Pronunciation - Minimal Pairs

Minimal pairs are pairs of words that have one phonological element that is different.

Example:

In the above case, the vowel sound of both words is the different phonological element.

Practicing minimal pairs can help students localize the often minute differences in pronunciation between one word and another. It also helps students practice the finer elements of common muted vowel sounds which are common to English vowel production. The following lesson provides a lesson outline with a handout minimal pairs sheet.

Aim: To improve recognition and pronunciation skills of single words

Activity:Minimal Pair practice

Level: Any level needing to improve pronunciation skills

Outline:

• Write examples of minimal pairs on the board. If students have learned the IPA, it is a good idea to employ the phonetic transcriptions of the words on the board.
• Demonstrate the correct pronunciation of the minimal pairs written on the board.
• Elicit students to give examples of other words which use the same changing phonemes.
  Example: bat - bet (written on board) student: "cat - kept"
  It is a good idea to accept more than one phonological difference as long as the target phoneme has been reproduced.
• Distribute minimal pair sheet.
• For lower levels: Reproduce the minimal pairs in chorus by first giving the example and then having students repeat together.
• For upper levels: Have students work in pairs taking turns reproducing the minimal pairs.
• Repeat as many times as you feel necessary.
• Have students use the minimal pairs sheet as a model to produce another, similar, minimal pair sheet.
• Extend activity into a game, by having students distribute their minimal pair sheets to other pairs.

  Added activity: If students are proficient in the IPA, have students transcribe the minimal pairs as a means of strengthening their knowledge of the IPA.

  Minimal Pairs
  

  lit - light	read - red	sing - sang
  bed - bad	saw - sought	boot - boat
  soot - suit	but - boot	why - way
  know - now	wreath - wreathe	leak - lick
  look - luck	sock - suck	vest - vast
  cod - card	dug - dog	thirst - first
  fair - fear	pay - bay	read - lead
  need - mead	zoo - sue	near - ne'er
  catch - cash	azure - assure	jet - chet
  leige - lease	whistle - thistle	beige - bays
  fur - fear	care - chur	noon - nun

  Printable version of minimal pairs sheet

  Back to lessons resource page

  Further Information on the IPA

  IPA Symbol Card Game
  Lesson intended to help students learn the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)

  Phonetics: Introduction
  An introduction and reference guide to the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).

  International Phonetic Association
  The association responsible for the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) which is the standard alphabet for help with English and other language pronunciation. Information concerning the association.

  IPA Font
  Free downloadable IPA font for creating pronunciation documents on your computer. Provided by the Summer Institute of Linguistics.