Linguistics 1, 2022–2023 A short guide to transcriptions

The following is a list of common mistakes in transcriptions.

1. Use the appropriate brackets

Use /slant brackets/ for a phonemic transcription and [square brackets] for a phonetic
transcription. For example, for the word peel, /pil/ is the phonemic transcription, and
[pʰiːʊɫ] is a phonetic transcription. (In fact, it’s an example of a quite narrow phonetic
transcription, with lots of detail added.)
When transcribing more than one word, don’t enclose each word in brackets. Use
brackets only at the beginning and at the end of the transcription.

2. Don’t confuse phonetic symbols with letters

Spelling and sound are different things. For example, <c> is a letter. (It’s in fact also a
phonetic symbol, but not one that you need for English.) The final letter of love is not
represented by a sound; the phonemic transcription is /lʌv/, not /lʌve/ or /lʌvə/.
Also, don’t use any punctuation marks or capital letters in your transcriptions.

3. Don’t use phonetic symbols in phonemic transcriptions

Phonemic transcriptions should not contain any symbols used to transcribe allophones,
e.g. [ɫ pʰ æ̃ iː ʔ]; these are restricted to phonetic transcriptions.

4. Use the correct symbol shapes

Make sure that you write the following symbols correctly:

• The symbol for the PALM vowel is /ɑ/, not /a/.

• The symbol for the velar nasal is /ŋ/, not /ɳ/ or /ɲ/.
• The symbol for the KIT vowel is /ɪ/, not /ı/.
• The symbol for schwa is /ə/, not /ɘ/.
• The LOT vowel is like a <b> but without an ascending stroke: /ɒ/.
• The voiced dental fricative is like a reversed 6 with a cross-stroke: /ð/.
• The symbol for the alveolar nasal is /n/, not /N/ (which may be how you are used
to writing your n’s, but it’s not the correct phonetic symbol).

Note also the difference between /ɛ/ and /ɜ/, and between /ɜ/ and /ʒ/.
5. Use the appropriate conventions
Some sources, such as the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, use a length mark in
the phonemic transcription of the FLEECE, GOOSE, PALM, THOUGHT and NURSE vowels,
i.e. /iː uː ɑː ɔː ɜː/. It’s not unreasonable, but it’s not the convention that we use in the
course.
Note also that your tutors are used to transcribing the rhotic approximant as /ɹ/, not
/r/ (as the course book does). Both are acceptable, but for you it’s perhaps easiest if
you stick to the conventions in the course book.

6. Beware of dental fricatives

If your native language is not English, you may struggle with the two dental fricatives.
Voiceless /θ/ usually occurs at the beginning and end of words (thin, thanks, three,
bath, health). Voiced /ð/ usually occurs between vowels (brother, weather, but note
bathe, lithe), and it is also the initial sound in all the ‘little grammatical words’ (the,
this, that, they, them, their, etc.).

7. /ɛ/ vs. /æ/

This is a very tricky contrast for speakers of e.g. Dutch and German, which have no
comparable phonemic contrast. Make sure that you don’t replace /æ/ with /ɛ/. The
spelling is a quite reliable guide here, because /æ/ is almost always written as <a> (e.g.
cat, chapter, tacky); but beware of many, any, anything, etc., which have the letter <a>
but the phoneme /ɛ/.

8. Voicing contrasts at the end of a word

This is a major challenge for speakers of e.g. Dutch, German, and Russian. Unlike
these languages, English has a voicing contrast in stops, fricatives and affricates at the
end of words: great /ɡɹeɪt/ vs. grade /ɡɹeɪd/; rice /ɹaɪs/ vs. rise /ɹaɪz/; batch /bæʧ/ vs.
badge /bæʤ/. Don’t replace voiced with voiceless phonemes! Here, too, the spelling is
generally reliable, though note that single <s> is often /z/, especially when between
vowels (please /pliz/, choose /ʧuz/, wise /waɪz/). Note tricky pairs like close (verb)
/kləʊz/ vs. close (adjective) /kləʊs/, lose (verb) /luz/ vs. loose (adjective) /lus/).

9. Voicing assimilation
More voicing problems! The voicing of plural -s adapts itself to the preceding sound:
it’s /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats /kæts/, coughs /kɒfs/) and /z/ after voiced sounds
(dogs /dɒɡz/, sins /sɪnz/, eyes /aɪz/). The same happens with possessive ’s (Pat’s
/pæts/, Meg’s /mɛɡz/), present tense -s (eats /its/, adds /ædz/), and with past tense and
participle -ed (kissed /kɪst/, robbed /ɹɒbd/).
10. /r/ (or /ɹ/)
In Standard Southern British English (SSBE), /r/ is present only when it’s followed by
a vowel: red /rɛd/, bread /brɛd/, berry /ˈbɛri/, bear out /bɛər ˈaʊt/. It’s absent in the
context of a following consonant or a pause: sport /spɔt/, Derby /ˈdɑbi/, fear /fɪə/,
harbour /ˈhɑbə/. The NEAR, SQUARE, CURE and NURSE vowels (i.e. /ɪə ɛə ʊə ɜ/) occur
in words which have a following <r> in the spelling (though note idea /aɪˈdɪə/, colonel
/ˈkɜnl/).
In standard American English (GA), <r> is always pronounced. GA lacks NEAR,
SQUARE, CURE, but has sequences of a vowel plus /r/ instead. BrE /ɜ/ corresponds to
GA /ɚ/. The same symbol represents ‘r-coloured’ schwa, as in banker /ˈbæŋkɚ/; this
corresponds to ‘normal’ schwa in BrE /ˈbæŋkə/. So, in GA, /ɚ/ occurs both in stressed
and unstressed syllables.

BrE GA

NEAR ɪə ɪr
SQUARE ɛə ɛr
CURE ʊə ʊr
NURSE ɜ ɚ
BANKER ə ɚ