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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
KEY TERMS
transcription
vowels
consonants
place and manner of articulation
PREVIEW
This chapter gives an overview of phonetic transcriptions. It:
gives the important transcriptional symbols
introduces the two major schemes of phonetic transcriptions
presents the main articulatory classifications of sounds
surveys the main variations in phonetic properties exploited by languages
further develops the relevance of phonetics for the study of phonology
Angled brackets, e.g. <sh>, represent spelling and square brackets, e.g. [šιp], are for phonetic representation. Underlying forms, found in later chapters, are placed in slanted brackets, e.g. /šιp/.
In phonetic transcription, speech is represented by a small set of symbols with a standard interpretation. This chapter looks at the different systems for phonetic transcription. There are two major schemes, the informal American scheme used especially in North America, sometimes known as APA (American Phonetic Alphabet), and the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), promulgated by the International Phonetic Association. The primary difference between these systems is that in certain cases the American scheme uses a regular letter plus a diacritic where IPA tends to use separate special characters. Thus the sound spelled <sh> at the beginning of ship would be transcribed as [š] in the American system, but with the separate letter [∫] in IPA. There are relatively few differences between the two systems, and you should become familiar with both systems (actively with one and passively with the other).
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