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From: aaron_j._dinkin@fourd.com (Aaron J. Dinkin)
Subject: Re: Allophones vs. Phonemes (was: ae)
Message-ID: <aaron_j._dinkin-2906962253030001@dmn1-68.usa1.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 22:53:03 -0500
References: <31c8ba59.28879345@news.Leiden.NL.net> <31CC0FC3.296E@atlcom.net> <4qs3o1$fqe@gerry.cc.keele.ac.uk> <4qs55l$pof@bone.think.com> <aaron_j._dinkin-2606961905410001@wakma1-23.usa1.com> <ALDERSON.96Jun28141810@netcom10.netcom.com> <4r4baq$51q@zeus.tcp.co.uk>
Lines: 32

In article <4r4baq$51q@zeus.tcp.co.uk>, laker@tcp.co.uk (Markus Laker) wrote:

> When everyone's sorted this out, can somebody please post a succinct
> explanation _that_does_not_contain_any_words_with_a_'ph'_in_them_ of when
> one should use slashes and when square brackets with ASCII IPA?

Certainly.

Brackets represent the actual sound that come out of your vocal apparatus,
whereas slashes represent the sounds you _think_ you're making. For
example, I pronounce "button" /'bVt@n/ but it happen in my dialect that
when I'm _thinking_ /t@n/ at the end of the word and attempt to prounounce
it, it comes out [?n-] - so, ['bV?n-] is the realization of /'bVt@n/.

As another example, I pronounce "writer" /'raIt@r/ and "rider" /'raId@r/.
However, my dialect causes intervocalic /t/ to become voiced. Since that
would result in homphony, the vowel before the /d/ is lengthened - so
"witer" and "rider" become ['raIdR] and ['ra:IdR], respectively. The
difference in the "narrow" pronunciation (brackets) is in vowel length,
but vowel length is not significant in English pronunciation. The
lengthening of the vowel here indicates that the consonant in the "broad"
pronunciation is voiced - since otherwise an intervocalic [d] would
represent /t/.

I realize I explained this fairly clumsily, but I hope you comprehend it.
One more try: brackets represent actual articulation, whereas slashes are
phychological/perceptual.

John Lawler, help me out!

Aaron J. Dinkin
Dr. Whom

