--- Steve Bett <stbett@...> wrote:

> Richard,
>
> I am not an expert on this system designed to make
> English spelling more transparent while minimizing
> word-sign disruption. The 4 rules are published. I
> could post them. The forth rule is fairly easy
> f = [f]. (no ph spellings) phone respelled fone.
>
> According to you the traditional writing system
> implies that ale and day should be pronounced with
> a different vowel.
> Can you be any more precise?
>
> Most dictionary pronunciation guides for GA indicate
> the same vowel Webster: Al, dA. (ál, dá).
> An Australian dictionary might indicate two
> different vowels: Al and dI (ál dí)
> /eIL daI/

Not unless somebody is now publishing a dictionary
of "Meryl Streep" Australian English.

Australian dictionaries use /eIl/ and /deI/ (or /EIL/
and /dEI/ if they prefer) - the same vowel for both.

Andrew Dunbar.

> You did not indicate what the vowel should be
> according to the historical orthography and Peter
> didn't indicate how he pronounced these words other
> than to say that they did not have the same vowel.
>
>
>
> --- "Richard Wordingham" <richard.wordingham@...>
> wrote:
>
> T.O. actually implies that they are pronounced
> differently! The 'i'
> or 'y' of English -ai-/-ay typically corresponds to
> Old English 'g'
> or (Old) French 'i'. I think the general merger of
> these sounds
> (with the development of lengthened OE short 'a')
> actually dates to
> the Great Vowel Shift.
>
> > Was 'wat' (in 'Wat goes for') a spelling mistake
> for 'wot'? It
> seemed distinctly British (e.g. Norfolk - a
> Northwest accent would
> require 'what'). Incidentally, doesn't General
> American preserve
> the 'h'?
>
> GA probably preserves the h more than some other
> dialects. 4 Rule
> Spelling drops unpronounced letters so evidently the
> h is not
> pronounced in Vancouver. (Theo is from Vancourver,
> B.C.).
>
> The spelling <wat> without some kind of
> w-modification rule e.g. wa
> = wQ or wO does not suggest the correct
> pronunciation.
>
> 4 Rule Spelling, however, is not phonemic spelling.
> It has fewer
> anomolies but is far from perfect.
>
> > Richard.
>
> > > > SB: The words "ale" and "day" would not be
> rewritten according
> to the 4 rules. Since this is not a phonemic writing
> system, I am
> not sure that it means that that every English
> speaker pronounces
> the vowel in these words the same any more than the
> present writing
> system implies this.
>
>
>

http://en.wiktionary.org -- http://linguaphile.sf.net/cgi-bin/translator.pl



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