Pronouncing the letters

ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY

Daniel Jones. Edited by Peter Roach, James Hartman and Jane Setter. Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Scanned by Maung Kan Tun and edited by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR .
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Silent letters

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Silent letters

Unlike Burmese consonants, English consonants can become silent (zero realization) in some words and in some cases "mispronounced" beyond expectations. These examples are from DJPD16.

See letter B [b] can be silent, or have a zero realization. There are two combinations in which this can occur: [bt] and [mb]. [bt] is either word medial or word final, e.g.:
	<doubt>	/daʊt/
	<subtle>	/ˈsʌt.ļ/	(us)	/ˈsʌt̬.ļ/
Words containing [mb] in which [b] is silent have the [mb] in word final position, except where an inflection is added, e.g.:
	<bomb>	/bɒm/	(us)	/bɑːm/
	<bombing>	/ˈbɒm.ɪŋ/	(us)	/ˈbɑːmɪŋ/
For [bt], the [b] is not silent, if part of a prefix. Compare:
	<subtract>	/səbˈtrækt/
	<subtle>	/ˈsʌt.ļ/	(us)	/ˈsʌt̬.ļ/

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see letter C [c] can be silent. There are two occasions when this can occur: the combination [ct] in some words, and in British place names such as Leicester, e.g.:
	<Leicester>	/ˈles.təʳ/	(us)	/-tɚ/
	<indict>	/ɪnˈdaɪt/
An exceptional pronunciation for c is /ʧ/ in some words borrowed from Italian, e.g. :
	<cello>	/ˈʧel.əʊ/	(us)	/-oʊ/
	<Cinquecento>	/ˌʧɪŋ.kweɪˈʧen.təʊ/	(us)	/-oʊ/
A final exception:
	<Caesar>	/ˈsɪː.zəʳ/	(us)	/-zɚ/

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See letters ch There is no reliable way of predicting whether [ch] will be silent or pronounced as /ʧ , k/ or /ʃ/ by looking at the spelling alone. In the case of <yacht> [ch] is silent:
	<yacht>	/jɒt/	(us)	/jɑːt/
Occasionally, [ch] is pronounced /ʤ/ , as in the British place name <Greenwich>.
	<Greenwich>	/ˈgren.ɪʤ/
Words from Scots ending [ch] may be pronounced /χ/ (Greek Small Letter Chi, U03C7), but can also have the realisation /k/, e.g.:
	<loch>	/lɒk, lɒχ/	(us)	/lɑːk, lɑːχ/
	UKT: Choice of Chi U03C7 is my guess based on the shape of the character given in the original panel in the printed book.

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See letter g g is often silent before a consonant letter m or n at the beginning and end of words, e.g.
	<gnat>	/næt/
	<paradigm>	/ˈpær.ə.daɪm/

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See letters gg gg may be pronounced as /ʤ/, e.g.:
	<exaggerate>	/ɪgˈzæʤ.^ər.eɪt/	(us)	/-ə.reɪt/
And in rare cases for American English as /gʤ/:
	<suggest>	/səˈʤest/	(us)	/səgˈʤest/

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Silent gh See letters ei | letters gh
<eight>, <height>
<high>, <height>, <plough>, <caught>

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Pronouncing the letters
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