It's actually much worse than that; I have done some analysis in the past, and on a
average given line of English text you will have quite a few irregular
pronunciations -- that is, cases where the pronunciation is not predictable from the
letters without actually knowing the words involved.
Mark
John Cowan wrote:
> "Reynolds, Gregg" wrote:
>
> > [I]t's actually highly rational, but it is
> > designed for native speakers, not those who needed a phonemic transcription.
>
> Most of it. But if a fairly small number of irregularities are repaired
> (there is no reason why there should be nine different pronunciations of
> "-ough"), it would be far more so.
>
> --
>
> Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis vom dies! || John Cowan <jcowan@reutershealth.com>
> Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau, || http://www.reutershealth.com
> Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau, || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
> Und trank die Milch vom Paradies. -- Coleridge (tr. Politzer)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jul 10 2001 - 17:20:56 EDT