Phonetic representation
Encyclopedia
Phonetic representation, or more commonly phonetic transcription
is the representation of speech sounds using symbols in phonetic alphabet such as IPA
, X-SAMPA
, Kirshenbaum
for linguistic studies (especially phonetics
, phonology
and speech processing
) and for learning the pronunciation of languages. Among these systems, the International Phonetic Alphabet has been the most widely used so far, whose symbols are printed in most dictionaries
and books on linguistics
.
of words. This fact is not of great importance to native speakers of a particular language, but in case of foreigners who don't learn pronunciation with phonetic symbols and rely only on their teachers, or their "guesses" on the orthography, wrong pronunciation
will go along with them during the entire study. For languages whose orthography
does not tell much about sounds, e.g. English, or whose many letters are silent, e.g. French, phonetic transcription is crucial not only for learners but also for linguists. For example, in the word "scissors", the digraph "sc" stands for /s/, the double s ("ss") for /z/, and the letter "r" is silent in British English. Another noteworthy example is the word "colonel", which is not pronounced ˈkɒlənɛl but ˈkɜrnəl.
Phonetic transcription
Phonetic transcription is the visual representation of speech sounds . The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, e.g., the International Phonetic Alphabet....
is the representation of speech sounds using symbols in phonetic alphabet such as IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...
, X-SAMPA
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It is designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the...
, Kirshenbaum
Kirshenbaum
Kirshenbaum, sometimes called ASCII-IPA or erkIPA, is a system used to represent the International Phonetic Alphabet in ASCII. This way it allows typewriting IPA-symbols by regular keyboard. It was developed for Usenet, notably the newsgroups sci.lang and alt.usage.english...
for linguistic studies (especially phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
, phonology
Phonology
Phonology is, broadly speaking, the subdiscipline of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language. That is, it is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use...
and speech processing
Speech processing
Speech processing is the study of speech signals and the processing methods of these signals.The signals are usually processed in a digital representation, so speech processing can be regarded as a special case of digital signal processing, applied to speech signal.It is also closely tied to...
) and for learning the pronunciation of languages. Among these systems, the International Phonetic Alphabet has been the most widely used so far, whose symbols are printed in most dictionaries
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
and books on linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
.
The necessity of phonetic representation
In all languages, the letters in the orthography do not always have a one-to-one correspondence with the speech sounds in the pronunciationPronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
of words. This fact is not of great importance to native speakers of a particular language, but in case of foreigners who don't learn pronunciation with phonetic symbols and rely only on their teachers, or their "guesses" on the orthography, wrong pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
will go along with them during the entire study. For languages whose orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
does not tell much about sounds, e.g. English, or whose many letters are silent, e.g. French, phonetic transcription is crucial not only for learners but also for linguists. For example, in the word "scissors", the digraph "sc" stands for /s/, the double s ("ss") for /z/, and the letter "r" is silent in British English. Another noteworthy example is the word "colonel", which is not pronounced ˈkɒlənɛl but ˈkɜrnəl.