IPA

Transcription
Practice
Class materials
and exercises
for B2.2 classes
taught by Jonathan Lewis
and Konrad Szczeniak

Konrad Szczeniak
Universidade do Porto
Uniwersytet lski
2010/2011

trnskrpn prkts

Charts
Front
i

High

Central

Mid

Back

Low

Table 1. English vowels

The labels Front, Central, and Back refer to the part of the tongue. The terms High, Mid, and Low
describe the position the tongue assumes for a given vowel. For example, the vowels in hip, heap and hippy are highfront vowels: /hp/ /hip/ /hpi/.

Bilabial
Plosives

-V

+V

Labiodental
-V

Fricatives

+V

Dental
-V

+V

Alveolar
-V

+V

Affricates

Approximants

Nasals

Liquids
Glides

Palatal
-V

Velar

+V

Glottal

+V

-V

+V

n
l, r

-V

Table 2. English consonants

The labels in the upper row (Bilabial, Labiodental, etc.) refer to the articulator, or part of the mouth involved in
the articulation of a consonant. The terms in the column on the left (Plosives, Fricatives, etc.) describe the
manner of articulation for a given consonant. Consonants on the right side in each column are voiced, and the ones to
the left are voiceless. For example, the consonant /p/ is a voiceless plosive bilabial.

1. 1. Vowel symbols
i

tree

three

feed

fish

dished

finished

cat

mat

rat

car

star

far

clock

lock

stop

horse

fourth

door

book

pull

full

boot

pool

fool

computer

doctor

arrive

bird

third

person

egg

red

very

up

sun

funny

1. Write these words next to the right phonetic symbol above.

dork, steam, start, week, lurk, spat, food, foot, lark, cool, corn, far, seat, stern, van, sport, scream, seem,
harsh, lurk, rude, born, dull, puke, psalm, rock
2. Odd man out. Eliminate the word whose vowel is different from those in the other three. In words
with more syllables, the vowel in question is in bold type.
(F) stick
(G) blood
(H) roll
(I) son
(J) lock

myth
muck
rot
run
bottle

feet
fit
tar
pub
dot
gosh
fun
butcher
shore stop

(A) lard
(B) done
(C) sat
(D) set
(E) sieve

father
gun
Nazi
dead
leave

parent
fall
clap
heat
meat

jar
stub
plaid
bet
Steve

3. Practice. Transcribe the vowels in the following sentences. You may ignore the consonants
(simply write their spelling letters), diphthongs and stresses.
Love thy neighbor as yourself, but choose your neighborhood.

/l_v a neb_r z js_lf bt t_z j neb_h_d/

If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.

/_f ju n_t kr_tsazd j me n_t bi du m_t/

Opportunity is missed by most people because its dressed in overalls and looks like work.

/pt_n_ti z m_st ba mst p_pl bikz ts dr_st n vr_lz n t l_ks lak w_k/
I don't think anyone should write their autobiography until after they're dead.

a dnt _k _nibdi d rat r n bagr_fi nt_l d_d

2A. Vowels // and /u/

1. Patterns
The spelling is not a reliable indicator for which of the two is pronounced (idiosyncrasies, irregularities
and exceptions everywhere), but there are some soft regularities.
spelled u
//

When the letter u is pronounced as a high-back vowel, it is usually the short //: bull,

u-e
/u/

But when a syllable containing the /u/ sound is followed by the letter e in the spelling,

butcher, full, pull, push, sugar, wuss

the sound will be /u/: absolute, cute, crude, dude, exude, immune, include, mute, nuke,
rude, use, etc.

spelled ew
/u/
spelled oo
/u/

brew, chew, jewel, Jewish, lewd, Lewis, newt, shrewd, etc.

spelled oo
//
final
/u/

book, good, foot, hood, hook, look, nook, shook, stood, took, wood, wool

both //&/u/
idiosyncratic

bloom, boom, boost, boot, booth, booze, cool, doom, food, fool, gloom, goof, goose, hoot,
loop, loot, loose, mood, moon, moot, noose, ooze, pool, proof, school, shoot, smooth,
snoop, soon, spook, spoon, stool, swoon, swoop, tool, tooth, troop, zoom

Words usually end in the long /u/: argue, avenue, bamboo, boo, coo, loo, peekaboo,
shoo, taboo, tattoo, too, voodoo, Yahoo, zoo, etc.
broom, groom, roof, room; in AmE also root, soot, whoop
// woman, wolf
/u/ womb, tomb, fruit, group, soup, suit

2. Exercises
Minimal pairs. The words below differ only in one sound (the /u/-//contrast). Complete the table.
wood /wd/- wooed /wud/
____ /fl/- fool

____ /pl/ - ____ /pul/

/ful/

____ /nk/ - ____ /n(j)uk/

____ /lk/- ____ /luk/

Transcribe the following phrases.

true blue
footloose groupie
hooked on books
food and booze
new tattoo
astute conclusion

loose woman
cool looking dude
Fruit of the Loom
cute Susan
useful fool
groovy music

A Few Good Men

spoonful of sugar
shooting some bull
crude tool
wolf on the loose
lewd movie

2B. Vowels // and /i/

1. Patterns

// is usually spelled as the letter i: bit, spin, zit, glib, etc.

/i/ is often pronounced when spelled as:
bee, greet, meet, leek, reek, see, etc.; employee, refugee, divorcee, etc.
bean, beat, heat, league, peace, sea, weave etc.
achieve, believe, field, piece, ceiling, receive, conceive, etc.
athlete, complete, concrete, decent, Irene, obese, Pete, Portuguese, Steve,

ee
ea
ie / ei
e-CONSONANT-e

But there are exceptions:

Looks like /i/ but is really pronounced as //: sieve, mischief, counterfeit, foreign
Looks like // but is really pronounced as /i/: liter, kilo, and -ique words antique,
physique, pique, technique
Plus, there are some tricky examples of Irish names: Sean /n/, Sinead /ned/

2. Exercises
2.1 Match and transcribe homophones
(words with different meanings and
spellings, but pronounced the same). Not all
the words have a match!

piece
see
beat
beech
meat
week
heel
sweet
pick
mitt
pique
peak

sea
weak
beet
beach
bit
meet
suite
hill
heal
peace
peek

2.2 What problem do the words sheet, beach, and piece pose? Which words should they not be
confused with?
2.3 Transcribe the following

King and Queen

freaking dimwit

kith and kin

spitting image

speed limit
feeling of bliss

2.4 Decipher these minimal pairs

/fil/ /fl/
/stil/ /stl/

/bin/ /bn/

/rim/ /rm/

/lik/ /lk/

/dim/ /dm/

2C. Vowels //, // and //

1. Position of the tongue
Front

Central

Back

High
Mid

Low

2. Patterns

// (the schwa) is the most frequent vowel in English. It usually appears in unstressed syllables, but
never in stressed syllables: about, afraid, confuse, etc. It is not associated with any specific letter in the
spelling (in fact, it can be spelled with any vowel letter: ability, seven, dinosaur, suppose), but there are
some useful patterns to remember. For example, if a word ends in -er or -or, this ending is 99% of the
time a schwa: mother, cooler, builder, editor, color (colour), etc. The indefinite article a/an is pronounced
with the schwa: / bed/, /n pl/.

// is usually spelled as the letter a: ban, cat, dab, hag, stack, tab, etc.
// is usually spelled as the letter u: bun, cut, dub, hug, stuck, tub, etc.

//

Some exceptional cases of // words to memorize:

ton, son, won, front;
one, done, none, come, love, glove, brother, mother, some, something, other, nothing,
money, monkey, cover, govern, color, does;
blood, flood;
enough, rough, tough;
touch, country, cousin, young, couple, double, trouble.

2. Exercises
2.1 Homonyms
What homonyms do the words son, won, and none, have?
2.2 Transcribe the following
an ugly cover-up
a ton of /v/ money
a stunning comeback
black color
troubled young lad

bloodbath

happy go // lucky
country cousin

an unloved son
front man
stuck in the // mud

number one
bad blood
funny monkey

son-of-a-gun

3. Past /d/, /t/, or /d/ and plural /z/, /s/, or /z/

1. Transcription. Decipher the following transcription. Underline: all plural suffixes and all
regular verb inflections (-ed forms, and -ing forms)

/ivn z hu dnt knsd mselvz fnz v led zepln gri t ts wn v gretst bndz
v l tam/

/fju grups v ivn km kls tu tiv sem levlz/

/ bgnz v led zepln kn bi trest bk tu bluz nflunst rk bnd jdbdz/

/dmi ped dnd jdbdz n nantin sksti sks /

/hi rplest besst pl sm hu hd dsadd t liv grup/

/tli ft ped swtt frm bes t lid gt kriet dul lid gt lanp w def bek/
/fl dptr v bek frm grup n sksti sks jdbdz w tad frm knstnt
tr n rkd n d bgn t wand dan/
/ped wntd t fm supgrup w hmself n bek n gtz n huz rm sekn drm
ki mun n besst dn entwsl/

/vklsts stiv wnwd n wl stivnz wr ls knsdd f prdekt/

/ grup nev fmd l ped bek n mun rkdd s tge beks bler wt z fitd
n beks nantin sksti et lbm tru/

/ rkd sen ls nkludd besst kibdst dn pl dnz hu tld ped t i wd bi

ntrstd in klbret n fjut prdekts/
2. The past suffix ed. /d/, /t/, or /d/ (=/d/ in some transcriptions)
Write the transcription for the following verbs in the past tense form.
collaborated, agreed, achieved, traced, joined, replaced, switched, created, followed,
3. The plural suffix s. /z/, /s/, or /z/ (=/z/)
Write the transcription for the following nouns in the plural form.
pages, guitars, lineups, times, recordings, sections, projects, moons, albums
Consonants.
4. The 3rd person sing suffix s. /z/, /s/, or /z/ (=/z/)
rd
Write the transcription for the following verbs in the 3 pers form. sheep ip
church
decides, considers, acts, begins, features, collaborates,
thing
5. Sentences
j York jk
Transcribe these sentences.
The jam session lasted a few hours.
John strummed a couple of songs.
The man in red shorts sings well.
He who laughs last laughs best.

measure me
judge
mother m
thing

4. Diphthongs
1. Diphthong symbols. Study the following diphthongs symbols. Think of other examples of words
that are pronounced with these diphthongs.

e bay, hey

boy, boil

a now, how

e bear, dare

a bye, lie

(=o) glow, go

ear, cheer

sure, lure

2. Practice. Supply the missing diphthong symbols in the following transcriptions.

/s___v pr___vt r____n/

/slmdg mljn___r/

/ grin m___l/

/lst n trnzl___n/

/br___kbk m___ntn/

/eksp____r n lv/

/gldi___t /

/mdnat k___b___/

/d___ndrs lieznz/

/n___ kntri fr ___ld men/

/ kr___ gem/

3. Practice. Transcribe the following words (each one contains a diphthong), and put them in the
following lines.
make

finds

no

my

lives

close

James

Brown

closer

/ ma nem z bnd __________ bnd/

/am gn __________ m n f (h)i knt rfjuz/ (The Godfather)
r

/s t l vis t __________/ (Terminator 2)

White

baby

I(x2)

Which two of the following are

not pronounced with a diphthong?

arrange change orange

grange range strange
anger danger manger stranger

/t __________ sgnl nli hel/ (Gladiator)

/bkz __________ mn kn bi frendz w wmn t i __________ trktv/ (When Harry Met Sally)
/e me tek __________ bt el nev tek fridm/ (Braveheart)
/kip j frendz __________ bt jr enmiz __________/ (The Godfather)
/z f bk z __________ kn rmemb __________ lwez wntd t bi gst/ (The Goodfellas)
/hr j nemz mstr __________ mstr __________ mst blnd mst blu mstr rnd n mst
pk/ (Reservoir Dogs)
4. Practice. Now you should be ready to transcribe the following sentences (ignore the stresses).
Scientists might be quite mistaken about many things, but they always try to find out how much they dont
know. | Cambridge Chamber of Commerce | Id only like to know if you can die from piercing your own
ear.
5. Separated by the Great Vowel Shift differences in pairs of words
know - knowledge
wild - wilderness
wise - wisdom
nature - natural
nation - national
Christ - Christmas
south - southern
wide - width
grade - gradual
fable - fabulous
sane - sanity
sincere - sincerity

5. Consonants eth // and theta //

1. Eth // and theta //

Spelled the same; difference in voicing: // is voiced, // is voiceless).

Which one is pronounced - most often to be memorized. But there are some rules-of-thumb:
1.1 Rulesofthumb
position rule-of-thumb
initial
In initial positions, foreign or unfamiliar words are never pronounced with the eth //.
middle

In middle positions, between vowels, usually // (e.g. rather, mother, bother, together,
wither), but of course, there are exceptions (ether). In middle positions, preceded by a
consonant, most often // (anthem, menthol, panther, synthetic, filthy, stealthy, wealthy).

final

In final positions, most often //: (birth, both, breadth, death, wealth, seventh, truth, wealth).
One common exception is smooth. Words like bequeath or betroth are pronounced with // or
// depending on the speaker.

1.2 Regular alternations

bath bathe
breath breathe
sooth soothe
swath swathe
seethe
wreath wreathe

cloth clothe
teeth teethe
writhe

loath - loathe
scathe

1.3 Tricky words

Esther, Thailand, Thames, Thomas, thyme
1.4 Voiced plurals
baths, booths, cloths, oaths, paths, sheathes, truths, wreaths
1.5 th suffixes
noun forming -th: warmth, width,
length,breadth, dearth, depth, growth, mirth

ordinal th:
sixth, tenth

ordinal eth:
twentieth, thirtieth

2. Exercises
1. What is the difference (in use) between the two ordinal suffixes?
2. The longest cluster of consonants in the final position in English is found in the words /skss/ and

/aznds/. In what expressions are these forms used?

3. Fill in the blanks in the following expressions and transcribe them.
Better dead . red
through . and thin

two . up!

4. Transcribe the following phrases.

path to truth
death threat
thousandths place
holier than thou
from north to south
worth their salt
seething with wrath
healthy, wealthy and wise
in the thrall of death
a thirty something
dearth rather than wealth
in the altogether
go through the contract with a fine-tooth comb
on the strength of

6. Nasals
1. The velar nasal // (ring tailed n symbol, A.K.A. engma)
In which of the words below is the consonant following the // mute?
sing - sink
sting - stink
think - thing
single - twinkle
Washington - plankton ringer - drinker
bunker - hunger
prankster - gangster
angle - ankle

banger - bunker
monger - bonkers

Observation #1: After //, the consonant ____ is often deleted, while ____ never is.
Observation #2: In final positions, ______ after // is always deleted.
What happens when a // is followed by suffixes -er, -ing, -ly, -able?
singer
singing
swimmingly
hanger
hangover
hangout

singable

Observation #3: When // is followed by morphemes, the /g/ remains _______.

Can you guess the reason why /g/ is mute in the words on the left, but not in those on the right?
singer, swinger, bringer, hanger,
malinger, linger, hunger, finger,
wringer
warmonger, hatemonger, fishmonger, etc.
For the same reason as above, in the following words, the /g/ is pronounced. Transcribe the remaining
three words.
shingle
jungle
spangle /spgl/
tingle
dangle /dgl/
Observation #4 : In the comparative and superlative form, the /g/ is always pronounced.
stronger
younger
longer /lgr/
strongest
youngest
longest /lgst/
Which ones are not pronounced with the velar nasal?
binger
bringer
tinge
singer

singe

2. The cluster /mb/ How are the following words pronounced?

aplomb
bomb
numb
climb
comb
limb
thumb
womb
amber
bomber
number
climber
bimbo
timber
somber
remember
Bambi
3. The cluster /mn/ How are the following words pronounced?
autumn
column
condemn
damn
hymn
autumnal
columnist
condemnation damnation
hymnal

hinge

ginger

crumb

lamb

chamber

ember

solemn
solemnity

Transcribe the following:

engineering, Hong Kong, jingle, monkey, changeling, ranging, spelunker, clingingly, ding-dong, inkling,
dangling, long-lasting, wrongdoing, donkey, youngster

7. Affricates /t/ and /d/; fricatives // and //

1. The voiceless affricate /t/ and fricative //
Spelled ch (chin, lecher, much), tch (butcher, stretch) or t (mature, nature)
But careful with:
chasm, chorus, chemist, schism, scheme, schism, scholar, technology
/k/
chaise, chagrin, machine, chivalry, chandelier, chef, parachute, chute.
//
schmooze, schmuck, schm in jocular reduplications, as in santa-schmanta, school-schmool, etc.
?
yacht, Crichton
What tricky words are transcribed below?
/lktnstin/

/skt sfrini /

/mpen/

/fr, fr/

/kwa/

In words ending in -pture (eg. capture, sculpture, scripture) and cture (picture, lecture, structure), the t
can be pronounced as either /t/ or //.
Transcribe the following phrases.
childish selfishness
charming and chivalrous
watch the show
cash a check

fish and chips

the shorts match the shirt
Portuguese ship
Chinese washing machine

English teacher
cherries in a dish
national chess championships

2. The voiceled postalveolar affricate /d/

Spelled j (jeans, Jones), dg (dodge, wedge), often g before i or e (gin, ginger, gem, range)
Frequent errors. Careful with:
Carnegie, gill, Gilbert, gismo
/g/
genre, beige, rouge, mirage
//
Minimal pairs. The words below differ only in one sound (the /t/-/d/contrast). Complete the table.
cheer /t/- jeer /d/
chew /tu/ - Jew _________

____ /tel/ - ____ /del/

cheap /tip/ - ____ /dip/
badge _______- batch _______

cinch /snt/- ____ _________

rich _______- ridge _______
Transcribe the following phrases.
eschew junk food
rich imagination
foolish jealousy

____ /teri/- ____ _______

change your shirt
Virginia Beach
huge motion picture

just a conjecture
Winchester College Chapel Choir
social age structure

8. Suffixes
1. Nominal suffixes.
1.1 What words are transcribed next to each suffix?
-age d /bgd/
-al l /wdrl/
-ance ns /ksep tns/

-ant nt /p l knt/

-ee i /n t vjui/

-ence ns /kr ns/

-escence esns /d les ns/

-er r /titr/

-hood hd /fls hd/

-ism zm / ktvzm/

-ment mnt /enkr d mnt/

-ess1 s / la ns/

-ness ns /dk ns/

-sion n /sen n/

-ure r /klo r/

-tion n /gn n/

n /kohi n/

1.2 Transcribe these words by consulting the above list of nominal suffixes.
childhood
departure
divorcee
creature
refusal
livelihood
erasure
capitalism
evacuee
absentee
management
judgment
adjustment
nationhood
marriage
senescence
denture
highness
servant
fluorescence
firmness
marker
princess
worker
actress
1.3 Transcribe a few other nouns with some of the above suffixes.

2. Adjectival suffixes.
2.1 What words are transcribed next to each suffix?
-able bl /lek t bl/
-al l /n ml/
-er r /nitr/

-ese iz /mltiz/

-ette et /koket/

-let lt /pg lt/

-ible bl /dms bl/

-less ls /mand ls/

-ic k /runk/
-ous s /d s/

-some sm /trb l sm/

is /mltis/

-ish /tal d/

-est st /klinst/
-ful fl /jus fl/
-ive v /rpres v/
-worthy w i /trstw i/

2.2 Transcribe these words by consulting the above list of nominal suffixes.

likeable

natural
ruthless
biggish
compatible
Portuguese
starlet
fastest
careless
tasteful
abysmal
countless
ironic
handsome
awesome
awful
droplet

impressive
foolish
brunette
cautious

3. Double category suffixes.

Suffixes like -ful /fl/ can be both adjectival and nominal. What common meaning element do these nouns express?

/fst fl/ /bg fl/ /hnd fl/

/has fl/ /lp fl/

/rm fl/ /spun fl/ /tk fl/

Usage note on -ess. Since at least the 14th century, English has borrowed nouns with this feminine suffix from French (French esse) and also applied that ending to existing words, most frequently agent nouns in -or or -er. Some of the earliest borrowings noble or religious titles - still flourish, as princess, duchess, abbess, and prioress. The use of -ESS words has declined sharply in
the latter half of the 20th century.
Among those words that are rarely used or are either rejected or discouraged in modern American English are ambassadress,
ancestress, authoress, poetess, sculptress, and stewardess. Jewess and Negress are rarely used today and are generally considered
offensive.
Some nouns in -ESS are still current: actress (but some women prefer actor); adventuress; enchantress; governess (only in its
child-care sense); heiress (largely in journalistic writing); hostess (but women who conduct radio and television programs are
hosts); millionairess; mistress (except in the sense of expert); murderess; postmistress (not in official U.S. government use);
seamstress; seductress; sorceress; temptress; and waitress. (Random House Websters College Dictionary)

9. Stress
1. Factors responsible for stress. Can you arrange the factors below in terms of
importance?
loudness

pitch

length

quality

stress relative perceived prominence of a linguistic unit. A stressed syllable is characterized

phonetically by greater intensity than is found in adjacent unstressed syllables.
2. Primary and secondary stress. Placement often depends on the suffix. For now, use your
intuition as to how primary and secondary stress is placed in the following words.
extramural
horticulture
retrospective
microcosm
situation
supermarket
superintendent
stratosphere
extraterrestrial
biohazard
counterproductive
paramedic
humanism
homicidal
What do the affixes do to the bases?
hybrid hybridism
hybridist
graph biograph
biography

hybridize
biographic

hybridizable
biographical

hybridity
biographer

hybridization

3. Compounds and phrases

farm hand
locker room
shit list
bonehead
left hand
big room
long list
butthead
shorthand
darkroom
black list
bruised head
Quite a few exceptions: apple pie, morning paper, school choir, summer night.
How about apple pie recipe, school choir conductor?

4. Weak Forms

jes wel ledblti n krekt pktuen mat

nt bi strit bt ts ha a rl mrfkr
Used by permission of Phil Selby (Dec. 2010)
http://bigeyedeer.wordpress.com/

Weak form - one of two possible

pronunciations for a word, in
the context of connected speech,
the other being strong. The weak
form is that which is the result
of a word being unstressed, as in
the normal pronunciation of of in
cup of tea, and in most other
grammatical words. Several words
in English have more than one
weak form, e.g. and [nd] can be
[nd], [n], [n], etc.
(David Crystal, A Dictionary of
Linguistics and Phonetics)
Exercise 1
In the cartoon caption, mark weak and strong
forms.

Exercise 2 Complete the vowels in the table

word
a

strong
e

weak

word
from

strong
frm

weak
frm

word
that

strong
t

weak
t

am

()m

have

hv

(h)v,

the

____

i,

an

()n

he

and
are

them

h____

nd

()n(d)

him, his

(r)

(r)

is

em

()m

hm hz (h)m -z

there

e(r)

(r)

to

tu

tu, t

as

me

mi

at

____t

must

mst

be

bi

because

bkz

bi

not

nt

(b)kz

of

(h)i
zs
mi

us

ms(t)

was

wz

wz

nt

we

wi

v, v,

were

w(r)

w(r)

wi

been

bin

bn

shall

who

hu

but

bt

bt

she

will

wl

()l

can

k____n

kn

should

____d

would

w____d

(w)d, d

could

kd

k____d

so

do

du

du, d

some

sm

hu,

you

ju

ju, j

sm

your

j____(r)

j(r)

does

d____z

dz

such

s____t

st

for

f(r)

f____(r)

than

()n

Notes
1. The pronoun that is pronounced in its strong form, except when used as a relative pronoun (this is the
kind of thing that I meant) or a conjunction (I thought that you knew).
2. Some is pronounced in its strong form when it is a pronoun meaning unidentified persons (Some
prefer it on the rocks) or a quantifying determiner with the meaning some, but not all (Only some
members voted for him). Weak form is pronounced in the unspecified quantity sense (Would you like
some candy?).
3. The weak forms of he, his, her, have, has, and had often drop the initial /h/, except at the beginning of a
sentence.
4. The weak forms of do, the, and to behave similarly. Before a consonant, they are pronounced with a
schwa, and before a vowel as /du/, /i/, and /tu/ respectively (Do I?, the apple, and to and fro)
Exercise 3

Transcribe the following sentences using weak forms where necessary.

- The more you try to avoid thinking about them, the more you do than if you didnt.
- I dont expect an essay or anything, but I think that she could give me at least a sentence, a
hello or something like that.
- Would you believe that they have been married for seventy years?
Exercise 4

Can you explain why of is written (instead of have) in the following line?
Somebody should of gone with him, said Mack. (John Steinbeck, Cannery Row)

10. Allophonic Processes

1. Phoneme vs. allophone
phoneme minimal contrastive sound unit. Contrastive = replacing a phoneme with another results in a
change of meaning, as in pet and bet.
allophone non-contrastive variant of a phoneme. Replacing it with another allophone does not result in
meaning contrasts.

2. Clear vs. dark l

The sound /l/ is pronounced differently in the initial and final positions. In the phrase look cool, the l in
look is pronounced with the tip of your tongue up behind the top front teeth, while the l in cool has the
tongue raised further back. See what happens when you swap the two. Do the meanings of the words
change?
These allophonic distinctions are not marked in the (broad) phonetic transcription. But there exist special
symbols to distinguish allophones and these are used in the more detailed narrow, allophonic transcription.
broad transcription

narrow transcription

kilt /klt/

kilt [k t ]

In which of the following words will the clear [l] and dark [] be realized? clean, belt, hell, ruled, lilt,

lull, level, label, finale, final

3. Aspiration
Plosives also come in allophonic variants, one of which is pronounced with a puff of air. Aspirated
allophones are marked with a superscript []. Can you figure out the rule?

kit

[k]t

get

[g]et

skit

tick

[t]k

deck

[d]ek

stick s[t]k

pit

[p]t

bit

[b]t

spit

s[k]t
s[p]t

Aspiration occurs even if the stops are followed by some consonants. Consult the table of English
consonants at the beginning to find out what these consonants have in common.
In Table 2, why are the last examples in each column not aspirated?
chot, chut
atthack
phort
h
h
p lay
c ream
thrick
h
h
h
p rint
q ueen, eq uip
thick
h
h
P uerto Rico
c lean
thwin
Table 1. Aspirated stops

sport
splay
sprint
deeper
Table 2. Non-aspirated stops

Scott
scream
squint
sector,Tucker

stack
strap
motor

3.2 Shifting aspiration

Some word-formation processes result in stress shift, which in turn affects aspiration. For example, the
word atom is pronounced without aspirating the /t/, but the adjectival form athomic takes stress on the
second syllable following the /t/, which selects the aspirated version of the /t/. Transcribe the following
pairs, marking aspiration where appropriate.
retake (n) / retake (v)

congress / congressional

present (n, adj) / present (v)

economy / economic

suppose / supposition

contest (n) / contest (v)

apply / application

progress / progression

politics / political

convict (n) / convict (v)

acclaim / acclamation

accuse / accusation

photograph / photography

parent / parental

4. Shortening of vowels
Vowels can be shortened if they are followed by voiceless consonants. Compare the following pairs.
feed / feet

dug / duck

cob / cop

bed / bet

rig / Rick

robe / rope

Will the vowels in the following words get shortened?

help
hulk

belt

harsh

harp

warp

The shortening of vowels is marked in narrow transcription with two symbols. The single dot [] is used
for long vowels, e.g. , which becomes [ ]. Short vowels get shortened with [ ] , so for example,
becomes [ ] :
cart [kt]

leak [lik]

rack [r k]

card [k d]

league [li g]

rag [rg]

5. Exercise
Transcribe the following words. Use the diacritic symbols for aspiration, shorter vowels and the two
variants of the phoneme /l/.
Lisbon

lisp

crab

crap

feed

feet

pull

bull

roll

rope

robe

code

god

got

cot

clot

because

beacon

wilt

willed

11. Tricky words

1. Lettervowel correspondence.

The following words come from Gerard Nolst Trenits poem The Chaos.

Look them up in your pronunciation dictionary and copy their transcriptions.

corpse, corps, horse and worse
beau, queue
sword and sward
retain and Britain
recipe, pipe
soil, choir
plague, vague, ague
shoe, poem, toe
Woven, oven
signal, signing
script, receipt
examining, but mining
missiles, similes, reviles
endeavoured, revered and severed
wholly, holly
blood, flood, food
lumber, plumber
discount, viscount
laid but plaid, made, bade
load and broad
bier, but brier
toward, forward, reward
moss, gross
renown, but known
brook, brooch
knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone
ninth, plinth
kitchen, lichen
kind, kindle, kindred, mankind
banquet, parquet
reading, Reading, heathen, heather
grieve, believe, sieve
demon, lemon
make my coat look new, dear, sew it
ghoul, foul, soul
mould is NOT like should and would
petrol and patrol
billet does not end like ballet
Satan, satanist, satanic
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet

2. Suffix able
How are these two words stressed? desirable - admirable
What happens to verbs ending in -ate when they take the suffix able? alienable, alternable, articulable,
discriminable, duplicable, violable,

3. Homographs
Same spelling; different pronunciation and different meaning. What are the two meanings in each case?

bass
number

bow
row

close
sow

dove
tear

invalid
wound

lead
wind

4. Tricky Greek words

catastrophe, epitome, Penelope, hyperbole, apostrophe,

5. Odd man out

Which of the following do you think is NOT an existing collocation?
a. heathen temple
b. to convert the heathen
c. heathen rice
a. lichen-crusted rocks b. lichen habitat
c. lichen removal
a. stimulated plinth
b. to erect a plinth
c. to adorn a plinth
a. Swiss chalet
b. chalet homes
c. mountain chalet
a. flower-decorated bier
b. wooden bier
c. to drink bier

d. heathen slaves
d. lichen shirt
d. Trafalgar Square plinth
d. chalet bullet
d. popes bier

12. Technical terminology

1. Science suffixes and semisuffixes. Decipher the examples.
ary
ism
pertaining to, connected with
________ /dwfzm/
dietary AmE/dateri/ BrE/datri/
gen
lysis
something that produces or
destruction, separation
induces ________/hadrdn/
________/dalss/
logy

cide

cell ________luksat lukst

inflammation ________
/dndvats/
agent that kills ________

(ec)tomy
iac

cyte
itis

gram
graph
graphy

osis

________/baldi/
state or condition ________
/hpnss/

pathy

feeling disease ________ /pi/

removal, cutting ________

philia

attraction for ________ /pidfli/

________/kdik/
something written or drawn
________/kdigrm/

phobia
in, ine

fear of ________ /k rf bi /
(in some substance names)
________ /meltnn/

________ /digrfi/

rrhoea

flow ________ /lgri/

2. Stress
/ba + ldi/ > /baldi/

In which of the following suffixes does a similar effect occur? Transcribe the following patterns.
lobe + tomy
geo + graphy
national + ism
discipline + ary
amnesia + ac
insect + cide
3. More examples. Decipher the following expressions.
/wez t kntrkt gnri/
/tu dke n hltss/

/ksdn msk/

/hjumn ntmi lesn/

/smpi kd/

/strldi n l k mi/

4. Transcription practice
antipathy
psychopathy
lymphocyte
thrombocyte
hereditary
biography
analysis
paralysis
laryngitis
meningitis
estrogen
diarrhea
fungicide
neurectomy
insomniac
amnesiac

telepathy
binary
topography
necrophilia
antigen
penicillin
cirrhosis

5. Transcription practice
Early diagnosis of acute bronchitis may help reduce the risk of long-term problems.
Lobotomy was at first used as a primary procedure for a range of psychiatric conditions.
Oxytocin is important for cervical dilation and contractions of the uterus during labor.
Oxytocin is also used in veterinary medicine to induce birth and stimulate milk release.
An individual analysis of the speech of aphasiacs suggests that obscene vocabulary is stored differently
and separately from other vocabulary in the brain.
Astronomy is not to be confused with astrology.

13. Final exercises

1. Match the words with their correct pronunciation
crow
law
Shaw
l
o
craw
low
show
lo

here
hair

h
he

done
den

dn

colour
collar

kl

click
clique

klik

den
kl
klk

bear
beer

when
one

wn

wonder
wander

wnd

bean
been

bin

be

wen
wnd
bn

kro
kr

dare
dear

ton
ten

tn

luck
lock
chick
cheak

de

ten
lk
lk
tik
tk

2. Homophones. In each group, cross out the word that does not fit the others. Then
transcribe the two pronunciations for each group.

yew you ewe youth

broke break brake

noon knew new

idle idol dill

cue queue coo

prey pry pray

peas piece peace

wait weight white

none noun nun

cent send sent scent

selling sealing ceiling

die dye day

whore hoar hour

flower flour floor

fir fur fair

heal hill heel

mail mall male

sight site cite side

ride write right

knead need neat