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 uː
i u
ɪ ʊ
Mid e ə ɒ
ɜː ɔː
ʌ
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
l, r
Approximants

Liquids
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.
 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.

(A) stick myth feet fit (F) lard father parent jar
(B) blood muck tar pub (G) done gun fall stub
(C) roll rot dot gosh (H) sat Nazi clap plaid
(D) son run fun butcher (I) set dead heat bet
(E) lock bottle shore stop (J) sieve leave meat Steve

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
 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’ When the letter „u‟ is pronounced as a high-back vowel, it is usually the short /ʊ/: bull,
/ʊ/ butcher, full, pull, push, sugar, wuss

u-e But when a syllable containing the /u/ sound is followed by the letter „e‟ in the spelling,
/uː/ the sound will be /uː/: absolute, cute, crude, dude, exude, immune, include, mute, nuke,
rude, use, etc.

spelled ‘ew’ brew, chew, jewel, Jewish, lewd, Lewis, newt, shrewd, etc.
/uː/
spelled ‘oo’ bloom, boom, boost, boot, booth, booze, cool, doom, food, fool, gloom, goof, goose, hoot,
/uː/ 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’ book, good, foot, hood, hook, look, nook, shook, stood, took, wood, wool
/ʊ/
final Words usually end in the long /uː/: argue, avenue, bamboo, boo, coo, loo, peekaboo,
/uː/
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 piece sea
(words with different meanings and see weak
spellings, but pronounced the same). Not all beat beet
the words have a match! beech beach
meat bit
week meet
heel suite
sweet hill
pick heal
mitt peace
pique peek
peak

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 ə
ʌ
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.
Some exceptional cases of /ʌ/ words to memorize:

/ʌ/
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 3rd pers form.
decides, considers, acts, begins, features, collaborates,

5. Sentences
Consonants.
Transcribe these sentences.
The jam session lasted a few hours. ʃ sheep ʃiːp ʒ measure meʒə
John strummed a couple of songs. ʧ church ʧɜːʧ ʤ judge ʤʌʤ
The man in red shorts sings well. θ thing θɪŋ ð mother mʌðə
He who laughs last laughs best.
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/
/lɒst ɪn trænzl___ʃən/
/ʃeɪksp____r ɪn lʌv/
/mɪdnaɪt k___b___/
/ðə griːn m___l/
/br___kbæk m___ntɪn/
/glædi___tə /r
/d___ndʒərəs lieɪzənz/
/slʌmdɒg mɪljən___r/
/n___ kʌntri fər ___ld men/
/ðə kr___ɪŋ geɪm/

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/ Which two of the following are
not pronounced with a diphthong?
/aɪm gənə __________ ɪm ən ɒfər (h)i kænt rəˈfjuːz/ (The Godfather) arrange change orange
grange range strange
/ɑːs tə lɑː viːs tə __________/ (Terminator 2)
anger danger manger stranger
/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
 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, ordinal –th: ordinal –eth:
length,breadth, dearth, depth, growth, mirth sixth, tenth 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, malinger, linger, hunger, finger,
wringer 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 ɪdʒ mənt/ -ess1 ɪs / ˈlaɪ ə nɪs/
-ness nɪs /ˈdɑːk nɪs/ -sion ʃən /əˈsen ʃən/ -ure ə /ˈkloʊ ʒər/ -tion ʃən /ɪgˈnɪʃ ən/
ʒən /koʊˈhiː ʒən/

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 ə bəl /ɪˈlek tə bəl/ -al əl /ˈnɔː məl/ -er ə /ˈniːtə/ -est əst /ˈkliːnəst/
-ese ˈiːz /mɔːlˈtiːz/ -ette ˈet /koʊˈket/ -let lɪt /ˈpɪg lɪt/ -ful fəl /ˈjuːs fəl/
ˈiːs /mɔːlˈtiːs/
-ible ə bəl /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 ˌwɜː ði /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

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
ˈjes ˈwel ˌledʒəˈbɪlɪti ən kəˈrekt ˌpʌŋktʃuˈeɪʃən maɪt forms.
ˈnɒt bi ˈstriːt bət ˈðæts haʊ ˈaɪ ˈrəʊl ˌmʌðərˈfʌkər
Used by permission of Phil Selby (Dec. 2010)
http://bigeyedeer.wordpress.com/
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 zs 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 [k ʰɪ 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 get [g]et skit s[k]ɪt
tick [tʰ]ɪk deck [d]ek stick s[t]ɪk
pit [pʰ]ɪt bit [b]ɪt 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 chot, chut atthack
h h
p lay c ream thrick
h h h
p rint q ueen, eq uip thick
h h
P uerto Rico c lean thwin
Table 1. Aspirated stops

sport Scott stack

splay scream strap
sprint squint motor
deeper sector,Tucker
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)
economy / economic
apply / application
convict (n) / convict (v)
photograph / photography
congress / congressional
suppose / supposition
progress / progression
acclaim / acclamation
parent / parental
present (n, adj) / present (v)
contest (n) / contest (v)
politics / political
accuse / accusation

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 [kɑ ːd] league [li ːg] 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” ism ________ /ˈdwɔːfɪzəm/
dietary AmE/ˈdaɪəˌteri/ BrE/ˈdaɪətəri/
gen “something that produces or lysis “destruction, separation”
induces” ________/ˈhaɪdrədʒən/ ________/daɪˈæləsɪs/
cyte “cell” ________ˈluːkəˌsaɪt ˈluːkəˌsɪt logy ________/baɪˈɒlədʒi/
itis “inflammation” ________ osis “state or condition” ________
/ˌdʒɪndʒəˈvaɪtɪs/ /hɪpˈnəʊsɪs/
cide “agent that kills” ________ pathy “feeling” “disease” ________ /ˈæpəθi/
(ec)tomy “removal, cutting” ________ philia “attraction for” ________ /ˌpiːdəˈfɪliə/
iac ________/ˈkɑːdiˌæk/ phobia “fear of” ________ /ˌæk rəˈfəʊ bi ə/
gram “something written or drawn” in, ine (in some substance names)
graph ________/ˈkɑːdiəˌgræm/ ________ /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 ˈæl kə mi/ /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 lɔː Shaw ʃoʊ crow kroʊ
low show craw
loʊ ʃɔː krɔː

here hɪə bear bɪə dare dɪə

hair beer dear
heə beə deə

done dʌn when wʌn ton tʌn

den one ten
den wen ten
colour kɒlə wonder wɒndə luck lɒk
collar wander lock
kʌlə wʌndə lʌk
click kliːk bean biːn chick tʃiːk
clique been cheak
klɪk bɪn 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