Talk:Hyphen

And, finally, my 1990s essay on the hyphen: too clapped out to format it for now... Ro Thorpe 21:51, 3 December 2008 (UTC) - Oh, whither User:John Dvorak?

At least the New-York Historical Society is still keeping the faith. Bruce M.Tindall 00:01, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Good for them, nice & quaint. Thanks for the article: as you can see, it's email for me! Ro Thorpe 01:21, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

adverbs (second time I'm trying this tonight, maybe forgot to Save)

Don't forget the misuse of hyphens in adverbs such as "beautifully-written article, Rheaux!". Whereas they may be disappearing from "no-one" and "base-ball", they are merely being teleported to a new destination in adverbial phrases.... Hayford Peirce 03:57, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

I wonder if you agree with all my examples. For while I would not put a hyphen in 'beautifully written article', I might be tempted if 'well' were substituted. And I'm saying here that one should indeed have a hyphen in 'long-recognised truth', but then 'long', too, is in that phrase an adverb. I'm tempted to say that the '-ly' ending makes the difference. How do you analyse this? Ro Thorpe 09:08, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

My understanding is that adverbs ending in "ly" *never* take the hyphen. But "well" does. Particularly, of course, "It is well-known that the well-written but slovenly edited post was critically acclaimed by the well-endowed blondes." Or some such. Hope I'm not being too long-winded here.... (I have a couple of style manuals I could check, if necessary.... Hayford Peirce 14:33, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Similarly, ill-conceived, fast-acting etc. Is it just the -ly ones then? Where's English irregular adverbs when you need it? Ro Thorpe 17:11, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

I just looked at a couple of books -- they say to use the hyphen when you're putting two words together (not to form a single word), as in "the leisure class pursues leisure-class activities." BUT one book says firmly: "An adverb ending in ly is not joined with a hyphen to the adjective that it qualifies; as a highly developed intelligence, a fully balanced ration, a beautifully told story." Hayford Peirce 17:40, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Well, that's very clear. Live & learn! Ro Thorpe 18:28, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Phonetic background

Given the extensive use of phonetic fonts in this article and similar ones, shouldn't there be a link to an article (e.g. IPA, if it had a section on diacritics) providing background? Otherwise, newbies to the notation may easily get lost. --Daniel Mietchen 13:11, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, I don't understand your concerns here, Daniel. There aren't any phonetic symbols used in this article as far as I can see. The whole point of using diacritics throughout the cluster is to render IPA unnecessary. And the diacritics are linked in English spellings and English phonemes - though perhaps not prominently enough? Ro Thorpe 16:23, 4 August 2010 (UTC)