A Literate Canine

ə ˈmæn ˈluːzɪz ɪz ˈdɒɡ || səʊ i ˈpʊts ən ˈæd ɪn ðə ˈpeɪpə | ən ði ˈæd ˈsez | ˈhɪə ˈbɔɪ

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Commentary

[Don't worry if you find this overwhelming. 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.]

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

loses: When a verb ends in /s z ʃ ʒ ʧ ʤ/, the third person singular is formed by adding /ɪz/ (e.g. kisses /ˈkɪsɪz/, fizzes /ˈfɪzɪz/, wishes /ˈwɪʃɪz/, camouflages /ˈkæməflɑːʒɪz/, churches /ˈʧɜːʧɪz/, judges /ˈʤʌʤɪz/). The same pattern applies to possessive s and plural s.

his: When unstressed, as it usually is, and not immediately preceded by a pause, his has the weak form /ɪz/. After a pause, unstressed his is pronounced /hɪz/ (e.g. His home is his castle. /hɪz ˈhəʊm ɪz ɪz ˈkɑːsl̩/ His brother took his money. /hɪz ˈbrʌðə ˈtʊk ɪz ˈmʌni/ His dog bit his nose. /hɪz ˈdɒɡ ˈbɪt ɪz ˈnəʊz).

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/).

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).

puts: When a verb ends in a voiceless consonant /p t k f θ/ (excluding /s ʃ ʧ/, see loses above), the third person singular is formed by adding /s/ (e.g. sips /sɪps/, hits /hɪts/, licks /lɪks/, stuffs /stʌfs/, unearths /ʌnˈɜːθs). The same pattern applies to possessive s and plural s.

anː When unstressed, as it usually is, the indefinite article an has the weak form /ən/.

the: When unstressed, as it usually is, and immediately followed by a word beginning with a consonant, the definite article the has the weak form /ðə/.

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.

says: The pronunciation of the word says is a little irregular. While say is pronounced /seɪ/, says is pronounced /sez/.

When a verb ends in a voiced sound (i.e. a vowel or one of the voiced consonants /b d ɡ v ð m n ŋ l/), the third person singular is formed by adding /z/. The same pattern applies to possessive s and plural s.

A man loses his dog. So he puts an ad in the paper, and the ad says, “Here, boy!”