sound produced by blocking the mouth and allowing the air to escape through the nose.

The soft palate is lowered to open the nasal cavity. There are 3 nasal consonants in English.

Examples of nasals include:

1. The sound /m/ as in “man” or “jam”
2. The sound /n/ as in “net” or “pin”
3. The sound /ŋ/ as in “sing” or “ring”

Liquids

A liquid is a consonant sound produced with minimal obstruction of airflow, allowing the sound to flow smoothly around the tongue.

There are 2 liquid consonants in English.

Examples of liquids include:

1. The sound /l/ as in “light” or “ball”
2. The sound /r/ as in “red” or “run”

Semi-vowels

A semi-vowel is a speech sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel but functions as a consonant in a syllable.

These sounds are also called glides because the tongue glides quickly to another vowel sound. There are 2 semi-vowels in English.

Examples of semi-vowels include:

1. The sound /w/ as in “wet” or “win”
2. The sound /j/ as in “yes” or “you”

Pronunciation Practice

Correct pronunciation requires proper control of the breath, tongue, lips and vocal cords. Practising with similar-sounding words helps to distinguish between different speech sounds.

How to Practise Vowel and Consonant Sounds

The following steps should be followed during pronunciation practice:

1. Sit or stand in an upright position to allow free airflow from the lungs.
2. Listen carefully to the target sound being produced by a teacher or an audio resource.
3. Observe the shape of the mouth and the position of the lips when producing the sound.
4. Repeat the sound slowly, ensuring that the air flows freely for vowels or is obstructed correctly for consonants.
5. Pronounce words in pairs to notice the difference between similar sounds.

The following word pairs show the difference between short and long monophthongs:

1. /ɪ/ and /i:/: “ship” versus “sheep”
2. /æ/ and /ɑ:/: “cat” versus “cart”
3. /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/: “cot” versus “court”
4. /ʊ/ and /u:/: “pull” versus “pool”

The following word pairs show the difference between monophthongs and diphthongs:

1. /e/ and /eɪ/: “pen” versus “pain”
2. /ɒ/ and /əʊ/: “got” versus “goat”
3. /æ/ and /aɪ/: “tap” versus “type”

The following word pairs show the difference between different consonant classes:

1. Stops versus Fricatives (/p/ and /f/): “pat” versus “fat”
2. Stops versus Fricatives (/b/ and /v/): “berry” versus “very”
3. Nasals versus Liquids (/n/ and /l/): “night” versus “light”
4. Liquids versus Semi-vowels (/r/ and /w/): “red” versus “wed”

Summary of Speech Sound Differences

The table below highlights the key differences between vowels and consonants: