Practice question · Put in order
Arrange these pronunciation priorities in the order Jenkins's findings suggest for a learner aiming at international intelligibility.
- Nuclear stress placement
- Aspiration of voiceless stops in stressed onsets
- The two th sounds
- Initial consonant clusters without deletion
- Vowel length distinctions
Hints
- The Core's items come before the ones it finds unimportant.
- The th sounds are the item the research finds least consequential.
Show the answer
- Initial consonant clusters without deletion
- Aspiration of voiceless stops in stressed onsets
- Vowel length distinctions
- Nuclear stress placement
- The two th sounds
Why
The ordering is deliberately provocative: the th sounds, traditionally among the first things taught to learners of English, come last on the evidence. The four items above them are all features whose absence caused measured breakdowns.
Practise Stress, Rhythm and Intelligibility
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