Re: Vowels?

On Fri, 25 Jan 2002 13:14:30 +1100
Tristan Alexander McLeay <anstouh@...> wrote:

> Stephen Mulraney wrote:
>
> > Urm... is that unusual ? ;) I do it too, but I'm not sure if my dialect
> > (Dublin) usually does it (I think I made up my own accent when I was a kid).
> I've never known anyone to distinguing wr- from r-. Apparently, they do,
> though...

> > What about distinguishing "wh-" from "w-"? Is that common? (I do it.)
> It's common, yes, but I think merging is more common. At least to me,
> pronouncing wh- as /hw/ (or anything other than /w/) sounds posh.

> > On that subject, is Australian English arhotic?
> > If so, do you round you lips on the 'r' of 'right' and/or on the 'r' of
> > 'fork' ?
> Australian English in non-rhotic. As non-rhotic as Ah Pea (RP). Except, of
> cauce, it adds /r/s ahfter -/@/ when they're* before anotha vowel (that
> is, there's an R in 'data always').
>So no, I don't round the R in 'fork' because there simply isn't one there to round.
Well, that wasn't what I meant, but I think my question was silly anyway:
Someone mentioned rounding of [r]s; If you pronounce [r]s as vowels
(or modifications to the preceeding vowel: /AftE:/ not /AftEr/), does it
change the rounding of the vowel? I suppose not.


> Rounded:     right, write, data always
> Less rouded: data is
Ah curious; Interesting to hear such data since my mouth, although
it can roughly fake Ah Pea, wouldn't know about such levels of rounding.


> *'they're': The only ways to spell that sound (/E:/) involve Rs.
i.e you pronounce <they're> as /T(ai)E:/...

Funny, when I was a kid, I recall having someone tell me to pronounce
things "properly" ;) - specifically to pronounce final [t]s.
Say for example the word "that": I would hear things like "don't
say /da/, say /dat/": The local accent *doesn't have* /T/ as or /D/ ;)
Hence "this, that, these, those" is /dis/ /da/ (no glo''al stops either)
/de:z/ /do:iz/. Also, dem vowilz get so stretched out da dey sometimes
make extralong diphthongs /de:iz/ /do:wiz/ (these, those). These sounds
/T/ & /D/ are rather alien to the gobs of many Dubliners (certainly in
my area) - I had to consciously introduce them at some stage.
[Also, if distinguishing [w]  & [wh] sounds posh to you - how do you think
RP sounds to me growing up around such allophones? ;)]


> > Explain yourself!!
> Have I?
Most graciously.


> Tristan
Stephen