Re: USAGE: Stress in English

From: "Muke Tever" <hotblack@...>
Subject: Re: USAGE: Stress in English


> > There is evidence for this in the fact that when speaking v-e-r-y
> > s-l-o-w-l-y, people tend to pronounce, e.g., "along" as [ej.long].
Furthermore, this isn't always the case.  How exactly anyone here pronounces
this is not the question, but whether or not a schwa reduction takes place
in v-e-r-y s-l-o-w speech.  No matter how long I hold each sound, "along" is
still [@lON].  This is true for me with any word.  (At least any I can think
of.)

> I think the best argument for the schwatic phoneme is native speakers that
> can't distinguish what vowel a schwa is sposta be unstressed from, leading
> to orthographic hesitation:  cf. the very common definately vs.
> definitely, or miniscule vs. minuscule.   (Clearly in these cases the
> spelling hasnt influenced their pronunciation) :p
I agree completely, though "miniscule" couldn't possibly be pronounced
"minuscule".  Then again, I think there's something funny going on in my
idiolect.  Schwa harmony between [I] and [@], and I know it was there befóre
I started learning Kazak (which has this particular vowel pair).