UNIT_1_PRACTICE

Silvia Barreiro Bilbao

Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

TRANCRIPTION PRACTICE () () (2 h)

Focus: IPA consonant symbols revisited (I) (optional)

Materials: International Phonetic Alphabet Charts
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 1: Look through the consonant symbols on the IPA charts and
find the place of articulation and state of the glottis (voiceless or voiced) for
the following sounds:

a) [χ]

b) [ɰ]

c) [β]

d) [ʍ]

e) [ɾ]

f) [ɱ]

Comment: Remember that when symbols appear in pairs, the one to the
left represents a voiceless consonant, and the one to the right, a voiced
consonant. Also, some symbols may be found under the label Other
Symbols.

Hint: You can listen to each sound by clicking on the Interactive IPA chart, if
any help.

Focus: IPA consonant symbols revisited (II) (optional)

Materials: International Phonetic Alphabet Charts
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

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Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

Exercise 2: Determine the manner of articulation for the following sounds

shown on the IPA charts:

a) [ç]

b) [ʔ]

c) [ʘ]

d) [ɗ]

e) [ʀ]

f) [ʎ]

Comment: Notice that some symbols may be found under the label Other
Symbols. Also, remember that when symbol appears on the left side it
represents a voiceless consonant, and on the right side, a voiced
consonant.

Hint: You can listen to each sound by clicking on the Interactive IPA chart, if
any help.

Focus: IPA vowel symbols revisited (optional)

Materials: International Phonetic Alphabet Charts
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 3: Use the IPA chart to work out the tongue position (front,
central, back) and lip shape (rounded, unrounded or spread) of the
following vowels:

a) [ɨ]

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Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

b) [ɞ]

c) [ʌ]

d) [ɛ]

e) [o]

f) [ɶ]
Hint: You can listen to each sound by clicking on the Interactive IPA chart, if
any help.

Focus: IPA diacritics revisited (optional)

Materials: Internacional Phonetic Association (diacritics)
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 4: Supply a diacritic corresponding to the following labels:

a) Palatalized consonant: C
b) Voiceless (or devoiced) sound: V or C
c) Rhoticity:
d) Creaky voiced sound: V or C
e) Apical consonant: C
f) Nasalized vowel: V

Hint: Use the IPA chart, if any help...

Focus: IPA symbols used in English transcriptions (I)

Materials: International Phonetics Association: The Alphabet Chart
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

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Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

Exercise 5: Look through the pulmonic consonant chart and state how
many places and manners of articulation can be heard in Standard
English (with RP accent) in transcription. Are they all voiced or voiceless?

Focus: IPA symbols used in English transcriptions (II)

Materials: International Phonetics Association: The alphabet chart
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 6: Look through the vowel chart and indicate which symbols are
used to represent in transcription the segmental sounds of RP English.
Notice that the quality of one of the vowels is clearly different from it is in
English (a bit more centralised in this case), can you identify this vowel?

Comment: Remember that as RP is used as the reference accent, the

selected symbols reflect the sound distinctions that an RP speaker
would make.

Focus: Prosody in English transcriptions (optional but highly recommended)

Materials The document Focus & Intonation (unit 6) from the course
Pronunciación en la lengua inglesa (optional)
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Mid

Exercise 7: Supply intonation marks for at the least two of the following labels:
a) Intonation unit
b) Stressed syllable (not accented)
c) High pre-head
d) Low simple head
e) High Fall nuclear tone
f) Fall Rise nuclear tone

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 UNIT_1_PRACTICE
Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

Focus: Letters vs. sounds in English

Materials: Pronunciation dictionary (optional)
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 8: Count the number of letters in the following English words

and write it down. Then, say each word aloud. Count the number of
sounds you hear: show, dog, enough, eight, through, honest, lamb, car,
common, horse, black.
Question: What can you say about the relationship between sounds and
letters of each word? Example: In the word show two letters represent a
single sound.

Focus: Spelling vs. transcription in English

Materials: Pronunciation dictionary (optional)
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 9: Transcribe phonemically the words you used from exercise 8

above, assuming that is an RP accent, and explain briefly the connection
between ordinary spelling (also called ‘orthography’) and transcription.

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Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

REVIEW EXERCISES () (1 h)

Focus: Key concepts & ideas

Materials: None
Time: 40 minutes
Level of difficulty: Mid

Exercise 1: Decide if each of these statements is True (T) or False (F)

and mark it accordingly. Give reasons for wrong answers.

a) Dialect has to do with grammar and vocabulary whereas accent is

related to pronunciation.

b) Codification refers to the fact that at some point a particular dialect of

a language has officially received the standardization treatment.

c) Inner circle Englishes are those varieties of English spoken in

countries where people speak English as their mother tongue.

d) RP is the same as Standard English.

e) Technical registers are not used while speaking or writing Non-

Standard English.

a) True  False 
b) True  False 
c) True  False 
d) True  False 
e) True  False 

Focus: The spread of English/ the nature of overseas Englishes (optional)

Materials: None
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Mid

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Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

Exercise 2: Write down, in your own words, the main facts you have
learnt about the spread of English in the world and the nature of these
overseas varieties.

Focus: Factors accounting for variability (I)

Materials: None
Time: 20 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 3: Here are some of the factors that influence on people’s

pronunciation. Group them according to their nature (personal or
situational):
a) Occupation
b) Topic spoken
c) Attitude towards language
d) Social relationship between speaker & hearer
e) Purpose for using language

Focus: Factors accounting for variability (II) (optional)

Materials: None
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 4: Not all the variables that accounts for variability in people’s
pronunciation exert the same degree of influence. Read all the factors
mentioned in the document UNIT 1_THEORY and decide which ones you
think have more influence on your own pronunciation than the rest.

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Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

Focus: Kinds of variability (I) (optional)

Materials: None
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low

Exercise 5: State which of the following sentences are written in

Standard English and which are not:

a) He don’t want to do that.

b) He always seems very nice to me.
c) I don’t want none.
d) We done that quite recently.
e) She knows what she has to do.
f) The man what went…

Focus: Kinds of variability (II) (optional)

Materials: None
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Low-Mid

Exercise 6: Convert the non-standard sentences from exercise 5 into

Standard English.

Focus: Kinds of variability (III) (optional)

Materials: None
Time: 30 minutes
Level of difficulty: Mid-High

Exercise 7: Label the following sentences according to the dialect

(standard or non-standard), style (formal or informal) and register
(technical or non-technical):

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Silvia Barreiro Bilbao
Variaciones fonético-fonológicas en la lengua inglesa

a) She want you to play this melody adagio, not allegro.

b) She wants you to play this tune slowly, not quickly.
c) The rear off-side wheel look a bit wobbly.
d) The back left-hand wheel seems to be oscillating somewhat.
e) Her patella sustained an injury.
f) She done her knee cap in.
g) He ain’t attended no baptisms.
h) He hasn’t been to any christenings.

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