Re: /k/ in i.t.a.

On Wednesday, November 10, 2004, at 09:40 , Jean-François Colson wrote:

> On Tuesday, November 09, 2004 7:56 AM, Ray Brown wrote:
[snip]
>> Not phonemic in the strict sense. See below.
>
> I hadn't read all the available documentation, but yall're right: that's
> not a two-way phonemic
> alphabet.
> In fact I was making a Keyman virtual keyboard for the QuickScript
> alphabet and I took the same
> scheme for a few other phonemic alphabets. So my question was: "Do some
> dialects make a slight
> phoneTic distinction between the /k/ of cat and the /k/ of key?"
I imagine practically all speakers make a slight _phonetic_ difference,
just as all speakers of French almost certainly make a _phonetic_
difference between the /k/ of 'qui' and 'quatre'. But there is *no*
phonemic difference in any dialect.

If you were devising a phonemic spelling foe English, then you must use
only one symbol for /k/.

>> |c| is used where /k/ is spelled |c| in the traditional spelling and |k|
>> is used where traditional spelling has |k|   :)
>
> Of course. And which spelling is used when /k/ is spelt |qu|?
I have forgotten - probably qu-ligature.

[snip]
>>
>> Yep. It was very much in vogue some in IIRC the 1970s & possibly 80s. But
>> it seems to have fallen out of favor. I think it was found that it
>> actually confused some kids as the transition got made rather than helped
>> them.
>
> IIRC I read it has been experienced during the 60's.
Yep - that's probably right. I was out by one decade: used in the 1960s &
possibly 1970s.

Ray
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