Re: Latin-1 English Pronunciation Key

--- BP Jonsson <bpj@...> wrote:
> I spotted the Merriem-Webster Online Pronunciation Key and felt
> prompted
> (revolted actually :-)> to propose an improved version!
> :
Thank you so much!  I felt pretty indignant myself about the M-W list,
and your version is a definite improvement.

You may or may not have heard about a phonetic script developed by an
economist from Chicago named John Malone in 1959:
http://www.unifon.org/   Unlike the seemingly _a priori_ symbols used
in the Deseret script, this alphabet uses capital letters with various
modifications.

> /ä/ as {a} and {u} in _abut_
> /ï/ as {e} in _kitten_
> /ër/ as ur/er in _further_
Thank you for dividing the different "schwas", especially the a-schwa
and i-schwa, which to me seems distinctive even though it's hard to
tell from speech considering their weak pronunciation.  The "low schwa"
is much more like IPA inverted v (mid-open back unrounded) while the
"high schwa" can range from IPA inverted e to IPA barred i!  The third
is not a schwa in the sense of being exclusively unstressed, but it is
indeed a central-range vowel with retroflexion.

> /æ/ as {a} in _ash_
> /á/ as {a} in _ace_
You have an acute here but a circumflex elsewhere; is there a reason?

> /å/ as {o} in _mop_
A-ring, good choice.

> /áù/ as {ou} in _out_
An au ligature with a wide circumflex above?

> /c/ as {ch} in _chin_
> /e/ as {e} in _bet_
> /ê/ as {ea} in _easy_
> /g/ as {g} in _go_
> /i/ as {i} in _hit_
> /î/ as {i} in _ice_
> /j/ as {j} in _job_
I'd use /3/ here (for ezh), and /j/ for y in yes.

> /ñ/ as {ng} in _sing_
> /ô/ as {o} in _go_
> /o/ as {aw} in _law_
> /ø/ as {oy} in _boy_
This one I have to take issue with.  Why not /oi/ with a ligaturing
circumflex above like you have for /au/?  Also, you have to allow for
foreign words, especially French, with mid front rounded vowels.  Same
thing for /y/.  (You can also find local forms of English with the
front rounded vowels; I've heard them here in Texas, since we're
infamous for lazy pronunciations.)

> /¢/ as {th} in _thin_
> /¤/ as {th} in _the_
> /û/ as {oo} in _loot_
> /u/ as {oo} in _foot_
> /y/ as {y} in _yet_
Again, I'd prefer /j/ for the reasons I discussed above; I'd allow for
the high front rounded vowel in certain registers.

> /ç/ as {sh} in _ship_
> /ß/ as {si} in _vision_
>
> The reason I didn't use þ and ð (thorn and eth) for the "th" sounds
> is that
> these are not generally available on Macintoshes.  Netscape will
> replace
> them with question marks...
A quirk about Macs that bothers me, since I happen to like these two
letters very much; I still use these two at least in defiance!  (Not
that I'm any particular fan of Windows/Microsoft, but that's a whole
other topic and I do NOT want to start a debate about "my OS is better
than yours" and such.)

Still, I like your proposal.  I'd also check out Unifon, and there's a
reformed Unifon with some friendlier characters.

DaW.

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