English Pronunciation for Bulgarian Speakers

Areas of Difficulty for Bulgarian Speakers in Pronouncing English Sounds

Consonants:

I.   /t/ and /d/:

Bulgarian speakers of English often pronounce the English /t/ and /d/ as inter-dental sounds.  Avoid touching the upper teeth with the blade of the tongue when you pronounce these sounds in different phonological environments.  Practice pronouncing the /t/ and /d/ by touching the alveolar ridge with the tip of the tongue. Avoid touching the upper teeth with the blade of the tongue.

tailor          taciturn            tender              technique         teacher            

battle          prattle              curtail              certain              curtain

brat            grate                host                 frost                 mist

stale           trail                  trounce            stalk                 style

dollar         doctor              decide              dinner              darling

ladle           loudly              proudly            building           shielding

glad           blood               bleed                flood                fled

drain          drown              drone               drake               drape

II.   Word final /b/, /d/, and /g/:

Bulgarian speakers of English often devoice the /b/, /d/, and /g/ in word final position and pronounce them as /p/, /t/, and /k/. Pronounce these minimal pairs carefully, paying special attention to the voiced consonants in word final position:

drib            lobe     robe     mob     slab      flab      tab       nab      tribe

drip            lope     rope     mop     slap      flap      tap       nap      tripe

slid            bode    bad      lad       pad      trade    bleed    mood   rude

slit             boat     bat       lat        pat       trait      bleat     moot    root

bag            brig      snag     lag       rag       wig      flag      pig       jag

back           brick    snack   lack      rack     wick    flack    pick     Jack

III.   /v/ vs. /w/:

Distinguish between the /v/ and /w/ in the following minimal pairs. Be sure that your lower lip and upper teeth come together when you pronounce the /v/, but that there is no contact between them when you pronounce the /w/:

vine           vent                 vest      vile      rover    veal      vet       viper

wine          went                west     wile     rower   weal     wet      wiper            

IV.   /t/ and /dz/:

Bulgarian speakers of English often pronounce the /t/ and /dz/ in word medial position as inter-dental sounds. Pronounce the sounds by raising the central part of your tongue and making a firm contact with the hard palate. Make sure that you do not touch the upper teeth with the blade of the tongue when you pronounce these sounds. Now practice the following words:

gradual      graduate           graduation       individual        residual

habitual      habituate          situation           situate              mutual 

V.   /r/:

Practice the English /r/ in different word positions, and avoid pronouncing it as a trilled /r/. Raise the tip of your tongue toward the alveolar ridge, but do not make contact with it. Roll the tip of the tongue slightly backward, and pronounce the sound without moving your tongue.

ramble       rumble     wrangler      rewind        review      rainbow

certain        curtail      curtain         burden        mortal       fourteen

scar            scare        flare             blare           sneer         star

drain          train         frame           present        crane         crowd

VI.    Final /z/:

Pronounce the final /z/ in the following words without devoicing it. In other words, be sure that you do not pronounce it as the voiceless /s/. Your vocal cords should be vibrating when you pronounce this voiced consonant.

browse      because            cause   flaws   draws  surmise            blouse

brags         drags               amaze  raise     gaze     pays     plays    rains

Vowels:

I.   /I/ vs. /i:/:

Distinguish between the short vowel and the long vowel in the following minimal pairs:

skim          hit        lid        sit        fit         bit        grid      list       fist      

scheme      heat      lead      seat      feet      beat      greed   least     feast

II. /^/ vs. /a:/

Make the distinction between the mid vowel and the low vowel in the following minimal pairs:

  

                              Herd          hurt      bird      curd     curt      burn     firm     worm

                              Hard          heart    bard     card     cart      barn     farm     warm

                        

III.     /o / vs. //:

Distinguish between these vowels as you pronounce the following minimal pairs:

Robe          lobe     boat     coat      note     flows   code     node

Rob           lob       bought caught  naught floss    cod      nod

IV. /^/ vs. /ou/: 

Pronounce the above vowels in the following minimal pairs carefully, distinguishing between the central vowel and the back vowel:

curt            herd     bird      pert      cup      rub       rum      come   

court          hoard   board   port      cope     robe     roam    comb

     

V. /ei/ vs. /i:/

Distinguish between the two vowels as you pronounce the following minimal pairs:

laid            raid      made    blade    spade   grade   plate     grate

lead            reed     mead    bleed    speed   greed   pleat     greet

VI. /^/ vs. /I/: 

Make a distinction between the central vowel and the front vowel in the following minimal pairs:

Lust           must    bud      nub      rub       pup      cup      sup      cuss

list             mist     bid       nib       rib        pip       kip       sip       kiss

VII. /^/ vs. /u:/

Distinguish between the central vowel and the back vowel in the following minimal pairs:

skull          cull         cud         bud      hut       mud     mutt 

school        cool       cooed      booed  hoot     mood   moot