[WikiEN-l] Re: Pronunciations and IPA/SAMPA

Thu Sep 11 18:12:19 UTC 2003

Adam Raizen wrote in part:

>>You malign ad hoc pronunciation schemes, but they do have *some*
>>redeeming value. You can use a single ad-hoc system to represent
>>different dialects more easily than you can use IPA for the same
>>purpose, since users will read their own dialect into the pronunciation
>>guide for the ad-hoc system. Still, I can't imagine making up an ad-hoc
>>scheme for wikipedia; IPA is probably best for us.
>>    
>>
I agree with this criticism of IPA -- how can IPA even be remotely 
useful for us, given that there is no one correct phoneme mapping for 
nearly *any* word in the English language?  Are we going to have dozens 
of different IPA entries for each word, representing the full range of 
pronunciation in the English of England (including many dialects), 
Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, India, the United 
States (including many dialects), etc.?  And how about for the range of 
pronunciation of Chinese words within different parts of China, or 
countries outside China that also have significant Chinese-speaking 
populations?  The whole thing just seems pretty useless.

-Mark