ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses differences of form between spoken and written language. Transcriptions are used by linguists to represent sound features of spoken utterances. In spoken English words are subject to different kinds of variation. The simplest type of variation is the variable pronunciation of isolated words, within a single accent. Learning to read and write involves learning the kind of segmentation and analysis on which the writing system is based, but this analytic ability is seldom taught explicitly. The term standard English (SE) is widely used but often not clearly defined. Orthography is not at all the same thing as a transcription, and those who argue that English spelling ought to be more consistently phonemic are ignoring this fact. An accent can be defined quite precisely in phonetic and phonological terms, according to: the list of phonemes it contains; the distribution of these phonemes; and the phonetic realization of the phonemes.
