Re: [ADS-L] Chinglish

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 8/29/08 11:58:21 AM, truespel at HOTMAIL.COM writes:


>
> The alphabetical principle is that letters stand for sounds.
>
There IS NO such "alphabetical principle" that any competent linguist or
phoneticial would subscribe to. What this really means is that YOU believe that,
in writing English, letters SHOULD stand for sounds in some kind of 1:1
relationship as determined largely by your ear and prejudices. The fact is that in
the history of alphabetical writing systems--and certainly for a language as
complicated socially and geographically as English--this has NEVER been the case.
Alphabetical writing systems APPROXIMATE pronunciations. When I write "high,"
do you see a word that ends in an aspirated [g] sound? When i write "high,"
do you hear a vowel that ends in an offglide or is simply a lengthened [a]? Or
is it the stressed vowel of "machine"? Enough!


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