From: Gregg Reynolds (unicode@arabink.com)
Date: Tue Jul 12 2005 - 03:21:21 CDT
Kenneth Whistler wrote:
> In principle, this is no different than color coding all the
> "c's" in English text to indicate their different pronunciations,
> for example -- which could also be carried around by
> subcategorizing and marking them up with phonetic information,
> including c's participation in digraphs:
>
> c(=k)olor c(=s)ic(=k)ada
>
> [ch](=esh)ute [ch](=k)yle [ch](=t-esh)ime
>
> and so on and so on.
>
Actually, phonocode (along with phonofont) would be very useful indeed
for people learning English as a second language.
Phonofont is an excellent design problem. You'd want to make it normal
enough for native literates to read without annoyance while still adding
enough info for learners to detect pronunciation.
E.g. indicate silent letters e, g, h by blackening the enclosed areas;
for long i replace the dot with a small macron. Use a ligated "gh" to
mean /f/. Then e.g. ghost, fight, cough, bite, etc. Even "beauty" -
just macron the 'e' and blacken the 'a' and you've got the
pronunciation, sort of.
I guess this thread really belongs on a font list somewhere...
-gregg
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