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Difficulty: HardMonophthongs (Pure Vowels)

Match each English word on the left with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol on the right that represents its stressed monophthong (pure vowel) sound.

  • colonel/ɜː/
  • sieve/ɪ/
  • bosom/ʊ/
  • clerk/ɑː/

Answer

The word 'colonel' matches /ɜː/, 'sieve' matches /ɪ/, 'bosom' matches /ʊ/, and 'clerk' matches /ɑː/.
Each word is matched to its true RP monophthong sound: 'colonel' contains /ɜː/ (as in 'first'), 'sieve' contains /ɪ/ (as in 'bit'), 'bosom' contains /ʊ/ (as in 'put'), and 'clerk' contains /ɑː/ (as in 'car').

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the primary stressed syllable of each target word to isolate its pure vowel sound.
Identified stressed vowel positions: 'col-' in colonel, 'sieve' (monosyllabic), 'bos-' in bosom, and 'clerk' (monosyllabic).
Monophthong sound identification relies on acoustic realization rather than conventional spelling.
2
Determine the accurate Received Pronunciation (RP) IPA transcription for each word.
'colonel' = /ˈkɜːn.əl/, 'sieve' = /sɪv/, 'bosom' = /ˈbʊz.əm/, 'clerk' = /klɑːk/.
Exposing irregular spelling patterns reveals the precise monophthong quality for each word.
3
Pair each word with its correct IPA symbol.
'colonel' pairs with /ɜː/, 'sieve' pairs with /ɪ/, 'bosom' pairs with /ʊ/, and 'clerk' pairs with /ɑː/.
Completes the matching alignment between orthographic representations and phonetic monophthongs.

Key Concept

Phonetic realization of English monophthongs in deceptive orthographic environments
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Topics

Monophthongs (Pure Vowels)

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