viernes, 1 de junio de 2012

Reflection 3

ENGLISH LONG VOWELS

     English long vowels tend to be longer than the short vowels. However, the lenght of the vowels varies according the context  and the stress. Phonetically, these are represented in symbols with the vowel plus two dots. There are minimal differences in pronunciation. The sound quality is different and the two addditional dots are used to distinguish these sound from the short ones. Some varieties of pronunciation could be identified folowing these rules:
·         When a single vowel letter is in the end of a word or syllable, it usually says its long sound as in go and be.
·         When two vowels go together in the same word or syllable, the first vowel is usually long, and the second vowel is usually silent. e.g., bake makes the /ay/ sound (long a) and the e is silent.
Irregular vowels sometimes do not apply the basic rules of phonics, because they are exceptions. These are some examples, that should be memorized to avoid confusion:
·         IGH as in "high" or "sight"
·         -NG as in "sing," "song," "sung"
·         OST as in "most" (but not "lost" or "cost") uses the long sound instead of the   normal short sound.
·         OW has two different sounds as in "low" and "cow." (or, "sow" and "sow.")
·         ED has three different sounds as in "lifted," "played," and "walked"
·         OI does not follow the two vowels rule, e.g., "moist" or "boil."
·         Double O has two different sounds, as in "book" and "loose."
·         OUS as in "nervous."
·         AU as in "fault" or "haul."
·         -SION, -TION, and -CION are all pronounced "shun."
·         OUGH has at least seven different sounds, as in "bough," "cough," "hough"

For more information and practice, I leave some web sites directions and videos.

Web sites:
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