Inefficiency of

Phonetic Representation of

English-Persian Dictionaries

By:

Ali Sahraei

Prof.:

Dr. Ghaniabadi

Winter 2011

Page | 0[

Index:

abstract …………………………………………………………………………… 2

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 3

1. Table of phonetic symbols ………………………….……………… 3

1.1 Table of Consonants ……………………………………………… 4

1.2 Table of Vowels ……………………………………………………… 5

1.3 Table of Diphthongs ……………………………………………….

5

1.4 Discussions ……………………………………………………………. 6

1.4.1 Consonants ……………………………………………………. 6

1.4.2 Vowels

…………………………………………………………… 6

1.4.3 Diphthongs ……………………………………………......... 6

2. Stress …………………………………………………………………………… 7

3. Word Pronunciation Inefficiency……………………………………7

3.1 Lack of Difference between Vowels ……………………… 7

3.2 Lack of Difference between Diphthongs ………………. 7

Page | 1

3.3 Lack of American Pronunciation …………..………………. 7

3.4 Lack of Different Pronunciation …………..………………. 8

3.5 Lack of Accurate Pronunciation …………..………………. 8

4. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………… 9

abstract:

In this article I will consider the phonetic representation of four English-Persian dictionaries and the inefficiency that they may have. We just discuss the pronunciation tables of them and the pronunciation that they present for each world. These four dictionaries are including Farhang Moaser, Living Dictionary, third edition, 2006; Farhang Moaser, Millennium, third impression, 2009; Farhang Moaser, Haiim, fourth edition, 2008 and The Aryanpur Progressive English-Persian Dictionary, 2008. However, this paper is not to find faults in the dictionaries, since the painstaking task of dictionary writing is clear to the users. My base of discussion is the pronunciation tables of Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and the pronunciation that they present for each word.

Page | 2

Introduction:

As a young student, when I went to high school I always used to look up unknown words of the text that I was reading in some English-Persian dictionaries to learn the meaning and pronunciation of them. When I went to university I got familiar with English-English dictionaries and started to use them along using English-Persian dictionaries. Then I noticed some differences and inefficiencies in pronunciation part of those bilingual dictionaries that made me consult English-English dictionaries to make sure that I’m learning the correct pronunciation or the variations of the word’s pronunciation.

In this study I try to point out some efficiencies of the phonetic representation of some English-Persian dictionaries. In first part I will discuss the inefficiencies in number of phonetic symbols in these dictionaries. I will consider the following bilingual dictionaries: Farhang Moaser, Living Dictionary, third edition, 2006; Farhang Moaser, Millennium, third impression, 2009; Farhang Moaser, Haiim, fourth edition, 2008 and The Aryanpur Progressive English-Persian Dictionary, 2008. I has chosen Oxford Dictionary Phonetic symbols as a base in my study.

1. Table of phonetic symbols:

According to pronunciation tables of these dictionaries we have these tables for consonants, vowels and diphthongs. In Millennium dictionary some Triphthongs are also mentioned that they are not mentioned in pronunciation table of Oxford and Longman dictionaries so we do not mention them here because our study base is the pronunciation tables of these two dictionaries.

Page | 3

1.1 Table of Consonants

Dictinary⇨Aryanpu

rHaiim

Living

Millennium

ExampleOxford Dictionary symbol⇩

p p p p p pen /pen/

b b b b b bad /bæd/

t t t t t tea /tiː/

k k k k k cat /kæt/

g g g g g got /ɡɒt/

f f f f f fan /fæn/

v v v v v voice /vɔɪs/θ th θ th θ thin /θɪn/

ð th ð dh ð then /ðen/

s s s s s sell /sel/

z z z z z zoo /zuː/

ʃ sh ʃ sh ʃ she /ʃiː/

ʒ zh ʒ zh ʒ vision /vɪʒn/

h h h h h hat /hæt/

tʃ ch tʃ ch tʃ chin /tʃɪn/

dʒ j dʒ j dʒ June /dʒuːn/

m m m m m map /mæp/

n n n n n nap /næp/

ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ ŋ sing /sɪŋ/

w w w w w wet /wet/

l l l l l leg /leg/

r r r r r red /red/

j y j y j yes /jes/

x - - - x (Scots) loch /lɒx/

1.2 Table of Vowels

Dictinary⇨

Aryanpur Haiim Living Millennium ExampleOxford Dictionary symbol⇩

ɪ i ɪ i ɪ bit /bɪt/

Page | 4

e e e e e bed /bed/æ a æ a æ cat /kæt/ɒ ä ɒ â ɒ dog /dɒg/ (BrE)ʌ u ʌ - ʌ cup /kʌp/ʊ oo ʊ u ʊ put /pʊt/ə ə ə - ə ago /əˈɡəʊ/i - - - - happy /hæpi/u - - - - actual /ˈæktʃuəl/iː ē iː ii iː sheep /ʃiːp/ɑː - ɑː - ɑː father /ˈfɑːðə(r)/ɒː - - - - dog /dɒːg/ (AmE)ɔː ô ɔː o ɔː four /fɔː(r)/uː ōō uː oo uː boot /buːt/ɜː u ɜː - ɜː bird /bɜːd/

1.3 Table of Diphthongs

Dictinary⇨Aryanpu

rHaiim

Living

Millennium

ExampleOxford Dictionary symbol⇩

eɪ ā eɪ - eɪ make /meɪk/aɪ ī aɪ - aɪ lie /laɪ/ɔɪ oi ɔɪ - ɔɪ boy /bɔɪ/əʊ ō əʊ - əʊ note /nəʊt/ (BrE)oʊ - - - - note /noʊt/ (AmE)aʊ ou aʊ ao aʊ now /naʊ/ɪə - ɪə - ɪə real /rɪəl/eə - eə - eə hair /heə(r)/ (BrE)ʊə - ʊə - ʊə sure /ʃʊə(r)/ (BrE)uə - - - - actual /ˈæktʃuəl/iə - - - - peculiar /pɪˈkjuːliə(r)/

1.4 Discussions

1.4.1 Consonants

From the point of view of consonant we can say that all of these dictionaries have the necessary phonetic symbols to present different consonants of English. Except from ‘x’ symbol, that is just mentioned in Millennium Dictionary, they all have the same number of consonants. Also the representations of Haiim and Millennium are IPA based but Aryanpur and Living Dictionary use different phonetic symbols.

1.4.2 Vowels

Page | 5

Considering vowels we can see that there is some inefficiency in all of these dictionaries. Both Haiim and Millennium have a better situation and lacks only three vowels including ‘ɒː, i and u’. Aryanpur lacks four vowels including ‘ɒː, ɑː, i and u’. Living Dictionary has the worst situation and lacks seven vowels including ‘ɒː, ɑː, ʌ, ə, ɜː, i and u’.

According the table 1.2 there are some vowels that some dictionaries doesn’t have so they have to use some of vowels instead of other vowels. For example all of these dictionaries lacks vowel ‘i and u’ and the words that contain these vowels should be transcribed by vowels ‘ɪ’ (in Aryanpur and Living Dictionary the symbol that represent this vowel is ‘i’ that is different from ‘i’ vowel) and ‘ʊ’ (‘oo’ in Aryanpur and ‘u’ in Living Dictionary that is different from ‘u’ that we are considering now).

1.4.3 Diphthongs

Looking at the table of diphthongs we can see that again there is some inefficiency. Living Dictionary has the worst situation and has only one diphthong and lacks other diphthongs. Aryanpur lacks six diphthongs that include ‘oʊ, iə, uə, ʊə, eə, ɪə’. Millennium and Haiim lacks three diphthongs that include ‘oʊ, iə, uə’.

2. Stress:

All of these dictionaries use symbol (ˈ) for showing the stressed syllable. Haiim, Living Dictionary and Millennium put the stress mark before the stressed syllable but Aryanpur uses the stress mark after the stressed syllable.

3. Word Pronunciation Inefficiency:

In this part we will consider problems that deal with the pronunciations that each dictionary represents for words.

3.1 Lack of Difference between Vowels

Some vowels are missing in these dictionaries so for representing those vowels, these dictionaries use their available

Page | 6

vowels that it causes that the differences existing in different part of a word that contains two different vowels isn’t representing these differences. For example in word ‘gypsy’ (/ˈdʒɪpsi/) we have different vowels of ɪ and I in the middle and at the end, but in Living Dictionary this difference isn’t mentioned and it transcribed as /ˈjipsi/. In the word happy (/ˈhæpi/) the vowel ‘i’ is not differed from vowel ‘ɪ’ and in all of them it transcribed as ‘ɪ’. In Living dictionary that uses a simple transcription, the vowel ‘e’ is used instead of vowel ‘ə’ for example word ‘ago’ is transcribed as /eˈgo/.

3.2 Lack of Difference between Diphthongs

Again like vowels there are some diphthongs that is not available in these dictionaries especially for Living Dictionary that does not have any diphthong except ‘aʊ’ (transcribed as ‘ao’). So the transcription of diphthongs in this dictionary is not efficient also Haiim and Millennium have most of diphthongs and just lacks three diphthongs that one of them is American that is not available because these dictionaries do not mention American pronunciation at all.

3.3 Lack of American Pronunciation

As it mentioned earlier, none of these dictionaries provide American pronunciation. Nowadays lots of students use American textbooks and watch American movies and series and listen to American music this efficiency is really forced them to refer to English-English dictionaries to learn American pronunciation of words.

3.4. Lack of Different Pronunciation

Some words have different pronunciation that should be mentioned. For example the word ‘dimension’ has two different pronunciation of /daɪˈmenʃn/ and /dəˈmenʃn/ (or /dɪ-/ according to Longman Dictionary). But in these dictionaries one of these pronunciations is represented. In Aryanpur it transcribed as /dəˈmenʃn/, in Haiim as /daɪˈmenʃn/, in Millennium both of them are mentioned and in Living Dictionary just the first pronunciation is transcribed as /dâyˈmenshen/.

3.5 Lack of Accurate Pronunciation

Pronunciations of some words are not accurate especially in Living Dictionary. For example the word ‘double’ is transcribed /ˈdʌbl/ in

Page | 7

Oxford dictionary and /ˈdʌb(ə)l/ (/ə/ may or may not be used) in Longman dictionary, but it transcribed as /dâbel/ in Living dictionary. In Haiim and Millennium it is transcribed as Oxford dictionary and in Aryanpur it is transcribed as /dubəl/.

In Living Dictionary and Aryanpur which gives the British pronunciation of the words there are some r’s that are not pronounced in British English but in their pronunciation they are transcribed. For example the word ‘girl’ is transcribed as /ɡɜːl/ in its British pronunciation but it is transcribed as /gerl/ in Living Dictionary and as /gurl/ in Aryanpur. And in Haiim and Millennium it is transcribed correctly as /ɡɜːl/.

In some words that end in r(e) like gesture in British English the final ‘r’ is only pronounced before vowels, otherwise they are not pronounced. For example the word gesture transcribed as /ˈdʒestʃə(r)/ which means that that the ‘r’ is only pronounced when it precedes a vowel if not it is not pronounced. But in Aryanpur it transcribed as /jesˈcher/, in Living Dictionary as /jescher/. In Haiim and Millennium it is transcribed correctly as /ˈdʒestʃə(r)/.

In Living Dictionary pronunciation of some words are represented wrongly. For example the word ‘actually’ is transcribed as /ˈakchuwâli/ which its correct pronunciation lacks the consonant ‘w’ and the vowel before ‘l’ is ‘ə’ not ‘â’ (ɒ). It is transcribed as /ˈæktʃuəli/ in Oxford and Longman Dictionary. Another example from this dictionary is the word ‘breakfast’ that is transcribed as /ˈbrekfəst/, but in this dictionary it is transcribed as /ˈbrekfast/ (a is equal to æ).

4. Conclusion

Most of pronunciation that the Haiim and Millennium dictionaries representing are trustworthy and reliable but Aryanpur and especially Living Dictionary representation of pronunciation are less reliable. To be sure of the pronunciation we are learning from these four dictionaries, it’s better to look up the word in an English-English dictionary such as ‘Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary’ and ‘Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English’. But if you want to learn American English pronunciation none of these dictionaries provide that for you that and you should be sure that you have to refer to English-English dictionaries that provide you with both British and American pronunciations of the words.

Page | 8