Re: Phonology test

-----Mensaje original-----
De: Sally Caves <scaves@...>
Para: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG <CONLANG@...>
Fecha: Mi=E9rcoles 30 de Septiembre de 1998 23:37
Asunto: Re: Phonology test


>Did you say "pronounce" these words?  or transcribe them in IPA?  I
>read "pronounce."  Which is what I did.  They're great words.  I've
>treated them as fictional, which they probably aren't, and their
>pronunciations as up for grabs.  S.

Well, I said "pronounce", and after you wouldn't probably send me an .au,
.wav, .aif file (and David wouldn't be so happy), you need some way of
telling me (and other conlangers as well) your way of pronouncing it.

>>    dij Schdzjarvk     deezh Jarvik.
>>    exhengvidair       esh ENG vuh deer.
>>    Chlewey            Tloowy.
>>    Dvigitt            Tveeg it
>>    ulimanhka          uh luh MUN kuh
>>    dzjon              Joan.
>>    Umfrixalihba       um FRISH luh vuh.
After I'm not an English speaker, I wouldn't know how you pronounce _deer=
_,
would it sound as [di:r] or as [di@].  Or even if I were, different diale=
cts
of English pronounce words different, if there were English words its oka=
y
(like pronounce gaol as jail and use your way of pronouncing jail: [dZel]=
,
[dZeIl]), because another English speaker knowing your accent would
recognize the word.

Of course, you can tell, in a phrase book that "yo quiero una taza de caf=
=E9"
is pronounced like "yau kee*ay*dau oonah *tah*thah day cah*fay*"  Then yo=
u
will be understod but you will never learn Spanish.  Problem would be if =
a
German, with school English, is using this phrasebook because he didn't
found one in German.

The point is: transcribing into IPA is a way of telling how to pronounce =
it,
and being understod in a multilanguage enviroment.

BTW: "yo quiero una taza de caf=E9" as I would pronounced, transcribed in=
 IPA
would probably be /j\o'kjE.ru.n@'tas:.e.ka'fE/, with /j\/ representing a
voiced palatal fricative.  Compare how a English speaker would pronounce =
the
pronunciation if he/she passed by or forgot the explanation for the
transcriptions, maybe something like
/jC'ki:'eI.rC.u:.n&'t&.T&.deI.k&'feI/...

-- Carlos Th