Re: Schwa and [V]: Learning the IPA

Quoting Larry Sulky <larrysulky@...>:

> 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?
I wouldn't pay much attention to WikiPedia in matters such as this.

Note, however, that Wiki gives [3`], not [3], for the NURSE vowel in Gen. Am.
That little trailing accent indicates "rhoticity", a property I shan't try and
explain articulatorily, but is quite noticeable in the sound of the vowel, even
if it's pronounced at the same point as a plain one.

Also, many Americans render "nurse" as [nr\=s], which is quite different from
[n3s] in sound; maybe you're among them.

                                                        Andreas

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