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## PHONEMES

The following phonemes codes are included. Other languages could:

- Use these phonemes as they are. This will often be the case with many consonants.
- Use the codes but make variations of their sounds, to make vowels sound right for the language.
- Use the codes, but for different sounds.
- Add new phonemes codes.

The included phonemes include those of British English, with a few extra for convenience (eg. [I2] is a version of [I] which has an "unstressed" property). Also there are a few additional phonemes which are not in standard British English but are common in other languages.

The phoneme mnemonics are based on the scheme by Kirschenbaum: www.kirshenbaum.net/IPA/ascii-ipa.pdf, which gives the International Phonetic Alphabet equivalents.

Phoneme mnemonics can be used directly in the text input to speak. They are enclosed within double square brackets. Spaces are used to separate words and all stressed syllables must be marked explicitly. eg:
[[D,Is Iz sVm f@n'EtIk t'Ekst 'InpUt]]

          Short vowels

          a
          trap
          E
          dress

          I
          kit
          I2
          as [I] but marked 'unstressed'

          0
          lot ('zero', note 1)
          V
          strut

          U
          foot
          aa
          bath (note 2)

          @
          the (schwa, unstressed)
          @-
          favourite (very short schwa)

          a2
          about (note 3, unstressed)

    Long vowels

          i:
          fleece
          3:
          nurse ('three', note 4)

          A:
          palm
          O:
          thought

          u:
          goose
          aI
          price

          eI
          face
          oI
          choice

          i@
          near
          e@
          square

          O@
          force (note 5)
          U@
          cure

          aU
          mouth
          oU
          goat

          aI@
          fire
          aU@
          power

          @L
          vessel (unstressed)

    Additional vowels (note 6)

          e:
          Ger: tee, segen, Fr: é
          o:
          Ger: ton, Fr: chaud

          i
          Short [i:]
          O
          Short [O:]

          y:
          Ger: tür, Fr: cru
          y
          Ger: glück

          Y:
          Ger: schön, Fr: jeûne
          W
          Ger: können, Fr: beurre

          eU

          uI

          a~
          Fr: nasal an
          E~
          Fr: nasal in

          O~
          Fr: nasal on
          W~
          Fr: nasal un

          u-
          unrounded [u]
          o-
          unrounded [o]

    Consonants

          n^
          Spanish ñ (Palatal nasal)
          N
          sing (Velar nasal)

          S
          show
          Z
          pleasure

          tS
          church
          dZ
          judge

          T
          thin
          D
          the

          C
          Ger: ich
          ?
          Glottal Stop

          x
          Ger: buch
          Q
          (Voiced velar frictative, voiced [x])

          ;
          "Palatalized". A weak [j]

    The following consonants are the same as the symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet:
    p   t   k
    b   d   g
    f   s   h
    v   z
    r   l   j   w
    m   n

Notes:

1. `[0]` (digit zero) is used rather than the Kirschenbaum symbol [A.] (rounded [A]).
2. `[aa]` is used in those cases where the pronunciation changes from [a] to [A:] between northern and southern British English.
3. `[a2]` is used as a more open variant of schwa [@] in words where an unstressed [a] is reduced to schwa.
4. `[3:]` is used rather than the Kirschenbaum symbol [R].
5. `[O@]` is used as an alternative symbol to `[O:]`, with the same sound, where the spelling has a following 'r' which has been absorbed into the vowel. This would allow different sounds for 'thought' and 'force' if required.
6. The additional non English vowels are not expected to be accurate and will doubtless require modification.

Some further symbols:

- `[@2]` Is used for `[@]` which changed to `[I2]` when followed by a vowel (used in 'the').
- `[@5]` Is used for `[@]` which changed to `[U]` when followed by a vowel (used in 'to').