pronunciation of "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."

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Soox

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How to pronounce the sentence "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."


I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary.

1. "t" of "don't" is no voice.
2. "to" is pronounced /dɜ:/.
3. "set down a" is pronounced "se town nə:", so d is no voice.
4. "series of fact in a" is pronounced /ˈsɪri:zə/ + /fæktɪŋ/ + /nə:/ ,including 3 syllables. The "f" of the "of" don't voice.


Am I right?
Thanks a lot.



"set down a series of fact in a" sounds like a word.

Those pronunciation make me cry.

Help me please!!
 

emsr2d2

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Re: pronunciation of "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."

Note first that it should be "a series of facts​".
 

jutfrank

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Re: pronunciation of "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."

Hello.
First, I want to say that you need to pluralise 'fact' to 'facts'.
Second, that there is not only one correct way to pronounce anything, so I can only advise you how I might say it as a native speaker, in a reasonably fast (but still clear), and connected way.

1) Yes, the /t/ is not pronounced

2) Like many people, I usually pronounce 'want to' as 'wanna' (wɒnə), but you could pronounce a /t/ sound followed by a schwa (wɒntə). Really not a /d/ with a long vowel as you suggest

3) You're right that the /t/ and /d/ in 'set down' cannot both be pronounced, but you should skip the /t/ and say only the /d/. Not the other way round

4) I don't think you've transcribed it very well. I pronounce it as six syllables, like: 'sɪərɪzə'fæksɪnə
You can hear that the /v/ of 'of' disappears

Hope that helps a bit!
 

Tdol

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Re: pronunciation of "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."

1) Yes, the /t/ is not pronounced

It often isn't, but it can be.
 

5jj

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Re: pronunciation of "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."

3) You're right that the /t/ and /d/ in 'set down' cannot both be pronounced, b
They can, and often are in careful, emphatic speech.

Even in normal conversation, the /t/ is usually there; it's simply not exploded.The tongue makes a closure at the alveolar ridge, with the voice switched off. Then the tongue is released with a (partly) voiced /d/. If we were to utter 'set down' as /sedaʊn/ or ssetaʊn/, it would sound rather unnatural.
 

jutfrank

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Re: pronunciation of "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."

I disagree that they "usually are in careful, emphatic speech". Of course, it is possible to pronounce both in succession but this would have to be done very slowly. I can imagine, for example, an exasperated teacher saying "SIT DOWN!" in such a way.

It doesn't, perhaps, make a lot of sense to say that the /t/ is there but simply not exploded. Doesn't that mean that it's not there (not pronounced) - that it has been assimilated? Sure, the tongue is in place, ready for the /d/, with the voice off but why do you say the /d/ is then only partly voiced?

Yes, I think that we get a glottal stop in place of the assimilated /t/. Do you agree, and if so, how might you transcribe this?
 

5jj

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Re: pronunciation of "I don’t want to set down a series of fact in a diary."

At the /t/ stage of 'set down', the tongue goes to the alveolar ridge to make a closure and, for a brief time, is not released. The same thing happens when a film director calls 'Cut!' The final /t/ is not exploded, but the tongue is in the positiion, and the vowel is both marginally different at the close and, more importntantly, is stopped. There is, to a phonetician, a difference between the /ʌ/ of/kʌ/ when it is followed by nothing, and the /ʌ/ of /kʌt/. The same is true of the /e/ of 'set down'.

In 'set down' a spectogram will reveal that the initial part of the /d/ is unvoiced.

You can probably hear the difference yourself. Say /sedaʊn/ as though it were written 'se-down', and then say /setdaʊn/ without exploding the /t/. In phonemic script I would write /setdaʊn/ - the unexploded /t/ is an allophone of /t/. In a slightly narrower transcription, I would write /set[SUP]h[/SUP]daʊn/.

For some speakers there could be a glottal stop instead of a /t/, but I don't think this is common when followed by a /d/. In phonemic transcription, we could either consider this to be an allophone of /t/, and write it as /t/ or, in a slightly narrower transcription, use /
ʔ/.
 
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