Timeline for Can a hyphen be a "letter" in some words?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 11 at 14:35 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | @HagenvonEitzen That letters can make many different sounds on their own or in conjunction with other letters, or in some cases even make no sound at all, does not change the simple fact that letters are generally associated with sounds. I'm not saying all letters are always pronounced, or that all non-letters must be aurally undetectable, just that it is usually the case. | |
| Dec 11 at 14:29 | comment | added | Hagen von Eitzen | Shame! Which one or more phonemes does the 's' represent in that? And which other one or more phonemes does the 'h' represent for? Enough! | |
| Dec 10 at 15:43 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | But this shows that 'a graphic symbol that represents one or more phonemes of a language' is at best an incomplete definition. Who knows, from this, whether hyphens should be considered to constitute another anomaly? | |
| Dec 10 at 14:12 | history | edited | Nuclear Hoagie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 146 characters in body
|
| Dec 10 at 14:07 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | @EdwinAshworth Silent letters are called such because they are atypical - there is usually no need to specify that a letter is articulated. That letters are occasionally silent does not mean that they are not usually associated with a phoneme. I specifically mentioned that a hyphens can change pronunciation but that doesn't make them letters. Reference added. | |
| Dec 10 at 14:07 | history | edited | Nuclear Hoagie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 146 characters in body
|
| Dec 10 at 0:37 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | 'Gnome' has 5 letters as does 'psalm'; letters can be silent. 'B' as a character is pronounced /biː/, and '-' is pronounced /ˈhaɪ.fən/; /// A hyphen appearing in a word can produce a change in pronunciation (as well as meaning): ('If you re-view the movie, next time you will be able to write a decent review.') So can archetypical ('a'- 'z') letters: 'I hid' / 'I hide'; 'sat' / 'sate'. /// Some archetypical letters double as words; others don't. /// I fully agree with 'the vast majority would not consider [ "-"] a letter'. But it needs supporting references. From dictionaries, probably. | |
| Dec 9 at 19:15 | history | edited | Nuclear Hoagie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 164 characters in body
|
| Dec 9 at 17:11 | comment | added | Nuclear Hoagie | @user619687 Even if it does result in the pronunciation of a glottal stop, that's only by virtue of the surrounding letters. If you wrote "-" alone on a page and asked people what sound it corresponds to, I doubt most would say it's a glottal stop, or any other sound at all. The usual purpose of a letter is to represent a phoneme, but that is not a hyphen's usual purpose. That said, there isn't really a source that unequivocally defines letters which everyone must adhere to for all purposes. But the vast majority of people would not call a hyphen a letter. | |
| Dec 9 at 17:00 | history | edited | Nuclear Hoagie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 10 characters in body
|
| Dec 9 at 16:31 | comment | added | user619687 | His argument is that the hyphen in this word represents the glottal stop (ʔ) | |
| Dec 9 at 16:26 | history | edited | Nuclear Hoagie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 25 characters in body
|
| Dec 9 at 15:27 | history | answered | Nuclear Hoagie | CC BY-SA 4.0 |