CUBE’s focus is on allowing the user to find and explore pronunciation patterns in English which are phonetically up to date and presented in a flexible way for both practical reference and research purposes. The following features, we believe, make cube unique among pronunciation dictionaries:
CUBE has some limitations, too:
CUBE gives only one recommended pronunciation per entry. However, inflected forms are shown, by means of separate entries (eg live, lives, living, lived; life, lives). There are also separate entries for the ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ forms of certain function words (eg can).
CUBE is currently limited to British English, but some accent variables may be chosen.
CUBE is designed and compiled by Péter Szigetvári and Geoff Lindsey.
CUBE’s core database is drawn from a transcription dictionary by Ádám Nádasdy and Szigetvári (Huron’s English Pronouncing Dictionary/Huron angol kiejtési kézikönyv, 2000, Biográf Kiadó, Budapest). Its design has been influenced by
In 2003 Szigetvári built a web search engine that allowed complex phonotactic searches on both the spellings and the transcriptions. The interface was considerably improved in 2011, allowing access to the grammar and frequency information of the entries, and giving the output in IPA symbols.
The transcription used was essentially the system designed for ‘Received Pronunciation’ fifty years ago by A. C. Gimson in his Introduction to the Pronunciation of English (1962) and widely adopted thereafter. The phonetics and phonology of standard British English have changed during the past half-century, particularly in the vowels. Lindsey has blogged extensively on these changes, and suggested more appropriate symbols for contemporary ‘Standard Southern British’.
These have been implemented as the default transcription for CUBE.
We hope you find CUBE useful — feel free to give us your feedback. Enjoy!
