Transcription Rules

Collected by Florencia Ribeiro, Ivana Decuzzi and Mariana Maneglia

LEO 1 Sáenz 2009
Supervised by Prof. Cantarutti

• /ʌ/ is never “a”.

EXAMPLE: able → /dHak/ ; cart Æ /j@9s/; smack Æ /rlzj/

• “u” is generally /ʌ/ (when the sound resembles “a”)

EXAMPLE: cup → /jão/
• “ee” and “ea” are generally /i:/.
EXAMPLE: feet → /eh9s/
• /æ/ is generally “a” except “plait” “plaid”. (when not followed by /r/)
EXAMPLE: cat → /kæt/
• Final double letters take one sound.
EXAMPLE: inn → /Hm/
• “c” and “ce” are always /s/.
EXAMPLE: peace → /oh9r/

• “sh” and sometimes “s” (like sugar) are generally /ʃ/.

EXAMPLE: shake → /ʃdHj/

• We use [i] only in unstressed syllables.

EXAMPLE: weekly → /vh9jkh/
• We use [i] when we find final “y”, “i”, “ie”.
EXAMPLE: minnie → /lHmh/

• We use [i] in the weak forms of “he” /hi/, “she” /ʃi/, “we” /wi/, “me” /mi/ and “be”
/bi/.
• We use [i] in rising diphthongs.
EXAMPLE: familiar → /fəmHliə/
• We use [u] in the weak forms of “you” /ju/, “who” /hu/ , “do” /du/, “to” /tu/ (+
vowel) and “into” /Hntu/. (+ vowel)

• If a verb in the infinitive ends in a voiced sound except /d/, the regular past ends
with /d/.
EXAMPLE:
play → /okdH/
played → /okdHc/
• If a word in the infinitive ends in a voiceless sound except /t/, the regular past ends
with /t/.
EXAMPLE:
ask → /@9rj/
asked → /@9rjs/
• If a word in the infinitive ends in a /t, d/ sound, the regular past ends in /Hc/.
EXAMPLE:
arrest → /ərest/
arrested → /əqdrsHc/
• Words that end in “ing” take /Hŋ/ in the transcription, keeping the root.
EXAMPLE: making → /ldHjHŋ/
• Words that end in “ism” end in /Hzm/ in transcription.
EXAMPLE: mechanism → /ldjəmHyl/
• When the ending “ful” is in an adjective it ends in /fəl/ or /fl/.
EXAMPLE: playful → /okdHeəl/

• When the ending “ful” is in a noun, it ends in /fʊl/ (mostly for recipes).
EXAMPLE: spoonful → /rot9meTk/
• We use /ðə/ (the) when it is weak and followed by a consonant.
EXAMPLE: the car → /ðə k@:/
• We use /ði:/ (the) when it is weak and followed by /i:/ or /I/.
EXAMPLE: the image → /ði: HlHdʒ/
• We use /ði/ (the) when it is weak and followed by any other vowel that /i:/ or /i/.
EXAMPLE: the ant → /ði ænt/
• We use the strong form /ðeə/ (there) when it is an adverb.
• We use the weak form /ðə/ (there) when it is an anticipatory subject.

• “or” is mostly /ɔ:/.

• “ar” is mostly /@:/.

• “er” is mostly /ɜ:/.

• Unstressed endings “er” and “or” are always /ə/.
EXAMPLE: waiter → /vdHsə/

• “on” and “not” always take /ɒ/.

• “ir, er, ur” usually take /ɜ:/.

EXAMPLE: bird → /bɜ:d/

• When “ng” is final, we use /ŋ/.

EXAMPLE: among → /əmʌŋ/

• When “ng” is a derivation from a verb finishing in /M/, we use /ŋ/, never /g/.
EXAMPLE: singer → /sIŋə/
• In common nouns such as finger, English, language, anger, we use /ŋg/.

• Most “ar, as(s), au(gh), ear” take /ɑ:/.

EXAMPLE: laugh → /lɑ:f/

• “s” is usually /z/ between vowels.
EXAMPLE: visit → /uHyHs/

• The negative prefix “un” is always /ʌn/.

EXAMPLE: unlucky → /ʌnlʌki/

• We use /ðət/ (that) when it is a weak form (conjunction).
• We use /ðæt/ (that) when it is a strong form (demonstrative or pronoun).
• The weak form of “as” is /əz/.
• The strong form of “as” is /æz/.
• The weak form of “us” is /əs/.

• The strong form of “us” is /ʌs/.

• When “some” means “an indefinite amount” (weak form) we pronounce /səm, sm/.

• When “some” is a pronoun or a contrastive (strong form) we pronounce /sʌm/. It

can also mean “impressive”.
• .N9.can be “or”, “oar”, “aw”, “au”.
EXAMPLE:
sport → .roN9s.; door → .cN9.
board → .aN9c.
 saw → .rN9.
daughter → .cN9s?.
• “i” is generally .H. except for foreign borrowings.
EXAMPLE:
hill → .gHk.
list → .kHrs.
But: pizza → .oh9sr?.
machine → .l?Rh9m.
police → .o?kh9r.
• .d. is generally “e”.
EXAMPLE: red → .qdc.
• .d.can sometimes be “ea”, “a”, “ei”, “ey”, “eo”.
EXAMPLE:
head → .gdc.
many → .ldmh.
leisure → .kdY?.
• Some exceptions to the rule above that take .d.-
bury → .adqh.
burial → .adqh?k.
friend → .eqdmc.
said → .rdc.
• .@9.can be “ar”.
EXAMPLE: mark → .l@9j.
• .@9.is not so commonly “au”.
EXAMPLE:
aunt → .@9ms.
laugh → .k@9e.
draught → .cq@9es.
• .@9.appears generally before .l+m+r.-
EXAMPLE: ask → .@9rj.

• .29. is “er”, “ir” and “ur” plus a consonant.
EXAMPLE:
perfect → .o29eHjs.
bird → .a29c.
furniture → .e29msR?.
• .29. appears in
EXAMPLE:
word → .v29c.
work → .v29j.
world → .v29kc.
• .29. is not so commonly “our” and “ear”.
EXAMPLE:
journey → .cY29mh.
heard → .g29c.
• common spellings for .P. are: “o” plus final consonant, “ock”, “o” plus double
consonant, “a” after “w”, “wh”, “qu”.
EXAMPLE:
dog → .cPf.
clock → .jkPj.
bottle → .aPsk.
what → .vPs.
• .H+T+z+d+P+U.never occur in final position.

• .T. occasionally occurs in initial position.

• .?. appears in unstressed syllables and can work for any vowel spelling.

• .sR. is generally “ch”.

EXAMPLE: church → .sR29sR.

• “b” is not pronounced when the word ends in “mb” or “bt”.

EXAMPLE:
climb → .jk`Hl.
doubt → .c`Ts.
• “k” is mute in “kn”.
EXAMPLE: knee → .mh9.
• “x” is /gz/ when it’s followed by an accented vowel.
EXAMPLE: exam → .Hfyzl.
• “x” is /ks/ when the prefix is accented.
EXAMPLE: excellent → .djr?k?ms.
• “nk” is .Mj.: It is a case of historical assimilation in which .m. turns into .M.
because of the influence of .j..
EXAMPLE: pink → .oHMj.
• “-ate” ending is pronounced .?s. when the word is a noun.
EXAMPLE: certificate → .r?sHeHj?s.
• “-ate” ending is pronounced .dHs. when the word is a verb.
EXAMPLE: delegate → .cdkHfdHs.
• Weak forms “to” and “into” are .st. and .Hmst. when they are followed by a
vowel.
EXAMPLE: to America → .st?ldqHj?.
• Weak forms “to” and “into” are .s?. and .hms?. when they are followed by a
consonant.
EXAMPLE: into the car → .hms?C?j@9.
• Negative contractions are always strong forms because they are content words.
EXAMPLE: haven’t → .gzu?ms.
• Genitive case/plurals/3rd person singular in the Simple Present tense rule: When the
singular noun/infinitive form of the verb ends in:
¾ a voiceless sound (except for a sibilant) it adds .r.-
EXAMPLE: cats → .jzsr.
¾ a voiced sound (except for a sibilant) it adds .y.-
EXAMPLE: dogs → .cPfy.
¾ a sibilant sound it adds .Hy.-
EXAMPLE: illnesses → .Hkm?rHy.

• Linking .q. rule: “r” in RP is non-rhotic so it is not pronounced when it occurs in
final position or before a consonant, except when it is followed by a vowel sound
in which case it is called linking .q..
EXAMPLE:
guitar → .fHs@9.
prayer → .oqd?.
record → .qdjN9c.
• Rising Diphthongs: These are unstressed diphthongs in which the second element
is the prominent one.
EXAMPLE: India → .Hmch?.
• “use” is .it9r. when it is a noun and in the structure used to .it9rsst..

• “use” is .it9y. when it is a verb.

• In compound words like everybody .duqhaPch. and anybody .dmhaPch., both forms
retain their original pronunciation, which is why Zh\ appears in .dmh..