Re: USAGE: Schwa and syllabification

On Fri, Mar 12, 2004 at 01:22:18PM -0500, David Peterson wrote:
>    If you truly have a schwa in between the "tt" and "l" in "little", then
>    there will be a time in between your tongue hitting the alveolar ridge for
>    "tt" (which is [4]) and your tongue hitting the alveolar ridge for "l"
>    where your tongue should *not* be touching the alveolar ridge.  In my
>    case, there is no such time, so I obviously have a syllabic "l".
Yup.  In pronouncing the word "little" I basically put my tongue in
position for "l" and it stays there except for a brief release/reattach
for the [I].

I don't think that's necessarily the case with a syllabic pronunciation,
though.  In careful pronunciation, I have an actual [t] there instead of
the [4].  Nor is it [t_}]; there's a full release during which my tongue
pops off of the alveolar ridge.  But it doesn't stay off for the schwa; it
goes right back for the [l].  So even there I think it's [l=] rather
than [@l].

-Mark