44 Consonant syllabicity Exercise 5.3 Transcribe the following passage. including all the processes seen so far, with special attention to syllabicity. Since we moved here a year ago I have been very frustrated by my inability to communicate fluently. I have much, some would say too much, to say on any given subject. I have always been known as someone who is willing, even eager, to share her opinions on almost any topic, and suddenly have found myself with this curious new disability that prevents me from doing so. By the time I have formulated my vital contribution to a discussion in progress, the conversation has moved on and I have to begin processing all over again. I find myself regularly and literally at a loss for words, an unfamiliar dilemma for me. The most important benefit of these classes, therefore, is that they have started reopening those verbal floodgates. I can converse again and so now I’m back on home ground on my old soapbox. pontificating again to anyone who'll listen. The only difference is that now I hold forth in another language and that other people get more chances to speak, since I still have to stop to think more frequently than in my native language. | still have much to learn and make the silliest mistakes regularly. My kinder friends say it’s part of my charm and they must have sore tongues from biting them so often to resist the temptation to correct me constantly. I find humour the most difficult aspect to master and fear I may never get it. I am still translating sayings literally and being left in confusion as a result. I tend to switch off in a conversation if no one is speaking directly to me, as I have to concentrate so hard. So sometimes I suddenly realize that everyone is looking at me expectantly, awaiting a response. Then I have to admit that I haven’t got a clue as to what they've been talking about and could I get a quick recap please. I am making progress. however. Every time I'm able to answer someone without consciously needing to translate each word, I feel there is yet a light glimmering at the end of the tunnel. Exercise 5.4 Transcribe the following passage, including all the processes seen so far, with special attention to syllabicity. ‘As soon as Colette Little saw the technician pull up, she ran out. ‘Please hurry up. It’s fallen all the way down to the bottom.’ The technician rushed through the door of the huge old folks home following Mrs Little. ‘We have to hurry. I have nurses stationed at all doors but still...” They got to the elevator just in time, it seemed, as an old lady shuffled towards it and. clearly, no one was stopping her..‘Oh, no, the nurse must have taken a break or something’, Mrs Little muttered under her breath. ‘No, Hazel, you can’t use the elevator today. Go back to your room now, dear’ and she gave the old woman a little push towards the corridor. By this time the technician had opened the elevator doors. ‘The buttons still work the doors, madam. By the looks of things, with the compartment at the bottom and half the cables shot, I can't do anything right now. I didn't bring the right tools for this and I'll certainly need somebody else to help me. You will have to wait.’ ‘Oh, no,” Mrs Little said. ‘couldn't you at least disable the doors?’ ‘No, I can’t, but I'll block all doors with the cones so that everybody knows there's something going on. if you like. We wouldn't want anybody falling down the shaft, would we?” *No. no. Yes, all right. sir. That would be very helpful.’ After dinner Colette went up to her room, which was on the top floor. It was late and everyone was asleep110 Appendix: Answers to exercises Orthographic version Nathan loved meat. Unfortunately he and his wife were very poor and they couldn't usually afford it. They hadn’t eaten meat for several weeks and Nathan was getting a terrible craving for it. Eventually he couldn't stand it any longer, so he gave his wife some of the money he had been saving to buy some new shoes, ‘Listen. You must go and buy some meat today. There’s enough there for about seven pounds of stewing beef. Make a huge stew. I don’t care what vegetables you put in it, but it must have meat.’ Then Nathan went off to work and all day he felt happy at the thought of the marvellous stew he was going to get in the evening. Meanwhile, Nathan's wife set off for the butcher to buy the meat. She wasn't as fond of meat as Nathan was. Her great passion was chocolate and she hadn't eaten any of that for months. Right next to the butcher's shop there was a confectioner with a window display full of the most delicious looking things she had seen for years. She couldn't resist it. She went in and spent all of the money Nathan had given her. That evening Nathan came home beaming all over. His wife put a pot of stew on the table and served him a big plateful. It was a wonderful stew containing beans and potatoes and lentils and all sorts of other vegetables, but Nathan couldn't find even a little piece of meat. He served himself a couple of times, fishing around in the pot, but still he found no meat. “Didn’t you buy the meat?’ asked Nathan. “Oh, I certainly did,” said his wife, ‘but the most horrible thing happened. When I came home from the butcher, I realised I had forgotten to get salt, so 1 went to the neighbour to borrow some. When I got back. I opened the door and saw the cat napping under the table. It was clear it had eaten all the meat.’ Nathan got up and went in search of the cat. with a terrible look on his face. He came back and put it in a cotton bag and put the bag on the kitchen scales. The cat weighed just over seven pounds. “If this is the cat, where is the meat? And if this is the meat, where is the cat?’ growled Nathan, Exercise 5.3 | sins wi 'mu:vd hrer @ ‘jrer egau | ar av bitn ‘veri fras'trertid bar mar ine'briti ta ka'mju:nikest ‘fluantli | ar hav! 'matf | ‘sam? wud ser 'tu: matf | ta 'ser on ‘eni ‘gtvij 'sabd3zkt | ar av 's:iwerz bizn 'naun ez 'samwan hu 12 ‘waltn | i:v@ ‘i:ga | ta ‘feo her’ a'pinjenz on ‘o:!maust ‘eni ‘topik | end ‘sadgfli av 'faund maiself wi6 bis ‘kjo:ras* 'nju: dise'biltti | Sat pri'vents mi frem ‘du:iq seu | bar 5 'taim at ev ‘fo:mjulertid mar 'vart} kontr'bju:fj tu 9 dr'ska{§ in ‘prougras | 5a konve'serffi 9z mu:vd ‘on | an ar haev' ta bi'gmn 'prausasin '9:! 'suver e'gen | at ‘faind matself 'regjuleli> ond ‘tterali® at @ ‘Ins fe ‘wa:dz | an anfa'mrlja :° | ba 'meust im'po:tift 'benafrt av bi:z 'kla:siz 'beafa: | 12 dat id riupnin’ Bauz ‘va:b} ‘fad gerts | ar kj ken'vs:s® e'gen | en sau ‘nau aim 'beek on ‘heum 'graund | pn mar ‘auld 'seupboks | pon'trfikertm e'gen tu ‘eniwan hul ‘iis | &i ‘sunii 'drferens® zz Sat ‘nau | ar ‘heuld ‘fo: in e'nade ‘laengwids | an dat 'ade 'pi:pl get ‘ma: 'tfa:nszz te ‘spi:k | sins ar ‘stil haev! ta ‘stop te ‘8ink mo: ‘fri:kwantli 8H 1n mar 'nertry ‘lzengwidg | ar 'strl heev' 'matf te 'Is:n | and 'merk da 'stliest mr'sterks 'regjulali” | mar 'kainde ‘frendz ser its ‘pa:t ev mar 'tfa:m | an Ber mast heev! ‘sa: ‘tanz | fram ‘bartiy dem seu ‘offi' | te ri'ztst 5 tamp'terffi to ka'rekt mi 'konstentii'! | ax faindAnswers to Lesson5 111 'hju:me 6a maust ‘difik}t 'sespakt te 'ma:sto | ond ‘frer ar met ‘neva ‘get it | ar ‘2m ‘stil treens'lertin 'seumnz ‘htarali® | and bi:1n ‘left 1n kan’ 'fju:36§ oz @ ri'zalt | ar tend ta swrtf 'of ine konve'serff | 1f ‘neuwan rz 'spi:kig dar'rektli te mi | 2z ar heev! te 'konsantrert’? sau ‘ha:d | sau 'samtatmz at 'sadfli 'rielarz Sat ‘evriwan @ ‘tokin at mitk'spektantli!? | a'wertrn @ ri'spa:ns | ‘Sen at ‘heev' tu ed'mit Set ar ‘heevfit'* got @ 'klu: oz te ‘wot Serv bi:n 'to:kin ebaut | ond 'kud ar ‘get 9 'kwik ‘ritkeep 'pli:z | ar 'aem® 'merkan 'praugras hau'ave | ‘evritarm arm ‘erb] tu ‘a:nsa 'samwan wr8aut 'kon{asii 'ni:din te treens'lert i:t{ ‘wa:d | ar ‘fiz! Ber 12 ‘jet @ ‘art ‘glimerm at 5i ‘end av Se tan} | ‘Comments to transcription The verb is in strong form because here it is not an auxiliary. Strong form because some is used as a pronoun (see Lesson 3). {hy is not deleted because her is used as an adjective. "* Monophthonging (sce Lesson 2). Syllabicity is not possible because /al/ is preceded by an approximant. Strong form because the grammatical word is emphasised and therefore stressed. Syllabicity can be lost (de-syllabicity) because there is an unstressed vowel follow- ing and the nasal becomes the onset of the following syllable. That could also be seen as /9/ elision (see Lesson 6). Syllabicity in the syllable preceding the stress is not very frequent. |. Syllabicity is not possible because /an/ is preceded by a sonorant. 10. /often/ is an alternative pronunciation for which syllabicity is unlikely, because /en/ is preceded by two consonants. IL. Syllabicity is not possible because /an/ is preceded by three consonants, one of which is a nasal. 12. Syllabicity is not possible because the sequence /an/ is preceded by two consonants, the first of which is a nasal. 13. Syllabicity is not possible because the sequence /en/ is preceded by two plosive consonants. 14, The strong form is used because it is a negative contraction. ““" Na ween Sd Exercise 5.4 | oz 'surn oz *ka'let *'it} so: 6a tek'n1{ pul ‘Ap | fi rzen ‘aut | 'pli:z hari ‘ap | rts Yfo:len! a:1 8 ‘wer daun te be ‘botem | de tek'nsfff ‘raft Gru: be ‘do:r av So ‘hju:ds ‘ould ‘feuks heum | ‘folauiy misiz *'tf | wi ‘hee? te ‘hari | ax heev? ‘na:siz ‘sterffid ot 9:1 ‘'do:z | bet ‘stil | Ser ‘got te Si ‘elaverte dest in ‘tarm it ‘si:md | 9z an euld ‘lerdi ‘faffd te'wo:dz rt | en ‘klrali ‘neuwan wez ‘stopin 0 | 2u 'nau | de 'n3:s mest av ‘terkfi a ‘brerk 9: 'sam@1n mrsiz *'Intf ‘mated ‘anda he ‘bred | ‘nav *herz| | ju ‘ka:nt? ju:z 6i ‘elaverte te'der | 'gou bask te jo: ‘ru: nau ‘dre | and fi ‘gerv 81 auld ‘women! ¢@ ‘Int 'puf tewo:dz Se 'koride | bar ‘dts taim 5e tek'nt{f ad ‘aupfid 6i 'eleverte ‘do:z | 5e 'batiz stil ‘wa:k 5a ‘da:z 'meedem | bar &e ‘luks av ‘nz | wib be kem'pa:tment’ at Be ‘botem | an ‘ha:f 6a ‘kerbjz ‘fot | at ‘kaznt? du: 'eni®in rart ‘nau | at ‘didfjt brine rart ‘tu:lz fe 'O1s | and arl 'sa:thili 'ni:d sambedi® ‘els ta ‘help mi | ju wil ‘heev” te ‘wert | ou ‘neu misiz *'kt] sed | 'kudiit? ju ot ‘li:st dis'erbf 89 ‘do:z | neu at ‘ka:nt® | bet atl ‘blok 9:1 'do:z wid 8a ‘keunz | sou Sot ‘evribodi ‘neuz Sez