Thursday 3 July 2014

A bouquet of transcription symbols

Hyacinth
Elizabeth

1. Hyacinth: "I thought we'd have the nicer china."
2. Elizabeth: "Oh, thank you, Hyacinth."
3. Hyacinth: "They're something of a family heirloom."
4. Elizabeth: "Oh God, don't give me anything special."
5. Hyacinth: "So you will be careful, wont you, dear? - Biscuit?"
6. Elizabeth: "Well - thank you."
7. Hyacinth: "I used to have six of these, until one fell into the hands of my brother-in-law, Onslow, one Christmas. 8. I could've killed him. 9.  Course, one can't make a fuss on festive occasions 10. but he certainly got the short end of the/a
turkey, I can tell you."
11. Elizabeth: "Did they tell you what was wrong with your father?"
12. Hyacinth: "Something mildly embarrassing. 13. One of those minor geriatric complaints. I couldn't catch the medical terminology."
14. Elizabeth: "Oh!"

You can listen to and enjoy this excerpt1)2) from the popular series 'Keeping up Appearances" at youtube in a particular version with subtitles. 'So what!', you may think. I would definitely not have mentioned it, had it been the usual subtitles. But this one's different; the subtitles are offered in a transcribed form. In a blog like the present one such an undertaking cries for scrutiny. The transcriptions have also been scrutinised by J. Windsor Lewis in his PhonetiBlog no. 477. Due to the revisions made to the subtitles of the video (see my two footnotes) I've decided to include both versions of subtitles.

"a)" indicates the original transcription of the sketch (= version 1),
"b)" refers to the updated transcriptions of the video (= version 2) and
"c)" is my version.

1a) aɪ ˈθɔːt wid həv ðə ˈnaɪsə ˈtʃaɪnə
1b) aɪ ˈθɔːt wəd 'hæv ðə ˈnaɪsə ˈtʃaɪnə
1c) aɪ ˈθɔːt wid hæv ðə ˈnaɪsə ˈtʃaɪnə
2a) əʊ ˈθæŋk ju ˈhaɪəsɪnθ
2b) 'əʊ ˈθæŋk ju ˈhaɪəsɪnθ
2c) 'əʊ | 'θæŋk ju ˈhaɪəsɪnθ
3a) ðæts ˈsʌmθɪŋ əv ə ˈfæməli ˈeəluːm
3b) ðeə ˈsʌmθɪŋ əv ə ˈfæmli ˈeəluːm
3c) ðεː ˈsʌmθɪŋ əv ə ˈfæmli 'eəluːm
4a) əʊ ˈɡɒd | dəʊnt ˈɡɪv mi ˈeniθɪŋ ˈspeʃl̩
4b) əʊ ˈɡɒd | 'dəʊnt ɡɪv mi ˈeniθɪŋ ˈspeʃl̩
4c) əʊ ˈɡɒd | 'dəʊnt ɡɪv mi eniθɪŋ 'speʃl̩
5a) ˈsəʊ ju wɪl bi ˈkeəfəl | wəʊntʃu dɪə || 'bɪskɪt
5b) ˈsəʊ ju 'wɪl bi ˈkeəfəl | 'wəʊntʃu dɪə || 'bɪskɪt
5c) səʊ ju ˈwɪl bi keəfəl | ˈwəʊntʃu dɪə || 'bɪskɪt
6a) wel  | 'θæŋk ju
6b) wel  | 'θæŋk ju
6c) wə | 'θæŋk ju
7a) aɪ 'juːs tə hæv 'sɪks əv ði:z ən'tɪl 'wʌn fel 'ɪntə ðə 'hænz əv maɪ 'brʌðər ɪn lɔː | 'ɒnzləʊ | wʌŋ 'krɪsməs
7b) aɪ 'juːs tə 'hæv 'sɪks əv 'ði:z ən'tɪl 'wʌn 'fel ɪntə ðə 'hænz əv maɪ 'brʌðər ɪn lɔː | 'ɒnzləʊ | wʌŋ 'krɪsməs
7c) aɪ 'juːs tə hæv 'sɪks əv ði:z ntɪl 'wʌn fel ɪntə ðə 'hænz əv mɑ 'brʌðər ɪn lɔː 'ɒnzləʊ wʌn 'krɪsməs
8a) ˈaɪ kʊdəv 'kɪld ɪm
8b) ˈaɪ kʊdəv 'kɪld ɪm
8c)  'aɪ kʊdəv 'kɪld ɪm
9a) əf ˈkɔːs | wʌŋ ˈkɑːnt ˈmeɪk ə ˈfʌs ɒn ˈfestɪv əˈkeɪʒn̩z
9b) əf ˈkɔːs wʌn ˈkɑːnt ˈmeɪk ə ˈfʌs ɒn ˈfestɪv əˈkeɪʒn̩z
9c) ˈkɔːs wʌn ˈkɑːnt meɪk ə ˈfʌs ɒn ˈfestɪv əˈkeɪʒn̩z
10a) bət i ˈsɜːtnli 'ɡɒt ðə ˈʃɔːt end əv ðə ˈtɜːki | ˈaɪ kən ˈtel ju
10b) bət i ˈsɜːtnli ɡɒt ðə ˈʃɔːt end əv ə ˈtɜːki ˈaɪ kən ˈtel ju
10c) bət i ˈsɜːtnli ɡɒt ðə ˈʃɔːt end əv ə ˈtɜːki | ˈaɪ kən tel ju
11a) dɪd ðeɪ ˈtel ju wɒt wəz ˈrɒŋ wɪð jɔ: ˈfɑːðə
11b) dɪd ðeɪ ˈtel ju wɒt wəz ˈrɒŋ wɪð jɔ: ˈfɑːðə
11c) dɪd ðeɪ ˈtel ju wɒt wəz ˈrɒŋ wɪð jɔ: ˈfɑːðə
12a) ˈsʌmθɪŋ ˈmaɪldli ɪmˈbærəsɪŋ
12b) ˈsʌmθɪŋ ˈmaɪldli ɪmˈbærəsɪŋ
12c) 'sʌmθɪŋ ˈmaɪdli ɪmˈbærəsɪŋ
13a) wʌn əv ðəʊz ˈmaɪnə dʒerɪˈætrɪk kəmˈpleɪnts || aɪ 'kʊdnt ˈkætʃ ðə ˈmedɪkl̩ tɜːmɪˈnɒlədʒi
13b) 'wʌn əv ðəʊz ˈmaɪnə dʒerɪˈætrɪk kəmˈpleɪnts || aɪ kʊdnt ˈkætʃ ðə ˈmedɪkl̩ tɜːmɪˈnɒlədʒi
13c) 'wʌn əv ðəʊz ˈmaɪnə dʒerɪˈætrɪk kəmˈpleɪnts || aɪ kʊdn ˈkætʃ ðə medɪkl̩ tɜːmɪˈnɒlədʒi
14a) --
14b) --
14c) ˈəʊ

It would have been advantageous for learners of English to have a version of this video with tone marks added to the transcriptions.

Update: There will be a another version with tones!

1) Before having finished writing this blog, the sketch excerpt had been removed by the user from here.
2) The authoress made some alterations to her transcriptions after having read Jack's blog 477 and then posted the video again. It is now to be found here.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you, Petr –I love these things. (I think I can only hear an [a] in the first word).

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  2. Ok, here’s my intonation marking. It doesn’t always match yours or Maria’s, so any corrections will be welcome:

    HYACINTH: I ˈthought we’d ˈhave the /\nicer ˌchina. (High onset on “thought”, step down on “have” and rise-fall nuclear tone beginning at “nic-“ [?], with post-nuclear stress on “chin-“).

    ELIZABETH: /\Oh! |ˈThank you, \Hyacinth. (I perceive the nucleus as a low fall on “Hy-“).

    HYACINTH: They’re ˌsomething of a ˌfamily –heir _loom. (Prehead with stressed “something” and “family” [?]; stylized high-mid tone with nucleus on “heir-“).

    ELIZABETH: ˈOh \/God. | ˈDon’t ˈgive me ˈanything \/special. (Falling head beginning at “Don’t” and including stressed-only “give” and “anything”).

    HYACINTH: So you ˈwill be \careful, | \won’t you, dear? | /Biscuit? (Onset on “will”, low fall on “caref-“ and “won’t”, high rise on “Bisc-“).

    ELIZABETH: Well \Thank you. (High fall?)

    HYACINTH: I ˈused to ˈhave \/six of ˌthese (Onset on “used”, nucleus on “six” and stresses on “have” and “these”) | until one ˈfell into the ˈhands of my \/brother-in-law (Falling head beginning at “fell” and including accented “hands”; nucleus on “broth-“), | \/Onslow, | ˈone \/Christmas. | ˈI ˈcould’ve \killed him (Rising head beginning at “I” and including stressed-only “could-“; high fall on “killed”). \Course, | one ˈcan’t make a \/fuss (Falling head beginning at “can’t”) | on \/festive ocˌcasions (Post-nuclear stress on “-cas-“), | but he ˈcertainly got the ˈshort ˈend of the \/turkey (Falling head beginning at “cert-“ and including accented “short” and “end”), | \I can ˌtell you (Low fall on “I”, post-nuclear stress on “tell”).

    ELIZABETH: ˈDid they ˈtell you ˈwhat was ˈwrong with your /\/father? (Onset on “Did”, stress on “tell”, accents on “what” and “wrong”, and rise-fall-rise on “fath-“).

    HYACINTH: \Something | \mildly emˌbarrassing (Low fall on “Some-“ and “mild-“[?]; post-nuclear stress on “-bar-“). ˈOne of those \minor (Onset on “One”; low fall on “min-“[?]) | ˈgeri\/atric comˌplaints (Onset on “ger-“). | I ˈcouldn’t ˈcatch the \medical ˌtermiˌnology (Onset on “could-“, accent on “catch”, low fall on “med-“ and post-nuclear stresses on “term-“ and “-nol-“).

    ELIZABETH: \Oh! (“Mid” fall?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CORRECTION 1: ˈOne of those >minor (Onset on “One”; nuclear mid-level tone on “min-“ –Or is it a fall-rise?)

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