Introduction:
The English language is distinct in different styles of words and pronunciations. In English, every word is directly opposite in spellings when it is compared with its pronunciation. So, to identify the sounds and pronunciation of a word, we use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Through this method, we can easily identify the pronunciation of words in English. Here, let’s know How do you write your name phonetically?
To write your name phonetically, you must understand what International Phonetic Alphabets are and how to use them.
International Phonetic Alphabet:
We all know that there are twenty-six letters in the Alphabet. Similarly, there are forty-four sounds in the phonetic transcriptions. Each sound is different from other sounds and it represents different words in English. To know how it works, first, we have to look at the symbols.
Different types of sounds in phonetics:
As English is divided into vowels and consonants, there are forty-four sounds in phonetics. Those forty-four sounds are divided as follows:
- Twelve vowels (Seven short vowels + five long vowels)
- Eight Diphthongs
- Twenty-four consonants. (It divide into many subdivisions like Alveolar, lateral, nasal, etc)
Twelve vowels:
Seven short vowels in the IPA are:
/ɪ/ – pit, in, ill, bid, kit, city, pity
/e/ – pet, egg, envy, bed, sell,
/æ/ – pat, ass, ankle, pad, cat.
/ʌ/ – cut, up, cup, under, bud
/ʊ/ – put, book, shook, took, look, cook.
/ɒ/ – dog, ox, odd, pot
/ə/ – about, ago, herself, permit, mother, father.
Five long vowels in the IPA are
/i:/ – week, eat, easy, meet, seed, tea, key.
/ɑ:/ – hard, heart, card, arm, part, far, car
/ɔ:/ – fork, out, order, port, cart, saw.
/ɜ:/ – heard, earn, early, bird, hurt, fur
/u:/ – boot, ooze, booze, food, shoot, too, blue, cool.
Eight Diphthong vowels in the IPA are:
/eɪ/ – place, aim, eight, paid, late, play, way.
/oʊ/ – home, over, oats, code, goat, know, so.
/aʊ/ – mouse, owl, fawl, out, crown, frown, brown, town, found, cow, how.
/ɪə/ – clear, ear, fear, near, hear, rear, real, year.
/eə/ – care, aerial, air, marry, careful
/ɔɪ/ – boy, oil, oyster, boil, soil, coil, toil, coin.
/aɪ/ – find, kind, eyes, island, wide, tried, buy, try.
/ʊə/ – tour, poor, Moore.
Twenty four consonants in the IPA are:
Alveolar fricatives: Teeth and Tongue come in contact with the Alveolar ridge to produce sounds.
/s/ – see, guess, saw, soil, so, sample, basic, bus.
/z/ – zoo, buzz, hiss, zoom, zip.
/ʃ/ – shoe, wish, ship, precious, fresh, brush.
/h/ – hen, hat, hair, home, how, hospital.
/ʒ/ – measure, treasure, genre, television, garage
Palatal alveolar:
/ʧ/ – church, check, watch, chips, picture, check
/ʤ/ – jet, judge, gem, jug, magic, germ
Nasals:
/m/ – men, man, name, moon, admire, dream, team.
/n/ – no, phone, noon, candle, rain, spoon.
/ŋ/ – ring, sang, sung, hanger, single
Lateral:
/l/ – let, tell, light, balloon, life, goal.
Frictionless continuant:
/r/ – rat, read, red, fury, tree, carry, dream.
Bilabial Plosives: Upper and lower lip will be involved in the pronunciation.
/p/ – peep, pen, paper, appear, problem, people, pin, pillow
/b/ – big, babe, rubber, begin, bun, tub, bomb, bed.
Fricatives:
/f/ – friend, fan, laugh, food, fork, laugh, buffoon,
/v/ – van, vain.
Alveolar Plosives: upper and lower cavity collide with the tongue while speaking.
/t/ – ten, tet, tent, kitten, table, toll, kite, night, knight, tight, fight,
/d/ – den, red, duke, date, lady, bird, day.
Velar Plosives: soft palates will be involved.
/k/ – key, cake, kind, bulk, pluck, luck, pocket, locket
/g/ – get, leg, gun, grace, guest, dog, log,
Dental sounds: it combines with lips and tongue to produce sounds.
/θ/ – thin, thought, thief, thumb, thin, Athletics, teeth, bath.
/ð / – then, that, those, there, they, bathe
Semi vowels:
/j/ – yes, you, year, yellow.
/w/ – wet, wait, west, waste, water, warm, why.
/’/ – the ‘ symbol used while transcribing words that involved sudden air movement and a cut in the air. Example words are – Sarah, Gloria. Those symbols involve extra sound and intonation.
The above symbols are given with the example words for the reference of the usage of words and their pronunciations.
How do you write your name phonetically?
From the above forty-four sounds, we can understand how the transcription process is working. When it comes to writing our name we should use phonetic symbols properly, for which knowing all these forty-four sounds is significant.
Some examples to transcribe Names:
Sarah – /’seirə/
Jessie – /Jessie/
Matthew – /Matthew/
Gloria – /’glɔ:riə/
James – /dʒeimz/
Noah – /’no(u)ə/
Oliver – /’ɒlɪvə/
Benjamin – /’bendʒəmin/
Mia – /ˌemaɪ’eɪ/
Henry – /’henri/
Harper – /’hɑ:pə/
Daniel – /’dænjəl/
Paul – /pɔ:l/
Donna – /’dɔnə/
Carol – /’kærəl/
George – /dʒɔ:dʒ/
Melissa – /mə’lisə/
Stephanie – /stephanie/
Timothy – /’tɪməθɪ/
Laura – /’lɔ:rə/
Cynthia – /’sinθiə/
Jonathan – /’dʒɔnəθən
Anna – /’ænə/
Benjamin – /’bendʒəmin/
Frank – /fræŋk/
Jack – /dʒæk/
Ruth – /ruːθ/
Jerry – /’dʒeri/
Heather – /’heðər/
Adam – /’ædəm/
Julie – /Julie/
Henry – /’henri/
Judith – /’dʒu:diθ/
Harold – /harold/
Megan – /megan/
Keith -/keith/
Cheryl – /cheryl/
Christian – /’krɪstʃən/
Andrea – /ˌændriə/
Roger – /’rɔdʒə/
Other efficient methods to learn phonetics:
Applications:
As we are in the digital world, we can use our inventions efficiently to learn anything. There are enormous lectures and videos and other materials are available for free of cost. There are uncountable applications available in App stores like the Play Store, Apple Store, and Android stores. All you have to do is download them and then transcribe the words that you need to be a transcript. Those apps come with many features like American English, British English, IPA – International Phonetic Alphabet, and some might even have translations. So, using applications is one of the efficient ways to learn transcriptions.
Youtube:
We can watch many youtube videos also to improve our phonetics and pronunciations. There are many linguistics specialists and phonetics specialists who are teaching others on youtube. We can learn from their videos. Visually learning phonetics might be clearer than reading by yourself and learning them. When someone who is a specialist in the subject of linguistics, especially phonetics can make you understand the concepts of using those symbols wisely. You can rely only on specialists when it comes to Youtube lectures.
Reading Phonetics symbols:
We can read more books or stories in phonetics format… It is one of the underrated methods to learn transcriptions. You can select any stories from the internet or any essays from the internet and keep them in your draft. And then you can convert them into transcription symbols in transcription applications. Then you can try to decipher those symbols by reading them to yourself. At first, it might seem different and confusing, but later once you start to decode some of the words correctly, eventually, you will understand the Phonetics mechanism, and similarly, you will try to read more and it will boost up your practice and learning skills.
Conclusion:
Language and thoughts are the major difference between humans and animals. We have different kinds of languages for different kinds of ceremonies. And we have multiple languages, cipher codings, emotions, gestures to communicate. But, phonetics’ main purpose is to make the words clear to pronounce them correctly. If we know phonetic symbols we would not make mistakes in any official, formal or informal meetings. Especially, using Phonetics for names and pronouncing someone’s name correctly will make them remember you for the rest of their lives and it is like credential points and as a token to build your relationship stronger.
Frequently asked questions:
What are phonetics and phonology?
Phonetics is the study of human sounds. How the human anatomy works to process the sounds and how we utter every word and letter to come out with differences in the process of word making. Phonology is a study of the system of relationships among speech sounds. For example, learning the similarities between the different language words and their pronunciations and uses depends upon the preference that one chooses.
What is the difference between short vowels and long vowels?
Short vowels and long vowels are differentiated by their sounds. Short vowels end with normal stress, while long vowels need some more stress and intonation in the process of pronunciations. They both differ by the symbol “:” after every long vowel. When the symbol contains this intonation “:” like /u:/, /i:/. Those symbols need more stress while pronouncing the words.
Is Phonetics important for a human?
Yes, a human needs to present himself with various skills like speaking, writing, and other curriculum activities. With the help of Phonetic symbols, you can understand how the pronunciation mechanism works, and how to pronounce a word in public and private spaces. Which adds to your credential points. If a person is a native speaker, he or she might have the pronunciation skills as they have grown. So, more than native speakers, Phonetics will be highly useful for foreigners who love to learn English. Yes, it is important, but not mandatory to learn phonetics.