Transcription of Speech Sounds

1
Transcription of Speech Sounds

• Methods of writing down speech sounds in a
  systematic and consistent way

2
Broad vs. Narrow transcription

• Broad transcription
• Less detailed
• The broadest transcription
• ? phonemic transcription
• eg) /pEn/ pEn
• Narrow transcription
• Relatively detailed
• eg) pHE)n

3
Phonemic vs. Phonetic transcription

• Phonemic transcription
• Only the units which account for differences of
  meaning are represented
• Usually broad transcription
• Use / / (eg /pEn/)
• Phonetic transcription
• Systematic phonetic transcription
• Specifying all the rule-governed alternations
• Impressionistic transcription
• Specifying phonetic values without considering
  rules
• Usually narrow transcription
• Use (eg pHE)n )

4
Transcription conventions

• IPA transcription
• U.S. Conventions
• Machine Readable Conventions

5
IPA transcription

• Approved and provided by International Phonetic
  Association
• Aiming to invent symbols which can describe
  speech sounds of all languages
• Used mainly in UK and Europe
• Full IPA chart here

6
U.S. Conventions

• Adaptation of IPA
• Many versions
• Fries (1945) system
• Kenyon (1958) system
• Prator Robinett (1985) system

7
IPA vs. U.S. convention
Eg. IPA U.S.
shoe S s
genre Z zà
chew tS cà
jew dZ ¾à
you j y
Eg. IPA U.S.
Tie aI ay, aj
cow aU aw
boy