LPD pronunciation preference questionnaire 1998

Each of the words in the survey is followed by two or more possible pronunciations. They are indicated in a number of complementary ways. First, to the left, you will see a phonetic transcription of each pronunciation variant. (In this WWW version the phonetic symbols are replaced by their SAMPA equivalents.) Then there is an explanation of what each variant sounds like. Then, to the right, there is a common-sense respelling. All these forms of explanation are intended to indicate the same thing. Follow whichever you find the easiest.

Answer by clicking one of the "radio buttons" alongside each question. In this interactive webpage version, the questionnaire is divided into ten batches, each of about ten questions. When you get to the end of each batch, please click the "Submit" button and then move on to the next batch.

PLEASE NOTE. If you SUBMIT this first batch, you will taken successively through the remaining NINE batches (about a hundred questions in all). You will not be able to break off half way through and continue later. So if you have no time at the moment to do all of them, please come back again later when you do have time -- and meanwhile, just browse through the non-interactive version.

Batch one

1. absorb		(take into oneself, suck in)  Focus on the -s-.

    

  1. /@b"sO:b/	the word ends like sorb			ab-SORB

  2. /@b"zO:b/	the word ends like zorb			ab-ZORB


2. absurd		(ridiculous, unreasonable)  Focus on the -s-.

    

  1. /@b"s3:d/	the word ends like surd			ab-SURD

  2. /@b"z3:d/	the word ends like zurd			ab-ZURD


3. chrysanthemum	(a flower)  Focus on the -san-.

    

  1. /krI"s{nTIm@m/ the middle bit is like san	kri-SAN-themum

  2. /krI"z{nTIm@m/ the middle bit is like zan	kri-ZAN-themum


4. newspaper	(daily or Sunday paper)  Focus on the -s-.

    

  1. /"nju:s-/	the first part is as in nuis(ance)	NYOOSS-paper

  2. /"nju:z-/	the first part is as in news		NYOOZ-paper


5. Asia		(name of continent)  Focus on the -s-.

    

  1. /"eIS@/	the consonant sound is as in pressure	AYSH-uh

  2. /"eIZ@/	the consonant sound is as in measure	AYZH-uh


6. luxurious	(comfortable, full of luxury)  
		Focus on the first half of the word. 
NB. Two separate questions, both about consonant sounds. Please answer both. 
(i)

    

  1. /lVk-/	the word starts like luck	LUCK-xurious

  2. /lVg-/ 	the word starts like lug	LUG-xurious


(ii)

    

  1. /-"SU@ri@s/	the next sound is like sh	-SHOOR-ious

  2. /-"sjU@ri@s/	the next sound is like s, then a y-sound
						-SYOOR-ious	

  3. /-"ZU@ri@s/	the next sound is like zh (= s in measure)
						-ZHOOR-ious

  4. /-"zjU@ri@s/	the next sound is like z, and then a y-sound
						-ZYOOR-ious


7. booth (stall, telephone box)  Focus on the end of the word, -th.
    

  1. /bu:T/ the word rhymes exactly with truth	BOOTH

  2. /bu:D/ the word rhymes exactly with smooth	BOOTH


8. with (in the company of, using, etc.)  Focus on the end of the word.
    

  1. /wIT/ the word rhymes exactly with pith			WITH

  2. /wID/ the word is like the beginning of wither (=fade)	WITH


9. youths (young men)  Focus on the end of the word.

  1. /ju:Dz/ the word rhymes exactly with soothes  	YOOTHZ

  2. /ju:Ts/ the word is like youth plus an s-sound	YOOTH-SS


10. to associate	(to combine, connect)  Focus on the -oci-.

  1. /@"s@UsieIt/	the consonant sound is as in (neur)osis, gross
						a-SOASS-iate

  2. /@"s@USieIt/	the consonant sound is as in ocean, notion
						a-SOASH-iate

Please enter your name:
(so that we can link all your response batches together correctly)

Comments? Use this space:

Alternatively, instead of submitting the data, go to the non-interactive version.