Re: Rs

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, Chris Bates wrote:

> Incidentally, does a long
> vowel and a short vowel followed by r sound significantly different? Are
> there any languages which contrast ir and i:r for instance? And do many
Yes. I speak Australian English, a non-rhotic dialect of English (i.e.
one that has the silent Rs like yours), which subsequently developed a
long-short distinction partly because of that. So it only happens in open
syllables, but a nice example is merry vs Mary /meri/ vs /me:ri/ (some
American accents pronounce them both the same; yours might to, or it might
use /me@ri/ (i.e. a diphthong) for my /me:ri/). But yes, they do exist,
and the difference is significant.

(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/).)

--
Tristan                  <kesuari@...>

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