First transcriptions of Spanish in Le Maître Phonétique (1888-1901)

Abstract

Lǝ mɛ:tr fɔnetik (Le maître phonétique) gathers the first attempts to transcribe texts in Spanish based on the phonetic alphabet published in 1888. We have a large number of phonetic transcriptions from 1888, but we will focus on the period until 1901. Some of them have the name of their author (namely by Tomás Escriche y Fernando Araujo) while others appear without authorship. Furthermore, the journal hosts the theoretical debate around the sounds of Spanish that should be considered in the phonetic transcriptions. We will examine the terms in which the discussion is developed, as well as the improvement of the transcriptions over these years which are keys to the configuration of phonetics as a scientific discipline.