Re: CHAT: Blandness (was: Uusisuom's influences)

Oskar Gudlaugsson wrote:
> >SAMPA [Q] is open back rounded --- don't you mean [A] there?
>
> Mm, no; 'pot', 'lot', 'rather' all have [Q], AFAIK. [A] is rare or non-
> existent in English dialects (right?).
In SAMPA, [Q] is back open rounded, [A] is back open unrounded.  [A] is
the vowel I use in "father", "pot", "lot" (but not "rather" which uses
[&])

> Hmm, a central /V/ would be [3], which is already existent in English, in
> words like {fur} [f3:]; so some dialects have already merged those two
> sounds? What dialects are we talking about?
Well, [V] isn't an accurate transcription, [@] would be more accurate.

Also, in my dialect, [r=] (syllabic retroflex rhotic) is used for "fur".

> But what's this thing, anyway, with front-rounded vowels and back-
> unroundeds being so exceptionally "rare"?
Exceptionally isn't quite the right word.  However, they are *marked*,
meaning that you very rarely have front-rounded without the unrounded
equivalent also existing (in fact, I personally know of no exceptions),
or back-unrounded without the back-rounded version also existing.

Of course, Japanese is an exception, having close, back, unrounded but
no close, back, rounded vowel.

> I mean, all German languages, except for English, have front rounded
> vowels; English has b-unr ones (whether you like it or not :p).
One low back unrounded, which all the phonetics books I've read
specified non-low when talking about the rareness of back unrounded, and
possibly one other.

> Romanian has b-unr (right?).
My understanding of Romanian is that it only has back rounded, but it
does have some *central* unrounded vowels, specifically a-breve,
i-breve, and i-circumflex.

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