Resources for Neil Rees' Phonetics classes.

This website is best viewed with Mozilla Firefox. Get it here.

These pages use IPA symbols (like this one - /ə/ - it should be schwa). If you can't see the IPA symbols, then install a Unicode font on your computer - I suggest Gentium which is available from http://www.sil.org/~gaultney/Gentium/.

You can download materials used in the class sessions here. Files are hosted on Sugarsync. You will need to open an account with Sugarsync to view the contents of the folders. Or if you prefer you can download individual files without having a Sugarsync account by following the download link for each file. (That's a bit of a pain though - I suggest you open a Sugarsync account...)

Written materials

All materials are in pdf format. If you don't have a pdf reader on your computer, try Foxit.

• Full course book

Recordings

Recordings are in mp3 format and will open in your browser, or right-click and save to your computer if you prefer.

To open the web folder containing all the recordings, click here. If a direct link below does not work for any reason, please open the corresponding folder and download the file.

Consonants

To open the web folder containing just the consonants, click here

• /s/ & /z/
• "The school's rules" - reading practice for /s/ & /z/
• /b/ & /v/
• /b/ & /v/ in final position
• "Bobby" - reading practice for /b/ & /v/
• /s/ & /ʃ/
• "She sells sea shells"- reading practice for /s/ & /ʃ/
• /ʃ/ & /ʧ/
• /ʃ/ & /ʒ/
• /ʧ/, /ʤ/ & /ʃ/
• /j/ & /ʤ/
• "George & Jerry" - reading practice for /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/ & /ʤ/
• final unvoiced stops: /p/
• final unvoiced stops: /t/
• final unvoiced stops: /k/
• syllable final unvoiced stops followed by another stop: /p/
• syllable final unvoiced stops followed by another stop: /t/
• syllable final unvoiced stops followed by another stop: /k/
• final voiced stops: /b/
• final voiced stops: /d/
• final voiced stops: /g/
• final voiced stops followed by another consonant: /b/, /d/ & /g/
• "David and pub grub" - reading practice for final position /b/, /d/ & /g/
• /d/ & /ð/
• /g/
• "Gregory and Deirdre" - reading practice for /d/ & /g/
• /m/ followed by bilabial consonants
• /n/ followed by dental consonants
• /ŋ/ followed by velar consonants
• /ŋ/ followed by affixes
• minimal sets - /m/, /n/ & /ŋ/
• "John Neville" - reading practice for /m/, /n/ & /ŋ/
• /r/ (in reality/ɹ/)
• final /r/ (/ɹ/)
• /r/ (/ɹ/) in different positions
• "Jerry and Rita" - reading practice for /r/ (/ɹ/)
• th (/ð/ and /θ/)
• "Mr Thatcher" - reading practice for /ð/ and /θ/
• /j/, /ʤ/ & /ʃ/ - minimal sets
• /w/
• /w/ before /u/ and high back vowels
• "Wendy in Warwick" - reading practice for /w/ and /j/
• /h/
• Henry's horse - reading practice for /h/
• glottal stop (/ʔ/)
• glottal stop (/ʔ/) replacing dental stop consonants
• asiprate / inaspirate stops: minimal pairs contrasting initial /b/-/p/, /d/-/t/, /g/-/k/
• contrasting aspirate and inaspirate unvoiced (after initial /s/) stops
• aspirates - minimal sets with /h/, /p/, /t/, /k/
• Peter and Ken - reading practice for initial aspirate stops, /p/, /t/, /k/
• /l/
• final /l/ - examples
• clear and dark /l/ contrasted
• "Bill's school" - reading practice for final /l/

Vowels

To open the web folder containing just the vowels, click here

• /ə/ - schwa, introduction
• /ə/ - schwa, "At the pub"
• Long and short vowels
• /ɪ/ & /i:/ - ship & sheep
• e/ɪ/ & e - bade & bed
• /æ/ & /ɑ:/ - cat & cart
• /æ/ & /ʌ/ - hat & hut
• /ɜ:/ & /ʌ/ - bird & bud
• /ɜ:/ & /ə/ - sermon
• /ɑ:/ & /ɒ/ - heart & hot
• /ɒ/ & /ɔ:/ - cot & caught
• /ɔ/ & /ɑ:/ - ought & art
• /ʊ/ & /u:/ - pull & pool
• /ʊ/ & /ʌ/ - book & buck
• /ʊ/ & /ɜ:/ - cook & kirk
• /əʊ/ & /ɔ:/ - boat & bought
• /əʊ/ & /ɒ/ - bloke & block
• /ʊə/, /ɪə/ & /eə/ - "Tour near there"
• /i:/ & /ɪə/ - fee, feel, fear
• /aɪ/, /ɔɪ/ & /aʊ/ - "Five toy cows"

Phonological features

To open the web folder containing just the phonological features, click here

• initial consonant clusters with /s/ - /sp/, /st/, /sk/
• "Stephen speaks Spanish" - reading practice for initial consonant clusters with /s/
• final -ed (/t/ or /d/) with fricative sounds
• final stop consonant clusters with -ed (/t/ or /d/)
• "Richard" - reading practice for final stop consonant clusters with -ed (/t/ or /d/)
• vowel lengthening before voiced consonants
• assimilation of adjacent consonant sounds
• elision
• epenthesis
• juncture
• linking consonant sounds - laterals & nasals
• linking consonant sounds - stops
• linking consonant sounds - fricatives & affricates
• linking consonant sounds - /r/
• linking consonant sounds - insertion of /w/
• linking consonant sounds - insertion of /j/
• syllable timing: basic stress and rhythm patterns
• syllable timing: more complex stress and rhythm patterns
• stress changing verb to noun
• stress changing vowel quality
• intonation - falling
• intonation - rising
• intonation - fall-rise
• intonation - rise-fall

Contact me

This course is being taught by Neil Rees to teachers from bilingual English sections and other English teachers at primary and secondary schools in Extremadura, Spain.

To contact Neil, write to

(Speaking of St. John 1:14) "'The Word became human' - and spoke Aramaic, probably with a Galilean accent" (Andrew Walls)