A study on the pronunciation errors of some english consonants made by grade 10 students at giao thuy high school, nam dinh

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
************************

NGUYỄN VĂN HÙNG

A STUDY ON THE PRONUNCIATION ERRORS OF SOME
ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY GRADE 10 STUDENTS
AT GIAO THUY HIGH SCHOOL, NAM DINH
Nghiên cứu về lỗi phát âm một vài phụ âm tiếng Anh mà học sinh
lớp 10 trường THPT Giao Thủy, Nam Định thường mắc phải

M.A . MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

Hanoi - 2016


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES
************************

NGUYỄN VĂN HÙNG

A STUDY ON THE PRONUNCIATION ERRORS OF SOME
ENGLISH CONSONANTS MADE BY GRADE 10 STUDENTS
AT GIAO THUY HIGH SCHOOL, NAM DINH

Nghiên cứu về lỗi phát âm một vài phụ âm tiếng Anh mà học sinh
lớp 10 trường THPT Giao Thủy, Nam Định thường mắc phải

M.A . MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hoàng Văn Vân

Hanoi - 2016


CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT
I certify that the thesis entitled “a study on the pronunciation errors of some
English consonants made by grade 10 students at Giao Thuy High School, Nam
Dinh” is entirely my own work for the degree of Master of Arts at University of
Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi. I have
provided fully documented references to the work of others. This thesis contains no
material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in
any university.
Hanoi,2016

Nguyễn Văn Hùng

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof.
Dr. Hoang Van Van for his valuable guidance and kind encouragement during the

development of this study.
I also wish to express my sincere thanks to a foreign teacher and also my
friend: Miss. Oliver Violet Katherine Hermione from the United Kingdom who is
working at Sydney International English Language Institute in Nam Dinh for her
assistance on the recordings and especially for her valuable comments and
suggestions in the data collection procedures.
My thanks are also extended to my students and my colleagues studying and
working at Giao Thuy High School for their enthusiastic help and my colleagues
there for their encouragement and support.
Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they
devoted to the fulfillment to this academic work.

ii


ABSTRACT
This study aims at identifying the most common errors of grade 10 students
at Giao Thuy High School when they pronounce English single consonants. The
study was conducted by recording the participants’ pronunciation of words and
sentences containing the intended sounds. The words and the sentences are taken
from the textbook Tiếng Anh 10 by Hoang Van Van et al (2006/2015). The students
were asked to read the words and the sentences aloud for recording. Then with the
help from an English native teacher, the recordings were listened and analyzed for
errors using articulatory phonetics as the framework for analysis. From the results,
some pedagogical suggestions are offered to improve the English pronunciation of
ten graders at GiaoThuy High School.

iii

CONTENTS
PART A: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1
1.

Rationale ......................................................................................................... 1

2.

Aims of the study ............................................................................................ 1

3.

Scope of the study ........................................................................................... 1

4.

Research questions .......................................................................................... 2

5.

Methods of the study ...................................................................................... 2

6.

Organization of the study................................................................................ 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT .................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................... 4
1.1.

English pronunciation ..................................................................................... 4

1.2.

Phonetics ......................................................................................................... 4

1.3.

Articulatory phonetics .................................................................................... 5

1.4.

English consonants ......................................................................................... 6

1.5.

Errors and mistakes....................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY ........................................................................ 15
2.1.

The informants of the study .......................................................................... 15

2.2.

Research method ........................................................................................... 15

2.2.1. Data collection instrument ............................................................................ 15
2.2.2. Data collection procedures ........................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................................ 20

3.1.

Findings and discussions .............................................................................. 20

3.1.1. Findings ........................................................................................................ 20
3.1.2. Discussions…………………………………………………………....……25
3.2.

Some possible solutions to those errors ........................................................ 32

PART C: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 37
1.

Summary ....................................................................................................... 37

2.

Pedagogical implication................................................................................ 37

3.

Limitation and suggestion for further research ............................................. 38

REFERENCES ....................................................................................................... 39

iv


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURE
Figure: The speech organs of articulators

Table 1: Consonants in English
Table 2: Consonants classified according to place of articulation
Table 3: Consonants classified according to manner of articulation
Table 4: Students’ pronunciation errors on 24 single consonants
Table 5: Error percentage on each consonant sound
Table 6: Errors in pronouncing consonant /θ/
Table 7: Errors in pronouncing consonant /ð/
Table 8: Errors in pronouncing consonant /ʤ/
Table 9: Errors in pronouncing consonant /t/
Table 10: Errors in pronouncing consonant /ʃ/
Table 11: Errors in pronouncing consonant /f/
Table 12: Errors in pronouncing consonant /tʃ/
Table 13: Errors in pronouncing consonant /s/
Table 14: Errors in pronouncing consonant /d/
Table 15: Errors in pronouncing consonant /p/
Table 16: Errors in pronouncing consonant /ʒ/
Table 17: Errors in pronouncing consonant /l/

v


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Nowadays English has become an international means of communication,
an important and compulsory subject in high schools in Vietnam. However,
teaching English in my hometown still faces a number of difficulties, especially,
how to improve pronunciation for students is a big question for teachers in my
school. Although many foreigners have commented “many Vietnamese can speak
English, but only a few of them have intelligible English pronunciation.” In other
words, their communication in English is not always successful due to their poor

pronunciation or mispronunciation. Of all causes, pronunciation errors of English
consonants can be considered the most common to Vietnamese students.
At present I am teaching English to students in a high school in Nam Dinh
province. I realize that they frequently make errors when they pronounce English
sounds, especially English consonants. It is, therefore, very necessary to identify
and help students correct those errors as soon as possible. With the hope that this
study will contribute to improving students’ pronunciation of English consonants, I
decided to conduct the study “a study on the pronunciation errors of some
English consonants made by grade 10 students at Giao Thuy High School,
Nam Dinh”.
2. Aims of the study
The aims of the study are:
- to identify the most common pronunciation errors of consonants made by ten
graders at Giao Thuy High School.
- to offer some solutions to help students improve their pronunciation of English
consonants.
3. Scope of the study
During the process of acquiring English, students often come up against a
number of problems in pronunciation such as consonants, vowels, stress, intonation,
rhythm, linking, elision, and so on. However, in this minor thesis I just focus on

1


identifying the most common errors of single consonants that students at Giao Thuy
High School, Nam Dinh frequently make. Based on the findings, some solutions are
suggested to improve my students’ pronunciation.
4. Research questions
Question 1: What are the most common pronunciation errors of consonants
made by ten graders at Giao Thuy Upper Secondary School?

Question 2: What are possible solutions to those errors?
5. Methods of the study and research instrument
 In order to fulfil the aims as set above, the study uses two main methods:
- Quantitative method: to find out the most common pronunciation errors.
- Error analysis: to analyze the errors collected and to give some possible
solutions to those errors.
 Since the study attempts to find out pronunciation errors of English consonants
that students at Giao Thuy High School, Nam Dinh often make, recording the
participants’ pronunciations of prepared scripts is considered the main research
instrument in this study.
6. Organization of the study
This study is structured into three main parts:
INTRODUCTION, DEVELOPMENT, and CONCLUSION.
PART A: INTRODUCTION – states the reasons of choosing the topic of the study,
the aims, research questions, the scope, the methods and the organization of the
study.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT – consists of two chapters.
Chapter 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW – presents the theoretical background of the
research and introduces some basic concepts of phonetics, articulatory phonetics,
consonants and pronunciation errors that are relevant to the research.
Chapter 2 – METHODOLOY – states the methods employed in the study, research
questions, data collection instrument and research procedures, methodology used
for data collection, and description of the participants.

2


Chapter 3 – FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS – presents and discusses the findings
obtained from the data analysed.
PART C: CONCLUSION – provides a summary of the major findings of the study;

points out the limitations of the study; and make some suggestions for further
studies.

3


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter provides some basic phonetic concepts to bring a common view of the
matter studied. Then it will present an overview of the English consonant system
and examines some key terms relevant to the study.
1.1.

English pronunciation
In order to have an insight into the study, it is necessary to understand the

term pronunciation. It is generally understood that pronunciation refers to the
production of sounds that humans use to make sense. Generally, it includes
segmental and suprasegmental aspects. Segmental features are the particular sounds
of a language (segments) while suprasegmental features are aspects of speech
beyond the level of the individual sound such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing,
rhythm. These are different aspects of pronunciation but all work in combination
when we speak. Regarding the combination of segmental and suprasegmental
features in pronunciation, Jenkins and Setter (2005: 1) provide a clearer definition
of pronunciation:
“Pronunciation involves the production and perception of segmental
(sounds), both alone and in the stream of speech, where they undergo number of
modifications and interact with suprasegmental (prosodic) features, particularly
stress and intonation”.
1.2.

Phonetics
"Phonetics first of all divides, or segments, concrete utterances into

individual speech sounds. It is therefore exclusively concerned with parole or
performance. Phonetics can then be divided into three distinct phases: (1)
articulatory phonetics, (2) acoustic phonetics, and (3) auditory phonetics" (Skandera
& Burleigh, 2005: 3).
Phonetics is a natural science that studies speech sounds or phones (concrete
but unlimited in number): the way in which they are produced (uttered, articulated),
the way in which they are perceived, their physical characteristics, etc.

4


There are three main areas of phonetics: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics,
auditory phonetics.
(Extracted from the lecture notes of Dr. Nguyễn Huy Kỷ)
Phonology is the study or description of the distinctive sound units
(phonemes) of a language and their relationship to one another. It involves studying
a language to determine its distinctive sounds and to establish a set of rules that
describe the set of changes that take place in these sounds when they occur in
different relationships with other sounds. The subject of phonology includes the
following areas:
- Study of the phonemic system
- Phoneme sequences and syllable structure
- Suprasegmental phonology (stress, intonation)
As my study takes the Vietnamese learners' problems in pronouncing English
consonants into considerations, the review of articulatory phonetics and its features
seem to be of direct relevance.

1.3. Articulatory phonetics
Articulatory phonetics, one of the three main branches of phonetics, is the
study of the organs of speech and their use in producing speech sounds. The term
'organs of speech' refers to those parts of the human body that are concerned in
various ways with the production of speech. A lot of them are only secondarily
concerned with the production of speech – their primary functions have to do with
eating, chewing, and swallowing food, and respiration. Those parts of the body
below (not the lungs) belong to the vocal tract.
The vocal tract is divided into the supraglottal and the subglottal tract
according to Davenport and Hannahs (1998) as shown in Figure 1.

5


Figure: The speech organs of articulators
Articulatory phonetics deals with the major aspects of speech production.
They are the air stream mechanism, the state of vocal cords, the state of velum, the
place and the manner of articulation (Davenport & Hannahs, 1998). On the other
hand, as this study focuses on consonants, particularly on some common consonants
that students often make errors in pronunciation, the manner and the place of
articulation and voicing, the three main features of consonants, are also discussed.
1.4. English consonants
1.4.1. General description of consonants
From the phonetic point of view, consonants are articulated in one of two
ways: either there is a closing movement of one of the vocal organs, forming such a
narrow constriction that it is possible to hear the sound of the air passing through; or
the closing movement is complete, giving a total blockage. The closing movement
may involve lips, tongue, or throat, but in each case the overall effect is very
different from the relatively open and unimpeded articulation found in vowels
(Crystal, 2003). In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a sound in spoken

6


language that is characterized by a closure or stricture of the vocal tract sufficient to
cause audible turbulence.
Consonants, actually, are sounds made with closed or nearly closed
articulations. As a consequence, they tend to break up the stream up speech,
defining a perceptual and articulatory edge, or margin, for a unit (word or syllable
in a word) that includes one or more vowels.
According to Roach (1983), English has twenty-four consonants: p, b, t, d,
k, ɡ, tʃ, dʒ, m, n, ŋ, f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, r, j, w, l, h. These 24 consonants are divided

into different kinds in accordance with three categories, i.e., the degree of vocal
cord vibration, the place of articulation and the manner of articulation.
1.4.2. Classification of English consonants
Most dialects of English have about 24 distinctive (phonemic) consonant
sounds divided according to three different criteria: voicing, place of articulation
and manner of articulation. Details of these are provided in Table 1.
Stop
Bilabial

Fricative Affricative

p, b
f, v

Dental

θˌ ð

t, d

Velar
Glottal

s, z

n

ʃˌ ʒ

Palatal

Liquid

m

Labiodental

Alveolar

Nasal

tʃˌ dʒ

k, g

glide
W

l, r
J

ŋ
h

Sounds that are bold are voiced
Table 1: Consonants in English
In order to form consonants, the air-stream through the vocal cords must be
obstructed in some way. Therefore, consonants can be classified according to 3
types.
According to voicing: (what vocal cords are doing)

7


a. Voiced consonants: are produced when the vocal cords are vibrating.
e.g: b, d, g, v, , z, r, ʒ, dʒ, m, n, ŋ , l, w, j
b. Voiceless consonants: are produced when the vocal cords are not vibrating.
e.g: p, t, k, f, θ, s, ʃ, h, tʃ
According to place of articulation:
(Where the constriction of airflow takes place)
1. Bilabials: are the sounds made with the two lips pressed together or coming
together. They include /b/ - /p/ - /m/- /w/.
2. Labiodentals: are the sounds which are produced with the lower lip touching the
upper front teeth. They consist of /f/ - /v/.
3. Dentals/ interdentals: are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blade of
the tongue touching the upper front teeth. They comprise /ð/, /θ/
4. Alveolars: are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blade of the tongue
touching or approaching the alveolar ridge. They are composed of /t/ - /d/ - /s/ /z/ - /n/ - /l/.

5. Alveo-palatals/Post-alveolar: are the sounds which the front of the tongue

moves toward the area between alveolar ridge and hard palate. They include /ʃ/// - /tʃ/ - /dʒ/ - /r/.

6. Palatal: is the sound which is produced with the front of the tongue coming close
to the hard palate. It is /j/.
7. Velars: are the sounds which are produced with the back of the tongue touching
the soft palate. They comprise /k/ - /g/- /ŋ/.
8. Glottals: are the sounds which are produced without the active use of the tongue
and other parts of the mouth. They are /h/ - //.

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The places of articulation of English consonants are provided in Table 2.
Places

Examples

Articulators

Bilabial

Upper lip + lower lip

p, b, m

Labio-dental

Lower lip + upper teeth

f, v

Dental

Teeth + tongue

, ð

Alveolar ridge + tongue
Alveolar

(Tongue at or near the ridge behind

t, d, n

the upper front teeth)
Retroflex

Palato –alveolar

Back of alveolar ridge + tongue

Join of hard palate & alveolar ridge +

r

ʃ, ʒ, tʃ

tongue

Palatal

Hard palate + tongue

Velar

Soft palate + tongue

Glottal

Vocal cords

j

k, g, ŋ

h, 

Table 2: Consonants classified according to the place of articulation

9


According to the manner of articulation
1. Stops: are the sounds in the production of which there is a complete closure of
the articulators involved so that the air-stream can’t escape through the mouth.
There are two kinds of stops:
a. Oral stops (Plosives): are the sounds which are produced with the air-stream
being stopped in the oral cavity and the soft palate is raised blocking off the nasal

cavity. Then the two articulators come apart quickly and the air escapes through
the oral tract. They are /p/ - /d/ - /k/.
b. Nasal stops (Nasals): they are produced with the air-stream being stopped in the
oral cavity but the soft palate is down so that the air can go out through the nose.
They are: /m/ - /n/ - /ŋ/.
2. Fricatives: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come close
together but there is still a small opening between them so the air-stream is
partially obstructed and an audible friction noise (a hissing sound) is produced.
They are /ʃ/ - /f/ - /ʒ/.
3. Affricates: are the sounds which are produced when a stop is immediately
followed by a fricative. They are /tʃ/ - /dʒ/.
4. Lateral: is the sound which is made when the air-stream is obstructed at a point
along the centre of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or both
sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth. It is /l/.
5. Approximants: are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come
close together but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent that a
friction noise is produced. It is /j/.
The places of articulation of English consonants are provided in Table 3.

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Movement of Articulators

Examples

Complete closure

p, d, k

Oral

Stop
Nasal
Complete closure in the mouth, air
escapes through nose

m, n, ŋ

Fricative

Narrowing, resulting in audible friction

ʃ, f, ʒ

Affricate

Closure, then slow separation

tʃ, dʒ

Lateral

Approximant

Closure in centre of mouth, air escapes
down sides

l

Slight narrowing, not enough to cause
J

friction

Table 3: Consonants classified according to the manner of articulation
1.5. Errors and mistakes
According to Ancker (2000), making mistakes or errors is a natural process of
learning and must be considered as part of cognition. In language learning, making
errors is an inevitable part that cannot be avoided. People cannot learn a language
without first systematically committing errors.

11


1.5.1. Errors
There have been different definitions of errors given by linguists. Ellis (1994)
views errors as follows: “An error can be defined as a deviation from the norms of
the target language”. However, what are the norms of the target language is not an
easy question. An utterance which serves as the norm of educated Zambian English
may not be the norm of British or American English.
Another definition of an error given by Dulay et al (1982) is that “Error is the
flawed side of learner speech and writing, those parts of conversation or
composition that deviate from some selected norm”.
In brief, an error is generally something that is repeated again and again.
Language students can make errors because they do not understand the rules of
grammar, phonetics and they make errors systematically.
1.5.2. Mistakes
A mistake you do once by accident. Students are aware of the grammar but
say the wrong things.

In short, a mistake made by a learner when writing or speaking is caused by
lack of attention, fatigue, carelessness, etc., and can be self-corrected, while errors
result from the learner’s incomplete knowledge.
1.5.3. Types of errors
According to Adrian (1994: 133), mistake is “error” when the learner does
not yet have the criteria for correctness. This is something new that she cannot work
out for herself. There have been different ways to classify errors because
researchers look at errors differently.
Hendrickson (1980: 206) divided errors into 2 types: local errors and global
errors because he focused on the influence of errors on the sense of a sentence or an
utterance. According to him, global errors not local ones could make the sentence
ambiguous or senseless. Duley et al (1982: 53) classified errors relating to their
observable characteristics. For them there are 4 types of errors, namely omission,
addition, misformation and misordering.

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Abbot (1980: 82) divided errors into competence errors and performance
errors. Competence errors consist of transfer, interlingual and induced. Performance
errors include errors of processing problems and errors of communication
strategies.
Pham Dang Binh (2003), in his PhD thesis on Vietnamese students’ errors,
classified errors into two main types: common errors and typical errors. Common
errors are those which are committed by any second language learners when
learning the same target language even when they come from different countries.
These errors normally appear at the beginning of the learning process and consist of
competence errors with errors in phonology, vocabulary and grammar and
performance errors with intralingual and interlingual errors. Errors that are typical
of certain groups of learners who speak the same first language or live in the same

culture are called typical errors. Those errors include two main types: interlingual
errors and culture interference errors.
Richards (1984: 19-27) distinguishes three main major types of errors:
interlingual errors, intralingual errors and developmental errors. Interlingual errors
result from language transfer, that is, which is caused by the learners’ native
language.
However, with their classifications, they showed very little concern about
error types and did not reflect the process of making errors and causes of errors
made by learners as well.
Ha Cam Tam (2005: 9-10) conducted a research involving the most common
pronunciation problems of the students in the English Department of the university
of Languages and International Studies. According to her, the most frequent errors
of Vietnamese learners in pronunciation are sound omission, sound confusion and
sound redundancy.
1.5.4. Causes of errors in language learning
A variety of factors have been investigated to account for the problems
related to English pronunciation faced to foreign learners. Considered the most

13


influential factor, mother tongue inference has been studied thoroughly. As shown
by Kenworthy (1988), Rivers and Temperly (1978), and Chan and Li (2000)
learners’ native language plays an important role in their acquisition. In terms of
English sounds, it was emphasized by two latter researchers that “English sounds
which have no counterpart in the native language will at first be difficult for
students to distinguish”. (p.162).
To sum up, the above studies have revealed the most typical pronunciation
errors made by Vietnamese learners of English. But no research has ever been
carried out to look at school students’ pronunciation errors of English consonants.

This partly explains why in this study an attempt is made to find out the most
common errors in consonant pronunciation of my ten-grade students at Giao Thuy
Upper Secondary School, Nam Dinh province.

14


CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
This chapter is concerned with the research design. It will first provide some
information about the informants of the study. Then it will present the research
method, data collection instrument, data collection procedure.
2.1.

The informants of the study

The informants of this study are 15 students chosen randomly from three classes
of grade 10 at Giao Thuy Upper Secondary School (10A1, 10A2, 10B8). Among
the 15 students, 13 are females and 2 are males. Participants have been learning
English for 8 years (from grade 3 to grade 10) and are using the same textbook
Tiếng Anh 10 by Hoang Van Van et al (2006/2015). Besides, all of participants are
learners in classes which are taught by the researcher. So it was convenient for the
researcher to carry out the study.
Before recording their pronunciation, the researcher did not put any pressure on
informants such as marks, comments or criticisms so that they were willing to take
part in the study which aimed at investigating their common errors in consonant
pronunciation.
One foreign teacher also helped to the research with the collecting of data for the
study.
2.2.

Research method

2.2.1. Data collection instrument
Recording informants’ pronunciation
Recording is undoubtedly the most common instrument for collection spoken
data because it has the obvious advantage of preserving the entire verbal part for
later analysis. Moreover, the writer can stop and play back some parts to see and get
the data more clearly and exactly. These are the reasons why recording is utilized to
collect the data for students’ consonant errors on pronunciation.
The task was designed to record the students’ pronunciation based on the
data extracted from the textbook Tiếng Anh 10. Students were asked to read aloud

15


single words and sentences that contained all twenty four single consonants
scattering in different positions of words: initial, middle and final. These scripts
were taken from seven units: from Unit 11 to Unit 16 of the textbook.

The

researcher intentionally arranged the words and sentences by places of articulation
as presented in Roach (1983): bilabial (/b/-/p/-/m/-/w/) labiodental (/f/& /v/)
dental/interdental (/θ/&/ð/)alveolar(/t/-/d/-/s/-/z/-/n/-/l/)  alveopalatal

/ post-alveolar (/ʃ/-/ʒ/-/tʃ/-/dʒ/-/r/) palatal (/j/)  velar (/k/-/g/-/ŋ/). This

arrangement aimed to help the researcher to identify students’ errors more easily
with logical data.
The researcher prepared a table of 24 single words containing all single

consonants and 15 students coded by numbers from No 1 (S1) to No 15 (S15).
Certainly, each word included more than one consonant, but the author only focused
on one single consonant in each word to know whether they made errors or not.
While listening to the recording, the researcher put a cross (x) in the blank
for the error the students made. Errors were counted manually and quantified for
analysis and discussion (for more details, please see Table 5).
The words that contain English consonants for students to read aloud are
presented in Table 3.
Table 3. Words that contain 24 English consonants
No

Words

Transcription

No

Words

Transcription

1.

bad

/bæd/

13.

provide

/prəˈvaɪd/

2.

make

/ˈmeɪk/

14.

Wine

/waɪn/

3.

photograph

/ˈfəʊtəɡrɑːf/

15.

Van

/væn/

4.

think

/θɪŋk/

16.

They

/ðeɪ/

5.

topic

/ˈtɒpɪk/

17.

difficulty

/ˈdɪfɪkəlti/

6.

piece

/piːs/

18.

Peas

/piːz/

16


7.

nose

/nəʊz/

19.

Lunch

/ˈlʌntʃ/

8.

television

/ˈtelɪˈvɪʒn/

20.

Shop

/ʃɒp/

9.

children

/ˈtʃɪldrən/

21.

Jam

/dʒæm/

10.

rapidly

/ˈræpɪdli/

22.

Yellow

/ˈjeləʊ/

11.

group

/ɡruːp/

23.

Club

/klʌb/

12.

house

/ˈhaʊs/

24.

Better

/ˈbeə/

The sentences that contain 24 English consonants are presented in Table 4.
In these sentences each consonant appears at least 4 times. The sounds in point are
in bold.
Table 4. Sentences that contain 24 English consonants
No

Sentences

Transcription

1.

Pat buys Bill a big pad of paper.

/pæt baɪz bɪl ə bɪɡ pæd əv ˈpeɪpə/

2.

A black bee is picking some pollen.

/ə blæk biː ɪz ˈpɪkɪŋ səm ˈpɒlən/

3.

I remember meeting him on a nice

/ˈaɪ rɪˈmembə ˈmiːtɪŋ hɪm ɒn ə

summer afternoon.

naɪs ˈsʌmər ˌɑːftəˈnuːn/

We went for a walk in the woods

/wi ˈwent fər ə wɔːk ɪn ðə wʊdz nɪə

near the railway.

ðə ˈreɪlweɪ/

I want a photograph for myself and

/aɪ wɒnt ə ˈfəʊtəɡrɑːf fə maɪˈself

my wife.

ənd maɪ waɪf/

4.

5.

6.

Stephen is driving a van full of vines. /ˈstiːvnz ˈdraɪvɪŋ ə ˈvæn ˈfʊl əv
ˈvaɪnz/

7.

I thought Mr. Smith was thirty-three.

/ˈaɪ ˈθɔːt ˈmɪstə | smɪθ wəz ˈθɜːti
θriː/

8.

Something about him makes me

/ˈsʌmθɪŋ əˈbaʊt ɪm ˈmeɪks miː

think he is like my brother.

ˈθɪŋk hi z ˈlaɪk maɪ ˈbrʌðə/

17


9.

10.

11.

It’s exactly twenty- two minutes to

/ɪts ɪɡˈzæktli ˈtwenti ˈtuː ˈmɪnɪts tə

ten.

ten/

They stayed at home and played

/ðeɪ steɪd ət həʊm ənd ˈpleɪd

cards with the children.

kɑːdz wɪð ðə ˈtʃɪldrən/

My aunt likes to watch the film “The /maɪ ɑːnt ˈlaɪks tə wɒtʃ ðə fɪlm ðθ
Sound of Music”.

12.

13.

14.

15.

ˈsaʊnd əv ˈmjuːzɪk/

He's won the first prize for singing /hiz wʌn ðə ˈfɜːst praɪz fə ˈsɪŋɪŋ
folk songs.

fəʊk sɒŋz/

We have a nice apartment in

/wi həv ə naɪs əˈpɑːtmənt ɪn

Northern Avenue.

ˈnɔːðənd ˈævənjuː/

Laura is a really pretty librarian in

/ˈlɔː.rə iz ə ˈrɪəli ˈprɪti laɪˈbreərɪən

the public library.

ɪn ðə ˈpʌblɪk ˈlaɪbrəri/

A massage can be a good measure to /ə ˈmæsɑːʒ kən bi ə ɡʊd ˈmeʒə tə
help you relax.

16.

Does

this

help ju rɪˈlæks/

shop

sell

washing /dəz ðɪs ʃɒp sel ˈwɒʃɪŋ məˈʃiːnz/

machines?
17.

The child wants to make changes in /ðə
his behavior?

18.

19.

20.

21.

ˈtʃaɪld

ˈwɑːnts

tə

ˈmeɪk

ˈtʃeɪndʒəz ɪn ɪz bəˈheɪvjər/

Two jeeps went over the edge of the /ˈtuː dʒiːps went ˈəʊvə ði edʒ əv ðə
bridge.

brɪdʒ/

My father is a breadwinner and

/maɪ ˈfɑːðəz ə ˈbredwɪnər ənd

supporter in my family.

səˈpɔːtər ɪn maɪ ˈfæməli/

Did you use to be a tutor at the

/ˈtuː dɪd ju ˈjuːz tə bi ə ˈtjuːtər ət

University?

ðə juːnɪˈvɜːsɪti/

He can't kick the ball because he’s /hi kɑːnt ˈkɪk ðə bɔːl bɪˈkɒz hiz tuː
too weak.

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