Re: Schwas in America

On 8 June, Sally Caves wrote:

> LOL!  I've been thinking about all the swallowed syllables in the English
I
> speak.  When speaking to the cat, "Look out!"  always comes out /kout/.
> Often with a swallowed final "t".
    Speaking of swallowed syllables and schwas, this got me thinking
about the example I always give to prove that native English-speakers
can't just go into a classroom and teach English to non-native speakers.
It's the quick version of "What are you going to do?".
As far as I can tell, I seem to do it in _one syllable_ something along the
lines of
            1. either a [w] with a co-articulated [tS], or else a
                 bilabialized, rounded [tS], in any event
                 the [S] part is prolonged

                     followed by (no vowel, so it's the same syllable?)

            2. coarticulated [g] and [n]  (Is this really possible? Is it
                possible to have a voiced velar plosive and an alveolar
                nasal without going through schwa?)

                     followed by

             3. [d] derived from [n] without moving the tongue, merely by
                raising the uvula; with a breathy release in lieu or the
                vowel [u]!


I'm writing it out this way because I have absolutely no idea how to
plot it out in IPA, let alone something computer-friendly like SAMPA
or X-SAMPA!
    I bring this up, because of the boundary between the [tS] and the [g].
I get the feeling that I am merely releasing air on the [tS] and then
raising my tongue to produce the [g] with a coarticulated tongue-tip
touching the [t]'s point of articulation once again, followed by
a quick lowering of the uvula to allow for the nasal.
I don't feel like I am producing a schwa. Tongue feels too high
during the [S].  Could I be wrong?
    Does any of this make any sense? Can I be producing a sentence,
in English, with no vowels? Do any other native English speakers do
anything similar with the phrase "What are you going to do?" ?
    In any event, it's amazing to what extent one can mangle a lang
and still be understood!

Dan Sulani
----------------------------------------------------------------------
likehsna rtem zuv tikuhnuh auag inuvuz vaka'a.

A word is an awesome thing.

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