Re: Sorting out those phonetics

Adrian Morgan wrote:

>I'm not receiving messages now because it was eating
>up too much time, but I do sometimes still glance
>over the web version of the list, to see what's
>going on.
>
>Thus, I was interested to hear Nik Taylor say:
>
> > But [V] and [@] are virtually identical, at least
> > in my idiolect (the standard disclaimer, it
> > seems).  Both are mid-central vowels, with [V]
> > only being very very slightly higher than [@]
> > (and even that, I suspect, may be an artifact of
> > artificially producing them).
>
>.. because that's news to me, and helps me to
>clear up what all those phonetic symbols mean. I'd
>wondered what the difference was between [V] and
>[a], because all the examples that are meant to
>illustrate [V] are invariably examples where I use
>[a].
Australian English uses [a\] where American English uses [V]. The
difference is that [a\] is central and lower compared to [V]. This
makes [a\] almost indistinguishable from Australian [a:].

>I'm pretty sure that [&] -> cat,
Not in Australian, it uses [E] instead. The symbol [&] represents a much
much lower vowel which I have never heard in Australian English. Generally,
the front vowels of Australian are much higher than in other English
dialects.

>[a] -> cut,
Close... In Australian, its [a\]. See my Australian examples at the end
of this post.

>[a:] -> cart, [a:] -> father, [&i] -> bait,
Your confusing [E] and [&] again. In American, 'bait' is [beit]. In
Australian, its [bait]. Again, I have never heard Australian English
with [&].

>[ai] -> bite (although, with the last two, I have
>trouble telling the difference between [I] and
>[i] when they occur in a diphthong).
Probably because Australian English does not have the vowel quality [I].
Where other English dialects have [I], Australia uses [i].

>The vowel in 'boot', I can never remember if it's [U] or [u];
Probably because it is neither. The phonemic /u:/ in Australian is
centralized to [u-:] ([u-] = barred-u).

>I think it's the former. If so, then I *think* that
>[VU] -> boat.
The glide in the diphthong if 'boat' is also centralized (i.e. [u-]).
Thus, 'boat' is in Australia a [bOu-t]. I have heard some Australians
front the glide further to [y], hence [bOyt]. I suppose in some
Australian dialects, they would say [ba\u-t] <-here I have replaced your
[V] with [a\].

>I'm not at all clear what [A] is. The "Ah" as in,
>"Ah, so that's it!" is definately [a:], no?
Australian English 'ah' is different from American English 'ah'. In
Australian, its central. In American, its back.

>Nor have I grasped [E] and how it differs from [e].
I think you're confusing what you think is Australian [E], but what is
really [e], with American /e:/, which is really [ei]. I mean, while
Australians say [bed] for 'bed', which to Americans may sound like
'bayed' [beid] uttered quickly, Americans say [bEd], which to Australians
may sound like 'bad', but to Americans 'bad' is [b&d]. Schematically,
this is;

AUSTRALIAN <- sounds like -> AMERICAN
   'bed' [bed]          'bayed' [beid] (uttered quickly)
   'bad' [bEd]          'bed' [bEd]

Basically, Australian front vowels are higher than their American
counterparts. I think this is why you're confusing [&] with something
else. See the Australian examples at the end of my post.

>As for [Q], I'm not sure exactly but I *think* it's
>sort of between [a] and the vowel in 'bot' (which,
>IIRC, is [O]?).
This is a very very open [O]. Said differently, this is a rounded [A].
The tongue is pressed down so low, it gets displaced in such a way that
a constriction in the pharynx is almost created.

>Being Australian is a distinct disadvantage when
>all sources on phonetics are British or American
>:-)
Maybe this will clarify things further.

The Australian vowel system according to my texts and what I have
personally heard myself consists of the following. (I don't know
if there are dialectal differences within Australia, but this is
based on what I have heard in Brisbane, Queensland):

Monophthongs
   i: i   u-:  u
    e     e\:  o:
     E         O
          a\
          a:

Diphthongs
    ai
    Eu
    Ou- (or Oy)
    oi

(NB: [u-] barred-u, a long high central rounded vowel; [e\:] reverse-e,
a long close-mid central vowel; [a\] near-open central vowel).

Australian English does not have vowel qualities that can be considered
lax [I], lax [U], or schwa [@]. Where other dialects use [@], Australian
uses [a\]. Note also how the front vowels of Australian are higher than
in other dialects.

Examples:
'bead, 'beard' [bi:d]
'bid'          /bid/
'booed'        /bu-:d/
'good'         /gud/
'bed'          /bed/
'bird'         /be\:d/
'bored'        /bo:d/
'bad'          /bEd/
'pod'          /pOd/
'bud'          /ba\d/
'bard'         /ba:d/
'buy'          /bai/
'bow'          /bEu/
'bode'         /bou-d/
'boy'          /boi/

-kristian- 8)