IPA: Is It Possible to Have Primary-Stressed Vowels In An English Word?

"There is no agreed phonetic definition of a syllable" -- Ladefoged (1982, p219)
Image from Peter Ladefoged's homepage

"There is no agreed phonetic definition of a syllable" -- Ladefoged (1982, p219)

Last year, one of my students who happens to be an IPA teacher with a Master's degree in  Translation, spotted something pretty interesting when I was introducing the word "masseur".

Image from Cambridge Dictionary Online

She argued that the stress mark should be before the /s/ not after it, according to the rules she has learnt. She suspected that this is a typo made by Cambridge University.

To my knowledge, having a primary stress on a vowel alone is not unusual at all, according to my hundreds of hours of blog-writing (thus my exploitation of the Cambridge Dictionary Online), but at that moment, I couldn't come up with a counter-example. She was convinced with what she knew and stressed that by telling me she was an IPA teacher, and I was also sure with what I know, and so she challenged me to find another example on the Cambridge Dictionary Online, or if the same word "masseur" shows up with the same IPA. Subsequently, the situation got worse and I even received a complaint from her through my boss. My ex-boss, who is a fervent supporter of the Oxford Dictionary, was on her side and instructed me never to teach IPA in class again because "you are wrong!" I found no point of arguing with her and also pointless to even think about educating her, and so I pretended to have accepted her view.

Why should I make her smarter if they insist that they are smarter, right?

But am I really wrong? Of course not, not in this case. What they do not know is the most fundamental concepts of pronunciation.

Now that things have cooled down, I can explain the logic and reasons behind.

Notice the difference in IPA for the same word by different dictionaries
Image from Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Now, here's something we must know. If we check different authoritative dictionaries, we are bound to get many different IPA representations for the same word. How's that possible?

The answer is both political and commonsensical. 

It is political because of the way these dictionary authorities, such as Cambridge, Oxford, BBC, Colins, Longman, Webster, Merriam-Webster, etc., they are not friends and they don't share their researches. Sponsors or funded money is spent on top-secret data collections, data processing and computer programs. 

It is also commonsensical since they basically use different algorithms to work on different lexico-grammatical and phonological data collected from different regions of the world, few, if any, of the linguistic features such as IPA, grammar, meanings, translations will be the same. Why would it be the same anyway if there is something called copyright and patent infringement? Just ask Apple Inc. about copyrights and patents! 

What's more, I believe that there is in fact no 100% foolproof rule to anything on this planet. I used to believe that there is something that is absolutely right and absolutely wrong when I was a kid, just to realise that there are something called grey areas eventually. 

When a theory or a rule is wrong, people set a new boundary and then set a new rule, and the new rule remains correct until someone disproves it. The subject of science works exactly this way. Remember that our Earth was once believe to be a cube and travelling too far off the ships would fall off the edge of the world?

Let's not forget, we are dealing with English, a language which has borrowed, devoured, digested and "stolen" from over 350 languages around the world since 450 AD, sometimes, or most of the time, which English word belongs to which language is a tough task to trace. Then how can one IPA rule bound every word in the English language? Quite impossible.

Anyway, I find this question really challenging and here's what I've found!

Images from Cambridge Dictionary Online

All of them, with the exception of "batik" which is from Dutch, are from French.


Could this primary-stressed vowel pattern mainly happens in French loanwords? I doubt it. Dutch, in particular, is well-known for their stressed vowels. 

Could this primary-stressed vowel pattern only appears in Cambridge Dictionary Online? Not sure, but I checked every one of these words in the Oxford Dictionaries, and none of them shows this pattern.

Images from Oxford Dictionary Online

Anyway, I would very much like a clarification on that from the Cambridge University Press to make my student happy, so I wrote Cambridge University Press an email at 1:45am (now it's 2:33am, 26th July 2013), the response that I received was, they will follow up, and they never did.

That being said, you can try searching words like "ergo", "earnings", "urgent", "also", always", "pronunciation" and see the same pattern of primary-stressed vowel.

Back to my point, I believe that there is hardly any rules which can always be true (this is something I have learnt from Dr. House), pronunciation models are forever changing as humans evolve, what the quote from Ladefoged back in 1982 at the beginning of this post is very much still valid today, even with the advance technology that we possess right now. Syllabification, the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written, is a complex topic in linguistics study and like everything academic, it is heavily argued and debated.

I must say I do not know everything, but you do not need to be a genius to know that nothing is true forever.

So, as common learners of English, whether you belong to the ESL, EFL, ESP or EAP group, when learning IPA, I have one advice -- don't be too rigid.

"Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water." -- Bruce Lee

The Analysis of French Schwa
Image from Jstor

Image from Wiktionary

For more articles on IPA, do visit my IPA page.

Vocabulary:

masseur -- (n)[C] a person whose job it is to give massages to people

typo -- (n)[C] informal a small mistake in a text made when it was typed or printed
fervent (also fervid) formal-- (adj) describes beliefs that are strongly and sincerely felt or people who have strong and sincere beliefs

authoritative -- (adj) containing complete and accurate information , and therefore respected

commonsensical -- (adj) the basic level of practical knowledge and judgement that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way

bound to do sth-- certain to do something; destined to do something.

foolproof -- (adj) (of a plan or machine ) so simple and easy to understand that it is unable to go wrong or be used wrongly

devour -- (vb)[T] to eat something eagerly and in large amounts so that nothing is left

trace -- (vb)[T] to find the origin of something
syllabification or syllabication -- (n)[U] the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.

Resources:

IPA @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/search/label/IPA

IPA & Website: Peter Ladefoged's IPA Home Page @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2010/10/ipa-website-peter-ladefogeds-ipa-home.html

The History of English in 10 Minutes @ YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3r9bOkYW9s

http://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/diana/papers/Chapter_2_Grammatical_vs_Lexical_Stress.pdf

Stress @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stress_(linguistics)

The Analysis of French Shwa : Or, How to Get Something For Nothing? @ Jstor
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/413848?uid=3738176&uid=2134&uid=367753221&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=367753211&uid=60&sid=21101650914611

Whatever happened to Received Pronunciation? J.C. Wells, UCL
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4a7c82560101nvlj.html

Ladefoged, P. 1982. A Course in Phonetics (2nd ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Syllabification @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllabification

Phonetic cues to syllabification
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2497n8jq#page-112


http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/masseur?q=masseur
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/masseur#French
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bound+to+do
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/foolproof?q=foolproof+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/devour?q=devour+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/trace_1?q=trace+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/trace_1?q=trace+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/common-sense?q=commonsensical+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/fervent?q=fervent
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/authoritative?q=authoritative+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-chinese-traditional/typo?q=typo

Vocabulary & Slang: Confusing Words in English feat. -Graphs, -Phones and -Nyms

Image from BuzzFeed

Another simple day for me. Just watch and learn.

By the way, examples in the last video, Words You're Probably Mixing Up -- Similar-sounding words you're probably using wrong, such as

1. aural - oral
2. discreet - discrete

have same pronunciation but different meanings, therefore, they are homophones, whereas, the following are minimal pairs because they are different in one phoneme,

1. ascend - assent
2. prescribe - proscribe

Venn diagram showing the relationships between homographs (green) and related linguistic concepts
Image from Wikipedia

As for "restful - restive", they are sort of antonyms, meaning they are words of opposite meanings, whereas "flammable - inflammable" are synonyms, meaning they are words of similar meanings.

Lastly, "ingenuous - ingenious", they are different in spellings, different in pronunciation, different in meanings, outside of the minimal pairs region, so, they are just confusing words.

Just in case you wanna meet some faux amis, do check out Culture & Usage: "Lufsig", False Friends & Bad Words.


Vocabulary:
peen
tittle
nurdle
dongle
angina
diphthong
annals
pusillanimous
futtock
coccyx
mastication
kumquat
sexton
dictionaries
brucschetta
charcuterie
gnocchi
quinoa
beignet
endive
anise
gyro
cognac
espresso
prosciutto
pho
paella
bon appetit
aural
oral
ascend
assent
prescribe
proscribe
restful
restive
ingenuous
ingenious
discreet
discrete
flammable
inflammable
homophones
minimal pairs
antonyms
synonyms
faux amis


Resources:

Culture & Usage: "Lufsig", False Friends & Bad Words @ Locky's English Playground
http://lockyep.blogspot.hk/2013/12/culture-usage-lufsig-false-friends-bad.html

13 Words That Sound Sexy But Actually Aren't @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/iTSXGanCd7c

Words You're Probably Mixing Up @ YouTube
http://youtu.be/KC5DSkrhYFM

13 Foods You're Pronouncing Wrong @ YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu9AEX0LHXQ

Homophone @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone

Minimal pairs @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimal_pair

Learning Method: Help Yourself With Pronunciation of Medicine Names

Two days ago, I got a really nice question from a student, it goes like

"I work in the hospital and I always have to deal with different names of medicines but they are so hard to pronounce! Are there any ways I can find out the pronunciation of the medicine names?"

Yes! You are asking the right person about medicine!

Normally, people will immediately grab their copies of Oxford or Cambridge dictionaries, but in this case, you will get nothing out of them!

Image from Google Play

If you know IPA, then the fastest way of getting your answer is to use a smartphone app.

The Free Dictionary by Farlex runs the thefreedictionary.com and now it has an app simply called Dictionary which is available in Google Play and App Store (click links to download app).

This app provides exactly the same information as the website does, so you could get the US phonetic transcription representation, IPA, computer-generated sounds in UK and US accents, the meaning as well as the source of the definition depending on the sources. It's a free app and it's pretty convenient.

Take for example, I'm recently doing a lot of reseaches on tuberculosis. One of the key medications is this drug called isoniazid.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Image from Locky's English Playground

However, if you don't like computer-generated sounds because they are not accurate or realistic enough, the slower way and also the way I prefer, is to use YouTube.

Image from Locky's English Playground

Type the medicine name and search for videos with people who will actually read the word to you. I prefer those videos made and read by proper experts in the field as they are more convincing to me, but a few videos from the common netizens are just as good.

I prefer this method over the earlier simply because hearing actual pronunciations from real people gives me a better proof of the reality.

This method will also work with famous brand names which are often in French and Italian, give it a go if you have the need and leave for me a comment below if you have any suggestions.


Resources:
The Free Online Medical Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
http://thefreedictionary.com

The Medical dictionary - by the Free Online Medical Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

Dictionary by Farlex @ Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tfd.mobile.TfdSearch&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS50ZmQubW9iaWxlLlRmZFNlYXJjaCJd

Dictionary by Farlex @ App Store
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dictionary./id379450383?mt=8

IPA & Website: Peter Ladefoged's IPA Home Page

Peter Ladefoged (1925-2006)
Image from Peter Ladefoged's homepage

So, I know it is kind of too early to ask you if you have tried the ramen restaurant I recommended yesterday, but you guys can tell me after you have tried this weekend, and leave me comments. I also have to say that I have only tried the one in Sai Wan Ho, so the other branches, I have no idea how good or bad they prepare their noodles.

Okay, so it is weekend, what's the goodie this Friday?

For those of you who are keen on revising your IPA all the time, I have already written some articles on the methods, you are welcome to revisit those articles and refresh your memory.

Today, I have an extremely good website to recommend, with sound clips recorded by one of the best and most renowned linguists of all time, Peter Ladefoged. Here is the link:
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels/contents.html

What you get to make use of in this homepage, are some very useful sound files of which Peter Ladefoged recorded, so say, you are reading Chapter 1, you choose the IPA symbols you would like to listen to, and you choose consonants to listen. When you click on the left side of /p/, you will hear the pronunciation of /p/ combined with a vowel /a/, so you will here /pa/. When you click on the right side of /p/, you will hear /p/ in between 2 vowels, which is /apa/. Try it, shouldn't be that difficult.

Image from Peter Ladefoged's homepage 

There are also many amazing things to read and watch, such as the X-ray animations of the movement of the mouth when pronouncing words in Chapter 12 -- Making English Vowels, different languages (such as Thai and Hindi) and their vowel sounds in Chapter 13-- Action of the Larynx, and possibly the most useful of all, Chapter 3 -- Vowel Contrasts, in which American and BBC English vowels can be listened to.

This weekend, make good use of it.

For someone who has contributed his whole life to the study of English phonetics and linguistics, he should really be remembered. You are advised to read Remembering Peter Ladefoged as well as a way to thank him.


Resources:
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2010/10/food-and-restaurant-sapporo-sai-wan-ho.html
http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/
http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/ladefoge/remember/index.htm
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/vowels/contents.html

Learning Method: Revising Your IPA

Image from Wikipedia.org

Had lesson 1 yesterday. It was the entire IPA all in one lesson. Of course, I had no problem doing the class exercises, but I was reminded that I am not perfect at it. Staying very modest is the right attitude, and realising the room for improvement at all time is crucial to success.

Why wasn't I perfect? It was the common words which I thought I could always pronounce correctly that eventually surprised me.

Say, the word "sewer", "salad", "calendar", "element', "lollipop" and "chicken".

I thought "sewer" was /suːə/, but actually it is /sʊə/. I never knew I have always been using the American version.

I thought "salad" was /ˈsɑːl.əd/, but it is actually /ˈsæl.əd/.

I thought "calendar" was /ˈkæl.ən.də/, but in fact it is /ˈkæl.ɪn.də/.

I thought "element" was /ˈel.ə.mənt/, but it should be /ˈel.ɪ.mənt/.

I thought "lollipop" was /ˈlɔː.li.pɒp/, but it ought to be /ˈlɒl.i.pɒp/.

I thought "chicken" was /ˈtʃɪ.k^ən/, but no, it is /ˈtʃɪ.kɪn/.

So, you see, even I cannot guarantee 100% correct!

But, the most important thing is never give up. I have never stopped reading the IPA while looking up for the meaning of a word, no matter how simple the word is. I understand that here are a lot of words in the English language and it is impossible to cover all of them and thus memorise the pronunciations of all these words, but I never tell myself this, because it will lower my will power.

What I do is, I just keep going and not to think about that. When I read the IPA and finally memorise it, I tell myself that I have defeated one more word and that there is one word less that I do not understand / know how to pronounce.

I look at the cup as half-filled rather than half-empty, in fact, I look at it as 0.001% filled rather than 99.999% empty.

How would you approach the same situation?

Also, the IPA representation of any words from any dictionaries are just for reference. Each dictionary has its own data and the version of pronunciation. There is no reason to be the same, otherwise, who needs to buy more than 1 dictionary? So just take it as a reference, don't get too serious with the accuracy.

Happy Learning!


Resources:

Type IPA online:
http://lockyep.blogspot.com/2009/06/ipa-type-ipa-online.html

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sewer
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/salad
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/calendar
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/element_1
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/lollipop
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/chicken_1

Beauty: Locky's Guide to Choosing Your Perfect Perfume (DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom)

Locky's Guide to Choosing Your Perfect Perfume

-- "sounding-like-an-expert" version

After learning about the classification of perfumes, it is about time for me to do some recommendation.

Choosing perfume is like choosing red wine, only you will know which kind of tastes you like. As long as you like it, it is a good perfume!

In my super self-centred opinions, it doesn't matter what your boyfriend or husband like or think, it is what you want that matters most. You can get opinions from them, but never put them above your own.

Not so long ago, I was looking for Eau de Parfum for my girlfriend and so I took her to the department store to try out the fragrance. Since all perfumes have 3 notes, you can only be completely sure if you like the perfume if you have experienced all 3 of them.

My suggestion is:

1. go to the store in the morning, spray a few on separate test papers,
2. select ONLY the ones with the best top notes and chuck the rest,
3. then go window-shopping,
4. smell the test papers again for the middle notes every hour after that and keep repeating 2 ( and 3 maybe, I can hear the girls cheering already),
5. after 5 to 6 hours, check to see if you like the base notes,
6. allow yourself at least 24 hours to ponder things over,
7. if you have already narrowed it down to one or two choices, then go to the store again. This time, apply the perfume on your body* as you should see if your body scent (or body odour) matches with the perfume.
8. if you have singled out one, you shouldn't wait any more!

* Lower arm is preferred because you might be tempted to check the smell often; applying it on the hand and you will wash it away easily; applying it on the neck and the sales lady will give you a bad look.

If everything goes well, you should be able to find your perfect perfume. Nonetheless, even if you do often apply the perfume, I suggest that you still go for 50 ml. No matter how tempting it is for the more economical 100 ml or 150 ml, it is likely that a new version will come out in less than 3 months, which you might find it even better, so keep your options open.

One of the perfumes I eventually bought is the DKNY Be Delicious series, Fresh Blossom. From the official website, the descriptions are as follows:

Inspired by the beauty of the Apple Blossom, this new fragrance is lighthearted, intensely feminine, and radiant. A blend of sparkling grapefruit, cassis and sun-kissed apricot, blended with sheer muguet, petally rose and jasmine.

List of notes from StrawberryNET:

Top notes:

grapefruit, cassis (French) /kasi/= blackcurrant , apricot

Middle notes/heart notes:

muguet (French) /mygɛ/= lily-of-the-valley , rose, jasmine

Base notes:

apple blossom, blonde wood = wood of golden colour, smooth skin accord

Valentine's Day is next month guys!!!! You know what to look for!

**************************************************************************

Vocabulary

chuck -- [T often + adverb or preposition] informal to throw something carelessly

ponder -- to think carefully about something, especially for a noticeable length of time

body scent -- a smell produced by an animal which acts as a signal to other animals

body odour -- an unpleasant smell on a person's body that is caused by sweat

lighthearted -- happy and not serious

intensely -- very strongly

feminine -- having qualities which are traditionally considered to be suitable for a woman

radiant -- obviously very happy, or very beautiful

sparkling -- shining brightly

sheer -- describes clothing or material which is so thin, light and delicate that you can see through it

petally -- of any of the usually brightly coloured parts that together form most of a flower

**************************************************************************

Picture resources:

http://slimages.macys.com/is/image/MCY/products/0/optimized/513060_fpx.tif?bgc=255,255,255&wid=327&qlt=90,0&layer=comp&op_sharpen=0&resMode=bicub&op_usm=0.7,1.0,0.5,0&fmt=jpeg

Resources:

http://www.dknyfragrances.com/templates/products/sp_nonshaded.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY21488&PRODUCT_ID=PROD14584

http://www.strawberrynet.com/perfume/dkny/be-delicious-fresh-blossom-eau/89562/?CatgId=17

http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll299/cozycotter/DKNYFresh.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apricot

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassis_(disambiguation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muguet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasmine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_blossom#Apple_production

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=13470&dict=CALD

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=61427&dict=CALD

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=70255&dict=CALD&topic=smells-and-smelling

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=8544&dict=CALD&topic=smells-and-smelling

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=46104&dict=CALD

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=41334&dict=CALD&topic=lacking-humour

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=28452&dict=CALD&topic=gender-related-attributes

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=65127&dict=CALD

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=76192&dict=CALD&topic=the-qualities-of-light

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=72642&dict=CALD&topic=very-and-extreme

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=59190&dict=CALD&topic=flowers-general-words

Beauty: Parfum or Toilette?

Have you ever wondered what do the words "Eau de Parfum", "Eau de Toilette" or "Eau de Cologne" on your perfume bottles mean? Why are the prices of these perfumes so different? What language are they in? How do we pronounce these words?

Let's study my findings.

Quoting from Wikipedia, "the word perfume used today derives from the Latin "per fumum", meaning through smoke. Perfumery, or the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt and was further refined by the Romans and Persians."[1]

Today, France is "the centre of the European perfume design and trade."[1]

Eau, in words such as "Eau de Parfum", "Eau de Toilette" or "Eau de Cologne" (or "Eau de vie", a colourless fruit brandy), refers to "water"[2] and it is a commonly used permutation of vowels in French words which yields a sound similar to the letter "O" in some languages[2], while de means "of", thus Eau de means "water of"[3], the IPA of it is /ˌəʊ.də./[4]

General classification of perfumes follows the concentration by percent/volume of perfume oil[5]:

Perfume extract (Extrait):

• 15-40% (IFRA: typical 20%) aromatic compounds

Eau de Parfum /ˌəʊ.də.paʁˈfœ̃m/ (EdP), Parfum de Toilette (PdT):

• 10-20% (typical ~15%) aromatic compounds. Sometimes listed as "eau de perfume" or "millésime".

Eau de Toilette /ˌəʊ.də.twaˈlet/ (EdT):

• 5-15% (typical ~10%) aromatic compounds

Eau de Cologne /ˌəʊ.də.kəˈləʊn/ (EdC):

• Chypre citrus type perfumes with 3-8% (typical ~5%) aromatic compounds

Splash and After shave:

• 1-3% aromatic compounds

Click here to see the IPA symbols which you haven't learnt and here for French Phonology.

Perfume is described in a musical metaphor as having three sets of 'notes', making the harmonious scent accord.[5]

Top notes: The scents that are perceived immediately on application of a perfume.Also called the "head notes".

Middle notes: The scent of a perfume that emerges just prior to when the top notes dissipate. They are also called the "heart notes".

Base notes: The scent of a perfume that appears close to the departure of the middle notes.

*********************************************************************

Vocabulary:

harmonious -- (adj.) having a pleasant tune or harmony

accord -- (n.) (a formal) agreement

dissipate -- (vb.) to (cause to) gradually disappear

*********************************************************************

Wish you all a very fragrant 2010!!!

Picture resources:

http://ultimatescent.com/files/2013747/uploaded/Beautiful_Perfume_Bottle_Image2.gif

http://www.freefoto.com/images/1351/04/1351_04_9---Eiffel-Tower--Paris--France_web.jpg

http://www.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/6928800/2/istockphoto_6928800-3d-music-notes.jpg

Resources:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eau

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eau_de_vie#Etymology

[4] http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=24665&dict=CALD&topic=toiletry-and-perfumes

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume#Concentration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_phonology

http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:YoYpFP0eYhMJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:IPA+eau+de+parfum+IPA&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=35886&dict=CALD&topic=describing-qualities-of-sound

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=522&dict=CALD&topic=accepting-and-agreeing

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=22627&dict=CALD

IPA: Type IPA online

Just a short note. For those of you who want to type IPA on the blog, here's a good website that will allow you to type, copy and then paste.

http://ipa.typeit.org/

Learning Method: IPA Dephonetisation & Asphonetisation

IPA made easy

(Lucky I still have something I wrote before the Easter Holidays. This is it!)

There is a saying, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap". This is all so true for everything you do in life, no matter you are trying to cook a delicious meal or learn up new vocabulary.

Luckily, there are sometimes short-cuts to learn something and I'm going to share with you my secrets of learning IPA.

Some of you might have heard me teaching this in the class already, but I would like to share with everybody here again, just in case I missed talking about it in class (so ask more questions and you will learn more).

The steps of learning IPA are actually pretty simple.

First, you need to learn how to write the alphabets.

Then, you need to remember one most simple example.

Eg. 'at' /æt/ and 'up' /ʌp/

Next, all you need to do is to apply a method that I invented, called 'Method of Dephonetisation', and that is simply to delete the non-relevant sound from the word and you will get the sound of the IPA.

The advantage of this method is, you don't need to remember the sounds of each IPA by itself, but you have a better reference from an example.

Since you can dephonetise a word, you can of course asphonetise it to form a larger word using 'Method of Asphonetisation'.

Many learners in Hong Kong can't say the word 'cat' properly. Now with the method of phonetisation, from 'at' to 'cat', all you need to do is to add a /k/ sound in front, thus /kæt/.

Now, let's try some examples:

What is the difference between 'bread' and 'brad'?

Bread /bred/ Brad /bræd/

Now, how do we pronounce them? For 'bread', because we can see the IPA /bred/ having 'red' /red/ inside, so all we need to do is /b/ + /red/.

For 'Brad', because the IPA /bræd/ has 'rad' /ræd/ inside, so all we need to do is /b/ + /ræd/.

If you are not comfortable with 'rad', you can trying the following step by step:

1. start with 'at' /æt/, dephonetise /t/ => /æ/
2. asphonetise /æ/ + /d/ => /æd/
   
3. asphonetise /r/ + /æd/ => /ræd/
   
4. asphonetise /b/ + /ræd/ => /bræd/
   

You can use these methods and expand to long words and still get perfect pronunciations. The key is just not to lose your sound in every step.

Enjoy your IPA!

To type IPA on your websites:

http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/bylanguage/ipachart.html

Coming soon: ...... Wait until I recover first......

Reply to comments & readers:

1. Thanks for all your caring messages!