Romic alphabet
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Template:Infobox Writing system The Romic Alphabet, sometimes known as the Romic Reform, is a phonetic alphabet proposed by Henry Sweet. It descends from Ellis's Palaeotype alphabet and English Phonotypic Alphabet, and is the direct ancestor of the International Phonetic Alphabet. In Romic every sound had a dedicated symbol, and every symbol represented a single sound. There were no capital letters; there were letters derived from small capitals, though these were distinct letters.
There were two variants, Broad Romic and Narrow Romic. Narrow Romic utilized italics to distinguish fine details of pronunciation; Broad Romic was cruder, and in it the vowels had their English "short" sounds when written singly, and their "long" sounds when doubled:
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If the beginner has once learnt to pronounce a, e, i, o, u, as in glass, bet, bit, not, dull, he simply has to remember that long vowels are doubled, as in biit—"beat", and fuul—"fool", and diphthongs formed by the juxtaposition of their elements, as in boi—"boy" and hai—"high" [...]
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Sweet adopted from Ellis and earlier philologists a method creating new letters by rotating existing ones, as in this way no new type would need to be cast:
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There is, however, one simple method of forming new letters without casting new types, which is very often convenient. This is by turning the letters, thus - Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA".. These new letters are perfectly distinct in shape, and are easily written. The Script error: No such module "IPA". was first employed by Schmeller to denote the final e-sound in the German gabe, &c. Mr. Ellis, in his 'Palæotype,' uses it to denote the allied English sound in but.
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The IPA letter Template:Angbr IPA acquired its modern pronunciation and first use with this alphabet. He resurrected three Anglo-Saxon letters, ash Template:Angbr IPA, eth Template:Angbr IPA and thorn Template:Angbr IPA, the first two of which had the pronunciations they retain in the IPA.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler[<span title="Script error: No such module "string".">these may have been used earlier]Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Tables
The following tables outline consonants and vowels as laid out in A Primer of Phonetics (1892: 38).
Consonants
| Lab. | Lab-D. | Dent. | Alv. | Palv. | Pal. | Velar | Labv. | Phar. | Glot. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | mℎ · m | nℎ · n | ñℎ · ñ | ŋℎ · ŋ | ||||||
| Plosive | p · b | t · d | c · ɟ | k · g | (ʼ)? | |||||
| Fric./approx. | Template:Notatypo · β | f · v | þ · ð | s · z | ʃ · ʒ | ç · j | x · ᵹ | ʍ · w | ɹℎ · ɹ | h · |
| Lateral | lℎ · l | λℎ · λ | ꞁℎ · ꞁ | |||||||
| Rhotic | rℎ · r |
Template:Angbr IPA were eventually replaced with Template:Angbr IPA in the IPA.[1] Apart from Sweet's use of italic ℎ for voicelessness, the rest of the alphabet continues intact in the modern IPA.
Vowels
In "wide" vowels, the tongue is described as relaxed and flattened; in "narrow", it is tense and more convex. This corresponds to descriptions of vowels as lax and tense. Lax vowels are indicated by italic type. In the case of the mid back unrounded vowel Script error: No such module "IPA"., the description of its place of articulation does not accord well with some of the words given as examples. Sweet described vowels as narrowed with the tongue raised as in high vowels, but the jaw open as in low vowels. This conflicts with the presentation of the IPA, in which high and close are synonymous, as are low and open. Other than the back unrounded vowels and the value of Script error: No such module "IPA". for IPA Script error: No such module "IPA". (but also for English bird, in broad notation), Sweet's notation is essentially that of the IPA.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i · y | ï · ü | ʌ · u |
| Mid | e · ə | ë · ö | a[2]· o |
| Low | æ · œ | ä · ɔ̈ | ɐ · ɔ |
Italic a takes its traditional shape, which would later be made distinct in the IPA. That is, italic a was Template:Angbr IPA, and italic ɐ, Template:Angbr IPA. Long vowels are written double. Nasal vowels with an italic nasal consonant letter, such as Template:Angbr IPA or (for French) Template:Angbr IPA.
These are defined by Sweet as:
- Template:Angbr IPA: French Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: German Script error: No such module "Lang"., Scots Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: Swedish Script error: No such module "Lang".
- Template:Angbr IPA: French Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: French Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: Swedish Script error: No such module "Lang".
- Template:Angbr IPA: Welsh Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: German Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: English sir
- Template:Angbr IPA: Norwegian Script error: No such module "Lang"., ...
- Template:Angbr IPA: Gaelic Script error: No such module "Lang".,[3] Template:Angbr IPA: English but,[2] Template:Angbr IPA: Cockney park
- Template:Angbr IPA: French Script error: No such module "Lang"., Scots Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: German Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: English law
The lax vowels are defined by Sweet as:
- Template:Angbr IPA: English bit, Template:Angbr IPA: English men, Template:Angbr IPA: English man
- Template:Angbr IPA: French Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Angbr IPA: (German Script error: No such module "Lang". is overrounded œ)
- Template:Angbr IPA: English pretty, Template:Angbr IPA: start of English eye, better, Template:Angbr IPA: start of English how, Portuguese Script error: No such module "Lang".
- Template:Angbr IPA: English value, Template:Angbr IPA: French Script error: No such module "Lang".
- Template:Angbr IPA: English father, Template:Angbr IPA: Swedish Script error: No such module "Lang".
- Template:Angbr IPA: English put, Template:Angbr IPA: German Script error: No such module "Lang"., English boy, Template:Angbr IPA: English not
History
The 1877 version of the Romic alphabet differed rather substantially from the 1892 version. It was very similar to Ellis's Paleotype.
Vowels
Central vowels were indicated with a non-italic 'h' rather than a diaeresis, with regular Template:Angbr IPA for later irregular Template:Angbr IPA.
The unrounded back vowels were irregular in their composition, in that laxness was not indicated by italicizing, which was used instead for the low vowels. They were (tense) high Template:Angbr IPA, mid Template:Angbr IPA (English but), low Template:Angbr IPA and (lax) high Template:Angbr IPA, mid Template:Angbr IPA (English father) and low Template:Angbr IPA (Scots Script error: No such module "Lang".).
Template:Angbr IPA was used for the unstressed English schwa. It was not listed in the vowel chart because it was not considered to have any particular articulation, being merely an independent element of voicing (what Sweet called a 'glide vowel'), and the voiced equivalent of unarticulated Template:Angbr IPA (which would later become Template:Angbr IPA). Template:Angbr IPA is an open glottis, Template:Angbr IPA (or Template:Angbr IPA) a whispery glottis.
Nasal vowels were indicated with a following italic 𝑛, the French "guttural" nasals with a following italic 𝑞, as in Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA.
Vowel length was indicated with a following Template:Angbr IPA rather than doubling, as in Template:Angbr IPA (or extra-long Template:Angbr IPA).
Reduced or barely pronounced sounds were marked by brackets, so Template:Angbr IPA.
Indices were used to avoid complex detail when it would be understood, as Template:Angbr IPA for English diphthongal Script error: No such module "IPA".
Consonants
Glottal stop was x, the velar nasal q. Digraphs were used where later Sweet would use distinct characters.
| Lab. | Lab-D. | Dent. | Alv. | Palv. | Pal. | Velar | Labv. | Phar. | Glot. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | mh · m | nh · n | ɴh · ɴ | qh · q | ||||||
| Plosive | p · b | t · d | ᴛ · ᴅ[4] | k · g | x | |||||
| Fric./approx. | ph · bh | f · v | th · dh | s · z rh · r |
sh · zh | jh · j | kh · gh | wh · w | ʀh · ʀ | ʜ · ʌ |
| Lateral | lh · l | ʟh · ʟ | Template:Sch · Template:Sc |
Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA (IPA [h] and [ə]) might both be considered vowels, without any particular place of articulation, though at least [h] can sometimes behave as a glottal consonant.
English ch and j sounds were written Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA. Template:Angbr IPA was specifically an English Script error: No such module "IPA"..
Modifications of consonants
Consonants took diacritics for fronting, as in dental Template:Angbr IPA,[5] or retraction, as in uvular Template:Angbr IPA, retroflection, as in Template:Angbr IPA, and protrusion, as in interdental Template:Angbr IPA.
Where the IPA uses superscript letters for secondary articulation, Sweet used italics. Labialization and palatalization were indicated by a following italic Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA. An italic Template:Angbr IPA was used for trills, e.g. Italian Template:Angbr IPA (and voiceless Welsh Template:Angbr IPA), German Template:Angbr IPA, bilabial Template:Angbr IPA, and epiglottal Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA as in Arabic ain and heth.
Aspiration was marked with Template:Angbr IPA. (This was not italicized, but would be later when replaced with ℎ.) Whispered sounds were marked e.g. Template:Angbr IPA.
Simultaneous articulation was marked with *, as in Template:Angbr IPA.
As with vowels, barely articulated or pronounced consonants were set off with [brackets].
Much of the notation for phonetic detail may have carried over into later versions.
Stress and pitch
Stress is indicated with a Template:Angbr IPA placed after the onset of the syllable, as in Template:Angbr IPA 'try' (Template:Angbr IPA 'a try' vs Template:Angbr IPA 'at Rye'). Extra stress was marked with doubled Template:Angbr IPA, half stress with Template:Angbr IPA. Increasing, level, and decreasing stress (illustrated with the letter 'a') were Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA, Template:Angbr IPA respectively.
Tone and intonation were indicated with iconic symbols such as rising Template:Angbr IPA, falling Template:Angbr IPA, level Template:Angbr IPA, rising-falling Template:Angbr IPA, etc., as in early IPA usage.
See also
Notes
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- ↑ Template:Angbr IPA was principally used for dark (velarized) Script error: No such module "IPA"., which Sweet analyzed as a velar sound.
- ↑ a b In broad transcription, Sweet used Script error: No such module "IPA". for French Script error: No such module "Lang". and Northern German Script error: No such module "Lang". and, as long Script error: No such module "IPA"., for English father and German Script error: No such module "Lang"., while he used Script error: No such module "IPA". for English come, which has the same vowel as but (see next symbol) – essentially the same as the usage of these letters in the IPA. However, these transcriptions may be remnants of his earlier sound values for these letters – see #History.
- ↑ This is indeed a high back unrounded vowel Script error: No such module "IPA". in Scottish Gaelic.
- ↑ Although specifically palatal in the explanation of symbols in the table. Although Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA are elsewhere defined as palatalized Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA, contrasting with Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA for palatalized Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA, here Sweet notes that palatal Template:Angbr IPA and Template:Angbr IPA are merely likely to be confounded with the palatalized sounds.
- ↑ Though the dental fricative was simply Template:Angbr IPA, without a diacritic.
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Bibliography
- Sweet, Henry. (1892) A Primer of Phonetics, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (archive.org)
- Sweet, Henry. (1877) A Handbook of Phonetics, Including a Popular Exposition of the Principles of Spelling Reform, Oxford: Clarendon Press. (archive.org)