Improve your British English Pronunciation: The Vowel in Toy / ɔɪ /

The Vowel in Toy / ɔɪ /
Pronunciation Activation Pack - 17
Toy / ɔɪ /
In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the fifth of the gliding vowels / ɔɪ /.
We will look at the letter combinations that give the / ɔɪ / sound.
We will look at lots of words which have the / ɔɪ / sound in them.
Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / ɔɪ / sound correctly.
Letter Combinations for / ɔɪ /
This gliding vowel sound has these letter combinations:
OI, OY,
and very rarely
UOY and AW.
Practice
The lawyer employed cowboys to poison the noisy coyotes.
/ ðə ˈlɔɪ.jər ɪmˈplɔɪd ˈkaʊ.bɔɪz tə ˈpɔɪz.n̩ ðə ˈnɔɪz.i kɔɪ.ˈəʊteɪs /
Practice
Adroit voyagers only employ alloy buoys that are buoyant.
/ ə.ˈdrɔɪt ˈvɔɪɪ.dʒəz ˈəʊn.li ɪmˈplɔɪ ˈæ.lɔɪ bɔɪz ðət ə ˈbɔɪənt /
Practice
The boy in the cloister was anointed with a steroid ointment.
/ ðə ˌbɔɪ ɪn ðə ˈklɔɪ.stə wəz ə.ˈnɔɪn.tɪd wɪð ə ˈste.rɔɪd ˈɔɪnt.mənt /
Practice
The doyen’s foible was to enjoy boiled oysters served moist on a doyly.
/ ðə ˈdɔɪnz ˈfɔɪb.l̩ wəz tu ɪn.ˈdʒɔɪ bɔɪld ˈɔɪ.stəz sɜːvd mɔɪst ɒn ə ˈdɔɪ.li /
Problems for Students
There is only one other vowel sound that has the potential to cause confusion with the / ɔɪ / sound and that is the pure vowel sound / ɔː /.
You can learn more about the pure vowel sound / ɔː / in Pronunciation Activation Pack 8 – Vowel in Horse.
In this Pronunciation Activation Pack I’ll look at 38 / ɔɪ / vs / ɔː / minimal pairs like:
coil call / kɔɪl kɔːl /
cloy claw / klɔɪ klɔː /
Pronunciation Activator
As I said, there is only one other vowel sound in English which causes confusion with the / ɔɪ / sound.
I have created some interesting exercises in the Pronunciation Activator to help you better hear and produce the different vowel sounds.
Each time you do the Pronunciation Activator you will be given some random exercises from a large database of exercises.
The exercises will fully activate your use of the / ɔɪ / sound for both speaking and listening.
Dictionary
There is a good chance that some of the words used in this Pronunciation Activation Pack will be new to you.
To help you out, I have compiled an extensive dictionary of vocabulary used.
The dictionary gives you the meanings of all 79 words used in this Pronunciation Activation Pack.
You can download the dictionary as a PDF document from the resources link at the top left of the Pronunciation Activation Pack.
Vocabulary Activator
In addition to the Pronunciation Activator, I have included a Vocabulary Activator which will test your knowledge of 79 of the words in the dictionary.
You will be given random definitions of words each time you do the Vocabulary Activator.
This will also give you the opportunity to hear how each word is correctly pronounced in British English.
Add these words to your active vocabulary and make them your own.
Phonetic Transcription
I have also compiled a phonetic transcript of all 79 words and minimal pairs I included in the Pronunciation Activator.
You can read each word and each minimal pair in Latin script alongside the British English IPA transcription.
With your growing understanding of the British English IPA chart, this will help you to see how different letter combinations can produce different sounds.
You can download the phonetic transcriptions as a PDF document from the resources link at the top left of the Pronunciation Activation Pack.
Use it in combination with the dictionary if you are uncertain of the meaning of any of the words included in the list.
/ fə.ˈne.tɪks ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə /
/ ðə ˈmen.i ˈek.sə.saɪ.zɪz ɪn ðə prə.ˌnʌn.sɪ.ˈeɪʃ.n̩ ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə ər ˈɔːls.əʊ ə.ˈveɪ.ləb.l̩ fə ju ɪn fə.ˈne.tɪk skrɪpt ɪn ðə fə.ˈne.tɪks ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə /
/ ðə fə.ˈne.tɪks ˈæk.tɪ.veɪ.tə wl̩ help ju tə dɪ.ˈve.ləp jər ə.ˈbɪ.lə.ti tə riːd ənd ˌʌn.də.ˈstænd ðə ˈbrɪ.tɪʃ ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ aɪ.pi.ˈeɪ tʃɑːt /
/ baɪ ˈduːɪŋ ðiːz ˈek.sə.saɪ.zɪz / ju wl̩ ˈæk.tɪ.veɪt jə fə.ˈne.tɪk skɪlz ɪn ən ˈiː.zi ənd ɪn.ˈɡeɪdʒ.ɪŋ ˈweɪ ənd wl̩ peɪv ðə ˈweɪ tə.ˈwɔːdz ə ˈbe.tə ˈbrɪ.tɪʃ ˈɪŋ.ɡlɪʃ ˈæks.n̩t /