The Phonemic Transcription

[4.1] How to study this unit?

[4.2] The English syllable

[4.3] The phonemic transcription

[4.4] Word stress and sentence stress: transcribing content and

function words

[4.5] Consonant clusters

[4.6] English spelling

UNIT
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Outline

Unit 4 – Outline
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Pay attention to

4.1. How to study this unit?

In this unit, you will learn how to use phonemic transcriptions. This entails being
able to produce and read phonemic and phonetic transcriptions. You will:

Study the difference between phonetic and phonemic transcription.

Focus on the importance of the syllable and the different kinds in English.
Practice the sounds occurring in unstressed syllables.
Practice with the virtual transcribing keyboard at the end of the unit.
Do the practice at the end of the unit.

4.2 The English syllable

The syllable consists of an obligatory vowel potentially surrounded by consonants.

Collins, 2009: 74

As we said in unit 3, in English the nucleus of the syllable is normally formed by a

vowel. Consonants are therefore placed in adjacent positions. We can then say that
every syllable contains a vowel at its nucleus, and may have one or more
consonants at its margins. Additionally, speech seems to be a succession of stressed and
unstressed syllables. Different languages combine this succession of stressed and
unstressed syllables in several ways. According to professor David Abercrombie “the
manner in which stressed and unstressed syllables succeed each other is what produces
the rhythm of a language” (Abercrombie, 1967: 79).

From an articulatory perspective, the syllable has three stages:

A small amount of air is released from the lungs (this stage is known as “release” or
onset).
This airflow passes through the vocal tract (a vowel sound is formed).
The air is released (this process is known as “arrest” or coda) and it normally
coincides with the beginning of another syllable.

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As we said, the vowel stands at the center of the syllable structure and consonants are
flanking the vowels on each side (they stand at the margins of the syllable). To describe
a syllable, we will use the symbol V for a vowel and C for a consonant.

It is also important to notice that releasing consonants are rather short in duration so
the vowel takes the prominent position in the syllable. The arresting consonant is also
rather short. Additionally, the syllable can show numerous settings. For example, there
may be no releasing or arresting consonants as in the exclamatory word oh! which
shows the following syllabic pattern: V; the word sea would be described as CV; and the
word at would be seen as VC.

As a consequence, syllables can be classified as open (ending in a vowel sound) or

closed (ending in a consonant sound) depending on their internal setting:

A syllable which is arrested by a consonant is said to be a closed syllable, and one which
has no arresting consonant is said to be an open syllable.
Abercrombie, 1967: 80

Word Phonemic transcription Syllable structure Type of syllable

Man /mæn/ CVC Closed syllable

Through /θru:/ CCV Open syllable

Table /´teɪbəl/ CV ─ CVC Open + Closed syllable

It is important to highlight the fact that the sequence of consonants either side of the
vowel is called a consonant cluster. These clusters are at the center of the numerous
problems non-native speakers have when asked to split up a word in syllables.
However, certain patterns can be figured out as no native speaker would split the word
extent /ɪk´stent/ as /ɪ─kstent/. In English, there are certain syllable constraints that
state that no syllable may show the following releasing consonant cluster kst.
Therefore, the actual division should be as follows: /ɪk─stent/. Now we can see that this
word shows the following syllabic setting:

Word Phonemic transcription Syllable structure Types of syllable

Closed + closed
Extent /ɪk´stent/ VC + CCVCC
syllable

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The consonant cluster st is then accepted for the onset part of the syllable. As we said,
this knowledge is certainly innate in native speakers and as professor Ewa Czaykowska-
Higgins (O’Grady, 2011: 80) asserts, all speakers learning a foreign language tend to
adapt the foreign syllabic structures to their own accepted patterns. This technique is
known as phonotactics and is part of our language knowledge.

Back to the English language, we can say that English allows syllable onsets to have
several consonants. However, some phonotactic restrictions apply:
/ŋ/ never occurs as releasing consonant (initial position in a syllable).
/h/, /j/ and /w/ never occur as arresting consonants (final position in a syllable).
/t/, /d/, /θ/ never combine with /l/ as releasing clusters.
If a releasing cluster is formed by three elements the initial one will always be /s/
(street).

In short, we can say that the only obligatory element in a syllable is the vowel which can
be surrounded by consonants.

The following chart shows the most common vowel and consonant structures for
English syllables:

Structure Pronunciation Spelling

V /a:/ Are
CV /si:/ See
VC /ɔ:l/ all
CVC /rʌn/ Run
CVCC /pɔ:nz/ Pawns
CCV /tri:/ Tree
CCVC /drɪl/ Drill
CCCV /strɔ:/ Straw
CCCVC /stri:t/ street
CCCVCC /splɪnt/ Splint
CCCVCCC /strændz/ Strands
CCVCCCC /glɪmpst/ Glimpsed

Needless to say, we are dealing with speech sounds rather than graphemes. For
example, a word like through may have 7 graphemes but just one syllable /θru:/; a

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word like make may have 2 vowel graphemes but just one vowel sound /meɪk/ thus
being a one-syllable word (showing a closed syllable structure).

A syllable is therefore the prominent sound in any word. Every word is at least one
syllable long. Words can be one-syllable long or monosyllabic or more-than-one-
syllable long or polysyllabic.

As we mentioned before, speech consists of a succession of stressed and unstressed

syllables. Although stress is considered a supra-segmental phoneme and is studied in
unit 5 (notice we are still dealing with segmental phonemes, namely, vowels and
consonants), it seems advisable to offer a brief introduction since it is a fundamental
part of the syllabic structure of words. In any word, some vowels (syllables) are
perceived as more sonorous than others. Depending on their morphology, words may
show up to two different types of stress. The strongest stress in a word is known as
primary stress; on the other hand we can also find a secondary stress in certain
words:

It is then important to have in mind for transcription purposes that syllables may carry
the stress (stressed or strong syllable) or not (unstressed or weak syllable). As we can
see, primary stress is normally indicated by a vertical mark [ᶥ] placed before the strong
syllable. If it is required to mark secondary stress we will use a mark below the line [ͺ].
The rest of the syllables are considered unstressed.

Certainly, we will usually mark the primary stress. Notice that unstressed syllables
remain unmarked. You can see this in the word phonetics which has 3 syllables and the
one in the middle carries the stress:

/fə´netɪks/

· ● ·

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4.3. The phonemic transcription

The phonemic transcription is a set of symbols whose purpose is to represent all the
human speech sounds known so far.

It stands as an extremely useful tool to help students of any language recognize how a
particular sound should be pronounced. As we said in unit 1, we can find two types of
transcription:
The phonetic transcription (also known as narrow transcription) which
accounts for the actual realization of phonemes, that is, for the allophones. It
encloses phonetic symbols in square brackets [ ]. This first transcription uses a list
of diacritic symbols to represent the different realizations one single phoneme may
have. For example, some diacritic marks are:
[˜]: this mark across a consonant means the sound is velarized: told [təʊɫd].
[˳]: this mark under a sound means the sound is voiceless:

[ʰ]: this mark above the line is placed after a sound to represent that the sound is
aspirated: pit [pʰɪt].

The phonemic transcription (also known as broad transcription) accounts for

the ideal representation of the sounds in a language, namely, it conveys phonemes
instead of allophones. Phonemic transcriptions are enclosed in slant brackets //.
Phonemic transcription avoids using diacritic marks and tries to convey a one-to-
one correspondence between sound and phonemic symbol. This is the reason why
one of the first steps any student of English phonetics must take is to get acquainted
with the different phonemic symbols employed in the English phonemic inventory
and their actual sound equivalences.

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To accomplish this objective, you could practice the actual sounds represented by
each phonemic symbol at the following website designed by the BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron/sounds/chart.shtml

The International Phonetic Alphabet was developed by the International Phonetic

Association and is used worldwide. As we have said, it is particularly useful with those
languages showing inconsistent spelling such as English. It is important to emphasize
that phonemic transcription is not only used to transcribe words in isolation. It is also
used to represent entire speech stretches in what is known as connected speech. As a
matter of fact, we will see how the same word may show different pronunciations
depending on whether it is pronounced in isolation or as part of an utterance.

However, some guidelines are required before starting to practice phonemic

transcription. Here are some of those tips together with some suggestions for you to
better understand a phonemic transcription:
Each phoneme is represented by one single letter taken from the Roman alphabet.
You can see the IPA phonetic chart at the end of this unit. The phonemic symbols
we will use throughout this course are these ones:

Vowels Diphthongs Consonants

/ŋ/
/r/
/ɒ/ /p/ /θ/ /l/
/i:/ /b/ /f/ /ʧ/
/ɔ:/ /aɪ/ /əʊ/
/ɪ/ /d/ /v/ /ʤ/
/e/ /ɜ:/ /eɪ/ /ɪə/
/t/ /s/ /ʃ/
/æ/ /ʊ/ /ɔɪ/ /eə/ /k/ /z/
/a:/ /u:/ /aʊ/ /ʊə/ /ʒ/
/g/ /m/
/ʌ/ /ə/ /h/
/ð/ /n/
/w/
/j/

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Phonemic transcriptions use slant brackets //, whereas phonetic transcriptions use
square brackets [ ].
In phonemic transcriptions, we will avoid the use of diacritics. For example, we will
not use symbols such as [w], [j], [˜], etc. These will be used in phonetic
transcriptions.
In transcribing, we normally deal with connected speech and as such we will
represent brief pauses and sentence breaks. We will usually employ a vertical bar to
mark a brief pause | whereas a double vertical bar will mark a full stop ||:

My mother, who is sixty, feels tired. I’m worried.

/maɪ ´mʌðə | hu:ɪz ´sɪkstɪ | ´fi:lz ´taɪəd || aɪm ´wʌrɪd/

As we said previously, some syllables will carry the main stress in a word (strong
syllables) whereas others will be unstressed. Use [ᶥ] before stressed syllables and
leave unstressed syllables unmarked. Notice, however, that stress distribution
varies from words in isolation (in their citation form) to words in connected speech.
This is at the base of the distinction between word stress and sentence stress which
we will study in the next section.
In transcribing, do not use capital letters or show punctuation.
Be careful with certain phonetic symbols which do not occur in English. The most
troublesome for Spanish students may be: c x q y.

To end up this brief guideline, always remember that in phonemic transcriptions what
we do is to represent a sound (phoneme) with a symbol.

Do not forget that in English, one single sound may be represented in ordinary spelling
with more than just one letter (grapheme).

For example, the speech sound (phoneme) /i:/ can be represented in spelling (in
writing) as differently as “e” (these), “ee” (see), “ea” (sea), “ie” (piece), “ey” (key), “eo”
(people), “i” (machine). So, to sum up:

1 sound = 1 phonemic symbol

1 sound ≠ 1 letter (grapheme)

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English unstressed or weak syllables are normally transcribed with either /ə/,
/ɪ/ or /ʊ/.

Weak syllable ending in: Example Phoneme used Transcription

-er Worker /ə/ /´wɜ:kə/

-or Editor /ə/ /´edɪtə/

-ur Murmur /ə/ /´mɜ:mə/

-ar Tartar /ə/ /´ta:tə/

-on Reason /ə/ /´ri:zən/

-an Woman /ə/ /´wʊmən/

-om Bosom /ə/ /´bʊzəm/

-our Flavour /ə/ /´fleɪvə/

-y Happy /ɪ/ /´hæpɪ/

-ey Chimney /ɪ/ /´ʧɪmnɪ/

-ee Coffee /ɪ/ /´kɔ:fɪ/

-ie Movie /ɪ/ /´mu:vɪ/

-ful Beautiful /ʊ/ /´bju:tɪfʊl/

As you can see, the /ə/ is never stressed.

The Consonant-Vowel-Consonant pattern (CVC) states that when a vowel is

between two consonants the vowel is transcribed normally as a short vowel:
Back  /bæk/
Lock  /lɒk/
Such  /sʌʧ/
Additionally, the CVC pattern states that if the word ends in consonant + “e”, the “ –
e” is silent or mute:

Make /meɪk/ Take /teɪk/ Stake /steɪk/

Made /meɪd/ Fake /feɪk/

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Derivational prefix “re-“ is normally pronounced as /rɪ/:

React  /rɪ´ækt/

Suffix “-ing” is transcribed as /ɪŋ/:

Thinking /´θɪŋkɪŋ/
Playing /´pleɪɪŋ/

Consonants in phonemic transcription are rather stable. So we can say about vowels in
weak syllables. However, the main problem arises when we have to transcribe a vowel
in a stressed (strong) syllable. As we said before, one phoneme (sound) like /i:/ may be
represented by many different graphemes. Quite often it can be helpful to take a look at
how a vowel behaves in different phonetic situations.

As a result, unstressed or weak syllables will normally carry phonemes like /ə/, /ɪ/ and

/ʊ/. As we said earlier, syllables can be either closed or open. If the syllable ends in
vowel, then it is open; whereas if it ends in consonants, then it is a closed syllable.

Concerning the stressed syllables we can classify them as follows:

Stressed syllable

Open syllable Closed syllable

CV CVC
One-syllable Me /mi:/ Sit /sɪt/
words
Go /gəʊ/ Put /pʊt/

Spider Trumpet
Words with
two or more CCV CV CCVC + CVC
syllables
/´spaɪ . də/ /´trʌm . pɪt/

Pronunciation

Vowels in open syllables are normally

pronounced as in the ABC: Vowels in closed syllables
are normally short
a /eɪ/

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Phonemic transcription: practice 

Here are some words we are about to transcribe phonemically. Take a look at the
different steps we go through:

Sit

1. How many syllables or vowel sounds can you hear?  1

2. Since the syllabic structure is CVC (closed syllable) the vowel will probably be short
 /ɪ/ (not /i:/).
3. The first consonant sound is /s/.
4. The last consonant sound is /t/.
5. Phonemic transcription  /sɪt/

Park

1. How many syllables or vowels can you hear?  1

2. The syllabic structure is CVC (closed syllable) but the “r” following the vowel “a”
makes it longer  /a:/.
3. The first consonant is /p/ and the last one is /k/.
4. This “r” is silent in non-rhotic accents.
5. Phonemic transcription  /pa:k/

Table

1. How many syllables can you hear?  2

2. The syllabic structure is CV + CVC (open + closed syllable). The stress is in the first
syllable.
3. The vowel in the stressed syllable is a diphthong /eɪ/ and the vowel in the

unstressed syllable is schwa /ə/.

4. The first consonant is /t/ and the consonants in the unstressed syllable are /b/ and
/l/
5. Phonemic transcription  /´teɪbəl/

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Ship

1. How many syllables (vowels) can you hear?  1

2. The syllabic structure is CVC (closed syllable).
3. The vowel sound is short so it is /ɪ/.
4. The digraph “sh” always conveys the sound /ʃ/.

5. Phonemic transcription  /ʃɪp/

Gesture

1. How many syllables (vowels) can you hear?  2

2. The syllabic structure is CVC + CV. The stress is on the first syllable.
3. The stressed syllable is closed and gives the short vowel /e/ whereas the unstressed
syllable conveys the schwa sound /ə/.
4. Grapheme “g” at the beginning of a word may convey the sound /ʤ/ whereas mid
“t” gives the sound /ʧ/.

5. Phonemic transcription  /´ʤesʧə/

Phonemic transcription of common words

I /aɪ/ My /maɪ/

You /ju:/, /jʊ/, jə/ Your /jɔ:/, /jə/

He /hi:/ His /hɪz/

She /ʃi:/ Her /hɜ:/, /hə/

It /ɪt/ Its /ɪts/

We /wi:/, /wɪ/ Our /aʊə/

They /ðeɪ/ Their /ðeə/

Here /hɪə/ There /ðeə/

This /ðɪs/ That /ðæt/, /ðət/

These /ðɪz/ Those /ðəʊz/

Now /naʊ/ Then /ðen/

Today /tə´deɪ/ Tomorrow /tə´mɒrəʊ/

Yesterday /´jestədeɪ/ Next /nekst/

Last /la:st/ Following /´fɒləʊɪŋ/

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The /ðə/ a/an /ə/, /ən/

In /ɪn/ On /ɒn/

At /ət/ Of /əv/

For /fɔ:/, /fə/ To /tʊ/, /tə/

Me /mi:/, /mɪ/ And /ænd/, /ənd/, /ən/

You /ju:/, /jʊ/, /jə/ But /bʌt/

Him /hɪm/ Also /´ɔ:lsəʊ/

Us /ʌs/ Yes /jes/

Them /ðəm/ No /nəʊ/

Well /wel/ Very /´verɪ/

Please /pli:z/ Right /raɪt/

Wrong /rɒŋ/ Word /wɜ:d/

Work /wɜ:k/ Worm /wɜ:m/

Interesting /´ɪntrəstɪŋ/ Some /sʌm/

Thing /θɪŋ/ Think /θɪŋk/

Any /´enɪ/ Something /´sʌmθɪŋ/

Anything /´enɪθɪŋ/ Nothing /´nʌθɪŋ/

Where /weə/ What /wɒt/

Who /hu:/ Which /wɪʧ/

How /haʊ/ When /wen/

Why /waɪ/ Much /mʌʧ/

Many /´menɪ/ Little /´lɪtl/

Few /fju:/ As /əz/

More /mɔ:/ Less /les/

Study /´stʌdɪ/ Studying /´stʌdɪɪŋ/

Play /pleɪ/ Playing /´pleɪɪŋ/

Read /ri:d/ Reading /´ri:dɪŋ/

Write /raɪt/ Writing /´raɪtɪŋ/

Want /wɒnt/ Wanted /´wɒntɪd/

With /wɪð/ Without /wɪ´ðaʊt/

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4.4. Word stress and sentence stress: transcribing content and

function words

As we said previously, each word is at least one-syllable long. Words can be transcribed
in isolation (citation form) or in connected speech. When we transcribe words in
connected speech we normally realize that certain words are more prominent than
others. This distinction is known as sentence stress and differs from the word stress we
find in the citation form of words (as we find them in dictionaries for example). Among
the more prominent words we find nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. These
prominent words are called content words since they are supposed to carry the main
meaning load of the utterance.

Additionally, we find other words which are less prominent in terms of pronunciation.
This second type of words includes prepositions, conjunctions, determiners, pronouns,
auxiliary verbs, etc. These words are known as function words and their role is to
keep the cohesion of an utterance. This diminishing intensity in their pronunciation is
due to their lexical secondary role. Function words are therefore pronounced differently
according to whether they are stressed or not. This distinction results in two phonetic
forms:
A weak form (unstressed or reduced pronunciation).
A strong form (full pronunciation).

I should have gone to the party

/aɪʃəð əv ´gɒn tə ðə´pa:tɪ/

In the sentence above, the words should, have, to, the, are unstressed and hence
transcribed in their weak or unstressed forms. As we can see, weak forms will be
produced by vowels used in typically unstressed positions (/ə, ɪ, ʊ/), whereas strong
forms will show all vowel sounds (except for the schwa sound /ə/). Additionally, it is
important to highlight that certain function words may combine to form contracted
forms. For example: he + will = he’ll. Contracted forms are frequently stressed.

The following list is just a mere representation of the function words together
with their correspondent strong and weak forms we can find in English:

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Auxiliary verbs Strong form Weak form

am /æm/ /əm/
are /a:/ /a:r/ /ə/ /ər/
be /bi:/ /bɪ/
been /bi:n/ /bɪn/
can /kæn/ /kən/
could /kʊd/ /kəd/
do /du:/ /də/
does /dʌz/ /dəz/
had /hæd/ /həd/
has /hæz/ /həz/
must /mʌst/ /məst/
should /ʃʊd/ /ʃəd/
was /wɒz/ /wəz/
were /wɜ:/ /wə/
will /wɪl/ /l/
would /wʊd/ /wəd/
Prepositions Strong forms Weak forms
at /æt/ /ət/
for /fɔ:/ /fə/
from /frɒm/ /frəm/
of /ɒv/ /əv/
to /tu:/ /tə/
Articles Strong forms Weak forms
a /eɪ/ /ə/
an /æn/ /ən/
the /ði:/ /ðə/ /ðɪ/
Pronouns Strong forms Weak forms
he /hi:/ /hɪ/
her /hɜ:/ /hə/
him /hɪm/ /ɪm/
his /hɪz/ /ɪz/
me /mi:/ /mɪ/

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she /ʃi:/ /ʃɪ/

us /ʌs/ /əs/
you /ju:/ /jʊ/
your /jɔ:/ /jə/
they /ðeɪ/ /ðə/
them /ðem/ /ðəm/
Other words Strong forms Weak forms
and /ænd/ /ənd/
but /bʌt/ /bət/
as /æz/ /əz/
some /sʌm/ /səm/
than /ðæn/ /ðən/

It is advisable to state that certain function words are used in their strong form under
the following circumstances:

In short answers:

Spelling form Strong form

Yes, I am /´jes aɪ ´æm/

I think you should /aɪ ´θɪŋk ju: ´ʃʊd/

In most negative forms:

Spelling form Strong form

She can’t do it /ʃi: ka:nt ´du: ɪt/

They aren’t coming /ðeɪ a:nt ´kʌmɪŋ/

When emphasis is laid on the auxiliary verb:

Spelling form Strong form

You can do it /ju: ´kæn ´du: ɪt/

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When prepositions are placed at the end of a sentence:

Spelling form Strong form

What are you looking for? /wɒt ə jə ´lu:kɪŋ fɔ:/

Who are you listening to? /hu: ə jə ´lɪsənɪŋ tu:/

Demonstrative that always uses the strong form /ðæt/.

Relative pronoun that always show the weak form /ðət/.

To end this section on content and function words, it is important to see several
examples of phonemic transcription in connected speech.

1. Yes sir? Is anything wrong?

/jes ´sɜ: || ɪz ´enɪθɪŋ ´rɒŋ/

2. I’m terribly sorry. I’ll bring you another cup of tea

/aɪm ´terɪblɪ ´sɒrɪ || aɪl brɪŋ jəə´nʌðə ´kʌp əv ti:/

3. Thank you. That will be fine

/´θæŋk ju: || ´ðæt wɪl bɪ ´faɪn/

4. How are you today, David?

/haʊə jə tə´deɪ | ´deɪvɪd/

5. I’m worried about my mother. She is ill.

/aɪm ´wʌrɪd ə´baʊt maɪ ´mʌðə || ʃi: ɪz ´ɪl/

6. Why? What happened?

/waɪ || wɒt ´hæpənd/

7. I don’t know. She feels tired

/aɪ´dəʊnt ´nəʊ || ʃi: ´fi:lz ´taɪəd/

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4.5 Consonant clusters

As we have seen previously, the English syllable usually includes more consonants than
the Spanish syllable. These consonant clusters can be placed at the beginning (onset)
or at the end of the syllable (coda). In 4.2 we studied some of the constraints we may
find in English when combining consonants either at the onset or at the coda part of the
syllable. The correct pronunciation of these consonant clusters is a relevant matter to
achieve a good command of the English language. Here we will see a brief sample of
these consonant clusters. In addition, we will provide a short description of their
correct pronunciation and the main mistakes Spanish learners make when pronouncing
these English consonant clusters.

Initial consonant clusters

Some typical initial consonant clusters are:

/sp/ Spanish, spend, spoon

/spl/ split, splash, splendid
/spr/ spring, sprang, spray
/st/  student, stop, stiff
/str/ strong, street, strive
/sk/  school, sky, ski
/skr/ scream, script, scramble
/sl/ slow, sleep, slim
/sm/ smart, smile, smooth
/sn/ snake, snow, snail
/ʃr/ shrink, shrub

Spanish learners should avoid pronouncing an initial /e/ sound before these consonant
clusters. It could be advisable to practice by producing a long /s/ and then adding the
next consonantal sound. For example:
Spain [ssssssssspeɪn]1

1 Notice that the word Spain has just one syllable.

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Other important clusters in initial position are:

/θr/ through, three

/tr/  try, trial
/dr/  dry, drain
/tj/ tune, tube
/dj/ due, duty, dew, duke

Final consonant clusters

Among the numerous consonant clusters in the coda position, we should pay close
attention to those suffixes used to form the past simple tense, the present simple tense,
the plural and the Saxon genitive.

The pronunciation of the bound inflectional morpheme “-ed” 

To form the Past simple form and the Past Participle form of the regular verbs we add
the bound inflectional suffix “-ed” to the root. The pronunciation of this inflectional
morpheme varies depending on the ending of the verb. These are the different
pronunciations for “-ed”:
When we add “-ed” to a verb ending in a voiced consonant, the morpheme “-ed” is
pronounced as /d/:

Voiced consonant Pronunciation Example

b /bd/ Scrubbed

g /gd/ Begged

v /vd/ Loved

ð /ðd/ Breathed

z /zd/ Buzzed

l /ld/ Called
m /md/ Climbed

n /nd/ Drained
ŋ /ŋd/ Hanged

ʤ /ʤd/ Changed

r /rd/ Scarred

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

When we add “-ed” to a verb ending in a voiceless consonant, the morpheme “-ed”
is pronounced as /t/:

Voiceless consonant Pronunciation Example

p /pt/ Stopped

k /kt/ Talked

f /ft/ Laughed

θ /θt/ Frothed

s /st/ Passed

ʃ /ʃt/ Finished

ʧ /ʧt/ Watched

When we add “-ed” to a verb ending in a vowel the inflectional morpheme “-ed” is
pronounced as /d/:
Played/pleɪd/

Stayed /steɪd/
When we add “-ed” to a verb ending in /t/ or /d/, the inflectional morpheme “ed” is
pronounced as /ɪd/:

Verb ending in /t/ or /d/ Pronunciation Example

/t/ /ɪd/ Wanted, exhausted

/d/ /ɪd/ Added, needed

The “-ed” morpheme is also pronounced as /ɪd/ in words such as:

Naked, wicked, wretched, learned

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

The pronunciation of the bound inflectional morpheme showing plural,

Present Simple tense and Saxon genitive 

Inflectional morpheme “-s” (-es; -ies) is used to form plurals, the genitive case (‘s) and
the 3rd person singular in the Present Simple tense. Depending on its phonetic
surroundings, “-s” may adopt several pronunciations:

When we add “-s” to a word ending in voiced consonant, the “-s” morpheme is
pronounced as /z/:

Voiced consonants Pronunciation Example

b /bz/ Rubs

d /dz/ Beds

g /gz/ Bags

v /vz/ Loves

l /lz/ Mails

m /mz/ Climbs

n /nz/ Rains

ŋ /ŋz/ Songs

When we add “-s” to a word ending in a voiceless consonant, the “-s” morpheme is
pronounced as /s/:

Voiceless consonant Pronunciation Example

p /ps/ Drops

t /ts/ Sits

k /ks/ Walks

f /fs/ Laughs

θ /θs/ Paths

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

If the word ends in vowel, the inflectional morpheme “-s” is pronounced as /z/:
She plays  /ʃɪ ´pleɪz/
The toys  /ðə ´tɔɪz/
Mary’s tent /´merɪz ´tent/

If we add “-s” to a word ending in a sibilant consonant /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, ʧ, ʤ/, the 3rd
person singular morpheme for Present Simple tense and the “-s” morpheme for
plurals is pronounced as /ɪz/ (common spelling  “-es”):

Sibilant consonants Pronunciation Example

/s/ /ɪz/ Buses

/z/ /ɪz/ Buzzes

/ʃ/ /ɪz/ Bushes

/ʒ/ /ɪz/ Garages

/ʧ/ /ɪz/ Patches

/ʤ/ /ɪz/ Urges

Concerning the pronunciation of the Saxon genitive when the word ends in
sibilants we may say that:
If we add “-s” to a common noun it follows the rule explained above. For example:
The prince’s  /ðə´prɪnsɪz/
If we add “-s” to a proper noun we may find two different situations. Some people
will not pronounced the “-s” morpheme, and some others will pronounce it as /ɪz/.
For example: St. James’ (s)  /ʤeɪmz/ or /ʤeɪmzɪz/. Some people will spell “’s”
and some others will not.

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Other consonant clusters in final position we can find in English, apart from the
suffixes, are:

/sp/ Clasp, wasp /lʧ/ Filch, squelch

/st/ First, fist /lʤ/ Indulge, bulge

/sk/ Task, ask /lm/ Helm, realm

/lp/ Help, yelp /lf/ Wolf, elf

/lt/ Melt, salt /lv/ Involve, solve

/lk/ Milk, silk /ŋk/ Drink, sink

/lb/ Bulb /nt/ Want, can’t

/ld/ World, wild /bl/ Stable, double

/snt/ Mustn’t /vnt/ Haven’t

/kst/ Next /dnt/ Wouldn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t

/znt/ Doesn’t, wasn’t, isn’t /fθs/ Fifths

/mpts/ Prompts /lfθs/ Twelfths

/ksθs/ Sixths /ndθs/ Thousandths

4.6. English spelling

As we’ve seen, English shows a rather inconsistent spelling system. Quite often, this
unstable spelling makes the learner of English uncertain about the actual pronunciation
of a word.

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Here is a helpful guideline for Spanish students for some troublesome consonant
spellings in English and their actual pronunciation:

Graphemes Pronunciation
Occurrence Examples
(spelling) (phoneme)

Before “a”, “o”, “u” car, cop, cut

/k/ Initial consonant

class, clock, crash
clusters

c Final position Traffic

Before “e”, “i”, “y” cease, circus, bicycle
/s/
Final –ce space, pace, mice
Before “ia”, “ea”, station, ancient, ocean,
/ʃ/
“ie”, “io” suspicious
Initial position
/ʧ/ chicken, church
before a vowel
In French
/ʃ/ chef, brochure
loanwords
ch
Greek derived
chaos, chemistry, architecture
words
/k/
Initial position
Christ, Christian
before “r”
Before “a”, “o”, “u” gap, got, gulp
gu/gue guess, guest, disguise
/g/
-gh- in initial and
g ghost
mid position
Gesture, gin, gym, danger
/ʤ/ Before “e”, “i”, “y” (exceptions: give, get, together,
begin, etc.)
laugh, rough, cough (exceptions:
gh /f/ -gh in final position
though, although, through)
If derived from a
/ŋ/ singer
verb
intervocalic
–ng- If not derived from
/ŋg/ longer
a verb
luggage, baggage, dagger
gg /g/
(exception: suggest)
Initial position (not
think, thought, thick
in function words)
Mid position for
cathedral, mathematics, ethics
/θ/ scientific words
Final position bath, teeth, tooth, oath, enough
th
the, they, them, though, this,
In function words
that, there, those
either, neither, other, father,
/ð/ Mid position
mother, brother
Final position smooth, with, bathe, breathe

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

/t/ Some proper nouns Thomas, Esther, Theresa

Silent consonants in consonant clusters

Consonant cluster Silent consonant Examples
Bomb, lamb, succumb, plumb, numb, climb,
-mb b
comb, dumb
-bt b Debt, doubt
sc- c Scissors, science, scientific, scent, scenario
gn- g Gnome, gnarled
-ng g Align, reign, foreign
-gm g Diaphragm, paradigm
-ch- h Ache, chaos, anchor, Christ
gh- h Ghost, ghastly
Sigh, high, fight, night, sight, plight, weight,
-gh(t) Both are mute
height, might, flight, neighbor
-ph- h Shepherd
rh- h Rhotic, rhetoric
wh- h What, where, when, white
Initial h Heir, honesty, honor, hour, hotel
-exh- h Exhibit, exhort, exhaust
kn- k Kneel, knife, knee
“a” + silent l = Half, calf, palm, calm (exception: salmon
/a:/ /´sæmən/
al
“a” + silent l + k =
Talk, walk, chalk, stalk
/ɔ:/
ol Silent l Folk, yolk
ould Silent l Could, should, would
-lk Silent l Talk, walk
-mn n Autumn, column, condemn
pn- p Pneumonia
ps- p Psychiatrist
-stle t Castle, wrestle, nestle
-sten t Moisten, glisten
wh- w Who, whom, whose, whole, whore
wr- w Write, wrought
-wn/-wl w Lawn, mown, pawn, dawn, crawl, brawl
Some words w Answer, two, sword

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Some spelling guidelines for vowel graphemes

Grapheme “a”
Spelling Phoneme Examples
a /æ/ Trap, bad, cab, sat, ran, sang
a+r /a:/ Car, park, party
a + silent l /a:/ Calm, half, palm
al /ɔ:/ All, always
a /ɒ/ Want, what, watch
a /e/ Many, any

Grapheme “e”
e /i:/ Be, these
ee, ea, ei, eo /i:/ See, sea, receive, people
e /ɪ/ Pretty, wanted
e /e/ Bed, ten, pen, set
ew /u:/ Jew
ear /ɜ:/ Earth, learn, heard (notice heart /ha:t/)

Grapheme “i”
i /ɪ/ Pit, rid, sin, sit
ir /ɜ:/ First, girl, bird, firm

Grapheme “o”
o /ɒ/ Slot, shot, long, pot, mop
o /ʊ/ bosom
o…e, o…o, o…a /əʊ/ Hope, sole, trope. Solo, motor. Sofa, solar
o /ʌ/ See list above
oa Road
/əʊ/
oe Toe
oo /u:/ Mood, food
ook /ʊ/ Book, hook, look
ou /aʊ/, /u:/ House. Youth
w + or /ɜ:/ Word, work, world, worm, worst, worse
o+r /ɔ:/ Cord, sort, lord

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

In unit 3 we dealt with English vowels thoroughly. It is advisable to review the

differences in spelling and pronunciation between words spelt with “o” and pronounced
with /ʌ/. According to Beverley Collins, these are known as the worry words. Here is a
list which can be really helpful when transcribing the sound /ʌ/ (Collins, 2009: 112):

Words spelt with “o” but pronounced with /ʌ/

done none son ton won honey

money month Monday London front onion

sponge among tongue stomach monkey above

glove love shove shovel cover covert

come some brother mother company dozen

color worry thorough borough monk wonder

Words spelt with “ou”, “oe” and “oo”, “ough” but pronounced with /ʌ/

country double couple young youngster touch

trouble southern does blood flood enough

rough tough county

Grapheme “u”
u /ʊ/ Full, put, pull
u /u:/ Flu
u /ɪ/ Busy
u /e/ Bury
u /ʌ/ Sun, fun, run, cup, but, much, uncle
ur /ɜ:/ Nurse, purse, hurt, turn

Some special graphemes

Since there is no one-to-one correspondence between spelling and pronunciation in

English, we must be aware of certain words which may pose problems for non-native
speakers. These words are for example homographs, that is, words which share the
same spelling but have a different pronunciation.

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Homographs

Past simple tense

Read /ri:d/ To read (verb) Read /red/ or past participle of
the verb to read

Live /lɪv/ To live Live /laɪv/ “en directo”

A large area of land

Desert /dɪ´zɜ:t/ To leave a place Desert /´dezət/ which has Little
water

In addition to homographs, we can also find many other groups of letter which share
the same spelling but have different pronunciations. Notice for example the
manifold pronunciations of the groups –oes, -ough, -one, and -ove. Here is a list:

Shoes  /ʃu:z/

oes Goes  /gəʊz/

Does /dʌz/

Enough /ɪ´nʌf/

Through /θru:/

Thought /θɔ:t/

ough Plough /plaʊ/

Thorough /´θɜ:rəʊ/

Cough /kɒf/

Though /ðəʊ/

Gone /gɒn/

one Done /dʌn/

Bone /bəʊn/

Love /lʌv/

ove Move /mu:v/

Stove /stəʊv/

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

The English grapheme “x”

In English, the grapheme “x” can have two different pronunciations:

/gz/: example, exam, existence, examination.
/ks/: exercise, experience, excuse, excursion.

Appendix

The International Phonetic Alphabet -IPA Chart- (2005)

This resource is available on the virtual class or on this website:

http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/ipachart.html

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License.

Copyright © 2005 International Phonetic Association.

Unit 4 – Pay attention to

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Specially recommended

Be sure you read…

English phonetics

Notes on Phonetics by professor Enrique Lafuente Millán from the University of

Zaragoza. Pay close attention especially to pages 25-49 where you will find information
on the English syllable.

This document is available on this website:

http://www.unizar.es/elafuen/FILES_FONETICA/CURSO_COMPLETO.pdf

Be sure you watch…

Smart IPA Phonetics Keyboard

Although not a video, the following resource is rather useful to learn how to use
phonetic symbols. It is a virtual keyboard for phonetic transcriptions and offers lots of
different IPA symbols and fonts:

This document is available on the virtual class or on this website:

http://www.i2speak.com/

Unit 4 - Specially recommended

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

More information

Webgraphy

How to teach closed and open syllables

The following website offers a useful guide to the teaching of closed and open syllables
in English.

http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/how-to-teach-closed-and-open-syllables

Unit 4 – More information

 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Exercises

Practice unit 4

1. Provide the phonemic transcription for the following words. You can use the
dictionary.

Words Transcription Words Transcription

schedule mother

father will

come some

country blood

teacher church

knife people

feel fill

seal sit

but done

book there

they them

though through

thought think

ship shine

sun set

silver all

ought daughter

car bark

park establish

Unit 4 – Exercises
 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

2. Read the following transcribed words and wrote their spelling forms:

Transcription Spelling Transcription Spelling

/sʌn/ /´mʌðə/

/fiʃ/ /ʃɪp/

/´sɜ:kl/ /waɪld/

/trɪk/ /ræŋk/

/´plæŋktən/ /wɒʧ/

/wɒʃ/ /´jestədeɪ/

/jəʊk/ /jɔ:/

/´tenənt/ /pɪʧ/

/´mɜ:ʧənt/ /geɪn/

/kʌp/ /bʊk/

/´dʌbl/ /´bɒtl/

3. Decide which is the correct sound for the “th” graphemes in the following words:

though through although them they

their thine this those that

there think thought that thanks

than thin thigh thermal thesis

thigh thimble thing third thirty

thorough throughout thither thong thousand

thread threat threaten three thrill

threshold throne thump throw thy

Phonemes

/ð/ /θ/

Unit 4 – Exercises
 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

4. Provide the written form of the following phonemic transcriptions:

1. /´tɪm ɪz ´fi:lɪŋ ´wel/

2. /hi:z ´ri:dɪŋ/
3. /ʃi: ´si:z ´prɪtɪ ´θɪŋz ɒn ðə ´teɪbəl/

4. /aɪ ´si: ´ten ´ʃɪps ɒn ðə ´si:/

/ðeɪə nɒt ðə ´seɪm ´wɜ:ds/  they are not the same words

5. /ðeɪ ´met ən ə´merikən hu: ´sed ´θæŋks/

6. /ðə ´fæt ´mæn ´ræn ´bæk tə ðə ´bæŋk/

7. /hi: ´sæt ɪn ðə ´bæk əv ðə ´tæksɪ/

8. /bʌt ɪt ´mʌst bɪ ´dʌn ´raɪt ´naʊ/

9. /´hæv wi: ɪ´nʌf ´mʌnɪ tə ´baɪə ´tʌn əv ðɪs/
10. /´rʌb jər ´æŋkəl wɪð ´bʌtə/

11. /´haʊə jɔ: ´flaʊəz/

12. /´jestədeɪ wi: wə ´baɪŋ ə ´bju:tɪfəl ´jeləʊ ka:/
13. /ðə wə ´sʌm ´jʌŋ ´pi:pəl ɒn ðə ´stri:t/

14. /hi: ´hɪt hɪm ɒn ðə ´hed ən ´hɜ:t hɪz ´hænd/

15. /aɪ ´heɪt ´hʌntəz hu: ´hʌnt ´hɔ:ks/

5. Identify the mistakes in the following phonemic transcriptions:

1. I think they are here

/aɪ ´θɪnk deɪ a: ´hɪa/
2. This is my house
/dɪs ɪs maɪ ´hæʊs/
3. You should calm down
/jʊ sʊld ´ca:lm daʊn/

Unit 4 – Exercises
 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

6. The following words contain inflectional suffixes for past simple, present simple
and the plural form. Provide their phonemic transcription:

Word Transcription Word Transcription

Refuses Watched

Stopped Climbs

Played Buses

Goes Shelves

Songs Laughs

Paths Finishes

Passes Boxes

Walked Called

Loved Changed

Laughed Needed

Wanted Added

Learned Buzzed

Breathed Defeated

Rained Shirts

Unit 4 – Exercises
 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Assignment 3: Phonemic transcription of a conversation

Transcribe the following conversation between an examiner and a student. You can
use a dictionary. Try to convey the function words and content words they are stated in
the text (use contractions if required). Additionally, identify the intonation groups, use
the symbols | for brief pauses and || for longer pauses.

Record yourself reading out loud the text taking into account the pauses and the
importance of function words to convey meaning.

Examiner: Good morning. Please, come in and sit down.

Student: Thank you.
E: Could you give me your name, please?
S: Penny Wise.
E: Ah, yes, here you are on the list. Well, Miss Wise, I assume that you’ve been studying Hamlet
thoroughly.
S: Well, I’m not sure that thoroughly is the right word, but I’ve done my best.
E: Good. What conclusions have you reached about the motivation behind Hamlet’s action?
S: To tell you the truth, I can’t help feeling that perhaps the Freudian interpretation comes
closest to what I instinctively feel.
E: That’s interesting. What exactly do you mean by “the Freudian interpretation”?
S: Well, it seems fairly obvious that Hamlet suffers from an Oedipus complex. He’s so in love
with his mother that the King automatically becomes his principal enemy, and Hamlet himself
is incapable of loving any other woman.
Alcaraz, 1995: 202

Unit 4 – Exercises
 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

Test

1. The nucleus of the syllable is normally realized by:

A. A vowel.
B. A consonant.
C. A glide.

2. A closed syllable is a syllable that…

A. Ends in a vowel.
B. Ends in a glide.
C. Ends in one or more consonants.

3. The schwa sound /ə/ typically occurs in…

A. Stressed syllables.
B. Unstressed syllables.
C. Monosyllabic words.

4. English rhythm is based on:

A. The succession of function words.
B. The succession of stressed syllables.
C. The intonation pattern used.

5. Phonemic transcriptions represent:

A. Ideal language pronunciation.
B. Actual realizations of speech.
C. The exact pronunciation of a single speaker.

6. The CVC pattern states that if a words ends in consonant + “-e” the /e/ sound will
be:
A. Long.
B. Short.
C. Silent.

Unit 4 – Test
 Fonética de la lengua inglesa

7. Vowels in closed syllables are normally...:

A. Long.
B. Short.
C. Silent.

8. Function words are normally…

A. Stressed words.
B. Unstressed words.

9. The consonant cluster –gh in final position shows:

A. The sound /θ/.
B. The sound /f/.
C. No sound.
D. Both B and C are correct.

10. In the initial consonant cluster kn-, the “k” is…

A. A plosive voiceless sound.
B. Silent.

Unit 4 – Test