Chameleon sounds
Often, in English, the sounds of letters change, simply because of the way the word is spelled.
For example, why is "c" pronounced "s" in some words and "k" in others?
Well, "c" is usually pronounced "k":
cat (kat)
cape (kayp)
carrot (KAIR uht)
come (kuhm)
decoy (DEE koy)
fact (fakt)
but whenever "c" is followed by either "e," "i," or "y," it's pronounced "s".
face (fays)
piece (pees)
cement (suh MEHNT)
decide (dee SAID)
cypher (SAI fur)
cycle (SAI kuhl)
The letter "G" follows the same rule. Whenever "g" is followed by either "e," "i," or "y," it's pronounced "j":
age (ayj)
gym (jihm)
geranium (jur AY nee yuhm)
giraffe (juh RAF)
magic (MA juhk)
Otherwise, it's pronounced "g":
go (goh)
glass (glas)
gallant (GA luhnt)
gulf (guhlf)
gol (gohld)
Some words the English language got from the Vikings also have interesting pronunciations. The "k" and the "g" at the beginning of these words are silent.
knife (naif)
know (noh)
knock (nahk)
knee (nee)
gnat (nat)
gnaw (nah)
"gh" is another confusing pair of letters. Although I can't find any rules regarding the way it's pronounced in different words, here is a list of some of those words and their proper pronunciations.
When "gh" sounds like "f":
cough (kahf)
tough (tuhf)
laugh (laf)
enough (ee NUHF)
rough (ruhf)
Exeption: hiccough (HIHK uhp)
When "gh" is silent:
- Always when a word ends in "-ght" (we pronounce only the final "t"):
thought (thaht) caught (kaht) bought (baht) sought (saht)
fight (fait)
fought (faht) weight (wayt) height (hait) freight (frait) light (lait)
...and in the following words:
although (ahl THOH)
sigh (sai) sighs (saiz) sighed (said)
thigh (thai)
high (hai) higher (HAI yur) highest (HAI yuhst)
weigh (way)
through (throo)
dough (doh)
thorough (THUR oh)
When "gh" is pronounced "g" in these words:
ghetto (GEH doh)
ghost (gohst)
aghast (uh GAST)
When "gh" is pronounced as separate phonemes (in compound words):
bigheaded (BIHG heh duhd) (also spelled “big-headed”) egghead (ehg hehd) bighorn (BIHG horn)
Also, there are a few words which are pronounced differently when the first letter is capitalized. For example, "job" (work) is pronounced "jahb", but "Job" (a first name) is pronounced "johb". Also, "polish" (smoothness or glossiness) is pronounced "PAH luhsh", but "Polish" (the nationality) is pronounced "POH luhsh."
These are only a few of the "chameleon sounds" in English. It might be a good idea to keep a notebook with some of the words you hear or have to say frequently.
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