ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the Phonetic alphabets and Phonetic Orthography. The science of phonetics is concerned with the analysis and recording of the elements which go to make up speech. The use of a phonetic alphabet as an adjunct to the study of the pronunciation of a language is sufficiently well known and needs no stressing here. It should be remembered, that a phonetic alphabet does not teach a correct pronunciation, but merely shows what sequences of sounds occur in a given language. Phonetic alphabets have been used mainly for recording sounds for scientific purposes in books describing the pronunciation of a language for foreigners, and they have been applied to a much less extent in making an orthography for the use of native speakers of a language. The orthographies of most European languages are by no means phonetic: this is the result of the history of their development.
