Prof.

Francisco Zabala - 2016 1

Compulsory Text 1: Bedazzled

Activity 1:
1. Watch the video (or listen to the audio file).
2. Focus on the highlighted elements:

DEVIL: And so the cow

ow was returned
re to its rightful owner. OK, boys
b
tonights homework:
CLASS: Aw!

DEVIL: Algebra. X to the nth plus Y to the nth equals Z to the nth. Well, you're never gonna
use that,
at, are you? Imperialism
Im and the
e First World War. Well, what's done is done, I
say. No point thinking about
abou it now. German, French, Spanish: ja ja, oui oui, s s.
It's
's nonsense. Everyone speaks English anyway, and if they don't,
d they ought to. So,
no homework tonightt. But I want you to watch a lot of television,
elevision, don't neglect your
video
ideo games, and I'll see you in i the morning. Shall we say ten,
en, ten thirty? No point
getting up too
oo early, is there?

CLASS: Yes!

Tips:
1. The English consonants are much stronger than their Spanish counterparts.
2. Dont drop them! Dont soften them!
Rightful tonights
s homework
homewor homework tonight
point thinking point gett
tting about it its nonsense

3. Blow .o+ s+ j.! Theres an extra puff of air called aspiration when .o+ s+ j. are stressed.
Imagine there is a hen inside words like ten, pen, Ken

!gdm
!gdm !gdm
g g g
Z!s dm\
dm Z!o dm\ Z!j dm\

The cow returned

urned imperialism television
elevision
ZC? !jg`T\ ZqH!sg29mc\
29mc\ ZHl!ogH?qh?kHyl\ Z!sgdk?$uHYm\
dk?$uHYm\

OK point ten too plus

Z$?T!jgdH\ Z!ogNHms\
NHms\ Z!sgdm\ Z!sgt9\ Z!okUr\

4. Contrast .c+ C..

If they dont, they
ey ought to Whats done is done
In the morning And the first
The cow X to the Nth
Use that Is there?

5. Spanish with an English Touch

a. Practise blowing English .o+ s+ j.
b. Practise contrasting English sharp alveolar .s+ c..
c. Contast English .c+ C..
 Prof. Francisco Zabala - 2016 2

/b
/bdzld ||
devl || n s ka wz rtn(d) tu ts ratfl n || ke bz | tnats hmwk
||

kls || ||

devl || ldbr || eks t i en | pls wa t i en | ikwlz zi t i en || wel j

nev n juz t | ju || mprilzm | n fs(t) wl(d) w || wel
wts dn z dn | a se || n pnt k bat t na || dmn | frent
| spn | j j | wi wi | si si || ts nnsns | evriwn spiks l
eniwe || n f e dnt | e t tu || s | n hmwk tnat || bt a wnt
ju t wt lt v telvn | dn(t) nlekt vdi emz | n al si ju |
n mn || l wi se | ten | ten ti || n pnt et p tu li | z e
||

kls || jes /

How to transcribe: tutorial

Before getting started you need to:

Get acquainted with the IPA chart

Read Weak and Strong Vowels (focus on the role of stress)
Read Sentence Stress (focus on the difference between content and grammar words)
Read Word stress (focus on the Teutonic Rule and the Rule of Alternation)
Read Spelling and Pronunciation (focus on silent <-e>, magic <-y>, the Basic Vowel
Pattern, double consonant letters and two vowel letters together.)

STEP 1: Highlight all the content words in the text. This will help you get organized. Remember that most
monosyllabic grammar words are normally pronounced in their weak form (see the chart). You will soon
get to remember all of them by heart because they are extremely frequent. These words take weak
vowels because they are 90% of the times unstressed. Why? Because they are predictable!

STEP 2: Underline the stressed syllables in each of the content words. You will soon realize that there are
loads of monosyllabic content words in English. Longer words normally take one stress, especially if it falls
on either the first or second syllable (Teutonic Rule). Be careful with those long words whose main stress
falls on the third or fourth syllable: there is a hidden secondary stress towards the beginning of the word!
 Prof. Francisco Zabala - 2016 3

Bedazzled
DEVIL: And so the cow was returned to its rightful owner. Ok, boys tonights homework:

CLASS: Aw!

DEVIL: Algebra. X to the nth plus Y to the nth equals Z to the nth. Well, you're never gonna
use that, are you? Imperialism and the First World War. Well, what's done is done, I
say. No point thinking about it now. German, French, Spanish: ja ja, oui oui, s s.
It's nonsense. Everyone speaks English anyway, and if they don't, they ought to. So,
no homework tonight. But I want you to watch a lot of television, don't neglect your
video games, and I'll see you in the morning. Shall we say ten, ten thirty? No point
getting up too early, is there?

CLASS: Yes!

Analysis
Bedazzled
/bdz()ld ||
1. The stress falls on DAZ, so the vowel is strong. Schwa cannot be used there. The vowel sound is
short because the <a> letter is followed by a double consonant (i.e. .dH. is not possible here). The
spelling <a> normally corresponds to .z..
2. We use weak vowels in the unstressed syllables.
3. The final sound in the base form, .k., is voiced. This means that the past tense is formed by adding
a voiced sound, .c.. (See the rule for regular past tenses in the booklet).
4. (): Scwha is normally dropped when it is followed by .k+ m+ l. and preceded by a consonant. E.g.
Parcel .!o@9r'?(k., pardon .!o@9c'?(m., rhythm .!qHC'?(l..

DEVIL: And so the cow was returned to its rightful owner.

dev()l || n s ka wz rtnd tu ts ratf()l n ||
1. All the grammar words in the line are used in their weak form.
2. Notice that although schwa is never stressed, we can stress .?T.. Why is this so? This is not schwa,
this is a strong diphthong in its own right. In other words, when we stress .?T. we arent stressing
schwa, were stressing the whole diphthong.
3. The word <and> normally loses the final .c..
4. The verb to be, although it is a main verb, is considered to be a grammar word in phonetics. As a
result, we need to use its weak form.
5. Notice that the word RETURNED contains only one .q. phoneme. In General British, .q. is only
found before vowels, i.e. it is silent when it is followed by consonants or silence. General British is
a non-rhotic accent, that is, the distribution of .q. is restricted to pre-vocallic environments. This
radical <r> makes the vowel long.
6. The weak word <to> takes .t. because it is followed by a vowel sound.
 Prof. Francisco Zabala - 2016 4

Ok, boys tonights homework:

ke bz | tnats hmwk ||
1. OK is a compound word, that is to say, a lexical item made up of two elements that belong
together. Each letter is a noun, therefore each deserves to be stressed.
2. <tonights> is an example of the possessive case. The last sound in the base form is voiceless /t/,
so it demands a voiceless /s/. (See the rule for the formation of plural countable nouns, nouns in
the genitive and the third person singular simple present tense).
3. Homework is another compound word. This time, the primary stress falls on the first element and
there is a secondary stress on the second element. Whats the difference between a primary and a
secondary stress? The primary stress is the one that changes the melody of intonation. If you say
Homework! as an exclamation, your voice will fall on HOME. If you say Homework? as a
question, your voice will start rising as from HOME.

CLASS: Aw!
kls || ||
1. The word class is special because it is an exception to the Basic Vowel Pattern and the double
consonant rule. Some words, which we call BATH words, take the long BATH vowel .@9. in
General British.

DEVIL: Algebra. X to the nth plus Y to the nth

dev()l || ldbr || eks t i en | pls wa t i en |
1. Here we can find more weak forms. The word <to> is used in its pre-consonantal weak form. The
word <the> is used in its pre-vocallic weak form. Compare: tu eat .st !h9s., to see .s? !rh9 .. The man
.C? !lzm., the ant .Ch !zms..

equals Z to the nth. Well, you're never gonna use that, are you?
ikwlz zi t i en || wel j nev n juz t | ju ||
1. The contraction <youre> is always .iN9.. (See contractions chart).
2. <gonna> is a casual form, so it is unstressed.
3. The demonstratives that, this, those, these are always strong. They may optionally be stressed.
4. The auxiliary verb <are> is strong here because this is a short yes-no question. In these structures
the auxiliary is always strong because we stress them to focus on their polarity (i.e. yes or no?).

Imperialism and the First World War. Well, what's done is done, I say.
mprilz()m | n fst wld w || wel wts dn z dn | a se ||
1. In <world> and <war> we can see how troublesome <w> affects <a, o>.
2. <Well> is an example of the Basic Vowel Pattern.
3. Wh- words tend to be strong, regardless of whether theyre grammar or content words.
4. <Done> is an exception to the silent <-e> rule. The previous vowel doesnt say its name in this
case. Many words got fossilized in the history of English.
5. <Say> illustrates how the first vowel letter says its name.
 Prof. Francisco Zabala - 2016 5

No point thinking about it now.

n pnt k bat t na ||
1. In <no> the vowel says its name.
2. The <-ing> ending is always .HM.. The final <-ng> combination is always .M..
3. The word about is indeed a grammar word. However, its not monosyllabic. As a result, we need to
stress one of its syllables. This stress requires a strong vowel.

German, French, Spanish: ja ja, oui oui, s s.

dmn | frent | spn | j j | wi wi | si si ||
1. <German> is a compound word whose ending is weak. Many old words end in unstressed <-man, -
men>, so they take schwa.
2. <French> is an example of the Basic Vowel Pattern.
3. <ja, oui, si> are not English words.

It's nonsense. Everyone speaks English anyway, and if they don't, they ought to.
ts nns()ns | evriwn spiks l eniwe || n f e dnt | e t tu||
1. <Everyone> and <anyway> are compound words. Happy .h. is used at the end of the words
<every> and <any> because these are word-final, unstressed syllables.
2. <n> is always .M. before a word internal .f..
3. <Dont> takes a strong form because this contains the negative adverb <not>. Also, it is a frequent
exception to the Basic Vowel Pattern, because the vowel says its name in this case.
4. The word <to> is in the strong form here because it is followed by a syntactic gap. In other words,
theres ellipsis here: They ought to [speak English].

So, no homework tonight. But I want you to watch a lot of television,

s | n hmwk tnat || bt a wnt ju t wt lt v telv()n |
1. The ending <-sion> takes .Y. if its preceded by a vowel sound (e.g. vision .!uHY'?(m.), and .R. if its
preceded by a consonant sound (e.g. tension .!sdmR'?(m.).

don't neglect your video games, and I'll see you in the morning.
dn(t) nlekt vdi emz | n al si ju | n mn ||
1. The speaker goes quickly over <neglect your>, that is why she merges the edges of these words.
The original .mH!fkdjs iN9. fuses .s. and .i., which results in .sR.. This is called ASSIMILATION, an
optional phonological process that makes words run more smoothly.

Shall we say ten, ten thirty? No point getting up too early, is there?
()l wi se | ten | ten ti || n pnt et p tu li | z e ||

CLASS: Yes!
kls || jes /