Phonetic Symbols Essay

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Task 1: Reading: Guide to English Phonetic Symbols Read the component “Introduction to IPA” and answer the following questions. Make sure you: * answer in your own words, * make sure you answer each of the questions in full, * provide short answers. * 1. What is IPA? It is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation and is used in dictionaries to indicate the pronunciation of words, also the IPA has often been used as a basis for creating new writing systems for previously unwritten languages. 2. Why do we need IPA when learning the pronunciation of any given language? The IPA is used in some foreign language text books and phrase books to transcribe the sounds of languages which are written with non-latin alphabets. It is also used by non-native speakers of English when learning to speak English. 2. How does IPA differentiate short vowels from long vowels? IPA has symbols that distinguish long vowels and short (consonants). 4. How can the articulation of diphthongs be defined? When there are vowels that are made up of two separate sounds and they begin with a vowel sound and end with a glide. 5. One of the differences between American and British accents is in terms of rhoticity. A rhotic accent generally has /r/ more or less whenever it appears in the spelling. A non-rhotic accent, however, does not have the /r/ in final or post-vocalic positions. Which accent is rhotic and which non-rhotic? British accents is non-rhotic and American accents is rhotic. 6. Can there be a syllable without a vowel? Yes like bottle. 7. A weak vowel is a vowel that normally occurs only in unstressed syllables. There are three weak vowels in English. What are they? /i/ /I/ and /u/ 8. What types of stress does English have? Primary and secondary

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