Are you one of those who consider Oral English as 'Horror' English? If only you will get a copy of A Text of English Sounds, because the supposed 'horror' has been demystified on its pages. It was demystified for a student of mine, and many others like her, who wanted to walk out of the classroom when I introduced English sounds. According to her she had never been taught English sounds and grasped them. I convinced her to stay and the rest, like they say, is history. Today, she is a graduate of English. Which methods did I adopt? I will cite a few.
How is / iː / pronounced? It is simple! When I tell you that it is simple, take it from me that it is. Really? Yes! Pronounce letter e. Did you just pronounce letter e? That is how to pronounce / iː /. You will find similar cues in the book that will help you pronounce the vowels. There are also cues referred to as guided pronunciation that has been introduced to help the reader pronounce some commonly mispronounced, or problematic words. For instance, you will find in the book LEEGUL as the guided pronunciation of legal. Hence, the reader is informed that in the underlined letter in legal, it is / iː / that is pronounced, not / e /.
In section two where the focus is on consonants and consonant clusters, the reader will find detailed explanations on each of the consonants. The reader is not taught to pronounce, for instance, / b / because it can simply be pronounced in bag, crab, baby. However, in words such as tomb and lamb, in which many non-native speakers of English unconsciously pronounce / b /, the reader is informed with copious examples that / b / shouldn't be heard when these words and similar examples are pronounced.
In section three rhymes is explained. Explanation is also provided on homophones, particularly on how they are different from minimal pairs. Why is this important? Because most words that non-native speakers of English assume are homophones (i.e. walk/work; word/ward) are actually minimal pairs.
In section four cues are provided on how English words are stressed. While the focus in this section is on how to recognise the syllable that will receive the stress in words with at least four (4) syllables, in section five the focus is on the appropriate use of stress in words with less than four syllables.
In section six the focus is on contrastive/emphatic stress; another type of stress different from that discussed in sections four and five.
In section seven where candidates are tested on their understanding of specific phonetic symbols pronounced in words, there are 150 practice exercise questions in this book.
Finally in section eight titled, Aspects Peculiar to Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), the manner in which sounds are tested in the exam is highlighted.
In all there are 858 practice exercise questions in this book!
Olabanji O. Odurombi
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