Very Tenable Spoonerisms
Very Tenables and the surreal world of Spoonerisms. I should start this piece by stating that spoonerisms have nothing whatsoever to do with spoons. So nir. Except [...]
The Phonetics Police
The Phonetics Police In the world of written English, everybody knows about the grammar police. They pick at a piece of writing, not because of its language (the [...]
Matthew Perry’s Sardonic Tone Unit
Matthew Perry’s Sardonic Tone Unit Earlier this week I noticed a spike in interest in an article I wrote years ago about Upspeak - rising intonation on a statement. [...]
The UnhappY Vowel Sounds
ThE UnhappY Vowel Sounds The pronunciation of -Y endings is strange for 2 reasons: The mouth position has changed from [ɪ] in RP to [i] in GB. Most dictionaries are [...]
Should we teach ‘Hard Attack’?
Should we teach 'Hard Attack'? The terminology around English phonetics can seem frustratingly vague or inprecise, particularly for those who want to use it purely as a learning tool rather [...]
AXNting: Introducing the new course
Introducting: AXNting I'm excited to share a new resource with you today. It's called AXNting and you can see a 1 minute introduction below. For a long time [...]
So what is the difference between ‘ship’ and ‘sheep’?
So what is the difference between SHIIP and SHeeP? Last week I asked Pronunciation Studio's Instagram followers whether they consider SHIP or SHEEP to be longer, or whether they [...]
The Monophthongalisation of Centring Diphthongs
The Monophthongalisation of Centring Diphthongs In this week’s lesson on the short /ɪ/ sound, I ended the lesson on a long vowel sound with that same position [ɪː]. This is [...]
British English IPA Variations
British English IPA Variations Above are British English transcriptions from Cambridge (blue) and Oxford (orange) dictionaries. The words are the same, the accent is the same, but the transcriptions [...]
Upper Received Pronunciation
Upper Received Pronunciation Otherwise known as "old fashioned posh". Upper RP is a British English accent that is now only really spoken by ageing aristocrats. These days [...]
King Charles’ Accent
King Charles' Accent The UK has a new monarch, King Charles III and with him a new English model: The King's English. So what does he sound like? Below is [...]
Brummie – The Accent From Birmingham
The Brummie Accent Brummie is the accent found in the UK’s second biggest city - Birmingham. It has a strange image among English accents, stereotypically seen as untrustworthy [...]
2021 – Words of the Year
2021 saw the world trying to cope with an ongoing pandemic, social injustice and the Greek alphabet. Meanwhile digital art sold for millions of dollars, we explored Mars, [...]
/əʊ/ – the OH Vowel
/əʊ/ - the OH Vowel /əʊ/ is a diphthong vowel sound that starts in a central unrounded position /ə/, and moves to a more rounded back position [...]
The Queen’s English Accent
The Queen's English Accent The Queen’s English is probably the most famous English accent in the world, but it isn’t widely spoken. Most broadcasters and public figures [...]
