A pronunciation respelling is a regular phonetic respelling of a word that has a standard spelling but whose pronunciation according to that spelling may be ambiguous, which is used to indicate the pronunciation of that word. Pronunciation respellings are sometimes seen in word dictionaries. The term should not be confused with pronunciation spelling which is an ''

ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...

'' spelling of a word that has no standard spelling. Most of these are

nonce word In linguistics, a nonce word—also called an occasionalism—is any word (lexeme), or any sequence of sounds or letters, created for a single occasion or utterance but not otherwise understood or recognized as a word in a given languag ...

s though some have achieved a certain amount of standardization, e.g., the informal use of the word '' gonna'' to represent an informal pronunciation of ''going to''.

Respelling

Pronunciation spellings may be used informally to indicate the pronunciation of foreign words or those whose spelling is irregular or insufficient for the reader to deduce the pronunciation. In such cases,

typeface A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...

punctuation Punctuation marks are marks indicating how a piece of writing, written text should be read (silently or aloud) and, consequently, understood. The oldest known examples of punctuation marks were found in the Mesha Stele from the 9th century BC, c ...

letter case Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally '' minuscule'') in the written representation of certain languages. The writing system ...

may also be used, e.g., to indicate stress or syllabication of the word. For example: This offers a sometimes intuitive alternative to systems like the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...

, which offers precise descriptions but must be learned. For example: However, respelling relies on the writer's encoded mapping to the same

phoneme A phoneme () is any set of similar Phone (phonetics), speech sounds that are perceptually regarded by the speakers of a language as a single basic sound—a smallest possible Phonetics, phonetic unit—that helps distinguish one word fr ...

s as the reader's; e.g. might be adequate for certain

non-rhotic The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all p ...

readers but not rhotic ones.
Unlike the IPA, respelling systems are often specific to the works in which they appear. The English-language Wikipedia, for example, has its own respelling system (available at ) which may or may not match that used on other Wikipedias or in other contexts.

Literary dialect

Pronunciation spellings are sometimes used in narratives to represent nonstandard dialects or idiolects to create an impression of backwardness or

illiteracy Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

in the speaker. This is called literary dialect, often called

eye dialect Eye dialect is a writer's use of deliberately nonstandard spelling either because they do not consider the standard spelling a good reflection of the pronunciation or because they are intending to portray vernacular, informal or low-status language ...

, though the latter term used to be applied only if the resulting pronunciation is the same as the standard one. For example: {{block indent, "Pleez, mistur," said the beggar.

Other uses

Pronunciation spellings as deliberate misspellings may be used for humorous effect. The origin of the word

okay ''OK'' (), with spelling variations including ''okay'', ''okeh'', ''O.K.'' and many others, is an English word (originating in American English) denoting approval, acceptance, agreement, assent, acknowledgment, or a sign of indifference. ''O ...

is disputed, but the most common view is that it derives from " Oll Korrect", an 1830s comical spelling of "All Correct". Such spellings may also be used for

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

ing, e.g., " Lite" foods, Froot Loops. See also sensational spelling.

References

* Bowdre, Paul H., Jr. (1971). "Eye dialect as a literary device". In J. V. Williamson & V. M. Burke (Eds.), ''A various language'' (pp. 178–179). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. * Fine, Elizabeth. (1983). "In defense of literary dialect: A response to Dennis R. Preston". ''The Journal of American Folklore'', ''96'' (381), 323–330. * Ives, Sumner. (1950). "A theory of literary dialect". ''Tulane Studies in English'', ''2'', 137–182. * Ives, Sumner. (1971). "A theory of literary dialect". In J. V. Williamson & V. M. Burke (eds.), ''A various language'' (pp. 145–177). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. * Krapp, George P. (1926). "The psychology of dialect writing". ''The Bookman'', ''6'', 522–527. * Preston, Dennis R. (1982). "Ritin' fowklower daun 'rong: Folklorists' failures in phonology". ''The Journal of American Folklore'', ''95'' (377), 304–326. * Preston, Dennis R. (1983). "Mowr bayud spellin': A reply to Fine". ''The Journal of American Folklore'', ''96'' (381), 330–339. * Preston, Dennis R. (1985). "The Li'l Abner syndrome: Written representations of speech". ''American Speech'', ''60'' (4), 328–336.

External links

Vivian Cook's page of common eye dialect
Phonetics Nonstandard spelling Linguistic error Phonetic guides