[Wikipedia-l] policy suggestion: SAMPA

[Brion VIBBER]

Toby Bartels wrote:
> Brion Vibber wrote:
>>Tarquin wrote:
>>>And for that matter, how does the writer pronounce the word "chop"?
>>>AmEng and BrEng have different vowels for that word.
>>
>>I would expect that same difference to be reflected in their
>>*anglicized* pronunciation of "Čapek". Am I wrong?
> 
> IANAB (I am not a Brit), but I think that you are wrong.
> But this doesn't invalidate your ultimate point;
> it just means that the guide should say "CHAHP-ek" instead.

Great! Then please change it.

>>See [[Clitoris]] for an example: it has a link to [[SAMPA|pronounced]],
>>a SAMPA representation (correctly in [phonetic transcription brackets]),
>>an approximation in English orthography, and a wav file (should it be an
>>ogg?).
> 
> How are the phonetic brackets correct?  *I* don't pronounce it that way!
> But change it to phonemic slashes, and suddenly I do.
> Unless we're describing distinct dialects, brackets will always be wrong.

Is the wav file incorrect, then? It's much more precise and dialect- 
specific, including detail that the phonetic transcription does not.

-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)