TRANSCRIPTION CONTROL 1

Considerations for transcription

/ open and closes transcription

| comas
long pauses (. : ; ? !)
_ always between a consonant and vowel
Content words are AL7WAYS stressed (nouns, verbs, adjectives,

adverbs)
Function words: prepositions, modal verbs, auxiliaries, articles,

pronouns (they are weak and unstressed).

\ accent: last content words in a sentence
accent: in all the stressed syllables of a word
When a word ends with /u/ /i/, the transcription goes /u/ /i/

respectively.
When next to a // (schwa), you cant put an /r/, just a linking r
// NEVER in initial position.

Examples:
The dog is eating a bone. / dg_z _it _ bn /
I want to be with Mary. / a wnt t mri meri /
Concepts:
1. Dark L: The so-called "dark L" occurs at the end of words (call, trial)
and before consonants (milk, hold). The so-called "clear L" or "light L"
occurs before a vowel (lap, lord) or before the glide /j/ (billiard,
scallion). Because in all English words which begin with L the next
sound is a vowel or glide, English words never start with a dark L.
Example: Beautiful things. /bjutf z /; The cool air. / kul e /
2. Sandhi r: is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes
that occur at morpheme or word boundaries (thus belonging to what
is called morphophonology).
a) Linking r: The pronunciation of word-final orthographic r, when
followed by a vowel in the next word (RP English).
Ex. A number of

b) Intrusive r: is a non-ortographic pronunciation of /r/. Some

speakers may pronounce /r/ after a vowel when the next word
begins with a vowel, even though there is no r in the spelling.
- Not possible after high vowels*.
- Also considered as Epenthesis
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Ex. Into another

*The high vowels of Present-Day English are the vowels that are
articulated with the jaw relatively high--that is, with the mouth
nearly closed.
1. /i/ (the phoneme spelled ee in beet): high front vowel.
2. /I/ (the phoneme spelled i in bit): high front vowel. This vowel is
articulated slightly lower and slightly further back than is the
preceding vowel /i/.
3. /u/ (the phoneme spelled oo in food): high back vowel.
4. /U/ (the phoneme spelled u in put): high back vowel. This vowel
is articulated slighter lower and slightly further forward than is the
preceding vowel /u/.
3. Assimilation: One segment takes some phonetic characteristics
from a neighbouring sound (two sounds become similar to each
other). Two kinds:
A B Regressive or Anticipatory Assimilation
A B Progressive or Perserverative Assimilation
a) Alveolars regressive place assimilation:
- Alveolar to bilabial: When an alveolar plosive nasal /t, d , n/ is
followed by a bilabial /p, b, m/, the sound changes to another bilabial:
/t/ = /p/ Ex: That man. /t mn / is /p mn /
/d/ = /b/ Ex: Bad boy. / bd bo / is /bb bo /
/n/ = /m/ Ex: Pen pals. /pen plz/ is /pem plz/
-

Alveolar to velar: when a Word ends in an alveolar plosive or nasal (t,

d, n), and the following is a velar plosive or nasal (k, g, ) the sound
changes to a velar as well.

/t/ = /k/

Ex: That car. /t k/ is / k k /

/d/ = /g/

Ex: Good girl. /gud g:l / is /gug g:l /

/n/ = //

Ex: Mean girls. /min gz / is /mi gz/

Alveolar fricative to palate-alveolar fricative: when a Word ends in an

Alveolar fricative /s, z/, and the following is a palate-alveolar
fricative /, /the sound changes to a palate-alveolar as well.

/s/ = //

Ex: Dress shop. /dres p / is /dre p/

/z/ = //

Ex: Is she? /z i / is / i /

4. Voice assimilation:
a) Devoicing is a sound change where a voiceless consonant
becomes voiced due to the influence of its phonological
environment: only affects /v/ and /z/.
/v/ + voiceless = /f/
/z/ + voiceless = /s/
Ex. Of course. /v ks / would be like /f ks / (although when
transcribing it, you just have to put an empty circle under the /v/
and an = under the /k/).
Like this:
b) Plurals: the s will be changed by the sound of the last
consonant.
Voiceless consonant + s = voiceless /s/
Voiced consonant + s = voiced /z/
Ex: Trucks (voiceless) /trks/; means (voiced) /minz/
5. Yod Coalescence: Often described as a sort of bi-directional
assimilation, since two sounds merge into one sound, that shares the
characteristics of the original ones. Only common in RP English when
the segments belong to different words and the semivowel is in a
grammatical words.
/t/ + /j/ =
/d/+ /j/ =

/t/
/d/

The semivowel must be in a FUNCTION WORD (initial position). The /t/ and
/d/ must be in different position.
Ex: What you. /wt j:/ is /wt/; Dont you. /dnt j/ is /dnt/
6. Weakening: strong vowels become weak ones in function words.
Vowels move towards the centre of the vowel space (towards schwa).

- Content words vs Function words: Function words are usually

unstressed, making them vulnerable to weakening. Thus, they have two
forms of pronunciation: Strong and Weak form.
- A weak form usually contains a weak vowel mainly //, sometimes
the neutralized versions i and u and, in some cases, no vowel, e.g.
(1) Come and kiss me. /km n ks mi /
(2) Bread and butter. /bred n bt /

7. Elision: Omition of one segment to ease the articulation of

sequences of sounds. More specifically, elision may refer to the
omission of an unstressed vowel, consonant, or syllable. Ex: police,
correct or suppose being realised as [plis], [krkt] or [spz]
a) Schwa Elision: Its disappearance in syllabification may be seen as
elision, but this is not complete. For the deletion/elision of //:
- Must be followed by /n, r, l/ and by an unstressed syllable
- Preceded by a consonant different from an approximant
- Must not be in final position
- It results in the loss of a syllable
b) /h/ Elision
- Elided after consonants
- Only if it is at word intial position
- Only if it is a function word
8. Syllabification: Syllabication is the art of forming or dividing words
into syllables. Syllables are single speech parts that are made up of a
vowel sound with or without a closely combined consonant sound.
- Some consonants, such as /l, m, n, r/ may become syllabic by a
process known as syllabic consonant formation (SCF).
- // + /l, m, n, r/ merge, the vowel disappears but gives its syllabic
characteristic to the consonant (in transcription, you have to put a
little under the consonant that goes after the elited schwa).
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Ex: metal /met/ is /met/ (con ese palito bajo la ).

9. Gradation: Additon of an extra semivowel /j, w/ between two similar
high vowels /i, , u, /.

SYLLABIFICATION RULES
1. Every syllable has one vowel sound.
2. The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number of
syllables.
home /hom/ = 1
subject /sb-kt/ = 2
publishing /p-bl-/ = 3
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3. A one syllable word is never divided.

stop /st:p/
feet /fi:t/
bell /bl/
4. Consonant blends and digraphs are never separated. *In speech the
words below, the /t/, //, /t/ are properly pronounced in the second
syllable.
resting /rs-t/ *
bushel /b-l/ *
reaching /ri:-t/ *
5. When a word has a "ck" or an "x" in it, the word is usually divided
after the "ck" or "x".
nickel /n-kl/ *
taxis /tk-siz/ **
* In speech the word nickel has the in the second syllable.
** The letter "x" in the word taxi has two sounds: /ks/. In speech the word
taxi has the sound /ks/ with /k/ in the first syllable and /s/ in the second
syllable.
6. A compound word is divided between the two words that make the
compound word.
inside /n-sad/ or /n-sad/
football /ft-b:l/
toothbrush /tu:-br/
7. When two or more consonants come between two vowels in a word, it
is usually divided between the first two consonants.
sister /ss-t/
butter /b-t/
hungry /h-gri/
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8. When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is

usually divided after the consonant if the vowel is short. *In speech,
the below words have the consonant sounds /g/, /n/, and /b/ in the
second syllable.
dragon /dr-gn/ *
canister /k-ns-t/ *
habit /h-bt/ *
9. When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is
usually divided before the consonant if the vowel is long.
basin /be-s .n/
fever /fi:-v/
major /me-/
10.When two vowels come together in a word, and are sounded
separately, divided the word between the two vowels.
diaspora /da-s-p-r/
diet /daj-t/
pronunciation /pr-nn-si-e-n/
11.When a vowel is sound alone in a word, it forms a syllable itself. *In
speech the words graduate and education, has the consonant "d"
sound (//) in the second syllable with the vowel "u".
graduate /gr--wet/ *
education /--ke-n/ *
hiatus /ha-e-ts/
12.A word that has a prefix is divided between the root word and the
prefix.
discount /ds-kant/
misfit /ms-ft/
untie /n-ta/
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13.When be, de, ex and re are at the beginning of a word, they make a
syllable of their ownn.
become /b-km/
defend /d-fnd/
exhale /eks-hel/
remain /r-men/
14.A world that has a suffix is divided between the root word and the
suffix. *In speech the word stuffing has the consonant sounds /f/ in
the second syllable.
kindness /kand-ns/
thankful /k-fl/
stuffing /st-f/ *
15.When a word ends in le, preceded by a consonant, the word is divided
before that consonant.
purple /p-pl/
fumble /fm-bl/
middle /m-d .l/
16.When -ed comes at the end of a word, it forms a syllable only when
preceded by "d" or "t". *In speech the below words have the
consonant sounds /d/ and /t/ in the second syllable with -ed.
funded /fn-dd/ *
started /st-td/ *
17.When a word or syllable ends in al or el, these letters usually form the
last syllable. *In speech the below words have the consonant
sounds // and /v/ in the second syllable.
usual /ju:--wl/ or /ju:l/ or /ju:-wl/ *
level /l-vl/ *

18.When ture and tion are at the end of a word, they make their own
syllable.
posture /p:s-t/
lotion /lo-n/
19.When a word ends in ly, divide the word before the ending.
especially /s-p--li/
roughly /r-fli/ *
*In speech the word roughly has the consonant sounds /f/ in the second
syllable.
20. When a word ends in the noun suffix ant preceded by a consonant
or digraph, divide the word before that consonant or digraph.
assistant /-ss-tnt/ *
attendant /-tn-dnt/ *
immigrant /-m-grnt/ *
* In speech the words above have silent the first consonant sounds /s/, /t/,
and /m/ in the first syllable.

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