English pronunciation is so complex that is is virtually impossible to contrive a list of rules large enough to cover every eventuality. For this reason, a phonetic alphabet has been provided to specify the exact pronunciation of each syllable of a phrase. This technique is described in detail in the next sectionΓÇá. Phonetic strings are spoken by invoking the command ΓÇÿSayPhoneticΓÇÖ:
SayPhonetic thePhoneticString
To illustrate the difference phonetic spelling can make, here is the phonetic equivalent of the sentence we saw on the previous page. Please click:
Compare the sound to the previous page; they are identical. Now, here is the same phrase, with the pronunciation corrected and some accents added to make the rhythym of the sentence seem more natural: