Pronouncing ‘chip’ and ‘cheap’

Today’s lesson will involve a lot of practice because it is in oral English. We are revisiting the pronunciations of short and long vowel sounds  /r/ and /r:/, as we have in ‘chip’ and ‘cheap’. You should, therefore, be ready to pronounce different terms harbouring the elements as the lesson unfolds.

We are predicating the discussion on the fact that while many know the difference in the spellings of ‘chip’ and ‘cheap’ or ‘bit’ and ‘beat’, only too few differentiate between their pronunciations when speaking. Here is often the reality:

Chip: John said: ‘He is a CHIP off the old block.’ (Correct)

Cheap: John said, ‘I got the shoes at a very CHIP price.’ (Wrong)

The examples show the tendency to pronounce ‘chip’ and ‘cheap’ the same way, a phonological gaffe you should try to avoid. While the articulation of ‘chip’ is right, with the ‘i’ sounding as a short vowel that it is, that of ‘cheap’ is wrong because it is a long vowel that should sound accordingly. It should be called something like CHIIIP, no more CHIP:

He is a CHIP off the old block. (Correct)

I got the shoes at a very CHIIIP price. (Correct)

Consider these too:

Bit: John said, ‘It’s a BIT difficult.’ (Correct)

Beat: John said, ‘Arsenal BIT Real Madrid 3-0.’ (Wrong)

Hope you can easily see how John mispronounced ‘beat’. Calling the word BIT is so wrong that it has caused ambiguity. Did he mean Arsenal beat Madrid (defeated them) or they bit (as in the past tense of bite!) the opponents? The reason is that the pronunciation of ‘bit’ and ‘beat’ are not the same. Unfortunately, that is how a lot of folks present the words in speech. Lesson: always differentiate between them whenever you are speaking. Let’s practise this by pronouncing ‘bit’ and ‘beat’:

Bit: BIT

Beat: BIIIT

Can you do it again? Note that, although I am not physically with you over there, my spirit is watching as you pronounce (or refuse) to do so!

Joking apart, as has been stressed in this class, in oral English the long sound is indicated by the twin dots or colon that goes with each vowel sound affected. So, as we have the short /r/ and long /r:/, so do we have the short /u/ (brook) and the long /u:/ (brood), among others.

Now, let’s pronounce the following words too to further establish the difference in the pronunciations of /r / and /r:/.

Fit (FIT): feet (FIIT)

Fit: The dress doesn’t FIT him.

Feet: The dress is touching her FIIIT.

Will – We WIL be there.

Wheel: We seized the WIIIL from him.

Dip: Don’t DIP your hand inside the water.

Deep: Beware! The river is DIIIP.

Hit: His first album was a HIT.

Heat:  His first album generated a lot of HIIIT.