Metaphone

Metaphone是一個語音算法，主要是用在英語單字或是辭彙發音的標引。Metaphone是由飛利浦、羅倫斯利用Soundex的缺陷來改善的演算法。此演算法是利用較大的英語發音規則，所以比Soundex更為精準。Metaphone也可作為內建式的工具，在PHP就有相關工具。後來原作者製作新版本的演算法「Double metaphone」，比原本的算法還更加精準。該演算法會轉換相似的發音。

轉換規則
B ----> B unless at the end of word after "m", as in "dumb", "McComb"

C ----> X (sh) if "-cia-" or "-ch-"
S if "-ci-", "-ce-", or "-cy-"
SILENT if "-sci-", "-sce-", or "-scy-"
K otherwise, including in "-sch-"

D ----> J if in "-dge-", "-dgy-", or "-dgi-"
T otherwise

F ----> F

G ----> SILENT if in "-gh-" and not at end or before a vowel
in "-gn" or "-gned"
in "-dge-" etc., as in above rule
J if before "i", or "e", or "y" if not double "gg"
K otherwise

H ----> SILENT if after vowel and no vowel follows
or after "-ch-", "-sh-", "-ph-", "-th-", "-gh-"
H otherwise

J ----> J

K ----> SILENT if after "c"
K otherwise

L ----> L

M ----> M

N ----> N

P ----> F if before "h"
P otherwise

Q ----> K

R ----> R

S ----> X (sh) if before "h" or in "-sio-" or "-sia-"
S otherwise

T ----> X (sh) if "-tia-" or "-tio-"
0 (th) if before "h"
silent if in "-tch-"
T otherwise

V ----> F

W ----> SILENT if not followed by a vowel
W if followed by a vowel

X ----> KS

Y ----> SILENT if not followed by a vowel
Y if followed by a vowel

Z ----> S

資料來源
*[http://aspell.net/metaphone/metaphone-kuhn.txt http://aspell.net/metaphone/metaphone-kuhn.txt]

外部連結

• [http://aspell.net/metaphone/ Open Source Spell Checker]
• [http://www.wbrogden.com/java/Phonetic/index.html Another explanation of the algorithm]
• [http://code.google.com/p/metaphone-standards/wiki/MetaphoneEn Project to write a formal definition of the algorithm]