English Phonetic Alphabet (EPA)

The best phonetic alphabet for English is the simplest, was created specifically for English and uses only standard keyboard symbols.

EPA also provides for words in conversation. Conversation is not isolated word units but words strung together. Words connect in three consistent, specific ways. The symbols for how words stream together are part and parcel of EPA and fodder for the next article. Meanwhile, it's super useful for learners to finally be able to see how words sound.

There are 40 sounds in General American English (spoken by over half of all the English users in the world) and there are only two kinds of sounds, consonants and vowels. What is the difference between consonant sounds and vowel sounds?

CONSONANT SOUNDS STOP

Check it out - /m/, /b/, /t/, /f/... airflow is stopped (or restricted) before leaving the mouth.

There are 24 consonant sounds in General American English (GA), 18 of them are represented exactly as one expects them to be. Let’s harvest these from our ABCs:

_, b, _, d, _, f, g, h, _, j, k, l, m, n, _, p, _, r, s, t, _, v, w, _, y, z

This leaves only 6 consonant sounds that need symbols. These common sounds are represented simply and logically.

RECAP: The 24 Consonant Sounds of English: 18 familiar - /b/, /d/, /f/, /g/, /h/, /j/, /k/, /l/, /m/, /n/, /p/, /r/, /s/, /t/, /v/, /w/, /y/, /z/ and 6 new - /Ch/, /Sh/, /TH/, /Th/, Ng/, /Zh/

Please Note:

1) There is no c, q or x in the English Phonetic Alphabet because the sounds they represent are all covered by other symbols. For example, c in city is /s/, in country is /k/, in cello is /Ch/, in ocean is /Sh/, in muscle is silent... q is always /kw/ and x is either /ks/ as in expect, /gz/ as in exam or /z/ as in Xena the warrior princess. c, q and x are unnecessary

2) Capital letters indicate two symbols represent one sound. It's important - especially with vowels

3) Silent letters are represented by a circle with a slash through it that isn't one of my choices in LinkedIn publishing

To practice EPA there are some exercises in Book 1 of the Backpacker's Guide to Teaching English on Pronunciation, some in the mother ship English is Stupid, Students are Not and a whole book of EPA activities and games in the English Phonetic Alp-habet Workbook that will keep learners busy perfecting their pronunciation for as long as they like.

VOWEL SOUNDS S-T-R-E-T-C-H

Find a rubber band, hook it between your thumbs and pull your hands apart as you say the vowel sound /Ay/ as in gray. Stretch it out /Aaaayyyy/. Unrestricted sounds are vowel sounds, and there are 16 of them in GA English.

Learners usually feel a little bit sick at this point. They understood that there were 5 vowels in English a, e, i, o, u and just learned there are 16? Yes, 16 vowel sounds. It gets worse, there is virtually no connection between the letters a, e, i, o, u and the 16 sounds they represent. Any vowel or combination of vowels can represent any vowel sound at any time.

Take long a and short i for example. There are more than a few ways to spell the long a sound /Ay/ as in gray, name, train, great, eight, they... Or the short i sound /i/ as in pink, sit, busy, pretty, women, build, myth...

English spelling doesn't make sense. Vowels are worse than consonants. The solution to this mess is surprisingly simple. 

Coincidentally, the 16 vowel sounds in English are featured in the names of 16 colors. Colors provide the bridge to pronunciation that letters don't. Color words are a simple, effective way to elicit accurate pronunciation every time.

Even better, the names of colors are one of the first things a student learns in a new language. Introducing the patterns of speaking with the very first topic students learn gives every learner access to perfect pronunciation from day one. With the EPA Vowel Chart and a rubber band anyone can learn to speak English.

At the top, the word gray holds the vowel sound long a /Ay/. Say it out loud. Can you hear the /Ay/ sound in gray? Any word with the main vowel sound /Ay/ is considered a gray word. Can you hear the /Ay/ sound in: rain, name, great, eight, nation, trade, weight, creation, face, date, maid? Did you say them out loud? Do it over.

Regardless of spelling, these words are all gray words because their main vowel sound is /Ay/. 

Next, short a /a/ is the vowel sound in the word black. Any word with the main vowel sound /a/ is a black word. Say them out loud. Can you hear the /a/ sound in cat, half, staff, laugh, plaid, fast, react, sad? These are all black words because their main vowel sound is /a/.

Recap: Rain, made, maid, rein and reign are gray. Had, cat, half, staff and laugh are black because of their sound, not their spelling. EPA Color Vowels is a system for accessing pronunciation in spite of crazy spelling. Most of you can already see how the system works, but we'll do the rest to seal the deal.

Long e: /Ey/ is the vowel sound in green. Can you hear /Ey/ in tree, me, seat, people, piece, these, receipt, ski? These are all green words because the main vowel sound is /Ey/.

Short e: /e/ is the vowel sound in red. Can you hear /e/ in bed, head, said, friend, guest? These are all red words because the main vowel sound is /e/.

Long i: /Iy/ is in white: five, my, pie, height, buy, bye, by, I, eye, aye, isle, I'll, aisle ? White words

Short i: /i/ is in pink: is, it, in, sister, build, pretty, busy, women, English, history ? Pink words

Long o: /Ow/ is in gold: nose, toast, toe, those, know, beau, sew, though, ghost ? Gold words

Short o: /o/ is in olive (dirty green): hot, coffee, father, caught, broad, cough, awe, law ? Olive words

Long u: /Uw/ is in blue: to, two, too, new, you, through, beautiful, glues, shoe, school, fuel ? Blue words

Short u: /u/ is in mustard (dirty yellow): bus, from, was, the, flood, does, because, mother ? Mustard words

/^/   Wood: put, could, look, woman ? Wood words

/Oy/ Turquoise: boy, noise, loyal, lawyer ? Turquoise words

/Aw/ Brown: now, town, vowel, sound ? Brown words

R Vowels:

/Er/  Purple: her, first, nurse, word, were, heard, thirty - Purple words

/Ar/  Charcoal (dark gray): car, park, heart, are, R, market - Charcoal (dark gray) words

/Or/ Orange: door, four, more, war, coarse - Orange words

EVERY WORD IN ENGLISH IS A COLOR

No matter how many syllables a word contains there is one and only one most import syllable. (That's what they mean by stress-based language but don't worry too much about that now). The most important syllable determines the color of the word. No exceptions. Every word in English is one of the 16 colors in the EPA Vowel Cart. JUdy is Blue, congratuLAtions is Gray, encycloPEdia is Green and so on...

Students learn the color each word when they learn vocabulary. It's a bit of extra effort but a small price to pay for the speaking confidence and freedom this system provides.

There's an app for that. How Do You Say? for Apple and Android products categorizes the 2,000 most common English words by color. The color bridge gives learners access to spelling from hearing and pronunciation from spelling. It's about $2 - Try it.

Yours in ESL,

Judy Thompson