--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, João Simões Lopes Filho
<josimo70@...> wrote:
> How many vowels English Language has? There is different accounts
in different dictionaries. Is it possible to create a phonetical
alphabet for English?
It depends what you're trying to do. There's been a data-rich
discussion of this topic starting at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/conlang/message/98801 . Think of it
from the point of view of a dictionary targeted at all mother-tongue
speakers of English, where you want to tell the reader what the
pronunciation should be in the reader's style(s) of English.
Represent the spelling as much as possible by respelling, because
using phonetics only will cause confusion.
Back in the 60's, there was a semi-phonetic alphabet (initial
teaching alphabet, i.t.a.) used in Britain to start children
reading. In some parts of the country, it was reported to confuse
children far more than the standard spelling, because of differences
between RP and the local pronunciation.
You may prefer to ignore dialects which pronounce 'water' to rhyme
with 'batter' (Cumbria?), those that rhyme it with 'barter'
(Norfolk), and similarly those that rhyme 'wasp' with 'clasp'
(Norfolk - roughly [wA:sp_}] in extended SAMPA notation.).
Obviously you will need to ignore the difference between 'plastic'
with the vowel of 'cash' and 'plastic' with the vowel of 'farce'
when considering RP variants. Lingering archaic pronunciations such
as [glu:v] for 'glove' (North Derbyshire - an area where the vowels
of 'cut' and 'push' are the same), the regular reflex of the oblique
cases of OE glo:f, should be ruthlessly ignored.
The graphically long 'u', as in 'assume', may cause you many
problems. Try to stick to a scheme whereby you can defer worrying
about how it is affected by stress, for then you hit many problems
dependings on how it merges with vowels of 'food', 'good' and plain
schwa.
Richard.