Exercises on Phonemic Transcription

a. Provide a phonemic transcription to the following paragraph.

When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable

childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable

childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood.

(from Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt)

b. Provide an orthographic transcription to the following paragraph.

/ wen ðiː aɪən k ːtn krækt ɪt rɪˈviːld ən iːstən blɒk wɪð ə brəʊkən ɪnˈvaɪrənmənt ənd

ɡʌvəmənts ðət dɪdnt pʊt ðiː ɪnˈvaɪrənmənt ət ðə tɒp əv ðiː əˈʤendə westən jʊərəp həd biːn

dɪˈskʌsɪŋ kɒnsepts sʌʧ əz səˈsteɪnəbl dɪˈveləpmənt fə nɪəlɪ twentɪ jɪəz ət ðæt pɔɪnt bʌt ɪn

ðiː iːst ðiː ɛː ənd wɔːtə wə peɪɪŋ ðə bɪl əˈkjuːmjəleɪtɪd baɪ ɪndəstrɪ ənd ɡʌvəmənts wɪˈðaʊt

pl nz fə kɒnsəˈveɪ n /
 Answer Keys

a.

/ wen aɪ lʊk bæk ɒn maɪ ʧaɪldhʊd aɪ wʌndə haʊ aɪ sə ˈvaɪvd ət ɔːl ɪt wɒz əf kɔːs ə

mɪzərəbl ʧaɪldhʊd ðə h pɪ ʧaɪldhʊd ɪz hɑːdlɪ w ːθ jɔː waɪl w ːs ðən ðiː ɔːdɪnərɪ mɪzərəbl

ʧaɪldhʊd ɪz ðə mɪzərəbl aɪrɪ ʧaɪldhʊd ənd w ːs jet ɪz ðə mɪzərəbl aɪrɪ k θəlɪk ʧaɪldhʊd /

b.
When the Iron Curtain cracked, it revealed an Eastern bloc with a broken environment, and
governments that didn’t put the environment at the top of the agenda.

Western Europe had been discussing concepts such as sustainable development for nearly 20 years
at that point. But, in the East, the air and water were paying the bill accumulated by industry and
governments without plans for conservation.
(from Battlefield Earth. Prague Post; May 23, 2007)