Phonetics

phonetics

1. CHAPTER-1
AN INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS
Introduction
0101. The term ‘Phonetics’ derives from the word ‘phone’ which means an intelligible sound.
A symbol that represents a phone or sound is generally called a ‘phoneme’. Phonemes represent
the basic sounds of a particular language. From phone we get ‘phonetic’ which is an adjective.
The term ‘Phonetics’ denotes to a subject which may be briefly defined as a science that deals
with speech sounds represented by phonemes. It encompasses mainly two aspects of
pronunciation—one, elementary or segmental dealing with vowels, consonants and diphthongs,
and the other –prosodic, dealing with intonation and accentuation.
0102. Homophones. The following homophones from ‘Headway’ (to enable students to listen
to) will not only prove interesting but act as an eye-opener as well.
When the English tongue we speak
Why is break not rhymed with Weak
Won’t you tell me why it’s true?

We say sew, but also few
And the maker of a verse
Cannot rhyme horse with worse

Beard is not same as heard
Cord is difficult from word;
Cow is cow, low is low.

Shoe is never rhymed with foe,
Think of hose and does and lose.
And think goose and yet of chose.

Think of comb and tomb and bomb,
Doll and roll and home and some.
And since pay is rhymed with say.
Why not paid with said I pray?

Think of blood and food and good,
Mould is not pronounced like could.
Why is done, but gone and lone
Is there any reason known?
To sum up, it seems to me
That sounds and letter don’t agree.

Note: Homophones play an interesting and subtle variety that exists between English words and
their pronunciation.

2. 0103. Purpose of Learning Phonetics. These are as follows:

a. To enable us to express clearly, that is to say, to pronounce words correctly
without any distortion so that others may understand us without any difficulty.

b. To enable us to understand, without difficulty those who are in the habit of
speaking English with correct pronunciation.

c. To familiarize ourselves with the internationally recognized phonetic symbols and
their uses so that we can consult dictionaries for finding out the correct pronunciation of
words.

d. Not the least to enable ourselves to create a good impression among the people
around us by our correct pronunciations.

Organs of Speech

0104. Introduction. Phonetics is a subject, which deals with the knowledge of speech
sounds. It is important to know how these sounds are formed and how one should try to produce
them correctly. A preliminary knowledge of the various sound producing organs of the mouth is
a pre-requisite for the purpose. The names of the organs, the way they function and the names of
the sounds produced with the help of them (with examples) are discussed below:

3. 0105. Vocal Cords. These are two thin elastic tissues that lie opposite to each other between
the two walls of the windpipe inside the larynx. They are united at the front and a bit apart at the
back of the windpipe coming out of the lung, cause these cords to vibrate, the sound thus
produced is known as voiced sound, and if the vocal cords do not vibrate or they vibrate very
little, the sound is called voiceless or ‘breathed’ Names of types of sounds produced out of vocal
cords are voiced and voiceless. Examples: voiced- /b/, /d/, /g/ and voiceless- /p/, /t/, /k/.

0106. Lips. Lips are very important organs of the mouth for producing the whole colourful
range of sounds. Lips can take various shapes and positions through which the breath passes to
the outer air. Name of type of sound: Lips= Bilabial, Lip= Labial/ Labio. Examples: Bilabial- /p/,
/b/, /m/ and Labio-dental sounds are: /f/, /v/.

0107. Teeth. The name of the sound it produces is called dental. In this case the tip of the
tongue becomes active and nearly touches the cutting edge of the upper teeth, thereby producing

4. slowly released sound. Examples: /σ/ and /θ/. /θ/ is rather a soft sound to be produced like
something between our ‘থ’ and ‘ছ’ by following the above place of articulation.

0108. Alveolar Ridge. The place between the teeth and the hard palate is called alveolar
ridge, also known as gum. The sound produced out of it is called alveolar. Examples: /t/, /d/, /n/,
/s/, /z/ and /l/.

0109. Palate. The name of the type of sound produced out of palate is called palatal.
Examples: /∫/, /ʒ/, /J/.

0110. Tongue. Tongue is the most important organ of speech having the greatest variety
of movement. It has four parts viz: tip, blade, front and back. Name of type of sounds: no name
because no sound is specifically produced from the tongue, rather, it is a common organ in
producing all kinds of sounds.

0111. Uvula. It is a pendulum like end of the soft palate known as smaller tongue. Name
of type of sound produced out of it is called velar, examples: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/.

0112. Pharynx. This is the space between the back of the tongue and the back wall of the
throat. No sound is produced using this organ.

0113. Epiglottis. This is a very small organ of the mouth which when swallowing, acts as a
lid over the windpipe. It does not, however, play any role in the production of sounds.

0114. Larynx. Popularly known as ‘Adam’s Apple’. It is at the upper end of the windpipe
which contains and protects the vocal cords. No sound is produced out of it.

0115. Glottis. This is the space between the vocal cords. The sound produced out of it is
called Glottal sound. Examples: /h/ (the only sound available).

0116. Gullet. This is known as the food passage. There is no role of this organ to produce a
sound.

0117. Nasal cavity. This is a cavity that remains at the back of the nose. The name of the type
of sound produced out of it is called nasal sound, for example: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

Phonemes and Their Classification

0118. Introduction. Before understanding the classification, we need to understand the
basic differences between a phoneme and a letter. In English alphabet, a letter has its own well
recognized name which hardly bears any similarity with the multiple sounds it normally
produces. But in phonetic alphabet, a phoneme always represents only one particular sound and
is generally known by the sound it produces or, more appropriately by, RP (Received
Pronunciation) numbers as decided by IPA (International Phonetic Association). In English,
there are 26 letters but in phonetics there are 44 phonemes. This is because of the requirement of

5. representing only one sound each by a phoneme in lieu of multiple sounds produced by some of
the letters.

0119. Classification. Phonemes are classified as under:


PHONEMES (44)
↓
---------------------------------------------------------------------
↓ ↓ ↓
VOWELS (12) DIPHTHONGS (8) CONSONANT (24)

Vowels

0120. Pure Vowels. A vowel can be defined as a continuous musical and intelligible sound in
the production of which there is no obstruction in the mouth. It causes the vibration of vocal
cords and is therefore categorized as voiced sound. All the vowels are voiced sounds. There are
12 vowels which are shown in the table below along with their Bengali equivalents and examples
drawn from our day-to-day life. It may be mentioned that the vowels are of two types- long
vowels which are 5 in number and are shown with double dots against them and the remaining
07 are known as short vowels. A table showing the vowels is given below:
PURE VOWELS

RP
Nos

Vowels with their
Nearest Bengali
Equivalents
Examples with
Phonetic
Transcription
Other Examples
1. /i:/ ঈ Sheep =/ʃi:p/ Eat Leave Steal Beach Sleep
2. /i/ ই Ship =/ʃip/ It Live Sit Bitch Slip
3. /e/ এ
Bed =/bed/ Set Letter Bend Ate Slept
4. /æ/ এযা
Bad =/bæd/ Sat Latter Band At Slapped
5. /ά:/
c£OÑ আ
Calm =/kά:m/ Calf Hart Harm Last Guard
6. /ɒ or ɔ/ অ Shot =/ʃɔt/ Cod Sod Shone Stock Knotty
7. /ɔ:/
c£OÑ অ
Short =/ʃɔ:t/ Cord Sword Shorn Stork Naughty
8. /ʊ or u/ উ
Full =/ful/ Pull Look Cook Book Stood
9. /ʊ:/ ঊ
Fool =/fu:l/ Pool Loom Cuckoo Moon Boot
10. /ʌ/ আ Come =/kʌm/ Cuff Hut Hum Lust Blood
11. /ɜ: or ə:/
c£OÑ য়্য
Girl =/gə:l/ Learn Earn First Church World
12 /ə/ য়্য Ago =/ə’gəu/ Affirm Among Away Forge Cadet
0121. Special Points. The sounds to be produced out of the vowels are similar to
whatever we have been normally practicing except the following:

6. a. /i/ and /i:/. By observation, it is found that when we produce short /i/ sound, it
is not strictly /i/, it is rather between /i/ and /e/ as in sit, did etc. The long /i:/ is normally
used in those words which are having letters like /ee/, /ea/, /ei/ etc. For examples: seen,
eat, field etc.

b. /Λ/ and /a:/. /Λ/ normally occurs in words having letters like ‘u’, ‘o’ etc.
For examples: cup, son, come etc. /a:/ normally occurs in those places of words which
have ‘ar’ or ‘al’ followed by other consonants e.g art, harm, arm, calm etc.

c. /ə/ and /ɜ:/. /ə/ i.e. schwa is the shortest and most frequently used sounds in
phonetics. It is neither /e/ nor /æ/ nor / Λ/, it is rather something in between, something
which is clearly nothing. It is also known as a hesitating sound. This is normally used in
initial or final/ terminal places of sounds. Examples: ago /ə’gəu/, among /ə’mʌŋ/, away
/əweɪ/, cadet /kə’det/, forget /fə’get/, paper /peɪpə/ etc. Long schwa is used in such cases
where it is possible to use /ə/. For examples: girl /gə:l/, first /fɜ:st/, church /tʃɜ:tʃ/ etc.
(Tips: letters ‘ir’, ‘ear’, ‘ur’ in words normally take /ɜ:/)

0122. Diphthongs. A diphthong is a sound which is produced by a succession of two vowels
having a gliding between them. The glide or flight originates from the first vowel and moves in
the direction of the second vowel and in the process, the former usually gets more prominence
than the latter. It may be noted that the time taken to pronounce a diphthong is equivalent to that
of a long vowel sound. There are total eight diphthongs which may be divided into three groups,
that is, gliding to /i/, /u/ and /ə/. A table showing the diphthongs is given below:
DIPHTHONGS
RP
Nos
Diphthongs with
their Nearest
Bengali
Equivalents
Examples with
Phonetic
Transcription
Other Examples
13. /eɪ/ এই





Say =/seɪ/ Way Lane Laid Pale
14. /əu/
য়্যউ
So =/səu / Owe
W
Lone Load Pole
15. /aɪ/ আই Sigh =/saɪ/ Why Line Lied Pile
16. /au/
আউ
Bow =/bau/ Power
P
Lounge Loud Bowel
17. /ɔɪ/ অই Boy =/bɔɪ/ Poise Loin Loyed Boil
18. /ɪə/ ইয়্য Bear =/ bɪə/ Pier Lien Here Deer
19. /eə/ এয়্য Bear =/ beə/ Pair Mare Hair Dare
20.













/uə/
উয়্য
Poor =/puə/ Sure Moor Tour Doer











0123. Special Points. Production of the diphthong sounds is similar to whatever we have
been practising except the following:
a. /ei/. This sound is found to be extensively used in places where, towards the
end of a word, a consonant is flanked on both sides by vowels, preferably with ‘a’

7. preceding. Examples: take/teik/, gait/geit/, baby/beibi/ etc. In such places we should
never supplement /ei/ with /e/. ie. e should not pronounce /tek/.

b. /əu/. This normally occurs where there is a letter ‘o’ (and where we often
pronounce ‘o’). Examples: over/əuvə/, so/səu/, pole/pəu/ etc.
c. /uə/. This normally occurs when in words there are letters like ‘oo’, ‘u’, ‘ou’
followed by ‘r’. Examples: poor /puə/, sure/suə/, tour/tuə/ etc.
0124. Consonants. Consonants are those sounds in the articulation of which there is a
complete or partial closure in the mouth or air passage. Some of the consonants are voiced while
others are voiceless. There are total 24 consonants which can be normally articulated by
following three specified terms of reference commonly known as ‘three-term-level description’.
The terms are place, manner and mode of articulation. For examples, /p/ can be described a
bilabial voiceless plosive.
0125. Like vowels and diphthongs, consonants are also known as RPs but without numbers.
Consonants are of 6 types. These are-Plosives (producing explosive sounds e.g. /p/, /b/, /k/, /g/,
/t/, d/), Fricatives (producing frictional sounds e.g. /f/, /v/), Affricatives (producing small
frictional sounds e.g. /t/, /d/), nasals with the help of nasal cavity e.g. /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/, lateral
(producing the sound with air passing through laterally of the tongue e.g. /l/) and semi-vowels
(pronounced as vowels but looking like consonants e.g /w/, /j/). A table showing the consonants
is given below:
ÇONSONANTS
Place

Bilabial Labio-
dental
Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palato-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glott
al
Mode→
------------
Voice/voiced
Less(-) / (+)
----------------
Manner
↓
- + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + +
Plosives /p/
(প)
/b/
(ব)
/t/
(ট)
/d/
(ড)
/k/
(ক)
/g/
(গ)

Affricatives /tʃ/
(চ)
/dʒ/
(জ)

Fricatives /f/
(ফ)
/v/
(ভ
)
/θ/
(থ)
/ð/
(দ)
/s/
(ছ)
/z/
(য)
/r/
(র)
/ʃ/
(শ)
/ʒ/
(জ ও
ঝ এর
মাঝঝ)
/h/
(হ)
Nasals /m/
(ম)
/n/
(ন)
/ŋ/
(ং )

Lateral /l/
(ল)

Semi-vowels /w/
(ও
য়্া)
/j/
(ই
য়্)

8. 0126. Special Points. The following points need special attention:
a. Aspirated Sound. Sounds which take the touch of ‘h’ (i.e to the power-‘h’ like ‘ph’)
with them while pronounced are called aspirated sounds. There are three voiceless
plosive consonants i.e /p/, /t/ and /k/ which are aspirated, particularly, when they occur as
initial in a stressed syllable preceded by a vowel. Examples: pen, ten, cat etc.
b. /f/ and/v/. we often tend to erroneously pronounce these sounds as bilabial
sounds. But it should be actually labio-dental. Lower lip has to be pressed by upper
teeth and an amount of air has to be whispered out. That is how it is to be done. Example:
fat, vat etc.
c. /dʒ/ /z//ʒ/. /dʒ/ is used when there are letters ‘j’ or ‘dj’ in a word as in jet,
Adjective. /z/ is used when there is a letter ‘z’ in a word as in Zoo, Zebra. /ʒ/ is used
where there is letter ‘s’ in a word apparently producing sound similar to /z/ or /ʃ/. In fact,
this sound is between ‘জ’ and ‘ঝ’ and to produce this sound; the blades of the tongue are
placed against the juncture of the alveolar-ridge and the hard palate. Examples: vision,
television, measure, treasure etc.
d. /θ/. The sound is a dental fricative. This is a soft sound. To produce this sound the tip
of the tongue is to be taken only nearest to the cutting edge of the upper teeth and not
exactly touched and that an amount of air is to be whispered out. Examples: thank, think,
death.
e. /r/. /r/ occurs in a word initially, medially and finally. In American English /r/ is
almost always prominently pronounced. The pronunciation of /r/ in British English is
governed by the following rules:
(1) ‘r’ appearing initially in a word or in a consonant cluster is always
pronounced e.g run, tricks etc.
(2) ‘r’ appearing medially or finally in a word is pronounced/ not pronounced
basing on the following considerations:
(a) If flanked by vowel sounds on both the sides, ‘r’ is always
pronounced e.g. parade, beret, accurate etc.
(b) If there is any deviation of the above rule i.e if vowel sound
appears at only one side of ‘r’, ‘r’ will not be pronounced, e.g ‘world’,
‘star’, ‘there’, ‘better’, ‘measure’ etc.

9. f. /tʃ/. This is a single sound appearing in the form of a diagraph (in fact one
of the only two diagraphs in consonants, the other being/dʒ/). We should be careful while
producing this palate-alveolar sound. We should not make like ‘s’ which is an alveolar
sound.
g. /j/. This is called a semi-vowel, because in sound, this is vowel like while, in
use, this is consonantal. It is, however, important to note that word starting with ‘y’ must
be transcribed with /j/.
Tongue Twisters
0127. Introduction. By tongue twisters we mean the type of expressions and sounds (put
together) in the production of which our tongue appears to be twisted or they experience
difficulty. Examples: She sells sea shells at the sea shore, beaded bubbles brinking at the brim,
etc. The purpose of this lesson is to help learners remove regional problems in pronunciation.
This lesson is introduced keeping in view the fact that people of some parts of our country
cannot correctly produce some particular sounds. For example, people of Rajshahi and
Chapainawabgong cannot produce /ʃ/ sound, (instead, they say /s/). People of North Bengal
cannot correctly produce /tʃ/ sound (instead, they seem to be saying /s/ as in case of chair), some
people of Eastern and Central part of our country also cannot correctly produce /v/ and /b/
sounds.
0128. Mode of Conduct. These are as follows:
a. Those who have these regional problems should be first advised to correctly
identify their difficulty and then set on to help themselves while practising in the
language lab and carefully listening to others.
b. Helping cadets with some tips, e.g. long and short vowels /r/, / dʒ /, /ʒ/ etc.
c. Making cadets carefully listen to the model reading, record their voice and listen
to their own recording.
d. Monitoring by instructors.
Accentuation
0129. Introduction. The act of putting accent or stress on a particular syllable in a word
is called accentuation. This accent or stress is,infact, a kind of push or puff of air that comes out
of our chest-wall and manifests itself in the form of various gestures through our head, shoulders
and hands. This act of putting stress makes Bangla and English pronunciation different from
each other, because as it is said, Bangla is a flat language and English a stressed one. Whenever
we have word consisting of more than one syllable, we must put stress on one of them.
Otherwise, it would not be English being pronounced; rather it would be termed as Bangla type
English. So, while pronouncing English, we must be very particular about it.

10. 0130. Types of Accents. There are mainly two types of accents as follow:
(a) Primary Accent/Stress. It is shown by a small vertical mark (‘) on the top and
at the beginning of a syllable.
(b) Secondary Accent/ Stress. It is marked by a small vertical mark (‘) down the
beginning of a syllable, example: Exami'nation.
(c) Both primary and secondary accents are important. We may at times afford to
ignore the secondary accent but never the primary one. A syllable without primary and
secondary stress is known as unstressed syllable. Stress marks are also mentioned as
‘Term’ (or Tokka) and unaccented syllable as ‘Ti’ (or Tore).
0131. Special Points. Accentuation is also important while writing or reading English
poetry. Here it is called ‘scansion'. Depending on the accentual pattern in the line of a poem, the
terms often used are known as Iambic (Ú), Trochaic (Ù), Anapestic (υυ/), Caesura (//υ) etc.
0132. Rules of Accentuation. As a matter of fact accentuation cannot be learnt through
rules as spelling of words cannot be learnt through the same. However, we can help ourselves by
adhering to the following techniques/important rules:
a. Techniques. Since rules cannot be easily learnt and mastered, we should
carefully mark the accentuation by making use of our ears and eyes when we consult the
dictionary and when we listen to correct pronunciations in the electronic media.
b. A Few Simple Rules.
(1) Cases of Long Vowels and Simple Schwa.
(a) Syllable having long vowels and diphthongs are stressed,
eg.Evening/i:vniŋ/,Pomade /pə'ma:d/, fatal /'feitl/, examination
/ɪgzæ'mi'neiʃn/ etc.
(b) Syllable having only schwa /ə/ is not stressed, eg. Cadet /kə'det/,
Contain /kə'ntein/, etc.
(2) Mono Syllabic Words. It has no stress. These words sometimes
come in a strong form and sometimes in weak form. Mono syllabic words are
mostly auxiliaries which are 34 in number. They appear in the form of auxiliary
verbs, articles, prepositions, conjunctions etc.

11. (3) Di-syllabic Words .
(a) Suffixes like self, selves, ever are always stressed, e.g. myself,
ourselves, themselves, however, whatever etc.
(b) In case of prefixes like pro, re, be etc. Next syllable are normally
stressed eg. Because, Propose, Repeal, etc
(c) In case of disyllabic word is noun/adjectives, stress is placed on the
first syllable, but if the same words are used as verbs, the stress will shift
onto the second syllable.
Examples:
Noun/ Adjective Verb
'Present Pre'sent
'Object Ob'ject
'Decrease De'crease
'Conduct Con'duct
(4) Trisyllabic Words or More.
(a) As in (3) (b) i.e. disyllabic words, if a prefix or prefix like letters
like Be, Re, Im, Un, Sub etc. are used in a trisyllabic words, stress will fall
on the immediately following syllable eg. Be'cause, Re'markable,
Im'possible, Un'fortunate, Sub'ordinate etc.
(b) In case of suffixes like t/s/I, ion, ian, iol, ial, ical, ically, stress will
be placed on the penultimate ie, immediately preceding syllable, eg.
Ope'ration, Super'vision, Civi'lian, Tu'torial, Tac'tical, Theore'tical etc.
(c) In case of ‘ity’ as a suffix, the stress is placed on the anti
penultimate syllable eg. Cu'riosity, Elec'tricity, Cap'tivity, Possi'bilities
etc.
(5) Compound Words. In most of the compound words ( excepting a very
few) stress is placed on the first syllable eg. 'Apple-tree, 'Pick-pocket, 'Teapot,
'Grandfather,'Honeymoon, 'School-master, Exceptions! Good 'morning etc.

12. Intonation
0133. Introduction. The term ‘Intonation’ derives its origin from the word ‘Tone’ and
‘Intone’. The act of adding tone or tune or music while we speak a sentence is called intonation.
This is done by stressing a word as a whole in a sentence depending on its meaning and
placement.
0134. Types of Tune or Tone. It is of three types as fol:
a. Falling Tune or Tune Number-1. It is shown by a comparatively big left-
inclined slant mark (`) at the beginning and top of a word from where the voice starts
with a high pitch and descends to a low pitch. Example: 'Listen to me, 'Shut the door.
You went there, 'Didn’t you?
b. Rising Tune or Tune Number-2. It is shown by a comparatively big left-
inclined slant mark at the beginning and below a word from where the pitch of voice rises
up and does not normally fall down. Example: You cannot do that. Are you married?
c. Falling- Rising Tune or Tune Number-3. This tune is shown by a mark
similar to ‘v’ and is used at the beginning and top of a word which requires a high pitch
and terminates in another high or even higher pitch through a low pitch in between. This
is used to express emphasis, doubt or insistence, e.g.
u
Really?
u
Yes?
u
No! etc.
Elision and Assimilation
0135. Elision. It means eliding or omitting a particular sound when two such sounds
occur together at the end of a word and beginning of the next word, or when the terminal letter
and the initial letter of two words are such as may cause inconvenience. This is done as a matter
of convenience to the speaker. Examples: Last time = Lastime, Bus stop = Bustop, Sit down =
Sidown, Post man = Posman, Handsome = Hansome, Best friend = Besfriend etc.
0136. Assimilation. When a particular sound is not elided but readjusted or replaced by
the influence of another similar neighbouring sound it is termed as assimilation. This is also done
as a matter of convenience to the speaker. Example: Hand kerchief = Hangkerchief, Dogs =
Dogz, Things = Thingz, Horse shoe = Horshshu, Five pens = Fifepens, Red carpet = regcarpet,
good morning = Goomorning etc.
Phonetic Transcription
0137. Introduction. ‘Transcribe’ means ‘write’ and transcription means writing.
Phonetic transcription means writing words or sentences phonetically i.e. by using phonemes and
accent marks (whereas phonemically means writing them only with the help of phonemes and
nothing else). Whenever we write anything phonetically or phonemically, be it a phoneme, a
word or a sentence, it should be always enclosed by slant marks on both sides.

13. 0138. Mode of Conduct. Following should be adhered to during the conduct of the classes:
a. All the cadets should be made to refresh and rehearse their knowledge of 44
phonemes so that they can use them while transcribing.
b. Out of 02 periods, 1
st
period should be used to make cadets transcribe the
following:
(1) Two Bangla Sentences:
(L) k¡q¡ Q¡C a¡q¡ i§m Ll Q¡C,
k¡q¡ f¡C a¡q¡ Q¡C e¡ z

(b) HL n£al pL¡m Ešl q¡Ju¡ A¡l
p§kÑl j¡T c¡l¦e TNs¡ öl¦ qm¡ z
(2) Two English Sentences:
(a) He is an army officer.
(b) Thank you very much.
(3) Six Mixed words (Easy and Hard):
(a) Book (d) Concealment
(b) Tactics (e) University
(c) Civilization (f) Camouflage
c. During the second period cadets should be made to practice the fol:
(1) Writing down the corresponding letters/words of the fol:
(a) /n/ (f) / ʌvn/
(b) /dz/ (g) /’hæns√
(c) / d / (h) /’fæsi/X
(d) /t∫/ (j) /sænwit∫/
(e) /∫/ (k) /∫əutuəkəpI/
(2) Writing down the phonemes of the underlined parts:
(a) Cadet (f) Colonel

14. (b) Bathe (g) Efficient
(c) Angel (h) Young
(d) Bullet (j) Thirteen
(e) Change (k) Adjust
(3) Making all the cadets write down their names phonetically in their note
books as well as on the board (by turn).
d. During the conduct of the two periods, instructors should monitor and randomly
check the task done by the cadets.
Consulting Dictionary
0139. Introduction: Our main purpose is to help cadets learn Phonetics in a manner that
at the terminal point they can easily consult the dictionary by themselves. Obviously, by
consulting dictionary here we mean finding out the correct pronunciations of the required words.
While consulting, following should be taken care of:
a. All cadets have to carry their dictionaries.
b. All phonemes have to be well remembered / rehearsed before consulting the
dictionary.
c. Accent/stress marks should be taken into account.
d. Transcription where ‘US’ is written in bracket should be taken as US
pronunciation. It implies that the pronunciation with which ‘US’ is not written should be
taken as British which is our model.
e. When ‘r’ is given in parenthesis i.e, written first brackets it may or may not be
pronounced depending on the rule relating to the pronunciation of /r/ sound eg.
Better/betar)/
f. When a phoneme particularly/1/is found italicized, it is possible to shorten or omit
that sound while pronouncing the word.
0140. Mode of Conduct: Writing the words-adjutant, cadet, cantonment, captain, oven,
illiterate, pretty, nasty, patient and handsome on the board and asking cadets to write down these
phonetic transcriptions in their note book by consulting dictionary. After the completion of
transcription the instructor will randomly ask cadets to correctly pronounce the words as they
have written from the dictionary and set them correct whenever they are found wrong.

15. Common Mistakes in Pronunciation
0141. Introduction. The purpose is to enable cadets to learn the correct pronunciation
of as many commonly mispronounced words as possible. The words are collected by English
instructors through their close observation of wrong pronunciations commonly made in our day
to day life.
0142. Mode of Conduct: It is as fol:
a. Plan of Teaching. Out of total 06 periods allotted for common mistakes. 1
st
pd
should be used for necessary briefing and generalizations and the 2
nd
half of the 6
th
pd for
evaluation. During the remaining periods/time a total of 1000 words should be drilled.
Last 05 minutes of 2
nd
to 5
th
periods should be preferably devoted to cadets listening to
their own recording and question –answer, if any.
b. Do’s for Students. Apprise cadets about the evaluation during the last period.
A cadet is supposed to listen and repeal a particular word twice and make definite
improvement. While listening, cadets should be advised to mark the following points
very carefully and practice them accordingly:
(1) The difference in pronunciation noticed in the model voice.
(2) Placement of accent/stress on a word having more than one syllable.
(3) In addition, student should be advised to take down as many words as
possible, while practice.
c. Some Generalizations in Pronunciation. In the first period the instructor
should discuss the following simultaneously writing them on the board.
(1) Absence of Dobie Sounds. In case of double letters coming together in
a word, sound of one letter will be omitted e.g. Illiterate, Immoral, Irreparable,
Innate, but exception is when ‘Un’ is used as a prefix with a word starting with
‘n’ eg. Unnecessary, Unnerve.
(2) Absence of Heavy sounds Like ‘gha’ dha, kha. British people are not
used to these kinds of heavy sounds, neither is it there in their language inventory.
So, instead, they produce the lighter form, eg; Ghost=/gəust/, Ghana =/ga:nə/,
Dhaka=/da:kə/, Gandhi=/ga:ndi/ etc.

16. (3) Dropping of /b/ and /d/ from ‘mb’ and ‘dz’ in a word.
(a) Example: ‘mb’-bomb, comb, climb, tomb (/b/ will also remain
omitted even when any suffix starting with a vowel is added ie. Bombing,
Climbing etc.)
(b) ‘dj’- Adjutant, Adjust, Adjective (/d/ will be
omitted giving rise to a hard/dʒ/ sound).
(4) Shortening of Terminal Sounds Like ‘tion’, ‘sion’, ‘tial’ and ‘cious’.
Three kinds of sounds coming at the end of words should be always shortened eg.
‘tion’ should be /ʃn/ and ‘sion’ as /sn/, tial/cious /ʃl/ /ʃs/ etc.
(5) Terminal Sounds Like ‘age’, ‘ege’. ‘Age’ or ‘ege’ coming at the end of
words should be pronounced as /idʒ/ instead of /edʒ/, eg. village, college, etc.
(6) Cases of ‘ted’ and ‘ded’ ‘ted’ and ‘ded’ coming at the end of words
should be pronounced as /tid/, /did. Example: Counted, Dreaded etc.
(7) Production of /tʃu:/ instead of /tʃu/ Sounds. /tʃu:/ should preferably be
used in words where /tʃu/ is normally pronounced. It is because /tʃu/ is a
secondary one. Example: situation, Attitude, Altitude etc.
(8) Case of ‘r’. In American Pronunciations ‘r’ is almost always prominently
pronounced. When ‘r’ appears in words initially and in consonant cluster, /r/
should be pronounced, eg. Rat, strength, but when ‘r’ appears medially or
terminally in a word, it is pronounced only when flanked on both sides by vowel
sounds. In case a vowel sound is only one side ‘r’ will not be pronounced.
Example: Beret, Better, Better off, Measure etc.
0143. American vs British Pronunciations. In American pronunciation, tongue is always
made hollow at the centre while air passes through it. This act of causing air pass through a
hollow passage of the tongue is called ‘Sulcalisation’. This, in fact, makes American sound a
little rolled and, thereby, a little difficult for us to understand. In British pronunciation, the
tongue normally remains flat. Some specific differences between British and American
pronunciations are:
a. British Short vs American Long Sound. Examples: Advertisement, Invitation
etc.
b. Case of a:/ae. Examples: Ask, Grant etc.
c. Case of /r/. {As already expanded in para 2c(8)}.

17. Paragraph Recording
0144. Introduction. This is done to enable cadets to understand their own progressive
improvement of pronunciation ability over the terms. Paragraphs are designed and prepared in a
manner that they incorporate important phonetic requirements.
0145. Mode of Conduct. The class will be conducted in the following manner:
a. Reminding the cadets about its evaluation in the third mid- term exam and
arguing upon them to make definite improvement every time they go for recording.
b. Allowing the cadets to listen to their previous recording.
c. Making cadets listen to model reading through existing system.
d. Giving away/ reminding of some tips by the instructor regarding /dʒ /, /z/, /ʒ/, /r/,
/θ/, /ʃ/, /v/, /tʃ/ etc.
e. Making cadets rehearse the given paragraph for 5 minutes, (without recording)
keeping in mind the model reading and the tips received from the instructor.
f. Allowing three minutes time for recording the paragraph.
g. After 3 minutes i.e. after the recording of all cadets is complete, enabling them to
listen to their last recording.
h. Question- answers, if any.
Spoken English
0146. Introduction. Spoken English has been introduced in BMA from 47 BMA Long
Course. Presently, there are 06 pds on it, which have replaced the same number of oral training
i.e. PS/Debate pds in the final term. The aim of PS/Debate/Discussion cls and that of Phonetics
cls are different, so is the case of Spoken English cls to be precise. These cls are aimed at helping
cdts to prac bilateral conversation on various familiar situations and thereby, achieve a kind of
perfection on the subj.
0147. Modus Operandi. Mode of conduct of these cls will be as fol:
a. Pairing the cdts present in the language lab and briefing them as to the purpose
number and lessons of Spoken English cls. Cls will be conducted unit wise.Total unit
numbers being 6.
b. Issuing each of them with a précis made on this subj in the cls and getting them
back after the cl is over.
c. Making them listen to the model voice centrally.
d. After that, giving them dry rehearsal for 03 mins.

18. e. Then drilling a particular unit through the consoles for 05 mins (may be 2/3 times)
by pressing the ‘SPEAK’ button.
f. After that they should be made to listen to the cassette and repeat and, thereby,
record and rewind and listen to their own voice.
g. While the cdts go on prac and recording, instr should go on monitoring their
activities and setting them correct whenever reqr.