Re: OT Marx Brothers (was Re: Another Introduction)

Mark J. Reed:
> On Thu, May 15, 2003 at 02:53:29AM +0100, And Rosta wrote:
> > What's that phonemically? The final [a], I mean
>
> Phonemically, "cinema" is either ['sIn@m@] or ['sIn@mA];
> my dictionary gives both as variant pronunciations
Thanks. That's what I was wondering about. In Britain the
distribution of the two seems to be regional.

> Phonetic [a] shows up in several American dialects, usually
> as the "short o" sound.  Most famously, it's the native
> pronunciation of the first "o" in "Boston"; my cousins from the
> Detroit area also pronounce "pop" as [pap].  (I pronounce it
> [pAp]; [a] doesn't appear in my idiolect.)
So I'm wondering which phonemic form is being realized by
Stone when (s)he says [sIn@ma]. Just for comparison, a
Mancunian might go to the [sIn@mA] /sIn@m@/, while a Londoner
might go to the [sIn@mA] /sin@mA:/. But any Mancunian who
goes to the [sin@ma] would be going to the /sIn@mA:/, while
any Londoner who goes to the [sin@ma] would be going to the
/sIn@m@/.

--And.

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