Re: Pre-Kindergarten diphthong analysis

On 19/09/2008, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 9:41 AM, Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> wrote:
>  > Perhaps a better response for that situation might have been,
>  > "Spelling is based on a standard pronunciation;
>
> I wouldn't go so far as to say "standard".  Especially since, across
>  the language, the spelling is not consistently based on any one
>  pronunciation, certainly not any modern widespread one.  In fact, I
>  think the dialects which merge pairs like "horse" and "horse" and
>  "father" and "bother" are much closer to "standard" status due to
>  their sheer ubiquity.  (Thanks, Hollywood!)
>
>  Probably better to just say that the spelling used to match the
>  pronunciation in the part of the world where the spelling was decided,
>  and leave it at that, rather than use value-laden terms like
>  "standard".
OK, call it "a specific pronunciation" then.

Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>