Transcription exercises (phonology)

Dr. Sandra Mollin
Sommersemester 2008
Übung zur Vorlesung ‚Phonetics and Phonology’

Transcription

The class includes four hours of transcription practice. There are four different
groups, for one of which you have signed up:

A

8:15-9:00 on April 24, May 8, May 29, June 5

B

9:00-9:45 on April 24, May 8, May 29, June 5

C

8:15-9:00 on June 12, June 19, June 26, July 3

D

9:00-9:45 on June 12, June 19, June 26, July 3

The following pages contain the exercises we will do together in class, plus
extensive homework, since practice is essential to mastering transcription.
We will proceed in four steps:
Week 1:

From symbols to words

Week 2:

Troublesome words

Week 3:

Stress and sentences

Week 4:

Speech and text transcription practice


Week 1: From symbols to words
Learning to transcribe: Why?
Same spelling, different sound:

Same sound, different spelling:

clean

/h9/

all

/N:/

dead

/d/

law

/N:/

dear

/H?/

sought

/N:/

earth

/29/

awe

/N:/

great

/dH/

autumn

/N:/

heart

/@9/

bore

/N:/

wear

/d?/

broad

/N:/

IPA symbols for the phonemes of English
CONSONANTS
/p/

pig

/b/

big

/t/

tart

/d/

dart

/k/

curl

/g/

girl

/f/

file

/v/

vile

/s/

seal

/z/

zeal

/R/

pressure

/Y/

pleasure

/S/

thy

/C/

thy

/sR/

chin

/cY/

gin

/m/

mouth

/n/

nose

/M/

wing

/w/

wail

/h/

hail

/j/

Yale

/¢/

rate

/l/

late
2


VOWELS
/i9/

feel

/`H/

file

/H/

fill

/dH/

fail (GA also possible: /e/)

/e/

fell (RP)

/NH/

foil

/D/

fell (GA)

/`T/

foul

/z/

cat

/?T/

foal (RP)

/U/

cut

/nT/ foal (GA, also possible: /n/)

/@9/

cart

/H?/

sheer (RP)

/P/

cot (RP)

/d?/

share (RP)

/N9/

court

/T?/

sure (RP)

/t9/

fool

/T/

full

/29/

third

/?/

the

Task 1: Transcribe your name in English pronunciation!

Task 2: Solve the following questions:
1.

What is the last sound in ash?

2.

What is the first sound in write?

3.

What is the first sound in hour?

4.

What is the second consonant in calm?

5.

What is the last sound in climb?

6.

What is the first sound in knight?
3


Task 3: Transcribe the following easy words:
1.

cat

2.

spin

3.

game

4.

method

5.

woman

6.

panic

7.

country

8.

peanut

9.

three

10.

goose

EXTRA NOTES FROM WEEK 1:

4


HOMEWORK FOR WEEK 2
Task 4: Solve the following questions:
1.

What is the first sound in pint?

2.

What is the last sound in picnic?

3.

What is the first sound in year?

4.

What is the second consonant in lobby?

5.

What is the last sound in calf?

6.

What is the first sound in mother?

7.

What is the consonant in easy?

8.

What is the first (double) sound in jungle?

9.

What is the last sound in bottle?

10.

What is the second consonant in fussy?

11.

What is the first sound in doom?

12.

What is the last sound in sing?

13.

What is the first sound in this?

14.

What is the first consonant in awake?

15.

What is the second consonant in adventure?

16.

What is the last sound in right?

17.

What is the first sound in genre?

18.

What is the first consonant in author?

19.

What is the first sound in giggle?

20.

What is the first sound in house?

21.

What is the middle sound in any?

22.

What is the second consonant in through?

23.

What is the vowel in far?

24.

What is the vowel in knit?

25.

What is the first sound in alive?
5


26.

What is the vowel in bird?

27.

What is the vowel in kettle?

28.

What is the first sound in up?

29.

What is the vowel in house?

30.

What is the last sound in zoo?

31.

What is the vowel in court?

32.

What is the last sound in hay?

33.

What is the vowel in choice?

34.

What is the vowel in good?

35.

What is the vowel in price?

36.

What is the vowel in bee?

37.

What is the vowel in bank?

38.

What is the third consonant in president?

Task 5: Transcribe the following easy words.
1.

breathe

2.

exam

3.

enough

4.

voodoo

5.

quick

6.

eleven

7.

repeat

8.

spew

9.

young

10.

bush

11.

annoy

12.

vase
6


13.

doubt

14.

text

15.

size

16.

dull

17.

cherry

18.

sheep

19.

valley

20.

phonetics

Reminder: The following symbols should not occur in your English
transcriptions:

c
q
x
y
7


Week 2: Troublesome words
Some helpful rules for transcription:
1.

2.

The pronunciation of the past tense / past participle morpheme:
/Hc/

after /d,t/

(ended)

/s/

after voiceless sounds

(laughed)

/c/

after voiced sounds

(sobbed)

The pronunciation of the plural / genitive / 3rd person sg.
morpheme:

3.

/Hy/

after /r,y,R,Y,sR,cY/

(kisses, rises, Jaz’s)

/s/

after voiceless sounds

(months, takes, Pete’s)

/y/

after voiced sounds

(bars, lives, Ed’s)

Pronouncing <r> in RP:
/¢/ is pronounced only in onset position! Coda <r> is only
pronounced if a vowel follows (linking /¢/).

Task 6: Transcribe the following consonant trouble words.
1.

months

2.

rounded

3.

clothes

4.

touched

5.

kisses

6.

buzzed
8


7.

anger

8.

weird

9.

car engine

10.

hills

Task 7: Transcribe the following vowel trouble words.
1.

common

2.

onion

3.

any

4.

voyage

5.

merry

6.

marry

7.

ladies

8.

done

9.

journey

10.

pillow

EXTRA NOTES FROM WEEK 2:

9


HOMEWORK FOR WEEK 3
Task 8: Transcribe the following consonant trouble words.
1.

though

2.

husband

3.

question

4.

think

5.

vine

6.

glove

7.

university

8.

magic

9.

ringing

10.

water

11.

butter

12.

his

13.

sap

14.

zap

15.

earth

16.

vet

17.

smooth

18.

crisis

19.

fiction

20.

gas

21.

singer

22.

winter

23.

loud

24.

German

25.

sword
10


26.

loathe

27.

pause

28.

battle

29.

mug

30.

father

31.

bird

32.

longer

33.

sympathy

34.

button

35.

London

Task 9: Transcribe the following vowel trouble words.
1.

beat

2.

bid

3.

near

4.

care

5.

Eden

6.

juice

7.

soldier

8.

head

9.

poor

10.

world

11.

quarter

12.

pat

13.

Sunday

14.

butcher

15.

fond
11


16.

health

17.

after

18.

lamp

19.

bought

20.

sausage

Task 10: Transcribe the following ‘advanced’ words.
1.

unfortunately

2.

mortgage

3.

vowel

4.

millionaire

5.

eccentric

6.

psychology

7.

theoretical

8.

congratulations

9.

raspberry

10.

morphophonemics

11.

cucumber

12.

politician

13.

ballet

14.

disproportionate

15.

carbohydrate

16.

asparagus

17.

euphemism

18.

photographer

19.

Catholicism

20.

pronunciation
12


21.

democracy

22.

monolithically

23.

immaterial

24.

nationalization

25.

variety

EXTRA NOTES FROM WEEK 3:

13


Week 3: Stress and sentences
Stress marks:
Stress marks appear before the syllable that they mark as stressed. The stress
mark at the top of the line marks primary stress, at the bottom of the line
secondary stress.
Examples:

today

/s?!cdH/

explanation /$djrok?!mdHRm/ (RP)
/$Djrok?!mdHRm/ (GA)

Task 11: Indicate the stress pattern of the following words.
1.

famous

2.

aristocracy

3.

characteristic

4.

characterization

5.

energy

6.

engineer

7.

particularly

8.

personally

9.

philosophy

10.

prefer

11.

pronunciation

12.

Protestantism

13.

scientific

14.

strategic

15.

object

!1 - 2

14


Weak and strong forms (sentence stress):
Stress does not only apply on the word level (stressed and unstressed syllables
within a word), but also on the sentence level. Within connected speech,
lexical words are usually stressed as they would be when said on their own.
Function words, on the other hands, are unstressed and therefore appear in a
reduced, a weak form.
Example sentence:
Jim

has

ordered

a

pint

of

beer.

!cYHl g?y !N9(¢)c?(¢)c ? !o`Hms

?u

!aH?/aH¢

Task 12: Transcribe the following sentences. Be sure to give function
words their weak forms, unless they are emphasised!
1.

I was lost.

2.

We were walking.

3.

I know that.

4.

I know that it’s great.

Frequent function words and their weak forms:
a, an

/?/ or /?m/

the

/C?/ or /CH/

and

/?m/, /?mc/, /n/

as

/?y/

than

/C?m/

that

/C?s/

of

/?u/

to

/s?/ or /sT/

has

/g?y/

have

/g?u/

was

/v?y/

were

/v?(¢)/

(rel. pronoun)

15


HOMEWORK FOR WEEK 4
Task 13: Transcribe the following sentences. Be sure to give function
words their weak forms, unless they are emphasised!
1.

This is an apple.

2.

This is the city.

3.

I like Bill and Ann.

4.

He’s as good as you.

5.

It’s larger than life.

6.

I like them.

7.

We’re at home.

8.

This is for Jim.

9.

She’s from Germany.

10.

It’s one of a kind.

11.

I want to go.

12.

I want to answer.

13.

You can do it.

Task 14: Transcribe the following text. If you want to do this under
exam conditions, you should take no longer than twenty-five minutes. In
order to pass, you should have no more than twenty errors.
Somewhere behind the grey clouds the sun must have gone down, for it
began to get dark as they went down into a deep valley with a river at the
bottom. Wind got up, and willows along its banks bent and sighed.
Fortunately the road went over an ancient stone bridge, because the river,
swollen with the rains, came rushing down from the hills and mountains in
the north. It was nearly night when they had crossed over.
(adapted from J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit)
16


Week 4: Transcribing speech
Transcribing speech:
When transcribing authentic speech, you do not transcribe the sounds as you
think they should be, but as you hear them. It is therefore essential to listen
closely!

Processes of connected speech:
In connected speech, sounds may influence each other (assimilation). For
instance, nine pigs, spoken quickly, will sound like /m`HloHfy/ instead of /m`Hm
oHfy/. Also, sounds may get lost in connected speech (elision). For instance,

perhaps is often pronounced /ohzor/ instead of /p?(¢)gzor/. If assimilation or
elision is present in a stretch of speech you listen to, it also needs to be
transcribed – exactly as the speaker said it.

Task 15: Listen to me speaking a short text and transcribe. As a help,
you have the orthographic transcription.

What

is

some

description

become

rare

they

call

a

hobbit?

I

suppose

nowadays,

and

shy

of

hobbits

since

the

need

they

Big

have

People,

as

us.
17

FURTHER TEXTS for practising transcription

Task 16
High above the North Pole, two professors of English literature approached each other at a
combined velocity of one thousand miles per hour. They were protected from the thin, cold
air by the pressurized cabins of two planes, and from the risk of collision by the prudent
arrangement of the international air corridors. Although they had never met, the two men
were known to each other by name. They were, in fact, in the process of exchanging posts for
the next six months.
Adapted from: David Lodge, Changing Places.

Task 17
It was one o’clock in the morning. Harry’s stomach gave a funny jolt. He had been thirteen
years old, without realising it, for a whole hour. Another unusual and uncommon thing
about Harry was how little he looked forward to his birthdays. He’d never received a
birthday card in his life. Harry walked across the dark room to the open window. He leaned
on the sill, the cool night air very pleasant on his face after a long time under the blankets.

Adapted from: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

Task 18
Twenty minutes later he set off on the wide grassy track. There were stretches where it was
possible to see open fields through the trees. In other places the way veered deeper into the
wood and narrowed to little more than a footpath. His ignorance of the names of trees and
plants heightened his impression of their beauty. In one place open to the sky there was a crop
of purple flowers, in another, darker spot, the whiff of garlic.
Adapted from: Ian McEwan, The Child in Time.

18

SOLUTIONS TO TASKS
Task 2: Solve the following questions:
1.

What is the last sound in ash?

/R/

2.

What is the first sound in write?

/¢/

3.

What is the first sound in hour?

/`T/

4.

What is the second consonant in calm?

/l/

5.

What is the last sound in climb?

/l/

6.

What is the first sound in knight?

/m/

Task 3: Transcribe the following easy words:
1.

cat

/jzs/

2.

spin

/roHm/

3.

game

/fdHl/

4.

method

/ldS?c/ (RP), /lDS?c/ (GA)

5.

woman

/vTl?m/

6.

panic

/ozmHj/

7.

country

/jUms¢H/

8.

peanut

/oh9mUs/

9.

three

/S¢h9/

10.

goose

/ft9r/

Task 4: Solve the following questions:
1.

What is the first sound in pint?

/o/

2.

What is the last sound in picnic?

/j/

3.

What is the first sound in year?

/i/

4.

What is the second consonant in lobby?

/a/

5.

What is the last sound in calf?

/e/

6.

What is the first sound in mother?

/l/

7.

What is the consonant in easy?

/y/

8.

What is the first (double) sound in jungle? /cY/

9.

What is the last sound in bottle?

/k/

10.

What is the second consonant in fussy?

/r/

19


11.

What is the first sound in doom?

/c/

12.

What is the last sound in sing?

/M/

13.

What is the first sound in this?

/C/

14.

What is the first consonant in awake?

/v/

15.

What is the second consonant in adventure? /u/

16.

What is the last sound in right?

/s/

17.

What is the first sound in genre?

/Y/

18.

What is the first consonant in author?

/S/

19.

What is the first sound in giggle?

/f/

20.

What is the first sound in house?

/h/

21.

What is the middle sound in any?

/m/

22.

What is the second consonant in through?

/¢/

23.

What is the vowel in far?

/@9/

24.

What is the vowel in knit?

/H/

25.

What is the first sound in alive?

/?/

26.

What is the vowel in bird?

/29/

27.

What is the vowel in kettle?

/d/ (RP), /D/ (GA)

28.

What is the first sound in up?

/U/

29.

What is the vowel in house?

/`T/

30.

What is the last sound in zoo?

/t9/

31.

What is the vowel in court?

/N9/

32.

What is the last sound in hay?

/dH/

33.

What is the vowel in choice?

/NH/

34.

What is the vowel in good?

/T/

35.

What is the vowel in price?

/`H/

36.

What is the vowel in bee?

/h9/

37.

What is the vowel in bank?

/z/

38.

What is the third consonant in president?

/y/

Task 5: Transcribe the following easy words.

1.

breathe

/a¢h9C/

2.

exam

/Hfyzl/

3.

enough

/HmUe/

20


4.

voodoo

/ut9ct9/

5.

quick

/jvHj/

6.

eleven

/Hkdu?m/ (RP), /HkDu?m/ (GA)

7.

repeat

/¢Hoh9s/

8.

spew

/roit9/

9.

young

/iUM/

10.

bush

/aTR/

11.

annoy

/?mNH/

12.

vase

/u@9y/ (RP), /udHr/ (GA)

13.

doubt

/c`Ts/

14.

text

/sdjrs/ (RP), /sDjrs/ (GA)

15.

size

/r`Hy/

16.

dull

/cUk/

17.

cherry

/sRd¢H/ (RP), /sRD¢H/ (GA)

18.

sheep

/Rh9o/

19.

valley

/uzkH/

20.

phonetics

/e?mdsHjr/ (RP), /e?mDsHjr/ (GA)

Task 6: Transcribe the following consonant trouble words.
RP

(both)

GA

1.

months

/lUmSr/

2.

rounded

/¢`TmcHc/

3.

clothes

4.

touched

/sUsRs/

5.

kisses

/jHrHy/

6.

buzzed

/aUyc/

7.

anger

/zMf?/

/zMf?¢/

8.

weird

/vH?c/

/vH¢c/

9.

car engine

/j@9¢ dmcYHm/

/j@9¢ DmcYHm/

10.

hills

/jk?TCy/

/jknTCy/

/gHky/

21


Task 7: Transcribe the following vowel trouble words.
RP

(both)

/jPl?m/

GA

1.

common

/j@9l?m/

2.

onion

3.

any

4.

voyage

5.

merry

/ld¢H/

/lDqH/

6.

marry

/lz¢H/

/lDqH/

7.

ladies

/kdHcHy/

8.

done

/cUm/

9.

journey

/cY29mH/

/cY29¢mH/

10.

pillow

/oHk?T/

/oHknT/

/Umi?m/
/dmH/

/DmH/
/uNHHcY/

Task 8: Transcribe the following consonant trouble words.
1.

though

/C?T/

/CnT/

2.

husband

3.

question

4.

think

/SHMj/

5.

vine

/u`Hm/

6.

glove

/fkUu/

7.

university

8.

magic

/lzcYHj/

9.

ringing

/¢HMHM/

10.

water

/vN9s?/

/v@9s?¢/

11.

butter

/aUs?/

/aUs?¢/

12.

his

/gHy/

13.

sap

/rzo/

14.

zap

/yzo/

15.

earth

/29S/

/29¢S/

16.

vet

/uds/

/uDs/

17.

smooth

/rlt9C/

18.

crisis

/j¢`HrHr/

19.

fiction

/eHjR?m/

/gUya?mc/
/jvdrsR?m/

/jvDrsR?m/

/it9mHu29rHsH/

/it9mHu29¢rHsH/

22


20.

gas

/fzr/

21.

singer

/rHM?/

/rHM?¢/

22.

winter

/vHms?/

/vHm(s)?¢/

23.

loud

24.

German

/cY29l?m/

/cY29¢l?m/

25.

sword

/rN9c/

/rN9¢c/

26.

loathe

/k?TC/

/knTC/

27.

pause

/oN9y/

/o@9y/

28.

battle

/azsk/

29.

mug

/lUf/

30.

father

/e@9C?/

/e@9C?¢/

31.

bird

/a29c/

/a29¢c/

32.

longer

/kPMf?/

/k@9Mf?¢/

33.

sympathy

/rHlo?SH/

34.

button

/aUsm/

35.

London

/kUmc?m/

/k`Tc/

Task 9: Transcribe the following vowel trouble words.
RP

(both)

GA

1.

beat

/ah9s/

2.

bid

/aHc/

3.

near

/mH?/

/mH¢/

4.

care

/jd?/

/jD¢/

5.

Eden

/h9cm/

6.

juice

/cYt9r/

7.

soldier

/r?TkcY?/

/rnTkcY?¢/

8.

head

/gdc/

/gDc/

9.

poor

/oT?/ or /oN9/

/oT¢/

10.

world

/v29kc/

/v29¢kc/

11.

quarter

/jvN9s?/

/jvN9¢s?¢/

12.

pat

/ozs/

13.

Sunday

/rUmcH/

14.

butcher

/aTsR?/

/aTsR?¢/

23


15.

fond

/ePmc/

/e@9mc/

16.

health

/gdkS/

/gDkS/

17.

after

/@9es?/

/zes?¢/

18.

lamp

19.

bought

/aN9s/

/a@9s/

20.

sausage

/rPrHcY/

/r@9rHcY/

/kzlo/

Task 10: Transcribe the following ‘advanced’ words.
1.

unfortunately

/UmeN9sR?m?skH/

/UmeN9¢sR?m?skH/

2.

mortgage

/lN9fHcY/

/lN9¢fHcY/

3.

vowel

4.

millionaire

/lHki?md?/

/lHki?mD¢/

5.

eccentric

/djrdms¢Hj/

/DjrDms¢Hj/

6.

psychology

/r`HjPk?cYH/

/r`Hj@9k?cYH/

7.

theoretical

/SH?¢dsHjk/

/SH?¢DsHjk/

8.

congratulations

/j?mf¢zsiTkdHR(?)my/

/j?mf¢zsiTkdHR(?)my/

9.

raspberry

/¢@9ya?¢H/

/¢zya?¢H/

10.

morphophonemics

/lN9e?Te?mh9lHjr/

/lN9¢enTe?mh9lHjr/

11.

cucumber

/jit9jUla?/

/jit9jUla?¢/

12.

politician

/oPkHsHRm/

/o@9kHsHRm/

13.

ballet

14.

disproportionate

/cHro¢?oN9R?m?s/

/cHro¢?oN9¢R?m?s/

15.

carbohydrate

/j@9a?Tg`Hc¢dHs/

/j@9¢anTg`Hc¢dHs/

16.

asparagus

/?roz¢?f?r/

/?roD¢?f?r/

17.

euphemism

18.

photographer

/e?sPf¢?e?/

/e?s@9f¢?e?¢/

19.

Catholicism

/j?SPkHrHyl/

/j?S@9kHrHyl/

20.

pronunciation

21.

democracy

/cHlPjq?rH/

/cHl@9j¢?rH/

22.

monolithically

/lPm?kHSHj?kH/

/l@9m?kHSHj?kH/

23.

immaterial

/Hl?sH?¢H?k/

/Hl?sH¢H?k/

24.

nationalization

/mzRm?k`HydHR(?)m/

25.

variety

/u?¢`H?sH/

/u`T?k/

/azkdH/

/it9e?lHyl/

/o¢?mUmsrHdHRm/

24

Task 11: Indicate the stress pattern of the following words.
16.

famous

!1 – 2

17.

aristocracy

$1 – 2 – !3 – 4 – 5

18.

characteristic

$1 – 2 – 3 – !4 – 5

19.

characterization

$1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – !5 – 6

20.

energy

!1 – 2 – 3

21.

engineer

$1 – 2 – !3

22.

particularly

1 – !2 – 3 – 4 – 5

23.

personally

!1 – 2 – 3 – 4

24.

philosophy

1 – !2 – 3 – 4

25.

prefer

1 – !2

26.

pronunciation

1 – $2 – 3 – !4 – 5

27.

Protestantism

!1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5

28.

scientific

$1 – 2 – !3 – 4

29.

strategic

1 – !2 – 3

30.

object

!1 – 2 or 1 – !2 !

Task 12: Transcribe the following sentences. Be sure to give function words their weak
forms, unless they are emphasised!
1.

2.

3.

4.

I was lost.

We were walking.

I know that.

I know that it’s great.

RP:

/`H v?y kPrs/

GA:

/`H v?y k@9rs/

RP:

/vH v? vN9jHM/

GA:

/vH v?q v@9jHM/

RP:

/`H m?T Czs/

GA:

/`H mnT Czs/

RP:

/`H m?T C?s Hsr f¢dHs/

GA:

/`H mnT C?s Hsr f¢dHs/

Task 13: Transcribe the following sentences. Be sure to give function words their weak
forms, unless they are emphasised!
1.

This is an apple.

RP:

/CHr Hy ?m zok/

GA:

/CHr Hy ?m zok/

25