phonetic spelling of a word

jman0war

"Walked"

How would you write that using phonetic symbols.
Like from here:
http://www.e-lang.co.uk/mackichan/call/pron/type.html


Please note I'm not asking people to invent their own phonetic spelling, i'm actually asking what technical phonetic symbols to use.

FlutterinBantam

Whiskey alpha lima kilo echo delta.

Yakuza

I think the closest way to spell it like that is /wðkd/.
I looked it up here.
More info here

bronte

wɒkt is what I came up with.

Argh, trying to remember my phonetics!

Eliot Rosewater

The Oxford English Dictionary Online gives this:

jman0war

Eliot Rosewater wrote: »

The Oxford English Dictionary Online gives this:

Yes but that is present tense.
What is the correct way do write it phonetically in the past tense?

Donkey Oaty

wɒkt is fine.

Here's a useful site: http://www.upodn.com/phun.asp

Edit: ɪts nɑt tu dɪfəkəlt wəns ju gɛt ðə hæŋ əv ɪt.

jman0war

Thanks

For context, this is a question i've run into on an online tefl course and have gotten stuck into some tough grammar!

Check it out:

Question:
I "walked" /wɔ:kId/ to school today. (Elementary)
What is wrong with this?

(my)Answer:
1. The student has used the incorrect phonetics for 'walked'. It would sound like walkid (/I/).
2. Slip of the tongue.
3. Pronunciation.
4. I would repeat the sentence and when I get to the word 'walked' I would say the first part and then pause for the student to self-correct. The structure is correct, just the prononciation needs to be work on.

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Comment (from the tester): Your answer is not clear enough. I want you to look at the phonetic chart, which represents the speaker's pron, and ask yourself how the speaker said the word "walked"...imagine a non-native friend saying it to you. It's a common problem - it's not a slip of the tongue - why do you think it happened?

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I believe they've pronouced it like: "walkid".
I suppose it's a common enough problem.
But is there a good reason WHY they've pronounced it like that?
Is there some nuance rule in English that says words with "alk" and end with "ed" are pronounced thusly?
What do you think the tester wants me to say?

pickarooney

The speaker has pronounced it as walk-ed, as you correctly surmise and while I think it might be a little unfair to ask you why exactly he or she may have done that, what you could do is give example of similar past participles (e.g. 'wanted') which may have inspired the speaker's choice. In modern English, the tendency is to assimilate the -ed into the final syllable where possible. This is feasible with 'walk' but not 'want'.

Incidentally, the last symbol should realistically be a /t/ as it's virtually impossibly to pronounce a voiced /d/ after an unvoiced /k/. I also doubt even a native speaker would use a /I/ instead of a /ə/ (schwa) but it might be best not to mention this.

Is there a reason your answer is in four parts? It's hard to understand what you're saying exactly if these are not four answers to four separate sub-questions and if this is the case, can you post up the sub-questions?

As it stands (the question you posted) the best answer would be your 1. plus an explanation of the correct transcribed pronunciation and a possible reason as to why they person made this mistake (see above).

Donkey Oaty

There is in fact a rule for the voiced/unvoiced endings that most native speakers don't know about.

If a word ends in a particular voiceless sound, then the ending is also voiceless,
i.e the unvoiced sounds p, k, f, sh, s, ch, th.

So verbs like chip, walk, laugh, mash, gas, match, (can't think of one off the top of my head for unvoiced "th") will take the unvoiced t sound.


A fuller explanation can be seen at http://www.clearly-speaking.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=198:a-pronunciation-secret-for-past-tense-endings&catid=47:foreign-accent

Edit: Sorry, I see that Pickarooney has already mentioned this.

jman0war

Thanks for that, those links and an explanation of the rule.
Helpful stuff that i will be sure to include in my re-try.