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Tips for Phonemic Transcription

Tips for Phonemic Transcription. Tip #1 – set of symbols. use a coherent set of symbols make sure that your dictionary uses the same set (phonetic symbols are usually listed at the start of dictionaries) large difference between American and British schools

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Tips for Phonemic Transcription

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  1. Tips for Phonemic Transcription David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

  2. Tip #1 – set of symbols • use a coherent set of symbols • make sure that your dictionary uses the same set (phonetic symbols are usually listed at the start of dictionaries) • large difference between American and British schools • British material also varies according to its date • The set that I recommend and use is that used by such authors as John Wells and Peter Roach in their respective Pronouncing Dictionaries. David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

  3. Tip #2: writing the symbols Some of the symbols will be totally new to you – practice writing them. Common pitfalls: • Remember that the tops of the /ʊ/ symbol point outwards, make sure you are distinguishing it from /u/  • The schwa, /ə/, is an 'e' that has been rotated 180°, make sure it will not be confused with /a/ David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

  4. Common pitfalls #2 • Remember that there is an important distinction between /a/ and /ɑ/, the first is a front and the second a back vowel. Diphthongs use the former e.g. /aɪ/, /aʊ/ • Similarly, English diphthongs use /ɪ/ rather than /i/, e.g. /aɪ/, /ɪə/, /eɪ/, and /ʊ/ rather than /u/ e.g. /əʊ/, /aʊ/, /ʊə/ • The /ʃ/ symbol is a stretched 's', it reaches from the height of the top of a capital letter to the bottom of a 'p', for example.  David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

  5. More tips #1 • Remember to use /k/ instead of 'c' for the voiceless velar stop and /j/ rather than 'y' for the palatal approximant • Orthographic 'x' is usually transcribed as /ks/, e.g. 'fax' => /fæks/. The phonetic symbol [x] does exist but it is rarely used in English (only for foreign words). • An orthographic 'n' before a velar, i.e. /k/ or /g/ should be transcribed as a velar nasal stop with the /ŋ/ symbol, e.g. 'thanks' => /θæŋks/ David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

  6. More tips #2 • Remember to put the length marks on long vowels e.g. /i:/, /ɜ:/, /ɔ:/, /ɑ:/ and /u:/ • In Standard British English the post-vocalic 'r' is not pronounced (hence not transcribed) unless followed by a vowel, e.g. 'there' => /ðeə/ v. 'there on the table' => /ðeər ɒn ðə teɪbl /̩ David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

  7. The Use of /i/ and /u/ without length marks • for /i/, words that end with 'y' e.g. happy /hæpi/ and pronouns e.g. she /ʃi/ • for /u/, basically for 'you' and 'to', 'into'. David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

  8. Syllabic consonants • Words like 'bottle', 'handle', 'simple' etc. end with a syllabic 'l', transcribed as a small tick under the letter e.g. /bɒtl ̩/, /hændl ̩/, /sɪmpl ̩/, respectively. • A similar case is that of the final 'n' in words like 'garden', 'widen' and 'fatten' that can be transcribed as /gɑ:dn̩/, /waɪdn̩/, /fætn ̩/. David Brett, University of Sassari, Italy

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