Re: Schwa and [V]: Learning the IPA

On 14/06/06, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
...
> But just today I noticed that my /V/ is more *open* than  IPA [V].
> IPA [@] is closer than IPA [V], so there goes that theory.  I'm now
> somewhat at a loss.  I'm no longer sure of, well, any of my ideas of
> what the IPA vowels sound like, really; the seed of doubt has been
> planted.  But especially about my /V/.   Is it possible that my whole
> life I've been pronouncing /V/ as [6] (IPA [ɐ])?
Yes. Most vowel charts I've seen for (RP, American, Canadian,
Australian) English put /V/ somewhere in the range [3]--[a_"], with
some retraction in the higher realisations. (But that retraction isn't
all that much.)

> Ultimately, what I'd like to do is learn the IPA sounds in a reliable
> manner.  Listening to sound files just doesn't work for me; I want to
> know how to produce them reliably.  Any tips?  Any chance of finding
> someone who can do it and studying at their feet?.
Use Praat. Get it to make a recording of your vowels and create
spectrograms of them. This should give you a rough idea of where
you're pronouncing them, and in what direction you need to change to
improve. (But beware it's only rough indication; rounding will make
the vowel appear to retract & I think lower slightly, so [2] will be
behind [e]; [V] in front of [O]. Also, there's possibly some
interaction of height in the appearance of backness too (some take
backness as being F2, others as F2-F1).)

|especially since [O] doesn't exist in my 'lect at
| all(*).
> (*) Not even in words like "ball" [bAl] or "law" ([lQ:])
How about words like "story" or "sorry" or, ehm, "or"? What is the
first element of the diphthong in "boy" for you?

--
Tristan.

Reply