Practical Exercises
Phonetics includes a lot of transcription, and that takes lots of practice!
On these pages you will find a range of transcription exercises: these consist of video files showing the production of either nonsense words or real words pronounced with a twist.
Nonsense words are a good source of transcription training because they require the listener to rely on their ear and their ear alone, without the bias of target expectation. In other words the aim is to keep the influence of one’s own phonology to a minimum here, although the listener is always bound to approach the listening task with prior expectation based on their linguistic experiences. Real words mispronounced or pronounced differently can raise the listener’s awareness of target variation that might be due to: different accents and dialects; individual differences or speech disorders.
Unit 1
- Unit 1a: Listen to the following nonsense words and transcribe the consonants that you hear.
- Unit 1b: Listen to the following real words and transcribe the consonants that you hear.
Unit 2
- Unit 2a: Listen to the following nonsense words and transcribe the consonants that you hear.
- Unit 2b: Listen to the following real words and transcribe the consonants that you hear.
- Unit 2c: Listen to the following nonsense words and transcribe the consonants that you hear.
Unit 3
- Unit 3a: Transcribe the vowels that you hear.
- Unit 3b: Transcribe the vowels that you hear.
- Unit 3c: Listen to the following nonsense words and transcribe them.
Unit 4
- Unit 4a: Listen to the following nonsense words and transcribe the consonants with particular attention to the voicing state of the stops.
- Unit 4b: Listen to the following real words and transcribe the consonants with particular attention to the voicing state of the stops.
