Re: (Offlist) Re: ASCII IPA

>>But I prefer to write /i:/ rather than /iy/, assuming the length
>>is phonemic [which it isn't in English
It IS. The difference between /i:/-/I/ is at the
same time one of length and one of tenseness, in
the same way as the difference between /p/-/b/ is
a double opposition of voicing and aspiration.


>Another British usage has the actual IPA symbols-- /bid/ vs. /bId/ (the
>latter with "small cap. i"), or /red/ 'raid' vs. /rEd/ (IPA epsilon) 'red'
The vowel in "raid" is not a monophthong tense e (that's
the vowel in "burn"), but one of the three I-final
diphthongs.

The vowel system of English is not as chaotic as some
not-very-intelligent analyses I've seen too frequently
suggest. The scheme that follows shows its internal
logic:

RP ENGLISH VOWELS:

a) Unstressed

/I/ evenIng
/@/ Alike
/U/ tO do

[/(@)l/ bottLE]
[/(@)m/ bottOM]
[/(@)n/ lengthEN]


b) Stressed

-Monophthongs

(long/tense)

/i:/ bEAt
/3:/ bIRd
/A:/ bARt
/O:/ bOARd
/u:/ bOOt

(short/lax)

/I/ pIt
/e/ pEt
/&/ pAt
/A/ pOt
/V/ pUtt
/U/ pUt

-Diphthongs

(I-final)

/eI/ bay
/aI/ by
/OI/ boy

(@-final)

/I@/ pEER
/E@/ pEAR
/U@/ pOOR

(U-final)

/@U/ nO
/AU/ nOW

-Triphthongs

/aI@/ fIRE
/AU@/ OUR


Rhotic dialects turn the scheme of stressed long/tense
monophthongs into:

(non-rhotacized)
/i:/ bEAm
/A:/ pALm
/u:/ bOOm

(rhotacized)
/3:_r/ bIRd
/A:_r/ bARd
/O:_r/ bOARd


Cheers,
Javier

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