This document provides an overview of pronunciation of the English alphabet. It begins by defining the alphabet and noting there are 26 letters. It then details the pronunciation of each consonant and vowel letter, including some variant pronunciations. It also discusses diphthongs, the letter Y, open and closed syllables, and methods for studying English vowels based on sound or spelling patterns. The overall purpose is to outline the core components of English pronunciation for language learners.

1. BASIC ENGLISH CONVERSATION
(Speaking Skills)
PRONUNCIATION
By: Tira Nur Fitria S.Pd., M.Pd

2. ALPHABET
Alphabet (dibaca /’ᴂlfəbet/) is a set of
letters in a fixed order that you use
when you are writing a language”.

3. ENGLISH ALPHABET
There are 26 letters in the English alphabet: Aa, Bb,
Cc, Dd, Ee, Ff, Gg, Hh, Ii, Jj, Kk, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Pp,
Qq, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Xx, Yy, Zz.
The modern English alphabet is a Latin alphabet
consisting of 26 letters (each having an uppercase
and a lowercase form) – the exact same letters that
are found in the ISO basic Latin alphabet:

4. Letter’s Pronunciation of the Alphabet
 A [ei]; B [bi:]; C [si:]; D [di:]; E [i:]; F [ef]; G [ji:]; H
[eich]; I [ai]; J [jei]; (Note G and J.)
 K [kei]; L [el]; M [em]; N [en]; O [ou]; P [pi:]; Q
[kyu:]; R [a:r] (AmE) or [a:] (BrE);
 S [es]; T [ti:]; U [yu:]; V [vi:]; W ['dʌbəlyu:]; X [eks];
Y [wai]; Z [zi:] (AmE) or [zed] (BrE).

5. CONSONANT
A consonant is a speech sound made by partially or
completely blocking the flow of air through the mouth
(using the lips, teeth, tongue, and palate). Letters of
the English alphabet that represent consonants
include all the letters that are not vowels.
A consonant letter usually represents one consonant
sound. Some consonant letters, for example, c, g, s,
can represent two different consonant sounds.

6. CONSONANT
According to McCully (2009: 215), “consonant is
a phoneme whose articulation ‘involves some
audible obstruction in the oral cavity”.
Menurutnya, konsonan adalah sebuah fonem yang
artikulasinya ‘melibatkan beberapa obstruksi
(hambatan) bunyi di rongga mulut ‘
There are 20 consonant letters in the English
alphabet. They represent 24 consonant sounds.

7. b [b]
baby, best,
buy, bring,
blind, absent,
about,
number,
labor, robber,
tub, tab, tape,
type
c [s] or [k]/ c
[s] center, cellar,
cigarette, cinema,
agency, notice;
[k] cake, come,
cucumber, clean,
cry, scratch, act,
panic

8. HOW TO PRONOUNCE ©
1.CLEAR
2.CEREAL
3.CELL
4.CASUAL
5.CENTER
6.CENTRAL
7.CARD
8.CARAMEL
9.CERTIFICATE
10.CIRCUIT
11. CITY
12. COMMUNITY
13. CUT
14. CAT
15. CAMP
16. CABLE
17. CAFÉ
18. CLASS
19. CLEAN
20. COINT
21. CALCULUS
22. CALENDAR
23. CAMEL
24. CAMERA
25. CANDY
26. CELEBRITY
27. CENT
28. CENTURY
29. COVER
30. CORN

9. d [d]
day, dear,
die, door,
duty,
admire,
hidden, lady,
kind, ride,
ended
f [f]
fast, female,
five, fifteen,
fifty, forest,
fund, fry,
flight, often,
deaf, cuff,
cup, cap

10.  g [g], [j] or [zh]
 [g] game, gap, get,
go, gun, great,
global, giggle, ago,
begin, dog, egg;
 [j] general, gin,
giant, agent, suggest,
Egypt, energy, huge,
manage;
 [zh] mirage, garage,
beige, rouge, edge
h [h] or [-]
[h] hair, her,
help, history,
home, hotel,
hunt, behind,
inherit; honey
[-] hour, honor,
honest, heir,
vehicle, Sarah

11. HOW TO PRONOUNCE G
1.GLASS
2.GENERAL
3.GET
4.GLAD
5.GUEST
6.GYM
7.GOVERNMENT
8.GUITAR
9.GUIDE
10.GUARANTEE
11.GROUP
12. GROUND
13. GUARD
14.GROSS
15.GREY
16.GRADUATION
17.GREAT
18. GOLF
19.GENDER
20. GENIUS
21. GALLON
22. GALLERY
23. GAME
24. GARDEN
25. GARMENT
26.GAS
27. GIFT
28.GIRL
29. GLOBAL
30. GOOD

12. HOW TO PRONOUNCE H
1.HOPE
2.HOUR
3.HONORABLE
4.HAIR
5.HABIT
6.HALF
7.HAND
8.HANDSOME
9.HAPPY
10.HARD
11. 21.

13. j [j]
jam, Jane,
jet, jelly,
Jim, jingle,
joke, John,
June, just,
juice
k [k]
Kate, kind,
kill,
kilogram,
sky, blanket,
break, take,
look

14. l [l]
late, let, live,
alone, close,
slim, please,
old, nicely,
table, file,
all, slime,
slim
m [m]
make, men,
mind, mother,
must, my,
may, me
common,
summer,
name, form,

15. n [n]
napkin, never,
night, no, sun,
nuclear, ton,
funny,
student,
suddenly
kindness,
p [p]
paper,
person, pick,
pour, public,
repair, apple,
keep, top,
crispy

16. q (qu) or kw]
[k] quality,
question, quite,
quote, equal,
require;
[kw] unique,
technique,
antique,
grotesque
r [r]
rain, red,
rise, brief,
grow, more,
scream, car,
truck, arrive,
hurry, turn,

17. s [s] or [z]
[s] send, simple,
song, system,
street, lost, kiss,
release;
[z] cause,
present, reason,
realism, advise,
always, is, was
t [t]
task, tell,
time, tone,
tune, hotel,
attentive,
student,
boat, rest,
both

18. v [v]
vast, vein,
vivid, voice,
even, event,
active,
review,
move,
invest, give,
w [w]
wall, war,
way, why,
west, wind,
word, would,
swear, swim,
twenty,
twist, twice,

19.  x [ks], [gz] or [z]
 exercise, exchange,
expect, expert, ex-
wife, axis, fix,
relax; exist
 exam, exact,
executive, exert,
exist, exit, exult;
 Xenon, Xerox,
xenophobia,
xylophone
z [z] or [ts]
[z] zero, zoo,
horizon, puzzle,
crazy, organize,
quiz, jazz;
[ts] pizza,
Mozart, Nazi,
waltz

20. VOWEL
A vowel is a speech sound made by allowing
breath to flow out of the mouth, without closing
any part of the mouth or throat (although the lips
may move to create the correct sound, as in
creating the sound “o”).
Letters of the English alphabet that represent
vowels: a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.

21. English Vowel Sounds
A vowel letter can represent different
vowel sounds:
hat [hæt], hate [heit], all [o:l], art [a:rt], any ['eni].
The same vowel sound is often represented by
different vowel letters in writing:
[ei] they, weigh, may, cake, steak, rain.

22. OPEN & CLOSE SYLABLE
OPEN SYLLABLE
Kate [keit],
Pete [pi:t],
note [nout],
site [sait],
cute [kyu:t].
 CLOSE SYLLABLE
cat [kæt], pet
[pet], not
[not], sit [sit],
cut (the
neutral sound
[ə]).

26. Note 1: The letter Y
The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a
consonant. As a vowel, Y has the vowel
sounds [i], [ai]. As a consonant, Y has the
consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound),
usually at the beginning of the word and only
in the syllable before a vowel.
[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;
[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;
[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.

27. Note 2: Diphthongs
A diphthong is one indivisible vowel sound that
consists of two parts. The first part is the main
strong component (the nucleus); the second
part is short and weak (the glide).
A diphthong is always stressed on its first
component: [au], [ou].
A diphthong forms one syllable. American
linguists usually list five diphthongs: [ei], [ai],
[au], [oi], [ou].

28. Note 3: The sound [o]
The sound [o] is short in British English. In the same
words in American English, the sound [o] is a long
sound colored as [a:]. This sound is often listed as
[a:] in American materials for ESL students. In some
words, there are two variants of pronunciation in
AmE: [o:] or [o].
[o]: lot, rock, rob, bother, bottle, college, comment,
document, modern, popular, respond, John, Tom;
[o:] or [o]: gone, coffee, office, borrow, orange, sorry,
loss, lost, want, wash, water.

29. How to Study English
Vowels
Method 1:
From Sound to Spelling

30. SOUND [i:]
Spelling examples: me, equal,
Japanese, remake, see, sea, piece,
seize, police.
The sound [i:] is represented in
writing by the following letters and
letter combinations.

31. Letter E
Under stress, in the root:
me, be, he, she, we, eve, these, scheme, theme, scene,
obscene, Pete, delete, compete, complete, obsolete, Crete,
concrete, discrete, extreme, supreme, Steve, intervene,
precede, recede;
equal, even, evening, evil, decent, recent, region, meter, Peter,
secret, media, demon, detail, female, legal, genius, senior,
convenient, frequent, veto, premium, previous.
Under stress, in the suffix:
Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Lebanese, Vietnamese,
Maltese, Burmese, manganese.
Stressed or unstressed, in the prefix:
remake, retell, rewrite, prehistoric, prewar, premarital,
premature, prepaid.

32. Combination EE
Under stress, in the root:
see, flee, free, agree, degree, knee, feel,
peel, seed, feed, proceed, succeed,
exceed, seen, keen, teen, seek, peek,
seem, screen, deep, creep, sleep, fleet,
meet, greet, sleeve.
Under stress, in the suffix:
trainee, refugee, referee, addressee.

33. Combination EA
Under stress, in the root:
sea, flea, tea, peace, beach, teach, lead,
read, beak, peak, leak, freak, deal, meal,
reveal, seal, steal, beam, cream,
scream, team, bean, lean, clean, heap,
leap, reap, please, release, increase,
tease, meat, beat, heat, beneath,
breathe, creature, leave.

34. Combination IE
Under stress, in the root:
piece, niece, field, shield, yield,
achieve, believe, grieve, relieve,
retrieve, belief, grief, relief, brief,
chief, thief, fiend, siege, shriek,
priest.

35. Combination EI
Under stress, in the root:
seize, receive, receipt, deceive,
conceive, conceit, perceive,
ceiling, leisure, Leigh.

36. Letter I
In words of foreign origin:
police, gasoline, machine, magazine,
marine, routine, vaccine, sardine,
prestige, regime, elite, naive, pizza,
ski, liter, fatigue, intrigue, antique,
physique, technique, unique.
Also the sound [i:]: key, people,
Aesop, Oedipus.

37. SOUND [i]
Spelling examples: it, kiss, justice,
enough, English, remove, rocket,
symbol, antonym, lady, Annie,
honey.
The sound [i] is represented in
writing by the following letters and
letter combinations.

38. Letter I
Under stress or unstressed, in the root,
prefix, suffix or ending:
it, bit, fit, sit, miss, kiss, tip, lip, rip, pick,
kick, sick, pin, sin, dinner, bring, sing,
king, list, wrist, fill, kill, hill, trim, river,
habit, unit, consist, ignore, inform, infinity,
justice, classic, public, terrible, English,
swimming.

39. Letter E
Under stress or unstressed, in the root,
prefix, suffix or ending:
enough, effect, eleven, electric, emotion,
English, despair, pretty, depart, remove,
repair, repeat, reply, preliminary, prepare,
security, illness, madness, actress,
timeless, bullet, rocket, fixes, bridges,
added, counted.

40. Letter Y
Under stress or unstressed, in the root:
symbol, Lybia, lyrics, myriad, hymn, nymph,
pygmy, pyramid, Sydney, sympathy, synthesis,
synchronize, crystal, system, typical, tyranny,
mystery, myth, rhythm, antonym, synonym,
pseudonym, acronym.
Unstressed, in the suffix:
lady, family, history, city, duty, Harry, carry, marry,
hurry, worry, lovely, sunny, funny, happy, busy,
dirty, pretty, any, many, very, nicely, hardly, Larry,
Billy, Mary, Terry, Abby.

41. Combination IE
Unstressed, in the suffix:
Annie, Carrie, Katie, Abbie,
Elsie, auntie, girlie, dearie,
sweetie.

42. Combination EY
Unstressed, in the suffix:
honey, chimney, hockey, journey,
money, monkey, pulley, trolley,
valley, Sydney, Odyssey, Casey,
Abbey.

43. How to Study English
Vowels
Method 2:
From Spelling to Sound

44. Combination EA
Under stress, in the root:
[i:]: sea, tea, flea, peace, beach, teach, lead, read, beak,
peak, leak, freak, deal, meal, reveal, seal, steal, beam, cream,
scream, team, bean, lean, clean, heap, leap, reap, please,
release, increase, tease, meat, beat, heat, beneath, breathe,
creature, leave.
Under stress, in the root:
[e]: bread, dead, head, header, lead, read, spread, thread,
dread, tread, ready, instead, sweat, sweater, threat, threaten,
breath, death, deaf, health, stealth, wealth, weather, leather,
feather, treacherous, treasure, measure, pleasure, pleasant,
jealous, dealt, meant, cleanse, weapon, heaven, heavy,
breakfast, breast.
[ei]: break, great, steak.

45. Combination OW
Usually under stress, in the root:
[au]: now, how, cow, row, bow, brow, allow, crowd,
powder, owl, fowl, howl, down, gown, town, clown,
brown, drown, crown, browse, browser, towel, bowel,
vowel, flower, power, tower, coward, Howard.
Under stress, in the root:
[ou]: know, low, show, row, bow, mow, owe, tow, crow,
grow, throw, blow, flow, slow, bowl, own, blown, flown,
grown, shown, thrown, growth.
Unstressed, in the root:
[ou]: follow, hollow, borrow, narrow, window, yellow.

46. Combination OU
Usually under stress, in the root:
[au]: out, about, doubt, couch, cloud, loud, proud,
foul, noun, ounce, bounce, announce, found, pound,
ground, hound, round, sound, surround, count,
amount, mountain, house, mouse, louse, blouse,
mouth, south, scout, shout, our, hour, flour, sour,
bough, plough, drought.
Usually under stress, in the root:
[u:]: group, soup, route, boulevard, cougar, coupon,
loupe, mousse, routine, souvenir, through, wound,
you, youth.
[u]: could, should, would.

47. Under stress or unstressed, in the root or suffix:
neutral sound [ə]: enough, rough, tough,
country, cousin, couple, double, trouble, touch,
flourish, nourish, young, borough, thorough,
Plymouth, famous, venomous, glamorous.
Under stress, in the root:
[o:]: cough, bought, brought, fought, ought,
sought, thought, course, court, four, pour, source,
your.
[ou]: boulder, mould / mold, shoulder, soul,
dough, though.