Template:Respell/doc

This template formats pronunciation respellings of English words, and links to the respelling key at Help:Pronunciation respelling key. It formats stressed syllables with bold, small-cap text. For example, the word machine is respelled "mə-SHEEN"; using this template, the formatting is:

• {{respell|mə|SHEEN|'}} → Template:Respell

The formatting is: stressed syllables are in bold small caps, unstressed syllables are in lowercase. All text is in italics, and is wikilinked to the pronunciation key page.

Do not separate every syllable with a pipe. Join unstressed syllables with a hyphen, and only use a pipe to separate them from stressed syllables.

How to use

Once you have available the spelling syllables, you can put them in the {{respell}} template. To start with, one syllable per parameter (without dashes) does it. But there are situations, regarding stressing, that require more attention.

1. The template accepts up to seven syllables (parameters), separated by a pipe ("|"). The pipes are automatically replaced by hyphens, and they alternate the stressing: {{Respell|1|2|3|4|5|6|7}} → Template:Respell. If more parameters (syllables) are needed, just use two templates.

2. When unstressed syllables follow one another (– . . .), they need to be hyphenated together in a single parameter:

{{Respell|AL|gə-ridh-əm}} → Template:Respell (algorithm)

3. Stressed syllables are counted from the last syllable backwards: the second-last, fourth-last, and sixth-last parameters are formatted as stressed. The other parameters are unstressed (. – .– . – .):

{{Respell|ə|RAK|nə|FOH|bee-ə}} → Template:Respell (arachnophobia)

4. When the final syllable is stressed (. –), one needs to add an extra apostrophe parameter:

{{Respell|mə|SHEEN|'}} → Template:Respell (machine)

5. Case in the input does not change the displayed result, but if the input case does not match the displayed case, the page will be added to Category:Articles with Respell issues in case this indicates an error:

{{Respell|ə|rak|nə|foh|bee-ə}} → Template:Respell (displays correctly, but generates a warning that verification is needed)

{{Respell|Ə|RAK|NƏ|FOH|BEE-Ə}} → Template:Respell (ibid.)

{{Respell|ə|RAK|nə|FOH|bee-ə}} → Template:Respell (correct, no issue categorisation)

Where to use

On Wikipedia, respelling is most commonly used to clarify the pronunciation of a name or topic in the lead section or introductory paragraph. Per the Manual of Style, respelling should follow the International Phonetic Alphabet, and never be used in place of it. The template provides a link to the key so that readers may easily look up how to pronounce the word. For example:

Worcestershire (Template:IPA-en Template:Respell) is a county located in central England.

'''Worcestershire''' ({{IPA-en|ˈwʊstərʃər|pron}} {{Respell|WUUS|tər-shər}}) is a county located in central [[England]].

The respelling key covers only English pronunciation, and should not be used for foreign names or words which have not been assimilated into English. If you need help transcribing the pronunciation into the IPA, please ask at Help talk:IPA for English.

When not to use

The transcription may supplement the IPA in many cases, but it is not adequate for general use. For example, MOW and TOW are poor transcriptions, because people will tend to read them incorrectly as Moe, toe rather than as Mao, Tao, which is what they actually transcribe. The transcriptions is impractical for many words that will likely be misread. For example, "cobalt" is transcribed Template:Respell, but many readers will read the second syllable wrongly as "bolt", which has a different vowel (Template:Respell).

In such problematic cases other remedies need to be used. Rhymes, sound-alikes, or {{USdict}} transcription may be better.

Examples

Here are examples of how to use the template for words with different numbers of syllables and different stress patterns:

	Pattern	Example	Coding	Result
No stress	.	of	{{Respell|uv}}	Template:Respell
Two syllables, first one stressed	– .	Ceres	{{Respell|SEER|eez}}	Template:Respell
Three syllables, middle one stressed	. – .	Haumea	{{Respell|how|MAY|ə}}	Template:Respell
Stress followed by multiple unstressed syllables	– . . .	algorithm	{{Respell|AL|gə-ridh-əm}}	Template:Respell
Two stressed syllables	– . – .	Makemake	{{Respell|MAH|kee|MAH|kee}}	Template:Respell
Two stressed syllables with strings of unstressed syllables	. . – . . – . . . .	disestablishmentarianism	{{Respell|dis-ə|STAB|lish-mən|TAIR|ee-ən-iz-əm}}	Template:Respell
Monosyllable with stress	–	Pan	{{Respell|PAN|'}}	Template:Respell
Two syllables, final stress	. –	machine	{{Respell|mə|SHEEN|'}}	Template:Respell
Two stressed syllables, first and final	– . . –	overconsume Azerbaijan	{{Respell|OH|vər-kən|SEWM|'}} {{Respell|AZ|ər-by|JAHN|'}}	Template:Respell Template:Respell
Space issues
Too many syllables for one template		if you wish upon a star	{{Respell|IF|ew|WISH|ə-}}{{Respell|PON|ə|STAR|'}}	Template:RespellTemplate:Respell
Word break fits inside a parameter		betting odds	{{Respell|BET|ing odz}}	Template:Respell
Word break does not fit inside a parameter		Jazze Pha	{{Respell|JAZ|ee}} {{Respell|FAY|'}}	Template:Respell Template:Respell

See also

• Help talk:IPA for English
• Help:Pronunciation respelling key
• Category:Articles with Respell issues: pages with possible errors when using this template.
• IPA formatting templates for English:
  • {{IPA-en}}
  • {{IPAc-en}}
  • {{IPA-all}}