Re: IPA vowels

On Tue, Sep 12, 2000 at 07:32:04PM -0400, Nik wrote:
[snip]
> Like an exaggeration of the difference between /i/ and /y/?  That is,
> like /i/ pronounced with a broad smile?
Yes, that's approximately the idea. Perhaps I should call them the
"smiley" vowels :-)  <--- ooh look, a smiley! (j/k)

> >         u = /u/         y = /y/
> >         o = /o/         i = /i/ (possible is /e/ too?)
>
> Eh?  /y/ is rounded, but you have that for "stretched".
Actually, I got that mixed up. The entire first row are rounded vowels.
The problem with labelling entire rows/columns with a particular property
is that the dimensions I'm using are different from the IPA way of
classifying vowels; so it's kinda confusing.

> > The top row vowels, u w y, are what I call "whistling" vowels because they
> > are highly rounded and sound like whistling :-)
>
> Highly rounded?  Then what's unrounded mean?
Unrounded = neutral, approximately.

[snip]
> To be honest, I'm not sure what the sounds are!
[snip]

OK, let me try to describe them again, hopefully more clearly this time
:-)

First row vowels:       u       w       y

u is closest to /u/   (note, I'm using SAMPA here)
y is closest to /y/
w is like the rounded form of /3/ or /@/. Someone suggested it should be
/3/ since the pronunciation is deliberate, and not just a "generic" vowel
that the schwa sound tends to be.

These are all close vowels, but w is pronounced with a wider "smile"
(using your description) than u, and y is pronounced with a wider "smile"
than w. (This means y isn't quite /y/, but /y/ is close enough that I'm
happy to represent it that way.)

Second row vowels:      o       3       i

These vowels are pronounced with the "medium" aperture, or neutral, if you
like. So, o is pronounced with the neutral (most relaxed) rounded
aperture; 3 is pronounced with the neutral, unrounded aperture, but with a
slight "grin" in term of horizontal aperture; i is a tense vowel
pronounced also with a neutral aperture (but could be slightly closer) --
I think it's closest to /i/ (rhymes with English "see").

Third row vowels:       0       a       e

These vowels are open vowels: 0 is pronounced with the same horizontal
aperture as o -- basically you start with o and drop your mouth wide open
:-) Note that 0 is a back vowel. a is pronounced by starting with 0 and
giving it a wider horizontal aperture -- it would be somewhat like a
center vowel. e is pronounced by starting with 0 and basically stretching
your lips open as if you were yelling -- it's somewhat like a front vowel.

Note that these descriptions are a little exaggerated in order to convey
the distinctions made by native speakers. My conlang isn't just a jumble
of whistling and bellowing :-)


T