English spelling guidelines - Consonants- Part 1

It’s no news that there is no grapheme-phoneme correspondence in English. This is a feature that makes English pronunciation difficult to acquire for Spanish speakers.

In these notes I try to help Phonetics and Phonology students to  improve their pronunciation accuracy.

I always insist on the idea that “phonology rules are made to be broken” since we often find exceptions to the rules put forward. Nevertheless, it is always useful to remember certain tips. These are the ones I will start sharing with you.

Letter C

1.       “soft c” = /s/(as defined by Collins & Mees:2008)

Most c preceding e: celebrity

                            i : city

                            y : bicycle

        Word-final ce always represents /s/: nice, trace

2.       “hard c” = /k/ (as defined by Collins & Mees:2008)

Preceding a : car, case

                o : collar, cope

                u: cup, cut

The combination of ck: back, stock 

NOTE: Letter C is pronounced /ʃ/ when it appears in unstressed syllables followed by ia: special

                                                                                                                                  ea: ocean

                                                                                                                                  ie: ancient

                                                                                                                                  io: precious

            There are some exceptional cases: pronunciation [pɹənʌnsiˈeɪ̆ʃn̩] society [səˈsaɪ̆əti]

                                                                                                                      

Combination  CH

1.       Usual pronunciation /tʃ/ e.g. chocolate, achieve, beach

NOTE: The combination tch is always pronounced /tʃ/ e.g. watch, kitchen

2.       Words of French origin are pronounced with /ʃ/ e.g. schedule, cheff, brochure

3.       In scientific, medical and other words mostly derived from Greek, the pronunciation is /k/ e.g. ache, architecture, archive, psychology

Letter G (as defined by Collins & Mees:2008)

“soft g” /dʒ/

1.       When g is followed by e: general

                                                i : gist, magic 

                                                y: gym

NOTE: There are many exceptions to this rule, especially in common words such as get, give, begin, eager

“hard g” /g/ (as defined by Collins & Mees:2008)

1.       When followed by a: garden, slogan

                                         o: gold, ago

                                         u: gust, guy

NOTE: margarine is pronounced with /dʒ/

2.       The sequences ge and gue indicate a “hard g” and are silent: league, guess

3.       The sequence ng and ngue  results in /ŋ/: sing and tongue

4.       The sequence ngu results in /ŋɡw/ : language, linguist

5.       The sequence ng in intervocalic position can be:

a.    When the word derives from a verb, it is pronounced /ŋ/: singer, hanger

b.    When it doesn’t derive from a verb, it is pronounced /ŋɡ/: stronger, finger

COMPARE: Longing /lɒŋɪŋ/ from the verb “long” and /lɒŋɡə/ from the adjective “long”               

6.       gh in initial and medial position results in /g/: ghost, spaghetti

7.       gh in final position and the sequence ght  result in /f/ : rough, tough, draught

NOTE: gh can also be silent as in though and daughter

8.       gg can also be pronounced /g/: leggings

NOTE: exceptional cases: suggest /sədʒest/

Combination of th

/θ/

1.       Usually in initial position except for function words: thin, three, thought

2.       In medial position in scientific words: anthem, authority, maths

3.       Usually in final position: both, breath, wealth

NOTE: th can be pronounced /t/ in some few names: Thames, Thompson, Esther

/ð/

1.       In initial position of most function words: the, they, that, there.

NOTE: In the archaic forms: thy, thine, thou, thee, thither

2.       In medial position of most colloquial words: either, mother, other, together

3.       In final position in some words: booth, smooth, with

4.       Final –the is always /ð/: breathe, bathe

Reference:

COLLINS & MEES (2008) Practical Phonetics and Phonology. A resource book for students.Routledge. Oxon.