Thursday 24 February 2011

transcription text - course 1

credit: http://fu.ff.cuni.cz
I was asked by a follower of this blog to publish the transcription text I mentioned in my previous blog entry. Here's the text for the first of my four phonetics classes together with the instructions:

Transcribe the text in a phonemic transcription according to the conventions of the IPA either in Received Pronunciation or in General American assuming a colloquial speech style


The business of bereavement is boring. It takes a very skilled scriptwriter indeed to convey the weight of grief, the sense of endurance, the slow drip of endless tears that follow what is, in effect, an emotional amputation. We just don't seem to have a language for it. (48 words)

And here is a model transcription (without indication of variants, stress or intonation):

| ðə bɪznəs əv bɪriːvmənt
ɪz bɔːrɪŋ || ɪt teɪks ə veri skɪld skrɪptraɪtər ɪndiːd tə kənveɪ ðə weɪt əv ɡriːf | ðə sens əv ɪndjʊərəns | ðə sləʊ drɪp əv endləs tɪəz ðət fɒləʊ wɒt ɪz ɪn ɪfekt ən ɪməʊʃənəl æmpjuteɪʃən || wi dʒʌst dəʊnt siːm tə hæv ə læŋɡwɪdʒ fɔːr ɪt ||

2 comments:

  1. I vouch for /bɪznəz/ as common GB usage which I recorded as such in 1972 in my CPD. ODP agrees.
    I have a sneaking sympathy for /lӕŋ(g)wɪʧ/. Items like sandwich and Norwich have either /ʧ/ or /ʤ/.

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  2. To honour truth: The above-mentioned Concise Pronouncing Dictionary lists four variants of business: ˈbɪznəs -nɪs -z -n- (there should be a syllabic mark under the [n]). Bold type marks the preferred recommendation by the author of CPD. As regards language the preferred pronunciation is /ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/; the only variant is /-ŋw-/

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