4 ms·
English is an alphabetic language not a phonetic one. In a phonetic language, you can pronounce a word just based on its written representation. Just compare
by oxfordmale 4y ago
English is an alphabetic language not a phonetic one.
In a phonetic language, you can pronounce a word just based on its written representation.
Just compare current and paste tense of read. It is spelled the same but pronounced differently.
You can argue it is an phonetically inconsistent language. However, you will find most of inconsistencies occur in the most frequently used words, making it hard for a beginner.
- taeric 4y agoYou are not wrong in idea, but you are wrong in specifics. Does English use a 1:1 phonetic language? No. Of course not. Just like most "functional programming" languages have a lot of differences between them. The colloquial use of the term is not nearly as precise as many think it is. Even looking up the definition of "alphabetic" shows that that is often for phonetic languages. :D
- nkrisc 4y agoIt uses a phonetic script. The symbols of the script represent sounds.