People Speaking: 18

Interrogation in Wonderland

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

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

for a conversation. Alice replied rather shyly:
 fr ə kɒnvəˋseɪʃn |  ˊalɪs 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 | at 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 ˋðat     [7]

said the Caterpillar sternly. Explain yourself.
sed ðə ˌkatəpɪlə ˎˏstɜːnli | ɪkˋspleɪn jɔːself / [8]

I can't explain myself, I'm afraid,
/aɪ 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 Dictionary of Pronunciation, unlike the other two major pronunciation dictionaries, does manage to convey the fact for this word and words like villager and villages by using its (not IPA recognised) symbol ᵻ made up of /ɪ/ with a crossbar. This indicates that both /ɪ/ and /ə/ are used by General British speakers in such syllables. ODP does the same thing with a /ʊ̶̵/ 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.