Editing Phonetic transcription (section)

==== Aspects of alphabetic transcription ====
The [[International Phonetic Association]] recommends that a [[phonetics|phonetic]] transcription should be enclosed in [[bracket|square brackets]] "[&nbsp;]". A transcription that specifically denotes only [[Phoneme|phonemic]] contrasts may be enclosed in [[slash (punctuation)|slashes]] "/&nbsp;/" instead. If one is unsure, it is best to use brackets since by setting off a transcription with slashes, one makes a theoretical claim that every symbol phonemically contrasts for the language being transcribed.

For phonetic transcriptions, there is flexibility in how closely sounds may be transcribed. A transcription that gives only a basic idea of the sounds of a language in the broadest terms is called a ''broad transcription''; in some cases, it may be equivalent to a phonemic transcription (only without any theoretical claims). A close transcription, indicating precise details of the sounds, is called a ''narrow transcription''. They are not binary choices but the ends of a continuum, with many possibilities in between. All are enclosed in brackets.

For example, in some dialects, the English word ''pretzel'' in a narrow transcription would be {{IPA|[ˈpɹ̥ʷɛʔts.ɫ̩]}}, which notes several phonetic features that may not be evident even to a native speaker. An example of a broad transcription is {{IPA|[ˈpɹ̥ɛts.ɫ̩]}}, which indicates only some of the features that are easier to hear. A yet broader transcription would be {{IPA|[ˈpɹɛts.l]}} in which every symbol represents an unambiguous speech sound but without going into any unnecessary detail. None of those transcriptions makes any claims about the phonemic status of the sounds. Instead, they represent certain ways in which it is possible to produce the sounds that make up the word.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abercrombie |first=David |title=Elements of General Phonetics |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1967 |isbn=978-0-85224-028-1 |pages=128–129}}</ref>

There are also several possibilities in how to transcribe the word phonemically, but here, the differences are generally of not precision but analysis. For example, ''pretzel'' could be {{IPA|/ˈprɛts.l̩/}} or {{IPA|/ˈprɛts.əl/}}. The latter transcription suggests that there are two vowels in the word even if they cannot both be heard, but the former suggests that there is only one.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roach |first=Peter |title=English Phonetics and Phonology |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-521-71740-3 |edition=4th |pages=100–101}}</ref>

Strictly speaking, it is not possible to have a distinction between "broad" and "narrow" within phonemic transcription, since the symbols chosen represent only sounds that have been shown to be distinctive. However, the symbols themselves may be more or less explicit about their phonetic realization.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Daniel |title=An Outline of English Phonetics |publisher=Heffer |year=1967 |edition=9th |pages=335–336}}</ref> A frequently cited example is the symbol chosen for the English consonant at the beginning of the words 'rue', 'rye', 'red': this is frequently transcribed as /r/, despite the symbol suggesting an association with the IPA symbol {{IPA|[r]}} which is used for a tongue-tip [[Trill consonant|trill]]. It is equally possible within a phonemic transcription to use the symbol {{IPA|/ɹ/}}, which in IPA usage refers to an [[alveolar approximant]]; this is the more common realization for English pronunciation in America and England. Phonemic symbols will frequently be chosen to avoid diacritics as much as possible, under a 'one sound one symbol' policy, or may even be restricted to the [[ASCII]] symbols of a typical keyboard, as in the [[SAMPA]] alphabet. For example, the English word ''church'' may be transcribed as {{IPA|/tʃɝːtʃ/}}, a close approximation of its actual pronunciation, or more abstractly as {{IPA|/crc/}}, which is easier to type. Phonemic symbols should always be backed up by an explanation of their use and meaning, especially when they are as divergent from actual pronunciation as {{IPA|/crc/}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laver |first=John |title=Principles of Phonetics |date=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=551}}</ref>

Occasionally a transcription will be enclosed in [[vertical bar|pipes]] ("| |"). This goes beyond phonology into [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] analysis. For example, the words ''pets'' and ''beds'' could be transcribed phonetically as {{IPA|[pʰɛʔts]}} and {{IPA|[b̥ɛd̥z̥]}} (in a fairly narrow transcription), and phonemically as {{IPA|/pɛts/}} and {{IPA|/bɛdz/}}. Because {{IPA|/s/}} and {{IPA|/z/}} are separate [[phoneme]]s in English, they receive separate symbols in the phonemic analysis. However, a native English speaker would recognize that underneath this, they represent the same plural ending. This can be indicated with the pipe notation. If the plural ending is thought to be essentially an ''s'', as English spelling would suggest, the words can be transcribed {{IPA|&#124;pɛts&#124;}} and {{IPA|&#124;bɛds&#124;}}. If it is essentially a ''z'', these would be {{IPA|&#124;pɛtz&#124;}} and {{IPA|&#124;bɛdz&#124;}}.

A double slash ("{{IPA //| |}}") is sometimes used to mark a [[diaphoneme|diaphonemic]] transcription. Diaphonemic transcriptions accommodate for the variation between the phonemic systems of different varieties or [[diasystem]]s of a language. For example, if a speaker of variety A pronounces the [[lexical set]] {{sc2|BATH}} with an {{IPA|[ɑː]}} as in the lexical set {{sc2|PALM}}, whereas a speaker of variety B pronounces the lexical set {{sc2|BATH}} with an {{IPA|[æ]}} as in the lexical set {{sc2|TRAP}}, then a diaphonemic transcription that accommodates for variety A and variety B at the same time would transcribe the three lexical sets in three different ways, for instance {{sc2|PALM}} {{IPA //|pɑːm}}, {{sc2|TRAP}} {{IPA //|træp}}, and {{sc2|BATH}} {{IPA //|baθ}}, where the {{IPA //|a}} would mean ‘pronounced {{IPA|[ɑː]}} in variety A and {{IPA|[æ]}} in variety B.’ Other ways to mark diaphonemic transcriptions include [[exclamation mark]]s ("! !") or pipes ("| |").

To avoid confusion with IPA symbols, it may be desirable to specify when native orthography is being used, so that, for example, the English word ''jet'' is not read as "yet". This is done with [[Bracket|angle brackets]] or ''chevrons'': {{angbr|jet}}. It is also common to italicize such words, but the chevrons indicate specifically that they are in the original language's orthography, and not in English [[transliteration]].