英語発音ガイド：48の重要な音のパターン

母音の音

"/æ/ — "cat""

Short front vowel; mouth wide open, tongue low. Differs from /ɑː/ in "father" and /ɛ/ in "bed".

""The man packed a black bag." — note each underlined "a" is /æ/."

母音の音

"/ɪ/ vs /iː/ — "ship" vs "sheep""

/ɪ/ is short and relaxed; /iː/ is long and tense. Confusing these changes meaning entirely.

""I want to live (lɪv) here and really live (liːv) my life.""

母音の音

"/ʌ/ — "cup""

Central mid vowel. Russian speakers often replace it with /a/, Spanish speakers with /o/. Keep the mouth only half open.

""The young son won the fun run." — all underlined letters are /ʌ/."

母音の音

"/ɒ/ vs /oʊ/ — "not" vs "note""

/ɒ/ is a short open vowel (British English); /oʊ/ is a diphthong. Adding the wrong vowel length shifts meaning.

""I wrote a note about the not-so-obvious dot.""

母音の音

"/ɜː/ — "bird""

This "er" sound does not exist in most other languages. Round the lips slightly and raise the mid tongue. Appears in "word", "turn", "heard".

""Her first nurse earned a birthday reward.""

母音の音

"/ə/ — schwa"

The most common English vowel. Any unstressed syllable can become schwa. Japanese, Spanish, and Italian speakers tend to over-pronounce unstressed vowels.

""A banana is a common example of schwa." — every "a" here is /ə/."

母音の音

"/eɪ/ — "face""

A diphthong: starts at /e/ and glides to /ɪ/. In many languages this is a pure vowel /e/; adding the glide makes it sound more natural.

""They say the grey waves change shape every day.""

母音の音

"/ʊ/ vs /uː/ — "foot" vs "food""

/ʊ/ is short and lax; /uː/ is long and tense. Many learners use /uː/ for both, causing misunderstandings.

""The cook took a look at the moon through the pool.""

子音の音

"/θ/ and /ð/ — "think" / "this""

/θ/ is voiceless (think, three, both); /ð/ is voiced (this, that, breathe). Place the tongue tip lightly between the teeth. Absent in Russian, Japanese, most Romance languages.

""Breathe through your teeth, not through your nose." — both "th" types appear."

子音の音

"/r/ — "red""

English /r/ is retroflex or bunched; the tongue never touches the roof of the mouth. Spanish speakers trill it; Japanese speakers approximate it with /l/ or /ɾ/.

""The right road runs around the rear of the river.""

子音の音

"/l/ dark vs clear — "feel" vs "leaf""

Clear /l/ before vowels ("leaf"); dark /ɫ/ after vowels ("feel"). In dark /l/ the back of the tongue rises. Many learners use only one variant.

""I still feel the pull of the local village hills.""

子音の音

"/v/ vs /w/ — "very" vs "worry""

/v/ requires the upper teeth to touch the lower lip; /w/ is made with rounded lips only. German, Japanese, and some Spanish speakers confuse these.

""The very wet weather was worse than we expected.""

子音の音

"/p/ /t/ /k/ aspiration"

At the start of a stressed syllable, English /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated — a puff of air follows them. Compare "pin" [pʰɪn] vs "spin" [spɪn]. Missing aspiration sounds flat.

""Please tell Kevin to keep the top cup clean.""

子音の音

"/ŋ/ — "sing""

Velar nasal: back of the tongue touches the soft palate. In "-ing" endings the /g/ is silent. Many learners add /g/ at the end: "singing" not "singk-ing".

""Running, singing, and jumping are amazing things.""

子音の音

"/dʒ/ vs /ʒ/ — "jump" vs "measure""

/dʒ/ is an affricate (hard "j"); /ʒ/ is a fricative (the "s" in "measure"). Both are rare in many learner languages.

""The judge measured the vision of the beige garage.""

子音の音

"/h/ — "hat""

English /h/ is a voiceless glottal fricative. Spanish, French, and Portuguese speakers often drop it because "h" is silent in their languages.

""He had hardly heard of her half-hearted habit.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "k" — "know", "knife""

Before "n", the letter "k" is always silent. This applies to: know, knock, knee, knight, knit, knob, knack.

""The knight knelt and knocked his knuckle on the knob.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "w" — "write", "wrong""

"w" is silent before "r" at the start of a word: write, wrong, wrap, wrist, wreck, wrestle, wren.

""She wrote the wrong answer on her wrist.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "b" — "comb", "lamb""

"b" is silent after "m" at the end of a word: comb, lamb, bomb, climb, thumb, dumb, crumb, numb.

""The dumb climber combed crumbs off the lamb.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "gh" — "night", "though""

"gh" is usually silent in the middle or end of words: night, light, though, through, daughter, caught, taught, enough.

""Though the night was rough, they fought through to the light.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "e" — "make", "hope""

Final silent "e" lengthens the preceding vowel: mad → made, hop → hope, bit → bite, can → cane. This is the "magic e" rule.

""Take the ripe grape and place it in the crate.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "t" — "castle", "listen""

"t" is silent in many words ending "-stle" or "-sten": castle, whistle, listen, often, fasten, glisten, hustle, bustle.

""Listen carefully to the castle whistle as she fastens the rustle.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "l" — "walk", "half""

"l" is silent before certain consonants: walk, talk, could, would, should, half, calm, palm, folk, yolk.

""He could walk calmly and talk with half the folk.""

黙字（サイレントレター）

"Silent "p" — "psychology", "pneumonia""

"p" is silent at the start of words from Greek beginning "ps-" or "pn-": psychology, psychiatry, pneumonia, pterodactyl, psalm.

""The psychiatrist treated pneumonia with a psychological approach.""

語強勢

"Noun vs verb stress: "REcord" vs "reCORD""

Many English noun/verb pairs shift stress: REcord (noun) vs reCORD (verb). Also: PROtest / proTEST, PREsent / preSENT, PERmit / perMIT.

""Please reCORD the new REcord on the official PERmit form to PERmit access.""

語強勢

"Two-syllable nouns on first syllable"

Most two-syllable nouns and adjectives stress the first syllable: TAble, MOney, PEOple, HAPpy, CLEver, DOctor, SISter, WINdow.

""The CLEver DOctor placed the TAble by the WINdow.""

語強勢

"Stress in "-tion" / "-sion" words"

Words ending in "-tion" or "-sion" always stress the syllable immediately before the suffix: comMUnication, proDUCtion, deCIsion, disCUSSion.

""The comMUnication about the deCIsion caused disCUSSion.""

語強勢

"Compound noun stress: first element"

Compound nouns stress the first element: BLACKbird (a bird), TOOTHbrush, FOOTball, SUNflower. Compare "black BIRD" (any black bird) — adjective+noun stresses the noun.

""She left her TOOTHbrush and READing glasses on the WINDOWsill.""

語強勢

"Stress shift with suffixes "-ic", "-ical""

Adding "-ic" or "-ical" shifts stress to the syllable before it: PHOtograph → phoTOgraphy → photoGRAPHic. The word changes shape dramatically.

""The phoTOgrapher took a photoGRAPHic image for the geoGRAPHical journal.""

語強勢

"-ate verbs vs nouns/adjectives"

Two-syllable "-ate" words: verbs stress the second syllable (creATE, doNATE), while nouns/adjectives stress the first (CREate is a verb; CLImate is a noun with /ɪt/ ending).

""The deliCATE delegate must deliVER and deliBERate carefully.""

語強勢

"Content words vs function words"

In a sentence, content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs) carry stress; function words (articles, prepositions, conjunctions) are reduced and unstressed.

""She BOUGHT a BOOK for her FRIEND." — "a" and "for" are unstressed /ə/ and /fər/."

語強勢

"Stress in numbers: "thirTEEN" vs "THIRty""

Numbers 13–19 stress the second syllable (thirTEEN, fourTEEN); tens stress the first syllable (THIRty, FORty). Confusing these causes misunderstandings in prices and dates.

""I paid THIRty dollars, not thirTY — wait, thirTEEN, not THIRteen.""

つながった発話

"Linking: consonant → vowel"

When a word ends in a consonant and the next begins with a vowel, the sounds link: "turn it off" sounds like "tur-ni-toff". This is the most common linking type.

""Pick it up" → "pi-ki-tup"; "come on in" → "cu-mo-nin"."

つながった発話

"Intrusive /r/ — "saw it""

In non-rhotic British English, when a word ending in a vowel is followed by another vowel, speakers insert a linking /r/: "law and order" → "law-rand-order"; "idea of" → "idea-rof".

""The media is covering the area in Africa." — /r/ links appear at each vowel junction."

つながった発話

"Elision — dropping sounds"

Sounds are often dropped in fast speech: "next day" → "nex day", "asked him" → "ast him", "most people" → "mos people". The /t/ and /d/ are frequently elided between consonants.

""He must have asked the last person on the list." — multiple /t/ sounds are dropped."

つながった発話

"Assimilation — sounds change for neighbours"

A sound takes on properties of the sound next to it: "ten people" → "tem people" (n→m before bilabial p); "that person" → "thap person" (t→p). Common in rapid speech.

""In practice" → "im practice"; "good boy" → "goob boy"."

つながった発話

"Weak forms of function words"

Common words have strong and weak forms. "can" → /kæn/ (strong) vs /kən/ (weak); "and" → /ænd/ → /ən/ or even /n/; "to" → /tuː/ → /tə/; "for" → /fɔː/ → /fər/.

""I can go and meet her for a cup of tea." — nearly every function word is in weak form."

つながった発話

"Flapping — American /t/ and /d/"

In American English, /t/ or /d/ between vowels often becomes a flap /ɾ/ (like a quick "d"): "water" → "wa-der", "better" → "be-der", "city" → "si-dy". This shocks many learners.

""I got a little butter on my data." — all four underlined consonants are flapped."

つながった発話

"Contractions and reductions"

"Gonna" = going to, "wanna" = want to, "gotta" = got to, "kinda" = kind of, "hafta" = have to, "dunno" = don't know. These are not slang — they are normal fast-speech reductions.

""I'm gonna hafta kinda think about it, I dunno." — fully natural in conversation."

つながった発話

"Consonant cluster simplification"

When several consonants cluster together, one is often dropped: "friendship" → "fren-ship", "handsome" → "han-some", "sandwich" → "sam-wich". Clusters of three or more almost always simplify.

""He asked the handsome stranger for a sandwich at the campsite.""

ミニマルペア

""ship" /ɪ/ vs "sheep" /iː/"

Short relaxed /ɪ/ vs long tense /iː/. Crucial for many learners from Spanish, Japanese, and Italian backgrounds where this distinction does not exist.

""The ship carried sheep across the sea. Did I say ship or sheep?" — context alone clarifies."

ミニマルペア

""live" /lɪv/ vs "leave" /liːv/"

Same vowel contrast as ship/sheep but in a verb pair. "I live here" vs "I leave here" — entirely different meanings, often confused by learners.

""Do you live near the station, or will you leave on the next train?""

ミニマルペア

""bad" /bæd/ vs "bed" /bɛd/"

/æ/ vs /ɛ/ distinction. Many learners, especially from Spanish and Portuguese, do not distinguish these. "A bad bed" can sound like repetition.

""I had a bad time on that uncomfortable bed.""

ミニマルペア

""cat" /kæt/ vs "cut" /kʌt/"

/æ/ (low front) vs /ʌ/ (mid central). Urdu, Hindi, and Arabic speakers often find this challenging. The jaw drops further for /æ/.

""The cat made a small cut on the mat near the hut.""

ミニマルペア

""think" /θɪŋk/ vs "sink" /sɪŋk/"

/θ/ vs /s/: the tongue tip goes between the teeth for "think". Absent in most learner languages. Mixing these changes words: "I think" → "I sink".

""Think before you sink the thought into the thick sack.""

ミニマルペア

""this" /ðɪs/ vs "dis-" /dɪs/"

/ð/ vs /d/: voiced "th" vs voiced stop. "They" vs "day", "though" vs "dough", "breathe" vs "breed" — all minimal pairs on this distinction.

""They say the day is done when they close the door.""

ミニマルペア

""pull" /pʊl/ vs "pool" /puːl/"

Short lax /ʊ/ vs long tense /uː/. Also: full/fool, look/Luke, good/food, stood/stewed. Critical for many learners from Asia and Eastern Europe.

""She stood by the pool and took a full look at the cool water.""

ミニマルペア

""rice" /raɪs/ vs "lice" /laɪs/"

/r/ vs /l/ distinction. Japanese learners famously struggle with this pair. Practice by placing the tongue tip on the ridge behind the upper teeth for /l/ but NOT touching for /r/.

""He ordered rice, not lice. I love long, light, really red roses.""