In the headlines: Reverse IPA Transcriptions
/waɪ ˌdɛməˈkrætɪk ˈɡʌvənɚz ˈɑrɡju ðeɪ ɑr ðə ˈpɑrtiz bɛst ʃɑt fɔr ˌtwɛnti ˈtwɛnti eɪt/
Why democratic governors argue they are the party’s best shot for 2028
This is the term for a rule that applies ‘harmlessly’, wherein the application of the rule does not actually affect the output
vacuous application
/r w l j/
[+sonorant -nasal]
labiodental
[+labial -round +labiodental]
[-sonorant] → VOICEi /
___ [-sonorant VOICEi]
Obstruent voice assimilation:
Obstruents assimilate in voicing to an immediately following obstruent
/trʌmp ɪnˈsɪsts ˈtærɪfs wɪl ˈbui ði ɪˈkɑnəmi/
Trump insists tariffs will buoy the economy
The most sonorous part of a syllable
nucleus
/m n ɲ/
[+sonorant -continuant -dorsal]
glottal
[-labial -coronal -dorsal]
[+nasal] → PLACEi /
__ [-son -continuant PLACEi]
Pre-obstruent nasal place assimilation: Nasals take the place of a following stop or affricate.
/ə ˈfrʌˌstreɪtɪd ˈkɑŋɡrəs ˈpʊʃɪz ðə ˈpɛntəˌɡɑn tə prəˈdus ɪts boʊt straɪk ˈɔrdɚz/
A frustrated congress pushes the pentagon to produce its boat strike orders
This type of morphology is also known as grammatical morphology
inflection
/b d g/
[-sonorant -continuant +voice]
Retroflex
[+coronal -anterior -distributed]
[-sonorant -continuant -voice] → [h] /
[+nasal] ___
Voiceless obstruent place loss: Voiceless stops and affricates become the glottal fricative [h] following nasals.
/ˌdʒi oʊ ˈpi ˈsɛnətɚz pʊʃ hɛlθ kɛr ˈɑpʃənz æz voʊt lumz/
GOP senators push health care options as vote looms
This term describes the rule-governed patterns of a given language’s sound system
phonotactics
/t d s/
[-sonorant +coronal +anterior]
Velar
[+dorsal +high -low]
[+anterior -continuant] → ɾ /
[-consonantal] ___ [+syllabic -stress]
Tapping: coronal stops tap between a vowel and a syllabic sound, the second of which is stressless
/ə θri pɔɪnt sɪks ˈmæɡnəˌtud ˈɝθˌkweɪk ʃeɪks ðə ˌsæn frənˈsɪskoʊ beɪ ˈɛriə/
A 3.6 magnitude earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area
This morphological process occurs when all or part of the base is copied.
reduplication
/g ŋ w/
[+dorsal +voice]
postalveolar (palato-alveolar)
[+coronal -anterior +distributed]
[-voice -sonorant -continuant] → 0 /
[+nasal] ___
Post-nasal voiceless obstruent deletion:
Voiceless non-continuant obstruents (stops and affricates) delete following nasals.