IPA Transcription Practice trænˈskrɪpʃən ˈpræktɪs
Class materials and exercises for B2.2 classes taught by Jonathan Lewis and Konrad Szcześniak
Konrad Szcześniak Universidade do Porto, Portugal Uniwersytet Śląski, Poland 2010/2011
Instytut Języka Angielskiego
Charts Front iː
High
i
Mid
ɪ
Central
e
Back
ə
ɜː ʌ
æ
Low
ɔː
ʊ
ɒ
u
uː
ɑː
Table 1. English vowels The labels “Front”, “Central”, and “Back” refer to the part of the tongue. The terms “High”, “Mid”, and “Low” describe the position the tongue assumes for a given vowel. For example, the vowels in hip, heap and hippy are highfront vowels: /hɪp/ /hiːp/ /hɪpi/.
Bilabial Plosives
-V
+V
p
b
Fricatives
Labiodental -V
f
+V
v
Dental -V
θ
+V
ð
Alveolar -V
+V
t
d
s
z
Affricates
Approximants
Nasals
m
Liquids Glides
w
n
l, r
Palatal -V
ʃ
tʃ
Velar
+V
-V
k
ʒ
dʒ
Glottal
+V
g
-V
+V
h
ŋ
j
Table 2. English consonants The labels in the upper row (“Bilabial”, “Labiodental”, etc.) refer to the articulator, or part of the mouth involved in the articulation of a consonant. The terms in the column on the left (“Plosives”, “Fricatives”, etc.) describe the manner of articulation for a given consonant. Consonants on the right side in each column are voiced, and the ones to the left are voiceless. For example, the consonant /p/ is a voiceless plosive bilabial.
1. 1. Vowel symbols iː
tree
three
feed
ɪ
fish
dished
finished
æ
cat
mat
rat
ɑː
car
star
far
ɒ
clock
lock
stop
ɔː
horse
fourth
door
ʊ
book
pull
full
uː
boot
pool
fool
ə
computer
doctor
arrive
ɜː
bird
third
person
e
egg
red
very
ʌ
up
sun
funny
1. Write these words next to the right phonetic symbol above. dork, steam, start, week, lurk, spat, food, foot, lark, cool, corn, far, seat, stern, van, sport, scream, seem, harsh, lurk, rude, born, dull, puke, psalm, rock 2. Odd man out. Eliminate the word whose vowel is different from those in the other three. In words with more syllables, the vowel in question is in bold type. (A) stick (B) blood (C) roll (D) son (E) lock
myth muck rot run bottle
feet tar dot fun shore
fit pub gosh butcher stop
(F) lard (G) done (H) sat (I) set (J) sieve
father gun Nazi dead leave
parent fall clap heat meat
jar stub plaid bet Steve
3. Practice. Transcribe the vowels in the following sentences. You may ignore the consonants (simply write their spelling letters), diphthongs and stresses. Love thy neighbor as yourself, but choose your neighborhood.
/l_v ðaɪ neɪb_r əz jəs_lf bət tʃ_z jə neɪb_h_d/ If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.
/_f ju ɑː n_t kr_təsaɪzd jə meɪ n_t bi duɪŋ m_tʃ/ Opportunity is missed by most people because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.
/ɒpət_n_ti ɪz m_st baɪ məʊst p_pəl bikɒz ɪts dr_st ɪn əʊvər_lz ən ɪt l_ks laɪk w_k/ I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead.
aɪ dəʊnt θ_ŋk _nibʌdi ʃəd raɪt ðər əʊn baɪɒgr_fi ʌnt_l ðə d_d
2A. Vowels /ʊ/ and /uː/ 1. Patterns The spelling is not a reliable indicator for which of the two is pronounced (idiosyncrasies, irregularities and exceptions everywhere), but there are some soft regularities. spelled ‘u’ /ʊ/
When the letter „u‟ is pronounced as a high-back vowel, it is usually the short /ʊ/: bull,
u-e /uː/
But when a syllable containing the /u/ sound is followed by the letter „e‟ in the spelling,
butcher, full, pull, push, sugar, wuss
the sound will be /uː/: absolute, cute, crude, dude, exude, immune, include, mute, nuke, rude, use, etc.
spelled ‘ew’ /uː/ spelled ‘oo’ /uː/
brew, chew, jewel, Jewish, lewd, Lewis, newt, shrewd, etc.
spelled ‘oo’ /ʊ/ final /uː/
book, good, foot, hood, hook, look, nook, shook, stood, took, wood, wool
both /ʊ/&/uː/ idiosyncratic
bloom, boom, boost, boot, booth, booze, cool, doom, food, fool, gloom, goof, goose, hoot, loop, loot, loose, mood, moon, moot, noose, ooze, pool, proof, school, shoot, smooth, snoop, soon, spook, spoon, stool, swoon, swoop, tool, tooth, troop, zoom
Words usually end in the long /uː/: argue, avenue, bamboo, boo, coo, loo, peekaboo, shoo, taboo, tattoo, too, voodoo, Yahoo, zoo, etc. broom, groom, roof, room; in AmE also root, soot, whoop /ʊ/ woman, wolf /uː/ womb, tomb, fruit, group, soup, suit
2. Exercises Minimal pairs. The words below differ only in one sound (the /uː/-/ʊ/contrast). Complete the table. wood /wʊd/- wooed /wuːd/
____ /pʊl/ - ____ /puːl/
____ /fʊl/- fool /fuːl/
____ /nʊk/ - ____ /n(j)uːk/
____ /lʊk/- ____ /luːk/
Transcribe the following phrases. true blue footloose groupie hooked on books food and booze new tattoo astute conclusion
loose woman cool looking dude Fruit of the Loom cute Susan useful fool groovy music
A Few Good Men spoonful of sugar shooting some bull crude tool wolf on the loose lewd movie
2B. Vowels /ɪ/ and /iː/ 1. Patterns
/ɪ/ is usually spelled as the letter “i”: bit, spin, zit, glib, etc. /iː/ is often pronounced when spelled as: ‘ee’ ‘ea’ ‘ie’ / ‘ei’ e-CONSONANT-e
bee, greet, meet, leek, reek, see, etc.; employee, refugee, divorcee, etc. bean, beat, heat, league, peace, sea, weave etc. achieve, believe, field, piece, ceiling, receive, conceive, etc. athlete, complete, concrete, decent, Irene, obese, Pete, Portuguese, Steve, But there are exceptions:
Looks like /iː/ but is really pronounced as /ɪ/: sieve, mischief, counterfeit, foreign Looks like /ɪ/ but is really pronounced as /iː/: liter, kilo, and -ique words antique, physique, pique, technique Plus, there are some tricky examples of Irish names: Sean /ʃɑːn/, Sinead /ʃɪˈneɪd/
2. Exercises 2.1 Match and transcribe homophones (words with different meanings and spellings, but pronounced the same). Not all the words have a match!
piece see beat beech meat week heel sweet pick mitt pique peak
sea weak beet beach bit meet suite hill heal peace peek
2.2 What problem do the words sheet, beach, and piece pose? Which words should they not be
confused with? 2.3 Transcribe the following
King and Queen freaking dimwit
kith and kin spitting image
speed limit feeling of bliss
2.4 Decipher these minimal pairs /fiːl/ /fɪl/ /stiːl/ /stɪl/
/biːn/ /bɪn/
/riːm/ /rɪm/
/liːk/ /lɪk/
/diːm/ /dɪm/
2C. Vowels /ə/, /ʌ/ and /æ/ 1. Position of the tongue Front
Central
Back
High
ə ʌ
Mid
æ
Low
2. Patterns
/ə/ (the “schwa”) is the most frequent vowel in English. It usually appears in unstressed syllables, but never in stressed syllables: about, afraid, confuse, etc. It is not associated with any specific letter in the spelling (in fact, it can be spelled with any vowel letter: ability, seven, dinosaur, suppose), but there are some useful patterns to remember. For example, if a word ends in -er or -or, this ending is 99% of the time a schwa: mother, cooler, builder, editor, color (colour), etc. The indefinite article a/an is pronounced with the schwa: /ə bed/, /ən æpəl/.
/æ/ is usually spelled as the letter “a”: ban, cat, dab, hag, stack, tab, etc. /ʌ/ is usually spelled as the letter “u”: bun, cut, dub, hug, stuck, tub, etc.
/ʌ/
Some exceptional cases of /ʌ/ words to memorize: ton, son, won, front; one, done, none, come, love, glove, brother, mother, some, something, other, nothing, money, monkey, cover, govern, color, does; blood, flood; enough, rough, tough; touch, country, cousin, young, couple, double, trouble.
2. Exercises 2.1 Homophones What homophones do the words son, won, and none, have? 2.2 Transcribe the following an ugly cover-up a ton of /əv/ money a stunning comeback black color troubled young lad
bloodbath
happy go /ɡəʊ/ lucky country cousin
an unloved son front man stuck in the /ðə/ mud
number one bad blood funny monkey
son-of-a-gun
3. Past /d/, /t/, or /ɪd/ and plural /z/, /s/, or /ɪz/ 1. Transcription. “Decipher” the following transcription. Underline: all plural suffixes and all regular verb inflections (-ed forms, and -ing forms)
/iːvən ðəʊz hu dəʊnt kənsɪdə ðəmselvz fænz əv led zepəlɪn əgriː ðət ɪts wʌn əv ðə greɪtəst bændz əv ɔːl taɪm/
/fjuː ʌðə gruːps əv iːvən kʌm kləʊs tu ətʃiːvɪŋ ðə seɪm levəlz/
/ðə bəgɪnɪŋz əv led zepəlɪn kən bi treɪst bæk tu ə bluːz ɪnfluənst rɒk bænd ðə jɑːdbɜːdz/ /dʒɪmi peɪdʒ dʒɔɪnd ðə jɑːdbɜːdz ɪn naɪntiːn sɪksti sɪks /
/hi rɪpleɪst beɪsɪst pɔːl smɪθ hu həd dɪsaɪdɪd tə liːv ðə gruːp/ /ʃɔːtli ɑːftə peɪdʒ swɪtʃt frəm beɪs tə liːd gɪtɑː krieɪtɪŋ ə duəl liːd gɪtɑː laɪnʌp wɪð dʒef bek/
/fɒləʊɪŋ ðə dɪpɑːtʃər əv bek frəm ðə gruːp ɪn sɪksti sɪks ðə jɑːdbɜːdz wə taɪəd frəm kɒnstənt tʊərɪŋ ən rɪkɔːdɪŋ ən əd bɪgʌn tə waɪnd daʊn/
/peɪdʒ wɒntɪd tə fɔːm ə suːpəgruːp wɪð hɪmself ən bek ɒn gɪtɑːz ən ðə huːz rɪðəm sekʃən drʌmə kiːθ muːn ən beɪsɪst dʒɒn entwɪsəl/
/vəʊkəlɪsts stiːv wɪnwʊd ən wɪl stiːvənz wər ɔːlsəʊ kənsɪdəd fə ðə prɒdʒekt/
/ðə gruːp nevə fɔːmd ɔːlðəʊ peɪdʒ bek ən muːn rɪkɔːdɪd ə sɒŋ təgeðə beks bəleərəʊ wɪtʃ ɪz fiːtʃəd ɒn beks naɪntiːn sɪksti eɪt ælbəm truːθ/
/ðə rɪkɔːdɪŋ seʃən ɔːlsəʊ ɪnkluːdɪd beɪsɪst kiːbɔːdɪst dʒɒn pɔːl dʒəʊnz hu təʊld peɪdʒ ðət i wəd bi ɪntərəstɪd in kəlæbəreɪtɪŋ ɪn fjuːtʃə prɒdʒekts/ Text copied under GNU Free Documentation License
2. The past suffix –ed. /d/, /t/, or /ɪd/ (=/əd/ in some transcriptions) Write the transcription for the following verbs in the past tense form. collaborated, agreed, achieved, traced, joined, replaced, switched, created, followed, 3. The plural suffix –s. /z/, /s/, or /ɪz/ (=/əz/) Write the transcription for the following nouns in the plural form. pages, guitars, lineups, times, recordings, sections, projects, moons, albums 4. The 3rd person sing suffix –s. /z/, /s/, or /ɪz/ (=/əz/) Write the transcription for the following verbs in the 3rd pers form. decides, considers, acts, begins, features, collaborates, 5. Sentences Transcribe these sentences. The jam session lasted a few hours. John strummed a couple of songs. The man in red shorts sings well. He who laughs last laughs best.
Consonants. ʃ sheep ʃiːp
ʒ measure meʒə
ʧ church ʧɜːʧ
ʤ judge ʤʌʤ
θ thing θɪŋ
ð mother mʌðə
j York jɔːk
ŋ thing θɪŋ
4. Diphthongs 1. Diphthong symbols. Study the following diphthongs symbols. Think of other examples of words that are pronounced with these diphthongs.
eɪ bay, hey
ɔɪ boy, boil
aʊ now, how
eə bear, dare
aɪ bye, lie
əʊ (=oʊ) glow, go
ɪə ear, cheer
ʊə sure, lure
2. Practice. Supply the missing diphthong symbols in the following transcriptions.
/s___vɪŋ pr___vɪt r____ən/
/ðə griːn m___l/
/slʌmdɒg mɪljən___r/
/lɒst ɪn trænzl___ʃən/
/br___kbæk m___ntɪn/
/n___ kʌntri fər ___ld men/
/ʃeɪksp____r ɪn lʌv/
/glædi___tə /
/ðə kr___ɪŋ geɪm/
r
/mɪdnaɪt k___b___/
/d___ndʒərəs lieɪzənz/
3. Practice. Transcribe the following words (each one contains a diphthong), and put them in the following lines. make
finds
no
my
lives
close
James
Brown
closer
/ maɪ neɪm ɪz bɒnd __________ bɒnd/ /aɪm gənə __________ ɪm ən ɒfər (h)i kænt rəˈfjuːz/ (The Godfather) /ɑːs tə lɑː viːs tə __________/ (Terminator 2)
White
baby
I(x2)
Which two of the following are not pronounced with a diphthong?
arrange change orange grange range strange anger danger manger stranger
/ət __________ sɪgnəl ʌnliːʃ hel/ (Gladiator) /bɪkɒz __________ mæn kən bi frendz wɪð ə wʊmən ðət i __________ ətræktɪv/ (When Harry Met Sally) /ðeɪ meɪ teɪk ɑː __________ bət ðeɪl nevə teɪk ɑː friːdəm/ (Braveheart) /kiːp jə frendz __________ bət jər enəmiz __________/ (The Godfather) /əz fɑː bæk əz __________ kən rɪmembə __________ ɔːlweɪz wɒntɪd tə bi ə gæŋstə/ (The Goodfellas) /hɪər ɑː jə neɪmz mɪstər __________ mɪstər __________ mɪstə blɒnd mɪstə bluː mɪstər ɒrɪndʒ ən mɪstə pɪŋk/ (Reservoir Dogs) 4. Practice. Now you should be ready to transcribe the following sentences (ignore the stresses). Scientists might be quite mistaken about many things, but they always try to find out how much they don’t know. | Cambridge Chamber of Commerce | I’d only like to know if you can die from piercing your own ear. 5. ‚Separated by the Great Vowel Shift‛ – differences in pairs of words know - knowledge wild - wilderness wise - wisdom nature - natural nation - national Christ - Christmas south - southern wide - width grade - gradual fable - fabulous sane - sanity sincere - sincerity
5. Consonants eth /ð/ and theta /θ/ 1. Eth /ð/ and theta /θ/ Spelled the same; difference in voicing: /ð/ is voiced, /θ/ is voiceless). Which one is pronounced - most often to be memorized. But there are some rules-of-thumb: 1.1 Rules-of-thumb position rule-of-thumb initial In initial positions, foreign or unfamiliar words are never pronounced with the eth /ð/. middle
In middle positions, between vowels, usually /ð/ (e.g. rather, mother, bother, together, wither), but of course, there are exceptions (ether). In middle positions, preceded by a consonant, most often /θ/ (anthem, menthol, panther, synthetic, filthy, stealthy, wealthy).
final
In final positions, most often /θ/: (birth, both, breadth, death, wealth, seventh, truth, wealth).
One common exception is smooth. Words like bequeath or betroth are pronounced with /ð/ or /θ/ depending on the speaker.
1.2 Regular alternations bath – bathe breath – breathe sooth – soothe swath – swathe Ø – seethe wreath – wreathe
cloth – clothe teeth – teethe Ø – writhe
loath - loathe Ø – scathe
1.3 ‘Tricky’ words Esther, Thailand, Thames, Thomas, thyme 1.4 Voiced plurals baths, booths, cloths, oaths, paths, sheathes, truths, wreaths 1.5 ‘th’ suffixes noun forming -th: warmth, width, length,breadth, dearth, depth, growth, mirth
ordinal –th: sixth, tenth
ordinal –eth: twentieth, thirtieth
2. Exercises 1. What is the difference (in use) between the two ordinal suffixes? 2. The longest cluster of consonants in the final position in English is found in the words /sɪksθs/ and /θaʊzəndθs/. In what expressions are these forms used? 3. Fill in the blanks in the following expressions and transcribe them. Better dead ……………. red through ……………. and thin
two ……………. up!
4. Transcribe the following phrases. path to truth death threat thousandth’s place holier than thou from north to south worth their salt seething with wrath healthy, wealthy and wise in the thrall of death a thirty something dearth rather than wealth in the altogether go through the contract with a fine-tooth comb on the strength of
6. Nasals 1. The velar nasal /ŋ/ (‚ring tailed‛ n symbol, A.K.A. engma) In which of the words below is the consonant following the /ŋ/ mute? sing - sink sting - stink think - thing single - twinkle Washington - plankton ringer - drinker bunker - hunger prankster - gangster angle - ankle
banger - bunker monger - bonkers
Observation #1: After /ŋ/, the consonant ____ is often deleted, while ____ never is. Observation #2: In final positions, ______ after /ŋ/ is always deleted. What happens when a /ŋ/ is followed by suffixes -er, -ing, -ly, -able? singer singing swimmingly hanger hangover hangout
singable
Observation #3: When /ŋ/ is followed by morphemes, the /g/ remains _______. Can you guess the reason why /g/ is mute in the words on the left, but not in those on the right? singer, swinger, bringer, hanger, malinger, linger, hunger, finger, wringer warmonger, hatemonger, fishmonger, etc. For the same reason as above, in the following words, the /g/ is pronounced. Transcribe the remaining three words. shingle jungle spangle /spæŋgəl/ dangle /dæŋgəl/
tingle
Observation #4 : In the comparative and superlative form, the /g/ is always pronounced. stronger younger longer /lɒŋgər/ strongest youngest longest /lɒŋgɪst/ Which ones are not pronounced with the velar nasal? binger bringer tinge singer
singe
2. The cluster /mb/ How are the following words pronounced? aplomb bomb numb climb comb limb thumb womb amber bomber number climber bimbo timber somber remember Bambi 3. The cluster /mn/ How are the following words pronounced? autumn column condemn damn hymn autumnal columnist condemnation damnation hymnal
hinge
ginger
crumb
lamb
chamber
ember
solemn solemnity
Transcribe the following: engineering, Hong Kong, jingle, monkey, changeling, ranging, spelunker, clingingly, ding-dong, inkling, dangling, long-lasting, wrongdoing, donkey, youngster
7. Affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/; fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ 1. The voiceless affricate /tʃ/ and fricative /ʃ/ Spelled „ch‟ (chin, lecher, much), „tch‟ (butcher, stretch) or „t‟ (mature, nature) But careful with: chasm, chorus, chemist, schism, scheme, schism, scholar, technology /k/ chaise, chagrin, machine, chivalry, chandelier, chef, parachute, chute. /ʃ/ schmooze, schmuck, schm in jocular reduplications, as in santa-schmanta, school-schmool, etc. ? yacht, Crichton What tricky words are transcribed below? /ˈlɪktənˌstiːn/
/ˌskɪt səˈfriːni ə/
/ʃæmˈpeɪn/
/ˈʃəʊfər, ʃəʊˈfɜːr/
/kwaɪə/
In words ending in -pture (eg. capture, sculpture, scripture) and –cture (picture, lecture, structure), the „t‟ can be pronounced as either /tʃ/ or /ʃ/. Transcribe the following phrases. childish selfishness charming and chivalrous watch the show cash a check
fish and chips the shorts match the shirt Portuguese ship Chinese washing machine
English teacher cherries in a dish national chess championships
2. The voiceled post-alveolar affricate /dʒ/ Spelled „j‟ (jeans, Jones), „dg‟ (dodge, wedge), often „g‟ before „i‟ or „e‟ (gin, ginger, gem, range) Frequent errors. Careful with: Carnegie, gill, Gilbert, gismo /g/ genre, beige, rouge, mirage /ʒ/ Minimal pairs. The words below differ only in one sound (the /tʃ/-/dʒ/contrast). Complete the table. cheer /tʃɪə/- jeer /dʒɪə/ chew /tʃuː/ - Jew _________
____ /tʃeləʊ/ - ____ /dʒeləʊ/ cheap /tʃiːp/ - ____ /dʒiːp/ badge _______- batch _______
cinch /sɪntʃ/- ____ _________ rich _______- ridge _______ Transcribe the following phrases. eschew junk food rich imagination foolish jealousy
____ /tʃeri/- ____ _______
change your shirt Virginia Beach huge motion picture
just a conjecture Winchester College Chapel Choir social age structure
8. Suffixes 1. Nominal suffixes. 1.1 What words are transcribed next to each suffix? -age ɪdʒ /bægɪdʒ/ -al əl /wɪðˈdrɔːəl/ -ance əns /ækˈsep təns/
-ant ənt /ˈæp lɪ kənt/
-ee ˈiː /ˌɪn tə vjuˈiː/
-ence əns /əˈkɜːr əns/
-escence ˈesəns /ˌæd lˈes əns/
-er ə /ˈtiːtʃər/
-hood hʊd /ˈfɔːls hʊd/
-ism ɪzəm /ˈ æktɪvɪzəm/
-ment mənt /enˈkɜːr ɪdʒ mənt/
-ess1 ɪs / ˈlaɪ ə nɪs/
-ness nɪs /ˈdɑːk nɪs/
-sion ʃən /əˈsen ʃən/
-ure ə /ˈkloʊ ʒər/
-tion ʃən /ɪgˈnɪʃ ən/
ʒən /koʊˈhiː ʒən/ 1.2 Transcribe these words by consulting the above list of nominal suffixes. childhood departure divorcee creature refusal livelihood erasure capitalism evacuee absentee management judgment adjustment nationhood marriage senescence denture highness servant fluorescence firmness marker princess worker actress 1.3 Transcribe a few other nouns with some of the above suffixes.
2. Adjectival suffixes. 2.1 What words are transcribed next to each suffix? -able ə bəl /ɪˈlek tə bəl/ -al əl /ˈnɔː məl/ -er ə /ˈniːtə/
-ese ˈiːz /mɔːlˈtiːz/
-ette ˈet /koʊˈket/
-let lɪt /ˈpɪg lɪt/
-ic ɪk /ˈruːnɪk/ -ous əs /ˈdʒɔɪ əs/
-ish ɪʃ /ˈtʃaɪl dɪʃ/
-est əst /ˈkliːnəst/ -ful fəl /ˈjuːs fəl/
ˈiːs /mɔːlˈtiːs/
-ible ə bəl /ædˈmɪs ə bəl/ -less lɪs /ˈmaɪnd lɪs/
-some səm /ˈtrʌb əl səm/
-ive ɪv /rɪˈpres ɪv/ -worthy ˌwɜː ði /ˈtrʌstˌwɜː ði/
2.2 Transcribe these words by consulting the above list of nominal suffixes.
likeable
natural ruthless biggish compatible Portuguese starlet fastest careless tasteful abysmal countless ironic handsome awesome awful droplet
impressive foolish brunette cautious
3. Double category suffixes. Suffixes like -ful /fəl/ can be both adjectival and nominal. What common meaning element do these nouns express? /ˈfɪst fəl/ /ˈbæg fəl/ /ˈhænd fəl/
/ˈhaʊs fəl/ /ˈlæp fəl/
/ˈrʊm fəl/ /ˈspuːn fəl/ /ˈtæŋk fəl/
9. Stress 1. Factors responsible for stress. Can you arrange the factors below in terms of importance? loudness
pitch
length
quality
stress – relative perceived prominence of a linguistic unit. A stressed syllable is characterized phonetically by greater intensity than is found in adjacent unstressed syllables. 2. Primary and secondary stress. Placement often depends on the suffix. For now, use your intuition as to how primary and secondary stress is placed in the following words. extramural horticulture retrospective microcosm situation supermarket superintendent stratosphere extraterrestrial biohazard counterproductive paramedic humanism homicidal What do the affixes do to the bases? hybrid hybridism hybridist graph biograph biography
hybridize biographic
hybridizable biographical
hybridity biographer
hybridization
3. Compounds and phrases farm hand locker room shit list bonehead left hand big room long list butthead shorthand darkroom black list bruised head Quite a few exceptions: apple pie, morning paper, school choir, summer night. How about apple pie recipe, school choir conductor?
4. Weak Forms Weak form - one of two possible pronunciation variants for a word articulated in connected speech. Weak forms are usually unstressed grammatical (function) words. For example, the preposition of in lots of money is normally pronounced as /əv/, not /ɒv/. Some words in English have more than one weak form, e.g. have /hæv/ can be /həv/, /əv/, or /ə/.
Exercise 1 ˈjes ˈwel ˌledʒəˈbɪlɪti ən kəˈrekt ˌpʌŋktʃuˈeɪʃən maɪt ˈnɒt bi ˈstriːt bət ˈðæts haʊ ˈaɪ ˈrəʊl ˌmʌðərˈfʌkər Used by permission of Phil Selby (Dec. 2010) http://bigeyedeer.wordpress.com/
In the cartoon caption, mark weak and strong forms.
Exercise 2 Complete the vowels in the table
word a am an and are
strong eɪ æm æn
ænd
ɑː(r)
as
æz
at
____t
be because been but can
biː
bɪkɒz biːn bʌt
k____n
could
kʊd
do
duː
does
d____z
for
fɔː(r)
weak ə (ə)m (ə)n
(ə)n(d) ə(r)
word from have he him, his is
strong frɒm hæv
h____ ɪz
me
miː
ət
must
mʌst
bi
(bɪ)kəz bɪn bət
kən
of shall she should
(h)əv, ə (h)i
hɪm hɪz (h)ɪm -z
əz
not
weak frəm
nɒt ɒv
ʃæl ʃiː
ʃ____d
k____d
so
səʊ
du, də
some
zs
word that the them there to
strong ðæt
weak ðət
ðem
(ð)əm
ð____
ðeə(r) tuː ʌs
məs(t)
was
wɒz
wəz
wɜː(r)
wə(r)
nt
əv, v, ə ʃəl ʃi
ʃəd
we were who will would
wiː huː
wɪl
w____d juː
sʌm
səm
your
j____(r)
ð(ə)n
s____tʃ
f____(r)
than
ðæn
tu, tə
us
sə
such
ðə(r)
mi
you
dəz
ði, ðə
sətʃ
əs
wi
hu,
(ə)l
(w)əd, d ju, jə jə(r)
Notes 1. The pronoun that is pronounced in its strong form, except when used as a relative pronoun (this is the kind of thing that I meant) or a conjunction (I thought that you knew). 2. Some is pronounced in its strong form when it is a pronoun meaning “unidentified persons” (Some prefer it on the rocks) or a quantifying determiner with the meaning “some, but not all” (Only some members voted for him). Weak form is pronounced in the “unspecified quantity” sense (Would you like some candy?). 3. The weak forms of he, his, her, have, has, and had often drop the initial /h/, except at the beginning of a sentence. 4. The weak forms of do, the, and to behave similarly. Before a consonant, they are pronounced with a schwa, and before a vowel as /du/, /ði/, and /tu/ respectively (Do I?, the apple, and to and fro) Exercise 3
Transcribe the following sentences using weak forms where necessary. - The more you try to avoid thinking about them, the more you do than if you didn’t. - I don’t expect an essay or anything, but I think that she could give me at least a sentence, a hello or something like that. - Would you believe that they have been married for seventy years? Exercise 4
Can you explain why “of” is written (instead of “have”) in the following line? “Somebody should of gone with him,” said Mack. (John Steinbeck, Cannery Row)
10. Allophonic Processes 1. Phoneme vs. allophone phoneme – minimal contrastive sound unit. Contrastive = replacing a phoneme with another results in a change of meaning, as in pet and bet. allophone – non-contrastive variant of a phoneme. Replacing it with another allophone does not result in meaning contrasts.
2. Clear vs. dark ‘l’ The sound /l/ is pronounced differently in the initial and final positions. In the phrase look cool, the l in look is pronounced with the tip of your tongue up behind the top front teeth, while the l in cool has the tongue raised further back. See what happens when you swap the two. Do the meanings of the words change? These allophonic distinctions are not marked in the (broad) phonetic transcription. But there exist special symbols to distinguish allophones and these are used in the more detailed narrow, allophonic transcription. broad transcription
narrow transcription
kilt /kɪlt/
kilt [k ʰɪ ɫt ]
In which of the following words will the clear [l] and dark [ɫ] be realized? clean, belt, hell, ruled, lilt,
lull, level, label, finale, final 3. Aspiration Plosives also come in allophonic variants, one of which is pronounced with a puff of air. Aspirated allophones are marked with a superscript [ʰ]. Can you figure out the rule?
[kʰ]ɪt
kit tick pit
[tʰ]ɪk
[pʰ]ɪt
get
[g]et
skit
deck
[d]ek
stick s[t]ɪk
bit
[b]ɪt
spit
s[k]ɪt s[p]ɪt
Aspiration occurs even if the stops are followed by some consonants. Consult the table of English consonants at the beginning to find out what these consonants have in common. In Table 2, why are the last examples in each column not aspirated? phort chot, chut atthack h h p lay c ream thrick h h h p rint q ueen, eq uip thick h h P uerto Rico c lean thwin Table 1. Aspirated stops
sport splay sprint deeper Table 2. Non-aspirated stops
Scott scream squint sector,Tucker
stack strap motor
3.2 Shifting aspiration Some word-formation processes result in stress shift, which in turn affects aspiration. For example, the word atom is pronounced without aspirating the /t/, but the adjectival form athomic takes stress on the second syllable following the /t/, which selects the aspirated version of the /t/. Transcribe the following pairs, marking aspiration where appropriate. retake (n) / retake (v)
congress / congressional
present (n, adj) / present (v)
economy / economic
suppose / supposition
contest (n) / contest (v)
apply / application
progress / progression
politics / political
convict (n) / convict (v)
acclaim / acclamation
accuse / accusation
photograph / photography
parent / parental
4. Shortening of vowels Vowels can be shortened if they are followed by voiceless consonants. Compare the following pairs. feed / feet
dug / duck
cob / cop
bed / bet
rig / Rick
robe / rope
Will the vowels in the following words get shortened? help hulk
belt
harsh
harp
warp
The shortening of vowels is marked in narrow transcription with two symbols. The single dot [ˑ] is used for long vowels, e.g. ɔː, which becomes [ɔˑ]. Short vowels get shortened with [ ], so for example, ɪ becomes [ɪ ]: cart [kɑˑt]
leak [liˑk]
rack [ræ k]
card [kɑ ːd]
league [li ːg]
rag [ræg]
5. Exercise Transcribe the following words. Use the diacritic symbols for aspiration, shorter vowels and the two variants of the phoneme /l/. Lisbon
lisp
crab
crap
feed
feet
pull
bull
roll
rope
robe
code
god
got
cot
clot
because
beacon
wilt
willed
11. Tricky words 1. Letter-vowel correspondence.
The following words come from Gerard Nolst Trenité’s poem The Chaos.
Look them up in your pronunciation dictionary and copy their transcriptions. corpse, corps, horse and worse beau, queue sword and sward retain and Britain recipe, pipe soil, choir plague, vague, ague shoe, poem, toe Woven, oven signal, signing script, receipt examining, but mining missiles, similes, reviles endeavoured, revered and severed wholly, holly blood, flood, food lumber, plumber discount, viscount laid but plaid, made, bade load and broad bier, but brier toward, forward, reward moss, gross renown, but known brook, brooch knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone ninth, plinth kitchen, lichen kind, kindle, kindred, mankind banquet, parquet reading, Reading, heathen, heather grieve, believe, sieve demon, lemon make my coat look new, dear, sew it ghoul, foul, soul mould is NOT like should and would petrol and patrol billet does not end like ballet Satan, satanist, satanic Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet
2. Suffix -able How are these two words stressed? desirable - admirable What happens to verbs ending in -ate when they take the suffix –able? alienable, alternable, articulable, discriminable, duplicable, violable,
3. Homographs Same spelling; different pronunciation and different meaning. What are the two meanings in each case?
bass number
bow row
close sow
dove tear
invalid wound
lead wind
4. Tricky Greek words catastrophe, epitome, Penelope, hyperbole, apostrophe,
5. Odd man out
Which of the following do you think is NOT an existing collocation? a. heathen temple b. to convert the heathen c. heathen rice a. lichen-crusted rocks b. lichen habitat c. lichen removal a. stimulated plinth b. to erect a plinth c. to adorn a plinth a. Swiss chalet b. chalet homes c. mountain chalet a. flower-decorated bier b. wooden bier c. to drink bier
d. heathen slaves d. lichen shirt d. Trafalgar Square plinth d. chalet bullet d. pope’s bier
12. Technical terminology 1. Science suffixes and semi-suffixes. Decipher the examples. ary ism “pertaining to, connected with” ________ /ˈdwɔːfɪzəm/ dietary AmE/ˈdaɪəˌteri/ BrE/ˈdaɪətəri/ gen lysis “something that produces or “destruction, separation” induces” ________/ˈhaɪdrədʒən/ ________/daɪˈæləsɪs/ logy
cide
“cell” ________ˈluːkəˌsaɪt ˈluːkəˌsɪt “inflammation” ________ /ˌdʒɪndʒəˈvaɪtɪs/ “agent that kills” ________
(ec)tomy iac
cyte itis
gram graph graphy
osis
________/baɪˈɒlədʒi/ “state or condition” ________ /hɪpˈnəʊsɪs/
pathy
“feeling” “disease” ________ /ˈæpəθi/
“removal, cutting” ________
philia
“attraction for” ________ /ˌpiːdəˈfɪliə/
________/ˈkɑːdiˌæk/ “something written or drawn” ________/ˈkɑːdiəˌgræm/
phobia in, ine
“fear of” ________ /ˌæk rəˈfəʊ bi ə/ (in some substance names) ________ /ˌmeləˈtəʊnɪn/
________ /dʒiˈɒgrəfi/
rrhoea
“flow” ________ /ˌlɒgəˈriə/
2. Stress /ˈbaɪəʊ + lədʒi/ > /baɪˈɒlədʒi/
In which of the following suffixes does a similar effect occur? Transcribe the following patterns. lobe + tomy geo + graphy national + ism discipline + ary amnesia + ac insect + cide 3. More examples. Decipher the following expressions. /ˈweɪz tə kənˈtrækt ˌgɒnəˈriə/ /ˈtuːθ dɪˈkeɪ ən ˌhælɪˈtəʊsɪs/
/ˈɒksɪdʒən mæsk/
/ˈhjuːmən əˈnætəmi ˈlesən/
/ˈsɪmpəθi kɑːd/
/əˈstrɒlədʒi ən ˈæl kə mi/
4. Transcription practice antipathy psychopathy lymphocyte thrombocyte hereditary biography analysis paralysis laryngitis meningitis estrogen diarrhea fungicide neurectomy insomniac amnesiac
telepathy binary topography necrophilia antigen penicillin cirrhosis
5. Transcription practice Early diagnosis of acute bronchitis may help reduce the risk of long-term problems. Lobotomy was at first used as a primary procedure for a range of psychiatric conditions. Oxytocin is important for cervical dilation and contractions of the uterus during labor. Oxytocin is also used in veterinary medicine to induce birth and stimulate milk release. An individual analysis of the speech of aphasiacs suggests that obscene vocabulary is stored differently and separately from other vocabulary in the brain. Astronomy is not to be confused with astrology.
13. Final exercises 1. Match the words with their correct pronunciation law Shaw crow lɔː ʃoʊ low show craw loʊ ʃɔː
kroʊ krɔː
here hair
hɪə
bear beer
bɪə
dare dear
dɪə
done den
dʌn
when one
wʌn
ton ten
tʌn
colour collar
kɒlə
wonder wander
wɒndə
luck lock
lɒk
click clique
kliːk
bean been
biːn
chick cheak
tʃiːk
heə
den
kʌlə klɪk
beə
wen
wʌndə bɪn
deə
ten
lʌk tʃɪk
2. Homophones. In each group, cross out the word that does not fit the others. Then transcribe the two pronunciations for each group.
yew you ewe youth
broke break brake
noon knew new
idle idol dill
cue queue coo
prey pry pray
peas piece peace
wait weight white
none noun nun
cent send sent scent
selling sealing ceiling
die dye day
whore hoar hour
flower flour floor
fir fur fair
heal hill heel
mail mall male
sight site cite side
ride write right
knead need neat
