Fonética y Fonología I

Tutora:

Unit 4 Prof. Cecilia Zemborain

Ciclo Lectivo: 2019
The Sounds of Speech II:
Vowel Sounds
Phonetics and Phonology I

Unit 4: The Sounds of Speech II:

Vowel Sounds
➢ Vowel sounds
➢ The distinctive features of vowel sounds
➢ Common difficulties of Spanish speakers regarding vowel sounds
➢ Transcription strategies

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Phonetics and Phonology I

PART 1

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Can you explain the differences between consonants and vowels in phonetic
and phonological terms?

These differences have been explained in Unit 4, but it would be very useful to
mention them again:

• Consonants feature a stricture or narrowing of some kind in their

articulation, that is to say that we can actually ‘feel’ the obstruction to the
flow of air at some point. Therefore, consonants can be described in
articulatory terms.
• Consonants can be voiced or voiceless.
• Vowels are always voiced.
• There is no obstruction to the flow of air in the production of vowels, so it
is very difficult to describe them in articulatory terms, it is easier to ‘hear’
vowels and describe them in auditory terms, especially by comparison
between them.
• There is a phonological difference between vowels and consonants and it
has to do with distribution. Distribution refers to the position of vowels
and consonants in the syllables. Consonants are marginal –they are
located at the beginning and / or end of the syllable. Vowels are central.

For example:

In the word HEAD the consonant sounds /h/ and /d/ are marginal and the
vowel sound /e/ is central.

This explains why the approximants /w, j/ are considered consonants and
not vowels: they are located in marginal position in the syllable.
Examples:

WON YES WHY YOUNG

THE ENGLISH VOWELS

Early phoneticians wanted to describe sounds in the most accurate way. They had
no problem with consonants, as it was easy to study their place and manner of
articulation. Their difficulties started with vowels, how could they analyze and
describe their production?

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Phonetics and Phonology I

Let’s trace the route they might have followed:

• The position of the lips and the jaw – Muscular Tension

These features are easy to observe. Get a mirror and look: what happens when you
say ‘bee’? Your lips are spread, your jaw is barely lowered from the position it has
when you are in silence. Besides, you can feel tension in the muscles under the
chin.

Now say ‘bad’. Your lips are open, but not as spread as for ‘bee’. The jaw is much
lower than for ‘bee’. There is some constriction in the pharynx.

We can continue this observation with other vowel sounds and make notes of the
position of lips and jaw and the tension that we feel.

Lip position can go from ‘neutral’ to ‘spread’ to ‘rounded’, in different degrees.

• Vowel length/Pre-fortis clipping

This characteristic is also easy to detect. Is the vowel short or long?

Compare the following vowels:

/i:/ and /e/

We can safely claim that /i:/ is longer in duration than /e/.

The long vowels are: /iː/ /ɜː/ /ɑː/ /ɔː/ /uː/

Phoneticians were very happy with this classification, but soon they found an
obstacle: these long vowels were always long in isolation, but they were not always
long in connected speech.

Why did that happen?

They compared words like ‘bee’ and ‘beat’. They observed that the quality of the
sound ('timbre') was the same, but the /i:/ in ‘beat’ was shorter than the /i:/ in
‘bee’ as it was pronounced more quickly.
They came to the conclusion that it was the consonant at the end of the syllable
that caused the shortening of the long vowel –they also observed that diphthongs
were affected in the same way.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

The phenomenon that produced the shortening of the long vowels was given the
name of ‘pre-fortis clipping’, because the consonants that cause it are the fortis
consonants /p, t, k, tʃ, f, θ, s, ʃ/ when they appear at the end of the syllable.

Syllables closed by lenis consonants are longer in duration than syllables

closed by fortis consonants.

NB: the diphthong /eɪ/ in the word "plating" /'pleɪt ɪŋ/ has pre-fortis clipping, but
the /eɪ/ in play-time does not, since here the fortis sound /t/ is in a different
syllable.

The contrary process to clipping may be called stretching. This tends to affect the
vowel of the last syllable a speaker makes before taking a breath or stopping
talking.

Exercise

In the following pairs, the vowel in the second word is longer than the vowel in the
first one:

COAT / CODE
BEAT / BEAD
ICE / EYES
RUTH / RUDE

Highlight the shorter vowel sound in the following pairs:

LEE / LEAK
FIRST / FIR
ROAD / ROTE
NORTH / NORTHERN
PORK / PAUL
COW / HOUSE
VOICE / NOISE
NO / NOTE

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

• Further Observations: tongue position and height, lip position.

Research continued and more conclusions were reached: the position of the jaw is
related to the position of the tongue inside the mouth.

The tongue is capable of considerable movement, it can move up and down, getting
closer or further from the palate. This is the vertical tongue position and it is
directly related to the position of the jaw: the further away the tongue is from the
palate, the lower the jaw. We say that a vowel is open when the tongue is far away
from the palate and we say that a vowel is close, when the tongue is very close to
the palate.

The tongue can also move in a horizontal way, thus allowing different portions of
the tongue to raise for the production of different sounds. This characteristic is
more difficult to feel and observe.

• In the vowels /i: ɪ e æ/, it is the front of the tongue that is raised towards
the hard palate. These are known as front vowels.
• In the vowels /ɑː ɔː ɒ ʊ u:/, it is the back of the tongue that is raised
towards the soft palate, while the tip and blade rest behind the lower teeth.
These are known as back vowels.
• In the vowels /ʌ ɜ: ə/, it is the centre of the tongue that is raised towards
the junction between the hard and soft palates. These are known as central
vowels.

Moreover, there is an interesting connection that Adrian Underhill describes in his

book Sound Foundations.

➢ Observe your lip position for the vowels /i:/ and /u:/.
➢ Continue your observation with /e/ and /ɔ:/ .
➢ Finally compare /æ/ and /ɒ/

The conclusion is that front vowels –that is when the front of the tongue is raised-
are produced with spread lips, while back vowels –when the back of the tongue
is raised- are produced with rounded lips. The noise most English people make
when they are hesitating (written 'er') is produced with the neutral lips, that is,
the lips are not noticeable rounded or spread.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

There is a further classification of vowel sounds related to tongue height. Height

has three values in RP English:

• close or high: when the highest point of the tongue is close to the roof of
the mouth, as for the vowels /i: u:/
• open or low: when there is a considerable distance between the highest
point of the tongue and the roof of the mouth, as for the vowels /ɑː ɒ/
• mid: when the highest point of the tongue is midway between close and
open, as for the vowels /ɪ e æ ʌ ɜ: ɔ:/. The mid-vowels of RP English can be
further subdivided into close-mid or mid-high /ɪ ʊ/, open-mid or mid-
low /æ ʌ/ and just mid /e ɜ: ə/.

• The Cardinal Vowels

Phoneticians had come a long way in their research, but they decided that
something had to be done to produce a consistent classification of vowels and they
came up with the Chart of Cardinal Vowels.

The complete series devised by Daniel Jones includes 16 cardinal vowel values. It
is quite a useful scale because: a) the vowel qualities are unrelated to particular
values in language, though they may occur in various languages; b) the set is
recorded -constant reference to a standard, invariable scale.

Here's Jones's chart of cardinal vowels:

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Phonetics and Phonology I

The picture below shows where the chart would be "placed" within the vocal tract:

Read about Cardinal Vowels in the set book English Phonetics and
Phonology by Peter Roach, Chapter 2, p 13.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

QUICK CHECK

How well did you understand the text? Answer the

comprehension questions below. Check your answers with the
Key at the end of the unit.

1. What are the Cardinal Vowels?

2. In what order did phoneticians arrange the vowels? How
are they visually displayed?
3. Do Cardinal Vowels belong exclusively to English?
4. What is their use in Phonetics?

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

Now click on:

http://www.lenguasvivas.com.ar/upload/Fonetica_1/Video 1 Daniel Jones.zip, and

you'll listen to the phonetician Daniel Jones explaining the cardinal vowels.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

• The vowel chart of RP English

Here is the vowel quadrilateral for RP English:

FRONT CENTRAL BACK

CLOSE

CLOSE-MID

MID

OPEN-MID

OPEN

The picture below shows the vowel quadrilateral with some example words that
you can use for reference:

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Phonetics and Phonology I

Our Phonemic Chart

An important consideration to make here: the Phonemic Chart that was introduced
in the first units looks slightly different from the ‘traditional’ quadrangle seen in
Roach . This is due to the fact that its creator, Adrian Underhill, thought it might be
easier to relate to the sounds if they were arranged in this particular way.

However, the original distribution has been respected, and you can relate to either
chart safely.

Take Adrian Underhill’s vowel box, for example. It displays the vowels considering
horizontal and vertical tongue position.

The horizontal distribution goes from ‘front’, for example /i:/, /e/ and / æ/ to
‘back’, for example /u:/, /ɔ:/ and /ɒ/.

The vertical distribution goes from ‘close’, for example /i:/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /u:/ to
‘open’, such as /æ/, / ʌ/, /ɑ:/, /ɒ/.

There are intermediate positions which show the vowels that are between close
and open vertical position and between front and back horizontal positions.

Practice

Use Adrian Underhill’s Phonemic Chart to practise going from the most close, front
vowel /i:/ to the most open, front vowel /æ/ , passing through /e/. You will see
how your jaw is lowered every time.

Work similarly to practise the horizontal tongue position: start at a front vowel,
such as /e/ and say the intermediate sounds until you get to the other extreme
/ɔ:/. You will see how your lips get more and more rounded as you go further back.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

Play around with the sounds on the chart, going from one extreme to the other,
both in the horizontal and vertical axis, until you get acquainted with the different
sounds.

Now you can watch Adrian Underhill working with a group of

teachers giving them tips and suggestions for teaching vowels
in the classroom. Enjoy the clips!

http://www.lenguasvivas.com.ar/upload/Fonetica_1/Video 2
Adrian Underhill.zip

http://www.lenguasvivas.com.ar/upload/Fonetica_1/Video 3
Adrian Underhill Part 1.zip

http://www.lenguasvivas.com.ar/upload/Fonetica_1/Video 3 Adrian Underhill

Part 2.zip

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Phonetics and Phonology I

PART 2

SHORT AND LONG VOWELS

VIDEO ACTIVITY

“What's in the classroom?”

Claudia is working in the staff room when a student knocks

at the door. She brings very unusual news...

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.lenguasvivas.org/campus/fonetica.asp (Video 6 - 0.25 - 1.24)

What caused the communication breakdown?

The misunderstanding happened because the student did not know the difference
between the two vowel sounds /æ/ and /ʌ/.

The vowel sound /æ/ occurs when the word is spelt with ‘a’: ‘cat’, rat’, ‘fat’, ‘happy’.
There are exceptions, of course. The most important is when there is a letter ‘r’
following ‘a’, in this case the vowel sound is /ɑ:/, as in ‘car’, ‘bar’, ‘park’.

The vowel sound /ʌ/ often occurs when the syllable is spelt with ‘u’, for example:
‘cut’, ‘but’, ‘shut’. There are many exceptions, especially because the sounds /ʊ/
and /u:/ can also occur in words spelt with ‘u’, such as ‘full’ /fʊl/, ‘bull’ /bʊl/ ,
‘rude’ /ru:d/ , ‘capsule’ /ˈkæpsju:l/.

By now, you probably remember the classification in short and long vowels. The
list of long vowels was provided above in this unit and here is the list of short
vowels:

/ɪ, ʊ, e, æ, ʌ, ɒ, ə/

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Phonetics and Phonology I

You can visualize the relative position of short vowels in the quadrangle
introduced earlier in this unit.

In sum, English vowels are to be classified according to the following criteria:

1. Tongue position: Shape (front, central, back)

Height (between close and open)

2. Length (short or long)

3. Nasality (oral or nasal): from a phonemic point of view, all the English vowels
are oral.

Exercise

Classify the following vowel sounds according to the criteria explained above:

VOWEL CLASSIFICATION VOWEL CLASSIFICATION

/i:/ close front long /ʌ/
/ɪ/ /u:/
/e/ /ʊ/
/æ/ /ɔ:/
/ə/ /ɒ/
/ɜː/ /ɑ:/

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

LONG VOWELS, DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHONGS

Now that we feel more at ease with the production of vowels in general, we can
study long vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs in depth.

Before you start studying, it is necessary that you pay attention to the following:

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Phonetics and Phonology I

- Monophthong: is a pure vowel sound which is pronounced without changing in

the position of the organ of speech throughout the duration of vowel articulation.
- Diphthong: is a complex vowel sound consisting of two elements pronounced so
as to form a single phoneme. In the pronunciation of the diphthong, the position of
the organ of speech starts in the position of the first vowel and glides gradually to
the other one.
The differences between a monophthong and a diphthong lie in the number of
vowel elements and the position of the organs of speech during their articulation:

Criteria Monophthong Diphthong

Number of vowel One Two

elements:

Position of organs of Unchanged Glides gradually from the

speech position of the first vowel
to the other.

Eg. hat /hæt/ - is a nation /'neɪʃən/ - is a

monophthong, an open- diphthong consisting of
mid front vowel. the sounds /e/ and /ɪ/,
mid front glides to close-
mid front.

Now read Chapter 3 of English Phonetics and Phonology by Peter Roach. Next,
test yourself by doing the exercises below:

1. Provide your own examples of centring and closing diphthongs.

2. Highlight the words that contain triphthongs:

PLAYER GOING

NEWER HOUR

REALLY LAWYER

LAYER LIAR

LYING PRAYER

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Phonetics and Phonology I

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

INTENSIVE PRACTICE ON MONOPHTHONGS AND DIPHTHONGS

Monophthongs

• Work on units 1-13 of your textbook "Ship or Sheep?" They will help you with
the production and the recognition of the English monophthongs.

• Do the test on pages 52-53 of "Ship or Sheep?", activities 1 and 2.

Diphthongs

1- Look to the left and say the symbol on top of the hill. Then look to the right and
say the symbol on the right. Do this twice. Keep the sounds short.

2- Now glide between the two sounds twice. Start on the left and finish on the
right. Notice how the two sounds combine to form a diphthong.

• Work on units 15-21 of your textbook "Ship or Sheep?" They will help you
with the production and the recognition of the English diphthongs.

• Do the test on pages 76-77 of "Ship or Sheep?", activities 1 and 2.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

SUMMARY OF VOWEL SOUNDS

A- Monophthongs

✓ Short vowels:
/ʌ/ /æ/ /e/ /ə/ /ɪ/ /ɒ/ /ʊ/

✓ Long vowels:
/ɑ:/ /ɜ:/ /i:/ /ɔ:/ /u:/

B- Diphthongs

Centring (ending in /ə/)

/eə/ /ɪə/ /ʊə/

Closing

o Ending in /ɪ/
/aɪ/ /eɪ/ /ɔɪ/

o Ending in /ʊ/
/aʊ/ /əʊ/

C- Triphthongs

Closing diphthong + /ə/

/aɪə/ /aʊə/ /eɪə/ /əʊə/ /ɔɪə/

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Phonetics and Phonology I

PART 3

STRONG AND WEAK FORMS

Read this sentence aloud:

“I was waiting for the bus all morning.”

Did you put the same stress on all the words? Which words contain important
information?

Although we do not stop to think about which words we want to stress or why we
do it, it is clear that we make decisions in terms of word stress all the time.

The first thing to consider is whether the word conveys important, new
information or not.

Words that have important meaning are called CONTENT WORDS. They are
mostly nouns, main verbs, adverbs and adjectives.

Words which are necessary to form grammatically correct sentences, but have no
specific or intrinsic meaning are called FUNCTION WORDS. They are mostly
articles, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs.

In the example given above, we can see that the content words are waiting, bus,
all , morning

The other words are function words, whose only purpose is to provide the
structure required to form correct sentences. The function words in the sentence
above are: I, was, for, the

Exercise

Classify the words in the sentences below into content words or function
words:

Get some fish from the fridge.

They can wait.

There’s a new shop but it’s expensive.

Which words are stronger and which ones are weaker?

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Phonetics and Phonology I

You are right! Content words are said in a stronger, clearer way. What does this
mean in phonological terms?

Just as some words are stressed in the sentence, others are not stressed. It is this
idea of 'unstressing' that we need to focus on. Why? Because in Spanish, we give all
words the same prominence and duration, but this is not true for English. Only
content words are given prominence, clarity and longer duration. Unstressed
function words are said more quietly, they take shorter time and they are not as
distinct in terms of vowel quality. This is the main reason why we sometimes think
that English native speakers ‘swallow’ words. This characteristic of English
connected speech has to be explicitly explained to learners, as it will help them
understand longer stretches of oral language. We can actually hear content words
‘jumping out’ of the spoken discourse.

What are the phonological implications of all this?

We can make a distinction now between the so-called strong and weak forms.

In general, all content words are strong and all function words are weak. In
pronunciation, this means that the choice of vowels will be different.

For weak forms, we will use weak vowels.

There are three weak vowels in English: the schwa /ə/, /ɪ/ and /ʊ/.

The schwa is the most usual. Sometimes /ə/ and /ɪ/ can be interchangeable. For
example, the word ‘behind’ can be pronounced /bɪˈhaɪnd/ or /bəˈhaɪnd/

Strong and weak forms are important in terms of pronunciation and they should
be reflected in written transcription as well.

Some Examples

✓ I was waiting for the bus all morning.

//aɪ wəz ˈweɪtɪŋ fə ðə ˈbʌs / ˈɔ:l ˈmɔ:nɪŋ//

✓ There’s a man behind the door.

//ðəz ə ˈmæn / bəˈhaɪnd ðə ˈdɔ://

We can start putting all our pieces together. Notice that only content words are
stressed in the sentences -see the primary stress mark before the stressed
syllables? These stressed words/syllables feature different vowels and diphthongs.
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Phonetics and Phonology I

The only vowel that cannot exist in strong forms is the schwa. On the other
hand, the only vowels that we use in weak, unstressed words/syllables are the
schwa /ə/, /ɪ/, and /ʊ/ . In sentences, we use the stress marks to indicate
prominent syllables (sentence stress). Not all strong words are made prominent
in longer stretches of speech.

This succession of stressed and unstressed words/syllables gives English its

characteristic rhythm.

More about schwa /ə/

The word 'schwa' comes from a Hebrew word meaning 'emptiness.' Schwa is also
called 'the neutral vowel' or 'the obscure vowel.' The sound of schwa is similar to
the -e in French de, but many other languages -such as Spanish and Italian- simply
don't use this sound. Schwa is neutral in the sense that we hardly open our
mouths to say it and the tongue is left relaxed on our mouths (neither pushed
forward nor pulled back).

Unfortunately, schwa is the commonest vowel sound in the English language and is
being used more and more frequently. In other words, if you can't pronounce
schwa properly, you are probably mispronouncing at least half the words in
the English you speak. Moreover, it indicates that the whole sound pattern of
your English is probably wrong because, as it has been mentioned above, given the
fact that schwa is used in weak forms, it helps give English its characteristic
rhythm. This will make your English sound very unnatural.

Getting the right pronunciation of unstressed/weak forms

Standard US and UK English are 'stress-timed' as opposed to 'syllable timed.' In a

syllable-timed language like Spanish, the time allocated to each syllable tends to be
more or less equal. By contrast, in a stress-timed language it is the intervals
between the stressed syllables that are more or less equal, irrespective of how
many unstressed syllables there are between them.

As speakers of Spanish, we need to overcome our tendency to give all syllables the
same duration and clarity. A useful exercise can be the following:

Take the strong forms (ONLY THE STRESSED SYLLABLES) from the sentence
above:

//ðəz ə ˈmæn /bəˈhaɪnd ðə ˈdɔ://

MAN HIND DOOR

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Phonetics and Phonology I

Say the words/syllables with regular intervals between them, you can tap with
your fingers to help you keep the rhythm.

Now add the following words/syllables to the previous

sequence WITHOUT ALTERING THE RHYTHM OR THE
INTERVALS

a MAN beHIND the DOOR

Now, add the rest of the words. Make sure you never alter
the original rhythm and intervals between words.

there’s a MAN beHIND the DOOR

The easiest way to rush through unstressed syllables to keep the stress-timing is to
pronounce the vowel sounds as schwa -that's why schwa's advance is unstoppable.
If you want to hear what syllable-timed English sounds like, listen to someone
speaking Indian English (on Youtube, for example). This should be avoided at all
costs!

Useful tips to get schwa under control

Read this sentence aloud:

Her husband and brothers waited for hours.

// hə ˈhʌzbənd ən ˈbrʌðəz / ˈweɪtɪd fər ˈaʊəz//

In order to achieve the right quality of schwa, we can do a simple exercise. Just
pretend that there is NOTHING in the place of the schwas and try to say the words
like this:

//h ˈhʌzbnd n ˈbrʌðz / ˈweɪtɪd fr ˈaʊəz//

The quiet, short, indistinct sounds that you obtain by doing this exercise are
schwas.

We have looked into the generalities of strong and weak forms. However, there are
exceptions that need focusing on.

In this chapter, Roach describes the circumstances in which weak, function words
become strong.

EXTRA PRACTICE

Work on page 7 from the textbook 'New Headway Pronunciation Intermediate' and on
page 9 (ex. 5) from 'New Headway Pronunciation Upper-Intermediate' 20
Phonetics and Phonology I

Reading

Weak Forms - English Phonetics and Phonolgy by Peter

Roach, Chapter 12.

Quick Check

Highlight the strong forms in the following sentences. Consider the words in
bold ONLY.

1. She arrived at five.

2. What are you waiting for?

3. It’s in front of the car.

4. Try to eat it.

5. Go to hell.

6. I don’t want to.

7. It’s as easy as falling off a wall.

8. Some bastard stole it!

9. There’s some money in the bag.

10. You can have some.

11. She can wait.

12. Of course I could.

13. Can I see it now?

14. They have done it.

15. Yes, they have.

16. We shall require some more time.

17. You should.

18. you must see her.

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19. That film is a must.

20. What do you know?

21. Do all the children play?

22. What does it mean?

23. Yes, I do.

24. Yes, she does.

25. They are tired.

26. Of course they are.

27. She was in pain.

28. The papers were lost.

29. There should be a law.

30. Yes, they were.

31. Tell her the truth.

32. It ‘s all for her.

33. Is the letter for or from Angie?

34. Show us the way.

35. She’s over there.

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

EXTRA PRACTICE

Work on page 8 from the textbook 'New Headway Pronunciation Intermediate' and on
pages 11-12 (ex. 3) from 'New Headway Pronunciation Upper-Intermediate'

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Phonetics and Phonology I

SUMMARY OF STRONG AND WEAK FORMS

o content words are stressed: nouns, main verbs, adverbs and adjectives.

o function words are not stressed: articles, pronouns, prepositions,

conjunctions and auxiliary verbs.

o for weak forms, weak vowels are used /ə, ɪ, ʊ/.

o the schwa cannot exist in strong forms, therefore it is never stressed.

o the strong form of weak-form words is used:

▪ when they occur at the end of a sentence, e.g.:

Chips are what I’m fond of. /ɒv/

▪ when they are being contrasted with another word, e.g.;

The letter’s from him, not to him. /frɒm/ /tu:/

▪ when they are given stress for emphasis, e.g.:

You must give me more money. /mʌst/

▪ when they are being cited or quoted, e.g.:

You shouldn’t put “and” at the end of a sentence. /ænd/

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Phonetics and Phonology I

Common difficulties of Spanish speakers regarding vowel sounds

Since the sounds of a new language are generally interpreted in terms of those of
the speaker's mother tongue, the Spanish learner tends to equate the eight English
diphthongs with his eight Spanish near-equivalents, and identify the twelve
English pure vowels with his five Spanish ones:

ENGLISH SPANISH ENGLISH SPANISH

i: i eɪ ei
ɪ
əʊ o
e ou
ɜː e
ə aɪ ai

æ aʊ au
ɑː a
ʌ ɔɪ oi

ɒ ɪə ia
ɔː o
eə ea
ʊ u
u: ʊə ua

It is obvious, the, that minimum intelligibility is more difficult to achieve with pure
vowels than with diphthongs; although the Spanish diphthongal system is not
phonetically identical to the English one, at least it provides a sufficient number of
phonologically contrastive units to convey the eight oppositions that English
requires.

Vowel quality

1) The qualities of the four Spanish pure vowels /a, e, i, u/ can be taken as near
equivalents to English /ʌ, e, i:, u:/. It does not follow, however, that this similarity
constitutes an advantage. A good practice will be the comparison between both
sets, by identifying and producing these English sounds in Spanish words, and vice
versa. It should be noted that:

a) English /e/ is opener than Spanish /e/.

b) English /ʌ/ is not so open as Spanish /a/.

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Phonetics and Phonology I

c) English /i:, u:/ are not so close as the Spanish vowels, and will often be
heard as slight diphthongs. Any attempt to imitate these diphthongal forms should
be very accurate; otherwise they may sound vulgar or dialectal.

2) Of the remaining seven English pure qualities, those of /ə, ɪ, ʊ/ deserve special
attention. This is due to the high frequency of occurrence of /ə, ɪ/, the difficulty in
producing qualities within the central area, and the relaxed nature of central
vowels. One of the ways of producing these vowels is by trying to obtain a sound
at an intermediate point between two already known qualities, e.g.

a) /ə/ is in a line between English /e - ɔ:/. Instructions regarding the

production of this vowel have been given earlier in this unit.

b) /ɪ/ can be produced by going from /i:/ to /ə/.

c) / ʊ/ is half-way between /u:/ and /ə/. Any error in the quality of / ɪ, ʊ/

should preferably be in the direction of / ə/.

d) /æ/ is between /e/ and Spanish /a/. Tightening of the pharynx may be a
useful prop.

e) /ɒ, ɔ:/ can be elicited by producing opener and closer varieties of Spanish
/o/ respectively.

f) /ə, ɜː/ must be practised with spread lips; /ʊ/ with loosely rounded lips;
/ɒ/ with open lip-rounding, and /ɔː/ with close-lip rounding.

3) The starting points for English /aɪ, aʊ/ should present little difficulty. A vowel
of the Spanish a-quality will make an acceptable initial element for both.
Important considerations concerning diphthongs are:

a) The finishing points for the English closing diphthongs (i.e. /ɪ/ and /ʊ/)
should not exceed the half-close level. A useful hint is to think of them as very
close e- and o-qualities.

b) The starting points for English /eɪ/ and /ɔɪ/ are distinctly opener than
for their Spanish equivalents.

c) Mid-central quality is the starting point for /əʊ/. A further back

beginning will sound old-fashioned, and a fronter one, affected.

d) Lack of narrow-centring diphthongs in Spanish can bring about a variery

of mispronunciation regarding beginnings and endings, especially in /ɪə, eə/. The
first element in /eə/ is just a bit closer than RP /æ/.

A practical hint for the production of English diphthongs is to compare them with
the Spanish set, as previously stated.

25
Phonetics and Phonology I

PART 4
READING AND TRANSCRIPTION PRACTICE

Before you start working on this section, here are some hints for transcribing
consonants and vowels. Some of them have been mentioned in previous
units, but they are worth revising.

Hints for transcribing consonants

1. The main difference to listen for is whether the consonant is voiced or voiceless.

2. The following consonant letters have (nearly always) their usual English sound
values: /p, b, t, d1, k, m, n, l, r, f2, v, z, h, w/.

3. The remaining consonant letters have no unique sound value: c, ck, g, qu, s, th, x.

4. In British English (RP) an / r / is only transcribed in front of a vowel.

Transcription rules that always apply:

Sound Rule Example

/j/ “y” at beginning of words yellow
/z/ “z” zoo
plural and 3rd ps after voiced sounds dogs
/s/ “s” at beginning of words see
“ss” (exceptions: scissors / possess) class
“s” + consonant stay
plural and 3rd ps after voiceless sounds cats
/ʃ/ “sh” shop
endings with “ti” + vowel education
endings with “ci” + vowel musician
/tʃ/ “tch” match
“t” + “ure” future
/dʒ/ “j” jam
“dge” judge
“g” + “e” , except general
/ʒ/ “ge” endings in words from the French garage

Hints for transcribing vowels and diphthongs

1
except certain past and past participles ending -ed
2 except in "of" /ɒv/, /əv/

26
Phonetics and Phonology I

1. The main difference to listen for is whether the vowel is long or short. The
symbols for the long and the short form are always different, as the phonemes
differ in quantity as well as in quality.

2. In diphthongs we use the lower case / a / → / aɪ, aʊ/, originally to make life
easier for the printers, before they used computers.

3. The phoneme / ə / can only occur in unstressed syllables.

Transcription rules that always apply:

Sound Rule Example

/i:/ “ee” sleep
/ɒ/ “o” + final consonant dog
“ock” clock
“o” + double consonant bottle
/ɔ:/ “aw” saw
/ɜ:/ “er” + consonant verb
or stressed at end of words prefer
“ir” + consonant girl
or stressed at end of words fir
“ur” + consonant turn
or stressed at end of words fur

/əʊ/ “o” at end of words so

/eɪ/ “ay” day
/ɔɪ/ “oi” boil
“oy” toy
/ɪə/ “eer” beer
/eə/ “air” chair

PRACTICE

READING FROM PHONEMIC SCRIPT

1) Read the following text about the life of Ian Fleming, the creator of James
Bond.

//ˈi:ən ˈflemɪŋ / wəz ˈbɔ:n / ɒn ˈmeɪ /ðə ˈtwentɪ ˈeɪtθ/ naɪnˈti:n ˈeɪt / ɪn
ˈskɒtlənd// hɪz ˈfɑ:ðə ˈdaɪd / wen hi: wəz 'əʊnlɪ ˈnaɪn ˈjɪəz əʊld / ən hɪz
ˈmʌðə ˈsent hɪm / tʊ ə ˈsku:l ɪn ˈɪŋglənd / ˈkʰɔ:ld ˈi:tən// wen hi: ˈleft

27
Phonetics and Phonology I

ˈsku:l / hi: ˈdʒɔɪnd ðə ˈmɪlɪtərɪ ˈkʰɒlɪdʒ / ɪn ˈsændhɜ:st// bət 'wen hi:

ˈfɪnɪʃt hɪz ˈstʌdɪz / hi: dɪˈsaɪdɪd / ðət hi: ˈdɪdnt ˈwɒnt / tə ˈdʒɔɪn ði:
ˈɑ:mɪ// səʊ hi: ˈwent ɒn ə ˈtʊər əv ˈjʊərəp / tʊ ɪmˈpru:v hɪz
ˈlæŋgwɪdʒɪz//

Notice the conventions used in the phonemic text. The single slanted bars (/)
represent pauses , double bars represent full stops (//). They can also be
transcribed as vertical bars (| and ||)

2) Here’s another passage in phonemic script :

//ðə ˈrestərɒnt / dɪd ˈnɒt ˈsi:m ʹverɪ ɪnˈvaɪtɪŋ// ðə ˈwɪndəʊz ˈlʊkt / əz ɪf

ðeɪ həd ˈnɒt bɪn ˈkli:nd / fə ˈmʌnθs// ɪn ˈwʌn əv ðəm/ ðə wəz ə ˈnəʊtɪs
'seɪɪŋ / ˈkʰʊk ˈwɒntɪd// ðə ˈwɜ:dz həd bɪn ˈklʌmzɪlɪ ˈprɪntɪd/ ɒn ə ˈdɜ:tɪ
ˈpi:s əv ˈpʰeɪpə// ə ʹlɪtl ˈmæn / ɪn ə ˈkʰəʊt ˈmʌtʃ tʰu: ˈbɪg /fə ˈhɪm/ ˈstʊd
ˈlʊkɪŋ ət ɪt / fə ˈsevərəl ˈmɪnɪts// ət ˈlɑ:st / hɪ ˈsi:md tə ˈmeɪk ʌp hɪz
ˈmaɪnd / ənd ˈəʊpənd ðə ˈdɔ:// ðɪs ɪz ˈməʊstlɪ / ə ˈfɪʃ ən ˈtʃɪps ˈpleɪs /
ʹsed ðɪ 'əʊnə//ðə ˈlɪtl ˈmæn / ˈlʊkt ət hɪm wɪð ə ˈpʰeɪnfʊl ɪkˈspreʃən / ɪn
hɪz ˈtʰaɪəd ˈaɪz// hi: rɪˈmembəd hɪz ˈdeɪz / ət ðə səˈvɔɪ//

3) The following are excerpts from the poem ‘Autobiographia Literaria’ by

Frank O’Hara.

//wen ˈaɪ wəz ə ˈtʃaɪld / aɪ ˈpleɪd baɪ maɪˈself / ɪn ə ˈkʰɔ:nər əv ðə

ˈsku:ljɑ:d / ˈɔ:l əˈləʊn// aɪ ˈheɪtɪd ˈdɔ:lz/ ənd aɪ ˈheɪtɪd ˈgeɪmz /
ˈænɪməlz wə ˈnɒt ˈfrendlɪ / ən ˈbɜ:dz ˈflu: əˈweɪ// ɪf ˈenɪwʌn wəz ˈlʊkɪŋ
fə ˈmi: / aɪ ˈhɪd bəˈhaɪnd ə ˈtri: / ən ˈkraɪd aʊt/ aɪ əm ən ˈɔ:fən // ən
ˈhɪər aɪ ˈæm / ðə ʹsentər əv ˈɔ:l ˈbju:tɪ/ ˈraɪtɪŋ ði:z ˈpʰəʊɪmz /
ɪˈmædʒɪn//

The orthographic versions of the transcriptions above can be found in the answer key
at the end of the unit.

28
Phonetics and Phonology I

1. Transcription Practice (sentences)

Transcribe the following sentences into phonemic script. Indicate pauses and
sentence stress. Pay special attention to strong and weak forms. Include instances
of aspiration /ʰ/ and intrusive "r" /ʳ/.

1. I learned to surf in Brazil. The weather was perfect and the water was
warm.
2. A bath is more relaxing than a shower.
3. He can’t row his boat when there’s a strong wind blowing.
4. The cost will not stop him from buying it.
5. I never watch soap operas or chat shows on TV.
6. Barbara told them about her dream. She was in the middle of a room. The
walls were clean and glossy. She could hear some classical music.
7. The butcher’s daughter is playing with the new kittens. She really loves
them. They’re all black and white.
8. Treasure Island is a film for children. Why don’t we see Pride and Prejudice?
I hear the acting is superb.
9. Driving through the jungle makes me nervous, but it’s the only way to see
the views and the colourful villages.
10. I can’t believe it. Thomas King is in town. He’s singing at the Royal Theatre
tomorrow. On Sunday, he’s attending a dinner organised by the bank
clerks.

Questions on Phonetic and Phonological Aspects

1. Find an example of aspiration in sentence 1 above.

2. Find a triphthong in sentence 2 above.
3. Indicate the weak forms in sentence 4 above.
4. Find all the long vowels in sentence 6.
5. Indicate when /r/ is pronounced in sentence 7.
6. Find all the schwas in sentence 10.
7. Compare the length of the vowels in the following words taken from the
sentences above. Indicate cases of pre-fortis clipping.
BOAT / BLOW

SOAP / SHOW

LEARN / SURF

29
Phonetics and Phonology I

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

2. Transcription practice (texts)

Transcribe the following texts into phonemic script. Indicate pauses and
sentence stress. Pay special attention to strong and weak forms. Include
instances of aspiration and intrusive "r" /ʳ/.

Text a

York is a beautiful city in the northeast of England, on the river Ouse. It is not
far from Leeds. It is a very interesting place to live. It has many historical
buildings and museums, but it is most famous for its cathedral, called York
Minster.

Text b

I have a shower and get dressed. I usually go to the library in the morning. I
have lunch in the cafeteria. I go home at five o’clock. I go to bed at eleven thirty,
but I’m never asleep before midnight.

Text c

Banana is the favourite smell of most people around the world. It beats
peppermint, lemon and vanilla by a short head, according to a sixteen country
study. The least favourite smell is natural gas, even more disliked than skunk.

Text d

One day Joan would like to be an interpreter. She's very good at languages.
This year she's studying two languages, French and German. Next year she's
going to start learning Russian. Joan's got a foreign penfriend called
Dominique. She lives in Paris. Joan's parents are extremely fond of Dominique.
She's such a friendly girl.

Text e

I went to secondary school, and then trained to be a teacher. I worked at a

primary school for nine years teaching small children how to read and write. It
amuses me nowadays when I find that some of those young pupils of mine have
become important people or highly qualified professionals.

Text f

30
Phonetics and Phonology I

There's no need to puff and blow so, all the same. You are making an exhibition
of yourself, George. You've been putting on weight, you know. You ought to do
something about it. What about a few exercises every morning? You might join
Mr Robinson in the garden while he's doing his knee-bends.

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

3. Transcription practice (dictations)

DICTATION PRACTICE 1

Listen to the short text in the audiofile provided (Fonética I - Unit 4 -

Dictation Practice 1) and take it down in phonemic script. DO NOT TAKE IT
DOWN IN ORTHOGRAPHIC SPELLING FIRST, as this is a dictation, not
transcription from a written text.

As this is intended for practice, you can pause the recording as many times as
you need to do so.

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

DICTATION PRACTICE 2

Listen to the short text in the audiofile provided (Fonética I - Unit 4 -

Dictation Practice 2) and take it down in phonemic script. DO NOT TAKE IT
DOWN IN ORTHOGRAPHIC SPELLING FIRST, as this is a dictation, not
transcription from a written text.

As this is intended for practice, you can pause the recording as many times as
you need to do so.

Now check your answers with the key at the end of the unit.

  

31
Phonetics and Phonology I

SELF-ASSESSMENT

We have come to the end of Unit Four, in which we have

dealt mainly with vowels and transcription matters.

How well do you know the topics in this unit? Tick the
boxes that apply.

I know this topic I know this topic I need to revise

very well quite well this topic
TOPIC
The classification
of vowel sounds
The production
of English vowels
The Cardinal
Vowels
Diphthongs and
triphthongs
Strong and weak
forms
Common
difficulties of
Spanish speakers
regarding vowel
sounds
Transcription
strategies

See you in Unit 5!

32
Phonetics and Phonology I

KEY TO UNIT 4

Exercise

Highlight the shorter vowel sound in the following pairs:

LEE / LEAK
FIRST / FIR
ROAD / ROTE
NORTH / NORTHERN
PORK / PAUL
COW / HOUSE
VOICE / NOISE
NO / NOTE

QUICK CHECK

How well do you understand the text? Answer the comprehension questions below.

Suggested answers

1. What are the Cardinal Vowels?

The Cardinal Vowels represent the extremes in the production of vowels, for
example, the closest possible vowel we can make without bringing the tongue in
contact with the palate.

2. In what order did phoneticians arrange the vowels? How are they visually
displayed?
The Cardinal Vowels are displayed in a quadrangle that represents the position of
the tongue inside the mouth. There are two axes: the horizontal axis, which
represents the horizontal tongue position and goes from the front position at the
left, to the back position at the right of the quadrangle. The other axis shows the
vertical tongue position. It goes from close position at the top of the quadrangle to
the open position at the bottom.

3. Do Cardinal Vowels belong exclusively to English?

Cardinal vowels do not belong to any language in particular, they can be found in
different European languages, though.

4. What is their use in Phonetics?

33
Phonetics and Phonology I

The easiest and more practical way to describe vowels is by comparison between
each others. Phoneticians devised the Cardinal Vowels to serve as a reference
‘map’ to locate all the English vowels.

Exercise

Classify the following vowel sounds according to the criteria explained above:

VOWEL CLASSIFICATION VOWEL CLASSIFICATION

/i:/ close front long /ʌ/ open-mid central short
/ɪ/ close-mid front short /u:/ close back long
/e/ mid front short /ʊ/ close-mid back short
/æ/ open-mid front short /ɔ:/ mid back long
/ə/ mid central short /ɒ/ open back short3
/ɜː/ mid central long /ɑ:/ open back long

Exercise

1. Provide your own examples of centring and closing diphthongs.

Suggested answers

Closing diphthongs: load – now – boy – play- high

Centring diphthongs: near – poor - where

2. Highlight the words that contain triphthongs:

PLAYER GOING

NEWER HOUR

REALLY LAWYER

LAYER LIAR

LYING PRAYER

Exercise

3Also classified as "open-mid." If you have a look at the chart, you will see this particular vowel sound is close to
both classifications.

34
Phonetics and Phonology I

Content and function words

Content words: get, fish, fridge, wait, new, shop, expensive.

The others are function words.

Quick Check
Highlight the strong forms in the following sentences. Consider the words in
bold ONLY.

1. She arrived at five.

2. What are you waiting for?

3. It’s in front of the car.

4. Try to eat it.

5. Go to hell.

6. I don’t want to.

7. It’s as easy as falling off a wall.

8. Some bastard stole it!

9. There’s some money in the bag.

10. You can have some.

11. She can wait.

12. Of course I could.

13. Can I see it now? Some speakers use strong forms in initial interrogative verbs.

14. They have done it.

15. Yes, they have.

16. We shall require some more time.

17. You should.

18. you must see her.

19. That film is a must.

20. What do you know?

21. Do all the children play? Some speakers use strong forms in initial interrogative
verbs.

22. What does it mean?

35
Phonetics and Phonology I

23. Yes, I do.

24. Yes, she does.

25. They are tired.

26. Of course they are.

27. She was in pain.

28. The papers were lost.

29. There should be a law.

30. Yes, they were.

31. Tell her the truth.

32. It ‘s all for her.

33. Is the letter for or from Angie?

34. Show us the way.

35. She’s over there.

READING FROM PHONEMIC SCRIPT

1) Ordinary spelling version

Ian Fleming was born on May the twenty-eighth, nineteen eight in Scotland. His
father died when he was only nine years old, and his mother sent him to a school in
England called Eton.

When he left school, he joined the Military College in Sandhurst. But when he
finished his studies, he decided that he didn’t want to join the army, so he went on
a tour of Europe to improve his languages.

2) Ordinary spelling version

The restaurant did not seem very inviting. The windows looked as if they had not
been cleaned for months. In one of them there was a notice saying ‘Cook Wanted’.
The words had been clumsily printed on a dirty piece of paper. A little man, in a
coat much too big for him, stood looking at it for several minutes. At last, he
seemed to make up his mind and opened the door.

‘This is mostly a fish and chips place,’ said the owner.

36
Phonetics and Phonology I

The little man looked at him with a painful expression in his tired eyes. He
remembered his days at the Savoy.

3) Ordinary spelling version

Autobiographia Literaria

When I was a child

I played by myself in a

corner of the schoolyard

all alone.

I hated dolls and I

hated games, animals were

not friendly and birds

flew away

If anyone was looking

for me I hid behind a

tree and cried out ‘I am

an orphan.’

And here I am, the

centre of all beauty

writing these poems!

Imagine!

Frank O’Hara

37
Phonetics and Phonology I

1. Transcription Practice

1. I learned to surf in Brazil. The weather was perfect and the water was
warm.
//aɪ ˈlɜ:nd tə ˈsɜ:f / ɪn brəˈzɪl//ðə ˈweðə wəz ˈpʰɜ:fɪkt/ ən ðə ˈwɔ:tə wəz
ˈwɔ:m//

2. A bath is more relaxing than a shower.

//ə ˈbɑ:θ ɪz 'mɔ: rɪˈlæksɪŋ/ ðən ə ˈʃaʊə//

3. He can’t row his boat when there’s a strong wind blowing.

//hi: ˈkʰɑ:nt rəʊ hɪz ˈbəʊt / wen ðeəz* ə 'strɒŋ ˈwɪnd ˈbləʊɪŋ//

* /ðəz/ is also possible

4. The cost will not stop him from buying it.

//ðə ˈkʰɒst wɪl ˈnɒt ˈstɒp hɪm / frəm ˈbaɪɪŋ ɪt//

5. I never watch soap operas or chat shows on TV.

//aɪ ˈnevə 'wɒtʃ / ˈsəʊp ˈɒpərəz / ɔ: ˈtʃæt ˈʃəʊz / ɒn ˈtʰi: ˈvi://

6. Barbara told them about her dream. She was in the middle of a room.
The walls were clean and glossy. She could hear some classical
music.
//ˈbɑ:bərə ˈtʰəʊl ðəm /əˈbaʊt hə ˈdri:m//ʃi: wəz ɪn ðə ˈmɪdl əv ə
ˈru:m//ðə ˈwɔ:lz wə ˈkli:n/ ən ˈglɒsɪ//ʃi: kəd ˈhɪə / səm ˈklæsɪkəl
'mju:zɪk//

7. The butcher’s daughter is playing with the new kittens. She really
loves them. They’re all black and white.
//ðə 'bʊtʃəz ˈdɔ:tə r ɪz ˈpleɪɪŋ/ wɪð ðə 'nju: ˈkɪtənz//ʃi: ˈrɪəlɪ ˈlʌvz
ðəm//ðeər ˈɔ:l ˈblæk ən ˈwaɪt//

8. Treasure Island is a film for children. Why don’t we see Pride and
Prejudice? I hear the acting is superb.
//ˈtreʒər ˈaɪlənd/ ɪz ə ˈfɪlm fə ˈtʃɪldrən//waɪ ˈdəʊn wi: ˈsi: / ˈpraɪd ən
ˈpredʒʊdɪs//aɪ hɪə ðɪ ˈæktɪŋ ɪz sʊˈpɜ:b//

9. Driving through the jungle makes me nervous, but it’s the only way
to see the views and the colourful villages.

38
Phonetics and Phonology I

//ˈdraɪvɪŋ θru: ðə ˈdʒʌŋgl / ˈmeɪks mɪ ˈnɜ:vəs/bət ɪts ðɪ ˈəʊnlɪ ˈweɪ / tə

ˈsi: ðə ˈvju:z/ ən ðə ˈkʰʌləfʊl ˈvɪlɪdʒɪz//

10. I can’t believe it. Thomas King is in town. He’s singing at the Royal
Theatre tomorrow. On Sunday, he’s attending a dinner organised by
the bank clerks.
//aɪ ˈkʰɑ:nt bəˈli:v ɪt//ˈtʰɒməs ˈkɪŋ ɪz ɪn ˈtʰaʊn//hi:z ˈsɪŋɪŋ / ət ðə ˈrɔɪəl
ˈθɪətə / təˈmɒrəʊ//ɒn ˈsʌndeɪ / hi:z əˈtʰendɪŋ ə ˈdɪnə / ˈɔ:gənaɪzd baɪ ðə
ˈbæŋk 'klɑ:ks//

Questions on Phonetic and Phonological Aspects

1. Find an example of aspiration in sentence 1 above.

The /p/ in ‘perfect ‘ has aspiration.

2.Find a triphthong in sentence 2 above.

The vowel in ‘shower’ is a triphthong.

3. Indicate the weak forms in sentence 4 above.

The - him - from - it

4. Find all the long vowels in sentence 6.

Barbara / dream / clean / room / walls / music

5. Indicate when /r/ is pronounced in sentence 7.

The butcher’s daughter is playing with the new kittens. She really loves
them. They’re all black and white.

The first and last examples are pronounced because in each case the word is
followed by a vowel. They would have been silent otherwise.

6 Find all the schwas in sentence 10.

I can’t believe it. Thomas King is in town. He’s singing at the Royal Theatre
tomorrow. On Sunday, he’s attending a dinner organised by the bank
clerks.

7. Compare the length of the vowels in the following words taken from the
sentences above. Indicate cases of pre-fortis clipping.

BOAT / BLOW ‘boat’ is shorter (pre-fortis clipping)

SOAP / SHOW ‘soap’ is shorter (pre-fortis clipping)

39
Phonetics and Phonology I

LEARN / SURF ‘surf’ is shorter (pre-fortis clipping)

2. Transcription practice (texts)

Text a

//ˈjɔ:k ɪz ə ˈbju:təfəl ˈəʊld ˈsɪtɪ /ɪn ðə nɔ:θˈi:st əv ˈɪŋglənd/ ɒn

ðə ˈrɪvə ʳ ˈu:z// ɪt ɪz ˈnɒt ˈfɑ:/ frəm ˈli:dz// ɪt ɪz ə ˈverɪ
ˈɪntrəstɪŋ ˈpleɪs /tə ˈlɪv//ɪt ˈhæz ˈmenɪ hɪˈstɒrɪkəl ˈbɪldɪŋz/ ən
mjʊˈzi:əmz / bət ɪt ɪz ˈməʊst ˈfeɪməs /fəʳ ɪts kəˈθi:drəl/kʰɔ:ld
ˈjɔ:k ˈmɪnstə//

Text b

//aɪ ˈhæv ə ˈʃaʊəʳən ˈget ˈdrest// aɪ ˈju:ʒʊəlɪ ˈgəʊ tə ðə

ˈlaɪbrərɪ / ɪn ða ˈmɔ:nɪŋ// aɪ ˈhæv ˈlʌntʃ /ɪn ðə
kæfəˈtʰɪərɪə//aɪ ˈgəʊ ˈhəʊm /ət ˈfaɪv əˈklɒk//aɪ ˈgəʊ tə ˈbed
/ət ɪˈlevən ˈθɜ:tɪ / bət aɪm ˈnevə ʳ əˈsli:p/ bɪˈfɔ: ˈmɪdnaɪt//

Text c

//bəˈnɑ:nə ɪz ðə ˈfeɪvərɪt ˈsmel /əv ˈməʊst ˈpʰi:pəl /əˈraʊnd ðə

ˈwɜ:ld // ɪt ˈbi:ts ˈpʰepəmɪnt / ˈlemən / ən vəˈnɪlə baɪ ə ˈʃɔ:t
ˈhed / əˈkʰɔ:dɪŋ tʊ ə ˈsɪksti:n ˈkʰʌntrɪ ˈstʌdɪ // ðə ˈli:st feɪvərɪt
ˈsmel /ɪz ˈnætʃərəl ˈgæs / ˈi:vn ˈmɔ: dɪsˈlaɪkt ðən ˈskʌŋk//

Text d

// ˈwʌn deɪ ˈdʒəʊn wəd ˈlaɪk tə bi: ən ɪnˈtʰɜ:prɪtə / ʃi:z ˈverɪ

ˈgʊd ət ˈlæŋgwɪdʒɪz // ˈðɪs ˈjɪə ʃi:z ˈstʌdɪɪŋ ˈtʰu: ˈlæŋgwɪdʒɪz /
ˈfrentʃ ən ˈdʒɜ:mən // ˈnekst jɪə ʃi:z ˈgəʊɪŋ tə ˈstɑ:t lɜ:nɪŋ ˈrʌʃn
// ˈdʒəʊnz gɒt ə ˈfɒrən ˈpʰenfrend ˈkʰɔ:ld dɒmɪˈni:k // ʃi: ˈlɪvz
ɪn ˈpʰærɪs // ˈdʒəʊnz ˈpʰeərənts ər ɪkˈstri:mlɪ ˈfɒnd əv
dɒmɪˈni:k // ʃi:z sʌtʃ ə ˈfrendlɪ ˈgɜ:l //

Text e

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Phonetics and Phonology I

// aɪ ˈwent tə ˈsekəndərɪ ˈsku:l / ən ðen ˈtreɪnd tə bɪ ə ˈtʰi:tʃə

// aɪ ˈwɜ:kt ət ə ˈpraɪmərɪ ˈsku:l fə ˈnaɪn ˈjɪəz / ˈtʰi:tʃɪŋ smɔ:l
ˈtʃɪldrən haʊ tə ˈri:d ən ˈraɪt // ɪt əˈmju:zɪz mɪ ˈnaʊədeɪz/ wen
aɪ ˈfaɪnd ðət sʌm əv ˈðəʊz jʌŋ ˈpju:pəlz əv ˈmaɪn / həv bɪˈkʰʌm
ɪmˈpʰɔ:tənt ˈpʰi:pəl / ɔ: ˈhaɪlɪ ˈkwɒlɪfaɪd prəˈfeʃənəlz //

Text f

// ðəz ˈnəʊ niːd tə ˈpʰʌf ænd ˈbləʊ səʊ / ˈɔːl ðə ˈseɪm // jʊ ɑ:

ˈmeɪkɪŋ ən eksɪˈbɪʃən əv jɔːˈself / ˈdʒɔːdʒ // juːv biːn ˈpʰʊtɪŋ
ɒn ˈweɪt / juː ˈnəʊ // jʊ ˈɔːt tə duː ˈsʌmθɪŋ əˈbaʊt ɪt // ˈwɒt
əˈbaʊt ə fjuː ˈeksəsaɪzɪz ˈevrɪ ˈmɔːnɪŋ // jʊ maɪt ˈdʒɔɪn ˈmɪstə
ˈrɒbɪnsən ɪn ðə ˈgɑːdn / waɪl (h)iːz 'duːɪŋ (h)ɪz ˈniː ˈbendz //

3. Transcription practice (dictations)

Dictation practice 1

// ɪn ˈɪŋglənd/ ˈkrɪsməs ɪz ðə ˈməʊst ɪmˈphɔːtənt əv ˈɔːl ðə

'hɒlədɪz ɪn ðə ˈjɪə // ˈtʰu: ˈθɪŋz / bɪˈsaɪdz ɪts rɪˈlɪdʒəs
sɪgˈnɪfɪkəns/ help tə ˈset ðɪs fes'thɪvətɪ ə'pʰɑːt frəm ˈɔːl ðɪ
ˈʌðəz/ ðə ˈkhʌstəm əv ˈgɪvɪŋ ˈgɪfts / ən ðə ˈhæbɪt əv ˈspendɪŋ
ðə ˈfestɪv si:zən wɪð ðə ˈfæməlɪ//

Dictation practice 2

//ən tə ˈmeɪk ðə ˈmætə r ˈiːvən ˈwɜːs / məʊst əv ðə ˈstjuːdənts

ɪn maɪ ˈklɑːs / wə mʌʧ ˈjʌŋgə ðən ˈmiː // haʊˈevə / aɪm ˈhæpɪ
tə rɪˈpʰɔːt / ðət aɪ dɪd ˈverɪ ˈwel / səʊ aɪm naʊ ˈmɔː r ət ˈiːz //
maɪ ˈklɑːs ɪz meɪd ˈʌp əv ə ˈverɪ ˈdaɪvɜːs ˈgruːp əv ˈpʰiːpəl /
ˈkʰʌmɪŋ frəm ə vəˈraɪətɪ əv ˈkʰʌntrɪz / ˈkʰʌlʧəz / rɪˈlɪʤənz ən
ˈiːkənɒmɪk ˈbækgraʊndz//

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