Minimal Pair List Vowels 6 and 15, / ɒ / versus / ɔɪ / 24 pairs
The /
ɒ
/ vowel is spelled <o>. The /
ɔɪ
/ diphthong is spelled <oi> or <oy>.
This contrast is between a short vowel and a diphthong. The starting position of the tongue in the mouth is fairly close, but it is not a problem for any learners.
One interesting pair is
collie coyly
.
The density value is 3.06%. The pairs make 16 semantic contrasts, giving a loading of 66.7%.
clod cloyed
col coil
collie coyly
cols coils
con coign
cons coigns
con coin
conned coined
conning coining
cons coins
cot quoit
cots quoits
cough coif
coughs coifs
dolly doily
dollies doilies
John join
joss Joyce
Lodz Lloyd's
moll moil
molls moils
Ollie oily
Sol soil
vol voile
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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.
