On 28 Jun 2011, at 09:28, Jean-François Colson wrote: > In Times New Roman, which is the default font for MS Word (probably the best > known word processor), the letters “a” and “ɑ” are indistinguishable in > italics.
That is a fault of the font. In Uralic and Germanic linguistics, where both letters are used in italics, the letter “ɑ” when italicized looks like a Greek α in the "cross-over knot" style. See page 20 of http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2419.pdf for an example. > The IPA is not meant to be used in italics, however a phonemic transcription > is enclosed by solidi and some software consider words between asterisks > should be renderd in bold, words between low lines should be underlined and > words between solidi should be… italicised. > Therefore, phonemic transcriptions in an e-mail are sometimes italicized and > /a/ and /ɑ/, which represent different sounds, cannot be distinguished. They can, in a well-designed font. In fact I am preparing an edition of ˈÆlɪsɪz Ədˈventʃəz ɪn ˈWʌndəlænd in IPA, where I use italics in placces where the text uses italics. > Would it be possible to introduce a Latin small IPA letter a which, in italic > style, would be obliqued, not italicized? I should think not. Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/
