Today we’re picking back up on our work on diphthongs from last season (episode 42, “Beer or bear”). This time, we’re looking at just one /ɪ/ diphthongs, /eɪ/ so, this one ends in the /ɪ/ sound which we’ve spoken about in episodes 25 (“Cheap as chips” and 41 “The left lift”), and begins with the short /e/ sounds that we’ve looked at episode 3 “Man or men”, and again 41 “The left lift”, as well as in this series in episode 48 “Very varied”.
A reminder that a diphthong can be considered a blend of two short vowel sounds, so unlike others, it is a sound in which your mouth moves from one position to another as you make it. With /eɪ/ - we’re starting with /e/ and moving to /ɪ/: both front vowels, but you’ll close your jaw to move from /e/ to /ɪ/, and you may notice some difference in your tongue position or the tension in it too. Let’s make the sounds separately, and then blend them into the diphthong.
Ok, time for some common words with /eɪ/. This time I’ve split them a little differently, so we’re starting with /eɪ/ in stressed syllables.
1. afraid
2. amazing
3. change
4. date
5. display
6. eight
7. explain
8. explanation
9. game
10.great
11.information
12.make
13.neighbour
14.place
15.say
16.situation
And for some sentences with some of those words.
- Did my amazing neighbour explain the situation?
- I’m afraid to say we may change the game date and place.
I didn’t include any words with /eɪ/ followed by ‘l’ in that list, because these tend to be a bit trickier to pronounce. For example, with ‘pale’ or ‘sale’ or ‘fail’, I’m more likely to say ‘pale’ than ‘peil’ – you might hear an intrusive /j/ and a schwa sound step in there to make the transition. That’s ok! I’ll put a longer list of these in the transcript.
And next some words with /eɪ/ in unstressed syllables.
1. aeroplane
2. always
3. appreciate
4. birthday
5. café
6. communicate
7. concentrate
8. decade
9. dominate
10.eighteen
11.estimate
12.holiday
13.investigate
14.simulate
15.teenager
…And some sentences with those words:
- They investigate and simulate how aeroplanes communicate.
- The teenagers always appreciated their holiday.
Bonus:
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Or, if you know the “Happy Days” song, that one would be great here!
Finally, we’re going to look at /eɪ/ in contrast with the short vowel /e/. We haven’t spoken about /e/ itself today, because it’s right there in episode 48 if you need to go back to it. We have a lot of minimal pairs to get through, though, and I’ll put an even longer list in the script.
1. best based/ baste
2. bread braid
3. debt date
4. edge age
5. get gate
6. lens lanes
7. let late
8. men main
9. met mate
10.pen pain
11.rest raced
12.shed shade
13.special spatial
14.west waist
15.wren rain
…And some sentences with those minimal pairs:
· She let them braid the bread, but they were late.
· There’s a wren in the rain in the shade by the shed.
Longer list of words ending /l/.
1. ail/ ale
2. bail
3. detail
4. fail
5. jail
6. pail/ pale
7. sail/ sale
8. snail
9. tail/ tale
10.trail
11.whale
More minimal pairs:
5. best based/ baste
6. bread braid
7. breast braced
8. debt date
9. edge age
10.fell fail
11.fleck flake
12.get gate
13.lens lanes
14.let late
15.men main
16.mess mace
17.met mate
18.pen pain
19.pest pace
20.red raid
21.rest raced
22.shed shade
23.special spatial
24.tell tale
25.tread trade
26.west waist
27.wreck rake
28.wren rain