Prof.

Francisco Zabala - 2016 1

How to go about a phonemic transcription

The objective of this course is to help you improve your pronunciation. We use phonemic transcription to address several
needs: to begin with, it helps you reflect on the pronunciation of English; it also provides you with a set of systemic choices
that will help you make sense of the chaotic nature of the English spelling system. Below, you will find a guide to help you cope
with this.

Steps to follow:

1. Chunk the text. Remember that each chunk constitutes a unit of information processing: your listener will
interpret what you mean chunk by chunk. We normally chunk main clauses, subordinate clauses and long phrases.

2. Spot the content words in the chunk. Stressing and meaning are closely connected in English. Listeners fish for
stresses so as to understand the message of what is being said.

3. Stress the prominent syllables in all the content words and in the polysyllabic grammar words in
the chunk. This will help you focus on what syllables are protected by stress and what syllables are likely to be
obscure. Stressed syllables take strong vowels, while weak syllables almost always take weak vowels (especially
.?+ h+ H. and sometimes .T+ t. remember that at times .?. can even be dropped!).

4. Strong forms: decide whether the grammar words in the text are strong or weak. They are likely to be
weak unless there are istances of:

a. Prominence: contrast /citation / emphasis

b. Position:
i. DO or HAVE used as main verbs.
ii. HAVE used as obligation (have to), or causative uses.
iii. Auxiliaries in short yes/no questions and short answers.
iv. Auxiliaries in full yes/no questions.
v. Negative contractions.
vi. Stranding of auxiliaries, the verb to be or prepositions.
vii. Buttressing of prepositions.

5. Choose the right vowel! Although the English consonant system presents some difficulty,it is the vowel system
that puzzles Spanish speakers. In order to decide what vowel to choose in each syllable, you should start by analyzing
these variables:

a. Monosyllabic content words:

i. Basic Vowel Pattern: (CC)V(CC)
ii. Silent <-e>
iii. Radical <-r>
iv. Exceptional words of frequent occurrence.

b. Polysyllabic words:
i. Magic <-y>
ii. Double consonants
iii. Suffixes and prefixes

6. Apply all the other rules you learn as the course develops (e.g. linking <r>, plural and past tenses, etc.)
 Prof. Francisco Zabala - 2016 2

Sample transcription

We clearly remember that there were some men at the table. They seemed to be very sad. One
of them was talking on his phone.

Chunk the text On average, there tend to be 7 syllables per chunk. Therefore, we
need to split this sentence. We chunk off the subordinate clause.

We clearly remember | that there were some men at the table.| They seemed to be very
sad. | One of them | was talking on his phone.|
We chunk here again to balance the number of
syllables. Here, we chunk off the subject from the
Spot the content words predicate.

We clearly remember | that there were some men at the table.| They seemed to be very
sad. | One of them | was talking on his phone.|
The verb to be is almost always weak, regardless of
whether it functions as a main verb or as an auxiliary
verb.

Stress the prominent syllables of each content word and polysyllabic

grammar words
We clearly remember | that there were some men at the table.| They seemed to
be very sad. | One of them | was talking on his phone.|

Sort out strong and weak forms

At the beginning of the course, we wont be using strong forms, as they are exceptional uses. There are no
strong forms in this text.

Choose the right vowel

Basic Vowel Pattern: when one vowel letter in the spelling
is blocked by consonants in a monosyllabic word, it takes a
We clearly remember | short vowel sound. This helps you choose between .d. and
.29.. Also, .?. is ruled out because this syllable is stressed.
. vh !jkH?kh q?!ldla? {
Silent <-e> makes the
previous vowel letter say
Most unstressed
that there were some men at the table.| its name.
syllables take a weak
vowel. Schwa is the most
C?s C? v? r?l !ldm ?s C? !sdHak {{
frequent one. When there are two vowel letters together,
the first one generally says its name. This
They seemed to be very sad. | word takes .h9., a long vowel, because this
doesnt follow the Basic Vowel Pattern.
CdH !rh9lc s? ah !udqh !rzc {{
All the stressed syllables
take a strong vowel. We This word of frequent occurrence doesnt follow the silent <-e>
can predict most of them
thanks to the spelling One of them | rule. However, as the spelling is <o>, this .`.-like sound must be
rules we study. .U.. Letter <o> cant take .z..
!vUm ?u C?l {
Many words, such as <walk> and <stalk> are
was talking on his phone.| examples of how the sequence <al> merged
into one sound, .N9. in this case. <l> is silent
v?y !sN9jHM Pm gHy !e?Tm . here.