PHONETICS 1 Heit – Massaro – Vincenti UNAHUR
GUIDELINES FOR PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION
These are basic conventions that will help you transcribe successfully.
Incorporate them gradually and take them into account when you find
yourself in doubt.
SCRIPT CONVENTION
1- Phonemic script is enclosed by slant lines. // Make sure you do not
write a slant line after each word. For now, slant lines will divide the
chunk rhythmically.
We write slant bars at the beginning and at the end of chunks.
/ wi raɪt slɑːnt bɑːz ət ðə bɪˈɡɪnɪŋ ənd ət ði end əv ʧʌŋks/
2- Phonetic or allophonic script is enclosed by square brackets [ ]
We pick up new words. [ pɪk]
3- As stress is a property of the whole syllable, stress marks are placed
before the syllable begins.
Come and see how easy it is to transcribe.
/ ‘kʌm ən siː haʊ ˈiːzi ɪt ɪs tə trænsˈkraɪb /
4- Do not use capital letters in transcriptions.
Angus /ˈæŋɡəs / Edinburgh /ˈedɪnbrə / Cape Town / keɪp
taʊn/ I´m /aɪm/
5- Do not use punctuation marks in transcriptions; you may use a
single bar | to show pauses, such as most commas. A double bar ||
stands for a longer pause, such as full stops, semi-colons and colons.
We’ll try, however, to incorporate all this during the first term. Do
you agree?
/wiːl traɪ| haʊˈevə |tu ɪnˈkɔːpəreɪt ɔːl ðɪs ˈdjʊərɪŋ ðə fɜːst tɜːm|| djʊ
əˈɡriː/
6- Do not confuse LETTERS with PHONETIC SYMBOLS. Letters may be
pronounced in a number of ways. Phonetic symbols, however,
always stand for the same sound.
<go> can be /g/ as in go / ɡəʊ / or / ʤ/ as in gym / ʤɪm /
/g/ will always stand for a voiced velar plosive / bɪˈɡɪn/ /ɡreɪt /
PHONETICS 1 Heit – Massaro – Vincenti UNAHUR
7- The following symbols are not English phonemes: < c, ñ, o, q, x, y>
8- There is a limited inventory of phonemes in English. Stick to these
conventions, that’s to say…. do not make new combinations!
VOWELS: relatively long / iː ɑː ɔː uː ɜː /
Relatively short / i ɪ e æ ʌ ɒ ə ʊ u /
DIPHTHONGS or GLIDES
Closing: aɪ, eɪ , ɔɪ , aʊ, əʊ
Centring: ɪə, eə, ʊə
CONSONANTS:
Plosives / p, b, t, d, k, g /
Affricates /ʧ , ʤ/
Fricatives / f, v , θ, ð, s, z, ʃ , ʒ, h/
Nasals / m, n, ŋ/
Approximants / l, r, w, j /
9- Be neat! Make sure that you don’t confuse these phonemes in your
handwritten transcriptions:
10- In order to help you in recognizing vowels at first, we can
either call them by their number or standard lexical set.
PHONETICS 1 Heit – Massaro – Vincenti UNAHUR
11- VERY IMPORTANT TIPS.
GB English is a non-rhotic accent, so /r/ is only found before
Vowels and never pronounced before consonants or silence.
German / ˈʤɜːmən / ripe /raɪp / hair / heə /
The voiced velar nasal consonant / ŋ / is never found in word
initial position.
The voiceless glottal fricative /h/ is never found in word final
position.
The semivowels /j/ and /w/ can only occur before vowels
When /wen / Walter /ˈwɔːltə / young / jʌŋ / yeah / jeə/
Do not use the happy /i/ and the thank-you /u/ vowels in
diphthongs. Diphthongs can only end in ɪ , ə ,ʊ
Diphthongs may be followed by another vowels, especially
schwa. Make sure you don’t use semivowels here
Graham /ˈɡreɪəm / loyal / ˈlɔɪəl / lower /ˈləʊə/
12- CURIOSITIES
13- SPELLING
For the spelling <oo>
PHONETICS 1 Heit – Massaro – Vincenti UNAHUR
Final magic <y>
It makes the previous vowel say its name!
14- HOW TO GO ABOUT A PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION
The objective or transcribing a text is to help you improve your pronunciation.
The phonemic transcription guides you in reflecting on the pronunciation,
helping visual learners in grasping auditory facts. It provides you with a set of
meaningful choices to make sense in the sometimes-chaotic nature of the
English spelling system. Below, you will find a guide to help you cope with this
a. CHUNK THE TEXT. Remember that each chunk constitutes a unit
of information processing: your listener will interpret what you
mean chunk by chunk. We normally chunk main clauses,
subordinate clauses and long phrases. There are, on average, 7
syllables per chunk or 3 content words.
b. SPOT THE CONTENT WORDS IN THE CHUNK. Stressing and
meaning are closely connected in English. Listeners fish for
stresses to understand the message of what is being said.
c. STRESS THE PROMINENT SYLLABLES IN ALL THE CONTENT
WORDS AND IN THE POLYSYLLABIC GRAMMAR WORDS IN THE
CHUNK. This will help you focus on what syllables are stressed.
d. CHOOSE THE RIGHT VOWEL. Follow rules and apply them as the
course develops.
Summarized from Guidelines for Phonemic Transcription by Prof. Francisco Zabala,
who referenced several authors in his work.
