Web application to convert English into helpful characters for pronunciation learners

Abstract

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the most commonly used set of phonetic symbols but it can be difficult to understand and too abstract for non-phoneticians, such as English learners and foreign language educators. One of the factors that makes it difficult for English learners is the number of vowels used in English. In previous research, this problem was solved by proposing a condensed list of 13 English vowels and 24 consonants that are logically organized for North American English, and by assigning a new phonetic symbol font called Sound Spelling to these phonemes. However, there are currently no English texts that have Sound Spelling to show learners this easy way to pronounce and it is difficult for non-phoneticians to write transcriptions right away, because materials using those symbols are lacking for English learners. In this research, we developed a web application, now publicly available, that converts input English into Sound Spelling quickly and accurately to solve this problem.