RE: Why incomplete subscript/superscript alphabet ?

Hans Åberg wrote:

>>>> What do you mean? The IPA in narrow transcription is intended to
>>>> provide as detailed a description as a human mind can manage of
>>>> sounds.
>>>
>>> It is designed for phonemic transcriptions, cf.,
>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_International_Phonetic_Alphabet
>>
>> It *was* designed, in 1870-something. Try reading the Handbook of the
>> IPA. It contains many samples of languages transcribed both in a
>> broad phonemic transcription appropriate for the language, and in a
>> narrow phonetic transcription which should allow a competent
>> phonetician to produce an understandable and reasonably accurate
>> rendition of the passage.
>
> But the alveolar clicks requires an extension.

You've found ONE instance of non-distorted speech where IPA does not
distinguish between two allophones. That is very different from saying
that IPA is unsuitable for phonetic transcription.
 

--
Doug Ewell | Thornton, CO, US | ewellic.org