A Good Little Runner

aɪ ˈhæb maɪ ˈkɑː ˈsɜːvɪst | ði ˈʌðə ˈdeɪ || ðə məˈkænɪk ədˈvaɪz mi | tə ˈkiːp ði ˈɔɪl | ən ˈʧeɪnʤ ðə ˈkɑː

Key at bottom of page.

Commentary

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

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

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

serviced: The regular -ed ending has three pronunciations:

•          /ɪd/ after /t/ or /d/
•          /t/ after all other voiceless consonants
•          /d/ after vowels and all other voiced consonants

the: The symbol i represents the same vowel phoneme as the symbol iː. We use i in unstressed syllables and iː in stressed syllables. This distinction isn't very helpful for TEFL purposes and learners should simply treat the two symbols as the same. Because we are using two different symbols for one phoneme, this means our transcription isn't truly phonemic (phonemic transcription = one symbol for each phoneme).

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

advised: When /d/ is at the end of a word (more specifically, 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 or in a suffix.

me: See the above.

to: When unstressed, as it usually is, to has the weak form /tə/ when the immediately following word begins with a consonant. This is true for both the preposition, e.g. Go to hell /ˈɡəʊ tə ˈhel/, and the 'to infinitive', e.g. Go to see /ˈɡəʊ tə ˈsiː/.

and: When unstressed, as it usually is, and has the weak form /ən/ or /ənd/. Some books say that /ən/ is used before consonants and /ənd/ before vowels, but this is not true. While both forms can be heard before consonants and vowels, /ən/ is much more common than /ənd/. Learners can safely use only /ən/ for the weak form of and because it will never be wrong to do so.

I had my car serviced the other day. The mechanic advised me to keep the oil and change the car.