British Phonetics and Pronunciation

Course content

This course provides you with the opportunity to acquaint yourself with and - more im-portantly - to practice the sounds, rhythms and intonation patterns of British English through oral and transcription practice. In addition, you will also learn to use the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and address pronunciation difficulties encountered by German students.

• Introduction to British (and, to a lesser extent, Irish) English pronunciation
• IPA broad transcription of British English
• Discussion and examples of accent and dialect awareness in British and Irish English; factors: region, class/social group, age etc.
• Discuss and practise problem phonemes
• Discuss and practise word stress
• Discuss and practise spelling and pronunciation issues, especially as they relate to German students
• Discuss and practise connected speech (brief introduction): weak forms vs strong forms etc.