Re: IPA (Was: Re: Hello, I'm new too)

On Sat, 21 Oct 2000, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:

> IPA claims that Korean "r" in certain contexts is /l/
> but I hear two different l-like sounds in two different contexts.  Even
> if they're allophones they sound different, darnit.  I really must ask my
> mom about it this winter.
Remember that IPA is not meant to represent every *possible* distinction,
but only every *necessary* distinction in existent languages.  For example,
[j] represents both the approximant of English "yes" and the fricative
of (some kinds of) Spanish "yo", because no known language makes a phonemic
distinction between these sounds.  If one were found, a new symbol would
be introduced into IPA.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter