Pronunciation

[Zoely]

Hi to everyone,

I'm applying for a CELTA course and I'm stumbling on one task of the application assignment. Could you help me please to find the right answer? Thanks so much.

The task is following:

PRONUNCIATION


What sort of problems do you think learners may have with the pronunciation of the following words and phrases?


Example


rough, though, through, cough


All these words are spelled with –ough but the pronunciation is different in each case.
‘rough’ rhymes with ‘stuff’
‘though’ rhymes with ‘toe’
‘through’ rhymes with ‘shoe’
‘cough’ rhymes with ‘off’


1. knot, salmon, mortgage, plumbing

2. fish and chips, bread and butter, now and then

_____________________________

I thought the solution for number 1 would be something about consonants which are not pronounced... as it's the 'k' in knot and the 'g' in mortgage... but I cannot find such consonants in 'salmon' and 'plumbing'. Or am I wrong? I'm German, so maybe I don't know...

For number 2 I have absolutely no idea. I cannot see any similar difficulties or something that could cause problems in pronunciation.

I would be happy for any suggestion or advice. Thanks.:-D

 

[SoothingDave]

1. The "l" in salmon and the "b" in plumbing are silent.

2. The "and" in common pairs is reduced in practice to an "n." It's fish'n'chips. Rock'n'roll. Guns'n'roses.

 

[Zoely]

Oh, so these consonants are silent... good to know.

Thank you so much. This helped me a lot!