Pronunciation
Resources on the Web
Updated July 17, 2010
American English Pronunciation Practice
Charles Kelly (2001)
http://www.manythings.org/pp/
Twenty-four minimal pair lessons with sound files, plus a song, a limerick, and
a few tongue twisters.
ESL Learning Centre: English Pronunciation
EnglishClub.com
http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/index.htm
Includes lessons on word stress, sentence
stress, pronunciation of -ed,
and pronunciation of 'the.'
Fun Easy English: American
English Pronunciation
Howie Hayman
http://funeasyenglish.com/american-english-pronunciation.htm
As set of lessons, including video clips,
focusing on forty-four sounds of English. The general site
is designed to provide free information and resources for students and
teachers.
Interesting Websites for Pronunciation
Practice
Deborah
Healey, University of Oregon
http://www.uoregon.edu/~dhealey/138/pronlinks.html
This is a list of links to selected sites that are 'good and easy for students to use.' Each
link is accompanied by a brief description.
Online Intonation
John Maidment, Department of Phonetics &
Linguistics, University College London
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/oi/oiin.htm
A set of exercises intended to provide practice in
associating the sound of an intonation pattern with a commonly used system of
notation.
Plato
John Maidment, Department of Phonetics &
Linguistics, University College London
http://www.btinternet.com/~eptotd/vm/plato/platmen.htm
A set of exercises in perceiving tonic stress (sentence prominence). User
sees and hears a sentence and then manipulates onscreen arrow keys to place
stress on the correct syllable.
Pronunciation Tips
BBC Learning
English
http://www.btinternet.com/~eptotd/vm/plato/platmen.htm
This British site includes text and video lessons,
exercises and quizzes.
The Vowel Machine
John Maidment, Department of Phonetics &
Linguistics, University College London
http://www.btinternet.com/~eptotd/vm/vowelmachine/vowelmachine.htm
Multiple-choice listening exercise for isolated words, focusing on
distinguishing vowel sounds. Uses British
pronunciation.
Toni
John Maidment, Department of Phonetics &
Linguistics, University College London
http://www.btinternet.com/~eptotd/vm/toni/tonimenu.htm
A set of exercises in perceiving final intonation contours (called nuclear
tones). User sees and hears a sentence and then chooses from seven
possible contours. Sentences are spoken in
British (RP) English.
General Pronunciation Sites & Additional
Links
Authentic American Pronunciation
Eva Easton
http://evaeaston.com/pr/home.html
Part of E. L. Easton language teaching site. Requires a lot of navigation, but rich in
audio files and links to other resources.
English Pronunciation
about.com
http://esl.about.com/cs/pronunciation/
Covers both British and American
pronunciation. Good resources if you can
put up with the advertisements.
English
Pronunciation
Virtual Language Center, The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University
http://www.edict.com.hk/vlc/pronunciation/
Beware: The sound files on this
page can take a long time to download. Also, the site frequently has technical difficulties.
English Pronunciation/Listening
Okanogan University College
http://international.ouc.bc.ca/pronunciation/
Includes QuickTime movies of dental fricatives.
English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
John Maidment, Department of Phonetics &
Linguistics, University College London
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/eptotd/tiphome.htm
Includes audio files. Pronunciation is British
English.
ESL Independent Study Lab - Pronunciation
Michael Krauss, Lewis & Clark College
http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/pronunciation.html
This is an organized list of web resources, graded by level.
ESL: Pronunciation
Internet TESL Journal
http://iteslj.org/links/ESL/Pronunciation/
A list of
pronunciation links of interest to both teachers and students. See also the 'Links for Students' at the top, then select 'Quizzes,' 'Quizzes
with Sounds.'
Pronunciation
eslGold.com
http://www.eslgold.com/pronunciation.html
A variety of resources, including
diagnostic readings, exercises, minimal pair lists, links, and textbook
recommendations.
Pronunciation
ESLPoint.com
http://www.eslpoint.com
Similar to eslGold. From the above
link, click on 'Pronunciation.'
Pronunciation Sites for International and ESL Students
Student Learning Centre, Flinders University,
Australia
http://www.flinders.edu.au/SLC/Pages/pronunciation.html
A list of links to WWW resources especially
chosen for students. Includes
a link to audio files of various accents of English, male and female versions. The focus is on Australian English.
Pronunciation Web Resources
Marsha Chan, Sunburst Media for Language
Learners
http://www.sunburstmedia.com/PronWeb.html
Another menu of links to WWW resources, including pronunciation courses
with audio and animation. Although housed on Marsha
Chan's web site, this menu was originally developed by Donna Brinton
and Chris LaBelle at UCLA, and overlaps with 'Sites for Teaching Pronunciation' below.
Sites for Teaching
Pronunciation
Donna Brinton and Chris LaBelle
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~jlevis/SPRIS/brinton.html
Listening
IDEA: International Dialects of English
Archive
Paul Meier & Shawn Muller
http://www.ku.edu/~idea/
A well documented collection of recordings of accented English from throughout
the World.
Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab
Randall Davis
http://www.esl-lab.com/
Scripted listening exercises with multiple choice questions. Includes link to related Randall site, 'Train Your Accent,' which focuses on relaxed pronunciation.
Speech Accent Archive
S. Weinberger, George Mason\ University
http://classweb.gmu.edu/accent/
Provides an English passage read by speakers from many
different language backgrounds.
The Audio Archive
Igor Merfert
http://alt-usage-english.org/audio_archive.shtml
A collection of sound files for listening to a variety of English dialects from
'center countries' plus India.
Worldwide Accents of English
Gabriele Azzaro
http://www.gazzaro.it/accents/files/accents2.html
Well-organized sound clips of a variety of
English dialects. Site includes a commentary
on RP, GenAm, Scottish, USA Southern Mountains,
Texan, Russian, Black African, Asian Indian, and Nigerian.
Rebekah
Mattox ('Becks')
http://www.tutorpal.com/slideshow/
Unusual site showing lip position and side diagram of
vocal organs for English sounds. Unfortunately, the position of the velum (velic closure) is inaccurate.
English Phonetic Alphabet
English Department of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
http://ipap.calpoly.edu/epa/index.html
Includes consonant and vowel charts with recorded segments of each sound. Video animations of the oral tract are unfortunately inaccurate.
fenetiks: The Sounds of Spoken Language
University of Iowa
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
An excellent resource for articulatory descriptions of consonants and vowels. Includes animated cut-away side views.
Fonetics.org
http://www.fonetiks.org/
Sound clips of selected sounds in a variety of English dialects, as well as
other languages.
Interactive Sammy
Daniel Currie Hall
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html
Using 'radio buttons,' this interactive page allows you to manipulate the setting of the
lips, tongue, velum and vocal cords on a 'Sammy' diagram, and displays the IPA symbol for the sound corresponding
to each configuration you construct.
International Phonetic Association
http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/
Includes complete chart of all IPA symbols for all language sounds.
SIL Encore IPA Fonts
The SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics) IPA fonts
can be downloaded from:
http://www.sil.org/computing/fonts/encore-ipa.html
You need to read the README files and help packages to find out how to use the
fonts. I would recommend the
older 'Legacy fonts: SIL IPA93.20,' as they appear to be more user-friendly.
Symbols for American English Vowel Sounds
George L. Dillon, University of
Washington
http://faculty.washington.edu/dillon/PhonResources/newstart.html
A reference chart of English and British vowels and diphthongs. Point to a key
word to hear it pronounced. A link
to 'British/American Vowels'
provides companion vowel charts of the two dialects. Vowels in each can be heard by pointing in the same way.
The Anatomy of Vowel Production
Patrick
Leary
http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/linguistics/ln105/vowel/index.html
Side view of mouth showing tongue position
for 13 different vowel sounds. Click on a vowel to hear it and see the tongue position.
The Sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet
antimoon.com
http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm
Includes audio (.mp3) of minimal pairs, some for both American and British
English.
UCLA Phonetic Data
Peter Ladefoged, UCLA
http://hctv.humnet.ucla.edu/departments/linguistics/VowelsandConsonants/
Includes a web version of the CD that accompanies two of Ladefoged's classic texts. Includes film of larynx in action. Also includes recordings of sounds from many of the world's languages. To access these resources,
don’t click on the book titles. Rather,
click
'index of languages,' then 'English,' then 'return to contents page.'
Vowel Sounds
Joel Goldes,
'The Dialect Coach'
http://www.thedialectcoach.com/content.asp?ContentId=542
Includes a vowel chart and diagram of the
parts of the tongue, with text explaining the English vowels. Does not include sound.
Acton Multiple-modality Pronunciation
& Intelligibility Systems
Bill and Suzy Acton
This
semi-commercial site provides background on Bill Acton’s multi-modal approach
to pronunciation instruction, including the concepts that body movement and
touch are essential to effective pronunciation pedagogy.
Common Mistakes in English by Language
Background
Ted Power, English Language Learning and Teaching.
http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/phono.html
Common pronunciation errors for learners of English from 19 different language
backgrounds.
Computer-Mediated Tools in Teaching Speaking and Pronunciation
Deborah Healey
http://oregonstate.edu/~healeyd/tesol2007/cmc_tools.html
This page includes a link to a PowerPoint presentation
from the TESOL2007 Technology & Speech Academic Session panel: 'The effectiveness of computer technology in teaching speaking and
pronunciation skills.' The page also includes
links to various technology resources.
Dave's ESL Cafe Idea Cookbook: Pronunciation
Dave Sperling
http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/sefer.cgi?Pronunciation:
A vast inventory of pronunciation activities submitted by readers.
English Tongue Twisters
Michael Reck
http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm
Part of the '1st International
Collection of Tongue Twisters.' Lists 404 English tongue twisters.
IATEFL Pronunciation Special Interest Group
http://www.reading.ac.uk/epu/pronsig_new.htm
This is in
some sense the British version of the TESOL Speech and Pronunciation Interest
Section. Note: IATEFL stands for 'International Association of
Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.'
Non-native pronunciations of English
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-native_pronunciations_of_English
A useful but non-authoritative resource. Like 'Common Mistakes' above. Includes 38 language groups.
Overview of Pronunciation Software
Deborah Healey
http://oregonstate.edu/~healeyd/tesol2002/pron.html
This is an updated handout from a TESOL 2002
presentation (last updated in May, 2005). It
includes a table listing commercial pronunciation software, with descriptions,
prices, and links to reviews.
Sounds of English
Sharon Widmayer, George Mason University
http://www.soundsofenglish.org
This site is rich in resources, well worth spending a
lot of time in. Includes
a variety of exercises for students, some imbedded in 'handouts' from presentations. Includes handouts for three presentations and
two Pre-Convention Institutes from the TESOL 2007 convention.
Straight Up English
http://www.straightupenglish.com/
A commercial site that offers free services: Downloadable
lesson plans related to pronunciation and videos of teacher-centered
presentations.
Supports for Pronunciation Teaching
John Murphy, Georgia State University
http://www2.gsu.edu/~esljmm/ss/furtherreading.htm
A list of references, most of which are included in the course bibliography. Includes links to annotations of some references and to some
authors, in case you would like to make e-mail contact.
TESOL Speech and Pronunciation Interest Section
An excellent resource.
http://www.tesol-splis.org/
Tongue Twisters
ESLPartyLand.com
http://www.eslpartyland.com/articles/tongue-twisters.html
This is a brief article on tongue twisters with links to
additional tongue twister sites.
Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Free, downloadable software for recording and
editing sound files.
Praat: Doing
Phonetics by Computer
Paul Boersma and
David Weenink, Institute of Phonetic Sciences, Univ.
of Amsterdam
http://www.praat.org [or http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/praat/]
Offers free downloadable software that
teaches vowel and diphthong production by means of vowel chart plotting.
Laryngeal Video
Recordings: Pitch
James P. Thomas, MD
http://www.voicedoctor.net/media/video/normal/pitch_movie.html
'Slow
motion' video of female vocal cords, comparing high and low pitches.
Normal Larynx Video
Kevin Cavanagh, MD
http://www.entusa.com/normal_larynx.htm
21 second video of female larynx, singing a high note.
Voice
Speech Source: The Larynx
Eric Armstrong
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/journey/larynx.html
Provides anatomically accurate and clearly labeled images of the
larynx. Also, 'IPA charts' in the side bar links to a chart of IPA symbols. Clicking
on a symbol activates an audio file of the corresponding sound; consonants are
pronounced in initial, medial and final position, vowels with both level and
falling intonation.
American Accent Training
Ann Cook
http://www.americanaccent.com
Offers a selection of free material, including explanations, a few audio files
for listening, and a sample of reduced forms (e.g. 'kwee geddit' = 'Can we get it?')
The Streaming Speech Project
Richard Cauldwell
http://www.speechinaction.com
This site is essentially an advertisement for an
online course, but offers a free demo. The
focus is on linking in connected speech ('streaming
speech'). It demonstrates the possibilities for computer aided instruction
in intonation.