People Speaking: 18

Interrogation in Wonderland

Who are you? said the Caterpillar.
ˈhuː ə ˎ juː? sed ðə ˎkӕtəpɪlə. [1]

This was not an encouraging opening
ˈðɪs wz ˈnɒt |ən ɪnˋkʌrəʤɪŋ ˋəʊpnɪŋ [2]

for a conversation. Alice replied rather shyly:
|fr ə kɒnvəˋseɪʃn. ˊӕlɪs rɪˏplaɪd| rɑːðə ˎ ʃaɪlɪ [3]

I — I hardly know, sir. Just at present at least
aɪ—aɪ ˋ-hɑːdli ˊˋnəʊ, sə. ˋ-ʤʌst ət ˋˏpreznt. ӕt ˈliːst|[4]

I know who I was when I got up this morning
aɪ ˈnəʊ| huː aɪ wɒz wen aɪ gɒt ˋʌp ðɪˏsmɔːnɪŋ| [5]

but I think I must have changed several times
bət aɪ ˈθɪŋk| aɪ ˋ-mʌst əv ˋ-ʧeɪnʒd| ˈsevrl ˋtaɪmz [6]

since then. What d'you mean by that?
sɪns ˋˏðen. ˈwɒt dju miːn baɪ ˋðӕt [7]

said the Caterpillar sternly. Explain yourself.
sed ðə ˌkӕtəpɪlə ˎˏstɜːnli. ɪkˋspleɪn jɔːself. [8]

I can't explain myself, I'm afraid,
ai ˋkɑːnt ɪkspleɪn maɪself, aɪm əˏfreɪd | [9]

because I'm not myself, you see.
bəkəz aɪm ˋnɒt maɪself, ju ˏsiː.

You may notice that, altho LPD and EPD show the word encourage only with /-ɪʤ/ our narrator in line 2 sez /ɪnkʌrəʤɪŋ/ with a schwa. This is completely normal. It's one of the things a pronouncing dictionary may or may not to try to convey but, when such an /ɪ/ occurs in a medial rather than a final syllable, it readily (even probably more usually) turns into a schwa. Actually the Oxford DP, unlike the other two, does manage to convey the fact for this word and words like villager and villages by using its (not IPA recognised) symbol made up of /ɪ/ with a crossbar such as IPA employs for the close central Cardinal Vowel [ɨ]. This indicates that both /ɪ/ and /ə/ are used by General British speakers in such syllables. ODP does the same thing with the /ʊ/ symbol to have it stand for either /ʊ/ or /ə/.

In line 4 Alice sez the word “at” so quickly that it's surprising that she hasn't used its weakform. Yet it doesn't sound particularly careful: I put it down to a form of hesitancy.