Re: Blah blah blah natlangs

Adrian Morgan wrote:

> Justin Mansfield wrote, quoting myself:
>
> > > Reference points on the [e]->[E]->[&]->[a] continuum can be hard to
> > > pin down, and I don't think my dialect has [E] so I have difficulty
> > > distinguishing it.
> >
> >     My idiolect definitely has [j{] (or [j&] depending on your favored
> > transcription system), but the actual phonetic realization might be
> > something else, just because speakers of other dialects usually insist
> > that my /{/ is not [{]. If this is so, I don't know what exactly it is.
> > It's definitely not a diphthong, however, even in "yeah."
>
> As far as I can tell, my [e], [&], [a] are equispaced. I understand [E] to
> be halfway between [e] and [&], and the British RP of "Dad" (etc) has a
> vowel halfway between [&] and [a]. Thus a three- or five- way breakdown of
> the [e]->[a] continuum makes sense to me, but a four-way one I don't quite
> grasp.
If you go to <http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/tsdata/TS66.html>,
you'll find some .wav files that will show you what one Chicagoan's
pronunciation of /E/ in 'bed' is like.  Hers is much like mine, and I think
"General American"'s also.  Note that her /{/ in 'fast' has undergone vowel
breaking due to the so-called Northern Cities Shift, and is really more like
a diphthong [E@], and is not characteristic of most North American dialects.

===================================
Thomas Wier | AIM: trwier

"Aspidi men Saiôn tis agalletai, hên para thamnôi
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