The Trouble With English

Spelling
Originally intended to be phonetic
It was imperfect
Imperfections have increased with
time
 Four types of phonetic
inaccuracies exist in Modern
English Spelling
 Silent letters appear in written
words but are not pronounced

■ t -as in hasten,soften
■ g- as in gnat,gnostic
■ gh-as in through
■ gh-as in bought
 More than one spelling of a
single phoneme

■ gh- as in rough
■ ph -as in physics
■ f -as in fine
■ e -as in be
■ ee -as in keep
■ ea -as in beam
■ ie - as in believe
 More than one phoneme may
share a common spelling

■ ea-/e/ -as in break

– /ε / -as in breakfast
– /i/ - as in sea
 A single phoneme may be
spelled with two or more letters

■ sh -as in she
■ ss -as in tissue
■ ti -as in action
■ /u/ -as in food
– as in blue
– as in flew
– as in you
 Latin spelling for Germanic
language started the confusion

■ Latin did not have some sounds of Old

English
■ th /θ / as in thorn
■ th /δ / as in thine
 Word Borrowing enriched
vocabulary but confused spelling

■ repertoire
■ chic
■ savoirre faire
 Archaic spellings persist after
pronunciation changes

■ Night
■ Tough
 English Alphabet not Phonemic

■ Although it is phonemically based it is not

phonemic in the sense that only one letter or
symbol stands for one sound
■ The letters do not stand in a one for one
correspondence with the separate phonemes
of our language.
International Phonetic Alphabet

In 1888 Henry Sweet and Elmer

Wiggins set up the prototype
of the International Phonetic
Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet

They based the lettering on

broad and narrow Romic
symbols
 Two arguments for use of
International Phonetic Alphabet

■ Each symbol of I.P.A. represents a

particular speech sound;that sound is never
represented represented by a different
symbol
■ I.P.A.has universal application- as a
universal alphabet ,it may be used for any
language you know or may study
 Making I.P.A. a Useful Tool

■ Identify the sound represented by each

symbol.Single out and recognize the
specific sound value for each phoneme on
the basis of class exercize
■ Memorize the symbols for each
phoneme.Repeat the sound of each
phoneme as you write its symbol over and
over
 Making I.P.A. a Useful Tool

■ Make flash cards listing both the symbol

and a key word
■ Practice writing short words in I.P.A.
■ Interpret the pronunciation system of your
dictionary in relation to the I.P.A.
■ Use the Kenyon and Knott Pronunciation
Dictionary