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143 lines
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143 lines
5.5 KiB
Markdown
# English
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- [Vowels](#vowels)
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- [Short Vowels](#short-vowels)
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- [Long Vowels](#long-vowels)
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- [Rhotic Vowels](#rhotic-vowels)
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- [Reduced Vowels](#reduced-vowels)
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- [Diphthongs](#diphthongs)
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- [References](#references)
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----------
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The following English accents are supported by eSpeak NG and are referenced in
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this document:
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| BCP47 | Abbreviation | Accent Name |
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|----------------|--------------|------------------------|
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| en | BrE | British English |
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| en-029 | JaE | Caribbean |
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| en-GB-scotland | ScE | Scottish English |
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| en-GB-x-gbclan | | Lancastrian |
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| en-GB-x-gbcwmd | | West Midlands |
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| en-GB-x-rp | RP | Received Pronunciation |
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| en-US | GenAm | General American |
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The BCP47 name is the standard language identifier for the accent, used as the
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espeak language name. The Abbreviation is used in the tables below for the IPA
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transcriptions of that accent, and the BCP47 names are used for the eSpeak NG
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phoneme names.
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## Vowels
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The English language support uses a vowel system based on John Wells' Lexical
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Sets<sup>\[<a href="#ref1">1</a>\]</sup>. These were created by Wells in 1982
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by comparing the Received Pronunciation British (RP) and General American
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(GenAm) accents in use at that time.
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### Short Vowels
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| Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm |
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|-------------|-------|-------|-------|
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| KIT | `I` | ɪ | ɪ |
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| DRESS | `E` | e | ɛ |
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| TRAP | `a` | æ | æ |
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| LOT | `0` | ɒ | ɑ |
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| STRUT | `V` | ʌ | ʌ |
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| FOOT | `U` | ʊ | ʊ |
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Additionally, Wells defines the following lexical sets to describe vowels that
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are different in both RP and GenAm:
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| Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm |
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|-------------|-------|-------|-------|
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| BATH | `aa` | ɑː | æ |
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| CLOTH | `O2` | ɒ | ɔ |
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### Long Vowels
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| Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm |
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|-------------|-------|-------|-------|
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| FLEECE | `i:` | iː | i |
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| PALM | `A:` | ɑː | ɑ |
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| THOUGHT | `O:` | ɔː | ɔ |
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| GOOSE | `u:` | uː | u |
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### Rhotic Vowels
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These are vowels that are followed by an `r` that is not part of the next syllable
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when considering the root form of the word containing that vowel.
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| Lexical Set | en | en-GB-scotland | RP | GenAm | ScE |
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|-------------|-------|----------------|-------|-------|-------|
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| NURSE | `3:` | `VR` | ɜː | ɝ | ʌɾ |
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| START | `A@` | `A@` | ɑː | ɑɹ | ɐ̟ɾ |
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| NORTH | `O@` | `O@` | ɔː | ɔɹ | ɔɾ |
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| FORCE | `o@` | `o@` | ɔː | oɹ | oɾ |
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| CURE | `U@` | `U@` | ʊə̯ | ʊɹ | ʉɾ |
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| NEAR | `i@3` | `i@3` | ɪə̯ | ɪɹ | iɾ |
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| SQUARE | `e@` | `e@` | eə̯ | ɛɹ | eɾ |
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__NOTE:__ `/i@3/` is used for the NEAR lexical set to differentiate it from
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`/i@/` used in words like `million`.
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Additionally, espeak-ng has the following phonemes for different accents:
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| Lexical Set | en | en-GB-scotland | RP | GenAm | ScE |
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|-------------|-------|----------------|-------|-------|-------|
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| TERM | `3:` | `3:` | ɜː | ɝ | ɛɾ |
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| BIRD | `3:` | `IR` | ɜː | ɝ | ɪɾ |
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### Reduced Vowels
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These are unstressed vowels that differ from the vowels in the main lexical sets.
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| Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm |
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|-------------|-------|-------|-------|
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| HAPPY | `i` | ɪ | i |
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| COMMA | `@` | ə | ə |
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| LETTER | `3` | ə | ɚ |
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Additionally, espeak-ng has the following phonemes for unstressed vowels.
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| Lexical Set | en | BrE | RP | GenAm | JaE |
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|-------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
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| EXPLORE | `e#` | ɛ | ɪ | ɛ | ɛ |
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| ROSES | `I#` | ɪ | ɪ | ᵻ | ɪ |
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| BLESSED | `I2#` | ɪ | ɪ | ᵻ | ɛ |
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| RABBIT | `I2` | ɪ | ɪ | ɪ | ɪ |
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The EXPLORE lexical set is used to support unstressed KIT vowels that have split
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from the KIT vowel and merged with the DRESS vowel in some accents. This includes
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`ex-` words.
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The ROSES lexical set is used for words that are KIT in some accents and COMMA
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in others. The degree to which this occurs varies between accents and speakers.
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The BLESSED lexical set is used for -ed based adjectives. These tend to preserve
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the KIT vowel in accents.
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The RABBIT lexical set is used for unstressed KIT vowels. Some American accents
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have merged this with the COMMA lexical set, such that `rabbit` and `abbot`
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rhyme.
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### Diphthongs
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| Lexical Set | en | RP | GenAm |
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|-------------|-------|-------|-------|
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| FACE | `eI` | eɪ̯ | eɪ̯ |
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| PRICE | `aI` | aɪ̯ | aɪ̯ |
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| CHOICE | `OI` | ɔɪ̯ | ɔɪ̯ |
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| GOAT | `oU` | əʊ̯ | oʊ̯ |
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| MOUTH | `aU` | aʊ̯ | aʊ̯ |
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## References
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1. <a name="ref1"></a> Wikipedia.
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[Lexical set](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_set). 2017.
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Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).
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2. <a name="ref2"></a> Wikipedia.
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[IPA chart for English dialects](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet_chart_for_English_dialects). 2018.
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Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA).
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