English speech in made up of 44 phonemes , of which 12 are pure vowels and 8 are diphthongs . In the word pin the letter i represents a pure vowel and in the word fine the same letter i represents a diphthong . What is a diphthong? It is a combination of two vowel sounds In the word fine i is a combination of two vowels - a+i .
The most frequently heard vowel sound in English speech is the central vowel . You may hear this vowel sound as the initial sound in the word -a.bout . Why is it called the central vowel ? It occupies the central position in the vowel chart . It lies midway between back vowels and front vowels and between open vowels and close vowels .
English is a stressed language . The various syllables in an English word receive different degrees of stress . Foreigners who are not accustomed to stress will find it difficult to follow English speech on account of the stress .There is no stress in French such as in English . Foreign learners of French often find it difficult to follow French speech for other reasons . In French words seem to agglutinate . so to speak . and the learners of French will experience considerable difficulty in following french speech . What I mean to say is that each language presents its own difficultis to the non- native learners .
According to the principle of vowel reduction all vowels , whether they are pure vowels or diphthongs, are reduced to the central vowel if there is no stress on the syllables involving .the vowel .
Vowel reduction is the most salient feature of English speech . and this causes a lot of difficulties to the foreign learners of English .Thus in the word tortoise the second syllable - toise carries the diphthong oi , but as there is no stress it is pronounced as the central vowel .
Thanking you
PROF . V.P.RAJAPPAN
The most frequently heard vowel sound in English speech is the central vowel . You may hear this vowel sound as the initial sound in the word -a.bout . Why is it called the central vowel ? It occupies the central position in the vowel chart . It lies midway between back vowels and front vowels and between open vowels and close vowels .
English is a stressed language . The various syllables in an English word receive different degrees of stress . Foreigners who are not accustomed to stress will find it difficult to follow English speech on account of the stress .There is no stress in French such as in English . Foreign learners of French often find it difficult to follow French speech for other reasons . In French words seem to agglutinate . so to speak . and the learners of French will experience considerable difficulty in following french speech . What I mean to say is that each language presents its own difficultis to the non- native learners .
According to the principle of vowel reduction all vowels , whether they are pure vowels or diphthongs, are reduced to the central vowel if there is no stress on the syllables involving .the vowel .
Vowel reduction is the most salient feature of English speech . and this causes a lot of difficulties to the foreign learners of English .Thus in the word tortoise the second syllable - toise carries the diphthong oi , but as there is no stress it is pronounced as the central vowel .
Thanking you
PROF . V.P.RAJAPPAN
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