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Revision of the IPA: Do you know the onion chart?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

George L. Baurley
Affiliation:
Kleinring 44, Dessau 4500, D.D.R.

Extract

Quite rightly, the question is being posed: For whom is the IPA chart to be of service, (a) chiefly, (b) at all? Yet regardless of who the main beneficiaries may be, an issue on which I intend to imitate the (in)action of the mugwumps, I suggest that pedagogic principles are of the greatest importance in the creation of a chart to replace the existing amalgam. That is to say, a future chart must be so designed as to be not merely a statement of the situation but also a ‘guide, philosopher and friend’ for the user, from whatever walk of life. Users may be taking their first steps in acquiring proficiency in the use of a tool that has to be at the service of an increasingly varied range of people. Viewed thus, the chart must not be a simple systematised aggregation of facts, but also a methodical presentation of the same.

Type
Revision of the IPA: Notes
Copyright
Copyright © Journal of the International Phonetic Association 1987

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References

INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ASSOCIATION. (1949). The Principles of the International Phonetic Association. London: International Phonetic Association.Google Scholar
Henton, C. G. (1987). The IPA consonant chart: Mugwumps, holes and therapeutic suggestions. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 17:1, 1525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ladefoged, P. (1987). Updating the theory. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 17:1, 1014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar