The New International Encyclopædia/Key to pronunciation

The New International Encyclopædia Key to pronunciation

See also the disclaimer. As some of the characters used in the original key did not seem to have readily available Unicode counterparts, the following substitutions were made: dot over ā is signified by ắ (acute accent over ă); dot over ē is signified by ḗ (acute accent over ē); dot over ī is signified by ḯ (acute accent over ï); dot over ō is signified by ṓ (acute accent over ō); dot over ū is signified by ǜ (grave accent over ü). In addition, as in the Encyclopedia Americana for 1920 key, '(prime) and '(secondary) accents are used to indicate syllabic stress. For example, see Hiroshima.

KEY TO PRONUNCIATION.

ā   as in ale, fate. Also see ĕ, below. ắ    “  “  senate, chaotic. Also see ĕ, below. â    “  “  glare, care. ă    “  “  am, at. ä    “  “  arm, father. ȧ    “  “  ant, and final a in America, armada, etc. In rapid speech this vowel readily becomes more or less obscured and like the neutral vowel or a short u (ŭ). a    “  “  final, regal, where it is of a neutral or obscure quality. a̤    “  “  all, fall. ē    “  “  eve. ḗ    “  “  elate, evade. ĕ    “  “  end, pet. The characters ĕ, ā, and ắ are used for ä in German, as in Gärtner, Gräfe, Hähnel, to the values of which they are the nearest English vowel sounds. The sound of Swedish ä is also indicated by ẽ. ẽ    “  “  fern, her, and as i in sir. Also for ö, oe, in German, as in Göthe, Goethe, Örtel, Oertel, and for eu and oeu in French, as in Neufchâtel, Crèvecœur: to which it is the nearest English vowel sound. e    “  “  agency, judgment, where it is of a neutral or obscure quality. ī     “  “  ice, quiet. ḯ     “  “  quiescent. ĭ     “  “  ill, fit. ō    “  “  old, sober. ṓ    “  “  obey, sobriety. ô    “  “  orb, nor. ŏ    “  “  odd, forest, not. o    “  “  atom, carol, where it has a neutral or obscure quality. oi   “  “  oil, boil, and for eu in German, as in Feuerbach. ōō  “  “  food, fool, and as u in rude, rule. ou  “  “  house, mouse. ū    “  “  use, mule. ǜ    “  “  unite. ŭ    “  “  cut, but. ụ    “  “  full, put, or as oo in foot, book. Also for ü in German, as in München, Müller, and u in French, as in Buchez, Budé; to which it is the nearest English vowel sound. û    “  “  urn, burn. y    “  “  yet, yield. B    “  “  the Spanish Habana, Córdoba, where it is like a v made with the lips alone, instead of with the teeth and lips. ch  “  “  chair, cheese.

D   as in the Spanish Almodovar, pulgada, where it is nearly like th in English then, this. g    “  “  go, get. G    “  “  the German Landtag, and ch in Feuerbach, buch; where it is a guttural sound made with the back part of the tongue raised toward the soft palate, as in the sound made in clearing the throat. H   as j in the Spanish Jijona, g in the Spanish gila; where it is a fricative somewhat resembling the sound of h in English hue or y in yet, but stronger. hw “  wh in which. K    “  ch in the German ich, Albrecht, and g in the German Arensberg, Mecklenburg; where it is a fricative sound made between the tongue and the hard palate toward which the tongue is raised. It resembles the sound of h in hue, or y in yet; or the sound made by beginning to pronounce a k, but not completing the stoppage of the breath. The character K is also used to indicate the rough aspirates or fricatives of some of the Oriental languages, as of kh in the word Kahn. ṉ   as in sinker, longer. ng  “  “  sing, long. N    “  “  the French bon, Bourbon, and m in the French Etampes; where it is equivalent to a nasalizing of the preceding vowel. This effect is approximately produced by attempting to pronounce ‘onion’ without touching the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. The corresponding nasal of Portuguese is also indicated by N, as in the case of São Antão. sh  “  “  shine, shut. th  “  “  thrust, thin. TH  “  “  then, this. zh as z in azure, and s in pleasure. An apostrophe [’] is sometimes used to denote a glide or neutral connecting vowel, as in tā'b’l (table), kăz'’m (chasm). Otherwise than as noted above, the letters used in the respellings for pronunciation are to receive their ordinary English sounds. When the pronunciation is sufficiently shown by indicating the accented syllables, this is done without respelling: as in the case of very common English words, and words which are so spelled as to insure their correct pronunciation if they are correctly accented. See the article on Pronunciation.