Introduction to English Pronunciation

Portfolio Task 2

Instructions: For the transcription tasks, use https://www.typeit.org/

Before you submit your assignment, make sure that all transcription symbols
have been saved correctly.

1. Transcribe the words below and describe (in articulatory phonetic terms) all
phonemes in them:

● strings /strɪŋs/

s - fortis, voiceless, alveolar, fricative

t - fortis, voiceless, alveolar, plosive

ɪ - close/mid, central, spread/ unrounded, short, monophthong

ŋ - velar, nasal

s - fortis, voiceless, alveolar, fricative

● light /laɪt/

l - alveolar, lateral

aɪ - low/open, central, spread/unrounded, long/tense, diphthong

t - fortis, voiceless, alveolar, plosive

2. Identify and discuss potential problems for Bulgarian learners of English

in the pronunciation of the following words:

● In the word ‘show’- /ʃəʊ/ Bulgarian learners of English may experience

the difficulty of not being able to differentiate between /ʊ/ and /uː/ in
terms of length and quality thus using them interchangeably.
● In the word ‘butter’ - /ˈbʌt.ər/ Bulgarian learners would often not open
their mouth sufficiently while pronouncing /ʌ/ resulting in it being
replaced by /ə/.
● In the word ‘appear’ - /əˈpɪər/ Bulgarian learners are likely to use /iː/
instead of /ɪ/ due to not being able to differentiate between them in terms
of length and quality.
● In the word ‘neither’ - /ˈnaɪ.ðər/ the majority of Bulgarian learners would
most often replace the dental fricative /ð/ with the plosive /d/ due to the
lack of dental fricatives in the Bulgarian language.
● In the word ‘that’ - /ðæt/ Bulgarian learners of English are once again
likely to use the plosive /d/ instead of the dental fricative /ð/ due to the
above mentioned reason.

3. How are the words below pronounced in RP and in GA? Use transcription
symbols to show the pronunciation.

● bath ￡ /bɑːθ/ ; ＄/bæθ/

● father ￡ /ˈfɑː.ðər/ ; ＄ /ˈfɑː.ðɚ/
● spot ￡ /spɒt/ ; ＄/spɑːt/
● secretary ￡ /ˈsek.rə.tər.i/ ; ＄/ˈsek.rə.ter.i/
● chance ￡ /tʃɑːns/ ; ＄/tʃæns/
● not ￡/nɒt/ ; ＄/nɑːt/
● schedule ￡/ˈʃedʒ.uːl/ ; ＄/ˈskedʒ.uːl/