Types of transcription

Phonology deals with the problem of representing speech visually. This problem is closely connected with the problems of phonological analysis already discussed, because any system of writing is not a simple record of speech utterances, it is always a generalization about them. Be it ideographic writing (with a different symbol for each word, as in Chinese writing), or syllabic writing (with a symbol for each syllable, as in Japanese writing), or alphabetic writing (with a symbol for each phoneme or combination of phonemes, as in English), writing systematizes and provides a distinctive symbol for each class of sounds it represents.

A transcription, which is a visual system of notation of the sound structure of speech, is also a generalization of a great variety of sounds that are uttered by speakers of a given language.

The extent of the generalization may vary. One can classify the sounds into phonemes disregarding the different degrees of aspiration, labialization, length, palatalization and other phonologically irrelevant features of the sounds. On the other hand, one can differentiate between all those features and classify them as well. Consequently, there may be different types of transcription depending upon the degree of exactness required.

If it is accuracy only in the representation of the phonemes of the language that is required, the transcription should provide each phoneme with a distinctive symbol to avoid ambiguity. Such a transcription is generally called phonemic, or broad, transcription. It contains as many symbols as there are phonemes in the language. The phonemic data is usually enclosed between virgules (also called diagonals) : /t/.

If it is exactness in the differentiation of the allophones of each phoneme that is required, the transcription should provide either different symbols for each allophone, or introduce special marks to represent the different features of the allophone. The former would increase the number of symbols considerably, and that would cause great difficulties for those who use it.

The latter is more economical, although it makes the notation rather complicated. Scholars usually make use of both ways: they provide some of the typical allophones with distinctive symbols and introduce special marks (called - diacritic marks) to denote the different features the allophone are characterized by. Such a transcription is called a phonetic, or narrow transcription. The phonetic data is customarily enclosed in square brackets [t].

It has always been one of the main concerns of the phonetic science to work out a transcription. A phonetic transcription is essential for scientific and practical use. One can hardly do without it in foreign language teaching, in studying spoken languages, dialects, accents. The first attempts to represent speech sounds visually by means of special symbols were made as far back as the 16th century.

The modern phonetic transcription that is most widely used now is the International Phonetic Transcription devised by the International Phonetic Association in 1904. This transcription is a phonetic alphabet which may be applied to most of the languages. That is why it contains symbols that stand for phonemes in different languages. E.g. /æ/ (as in «bag»), /y/ (close lip rounded /i/ in German «u»), /o/(close lip rounded /e/ in French «peu»), etc. For this reason the transcription is often referred to as the universal transcription of the IPA ( International Phonetic Association)

One of the principles of this transcription is to use the fewest possible symbols of the simplest possible shape. Most of the symbols is uses are letters of the Latin alphabet. Besides, it contains a series of diacritic marks.

The broad type of the International Phonetic Transcription was first used by D.Jones in his “English Pronouncing Dictionary”, published in 1917. These are the symbols that he selected for English: /i:, I, e, æ, a:, ɔ:, ɔ, u:, u, ʌ, ə:, ə, ei, ou, ai, au, ɔi, iə, ɛə, uə/.

The American linguistic use what is often called the «linguistic alphabet». L. Bloomfield was the first to use it, later it was expanded by B.Bloch, G.Trager and other American linguistic. The linguistic alphabet includes new symbols: