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.]
I:
Although I is a monosyllabic
function/grammatical word and is usually unstressed, it doesn’t usually have a
weak form.
was:
When unstressed, as it usually is, was
has the weak form /wəz/.
so:
The word so is sometimes stressed and
sometimes unstressed. When unstressed, it occasionally has the weak form /sə/
before consonants, but /səʊ/ is always acceptable and learners can safely use
it in all unstressed contexts.
ugly:
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).
as:
When unstressed, as it usually is, as
has the weak form /əz/.
a:
When unstressed, as it usually is, the indefinite article a has the weak form /ə/.
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/.
when:
Although the interrogative pronoun when
is a monosyllabic function/grammatical word, it is usually stressed and has no
weak form. This is true of the other interrogative pronouns: which, who, where, etc.
played:
When a verb ends in a voiced sound (i.e. a vowel or a voiced consonant (except
/d/)), the regular <-ed> ending has the form /d/.
in:
Although in is monosyllabic
function/grammatical word and is usually unstressed, it doesn’t usually have a
weak form.
the:
When unstressed, as it usually is, the definite article the has the weak form /ðə/ when the following word begins with a
consonant.
sandpit:
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/).
cat:
The final consonant of cat undergoes
assimilation, changing from /t/ to /k/ because the immediately following word begins
with /k/. The consonant /t/ is a voiceless alveolar
plosive and /k/ is a voiceless velar
plosive. The change from /t/ to /k/ is a change of place of articulation (not
of voicing or of manner of articulation). The place of articulation of the plosive
changes to velar because the following consonant is velar (/k/ = a voiceless velar
plosive). It is usual for /t/ to change its place of articulation to that of an
immediately following consonant, becoming /k/ before velar consonants (/k/ or /ɡ/)
or /p/ before bilabial consonants (/p b m/).
In this context, the glottal
plosive/stop variant of the /t/ phoneme is also a possibility. When /t/ is at
the end of a syllable (i.e. in the syllable coda), preceded by a sonorant (i.e.
a vowel, a nasal or an approximant) and immediately followed by a consonant
(within a word in the following word), it can be realised as a glottal
plosive/stop [ʔ].
kept:
When /t/ is at the end of a syllable (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.
covering:
When schwa /ə/ is followed by /r/ and then an unstressed syllable, the schwa /ə/
is often elided. Memory /ˈmeməri/
becomes /ˈmemri/, separate (adj.)
/ˈsepərət/ becomes /ˈseprət/, etc. Here, /ˈkʌvərɪŋ/ becomes /ˈkʌvrɪŋ/.
meː
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).
up:
The word up is usually stressed and
has no weak form.
I was so ugly as a kid that when I
played in the sandpit, the cat kept covering me up.
