Transcription practice for the international phonetic alphabet : exercises for students of English

This book will serve to help learners transcribe the sounds of English by means of the International Phonetic Alphabet and use phonetic transcriptions of words in dictionaries. It will be of special interest to university students of linguistics and phonetics, since transcription skills will give them a clearer, more systematic picture of English pronunciation and spelling. Because the book assumes no prior knowledge of phonetics, it can be used by anyone looking to improve their pronunciation. In this regard, it will benefit especially those readers who speak English as a foreign language. They will find a rich collection of exercises focusing on a variety of pronunciation phenomena. These exercises feature common fixed expressions such as spitting image; thus, in addition to learning to use the transcription alphabet, learners can also enrich their vocabularies. This handbook is designed for work in the classroom, but thanks to its presentation of solutions and explanations of relevant problems, it can also be used in individual study. Contents 6 Preface 7 Getting started 10 I. Phonemic symbols 15 II. Vowels 22 III. Consonants 51 IV. Stress 76 V. Patterns 97 VI. Final exercises 124 Key 126 References 155