I Googled on: pronunciation respelling and the first reference is a very through Wikipedia discussion of the subject.
I have a copy of "NBC Handbook of Pronunciation, Second Edition" Copyright 1943, 1951 by James F. Bender. It was produced by the National Broadcasting Company to help broadcasters. The following is quoted from the preface, as best I can retype it:
The spelling of the English language is highly inconsistent with its pronunciation. A given letter such as c represents one sound in a word like curtain and an entirely different sound as in certain. With this one exception, both words are pronounced alike despite the different spellings, i.e. ur and er, which represents the same vowel sound in the first syllable of the two words. Words that are pronounced alike, such as meat-meet, pare-pear, two-too, etc., are know as homophones. Another source of inconsistency is the aphthong, or letter that is not pronounced in English words. There are many such words, muscle, plumber, ghost, hasten, being representative.
In order to record pronunciation graphically some system is needed that allows one symbol for each sound. Since there are twenty-six letters in the spelling alphabet and approximately forty sounds in American speech, it is obvious more symbols are needed for recording pronunciation correctly. The need is met by at least three systems of notation, namely, diacritical markings, the International Phonetic Alphabet, and respelling.
The International Phonetic Alphabet, commonly referred to as the IPA, is perhaps less cumbersome than diacritical markings. Since many of the symbols are taken from the spelling alphabet, one may learn the IPA without a great expenditure of time. Within the last fifteen years it has become widely used in schools and colleges, and its present as well as future usefulness seems assured.
The above was written before 1943, and unfortunately I don't think it took account of the fact that almost all keyboards did not have the IPA symbols. I know of no personal computers that have any convenient facility for the IPA symbols. I should Google on IPA and see if it even exists today. I think "respelling" is the only hope to get over our spelling & pronunciation mess. One would think in 2008 with the global communications available, we should be able to make this change?
To this end I will quote more on the subject of respelling.
There are many individuals who prefer respelling to the other two systems. Respelling has the advantage of making use of the symbols that comprise the spelling alphabet, so it isn't necessary to learn any new letters. On the other hand, respelling is likely to be less reliable than diacritical markings or the IPA, especially in regard to the unaccented vowel sounds which occurs in words like lemon, about, taken, pencil, circus. Thus, uh is used to record the unaccented vowel and also the accented vowel as in the word up. Whenever possible an apostrophe is used in place of uh to represent the unaccented vowel. Occasionally, other deviations from the adopted respelling system are employed for the sake of clarity. Such liberties are not necessary in the phonetics, which lend themselves to more consistent representation.
The IPA and respelling systems, as used in this manual, are as follows:
(I have omitted the third column, the IPA, from the following table.)
all awl at at ace ays air air alms almz back bak chain chayn do doo: elm elm eel eel earn ern ear ier fit fit go goh |
hurt hert is iz ice ighs jay jay kiss kis lamb lam my migh nice nighs sing sing old ohld oil oil out owt pine pighn race rays |
so soh shall shal to too: thin thin thee th:ee up uhp foot foot food foo:d use yoo:z vine vighn whine hwighn you yoo: zest zest rouge roo:zy |
Note: Accent is indicated in the transcription of polysyllabic words only. In respelling capital letters are use to indicate primary accent and italics for secondary accent.
The problem of recording the pronunciation of words of foreign languages is especially difficult because they involve many more sounds than are used in American speech. Moreover, the average broadcaster cannot reproduce many of the strange sounds with any degree of faithfulness. A Russian r, for example, is different from an American r, and only after much practice under competent supervision can an American master a Russian r or conversely, a Russian learn an American r.
Unfortunately, the book omits the very simple words, and many technical ones like chemical names. I tried to find toluene and it was not there but trinitrotoluene, commonly abbreviated TNT, was. Its respelling is: "trigh nigh troh TAHL yoo: een". (Recently, a chemical spill in the San Francisco East Bay leaked toluene and the pronunciation I heard on the radio and television was anything but: "TAHL yoo: een". From my Chemistry background, I was quite certain I knew the correct pronunciation, but wanted to check it. Quite by accident I found the expanded name for TNT. I guess it was a newsworthy substance when the book was written.
For me the book is at least as valuable and a dictionary. I wonder if anything like it is available today? Yes, a 1984 edition which is now out of print is available at various resellers. Google on: "NBC Handbook of Pronunciation" and you should find it.
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