DEAREST CREATURE TRANSCRIPTION

Dearest Creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and
worse.
I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye your dress you’ll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.
Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear sew it!

Just compare heart, beard and heard,
Dies and diet, Lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain
(Mind the latter how it is written);
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say, said, pay, laid but not plaid.
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say gush, bush, steak, streak, break,
Bleak,
Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,
Recipe, pipe, studding-sail, choir,
Woven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipts, shoe, poem, toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore
Typhoid, measles, topsail, aisles
Exiles, similes, reviles.

/’dɪərɪst ‘kriːtʃər ɪn kri’eɪʃən/
/’stʌdɪŋ ‘ɪŋɡlɪʃ prənʌnsiˈeɪʃən/
/aɪ wɪl tiːtʃ juː ɪn maɪ vɜːs/
/saʊndz laɪk kɔːps kɔːr hɔːs ənd/
/wɜːs/
/aɪ wɪl kiːp juː səzi ‘bɪzi/
/meɪk jɔːr hed wɪð hiːt ɡrəʊ ‘dɪzi/
/teər ɪn aɪ jɔːr dres ju:l teər/
/kwɪǝr feǝr sɪǝr hɪər maɪ preər/
/preɪ ‘kɒnsəʊl jɔːr ‘lʌvɪŋ ‘pəʊɪt/
/meɪk maɪ kəʊt lʊk njuː dɪər səʊ ɪt/

/ʤʌst kəm’peər haːt bɪəd ənd hɪəd/
/daɪz ənd ‘daɪət lɔːd and wɜːd/
/sɔːd ənd swɔːd rɪ’teɪn ənd brɪ’teɪn/
(/maɪnd ðə ‘lætər haʊ ɪt ɪz ‘rɪtən/
/meɪd həz nɒt ðə saʊnd əv bæd/
/seɪ seɪd peɪ leɪd bʌt nɒt plæd/
/naʊ aɪ ‘ʃɔːli wɪl nɒt pleɪɡ ju:/
/wɪð sʌtʃ wɜːdz əz veɪɡ ənd eɪɡ/
/bʌt biː ‘keəfəl haʊ ju: spiːk/
/seɪ ɡʌʃ bʊʃ steɪk striːk breɪk/
/bliːk/
/’priːviəs ‘preʃəs ‘fju:ʃə vaɪə/
/’resɪpi paɪp ‘stʌdɪŋseɪl kwaɪǝr/
/’wəʊvən ‘ʌvən haʊ ənd ləʊ/
/skrɪpt rɪ’siːts ʃuː ‘pəʊɪm təʊ/
/hɪər mɪ seɪ dɪ’vɔɪd əv ‘trɪkərɪ/
/’dɔːtər ‘laːftər ǝnd tɛ:psɪʃar/
/’taɪfɔɪd ‘miːzlz tɒpseɪl aɪlz/
/’eksaɪlz ‘sɪmɪlz rɪ’vaɪlz/

Academic year 2008/2009
© Laura Tortosa Nieto
lautor2@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press

Back