what's the difference between "eatable" and "edible" ?

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khoff

#430140 Fri, 12 Oct 07 03:52 PM

My browser is Internet Explorer and my operating system is Windows XP. Sometimes I see two boxes after the colon in your name, and sometimes one box followed by a schwa. What's the difference between phonemic script and phonetic transcription? I notice that the phonetic transcription of "teacher" in my dictionary has an "r" followingthe schwa, which is what I would expect, but your phonemic version does not. (I agree that the final "r" sound in "teacher" is not the same as an initial "r" sound, but at lest the way I say "teacher" the final sound is more than just a schwa. Don't you agree?)

khoff

Joined on Sun, Mar 6 2005

Denver, Colorado, USA, Earth

Senior Member (2,569)

Native speaker of American English (but not a grammar expert)

Difference between, Colons, Phonetics

Ti:ʧə

#430163 Fri, 12 Oct 07 05:30 PM

Thanks for the info.

/r/ follows the schwa in teacher in most American accents, but not in RP, which I tend to stick to for transcriptions. Do you have an American dictionary?

Phonemic and phonetic are close, but not the same thing. Phonemic script consists of the (roughly) 44 different sounds that differentiate words. Phonetic transcription can include any of the symbols in the international phonetic alphabet, whether or not they contribute to meaning (hence taking into account issues of aspiration, tapping, rolling, etc).