Unit 1: Introduction
This document provides relevant information about two of the topics covered in Unit 1,
in particular:
1. Kinds of Language Varieties
1.1 Factors accounting for variability
1.2 Kinds of variability
2. Introduction to Transcription Practice
2.1 Symbols and transcription
2.2 Intermediate vowels
Appendix 1: Symbols & diacritics missing in Trudgill & Hannahs
Appendix 2: References and Further Reading
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
than changes in pronunciation. Those words used in a very informal situation are
often referred as slang.
There is another kind of variation within English, which is not dependent on dialect
or style. This has to do with the subject or topic being talked or written about. Kinds
of language that reflect the about are known as registers. Registers most often got
to do with vocabulary. They also show who is member of a group or not (social
function). Outsiders often react to this by calling insiders registers jargon. We will
call them technical (or non-technical) registers.
Remember that there is no necessary connection between a certain dialect (or
accent) and a certain register (or style)!
Furthermore, there are differences of pronunciation which cannot be explained in
terms either of change over time or of speech style but in terms the speakers
preference for one pronunciation over others. This kind of variation is known as
free variation.
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
(ii)
In the present course (including the written exam) we will only use the phonemic
transcription. In particular, the one you learnt in the course Pronunciacin de la
lengua inglesa, and used in many of the pronunciation dictionaries, including the
LPD (Longman Pronunciation Dictionary) by JC Wells. It is the transcription system
which in recent years has been used in EFL works on British English. It uses RP as
the reference accent, the one with which samples of other accents are
compared.
With respect to the rest of the accents (inside and outside UK), we will use the
phonetic symbols and notations that are most frequently found in education and
publishing nowadays. They will be reproduced in a table of the subsequent
theoretical units uploaded in this virtual course.
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
iii) In unstressed prefixes (such as re-, pre- and de-) before vowel,
as in react, or deactivate.
iv) In the unstressed suffixes -iate and -ious when they are
dissyllables, as in appreciate or hilarious.
v) In the weak form of the words me, he, she, we and be.
vi) In the weak form of the word the before vowel.
/u/: This weak vowel is not so commonly found. It is most often represented in
spelling by the letters u and o. It usually occurs:
i) In word-internal unstressed position before another vowel, as in
evacuation.
ii) In the weak form of the words you and who.
iii) In the weak form of the words to, into, do (aux.) before vowel.
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
Cardinal vowel no. 1: close front unrounded vowel (also used for RP /i/
in see)
Lax Cardinal vowel no. 1: Centralised (fairly front) fairly close unrounded
vowel (as in RP hit)
Cardinal vowel no. 3: open-mid front unrounded vowel (also used for RP
in red)
Cardinal vowel no. 6: open-mid back rounded vowel (also used for RP
// in saw)
Cardinal vowel no. 8: close back rounded vowel (also used for RP /u:/ in
do)
Lax Cardinal vowel no. 8: fairly back fairly close rounded vowel (as in RP
pull)
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Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
Cardinal vowel no. 13: open back rounded vowel (also used for RP in
doll)
Cardinal vowel no. 14: open-mid back unrounded vowel (also used for
RP in cup)
Cardinal vowel no. 22: schwa, mid central unrounded vowel (also used
for RP in letter)
Cardinal vowel no. 25: fairly open front unrounded vowel (also used for
RP in cat)
Cardinal vowel no. 26: open-mid central unrounded vowel (also used for
RP in bird)
Indicates long vowel (as in RP /i/, /u:/, /:/, /:/, /:/) (IPA symbol )
Indicates more closed (or raised) vowel (C means more closed consonant)
Indicates more open (or lowered vowel (C means more open consonant)
Indicates more front (or advanced tongue root) vowel (C means more
front consonant)
Indicates more back (or retracted tongue root) vowel (C means more
back consonant)
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
UNIT 1_THEORY
Silvia C. Barreiro Bilbao
Variedades fontico-fonolgicas de la lengua inglesa
http://www.photransedit.com/Online/Text2Phonetics.aspx
http://tom.brondsted.dk/text2phoneme/
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