Rules for accented sounds like

[Derek-Jones]

A while ago I wrote a program to take an English word as input and output words that sound like it, see: http://shape-of-code.coding-guidelines. ... ted-words/, C source code is here:https://github.com/Derek-Jones/sounds-like.

I would like to add more extensive support for foreign accents, e.g., take an English word as input and output that word spelt as if it were pronounced with a French accent (the current support is minimal).

I am looking for references to information about the kind of sound changes that occur to English words when spoken by native speakers of other languages.

This list contains the kind of practical language experimentalists that will probably know the answer (academics give me odd looks, but perhaps I am not asking the right ones).

[HoskhMatriarch]

I'm not a native speaker of another language, but I imitate all sorts of accents all the time by listening to people talk and reading phonological info on languages and dialects, and with some of them I can even convince random people that I'm from different places, so I seem to be understanding things well enough (although I know that's not quite what you need). I'll see if I can find some rule lists for how different phonologies interact with English, which is really what accents are, speaking one language with more or less the phonology of another... Actually, here's one database with a lot of people from everywhere speaking that I use sometimes when I try to do and/or analyze accents: http://accent.gmu.edu/index.php

[Derek-Jones]

Actually, here's one database with a lot of people from everywhere speaking that I use sometimes when I try to do and/or analyze accents: http://accent.gmu.edu/index.php

Thanks, I know about this database. Unfortunately, from my point of view, it contains sounds rather than phonetic rules.

[HoskhMatriarch]

Actually, here's one database with a lot of people from everywhere speaking that I use sometimes when I try to do and/or analyze accents: http://accent.gmu.edu/index.php

Thanks, I know about this database. Unfortunately, from my point of view, it contains sounds rather than phonetic rules.

Well, you get the phonological rules from the sounds... Do you want me to try to help you get the rules? I'd be willing to do that, because phonology is fun for me. However, I'm warning you ahead of time that some things are hard to spell with English letters, for example, how do you eye-dialect final devoicing (a process found in many West Germanic and Slavic languages, among others) of /z/? If you just write <ss>, people might think you're saying it longer instead. There are also many details that are left out (such as light vs. dark l, different vowel qualities, and many other things depending on the accent) that are part of how people recognize accents when they hear them, even if you make something suggestive of an accent.

Here's me trying to eye-dialect a German accent for what I just said, to illustrate the point:

Vell, you get zee phonetic ruless from zee sounts... Do you vant me to try to help you get zee phonetic ruless? I't be villing to do zet. However, I'm varning you ehet uff time zet zum zings are hart to spell, for exemple, how do you eye-dialect final devoicing (a process fount in meny West Germanic ent Slevic lengvigess, among otherss) uff /z/? If you just write <ss>, people might zink you're saying it longer instet.

[Derek-Jones]

Well, you get the phonological rules from the sounds... Do you want me to try to help you get the rules? I'd be willing to do that, because phonology is fun for me. However, I'm warning you ahead of time that some things are hard to spell with English letters, for example, how do you eye-dialect final devoicing (a process found in many West Germanic and Slavic languages, among others) of /z/? If you just write <ss>, people might think you're saying it longer instead. There are also many details that are left out (such as light vs. dark l, different vowel qualities, and many other things depending on the accent) that are part of how people recognize accents when they hear them, even if you make something suggestive of an accent.

Sorry for the delay in replying.

Yes, it would be great if you would help with the rules.

As you point out, there are many nuances that cannot be captured by using the 26 English letters in the context they were intended. I am not after high-fidelity (the limited letter <-> phoneme rules used limit this anyway).

One of my interest is in the kinds of spelling mistakes that non-native speakers might make in written English (of course this assumes that speakers assign the same sounds to sequences of letters as English speakers).