Page 72 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes STRESS, TONE (PITCH)
‘ stress, placed at beginning of stressed syllable:
‘ secondary stress: high level pitch, high tone:
- low level: ‘high rising:
, low rising: ‘high falling:
` low falling: rise-fall:
fall-rise.
AFFRICATES can be written as digraphs, as ligatures, or with slur marks; thus ts, t ∫ , d ¥ : ts t ∫

d ¥ : .

c, j may occasionally be used for t ∫ , d ¥
A number of phonetic transcriptions have been evolved. But the most well-known are (1) Daniel
Jones’ system, (2) A.C. Gimson’s system, (3) George L. Trager and Henry Lee Smith’s system, and
(4) Charles C. Fries and Kenneth L. Pike’s system. The difference between Jones’ and Gimson’s
system is not great. In the representation of consonants, Gimson and Jones do not make any
difference at all. It is only in the case of certain vowel sounds that they use different symbols.
We have followed in this book Daneil Jones’ system because of its simplicity and facility in
printing it. But we strongly feel that Gimson’s system is more sound and comprehensive than that
of Jones. Another reason of our preference to Jones is community of our Indian learners and
teachers who have been using text-books, dictionaries (e.g. The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of
Current English; Everyman’s English Pronouncing Dictionary) etc. which follow Jones’ system of
phonetic transcription using the IPA symbols, although the latest editions of these dictionaries
have been revised and follow Gimson. Jones and Gimson are British phoneticians. Trager and
Smith and Fries are American scholars and are followed in most American books on linguistics
and phonetics. Nevertheless, we recommend to our readers to follow Gimson’s system of phonetic
transcription, and hence reproduce below Gimson’s list of phonetic symbols and signs from his
book, Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. (By courtesy Prof. Gimson)
LIST OF PHONETIC SYMBOLS AND SIGNS
a Cardinal Vowel no. 4 (approximately as in French patte); used for first element of Eng.
dipththong [ai]
æ front vowel between open and half-open (Eng. vowel in cat).
a Cardinal Vowel no. 5 (approximately as in French pas); used for first element of Eng. diphthong
[a• ], and for Eng [a:] in car
Z open rounded Cardinal Vowel no. 5 (Eng. vowel in dog)
b voiced bilabial plosive (Eng. b in labour)
[ voiced ingressive bilabial plosive

β voiced bilabial fricative
c voiceless palatal plosive
ç voiceless palatal fricative
Cardinal Vowel no. 6 (approximately as in German Sonne); used for
Eng. [ :] in saw, and first element of diphthong [ i]
d voiced alveolar plosive (Eng. d in lady)
a voiced ingressive alveolar plosive
ð voiced dental fricative (Eng. th in other)

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