POEM: �DEAREST CREATURE IN CREATION�:
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,
So shall I! Oh, 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's written).
Made has not the sound of bade,
Say said, pay-paid, laid, but plaid.
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
But be careful how you speak,
Say break, steak, but bleak and streak.
Previous, precious, fuchsia, via,
Pipe, snipe, recipe and choir,
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles.
Exiles, similes, reviles.
Wholly, holly, signal, signing.
Thames, examining, combining
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war, and far.
From "desire": desirable--admirable from "admire."
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier.
Chatham, brougham, renown, but known.
Knowledge, done, but gone and 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 food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which is said to rime with khaki
Discount, Viscount, load, and broad.
Toward, to forward, to reward.
Right! Your pronunciation's O.K.
TRANSCRIPTION:
/d ɪ ə ɾ ə st k ɾ i ː t ʃ ə in k ɾ iei ʃ ə n
st ʌ di ː i ŋ ɪ ŋ l ɪʃ pr ə n ʊ nsiei ʃ ə n
ai wil ti ː t ʃ ju ː in mai v ɜː s
sa ʊ nz laik k ɔː ps k ɔː h ɔː s ə nd w ɜː s
ai wil ki ː p ju ː suzi bizi
meik j ɔː hed wi� hi ː t ɡɾ ə ʊ dizi ː
ti ə in ai j ɔː dres j ə l te ə
kwi ə fe ə si ə hi ə mai pre ə
prei k ə ns ə ʊ l j ɔː l ʌ vi ŋ p ə ʊ ə t
meik mai k ə ʊ t l ʊ k nju ː w di ə s ə ʊ (w) it
ʤʌ st k ə mpe ə ha ː t bi ə d ə nd h ɜː d
daiz ə nd dai ə t l ɔː d and w ɜː d
s ɔː d ə nd sw ɔː d ritein ə nd brit ə n
maind � ə l�t ə ha ʊ it iz rit ə n
meid h ə z n ɒ t � ə sa ʊ nd ə v b�d
sei sed pei leid b ʌ t n ɒ t pl�d
na ʊ ai ʃɔː li wil n ɒ t pleig ju
wi� s ʌ t ʃ w ɜː dz ə z veig ə nd eigju
b ʌ t bi ː ke ə f ʊ l ha ʊ ju spi ː k
sei g ʌʃ b ʊʃ steik stri ː k breik bli ː k
pri ː vi ə s pre ʃ ə s f ʊ k ʃ i ə vai ə
resipi ː paip st ʊ nsei kwai ə
w ə ʊ v ə n ʌ v ə n ha ʊ ə nd l ə ʊ
skript risi ː ts ʃ u ː p ə ʊ im t ə ʊ
hi ə mi ː sei div ɔ id ə v trik ə ri
d ɔː t ə la ː ft əˑ nd tepsikari
taif ɔ id mi ː z ə lz t ɒ ps ə l ailz
eksailz simili ː z rivailz
h ə ʊ li h ɒ li sign ə l saini ŋ
seim iks�mini ŋ b ʌ t maini ŋ
sk ɒ l ə vik ə b ʌ t siga ː
s ə ʊ l ə maik ə w ɔː (r) ə nd fa ː
fr ə m dizai ə d ə zair ə b( ə )l
ə dmai ɾ ə b( ə )l fr ə m ə dmai ə
l ʌɱ b ə pl ʌ m ə bi ə b ʌ t bri ə r
t ɒ p ʃ ə m brau(w) ə m rina ʊ n b ʌ t n ə ʊ n
n ɒ li ʤ d ʌ n l ə ʊ n g ɒ n n ʌ n t ə ʊ n
w ʌ n �nemoni b�lm ɒ r ə l
kit ʃ in lit ʃ ə n l ɔː ndri l ɒ r ə l
g ɜː tru ː d ʤɜː m ə n wind ə nd maind
si ː n melp ɒ m ə ni m�nkaind
t ɔː t ə s t ɜː kw ɔ iz ʃ �mw ʌ le� ə
ri ː di ŋ redi ŋ hi ː � ə n he� ə
�is f ə netik l�b ə rin θ
givz m ɒ s gr ə ʊ z br ʊ k br ə ʊ t ʃ nain θ plin θ
bilet d ʌ z n ɒ t end laik balei
bu ː kei w ɒ lit m�lit ʃ �lei
bl ʌ d ə nd fl ʌ d a ː n ɒ t laik w ʊ d
n ɔː (r) iz m ə ʊ ld laik ʃʊ d ə nd kud
b�nkwit iz n ɒ t n ɪɘ li ː pa ː kei
wit ʃ d ʌ z ə nt igs�kli raim wi� ka ː ki
diska ʊ nt viska ʊ nt l ə ʊ d ə nd br ɔː d
t ə w əː dz t ə f ɔː w ə d t ə riw ɔː d
rik ə ʃ eid ə nd kr ɒ t ʃ ə ti ŋ kr ə ʊ kei
rait j ɔː pr ə n ʊ nsiei ʃ ə nz ə ʊ kei/
Academic year 2008/2009
� Daniela Curadelli
dacu@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de Val�ncia Press