Update:
2005-04-07 05:19 AM -0400
TIL
Introduction
ENGLISH PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY
Daniel Jones. Edited by Peter Roach, James Hartman and Jane Setter. Cambridge University
Press, 2003.
Scanned by Maung Kan Tun and edited by
U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.).
Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR.
Part 2-1
Principles of transcription
2.1 Phoneme principle
2.2 Vowels and diphthongs
(British English,
English [a] and Bama [a],
American English)
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Pronouncing letters
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UKT: If you are a Myanmar (Burmese) born in Myanmar (Burma), you should remember that
once a person has passed his teens, there is almost no way in which in he can emulate a native
English-speaking person. You are most likely to be phoneme-deaf. Similar to a color-blind
driver who can still differentiate the red, yellow and green traffic lights, you can still
differentiate the various English phonemes which are about 42 in number. You may not be able
to speak like a native-born English speaker, but you will still understand every word
that he utters. Furthermore, if you speak the Burmese language (officially dubbed the
Myanmar language or Myanmar*) fluently, you will hear the difference between similar Burmese
and English phonemes. And once you have learnt in your own sweet way, how to pronounce
an English phoneme differently from a similar Burmese phoneme, your English pronunciation
would become more understandable to a non-Burmese speaker.
Since the phonemic transcription in this dictionary is in International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA), it is imperative that you know how the human speech is produced. I've provided
you with diagrams of
speech organs
and articulation for some phonemes.
__________
* The word "Myanmar" is used for the country, the person and the "language".
The correct spelling is
{mran-ma} which is pronounced as
{myan-ma} by the majority and as {mran-ma} in Arakanese-dialect. Since there
are many indigenous languages in Myanmar such as Kachin, Karen and Shan in addition to
the language of the majority, I feel that it is necessary to denote the language spoken
by the largest part of the population as Bama
{ba.ma} . Please note that the spelling "Bama" is my own and
"Burmese" is the widely accepted spelling. Though I have tried using Bama for
the spoken language, I have to re-use the widely accepted "Burmese". Also
please note that the script will be referred to as Myanmar or
Myanmar-script. My differentiation of language or spoken language as Burmese and script
or written language as Myanmar has parallels:
spoken language Hindi -- written script Devanagari
spoken language Sanskrit -- written script Devanagari
__________
For those in Myanmar who would like to hear the pronunciation by
native-English speakers, I've included some sound clips:
vowels . You can also go
online and listen from various sources. Here is one from UCLA: click on
Sounds and languages -The IPA chart sounds. Those who have Internet access,
I must urge you to go online and listen, and you will find unexpected
pronunciations: /n/ in isolation sounds like Myanmar
{nga.} /ŋ/ instead of
{na.} /n/. After listening to sounds represented by various characters, I am
beginning to wonder whether I am hearing-challenged or simply put -- deaf!
UKT: To show that a character is a phoneme, the character is enclosed within
/ / known as phoneme brackets. See 2.9 Use
of /i/ and /u/ .
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The basic principle of the transcription used is, as in all previous editions,
phonemic. This means that a small set of symbols is used to represent the sounds
that can be shown to be distinctive in English, so that replacing one phoneme by another
can change the identity of a word. We do not usually add phonetic detail such as the
presence of glottal stops, aspiration or vowel devoicing. It is usual to put slant
brackets / / before and after symbols representing phonemes (e.g. the word <cat>
would be represented phonemically as /kæt/ ). (æ = U00E6 Latin small letter Ae).
When non-phonemic symbols are used, the convention is to use square brackets (e.g.
the glottal stop will be represented as [ʔ] (U0294). In entries in the dictionary
itself, however, we do not use these brackets, in order to keep the information simple;
only in explanatory notes do we use slant or square brackets. For an explanation of
the principle of the phoneme and some of the problems associated with it, see Roach (2000),
Chapters 5 and 13. The use of phonemic transcription in works on pronunciation (including
this one) has remained in the "realist" tradition established by Jones, while
approaches to the phoneme by theoretical phonologists have changed radically during recent
decades and become much more abstract. There are a few exceptions to our general use of
the phoneme principle that should be mentioned here, however. One is the use, in American
pronunciations, of the [ ̬] ("Combining Caron Below" U032C)
diacritic to indicate the voicing and "flapping" of /t/ in words such
as <getting> /ˈget ̬.ɪŋ/ , and <better> /bet ̬.ɚ/ .
This is an important feature of American pronunciation, but speakers of British
English find it difficult to apply the rule which determines when /t/ is voiced and/or
flapped. Another is the use of the symbols [ i ] and [u], the use of which is explained below
(2.9 Use of /i/ and /u/).
Finally, it is necessary to use a number of special symbols which are not normally
used for English phonemes. This set includes some nasalised vowels used particularly
in some words taken from French, the [x] sound found in Scottish words such as <loch>, and
some non-linguistic sounds used in certain exclamations and interjections
(2.4 Non-English sounds).
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It is standard practice in phonetics to represent the quality of vowels and diphthongs
by placing them on a four-sided figure usually known as the Cardinal Vowel quadrilateral
(see Roach (2000), pp. 13-14). This device is used in the vowel descriptions in
the following section.
Vowels are defined by the position of the middle portion of the tongue relative to
the roof of the mouth. An open-vowel is produced with the tongue in the lowest position
and a close-vowel is produced with the tongue in a high position creating a constriction
that would be classified as a consonant. An open-vowel is sometimes referred to as
a low-vowel and close-vowel as high-vowel.
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UKT: Go on-line and to Peter Ladefoged's A Course in Phonetics
to listen to recordings of English Vowels.
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UKT: The vowel quadrilateral ( which is meant to represent the vowel area --
colored yellow) is, in fact, quite divergent from the actual shape of the
vowel area. Catford (1977), among others, has suggested a diagram closer
to physical reality could be adopted. This could allow articulatory descriptions
of vowels, similar to those used for consonants. In order to produce a diagram
closer to the vowel area, the angled corners of the Cardinal Vowel diagram
need to be abandoned, and a chart nearer to the ellipse shape in the figure created. --
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/johnm/ball.htm
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UKT: I am an ethnic Burmese born in Myanmar in the 1930's. Using my
"Burmese-ears" I have listened to Peter Ladefoged's
English Vowels and have come to the
conclusion that:
• /a/ = 
{a} ;
/i/ = 
{i} ;
/u/ = 
{u} ;
/e/ = 
{é} ;
/ɛ/ = 
{è} ;
/ɒ/ = 
{au}
• /o/ = 
{o}
• In pronouncing the Burmese vowels my mouth is always open and my vocal cords are not vibrating.
• Burmese short vowels are absent in the above diagrams.
• In pronouncing the Burmese vowels according to traditional way:
{a.} {a} {i.} {i} {u.} {u} {é} {è} {au.} {au} {an°} {a:}
the tip of my tongue remains in the same position, but the middle part of tongue moves
from the lowest position to the highest possible position pressing the roof of the mouth,
and back to the lowest position.
Contents |
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British English (BBC accent) is generally described as having short vowels, long vowels and
diphthongs. There are said to be seven short vowels, five long ones and eight diphthongs. At the
end of this section some attention is also given to triphthongs.
It should be emphasised that English vowels and Burmese vowels are
quite different, and that the English letter [a] used in Romabama is NOT the English
vowel [a] nor any English phoneme related to the English [a]. Myanmars use pure vowels,
whereas English speakers use mostly diphthongs. This is the reason why my earlier attempts
to romanize the Burmese language based on the English vowel system had failed.
Romabama is based on written Burmese script and NOT on pronunciation.
At the present of development it is still a one-to-one transliteration
and is not yet a transcription.
See Vowels preceding consonant.
|
• Short vowels:
|
| ɪ |
e |
æ |
ʌ |
ɒ |
ʊ |
ə |
| <pit> |
<pet> |
<pat> |
<putt> |
<pot> |
<put> |
<another> |
| /pɪt/ |
/pet/ |
/pæt/ |
/pʌt/ |
/pɒt/ |
/pʊt/ |
/əˈnʌð.əʳ/ |
UKT: An English word can consists of many phonemes. There can be cases where
the phoneme count of the same word would be different from person to person.
A native-Burmese speaker is bound to miss some phonemes. There is also the possibility
that a Burmese would "hear" phonemes which are not present.
|
• Long vowels
|
| iː |
ɑː |
ɔː |
uː |
ɜː |
| <bean> |
<barn> |
<born> |
<boon> |
<burn> |
| /biːn/ |
/bɑːn/ |
/bɔːn/ |
/buːn/ |
/bɜːn/ |
UKT: Native-Burmese speakers find it almost impossible to pronounce
diphthongs and triphthongs. The trick is to pronounce a diphthong as as two
or three Burmese phonemes rapidly and continuously. Thus <boy> is pronounced as:
{bo} >
{ba.o} >
{ba.o.wein} (do not pronounce [n])
Start saying {bo}
or
{ba.o}
and try ending as
{wein}
-- I am still not satisfied with my effort.
|
• Diphthongs |
| eɪ |
aɪ |
ɔɪ |
əʊ |
aʊ |
ɪə |
eə |
ʊə |
| <bay> |
<buy> |
<boy> |
<no> |
<now> |
<peer> |
<pair> |
<poor> |
These vowels and diphthongs may be placed on the Cardinal Vowel quadrilateral
as shown in Figs. 1 to 3. It should be noted that though each vowel (or
diphthong starting-point) is marked with a black circle (●) (U025CF),
it is misleading to think of this as a precise target; the point represents
the centre of an area within which the typical vowel pronunciation falls.
A few comments on individual vowels and vowel symbols are needed. The
pronunciation of any language is constantly changing, and a dictionary such as
this one should reflect such changes. However, there is a general reluctance
among users of phonemic transcription to change the symbols used too frequently,
as this causes existing teaching materials and textbooks to become out of date.
The following remarks apply chiefly to BBC pronunciation.
(a) The length of long vowels and diphthongs is very much reduced when they
occur in syllables closed by the consonants /p , t , k , ʧ , f , θ , s , ʃ/.
Thus /iː/ in <beat> has only about half the length of /iː/ in <bead>
or <bee>; similarly /eɪ/ in <place> is much reduced in length compared
with /eɪ/ in <plays> or <play>.
(b) The vowel /æ/, classified as a short vowel, is nevertheless generally lengthened
before /b , d , g , ʤ , m , n/. Thus /æ/ in <bag> is considerably longer
than /æ/ in <back> . The quality of this vowel is now more open than it used to be,
and the symbol /a/ might one day be considered preferable. We have retained the /æ/
symbol partly because it is phonetically appropriate for the corresponding American vowel.
Vowels preceding consonants -- UKT
One of the hallmarks of an abugida script is the "killed" consonant,
where the inherent vowel of the consonant is "killed". The consonant no longer
has a vowel. The instrument for killing the inherent vowel is known as a "virama"
in Devanagari (Hindi) and as an
{a.thut} in Burmese. Unlike the English syllable CVC, the Burmese syllable has the
form CVÇ, where Ç is the killed consonant -- Ç is my own notation. In Romabama
such a "killed" consonant is always preceded by a vowel (which is the
inherent vowel of the preceding consonant itself). The Burmese vowel preceding
the "killed" consonant does not undergo a change in vowel
length.
(c) The vowel /ʌ/ (U028C) (close to
{au} : /ɒ/ is closer) used to be a back vowel, and the symbol was chosen
for this reason. This is no longer a back vowel, but a central
one. Alternative symbols could be considered in the future.
UKT:
• According UNIL /ʌ/ is a back vowel.
• According to Simon-Fraser Univ,
www.sfu.ca/person/dearmond/220/basic.sounds.English.220.gif (see the
original) /ʌ/ is
a "stressed lax mid-central neutral" vowel.
(d) Among younger speakers, the /uː/ (U0075 U02D0) vowel has moved to
a more front quality, with less lip-rounding, particularly when preceded by /j/
(U006A) as in <use>.
(e) Among the
diphthongs,
there seems to be a progressive decline in the use of /ʊə/, with /ɔː/
taking its place ( e.g. the pronunciation of the word <poor> as /pɔː/
is increasingly common).
UKT:
• The entry in DJPD16
for <poor>: / pɔːʳ , pʊəʳ (us) pʊr /
• To a Myanmar, <poor> sounds like:
something between
{po-wa:} and
{pu-wa:}, but not
{pwa:}.
(f) Triphthongs create some problems. These
three-vowel sequences are generally held to be composed of one of the diphthongs /eɪ
, aɪ , ɔɪ , əʊ , aʊ/ plus a schwa
(e.g. <layer> /leɪəʳ/; <fire> /faɪəʳ/).
In British English many of these triphthongs are pronounced with such slight movement in vowel
quality that it is difficult for foreign learners to recognise them; for
example, the name <Ireland>, which is generally transcribed /ˈaɪə.lənd/,
frequently has an initial syllable which sounds virtually indistinguishable from /ɑː/.
It seems reasonable in this case to treat these sounds as being monosyllabic (e.g. the
word <fire> is a single syllable), but in other words and names transcribed with the same
symbols it seems necessary to insert a syllable division. This is usually done (1)
when there is a morpheme boundary (e.g. <buyer> /baɪ.əʳ/)
and (2) when the word is felt to be foreign (this includes many Biblical names
originating from Hebrew, e.g. <Messiah> /məˈsaɪ.ə/ ).
Another problem with triphthongs is that before an /r/ consonant at the beginning of a
following syllable, the distinction between /aɪə/ and /aɪ/ seems to be
neutralised -- it seems to make no difference whether one represents <Irish>, <irate>
as /ˈaɪə.rɪʃ/ , /aɪəˈeɪt/
or as /ˈaɪ.rɪʃ/ , /aɪˈeɪt/,
since there is no regular distinction made in pronunciation. In general, the
practice of this edition is to transcribe such cases as /aɪə-/.
UKT: Note that in /aɪə-/ schwa is italicized.
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UKT: Generally speaking American English is more
rhotic than British English. Apart from the
rhotic colouring in vowels preceding /r/, "American English is commonly
described as having lax vowels ... Generally speaking, lax vowels are lower and
made with less oral tension;" (see below). Probably, because of this, many
Burmese-speakers who had learnt English in Myanmar, on going to Britain and
America to study, find it much easier to speak with Americans than with British
who had never been to Myanmar. As for me, on my first trip to the United States,
my American friends remarked that my accent sounds quite similar to the Maine
accent, which is not surprising because Maine is close to Quebec, the
French-speaking part of Canada. Burmese-Myanmars, like the French do not
pronounce the end-consonant in the syllable.
American English is commonly described as having lax vowels, tense vowels, and
wide diphthongs. Generally speaking, lax vowels are lower and made with less
oral tension; they do not usually end syllables. Vowel length in American
English is generally considered to be conditioned by phonological environment,
so the long/short distinction described for BBC English is not usually present,
though we have retained the length mark on the tense vowels /iː , ɑː
, ɔː , ɜː , uː/ in order to mark their relationship to
the English long vowels. Since the diphthongal movement in /eɪ/ and /oʊ/
is small in American pronunciation, these are treated as tense vowels. Vowels
preceding /r/ are notably influenced by rhotic colouring. Word spellings such
as <bird>, <word>, <curd>, <earth>, <jerk>, which
now rhyme with /ɝ/ (U025D) in American English, at one time in history had
differing vowels. The retroflexed vowels /ɝ/ and /ɚ/ (U025A), stressed
and unstressed, are among those features that noticeably distinguish American English
from BBC English. All vowels occurring before /r/ within a syllable are likely to
become "r-coloured" to some extent.
| • lax vowels |
ɪ |
e |
æ |
ʌ |
ʊ |
ə |
|
| • tense vowels |
iː |
ɑː |
ɔː |
ɜː |
uː |
eɪ |
oʊ |
| • wide diphthongs |
aʊ |
aɪ |
ɔɪ |
|
|
|
|
| • retroflexed vowels ("r-coloured") |
ɚ |
ɝ |
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There is an issue in the symbolization of the diphthong in the word <home>.
This has for many years been represented as /əʊ/, but in earlier
editions of this and others of Jones' works the symbolization /ou/ indicated a
rounded initial vowel. This is still the preferred transcription for the American English
diphthong. In order to preserve compatibility with other works, we have chosen to
use /əʊ/ for BBC English and /oʊ/ for American, though it can be
argued that the latter symbolization would be suitable for both.
UKT: Entry for <home> in DJPD16: /həʊm/ (us) /hoʊm/
The American /æ/ vowel is somewhat closer than BBC /æ/, and seems to be evolving
into an even closer vowel in many speakers. It is used in the same words as BBC /æ/
and also in most of the words which in BBC have /ɑː/ when there is no
letter [r] in the spelling, e.g. <pass>, <ask>. The quality of
American /ɑː/ is similar to the BBC /ɑː/ vowel; it is used in
some of the words which have /ɑː/ in BBC when there is no letter [r] in the
spelling (e.g. <father>, <calm>). It also replaces the BBC short /ɒ/
vowel in many words (e.g. <hot>, <top>, <bother>): <bother>
rhymes with <father> . American /ɔː/ is more open in quality than
BBC /ɔː/ . It is used where BBC has /ɔː/ (e.g. <cause>,
<walk>), and also replaces BBC short /ɒ/ in many words, e.g. <long>,
<dog>. American /uː/ is similar to BBC /uː/ , but is also used where
BBC has /juː/ after alveolar consonants (e.g. <new>, <duty>).
Top |
Contents |
Introduction |
Information panels |
Pronouncing letters
TIL home page |
Linguistics - index
End of TIL file
{a.} is quite close to English short /a/ or [á].
{pis}.
{pak}.
{paath}.
{pau.}.
{pwut}.
{a.na}.
{bi:}
{bu:}
{ba:}.
{a.ni} ,
{a.no} and
{no:}.
{pi-a}.
{pe-a} and
{pè:}.
{po-a}.
