Re: USAGE: English, Masculine, Feminine

Paul Bennett wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 00:42:55 +0100, Michael Poxon <m.poxon@...>
> wrote:
>
>> In British English (at least in my fairly-RP version) these three are
>> all
>> distinct:
>> Mary = /me:rij/ "short" e
>
> Yes, that's /e:/ in CXS.

And /E:/ in my dialect.

>
>> Marry = /m&rij/
>
> Are you sure it's /&/? /&/ is a sound midway between /a/ and /E/, and is
> actually quite rare in British English -- so much so that I mentally
> assign the attribute "foreigner" whenever I hear it. There are several
> non-IPA systems in which the symbol {ae-ligature} is used for the sound
> that is /a/ in CXS and the symbol {a} is used for the sound that is
> /A/ in
> CXS (or the sound that is between /a/ and /A/ in CXS), among them the
> system used for Old English (IIRC).
>
Um, no, /&/ is the standard transcription for the vowel in cat.  It's
certainly not either /E/ or /a/.  The British English version is closer
to [a], but it's certainly not [a].  /&/ is the best transcription for it.

Reply