Who Invented The Phonetic Alphabet?
An early version of the phonetic alphabet was produced by Benjamin Franklin in 1779, but although it was quite viable, nobody else took much interest in Franklin’s idea, and the project was abandoned. The International Phonetic Alphabet as we know it was first devised in Paris and completed in 1886. It was the product of several linguists, the leader and best known of whom was the linguist and phonetician Paul Eduoard Passy. One of Passy’s more distinguished pupils was Daniel Jones. Jones also studied under the phonetician Henry Sweet (the original of George Bernard Shaw’s Professor Higgins in Pygmalion) and it was Jones who laid the foundations for the rules of Received Pronunciation, or standard English pronunciation.
Related Questions
- Would it not have been easier to use the International Phonetic Alphabet to describe the basic sounds in the relevant exercises?
- Who needs another pronunciation guide, and whats wrong with IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet)?
- What is the purpose of the Phonics Wizard Alphabet and Phonetic Picture Cards?
