ˈbiːɪŋ ɪm ˈpɒlətɪks | ɪz ˈlaɪk ˈbiːɪŋ ə ˈfʊpbɔːl ˈkəʊʧ || ju ˈhæf tə bi ˈsmɑːt ɪˈnʌf | tu ˈʌndəˈstæn ðə ˈɡeɪm | ən ˈdʌm ɪˈnʌf | tə ˈθɪŋk ɪts ɪmˈpɔːtn̩t
Key at bottom of page.
Comments
in:
The final consonant of in undergoes
assimilation, changing from /n/ to /m/ because the immediately following word
begins with /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/).
a:
When unstressed, as it usually is, the indefinite article a has the weak form /ə/.
football:
The final consonant of foot undergoes
assimilation, changing from /t/ to /p/ because the immediately following word
begins with /b/. The consonant /t/ is a voiceless alveolar plosive and /p/ is a voiceless bilabial plosive. The change from /t/ to /p/ 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 (/b/ = a voiced bilabial 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].
you:
The symbol u represents the same
vowel phoneme as the symbol uː. We
use u in unstressed syllables and uː 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).
have to:
When have to means must, it is usual to
pronounce have with a final /f/. This is a kind of
assimilation: the /v/ becomes its voiceless equivalent /f/ in anticipation of
the following voiceless consonant /t/. This kind of voicing assimilation is
unusual in English and only happens here because have to is
such a high frequency word-combination. Perhaps a little less frequently, the
same process can occur with has to, resulting in the pronunciation
/ˈhæs tə/. Probably less frequently again, but still commonly, this process
also occurs with had to, resulting in the pronunciation /ˈhæt tə/.
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/.
be: 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).
to:
The symbol u represents the same
vowel phoneme as the symbol uː. We
use u in unstressed syllables and uː 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).
understand: 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.
the:
When unstressed, as it usually is, the definite article the has the weak form /ðə/ when the following word begins with a
consonant.
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.
dumb: There is no /b/
at the end of the word dumb or at the
end of any other word written with final <-mb>. The combination /mb/ does
not occur at the ends of English words.
it’s:
When unstressed, as it usually is, the word is
can have three different pronunciations, depending on the final sound of the
immediately preceding word:
- When the final sound of the preceding word is /s z ʃ ʒ ʧ ʤ/, then is has the form /ɪz/, e.g. Chris is well /ˈkrɪs ɪz ˈwel/.
- When the final sound of the preceding word is a voiceless consonants (excluding the consonants listed above), then is has the form /s/ and forms a contraction with the preceding word, e.g. Jack is well /ˈʤæks ˈwel/.
- If the final sound of the preceding word is voiced (i.e. a vowel or a voiced consonant (excluding the consonants listed above)), then is has the form /z/ and forms a contraction with the preceding word, e.g. John is well /ˈʤɒnz ˈwel/.
important: Phonemically,
the final syllable of important is /ənt/.
When this syllable is preceded by /t/, however, the schwa /ə/ often isn't
pronounced. Instead the articulators move directly from the position for /t/ to
the position for /n/. This is relatively easy to do because the only difference
in the articulation of /t/ and /n/ is that the soft palate is lowered for /n/
(and the vocal folds vibrate). It is possible, therefore, for the articulators
to move from the position for /t/ to the position for /n/ merely by lowering
the soft palate, without passing through the position for a vowel and thereby
avoiding an intervening schwa /ə/. This is known as nasal release.
Note that in English, syllabic /n/ is
not a phoneme in its own right, but merely a special way of realising the
syllable /ən/. This means that when we use a special symbol [n̩] for it in
transcription, it makes our transcription non-phonemic (because we are now
using more than one symbol for each phoneme and introducing a special symbol to
show a particular phonetic detail).
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