Audio Exercises

Unit 4

Consonants

Unit 4 – Exercise 1

Stops. /p b t d k g m n ŋ ʔ/. Listen and repeat each word.

1. initial /p t k/ pear tin cow planning topic
2. initial /b d g/ big done gold butter debit
3. medial /p, t, k/ ample attack pocket clapping tomato
4. medial /b, d, g/ rabbit daddy migrant husband middle
5. final /p, t, k/ cup doubt cock gasp date
6. final /b, d, g/ cab dead bag lobe road
7. initial /m, n/ mist new mean niece medal
8. medial /m, n, ŋ/ amber grand think simmer annex
9. final /m, n, ŋ/ climb known ring hymn button
10. glottal /ʔ/ matter butter letter what fountain

Unit 4 – Exercise 2

Stops. /p b t d k g m n ŋ/. Listen and repeat each minimal pair.

1. pack, back cap, cab
2. tale, dale court, chord
3. ankle, angle frock, frog
4. mighthy, nightie system, cistern
5. mountain, mounting thins, things
6. sinning, singing banner, banger

Unit 4 – Exercise 3

Stops. /p b t d k g m n ŋ/. Identification. Identify the stop sound in each of the following words: initial (1-5), medial (6-10), final (11-15)

1. bin /b/ 2. dip /d/ 3. coat /k/ 4. garden /g/ 5. poor /p/
6. kept /p/ 7. cotton /t/ 8. spy /p/ 9. enquire /ŋ/ 10. comfort /m/
11. sudden /n/ 12. take /k/ 13. cod /d/ 14. long /ŋ/ 15. psalm /m/

Unit 4 – Exercise 4

Stops. /p b t d k g m n ŋ/. Production. After hearing the number, pronounce the word carefully, paying special attention to all the stop sounds. When you hear the word, repeat it again carefully.

1. paddle /ˈpædl̩/
2. book /bʊk/
3. credit /ˈkredɪt/
4. heard /hɜːd/
5. cattle /ˈkætl̩/
6. grab /grӕb/
7. mandarin /ˈmӕndərɪn/
8. needle /ˈniːdl̩/
9. link /lɪŋk/
10. butter /ˈbʌtə/

Unit 4 – Exercise 5

Fricatives. /f v ɵ ᵭ s z ʃ ʒ h/. Listen and repeat each word.

1. initial /f v / fair vamp fox verb French
2. medial /f v/ office civil after beaver advance
3. final /f v/ graph valve cough give laugh
4. initial /ɵ ð/ thank that three then thunder
5. medial /ɵ ð/ author another nothing together wealthy
6. final /ɵ ð/ death bathe faith smooth clothe
7. initial /s z/ sea zip city zoom celery
8. medial /s z/ dancer music wizard whistle busy
9. final /s z/ ice please fox dress scissors
10. initial /ʃ ʒ/ shade genre shampoo
11. medial /ʃ ʒ/ cushion measure fashion measure leisure
12. final /ʃ ʒ/ brush rouge splash beige wish
13. initial and medial /h/ heart high ahead perhaps

Unit 4 – Exercise 6

Fricatives. /f v ɵ ᵭ s z ʃ ʒ h/. Listen and repeat each minimal pair.

1. fine, vine infest, invest define, divine half, halve belief, believe
2. mouth, mouth (v) teeth, teethe sooth, soothe
3. ceasing, seizing race, rays sue, zoo decease, disease sauce, saws
4. mesher, measure dilution, delusion
5. censer, censure fist, fished sake, shake person, Persian Iris, Irish
6. fizzy, fishy cherries, cherish zone, shown whizzes, whishes was, wash
7. first, thirst infuse, enthuse roof, Ruth fort, thought
8. cupboard, covered curb, curve banish, vanish marble, marvel dub, dove

Unit 4 – Exercise 7

Fricatives. /f v ɵ ᵭ s z ʃ ʒ h/. Identification. Identify the fricative sound in each of the following words: initial (1-5), medial (6-10), final (11-15).

1. village /v/ 2. zero /z/ 3. shoe /ʃ/ 4. hymn /h/ 5. theatre /θ/
6. zigzag /z/ 7. rhythm /ð/ 8. seventy /v/ 9. leisure /ʒ/ 10. inhale /h/
11. enough /f/ 12. jazz /z/ 13. teethe /ð/ 14. birth /θ/ 15. love /v/

Unit 4 – Exercise 8

Fricatives. /f v ɵ ᵭ s z ʃ ʒ h/. Production. After hearing the number, pronounce the word carefully, paying special attention to all the fricative sounds. When you hear the word, repeat it again carefully.

1. anyhow /ˈenɪhaʊ/
2. invest /ɪnˈvest/
3. sleep /sliːp/
4. other /ˈʌᵭə/
5. shrew /ʃruː/
6. monthly /ˈmʌnɵli/
7. laungh /lɑːf/
8. live /laɪv/
9. fizzy /ˈfɪzi/
10. feather /ˈfeðə/

Unit 4 – Exercise 9

Affricates. /ʧ ʤ/. Listen and repeat each word.

1. initial /ʧ ʤ/ chilly gin channel jelly champion
2. medial /ʧ ʤ/ teacher legion voucher patchwork suggest kitchen
3. final /ʧ ʤ/ fetch cage reach Norwich itch

Unit 4 – Exercise 10

Affricates. /ʧ ʤ/. Listen and repeat each minimal word pair.

1. riches, ridges etch, edge choke, joke searching, surging leech, liege
2. mashed, marched cash, catch sherry, cherry fuchsia, future dish, ditch
3. marshy, Margie bash, badge shell, gel cashing, cadging languish, language
4. lesion, legion pleasure, pledger version, virgin

Unit 4 – Exercise 11

Affricates. /ʧ ʤ/. Identification. Identify the affricate sound in each of the following words: initial (1-4), medial (5-8), final (9-12).

1. joke /ʤ/ 2. cherry /ʧ/ 3. gel /ʤ/ 4. chain /ʧ/ 5. ledger /ʤ/ 6. future /ʧ/
7. virgin /ʤ/ 8. butcher /ʧ/ 9. sandwich/ʤ/ 10. charge /ʤ/ 11. church /ʧ/ 12. age /ʤ/

Unit 4 – Exercise 12

Affricates. /ʧ ʤ/. Production. After hearing the number, pronounce the word carefully, paying special attention to all the affricate sounds. When you hear the word, repeat it again carefully.

1. search /sɜːʧ/
2. jargon /ˈʤɑːgn̩/
3. punctual /ˈpʌnʧʊəl/
4. digest /daɪˈʤest/
5. nature /ˈneɪʧə/
6. emerge /ɪˈmɜːʤ/
7. choice /ʧɔɪs/
8. digital /ˈdɪdʒɪtl̩ /
9. actual /ˈӕkʧʊəl/
10. century /ˈsenʧri/

Unit 4 – Exercise 13

Approximants / l r j w/. Listen and repeat each word.

1. initial /l, r/ lake ring leaf write rug
2. initial /j, w/ yell wet you wish watch
3. medial /l r/ block fold carry fellow children
4. medial /j, w/ onion choir hallelujah queen tortilla
5. final /l, r/ girl candle table

Unit 4 – Exercise 14

Approximants. / l r j w/. Listen and repeat each minimal pair-and triples)

1. lap, rap bloke, broke alive, arrive laughed, raft belly, bury
2. you, jew yet, jet use, juice yacht, jot
3. good, wood got, what guest, west gun, one
4. yes, chess yellow, cello York,chalk year,cheer use,choose
5. vine, wine visor, wiser vary,wary
6. raced, waist array, away rag, wag overrate, overweight rail, whale rude, would
7. rear, year strewing, stewing screw, skew rank, yank drooping, duping drew, due
8. flew, few flume, fume lard, yard leer, year let, yet
9. late, rate, weight click, crick, quick lake, rake, wake lays, raise, ways
10. clue, crew, cue law, raw, your let, ret, yet lot, rot, yacht

Unit 4 – Exercise 15

Approximants. /l r j w/. Identification. Identify the approximant sound in each of the following words: initial (1-5), medial (6-10), final (11-15).

1. would /w/ 2. rude /r/ 3. yellow /j/ 4. war /w/ 5. lunatic /l/
6. quite /w/ 7. regular /l/ 8. new /j/ 9. quick /w/ 10. during /r/
11. label /l̩/ 12. castle /l̩/ 13. people /l̩/ 14. camel /l̩/ 15. all /l/

Unit 4 – Exercise 16

Approximants. / l r j w/. Production. After hearing the number, pronounce the word carefully, paying special attention to the approximant sounds. When you hear the word, repeat it again carefully.

1. triple /ˈtrɪpl̩/
2. play /pleɪ/
3. rarely /ˈreəli/
4. yellow /ˈjeləʊ/
5. quote /kwəʊt/
6. dune /djuːn/
7. wolf /wʊlf/
8. quality /ˈkwɒlɪti/
9. quest /kwest/
10. wine /waɪn/

Unit 4 – Exercise 17

Challenging words. Production. After hearing the number, pronounce the words carefully. When you hear the word, repeat it again carefully.

1. therewith 2. machine 3. question 4. ancient 5. fortune
6. digestion 7. language 8. literature 9. scissors 10. smoothly
11. thistle 12. clothes 13. deterioration 14. unfortunately 15. decision
16. challenge 17. adjective 18. equivocal 19. hypothesis 20. mutual
21. sixth 22. usually 23. statistics 24. ethnicity 25. provocatively
26. regularly 27. February 28. particulary 29. rural 30. situation
31. disadvantage 32. truth 33. vocabulary 34. squirrel 35. specifically
36. Wednesday 37. Ireland 38. athlete 39. distinguish 40. rarity

Unit 4 – Exercise 18

(word-final consonant clusters): Say the following words aloud, taking special care to pronounce every element of the final consonant clusters. Then listen to the recording and say the word again, correcting any mistakes you’ve made.

TIP! Remember that in real communication incomplete consonant clusters may easily lead to misunderstandings.

1. stopped 2. housed 3. clothes 4. robbed
5. knives 6. lungs 7. charged 8. texts
9. roughed 10. blinked 11. pigs 12. hurled
13. cracks 14. travelled 15. mixed 16. strength
17. trained 18. lamps 19. oaths 20. edged
21. twelfh 22. sniffed 23. watched

Unit 4 – Exercise 19

(word-initial s- clusters): Listen and repeat the following words with initial s- clusters. Be careful not to insert a vowel before each cluster.

1. slim 2. special 3. square
4. spear 5. strong 6. skin
7. scream 8. smile 9. splash
10. snail 11. swan 12. spring

Unit 4 – Exercise 20

(English consonants not present in Spanish) [contrastive]: The following pairs of words illustrate the difference between English consonants /ʃ ʒ ʤ v ð ŋ ɹ z/ and the Spanish consonants for which they are most commonly mistaken. For each pair of words, listen carefully and repeat, paying special attention to the difference in consonant quality.

Spanish English
/s/ /ʃ/
sal shall
ases ashes
/s/ /ʒ/
mesa measure
esa Asia
/ʧ/ /ʤ/
chal gel
hachar ajar
/b/ /v/
visa visa
Eva ever
/d/ /ð/
Aida either
boda bother
/n/ /ŋ/
sin sing
pan pang
/r/ /ɹ/
red red
corran current
/s/ /z/
deis daze
su zoo

Unit 4 – Exercise 21

(English consonants not present in Spanish): The following words all contain an English consonant which is not present in Spanish. For each word, listen carefully and fill in the gap with the sound you hear. Then check your answers, listen again and repeat each word after you hear it.

1. əˈ__eɪmd 5. ˌ__enəˈfəʊbiə 9. ˈfren__i 13. ɪˈ__ekt
2. prɪˈ__ent 6. klæ__ 10. əˈbæ__ 14. __ens
3. ˈʌ__ə 7. ˈɔː__əl 11. __ɔːlt 15. ˈsɪ__ə
4. ˈ__endə 8. ˈple__ə 12. ˈbæ__ən 16. ˈvɪ__ən

1. /ʃ/ ashamed 5. /z/ xenophobia 9. /z/ frenzy 13. /ʤ/ eject
2. /v/ prevent 6. /ŋ/ clang 10. /ʃ/ abash 14. /ð/ thence
3. /ð/ other 7. /r/ oral 11. /v/ vault 15. /ŋ/ singer
4. /ʤ/ gender 8. /ʒ/ pleasure 12. /r / barren 16. /ʒ/ vision

Unit 4 – Exercise 22

(syllabic consonants): Listen and repeat the following words which contain syllabic consonants.

1. awful 2. rhythm 3. cotton 4. whistle 5. hospital
6. altruism 7. London 8. table 9. seven 10. cattle