I Pronunciation of final -ed

Pues sí, señores, volvemos con el tema. Y es que se me ocurre que la cosa se puede simplificar hasta límites insospechados.

Resulta que habíamos quedado en que después de sonidos que no fueran /t/ o /d/, la pronunciación de la "-ed" final era

"-ed" = /t/ después de sonidos sordos, ej. "Washed" /'wɒʃt/, "stopped" /'stɒpt/, "laughed" /'lɑ:f/, "watched" /'wɒtʃt/

, "forced", etc.

"-ed" = /d/ después de sonidos sonoros, ej. "played", "changed", "disturbed", "loved", "called", "harmed", "studied", etc.

...Sin embargo, pensando FONÉTICAMENTE, podríamos quedarnos SÓLAMENTE con UNA regla que aprender.

"Tras /t/ y /d/ la "-ed" final se pronuncia /ɪd/, en TODOS los demás casos, la pronunciación será /t/ o /d/. La diferencia entre /t/ y /d/ es de vibración de las cuerdas vocales, aparte de eso, son el mismo fonema. Es mucho más grave decir /kɔ:lɪd/ cuando debemos decir /kɔ:ld/ que decir /kɔ:lt/ cuando debemos decir /kɔ:ld/.

¿Preguntas?

II Pronunciation of Final "-ed"

Comment on source: http://www.shertonenglish.com/resources/es/pronunciation/pronunciation-ed.php

Spanish students find it hard to work out how to prounce final -ed in verbs and adjetives. Below is a pdf file that shows the LETTERS after which you should prounce each sound, namely /d/, /t/ and /-id/. One has to be very much aware of the fact that anything written between / and / is a SOUND, never a letter. The pdf file has a GRAPHIC approach rather than a PHONETIC one (which is the one that I find most helpful). The graphic approach focuses on the actual letters that we READ, not PRONOUNCE. We only have to memorise the letters... that´s it, mission accomplished.

On the other hand the PHONETIC approach seeks to make the student of English aware of the basic difference between "voiced" sounds and "unvoiced" sound. This distinction is VITAL to get the pronounciation right.

1. In the first place: after voicless sounds, "-ed" is pronounced /t/, as in "asked" /askt/.
2. Secondly, after voiced sounds, "-ed" is pronounced /d/ as in "called" /kɔːld/.
3. Finally, after sounds /t/ and /d/, "-ed" is pronounced /-ɪd/. Examples: "want" /'wɒnt /> "wanted" /ˈwɒntɪd/, "land" /lænd / > "landed" /ˈlændɪd/

It is essential to understand that "sounds" are NOT "letters". I cannot stress this enough. This is particularly important for English, since what we READ does NOT MATCH what we PRONOUNCE. The first approach (GRAPHIC) mentioned above poses problems that may lead to confussion.

Take for example the word "laugh". Now, it is important to KNOW that this word is actually pronounced /láf/. The advantage of the PHONETIC approach is that we KNOW that /f/ is a voiceless sound and is followed by "-ed" /t/, therefore "laughed" is pronouned /láft/. HOWEVER we can see the letter "f" ANYWHERE.

Also, when the pdf talks about "endings", what about words like the following...

• "combine"
• "fade"
• "glide"
• "side"
• "trade"
• etc.

These words (just to mention a few) do NOT end in consonant. All of them have a vowel at the end. Again, the WRITTEN and SPOKEN levels contradict each other. We need to understand that it is SOUNDS which matter in English, so "trade" /'treɪd/ ends in /d/ and according to the rule, it should be pronounced "-ed" /ɪd/ ("traded" /'treɪdɪd/)

See you soon.

For further practice I recommend that you have a look at the following link and start practising: 

http://www.manythings.org/b/e/4365/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/pronunciation

One-syllable word comparatives

Source: http://www.onestopenglish.com/section.asp?docid=146356

There are no rules! Only tendencies. (In fact, you could probably say that about ALL grammar). For example, a quick search of corpus sites on the Internet threw up the following 'exceptions' to the rule that one syllable words take –er in the comparative:
"As the sun grew more fierce, our complexions darkened. She was more full of good intentions than ever. She said if you had something like porridge, you'd feel more full. A less religious or a more sane man than the fanatic would have shut up. You'd think it would make them more sane and agreeable than the norm. It seems to me more braveto stay on Earth and explore inner man. To swim is true, and to sink is true. One is not more true than the other. Somebody came up and told me which is even more rude. Could any argument be more tired?"
Some one-syllable adjectives, like right, wrong, and real, virtually never take –er. (Is that a rule or a tendency?).
The Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English, which is based on corpus data, suggests that forms like more fierce are more emphatic (emphaticker?) than fiercer. They go on to say that two-syllable adjectives show even greater variability.
The tendency, however, is to inflect (i.e. add –er, -est to) adjectives ending in

• –y (pretty, prettier, prettiest) but adjectives ending in –ly can go both ways (lonelier, more lonely).
• Sometimes inflected are adjectives ending in –ow, like narrow, and
• –er, like clever, and
• –le, like simple.

Those that usually take more/most are adjectives ending in

• -ful, -less, -al, -ive, -ous (most useful, more mindless, etc) and
• adjectives formed from participles (more bored, most tiring).
• And of course, three-or-more-syllable adjectives.

But despite these 'rules' the following instances have been recorded:
unhappiest, boringest, and raggediest.
As I said before: no rules, just tendencies. Can I be more clear?