Pronunciation Project

The intent of the Pronunciation Project is to set a standard for pronunciation transcriptions. In wikis, these are most often found immediately after the head words in an article's opening lead like so:

Seattle (/siˈætəl/ (🔊listen) see-AT-əl) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States.

Wikipedia (/ˌwɪkɪˈpiːdiə/ (🔊listen) wik-ih-PEE-dee-ə or /ˌwɪkiˈpiːdiə/ wik-ee-PEE-dee-ə) is a multilingual...

Ardougne (/ɑːrˈdɔɪn/ (🔊listen) arr-DOYN) is a city in the realm of Kandarin which was under the rule of...

Throughout this project we will:

~~Decide which transcription systems are to be used~~
~~Create a system prioritizing different types of sources~~
~~Set guidelines for when and how pronunciations should be used~~
~~Create and adapt templates, categories, and help pages to aid in adding pronunciations~~^{[completion 1]}
Categorize and edit articles that could use pronunciations

If you'd like to contribute, make sure to join our Discord channel and to add your signature to the team list!

Project timeline[edit | edit source]

Create and adapt:
- ~~Categories~~
- ~~Modules~~^{[completion 1]}
- ~~Templates~~^{[completion 1]}
- ~~Media files~~
- ~~Documentation~~^{[completion 1]}
~~Adapt and rewrite guides/help pages~~
- ~~Define what types of pages and sections would be "eligible" (especially for subpages)~~
- ~~Remove extraneous info (e.g. unused respelling systems, unnecessary transcript formats)~~
Tag/compile pages with {{Needs pronunciation}}
Begin adding pronunciation transcriptions to pages in Category:Needs pronunciation en masse

Completed	Task	Skills	Coordinator	Project/Group
completed?	Add the `{{Needs pronunciation}}` template to pages that should have pronunciation.	N/A	Aikhana	Pronunciation
completed?	Add pronunciation to pages needing it using `{{IPAc-en}}` and `{{Respell-en}}`.	N/A	Aikhana	Pronunciation

Toolkit[edit | edit source]

Style guide
Project list
Team sandbox
Online IPA Keyboard
English IPA
- Help:IPA/English
- SAMPA chart for English
English Pronunciation respelling
- Pronunciation respelling key
Other IPA
- Help:IPA
Audio

Team list[edit | edit source]

Aikhana ^Talk 23:47, 22 January 2020 (UTC)
squad up ʞo oɔ 00:54, 23 January 2020 (UTC)
Hella InvalidCards 05:38, 23 January 2020 (UTC)
This comment by Chen (talk) was sponsored by RAID: Shadow Legend. 09:56, 26 January 2020 (UTC)
Reporting for duty - I Am Me ^Talk - 20:28, 28 January 2020 (UTC)
Choose OptionTalk-to MitcheII Slayer of Imps (skill: 2,695). . . . . . . . . . real life easter egg, :wowee: don't tell anyone though! Talk-to MitcheII Slayer of Imps (skill: 2,695)
Yes please IWolffi (talk) 11:06, 5 February 2020 (UTC)

Adding pronunciations[edit | edit source]

See User:Aikhana/Projects/Pronunciation/List for a list of completed transcriptions or transcriptions in progress. For a list of articles that have been tagged with {{Needs pronunciation}}, see Category:Needs pronunciation. Try to migrate any articles in the category to the project list.

This pastebin is a list of article names featuring words that are not found in English. Note that some of the items wouldn't be eligible for pronunciation guides. Simultaneously, some eligible articles may not be on the list.

Although sources aren't strictly required, please try to provide one with your transcriptions for legitimacy(?).

Choosing English pronunciation systems[edit | edit source]

One look at this page shows you that a ridiculous amount of transcription systems are available. Luckily, we can narrow them down to two complementary options.

IPA1[edit | edit source]

The first Wikipedia calls IPA1, which is a form of the IPA that provides compromises for pronunciation differences among broad dialects of spoken English. One of the major sticking points in the archived forum topics above is the fact that different dialects often have different phonetic pronunciations. Take, for example, two speakers—one from London and the other from California—each saying the word "car." You'd expect the Londoner, in his non-rhotic dialect, to pronounce it [kʰɑː] whereas our Californian would pronounce it as [kʰɑɹ] or even [kʰɑɻ]. The beautiful thing about "IPA1" is that it "represents diaphonemes, abstractions of speech sounds that accommodate General American, Received Pronunciation (RP) and to a large extent also Australian, Canadian, Irish (including Ulster), New Zealand, Scottish, South African and Welsh pronunciations." As such, it's the standard IPA-based respelling system used in English Wikipedia.

Pronunciation respelling[edit | edit source]

The other is a phonemic, in-house respelling system that often accompanies Wikipedia's IPA transcriptions. Like IPA1, it's designed to be "translatable" into general English dialects. Unlike IPA1, it's almost written entirely in the Latin alphabet, and so is understandable to those unfamiliar with IPA.

When used together, the end result looks something like what's between the parentheses:

Aikhana (/aɪˈkɑːnə/ eye-KAH-nuh)

When and how[edit | edit source]

Words that solely appear in RuneScape lore (and not in common English usage) can receive pronunciation transcriptions. A good guideline to follow is to avoid providing pronunciation if the term may be found in or is compounded from words that may be found in a standard dictionary. For example, Thigat or Utuku would be eligible for transcriptions whereas Spinebeam and Tangle gum wouldn't be.

In the case of topics such as Torva equipment, only the RuneScape-exclusive part of the term would receive a transcription:

Torva equipment (/ˈtɔːrvə/ TOR-və) is a set of degradable power armour...

For the most part, transcriptions will only be provided in the lead section immediately following the title. In rare cases, such as dense, lore-heavy articles filled with RuneScape-exclusive jargon, pronunciation guides may be helpful if used sparingly in paragraph text.

See the style guide for more detailed information on transcription usage.

Style[edit | edit source]

An overly long example is provided below to show the full anatomy of a lead-section transcription:

'''Carmarthenshire''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=Carmarthenshire.ogg|k|ər|ˈ|m|ɑːr|ð|ən|ʃ|ər}} {{Respell-en|kur|MAR|dhən|shər}}, {{IPAc-en|-|ʃ|ɪər}} {{Respell-en|-sheer}}{{Cite... }}; Welsh: ''Sir Gaerfyrddin'', {{IPA-all|siːr gɑːɨrˈvərðɪn|pron}} or informally ''Sir Gâr''{{Cite... }}) is a unitary authority in southwest Wales...

Carmarthenshire (/kərˈmɑːrðənʃər/ (🔊listen) kur-MAR-dhən-shər, /-ʃɪər/ -⁠sheer^[1]; Welsh: Sir Gaerfyrddin, [siːr gɑːɨrˈvərðɪn] or informally Sir Gâr^[2]) is a unitary authority in southwest Wales...

Inputting transcriptions[edit | edit source]

To be added: IPA keyboard, SAMPA, {{IPAc-en}}, {{Respell-en}}, IPA/English, & Pronunciation_respelling/English

Prioritizing sources[edit | edit source]

Sources should first be prioritized by their media type as follows:

Priority	Source type^[1]	Examples
1	In-game voice-over
2	In-game textual pronunciation	Pronunciation respelling in quest dialogue
3	Official Jagex videos and audio^[2]	Twitch streams
4	Official Jagex pronunciation guides	Transcript:Pronunciation guide
5	Individual JMod written guides	Twitter posts
6	Other official written sources	Transcript:But how do you pruh-nounce Rell-doh?#Letter_4

If multiple sources of the same "tier" conflict, the newest one should be deferred to.

^ Also provide a guide for archiving web pages
^ Expand upon Jagex sources in revision. See here for some ideas

Pages, templates, and categories[edit | edit source]

Navboxes[edit | edit source]

{{Pronunciation resources}} — Provides links to everything below

Pages and sections[edit | edit source]

Runescape:Style guide/Pronunciation^{[completion 1]} — A condensed version of the info on this page
Runescape:Style guide#Pronunciation — A quick summary of pronunciation transcriptions and a link to the above
Forum:Pronunciation respelling — The forum post that started this project

Categories[edit | edit source]

Category:Needs pronunciation — For articles that could use a pronunciation transcription. A subset of Category:Hidden categories, Category:Needs information, and Category:Maintenance categories^[1]
[[:Category:Pronunciation]]^[1]
Category:Ill-formatted IPAc-en transclusions^[1]

Templates[edit | edit source]

Primary (diaphonemic English) transcriptions
- {{IPAc-en}}^[WP] — takes a term/terms as input and creates a full pronunciation key in standard formatting.
- {{Respell-en}}^[WP] — formats phonemes for colloquial English respelling.
Secondary (strict, international) transcriptions
- {{IPA-all}}^[WP] — formats strict (by default) IPA transcriptions for universal language support.
Audio
- {{Inline audio}}^[WP]^{[completion 1]}^[2] — creates a minimal audio button to be used inline.
Formatting and display
- {{IPA}}^[WP]^[WP]^[1]^[2] — allows for assigning specific fonts to display IPA characters. Can also generate surrounding brackets.
- {{Brackets}}^[WP]^[1]^[2] — generates a pair of brackets that will display correctly, even on operating systems and browsers that normally cannot display these characters when they are used in text.
- {{IPA link}}^[WP]^[WP]^[WP]^[WP]^[1]^[2] — takes an IPA symbol and turns it into a link to the respective article which discusses the sound the symbol represents. Can also generate surrounding brackets.
Maintenance
- {{Needs pronunciation}} — Comparable to wikipedia:Template:Pronunciation needed and wikipedia:Template:Needs IPA — Adds a page to Category:Needs pronunciation

Modules[edit | edit source]

Module:IPAc-en^[WP]
- Submodules
  - Module:IPAc-en/data^[WP] — processes data for Module:IPAc-en.
  - Module:IPAc-en/phonemes^[WP] — houses {{IPAc-en}}'s diaphoneme symbols and their corresponding shortcuts and tooltips.
  - Module:IPAc-en/pronunciation^[WP] — houses {{IPAc-en}}'s pronunciation labels.
  - Module:IPAc-en/documentation^[WP] — generates automatic documentation for {{IPAc-en}}
- Implements
  - {{IPAc-en}}
Module:Respell-en^[WP]
- Implements
  - {{Respell-en}}
Module:Brackets^[1]^[2] — Concatenates brackets to input string.
- Submodules
  - Module:Brackets/data^[1]^[2] — Data module containing brackets list & their parameters.
- Implements
  - {{Brackets}}
  - {{IPA}}
  - {{IPA link}}
  - {{IPA-all}}
- Future work
  - Remodel off of Module:IPAc-en/phonemes and Module:IPAc-en/data for scaling
Module:IPA symbol^[WP]^[1]^[2]
- Submodules
  - Module:IPA symbol/data^[WP]^[1]^[2]^{[notes 1]}
- Implements
  - {{IPA link}}

Footnotes[edit | edit source]

Status

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Unfinished
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Unfinished documentatin

Notes

^ To do: add X-SAMPA support to data table

Completion

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Essential features complete!

[2] Also provide a guide for archiving web pages

[3] Expand upon Jagex sources in revision. See here for some ideas

[unf-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Unfinished

[unfdoc-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Unfinished documentatin

[6] To do: add X-SAMPA support to data table

[complete_ess-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Essential features complete!

[completion 1]

[1]

[2]

[1]

[2]

[notes 1]