Minimal Pair List Vowels 15 and 18, / ɔɪ / versus / ɪə / 27 pairs
The /
ɔɪ
/ diphthong is spelled <oi> and <oy>. The /
ɪə
/ diphthong is spelled <eer>, <ear> or <ie>.
This is a contrast between two diphthongs with different starting positions and different directions of movement. It is not a problem for learners.
The density figure is 3.45%. The set makes 18 semantic contrasts giving a loading of 62.1%.
boy beer
boys beers
boy bier
boys biers
buoy beer
buoys beers
buoy bier
buoys biers
buoyed beard
cloy clear
cloyed cleared
cloys clears
doily dearly
joy jeer
joyed jeered
joys jeers
loin lien
loins liens
noise nears
poise peers
poise piers
Roy rhea
toy tear
toys tears
toy tier
toys tiers
void veered
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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.
