Re: Schwa and [V]: Learning the IPA

Paul Bennett wrote:

> On Thu, 15 Jun 2006 21:02:06 -0400, Tristan Alexander McLeay
> <conlang@...> wrote:
>
>>> >
>>> > Really, even when short?
>>>
>>> Yes - length is not phonemic in this neck of the woods.
>>
>>
>> I was of the impression that length and quality were concomitantly
>> phonemic (I think that means what I want it to mean) ... but would you
>> take [I:] as long as /i:/, or [i] as short as /I/ to be nothing more
>> than, respectively /I/ and /i:/?
>
>
> I have always held (well, not always, but it is my most recent
> position,  and relatively long-lived as such things go) that length is
> not phonemic  in my lect. Quality alone suffices, and it "feels" like
> my canonically  long vowels aren't much if any longer than the short
> ones. Well, the other  day I accidentally found a minimal pair for
> length, I think: A /pE`/ is  two of something and a /pE:`/

Not a minimal pair in my dialect.  On the other hand: 'Ken' (male name)
[kEn] vs. 'cairn' [kE:n] is.  Also, 'bid'[bId] vs. 'beard'[bI:d].