Re: Rhys Ifans! Welsh fans, another pronunciation pop question

On Tue, Nov 30, 2004 at 01:50:30AM +0100, Rene Uittenbogaard wrote:
> > <ruittenb@...> wrote:
> >
> > > (somewhere between [&] and [6]
> >
> > That is incontravertibly [a].
>
> Sorry, but both [&] and [6] are not as open as [a]. It's definitely
> not [a] and I think [&\], too, is too open. See also the vowel
> diagram below.
Very little is incontrovertible when it comes to precisely identifying
IPA vowels, it seems. :)   Diacritics are helpful, though.    Given
your handy-dandy ASCII chart:

>
>  [y]-----[u\]-----[u]
>    \ [Y]      [U]  |
>    [2]-**-[8]-----[o]
>      \     [@]     |
>      [9]---[3]----[O]
>       [&] * [6]    |
>        [a]--------[A]
Let me first say that using |u| for the sound marked by the asterisk seems
odd - and I say that with no irony as a native English speaker. :)

But I would represent that vowel as either [6_+] or [&_-] (is the _ necessary
for + and - in CXS?  Is there an ambiguity in e.g. [6+], [&-]?), depending on
which you feel it is closer to; if it really is halfway between them,
then I'd go with [6+], since the cardinal vowels like [&] have strong
connotations of extremity; in this case, [&] is fully-fronted so [&-]
makes me think "almost fully fronted".

Likewise, I would go with either [2-] or [8+] for the second vowel.
The diphthong would then be [6+8+].  Or, well, [6+_^8+] or [6+8+_^]
depending on whether it's a rising or a falling diphthong.

-Marcos

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