Re: Ulm

Hi Quentin!

Quentin Read wrote:
>
> Here is the first thing I wrote in Ulm, the Our
> Father.
I enjoyed it!  It has a phonetic and visual aesthetic that's quite
pleasing!

The look reminds me of so many Eastern European languages, some of
the consonant clusters remind me of Albanian and Armenian, and the
monosyllabicity (is that a word?) of your words reminds me of
Sino-Tibetan.  It's very original.

> It sounds a little dumb and singsongy for a prayer but I'll
> make up a non-rhyming counterpart.
Not so true; I can think of several original Old English
translations of the Pater Noster that were rhymes, and the Pater
Noster is often intended to be sung in various Masses.

> Thanks for everyone who gave me advice; now I have a
> little bit more of an idea of what to do.  One thing
> though; where can I find info on the IPA or whatever
> phonetic alphabet you are using?  Some of the
> characters are not exactly selfevident and I don't
> understand what sound you are talking about.
First of all, visit http://www.ling.hf.ntnu.no/ipa/full/ where you
can not only see the standard IPA chart but also _hear_ what each of
the sounds are.  A great tool!

Second, you need to decide on an ASCII transcription.  Everyone has
their favourite way to represet all of the IPA characters using
normal ASCII characters.  Some people prefer SAMPA, some people
prefer Kirschenbaum, there are others, and a lot of people have
their own based on one or both of the big two (SAMPA and K).  Most
people understand both after some practice, so to me it doesn't
matter what system one uses as long as it's clear which one you're
using.

For a great comparison of the major systems in use, visit:

http://www.cs.brown.edu/~dpb/ascii-ipa.html

And for a comparison of British and American English phones to their
SAMPA counterparts (which might help you recognize what a particular
sound is), visit:

http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/english.htm

Hope that helps!  Welcome to the list!

Cheers,
Eamon Graham