General Transcription Practice Note that the transcriptions here have a diacritic – a forward-leaning accent mark – to indicate primary stress. For example: Geronimo: [dʒɚɑ́nəmo] The accent over the 2nd vowel ([ɑ́]) indicates the location of the vowel in the strongest syllable in the word. There are also words with syllabic consonants: button: [bʌ́ʔn`] The medial consonant is a glottal stop (not a flap), and the final sound is a syllabic [n] (i.e., there is no vowel between the [ʔ] and the [n]). The syllabic consonant indicated by a vertical line which is supposed to be centered under the [n]. It won’t always be centered properly. The syllabic diacritic may not display properly at all on a Mac. This is Apple’s problem and I have no solve it. If you find this glitch confusing, you’ll have to run the exercise on a Windows machine in the LRC.
exit [ɛ́gzɪt]/[ɛ́gzət] (no ‘x’, no [k] and no [s]; it’s a [g] and a [z]) Geronimo [dʒɚɑ́nəmo] lather [lǽðɚ] – not [lǽθɚ] commercial [kəmɚ́ʃəl] putty [pʌ́ɾi] (flap, not [t] or [d])
salivate [sǽləvet] wire [wʌíɚ]/[waíɚ] bottle [bɑ́dl`] (syllabic [l] – not a [ʔ], not a [ɾ]) button [bʌ́ʔn`] ([ʔ], not [ɾ]; syllabic [n], not [ən]) battle [bǽdl`] (syllabic [l] – not [ɾ], not [ʔ])
bringing [brɪ́ŋɪŋ] (not [brɪ́ŋgɪŋ]) banker [béŋkɚ] (1st vowel is not quite [e], not quite [æ] – use [e]; this one does have a velar stop following the [ŋ]) pleasure [plɛ́ʒɚ] useless [júsləs]/[júslɪs] huge [hjúdʒ] (not [húdʒ]
bleeding [blíɾɪŋ] lousy [laúzi] exemplify [əgzɛ́mpləfai]/[ɛgzɛ́mpləfai] (depending on pronunciation) theory [θiɚ́i] hidden [hɪ́dn`] (syllabic [n])
dangerous [déndʒɚəs]/[déndʒɚɪs] identification [aidɛnəfəkéʃən] (no [t] – this is common; note 3 schwas, also common) [aidɛntəfəkéʃən] (that time the [t] was pronounced) Spanish [spǽnɪʃ]/[spǽnəʃ] apparel [əpéɚəl]
reality [riǽləɾi] Patton [pǽʔn`] (not [pætən] or [pædən] - it’s a glottal stop + syllabic [n]) pattern [pǽɾɚn] feline [fílain] talking [tɔ́kɪŋ] – no [i] in this word, right?
articulation [ɑɚtɪkjəléʃən] (might be pronounced [ɑɚtɪkjuléʃən] – but not likely) beaten [bíʔn`] (not [bitən] or [bidən] – it’s a glottal stop + syllabic [n]) lifeguard [lʌífgɑrd] kitty [kɪ́ɾi] kitten [kɪ́ʔn`] (once again, no [t] – glottal stop + syllabic [n])
countless [kaúnʔləs] (note that /t/ has been realized as [ʔ]; last vowel might be [ɪ]) clinging [klɪ́ŋɪŋ] not [klɪ́ŋgɪŋ] roast beef [ros bíf] (the /t/ will usually be dropped here, except in careful speech) caller [kɔ́lɚ] collar [kɑ́lɚ]
[méndʒɚ] not [ménʒɚ] – it’s an affricate, not a fricative. flatten manger [méndʒɚ] not [ménʒɚ] – it’s an affricate, not a fricative. flatten [flǽʔn`] (/t/ realized as [ʔ]; note syllabic [n]) crazy [krézi] mangle [méŋgəl] (1st vowel not quite [e], not quite [æ] – we follow MacKay and use [e]) lobotomy [ləbɑ́ɾəmi]