Re: Chinese dictation

From: Richard Herring (junk_at_[127.0.0.1)
Date: 11/23/04 

Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:23:05 +0000

In message <d1835a57.0411230129.10a9822a@posting.google.com>, Sean
O'Leathlobhair <jwlawler@yahoo.com> writes
>Lee Sau Dan <danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de> wrote in message
>news:<87sm7127te.fsf@informatik.uni-freiburg.de>...
>> >>>>> "Dylan" == Dylan Sung <dylanwhs.tsktsktsk@pacific.net.hk> writes:
>>
>> Dylan> If you're distinguish characters from another character,
>> Dylan> you could say it's the one with such and such a radical and
>> Dylan> means so and so as in the compound XY.
>>
>> Just like "Janet(te)? With 'et' or 'ette'?".
>> Or "D (B)? Bravo or Delta?", or "B for boy or D for dog?".
>>
>> Is that so difficult to understand?
>>
>>
>>
>> >>> How do you write [huz sOrd] in English?
>> >> I don't know. Please spell it for me.
>>
>> Dylan> who's sword or it could be whose sword
>>
>> Yeah. It's strange that 2 persons who learnt English as L2 can
>> communicate this way, and that apparently native speaker is seeking
>> help from us.
>>
>>
>> Dylan, could you explain to Richard how come you know the spellings
>> "whose" and "sword" should be used to write down the words [huz sOrd]?
>
>The most obvious inference from Richard's request is that he is
>unfamiliar with IPA.

Or he's making a point about how spelling can be used to resolve an
ambiguity in an alphabetic writing system ;-)

> Is there some special reason why a native
>speaker should be familiar with it? It is not taught in schools and
>in my experience, it is not commonly known among native speakers. It
>is not even commonly used in foreign language lessons in school. I
>only encountered it when my interest in language went further.
>
>It is actually evidence for the effectiveness of the English script.
>Natives don't feel the need for IPA or any other alternative spelling
>(e.g. Pinyin or Romaji). IPA transcriptions of English may be useful
>to foreign learners, as IPA transcriptions of foreign languages are to
>me, but most natives do not feel the need for it.
>
>I have an English dictionary with IPA but I use it mostly for helping
>foreign friends. I use it occasionally with English friends to give
>them examples of IPA prior to showing them one of may foreign language
>dictionaries.
>
>On your original question, "Who's sword" is rather contrived. Can you
>give an example of a conversation that uses it? It would seem to
>require someone called "Sword". In general, context should make it
>quite clear which is correct.

In the context of this discussion, context is exactly what's being
assumed to be absent. 

-- 
Richard Herring

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