Transcription exercises
& @ 3: O; V @U
SZDTNwNÙÍ
Phonemic alphabet in English
Only 44 phonemes?
i:
I
U
u:
I@
eI
e
@
3:
O:
U@
OI
@U
&
V
A:
Q
e@
aI
aU
p
b
t
d
tS
dZ
k
g
f
m
v
n
T
N
D
h
s
l
z
r
S
w
Z
j
Matching exercise 1:
Match pronunciation terms with their transcription.
 pronunciation
 phonetic transcription
 phonemic symbols
 phonemes
 vowels
 consonants
 letters
 / vaUlz/
 /"let@z/
 / !Int@"n&S@n@l f@U"ni;mIk


 pronounce

 International Phonemic

Alphabet


"&lf@bet/
/"kQnts@n@nts/
/pr@"naUnts/
/f@U"ni;mIk "sImb@lz/
/"f@Uni;mz/
/f@U"netIk tr&n"skrIpS@n/
/pr@%nVntsi"eISn/
Matching exercise 1 :
Pronunciation terminology & its transcription
KEY
 pronunciation
 phonetic transcription
 phonemic symbols
 phonemes
 vowels
 consonants
 letters
 pronounce
 International Phonemic
Alphabet
 /pr@%nVntsi"eISn/
 /f@U"netIk tr&n"skrIpS@n/
 /f@U"ni;mIk "sImb@lz/
 /"f@Uni;mz/
 /"vaUlz/
 /"kQnts@n@nts/
 /"let@z/
 /pr@"naUnts/
 / !Int@"n&S@n@l f@U"ni;mIk
"&lf@bet/
Matching exercise 2:
Match pronunciation terms with their transcriptions












slanting brackets
square ones
aspiration
diacritics
Roman alphabet
animation
British English
American English
features
sound sequences
minimal pairs
vocal cords

















/"slA;ntIN/
/"skwe@/
/ !v@Uk@l"kO;dz/
/!&sp@"reIS@n/
/"&lf@bet/
/wVnz/
/"si;kw@ntsIz/
/@ !merIk@n/
/saUnd/
/!&nI"meIS@n/
/ !brItIS/
/!r@Um@n/
/"INglIS/
/!daI@"krItIks/
/"br&kIts/
/"fi;Í@z/
/ !mInIm@l"pe@/
Matching exercise 2:
Pronunciation terminology & its transcription
KEY
 slanting brackets
 square ones
 aspiration
 diacritics
 Roman alphabet
 animation
 British English
 American English
 features
 sound sequences
 /"slA;ntIN "br&kIts/
 /"skwe@ wVnz/
 /!&sp@"reIS@n/
 /!daI@"krItIks/
 /"r@Um@n"&lf@bet/
 /!&nI"meIS@n/
 /!brItIS "INglIS/
 /@ !merIk@n"INglIS/
 /"fi;Í@z/
 /"saUnd"si;kw@ntsIz/
Reading aloud 1
From transcription to pronunciation
Can you read these words?
 /pr@%nVntsi"eISn/
 /"slA;ntIN "br&kIts/
 /f@U"ni;mIk "sImb@lz/
 /!&sp@"reIS@n/
 /f@U"netIk tr&n"skrIpS@n/
 /"f@Uni;mz/
 /"vaUlz/
 /"kQnts@n@nts/
 /"let@z/
 /pr@"naUnts/
 / !Int@"n&S@n@l f@U"ni;mIk
"&lf@bet/
 /"skwe@ wVnz/
 /!daI@"krItIks/
 /"r@Um@n"&lf@bet/
 /!&nI"meIS@n/
 /!brItIS "INglIS/
 /@ !merIk@n"INglIS/
 /"fi;Í@z/
 /"saUnd"si;kw@ntsIz/
Reading aloud 2
From spelling to pronunciation
Can you read these words?
 slanting brackets
 pronunciation
 square ones
 phonetic transcription
 aspiration
 phonemic symbols
 diacritics
 phonemes
 Roman alphabet
 vowels
 animation
 consonants
 British English
 letters
 American English
 pronounce
 features
 International Phonemic
 sound sequences
Alphabet
Writing 1
From transcription to spelling.
Can you write these words?
 /pr@%nVntsi"eISn/
 /"slA;ntIN "br&kIts/
 /f@U"ni;mIk "sImb@lz/
 /!&sp@"reIS@n/
 /f@U"netIk tr&n"skrIpS@n/
 /"f@Uni;mz/
 /"vaUlz/
 /"kQnts@n@nts/
 /"let@z/
 /pr@"naUnts/
 / !Int@"n&S@n@l f@U"ni;mIk
"&lf@bet/
 /"skwe@ wVnz/
 /!daI@"krItIks/
 /"r@Um@n"&lf@bet/
 /!&nI"meIS@n/
 /!brItIS "INglIS/
 /@ !merIk@n"INglIS/
 /"fi;Í@z/
 /"saUnd"si;kw@ntsIz/
The schwa /@/
Circle all the syllables containig the schwa and then try to
sing the song.
 Glen Hansard - Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy Lyrics
ONCE
Ten years ago
I fell in love with an Irish girl
She took my heart
But she went and screwed some guy she knew
and now I'm in Dublin with a broken heart
Oh broken hearted Hoover fixer sucker guy
Oh broken hearted Hoover fixer sucker, sucker guy
One day I'll go there and win her once again
but until then I'm just a sucker of a guy
(http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/once/brokenheartedhooverfixersuckerguy.htm)
Here are all the schwas /@/
in Hansard’s Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker
Ten years ago
I fell in love with an Irish girl
She took my heart
But she went and screwed some guy she knew
and now I'm in Dublin with a broken heart
Oh broken hearted Hoover fixer sucker guy
Oh broken hearted Hoover fixer sucker, sucker guy
One day I'll go there and win her once again
but until then I'm just a sucker of a guy
There is no schwa in THERE and AGO,GO as /@/ is part of two different diphthongs
/e@/ and /@U/.
In DUBLIN it is a minority pronunciation: /"dVbl@n/.
There is /e/ in THEN.
(http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/once/brokenheartedhooverfixersuckerguy.htm)
Practice makes perfect.
It’s not a piece of cake, is it? Now you
deserve one. Or a cup of tea or coffee?
Frequently asked questions
1.
2.
Why is there /@/ and /@/ in the word / !Int@"n&S@n@l/ ?
How do I know when to use a dotted /i/ or undotted /I/?
3.
Why are some words (e.g./wVnz/) without stress marks?
4.
5.
Why is the grammatical ending transcribed sometimes as
/s/, /z/, or /Iz/ in /"br&kIts/, /"fi;Í@z/, and /"si;kw@ntsIz/?
Why are stresses in /@ !merIk@n"INglIS/ like this when the dictionary
tells us it should be /@"merIk@n/ /"INglIS/?
6.
Why do they say /pr@"naUnts/ and not /pr@"naUns/?
1. Why is there /@/ and /@/ in the
word / !Int@"n&S@n@l/ ?
 Because the second and the third schwa in
the word / !Int@"n&S@n@l/ may be pronounced, or
may be ommited.
 It is called a superscript schwa and it is a
non-phonemic symbol.
2. How do I know when to use a dotted /i/ or undotted /I/?
Can you spot any regularities stemming from these examples?
/i/
/i;/
/I/
/"praIm@ri/
/"3;li/
/f@U"ni;mIk/
/"si;kw@nts/
/"fi;Í@z/
/"slA;ntIN/ or /"br&kIts/
/"f&mIliz/
/"f&kt@riz/
/ !i;k@"nOmIk/
/ !Int@"n&S@n@l/
/"INglIS/
/greI/ or /seI/
/pr@%nVntsi"eISn/
/"h&pi@/, /ve@ri@s/
/!i;k@"nOmIk/
/!&nI"meIS@n/
/i/ or /i;/ or /I/ ?
/i/ is used at the end of words when it is not part of the diphthong
(e.g. /leIdi/) and in plural endings (e.g. /leIdiz/).
/i;/ occurs at the beginning and in the middle of a word to mark the
long vowel. It never occurs at the end of a word (e.g. / !i;k@"nOmIk/,
/ri;d/).
/I/ can be found only at the beginning or in the middle of a word. It
also occurs at the end of a word when it is part of a diphthong
(e.g. / !I"regj@l@, /bIt/, /bOI/).
/i/ can sometimes be in the middle of the word when it is in front of
a stressed suffix, for example,
/pr@%nVntsi"eISn/, or in front of a vowel which is part of a suffix /"ve@ri@s/
or grammatical ending /"h&pi@/.
3. Why are some words (e.g./wVnz/)
without stress marks?
 Because no one-syllable words are marked
with stress marks in dictionaries.
4. Why is the grammatical ending –s transcribed
sometimes as /s/, /z/, or /Iz/?
/s/
/z/
/Iz/
/"br&kIts/
/"fi;Í@z/
/"si;kw@ntsIz/
/"kQnts@n@nts/
/wVnz/
/"bVsIz/
/k&ps/
/"sImb@lz/
/"m&ÍIz/
/s/, /z/, or /Iz/?
Unvoiced, voiced or sibilant?
What matters is what type of a consonant comes before the
grammatical ending in pronunciation of a word.
 When there is an unvoiced consonant, the grammatical ending
–s is pronounced as /s/, e. g. /k&ps/.
 When there is a voiced consonant or any vowel, the
grammatical ending –s is pronounced as /z/, e. g. /"fi;Í@z/, /wVnz/.
 When there is a sibilant consonant /s, z, S, Z, Í, Ù, the grammatical
ending –s is pronounced as /Iz/, e. g. /"bVsIz/, /"m&ÍIz/
5. Why does primary stress become
secondary when two words meet?
The primary stress becomes secondary in
/@ !merIk@n"INglIS/ because when two words meet in

speech, they influence each other in many different
ways in English even if the dictionary tells us it
should be /@"merIk@n/ and /"INglIS/.

Have you spotted any other cases like thisin the exercises above?
But it can be also the other way round:
/"fIfti;n !egz/ but /fIf"ti;n/ /egz/.
6. Why do they say
/pr@"naUnts/ and not /pr@"naUns/?
Because this is the trend in current
development of RP.
Have a look at words such as pronunciation,
occurrence, difference, fence, or answer in the
3rd edition of LPD.
Great. Well done. You’re the winner.