English Pronunciation for Icelanders

17
1.5.3 i as a weak vowel
1 19
i occurs as a strong vowel in stressed syllables:
bigger 1big0 insect 1insekt ritual 1riT¨0l women 1wimin
- but it also often occurs as a weak vowel in unstressed
syllables. Spellings of weak i include: ‘i’, ‘e’, ‘a’.
because decide repeat increase illegal improve excuse except
bi1koz di1said ri1pIt i~1krIs i1lIg¬ im1prUv ik1skjUs ik1sept
goodness massive crisis horrid stupid sausage village
1gudnis 1mæsiv 1kraisis 1horid 1stjUpid 1sosiD 1viliD
riches horses wanted added
1riTiz 1hOsiz 1wontid 1ædid
17\41
Sometimes unstressed 0 and i are in contrast:
Sometimes the symbol
accept - except
affect - effect
0k1sept ik1sept 01fekt i1fekt
Lenin - Lennon
chatted - chattered
1lenin 1len0n 1Tætid 1Tæt0d 2
is used in dictionaries to show that
the word can be pronounced with i or 0: incredible in1kred b¬,
reality r^1æl t^.
1 20
TRANSCRIPTION EXERCISE 10: weak i
¦
Fill in the gaps in the following.
1 The quickest villagers improved their excuses
ð±±±
1kw±±±k±±±st 1v±±±l±±±D0z ±±±mpr1Uvd ðe0r
±±±k1skj±±±s±±±z
2 Return before the women’s departure
r±±±1t±±±n b±±±1f±±± ð±±± 1w±±±m±±±nz d±±±1p±±±T0
2 In some rhotic American accents (i.e. accents which sound the r - see
2.5.2) these two words have the same vowel, but are distinguished by the r
- Tæt0d, Tæt0rd