/e/ for pen
This short sound is similar to the e in Spanish. Examples for this sound are in the words: men, umbrella, when. The transcription of these words are: /men/ /ÊŒm’brelÉ™/Â /wen/
Tag: English vowel sounds
/ʌ/ for cup
This short sound is not in the Spanish language. It is the sound we can hear in words like English ‘up’. Examples for this sound are in the words: cut, hut, umbrella, cupboard and …here’s one I always tell my students off about ‘comfortable’ 😉 Phonetically these words would appear as: /kÊŒt/ /hÊŒt/ /ÊŒm’brelÉ™/ /’kÊŒbÉ™d/ […]
/É™/ for schwa
This sound is short and it is not in the Spanish language but it is in Catalan and French. It is the neutral e sound. In English it is a sound that is very common although it is always in weak syllables. Examples for this sound are in the words:Â umbrella, cupboard. The transcription of these […]
/æ/ for cat
No, it isn’t a sound made by cats! It’s the a sound that we have in the English word ‘cat’ which between slashes would be written as /kæt/ (which in any case would be ‘miau’). I’ve chosen a very simple English word to illustrate the sound of this very open ‘a’ sound because I know […]