Minimal Pair List Vowels 15 and 19, / ɔɪ / versus / eə / 18 pairs
The /
ɔɪ
/ diphthong is spelled <oi> and <oy>. The /
eə
/ diphthong is spelled <are>, <ear> or <air>.
This is a contrast between two diphthongs with different starting positions, different directions of movement and different lip-rounding. It is not a problem for learners.
The density figure is 2.3%. The set makes 10 semantic contrasts giving a loading of 56%.
boy bare
boys bares
boy bear
boys bears
buoy bare
buoyed bared
buoys bares
buoy bear
bouy bears
coign cairn
coigns cairns
coin cairn
coins cairns
Lloyd's lairds
poise pairs
poise pears
toy tare
toys tares
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John Higgins
John Higgins retired in 2000, having spent the bulk of his career as a British Council English Language Officer working in Thailand, Turkey, Egypt and Yugoslavia and the last fifteen years in lectureships at Bristol University and then running an M.Sc. programme at Stirling University. His main field was EFL, with a special interest in CALL (computer-assisted language learning) in which, together with Tim Johns of Birmingham, he was responsible for important developments in methods and materials.
His publications include A Guide to Language Laboratory Material Writing, Universitetesforlaget, 1969, Computers and Language Learning, Collins, 1984, Language Learners and Computers, Longman, 1988, and Computers in English Language Learning, Intellect Press, 1992, together with numerous papers, reviews and pieces of software. He maintains a web page on minimal pairs and homographs for teachers of English pronunciation skills.
