#06. Improve Your Pronunciation - Study Session 6

Voiceless and Voiced Consonants

Consonant Sounds /f/ and /v/

[ Click on the image to see it on a large scale! ]

-{ Click ' HERE ' for the transcript of my voice }-

Step 1: Watch the videos - VERY IMPORTANT!

(I've given the transcript for an easy grasp of the speech.)

First, while you are watching a video, make the consonant sound and pronounce

the words as instructed by Alex.

Second, play the video again but this time look at the transcript while listening to Alex.

Again, don't forget to make the consonant sound and pronounce the words.

Voiceless Consonant /f/

(Video 1 - Watch in 'Full Screen')

This is a voiceless consonant.

You can hear it at the beginning of the word ‘fat’ /fæt/;

In the middle of the word ‘coffee’ /ˈkɒfi/;

At the end of the word ‘rough’ /rʌf/;

And, at the beginning and end of the word ‘fluff’ /flʌf/.

Now, did you see how I made this sound? Watch my lip and my top teeth.

Now, you try. Listen and repeat after me.

fat /fæt/

coffee /ˈkɒfi/

rough ./rʌf/

fluff ./flʌf/

Similar Sounds: /f/ and /v/

You may find it difficult to tell the difference between this voiceless sound /f/ and its voiced partner /v/. Listen carefully to hear the difference. .For each example, I shall say the word with the voiceless sound /f/ first.

fan ../fæn/ van /væn/

leaf ./li:f/ .leave /li:v/

off ../ɒf/ ..of ./ɒv/

rifle /ˈraɪfl/ rival ./ˈraɪvl/

Now, you try. Listen and repeat. (refer to the above list)

..........................................................................................................

Voiced Consonant /v/

(Video 2 - Watch in 'Full Screen')

This is a voiced consonant.

You can hear it at the beginning of the word ‘very’ /ˈveri/;

In the middle of the word ‘heavy’ /ˈhevi/ ;

At the end of the word ‘move’ /mu:v/

And, at the beginning and end of the word ‘verve’ /vɜ:v/.

Did you see how I make this sound? Watch my lip and my top teeth.

Now, you try. Listen and repeat after me.

very ../ˈveri/

heavy /ˈhevi/

move /mu:v/

verve /vɜ:v/

Similar Sounds: /v/ and /f/

You may find it difficult to tell the difference between this voiced sound /v/ and its .voiceless

partner /f/. Listen carefully to hear the difference..For each example, I shall say the word with the voiced sound /v/ first.

vault /vɔ:lt/ fault . /fɔ:lt/

believe..l/bɪˈli:v/ ...belief . /bɪˈli:f/

live . .. /laɪv/ ..life . /laɪf/

Now, your try. Listen again and repeat. (refer to the above list)

Similar Sounds: /v/ and /b/

For.speakers of some languages it may be difficult to.tell the difference between this voiced sound /v/ at the beginning of 'very' /ˈveri/ and another voiced sound /b/ which you can hear at the beginning of 'berry' /ˈberi/. Listen: very /ˈveri/ ... berry /ˈberi/.

If you can't hear the difference, look at the difference - watch my lips and teeth: very - berry

When I say 'very' my teeth are touching my lip:..very

.When I say 'berry' my lips are tight together: ..berry

Listen carefully to hear the difference. For each example, I shall say the word with the sound /v/ first.

very ./ˈveri/ .berry ./ˈberi/

vet ... /vet/ ...bet . ./bet/

vote . ../vəʊt/ ...boat ../bəʊt/

vowel /ˈvaʊəl/ ..bowel ../ˈbaʊəl/

Now, you try. Listen again and repeat. (refer to the above list)

..........................................................................................................

SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO

(Video 3 - Watch in 'Full Screen')

Repeat the words and sentences after Maggie. Distinguish the voiceless consonant /f/ from the voiced consonant /v/.

These are the pairs: fine - vine ... face - vase ... folly - volley ... fest - vest ... faif - five.

The sentences: a) Five visitors found favour in Vietnam.

.b) It's a privilege to see such faif furs on the selves.

.c) That Finish fellow rows all over the river.

..........................................................................................................

Step 2: Do this activity - VERY IMPORTANT!

(a ) .Click on the image below for the animation of the speech organs. Watch the mouth,

lower lip and top teeth when the voiceless consonant /f/ and voiced consonant /v/ are

articulated.

Follow these steps if you are not sure where to start from: (refer to the numbers)

1. Click the tab 'fricative' to make all the nine consonants appear first.

2. Click the phonetic symbol of the voiceless consonant /f/ and .you'll see the rest.

3. Click the 'play' button to watch the animation of the voiceless consonant /f/

4. Click the 'radio button' and 'play' button again to watch the articulation in steps.

5. Click the right 'play' button for the front view of the mouth when ./f/ is articulated.

6. Click the 'speaker icon' to listen to the voiceless consonant used in words.

7. Follow steps 1 - 6 to listen to the voiced consonant /v/

(b) . Follow the links to our EC minimal pairs page. Practise saying the words in pairs..

Make a clear difference between the consonant sounds in focus.

Minimal pairs: /f/ and /v/

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs-f-v.htm

Minimal pairs: /f/ and /p/

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs-f-p.htm

Minimal pairs: /b/ and /v/

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs-b-v.htm

...........................................................................................................

Step 3: Your Audio Assignment - COMPULSORY!:

Record .the following as per the instructions given and embed your recorded audio in the

comment box below.

1. .Say the phonemes the number of times they appear.

[Make sure that your lower lip touches the top teeth for both the consonant sounds, /f/ and /v/.

Use a mirror to see your action! Check the animation in Step 2 if you're not sure how it's done!]

Voiceless consonant: /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ /f/ ............ say slowly

Now, say the /f/ rapidly: / .f .f .f .f .f .f .f .f .f .f .f .f ./

Say the consonant sound followed by the word: / f f / feel ... / f f / fine ... / f f / fear.

.Voiced consonant . ..: /v/ /v/ /v/ /v/ /v/ ............ say slowly

Now, say the /v/ rapidly: /v v v v v v v v v v v v/

Say the consonant sound followed by the word: / v v / veal ... / v v / vine ... / v v / veer.

D2. Read the list of words in pairs.

.a) Minimal pairs: voiceless /p/ and voiceless /f/

praise ./preɪz/ ..phrase ../freɪz/

plush ./plʌʃ/ .flush . ./flʌʃ/

supper /ˈsʌpə/ ..suffer /ˈsʌfə/

reaper /ˈriːpə/ .reefer /ˈriːfə/

harp /hɑːp/ half ./hɑːf/

cheap /tʃiːp/ .chief /tʃiːf/

b) Minimal pairs: voiceless /f/ and voiced /v/

fender ./ˈfendə/ vendor /ˈvendə/

focal . ./ˈfəʊkl/ vocal ../ˈvəʊkl/

surfing ./ˈsɜːfɪŋ/ .serving. ./ˈsɜːvɪŋ/

shuffle /ˈʃʌfl/ shovel ../ˈʃʌvl/

brief /briːf/ ..breve /briːv/

strife ../straɪf/ strive ../straɪv/

D3. (A) Read the sentences. (Focus on the consonants /f/ and /v/ - Read each sentence twice)

Forgiveness forms a firm foundation for future fortitude.

Vivian believes violent, violet bugs have very big value.

D4. (A) Read the short paragraph. (Focus on the consonants /f/ and /v/

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and

veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

But the fugitive's fault finding frater, faithfully farming his father's fields for free, frowned at

this fickle forgiveness of former falderal. His fury flashed, but fussing was futile.

" Sample Audio Assignment "
Click on the below 'AudioPal' image! You'll be taken to the actual audio player embedded, not out of the blog, among the comments below. Sorry for the inconvenience, friends!

This Study Session is moderated by G & G: Gabriel | Galina

" You don't need fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn.

You just need people with the desire to better themselves."
~ Adam Cooper and Bill Collage ~

~* GS *~
August, 28th. 2012

Handy Links:

Click HERE to choose a voice recorder and .learn how to embed the player.

Click HERE to check the phonetic spelling or audio pronunciation of a word.

Click HERE to practise your audio assignment with the TTS tool on Audiopal.

Click HERE to go to the 'hompepage' to check previous/future study sessions.

Study Session 5 Study Session 7

Don't forget to click the 'Like' button if you find the posting useful!

Tags: English, Gabriel Sowrian, Pronunciation

16 members like this

Add a Comment

You need to be a member of EnglishClub to add comments!

Join EnglishClub

SpamBuster Comment by Rajesh on September 23, 2012 at 15:31

Comment by Asm@ on September 16, 2012 at 20:27: Hello my dear teacher Gabriel,

I'm wordless,no words can describe my gratitude. Thank you so much for all your kind words and for the fllowers dear teacher.

I'm very well now,thanks for asking .I'm glad to receive all remarks WOOW!! So, I did good job?? I'm very very happy to hear that :D Yes teacher, I realized my mistake I have to confess that I found it little bit difficult to pronunce those two words violet,and vengeance.... thanks for the link.I promise you to pronunce it correctly ..

I'm already preparing for study session 7......

Best wishes fro you!!!

Comment by Gabriel Sowrian on September 16, 2012 at 19:33: Dear Asma,

I’m really very pleased that you could resume participating actively in the study sessions. By the way, how’s your flu? Have you fully recovered? I hope so!

Ok! Let’s see how you’ve faired in your audio assignment. Shall we?

1. I see that pronouncing the voiceless /f/ and voiced /v/ is a piece of cake for you! That’s great!

2. The two groups of minimal pairs pose no problem to you. I’m more than happy!

3. You read the sentences and paragraphs so well. Now, I want you to give special attention to the following words used in the assignment.

                                             - violet

                                             - vengeance

You can listen to their correct pronunciation by clicking on them. The words are linked to online Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary.

Besides that, in sum, you’ve done a very good job. Keep it up! Now you can move on to Study Session 7. I’ll see you there, Asma! Cheers!!

Warm regards,

     ~* GS *~

Comment by Asm@ on September 14, 2012 at 18:51: Hello my teachers,

Record and upload voice >>

Comment by JayVee on September 8, 2012 at 2:16: Ouuuuch, teacher Gabriel... I'm so sooorry I thought you haven't given any comment but actually It's here already. There are many pages here and may be I wasn't that patient, heheh... I'm sorry I'm rarely here lately because of moms' things.

Thank you so much for your kind compliments, it seems too much for me but it surely motivates me to always think about this class :)

Thank you for being keen in showing my pronunciation mistakes, it really means to me. I'll do better next time. I wonder how can you so keen like that? I want to practice to have a better listening...

Thank you ::: Thank you ::: Thank you ::: Thank you ::: Thank you ::: Thank you :::

PS. I also want to say 'hiiiiiiiiiiiii....!!!!!!' to others: Charos, Selma, Anele, Ehab, Rajesh, Ha...

v4orkut.com

Comment by JayVee on September 8, 2012 at 1:55: Hi back Anele, sorry for a very late reply... I'm glad we still be able to keep in touch. You're so kind with all compliments, thanks sooooo much... It's nice to know that you think my voice is wonderful while I sometimes get frustrated when some one new call me "sir' on the phone, hahahah... But honestly, it really motivates me to stay here even it's hard lately to manage the time.

Teacher Galina, thanks for noticing... I think I haven't received you and teacher Gabriel's comment on my recording... Or do I just missed the lines? Thank you for you all -guys- for being kind in cultivating our ability in speaking...

love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::: love ::

SpamBuster Comment by Sakshi on September 4, 2012 at 8:43: Dear Teacher Gabriel!

It's amazing and you have made it to do so easy!! I'm beaming with joy!! Thank you soooo much!!! You are really `brilliant'!!!!

I have converted my Vocaroo Audio into Audiopal as per the steps given by you in your blog "Make your voice heard".

SpamBuster Comment by Charos on September 4, 2012 at 6:05: Hello, Teacher Gabriel, :)

Sorry for such a delayed answer, but I couldn't help being speechless after reading your comment!....... =) Thank you so much for your encouragement and SORRY for causing such an inconvenience for you, by using Vocaroo...... :)))) You know, it's been only one audio recorder for me, that worked, may be because of requiring less traffic, who knows... :) But Audiopal also seems to be simple and unpretentious, so next time I'll try to use it too... :)

Have a great day! :)

Comment by Gabriel Sowrian on September 3, 2012 at 21:39: @ Sakshi, Selma, Galina & Scarlett

Hello, ladies!

I’m glad indeed that you four would like to know how to extend the ‘1 minute recording time limit’ given for Audiopal. And, also how to transfer the audio assignment that has already been recorded on Vocaroo over to Audiopal…!

I’ve explained how these two can be done in the comments section on my blog “Make your voice heard”. Go to the blog and learn the tricks as they could be very useful to you. I would appreciate it if you could embed your sample audio recording there. Thank you!

Kind regards,

~* GS *~

Comment by Scarlett on September 3, 2012 at 4:49: Dear teacher Gabriel,

I can do nothing without your teaching. You are the light of my successful way.

I'm also stunning with your compliment. Thank your for all your kind words. I will try my best to made you stunned more... :P