Re: Schwa and [V]: Learning the IPA

On 6/16/06, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
> > >  > Herman Miller wrote:
> > >  >
> > >  >> It really depends on which IPA site you use for reference. This one
> > >  >>
> > >  >> http://wso.williams.edu/~jdowse/ipa.html
>
I just don't know what to think.

I went to the site cited above, and there my pronunciation of this
mystery vowel in "but" and "cut" is very close to the thing that looks
like a "3". So I go to the X Sampa wiki to determine which X Sampa
character that is, so I can tell you all about it, and, not
surprisingly, it's [3]. Then I read the description and it says
"open-mid central unrounded vowel" and I figure "okay, there's the
difference at last, the sound I was talking about before is mid back
and this one that I actually use is mid central".

Then I look at the example: "English nurse [n3:s] (RP) or [n3`s] (Gen.Am.)".

!?*&*#?!!

There is NO WAY that I (or the great majority of Americans, I strongly
claim) have the same vowel in "nurse" as in "cut". Not even very
close. I don't think I even CAN pronounce "nurse" with that vowel. The
only Americans I've ever heard come close to it are from the Bronx.

So who's lying? Wiki? Or Williams?

--larry

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