# Are all languages phonetic except for English?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-languages-phonetic-except-for-english/596853>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 19, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-languages-phonetic-except-for-english/596853 "2011-09-19T19:03:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-languages-phonetic-except-for-english/596853/61 "2011-09-22T06:01:06Z")

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> [@hibernicus](#):
>
> Another French example is “portions”. Nous portions deux portions de dessert.

I thought of one more: un os, des os.

But it’s fair to say that such examples are rare, certainly compared to English.

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**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\
**Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-languages-phonetic-except-for-english/596853/62 "2011-09-22T22:45:25Z")

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In fact, there are _many_ words in French that are homographs and not homophones.

“On ne peut pas se fier à lui car il est trop fier.”  
“Tu as deux as dans ton jeu.”  
“Tu sens dans quel sens va le vent.”  
“Il est tourné vers l’est.”  
“J’avais acheté plus de pommes, mais il n’en reste déjà plus.”  
“Je vis que le quincaillier des vis.”  
“Les poules du couvent couvent.”  
“Nous acceptions les acceptions de ce mot.”  
“En manquant d’attentions, nous attentions à leur vie.”  
“Les pêcheurs affluent à l’affluent.”  
“Ils nous convient à leur réception et cela nous convient.”  
“Les réponses urgent car ce dossier est urgent.”  
“Cet homme violent et ses complices violent les lois.”  
“Hélas, tu hélas ce taxi trop tard.”  
“Je bus en vitesse car le bus arrivait.”  
Sometimes they are formed with a foreign word:

“Je te donne un cent, ce qui t’en fait cent.”  
“Il a dessiné le jet d’un seul jet.”  
“Il fait de la pub pour son pub.”  
“Le reporter a décidé de reporter son article à demain.”

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**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-languages-phonetic-except-for-english/596853/63 "2011-09-23T07:45:21Z")

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> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> Not so much Danish/Swedish/Norwegian, which are less phonetic than German.

Norwegian is an odd case because it has two written systems, bokmål and nynorsk, and a lot of dialects. Bokmål is spelled relatively closely to how the Oslo-and-Akershus area dialects are pronounced, some more than others, but it is not particularly close at all to the dialects of other areas that use it, like for instance Trondheim and Bergen. Nynorsk was based on some rural dialects, mostly from the West, but since it sort of averages them out it isn’t really spelled phonemically for any of them. In some cases an area that uses bokmål has a dialect that would really be a better fit for nynorsk, but chooses to stick with bokmål for historical, cultural, and let’s face it, political reasons.

Danish, on the other hand, which was the original source for bokmål, sounds like it does (as any Norwegian can tell you) because it is spoken with a warm potato stuck in the throat 😛

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-languages-phonetic-except-for-english/596853/64 "2011-09-24T21:01:33Z")

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> [@Intelligently\_Designed](#):
>
> In fact, there are _many_ words in French that are homographs and not homophones.
> 
> “On ne peut pas se fier à lui car il est trop fier.”  
> “Tu as deux as dans ton jeu.”  
> “Tu sens dans quel sens va le vent.”  
> “Il est tourné vers l’est.”  
> “J’avais acheté plus de pommes, mais il n’en reste déjà plus.”  
> “Je vis que le quincaillier des vis.”  
> “Les poules du couvent couvent.”  
> “Nous acceptions les acceptions de ce mot.”  
> “En manquant d’attentions, nous attentions à leur vie.”  
> “Les pêcheurs affluent à l’affluent.”  
> “Ils nous convient à leur réception et cela nous convient.”  
> “Les réponses urgent car ce dossier est urgent.”  
> “Cet homme violent et ses complices violent les lois.”  
> “Hélas, tu hélas ce taxi trop tard.”  
> “Je bus en vitesse car le bus arrivait.”  
> Sometimes they are formed with a foreign word:
> 
> “Je te donne un cent, ce qui t’en fait cent.”  
> “Il a dessiné le jet d’un seul jet.”  
> “Il fait de la pub pour son pub.”  
> “Le reporter a décidé de reporter son article à demain.”

I just want to say thanks for compiling that excellent set of examples, which I enjoyed a lot.

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