English Pronunciation Rules
(according to EwD Didactics)

(Updated for EwD v3.3)

Introduction

English pronunciation is complex and often unpredictable, posing challenges for learners and educators alike. The English with Diacritics (EwD) system addresses these challenges by formalizing and clarifying the pronunciation rules that govern the language. Before delving into the diacritical marks that EwD employs, it's essential to thoroughly understand the core pronunciation rules of English as structured by the EwD didactics.

These rules are intentionally detailed in order to minimize the need for diacritics, ensuring they are applied only when necessary to highlight the deviations (exceptions) to the most common pronunciation patterns. The primary goal of the EwD diacritics is to identify and pinpoint these deviations, helping readers navigate the abundant irregularities in English pronunciation with confidence and precision.

The following six Pronunciation Rules serve as the foundation for this approach, guiding you through the essential principles that underpin English phonetics as viewed through the EwD system.

Contents

• Rule No. 1 – The Final Silent E

• Rule No. 2 – Equivalent Letters

  • Sub-Rule 2.1 – I and Y
  • Sub-Rule 2.2 – U and W

• Rule No. 3 – Stressed Syllables

  • Sub-Rule 3.1 – Default Stressed Syllable
  • Sub-Rule 3.2 – Vowel Digraphs/Trigraphs
  • Sub-Rule 3.3 – Verbs
  • Sub-Rule 3.4 – Strong Endings
  • Sub-Rule 3.5 – Stress Deviations
  • Sub-Rule 3.6 – Weak Endings

• Rule No. 4 – Natural Vowels

  • Sub-Rule 4.1 – Natural Long Vowels
  • Sub-Rule 4.2 – Natural Short Vowels

• Rule No. 5 – Compound Words

• Rule No. 6 – Silent Consonants

• Conclusion

• Notes

Rule No. 1 – The Final Silent E

¶1 – Any single <e> at the end of a word is silent, unless it carries a mark or it is the sole vowel in the word.

E.g. (silent): late, bike, hăve, we͡re, more, able, smoothe

E.g. (pronounced):

• recipe̱ – Carries mark.
• me – Sole vowel in the word.

¶2 – If a final silent <e> receives an "-s" ending, that <e> is still considered a final silent <e>.

E.g.: hopes, believes, wolves

Rule No. 2 – Equivalent Letters

¶ – There are two pairs of letters that are equivalent in certain situations: I/Y and U/W.

Rule 2.1 – I and Y

¶ – The letters <i> and <y> are equivalent (pronounced the same way) in 2 frequent situations:

1. When in the syllable nucleus.

   E.g.:

   • bite, I, type, my – ⟨long-i⟩ sound.
   • bit, hippie, hymn, syllable – ⟨short-i⟩ sound.

2. When combining with other letter to produce falling diphthongs.

   E.g.:

   • wait, clay, vein, they – ⟨long-a⟩ sound.
   • noise, boy – ⟨oy⟩ sound.
   • he̍ight, e̍ye – ⟨long-i⟩ sound.

Rule 2.2 – U and W

¶ – The letters <u> and <w> are equivalent (pronounced the same way) when respectively combined with <o> or <a> to produce ⟨ow⟩ or ⟨aw⟩ sound:

E.g.:

• about, how – ⟨ow⟩ sound.
• cause, saw – ⟨aw⟩ sound.

Rule No. 3 – Stressed Syllables

¶ – In this Rule, we cover all the main stress patterns of English. English is a stress-timed language, so mastering this trait is crucial for both pronunciation and listening.

Sub-Rule 3.1 – Default Stressed Syllable

¶1 – For words with more than one syllable, EwD establishes two ways to determine which position the receives the S1* by default. With “by default”, we mean when certain conditions (such as vowel digraphs) are absent in the word.

* In EwD didactics we refer to primary stress as S1 and secondary stress as S2.

¶2 – In non-verb words with two syllables, the first syllable gets the S1 by default – that is, they are paroxytone by default.

E.g.: number, sentence, nature, hundred, table, pattern

Note on stress notation

¶3 – In non-verb words with three or more syllables, on the other hand, the antepenultime syllable gets the S1 by default – that is, they are proparoxytone by default.

E.g. (three syllables): family, excellent, possible, infini̯te

E.g. (more than three syllables): particular, tec‍̤hnology, experiment, political, economical

¶4 – Each of the other Sub-Rules below represents one of the aforementioned conditions for which the stress may fall on positions other than the ones mentioned above.

Sub-Rule 3.2 – Vowel Digraphs/Trigraphs

¶1 – Vowel digraphs and trigraphs tend to attract the S1.

E.g.: afraid, despair, campaign, detail, today, default, degree, between, releas̩e, disease, demeanor, receip̊t, tonight, delight, hygiene, about, pursuit

E.g. (deviation): always, dīnosaur, prōceeds

Note on stress notation

¶2 – The exceptions to this pattern are the endings -ey, -ies, -ied, -ow, -ous, -our, -ew and -ue, which usually remain unstressed.

E.g.:

Minimal EwD	Detailed EwD
hockey	hocke̱y
copies	cŏpies
copied	cŏpied
shadow	shădo̱w
famous̩	fāmo͢us̩
colour	cŏlo͜ur
nephew	nephew
value	vălue̥

Sub-Rule 3.3 – Verbs

¶1 – Verbs in English usually follow a different stress pattern than most other words, they tend to receive stress in the final syllable. For longer words, that stress may be S1 or S2, depending on the meter of the word and on the accent spoken. There's a historical reason² for this phenomenon.

Note on stress notation

E.g.:

• replace, begin, complete, correct – The last syllable gets the S1 (the words are oxytones).
• separate, experiment – The antepenultimate syllable gets the S1, and the last syllable gets S2 (the words are proparoxytones with strong last syllable).

E.g. (deviations): fŏllow, pĭcture, nōtice

¶2 – Unlike most verbs, verbs ending in -en, -er, and -or/-our tend to be paroxytones instead.

E.g.: open, embolden, differ, enter, remember, favor/favour

E.g. (deviations): refér, prefér

¶3 – If a verb receives any verbal suffix (such as -s, -ed, -ing, -en, -able, or -ible), then the stress will usually remain on the same place as before.

E.g.: replaces, beginning, completed, correcting, experimented, separating, forgotten, mistaken, favorable, comprehensible

Sub-Rule 3.4 – Strong Endings

¶ – Strong endings always attract the S1 to the previous syllable. Below are the seven SMSs that EwD takes into account:

Note on stress notation

• -ion

  E.g.: education, criterion, confusion

• -ian

  E.g.: musician, vegetarian

• -ial

  E.g.: material, official

• -ious̩

  E.g.: efficacious̩, notorious̩

• -ient, ience, iency

  E.g.: efficient, efficiency, obedient, obedience

• -ic

  E.g.: genetic, historic, artistic
  E.g. (deviation): Ărabic

Sub-Rule 3.5 – Stress Deviations

¶1 – For words whose stress pattern varies from the ones explained above, EwD employs stress-indicating diacritics referred to as strong marks¹. If a word receives a single strong mark, then the given syllable gets the S1, and the stress level of the other syllables are adjusted naturally*.

E.g.: matūre, untĭl, tĕmperature, indepĕndence – Deviations from the two patterns explained in Sub-Rule 3.1.

E.g.: fŏllow, pĭcture, nōtice, refér, prefér, Ărabic – Deviations from the patterns explained in the other Sub-Rules above.

* Keep in mind that stress and intonation follow intuitive patterns that should be felt and internalized with practice, rather than learned through effort.

¶2 – If a word receives two strong marks, then the first one gets the S2 and the second one gets the S1 (1^st→S2 and 2^nd→S1). This very rarely happens in Minimal EwD, and for this reason all the examples given below are in the Detailed EwD.

E.g. (in Detailed EwD): ăca̬dĕmic, pro̬nŭnciātio̬n, sĕro̬tōnin

Sub-Rule 3.6 – Weak Endings

¶1 – Some endings, such as -ly, -able, -less, -ness, -ary, -ery and -ory, generally do not affect the overall stress pattern of the word they belong to.

E.g.: naturally, vege̥table*, dictionary, cemetery, category

Rule No. 4 – Natural Vowels

¶1 – Natural vowels are simple vowels (a/e/i/y/o/u) whose pronunciation is dictated by the letters to the right of them. As such, they don't need the corresponding duration mark (Macron or Breve) to indicate their quality.

E.g.: cute, cut, cutter, able, apple

¶2 – There are 2 kinds of natural vowels: natural long and natural short vowels.

Sub-Rule 4.1 – Natural Long Vowels

¶1 – Natural long vowels are simple vowels that are pronounced long without the need of the Macron mark to indicate this.

¶2 – Vowels that fit the conditions defined by this rule, but still use a short pronunciation, are treated as deviations to the patterns and receive the Breve mark to highlight their short sound.

There are four Scenarios for natural long vowels:

1. Stressed monosyllables with a single vowel.

   E.g.: he, be, so, go, a*

   * When emphasized.

2. Vowel followed by another vowel in a separate syllable (hiatus).

   E.g.: rea̬l, science, poem, usual, area̬, hiātus̩, creāte, material*, period*

   * The <i> in the left position of unstressed hiatuses systematically sounds ⟨long-e⟩ instead of ⟨long-i⟩.

3. Vowel <u> in a stressed syllable followed by a single consonant and then a vowel.

   E.g.: student, music, runic, unit, numeral, usual

   E.g. (deviation): stŭdy

4. Vowel in a stressed syllable followed by a single consonant and then a lengthener ending. Below are the six groups of lengthener endings:

   • -e (the so-called magic “e”)

     E.g.: ate, these, bite, hope, cute, operate, exercise

     E.g. (deviations): hăve, thĕre, lĭve

   • -er, -ẹd, -en, -ent, -ence

     E.g.: paper, over, nakẹd, even, moment, silence

     E.g. (deviations): ĕver, rĭver, tălent

   • -Cle and -Cre, where C is any consonant.

     E.g.: able, idle, ogre

   • -al, -an, -ar, -is̩, -o, -or/-our, -us̩

     E.g.: final, pagan, solar, t‍̤hes̩is, ego, valor/valour, bonus̩

     E.g. (deviations): ĕver, rĭver, tălent

   • Strong endings, except for <i>.

     E.g.: nation, region, solution, TODO – Preceeding vowel has a long sound.

     E.g.: ignition, vision – <i> keeps the short sound (⟨short-i⟩).

¶3 – Suffixes, as a rule, do not affect the length of preceding long vowels. The only systematic exception to this pattern is the suffix -ic, which usually behaves as a shortener ending.

Hover over (or click on) the examples below to see their decomposition.

• Verbal suffixes.

  E.g.: taken, ruler, timed, typed, baked, timing, hoping

• -y/-ie/-ey as a suffix.

  E.g.: baby, cutie, pricey

• Other suffixes.

  E.g.: famous̩, tidal, scalar

Sub-Rule 4.2 – Natural Short Vowels

¶1 – Natural short vowels are the counterparts of natural long vowels. They are pronounced short without the need of the Breve mark to indicate this.

¶2 – Similarly to their long counterparts, vowels that fit the conditions defined by this rule, but still use a long pronunciation, are treated as deviations to the patterns and receive the Macron mark to highlight their long sound.

There are five Scenarios for natural short vowels:

1. Vowel followed by two or more consonant letters* or by the letter <x>.

   E.g. (followed by two or more consonant letters): apple, clashes, tremble, wind, middle, cost, cutter

   E.g. (followed by the letter <x>): axe, exit, boxing

   E.g. (deviations): fīnd, wīld, ōnly, mōst

   * Except when the second letter in a pair is a liquid consonant (<l> or <r>).

2. Vowel followed by a single consonant at the end of the word. There are virtually no deviations to this pattern.

   E.g.: that, when, is, not, cut

3. Vowel <i> in a syllable followed by a syllable containing a strong ending. In this scenario the <i> will always sound ⟨short-i⟩. There are no deviations to this pattern.

   E.g. ignition, vision, musician

4. Vowel in a stressed syllable followed by a syllable containing a shortener ending (the opposite of a lengthener ending). This pattern usually does not happen for the <u> vowel, which tends to remain with long sound (e.g. “music”, “runic”, “unit”).

   E.g. (-ic ending): static, epic, critic, acrylic, topic, mat‍̤hematics, physics

   E.g. (other shortener endings): value, travel, level, record (n.), figure, product, very, city, body

   E.g. (deviations): bās̩ic, rhōtic, nōtice, lādy, stŭdy

5. Vowel in a stressed syllable followed by two or more syllables. This phenomemon is known as trisyllabic laxing (TL). As with the previous Scenario, the <u> vowel is usually immune to it (e.g. “numeral”, “usual”).

   E.g.: animal, every, particular, typical, colony, casual

   E.g. (deviations): cāpable, vēhicle, dīnos̩aur, dōpami̤ne

Rule No. 5 – Compound Words

¶1 – In cases where pronouncing compound words³ as seamless simple words could lead to mispronunciations, EwD employs the so-called compound word dividers. They indicate that the segments of a word (called “subwords”) should be pronounced distinctly, as if they were separate words.

¶2 – They also guide readers on where to place the S1 of the whole word.

The 2 compound word dividers of EwD are as follows:

1. Middle Dot ( · )

   Indicates that the S1 of the compound word falls on a subword to the left of it. For double compound words, it indicates that the S1 falls on the first subword.

   E.g.: pine·apple, sôme·one, every·t‍̤hing

2. Double Dot ( ꞉ ) Indicates that the S1 of the compound word falls on the subword to the right of it.

   E.g.: al꞉be·it, nône·the꞉less

NOTE – Only a few compound words receive the dividers in Minimal EwD, as they are not deemed necessary for clarifying pronunciation. In Detailed EwD, however, the dividers are used more frequently.

Rule No. 6 – Silent Consonants

¶ – There are 5 Scenarios in which a consonant letter or digraph is systematically silent:

1. Initial consonant clusters in which the first consonant is not phonetically natural in English. This includes the common initial “kn-”.

   E.g.: knōw, knee, knife, psy̱c‍̤hologist, gnome, mnemŏnic

2. <gh> in the syllable coda (after the vowel of the syllable).

   E.g.: t‍̤hröugh, right, weight

3. Initial “wr-”. This is because the initial <r> already carriers a preceding /w/ sound.

   E.g.: write, wrong, wrath

4. Words that start with “who-” (with single <o> only).

   E.g.: whö, whöm, whöse, whole

Conclusion

You have now completed reading the English Pronunciation Rules (according to EwD Didactics), equipping you with essential skills to navigate English pronunciation with the help of diacritics. As a next step, consider reading our English Phonemes Guide, which offers an in-depth exploration of English phonemes and their roles in clear and accurate pronunciation.

Alternatively, if you already possess a solid understanding of English vowels, you could proceed to explore our Diacritics Guide. This document provides detailed information on each diacritical mark of EwD, helping you to apply them effectively in reading.

Both guides are valuable resources that complement the knowledge gained here, supporting your continued progress in mastering English pronunciation through the EwD system. Choose the guide that aligns with your immediate learning goals, and keep advancing towards greater fluency and understanding.

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1. In EwD didactics, strong marks are diacritics positioned above vowels. They serve two different purposes:

   • The first one is indicating the S1 in words whose stress pattern deviate from the most common, as shown in Sub-Rule 3.5 (e.g. agō, perhăps).
   • The second purpose is resolving phoneme ambiguities, as shown in Rule 4 (e.g. mōst, sŏlve).

   Note that strong marks may be used for both purposes at the same time (e.g. behīnd, consĭder). Also note that the second purpose is shared by the less frequent weak marks, which are diacritics placed below vowels, indicating that they belong to unstressed syllables. For further guidance on diacritical marks, see Diacritics Guide. ↩

2. This phenomenon is a vestige of the time when the "-en" suffix was applied to all verbs in English. In most verbs for which it has fell (the vast majority) the stress pattern is still remnant. Other Germanic languages, such as German, ​still retain the "-en" suffix for all verbs. ↩

3. Compound words are formed by combining two or more separate words to create a new one with a combining or unique meaning, e.g. “toothbrush” or “mailbox”. ↩