Daily Pronunciation Exercises

Use the Daily Pronunciation Exercises to improve your clarity and fluency. Practice these exercises first at a slow speed and then at a normal rate of speech.

Use Voice Recorder to record your speech and compare with the models.

Verb Endings

[s] walks, [z] sees, [ɪz] uses, [d] played, [t] walked, [ɪd] rested, and [ɪŋ] talking

Important Vowels and Consonants

[ɪ] and [iy], as in "Sit in this seat". "The three ships' sheep were shipped ashore."
[ɛ] get, met, debt, any, men "Ben and Ken Sanders send better than red sand to the other men."
[ð] for "the", "this", "these", and [θ] for "three", "think", "thanks" "On Thursday Seth will see the three silly zebras sit in this seat."
[r] and [l]: "The loud thunder really rumbled and really roared."
[dʒ] and [y]: "Lemon jello is yellow".
[v] and [w] : “It’s very wet in West Vancouver.”

The “Schwa” [ə]

Unaccented vowels may be reduced to the schwa.

Canada (kan-ə-də); apartment (ə-part-mənt); beautiful (bee-you-də-fəl)
I have a beautiful apartment in Canada.

Fluency Tongue Twisters

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. A peck of pickled peppers, Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Then where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, If a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck what a woodchuck could chuck, If a woodchuck could chuck wood.
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

Stress, Rhythm and Intonation

I've been talking to my boss, I've been talking to my boss. I've been talking, I've been talking, I've been talking to my boss.
The 'tip of the 'tongue at the 'top of the 'teeth, The 'lips, the 'teeth, the 'tip of the 'tongue.
IMPORTANT WORDS areLOUDER, SLOWER andCLEARER.

Pausing and Linking

"Meaning groups" of words are "linked", or "blended" together, with pauses in between.
End consonants link to following initial vowels: "for an hour", "close it again if it opens".
Two vowels link with a "w' or "y": "go on", "so alone", "do it", "the end", "may I ask".
The first of two consonants is not released: "a cold day", "keep talking", "link together".

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