ELT HOTSPOT by Gilberto Hernández Quirós

The Phonetic Alphabet in English

Address Phonotactic Rules Certain sounds in English may be quite challenging to be pronounced properly because of the way they are formed when they stand alone, but also because of the position they occupy in relation to other sounds in words and sentences.  Every language has it own set of rules (sometimes called phonotactic rules) governing such features and positions.   Clusters are the combination of different consonant sounds pronounced in unison as a building block.   FINAL CLUSTERS IN THE CALL CENTER   /zd/    erased              caused             advised   /pt/    mapped           stopped           flipped   /kt/    synched           asked               linked   /md/ seemed            performed       confirmed   /ʒd/  changed         arranged          impinged   /nd/   cleaned            explained         turned   /pt/    helped             clasped            stopped   FINAL CONSONANT CLUSTERS IN ENGLISH   1.      /lb/             bulb 2.      /rb/             barb 3.      /bd/            robbed 4.      /gd/            tagged 5.      /ld/             filled 6.      /md/           seemed 7.      /nd/            cleaned 8.      /ηd/            longed 9.      /rd/             marred 10.    /ðd/           bathed 11.    /vd/           lived 12.    /zd/           caused 13.    /ʒd/           rouged

Dr. Tina B. Carver McGraw-Hill Editorial Director

Product Info MUTE Bs As a native Spanish speaker, I've noticed most of our students seem to make mistakes when pronouncing certain words in English that contain a silent letter B.  In Spanish the only silent consonant is H as in "honestidad, haya or helio."  However B must always be pronounced.  There seems to be a clear example of language interference from L1 to L2.   The pronunciation issue that most Spanish speakers face is pronouncing in English the following words that contain that famous SILENT B.   debt /de:t/ doubt /daut/ numb /nΛm/ tomb /tu:m/ limb /lim/ lamb /læm/   subtle /sΛtl/