Thursday 8 March 2018

Birthday Presents

ðə ˈjɪəz ðət ə ˈwʊmən səbˈtræks frəm ɜːr ˈeɪʤ | ə ˈnɒt ˈlɒst || ðeər ˈædɪd tə ði ˈeɪʤɪz | əv ˈʌðə ˈwɪmɪn

Key at bottom of page.

Commentary

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

years: The word year also has the less common variant /jɜː/.

Plural s has three pronunciations depending on the sound at the end of the noun:

  •          /ɪz/ after /s z ʃ ʒ ʧ ʤ/
  •          /s/ after the remaining voiceless consonants
  •          /z/ after vowels and the remaining voiced consonants.
The same pattern applies to third person singular s, possessive s and the contraction of is.

that: When unstressed, as it usually is, that as a conjunction or relative pronoun has the weak form /ðət/. Note that the other uses of that do not have weak forms and are always pronounced /ðæt/: pronoun, I know that. /aɪ ˈnəʊ ˈðæt/; determiner, I know that man. /aɪ ˈnəʊ ˈðæt ˈmæn/; adverb, It wasn’t that good. /ɪt ˈwɒzn̩t ˈðæt ˈɡʊd/.

a: When unstressed, as it usually is, the indefinite article a has the weak form /ə/.

subtracts: When /t/ is at the end of a word (more specifically, in a syllable coda) and is immediately preceded by a consonant (except /l/ and /n/), it is commonly elided/deleted when another consonant immediately follows (i.e. without a pause) in another word or in a suffix.

from: When unstressed, as it usually is, from has the weak form /frəm/.

her: When unstressed, as it usually is, the determiner her usually has the weak form /ɜː/, or sometimes /ə/. When her is a pronoun (e.g. I’ve met her. /aɪv ˈmet ə/), it usually has the weak form /ə/, or sometimes /ɜː/.

are: When unstressed, as it usually is, are has the weak form /ə/.

not: Despite being a monosyllabic function/grammar word, not is usually stressed and does not have a weak form (except when it forms negative contractions like doesn’t, couldn’t, etc.).

they’re: When are forms a contraction with they, the contraction is pronounced /ðeə/, which is the same pronunciation as the words their and there. In more casual speech, they’re can be further reduced to /ðə/.

added: 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

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/.

the: The symbol i represents the same vowel phoneme as the symbol . We use i in unstressed syllables and 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).

of: When unstressed, as it usually is, of has the weak form /əv/. When a consonant immediately follows in the next word, of can have the form /ə/. This is particularly common before /ð/ (e.g. of the, of those, of them, of this, of that) and in high-frequency phrases (e.g. a cup of tea, a bunch of grapes).

woman/women: Note that although there is only one difference of spelling between woman and women, in the pronunciation there are two differences: /ˈwʊmən/ vs. /ˈwɪmɪn/.

The years that a woman subtracts from her age are not lost. They’re added to the ages of other women.

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