Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-rvbq7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T01:23:25.987Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The IPA alphabet: a case for reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

J. Derrick McClure
J. Derrick McClure
Affiliation:
(University of Aberdeen)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is surely incontestable that the IPA alphabet, like the system of vowel and consonant classification on which it is based, contains obvious anomalies; some or others of which have been discussed in recent proposals for reform (e.g. Breckwoldt 1971, McClure 1972, Hammarström 1973). Fox (1975), in an interesting attempt to widen the scope of the discussion, has argued that the anomalies are less serious than they appear, on the grounds that (a) they do not interfere with the practical usefulness of the alphabet, and (b) a more positive and more fundamental point—they reflect in some cases what appear to be linguistic universals, such as the potential use of retroflex consonants as a distinctive category and the widespread preference for voiced over voiceless nasals.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the International Phonetic Association , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , December 1975 , pp. 75 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © Journal of the International Phonetic Association 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abercrombie, D. (1964). English Phonetic Texts, London.Google Scholar
Abercrombie, D. (1967). Elements of General Phonetics, Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Breckwoldt, G. H. (1971). ‘A critical investigation of click symbolism’. Paper presented at the 7th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Montreal, 1971.Google Scholar
Catford, J. C. (1970). ‘The articulatory possibilities of man’, in Malmberg, B. (ed.), Manual of Phonetics, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Fox, A. (1974). ‘The IPA alphabet: remarks on some proposals for reform’, in JIPA, 4:2, 76–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammarström, G. (1973). ‘Revision of Cardinal Vowels, and some other problems’, in JIPA, 3:1, 22–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClure, J. D. (1972). ‘A suggested revision for the Cardinal Vowel system’, in JIPA, 2:1, 20–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pike, K. (1940). Phonetics, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Von Raffler-Engel, W. (1971). ‘Theoretical phonology and first-language acquisition’, in Folia Linguistica, Acta Societatis Linguisticae Europaeae, Tomus 3/4.Google Scholar