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From: Ross Smith <ross.smith@nz.eds.com>
Subject: Re: Slashes and square brackets [was: Re: problems with pronunciation]
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Date: Tue, 5 Aug 1997 21:33:24 GMT
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Gerald B Mathias wrote:
> 
> I for one get uneasy about "/.../" used phonetically, though it does
> indeed seem common in this forum.  In my day (which continues
> professionally,
> though maybe I'm out of date?), only "[...]" was used for phonetic
> transcription, and "/...../" bounded symbols that had to be defined
> phonetically for whatever dialect of whatever language one was talking
> about.  For example, in English one might write /peyn/ and /speyn/ and
> then give rules that in initial position /p/ is pronounced [(symbol
> for
> aspirated bilabial voiceless stop)] and following a fricative in the
> same syllable it is pronounced [(symbol for unaspirated bilabial
> voiced
> stop)].
> 
> In other words, "[...]" should give concrete, universally readable
> sounds,
> and "/.../" give symbols for sets of sounds that work as "one sound"
> in a
> given language's *system.*  These latter are "phonemes," and fall with
> phones and phonetics in the realm of phonology.

Thanks, I guess. Several people have tried to explain this to me but I'm
none the wiser.

Giving up on the technical theory and descending to practical matters:
Which one should be used when describing pronunciation?

-- 
Ross Smith ............................. <mailto:ross.smith@nz.eds.com>
Internet and New Media, EDS (New Zealand) Ltd., Wellington, New Zealand
     "I'm as interested as anybody else in all the things no decent
     person would be interested in."          -- Ashleigh Brilliant
