Re: USAGE: Shaw alphabet (was Re: USAGE: Con-graphies)

On 10/06/06, caeruleancentaur <caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:
> >Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> wrote:
>
> >Dance, grass, cat, matter, all have the same vowel
> >sound. Father has a very different vowel sound from
> >the others.
>
> The above selections remind me of tests I used to take in elementary
> school.  "Which of the following does not belong in the group?"  Of
> the four words listed, to me, "dance" does not belong.  Grass, cat,
> matter all have the same vowel sound /{/.  "Dance" does not, but I
> can't find the symbol for the sound in the X-SAMPA chart.
>
> For me, "dance" has the same vowel sound as is found in ant, aunt,
> answer, pants, rancid, etc.  It seems to be a more closed sound.
Common confusion: When discussing vowels, the term "close" (as in
"near") is preferred, as for a sound to be a vowel you need an
unimpeded escape of air through the mouth. In IPA terms, high vowels
have the tongue *close* to the roof; whereas low vowels have the jaw
wide *open*.

You've used a relative term, and close vowels *are* more
consonant-like than (front) open vowels so I can't *really* fault you,
but it seems such a common misunderstanding that I think it probably
helps to explain it again anyway.

>Does
> anyone know what I am talking about?
Just to confuse you, in addition to the fact that some Americans will
say it as [&@], others say it as [E@] or [e@], and obviously there's a
continuum of possible starting points in between. Basically as long as
the first element is front, unrounded and not too open or close,
American English isn't really picky about what you've got, though
individual dialects might be.

(In addition to the mentioned fact about Southern dialects, Northern
Cities/Great Lakes dialects have more-or-less completely replaced [&]
with something like [e@] (quite high), causing a chain shift of a lot
of other vowels. Also, the stereotypical NYC & Philidelphian dialects
have a phonemic distinction between /&/ and /e@/, based on the
TRAP-BATH and BAD-LAD splits.)

--
Tristan.