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English notation (conclusion?)

From:Christian Thalmann <cinga@...>
Date:Friday, June 29, 2001, 19:36
Alright, I have no problem with people claiming that /iN/ is the
official American pronunciation of <ing> -- that's exactly one of the
phonetic detail bickerings I feared in my original post.

The fact remains that while the <i> in <ing> may indeed be *phonetically
realized* as an /i/, it is clearly an allophone of the *phoneme* known
as "short i", and therefore should be transcribed as <i> rather than
<ee> in any phonemic transliteration.


Tom Tadfor Little wrote:

> Seriously, though, it's been my experience that Europeans, even when they > learn American English, tend to have some British characteristics in their > speech as well. Major differences, like the pronunciation of "r", short > "o", and "a" are observed, but more subtle things, like the pacing with > which syllables are articulated, or precise qualities of some vowels > (particularly in unstressed syllables) are likely to follow the British > pattern.
I consciously import a few select characteristics from British to my "generic American", such as the pronunciation of a (moderate) aspired t in "winter" or "banter", where Americans might erode it down to an alveolar tap or an /n/. I think it makes the speech much clearer without sounding out of style. I always pronounce my /R/s though, for the same reason of clarity. No /kA:z/ and /gItA:z/ for me. -- Christian Thalmann

Replies

Tom Tadfor Little <tom@...>
Dennis Paul Himes <dennis@...>
Muke Tever <alrivera@...>