Using a dictionary to improve your pronunciation Parts of a dictionary entry Example: Assistance /sstns/, n. the act of assisting; help; aid. {F; replacing ME, assystence, from ML, assistentia} 1. Assistance – spelling of the word 2. /sstns/, - pronunciation guidelines 3. n. = noun – part of speech 4. the act of assisting; help; aid. – meaning (may have many which are numbered in order of importance or use) 5. {F; replacing ME, assystence, from ML, assistentia} – where the word came from (history) (etymology / derivation) Pronunciation guidelines Are written between two forward slashes /…../ Use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols, not the English (Roman) alphabet Are not the exact way anyone person says the word but guidelines Show how consonants are pronounced eg. the ‘c’ in assistance is said as an /s/ Show which consonants are not pronounced eg. the second ‘s’ in assistance is not said Shows which vowels are said and which are not eg. the final ‘e’ in assistance is not said Shows which vowels are said very quickly as the schwa // eg. two vowels are said quickly in the word ‘assistance’ Shows how many syllables there are eg. /sstns/ has 3 pronounced vowels = three syllables Shows which syllable is said the loudest (stressed) with the stress mark before the loudest syllable eg. in ‘assistance’ it is the second syllable /sstns/ Noting the pronunciation guidelines in your palm cards The EFS Pronunciation curriculum (213A) asks students to place the pronunciation of new or difficult words for short talks on their palm cards using a set notation. How can you do this? Try using the dictionary guidelines to re-spell the word eg. sistns or sistnce ( if you know ‘ence’) Mark the stressed vowel and syllable (You could put a big red dot over the stressed vowel) eg. sistns Write down the number of syllables to remind yourself eg. sis tns (3) So your palm card might look something like this Sir (Ernest) Edward Dunlop - ‘Weary ‘ Dunlop 1 Introduction: “Don’t you think ‘weary’ (tired) is a strange name to call someone?” Aust. surgeon & Commanding Officer Gave assistance / - sis - tnce/ (3) to prisoners of war W.W.II Working on Burma-Siam Railway, Thailand How do you respell words? Leave a gap between the parts or use hyphens D:\116091346.doc © R. Cartwright 2007 -1- ‘marsupial’ /ma sjupil/ (pronunciation guidelines) /mar - soup - e - l/ (respelling) Use words or spelling you know Activity 1. Look up the following words in the dictionary and complete the table 2. Then add at least three new or difficult words you might use in your presentation on a person famous in Australian Society Word Pronunciation guidelines /………../ How many vowels are there in the spelt word? How many vowels are said? How many syllables are there? Which vowels are said as schwa //? Which syllable is stressed? (Said louder) Are any consonants not pronounced? Write them in here. Are any consonants said differently? Write them in here. Re-spell the word and mark in the stressed syllable. equestrian / kwstrin/ 5 4 4 first and last second nil qu = kw / - ques - tree - n parliamentarian academic nocturnal monotreme genetic knowledgeable For your next talk Follow this procedure for any new or difficult words Add the pronunciation guidelines or respelling to your palm cards Practise the words in sentences, not just on their own Have a good speaker of English check your pronunciation or record yourself and listen to yourself D:\116091346.doc © R. Cartwright 2007 -2-