Translating Symbols

The “facts of life.” Something that is an unfortunate but necessary part of the education of linguists is the translation of equivalent phonetic symbols. (Actually, “transliteration” would probably be a more accurate term.) There are several traditions within which different symbols have developed—to mention just two of the most influential, the International Phonetic Association, with deepest roots in Europe (and the British Isles especially), and a decidedly American tradition, developed by anthropological linguists who worked on the languages of the New World. Our textbook (which has its roots in Canada) has generally opted for the former, often called the International Phonetic Alphabet, or the “IPA” for short, whereas many Statside linguists use alternate symbols at several points. The Phonetic Symbol Guide published by the University of Chicago Press (by Geoffrey K. Pullum and William A. Ladusaw) in 1986 refers to these respectively as “IPA usage” and “American usage.” Complications. This discussion is complicated by esoteric symbols on both sides—symbols that are not on the usual typewriter or computer keyboard, and that therefore are difficult to show on the usual web page or send via email. We will attempt to get around this complication by several routes: 1. On this page, we will use the names for some symbols (and descriptions of them) together with the symbols themselves. Some of these names will be borrowed from the Phonetic Symbol Guide referred to above. 2. For email, we will suggest alternate symbols (or combinations of symbols) that are available on computer keyboards. We also mention, where applicable, a popular usage that is sometimes found in the comics and/ or as phonetic respelling in dictionaries. 3. Here we have prepared the same page for reading and printing in Adobe Acrobat, where the esoteric sym- bols can be added as such. The good news. The above facts of life and complications constitute “the bad news.” The good news is that we will go into this subject only as deeply as necessary for the first unit in this course. Additional information will come with additional experience in the realm of phonetics.

Phonetic IPA American Email Comics American De²nition Usage Usage Alternative and English (common names (common names (when Diction- Examples in quotes) in quotes) [brack- aries eted])

(alveo)palatal jy[y] y yes glide

voiceless ʃ š [S] sh shin (alveo)palatal “esh” “wedge s” fricative (a long, slim s) ~ “s wedge” (an s with a small v above)

voiced Z Š [Z] zh Zsa Zsa (alveo)palatal “yogh” “wedge z” fricative (a z with a tail ~ “z wedge” below the line) (a z with a small v above)

voiceless T ¢ [C] ch chin (alveo)palatal t + “esh” “wedge c” affricate (t-esh ligature) ~ “c wedge” (a c with a small v above) Phonetic IPA American Email Comics American De²nition Usage Usage Alternative and English (common names (common names (when Diction- Examples in quotes) in quotes) [brack- aries eted])

voiced D Œ [J] j gin (alveo)palatal d + “yogh” “wedge j” (d-yogh ligature) ~ “j wedge) (a j with a small v above)

high front yü[u”] German rounded vowel “umlaut u” süss ~ “u umlaut” ‘sweet’

mid front øö[o”] German rounded vowel “slashed o” “umlaut o” schön ~ “o umlaut” ‘beautiful’

high front ι i [I] pit lax vowel Greek “iota” “small capital i”

high back υ u [U] put lax vowel Greek “upsilon” “small capital u”

mid front „ (same as IPA) [eh] eh pet lax vowel Greek “epsilon” ~ “open e”

mid back ™ (same as IPA) [uh] uh putt, lax vowel “caret” above ~ “inverted v”

low front a (same as IPA) [a] Park your tense vowel “lower-case a” car in Harvard yard (Boston speech)

low front æ (same as IPA) [ae] cat lax vowel “digraph” ~ “ash”

low back ¡ (same as IPA, except [O] aw caught tense vowel “open o” sometimes defined as (when (rounded) (c rotated 180°) low, and as an alternative distinguished (defined as low mid) symbol for £) from cot)

-2- Phonetic IPA American Email Comics American De²nition Usage Usage Alternative and English (common names (common names (when Diction- Examples in quotes) in quotes) [brack- aries eted])

low back ® (same as IPA) [A] ah cot, lax vowel “script a” father (unrounded)

mid central º (same as IPA) [E] above, reduced vowel “schwa” Rosa’s, (weak, unstressed) Justus

high central é (same as IPA, but [ih] writing, vowel “barred i” may be defined as roses, (i with strikethrough) weak, reduced, and justice unstressed--higher than schwa)

voiceless ‰ (same as IPA) [th] th thin, (inter)dental Greek “theta” ether, fricative bath

voiced ð (same as IPA) [TH] TH then, (inter)dental (d with tilted-back either, fricative stem and crossbar) bathe

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