Minimal Pairs

Let’s start with the basics. What is a minimal pair?

A minimal pair is two words that vary by only a single sound, usually meaning sounds that may confuse English learners, like the /f/ and /v/ in fan and van, or the /e/ and /ɪ/ in desk and disk.

I’m an Accent Reduction coach, which means I help ESL (English as a Second Language) learners reduce their foreign accents and learn the sounds that a native speaker of English makes to sound natural.

Why does this matter?

Well, as far as I’m concerned, what I know is that native speakers depend on other speakers to make the correct sounds while speaking. Otherwise, the speaker will not be understood. Many sounds in English are exactly what the title of this section is called; in other words, the changes in the sounds can be minimal, leading to misunderstandings if the correct sound is not pronounced.

This week, I was working with a Spanish speaker who has presented problems pronouncing the “short ‘U’ sound” as in “cut”. This is because in Spanish, the “u” sound is always pronounced like “oo”, and you pretty much have five pure vowels. This is not the case in English, although there are five vowels; there are more than 20 sound combinations with those same vowels.

As language tutors, we are accustomed to carefully listening to the way our students speak. He could say “up”, so that was our starting point.

I then began with this list of “short ‘U’” words:

1. hut lug but luck

2. run suck bug fun

3. bud pug hun jut

4. much sun rub tub

5. hug up duck cut

6. bun jug gum Jud

7. mum nug cup cub

8. fuss sud tuck gut

9. mud gun suck cud

10. sub tux Russ pun

There were a few “oo” sounds that slipped through while he read this list, but by the end of this exercise, he was very clear on what the “short ‘U’” sounded like.

Next, I gave him some sentences to read, which contained Minimal Pairs:

1. Jud cut his mum.

2. The tub is much fun.

3. Jen and Jud kiss mom in bed.

4. Bill can run, but he can not lug a keg.

5. Meg will hug her mom for good luck.

6. Russ will run in the mud in a tux.

7. The gun hit Don in the gut.

8. Rick had a bug on his hot deck.

9. The cup has gum but not bugs.

10. Hug mom and pop as much as you can.

By the time we’d finished this exercise, he had identified the “short ‘U’” sound so well, but then began to present difficulties in words that ended with “g”, like “keg” and “bug”.

Next, I introduced a minimal pair: CAT vs. CUT

I explained that when a baby cries, s/he makes the AAAAA sound, such as in the words “cat”, “apple”, “happy”, “plastic”, “back”, and “traffic”.

The AAAA sound is extremely unnatural for Spanish speakers, but that baby cry imagery did the trick!

After that, we worked on him repeating the following sentences after me:

1. I’ve got a really bad cut.

2. He really doesn’t have much luck, does he?

3. The movie began at eight o’clock.

4. What time will you come?

5. It was such a lovely summer.

6. What time does the match start?

7. We’ve run out of time.

Lastly, I had him say these two sentences:

1. Sam’s an angry man stuck in a bad traffic jam.

2. Justine’s a happy lass lapping up some summer sun.

This student will still need correction in the future, that is, until correct pronunciation becomes second nature to him.

Empalingua specializes in the following:

• Business English

• Accent Reduction

• ESL (English as a Second Language)

• Spanish

• Portuguese

• Writing

• Proofreading and Editing

• Document and Website Translation

Who do you know that we could help? We have a great team of mostly bilingual language professionals ready and willing to help you and your people with quality language services.

That’s it for this round.

“To have another language is to possess a second soul.”

Charlemagne💛