phonological features [etc.]

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

This seems well meaning, but it strikes me as unnecessarily pedantic. It was
perfectly clear that the writer was using the brackets to indicate "an
approximation of ... phonetic" spelling in contrast to dictionary spelling. The fact
that the "phonetic" spelling was not in a "formal" system that "thnidu"
approves of does not make it any the less "phonetic."

In a message dated 7/4/08 3:44:18 PM, thnidu at GMAIL.COM writes:


> Marc, do you realize that when we use brackets* we intend an
> approximation of formal phonetic notation, not just some general kind
> of "sound spelling"? [yer] is not the same as the fast colloquial
> pronunciation often written as "yer" or "y'r", rhyming with "her";
> [yer] would rhyme with many pronunciations of "their" or "hair".
>




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