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Subject:Re: IPA From:Debra Ann Graham <grahamd -at- GUSUN -dot- ACC -dot- GEORGETOWN -dot- EDU> Date:Mon, 5 Jun 1995 20:13:34 -0400
On Mon, 5 Jun 1995, Mel McNichols wrote:
> Neither is there such a thing as an "International Phonetic Alphabet"
> for linguistic transcription/study. There is, however, the
> International Phonetics Association (IPA) Alphabet, first set out in
> 1888 and revised in 1989. The IPA Alphabet reflects "phones," or
> sounds, and is put to a variety of uses by linguists, speech
I haven't been following this thread, so I don't know what the debate is
about--however, I can say that there is an International Phonetic
Alphabet--which is published by the International Phonetic Association.
IPA is used to refer to both the alphabet and the association. The book
I use to teach Intro to Linguistics defines the IPA as follows:
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): A system for
transcribing the sounds of speech that attempts to represent
each sound of human speech with a single symbol.
From another intro book:
The IPA is an attempt to provide a unique written representation
of each sound in the languages of the world independent of the
orthographies of particular languages.
Hope this helps for whatever debate is raging.
Debra Graham
Technical writer/PhD candidate in Linguisticss
