Descriptive Grammar of English
WSJO 2010/2011 – Year 2
Basic transcription principles (8)
1.
TRANSCRIPTION:
• a consistent coding system for referring to sound units (spelling does this in a very inadequate way)
• a basic principle – one sound is represented with one symbol and one symbol stands for one sound
• features of a good transcription system: symbols should be easy to remember, practical in use and systematically
arranged
• types of transcriptions:
− broad/phonemic transcription – general, shows only those sounds which function contrastively in a given
language (phonemes)
− narrow transcription – very detailed, includes information concerning our knowledge of articulatory activity
(e.g. aspiration, palatalisation, etc.) or our auditory perception of sound units, relates to the structure of sounds,
regardless of which language we speak
2.
In the absolute majority of cases there is a sharp difference between a vowel that is stressed and a vowel spelled in an identical
way which is not stressed:
•
for example, 〈ar〉 in party is stressed and has a vowel /A:/ (Br /'pA:ti/, Am /'pA:rti/) but in particular in both cases the 〈ar〉
is unstressed and has the weak vowel /W/ (Br /pW'tçkjïlW/, Am. /pWr'tçkjWlWr/
•
therefore, the first thing to do before you transcribe a word of more than one syllable, is to decide which syllable is
stressed and which is/are not stressed
the vowel /W
W/ can only appear in unstressed syllables, e.g. another Br /W'nUDW/, Am /W'nUDWr/
•
•
3.
the same applies to the weak vowels /i, u/ that appear almost exclusively at the unstressed ends of words of the type
happy /'hépi/, city /'sçti/, maybe /'meçbi/
UNSTRESSED SYLLABLES:
• in the majority of cases the vowel is 'schwa' /W/, which can therefore have any spelling
•
if, however, the spelling is 〈i〉 (as in -ish, -ic, -ing) or 〈e〉 before the stressed syllable, the vowel will rather be /ç/, e.g.
childish /']açldçS/, speaking /'spi:kçN/, demand Br /dç'mA:nd/ ~ Am /dç'ménd/, reply /rç'plaç/
•
the vowel /ç/ also appears in endings 〈-e(c)t, -age, -ate〉, for example jacket /'}ékçt/, perfect Br /'pɜ:fɪkt/ ~ Am /'pɝ:fɪkt/,
village /'vçlç}/, animate /'énçmçt/
•
the vowel /i/ (usually spelled 〈y, e〉) occurs only in unstressed syllables when the vowel is
− at the end of a word, compound word or stem, e.g. happy /'hépi/, maybe /'meçbi/, ladies /'leçdiz/,
− before another vowel, e.g. radio Br /'reçdiWï/ ~ Am /'reçdioï/
4.
STRESSED SYLLABLES – their typical spellings with example words are presented below (for more information and less usual
spellings, see Wells 2008 – spelling-to-sounds notes at the beginning of every new entry letter in the LPD):
•
/i:/ - 〈ee〉 feet /fi:t/, 〈ea〉 sea /si:/, 〈eo〉 people /'pi:pWl/, 〈ei〉 receive /rç'si:v/, 〈ie〉 grief /gri:f/, 〈ey〉 key /ki:/, 〈eCe〉 complete
/kWm'pli:t/
•
/çç/ - 〈i〉 rich /rç]/, rarely 〈e〉 or 〈u〉, e.g English /'çNglçS/, busy /'bçzi/
•
/e/ - 〈e〉 let /let/, 〈ea〉 meadow Br /'medWï/ ~ Am /'medoï/, head /hed/, deaf /def/
•
/é
é/ - 〈a〉 fan /fén/
•
/A:
A:/
A: - 〈ar〉 word-finally or before a consonant: star Br /stA:/ ~ Am /stA:r/; only in British English – very often if the
spelling is 〈a〉 and it is followed by /n, f, s, Q/ as in dance /dA:ns/, half /hA:f/, grass /grA:s/, path /pA:Q/; only in American
English – very often if the spelling is 〈o〉 as in top /tA:p/, body /'bA:di/
•
/ü
ü/ - only in British English, 〈o〉 clock /klük/, 〈a〉 after /w/ as in watch /wü]/
•
/O:
O:/
O: - 〈or〉 north Br /nO:Q/ ~ Am /nO:rQ/, before Br /bç'fO:/ ~ Am /bç'fO:r/; 〈al〉 talk /tO:k/; 〈au〉 caught /kO:t/; 〈aw〉 law /lO:/;
〈ar〉 after /w/ as in warm Br /wO:m/ ~ Am /wO:rm/, 〈-ought〉 brought /brO:t/
•
/Ѩ/ - 〈u〉 bush /bѨS/; 〈oo〉 cook /kïk/, look /lïk/; modal verbs should /Sïd/, would /wïd/, could /kïd/
•
/u:
u:/
u: - 〈oo〉 food /fu:d/; 〈uCe〉 rude /ru:d/; 〈oCe〉 move /mu:v/; 〈ou〉 group /gru:p/
•
/U
U/ - 〈u〉 club /klUb/; 〈o〉 love /lUv/, come /kUm/, company /'kUmpWni/; 〈ou〉 country /'kUntri/; remember: the spelling is
never a !!!
•
Br /ä:
ä:/
ɝ:/
ä: ~ Am /ɝ:
ɝ: - 〈ur〉 nurse Br /nä:s/ ~ Am /nɝ:s/; 〈ir〉 bird Br /bä:d/ ~ Am /bɝ:d/; 〈er〉 person Br /'pä:sWn/ ~ Am
ə
/'pɝ:s n/; 〈or〉 after /w/ as in work Br /wä:k/ - Am /wɝ:k/
•
/aç
aç/
aç - 〈iCe〉 time /taçm/; 〈yCe〉 style /staçl/; 〈uy〉 buy /baç/, 〈igh〉 high /haç/
Descriptive Grammar of English
5.
•
/eç
eç/
eç - 〈aCe〉 face /feçs/; 〈ay〉 way /weç/
•
/Oç
Oç/
Oç - 〈oy〉 toy /tOç/; 〈oi〉 loiter Br /'lOçtW/ ~ Am /'lOçtWr/
•
/au/ - 〈ou〉 mouse /maïs/; 〈ow〉 fowl /faïl/
•
Br /Wï
Wï/
oï/
Wï ~ Am /oï
oï - 〈oCe〉 close Br /klWïs/ ~ Am /kloïs/; 〈ow〉 bowl Br /bWïl/ ~ Am /boïl/
•
Br /ççW/ - 〈ear〉 fear /fçW/; 〈ier〉 fierce /fçWs/; 〈erV〉 sphere /sfçW/; hero /'hçWrWï/
•
Br /eW
eW/
eW - 〈ear〉 bear /beW/; 〈arV〉 share /SeW/; 〈air〉 hair /heW/
Certain sounds simply cannot appear in certain positions:
• semivowels /j, w/ cannot appear finally
• short vowels /ç, e, é, U, ü, ï/ cannot appear finally
•
6.
WSJO 2010/2011 – Year 2
BrE - /r/ can only occur in positions where it is followed by a vowel, for instance, you have it in boring /'bO:rçN/ but not
in bore /bO:/; you also have it at the end of a word if it is immediately followed by a vowel in the next word (linking 'r'),
e.g. in phrases Peter and Mary /'pi:tWr Wnd 'méri/ although the /r/ cannot appear in, for example, Peter Smith /'pi:tW
'smçQ/
CONSONANTAL CLUSTERS:
• nouns – plurals:
− the plural morpheme must agree in voicing with the last sound of the noun: nouns ending in a voiced consonant
or a vowel add /z/ and those ending with a voiceless consonant add /s/; for example: cabs - /kébz/ and caps /képs/
− some nouns look regular, but are pronounced in an irregular way; the most common of these are: path – paths
/pA:Dz/, mouth – mouths /maïDz/, youth – youths /ju:Dz/
− nouns which end in /s z S J ] }/ add a vowel before the plural ending – the plural morpheme is then /çz/; for
example: buses /′bUsçz/, roses /′rWïzçz/, bushes /′bïSçz/, boxes /′büksçz/
•
verbs – present and past forms:
− exactly the same rules (as above) apply when {-s} is added to a verb to form the third-person singular simple
present tense form, e.g., loves /lUvz/, drops /drüps/, hears /hçWz/, washes /′wüSçz/
− the past ending is pronounced /t/ or /d/ which agrees in voicing with the last sound of the verb: loved /lUvd/,
laughed /lA:ft/, agreed /W′gri:d/, wished /wçSt/
− if the verb itself ends in /t/ or /d/ then in the past (regular verbs) a vowel /ç/ is inserted and the ending is always
pronounced as /çd/ in British English: ended /′endçd/, wanted /′wüntçd/
7.
STRESS:
• different levels of stress > primary, secondary
• there is only one primary stress in a word and the syllable under it always contains a strong vowel
• the syllables immediately before and immediately after the syllable with the primary stress are always unstressed and
will usually have weak vowels
• if there are two syllables before the primary stress, the first will often receive a secondary stress – the syllables under
secondary stress always retain a full vowel