Happy New Year

I wish you a healthy and catastrophe-free New Year!

credit: Tony Stanley

Fiona Bruce again

credit: Kotomicreations

I accept JWL's challenge (see my blog of the 23rd of December) and transcribe Fiona Bruce's signing-off sentence myself /hɛː/. A few comments are added. The sentence goes like this:

Well, that's it from us. There's more on the BBC news channel including a fresh look at tomorrow's front pages. But now on BBC One it's time to join our news teams where you are. Bye-bye.

 First, here's JWL's version again:
[wəl `ats ɪt fm ˈᴧs | ðɛz ˎmɔː | ɒn ðə bibsi ˈnjʉz ʧanl | ɪŋxlʉdɪŋ ə ˈfrɛʃ ˈlək | ət təˈmɒɾz frᴧnt ˎpeɪʤɪz | bət ˈnã̟ʊ | ɒn bibisi ˈwᴧn | ɪs ˈtaɪn tə ˈʤɔɪn | ɑ njʉ simz wɛ ˎjʉ ɑ | ˈbɐ ˈbaɪh] 

Here's my version split up in several chunks of various length:
1. [wə ðæts ɪt fm ˎʌs] (This section lasts roughly 600ms. Mark the relaxed weakform pronunciations of well and from. In contrast to JWL I do hear a voiced 'th' at the beginning of that.) 
2. [ðɛz ˎmɔː ʔɒn ə biˑbsi ˈnjʉz̥ ʧænl̩] (Note the weakform for the definite article the. I can't spot an eth in the. The whole phrase lasts about 1.38s. )
3. [ɪŋɣ̊lʉdɪŋ ə ˈfrɛʃ lɘk ɘt^h] (The /k/ in including is a slightly voiced velar fricative; the vowel quality of look and at is difficult to determine because the vowel duration is extremely short. For my ears the vowels have a fairly half close character.)
4. [tˈmɒrz̥ frᴧnt ˎpeɪʤɪz] (For a news presenter it's a very relaxed pron of tomorrow's.)
5. [bət ˏnã̟ʊ] (There's a low rise on now.)
6. [ʔɒ̃n ˊbibisi wᴧn] (with a high rise on BBC One)
7. [ɪs ˈtaɪn tə ˈʤɔɪn ʔɑ ˈnjʉ siːmz̥ wɛ jʉ ɑ] (Mark the change of the consonant sequence at the word boundary between news and teams.)
8. [bɐ ˈbaɪ] (The diphthong in bye has an almost whispery character.)

Update: Please don't miss Jack Windsor Lewis's blog no. 432 on this topic.

Merry Christmas

Dear blog followers!

I wish you a peaceful, relaxing Merry Christmas.

credit: http://www.hdwallpaperspics.com/

a rarer type of assimilation

John Maidment in his blog of the 14th of December reports on a rare type of assimilation illustrated by examples such as something as /sʌnθɪŋ/ or himself as /hɪnself/. The speaker who used these assimilations is Fiona Bruce, broadcaster of the BBC News at Ten. On the 21st John heard another such assimilation. I was lucky to have recorded this news broadcast so that I'm able to provide evidence. Listen to the sentence "... But now on BBC One it's time to join our news teams where you are"; you clearly hear her say /taɪn tə/.

credit: BBC one

The phrase "time to" starts at about 0:06 in the zoomed-in version of the clip. Watch her lips!

beer or what?

Students of my phonetics courses are requested to take an IPA (= Individual Pronunciation Assessment) test.
One of the test sentences runs like this: "What do you choose - beer or juice?"
Some of my young professionals try to avoid word-final fortissification (typical of their native language), so the sentence materializes as: "What do you choose - beer or Jews?"

credit: Dinner Series

credit: whereawesomehappens.blogspot.de