1. Transcription Practice
Listen to examples, see phoneme inventories, practice transcribing
LING 450 slides by Sharon Hargus and Valerie Freeman

2. American English
Warming up
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

3. English consonants ʔ h p b t d k ɡ m n ŋ ɾ f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʧ ʤ w ɹ j l
Bilabial
Labio-dental
Dental
Alveolar
Palato-alveolar
Retroflex
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Stop
p b
t d
k ɡ ʔ
Nasal m n ŋ
Tap ɾ
Fricative
f v
θ ð
s z
ʃ ʒ h
Affricate
ʧ ʤ
Approximant w ɹ j
Lateral l
Use this slide to do HWː IPA (English consonants – articulation)
LING 450 slide by Richard Wright, Dan McCloy, and Valerie Freeman

4. American English Vowels
Front
Central
Back
[i]
[u]
[ɪ]
[ʊ]
High
[e]
[o]
[ə]
Mid
[ɛ]
[ʌ]
[ɔ]
Low
[æ]
[a]
[ɑ]
LING 450 slide by Laura McGarrity and Valerie Freeman

5. English transcription practice: Consonants & Vowels
Also try English Transcription sets #1-3 on Moodle
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

6. English transcription practice: Vowel Contrasts
Also try English Transcription sets #1-3 on Moodle
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

7. Portuguese
Nasal Vowels
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

8. Portuguese phonemes
“the vowel [ɯ]..., which occurs only in unstressed syllables,J is
often represented as /;}/ but does not correspond to the mid central qualJty associated with
schwa. It is a fronted and lowered high back unrounded vowel;”
Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena Portuguese. In International Phonetic Association (eds.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

9. Portuguese listening practice
[vi] ‘I saw’ [vĩ] ‘I came’ [se] ‘cathedral’ [va] ‘he/she goes’ [sɔ] ‘alone’ [so] ‘I am’ [ˈmudu] ‘mute’ (masc.) [pɐˈɡɐɾ] ‘to pay’ [pɯˈɡɐɾ] ‘to grip’
“Lexical stress is distinctive. Stress provides very productive class-changing contrasts, such
as those between nouns and verbs in pairs like ['duvida] duvida 'doubt (n), [du'vide]
duvida 'doubt (v, 3 sg)'. Less frequently, words in the same class contrast in stress, e.g.
the nouns ['tund] tunel 'tunnel', [tu'nd] tonel 'wine cask'.”
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

10. Portuguese transcription practice
‘bad’ (m. sg.)
‘I date’
‘cactus’
‘I enter’
‘cat’ (m.)
‘I kill’
‘den’
‘I know’
‘duck’ (m.)
‘I strike’
‘hand’ (n.)
‘mine’ (poss.m.)
‘he/she goes out’
‘sound’ (n.)
‘he/she grinds’
‘tact’
‘he/she saw’
‘thicket’
‘hundred’
‘veil’
‘I am’
‘world’
‘I came’
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

11. German
Vowels
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

12. German consonants
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

13. German vowel listening practice
Practiceː Worksheet just has numbers; the sound files above are played in a different order, and students need to transcribe the vowel, picking out the word from above.
Kohler, Klaus German. In International Phonetic Association (eds.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

14. German vowel transcription practice
Practiceː Worksheet just has numbers; the sound files above are played in a different order, and students need to transcribe the vowel, picking out the word from above.
Kohler, Klaus German. In International Phonetic Association (eds.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

15. (Anterior) Consonant Place Contrasts
Polish
(Anterior) Consonant Place Contrasts
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

16. Polish vowels
[ˈbiti] ‘beaten’ [ˈbeti] ‘bedding’ (coll.) [ˈbiti] ‘entities’ [ˈbati] ‘whips’ [ˈbuti] ‘shoes’ [ˈboti] ‘women’s high-boots (aug.)’
“Lexical stress...usually falls on the penultimate syllable...” (Jassem 2003ː106)
Jassem, Wiktor Polish. Journal of the International Phonetic Association
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

17. Polish consonants
Jassem describes /ʃ ʒ ʧ ʤ/ as “laminal alveolar”. But in A Course in Phonetics such consonants are described as “flat post-alveolar” and transcribed /ṣ ẓ/ etc.
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

18. Polish listening practice
[tom] ‘volume’ [dom] ‘house’ [ˈkura] ‘hen’ [ˈɡura] ‘mountain’ [cew] ‘fang’ [ˈɟewda] ‘stock exchange’ [ˈkoza] ‘goat’ [ʒal]/[ẓal] ‘regret’ [ˈʑima] ‘winter’
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

19. Polish transcription practice
‘agarics’
‘hangovers’
‘a trowel’
‘he goes’
‘cash register’
‘(he) revels’
‘Cate’
‘letter z’
‘dear (nom. pl.)’
‘letter ź’
‘Denmark’
‘letter ż’
‘dishes’
‘of ducks’
‘bridge games’
‘sphere’
‘groats’
‘waiter’
‘hangman (voc.)’
‘way (acc. sing.)’
agarics = type of mushroom
groat = type of grain or coin
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

20. Nuuchahnulth (fka Nootka)
Ejectives and Dorsal Consonants
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

21. Nuuchahnulth vowels /nuːʧaːʔnuɬ/, previously known as Nootka
Wakashan family
“Mid vowels [ɛː] and [ɔː] are marginal phonemes found in vocative forms and ceremonial expressions.”
Carlson, Barry F., John H. Esling, and Katie Fraser Nuuchahnulth. Journal of the International Phonetic Association
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

22. Nuuchahnulth consonants
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

23. Nuuchahnulth listening practice
[ɔː] ‘uh-huh, yeah’ [ɬuːtsma] ‘woman’ [xwakak] ‘swollen’ [k’aːʔin] ‘crow’ [taʔiɬ] ‘sick’ [wiːʕiːk] ‘stingy’ [tuχwiːħa] ‘breathless’ [naqʃitɬ] ‘to drink’ [χwinχwaʔniːtsʔa] (fem. name) [tsaːqapi] ‘upside down’
“Stress is on the first or second vowel of the word.”
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

24. Nuuchahnulth transcription practice
‘berry’
‘motion backwards’
‘four’
‘river’
‘give it to me’
‘seagull’
‘good’
‘thank you
‘halibut'
‘the gun’
‘island’
‘to break’
‘over there’
‘water’
‘meadow’
‘yes’
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

25. Hindi
Breathy Consonants
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

26. Hindi vowels
“All of these vowels except [æ] also have distinctively nasal counterparts.” (Ohala 2010:101)
Ohala, Manjari Hindi. In International Phonetic Association (eds.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

27. Hindi consonants
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

28. Hindi vowel listening practice
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

29. Hindi transcription practice
‘address’ (n.)
‘knife edge’
‘beat’ (n.)
‘lentil’
‘big’
‘lumber shop’
‘branch’
‘net’
‘brow’
‘nurture’
‘gait’
‘platter’
‘glimmer’
‘postpone’
‘hair’
‘shield’
‘increase’ (imp.)
‘to make…agree’
‘knife blade’
‘tree bark’
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

30. Lexical Tone and Length Contrasts
Ibibio
Lexical Tone and Length Contrasts
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

31. Ibibio vowels and tones
High [dá] ‘stand’
Low [dà] ‘mate, friend’
Urua, Eno-Abasi E 'Ibibio.' Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34:
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

32. Ibibio consonants k͡pá ‘die’ /ŋen/ [ŋ͡wèn] ‘be dark’
“In stem initial position, /ŋ/ is realised as [ŋ͡w] and [ŋ] elsewhere.”
“The bilabial plosives, [p] and /b/, occur in complementary distribution and do not contrast.”
“Plosives are weakened in intervocalic position as follows: [p, b] →[β]; t, d → [ɾ]; k → [R] ∼ [ɰ] (where [R] is used as the voiced uvular tap and [ɰ] the voiced velar approximant).”
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

33. Ibibio length contrasts
[jòmó] ‘be noisy’ [jòmːó] ‘boo at’ [nèm] ‘be delicious’ [nèːm] ‘crack palm kernel’
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

34. Ibibio transcription practice
1. ‘be afraid of’ 2. ‘be alive’ 3. ‘be clean’ 4. ‘be early’ 5. ‘be named’ 6. ‘bite’ 7. ‘bite many things’ 8. ‘cane’ 9. ‘console’ 10. ‘give’ 11. ‘go’ 12. ‘goat’ 13. ‘lock’ 14. ‘marry’ 15. ‘mosquito’ 16. ‘move a bit further’ 17. ‘scoop food’ 18. ‘sell’ 19. ‘there’ 20. ‘think’
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

35. Ejectives and Labialized Consonants
Amharic
Ejectives and Labialized Consonants
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

36. Amharic vowels
“Following post-alveolar and palatal consonants, (which, from a phonological point of view, form a 'palatal' series), /i/ and /ə/ are often fronted to [ɪ] and [ɛ]. Following labialized consonants and Iwl, /i/ and /ə/ typically have retracted and rounded pronunciations ([ʊ] and [ɔ]).”
Hayward, Katrina, and Richard J. Hayward Amharic. In International Phonetic Association (eds.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

37. Amharic consonants (p) b (p’) bw (pw’) t t’ d tw’ k k’ ɡ kw ɡw kw’ ʔ
labial
labial-ized
alveolar
post-alveolar
palatal
velar
glottal
stop
(p) b (p’) bw
(pw’)
t t’ d
tw’
k k’ ɡ
kw ɡw kw’ ʔ ʔw
affricate
ʧ ʤ ʧ’
fricative f fw
s s’ z
ʃ ʒ h hw
nasal m mw n ɲ
trill r
approxi-mant w j
lateral approx. l
“Because of its affinity with the labialized consonants, we have placed [w] in the 'labial' column.” (Hayward and Hayward 1999:46)
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

38. Amharic listening practice
[bəkk’ələ] ‘it sprouted’ [ɡwaɡɡwa] ‘he became full of suspense’ [bwambwa] ‘pipe (conduit)’ [ʧ’ərːəsə] ‘he finished’ [t’ərːəgə] ‘he swept’ [k’ədːədə] ‘he tore something’
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

39. Amharic transcription practice
‘13th month’
‘he who says’
‘after’
‘he wrote’
‘ball’
‘husband’
‘breast’
‘lock’
‘cattle’
‘pocket’
‘church patriarch’
‘post, mail’
‘doctor’
‘priest’
‘fast’ (n.)
‘this’
‘flood’
‘wax taper’
‘he swallowed sth’
‘what?’
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

40. Vowel Length Contrasts
Tamil
Vowel Length Contrasts
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman

41. Tamil vowels “relative positions for articulations in initial
syllables” , which “have some prominence”; “in non-initial syllables, /i/, /a/ and /u/ undergo reduction in both duration and
quality”
Keane, Elinor Tamil. Journal of the International Phonetic Association
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

42. Tamil consonants
In word-initial position voiceless plosives are foundː
these may be accompanied by slight aspiration, although this seems to be variable. Voiced
obstruents occur word-internally after nasal segments and involve complete occlusion of the
oral tract. Intervocalically the exact realization depends on the place of articulationː for dentals
there is variation between a voiced stop and fricative, and for bilabials there may be further
weakening to an approximant. For retroflex sounds either a voiced stop or a flap is found
between vowels. Several possibilities have been reported for the velar sounds, including a
voiceless palatal fricative, voiced and voiceless velar fricatives, and the voiced glottal fricative
[H].
Intervocalically there is a contrast at each place of articulation between the various
possibilities just described, which are represented by a single orthographic symbol, and
a voiceless stop, which corresponds to an orthographic geminate. In phonetic terms the
distinction between them involves several dimensions, including voicing and degree of
occlusion. Duration may not be the primary factor, and there is conflicting evidence over
whether word-initial and word-internal voiceless stops are consistently different in length
(Balasubramanian & Asher 1984, Keane 2001). However, considerations of pattern congruity
with nasals and laterals, as well as the orthography, support a phonological analysis of the
word-internal voiceless stops as geminates.
Voiced stops and affricates occur word-initially in loan words.
Complications involving geminates...
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

43. Tamil listening practice
[pal] ‘teeth’ [paːl] ‘milk’ [eɾi] ‘burn’ [eːɾu] ‘climb’ [nilam] ‘earth’ [niːlam] ‘blue’ [oʈu] ‘stick’ [oːʈu] ‘drive’ [uɾu] ‘shape’ [uːr] ‘village’ [vaʊvaːl] ‘bat’
LING 450 slide by Sharon Hargus

44. Tamil transcription practice
‘ache’
‘mistake’
‘anger’
‘people’
‘answer’
‘silk’
‘but’
‘step’
‘charcoal’
‘tamarind’
‘day’
‘ten’
‘father’
‘tiger’
‘grandfather’
‘way’
‘heaviness’
‘yes’
‘hour’
‘leg’
LING 450 slide by Valerie Freeman