Jan 30, 2012 12:02 PM
As most non-native speakers of English know, there are a number of words in the English language that are not pronounced like they are spelled. There are often varied ways to pronounce specific letters and letter combinations. Factors such as these can make learning English very challenging.
Here are some examples of words that are not pronounced like they are spelled. The “s” in some words sounds like a “z.” When a noun that ends with a voiced phoneme (sound) is changed to its plural form, the final “s” is typically pronounced like a “z.” Some words that follow this pattern have been used in this article so far: “words,” “speakers,” “ways,” “letters,” “combinations,” “factors,” and “examples.” This same rule usually applies when an “s” is added to a verb that ends with a voiced phoneme – e.g. “ends,” “runs,” and “reads.” In some instances, there seems to be no apparent rule to explain why an “s” would be pronounced like a “z” – e.g. “busy,” “dessert,” “reason,” “as,” “has,” “those,” and “please.” Some other examples of words that are not pronounced like they are spelled are words with silent sounds like the “k” in “know,” the “p” in “psychology,” the “w” in “write,” the “s” in “island,” the “t” in “listen,” the “c” in “muscle,” the “g” in “sign,” the “l” in “talk, ”the “b” in “climb,” the “e” in “give,” and the “n” in “autumn.” In words that are spelled with an “h,” the “h” is usually pronounced in American English – as in “have,” “hope,” and “ahead.” The “h” is silent in a limited number of words – e.g. “honor” and “hour.”
Some consonants are pronounced in more than one way. The consonant “c” is typically pronounced in one of two ways, based on the vowels that follow it. If it comes before the vowels “a,” “o,” or “u,“ it often sounds like a “k” – as in “candle,” “color,” “curtain,” and “macaroni.” However, if it comes before an “e,” “i,” or “y,” it is often pronounced like an “s” – e.g. “center,” “cinnamon,” “decide,” and “lacy.” The consonant “g” is usually pronounced like the “g” in words like “go” and “good.” Yet, if it is followed by an “e,” “i,” or “y”, a “g” can sound like the “j” in “June.” Some examples include “Georgia,” “giraffe,” “intelligent,” “engineer,” “strategy,” and “college.”
Certain combinations of consonants like “wh,” “gh”, “ch,” and “th” are also pronounced in more than one way. The “wh” combination is usually pronounced like a “w” sound in words like “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “white.” However, in some cases, the “wh” is pronounced like an “h,” for example, in “who,” “whose,” and “whole.” The “gh” combination sounds like a “g” when it occurs at the beginning of words such as “ghost” and “ghee.” It is silent when it occurs before a “t” in words like “daughter” and “thought,” and at the end of words such as “although” and “through.” It is sometimes pronounced like an “f” at the end of words – e.g. “laugh” and “enough.” The “ch” is usually pronounced with an explosion of air – as in “chair,” “choose,” and “China.” In some instances, the “ch” sounds like an “sh,” for example,” in “Chicago,” “chaperone,” and “Chagall.” In order to produce an “sh” sound, a smooth flow of air is required. In some cases, a “ch” is pronounced like a “k” sound – as in “chemical,” “character,” and “chaos.” The “th” – which was featured in last month’s column – can be pronounced either using the vocal cords (as in words like “the,” “this,” “that,” “mother,” “father,” and “breathe”), or without using the vocal cords (as in words such as “thanks,” “thirsty,” “birthday,” “athletic,” “math,” and “truth”).
Two additional combinations of consonants will be mentioned here. When the “ph” combination is pronounced, it usually sounds like an “f”– e.g. “photography,” “pharmacy,” “Philip,” “elephant,” “symphony,” “Joseph,” and “graph.” The “rh” combination sounds like a consonant “r” at the beginning of words – as in “rhythm,” “rhinoceros,” and “Rhode Island.” When it occurs in the middle of a word at the beginning of a syllable, “rh” sounds like a consonant “r” – as in words such as “biorhythms” and “hemorrhage.”
Partly due to the fact that it is often difficult to figure out how to pronounce words in English based on the way that they are spelled, learning to speak English accurately enough to be easily understood can be a particularly daunting task. If you are a non-native speaker of English who feels that your accent is interfering with your ability to achieve your goals, participation in an accent modification program, conducted by a speech-language pathologist, can provide you with the type of instruction that you need to become a more effective communicator.
Celia C. Goldstein, M.A., CCC-SLP holds a certificate of clinical competence in speech-language pathology and is licensed in Tennessee. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University. She has more than twenty-five years of experience as a speech-language pathologist and has had additional training in accent modification. Ms. Goldstein is the granddaughter of immigrants.
celiagoldsteintn@comcast.net 615-776-8674
