Comments on: IPA Scrabble? http://www.brainonfire.net/blog/ipa-scrabble/ Tim McCormack, distilled Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:07:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Tim Nelson http://www.brainonfire.net/blog/ipa-scrabble/comment-page-1/#comment-61720 Tim Nelson Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:16:51 +0000 http://www.brainonfire.net/?p=500#comment-61720 Oh, and no, I have no idea what the numbers are. Oh, and no, I have no idea what the numbers are.

]]> By: Tim Nelson http://www.brainonfire.net/blog/ipa-scrabble/comment-page-1/#comment-61719 Tim Nelson Sun, 09 Oct 2011 12:15:49 +0000 http://www.brainonfire.net/?p=500#comment-61719 Butss' original survey wasn't very comprehensive. So I did something which was equally idiosyncratic. 1. Count the words in the King James Bible 2. Use the cmudict (Carnegie-Mellon University english/phonetic dictionary) to translate it into phonemes 3. Count phonemes This is what I got: AH0: 61973 N: 58396 D: 50633 T: 49903 S: 49182 R: 42111 L: 39479 Z: 26803 M: 24494 P: 22290 K: 21960 EH1: 21774 AY1: 20764 F: 20401 IH1: 18807 IY1: 18782 B: 17873 ER0: 17851 EY1: 17808 AE1: 16990 AH1: 14446 AO1: 13746 V: 12871 HH: 12711 OW1: 11554 W: 11402 DH: 10758 IY0: 10389 AA1: 9861 G: 9439 NG: 8713 IH0: 8122 TH: 7992 JH: 7831 AW1: 7364 ER1: 6915 SH: 6898 UW1: 5831 Y: 3582 CH: 3311 IH2: 2384 EH2: 2146 UH1: 2018 OY1: 1765 AY2: 1381 OW0: 1364 EH0: 1278 UW0: 1173 AO2: 819 AE0: 730 AA2: 684 AE2: 664 ZH: 599 OW2: 491 UW2: 468 EY2: 467 IY2: 461 AA0: 324 UH0: 303 AO0: 278 AY0: 167 AW0: 145 AH2: 130 ER2: 112 EY0: 101 UH2: 54 AW2: 8 OY2: 2 E21: 0 OY0: 0 Someone will have to convert these into IPA (which the CMU dict doesn't use). They use this: AA odd AA D AE at AE T AH hut HH AH T AO ought AO T AW cow K AW AY hide HH AY D B be B IY CH cheese CH IY Z D dee D IY DH thee DH IY EH Ed EH D ER hurt HH ER T EY ate EY T F fee F IY G green G R IY N HH he HH IY IH it IH T IY eat IY T JH gee JH IY K key K IY L lee L IY M me M IY N knee N IY NG ping P IH NG OW oat OW T OY toy T OY P pee P IY R read R IY D S sea S IY SH she SH IY T tea T IY TH theta TH EY T AH UH hood HH UH D UW two T UW V vee V IY W we W IY Y yield Y IY L D Z zee Z IY ZH seizure S IY ZH ER So now you have the frequency data. I'm an Australian, and I'd like to have the options to play in a variety of dialects (British, Australian, etc). Also, the website boardgamegeek.com has scrabble tiles for about 30 different languages. I've printed out the Hebrew and Greek ones, stuck them to pasteboard, and cut them apart. Takes a whole afternoon, but it's fine if you have a friend who will help, or something else to do (listen to a new CD, for example). Butss' original survey wasn't very comprehensive. So I did something which was equally idiosyncratic.

1. Count the words in the King James Bible
2. Use the cmudict (Carnegie-Mellon University english/phonetic dictionary) to translate it into phonemes
3. Count phonemes

This is what I got:

AH0: 61973
N: 58396
D: 50633
T: 49903
S: 49182
R: 42111
L: 39479
Z: 26803
M: 24494
P: 22290
K: 21960
EH1: 21774
AY1: 20764
F: 20401
IH1: 18807
IY1: 18782
B: 17873
ER0: 17851
EY1: 17808
AE1: 16990
AH1: 14446
AO1: 13746
V: 12871
HH: 12711
OW1: 11554
W: 11402
DH: 10758
IY0: 10389
AA1: 9861
G: 9439
NG: 8713
IH0: 8122
TH: 7992
JH: 7831
AW1: 7364
ER1: 6915
SH: 6898
UW1: 5831
Y: 3582
CH: 3311
IH2: 2384
EH2: 2146
UH1: 2018
OY1: 1765
AY2: 1381
OW0: 1364
EH0: 1278
UW0: 1173
AO2: 819
AE0: 730
AA2: 684
AE2: 664
ZH: 599
OW2: 491
UW2: 468
EY2: 467
IY2: 461
AA0: 324
UH0: 303
AO0: 278
AY0: 167
AW0: 145
AH2: 130
ER2: 112
EY0: 101
UH2: 54
AW2: 8
OY2: 2
E21: 0
OY0: 0

Someone will have to convert these into IPA (which the CMU dict doesn't use). They use this:

AA odd AA D
AE at AE T
AH hut HH AH T
AO ought AO T
AW cow K AW
AY hide HH AY D
B be B IY
CH cheese CH IY Z
D dee D IY
DH thee DH IY
EH Ed EH D
ER hurt HH ER T
EY ate EY T
F fee F IY
G green G R IY N
HH he HH IY
IH it IH T
IY eat IY T
JH gee JH IY
K key K IY
L lee L IY
M me M IY
N knee N IY
NG ping P IH NG
OW oat OW T
OY toy T OY
P pee P IY
R read R IY D
S sea S IY
SH she SH IY
T tea T IY
TH theta TH EY T AH
UH hood HH UH D
UW two T UW
V vee V IY
W we W IY
Y yield Y IY L D
Z zee Z IY
ZH seizure S IY ZH ER

So now you have the frequency data.

I'm an Australian, and I'd like to have the options to play in a variety of dialects (British, Australian, etc).

Also, the website boardgamegeek.com has scrabble tiles for about 30 different languages. I've printed out the Hebrew and Greek ones, stuck them to pasteboard, and cut them apart. Takes a whole afternoon, but it's fine if you have a friend who will help, or something else to do (listen to a new CD, for example).

]]> By: Trevor G. http://www.brainonfire.net/blog/ipa-scrabble/comment-page-1/#comment-61483 Trevor G. Mon, 03 Oct 2011 01:31:20 +0000 http://www.brainonfire.net/?p=500#comment-61483 I was just thinking about the same idea. I was going to look at the scrabble card game for the presentation as it would be easier to produce something like that as a PDF and distribute it widely. A lot of work involved if you produce your own dictionary, but players could be required to bring a dictionary of their choice with IPA pronunciation. Fun idea. Not as much work as it sounds. I was just thinking about the same idea. I was going to look at the scrabble card game for the presentation as it would be easier to produce something like that as a PDF and distribute it widely.

A lot of work involved if you produce your own dictionary, but players could be required to bring a dictionary of their choice with IPA pronunciation.

Fun idea. Not as much work as it sounds.

]]> By: Patrick http://www.brainonfire.net/blog/ipa-scrabble/comment-page-1/#comment-61107 Patrick Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:40:28 +0000 http://www.brainonfire.net/?p=500#comment-61107 regional accents no problem, if you just used as close to GenAm as possible. you could also have challenges (as in Scrabble) where you get them to say the word and then nitpick how they transcribed it based on their own pronunciation. If it's wrong, lose a turn. regional accents no problem, if you just used as close to GenAm as possible. you could also have challenges (as in Scrabble) where you get them to say the word and then nitpick how they transcribed it based on their own pronunciation. If it's wrong, lose a turn.

]]> By: Phonetic Scrabble http://www.brainonfire.net/blog/ipa-scrabble/comment-page-1/#comment-34212 Phonetic Scrabble Tue, 02 Feb 2010 12:36:11 +0000 http://www.brainonfire.net/?p=500#comment-34212 [...] Haven’t found actual phonetic Scrabble yet, but did find someone speculating about IPA Scrabble. IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet, and it’s what we used in music school to [...] [...] Haven’t found actual phonetic Scrabble yet, but did find someone speculating about IPA Scrabble. IPA is the International Phonetic Alphabet, and it’s what we used in music school to [...]

]]> By: Tim McCormack http://www.brainonfire.net/blog/ipa-scrabble/comment-page-1/#comment-25082 Tim McCormack Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:13:25 +0000 http://www.brainonfire.net/?p=500#comment-25082 @Jay#2: I apologize on behalf of my blogging software, it seems to have eaten your IPA. :-( @Jay#2: I apologize on behalf of my blogging software, it seems to have eaten your IPA. :-(

]]>