1 E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed Language and Linguistic BA Semester-II UNIT -3 Phonetic Transcription Phonetic transcription (also known as phonetic script or phonetic notation) is the visual representation of speech sounds (or phones) by means of symbols. The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. Introduction to phonetic transcription With phonetic transcriptions, dictionaries tell you about the pronunciation of words. In English dictionaries, phonetic transcriptions are necessary, because the spelling of an English word does not tell you how you should pronounce it. E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed 2 Phonetic transcriptions are usually written in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in which each English sound has its own symbol. For example, the IPA-based phonetic transcription of the word HOME is hoʊm, and the transcription of COME is kʌm. Note that in spelling, these words are similar. They both end in OME. But their phonetic transcriptions are different, because they arepronounced differently. Phonetic transcription is usually given in brackets, like this: /hoʊm/, /kʌm/. In a dictionary, it looks like this: Word stress When a word has many syllables, one of them is always pronounced more strongly. This is called word stress, and we say that the syllable is stressed. For example, in the word BECOME, the stressed syllable is COME. If the stressed syllable was BE, BECOME would be pronounced . Dictionaries tell you which syllable is stressed. The most popular system is to put a vertical line (ˈ) before the stressed syllable in the phonetic transcription of the word. For example, the transcription for BECOME is /bɪˈkʌm/. If a word has only one syllable (examples: PEN, WATCH), dictionaries usually do not put the ˈ stress mark before it. So they don’t write/ˈpen/ — they simply write /pen/. Some dictionaries use other systems for showing word stress. For example, they may put ˈ after the stressed syllable, or they may underline the stressed syllable. The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet This chart contains all the sounds (phonemes) used in the English language. For each sound, it gives: • The symbol from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as used in phonetic transcriptions in modern dictionaries for English learners — that is, in A. C. Gimson’s phonemic system with a few additional symbols. The chart represents British and American phonemes with one symbol. One symbol can mean two different phonemes in American and British English. See the footnotes for British-only and American-only symbols. • Two English words which use the sound. The underline shows where the sound is heard. • The links labeled AM and BR play sound recordings where the words are pronounced in American and British English. The British version is given only where it is very different from the American version. E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed 3 • vowels IPA examples listen ʌ CUP, LUCK AM ɑ: ARM, FATHER AM BR æ CAT, BLACK AM 1 e MET, BED AM 2 ə AWAY, CINEMA AM 2 ɜ:ʳ TURN, LEARN AM BR ɪ HIT, SITTING AM i: SEE, HEAT AM 3 ɒ HOT, ROCK AM BR 4 5 ɔ: CALL, FOUR AM BR ʊ PUT, COULD AM u: BLUE, FOOD AM aɪ FIVE, EYE AM E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed 4 vowels IPA examples listen aʊ NOW, OUT AM eɪ SAY, EIGHT AM 6 oʊ GO, HOME AM ɔɪ BOY, JOIN AM 1 7 eəʳ WHERE, AIR AM BR 7 ɪəʳ NEAR, HERE AM BR 7 ʊəʳ PURE, TOURIST AM BR consonants IPA examples listen b BAD, LAB AM d DID, LADY AM f FIND, IF AM g GIVE, FLAG AM h HOW, HELLO AM j YES, YELLOW AM k CAT, BACK AM E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed 5 consonants IPA examples listen l LEG, LITTLE AM m MAN, LEMON AM n NO, TEN AM ŋ SING, FINGER AM p PET, MAP AM r RED, TRY AM 8 s SUN, MISS AM ʃ SHE, CRASH AM t TEA, GETTING AM 9 tʃ CHECK, CHURCH AM θ THINK, BOTH AM ð THIS, MOTHER AM v VOICE, FIVE AM w WET, WINDOW AM z ZOO, LAZY AM ʒ PLEASURE, VISION AM dʒ JUST, LARGE AM 1. 1.Almost all dictionaries use the e symbol for the vowel in BED. The problem with this convention is that e in the IPA does not stand for the vowel in BED; it stands for a different vowel that is heard, for example, in the German E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed 6 word SEELE. The “proper” symbol for the BED-vowel is ɛ (do not confuse with ɜ:). The same goes for eə vs. ɛə. 2. 2.In əʳ and ɜ:ʳ, the ʳ is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a vowel (as in ANSWERING, ANSWER IT). In AmE, the ʳ is always pronounced, and the sounds are sometimes written as ɚ and ɝ. 3. 3.In AmE, ɑ: and ɒ are one vowel, so CALM and COThave the same vowel. In American transcriptions, HOT is written as hɑ:t. 4. 4.About 40% of Americans pronounce ɔ: the same way as ɑ:, so that CAUGHT and COT have the same vowel. See cot-caught merger. 5. 5.In American transcriptions, ɔ: is often written as ɒ: (e.g. LAW = lɒ:), unless it is followed by r, in which case it remains an ɔ:. 6. 6.In British transcriptions, oʊ is usually represented as əʊ. For some BrE speakers, oʊ is more appropriate (they use a rounded vowel) — for others, the proper symbol is əʊ. For American speakers, oʊ is usually more accurate. 7. 7.In eəʳ ɪəʳ ʊəʳ, the r is not pronounced in BrE, unless the sound comes before a vowel (as in DEAREST, DEAR ANN). In AmE, the r is always pronounced, and the sounds are often written as er ɪr ʊr. 8. 8.All dictionaries use the r symbol for the first sound in RED. The problem with this convention is that r in the IPA does not stand for the British or American R; it stands for the “hard” R that is heard, for example, in the Spanish word REY or Italian VERO. The “proper” symbol for the RED- consonant is ɹ. The reason r is used instead is that it’s easier to type and read. 9. 9.In American English, t is often pronounced as a flap t, which sounds like d or (more accurately) like the quick, hard r heard e.g. in the Spanish word PERO. For example: LETTER. Some dictionaries use the t ̬ symbol for the flap t. special symbols IPA what it means The vertical line (ˈ) is used to show word stress. It is placed before the stressed syllable in a word. For example, /ˈkɒntrækt/ is pronounced like ˈ this, and/kənˈtrækt/ like that. Word stress is explained in our article about phonetic transcription. ʳ means that r is always pronounced in American English, but not in British English. For example, if we write that FARis pronounced /fɑ:ʳ/, ʳ we mean that it is pronounced /fɑ:r/ in American English, and /fɑ:/ in British English. E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed 7 special symbols IPA what it means However, in BrE, r will be heard if ʳ is followed by a vowel. For example,FAR GONE is pronounced /ˈfɑ: ˈgɒn/ in BrE, but FAR OUT is pronounced /ˈfɑ: ˈraʊt/. i is usually pronounced like a shorter version of i:, but sometimes i (especially in an old-fashioned British accent) it can sound like ɪ. Examples: VERY /ˈveri/,CREATE /kriˈeɪt/, PREVIOUS /ˈpri:viəs/,ABILITY /əˈbɪlɪti/. əl represents either a syllabic l or, less commonly, əl. Syllabic l is an l which acts as a vowel and forms a syllable, as ə l ə ə inLITTLE /ˈlɪt l/, UNCLE /ˈʌŋk l/. Instead of əl, some dictionaries use a regular l, as in /ˈlɪtl/. ən represents either a syllabic n or, less commonly, ən. Syllabic n is an n which acts as a vowel and forms a syllable, as ə n ə ə in WRITTEN /ˈrɪt n/, LISTEN /ˈlɪs n/. Instead of ən, some dictionaries use a regular n, as in /ˈrɪtn/. Does this chart list all the sounds that you can hear in British and American English? No. This page contains symbols used in phonetic transcriptions in modern dictionaries for English learners. It does not list all the possible sounds in American or British English. For example, this page does not list the regular t (heard in this pronunciation of LETTER) and the flap t (heard in this one) with separate symbols. It groups them under a single symbol: t. (In other words, it groups a number of similar sounds under a single phoneme, for simplicity. To understand how sounds are grouped into phonemes, read the article on phonemic transcription.) So this page actually lists phonemes (groups of sounds), not individual sounds. Each symbol in the chart can correspond to many different (but similar) sounds, depending on the word and the speaker’s accent. Take the phoneme p in the above chart. It occurs in the phonemic transcriptions of PIN/pɪn/ and SPIN /spɪn/. In PIN, this phoneme is pronounced with aspiration (breathing). This “aspirated p” sound has its E-content edited by : Dr. Haroon Rasheed 8 own special symbol in the IPA: pʰ. In SPIN, the phoneme is pronounced “normally”; this “normal p” sound is represented by p in the IPA. So the pphoneme represents two sounds: p and pʰ. (This can be confusing, because p can mean both the p phoneme and the p sound.) Distinction between consonants and vowels Consonants and vowels are two different qualities of sounds that are found almost in all languages of the world.