Phonemic Transcription Vetsus English Orthography

Lecture No. 5
Title: Phonemic transcription versus English orthography
Phonemic transcription versus English orthography
English orthography is inadequate as a representation of the current speech sounds of English. This lack of consistency in representing sounds is due to the fact that the English writing system became fixed several hundred years ago, although the pronunciation of the words has continuously changed since that period. But what system of symbols should we use to represent the speech sounds of English? What should the simbols represent? The writing system introdused uses symbols that represent the sounds produced by particular configurations of the vocal tract. A symbol such as /s/ therefore represents the the vocal tract configuration in which the tongue tip and blade are highly pressed against the roof of the mouth near the teeth ridge so that when air from the lungs passes between the tongue and the teeth ridge a hissing sound is produed.
The first writing system is called a phonemic transription system . the rucial property of a phonemic system is that each signifiant speech sound of a language is represented with a unique symbol. This transcription system overcomes the defiienciesof the urrent English alphabet.