English phonetics and phonology

In this course we are using the symbols now most frequently used in British publishing. It would be too long a task to examine other writers’ symbols in detail, but it is worth considering some of the reasons for the differences. One factor is the complication and expense of using special symbols which create problems in typing and printing; it could, for example, be argued that a is a symbol that is found in practically all typefaces whereas æ is unusual, and that the a symbol should be used for the vowel in ‘cat’ instead of æ. Some writers have concentrated on producing a set of phonemic symbols that need the minimum number of special or non-standard symbols. Others have thought it important that the symbols should be as close as possible to the symbols that a phonetician would choose to give a precise indication of sound quality. To use the same example again, referring to the vowel in ‘cat’, it could be argued that if the vowel is noticeably closer than cardinal vowel no. 4 [a], it is more suitable to use the symbol æ, which is usually used to represent a vowel between open-mid and open. There can be disagreements about the most important characteristics of a sound that a symbol should indicate: one example is the vowels of the words ‘bit’ and ‘beat’. Some writers have claimed that the most important difference between them is that the former is short and the latter long, and transcribed the former with i and the latter with i: (the difference being entirely in the length mark); other writers have said that the length (or quantity) difference is less important than the quality difference, and transcribe the vowel of ‘bit’ with the symbol ɪ and that of ‘beat’ with i. Yet another point of view is that quality and quantity are both important and should both be indicated; this point of view results in a transcription using ɪ for ‘bit’ and i:, a symbol different from ɪ both in shape of symbol (suggesting quality difference) and in length mark (indicating quantity difference), for ‘beat’. This is the approach taken in this course.