POEM PHONETIC 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,
Holy, holly, signal, signing
Same, examining but mining
Scholar, vicar, but cigar,
Solar, mica, war, and far,
From “desire” desirable,
admirable from “admire”,
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier,
Topsham, Brougham, renown, but known.
Knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone,
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel,
Gertrude, German, wind, and mind
Scene, Melpomene, mankind,
tortoise, Turquoise, Chamois-leather
Reading, Reading, heathen, heather,
This phonetic labyrinth
Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.
Billet does not end like ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like wood,
Nor is mould, like should and could.
Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which doesn’t exactly rhyme with khaki.
Discount, viscount, load and broad,
Towards, to forward, to reward,
Ricocheted and crocheting, croquet?
Right! Your pronunciation’s O.K.
/ʻdɪərɪst ʻkriːʧər ɪn krɪʻeɪʃən/
/ʻstᴧdɪŋ ʻɪŋglɪʃ prənᴧntsiʻeɪʃən/
/aɪ wɪl ʻtiːʧ jə ɪn maɪ ʻvɜːs/
/ʻsaʊndz laɪk ʻkɔːps/ ʻhɔːs ənd ʻwɜːs//
/aɪ wɪl ʻkiːp jə/ ʻsᴧzɪ/ ʻbɪzɪ/
/ʻmeɪk jə ʻhed wið ʻhiːt ʻgrəʊ ʻdɪzi/
/ʻtɪə ɪn ʻaɪ jə ʻdres jəl ʻtia/
/ʻkwɪə/ ʻfeə ʻsɪə/ ʻhɪə maɪ ʻpreə//
/ʻpreɪ/ kənʻsəʊl jə ʻlᴧvɪŋ ʻpəʊɪt/
/ʻmeɪk maɪ ʻkəʊt ʻlʊk ʻnjuː/ ʻdɪə ʻsəʊ ɪt/
/ʻʤᴧst kəmʻpeə ʻhaːt/ ʻbɪəd ənd ʻherd/
/ʻdaɪz ənd ʻdaɪet/ ʻlɔːd ənd ʻwɜːd/
/ʻsɔːd ənd ʻsɜːd/ rɪʻteɪn ənd ʻbrɪtən/
/ʻmaɪnd ðə ʻlætə haʊ ɪt ɪz ʻrɪtən/
/ʻmeɪd həz nət ðə ʻsaʊnd əv ʻbæd/
/ʻseɪ/ ʻsed/ ʻpeɪ/ ʻleɪd bət nət ʻplæd//
/naʊ aɪ ʻʃɔːlɪ wɪl nət ʻpleɪg jə/
/wɪð sᴧʧ ʻwɜːdz əz ʻveɪg ənd ʻeɪg/
/bət ʻbɪ ʻkeəfəl haʊ jə ʻspiːk/
/ʻseɪ ʻgᴧʃ/ ʻbʊʃ/ ʻsteɪk/ ʻstriːk/ ʻbreɪk/ ʻbliːk/
/ʻprɪːvɪəs/ ʻpreʃəs/ ʻfjuːʃə/ ʻvaɪə/
/ʻresɪpɪ/ ʻpaɪp/ ʻstᴧdɪŋseɪl/ ʻkwaɪər/
/ʻwəʊvən/ ʻᴧvən/ haʊ ənd ʻləʊ/
/ʻskrɪpt/ ʻrɪsiːts/ ʻʃuː/ ʻpəʊɪm/ ʻtəʊ//
/ʻhɪə mɪ ʻseɪ/ ʻdɪvɔɪd əv ʻtrɪkəri/
/ʻdɔːtər/ ʻlaːftər/ ənd ʻterpsɪʧɔːr/
/ʻtaɪfɔɪd/ ʻmiːzḷz/ ʻtɒpseɪl/ ʻaɪlz/
/ʻeksaɪlz/ ʻsɪmɪlz/ ʻrɪvaɪlz/
Saturnino Figueroa
May 2009
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