An Uncomfortable Seat

ˈwɒt dɪd ðə ˈdɒɡ ˈseɪ | ˈwen i ˈsæt ɒn ðə ˈsæmpeɪpə ||

ˈrʌf

Key at bottom of page.

Commentary

[Don't worry if you find this difficult. Don't let yourself be put off. The same phenomena will come up again and again in these transcriptions. There'll be plenty of opportunities for them to sink in over time. Slow and steady, a little each day, is the key to success.]

Explanation: In English, one way of representing a dog’s bark is ruff /rʌf/ (obviously, woof /wʊf/ is much more common), which sounds the same as rough. When the dog sits down and says /rʌf/, it sounds like he’s commenting on what he feels on his bottom.

the: When unstressed, as it usually is, the definite article the has the weak form /ðə/ when the following word begins with a consonant.

he: When unstressed, as it usually is, and not immediately preceded by a pause, he has the weak form /i/. After a pause, unstressed he is pronounced /hi/ (e.g. He knows he did it. /hi ˈnəʊz i ˈdɪd ɪt/ He said he could. /hi ˈsed i ˈkʊd/ He thought he was. /hi ˈθɔːt i ˈwɒz/).

on: Although on is monosyllabic function/grammatical word and is usually unstressed, it doesn’t usually have a weak form.

sandpaper: When /d/ is at the end of a syllable (i.e. in a syllable coda) and is immediately preceded by a consonant, it is commonly elided/deleted when another consonant immediately follows (i.e. without a pause) in another word, in a suffix or, as in this case, in the second part of a compound.

The /n/ of sand- undergoes assimilation, changing from /n/ to /m/ because once the /d/ has been elided, the immediately following sound is /p/. The consonant /n/ is a voiced alveolar nasal and /m/ is a voiced bilabial nasal. The change from /n/ to /m/ is a change of place of articulation (not of voicing or of manner of articulation). The place of articulation of the nasal changes to bilabial because the following consonant is bilabial (/p/ = a voiceless bilabial plosive). It is usual for /n/ to change its place of articulation to that of an immediately following consonant, becoming /ŋ/ before velar consonants (/k/ or /ɡ/) or /m/ before bilabial consonants (/p b m/).

What did the dog say when he sat on the sandpaper?

Ruff!