Re: More Ere:tas: The fable of the North Wind and the Sun

In a message dated 10/30/01 2:02:13 PM, hsteoh@QUICKFUR.YI.ORG writes:

<< > English even hasn't got /a/, though other low vowels like /A/ and /&/...)
[snip]

Umm... perhaps not in American, but surely in British :-) Words like
"butter" or "cut" surely has /a/ ?? Or "put" (as in, "shot put", not the
verb "put".) >>

    American English does have [a] and [A] and [&], though they occur in
different environments.  In my English, the vowel [a] occurs ONLY in the
diphthong [aj], as in "light" [Lajt_?].  As for the British words "butter"
and "cut" and "put"?!  Are you sure you're thinking about [a] and not
inverted [a]?  I mean, the word "put" in "shot put" is homophonous with "put"
in "I put the book on the table", and both have [U] (rounded or unrounded)
which is very far from [a] or even [@] or [V].  Do you seriously have [a],
like in the word "nice" as pronounced by Texans (as I understand it)?  I've
never been to Britain, nor have I (I believe) ever heard anyone (in real
life, that is) with a real British accent, of any variety (I've seen
countless movies, of course), so I'm quite curious.

-David