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by mLuby 1171 days ago
Interesting link, though I question some of those: taw & p'saai—it's not p'sai'onics right?

And I wonder how useful symbols like æ ə ʌ are to people asking how to pronounce Greek.
2 comments
eindiran 1171 days ago
There is an international, widely-recognized standard alphabet for precisely specifying the pronunciation of things in arbitrary languages, and you are unsure of why it would be useful for people trying to figure out how to pronounce something? Visit the wiki page for each IPA symbol and there will be recordings and examples and you can learn how to read it instead of complaining that people are using the correct tool for the job. The real problem with the linked page is that it is only using IPA half the time...
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vba616 1170 days ago
>There is an international, widely-recognized standard alphabet for precisely specifying the pronunciation of things in arbitrary languages

So...why don't we spell all languages with that alphabet? Think of the increase in efficiency!

My doctor has signs and other notices that you should arrive 15 minutes before your appointment. I asked "why don't you just make all the appointments 15 minutes earlier?"

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int_19h 1171 days ago
It's even worse - in English, "psionics" would be normally pronounced something like /saɪˈon.ɪks/.

Generally speaking, the Great Vowel Shift did quite a number on anything originally Latin or Greek.

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