Re: Rs

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, Robert B Wilson wrote:

> On Mon, 31 Mar 2003 20:42:57 -0500 Tristan McLeay <zsau@...>
> writes:
> > (However, the difference is sometimes neutralised in my dialect >
> between
> > /I/ and /I:/ before /r/ (e.g. zero is /zIr8u/, and Kieran is
> > /kIr@n/).)
>
> well, my /I/ isn't actually [I] (I think it might acutually be something
> like [I\] but i'm not sure...), so /zIr8u/ would be something like
> [zI\r\8u], which doesn't sound right to me...
> of course, if you meant [zIr8u], then that does sound okay...
I quote myself: However, the difference is sometimes neutralised *in my
dialect*. I meant, as I said, /zIr8u/. That is what it is phonemically.
Phonetically, it differs depending on a number of things, including but
not limited to social conditions, mood etc. etc. etc. The /I/ *is* the
same phoneme is that you find in 'bit' or 'hill'.

What is right in my dialect isn't necessarily right in yours: Americans
(or, the variety of American most commonly heard on television)  say zeero
(i.e. something like /zi:rou/). This sounds horrible to my ears.

--
Tristan                  <kesuari@...>

War doesn't prove who's right, just who's left.
                      - fortune.