A Guide to English Transcription

A Guide to English Transcription : An Essential Guide

by Mohamed Zayed

§  What is transcription?

Transcription is the written representation of speech sounds using IPA symbols.

IPA = International Phonetic Alphabet

§  How to transcribe?

In order to transcribe, first you need to study  very well and know by heart the phonemic symbols used to represent each sound.

§  How to master transcription?

Transcription is a process of familiarity. In other words, the more you practice, the better you will be at transcription.

§  Why is transcription important?

Transcription is important because it tells you exactly how to pronounce a word correctly and properly just like the native people of the language. For example, how would you pronounce such words as "knight”, “emphasis”, “education”, etc.?

Finally, I said earlier that if you want to master pronunciation, you have to learn a number of symbols representing speech sounds (=IPA).

Now, let’s study those symbols together along with some examples.

 IPA: There are 20 vowels & 24 Consonants in English

(1)            English Vowels:

IPA	Example	IPA	Example	IPA	Example
ʌ	cup, luck	e	met, bed	ɪ	hit, sitting
ɑ:	arm, father	ə	away, cinema	i:	see, heat
æ	cat, black	ɜ:	turn, learn	ɒ	hot, rock
ɔ:	call, four	ʊ	put, could	u:	blue, food
IPA	Example	IPA	Example	IPA	Example
aɪ	five, eye	əʊ	go, home	ɪə	near, here
aʊ	now, out	ɔɪ	boy, join	ʊə	pure, tourist
eɪ	say, eight	eə	where, air

(2)            English Consonants:

IPA	Example	IPA	Example	IPA	Example
b	bad, lab	m	man, lemon	tʃ	check, church
d	did, lady	n	no, ten	θ	think, both
f	find, if	ŋ	sing, finger	ð	this, mother
g	give, flag	p	pet, map	v	voice, five
h	how, hello	r	red, try	w	wet, window
j	yes, yellow	s	sun, miss	z	zoo, lazy
k	cat, back	ʃ	she, crash	ʒ	pleasure, vision
l	leg, little	t	tea, getting	dʒ	just, large

Ø  
Some Notes on Transcription:

-         Strong, weak and contracted forms Certain function words are pronounced differently according to whether they are stressed or unstressed.

-         Here the words had, to, them, from, the are all unstressed and reduced to / əd tə ðəm frəm ðə/. 

- How to pronounce the –ed at the end of verbs?

• With the sounds /p, f, s, ʃ, tʃ, k/, the –ed is pronounced as /t/ as in helped, laughed, faxed, liked and watched. 

• With the sounds /t, d/, the –ed is pronounced as /Id/ as in wanted and ended. 

• Other than those cases, it is just /d/. 

- How to pronounce “the” ?

• When the comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long "thee" or / ði:/ (strong form) as in the apple.  

- The /r/: dropped or pronounced?

• The /r/ sound is dropped in RP unless it is followed by a vowel, then it is pronounced as in I have four apples unlike I have four pens. 

• In Standard American Accent, the /r/ is pronounced everywhere. 

- As for word stress, usually lexical words or contents words (nouns, adjectives, adverbs and main verbs are the only elements that are stressed [']. 

Extensive exercises on transcription: 

Transcribe the following dialogue showing stress:

DIALOGUE 1. A present for Penelope

ˈdaɪəlɒg 1. ə ˈpreznt fə pɪˈneləp

PETER: Pass the pepper, will you, please, Percy, old chap?

ˈpiːtə: pɑːs ðə ˈpepə, wɪl jə, pliːz, ˈpɜːsi, əʊld ʧæp?

PERCY: Pepper? You're not proposing to put pepper on your porridge?

ˈpɜːsi: ˈpɛpə jʊə nɒt prəˈpəʊzɪŋ tə pʊt ˈpepər ɒn jə ˈpɒrɪʤ? 

PETER: Shut up, Percy! Why do you always presume that I'm stupid?

ˈpiːtə: ʃʌt ʌp, ˈpɜːsi! waɪ də jə ˈɔːlweɪz prɪˈzjuːm ðət aɪm ˈstjuːpɪd?

PERCY: Well , stop snapping and explain the purpose of the pepper pot.

ˈpɜːsi: wel , stɒp ˈsnæpɪŋ ənd ɪksˈpleɪn ðə ˈpeːpəs əv ðə ˈpepə pɒt.

PETER: It's perfectly simple. I want to compare our pepper pot with the pepper pot I've bought as a present for Penelope.

ˈpiːtə: ɪts ˈpɜːfɪktli ˈsɪmpl. aɪ wɒnt tə kəmˈpeər ˈaʊə ˈpepə pɒt wɪð ðə ˈpepə pɒt

PERCY: A practical, but pretty expensive present.

ˈpɜːsi: ə ˈpræktɪkəl, bət ˈprɪti ɪksˈpensɪv ˈpreznt.

PETER: Well, she's a super person. I thought perhaps, if you happened to be passing the Post Office ... Could you possibly pop the parcel in the post?

ˈpiːtə: wel, ʃiːz ə ˈsuːpə ˈpɜːsn. aɪ θɔːt pəˈhæps, ɪf jə ˈhæpənd tə bi ˈpɑːsɪŋ

ðə pəʊst ˈɒfɪs ... kəd jʊ ˈpɒsəbli pɒp ðə ˈpɑːsl ɪn ðə pəʊst

PERCY: Am I expected to pay the postage on this pepper pot for Penelope?

ˈpɜːsi: əm aɪ ɪksˈpektɪd tə peɪ ðə ˈpəʊstɪʤ ɒn ðɪs ˈpepə pɒt fə pɪˈneləpi

PETER: Percy, you're impossible! I may be poor but I have my pride! Here's £1 for the postage.

ˈpiːtə: ˈpɜːsi, jʊər ɪmˈpɒsəbl! aɪ meɪ bi pʊə bət aɪ əv maɪ praɪd! hɪəz £1 fə ðiː ˈpəʊstɪʤ.

Practice on Transcription:

Transcribe the following passage phonemically indicating and marking word stress.

Julius Caesar was a Roman politician, general, and notable author of Latin prose. He was born in Rome to a well-known, but not rich family. The young Caesar left Rome for military service in Asia. When the dictator Sulla died, he returned, and began his political career as a prosecuting advocate. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. He is known in world history as the man who was killed on the hands of his friend Brutus.

The transcription: