Re: OT: YAEPT: English low vowels (was briefly: Re: Y/N variants (< OT: English a...

Mark J. Reed wrote:
> That word for "crazy" is, in fact, the same word: "cuckoo".
> Colloquial meaning, knowledge of which helps in the appreciation of
> titles like "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest".  I've never heard of
> the two meanings having distinct pronunciations before.
Oh, I never realised that...

> It probably is significant that FOOT and GOOSE differ in quality as
> well as length around here.  "Cuckoo" as /kuku:/ in fact exactly
> matches my pronunciation.  But that's not FOOT-GOOSE, which would be
> /kUku:/.
They differ in quality as well as length here, too. I'm using u\ as CXS
for IPA ʉ i.e. the high central rounded vowel. In reality, the AusE
value lies somewhere in front of central. But the short vowel is back.
(It's normally written as U (ʊ) and that is what I meant to write, but
it's actually closer to [u] so my transcription wasn't wrong.)

--
Tristan.

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