Karen:
Thanks for forwarding this definition of the differences between
phones and phonemes.
For singing needs phonemes are less useful and, in many cases, very
confusing because they are not consistent, that is, the same phoneme
can represent different phones and do not represent the smallest unit
of sound in a language. When singing vowels the sustained nature of
the sung vowel must be given primary consideration and phonemes do
not necessarily define this need.
Phones, on the other hand are more defined from language to language.
The /i/ is always a long "ee" sound in any language, for example.
And, as your writer had said, IPA typically deals in phones, that is,
in as exact a definition of the actual primary vowel sound as it
possible to create in writing.
But I had forgotten that the phone is defined by /'s (slashes) and
the phoneme by []'s (left and right brackets). A difficulty occurs
when the receiving computer is unable to reproduce the left and right
brackets, [i] for example, and what should be a clear and defined
use of symbols is destroyed by technological inconsistencies.
Thankfully most computers do recognize the /'s (slashes) and these
are all we need to make vowel clarity for singing.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy, Emeritus
Director of Opera-Theatre, 1987-1997
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ
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