Minimal Pair List Vowels 14 and 20, / aɪ / versus / ʊə / 19 pairs
The /
aɪ
/ diphthong is spelled <iCe>, <ie> and <y>. The /
ʊə
/ diphthong is spelled <ure> or <oor>.
This is a contrast between two diphthongs with different starting positions, different directions of movement and a difference of lip rounding. It is not a problem for learners.
Interesting pairs include:
shyly surely
The density figure is 1.8%. The set makes 10 semantic contrasts giving a loading of 52.6%.
ally allure
allied allured
allies allures
bine bourn
bines bournes
buy boor
buys boors
by boor
bye boor
byes boors
guide gourd
guides gourds
lie lure
lies lures
shyly surely
spy spoor
spies spoors
tie tour
ties tours
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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.
