The sound / ͻɪ / is found in words such as joy, boy, noise, coin and boil. You can also use the sound / ͻɪ / (spelt ‘oy!’) as an exclamation (but only in informal situations), when you feel someone is being cheeky or rude.
The good news is that / ͻɪ / is always (as far as I am aware) spelt using the letters ‘-oy’ (at the end of words) or ‘-oi-’ (within words). The bad news is that there are a number of words containing the letters ‘oi’ that are not pronounced as / ͻɪ /, such as ‘coincidence’, ‘going’ and ‘choir’. Once again, you can see why knowing phonetic symbols is useful!
Here's a challenge: We haven't finished looking at all the phonetic symbols yet, but can you write a sentence using some or all of the phonetics we've covered here so far? Here's one to start you off. Try reading the phonetics before you look at the English:
rɔɪ ɪz ə bɔɪ huː dʌzənt meɪk ɡʊd suːp - hiː ˈɔːlweɪz ædz tuː ˈlɪtəl sɒlt ænd nɒt ɪˈnʌf təˈmɑːtəʊz
(Roy is a boy who doesn't make good soup - he always adds too much salt and not enough tomatoes.)
Now it's your turn!
For more information about listening to, watching and practising phonetic symbols and their corresponding sounds, please click here.
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