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Shouldn't /mj/ be on the list?

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I am nothing but a casual observer. I've never studied phonetics, language, speech, etc., so I have no idea if this is stupid to even bring up. If so, I offer my deepest apologies for wasting anyone's time. That being said, I saw entries for several other "letters followed by the (as I was taught in grade school) long 'U' sound," e.g., /dj/ dew, /lj/ lute, /nj/ newt, etc. Shouldn't there also be an entry for /mj/ as in music, mew, munificent? I have no clue if this is something valid that has been overlooked, or if I just don't know enough about my native language (all of which I'm sure could fill several VERY LARGE tomes) in this instance. Thank you for your time. Brutus6844 (talk) 18:46, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Brutus6844: It's because there is considerable varation in the realization of /dj/, /lj/ etc. in major varieties of English (see yod-dropping and yod-coalescence). In contrast, /mj/ stays /mj/ in all supra-regional varieties and only has yod-dropping in some traditional dialects of England (e.g. stereotypically in Norfolk), which is beyond the scope of variation that we try to capture in this pronunciation key. –Austronesier (talk) 19:56, 25 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

/ɜːr/in British place names

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I just came here as I noticed the IPA transcription for Herne Hill is given as /hɜːrn/. I checked a few other English place names and noticed the same use of /ɜːr/. The problem is that nobody says that, whether their accent is rhotic or not, in rhotic accents it is /hɜrn/ and non-rhotic it is /hɜːn/. Is there something I'm missing> Boynamedsue (talk) 07:13, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Boynamedsue: The article is correct. If you look at the IPA explanation at Help:IPA/English you'll see a footnote in the entry for /ɜːr/:

In Received Pronunciation, /ɜːr/ is pronounced as a lengthened schwa, [əː]. In General American, it is phonetically identical to /ər/. Some dictionaries therefore use ⟨əː, ər⟩ instead of the conventional notations ⟨ɜː, ɜr⟩. When ⟨ər⟩ is used for /ɜːr/, it is distinguished from /ər/ by marking the syllable as stressed.

Bazza 7 (talk) 08:09, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen that text, but it doesn't answer the point. In General American the pronunciation is different to /ɜːr/, and though I have never seen [əː] given for the NURSE vowel in RP (in as much as it exists), we can definitely agree it is not pronounced as /ɜːr/. As you allude to, the standard notation used for the NURSE vowel in the UK is /ɜː/. So why are we using a phonetic transcription which is not used by anybody?Boynamedsue (talk) 16:58, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's not a phonetic transcription, it's a diaphonemic abstraction that encodes how it is pronounced in the major accents of natively-spoken English. The choice of /ɜːr/ is a blend of the traditional way of transcribing the corresponding RP and GA sounds, viz. /ɜː/ and /ər/. We could also have chosen /☎/, but that's less intuitive than the more realistic /ɜːr/. –Austronesier (talk) 19:18, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Austronesier: Thanks. That looks like a more professional way of saying what I took four paragraphs to explain below. Bazza 7 (talk) 19:21, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
(edit conflict) @Boynamedsue: I think you are mistakenly assuming that /r/ always means "pronounce it as in 'rye'". When combined with other symbols, such as /ɜː/, it can be pronounced differently or not at all, as shown in the tables and notes at Help:IPA/English.
Take a look at Collins dictionary on-line, which uses /nɜːʳs/ for the pronunciation of "nurse". Its [https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/ipa-pronunciation-guide-cobuild/ guide states that /ɜːʳ/ is pronounced as in "turn" or "third", with a note that the /ʳ/ superscript shows that in Received Pronunciation the /r/ is pronounced only when it is followed by a vowel, while in General American it is always pronounced. Apart from using a superscript, this is the same as the notation Wikipedia uses, so your assertion that this is not used by anybody is not correct.
Other publications use different symbols: Cambridge and [dictionary.com https://www.dictionary.com/browse/nurse] use the notation you used above for what they call the "UK" pronunciation of "nurse" (although people in Lancashire and Norfolk may argue that is wrong). They use a different notation for the "US" pronunciation: /nɝːs/ and /nɜrs/ respectively.
Wikipedia has chose to use the symbols and symbol combinations defined Help:IPA/English. So for "Herne", /hɜːrn/ means "h" as in "hi", "ur" as in "fur" and "n" as in "nigh" (which you will see as tooltips if your device supports hovering over the IPA), regardless of which variation of English you speak. In my southern English version of British English, I do not pronounce the "r" in "fur", so Wikipedia's IPA definition for /ɜːr/ ("ur" as in "fur") is correct for me. Bazza 7 (talk) 19:18, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks to Austronesier for explaining the fact it is not actually intended to accurately reflect ANY pronunciation. I think that it probably should, but I would imagine the debate about whether to use local standard pronunciations in English-language place names was lost long ago. I am also a little worried that people who know the phonetic alphabet might take these transcriptions at face value, and it seems strange that this aspect of WP:IPA is in effect WP:OR.
Still, I doubt it's going to change, so there we have it.Boynamedsue (talk) 22:17, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
FWIW ⟨ɜːr⟩ is phonetically representative of RP when prevocalic, as in furry, occurring. It's also phonemically representative even when not prevocalic of some accents without the hurry–furry merger, e.g. Hiberno and West Country. Nardog (talk) 22:50, 12 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think that probably makes it worse to a degree! We might be better off with the telephone symbol suggested by Austrioneser. If even linguistically trained people need to click on the link and read Help:IPA/English to make use of our transcription system (and there is nothing to advise anybody they meed to do this) I don't think it is benefitting anybody.Boynamedsue (talk) 06:42, 13 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Semi-protected edit request on 19 September 2024 — Article: Help:IPA/English

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In the vowel table, switch iː and ɪ back. NoShldJ (talk) 05:46, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Nardog (talk) 06:30, 19 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

COMMA example?

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I'm a little confused. In my ear, and I'm pretty sure in British English in most (all?) accents, also Australian and New Zealand, maybe US but I'm not sure, the A in comma is Open-mid back unrounded vowel ʌ, not schwa ə. Like the second a panda? Or koala? 125.168.22.109 (talk) 08:53, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In my several-decades-old British English accent, comma, panda and koala all end in /ə/. A /ʌ/ would be "too long and open", if you know what I mean. Bazza 7 (talk) 09:49, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
That's what a phoneme is: an abstract category of sounds that are not in contrastive distribution with one another. Colour in isolation may be pronounced with vowels of similar qualities, but not coloured, colourful, etc., which are still obviously colour + suffix. Nardog (talk) 14:01, 2 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

/r/-less NEAR and CURE in South African English (and RP?)

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By analogy with //ɜː//, we should probably add r-less //ɪə// and //ʊə// (note that it doesn't normally vary with /ɔː/ or /ɜː/ - another reason to make it separate from //ʊər//) for Afrikaans loanwords in South African English (see South African English phonology#Vowels). I can't imagine an American calling Reeva Steenkamp /ˈstɪrnkʌmp/, or Marie Koopmans-de Wet /ˈkʊrpmʌnz də ˈvɛt/. They'd go for /i, u/ or maybe /eɪ, oʊ/ (or, unlikely, /i.ə, u.ə/, which is the best they could do to approximate the Afrikaans pronunciation). We could also think about adding /a/ and /ɔ/ to the guide (the latter is written with ⟨o⟩ in South African English phonology, but the point is that it's a shortened THOUGHT vowel, so ⟨ɔ⟩ would be perfectly fine for this guide. Also, this is how this vowel is transcribed in Afrikaans, and invariably so, to the best of my knowledge).

Articles that would (as of now) be affected by this change:

And probably a few more that I'm not aware of. I'm planning on adding more SAE transcriptions in the future. I think Botha is traditionally /ˈbʊətə/ also in RP.

//ɔ// could be used in Hendrik Potgieter /pɔtˈxiːtər/ (see [1]), whereas //a// could be used in the aforementioned Steenkamp /ˈstɪənkamp/ and Koopmans-de Wet /ˈkʊəpmanz də ˈvɛt/ - and also in Vredendal /ˈfrɪədəndal/ (I think Nietgedacht also has this vowel and so does Bloubosrand). Olifantsfontein has both: /ˈɔlifantsfɒnteɪn/ (see [2]). I see no reason not to add at least the first two, as SAE is spoken by about 30 million people (give or take, I don't know the exact figure). This guide transcribes phonemic distinctions that the majority of speakers of English do not have in their vowel system, like the STRUT-COMMA distinction (see [3]), or a phonemic /x/ which, as of 2024, is probably the most South African feature of this guide, as it's disappearing from Scottish English and doesn't really make a regular appearance in other dialects.

This is how I'd add them to the table.

Also, do we have the SAE labels in the IPAc-en template? Sol505000 (talk) 12:32, 17 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see how it could be justified to add those when we no longer have a distinct FORCE. Like varieties that maintain NORTH–FORCE, SAE is not a variety large lexicographical works are available for. Whenever transcribing a word with a phonemic distinction the diaphonemic system doesn't account for, one should just not link to this key. In that vein, I'd find creating a phonetic key for SAE more sensible than adding marginal segments to this key. Nardog (talk) 04:58, 18 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Also, what does SAE have in idea, theatre, cruel, etc.? Nardog (talk) 05:03, 18 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
LPD transcribes a distinct FORCE vowel as a possibility in GenAm (as /oʊr/), but I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to reintroduce it to this guide.
Yes, you mostly have to transcribe by ear, which is not a problem at least with /ɪə ʊə/. With /a/, you can go by orthography (/ʌ/ is also fine, IMO. They're close enough. Lass didn't really convince me they're not the same phoneme, but that's off-topic). For the former two, the rule is that in loanwords from Afrikaans, ⟨ee⟩ and ⟨oo⟩ (sometimes just a single ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩) stand for /ɪə ʊə/. The glide is easily detectable by ear. /ɔ/ is probably the most tricky of all to transcribe. ⟨ɔː⟩ would be completely inappropriate - it makes Potgieter into Port Gieter, with wrong length. ⟨ɒ⟩ is not terribly wrong, it has the correct length, but wrong height and too little rounding. It's sometimes used instead of /ɔ/. /ʊ/ is usually too central and not rounded enough in SAE, so ⟨ʊ⟩ is as wrong as ⟨ɔː⟩. I guess that SAE /ɔ/ truly cannot be transcribed using IPAc-en.
A guide specific for SAE is doable. One for Scottish English could be created as well. If we create a guide for SAE, should that system be always used, so also in e.g. Johannesburg [dʒœʊˈhænɨsbøːɡ]?
I'm not sure. They could be smoothed in Cultivated SAE, which is basically SAE-flavored RP with little difference between the two. But I think even (some?) Cultivated speakers have at least a distinct /ɔ/, due to bilingualism. If their /ʌ/ is consistently back (and it's not in General SAE), then /a/ must also be distinct, if it's not replaced with /æ/ instead. Sol505000 (talk) 10:29, 18 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Starting 'a...'

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I can't find the IPA for 'a' as in 'as', or 'accent', or 'advent' in the list; neither "ɑː" (cited: palm, bra, father - all longer vowel sounds), nor "ə" (cited: comma, abbot, bazaar - all more schwa sounds), fit well. What should be used, please? - MPF (talk) 00:38, 26 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Use /æ/. /ˈæz ˈæksɛnt ˈædvɛnt/. It's in the chart with sample words "TRAP, bag, sang, tattoo". Indefatigable (talk) 01:35, 26 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Indefatigable: Really? I read that as da:æ, same as de:ä, like a short -ae-, which is a very different sound. I also see /æ/ has a note "Some British sources, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, use ⟨a⟩ instead of /æ/ to transcribe this vowel. This more closely reflects the actual vowel quality in contemporary Received Pronunciation", so should it not be ⟨a⟩, which sounds far more realistic? Nobody æctuælly says an 'æ' sound when they mean æn 'a' sound? - MPF (talk) 09:43, 26 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I don't have formal training in linguistics, but it is my understanding that /æ/ has been the de facto standard notation for this English phoneme for over a hundred years, and it has been in use for this purpose on Wikipedia since its inception. Indefatigable (talk) 00:12, 28 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Indefatigable: Thanks! I'll not fight it then, even if it does look strange. - MPF (talk) 15:08, 29 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Indefatigable or anyone else - I've been looking (and listening to the recordings) further, and it's definitely IPA 304 Open front unrounded vowel [a] that I need, and not IPA 325 Near-open front unrounded vowel [æ], which is definitely the wrong sound. But when I put in [a], it gives me an error message? How can that be sorted so it doesn't give the error message? Thanks! - MPF (talk) 14:48, 4 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Have you read the prose parts of the help page? We don't represent specific sounds in transcriptions linking to this key, just abstract categories (diaphonemes). Nardog (talk) 14:59, 4 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Nardog - I've taken a look, and don't see anything particularly relevant there! But it is rather out of my depth, unfortunately - MPF (talk) 15:51, 4 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
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