Hello,
Could you please tell me how to use phonetic symbols to form plural nouns and third person singular verbs so as to pronounce the suffixes correctly? Thank you so much.
Singular nouns with phonetic symbols are easily available in the dictionaries but plural nouns and third person singular verbs are not shown. The following are some examples:
Singular Nouns Plural nouns Phonetic symbols
Best wishes,
Bhikkhu1991a.
Plurals:
Note that the pronunciation of -s is different if the stem of the verb ends with a voiceless occlusive:
Lots = lQts
There may be other variations.
Hello Cerberus™,
Thank you so much for your useful answers to some of the examples. However, do you know any sources or websites that provide the methods or answers like yours?
Your answers are in response to my examples only, but I need to know others as well, for instance, I want to know how to form the plural phonetic nouns. Thanks.
Best wishes,
Bhikkhu1991a.
I don’t really know of any comprehensive sites with phonetic symbols for inflected words, but you might be able to find something through Google.
The website Howjsay.com pronounces words in actual sound; it has a great many inflected forms included in its dictionary, such as “boxes”:
howjsay.com/index.php?word=boxes
Hello Cerberus™,
Yes, howjsay.com is a good website for listening to word pronunciation. But then, I have difficulty in detecting the pronunciation of the alphabet letters “s” or “es” in suffixes. Sometimes, it sounded like the phonetic symbol “s”, and sometimes it sounded like the phonetic symbol “z”. Unlike your answers, it’s certain that the phonetic symbol is “-z” or “iz”.
According to the Cambridge Advanced Dictionary online, Shttp://dictionary.cambridge.org/define … ;dict=CALD, the phonetic symbols for “ –s” suffix (also “–es”) are “/-s/, /-z/”, so I don’t know which one I should choose, “/-s/” or “/-z/”. Perhaps, you know the difference.
By the way, I am wondering how you were able to provide me with the phonetic symbols to my examples: 1. "l&NgwIdZIz, 2. "bQksIz, 3. g3;lz, 4. gr@Uz. Which textbook are you using? Thank you so much.
Best wishes,
Bhikkhu1991a.
Perhaps you could listen to some words in Howjsay to get to know the difference between -z and -s, although I admit it does not always differentiate them as clearly as it might. What is your native language: doesn’t it have the difference between z and s? Try listening to these pairs in Howjsay and tell me what sound you hear: s or z. Check your own pronunciation: put your hand on your neck where your vocal cords are and feel it: when you pronounce z, you should feel a continuing vibration; with s, nothing.
grows
gross
looser
loser
peace
peas
ass
as (the s/z is pronounced more clearly in “as a matter of fact”)
use (has two different pronunciations, for verb and noun)
For some rules about the pronunciation of the suffix s:
homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~karchung/in … e%2034.htm
I took those phonetic symbols from the Oxford English Dictionary and added the suffixes myself.