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International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in Which Each

This document discusses how dictionaries use phonetic transcriptions to indicate pronunciation. It explains that phonetic transcriptions are necessary in English dictionaries since spelling does not always indicate sound. The International Phonetic Alphabet is often used, with each English sound assigned a symbol. For example, "no" is transcribed as /nou/ and "do" as /du:/. When words have multiple syllables, one syllable is stressed more than others, and dictionaries mark stress with an apostrophe before the stressed syllable, such as /bɪ’k^m/ for "become".

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89 views6 pages

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), in Which Each

This document discusses how dictionaries use phonetic transcriptions to indicate pronunciation. It explains that phonetic transcriptions are necessary in English dictionaries since spelling does not always indicate sound. The International Phonetic Alphabet is often used, with each English sound assigned a symbol. For example, "no" is transcribed as /nou/ and "do" as /du:/. When words have multiple syllables, one syllable is stressed more than others, and dictionaries mark stress with an apostrophe before the stressed syllable, such as /bɪ’k^m/ for "become".

Uploaded by

LuisCastroDiaz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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3 ESO

Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras


Colegio Las Rosas
Curso acadmico 2012/13
www.colegiolasrosas.com

With phonetic transcriptions, dictionaries tell you


about the pronunciation of words. In English dictionaries,
phonetic transcriptions are necessary, because the spelling
of an English word does not tell you how you should
pronounce it.
Phonetic transcriptions are usually
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA),
English sound has its own symbol.

written in the
in which each

For example, the IPA-based phonetic transcription of


no is nou, and the transcription of do is du:. Note
that in spelling, these words are similar. They both end in
the letter o. But their phonetic transcriptions are
different, because they are pronounced differently.
Phonetic transcription is usually given in brackets,
like this: /nou/, /du:/. In a dictionary, it looks like
this:

When a word has many syllables, one of them is always


pronounced more strongly. This is called word stress, and
we say that the syllable is stressed. For example, in the
word become, the stressed syllable is come.
Dictionaries tell you which syllable is stressed. The
most popular system is to put a vertical line () before
the stressed syllable in the

phonetic transcription of the word.


transcription for become is /bk^m/.

For

example,

the

If a word has only one syllable (for example: pen,


house), the syllable is always stressed. Dictionaries
usually do not put the stress mark before the one syllable.
So they dont write /pen/ -they simply write /pen/

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