Since there are forty-two elementary sounds used in the formation of our
words and only twenty-six letters to represent these sounds, some of
these letters must necessarily represent more than one sound.
Of the forty-two elementary sounds, eighteen are vowel sounds, but we
have only five vowels with which to represent these sounds, so each
vowel has several different sounds.
Therefore we must have a key to pronunciation to indicate the various
sounds which are represented by these letters used in forming the words.
When you look up words in your dictionary you will find the vowels
marked by certain signs to indicate the pronunciation. These signs are
called diacritical marks.
The following table gives the diacritical marks for the vowels. Study
this table and learn to pronounce the words you look up. When you have
determined the correct pronunciation of the word, repeat it over to
yourself aloud a number of times until you have accustomed your ear to
the correct pronunciation.
Different dictionaries use different keys to pronunciation. This table
is taken from the dictionary which we are using in connection with this
course--Winston's New Universal Self-Pronouncing Dictionary.