I’ve noticed that pronounciation issues arise fairly frequently on the Agora.

If kept to, say, a 3-second limit, adding voice-clip capability to the Agora could add to its effectiveness.

By keeping to a 3-second limit, the Agora saves storage space and also limits the voice-clip facility being used as a messaging medium.

I suppose there would have to be some sort of profanity filter . . .

[quote author=Agoraphile link=board=a-suggest;num=1033394132;start=0#0 date=09/30/02 at 09:55:32]
I suppose there would have to be some sort of profanity filter . . .

    If they did, I’d be interested in the math. (Who do dat?) The Fourier Transform is one of my favorite little math tools. (Even if I have not really needed it much yet. I still think it’s one of the neatest things.) Needless to say, the math behind recognizing vocal profanity would be complex. (Yet not impossible.)

Good Lord!  A great idea, but I can see poor Brad now, trying to pipe a clip into some voice recognition software and then back through the profanity filter!  The different media or file types could also be a problem.  

Perhaps a some linguist at yDc could author or link to a treatise on the International Phonetic Alphabet and how to display the funny characters it uses.

I agree with Stargzer.  IPA is an invaluable resource for pronunciation guides.  We had to learn phonetic transcription in my very first linguistics classes and I have always found that to be useful.  

I’ll take you one step further, though.  What if some computer-savvy lingophile out there wrote us a nice bit of software for translating text into phonetic transcription without having to learn or look up annoying key combinations?