Phonetic Transcription (Broad and Narrow)

Phonetic Transcription

Introduction

• Phonetic transcription is a precise and systematic method to record and represent actual pronunciation.
• It uses a purpose-built, internationally standardized, alphabetic writing system.
• This is crucial because spelling conventions (orthography) often poorly approximate the sound of words, especially in languages with a long writing history like English, French, and Icelandic.
• Phonetic transcription is an essential tool for linguists, dialectologists, speech pathologists, and language teachers.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

• The IPA system is a quasi-alphabetic system.
• Its basic symbols are drawn from or are variations of letters from the Roman alphabet, with a few adapted from the Greek alphabet.
• Various diacritics are available for recording finer distinctions and nuances in pronunciation.
• A full IPA chart is available as a downloadable PDF in the Day 3 module on the course website, including interactive versions.
• The IPA chart will be provided on the final exam.

Flexibility in Detail

• Flexibility exists in the amount of detail encoded (recorded) in a transcription.
• No two utterances of the same word or sentence are ever 100% identical.
• Differences always exist if we listen closely enough.
• This leads to the distinction between broad and narrow transcription.

Broad vs. Narrow Transcription

• Broad transcription (≈ phonemic transcription):
  • Only records details that distinguish meaning in a language.
• Narrow transcription (≈ allophonic transcription):
  • Records various amounts of non-distinctive details.
• The distinction is a continuum rather than a strict "either-or" choice.

IPA Chart for English Consonants

• Simplified IPA chart for the consonants of English.

  	bilabial	labio-dental	dental	alveolar	post-alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
  plosive	p b		t d				k g	?
  fricative		f v	Ɵ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
  affricate					t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
  nasal	m			n			ŋ
  approximant	(w)			l	r	j	(w)

Special Symbols

• Special symbols not present in the Modern English alphabet are used.

False Friends

• Be cautious of "false friends" where the symbol differs from English spelling.

Alveolar Trill

• IPA uses $[r]$ to represent the alveolar trill, but the North American English 'r' sound is technically $[ɹ]$.

Approximants

• Distinction between lateral and central approximants.

Labial-Velar Approximant

• The approximant $[w]$ involves simultaneous bilabial (lip rounding) and velar constriction.
• It is referred to as a labial-velar (or labio-velar) approximant.
• Some languages have labial-velar stops (e.g., [k͡p, g͡b] in many West African languages).
• Many Indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest have velar or uvular stops or fricatives with superimposed lip rounding (e.g., $[kʷ]$ vs. $[k]$, $[xʷ]$ vs. $[x]$).

Vowels of General American English

• Figure 2.1: Chart of the vowels of General American English.

  	front	central	back
  high	i I	u	U
  mid	e ɛ	ʌ	o ɔ
  low	æ	a	a

• Example words are provided in Table 2.4.

• The vowel $[a]$ is shown in parentheses, as it occurs in GA only in the first half of diphthongs.

IPA Symbols for Vowels in General American English

Non-Standard Terms (Avoid!)

• Avoid non-standard terms like "tense" and "lax" when referring to high and mid vowels.

Vowel Chart

Regional Variation in English

• Some vowels are likely missing from Canadian/North American varieties of English.

More Regional Variation

• The vowel may be higher (mid rather than low) in many varieties of English.

Further Regional Variation

• The vowel may be further forward (central) in some varieties of English.

Diphthongs

• The diphthongs of North American English involve movement from a starting quality to an endpoint quality.
• $[e o]$ are really $[eɪ oʊ]$ in narrow transcription.

Vowel Chart with Diphthongs

• Figure 2.2: A vowel chart showing the relative vowel qualities represented by some of the symbols used in transcribing English.
• The symbols $[e, a, o]$ occur as the first elements of diphthongs.

Consonants of English: Initial, Final, and Medial Positions