''A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English'', also referred to as Kenyon and Knott, was first published by the G. & C. Merriam Company in 1944, and written by

John Samuel Kenyon John Samuel Kenyon (July 26, 1874 – September 6, 1959) was an American linguist. Born in Medina, Ohio, he graduated from Hiram College in 1898 and taught there as a professor of English from 1916 to 1944, when he retired and became an emeritu ...

and Thomas A. Knott. It provides a

phonemic In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language. For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...

transcription of

General American General American English or General American (abbreviated GA or GenAm) is the umbrella accent of American English spoken by a majority of Americans. In the United States it is often perceived as lacking any distinctly regional, ethnic, or so ...

pronunciations of words, using symbols largely corresponding to those of the

IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners A ...

. A similar work for English pronunciation is the ''

English Pronouncing Dictionary The ''English Pronouncing Dictionary'' (''EPD'') was created by the British phonetician Daniel Jones and was first published in 1917. It originally comprised over 50,000 headwords listed in their spelling form, each of which was given one or more ...

'' by Daniel Jones, originally published in 1917 and available in revised editions ever since. Edward Artin, who succeeded Kenyon as the pronunciation editor of ''

Webster's Dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's ...

'', sought to revise the pronouncing dictionary many years after the publication of '' Webster's Third'' (1961), but to no avail, since none of the publishers Artin approached, including the Merriam company, thought it profitable to publish a new edition of the dictionary. After 40 years since its publication, the pronouncing dictionary was still considered the "only major pronouncing dictionary of this century to appear in the United States" according to linguistics historian Arthur J. Bronstein. Page 27.

Transcription

The dictionary uses a

broad transcription Phonetic transcription (also known as phonetic script or phonetic notation) is the visual representation of speech sounds (or ''phones'') by means of symbols. The most common type of phonetic transcription uses a phonetic alphabet, such as the ...

rather than a narrow one. For example, the long ''o'' vowel of "toe", which is a

diphthong A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...

in open syllables in most American accents, is represented by the single symbol , rather than as it would be represented in a narrow transcription. One principal application of Kenyon and Knott's system is to teach American English pronunciation to non-native speakers of English. It is commonly used for this purpose in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, where it is commonly known as "KK Phonetic Transcription" in Chinese.

Vowels

Vowels are distinguished by quality rather than by length. /i/ 'be', /ɪ/ 'pity' (both vowels), /e/ 'rate', /ɛ/ 'yet', /æ/ 'sang', /ɑ/ 'ah, far', /a/ 'bath' (for those who distinguish this vowel from both /æ/ and /ɑ/), /ɒ/ 'watch', /ɔ/ 'jaw, gorge', /o/ 'go', /ʊ/ 'full', /u/ 'tooth', stressed /ɝ/ and reduced /ɚ/ 'further' (rhotic accent), /ɜ/ and /ə/ 'further' (non-rhotic accent, also non-rhotic /ɜr/ 'furry', /ər/ 'flattery'), stressed /ʌ/ and reduced /ə/ 'custom, above', /aɪ/ 'while', /aʊ/ 'how', /ɔɪ/ 'toy', /ju/ 'using', /ɪu/ 'fuse' (some accents, otherwise /ju/), /ᵻ/ '-ed' (some accents).

Consonants

Consonants are routine. Deviations from strict IPA are /r/ 'rate' and /hw/ 'while', as well as the lack of tie bars on /tʃ/, /dʒ/. /j/ has its standard IPA value. /m, n, l/ may be marked as syllabic. /r/ has minimal effect on a preceding vowel, compared to some dictionary transcriptions. Sequences, some only before another vowel, are /ɪr, er, ɛr, ær, ər, ɑr, ɒr, ɔr, ʊr, aɪr, ɪʊr, jʊr/, and in some accents /ʌr, ɜr/.

References

External links

''A Pronouncing Dictionary of American English'' at Archive.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pronouncing Dictionary Of American English, A 1944 non-fiction books English pronouncing dictionaries