Chapter 2. Sounds, Spelling and Pronunciation

The alphabet has 26 letters: five vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) and 21 consonant letters. Many varieties of English have about 44 distinct sounds (phonemes), more than the letters of the alphabet, which explains why spelling and sound often differ [13].

Phonemes. Vowels are produced with an open vocal tract; consonants involve some constriction. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) gives one symbol per sound, for example /kæt/ for cat and /ʃ/ for the first sound in ship [13].

Syllables and stress. A syllable has a vowel sound at its centre. Stress places emphasis on one syllable in a word (PHOtograph, phoTOgraphy) and affects meaning (REcord as a noun, reCORD as a verb). Sentence stress and intonation (rising or falling pitch) signal meaning and attitude [13].

Silent letters and irregularity. English spelling preserves older pronunciations and borrowed spellings (knight, island, psychology). Learn patterns, but expect exceptions.

Useful spelling rules (all have exceptions) [3][7]:

i before e, except after c, when the sound is “ee”: believe, receive (exceptions include weird and science).

Drop a silent e before a suffix beginning with a vowel: hope → hoping; keep it before a consonant suffix: hope → hopeful.

Change y to i after a consonant before most suffixes: happy → happiness.

Double a final consonant in a short stressed syllable: stop → stopped.

Plurals: add -s (cats), add -es after s, x, z, ch, sh (boxes), change y to ies after a consonant (city → cities), and learn irregulars (child → children, mouse → mice).

Commonly confused words: their / there / they’re, its / it’s, your / you’re, to / too / two, affect / effect, principal / principle [7][8].

Review: (a) Give the plural of analysis. (Answer: analyses.) (b) Write cat in IPA. (Answer: /kæt/.)