Template:Respell/doc

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

The formatting is: stressed syllables are in bold , 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: &rarr;. 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:
 * &rarr; (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 (. – .– . – .):
 * &rarr; (arachnophobia)

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

5. Note: Case in the input is ignored:
 * &rarr;
 * &rarr;

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 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 Wikipedia 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 metal cobalt is likewise impractical to transcribe with this system, because people will invariably read incorrectly, as rhyming with molt and dolt. (This cannot be easily fixed; * and * have the wrong vowel.) In such problematic cases, rhymes, sound-alikes, or USdict transcription may be better choices.

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