4.4 KiB
| date | publishDate | title | audio | bookmarkOf | references | summary | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-03-15T12:34:31.711Z | 2024-03-15T12:34:31.711Z | Accėnt mārks in E̱nglish | index.mp3 | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fok5AQ2WRo |
|
I really enjoyed this video of Rob's, suggesting new accents to add to English, but trying to use them definitely confused me! |
I really enjoyed watching this! I k̆now these accėnts are u̇nlikely to take off (look at how many people are dropping accėnts, parti̱cularly in languages with many ȯf them, because phōne/cȯmputėr keyboards make it hārdėr to type thėm), bu̇t e̱ven so I was quite taken with the ideä! (As you cȧn see frȯm all thė diäcritics!)
(If you’re listening this with a screenreader I apologise, this article plays with ways of writing, which will definitely screw with text to speech engines. Use the link at the top to listen to me reading it instead!)
The diäcritical mārks Rob suggests āre:
| Exāmple u̱sage | Mārk | Meaning | JP’s shortcut1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| k̆now | Brēve | Silent letters | double tilde after: k~~ |
| accėnt | Overdot | Vowels pronounced with schwa: “uh” | double period after: e.. |
| phōne | Ma̱cron (abȯve) | Long vowels | double caret after: o^^ |
| dire̱ctly | Ma̱cron below | Emphasised vowels | double underscore after: e__ |
| naïve | Diaë̱resis | Pronounce vowels distinctly | (Already available; alt-u before: ¨i) |
He also recommended use ȯf thė grave to di̱ffere̱ntiate homonyms (eg. minute vs. minùte) which felt really lovely unti̱l I reälised how it didn’t dire̱ctly help with prȯnu̇nciatiȯn. Which ȯf bow and bòw is thė frȯnt ȯf ȧ boat, ȧnd which for archery? I feel like thė ma̱cron abȯve gets u̇s to almōst the same place (bow fȯr boats, bōw fȯr arrows; wind in the trees, wīnd in your cable).
Taking it too fār
I’m dēfinïtely going ȧ bit fār into thė nerdy space, bu̇t I’m finding (while writing this ārticle) that it’s hārd to k̆now when to apply an accėnt ȧnd when not to. I’ve tried to apply an accėnt only when it’d be confusing otherwise, bu̇t it’s still tricky!
Should “of” (as in “many ȯf them”, ȧbȯve) be marked as using schwa? Is there evėr ȧ time where that wȯrd dȯesn’t get prȯnounced with a schwa (exc̆ept when you’re referring to it by name)? (One ȯf Dr. Geoff Lindsay’s exc̆ellent videös on schwa points out the “off course” vs. “ȯf course” difficulty, particularly for German speakers.)
Ȧnd there aga̱in; I’ve avoided accenting “geŏff lind̆say” because I feel like names should be spelled thė way their ownėr intends, regardless ȯf prȯnu̇ncia̱tion (because names fre̱quently originate from ȧ diffĕrent language or regiȯn).
I’ve also I’ve used ȧ diaë̱resis in “dēfinïtely” ȧbȯve, to indicate thȧt there’s ȧ schwa on that second “i” (as Rob suggests), bu̇t that looks like I should be making that vowel disti̱nct now! I can’t yet think ȯf ȧn occasion where this would be ȧ problėm, bu̇t it’s bugging me 😅
Finally, bėfore this tu̇rns into ȧ full rant, what about vowels thȧt only need elongation because ȯf my accent? Exāmple is ȧ great… exāmple. Dȯ my Northėr̆n friends write “example” and fork thė written language?
Lots ȯf fu̇n 😄
-
I wanted tȯ make it easy tȯ write these characters while I wȧs penning this ārticle, so put together ȧ “Text Rėpla̱cemėnt” plist. If you’re on macOS you cȧn visit System Settings → Ke̱yboard → Text Rėplācemėnts, then right click ȧnd import these tȯ use thė shortcuts in thė table ȧbȯve. ↩︎