Re: LONG: Latest Wenetaic Stuff

Fabian wrote:
> It is romanised as <er> and is pronounced like the vowel sound in the
> English <her>.
In many dialects (including me), <er> is a syllabic /r/, but in
non-rhotic dialects, I don't think it's any different than regular
schwa.

> But, I think it goes on the lines that the Japanese R sounds like a
> cross between d,t,r,l to American ears because of the American
> dialect.
I've read that the Japanese <r> is a retroflex lateral flap, that is,
something like /l/, but with the back of the tongue flapped against the
rough of the mouth, like the place where the American /r/ is pronounced.

> I have no first hand knowledge of Spanish, so I can't compare that.
Spanish <r> is an alveolar tap, like English intervocalic t/d in rapid
speach.  I remember reading in a Spanish textbook that described the r
by saying that "pot o' tea" spoken rapidly sounds roughly like "para ti"
(at least as far as the <r> goes)

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