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 Central Back

High iː i ɪ

uː u ʊ

Mid e ə ɜː ʌ

ɒ ɔː

Low æ 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 high-

front vowels: /hɪp/ /hiːp/ /hɪpi/.

Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal

-V +V -V +V -V +V -V +V -V +V -V +V -V +V

Plosives p b t d k g Fricatives f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h Affricates tʃ dʒ

Nasals m n ŋ Liquids l, r Glides w 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.

Appro

xim

ants

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.

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

(A) stick myth feet fit

(B) blood muck tar pub

(C) roll rot dot gosh

(D) son run fun butcher

(E) lock bottle shore stop

(F) lard father parent jar

(G) done gun fall stub

(H) sat Nazi clap plaid

(I) set dead heat bet

(J) sieve leave meat Steve

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,

butcher, full, pull, push, sugar, wuss

u-e

/uː/ But when a syllable containing the /u/ sound is followed by the letter „e‟ in the spelling,

the sound will be /uː/: absolute, cute, crude, dude, exude, immune, include, mute, nuke,

rude, use, etc.

spelled ‘ew’

/uː/ brew, chew, jewel, Jewish, lewd, Lewis, newt, shrewd, etc.

spelled ‘oo’

/uː/ 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

spelled ‘oo’

/ʊ/ book, good, foot, hood, hook, look, nook, shook, stood, took, wood, wool

final

/uː/ Words usually end in the long /uː/: argue, avenue, bamboo, boo, coo, loo, peekaboo,

shoo, taboo, tattoo, too, voodoo, Yahoo, zoo, etc.

both /ʊ/&/uː/ broom, groom, roof, room; in AmE also root, soot, whoop

idiosyncratic /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 loose woman A Few Good Men

footloose groupie cool looking dude spoonful of sugar

hooked on books Fruit of the Loom shooting some bull

food and booze cute Susan crude tool

new tattoo useful fool wolf on the loose

astute conclusion groovy music 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’ bee, greet, meet, leek, reek, see, etc.; employee, refugee, divorcee, etc.

‘ea’ bean, beat, heat, league, peace, sea, weave etc.

‘ie’ / ‘ei’ achieve, believe, field, piece, ceiling, receive, conceive, etc.

e-CONSONANT-e 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 kith and kin speed limit

freaking dimwit spitting image feeling of bliss

2.4 Decipher these minimal pairs

/fiːl/ /fɪl/ /stiːl/ /stɪl/ /biːn/ /bɪn/ /riːm/ /rɪm/ /diːm/ /dɪm/ /liːk/ /lɪk/

2C. Vowels /ə/, /ʌ/ and /æ/ 1. Position of the tongue

Front Central Back

High

Mid əʌ

Low æ

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 son-of-a-gun happy go /ɡəʊ/ lucky

a ton of /əv/ money bloodbath country cousin

a stunning comeback an unloved son number one

black color front man bad blood

troubled young lad stuck in the /ðə/ mud funny monkey

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 3

rd 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___tər/ /ðə kr___ɪŋ geɪm/ /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 White baby I(x2)

/ maɪ neɪm ɪz bɒnd __________ bɒnd/

/aɪm gənə __________ ɪm ən ɒfər (h)i kænt rəˈfjuːz/ (The Godfather)

/ɑːs tə lɑː viːs tə __________/ (Terminator 2)

/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

Which two of the following are

not pronounced with a diphthong?

arrange change orange

grange range strange

anger danger manger stranger

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 cloth – clothe loath - loathe

sooth – soothe swath – swathe teeth – teethe Ø – scathe

Ø – seethe wreath – wreathe Ø – writhe

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 banger - bunker

single - twinkle Washington - plankton ringer - drinker monger - bonkers

bunker - hunger prankster - gangster angle - ankle

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 singable

hanger hangover hangout

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,

wringer

malinger, linger, hunger, finger,

warmonger, hatemonger, fishmonger, etc.

For the same reason as above, in the following words, the /g/ is pronounced. Transcribe the remaining

three words.

spangle /spæŋgəl/ shingle jungle

dangle /dæŋgəl/ tingle

Observation #4 : In the comparative and superlative form, the /g/ is always pronounced.

longer /lɒŋgər/ stronger younger

longest /lɒŋgɪst/ strongest youngest

Which ones are not pronounced with the velar nasal?

binger bringer tinge singer singe hinge ginger

2. The cluster /mb/ How are the following words pronounced?

aplomb bomb numb climb comb crumb lamb

limb thumb womb

amber bomber number climber bimbo chamber ember

timber somber remember Bambi

3. The cluster /mn/ How are the following words pronounced? autumn column condemn damn hymn solemn

autumnal columnist condemnation damnation hymnal 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:

/k/ chasm, chorus, chemist, schism, scheme, schism, scholar, technology

/ʃ/ chaise, chagrin, machine, chivalry, chandelier, chef, parachute, chute.

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 fish and chips English teacher

charming and chivalrous the shorts match the shirt cherries in a dish

watch the show Portuguese ship national chess championships

cash a check Chinese washing machine

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:

/g/ Carnegie, gill, Gilbert, gismo

/ʒ/ genre, beige, rouge, mirage

Minimal pairs. The words below differ only in one sound (the /tʃ/-/dʒ/contrast). Complete the table.

cheer /tʃɪə/- jeer /dʒɪə/ ____ /tʃeləʊ/ - ____ /dʒeləʊ/ chew /tʃuː/ - Jew _________ cheap /tʃiːp/ - ____ /dʒiːp/

cinch /sɪntʃ/- ____ _________ badge _______- batch _______

rich _______- ridge _______ ____ /tʃeri/- ____ _______

Transcribe the following phrases.

eschew junk food change your shirt just a conjecture

rich imagination Virginia Beach Winchester College Chapel Choir

foolish jealousy huge motion picture 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 ɪdʒmənt/ -ess

1 ɪs / ˈlaɪ ə nɪs/

-ness nɪs /ˈdɑːk nɪs/ -sion ʃən /əˈsen ʃən/ ʒən /koʊˈhiː ʒən/

-ure ə /ˈkloʊ ʒər/ -tion ʃən /ɪgˈnɪʃ ən/

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 əbəl /ɪˈlek tə bəl/ -al əl /ˈnɔːməl/ -er ə /ˈniːtə/ -est əst /ˈkliːnəst/ -ese ˈiːz /mɔːlˈtiːz/ ˈiːs /mɔːlˈtiːs/

-ette ˈet /koʊˈket/ -let lɪt /ˈpɪg lɪt/ -ful fəl /ˈjuːs fəl/

-ible əbəl /ædˈmɪs ə bəl/ -ic ɪk /ˈruːnɪk/ -ish ɪʃ /ˈtʃaɪl dɪʃ/ -ive ɪv /rɪˈpres ɪv/ -less lɪs /ˈmaɪnd lɪs/ -ous əs /ˈdʒɔɪ əs/ -some səm /ˈtrʌb əl səm/ -worthy ˌwɜːði /ˈtrʌstˌwɜː ði/ 2.2 Transcribe these words by consulting the above list of nominal suffixes.

likeable natural ruthless biggish compatible impressive

Portuguese starlet fastest careless foolish

tasteful abysmal countless ironic handsome brunette cautious

awesome awful droplet

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 hybridize hybridizable hybridity hybridization

graph biograph biography biographic biographical biographer

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

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/

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 In the cartoon caption, mark weak and strong

forms.

Exercise 2 Complete the vowels in the table

word strong weak word strong weak word strong weak

a eɪ ə from frɒm frəm that ðæt ðət am æm (ə)m have hæv (h)əv, ə the ð____ ði, ðə

an æn (ə)n he h____ (h)i them ðem (ð)əm

and ænd (ə)n(d) him, his hɪm hɪz (h)ɪm -z there ðeə(r) ðə(r) are ɑː(r) ə(r) is ɪz z s to tuː tu, tə as æz əz me miː mi us ʌs əs at ____t ət must mʌst məs(t) was wɒz wəz be biː bi not nɒt nt we wiː wi because bɪkɒz (bɪ)kəz of ɒv əv, v, ə were wɜː(r) wə(r) been biːn bɪn shall ʃæl ʃəl who huː hu, but bʌt bət she ʃiː ʃi will wɪl (ə)l can k____n kən should ʃ____d ʃəd would w____d (w)əd, d could kʊd k____d so səʊ sə you juː ju, jə do duː du, də some sʌm səm your j____(r) jə(r) does d____z dəz such s____tʃ sətʃ for fɔː(r) f____(r) than ðæn ð(ə)n 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 [kʰɪ 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?

kit [kʰ]ɪt tick [tʰ]ɪk

pit [pʰ]ɪt

get [g]et deck [d]ek

bit [b]ɪt

skit s[k]ɪt stick s[t]ɪk

spit 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

phlay

phrint

Phuerto Rico

chot, c

hut

chream

qhueen, eq

huip

chlean

atthack

thrick

thick

thwin

Table 1. Aspirated stops

sport

splay

sprint

deeper

Scott

scream

squint

sector,Tucker

stack

strap

motor

Table 2. Non-aspirated stops

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 warp harp

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 [kɑːd] league [liːg] 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 bow close dove invalid lead

number row sow tear wound 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 d. heathen slaves

a. lichen-crusted rocks b. lichen habitat c. lichen removal d. lichen shirt

a. stimulated plinth b. to erect a plinth c. to adorn a plinth d. Trafalgar Square plinth

a. Swiss chalet b. chalet homes c. mountain chalet d. chalet bullet

a. flower-decorated bier b. wooden bier c. to drink bier d. pope’s bier

12. Technical terminology 1. Science suffixes and semi-suffixes. Decipher the examples. ary “pertaining to, connected with”

dietary AmE/ˈdaɪəˌteri/ BrE/ˈdaɪətəri/ ism ________ /ˈdwɔːfɪzəm/

gen “something that produces or

induces” ________/ˈhaɪdrədʒən/ lysis “destruction, separation”

________/daɪˈæləsɪs/ cyte “cell” ________ˈluːkəˌsaɪt ˈluːkəˌsɪt logy ________/baɪˈɒlədʒi/ itis “inflammation” ________

/ˌdʒɪndʒəˈvaɪtɪs/ osis “state or condition” ________

/hɪpˈnəʊsɪs/ cide “agent that kills” ________ pathy “feeling” “disease” ________ /ˈæpəθi/ (ec)tomy “removal, cutting” ________ philia “attraction for” ________ /ˌpiːdəˈfɪliə/ iac ________/ˈkɑːdiˌæk/ phobia “fear of” ________ /ˌækrəˈfəʊbi ə/ gram

graph “something written or drawn”

________/ˈkɑːdiəˌgræm/ in, ine (in some substance names)

________ /ˌmeləˈtəʊnɪn/ graphy ________ /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/ /əˈstrɒlədʒi ən ˈælkəmi/ /ˈsɪmpəθi kɑːd/

4. Transcription practice antipathy psychopathy telepathy

lymphocyte thrombocyte binary

hereditary biography topography

analysis paralysis necrophilia

laryngitis meningitis antigen

estrogen diarrhea penicillin

fungicide neurectomy cirrhosis

insomniac amnesiac

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

low lɔː loʊ

Shaw

show ʃoʊ ʃɔː

crow

craw kroʊ krɔː

here

hair hɪə heə

bear

beer bɪə beə

dare

dear dɪə deə

done

den

dʌn den

when

one

wʌn wen

ton

ten tʌn ten

colour

collar

kɒlə kʌlə

wonder

wander wɒndə wʌndə

luck

lock lɒk lʌk

click

clique

kliːk klɪk

bean

been biːn bɪn

chick

cheak tʃiːk 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