The BG Language Creation Guide

#2: Phonetics

where People sometimes go Wrong: think about transcription

Despite having recently studied phonetics, many people resort to a kind of pseudo-phonetic transcription when writing down their words in step 3. This section is designed to help you avoid that.

You should use transcription when making your words. this is so that other linguists can read and pronounce your words correctly. As a bit of a review, try answering these questions. Links after each question give you the auditory answer.

  1. How do you pronounce these words? Pay attention to which words are in brackets (and therefore transcriptions) and which are not (therefore orthography).
  2. If I tell you that [D] is a voiced interdental fricative, how do you pronounce Dap
  3. If I tell you that [N] is a velar nasal, how do you pronounce liN
  4. If I tell you that [S] is a voiceless alveopalatal fricative, how do you pronounce Sasi
  5. If I tell you that [T] is a voiceless interdental fricative, how do you pronounce Tub
  6. If I tell you that [N] is a velar nasal, how do you pronounce tuNa
  7. If I tell you that [E] is an epsilon, how do you pronounce pEtej]
  8. If I tell you that [N] is a velar nasal, how do you pronounce liNwIstIks
  9. If I tell you that [N] is a velar nasal, how do you pronounce liNgIstIks
  10. If I tell you that [N] is a velar nasal, how do you pronounce thiNk
  11. If I tell you that [T] is a voiceless lateral click, how do you pronounce Top
  12. If I tell you that ^ marks a rising tone, and that [O] is an open o, how do you pronounce [ho^p]


Updated 1/29 2009